by J. J. Pavlov
"Kekeke... Chosen One, why dost thou struggle?" A crow-like voice suddenly asks, causing everybody to turn their heads at the unfamiliar tone.
Sitting on one of the few dead trees that rim the edge of the butte is a figure clad in a black robe. Pale but blotchy skin sagging from hollow cheeks are drawn up in a toothless and mocking grin. Milky white eyes of which the original colors can only be surmised suggest blindness.
It's a crone, surrounded by a murder of crows. They're perching on the dry branches around her as if replacing their long-lost leaves. She looks human, but this deep in Dominion territory, she should be anything but.
One of her bony hands holds a wooden staff, the other points ahead of her into the midst of the demons. Only the person at the other end of it knows exactly who she means, and Rolan blinks his eyes in surprise.
"Thou hath the Sword of Light, yet thou strugglest 'gainst a common demon." The crone continues, gesturing at the weapon at the leader's hip and then at Chandra with her gout-ridden fingers.
"Ya lookin' for a fight, Stormcrow? Calling the boss a common demon!" Mukasura growls while glaring at her for having interrupted his sparring time with an insult like that.
"Kekeke..." The one called Stormcrow cackles at the ajura, then turns her staff toward his leader in a sweeping motion. "Thou hath no idea thou trainst one to surpass all the Chosen before him."
"Oh, that would be funny." Not in the least concerned, Chandra grins at the thought. Chosen Knights are what demons call the champions of the gods because that's what the members of the Alliance Army call them. Only the Kingdom of Lares prefers to consider them more than military tools, even if the truth is not so. "Wouldn't that mean my training methods are better than that of the gods?"
The ajura and other demons around the platform break out in laughter. While many of them have suffered in the wars against the humans, the overall atmosphere in the Dominion is a confident one. After all, the demons have survived against repeated invasions for many centuries, and Queen Pelomyx is the most powerful leader to date.
"Chosen One, thy potential is limitless." The Stormcrow's robes seem to spread outward as shadows, while the crows around her begin to caw incessantly. Even then, her voice drowns out theirs as she raises her arms to deliver her grand speech. "Thou only need believe in thyself, and any demon shall fall before thee. With thy Sword of Light, thou shall banish the chaos."
With these final mysterious words, the crone seems to rise to her feet. The crows take off from their branches in a mighty storm of feathers, swirling about her like a ravenous swarm. From within, the old woman's cackle echoes over the din of the flapping wings, until it fades away at the same time as the crows disperse, leaving nothing but a blanket of feathers behind.
The crone has disappeared.
"What was that?" Hreidunn mutters to herself, but Chandra overhears it.
"We call her Stormcrow. She's a seer or a madwoman. Most likely both." Shrugging, the Ajura boss explains. "She has appeared to many demons throughout the centuries. Aldeath told me she was the one who gave him the idea to gather a band of demons and seize the throne."
"You knew Aldeath?" Leif bursts out in surprise but slaps his hands before his mouth. He has been keeping in the background most of the time since his careless tongue has brought them into many unfavorable positions.
"I helped him take the throne." Chandra replies with a proud grin. "Those were the times of our lives."
"Ya make it sound like ya not having fun these days, boss." Mukasura states with a sneer.
"Ya weak louts could never hold a candle to Aldeath. He was the only man to ever make me tap out!" Turning to point at the troop leader, Chandra replies with a snarl that causes him to duck with a wry smile. She then glances at Rolan with a sardonic grin. "Incidentally, there were only ever two women to defeat me. One was his sister, the other was the current queen."
The leader's mouth hangs open as he regards the Ajura boss with an aghast expression. The condition to let them go was impossible for them to reach from the start. The only people who ever made Chandra admit defeat were the two most powerful monarchs in the history of the Dominion and a member of their family. How could humans who aren't even champions of the gods ever hope to achieve it?
"Hey, ya face is sayin' ya lost the will to fight." She glares at Rolan, who catches himself and forces his mouth shut. "Did ya not listen to the Stormcrow? She has never been wrong before."
Looking down at Roshanee at his hip, the leader thinks over the words from the crone again. She didn't tell him anything specific, but it seems that he had lost the belief in himself after tasting repeated defeats. He knows that his abilities have improved to a previously unthinkable degree, but Chandra seems beyond the horizon still.
But the legends of old always spoke of champions who surpassed their limits in the face of true adversity. Maybe it's because the Ajura boss doesn't present a danger to their lives that he can't grow in the right direction.
While he has fallen into contemplation, Chandra and Mukasura have returned to their sparring match. He lifts his head to watch their exchange of blows and blindingly quick movements absentmindedly, thinking about the realization he may have come to.
"You alright?" Gram comes over after having been healed by Vigdis' water magic. The bruises all over his body have faded for the most part and will be gone by the next day. If not for the water mage in their group, they would have needed to spend much more time healing and wouldn't have been able to improve so quickly.
"Maybe the crone's words resonated with him." Sigurd joins them and comments with a difficult expression on his face. It seems that he's suspicious about her sudden appearance and meddling prophecy.
Kamii watches them wordlessly, unsure what to think about Rolan becoming akin to a champion of the gods. She glances at the scattered feathers on the ground, which some ajura are looking down at while scratching their heads. They consider it a nuisance, but they're unmistakable evidence that the Stormcrow was real.
She has a bad feeling about that crone.
Chapter 92 - Realized Potential
"Are you sure about this?" Hreidunn asks with a concerned frown as Rolan walks toward the door of the longhouse. She's referring to the fact that the leader asked the other members of the group not to participate in the sparring match today. He had retreated into a room for the past three days, ever since the crone spoke to him, and has only come out now.
"Yes. I know what I have to do." He turns around with a serene smile that belies his to date apparent impatience.
"What happened?" Even Kamii is uncharacteristically concerned about Rolan's shift in attitude. She has been training with Chandra on her own while the others rested during their leader's break. Since they weren't watching, she tested her full strength and found that she has reached the realm of the ajura now.
But something tells her that the Ajura boss is in a different world even from her own kin. And Rolan wants to face her alone, wearing only light clothing and carrying Roshanee.
"I have realized what it was that I lacked." The leader's tone has changed, speaking as if having reached enlightenment. It's eerie, but the humans are oddly convinced by his words. Only Kamii is still unsure what to make of this situation.
"So ya listened to the Stormcrow, huh?" Chandra greets Rolan when he emerges from the longhouse, followed by the other members of his group. "What opened ya mind?"
"Less thinking, more doing." Climbing onto the platform, the leader replies with a wry smile. He has never been the type to overthink things, but ever since he came to the Dominion, he seems to have been burdened with something on his mind. "That's why I want you to wield weapons as well. Fight me as you would a true enemy."
"Wha-" Gram makes in utter bafflement. "What are you thinking?!"
Rolan only turns around to him with a reassuring expression. It's so overwhelmingly calm that everybody is swept up in his strange confidence.
"What is he doing?" Leif asks in incompre
hension.
"He's starting to believe." Sigurd's brow furrows while saying this, but he averts his gaze with a pained look. It would appear that he may know something but doesn't say any more. Kamii noticed a long time ago when they traveled through the dwarven kingdom of Rathgolim that the bard may hold some hidden power, which Rolan alone is aware of. Maybe that allows him to see through what has overcome the leader.
"Ya think being driven into a corner will unleash ya true power?" But Chandra seems to see through Rolan's intentions, who only replies with an embarrassed scratch of his cheek as if his shameful thoughts were exposed. "Very well, then."
Upon these words, one of the ajura warriors runs into the longhouse and comes back with six curved swords a moment later. They're all large enough that a human would require two hands to wield them properly, but when Chandra takes them into her hands one by one, they seem just the right size for her.
"Rolan..." Kamii grows concerned now that she sees what he's facing. The number of weapons gives the Ajura boss an overwhelming advantage already, but it's clear that she's a master with them too. Even if Rolan seems to disregard the limits of a human body while wielding Roshanee, it has never been enough to overcome her before.
"Let's go!" Stretching out her arms with all blades pointing up, Chandra announces with a pumped-up grin.
Drawing the Sword of Light, Rolan steps forward fearlessly, a thin smile on his lips. It causes Chandra's expression to shift, as she seems to come to a realization. Furrowing her brow, she tilts her head ever so slightly to regard the human before her. Then her eyes widen as she charges forward.
The glow of Roshanee turns blinding when its wielder spins it in his hand with a flourish. In the next moment, a streak of light burns itself into everybody's eyes, and Rolan seems to have moved past his opponent.
Chandra freezes. Then she turns her head to stare at the leader standing behind her; she wasn't even able to follow his movements. Then all six of her swords fall apart, cut just above their guards. The clanging of the steel hitting the platform one after the other is the only sound on the butte. When the echo disappears, silence reigns supreme.
Dark clouds are looming over Ajurai and seem to act as a foil to the radiance of Roshanee. Rolan sheathes the Sword of Light as if to signal that this display was enough, not in the least out of breath. He has surpassed the realm of the humanly possible, and everybody understood when Chandra closed her eyes with a smile to herself.
"Ya big idiot!" But to everybody's surprise, she drops the hilts of the broken swords, spins around, and bops Rolan over the head. "Stop lookin' so proud of yaself! Skippin' ahead like that is not real progress!"
"What?" Holding his head, the leader looks up at the looming ajura with a blank expression.
"I got nothin' else for ya. Get outta here." Turning away and crossing all six of her arms, Chandra pouts like a child who just lost her favorite toy. For a moment, everybody is stunned by her outburst. Then the meaning of her words dawns on them.
"Wait, does that mean...?" Rolan begins to ask, but the Ajura boss shoots him a glare that shuts him up.
"Don't make me repeat myself!" She roars, causing the leader to flinch. Just because he just soundly defeated her doesn't mean he feels superior in any way. Or maybe, her overbearing attitude despite his display of overwhelming power and speed means that she was holding back still. "All of ya, get out!"
"I'm staying." When the group has packed to leave Ajurai, Kamii suddenly announces. For a moment, nobody seems to have heard her, but when Sigurd looks at the little dark elf in surprise, it dawns on the others what she said.
"What do you mean?" Vigdis asks with a concerned expression. She may have become friends with some of the demons living with them, but her homeland is still the Kingdom of Lares. Unless she unexpectedly met the love of her life among the demons, she wouldn't stay here solely for the sake of friendship.
There were no signs of Kamii growing close enough to anybody that she would abandon her life in Kongenssoevn for them. Considering she was waiting for Chloe to come back from wherever she has disappeared to after the deadly confrontation in the academy, this decision seems nonsensical.
"I'm staying for a while longer." Kamii elaborates, but not enough to explain herself. Her expressionless face doesn't give away her thoughts either, so the humans are left guessing.
"But why? We can leave now." Gram looks down at the little dark elf with a confused frown. He is the one she most confides in, but it has always been hard to figure out her motivations. This time, he can't begin to understand why she would make this choice.
"There's something I need to do here. In the Dominion." Speaking in a serious tone, Kamii doesn't divulge any details. She doesn't want the humans to know, and they can tell.
"I wouldn't be able to look the missy in the eyes if she returned and asked where you are." The big man uses an argument the little dark elf already expected.
"After all that happened, you would still speak to her?" In a rare show of emotions, Kamii smiles sadly. She knows that among humans, killing another is already considered an inexcusable crime. And Mahkotoh is a demon, which exacerbates the severity of her actions in the eyes of humans - if not consciously, then subconsciously.
"But she acted in the capacity of an envoy of Bryaledi, didn't she?" Vigdis asks sheepishly. The little dark elf remembers the lie they spun to convince the humans to help her, but it turned out pointless in the end. Mahkotoh is the daughter of the demon queen, the enemy of all humans.
"But she's still a demon." Kamii mutters in reply.
"That doesn't..." Rolan begins but trails off as he can't say in full confidence that her being a demon doesn't matter. His earlier serenity has disappeared once he started packing to leave Ajurai; people don't change so quickly after all.
"Isn't it fine?" Suddenly, the one-eyed woman with a mouth full of shark-like teeth comes over with her usual broad grin. Her name is Elphinei, a demon whose birth is a mystery, according to herself. With the large bright green eye fixated on Rolan, she places a hand on Kamii's hair as if signaling that she's on her side.
"Stay out of this." Hreidunn barely holds herself back from snarling, but obviously comes across as unfriendly anyway.
"Woah, someone's having a bad day." Elphinei shrugs, her clawed hands raised to her shoulders in a display of resignation.
The ranger gives the one-eyed demon a glare that silently suggests she makes herself scarce. But Elphinei isn't known to let this deter her, considering she's one of those who came to challenge Chandra. Her slender but lean body belies the strength hidden within it, and she's almost a match for any ajura in physical abilities.
"Isn't Kamii old enough to decide for herself?" She leans over the little dark elf's shoulder and embraces her from behind with her sharp teeth on full display. Her hands glide across the petite body as if to accentuate the modest but definitely present features of a woman.
"Yes." Not pushing Elphinei away, Kamii's expression returns to a neutral one again as she agrees with her. She then goes on to surprise everybody but the one-eyed demon. "I am twenty-eight summers old."
The humans stare at the little dark elf in disbelief since she looks closer to half that age. They knew that she's older than she appears, but that's not what they expected. She's two summers older than even Sigurd, the second-oldest in the group until Hreidunn replaced Gram, who used to be in first place.
"It would seem that Miss Kamii has found something to do here." The bard is the first to concede, sighing in resignation. He then turns to the other humans. "We should believe the dark elf saying that one always meets again in a lifetime. I am sure we will see each other again."
With a warm smile directed at Kamii, he gives her his silent blessing. The little dark elf always noticed that there's more about the bard than meets the eye, and at that moment, she has become convinced of it. Those aren't the eyes of a simple human.
But before she can tell what it is, he turns away while shouldering
his backpack. The others stare at him in bewilderment, then turn to Kamii again in hopes of persuading her. When they see her gaze filled with certainty, nobody can find the right words to try and convince her otherwise.
This is where they're going to part ways.
"Ya waiting for Pelomyx, huh?" Chandra comments as she stands beside Kamii at the edge of the butte overlooking the city. Rolan and the others are on their way down the main street, their backs growing smaller with each step.
Out of everybody, Gram had the hardest time separating from the little dark elf. Vigdis may have tried to become friends with her since their ages seemed close to each other, but the big man spent the most time with her. He started out treating Kamii like a daughter, though once they started delving into the Lost Tombs together, he had to revise his view of her. Still, she seemed the most open around him, which made him think they were close.
Today, Gram had to let go of the girl he once treated as a daughter and then a comrade. If not for Sigurd's words of encouragement about meeting again, the big man would have cried openly rather than only grown teary-eyed. After all, he's the one most easily rendered emotional out of the group.
"Yes. I'm going to see Mahkotoh again if I stay with her mother. I'm sure of it." Kamii replies while watching the humans she spent the past few moons with walking away from her. A part of her prayed that they would never meet again. If Chaos returns to the Dominion, she has no reason to visit the Kingdom of Lares. The only way for her to meet this group of humans again would be if they joined an Alliance campaign against the demons. At that time, they would be enemies.
"Then why didn't ya go with 'em and steer 'em toward the capital?" Chandra grins, remembering when Kamii told her that it was her decision that led the group south rather than east. It resulted in their meeting with the nightmare breeders and the subsequent journey to Ajurai, ultimately bringing them to this point in time.
