The Torn Guardian

by J. D. Wilde

  Sethos's acts only affect the world because he has followers dedicated to him. If we eliminate the followers, we eliminate his ability to manipulate the world. That unfortunately means we must kill her brother, uncle, and two guardsmen who have sworn themselves to his service.

  While I'm sure she knows it is necessary, Isabella is very unwilling to discuss the assassination of her family and captains. It takes a lot of coaxing, but we finally get her to accept it for the future health of her nation. Justin and her uncle have turned to darkness. They must be dealt with swiftly.

  We convince Isabella to give us the locations of her brother, uncle, and captains. She complies with us and answers all our questions, but she looks depressed. This is not easy for her. Grace and I want to head out immediately, but Kenley stops us. He wants us to rest up and formulate some kind of plan. Once Justin and Sir David know we are coming after them, they might begin to stage a counter. It will be best to kill all four of Sethos’ agents within the same period of time.

  Isabella excuses herself as this is not a subject she wishes to be a part of any longer. She has already told us everything she can. The rest is up to us. After she walks into the tiny room with only a bed in it and quietly shuts the door, I cannot help but feel like I should say something, mainly because I know Jo would if she were here. Grace, Adira, and Kenley are working on a plan of action, so I excuse myself to see if I can think of any words to help the queen feel better.

  I sigh as I knock and the door and announce I am coming in. Isabella is sitting and crying on the bed occasionally wheezing, and I'm sure this is what she would have looked like after Jo died. She hastily tries to wipe the tears away in an attempt to hide it, but there is no point. I see clear as a cloudless day how much she is hurting.

  I take a seat next to her on the bed and out of fear of looking like an idiot for not knowing what to say ask her how she is handling everything. This actually does make me look like an idiot though because she is obviously not handling everything spectacularly well. She states I really must be from another world if I have to ask, and that kind of hurts. I know she isn’t doing great. I try to tell her this, but my confidence is shrinking rapidly so I’m stumbling over my words like a drunk.

  She softly grabs my hand and holds it as she apologizes. She did not mean for it to sound like an insult; it was merely an observation. After this she asks me if I am absolutely sure her brother is a follower of Sethos. She can believe her uncle, as he had always been more concerned with powerful politics. Her brother, however, had honestly looked up to Jo as a role model. Justin wanted to be more like her and help Oriare’s lower classes. Isabella cannot make any sense of it. She does not understand how her own brother turned to darkness.

  I tell her I am sure of what I saw, but I also promise I will not deal a fatal blow unless necessary. It perks Isabella up a tiny bit to hear me say this, and she urges me to try talking to him since this could be a misunderstanding. As much as I wish it were so, I doubt her brother becoming a priest of darkness is something that can be seen as a simple misunderstanding.

  Nevertheless, I reiterate I will make sure he is what I think he is before I kill him. Isabella abruptly changes the topic to Jo after I do. She asks me what Jo was like around me and how close we were. I spoke honestly. I had only ever been around Jo when she came to visit me in the Otherworld, but she was always kind. I enjoyed the days she stopped by. As suddenly as the queen had changed the topic to Jo, she changes it again onto me by stating I must have been lonely when Jo was not around.

  I admit I had been. It got pretty boring, especially when I had days off of training. Coming to Nilohm might be the best thing to happen to me, which is kind of sad when I think about it. The best times I’ve had so far have been in a world that is rapidly decaying.

  “But when this is over, you will get to truly enjoy it,” the queen says matter-of-factly.

  I think about her words for a while before nodding my head in agreement. I do want to stay after this instead of going back to the Otherworld, but I don’t know where I would go. I have not spoken about it with Grace or Adira.

  Isabella smiles as she offers me a place to stay at the palace if Grace and Adira do not wish for me to join them. I am Jo's sister after all. When my mind fully understands what she is offering, my lips curl upwards, and I thank her. I have a place to come back to, so I hope Kenley, Grace, and Adira have come up with a plan because I would like to finish this while there is still a city standing.

  It hits me then as I sit on the little bed with soft sheets. This is how Grace and Adira have felt the entire time. They want to get this done, so they can go home.

  Kenley cracks open the door and informs me they have a plan to my relief. He offers to take my place, so I can speak with Adira and Grace before leaving to fix this mess. When I get out the door, I am greeted by a happy Adira practically dancing around the table.

  Kenley’s hawk, Finn, arrived while we were at the ball clearing out the devilins. Her home is fine, and the student she had been training to be a priest is performing admirably. Devilins have not appeared on the island since we left, which makes us believe Sir David and Justin have been targeting the three of us.

  They proceed to fill me in on the plan, but I tweak it since I promised to handle Justin. This is fine with them, but Grace warns me not to go soft on him. She doubts Justin will hesitate to kill me if I leave him an opening.

  Adira is going to drop us off at places nearby. Kenley has given her instructions and a map, and Adira is more confident in being able to push the claw to its limit. After she tested it out briefly on her own, she thinks she can get us close to where we need to be. We will handle the two captains of the guards and Justin first. Then the three of us will go after the uncle who, according to Isabella, is more than likely the greatest threat.

  I am as ready as I ever will be, so we head to the rooftop through a drop down ladder. It is chilly in the early morning hours as the sun has not begun to rise. Even so, the footsteps of marching guards and scrambling citizens can be heard beneath us as they react to the events that took place at the ball.

  Adira decides it is most logical to take Grace to the first captain, then me to Justin, and finally go to the final captain herself. She checks the map and makes her first portal. Grace hops through, and Adira closely follows to make sure it is where it needs to be. When she returns alone, I assume it was close enough.

  Now it is my turn. She opens a portal to the palace for me, and we go through. Adira is proud of herself, but we have no time to admire her work. She quickly vanishes without a trace to go deal with the final captain, and I make my way through the palace’s living area back towards the ballroom. It is still a mess in here, but some of the staff have begun to clean it. I rush threw the room alarming practically every one of my presence, but there are not any guards here. By the time guards arrive in the large ball room, I am already upstairs and on my way to Justin’s room.

  I enter his room, the third one on the right of the back hallway, and find him on the balcony. I lock the door and knock an old grandfather clock and dresser in front of it. I draw an arrow on my bow aware the makeshift blockade I made will not provide me much time.

  “You’ve come to finish the job then? Where are your friends?” Justin asks me without turning around.

  “It’s over,” I reply calmly even though I hear the footsteps approaching in the hall. “You’ve lost,” I state confidently.

  Justin’s head sinks. He admits he has lost, but not how I thought he would. He says he has lost everything that was ever important to him. He asks me if I killed his sister just as I did Jo. I tell him I did not kill any of them. His sister is still alive, and Jo was killed by a devilin defending someone.

  And before our conversation can continue, I feel it. A memory is coming, and I cannot fight it. It does not matter how much I beg; the memory comes again. Only this time I do not have Adira or Grace to help me stay upright. I fall to the ground and make an effo
rt to stay conscious. I see her. Not Jo, but Isabella. She is lying on the ground, unable to move. A devilin is towering over her about to flatten her. At the last second, Jo pushes her out of the way and wrestles one on one with this thing. After an intense struggle between the two, Jo struck her claw into its chest, a fatal blow, but too late. It’s the same as before only this time I can see and hear Isabella screaming frantically for Jo not to die.

  While I’ve been able to keep some form of consciousness, I have been kneeling on the floor completely vulnerable. Justin still has not struck, but he is standing above me with a dagger to my chin. I glance at his hand and am shocked. It is a red dragon tattoo, but not exactly like ours. The random whorls and overall appearance of the dragon are drastically different. Grace, Adira, and I have the same pattern, so I expected the one of darkness to follow this.

  The door bursts open interrupting my thoughts and pieces of shattered wood fly across the room hitting both Justin and me. This causes Justin to stumble backwards. I’m expecting to be outnumbered by guards, but it is Adira and Grace who charge in. I see Adira go for the kill, so I grab her as fast as I can and order them to stand down. They both look at me with bewildered expressions, and Adira has a firm grasp on Justin’s neck. One slight flick of her wrist, and Justin is dead. So I tell them to look at his mark and tell me if it is like the captains.

  Grace seizes his hand, and her eyes grow wide. She shows Adira who lets go of Justin.

  “You are not a priest of darkness?” Adira questions him.

  “A priest of darkness?” Justin repeats clearly not understanding why we are asking him this.

  I want to explain, but we do not have time to go into details. We need to handle Justin’s uncle. Grace feels the same way. She advises we have Adira drop Justin off with his sister and Kenley so we can go handle his uncle. In the distance we hear not one but potentially hundreds of loud roars. I don’t think Justin’s uncle, Sir David, cares any longer about keeping the city of Saphira from the wrath of darkness.

  “We need to move now,” I say.

  “Agreed,” Adira says, and she opens a portal. We try to push Justin through, but he struggles enough to where we think he might accidently wind up somewhere else if we get him in. Time is running against us, so I tell Adira to bring his sister here. If he sees her alive and well, maybe he will go back willingly.

  She runs into and pops back out with a very confused Isabella and slightly less confused Kenley. Isabella’s confusion is immediately replaced with pure joy as she sees her brother is still alive. When Justin sees his sister, he hugs her. Isabella reassures him that we are good; there were false assumptions made all around. Justin seems shocked at first when we tell him his uncle is corrupted and the reason why all of this is happening, but he believes us after Isabella assures him we are not lying.

  Even so, he refuses to go into the portal. If devilins are attacking his city, he needs to be on the lines with his men and women. Isabella’s face loses all of its color. She does not want the one person she still cares about to go into battle, but Justin insists. He and his troops can hold the army of enemies off while we eliminate his uncle.

  It was a good decision not to kill Justin. On top of him not being evil, he also has vital information as his uncle is not where we planned on him being. His uncle went to the monument for fallen soldiers they are currently building at the southern entrance of the city. When he asked why, his uncle would not say, only stating it was important.

  “Of course, he isn’t here. That would make this far too easy,” Grace groans.

  To be fair though, we haven’t had it easy since this started, so I don't know why Grace expected it to be different during the final stretch. I thank Justin for his help as Kenley states he will go back with the queen and keep her under his protection.

  The queen is showing a mixture of emotions. She clearly does not want to leave us behind, especially her brother, but she knows she cannot actually do anything to help. It catches me off guard when Grace comforts her, stating this country needs her to stay alive. Of course Grace cannot just leave it at that and states that Isabella and her brother are about the only decent human beings left in it.

  Isabella looks like she is about to respond, but her brother beats her to it. Justin tells Grace to watch his soldiers on the battlefield. She might learn something about honor.

  That makes Grace smile, and we wish Justin well as he sprints to where his troops are to get them out in the field in time to hopefully save the civilians caught in the chaos. With one last nod from Kenley and Isabella, they disappear back into the portal. Adira says the monument should not be too far from here. She makes a portal above herself, and we wind up on the roof of the palace.

  I can see this “monument” from here, and I cannot help but sigh. Either these citizens are dumb or very gullible. It is not a monument. It is a temple to darkness, and that is very obvious. How anyone thinks this is a monument for those that have fallen is beyond me. Though I guess the large columns with bones and skulls carved into the stone can be interpreted as death. Still a monument is supposed to show honor and express gratitude, not make people want to run away in fear.

  “These people are morons,” Grace speaks my thoughts aloud when she spies the temple as well.

  The temple is not complete, so we are interfering with Sir David’s plans ahead of schedule. Hopefully we are not too late to catch him. As long as he can maintain control over the devilins, the world will be lost to the rampaging, dark creatures.

  Chapter 23

  When we get to the unfinished temple on top of the rocky hill, we are greeted not by Sir David, but Sethos’ voice. He addresses Grace directly and states she should have returned to Elsen when she had the chance, maybe then it would not be in ruins. Black mist swarms around us and forms crumbled buildings. The three of us watch the horror unfold as countless innocent civilians and soldiers in Elsen are slaughtered unable to do anything about it. Grace’s jaw clenches and her hands squeeze tightly around her scythe. When the mist has cleared, I can see her eyes temporarily flash red, and I am afraid we are going to lose her.

  Back towards the city, terrified screams and gunfire can be heard. Oriare is about to face the same fate as Elsen unless the three of us can stop it. To make matters more urgent, devilins have begun to flank us and are coming from behind. Adira and I run into the temple, but Grace is still standing with her head bowed. We try to get her to follow us in, but she refuses.

  Instead she orders us to keep going, while she runs in the opposite direction to help Justin and his men instead. Without one of us, they will most likely die. I admit this is true but shout after her we will probably need her as well. Sethos will undoubtedly be getting desperate with only one follower remaining.

  I try to run after her and tell her how stupid an idea it is, but Adira anticipated this and stops me by grabbing my arm, pulling me towards the temple's doors as she sends reassurances Grace will be fine. The two of us can kill Sir David, and if not, she can go find Grace using the claw and come back while I hold whatever awaits us off. It is an awful plan, but it is all we can do right now. Grace runs rather quickly when she is determined, and the devilins are on our tails.

  We rush into the temple doors and close them. Adira then places her hand on the door, and the tree symbol appears over it.

  “What did you do?” I ask.

  “I sealed it,” Adira says, and the flowers and wall leafage planted around the temple stretches over the doors. The doors forcibly push open a bit, but not enough to let devilins inside. Regardless, we should work quickly here. The seal will not last for long.

  It is not difficult to find Sir David. The temple is straightforward enough with only one entrance to the grand main hall, and even if it was not, all Adira and I have to do is follow the maniacal laughter. Once we enter the door, it is evident the Sir David standing before us is not the same as one at the party. His skin is blacker than a starless night sky, and shows the same red cracks S
ethos has. This is what a being looks like when it succumbs to the darkness and allows it to take over. Grace is either lucky or was subliminally strong enough to withstand it because Sir David is significantly madder than she had been. Adira and I are not facing a corrupt politician; we are facing a deranged killer.

  Although I'm sure Sir David would have loved to go into some grand speech about why he is doing this, my first shot is fired before he can utter a word. Adira is keen on this strategy as well and charges forth. Neither of us care to hear what he has to say because we both already know what must be done. He is a slippery bastard though. My arrow is only able to graze him as he narrowly escapes by jumping out of the way.

  He sends large blasts of darkness my way one right after the other, and if I was not so engrossed with avoiding them, I would have awed at how impressive his power is. They have an explosive kick to them when they collide with another surface, which I discover the hard way by not getting far enough away from one of them. It nearly sends me crashing into the wall.

  Thankfully, Adira catches me, but I still wince in pain as I set my feet down on the ground. The dark energy that connected with my leg burned and seared off my first layer of skin. As I look up to search for the madman, I realize so long as I have ears I will be able to find him. His is standing upside down on top of the ceiling laughing at the pain he caused.

  He sticks his tongue to taunt me, but that isn’t what irks me. What irks me, or rather disgusts me, is how far from a human he has become. His tongue is a foot long and splits into a two like a serpent’s at its tip. He continues his hysteria as he thrusts more dark energy balls our way. If Sir David had any humanity in him before, it was entirely gone by the time we arrived. I dodge successfully thanks to Adira, but we cannot keep this up. We need to go on the offensive but do not know how. Without Grace to flank the other side, this has become noticeably more difficult. This would have been the toughest fight thus far for the three of us, but it is only Adira and me.