by Zac Atie
“Dante sent me!” Stark said. “He sent me here to help you close that portal.”
“The portal?” Zaxxarius asked. He pondered what he meant. “How does he know about the portal?”
“The hell are you talking about boy?” He asked. Zaxxarius loosened his grip, thinking, when Stark hit him with a furious blow in the jaw, then turned the tables on him, pinning him to the ground, trapping his arms under his legs. Stark grabs for his gun, and brings it towards his forehead, but Zaxxarius frees his arm, and grabs at the hand with the gun. Stark puts his left hand, the hand without the gun, in Zaxxarius’ face, blocking his vision. This angers Zaxxarius, and he overpowers Stark with his left hand using Magic in his left arm, which he could do without Mana. He smashes the barrel of the gun into Stark’s face, dazing him for a moment, then he frees his right arm and rolls over, flooring stark. This time, he brings the gun to Stark’s forehead. “The hell are you doing?” Zaxxarius asked.
“Whoa... Alright.” Stark said, blinking stupidly. “I’ve never fought against you before, but it seems like you’ve gotten a lot stronger since last time I saw ya.”
“Surviving the 800th attempt on your life and becoming Overlord will do that.” Zaxxarius growled.
“Oh come on.” Stark said, noticing Zaxxarius’ angry glare. “It was a bit of fun, is all! Male bonding!”
“Hitting each other in the face?” Zaxxarius asked. “I don’t think so.” He gets up, dropping the gun on Stark and grabbing his Arcana.
Zaxxarius sits on his bed, and Stark sits up on his floor. “You were saying something about the portal.” Zaxxarius says. “Dante knows about it.” Stark says. “He knows about everything. It’s not surprising, honestly.”
“That’s not what I meant when I asked how he knew.” Zaxxarius said. “A woman came to me, sort of all hologram-like, and said I was to destroy the portal here.”
“Why did you accept?” Stark asked. “You got whores and wine galore back in Cazria.”
“I left my friend here.” Zaxxarius said. “I came back for her.”
“Ah.” Stark said. “How noble. Although, you could have brought someone with ya. Well, the woman sounds a lot like the woman that appeared with Dante.”
“A woman with Dante?” Zaxxarius asked. “Another Warlock, I take it?”
“Yes.” Stark said. “No, really. Another Warlock. But, a Warlock concubine is hardly a trying matter after the Domini attacked. All of the settlements in the peak district were destroyed by the Domini but Split. Split stood tall, with a few Magi left. The humans are really scratching their heads over the massacre, but there was a lot of corpse burning, so none of the Domini were identified. Ah well.” Zaxxarius paused at that. He remembered Ivorian, and how he wanted Zaxxarius and Veronica dead, but Dante refused him and turned him away. For that, Ivorian attacked. All that death was partly his fault. “And when did the woman show up?” Zaxxarius asked.
“Near the end of the battle at split. She turns up and starts turning the Domini on one another. They practically killed themselves, then, the Ispii ran away with the remainder of his forces.” Stark said. “After that, she just stuck around. Now, I have to show you to the portal site to take it down, then, I'm to come with you back to Cazria, if you’d have me.”
“What?” Zaxxarius asked. “Take you back to Cazria?”
“Yeah, why not?” Stark asked.
“Well... For one, you’re a hamster.” Zaxxarius chuckled. Stark chuckled alongside him.
They left right away. Zaxxarius had little sleep before Stark attacked him, so he decided he’d get a little sleep on the boat. He trusted Stark, and Dante, for some reason. He didn’t see any reason for Dante to hurt him, as he had let them escape. What would he gain from it now? Sure, there was a chance that he was missing something, but if he defended them and let most of his settlements burn to ensure their escape, then what harm was he really? “Where are we going, then?” Zaxxarius asked.
“We’re taking this river out to the north.” Stark said. “It’ll be a while, but eventually we’ll reach the northern sea.”
“And on the northern sea?” Zaxxarius asked. “What was the point in coming to Germany?”
“On the northern sea, right outside the river, is an island called Neuwerk.” He said. “That’s where your destination is.”
“I see...” Zaxxarius said.
“Get some sleep.” Stark advised. “We’ll be riding awhile.” Zaxxarius drifted off to sleep, muting everything around him. When he awoke, it was day, but he didn’t know what time it was. He asked Stark for a watch, but he didn’t have one. “I heard ninjas can tell the time of day from looking at a cat’s eyes.” He said. “It’s a shame there’s no cats around.” Zaxxarius said. “Or that I'm not a damned Ninja.”
“By the way.” Stark said. “You might want to watch how I use this boat.”
“Why?” Zaxxarius asked.
“Because.” Stark said. “Because when I drop you off, I'm leaving. And I'm taking the boat. So you’ll need to steal one and ride back yourself. I highly doubt any of your ancestors went riding around the northern sea in a boat, so get learning.” As Stark rode, he watched. It was simple, really, though it looked like there was a lot of controls unused that he had no idea how to use. Time passed as he watched Stark steer the Boat, and eventually, they came out of the river, into the sea. “There it is.” He said, pointing. “Now, they’ll be hiding their Auras, but you’ll be able to find out where they are due to the portal. Don't worry about it.” Stark said.
“I'm not.” Zaxxarius said, confident. “You know where the other portal is?”
“Yeah.” Stark said. “I know. I’ll wait there after heading back to split for a bit.”
“Hurry it up.” Zaxxarius said. “I'm not going to wait for you.”
“How kind.” Stark said. “I’ll be sure to make a campfire.” Neuwerk was a small island, and it looked as if it mostly consisted of fields and farmlands. This was a very popular hideout for Magi, and it also looked as if it were the same for Sanctum. Whatever they were doing to ‘Improve’ the world, it started on this tiny, insignificant looking, island. Stark found somewhere to dock, and let Zaxxarius off. “Remember, you got to steal a boat.” Stark said.
“Yeah.” Zaxxarius said. He’d feel bad, but hey, he’d be leaving Earth soon anyway, so it’s not like he’ll have to worry about Authorities for long. “Well, enjoy.” Stark said, turning and leaving. Zaxxarius watched Stark ride off in his boat, then he turned to view the Island, and the task in front of him. On the dock, there were people, but after a while walking across the fields, trampling the grass underneath him, he began to feel alone. There were less and less people around.
Zaxxarius constantly looked in Hollow sight, then continued onwards, hands in his pocket, backpack slung over his shoulders. He liked this place. Somehow, even though the weather was rather lame, he felt at peace. It began to rain heavily, but he didn’t mind. Being alone in a wilderness of bad tempered environments didn’t bother him all that much. Though, after many hours passed, it began to irritate him. He carried on regardless, but he began to wonder if this was some sort of sick joke. He sighed, in a bad mood, and decided to set up camp. Only, he had no camp, so he literally lay on the ground, looking up at the night sky. He had picked a place within a small woodland area, to remind him of the time he collapsed outside of Split, and how Veronica looked after him. Walking had not exhausted him, as he had not came across many hills, but he was exhausted with the sheer hopelessness of it all. He was told the portal was here, but he could not detect it at all, seeing nothing across the island, not even local Magi. But it was that sole fact that gave him hope that he’d find Sanctum. If Sanctum were indeed on this Island for as long as Zaxxarius suspected them to be, then, it’s only natural that they would pick a place with no Magi around to spot them. Otherwise, their hiding place would be no secret. The night sky was cloudy, but through the mess of gas, he could often see stars poking through, wanting to be noti
ced. He remembered how Cazria was practically the same. “How different my life is going to be. No matter what, I can’t return to my human life, can I? No. There’s nobody there, waiting for me... It was all a prologue to something... bigger.” He pondered. His sleep was restless, tossing and turning on the hard floor, sometimes even having a worm, or some sort of insect, crawl on him and tickle him as he was just about to drift into sleep. He dreamt normally, again, of finding Veronica, as that was the subject that plagued his mind as he slept. He dreamt of her signature words ringing in his head. He dreamt of peering into the unveiling fountain, and seeing a mixture of Veronica and Talia in it. Then, he stopped dreaming, as something made his jump out of his skin. Abnormally loud bangs went off in the distance, to his left. He got up to investigate, as he just had to know exactly what could possibly making so much noise in the middle of a farmland island. It was early in the morning, still dark, and people were bound to be sleeping, wherever they were. When he exited the Woodlands, he found fireworks shooting up into the sky, leaving trails of smoke behind as it reached it’s destination and blew up. The fireworks were far too loud for how far away it was, but it made sense after a while. He realised that the fireworks were making some sort of symbol, as he saw a circle come into place. Then, a 3... no, a backwards E, with no curves, only straight lines, with a horizontal line through it. His eyes widened as he realised what this was. “The Elric Symbol.” Zaxxarius whispered to himself. “Somebody made these extremely loud fireworks to signal me towards them... Is Veronica this way?” He began his departure immediately, and eventually, the fireworks stopped. He was heading towards these large hills, and he couldn’t see much over it. It was a hike, but when he got over the hills, he saw that off in the distance, through woods, a lake, and the river, was a Mountain. Not only a Mountain, but for some reason, there was some sort of structure on it. It looked like some sort of Tower on the top of it, but it wasn’t made to house lords of this land, that’s for sure. If anything, this was used in some sort of war. Perhaps a Magi war? “It’s not as if I can Wikipedia this.” He moaned, and he continued towards it. The river was in the middle of a large forest, and of course, it led to the Mountain, stopping by to say hello before making it’s way out to the ocean. He stuck alongside the river, watching the life sail by. He watched leaves fall onto the water, and be dragged along, and he saw fish go about their daily, boring, lives. He noticed how clean it was. He had stuck to open lands on his journey after reaching the island, because there was simple no need to walk through forests. He could see where he was going, and he could detect Veronica’s Aura with hollow sight. This forest was ridiculous to Zaxxarius, though. The trees were large, and thick, with the leaves being plentiful, blocking out much of the light from the sky, not that there was much to begin with. He could tell that the trees were extremely healthy from how many leaves there were, and how green they looked. Sunset was beginning around this time, and Zaxxarius had hoped he would be able to walk while admiring the sunset, allowing the rays of emerging sun to lighten up his spirit.
He could see the path up from the bottom of the mountain from where he was now. At the bottom, there was a small village, which people were actually inside. Every now and again, Zaxxarius would stop, and survey the area with Hollow sight, to see if he could see any enemies. He highly doubted Veronica would hide her Aura... but then again, she could be locked in a Mithril cell. That would make the fireworks a godsend. Or, it could be a trap. Either way, it didn’t matter. If Veronica was in the direction of the fireworks, nothing would stop Zaxxarius from getting to it. Wild animals darted from random bushes and behind trees when Zaxxarius had approached. The forest was teeming with wildlife, which is probably because hardly anybody actually walks through here. The river had bridges occasionally made to cross it, every couple of miles or so. It shocked him to think that practically nobody actually came here, to this island. Zaxxarius found himself thinking about life back at Cazria while he was walking through the forests. The area he was in, Trinity, was a city, and he had not got a chance to see outside the walls at the rest of the world. There was a lot to do, but he could never do it properly without Veronica. Guilt would cloud his interest and his duties as an Overlord. It was quite obvious that being an Overlord was not some odd oath to forsake any romantic interests, or think only of innocents, and it was quite obvious due to the fact that Sancterus and Voltrin both fell to the same fate out of love. Was his fate going to be the same?
The thoughts of the topic had taken up a bunch of his time, and he remembered that he had forgotten to do one of his usual surveys of the area for any Auras. He closed his eyes, looking around, and he found something. No, not just a single Aura. After concentration, he began to pick up more and more Auras popping up, as he intensified his field of view. Up on the mountain, he could see Sanctum patrolling the mountain, up and down the paths, packing boxes, etc. There was also totem-like structures around certain areas of the mountain. He didn’t know what it was, but it was emitting magic, creating some sort of shield around the area. Was it a visibility shield? Visibility shields could not block out the Aura of a Sorcerer, only the sorcerer, or Mithril, could do that. Then, as he continued, he saw something up in the top of the tower. It was a very familiar Aura, an Aura that used to scare him in Biology class, and an Aura that drew him to constantly stare at it’s owner. Vander had made cruel jests that Zaxxarius was in love with the owner, but Zaxxarius was not. Not until recently, in fact. It was Veronica. She was on her knees, immobilised. She was emitting some sort of Magic, and Zaxxarius could tell that she was weak. It would be a couple of days before her Magic was depleted completely... what was she doing? Whatever it was, it was obvious that she was immobilised for the process. He continued moving, faster now. He had time to save Veronica, but he still didn’t like to leave her in such a state. There was always the chance that she could finish whatever she was doing and prove to be of no more use to the people who were forcing her to use the magic. With that, Zaxxarius began moving even faster, towards the small village that was at the bottom of the mountain. Upon arriving, he scanned the village for any signs of magic. There was none, Sanctum were all up in the mountains, doing whatever they were doing. The village itself was not made for permanent residence. It was a tourist outpost, that offered supplies for hiking, and a couple of inns for some rest. There was also bars, and places to eat. However, even though this was modern, unlike the Magi camps around other places, this place still didn’t look to be doing too well. From the looks of things, this island had been a place for a resort, however, the area is no longer for tourists, and more for farmlands. He passed through the streets, passing laughing men who were eating on the outside cafes and bars. There was a very little amount of people here. He continued towards the mountain, past the tourist point, and stopped in front of the guards. “You can’t pass vere.” The guard said. His voice was translated into a stereotypical English speaking German due to Dragontongue. “Zeh mountains are out ov bounds.”
“What happened here?” Zaxxarius asked, referring to the tourist outpost.
“This place used to ve veeming with folk from zeh mainland, wanting to vike or tour the countryside. Vowever, in veh past couple of decades, the mountain has become... unstable.”
“Unstable?” Zaxxarius asked. “That doesn’t sound very healthy.”
