Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Why in the name of all the Great Fairies have you called such an urgent meeting?!” A collum of flame erupted from the earth as Dirk the Demon King stepped through, the smoke still drifting through the air as he crossed his muscled arms over a thick breastplate.

“First off, language, please,” I smoothed my shirt and silver surcoat from the unnatural wind that had just torn through the grassy clearing in the woods we’d gathered in. The golden beads in my braids clicked together as they settled back into natural positions. Dirk had the decency to look mildly embarrassed.

“Ah, forgive me.” Dirk cast a chagrined look at Fitzgerald as he settled himself on the ground, “It’s just I was in the middle of a very important appointment when I received your summons.”

“And I would not have called you all if it were not of the utmost importance,” I looked around at my gathered allies: the Water Temple Hero, his fairy Vex, Princess Fitzgerald, and the aforementioned Demon King Dirk. All of them stared at me with curiosity, confusion, and varying levels of annoyance. I had no regrets about using the magic flare we’d set up. The situation was too urgent, and there was no one else I could trust for such a task. While I might have rightly been accused of overconfident naivety before, I was at least self-aware enough to know my own class and power were far too insufficient to deal with this.

I wrung my hands and took a deep breath. “I find no easy way to say this. The fact is, Yui’s been kidnapped.”

All of them gasped with more than the appropriate horror. Except for the Water Temple Hero, who frowned and balled his fists. The words chilled even my veins.

“What happened?” Fitzgerald clasped her hands.

“Yeah, how the heck did anyone manage to take Yui where she didn’t want to go?” Vex scratched her head, “She’s difficult enough going somewhere she wants to.”

“I was not present for all of it.” I tried not to frown at Vex’s nonchalance. While she may be correct that Yui was normally quite capable of getting out of most situations she got herself into, there were certainly things above her skill and abilities (unconventionally as they were used). Vex had been there for some of them. Fortunately.

“But from what I walked in on,” I curled my fingers around my chin as I forced my mind to clearly bring back the scene, “it seems that her attackers knocked her unconscious somehow and carried her away. We were visiting her parents’ house, and she went upstairs on some errand. I went out to, uh, relieve myself,” Vex’s snigger did not stop me, “and on my way back I noticed a movement on the roof near the window. It looked as though someone crept in, and thinking it might have been Yui, I returned inside, mounted the stairs, and came to her room. I heard some scuffling that alerted me something was not right. But when I opened the door, I found her already draped over the shoulder of one of three men in her room. I didn’t recognize any of them, nor the strange masks they wore. The minute they saw me, the one holding her lept out the window.”

My knuckles tightened as my tone darkened. “I should have known something was off sooner. But I failed to. The other two stalled me, and I wasn’t even able to beat them! They ran off after the other had gotten far enough away I had not hope to catch up to them. It didn’t even occur to me to try and use Scan until they were already out of range.”

The others fell silent for a minute as they considered this predicament. They continued to consider it carefully. Very carefully. At great length. When the silence stretched to the point of awkward, I glanced a little helplessly around. The Water Temple Hero’s hand rested on his chin, his gaze beyond our little circle. Vex hovered near him, agitated to the point of not being able to stand still, her movement sharp and erratic. Dirk adjusted his glasses as though he were about to give an alibi that wasn’t really needed.

“These masks they wore…” Fitzgerald was the first to speak again, “what did they look like?”

“Well, they clashed horribly with the shade of black they’d chosen for their main clothes, not to mention the silver armbands all of them had.” My fashionista class had noticed right away the second worse crime committed by them. “The green and red on their white masks highlighted the fact brown was clearly the base for the black dye, which just wasn’t in the same color family at all…” I checked myself. “But I suppose that doesn’t signify at the moment.”

“They wore silver armbands, you said?” Dirk put his hands on his knees, “I fear this does not bode well. Perhaps the goddesses were more piqued than we realized at Yui’s interference."

Foreboding settled over the group as we looked at one another. The Water Temple Hero in particular drew into himself, though he still said the same as usual, which was nothing, unless Vex translated his sign language.

“I wouldn’t put it past them,” Vex sneered to break the silence, “They’ve got a bit too much of a delight in destruction for my tastes.”

“No, not in destruction,” Dirk shook his head, “At least, not abject destruction. They seek control of the Continent in their cycle of Heroes and Demon Kings. From what Yui has revealed, it is their will that this cycle continue so that they can control both humans and demons, and neither can gain enough power to challenge them. The destruction, though immense, is a side effect, as is the rampant sorrow. In some ways, they are not too dissimilar from the other Demon Kings…and myself.”

I focused my gaze straight ahead at nothing. We couldn’t be sure that was why the goddesses did what they did. Yet, did that really matter? After the Water Temple, I’d been convinced whatever reason the goddesses had for their cycle, it didn’t justify continuing it, and if that meant I had to watch—even help—Yui dismantle it this time around, then so be it. We truly had rather undid the very thing they set out to do. Which was fine. It made sense in context.

Yet, I was still a sword saint. A sword saint that had done those things. There had been no rescinding of my class or divine punishment, so that must have been that. I had chosen a path similar to that of the Water Temple Hero, but unlike him as well. This new path, rugged and undefined as it was, was a path that no longer ended with the Demon King. Of course, I didn’t mind following Yui into that completely uncharted territory. Because whatever path this was, it was the one that had resolved everything. That was that. I’d given my answer with no relief nor regret, and it was as settled as it would ever be. Unlike the matter of how to proceed with our current predicament, and I was about to raise that point.

“Yeah, well,” Vex crossed her arms as she settled onto the shoulder of the Water Temple Hero, “The goddesses still didn’t seem fazed about the destruction of the Continent, even though it’s supposedly of their own making. I bet the only reason they don’t just destroy everything is they don’t actually have the real power to do it.”

“I must disagree with you on that again,” Dirk looked seriously at her, “Without downplaying our very real grievances, there are creatures more opposed to life—to existence—than the goddesses. Ones that feed on not only disunity of people, but of the world itself. There are forces even a Demon King would not tap into, things that will tear apart reality itself, that seem to come and go with no warning, but especially to those who push certain boundaries. Those things, it is best left alone.”

“And while I find all this fascinating,” Fitzgerald said, “it doesn’t solve our main problem. We still need to figure out what to do about Yui’s kidnapping. Currently, we aren’t even sure who’s responsible,” she turned to me, clamped her mouth shut, and quickly turned away, “not really, at least.”

We all glanced at each other. We glanced at each other some more. Dirk and Fitzgerlad stared at the ground. Vex darted about impatiently.

I caught the Water Temple Hero’s piercing blue eye. “So…how do we proceed?”

The Water Temple Hero frowned and made slow, deliberate motions with his hands. I had studied sufficient sign language to catch his meaning even before Vex translated.

“You called the meeting.”

Me, who’d never led so much as a group prayer. I rubbed the back of my head as I forced my voice to steady. “Right. I’m the one who called you. I take responsibility for that action.”

I tapped the back of my hand against my other palm, the uneven ground of the clearing taking enough focus to walk across that the rest of my mind had a chance to actually work. “The fact is, Yui has been kidnapped. We don’t know by whom yet, but a rescue mission is certainly in order. Now, it’s not often in legend that the hero himself is taken, most often an ally or loved one. But there are a few cases, and,” I risked glance at the Water Temple Hero, “well, I realize we aren’t exactly all here to follow tradition—”

“You got that right!” Vex said and cracked her knuckles. “So, how’re we gonna do this?”

“Uh,” I continued to stare at the Water Temple Hero, “as the former hero, you do have seniority and precedence. Do you have any suggestions?”

The Water Temple Hero made several signs with his hands, his eyes narrowed. Vex translated for him, “Find where Yui is being kept. Destroy her captors. Ensure she is unharmed. Treat her if she is.”

“A very straightforward plan!” I let out a sigh of relief. My path opened up before me again. I tapped my chin, “So, step one…how do we find where Yui is being kept?”

Once again, the group fell silent and exchanged uneasy glances. I had to resist the unexpectedly strong urge to yank my braids out of my head. If Yui were here, she’d have already planned at least three different methods to try. But then again, if Yui were here, we wouldn’t need any of those plans. There were clearly advantages to having a schemer in our group, always giving me more to try, think on, and in some cases, damage control. It seemed inconceivable now that I’d once been so offended she’d walked through a wall rather than blow it up with a bomb…

I…maybe…still kind of was, and thinking on it now, rather surprised (and relieved) Yui had never got her hands on any actual explosives and immediately thrown them about at the earliest opportunity. But then again, her break with tradition had always been calculated, almost scientific…both brashly unashamed, yet not unconcerned with actual lives. Every break, shortcut, and deviation had a purpose, right up to her final one. Was that what made her plan work where so many other attempts, even attempts to follow the Hero’s quest perfectly, had failed? But then how could companions, such as the Erstwhile Devotee, have kept their heroes on track? Was their desire to follow tradition simply that strong?

“I suppose we could confer with some local mercenary guilds,” Dirk’s voice broke into my mind, “I do still have some underground contacts who might have access to areas denied the rest of us.”

“A promising start!” I beamed at him. We had more resources now than Yui and I had ever had. We had enough. We’d be able to figure this out, and Yui would be fine. That was the start and end of this matter. My gnawing panic could settle down.

“Though,” Dirk frowned a little, “I’m afraid the Rinjath—one of the assassin’s guilds—will not be a source we can look to. As of last week, our disagreement is still not settled, and they’ve got sharper eyes than most when it comes to spotting my forces.” Dirk crossed his arms and grumbled, “If they’d used those eyes to accomplish the agreed-upon work, we wouldn’t be in this situation…”

“The Rinjath are real?!” Fitzgerald put a hand over her mouth.

“W-what disagreement did you have with the Rinjath?” I asked at the same time.

“Well…” Dirk rubbed the back of his neck, adjusted his glasses, and in general tried to hide his embarrassment, which was comical given his enormous form. “I had hired them to help design and test some traps in my fortress and a few of the castles I had captured. But to begin with, they were entirely unwilling to work with me on the traps I had designed myself, and they refused to put a trap on all but the most valuable swords hanging on my walls.”

Which must not have included the sword Yui had taken from his wall and never given back. Instead of reminding him of this, I frowned sympathetically, “Well, the vision in one head can never really properly translate to another’s.”

“And that wasn’t even the worst of it!” Dirk waved his glasses around and ran a hand over his face. “After we finally agreed on the number and placement of traps, they had the audacity to still charge the full amount for less work! And then there was a whole incident where one of their members was maimed during the process, even though the contract clearly released me of liability!”

“I’m sorry that after all that time and effort, it still wasn’t working properly,” Fitzgerald gently took his hand.

“Oh, no, that was the one trap that did work,” Dirk shook his head as Fitzgerald stiffened and her hand went slightly limp, “After they tested it and it took off one man’s arm, they refused to finish any more, and so I refused to pay them, and, regrettably, the issue has stood sourly between us both since then.”

“I see. So, no help from the Rinjath clan.” I didn’t have any comment on that situation that would help, so it was back to the circle. The Water Temple Hero crossed his arms and tapped his foot impatiently.

“I think we’ve wasted enough time talking about what we can’t do to help!” Vex’s voice hit its annoying pitch. Though the Water Temple Hero made no movement, Vex likely spoke for both of them.

“Right.” I tried very hard not to raise my voice, “Regrettable as the trap incident with Dirk may be, it likely won’t help us free Yui. Though I will admit, it did explain the lack of traps and puzzles I noticed when we stormed the fortress.”

“I hate to think of Yui stuck behind more traps,” Fitzgerald rubbed her arms as if hit with an ice spell, “To think, the irony of her working so hard to be the hero, helping me avoid getting kidnapped, only to suffer that same fate.”

“Well, whatever traps they’ve put, it’s not as though it’s going to keep me from Yui.” I didn’t know I would say that until it came out of my mouth. Uninvited images of the horrible situation Yui must be in filled my mind as promptly, completely, and clearly as if on cue. It had been easy to suppress those fears while I had to gather the others, but now there was nothing to do but stare this problem full in the face. The legend was no longer a story. So there was no guarantee it had a happy ending. And the most useful thing I could do at the moment was rally allies and pray she was okay. Though I wasn’t sure who I was praying to.

Had they hurt her beyond knocking her out? It had been over a day, but was she even conscious again? How much time did we still have to find her? Why did they take her to begin with? Had they tried to torture her? Cut her, hit her, maybe force her to wear muted pastel earth tones?

“Indeed!” Dirk’s exclamation once again forced me to pay attention to the said allies actually around me. “With how much I’ve had to build my own traps, I’m well versed in the lever, pit, and even portrait types. As well as how to disable them.”

“An invaluable help, to be sure.” I recovered just in time to have Vex get right in my face.

“Once we actually find her! We’re not going to get very far just going up to everyone and asking if they’ve seen Yui or if they’re part of a secret organization that kidnapped her,” Vex drew back as she tapped her chin, “I guess that’s the best suggestion I’ve heard so far, though.”

“I could put out an order for everyone to be on the lookout for Yui or any sign of those men who took her?” Fitzgerald said it more like a question than a suggestion, “Though, perhaps that would alert them to the fact we’re looking for her…Or I could try disguising myself as one of those masked men?”

“That’d only work if we knew where they were, which we don’t!” Vex rolled her eyes, her tone building in volume and shrillness. “And I don’t see how any of this is getting us any closer to figuring it out!”

Vex’s voice broke on the last three words. Her glow faded, almost as dim as when we’d first met her.

I clenched a fist around my own fear. We would not lose another hero. If I had faith in anything, it was that. And the shiver up my spine and the unsoundness beneath my feet warned me such faith would be needed. Good thing I had practice holding to faith. A faith I’d let go of. Surely. I must have—

The sound of a drawstring gathering tension drew our attention. The Water Temple Hero aimed his bow across the circle. I sucked in my breath as the Hero trained the bow with deliberate care. The arrow sliced through the air inches from my head. While I scrambled to figure out exactly how I’d given offense, a THUD and SHRIEK came from behind. All of us whirled to where a flash of silver darted away through the bushes.

Without need of a signal, we all started off in rapid pursuit. Hopefully the Hero’s arrow would slow him down enough for us to catch, even with the head start. But as we crashed through the tree line, all of us froze just as suddenly as we’d started.

In a clearing just on the other side of the undergrowth, a small altar of stones rested. The placement was deliberate, if messy. On the top, neat and clear against the rugged naturalism around it, sat a letter.

Chapter Text

We all carefully edged our way into the clearing. The note lay in such a way that left no doubt as to its intent to be found. There was no wax seal, though a mark of red ink rested on the flap. It depicted a beam that came down and cut through jagged edges of what might have been a tree or roots or even lightning. Something about it felt familiar, but I couldn’t place it.

“A missive from her captors,” I took a shaky breath, “I suppose this should come as a relief. We’ll have some clue now.”

“No doubt some demand of ransom,” Dirk nodded with the air of a sage.

“Or a threat to not look for her,” Vex hissed, which displayed exactly how effective such a threat would be.

“Let’s hope it’s the former,” Fitzgerald wrung her hands, “I mean, at least with a ransom we have some method of potential appeasement and an assurance she’ll remain unharmed for at least a little while.”

The Water Temple Hero gestured to where the note lay untouched on the pile of rocks. After looking around and realizing no one was going to do anything, he grunted, snatched the letter up, and flipped it open. We all hovered anxiously, waiting. The Water Temple Hero hesitated. He scanned the whole letter again. His eyebrow hitched up. His lip twitched.

He broke into a snort, the loudest expressive sound any of us had ever heard him make.

“What is it?” I asked. The Water Temple Hero held the parchment out. His hand trembled from the laughter and chuckles that still shook his body. I read the note aloud.

“Dear Friends and Companions of the False Hero Yui,

“In the name of all the goddesses, we request that you come and remove your imposter as soon as possible, nevermind your inconvenience. She has strained our patience long enough, and despite the fact that all her past actions were a general annoyance, her current actions are much more targeted at us and our sanity. In light of this, we request that you please take her and keep her far, far away from us.

“We give assurance that this is an honest request. We are located in the Everecho Canyons, southeast from the Water Temple. Thank you and may the goddesses smite you quickly and completely for your heresy now that you have finished the task of being a scourge to us.

“Sincerely,

“The Ardent Ones.”

I raised my eyes to the others, equally baffled, except for Vex, who hadn’t stopped cackling the entire time. Evidently, she and her hero had the same sense of humor. Would Yui have shared it as well? I didn’t know if the thought made me feel better or worse.

“So…I guess we know what to do, then,” I finally said, “Let us head post-haste to this hideout in the Everecho canyons. Before their annoyance and desperation with Yui takes a harsher turn.”

“Or before Yui really breaks them!” Vex’s arms wrapped around her sides.

I folded the note and slipped it into my satchel. It had been a good plan for me to have carrying capacities outside of Yui, though I couldn’t help but lament several good items we’d had her hold onto so they wouldn’t be stolen. Yes, yes, the irony was now thick and repulsive as the slime forest. I frowned and looked around at my companions. They looked at me.

“Sooooo, are we following the plan or what?” Vex hovered near the Water Temple Hero.

“Yes, let us leave at once!” I turned on my heel. I glanced uneasily at the others as I edged a foot forward, “Well, shall we go?”

The others nodded, but they still waited in their group. My heart lurched and stirred restlessly as I began to realize something I couldn't quite put into words. The Water Temple Hero, as if he read my very thoughts and decided he'd watched me flounder enough, glared at me and jabbed a finger forward. Vex did not need to translate. I whipped my head around, released a deep breath, and moved towards the Water Temple and beyond.

When I finally felt the commanding aura fade enough to glance back, the others trailed behind me. Why the Water Temple Hero had not led us forward, I could not say, but the look on the man’s face prevented me from asking. This was, after all, my friend who was missing, my hero. The Water Temple Hero had only ever come along because we’d asked him to. Because Yui had asked him to.

My heart pounded louder as I moved towards her. Despite the assurance of the others that all was well, many other times a seemingly assured victory had been pulled out from under us. It wasn’t as though I could trust in any omnipotent, benevolent beings anymore. At least, not the ones I once had. My rising pulse and worry drowned out any other questions I might have had about the Water Temple Hero. It was really a miracle I found the path to our destination at all. Yet, I managed to keep moving forward as I’d begun.

+======+

As we continued on our way, Yui intruded on my thoughts over and over again. The note certainly made it seem like she was in an advantageous position, or at least that her captors had no plans to hurt her, and she clearly wasn’t about to give up easily. But something about this still didn’t feel right. I didn’t doubt Yui—with her creativity and stubbornness, not to mention her unorthodox use of Bag Mage skills—had found her way around a difficult situation. I didn’t doubt the veracity of the letter. But still…something irked me as I turned the whole incident over in my mind. The unease had been growing for some time, ever since I saw those masks and silver armbands of the apparent Ardent Ones. I’d chalked the feeling up to panic at Yui’s situation, but now that we were on our way to rescue her—from a situation she probably didn’t actually need that much help with—the unease returned.

It crawled over me like the restless wind around us as I followed the semi-familiar path through sparse woodland. We were not approaching the Water Temple from the same route Yui and I had originally gone down. We weren’t starting from the same location, so going along that path would simply take too much time. The trees weren’t that thick here, after all.

But how to explain this foreboding? My mind and spirit likely knew something I did not. Then I had best let them lead me to it. I let my mind wander wherever it wanted, my body only alert enough to accomplish the simple task of staying on the vague path.

We would follow the Water Temple Hero’s plan, a very sound one, and the whole incident would probably be resolved within the next few hours. So why did my shoulders tense and a shadow cloud my thoughts? It hadn’t been this bad since after the Water Temple. And when we found the first destroyed temple. And when Dirk first joined our team. And when Yui had placed the old sage in the hero’s shrine—

A bough of pine nettles smacked me in the face. I frowned as I pushed aside the branch. This was why meditation was done while sitting still. An ache in my leg, where apparently my sheathed sword had struck many times in my wandering, intruded on my notice. I shoved it and the branches away. The mess of trees and shrubs eventually succumbed to my insistent pushing, and I looked into the valley below us.

There was the Water Temple, still mostly submerged in the lake, four stones above the water…hadn’t there been only three on our first visit? I shook my head and brushed pine nettles from my face and clothes. Regardless, we were here, and it was time to head to the Everecho Canyons. Time to finish this quickly…maybe a little too quickly.

Was that what irked me? That it was too easy? I hesitated as I gazed again at the Water Temple. For a moment, I gazed at myself and Yui on those pillars, hopeful, supplied, a bit trepidatious, but not nearly as much as we should have been.

A breath at my side. Hard. Sharp. I whirled around to stare at the Water Temple Hero. He too gazed down at the lake, an intense and faraway look in his eyes. Vex hovered a little closer to him before she landed on his shoulder. Her hand against his cheek roused the Hero, who shook himself and seemed to come back to the present. He still did not move, though.

“Is something the matter?” Fitzgerald genuinely startled everyone by her abrupt appearance.

“No!” I tightened my fists, “No, everything’s fine. Just figuring out where to go from here.”

I glanced back again to where Dirk and Fitzgerald hovered uneasily behind us. The two of them glanced between me, the Water Temple Hero, and the lake below. Dirk quickly turned his eyes away from the Water Temple Hero. Fitzgerald gently patted his arm.

My fists tightened even more as a wave of anger surged like a geyser, so sudden it might have been a curse. Because staring at them in the shadows of the trees, the dappled darkness cast over all of them like a shroud, I remembered why Yui and I had gone into that temple, why we’d had the revelation we did, and why we had climbed out of that place more shaken and determined than ever to do what was right.

Yui had given everything so we could break the cycle, so we could have that choice. She’d given up her time, experience, levels, the direct defeat of the demon king, the role of a hero she’d wanted all along. She’d nearly given her life on several occasions. In the final hour, Yui had even given up her own practicality and fallen in line with tradition to give each of us a chance to fulfill the roles we’d wanted in the way we chose. She let us choose that tradition. Just once.

“Come,” I waved a hand as I turned and started past the lake, “the Everecho Canyons must be somewhere close. There we will find Yui and put an end to this.”

I marched on, painfully aware I’d only heard of the place in passing and didn’t know its precise location. Also, despite the many miles I’d traveled with it before, my sheath continued to strike incessantly against my leg. But my anger still burned, and I’d go through a dozen wrong turns and a hundred more strikes until I did find those canyons. Yui was worth it. Whatever reservations I had would simply have to wait until I was done with this.

As I cast one more glance at the lake, I caught sight of four rippled reflections following mine. Was I actually leading all the legendary figures I’d once only read about? Was that the cause of my unease? Was I so off-balance because I was at the head? That had always been Yui’s job, chiefly, and I had seen on more than one occasion in this adventure that we didn’t exactly know how to proceed without her at the front. There was neither her clarity nor the traditions of the cycle to fall back on.

And anyways, there wasn’t truly any set tradition for companions of heroes after the battle with the demon king and his generals. Of course, many of them had goals of their own that they achieved and presumably died happy. In some cases, it was hinted that the companions continued to adventure, either with the hero or on their own. Of course, far too often they would fall in battle with the generals, or in some cases simply never be mentioned again, leaving their fate up to speculation. Some were decreed saints, as was the Ancient Healer who aided the Amnesic Hero…though she had also died in battle, so it was a bit of a cold comfort. But other saints had lived, such as the Erstwhile Devotee, who aided the Speedy Runner Hero in making sure to hit every necessary goal on his quest even with their breakneck pace. In fact, I couldn’t remember any mention of that man’s death nor burial. Some said he was even to this day aiding the goddesses and their work.

That was actually the general assumption for most of the hero’s companions that survived the clash with the demon king. A very proper ending…and one insufferably vague, given our current situation. I looked away from the lake.

How many of those companions knew just what they were participating in, what they actually promoted and allowed to continue? Did any of them ever wonder if the goddesses and their work were really worth serving? Did any of them…want to end the cycle itself? Might that be for the best? But what would replace it?

I glanced to the side as Vex made another darting circle of the party, apparently not content to travel in a bottle this time. She circled the Water Temple Hero closely. I bit the inside of my cheek. How many of those companions were made to serve the goddesses and their cycle?

My sheath struck heavily against my side. The same sheath and sword I’d been given when formally granted my class. I could still recall the archbishop’s smile that day. I gripped the hilt and the top of my sheath tightly. No more banging against my leg. These thoughts were not helpful, and of course there could be no real answer to the questions about the companions. Sadly, though it had been less than four decades since the previous cycle, the last hero and all his companions had died in a full-on clash with the demon king. There was no one from whom I could get satisfactory answers on this subject.

But I might have found an answer as to why I was so hesitant about moving the group forward. Well, if my unease did spring from being in the lead, I would simply deal with it as I had every other time Yui and I had broken from tradition. Time to get these figures of legend, all of whom had survived our legend, to the Everecho Canyons with all speed. There was a purpose we had all chosen to serve that I hoped would carry well beyond our legend.

And, in all honesty, I just really hoped Yui was okay. It was a hope that kept us all going even as we traveled ten miles in the wrong direction.

+=====+

After the fifth detour (I would never trust directions from a toad again), we finally found the path that led through the forest and into a field of jutting outcroppings of rock. The Water Temple Hero helped us spot the markers along some of the rocks, and we finally walked through a deep, narrow crevasse that wound into others, the sky only a sliver above us, partially blocked out by more trees that grew in the level areas atop the cliffs, not to mention the many unique plants that found a home in the rock walls and sheltered soil. It looked as if we’d wandered into knife-wounds in the earth. When we stepped out of the crevasse and into a clearing, a building of stone built into the terrain greeted us. A waterfall fell beyond it, the sound loud enough to echo off the walls.

“This must be the place,” Fitzgerald pointed to the banners flapping from silver poles on either side of the entrance, which bore the same mark as the note had.

“Ya know, it’s kinda weird they have those banners right out front,” Vex’s voice became tinged with curiosity among her spite, “I mean, I get this place is pretty hidden already, but can you really call yourself secret if you’re literally waving a sign of who and where you are right outside of your front door? And they’re so weird, too. That symbol doesn’t make a bit of sense.”

“That’s a problem we can address later,” I pushed to the front of the group. The semi-organized lump of stone curled like a sleeping dragon before me. I took another step forward, my voice as level and loud as normal.

“Yui is inside, and that’s where we need to go.” I strode to the doors as I felt the same heavy yet intoxicating burden that had come from every other step on our journey. This alertness, dread and anticipation, had been absent for some time. Being close to her, the aura of this place, and my pounding heart made every muscle move with determination. Yui was near, and I was going to find her.

I pushed open the heavy, arched double doors, and I didn’t care who was or wasn’t leading the group, because I had come for a blonde girl with an angel’s heart, an imp’s mind, and the spite or pragmatism to see clearer than a sage.

Even where it concerned the goddesses themselves.

Chapter Text

The doors led to a short hallway, and torches flared to life as I stepped inside. In contrast to the rough outside, the inside was precisely, symmetrically constructed. The walls were made of white brick, the ceiling and floor a smoothed concrete. I glanced around, but nothing moved in the shadows or gave any indication of a trap. Since most dungeons had a reasonably safe foyer, I strode down the short hall and to the next door, this one square and slightly smaller than the one we’d entered through. Darkness obscured my vision beyond it.

“Something is not right,” Dirk spoke from behind me.

“I’ll say,” Vex zipped around the empty room, a hand to her ear, “With how desperate the letter sounded, I’d expect someone to be screaming from Yui terrorizing them.”

The Water Temple Hero frowned, a considering look on his face, but Dirk shook his head.

“No, that isn’t what I mean. There’s something off about this place, an energy I don’t like. It reminds me of—”

“A temple,” I finished for him. The stillness and white blocks, even the layout, should have been a hint. And if that wasn’t enough, the room we’d just walked into was further proof.

The central room was shaped like a pentagon, with a stained glass window on one side and the door we’d come through at the apex opposite. Pillars lined the center of the room until it rose in a staircase that split into two at a landing below the stained glass window. The light of the sun came through the window and cast a vivid golden-orange shaft across the long hall. The edge of the waterfall could be seen through the right side of the window. And on the landing, an altar of silver-white stone sat, a gold and blue cloth draped over it with that same symbol stitched into the pattern. A beam coming down on twisted roots. Except in this symbol, the beam came from five interconnected circles atop a five-pointed star.

Behind the altar, a statue of a hooded priest knelt, silver-grey locks drifting from his hood. His hands rested on the altar. So much like the statues of saints, most former companions of heroes, that lined the various halls of monuments.

“This is not what I expected a bandit’s hideout to look like,” Fitzgerald broke the silence.

“Doesn’t change what we’re here to do,” Vex translated for the Water Temple Hero.

“Not in the least,” I nodded and took another step towards the stairs.

My heart thudded. This was another temple, another puzzle, another hurdle that all heroes and their companions faced. I could go through this one as I had countless others and be of use to Yui and get her back and everything would return to normal.

I would once again live the legends I’d read about and praised.

But the dread from before, not an ounce about being in the lead, welled up and stung my mind. I could not look at the altar. Nor the statue. It didn’t matter; only Yui did. Just as only my faith had mattered at one point.

At that moment, all of us barely halfway across the room, a clamorous uproar broke out somewhere farther within the temple. All of us braced for attack. The uproar drew closer, and in the next second, a literal flood poured down the left stairs and into the room. People, water, and odds and ends spilled down the stairs and over the banister. Screams mixed with a distinctive, almost maniacal laugh. My head snapped up. My heart thudded for an entirely different reason.

Sure enough, on a sturdy chair, her hands tied to the arms, flat on her back, Yui laughed from beside the altar.

I breathed a sigh of relief. As suspected, she was doing just fine. Still, I was ready to be of service to her however I could. I pushed aside the dread that had reached a crescendo and rushed up the stairs.

I was no more than halfway when a particularly soggy enemy growled and rose to his feet, pulling out a curved ceremonial dagger from his robes. He shoved the white hood of his cowl from his face and leapt the three steps down to the landing.

“This is enough! I’ve had it with you and your demonic tricks! First the walls, then the pit, then the chair, and now this!”

“But I did what you asked.” Yui, A cheeky grin on her face, still on her back with her legs towards the man, didn’t see him. “I emptied my inventory, as you requested. Or at least I started to. Would you like me to keep going?”

The man came a step closer, slammed his foot down onto the leg of the chair, and brought it up so Yui faced him. He gripped her shoulder. Her eyes briefly widened as she saw the knife.

“Your Excellency, NO!”

I’d been momentarily frozen in horror and confusion upon seeing Archbishop Roden, but it only took a moment for me to throw myself forward. I might not have been fast enough to reach them, but that was okay, because an arrow was even faster than any of us.

The Water Temple Hero lowered his bow as his shaft struck the archbishop’s arm and caused him to drop the knife. I grabbed the back of Yui’s chair as it fell to the ground. She gazed up with a smile as the fear trickled from her face.

“Heh, just in time. Probably looked over the rest of the legends and found just the proper moment to come in, right?” She glanced behind me to our allies and smiled, “I knew this whole hero thing would be easier if all the allies stuck together.”

“I believe in this sense, technically, you were still the one who left us,” I raised an eyebrow, the strain in my voice minimized at the familiar banter. My attention quickly shifted to the drenched soldiers stirring around us. I heard more than saw my allies draw their weapons. “But we cannot debate that when enemies are nearby.”

I yanked Yui and the chair away from the archbishop, who’d risen to his feet, a hand clenched over the arrow in his arm. His panicked, wide eyes grew wider and then narrowed. I tried very hard, but not even Yui beside me could remove the dread this time. My sword felt as though it weighed more than a mountain, and I didn’t even dare grip the hilt this time.

“You…” the archbishop lurched towards us, “You were supposed to care for the temple, keep the unworthy out of it. You were sworn to use your skills to smite the enemies of the goddesses. You were willingly under oath to serve them and distribute their blessings among the land.” His breath heaved a few times, as though he struggled to find even a semblance of the right words.

“And in the single greatest tradition we have ever upheld, you let a headstrong, unscrupulous, maniacal slip of a girl act out a parody of it! At every step you kept up with her, guided her to somehow hit every requirement for the hero, and were instrumental in maintaining her false image.” The archbishop shook his head, amazed and irate in every sense of the words. “And it worked.”

“What?”

The archbishop, as best he could with an arrow in his arm, crossed his hands in front of each other. He spread out all his fingers as he locked eyes with mine. My throat began to close up with the gesture. I tried to open my mouth again, but my mind went blank, my tongue limp. After all, everything the archbishop said was true.

“For such heresy—blasphemy you not only allowed but encouraged and participated in—I have no choice but to strip every title from you!” He uncrossed his hands as he clenched his fingers into fists. “You, Ken Sei, are hereafter and always to be regarded as a heretic, excommunicated from all sects of the Silver Goddesses.”

I could not break eye contact. It held me as still as the statue behind the altar. For a brief moment, I was just a young boy with a wooden sword, caught playing in the courtyard. How foolish that imagination was.

Dizziness buzzed in my head. Already the sparks of my proud tutor’s faces began to turn cold as I looked at the contorted anger of the very man who’d once granted me my class. There was not a single oath to bind me to the goddesses…or anyone or anything else.

The archbishop heaved several heavy breaths. The pain of the arrow must have caught up with him then. He fell to his knees. While on the ground, he moaned out, “And since you are now relieved of all your duties, take this scourge and see that she never comes near any of us again!”

“You…you’re just…letting her go?” I felt Yui’s astonishment mirror my own. Shouldn’t I be glad we’d gotten off so easy? Hadn’t I let myself off so many times? But that was because I thought I was doing right. And I still did, not that it mattered to the archbishop.

A crawling numbness spread over me, just as it had in the Water Temple. Better this excommunication come now and be done with than the slow, repeated disgust I’d imagined. My dry throat contracted. How did I only now realize how many times I’d played this very incident out in my head?

“I want her gone!” the archbishop’s anger began to turn into only disinterested contempt as he hauled himself to his feet, “Take her with you to any reach of the Continent, preferably to the Underworld, but keep her away from us!”

He ran a hand through his sopping hair as he shook his head back and forth in that slight, stinging disapproval he showed all lack of faith. “I came here to reconvert a heretic, but I was told nothing of the insanity she has fallen into. And no one has yet been able to draw out one who does not wish to be saved. So please, remove her from my sight and any society she has yet to corrupt!”

He turned from us. I opened my mouth. But to what purpose? I was not important enough anymore to warrant any further punishment. Why on earth was the relief more guilty than my actions? Why did the relief wrest with shame? Excommunication, as a punishment, was supposed to hurt, wasn’t it?

“I…I see…” I turned to Yui.

Sweet Leah, I’d been excommunicated.

“Ken?” she whispered.

I couldn’t look her in the face as I began to tug at her bonds. Her fingers tried to wrap around mine, and the brief brush sent a warmth through me. Though comforting, it wasn’t enough to counter the heat and chill that swept through me by turns. I almost regretted there would be no fight in which I could exercise the emotions that had built all day. But it was for the best, was it not? As Yui had proved, sometimes the less climactic end was still the right way to go. Especially when you did not have destiny or divinity on your side.

“I didn’t realize that was your boss. You’re very different from him,” her tone was the same as in the slime forest. I wished a bath would get off whatever was all over me.

I didn’t want to go back to the order, and now I’d never have to and never fear retribution. The goddesses would never punish me as they had the Water Temple Hero. I had wanted so badly for the goddesses and us to be right, to find a way to make faith work. What good was a faith that couldn’t deal with the unexplained and new information? Hadn’t I kept it even when the goddesses let the demon king take over two thirds of the world?

“Ken, I’m sorry.” Yui leaned forward, but I still couldn’t look at her. “I—We…we can talk about it later. Or now. Or never. If you’d like.”

I drew my sword to carefully cut away at Yui’s bonds. The same sword I’d been given years ago. It was still with me; I could still use it. I tried to force relief to be my strongest emotion, to at least pretend to triumph. Over my order and oaths. Over everything I’d once believed. Over the very traditions and system we’d tried to imitate and fill the roles of. Because if nothing else, my dim awareness of the present told me I certainly was pretending. But pretending that this didn’t bother me at all or that it crushed me? I didn’t know which answer frightened me more.

Yui was safe. That was all that mattered. This was surely what I’d agreed to when I started this. What insanity to think I could keep Yui from breaking anything. But the thing was done now, and what's done cannot be undone. Our outcome looked as bright as the stained glass window…why did I abruptly feel that something was wrong? I stared at the window and empty altar again for just a few seconds too long.

“Allow me to help you,” A hiss of metal accompanied a chilling voice that crept into my ears.

Yui screamed and jerked back as a knife cut through her bonds, barely missed her hand, and instead sank into her leg.

“What in the name of the Great Fairies?!” Fitzgerald spluttered, then smacked a hand over her mouth and delicately blushed.

I grabbed Yui and pulled her away as what was now very clearly not a statue rose from the lunge of his attack. He eased back into a standing position. I sliced Yui’s other hand free and kicked the chair between us and our opponent.

“Alright, now you’ve messed…with—Ken…” Yui raised her hand, but whatever she’d been about to summon, her effort to stand on her own two feet depleted her energy.

I held her closer so she could lean on me. I also brought my sword up to be between us and the new foe.

The not-statue spoke in a steady rumble, though exactly who he spoke to was unclear. “Since we have the same goal, freeing people from bonds, I felt I just had to lend a hand.”

“Y-you guys…are so messed up…” Yui’s trembling arm gripped mine as I dragged her another step back. “How did Ken…end up so good?”

The blood ran freely from her leg and splattered against the floor. She gasped and shuddered as she nearly collapsed. I hastily cast a Greater Heal spell over her. But the wound on her leg didn’t close. Both of us stared at it.

“But I…but I had Phase,” Yui gulped.

“Yes, I figured you did,” The man smiled beneath his matted hair and hood, “and that ability protects you from any fatal blow. But if the blow itself is not fatal, then the ability doesn’t trigger.”

“Then it is not a fatal blow, and nothing we cannot handle,” I nodded to Vex, who darted over and put her tiny hands on the wound.

Though the danger of not keeping track of foes was now all too obvious, I couldn’t help glancing down, especially when Yui gave a tiny yelp and fully collapsed. Her entire body shook with heavy breaths. My eyes darted between Yui’s wound and the man, who stood quite calmly, as much of a statue as before. Slowly, with Vex’s brow furrowed as she shoved the skin together, the wound closed. But Yui did not revive.

Her eyes fluttered half-open, a wild confusion in them that mirrored my own. Only now that the chaos was not of our doing did I realize how normal it had become. But as Yui had observed with our first adventure, if we could take unorthodox and unexpected measures, so could someone else. I had no more idea now than I had then of what to do about it.

Our other allies, apparently done with the other minions—the other sword saints—stormed up the stairs. The archbishop and the other soldiers drew back. My heart thudded wildly as I tried to get a grip on the emotions that once again flared up and stalled my brain.

“What sort of sorcery is this?” Dirk, smoke on his clothes and at his feet from the water (which had apparently been holy) Yui had doused the room in, brandished one of his blades at the man’s throat. After a moment of enraged silence, the Water Temple Hero joined with his blade also at the man’s throat. My voice didn’t work. I still couldn’t say anything. Couldn’t think. Couldn’t hope anymore, because what good was I hoping for? What did I dare ask, and from what power?

I'd known at one point. And now I didn’t. Now I clutched Yui as I struggled to hold her up.

The man spoke calmly, slowly, almost patronizingly, “As I said, the Phase ability cannot block any blow that is not, in and of itself, fatal. But if the blade that delivers the blow also happens to also deliver a vitriolic substance, the ability cannot do anything about it once it is already in her body.”