Oweynagat

Panting, I am already lacking breath. I’ve never been the type to go out a lot, let alone get involved in any kind of physical activity other than my fingers furiously typing.

    But, even though my legs hurt as hell, I know I can’t afford to take a respite. Unless I resign myself to meet my death.

“Let’s head to the forest!” Tyffeon prompts. “Once under the trees’ foliage, we will be able to hide.”

“Definitely not! At the moment we step near an alder, the King will know where we are!” I somehow manage to reply.

“How..?”

“His benediction… He’ll hear whatever these trees do.”

“Tssk.”

    Of course, even to his folk, Erlkœnig never revealed the full extent of his powers. Preferring to keep trump cards just in case of. This is how he learnt about Tyffeon’s secret.

“Then, you have a better suggestion maybe? In the moor, we’re exposed.”

    A place to hide.

    I need to focus on something else than my burning lungs.

    A place they wouldn’t go to… Somewhere we would be safe. Wait! That’s it! The best for us would be to join a Safe Area. In the game, there’s a place like that close to Rathard. Where no enemy can follow the Player.

“Oweynagat! Let’s go to Oweynagat!”

“Did you lose your mind?” Tyffeon widens his eyes. “This place is said to be dangerous and inhabited by monsters.”

“It isn’t! Trust me, it’s… uhhh. Stars’ Crosser wisdom. Anyway, let’s go this way! They’ll never look for us there!”

    Tyffeon seems to hesitate, probably wanting to retort something. But I guess he concludes he has no other alternative as he suddenly turns left.

“Follow me!”

    If we can reach this place before they catch us, then we’ll be able to hide long enough to sort things out. If we can… reach…

“Ehh? Tyffeon is running even faster than before.” I squint my eyes. “Unless… Ahh.”

    He glances back at me.

“No, it’s just my feet which can’t keep the pace.”

    Before I have time to curse myself for not having done sport in my previous life, Tyffeon catches my wrist, dragging me forward.

“Don’t slow down!” He scowls.

“Hey, I do as best I can! We can swap bodies if you want.” I bite back.

    He frowns.

    Unfortunately so, Tyffeon doesn’t have the opportunity to reply anything as a sudden blast of air pulls us from behind.

“They’re already after us.” Tyffeon stiffens.

“How so?”

“One of the guards can use wind to analyse his surroundings. If something is on its trajectory…”

    Oh crap. Not that one-

“…he’ll know it in no time.”

    In the meanwhile, even though we can’t discern their silhouettes from the obscurity, even though we can’t hear their footsteps, they’re getting closer.

“Damned sonar!”

“Sonar?” Tyffeon raises an eyebrow, naturally oblivious to the meaning behind.

“Never mind! Anyway, we can’t afford to let them catch up with us. We’re close, right?!”

    He doesn’t answer, focusing on the way ahead. We can barely see anything more than a few steps ahead of us. If not thanks to Tyffeon knowing well these lands…

    Thankfully, at the same moment we reach the summit of a knoll. A few bluish lights float in the air below, sorts of local fireflies. As they cast a glow upon their surroundings, the only complete darkness they can’t dispel comes from the narrow opening in the stone covered with leaves and from the fur of a cat standing nearby.

“Are you sure about that?” Tyffeon hesitates, seemingly resisting the urge to take a step back.

“Wimp.” I tease, rushing down to the entrance of the cave before he can react, two glowing emeralds lurking at me. Such fluffy fur under such a dreamy glow… Gggh. It’s a shame, but I can’t stop!

    Kneeling down, I am already ready to crawl into the darkness.

“Wait!” Tyffeon calls. Despite his initial reluctance, he has already joined me. “You won’t be able to see where you step, let me go first.”

    True. I simply nod and let him go ahead as, holding a lit branch, he soon disappears into the cave. As soon as possible, I follow suit, crossing the lintel.

    The walls are too narrow to allow more than one person to crawl at the same time. But, at least, we’re now out of our pursuers’ reach. A sigh escapes my lips.

    Oweynagat. What allows this place to be a Safe Area is that according to the legends the Daoine Sidhe believe in, this place is supposed to be inhabited by dangerous monsters. Well, that’s not completely unfounded, but not at this time of the year…

“From there it’s getting quite muddy.” Tyffeon whispers.

“It’s okay, we don’t need to go further.”

    As we managed to reach a part of the cave large enough to allow us to sit face to face, so we do.

    And then? What could possibly happen? We just escaped Rathard out of need. Tyffeon, who wasn’t supposed to help me, ended up fleeing with me. What, I guess, wasn’t at all his intention to go that far. So, now that we have a moment of respite, an awkward silence falls between us. Both overwhelmed by the events.

“Where did he come from?” I think, remembering the sudden appearance of the Hero, as sudden and ridiculous as his death. “That’s not what I wrote. That’s not how a story should look like.” I wrap my arms around my knees. “This dumb Hero… Sure, he didn’t realise the impact his death could have, but! But! He even ruined his backstory moment!! Ken is supposed to be an amnesic fellow who uncovers his past as the scenario progresses! He goddamn ruined the plot!! Ughhhhhh.”

“Amako?” Tyffeon’s voice addresses me, raising an eyebrow at my fist clenched in frustration.

    Spotting his judgmental gaze, I feign a natural motion, bringing my fist near my lips to cough.

    Almost at the same moment, a realisation struck me.

“You called me by name…” I muse.

“Yes…?” He hesitantly answers, probably having some doubts regarding my mental state.

“No, I mean, you know my name. But nobody else is supposed to. Is it you who told it to the Hero?”

“The Hero? Oh, that’s what you called that boy Erlkœnig killed. To answer, no, I did not tell him any such thing.” He pauses. “That said… When you were gone to retrieve your things, I saw him surge through the village entrance. A hooded figure rushing towards the centre of the village. He ignored me, and it was by following him that I ended up finding you. I don’t have a single idea about what led him there.”

    Odd… It was as if he knew I would be there. Though the fact he was aware of my name concerned me more. All of that is senseless.

“Come to think of that,” Tyffeon resumes, “this hero thing, Oweynagat, or even the nature of my magic…” He narrows his eyes. “You seem to be aware of many things.”

    Gulp.

“I mean, a Saintess delivers prophecies, right?”

    Instead of replying, Tyffeon holds my gaze. The flame on top of his wooden stick flickers.

“What else do you know?”

    I don’t like where this is going.

“Your measurements.” I answer with a smirk.

“What..” He slightly shivers, and I’m pretty confident he would have stepped back if he had the place to do so. “I am serious. You don’t seem even shocked with what happened to the King.”

    What I said was true, though… I know them all.

“Well… in particular, I am aware of a prophecy about this world’s fate.” I hesitate to continue, but it seems that Tyffeon won’t let it go.

    How peculiar. Normally, the Saintess tells him this the moment before her death, after he stabbed her. That scene is etched into my mind.

    I let out a silent sigh. Reluctantly, I utter the cursed words.

“This world will soon be corrupted by the emissaries of the Tain,.. until comes the awakening of the Rotten Lord.”

    To these words, Tyffeon remains silent, as if pondering about their meaning.

“Was the King…?”

“He was tainted.” I nod. “He is one of the emissaries.”

“And this fool who got killed was supposed to be our last hope?”

“He wasn’t su- Oh well, anyway. Yes, he was.”

    A pause.

“As I already told you, I don’t believe in heroes. If this world is endangered, it would be ridiculous to place our hopes in a single man. To begin with, you should transmit this prophecy to the other kingdoms. A new Council of the Rulers must be called.”

“You seem to forget that we’re currently in enemy territory. To do so, it would be necessary to leave Tír-nan-cnocc alive.”

“Then that’s what we will do. Unless you plan to inhabit this cave like the demons it’s meant to shelter? Not that it wouldn’t suit you.”

“No. The demons will keep torturing you, thanks.”

    He rolls his eyes.

    As we speak, we don’t notice at once that multiple pairs of eyes have discreetly gathered around us.

"Nyah~"

    Until a meowing makes us turn our heads at them.

    Nyah?