Chapter 19

"How can you not know what the Empyrean are?" He asked me suspiciously and I shrugged with my most honest and clueless expression. I was getting used to not knowing shit but something told me this one I wasn't supposed to know anyway. It wasn't a game term or general knowledge. It was info exclusive to the Echoes of Eden. 

"He's not..." Toliz chewed on the word she had first thought of. Her expression turned pained as she considered something. Still not over the whole Frozen Wastes thing then. "He's a newcomer" She left it at that. The kid narrowed his eyes and looked me up and down. I instinctively covered my body with my hands.

"Excuse you" Someone clearly didn't have any manners.

"We've...got some of those too" He hesitated as if not sure when to start or stop and what piece of info could be incriminating. "They didn't know about the Empyrean either" So there were more players? I had foolishly started to think it was just me and the Knights of the Holy this or that or whatever they called it. "They chose the right side though" He poked my chest. So there was technically a choice in this quest. In whether you wanted to support the Keepers or the Seekers meaning that the Ark Gate could be kept closed or be opened along with the consequences of each situation. I was starting to feel I had gotten the short stick of the deal. The Seekers seemed to have much more style.

"I didn't have much choice really" I tried to defend myself. Toliz elbowed me at the ribs and glared. I turned to look at her incredulously. "What? It's true! You imprisoned us for trying to protect ourselves against that Willow!" Not entirely true, I mean it was attacking but I had kinda provoked it first so it wasn't really clear. "And then your da-" Her look commanded death and I could swear I heard the scythe above my head ready to rip my soul. "Your Chief said we had to basically choose between joining or death"

"It wasn't like we would actually kill you" She grumbled defensively.

"Well how were we supposed to know that? We couldn't trust you as much as you couldn't trust us!" A slow clap resounded and took us away from our little argument. We both turned to look at the brat at the same time. "What?!"

"I was just enjoying the show and expressing proper appreciation" He mocked and even though I was totally on board with everything he had shared and expressed rather loudly, I wanted to rub his head until a hole opened right at the crown. "Now, if you're done, we have to do something about this" I hated his condescending tone and the way he talked to us as if we were the children in this but he was right. If we had any hope of saving these people, we had to move fast.

"What would the Empyrean do with them?" I still had no idea what the Empyrean even were and nobody seemed eager to tell me. The kid looked away refusing to share even more knowledge even though it looked like everyone else in the Verdant Shard already knew. Toliz was the one to answer my question.

"The Empyrean are like" She moved her hands trying to figure out how to express herself. It was moments like this that I couldn't accept her status as an NPC. "an authority. They keep this world in check. And there is a treaty between Keepers and Seekers..." The brat scoffed "so they would see this scene as a violation of that and capture the offenders" That sounded reasonable enough.

"Can they be reasoned with?" Both Toliz and the kid made different pained and uncomfortable expressions.

"They are like blind followers to justice. They don't really discriminate between right and wrong no matter the circumstances and if you make one offense, they immediately move to dispose of you" This was sounding more and more scary. Why would the two groups even risk something like that over a petty scrabble? "They will have taken them to the Mirror Shard already. There is nothing we can do" She concluded defeatedly and seemed ready to go back where we came from and alert the others. 

"So that's it? You just give up on them?" The kid balled his fists and looked outraged. I was with him in this one.

"What do you expect me to do?!" Toliz coiled like a snake ready to attack.

"Save your people or at least try. Is that how little they mean to you?!"

"How could I even do that without opening the portal?!" She looked anguished but resolute. It hurt to watch the both of them.

"Open the damn portal then!" She flinched back as if hit at the mere thought of it. 

"Even...even if I did..." She shuddered. Her stance changed from offensive to defensive as she held her arms while trying to hold herself. "Are the three of us supposed to be able to pull this off?" I wasn't sure if the three included me or the wolf so I looked at Nax to express my disbelief at such unfairness and he smiled at me smugly. The fluffy prick.

"Open the portal and I can bring the manpower" He looked eleven or twelve but at that moment he sounded so much older than that. His face was like stone and his mouth a set line. His youth could only be seen in his firey orange eyes that looked like twin flames ready to eat the whole world if it stood in his path. Toliz couldn't stand tall against that gaze so she looked away cowardly. 

"In a whole new and unfamiliar world? In the Mirror Shard? Have you not heard the stories? It's literally the Empyrean's den. In the literal mouth of the wolf-no offence Lainax-for just..." She couldn't bear to say it because she knew that would be a line she couldn't cross back if she did. 

"Yes, for just" He glared at her some more before turning his back on us. "I will leave you to think about it. I will go to Per Nuih'd to scout for volunteers. You can follow me and see what happens. You can go back to your shithole and alert the others, it will not stop us. We will open this portal with or without your help" His voice sounded like steel but I could see the shaking in his shoulders.

"Wait! What's your name?" I knew the implications of this. If you knew someone's name, you could locate them in the map. "I am Artiel and this wolf is Lainax" I didn't talk about Toliz because it wasn't my place. "You can give me a nickname or else I will keep calling you brat in my head!" He turned around so quickly and wore such a childish expression that I grinned in victory.

"What?! Why you-" He started swearing like a sailor. I patted Nax on the back expecting him to bite my hand off but he didn't. I nodded towards the boy and he seemed to understand. He wanted to do it, otherwise he wouldn't oblige me. I for my part couldn't help yet but I needed to offer what help I could. He didn't even look behind him as he left me but when his tail passed my leg, it nudged me playfully and affectionately. Then he ran towards the brat. "Wait! I take it back! Don't eat me!" I heard Nax scoff before he nudged the boy forward with his head.

"He can be quite an asshole so be careful with him" I shouted and the boy looked at me bewildered.

"Why would you-?" He started gratefully.

"I was talking to the wolf!" I smirked.

"Why would you-?!" The anger was there but it was softer now. "I will take care of your beautiful and extraordinary creature! Even though I don't need it!" Nax seemed to puff up at the compliment. "Fett! For a nickname! Call me Fett!"

"Okay, I don't go around judging people on their size and weight but I will call you fat!" He was too far away for me to hear the response but I could make out the shouting. My evil chuckle was cut short by a deadly grip on my wrist. It felt like my hand was going to fall off. "Tol-" Her eyes were wide and scared and for a nanosecond I thought I saw code and numbers fill their green. I quickly put my other hand on top of her own.

"I was mad. I went through so much training. I was good, so good. But no missions. Never. Not for the daughter of Chief Habbada. And then I saw a chance. I took it. The smallest mission. Easiest. Nothing complicated. Go in, go out. Keep an eye on the newcomer" Hey! "I was so mad that I didn't get to be in the thick of the action. But now I can and I won't. Or I will? What should I do?" She pleaded with me as if I held all the right answers and wasn't a total dumbass that almost got himself killed every moment of the day.

"What feels right. I saw you when you heard him. You know he is right" I didn't wait for her to confirm it but she nodded. "What's keeping you?"

"Temptation"

"Huh?" She lost me.

"If I start going through portals and travelling, I'm not sure I will be able to stop" 

She lost me even more.