A Survivor's Pain

They were up before the explosion—before the alarms began to ring, the strident and desperate sound making the knights' blood boil.

“All Grand Stellar knights! East Wing, now!”

“His Excellency’s guard, to the Arch Bishop’s chambers!”

There was no need to grab their weapons or put on their armor. A templar knight from the Hallowed Veritux Church was always ready for the Light’s call. There was no hesitation, no faltering. In unison, all knights shouted and exited through the doors, their quarters emptying in a matter of seconds.

However, Merzora stopped by the door. Thinking.

Considering.

“Templar Merzora, is something wrong?” The voice came from one of the new squires in training. A feeble theryan who was in desperate need of a real battle—something to tear apart that stench of weakling naivety one would carry from their mother’s womb,

Merzora gripped he sword harder, her heart racing, her rage burning.

It is that fiend—that demon‘s work. I’m certain of it.

Yet what is this feeling…?

Like an itch, something kept scratching the back of her mind. An omen.

“Go to the Eastwing. I must confirm something.”

The squire stumbled forward, their eyes stricken with fear. Such a pathetic sight.

“T-the Eastwing, Templar Merzora? B-but I’m no-nowhere near a Grand Stellar, and—“

She did not glance the squire’s way as she tightened the armor around her wrists. “Watch your seniors fight. Look at their strength, and ask why yours is still so lacking.”

Though hesitance flooded their gaze, the squire concurred. And while they were not stupid enough to demand where Merzora was going, the squire still insisted on asking a worthless question.

“Sh-should I request a few more to join you, Templar Merzora?”

“No.” It was all she replied before rushing out of the door, making her way toward the dungeons.

If her instincts were right—as they usually were—and she found that man there…

Merzora alone was more than enough.

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From above, they could hear the towers shaking due the explosions—the impacts reverberating through the earth, reaching the party with ease.

“I’m asking just to be sure, but…you know where we are going?” Johnny’s voice came as uncertain and anxious as his steps, Kez’s flame being their only source of light as they descended deeper and deeper.

I wonder if she saw the path in her dreams…

However, the female dragon’s reply came even more as a shock.

“I’ve been here before—and I’ve a pretty good memory.” Though her tone was somewhat comical and prideful, Yuushin couldn’t help but feel a tinge of pain.

There weren’t many reasons that came to mind to why Kez had been to Veritux’s dungeon. And if she had gone through the same things as Lyr…

Wait, did Lyr and Kez first meet when she was here, then?

At that moment, Yuushin didn’t dare to ask. Not when the air around them was so thick and tense, it made it difficult to move and breathe. They were venturing deeper into the sewers, the foul stench not as bad as Yuushin would’ve thought. Rather, it was faint and distant—as if that place had been forgotten and isolated.

There were no lights in sight, the occasional dripping sounds making Yuushin flinch and his heart race whenever he heard them. Yuushin wanted to ask Kez to hurry, his feet impatient. Something inside him kept telling him they needed to rush. To reach Lyr sooner than later.

“You know Soulchant, right?” Heidi’s whisper almost startled him, her voice coming right behind him.

“Huh? Oh, Soulchant, ah, yes. I’ve done it a few times before.”

In a way, it was almost as if he could sense her smiling. “Here.”

Before he could ask, Yuushin felt something touch his arm. As his fingers closed around it, he recognized it on the spot. His Tuning Weapon. Before they started the operation, Heidi had asked him to lend her the weapon, so she could experiment with it for a bit. Yuushin was not sure of what to expect back then, and touching the weapon right then felt—

Exactly the same, huh?

Yet before he could ask exactly what she had done with his weapon, Heidi grabbed him by the shoulder, her voice hinting an impish grin.

“You ruined your mana channels because you couldn’t control Soulchant well before, right?”Yuushin almost tripped on his own foot, the man turning his head toward her. “I mean, yeah, but what did you—”

“It works for Soulchant. It didn’t before, but now you should be able to control its flow better…or something alike. Honestly, I don’t know much about Soulchant, or how it works, but the logic is there.”

With Kez’s flame barely lighting up the space, Yuushin could barely see the weapon’s silhouette. Still, the idea of being able to get a better grasp of his Soulchant the same way he did it with his Soma—

That’s quite exciting, huh?

It made his heart race.

*creeeak*

The faint sound echoed around them, making them all halt and freeze in their spot.

“Veritux’s dungeon is right down these stairs. From here on out, make no sound.” Kez spoke, her voice somber, her golden eyes covered in shadows. Yet the thing that made Yuushin’s blood run cold was not the dragon’s words.

But the fact that it was Kez saying them, with not a single smile in sight.

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Their descent was wordless, yet not at all silent.

The sound of their breaths, the sound of steps scrapping against the stone steps, the echoes of the battle happening above—Yuushin was far too conscious of each one of them. So when he finally spotted the metal door, the relief that spread across his chest was strong enough to melt some of the tension on his shoulders.

Yet not all.

Murmuring as low as he could, the man leaned closer toward Kez, his hand closing around the dagger.

“Do we need a key or—”

*CRASH*

With a single kick, the metal door bent inward before being pushed into the room, the sound of the heavy object kicking and rolling on the ground before collapsing against the wall loud enough to make his ears ring.

Guess we can be loud now.

They rushed into the room, Kez spreading flames across the space—one that reeked of blood, sweat, and dirt, one that filled Yuushin’s heart with anger. An anger he didn’t want to possess much less nurture. And as they searched the place, all cells were empty.

All except for one, the last on their left.

“Lyr…” Yuushin’s voice broke as his body froze for a second, while Kez broke the cell’s door without a second of hesitation.

What had once been a pristine white robe was now tainted with crimson and dirt—the clothes tattered and ragged. The theryan had both hands chained to the wall, with so many wounds and cuts across his body it made Yuushin feel sick. Crestfallen.

The female dragon walked into the cell, breaking the chains with her bare hands.

“Heal him.” Her voice was rough, low. Yet when no one reacted a couple of seconds later, her golden eyes glowed bright for a second, glaring at them with a menace Yuushin had last seen when Kez had been afflicted by the plight. “You’re our cleric. Heal him.”

“O-oh yeah, that’s right. This is me, I am a cleric now. Sure, let’s do that.” Johnny stumbled both in his words and his steps, kneeling next to Lyr with both hands stretched out.

A pure silver glow began emanating from them, one that soon started to engulf Lyr’s body. And little by little, the priest’s wounds started to close.

…

Those bastar—

“Those bastards…”

For a split second, Yuushin thought he had spoken out loud. But as his head turned to the side, he saw Heidi clenching her fists, eyes burning with rage.

“There’s a lot I can forgive, you know? Being stood up, people lying to my face, a lover cheating on me. But this…?”

He had never seen it before. Heidi being like this. The pure anger scorching her voice, distorting her face. And Yuushin could understand, he could relate to it. That anger. That indignation. He started opening his mouth, the words at the tip of his tongue—

*swosh*

A sound.

One so faint it almost got lost, as it got carried by the breeze. And before Yuushin’s mind could make sense of what he heard—

His instincts reacted. His body moved.

*CLANG*

Yuushin threw Heidi to the side half a second before the two blades clashed, the impact pushing him back. And as his dagger slowly morphed into a sword, the familiar face greeted him with a scornful smile.

“I knew I would find rats here.”

The same templar knight Yuushin faced back at Vel’s castle. The one who was far stronger than him.

The one he was going to beat.