I'm Gonna Be Their Saint

Uetum leaped out, followed closely by a grim-faced Helartha and a wide-eyed Pietta. The catgirl’s usual cheerful energy vanished the moment she saw Anna, bloody and motionless on the ground.

“NYA!!!” she shrieked, a sound of pure panic. “Wait, Anna-chan! I will heal you!”

She stopped beside Anna, her hands hovering over the terrible wound. A soft, impossibly warm golden light began to emanate from her palms. Anna, weak and delirious, flinched, expecting the searing agony of holy magic.

“Uetum…?” she gasped, confused. “How can you…?”

The light that flowed from the catgirl’s hands was holy, yes, but it was different. It didn’t burn. It was a gentle, perfect warmth that soothed the dark magic of Demidicus’s blade, coaxing the torn flesh to knit itself back together.

“Shhh, it’s okay, Anna-chan,” she whispered, "Don’t talk. All that matters is that Anna is safe, nya.” She gave a small, watery sniffle.

There was a frail, worn-out quiet in the cavern as the golden light from Uetum's hands dimmed. The only sign that Anna had ever been hurt was the ripped fabric of her tunic. She sat up slowly, leaning against Maren for support.

Pietta glanced around, “Where’s Lord Demidicus? I sensed his mana…”

Anna smiled, “Nima killed him.”

Everyone’s attention turned to Nima, the grey haired and blue eyed siren, who stood silently, "Uhh...?" In her hand, she held a small, beautiful crystal that seemed to pulse with a faint, trapped darkness.

“He is no longer a concern,” the siren said, “The sea takes many things. Sailors, ships… arrogant vampires.”

She held up the Siren’s Stone, the dark energy of Demidicus’s soul swirling within it like a storm in a bottle.

“He is here now,” Nima stated simply. “A new addition to my collection.” She looked at Pietta, “He’s dead.”

The golden light of Uetum’s healing faded, leaving Anna weak but alive, the world slowly coming back into focus.

Anna looked at the three powerful dark beings now standing around her. “So,” she asked, her voice a weak but steady rasp, “what now? Where do your loyalties lie?”

Uetum was the first to answer. She knelt by Anna’s side, “Uetum’s loyalty is with Anna-chan, nyaa! Forever and ever!”

Pietta’s response was more guarded, “My loyalty… is to the people in this mine,” she said, her voice a low murmur. “You are the only one with a plan to save them. So… for now, I follow you.”

Helartha simply gave a sharp, decisive nod. “My loyalty is to my people. You hold the key to their freedom. That is all that matters to me.” She then turned her intense, dark eyes to Nima. “That stone. May I see it?”

Nima hesitated, her hand hovering protectively over the pouch at her hip where she’d placed the Siren’s Stone. But a silent, telepathic nod from Anna was all the permission she needed.

Helartha took the stone, her expression turning to one of profound disgust as she felt the vile, arrogant energy contained within.

“He deserved worse,” she hissed, but handed it back to Nima. “I am… grateful… that he is no longer a threat.” She looked around at the vast, oppressive cavern, at the hopeless, shuffling lines of her distant kin. “So this is the mine…?”

“Yes,” Anna confirmed from the ground, her voice still weak.

As Helartha took in the full, horrifying scope of her people’s prison, a sharp gasp escaped her lips.

Her dark elf heart, a vessel of ancient, empathetic magic, was beating in a rapid, specific rhythm, a call she hadn’t felt in decades.

“There’s another…” she whispered. “Another of my people… nearby.”

“There’s one elder dark elf over there,” Anna said as she pointed with a weak finger towards a small, unlit side tunnel she had marked on her map.

“He’s been working that tunnel alone.” She met Helartha’s hopeful, desperate gaze. “Maybe you should go ask him.”

“But Anna! He’s going to unleash the Ruinhorn! He said he will strike the city at dawn!” Uetum said.

Anna, who was calmly bandaging a small cut on her arm, didn’t even look up. “What time is it now, Pietta?”

“Roughly three in the morning,” she answered.

“Then we have a few hours.”

“No!” Pietta insisted, “The corruption won’t wait for the sun. It will hit the city in an hour from now! We have to save everyone now!”

The one-hour deadline fell upon the group like a physical weight.

Uetum and Pietta looked down at the hundreds of thousands of slaves still toiling below, their movements slow and rhythmic, utterly oblivious to their impending doom.

“Is it… is it really possible to help everyone out?” Uetum asked sadly.

“Like I said. I already promised Bella that I would try my best.” She looked out over the vast, dark cavern, at the impossible task before them, and a small, confident smile touched her lips. “And I think I can do it.”

She turned to Nima, who had been a silent, watchful presence. “The humidity. Is the air ready?”

Nima nodded, her voice a soft, melodic hum. “I have done my best, my lady. With the water spots Ars Maren provided, every cavern is now thick with moisture. Nothing here is dry.”

“Good,” Anna said. “And the leaves?”

Pietta and Uetum looked confused, but Nima answered. “Nathan has completed his task. All the locations you marked on the map have been planted with at least five Aetrobia Leaves. He is spreading the rest now.” She gestured down below. “The workers… they are already feeling the effects.”

Looking closely, they did really see it.  With their pickaxes growing heavier in their hands, the slaves were slowing down.

A wave of deep, irresistible calm swept over, they were slumped against the rock walls, their eyes fluttering shut.

The moisture was activating the leaves, which were putting them all to sleep.

“NYA!!!” Uetum shrieked, “You’re making them sleep?! Right before the mine collapses?! DON’T TELL ME SAVING THEM MEANS THEY’RE ALL GOING TO DIE?!”

Anna didn’t answer. She just looked down at the hysterical catgirl, “Uetum, stop it,” Pietta said, gently pulling her friend’s hands away from Anna’s shirt. “It’s better than nothing.”

Anna then looked out at the sea of sleeping dark beings, “I’m going to bring heaven to them,” she promised. “Don’t worry. I’m gonna be their saint.”

Uetum and Pietta stared, “Heaven…?” Uetum whispered, her grip on Anna’s tunic loosening, her fear slowly being replaced by a dawning, confused awe.

Before anyone could ask another question, Helartha returned from the side tunnel. Her face was pale, her eyes wide with disbelief and a fresh, raw pain.

“He was right there!” she exclaimed, her voice cracking. “The elder… he’s my grandfather. I haven’t seen him in 300 years. He was about to tell me about my family, about what happened to them, but then…” Her voice broke.

“He just… he slumped over. He fell asleep, right in the middle of a sentence!” She looked around wildly at the other slaves, who were now all succumbing to the magical slumber, their pickaxes clattering to the ground.

“What is happening?! Is this some kind of curse?”

Uetum, now feeling like an initiated member of Anna’s inner circle, puffed out her chest, eager to explain the ‘genius’ plan to the newcomer.

“It’s not a curse, Lady Helartha! It’s Anna-chan’s plan!” she said with an air of great importance.

“The whole mine is going to collapse in less than an hour, nyaa! It’s a big, mean trap from the old king! So, Anna-chan is using the super-special Aetrobia Leaves to make everyone fall asleep!”

She explained it with a bright, earnest sincerity, completely believing in the logic of what she was saying. “That way, when the big crash happens, they won’t be scared or feel any pain! They’ll just be sleeping peacefully! It’s a kindness! She’s bringing them a peaceful… heaven!”

The color drained from Helartha’s face. She stared at Uetum, then her gaze snapped to Anna, her eyes filled with a dawning, abject horror.

“Is this true?!” She demanded, her voice rising to a grief-stricken shout. “Is this your ‘liberation’?! To put them all to sleep so they can be buried alive?!” Anna did not confirm it. Nor did she deny it.

She just stood there.

The weight of Helartha’s horrified accusation hung in the air, thick and suffocating. Uetum looked at Anna, her eyes wide with a tearful, desperate confusion, wanting to believe in her but terrified by what she was hearing.

Anna finally broke her silence, her gaze still fixed on the endless sea of sleeping prisoners below. Her voice was a strange, quiet melody of absolute certainty.

“Heaven… will come to us,” she said again, as if reciting a sacred text. “If its call is answered.”

A deep, low rumble shook the stone before anyone could question what she meant. Dust and tiny pebbles pattered down around them after shaking loose from the cavern ceiling.

“The Ruinhorn,” Anna stated, her voice calm. “Yarte has unleashed it. It’s moving.”

The tangible proof of their impending doom sent a fresh wave of panic through the group.

“Then it’s over!” Pietta cried, her voice strained. “If they cannot be saved, then let’s leave! We must get out of here now, Anna!”

“No.” Anna shook her head, her resolve like granite. “I want to see this for myself.” She turned to Pietta, “We can’t leave now. Not until everyone here is saved.”

Uetum began to tremble, covering her eyes with her hands. “Uetum doesn’t want to see it… I don’t want to see them all die, nyaa…”

Helartha, too, looked down at the cavern where her grandfather now slept peacefully, her face a mask of profound, heartbreaking sorrow.

“I still don’t understand why would a human do this to a first kin…” Anna muttered.

Uetum looked up, “First kin…?”

Anna nods, “First kin. Isn’t that better? Cause as far as I know. Human only lived in this place from 3000 years ago.”

“Nya… First kin…”

Anna looked out over the sleeping masses, “Of sorrow… of silence… the earth shall come to cover.”