Familiar faces (Sad piano solo, activate)

Harow wasn’t sure what to expect when he heard news that Idoy’s agent had arrived at Forness Heart, and was even being hosted under watchful eyes at a more fortified part of the palace.

After his experiences in the war, he had expected the corrupted swordsman, if he had to be tolerated, to be kept sealed and under constant vigil by various priests and priestesses, and limited in ability and movement until permitted otherwise. From that wellspring, seething, biding hatred would pour forth, waiting for its chance to strike. That was what Harow’s experience told him.

It was, therefore, a bit surreal to see a small lounge, where a mountain of a man wheedled a smaller priestess, seemingly fretting.

“But what if he doesn’t like me?” The bulky man whispered fiercely, unaware that the man in question was likely behind him.

“You were getting homesick and needed an excuse to return to this country. This is the excuse they offered,” the slender woman remarked, sly and fox-like, all but making a mockery of the man’s unease. “That and this animal hunt Forness has arranged.”

“I’m not going to be like…I don’t know, secretly killed or anything?” Harow fought back a rising tide of bewildered bemusement – though it was a valid concern. While most others wouldn’t detect it, the heap of blessings the Spirits had thrown onto their champion made him aware of the Malevolence that had been finely woven throughout the swordsman's body on a level he had never seen before. It was hidden well to laymen and mages alike, and kept under lock and key, but it was unmistakable.

Which also made it remarkable that Harow decided to pipe up with a bad joke.

“We’d probably make a big show of it, honestly, maybe sell tickets to the fight,” he said out loud, and the redheaded giant pinwheeled around in his seat with such force that the chair almost rose from the ground.

“See? Just another duel, you’d be fine,” the priestess answered in turn, before standing up with a smile, while motioning for her charge to follow. “It’s my pleasure to meet you, Beacon of the Kingdoms. I’m Humei, deputy priestess from Idoy, and the one in charge of this lunkhead here. Say hello, Bao.”

“Afternoon,” the man said with a casual wave.

There was something strangely familiar about this man, though Harow couldn’t put his finger on what specifically. All he could do instead was offer a hand and his curiosity.

“You’re not what I expected. You’re corrupted?” Forness's champion asked.

“Trust me, my charming personality is despite it, not because of it,” Bao (what a funny name) said with a weak laugh.

“Essentially, Bao’s soul is stronger than the instincts of his body,” Humei summarised. “And we’ve been told that someone similar may be living in the depths of your city?”

“That’s what I’ve heard. Is that why Sir Bao is here?”

“Oh, don’t “sir” me,” the man in question protested. “I’m just trying to do some good and, uh, fight bad guys.”

“Either way, you’ll want to have him along if your target decides to be less than friendly,” Humei advised. “I assure you that Bao is someone supremely capable of pulling his weight.”

Humei’s complete nonchalance to being the guardian of a corrupted warrior did help a little to assuage Harow’s fears, enough to guide the Idoy warrior around from the lead – it was hard to imagine him having the nerve to stab him in the back in public.

“So, you’re, like, the great hero who saved everyone ever, huh?” Bao inquired casually, almost too casually, attempting small talk, though Harow couldn’t help but grimace at the opening subject.

“Like you, I just wanted to help. I never really enjoyed the attention that came with it.”

“Oh man, yeah!” Bao beamed, and in his eyes Harow saw such bottomless enthusiasm that he wasn’t sure if it was faked. “I used to spend all my time at home, I hated going out except when it’s necessary… at least the temple over in Idoy has a decent library, I’ve been doing some catching up on my reading.”

“But you wanted to come here to look for this creature?”

“Well…” Bao awkwardly laughed. “I’m just curious about why there are so many of us…?”

Harow knew there was more to the answer than what Bao gave away, but without time to waste, all he could do was file that evasiveness away. Instead, he had to turn his attention to Rulio III, as the prince wearily hobbled up to them. His disappearance and survival had been a matter of much panic, and Harow suspected that if the prince hadn’t been found in the outlying farmlands, part of his job would have been to clamber into the depths to find his whereabouts – and to be roped into a sudden spot of funeral planning.

“Are you two intending to hunt for Jane?” Rulio asked, with a surprising amount of concern.

“...Her name is ‘Jane’? Really?” Bao fixed Harow with a curious stare, features scrunched in confusion. Something about his tone of voice piqued Harow’s interest. It wasn’t that he knew the name itself, but rather something about what it represented.

“Is there something you wish for us to know, your Highness?” Harow turned his attention elsewhere, diplomatically covering for the redhead’s unwitting crassness.

“I…” The prince started, trailing off for a second, before reaffirming his resolve. “I’d like for you to give her a chance. She’s dangerous, but she’s not the one who attacked the Spirit Knights I was with. She even rescued me when I was injured. She can be reasoned with.”

Why was it now that there were creatures formed by the Menace who made the citizens second-guess themselves? It seemed too good to be true, or perhaps too convenient. Even if Bao so far seemed to have a heart of gold, how could he trust that the other three would be above board, just because they didn’t act like monsters at first blush?

Surprisingly, it was Bao who dissuaded Rulio warningly. “Hey, we can’t make any promises. We’ll try to hear her out, but if she doesn’t play nice and it comes down to us or her, which would you expect us to stick our necks out for?”

At the sight of the prince deflating at the blunt truth, Harow found himself playing diplomat once more. “Thank you for letting us know, though. I promise that I won’t jump into this haphazardly. I’ll be careful with Jane.”

“That’s all I can ask, Beacon. I can’t ask you to take risks on my behalf either.”

A few more arrangements finally led to Harow leading Bao to one of the openings into Forness’s underground waterways, closest to the general area Julio patrolled without retreading the same bloody grounds.

Looking down at himself, Harow gave one last check of his equipment, which really just amounted to the best reinforced leather armor he could ask for – he preferred staying mobile, especially in deep and dank places like these, where heavy plate would just give him diminishing returns.

The thin but sturdy steel sword was strangely foreign. For years during the campaign, he had been entrusted with the powerful artefact the Spirits grew for him, and for its comforting weight to be replaced by hard metal edges was something hard to get used to.

Bao, meanwhile, seemed ready to just walk in dressed as he was, without worry of protecting or arming himself.

“Are you…sufficiently prepared?”

Harow, for all his years of experience, couldn’t help but be confused at the nonchalant stance Bao adopted – a far cry from the mountain of nervousness he met only a little while earlier.

“I got superpowers, don’t worry,” Bao boasted confidently, slapping his bicep for effect.

Harow wasn’t sure what that turn of phrase indicated – what exactly made a “power” more super than others, given blessings and Spiritual Energy all allowed for spectacular feats? It was just something else to add to the pile of incongruities, not least of which was Harow’s strange sense of deja vu, just being around him.

But that would be something to tackle far later. Harow instead reached for an old lantern that a Spirit had blessed in the past to collect stray light to glow without the need of a candle. It would be far safer and more reliable than diving into the dark with an ordinary torch.

“Time to see what the future of our Kingdoms hold,” Harow muttered, filling himself with purpose as he embarked on his next adventure, with an unknown factor in tow.

“Well, it’ll probably involve a bath, at the very least,” Bao chimed in ever so helpfully, with an unseen wince as he felt his shoes wade into something soggy.