Year 2: The Encroaching Dread - Chapter 2

When was it? Kella wondered as Elysa called out to her with a friendly smile, Yve and Hailey behind her.

“Good morning, Instructor.”

“…What do you want?”

“I was just wondering if we could ask you something, if you’re not busy.”

Elysa said that, but Kella felt them watching her train, waiting until she had taken a break before coming over.

“What?”

“…First, can I ask something a little weird? How good would you say your memory is?”

“Depends.”

“On?”

“What it is,” the adventurer said bluntly.

Elysa laughed, though Yve and Hailey looked awkward behind her. “I’m not talking about language or numbers or names, but just about general things, day to day life sort of things.”

“Why does-?”

“When we first arrived in Aangapea.” Kella and Elysa studied each other’s faces closely, with Elysa’s smile appearing less friendly and more sinister in a way, but Kella had seen far worse and remained unphased. “We were all very scared, even though we’d accepted the goddess’s offer to come here. On that first night, a few of our bolder members reached out to everyone and introduced themselves, so we all introduced ourselves back.

“Nothing too personal, just ‘Hi I’m so and so, I’m this many years old and I died of whatever’. Do you remember that you and Instructor Dante came to see us?”

“Vaguely.”

“Vaguely?” Elysa’s smile grew subtly. “I don’t suppose you remember your attitude from back then at all?”

Kella sighed. “If you have a problem with my attitude or past actions, then-”

“The interesting thing is, I remember seeing something unusual that day.” Kella paused and waited for Elysa to continue. “We, all of whom had just met for the first time, knew nothing about one another, not each other’s names, nationalities or even what we were like, but I remember it all quite well, especially the death stare you gave Hailey.”

…Someone picked up on that.

“I had almost dismissed it entirely from my mind until Kayleigh started showing me her list of potential traitors, before Amen was uncovered, and I found it interesting that Hailey’s name was on there. I spoke to Kayleigh about this at the time, but I remember you reacted very strongly to something Hailey said, something that greatly angered you, but that didn’t make any sense to me.

“How could you possibly be that angry towards someone you’ve never met?

“Everything fell into place, however, after the Rivers House attack. David Athelward, Hailey’s childhood sweetheart, is the true name of the Demon Emperor. Only us heroes and the highest-ranking individuals in the Alliance know this, but you seemed to know it before any of us, almost as if he’d told you.

“If that was the case, then the Demon Emperor told you his identity and Hailey mentioning his name triggered a very negative response from you. That, to me, would indicate that you in someway shape or form know or knew the Demon Emperor before his rise to power. I don’t suppose you’d be able to tell us a little bit more about that, would you, Instructor Kella?”

Keeping her composure, Kella put down her spear and folded her arms. “I honestly don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Do you deny that it happened?”

“I don’t remember.”

“Thankfully, I do,” Elysa said.

“Are you sure you didn’t-?”

“If there’s one thing that I am highly confident in, Instructor Kella, it’s my memory. I have walked around this whole palace six times and I imagine I could draw you a near perfect floor plan of the entire place.” Elysa laughed. “Well, if you don’t believe me, I’d be happy to prove it.”

“H-hey, Elysa, you’re making it sound like you’re accusing her of something,” Yve whispered, grateful that the training room Kella had been practicing in was empty. “We’re not-”

“Yes, that’s right, Instructor - we aren’t here to accuse you of anything, or to implicate you in anyway at all,” Elysa said with a genuine friendly smile. “The truth is, I and Yve feel that Hailey deserves some form of closure in regards to David Athelward in order for her to move on and stand with us against him. Of course, I understand that whatever you might tell her could greatly upset her, maybe even crush her. However.” Yve locked her fingers with Hailey’s as Elysa patted the girl on her shoulder. “We’re here to help her should that come to pass.

“I think you’d agree that it’s not fair for someone who knew and loved David Athelward to know the full story about what happened to him. If, Instructor, you know anything about him, anything at all, about what he was like and how he became that monster, please, could you tell us? Or, at the very least, Hailey?”

“Please, Instructor Kella.” Hailey stepped forward, fresh tears forming in the corner of her eyes. “I…I don’t know what happened to him, but please! If you could just tell me something, anything about him since he got here, just so…just so I know.” The tears began to fall. “Please…”

…She’s the one he told me about.

The one he loved.

The one who he died before he could say how he felt.

…Eris’s doing.

David always sounded so scared of her, but he never asked me about Hailey.

Is he watching her?

No - that moment when he saw her, it reminded me of then…when he confessed everything, right before the Battle of Themis…

But he lied to me.

He attacked anyway.

It was an act…or so I thought.

Hailey though…she’s an actress, right?

Kella frowned at the crying girl, making her and Yve flinch a little. Elysa was trying to say something to lighten the mood and ease the tension, but Kella couldn’t hear it.

He wasn’t lying, but he was.

Is she lying, or is this real?

I don’t know.

Honestly. She shut her eyes. I don’t care.

About you.

About your friends.

About anything.

I don’t exist unless I’m there, in that space with just us.

…Oh.

When did I…become this way?

Mum and dad might be dead.

My brother, our party - they’re gone, killed by David himself.

David lied to me, used me, then tried to abduct me during the war.

Even now, whenever we meet, he’s just using me…just like I’m using him.

…Maybe she should know something, just to let go off him.

“Kella!” Dante burst into the room in a little bit of a panic. Based on the amount of sweat on his brow, he’d been running around looking for her. “Emergency me-! Oh, hi girls, don’t mind us, just boring, regular, unimportant…meetings…that won’t work now, will it?” He chuckled as he beckoned Kella over. “Sorry, but I’ll bring her back in one piece!”

Grateful, Kella nodded, reclaimed her spear and left with Dante, not offering even a single word back to Hailey, Yve and Elysa.

Once they were a decent distance from the room, Dante stopped and said, “Sorry, I lied. I just happened to overhear a bit and-”

“Thank you. How’d you make the sweat though?”

“Oh, this?” Dante started to rub the sweat off with his shirt. “I just used my Arts to raise my body temperature a tonne, which I now regret because.” He started panting. “It’s going to take a long time to cool back down.”

“…You’re an idiot.”

“I saved you just now, in case you forgot.”

“Doesn’t mean you’re not an idiot.”

“In any case, it’s best for you to play dumb with the heroes and-”

“About what?” Kella asked, knowing that Dante wouldn’t answer. “There’s nothing to say so what could you possibly mean?”

“Kella, please.” Dante looked around, then leant forwards. “Just tell the monarchs, at the very least, the truth. If Elysa’s figured out you used to know him, it’s only a matter of time before-”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about and I don’t care.”

“…I’ll keep it a secret, but it won’t stay one forever. It’d be better for you to come clean now than be suspect later. I know what you’re saying, but I know that’s not how you actually feel, Kella.” Dante smiled and patted her head for a second. “You don’t have to worry about these sorts of things by yourself.”

But that’s the truth, Dante.

I don’t care.

***

“…Congratulations.”

“Thank you, Kella,” David said.

The nighttime sky had clouded over, making it very difficult for Kella to see him at first. Over the course of their evening, her eyes had adjusted but, today, all they had done was sit and cuddle, nothing more.

David wasn’t in his armour and the demeanour and aura she’d last seen at the Rivers House was all but gone.

Is this what you used to be like all the time, David?

“What will you call her?”

“Thea.”

“Thea’s a good name.”

“…Lilith came up with it.”

Growing up, Kella had watched Connor and Alisa’s relationship for years, and Alisa always got jealous whenever Connor paid too much attention to other women. Once upon a time, Alisa had even been jealous that Kella, his little sister, was doted on too, but it had become a much more light-hearted comment and joke over time.

Kella had thought that she too would naturally be like Alisa when she fell in love.

But Kella felt nothing when David spoke of his wife.

She didn’t have any worries or troubles whenever they were together like this.

She could feel the love he still held for her, and that kept her alive.

It was a sickening, near suffocating love, but it was one that Kella appreciated nonetheless.

It would horrify her in moments of clarity and her brother would never forgive her, but Kella needed this, this connection, this warmth, or else she had nothing.

Dante wasn’t a friend, though he no doubt thought they were.

Her students, the heroes, might as well have been strangers to her.

While she mourned for and missed her family, and wanted to know if her parents still drew breath, Kella didn’t ask - she never asked.

As Kella listened to David talk happily about his daughter and the life he wanted to give her, she suddenly found herself asking a simple question.

What is it that I actually want?