Garden Of The Abyss

The silent smile from Beatrice seemed to place this thought as the truth, leaving Sirius agape at this development.

"So, that makes her our most likely ally then?"

Lucas found his words, leaning over the table slightly as he seemed to become intrigued by the nature of this conversation--and whatever the mission for them would be in correlation to this news.

"Indeed. Not only that; Getrude is a necessary person even without the power she can bring to the table with her loyal knights."

"What do you mean by that?"

Finally seating himself, Sirius ran his white glove through his hair to gather his focus again, responding to Beatrice's remark of the lady in question.

"If the goal is to remove King Held from power, likely by fatal means, then it stands to reason there needs to be someone to take his place."

"I thought that was your plan; for you to take his place and rule as a matriarchal figure."

Taking a quick sip of tea, Lucas displayed his subverted thoughts, gaining a nod from the other two men who seemed to have fallen under the same notion.

Beatrice simply shook her head to dissuade that thought before correcting them, "I am no ruler. My place is by the ruler's side as their advisor."

"But you're undeniably the wisest in all of Mastorn."

Once again, Lucas' thoughts were dissipated by Beatrice's everlasting, hollow smile.

"Wisdom does not rally people under your name or summon their fighting spirit when the time comes. A ruler needs charisma, a claim to the throne, and the power in both mind and body to lead a kingdom; especially one as powerful as Mastorn. Getrude is the pinnacle of those necessary aspects."

"So...Noah sealed the deal with her? Then what's our mission?"

Sirius asked, taking a sip of his now cooled-down tea as a curious, slightly anxious look filled his pupils.

"The deal is not sealed. That is why Getrude is coming here herself. We will discuss the prospect of an alliance."

"Here? What if she isn't really on our side?"

Sora slammed his palm down against the table out of instinct, raising his voice at this claim by the platinum-haired woman.

"It's simple; if she doesn't agree to an alliance, she dies."

"...Oh."

Satisfied with that answer, the hot-headed Outlander relaxed in his seat, matching the somber palette of the blackened room.

"Now, this is where you three come in."

"Finally."

Lucas muttered under his breath hearing this, falling silent along with the other two as they anxiously awaited the details of their mission.

"I received a letter from Getrude herself yesterday, coming from a malcorn falcon...In it, she mentioned the route she was taking to come to Grandeuve."

Beatrice snapped her fingers, suddenly bringing into existence the aforementioned letter between her fingers, sliding it on the table for display.

"Yeah...They're taking the route through Lemasdale to stock up on supplies and take a night at the inn there. What's so special about this?"

"Yeah, I'm a bit lost as well."

Sora shared the same perplexed sentiment with Sirius as they both hogged the letter, leaving Lucas to huff as he crossed his arms out of frustration.

"...A few days ago, one of my little birdies informed me of something happening within Lemasdale. It began with a sighting of an odd individual of a gray, rotten complexion, covered in maggots and deteriorating flesh. This deathly man savagely attacked the first villager he came across, then that villager took on the same repulsive form. This continued; spiraling until this mysterious event spread itself throughout the town--and it wasn't just Lemasdale, the report said there were hordes of these decrepit beings moving in from the surrounding mountains."

There was no smile present on Beatrice's expression as she spoke of this, keeping her cosmo-like eyes on the three as grave expressions overtook them.

"That sounds like…"

"Zombies."

Sirius finished Sora's sentence, both holding a grim look--exchanging worried glances between one another.

"It seems you have a basic understanding of what husks may be then."

"Husks?"

Hearing the newly mentioned term, Lucas repeated the word while watching the woman dressed in a black gown, waiting for a further explanation as his tea began to run cold.

"Husks are the result of a lost, sacred mysticism...A twisting and tainting of magic itself, seen as repulsive even amongst the element of darkness. As such, there are very few who know of this spell outside of the Founders."

"Who do you think would be capable of this? I mean...Behind this attack specifically."

Every piece of information Beatrice brought to the table seemed to stir up more questions from them, resulting in yet another asking from Sirius.

"...It's hard to say for certain. A lich, perhaps. An exiled adventurer...Or perhaps, a mage from Belmon."

"Belmon?"

Sora and Sirius repeated the unheard name in unison while Lucas' sclera seemed almost to stretch when hearing this.

"...The forgotten kingdom."

"Indeed. Though it does not matter as of right now who is responsible for the attack, our task is simply to escort Getrude safely to Grandeuve. You will take the old merchant's route and--"

Before Beatrice could finish her briefing of their given mission, a sudden slam on the table had completely interrupted her--originating from Sirius' own hand.

"--What about the villagers?"

It was that shaky, anxious look in his eyes that she knew well from him; Sirius was a man who couldn't overlook such things. A trait not known whether to be a good or bad thing in this world.

"...It is simply too late for them. The husk spell is formidable; I would guess an outbreak even at this level would be classified at Phantasm-level, due to the threat it brings."

"You don't know that! There could still be people, hiding out in fear--waiting for somebody, for people like us to come to save them!"

Sora and Lucas remained silent as the gray-uniform baring man spilled his emotions onto the table, speaking to the woman who didn't seem to recognize such feelings.

"Be realistic, Sirius."

"Realistic, huh? You've told us before that Mastorn is the most important thing to you, more so than your own life...Is this how you want to save it? Letting people die?"

As Sirius spoke in the heat of the moment, his words seemed to cut deep into the unmoving woman, her slender, pale fingers briefly twitching as she caressed the handle of her cup.

"...Make no mistake; Mastorn is my reason for living. However, the individuals within it are not of that same importance, not if the safety and prosperity of the kingdom itself are in conflict with their own state of living. Do you understand? All of you. Getrude's life supersedes that of likely dead villagers, her life might be the very threat that holds this kingdom together."

There was a slight tone of reprimanding that coated Beatrice's cold, stone-like words as her nebulous eyes locked onto Sirius, leading him to find a vacancy in rebuttals.

"...I understand."

Seating himself silently, Sirius' words felt hollow, his compliance holding no plea of agreement--only following the command of his leader.

Comforting the clearly distressed man, Sora grabbed Sirius' shoulder, gently rubbing it and giving him a slight nod as if helping him accept the decision already made.

"As you were saying, Beatrice?"

"Thank you, Lucas...You three will be taking the old route that merchants used to take before Grandeuve became too dangerous. There will likely be quite a few roaming beasts; nothing that you can't handle."

Once again, a snap of Beatrice's polished fingers summoned forth a paper, allowing it to gently drift down onto the table, revealing itself to be a map.

"Wait a second...We're taking a road...So no titan rays?"

Sora's words slowly crescendoed from mutters into a question, trailing his thumb along the detailed route inscribed on the map before looking back up at the sage.

"Precisely; titan rays give off quite a potent mana signature, something that husks can sense like blood to a vampire."

"...So we're going by foot?"

"I didn't say that."

Beatrice rejected Lucas' obviously miffed question with a simple smile.

"...You know, somehow I should've expected this."

Sirius let out a sigh, placing his hands at his sides as he, along with his two chosen companions, looked upon the shoddy, withered carriage that was left within the embrace of nature, covered in discarded branches and brittle leaves.

"Who's going to be the one to tame the wild behemoth? That carriage isn't going anywhere without one to pull it."

Asking the question they all dreaded, Lucas stood between both of the much taller masculine figures, instantly invoking sweat to leave their pores.

Still, looking between the withered carriage and knowing the existence of a singular behemoth nearby, the curly-haired young man felt something was peculiar about this situation.

"...Any volunteers?"

Sirius shifted his gaze between the hazel-haired, androgynous boy and the man covered in hulking muscles.

Silence was the only answer received by his question as they listened to the distant, bellowing groans emitting from the cave they waited near.

"It's only fair to settle this with a game of rock-paper scissors, no?"

As if coming up with the solution to world hunger itself, Sora snapped his fingers with a beaming smile--quickly shot down by a sigh from Lucas.

"I'll do it."

Walking towards the maw of the foreboding cavern, Lucas removed a pocketwatch formed of gilded steel, flipping the cover open to watch the thin, golden hand click away.

"--Wait. We'll do it together."

Catching up with the boy of a short, frail-seeming build, Sirius placed his hand on Lucas' shoulder, giving him a forced but helpful smile.

"Ah, screw it! Count me in!"

Sora joined in, summoning his ivory armor over his body with a brief display of a torrent of magical particles coiling around his body.

"...What a handful you two are."

It seemed the radiant frivolity from his two companions managed to lure a slight smile from Lucas that he desperately tried to hide with his jaded words, sliding his pocket watch back inside of his regal, black coat.