Her parting from her ho had been much less of an emotional drag than Josa had expected. The rain kept most won and n trapped within their huts, and to avoid an emotional outcry, her brother, the chief, sent her off with only him as the only mber of the farewell party. As the wagons were drawn and her village grew distant, Josa knew that her brother would shift their village to keep with tradition soon enough. Rembering that place would do her no good, as the next ti she cos back to the sa place, nobody would be there.
A clan of nomads whose very nomadic nature turned into a disease so wild that to eradicate it, the won had to eradicate the idea of continuing their n’s bloodline. A wild thought for Josa, but then again, she recognized the fact that her clan’s nomadic nature was the very reason they could not progress beyond or even up to their previous heights.
’I wonder what will happen to now?’ She wondered, looking around at everyone in the wagon. For the most part, everyone was quiet: Valentine, Okio, Elicia, and Zephyr. Everyone had sothing to think about, and their plans could possibly dictate the next stage of her life. Or so she thought, as the mont that idea crossed her mind, Elicia spoke up.
"You can leave here." Staring out of the curtain, she pointed at a mudpath that cut through the side of the middle road. "That should lead back to the church. I need to check on how things are back there before I can join you folks in the village."
"Whatever you say, princess priestess~." Stopping the wagon for a bit, Aura let Elicia off.
Waving bye with her hand, the priestess disappeared into the forest in just a few seconds. Glyea had already taken the other wagon much further ahead, and now, trying to catch up with them, Zephyr made Josa look at him. Sitting across from her, he moved her chin to face the front, then, as their eyes matched, he revealed to her who he was. A mont’s panic nearly sent her heart into shock, and though her body flinched at the thought, the fiend suppressed her emotions and tried to soothe her.
"I’m not going to hurt you, and that starts with telling you the truth," he said, not wanting a repeat of what went on with Glyea just recently.
Even suppressed, Josa could feel the tension making her fingers tremble. Her mind was calm, and her heart was trying to be the sa, but the disconnect between the two was making her uneasy still. Even so, as Zephyr explained who he was and what he was planning for in this second awakening, her anxiety cald a little. Being comforted by Okio helped as well, as she was just like any normal person.
The rest of the journey, she’d planned to spend untangling what she’d heard, while Zephyr spent that ti trying to figure out how soon the hero’s party could start exploring the dungeon again. They had spent quite a while away from the village and monster hunting, but now that they were about to be back, getting back on track as soon as possible was the priority.
"You still planning on dying, huh?" Nudging him on the side, Valentine narrowed her eyes at her husband. "Don’t tell I left that piece of shit to marry you and now you’re going to cut your ticket in a few years."
"I’m not sure yet," taking a deep breath, Zephyr looked at the dod ceiling. "It would really depend on how things go from now on, and that prophecy..."
"A few babbles by a self-proclaid prophet," scoffing at the idea, Valentine’s lips curved into a grimace. Hitting Zephyr with the back of her hand on his shoulder, she shook her head and kept complaining. "Even a broken clock is right twice a day; who’s to say that he didn’t make that guess?"
Chuckling at her words, Zephyr turned his head to look at her face.
"The hell turned into a ring. I doubt anyone could’ve predicted soone so insane, and yet he did."
"Like I said, twice a day."
"It physically hurts to admit, but~." Singing with her words, Aura turned around and peered into the wagon. "I have to agree with Valentine. What do we even know about him but the fact that he shows up at convenient tis and never in a place where you actually hurt him? If anything, he sounds like a coward too afraid to get his skin pinched in the hinges. Staying away from the action and giving advice like he knows everything."
"It’s almost as if he does know everything," Zephyr’s response sent a twitch through many eyelids. Everyone knew that he wasn’t wrong, but to admit it was sothing else entirely. For Aura to believe her own lies and delusions was one thing, but the fiend was more surprised that Valentine–his war advisor–was also leaning into spewing this uncertainty. "He predicted that we would win, and we did. He predicted that we would end the reign of the gods, and we did. He predicted that I would have those very gods as my wives and slaves, and we do. And now, only when he hangs the choice between my death by a hero or by my own madness, do we co to question his foresight?"
Glancing between the two, he sighed.
"We can’t pick and choose to believe in a prophecy when it suits us as opposed to when it does not. At the minimum, we should prepare ourselves for either case, and I want us to be ready for either, for if that hero is not ready when he cos to the mansion, I will kill him. Then we will decide what happens next."
Far too much was at stake for Aura or Valentine to simply accept the fiend’s words. Neither wanted him to die or to be killed by him, only for him to die of madness after he’d killed them. But if the prophecy was true, the madness would encroach. Slowly consuming him from within and turning him into a fiend that craves nothing but power. And devouring the flesh of the strong and the ek was how he would do it. Until, at the very end of ti itself, he sits on a world of corpses as the last creature alive. Then he will kill the last person,--himself–as well.
"We’re almost there!" Cutting through the tension, Glyea’s voice snapped everyone out of their minds. Blinking as they looked at each other, the group turned to the curtains and peered outside.
The blue lamp-lined cobblepath leading to the inner village, they were already there, which ant only a few more minutes, and they would reach the inner portion of the village. A handful of people could be seen walking by the path, and a wave of familiarity washed over everyone. The comfort of being in a familiar place hit Zephyr’s group, but more so helped Rudy and his companions.
No more tense shoulders, no more running away from whatever tries to chase after them. They were ho at last, and their worries about the world and themselves dropped substantially. Now the only thing they had to look after was continuing on with their goals, albeit for Audrey and the hero, revealing Custer’s true nature was still a priority for them.
Charlotte, on the other hand, rembered how she’d promised herself to make a move on Custer, but between her sister and the chaos of the capital, that idea couldn’t co to fruition. Freya was just as frustrated, but not for the sa reason, as now that they were back, those around her were bound to push her more about her secret relationship with Custer. In her eyes, it was a mistake, a mont of weakness, and although she’d promised herself not to repeat it, deep down she knew that if the boy were to push her again, she couldn’t say no to him.
Settled deep in their contemplation, the party finally arrived on the main street. Making their way down the bazaar, they got a few curious eyes as already the news from the capital had traveled far and wide. The capital was burning even now, and with the sages only being able to contain the riots as of yesterday, every word and every ssenger from that place felt sacred. Any ti a rival could swoop in and usurp the village or simply lay claim to it. Even slaughter them all if they so desired it. Thus, to see the hero return alongside the knight who’d saved them from an army before was quite a relief.
But for now, the only thing those heroes wanted was to get so rest. Lie on a soft bed for once, as for weeks they’d been traveling on rough roads. Nothing was more comforting than a room and so warm food cooked in a kitchen. And with the very sa in their minds as their first goal to achieve, the wagons made for the inn to settle right in. The chaos of their lives would soon lt for a mont, but with the dungeon and the fiend right by them, peace couldn’t last, and the night, especially, was bound to be loud, loud and full of moans.
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