Elira got more and more steady with her healing as the purification went on, and by the end Calen’s speed was only slightly lower than when he worked with Sylara.
"It’s done." He announced, and stepped away from the now unconscious giant.
"He’s stable, but will need so ti to recuperate and transform back to his original form." Elira inford Leon.
"How long will it take?"
"Considering that the altar is helping him, he should be fine by dawn."
*Too bad we don’t have any spare armour suits, we could finally let him talk if we did." Isara comnted.
"No need for that." Leon shook his head. "The seal in the armour is active only when the whole set is in place, it’ll stop working if he removes the helt."
"Have you ever seen him without a helt? Like before he joined you?"
"I did. I was right there beside Nickolas when he ca to us two hundred years ago, asking for asylum."
"And? What did he look like?"
"Like a demon from hell – but uglier."
"Aye, I can attest to that." Damien nodded. "He was one of the ugliest bastards I’ve ever seen, but also a pretty chill guy."
"Could you tell us his story?" Elira asked. "I’m extrely curious how a corrupted sapient creature ca to seek salvation from the Blight on its own, especially when all the others we’ve seen relish in its vile power."
"I could, but wouldn’t you like to hear that story straight from the source? Once Greg wakes up he’ll be more than happy to tell you... probably."
"Wait, is Greg even his real na?" Isara frowned.
"It’s a short version, I couldn’t even pronounce the real thing." Leon admitted.
"How did you co up with the suppressing armour? That’s a pretty specific thing to create." Cassian asked.
"When Greg ca to us for the first ti he was wearing a strange talisman, he told us it’s a sacred relic of his people that allows him to partially cut off his mind from the influence of the Blight."
Leon gestured at the fierce looking plate armour.
"Henry, our previous blacksmith and Thomas’ master, ca up with an idea to reverse-engineer the talisman and create an armour that could completely supress the corruption, although it ca with so disadvantages."
"What was Henry like?" Alfred asked. "Thomas always avoids talking about him, and I’ve been wondering why."
"He was brave and stubborn, always wanted to help everyone no matter the cost. This mindset led him to sacrifice his life to protect a small settlent from an avatar of an ancient one."
"That’s why they didn’t allow him to take the battle trial?"
"Yes, most of the round table was scared to lose their only blacksmith who had just only finished his training." Leon sighed. "I’m ashad to say it but we probably could’ve handled it better. We should’ve told him about our concerns, and tried to reach so sort of a compromise."
"He might be willing to reconcile once the round table is cleansed of all the traitors."
"Let us hope so."
Somber silence descended on the group, but it was quickly broken by Calen:
"Leon, would you mind taking a look at sothing for ? I’m curious about your opinion."
"Sure, what do you want to see?"
***
Five minutes later both of them stood in front of the unnad statue behind the temple.
"It’s definitely Tharion." Leon nodded. "And you’re saying there’s an entire shared tomb beneath the temple where people are depicted this way?"
"Yes, could they be his followers or sothing?"
"If they are, then he certainly wasn’t the one to gather them." Leon chuckled. "The man lived under the sa roof as us for several months, and I don’t think anyone exchanged more than three sentences with him. We didn’t even know his na until Lady Sylara pointed us in the right direction."
"Us? You were alive during the invasion...?"
"I was but a recruit back then, still wet behind the ears. The invasion occurred around a month after I joined the army – I was sixteen, I think – probably would’ve died if Tharion didn’t tell Nickolas to rescue the training camp I was at."
"You said you’re the second oldest in the Order right? How is that possible if Nickolas gathered so many people back then and supposedly no one died during the first few months."
"Ah." Leon grimaced. "It’s not sothing we like to talk about... I can only tell you that we tried to counterattack the Blightborn – if you want the details you’ll need to ask Nickolas."
"Alright then, let’s talk about sothing else – horses, or Striders, where are they? Alfred said you have a few at the Order, but I haven’t seen any animals, let alone sothing that could be used as a mount."
"I’m afraid you reached us at a bad ti I’d you wanted to see them – around a month ago the Riders stopped by the castle, and asked us to lend them the Order’s Striders."
"And you just did?"
"We did. The Striders were dosticated by the Riders, and one of the conditions for sharing them with others was an unconditional access to them whenever the need arises." Leon explained. "Besides, we don’t need them as much anymore since the tunnel to Mountainfall was opened, and the Riders always give them back after so ti."
"Do you know what did they need them for?"
"Yeah, they-"
Leon was interrupted by Cassian coming out from behind the building.
"Ellie says that sothing strange happened with Greg, and he’s bound to wake up any minute now."
***
"I think his original species had so sort of healing factor, like Cal, because the recovery rate gradually sped up." Elira stated.
Greg stirred as she finished her sentence.
"Are you awake buddy?" Leon asked.
The steel giant nodded.
"You can take off the helt, the process worked and you’re no longer corrupted-"
Greg didn’t even wait for him to finish before he grabbed the horned helt and pulled it off.
The face beneath the mask was far from the beast Leon described – it was handso and symtrical, with strongly defined features.
You could almost mistake him for a human, if not for the slightly pointed ears, blood-red hair... and the pair of large curved horns growin out of his forehead.
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