Things to Be
Kara rose to her feet as Faux helped Asher get up. “Is he alright?” she asked, moving next to them.
“Am I alright?!” Asher repeated incredulously. “I was just a little tired after using all my energy. How’s Omurai?”
“I don’t know, he’s just lying over there,” Faux said, pointing at the motionless wind adept.
Kara and Asher both moved over towards Omurai and tried to wake him. The weary wind adept slowly sat up and looked around. “Where’s Draven? Did we get him?” he asked slowly, still very exhausted.
“Down the tower…we got him, buddy,” Asher said with a smile, motioning at the hole he smashed in the wall behind the now shattered throne.
“What about Thalys? Where is he?” Omurai asked, “…and Voyse?”
Faux, who had been looking down the hole behind the throne in hopes of seeing some sign of life said, “I can see nothing…not even the ground below. As for Voyse, he took the Adept’s Stone and fled.”
“Blast it!” Asher shouted, “Now we’ve got to find him again, not to mention he has that dumb stone!”
“Oh well…more for us to do, eh?” Omurai sighed, seemingly unworried. “Looks like I broke my sword,” he noted, plucking the broken half of his blade out of the ground.
“Do you think Thalys could have survived that fall, Faux?” Kara asked, a concerned look on her face.
“It is possible that he could have caught himself somewhere…or even use some magic to soften his fall, but the chances of it are highly unlikely,” Faux replied, also worried.
“Only one way to found out-” Omurai began to say, rising to his feet.
“Let’s go down and see,” Asher finished with a grin.
The group all made their way to the wind elevator, but it was still at the bottom of the tower.
“Not good…looks like we’re going down some stairs,” Kara said, making her way towards the steps.
“Unless our wind friend here knows how to work this thing…” Faux said, turning a wry grin towards Omurai.
“It’s a fairly archaic form of the elevators I’m used to, but it works a little similar,” Omurai informed, slowly moving around the hole with Asher’s help. He spotted a strange symbol on the wall behind the elevator. He pressed it, and the symbol lit up.
They all heard a rush of air and knew the elevator was working again. As the elevator reached the top, they all boarded in and it started to descend. When they reached the bottom, they moved into the room. Omurai looked away from the massacre within, disgusted by the image of it. They all were shaken by the room and left as fast as they could. Navigating through the corridors, they passed the victims of the faceless and Voyse and hurried for the northern exit.
As they got outside they braced themselves for the worst. All they found was Thalys sitting on the bridge, watching the setting sun. He turned towards them and smiled.
“Hey guys! Guess what, I won!” Thalys said happily, waving his remaining saber in the air.
“What of Draven?” Kara asked, elated to see Thalys alive.
Thalys aimed his sword down at the crater below.
“I see…then our business is done here,” Faux said slowly.
“Really? Where’s Voyse?” Thalys asked as he tried to stand up.
“He got away with the Adept’s Stone,” Asher grumbled.
Thalys frowned in a mixture of pain and sadness as he stood up, balancing on one foot. “That’s no good.”
“No it isn’t…this means my mission is not yet finished,” Kara said, noting Thalys’ pain.
“…Our mission,” Faux corrected, tossing a friendly smile towards Kara.
Kara bent down and used what little power had returned to her to heal Thalys’ ankle. Thalys moved his foot around and smiled, satisfied that the pain was gone.
“Then it’s settled, I’m coming with you!” the nobleman declared, throwing a fist in the air.
“You don’t have to, Thalys,” Kara replied.
“Yes, but I want to. I got myself involved in this, might as well finish it,” Thalys argued.
“If you insist, we’d enjoy the company,” Kara said with a warm smile.
“What about you two? Will you be joining us?” Thalys asked, turning his attention to Omurai and Asher.
“I…don’t know,” Omurai replied, unsure of himself. Asher, who was still holding his friend up, shook him a bit.
“Of course we’re going! I’m not letting that fiend get away…this is personal now,” Asher corrected his friend with an eager grin.
“Great! It’ll be better with more people to come along,” Kara said happily.
Thalys suddenly remembered something and frowned. “Alas…I cannot go,” he said somberly.
“What do you mean?” Kara asked.
“Well you see…I promised my fiancée that we’d get married when I returned from my travel to the Wall of Liteo. I’d be untruthful to her if I continued on another adventure without her,” Thalys explained.
“Without her…?” Faux asked, a pick of curiosity in his eye.
“Yes, she asked that as soon as we got married, we’d go on an adventure together,” Thalys clarified.
“Well, if she doesn’t mind company, then she can join us!” Kara decided. “Besides, we all could use some well deserved rest after this.”
“Yeah, but we don’t need some girl slowing us down because she wants to go on a nature walk…besides, what about Voyse?! The longer we wait the further away he gets,” Asher argued.
“Like he hasn’t already? Starting now would get us as close to catching him as if we started any other time,” Faux countered.
“And what is this about being a girl anyways? What do you think I am?” Kara said, somewhat annoyed.
“I assure you, Karis is not your typical girl. She’s an earth adept like most the people of my land, and she has been training in many forms of martial arts. When she says adventure, she expects some challenges,” Thalys said with a laugh.
Asher rubbed a hand across his face, knowing he was defeated. “Well, whatever…I just want some revenge. So, what do you plan for us to do until Thalys gets married?”
“That is for you to decide, but I have an idea what Omurai might be doing,” a familiar voice spoke behind them. They all turned to see Rowe and a few of his soldiers standing at the entrance of the castle. “I’m sure he’d like to take some time to enjoy Altem Tier, after all,” he continued with a smirk.