Chapter 134: Chapter 205 – Until Dawn

With the danger gone, Asterios returned to the ground next to the Terrackal’s decapitated body, landing softly on the undamaged patch of grass. He still had Silvia attached to him so he didn’t want to inconvenience her anymore by suddenly dropping down like he had been used to.

A wave of crimson flames rolled over his body and the black belts tying the princess to him disappeared. With the aid of his hand, she jumped off his shoes and gave him a grateful smile.

“I must say, that was a very interesting and fun way to fight together.” Silvia fixed her hair and clothes, slightly disheveled from their frantic movements during the battle.

“Yeah. Not something I expected to do ever.” He chuckled. “I’m glad it somehow worked out. But, that reminds me, we still have to get your battle staff out of the monster’s eye socket.”

“Right. And it’s currently covered by a thick net made of this extremely durable stone.” She nodded, glancing at the creature’s head.

“It should be nothing more than common rock now,” Venuzathor joined in. “That mineral is in a kind of symbiotic relationship with the Terrackal. It feeds on the beast’s spiritual energy, offering protection and other boons in return.”

To illustrate his words, the Storm King stepped closer to the body and pressed his clawed foot over the creature’s leg. Stomping down on it, he easily smashed the previously durable stone into bits, alongside the monster’s bones, of course.

Asterios and Silvia climbed on the Terrackal’s snout together and moved to stand in front of its injured eye. He filled his artifact sword with some mana again, just enough to turn the flames decorating the blade’s edge up, and slowly melted through the bars of rock with its help, cutting the protective barrier out.

It took them a moment to find and pull Silvia’s weapon out. As they had thought, it had been pushed even deeper by the monster’s powerful smash when it had smacked itself in the face while trying to get them. But, Asterios reinforced his muscles enough to bring the black staff back. It didn’t look damaged, only a little bit dirty.

He wanted to gather materials from their fallen enemy but also didn’t want to do it right now, when the others could still be fighting. Venuzathor suggested taking it into his realm for now and Asterios agreed. None of his mates could open gates large enough to fit even the Terrackal’s head, and he was sure that the Storm King’s lair should be safe to store the corpse for a day or so.

The Dracodon urged them to return while he took care of the body and they bid farewell to their draconic friend, thanking him for the assistance. Silvia jumped into Ast’s arms again and he flew them toward the pit with the summoning circle. As they approached it from above, they could note the lack of beasts and monsters crawling out of it.

They landed near the edge of the crater and looked around before taking a peek into the chasm. They couldn’t see the bottom due to the pitch-black darkness, but they also couldn’t see any signs of the swirling, chaotic rift, which could mean only one thing. Grea’s team truly had succeeded in their task, and Tina had followed his request and went back to the battlefield with everyone.

“Thank gods it’s gone.” Asterios sighed in relief. “Now I wonder if Fievedem and the others learned something about the creators of that array during their resear—”

“Looks like I’m late. Unfortunate.”

He stopped mid-sentence and whipped his head to the side, towards the source of the voice that had reached their ears, belonging to a woman he didn’t recognize. She had a tone of a mature lady, somewhat lacking emotion, sounding very neutral and methodical, almost bored.

To his shock, he found a tall figure dressed in black right by the edge of the pit not that far from them. Neither he nor Silvia had heard, seen, or sensed anything, and there was now a person standing next to them. 

Although standing might not be the best expression.

The woman floated above the ground with a small cloud of seeping darkness hovering at the height of her ankles. It looked like this ominous smoke connected to her legs like it was an extension of her. Tiny drops of some dark purple liquid dripped off the dark mist, dissipating very quickly after hitting the earth underneath it.

Expensive-looking black pants from a suit covered her long legs. She wore a black butler vest with a classy, purple shirt underneath, completing the set with a similarly stylized short, black tailcoat with an open front. A bow tie decorated her collar, also in the same dark shade. Completely not fitting the entire image, a rainbowy handkerchief poked out of the front pocket of her vest.

As she turned to face them, Asterios quickly realized that it wasn’t just his mind playing tricks on him but the mature lady of mocha-brown skin color was definitely at least a head taller than him, if not more. 

Pure, swirling, dark violet shade filled her entire eyes, with no pupils or irises in sight. It felt deep, bottomless, unfathomable to the point that he could easily get lost in it. A pair of small, round, brass glasses sat atop her short nose, right in front of those mesmerizing eyes, which gave off a slightly tired, disinterested, or perhaps incomprehensibly wise feeling with her eyelids partially lowered. Waist-long, lush, black locks ran down the woman’s back.

She could easily pass for an honored and revered professor with her attire if not for one single element that contradicted that image greatly.

On top of her head, sat a huge, pointy, wizarding hat of black color too. It wouldn’t be that surprising if not for the fact that its wide rim extended outwards flatly like a piece of paper laid down on a desk, comically defying the force of gravity. The cone-shaped middle and the material leading up to it were similarly perfectly smooth, without a single wrinkle in sight, like the entire thing was solid.

Even though that was already eye-catching, the most hypnotizing part of it was actually its underside. The spacious bottom of the wide wizarding hat seemed to be filled with an endless, colorful galaxy, twinkling with tens if not hundreds of distant stars. When looking at the top of the woman’s head, he could perfectly see all of it, like the hat didn’t even rest on her hair or anything, even though he could tell that it did.

What was more, the galaxy wasn’t just a static texture or a slightly swirling effect like her eyes. No, it felt like Asterios was looking through a window to another world. With the slightest movement of the woman’s head, the image blurred at the edges of the hat and uncovered more of the starry sky, depending on the direction of the motion. It truly was no different than peeking through a window at different angles. That weird phenomenon was as fascinating and mesmerizing as it was menacing and uncomfortable.

Asterios wasn’t sure how he felt about the woman who had appeared by their side seemingly out of thin air and stepped closer to Silvia, shielding her with his body. The mysterious stranger gave a lot of conflicting signals with various parts of her very existence. The fact that he couldn’t get even the tiniest grasp on her spiritual strength made him very cautious. There was no chance that she was so utterly weak.

“And who might you be, dear madam?” he asked as politely as he could, not taking his eyes off the suspicious, tall woman.

She regarded him with an unhurried glance, without the slightest change in her seemingly disinterested expression. Alongside each, even the smallest movement, more black, swirly mist made trails behind her figure.

“You do not need to be wary of me. I only study, not intervene. Since your thoughts are written all over your face, I’ll assure you that I had no previous connection to this place or the magical formation laid down at the bottom of this chasm,” she answered in a slow, methodic tone.

“Why did you say that you were late, then?” Silvia questioned her with a polite voice, peeking past Ast’s side.

“Because, as I said, I study. I felt something interesting and wanted to analyze it.” She shook her head gently. “Unfortunately, as I was journeying through the fabric of dimensions, another spiritual ripple came from this place, which I’m assuming was caused by the unusual event ending.”

“There was an old summoning circle down there which went out of control after someone with a complete lack of knowledge tried to force it to do his bidding,” Asterios explained. “A giant rift opened and many creatures poured into this realm, including something called a Terrackal. Our friends managed to close the breach while the two of us fought the beast. That’s pretty much all that happened here.”

The mocha-skinned woman peered into the darkness for a moment longer and returned her enchanting gaze to him.

“I appreciate your assistance and given information. You have provided such without me asking, nor had any obligation to do so. I will not forget your kindness.”

“My name is Asterios. The woman next to me is Silvia. How should we refer to you, madam?” He made a polite nod and Silvia curtsied respectfully, revealing herself fully.

“You may call me whatever you wish. I go by many names, some of which have been long lost in time and space,” the woman replied mysteriously.

Asterios assumed that she didn’t want to reveal her actual name yet, for whatever reason, and decided not to pry any further. Then, he felt a familiar sensation on his shoulder and Umbra materialized himself there in the shape of a big, misty raven.

~The situation is under control, Master. We have cleaned up all the remaining monsters and your mates are awaiting your retu—~

Umbra froze completely when his purplish eyes landed on the black-clad woman. Momentarily, a shiver ran through his shadowy body. He hadn’t sensed the slightest hint of another person or entity anywhere close to Asterios and Silvia. A weird feeling filled him from inside the longer he stared at her ominous figure, one he could not recognize or explain.

In turn, she stared back at him and Asterios noted a change in her expression for the very first time since they had met. It was minuscule, extremely easy to miss, but her soft brows rose just ever so slightly before returning to their previous state. He had noticed them moving only thanks to his sharpened, draconic senses.

“Curious…” the woman mused with the same, disinterested tone, tilting her head to the side. “How could you have…”

She moved her attention to Asterios and their gazes met. A shiver ran down his spine as her bottomless, swirling eyes bore deep into his very being, this time scrutinizing him to the tiniest detail instead of glossing over him like before. He couldn’t stop himself from staring back into them with equal intensity.

“Oh. I see. Very interesting. It looks like my journey was not a complete waste,” she continued talking, more to herself than anyone else.

Asterios suddenly started getting dizzy, taking a step back to steady himself as the world around him seemed to spin, and she finally broke their eye contact. Silvia supported him with a concerned expression and he glanced up at the mysterious woman once more, noticing that she now held a dignified cane with a beautiful amethyst as its handle in front of her, stuck into the black haze extending from her ankles.

“Well then, Asterios. I must thank you again. You have provided me with very valuable information. As a token of my gratitude, I shall give you something of equal value.” She cleared her throat softly. “Remember, if you gaze long enough into an abyss… the abyss will gaze back into you.”

The corner of her mouth curled a little into the faintest smirk and the black fog swirled around the woman’s body from the bottom to the top. She disappeared alongside the dissipating mist as a gentle chuckle echoed into the distance.

Silence remained between them for a good minute before Asterios spoke up first.

“What the hell was that?” he asked, exchanging confused glances with Silvia. “Umbra?”

~I have no idea, Master. I couldn’t even feel her no matter how hard I tried. Yet, at the same time, I could feel her, but some other way.~

“Like what?”

~Again, I have no idea. It was like she seemed familiar but at the same time not. I do not know her but just looking at her, or being looked at by her, evokes something weird in my very being.~

Asterios rubbed his chin, recalling their entire conversation with the mysterious woman, and sighed heavily, shaking his head.

“Whatever it is, there’s not much we can do about it right now.” He shrugged. “Who knows, maybe we’ll run into her again one day.”

Both Silvia and Umbra agreed with him and the shadowy raven transferred them both back to the outermost part of the town right after Asterios dismissed his transformation. As they left the area of the pit, a small ripple passed through the shadow of the tree the closest to their previous position, quickly calming down.

They resurfaced right in front of the first line of buildings, in the middle of the knights gathered in front of it. Bryn’s barrier was no more and everyone was roaming over the empty battlefield, riddled with countless corpses of different monsters in various states of dismemberment. A giant, flaming panther dashed towards them, making the ground shake with each pounce.

~Master! You are back!~ Miria came to a stop in front of Asterios and Silvia, starting to purr loudly as she lowered her big head to nuzzle her nose into his chest. ~We protected everyone just like you asked! I’m so happy that you are safe too!~

He chuckled openly and rubbed Miria’s flaming fur. Silvia joined him in petting the huge panthergirl as Selene descended from the sky with all eight of her tails still swaying behind her back. Tina arrived right after with Bryn and even Grea jogged to them from the side.

They all shared a group hug around the massive cat and Asterios quickly canceled the techniques he had used on Miria so she could join them. First, the fire went out, and then, the black mist surrounded her body as she returned to her natural size, quickly shifting into her humanoid form next. They laughed and giggled together as the people around them clapped joyfully.

The sound of a bell interrupted their celebration and they all turned toward the town.

“It looks like the Committee received the news already.” Asterios smirked. “This one means an official gathering in the main plaza.”

“Is it time for a grand victory speech?” Grea grinned at him impishly.

“I guess.” He chuckled and they all followed the people starting to walk towards the main market.

Reaching their destination, they found a small stage constructed in front of Venuzathor’s usual resting place, just like on the day of their first arrival in Glimmervale. The Committee members stood on top of it and Ulyssen waved at them as they neared the wooden construction.

“We had no doubt that you could resolve the issue positively so we started preparing the stage ahead of time.” The man smiled at him softly. “That said, we didn’t expect you to do it so fast so we are lacking all the visual decorations fitting such an occasion.”

Asterios shook his head at the same time as they shook hands. “This will do.”

The plaza slowly filled with people. Some came from their homes, some straight from the battlefield like the guards or the adventurers, and some clearly had been watching the defense operation unfold from a safe distance on top of the roofs near the edge of the settlement. Asterios and his friends quickly spotted Suanori with all her subordinates and the elf delegation, waving at them warmly. More and more familiar figures flooded into the spacious, cleared-up market and soon everyone was there.

The timing couldn’t have been more perfect. Just as Ulyssen calmed the crowd down and urged Asterios to step forward, the first warm rays of sunlight bathed the gathering in the morning light, slowly illuminating the sky and the town.

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Before he could begin, though, a familiar, cascading thudding echoed in the distance and everyone turned to look toward it. Soon, Venuzathor flew over their heads low enough to almost scrape his massive belly against the tallest roofs and landed on his personal spot, causing a small earthquake. Many gasps filled the plaza as he dropped a huge head of a canine monster onto the ground, letting it fall from his jaws.

As silence and some murmuring filled the air, Asterios cleared his throat and turned towards the crowd.

“Good morning, everyone. At least I hope it is after our unscheduled night event.” Some chuckles rolled through the people. “As you may already know, we were successful. The monsters plaguing Glimmervale are no more!”

Everyone cheered loudly at the official confirmation and it took a while for the residents to calm down, letting him continue.

“Since I’m sure everyone here wants nothing more than to get back home and grab maybe an hour or two of sleep before having to tend to their responsibilities, I’ll keep things short. The source of the beasts has been neutralized and the culprit behind its operation has been apprehended. There should be no more issues from either of those. And, as you can see, we have neutralized the biggest threat that came out of it.” He gestured at the decapitated head of the Terrackal.

Some mild applause took place again but quickly died down.

“But, while I did technically take it down alongside the princess,” he smiled at Silvia, who nodded politely, “it wasn’t just all me and my companions. We wouldn’t have gotten anywhere if not for the help of Guildmaster Suanori, her guild, our new blacksmith friends Imadil and Cynthia, and the Elf Queen’s delegation of experts under the leadership of a lady going by the name Fievedem. They played a key role in coming up with a way of getting rid of the source of monsters for good, and personally saw through it to the very last moment.”

The people turned their faces towards the group he gestured at and the mentioned individuals showed bright smiles as the residents of Glimmervale applauded them next.

“Of course, we appreciate the help of everyone here too. All the knights, guards, adventurers, and everyone who listened to the instructions or assisted us in any other way. It would take way too long to thank everyone on that list personally so I hope you don’t mind a collective symbol of our gratitude.”

Asterios glanced back over his shoulder and his friends joined him at the front. They grabbed each other’s hands and simultaneously made a low bow toward the crowd. Everyone cheered once more and a few people whistled loudly.

“And now comes the worst part. Someone has to clean all this mess up.” A wave of chuckles echoed in the plaza. “I hope we can count on you with that. The more of us there are, the faster we’ll be done. I’m sure that the Committee is preparing another grand feast for tonight so there’s at least something to look forward to.”

People seemed even more excited at that news than the announcement that their monster issues were no longer present, making Asterios smile.

“Thank you again, everyone, and see you all later at the celebrations. We still have a lot to do so I’m going to excuse our group now. Stay safe, Glimmervale!”

He led the girls down the stage to the accompaniment of thunderous applause as they waved at the crowd. A few people came closer to exchange handshakes and share words of gratitude so they stayed for a moment longer before moving behind the wooden platform.

“So, about the culprit…” Ulyssen began as they gathered with the Committee members.

“It was John,” Asterios informed them.

The man sighed heavily as his peers shook their heads. “I can’t say that we are surprised. How was he involved, though?”

“He got lucky,” Suanori joined in, walking up to them with the other elves. “He somehow found the underground cavern and stumbled on the book containing the cipher needed to read the other texts, alongside some other details, which talk about the summoning formation in that chamber. It’s a miracle he managed to alter it but I guess adding an order to rush into the town isn’t that complex. He could have blown himself up much, much earlier.”

“Unbelievable…” Esotvi scowled. “But, why?”

“I don’t know but I have my theories.” Asterios smiled wryly. “Let’s find out.”

A deep shadow swirled in the middle of the circle they had accidentally made by gathering around and formed a humanoid shape. After receding back into the ground, it revealed a tied-up and gagged John, brought to them by Umbra. Asterios removed the cloth from the man’s mouth.

“So, you’ve been caught pretty much red-handed. I think it should be in your best interest to say what’s on your conscience and you might suffer a little less,” he said while glaring at the obvious criminal.

John scowled at him while thrashing around, trying to loosen his restraints. “Fuck you! And fuck this entire town! You think I’ll talk? That you can torture me to make me talk? Good luck! I’ll kill myself on the very first occasion!”

Before the man could bite off his tongue or do something similarly unwanted, Asterios snapped his fingers, and Umbra’s shadows restricted John’s movements.

“You really are stupid.” Asterios shook his head with a sigh.

“Did you kill her?” Miria couldn’t hold back and asked with her lips tensed into a thin line and her forehead furrowed.

“Fuck you!” John snarled at her when Asterios requested to release his jaw for a moment.

“What will happen to him, considering what you know about his misdeeds?” Asterios asked the Committee members.

“He will be lucky to keep his life after endangering the entire town,” Ted replied with a serious expression.

“So, it won’t be an issue if he dies by accident while we extract information from him, right?”

The advisors exchanged glances and then shrugged almost in perfect sync.

“Great. He’s all yours, Umbra.”

The shadows binding John expanded and began enveloping more of his body, seeping even into all his open orifices. The man whined and whimpered while clearly being in a lot of pain but he went silent pretty quickly, his gaze becoming somewhat distant.

~He’s in my complete control. You can ask him anything. I’ll hold on from digging through his mind and memories, for now,~ Umbra informed Asterios.

“Did you kill her?” Miria repeated her earlier question almost instantly.

“Yes,” John answered her with a flat, bored voice.

She trembled as her hands rolled into fists and Asterios had to grab Miria before she ripped the man into shreds in her rage. He hugged her dearly and lovingly patted her head as everyone outside of his close circle looked confusedly at them.

“She means his mother,” Asterios explained.

Ted cursed immediately while everyone’s faces fell. “Why would you do that?!”

“That stupid bitch didn’t tell me that my real father was the lord. She tried to stop me from asking for what I deserved. I had to get rid of her or else the lord wouldn’t take pity on me and take me in,” John answered.

“Motherfucker!” Ted spun around to release his anger on the air behind him before he followed Miria’s example.

“Why did you send monsters into the town, though?” Ulyssen asked next.

“I had to create good occasions for myself to appear as a dependable protector, saving everyone from the rampaging beasts. They would surely appreciate my efforts and understand that there’s no one better to succeed the previous lord than me.”

“So, it was all your doing since the very beginning?”

“Yes.”

No one asked any more questions as they took in the revelations. The Committee members had no reason not to trust Asterios and his companions as they had shown plenty of times that they would go out of their way for the people they had been assigned to watch over by the king.

“So, what now?” Tina glanced at the advisors.

“Normally, we would throw him in jail and hand him over to the kingdom’s officials after explaining his crimes, letting them deal with him accordingly,” Ulyssen replied. “But, I have a much better idea, which might earn us some trouble explaining our actions to them later, though.”

He looked at Silvia while rubbing his chin and the princess met his gaze.

“Well, let’s make sure that everything is conducted in accord with the kingdom’s laws and regulations.” She showed a faint smile.

The man chuckled to himself and shouted for a nearby guard to approach. A moment later, the young sentry was rushing off somewhere and the sound of a bell rang again, this time with a completely different tone. Ulyssen told them to wait on the stage and dragged John away with the other male members.

Asterios did as instructed and they watched how people gathered again, much quicker than before. A big part of the crowd had still been around so it took only ten minutes for the plaza to fill again.

Then, Ted dragged the chained and dressed in rags John onto the stage as the Committee members walked behind him. Ulyssen turned to the people and explained that they would be putting him on a public trail. Then he proceeded to list John's most serious crimes, which involved the murder of his own mother and leading monsters to attack the town.

The crowd became furious the very moment he mentioned just the first one and it was a challenge to keep it under control. Many people shouted much louder than the others, even throwing some items at the restricted convict, most likely those who had been close to his family in the past.

When it came to the sentence, everyone chanted one single word in perfect unison.

“Death! Death! Death! Death!”

After asking the princess to come forward, he let her confirm that she has documented a fair trial and that the sentence is in line with what would have been given out in the capital. She allowed Ulyssen to continue before stepping back and returning to Ast’s group.

They watched how the men dragged John closer to the edge of the stage and lifted him up. At the same time, Venuzathor woke from his slumber and raised his massive, draconic head into the air, towering over the platform and the crowd. Getting an idea of what was going to happen, Asterios quickly ordered Umbra to scan the man’s memories before it was too late.

The men counted to three, swinging John’s body back and forth, and then tossed it into the air. A black shadow quickly escaped from the man’s figure just moments before the Storm King’s jaws opened wide and snapped forward, chomping on the poor convict. A rumbling, clacking noise echoed through the plaza as Venuzathor returned to sleep and complete silence fell onto the gathering as everyone stood there in a daze.

After what felt like an eternity, Ulyssen turned to the people again.

“And that’s exactly what will happen to every criminal who messes with Glimmervale and its residents.”

Three seconds later, everyone roared so loud that the entire place shook. Loud, powerful applause filled the air as Ulyssen and everyone else left the stage. Asterios was quite shocked alongside his companions but he shrugged after exchanging glances with the girls. Umbra had succeeded so they had enough dirt on John if they ever needed solid proof.

Since none of them felt like going back to sleep after everything that had happened, they decided to start working on tidying the battlefield up and taking care of all the other things related to their recent defense operation. 

 

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