Legacy of Hope

By: Chibi-chan

Chapter 2: “Interesting Times (Con’t)”

*

Zed was tearing through the castle with young Garrett riding piggyback, followed by Liete and Fluffy. He saw some knights heading toward the battle now and then, but he paid them no heed. He had seen himself that they and their swords were less than effective against the monsters. The only ones who had been getting anywhere were that gunslinger and his Crest Sorceress companion.

No, the knights were not who he needed. He needed the Dream Chasers who had bested him repeatedly back when they were on opposite sides. He needed Rudy, Jack, and Cecilia, and that was that.

*

With a shot, a hoarse cry of “Flame!” followed by a double helix of fireballs, and a kitchen knife thrown with disturbingly unerring accuracy did the last amphibian slime monster die. Mira took a look around, then sat down on a table. Ron looked as well, then reloaded her ARM in case that was only the first wave of attack. Bernard kept looking through the knifes, trying to find ones that were the right size and make to throw, also in case of a second attack.

“It’s happened again… Another place I’ve been’s been attacked when I was still there…” Mira muttered softly, “Why does this keep happening to me…?”

“Hey, cheer up, Sunshine,” Bernard told her, “It could always be worse.”

“How?” the girl asked.

“Well, you could’ve ended up among the dead,” said the bard, “But here you are, still breathing and in one piece. Is it not better to live rather than die, young lady?”

“Great, he’s not just a fucktwit; he’s a philosophizing fucktwit,” Ron grumbled.

“Could you not call me that?” Bernard asked coldly.

“Hey, I call ‘em as I see ‘em, pal,” Ron said with a shrug.

Before Bernard could say anything in his defense, Ron, who was closest to the barrels shushed him. A gradually crescendoing scratching noise could be heard from the sewer entrance the monsters had used. Something else was coming, and it sounded like something big…

*

Zed was not expecting to meet Rudy, Jack and Cecilia in the hallway. If he had, he would’ve noticed them sooner and slowed down rather than running full tilt into smallest, blue-haired member of their party. He barely avoided falling backwards and landing on the child riding on his back after being knocked back. After noticing just whom he had just run into, he launched into a rapid-fire account of the events that had just occurred.

Rudy, the only one not immediately concerned with checking on the children’s welfare (Liete immediately ran to Jack and Cecilia took Garrett off Zed’s back), tried to get him to slow down and be coherent. “Zed, Zed, calm down! We know about the monsters! We were just on our way there-“

Before Rudy could say another word, Jack, hampered slightly by Liete clinging to his leg, pushed his friend out of the way and grabbed Zed by the coat. “Not even ten minutes watching them and you bring my daughter back crying and my son hurt! How the hell did you let this happen?!”

“It’s not my fault! The barrels… He was standing by them, and that’s how they got in…!” Zed tried to explain as Cecilia cast a healing spell on her son.

“The barrels? That’s where that entrance to the sewers is!” Cecilia exclaimed after the spell was complete.

“So that’s how they got in… I wonder if they went out the other entrance too…” Rudy mused softly

“So, um, if no one else is going to yell at me, maybe we should maybe get down to the kitchens?” Zed said nervously, Jack still in his face. “I left these two people down there when I went to get you guys and they may need help…”

Jack thought for a moment, then let go of Zed. “… fine. You and your… pet will stay here with Cecilia to protect the kids, and you’d better not make things worse like you usually do.” He then turned to Rudy. “Kid, we’d better get going or those guys this idiot was talking about will have all the fun.” Rudy nodded and the two set off for the battle.

“Hey! Wait! I didn’t tell you! Don’t let the monsters touch you! They’re acidic or something! It can burn you badly!” Zed called out after them, hoping to Ione Paua that they heard him.

“Uh, Zed, a hand here?” Cecilia said, trying to keep a still crying Liete from following her father while at the same time trying to deal with a silent but shaking Garrett.

“Oh, uh, sure,” Zed said. He picked up Liete and thought as she wailed in his ear, First day here and an attack takes place, I piss Jack off twice, once because his kid got hurt before I could do anything, and I don’t think they heard by warning… What did I do to deserve a day like this?

*

The thing that was clawed its way out of the sewers was finally out. It seemed that the little slimes were just child versions of this creature. It, too, was amphibian by nature, but it was covered head to toe in dripping green ooze, only slightly more liquid in consistency that the slime the smaller monsters were encased in. Wherever the ooze fell, a small hiss could be heard and a hole started to form. It stood upright on froglike legs. It had long, spindly arms that ended in broad, webbed and clawed “hands”. Despite its nature, it also had sharp, pointy teeth.

“Why, grandma, what big teeth you have,” Ron quipped dryly as she put the revolver away and reached for her shotgun.

“Not another monster,” Mira moaned weakly as she got off the table. “Could this day possibly get worse?”

“It can always get worse, Sunshine,” Bernard said. He had as many “good” knives as he could find with him and was ready to rumble. “So, everyone up to this?”

Ron certainly was. She had opened fire on the creature before the bard had finished saying “Sunshine”. Needless to say, the creature was not pleased. She being the closest, it lunged and swiped at her, determined to hit her and not give her an opening to shoot again. “Montoya? Fucktwit? A little help here?” she asked, dodging and backing away from the monster.

“Big guns, on the way! VALKYRIE!” Mira proclaimed. Several things that can only be described as “Multicolored Disco Balls of Doom” flew out and bombarded the monster. It roared and decided to go after Mira instead. “Meep! I… I was only kidding, Mister Monster…” she said, ready to run if she had to.

Free to fire again, Ron shot the monster again. Bernard was strangely subdued, muttering something that made a knife in his hand start to glow blue. No one really noticed or really cared what he was doing; Ron was too busy blasting away, Mira too busy sending out more spells, and the monster too busy trying to deal with both at the same time.

As soon as the knife started glowing bright blue, Bernard finally threw it straight at the monster, sinking into its flesh. It reached to get it out, but before its “hand” got halfway there, it began to convulse as if it were being electrocuted. It shrieked in agony as, of all things, flowers began to sprout from various parts of its body. It collapsed to the floor and lay there, unmoving.

“What the hell was that?!” Ron exclaimed, moving closer to Bernard and pointed to their fallen adversary.

“Never heard of any magic that could do that…” Mira said, moving close to the others in case it wasn’t dead yet.

“’That’ is something you don’t need to know,” Bernard told Ron calmly.

“Like hell! What did you do, fucktwit?!” Ron demanded to know, losing her short temper.

“My name is Bernard, and it’s none of your business what I did!” the bard told her, his own patience growing thin.

Mira just watched the monster. When she thought she saw it twitch, she tried to get their attention. “Uh… Ronnie? Mister? The monster…” They just ignored her and kept bickering. When the monster clearly moved, she tried again with more force. “Ronnie! Mister! The monster moved!” Again, nothing. It took the monster getting back to its feet and shrieking to get their attention. It went after the nearest person, Mira…

There was no time to shoot, cast, or throw. Ron somehow knew this and did something she later thought wasn’t her most brilliant move ever, but she was close enough to do it and didn’t like the thought of even a child-like person being hurt. She put herself between the monster and Mira, and with her back to the monster, she held the girl in a protective embrace. She didn’t scream when the first clawed strike raked deeply across her back; she merely gritted her teeth and tightened her hold on Mira

A second strike did not come, however. The monster was bombarded by a volley of rocket, blasting it away from the two women. A blond swordsman then seeming missed the monster with a slash, but it was immediately followed by many dark, pointy sticks going through the monster’s torso. It fell, finally dead.

A moment of silence passed. Mira whispered, “Why?” to Ron.

Ron backed away, and with a pained smile, she said, ”I don’t let kids get hurt.” Her legs started to give on her and she soon found herself on her knees before Mira. “I’ll… I’ll be OK… Just give me a moment…” she said, not giving up the brave demeanor just yet.

Bernard talked to the swordsman about something briefly before the both went to help the young woman. The swordsman was the one who spoke to her. “C’mon, kid, we’re gonna take you to the pri… er, the queen, since your friend there,” he stopped to gesture to Mira, who just stood there, “seems to be too stunned to do anything right now.” He turned his head to what looked like a blue-haired teenager who was looking about distractedly. “Hey, kid! Take care of this little girlie for me, OK?” he called to the boy while pointing his thumb at Mira.

The boy attention abruptly shifted to the man. He looked first left, then right, then pointed to himself. “Who, me? But I’m no good with people, never have been…”

The man gave him an annoyed look and told him, “Well, that’s gonna have to change then.” With Bernard’s help, the man successfully got Ron on his back. “Have fun, kid,” he said before leaving with Ron and the bard.

The boy watched them leave. Once they were gone, he turned to Mira, whose eyes were fixed on the exit they just went out. With a worried look, he muttered to himself, “Jack, you suck…”

*

Later that day…

Everyone in the castle was trying to get things in order. Preparations were being made to better secure the sewer entrance in the kitchens, which was disgruntling the chefs further since that meant they had no place to work for the time being. Bernard was questioned by at least twelve different people, last of which was the queen. Ron’s wounds were treated best they could be but the area was definitely sore, so after her things were retrieved from the inn, she was sent to rest in the nearest room with a bed free, which was the twins’ room. In the conference room, Rudy was still trying his best to get through to Mira, who was still in shock but would occasionally ask, “Why?”

Up in the queen’s quarters were the queen herself, Jack, Bernard, Zed, Liete, and, of course, Fluffy. Jack was glowering at Zed, who was trying not to notice and absently pet Fluffy, who was being tightly hugged by Liete. Bernard ignored them all and kept his attention on what the queen was saying.

Cecilia obviously was not in a happy mood over all this. “We’ve dallied long enough on this issue, and today’s events have proved it! It wouldn’t have been quite this distressing if the monsters had been ones we’ve seen before, but a thorough survey of the sewers a week ago didn’t report anything like that down there, and I would think that they wouldn’t have overlooked anything that numerous, from reports from in here and in town, or, in that last monster’s case, that BIG, which means…”

“… that either they got in there somehow within the last week, or something or someone did something that either altered the monsters down there or ‘imported’ the new ones, and with the sheer number of them attacking and the short amount of time it took for them to infiltrate the sewers, even factoring in rate of reproduction (I mean, monsters reproduce quickly, but not that quickly) , it’d probably be the ‘someone or something’ theory,” Bernard finished.

“And that someone or something would have to be pretty powerful…” Cecilia added. “That’s what worries me. If only we had something, a clue, a lead, to follow…”

Bernard thought for a moment. “Well, there is this old story, but…”

“Old stories are not necessarily false,” Cecilia said. “If you would be so kind to tell me it?”

The bard shook his head. “I haven’t heard it since I was a child, but here’s what I remember,” he started. “ At one time, there used to be three other Guardian Lords; those who ruled the emotions of Hate, Pain, and Loss. At the end of the first Demon War a thousand years ago, the rest of the Guardians, severely drained by the effort of the war, feared that Hate, Pain, and Loss would come into ungodly amounts of power from the emotions of the humans, who were also drained and had went through a tremendous loss of innocence.

“They, along with Elw magic, sealed them away and left the task of watching the seal to a human family. It’s said if the firstborn child of the youngest generation dies before leaving an heir, the seal will be broken.” The bard paused, then added in a tone that said he wasn’t sure if he believed it, “It’s also rumored that the current ‘Child of the Seal’ can tap into those Guardian’s powers, which means this person would be powerful enough to change or import the monsters, but there’s no way to know that for certain unless we stumble across him or her.”

Jack stopped glowering at Zed for a moment and held a hand up. “Question; what happens in the case of twins?”

“Jack, be serious,” Cecilia told him in an exasperated tone.

“I am being serious, Princess,” Jack countered. “I mean, what if twins means this seal, if it does exist, has been weakened or something? I mean, that’s how it goes in every other story involving something sealed away, right? Twins are born to the family and something big, evil, and usually highly destructive enters the world.”

Cecilia didn’t say anything for a while. “… all right, so you are being serious for once. Mister Illych?”

Bernard bowed his head. “My apologies, You Highness, but that I do not know. Like I said, I was young when I heard about it and have forgotten some of what I heard.”

The queen mused for a moment, then said, “Well, it’s not like we can’t follow up on it. I can ask the Guardians themselves about, and Zed, you…”

Zed was already standing up. “You want me an’ Rudy to ask that Mariel lady about it, right?” He grinned at her and gave her a thumbs up. “Don’t you worry, Zed is on the case! C’mon, Fluffy, let’s go!” he said, taking a couple steps towards the door.

Fluffy did not follow. She whined and Liete hugged the monster dog tighter and yelled, “NO! My Fluffy!”

Zed turned back around and knelt next to the dog. “… Fluffy?” The dog whined again. “You… don’t want to go?” The dog barked and nuzzled Liete. “Heh, how about that? Fluffy’s become fond of your little girl, Jack!” he said with an admittedly unsure smile.

“Well, it can’t stay here!” Jack protested automatically.

“No… No Fluffy?” Liete said. She sniffled and then burst into noisy tears as Fluffy howled.

“Ah… er… Liete… I…” Jack stammered. “Princess, do something!”

Cecilia crossed her arms and looked sternly at Jack. “Well, that dog did do her best to protect both Liete and Garrett…”

Jack gave her a look of his own. “And to think, you were the one who freaked out about her other ‘pets’.” He put a hand over his face and tried to ignore the wailing and howling, but failed to do so. His finally sighed and said, “Fine, the blasted thing can stay. But ONLY,” he left a pause for emphasis, “ONLY until this idiot,” he pointed to Zed, “gets back from Rosetta, then he’s going to take that thing home!”

Liete, who had stopped crying at the word “stay”, practically put a stranglehold on poor Fluffy and squealed, “YAY! Fluffy’s going to stay! Fluffy’s going to stay!”

“Now, now, you’re hurting Fluffy…” Zed said, trying to make the little girl loosen her grip on the dog.

“She didn’t hear a word after I said it could stay, did she?” Jack asked flatly. The queen shook her head. He then stood up and, walking to a closet, said, “… whatever, I need to get out of this room for a while.” After taking an old coat from his treasure-hunting days, he hung it over his arm and added, “I think I’ll go check on whatshername, that lady gunner. Bye.” He then left the room.

“Uh… so, Zed, how do you take care of Fluffy, anyway?” Cecilia quickly asked.

*

In the twins’ room, Ron wasn’t resting peacefully. She couldn’t; the little boy’s continual stare just wouldn’t let her relax. She finally looked at him and asked, “Kid, what’s with the staring? It’s unsettling.”

The boy sniffled and asked, “Did you do it? Did you really stop all the monsters?”

Ron nodded, but added, “But it wasn’t like I did it alone. Montoya and the fu… uh…Bernard were there doing their best to stop them too.”

“Do you fight monsters often?” the boy asked.

Ron laughed as said, “Well, you kinda can’t avoid it if you’re going from town to town, kiddo. It’s not an easy way to live, but what can I do?” She then rolled up her pantleg and pointed at a thin scar running diagonally up a few inches from her ankle. “Look at this, kid. Got it when I was ten and went a little ways outside town. The Boss shot the monster before it could do anything else, tho’. I remember crying for a while after that.” She paused, then continued with a wink, “Well, until my friend Trent laughed at me. Then I pushed him in the mud and made him eat a worm.”

The little boy looked awed. “Wow…” A beat later, he asked, “Who’s ‘the Boss’?”

“’Calamity Jane’ Maxwell, ‘the prettiest girl in these parts’, in her own words, and the coolest person I’ve ever met, that’s who,” Ron explained proudly, “All the kids at the orphanage called her ‘the Boss’, you see. If you ever heard her speak, you’d know why they called her that right away.” She went on to say, “She was my hero growing up… Guess that explains my personality a bit.”

Someone from the doorway snapped and said in an easygoing voice, “’A bit’ is right; if it were more, something would have been purposely blown up.” Ron immediately turned her head to direction of the door and recognized the person at the door as the blond swordsman from earlier. The man looked at the child and said, “Garrett, why don’t you go see your mother? Dad wants to talk with the nice lady for a bit.”

The child turned Ron, sadly waved, then did as he was asked. “Looks like you made a new friend, Miss…?” the man said.

“Derringer. Veronica Derringer. Just call me ‘Ron’, tho’, OK? I never liked ‘Veronica’ and ‘Miss Derringer’ sounds like I’m old or something,” she finished for him. “So, who are you anyway and what do you want?”

Jack couldn’t help but laugh a little. “Straightforward, aren’t you? Well, I’m Jack Van Burace and I just wanted to see if you were doing OK.”

Ron blinked. “You?! You’re Jack Van Burace?!”

Jack pretended to be offended. “You make it sound like that’s a bad thing.”

Ron shook her head. “Sorry, didn’t mean to do that. It’s just that it caught me off guard. I’m relieved, actually. I was afraid you were going to be some ‘great knight in shining armor’ type who wouldn’t give me the time of day. Glad you aren’t; I hate stuffy people like that.”

“That makes two of us. That’s part of the reason I don’t trust royalty, except the pri… er, the queen,” the swordsman said, stopping himself from calling Cecilia “Princess” like he usually does. “So, I take it you were coming here to see me then, if that’s what you were worrying about.”

The gunner nodded. “Yeah, I thought you could help me, if it’s true that you really are a survivor of the Arctica attack…” She went to her bag and took an envelope from it. “I’ve been looking for my father, whether it be where he’s living or where his final resting place is,” she told him. She looked at the letter, and added, “My grandmother… before she died, she gave me this letter to give him. She seemed convinced that if anyone else had survived, it would either be her son, my father, or my mother. I don’t know if she truly believed that could happen, just wanted it to have happened, or was just saying that to make me feel better, but I have to deliver this, even if I have to tear down a mountain with a spoon to do so.”

Jack looked stunned. “Else? Else?! How…?!”

Ron shrugged. “I was only, like, one-year-old at the time, so I can’t give you details, but Grandma said my mom helped clear the way to the outside, and after that, Grandma herself kicked some monster ass. My grandmother was a very tough woman, you see, and was lucky enough to be found by people who knew where they were going.”

“Your mother was…?” Jack asked, a funny sort of feeling of hope fluttering inside him.

“A knight, if I remember right,” Ron told him. “Grandma didn’t like her too much, so she really didn’t talk about her a lot. Said she ‘took her baby away and got him into doing a dangerous job, what with the monsters’.”

“I… see…” Jack said, his face unreadable. “Ron, I know it’s probably not likely, but do you have any pictures of your father?”

Ron smiled a little. “As a matter of fact, I do.” She went back to her bag and starting looking for them. “The frames they were in were kinda expensive, so she quickly grabbed a few to sell later. Here,” she produced some faded black-and-white photographs and handed them to Jack, “None of ‘em have mom, but there’s one with Grandma and one with a friend of his. Ah… Ryan or something, I think Grandma said his name was.”

Jack only barely heard her. His interest, far and away, was in the pictures. There was one of Ron’s grandmother and father, one of the same man from the last picture and the guy Ron said was Ryan, and then there was a terribly embarrassing baby picture of Ron’s father, complete with a silly bib and an overturned bowl of O-shaped noodles on his head. “So, you recognize anyone in them?” Ron asked.

Jack slowly nodded. “I’d recognize that idiot anywhere. Bastard felt so bad about failing his beloved, his friends, and those he looked up to that he changed his name and wandered the world, looking for revenge…”

“Wandered? Past tense?” Ron asked, looking crestfallen.

“Don’t worry, he’s still alive; he’s just stopped wandering and fighting for revenge,” Jack assured her.

Relief washed over Ron. “He’s still alive? Good, then I’ll make sure he’ll read the letter!” She paused, then added, “Changed his name? Maybe I should show a picture more then…”

“Ah, yes, about the pictures…” Jack said. “I was wondering if I could keep this one,” he indicated the one of Ron’s father and Ryan, “I mean, a lot of Dream Chasers come through here and…”

“They were friends of yours, weren’t they?” Ron interrupted. “You can have it; I’ll still have the one with Grandma and Dad and that funny baby picture one.”

“Thank you,” the swordsman said. “One last thing… Where was your grandmother buried?”

“Milama; why?” Ron asked.

“Oh, just curious. Thought I might pay my respects, that’s all,” Jack told her.

As he turned to leave, Ron finally noticed the coat he was carrying. “Uh, Jack, what’s with the coat? You going to Milama already?”

Realization hit him. “Oh! I completely forgot!” He turned back around and gave the coat to Ron. “To make up for the coat that got ruined. You and your friends did help us quite a bit today, after all. Plus, you did give me that picture…”

Normally, the lady (so to speak) gunner would at least try to refuse, but this was, after all, coming from the guy married to the queen of the kingdom and she did give him something first, so she just said “Well, thank you,” and put it on. She went to a nearby mirror and muttered, “Looks just long enough in the back… Funny, looks like something’s in the pocket…” She reached in pulled out something that surprised both her and Jack. “Does the mouse come with the coat?”

The mouse, light blue with dark blue stripes down its back and at the tips of its ears and tail, yawned and looked up at Ron. “Who the hell are you?” it asked.

Ron’s eyes widened. “It talks!” she exclaimed. A beat later, she said, “It’s cute and it talks. Can I keep it?”

“No one ‘keeps’ me, sister!” the mouse protested, “I’m not anyone’s damned pet!”

“Relax, Hanpan, relax. She’s probably just never seen a Wind Mouse before,” Jack said, looking a bit embarrassed. “It’s not like they just fall out of trees, you know.”

Ron looked to Jack, then Hanpan. “Wind Mouse? So this is what one looks like.” She hesitantly said, “Uh… sorry if I offended you, little, er, guy?”

Hanpan “hmph”ed. “Yes, ‘guy’. I guess I can forgive you, since you didn’t know any better, but don’t let it happen again. Now, if you’ll excuse me…” The “little guy” then made his way back to the pocket and resumed his nap.

“I think he likes you,” Jack said with a laugh. “And between you and me, from the looks of it, I think he will be coming with the coat.”

Anything else that would be said was cut short as a shrill woman’s scream cut through the air…

*

A little earlier, in the conference room…

“Why?” Mira repeated for, what seemed to Rudy, the nth time. He had tried answering the question for her, but none of his answers seemed to work.

“’Why’? Why what? What is it you want to know?!” Rudy snapped, his patience at its limits.

To his surprise, she answered him. “Why the attacks always follow me. Why someone I’ve only just met today would do something like that for me. Why Fate seems to want me alive. That’s what I want answered,” Mira told him blankly.

“They follow you? What do you mean, they follow you?” Rudy asked, just happy to finally be getting somewhere.

“Ever since I left the abbey the first time. Yard, attacked while I was there. Rosetta, attacked while I was there. Baskar, attacked while I was there. Court Seim, attacked four times while I was there. The abbey, when I returned to do research, attacked while I was there after… I don’t know what. Now Adlehyde, attacked while I’m here,” she said in that same emotionless voice.

Rudy blinked. “Wow. Now I see why you keep asking ‘why’.”

There was a knock on the door, then in entered Zed, Cecilia, and Bernard. Bernard’s eyes automatically went to Rudy for some reason. “Hey, hope we’re not interrupting anything, but I need to talk to ya about us going to Rosetta and Cecilia here wanted to talk to the frightened girl,” Zed said, jerking his thumb towards the door to tell Rudy they should talk outside. “Dunno what the bard wants, tho’. Guess he’s a friend of hers or something.”

“Oh, OK,” Rudy said. He told Mira, “I guess I’ll see you when I see you. Big sis is better with people than I am anyway…” He went to the door and started to go out it when he noticed Bernard start to follow him. “Where’re you going? You’re her friend, right? And she really needs all the friends she can get now…”

Resigned, Bernard stopped and stepped back. After the door was closed, he muttered to himself, “Dammit, so close… Why does Fate toy with me like this?!”

Cecilia faintly heard him muttering. “You say something, Mister Illych?”

Bernard jumped. “Me? Say something? No, no, just muttering to myself; I do that a lot…” he said quickly, waving his hands wildly.

“Oh. Ooooookay…” Cecilia said. “Well, Miss… Montoya, did your blonde friend say your name was? How’re you doing?”

“Like a used hankie; you?” Mira replied weakly. Cecilia didn’t reply fast enough, so she spoke again in a strangled tone. “Your Highness… Have you ever heard of Guardians of Hate, Pain, and Loss, or of a ‘Seal Sorceress’?”

Cecilia glanced at Bernard, then told Mira, “I haven’t heard of a ‘Seal Sorceress’, but I have heard of a seal and of Guardians of those things. Could you give me one of their names? Any of their full names will do…”

Mira didn’t quite understand, but she tried to recall the dream, vision, whatever it was that happened and remember a name. “Fon… Fontira. That was the Guardian of Pain, if I remember right.”

“Fontira. All right, let me see what I can do…” Cecilia told her. She took a small, shining crystal out of her pocket and concentrated. Fontira… Are you out there?

Instead of the thoughts of a Guardian, she heard a bitter but all too human’s mind in hers. I don’t think so, Guardian shaman. These Guardians are mine. But, if you so desperately want to know Fontira’s power, I’ll be glad to give you a sample.

Memories, the worst memories of her past filled Cecilia’s head. She just stood there, unable to do anything. Powerlessness, great feelings of powerlessness came over her when the first attack on Adlehyde replayed in her head. The feeling didn’t end when memories of when Rudy found out the hard way that he wasn’t human. And memories of the Earth Golem’s destruction…

Whatever power was in play, its effects also extended to Mira, and she was not as stationary or silent as the queen. The repeated snubbing and taunting from her fellow students in the abbey, the attack on Yard and the deaths of her parents, the attack on Rosetta, Baskar, the four attacks in Court Seim, all the memories of the horrors she had witnessed, all ran through her head and made a confusing jumble of pain and suffering in her mind. She was down on the floor, clutching and shaking her head and screaming for someone to make it stop, screaming at the top of her lungs, screaming…!

*

“Princess!”

“Montoya!”

“Fontira, Guardian of Pain. Funny, I remember him being more civil…”

*

End Chapter Two

Chibi’s notes:

Nothing to say, really, except yes, *Points to Fluffy* that’s a blatant Harry Potter ref. Fluffy effin’ rules, so I couldn’t resist making the ref, especially with three-headed Hell Hound monsters running around Saint Centour. ^^;