I summoned a sword and swung at her. She backflipped away.
"That's not proper manners," she said, wagging her finger. "My named is Helena. Lord Scribe, while I have no problem calling you that, I would love to be on a first name basis with you."
I shuddered. Her voice was silky and kind of cute, but oh man - she creeped me out. And how did she sneak up on me like that. I didn't detect her presence at all. I still didn't.
"Well, Helena," I tried my hardest to keep myself cool. "I'm afraid I can't give you my name."
"I know," she admitted. "I've been watching you for a while now, and it seems your selective amnesia is no joke."
She wasn't from here, I could tell by the way she spoke.
"But I would be thrilled to help you on your way to finding it."
I watched her, and then she disappeared. I felt a sudden embrace from behind as she wrapped her arms around me and pressed herself to my back.
"You're so warm," she said to herself as she snuggled up against me.
I shuddered and just about peed my pants. I warped away from her to a nearby rooftop.
"Helena," I began, my voice trembling. "You're not from here, are you?"
She looked at her arms, her body language clearly indicating that she was disappointed that I was gone. "No, I'm not," she admitted absently.
"Where are you from?"
She appeared in front of me, getting right in my face. "Do you really want to know?"
I almost screamed. What was wrong with her? But I swallowed.
"Yes," I told her. "I really do want to know."
"I knew it!" She shouted, clearly absolutely stoked. "They told me I was crazy for thinking this would work."
I grabbed her shoulders. "Helena!"
She perked up and let out a small gasp. "So rough. . ."
The blood drained from my face and I felt the need to take a shower.
"Focus," I managed.
"I'm from a small town in a large dimension not far from Serenadia," she said quietly, still in a trance.
"What do you think your doing?" Silky asked me, annoyed.
"Interrogating," I said.
Helena gasped again. "You like that rough stuff, my Lord?"
I let her go.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" I shouted at the top of my lungs.
"So you prefer it slow and gentle then?" Helena whispered in my ear, sending electricity tingling down my side.
I was pretty sure that if this continued, I was going to cry.
"Are you associated with the people in cloaks who attacked me three months ago?" I asked
"What?" She asked, astonished. "Of course not. Well, I was. But the moment I heard what they had done, I killed them immediately."
Her tone changed so suddenly and to such a cold and heartless voice, I shivered.
"Get off of him," Silky said, pushing Helena off and away from me.
"Silky, dear," Helena said, unsheathing a shotel from underneath her cloak. "I really don't want to kill you, but if you want to get between me and my Lord, then I will."
I stood up straight. "Helena, I would rather you didn't do that."
She sheathed her shotel again. "Very well, my Lord."
"What is your organization?" I asked, drawing her back to important matters.
"We are-"
"Lady Helena." Another brown cloak appeared. "Do not divulge any information. His highness would hate that, and you would get in trouble again."
She clicked her tongue. "La-"
"Not even our highness' name, milady!"
"Fine." She turned back to me and took off her mask, revealing a face I was not expecting. She was quite attractive, but that was besides the point, she had blonde hair, blue eyes, and upon closer inspection shared many of the same features as the girl in my memories.
"Carmen?" I asked as she blew me a kiss. "We'll meet again I hope, my Lord." And then her and the other cloak vanished.
"She looked just like-"
"Carmen," I repeated, cutting Silky off.
-
Now that I knew that the cloaks were not just in this world, I told Aeterna and Hestia my goodbyes. Silky and I teleported to Serenadia for some answers.
Serenadia. The Capital of Knowledge. Sonatum lacked a resemblance to any kind of structure style in the common knowledge, but Serenadia appeared more Greco-Roman. Everything was made of white marble here, the market district and housing district overlapped. In terms of the size and overall feel of the city, it was like a smaller Sonatum.
The whole city was built on what appeared to be an island that was essentially a big hill. At the base of the hill was the pier, which was basically a boardwalk around the entirety of the island, with a few actual piers jutting out into the water. But they were all fenced in, so what they were actually used for was waygates. Whenever someone teleported to Serenadia, they would land at the end of these piers. Next up, at the edge of the boardwalk was the lowest end of the common district, which stretched about halfway up the hill. The quarter of the hill above that was what people called Founder's Park. And finally, above that was the castle where the King of Serenadia, and the Dimensional Lord of this district resided.
That was where I wanted to go.
"It's so pretty!" Silky said, excited.
I smiled as I watched her run from stall to stall, buying random foods.
She reached one stall and turned to me. "Scribbles!" She shouted, upset. "They're selling empty plates!"
I walked over to the stall. "Those are wraith steaks, Silky," I explained to her then I bought two. "They're actually really good."
A wraith. Terrible beasts. They are invisible to the naked eye and most altered eyes as well. It takes a very skilled individual to kill one, and that is why they cost so much.
I began walking up the hill. People would stop and wave to me, I would wave back. I remembered this city well, of all the Thirteen Capitals, it was my favorite.
It took us about thirty minutes, but we did finally reach the top and the gate into the castle. The guards opened it for us and we stepped into the entrance hall where smokeless braziers burned.
We walked the length of the hall, passing multiple doors on the way, and stopped in front of the big door at the end.
It opened and someone shouted, "Lord Scribe is here to see you, your highness."
There, on the throne, was a man with a nice, full beard that was neatly trimmed. His brown hair was kept short. His brown eyes sparkled with mischief but also had the underlying kindness of an old friend.
"It is good to see you after so long, old friend," he said to me.
"It is good to see you too Bricin," I responded.
"What brings you here?"
"Business, I'm afraid. We were assaulted by some people in brown cloaks in another world. One of the assailants claimed to hail from a dimension not far from here. Any ideas which one?"
He paled. "Did she wear a noh mask?"
I nodded.
He rose. "That is Cameron. She is a follower of someone we had better prepare for."
"Who?"
"Latorakena," Bricin told me. "This is bigger than either of us now, old friend."
The blood drained from my face at the sound of that name. And then I was struck with a pain from behind my eyes.
-
I stood on one side of a round table. Others were there: Bricin, Rust, the Tribunal, and a few I couldn't place.
On the table was a map, with troop markers placed on it in various locations.
"This is a nightmare," Rust said to himself. "This war was never supposed to last this long."
"And yet here we stand," one of the others around the table said. He looked cold and unforgiving. He had black, medium length hair, purple eyes that seemed to glow faintly, and wore jet black armor with a purple cape.
"Lord Terminus," another from the table said. "What are your thoughts on the strategy?"
"I told you already, Trade Leader," Terminus said. "I think it is almost perfect, however, Latorakena is looking for the smallest of flaws that he can turn into the largest of gaps." He leaned on the table. "You're treating him like just any other enemy. If you keep doing so, he will eat you alive."
"What do you suggest?"
Terminus examined the table carefully. "I have a plan," he said slowly. "But many of you will not like it."
They looked at each other and then nodded. "Why don't you tell us and then we'll decide for ourselves."
"Very well," he stood up straight. "As much as I would like to say that we can end this with one war, we will not be able to. This is simply too large. So, we will beat him now, and immediately begin preparations to beat him when the next war arises. Prepare for the inevitability."
They nodded.
"Now for the part that you won't like," he began. "I refuse to share with you the entirety of my plan because some of you will turn to Lato when the next war comes."
There were scoffs and annoyed grunts.
"I will tell each of you individually what you must do, and you must follow my orders to a T," he told them, ignoring their reactions. "Otherwise we will fail."
The way he looked at everyone. It was like he could see through them. No. He could see. He could see every possible outcome, and which ones were the most likely.
He was good.
My memories fast-forwarded to another time. I was standing in the middle of a battlefield, people dying around me. In the middle of it, there I was, crossing swords with a blonde haired, golden eyed boy wearing street clothes.
"You're very good, Lato," I admitted.
"As are you," he replied. "However, you're not as good as Caelis."
"Caelis Terminus is on another level," I said, grunting and leaping away. "After all it takes a lot to become the King of Heroes."
"Indeed," Lato agreed, launching himself at me again.
Our swords clashed, I stepped back. He was faster than before.
He released a flurry of slashes. I had fought a lot of opponents, but Lato was different. He has more experience in battle than me, or anyone I had fought before.
It wasn't long before he swatted my sword out of the way and lopped off my arm.
I grunted in surprise but I had been dismembered so many times at this point, the pain wasn't as bad as it could've been.
He laughed as I landed on my butt. Then he watched me with an amused look on his face. Which slowly changed to curiosity as my shoulder stopped bleeding and my detached arm moved back to my body.
"I see," he said with a chuckle. "How very interesting. I wonder if your body can recover without your head?"
He reared back his arm to slash down on my neck. But just before he did, a black blade penetrated his sternum.
He looked down, surprised while blood flowed freely from his mouth and chest.
"You, old friend, never change," Terminus said as he pushed his sword further into Lato's back, causing Lato to drop his sword and his body to go limp, falling back on the sword. His eyes fading.
Terminus pulled his sword out of Latorakena and let his body fall to the ground before lifting his sword to the sky and shouting with a voice that echoed for miles.
"All you traitors!" He shouted. "All you murderers! You who sided with the White Tactician! Your leader is dead! Lay down your arms, kneel and surrender and you will be spared! Resist and you will meet the same fate as the man whom you served!"
I looked around and watched as all our enemies payed their weapons down and surrendered.
I picked up my arm and held it up to my shoulder to make it easier for it to reattach itself.
"I thought you said we won't be able to end it with one war," I recalled.
"We won't." He lowered his sword. "Lato is immortal. However his immortality is based on memory. As long as even one person remembers him just a little bit he can and will return and manifest from that memory." He put his hand on my not wounded shoulder. "He'll return, and next time we seal him, I will be sealed with him. You must be ready to be the vanguard for order when that happens."
I nodded.