"Well, who was he there to kill?" One of the men at the bar asked.
"What do you mean?" Traveler asked for clarification.
"Well, Ignis is rumored to only be seen when he is about to kill someone, so I assume he was there to kill either you or Lato," the man clarified.
"Ah, see, that is a common misconception," Traveler told him. "The Knight of Ashes and Cinders is indeed capable of wandering the worlds as he pleases. He simply does not usually due to the terror he invokes." Traveler took a swig of his apple cider. "He does get terribly bored sitting in his studio all day writing."
"Writing?" Several men asked in unison.
Traveler winced. "Anyway, back to the story."
-
When I saw the Knight, I froze. It wasn't because I wanted to either. It was almost like my body was held in place by some external force. The presence of this person was too intense. I now understood why he was held back by oath. Not even Dr. Drake had given off this aura.
He regarded me coldly, which was impressive considering that the Aspects of Hell couldn't be very cool.
"Is Lato gone?" He asked.
I managed a nod.
"Too bad, I would've liked to have seen that fight."
I was confused. He was here to watch and not to fight?
"I am also here to retrieve you, however," Ignis said to me.
"Me?" I asked, my voice cracking a bit.
"Indeed." He moved toward me and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Saint Orion wants to meet you."
"He does?" I asked as he teleported us to a grand hall of gold.
I looked around. This hall was huge. It was white walled with massive golden columns and crimson carpet.
"Welcome to the Hall of Knights," a voice echoed from the opposite end of the room.
I looked toward where it had come from, and there, way at the end of the hall was a young man wearing a suit with a heavy, fur cape draped over his shoulders. Various medals hung from the breast of his suit jacket.
"My name is Saint Orion," he said as I moved toward him. "Though perhaps you know me better as the Saint of Broken Blades."
I nodded. "Why did you want to speak to me?" I asked.
"Because I was asked to," he said simply. "Lord Terminus asked me to speak to you after Lato made his appearance and you gained more power."
"Terminus knew that I would gain this power?"
"I cannot speak to what the King of Heroes knew, nor can I speak to his intentions if he did know such a thing. However, I have deemed it worthwhile myself to speak with you," Orion said.
Now that I was closer, I could see more of him. He was fairly tall, perhaps about six foot two. His hair was a sandy blonde and was swept to the side, his eyes were golden. He was similar to Lato, but there was an inherent difference in the way they held themselves, and the overall structure of their faces. While Lato's was somewhat rounded almost, with gentler edges, Orion's face had much sharper angles.
"You have gained a truly devastating power, Lord Scribe," he acknowledged. "And it is my responsibility to keep watch over the greater powers in this multiverse of multiverses. You are now among them. As such I must warn you, there are things you are capable of now, that you never have been before. You must be much more cautious and conscious of how and when you use your power. Not to mention how and why you use it. If you were to get to out of hand, I would no longer be the one to deal with you, but Hell's Bells would ring, and you would die by Ignis' hand. Am I clear?"
I nodded.
"Good, there are other bits of knowledge that come with this power, but now is hardly the time. Serenadia is under attack from Minueta. As you are now of the caliber that you are, I will dispatch you to settle that situation."
"Alone?" I asked.
"You have more power than you realize, Lord Scribe," he told me. "Now go, this is your only commission from me."
I nodded and teleported to Serenadia.
-
I ended up in the sky above Serenadia, which was weird. But whatever.
I angled myself to fall faster and pinpointed my first target. A group of enemy troops in the middle of the city. I summoned my anti-human sword.
I landed and dispatched three of them instantly, six more left. I coated my arms and sword in red lightning. I killed the remaining six with lightning and proceeded through the streets wiping out the enemies as I came upon them. The situation was bad, the enemy had gotten really deep into the city, bodies of both soldier and citizen were strewn throughout the streets. They were on a massacre.
I worked my way to the castle, assuming that was where Bricin would be. I swept through the streets slaying enemy soldiers as I flew by them. Then an idea popped into my head.
I flew to the top of the hill, and then corkscrewed my way down the through the city and killed every enemy soldier. When I landed in front of the commander's tent at the base of the city, the right side of my body and my sword were almost completely covered in blood.
I landed hard, making the commander jump back. He looked at me and I returned the look.
-
I landed at the top of the hill in front of Bricin, having burned all of the blood off of me, I was much more presentable now. Still, I scared the little girl who was already hiding behind his legs.
"Bricin," I greeted.
"Traveler," he returned the greeting. "The situation is dire, but I am glad to have you here. The enemy has already pushed through the primary wall, maybe further-"
"I already dispatched them all," I said.
"At this point, we should probably evacuate the citizens and prepare for the worst." He said, as if I hadn't said anything at all.
"They're already dead. The enemy I mean."
"What?" He asked genuinely confused.
"I killed them all," I said.
He said nothing and then a soldier ran up to him and gave him a report that all enemy soldiers had been slain.
"How did you do that?" Bricin asked.
I looked at my hands and watched the cracks recede. "I just did it."
"Well, I suppose the 'how' hardly matters," Bricin said. "Just the fact that you did. Are you alright?"
"Yeah. I'm fine." I put my weapon away.
He looked at me skeptically. "Very well," he said. "All that aside; the Thirteen Capitals are at war now, it is official."
"Has it started to affect the Dimensions themselves?" I asked.
He nodded gravely then turned to the little girl behind him. "Go to your father," he ordered.
She nodded and ran away.
"My niece, Alexa," Bricin said. "But that aside. The Second Prime Dimension has been affected. That world has initiated into a war of its own."
"I see," I said. Now I understood the situation a little better. In the Rift, there were two Dimensions from which all others sprung. Obviously, one is older than the other and as such the younger of the two is often the first to be affected by inter-dimensional tensions and struggles. Either way, even if that one is affected, that means the situation is quite dire indeed.
"Twelve of Thirteen have sided with Lato, though there are some among them I am positive can be persuaded to join our side. Serenadia alone stands with Sonatum," Bricin said.
"Who do you think we can persuade?" I asked.
"Nocturne, I believe, can be brought to our side."
"Why them?" I asked.
"The Master of Entertainment never wanted war to begin with," he explained. "I believe he is being held hostage with some form of blackmail."
"Possibly, but the Entertainment Master is a born actor, he may be fooling you," I said.
"Indeed," Bricin confirmed. "However, I think it is worth looking into, don't you?"
We stood and stared at each other, old friends who had been through this once already.
I sighed. "Yeah, you're probably right." I motioned for one of the soldiers. "I want all the citizens to be moved to Melody, if Bricin is okay with that."
Bricin nodded.
"Yes sir!" The soldier saluted and then moved away.
"Good." I could breathe a little easier if there were no civilians here.
"You mean to leave the city vacant?" Bricin asked.
"No," I denied. "I mean to leave it a fortress. A fortress with no civilians who can be harmed."
"So will you come with me to Nocturne?" He asked.
"Yeah," I said with a nod. "I just want to see all these people delivered to Melody safely."
"What will you do if Nocturne has not done the same with their civilians?" Bricin asked.
"Protect them," I said. "I believe that there is no reason for a civilian to be killed in the crossfire."
Bricin looked at me like he knew I was just trying to keep my spirits up with an unrealistic dream. I had seen the streets of Serenadia, people die. Civilians who had no part in causing a war, die in it. That is the terrible truth of war. The horror and desolation of it cuts deep.
"I had hoped we would not see another war," Bricin admitted.
"Me too," I agreed.
-
We teleported to Nocturne the second all of the civilians had landed in the safety of Melody.
The City of Nocturne, the Capital of Entertainment, was the most densely populated, and most populated in general, inter-dimensional city. It always appeared to be night here. It bore the appearance of a modern-day city with skyscrapers and massive office buildings. Honestly, I would say that these skyscrapers were larger than any in any dimension. The city lights shone as if the sun had never actually set. It stank of perfume and gasoline, an interesting and revolting mixture. And of course, there was the sound, the cacophony of laughter, screaming, shouting, crying, and the random whirs of electronics.
I hated this city.
"Let's get this over with," I said.
Bricin chuckled. "You hate this city that much?"
"I hate it that much," I confirmed. "Not the people, the people are generally surprisingly nice. But the stench. And it's too loud."
Bricin laughed. "I suppose for a free spirit like yourself, you would despise such close quarters as well."
He was right about that too, but I neither confirmed nor denied it.
Still, I looked around and was surprised to see as many civilians as I did. Not just a few, but just as many as normal. Like there wasn't even a war.
"You want to evacuate them, do you not?" Bricin asked.
I nodded.
"Honorable, however, the second we do something of that scale, we will be discovered, and that will make negotiations much harder."
"I thought we were investigating, not negotiating."
"Traveler, my friend, I am a king, I cannot be caught snooping around another man's business. Especially if that man happens to be the ruler of another inter-dimensional capital."
I grumbled. "Fine," I consented. "Let's go."