The group continued Traveling on, the Northwestern Forest region was, in some parts tropical, but temperate in others. Zathor often helped guide the groups. Though there wasn't much they could do in heavy rainfall. Greggory and Zathor got along well.
"So, you were the champion of death?" Greggory once asked.
"I was, before she was killed." Zathor replied.
"By whom?" Greggory asked, a little quieter, Zathor assumed he didn't want to remind Amara of what she saw
"The Betrayer, The Ritualist, the Illusionist and the Cudgel." Zathor replied, also keeping it down.
"What did she do to warrant all four?" Greggory asked.
"She threw the betrayer off the roof of the Imperial tower. The Crater's still there if I remember correctly." Zathor explained
"The ritualist was the one who killed Lilly." Greggory said, "the coward didn't even face her in a fair fight, instead he used a sneak attack, and twisted the blade, then a man came along and stole her body."
"Lilly?" Zathor asked, "Lilly who?"
"Lilly Meya." Greggory replied, Lilly had been Xomera's best friend since before Zathor met Xomera, the three of them all caused trouble for the Betrayer, though they Always seemed to perceive Lilly and Xomera as greater threats than Zathor.
"Of course, the two greatest perceived threats to their regime." Zathor muttered, understanding who Alayna's adopted mother was now.
"You knew her?" Greggory asked.
"She was my wife's best friend." Zathor replied. A whole lot appeared to click for Greggory as well.
"Your wife was Xomera?" Greggory said, as if Zathor being formerly the champion of death did not already tell the man that Zathor at the very least knew the Goddess of death, which was Xomera, well
"Yes." Zathor responded.
Amara glanced at them, seeming to tense up silently, but she would continue along, actually straying from Zathor and Greggory at this, and falling away from them as they traveled.
"Is everything alright?" Zathor asked her, already knowing it was probably not.
"Has to be." The girl muttered, the only thing she usually told him in response to that question. Amara didn't open up much for just Zathor, let alone around a group of people.
"Well, be careful." Zathor said, keeping an eye on her as she stayed away. Amara only gave a silent shrug in response, she was walking away from them ten feet away to their side and five deer behind, kind of lagging about. Her red eyes were mostly towards the ground, and not looking for anything in particular but keeping an eye out for anything interesting as she listened very intently quietly.
"Who was Alayna's biological mother?" Zathor asked.
"I don't know." Greggory replied, "She never talks about it."
"Lily Dragonborn." Alayna said, Lily Dragonborn was another individual Zathor had worked with in the past
"How did she die?' Zathor asked.
Alayna didn't answer, and understandably so, she hadn't said much of anything regarding the deaths of her mothers. Zathor decided to change the topic when the sky grew dark, in the middle of the day, they were not in the Northern region so this shouldn't happen.
"What's going on?" Greggory asked.
"The wraiths are here; they recognize the threat we pose." Belette announced.
As soon as he heard that, Zathor ran over to Defend Amara, Drawing his sword.
"We better give these wraiths a warm welcome!" Mrovin said Cheerfully.
"They are worse than the Dark captains, Tarron, keep everyone moving." The Elf Ghost said.
"Everyone, let's keep moving, hopefully we can outpace them." Tarron said.
"We cannot outpace them." Zathor said, "But we can outlast them. Try not to burn the forest down."
Amara looked up to the sky for a moment, glancing around before looking to Zathor who was by her side. After a moment of unspoken words between them, she wearily drew her mother's sword.
Zathor looked Back towards the rest of the group, Greggory was by Alayna, and all Alayna had was a dagger to defend herself, Greggory had a battleaxe his his Dire wolf pet, Tarron had his Longsword drawn, Morvin had his Battleaxe out, and Belette had Duel Elven shortswords.
There were eighteen wraiths in total, but they were rarely all sent to the same location at once. That's why it shocked Zathor to see that all eighteen were indeed there, He Amara, Tarron and Festand, Belette, Morvin, Greggory, and Alayna were all Considered big enough threats to send all eighteen.
Three of the Wraiths landed near Zathor and Amara, Intent on finishing the Betrayer's attempt to wipe out the family from three years ago, three landed near Greggory and Alayna, and 2 landed near the rest but there was one Missing, Zarthor had Miscounted, the one that wasn't there was Gwendolyn Dragon-loom.
Zathor Positioned himself between Amara and the Wraiths, and in one fell swoop parried all of their teleport Strikes. Amara Jabbed one of the wraiths with her blade, and then Cursed another with her Magic, it wouldn't last long, but it weakened the wraith.
At the front of the pack, Tarron was struggling, he had never fought a wraith before, they made excessive use of teleport strikes, all he could do was Parry their attacks. Belette was having the least trouble out of everyone, it was clear this was hardly her first fight with a wraith, but, like everyone else, she was struggling due to the sheer number of them.
Moving was barely avoiding attacks Left and right, he had never thought these things before, at all, he was a hunter, not a warrior, he wasn't his father, his grandfather, or his grandfather's father, he was used to wildlife, not intelligently dangerous beings.
Greggory's size helps him tank some of the attacks, but he was the slowest out of everyone, his Armor took the brunt of the attacks, it was plate after all, but it would be better if those hits had never landed at all. Not to mention greggory Jumped in front of all the attacks going Alayna's direction. Alayna was useless with a dagger.
The wraiths made another teleport strike, Zathor Parried one, caught the other with his left hand and took the attack from the third. Being 8 feet, Zathor was much taller than the wraiths, so the hit he took only hit his heavy plate. Amara again jabbed at the one he parried, twisting her magic in the other to make them prone. The wraith was only forced to one knee for a moment, Zathor Reached out dropping his longsword, and BAnished the kneeing Wraith, but the one that was free moved to Teleport strike before Zathor could pick up his sword, so he caught the other blade hin his hand, he now had two wraiths ties up, but he was completely tied up himself.
Amara at this point was in a panic, driving her sword farther into the first wraith and twisting, while throwing an Eldridge blast at the other, something she learned from her mother, that wound sent the wraith flying ten feet. That freed Zathor's right arm up, grabbing his Sword from the ground he rose to his feet, and Forced the Wraith away from his daughter, he then locked blades with the wraith.
"You will die, as your wife has." the wraith said, but Zathor knew that if the wraiths could show fear, it would be, Grabbing the wraith's Sword arm, and twisting it, its sword fell to the ground. Throwing the Wraith's arm away from him, Zathor placed his hand where the wraith's face would be, and banished it, Leaving the third and final Wraith.
At the mention of her mother falling from the wraith's mouth, all fear that was in Amara quickly turned to rage. The girl stood there for a moment as the rage overtook her, and her red eyes started glowing. In the next, she charged for the third wraith, using her magic to pull it to her height before attacking with great force, using her mother's sword that was also glowing red.
This surprised Zathor, Amara was ten, being able to pull a wraith to its knees should be beyond her level in Magic, but then Zathor noticed her eyes, they were glowing a blood red. Since Xomera's death, Amara's had changed from the Bright blue that Zathor's eyes were, but when Zathor returned, he made note that they had been a blood red, but now they were glowing, like the Betrayer's would glow a malicious orange color when at full strength.
Zathor didn't have time to think about it, he heard Alayna's voice yell, "Zathor, behind you!" When Zathor turned, his reaction time was too slow, he felt a Blade stabbing him through a weak point in his Plate armor, on the right in the Abdomen gap, it was a tiny weak point, someone would have to be actively targeting it to hit it, even in a sneak attack. Zathor looked down and found the final Wraith he had been looking for: Gwendolyn Dragon-loom.
He grabbed the sword in his Abdomen, and Pulled it out, Kicking Gwendolyn away, and with his Strength she broke the blade in two. It surprised Zathor that it wasn't a magical weapon, all the other wraiths had Magical weapons. Gwendolyn, now weaponless, looked around to the other wraiths, behind her, Belette managed to banish the two wraiths facing her, and Gwendolyn looked behind Zathor.
Zathor turned to look while keeping an eye on Gwendolyn, Amara began pulling the Wraith into the plane of Death, but it was banished when it hit the Barrier between planes, Zathor turned back to Gwendolyn, casted a spell which summoned an ethereal Weapon, And Zahtor moved closer and locked blades with Gwendolyn.
"You're late to your own ambush," Zathor said, "What happened?"
"I was hunting some friends of yours." Gwendolyn said, which didn't make sense, all he got out of Gwendolyn was a cackle.
"You have no Idea what's happened, do you?" Gwendolyn said, "Who refused to die when they were supposed to."
"Who?" Zathor asked.
"You'll learn, sooner or later… unless we kill you first." Gwendolyn said, and then she and the remaining wraiths retreated. She knew she was losing, she just wanted to take the time to boast about something.
"Amara!" Zathor called, healing his wound with Magic.
Amara stood there for a moment after the wraiths retreated, not even seeming to take in Zathor's words. And after a moment more, she strode forward, heading towards Etras as she gripped her mother's sword tightly.
"Amara?" Zathor asked
An hour and a Half later, Zathor and everyone followed amara, who collapsed after pausing for a second, she had a rage, not unlike the Draconic rage Zathor had heard others have, but this was different, Draconic rages never lasted an hour and a half. Zathor Picked her up and carried her until they reached where they were camping for the night. She woke up an hour after camp was set up, it was nighttime, the crickets chirped all around, and Zathor was the only one who was up. He finished mending his wound.
Amara glanced around, having woke with a start. At seeing where they were the girl was confused, having thought she passed out while trying to defend her father. Now they were in a camp, and he didn't seem all that hurt. "What happened?" The girl questioned, her blood red gaze falling onto her father.
"We forced the wraiths into a retreat, after you banished a wraith," Zathor said, "Gwendolyn finally showed up, only to boast about 'friends' of mine she was hunting, who that could be I haven't the slightest clue. You passed out an hour and a half after banishing the wraith and walking towards Etras. The Wraiths won't bother us for a while."
Amara looked towards her father blankly, taking in his words before her gaze left him, falling into one of a furrow as she looked towards the ground. She didn't seem to recall what he was on about in the slightest, and herself was trying to recall what he said, but found nothing. "I- uh… maybe you'll find out another time," Amara mumbled, not even wanting to start on that topic.
"Did anything happen in the forest before I came back?" Zathor asked, quite concerned.
"A lot of things happened before you came back." Amara mumbled, still not having opened up to the man much about the past but was still willing to make a present and future with him.
Zathor gave a defeated sigh, knowing this was not the time to push on that topic, he then finished Sharpening the blade that was once Xomera's and handed it back to Amara.
Amara took the blade from her father silently, her eyes falling onto the katana her mother first trained her with. It was in a short period of time, but it was one thing she vowed silently, to defeat the men who killed her mother, with her mothers own blade. Blood for blood if you will. "Thanks…" Amara mumbled, gripping onto the blade tightly before sheathing it.
"Anytime." Zathor said, and then moved on to Sharpening his own blade, Zathor's Sword was a hand and a half sword that could be used in Tandem with a stave, the Blade was forged by the Betrayer as a gift for Zathor but without the corruptive properties the items the wraiths had, because the Betrayer wrongfully thought Zathor to be blindly loyal like Dolga, now Zathor Mocked the Betrayer with it, and it had extra Necrotic damage because Zathor was Xomera's Champion of death, a position he no longer head because of her death. Zathor didn't sleep that night, in case the wraiths came back to a night strike, Amara Was up for six hours before taking a short nap, but after that she was up again. But the night wore on, and Zathor continued to ponder who the 'friends' Gwendolyn Mentioned were.