"And as were picking ourselves up from that last ambush, Mr. Hermit over here suddenly came knocking." The dwarf said, pointing at me.
"The ruckus you were making made me curious," I said, riding along the story, "Finding you adventurers was easy given the trail of goblin bodies you left behind,"
"HA, you saw the bloodshed and you still came!" The dwarf loudly said, "With some healing potions too. Not to mention the food!"
"I'm surprised you didn't mention the beer he brought." Gred added.
"I was about to!"
The adventurers laughed, brushing aside the truth of their near-death experience. Our revelry was sure to attract curious attention. There were elven and halfling bards with eager ears nearby. I was content to become a nobody in the songs that were to come, a last-minute verse with no importance other than to conclude the chorus that came before.
Flavience listened in silence. He didn't seem to believe the entirety of Tov's retelling. But the elf listened intently, nonetheless.
"Then Mr. Her-" Flavience cleared his throat, "Lance Viduri, has no magic?"
The adventurers turned their heads and looked at Flavience in silence. "No." said his brother. Tension filled the table. Was my spell not working?
"I see..." Flavience squinted, "He looks like a mage though! I mean, look at those eyes."
"Are you saying he looks dead inside?" Tov broke the tension, "Because he sure does, ha!"
The adventurers laughed once more, though not as loud or jovial as before. Tov, despite being drunk, was trying his best to preserve our secret. A good effort. One deserving of silent commendation and a few barrels of beer, which he would receive upon the party's next visit to my home. If it ever happened.
But… were my eyes really that… lifeless?
The feast proceeded without further incident. Shorter, less jarring stories were exchanged. Laughter was shared. Plates and mugs were emptied without remorse. By the end of it, only empty plates remained, with the crumbs of the consumed sprinkled between. And some spilled beer. Tov was surprisingly still not drunk. Maybe he needed another barrel.
"So what're your plans now?" Flavience asked his brother, who was busy feeling the fullness of his stomach. Gred's expressions turned serious.
"The branchmaster wanted to see us, right after we get sorted" He said, leaning on the table, "I'm guessing it's about... why most of the others are here."
Flavience smiled, but it was weak and forced. "Well, y'all in for a shock. That's for sure."
"Why's that?" Gred asked.
The dark elf sighed and what he said next troubled Dalinah the most. "I was called back right? But I didn't go here. I went elsewhere," The adventurers leaned in, "The branchmaster told me to make haste to Mount Silverose. The holy city was under attack, but they didn't know by what or who. Just that it was."
"Then?" Dalinah asked, her voice breaking.
"As soon as I got there, the city was already in flames."
The table went silent. The revelry around us died down, replaced by hushed whispers and silent frowns. It seemed like the topic was controversial, or rather, weighed heavily on everyone's mind. If what Flavience was saying was true, then it was tragedy. However, the fact that they still had these holy cities meant that I failed at erasing religion. I thought I missed a few spots, but indeed I failed completely.
I should've been more thorough. More brutal.
"What happened?" Redtail asked, breaking the sudden silence.
"I… found myself staring at the flames when I got there" Flavience looked uncomfortable. Zeal ate comfortably by my side, oblivious to the dreadful news the table was receiving. Well, dreadful for them, not for me.
"There was this… echo. A scream, to be precise." The dark elf paused, "It was a disgusting noise. It cried out against the clouds of smoke and the cackling fires. I didn't know what to make of it. All I knew was that it terrified me."
He gulped.
"I did not enter the city, no, I waited outside until an army of two thousand elven soldiers arrived through some portals. They were sent by the bloody High King himself alongside some of the royal mages," He scoffed, "He was trying to prove himself as a pious ruler. That was for sure but… it didn't matter."
"Didn't… matter? But he sent two thousand elves!" Tov reacted.
"And a hundred mages, yes," Flavience nodded, "But none of it mattered. They were all slain."
"By what?" I asked suddenly, earning everyone's attention. The adventurers looked like they already knew the answer.
Flavience was silent for a long moment. His eyes twitched. His hands trembled. He looked like he was about to panic at whatever he was remembering. If I was right, then he faced something truly dreadful. And I wasn't there to shield any of them.
Why did I feel guilty all of a sudden?
Noticing his brother's discomfort, Gred was quick to offer a glass of water and a hand on his brother's shoulder. After drinking, Flavience continued, "I don't know how to describe it but… it looked… holy. It even had a broken halo above its nasty head. You know? Like an angel but… different. In a disgusting way. It appeared out of nowhere and just started… killing. It didn't care if it was stabbed. It didn't care if it was hit by any magic. It killed and killed and killed."
"Until there was nobody left."
The dark elf was on the brink of tears. He had been traumatized, and nobody could blame him. "I… I only lived because…" Tears rolled down his cheeks, "One of the mages, an Archonite maybe judging by her robe, shielded me with a spell as that fucking thing pounced ON me. I survived but… she didn't."
There were holes in the retelling. Obvious omissions not done with conscious intention, but by his mind. There were things he witnessed that were best forgotten behind a cloud of blur. It seemed like my fears were correct. The corrupted angel I killed wasn't the only creature to crawl out of whatever abyss I peered into. There were more. More breaches. More tragedies.
Flavience lost himself to grief. A stream of tears rolled down his cheeks as his brother hugged him tight. The entire hall was silenced by his wails, for not even the hushed whispers from before dared to utter a single sound. A few minutes passed before the dark elf calmed down. As frightened as he was, he managed to smile in the end.
"The thing is dead last I heard… so there's that." He said in finality. They were able to defeat the monster, but at what cost? Without my power, I'm guessing most of those who foolishly confronted the monsters were powerless against their might.
If even someone such as I was almost slain by one of those abominations, I couldn't imagine going against them in a weaker form than I currently am. And from what I could deduce, I was one of, if not still, the strongest being in this godless world.
And that wasn't reassuring. Especially considering that there was an entire horde waiting on the other side, itching to be unleashed. As the walls of reality slowly deteriorate, I wondered when the next wave will come. What will be the catalyst? How many vessels? Where and when? My own army of sentinels won't suffice. They're too few and too weak. But if I…
I shook my head. First things first: find the shards.
Cleaning up the mess afterwards was a quick and silent affair. I couldn't help but feel the dread in the air, hanging over everyone like ashen rain. The adventurers saw firsthand what an abomination could do. However, to my surprise, they did not despair.
Were they afraid? Concerned? Indeed, but none of them, not even Dalinah, despaired at the news. There was courage brimming in their hearts, an unsung hope that the abominations were not the end of all things.
And I would soon learn why they felt like so.
"You're going to ask Dalinah help in finding the shards, aren't you?" Tov asked as the rest of the adventurers went out of earshot to help Flavience up his feet. The dark elf was a bit dizzy all of a sudden, was he drunk? "You don't have to deny it. I knew the moment you decided to come with us."
I remained stoic, unsure on how to react to the fact that Tov knew what I was planning to do, was it that obvious? "They're gonna come back." I simply said.
"I know. You wouldn't leave your paradise if they weren't" Tov replied.
I crossed my arms, "Just a few weeks ago you called me a fraud, a coward. But now I don't see that same contempt in your eyes."
The dwarf chuckled as if remembering that particularly memory fondly. "I meant what I said," He said proudly, "But I didn't mean to push you."
"Push me where?" I asked.
"Push you out. To see the world again and judge it for yourself," The dwarf lifted himself from the table and stood, "I've seen your eyes before. They do not shine. There is no life behind that blank stare, just emptiness."
The other adventurers soon returned to the table after successfully making the drunk Flavience the receptionist's problem. Seeing her annoyed face a few meters away was enough to tell me that she was not at all pleased by the added baggage. Elves weren't supposed to get drunk, not until they drank so much they'd cause a shortage and spark a war with the dwarves. No. Flavience must have been constantly drinking for days straight, wasting away his despair with the allure of drink and cleansing purity of alcohol.
"I will tell Dalinah that you wish to visit the holy city from where she was ordained as a mage," Tov said, "It's the least I can do for the hero-to-be."
I frowned, "I'm no hero."
The dwarf simply scoffed, "And yet you were once called the Lance of Hope. If your title is indeed true, then may you bring about the light that this darkening world needs."
These dwarves… one moment you're annoyed by their boisterous attitude, and in the next they are making you question your own decisions in life. In my case, this dwarf was making me remember past glories. Of whom I once was. A champion. A hero.
The Lance of Hope.