"Why did you pick us?" We were sitting on some trees as the ground underneath us shook. The night was pitch black but there wasn't any shortage of light. The sound of bubbling and a low rumble of creaking rocks filled the forest.
The floor was lava.
We had reached the end of our journey. We were so close to the castle that it would take but a short run to see him. Needless to say, we had our nerves. If there's one thing that this quest taught us was that the Lord was the most incredible being to ever exist.
In a decade or so of his power, he had influence over every particle on this planet. He had turned a dead race into one that could rival the humans who had a thousand-year advantage. Sometimes he made us wonder how he managed to be in multiple parts of history in a single moment.
I still remember the day when I confidently told the Guild master that I was the strongest.
'Where did all that confidence go? Look at me now, Hiding.'
We were patiently waiting for Lithia to finish her reconnaissance to zero down on his location.
"Huh? Did you say something?" I looked at Javes.
"No, I was just wondering why you picked us. You probably had a lot of people at your disposal. You could've picked the military, or perhaps someone from the paladins."
"Because you guys were easy."
"Oh." He ruffled his hair uneasily.
"It was easy to see what your motives were. You wanted money. I could trust that." I don't think that clarified anything. I had lost my ability to keep up appearances.
"To you, we might have seen that way right?" Javes looked down at his hands. Lithia floated back to the trees.
"It's looking bad." She was completely shaken.
"Why? Are there a lot of captains still?" Javes tried to hide the weird mood.
"No, there's only one person in there." She sat next to Javes.
"So? What's the problem?"
"It's just that his Prana is so thick that it's leaking out of his body. Every little bit of Prana you feel here, is his. Except for some disturbances in the town. But they might just be the people. I don't even know what to make of it. Just by the feeling I can tell that it's not emergent Prana. It's his insidious Prana, that too with this density." She was slightly trembling. "It took my five minutes to narrow his presence down even though I had a rough idea of where he wa-"
I cut her off— "Javes, as I was saying. I knew you wanted money and I knew that I could give it to you. But then as soon as I got to talk to the two of you as people something changed. Even in this moronic world, you two held onto your dreams.
I was not going into this journey with the hope of survival, that's why I made it a point to put up an emotional wall between myself and the two of you. So that even if the two of you perished, I would be able to push myself until I see the end of this. But the two of you couldn't have that. Day after day, you hit my wall with hammers until you broke me down. I admire you."
"Miss Apostle~ You really don't have t-"
"I was born the daughter of a whore and a cook. Without money we took to a life of piracy. Once I got caught I lied to get out of the business and got taken in to the temple. During those days I used to believe that you had to buy your own dreams. But the two of you were different. Even faced with the challenges you held onto everything that you held dear and moved forward. After the Ipspar incident, you two are my only family. Even if you don't consider me that. I love the two of you so much that I want to leave you here."
"You can't go saying stuff like that at this point." Lithia was more emotionally sound than I was. I wonder if she trained that in the pillars.
Standing here surrounded by the Lord's veil, we knew that death was a possibility. A very real, daunting, possibility.
"You are the strongest out of the three of us. It is entirely possible that even if everyone else dies, you live." Javes put his hand on my knee. "If that ever happens and when you move on, call your first born Elle if she's a girl and Yom if he's a boy. It is what we wanted to name our kids."
"She is not calling him Yom. We talked about this, that's a stupid name." Lithia slapped his back.
"Why?! So what's she gonna call him? Derek? That's way worse."
"Anything but Yo-"
"What are you two even on about? To kill the two of you the Lord would first have to kill me first."
"Eh?"
"If I die, I will at least take him down with me." I mumbled. "But in the off chance that I die alone and he survives, I will allow you the selfishness of running away this time. Don't try to get revenge. I believe that everyone should give up their life if it benefits society. If I couldn't kill him the two of you definitely can't. Your sacrifice would be pointless. So just run away to a corner of the world and keep on running. You may not be strong enough to fight him, but I believe you can escape him. Maybe ask that old lady in the wastelands to let you stay." I sighed. "And in the case that I die along with him, make them remember me by my name and not just Miss Apostle."
I steadied my heartbeat. I hadn't heard this name since my father had left me.
"My name is Ki-"
"Quite the moving conversation you're having here." My eyes met someone else's. Someone who shouldn't have been there.
"Pau-"
I didn't get the chance to react.
"Miss Apo-" Their voice got cut off.
The Daemon's Lord. Through a portal. Right in front of my eyes within a single fraction of a second. My comrades got taken.
"I'll be waiting for you in the castle."