Fiends surrounded the group, on all sides, death closed in on the remnants of the cohort.
"Stay with me!"
Paladin Zavala's voice pierced through the din of gnashing teeth with ease. His shield raised against the line of encroaching Fiends, a longsword was weaving into existence in his empty hand. A ragtag bunch of Awakened held their place a step behind the Paladin, where their hands trembled, their gazes held true.
"I will break their charge!"
Purple energy erupted from Zavala's shield, a dome of energy was erected around the Awakened and in the next second the first wave of Fiends crashed against the Paladin's defence. In the next second, the hand holding his sword moved forward, the tip of his sword passed through the purple barrier stabbing into the head of the nearest Fiend killing it instantly, his hand moved almost a blur as it cut through another Fiend's neck and carried onto slay all the Fiends it could reach.
As the Fiend's crashing into the barrier began to grow in number, the Awakened surrounding Zavala stepped forward following the Paladin's lead, their weapons passed through the purple energy that was created by Zavala's Talent.
Although the cohort was managing to slay a great number of Fiends, their numbers did not dwindle, for every Fiend they slew, another dozen took their place. Despite their best efforts, the Awakened were fighting a losing battle.
Time passed slowly for the fighters, every second was an eternity. The Awakened closest to Zavala stepped away from the barrier, another Awakened rushed in to take her place. Leaning on her spear, Tabitha looked at Zavala.
"We can't keep this up forever… You should go…"
Zavala turned to her, his gaze a mix of emotions.
"I, I cannot."
Tabitha smiled slightly.
"Oh you, always the one to sacrifice yourself for the greater good… You dumbie, you know this isn't where you die."
Grabbing Zavala's shoulder, she pulled him away from the Fiends. Standing on the tips of her toes, she tried to reach the Paladin's height.
"Tabitha, what are you-"
Zavala's speech was interrupted as Tabitha covered his lips with hers. A second later, she pulled back. Her voice was quiet, for any normal person it would have been unheard in the clamour of battle, but Zavala's enhanced senses detected it with no effort.
"Go, the refugees need you more than we do… Just promise me, you'll find me again."
Zavala's hard gaze faltered.
"I will."
About to leave, Zavala stopped, turning to look at Tabitha.
"I lost you once, I will find you, Tabitha."
She simply smiled.
"Careful there, I might just hold you to that promise if you're not careful."
The two defenders of humanity held each other's gaze for a few moments more, and a second longer than they knew they should have. At the same time, they turned away from each other.
Tabitha rejoined the defences, stepping in as another Awakened took a step back.
Zavala leapt high into the air, passing through his barrier, his longsword was held high. Crashing into a swarm of Fiends, he began to slowly cut a path through the horde, making his way to the refugees.
'Tabitha, I will look for you once they are safe. This promise is one I will keep.'
Frowning, Lauri scrolled to the bottom of the page.
"So that's what it means to be an Awakened, huh, falling in love and then losing them because you have to always look out for the future of humanity. I'm still not sold on the whole, self-sacrifice part of being an Awakened."
Rolling his one working eye, Lauri continued scrolling down.
"Anyway, next chapter… Oh, what's this?"
At the bottom of the page, the 'next chapter' button was blank. Above it, a note was added to the chapter.
'Author's note. I can't believe it we've reached the end of volume five, thank you all for reading along my journey the past two years of writing A Story of Loss, Love and a Lifetime of Finding It Again has been incredible. And it pains me to tell you all, but I will have to put SLLLF on hold indefinitely as you see, I've awakened! I've become a Sickly! Or if you're some kind of snob, I am a Risen. So I will have to prepare for the Summer Equinox, thank you again. I love you all. Many thanks, Icesee.'
Lauri sat back in his seat, an expression of annoyance and sadness mixed on his face. Annoyance that the story he had just begun to get invested in had been put on hiatus and sadness thinking about the author of this story having undergone the Summer Equinox.
Scrolling through the comments, Lauri's sad expression only grew deeper. All of the comments were eulogies, commenters paying their respects to the author of the story they loved.
'We love you Icesee, please rest well.'
'He went to find Tabitha to save Zavala the effort.'
'Everyone make sure to like all of SLLLFs chapters, we can't let Icesee's memory be forgotten!'
Lauri scrolled the comments for some time until he reached the end of the comments.
'The last chapter of A Story of Loss, Love and a Lifetime of Finding It Again was posted over three years ago… Meaning, the author, Icesee, had never returned from the Aether.'
Letting out a deep sigh, Lauri pushed his chair away from the desk. Standing, he moved over to lying on his bed.
A sudden feeling of dread mixed with melancholy ran through Lauri's mind. Running a hand through his hair, Lauri sighed again.
'It was, a nice story I think, although maybe reading five volumes in under one week isn't the most healthy thing I've ever done. It helped me learn a lot about the things I don't know, the things Laurence and Granny were going to teach me…'
Lauri had learnt many missing pieces of information that helped clean up any misunderstandings he had when it come to being an Awakened.
He had learnt the names of more of the ranks. Before Lauri had already known Husk-Born, Risen and Awakened but anything that came after was a total mystery until today.
Humanity referred to the ranks as Mundane, Sickly Awakened, Sentinel, Paladin, Monarch, although anything after that was unknown as Humanity had only ever witnessed one Monarch, a man coincidentally called King. But he had disappeared a long time ago.
On the other hand, the strings referred to the ranks differently: Husk-Born, Risen Awakened, Spiriter, Destined and Eternal.
Humanity theorised that there were ranks beyond the Eternal, the Monarch, but as nobody had ever risen higher than the Monarch rank, it was merely theoretical.
Lauri had also learnt something else, the rank of his title [Lightbearer's Oath], Primordial, was completely unheard of. No article on the internet spoke of such a rank, which left Lauri to theories.
'Primordial is a rank beyond Monarch, the word means something that existed during or before time began. So, I have a Title that is godlike in status?'
The thought brought a smile to Lauri's lips.
"I should be sure to praise Ash with thanks when I see her later, and that bastard."
Sitting up in his bed, Lauri glared ahead of him.
"Why couldn't Laurence just say he was of the Paladin rank... Or of the Destined, I doubt he used the same naming conventions as this world"
Laurence being of the Paladin rank was simply an assumption Lauri had come to, same with Granny being of the Sentinel rank. The stories and articles Lauri had read on the mythical gateway to information, the internet, described Paladins as humans who transcended all normal conventions.
They were beyond the pinnacle of what it meant to be human. Apparently, they were incredibly few in number, it seemed the process of becoming one was not one easily tread.
"I'll catch up to you one day."
Gritting his teeth, Lauri dropped back onto his bed.
"Just you watch."
Steadying his breathing, Lauri closed his eyes. But although Lauri's eyes were closed, he could still see. This was due to the perception of his left eye being tied to Luminescent Helper. Lauri's practice had paid off during his first week at Compound Thirty-Four.
It did not take long for Lauri's mind to be able to withstand perceiving Luminescent Helper in flight and for him to still function and use his other eye. So he had killed two birds with one stone.
Using his right eye to read fiction and look up what he didn't know, and using his left eye to explore with Luminescent Helper. This exploration consisted of Luminescent Helper buzzing its way through air ducts.
This only worked as Lauri was able to control Luminescent Helper with mental commands, if he needed to speak to it directly this wouldn't work in the slightest.
'I wonder if it's the same for all Imprints and Hollows?'
Hollows were another topic Lauri had researched, at first the name had been a mystery on his strings. Cushioned between his Imprints and Traits, now cushioned between the list of his Imprints and the equally mysterious 'Hallowed' – a word that Lauri could not find on the internet – that had appeared after his Title had evolved. It turns out, a Hollow is something a lucky Awakened can receive when killing something.
Where an Imprint is a rare item that they can receive, a Hollow is an even rarer reward. Copies of the slain Fiend that an Awakened can summon and command to fight for them. The thought of killing a powerful Fiend and then having them fight on his behalf sent shivers down Lauri's spine.
'I'll need an army of Hollows to deal with Yang's indebted.'
With a wistful sigh, Luminescent Helper turned a corner and ascended a vertical shaft.
There were two more things Lauri had learnt, one he had learnt whilst studying under Nama. His Authority, [Son of the Last Sun]. An Authority was a rare thing, even rarer than earning a Hollow. Not every Awakened received an Authority in their lifetime, but those that did went on to do great things.
Lauri had read about how those who received an Authority were given special privileges, and special attention to help their growth. But special attention was something Lauri did not want, the last thing he could ever wish for was special attention from Director Yang.
The thought of this also sent a shiver down Lauri's spine, unlike the previous shiver, this shiver was cold and set Lauri's mind on edge.
Exhaling, Lauri shifted his attention back to Luminescent Helper. Coming across an opening in the vent, he peered out of it. It was Nama's office, the woman was reading a book. Although it did not seem to be weird, Lauri couldn't help but chuckle to himself.
"What is that, the fifth book this week. How does she read so much… Although I guess I can't talk."
As he watched Nama from the vent, a thought crossed Lauri's mind.
'Is, is this creepy? I'm watching a woman, my teacher, in secret. She could be getting up to anything without knowing someone was there.'
Growing pale, Lauri dismissed Luminescent Helper.
This was something else Lauri had learnt, if an Imprint was dismissed nearby it would turn into strings and flow back into the soul of its owner. But if the Imprint was far away, it would simply disappear. Being able to summon it again would depend on the distance.
Lauri counted the seconds.
'Fifty-eight, fifty-nine, one minute, one minute and one…'
He stopped counting as he felt the comforting feeling of Luminescent Helper return to his soul.
"One minute and one second, it's not too long for how far away it was. I wonder if the type of Imprint and the size might play into the time it takes to summon."
The thought of summoning Her Aegis in his room and then walking up to the ground floor briefly filled Sunny's mind before he shook his head.
'Nah, that's being silly. Besides, I'm more likely to lose a weapon, but with Light's Edge I'll never have to worry about losing my weapon.'
Remaining in his bed, Lauri's right hand flexed. There was something Lauri never had the opportunity to check. Whatever the 'Divinity' was, just like Hallowed, it was another text that had appeared on the strings after his Title: [Second Seraph] evolved into [Lightbearer's Oath].
It's not as if Lauri did not know how to access this mysterious aspect of his power, he could feel it on the edge of his fingertips. Almost like it was begging to be used, but he simply had not found the time.
During the day he had been studying how to survive in the Aether Stream with Nama and during the night he had been reading The Story of Loss, Love and a Lifetime of Finding It Again and doing his own research on the gaps in his knowledge. But currently, Lauri found himself with nothing to do, it was not like he planned on sleeping for a few more hours.
'So why can't I test out this power? Not like I have anything else to do tonight.'
Holding his palm out, Lauri was about to tap into the [Divinity] when somebody quickly knocked on his door three times.
Scowling, Lauri lowered his hand.
'Oh, what now.'
Hopping off his bed, Lauri sighed.
'This better not be Ash or Gareth. Ha, not like Gareth even talks to me.'
The door slid open as Lauri got close to it.
"What! I hope you know you're interrupting my personal time-"
Lauri's eyes widened as he saw who was on the other side of the door. It wasn't Ashley bouncing up and down excited to talk about a new story she was reading, nor was it Gareth with that dismissive attitude he always wore when Lauri was near him.
The woman standing in front of Lauri's door wore a full suit of dull grey metal armour.
The Indebted stared at Lauri, his words pierced the terrified boy's heart like blades of ice.
"The Shadowman wants to see you."