Zabriel stuck his hand out, and everyone stopped. Raiya, still on top of Zabriel, said, "You're not dying..why is no one dying..?!"
'Impossible..is he..keeping my curse from working..?'
Zabriel said, "Don't look away from me."
"Huh..?"
"You'll kill everyone. And don't move."
Zabriel picked up her blindfold, and put it over her eyes, tying it around her head, making sure her hair went over the back of it.
Zabriel thought, 'This curse..it's strong. But I'm known as the strongest healer, I can keep curses at bay by looking at the person, but I won't be able to hold it long. Even though they say I'm the strongest healer, I cannot heal curses. They aren't wounds or internal diseases, it's on the more spiritual side, it's similar to the way Ellie couldn't heal the ones that erupted in the red flames back at Kenshire, Gill told me all about it. The red flames weren't wounds, they were something different, like something being created, like something on the spiritual side that still basically corrupted their soul.'
Raiya stood up, saying, "…You didn't have to do that."
'That felt…special.' Raiya thought.
Zabriel stood up, replying, "Are you alright?"
Raiya turned around, not looking at Zabriel.
She thought, 'No one's looked me straight in my pure eyes after what happened with my tribe…and he didn't even seem to be scared..he didn't even hesitate to help me ... .what is this damn feeling..?'
Gill, nearby, said, "Aww, I think she's blushing—."
"Shut up. Fool.
Gill ran behind Zabriel, screeching like a girl.
Zaeya said, "Zabriel…"
Zabriel said, "Zaeya..?"
"It's been so long.."
"Were you the one who led me down to Arga?"
"Yes. I did. I didn't know it was you until you started to fight, it had confined my suspicions."
"Yeah and—."
Zaeya dashed up to Zabriel and hugged him.
Zabriel just paused, saying, "You're hearts beating fast."
"I know. I thought you were dead, brother."
Gill gasped, "That's your sister, Zabriel?!"
Zaeya responded, "Yes, little man. That's what we called each other as kids. Brother and sister. I'll never leave his side. I'll kill anyone who comes too close to him."
"I'm grown. 20 to be exact."
"Old man then. You're a year older than me and Zabriel."
"Zabriel is younger than me?! He acts so mature.."
"Oh, I see you have the mark of the assassin. Welcome aboard then."
Gill nodded, "It's an honor, definitely. Can't wait to assassinate people."
"Too much, too much."
Zaeya whispered to Zabriel, "Where did you find this guy?"
"He saved my life. In Kenshire."
"So you made him one of us. An assassin of the Crow."
"Yes. He has no power. But courage."
Kelgade said, "Enough of this family reunion shit, me and Zabriel have unfinished business—."
Zaeya grabbed Kelgade, pulling him into the group hug, hugging him and Zabriel at the same time. "I didn't know who you were, Kelgade, until I heard your voice. I saw you arrive here, but I don't recall seeing you harboring an empty piece of steel Bloodhound armor."
"…Things happened. But I was saved by the king and Queen of Kalhalla, and their daughter. They bound my soul to the armor to keep me alive until we can find a way to restore a new body for me."
"I thought I lost both of you…I thought I was the only one is that's alive..what about Ellie? Is she—."
Zabriel answered, "She's gone. Father, leader of the cult..it's his doing. So I'm gonna do him the same way he killed her."
'It's my fault she ended up as she did. I left her..I really left her…this feeling of shame..to keep myself from being embarrassed, I have to harbor it on my own.'
Zaeya moved away from them both, saying, "Father…he's.."
Raiya stated, "She's in the cult."
Kelgade scoffed, "What? Don't be making up stuff-."
"— Ask her."
Zabriel and Kelgade looked at Zaeya, and she stepped back a few feet.
Zaeya said, "I'm sorry."
"Why?" Zabriel asked.
"I want to destroy the cult of Fabel too. The only way for me to actually beat them was to get on the inside. And then, maybe, finding other assassins to give them inside information on them. I had to accept a fragment of the Red Flame, which clenches against my soul. A symbol of Perfect Order. If I try to attack any cult members, or disobey orders with the flame as well, I'll suffer. That's one of Father's ways of seeing Perfect Order."
"…Why are you here?"
"Helsong and Father wanted me to come here and get past Arga, to go to the area you went to with the memories of the assassin founders; Arga wouldn't accept me. He must've seen I had been conflicted with the Red Flame. And that's the only way into the room. So Helsong told me to stay and wait for any assassins to come through, he said it would happen eventually. I waited for hours, but Helsong knew assassins always run back to where they were adapted to, their home. And then you came along, and you saw the memories of the Assassin Elders. And they wanted me to intercept and force whoever saw them to tell us what they saw there, or if they didn't tell us, the same one who's in the princesses mind would raid the mind of whoever saw the memories."
Kelgade said angrily, "So that's what it is..huh? A cult member is inside Amarisa's head. Looking through her memories…why?!"
"She saw something. An immortal seed. And the entire kingdom heard about it, so that means people are gonna know things. She hid the seed somewhere, she said she used to play with it and wanted to grow it. But she felt sick around it, and told King Thorian and Queen Sylaria, her parents. The witch of the castle performed a ritual where her memories of the seed and where she hid it are hidden, and now a cult member is inside of her head locating those memories, and it's hurting the girl."
"And you're okay with this?!"
"No! I can't stop them! Unless it's over for me! I hate it! I really hate all of it! That a little girl has a to suffer because she just wanted to play with a fucking seed. I took the essence of the Red Flame, so I'm bound to the cult! I have to get rid of them before anything else. But that's why I'm feeding you this information. So you can stop them."
Gill asked, "How come you're not dying right now then? You're disobeying the cult by betraying them right?"
"Father of Helsong never told us we couldn't tell anyone what we do, as it's already out in the open for people to see. And the both of them expect Zabriel to be dead, they say he and a few celestial primordial deities in existence are their biggest threats. Since cult members have been turning up dead recently, they've been on the hunt for the one killing them. And it turns out…"
Zabriel said, "It's us."
Kailan and Tazmel came down, saying, Kailan laughed, "Haha! I knew it was him! He killed the cult guy we saw that one day, remember?"
Tazmel nodded, "I already knew that. You're late."
"Huh? No you didn't!"
"I did!"
Zaeya continued, "I'm sorry..for joining them. I just want things to be back the way they were."
Kelgade asked, "Why do they want the memories of the Assassin Elders?"
"The Crow has been here for years, hundreds of years, and the Elders have been alive for hundreds of years until they ended up dying last year. They had and hid something that Zepharion wanted. Called the Rune Of Authority."
Zabriel asked, "What does he want with it?"
"It's…it's a way to absorb Zepharion once he's fully formed, taking on his body."
Gill gritted his teeth, "So that bastard is not as holy as he wants everyone to think he is, huh? He's got greedy too. He wants to absorb Zepharion once he's fully created, how will he use it? Where did it come from?! As a matter of fact, where did the Immortal Seeds come from?! I know the trees and stuff were prisons for Zepharion's body, but I doubt the deities would create immortal seeds to grow the trees and release the body."
Zaeya said, "I don't know anything about the seeds. Or the Rune of Authority. Father won't tell us anything about it. But the assassin had the rune, sided with witches, whom they split in half. Father needs both halves. Father has a wag to make it even stronger, to cultivate it to become on a godly level. Like how they killed the deities, they somehow cultivated their dark power to be able to easily take them down. So they're going to cultivate both halves of the Rune to absorb Zepharion."
Kailan asked, "Do all the other cult members know this?"
"No. Only me, Helsong, and a few others that are close to the Father."
Kelgade said, "How in the hell…why the hell would the assassins give the other half of this damn Rune to the witches? We hunted and killed a lot of them!"
Zabriel replied, "In the memories, I saw another person, he looked like Father, with a Red flame head. This was many years ago, before the cult even came out in the open. They were hiding in secret. The Assassins and witches worked together to hunt him. But I didn't get to see if they actually killed him, but they were able to steal the Rune from him. And split it amongst each other and hide them. That's all I know. But I do not know the locations of both Runes, just the one the Assassins had."
Zaeya grinned, "Then we need to go get it and destroy it—!"
Raiya scoffed, "We're not trusting you. And I have unfinished business with you."
Tazmel said, "Raiya's right. We can't trust this woman. She could be Father in disguise or something! We don't know the limits of their power!"
Zaeya added, "The ones closest to Father have the most power! Shared power from Zepharion's essence, which is what the Red Flame blessing is. When a member becomes one with the Red Flame, they receive even more power, it's like a bridge between our soul and Zepharion's power. And Father must've gotten the full blessing from the one you saw, Zabriel."
Kailan said, "Yeah, still can't trust her."
Gill added, "It's too easy, she's giving away so much information so fast..without hesitation."
Zaeya looked at Zabriel and Kelgade, pleading, "Please…I'm serious! I can't do this alone! And I can't find any more assassins! All of you are my only hope. And Raiya, I'm sorry for what I said to you. I saw you as an enemy, and I get riled up sometimes. But after seeing Zabriel help you, keeping your curse at bay just by looking at you…I didn't know."
Raiya looked away, saying, "…I can't forgive you for what you said."
"I'll make it up to you and all of you, but I really need you all to work with me. Please…I might not get this opportunity again—."
Pat.
Zabriel patted Zaeya's head, and said, "Okay."
Kelgade added, "Ah, what the hell. Let's just get this over with then. We have to make it back to the royal family. I'm bound to them now. I won't fail them."
Zaeya sighed, "Thank you..I won't let us down."
Gill said, "So what if she actually betrays us—."
Zaeya dashed towards Gill, placing her karambit on his neck, saying, "Shut up! I'll end you, rookie assassin!"
"EEP!" Gill squealed.
Kailan and Tazmel grabbed Zaeya, pulling her away slowly, saying, "Cone on, come on, don't hurt the little rookie."
Kailan added, "Yeah, we might need to use him for bait one day."
Gill scoffed, "Bait?!"
At that movement, Raiya walked up to Zabriel, saying, "…I don't like you, or assassins in general."
Zabriel was putting his mask back on, and replied, "And?"
"…Thank you."
"Why?"
"…Are you that dense?"
"…I think so."
"You're a mess. But thank you. For…what you did for me."
'I want to thank him for making me feel worth something after a long time. Years of being avoided, people running away from me…even when I joined Tazmel and Kailan, I knew they were just using me for my abilities. I didn't feel anything with them. But with Zabriel…I felt…'
Kelgade walked forward, dragging his blade across the snow, "Things aren't finished yet. Leaving is our main objective now."
Zabriel said, "There are still other strongest beings here. And I've been sensing them non-stop. Meaning they're waiting for us. They're on standby."
Kailan asked, "Can you track them?"
"I can."
Zabriel whipped his scythe out, and continued, "Like this."
Kelgade scoffed, "What the hell is that supposed to do?"
"Kelgade, you're coming with me. Everyone, head back to the cabin me and Gill were in."
Tazmel exclaimed, "No way you're leaving us!"
Gill asked Zabriel, "You're coming back right?"
"Yes."
FWOOSH!
Zabriel dashed through them, and hit Kelgade in the chest with the butt of his scythe, sending him flying, waves of wind swirling around them due to the force, and Zabriel went after Kelgade who was still flipping away.
Raiya said, "What was that for?"
At that moment, Tazmel and Kailan stood on both sides of Raiya.
Tazmel said, "Hey, Raiya, we got something to ask ya. If you don't mind."
Kailan snickered, "You got some little love crush on Zabriel, don't you—."
KATHOOM!
Raiya slams her palms on their chests, sending them both bashing through trees.
Gill laughed at them, "HAHA. Oops—s-sorry."
Tazmel added, "I'm gonna kill that brat!"
Zaeya responded to Tazmel, "Hell no! This rookie assassin is MY prey!"
In the air, darting away, Kelgade scoffed, "Oh?! You wanna continue our fight then?!"
"Yes."
"Good. I have a score to settle with you anyway!"
"If we're keeping score then I'm up."
"Look at you, talking like Ellie. Cause' you're devoid of any emotion or personality."
"I pat people's heads."
"That doesn't count! Now fight me then, if it's what you want! Even though it's a waste of time, I won't reject the offer."
"I know what I'm doing. Now fight to kill. Like we were taught."
"Fine. If that's what you want. Then so be it."