Maeve’s words cut through the group like a blade, the weight of their hard work crumbling before them, compounded by the devastating loss of countless lives, including Oiwa's. The news hit Zero with the force of the entire sky, his thoughts immediately turning to Dhokhok. He had entrusted Oiwa with them, hoping to show her the world, to embark on adventures together, to liberate her from the confines of her troubled existence. Yet, the moment she ventured beyond the safety of her home, tragedy struck.
The palpable weight of grief emanated from Zero, enveloping the entire group as they trudged onward into the relentless blizzard.
Kazuka led the way, with Elsa close behind.
Menelik, Idris, Taharqa, and Oduduwa struggled to keep pace, their efforts hindered by the harsh conditions and their want to catch up with one another to keep emotions intact as best they could.
Meanwhile, Maeve and Zero lingered at the rear, engaging in a somber discussion about the events that transpired on Sidra.
"Oh, Lux, yeah, she’s a bit of a bitch," Zero remarked. "But Virgil had already briefed me about checking up on Fadsper. She wasn’t here for that."
"Then what was she here for?" Maeve gritted her teeth. "She's taken lives close to us, Zero."
"That’s the last thing I want to hear you complaining about," Zero retorted. "Lux doesn’t just drop by for nothing. It takes massive amounts of mana to traverse here, and the recovery time afterward is rough. So, whatever her motive, it was significant."
Maeve released an exhausted and frustrated sigh.
"What?" Zero's voice rose.
"Nothing. I just don’t know what she would want on Sidra."
Maeve and Zero continued their trek, enveloped in silence as they mulled over possibilities.
Yet, after a lengthy silence, neither could conceive of a reason. Then again, neither possessed extensive knowledge about Sidra itself. Maeve was new to the island, and Zero's involvement with the Order during his time there meant he had only scratched the surface.
If there were secrets, as Aladdin had revealed to him personally with the gold mines and the underground chapel, the Emperor guarded them closely, revealing little except when it suited him, either to clear the path for them or to retrieve items from Dungeons.
Both were at a loss.
"He wasn’t that formidable, was he?" Zero glanced back slightly at Maeve.
"What?" Her tone dripped with annoyance. "Aizen? It’s probably just because he didn’t know how to navigate those menus properly."
"Oh…that makes more sense." Zero teleported forward suddenly, positioning himself between Kazuka and Elsa. "So…you guys a thing?"
"What?" Elsa exclaimed. "Me and Kazuka? No, he’s just been a long-time customer of my struggling noodle business."
"You sell noodles?" Zero's excitement was barely contained.
"I did, but your Panther friend convinced us to come with him. He promised to take me to Tzang," Elsa replied.
Zero glanced back at Menelik and the others, who were still engrossed in their conversation, small smiles adorning their faces. "Did he mention how he plans on doing that?" Zero's gaze fixed on Elsa.
She observed him, noting where his eyes wandered.
Unlike everyone else she had encountered for the first time, Zero's gaze never once flickered to the large scar that marred the side of her face; instead, he simply stared into her eyes, eagerly yet patiently awaiting her response.
"No, he didn’t," Elsa finally stated. She turned back to the group, shouting, "Hey, Menelik, how the fuck are you gonna get me to Tzang?"
Kazuka reared his head back, halting his tracks at Elsa’s words. He still wasn’t accustomed to her assertiveness once she was away from her shop. He had always been a customer, not a companion to her.
Menelik and the others ceased their conversation and caught up to Elsa and Kazuka, with Menelik taking the lead.
"Uh…" he looked at Zero, who simply shook his head. Menelik then shifted his gaze back to Elsa. "...we still have a ship…somewhere."
Zero glanced at Maeve as she caught up with the group, then turned back to Menelik. "If you want to get her to Tzang, we’ll get her to Tzang." He briefly looked at Elsa before returning his attention to the group. "However, there's one big ass obstacle standing in our way."
"The Ocean’s Wrath," Idris stated.
"Correct," Zero replied. "We should think abo—." He suddenly stopped speaking, his head jolting to the left as he gazed out into the blizzard. "Someone’s approaching, a lot of someones, actually."
Maeve shifted her gaze to where Zero was looking, followed by the rest of the group.
"It’s an army," Maeve stated, sniffing the air again. "Two hundred strong."
"Yetis?" Taharqa inquired.
"No," Zero replied. "Elves."
On the horizon, the blizzard obscured most of the view, but soon an array of lights began to flash into focus, breaking through the thick veil of snow that endlessly cascaded down on the island.
"Looks like Alexander wasn’t too happy to find us gone," Elsa remarked.
Zero turned back to her. "Alexander?"
"The current Holiness of Rünhaven," Kazuka clarified.
"Is he a dick?" Zero asked.
"Uh…" Kazuka hesitated, but Elsa did not.
"Very much so," she stated. "He uses his power as Holiness to ensure that those who suck up to him thrive in the capital, but those who don’t…" Her words trailed off as they hit a little too close to home.
"They make sure you can’t make it," Kazuka added. "He’s the reason the best noodles in all of Ayce aren’t available anymore."
Zero smirked, nodding his head. "That's a good enough answer for me." With the sound of snapping wind that blew against the group, Zero teleported away.
There was a lingering silence, nothing but the fierce wind of the blizzard filling the air. It lasted for a few more moments before screams and cries filled the air, accompanied by large explosions of fire magic, sending smoke rising high into the air.
Oduduwa instinctively went to step forward to help Zero, but Idris put out his arm, stopping him, and gestured toward Menelik.
"If he ain’t rushing in, you shouldn’t either," he said, looking back out toward the screams and blazing flames. "We’ve learned to just stay out of anything he runs headfirst into."
Oduduwa relaxed a bit but immediately tensed up as a blind fire erupted in the distance, the flames rippling upward like a mushroom before bellowing out in a large ball of fire.
The screams suddenly stopped, and in the distance, you could see Zero walking forward, dragging someone behind him.
When Zero finally made it back to the group, Elsa and Kazuka quickly noticed that he was dragging Alexander.
He pulled him forward and tossed Alexander at Elsa's feet. "Here you go."
Elsa looked down at him in shock, then up at Zero. "Wha…what…uh…what did you do?"
"Uh, I…" Zero looked around at the equally shocked group, then down at Alexander. "I asked which one of them was Alexander. He said he was. Then I asked him what he and his army of Frost Elves were doing trying to come up on us. He said that Elsa, Kazuka, and Menelik were up for execution. And when I asked him what if I said no, he got all upset and was like 'you dare try to stand in my way,' then he was like 'seize him,' and I said I don’t think so and knocked the two Elves to the ground, which caused all the others to attack me…" Zero paused for a moment, gesturing toward Alexander. "…I did ask if they plan to kill me, and he said 'with pleasure'…" Zero put his hand on his chest. "…and I took that personally." He looked at Elsa. "I just got back from the afterlife, I’m not going back again."
Elsa looked at the other members of the group for answers, but she was met with sighs, shrugged shoulders, raised hands, and closed-eyed shaken heads. "Oookaay," Elsa said to herself, returning her gaze to Zero. "Thanks?"
"Yeah! No problem," Zero replied enthusiastically as he turned about and returned to Maeve’s side, leaving a moment of silence before Alexander spoke up.
"You won’t get away with this."
"He will," Idris stated. "He gets away with a lot."
"I do," Zero exclaimed, nodding his head with a grin.
Alexander pulled himself to his feet and looked around at the group. "Quite a diverse group of travelers. Planning to take the island for yourself, like some pirates?"
"Pirates?" Zero asked. "What’s a pirate?"
Maeve reached up and covered his mouth. "Don’t tell him what a pirate is, please."
Zero pulled Maeve’s hand away slightly as she tried to force it back over. "Why? I wanna knoOAHH." He tried to keep speaking through muffled words.
"We aren’t pirates," Maeve stated. "We are here on business."
"What business? I am the Holiness. I know of all business going through Ayce, and I have not heard about any business involving you lot." Alexander’s voice was filled with frustration, but he knew that moving a single toe out of line would get him killed by the white-haired demon. His eyes lingered on Zero for a moment longer before turning back to Maeve. "If you are not pirates, and I know not of your business, then you are Adventurers?"
"We are, and we took care of your Old King problem in front of Nazzaroth," Idris stated. "You’re welcome."
"You all defeated the Old King?" Alexander asked, his voice tinged with timidity as he realized just who he stood amongst.
Zero fought Maeve’s hand, but was not able to do anything more than make muffled cries as Idris continued. "We did, and now we are on our way to Mount Aglazad."
"You plan to meet with the Dwarves? Good luck." Alexander laughed as if they were foolish with their plans.
"We know they don’t meet with people often," Maeve chimed in, removing her hand from Zero, who had finally submitted to silence with slumped shoulders. "But we think they’ll make an exception once they hear what we have to offer."
"You could offer them a lake filled with infinite gold, and they still wouldn’t give you the time of day," Alexander continued to smirk at them. But when he saw the looks of determination on their faces, he realized that they weren’t just being stubborn; they actually didn’t know. His entire demeanor changed, relaxing into a soft tone. "You don’t know, do you?"
"Know what?" Maeve asked.
"The Dwarves are in lockdown…someone cracked open Ayce, and now the wall that separated the islands of the Outer Realms from the islands of the Great Beyond is crumbling…" Alexander took in a deep breath, letting it out as if he was about to scream, but his tone remained calm. "…it’s been so long since Ymir’s actions created the wall, that parts of that section of history are lost and many more on their way, but for the first time since, Arrithia is going to united once more."
Maeve’s words cut through the group like a blade, the weight of their hard work crumbling before them, compounded by the devastating loss of countless lives, including Oiwa's. The news hit Zero with the force of the entire sky, his thoughts immediately turning to Dhokhok. He had entrusted Oiwa with them, hoping to show her the world, to embark on adventures together, to liberate her from the confines of her troubled existence. Yet, the moment she ventured beyond the safety of her home, tragedy struck.
The palpable weight of grief emanated from Zero, enveloping the entire group as they trudged onward into the relentless blizzard.
Kazuka led the way, with Elsa close behind.
Menelik, Idris, Taharqa, and Oduduwa struggled to keep pace, their efforts hindered by the harsh conditions and their want to catch up with one another to keep emotions intact as best they could.
Meanwhile, Maeve and Zero lingered at the rear, engaging in a somber discussion about the events that transpired on Sidra.
"Oh, Lux, yeah, she’s a bit of a bitch," Zero remarked. "But Virgil had already briefed me about checking up on Fadsper. She wasn’t here for that."
"Then what was she here for?" Maeve gritted her teeth. "She's taken lives close to us, Zero."
"That’s the last thing I want to hear you complaining about," Zero retorted. "Lux doesn’t just drop by for nothing. It takes massive amounts of mana to traverse here, and the recovery time afterward is rough. So, whatever her motive, it was significant."
Maeve released an exhausted and frustrated sigh.
"What?" Zero's voice rose.
"Nothing. I just don’t know what she would want on Sidra."
Maeve and Zero continued their trek, enveloped in silence as they mulled over possibilities.
Yet, after a lengthy silence, neither could conceive of a reason. Then again, neither possessed extensive knowledge about Sidra itself. Maeve was new to the island, and Zero's involvement with the Order during his time there meant he had only scratched the surface.
If there were secrets, as Aladdin had revealed to him personally with the gold mines and the underground chapel, the Emperor guarded them closely, revealing little except when it suited him, either to clear the path for them or to retrieve items from Dungeons.
Both were at a loss.
"He wasn’t that formidable, was he?" Zero glanced back slightly at Maeve.
"What?" Her tone dripped with annoyance. "Aizen? It’s probably just because he didn’t know how to navigate those menus properly."
"Oh…that makes more sense." Zero teleported forward suddenly, positioning himself between Kazuka and Elsa. "So…you guys a thing?"
"What?" Elsa exclaimed. "Me and Kazuka? No, he’s just been a long-time customer of my struggling noodle business."
"You sell noodles?" Zero's excitement was barely contained.
"I did, but your Panther friend convinced us to come with him. He promised to take me to Tzang," Elsa replied.
Zero glanced back at Menelik and the others, who were still engrossed in their conversation, small smiles adorning their faces. "Did he mention how he plans on doing that?" Zero's gaze fixed on Elsa.
She observed him, noting where his eyes wandered.
Unlike everyone else she had encountered for the first time, Zero's gaze never once flickered to the large scar that marred the side of her face; instead, he simply stared into her eyes, eagerly yet patiently awaiting her response.
"No, he didn’t," Elsa finally stated. She turned back to the group, shouting, "Hey, Menelik, how the fuck are you gonna get me to Tzang?"
Kazuka reared his head back, halting his tracks at Elsa’s words. He still wasn’t accustomed to her assertiveness once she was away from her shop. He had always been a customer, not a companion to her.
Menelik and the others ceased their conversation and caught up to Elsa and Kazuka, with Menelik taking the lead.
"Uh…" he looked at Zero, who simply shook his head. Menelik then shifted his gaze back to Elsa. "...we still have a ship…somewhere."
Zero glanced at Maeve as she caught up with the group, then turned back to Menelik. "If you want to get her to Tzang, we’ll get her to Tzang." He briefly looked at Elsa before returning his attention to the group. "However, there's one big ass obstacle standing in our way."
"The Ocean’s Wrath," Idris stated.
"Correct," Zero replied. "We should think abo—." He suddenly stopped speaking, his head jolting to the left as he gazed out into the blizzard. "Someone’s approaching, a lot of someones, actually."
Maeve shifted her gaze to where Zero was looking, followed by the rest of the group.
"It’s an army," Maeve stated, sniffing the air again. "Two hundred strong."
"Yetis?" Taharqa inquired.
"No," Zero replied. "Elves."
On the horizon, the blizzard obscured most of the view, but soon an array of lights began to flash into focus, breaking through the thick veil of snow that endlessly cascaded down on the island.
"Looks like Alexander wasn’t too happy to find us gone," Elsa remarked.
Zero turned back to her. "Alexander?"
"The current Holiness of Rünhaven," Kazuka clarified.
"Is he a dick?" Zero asked.
"Uh…" Kazuka hesitated, but Elsa did not.
"Very much so," she stated. "He uses his power as Holiness to ensure that those who suck up to him thrive in the capital, but those who don’t…" Her words trailed off as they hit a little too close to home.
"They make sure you can’t make it," Kazuka added. "He’s the reason the best noodles in all of Ayce aren’t available anymore."
Zero smirked, nodding his head. "That's a good enough answer for me." With the sound of snapping wind that blew against the group, Zero teleported away.
There was a lingering silence, nothing but the fierce wind of the blizzard filling the air. It lasted for a few more moments before screams and cries filled the air, accompanied by large explosions of fire magic, sending smoke rising high into the air.
Oduduwa instinctively went to step forward to help Zero, but Idris put out his arm, stopping him, and gestured toward Menelik.
"If he ain’t rushing in, you shouldn’t either," he said, looking back out toward the screams and blazing flames. "We’ve learned to just stay out of anything he runs headfirst into."
Oduduwa relaxed a bit but immediately tensed up as a blind fire erupted in the distance, the flames rippling upward like a mushroom before bellowing out in a large ball of fire.
The screams suddenly stopped, and in the distance, you could see Zero walking forward, dragging someone behind him.
When Zero finally made it back to the group, Elsa and Kazuka quickly noticed that he was dragging Alexander.
He pulled him forward and tossed Alexander at Elsa's feet. "Here you go."
Elsa looked down at him in shock, then up at Zero. "Wha…what…uh…what did you do?"
"Uh, I…" Zero looked around at the equally shocked group, then down at Alexander. "I asked which one of them was Alexander. He said he was. Then I asked him what he and his army of Frost Elves were doing trying to come up on us. He said that Elsa, Kazuka, and Menelik were up for execution. And when I asked him what if I said no, he got all upset and was like 'you dare try to stand in my way,' then he was like 'seize him,' and I said I don’t think so and knocked the two Elves to the ground, which caused all the others to attack me…" Zero paused for a moment, gesturing toward Alexander. "…I did ask if they plan to kill me, and he said 'with pleasure'…" Zero put his hand on his chest. "…and I took that personally." He looked at Elsa. "I just got back from the afterlife, I’m not going back again."
Elsa looked at the other members of the group for answers, but she was met with sighs, shrugged shoulders, raised hands, and closed-eyed shaken heads. "Oookaay," Elsa said to herself, returning her gaze to Zero. "Thanks?"
"Yeah! No problem," Zero replied enthusiastically as he turned about and returned to Maeve’s side, leaving a moment of silence before Alexander spoke up.
"You won’t get away with this."
"He will," Idris stated. "He gets away with a lot."
"I do," Zero exclaimed, nodding his head with a grin.
Alexander pulled himself to his feet and looked around at the group. "Quite a diverse group of travelers. Planning to take the island for yourself, like some pirates?"
"Pirates?" Zero asked. "What’s a pirate?"
Maeve reached up and covered his mouth. "Don’t tell him what a pirate is, please."
Zero pulled Maeve’s hand away slightly as she tried to force it back over. "Why? I wanna knoOAHH." He tried to keep speaking through muffled words.
"We aren’t pirates," Maeve stated. "We are here on business."
"What business? I am the Holiness. I know of all business going through Ayce, and I have not heard about any business involving you lot." Alexander’s voice was filled with frustration, but he knew that moving a single toe out of line would get him killed by the white-haired demon. His eyes lingered on Zero for a moment longer before turning back to Maeve. "If you are not pirates, and I know not of your business, then you are Adventurers?"
"We are, and we took care of your Old King problem in front of Nazzaroth," Idris stated. "You’re welcome."
"You all defeated the Old King?" Alexander asked, his voice tinged with timidity as he realized just who he stood amongst.
Zero fought Maeve’s hand, but was not able to do anything more than make muffled cries as Idris continued. "We did, and now we are on our way to Mount Aglazad."
"You plan to meet with the Dwarves? Good luck." Alexander laughed as if they were foolish with their plans.
"We know they don’t meet with people often," Maeve chimed in, removing her hand from Zero, who had finally submitted to silence with slumped shoulders. "But we think they’ll make an exception once they hear what we have to offer."
"You could offer them a lake filled with infinite gold, and they still wouldn’t give you the time of day," Alexander continued to smirk at them. But when he saw the looks of determination on their faces, he realized that they weren’t just being stubborn; they actually didn’t know. His entire demeanor changed, relaxing into a soft tone. "You don’t know, do you?"
"Know what?" Maeve asked.
"The Dwarves are in lockdown…someone cracked open Ayce, and now the wall that separated the islands of the Outer Realms from the islands of the Great Beyond is crumbling…" Alexander took in a deep breath, letting it out as if he was about to scream, but his tone remained calm. "…it’s been so long since Ymir’s actions created the wall, that parts of that section of history are lost and many more on their way, but for the first time since, Arrithia is going to united once more."
