[Book II Chapter 154] ZENTRIAS: A Bitter Homecoming

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  The familiar vibration stopped, jarring Zentrias from his slumber. We’ve stopped moving…? In a daze, he struggled to process where he was. Then his eyes snapped open.

  Shrugging off grogginess, he exited the wagon where he’d been laid to recuperate. He was outside the Evermist, on the edge of the crater under Aery. The glow of Neon was visible in the distance.

  The convoy was parked on a road side. Its passengers were stretching their legs nervously in the darkness while a few fairies danced overhead. He spotted the four adventurers he’d rescued conferring with Merrybel’s leader and approached them.

  “What’s the situation?” He asked.

  “You’re awake!” The leader exclaimed before bowing deeply. “Allow me to express our immeasurable gratitude on behalf of the village. We’d lost all hope after the Maven caught us. The way you defeated her was incredible. You are our hero and savior.” The adventurers nodded respectfully in agreement.

  Zentrias gave a gracious smile, hiding his impatience. “Are you not heading to Neon?”

  “We were.” The man replied. “Our plan was to exit the Evermist here and travel along the crater. However…” He pointed east to some retreating lights. Zentrias guessed they were vehicles. “We received some dire news.”

  “Apparently nightmares have overrun the area around the city.” He continued. “As such, we were discussing changing our destination to Garnen.”

  “I understand.” Zentrias said. “Then we part ways here.”

  “Are you sure I couldn’t persuade you to accompany us?” The man asked anxiously.

  “You are out of the fog and have a reliable escort.” Zentrias declared. “Others now require my aid.”

  Without wasting an instant more, he took off and was mmediately surprises by his speed. The noticeable boost to his abilities reminded him of what he had achieved. Finally, after all this time… and I did it without violating the oath I made to myself. He thought of Yuria and fantasied about their reunion.

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  However, his smile soon faded. It wasn’t the time for love tonight, not when legions of monsters were menacing the orphanage. He sped up.

  As he raced closer, a black outline began blocking out Neon’s lights. He realized it was a enormous defensive wall. Inhuman wandering figures began crossing his path, but he was moving to fast for them to react.

  He could hear the sounds of battle now. Passing a grove of trees, his view opened up on a frightening scene. Across a landscape engulfed in fire and ice, a brutal war was being fought. The ground reverberated constantly from the clash of immortal level foes. At a quick glance, he counted at least a dozen moonlit sovereigns, in addition to the horrifying presence at the center of the battle. However, what caused Zentrias to grimace were the multiple gaping holes in the fortifications, where an endless stream of mishapen creatures poured through. At least the Nightmare King is being kept at bay for now…

  Fortunately, there were no sovereigns near the crater’s edge, and he easily slipped past the lesser nightmares. Reaching the top of the wall in one giant leap, he ignored the startled defenders and peered over the other side.

  A second, less intense conflict raged below, as adventurers fought desperately to prevent hordes of monsters from reaching the crowds near the dock These were so thick they could easily be seen at this distance. From the sky, Astrolis was raining down destruction to thin their numbers. Wishing them all good luck, he dropped down and headed toward the elevated plateau where Edelweiss stood.

  In the slums below the orphanage’s garden, he ran across Dawn struggling against more nightmares. She spotted him and shouted, “Be careful, Yuria is fighting a sovereign up there!”

  “Understood.” He replied, jumping up. Although any foe capable of giving Yuria trouble wasn’t something he could handle himself, at least he wouldn’t be useless with his current strength.

  Nordric’s guildmaster was engaged in a duel with a murderous jester, whose twisted agility managed to oppose her graceful martial arts. Sensing his arrival, the grinning mask turned towards him and threw three playing cards which transformed into black, rabid wendigos. Zentrias dispatched these in quick succession and lunged towards their master, who nimbly back-flipped out of the way.

  “He’s after the children who are by the orphange’s docks.” Yuria explained. “The airship is late. We can’t let him slip by.”

  The jester confidently shuffle his deck of cards, and Zentrias readied himself, both nervous and elated. This would be his first time fighting by Yuria’s side.

  Before the three immortals could exchanged blows, they were hit by a terrifying premonition. Zentrias looked over his shoulder to see a blinding light descend on them from above.