Alcingeria Volume Three

Chapter Fifteen: Faceoff

Chapter Fifteen Faceoff:

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We made our way through the next few Planes without incident, still not knowing exactly how to help Anariel but finding no other way to go than forward. She was, or seemed, a little meek at first. She was very polite and kind, but when it came to fighting the monsters of the Planes we came to find that she was a talented fighter.

Despite that, I could tell her resolve wasn't quite as strong as she let on. She fought off monsters with more vigor than Giovanni and I thought she had, but it was during those longer treks between the periods of action that she started to show what she was really thinking. She never voiced her concerns, probably out of fear that we'd abandon her, but it wasn't especially hard to tell. From the way Giovanni glanced at me occasionally, he picked up on it too.

I had to admit that I had doubts along the way, too. I was hell-bent on getting Minerva back and I knew I wouldn't let anything stop me, but my biggest fear was that this was a waste of time, that we were being sidetracked on a fruitless endeavor.

I wasn't sure how Giovanni felt about it, and I couldn't ask him without raising that ugly conversation with Anariel too. I imagined he felt similar to the way I did.

When we reached the 60th Plane, we were met with something that nearly shocked me back to life.

We came out in a foggy plateau with high cliffs all around us and buttes jutting up all around. Through the fog a few hundred meters ahead, I saw two figures. We cautiously approached and eventually heard them talking to each other. At least, that's what it seemed like until we got close enough to hear it was only one person doing the talking. It was a voice I knew.

"Packo, you son of a bitch!" I yelled, standing and drawing my pistol on him.

The lizardman turned, seemed surprised for a moment and tipped his bowler hat with a jaunty flourish. The shaman remained silent.

"Redmond Bradford," he said, looking at me then to the others. "I see you've recruited some kind of posse."

"What are you doing here?" I demanded.

"The same thing you are, no doubt, trying to find that demon girl before you do." He then did a double take, focusing on Giovanni. "Master- Giovanni, is that you?"

"It is," he answered sternly, more stern than I'd ever heard him. "I'm grossly disappointed in the way you've chosen to take my teachings."

"Don't flatter yourself, old man, I've used almost nothing you've taught me to do what I did."

"I'm not talking about the techniques, I'm talking about moral values, self-discipline, living your life in service of a greater cause."

"I never thought of you for one second," he spat.

"Liar!"

"I am not! I made a choice acting in my own interests, what would you have done, had you have been face to face with the Creeping?"

"That doesn't matter, Packo. Things went wrong, and now you're dead. You made a huge mistake. How are you any better off now than you would have been had you have kept your nose out of where it didn't belong?"

Packo chuckled.

"Giovanni, I can see you cannot grasp the scope of what I stand to gain. Maybe Redmond didn't tell you everything this demon is capable of?"

"Maybe not, but I know that he's not going to use her for whatever evils you will!"

"Do you?" He mused. "How long have you known him? A few days, at most?"