Legend Reborn

Chapter 37: Fallen

My group spends the next two days walking away from Aquilarumni, and we never looked back. The Eagle Temple is in a deep valley about three days from the capital city, so we're almost there when we run into a bit of a roadblock.

"What the heck is this?" Lovino cries in a rather frustrated voice from the top of a hill. He's ahead of everyone, so it takes a while for the rest of us to join him.

"Woah," Gilbert breathes.

"Veeeee~! I've never seen anything like this before," Feli says in amazement.

"It's going to be a pain to get around," the elder Wolf grumbles.

"We could always fly," I suggest.

Ludwig surveys the valley and sighs unhappily. "It looks like we'll have to."

A gigantic valley stretches in front of us as far as we can see. This is one of the largest basins we've come across yet, and it appears even more impressive because the whole thing is filled with water. Clear, gentle waves lap at the earthen shore in front of us, otherwise nothing else moves. A fine mist skirts over the surface of the immense lake and makes the whole valley feel darker and secluded.

"It's so...quiet," I whisper. I almost flinch from my own voice, as if it could shatter the stillness around us.

"It's pretty," Feli breathes with a peaceful smile on his face.

"I feel a little sad looking at it." We all silently agree with Kiku's statement.

There's something about the lake that makes us want to sit quietly and do nothing but think of the past. It's like looking at tombstones. The headstones themselves are beautiful, but it's still a sad thing to look at.

"We should probably keep moving," I say after a while. "We want to reach the Temple before nightfall."

"Leaving so soon? What a pity."

I jump in surprise and look around for the source of the voice. There's no mistaking it as Kirkland's, but the shadow handler is nowhere to be seen. Like me, everyone else is searching for him as well. Gilbert takes a protective step closer to me, and I can feel his breath shift strands of my pale hair.

"Why do you all look so alarmed?" Kirkland's voice rings out over the quietly rippling surface of the lake once again. "You don't have anything to fear this time, I promise."

"As if your promises mean anything, bastard," Gilbert growls.

"Over there," Kiku says in a low voice.

He's pointing at a spot in the middle of the lake where a shadowy looking figure appears to be standing on the water. The figure, presumably Kirkland, begins to walk toward us, and I feel Gilbert tense. Hostility and disgust practically radiate off of him as he grips the handles of his axes tightly.

Kirkland steps onto shore and pulls his hood back to reveal his grinning face. "I wouldn't recommend going after your weapons if you know what's good for you."

"Like I care what you think, uber brows." The Bear silently draws his axes and takes a defensive stance.

Kirkland's collected expression falters for an instant, but is quickly checked back into a mask of cool confidence. "It's not nice to make fun of someone, especially after they gave you some sound advice," he says with a smirk.

"I could care less about being nice to scum like you."

"That's a shame because now I don't feel bad about doing this."

All of us, except Gilbert, spin around to stare at the shadow handler, who is now standing behind the Bear. I never saw Kirkland move. He was standing in front of us one moment, then standing behind Gilbert the next. I would be more shocked by this if it weren't for the gleaming black sword piercing the Bear's abdomen. We all stare in horror as the clothing around the blade begins to turn red. The axes fall out of Gilbert's hands, and he makes a sound like a strangled gasp for air.