Guardian(Part IV): Revelation

Chapter 15: Gabriel

The Silver Hawks stared at the LWM-821 that we returned on with awe and amazement. It felt strange not to be on the receiving end of one's energy cannon, but I was grateful that I wasn't. I began to think back to how that new War Machine was about to vaporize the Fox, and he froze instead of trying to defend himself. I wondered why, but it was hardly a concern of mine. If he was seeing things that weren't there, it was for a personal reason, and it wasn't any of my business. My only concern was making sure Princess Meridia sat on Chardan's throne, but now, it was also the concern of Lady Meredith. I remembered her from when I was a child, before the Paladins were ordered to split up, and the Princess and her parents were left under the protection of my father, then me. I sensed a sort of happiness from Lady Meredith when she was officially knighted by Princess Meridia. I had that same feeling when her father knighted me as a Paladin, but I knew what my greatest responsibility was. Lady Meredith seemed to acknowledge what she had signed up for as well. If we managed to find the other Paladins, hopefully, they would be as willing to enter the Princess' service as she was.

"So, Lady Meredith?" the Princess questioned, as we went with her to Safe Haven's command center.

"Yes, my lady?" asked Lady Meredith.

"What were you doing on that island before the Fox and Ser Gabriel found you?" Princess Meridia wondered.

"I killed a rebel war criminal and discovered that the island was where he was receiving ammunition for his soldiers from," Lady Meredith answered. "I thought that stopping what was going on would at least prevent a little more bloodshed. I was captured by strange Turned."

"ECHOs?" I wondered.

"Is that what they're called?" asked Meredith. "They seemed more like Shadows than normal Turned."

"Captain Faye reported that unlike Shadows, they have no free will," Princess Meridia blurted. "They're as mindless as Turned, and almost as powerful as Shadows."

"That explains a lot," Lady Meredith whispered. "There was something else. A Tuatha woman named 'Tereza'."

"What?" the Princess gasped, quickly turning around to look at Meredith. "She was there?"

"Is she significant to you, my lady?" asked Lady Meredith.

"No, but the Fox mentioned her," Princess Meridia answered. "Supposedly, she's the daughter of Artoreus, the Archdemon of Wrath."

"Oh, so she's particularly powerful, isn't she?" Lady Meredith guessed.

"I'm not sure if she's as powerful as her father, but she has to be more powerful than a normal red-skinned Tuatha," said Princess Meridia. "Master Avanka will want to hear everything you've learned."

We arrived at the control center on the platform, where Master Avanka was speaking with Wilson and the Fox. The Princess kept us outside to listen to what they were talking about before we went inside, though.

"Fox, you've never had these stress-induced hallucinations before," Wilson reminded.

"Well, first of all," the Fox asserted. "The nanomachines you just pumped into me would keep that from happening, and secondly, what I saw was not a hallucination!"

"And you say you actually felt something when the others were fighting that War Machine?" Master Avanka questioned.

"Yes!" the Fox shouted. "Sorry. Yes, Master."

"When no one else did?"

"Yes, Master."

"Then it was most likely a revenant," Master Avanka guessed. "A dark spirit that haunts whoever wronged them in life, or whoever is the reason they're dead."

"What could I have done to a little kid?" the Fox wondered. "Both of you know I would never hurt one. Are they from Watervalley?"

"They must be," Wilson guessed. "But I wouldn't really know."

"Then am I the reason they're dead?" asked the Fox. I could sense a brief feeling of guilt from him. Master Avanka was right. Revenants only haunt those who wronged them, killed them, or had something to do with their death. I didn't see this revenant personally, but if the Fox did, and he was the reason they were dead, then he would always be haunted by this shadow from his past that he didn't even know existed.

"Remember what I taught you, Fox," Master Avanka asserted. "About regret, guilt, self-hatred."

"I know, Master," the Fox promised. "But it'll be harder to let this go, even for me."

"It's in the past," Avanka reminded. "Whoever this is was not the only life lost at Watervalley."

"Well, something happened to the Mayfly, too," said the Fox. "You should have seen her in Valedon last week. Did she suffer the same injuries I did?"

"Actually, I haven't heard from the Mayfly since Watervalley," Master Avanka answered. "Or her monitor. She was in Valedon when it fell?"

"I think she's the reason it fell," the Fox guessed. "She fights with the rebels."

"What?" Master Avanka gasped. "Does she know that they're being supplied by the Seven?"

"Everyone leading an army is being supplied by the Seven," the Fox reminded. "But no, I don't think she knows that. She sure as hell wouldn't be fighting against the Regulars if she knew that. There was something else, though."

"What?" Master Avanka wondered.

"She tried to kill me, but didn't want to," said the Fox.

"Yeah, she was actually really broken up about it," Wilson reminded. "Which doesn't happen when you're killing someone."

"Because nothing says 'love' like a sword through your stomach, does it?" the Fox sighed.

"Did it perhaps seem as though her actions were not her own?" Master Avanka wondered. "That she was doing it against her own will?"

"Now that you mention it, yes!" the Fox answered. "What are you getting at, Master?"

"Nothing solid," said Master Avanka. "But I know how much the Mayfly loved you, Fox. Nothing could convince her to do you any harm, and from what you've told me, she still loves you, despite what happened in Valedon."

"Are you saying she's being controlled?" asked the Fox, with terror.

When I stopped the Mayfly from taking off his head, I still sensed the same radiance from her as from the Fox. If she was being controlled, it wasn't by a dark spell. It was something else.

"Again, I'm not saying anything," Master Avanka reminded. "But if someone is forcing one of my former students to commit atrocities for the rebels, then they will have a reason to be afraid when we catch up to them. Still, we must focus on nullifying the violence in Chardan. The War Machines, the ECHOs, all of it. Along with that, there is also the fact that innocents damaged by the war will still in need of relief."

"How will we let them know that Safe Haven is safe for them without giving away our location?" asked Wilson. "How will we know that one side won't try to take it from us?"

"We'll simply have to be discreet when we hand out the information about us," Master Avanka warned. "For thirty-three years, now, everyone has been leading a life of pain and loss, which will only worsen for those who have no hope of recovery, or of defending themselves. We have to be there for them. We have to protect them, so they may all live to see a better future."

"A better future," the Fox sighed. "One where we aren't needed."

"I won't tell you whose name you draw your sword in, Fox," said Master Avanka. "But remember, as long as there is darkness that plagues this world, there must always be someone who rises up against it, no matter who they are. There will always be darkness."

"I know," said the Fox. "And there will always be people like us to fight against it."