Guardian(Part IV): Revelation

Chapter 20: Daisy

I took the draconian woman, whose name was Xynorae, out of the ruins as quickly as I could, and once we got to the door, a familiar face was waiting for me. Nato!

"Daisy?" she gasped. "What are you doing here?"

"I was taking her out of there," I answered, gesturing to Xynorae. "We got to her just in time."

"'We'?" asked Nato.

"I came here with another Guardian," I enlightened. "It's Zephyr, from Fireteam Pegasus."

"Was there anyone else in there?" Nato wondered.

"No, they only took me," Xynorae answered. "I must thank the Guardian later, but I thank you, Mage."

"Any time," I offered, and Xynorae walked off.

"We have to go back for Zephyr," I begged. "He's trapped in there."

"With what?" asked Nato. "I'm not feeling anything."

"Well, let's at least make sure he's alright," I urged. "Come on."

I cast the same firelight spell on myself and Nato as we entered the ruins again. When we reached the large door to the throne hall, it suddenly parted, and Zephyr was standing in its doorway, holding his hand over a bleeding cut in his stomach. Nato quickly laid a healing hand over the wound, and all of his blood returned to the cut before it sealed.

"Thanks, Nato," said Zephyr.

"What happened?" asked Nato.

"A Shadow," Zephyr answered. "From the House of Serpents."

"What?" Nato gasped.

"A Shadow from where?" I asked.

"I'll explain that once we get out of here," Nato promised. "Finn, Eris, and Haemon are looking into other possible ritual sites on the island."

"They're here, too?" asked Zephyr.

"We've been here for about a month," Nato enlightened. "Come on."

Nato led us to the ruins of an ancient epsilon fortress that was near the center of Arcadis, and through the twists and turns of the streets, until we arrived at its keep. Finn, Eris, and Haemon were there. We shared everything we've learned with each other, including what Zephyr ran into in the ruins near Water Rock. The House of Serpents. All of their leaders had snake-themed names, and were all particularly dangerous, even compared to other groups of Shadows. It would make sense that a group of Shadows was working with a necromancer, but from what Zephyr told us, that didn't seem to be the case. The House of Serpents was using Shtriga, but for what? What motivated my friend's killer, I couldn't possibly understand. Servants of darkness only served the darkness.

"The House of Serpents serve Vindria, don't they?" asked Nato.

"Right," Haemon answered. "If she gains influence here, of all places, then we could have trouble getting the locals to let us help them."

"No, it's not influence over the people she wants," Eris corrected.

"She's helped me in the past because she wanted Arion dead, and she wants the rest of the Seven dead," Finn reminded. "It's power she wants."

"Well, she's taking that out on innocent people, now," Eris asserted. "How many bodies did you find in that tomb you explored?"

"Two dozen," Finn answered.

"Three dozen," Haemon reported.

"We didn't find any, actually," I informed.

"Yeah, we heard of someone who recently went missing, but reached her before anything bad happened to her," Zephyr added. "It's also where we ran into Venom."