Tales of a Lost Sword 56

Episode 56 Goodnight, Hope
Recelo bows low before Arai. He returns to his feet, where he stands in front of Arai who is seated in his throne. “No, it is my honor to serve you, Your Majesty.”

Arai smiles, leaning his face against an arm. “You are a most loyal servant, Recelo. You may be reckless at times, but your loyalty can never be questioned. You have done well and brought great honor to your country. The prisoners you have brought for me will now personally be held in my custody. There is no more work for you to do here.”

Taking the cue to bow low once more, Recelo bursts in a grin as soon as he straightens up. “Thank you for your kindness, Your Majesty! I will now dismiss myself!”

Arai watches Recelo depart the throne room silently. A smirk hovering around his face, Arai sighs, shifting slightly in his seat. “It should just be about time for them to arrive now…”

The six members of the resistance gather around outside the massive compound belonging to the Fatalists. They now stand at the bottom of a cliff lined with evergreens. A curvaceous path leading upwards hugs the side of the mountain. There are no rails on the winding, narrow path.

Ryuu stands next to Rill at the head of the group, gazing up at the winding, dizzying path. “Are we really gonna take that trail?” he mumbles.

Rill shakes his head, instead reaching forward towards the wall of the cliff and feeling about its surface with his hands. “No…there should be an opening somewhere here…” Rill mumbles to himself for several more moments, apparently attempting to locate some invisible door.

Towards the back of the group, Silver takes a worried look at Wake, inspecting his battle-scarred face. “Wake, your eye—I…”

Wake shakes his head, signaling for silence. “It’s okay, Silver. It’s not your fault. I paid dearly for my carelessness. Don’t worry about it.”

“But…”

Meanwhile, Kunai stands some paces away from the rest of the group, holding a hand over the side of his face. Taking notice, Fayvard looks over and Kunai and saunters towards him. “Hey, what’s up?” Fayvard asks, slapping Kunai across the back.

“N-Nothing,” Kunai hisses back, with slight irritation.

“Oh, you sound pissed!” Fayvard cries. “I know that tone of voice anywhere! Is it…lemme guess…constipation?!”

“No, not quite…” sighs Kunai.

“Then, what is it?” Fayvard presses. “Gassiness? Heartburn? Diarrhea? Dare I say it, diarrhea AND constipation at the same time?!”

“Wrong!” Kunai snaps back. “You’re completely, absolutely wrong!”

“Aha!” Rill’s voice suddenly rises over the air. Everyone else turns their attention back towards the Hermit. Rill pushes a switch in the wall, and without warning, a door slides open in the cliff’s face revealing a dark, cavernous tunnel within.

“A tunnel?” Ryuu notes.

Rill nods his head. “Yeah. It’s an underground passage that leads into the basement of the castle. Their castle is actually even larger than it looks, so it’ll probably take longer for them to locate us if we sneak in through here. Besides, I have a feeling that this is where they keep the prisoners. Now, come on…”

Taking the lead, Rill leads the way into the depths of the tunnel. Together, the group enters after him in single file, with Rill leading the way, followed by Ryuu, Fayvard, Silver, Wake, and Kunai.

As soon as Kunai enters the dark tunnel, however, the door behind him slams shut with a clatter. The entire group turns, gazing in the darkness at the sealed entrance.

“Guess there’s no going back, then…” Fayvard mutters.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Silver murmurs under her breath. Nevertheless, her voice echoes throughout the narrow tunnel.

In the half-darkness, Rill stops, taking a moment to create a light by cradling a tiny ball of lightning in the palm of his hand. Immediately, the way ahead is revealed, as the tunnel steadily climbs upwards and opens up into the infinite darkness beyond.

“How big is this underground path?” Ryuu asks Rill from behind.

Rill shakes his head. “I’ve never fully explored the basement of the Fatalists’ castle, but from what I understand, it’s absolutely enormous, probably larger than the actual castle itself. This place is an absolute maze.”

Ryuu curses under his breath. “We don’t exactly have the luxury of wandering around lost…”

“If we’re gonna be walking around in tight quarters for a while, I’d just like to make everyone aware of the fact that Kunai has diarrhea,” Fayvard suddenly announces, his voice echoing as well.

“Sh-shut up, asshole!” Kunai roars from the end of the group. “I don’t have diarrhea!”

“Now who’s talking about butts?” retorts Fayvard tauntingly.

Ryuu sighs exasperatedly. “Will both of you shut up?!”

All of the sudden, the stuffy air of the narrow tunnel gives way to a cool breeze as the path opens up before them. Rill takes several cautious steps into what appears to be a dimly-lit hallway, with tiny, grated windows near the stony ceiling on either side. The floor below is made of a cold, smooth marble, and ominous statues stand at guard on either side of the hall.

A stone staircase glitters with an eerie blue hue immediately to the right of Rill. It climbs far into the wall, its path disappearing into darkness. On the other end of the hall is another staircase, this one leading down.

The rest of the group files into the room, looking around with awe. Ryuu comes to a stop next to Rill, inspecting the dark hallway with disdain. Meanwhile, the others take several further steps into the hall.

“Wow, what kind of place is this?!” Wake cries, leaping forward and bounding into the middle of the hall.

Silver sprints up to one of the statues, inspecting its dusty contours. “Hm…judging by its color and construction, this statue may be at least several hundred years old…”

Kunai and Fayvard stride into the center of the hall as well, staring into the dark opening beyond where the path dips down again. Wake takes several more steps forward, staring at the cold, dead eyes of the gargoyle-like creatures that form the statues on either end of the hall.

“W-Wait, everyone!” Rill cries suddenly.

Without warning, the eyes of the statues glow a deadly red, and their mouths drop wide open. “Damn it!” Ryuu cries, leaping forward and drawing his sword.

Several stone projectiles fly out from the first two sets of gargoyles. Ryuu deflects one of the attacks with his sword, but the other block of stone slams straight into the wall on the opposite end, creating a deep indentation in it.

Ryuu bends over, panting heavily having pushed Wake and Silver to the ground to protect them. Kunai and Fayvard both stand side by side, their weapons raised as well.

All of a sudden, the indentation in the wall grows larger as a crack forms in the wall from floor to ceiling. In another instant, the entire hall starts shaking as the ceiling begins to collapse.

Everyone in the hall cries out loud in alarm, throwing their arms over their heads as large chunks of the ceiling fall to the ground. Within moments, the shaking stops, and the dust from the collapse slowly begins to settle.

Kunai, Ryuu, Fayvard, Silver, and Wake cautiously return to their feet as the chaos settles. A massive wall of debris of what had once been the roof now forms a roadblock denying all access to the other side of the hall.

“Rill!” Ryuu shouts suddenly, groping around with the massive avalanche of rock in front of him. His voice echoes throughout the hall. “Rill! Are you all right?”

On the other side, Rill responds, his voice slightly muffled. “Yeah…”

“Damn it…” Fayvard hisses to himself. “Now we’re separated…”

“This is not good,” Silver murmurs, “considering Rill’s the only one who knows this castle.”

“Yeah,” Wake agrees.

“Rill, hang on, we’ll clear this roadblock so that you can rejoin us,” Ryuu cries, drawing his sword. “I’ll blast it to pieces if I have to!”

“No!” Fayvard howls, holding out an arm in front of Ryuu. “If you do that, you’ll risk causing the hall to collapse even more. It’s too risky.”

“We can’t leave him behind, though!” Ryuu protests. “We’ve already lost two of our members. If we lost another one, too…”

“Fayvard’s right,” Kunai says, stepping in. “It’s too risky to try to blow up this roadblock.”

“It’s okay,” Rill says on the other side, pounding upon the roadblock himself. He sighs, kicking a rock as he stares at the ground. “You guys…should go on without me. Right now, rescuing the others is your highest priority. Since I do know this castle well, I should be able to find a way to rejoin you guys later.”

“Rill…you sure?” Ryuu growls back.

“Yeah.”

Ryuu sighs. “All right. Make sure you do come back to join us though, Rill.”

“Yeah.”

Without another word to Rill, Ryuu sheathes his sword and steps forward, looking down into the bottom of the stairs ahead. “Right, everyone follow my lead then.”

On the other side of the roadblock, Rill listens as the others depart, the echoes of their footsteps growing further and further away by the minute.

However, Kunai lags behind. He takes one last glance at the roadblock. “Will you be all right, Rill? Be careful if you run into a Fatalist.”

“Yeah, don’t worry about me,” Rill replies, “I’ll try to pretend I’m still on their side, or something.”

Rill lowers his eyes to the ground as Kunai’s footsteps drift away now as well. However, he suddenly turns in alarm as he notices a fresh set of footsteps approaching him from behind.

At the bottom of the stairs to Rill’s right stands Arai, his blue hair glowing even in the dimly-lit chamber. As usual, a smile is on his face. “Oh? But I always held the impression that you were always on our side.”
—END FIFTY-SIX—