The Lost one's journey

Part 35: The rising ones and the fallen one

"Then I left. He took my hand and dragged me out of that place." Raphael says with a small smile. They all look toward her in silence. "That's honestly all. After that, I just went on my own for awhile before coming back to help my brother and then left. Galdur set up a home so I could take care of my brother, which is where we are now. As for Pocu... my guess is that what happened was her gift activation. Zam, you were battling it; you probably have a better idea of it than me." Zam thinks for a second before responding. "Well, I haven't battled against any other humans, but her gift was very... odd, I guess you can say. From my experience, mana in this world always has a certain flavor. Mira, en this case, let's say that Ikatis mana tastes like... do you guys have apples here?" They all nod, while Folmon looks a bit annoyed at such a stupid question. "Ok, well, let's say that Pocu's magic before the fight tasted similar to an apple, but after her gift awoke, it tasted less como un apple y more... exotic. I guess that's the best way to say it. Como similar, but it's more like a sour apple? That's honestly the best way to describe it." Folmon raises his hand. "I'd like to add onto that. As an Elf, I'm more in tune with magic than the rest of you; for me, it felt more as though mana itself was crying out for help as though it were being tortured." The group falls silent for a bit before Domo speaks. "Well, we got the past and present sorted out. What about the future? Voda definitely isn't going to just let Lady Raphael go again, nor will he do the same for the rest of us. He has the Arcana helping him even. I'd say we run, but we already went over why that isn't going to work. So what do we do?" Zam grins and stands up. "What else is there to do? We fight. We can't run, y we can't hide for long. So we fight! Voda is the reason for so much pain here. So why not let him have some of that pain?" Zam speaks with a confident smile on his face, as his tone is casual despite the situation. "What of Pocu? We can't just bring a child to war, Zam." Folmon interjects with a tone of seriousness, contrasted by Zam's casual demeanor. "You all saw what that kid can do. They brought up an army of knights and then created a giant beast, all just to fight me. Clearly, Pocu has the power to fight with us; she just needs a teacher." "I don't know about you, but I don't want a child to be someone I have to depend on in a life-or-death situation, Zam." Folmon says as he stands up to face Zam while Domo and Raphael stay quiet. "Then don't. Make Pocu depend on us. She can focus on creating her army and monsters to fight with us. All we gotta do is protect her." "She has no control over it. She just awoke to her gift. No one can master such complex abilities as gifts as soon as they awaken. We'd have to train her, and I don't believe Voda will just let us waste time training her!" Domo then speaks up. "Folmon, do you still have that dagger with the deamon plant poison?" Folmon turns around to Domo with a confused expression. "I do." He pulls out a sheathed dagger from his pocket; removing the sheath shows a dagger with a pitch black blade. "We could extract the poison from it using magic and then poison Voda." Zam looks confused as he sees the dagger. "Yes, that could work. However, I would say that we should stab him with it instead, as the plant's poison works more effectively if it's in the bloodstream." "Wait, what're you guys talking about?" Zam asks. "So Folmons dagger is coated with the poison of a special plant called the deamon flower. To explain it simply, the poison nullifies magic as well as slowly killing the person infected with it by poisoning their blood. It's an incredibly rare plant that's considered more myth than anything else." "And you're saying that we're gonna just poison Voda con esto?!" "Well yeah." Domo says with a chuckle and a shrug. "I would think that someone as powerful as him would be immune to something like this." Raphael then speaks up after being silent. "He's not. The deamon plant works by targeting the soul gems of non-humans. It's how it shuts down our magic, and then after we're weakened by our soul gem being hurt, it can poison us. It's a devil plant only existing to kill." Zam stays silent after hearing this. "Well, we now have a way to make the fight more in our favor. I'm still against making Pocu fight, however. First, we must set up a plan. We know that Voda has the Arcana backing him, but the question is: how many? The person who fired the suns must be one of them, and then we had another in the coliseum. So he had at least two assisting him." The group then begins their discussion about how to finish this.

Meanwhile... Harishon walks down the steps to Rodet's cell. His mind is quiet and calm. Every step having an echo as his shoes hit the hard ground. Soon he arrives to be met with Rodet on the ground, sitting as the Bible he had given him was thrown to the wall and pages scattered. "What happened!?" Harishon asks, worried, as he quickly approaches the cell. "Do you know the story of Cain and Abel Harishon?" Rodet asks with a voice devoid of emotion. Harishon is quiet, taking a step back before he responds. "N- no I can't say I'm familiar with it. But what-" " The two of them were bothers. Born of the seed of the original man who committed the first sin. One day, they had made their offerings to the Lord. Only one of them had their offerings accepted. Able was accepted. Cain was angry at this. What did he do wrong? So he asked the Lord. He said Cain didn't do it correctly, so he didn't accept it. Cain was overcome with jealousy of his brother, who was favored by the Lord instead of him. So he grabbed a rock... and killed his brother. Committing the first act of murder." Harishon is confused by Rodet's words. "W-what? Broth-" "Why did the Lord let him do this? Is he not all-knowing and all-seeing? Yet he still allowed Cain to do this." Rodet finally looks up at Harishon, and his eyes are cold, devoid of anything. He doesn't wait for Harishon to respond. "Why did the Lord let Cain do this? That then makes me think of another question. Why did the Lord let me be summoned here? At first, I thought it was just a test of my faith." Rodet lets out a light chuckle at his words. "How f**king stupid I was. I can understand Cains rage at the Lord. He offered what he could. Even if it wasn't the correct way, he should have accepted it. It would have prevented the death of Abel. I should've accepted you." Rodet's gaze turns more soft, becoming more warm rather than cold as he meets Harishon's. "But I didn't. Because, like Cain, jealousy covered my eyes. I hated how special you are. You were born with divine golden hair; you were born with the ability to surround yourself with so many people around you; you were able to do the things I couldn't; you were able to keep those closest to you; you were able to walk arm and arm with the different races; you are a good person. I never hated you, Harishon. I hated myself; I hated my cursed black hair; I hated how I was always alone; I hated my inability to do the things that mattered; I hated how I lost those I loved; I hated how I was never able to live in this world; I hated the fact I was a bad person." Rodent's voice quivers as he speaks. Tears dripping down his eyes. After Rodet finishes, he turns to Harishon with a hate-filled gaze. "I will kill you, Harishon." Harishon's doesn't react for a little until he lets out a chuckle. "Ha... hahahahahHAHAHAHAH!" He shouts out until he calms down, his once blue eyes now becoming an opaque white. "Please do." He challenges Rodet before he walks off. As he leaves, Rodet puts his head back down, and Harishon's white eyes turn back to blue as he breaks down on the stairs, all while the High Priestess watches him from atop the stairs with an uncaring gaze.

"Kohenet, how much longer must we bear to watch him suffer like this?" The high priestess turns to hear the voice of the person while her glass eyes glisten in the light. The lady wears a black and white masquerade mask, which covers the upper part of her head. A black dress with black and white flowers that litter her shoulders. Black gloves cover her hands and turn them into claws. Her hair long black hair is curvy and flows towards her back, where two capes that are similar to flies own. She wears a pendent in the shape of a locust that glistens in the light. "Until he's back to normal." Kohenet coldly says as she walks past the women. "You hold little power here, Kohenet! If it wasn't for Fa- Fool you wouldn't continue to do these things. You are no member of this family; you're hardly a member of this organization." She says it with hatred in her voice. Kohenet turns to her. "You're just a stray devil who's been taken in by Fool because he pitied you. Don't act as though you're even remotely useful in the Arcana. I can do what you could very easily, while the Sariyt's can provide what you can. Know your place." She speaks in an oddly calm tone, despite her words.