Guardian (Part I): Last Winter

Chapter 34: Haemon

I was under a blanket when I woke up, and I sensed a familiar aura. I stood up and saw Ina and Finn kneeling next to Mom, who was lying on the ground, unconscious.

"Oh, no," I gasped. I rushed over to them. Mom's eyes were closed, and her face was pale. I could sense her powerful aura slowly fading. She was sick, but what happened to her must have been worse than I could have imagined to cause something like this.

"What's wrong with her?" I asked.

"It's memory," Ina enlightened. "Something ancient awoke inside of her when she fought Suonan and Azure. Something that she intended to keep buried."

Finn didn't know what that was, but I did. During the War of Light and Dark, Mom killed more demons than any other human, epsilon, draconian, duar, or even Ilentia warrior. Everyone around her had become concerned about a bloodlust growing inside of her, including Aaron, Xyhra, and even her parents. I wasn't sure what happened after the war, other than the fact that something bad happened to her on Ember, and thousands were killed afterward. I didn't know exactly what happened, though. I could understand why Mom didn't want to tell Finn about it, though. I couldn't think about what would happen if he found out about it. How they saw each other would never be the same.

"What do we have to do?" asked Finn.

"It's possible that I can make a remedy for it," said Ina. "I have most of the ingredients for it with me, but I need the heart of a cerberus. They can only be found outside of the many Gates of Hell. There's one beneath Soareus Peak that leads to the Labyrinth of Torment. Once you're there, and you kill the cerberus, come back here as quickly as you can. Do not enter the Labyrinth. You will never find your way back to Zenartha."

"A cerberus," Finn whispered to himself.

"I'll keep your mother safe while you're away," Ina promised. "But the two of you are the ones she needs right now."

"I understand," said Finn. "Where's the gate?"

"Beyond this city, in the side of the cliff," Ina informed. "Good luck."

Finn stood up and began to walk forward, in the direction that we were going before we ran into Suonan and Azure. I followed behind him. He didn't say a word, even as we made it to the other side of the ruins of the epsilon city. I could sense a feeling of nervousness from him, too. What Ina said to us must have sunk into his head, and not in a good way.

"The Labyrinth, of all places," I sighed. "Are you alright, Finn?"

"I'll do what I can to save her," Finn answered. "I don't care what she's done."

"But you're wondering, aren't you?" I guessed. Finn didn't answer me for a long moment. I hadn't forgotten that my mother was also his mother, and she had been more of a mother to him than me. He didn't know how to react to someone who had raised him doing something so horrible.

"I won't force her to tell me anything," he denied.

"Fair enough," I understood. I wouldn't press him anymore. He only wanted to hear about Mom from Mom, which I wouldn't argue with. We reached the edge of the epsilon city that we arrived in, and we searched the mountainside for the Gates of Hell. It wasn't long before we felt something. A deceitful aura in a small space in the side of the mountain. This aura was incredibly faint. Enough to where a normal Guardian would completely miss it. Finn and I easily sensed it before we passed it, and we had no doubt of what it was.

"An illusory wall," Finn concluded, forming his aura blade.

"Someone's hiding something," I said, drawing my staff. "Like, maybe, a Gate of Hell?"