Guardian(Part II): Soulborne

Chapter 24: Ruth

Mikael had warned us that monsters may come from underground to attack Eitheim from the inside, but I still didn't sense anything coming our way. It was just after midday, now, and everything had gone quiet since Artoreus retreated. Maybe the demons that were supposedly going to attack had retreated with him. That's what I was hoping for, anyway. I kept my guard up, especially while Connor was in Valedon. Eris seemed to be fairly relaxed. More relaxed than I was, anyway. She was talking with her mother, and they were both laughing very loudly, while remaining armed to the teeth. I couldn't help other than to wonder what it was they were talking about, but it was nothing that I had to concern myself with. I had to focus on what was in front of me.

"Ruth!" Eris suddenly called.

I looked towards her from the top of the wall of Eitheim.

"Is everything alright?" Eris wondered.

"Yes," I reported. Eris and Vanessa both looked to each other with their eyebrows raised. Did they feel something that I didn't? It wouldn't surprise me, since they were Ilentia, and could sense monsters coming towards them from miles away, and I couldn't.

"Why?" I wondered. Suddenly, the ground began to shake, and I did sense an aura of darkness rushing towards me. I formed my rapier-shaped aura blade as this aura grew stronger, and Eris warped right beside me with her spear and shield readied.

"What's that?" she asked.

"I don't know," I answered. I saw Mikael hovering above us with his longsword-shaped aura blade in his hand with lightning crackling around it. All of us were prepared for what was coming, but the aura of darkness suddenly went from outside of the wall, to under it, then an explosion erupted from the inside of the duaren city. Eris and I jumped from the top of the wall and went to the source of the explosion. A huge cloud of dust was in the streets between the wall and the buildings facing it, but there weren't any flames or smoke. When at least a little bit of the dust settled, I could clearly see a giant hole in the ground. My first thought was that a kura-toer had burrowed under Eitheim's walls and dug its way into the city, but this aura wasn't powerful enough to be one of those. While there was still dust hovering above the ground, there were suddenly the sounds of gunshots, and bolts of bright, orange plasma came from the cloud. One struck me in the chest, but shattered against my aura shield before I could raise a ward, knocking me to the ground. The sound of blades clashing and guns firing began to echo through the air as black-armored Turned soldiers emerged from the hole. Eris charged forward from behind her lightshield, thrusting her spear at a black-armored shield bearer. The Ilentia-forged blade went straight through the dark soldier's shield and cut through his armor to kill him.

"Shit," I groaned, pulling myself to my feet. I healed the bruising from the first plasma round, then saw two Turned shield bearers charging at me with their black swords. I parried a swing from one with my rapier before throwing him backward with an aura blast, then warped behind the second one as he took a swing with his sword and thrust my aura blade into the back of his head. Before the second one could stand back up, I blasted lightning bolts at him to kill him. I noticed a squad of Turned riflemen firing their assault rifles into the air, attempting in vain to shoot down Mikael while he was firing storm missiles at a more distant squad. I raised my hand and blasted lightning bolts again, killing all of them with a single blast. More Turned began to emerge from the crater, and possibly more craters around Eitheim, but as we continued to fight with the duaren soldiers, I could sense their darkness slowly fading. The Turned were running out of numbers, and when their darkness was completely gone, the battle was over.

"Eris!" Mikael called, hovering down from the air to land in front of her.

"Eris, I scanned every one of the tunnels from the air, and found that they were all dug from the east, connecting to a large cave," Mikael reported. "With your permission, I would go to the source of the Turned and kill the necromancer that sent them here before he sends more."

"Uh, go ahead," Eris allowed. "You don't need my permission."

"I will not be long," Mikael promised, stepping into the crater, allowing himself to fall down.

"He's... strange," I observed.

"He's something called a Valkyrie," Eris enlightened. "And I guess they're biomechanical, synthetic... people built to fight monsters."

"They sure aren't human," I said. "Eris, may I ask you something?"

"Of course," Eris allowed.

I knew about Finn's alleged crime in Dormanine, and I also knew that what happened was very similar to what happened to me in Idrasyll. I still had the young Lord Chambers' death on my mind, tearing me to pieces from the inside, even though I knew I was acting in my own defense. I could understand the doubt of that, though, since the person I killed in my defense was the heir apparent to one of the few surviving Chardanish cities. Since I was in a place outside of the Military Police's jurisdiction, though, I had the choice of whether to face what I had done. What I didn't know was whether or not I actually should.

"I know how Finn killed those people in Dormanine in his own defense, and how no one else seems to see it that way," I began. "Something similar happened to me in Idrasyll. Someone attacked me, and I killed him to defend myself, but because of who I killed, I'm wanted dead for murder."

"I'm sorry that happened to you," Eris sighed.

"I was just wondering," I continued, with my eyes swelling with tears. "Because I still killed him. I took someone's son away from them, when I swore that I would protect people, so should I go to Idrasyll and stand trial for what I've done?"

Eris didn't answer me for a moment. I could sense a feeling of guilt from her, then sadness. Whatever answer she had for me, she didn't want to say, but she knew she had to say it.

"Ruth, listen," Eris began. "Finn hates himself for what happened in Dormanine, even after I've told him that he only did what he had to do. He was defending himself from men who wanted to kill him, and from what you've told me, you were doing the same. If you didn't kill him, he would have killed you. There are people who will say that your actions were unnecessary, but it's not their choice of whether or not you did the right thing. It's yours, and only yours. As for what you should do, I don't know. I've done things that you wouldn't believe, but I've learned to look past them, even though I still struggle with it. I've learned to look forward instead of allowing my past to keep me from doing what must be done."

"So, you're saying that I should let it go?" I asked.

"I'm saying you have the choice to let it go or to face it," Eris answered. "But remember, it's a choice that only you can make."