Guardian(Part II): Soulborne

Chapter 31: Nato

We didn't rest until we reached Quorias. Daisy didn't seem to want to. I didn't hear a single word from her mouth the entire train ride from Clarnessa to Mrovich, a village a few miles south of our destination. Quorias itself wasn't an option to travel to by train, possibly because of the impending Camnorish attack that Finn told me about. I dreaded the thought of fighting in that battle. I barely survived Hearth, and hopefully, I would survive Quorias if I didn't reach Finn before then. It seemed as though Daisy wasn't worried about whether she would survive the battle at all, though. She was writing her song on a folding tablet with a new enthusiasm that I didn't see last night. I heard Lyrandrar chuckling at the sight. I had serious doubts that she would even speak either until she finished writing her song, or until we reached Mrovich.

"The train's about to stop," Lyrandrar warned.

"What time is it?" asked Daisy.

"Almost eight in the morning," I answered.

"What!?" Daisy screamed. Lyrandrar and I burst out laughing as Daisy looked out the window of the train, seeing the sunrise to the east.

"Wow," Daisy groaned, folding her tablet back up to put it in her pocket.

"You were definitely focused, weren't you?" asked Lyrandrar.

"Yeah," said Daisy. "I'm almost done, but I have to stop for the next few hours. By the way, Nato, I took your advice, and I'm having an easier time writing my song, now."

"So, you added a story?" I gasped, with excitement rushing through me. "What is the story?"

"I'll tell you as soon as I'm done," Daisy teased.

"Okay," I understood.

Once the train stopped, we found three horses to ride across the road to Quorias. I led ahead of them, following Finn's aura still. I rode as fast as I could, fearing that the horse I rode would eventually exhaust. An hour later, Quorias came into sight, but Finn's aura wasn't leading me there. Instead, I felt it coming from beyond a dense forest, west of the capital of Illondas. If Finn was there, then he must have been close to Azzuran already, which meant I needed to get there as fast as I could. If it was an Archdemon's fortress, though, then it was likely connected to Hell, and exposed to the Abyss. I couldn't let Daisy and Lyrandrar traverse it with me, and I remembered what Finn told me that his brother was doing. They could help Haemon fortify Quorias.

"Finn's west of the city," I said. "But I don't want the two of you going into Azzuran's fortress with me."

Daisy and Lyrandrar both looked to me with their eyes widened. They knew how powerful an Archdemon was, but they also knew how powerful I was.

"What do you want us to do, then?" Daisy wondered.

"There's a breach in the western wall," I enlightened. "Go there and find a green-haired Ilentia named 'Haemon', and tell him that I sent you."

"Do you know him?" asked Lyrandrar.

"He's Finn's brother," I answered. "And he's met me before. Hopefully, he'll let you help him refortify the breach in the wall."

"What will you do?" Daisy questioned.

"I'm going after Azzuran, with Finn," I declared. "He's probably raising an army of Turned in his fortress right now. What you two need to do is help defend against the Camnorish army from the west. Finn and I will keep things from coming from the east. Wish me luck?"

Daisy leaned towards me on her horse, and threw her arms around me. I wrapped my arms around her shoulders in return. In the brief time I had known Daisy, she had become one of the best friends I'd ever had. I was undoubtedly one of the best she'd had, judging by how strong her embrace was. I squeezed her as hard as she squeezed me, then we pulled away from each other.

"Good luck," Daisy wished. "And when we're done, both you and Finn are coming to watch me play."

"Believe me, I'll make him listen to that song you have," I promised. "We'll both listen to it."

"You better," Daisy warned. "Good luck, again."

She rode off with Lyrandrar, and I rode to the forest. As soon as I reached its edge, I sensed an aura of darkness hanging over it. This aura grew stronger as I rode further near the other side of it, and I recognized it. It was similar to the aura that Kerathos, the Archdemon of Pride, gave off. This was another one of the Seven. Finn's aura must have been right next to Azzuran's. I had to reach him, now. Once I reached the edge of the Fire Serpent Canyon, I climbed off my horse. Following Finn's aura, I warped to the other side of the first divide, and could see the fortress on the other side of the canyon. I couldn't walk up to its walls and hope I wasn't spotted. I would be spotted by some sort of scanner if I was aura cloaked. For now, though, advancing was all I could do. I went forward until I was at the top of the next divide. I looked down, seeing a cage door at the opening to a cave tunnel.

"Secret entrance?" I whispered. 

I warped to the ledge that the tunnel sat on, then warped to the other side and began to walk through the dark tunnel. I had no idea what was ahead of me, and I couldn't see anything in front of my face, but I went forward anyway, with my fists raised. I kept myself calm as the light from outside dimmed, but a new light began to appear, from in front of me, at the end of the tunnel. I was getting somewhere! It was an emergency light, in front of a metal door with a handle to pull it open with. I leaned my head against the door, but when I touched it, the handle turned, and I aura cloaked myself before it swung open. Two black-armored Turned riflemen walked out, and I crept past them, keeping the door open with my foot long enough for me to sneak in myself. I ended up in a long hallway that was dimly lit, and had the aura of darkness that hung over it even stronger. I revealed myself to allow my aura cloak to recharge, and I went followed Finn's aura downward, dodging patrols of Turned soldiers every time I saw them coming. Finn must have made it deep underground in his search for Azzuran. I began to wonder how, especially since the last time I spoke to him, and then realized that there was only one way he could have gotten to the deepest part of this place.

"Oh," I sighed. "Damn it, Finn."

The only way he could have gotten down to the bottom of the fortress so quickly without fighting his way down there was if he was somehow subdued, then taken there against his will. He was captured. I hadn't sensed that he was in danger, or being harmed, but from what I knew of him, it seemed as though there wasn't very much that could hurt him in the first place. He had told me to my face, sort of, that he's had two incidents where he was stabbed through the heart and was still very much alive, like me. If anything, including Azzuran, tried to hurt him, they would have no luck with it. I still had to reach him as soon as I could, though. Just because we could survive being stabbed through the heart with immortal weapons, it didn't mean that we were invincible.