After the rock, finding the tunnel was much easier. The group hurriedly ran towards the opening on the base of the mountain and marveled at how much comfort it gave—shield from the blizzard outside and a warmer shelter than the open grounds.
Keelan leaned against the walls of the tunnel and slowly slid down, his knees giving in under him. The others sighed in relief and started to chatter away with each other, letting their voices reverberate across the entire space.
"Can someone light something?" Aneeka whispered, looking around at the unerringly dark space.
It was pure black, not to mention the reeking smell. Where in the world was it coming from?
"Corvan," Charles began, but he needn't continue.
The first-ranker opened his palms and fire flared out immediately. Aiming straight on, he threw it forward. The red, hot flame multiplied, leaving copies of itself, as it flew towards the other end of the tunnel, shedding light on what was once a dark space. It was amazing to watch really. Valeriana wondered just how many tricks Corvan knew.
"I can do that, too." Zion muttered. "It's always Corvan this and Corvan that."
He might've been too busy trying to show off and tell everyone that he was better than Corvan that he failed to notice.
Something was amiss . . .
"Everyone!" Aneeka exclaimed, turning pale as her eyes scanned the path before her.
Charles's eyes narrowed and he looked around warily. The look of disbelief was evident across the faces of each one of them within the whole group—except for Brindon of course. Corvan's expression turned cautious and he instinctively had his hand on the hilt of the weapon he recently strapped around his waist.
"Oh, in the name of . . ." Tamara trailed off.
"Grotesque." Raziel commented as he looked away.
"This . . ." Courtney growled. "I'll kill the one responsible for this."
Valeriana gasped and withheld her scream while Keelan hastily stood up in shock, practically falling over from his hurry. Everyone understood his reaction, though. He just recently found out he was sitting beside the skeleton of someone.
"What in the world is this?" Aneeka inquired, wide-eyed.
Among the path that lead to the other end, bones and skulls alike were all scattered. A path of death, it seemed. It almost appeared to be a graveyard of fallen soldiers that attempted to retake the City of Loquin. It was obvious, judging by the clothing of the skeleton that was leaning against the wall—the one Keelan incidentally sat beside. The armors, weapons, and even the uniform that local soldiers of the Prelurésian Army wore were all over the place, too.
"Calm down, everyone." Corvan told the others, and turned to see Charles slipping off his winter gloves.
The fourth bent down in front of the skeleton and reached out towards it. Running the pad of his fingers over its clothing, he frowned. He then brought up his hand and examined it, rubbing his fingers together as though feeling for something. Corvan, as well, started looking around himself along with Rowe and a few others who finally managed to compose themselves from the 'surprise' greeting.
"As expected, judging by the state of these remains, it's recent. Not more a few days old."
"Recent?!" Valeriana exclaimed. "Recent, you say? Then shouldn't it be a corpse before a skeleton?"
"This is not a typical murder scene, Valeriana." The guy answered. "Although it varies, this is not a very unusual scenario when dealing with demons—when nothing is left but bones."
"Cruel." Keelan shook his head. "They won't even let the person rot."
Valeriana didn't know if she was supposed to take that as a joke or not.
Elfre was immediately beside him, hitting him on the back of the head. "Can't you read the atmosphere, you idiot?"
"O-ow . . ." He looked at her, pained. "What was that for? Isn't it a part of life to rot when you're dead?"
"Whatever, dimwit." She then walked away.
That . . . was weird. Valeriana thought to herself.
"Is this where the entirety of those nine squadrons of knights ended up?" Rowe asked.
Every footstep they made echoed. Occasionally, they would feel something crumbling underneath their feet. The sharp crunches that came from the bones as they cracked made Valeriana feel creeped out. As they all slowly advanced, they couldn't help but feel wary of their surroundings. Being in such a place, they did not know what to expect.
"Everyone, ready your weapons." Charles said as he stood up, apparently finished examining the remains of the fallen soldier. "There's no telling what might happen and this place doesn't feel right at all."
He didn't need to tell them though, everyone within the group were ready for combat if ever. Valeriana had had trouble drawing her sword, but when she did, she clung to it like a lifeline and steadily walked behind the others. Everyone had their own preferred weapons ready—Tamara having her twin swords in a firm grip in both hands, Rowe having secured his arm blades in place, and so on and so forth. Valeriana realized that, although she never actually saw the others fight before, finally having the chance to see them in action excited her. What only she felt strange about was seeing Raziel hold a whip. It wasn't as though it wasn't suiting. It was just . . . strange.
Valeriana's eyes went toward Charles, who suddenly had a big, spear-like weapon in his hand. The only difference was the blade being longer, about forty centimeters or so, and was curved on the end. She did remember its classification, and Charles himself mentioned it before.
"What suddenly got you gawking?" Charles asked her.
"Nothing." She shook her head. "I was wondering what kind of weapon you're holding and where in the world it came from."
"A glaive. I'm able to fold it when needed so that it's not too troublesome to carry around." He said. "I told you before, didn't I?"
"Yeah, I remember. It just slipped from my mind, I guess." She told him, her voice quieting.
Zion lazily took out a different weapon. He wasn't using the lance this time. Instead, he had a sword as well. When he caught Valeriana eyeing him questioningly, he flashed her a smile and shot a wink her way.
Valeriana rolled her eyes.
She decided to look ahead and focus when her vision suddenly blurred. A head-splitting headache assaulted her and she doubled over from the agony, the weapon slipping from her hand and making a series of clang on the floor as it fell. Her hands instinctively flew up to cradle the spot where the pain originated.
"Valeriana?" Genevieve asked worriedly.
The whole group stopped and looked back, questioningly gazing at the girl.
Charles knelt beside her and kept her from completely falling over. "What is it?"
"It . . . hurts . . ." She whispered, trying to put some pressure on her forehead in failed attempts to ease the pain that tormented her.
Zion ran to her side and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Where does it hurt?"
Corvan narrowed his eyes at this.
"No . . . no . . ." The girl shook her head and lightly pushed at Zion's chest.
"You can tell me."
"You're not helping." Genevieve frowned, pushing the boy aside and taking his place instead.
"I was just—"
"Let me help." Said the ninth-ranker.
While Zion tried to reason out with her, Genevieve ignored him and got to work. She grabbed the hands of Valeriana and gently urged her to put them down, gently letting them rest on her sides. Valeriana clenched them though, unable to resist the agony. While she continued to murmur things in Valeriana's ear, she slowly ran her hand over her head.
"This won't take long, don't worry." She told her, and her hands began glowing.
After a few moments, Genevieve frowned. Everyone waited in anticipation, wondering what in the world was going on with the fifth ranker.
"It's . . . not working." She shook her head. "The pain is not something physical, I guess." She then turned towards the second-ranker who stood way towards the front of the group. "Rowe! What do you think this is? Possibly something spirit-related?"
"Perhaps." The second-ranker answered and moved to approach Valeriana.
"No . . . I'm fine . . ." Valeriana grabbed the arm of Genevieve and stood up. "It just . . . came so suddenly."
"I think it's your sensitivity to demonic auras." Charles concluded. "Something must be coming our way."
"I don't think it's coming." Keelan shook his head, sweat glistening on his forehead. "In fact, they're already here."
The bones started moving on their own. The scattered remains of the fallen knights rose from the ground and suddenly started flying in all sorts of direction. Ever so slowly, these parts started rebuilding skeletons all over the place.
Valeriana started screaming in panic. "Zombies! Zombiiieess!"
"Calm down." Charles scolded. "And these aren't zombies."
She hastily clamped a hand over her mouth and looked over at Charles questioningly. "They aren't?"
"They aren't! Now grab your weapon!"
Now that Charles mentioned it, the girl just remembered that her sword was still lying on the ground where it fell. She lunged for it and shakily held it between her trembling fingers, eyeing a skeleton which started to stand on its boney feet. The head was still missing, and it looked like the balance was lopsided to its right side. Bits of its flesh clung to the bones as well, making it look more monstrous than it should.
"That's . . . just . . ." Her face contorted in disgust. "Creepy."
Her head still ached.
"Protect each other's backs!" Corvan yelled.
"You don't need to tell us that." Zevlin told him.
"We'll be doing that, otherwise." Someone echoed, and chatters floated right after.
"I get it! Now, fight!" Tamara said.
The group instinctively had their backs against each other as a wave of skeletons attacked them from all sides. It was somehow hard, considering the tunnel was a very cramped space to move in. Not to mention that they had to allow some space for the others to fight in.
"Hiyaaaaa!" Keelan kicked a skeleton on its ribs and it came flying backwards. As it did, it came crashing with its other friends and their body collapsed altogether.
Valeriana shrieked when a skeleton came running towards her. "Go away! Freak! Monster! Beast! Demon!"
The sound it was making made chills run down her back. It was like a rough, guttural scratching that annoyed the heck out of her. But when the other monsters started uttering the same kind of sound, it made her want to run.
Full of fear and anger, she struck it with her sword and it easily crumbled into a heap of bones before her. She eyed it in disbelief, shocked by how it simply fell with one strike.
"Um . . . I never knew they would be this weak." She said.
"Ha! This'll be a walk in the park." Zion grinned.
"Don't underestimate them." Corvan yelled. "What they lack for in strength, they make up for in numbers." He swung his weapon left and right before kicking the other one that lunged for him in front.
"This place . . . how unsightly." Raziel crinkled his nose in disgust as he threw his whip forward. It wrapped around the head swiftly. The moment he pulled it back, the skull came with it and ended up in his arms.
The skull snapped its jaws at him.
Raziel instinctively tossed it away in disgust.
Rowe himself was engaged in a skeleton that persistently kept on resurrecting itself despite how many times he tried to destroy it.
Frustration spread across his face. "There's no end to them. No matter how many times . . ."
"How about reducing them to ashes?" Zion suggested.
"Are you crazy?! You'll burn us all along with it!" Courtney shrieked.
"I'll just aim for a few. Not everyone!" He yelled.
Valeriana moved away from Charles as he started waving his glaive around, somewhat afraid that he would slice her along with the enemies. He looked scary when doing that, but with him wielding the weapon . . . he made it look so easy.
Besides, everyone was actively participating in the fight. The usually emotionless Brindon was quickly nocking arrows on his bow and shooting them off like bullets. In fact, Valeriana caught him skillfully drawing three or four at once and accurately hitting his targets without fail. The accuracy of his aim was astounding. There was also strength in his firing. Valeriana was sure if she did that, the arrow would have no effect on the skeletons at all, but Brindon managed to reduce them into a harmless pile of bones without fail.
Well, he might've been the twelfth but he was still one of the ranking members.
What made him scary was the nonchalant expression on his face.
The headache subsided a little, but her head still throbbed painfully. It distracted her and was bothering her a lot, but she tried to set it aside and focus on the battle at hand.
So her sensitivity to demonic presence made her useless when confronting a real demon? How twisted.
But that made her feel angered all the more.
"These guys . . . are literally making my head ache!" She exclaimed.
Zion snickered while Genevieve started laughing. The others couldn't help but smile at the irony of her words. It was amusing, really. How could Valeriana be able to make light of the situation like she always did?
The smiles didn't last when Valeriana shrank back and shut her eyes from a new wave of pain that came pounding. She groaned and attempted not to let it bother her, but it proved to be complicated. It wasn't the usual pain she felt that needed the taking of medicine to ease.
"Valeriana, I don't think you're in condition to fight." Genevieve told her, pushing her back. "You can't handle the mere presence of these guys."
"All the more reason to get rid of them." She muttered. "Ah, god."
Her lids fluttered open. The sight that greeted her was dark and felt as though it would swallow her whole. For a moment, she almost thought she was blind and her hearing suddenly went awry. Everything else just sounded like some sort of whirring from an ambulance.
It was getting worse.
'What you are right now is just a piece of who you actually are.'
The voice sounded like thousands of high-pitched voices ringing inside her head. This wasn't the typical voice she heard back then during her duels. This was different.
'So, Valeriana, this is the gift of undines to you and one which another cannot take away. '
The gift of the undines?
'To open your eyes. To open your ears. This will be the final Blessing of the Sea!'
She blinked numerous times as the words dawned on her. "The Blessing of the Sea . . ." She whispered.
"—iana! Valeriana!" Genevieve was frantically shaking her shoulder. "Please, answer me."
She couldn't hear or see anything until that time. Eyeing Genevieve questioningly, she asked her, "What's happening?"
"Can you hear me now?"
She nodded. "Y-yeah."
"You weren't responding to any of my calls." She answered. "And you keep on saying things to yourself. Are you alright at all? We're just at the doors of the city. We aren't even there yet. Are you sure you can continue?"
Charles looked over his shoulder and narrowed his eyes at Valeriana.
"No, no." She shook her head at the other girl. "I can do it. It's just . . ."
'Helppp usss.' Groaning voices attacked her from all directions. 'Cut the strinnggsss.'
Goosebumps rose on her skin. She looked around frantically, unsure where the voices where coming from.
'Helppp usss.'
Her eyes widening, she eyed the skeletons. Those words came from them!
So the Blessing of the Sea was actually the ability to hear the voices of the dead? She was just given a third eye, to put it simply—or was she?
'Cut the stringsss . . .'
"Cut the strings?" She mused out loud, repeating their words.
"Valeriana?"
"No. I can hear them now." She said. "They're saying cut the strings."
"What? Who?"
"Them!" She pointed at the skulls.
"So, first dolphins, now demons?"
Valeriana shook her head. "No. No. They aren't demons. I don't feel anything from them, they aren't demons."
She surprisingly felt confident about this.
"Then what about the headache?"
"It's different."
She stared at the skeletons and saw something out of place. There were things attached on their limbs—things that resembled threads.
"Strings!" She yelled, finally getting it. "Cut the strings!"
"What?"
"There are strings . . ." Valeriana repeated. "There are strings! We have to cut them. I think that'll solve the problem."
"But I don't see any—" Before the ninth-ranker could continue, Valeriana made a dash for the skeleton zombie—a name which she decided she would call it—swinging her sword straight for the strings manipulating the movements of the poor thing.
The strings were neatly cut by her blade. The skeleton growled at her, but ceased moving. After a few seconds, the bones cracked and it crumbled into nothingness, the ash-like residue carried away by the slight breeze that blew in after.
And for Valeriana, a voice murmured in her ear.
'Thank you.'