Ezril was waiting for them at the top of the grand stairs the moment they got back. The High Priestess' face was back into its hard expression. Xanthy squinted. It was darker than usual, though.
"Come with me," the High Priestess turned without waiting for them to catch up. Xanthy glanced at June, shrugged, and followed Ezril through the altar room. The High Priestess offered her hand in Xanthy's direction. Her soul port. Xanthy unslung her Temple-issued device and pressed it into Ezril's hands. The silence of the altar room was filled with the clicks from dials being turned.
Ezril did the same for June's soul sport before fiddling with her own. Xanthy stared at the Keijula squiggles. What did they mean? Xanthy shook her head and reached out to the soul door. The soul port in her fingers glowed.
Xanthy stepped forward into the war room where everything remained the same compared to when she was last here. The mirrors still haven't reflected anything. The maps still glowed in their various, eerie light.
An egg-shaped orb standing on a pedestal in the middle of the room caught Xanthy's eye. Huh. That's new. Ezril led them exactly to that gem and stepped into the pedestal. Xanthy stopped at the foot and gazed up at the High Priestess. What was this about?
Ezril spread her fingers atop the orb, the insides of her palm being tinged green from the faint glow pulsating from it. A wall of light erupted from the orb, spreading large enough to rival the maps hanging by the walls. Instead of showing Xanthy anything, a single, breathy voice blared from the screen and filled the room.
Peltra is down! Yin Alora and Xai-Ren are destroyed. The Pixies are gone along with the Frachdal family. The Riogener has deserted its subjects. There's a message for the Virtakios: Come to Lanteglos. Message from the Death Knight. A message for the Virtakios: Come to Lanteglos.
The message looped again and again. Ezril gathered her fingers to the tip of the orb and the wall of light vanished. The silence that followed was deafening as Ezril slowly faced Xanthy and June. "That's what's being announced to every kingdom right now," the High Priestess tucked her hands inside her sleeves as was her habit. "Not only does it say that one of the heavily-fortified territories has fallen, it announces to everyone that there is someone who had the Virtakios among us. What do you plan to do?"
Xanthy's throat was dry when she swallowed. The message still rang in her ears. There's no way she could process all that that fast.It's like someone slapped her, handed her a basket of butterbread, and told her to jump off a cliff. She's just processing that someone slapped her, in a way. "I-I don't know," Xanthy's fingers twisted a lock of her hair. Not very professional, yeah.
Ezril stepped down the platform, the orb's glow growing fainter behind her. "This could be Cardovia or Synketros's doing. We have to be careful."
"There's no doubt about it," June's eyes never strayed from the orb. "This is Cardovia's scheme. They even involved the Death Knight in their mess."
Xanthy knit her eyebrows as she turned to June. Now she's processing being handed a basket of butterbread. "Who's the Death Knight? Why was he such a big deal?"
"The Death Knight is a thing of rumors," Ezril said, catching Xanthy's attention to her. "A figment of the nobles' imaginations. The reported deaths are just coincidences."
Xanthy narrowed her eyes, gesturing towards the orb. "But he's real," Xanthy crossed her arms. Why was the High Priestess dismissing an important detail in that message? "He's asking for me in Lanteglos. What is he?"
"The Death Knight is a ruthless assassin," Ezril sighed as she crossed the room to peer at one of the maps. It was glowing normally with no mass summonings being reported. "He plagued the High Queen's court years ago, killing off nobles who opposed the High Queen. Then, he disappeared."
Ezril bent down, studying one of the maps closer. She tapped a finger against the illustration of Lanteglos where four cities glowed gold. "No one knows where he was or even who he was. He erased himself from history and made it look like he wasn't a real person," Ezril straightened to regard Xanthy with her bright, yellow irises. "Anyone who could do that is more likely someone who didn't exist in the first place. Like I said, the victims' deaths were nothing but coincidences."
Xanthy's eyes flicked back to the orb. What was it called, even? "How do you explain the message, then?"
"It may be someone who has to get your attention for other things," Ezril moved to another map that showed the rest of Umazure. Xanthy, no matter how many times she saw the maps, felt her jaw dropping open. The island was just...so huge.
Beside her, June nodded and braced his chin with hand. "That makes sense," he nodded before glancing at Ezril. "It's impossible for a single person to decimate Yin Alora. I've been there and that place is a stronghold. It couldn't have been the Death Knight's doing. Cardovia probably used him to get the Imperial City's attention."
Oh, Peltra? Xanthy added an item into her mental list—June had been to Peltra.
Ezril frowned at the map showing Peltra's territory glowing red. "As much as I dislike the Pixies, it shows that this is just another of Cardovia's attacks. There's too much magic involved for this to not be for them."
Xanthy stared at the High Priestess. Judging from the way Ezril's brow met and her shoulders squared, Xanthy could tell that the High Priestess was calculating the odds. After a while, Ezril sighed and straightened once more. "As much as I would like to go there myself, I can't just leave my duty here especially when my Rekshais are hardly recuperating."
The mention of the advisers shifted Xanthy's attention. "Are they fine now?"
Ezril shook her head. Her face carried a bit of sadness that crept out of her stone-like expression. "A few more days of soul cleansing," she closed her eyes and took a deep breath like it was stressing her out. "Too much soul exposure to the Land of Wonders can be destructive."
Xanthy pursed her lips. Right. This idea was becoming less and less ideal. It's a good thing she told Nyxis to go ahead without them to do whatever he planned to do. He didn't need to witness another disaster that he shouldn't be concerned with. He'd been through enough because of her. Ravalee had been helpful in conveying Xanthy's sentiments, too.
June stood still, his eyes still on the green orb across the room. His lips were pressed in a hard line, thinking. Xanthy blew a breath and touched her chin. It's time for her to think as well. Silence filled the room as Xanthy's thoughts raged.
Her only goal prior to this event was going to Dwanzeig to find her father despite Airene's warning. Her family was just within her reach. There's no way she's not going there.
But now...
Xanthy's teeth clashed against her nails. It's one of the habits she developed for unknown reasons. Should she help the fairies or should she help herself? Should she choose to save the world or pursue her happiness first?
Why did that even have to be a choice for her?
Even then, who was she kidding? The brownies didn't acknowledge her and the help she had given them. She went into that horrible Pilgrim Road, got her head bashed in with icicles just to get that maximizer, and basically risked her life for them, but that didn't make her more like a brownie in their eyes. Apart from Cyrdel, Ravalee, and probably Airene, there's no one that told her that they're grateful that Xanthy had saved them.
She'd be lying if she said that that wasn't the reason she went to Carleon in the first place. How much more of that would happen with the Pixies who weren't even her alleged race?
The rational side of her reasoned that the Virtakios wouldn't mind being outcast because that's what they were—different. Xanthy shouldn't spend the rest of her life trying to belong because she's always going to be the odd one out just by having the Virtakios.
Xanthy exhaled through her nose. Why does she fail every time she tries to accept that reasoning?
Being different was lonely. No one understood what she was going through and certainly no one would be able to help her, not when they didn't know the first things about her.
Would it kill her to wish just for once to have someone who had the same circumstance as her? Hell, she didn't even have a race that she could relate to with her own race refusing to acknowledge her. She's a defective brownie, after all.
Who's to say the pixies won't treat her differently?
Xanthy shook her head, dispelling the negative thought. Peltra had just fallen and she's out here whining on not being understood. She's the Virtakios, for Rudik's sake. She has a job she must do.
That job was saving Umazure from its own destruction because she's the only one who could. But with Peltra, she was already too late.
She cursed as her nail cracked underneath the force of her teeth. Pain shot from her cuticle and ran down her finger. What use was the Virtakios if it couldn't prevent disasters like this? She's always too late, too slow, and too gullible. This wouldn't do. Not anymore. She had to act and she had to do it fast if she ever wanted to save the island.
The orb's message rang in her ears like an annoying bell. Peltra is down! The Pixies are gone. Come to Lanteglos.
"I know what I had to do," Xanthy said to no one. June's head snapped up to her. Ezril turned away from the map with a curious look.
Xanthy put her hands together and hoped her voice wouldn't crack. "I'm going to Peltra," she pressed her lips into a thin line. "Then I'll head to Lanteglos and hear the Death Knight's terms."
June blinked, stepping towards her. "Xanthy..."
"I've decided," Xanthy clenched her fists at her sides. She later took June's hand and led him towards the soul door. Her stomach churned but there's no going back at this point. "It's time Cardovia learns who its real enemy is."