Meanwhile in Aen Silar, Draer stood just outside the barrier that contained Mideia's coffin, gazing upward at it from what he considered to be a safe distance. Sickly green mana still heavily permeated the air, though he was hardly affected by it.
It seems to be getting thicker since that visitor came by, but that should be impossible, given the coffin's construction, Draer thought, glancing around the hall. This cannot be a good omen, he thought, turning his gaze back toward the coffin to ensure he hadn't missed anything that may have been amiss.
No, it's not him. There is something else at work here, he said, gripping his halberd a little more tightly while his brow furrowed.
He moved away from the barrier and proceeded back down the hall he'd led Terwin down just a few days prior, but when he rounded the second corner, he noticed one of his guardsmen standing a bit crookedly.
What is that fool doing? He should know better than to slouch when standing guard, he sighed but proceeded with caution, given the abnormal quantity of Leech mana flowing through the halls.
"Oi, guardsman, don't you know better than to…" he stopped himself, his eyes widening in both fear and concern for the guardsman, who had a few tendrils of Leech mana leaking from his tear ducts and poking through the flesh around the corners of his eyes.
"What in the realms? Guards, on me!" he shouted as he presented his weapon to this unknown threat. "H-Help m-me," the guardsman said through a wheeze as he turned toward him like a puppet in a street show, causing Draer to click his tongue in frustration.
He furrowed his brow, igniting his spear with enough Meridian mana to split a mountain and thrust his weapon into the guard's core. Mana from his spear poured into the wound, causing the guardsman's body to explode violently, but leaving little more than a pile of ashen dust behind.
Damn it. Who could have done this? Where are the others? Draer asked himself silently, keeping a tight grip on his weapon as he checked his surroundings.
There were no signs of the other guards that usually lined that part of the hall, which made his heart begin to race, not out of concern for his safety, but for that of those under his command. He allowed himself a steadying breath and reinforced his body with mana.
"I know you're in here," he muttered quietly. "But do you know where I am?" a disembodied voice asked from what could have been just beside his ear, causing him to flinch in that direction. His eyes darted side to side rapidly in search of his target, but there was no one to be found.
"Come now, I thought you'd be better than this if you were guarding such a formidable foe," the voice came again, this time seemingly from all over. "I have no time to play with you, scum. Show yourself, and I will make your end swift and painless," he said through gritted teeth, immediately dousing his presence to better sense the area around him.
Out of a hall to his right, a subtle pulse of mana caught his attention. He brought his weapon up just in time to deflect a strike from a tendril that could have easily taken his head off. Within a heartbeat, he'd sidestepped and severed the tendril, dashing in toward the pulse's origin to chase down his attacker.
The moment he crossed the entrance of the hall, a barrier of mana shut behind him, but by the time he'd turned to look, another had shut in front of him, trapping him in the middle of the hall. "How foolish of you to dash in blindly," a female voice from behind him said in a sing-song voice, which prompted him to turn and face it.
"I would have expected more, but I suppose after what may have been a few thousand years in this place might have dulled your sense for combat," she shrugged.
I've been a fool, Draer mentally kicked himself, avoiding showing any outward signs of having acknowledged that.
"I thought Erumon had killed you, Nevesh, but it seems I was mistaken. Why are you doing this? What do you hope to gain from it?" he asked sternly, presenting his weapon in her direction. "What any woman wants: a lover, a confidant, someone who will listen when they are asked to. Take your pick," she said, idly tracing her finger along a tendril of mana that floated in the air beside her.
"This is not the time to play coy. You've already killed more than fifty of those under my comma-..." he halted when she raised an eyebrow. "Who said I killed them?" she asked with a wicked grin, raising her hand in a gesture to summon forth the guardsmen who were in a similarly possessed state as the one he'd just killed.
No. That's impossible, his expression slipped into one of subtle astonishment as he observed those who once stood tall and proud lumbering and limping like they were being dragged against their will, with their mouths agape, and eyes leaking mana.
"No, no, no. There would be no point in killing some of the strongest allies I could hope for. What fun would there be in that?" she asked, her question laced with a psychotic giggle. "Fun, you say? What enjoyment is there in forcing your old comrades into such a despicable state?" Draer asked angrily through gritted teeth.
Nevesh sighed and shook her head. "I don't have to answer that, especially not after you betrayed me on Nayara," she said, taking a step toward the barrier. "I betrayed you? I was not the one who'd suggested we murder all those innocent creatures just to solve a temporary problem," he spat, causing her to groan tiredly.
"Yes, that may be true, but you also didn't have to go and report my intent to Erumon, did you?" She cocked her head to the side. "Do you have any idea just how much I've lost since then, or how indelible a scar it has left on my core? Of course not. How could you have known what would happen to me?" she asked, the tendril of mana that floated around her suddenly sharpening its focus on the one inside the barriers.
"Can you blame me for that? I was doing my duty, as a Warden of my stature should have," he snarled, but she clicked her tongue repeatedly. "You, of all Wardens aside from Erumon, have no right to speak of duty. You were a coward, Draer, and I don't like cowards. You couldn't see what needed to be done, and that lack of foresight is what led me to him," she said, pointing off to her right in Mideia's general direction.
There was a slight lull in their argument as he gathered his thoughts. For a moment, there was just a small hint of desperation in her eyes, one that quickly faded back into rage the moment she noticed it herself.
Does she mean to free him? But that should only be possible with the presence of the Mouth, and he hasn't been seen in over a millennium outside of this place, Draer thought, trying to piece together any other possibilities the Eyes might not have accounted for.
Noticing he had finished whatever his mind was working through in his head, she raised a finger and presented it just in front of her face. "I will give you a choice: you can join forces with me, and I won't turn you into one of them," she began, gesturing to the guardsmen behind her.
"Or, we have one final round to see who departs this wretched, corrupted Sea in a dazzling, spectacular battle for our lives. Hurry up, I won't wait long," she said with a wicked grin as she got into a fighting stance and poured mana into her hands, causing them to turn into black-scaled talons highlighted by sickly green claws.
Even if I fight her here, I still don't have enough information on how she intends to break Mideia out of his imprisonment. I need to stall for time and get as much information from her as possible before I kill her, he thought quickly.
"Before we begin, might I be able to ask you a question?" he asked, setting his jaw as he did so. "I don't see why not, since one way or another, it will be the last one you ever do," she replied confidently with an upturned lip, causing his brow to furrow.
"You already know you won't be able to unseal him from the coffin, so why bother with any of this? Or, could it be that you have found a way to do it, and this is a mere formality?" he asked, but she shook her head. "That was two questions. Which one would you prefer I answer?" she asked smugly.
"The latter," he replied quickly and sternly. "Hmm, it wouldn't be as enjoyable if I just gave up the answer so easily, but I will tell you this: The Heart of Benevolence has truly forgotten the Cry of the Voiceless, but therein it remains," she replied cryptically, causing the gears of his mind to turn at an alarming rate.
"Y-You can't mean that it still exists," he stammered. "Oh, yes. That is exactly what I mean. Now, stand and fi-..." she halted, suddenly noticing the tendrils of her barrier floating loosely in the air, with a spearpoint a palm's breadth from her core.