Wenberheim 182

Paris and the kings of the other kingdoms gathered in his council room the next day with me in tow to fill me in on all the details of what was happening.

I took a seat next to Paris and listened closely to what everyone had to say.

I saw only one familiar face in the small gathering of kings sitting at the table; King Tomoya. I smiled at him when I recognized him and he smiled back.

Everyone else I had never met before.

There was the king of Gracet named Bartholomew, Paris, Tomoya, and two more kings at the table. One of them said they were from a kingdom to the southwest called Prane, and the other said they were from a kingdom further east called Hirt.

As they filled me in on the details, I began to realize how hopeless the situation was and just why these kings had come to Nui in the wild hope that Paris and I could help them.

“Torr has conquered seven kingdoms since you were gone. We cannot hope to win this fight. We are hoping you have a miracle up your sleeve like you did for bringing moths and humans together. We all knew you must be charitable people willing to work with us if you treated moths so well.” The King of Prane said, turning to me hopefully.

I placed my hands on top of the table and answered, “who has been telling you all these things? How has word of me spread so quickly?”

Paris answered, “we aren’t sure. Word just spread of your exploits so fast and so many kingdoms were made to admire you. There is rumor of an old woman who began spreading your story with such vigor and admiration in taverns that she practically made you a legend.”

I giggled at such a silly idea. “I am no legend, I regret to inform you all, and I have no grand powers. I know how to defeat Torr, however. But first, I must tell you all a story, and I need you to believe it no matter what.”

The kings were silent as they gazed upon me. Paris said to them, “just listen to her. You may or may not want to believe what she says, but I think once she’s finished, you’ll have to.”

And I began telling them all I knew about the moth gods and told them about the lustful god who lingered within King Torr’s body and everything else they needed to know about the current situation.

Everyone was shocked when I finished telling them, but they all also breathed a sigh of relief. “It is good to know that that poor boy’s powers did not come from our God, at least. It came from no god, in fact, if Mimi is to be believed--but instead a powerful sprite.”

I nodded and wished he had not mentioned Terry as I nearly cried anytime someone did, but I took a deep breath and I said, “and so, what I need to do is get close to the lustful god and… I need to find a way to love him and coax the evilness out of him.”

The kings looked at each other and then at me. Paris said with a grin, “what have we got to lose? We will all come under the lustful god’s rule unless we try. We just need to get Mimi close enough to the monster so that she can help him.”

Tomoya crossed his arms. “Does he deserve to be helped? He’s killed thousands and more. I’d rather he die.”

I sighed and kept that thought of the lustful god in my head of when he was just a child who wanted and needed to be loved by his parents. He didn’t deserve to die. He deserved a second chance at life.

It was so hard to keep that thought in my head, however. The beast had taken so much from me. But I said to the kings, “what I need for you all to do is keep the lustful god’s army busy and we need to gather all the moths in Nui and ask if any of them has the power to warp me close to the lustful god.”

They saw no choice in the matter and all the kings cheered me on. “May you find the strength in your heart to love this monster. Nobody else can.”

Paris and all the kings said loudly, “we are all proud to be the Queen’s Faithful!”

I shed a tear at that name. It would never be the same without Terry.

__

Unfortunately, none of the moths in Nui knew how to warp which would make things considerably more difficult. As the kings made preparations for the war to come, I realized something very important. Caerwyn could get us to the lustful god’s side if he could open a door for us. I needed to find him and speak to him.

I asked around the city for a golden-haired templar and everyone pointed me to the chapel inside the castle.

I went there with resolve in my heart and found Caerwyn praying and begging for forgiveness on his knees.

I joined him in silence for a moment as I, too, prayed. After he finished, Caerwyn stood up with a frown and pulled his cloak self-consciously closer about his missing arm to hide it. I looked down.

“Caerwyn, I need you in this upcoming battle.” I began slowly.

Caerwyn looked quietly at his feet and did not reply.

I went on, “I need your door, Caerwyn. Not only that, but I need you to help me coax the evilness out of the lustful god’s heart. Both his parents abandoned him and mistreated him. He needs a father’s love as well as a mother’s and I know you have great love in your heart like I do.”

Caerwyn turned away from me and murmured, “I can’t do this anymore. I have become a jealous and petty man. I want nothing more than to be a templar again.”

I asked him quietly, “do you hate me?”

“Of course not. I hate how events have transpired and how they have led an innocent boy to die and led you back into that man’s arms.” Caerwyn replied.

I could hear the lump in his throat and I avoided his gaze with a heavy heat.“I have treated you both so poorly. I can’t apologize enough. But please, I beg of you to find love in your heart one more time so that you may help me. For Terry.”

There was a long moment of silence before Caerwyn turned around with a smile and tears in his eyes. He nodded. “I don’t know how much use I will be with only one arm, but… For Terry.”

__

As the lustful god’s army approached, I let Paris and the other kings make preparations for the coming war as it was not my expertise, and in the meanwhile, I set time aside everyday to talk to all of my close friends including Paul, Meridi, Paris, and Caerwyn.

We had a grand time and all reminisced about happier things and somehow the conversation would always lead back to that red-headed boy and how he made the world brighter for all of us.

But the time for joyous things was coming to an end. Paris and the other kings decided it would be best for our army to ride out and meet theirs rather than holing up in the castle. They wanted to keep civilians safe and they decided the best way to get me to the lustful god’s side was in the confusion of a large battle outside the castle.

I was glad to have Meridi on our side as she had the powers of the sun and could blind the enemy army—a gift she had been bequeathed recently from Hypthos.

As I prepared to set out with our army, I decided to read one more entry in Terry’s journal.

I haven’t written in this journal for a long time, and I think this will be my last entry. Thanks to Mimi’s efforts, I feel as if all the evilness and violence has been drained from my soul and I have no need to write down my feelings anymore. Nui has turned into a happy and comfortable place for all—including me—and I never could have guessed that I would ever look forward to the future, but here I am. I feel like the future will only hold good things for me.

__

The lustful god’s army was caught by surprise when we decided to meet them in battle in an open field miles away from Nui. Their army dwarfed ours and the lustful god had a hateful sneer on his face as he looked upon our feeble last attempt to resist him.

There was no parley. The two armies ran at one another with no grace or ceremony as blood stained white snow red in the freezing winter season.

I was reminded once again of how terrible warfare was as I nearly went deaf with the noise of battle. Caerwyn was by my side—all but useless with his preferred sword arm gone—and Paris had taken to the battle field at the front of the army despite being a poor rider and a poor swordsman. Paul was by his side to protect him and watch over him while Meridi used her powers as prophetess to sit at the back of the army and make the sun pulse with brightness to blind the enemy army.

Caerwyn and I bustled through the fighting as cold snow continuously graced our faces and we tried to make our way to the lustful god who we had spotted somewhere to our left in a crowd of faces.

A soldier charged us and Caerwyn tried to fend him off with his left hand—but the soldier easily disarmed Caerwyn and swung a deathblow at him that was stopped by me.

I caught the man by surprise and stabbed him in the back. Caerwyn thanked me and looked ashamed and crestfallen at the fact that he could no longer protect me.

We kept moving.

My heart was beating fast and I could not shake my nerves. My legs were wobbly as I could think of nothing else than the consequences of my failure.

The battlefield was soon soaked in black liquid as it had been in the battle against Lowen. Much of the enemy army facing the sun which Meridi made pulse with light were still blinded which gave our combined armies a fighting chance--but there was only so long Meridi could keep that up. Magic always had its limits.

Caerwyn and I ran into many enemy soldiers who could have easily killed us—but we kept getting lucky. There was always an ally soldier around to defend us and dispatch our attackers. Caerwyn looked hopeless the entire time and I worried about him endlessly. I needed him to have love in his heart and faith in his soul if we were to coax the evilness out of the lustful god.

We followed the trail of the black liquid and came ever closer to the lustful god as we were consistently attacked and rescued.

However, the closer we got to the lustful god, the further he seemed to move back within his own army and I was in misery that we may never catch him.

As I breathed raggedly and panicked about not being able to catch the ever moving lustful god, an enemy soldier tackled Caerwyn to the ground. Caerwyn tried to struggle free, but with only one arm, he simply didn’t have the strength. I came to his aid—ready to stab his attacker—but another soldier ran at me and I had to block his blows instead.

I kept glancing at Caerwyn who was staring listlessly at his soon-to-be killer and who had stopped struggling. As I blocked my own attacker’s blows I yelled at him, “fight Caerwyn! Fight! You can’t give up! Where are your convictions?”

His attacker held his blade high, ready to slam his blade down on Caerwyn’s face. I yelled, “Terry always had faith! Right up until the end! Where has yours gone? God has not forsaken you, you have forsaken Him by losing your faith!”

Empowered by my words, I saw the will to fight and live sparked in Caerwyn’s eyes again and he kicked the man off him with all his strength and rolled to the side as the man plunged his sword downward.

Just as my own attacker had disarmed me and was going to run me through, Caerwyn drew a door in the air, grabbed me about the waist, and pulled me through it.

We were brought to the lustful god’s side.

Magic had its limits, but faith had none, it seemed.