Gauron’s POV

Dawn had come and Gauron could finally feel like he was himself again. Despite the lack of clear memories from the preceding night, a small blessing of the Bloodlust Ritual, he still felt a bad aftertaste. He opened his mouth to yawn and grimaced as he tasted iron afterwards.

“I tried my best to convince them to turn around… The commanders were irresponsible and the warriors under them just had bad luck, that’s all. It’s not my fault. If I had done nothing, it was the town that would be destroyed.”

He whispered these words to himself in a calming manner. No matter how justified it was, killing almost two hundred people was bound to leave scars. However, even if they hurt, Gauron had no intentions of becoming the sort of person that did not get hurt by it. He started a breathing exercise his father had taught him to relax after the Bloodlust. He was interrupted by a familiar voice.

“Gauron… the leader. Gauron… the adventurer. Gauron… son of a hero. Gauron.. The exiled. As always... your skills... are... something to... behold.”

No matter how raspy it was, Gauron could recognize that voice anywhere. After all, he had always been proud of being able to recognize everyone who he had ever worked with. He stood up and turned smiling.

“Mortimer! I thought you might have killed yourself with how ba…”

Both smile and words immediately died as he took a glance at the man who had once been such a great companion. That complexion was also something Gauron could easily recognize: Mortimer looked exactly like one of the undead from the Bone Pit.

“Realized… this fast? You were… always… very sharp. Just how… they… like it. Although… this face… too obvious… I suppose.”

Gauron glared.

“Are you even Mortimer?”

The reanimated corpse grinned.

“Negative… Borrowing it… after he… committed… suicide.”

It pushed aside its coat to reveal a small dagger buried in its guts. A small amount of a strange black mist was flowing from the dagger’s hilt to the corpse. That dagger was unmistakably something they had found in the Bone Pit.

“You monster!”

Gauron tried to charge the corpse, but his whole body tensed and seemed to lock up. It was as if he was wearing a full body armor that hadn’t been maintained for centuries. The aftereffects of the Bloodlust Ritual were finally kicking in. He fell to the ground on his knees, and then collapsed completely.

“Monster? Don’t… understand. It’s not… like… this body… was… in use. I… did not… force… anyone… into suicide… merely lucky… one… catalysts I… made… was used… like this…”

Gauron struggled to look up. The corpse had no expression.

“What are you? Why have you taken my dead companion’s body? What do you want?”

The corpse sat on the ground.

“I… am beyond… you… knowing it… would not… be useful… for… either… of us. Need to assess… whether you... live… or… die. What’s… better?”

A chill came over Gauron. Was he just going to die there and then? No, he still wasn’t done. He still had to prove his father wrong. He willed himself to stand but the best he could do was push his body off the ground. It felt like both his knees weighted the world.

“I… will not be killed, here! I must… still.”

The corpse opened its mouth with an “ah!” as if it had an idea.

“I… see. You are… originally their… puppet… but still… useful to me. Protect the boy. Captain’s son… constant… reader. He… is very… good… candidate... Perhaps one... day.”

It seemed the corpse no longer considered killing Gauron. But a few questions came up.

“Wait, candidate? Why would you want me to protect Gaius? I…”

Without listening to what Gauron was saying, the corpse just stood up and turned to leave. Despite his protests, it soon left his view, and Gauron was left to collapse from the exhaustion that burdened his body.

Gaius’ POV

That day, the town had a festival in honor of Gauron. It seemed that, even if temporarily, any kind of fear or realization of Gauron’s power was being ignored. I can only think that the people didn’t know that every single one of our attackers were dead, but even if they did, I guess that the momentary gratitude still trumped everything else. Well, in the end, only me and Aria had witnessed how the town was saved.

Still, I remember, even now, the look that Gauron gave me when we saw each other in the festival. How to properly describe it? Piercing, perhaps, no, it would be better to call it suspicious, as if he had discovered some terrible secret that he knew I must have been hiding myself. But I didn’t know yet, not right then at least. Even so, such a glare from a man that I admired and feared would, in the short future, make me reflect on a few things, which led me to an important realization.

When I arrived home, father and mother were all smiles.

“Oh, look at her, isn’t she the most adorable thing?”

They were showering my newborn sister with praise and warmth. The name chosen by my father was Cecilia. Strangely, they didn’t have a word of rebuke for me, who had just disappeared during the labor. I did do as I was told, but I did not come home immediately afterwards, shouldn’t that have been strange? And yet, they said not a word about it.

“Don’t you think so too, Gaius?”

I just realized that I hadn’t seen such a smile in my mother’s face in a long time. Something, a kind of lump, formed in my throat. I don’t know what came over me, but it wasn’t anything good. I slowly stepped back out of the house, only to bump into Gauron.

“Oh, why are you leaving again?”

The look he gave me at that moment was different from before, more worried perhaps, but there was still something else, something which I just then realized I rarely had to deal with.

“That’s it! That’s how things normally should go, right?”

My mind was wandering into all sorts of crazy places, something struck me and I just had to make sense of it.

“What do you mean, how things should go?”

It didn’t seem like Gauron was following me, so I tried to make a concise explanation of my worries at that moment.

“There’s something wrong with me, I think you might know something! She, she might know something, and… How can I say it…”

It wasn’t a very good try, I must admit. Gauron, at least, seemed to be getting more confused.

“What do you mean?”

It was simply that…

“Most people don’t worry about me. People aren’t suspicious about me. I pass most of my time studying something that nobody else understands. Despite that, no one looks at me strangely, my parents don’t get angry. It’s almost like I just magically get my way… There’s only one exception… Come with me.”

Something changed in Gauron’s expression as I spoke, was that trust? Anyway, I brought him with me to Aria’s house. Apparently, she had locked herself in her own room, but her father easily let us in, almost oblivious about what possible purpose we might have. I knocked strongly on her door.

“What is it now?”

Aria’s angry voice came from inside.

“We need to talk.”

A long awkward silence followed, before she slowly opened the door.

“What do we need to…”

She did not finish her sentence, and turned pale as she saw Gauron.

“I’m sorry for being so selfish, but it’s about me, and we need one more person to start the conversation.”

Uncomfortable does not even begin to describe the following situation, as we made our way to that house. Aria was clearly afraid of Gauron, but wouldn’t say anything. Regardless, that fear was too apparent and she made sure to maintain some distance. Gauron was confused, but he had no reason to believe that she knew exactly how he had fought the army back, so that new fear that Aria displayed must have been vexing. Unsurprisingly, Chirene was waiting for us at the entrance.

“What’s wrong? You forgot something?”

“We need to talk, inside.”

I was curt. I really needed answers right then.