She didn’t answer him and snatched the parchment from his hand. Without another word she turned on her heel and marched out of the office.
She heard him call from behind, “It is time for the truth Charlotte. You can’t run forever. Are you prepared for what comes next?”
She didn’t look back, she was falling apart, her mind was racing, and there was nothing that would stop her from making a rash decision if she deviated from the path that she was set on. Making her way to the gate to meet those who would join her, she intercepted paths with Nick who walked with her. To her surprise he was dressed in his armor and had his two axes in his hands. “I will admit, you are the last one that I thought would have come to save Scott.”
Nick looked at her, “I know, but I had… let’s just say I grew up a bit more.”
Charlotte stopped, and turned to face him. She embraced him in a hug and whispered, “Thank you.”
“Come on.” Nick said when she let go, “Let’s go save Scott.”
The two of them walked the rest of the way to the gate to see Alissa and Donovan standing there waiting for them.
“You guys came!” Charlotte said sounding slightly surprised.
“Saving the guy who saved our asses more times than I can count on two hands? Was there ever even a second thought?” Donovan said hefting his battle hammer off the ground, “Did you get the location?”
Charlotte nodded, “I did, and the potion to restore his memories.” She pulled out the map, and unfolded it for everyone to look at.
“No Lily or Dracus?” Alissa asked her.
“No I couldn’t find them. We are one our own for this.” Charlotte answered as she pointed to the location of the cabin. “Here is where it is. Tuomas probably programed this the night we lost Scott in hopes he lived.”
“It only looks like it’s about half an hour away on horseback,” Alissa said, pointing over the city and where the location of the cabin was.
“Right, let’s get a move on it, we need to get this over with.” Nick replied looking up towards the stables.
The four of them mounted up and followed Charlotte’s lead out of the city towards the cabin where they were supposed to find Scott. As they rode, Donovan piped up, “So do you have a plan to draw him out?”
Charlotte responded, “I just thought we’d wing it, come up with it as we go.”
Donovan looked at her with fear in his eyes, “I’m kidding,” She laughed, “We need to draw him out and get him pinned so we can get this potion in him so it can revert his memories. And without seeing the terrain yet, I am not sure how we are going to do it. We are going to be on his turf, and he may know we are coming.”
Donovan nodded, “I didn’t think about that, okay we should be more careful than normal then.”
Alissa and Nick agreed to that, “If anyone should have to go up against him alone it will be me,” Charlotte told them, “I know his moves and thought process the best, and I can counter him,” She paused, “Hopefully.”
“What if we have to injure him to get him pinned?” Nick asked.
Charlotte didn’t respond right away, she hadn’t thought about that, the fact that he saw them as enemies and wouldn’t come quietly, “Be as minimalistic as possible, if we have to fight this demon goddess chick, we need Scott at full strength.”
Nick acknowledged the remark, the stated, “I’ll be the bait.”
Alissa looked at her brother, “What?”
Charlotte repeated the same question, “What? Why would you do that?”
“Because I am still injured, and the fact that if I go up first, you all can flank him and pin him down while he is busy with me.”
That isn’t that bad of an idea: Charlotte thought, “Okay fine, but if at any point you can’t handle it you run, you get away from Scott,” she paused, “He will kill you.”
“Understood,” Was the response that Charlotte received.
Upon arrival to the site the cabin was sitting in the middle of a field. The four of them stood five hundred feet from the cabin and were even spread out. Nick took his position of being up front and began to walk towards the cabin. He pulled his axes out of their ring holders, and gave a glance back at the others. He nodded to let them know he was ready for the next part of the plan. Alissa and Donovan went to the left of Nick as Charlotte went to his right.
Once each one gave Nick the signal that they were in position, Nick yelled out, “Come on out! We know you are in there Masked Man!” Nick kept up the illusion that they still didn’t know who the masked man was, “By order of the King you are under arrest and are to be put on trial to be judged by the King of Crystle.”
There was no response or sounds that came from the cabin, “Where are you?” Nick said under his breath, scanning the cabin in front of him.
Nick moved closer to the cabin, he could hear his heavy breathing, he wasn’t sure if he really wanted to go through with this. Believe: he thought: Believe in this team.
The door creaked open and Nick looked up to see the masked man standing in the doorframe. “The King has no power over me, fool. What I am trying to achieve is greater than this whole world and everyone who lives in it.”
“We are not leaving here without you,” Nick countered.
“Then you will die,” The masked man said, drawing a single sword, from his hip, where three swords were hanging from.
Nick steeled himself for the attack, as the masked man charged him. Nick sidestepped to the right and brought one axe up for a block and prepared his second to send a blow back. The masked man drew in close, when Alissa and Donovan flanked him from his right, charging in attempting to knock him down. He countered and rolled backwards just out of their contact zone. Donovan swung out his hammer at the masked man, who leaned back just far enough that it missed him, “You are good.” The masked man taunted Donovan, “But not good enough.”
A glimmer of light shimmered in Donovan’s eye and he felt a tug on his chest armor and a rush of pain over his right peck. He placed his hand over the open wound, and fell to his knees, screaming in pain. Alissa repositioned herself in front of Donovan. She looked around and didn’t see Charlotte, as the masked man rand straight at her. She put her shield up and readied her sword to deflect the blow. But the blow never came. The masked man faked her out and turned to face Nick and was charging him. Nick rolled out of the way just in time. He heard a pop in his knee and swore from the pain. He stood back up and faced the masked man. “Come on you ape.”
Nick charge and swung his axes at the masked man trying to hit him. A swift thrust in Nick’s lower stomach forced him to the ground. Nick gasped for air, trying to regain his bearings. A blade met his neck, “Too slow.” the masked man smirked.
A bolt whistled through the air and scraped the masked man’s left shoulder, forcing him to pull away from Nick’s neck. Looking around he saw Alissa standing there, with her shield still up and running at him. Sidestepping the masked man moved out of the way as she missed her mark with hitting him.
A yell came out the air and Nick ran straight into the masked man from his side, knocking him on his side, he had caught him off guard, “Charlotte where are you?” Alissa yelled out.
The masked man paused when he heard the name, “Charlotte?” he said. He was trying to remember where he heard the name, as he continued to wrestle with Nick.
From behind her, Charlotte appeared and jumped on top of the masked man, who was still wrestling Nick off of him. Alissa followed and put all of her weight on him acting like dead weight. Charlotte straddled over his chest and reached at the mask. The masked man kept struggling trying to not let her pull the mask off. Charlotte was become frustrated as she couldn’t grip the mask to pull it off.
Even with the three of them on him, they were struggling to get the mask off and keep him pinned. Charlotte looked up to see where Donovan was. He was on the ground, and a pool of blood was forming under him. She looked back at Alissa, then back down at the masked man. She made a
decision, to try and save them all. A risk that she now had to take, “Damn it Scott, we are here to save you!”
The man stopped and looked up at Charlotte, just long enough for her to rip the mask off of him. The face that met hers was Scott’s. His black hair was long, and covered part of his eyes. The shimmering of his green eyes looked directly at her. “How do you…” is all he got out before Charlotte punched him in the face, knocking him out cold.
Charlotte looked at Alissa, “We need to stop the bleeding!”
The three of them got off of Scott, and rolled Donovan over. They began to pull the straps of his armor off and Alissa pulled out her first aid kit from her satchel. Donovan groaned, “Did we get him?”
Charlotte looked at him, “We did, now stop moving we need to stop the bleeding.”
Alissa slipped on a pair of gloves and began to perform first aid on him. “You’re going to be okay, Don. I promise.”
He looked up to her, “Don’t make a promise you can’t keep.”
Nick moved over to assist Alissa. “Charlotte, go give Scott the potion, we have this.”
Charlotte acknowledged him and stood up. She took the ten steps that she needed to get to Scott. Kneeling next to his unconscious body she pulled out the potion from her pouches on her hip. She popped the seal and placed her hand on Scott’s face, “It’s alright now my love.” She started to cry, “We get to be together again.”
She pulled his mouth open and poured a few drops into his mouth. Capping the bottle again she slipped it back into her pouch and moved back over to the others. She wiped her eyes before asking the question, “How is he?”
Alissa looked up at her, “I have slowed the bleeding but, it was a very clean cut. We need to get him to the city, I need some of the Apothecary’s clotting agent to stop the bleeding.”
Charlotte tapped Nick’s shoulder, “You help your sister get him ready for transport, and I will get Scott on my horse. Okay?”
Nick nodded, he knew what to do.
***
Their arrival back to the city met by many eager people, from NPCs to players who wanted to know what was going on. “Apothecary, we need an Apothecary!” Alissa was yelling out as they entered the gates.
“Make way!” Charlotte yelled out, as she scanned the crowd looking for the Apothecary. Two familiar faces met her eyes: Liliana and Dracus. She waved at them and they made their way to them, “It’s been a while you two,” She said, “Before we play catch up, we need your help.”
The two looked at her, looked at each other, looked back at Charlotte and nodded, “What do you need?” Dracus asked.
27:
They made it to the Apothecary hut and they quickly brought Donovan into the building. The two Apothecaries that were there began to go over and remove the temporary bandages that Alissa had put on him. One of them made the comment about the bandages were so well done that they were going to be able to save him. Alissa began to cry from the words.
Charlotte pointed out what Alissa did to the Apothecaries and they complemented her, then asked them to leave, they needed the room to themselves to get everything done.
The five made it back to the horses where Scott was still lying unconscious on Charlotte’s horse. The trough that the horses were drinking from had a bucket next to it. Charlotte grabbed the bucket and filled some of the water from the trough with it. She had Liliana and Dracus pull Scott off of her horse and lie him on the stone ground away from the horses. Once they had stepped back, Charlotte tossed the water from the bucket onto Scott.
He jolted awake, and gasped for air, while spitting out the water that got into his mouth. He looked around seeing two people he didn’t know and Charlotte standing there. “Charlotte?” he asked rubbing his head.
She began to tear, “Scott is it really you?”
“Yes, it is me…” He paused, “What is going on?”
He took a moment to gather the thoughts and extra memories and merged them together, and he only said one more word, “Archangel.”
She walked up to him and offer her hand to him. He accepted and she helped pull him off the ground and up onto his feet. “How do you feel?” Charlotte asked him.
“I have a wicked headache… and I feel like there is something I am missing.” Scott put his hand on his head, “I feel like there is something missing, I have a gap of memories.” He looked at her, “I feel like I have missed something…”
“What is the last thing that you remember?”
“I remember falling, then being taken care of until I was mended, but I can’t see her face… I don’t know why. I remember a blue figure, Archangel, and then a series of battles, alone with great creatures… hunting for a sword, and then that’s it, why can’t I see any of you in my memories after I fell off the cliff… I was supposed to be brought back to the mansion after Liz recovered me…”
Charlotte looked at him, “My dear, there is much we need to discuss, but not here, not now.”
He looked at her, “Okay… but who are they?” Scott pointed to Liliana and Dracus.
“I’ll get to that, but we need to get back to the mansion.”
“Okay…” He was hesitant. Charlotte reached out her hand to him. He took it and she pulled him closer to her.
“I’ve missed you so much,” Charlotte said to him, leaning in to kiss him.
As their lips touched a voice met their ears, “You know, can we go to this mansion of yours…” Dracus said, interrupting them.
Liliana punched his shoulder, “Shut up, can’t you see they’re having a moment?”
“Ow, yeah, but I think that there may be more important things going on at the moment.” He replied rubbing the spot where she hit him.
Scott pulled away, “He’s right.” Scott said agreeing with Dracus, “And I don’t even know who you are.”
“Name’s Dracus… well in here it is, and she’s Liliana. And you are?”
“Scott,” He looked at him, “In here?”
“Yeah, you know, this is a virtual world and all, we are all in here via headgear, right?”
Scott looked at Charlotte, and she gave him a look, “Right…” Scott said with a bit of nervousness in his voice.
Charlotte addressed Liliana and Dracus, “We’ll meet you two here.” She handed Liliana a map, “Be there in half an hour.”
Liliana nodded and grabbed Dracus by the arm and pulled him away leaving just Charlotte and Scott in the next to the horses.
Scott’s mouth started to form words but Charlotte cut him off, “We need to get to the mansion before I say anything.” Reluctantly he nodded, and Charlotte led the way to the mansion.
Their arrival back was met with servants and Elana standing out waiting for them, she looked around and a smile appeared on her face. “You did it!” she exclaimed, “Where are the others?”
“At the Apothecary, Donovan was injured, they should be back soon.” Charlotte answered her.
“Very well then, I shall send some of the servants to aid them.” Elana responded, “I see that you are back to your old self again Scott.” She reached for a hug.
Scott obliged and let her hug him. It felt odd. He did not know why. “Yes… to a point.” He said little more to her and followed Charlotte through the gate and into the mansion.
Charlotte took him to their room and shut the door behind them. Scott turned to face her and she ran into his arms and held him tight. “I missed you so much.” she sobbed, “You have no idea. I’ve never felt so alone before.”
Scott held her, but she felt so foreign to him: This is Charlotte, this is the woman I love, but something feels wrong, the amount of time that I am missing… there is something not right.
She looked up at him and put her hands on his face and kissed him. She pulled back, when she noticed that something was not right, “What’s wrong?”
Scott sighed, “What happened? I need to know, I just feel so wrong, like my mind has become a jigsaw puzzle.”
Charlotte kissed
him again before sitting down on the bed and gestured for him to sit next to her. He sat down next to her and she leaned into his chest and started explaining, “You fell, I know you said you remember that, but you never came back, no one ever brought you back to us. We thought you died, I thought…” she drifted for a moment, “But a masked man started to go around the world and begun killing great beings, releasing their souls, and we ran into that man at the home of a Fire Drake, and we got there too late, he had already killed it.”
Scott had a minor flashback to fighting a dragon, and he reached to his back where he had been slashed by the dragon’s razor claws had opened him during the fight.
“Alissa and I started to hunt the man, and we ran into you once near a farm, then I ran into him once more a few days later in the city.”
Memories started to flood into Scott’s mind, filing in the gaps of time and broken memories that he was struggling to see remember before this moment.
“We fought and he… you beat me, but that is when I realized it was you. You dropped a letter at my feet saying something about it was for Tuomas and left. After we read it we started to fill in some gaps, and we hunted for a cure to restore your memory. We found it, to some extent. Then we ran into Archangel.”
That name…: More memories formed back in Scott’s mind. Charlotte continued, “He tasked us with getting you back, since he was quote done with you. And you needed us as much as we needed you.”
“Hela,” Scott echoed as he sat there.
Charlotte looked as if she was confused with the name that he just spoke to her, “Yes, how did… Archangel? He told you about her?”
“He’s the reason I started questing out to kill the greater beings of the world, I had to hunt for the sword…” he reached for his hip, where his swords were still hanging from, minus the one that was left at out in the field in front of the cabin. He pulled on one of the hilts on his right side. As he pulled the sword, the room was illuminated in a green and red hue of colors that were emanating from the swords blade, “Exuberus.” Scott said, looking at the blade, “The God Killer.”
The Seeds of Evermore Page 23