Regaleon: The Forgotten Knight

Whilst the atmosphere that had existed amongst them previously could be described as tense and mildly foreboding, it had now become outright ominous, so much so that even the air seemed to carry an invisible weight of dread.

Meanwhile, Aelric continued unabated with his almost embarrassingly theatrical laughter.

It was only after a while that he finally noticed the group staring at him with expressions of stunned horror.

Even Sylveris, who had been thoroughly invested in his story until that moment, now looked at him with a face coloured by horror and consternation.

Aelric was baffled.

His laughter gradually petered out as he shifted his green eyes across the eight people before him. One by one, he studied their faces, as though searching for some obvious explanation for their strange reactions.

Finally, he asked with a hint of puzzlement in his voice. "What? Why aren’t you guys laughing?"

The question was delivered with such genuine perplexity that it almost seemed as though he truly didn’t understand the impact of the words he had spilled only moments ago.

His question settled over the group with a heavy weight, sinking into the stillness of the tunnel. Then...

"Laughing?!" Veyrath’s roar exploded through the silence, reverberating violently against the walls of the tunnel.

His face was an incandescent amalgamation of incredulity, outrage, and dread as he glared at Aelric.

"Do you think what you said is funny?" he demanded, his voice practically grinding through clenched teeth as a vein throbbed visibly against his temple.

Aelric saw Veyrath practically bristling with rage and was immediately puzzled.

"Veyrath, are you okay?" He asked, genuine concern creeping into his voice. "Is there something wrong with you?"

Normally, Veyrath would have been utterly mortified had he been in his right mind. Unfortunately, whatever embarrassment he might have felt under ordinary circumstances had been completely eclipsed by the revelation he had just received.

In fact, when he heard that hint of concern in Aelric’s voice, he immediately interpreted it as mockery... Or perhaps worse.

He thought the green-eyed youth was deliberately pretending not to understand, teasing them by feigning ignorance of the sheer danger implied by his own words.

And the thought of it made Veyrath almost incandescent with rage. But before he could respond, Aureleah suddenly spoke for the first time since their journey.

"Why didn’t you say anything before?"

Her voice was calm, far too calm for such a situation.

The silver-haired Assassin had remained mostly silent throughout their journey to the cave. Although she had harboured doubts about Aelric and his intentions, she had never considered them sufficient reason to trouble or inconvenience him with her scrutiny and observations.

After all, he was their only path toward becoming fully fledged Etheryeans.

For that reason alone, she had simply kept to herself, maintaining her vigilance while focusing on the purpose of their journey.

But now, after hearing Aelric casually imply, albeit indirectly, that the place he had brought them to had once been home to a pack of Animas, even Aureleah decided that this was perhaps an appropriate time to speak her mind.

"Why didn’t you say anything before?" she repeated, her tone cold and indifferent.

Even beneath the golden radiance of Kaeloris’ Lantern, Aureleah seemed to carry an aura of death and gloom, the dark Cloak wrapped around her only amplifying that impression of her.

Had she not been a member of their cohort, the others might genuinely have wondered whether she was human at all. In that moment, she looked less like a young woman and more like some wraith dragged from the deepest reaches of some abyss and unleashed upon the earth; simply put, she looked more like a harbinger of death cloaked in silver hair.

When Aelric turned toward her, he almost shivered but this was not an instinctive reacyion pertaining to fear. Rather, it was because of the chilling presence she emanated.

There was something unnervingly oppressive about Aureleah’s presence. And that feeling only served to deepen Aelric’s already considerable aversion toward assassins, cementing it into something far more concrete.

"Excuse me?" Aelric asked, blinking. "I don’t understand what you’re trying to say."

And, strangely enough, he wasn’t lying.

When he had begun telling his story, all of them had been invested in it and their sudden transformation, from attentive listeners into a group of tense, almost hostile individuals, was something that genuinely perplexed him.

He couldn’t understand what he had done wrong nor could he figure out why they were suddenly looking at him as though he had committed some grave offense that he himself wasn’t even aware of.

Aureleah stared at him for several moments.

Her silver eyes seemed to pierce straight through his emerald ones, searching for even the slightest trace of deception.

"Do you not know?" She asked slowly, continuing in that same cold voice. "Or are you pretending not to know?"

She didn’t wait for Aelric to answer.

"Before you brought us here, why didn’t you tell us that this cave was home to a pack of Animas? At the very least, we could have prepared ourselves accordingly."

Her expression remained impassive, but there was an unmistakable edge of suspicion in her eyes.

It was only after hearing those words that everything finally clicked in Aelric’s mind. For several seconds, he simply stared at them. Then, he bursted into a full blown laughter.

His laughter was so unrestrained and unhinged that his entire body shook with it. He bent slightly forward, clutching his stomach as though he had just heard the funniest joke in existence.

The reaction was so abrupt that it left everyone else staring at him in bewilderment.

They had expected some kind of explanation. Instead, they received another fit of laughter.

Even Aureleah’s brows furrowed in contemplation as she couldn’t figure out the reason behind his sudden action.

Eventually, Aelric’s laughter began to die down. After coughing out a few lingering guffaws, he finally straightened himself.

"I get it now." A wide grin stretched across his face as he looked at the eight of them. "You guys are concerned about the fact that I said this place used to be the home of a pack of Animas, aren’t you?"

"Huh?" Valmyr stared at him. "Shouldn’t we be?"

The bulky youth exchanged a bewildered glance with Aelric before continuing.

"I mean, Animas might be small fries to you, perhaps, but don’t forget that we’re still Awakeners. Therefore, they’re a big deal to us."

Aelric nodded before replying. "I know."

"You know?" Caelestra asked, her expression twisting into one of utter incredulity.

She released a sharp snort before adding. "If you knew, you wouldn’t have brought us here without telling us first."

Her gaze suddenly sharpened, becoming fierce and almost accusatory.

"In fact, I’m beginning to wonder whether part of the reason you brought us here was simply to use us as bait or for some other nefarious reasons."

"Okay. Firstly, that’s an outrageous line of reasoning and I’m not someone like that." Aelric pointed at Caelestra incredulously.

Caelestra simply folded her arms without replying. However, her eyes now held a hint of skepticism and wariness in them. It might be something weird and uncalled for but at this stage, it seems like the failed Merchant simply wasn’t having that.

"Secondly, I’m not a fool who would deliberately lead you guys into danger."

Aelric continued, turning toward the rest of the group.

"Did you actually think I would bring you all the way out here without considering the contingencies involved?"

"What do you mean?"

Finally, Regaleon spoke.

Despite the ongoing commotion around him, the silver-haired Knight had remained silent.

It wasn’t because he was oblivious to what was happening nor was it because he wasn’t concerned.

Rather, he simply trusted that Aelric wouldn’t have brought them all the way out here only to suddenly place them in mortal danger.

Part of the reason for that belief was simple.

Judging by everything Aelric had displayed thus far, it was obvious that the green-eyed youth was considerably stronger than any of them.

If Aelric truly intended to do something sinister to them, Regaleon had no doubt that none of them would be capable of stopping him so there would have been no reason for him to go through such an elaborate process merely to lure them into a cave.

Furthermore, even if Aelric did intend to harm them, there had to be a motive. And as far as Regaleon knew, they were neither acquainted with Aelric nor connected to him in any meaningful way.

They possessed no treasures worth coveting, nor did they hold enough significance to warrant such an elaborate scheme.

So why would Aelric suddenly decide to harm them?

There was simply no logical reason.

Besides, Aelric was someone who volunteered to help them of his own accord, something he had done once. And it is because of all these reasons that Regaleon simply hadn’t been bothered; at least not unless Aelric gives him a reason to.

Therefore, when Aelric casually revealed that the cave had once been home to a pack of Animas, Regaleon had remained calm.

He hadn’t interrupted nor panicked. Instead, he had simply waited.

Because beneath all the strange behaviour, eccentric laughter, and inexplicable remarks, Regaleon believed there was a reason Aelric had brought them here despite the danger the others thought could be associated with the place and that is all he wanted to hear...