Monsters Uprising

Sief's vision still trembled as he saw Edgar maintaining his smile. A gentle breeze blew over the two, while Sief remained frozen, incredulous at what stood before him. Edgar slowly moved his face to observe the blade.

"Nice new weapon, but..." He turned back to Sief and said, "You didn’t need to show me like that."

Sief’s eyes widened, and his body gave way as he staggered backward, lowering his head slightly, dizzy from it all.

When he looked down, his hands trembled from the pain, the marks from the shackles still visible. He opened his hand, squeezing his eyes shut as he muttered.

“I-I wasn’t—” The blade retracted back into the bracelet with a dry sound, and Sief turned his gaze aside. “Trying to...”

“I’m just messing with you,” Edgar interrupted with a slight smile, placing a hand on Sief’s head. “I saw you falling. Are you okay?”

Sief nodded, still squinting his eyes, this time trying to adjust his vision, which had blurred since the smoke, but slowly he got used to it and began to notice some differences.

Edgar now wore armor in bronze tones, without pauldrons, and with iron bracers that seemed designed for striking. He still wore pants but had silver greaves, looking quite different from before, though with the same smile and the same sword on his back.

“Yes... I... I’m sorry.”

“For not sending the letters?”

“N-No...” Sief gave an awkward smile, then quickly looked away, dropping the smile again. “For almost...”

“Don’t worry, you wouldn’t have hit me even if I were asleep.” Edgar chuckled, looking at the hole Sief had made. “I got the basic gist, but I didn’t think they’d go that far. They even used a hidden floor of the guild to do this.”

Sief tilted his head back, seeing the wall he had smashed through a few meters above, with a small hole he had used to break through.

He frowned slightly, raising his arms to see that while he had rid himself of the chains, the shackles remained. Edgar noticed this, raising both eyebrows before moving his hand away from Sief’s head and turning around.

“Come with me. We’ll take care of this. If they see that on you, you won’t be able to leave the city.” He walked, glancing back to see Sief still staring at his shackles.

“Leave the city?” Sief pressed his arm under the shackle, feeling how tightly it was bound, frowning.

“You coming, Sifritt?” Edgar called with a slight smile. Sief widened his eyes, but soon nodded and followed.

The two walked along a path without a road, making Sief realize that outside the guild territory, there were still pieces of white stone mixed with the grass. He sighed in relief, concluding that had he hit the ground directly, the damage would have been much worse.

Looking to the sides, Sief noticed the sound of flowing water nearby. As they approached, a river revealed itself, running toward the source in the central city.

Again, he glanced at Edgar, who continued calmly. Sief raised an eyebrow but, finally, they reached the riverbank, where Sief observed the other side, seeing a small patch of land covered in trees in the middle of the river.

Sief watched curiously but soon saw Edgar crouch, as red markings overcame his clothing and armor, making Sief notice they seemed slightly larger and more pronounced.

The ground sank, and Sief’s eyes widened when suddenly, Edgar leapt, shooting towards the trees and disappearing among them, leaving only the rustling leaves behind as Sief watched in disbelief.

‘I don’t know if he does that to be fast or to show off.’ He lowered his eyebrows slightly, then noticed some tall stones in the middle of the river. ‘Should I be doing that?’

Still uncertain, Sief ran and jumped, landing on the stones, hopping from one to another until, in just a few jumps, he reached the patch of land, which resembled more of a small forest.

He raised both eyebrows and proceeded, already feeling the ground tremble as if something massive had been felled. Soon another tremor followed, and when he reached the middle of the small forest, Sief saw Edgar with trees at his feet, though slightly distant from one another.

Still unaware of Sief’s presence, Edgar raised his sword to the sky. Sief noticed it seemed more polished than before, but still appeared blunt.

The red markings climbed up Edgar’s arms and then transferred to his sword, which quickly descended, sinking into the wood and separating it from its leaves, leaving only much of the trunk.

The swordsman repeated the process with another tree, and Sief watched, lowering his eyebrows before speaking up.

“Look, man... I’m glad to see you made it across the territories and seem well, but I...”

“‘I have to find my sister,’” Edgar said with a slight smile, looking at Sief, who raised an eyebrow. “How do I know? Well, you were captured, and you’re not with her yet. She’s not here... so your journey isn’t over.”

“So you know... you understand I can’t waste time.” He looked at the shackles on his wrists and finally frowned, placing a finger on the metal and trying to force it off. “I’d love to talk, but I need to find her...”

“Then you don’t know where she is, do you?”

Edgar’s words, said with a slight smile, drew Sief’s attention, making him lower his eyes slightly.

Still maintaining a calm expression, Edgar tapped the side of the trunk next to him twice.

“Let’s just exchange some information. It won’t take long. You also seem tired and must’ve spent most of your energy on that. Besides...” He sighed, still facing the assassin, who slightly raised his head. “I want to know how you’re doing, Sifritt. It’s been a while.”

Sief moved his fingers away from the shackles, seeing that Edgar still called him to sit by his side. The assassin gave a long sigh, walking slowly and finally sitting next to Edgar, who gave a bigger but still calm smile as he asked.

“So, what happened?”

As the conversation continued, time passed, and the twilight of the evening began to arrive, the wind slowing its breath.

Inside the small forest between the rivers, the two remained by the same trunk, with Edgar’s face turned toward Sief, who was concluding, looking ahead.

“So that’s how I managed to escape.” Sief sighed and finally closed his eyes, letting his hands go behind him, supporting his body as it leaned back slightly. “It was still all very strange, that guy Tulla calling me brother and these abilities showing up even though I couldn’t create others before, but in the end, that’s what saved me twice… so… I guess that weird monster wasn’t so crazy after all.”

“If they arrested you for supposedly being involved with the monster, now they’re sure there’s something more, but I didn’t think Astrad would go that far.” Edgar turned forward, squeezing both of his cheeks. “Is he scared? That guy?”

“Even if he was around, I don’t think the guild provided a whole prison just to keep me.” Sief scratched his neck with a frown. “Why does a guild even have a prison, anyway?”

“Maybe it wasn’t just him, but not many people know.” Edgar gave a slight smile and stood up, stretching as he finally said, “At least that’s what I managed to figure out before finding you.”

“And how did you find me, by the way?”

“It was a friend from Forta.” Edgar gave a slight smile, and Sief raised an eyebrow. “She had left some time before you arrived, and I saw her in the infirmary. She explained what happened and described a grumpy boy who looked a lot like you, so I searched there, hoping to find you, but in the end, I didn’t find anything.”

Sief narrowed his eyebrows slightly and finally tilted his head to the side.

“So that’s all?”

“No, I asked some people who were around, and some really saw you. But since you weren’t in the infirmary and there were no deaths, I figured something might have happened, so I looked for you in the city.” He shrugged and finally said, “Kujura also didn’t hand you a letter directly, so—”

“Wait, no one died?” Sief frowned in disbelief. “What about that big woman? Ylda.”

“About that, apparently her item managed to keep her alive... The item consumed her own blood to keep her body trying to regenerate, and because of that, she survived...” Edgar crossed his arms and sighed with a more serious expression. “But she hasn’t woken up yet. She looks very weak and doesn’t even seem alive, but according to some healers... she is…”

Remembering the item on Ylda’s head, Sief narrowed his eyes slightly and recalled.

‘It was like... the draconate…’

For a brief moment, he remembered the draconate’s body completely drained of blood. Sief scratched his chin but then squeezed his eyes shut as he concluded.

“But either way, that guy made it seem like my sister was with them. I don’t even know why… but I have to find her before Astrad does…”

“You think she’s with Tulla because he mentioned ‘her’ without specifying if it was Beatrice?”

“What other option do I have?” Sief rested his fist on his cheek and finally said, “If Astrad lied to me about her, at worst, this Tulla might at least have a clue. I have to find him somehow, but the way things are, I doubt I’ll find him before Astrad.”

Edgar listened attentively and finally scratched his chin, watching as Sief stood up and once again tried to force the shackle on his arm, realizing that it was still firmly attached.

Slowly, he raised his head and finally saw Edgar looking more serious than before, still maintaining the same posture but seeming distant and thoughtful.

“Aren’t you scared?”

Sief’s question surprised Edgar, who turned back to the boy, placing both hands on his waist and finally moving his face slightly to the side.

“Scared of what?”

“This change.” Sief once again released the shackles, realizing he couldn’t break them with just his strength, and finally leaned forward. “I don’t know anything about this, but this shift in nature, along with that purple aura, was enough to make the probably strongest adventurer want to imprison me. It seems like he did it out of fear, like you said... so… aren’t you afraid?”

“Afraid?” Edgar crossed his arms, staying silent for a few seconds before finally smiling and shaking his head. “Not even a little.”

“Really?” Sief raised both eyebrows and then lowered them with a frown. “I know you’re a bit crazy, but this is—”

“You’re the one who’s crazy. It’s like you don’t even remember.” Edgar raised one eyebrow, staring at him in confusion. “I know who you are. If even you’re not afraid, why should I be? I’m stronger.”

“But… it’s not… about that…” Sief scratched the back of his neck, lowering his head awkwardly, slowly glancing at the marks of injuries on his hands. He squeezed them lightly, grunting and shaking his hand, trying to rid himself of the pain. “It’s not that simple…”

“You don’t know what’s happening, but that doesn’t change who you are.” He pressed his cheeks again, looking up as he said, “If your fear is becoming who Tulla wants you to be, just stay in control. You only gave that Vetra guy control when you didn’t know what to do, so try to keep your feet on the ground. They must have noticed you disappeared, but if there’s no unusual movement, that means only a few people knew about you, so—”

Edgar lowered his head to look at Sief, who remained downcast, sighing slightly as he still stared at his wounded hands.

The swordsman lowered his hands and gave a soft smile, approaching Sief and finally resting his hand on the boy’s head, causing him to look up.

“I trust you, Sifritt. If you don’t want to use these new abilities, I support you. We can work something out by tomorrow.” He continued smiling, and Sief raised one eyebrow. “I’ve got a better plan than roaming from territory to territory looking for your sister, but you’ll need to be ready to run at any moment. But I think it’ll be a great idea. Trust me? What do you say?”

Sief observed Edgar, who still wore a smile and a confident expression. Slowly, he closed his eyes, puffed out his chest, and let out a long, heavy sigh as he brushed Edgar’s hand away from his hair.

“I already told you, it’s Sief.” He raised his head with a slight smile. “What choice do I have?... What’s the plan?”