For someone who was so adventurous, Voltairine turned out to be surprisingly well read. We spoke at length about some of our favorite books on our flight back to the desert where Adamora waited for me. She seemed to favor the classic tales such as The Bumblebee's Voyage and Talib's Arrow. We spoke most enthusiastically of the Champions of Resta, which we both agreed was a compelling tale, although she expressed some disappointment in the book's lack of raciness.vIt taught me something of Garanda and Adaling that I didn't know, which I found rather helpful. For all of our effort to stop them from doing Maula's work, they had been in contact with her regardless without our knowledge.
I rarely spoke of this particular story due to my own portrayal within, which I would characterize to this day as embarrassing, but rather accurate for the time. In Voltairine's company, however, it was was easier to talk about due to the comfort she had shown with my tale so far. Even though I was mentioned by name, she had some difficulty believing that I could have been among those referred to in a story that had, at that point, happened nearly sixty years previously. However, when I finally convinced her of the truth, and my age, she did not regard me with the same judgement I had been used to, but interest. The resulting deluge of questions carried us through the rest of our journey.
When we arrived in our pre-arranged meeting place, however, Adamora was nowhere to be found. Searching through the room she staying in at an Oasis hotel, we found all of her possessions left behind, but no signs of a struggle or message indicating her intent to leave. The negative assumption that she had been compelled by Adaling to betray me quickly followed my realization she was gone before Voltairine reminded me of my need to trust her. However, in the absence of any clues regarding her location in a more uncertain position than before. In desperation, I decided to fly to the only person who's usually apprised of her location. I didn't know what I expected to learn from visiting Kartal once again, but my senseless decision was rewarded.
It seems that despite his promises to leave Adamora her space, Kartal had his own means of keeping watch over her from afar--most probably through his new connections with the Goodwill Company. He already knew that she had been taken from Marble Desert and back into Resta by an unidentified Midanian man who I was certain must be Flinbek. Within our own kingdom, it became even simpler to track her specific location deep in the north. She was found to be held captive within the mysterious Greyview Cemetery, a location I confess to having some fascination with. Enshrined among the graves of were the remains of the forebears of my house, the Maloran family. Dwindling as we are, I often take the time to appreciate this standing reminder of a time in which we were plentiful in number.
When the Goodwill Company's ship made land near Northcoast Tower, they rode quickly for Greyview, but I saw no need to waste such time. Out of concern for Adamora, Kartal joined us on my sky rug so that we could get there with all possible haste. When we arrived, we immediately began to feel an unnatural chill in the air one might associate with the ghostly phenomena that are said to occur in the region close to midday. This was despite the fact that we arrived close to dusk, which I felt was a symptom of Flinbek's presence. As we explored the graveyard, my concern was confirmed when I came face to face with the strange young ravager. He had lured me into a trapped tomb that separated me from my companions with the specific intent of getting me alone. I was quick to teach him how poorly considered this decision had to have been.
Once plied into a more compliant mood, the boy revealed that Garanda was outside, wandering the cemetery. He had come to reunite with his sister--my cousin--with the intent of overpowering Adamora's control over Adaling. When I asked why he was so interested in me, he responded that of everyone alive, I was the only one Garanda considered to be a mortal threat. I had to ask him to repeat himself to be certain I'd heard him properly.
"You've tried so hard to repress him that he's gained a reputation that causes him to invoke fear from the shadows," he explained to me upon being compelled to elaborate. "You understand his true nature better than anyone alive and still you run to him! And he knows you well enough to know how far you'll go to defeat him! You hate him! Nobody else can say that!"
While the truth in his words was immediately apparent, I felt chilled by these words nonetheless. How far would I go to stop Garanda? It was a question I had not considered before. I only thought of the inevitability of my opposition to the Demon Knight. Everything he had done with my hands had simply inflicted the responsibility for his violence upon me as far as I was concerned. It was then that I admitted to Flinbek that what he said was correct. Until I could avenge those he killed and redeem the mistakes I made while I lived in fear of him, I saw no worth in my own life. So why not devote my entire life to seeing him cast as far from all life as possible?
As Flinbek had not planned to survive our encounter, he didn't even bother to include a means of escape with his trap, but it didn't matter. Using the enhanced strength of my silverfist form, I blasted through walls with the intensity of my former Boomfist persona and left Flinbek to find my fully realized enemy. By the time I had escaped, however, I had found no one outside save Kartal and Voltairine. The former was sprawled on the ground critically injured while the latter was demonstrating a previously unknown healing talent to help him. She explained that Garanda had found them first and attempted to kill them. Kartal fought back with a nearly even force worthy of the legend he had built for himself during the Archknight Rebellion, but Garanda proved to be his better that day after a considerable effort. The only thing that saved him was Voltairine's use of magic on his temporarily weakened body.
When Voltairine made sufficient progress in healing Kartal, we revived him and continued our search for Adamora. Reasoning that Flinbek would aim to keep me as far from Garanda's intended meeting place as possible, we started our search on the western side of the ruins. There we found my cousin lying unconscious in a different tomb.
Although Adamora appeared unharmed, I was chilled once again to learn that her sparesoul had been stolen.
Continue to Part 15
Continue to Part 15
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