Zectas Volume IV: The Salubrious City of Centzo (27 page)

In the same way, Smoke read the letter out loud for Sierra's benefit. After he finished reading, he looked at her with curious eyes. "Do you think Horrabelle was working for this High General so that she could revive her sisters?"
"I don't know. But whatever her reason was, one thing is clear. Whoever this High General is, he is most definitely dangerous," said Sierra ominously.
Smoke looked at her with a peaceful heart. He feared for her safety when Horrabelle was alive, but with the Witch gone, he had nothing else to fear. This was why he would not let this knowledge dampen his bright disposition.
"Let's just deal with that when it happens," he said positively. "Let me just check on Igniz."
Smoke's eyes turned white as he used his Symbiote Vision. Through Igniz's eyes, he saw Macher lead a group of his Knights pass through a maze-like obstacle course and into the forest patch where the surviving Vigilantez were running into.
As Igniz changed directions, he then saw other Cavalry Knights exit the destroyed wall of the earth-dome. They were headed towards Braucht Hilfe village.
As he surveyed the battlefield, Smoke saw the black and silver metallic rocks scattered on the ground. The rocks were out of his reach, but since he was going to dig a tunnel to escape anyway, he decided to take a quick detour.
He told Sierra that he was going to start digging a tunnel towards their comrades' location. He conveniently mapped a route that enabled him to pick up the black and silver metallic rocks. He made tunnels towards the surface, and made holes that brought down the rocks. He hurriedly closed the holes as soon as Smoke got the magnetic prerequisites.
The two of them steadily headed to the agreed Vigilantez's assembly point. Smoke and Sierra crawled silently as he led the way with his Digger's Wand, creating more tunnel as they moved forward.
 

* * * * * * 

Six hours after their battle in the plains of Braucht Hilfe Village, the Vigilantez survivors gathered in their temporary hideout in Mount Vorteil.
Originally, their strike force had more than four thousand members. Now, they only had a little over two-thousand-nine-hundred members and a hundred war chariots left.
On the bright side, none of Smoke's core members got critically injured during their confrontation with Horrabelle's army.
Exhausted and beaten down, their morale was at an all time low. Until, two figures emerged out from the shadows. Smoke and Sierra arrived with the great news. The sacrifices of their fallen comrades were not in vain. Their two leaders announced that they finally killed Horrabelle.
All the core members immediately ran to meet them.
Adder shook Smoke's hand. "So, you finally put an end to the Witches of Wysteria."
"We did, but you should be congratulating Sierra for that," replied Smoke as he pointed to her. "She's the one who finished her off."
"I knew it!" exclaimed Sharur who ran to Sierra and congratulated her. "I knew you'd be the one to do it."
Despite Sharur's OrkElf height, Sierra still stood taller than him. She patted her on the shoulders and smiled.
"Thanks, Sharur, but Smoke did most of the work. I only delivered the final blow," she replied modestly.
"Now, don't be like that. Tell us more," persisted Sharur and most of the core members joined in on his request.
Smoke then took out three blood vials from his backpack. Sierra had returned them to him for safekeeping, as her cursed form made it difficult for her to carry such precious cargo.
"We'll tell you more about Horrabelle's battle later, but right now I need to talk to the rest of the Vigilantez," he said with a serious but joyful expression.
He gathered his fellow guild members. "Everyone, let me just say that all of you fought bravely and brilliantly. I am deeply honored and proud to be called a Vigilantez."
"Many of our brothers and sisters bravely sacrificed their lives today, but it was for a noble cause," he said somberly. "Let us offer a moment of silence in their honor."
Everybody immediately placed their fist over their hearts and bowed down their heads. After a few seconds Smoke spoke to them once more.
"Their valiant deaths were not in vain. Because of them, we finally killed the last Witch of Wysteria," he said brimming with pride. "We've permanently stopped Horrabelle from capturing any more children for her experiments and most importantly, Sierra and our other cursed members have finally found a cure."
At once all of the gathered Vigilantez cheered, except for one winged Tikbalang. Smoke immediately ordered to make the necessary preparations for the casting circle that Sierra told him.
While they were working on with completing the ritual, Ledur walked up to Smoke.
"I just wanted to tell you that you have been an honorable leader. You've always taken into consideration the lives of all our members, but as this is war, lives will always be lost," he said regrettably. "Despite this, no matter what happens next, my Tikbalang brothers and I will remain loyal to your righteous cause," said Ledur sincerely.
Smoke was taken aback. He had noticed that Ledur kept to himself the last few weeks and barely spoke to anyone at all. Sure, he was still friendly with everyone, but his responses were always less than two words or none at all.
"Well, I'm glad you feel that way. I always value your opinion, and if you think that I'm wrong please feel free to tell me. I have no qualms with listening to reason," replied Smoke with admiration.
Before, Smoke only looked up to one Zectian, and that was Darius. Now, he looked up to three. Adder and Ledur were added to that short list, and he made sure to show them proper respect.
Ledur patted Smoke's shoulder with his hoof and went to his fellow Tikbalangs. It looked like he was going to have a long discussion with them about the ritual.
Meanwhile, Phen and Rear, her gray and black Beta Werewolves, went over to meet with Sierra.
"Excuse me, Alpha Sierra. Can we speak with you candidly?" asked Rear, and she pointed to the quiet gray Werewolf who stood beside her.
"Of course," replied Sierra enthusiastically. "I bet you're excited to return to normal, right?"
"Actually, that is the very topic we would like to discuss with you," said Rear flatly.
Sierra didn't understand her Werewolf lieutenants. "What do you mean?"
Phen bowed his head and Rear followed shortly.
"We've talked with the other Werewolves, and forty of us have come to the same decision," stated Rear plainly. "We will not take part in the ritual."
"What?" Sierra growled loudly as they were talking in Therianthrope tongue and came out as growls and grunts to a non Therianthrope. "Isn't this what we've been fighting for?"
"It was one of the reasons," said Rear as she began her explanation. "But then we realized that if we lose our Werewolf bodies, we could no longer fight with the same strength for the Vigilantez."
Rear continued to voice out their reason. "We think that it was Cuezaltzin's divine intervention that turned us into Werewolves. You personally have seen the difference we've made in Zectas. Our cursed forms have saved plenty of people and we will not stop now."
Sierra shook her head and would not allow it.
Phen nudged Rear in the back, and the black Werewolf added more reasons to support their wish to remain as Werewolves.
"Also, Vrai and Ardu have both been magnificent Werebears," she said with admiration at the young Therianthropes. "In your absence, they managed to convert more than two-hundred of Horrabelle's Werewolves into our pack."
Despite the good news, Sierra's face remained unchanged.
"If you put that into consideration, then forty of us who will remain as Werewolves will not matter as much," said Rear with a strained voice. "Of course, Vrai and Ardu will join the ritual, and Rear and I will take command of your Werewolves."
Again, Sierra shook her head after she heard Rear's statement.
"Alpha Sierra, please. Think of the Vigilantez with a diminished attack power," Rear begged Sierra to reconsider. "And we still have a long way to go before we free Centzo and kill Duke Burmistrz."
"If your concern is the lowered attack strength of the Vigilantez, then why don't you talk with Smoke," said Sierra with uncertainty. "If he's fine with you remaining as Werewolves, then I won't say anything else in the matter."
"Thank you, Alpha Sierra," said Rear. The two large Werewolves knelt down before her.
Rear stood up and awkwardly asked the red Werebear a favor. "Mm. You won't mind translating for us, would you? We can understand him, but I don't think he can understand us."
"Of course not," said Sierra with a grin. "Why would I mind. I told you, I always have your best interest at heart."
The three of them went to Smoke`, and Sierra spoke for Phen and Rear.
Sierra told Smoke of the Werewolves intention and of how they were concern for the waning strength of the Vigilantez. "...So, that's the gist of it. Well, what do you think?"
Smoke covered his mouth with his index finger, while he pondered on Phen and Rear's point. He already thought about the consequences of losing their Werewolf and Tikbalang forces, but he thought they could be trained into Ranseurs, Arcus or Rangers. Yet, he never considered the fact that some of them wanted to remain in their cursed forms for the sake of fighting for their cause.
A part of him wanted to accept their offer, but he quickly dismissed the idea. He didn't need Sierra to glare at him to tell him that this was wrong.
"I'm sorry, but I won't allow it. As tempting as it sounds, I have to deny your request," said Smoke with finality. "Regardless if you lose your Werewolf abilities, you will still be able to fight for the Vigilantez. It wasn't because of your Werewolf strength that we won, but because of your bravery and determination."
After Smoke gave them his decision, Phen and Rear looked at each other and accepted their defeat. They lowered their heads and respected their orders.
After the preparations were completed; Sierra and Ledur along with two Werebears, two-hundred-eighty-five Werewolves and ninety-six Tikbalangs gathered inside the great casting circle.
Smoke gave Sierra a long, white robe, useable by anyone. It had no special attributes, but it was exactly what Sierra would need after her curse was lifted. Everyone else of the transformed had a similar white robe laid out in front of them.
With their clothing secured, Smoke then placed the Witches' blood vials inside their designated pentagrams and backed away from the casting circle.
With all of the cursed Vigilantez inside, Sierra uttered the words. "Servire Zectas Aeternum. Revertere ad formam Origo."
Instantly, their dimly lit underground hideout was enveloped by a bright red light. A red blood moon appeared above the casting circle. It was steadily growing in size. As the cavern was not big to begin with, it descended upon them and covered all of them whole.
As the red light was extremely bright, Smoke and everybody else covered their eyes. Slowly, the red luminance faded away and left a cloud of dust in its wake.
Several people clothed in long white robes emerged out of the dust. A red-haired HighElf walked over to Smoke. Her long curly hair reached below her shoulders.
She smiled at him nervously and said. "So, what do you think?"
He got used to looking up to see into Sierra's eyes, but now she was shorter than him, the same height in the real world. He grinned at her deep satisfaction. "You know, I think you looked prettier with a little fur on your face."
Sierra instantly scowled and punched him in the chest, but instead of flying away, Smoke remained where he stood. "And your punches have grown a lot weaker too," he said as he pulled her in for a tight hug.
All of the core members watched the two of them from the side. Sharur and Laernea stood right next to each other. The Lioumerean lioness cried tears of joy for Smoke and Sierra, she then saw a tear trickle down Sharur's face.
"You know, it helps to accept that they'll only ever love us as friends," she said to Sharur and patted his shoulder.
Sharur hurriedly wiped his tear away and shrugged off Laernea's hand. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said, and the OrkElf walked away from her.
"No use talking to him about it," said Jinggu, Sharur's twin brother. "You may have dealt with your feelings for Smoke, but he has to go through this on his own. I don't think he will listen to anyone, anyway."
Mamelon stepped away from the core members and went towards Smoke and Sierra. After Smoke, she was the first one to congratulate Sierra from removing the curse.
"A pleasure to finally see the real you, Sierra," she said as she shook her hand.
"Thank you," she said happily and fervently shook Mamelon. "You don't know how good it feels to use my hands instead of claws."
Mamelon stepped aside and Sharur quickly followed after the Aqua Knight.
"I always knew you were amazing, even when you were still a Werebear, but I never knew you were this beautiful," said Sharur and firmly shook her hand.
"Really? Well, thank you for saying that, but I think you're just being very polite," she said self-consciously. It had been over a year in the real world, and she got to know these Zectians really well. Yet, now that her real face was projected out, everything felt different to her.
"I'm sure you'll get tired of seeing my face soon enough," she replied and laughed. Except for Sharur, everyone joined her laughing.
"I'm just being honest," Sharur said sincerely. "In fact, it's clear why Smoke thinks so highly of you."
Before Sharur could say anything else, Laernea pushed the OrkElf aside to give the rest of them some room. The other core members took turns to speak with the curse-free Sierra in her HighElf form.
While his core members were talking to Sierra, Smoke was looking for Ledur. "Rudel? Rudel?" he called out Ledur's name from when he was still a Volataur, a winged Centaur.
Yet, no matter where he looked, the only long robed people he could find where people. None of them were Centaurs.
Then, it dawned on him. The dust inside the casting circle had not yet settled. "Rudel? Are you still inside the casting circle?" he asked apprehensively.
"I'm here, Smoke, but I told you to call me Ledur," replied a winged Tikbalang who stepped out of the dust. He was shortly followed by his Tikbalang brothers.
"Ledur, I'm so sorry. I honestly thought that your curse would be cured by this ritual as well," said Smoke sincerely.
"It's alright," replied Ledur and rested his hoof on Smoke's shoulder. "I was prepared for this, and I told my Tikbalang brothers of the same thing."
Smoke realized that it was from the time when Ledur spoke with the other Tikbalangs before the ritual began.
"But how did you know?" Smoke asked sadly.
"I didn't," said Ledur and sighed. "Like you, I was hopeful as well. But then I knew that lifting my curse wasn't going to be this easy."
As sadness and guilt filled him, Smoke nodded and tears began to swell up in his eyes. He promised them that he would remove their curse, but he failed them instead.
"Fret not," said Ledur. "I still have hope that someday. We will return to our true forms. Until then, I would like to follow my brothers' and try to keep a vow silence."
Ledur smiled at him and patted his DarkElf white hair. He tried to laugh off the tears away.
"So, that's what you were doing?" he asked as he desperately tried to change the topic. "Alright, from now on, I won't try to put you in a situation where you need to talk. Although I wonder how that will go since you're one of our important strategists."