Azure Dune, Chapter 6 - GRAY

“Ha! I knew it! You were just throwing a little hissy fit back then! Like a little brat!” Ellen declared as she poked Xeron in the chest.

Xeron was not amused as indicated by her annoyed frown.

“I wasn’t a little brat. I just didn’t know better at the time. Watching through Azure gave me perspective.”

“Uh huh. In other words, you were just a little brat back then, but now you grew up all thanks to mommy Azure.”

Even after all these years, Ellen still somehow found a way to make me feel embarrassed. And not just me. Clearly, Ellen’s presence was a little too much even for the ancient being known as Xeron.

“This is nice and all, but let’s not get distracted,” Devon declared, before frowning in Xeron’s direction. “I don’t think I fully trust you, but I do trust Azure. If he… uhm, if they say you can be trusted, then I will defer to their judgment.”

I gave a small smile.

“Thanks, Devon.”

“Aww, don’t be such a grumpy pants, Devon! An old enemy has joined our party, isn’t that exciting?”

The man sighed. “As I said, let’s not get distracted. We are still in the middle of enemy territory and our time is limited.” He turned to me and Xeron. “With the help of you two, however, we have a much better shot at stopping the corruption. We just need to find the core.”

“Yeah yeah. Gotta save the world again. Gotcha.” Ellen rolled her eyes. “Well, let’s get going then!”

With a round of nods, our new party set off. With my purification, Xeron’s corruption absorption, Ellen’s golden aura enchantment, and Devon’s dedicated defending, we progressed much quicker than before. But we were still low on time, so we couldn’t wait for Trevor to reunite with us.

We couldn’t be sure where Xeron’s daughter’s core lay but decided to head to the obvious location first. Ghalla Mountain up north, the old resting place of Xeron’s core.

Unfortunately, it was still several days worth of walking away, so after the sun went down, we had to settle down and spend the night resting. Luckily for us, Xeron didn’t need to sleep and could keep the corruption at bay while we rested. Although, because Devon still didn’t really trust her, we still ended up with a rotating night watch.

In the morning, we set off again while continuing to chat. I couldn’t stop smiling as I listened to Ellen babble about this and that.

But then… I asked about the elephant in the room.

“So where is Julia nowadays? You didn’t mention her as a part of the defending party this time.”

The two immediately went silent and stopped in their tracks. Devon’s expression turned into one of grief and even Ellen suddenly looked solemn. It only took me a second to realize what they were hinting at.

“No way…” I muttered as I looked between the two.

I didn’t want to believe it but… it also made sense. It had been several decades since we had last met, after all. We were all quite old at this point. It would have been stranger if we had all survived.

“She…” Devon began as he closed his eyes. “She did find her sister in the end, you know? Only a couple of years after you left, in fact. But… Well, we all wished she never did.” He shook his head.

“Her sis was sick with something. Very dangerous, very contagious, no known cure. Julia contracted it and… well…”

My heart fell.

It wasn’t even old age. Julia died because of some random unknown illness.

That… happened, I supposed. But it felt wrong. A member of the hero’s party shouldn’t die to just anything… and yet she had.

“I see…” I said, my throat dry.

It wasn’t the first time that I’d had to face the death of a loved one. But that didn’t lessen the blow at all. It made me feel guilty that I hadn’t been there for her. Could my magic have cured the unknown illness? Maybe. Maybe not.

Unfortunately, there was no time to grieve right now. We were still on a tight time limit.

And so, we continued on, this time in a somber silence. The mood didn’t last long, however. Ellen soon started talking about other things again, clearly trying to cheer me up. It was working, although it still didn’t make the pain go away.

A couple of days of walking later, and our senses picked up on a familiar Aether behind us.

“Well, would ya look at that! Took you a while, old man!” Ellen yelled at the approaching space mage behind us.

The ‘old man’ in question scowled as he flew toward us, briefly eyeing Xeron again, before turning to Ellen in annoyance.

“I got ambushed,” he said as a way of explaining.

“Excuses, excuses! Anyway, we’re finally all together again! With the original hero party reunited, nothing can stop us!” Ellen cheered.

Nobody pointed out the missing party member, nor did anyone try to insinuate that Xeron had replaced her.

A few more days of walking later, and we made it to our destination.

The Ghalla Mountain was half covered in snow and half in dark pulsating tendrils, giving it an odd black-and-white look. We could all sense the concentration of corrupted Aether coming from inside.

While we hadn’t been completely sure before, this more or less confirmed it.

The core of Xeron’s daughter was inside.