Surprisingly, it didn’t take Andomiel long to circumnavigate the bookshelves and cases, Urd covering the middle, Fenris and Tempest covering the rear.
“Why the heck did those three seem so cautious down here? Even in the dark it’s a cinch to walk around…,” even though Andomiel said that, the rest of the group didn’t relax their weapons.
“ANDOMIEL!!! GET DOWN!!!” Pharda screamed.
And a hail of books launched themselves like bullets toward the group, Andomiel was able to side-step a few, and the rest met his sword. Urd simply ducked and rolled out of the way, while Fenris and Tempest hacked and cleaved their way through the storm of books to Pharda and the Silent man.
“They said ‘reading was fundamental’ I didn’t know they were dead serious about it!!!” Urd said, and using her nigh-inhuman speed, used a couple flying books like stepping stones, jumped, and flipped her way past the bookshelf.
Urd looked directly at the Silent cloaked man, and one gleam in his eye told her to step aside.
“Enough!!!” And with a single solitary swipe of his massive blade, the bookshelf was cut to pieces, with a pile of papers and bindery broken on the floor.
“The books…they stopped attacking?” Andomiel said in surprise.
As the group met together passed the pile of book ‘corpses’ Pharda spoke, “I know he didn’t mention it before, but his name’s Strife, he’s going to join us for a while, he’s a master swordsman, and we could use the help.”
“What make’s you think we’ll trust you?” Urd snapped. “You almost cleaved me!!”
Strife stepped forward, walked past Urd, then looked directly at Andomiel and Tempest, “You need training...”
And then he walked out, leaving behind the mixed reactions that filled the room.
The only one who wasn’t dumbfounded, smiling in laughter, or growling in contempt was Tempest.
“Why…does he remind me so much of my father…?”
As they left the Library, Pharda let them in on the plan, “We’re going to find the Light Shrine; I don’t know where that is, but I think we could probably say that it’s safe to assume it’s near Alexandria, since that’s where we found the first shard.”
“We could take the route east back through the forest.” Fenris suggested.
“No. Too dangerous, even if we find the moogle cave, we could still end up lost there.”
“You seem to know your way around, Strife, why don’t you suggest where we should go…,” Andomiel suggested.
“We can head north through the black magic forest...it circumnavigates the snowfly forest, but a trail has already been cut through.”
“I’d say that’s an excellent idea,” Fenris added, “We may have a longer walk, but at least we won’t get lost.”
“It’s not that easy, we’ll probably run into a few behemoths along the way...,”
Andomiel gave Strife a dark look, “We barely escaped a herd of them in the Snowfly Forest, what makes you think we can get through…,”
“Don’t worry, I’ll cover you, besides, you all need the training.”
“Training he says, sheesh…,”
The march through the Black Magic Forest was pretty straightforward, any large beasts that presented any trouble were dealt with in military like fashion under Strife’s guidance.
“Keep your guard up when it charges, dodge, and strike!”
“Easy for you to say, you’ve been at it for years!” Urd wheezed. Out of breath from all the running she’d done, but the work seemed to be paying off, her Tower was slightly easier to carry around, now that her arms had gotten stronger.
“Do you think I had a choice, I was a member of S.O.L.D.I.E.R., you don’t get to complain in training like that.”
Any monster that presented more than the usual trouble for the braves was quickly dispatched by Strife, but then Strife proceeded to explain why it was more difficult, and how to combat such insanely tough creatures.
“Keep your blade up!! Steady, steady, now cleave!!”
Andomiel seemed to learn quickly under the guidance of this new addition to the party, although technically, he wasn’t considered a Zodiac Brave, even Pharda seemed to be pretty taken with him.
A massive Earth Eater came charging down the path, swinging its large fists and gnashing its tremendous teeth.
“Oh boy, here comes a tough one…,” Fenris cried.
“Not if you know where to strike, aim at its belly...,”
Fenris dove quickly to avoid the flurry of fists and claw swipes of the creature, and thrust his spear in the said area.
The sudden lifting jolt from Fenris’ spear flipped the Earth eater on its back, leaving it wide open.
“Everyone attack now, while it’s on its back!!”
A few slashes, stabs, and slices later, and the creature expired.
“I guess that goes to show, that every creature, big or small, has its weaknesses.” Pharda said proudly, “That means that probably she’s got a weakness.”
“Don’t get too cocky, boy, she’s more powerful than that...”
“Say…,” Andomiel said suspiciously, “How would you know how she fights? Unless you saw her in action, and I don’t think she takes to battles in open public.”
“I don’t really think it matters, Andomiel,” Pharda said in Strife’s defense, “She’s a menace and that’s all there is to it.”
“Still…, I think it rather odd that a man with a huge cracked Buster Sword and a red cloak covering his face knows about her, what’s he got to hide, anyway?”
Very quickly, before anyone could say anything else, Strife grasped Andomiel’s shoulder and slammed him up against a tree, one hand pinning him there while the other held his massive sword limply.
“Do you want to know where I’ve been, boy? I’ve been rotting in a hell that no one knows about, and God help me, never will. I hide my face, yes, but that is for your sake, not mine.”
Andomiel gulped as the Adamantine grip placed on his shoulder was released, but he noted looking into Strife’s visage, scars that stretched like a jagged puzzle down his face. He could only imagine what Strife’s true face looked like, and that made him shudder.
As they followed the trail they were obstructed by a wall of massive trees.
“What the? How are we supposed to get through this? We can’t even go around.” Urd complained.
“No way around? We find a way through...”
And with that, Strife strode up to the wall of tree trunks and touched them with a finger, and what happened next appeared to be a…ripple effect?
Strife’s eyes smirked at the open-mouthed group, and then he disappeared behind the of façade of trees.
“W-where did he go?” Urd asked dumb-founded.
“Through…,” Tempest said catching on, and soon she followed him, and was gone.
