Bacorium Legacy (7 page)

Luca looked around the abandoned town, searching the empty houses for something, anything, to ease his need for answers. And as he passed through the streets, he couldn't help but feel an odd sense of familiarity - despite knowing he had never been through the town of Forga on his travels.

He stopped before a half-standing ruin, unique among the buildings of the town in that it had been burned down. The house stood isolated some distance from the main street, so whatever fire had struck it must have been contained to it. But the fire couldn’t have been related to the disappearance of the villagers - that had happened much later than when the house must have burned.

“Ack…”

Luca’s head suddenly pained him, like he was thinking too hard on something. Part of him wanted to explore that burned ruin, born of some compulsion he couldn’t put his finger on. But he knew he would find nothing there but memories - the memories of similar fires he had seen the day before. And he just wanted to forget about those.

He turned away from the burned house and went to return to the inn.

<> <> <>

The following morning came, and Emila awoke to find Luca absent from the inn. For a moment she panicked, fearing he had attempted to flee once again, but she shook her head and decided that he could not be so foolish.

After fixing her own breakfast, she left the inn to find him. A quick search determined that he was out by the river, shirtless save for his bandages, doing push-ups. His sword was unsheathed and stuck in a tree stump nearby.

“Yeah?” Luca groaned between breaths. Sweat dripped down from his brow.

“I was just wondering where you were.”

He didn't answer.

Emila averted her gaze, as she knew she would blush if she watched. “What are you doing out here, if I may ask?”

“What does it look like?” he told her curtly. “I'm training.”

Emila looked down at the ground, feeling distracted.

“I won't heal any faster by sitting around doing nothing,” he continued. “If I keep physically fit, my body will recover fast, and I can get out of this place.”

Emila didn't look up. “You don't want to be here?”

Luca scoffed. “Who would?”

Emila frowned, taking her own turn to be silent.

With a groan, Luca climbed back to his feet. He went over to the edge of the river, cupped his hands, and splashed some water on his head.

“Where were you going?” he asked suddenly.

“I'm sorry?” Emila said.

“You said last night you were travelling, and that you were stopping to rest in this place. I'm asking where you were headed.”

“Oh. I, uh... Err..”

She shifted awkwardly, and silently berated herself for not coming up with something before.

Luca stared at her, his eyes seeming to know far more than he should. “I understand if you have secrets to keep.”

Emila bit her lip and said nothing.

He went over to the log, and drew the sword out from it. He stared at the steel blade for a long moment, then said in a quiet voice, “I'm used to those around me keeping secrets.”

<> <> <>

Emila spent the rest of the day trying to get the plumbing to work. She eventually found the town's water supply was still full, so she returned to the inn and followed the path of the pipes back to the well. She found that one particular pipe was broken, so she repaired it and returned to the inn. She started the faucet and clear water flowed.

Emila sighed in relief.

An hour later, she was bathed and refreshed. She returned to the lobby, which had grown dark after the sun had set.

Luca had not yet returned to the inn.

Emila sighed again, and she stepped out the front door. She quickly found the white-haired man at the very spot he had been before. He was on his hands, gasping and panting. Sweat dripped off his chest and brow, and his arms trembled.

She could feel faintly, through their connection, that he was on the verge of collapsing. As she drew near him, his arms buckled under his own weight, and he fell onto the dirt. He sighed, and noticed her, surprise in his eyes. And shame.

“You need rest, Luca,” she said.

He turned away from her gentle words, ignoring her very existence. He forced himself up to his feet, and stumbled over to the river.

“I don't...”

He was at a loss for words. She moved next to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. He recoiled from her touch.

She blinked, but said nothing of this. Instead, she took a step back and gave him an invitation.

“I've fixed the water,” she said. “Come back to the inn, and take a shower. I'll make something to eat.”

He cast his eyes down, and considered for a moment.

“Very well,” he relented.

<> <> <>

Luca emerged from the shower, and pulled a towel around his body. He was sore and tired from the hard day of training, but he felt better about his condition. In only a day, the majority of his injuries had healed. The minor ones, scratches and the like, had been treated by Emila earlier. His left leg occasionally pained him from the arrow it had received, but that was nothing he wasn't used to.

Yet despite this progress, he knew he was far from leaving. Every time he breathed, he knew that he was only able to because Emila was nearby, feeding him with her mana. That strange connection he had felt with her, which he now knew to be the Soul Tether, was a constant reminder of his weak dependence on her.

He hated it, but he could not avenge his father if he died on the side of the road. He would have to wait, and only leave when he was sure he was able to.

Luca stepped before the mirror, and looked back at his reflection. Predictably, he looked tired and worn, but clean. He ran his hand through his white hair, pushing it back, when he noticed something.

A thin scar, running across his left cheek, from his temple to his chin.

The mark Zinoro had given him. Most scars would disappear after being healed with magick, but this one - dark energy had flowed through that wound. The pain had vanished the moment he was separated from Zinoro, but the mark itself would likely never fade.

Luca swore under his breath. He considered himself a rather handsome man, though it was not something he took pride in. Beauty had its uses from time to time, but it was a shallow pride, and a temporary element that faded with time.

No, it was not his face that Zinoro had scarred, but his pride. The scar was not meant to disfigure him, but to serve as a reminder of what had happened - of how easily he had been beaten. It was a scar of humiliation.

Luca thought of Emila, and how she had said nothing of the scar. Perhaps she had not mentioned it out of courtesy, or perhaps she was ashamed she had not been able to heal it with her magick.

Perhaps she pitied him. The thought made him scowl. To hell with her pity.

He quickly dried off and dressed, pulling on his fur garments.

Zinoro wouldn't win. Luca had decided that he was not going to let the man get away with what he had done. He wasn't ready yet to face him yet, though. He would have to train hard, and to acquire skills to counter Zinoro's magick. Most importantly, if Luca wanted to be able to counter Zinoro's Rixeor Fragment blade, he would need one of his own.

First, there was somewhere he needed to go, and someone he needed to see.

<> <> <>

Emila greeted Luca with a warm smile he did not return. He descended the stairs and joined her at the table she had set. They dined in relative silence, once it became clear that Luca had no desire to talk to her. She felt a bit hurt, but she was starting to understand the kind of person Luca was.

He was an asshole.

That much was clear. He was reserved, brooding, melancholic, and when he spoke: short, sarcastic, and cynical. The very first thing he had said to her was an insult. He was the exact kind of person she hated, and did her best to avoid.

And yet...

There was pain in his eyes. She could see it, as hard as he tried to hide it. She doubted that she had it in her to convince him to tell her exactly what it was that was troubling him so, but it bothered her. She didn't think she was seeing the true Luca, so she would simply be patient with him, until she understood what caused him pain.

She would need to be patient, because neither of them were going anywhere. She was essentially bound to him, so she figured that she might as well do what she could to help him. She liked to help people whenever she could, and leaving him as he was just didn't seem right after she had saved his life.

“Luca, when you were trying to leave last night - where were you going to go?”

He looked up at her and hesitated, possibly considering if he should tell her.

“Allma Temple,” he finally said..

She blinked. That was an interesting answer.

“Allma? The training school in Torachi? What business could you have there? You don't look like you need any combat training.”

Luca idly twirled his fork in his hand.

“I need to see a man there named Dori.”

There was a finality in those words. He wasn't going to tell her anymore. She returned her attention to her dinner.

Dori - she had heard that name before somewhere. She couldn't seem to recall where, though.

There was a flash of lightning, which illuminated the dark outside, followed by the clap of thunder. Rain began to pour in heavy sheets. Emila noticed this and smiled, before turning back to her guest.

“Is it urgent that you see this man, Luca?” she asked.

He looked at her for a moment, then nodded.

“I see - in that case, we can leave in the morning.”

He sat up suddenly.

“What are you saying? I thought....”

“You have to stay in my company,” Emila said. “That doesn't mean you have to stay in Forga. We can go where you need to. It doesn't seem fair to me that you should be stuck here, when you clearly have things to do. And after watching you train all day, simply because you felt it would help you recover faster, I realised just how badly you want to get out of here. But you need to be with me, right? So the solution is simple: we both go.”

Luca stared at her for a moment. “What about your own destination? Don't tell me you were on your way to Allma, too.”

“Of course not.”

“So this trip of yours is unimportant enough that you can just cast it aside and go with me to Allma?”

Emila frowned, and muttered, “Indeed.”

There was a long silence. Luca stared at her, deep in thought, like she were a puzzle he was trying to work out the solution to.

“Very well,” he said, breaking the silence. “We can leave on the morrow.”

<> <> <>

Luca sat alone, upstairs in the room he had woken in before. As the inn was empty save for the two of them, he could have chosen to sleep in any room he wanted. But it really made no difference to him - it was more convenient to stay where he was, as his belongings were already there.

Outside, the rain had died down to a light trickle.

He wasn't sure how to feel about this latest news. For one, he was eager to be out of the barren, empty town, and on his way towards Allma. Each hour that passed was one wasted - time he could be spending preparing for his revenge on Zinoro. So on that hand, he was glad that he was leaving tomorrow, instead of in a fortnight.

On the other hand...

The thought of having Emila with him as he went to see Dori was not one he quite enjoyed.

Dori was a master of Allma Temple, and the man who had trained his father. Luca vaguely remembered visiting him with Lodin once, many years ago. His father had often spoke of Dori, and he'd told Luca several times that if anything should happen to him, to go see Dori of Allma Temple. He wasn't sure what step to take next, so going to see Dori seemed better than anything else.

Dori was a skilled trainer, and he could teach Luca things his father had not. Skills he may need to kill Zinoro. But having to explain to the man who trained his father that he was going to go after Zinoro for revenge, while his life was magickally bound to this timid girl - how humiliating.

In any case, Luca had checked one of the maps in the inn, and Allma Temple wasn't far. Forga sat on the western edge of the Saetician border, and Allma was on the southern border of Torachi. It couldn't take more than a week of travel to get there.

He did not know what kind of fighter Emila was, but he wasn't counting on her to be very skilled. It would be no different from the journey he was already prepared to take with Arlea, but he would be under far greater pressure to protect Emila. If she were to be wounded, the Tether could be broken, and his own life would be in danger. Should they come across an enemy that realised this, Emila would be all too easy a target.

Luca felt a sudden chill, and was suddenly back in the cold hell of the Arimos. He pulled his fur coat around his shoulders and shivered. He had always hated the cold, but now it was his very bane. It reminded him of death. The villagers. Arlea. His father. The cold was a nightmare to him.

And he knew he would have nightmares when he slept.

The chill was enough to bother him, so Luca got up and went over to the fireplace in the bedroom. He tossed a couple of logs into the fire and turned the knob to activate the magitech. After a few clicks and sparks, a flame started up, and enveloped the wooden logs.

A very small part of him would regret leaving behind such convenience. After seven months of the Arimos, a magitech fireplace was a luxury.

Luca returned to his bed and sat down, reaching into his bag and taking out the one book he had packed for the doomed trip with Arlea. All the others that he had left behind in the hut were now certainly reduced to ash, like everything else in the village.

Setting aside such regretful thoughts, he opened the book to where he'd left off. There wasn't much left until he was finished.

I have made a grave mistake.

The distant reaches of Arimos are a cold and unforgiving land. In the farthest parts, where I have come to be, there are not even monsters living in these lands. There are only shades of death that forever haunt these barren lands. My supplies are running low. I have been here too long - weeks longer than I originally intended. And yet I have not found the ruins I set out in search of.