Hero Is Now Villain

Garbiel, her face enraged and urgent, was running across the stony hallway of Castle Gale leading to Ophidia's private quarters. She arrived at the door and barged in uncharacteristically roughly for her nature. Ophidia was sitting on the tea table sipping tea as usual, unperturbed and even expectant of the unfriendly visit by the awkward guest separated from her companions.

"You lied to Ryzen," seethed Garbiel.

Ophidia calmly gestured Garbiel to sit, but Garbiel did not seem to be in the mood.

"I heard other druids talking. Why did you not warn him?"

"So it appears. Sit down, Garbiel, you look like you could use some tea," said Ophidia.

"You drove him to die out there. There is no way you did not know," said Garbiel, almost screaming now.

"Ryzen will be fine."

"No one has made it back from Winterpeak, and you made it sound as if some bad luck happened when you clearly knew what was protecting the Wolf Helm!"

"A pack of wolves will not harm Ryzen, I promise."

"A pack of spiritual wolves, intangible, unkillable! I heard everything, Ophidia."

"If there is anyone who can retrieve the White Wolf Helm, it is Ryzen."

"You are not answering my question. Why did you conveniently forget to warn him about the danger?"

"I have my reasons," said Ophidia with a small sigh.

"Tell me."

Ophidia hesitated for a moment, realized that her cup was empty, and stood up straight to face the indignant Garbiel.

"Ryzen's job is not just to bring the fabled helm back here so he can appease Lord Kedval."

"So you sent him to die, oblivious to what was waiting for him ahead."

"No, Garbiel. He was sent to be tested. A test he should undertake on his own, with no help from others, were he truly complete it deservedly."

Garbiel swallowed and stared at Ophidia coldly.

"Test or not, you put him in danger. I will not forget that."

"Believe it or not, it was all for his sake. But it is okay if you do not understand right now," said Ophidia without a hint of guilt or doubt in her eyes.

Garbiel stormed out of the room. Ophidia fell to her seat, reached for another cup of tea and saw that her hand was shaking. She folded her hands and closed her eyes, praying, and believing.

.

.

.

The black horse carrying two silent passengers was crossing the barren ice field diligently and dutifully. Ryzen and Kisha had not been talking since their quarrel that had occurred a couple hours ago when the sun was still high.

"You are no clairvoyant, Kisha," Ryzen had said, a bit too patronizingly for Kisha's taste.

"Right, I am just a bandit whore who sucks your d.i.c.k and begs for you to **** me."

"You are just tired from the trip. Fatigue leads to anxiety."

"It is called an instinct, Ryzen, and I have survived many times because I felt that I needed to get away from death's invitations in the past whenever I got the vibe."

"What exactly is this 'vibe' that is bothering you?"

"That I am walking right into my deathbed, how many times do I have to tell you, you dense, perverted ogre?"

But Kisha knew that she had no other choice but to accompany Ryzen and keep riding northward.

"If something ever comes up," said Kisha after hours of silence.

Ryzen turned her head slightly, catching Kisha's hooded head turned sullenly away from his face.

"Just be careful, that is all I am saying."

"As long as I am around, my priority is protecting you. Everything else comes second."

"Yeah? Imagine me, Garbiel, and the snake hag all fell into the ocean at the same time. Who will you dive into to save first?"

"Which ocean? The North Sea will freeze you to death before you drown, and I will be scooping up three frozen dead bodies at the end of the day."

"Which frozen carcass will you rake up first? Still me?"

Ryzen smiled and was about to answer when Laabyrinth stopped in the seemingly middle of nowhere amidst the frosty mist and obscure vision of the vicinity. The smell of sea breeze was stronger, and but that was not why Laabyrinth had halted.

"Have we hit the shore?" asked Kisha, poking her head over Ryzen's shoulder and squinting her eyes to see better ahead.

"I think Laaby was the best navigator of us all along," said Ryzen, blinking at the vague, but definite, silhouette of a building through the icy fog.

They had arrived at Winterpeak.

.

.

.

The sun was setting when Ryzen and Kisha reached the Abandoned Temple. The decrepit building had several pillars missing and partially intact roof. The cracked marble floor was covered in thick ice and snow while the central statue in the form of a giant wolf was also missing its front leg and parts of its face.

Ryzen got off the horse, with Kisha gingerly following suit and standing close to him.

"What a sad sight," said Kisha quietly, looking around the temple that had been uncared for at least a century.

Ryzen walked towards the central wolf statue, looking for the White Wolf Helm amidst the mess.

"I just hope we do not have to lift up every fallen pillar and pick up slates to see a dent helmet underneath," said Ryzen, walking around the statue and towards the back of the temple.

"Ryzen," called Kisha.

"You find something?"

"Laaby is eating," said Kisha, her voice shaky.

Ryzen turned and saw that Laabyrinth is indeed lowering its head and nibbling at something: a bone.

"Is that—"

"A human's, yes. At least, it was once," said Kisha, running towards Ryzen.

Just at that moment, Ryzen thought that he saw the central wolf statue moving. It only took him a second for him to realize that he was not imagining. With a growl, something leapt from where the statue stood, and Ryzen dashed and held Kisha in his arms before rolling on the ground far away from the center of the temple.

Another growl, but this time it was echoing impossibly around the hollow, open temple. Ryzen stood up, holding Kisha under one arm and drawing out Bloodrink with the other, and looked around to see a dozen, or more, glowing wolves creeping towards them.

The giant spectral wolf that had sprung from the statue howled, and the rest of the pack followed suit, the chilling, piercing sound reverberating the cold air around Ryzen. The echo was real this time, ringing in his ears for a lot even after the phantasmal wolves had gone back to growl threateningly as they stalked nearer, circling Ryzen and Kisha—and Laabyrinth, who seemed nonchalant and was busy enjoying his ice bone cracker.

"Perhaps this was your 'vibe' all along," said Ryzen, holding out Bloodrink as he backed towards one of the still standing pillars.

"Do you believe me now?" said Kisha, taking out her handy war axe as well.

"Stand between me and the pillar. And no," said Ryzen, pushing Kisha behind him and holding Bloodrink with two hands.

"Hundreds, maybe. Dozens, I am just worried the sword will ask for my blood after cutting these bodiless phantoms."

"Should I be worried that it could also ask for mine?" said Kisha, relaxing a little at Ryzen's evident confidence.

"We may have to spend an entire day at the hot spring to compensate for the blood l.u.s.t."

At that moment one of the wolves rushed to Ryzen, who easily slashed it and flung it sideways. The spectral wolf let out a yelp and faded even before it hit the ground.

"Come at me, dogs," growled Ryzen, mimicking and goading.

Three wolves lunged at Ryzen at the same time, and Ryzen swung the disgruntled, ever-hungry Daemonic sword gracefully with the wolves flying in all directions and disappearing into ghastly dust.

The biggest and the most glowing wolf—the Alpha—by the statue was watching Ryzen carefully and cautiously as its brothers kept throwing their bodies towards Ryzen in suicidal jumps. Ryzen, too, stared back at the sentient, scrutinizing eyes of the Alpha as he did not hesitate to cut and slash at the incoming flux of ethereal wolves.

.

.

.

Ryzen wiped sweat off his forehead as the last of the lesser wolves evaporated at the touch of Bloodrink. Neither Ryzen nor Kisha was harmed, not even a scratch on their body, and now only Alpha was standing where it had been standing all along: beside the broken central statue.

"That was the last of them," said Ryzen, pointing Bloodrink towards the still Alpha.

"Why is he not moving?" said Kisha, stepping out from Ryzen's back and standing next to him.

Ryzen made a step towards the Alpha, and to his surprise, the glowing white wolf stepped towards Ryzen, not away from him.

"It is protecting the White Wolf Helm," said Ryzen, finally understanding the spiritual animal's behavior.

"Obviously, but where is it?"

"Do you hear that?" asked Ryzen, pointing to the broken wolf statue in the center.

Kisha listened for a moment, with a look of surprise her face.

"It is... howling?"

There was a low, humming-like sound coming from within the wolf statue. It was not exactly a howling, a deeper, thicker whistle to be exact, a sound of a crude wooden instrument even.

"The statue is hollow, and the wind is making that noise as it passes through."

"I see," nodded Kisha, "so you are thinking that the helm is hidden there, inside the hollow statue."

"There is only one way to find out," said Ryzen as he walked towards the statue, with Alpha blocking his way with a hostile, threatening growl as expected.

[What a pretty pupper.]

Laab's voice came abruptly, stopping Ryzen.

[Do not kill it, my child. Own it, tame it, gift your master a peculiar pet.]

"Not now, Daemon."

"Did you say something, Ryzen?" asked Kisha, and Ryzen waved her off as he started walking ahead again, ready to slay the spiritual beast that was standing in front of him.

[Once you get the helm, the beast serves you. The beast is the White Wolf, and the White Wolf Helm without the White Wolf is a mere miscellany.]

"I could care less, to be honest," muttered Ryzen, holding Bloodrink in a striking position.

[But it really is simple, taming a wild beast, live or spectral.]

"I do not care."

[Oh, but you will have to. In fact, the beast is impressed and is ready to serve you, with the right exchange, of course.]

Ryzen stopped, with the Daemon's last words ringing ominously in his ears. With a jolt of realization, he turned sharply to Kisha, who was standing and watching at him obliviously and a little worriedly, but unsuspecting as a whole.

It was then Ryzen spotted a hiding, sneaking lesser wolf jump out of the shadow and taking down Kisha to the floor. Kisha let out a surprised scream as she fell behind the pillar that blocked Ryzen's view.

[An old pet replaced by a new one.]

Laab's voice cackled, and Ryzen ran towards where Kisha had fallen.

Blood was seeping the cracked, snowy floor of the temple, with Kisha's unmoving legs visible just behind the pillar.