Chapter 40: The Last of Me (4)

Rowan called for Maeve, she and Captain Titus were behind him, and the Guardsmen were at the rear, eyes peeled for any dangers, "Thank you for your efforts earlier. I would not have made it here without you."

"It was my honor, My Lord. Without the strength of your arms, any contribution I make would be useless" Maeve replied.

Rowan also gestured to the captain, who came closer to him," Captain. Nowhere in your contracts as Guardsmen of my family was it stipulated you had to fight against Abomination. I salute your bravery and of your men. The tales I heard of the Guardsmen bravery do not do you justice."

Captain Titus bowed formally to him," We are your shield and spear, My Prince. Our lives are given worth by service to the Throne of Kuranes."

Service. Rowan mused internally. For men like this, that word carried a heavy weight. Rowan nodded at the captain, "I want you to know this captain. That I would do all in my power to make sure the fallen are given all the honor they deserve."

Rowan dismissed him. The Captain bowed once more and stepped back.

Rowan turned to Maeve, "We are going to call a general meeting to deliberate on the current situation, but I would like your opinion on our next action"

Maeve thought for a while," My Lord, Abominations are a regional disaster. If the infestation is not kept in check, then theoretically they could expand forever, creating stronger battle forms until they would overrun the entire continent.

"I have sent missives to the Family Palace and the Army barracks at Wurhold, which is the closest to Calcutta. We could hold out for a while inside the manor. I am sure reinforcement would soon arrive."

Maeve sighed, "At first I thought the safest alternative was to leave this region and flee to Aroth the Capital, your family home lies there. We could easily bring enough firepower to scour out this infestation.

"The presence of saboteurs in the manor and the quantity of Abominations we are encountering means that if we leave, we won't be able to defend ourselves adequately, for we lack any credible intelligence on our foes.

"I cannot be sure which level of battle form they might have achieved. And if there is a possibility that they have a champion, then we are doomed.

"As you know, we have two main routes of passage: Through the forest or the lake, we have seen the Abominations retreating into the lake, so that's a death trap in the making, and I have no doubt there would be more Abominations inside the forest, we are effectively surrounded with no path of escape.

"We could decide to flee with the Guardsmen and try to push through the obstacles that we would encounter, but I would leave that as our last option.

"Staying and creating a defense in the manor would be the lesser of two evils. We would wait for reinforcement, and we can mount an effective defense, with the Defensive Sigils on the manor, we might be able to survive."

"How could this happen?" Rowan said, "How could such a sizable amount of Abomination surround this town without any indication?"

Maeve frowned, "Logically it should be impossible, for the amounts of Abomination we have encountered, they would have needed to have killed tens of thousands to grow to this level, There had been no reports of towns around here falling to their infestation. The only adequate explanation would be Dominators... Powerful ones or a Dominator with a niche ability."

"So how do we fight against that." Rowan grunted in acceptance, "Abominations I understand, they come to kill and consume, but how do we fight an enemy that we don't know their intent or purposes and most worrying of all is that Abomination Core, it is the root of this disaster, and I don't think we have the capability to destroy it yet."

Maeve frown had slowly been heightening with apprehension as Rowan continued, "We may be able to guess the intent of the Dominators or group of Dominators that would cause this infestation, do you have any ideas?"

"If this is induced by Dominators, then If we examine this situation with the perspective of money and resources." Maeve replied, "This town is at the end of nowhere, we produce no valuable goods or are we on any gem lodes or valuable minerals.

"The offshoot of our lake does not particularly lead to any important destinations and there is no particular valuable beast to be hunted inside of it, also the Misty mountains behind us are notoriously barren.

"There has been no new development or changes in this town, except... "

"Me." Rowan whispered, "The new change was my presence. Because of me, all these people have suffered a terrible fate."

"Master, I do not agree with this statement of yours." Maeve sternly said, "You are in no way responsible, and you have risked your life for your people, you have gone way past your duty and defended them.

"I know of most Nobles that would rather flee than stand and fight against even lesser odds. Please, Master, do not assume any responsibility for this crime in your heart."

"Oh, I know I'm not personally responsible for this." Rowan shrugged, "But... It can also be said my presence brought disaster, whether knowingly or unknowingly. Do not get me wrong. I hold no guilt in my heart, except for the guilt of powerlessness, if I were capable enough, none would plot against me in this manner. I am just too weak"

Rowan sighed and brought the Axe forward, it hung on his back, tied with the strips from his robe, the weapon had been vibrating and soon calmed, the moment Rowan held it. He peered at the weapon, running his hands up the handle that now had, multiple veins of gold growing inside.

Maeve struggled to hold her laughter and Rowan turned his blank face to hers, and she said, "Master, with the ability you have shown. I know of no Dominator your age that could best you, and you became this powerful in a matter of days. Forgive me, master, for what I am about to say next... I hate your father, for numerous reasons, but he gave you the chance to grow powerful, and by the gods I believe you have surpassed all expectations."

At what cost. Rowan sighed inside, could the infestation of these abominations be a way to test the ability of the Singularity? Well, he would get the answers soon or not, he was helpless in his approach to tackling this conundrum.

Rowan spoke in a soft voice, "I believe the core of the Abomination is here. Within Sylvan lakes."

He was silent for a while as he adjusted the Axe and shifted it to his shoulders, "Did you see the direction the Abomination fled to?"

"I believe it was towards the lake." She said, "Though I saw a few proceeding to the west of the town towards the woods."

Rowan paused for a while before he said, "Did you see a gigantic head of a woman, with the eyes of a goat?"

"I did not, Master, and with the chaos, I might have missed it, but that would be quite difficult for me to overlook such a sight. I do think, however, you might have seen what you saw because of your perception. Whatever methods you use to see, had shown you a world that is blind to me."

My sight! Had he not been searching for a way to see the truth, to understand his situation? This could be the key to start unraveling the darkness he found himself. He could glimpse a world outside the sight of most, then he would see truths that were denied him.