The Evil Path

Heart failure. It was one of the many symptoms of animietas Rivera had told her about. That Roko was now suffering the symptoms of animietas, meaning that the disease had now become the dominant problem in Roko body. That meant the mana bleed was probably gone now. That meant...Corissa could release the cure now right?

Sitting besides Roko's bed, his little attack at the lake had receded pretty quickly and he was now sleeping peacefully under several layers of blankets. The emerald that held the disease and the cure was lying on top of Roko's chest, still tied around his neck like it always had been. Mistral was going to arrive tomorrow to do a proper checkup but Rivera had instructed that the cure be released once Roko started displaying symptoms of animietas. That meant Corissa should release the cure now right? The princesses reached out to the gem to deploy the cure but...she hesitated. Deploying the cure meant Roko would be back. In all of his grumpy glory. But...that meant losing Roko's smile. The cheerfulness that Corissa had grown a strange sort of attachment to. She had struggled with reconciling these two different Rokos with her own feelings for a long time, ever since Roko woke up again. It was something that a lot of people around her have struggled with and never really resolved either. But Corissa was the one who could end it all, at least, she had the responsibility to. The decision was hers. The only one who had to come to an answer at this moment was her.

In all consideration, even after hearing Reaumur and Ohm argue against each other very passionately a few days ago, Corissa remained unconvinced of either side. She liked the normal Roko but he always felt like he was about to slip out of her grasp. No matter how much she would try to hold on to him, to save him, he would just launch himself and his own life in the path of danger. It was a most admirable trait for someone as weak as Roko...but that couldn't exist alongside her wish to see him happy. She wanted to see him do what was fulfilling for him but Roko was also this strange creature that was never happy no matter what he did. Seeing him happy was all Corissa wanted for him. To finally see him happy was like a short dream that was slipping away very quickly now. It wasn't just that she wanted him to be happy anymore. Could she really bring herself to take away someone's happiness like this? She knew it was her responsibility but could she really bring herself to do it? Even if this was just a veneer of happiness...if she ended it…

"Am I...capable of making you smile again?"

…

Slowly, Corissaa withdrew her hand away from the gem, "The doctor will arrive tomorrow. I...can wait one more day..."

That night, Ereshkigal was continuing to work through the research. Her father's work was set to burn tomorrow and she wanted to finish what she wanted to do. The circle was complete and stable enough. All she needed was a catalyst to narrow down the field of spirits. There were no catalysts she could think of that she could use. But...she could use herself.

"I've come this far." Ereshkigal gulped as the circle began to glow with power, "I've just got to find out. I have to see them again."

The light grew brighter, lighting up the pitch darkness around her. The lines seemed to grow brighter and brighter but didn't seem to light up any more of the cavern she was in. The glow remained remained around her, surrounding her and as she kept her hands on the circle, even as the light began to climb up her arms. Yet Ereshkigal didn't feel afraid. She gazed into the light, her mind blank except for the thought of who it was she wanted to summon.

"If you can hear my voice...if you still recognize me...please respond..."

The light had climbed up close to her elbows before it suddenly dissipated, plunging the area into darkness save for a dark blue glow still coming out of the circle. And slowly, one by one, vague ghost-like apparitions floated out from the magic circle. Ereshkigal looked around at these ghosts, looking for someone she recognized but none of them even looked human until two particular ghosts floated out from the seal, first with hair, then with more and more human like features. But it wasn't until these figures formed elven ears that Ereshkigal realized she had succeeded.

"Mom? Dad?" She said hopefully.

The elven figures took a few more seconds regaining their form before they opened their eyes, looking down at the dark elf child with cold eyes before responding,

"Who calls us back to the world of the living?" The female elven ghost asked.

"It's me!" Ereshkigal cried, "Your daughter! I mean...I should be your daughter...if I prepared everything correctly..."

"Daughter..." The male elf took a deep breath, "Yes, I think I recall you."

"Great!" Ereshkigal grinned, "So I-"

"But...why are you a dark elf?"

Ereshkigal's enthusiasm ran straight into a brick wall, her face paleing at the realization. These ghostly elves were exactly that. Elves. Neither of them were dark elves like her. That meant...she had turned into a dark elf at some point. And from the sound of their tones when they asked that question, they did not like this sort of change.

"I...I...I..." Ereshkigal stuttered, trying to form some sort of response but her brain just shut down, unable to conceive of an answer.

"Despicable." The elf that would be her mother shook her head, "Becoming one of those filthy dark elves. Though I guess I shouldn't be surprised of that after you killed us."

"I...I killed..." Ereshkigal suddenly found it hard to breathe.

"Don't tell me you forgot." Her father scoffed, "Though I suppose if you hadn't forgotten then you'd have no reason to call us back to this earth."

"I..." Ereshkigal kept trying to say something but nothing could form in her head. At this point, she was just desperately trying to push back her tears.

"And?" Her mother tutted impatiently, "Tell us. What kind of company have you found yourself in after our deaths?"

"I...I got adopted..." Ereshkigal managed to blurt out, "By a human."

"A human?" Her father's face scrunched up in disgust, "There are humans in this forest now? How the great Arbrea has fallen. At least you haven't gone and joined the dark elves yet."

"I...I have some dark elf friends..." Ereshkigal squeaked.

"Of course you would." Her mother placed her head in her hand, exasperated, "You are a dark elf yourself now. Of course you would make friends with the enemy."

"Th-the enemy?"

"So what have you called our restless souls back for?"

"I...I was hoping...you could teach me..."

"Teach you?!" Her father scowled, "We taught you all you knew and you killed us in return! And now you bring us back so we can TEACH you?! How greedy a daughter must you be?!"

Ereshkigal was now doubled over, unable to stop her tears from falling from her eyes. Yet she made a valiant effort not to start sobbing uncontrollably.

"Where are we?" Her mother frowned as she looked around, "What is this dank, dark cave we're in?"

"This is...our new home. Me and my...the human who adopted me are going to live here. It was built with the help of humans, elves and dark elves."

"It reeks of orc as well." Her mother crinkled her nose, "I can't imagine and being wanting to live here outside of filth like you."

"More importantly." Her father frowned, "The elves and dark elves are working together? With humans as well?"

"Yes!' Ereshkigal cried, "We've done a lot together, we-"

"Disgusting." Her parents faces twisted in disgust and anger, "We elves should be a proud race who stands alone at the forefront of the world. This cannot stand."

These ghosts fixed Ereshkigal with a cold glare, "You wanted us to teach you? We'll teach, no, remind you of the dignity of elves."

And to Ereshkigal's horror, a hand burst out from the ground.

Corissa and Roko woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of screams. Rushing outside, they could see the other humans reacting to the noise as well, coming out of their homes to witness elves of both variety rushing out of the cave in a panic. And it wasn't long before they could see what they were all running from. As a horrifying number of decaying, reanimated elven zombies shambled out from the caves, chasing the living with a mindless fervor.

"Oh no, not this again." Kaguya sighed.

"I dunno, this is kind of a nice change of pace from the tentacle monsters." Helena grinned as she already began sniping some of the zombie elves away from the fleeing elves, "Any more tentacles and I'd start to wonder if I'm in a more suspect genre of literature and I've just been really lucky so far."

"I'm...not sure what you mean..." Corissa blinked.

"Oh you sweet summer child. Never change." Helena grinned as she pinched Corissa's cheek.

"Okay, I'm ready." Roland said as he arrived, having changed back into his armor, "Aw man, we're fighting zombies? That's not really film noir."

"Roland, you know you don't actually live in a film noir right?" Helena frowned.

"I live in whatever film I want my life to be." Roland scoffed.

"Get some help. And get out there already. Momo and the other knights have already gotten started on the rescue."

"Alright, fine." Roland drew his blades, "But do we even know why this happened?"

"I think I might know..." Corissa muttered, glancing at the still smiling and clueless Roko.

"Oh yeah, Roko, You need a sword?" Kaguya asked, "I'm sure I can fetch you one from the supplies."

"Nah, I think I'll stay back and let you guys handle it. Looks kind of scary out there."

"That might be for the best." Helena nodded, "You're probably still sick anyway. And who knows when you might collapse again."

"Then I'll go help collect the scattered refugees." Kaguya said as she drew a knife, "Corissa, you stay and protect Roko alright?"

"Yes!" Corissa nodded, "I'll also start preparing a bit of a barracks to collect the refugees."

"Seems good. I'll let Momo know to provide a bit of a stat buff for you." Helena said as she summoned one of her drones with the castphrase.

"Roko, can you help me?" Corissa asked.

"Oh, yeah sure." Roko smiled, "That seems fine."

Moving some boxes from the supply storehouse, Corissa found two refurbished houses that were close to each other and were close to the perimeter wall. Without reinforcement magic helping her out, Corissa didn't think she'd get half of what she achieved without having to take a break. Even with Roko helping, he worked rather leisurely considering the circumstances. The more Kaguya rescued though, the more hands there were to help out and soon, there was a pretty neat fort built up that could protect the many that were huddling together, scared and scarred from their experience. That didn't stop some undeads from forming right next to them and even inside their makeshift fort. So Corissa casted a sanctuary spell around them that disintegrated any monsters that came close to her field. She tried to stretch it across the whole field, across the entire encampment like she had done before but she could barely manage a field large enough to protect their fort, even as she struggled to maintain it at this level. But she could keep everyone safe for now. Now...it was left to everyone else to resolve the situation.

"These undead don't really make for much of a challenge." Momo remarked as she cleaved several of them in two with a single swing, "I'm honestly a little disappointed."

"Their strength doesn't lie in their power or their numbers." Kaguya explained as she slaughtered a few of the zombies alongside her, "The challenge is from when they get to know you. When they use the image of the undead to seed feelings of discomfort and doubt inside you."

"I dunno, I think I might like to fight Shirone."

"Shirone?"

"Yeah, she was Akaza's twin sister. She died saving him in a battle which was kind of unfortunate since I hear she was even stronger than Akaza back in the day. People were even debating who had the right to the throne, her or Akaza. Shirone was stronger and technically older by a few seconds but Akaza had more charisma and most were expecting a male heir."

"I...see..."

"From what I hear, Shirone was going to cede the throne to Akaza since she wanted to focus on her military training. Some say that Akaza quitting the throne to focus on becoming a commander was just him carrying on his twin's dreams."

"...Is your country's throne cursed or something?"

"I hear that all the time. Dunno why though."

"Hey guys." Helena said as her drone floated up between them, "Do any of you see Brook?"

"Brook?" Kaguya frowned, "I don't think I've seen her."

"She definitely would be fighting if she knew what was happening." Momo mused, "Is she stuck inside or something?"

"Goodness, I hadn't thought about people who could be trapped inside!" Kaguya cried, "We need to get into the caves!"

"Okay, I'll cut a way forward!" Momo grinned, "Mikado, Roland, Varis, we're leaving the defense of the outside to you!"

"Understood." Mikado and Varis nodded.

"Murder on a cold moonless night like this." Roland said solemnly as he cut down several undeads around him, "What madness has the world come to?"

"Moon's right there, Roland."

"Don't interrupt me when I'm monologing!"

Breaking into the cave was a much more harrowing mission than it seemed. Undead burst out from every inch of the ground. Fighting in such a cramped space would have been difficult for most people but not for the very battle experienced Momo and Kaguya with her rather short weapon. The two carved their way through the halls, heading to where they knew Brook would be. And they soon arrived, breaking into the main chamber where Brook was fiendishly fighting the undead, trying to clear the room even as they poured in from every hallway.

"Brook!" Momo called, "We've come to pick you up!"

"Don't." Brook replied, her mask hiding away her face, "I have to keep these monsters from breaching Brea's sanctum."

"Yeah, no, you're vastly outnumbered." Momo said as they grabbed onto the dark elf's collar, "Have some faith in your defenses and just escape. We need to find a way to counter these things instead of fending them off."

"Wait!" Brook cried as Momo began dragging her away, "I haven't seen Enlil or Ereshkigal escape! Have you seen them?"

"Those two?" Kaguya frowned, "I don't believe so."

"Okay then, we go deeper." Momo nodded, "Any idea where they went?"

"Probably in the east wing."

"Helena?!" Momo looked up as the drone floated down from the glass ceiling, "Your drone can come this far already?!"

"No, I reoriented myself to above the cave. Actually really convenient that my drone can pass through solid objects. No monsters up here yet either but I'll escape as soon as there looks like there will be danger. Anyway, me and Corissa came across Ereshkigal a few days ago reading her dad's research. You know, his research on contacting the dead?"

"No need to spell it out for me." Momo nodded, "We'll take a look. Can you guide us?"

"I'll try but I don't know how far I can get with just the mountain surface. I've had to put off sniping to do all this to begin with so let's try and get this done as soon as possible."

Helena reached her communication limit a few meters into the cave network but was able to give one last direction before having to return to the battlefield. Following her straightforward instructions, the trio hurried through the corridors, noticing with an increasing worry that the undead had stopped rising and a cold thin mist had begun to cover the walls and floor. The mist seemed to make their movements heavier or rather, they seemed to be losing a bit of strength while they remained here. So they needed to find someone quickly. And soon, they heard yelling. Well, first they heard the wailing, screeching screams of the ghostly dead. Then they heard an old man yelling.

"Eresh! Eresh!"

Enlil was screaming at a wall of mist. A barrier so thick that it was impossible to see beyond it but it shouldn't have impeded his way forward by any means. Yet Enlil was still stumbling back even as he tried to continue forward, coughing in a concerning manner for someone his age.

"Enlil!" Momo called.

"You guys!" Enlil coughed, "Help me out here! Ereshkigal's through this mist, I know it!"

"We'll find her." Momo put a hand on the elderly man's shoulder, "But someone as old as you shouldn't be hanging around here for long. The dead will rip you apart when they find you. We'll help you escape first then look for Ereshkigal."

"No! Ereshkigal's so close, I know it! I'm not stopping now!"

"Yeah, unfortunately, I know how stubborn you are." Momo said as she lifted the frail old man over her shoulder.

"Put me down!" Enlil coughed again, "I'm not going anywhere!"

"Dad?"

Ereshkigal's voice came from the fog lighting a bit of hope in the rescuers' eyes. Then it turned into fear as they saw the monster coming through the fog.