Take Your Armour Off

Merritt only had the chance to utter three words before Leander began running through the entrance. 

"We were attacked."

Racing up the street, Leander looked around, the houses showed signs of damage. Or, were they already in this state of disrepair when he had left? Running from street to street, Leander saw the same sight. Houses were in disrepair; it was all in disrepair.

Undead were out for a stroll under the star-lit sky, some sat outside of buildings. A couple sat outside of one building picking cyan-lit marbles from a bowl and putting them into their mouths.

Eventually, Leander came to a stop. His mind was unable to process what was happening.

They had been attacked then, why was nobody panicking? Everyone was just going about their lives as if nothing had happened.

Making his way out of the street, Leander stumbled into an empty alleyway. As he was certain nobody was watching, the Hero of Peace dropped onto his hands and knees. The pain from his injuries strummed Leander's nerves like a musical instrument. He was finding it harder and harder to ignore the pain from his dissolving soul.

The pain of your soul turning to nothing was a pain that transcended any form of pain resistance one might hold. Leander being able to his mental fortitude, his crumbling mental fortitude.

"My, my, my, Hero. If I knew this is the state you'd wind up in after I left you I would have flown you to Funerary myself."

Grimly looking up, Leander saw a small black raven standing a few feet ahead of him. A raven that had not been there moments beforehand.

"Wh- Ravenmother… What happened, Merritt… He said Funerary was attacked, but, nothing.. Everything seems to be fine…"

Studying Leander, Ravenmother tilted her head to onside. She seemed confused as if his question was completely unnecessary.

"Yes, that is true. The Goddess' Seraphs attacked us, do you remember I told you my lady left a message with me as something important arose? That was because she was fending off these attackers."

Leander's worries slowly began to be dispelled, until Ravenmother spoke again.

"Although, she did take a dire strike from the strongest of the Seraphs."

Forcing himself to stand, Leander leant against the alley wall.

"Where… Where is Melaine now?"

Ravenmother blinked, Leander's urgent tone making her step forward.

"At the castle of course, specifically in her room resting."

Moving away, Leander stumbled back to the street. It seemed he was beginning to falter, he had been fine until just now, until he fell to his knees. As if showing weakness had made his injuries real.

Looking around, Leander gritted his teeth.

"Ravenmother… Which way is it to the castle?"

----

The courtyard of Melaine's castle was unusually occupied. Undead in robes moved about with black chalk in their hands, some drawing lines, some drawing runes, each contributing small parts to a greater whole. All lit up by the braziers hanging on the walls.

This was nothing of concern to Leander.

He felt horrible. The walk from the alleyway where he had met Ravenmother to the castle's courtyard had taken thirty minutes but within that short span of time. Leander's condition had considerably worsened. His naturally completely pale skin had turned deathly pale. The cyan light in his eyes slowly grew dimmer as he struggled forward.

Even Ravenmother – someone Leander had found to be a joker – began to take his situation seriously.

"Hero? You really do not look okay, what's happened to you?"

Stopping at the grand entrance to the castle, Leander found himself panting.

"Something happened when I tried to use anima whilst fighting Lewren, my soul, something happened to my soul. I think, when Decemtal exerted his pressure, it only worsened my condition… I can't, I need to find, Melaine."

Ravenmother frowned.

"Then we better hurry."

Pushing one of the large doors open, Leander slowly trudged into the castle. Had he been left to his own devices to find Melaine's room, Leander knew he would no doubt have wandered into the wrong wing of the castle and keeled over as his soul broke apart. But with Ravenmother guiding him, Leander quickly found Melaine's room.

The only problem was that it was up so many flights of steps.

Reaching the last step, Leander clutched the bannister. Another hallway of rooms lay before him, this hallway was just like all the other hallways he had moved through. Except for one simple reason.

Leander could feel Melaine's power radiating from the room on the left.

Stumbling for a few steps, he held onto the wall. Reaching the door, Leander took a breath to steady himself as he reached for the door handle.

Without thinking of knocking, Leander opened the door stepping inside.

In a word, Melaine's room was quaint. It was fairly simple, with not much in it. Shelves hung from the walls each littered with books of varying sizes and thicknesses, on the left side of the room stood a lustrous four-poster bed with large silk curtains draping down from its corners. A window took up the far wall, if one were to look up they could see the stars, if they were to look down a small garden could be seen. An oasis of life in the land of the dead.

Leander's attention was occupied by what was on the right side of the room. A large dressing table with a suitably sized mirror, but specifically Leander's gaze was taken by what was shown in the mirror.

Melaine sat in front of the mirror, her eyes were closed and in one hand she held a small brush which she was using to comb her dark red shoulder-length hair. Had Leander seen just this he wouldn't have been frozen in place in the way he was. However, Melaine was not wearing the dress she had been wearing the first time they had met.

Melaine was wearing a delicate nightdress made of silk. Its fabric catching the dancing light of the small candle placed on the dressing table next to her black tiara. The dress was held in place by two slender straps that gently rested on her shoulder. Across her neckline, a pattern of intricate lace traced her collarbone adding a touch of elegance befitting that of a queen.

The hem of her dress stopped just a few inches above Melaine's knee, giving Leander a glimpse of her legs-

Covering his eyes, despite the pain of his soul dying. At the sight of Melaine, Leander felt… bashful.

After a few moments, Melaine softly chuckled. A teasing tone tainted her words.

"Now now, Leander. If you wanted to take a peak you only had to as-"

Melaine's lighthearted tone faltered as the playful atmosphere her words held shifted in an instant. Seconds later something fell clattering to the floor. Leander's eyes opened, seeing that Melaine had stood up so quickly from her dressing table that the chair she had been sitting on had been knocked over. Melaine's wide eyes filled with worry, and an alarmed expression covered her face. The Lich Queen's tone reflecting her dire expression as she took a small step toward Leander.

"L- Leander!? Wh- what has happened to you?"

Trying to walk forward, having reached his destination, Leander's body faltered forcing him to one knee. Seeing this, Melaine's expression only grew more concerned as she rushed to his side. Dropping to her knees, Melaine put one hand on Leander's cheek lifting his face to look at her.

A soft tender tone bit into the worrying sound of Melaine's voice.

"Oh, Leander. Please don't tell me you're about to die on me after all I did to bring you back. Tell me, what did this to you? Your soul, I can see it…"

Gritting her teeth, Melaine's expression soured.

"Tell me who did this to you, and I will bring down my full wrath on them. An attack on you is an attack on my kingdom, just… Tell me who did this?"

Despite the pain he was in, Leander hesitated. Melaine made it sound like she was ready to start a war against this hypothetical person who had damaged his soul so much. How was he supposed to say it might have been his fault?

After a few seconds, Leander looked away from Melaine. Her tender gaze caused his emotions to act weirdly, perhaps it was that dress.

Shaking his head, Leander answered the question.

"I… I'm pretty sure, I caused this."

Melaine's gaze changed rapidly as she blinked a few times, wrath turned into a look of perplexion, and finally, her gaze settled on uncertainty. 

"That, what? You must be confused, Leander. As you are now, there's no way you could damage something's soul, never mind your own."

"I didn't mean to damage something's soul, I… I was fighting a beast, Lewren, son of Decemtal. He was more of a problem than I had anticipated and I needed to tap into my soul and use anima. That's when the pain first started."

Melaine's uncertain gaze turned into a blank stare for a few seconds. Before Leander could process her next change of expression, Melaine raised a hand, bringing it down she slapped Leander across the face.

"Idiot!"

Blinking, Leander moved a hand to touch his cheek where Melaine had slapped him. The slap didn't even hurt, but it left Leander confused. His mouth hung open as he looked at Melaine. Standing, she quickly walked the short distance to the window. Holding a hand to her brow she looked out of the window.

"You… You really used soul?"

After a minute, Melaine looked away from the window. Her words came out slowly as if she was asking a child a question.

"Leander. Do you realise why this is a problem, why you of all people using the power of their soul is a horrible, horrible! Idea!"

Melaine couldn't help but shout at the man who knelt on her floor. With what she knew her anger was justified, but from Leander's perspective. He had just been slapped and shouted at for no reason by somebody he barely knew.

"I… I don't understand, I'm the one hurting here. Why are you doing this, Melaine?"

Brushing her fingers through her hair, Melaine walked back to Leander. Dropping to her knees, she balled her fists.

"Leander, you used anima! You used your soul! Do you not remember what I told you about your soul, you have, half of it! You have half of your soul, your soul is missing, half! And you used your soul, to what, win a fight!"

Melaine's chest rose and fell as she screamed at Leander. Despite not needing to breathe, it seemed the Lich Queen had forgotten that fact in the heat of the moment. Her words were harsh, but the tears welling in her eyes betrayed the pain hidden beneath her composed exterior.

"You are not the supreme, powerful Hero of Peace you once were, you are broken, Leander. Missing half of your soul, how could you ever think it would be a good idea to use anima!? Missing half of your soul!"

Holding up his hand, Leander tried to stop Melaine's outburst.

"Me-Melaine."

"What!"

"I- I think I'm dying."

Blinking, Melaine swallowed the emotion that had started to well up inside her throat. Holding her wrist, Melaine bit her lip as she studied Leander. After a pause that felt a little too long, she frowned.

"Take your armour off."

Now it was Leander's turn to be confused.

"What? Now isn't the time to joke… Melaine. I really think I'm dying here."

Kneeling once more, Melaine began unfastening the straps and belts securing Leander's scale armor to his body.

"You are dying you idiot. Your soul is coming apart at the seams, it will take some time, but you came to the one person on Orozia who knows everything there is to know about the soul. You will not die whilst I live. Now help me take your armour off, for the best result I need to touch your skin."

With that, Leander and Melaine quickly took his armour off, dropping the pieces on the floor. Melaine supported Leander as they moved across the room, laying him chest down on her bed. Melaine wasted no time, tearing the shirt off of his back.

Pressing her hands against his back, Melaine closed her eyes.

Leander had nothing to do but close his eyes and wait for Melaine to do… Whatever it is that she intended to do