Headed by a Snake

"Ellie. Ellie! You HAVE to wake up!"

Haelvia blinked her eyes, trying to readjust to the brightness in the tent. Was it morning? With the sweltering heat, it felt like it could have been mid-afternoon.

...She was probably late for something.

With the panicking voice urging her to get up, it was probably even worse... Still barely awake, she reached for her dagger underneath her pillow, "Wha... what's... going on?"

Why did it smell like smoke?

Rubbing her eyes... she squinted at... an elf? An elf on fire?

"B-beatrice? No... Coraline?" Haelvia frowned, "What are you two doing here?"

Something was wrong. The harsh smell of smoke was not coming from the fire elemental.

"Not important!" The fire elf raised her voice, "Come on! We have to hurry!"

"How... did you find me?" Haelvia shook her head, trying to wake up fully. She hadn't had much sleep in the past week...

"Your Class has a unique mana signature. It's similar to-- no," Coraline shook her head, embers wisping off of her 'hair', "That doesn't matter right now. Please, Ellie! We have to move!"

Haelvia furrowed her brows. Her... Class? Had she finally Class-changed into Divine Armor Pilot? No-- it wasn't the time to think about that.

Clarity quickly returned to Haelvia's eyes when she realized that Coraline had to yell for her voice to be heard over the commotion outside.

She quickly strapped on her sandals, buttoned on her gambeson-- and almost forgot to strap on her Saronite Protector. Afterwards, she stumbled out of her tent... into the mouth of one of the seven hells.

It wasn't just her Elven friend-- half the camp was alight in fire. Righteous cries of battle resounded from Tyrion tongues fighting in the distance.

Masked shadowy figures were in arms, fighting against disorganized gaggles of Metal Wolf mercenaries... and the darkness was winning.

Haelvia gasped in horror, watching the battle. The wolves outnumbered the enemy two or three to one, but the enemy ignored conventional logic.

She saw a masked creature take a crossbow bolt to the chest. They didn't even flinch, cutting down the crossbowman before she could recover from her disbelief.

Another shadow leapt upon a formation of four shieldbearers, taking a spear through the thigh, and one fully-through their belly. They kept fighting... as if they were immortal.

Haelvia turned towards Coraline in a panic, "What... what are those things?!"

"They're elves," The fire elf replied softly... "Have you heard of the Ebon Mask tribe?"

"Why in the Flame would I know *anything* about the Elven tribes?!"

"Okay, just asking," Coraline shook her head. "Calm down before those things fall off."

Haelvia grit her teeth and glanced up to the kneeling Gaheris, staring at her from underneath its protective tarp.

The guild fell under attack, just like the Centurion said would happen... She needed to mount up and assist. Loki was probably already fighting...

But... they were fighting xeno's.

Would Loki even want help? That braggart would probably nag her the whole time. She glanced back at her tent, where her comfortable cot was. She had a brief, fleeting desire to just go back to sleep so she didn't have to deal with it.

"Look, I know how this works," Coraline whispered... "You want to help your friends, right?"

"Yeah..." Haelvia shook her head again as she walked over to pull off Gaheris' cover, "something like that."

Guilt filled her heart for her selfishness. Hiding in her tent... doing nothing while people around her suffered-- that wasn't who she was.

Haelvia had a duty to uphold. She signed a contract.

...Anyroad, she could sleep when she was dead.

Everything was on fire, the smoke acrid, blinding, and everywhere... People were dying, their screams cutting through the night like sharpened swords.

They might have been terrible people... but they didn't deserve to die.

She needed to do... something!

Even if it was hopeless, Haelvia could rely on Gaheris and... pray that her training was enough.

"Ellie, no," Coraline dashed to in front of her, holding her arms out, "Take me to your superior Officer. I can get us out of this."

Haelvia shut her eyes and shook her head. That wasn't possible. Though she didn't know Centurion Januarius' opinion on the matter, no right-minded Tyrion would listen to the commands-- or even the suggestions of a non-human.

On top of that, Coraline was a magic caster. If there was anything a Tyrion was taught to hate more than a xeno, it was a xeno Witch.

"I'm... going to help Loki..." Haelvia gave a wry smile... "against my better judgment."

"The other Divine Armor?" Coraline fidgeted with her hands... "That... it's not going to work. That person can't win! Any kind of straight fight, right now, won't get us anywhere!"

Haelvia wrenched her neck around in surprise, "Wh-what? There's no way that's true. Loki's the best pilot in Tyrion!"

...Self-proclaimed, anyroad.

"How long has he been a Divine Armor pilot?" Coraline asked.

"Two years?"

"Not gonna cut it," Coraline shook her head, "You're just going to have to trust me on this."

Haelvia's face paled, weighing Coraline's words. If she was telling the truth... that if even Loki couldn't match the enemy-- then Haelvia was sorely outclassed.

She had no problem sacrificing her life in defense of her guild... but she didn't want to throw it away uselessly.

⟬ Gaheris doesn't sense Lancelot's mana signature. ⟭

Haelvia felt her heart drop down to the pit of her stomach... What Gaheris had said to her... it meant that Loki was in worse trouble than she thought. Lancelot might have been disabled-- maybe even destroyed.

The elf emitted a curious golden glow... "You can hear him, can't you?"

"Flame take me," Haelvia mumbled as she tried to take back her words, "N-no? What are you talking about?"

"Don't try to hide it," Coraline glared. "Just now, you looked at him and I felt a spark of mana between you... What's he say? About me?"

Haelvia turned her head to meet with Gaheris' glowing green gaze...

⟬ The elf and Fire Elemental can be trusted as allies. ⟭

"He says..." Haelvia gulped, "to listen."

"And do you trust him?" Coraline asked.

Haelvia sighed... and silently thanked Gaheris in her heart. In her moment of uncertainty, the one person in her life she trusted the most was able to push her into what was hopefully the right direction.

"With all my heart," She nodded. "Let's go."