The Last Summoner Part 9

Morning had arrived at D.A.D.S. Academy. The sun rises up over the forest nearby and shined its light through a window onto Rose's face waking her up. She turned her back to the window and tried to go back to sleep however the sudden movements in the room woke her up again. She sat up to see Gloria neatly placing a set of clothes into a bag. She turned and looked at Rose with a sad expression on her face. Rose simply looked away. She was upset with Gloria at the moment and wasn't sure if she'd ever forgive her. Gloria closed up her bag once she felt that everything was in order. She picked it up and tossed it over her shoulder as she headed for the door.

"You'd better get ready. I don't think Arnen is the patient type." She told Rose. "He probably wants to arrive at the Grand Church as soon as we can."

"Yeah." Rose said without even looking at Gloria.

Gloria walked out of the room and made her way down the hallways of the academy. It was quiet as most of the students were still asleep. This was something Gloria was use to since she usually woke up early to train with Aleen when she still lived at the Grand Church. As she turned a corner Gloria saw one door wide open. She could hear excited voices coming from inside the room. She was just going to pass by the room when something caught her attention.

"The Unbeatable Beauties are the best tag team ever." A girl said. "That is why I went and got this."

"Wow! This must be a rare find!" came a guy's voice. "I heard they weren't much for getting their photo taken."

Gloria looked into the room to see a small group of four students fawning over a large poster plastered on the wall. The room itself was another dorm room that students use to sleep and keep their things safe. This dorm room seemed smaller than the one her and Rose have but it could be because they don't have as much stuff cluttering the room. Gloria looked at the poster the students were staring at and gasped. Staring back at her were two women wearing long brown cloaks that covered their bodies and each was wearing a mask that covered half of their faces. Gloria knew who these two were. They were the Unbeatable Beauties, her and Aleen. The question was; how did they manage to get a good enough look to make a picture?

"Oh, Gloria. You're up early too." One of the girls in the room had said. "Are you a fan of the Beauties?"

"Eh....I guess you could say that." Gloria said.

"Is Rose awake? I want her to see this too." The girls said.

"I don't think she's in the mood for this today." Gloria said. "She was pretty upset last night."

"I guess that makes sense." The girl said. "I heard your last job was pretty hard on you guys. That's why I wanted her to see this. You know, to get her mind off of the whole thing."

"It probably wouldn't." Gloria said not thinking. "The Blonde Beauty made an appearance during our job, this would probably only remind her."

"You mean you saw the Blonde Beauty in person!?" One of the guys asked.

"Rose did. I was eh...elsewhere when it happened." Gloria said.

"Aww, I would love to see a fight between Gloria and the Beauties." The guy said excitingly. "The Last Summoner versus the Unbeatable Beauties. It would be a match for the ages."

"Are you crazy!?" The girl said turning to look at the guy. "Gloria would mop the floor with them. Sure the Beauties have never lost, but to face a class that is said to be just as powerful as a god? Not even they could win. Right Gloria?"

The girl turned back to see that Gloria was gone. Gloria was walking down the hallway with a sad look on her face. She managed to change out of her Blonde Beauty outfit before anyone could figure out who she really was. She reached the front door to the academy and placed her hand on it.

"You just couldn't tell them could you?" Came a familiar voice behind her.

Gloria turned to find Duran sitting on a window sill looking back at her. He seemed better than the last time she saw him yet he still had bandages wrapped around his head.

"Shouldn't you be in bed?" Gloria asked him.

"Thanks to my lousy Healer of a sister, I'm all better." Duran said looking at the back of his hand. "So, why didn't you tell them you are one of the Beauties?"

"Who says that I am?" Gloria asked not wanting to talk about it.

"Come on now." Duran said raising his arms up slightly. "You have the exact same height, build, hair style and color as one of the beauties."

"The Blonde Beauty has her hair in a ponytail." Gloria said. "I don't; so you're wrong about the hair style."

"Sorry, I'm not that easy to fool." Duran said shaking his head. "I've seen the Beauties fight, in person and I personally fought you. You have the same fighting style as the Blonde Beauty. Now, you're the Last Summoner, there shouldn't be anyone else with your fighting style."

"Get to the point Duran. What do you want?" Gloria asked.

"I want to know what you did to make my sister get so mad at you." Duran said looking at Gloria without blinking once.

"What do you care? I thought you hated her."

"I may dislike the fact that she is now a Healer rather than a Warrior, but she is still my sister and it is up to me to take care of her." Duran said. "If anything happens to her, my family will hold me responsible."

"That's not my problem." Gloria said looking away from Duran.

Duran suddenly appeared in front of Gloria. He stared right at her with a murderous glare in his eyes.

"You obviously do not realize how important Rose is to my family." Duran said with a low voice. "She doesn't know it herself but she is as valuable as a Princess to us. If you did anything that put her life in danger, I will make sure you are held personally responsible and believe me, my family won’t care if you're a Summoner."

"If she's so important, why do you allow her to go out on jobs then?" Gloria asked not feeling threatened at all.

"We can't stop her from doing what she wants." Duran said. "I've warned every team she has joined in the past and now I'm warning you."

"Then what about the last job? You personally knew how dangerous it was and yet she still came along."

"I figured since you beat me in combat she would be safe with you." Duran said taking a step away from Gloria. "And it seems I was right about that."

"But now she doesn't even want to be in the same area as me." Gloria said.

"Well I really don't care why she's mad at you; I just want you to fix it." Duran said.

"Trust me. I wish it was easy to fix this." Gloria said walking past Duran and out the front door.

As Gloria walked across the grounds she thought back to the previous night. It was then that their 'fight' if you can really call it that, had started.

***
Gloria had been sitting on her bed looking down at the floor as she waited for Rose to return to their dorm room. After what seemed like forever, the door finally opened and Rose walked through wearing a bath robe and a towel laid out over her head.

"Ahh much better." Rose said as she walked into the room and closed the door. "Oh hey, Gloria, some of the girls from the Unbeatable Beauties fan club are going to go into town tonight to do some shopping. They asked if we wanted to come along. I figure this will be our only chance to buy supplies for our job tomorrow."

"I'm not so sure if we should." Gloria said sadly.

"Why the long face?" Rose asked sitting down next to Gloria. "Are you upset that we sort of forced you to talk about another part of your painful past?"

"No. Not that." Gloria said shaking her head. "There is something I've been meaning to tell you for a while now."

"What is it?"

"Well you see it's about what happened with you and Zakarn." Gloria said shifting nervously.

"You just lost control. You managed to call him back in time, so it's not that big of a problem anymore." Rose said.

"No I didn't just lose control. It happened because of me." Gloria said.

"What do you mean?" Rose asked looking confused.

"Well you now know that me and Aleen were in love, and because of that I have little to no interest in men." Gloria said. "When I first saw you, I thought I had fallen in love again."

"You have a crush on me!?" Rose said blushing slightly.

"Had. I had a crush on you." Gloria said. "That changed when the incident with Zakarn happened. You see, when a Summoner makes a magical connection with anything, not just their magical energy is shared. Their inner most thoughts are shared as well."

"Innermost thoughts? So in your case..." Rose said thinking.

"Since at the time I had a crush on you, those feeling were shared with Zakarn and they amplified and took control over him." Gloria said. "This is why he did what he did."

Rose simply stared at Gloria in disbelief. Gloria braced herself as she knew what was going to happen next. Rose stood up and walked towards her bed slowly.

"You knew what would happen before we even started the training match." She said.

"No, I didn't think it would..." Gloria started before Rose quickly turned and cut her off.

"You said before you passed out, 'I thought that would happen' yet you still went and started the training match anyway!" Rose said raising her voice.

"There was only a small chance it would happen." Gloria said. "I thought we'd be okay."

"I can't believe you! You didn't even warn me that it might happen!" Rose yelled causing Gloria to flinch.

"I...I was too nervous to tell you." Gloria said. "I'm sorry."

"Gah! I'm going to bed." Rose said turning around and pulling her blankets on her bed back forcefully. "You can get the supplies for the job tomorrow."

Rose got into her bed and turned her back on Gloria who simply sat there for a while before quickly walking out the door and down the hall.

***

Arnen was standing by the academy gates when Gloria arrived.

"About time." He said. "Where is your friend? I wanted to be out of here by now."

"She's coming, just...give her a little bit more time." Gloria said sadly.

"Alright, but if she takes too long we'll have to leave without her." Arnen said leaning up against the gate.

***
Meanwhile on the other side of the academy, Rose was standing in front of a door to another dorm room. She hesitated for a second before knocking on the door. There was no answer. She knocked harder and yet still no answer. Furious she bang on the door just as it opened almost hitting a guy in the face. The one standing in the doorway was the Archer who worked with Duran.

"Oh it's just you." He said when he saw Rose. "Duran isn't here. He should still be in the medical area. That's if he's still asleep."

"I'm not here to see Duran." Rose said. I came to see Mick."

The Archer stared at Rose for a few seconds before he closed the door slightly. Rose could hear him waking Mick up and telling him to go to the door. Soon after the door opened again and Mick walked out still half asleep.

"Rose?" He said closing the door slightly. "What are you-?"

Rose cut off Mick's sentence by throwing herself onto him in a big embrace. Mick, who was now awake, nearly lost his balance and had to keep himself from falling down by placing a hand on the wall next to the door.

"Rose? What are you doing?" He asked.

"Please, I just need someone who understands me right now." Rose said as tears began to slowly fall down her face.

Mick was at a loss. He simply sighed and wrapped his arms around Rose as a way to comfort her. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he was happy that she needed him again. After a minute or so Rose pulled away from Mick and wiped her face with her sleeve.

"Thank you." She said. "I'm heading out on another job. I'll see you when I get back."

"Yeah." Mick said. "Good luck on your job."

"Heh. You know me. I'll be fine." Rose said smiling slightly before making her way down the hall towards the academy grounds.

***

An hour later Arnen, Gloria and Rose were walking down the road leading towards the Grand Church. Gloria and Rose were standing on either side of Arnen and refused to even look at each other.

"We'll be lucky to make it halfway to the Grand Church while there's still daylight at this rate." Arnen said. "If you two hadn't been so long getting ready to leave."

"Not my fault. Rose was the one who took her sweet time getting ready." Gloria said.

"You can't blame this on me." Rose said. "If it weren't for Gloria, I wouldn't have had to make a few stops before coming out."

"Look, you are both at fault here." Arnen said looking at Gloria and then to Rose. "Now why don't you just put this petty squabble of yours behind you and focus on your job."

"I'm willing to forgive Gloria if she could prove to me that she can be trusted to warn me when something bad could happen." Rose said crossing her arms.

"And how can I do that when you won’t even give me the time of day anymore." Gloria argued back.

"How long is this job going to take? I'm not sure I can work with her for much longer at the rate things are going." Rose said pointing at Gloria.

"We should make it to the Grand Church by tomorrow. Weather permitted." Arnen said looking up at the now clear sky. "After that it all depends on how long the Head Bishop keeps Gloria around. I'd say the sooner we get on the trail of the real culprit the sooner we can end this job."

"Well hopefully the weather stays nice." Rose said. "The only thing that could make this job any worst is if it starts raining."

***

Meanwhile, Zotar had entered an abandoned house situated at the top of a hillside not far from the mountain on which he met the Professor at. Since it was abandoned, Zotar had claimed the house as his own. It was far enough away from any town that he knew he wouldn't be disturbed. Dark clouds had covered the sky making the house darker than normal so Zotar lit a few candles before sitting down on an old chair by an unlit fireplace. He sat there thinking about his new mission that the professor had given him. Suddenly there was a knock at the door. Zotar, who wasn't expecting company, gripped his gunblade that was attached to his belt and made his way to the door. He slowly opened before swinging it open to point his gunblade at his visitor. Standing in his doorway was a woman wearing a hooded cloak. She lifted her head up just enough for Zotar to see the scar under her eye.

"Is that how you greet everyone?" Niraya said pulling her hood down.

"What do you want?" Zotar asked reattaching his gunblade to his belt. "I told you I would meet you tomorrow to tell you the mission."

"I wanted to ask you something." Niraya said.

"Fine. Come in then."

Niraya walked inside the house. She knew the place well since this was the place Zotar gave her the scar under her eye which housed Zotars’ magical energy. She had to stay here as the scar healed itself before she could use it. Niraya turned to look at Zotar who was closing the door. She could only see him through one eye at the moment as her other one was damaged in the fight at Wiltmar and she had to bandage it up.

"So, did you get another orb?" Niraya asked.

"Not exactly." Zotar said returning to his seat by the fireplace. "He gave us another mission which involves us using an orb."

"What kind of mission?"

"I thought you wanted to ask me something." Zotar said getting annoyed.

Niraya hesitated for a second. She wasn't sure if she really wanted to ask him this question but there was no choice now.

"I want to know who it is we're working for." She said. "Who gives you these orbs and what does he get out of it?"

"To be honest, I really don't know myself." Zotar said after a moment of silence. . "He is a professor...or maybe even a scientist of some sort. I guess he studies demons and anything related to them but it's hard to say what his true objective is."

"Should we really trust him? Because of him we're considered criminals."

"I was considered a criminal when I left the kingdom of Tenalp." Zotar said. "You became a criminal once you sided with me and that was before we started doing these missions for the Professor."

"What kind of person is this 'Professor'?" Niraya asked.

"He looks like a crazy old man." Zotar said. "I don't even know his real name. All I know is that he pays us well to go on these 'missions' for him."

"That last mission almost got us killed." Niraya said placing a hand on her bandaged eye.

"By 'us' you mean Victor as well?"

Niraya sadly looked out a nearby window. Her brother Victor was badly hurt from when the Summoner crushed him under a building using her axe. At the last minute, Zotar picked up Victor and carried him away from Wiltmar before it was engulfed by the demon gate. Now Victor lays unconscious in a hospital bed barely able to move.

"Why did you save him?" Niraya asked looking back at Zotar.

"You chose to stay loyal to me rather than die with him." Zotar said. "I reward those who are loyal to me."

Zotar stood up and pulled out the new orb that the professor gave to him. He handed it to Niraya who looked at it in confusion.

"Now continue to prove your loyalty and complete this new mission on your own." Zotar said.

"What is the mission this time? Lord Zotar." Niraya said with a small bow.

"Trust me." Zotar said with a sinister grin. "You're going to love this one."

***

"Oh way to go Rose you had to jinx it." Gloria said as it started pouring rain.

"Don't blame me." Rose said. "It's not like I have the power to make it rain."

"How far is the next town?" Gloria asked Arnen ignoring Rose.

"Another ten to twenty minutes or so." Arnen said. "It's just a little rain. Nothing to be too concerned about."

"Maybe not for you." Gloria said. "You're not the one wearing a WHITE robe. I knew I should have picked the blue robe. Or maybe even the pink one."

"Just deal with it." Rose said. "Your fault for not dressing appropriately for the job."

"I wasn't talking to you." Gloria snapped. "I have a better idea then."

Gloria called out her shield and raised it above her head protecting her from the rain altogether.

"Hey wait that's not fair." Rose said when she saw Gloria's shield.

"Had you been a bit more understanding last night, I probably would share." Gloria said.

"That's no reason for you to turn into a complete bitch!" Rose snapped back.

"Oh so now you're insulting me? I know I didn't deserve that."

"This is what I get for traveling with girls." Arnen said with a sigh.

"You want your job done? Then you have to deal with it." Gloria snapped.

"Luckily, the next town is not that far." Arnen said. "Although, you'll have to lose the shield if you don't want people to know what you are."

"I can just claim I'm a knight." Gloria said. "They sometimes use shields."

"Knights are Warriors from the kingdom of Tenalp." Arnen said. "You look like a Healer plus your shield has the Summoners insignia on its front."

"Not only that but you'd never be able to carry that huge shield all the way there over your head." Rose said. "Your arms will get tired within minutes."

"Arnen is right I suppose." Gloria said ignoring the comment Rose made. "Oh well. I'm partly wet as is anyway. This village better not be too far."

***

They had arrived at the village by nightfall. The rain was pouring down as they walked into the inn and rented three separate rooms. Gloria and Rose avoided each other for most of the night as Arnen simply remained in his room. Late at night Rose had gotten up to use the bathroom when she noticed that Gloria's door was opened. As she walked down a dark hallway of the inn she saw someone standing outside from a window. Rose looked out to see Gloria standing in the rain looking up at the sky with a sad expression on her face. Her robe and hair were soaked indicating she had been out there for some time.

"She's using the rain to cover up her tears." Came Arnen's voice from behind Rose.

Rose turned to see Arnen sitting in a chair by the window. It seems he had been watching Gloria this whole time. Rose must have been too tired to notice him sitting there.

"It's really pouring out." Rose said watching the rain. "She's going to catch a cold out there. If that happens she'll only slow us down."

"She was right earlier today." Arnen said looking at Rose. "How can she prove her trust if you won’t allow her to do so."

"What do you know? You were locked up in a cell for a year." Rose said before walking away.

"It would make this job easier if you two were on good terms again." Arnen called after her.

Meanwhile outside Gloria continued to stare up at the sky as rain poured over her face. She had closed her eyes and enjoyed the cool drops dancing on her. It was quiet in the village since everyone was asleep and all that could be heard was the rain. After about a minute Gloria heard footprints coming closer. She opened her eyes to see Rose walking up to her and standing a foot away from her. Then silence. Neither of them said a word. They just stood in the rain quietly. Gloria looked over at Rose unsure if she should say something or not.

"Rose I..." she started.

"I'm straight you know." Rose said interrupting Gloria. "I don't have an interest in women like you do."

"Yeah, I kind of figured that." Gloria said.

"So, if you are capable of keeping yourself from falling in love with me, then I'm sure we'll get along like we were before." Rose said.

"Easy enough." Gloria said nodding a bit. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you my interest sooner. I'm sure it would have avoided the whole incident."

"Probably." Rose said. "Now what do you say we get out of the rain. Arnen will growl us both if we catch something out here."

"He'll growl us for something anyway." Gloria said smiling. "He seems like that kind of guy."

"You may be right about that."

Gloria and Rose made their way back into the inn out of the rain. Once inside they started a fire in the fireplace situated at the back of the lounge. They removed their robes, wrapped themselves up in blankets and sat in the two chairs situated in front of the fireplace.

"To be honest, I feel better being friends with you again." Rose said after sitting down in the chair.

"You and me both. I was afraid that I would end up in another team." Gloria said.

"Good thing you didn't." Rose said pulling something out of the blankets.

Rose started playing with a necklace she had around her neck. The light of the fire reflected off of it catching Gloria's eye.

"I didn't know you wore a necklace." Gloria said.

"Hmm? This? It belonged to my mother. It's the only thing I have of hers." Rose said pulling the necklace out further for Gloria to see.

The necklace was a cross with a circle around it. On the cross was some kind of bird spreading its wings out. Gloria had gotten the feeling she had seen this necklace before yet she couldn't figure out where she had seen it.

"You've never mentioned your mother before. What was she like?" Gloria asked.

"To be honest, I don't really know." Rose said sadly. "She died when I was just a baby."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Gloria said. "Didn't Duran tell you anything about her?"

"He doesn't remember much since he was a little kid back then." Rose said. "Wait how did you know he was my OLDER brother?"

"Eh well...he looks older." Gloria said thinking quickly.

It was obvious to Gloria that Duran was the older sibling since he cared so much about Rose's safety. The warning he gave Gloria was something an older brother would do however Rose doesn't know that she's under his watch.

"Really? I always thought we looked similar in age." Rose said. "Even though Duran is eight years older than I am."

"Is he really that old? He'd be almost the same age as some of the teachers at the academy." Gloria said.

"The academy doesn't care about the age of the students. I'm pretty sure the oldest student there is around the age of forty." Rose said thinking.

"It just attracts more people of the younger generation." Gloria said. "Makes sense when you think about it."

"Yeah. It was the perfect place to study when I was a Warrior." Rose said. "If I chose to be a Healer at first, I would have gone to the Grand Church."

"No better place for a Healer to learn." Gloria said. "Or a Summoner for that matter."

"Where is the Grand Church anyway?" Rose asked.

"You've never been there before?" Gloria said quite surprised. "Hang on a minute."

Gloria got up and walked out of the lounge. She came back two minutes later carrying her bag. She sat back down and started digging through her bag pulling out a rolled up parchment and opened it on the table near the chairs. Rose stood up and walked over to the table to get better look at the parchment which was actually a map of the entire East side of the world. On the map was little houses drawn on it with words above them. Rose recognized some of words as towns and villages she heard of before. One of the drawn houses had an X drawn over it and they word 'Wiltmar' was written over it. This was probably Gloria's way of stating that Wiltmar was gone. Another X got Rose's attention. This one had the word 'Home' written above it and probably meant the Summoners Sanctuary.

"The Grand Church is here." Gloria said pointing at one of the houses that had the word 'Compass' written over it.

"What does Compass mean?" Rose asked.

"It's the name given to the Grand Church and the surrounding villages." Gloria said. "We are actually in Compass East right now."

"Why not just give each village its own name?"

"Well, since the Sanctuary is gone, the Grand Church is pretty much what governs the whole East side now. So they conjoined the Grand Church with the surrounding villages to make it like one big city." Gloria said. "There are actually plans to make a big wall connecting it all together."

"That would take a while." Rose said. "Even without the demons going around causing problems."

"Well that is why we're doing this job right?" Gloria asked. "To catch the one who makes the orbs and slow down or even stop the demons from coming through the demon gates."

"I guess. Hopefully we can at least make a difference in the world." Rose said.

"I'm sure we will." Gloria said rolling the map back up.

Rose nodded and went to sit down on her chair again while Gloria put the map back into her bag. Around the corner in the dark, Arnen was leaning against the wall listening to what Gloria and Rose had said.

"I'm sure we will..." he said quietly. “I just hope, for everyone’s sake, that you are right."

***

The next day they had arrived at the Grand Church at noon. Gloria ran up to the front door once they were upon it.

"We're here." She said happily. "Wow, it hasn't change a bit."

It hasn't changed at all since it was built before the EverWar." Arnen said. "I doubt it would change in the one year you had been gone."

"So this is the Grand Church." Rose said in amazement. "I've seen pictures of it but it's much more beautiful in real life."

The big white church towered over them casting its shadow over the group. The church would have looked like a castle if it weren't for the statues that were positioned all around it and the odd cross nailed to the wall here and there. The door itself was a beautiful sight to see. It had a picture of a woman wearing a white robe carved into it. The woman in the picture was carrying a staff and seemed familiar to Rose somehow.

"Is that woman on the door who I think it is?" She asked.

"Just wait and you'll see." Gloria said walking right in front of the door.

Gloria placed her hands together and closed her eyes before bowing a bit towards the door.

"Mother. I've come back." She said.

"I was right. That's Summoner Sanala." Rose said standing next to Gloria and bowing just like her. "You look just like your mother, Gloria."

"She may have her mothers' looks but she has her fathers' eyes." Came an old man's voice on Gloria's left side.

The sound of a cane could be heard hitting the stone walkway to the church as the Head Bishop slowly walked towards Gloria. His face was old and weary but yet gentle and kind. He wore an expensive looking white robe with gold rims.

"Head Bishop!" Gloria said happily as she ran over to give the old man a hug. "You weren't waiting for us were you?"

"Arnen sent me a message last night stating that you would be arriving here by noon today." The Head Bishop said. "I figured I'd wait for you out here to greet you when you arrived. Come on inside. The other Healers are eager to see you again."

The Head Bishop and Gloria walked through the front door as Rose and Arnen followed. The inside of the Grand Church was just as beautiful as it is outside. The entrance hall seemed to glow a little with all the light coming through the windows. Along the hall were six statues, three men and three women, each carrying a different kind of weapon. The last one, one of the men, wielded a familiar blade.

"Isn't that your gunblade Gloria?" Rose asked looking up at the last statue.

"The very same." Gloria said. "These are statues of the first Summoners. The ones who ended the EverWar. This one is the statue of the very first Gunblade Specialist. He was also the first Summoner yet because Summoners became a class of their own he was also known as the last Bodyguard."

"Bodyguard? I don't recall ever hearing of such a class." Rose said.

"The Bodyguards were a class similar to Warriors yet they relied on physical defense rather than offense." The Head Bishop said. "As their class name suggests, they often took on jobs where they had to protect someone or something."

"No wonder I haven't heard of them. There isn't much information on anything that happened before the EverWar." Rose said.

"You should check out the church's library at some point." Gloria said. "It has tons more history books than D.A.D.S. academy."

As Gloria and Rose continued to talk amongst themselves the Head Bishop turned to Arnen.

"You did well in bringing Gloria here." The Head Bishop said. "I can imagine it was not easy to convince her to come back."

"It would have been harder if not for the staff you wanted me to give her." Arnen said.

"I take it she has it with her?"

"Yeah. She can summon it whenever she wants." Arnen said nodding.

"But yet I don't see the training staff she left with. If she has no need of it anymore than she has definitely gotten stronger." The Head Bishop said looking over to Gloria. "She also seems to be back to her old self as well. She was really upset when she left."

"Why did you let her leave anyway?" Arnen asked lowering his voice. "She was in no condition to be facing the one who caused the incident here."

"It was not my choice." The Head Bishop said shaking his head. "It's true I was going to send her, but she was the one who decided when she would leave. I tried to convince her to stay a bit longer but she made up her mind."

"Apparently, she was following the rumours of the fake Summoners." Arnen said. "According to her and her friend there, she had caught up with them at Wiltmar."

"Wiltmar? But that town..."

"Is gone. I know." Arnen said nodding. "The girls said it was swallowed by a demon gate. I don't know the full details."

"Gloria? Is it true you know what happened at Wiltmar?" The Head Bishop asked turning to Gloria and Rose who were still talking to each other.

"Yeah. We were there when it happened." Gloria said pointing at Rose and herself.

"You'll have to tell us what happened." The Head Bishop said. "Every detail. We'll talk in my office since the main hall is blocked off until we can be sure the gate in there is closed for good."

The Head Bishop waved for them all to follow and led them through a hallway and into his office. Once there, Gloria and Rose inform Arnen and The Head Bishop of what had happened at Wiltmar. They mentioned everything. About Zotar and his group, about the orb and what had happened when the demon gate opened. Arnen and they Head Bishop listened carefully to every word and was shocked by the end of it.

"It almost sounds just like what happened here." Arnen said. "Except the gate was big enough to swallow the town."

"It wasn't a pretty sight." Rose said. "I feel bad to this day for leaving those people behind."

"Sadly there was nothing you could do." The Head Bishop said. "What concerns me as well is the fact that this Zotar possesses a gunblade. There should only be one in existence."

"He didn't just receive it either." Gloria said. "He knew how to use it. It takes years of training to properly use one in a real fight."

"But how did he get it is the question." Rose said. "Could he have asked a blacksmith to make one?"

"Not that simple. A lot of blacksmiths don’t even know what a gunblade is and those who do have already failed at making one." Gloria said.

"How did they fail?" Arnen asked.

"Well first off, the blade itself has to be hollow to allow the bullets to pass through and fly out the tip." Gloria explained. "My gunblade is made of an unknown metal which allows me to swing it against other swords without breaking even with the inside of the blade being hallow. Blacksmiths just don't have access to the right kind of metal to make a gunblade that won’t break when you try to use it as an actual sword."

"So does anyone have any idea how Zotar may have gotten his made?" Rose asked.

"I heard a rumor that the Kingdom of Tenalp over on the West side had created a new weapon." Arnen said. "Apparently they are calling this new weapon a 'gun'."

"Just by the name alone it sounds like a gunblade, without the blade." Gloria said. "Are you saying he just had someone attach a sword to one of those?"

"It's hard to say at this point since only those with a connection to the Kingdom have seen them, but it's a possibility."

"I'd say it's more than just a possibility." Gloria said. "Zotar wears the armor of a knight."

"So what do you guys plan to do?" The Head Bishop asked.

"During the incident here the demon had escaped along with those two other blurs which were probably demons as well." Arnen said. "We are going to find the one who gave me the orb in the first place, stop him, and put an end to all of it. We might as well see if we can track down the three demons and make sure they're dealt with as well.

"The trouble is actually finding either of them." Gloria said. "They've had one year to move around the world. They could be anywhere. Not to mention Zotar and his group could be anywhere as well."

"I may be able to help you in one way." The Head Bishop said taking a key from his desk.

The Head Bishop walked over to a chest and unlocked it using the key. He reached into the chest and pulled out a small box and handed it to Arnen.

"What is this?" Arnen asked.

"Those are the many pieces of the orb that you brought here one year ago." The Head Bishop said.

"What! You managed to gather them all?" Gloria asked.

"It saddens me to say that it was thanks to Aleen's blood that we managed to even see most of them." The Head Bishop said.

"If I can put this orb back together, we might be able to use it to find the demon gates. Which in turn will give us a better chance to bump into the ones responsible?" Arnen said.

"Are you sure it will still work?" Gloria asked. "Even if you could put it back together, there is no guarantee it will show us the demon gates again."

"It's worth a shot." Rose said. "It would be better than wandering around aimlessly."

"This could take a while then." Gloria said. "Looks like we'll be staying here for the night."

***

Later that night the door to the library opened and Gloria walked in holding a lit candle to see. The library consisted of several shelves which held books about the world’s history. At the back of the library, there were several doors each one led to a room with books on different classes. Each door had a sign above them stating what class the books were about. Gloria walked towards the door with the sign that read: 'Healer'. She opened it and walked in seeing two more shelves on both sides of the small room. In the middle of the room was a table and some chairs where a person could read. Gloria brought the candle closer to one of the shelves so she could see the names of the books. She pulled out one book called: 'Healer's History'. She placed it on the table and began flipping through it quickly. She was only looking for a picture so going through the book only took a minute before she closed it.

"Nope, not in this one." She mumbled before getting up and looking through the shelf again.

Gloria pulled out another book called 'Healers and how they work'. She flipped through this one just as quickly as the last one before closing it and throwing it on the table on top of the last book.

"Not that one either." She said walking over to the shelf on the other side of the room. "I know I've seen Rose's necklace before but I can't remember where. Although I remember seeing it in a book. I just can't remember which one."

Gloria giggled to herself as she searched through the books. She found it funny that she was obsessing over a piece of jewelry. Yet she knew she wouldn't be able to sleep until she found out.

"I must have gotten this trait from my father. Right mom?" She asked looking up at the ceiling. "He was always protective over that ring of his and he knew everything about every kind of accessory that the others wore. The first thing he taught me was..."

That's when something clicked in Gloria's mind. She walked out of the room and followed the row of doors until she got to the last one. The sign above it read: 'Summoner'. Beside the door was a picture of a handprint. The picture was magically enhanced to scan a person’s handprint upon contact. It would then unlock the door only to those who were allowed access. Gloria pressed her hand against the picture and it magically lit up. Soon after she heard a clicking sound indicating that the door was now unlocked. She opened it and walked in. This room was emptier than the others. Most of the books on Summoners were at the Sanctuary and only a handful was brought to the Grand Church. There was only a table with a stack of five or so books on it and two chairs placed in front of the table. Aleen and Gloria used to spend hours in this room reading the books over and over. It was the perfect place for them to be alone since they were the only ones, besides the Head Bishop, who had access to the room. However now the room was covered in a year’s worth of dust. It seems the room was left as it was when they had used it last. Gloria sat down in the chair she usually sat in when she was with Aleen and pulled one of the books out from the small stack. The book was called 'The truth of the EverWar' and it was the first book her father showed to her when she was just a little girl. The book itself explained everything that happened during the EverWar from a Summoner's point of view. It was written by a Summoner Diana who was Aleen's ancestor. Gloria started flipping through the book however stopped quickly when she arrived at one page.

"Found it." She said happily.

On the page was a picture of the cross the circle and the bird. The same thing Rose's necklace looked like. Gloria began to read the description of the symbol however she gasped and dropped the book on the table soon after.

"It can't be!" She said in alarm. "But does this mean Rose is..."

Suddenly what Duran had told Gloria before she left made sense.

"She doesn't know it, but Rose is as important as a Princess to my family." He had told her. "If you did anything that could cause harm to her, I will make sure you are personally responsible for it and trust me, my family won’t care if you're a Summoner."

"This can't be the truth." Gloria said closing the book. "Rose needs to know, but I can't tell her without more proof. Her necklace only reveals that there may be a connection, but nothing more."

Gloria leaned back in the chair and gave out a loud sigh.

"I was hoping to go into town alone tonight, but now it seems I have no choice." She said. "Rose has to come with me if I'm to watch over her in Duran's stead."

With that Gloria stood up and walked out the door for there was one more pressing matter she had to deal with. One that could be the difference between life and death.

***

"Rose wake up." Gloria said giving Rose a shake.

"Hmm? What?" Rose asked slowly opening her eyes.

Rose saw Gloria standing over her wearing a brown travel cloak. She threw another cloak on Rose's lap quickly.

"Put that on and let's go." Gloria said.

"Go? Go where?" Rose asked still half asleep.

"I'll explain later. Please just come with me." Gloria said eagerly.

"Alright. Just give me a chance to get dressed first." Rose said.

"Got it. I'll wait for you just outside your door." Gloria said walking away.

A few minutes later Gloria led Rose out the front door of the Grand Church and down a road towards a town.

"You mind telling me where we're going now?" Rose asked as she followed in behind Gloria.

"I need to see an old friend who lives in town just north of the Grand Church." Gloria said.

"This late at night?"

"It's the only time he'll meet with me." Gloria said. "He likes his privacy."

"And why am I coming along?" Rose asked getting more and more confused.

"Why not? We're a team remember? It's better to travel as a group rather than alone." Gloria said.

"Then why didn't you get Arnen up too?"

"Cause he would just growl and yell at me if I did." Gloria said. "Ah there it is."

Further down the road Rose saw the lights of a village. It took them ten minutes to finally make it to the entrance. Rose looked around to see that the lights she saw were torches on posts all around the village. The actual houses were dark which made sense considering it was the middle of the night. Gloria sped through the streets as Rose followed in behind with difficulty. They ended up in the darkest part of town before Gloria came to a stop in front of a house. The building looked like the place of a blacksmith yet there were no windows. Gloria knocked on the door and waited for an answer.

"Who is it?" Came a deep gruff voice on the other side.

"It's me." Gloria answered.

Suddenly as the slider situated on the door opened and a pair of eyes were seen looking at Gloria. The slider shut just as quickly and Rose could hear what seemed like several locks being unlocked. The door opened allowing Gloria and Rose to enter. The inside looked just like a blacksmiths place as well. It was incredibly hot which forced Gloria and Rose to take off the travel cloaks they were wearing. A tough looking man closed up the door and began to lock it up again.

"I almost thought you had forgotten about me Princess." He said turning to face Gloria.

"Sorry, I was traveling for a while." Gloria said. "It's great to see you again Blacky. I hope we're not bothering you in any way."

"Nonsense. I always have time for you Princess. Although I thought it was Aleen that was with you, but I guess not." The man said looking at Rose.

"Oh, this is Rose. She's a friend of mine I met at D.A.D.S. Academy." Gloria said.

"Nice to meet you...eh...Blacky?" Rose said extending her hand out.

"It's Carl." The man said taking Rose's hand and shaking it. "Blacky is just the nickname I got from the Princess here."

"You see, me and Aleen weren't the only ones to survive the attack on the Sanctuary." Gloria said to Rose. "Blacky worked as a blacksmith for the Summoners. He was out gathering materials for his weapons when the Sanctuary disappeared."

"Summoner's blacksmith? You mean you made the Summoners weapons?" Rose asked.

"Not just made them, I made sure they were in fighting shape at all times." Carl said. "Also made sure the soldiers guarding the place had weapons and armor as well."

"So you call him Blacky because he's a blacksmith?" Rose asked Gloria.

"No that's not the reason." Gloria said shaking her head. "When dad brought me down to meet him for the first time he was completely covered from head to toe in soot. It was hilarious."

"I was cleaning my forge at the time. Can't make good weapons with dirty equipment." Carl said. "I would have held off on the cleaning had I known 'daddy's little Princess' would have been coming for a visit."

"You can guess why he calls me 'Princess' now." Gloria said with a smirk. "I was three years old. You can't blame me for saying something any three year old girl would say."

"Well that was true for Emily, but Aleen never said anything of the sort." Carl said laughing. "On that note, how is Aleen doing? I haven't seen either of you for the whole year."

The smile on Gloria's face faded as she looked down at the ground. Rose thought that this may have been the reason for her to come along. Gloria knew Aleen would come up at some point and probably wanted a friend nearby.

"She's gone." Gloria said sadly. "She died one year ago during an incident at the Grand Church."

"Oh no...are you serious?" Carl asked. "That means you..."

"...are the last of the Summoners. Yes." Gloria said finishing the sentence.

"Damn. That means I work for you alone." Carl said pointing to Gloria. "If there is anything you need, just ask."

"Actually, I need two things from you now." Gloria said summoning her battle-axe. "I'd like you to inspect this."

Carl's eyes widen when he saw the battle-axe in Gloria's hands. He took it from her and began to look it over.

"You made this yourself didn't you?" He asked.

"Yes. It's my newest weapon. I call it Demon Crusher." Gloria said.

"It's junk." Carl said bluntly.

"Wh..what? What do you mean?"

"I mean as far as axes go, it's useless." Carl said holding the axe with only one hand. "It has very little weight to it. What kind of axe was in your hands when you made this?"

"A hatchet." Gloria said slightly embarrassed.

"That explains everything." Carl said. "You see you may have known how to use the weapon, which is how you were able to make it in the first place, however you have no clue how much weight a battle-axe has. Where did you learn to use an axe?"

"I watched a guy use one while I was fighting him." Gloria said thinking of Victor.

"So I suppose you took his hatchet and figured you could make a good battle-axe without actually using one beforehand?" Carl asked. "Has the fact that you're a blonde caught up to you finally?"

"Is there something you can do about it other than insult me over it?" Gloria asked.

"There is. However you said you wanted two things from me. What was the other?"

Gloria shifted closer to Rose a bit before tapping the tip of her foot against the floor.

"Promise you won’t be mad at me for this one?" Gloria asked nervously.

Light shined in Gloria's right hand indicating that she had summoned another weapon. She lifted a warped looking sword up a bit so that Carl could see it. Rose also took a look and was shocked to see that the warped sword was actually Gloria's gunblade. The sword was barely recognizable. Pieces of the blade had been hacked off and the tip had been blown apart. Carl stared at the gunblade in disbelief.

"Is...is that...?" He asked as if it was some kind of joke.

"Yes." Gloria said sadly. "This is what's left of my gunblade."

"What did you do to it!?" Carl asked furiously yanking the sword from Gloria's hands.

"I used it fighting a guy with an axe." Gloria said.

"The same guy that you learned how to use an axe from I suppose." Carl said looking at the gunblade as if he didn't know where to start with it.

"Can you fix it?" Gloria asked.

"Are you crazy!? This gunblade was examined by several blacksmiths many centuries ago, each one agreed that it was made of a material not from this world." Carl said. "This gunblade can't be fixed by materials from this world."

"But you've kept the blade in shape for me all these years I spent at the Grand Church."

"I can sharpen it and shine it up for you, but I can't remake it for you." Carl said. "Not without the right material anyway."

"Is there anything you can do?" Gloria asked desperately.

"There was one weapon that could have helped in remaking your gunblade. But it's gone now I suppose." Carl said.

"What weapon are you talking about?" Rose asked thinking this may be the only hope to fix Gloria's gunblade.

"I'm talking about Aleen's best weapon. The one she always used. That special two bladed sword...what was it called again?"

"Twinblade!?" Gloria said in surprise. "I'm in possession of that weapon now."

"You have it? But it should have disappeared when Aleen..." Carl started before Gloria interrupted.

"She gave it to me before that happened." She said. "How is it going to help my gunblade though?"

"Well you wouldn't know this by looking at them but Twinblade and your gunblade are made of the same unknown material." Carl explained. "Some could say they're sister blades. If I melt down Twinblade I can use it as material to fix your gunblade."

"Melt...down?" Gloria asked looking sad. "You mean in order to fix my gunblade, I have to sacrifice Twinblade?"

"Sorry Princess, but I can't fix your gunblade any other way." Carl said patting Gloria on the head. "Unless you can do the impossible and pull out another gunblade."

"Another gunblade? You can do it if I bring you another gunblade?" Gloria asked as her eyes lit up.

"Well yeah, but you have the only one so..."

"Gloria. You're not suggesting we go after Zotar's gunblade." Rose said worried that she already knew the answer.

"What choice do we have? We were going after him anyway." Gloria said. "He won’t need it when we're done with him."

"Wait, are you saying there is another gunblade out there?" Carl asked.

"Yeah. I've already fought against the one who wields it." Gloria said. "And I'm currently on a job that will involve taking him down."

"I'm interested in seeing this other gunblade." Carl said excitingly. "Once you get it make sure to come back here so I can get started on fixing yours."

"You got it." Gloria said. "In the meantime, I'll leave my gunblade with you. It's useless in its current condition anyway."

"Allow me to hold on to your axe as well. That I can fix up for you." Carl said looking over at Demon Crusher.

"That doesn't leave me with much choices for weapons, but I guess it'll have to do for now." Gloria said. "We'd best head back to the church before they miss us. I'll see you soon Blacky."

"Take care Princess." Carl said going over and opening the door. "Be careful out there. Oh and tell the old bishop I said hi."

Gloria nodded as both her and Rose walk through the door and out into the quiet town. They threw their travel cloaks back on and made their way down the road towards the Grand Church.

"How long has your gunblade look like that?" Rose asked.

"Since we escaped Wiltmar." Gloria said. "The tip blew apart when I fired that last charge canon attack that got us out of the way of the orb's barrier."

"And the rest was caused during the fight there. Right?"

"Yup. Zakarn warned me that it would happen, but I figured if I avoided his axe it would be fine." Gloria said. "I was wrong."

"So with both your gunblade and your battle-axe out for now, that just leaves you with Twinblade, your shield and Zakarn right?" Rose asked.

"You're forgetting my mom's staff." Gloria said. "But yeah I'm essentially back to the amount of weapons I had when we first met."

"It will all be worth it when we get Zotar's gunblade." Rose said. "Then you can get your gunblade fixed up and by then your battle-axe will be improved as well."

Gloria didn't respond to what Rose had said. They had arrived back at the Grand Church and Gloria was standing in front of the main doors looking up at the sky.

"What time do you think it is?" She asked.

"What time? Well it should be getting close to midnight." Rose said. "It's hard to tell the time without the sun being out."

"If I'm right tomorrow should be..." Gloria said before walking right from the door.

"Gloria? Where are you going?" Rose asked following her.

Rose followed Gloria as they walked around the Grand Church. On the other side was the cemetery. Rose had thought Gloria was going to turn in there; however she walked past the cemetery and followed a small dirt path.

"Shouldn't we come back here with a light source of some kind?" Rose asked.

"We should be fine. I know this path well. Just follow me." Gloria said.

Gloria led Rose through the path with ease despite it being pitch dark. The path ended on a hill with a big tree. The hill had a perfect view of the Grand Church and, even though it was night, Rose could tell that it also had a perfect view of the entire land. Gloria walked under the tree and got down on her knees in front of a gravestone situated in front of the tree. Rose walked up in behind Gloria and looked at the gravestone which read: "Here lies Summoner Aleen, Daughter of Summoner Gothar and Summoner Alice. Survivor of the Summoner's Sanctuary disaster. May she rest in peace."

"This is where they buried Aleen?" Rose asked.

"Yeah. This was our favorite spot." Gloria said standing up and placing a hand on the gravestone. "It was always a nice quiet place to rest after training."

"I guess there is no better place to lay her to rest." Rose said smiling.

"Yeah." Gloria said looking up at the tree.

That's when she noticed a woman was standing above them on one of the tree branches. Gloria recognized her as Niraya, one of Zotar's minions.

"Isn't that..." Gloria started causing Rose to look up as well.

"Niraya!" Rose said in alarm.

Instinctively Gloria tried to summon her gunblade but when nothing came out she remembered that she had left it with Carl. Niraya threw something down at them which fell in front of Gloria's face. In a split second Gloria saw what looked like a demon gate key fall and smash against Aleen's grave. Gloria quickly turned around and pushed Rose away from the grave just as a small barrier surrounded it and Gloria.

"Wait, this is..." Gloria said before she and the barrier disappeared.

"GLORIA!" Rose yelled out before turning her attention to Niraya. "What have you done with her!?"

"Don't worry, she's safe. For now." Niraya said

"Niraya please." Rose said trying not to sound angry. "If you have any kindness in your heart, you will remember that I healed you back in Wiltmar so that you could get to your brother."

"If it wasn't for your little Summoner, my brother wouldn't be lying in a hospital bed right now." Niraya said clenching her fists.

"How do you think I feel!?" Rose said raising her voice. "My brother just got out of the hospital after what you guys did to him and his group."

Niraya didn't say anything in response to that. Rose raised a hand and launched a burst of holy energy at Niraya who began jumping from branch to branch up the tree. Once she reached the top she jumped up once more. Something flew under her and she landed on its back. Rose tried to run after her however Niraya turned and lashed an energy whip at her causing Rose to jump and roll down the hill. She tried to stand back up and continue chasing Niraya, yet a sharp pain in her ankle prevented her from doing so. She realized she must have twisted her ankle when she jumped to avoid Niraya's attack. Rose looked up to see Niraya fly away into the dark sky.

"Hey! What happened!" Came Arnen's voice from the top of the hill.

Rose looked up the hill to see Arnen looking down at her. He seemed more confused rather than concerned but Rose didn't care at this moment.

"Gloria...was taken away!" Rose said. "One of Zotar's minions came and threw some weird orb at her yet..."

"Yet what? Where did this minion go?" Arnen asked looking around.

"She..." Rose started not believing it herself. "Arnen, she flew away on the back of a demon."