Guardian of Healing - Etrian Odyssey 2 - Boyxboy

Chapter 11

AN: A somewhat short chapter, and the ending is a bit of a cliffhanger, sooo...enjoy~ :3c

-

Chapter 11:

Despite the lingering tension of the now dubbed Hex Epidemic, Lynus was able to sleep rather well that night. He had a few disturbing dreams, some he couldn't remember upon waking, but other than that he felt that he had a relatively peaceful night. It was no doubt due to the fact that he was surrounded by his guildmates' auras and he felt comforted by that. He was glad that they had chosen to stick together, bedding down in the tearoom instead of separating into their private rooms.

He was sure it was a comfort to everyone else to be so close as well.

Although he had a peaceful night's rest, Lynus still felt tired. He sat on the couch in front of the fireplace and rubbed his face with his hands. A tension headache had set in and he was starting to feel a little light-headed. It was just a side-effect of working too much. Nothing a bit more rest and some food couldn't cure.

On the couch next to him, gently rubbing soothing circles on his back, sat Axel. He was thankful for Axel's attentiveness, but it was becoming difficult not to turn to him and just snuggle into his chest and arms until this whole ordeal was over.

He was...tired. Just tired.

"You need to eat something," Axel said as he continued to rub smoothing circles on Lynus' back. "You haven't eaten since around midday yesterday. I'll ask Matron to bring us some food."

Lynus didn't really feel like eating anything, but he knew Axel was right. He needed to eat something. Something more than a cup of tea. A piece of toast should settle on his stomach pretty well. Anything more than that, though, he might feel queasy.

However before Axel could stand up, there was the sound of the inn's entrance doors being flung open in a panicked and dramatic manner.

Immediately, everyone in the tearoom shot to their feet, protectively on guard as panicked footsteps and voices could be heard outside the room.

"Monsters are invading the city!" someone shrilled.

Immediately, Hamza pushed forward and opened the door to the tearoom. He stepped outside and was immediately confronted by a terrified guard.

"Monsters are fleeing the labyrinth and invading the city! You're the leader of the Guardians, right? You have to do something! The guards are being overwhelmed!"

The thought of monsters invading the city was bad enough, but Lynus got a deep feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach. There was something else going on here. Monsters don't just rush into town for no reason. They were content to stay within the labyrinth. That was their territory. That was where their food sources were located. They had no reason to flood into the city.

Unless...

"Damn it..." Mahogany suddenly muttered from the corner of the room.

Hamza immediately turned to look at him. "Hexers?" he asked sharply.

A frighteningly grim expression spread across Mahogany's face and his eyes narrowed fearsomely as he nodded his head. "Hexers have the ability to instil fear in monster, thus making them easy to control and manipulate. This is exactly what they're doing now."

"Then this is the hexers' final stand," Hamza said through gritted teeth as he turned to face everyone. "Let's be ready for anything."

Could they really be ready, though?

Wait, his bag was up in his room! Lynus couldn't throw himself onto a battlefield without it. Not after what happened yesterday with that cursed knife and that hexer. He couldn't afford to be complacent.