D.E.666 ~ A Guardian's Summons ~ Jugger82

"It was not a summoner who called upon that aeon." she told him while turning to the man. "It was Maester Seymour guado. I never thought that I'd see him in person." She frowned slightly before hearing him comment about her being hurt and she looked over her shoulders where two sets of four red spots had formed upon her dress from the claws of the beast that had attacked her. "Alright. They aren't as bad as they seem though." she told him, following him along the ship. At some point they came across a man carrying a sack. "I know you." she said to him. "I saw you in Kilika when Lady Yuna was there at one point." The man looked surprised before smiling. "Hello. Oaka at your service. Anything I might interest you in?" he asked.
 
"A potion. I don't care how much it is. Here." He pulled out one hundred gil and handed it to him. "This is all I have. If its too much, just keep the extra. I need this for my summoner." He said to Oaka before looking over to Lyra and smiling gently, hoping she'd still see how much he cared for her now to use up all the money he had to pay for something that would make her feel better.
 
Oaka nodded after being told that he wanted a potion. He was about to pull the bottle out of his bag when Nathan handed him his money and he looked at the gil that now sat in his hand. "A summoner huh?" he said while looking at Lyra with a critical eye. "Aye, I can see it." he said before pulling two potions out and handing them to Nathan. "You'll need the extra one on your travels I'm sure. Don't forget to keep an eye open for chests on your travel. Who knows what could be left behind in them." he told them before walking away, two potions lighter and 100 gil heavier. Lyra gazed up into Nathans eyes and smiled gently after he handed over all of his money. "Thank you." she murmured to him.
 
Nathan smiled. "Do not worry. I am your guardian...your caretaker." He moved over and gave her the potion, having her drink it gently and slowly. "I hope your wounds heal quickly." He said as he smiled. Nathan looked to her and then to the sea and frowned. "That beast from before..." He was referring to the squid fiend from before, "...We never actually killed it...did we? Let us hope it does not attack us again. I do not think we have a lifeboat to escape to this time. Though...We do have an Aeon that could fly us out of here." He smiled to her. "It is capable of doing such a thing, correct?"
 
Taking the potion from him, she uncorked it and began drinking it, tipping her head back as she swallowed. Once she was done, she closed the vial and stored it away before nodding slightly. "I'm sure they will. Potions work fairly quickly." she told him. Turning, she looked out over the water and sighed softly. When the squid creature was brought up, she looked down, still feeling bad that so many had died. "I don't think that it will attack again." she told him. "And yes, Valefor is able to fly us out of here if we need it to."
 
"Good..." He said as he petted her head. "Don't worry though. I will protect you if the ship is attacked. GUARDian." He said jokingly. Nathan rubbed his head, still feeling light headed from the phirefly experience earlier. "What was that...that gas that came out of the demon when it died...I nearly choked to death on it..." He said as he held his throat and frowned, looking to her with a confused look in his eyes.
 
As he petted her head, she closed her eyes and leaned into his touch a little before chuckling. "I know you'll protect me." she said softly. She could see that he wasn't feeling well and she frowned slightly as he asked what it was that came out of the fiend earlier. "It was a pyrefly." she told him softly. "Do.. do you remember, when I was doing the sending in Besaid? Those orbs of light that came out of the bodies in the water?" she asked.
 
Nathan cocked his head as he tried to remember what she did at Besaid. The dance, he truly did remember. As for the orbs of light, he wondered what they had to do with the gas that he choked on when killing the monster. They were two completely different things, from what he thought anyway. "Y-Yes...I do believe I remember. But what do orbs of light have to do with a gassy darkness that chokes me?"
 
Lyra sighed as she leaned against the railing of the ship and gazed out at the water, a thoughtful look on her face. "Pyreflies are bits of energy... the life force and spiritual energy of those that passed. The dead need guidance. Filled with grief over their own death, they refuse to face their fate. They yearn to live on, and resent those still alive. You see, they envy the living. And in time, that envy turns to anger, even hate. Should these souls remain in Spira, they become fiends that prey on the living." she said gently. "That... gas as you put it, are pyreflies disbursing into the air after the fiends are defeated. You were so close to them, that you did not see them as they usually are seen. You saw them as something else." With that she turned and looked at him
 
"I guess..." He murmured as he still held his neck. "Then if those...Pyreflies...if thats what you call them or if thats what they're actually called...are spirits...Then why was I choked when I was standing in the midst of them? Spirits should not be able to touch the living physically! Except...well...as the fiends...Though I assume that the fiends are not the spirits themselves, but beings born from the anger of the spirits..."
 
She shook her head. "I do not know why you choked. Perhaps it is something caused from being engulfed by them." she said. "The fiends are the spirits. The spirits become so angry... so.. hateful, that they take on a physical form. That's why when the fiends are destroyed, the pyreflies come out of them. Perhaps what you had inhaled was a form of their hate left over from when the fiend is killed." Moving up to him, she reached up and placed her hand upon his neck lightly. "Does your neck and throat bother you?" she asked.
 
Nathan shook his head. "The burning pain in my throat left as soon as I got out of the pyreflies." He frowned even more. "If I inhaled some of them like I did...will something happen to me? I was in there for quite a while, and my mind was becoming foggy as I stayed until I managed to push myself out and into the clean air." He put his hand on top of hers, hoping that nothing would happen to him due to this.
 
Lyra slowly nodded while running her thumb over his throat. "I don't think anything will. The pyreflies aren't known to possess people. They do not have enough of a will to do such a thing." she told him. "You don't have to worry, I don't think. But if something happens, I'll be there with you to help if you need it." After he placed his hand over hers, she turned her hand and gripped his in a gentle grip while smiling gently.
 
Nathan nodded. "Well...Do you know of any other humans who have ever inhaled pyrflies before? What became of them?" He was afraid of the unknown and killing a fiend was new to him, a fiend born of the spirits anyway. That was his first encounter with pyreflies from a fiend he had killed. "Well...I trust you to keep me sane if something were to happen to me. For now...Shall we go and rest? Things got shakey back then and I would rather not stay awake much longer. I've only had a slumber of a few minutes before we were awakened by the attack."
 
"No, I've never heard of such a thing. Perhaps one of the priests in a temple have heard of it. We can ask at the next one we come to if you'd like." she told him. She could feel tiredness setting in as she stood there with him. "And I will do my best to keep you sane." she promised before nodding at the mention of resting. "Some sleep sounds nice." she agreed before yawning. "Let us find a place to rest, yes?"
 
"Back to a cabin. Let us just find an empty one and rest." He turned to leave with her, walking down below the deck and into the cabins. Nathan began to look for an empty one for the two of them, and after a while of searching, they found one. He didn't mind that it was smaller than the one they had before but it would only mean he was closer to Lyra. He laid down in the bed and smiled as it was still large enough for the two of them to lay on. "Lets go to sleep together, Lyra." Nathan said happily.
 
"Of course." she replied before heading below deck in search of a room in which they could rest. She only hoped that when they woke up, the ship docked somewhere near the Mi'hen high road since Djose temple wasn't too far from there and that was where they had to go next. Upon finding an empty room, she sighed softly and entered, tired and ready to sleep. The female set her staff in a corner before she moved over to him as he laid on the bed. "Mm, sleep sounds good." she said through a yawn. Carefully, she laid down next to him and wrapped her arm around his waist while curling up close to his side, no longer scared to get close to him.
 
Nathan looked to her with a smile as he placed his forehead to hers. He looked her in the eyes gently before his lips perched out and kissed the top of her snout before he closed his eyes and laid his head back down on the pillow. He slowly fell asleep while the boat took them to wherever it was that it would take them. He didn't know where it was going to go ashore at and he didn't know if Lyra did either. He kind of just rushed onto this boat so he could get Lyra to safety from the fiends and that demon he saw before.
 
She murred happily as his forehead was placed against hers and she gazed up into his eyes before she felt him kiss the top of her snout, her nose twitching a little before she nestled down into the bed and into his arms while closing her eyes with a soft yawn. It wasn't long after him that Lyra dozed off and she fell into a deep, restful sleep while wrapped up in her guardians arms. She knew he'd take care of her. Him spending the rest of his Gil on her told her that much and the way he treated her earlier on that day said a lot as well. Finally, the summoner felt like she belonged somewhere and that someone truly wanted her nearby.
 
When Nathan would awaken, he looked around with a small yawn and noticed that Lyra was still asleep. He looked to her with drowsy eyes and then laid back down, resting some more and enjoying the warmth of someone near him, someone he cared for and someone he wanted to be with rather than wanting to be a loner in the woods, travelling the world to watch Sin's destruction wreak upon the world.
 
Lyra's ears twitched when he yawned but she didn't wake just yet, her body resting against his while her arm gently gripped his waist as she nuzzled his shoulder in her sleep. It was a little while later that she woke up and she stretched a bit with a soft sigh, her tail flicking as she yawned. She rubbed her eyes after she stretched and she opened them while looking at the small window in the room, seeing that it was about mid-day.
 
"Good morning my love." Nathan said gently when he saw that she was awake. He was still sleepy and his voice showed it through drowsiness. He sat up and stretched as well, getting his joints loosened as they popped and he smiled to her. "Well then...I think now is as good a time as ever as to ask where we should go next regarding a temple...so far we've only been to one temple...and I don't know if Kilika temple, if you actually went inside of it...if it had a temple...I don't recall."
 
Lyra made a soft murring sound which was similar to that of a purr when he called her his love and she smiled gently. "Morning." she said softly, listening to him stretch and his joints pop. After he asked about where they were going to next, she nodded slightly while brushing her long hair back from her face. "Next will be D'Jose Temple." she said gently. "To get there, we have to take the Mi'hen high road. After that is the Moonflow where we will have to ride a Shoopuff across the large river."
 
"A...Shoopuff...?" He had never heard of such a thing before. He cocked his head to the side and frowned as he tried to remember if he had ever heard of a shoopuff before from gossip in towns during his many travels around. Though, then again...Moonflow was someplace he had yet to be. "What exactly is a shoopuff...? Is it some sort of...cloud...? A tamed fiend perhaps?"
 
Lyra nodded before giggling softly as he asked what a shoopuf was and she smiled gently. "A shoopuf... Hmm, how to describe one." she murmured. "It's a large animal, not a fiend. From what I've heard they are very, very tall... have blue skin and very long trunks. And a long tail. It swims across the moonflow and it has a large seat on its back which we can ride in." she tells him.
 
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