Chapter 6
Chamber of the Goddess

Standing in front of the stairs Nowe took a deep breath, as once again that intense feeling washed over him like a wave. He tried to think of words to describe the intense feeling but found that he couldn't. After that brief pause for thought he climbed what appeared to be the final staircase.

As he appeared at the top of the stairs he could see what looked like a courtyard laid out in front of him. As he approached he could feel the souls of the restless stirring. He readied his sword as he made his approach. As he closed in on the door on the opposite side of the courtyard a small legion of undead arouse from the ground to block his advance. He was so close now he could feel it, and he wasn't about to let the souls of the long dead stop him now. Nowe lifted his sword and charged. The battle seemed to last a while, but Nowe managed to fight through it without sustaining much injury. He didn't know how many more battles like this lay ahead of him so he tried to finish this one quickly.

Eventually with one last swing of his sword the last soldier fell. Panting slightly Nowe gripped his sword and headed for the next door with determination. The door was locked; it must lead to the Goddesses chamber. That must be why it was so heavily guarded he found himself thinking. He pulled the latest key he had discovered from his pocket and unlocked the door and pushed it open.

As the door opened he felt a strong wave of nostalgia crash over him, but something else as well. A strong sense of loyalty and vengeance; stronger here than anywhere else in the castle. Here is where the army must have made its last stand as the castle was taken all those years ago. Whatever was beyond this room had been of great importance to the people here. So much so that they had sought to protect it still; even in death, just like the rest of the castle.

Nowe braced himself as he entered the room, for what appeared to be the final fight of the castle. As he entered what looked to have been a grand hall, instantly the un-resting army appeared before him to stop his advance and his retreat as the doors he'd entered through slammed shut behind him. As he fought his way through the undead legions, skeleton after skeleton appeared to replace the ones that had fallen by his sword. He fought his way through the unending masses into the next hall.

Nowe was beginning to tier and had accumulated a number of small injuries that were beginning to take their toll. Yet there seemed to be no end in sight for the young warrior. Until finally he brought his sword crashing down through the skull of the last of the unrelenting bone soldiers. As the last ghost vanished the doors at the end of the hall opened revealing one last chamber beyond.

"May you all finally find piece" Nowe said to no one now but the stale air, as he took a breather and pulled his sword from the ground, finally he entered the castles very last chamber. The room was bare like much of the castle. It had many windows, as well as a fire place at the end of the room, still with its coal in it. The room was empty but for two things, a chest and a small painting. He decided to investigate the painting first as the chest was hardly going anywhere anytime soon. In the painting he saw the figures of three people. One of them was unmistakably a much younger Caim. But the other two Nowe did not recognise, yet strangely he had a feeling that he knew them. One was a woman standing on one side of Caim and the other was a man standing on Caim's other side and easily taller than him.

Nowe reached out to touch the painting. The feeling of familiarity welling up inside him as he did. Why did he feel that he should know these people? What was his connection to them? He'd never met them. As his hand touched the painting he felt a tear stream down his face. 'What's this?' he thought to himself, 'why am I crying?'. He hastily brushed the tears from his face.

As he did so he once again noticed the chest. He knelt down and opened it. Inside lay a blood red sword. This sword had the feeling of someone he'd met before, it felt like Caim, it held the same sense of purpose and of killing intent that Caim had, had. Nowe put his own sword aside and as he lifted this new sword he slowly turned around to face the door. As he did so he saw something out of the corner of his eye.

Before him the figures from the painting were standing. Caim saw him and nodded with a gentle smile, something that no one would have thought him capable of. The figure of the woman looked at Nowe with a deep loving expression, and she even seemed to have muttered something before the three almost ghostly figures evaporated into nothing.

Nowe wiped his eyes again, maybe his fatigue was making him see things. He decided that perhaps it was time to leave this place behind and leave it to fade into obscurity so that those that died here may never again be disturbed. He picked up his own sword and with Caim's sword also in hand he left the castle behind.

He later found out from Legna that the woman he had seen had been the last Goddess of the Seal before Angelus the Red Dragon. The Goddess Ferie. And that the man has once been Caim's friend who's own unrequited love for Ferie and lack of strength had driven him into the Empires' hands.

And the words she had conveyed to Nowe back in the last chamber of that forgotten castle.

"Welcome Home"