Note: The translation of "A Recollection of Black and Gold, by Evil B" is by lilyginnyblack and taken from the short story in Caucus Race 3, "The Story of Thresholds: A Promise Lost."

Retrace 10: The Agreement

A child crying. The sound echoes into the dim. Everything is nebulous and distant as he stirs into awareness. A greyish cast envelopes everything in his vision (do I see? where am I? who is the child?). Heaviness weighs down his limbs. A hand (a real hand? my real body?) reaches out. Pushing forward feels as difficult as struggling in the deep sea. Pressure from all around, clamping down upon his very thoughts. The boy's wailing is a beacon, calling him to the surface of... of what...?

Oswald-?

Who is that? Someone important to him, once, long ago... someone he has to reach because... he did terrible things... Oswald won't forgive him...

His hand bursts from the waters of consciousness (whose? mine? his?) and for the first time in decades, he lives. Not truly living, for he is aware at least of being dead for many years, but living enough in this limbo.

Slowly, the memories coalesce solid enough for him to remember.

Levi. I am Levi Baskerville, the twenty-seventh of my kind... but what is my kind...?

"Momma..."

The boy sits amidst the waters, hands balled into fists over his face.

"Oswald," says Levi.

"Huh?" The boy looks up. His hair is a flyaway mess of black tangled locks that cover his eyes. He glances fearfully around. "Who said that?"

"Are you-?" Levi crouches down, tilts his head to the side. "Your hair..." Abruptly, he lifts the boy's fringe and sees his flushed, tear-stained face, and a pair of two extraordinary eyes.

The lights, the Abyss. A whirl of noise and snap of the Foundations and the roar of giant Chains and the world is shaking-

"Oh." Levi blinks. "Sorry. You're not who I expected."

The boy flinches. "Who are you?" the boy exclaimed. "No, go away, please go, I said I didn't want to hear you again!"

"Me? I think you must be mistaken." Levi tries to recall when is the last time he had spoken, but can't. To compensate, he smiles. "You shouldn't be so rude to your elders."

The boy has his hands on either side of his head. "I'm not listening, not listening, not listening..."

"To who? Me?"

"The voices!" says the boy. "You are not real!" He glares at Levi viciously, stands up, extends a blocking palm before him. "Momma told me the voices aren't real. Stop it!"

"I don't know who your mother is, but I can reassure you I'm quite real. I think." Levi crosses his arms.

"She said only sick people hear voices, and now-" The boy collapses. Ripples form where his knees hit the ground. "She's dead," he says blankly, and tears well up again.

"Who's dead?"

"My mother." He sniffs.

"Such a sad thing, to lose your mother." Levi sits cross-legged, wrapping his shawl over his shoulders. "I can emphasize." He looks around. "This isn't the material world, is it?"

Around him, he notices tattered bits of light outlining figures of other people. Murmurs from them draw his attention and he blinks in surprise. This feeling is so familiar. Gathering the Council. The thump of a longstaff echoes in the air.

"No!" Instantly, the resurrection of the others stop. Panting, the boy lowers his raised palm and then, in a composer's flourish, cuts his hand sideways through the air. Around him, the half-formed ghosts shatter into pieces. Levi braces himself for extinction and finds himself still there. He regards the youth in a new light, since he is clearly nearing the end of his rope from grief. Perhaps this boy is begging for sympathy, even from a shade like him.

The boy slaps his flat hand against the waters, splashing up angry droplets. "This is all in my head. You don't deserve to be here!"

"And who is here?"

"Promise you'll leave me alone if I tell you."

"I'm not good at that sort of thing." Levi shrugs. "But I can try."

"Leo."

"Just Leo?"

"Yeah." He begins to chuckle. "Great. Now I'm talking to the voices. No wonder those men are coming."

"Who?"

"Some nobles. They said that a Chain killed my mother. Or that she got into a bar fight between some drunks and then somehow, a Chain showed up. Or..." He buries his head in his arms. "It's all my fault."

"How?"

"She... needed to work late at the tavern. There was a book I wanted and she said since it'll be my birthday soon she could get some extra hours in and..." At the tail-end of his sentence, his shoulders start to shake.

"Oh my." Levi drapes his shawl over the boy. "What a shame."

"Stop that!" Leo snaps, throwing off the cloth. "I don't need pity from you of all things. Go away!"

"Well now." Levi lifts his hands and notices his fingers beginning to dissolve. All that's left of me is a pale reflection of my former self, he thinks, frowning. Living inside a poor child. "My regrets about your loss," he manages to say as he feels the rest of his personality fading into mist. "Reading had always been my greatest distraction from sadness. I have a personal recommendation for you..."

Then, his voice turns to nothing. A wall rises before his awareness and all becomes black.

Soon after Lacie's Coming of Age ceremony, Lacie's clandestine visits outside of the castle increased exponentially, and she'd be gone for hours and sometimes days before any of the Baskervilles could find her. Oswald grew distracted and angry with every departure. Levi excused her antics as "learning experiences," but Oswald retorted, "It's bad enough that Lacie thinks herself able to move about unchaperoned in mixed society, without the very fact her existence is supposed to be a secret from the world at large."

Each time Lacie returned, it was usually by carriage in the company of a different gentleman or lady. No two carriages ever bore the same house crest. That night, after receiving a berating comment or lecture from her older brother, Lacie always ended up in Levi's rooms, sprawled upon his couch and chatting over a cup of tea about her latest fascination.

"He's a philosopher from the far east and believes the Abyss is only a fairy tale. I told him I've been inside the Abyss loads of times, but it's nothing like the stories he told. He's absolutely beside himself for an audience with you," she would laugh. Or, another time, she gossiped, "The Marquise wants me to be present at her next society ball. She's bringing in a whole flock of blue swans from her estate for the holiday, and every person there gets to have a feather. It's her way of making sure everyone has a sweetheart. Isn't that nice?"

None of these infatuations lasted more than a few weeks. After, all talk of her new companion ceased and soon, Lacie vanished again to chase another stranger.

For every story, Levi questioned her about what she thought of these people, what they thought about various issues, where they came from. "What does it matter as long as they're amusing?" she'd scoff.

"What a wicked little heart you have. Everyone has a gift they offer and a valid perspective." Levi gathered Lacie in his arms to kiss the location of that cold heart. "This is a cruel and beautiful world. The least you can do is see it from every angle."

One rainy night, Lacie came in sopping wet and alone from the estate gates. She wore nothing but a long chemise; the curve of her bare breasts showed against the fabric. The two siblings had a shouting match that ended when the young woman ran into the Tower and blockaded anyone else from entering.

The Baskerville heir stormed into his study. "Master Glen, Lacie's behavior is becoming increasingly dangerous! I beg you, you must exert some sort of control." Oswald slammed his fist down on the desk. Droplets of rain soaked through several manuscript pages Levi had stacked there.

"Oswald, you can't tame your sister's free spirit." Levi shooed his hand off and grabbed the pages, flapping them quickly so they'd dry. "I swear we've spent many times together talking about her dalliances."

"Well, it is one thing to dally off with some backwater noble who's satisfied by enough money or favors to forget ever having met her. It's another for her to ruin herself through these situations."

"Ruined? You think it's gone that far?" Levi mused, twirling the stem of his quill between his thumb and forefinger. He wondered about the agreement she made years ago. The thought of an outside lover was not out of the question. The only requirement Levi prescribed was that she be willing to carry a child before she was dropped. The parentage of said child never became much of a factor, and now and then, she indicated that her decision about the father was not yet made.

"She came back nearly naked this time around! I won't have her... be taken advantage of in such a way."

"What do you suggest at least?" Levi propped his chin in his hands and gave an enigmatic smile. "As a precautionary measure?"

"Lacie, darling, you must care for your well-being," Levi told her later that evening. "Your brother is concerned about the results of your behavior."

"Oswald is always a fussy one." She was wrapped in a robe, and from what Levi could tell, nothing else. "I think he's jealous I get to have all the fun." She leaned her head on the pillows of the chaise lounge she reclined on. He saw the soft pillar of her neck and the sharp outline of her collarbones where the folds of the robe parted. "No one can kill me. I fear nothing."

"There are other ways of suffering than death." Levi sided up to her on the couch, hung an arm along its curved top. "You need protection."

Her head snapped up. "I always use protection. You taught me such ways."

"That was to ensure you don't fast-track our plans. Unless you intend to." An arched eyebrow. She threw a pillow at his head.

"In all seriousness, people can act in vicious ways. Oswald - and I too - don't want to see you misused against your will."

A faded smile graced her features, making Lacie seem twice her years. "Since when did my will ever truly matter?"

"The world depends on it." Levi stroked her cheek. "I want you to be safe and happy. Not to throw yourself every which way because you think it is all you deserve." He shifted position. "It's high time you contracted your own Chain."

She straightened up. "My own?" Those red eyes sparkled.

"This is not customary for Children of Misfortune, but who's to say we can't break tradition in this matter?"

"Oh, Glen!" She threw her skinny arms around his waist. He placed his chin on the top of her head. Such fire!

"Levi, what do you intend?"

Levi lifted his head. That voice was familiar...

"Master Glen?" Oswald touched his arm, bringing him to the present moment. The two of them stood before the Gate to the Abyss. Anxiety crossed the young man's face. "It's been a dreadfully long while."

"Contracting a Chain is a process unique to every Baskerville. Well, except for Glen, of course." Levi saw the Oswald check his pocketwatch and added, "You know time works differently inside. Lacie probably doesn't realize how much has passed."

"Ten minutes." Oswald snapped the timekeeping device closed. "We shall give her ten more minutes and then-"

"Pluck her out like a wayward child? Believe me, when the Chain has found her, she'll emerge fast enough."

Contracting Chains was, above all else, a partnership negotiated between the Baskerville and the Chain. These beings of the Abyss are drawn to the deepest wishes lodged in each Baskerville heart, and no being lightly chose its Contractor. Neither Levi nor Oswald had any personal experience to attest to this, since the power of their destined black-feathered Chains prevented them from contracting any more. Levi, however, had watched the recruiting ceremony for the guard numerous times since he was a boy (Kahina always made him attend for her soldiers).

"Sometimes, a person may be in there for an entire evening. Allotting Lacie a mere hour is nothing in terms of actually gaining-"

A movement from within.

"Levi, what do you intend for this Child?"

Was it his conscience acting up again? Levi shook his head. He was good at self-compartmentalization, surely, but he swore this voice was not his own. He pictured a figure in his mind, bearing a staff and thumping it - once, twice, three times.

Suddenly, one voice after another echoed in his mind.

"Levi Baskerville, you shall be judged."

"Levi Baskerville, you pose a threat to the Abyss."

"Levi Baskerville, we cannot allow this."

Levi's legs gave out on him. He toppled clumsily to the ground.

"Master Glen!" Oswald's arms gripped him. Quickly, the landing and the Gate faded from his vision. The last thing he consciously viewed was Oswald's alarmed expression and behind him, a woman outlined in the mists of the Abyss. Her dark hair hovered behind her as a majestic cape of night. The glow of her red eyes contrasted with the silver Chains emerging from her shoulders-

"Levi, you fool."

The banging seemed to smash the entire interior of his skull. Levi curled up on his side and his eyes snapped open. Men and women surrounded him, each made up of shards of glowing light. The pieces shifted and turned from pale to opaque to human. These faces, all too familiar from their portraits in the memorial alcove.

"Glen," he whispered. Two of his predecessors grabbed each arm and dragged him to his feet. The Jabberwock's secret resurfaced from his memories, and he looked for the one person he tried to separate from this massive council of shades.

Despite his confusion, his curiosity prevailed as he surveyed the limbo around him. "Are we in another realm?"

"We are in your soul, Levi, where we have always dwelled," said the same voice.

"Kahina, welcome back. You haven't changed a bit."

The last Baskerville Duchess was dressed in her favorite rust-orange frockcoat, smooth tan breeches, and tall military boots. The curved sword hung by her side and the staff, unlike the broken pieces that hung in his library, was whole in her hands. She looked much younger than he remembered her being-perhaps this was Kahina when she was newly anointed as the leader of the Baskervilles. This was the first time he had seen her since he banished her voice from haunting him ever again, after his coronation ceremony as Glen Baskerville.

He tried stepping forward - to embrace her or to attack her he couldn't be sure - but his arms were restrained behind him.

"I thought we wouldn't have come to this point," Kahina said. Her expression contained that same guarded stillness she always used while issuing her edicts - the commander's glare, he called it.

"I thought you wanted to be free than corralled." As always, when confronted by uncertainty, Levi bared his teeth in a challenger's grin.

"Are you still angry over our last living conversation?"

"Conversation? You used me to kill you."

"You did your duty, as I did mine." Her eyes softened. "I forgive you for misunderstanding the purpose of my body's death."

"Y'know, I always thought it was rather romantic you wanted to die the same time as Mama. A star-crossed gesture she would've cried over." The grin turned dark. "Or maybe you're so hung up on acting according to script, you didn't think about how interesting things would be if the last Glen remains alive and in control of the new Glen. Even if that last Glen's body is falling to pieces, they'd finally be released from the obligation of the black-feathered Chains and technically no longer be a Baskerville anymore. And having that much power, even if only for a short while... well, anything can happen, eh?"

The grip tightened over his arms, though he did not struggle. "Hear that? Maybe I should wake up and tell Jury I saw through that ceremonial pretense."

"At this point, your very liberty is up for debate." Kahina sighed. "The Council of Glen has assembled to reprimand you. Your decisions - especially the treatment of your Child of Misfortune - will only lead to disaster."

"You've been watching me this whole time? My my, don't I feel special."

"Please don't make light of this situation. I beg you, I've tried my hardest to prevent this decision."

"What?"

A second voice, a male one, came from the Council. "In the event that the current Glen proves to be judged incapable of carrying out their duties, a past Glen may be chosen to act in their stead."

"Which of you has that pleasure?" But he didn't need to ask.

"I will do my best to honor your memory," she whispered.

"And where will I go?"

"With us," said that other Glen. "For the rest of your natural life, your consciousness will be imprisoned by the Council. Once your body dies, we will make a decision on whether you are fit to join as a voting member."

Levi gave the crowd a cold stare. This was absurd, all of this. "What democracy lies in my soul. And a punishment worse than hell." His captors began pushing him down. Levi's feet sank into the dark waters below. Pressure sank into his legs. He kicked out. A flash of fear hit when he lost all sensation as his mental body disappeared.

His former mentor gave a deep bow as he sank. "I never wanted to see you fall," she murmured and began to walk away toward the forefront of his mind.

"Kahina, please!" He struggled, broke the hold over him, and elbowed the shade in the torso. A grunt and the figure bent over (ah, so they feel pain here... fascinating) and he punched the other Glen between the legs. The two Glens down, he tried pulling himself out of the translucent mire. More and more Glens surrounded him, hands everywhere, shoving him into the waters, which curled and frothed at his rebellion.

"You can't fool them! Lacie, Oswald, they'll know. They'll know!"

The surface loomed closer and closer. Like falling into the Void, he thought, the childhood terror crushing any more resistance as his consciousness was subsumed. Falling, falling, falling forever...

"Lacie, show me again."

"Sure, Glen." The bladed chains lashed out fast as quicksilver, dividing the combat dummies in a series of several swift blows. Dummy heads and arms tumbled to the ground, sending the straw stuffing everywhere. The effect was deadly and instantaneous, and Lacie beamed as she whirled to face the man. "Isn't that amazing?"

"Quite marvelous, darling." Levi sat, one knee propped over the top of the other, sipping a goblet of wine. "Has the Chain told you its name?"

"I don't think it has a name yet." Lacie grabbed a second goblet and poured herself a glass. She was immensely satisfied at having her own Chain to command. Growing up as an outlier in the noble household, any quality that she gained which aligned her more with her fellow Baskervilles made her feel content. Not that she necessarily wanted to belong, the teenager thought, but she hated to be considered a black sheep on all levels.

She took a sip. "Want me to tell you the truth?"

"Always. There can be no secrets between us."

"I didn't wait for a Chain to read my heart. Instead, I asked the Core to build me one."

"Really?" Lacie noticed a chill seep in Levi's demeanor. So rare did he actually show disapproval toward her actions, she quickly added, "I know I promised not to talk to the Core anymore, Glen, but I didn't know which Chain would come, so I thought the Core could help."

"Did it?"

"Yes. The Core said it can grant me any wish I wanted. I didn't know, truly, so I told the Core to see my heart and give me a Chain it thinks would fit."

"The Core made you a Chain?" Levi stopped cradling his goblet and put it down on the marble tabletop. The stiffness of the motion increased the odd tension in the courtyard. Lacie expected Levi to lean forward and revel in all sorts of speculation. She was only telling him because she was able to do things in the Abyss that Oswald and the others haven't even imagined. Wouldn't he be proud of her for that?

"Lacie, what exactly did the Core create?"

"A special Chain. It said my deepest wish was to be the Core's friend forever. Maybe, with this Chain, we can."

"How?" The word came out ice-cold. Lacie furrowed her brow.

"Glen, are you angry at me?"

"No, no. I... I only never thought this was possible..." He ran a hand through his hair - such an off-putting gesture - and uncrossed his legs. "I'll have to conduct some more field experiments, because I have this interesting idea behind the Core."

"No, you're angry. I can tell."

"Really?" A typical half-grin crossed Levi's face, but it sent shivers down Lacie's back. When she emerged from the Gate with her Chain a week ago, she found Oswald sending for help and Levi prone on the ground. The older man's health hadn't been as strong since Oswald acquired the Dodo, giving her brother three chains. The Baskerville leader sometimes complained, "This old house will be in shambles before the end," but that was the first time they saw him pass out.

Upon coming to a few hours later, Levi had joked, "Seeing you gave me a heart attack, Lacie," but there was something... not right about Glen Baskerville in a way she couldn't precisely put her finger on. This latest meeting seemed to sum up all of Lacie's discomforts for the past week: how Levi held his glass at suppertime; the way he looked at her sometimes, as if they were strangers; the moments where the natural jovial quality of his voice became strained.

"Do you regret letting me get a Chain?"

"I thought you'd find a harmless one," he admitted.

"You wanted one that'd protect me." What was he doing saying the complete opposite? Lacie rose from the bench. "You think I can't handle it?"

"I wanted you to stop acting out." A cold laugh. "Maybe with a proper Chain you'd feel more like a Baskerville and finally learn how to behave like one."

She stepped back. "You've been acting weird since your collapse, Glen. What happened?"

"Nothing. Now you're the presumptuous one, young lady."

"I'm no lady. You never say that." She frowned.

"What? A fellow can't say new things now and again?" A carefree chuckle of his, except suddenly more unsettling because Lacie felt this was not the same person making it.

Impossible! she thought. No, not impossible. As Levi would say, she needed to look at this situation from every angle.

Oswald once told her the bodies of former Glens became Chains. She asked what happened to their souls and Oswald simply replied, "They remain."

"You," she said, slowly. "You're not the Glen I know, are you?"

The grin turned to daggers. "Child, do not walk this path."

The glint of silver and a spear-headed Chain stopped its point at the man's jugular. "Bring him back," she growled.

The stranger gave a half-lidded glare. "Lacie, I can't. It's not allowed."

"What did you do to him? What did you do to Levi?" For once, she dropped the pretense of his title; she had known for years what his true name was. Lacie pressed a finger into the center of the man's chest. "I swear I will cut you down if you hurt him."

"This body does not matter," Not-Levi said coolly. "Destroy it and the remaining Chains will only have to be transferred immediately. Not how the proper ceremony should be, but we'll make do."

"I'll destroy more than this body." The Chain retracted and swept across the sky. Not-Levi's eyes widened as the links cut through this reality and into the next. The spear-head clinked against a Foundation. The low hum these chains emitted made the whole world vibrate.

"It can't be," Not-Levi whispered.

"This is the true power of this Chain," Lacie said in a steely voice. "If this world falls into the Void, it would stop spreading and I can be the Core's best friend in the Abyss forever. Now," she fisted the front lapels of the man's coat in her hand, "bring my Glen back."

"Why, that was quick," Levi commented seeing the Council's faces once more as he was pulled from the imprisoning waters. He beamed. "Who figured it out first?"

The eldest male Glen snapped, "Do you have any idea what you have done?"

"She is a danger, she should be dropped now!"

"Lacie Baskerville threatens the entire universe!"

"Levi, your Child." Kahina pushed her way past her fellow Glens. "Your impossible Child-!" She punched Levi in the face. His head snapped backwards (yes, theory confirmed: one can definitely feel pain in this realm) and he stumbled, holding his jaw. Kahina made to give a follow-up blow but various Glens restrained her.

A low laugh escaped his lips. "What did my darling do?"

"Her Chain," Kahina growled. "Her Chain can destroy other Chains. The Foundation ones. The Core made this for her!"

"Oh..." Levi put a finger to his chin. "Incredible."

"You idiot! Never in my thoughts did I imagine-!"

"Did my Lacie hold the world hostage until I was freed?"

"Your Lacie will die tonight. You and Oswald have to drag her down into the Void together."

"Not doing it." Levi raised both hands up. "Besides, whether it is me or a puppet-me ordering this to happen, Lacie will not react kindly to having her life cut shorter than it already is." A rueful smirk.

"You think we're at a stalemate?" Kahina asked. "Do you propose that we let the fate of an unstable universe fall into the hands of an already unstable and wild girl?"

Other Glens chipped in.

"It's against everything we stand for!"

"Jury will not be pleased."

"She can't avoid being dropped forever. The Void will eat itself alive and take us all with it."

The clamor rose to a fever pitch. Levi raised up his arms and shouted, "Friends, Glens, and fellow countrymen, lend me your ears! I propose a compromise." The hubbub died down.

"Lady Kahina says we're at a stalemate. But I propose a solution. Not the best, but the best one we have." He adjusted the shawl around his shoulders. "Let me keep control of my body and will for the rest of my natural life. I promise to continue to perform all of my duties as Glen Baskerville until the very end. In exchange, allow my experiment to continue."

"Which is?" asked a Glen.

"Let's call it an experiment of free will. Let me teach my dear Lacie all there is to know of in the world, good and evil. What people are capable of and the truth of reality. Giving her all of this knowledge, I will grant her the choice when she is to be dropped: to destroy herself to save the world, or to destroy the world to save herself." A loud protest filled the air. "Wait, wait. Either way, what option do we have? We are under the threat of Lacie wrecking everything on a whim. Wouldn't it be in our best interest to see if she can at least hold off until all of my Chains are transferred to Oswald?" A pause. "In the spirit of the Council, shall we have a vote?"

Despite hearing further complaints around them, Kahina raised her staff. "I second the call for a vote."

"And I third!" said the male Glen who had first spoken.

"Let's have it. Vote for 'Yea' in favor of my proposal, stand and be counted." The tally was quickly made. "And against?"

The shuffle of feet as people lowered to the ground. A few remained standing. Kahina looked down at Levi from his sitting position at her feet.

"Democracy wins out today it seems." Levi gestured to the number of Glens sitting around him. "Let this be our agreement, Lady Kahina. Do not interfere further in my life and how I raise my children. I will serve as an impeccable Glen, and at the very end, we shall see the outcome of this experiment."

She spat on him. "This whole situation stinks worse than carrion. Either the Core gets the chance at a physical vessel, or the whole universe ends." She turned around. "I treated you as I would have my own son," she said bitterly, "and this is how you repay me?"

"Don't pretend to be my mother," Levi replied. He wiped her spit from his cheek using a corner of his shawl. "I already had one of those, and look what happened."

In the House of Fianna, there is a library. Oftentimes in the library, a boy with tousled hair reads. He usually sits on the wooden floor, or lays there on his stomach, books piled all around him. His name is Leo (just Leo) and he likes reading because it makes him forget all of the horrors in his life.

Currently, he is reading a series of heroic adventure tales which suits both his taste for blood and gore and a twist of cynicism in his young soul (in a couple of years Leo will make a friend who will introduce him to a more uplifting heroic adventure series called Holy Knight.) The last book in this series, however, is called A Recollection of Black and Gold by Evil B, and the story begins like this:

The two confronted each other on the battlefield, in which countless corpses had fallen, and in which a linear river of blood now flowed through. All of those corpses had given their life and conviction to either Caldwell or Walter. They had all been soldiers who had died a noble death.

The weight of countless souls already rested upon the shoulders of both men, and therefore, neither could pull back the swords that rested in their hands. These two, who hated each other more than anyone, and yet, understood each other better than anyone, no longer had any compromises.

One who was trying to advance the age, and one was trying to stop him. Only the swords they both possessed would decide which path would be left.

The sun sank. The night arrived.

Which one was it who uttered the final words?

"I thought we could have been friends."

The Book of Levi; And Other Fantastic Fairy Tales will continue on February 1st, 2015.

Check out story art, fanmixes & more at the-book-of-levi on tumblr

Your reviews are greatly appreciated.