The Passing Of Time: Chapter 19...
So we've seen the return of two familiar (one hated) faces. What do they want? Let's find out!
oO0Oo
"I've heard of you," Eyren said, watching the green eyed man distrustfully. "Or at least our version of you. You killed my father and tried to kill my mother."
"Did I? I've killed so many people on both sides of the war that it gets hard to keep track these days."
"You don't remember turning my dad into a walking skeleton?"
"Oh. You're Skulduggery's son? I didn't think he had any children left."
"You'll find yourself mistaken then," Skulduggery said. He seemed calm but Eyren could hear the hostility in his words.
"Is he adopted?" Serpine asked without shame. Valkyrie scowled at him.
"No. He's ours. Didn't you know that?" Serpine shook his head.
"Our Shunter simply told us that there was someone capable of stopping Mevolent in this dimension," Meritorious said, speaking for the first time. "We only knew his name was Eyren and he was in Ireland." He smiled. "I suppose it makes sense that he'd be your son, Skulduggery."
"What makes you think I want to kill someone for you?" Eyren asked. "More to the point, I'm in a hospital bed. What makes you think I'm even capable?"
"Our Shunter is originally from your dimension," Serpine said. "He told us the tale of how a creature destroyed everything and enslaved the survivors. He said somebody with incredible power killed him."
"Not on my own," Eyren said. "I had help from my parents."
"We were hoping all three of you would help us," Meritorious said.
"Why should we do that?" Valkyrie asked. "We have enough problems here without diving into yours as well."
"If you don't Mevolent is going to come here and take over what's left of this world." Serpine's expression tightened. "With Lord Vile at his side." Valkyrie and Skulduggery shared a look.
"That wouldn't be good," the skeleton said eventually.
"There's an alternate Lord Vile?" Eyren asked. He remembered the sight of his father encased in shifting black armour and suppressed a shudder.
"There is. He's the reason we lost the war," Meritorious said. "Until Vile disappeared from your reality our two worlds were running parallel with one another."
"If there's an alternative Vile then couldn't there be an alternative Grimm too?"
"There was, but he was killed. One of Mevolent's leadership team killed him with the The Obsidian Blade. Abyssinia was her name," Serpine explained. "It was a lucky shot really."
"Ah," Skulduggery said softly. "I know Abyssinia." Valkyrie shot him a questioning look. "Later," he said softly. She nodded and let it go.
"I still don't understand why you think I want to step into your dimension and kill Mevolent," Eyren said. "Especially if Lord Vile is at his side."
"We've already told you why. Mevolent is planning on taking over this reality now that he has control of ours." Serpine cocked his head. "You're not very good at listening are you? I daresay you get that from your father."
"I'm an excellent listener," Skulduggery said mildly.
"Skulduggery, we need your help," Meritorious said. "We need all of you to help us. How many of the Dead Men are alive here?"
"A few, but two of them are on the Elder Council. Erskine and Ghastly can't both come with us even if we did agree."
"I want proof that Mevolent is coming here," Eyren said, breaking through the conversation. "Show me that it's true."
"Unfortunately it's something that has to be seen to be understood," Meritorious said.
"So show me." Valkyrie turned to him sharply.
"No," she said. "Nye said you can't use magic right now."
"Can you afford to wait until I've recovered?" Eyren asked.
"Not really," Serpine replied. "We don't have the luxury of waiting around to find out."
"You'll have to," Valkyrie said tightly. "Eyren is in no state to go anywhere or do anything right now."
"Mevolent plans to move against your reality very soon," Serpine continued, frowning. "Do you have any idea how easily he could win with your population so low?"
"He'd probably swoop in here and kill everyone he got his hands on but that doesn't change the fact that my son is recovering in hospital," she answered. Eyren saw the hand encased in the gauntlet curl into a fist, wispy black shadows rising from it slowly like smoke.
"I want to know," Eyren said. Valkyrie frowned. For his part, Skulduggery didn't move. "If this world is in danger again I want to know."
"You could do permanent damage to yourself."
"And I also could be fine."
"Don't be reckless," she snapped.
"I'm your son. You know being an idiot is my calling in life."
"If Aster finds out he'll be worried."
"I know. But he'll also understand why I chose to do this." Eyren slipped off his gloves and held out a hand. Serpine stepped forwards and Eyren shook his head. "Not you. I don't want to learn anything from the man that killed my father." Serpine raised an eyebrow as Meritorious nodded and took Eyren's hand and the cold swept through him.
Eyren saw fighting. He saw disease and famine and death. He saw Lord Vile wreaking havoc, carried on a wave of darkness that soaked up the life around him and dragged it back into him. He saw Mevolent, tall and terrifying, ruling over everything with an iron fist. Eyren gritted his teeth against the onslaught of information and started sifting through it. He saw soldiers mobilising. He saw Necromancers bow to Lord Vile, ready to act on his command. He saw the preparations of war.
He opened his eyes and let go of Meritorious, pressing his fingers to his temples until the pain subsided. He was pleased when his nose didn't bleed despite the awful things he'd seen.
"Eyren? Are you alright?" Valkyrie's hand was on his shoulder, the metal cool against his skin.
"I'm fine," he answered, lifting his head. "No bleeding, no dizziness, just a headache."
"Is it true?" Skulduggery asked. Eyren nodded. "Ah. It seems we have no choice but to help then."
"So you'll do it?" Skulduggery took the hat from his skull and brushed something from the rim, placing it back on his head before speaking.
"Even if we help you we can't move immediately. Eyren is indeed unable to go anywhere right now. Even what he just did was risky. We also need a team to come with us. Not to mention we have our own problems to resolve here that won't just go away."
"Of course," Meritorious said. "Do you have a Teleporter you could bring? Travelling through our reality with Mevolent's armies at large is difficult."
"We'd have to discuss it with the Elders," Valkyrie said. "We can't make any moves without their say so."
"Then we will leave you to your discussions." Serpine rolled his eyes but said nothing. "We'll return here in three days to see what your plans are." They turned and left before anybody could say anything else.
"Well," Skulduggery said brightly. "That was fun."
"You have a weird idea of fun," Valkyrie muttered. "Who's Abyssinia anyway?"
"My ex-girlfriend." Eyren and Val blinked, staring at him. "What?"
"You have an ex-girlfriend?" she asked in shock.
"Why is that so hard to believe?"
"You don't seem the type."
"The type to what, exactly?"
"I dunno. Have relationships." She shrugged. He cocked his head, watching her.
"You do realise we're married with children, yes?"
"I do," she nodded. "But the idea of you having an ex just seems weird. What happened to her?"
"She decided to kill a lot of people so I cut out her heart and put it in a box."
"I'm sorry, what?" Eyren asked.
"It was during the time after my resurrection. I was slipping towards Lord Vile and all I wanted to do was kill people. Abyssinia pushed me towards him and claimed that she loved me. I wanted someone to fight so I let myself be pushed. When I came to my senses I killed her."
"I never had any hope of being normal did I?" Eyren asked.
"Nope," Valkyrie answered. "None at all."
oO0Oo
"Wait a minute. You have to go to another dimension?" Aster stared at Eyren in disbelief. He was sat with Eva beside the hospital bed.
"I do. Apparently the Mevolent in their reality won the war and has now set his sights on this one," Eyren answered.
"You're not in a fit state to walk yourself to the bathroom. What the hell makes you think you could win a war?" Aster asked doubtfully.
"Obviously I'm going to get better first," Eyren replied. "I wouldn't wade into this without being prepared."
"You've barely even left the mansion and now you're planning on travelling to another reality. This seems like a lot, Eyren." He frowned. "You realise there's no way I'm letting you go without me, right?"
"And there's no way I'm letting you anywhere near a war."
"You don't get to decide. If you're going I'm coming too." Eyren studied his face, realising there was no arguing with him.
"Fine. If the Elders let you go then I can't stop you."
"What do we do about Myre and the other Daevas in this reality?" Eva asked.
"I don't know yet. The Elders will have it handled and when we return we can pick up where we left off." Eyren sighed. "We can't give your kind a safe place to stay if the whole world is plunged into a war. Especially not with Lord Vile leading the charge."
"Do you think you can kill him?" Eyren picked up the meaning behind Aster's question.
"Whether I'm physically capable of it remains to be seen. Emotionally I'm more than capable. He isn't my father and he isn't Skulduggery Pleasant. In that reality Lord Vile is nothing but a killer. The man he was is gone."
"I hate that we never seem to have any down time. There's always something." Aster scowled.
"Hopefully once this is sorted we might actually get to rest."
"I won't hold my breath." The conversation was interrupted by China Sorrows sweeping into the Infirmary. She smiled so beautifully that Eva gasped.
"Aunt China," Eyren grinned. "Hi."
"Hello my dear."
"Now I see where you get it from," Aster mumbled.
"Our beauty is a sight to behold, isn't it?" China agreed. "I had to come and see you after Skulduggery told me about your visitors." Over the years China had successfully adjusted to compensating for the magic that sustained Eyren's life. Her sickly pallor had disappeared, she'd regained the sparkle in her eye and she exuded beauty like never before.
"How are you?" Eyren asked.
"Never mind me. I came here to see you. Skulduggery says you've been getting headaches and the last one landed you in here. What happened?" China perched herself on the edge of the bed and folded her hands in her lap.
"It was my fault," Eva said. "I've been altered to have synthetic Sensitive abilities. Whenever Eyren touches me he gets a headache."
"It wasn't entirely down to you," Eyren answered. "Another Sensitive tried probing my thoughts while I was in contact with Eva and it shut me down for a while."
"Is that what the glasses are for?"
"I'm sensitive to light at the moment." He reached up and took them off, squinting against the bright glow of the bulb overhead. "I can see more than I've been able to over the last few days but I still get a headache." He put them back on and the pain subsided.
"Emma and I might be able to help you with your situation," China said with a smile. "She's been working with me since you fainted." Eyren looked round as Emma appeared with a book under her arm, flashing into existence beside China with a smile on her face.
"Hi," she grinned.
"Hey."
"We've designed a sigil that we'd like you to take a look at," China continued. "It acts as a safeguard against prying Sensitives. I've never quite designed anything like this and I'd like you to be my guinea pig."
"Will it hurt me if it doesn't work?"
"There's a slight chance it might give you a small shock, but mostly it'll just not do anything," Emma said.
"I'm okay with that," Eyren shrugged.
"It won't help you recover now but it'll help reduce the chances of you ending up in this situation again." Emma smiled again and took out a pen that ended in a scalpel blade. "I'd like to try it now while I know you've got time. It's intricate so it'll take a while." Eyren nodded his consent. "I'm going to carve it onto your back so turn over." He did as he was told, turning onto his front and resting his cheek against the pillow. Emma unfastened the top few ties at the back of his hospital gown and got to work. Aster watched in fascination as the symbol began to take shape.
"This is a permanent passive sigil so it'll stay visible on your skin," China said. "We'll be able to tweak it if it needs any improvements in future but it should do for now." Eyren stayed quiet, feeling the slight burn as the lines were carved into his skin. When Emma was finally finished she sat back and put the pen away.
"Are you ready?" she asked. Eyren nodded and watched as she tapped two fingers against her left palm, illuminating a small blue symbol on her skin. She laid her hand over his back and he felt a faint buzz as the sigil got to work. "It's designed to strengthen your defences against invading Sensitives." With its activation came understanding. It was different to what he learned through absorbing people's skills. It was more like reading a book.
"I think it worked," he said as she fastened the gown and let him sit up. "More than that, it's helped me to understand how a Sensitive can crack their way into my thoughts. I think...I think I can heal whatever damage Arval caused." Eyren shut his eyes and focussed, reaching out to the cracks he felt spidering across his consciousness. He willed them to close, to heal over and leave him strong. When he was sure he'd managed it, he opened his eyes and took off the glasses. A wide smile blossomed on his face. "I'm as good as new."
"It worked!" Emma clapped her hands together excitedly as a broad smile broke across China's delicate cheeks.
"I don't think you understand what you've just done for me," he said to Emma.
"What do you mean?" Instead of answering he removed one of his gloves again and took Eva's hand.
"Show me a memory. Anything at all." She nodded and closed her eyes. Eyren saw a sparkling lake and Eva as a child with her brothers. They were teaching her to swim.
Behind the memory Eyren could feel the cracks the synthetic magic tried to make in the armour around his mind. He found he was able to head them off, understanding how he could limit the damage before it even happened.
"Does it hurt?" Aster asked when Eyren opened his eyes.
"Not anymore," he grinned. Eva's beam was dazzling as she squealed and threw her arms around him. He laughed despite the onslaught of emotions from her that battered his senses enough to leave him feeling dazed.
"Are you saying you can learn from Eva without damaging yourself now?"
"Yeah," he answered, struggling to focus as Eva squeezed him tight. She was still pouring her happiness into him through the hand she had on the back of his neck. "Which means I can learn how she visits me and start on calling the Daevas to Ireland as soon as I get back from the other dimension."
"I'm so happy!" Eva trilled.
"I know, you're suffocating me," Eyren teased.
"Sorry!" She let go of him and smiled sheepishly. "What now?"
"I guess somebody should call my parents and tell them we're going on a trip," he answered.
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