"What the hell was that?" Clarus asked.
"No time. I want us back in Lucis three hours ago. Send word to Captain Ulric. Withdraw all Glaives." Regis pushed past the others and out into the darkened cellar. Flames leapt to his call as he swept down the winding cellar passageways, heedless of what might lay around the corner.
Izunia had spoken to Reina in dreams. He had then proceeded to appear and disappear without a trace, having apparently been aware of their every move since arriving at Fenestala. That the man was unhinged and dangerous was a well-known fact in the Lucian court. But this was more. This was not political power and honeyed words. This was dark magic of a sort no one on Eos should have possessed.
And he had his eyes on Reina.
He fumbled for his phone, still groping down poorly-lit corridors that he had only a faint recollection of traversing in the reverse direction. When he finally managed to pull his phone from his pocket, the glowing screen told him that it was just past dinner time for the twins. It also told him there was no chance of making a call from the cellar. Doubtless the forest would be little better, but Fenestala, at least…
It was the only hope he had.
They reached a three-way split in the corridor. Regis lifted his flaming hand higher, attempting to discern some difference between the directions. Someone laid a hand on his shoulder. He turned to find Sylva slipping past him.
"This was," she said, leading to the left.
Of course. It was, after all, her home. She could lead them out more quickly than they had come in. Hopefully.
He walked beside her. Not through any misguided need to lead, nor through a desire to be near her, but out of pure practicality. He held the only light, and she was the only one who knew how to leave this maze of corridors. It was mere minutes before they had climbed the last set of stairs, leading to the main level. There they met with Ulric and a select few Glaives.
"You're safe." The poorly-concealed relief in the captain's implied he had expected otherwise.
"And successful." Regis quenched the flames in his hand and motioned to Sylva and Lunafreya.
His phone now registered reception. Poor reception, perhaps, but enough to make a call, with any luck. "Captain, I task you with getting everyone safely back to Lucis."
"And you, Sire?" He asked.
"With any luck, I will be there when you arrive. I intend to take the fast way back."
"You can't be serious," Clarus said. "Warping that distance is foolish and dangerous. What could possibly be so urgent?"
"Ardyn Izunia was a dangerous man when I believed I understood who and what he was. He has just revealed that we know nothing at all about him, save that he has the ability to walk in my daughter's dreams. And she trusts him, without knowing his identity." He swiped through his phone for the first person that came to mind.
Crea.
"I may already be too late. He clearly did not care that we were successful here. It may have been his intent all along to separate me from Reina."
He had her number dialed and the phone to his ear before Clarus could process or respond to what he had said. He held his breath. If she didn't answer, if something had happened to Reina—
"Regis." Crea's voice, tinged with surprise. "Is everything alright?"
"I had hoped you might tell me. Is anything amiss with Reina?"
"No, I shouldn't think so. We've just finished dinner and are moving toward getting ready for bed."
"She isn't acting strangely?"
"No. Regis, what is going on?"
"I wish I knew."
He dared not feel relieved, not until he had any sort of certainty. He needed to be back in Lucis. Regis' mind spun rapidly. The last time he had warped, he had used his connection to Ulric as an anchor to the location. But every person he had shared magic with was here in Tenebrae with him.
Except Reina.
"Take Reina downstairs. The training room should suffice. I need her to stand in the center of the room with nothing—and no one—nearby. Call me when this is so." He hung up without giving her a chance to respond. He oughtn't have, and he regretted it as soon as the phone hung dead in his hand, but she would understand once he had a chance to explain things properly to her.
As if he could, when he scarcely understood them himself.
"I suppose it's no use asking you not to go," Clarus said.
"None at all."
"And taking anyone with you would also be out of the question," Clarus said.
"I daresay it would be more taxing for me, at least."
"Out of the question, then." Clarus pursed his lips and shook his head. "Very well. All I can ask is that you take no unnecessary risks in our absence. Be safe, Regis. Send word when you arrive in Lucis."
"I will. Now go. You are wasting time."
They left him standing in the empty hall. Though Clarus and the rest of his retinue went with resolve and never turned back, both Sylva and Lunafreya turned to look over their shoulders at him. They had little notion of what he meant to do and less of why. Well there was no time to explain it in, even if he had been so inclined to.
His phone rang once they were out of sight.
"Crea."
"It's done. She's standing in the training room. I'm outside."
"Good. I'll see you momentarily." Hopefully.
He hung up once more, tucking his phone back into his pocket and reaching out for the strands of power that tied him up to Reina. Through these, he felt a sudden surge of awareness of her. He could nearly see her standing in her pajamas in the middle of the training hall, hands clasped before her to keep them from shaking. Fearful, but whole. Her core of magic, untarnished by the physical distance between them, shone brightly. Relief poured over him. She was still whole and safe and secure. For now.
He grabbed hold of the line of magic and felt her attention shift. As he had awareness of her, so did she become aware of him. He felt her surprise, followed by an outpouring of love and welcome as she reached her magic out to him and enveloped him. Whereas before, when he had used Ulric as an anchor, his goal had been merely a point on a map, this was a rope tied between the pair of them. He could reach her. With ease.
He stepped into the In-Between and leapt for the bond, allowing her force of will to carry him across continents in an instant. Nearly too late he realized he would land directly on top of her if he did not pull back; he stepped out an instant early and stumbled directly into her, half-blinded in the darkness. They collided. With a yelp of surprise, Reina tumbled to the floor along with him. Regis retained just enough sense to roll to one side as he wrapped his arms around her so that his back hit the floor and she hit his chest, rather than the other way around.
And he lay there, dazed, staring at a black ceiling—or was it a floor?— while thunder roared outside.
"Father! Are you alright?"
He heard the sound of the training room door sliding open, but couldn't yet arrange up or down in his mind.
Crea's face appeared above Reina's in his field of vision. Except she had two heads.
"Regis? Gods! How did you even get here?"
"He warped." Reina took his hand and held it to her chest. "With royal magic. But we don't usually jump so far. Only Father and Drautos have ever done it before."
Regis blinked and shook his head to clear it. He immediately wished he hadn't, for it only multiplied the swimming dizziness.
"I'm fine," he managed. Barely. Though they seemed far from reassured by his words.
Reina smoothed his hair back from his face and kissed his forehead, still holding onto his hand.
"You'll be alright, Father," she said with the peculiar surety unique to her.
His mind was brought back to the reason he had just leapt halfway across the world.
"Reina." He struggled to sit up; Crea looked alarmed and motioned as if she would tell him to lay back down on the floor, but Reina hauled him into a sitting position with the arm she held. "The Burgundy Man. Tell me everything you know of him."
She scooted closer, lending him her balance. He took the offer gratefully as the world spun around him, freeing his hand from hers and putting it on her shoulder to steady himself instead.
"Well. I met him in the In-Between. He's there, sometimes, outside the Black River when I go to sleep. I don't suppose he is really a man, because I've only seen him in the In-Between and never in real life. Maybe he is a ghost."
"And you did not think to mention that you had seen a person in the In-Between before?" Regis asked.
"No," she said levelly. "I suppose I never thought anything was different about him. Not for a long while, anyway. I thought he might be one of yours."
"One of mine?"
"One of the people that follow you in the In-Between. The Kings."
A stunned moment passed in silence as this information sunk in. She could see the Lucii in the In-Between. And she saw them as if they followed him in some shape or form. And yet, after four years this was the first he heard of it.
"You see the Lucii." It wasn't a question. He simply felt the need to express out loud his astonishment.
"Yes, Father."
"Why have you never mentioned this before?"
"Well it seemed rather silly. Babies might stare at the Wall the first time they see it but when we learn to talk, no one tells people that they see a great big sparkling thing overhead."
A fair point. But she was spending too much time with Crea. He could hear the wry, almost exasperated note in her voice. She was too young for that. If he hadn't been so preoccupied it might have been amusing.
"So. You have seen people of varying sorts in the In-Between, and among them this Burgundy Man. What else?" Regis pressed.
"I think I realized he wasn't one of the Kings when he was there but you weren't. Sometimes I fall back into the In-Between when I go to sleep, but I never go in the Black River without you." That she felt the need to clarify spoke of her prevailing need to earn his approval. Presently, he wasn't interested in whether or not she had disobeyed his instructions. He motioned for her to continue. "I tried to speak to him, but he never replied before. Sometimes he was just always a little bit too far away to reach and even when I moved closer, the distance between us stretched. Sometimes I know he heard me, but he only smiled and went away. But last night after you left, I sat by the Black River and I thought about jumping back in because I hadn't seen what I wanted. I was so miserable and so upset that I couldn't look where I wanted to. I walked along the River for a while, thinking maybe I could see some details without ever going in, and instead I found The Burgundy Man. He was sitting by the River just waiting for me."
"Waiting for you?"
"He had a table with two chairs and a tea set and everything."
"Are you certain this was the In-Between, and not a dream of the normal sort?" Regis asked.
She seemed not to know how to answer the question. "Those are the same thing, though."
"They certainly are not."
"But they are. That's where you go when you're dreaming. And when you know you're dreaming you can make anything you want. You can make a table and chairs and a tea set, if you like."
He had nothing to say to that. Indeed, it did nothing to clarify his grasp on the situation, which seemed to be becoming more tenuous with each passing moment, but nevertheless he indicated that she should continue.
"Anyway, he invited me to sit with him, so I did. And he spoke! It was the first time he ever said anything to me. He said: 'You needn't worry, Your Highness. Your father will be just fine.' I asked him how he knew and he said that I wasn't the only one who could swim in the Black River, so of course I asked if he could teach me to see better and he said that he could."
A cold fear gripped Regis' heart. This was what he had been fearing. Excitement, joy, anticipation, and a sense of kinship all precipitated by that manipulative bastard who had sunken his venomous fangs into Tenebrae. He would not set claws into Regis' little girl.
She seemed not to notice his trepidation, for she continued without pause. "He said that he would teach me tomorrow night—tonight now—and that I should go to sleep and not dream anymore. And I did, just like he said! I didn't dream anything else and I woke up just in time because I heard footsteps in the hall so I went out and saw you before you left and. Well. I suppose you know the rest."
She smiled brightly, beaming with anticipation. For the life of him, he couldn't bring himself to return it. His sense of balance had returned, but they sat, still, on the floor of the training room while he attempted to force answers out of a tangled knot of stories. It was no use. He had no notion how Izunia had done what he had done. But it was abundantly clear that he could not be allowed to continue.
"Reina. I know you are excited to learn more, and the prospect of a teacher is a wonderful thing… but I cannot allow you to see this man again," Regis said.
Her face fell. "Why not?"
"Because he is not who you think he is. He is a very dangerous man, and I will do everything in my power to keep him as far from you as possible."
"Who is he?" She perked at the opportunity to answer a question that had plagued her for months—perhaps longer.
"I thought I knew the answer to that question before tonight. The man you know as The Burgundy Man is the same as the one I know as the Imperial Chancellor, Ardyn Izunia."
"Imperial…?" The surprise on her face was clear, though it was followed quickly by confusion. "But only ghosts and Caelums walk in the In-Between."
"And yet all I can tell you is that he is no Lucii, nor ghost." Was he a man? After tonight, Regis was unable to answer that question either.
"He seemed very nice," Reina said.
And Regis had been worried about her being manipulated by the court. He had not thought she would have to contend with this from two sides at once—the In-Between seemed the last place she would need to hold her barriers against snakes.
"He is very clever," Regis said. "That is not the same thing as kind. This is a distinction you must learn to make."
"Like Master Hamon," she said.
"Yes… who told you that?" Regis asked.
"Crowe," she said simply. "She said he's not a nice person." She laughed. "Actually, what she said was much more rude."
He could only imagine. And yet, more important was the revelation that Reina's Kingsglaive guard was doing precisely what she was meant to be doing.
"Crowe has a sharp eye. That is why I wished for her to watch over you."
If only she could have guarded Reina in the In-Between.
And yet Izunia was a complete unknown. Regis could warn Reina off from him, and perhaps that would keep her from listening to his honeyed words for a time, but until they knew more, Regis would have her kept from him entirely. This man could walk in dreams and disappear before their very eyes in the physical world.
"In any case, I mean to prevent him from reaching you entirely," Regis said. "To that end—and I apologize, my dear—I must shield you entirely from the In-Between."
Her eyes widened. "But I won't be able to dream or look ahead or anything!"
"I know. And you must trust me on this matter, my dear. This man is very dangerous and I know too little about him. I fear what plans he has in store for you and I would prefer never to learn what they entail. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Father…" She said, though she sounded as if she would have preferred not to.
To learn that one she had looked to for knowledge and guidance was truly a snake…
Regis wrapped his arm around her shoulders and hugged her sideways. "I know you are hurt and disappointed, my dear. I wish I did not have to protect you from this, but I must. When I know more, we will arrange less drastic measures."
She nodded and rubbed at her eyes. Regis reached out to her with his magic and, once more, as he had done when she was much younger and still healing from a traumatic Dream, he bound her up in place, preventing her from leaving her center. This time he made certain that every last tendril of her magic was tucked away inside before he built a wall around her to keep Izunia out. He tested the strength of it from the outside, adjusted, and re-tested until he was satisfied that even the Draconian would struggle to break through the barrier Regis had erected around her.
The show of magic so soon after warping across the sea, however, left him staggering once he finally stumbled to his feet. Reina and Crea both lurched forward to lend their support. He held to each of them as his vision blackened around the edges and threatened to vanish altogether.
"Regis. You need to sit down." He could scarcely hear Crea's voice over the pounding in his ears.
"You're very tired, Father. I can lend you some energy…"
Not even the barriers he had built around her blocked their awareness of each other. Through those bonds he felt a push and a pull and an offering up of strength. Reina's shining well of life overflowed with it. And though he wished little more than to quench his thirst for energy without needing to rest, he recognized her offer for what it was.
"No, my dear." He pushed her away, gently by firmly. Crea resettled her hold on him and his vision cleared, bit by bit. Reina stood before him, perplexed. She had no notion.
"Listen to me, Reina, for this is most important. You have two pools of power within you: your mana, which fuels your magic and allows you to connect with the In Between, and your lifeblood, which you have offered me. This is what keeps your heart beating and your lungs breathing. It is meant to last you a lifetime, and though it may wax and wane with health and fatigue, it is not largely replenish-able. Not to the same degree mana is. Though you may have bonds strong enough to share these pools with myself and with Noctis, you must never give your lifeblood away. Do you understand?"
She nodded. "And my mana?"
"That will come back to you more easily when spent."
"Then I can share with you."
Again he felt the tug along their bond and a new offer was made.
"It is not necessary, my dear. I will be quite alright."
She withdrew her offer, though only reluctantly, unconvinced by his show of strength. He could not well bind himself so tightly to her and still maintain pretense that he was an endless supply of strength and power. She knew too well that was not true.
In any case, it was the price he would have to pay for keeping her safe from Ardyn. He gave her a tight smile and a kiss on the forehead. It would do. It would have to do. In the meantime, he had a snake to find.