Cor kept on Reina's heels as she lead the way toward the heart of the Citadel, where the crystal lay. Regis had given him a look torn between gratitude and annoyance when he had passed. The first because Cor had stayed with Reina. The second because Reina hadn't stayed.
The halls were, at first glance, deserted. But Cor knew where to look for the darkly uniformed figures in unlit alcoves. He nodded as he passed by each of his Crownsguards, all of them precisely where they were meant to be.
He trailed behind Reina and Regis as they made their way through the Citadel to the innermost chamber. The door was openly guarded with a dozen Crownsguards flanking it: more than thrice the number usually stationed here. The guards stepped aside at first glimpse of the king and princess approaching.
"Have you a plan?" Regis asked Reina as two of the Crownsguards pulled the doors open for them.
"I have a theory," Reina said. "It goes without saying that no one has the experience to say whether or not it will work."
Cor followed them inside. The crystal was housed in a massive circular room outlined in stone arches; above, the center of the domed ceiling had been cut away to allow the magic to escape—which it did: a great violet beam of power shooting from the center of the Citadel and generating the Wall that covered the entire city. Dead center of the room was the crystal, surrounded by a hexagonal prism of mirrors. Something about the mirrors was supposed to concentrate the crystal's magic, but Cor couldn't remember anything beyond that vague notion. The intricacies of Caelum magic were not exactly highest on his priority list right now. Or ever.
"Very well. Let us hear your theory." Regis stopped just inside the doors as they clanged shut.
Cor followed, but kept toward the outskirts of the room, putting his shoulder against a stone column. He wasn't going to stand in the middle of whatever the hell they were about to do.
"You will have to dismantle the Wall before you remove the ring." Reina walked past him, into the glow of the crystal and all the way up to the mirrors. "Then you will pass it to me, I will have a heart-to-heart with the kings of yore—which should take no more than a few seconds in the physical world—and finally reactivate the Wall. Hopefully with very little delay between the two."
"It shall take a great deal more energy to dismantle and reactivate the Wall. Better that I should hold onto it for as long as possible without the ring," Regis said.
"No. The strain of trying to channel so much power without the ring in between would kill you." Reina turned her back on the crystal and fixed her intense gaze on Regis instead.
"You cannot know that."
"And I don't intend to find out," she said.
Regis' lips twisted in displeasure, but eventually he seemed to accept the logic behind her words. He stepped forward. "Am I to understand you have wielded the ring in your Dream?"
"Yes."
"Then you understand the price you must pay in return—but I suspect you did not reactivate the Wall at any time?" Regis drew level with her and looked up at the glass ceiling.
"No, never," Reina said.
He shifted his gaze to her abruptly. "Words cannot aptly describe the sensation of constant strain. Though I hope this will be a highly temporary solution to our problems and that you will never have to experience firsthand what it will do to you, I must caution you: do not underestimate the weight of the Wall. You may well not be capable of the feats you have come to expect from the ring."
"Thank you, Father," she said. "I will keep that in mind."
"You still wish to proceed?"
"Yes. I still believe this is the best course for us."
"Very well."
Regis turned to the crystal and, though regret flashed momentarily across his features, he lifted his hand and shut his eyes. Cor had no notion of what to expect. The Wall had been erect for his entire life and enclosing the Crown City for more than half of it.
Reina glanced over her shoulder at Cor, motioning him closer. Against his better judgement, he went. She gave him no further instruction but to wait. So he waited.
At first nothing seemed to change. Regis stood, unmoving, his hand raised toward the crystal. Then the mirrors shifted, spreading apart and opening to show the man-sized geode inside. It glowed with an unearthly light. The beam that rose up and shot through the ceiling pulsed and dimmed; Cor lifted his eyes to follow the line as far as he could see. The top of the light receded—lowering steadily toward the base.
It lit the whole room—so bright Cor had to lift his hand to shield his eyes from the shining walls, and that was to say nothing about the blinding light from the crystal itself. Even when it faded, Cor was left blinking through the spots on his vision.
He heard the clatter of Regis' cane on the floor and stepped forward before he could see anything at all. His hands connected with a cape-clad back and Regis fell against him instead of forward. Cor braced him. They both remained upright long enough for Cor to get one of Regis' arms around his shoulders. By that time, Cor could see again.
"Quickly, my dear." Regis leaned on Cor's shoulder, but extended his hand to Reina.
She reached out and slipped the ring from his finger and onto hers without pause.
Cor had been prepared for something to happen when the Wall came down. He had not been expecting anything to happen when she put the ring on. Fool.
Blue light burst from Reina in a tangible wave. But it wasn't just light—it was pressure like the shockwave that followed an explosion, and it set Cor and Regis both off-balance. Cor took a step back and braced his feet; Regis stumbled after him. In front of them, Reina—face contorted in pain—stood half doubled-over and clutching her hand.
The whole royal family was meant to have control of the ring naturally, weren't they? Was it supposed to hurt when they first put it on?
Cor never got the chance to ask.
On the other side of the crystal, black mist swirled in a miniature imitation of a brewing storm. The gleaming stone floor seemed to blacken beneath it—so dark it looked as if the earth had been eaten away into a hole.
And then a hand emerged. Long, sinewy, and ending in talon-like claws.
Daemons.
Daemons in Insomnia for the first time in centuries. And Cor was standing there with one arm taken up by Regis and his mobility reduced to zero.
"Release me," Regis ordered.
"Can you stand on your own?"
"Doubtful. Do it anyway."
With one sideways glance, Cor ducked out from under his arm and reached, with borrowed magic, into the abyss between worlds to draw his blade. Regis stumbled, taking a shaking step before his leg gave out on him and brought him to one knee.
Cor kicked his cane toward him and advanced on the daemon, which had clawed its way out of the darkness, by now—a hulking beast, three feet taller than Cor with arms nearly long enough to brush the floor, like some sick imitation of a human and an orangutan. With a chilling screech it lifted a hand full of three-inch claws and brought them slicing down. Cor parried. The claws slid harmlessly off his blade before he brought it back around to cut into the daemon's emaciated torso.
No blood came out. But that same inky blackness—whatever it was—oozed from the cut that Cor's katana left.
Thunder cracked behind him—too loud in the small room.
"Regis—!" Cor brought his blade up to stop both clawed hands as they shot toward him, and chanced a glance over his shoulder.
Regis had his cane in hand, but he was still on one knee. His right hand, outstretched, crackled with energy. A few feet away, a second daemon smoldered.
That was the end of Cor's spare time. He turned back to his opponent, shoving it off the edge of his blade before it could lunge in for a taste of human flesh. His sword left deep gashes in both hands and the same blackness dripped from them as the daemon screeched. He brought his sword up and across, carving across the daemon's chest and then—
The daemon reeled back, as if struck by something other than Cor's katana. It convulsed, held in place, as an orb of red light burst from its chest. The light leaped away to somewhere behind Cor and the daemon crumpled. Then sublimated into black mist.
What the hell—?
He turned, blade still bare in his hands, to follow the path the red light had taken.
It led to Reina. She stood with her hand outstretched, the Ring of the Lucii on her finger, and a blue glow shimmering across her skin and eyes.
The daemons were gone.
For now.
"You must rebuild the Wall, Reina, before this devolves further." Regis struggled to his feet—Reina hauled him upright instead of following his instructions.
Once Regis was on his feet he shooed her away and she turned to Cor. "Cor, I need you to go to the guest wing. Find Ardyn and bring him to me. As fast as you can."
The chancellor? Then Cor had been right to assume she had made some sort of deal with Izunia during dinner. Why else would she have danced with him and the commander, except to cause a stir?
"The imperial chancellor?" Regis' brow furrowed. "Absolutely not. I will not allow an imperial near the crystal."
He really should have stopped saying those words. Every time he did, she only overruled him. They might as well skip the whole argument and accept what she said from the start She wasn't going to back down.
"Of everything he is, the fact that he is the imperial chancellor should be the least of your worries, Father." Reina advanced toward the crystal. The glow had faded from her skin, but the ring was still alight. "And I need him. Cor—go. Tell him… tell him the princess needs a favor."
Cor didn't wait to be told again. He also didn't wait to be told 'no' by Regis; then he would have been obligated to obey the latter order, which would waste more time. It wasn't as if the outcome would change. Reina would have her way in the end.
He went.