Part 12
It was predawn, and Sorey was up on the roof of the inn where Rokurou was staying. He was pretty sure Mikleo would be up soon so that they could watch the sunrise together, so for now, he considered his wording for his note carefully. He wanted to do something specific. He wanted Lailah to watch them train with Rokurou, to see the control Rokurou had over his battlelust, how surely, surely it was different from when they had last met.
Hey, Lailah,
I know that your students liked watching me and Mikleo training the last time we were here. We've both gotten better. Well, I've gotten better at least. We're going to be training today down in the Viaduct, so that we don't disturb the people of Ladylake. Maybe you can bring down some of your students…
"When did you get so sneaky?"
Sorey yelped, scrambling to cover the note without smearing the ink. "Mikleo!"
His partner had apparently been reading over his shoulder. And Sorey hadn't noticed! Argh! Mikleo chuckled and sat down next to him.
After telling his heart to settle down, Sorey let out a breath and took a moment to lean into Mikleo's side, watching the horizon as the first rays of the sun started to rise. "Don't scare me like that," he mumbled.
"You made that too easy," Mikleo countered. "Seriously," Mikleo said, "when did you get so sneaky? That note is to get Lailah to watch Rokurou train, right?"
"Hey, we did spend almost two years with the Boss of the Scattered Bones!"
His partner chuckled. "True. But if you want it to work, you might want to add a line about not telling me."
Sorey sat up. "Oh?"
Mikleo actually looked to the side, his cheeks getting pink. "Lailah knows I don't like all the attention. That will be more convincing. Otherwise she'll see right through this, the same way I did. She still might, at that."
Sorey nodded, adding to the note. "I just… don't like seeing two people who are our friends… not getting along."
"Not everyone has to get along, Sorey. There have been people over the centuries I have worked with and just not gelled with. But.. I know what you mean."
"Yeah."
Looking over his note, Sorey scratched out and reworded a few things and then pulled out a fresh sheet to write it out properly. Once it dried, he dropped down to the streets to leave it with the post. By now students were likely already up and training, and Sorey didn't want to risk Lailah seeing him yet. He knew he couldn't lie at all.
Rokurou joined them down at the Viaduct, always up for training. They followed the usual routine, with Sorey and Mikleo starting with domains. Both had an easier time casting domains than Rokurou did, and the daemon wouldn't cast a domain in populated areas, regardless. He'd get back to training for that on the road.
Domains, at least, was the one thing that Sorey felt confident in. He'd had a lot of practice as a Shepherd, especially after all those trials and learning some of the finer nuances of it. It felt good to be the one teaching for a change. Mikleo could cast one, but struggled with maintaining the focus of it while also sparring.
"It's like a sense. You just let the purity of the air help you focus on your artes," he explained. "That's how I figured it out when I was human. The artes don't require thought, it's act and react. Yeah, there's strategy, those moments when you break apart enough to plan, but actually taking blows is more instinct. So focus on the purity."
"I get it on principle, Sorey, I just don't understand it that way. Maybe it's because I only remember being a seraph…."
It was hard not to let that work off into wild theories.
"Speaking of focus, you two," Rokurou said, knocking both of their heads with his wooden sword. "Sparring. Forget domains, Sorey, you're fine. Mikleo, keep trying to hold one while you two warm up."
"Yeah, yeah," Mikleo grumbled.
Sorey chuckled.
This sort of sparring was just about their weapons. Sorey with the swordstyle he'd mastered fighting against prickleboars for his very food and survival, and Mikleo's staff, mastered against sparring with Sorey. No artes, no magic, just straight sparring. In this, Sorey had always had an advantage over Mikleo, even as kids. He had always been a little bigger and a little stronger, which made for a barebones advantage, but that wasn't the only one. For Sorey, sparring had to do with surviving. Hunting his own food once the seraphim deemed him old enough. He'd had an urgency in his studies of the blade, whereas Mikleo was often pulled from sparring to study his artes. Mikleo had been integrating his artes with his fighting as soon as he figured out he could, and Sorey then had another challenge to overcome. Now that he was a seraph, it led to Sorey usually winning any sparring match with Mikleo.
Barely, sometimes.
"Not bad, not bad," Mikelo said, standing straight and resuming his starting position.
Sorey looked up from where he'd been flattened on the ground. "That was awesome!" he beamed. "And with your domain up!"
"Finally," Mikleo muttered, reaching down to help Sorey up.
"Okay, you two," Rokurou said, stepping forward with some snacks that Mikleo had made in advance. "That's enough physical sparring. Take a few minutes, stretch, and then it's time for artes."
Both nodded. Their muscles were feeling the exertion, so it was time for them to have a rest. Mikleo took off his shoes to step into the water, slowly weaving his arms to start connecting with the constant flow. Sorey, sat to consider. Normally, he liked being higher up, feeling the clouds and the weather, sensing the energy. Underground didn't quite have that. He couldn't just call up a lightning bolt, that would likely hit whatever buildings were above them. Hm.
He called up his lightning balls, the lights he'd used when exploring the ruins on the northern continent, and instead turned his focus to inside them. Lightning seraph were so rare that with no one to train him, Sorey instead had to learn everything from scratch on his own. There was something he'd been sensing with lightning, and maybe he'd have the chance to get a better feel for it underground as they were.
There was something there…
Oh. Sorey pulled out his belt knife and held it close to the small balls of lightning. The static crackle easily jumped and arced to the knife, but there was something about the interaction… Oh! It was changing something in the blade!
"Hey, Rokurou?" Sorey asked, standing.
"Yeah?"
"I think I did… something. Can you pull out one of your blades, I want to compare something."
"Sure thing," Rokurou said, coming over with his own belt knife, not one of his actual swords, short or long.
Sorey shooed away his little ball of light to somewhere higher, and held his blade to Rokurou's. Once they got close, Sorey immediately felt a pull of his blade to Rokurou's.
"What the hell?"
Sorey let go, surprised, and the two knives stayed connected at the blades. "What the-"
Rokurou, frowning heavily, took the hilt that Sorey had just abandoned and pulled at the two blades. They came apart, but when Rokurou held them close again, they pulled together.
"Sorey," Rokurou said with a measure of calm confusion. "What did you do, and how do you make my blade not stick to yours?"
"Uh…." Sorey took his blade back, "I think it's just mine that's… sticky? I wanted to check against your blade."
Rokurou frowned, and pulled one of his short swords. No pulling together.
"Great," Sorey said, "now how do I undo this?"
"Hang on," Rokurou said, blades away and leaning forward. "This is new and something no one will have ever seen before. That's something to surprise an opponent."
Sorey recognized that look in Rokurou's eye. He sighed.
Mikleo released several Water Whips, tendrils arching out to the target he focused on. In the Viaduct, surrounded by so much clean water, he couldn't focus on power or strength, only control and finesse. Something that had gotten way, waaaay better after Rokurou's brutal training regime over the winter. Nodding to himself, he then went through every water arte he knew in rapid succession, no pause or break, to see how his endurance was, especially as he got to the higher level artes that he could do within the viaduct.
He thought he heard something, but he was focused on his artes.
Good. And he was faster at that too.
He went through it all again, switching the order, varying when he did higher artes.
By the end, he was sweating, though not from physical exertion. That had felt good. Mikleo always enjoyed practicing his artes where there was abundant water. Whether in the saltiness of the ocean, or the gentle flow of this viaduct. Surrounded by water just had an… ease to it that he couldn't quite describe, even when he was deep in the forests where there was plenty of water to sustain varieties of plant life.
He stepped out of the water, waving his arms to pull off the water he'd been splashed in, then ran a hand through his hair, noting that he'd have to retie it after all the work that had been done so far.
This led to squeals behind him.
Mikleo groaned.
Turning, he saw that about a dozen of Lailah's students were trying to peek from around the corner, talking excitedly in whispers back and forth from each other. Right. No sign of Lailah yet. Time to spar with Sorey in as flashy a manner as possible to entice more students to sneak over.
Sorey was also working hard, given the look of pure determination on his face, but there was no lightning arcing around. Hm. Rokurou was with Sorey, holding a pair of belt knives apart. Apparently with effort.
Mikleo blinked, surprised to see Rokurou straining to just hold a pair of blades apart.
"I've never seen this exercise," he said, one hand on his hip, the other fingering his chin.
Of course, because he spoke, Sorey's concentration broke and Rokurou actually staggered.
"Mikleo!" Sorey stood, pure excitement beaming from him. "I've just discovered something new I can do! Here, do you have a belt knife?"
"Uh…" Mikleo pulled out his belt knife. Sorey focused on it for a moment, and then Mikelo felt it being pulled from his hand. "What? How are you-?"
Then it pulled out of Mikleo's hand and connected, blade-to-blade, with Sorey's belt knife.
"I haven't figured out all the details," Sorey said, "but I can make metals attract to one another."
"Wait, you can control magnetism as a lightning seraph?"
"Magnetism?" Sorey and Rokurou asked.
"Yeah," Mikleo said, pulling out his compass. "That's the thing that makes loadstones only ever point in one direction. They've been making compasses using magnetism for navigation and sailing for longer than we've been alive."
"Oh, I always relied on landmarks or maps to find our way," Sorey looked absolutely amazed.
"Particularly useful when going through unpopulated areas," Mikleo nodded. "I think someone was studying this in Marlind for a time? It's been a while."
"Oh, we'll have to stop by and research in that library," Sorey said. "After, well, everything, there are so many new things to learn!"
Rokurou was studying the belt knives. "Okay," he said, "but how about this." He threw his belt knife out over the water, sending it skittering across the opposite walkway. He turned to Sorey. "Pull it back."
Sorey nodded, large smile shining, and reached out a hand, focusing on whatever he could see or sense. Mikleo waited by his side, giving silent support, wondering in the back of his head how magnetism and lightning were connected.
Sorey grunted. "It's hard to reach over the water…"
Well, that Mikleo could help with. He parted the water to two small ice dams, leaving just the stonework between them and the blade. There were more gasps behind them.
Don't think about it. We just want Lailah to get down here…
Then, in almost a blink, the belt knife started to rise, and slowly float. More gasps.
"Amazing…" Mikleo whispered.
It slowly started to float towards them before suddenly faster than an arrow and Rokurou grabbed it out of the air. Someone shouted.
"Woah!" Sorey gasped. Then he nodded to himself. "Right. Control and finesse."
"Definitely something to practice more on the road," Mikleo murmured. "We do have an audience right now."
Rokurou looked over at the small crowd of students, then gave a shrewd look to the two of them.
"Flashy?" he asked.
"Flashy," Sorey replied, rubbing at his cheek in embarrassment. "I can't lie at all."
"That's not a bad thing," Mikleo said. "But yes, flashy."
"Okay then." Rokurou gave a savage little smirk. "Target practice." He threw the belt knife again, but in this, at least, Sorey and Mikleo felt more at ease.
"Water Whip!"
"Thunderbolt!"
A stream of electrified water reached out, racing to the knife, knocking it further into the air.
Target practice was on. Before the knife fell they did another combined blast of water and electricity, continuously keeping the knife in the air, preventing it from landing. There were many impressed sounds from the students, but Mikleo focused on ignoring them. That didn't stop Rokurou from smirking.
"Uh-oh!" Sorey shouted, then suddenly, the knife was flying towards them.
Mikleo didn't think, a wall of ice simply appeared before them in defense as the knife buried itself into it.
"You magnetized the knife?" Mikleo gave a flat glare.
"Uh, I didn't mean to?" Sorey said apologetically, then turned to look closely at the blade. "I mean, we only just figured out I could do this magnet thing."
"Focus and control," Mikleo said in tandem with Rokurou.
"I know, I know," Sorey said, hands up good naturedly. "I just wish I had something smaller than a belt knife to work with."
"I have something!"
That… was from the small crowd of students.
Mikleo turned, finally acknowledging that they were there and working not to blush.
"You do?" Sorey asked, stepping over.
Mikleo silently took a breath and walked over as well.
"Are you all skipping Lailah's classes?" he asked sternly.
"NO!" was the replying chorus, along with several bashful and guilty looks.
"I didn't realize you could combine attacks," one of the students said, stepping forward. "Do seraphim usually do that?"
"No," Mikleo replied. "Many seraph, when they travel, travel alone. It's not often that they are with someone long enough to have the trust needed for something like that. Elements do have subordinate relationships with each other. I'd have a hard time doing a combined attack like that with an earth seraph."
Of course, since he'd answered a question, the floodgates opened.
Mikleo should have known better.
But he answered patiently and gently. He appreciated academic advancement, even though he himself didn't care for being the one teaching very much. Not like this, at any rate.
"You could barely summon a lightning bolt, how are you so controlled so fast?"
"How are you able to magnify?"
"It's magnetize, not magnify."
"How are you able to do such massive artes and not destroy the viaduct?"
"Seriously! How did you get so strong so fast?"
"Why do you have four swords?"
"Are you a trainer for seraphim?"
The questions kept coming, but with Rokurou being asked questions, it shifted to a direction that Mikleo knew Sorey would want. This was all about getting Lailah down here so that she could see Rokurou wasn't what he was when they had met.
"Okay everyone," he said, raising his hand for quiet. The students listened immediately, eager. "Sorey and I came here to train. We need to get back to that."
"Yeah, thanks for the nails," Sorey said. "I can focus with some of that magnet-thing now on something that's not immediately dangerous."
"Which means," Rokurou said with his usual almost feral grin, "it's time for you and me to spar."
Mikleo did not groan.
Sparring with Rokurou was always brutal, and listening to the crowd of students (that was indeed growing) was a distraction one didn't need. What Mikleo did take comfort in was that the way Rokurou sparred with them changed over the winter. At first, it was abundantly clear that neither of them were at his level, and he did - after beating them to the ground - go through techniques and forms that could improve what they did. But as they got better, the more effort Rokurou needed to use to claim his precious victory, the harder it was for the daemon to back down.
So Mikleo didn't try to win. Not for this spar. It was about endurance. How long could he last, how strong was his defense? His staff was a clear benefit for this compared to Sorey, both with longer reach and for blocking in general.
"Form Five: Scatterburst!"
The viaduct itself was also to his advantage, and not just because he was a water seraph. The moisture lead to slick stones under one's feet. Rokurou wasn't wearing the same shoes he had been on the ice, as the spiky grips didn't work well on city streets, so he tended to slip. Mikleo could also encourage that with his ice.
"Form Two: Imbue Earth!"
The students there also helped to set the tone. This wouldn't be a true fight, because Rokurou did care about civilians. Scion had the story of meeting Rokurou, and seeing that the daemon would only take down the opponent, not those around. It was a mark of his own character, despite being a "corrupted" daemon.
"Form Seven: Rapid Bolt!"
Of course, the enclosed space was also working out well. Larger artes couldn't be called upon in the tighter confines, especially with the students nearby. Any arte that needed a larger area of effect needed the precise control to not bring down the structure around them or endanger the students on one side, or Sorey studying on the other side.
Mikleo's arms were shaking, he was soaked from his artes, and he knew it was time to call it.
"Yield!" he shouted.
Rokurou slid to a halt, also dripping water from all of the artes that had been thrown about. "Huh," he said, straightening, setting down his practice swords. "You never tried to attack?"
"Today's been about nothing but endurance," Mikleo replied. "How long can I last in sparring, for my artes, anything."
Rokurou nodded. "Good plan. And how is your endurance?"
"Between sparring with Sorey, all my work in my artes, and then surviving you? I'm doing fine." He waved his arms to pull the excess water off of both of them. "But I'm at my limit. Any further and I'll have to retreat to a vessel."
"Pretty good," Rokurou said. "Stretching?"
Mikleo nodded. "Stretching. But Sorey hasn't sparred with you yet."
Rokurou shrugged. "Depends on that new skill of his."
"Right." For now, Mikleo just wanted to sit down and stretch.
And maybe not move for a few hours.
Sorey stared at the nails that one of the students had given him. He was finally getting a good sense of the energy flows around them and how they altered once magnetized. He wouldn't say that he understood it. Not by a longshot. What he needed was to understand enough on how to not do it by accident when throwing around lightning. He hadn't expected that last lightning bolt with Mikleo's water whip to magnetize the knife and send it careening back to them. This was very much a skill he'd have to practice to feel any confidence using in battle.
It was so exciting to learn, but Sorey wished he'd had better timing on this.
"You okay?" Rokurou asked.
"I think I have a better sense of things," Sorey replied, standing and holding the nails. None of them were magnetized. "I'll still need to work out how lightning changes the energy around all this iron, but I at least know what I'm looking for now."
"Good." Rokurou then smiled that feral smile. "Ready to spar?"
"Oh, it's my turn?" He looked over to Mikleo, seeing him stretching and looking tired. "Ah, okay. What are we focusing on?"
Other than being flashy to get Lailah down here.
"Your partner focused on defense to see how long he could last," Rokurou replied. "You want to try offense?"
"Nope," Sorey said brightly. "You'd get into it way too much and tear me to pieces. Defense sounds like a good idea."
That magnetism seemed like something good for defense, but Sorey wouldn't dare try that in a fight, let alone a fight with Rokurou.
They stood facing each other, Sorey with his one-handed sword stance and Rokurou dual-handed. They watched, each sizing the other up. Sorey was all about defense, he wouldn't make the first move. The question was when Rokurou would.
Footwork shifted.
Grips tightened.
And for a brief moment, out of the corner of his eye, Sorey thought he saw Lailah in the crowds. A glance showed that she was indeed there, frowning heavily. That moment of distraction was enough for Rokurou to come surging forward.
Defense for Mikleo was easier than for Sorey. Mikleo had a staff to block and many of his artes pushed an opponent away. That didn't mean that Sorey had no defense. Granted, when he'd been human, he had needed to rely on the seraphim to help with defense, as he'd needed to be aggressive to give the seraphim time to cast their artes. But Sorey had trained with Mikleo since they could both hold weapons. Sorey may prefer fighting with a more one-handed style, but he always defended with two hands, adding more strength.
Rokurou's attacks were relentless, sliding seamlessly between several different forms meant to overwhelm Sorey. His dual wooden short swords blurred to almost be invisible, and Sorey had to rely on instinct, knowledge of all of his bouts with Rokurou, and that lightning was faster than everything.
Most important for Sorey, however, wasn't the endurance of defense, like it had been for Mikleo, it had been that Lailah was there. He would need to show her that Rokurou had better control now than he did when they'd first met all those centuries ago.
Just doing defense wouldn't be enough.
Rokurou had been pushing Sorey back, and as Sorey ducked under a swing, he reached out with his free hand, "Beast Thunder!" A wave of lightning pushed Rokurou back to his surprise.
"Oh-ho!" Rokurou grinned, all teeth. "We going to attack? Form One: Fire Burst!"
Fire flared out, the gasping students entering Sorey's ears if not his concentration as he dodged quickly to the side to avoid the flames. Now it was a true sparring match, no longer about defense, or endurance, but about who could strike the first hit. In this, Sorey was at a disadvantage. He wasn't using an actual blade, but a wooden wand like Rokurou, meaning less conduction of his lightning. Sorey pushed through, however. The moisture inherent from being in the viaduct helped him with channeling his lightning. As Mikleo said, water and lightning always worked together well.
"Electric Slice!" A sideways slash with trails of lightning, Rokurou had to move his arms raising them, leaving Sorey to slash through the sleeve, almost touching Rokurou's chest, forcing him to then dash backwards.
"Mowing Blade!"
Sorey dashed forward and to the side, circumventing the strike, trying to get around Rokurou. Just as he got behind Rokurou's shoulder, "Phantasm Flash!" a double slash, leaving a crackling bolt expanding almost like a fog, and Rokurou had to dash again.
Huh. Sorey hadn't realized, but he was faster than Rokurou.
"Form Eight: Magma Tower!"
Oh, not good! Hot, hot, hot, hot! Back up, back up, back up! Block! Block! Owwww, Sorey felt that down both arms.
Rokurou had the upper hand again. His surprise had worn off. Crap.
"Chain Lightning!"
"Form Three: Water Hammer!"
"Bolt Tempest!"
"Form Five: Scatterburst!"
The crowd of students was certainly rapt with attention. Sorey only paid enough attention to them to keep them at a safe distance. Mikleo was with them, from what he glanced. They would be fine. And he was talking to Lailah.
Even better.
Speed, speed, speed! "Flash Step!" Sorey moved like he never had before. He blinked, and he went from being in front of Rokurou to behind him. Rokurou's back exposed, Sorey swung his wooden sword, with precision and control, and tapped Rokurou on the head.
Rokurou turned, daemon eye flashing, and Sorey stepped back, sword dropped, raising his hand. "I yield!"
Rokurou still advanced, but yielding always broke through to the daemon. He hesitated, then relaxed his stance. "Good job," he said, smiling warmly. "You've come a long way."
Sorey, panting, let himself sink to the ground, exhausted. "You are always so intense!" he groaned.
To the side was much excited chatter from the students, and Mikleo corralling them.
Lailah however, came over as Rokurou was offering Sorey a hand to stand up. Her face was carefully blank. "Sorey," she said, "your motivations in your note were rather clear."
Sorey took a moment to get his breathing back under control, before he sheepishly reached up to his cheek. "Uhhhh…"
"Note?" Rokurou asked.
"Uhhh, look, I just… I'm not asking the two of you to be friends. I just don't like seeing two people I consider friends not getting along." Sorey looked between them. "Lailah it's been a long time. You should know that things change. Rokurou isn't the same daemon you met. He's older, stronger, and has more control."
"Heh. That's why you wanted to train here in the viaduct," Rokurou chuckled. "I knew you were being sneaky about something, but you're no Magilou."
Lailah stared at him for a moment. "I will concede that Rangetsu-san has more control now, far more control, than when we tragically parted companies. But I still cannot allow him at my school. Not him or any hellion, no matter how controlled, because my students come first."
"That's fair," Rokurou said. "Malevolence isn't something to be messed with. Just coped with."
Lailah gave a side eye to Rokurou. "Cope?"
Sorey nodded. "Yeah, Rokurou has a theory about why certain people become hellions and others don't."
"Really?" she turned to him more fully. "Being able to predict who could succumb to being a hellion isn't exactly something that can be researched."
"I don't know about research, but I've been around a long time, and by nature of being a daemon, I've seen more people succumb to malevolence than the average guy."
Lailah raised a fine eyebrow. "That would make sense," she said dryly. "And what is this theory of yours?"
Sorey slowly stepped away and slipped over to Mikleo to help manage the students.
Leaving Ladylake, Rokurou watched the two seraph slowly get more and more excited as they moved up the mountain. He watched with curiosity, wondering what was so special.
"When was the last time you were in Elysia?" Sorey asked.
"Oh, quite a while," Mikleo said. "Going there wasn't the same without you and Gramps there, and for a long time it hurt too much to be there. But I was there in the last hundred years or so. They still have those wheat fields they made so we could eat."
"Really?"
"Yeah, they make bread every harvest."
"Oh, I wish it wasn't spring, now, I would have loved to have some of Melody's bread, it was the best!"
"And Ed, he travels down to Ladylake now every once in a while, he said."
"Oh, wow, I remember growing up we were all so isolated. I can't imagine any of them wandering down the mountain."
"Actually, that has me thinking," and Mikleo turned to Rokurou. "Did you travel through Elysia on the way to Artorius' throne?"
Rokurou shrugged his shoulders. "Kinda hard when there was no mountain here," he said.
And there, the boys both whirled around in abject shock. "What?" they demanded. "There was no mountain? No Elysia?"
"Nope," Rokurou replied. "It was the Danann Highway back then. Pretty flat and grassy. The mountain range here? That was a result of Laphicet taking the continent on as his domain. There were a lot of growing pains."
"Interesting," Mikleo said, touching his chin. "After learning about Velvet's story I had wondered why it was called the Age of Calamity given that her story wasn't widespread. But if the battle with Innominat and Maotelus' ascension caused shockwaves through Glenwood then that seems a more plausible explanation."
"Now I wonder what other kinds of landmarks were once battle scars of the battle," Sorey said, looking up and crossing his arms. "I mean, Shepherd Lake is the crater where we all fought Heldalf, so it stands to reason that other landmarks might have similar histories."
"That has me thinking about that massive channel that splits Glenwood."
"Where the Camelot Bridge is? Do you know anything about that Rokurou?"
"Nah, before my time," Rokurou said, smiling. These two were entertaining to watch when they got on a roll. He could see why Laphicet was so fond of them.
"Oh, there it is," Sorey said, stopping for several seconds. He frowned just as quickly. "It shouldn't surprise me, but it doesn't feel like Gramps' domain."
Mikleo put a hand on his lover's shoulder, and the two kept walking, the mood of excitement temporarily killed. Rokurou looked around the thick forest, casting his own senses out. The air was… different. Calmer. He nodded to himself - that's what a malakhim domain felt like. He noted it, placed the sensation in his mind and wondered now what those kids' domains felt like. He would ask, next training, when the topic wasn't so sensitive.
The forest itself slowly thinned as they moved above the treeline, the wind picking up and the sky slowly turning into a rich, azure blue. He saw up the path some kind of ruin built into the very side of the mountain, but neither of the boys expressed interest in exploring it. He pushed forward a bit to ask, but he saw both of them looking at the sculpted stone and then looking at each other. Right, another sore spot; he let it be for now. It wasn't his business and some hurts weren't supposed to be touched.
Rokurou knew they were in Elysia when he saw the gateway, pillars reaching up to an elaborate circle design that probably wouldn't stand on its own without malak artes. Beyond it, further up the hill, were white stone settlements and the presence of at least two dozen malak. Rokurou slowed down, stopping at the gate. Sorey noticed his pause first, turning. "Rokurou?" he asked. "Is something wrong?"
"Nah," he said, waving a hand. "But a daemon like me is already on thin ice treading a domain like this. Me walking into the village up there might as well be a declaration of war. You two go enjoy your visit, I don't mind waiting. It's been a while, right? Go have fun."
Sorey almost looked like he was going to invite him in, consequences be damned, but Mikleo again put a hand on his lover's shoulder. "Thank you," he said, nodding his head.
The two moved up and into their childhood home, and Rokurou sat comfortably in the grass, leaning against the gate, listening to the wind and eyes drifting over the clouds.
"You gonna come out now, Laphicet?"
His little brother popped into view, rubbing the back of his head. "I'm surprised you sensed me," he said with a smile.
"You wanted me to train in domains," Rokurou said. "Can't cast one to save my life - yet - but I can sense them. No malak up there," he jut his thumb uphill, "can make air this clean. Did you want to talk?"
"Yes," Laphicet said with a stout nod.
"Good, I did, too." Laphicet settled himself on the ground as Rokurou continued. "Do either of them realize how powerful they are?" was his first question.
Laphicet frowned, tilting slightly to look beyond Rokurou and up the hill. "Mikleo might," he said after a pause, "But power is pretty low on his priority list. Sorey absolutely doesn't; he thinks he's playing catch up - everyone has to teach him something and he's giving it his all. He keeps equating his lack of experience to lack of progress."
Rokurou snorted. "I remember when you went through that phase."
Laphicet colored, face pulling into a wonderful pout. "Wh-what? I never thought that!"
He laughed. "Sure, whatever you say." And he reached over and patted the kid's head.
"A lot of malakhim have gotten stronger in the intervening years," Laphicet continued. "Part of that is the renewed prayers and part of that is because I was being purified. I've been able to give some seraph the power of purification, but they already had to be really strong in order to do it. I gave it initially for Mikleo's sake, to be closer to Sorey, but he took a while to realize he had it."
"And Sorey?"
"Would have had it without my help," Laphicet said. "He was a shepherd, after all."
"He's a lightning malak, too, like you."
Laphicet reached up and touched the white tips of his hair. "... I don't think that was me. I don't have much control over seraph being born. Given that Zenrus was the one who raised him, it stands to reason that Sorey subconsciously tried to emulate him."
"Hn. Woulda thought he'd be a water malak, given his lover," Rokurou said. He found a long blade of grass and plucked it, rolling it in his fingers.
"I thought so, too," Laphicet said, "but Sorey tends to surprise people."
A natural pause drew out, Rokurou enjoying the landscape: the green hills of the mountain top, the forest with the ruins further down the mountain, the clouds in such a deep blue sky. It was beautiful here, idyllic, it was no wonder those boys were as good as they were. Rokurou himself could sit here at the gate for centuries, meditating and mentally training, and not get bored. He smiled, shifting his weight and putting the blade of grass between his teeth. "The throne is at the bottom of a lake," he said, gaze drifting back to his little brother. "How do you plan to get us up there?"
Laphicet's face fell, darkening. "The artes Sorey and his friends were throwing around, and the artes Heldalf was making me cast," he paused, clearly remembering the fight, paling slightly. "All that mana was absorbed into the throne. So was the energy of Mikleo's sacrifice. So were a lot of other things. The throne is sort of like a battery, absorbing artes and then channeling to Innominat, and then later, me. The power from Sorey's fight, it's still there. I'm going to channel it to send you up there."
Rokurou studied Laphicet. "Is it going to hurt you? Doing that?"
"Not physically," Laphicet said, looking down. He feathered his hands along the grass before caressing a flower by his knee. "It's just a lot of bad memories. They never feel good revisiting, but ignoring them would just make the cycle repeat itself."
Rokurou nodded. "You can count on us," he said, "We'll bring her back."
Laphicet looked up, and his green eyes were bright. "I know you will." Silence stretched before them, Rokurou letting his little brother have his moment, before the Empyrean asked his own question. "Have you come across another would-be Calamity?"
"Not yet," Rokurou said. "Lailah has Ladylake pretty much on lockdown - it was a fun visit but no daemons really. Do you want me to guess what you're expecting me to sense?" Laphicet said nothing. "The seal is weakening, isn't it?"
"... it has been for a while," was the reply. "I didn't realize it at first, there's so much to do with the continent and I didn't want to bother Velvet. But the nature of her dreams started to change, and the other Laphicet started to… bleed in, I guess. When Eizen turned into a dragon, that was when I knew, but the malevolence was already really strong, and there were so few shepherds for me to work with. When Michael suggested coming with him, I thought that would buy me time to figure something out. Then…"
"... you were corrupted," Rokurou said, nodding again. He chewed on his blade of grass; he wasn't the brightest but he could work through what happened from there. "That was almost six hundred years ago. How much time do we have left?"
"... Not much," Laphicet said. "I wanted to have more shepherds before letting Sorey go - he's already done so much, and I hated asking him, but he's absorbed enough of my power, and Mikleo never broke his sublord contract, either. They should be able to armatize together."
"They have," Rokurou said, watching his little brother snap to attention. "Did it for the first time when they met me. I trained them over the winter."
There was a strained laugh. "That must have been… uh… hard work," Laphicet said weakly, and Rokurou knew he was remembering the times Rokurou tried to train him before Eizen took over.
"Eh," Rokurou said, grinning. "They definitely got in shape."
Laphicet laughed, then, bright and young even after so many hundreds of years, and it was like they had never been apart. Rokurou smiled, chuckling himself.
Time disappeared.
Sorey was surrounded by people, flooded with questions, asking questions of his own, crowded in, but he did not once feel overstimulated like he sometimes felt in cities. How could he? These seraph were his family as much as Zenrus and Mikleo, there was a perennial sense of familiarity and safety and comfort as they sat around in a circle and shared hundreds of years of stories and accomplishments and adventures with each other. With no need to sleep or eat it lasted for who knew how long as Sorey demonstrated what he had learned with his artes, gotten a million bits of advice from everyone on control and technique. He learned how the new domain was a shared responsibility of everyone on the mountain - and he loved that idea so much - he learned about the new herd of sheep that had wandered into the domain and the birth of a deer seraph a few hundred years ago. Melody made bread even though it wasn't autumn, Kyme disappeared to harvest a prickleboar to cut up and roast, Loanna blew in dozens of flowers to make chains for Sorey and Mikleo.
Days and nights happened, but Sorey paid it no mind. He and Mikleo were the center of attention and Sorey couldn't get enough of it. He noticed Mikleo too, normally so uncomfortable with being the center of attention, was perfectly at ease in the village where they grew up.
The villagers wandered in and out as duties demanded, but eventually, eventually, Mikleo disappeared with the other water seraph to show the artes he had learned, and Sorey was allowed to go to his old house. Everyone had lovingly maintained it, faithful that he would return, and he stood, shoes off, eyes trailing over a space he had not been in almost six hundred years.
The lines were both familiar and foreign: he knew every curve, every pebble, every splinter of wood and stone and earth that made the space, yet the time that yawned out from his last visit made it also strange, distant, memory-like. He traced his hand over his bookshelves - once thought to be a massive collection before he set out on his adventure. All his history books, biographies, books on art and statuary, more practical manuals on hunting and curing meat and how to use every part of an animal, cotton milling and weaving, books on architecture, religious texts on the Empyreans and human theories of the seraph. He chuckled to himself: for so long these were his world, and now his world was so much bigger. He pulled out one of the tomes, flipping through its pages, remembering the late nights with Mikleo pouring over the adventures there in, using it to plan their own adventures in the forests further down the mountain.
May I come in?
Sorey stiffened, a little surprised to hear the voice. "Come in? Sure… I guess?"
There was a soft bubble of light that drifted in and Phi appeared at the door, bowing politely. "Please excuse the intrusion," he said, stepping out of his own shoes and moving deeper into the house.
Dusty old memories of being a host wandered up, and Sorey boggled. "Oh! No, it's a pleasure to have you! Sorry the place is such a mess. Have a seat and get comforta-Oh! Hang on, do I even have any snacks to offer you? Uh…"
Phi giggled, his boyish face and voice relaxing Sorey. He sat down and gestured for Sorey to do the same.
"How long can you stay outside your domain?"
"In air this pure, quite a bit longer," Phi said. "I have something to do when Mikleo gets here, but in the meantime I thought we could talk."
Sorey nodded. "I've been meaning to ask: what did you mean by second contract?"
"Hn? You really don't know?" Phi asked, eyes wide. He frowned, leaning in, and Sorey got the distinct impression of being examined on a level too deep to contemplate. "It is there," Phi said, "I can see the binding."
"Do you mean the tether?" Sorey asked, unconsciously rubbing his chest. "When I first woke up I did feel a piece of me wander off and away. I followed it, and it led me to Mikleo. I didn't realize that was what it was doing until we armatized, I'd almost forgotten about it; I think because Mikleo and I were together so it didn't have as far to travel."
"Oh," Phi said, leaning back. "I didn't know that distance was a factor. That might explain it."
"Then… who else am I tethered to?"
Phi smiled. "I thought that would be obvious," he said brightly.
… Sorey didn't get it.
His confusion must have shown on his face, because Phi giggled, amused. "You'll definitely know when you get up there."
"... Up there? You mean where Velvet and Innominat are?"
"Yes. I don't want to say more until you get to Artorius' throne. I'm not sure if you'll even believe me until you actually see it for yourself."
"I understand," Sorey said with a nod.
A natural pause drew out, Phi adjusting his white robes and shifting his weight slightly. Sorey was left uncertain what to do, the compulsive impulse to be a good host nagging at him to offer food that clearly wouldn't be in his house. He twiddled his thumbs, tugging at the ends of his white scarf. He had spent so much time with Phi, locked away in that dark space and waiting for his friend to be purified - he had blurry memories of their time together, and after armatizing with Mikleo all of his memories of his old life had come back to him. But those, those conversations with Phi, were still… muddled.
"... May I ask a question?" he asked, looking up. "It took a lot of work, but I have all my memories back. But, having said that, our time together is really…"
"Dream like?" Phi said.
"Oh. I guess that explains it, then."
"Yes," Phi answered with a nod. "All of our conversations were through dreams."
"And even lucid dreams have that ephemeral quality about them," Sorey concluded, crossing his arms. "Will I ever remember them? I mean in their entirety?"
"I'm not sure," Phi said, rocking back and forth slightly like a child. "I don't have much power over dreams, to be honest. I can give dreams - that's how you and I talked in the first place - but controlling them is something else entirely."
Sorey nodded. "That's okay," he said, smiling. "I remember the feeling of our talks, our dreams: they were light, airy, good conversations. Like the ones I've been having outside with my family out there. That's enough for me."
Phi smiled again, soft and physically so young for all his skill and maturity.
"Sorey, Cynthia said you were-oh!"
"Hey, Mikleo!" Sorey said with a bright wave. "How'd it go with the other water seraph? Were they impressed?"
He watched his partner dither, still so impressed with the presence of an Empyrean, sputtering for a few seconds before bowing respectfully and entering the home. He sat down, spine a little too stiff, and struggled to remember the question. "U-uh, yeah. I guess," he mumbled. Sorey smiled to himself - it always took a while for Mikleo to warm up to someone, and it looked like that included literally everyone.
"Hello," Phi said, politely returning the bow. "I had a quick errand to run with Rokurou, but now that I'm here I wanted to ask. Did you finally settle on a name?"
Sorey frowned. A name…?
"Yes," Mikleo said, all business. "I've been thinking about it for a while, and this was the best one I came up with."
Phi clapped his hands together. "Excellent! I'm really excited, this is the first time I get to do this in person instead of from my vessel."
"Wait, you do something during the naming of a seraph?"
"Yes - oh, don't be nervous! I've done this thousands of times by now, I know all the parts to the ceremony."
Mikleo slowly colored. "I… I don't," he said, looking down. "I don't remember my naming ceremony."
Sorey stiffened, finally realizing what they were talking about. He bubbled with elation - Mikleo had picked a name for him! Oh, wow this was so exciting! And Phi was overlooking the ceremony! Even better - there was a ceremony! - the cultural significance! Warm energy started to buzz in his body, and he struggled to keep still, sensitive that Mikleo was having a bout of insecurity. "Don't worry," he said, trying to be encouraging. "I'm sure you'll do great!"
Mikleo offered a flat gaze, but Phi nodded his head. "It will," he said brightly. "It's not all that complicated on your end. Mikleo, hold Sorey's hands."
His partner was still beautifully flushed, Sorey staring at how the color of his cheeks complimented the color of his eyes as he scooted forward. Sorey happily thrust his hands forward, and Mikleo took each one into one of his.
"Good, now reach inside for your blessing."
Mikleo closed his eyes, still needing to focus on his blessing when he called on it. Sorey closed his eyes, too, silently offering support.
There was a shift, somewhere, not quite inside him but not quite outside either. He felt something along his tether to Mikleo - almost like his domain - and he felt the warm glow of a magic circle underneath him.
"Mikleo, what is Sorey's true name?"
"Mitis Vozrey," Mikleo said.
Sorey the Gentle.
Warmth flowed from Mikleo to Sorey, like a bubbling river and traveling up his arms and to his heart, filling like a vast ocean before building up and clouding over, building up in power until Sorey felt a bolt of lightning, deep in his soul. The power expanded out and out, and all at once he understood how sacred true names were, how special and important, how private and precious. He felt embarrassed, asking for Mikleo's name without the true understanding of what "super-duper close" meant, but now he knew; and with it came the knowledge that even that young, Mikleo considered Sorey to be that close to him. To share something so treasured. Gladness filled his heart, and he wondered if he could push it through the tether, to let Mikleo know how well he had done - not only in choosing a name, but all the careful consideration, the thoughtful attentiveness.
Sorey the Gentle.
He would hold it in his most precious place, next to his tether with Mikleo, next to his heart full of love, and cradle it for all eternity.
He opened his eyes, saw Mikleo wide eyed and emotional, and he swept his partner up into a fierce hug, so, so, happy. "Thank you," he said, voice watery. "Mikleo, thank you. It's a great name."
"I told you," his partner said, hugging him back. "I had to do better than you."
Sorey laughed and buried his head into his partner's shoulder.
Author's Notes: awwww, it's so soft! Er, that's probably bragging, but the naming scene makes us smile every time we read it.
Lalilah's arc is concluded with her conditional acceptance of Rokurou, and Rokurou and Laphicet FINALLY get the chance to talk. It's almost like they were in the same game or something...! The two of them have a really good relationship, and we finally fill in the gaps of the history we've tentatively made for what was going on with the Berseria group.
Next chapter: Rokurou finally gets to examine a would-be Calamity, Sorey and Mikleo make a promise to each other, and the three of them travel to a star.