A vast mountain towered over the near endless meadows, their borders invisible even from its very top. The land split and coiled, veins of clear water drawing their path through a sea of emerald and gleaming in the setting sun's light. Flowers bloomed atop the mountain, birds of prey calling for their mates or in challenge. Wind rustled leaves with quiet noises, nature being the only active force around. There were no people far and wide, bar one.
One man, standing tall on the very top of this very mountain, his black pants ragged as they often were; his chest was bare and bore white markings, skin kissed by the sun that gave an even greater contrast to the three lines running from shoulder to waist like claw marks. A mane of white hair blew around his shoulders and back as he beheld the untamed nature surrounding him, gazed toward the horizon.
This tranquility was how Zaveid preferred it most of the time. The winds whispered secrets of the land to him wherever they blew from, told him of the many flowers in bloom, revealed the faint noise of chicks taking flight for the first time in their lives.
The glass pearls on his necklace clacked against each other weakly when he turned his head, bands of muscles coiling under taut skin with every motion. There was darkness in the air, a crucible not too far from where he stood; a dark place of darker history and darkest deeds. But it was not his concern for the moment. He was here for the past, as always when he felt like making the journey. Not every year, not even the same day in the year. Just sometimes, when memories drew him back here, to this very mountain. Memories that he knew he must never forget, that he would never forget.
Zaveid had considered putting up a grave for his beloved Theodora long ago, but figured that she would laugh at him if she heard that thought. He would have too, knowing he was just not that kind of sentimental type. Yet sometimes, he just had to return to this mountain. Stand where the first love of his life died a second time after already losing herself in Malevolence before. Stand where he made his promise with Eizen.
A gentle breeze blew out his long, untamed mess of hair, rustled the long green feathers on his necklace, but he paid it no mind. It was soothing to him as a seraph, feeling his own element. The wind would always be special to Zaveid, just like any fire seraph appreciated flame, any earth seraph felt most at home underground, and the seraphim of water relaxed most in or under water.
One of his hands was behind his back, on the handle of an old relic. A single barrel with a trigger where his pointer finger would go when he held it, one of a kind and crafted by a civilisation more than a millennium dead. A memento of a dear friend, no, of several dear friends. A part of his promise. Even though ammunition was running low, Zaveid knew he would yet find a way to keep his promise; to end Eizen, no matter what.
All of a sudden, the tranquility broke. The winds shifted, the very flow of mana he felt around and beneath warped. The air crackled, hiccupped behind him. Zaveid swiftly turned around, hands already grasping for the pendulums on his belt with practiced motions; then golden light shone and they went slack as instinctive fear locked up his limbs. He knew the light before his eyes truly saw what was within. A thousand years had passed, but his soul remembered. Would always remember that light. The warrior froze for several moments, memories returning unbidden of a time where he was but a puppet, a tool to be used without a will of his own. Suppressed, stripped of feelings and choice. It was not something a living soul could ever forget. Not truly.
There, in the mountaintop's center, stood a figure of golden hair with their back to Zaveid. Their clothes were different, he could not see their face, but he knew without doubt who it was, looking out onto the meadow in the other direction. Instinct compelled him to flee and only terror kept him rooted.
The glow shorted out, the moment passed, and he could breathe again. Zaveid exhaled softly, steeled his resolve, and crushed the instinctual responses. It caught him by surprise this time, but past or present, he would not give in again. Not to Innominat, or anyone!
Yet while he knew what he saw, he refused to believe it for several seconds more; staying quiet, he watched the golden being behold the world. Together with a black and red one that Zaveid barely noticed before, his vision having turned into a tunnel toward Innominat until this moment. The orange glow of an earthpulse rift shone next to the pair, crackling again and slowly closing up as neither paid attention to it.
The larger of the two spoke in a familiar voice: "This looks similar to how it used to be." Her head rose slightly and she clicked her tongue at the black flakes dancing in the wind. "Just a lot more Malevolence."
The shorter one shrugged and answered without missing a beat. "It has been like this even in our time, sister. My domain merely masks free Malevolence somewhat when no one affects it. I'm not going to put it up for now, for obvious reasons."
Both voices were more or less forgotten, yet they slotted into his memory perfectly. The woman's was softer than he remembered, but still familiar enough; together with what was undoubtedly Innominat the suppressor by her side and knowing that they were sealed together, his memory provided images and a name. Zaveid closed his eyes for a moment and focussed, casting away his surprise, his fear, his confusion. Now was not the time and none of these feelings were among those he liked, anyway. He would find out what went on here, the certainty of it loosened his muscles and he returned to a more normal stance, chest thrust out and with an easy grin on his face as he called out.
"Now look at that, are the endtimes upon us?" His dark voice almost echoed over the distance and he could see the immediate change it caused. How relaxed shoulders tensed, how two turned almost as one. His grin widened; he still got it. "Fancy seeing you here, Velvet! Almost didn't recognise you; I gotta say, I liked your old style better!"
He ran his gaze over her primly dressed form, intentionally staying a little longer on the curves her tunic hid more than revealed. The woman herself blinked at him stupidly while he swaggered up to the two, any remaining discomfort at Innominat's presence stuffed away and hidden. The boy by her side blinked and his lips formed into an O-shape. "Oh. Him," he started with a toneless voice that gave Zaveid the creeps. "I remember now."
Yet he did not show any of it, pointing a thumb at himself with a widening grin. "That's right, kid. There's only one of me in this wide world." He then turned back to Velvet, who was still staring wide-eyed. "Now don't gape like a fish there, girl! How about a hug for old Zaveid?"
Only after saying it did his mind catch up and remind him that this here was a woman he might not want to rile up with his usual shtick. It was all fun and games even if they tried to hurt him for the audacity, but this one was actually capable and willing to murder him if he pushed too far. Either way though, he said it, so he committed and opened his arms wide while holding his grin and hoping for the best.
Moments passed as neither moved, but then Velvet's surprise melted into a faint smile. "You get this one." Before the meaning even registered with him, her arms were wrapped around his back.
A beat.
Then Zaveid carefully hugged her back, surprised by the turn of events; he cradled the most dangerous woman in the world in his arms, dumbfounded yet appreciative of her warmth and softness. "Okay, I didn't expect you to actually go for it, y'know?"
"Neither did I," Innominat added from the side; a weird feeling, that. To have a god agree with him like this. Either way, Velvet did not respond at first and neither of them could see her face in this position, chin resting on his shoulder; she stood not much shorter than Zaveid himself, which was quite tall for a woman. He had completely forgotten that.
"It's good to see a familiar face despite how long it's been," she told him quietly and Zaveid patted her back a little awkwardly. "We were told that everything is different from what we know. Meeting an old friend makes it feel a bit more real, that this is still the world we once lived in." She then fell quiet and did not break the embrace, so Zaveid left her there; he felt a little warmer now and maybe she did, too. "You used to dress more nicely, though."
He chuckled at that and squeezed her lightly; his jacket had been ditched centuries ago, he much preferred this style to his old one. "Ah, but I can't take away this bod's sight from the ladies, now can I?"
He did not show it, but the giggle this drew from Velvet jarred him even more. The Velvet Crowe he remembered did not giggle, she rolled her eyes and told you to stop with the nonsense. This new, different Velvet let go and so did he, but did not take more than a step back to take her in from up close; she used to be a wild, untamed kind of attractive. Like a flame one could admire but never hope to catch. Now though, she appeared more conventionally pretty, a long braid of raven hair gleaming in the orange sunlight. Her clothes were a little too dark to appear kind, but the gentle smile on her face made up for that.
Zaveid could not help but huff. He was not the only one who changed quite a bit. "Looks like ya got your beauty sleep for once." Now however, he got the familiar eyeroll; nonetheless, one could almost mistake her for a common woman living in the next village, were it not for how she carried herself even while at ease. Her guard was up despite it all, a warrior's stance.
Just then, a brighter voice chimed in from the side and distracted him: "What were you doing up here?"
Turning his head to Innominat with a frown, Zaveid made a dismissive motion. "Just passing by, figured I'd take a look around." He was far less happy to talk to that one.
"I didn't know you were a sightseer," Velvet shot back with a bit of a grin and he snorted, then shrugged.
"Lotta time went by since way back when. You kinda learn to appreciate where no humans walk." Zaveid glanced between the two unlikely beings and began to cross his arms, returning to the problem at hand. "Now, why're you here?"
The mood changed immediately as both became serious. Velvet quickly turned her head this way and that, but was distraced when the very air shifted; Zaveid's gaze snapped to Innominat, who tapped Velvet's side. "Not to worry, I just sealed the area; no one will be able to listen." Zaveid felt for the winds with his own powers and found a quite literal wall surrounding them; not exactly solid, but built in a way that prevented sound from carrying. He gave a nod at that, somewhat grudgingly admitting that it was good work. The boy eyed him thoughtfully. "Should I leave? You obviously don't like me."
Zaveid paused at that and looked Innominat over, then held up a finger at him. "We'll get to that in a bit. It'll depend on why you're here, too." He received a nod and both turned to Velvet, who gave him a brief explanation. What she told him was nothing he liked to hear; Maotelus on the brink, a Lord of Calamity on the loose, no shepherd, the like. For an ancient seraph to go up there and wake up both siblings meant someone thought this was beyond mortal means to salvage. Toward the specifics however, he had to interject: "What d'you mean, Innominat is the final measure? Suppressing the free will of all humans ain't a solution to anything!"
Velvet made to speak, but her brother squeezed her arm and she remained silent while the boy explained; all three of them were sitting in a loose circle at this point. "In previous cycles, Innominat's suppression was meant as the final bulwark against the spread of Malevolence. To suppress mankind's emotions means to cut off the generation of Malevolence while my nature allows me to draw it out of the world as sustenance. Once the total amount grows too low to sustain me, I fall back asleep and the suppression fades, allowing humans to start anew."
He obviously noticed the glare Zaveid levelled at him, raising an eyebrow and throwing out his arms in challenge. "It's no good solution, but I'd rather have this over a world completely covered in Malevolence, populated by hellions and dragons. You'd rather have that?!" There was some actual heat to the question that almost made him flinch and grimace. Zaveid would not, but he still hated the principle of the 'solution'.
Yet, if there was no other solution? He hated times like these, when things got more difficult than 'find monster, kill monster'. Zaveid was no great thinker. Some other force decided they needed the first Lord of Calamity and Innominat of all people, so Desolation was obviously going down the drain. He would have to step up his own game, too.
"Anyway," Laphicet added morosely, "the last time we met was different because Arthur called onto me before my time and made preparations to sustain my suppression forever, instead of letting it fade naturally. I'm not going to refuse my own responsibility in the matter, but I won't dwell on it. I understand that you doubt me, but I will make this world better!"
His declaration sounded nice, but Zaveid merely gave him a bored look, one eyebrow raised. "Kid. Pretty words mean nothing to me, so save them for a cute girl you wanna woo." It was still reassuring, but he stood by his words. His expression shifted, became more feral as he grinned, slamming a fist into his hand. "If you're a man, there's only one way we're going to clear the air."
He received deliciously surprised faces from brother and sister both, which only made his grin widen further. Laphicet gaped at him. "Are you sure? That wouldn't be fair to you at all, I'm weaker than I was back then, but I'm still an Empyrean."
"Ouch, kid! That hurts!" He was right of course, they fought before and Zaveid could not so much as scratch the god. Yet his grin had not wavered at all; it did not matter if he stood no chance, it never did.
Laphicet considered it for a moment, then he nodded and floated up into a standing position, surprising both Zaveid and Velvet. "But alright, if this is what it takes."
Velvet just palmed her face and got up to get out of their way while Zaveid stood and raised his fists in anticipation. Nothing happened for a second, then the boy tilted his head. "Um, no Siegfried?" So he had seen that Zaveid still carried it. He was a sharp one.
"Sorry, can't. I'm running out of bullets, so I can't waste 'em like this." Oh, how he would love to waste bullets on this little brawl, but he needed the last few for Eizen.
"I see." Laphicet's expression was odd in a way he could not read, but Zaveid could definitely see the mana flicker over his form. "If you can't fight at your strongest, then I will lower some of my defenses and stay on the ground. That's only fair."
He received an almost owlish look from Zaveid for this, who had not expected the gesture. The older man was unsure whether he should appreciate this earnestness or feel insulted, ultimately deciding on a bit of both. "Alright then, you ready?" A nod. "Then let's go!" And he shot off to take the first strike.
Laphicet let him come, hands raised somewhat clumsily and trying to step out of Zaveid's charge; he failed and took a fist to the cheek. But the boy snapped out his shorter arm and the gale his punch threw out pushed Zaveid back. He was unharmed, but Laphicet did not even seem to bruise, so he got back in and threw a few wild swings.
His opponent leaned out of one but took the follow-up against his chest, wide eyes staring at Zaveid even while he punched back. His fist was small, but it hammered into Zaveid's ribcage and shook his entire being. Were he human, his ribs and organs would be paste from that punch. The impact's shockwave shattered grass and dirt around them, he was thrown back and off the plateau to fall down to the next outcropping; Zaveid pushed on the winds to right and throw himself back onto their chosen field. Now he was grinning again, pumped up and wanting to at least leave a bruise.
They exchanged blows again and again, Laphicet's clumsy swings missing more often than not while Zaveid tried to evade after that first hit he took, aiming few but strong punches instead of flurries like he was used to. It did not work out entirely and a minute or two after they started, he was lying in one of several craters on the ground, his entire body aching but his mind content.
Next to him sat Laphicet Crowe, sporting a black eye but weirdly cheerful just like Zaveid was.
Beside them both stood Velvet Crowe, a hand on her forehead.
He could tell the boy never was in a fistfight before; only the insurmountable gap between man and god allowed him to stand victorious. Zaveid chuckled and, after resting a moment longer, he leaned back and hopped to his feet. "Alright, we're good, kid. Your fists are small, but honest. I like it!" They shook hands as he praised the boy, both grinning.
"I'm a little surprised it would only take that much," Laphicet admitted and Zaveid almost shrugged, but then thought better of it considering his throbbing everything.
"Look, kid, if we'd met a few years after all that stuff, I'd probably still be furious. But it's been a thousand years since, I can't stay mad that long. Besides, you're trying to make up for it now, so I'm not gonna make a fuss unless you go back to how things were." The boy nodded slowly as Zaveid explained, then received a pat on the head which he didn't seem to mind.
Velvet sighed at the sidelines. "Boys are such simple creatures..."
He gave her a wink at that. "You just don't understand what it means to be a man."
This prompted the woman to turn to her brother with a voice devoid of emotion: "Don't you ever become a man like him."
Zaveid chuckled, which turned into a full belly-laugh when Laphicet deadpanned back at his sister: "I am afraid you are too late. The man-poison in his fists has already infected me. My voice will become darker within the next few weeks and I shall adopt a more striking fashion style in due time."
"Damn," he couldn't help but call out when Velvet huffed, "I actually like that kid!"
The boy grinned at that and Velvet kept shaking her head for a few seconds, but then Laphicet returned the conversation to more important matters. "Say, Zaveid? Can you tell us where we are and what happened recently? What we got from Zui Fuu was more the general gist of it, with few to no specifics."
"Yeah, sure. I've got time." He slumped down again, uncaring for bits of dirt finding their way onto his clothes. The others lacked such care as well, following him to recreate their earlier seating formation with the Crowe siblings almost next to each other and Zaveid opposite to them.
Before he could start however, Laphicet groaned and held his stomach. "I'm hungry."
"How can you be? Malakhim, er, seraphim don't need to eat." Despite her words however, Velvet did not even wait for a response before waving her hands through the air.
Zaveid looked the boy over curiously and answered while waiting for whatever his sister was doing: "Eh, seraph or not, if you like to eat, your stomach will tell you it wants food. Doesn't matter if it's more of a hobby for some of us. Whoa, what the hell?!" Part of the great cloud of Malevolence in the distance had begun to float closer, turning into several streamers of darkness which gathered in Velvet's hand. He leaned away from the closest stream so as to not get any more into his system than he already had, that was a lot of it floating by.
"Oh, man up and take it," Velvet muttered at him while keeping her eyes mostly on the Malevolence. Which was easy for her to say, being unaffected by the stuff. She compressed the darkness into a bread-sized lump which she handed her brother. "There, that should tide you over." Looking back, even the sizable amount she took barely made a dint in what suffused the area.
Laphicet dug in happily while Zaveid worked himself out of the whiplash brought by this boy just tearing chunks out of Malevolence-bread like it was a delicacy. Laphicet adressed his sister between bites: "Your mastery of Malevolence is new, but I guess it makes sense with what you are now." Zaveid sighed; he had forgotten just how crazy things could become with Velvet Crowe around. Not to mention that she was now there to stay, having become a goddess herself.
It was around this time that the sun sunk below the horizon, so Laphicet created a small ball of light to illuminate them; none of them wanted to bother with a campfire, but the moonlight was also not suitable to this conversation.
"Alright then," Zaveid started once they had light again, leaning back to look at the faint few stars he could see up high. "Let's start with the place; this here used to be the, uh..." He needed a moment to remember what it was called. "The Aldina Plains, right. Shifted around a little, but the general layout remained the same. Might have actually grown bigger since." Glancing down, he saw Velvet's brow crease and how her eyes shifted to the faintly familiar form of the mountain surrounding them. Chances were she understood this was the one she helped kill Theodora on, but she did not say anything and he was fine with that.
"As for general stuff, let's see. The area around here is called the Meadow of Triumph and it goes on for ages. Connects the Empire's capital of Pendrago and Lastonbell at the border." He paused and his fist slammed down onto his palm. "Oh yeah, there was only Midgand back then. Today the continent is split into the Rolance Empire and the Kingdom of Hyland; we're in Rolance right now. Pendrago, er, the capital, is at that end of the meadow. The other direction is Lastonbell, both are big cities. I've heard there is bad blood between Rolance and Hyland these days, they're prepping for war recently. But that's all I can tell you, I don't go into cities much."
Neither was surprised about that. Velvet gave a few nods as he spoke and frowned down at her hands. "That's fine, this is more than we had before. What about the others? Rokurou, Eizen?"
"Oh boy, where do I start?" He knew where he did not want to start, so he began with the one he knew less about, leaning onto his back to watch the stars, arms crossed behind his head. "Last I heard of Rokurou, he's still working on his swordmanship. I think I remember him marrying, a few hundred years ago or so. Or maybe he took a student, either or. He definitely took a few more a bit over a hundred years ago to see if one of them was good enough to challenge him, that was the last time I saw him too. Was pretty bummed out he couldn't find any real challenges anymore, so he tried to make his own. That, ah, didn't work."
"It must be hard, being one who yearns for a challenger yet stands undefeated." Zaveid brought his gaze down to Laphicet, whose eyes were focussed on the small ball of light floating between them. His expression was unreadable.
"Nah, the guy is as single-minded as ever; last I saw him, he found himself a madman who wanted to sail for the far continent. Told me he's going to look for strong opponent's there."
This prompted a huff from Velvet and the boy to turn her way. "He would. I'm not even surprised." She left it at that, but Zaveid could see that her lips were curling up a little bit. His own went down at about the same time, knowing what came next.
"And Eizen... well. He turned into a dragon, a few hundred years back." Her smile was gone and Zaveid averted his gaze from her, back to the starry sky. "I couldn't kill him yet. Damn that guy for being so tough, I don't have the bullets to go head to head with him and..." He trailed off, unsure how to continue. A face danced in front of his mind's eye, one that bothered him. "He settled down near his sister, Edna. She's still hoping that there's a way to save him."
There was no response at first, but Zaveid really did not want to say it out loud. Thankfully, Velvet did it for him after a few moments: "So you haven't made an honest try yet." Of course she understood; Edna looked young. Zaveid and Velvet both had a soft spot for children. He could not bear killing her brother when she still had hope.
"He was still reacting to her voice last time I visited," Zaveid added quietly, then laughed. "That bastard is still fighting to this day, hasn't tried to hurt her once in all that time!"
A hollow silence reigned after that. There was no crackling of fire, just the calls of a few owls and the chirping of crickets who made their home this far up.
There was a rustle of cloth before Laphicet spoke, the boy having leaned forward. "We could take care of him for you."
"Nah." Zaveid sat up with a push of his back and shook his head at him. "I made a promise to him, kid. No way anyone else is gonna do it." From the nod he got in return, his message was received.
"Hm. I guess I could offer you a power boost, make you a sublord and give you a piece of my power for a little while so you can do it, but I'm not sure I should and I doubt you'd want to be." Zaveid huffed, the boy had been completely right there.
"You're right, I wouldn't want to. Maybe if there's really no other choice, but I ain't becoming anyone's sublord without a damn good reason."
"Yeah, I figured as much. What about Siegfried?" Zaveid perked up at that and Laphicet continued with actual enthusiasm this time: "If you let me borrow one, I can try analysing and replicating your bullets! Melchior taught me a few basic scanning artes, sooo...?"He trailed off and waited for Zaveid's reaction, who was intrigued by the idea. He hated to be reminded of Melchior, but the proposal itself had merit; if he had a steady supply of bullets to power himself up and kill stronger hellions with, that would give him options.
After a few seconds of thought, Zaveid pulled out one of his four remaining bullets from the small pouch on his belt. He then dropped it onto the boy's waiting palm, where several elaborate, golden arte circles flared to life immediately. Thin beams of light flickered over the ammunition. They faded out before he even registered the terrifying light.
"Curious," Laphicet muttered as he handed it back. "This is mostly just supercondensed mana, likely drawn out of an earthpulse and then refined. Which means that Siegfried itself contains the entire workings of the arte, the bullets are just fuel." He smiled up at Zaveid, his voice filled with wonder. "Isn't it amazing, though? The people of Avarost created artes to draw power from the earth itself and to condense so much of it into such a small form!"
He could not help but ruffle the boy's hair at that; despite of how mature he sounded at times, there was still a child in there. "Yeah, they really were amazing." Laphicet let his hair be ruffled, but righted it immediately after and left the reach of Zaveid's arms.
"I can definitely replicate those," he told the wind seraph earnestly. "It will take a while to gather the necessary mana and some figuring out how to compress it, but I will." He paused and turned to look at Zaveid more closely. "Actually, I was just thinking; would you travel with us for a bit? A journey is more fun with more people."
He had to huff at that. "First of all, thanks. I'll owe you one if you can actually pull that off. Second, I'm more of a lone wolf. Sorry, kiddo."
"Oh, okay." He did not appear sad, though the light drew some odd shadows over his face now as he turned to his sister. "A pity, though. Velvet is such a good cook, now I have to eat all her delicious food on my own."
Aha. So that was his game.
Zaveid considered the obvious bait and, after a moment, decided he could bear with those two siblings for a little while. Not for the food, but for the novelty of being around people who didn't rub him the wrong way. "You know what? Fine, I'm in, I'll stick around for a day or two. Have to find out if you're really as good as he says."
Velvet just rolled her eyes, a quiet mutter of "Boys" being her only response.