The siblings spent another two days in Pendrago to set up some more. With Cardinal Forton providing information and access, Velvet found that things went a lot more smoothly all around. Moreover, the few times they met, Runette wore honest smiles she had not shown before. She already called to prepare a mass sermon in that time, having taken their last meeting, however, ended a little different.
"You plan to cross the Great Camelot Bridge, correct?"
"We're making a short stop in Lastonbell first," Laphicet answered the not unexpected question, "but yes."
In response, Runette clasped her hands and lowered her head. "Then, if you find yourself traveling near Horsa village, I would ask you to pass a message to my older sisters, Rodeen and Enid. To let them know I am doing well." Her request touched Velvet's heart and her expression softened immediately; Runette did not see as her gaze remained averted, but Laphi did. He smiled, too; they understood the worry for one's siblings well.
"I'm sure that can be arranged," Velvet finally answered their partner. Runette lowered her head a little deeper before straightening up again. "Stay safe."
"You as well, oh Empyreans."
They kept their silence for a time, wandering Pendrago's lower districts. Laphi spoke up only as they neared their current hideout: "You could have told her we're going that way anyway."
Velvet shrugged. "That wouldn't have added anything and we might still take another route than near Horsa." She gave the two seraphim a wave which they returned with only slightly uneasy smiles, then they were inside and descending to the teleportation gate. "Now you stay out of trouble while I'm in Lastonbell, yes?"
"Yes, sister," Laphi intoned obediently and Velvet drew him into a short hug before he activated the gate. "Don't be too hard on Margaret." Rolling her eyes through the transit, Velvet quickly stepped out into the cave near Lastonbell. A short stroll later, she passed through the gate. Despite having been gone for about three weeks, Velvet found that nothing really changed except for the marketplace. Different carts and different faces, slightly different wares. Some people actually recognised her, just like she recognised others.
Another short walk brought her by the well near Randgriz Inn, where her first target was currently busy drawing water. Velvet stopped and watched her, saw the girl grit her teeth as she pulled the bucket back up. She took a while, only noticing the observer afterward; when Margaret did see Velvet, her pale face lost its light frown in favour of a bright smile. She almost threw away the bucket in excitement, but stopped herself just in time. "You're back already!"
"So I am," Velvet agreed kindly. She fell into step next to her student, studying her. Margaret grew a bit if she saw that right. Moreover and more worryingly however, the girl looked haggard, pale. "Are you doing alright? Did you come down with some illness?"
Margaret quickly shook her head in response. "No, no. I'm fine, really! I'm doing all the exercises you told me to, every day." The moment Velvet made to level an unamused look at her however, the bell tolled and Margaret immediately went to reciting under her breath: "Plans must be solid, reactions flexible. Know your enemy and strike where they're weak. Never waver once your sword is drawn, control feelings to direct the flow of battle. Don't let your guard down, even when victorious. Never give in to despair."
The look turned appreciative and Velvet nodded. "Good. I think you did that often enough, you can stop by the end of the week. We'll have to talk about what those actually mean again, though. Just remembering them won't help you much." She received a demure nod; Margaret appeared to like those discussions about strategy, about morality, about philosophy in combat. Velvet worried nonetheless, seeing that the girl did not look healthy.
Both of them entered the inn together and Margaret quickly went to deposit the water while Velvet strolled to the front to talk to Cynthia, who greeted her warmly. "Ah, Velvet! A pleasure to see you again so soon. How have you been?"
"Just fine, we're making good progress recently." She made a dismissive motion and leaned against the counter, frowning. "I'm a little worried about Margaret, though. She says she's fine, but she doesn't look like she is."
Just like that, Cynthia's own smile faded as well and the older woman crossed her arms. "It's, well. I was meaning to ask about that; are you certain that she has to practice this much in a day? Is it really necessary for Maggie to run herself ragged like that?"
Velvet blinked at her, not comprehending what the problem was. "You have to explain that one. An hour a day is definitely not too much, not even if we count two by including the physical exercises."
Now it was for Cynthia to be confused; she turned her head sideways a little as if to watch her daughter through the walls. "You didn't tell her to practice with that sword six hours a day?" Velvet's eyes widened at that. "Because that is what she does."
"That's insane." Her flat tone drew the worried mother's gaze, though Velvet did not meet them. She closed her eyes and thought back; she knew without a shadow of doubt that she said one hour. It took some pondering to understand how her student could have turned one hour into six; when she did, the realisation rolled over her like a wave. Velvet palmed her face, feeling exasperated as well as proud. It was to that scene that Margaret entered the room, only to find herself immediately seized by the shoulders. Stern amber met confused blue, but Velvet let go after a moment to take a breath. "Show me your hands."
Her student fidgeted awkwardly, but Velvet's stare made her relent and reveal the blistered and raw fingers. Velvet sighed, shaking her head. "Like I thought. Come along. You as well, Cynthia."
Mother and daughter followed her into the backroom, mainly because she did not want to chew Margaret out in front of strangers. Velvet turned back to her student once the door closed; Margaret stood mutely, allowing Velvet to begin: "When I said to practice for an hour, I meant one hour for all six basic stances, not one hour for each of them. I have half a mind to let those heal on their own so you remember what you did to yourself those last few weeks," she added curtly with a motion for Margaret's abused hands. The girl's face had fallen and she wilted further under Velvet's disapproval; seeing this drew a sigh from Velvet, who began to weave the most basic healing arte Laphi had shown her. She had no real aptitude for them, but she could do at least that much. Mana formed into a circle and crimson light soaked Margaret's hands; the mother watched it happen with fascination while the daughter sighed in relief. "But it seems you already have too much self-discipline, and I'm too nice."
Velvet took a hold of the now healed hands and stared into Margaret's eyes sternly. "You will not do any practice or exercise for the next week. You will eat an additional meal every day to make up for that torture you put yourself through. You will do as little work as possible to let your body heal and if you still ache next week, you will do that again until the week after. Am I understood?"
"Y-Yes ma'am!"
Teacher and student stood like this for a moment; Velvet did not actually see anything in Margaret's eyes beyond how wide they were, but she felt like giving off the impression she did. When she let go and straightened up with a curt "Good," Margaret slumped in relief; meanwhile, Velvet turned to Cynthia, who appeared relieved as well. "Let her rest as much as she can. Tie her to the bed if need be." The adults exchanged grim nods at that and Velvet addressed both others then: "Muscle and muscle memory are built through constant exercise over time, not through one short burst. Trying to force it quickly will only make you collapse."
Margaret and Cynthia nodded, her words understood. Velvet gave a nod back and pushed her student to the door. "For that matter, you will go and lie down right now." She could not tell if the lack of protest spoke of how tired Margaret was, or of how much Velvet intimidated her in that moment.
Cynthia waited until her daughter left before sighing. "I was thinking it might be something like that, but I couldn't say either way. Thank you for getting back so quick to clear it up. Maggie kept pushing herself so much, she would have broken down."
Velvet made an agreeing noise even while her lips curled upward. "Yes, she would have. That she even managed that long says a lot about her. Her will is strong, stronger than most." She outright grinned at Cynthia then. "If she doesn't end up breaking herself with stunts like this, she will be great one day."
The other woman mostly just grimaced back. "I will just hope for the best then."
The two days that followed this moment were mostly relaxed; Velvet only even stayed that long to ascertain her orders were followed. Afterward, she said her goodbyes and returned to Pendrago to fetch her brother.
Apparently, events had taken place in her absence.
"The three important matters," Laphi summarised for her as they left town through the main gate, "are that Morgrim found a vessel in that carved throne in the shrinechurch's main hall. It's pure and serves our purposes. Can you feel Morgrim's domain?" As a matter of fact, she could and told him so. The air was different somehow, more crisp. Less Malevolence suffused their surroundings and it always felt as if Morgrim was just there.
In addition however, she could already guess the second piece of news. "It's not raining."
"Yep, that's the next part. Runette's mass sermon was a great success and everyone is excited that it worked. Donations to the church increased and most of the local seraphim receive a few more prayers now." She made a soft nod, seeing how they were still among people on the road. Laphi nodded back and moved on. "The third is, well, odd. The pope left town yesterday." Seeing the look Velvet gave him, he raised his hands defensively. "We had nothing to do with it! Runette is already consolidating power, but she says she didn't do anything, either. He just... left. Not a word to anyone." He was right, Velvet decided. Odd indeed. "We don't know where he went, so the matter has been put aside for now. Oh, and Morgrim is our liaison with Runette and brings us information from within the church, that just made sense with where her vessel is."
Velvet nodded and then focussed on finding her way for a time. She would have to think about this as well.
Before journeying for the north of Rolance as they said they would, the siblings spent two weeks exploring the wilderness in the south. Several small villages lay on their way, the last one being called Gododdin and situated at the foot of an inactive volcano. They found many curious things, but none of actual interest; a teleportation gate brought them back close to Pendrago after those two weeks. Only then were they off to the north.
The Great Camelot Bridge, then, took their breath away. A giant bridge built to reach across parts of the ocean, large enough for several caravans to travel next to each other; Laphi cheerfully pointed out the combination of seraphic arts and human means being used to build the colossus, which was in its own way as impressive as many of the other sights they saw recently. Traversing the bridge took several days. Just like during their journey so far, teleportation artes were set down; one on each end of the bridge and beyond that, in several places of Zaphgott Moor that followed after. It was more of a desert in recent times, but neither of them minded that much; after the almost constant rain in Pendrago, the heat and dryness appeared as a nice change of pace.
Before making their way to Horsa however, the siblings stopped at a place they both still remembered. The tower of Lothringen, once the training grounds for the exorcist abbey, still remained. Dilapidated it was, broken down. But it remained, with a small village having grown around it. Lohgrin, it was now called.
Velvet spent over an hour taking the place in from afar and about as much just walking through the original tower's foundation. Some parts of the upper floors still remained and she vividly remembered their first encounter with Melchior up there; the illusions, the dragons. It drove home once more just how much time had passed since she last stood here.
At the same time, Laphi went around to speak with the local seraphim, as he had done on the way so far. They managed to hire a few more over the two weeks they were traveling now and found two more in Lohgrin; just like the rest, for now they were only prepared for later and told to write down anything of interest that happened until the network could be established properly. While they were still arguing about whether to use Innominat as a base, both siblings had begun to agree that it might be a good idea. Chances were that it would happen, and soon.
The day after they left Lohgrin however, Velvet took a quick detour to check on Margaret. It had been the better part of a month since the last time she visited and her student was doing well once more; the slower pace did her good and she improved steadily, not to mention that she began to shoot up in height. Just like Velvet assumed, Margaret was a late bloomer; born in winter and just now seeing her thirteenth Summer, the girl was hit by puberty like a swooping dragon. She filled out a bit and became more lean than gangly, her training doing its part for the child.
The day she visited however, Velvet did not speak with Margaret directly; her student was off playing with some of the other children, whom Cynthia told her started to reconcile with Margaret after Laphi asserted his existence and proved that she truly could see seraphim; in fact, Margaret slowly turned into a celebrity in town due to her rare gift.
On that day, Velvet also noticed the same crisp note in the air that she felt in Pendrago. A domain embraced Lastonbell now, the entire city appearing more bright than before. Laphi later told her that a water seraph called Sindra took over the duty, after some prodding from Margaret.
Back in Zaphgott Moor, she began to realise that it was getting colder; Summer neared its end and the days grew shorter as well. Another rainstorm rolled over the two of them the next day, which Velvet decided to use for practice instead of pushing ahead. "We can't get sick, but I don't want people to get suspicious if I walk in there soaked but completely fine," she told her brother that day and he agreed.
Only minutes later however, Laphi sniffed the air and blinked to the side of their current path. "Malevolence," he noted, "a lot of it." She could see the black flakes dancing in the wind and took a moment longer to consider how much of it floated around the area.
"Probably a dragon," she returned a moment later.
"Most likely a dragon."
They exchanged glances before turning in that direction, following the Malevolence to its source through the sand. Darkness spewed forth constantly and was devoured before it could spread past them, the siblings undeterred. Wet sand squelched with every step they took.
Half an hour later, they stood at the edge of a large depression, its sides molten to glass with flaming breath. In its center lay a scaled form curled up in a ball, generating great amounts of Malevolence and heat to fill the entire area. No rain fell here as each drop evaporated long before hitting the ground. A draconic head rose and smelled the air, then turned to the siblings with a low growl. It got up to its feet, revealing itself to be a bipedal dragon warrior.
Velvet extended her domain without comment, watching just what might happen this time. This was the second dragon they found since their journey began, but their first one had shown no real difference in behaviour. This one did. Once the domain was established, its posture turned less aggressive; the creature observed them for a bit longer, then settled back down and curled up again. The heat lessened a great deal as well.
"Curious," Laphi commented. Velvet had nothing else to add. They observed the dragon for a few hours and followed it around, watched it hunt a few weaker hellions, drink from a small pond, and generally do things a normal animal would do. In the end, it was her brother who put their findings into words: "If this is indicative, your blessing might affect them anyway. I remember the last dragon growling at us, maybe because we were too close. On a guess, it seems you turn them into something closer to animals than beings focussed on destruction."
Velvet did not find an issue with that description; the main problem still remained, though. "Even if you're right, we can't let them live. They will just turn back the moment I leave and they'll still radiate Malevolence."
"Agreed. Do you mind if I do it?"
"Not at all, go ahead. Just keep in mind what I taught you."
She waved him forward and Laphi took to the air gently while rolling his eyes. "Yes, Velvet. I know I'm not supposed to play with my food!" He shot forward on the last word and Velvet chuckled by herself, then started to walk in the same direction. Their quarry had just made to lean against a large rock, but perked up to watch the approaching seraph. A low growl was given, but Laphi already slammed straight into the beast's scaly chest. His sword speared through the tough hide and left a bleeding wound, the force of his assault pushing the bellowing dragon back against and then trough the boulder.
Each of the creature's arms were longer than her brother was tall, but Velvet watched without worry. Heat emanated from the dragon again, burning away every plant in a hundred metres and making the sand boil; Laphi remained unaffected as he floated around a swipe, its impact alone tearing open twenty metres of melting ground. He dashed further up and twirled around for momentum, then delivered a devastating swing to his opponent's neck. The elbow that hammered into him in turn threw the boy out of the melting zone before he caught himself, but he was unharmed.
The heat faded already when the dragon's severed head hit the ground, its body following right after. Velvet felt herself salivate a little and swallowed it down, her hand already bulging out. Laphi landed by her side soon after, none the worse for wear. "You still need to work on your technique," she criticised. "The only reason you won is that you're superior in all aspects except skill."
"I'm working on it."
Velvet considered to needle her brother some more, but decided to leave it at that; they quickly dug into their meal, Velvet by pressing her palm to the dragon and devouring it, Laphi by slicing off half of its body and dropping it into one of his artes, straight up to Innominat for consumption.
After they were done and gained a decent chunk of power, Velvet willed herself into the air to take in her surroundings a bit better; they got turned around somewhat by that excursion, though she could see a small woodland they passed earlier not too far away; Laphi flew with her, the two siblings almost dancing around each other in the air. Flying felt incredible, even though she only allowed herself to do it every once in a while. To have the wind pulling at her yet standing meaningless, to be able to go in every direction she wanted without anything stopping her. To watch the ground below, so distant.
Deep below, in the earthpulses running beneath Zaphgott Moor, Minkkubi spread her wings and rose out of the mana. Her four legs were now fully grown and she even had a tail. Curiously though, she noticed that her other body took one characteristic from her more human one; her left foreleg was not the colour of obsidian like most of her, but rather a furious crimson with some black lines running over the limb. She could feel a second maw within that paw, just as dangerous, just as deadly as the one in her left hand. When they made to camp in the glassed nest, she told her brother about it, which made him consider the matter for a bit.
"It might have copied your main property as a therion there, not that you really need it in that form anymore. Which reminds me that I wanted to talk to you about something." The look on Laphi's face was oddly thoughtful, so Velvet let him talk as she worked: "I need the therions to gather Malevolence for my awakening whenever I fall into hibernation, but I can't make them anymore."
She had not expected the conversation to head there, but him having lost that power was definitely worrying. Velvet put her carving knife aside and turned her full attention to Laphi. "What do you mean?"
"I can't make therions anymore," Laphi repeated, slumping a bit. "The only thing that changed between back then and now is us being sealed together. My nature changed, as has yours; I think you are the one to create therions now."
As he said it, Velvet felt instincts she did not even know of agree. If there was just the right foundation, she could twist the Malevolence just so to create hellions like no one else would ever make. She blinked and looked down at her hands, then back to Laphi. "I think you're right. I can feel it. But why? How do you wake up now?"
"I think it's supposed to be you," he theorised. "You will slumber with me and wake up first, you create the therions and gather the eight types of Malevolence, then you use them to wake me if you judge that I'm needed. A symbiosis between light and darkness, that makes sense, doesn't it?" It did. "Minkkubi allows all to resist Malevolence better, Innominat returns them to purity if they go past the brink of corruption." Laphi hesitated, then let out a loud huff. "With, hah, Maotelus, we actually form a triangle. You enhance them, he cleanses them to try again if they fail, and I renew them if even that is not enough." He eyed Velvet again with a frown. "It feels more clean than it used to be, at least to me. I can't end up unstable anymore, I don't need to integrate a soul into my power anymore. It feels more whole, as if this was always needed."
She could not say anything to that; matters of the gods had not been any of her business until three months ago, at least not like this. She did have one question, though: "What do you mean with 'integrating a soul'?"
Laphi shrugged. "I'm not sure how to explain it differently. Innominat's power is more... loose, I guess you could call it. At least one soul needs to be given for the power to be molded to, to reincarnate. Like what happened with me. An endless line of succession that is now over, because I am me and always will be."
It did not make as much sense as she had hoped for, but she would not complain. Yet them speaking of divine matters made her think. Made her wonder. "While we're at it, do you have any idea why I ended up looking like a dragon?"
"Um... I'm not sure what you mean? Why wouldn't you be a dragon?"
Velvet almost rolled her eyes, but did not and motioned for herself. "Only corrupted seraphim turn into dragons. I'm not a seraph." Laphi made to answer, but stopped before the first word even formed. His eyes grew wide and sought Velvet's, who had no idea what epiphany he just had. "What were you going to say?" she inquired softly.
Laphi's eyes were shining. "That all Empyreans are dragons," he told her reverently. "I am, Musiphe, Amenoch, Eumacia, Hyanoa, and Maotelus are. You might also be a dragon because it is a form of power, or because you devoured parts of a seraph." He appeared thoughtful even while his excitement grew; Velvet was a little surprised by the news, having never seen any of the four elemental Empyreans before. She waited for Laphi to continue his train of thought, which did not take long to happen. "It's... weird. Regular seraphim turn into dragons once they get corrupted, but us Empyreans are the exact same thing without losing ourselves."
Velvet's eyes began to widen as what could be the actual truth became clear to her. "So it might be that what Malevolence actually does to them... is to empower them too fast, so fast that it slips into their souls as they transform and makes them lose their minds."
They stared at each other in wonder. Laphi nodded a few times, mostly to himself, before picking up the conversation again. "This is big, Velvet. If we're right, and there is at least no evidence to contradict us for now, that means every single seraph can become a proto-Empyrean by turning into a dragon. By extension, that means if particularly powerful seraphim live long enough, their powers may make them grow naturally into dragons and thus new Empyreans."
"Which makes sense, too," Velvet added as she thought back. "We always knew that the four elemental Empyreans are seraphim themselves; they're just the most powerful of them, and the oldest beside Zui Fuu and that friend of hers."
"Which means that the dragon is indeed the end of all seraphim. It is the natural stop of our evolution, twisted horrifically by Malevolence!" Laphi began to smile brightly at her. "We need to find older seraphim to talk about this with, and we need to find more dragons to test this with!"
"It would definitely explain why dragons are so powerful," Velvet noted with a glance at the crater of glass around them. Then however, her mind strayed; if they were right and seraphim were merely forcefully evolved instead of completely changed, this might mean there was a chance to revert that process. To bring back Eizen. "Do you think it might be possible to undo it?"
"Purify a dragon? Yes, maybe." Laphi's gaze went to the ground as he considered the matter. "But I doubt it will be easy, even for just a single dragon. So even if we find a way, I vote we only do it if there is a good reason for making the effort."
"Agreed."
The siblings ended up grinning. Idle conversation had put them on a lead to something which could once again change the world.
"But enough of that," Laphi finally declared. "Minkkubi is fully gestated, right?" He waited for her to nod before pointing at the crater surrounding them. "Good, here is as good a place as any to bring her out. You will have to practice that a bit... and I think you actually need to swim to the place you want to leave the earthpulse from, roughly. It only works from everywhere if you use the earth as your vessel." Velvet thought to protest, but then decided against it; Laphi did have a point with what he said, she ought to at least know how.
So it was that an hour later, a large pool of reddish black roiled on the ground; three interconnected arte-circles had opened it up, fifty metres in diameter. However, the creature that ascended out of the pool required less than half of its space. Crimson eyes gleamed softly in the evening light, set into scales as dark as the night. Black and red, just as Laphi seemed to have expected when naming her, were predominant in Minkkubi.
Velvet once again focussed on moving two bodies at once; she let the summoning pool fade away while trotting toward herself and Laphi. Being the size of a large horse instead of a normal one now, Minkkubi had a wingspan of about six metres; far too small for her weight, were she not an inherently magical being. Just like she did as Velvet, the dragon could will herself into the air even without a single wingbeat.
Laphi stepped forward to meet the dragon on the way and Minkkubi stopped in front of him; he curiously ran a hand over her scales. "They're warm. You're a pretty dragon, Velvet." She could not help but preen a little, quietly agreeing with the assessment; it was difficult to believe that this new form of hers was so elegant to look at. Now she only had to grow bigger, which should happen as time went on.
"I wonder how durable I am," Velvet muttered quietly... and also with both of her bodies.
Laphi heard her, staring into the dragon's eyes instead of turning around. "I think," he quipped with a wry grin, "that anything not a god would have trouble even just scratching you, in either of your forms. The only beings who could beat you easily are the other Empyreans; you're still just an infant after all." He had a point there.
Velvet spent a few minutes admiring herself, but soon decided to bring her body back into the earthpulse; having her spotted would be bad and she could do more beneath the earth. The day ended with her and Laphi having a quick meal as well as a few hours of sleep.
Unbeknownst to them however, others had been watching. They were pondering their options, their wishes. And now these others moved for the sibling gods.