MY ONE-SHOTS
Summary:
Chapter thirteen: Joko's Worst Mistake
Author's Notes:
So, there's going to be a lot of Palawa Joko and Aurene in this chapter, so heed the spoiler warning:
Anyway, don't read this unless you've played Living World Season 4: Episode 6: War Eternal, Instance 5: Descent
Okay, here's the story now:
"I don't know why everyone's so skittish around Aurene," Braham comments. "EATING Joko was the only sure way. Makes perfect sense."
The Commander nods. "It does. Still... did she have to do it so... obviously?"
Braham shrugs. "Kinda wish I'd thought of it myself."
The Commander stumbles back. "Ugh... Braham... Braham! That. Is. Disgusting!"
"What did the bald idiot do this time?" Taimi asks from the other end of the room.
"He... " the Commander just shakes her head. "He... you tell her, Braham."
"He said," Canach puts in, "that he wishes he'd thought of eating Joko himself."
"BRAHAM!" Taimi screeches.
"Oh, eww," Rox agrees. "That is a bit... graphic, Braham."
"Actually," Gorrik puts in, "I would love to study the effects of - "
"Alright, alright!" Braham interrupts, looking panicked. "I was joking!"
"You better have been," Taimi says sternly.
Sayida was right. In Lion's Arch by sundown.
Only... there are Awakened.
Caladbolg is in the Commander's hand in a heartbeat. They aren't attacking... but how are people in Lion's Arch Awakened? There are no unAwakened in sight.
Her allies - Braham, Rytlock, Logan, Caithe, Sayida, Taimi - have their weapons out only moments after her, and form up in a defensive position.
"What is going on?" Rytlock asks at last.
"Don't you like your welcoming committee?" the familiar voice of Palawa Joko asks. The lich is suddenly in front of them, smirking. "I decided that I didn't like being eaten all that much, even if that was no longer the body I inhabited. Just the rumors were disgusting enough. So I decided to take over your homeland for revenge. How do you like it?"
And then, several familiar people - Awakened now - step out of the crowd.
"My friends..." the Commander says, her eyes hardening. "They were defenseless!" she snarls. "Innocent! How dare you take advantage of that!"
"Ah, but nobody is innocent," Joko says, smiling evilly. "Innocent... who defines it? You? Me? The Elder Dragons? No. History. And history decrees that nobody is innocent! Nobody who has taken part in or been affected by war! And certainly those you knew in your youth count as those who have been affected? Given that they never see you anymore? As if you're dead? Oh, hit a nerve, did I?"
"Clearly," the Commander replies through gritted teeth. "How did you survive? Aurene ate you!"
"Ah, I believe I asked somebody about, what was it... oh yes, Mordremoth! Sadly, I could not Awaken the Pale Tree, but her children... oh, yes indeed. Turns out you have killed one of your allies before!"
The Commander winces. "It needed to be done," she says, her voice empty.
"Ah, yes, because the dragon was still alive! Guess who else uses that trick?"
"Aurene," Caithe realizes. "And she ate you."
"Ah, yes - guess where she got it from?" Joko demands. "I have containers - not people, oh no, that was monumentally stupid of Mordremoth - "
"I happen to agree," the Commander snarls. "And like it, I will kill you and - if necessary - all your 'containers!'"
Joko holds up a hand. "Before you do anything, I have two things to tell you. One, I did not desecrate your oh-so-dear Fort Trinity. In fact, all of Orr is completely too ruined by your mindless rampage for me to even go near it. So your old stomping grounds remain... untouched by me or my loyal servants. Second, if you leave now and never come back, leaving me to rule in peace - no war under a single ruler, and you've trounced the active Elder Dragons - then I will let you leave. Play around in Elona, I am quite done with it - they abandoned me. Maybe go save Cantha, as well. Leave your personal mark on the world, Commander?"
"We may cause chaos," Braham snarls, "but at least we don't enslave people!"
"Tut, tut," Joko sneers. "Can't have everything. I prefer it like this, anyway. Now, go! I do have you quite surrounded, you know. Lion's Arch has some beautifully impressive air defense. And remember; do not return."
"Come on, Commander," Rytlock huffs. "Let's leave this moron alone. Remember, it puts him between us and Jormag. There's nothing we can do for the Awakened now, anyway."
"But they're disconnected from him when Joko dies!" the Commander protests. "Or was that all a ruse?" she demands of the lich.
"Ah, no, it is true, sadly," Joko replies, sounding truly mournful. "What use is it, being Awakened, if you have no purpose? But anyway, I believe you are asking why I did not reassert control? Because I didn't want you to come rushing before I was ready. You must have wondered why you received no communication from Tyria since my supposed 'defeat.'"
"So we can free them, then!" the Commander smirks, triumphant. "We just have to kill you - permanently this time. I'm rather good at doing that, you know."
Joko snorts. "By all means, attempt to die. Throw yourself mindlessly on the - may I remind you, self-aware and perfectly happy as they are - legions of Awakened that just so happen to have been your friends in life? When I can teleport out quite easily, and will just re-Awaken them again later?"
"Commander, come on," Braham says, pulling her back.
"Aurene, Aurene is the key," the Commander mutters. "She's an Elder Dragon now, and Joko doesn't believe in killing them. We can mobilize the Pact - recruitment should be good after the whole Kralkatorrik thing - the Sunspears and the Zephyrites, if they'll help, I'm sure Rox can get the Olmakhan to - "
"Commander, why are you doing this?" Caithe asks. "It'll just cause more destruction!"
"But it'll free them!" the Commander retorts. "I should think you, of all people, should understand not wanting to be enslaved!"
"Commander, that's low," Canach comments.
"But true," Caithe sighs. "Fine. But we try to take out Joko without bothering the Awakened."
"Always," the Commander replies. "I don't like destruction, much less being the cause of it. This'll just be like fighting Zhaitan again, with resurrecting enemies and killing the kingpin the end of it all. Where's... where's Logan? If Fort Trinity is left, we can base there. Dragonfall isn't that far south of Orr, we can get there easily." Suddenly, she stops, the blood draining from her face. "Oh no!"
"What?"
"Joko's got access to the Priory's archives! And the Whispers' extensive network! That's most of the Pact's powerbase!"
"Thorns and brambles!" Canach breathes.
"That'll be the first priority," the Commander decides.
As it turns out, they'd forgotten something else - the asura gates from Fort Trinity to the Durmand Priory and the Chantry of Secrets, which Joko had not deactivated. Or even noticed at all, apparently.
Pact forces were able to take those two bases without Joko noticing - the Vigil Keep was a no-go, given that Joko had decided to base himself there - and the gates provided a firm supply line.
The people of Tyria, who'd been besieged for a long time by Zhaitan's undead before the Pact came along, were desperate to help them, bringing information and spying. The people of Elona, who were sympathetic to Tyria's plight, sent in reinforcements.
So the Pact is quite healthy in terms of manpower and information, and the Order of Whispers is scattered among the Tyrians, soaking up information like a sponge.
After about six months, the Pact and its alliances strike. They come from the Durmand Priory, as that is cavernous and can hold a bunch of people, and nobody expects a library to base an attack. It is also the closest place to the Vigil Keep, which is their goal.
They also come from the Chantry of Secrets, just south of Lion's Arch, but that division is smaller - designed to deal with the Awakened in Lion's Arch.
Only... Joko knew.
Joko isn't in the Vigil Keep, and the attackers are assaulted by a ton of Awakened. The lich's recordings mock the Commander, dropping the information that he's living in the palace of Divinity's Reach now.
The Commander and the Pact defeat the Awakened at the Vigil Keep, claim that landmark for their own and reactivate the asura gate, and head for Divinity's Reach.
The delegation from Lion's Arch join them, after noting that the Divinity's Reach asura gate no longer functions and retuning it to Fort Trinity.
After a long war of trying to get to Divinity's Reach, and failing because of all the Awakened, they finally manage to break into the city after a pitched battle at the Shaemoor Garrison.
Of course, then they have to take the city itself, which takes several days and the lives of many on both sides (whom Joko merely Awakens - again in the case of his own troops). The Commander was right - it is like fighting Zhaitan again.
But when the climactic battle occurs, it turns out that Joko had simply gotten one of his mesmer Awakened to weave illusion around a normal Awakened to make it look like him.
In reality, Joko has decided to take a look at the jungle, sure he can Awaken all the multitude of Mordrem that deactivated when Mordremoth died.
So the Pact stabilizes Divinity's Reach, flushes out the Awakened from the other cities, and heads after Joko.
Airships, suffice it to say, are not on the agenda, even with Mordremoth dead.
After more long battles and more heavy losses, Joko finally faces them directly in the midst of the jungle in which the Pact had made its last stand. It had been absolutely devastated - the whole jungle felled and burned and made into a battlefield.
"I do like fighting my enemies on a fair field," Joko laughs evilly.
The last battle is every bit as pitched, dramatic, and book-sounding as every other victory wasn't.
The Commander, leading the assembled Pact, charges down the battlefield at the same time as Joko's army of Awakened, led by Joko's top general, whose acquaintance the Commander had made several times, each ending in death for Joko's top general. Joko had just reAwakened him.
The battle lines crash, and there is pitched fighting for quite a while, and Pact and Awakened got mixed up and the only way to tell the difference was by whether they looked undead or not, which was harder to tell than when it had been Risen they were fighting so many years ago.
The Commander worked her way methodically up the battlefield, clearing herself and her allies a path and letting the Pact deal with the rest. She still wanted to be able to free as many Awakened as possible.
Arrogantly, Joko had put himself on a hill in full view of the whole battle, and, seemingly randomly, were Awakened yelling and shaking spears between the no-man's-land of the Awakened ranks waiting their turn to fight the Pact.
Arrogance, indeed. The Pact could defeat them all, if necessary. Hopefully it wouldn't be necessary.
That is, until the Commander's jaw drops, her attention no longer on Joko in the slightest. For about five seconds.
Yes, Awakened Trahearne. The Commander gives a roar of fury - she knows how Awakened work, knows it's really Trahearne, himself and alive, but forced neverendingly to serve Joko - and barrels through the crowd of Awakened, leaving the undead Trahearne - now how weird is that - to stare after her.
The Commander launches herself at Joko, who hadn't noticed her rage-filled cry, and buries Caladbolg in the lich's chest. Of course, Joko doesn't die from so mere a wound as that, and he grins up at her face, contorted in anger.
"Nobody - Awakens - my - friends," she snarls, ripping Caladbolg out of his chest, then slashing at him again.
She'd had a long time to think about Trahearne and his death and what he'd died for and why, and she fully holds to the belief that Trahearne's last wish had not been a result of not wanting Mordremoth to get loose, but of not wanting to be controlled by it. Now, she is sure he thinks mental coercion is worse than however Joko does it, but it's still in the realm of 'being controlled.'
So, in a way, for Trahearne, being Awakened is worse than dying, and the Commander quite agrees with him.
At last, the horrible lich dies, the Awakened all stumble to a stop, and the Commander breathes a sigh of relief as her secret weapon - the Elder Crystal Dragon, Aurene - swoops out of the trees, now capable of eating Joko in a single bite.
Not nearly as gross as last time. You know, until Braham shouts, "hey, I wanted to do it this time!" followed by Taimi's shriek (now magnified a hundredfold by Scruffy 3.5, who had needed to be upgraded many times) of "BRAHAM!"
"Scion, the lich is dead," Aurene proclaims, the mental declaration reverberating through the Commander's head. "Joko will cause no more trouble."
Aurene had projected her voice into the minds of everyone else, for brevity, and everyone cheers, the battle over.
"Alright," the Commander snarls, Aurene projecting her voice through the crowd - Pact and Awakened alike. "Who knew Joko could Awaken sylvari and didn't tell me?"
Silence falls. They all know it is a rhetorical question - the Commander is not angry at the supposed person who hadn't told her - and they are all simply wondering why she is asking in the first place.
"If I may, Commander," comes Trahearne's voice, raspy and Awakened-sounding but still his voice, "Joko uses quite a different method from Zhaitan. The magic of necromancy loathes Zhaitan, but it adores Joko to the extreme. And sylvari immunity does not seem to work on beings that aren't Elder Dragons."
Then everybody knows why the Commander had asked, and a doubly-loud cheer goes up.
Marshal Trahearne is back. Sure, he's Awakened, but he's still him. Obviously.
Yeah, so, getting killed by the Commander was a lot less painful than he'd thought it was going to be. He exploded. Right. But at least it wasn't long, drawn-out suffering.
Yeah, right. The Commander wouldn't do that to him.
Uh, wait. How is he thinking in the first place? Not that he's sorry for it - thinking is what had got him through that beast of a dragon - but still, he shouldn't be.
Ah, look at that. Literally. He's still alive... uh, kind of?
And what is up with all these 'uh's and 'ah's that would never permeate Trahearne's normal thought patterns?
"Been dead for some time, this one," comes a sneering voice. "Seems sylvari deteriorate a lot slower than humans. Get up, Awakened, and tell me your name."
And Trahearne feels the strangest urge to obey. It is a part of him, a part of his nature, he wants to - oh, he doesn't? Okay then, he doesn't want to. He still has to do it though.
So Trahearne gets to his feet, unsure of what is going on, and automatically opens his eyes in the process. Something he hadn't done before, oddly enough.
A lich stands before him. Trahearne can tell immediately, because of the odd kinship he feels because of the magic of necromancy. That has nothing to do with the bond he feels to this being.
His first thought is to wonder what the Commander had been getting up to since his death to let a lich so powerful come resurrect him like a Risen, and his next thought is to ask himself how he had been resurrected in the first place, given sylvari immunity to the whole Risen thing.
Well, the lich had called him 'Awakened,' which is quite ironic given the sylvari method of entering Tyria - awakening - and it is quite obviously not an Elder Dragon, and the whole sylvari immunity thing is explained by Mordremoth.
He is brought back to reality by realizing that he is telling the lich his name.
"Excellent, Trahearne," the lich says. "I am the God-King Palawa Joko, Emperor of - oh wait, actually not anymore, thanks to..." the lich trails off mumbling. "Ah, yes, Emperor of Tyria and all its environs - except Orr, that place is disgusting. To continue - Scourge of Vabbi, King Joko the Inevitable, Joko the Undying, Joko the Feared, Joko the Beloved, Joko the Eternal Monarch of All."
Alright, he gets the fact that this guy's name is 'Joko.' Other than that, just a crazy lich. Who apparently hates Orr for some reason. What anybody could have against Orr - particularly now that it has been cleansed - is beyond him. Trahearne just raises an eyebrow at Joko.
"Show some recognition," Joko snorts. "I did not Awaken you to stand there and stare at me all day."
"I can't," Trahearne replies automatically, despite trying to fight it. It just slips out, it is not mental at all. "I don't recognize you." Pale Mother, if that is true, this thing is probably going to get the perfect truth. Not something Trahearne wants Joko getting too much of.
"You what?" Joko snarls. "I am - "
"I heard your name," Trahearne retorts, supremely irritated at the compulsion - irresistible compulsion, if his earlier efforts are anything to go by - to answer the other times. He'll answer on his own this time. "I am afraid I still do not know who you are, only what and how people refer to you."
Joko snarls. "Awakened Trahearne, you are my slave now, and you might as well know that I do not take kindly to being recognized. You will address me with due respect and dignity, and proceed to get out of here and join the rest of my army."
Oh, this is perfectly wonderful. Absolutely stunningly amazing. 'Due respect and dignity,' how stupid of him. This Joko is not due any 'respect and dignity,' and even this Awakening magic agrees with him.
Oh, okay, maybe not entirely. He feels the slight urge to bow to this ugly monster, but that is mental. Oh, interesting. Seems being a necromancer has some benefits in this wretched existence.
Aand he's already halfway down the wretched jungly corridor.
"And listen to Top General Azeem and anybody he puts over you!" Joko hollers.
What kind of name is 'Azeem'? The Great One, translated from Orrian? Wouldn't Joko name himself - ah, but 'Joko' means 'Favored of the Gods, Elder Dragons, and All Magics of the World' - just kidding. It actually means 'Pile of Dirt,' which must be why Joko felt the urge to become a lich and prove his worth. And avoid dying and decomposing into a literal pile of dirt.
Where did that sense of humor come from?
Maybe dying and being Awakened is just so weird that everything is funny.
Ah, now, this is torture. Finding loopholes in the orders he's given is fun. Such as taking 'clear the jungle' to mean 'burn it all down' instead of 'get rid of all the pesky chak and Exalted' - a task Trahearne takes to with relish, given that this particular jungle had tried to turn him into a slave, and how ironic is it that he is doing so as a semi-free-willed servant of an even worse egotistical maniac.
But also, his overseers had gotten boringly precise in their orders. He'd been asked a bunch of questions about what he had done with his life, possibly to get an idea of how much use he would be to Joko, and he had quite gleefully answered that he'd spent it studying Orr and healing it, upon which Joko's questioners had thrown him out to do jungle-clearing in disgust.
Trahearne hopes that avoiding telling them he'd also led the Pact is goign to be helpful to somebody. Like if the Commander is still out there leading it against this craze-head, and if Trahearne isn't going to run into Awakened Commander someday, as well. Which would be fun - at least he'd have a partner-in-loophole-finding - but also quite depressing.
Plus, given all the Awakened camps everywhere, and the fact that he knows the Commander had come straight to rescue him, Joko probably knows the jungle better than the Commander does, and having a level ground to face each other on is a good thing.
But, you know, after about six months, he realizes that the Commander is probably not coming. The Pact probably is - if it's still around - but the Commander would have been here already. She was irresponsible like that, but in an endearing way, he supposes. Leaving the Pact to smolder and burn while rescueing him leaves him conflicted about how he feels about the Commander's priorities, but it had all worked out in the end.
Given that, she would have been here by now, and Trahearne decides, for his own sanity - he'd been going to pieces trying to figure out how each and every order he was given was actually to the benefit of any Commander-led rescue team - to believe that she is dead.
And, somehow, it works quite well. Maybe Joko and his Awakening magic believes that she is dead, too, another nail in the Commander's coffin - an expression that is more literal than normal.
By the time he does hear rumblings and rumors of an approaching attack force, he is quite the angry, rebellius Awakened, to the amazment of all the other Awakend, who seemed to both love and fear Joko at the same time (hence his titles, it seems).
Trahearne does neither, and adds disrespect into the bargain. Joko couldn't take back his order, for whatever reason, and Trahearne is quite happy referring to him as 'arrogant pipsqueak' at every opportunity, and quoting a quite made-up verse (that he attributes to the Vizier that sank Orr, just to get under Joko's skin) about liches and snitches and long-lasting ditches (aka, graves) in the Domain of the Itches loudly as he works.
A bit juvenile, true - alright, really juvenile - but it's all he has left, a fact that is more depressing than morale-boosting. Although the verse is quite funny, and a couple of the more spirited Awakened who feel like bothering to resist Joko sing it along with him, despite having the Awakened stereotypical raspy voices that make singing sound terrible.
And Joko absolutely hates it. Something about being uncomfortably close to the truth for the lich, but that just means Trahearne gets to find new ways to word it each time Joko bans it.
So the 'attacking force' that is never referred to by name - so probably some rebel group, which means the Pact is gone as well - is getting closer, and the jungle is nearly all cleared away into a nice battlefield.
That had taken him some months, but it had got him away from most of the other duties. Still tedious, as Joko had taken a liking to his idea and told him exactly how to do it, and set a dutiful Awakened over him to give different directions every five minutes.
Which is the real source of his rebelliousness, since he can't help but follow the directions, and it has to be one of the worst things that ever happened to him.
He is of the opinion, personally, that no attacking force could rival Joko, but he doesn't say a single word about this to anybody.
Eventually, they march out to meet this attacking force, with Trahearne nearer the back so he can't sabotage the battle. That means he gets to sit on the hill that Joko is standing on like a kind, and watch the battle unfold until enough Awakened are dead to warrant being sent into battle. Which means, watch the battle, learn what tactics not to use if he ever gets out of this hellhole serving Joko, and go back to working on whatever new project Joko thinks up after the battle and unevitable defeat of the brave rebels.
That means that he gets to watch as the Commander - unmistakably the Commander - leads a whole gigantic army of what is undoubtedly the Pact, bigger than it had even been before, into Joko's army, and watches the Commander cut her way through a million bazillion Awakened in a path set straight for Joko.
Well, isn't that morale-boosting. Trahearne is under an order of silence, so he can't say a single thing about it, but he smirks as the Commander just deals with the Awakened.
"Alright, it's the reserves turn," Joko decides, and that means Trahearne automatically joins the battle in a position designed to stop any threat from getting to Joko.
Of course, the orders from earlier had been 'fight the resistance,' so Trahearne is quite prepared to do some quite fancy swordplay that isn't actually effective, until the Commander inevitably 'finds' a way past his defenses and kills him again so he doesn't have to listen to Joko anymore. She knows he'd much prefer that, and he is quite ready for it. Just hopefully Joko doesn't reAwaken him.
Of course, when she finally comes face-to-face with him, it is really nice to see her eyes light up in absolute horror, but then he is quite confused as they turn to rage and she hurdles right towards him - oh, no, past him, right at Joko - what is she doing, she'll get murdered that way, there's a bazillion Awakened between her and - oh, she has backup.
Hi, all you people he only remembers from the time the Commander killed him. That's Canach, Braham, Marjory, Rytlock, and a few others too. Wait, is that Taimi? She's all grown up!
Oh wait, he's attacking them. Better work on that 'ineffective' thing before he kills one of them.
Yeah, that did it.
But he'd still really rather the Commander kill him. She knows how to do it painlessly, and his sentimental side gets involved. It would really be quite dramatic, if only he could see how it played out from an alternate angle. Guess why he'd asked the Commander to do it last time, instead of, say, Braham, who is Eir's son and he knows he was just itching for a shot at the dragon? Especially when the Commander didn't want to do it in the slightest.
Ah well. 'Ineffective but survivable,' and he isn't under strict orders right now, so he can stand waiting until later. He also really wants to see the Commander murder Joko.
"Hello," he says cheerfully to Canach, who was the lucky person that got picked to fight him. Fight, not kill, maim, or in any way seriously injure.
Canach raises his eyebrows at him. "The Commander is going to freak out when she sees you, you know."
"She already did," Trahearne replies. "I think she's going to brutally murder Joko, and I would love to watch, but the idiot told me to fight the resistance, so I am going about ineffectually killing nobody - because fight does not mean kill - trying not to die until the Commander comes back."
"Yes, Awakened are blissfully capable of finding loopholes like that," Canach notes dryly. "Why specifically are you waiting until the Commander comes back?"
"So she can kill me," Trahearne replies promptly. "Yes, I know she doesn't want to, but I'd rather not be stuck under Joko's thumb any more."
"You do know, I am now utterly incapable of telling you," Canach replies. "I do so want to see her face when you tell her that."
"Tell me what?"
"Now, that would be telling," Canach smirks. "I don't think she even knows sylvari can be Awakened, so that was a big shock. Joko doesn't like murdering plants - said it was awful for his reputation - so he made do with Awakening the already dead ones. I'm sure you know that already."
"I do. How long was I out?"
"Depends how long you've been up for," Canach shrugs. "It's the year thirteen thirty-four, if that's what you're wondering."
"Six years? I've only been up for two!" Trahearne protests.
"Two years? Joko hasn't been hiding back here for a year! We only fought Joko in Divinity's Reach a year ago, and then he fled to this hellhole of a flashback zone."
"He must've played you," Trahearne replies, "because it was definitely Joko himself that Awakened me. Unless the maniac doesn't actually go on and on about how he is the most magnificent, undead, lord of all the world, God-King Palawa Joko?"
"Ah, no, none of the other Awakened would dare boast for him," Canach replies disdainfully. "He's pathetic."
"Glad to see you agree," Trahearne tells him. "The Awakened are all dull and boring and haven't the slightest sense of humor, except a few sylvari that were in the crash and didn't particularly like being controlled."
"Your sense of humor isn't much," Canach reminds him.
"I like to think it's improved since I was Awakened. Being Awakened does that to you, I think. Not sure, since nobody else does it, but I can't tell you about it right now because that would interfere with fighting you."
"Ah, yes. Do tell me all about the glories of being Awakened," Canach notes. "You and Caithe, especially. She was Branded, you know, by Glint's daughter. A good kind of Branding, if such a thing is possible, but we should all compare notes about it. Mordrem, Awakened, and Branded. Interesting topic, and possibly humorous once the whole thing is over with."
"Ah, yes, I am also sure I shall die of embarrassment once what I have come up with is no longer necessary, but I will be mercilessly teased by those who endured it with me," Trahearne replies.
"And I'll get them to tell me, so I can tease you as well," Canach retorts.
"Oh, that will be fun," Trahearne replies dryly. "Of course, at the moment, I can only think how hilarious it is - oh, and maybe you can tell me why Joko hates it so much. The one thing that is more funny and less serious than anything else, and Joko takes deep offense to it."
"Do tell," Canach asks curiously.
"No, not until later. You won't tell me what," Trahearne points out.
"Fair," Canach shrugs. "Oh, look, the Commander is done with Joko. I do wish you could watch what happens next. It is delightfully disgusting."
"I do believe I - is that Kralkatorrik?"
"Oh, no, just Glint's daughter, Aurene. We killed Kralkatorrik, but if more Elder Dragons die, the world would collapse, so Aurene took Kralkatorrik's power. Is really aggravating whenever I swear I'll kill all the Elder Dragons, I now have to make exception for the one good one."
Reasoning that watching this new threat counts as fighting, Trahearne stops fighting and watches the dragon - Aurene - swoop down and eat Joko in one bite.
Oh, now that felt remarkably awesome.
"Oh, brambles, Aurene, you can't even eat him properly anymore," Canach notes with an annoyed huff. "You should have seen it when she was smaller, you know, it took her half an hour, and Taimi - "
"Hey, I wanted to do it this time!" Braham's voice interrupts.
"BRAHAM!" comes an older-sounding Taimi's squeal.
"Yes, Taimi was quite disgusted," Canach agrees.
"Scion, the lich is dead," somebody proclaims. "Joko will cause no more trouble."
"Ugh, I hate it when she does that," Canach notes. "Gives me flashbacks." At Trahearne's confused glance, he adds, "she said that mentally. She's Glint's daughter, apparently it runs in the family."
"Alright," the Commander's voice comes, low and deadly and impossible to carry over the crowd. "Who knew Joko could Awaken sylvari and didn't tell me?"
Silence falls on the battlefield, and Trahearne realizes this is about him.
"If I may, Commander," he tells her, while realizing he feels no urge whatsoever to be fighting anybody, "Joko uses quite a different method from Zhaitan. The magic of necromancy loathes Zhaitan, but it adores Joko to the extreme. And sylvari immunity does not seem to work on beings that aren't Elder Dragons."
And then, of course, everybody realizes what is going on, and they all cheer. And then he realizes - belatedly - that all the Awakened are freed from Joko when Joko dies.
So that's why the Commander didn't bother killing him first. Well, that was nice of her.
Author's Notes:
Yes, I came up with a solution for the whole 'Aurene talks!' problem.
And yes, I am obsessively creepy with my crazy, always Trahearne-centered oneshots. And Trahearne is massively out of character.
And I found a new style of writing - simply write as if it were Trahearne's thoughts, but since I have absolutely no idea how Trahearne's thoughts work, I just put 'him' and 'he' and 'Trahearne' instead of 'I' or 'me.' It's interesting.