Chapter 28

If someone told Tyrael not long ago, that he would be deathly afraid of scarabs one fine day, he would have shooed the guy away while muttering "what a moron" under his nose.

He had been proven wrong.

These little ugly insects were the bane of every treasure hunter ever, but usually they did not mean more than prolonged annoyance in their smaller groups. Right now, they had decided to ditch that tradition and form an army instead.

Tyrael could feel sweat trickle down his neck as he returned the stare of a million black beady eyes. He clutched Inarius closer to his chest, desperately trying to come up with a way to escape from this unexpected horde. He could conjure up a force field with El'druin, but that would only prolong their fall. He had no magical abilities with areal effects, swinging alone would not get them far.

It took him minutes spent in sheer dread to realize something most odd: the scarabs did not advance.

Tyrael knew well how these mindless insects behaved, they attacked anything and everything that moved, if they thought their number was great enough for that. Despite that, the little beasts did not lunge forward, only looked at him and his sword. There was movement at the far end of the hall, and Tyrael had to force his eyes to make it out. To his alarm, the sea of scarabs was much much wider than he originally thought, as far as he could see, the ground was covered in them, perhaps the entire hall. The movement was caused by a large form that reached up to Tyrael's hip.

The fallen angel's hold on his sword grew tighter as he saw the newcomer. It was a scarab, alright, but much bigger than its kin. Its barbed tail and spiky appendages were big enough to punch through a human body, its chelicerae looked like it could bite off a limb easily.

The king scarab scuttled among its followers, stopping about a meter from Tyrael. Its empty beady black eyes reflected El'druin's light. Tyrael held his breath, holding his sword in front of him.

Nothing happened.

The fallen angel frowned in confusion, allowing his eyes to dart away from the king scarab for a second and onto the sea of insects around him.

- Are you… controlled by someone? – he asked aloud, uncertainly seizing up their situation.

Of course no answer came, but that had to be it. Scarabs did not act like this.

The king scarab suddenly twitched, it raised one barbed limb. Immediately Tyrael's attention was on him, he waved El'druin in a threatening manner.

- Back off, beast! – he shouted defiantly.

The king scarab uncharacteristically carefully drew just a tad bit closer, its pincer almost pointing at Inarius. Tyrael glanced down at the angel uncertainly.

- Are you doing this? – he asked.

Inarius mewled pitifully, wiping his tears into his shirt, still shivering.

The king scarab drew back and slightly turned to the side, letting out a shriek that sounded like an order to its kin. In return, every last insect in the hall began buzzing: their hind legs tirelessly rubbed against their carapaces, creating dry rustling sound that quickly grew annoying. Tyrael wanted nothing more than cover his ears, but both his hands were full. The scarab sea waved, combined with the sound and El'druin's shivering light, it was almost hypnotic. The fallen angel had to look away, clenching his teeth at the assault of senses.

- Shut up, shut up! – he shouted, closing his eyes in a last-ditch effort to close everything out.

The buzzing grew louder, still. Tyrael could feel his brain resonating with the sound, ever so slowly lulling it into an alarming, but also welcomed numbness. He opened his eyes as his mind grew to accept the cacophony, wondering what was going on exactly. He felt numb and distant, thinking whether or not it was a new scarab hypnotic technique to lure the prey. It made no sense, but it was apparently working.

Inarius twitched in his arm, jolting Tyrael out of the numbness partially. The fallen angel looked down, seeing his companion move uncertainly. The gems in his wings and tiara shimmered with an inner red light, something that was definitely not there before the scarabs began their performance. Inarius finally opened his eyes, blinking out the tears. A strange haze was leaving the red orbs, and the angel appeared to be more and more active as the buzzing continued. His body heat was rising. Tyrael looked out onto the sea of scarabs and beheld something incredibly strange.

He saw what was happening clearly in the hall, due to the soft red hue that seemed to be emitting from the insects as they scuttled around. The bugs moved, swirling around them like an actual stormy sea, the red light growing stronger in their midst.

Inarius pulled himself up a bit in Tyrael's hug, taking up a more sitting position. He stopped shivering. Tyrael let El'druin down, desperately trying to decode what he was seeing. It looked almost like the scarabs were dancing, and the red light was a product of this. Did these creatures possess magic, after all? Were they more intelligent than anyone thought?

The king scarab shrieked again, and everything stopped, just like that. The red light extinguished. The returning silence felt like a slap across the face, it jolted Tyrael's mind out of the numbness with a painful snap. He shook his head, mouth agape at the once again dark hall where nothing moved. Inarius squirmed in his hands, forcing him to set him down to the ground.

The little angel stumbled forward but quickly regained his footing and uncertainly approached the king scarab. It chirped but did not make a move. Inarius slowly placed his two hands on the head, giving it a gentle long stroke.

- Thank you – he said softly, voice weak but firm.

The king scarab chattered again, letting its tail and pincers hit the floor as it actually leaned into the touch, like an overgrown cat.

- Thank you – Inarius repeated, somewhat louder.

The insect finally drew back and it barked at its kin to follow the example. The scarabs retreated, slowly scuttling away into every last nook, crack and hole the hall's structure could offer. In a matter of seconds, the hall stood empty once again, as if nothing has happened. The king scarab chirped at Tyrael and Inarius one last time then disappeared into the darkness as well.

Tyrael took a deep breath. Whatever was going on, it was centered around Inarius. And Tyrael was getting really sick and tired of all these unexpected twists and turns. He could somewhat sympathize with Lyndon now, all the crazy stuff he had to endure before arriving to Westmarch.

As far as Tyrael was concerned, however, he would find out what the hell was happening here exactly. He glanced down at Inarius, the gems on his body once again dark and unassuming.

- How are you feeling? – he asked, awkwardly petting the small head.

-… Better – mumbled Inarius.

"Better", but not even close to "well", Tyrael understood.

- Come on. Let's go find Lyndon – he said, uncertainly taking a step.

- No.

A surprised pause.

- What? – Tyrael stared at Inarius.

Instead of answering, the angel crouched down and skimmed his fingers over the ground. Before him, the stones morphed into three distinguished shapes: a bowl that quickly filled with fruit and bread; an iron cauldron filled to the brim with fresh water, and two ceramic cups next to it; and a neat little campfire that self-combusted the second the twigs were in place.

All this, out of nothing but rock and ground.

Tyrael took in a sharp breath, eyes involuntarily glancing at the red gems in the wings again.

- We eat and drink. We rest – Inarius said simply but firmly, sitting down onto the suddenly carpet-covered floor. – Then… I will go and learn who I was.

-… What about Lyndon? – Tyrael followed his example, not sure what else to do.

- He is well, I can sense it now – Inarius exhaled loudly, closing his eyes briefly in concentration. – The scarabs will find and protect him until he is down here, they said.

Of course he would understand the insect's speech. After all this chaos, Tyrael wasn't even remotely surprised by that.

- You wanted to see him – he pointed out, taking a cup and filling it with water.

- I do. I miss him. He's my friend… unlike you – Inarius nodded, staring into the fire. – But I have to learn more now.

- Why?

- I just do.

Had he been still an angel, Tyrael would have argued, he would have pushed for a clearer answer. But his brief time spent as a mortal had taught him well that humans don't always act out of logical reason, but out of emotion. And Inarius was being brought up by a human, that no doubt had great effect on his mind. Add to that the angel's legendary stubbornness and impulsiveness, and you've got an unreasonable force on your hands.

- It would be wiser to find Lyndon first, then go on this quest – still, Tyrael tried.

- I know – Inarius said, idly playing with a burning twig.

- Then?

- He will worry too much.

- As he should. He cares about you.

- I know. And I know you don't care about me.

- Inarius! – snapped Tyrael.

- You don't care what my name is – the little angel shrugged, voice full of disinterest but not much else.

Tyrael fell silent, frowning at his partner.

Did he really never care about Inarius in his life? It was difficult to say, even looking back on everything that has ever happened between them. He had certainly tried to care about him at the same level as he did with the rest of his subordinates. Whether or not that worked… it wasn't really clear, especially with him being a nigh-unfeeling angel in the past.

- Eat, drink, rest – Inarius gestured at the bowl of fruit and bread. – I will leave after that. You will do what you want.

- A lot of people would skin me alive, if I left you alone – Tyrael grimaced, finally reaching for his dinner. – I have little choice in the matter.

He could almost feel a small shift in the ground under him, perhaps Zaim giving his approval of the decision. Or maybe this was his way of saying "damn straight".

At least do not spy on me constantly, will you?! Tyrael thought bitterly.

He had really had more than enough of creepy stalkers when Balzael had decided to be the bane of his existence for some reason. He really didn't want a repeat of that.

- Do you even know where you should start? – Tyrael asked, munching on some bread.

Inarius closed his red eyes and took a deep breath:

- I see… a big white building. It's really nice. And a big big grassy field. I know where it is.

The Cathedral of Light. Tyrael visibly grimaced, but did not comment.

What did those Phantasms do to Inarius in the well? Did they unleashed memories from his old life? It certainly looked like it. The little angel had been very adamant about not remembering anything up to this point.

- I know that place as well – Tyrael said in a low voice. –It is a long way from here. How do we get there?

- Don't know yet. I will think of it – Inarius sighed, lying down on the carpet.

That wasn't very reassuring, but Tyrael guessed this was the best he would get right now. So he just silently drank and ate, calming down his stomach and parched throat. The fallen angel was silently grateful for this sustenance, despite how disturbing Inarius' powers were. He had never seen anything like it before, not from the Angiris Council, not from the Seven Evils. There was conjuring: calling upon an already existing object from somewhere. His bond to El'druin was very much the same. But actually taking materials and twisting them into something completely different…

That was next level, beyond everything and everyone, except for the Crystal Arch and…

"I believe you already know, or at least suspect it, angel."

Tyrael had a feeling that Ytar was truly right about that. Frankly, the mere idea chilled him to his core.

What would it mean for the future… for all of Creation's future?

oooOOOooo

Teeriel was afraid of him, Quiet could clearly sense that as he lied on the carpeted floor, curling up into a ball. This one time, the little angel couldn't blame or frown at his companion. He was afraid of himself too.

Whenever he closed his eyes, the remnants of the pictures those ghosts forced into his mind came back to haunt him. Quiet saw his former self, huge, powerful and ruthless, crushing every opposition from the humans. The pictures were confusing and tangled, but Quiet thought he saw his past human form with golden hair and too perfect features. He shuddered. All the humans they had met after that bad bad town with the demon in it, had seen him with golden hair as well. Now that he saw flashes of what he used to be like, suddenly he wasn't all that happy with his disguise.

The ghosts awoke something in him, Quiet could feel it. Very bad emotions resurfaced, heavy and dark and ugly, weighing him down and screaming bad things at him. The scaly green lady and the grumpy angel cleared out completely, he could recall every detail about them, except for their names. Their accusations grew louder, and Quiet couldn't fight back against them as much as before.

Was he really bad? The pictures seemed to agree.

Quiet felt an unpleasant strain inside his chest, like a growing bubble. It did not want to go away, it frustrated him, drove him to look for answers finally, once and for all. He suspected this bad feeling would have been much worse, had he not been so tired. After some sleep, he would set out to find that place with the large grassy land, no matter whether Teeriel followed or not.

Quiet was past the point of caring about that.

He reached out with his mind again. After the scarabs' great help, rejuvenating him with their contribution, Quiet's powers returned to him more or less. Now he used them to reach out, to see without eyes and seek out certain things. He felt Teeriel's body becoming calm and normal again from the food and water and the warmth of the fire, which was good. He felt the scarabs rushing to their destination, keeping their promise. Thankfully, he could not detect any of those ugly red monsters or the blue ghosts nearby. Far away, he felt Leendonn very faintly. There was something off about him, like he had been hurt, but Quiet could also pick up some kind of magic that helped him. That quelled his fears a bit. Where did that magic come from, though? The little angel frowned, straining his senses, but couldn't feel anything or anyone besides Leendonn.

Strange.

He could also feel the remnants of some rotten magic that lingered in the ground, in the air, in the plants. It was really evil, trying to eat away at life, but thankfully it was also very weak now.

The Firstborn… he will pay for this

Quiet shook that weird thought away and focused. High above them, he skimmed the surface, feeling the humans live their lives undisturbed, not even detecting the shreds of the deadly aura. That somewhat calmed that strange anger inside him.

And he felt her move around. What exactly Johhana was doing, Quiet couldn't tell, but it could not have been good because it involved a lot of other people around her. Fearing of being found out, the little angel withdrew into himself and tried to fall asleep.

- 'm sorry, Leendonn – he mumbled silently to himself, touching the black dagger in his belt.

Part of him wanted to seek out his friend and reunite with him… but something inside, perhaps that bad bubble, told him that he needed to do this now, without his friend. He couldn't wait, he couldn't hesitate, and Leendonn would try to shield him away from it, and worry himself sick about the little angel.

Quiet didn't want that to happen to his friend.

- See you soon. Promiss – he vowed, as his eyes finally closed.


Hm, this IS a shorter chapter than usual, I admit, but I felt I needed to divide the story at this point.

Now, onto Ch29, which is currently facing some technical problems. For starters, I need to make a decision regarding it and I have yet to do that. Second, next week a 4-week-long internship will start at a company, so I won't have that much free time. Third, I... MAY have fallen back into the Venus Flytrap of gaming: "Zeus, Master of Olympus". Perfect zen city-builder game with Ancient Greek mythology and history, fucking love it. I am so sorry, cupcakes... I cannot fight its siren song. Maybe soon, but not right now.

BUT I promise I will do my best to keep on going with TFS! Love you all, cupcakes!