Monster party Book

Monster Party Book Seven: And now I'm waiting for the big boom, it knows where I'm gonna be.

Chapter Fifteen: And now I'm waiting for the big boom, it knows where I'm gonna be. The big boom, I'm always getting closer to, the big boom, and it will catch up to me. The big boom...

G'Henna was a land at war. That was a given, it was hard to say who or what exactly it was at war with, but that it was at war was impossible to deny.

The air pressed hard upon everyone's eyes and ears, while their nostrils could not draw a single breath without detecting the strange static scent which foretold of a coming thunderstorm.

It was as if the already bleak desolation of G'Henna's deserts were now only a foretaste of the devastation that was sure to come.

Angry gray clouds gathered together, and yet not a single drop of rain or bolt of lighting fell. The wind grew stronger, but never to the point of reaching what could properly be called a storm. The weather itself now seemed to be hostage to some malevolent force that was keeping it perfectly on the cusp of catastrophe.

Great distances off, where once there had been serenely rolling fog banks, now rose countless towering stacks of human skulls. Each laughed in silent mockery at those they imprisoned behind their bony barrier. There would be no escape from G'Henna, the realm's entire population would end up suffering the wrath of the recently freed monster.

The worst part was the dreams though.

It was a 'dream' unlike any Alexander could recall having before. He had no body, no way of interacting with the world, no center of being. He simply floated, floated and watched as the monster's wrath unfolded.

There were mongrelmen camps dotted all across G'Henna's desserts, not as large as the one they'd been taken to, but each home to at least a hundred or so of the transformed wretches. A golden glow would spread across their eyes, and their bodies would be transformed in ways even more hideous and vile than anything Yagno Petrovna had ever achieved.

At first Alexander had assumed they'd simply been dark visions brought to light before his eyes by a product of guilt ridden mind, castigating him for yet again for having been defeated. Except that come the morning he'd also soon noticed a strangely haunted look in James Firecat's brown eyes.

It hadn't taken an especially long conversation to confirm that the young werecat and the silver haired man had both experienced the exact same foreboding dream. That in turned had opened the door to Cal and Devi admitting that they'd also shared a similar experience in their own sleep.

It seemed that only Mirri and Florence (one of whom did not dream at all, and the other whose mind worked in quite strange ways at times) had been spared that strange dream. Clearly since Alexander had refused to bow to monster's will, it had seen fit to torment him and his companions with visions of just what sort of havoc it was unleashing upon G'Henna.

The beast was raising an army of monsters, an army that grew stronger with every mongrelmen camp it overran. Would he begin transforming the outlying human settlements of G'Henna next, or would their occupants be simply slaughtered? Which outcome would be worse?

The visions didn't need to actually hint at the creature's goals for them to be crystal clear all the same, this huge army could have only one possible target in mind, Zhukar.

Once the creature had created a large enough army, it was going to march on Zhukar, and it would smash through anyone or anything that came between it and Yagno Petrovna. Alexander would have happily fed the priest straight into the beast's gullet, except that the creature itself had already declared that while Yagno might have instigated its rage, all of G'Henna must suffer for his actions.

So there was little choice but to press onward, and hope the sleepy eyed, fanatical, aged High Priest of Zhakata would prove a more capable ally one might expect.

Alexander didn't have much hope of that.

Still, they weren't the only ones who had managed to escape from the building which had contained that monster for so long. Someone else had managed to get away, and bring the "Eye of Zhakata" (if that was what the black stone was truly called) with them. Someone who had used magic to obscure their path and aid the speed of their flight. Someone who if they had any sense or grand desires at all must have taken the stone back to the center of all power and worship in G'Henna.

Everything pointed to Zhukar. Now all that had to be discovered was who, why the monster wanted that stone so baddy, and if it might possibly be used against him.

XXX XXX XXX

The city of Zhukar looked a great deal different than it had the first time the group had come to it.

Back then, the city had been a simple city in the desert, a welcome(ish) sight, but by no means unique. Now, now even the quarter crumbling walls of the city seemed a blessed oasis of sanity in a sea of chaos.

Not that it looked especially welcoming in the grand scheme of things though. Even from a long distance off the city seemed far too quiet. No smoke rose from the chimneys, no candles glowed in the windows. Indeed, under the darkening skies the land was darker still.

Then came sight of the cast off bundles of clothing, or some collection of minor trinkets. They were objects that had obviously been cast aside by people who were fleeing the city with all possible haste. Somehow the people of Zhukar already knew that a horrible fate awaited them and so many must have tried to escape.

It was too bad that there was nowhere for them to flee to, in fact by leaving the city's walls they had probably only hastened their fate. Most disconcerting of all was that the city's gates lay open, as if no one still possessed the strength of will to defend them.

Depression, glum acceptance, and blind despair seemed to be the most frequent responses to suffering among those who worshiped Zhakata, and now the entire city of Zhukar was gripped by a foreboding malaise.

As soon as the six were through the undefended gates Alexander started giving orders, hoping his firm commands could do something to drive back the feelings of abject hopelessness that hung about the city.

"First of all, like I've said a great many times before, we need to find the Eye of Zhakata. Barring that, we need to get information about who has it and where they're hiding out.

Cal, Devi, go to that library you talked about visiting beforehand. James, Mirri, go inspect the city of bridges, if there's going to be anyone left in this city, it'll be people who see a profit to be made in others misfortune. See if you can't convince them to tell us everything they know.

Florence, if you feel comfortable going some place on your own check out the abandoned breweries, that black market we were invited to, and the tunnels the Circle of Darkness used." The silver haired man insisted.

"Where are you going to go?" James asked, surprised that for once Alexander didn't plan to accompany the dryad.

"The High Temple of Zhakata. I'm going to try and shake some sense into Yagno Petrovna, and I want to do it alone." He insisted.

"Aren't you always protesting that bad things will happen to us if we split up?" The alchemist pointed out.

Alexander heaved a heavy sigh and nodded.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures." The silver haired man reflected.

Then he slowly and cautiously turned to face Florence Bastien.

"Alpha Female, do you think that you could do any good by accompanying me?" He asked the green skinned woman.

"Alpha Male, you are a hunter with no equal, but you can only hunt in one place at a time. This entire city must be searched, you're making the right choice." She told him, before gently resting a hand on his cheek for a few tender seconds.

"I've been making the 'right' choices ever since we came to G'Henna, and yet here we are..." He groaned into a still bare hand before heading off for the High Temple of Zhakata.

XXX XXX XXX

The temple of Zhakata's blunt facade resembled the prow of a breached galleon. Its windows had gone dark and the usual bustle of junior priests and clerks was completely absent. There weren't even any guards posted outside to bar Alexander's way. The main doors were ajar and gaping, one of them creaking loudly as it shifted on its hinges.

As he walked down hallways he had already trod once before, Alexander wished he'd be able to stop and deface each and every single one of the various portraits depicting Yagno Petrovna's past triumphs. Alas, such simple pleasures couldn't even be considered until the danger encroaching upon Zhukar had been dealt with. He searched his memory of the map they'd been given and headed in the direction of temple's private library, operating on something between a hunch and educated guess.

His ears soon picked up proof that he was on the right, detecting the sound of someone cursing loudly. As he drew closer he was able to determine that it wasn't just some random person cursing, it was someone whose voice was familiar to Alexander.

"Useless! All useless trash! The stone can force obedience but not loyalty, and only of the monster but not his minions!" The voice screamed in rage before there was the sound of something heavy being tossed on the ground.

The library's occupant hadn't bothered to close the door and so Alexander walked right in.

He found Madar standing among toppled shelves from which books and scrolls had first been pulled, then scattered torn across every inch of the floor.

The rebellious priest had a wild-eyed hunted looked about him, and the Eye of Zhakata hung on a string around his throat.

"Alexander?" He gasped in surprised.

"Hello again Madar, having a problem?" Alexander asked in an ominously jovial voice.

His tone was soft and gentle, but his single green eye never stopped focusing directly on the Eye of Zhakata.

"Alexander, lets be reasonable about this." Madar insisted as he took a slow cautious step backwards, not wanting to trip on the discarded parchment.

"Yes lets. Reasonable people should refer to one another by their proper names. So tell me Rega, what drove a reasonable man like you to do something as stupid as thinking you could play me for a fool?"

The priest took another step back and his face going pale white in surprise.

"What are you talking about?" He gasped in confusion.

"I'm not deaf and I'm not stupid. I heard the guards talking about how they had to make Rega, Yagno's spy master, aware of my presence. I'm perfectly well aware of the fact that I made quite a spectacle of myself going around the market, searching for liquor when it seems like every native of the city already knew there wasn't any to be found.

Then you arranged for an invitation to be delivered to my door to get me to that black market, as Rega arranged to have the place raided once I arrived, and as Madar arranged to make sure I was able to escape.

After that, you supplied me with the tools to break into the temple as, and as Rega used your influence to make sure that the place is as lightly guarded as possible while we were stealing that stone you now wear.

Then as the Son of Rust you make sure that you, as Madar were assigned to the expedition the Circle of Darkness sent out to free Zhakata the Provider. Not directly in charge of it of course, being in charge means you're responsible, that you'd be expected to keep an idiot like Bolsh from doing something stupid, or that you wouldn't be able to simply run away at a moment's notice if things started to go wrong.

Did you really think I wouldn't suspect anything when you bothered to directly sympathize with wolves, and even went so far as to talk about how your family's friends used to brew beer? Did you think I that wouldn't be able to notice that you were the one person in G'Henna who wasn't a raving religious zealot, the one person who seemed to be able to think for themselves?

Did you believe I'd never ponder why it was that no one could describe to me the face of either Rega or the Son of Rust? So when Madar vanished uncounted for, along with the Eye of Zhakata, it wasn't exactly hard to put it all together." Alexander insisted as he drew ever closer to the priest.

"I don't know what you're talking about! You don't have any proof!" He shot back.

"I don't have any proof right now, but I you'd be so kind as to come with me, I'm sure we can go get some fairly easily. All we need to do is go have a nice long talk with Mirri.

She's a vampire you know, so believe me, you'll only be all too willing to tell us this, that, and a few other details after a nice long conversation. Details like what names you like to be called, you know, the kind of things that friend tell each other, and people always want to be good friends with Mirri once they've talked to her long enough.

Those with strong wills normally break after around four minutes, absolute bastards can hold out for around six, and nobody has ever made it to ten." Alexander informed his conversation partner.

Madar who it seemed was really Rega threw back his head and laughed sorrowfully.

"At the end of the day there's no difference between us is there? Me with my inquisition, you with your pet vampire, we all have our own ways of getting what we want to know. We're just two wolves chewing over the same decrepit bone.

That's what I learned from being able to talk to Bill growing up. I didn't do anything special, and yet I was gifted with powers far greater than any other member of my family.

When I went away to Zhukar to join the priesthood, I could never quite convince myself to truly believe in Zhakata, no matter how hard I tried. Except, that it turned out not to matter in the slightest! It didn't matter if I prayed reverently to Zhakata, or simply mumbled the words, the power came exactly the same either way!

What does that make Zhakata but an all mighty idiot? What does that make Yagno but an even greater fool for following a god who rewards his faithful and heretics with the same measure of power? Power, power is the one truth of this world Alexander, it is the only reason I joined the priesthood after all, to gain power.

The only way this world makes any sense is if you assume that some people are simply born wolves with power, while other are born sheep without it. That's why we're alike Alexander, we were both born destined to be wolves, destined to be powerful.

Now that we find ourselves at odds with one another, of course you desire to use your power to take what you want from me. The wolves prey upon the sheep, that's all there is to this world. Religion is just a fancy way of convincing the sheep to willing bare their throats to you." Rega insisted, a strange sort of energy dancing in his eyes, as if he was delighted to finally be able to cast away his pretensions of being Madar.

Such was the strength of his convictions that for a moment Alexander was silent, the silver haired man even took a step back and removed his hand from Wolf Claw.

"So close, so very close Madar. But you're wrong about a few things. I might have been born a wolf, but I dreamed to be so much more than just another ordinary wolf. While you content yourself with simply hunting those weaker than yourself, I hunt the strong.

That is why I am Mac Tíre Cáiliúil, that is why I am the Legendary Wolf. As for wielding power against you… when you said you were Madar I had an arrangement with the Circle of Darkness.

I would wear the 'Eye of Zhakata' or whatever that stone really is, whenever it was not needed for some sacred ritual. Right now however, it is just sitting there on a string around your throat. Live up to the agreement and give it back to me." The silver haired man insisted.

Rega's hands slowly went to the onyx stone about his throat.

"No… no I won't. It is the only thing keeping me alive." His voice trembled slightly as he spoke.

"Well then, it seems you're either breaking your oath to me as a member of the Circle of Darkness, or just out and out stealing from me. Either way, I'd say I'm justified in taking the stone back." Alexander insisted, his fingers once again began to dance along Wolf Claw's length.

"This, this is all a game to you! You pathetically look for justifications because you won't admit to the truth! You may be strong enough to take it from me, but do not delude yourself to believing that makes you any more right!" Rega spluttered.

Alexander's smile grew wider and more predator as he began to approach the duplicitous priest.

"Is that what you think I'm doing Rega? Playing fancy word games to justify the fact that right now there's nothing I'd rather do than grind your face beneath my boots? You really did do an excellent job spying on me!

Maybe you're right, maybe this world really is insane, and power is the only thing that matters. While I am Alpha though, while I am most powerful, laws will fucking matter! If the only way that at the world makes sense is for us to force it to, I will place my boot upon the neck of the world itself to bring it to heel!" The silver haired man snarled.

"What laws though? Not the laws of G'Henna with how you've been eating, with the way you gave away food to that starving woman, with the way you showed kindness rather than derision to a mongrelman.

You use your power to shatter laws you disagree with and enforce whatever new ones you desire. Your 'laws' are nothing but your wolfish whims masquerading in the sheepskin of false civility!

Two wolves chewing at the same ragged bone Alexander, but at least I'm honest about it, I don't feel the need to pretend I'm helping anyone but myself." Rega scoffed mockingly as he edged towards the stairs behind him.

"You want to see honesty from me Rega? You want to see what happens when I strip away the pretension and show the world who and what I really am? Wish fucking granted." As Alexander spoke, he took his hands from Wolf Claw and instead used them to shift his eye-patch from his right eye to his left.

With Alexander's lupine right eye revealed yet again, his body began to transform. Soon instead of a man Rega found himself staring down a large snarling silver wolf.

"You stole from me, give it back or I'll take it!" The wolf demanded, its voice somehow all too human.

Rega reached out, grabbed a nearby bookcase, and (probably with the aid of some kind of magic) sent it toppling towards the wolf before turning to flee.

Alexander managed to leap out of the bookcases' way, and took off racing on all fours, his claws ripping up the copies of Zhakata's holy texts which covered the floor as he raced after the priest. Rega gestured wildly behind him as magical flames blossomed forth from his fingers.

The weren't aimed in the slightest, they didn't need to be. Not when the library was full of wooden bookshelves and paper parchment, wherever the mystical sparks landed they all but instantly caught and began to spread.

Tiny balls of flame began to expand and spread, turning the library into an inferno. From that inferno burst forth an undeterred silver blur as Alexander continued his chase.

"You think this even matters? The stone can't control Malistroi, not really! He's the one who will be controlling us all soon, he has the most power and he's already reshaping G'Henna to suit his whims! If you had any wisdom you'd have returned to whatever strange lands you came from!" Rega insisted as he shot up the stairs.

"If you had any wisdom you wouldn't waste your breath on monologues while trying to outrun a wolf!" Alexander countered, though truth be told Rega was starting to pull away from him.

Wolves simply weren't meant for climbing stairs, and even with human intelligence combined with previous practice didn't make it a sooth process. Not that Alexander was especially worried about loosing his quarry, he had Rega's scent fresh in his nostrils, wherever the priest tried to flee or hide, Alexander would know.

"Do you really think that you'll be able to stop him? Do you really think that you're powerful enough to defeat that demon?" Rega huffed, completely ignoring Alexander's advice.

"I'll have a better shot at it once I get back the jewel you stole from me!" Alexander snarled back.

"The jewel that you stole from this temple in the first place!" Rega countered.

"The jewel that you told me about and insisted I steal!" Alexander quickly reminded him.

"So am I to guess it isn't really stealing if somebody else comes up with the idea then?" Rega mocked the pursuing wolf.

"The stone, or at least any power it holds, originally belonged to Malistroi himself, but I don't see you in any great hurry to return it to him. Besides, you want to know what really makes us different Rega?" Alexander offered as the priest rushed past another open door, preferring to stick to the stairs rather than risk a level hallway where Alexander's quadrupedal body would have the advantage.

"The fact that you're more powerful than me at the moment!" Rega insisted.

"The fact that I actually bother to plan ahead!" Alexander declared with considerable satisfaction as Rega only now seemed to realize that like all good things, the stairs would eventually have to come to an end.

In this case, Alexander had chased him to a tower built for meditation and prayer inside the temple, one which had only a single door leading in or out. The only other possible exit was a large window which looked out over the city and offered only a long plunge to the ground below.

Rega fled into it and slammed its wooden door shut behind him.

A moment later he was bowled over as Alexander's smashed through the door like a furry battering ram and pinned Rega beneath his paws.

"Go ahead, do it, kill me." Rega hissed defiantly.

Alexander lowered his head and bit down.

His jaws effortlessly severed the string that Rega had used to tie the Eye of Zhakata about his throat. Then with a quick toss of his neck Alexander sent the stone sailing upwards, shook his head and twisted (and stuck out his tongue slightly) to push the eye-patch over his right eye again, and reverted back to his human form in time to catch the stone before it could even start to fall.

"No. I'm too good a hunter with too little time right now. I'd rather just take back what is 'mine' and let Yagno deal with you, assuming the demon you let loose on this land doesn't do it first."

"You're insane! Yagno will never believe anything an outsider has to say against me!" Rega fumed, refusing to rise to his feet as if silently taunting Alexander to murder him.

"In his hour of need as his entire realm is assaulted by a demonic army, I wonder who Yagno would be more willing to trust, his closest adviser who lost track of the demon's one weakness, or the kindly stranger who returned it to him?

Because I'm willing to bet you never actually told Yagno that you got the stone back from the Circle of Darkness. After all, if you had, he'd have taken it from you to keep an even closer eye on it. Maybe he's even already started to think that the only way anyone could have stolen the Eye was if they had your help?" Alexander pondered aloud with a sardonic smile.

"You really think you can convince him to throw me to my own inquisition? Yagno may be the High Priest of Zhakata, but he was always too cowardly to impose his will unless he actually felt Zhakata desired it. I am the most powerful man in Zhukar! No one has more servants to call upon, no one is owed more favors or more feared!" Rega raved.

"Oh yes I'm sure you have a huge army at your beck and call. That's why I managed to cornered you up here all alone. You may have been able to talk with Bill, but you never understood him. There's a difference between those who serve out of loyalty and those who do it out of fear.

Maybe if you commanded any of the former you wouldn't have needed to be searching that library on your own. Maybe if you hadn't been so obsessed with masks, deceptions, and hiding who you really are, you might have been able to convince rather than mislead people into obeying you. Maybe if you begged me to save your life you'll survive the next ten seconds." Alexander concluded abruptly.

Rega was now starting to stand back up and he fixed the silver haired man with a withering stare.

"Hah! You've already proven that you're too cowardly to do the job yourself, I'll never..." Rega began but indeed he never got a chance to finish.

A massive brutish arm looking like belonged to some sort of misshapen orangutan with reddish brown fur seized Rega by the throat.

The beast (which had stealthily climbed in through the window while priest and adventurer had been arguing) squeezed and Rega's throat snapped like a matchstick.

"He can't say I didn't try to warn him..." Alexander muttered (primarily because Rega would never able to say anything ever again) before Wolf Claw slid free form his sheath and he charged the oversized beast which was obviously one of the demon's creations.

XXX XXX XXX

The door to the most important room in all of Zhukar (and thus probably G'Henna, now that the demon was no longer restricted to a particular room) was neither fancy nor especially strong looking, (it was really nothing but a simple wooden door) it wasn't trapped, in fact wasn't even locked.

Alexander gave the knob a soft jiggle and when he met no resistance pushed the door open. Inside he found a small suite of rooms lit by a few candles. At the far end of the room a man in red robes knelt before a devotional. His head was bent in thought while a hood lay on the floor next to him.

"This is our third meeting High Priest Petrovna. At least it should be more honest than our first two..." Alexander called out to him.

Zhakata's High Priest slowly stood, re-donning his ornate hood and adjusting it before he spoke.

"You, you were the 'priest' who spoke of Zhakata having the face of a wolf. What a 'splendid' struggle you have brought to my land, for now I know you as the outsider you truly are. Did you honestly believe that you could do any good by freeing a creature you could not hope to control?" He demanded archly.

"Lets be perfectly clear, freeing the demon was never my intention. That said, he wouldn't have even been there for me to free if you had just killed him back when he was first defeated. After all, it was you who defeated and sealed him away wasn't it? Zhakata has never had any other high priests." Alexander countered.

Yagno's face never exactly full of color to begin with now seemed even paler.

"The demon Malistroi is a creature of incredible power, of boundless evil. Even with all the strength of Zhakata at my fingertips I could neither unmake his essence or cast it back where it had first come from. So I took precautions to ensure he would cause no harm to the people of G'Henna.

Precautions that stood for decades until your arrival!" Yagno proclaimed, his voice a strange mix of enraged and hopelessly despondent.

"Malistroi was freed by Rega, who was also posing as Madar, a low level member of the Circle of Darkness. He was plotting to betray you and take over G'Henna. He was the one who overestimated his ability to control Malistroi not me." Alexander clarified.

Yagno took a step back his heavily lidded eyelids closing completely as he blinked in shock.

"Bah! You fool, of course I knew that Rega was posing as Madar! I came up with the idea, to have him gather together all the malcontents and heretics in G'Henna to one single cause so that they could be more easily dealt with!" Yagno insisted.

"If Rega was really loyal to you and not to himself, why did he help me steal the 'Eye of Zhakata' or whatever that fancy black stone is called? As an outlander I never even would have known it existed, let alone where to find it, or how to get my hands on priestly robes to infiltrate the temple if he hadn't helped me." Alexander probed.

The priest's brow furrowed still further as he could find no proper answer for such a question.

Slowly Yagno's blue eyes turned to his room's single window and the ominous darkness that gathered outside it.

"While we squabble Malistroi grows ever stronger. For there to be a proper accounting between us, the demon must be dealt with first." The Zhakata's High Priest decided.

Alexander considered that particular pragmatic decision an entirely unexpected (if very welcome) surprise coming from G'Henna's darklord. Clearly as the saying went, the concept of being hanged in the morning had a wonderful way of helping a man's mind concentrate on what actually mattered.

"We really should kill him for good this time. To seal him away is to admit we fear his power." The silver haired man suggested.

"You should fear his power. To destroy him completely would take an act of direct divine intervention. Even sealing him away taxed me to my utmost, and I was a younger man the first time we did battle. To further compound the issue I faced him when Zhakata waxed in power, but now he seems to have all but abandoned me.

If even that was not dire enough, originally I faced him alone in single combat, but if what I have been told by my spies is true, today an entire army of monsters now bows before him in supplication." Yagno warned.

Alexander decided it would be a bad idea for to point out that the reason Malistroi had first been so easily freed, and secondly been able to raise an army, could both be directly tied to the large number of mongrelmen, ever single one of which who Yagno himself had directly created and de facto exiled.

While it might have been satisfying to further prove that like every darklord Yagno Petrovna seemed to be the ultimate architect of his own undoing, the silver haired man had a tenuous alliance to construct. If he managed to ensure that Yagno didn't try to plant a knife in his back or sick the inquisition on him until a few minutes after Malistroi was defeated, he'd consider it an amazing accomplishment.

"Would you feel any better about your odds of defeating Malistroi if you had this..." Alexander prompted and slowly withdrew the stone he'd taken back from Rega from a pant's pocket.

He had decided to forgo openly wearing openly it in case the sight of it prompted Yagno to fire of spells first and ask question later.

The priests eyes now shot fully open, making him look all the more astounded for their normally half lidded look.

"Malistroi's soul stone!" The priest proclaimed with excited joy.

"What… what exactly is it?" Alexander couldn't help but ask.

He'd traveled far and wide, and he'd carried this particular stone for quite a while (not that he was going to admit such to Yagno) but he still had no idea what it was, besides that it had some magical resonance with the door Malistroi had been sealed behind.

"This onyx stone was the foremost component of the spell I used with summoned Malistroi to G'Henna. It anchors him to this land, and whoever has it can exert some minor power over him, wielded wisely it can indeed be his undoing!" Yagno proclaimed happily.

"You summoned Malistroi?" Alexander couldn't help but add a moment later.

He'd suspected of course, no one would ever go broke betting steady increments of their income that something wrong with a domain could be easily traced back to its darklord. Still, he suspected Yagno would react poorly if Alexander openly advanced a theory that Yagno Petrovna was such a horrible person that he should have slit his own throat in praise of Zhakata rather than his niece's several decades ago.

That didn't mean it wasn't a perfectly good theory, just one which would have to remain unspoken for the moment.

"Decades ago G'Henna was struck by strange shocks and quakes. It seemed as though the entire country itself might be shaken to pieces, and when they finally abated every land beyond our borders was… gone.

Where once there was Falkovnia to the west, Tempest to the east, Darkon to the north and Dorvinia to the south, now there was nothing. Nothing but strange mist in all directions.

People were horrified of the changes, and so as the high priest of Zhakata I sought to petition the Beast God to come and explain why our land had been pulled free from the Core! I did so with the help of the wisest sage in the land, intending to summon Zhakata himself to G'Henna so that he might speak to his people and reassure them that we had not displeased him, or at the very least how his anger might be set right.

The sage betrayed me, and misdirected my mystical energies so that instead of reaching into the realm celestial above, they plunged into the hellish abyss infernal below. From those unspeakable pits emerged the fiend Malistroi. It was by my hand, but never by my intention, that Malistroi was brought to G'Henna." The High Priest insisted.

Conviction radiated from his voice in a way that it never quite during their two previous encounters. Alexander still didn't believe Yagno, not to completely, expecting a darklord to tell you the whole unvarnished truth was like expecting a wasp not to sting.

Still Yagno probably was probably correct in the roughest outline of events, while he might be a crazed fanatic of Zhakata, he didn't seem quite crazy enough to have intentionally summoned a horrible monster who fed on misery and suffering. Well, not unless it had managed to deceive him into believing it was an angel or aspect of Zhakata first…

"So if you have this stone, you'd have a chance against Malistroi?" Alexander pressed.

"Yes, yes! This stone allowed me to defeat him one, it could do so again! It must be wielded carefully however, it is no crude cudgel, but rather a small subtle poisoned knife. It can not be used to match Malistroi power for power, but rather undermine him at exactly the right moment.

You see, this stone was originally part of Zhakata's high altar, and the power of sympathetic magic still flows through it. The power of the high altar when energized with the faithful of Zhakata, channeled through the soul stone, and wielded against Malistroi alone, it is the one thing that could possibly defeat him.

Yet all the components must be exactly so.. with Malistroi's monstrous army sweeping all before them how can Zhakata's worshiper's be properly gathered?" Yagno concluded dourly.

"How long do you think we have before Malistroi and his army will attack the city?" The silver haired inquired.

Yagno was more familiar with demon and would hopefully know something of his habits.

Indeed priest slowly turned his attention back towards the window he had looked out before.

"The new moon is an undesirable symbol in G'Henna. It offers aid to dark magic cast with the intent of bringing harm to another. If Malistroi does not know that already, one of his followers will have surely told him.

If he wishes to plunge all of G'Henna into his darkness, wishes to break the people so completely they will never rise against him, that is when he will attack. Under the light of the new moon, which is only six hours from rising at most..." Yagno warned.

That was not a lot of time by any stretch of the imagination. Still, it was better than hearing that the demon and his army were already at work battering down the city's gates.

"Would one of your sermons preformed before the high alter of Zhakata and all those who remain faithful in the city grant you the power to properly oppose Malistroi?" Alexander suggested.

"It might, it might..." Yagno agreed slowly.

"Take this and prepare your sermon. I'll make sure you have an audience." Alexander insisted and tossed Malistroi's soul stone to Yagno.

This was going to end badly, he was sure of it.

There was no "happy" ending when you plan involved deliberately handing over a mystical artifact to a darklord. Alas it was the "least horrible" option that he could think of at the moment, and Malistroi's arrival did not give him an abundance of time to think of better possible ideas.

At least he could draw some minor comfort from the fact that Yagno had possessed the gem for decades before Alexander and his group had arrived but it hadn't seemed to particularly aid him oppressing G'Henna's people. Maybe it really was only useful in relation to Malistroi, but Alexander wasn't quite ready to believe that.

"If the sun rises on G'Henna tomorrow you will be rewarded! You will..." Yagno began but Alexander didn't bother to hear the end of it.

He didn't particularly expect Yagno to live up to any promises that he made (assuming they actually did live through the night) and if he couldn't have the satisfaction of punching him in the face, at least he could slam a door on it in mid rant.

It wasn't as good, but once again it was the "least bad" option he had available at the moment.

The people of Zhukar needed to be saved, Malistroi needed to be slain, and by hook or by crook Alexander Diamondclaw would do both.

End Chapter.

AN: Unlike Book three where we more or less saw Cal's entire though process laid out before us repeatedly in this book I felt that things could proceed just fine if I only hid some of the twists and turns from the reader, but not necessarily from the characters. Hopefully you guys don't find that too much of a narrative cheat.

Though he may end up helping the villain's plans along at times (book one, book six, this book) Alexander is still quite smart and it typically happens because the villain/darklord possesses amazing powers or enough time to plan that he can weave a plan so interact that even he/one member of his group couldn't see the threads of it until it was too late.

Madar/Rega is not as smart as he thinks he is, and Alexander never stopped being suspicious of him, so when he vanished in the chaos of Malistroi being set loose, Alex start putting some of the past events together and came to some conclusions.

Also yeah Clash Royal delayed this chapter, though really it was just me needing to knuckle down and work on these things during the weekends, if I can force myself to do that they don't take THAT long to get proofread.

I'm going to skip the scenes of the group gathering together the faithful of Zhakata from the city because there's nothing super interesting that will happen then, and it will let me write the next chapter as the "final" chapter of the story (to be followed by Epilogue and a full chapter of story wide commentary as always) which I plan to have up in just a week or two so I don't leave you all in suspense for super long.

Hopefully the mysteries to be revealed will be worth it!