Guardian

by yasha012

I used to want to save existence... I saw it as this beautiful place, capable of fostering life in all of its many forms. A place with the potential to nurture so much Light. But the closer I got to it... the more I fought for it… the better I could see the Darkness waiting within… the evil we would all rather forget. (Part 4 of the Hero series; sequel to "Eternal Shadow Falls".)

213. Broken Ones

Disclaimer: I hereby disclaim all rights to all characters (save for those of my own creation) during this sudden revival… especially for the one who has lost so much of himself.

~保護者~

"Broken Ones"

~保護者~

Steam was already traveling through space. He'd checked Locke's temple, the home world of the echidna race, and a few other spots he knew Locke frequented. All came up empty. That had Steam distinctly worried, but he knew that if something had happened to make a deity role extinct he would have noticed. He was tied to them, albeit in an indirect way, after all.

Rather than focusing on all of these other spots, he decided to shift his attention back to Mobius. It was very possible that he'd missed something in his frantic rush. As such, he touched back down on the planet and focused his mind. After a few deep breaths to calm his nerves and thoughts, he took notice of an… unusually strong sensation of Light. It wasn't so much that it was powerful, but that there was a lot of energy being output at once. He teleported close by and set about investigating.

It turned out that the pair were on Angel Island, just resting and recuperating. Locke in particular was asleep right then. It didn't take long for Tessa to take notice of Steam, straightening her stance for several seconds before relaxing. She recognized him, so there was little need for alarm. Once she was settled back down, Steam finally approached, keeping his steps relatively quiet to not disturb Locke.

Steam took a seat near Tessa, glancing between them both briefly. "He okay?"

"Nah," Tessa replied, shaking her head. "Not my business to elaborate, but he's got it rough right now."

The hedgehog nodded. That meant Locke probably already knew about the most recent news. "Thanks for watching over him."

"Ain't an issue," Tessa shrugged, chuckling. "Hell, if you're gonna thank me, thank me for coverin' his presence."

It took Steam a second to understand that the echidna was joking. "Heh, yeah." The two sat in silence for some time before Steam suddenly shifted his attention to Locke. It seemed that the echidna was stirring.

Locke indeed opened his eyes without much further delay. Upon seeing the sun, he groaned a little and covered his eyes with his arm. Had he had a hat with him, he would have used that instead. "How long was I out?" he asked Tessa, a sigh in his voice.

"A bit," Tessa responded unhelpfully. "Enough so that your sleep was real damn deep. You didn't even notice this guy approach." Locke sighed for real this time and sat up. He gave Steam a weak nod of greeting.

Steam returned the nod, offering a small smile. "Hey, man. You okay?"

"Been better," Locke admitted. "Way too much happened for me to fully take it all in yet. It's been hell already, as you might imagine."

"Yeah," Steam said easily. "I feel that. Not in the same way, but I get it."

There wasn't much Locke felt that he could say in response. He settled on a basic, "Yeah," as he went ahead and sat up.

Steam glanced to Tessa briefly, debating the idea of bringing up this topic. Ultimately, he turned to Locke again. "Is your mentor alive again?"

"She must be," Locke said, "since when I was forced to hastily send my role away to someone else it felt like it went back to her."

The hedgehog nodded a little to this. "I'll find her and bring her to you, if you want. You should speak to her, after all."

"It's probably a good idea, assuming you're able to teleport vast distances," Locke said. "She can appear and disappear in a flash, both literally and figuratively. Sometimes even worse than you do, Steam. And she tends to go far."

Steam managed a small chuckle at this, simply shaking his head. "Yeah, you got a point. I'll chase her down shortly and get her situated here on Mobius."

"I'd appreciate it," Locke replied truthfully. "I don't have it in me to try it myself right now."

"Not a problem," Steam answered.

Tessa raised an eyebrow. "So, hell're we doing next? Aside from getting that lady here, we gotta figure out a plan again?"

Steam shrugged. "I was giving everyone some time to recover. A lot of people died and families were mourning. I'm not gonna ask people to risk their lives while they can't keep tears out of their eyes."

Well, that was certainly one way to put it. And it wasn't like it was wrong, Locke decided. "Yeah. I get that."

The hedgehog nodded to this, choosing to not explain more. "We've made a lot of progress lately, though. The Widow is dead, the God of Demons is dead, The Metarex and Nocturne clan were wiped out," he listed off. "We're rapidly gaining some sort of headway."

Locke sat up straighter, not quite comprehending one of the things he'd just been told. "The Widow is dead."

"Yeah-"

Tessa looked at him incredulously. "Who the fuck found and killed her? She's a certified psycho."

Steam took a second to recover from being cut off. He hadn't expected it, this time. "The newest God of Magic, if I'm not mistaken. One of the only beings who could've put up a fight against someone like her without being a straight up Immortal."

"Now hold on just a minute," Locke said, shaking his head. "First of all, no offense to him, but I thought the God of Magic was a big ol' softie like Silver. And secondly, she was also a magical fighter, and one empowered by Nareish no less. She should have been able to overpower just about anyone, deity or not."

"He probably had some Privilege," Steam explained easily. "But the thing everyone gets wrong about him is how devoted to protecting his friends he is. Every timeline… when he becomes the God of Magic, he takes it seriously. He steps up to the plate and does near-impossible bullshit."

His assertion earned a snort from Locke. "'Near-impossible bullshit' is right," he huffed. "But… good on him. I mean it. I don't think he has the knowledge yet to fully grasp just how much good he's done, but I hope he one day does. It oughta help his heart recover."

Steam gave a small sigh in reply to this. "Maybe he will, maybe he won't. Next time you see him, give him a hard time about working so hard." The hedgehog chuckled. "It'll lighten his heart a bit." Now that he'd said his piece, he explained the rest of what he'd informed them of before. "I killed Tianak after one of the Faein made sure the role wouldn't go to me. I believe Eila was the one to destroy the Metarex and Nocturne Clan."

"It's good that those last two are gone, especially the Clan, but I'm more relieved about the God of Demons role being gone," Locke said, shoulders sagging. "That's one danger Kaden and his family won't have to face ever again… and I'm glad for it. Saving him permanently from that hell was always the goal. I'm happy it's finally been accomplished."

"Yeah, but even with all of that handled, we're still a few steps off where we should be. I think something's happening with the Realms of Death. We also haven't heard from Ylden in a bit. I believe there are a few other new threats, based on how things like that appearing feel to me." He cringed a bit at his wording, then explained it again. "When new threats and evil come into existence, the Balance shifts, and I feel every shift. The bigger it is, the more I notice. It shifted back toward evil a lot more than I'd like."

"So something probably happened, and chances are Nareish was at the root of it like usual," Locke summarized. "Great. Any leads on anything?"

Steam clicked his tongue. "Gonna start looking into mythical creatures and beings of Darkness. Ylden being radio silent and Saethrim stalking off into dark corners of the universe makes it hard to keep up with those groups of people. That'll likely get me a start."

"Talk to Finis," Locke said. "He keeps tabs on mythical creatures, too, and he usually knows where Saethrim is. That'll give you a starting point for one of those issues, at least. I can't help you with Ylden, though."

"Good point," Steam said, taking that down as a mental note.

Tessa spoke up again. "I can get some scouts out looking for Ylden and anything else unusual. I'm finally noticing some of the other Light users moving. It's slow, but it's finally really happening."

"Dunno how much good they can do if he's within his own realms," Locke pointed out.

"But that would make it easy to find him," Steam explained. "I haven't sensed him there, not any time I've checked. He's moving around somewhere, most likely." Locke had to concede the point there and didn't argue it. The hedgehog ultimately sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'd ask Cere, but she's radiating stress. I can't walk near her."

"I can imagine she is," Locke murmured, looking away. With no idea that Steam (corrupted or not) was the cause, he explained. "We lost one of our own really recently. That sort of thing always hits her hard. Like, 'a-train-smashing-into-a-bug' hard."

Steam noticeably didn't reply to that for several seconds. His gaze darkened and he also looked away, enough to gain some attention from Tessa. "Yeah. She's got a lot on her plate. I don't wanna bother her more."

The female echidna thought about calling the obvious to attention, namely how weird he was acting after that was mentioned. Something inside of her said not to, so she didn't. "Maybe speaking to someone in the Realms of Death could help, though? He's a big name there, from what little I know. Might be a good shot."

"He's the big-shot up there now," Locke confirmed, "but Zenith himself is still hanging around, no doubt. It's worth a try."

"Good point," Steam admitted. "Might help in figuring this shit out." Locke murmured a brief agreement.

Tessa looked at Steam as he simply stared on quietly, noting this to herself. You're a weird one. Good heart, though. "Well, for the time being, I'll hang out here. Let him relax a bit more before I handle other stuff."

Steam took this as his cue, standing back up. "Gotcha."

Locke looked at Tessa. "You don't have to stay here on my account," he said. "If you have things to do, then you can go do them."

"Don't worry 'bout it," Tessa replied, waving him off. "Figure ya could use some company."

"Yeah… maybe," Locke conceded with a sigh.

"She passed him a smile, nudging him with an elbow. "'Sides, you like my company."

"Luckily for you I don't mind it." was the joking reply, though there wasn't too much actual humor in his voice. He was too emotionally drained for that.

Tessa didn't bother him much on the matter, knowing that he had seen better days. "Anyway, figure you should get some food soon while Steam heads on off."

Once more, Steam took that as a cue and waved. "Not a bad call. Take care of yourself, Locke."

"I'll try." Locke waved back a little. "You do the same, kid."

Steam blinked once, briefly unsure what to say to that before answering with, "Thanks." The hedgehog then teleported away, leaving Tessa and Locke. The latter just laid back down with his arms behind his head, watching the clouds overhead with dull, tired eyes.

Tessa laid back as well, somewhat mimicking his pose before giving a sigh. "Best thing you can do it take it easy, ya know?"

"I know," Locke answered. It wasn't like he had the energy for anything else as of now, anyway.

"Wanna snag some food in a few?" Tessa questioned. "I know some people ain't gotta eat, but sometimes comfort comes in food."

Somehow, Locke didn't think he'd be getting out of this. Especially when she inevitably found out that he wasn't one of those people. "I guess so," he conceded after a pause.

She chuckled at him a little. "We can lay here for a few more minutes, then run our asses out and find somethin'."

There really wasn't any point in arguing. So he didn't. He did conjure up some manners, however. "Thank you for helping me out," he murmured, closing his eyes for the time being. "You didn't have to go out of your way like this for a near-stranger."

"Eh, it's kinda just nature," Tessa replied. "That blue hedgehog and Steam saw a bit of me that's harsher, but Light has a way of softening ya." She glanced over, sighing. "Sometimes I wish I could be a bit meaner, but bein' good-hearted has its benefits."

'S'pose it would," Locke had to agree.

Tessa managed a smirk, rolling herself onto her stomach to just lay out in the grass. "Honestly, you're a pretty good guy, too. Hate to see ya going through so much."

"Story of my life, pretty much," Locke murmured. "I've always lost the people I get closest to. Been that way since I was a baby. Started with my folks and went on from there."

"'At's why I hold onto my brother so much," Tessa answered, understanding his words. "Been through a lot of the same shit. Hard to roll with the punches when they never stop comin'."

"No kidding," Locke said. "Seems like those punches just keep striking harder and harder, lately."

Tessa raised an eyebrow. "Not hittin' harder. Hittin' the same spots over an' over."

"Same difference," was the soft reply. "Result's still the same in the end."

She could only nod in reply. "Yeah." After a pause, she added, "Wanna get some food now? I'm bored."

"You're one persistent pain my ass," Locke joked with a huff, sitting up. "Have it your way, I guess."

She laughed, pushing herself up to her feet and setting her hands on her hips. "Asshole. Just get the hell up so you can teach me about food here!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm working on it." Locke got up fully and dusted himself off. "Just so you know, I haven't spent much time here in the last thousand years or so. Chances are the cuisine will be as new to me as it will be to you."

"Oh, stop excusing yourself," Tessa huffed, crossing her arms. "You know more than me, if that's how long it's been."

Violet eyes rolled, but Locke didn't argue. "Just head north, alright? There should be a city that way, assuming nothing drastic has happened in the area in recent years. We should find plenty of food there."

Tessa moved to fly off, but then she turned and held a hand out to him. "C'mon. It'll be too slow to glide." Locke saw no reason to argue. He took her hand without complaint. She suddenly took off once she had a hold on him, flying in the direction Locke had informed her of.

~保護者~

Vampires were perceptive and observant creatures, so eluding their notice wasn't a simple task. Not even for other vampires. It took great concentration to infiltrate the encampment of sorts that had been created by his people on Babylon. Why they were here instead of the world Ghune had chosen to inhabit escaped him. It's probably due to something Nareish did, considering the damage I saw. I figured she would have simply begun repairs by now.

Lior stood in the tent that he could smell Ryint staying within. The woman had a potent scent of herbs and blood. He had a dagger concealed within his clothes, but he was willing to wait and see how she reacted to his presence. He took a step inside and approached her, watching as she brewed some sort of tea. It burned his nose, but it was clear that Ryint was unaffected. "Been a while, Ryint. How are you?"

The woman glanced over with a raised eyebrow. "Could ask the same of you. Shit's been fucked lately, but I've been alright enough. How about you?"

Lior shrugged. "Revived. Somewhat tired," he replied, taking a sniff of the air. There wasn't an ounce of panic or concern within her. She does not know… Good.

"Want some tea?" Ryint offered. "I've been handling things here while Ghune is out looking for Cyca and Zsasha. Could be good to catch up."

She already knows Zsasha has returned? Lior gave a simple nod, keeping his composure. There was a lot to take in right now, but he had to focus. "I will try it, though your flavors are often well beyond my palette."

Ryint chuckled a bit and swirled the tea with a rod. "Yeah. I've been doing a bunch of experimenting since you died. I might have a flavor or two you'd actually like!"

Lior rolled his eyes, feigning amusement. "I believe it." After a minute of silence had passed between them, Ryint poured two cups and handed one to Lior. He accepted it with a gentle nod and took a sip. Just as he'd figured, the taste was far too strong for him. It wasn't that she steeped it too long, though. Simply the herbs she had used had too powerful of a taste. It was likely some form of sedative, adding to why she was so calm. You were always the unusual one. "I do believe this one is far beyond being to my tastes."

She shrugged a bit. "Don't drink it, then. Worst case, I pour it out and there's no harm done." There was a smile on her face as she regarded Lior. The two had been friends for many years while he studied under Ghune, the both of them often sharing little secrets and pieces of useful information. Ryint had even coached him in alchemy to help him perfect his craft.

The man handed the cup back to her and stood, stretching his muscles. He walked closer to Ryint and set a hand on her face, opening her right eye to inspect. "I presume it has been quite some time since last we saw each other, judging by this look in your eyes. You have learned much in this time, yes?"

Though offput by his suddenness, she quickly acclimated. It wasn't as if this was something entirely unusual for him. He had a unique talent for reading into people through their eyes. "Aye. Been alive for many eons now, Lior. Had lots of time to learn lots of things."

He simply nodded and retracted his hand, setting it on her shoulder. "It is good to see you, but I must ask a question."

"What's that?" She asked, tilting her head in confusion. "Everything alright?"

"What do you know of what occurred between me and Ghune in my final days?" Lior questioned, tightening his grip. He had to move slowly. Ghune was by far more powerful, but she had some of the strongest instincts of them all. Lior couldn't give a single hint as to his plans. "What were you told?"

Ryint frowned, sighing. In truth, she knew very little. "Ghune only told me that you'd perished and refused to elaborate. It seemed to hurt her deeply, knowing that you died."

Lior blinked. It wasn't like Ghune to lie. In a flash, his dagger was embedded in Ryint's back, causing her to give out a pathetic gasp. He knew to dodge, ducking down to avoid Ryint's signature baseball bat. He stepped back, avoiding the following swing, then dove out of the way as she tossed her pot at him. It wouldn't take long for his specially crafted venom to take hold, even in a strong individual like her. "Ghune lied to you, Ryint," he said, side-stepping another attack. "She is the one who killed me."

"Who the fuck do you think you are?" Ryint snapped. She didn't care who it was. Even if it were Ghune to do so, she would have swung like this. There was a white-hot sensation in her back, and she felt… tired. "You can't just stab me and then lie about my best friend!"

When she swung again, Lior raised a hand and caught the bat. "You're a fool, Ryint. Always have been. Your fighting is useless. I embedded wyvern venom into your body. You will be wholly disabled in a matter of seconds." He struck her on the chin, sending her reeling away. It didn't hurt, but she simply couldn't resist the strike.

"Lior, what the hell?" she demanded, gasping as she tumbled onto her side. He was right. Her muscles couldn't move. She couldn't get back up, and her entire body felt like hell was trying to escape through her skin.

Lior approached her form and set a hand on her face, glaring. "You are a thorn in my side. Your presence always proved to be far more important to Ghune than much of anything, so I will make you finally useful for something. You are going to help me lure her in so I can finally kill her."

"You won't… beat…" Ryint gasped, having to put all of her focus into heaving her lungs to get any sort of breath.

He smirked, a glint in his eyes. "I don't have to beat her. When she knows her friend is dead, she will falter. I strike, and she is ended." Lior produced a different blade, one far shorter. He used it to cut a deep gash into her abdomen, collecting some of the blood that poured out and splattering it on the ground. It wasn't as if she could resist him. "You're one of the only beings she has ever cared about. That's why you're perfect bait."

Ryint could only keep gasping for breath, hoping that someone would hear her, that something would happen. Flashes of long forgotten memories broke through the surface, reminding her of the only other time she had been so close to death. Her eyes fluttered and the strength left her body as she collapsed.

Lior knew she wasn't dead, and that was the point. A carefully crafted lie to make Ghune act rashly was all he needed. He hefted her body up on his shoulder and grabbed her chair, teleporting away to stash her somewhere. She needed to stay alive, after all, and she surely couldn't stay here.

There was a plethora of old, abandoned buildings that were in the outskirts of existence, likely having not been seen in millenia. It was in one of these that he placed her, carefully tying her hands and arms with rope that he conjured up. If she manages to recover at all… this will be necessary to keep her in place. The distance from living creatures will also make it so she has trouble feeding, lending to longer recovery time. Ryint was one of the rarer cases, needing to feed on the energy of spirits. As she had explained to him at one time, she could faintly see their forms enough to locate them. From there, she absorbed some of their energy to sustain herself. Lior was not so unfortunate, feeding on the energy from peoples' powers instead.

Once she was secured, Lior stepped back and looked over his handiwork. Ryint was unlikely to move any time soon, and her own herbal tea would ensure she was lethargic even when she woke. He hadn't expected that particular detail. Still, it was nothing but normal when dealing with someone like her. He chose to not dwell on this matter, using his magic to mask her scent and the building before teleporting away. He had every intention of searching the rubble of Ghune's castle.

When he reappeared, he was met with a sight that would certainly shake most beings. A wyvern sat atop the pile of debris, as if to guard it. Internally, Lior cursed his luck, but externally, he thanked it. The creature couldn't kill what it couldn't see, and he knew its biology better than it did. Sitting atop its neck, he drove a magical spike through a weak point in its scales and pierced its heart, watching the powerful creature fall within seconds. It was one of Ghune's… "pets". Assuredly that would affect her stability further.

Lior spent the next several minutes collecting blood and venom from the creature, restocking on the supplies he would need for what was to come. There was revenge to dish out.

~保護者~

Too many years had gone by, Cyca decided, since she had last seen her favorite opponent. She and Akol had traded many blows in the past. Many, many blows. Oftentimes, he had managed to get one over on her and escape truly engaging her in battle. On other occasions, she had dealt devastating wounds to him and forced him to flee. She was keen to reopen those old wounds, both figuratively and literally. To this day she considered him to be her plaything and her prey, as well as a worthy opponent and rival of sorts. It was high time she saw for herself how he was doing for himself in this day and age.

Xin, meanwhile, was just leaving the kitchen. He, Li, and Sothan had all helped Novei cook as promised, and now his brother-in-law had retreated to the forge. It wasn't surprising. Rather, the familiarity of that act had brought Xin some comfort. Even if I've changed, it's good to see that he and Li are much the same as what I remember. They're still the same sweet, caring, and kind - if introverted - people I used to know.

Smiling to himself, he started to take a sip from his tea. A sensation rather like an earthquake interrupted that by causing his drink to slosh side to side and spill from his cup. He sighed and cleaned it up via magic he conjured up with no more than a flick of his fingers. Then there was a second tremor, one that caused him to stumble into a wall. The cup slipped from his grasp and shattered on the stone floor. Needless to say, he was no longer smiling. If anything, he was frowning quite a bit now.

He knew exactly whose energy he was sensing.

Aggravated was probably too mild a word for what he was feeling. It was the one he went with regardless, though. "Li?" he called eyes on the ceiling. Deep cracks and fissures had appeared, threatening to make the structure come apart just like his cup had. Speaking of… He quickly fixed the dish with his magic and sent it back to the kitchen.

Sothan hadn't come running when the first tremor had struck. Xin suspected he knew why. She must have put him to sleep. She hates interference… and wouldn't want to face down that hammer. Guessing she did the same thing to Novei, from what I'm sensing… but why? Li seemed to be the only other person left conscious. Xin suspected that nothing short of perverse interest on his enemy's part was to blame for that. With that in mind, he tried calling for the younger wolf again, though he suspected pulling his son from Novei's side would be easier said than done. He had never liked using a stern tone with his boy, but it struck him as necessary this time. "Li, come here!"

Li was at his side in an instant, wielding a blade that he carried in both hands. "Who's here?" he quietly demanded, looking to Xin for answers. "Do you know?"

"A vampire named Cyca," Xin muttered. "She is deeply evil and fancies herself a temptress. If you intend on confronting her alongside me, you must be on your guard. She is stronger than she seems."

The younger of the two wolves gave a short nod, gripping his weapon tighter. "I'll follow your lead."

Xin let out a soft vampiric hiss of irritation. "Stay close to me, lad, y'hear?" he said, his accent coming out again as he started walking.

"Got it," Li said, keeping only a few paces from Xin as they moved together.

Almost as soon as they were outside, an attack sailed toward them. A spear of magic, specifically, but Xin caught it in a hand. "Either be serious in yer efforts tae kill me or dunna bother," he called out into the darkness.

Merry laughter preceded Cyca's appearance before them. "Oh, come now. I was only playing, Akol. You know how much I adore your blood. Can't I see just a little, for old time's sake?" Xin glared and shattered the spear without a word.

An arrow soared past Cyca's face, Li having summoned a new weapon into his hand while Xin spoke. "Get away from here. You're not welcome at this forge."

"And why not?" Cyca pouted. "It isn't as though the rightful owner of it has voiced any complaints. Not that he can right now, of course. I made sure of that."

"I'm the God of the Forge," Li replied, tone hardening a bit. He'd learned a few things from his time with Cere and the others. "And I'm outright demanding that you leave this place. It may have been his, but I am in charge of it now." In the midst of his words, he nocked another arrow, daring her to move.

Cyca responded by childishly sticking her tongue out at them. Then she tried to unleash a magical explosion under Li's feet. Xin held out a hand and stopped it. "Yer pressing yer luck," he muttered. "Leave now or I'll send ye home in pieces."

Li readied his arrow, nostrils flared. Don't waver in the slightest. Show no weakness, not to your enemies. That's what you'd say, right, Cere? "My final warning. Leave. I don't like bloodshed, but I'll make sure you get a firsthand experience with my workmanship."

"Oh, you don't like it?" Cyca grinned. "Good." In a flash, she'd disappeared - purely due to how fast she'd decided to move. Xin followed suit with a growl. While she tried to take the sudden fight straight into the forge, he forced her relentlessly back until they were too far away to easily endanger the two unconscious occupants.

Rather than keep trying to fight with a bow, Li changed to a large hammer, bringing it down with all of the strength Sothan would have at Cyca. She dodged, laughing all the while, and blew a kiss at them both. That simple act created an explosion of magic that Xin had to again quell to prevent it from hitting his son. Then he and Cyca again disappeared from sight as they traded blows. He had never been a fighter prior to being turned (and not just due to his lack of powers), but he was certainly holding his own here.

While Li was far from as fast and capable in a fight as many of his comrades were, he made up for it with intelligence, ingenuity, and some brute strength. A pair of metallic boots appeared on his feet and suddenly he was in the fray, appearing behind Cyca to pin her between them both. Xin, meanwhile, was rubbing furiously at his cheek for reasons that were unclear - right up until he spoke. "Yer a sick fecking piece of shite!" he spat, still trying to wipe away all traces of her unwanted kiss.

"I aim to please," Cyca laughed unrepentantly. She kicked Li off of her and casually floated a short distance away. "You have not changed a bit, Akol. That pleases me more than words can express. I merely sought to express that in a more personal fashion. Is that so wrong?"

"Feckin' arsehole," Xin muttered under his breath. His pupils had narrowed somewhat in response to his anger, but he was very much still in control of himself.

Li was unbothered by being kicked off, tilting a staff in her direction that sent a lightning bolt at her. "You stay the hell away from my father!"

Cyca managed to dodge out of the way, but only just. He'd finally caught her by surprise. "Well now, that was new. And unexpected." Her grin soon returned. "Nothing less from the son of my personal greatest rival, hm?"

When she started to approach, Xin positioned himself in between them. "Back off," he growled. "Yer askin' fer far more trouble than ye seem to grasp."

Li felt an unusual anger welling up inside of him. The last time he'd felt this… was when he'd lost his family. He was normally never angry. "One. Fucking. Warning. Get lost or I promise there won't be anything left of you."

If anything, Cyca grew even more amused. "My, you both even look the same when angry. Can you get any more entertaining?" She raised a hand and blasted them both backward, focusing much more power on Xin than on Li. This time, she made sure he bled. "Act upon your threats, or else cease making them. I much prefer actions over words."

The only hesitation Li was willing to show was taking a long, deep breath. As furious as he was, losing his cool wouldn't help. Instead, he stood and summoned gauntlets onto his hands, much like the ones he'd made for Sein oh so long ago. He appeared next to her and released a hellish blast of flames from one hand, ones made to melt even the most resilient of metals in existence.

While Cyca focused on dodging, Xin conjured intense fire magic into his hand. With a wince, he pressed it into the gaping wound on his stomach, cauterizing it so that it couldn't continue to bleed all over the place. Then he stood up and loosed the rest of his fire on Cyca. She retaliated with her own fire, causing their attacks to slam into one another in a sort of blazing standoff. With another growl, he poured more power into the attack. This forced her to jump out of the way, lest she be burnt to a crisp. Her back didn't escape injury, but she was otherwise unscathed. Now Xin's pupils were little more than thin slits.

Li watched this and slammed a hand into the ground, erecting a pillar of earth under where her feet would land while throwing a hammer with his magic. This caused her to whoop and holler in dark joy, no doubt as a result of her love for battle, as she threw up a barrier to defend herself. When the hammer plowed through that, she settled on teleporting out of the way. "You boys are a riot. Getting so angry over every little thing I say or do makes you very entertaining. Especially you, Akol. I seem to recall you being mellower than this. Does that mean the rumors are true, then? Did little Fen finally kick the bucket?"

Xin said nothing. His expression didn't change. However, he raised a hand and unleashed a powerful destruction magic spell upon her, one that threatened to utterly tear her apart until she finally freed herself. All he said at that point was a muttered, "Fecker," under his breath.

The younger of the two wolves shook and raised a hand, calling upon his own magic. Unlike his vampiric father, he had creation magic as part of his role - which, of course, meant it was typically reserved for forge work. He used that to enclose her in a strong cage before she could fully free herself from his father's spell. "Shut your damn mouth."

"And why should I?" she challenged casually with a smirk. "I speak only the truth. It isn't my fault that his temper can't seem to handle it."

Li went to speak, to shout in anger, but he was cut off by one of the newest additions to the deities. Cyril appeared between them all and snapped a finger, properly trapping Cyca in a powerful barrier of rainbow-colored magic. "Hey, woah, what happened here?" His gaze shifted and he looked to Xin, who he knew as Akol, then over to Li. "You two okay?"

This question caused Xin to briefly bare his fangs in anger, hissing somewhat loudly to vent some of that emotion. It was an instinctual display, nothing more. Then he turned his head away. "We're fine," he bit out. As was his habit, he made an effort to hide his accent and change his pronunciation of words back to what was "normal" for most people. He didn't often had any desire to fight to make his words understood through his native accent, and her certainly didn't have the patience for it now.

"I'll handle healing you both in a second," Cyril said, turning to Cyca with his arms crossed tightly. "If you say anything or do anything dumb, just know I will bind you and your whole being to some random asteroid for a few hours." She only grinned at him, her eyes wild with amusement. Cyril shivered a little, plainly weirded out by her before walking over to Xin with a hand outstretched. "Try to cool off. Let me take care of that wound."

Xin said nothing, just crossed his own arms and let Cyril do his thing. He may have been in possession of many magics, but self-healing ones weren't among them. So he was prepared to be practical. Cyril handled the wounds he'd sustained most of the way, saving some of his energy to allow them to heal naturally (somewhat) so he could also handle Li's. Luckily, it wasn't anywhere near as bad as Xin's.

Li looked over at his father, then glanced to Cyca. "What should we do about her?"

"Cut her loose," Xin growled, "away from here. If we keep her, her leader will come. He is far more dangerous and I cannot handle him on my own."

Cyril waved a hand and whisked Cyca to the furthest end of the universe from where they stood, sighing a little. Thankfully, I didn't have to do anything worse… "If you guys need any help anytime, just call for me. I'm always down for helping others."

Xin gave a curt nod in reply. Some of his vampiric aura, the one that caused terror and dread and other horrendous emotions in others, escaped its bonds. He caught himself and quelled the aura before it had a chance to linger and make the effects any worse. Despite this (along with his continuing anger), he managed to keep his words polite and his tone level. "Thank you."

While Li shivered as a result of that aura, Cyril blinked and simply stood there. For reasons unknown, the finch wasn't affected by Xin's aura. At least, not this time. "You're welcome. You guys need help fixing this area up, or should I head off?"

"I will handle it," Xin said, looking away. He twitched a finger. Magic swirled and began repairing the damage around them.

Cyril, being himself, waved his own finger and sped up the process, watching as the area was restored to its previous condition. "Alright. Now that that's done, I'll get out of here. If you guys need somewhere to go where she can't find you all, just let me know."

"She will find us regardless," Xin grumbled, "but your offer is appreciated."

The finch winced a little at the idea. "Alright. Best of luck to you guys, then." He vanished in a rainbow-y flash of magic, leaving the two to themselves.

Once he was gone, Xin sighed. "We should get back. Novei and Sothan should begin waking up soon."

Li looked Xin over for a moment, then gently grabbed one of his hands. "Hey, are you alright? She said a lot of awful things."

Xin shook his head, more out of lingering irritability than a desire to say "no" or anything similar. "I'll be alright," he answered, giving Li's hand a reassuring squeeze. "Knowing who and how she is, I should have prepared for the sorts of remarks she wound up making. I didn't, but I'll be fine in a short while."

"If she shows up and puts anyone in danger like that again, she's not going to live," Li murmured. "I'm not going to let anyone talk to my father like that, much less put my family in danger."

Finally, Xin found it in himself to smile just a bit. It wasn't as forced as one might have expected, despite all of his remaining anger. Although he was calming down, his pupils remained thin slits. "Hopefully it won't come to that." he said. "In the meantime, I insist you go check on Novei. I will check on your uncle."

Li nodded a little and led the way to the door, tugging Xin along behind him for a moment. "Alright." Xin simply teleported them back inside and gently nudged Li toward the place where Novei had been temporarily put down.

It was only a few seconds before Novei groaned and forced herself up onto her feet. She looked around and crossed her arms, visibly irritated. "What the hell happened?"

Li rubbed the back of his head. "Some vampire showed up and tried to mess with me and Dad. We fought her for a bit, but ultimately someone else showed up and drove her away."

Novei leaned in and sniffed Li, something that immediately threw him for a loop. "You smell like flames… and magic. You actually fought?"

Li rolled his eyes a little. "Yeah, I did. I wasn't gonna let some person mess up my family that I just got back."

While Li and Novei were talking, Xin (his pupils still thin slits and not yet returning to normal) went to check on Sothan as he'd said he would. He wasn't worried. Not initially, at any rate. But it was only now that he was inside that he realized Cyca seemed to have hidden all but the other man's aura from other peoples' senses. Xin couldn't smell him at all. He couldn't smell him even slightly.

Alarmed, Xin quickened his pace and rushed into the forge itself. It took a second to find Sothan laying behind one of the tables, unconscious and bleeding but showing signs of coming around. The blood rattled Xin for more than one reason as he knelt beside the other man. The thought of his brother-in-law actually being hurt had never entered his mind, since he'd never personally seen Sothan be genuinely threatened by anything. Not ever.

Then there was the abrupt realization Xin had just made. One that, in some ways, was even worse. Suddenly, he was struggling to control his aura again. This is a horrible time to get hungry… Gritting his teeth, he vied for calmness and tried to focus on checking on Sothan's wounds. Much to his relief, it appeared she really had just put Sothan to sleep like she had with Novei, just a little deeper, and had only cut him up a bit afterward. The lack of any defensive wounds proved Sothan had been unconscious by that point. And she'd hidden this from everyone's senses, leaving it there to eventually be stumbled upon… why? Xin wasn't sure.

Maybe she was hoping his control would lapse. To her, that would have been endlessly funny. Namely because of how goddamn upset he'd be after the fact. But he'd told Sothan he had control and that his hunger wouldn't endanger anyone here, and he'd meant it. He certainly had enough control to force himself to stand, wrench his gaze away from the blood, and walk stiffly out of the room to find Li.

It didn't take long to find the younger wolf and, of course, Novei. Xin was glad that she was okay. However, that gladness wasn't enough to overcome the issues he was currently having with his aura, hunger levels, and anger. He was audibly tense when he addressed his son. "Sothan will be fine. I need to… leave for a short time."

Novei walked forward before Li could speak, narrowing her gaze. "You're comin' back after you get yourself under control, right?"

Xin started to reflexively bare his fangs at her, but caught his mistake and made himself stop. "Yes," he answered as patiently as he could manage. "I am not staying gone."

"Good. You got a lot of shit to teach me," she huffed, waving him off. "Go handle it. If that whore comes back, I'll crack her skull open."

Xin believed he had enough control left in him to take a moment to seek clarification. Still, he needed to take a deep breath first. "What are you wanting me to teach you?"

"Vampire shit," Novei grumbled. "Just go. That aura leaking out pisses me off and it's gonna make shit worse." In the end, Xin had nothing to say to that. He was quick to teleport away.

It was difficult to focus on anything but the desire to feed. Rarely did it ever strike him this hard and this fast anymore, to the point where he was struggling to keep a level head. Admittedly, he wasn't in complete control anymore. When he left Li and reappeared on a planet that acted as a common hunting ground for vampires, he caught sight of potential prey almost straight away. Remembering that this was a person and not just food was too difficult to manage right now.

What happened next was a bit of a blur, but he was aware of some things. Melting into the shadows, he bowed to his instincts and stalked his prey for a short distance. Only once they were alone did he strike. Lunging out of the darkness, he grabbed hold of his prey and slammed them backward against a wall. There, they were pinned and he sank his fangs into skin.

In the end, he had his meal. The victim had been nearly drained of blood and now lay dead at his feet. Apparently he had been significantly hungrier than he'd realized. His lack of appetite and subsequent lack of feeding recently had chosen now of all times to catch up to him. Damn it all. He wiped some blood off of his mouth with the back of his hand.

The urge to continue his hunt was still there. Feeding hadn't helped as much as it ordinarily would have. But… he could keep a lid on it now. His hunger had been sated. Any and all desire to kill and drink at this point was born out of anger. For vampires, that was an emotion that all too easily transformed into murderous attacks, which could in turn escalate into a killing frenzy if left unchecked. The brief mental argument he had with Ghune while thinking about all of this wasn't helping, but he knew better than to lash out over it. So while he certainly wanted to let loose and kill a few more people or things to vent his emotions, he wasn't willing to set foot down that path. He had a family to return to. More than anything else, he focused on that.

Once he felt he'd sufficiently cooled off, resulting in his pupils finally returning to normal, he teleported back to Li and the others as promised. He was calmer and had a clearer head, meaning no longer a ticking time bomb of sorts. Sothan was thankfully up and around again by this time and didn't seem to be any worse for wear. Xin was relieved to see this. Everyone's fine, then. Good.

Sothan looked his way. He looked just as relieved, but also justifiably upset. It made sense. This wasn't a man who had ever appreciated being messed around with. "Alright?" he asked quietly, glancing at the bit of red on Xin's hand.

"I'm okay," Xin confirmed. He made sure to clean his hand off now that he knew he'd slipped up and left that smear behind. That it had slipped his mind at all was a bit annoying, but not a huge deal to him. "Just had to take care of something." Sothan nodded. It appeared that he understood what Xin was actually saying.

Once more, Novei spoke up before Li could. In fact, he was not in the same area right now. "You feeling better?"

"Yes," Xin confirmed. "As I said, I'm okay." He noticed Li's absence immediately and just as quickly grew worried. I'm more concerned with how he is after all of this.

Novei wasn't the best with emotions, but she could see concern. "He's in his room, most likely. Check on him."

Needless to say, he didn't need her permission. Still, Xin took it and nodded. "I will be back," he mumbled, already on his way to where Li was. When he reached the room in question, he hesitated for a moment before knocking. "Li…?"

Luckily, the door was open. Li glanced up from where he was sitting on his bed, blinking once. "Oh, hey. Glad you're back." He gave a small smile, motioning for Xin to come in.

Xin did so and sat down next to his son. "Are you alright?" he immediately asked, taking in the expression on Li's face. "You look more than a wee bit bothered by what went on earlier."

"More so just the fighting," Li answered, shrugging a little. "I'm not much of a fighter, even if I've got all the skills for it. I know we had to fight back, but still…"

"Aye, always been a peaceful soul," Xin murmured. "There's nothing wrong with that, Li. Just take yer time and recover from it however ye can. That's all anyone can do."

Li passed a smile to Xin, carrying the same softness he'd always had. "'Course. It just always shakes me up a bit. Guess Novei hasn't really seen much of it, yet."

"She did seem a mite concerned," Xin agreed. "Not too much so, but enough to notice it."

"Yeah," Li replied. "She's not the most emotional, so the little bits of feelings she has that are not anger are pretty genuine."

"That's what I've gathered," Xin said. "Ye might want to reassure her that yer doing alright, once ye feel up to it."

Li nodded to this. It was reasonable enough. "I will. Just wanted a minute to cool off." Xin returned the nod. He understood completely, especially given how much cooling off he himself had needed to do not five minutes before. Li soon stood and stretched for a second, working the tension out of his muscles. "I'm all good now. I can go talk to her."

Hearing that, Xin also stood. "Alright. I'll walk with ye, then. I have a question fer her at any rate."

Li shrugged. "Fair enough." He walked out of the room, approaching Novei (who was using a blade on a random piece of metal she'd found). "Hey, you okay?"

Novei lifted up the metal and showed him the engraving she'd created. Li didn't quite understand but, to Xin, it was obviously a sort of runic symbol. Xin raised an eyebrow. "What're ye up to?" he inquired, hoping the unpredictable woman wouldn't take offense.

"Making something for the first time in a bit," Novei replied. "Been a while since I made shit like this, since I usually just bash people or cut them in half. Also haven't had access to magic-inclined metal."

Despite her unusual wording there, Xin understood what she meant. "Ah." He decided to leave it at that for now and hang back so that Li could talk to her. He leaned back against a wall with crossed arms and gazed off at some indeterminate spot off to the left, rapidly losing himself in thought.

The younger of the wolves inspected her creation for a moment, then decided to address his own question again. "You alright? Haven't seen you do much of this sort of thing." She seems kinda nervous?

Novei blinked and tilted her head. "You seem fine now, so I am okay."

Li frowned a little in thought, but ultimately accepted her words. "Yeah, I'm doing better. Just needed a minute to cool off after all of that."

"You are not a fighter," Novei observed. "Never have been. Fighting will always disturb your emotions."

"Yeah," Li admitted, moving to take a seat beside her. "But, like you said. I'm fine now."

A little sound escaped Novei and she continued her work on the piece of metal with Li watching. Eventually, Novei turned and looked over at his father. "Hey, Xin. You're hanging around. Got a question?"

Golden eyes blinked, then slid her way. Xin seemed to debate the merits of actually voicing his question before just coming out with it. "You weren't serious earlier, were you? About wanting me to teach you things."

"I was," Novei replied.

"What are you expecting to learn from me?" Xin asked. "I'm no teacher. And aside from that, most vampiric skills are best not passed on to others."

"Unsure," Novei replied, shrugging. "I figured there was plenty to learn from vampires. I don't need a teacher, just someone with information."

Xin considered this. "So long as you respect what I say I must not teach you, then I suppose it'll be fine."

Novei nodded. "I assumed it would be. Passing on knowledge isn't difficult if someone is receptive."

"Mm, generally, yes. Either way, we can get started later. For now…" With an idle flick of his fingers, he conjured up more magical metals for her to work with, all stacked in neat piles in the corner. "Feel free to take any of those as you wish to work on. It will give you something to keep busy with."

She blinked once, looking at the stack. "I see."

Since he hadn't been expecting much in the way of a response, Xin was unperturbed by the one he got. He shifted his gaze to Li and spoke, ultimately addressing both of them but more so his son. "That woman we fought earlier… As I said, her name is Cyca. She is part of a trio of vampires that once wrought havoc upon many, even their own kind. Her leader, of sorts, is a man named Zsasha, who along with a third vampire named Lior was recently revived as well. If any vampires come anywhere near you that aren't me or Ghune, you are not to engage with them, is that understood? They will kill you if you give them a chance."

Li slowly nodded. It was far more serious than he had expected all of a sudden, but it was reasonable still. "I understand. If any vampires approach, I'll leave and take Sothan and Novei with me."

Xin looked away, willing himself not to get worked up again. "If it comes to that, run straight to Cere and the others. They can cover you long enough for Ghune or I to intervene."

They're strong enough that Cere alone might not be able to take them down? Li thought to himself quietly. "I will do exactly that."

"Good." Xin sighed, then pushed off the wall. "I'm going to go take care of those gashes Cyca left on your uncle. You two just try to relax, alright?"

Novei waved him off. "Working on it already."

Li nudged her for saying something in such a rude manner, and the two quietly bickered under their breath about the matter. Xin shook his head with a bit of a smile as he strode out of the room. You certainly did find yourself someone interesting, Li.

~保護者~

With both sisters working together, it didn't take too much time overall to locate Saethrim's latest hideaway. Calypso took Tempest's hand when they landed outside the building, urging her both verbally and not to be careful. "Keep your voice low and be calm," she warned softly. "T'e creature Black Doom be in t'ere. Saet'rim say he be torture. We not know how he gonna react if we be loud and animated."

Tempest gave a little groan, as if annoyed. "Fine, lead t'e way." She didn't quite expect to have picked up the accent again, but she quickly wrote it off as having spent too much time with Calypso lately. The woman had a distinct effect on her, after all.

Calypso led the way inside as quietly as possible. When Black Doom noticed, his hackles instantly raised. He reflexively snarled and started to lunge toward the pair before catching himself. He forced himself to back off instead, still growling loudly, and positioned himself mostly behind Saethrim but with several feet of space between them. Calypso, meanwhile, lowered herself down into a non-threatening sitting position in the entryway. She tugged Tempest down with her. Tempest resisted for a solid few seconds, but ultimately went down as well.

Saethrim gave a small sigh and turned to Black Doom, kneeling down. "Hey, these two are okay. I'm in a relationship with the thinner one, and the bigger one is her sister. They won't put you in any danger, okay?" Black Doom just growled some more and laid down, refusing to acknowledge the words.

"We will stay over here," Calypso said. "It not our intention to fully intrude. I just want to see t'at you still alright, Saet'rim. That be all."

Saethrim just nodded a little at this, looking between Calypso and Black Doom. "Probably best you guys stay there anyway."

Tempest crossed her arms, turning her head. "He's not himself, yeah?" Calypso nodded slowly in reply.

Saethrim nodded again. "Calypso probably mentioned it, but he dealt with a lot of bullshit for the past little while. Way more than any one being could reasonably stand up to."

"Him look like a Tokarian now," Calypso said. "Why is t'at? 'Tis not his race."

"He can shapeshift, in a way. His body gains new forms in order to adapt to certain situations and predicaments, kinda like he's evolving. It's a new form of his," Saethrim said simply.

Calypso blinked. Being from as low-tech (in some respects, anyway) and war-focused society as she was, she hadn't had much in the way of education and the like. Not about things that weren't mystical, magical, or combat-related anyway. The concept of evolution was something she only had a cursory awareness of. Still, she did her best to grasp what he was telling her. "I t'ink I understand."

"He changes his body to survive," Tempest explained vaguely.

"I say I get it," Calypso huffed. "You no believe me?"

"No," Tempest replied easily. "You said 'I t'ink'."

Before any genuine sisterly squabbling could start up, Black Doom randomly snarled again. Only once their arguing ceased did he fall silent a second time. Calypso heeded his warning and let her annoyance fade away. "Alright, fine, you right. Let us not argue here. It not wise."

Tempest scoffed, but ultimately dropped the argument in favor of not causing more problems. "So, you're stuck around here with him, aye?"

"Saet'rim is like him fat'er," Calypso recalled aloud based on the things she'd been told in the past. "Black Doom trust him. I see it in him eyes. It a look every good parent come to know. Whet'er Saet'rim ready or not, he have two son to care for. T'ey look up to him and depend on him. It him job to be t'ere for t'em always, t'rough t'ick and t'in. Of course he stay." She looked away, shaking her head softly. "He need Saet'rim more now t'an ever before… even if he no realize it yet. It better t'at t'ey together."

"I'm right here, ya know," Saethrim huffed, rolling his eyes at her.

"And I not talking to you," she huffed back. None of her annoyance was genuine. "I only be answering her question."

Tempest simply nodded. It all made sense, but she ultimately had very little reason to care. "Got it."

Calypso gave her sister's hand a squeeze to silently remind her not to say anything rude due to that lack of care. Then, turning back to Saethrim, she asked, "How you bot' be doing? Neit'er of you look well."

"There's a lot going on, and I can't be involved in any of it." This was the first time he showed his signs of anxiousness, shifting his muscles just to keep them moving around. "Ghune's in danger, and I have to guard Black Doom because of everything that happened."

"What happening?" Calypso frowned.

"Three of her stronger enemies were revived," Saethrim replied. "I've told you briefly about Zsasha in the past."

Her frown grew deeper in thought. "T'at vampire?"

"And two others," Saethrim added. "Which is bad."

"And you t'ink it put her in danger?" Calypso asked. "Ghune be stong, like you."

"Zsasha is as strong as she is, maybe stronger. Not bound by her kind of morality," Saethrim replied. "The other two are cunning and problematic in their own ways and may target her friends."

Calypso clicked her tongue. "T'en t'at be a problem," she had to concede.

Saethrim sighed a bit, then stretched his arms. "If any of them come after Black Doom, they will die. They won't survive an encounter with me, so I'm betting they won't even approach."

She slanted a cautious look at Black Doom, who was watching the interaction with plain distrust in his bright yellow eyes. "T'ey will not survive a fight wit' him, eit'er. I t'ink t'ings will be quiet here, if t'ey as smart as you say."

Saethrim gave a simply nod to this. "Yeah, it likely will be, but that means she's bound to dealing with the brunt of it all. She won't ask for help until things get bad."

"T'en maybe you can contact ot'er ally," Calypso suggested. "People who can help her before she get in too deep."

Assuming she isn't already… Saethrim sighed. "I can try, but I'm not sure who she would allow to help her, and we also have to be careful because vampires have powers that make it difficult for normal people to fight them."

He did have a point, Calypso conceded. "Yes, you right. It just a t'ought."

"It's a good idea," Saethrim replied. "Just has a difficult execution."

"I understand," Calypso replied. She took what was likely a stupidly high risk at that point and directly addressed Black Doom himself. "You will smell it if t'ose people come anywhere near here, yes?" It was probably some sort of miracle that all he did was growl. In fact, that growl almost sounded more like an acknowledgement than a warning this time around. "Good. T'en t'at mean t'is place is truly safe, if bot' of you can sense danger coming. So if I sense t'at Ghune be in trouble and I am able to, which I might not be, I will try to send her here." She looked at Saethrim. "Is t'at alright?"

"Works for me," Saethrim answered. "Better plan than I've got, in any case."

Calypso nodded, then turned to Tempest. "We should go now. Our presence bot'ers t'e Black Doom."

"Thank you," Tempest said, standing up. "No offense, Saethrim, but this isn't how I do things. Been uncomfortable this whole time." This earned a huff from her sister, who also stood.

Saethrim simply nodded. He knew as much. The woman was tense this whole time, so her leaving was actually a welcome change. "Yeah, it's all good. Just take it easy. Let me know if something happens."

"We will," Calypso assured him. "To be clear Saet'rim, I expect you to do t'e same t'ing. No excuses."

"I'll do what I can," Saethrim replied. "I figure it'll be kinda quiet here, and I can only hope."

With another nod, Calypso accepted his answer and turned to Tempest. "Come. Let us return to where we were."

Tempest huffed a bit and snagged Calypso by the wrist, teleporting them both away in an instant. Once they were there, Calypso returned to the couch she'd been asleep on earlier. "You go do whatever you wish," she said. "I t'ink I will try to sleep more."

The bolder of the two Therians simply nodded and walked off, deciding to go bother a particular individual. There was a strong wolf she wanted to speak to, even if only briefly. He was in the actual forge at this time, quietly putting the finishing touches on a weapon he'd been working on throughout the day. There was some blood in his fur from recent injuries, but he was currently unharmed. He also seemed to be lost in thought while doing his work.

"Hey," Tempest said, speaking up. "You're like my daughter's boyfriend. You make shit, right?"

Needless to say, her words drew his attention. He blinked several times and then turned his head to look at her. After a lengthy pause, he explained, "I am his uncle. And yes."

"I wanna learn how this all works," Tempest replied, stepping up beside him with crossed arms.

Sothan sort of watched her for a moment before deciding to speak again. He usually didn't talk much, if at all, to people he didn't know… but he supposed he didn't mind this time. "I'm not especially skilled at explaining how to do this," he admitted. "My skill lies in simply doing it."

Tempest huffed, but she decided to remain patient. "I am no fool. True skill and talent need no words. I wish to observe. Simply tell me what a process does and I will understand."

While considering this, Sothan picked up his latest project and began looking it over. "Why do you want to learn?" he eventually asked.

"I am similar in that a craft is my lifestyle, aside from my habitual murder and slaughter." She didn't elaborate on the second half of her statement, showing the many rings and necklaces that adorned her body. "I created each of these pieces. Some are enchanted."

Now that sparked his interest. Nothing except for crafts could capture his attention quite so strongly. Turning to face her fully, he asked, "If I share my trade with you, will you do the same with yours? I have never personally met a jewelcrafter before. And I believe in equal trades of knowledge generally."

"Only if you'll help me craft a new set of tools," Tempest explained. "I have been unable to acquire higher quality as a result of my demeanor. Finding a reputable smith is also rare. Doing so would also allow you to make a set of your own."

"Deal," Sothan agreed, smiling. "Though, I'd need references in order to make you any tools."

"As if I would not keep mine on me." She produced a rolled up piece of leather with several tools inside, the things looking rudimentary at best. They had obviously been used for quite some time, and it was obvious she took good care of them.

Without waiting for permission, Sothan took the roll from her hands and began looking over its contents. Within seconds, he'd seen all he needed to. He might not have been the God of this forge any longer, but none of the related skill and experience had left him. He knew he could do this quickly and easily. "I'll explain as I go while making these, like you asked," he said, handing her the roll back. "My only warning is to heed my words when I tell you to stand back at times. The forge isn't exactly 'safe'."

Tempest huffed a bit, but ultimately she understood. There were simply some things that she didn't need to bet her life against. "Understood." Satisfied that they were agreed, Sothan got his own tools together and got started. It seemed he already had a new project.

~保護者~

Alana woke gradually from her and Sein's short-lived nap. The reason why was easy to ascertain. At about the time she sat up, T'alo and Laralei walked into the room together. They kept quiet upon seeing Jet's sleeping form (not that they had been loud to begin with) and approached Alana. She was quick to greet them. "Hello, Mother. Hello Grandfather."

Being called "grandfather" so readily, despite the two of them having met once or twice before, seemed to surprise T'alo. But he didn't mention it. "Hello," he murmured back.

Laralei made a chair out of aura and sat in it. "We seem to have missed… some things," she said with a meaningful look into her daughter's eyes.

Somehow, Alana found it within herself to tease. "Yes, you have missed 'some things'," she answered vaguely.

Her mother huffed out a quiet laugh. "Being cheeky will get you nowhere, my child. And besides, that's Sein's 'thing'. If you take it away from him, I am rather afraid that he will have nothing left."

"You better not take my job," Sein suddenly said, sitting upright. "I'd take great offense to that, and will not have my wife be the one to do it."

"Oh, come now," Laralei laughed. "I was only teasing, Sein."

He crossed his arms and narrowed his gaze. "I can't trust this," he joked.

"Would you trust it if I asked you very sweetly to?" Alana teased him.

"Nope," Sein replied with a huff. Alana stuck her tongue out at him,

"Now, now, children," Laralei smiled. "No bickering in front of the queen, a former one though I may be." As she spoke, T'alo gazed silently over Jet's sleeping form, offering no comments. He didn't seem to be completely comfortable with his surroundings, the technology, the people, none of it. Given how isolated his lifelong home had been in the past and his subsequent limited exposure to such new things prior to now, it made sense to Alana why this was the case. She thought it best not to comment on it to him.

It happened that he completely changed the subject when he spoke up, anyway. "Has something happened that we should be worried about?" he asked in a thick accent, his eyes on Jet, "This… 'facility' is a place for healing, is it not?" He seemed to take a second to consider whether the word he'd used was the right one. Ultimately, he left his statement as it was.

Sein gave a bit of a sigh. "He went through a lot and experienced a lapse of control with one of his powers… That's one of the best ways to explain it. He was emotional and exhausted, but a friend of his got him calmed to let him get some rest. " He understood the man's worry, how couldn't he? This was Sein's son they were talking about. Still… trying to explain it all right now was more than he was ready for. My grandkids…

T'alo nodded slowly, his eyes darkening. When he said nothing more, Alana reached over to Sein and squeezed his shoulder. "Are you alright?" she asked him within their minds. She was keeping more of a lid on it, but she was feeling the very same pain.

"It's okay." Sein replied. It was a lie, but he didn't want to cry. For now, he wanted to remain strong. "Thank you."

Alana subtly nodded just as Laralei said, "In that case, we can leave you all be. I just wanted to check on everyone and get this one," she jerked a thumb at T'alo, "out of his room for a while. We were going to bug Kath, but he's flitted off who knows where."

"Hunt him down," Sein said. "Make sure we know where he is, and that he knows Jet's here. He needs to be around with Jet."

"I think he intends to be," Laralei soothed. "Chances are that he just got wrapped up in something. You know how he is. He will be here for all three of you, even if it doesn't happen on our schedules."

Sein went to reply to this, his concern still apparent in his aura, before sensing a presence that was familiar. Arkiri appeared in the room, the man looking over at the bed and frowning. "Seems like a lot went down that I haven't been around for."

"Oh, hey, Arkiri," Laralei greeted. Then she said, "Some things have definitely happened, yes, though I'm not at liberty to explain most of it."

Arkiri gave a small nod to this, understanding why. "I see. I suppose that in this company, I may explain what has happened with me as of late."

That caught Alana's attention. "Is something the matter?" Aside from… what we already know happened to you.

He took a second to think his way through the words he would use before explaining, "I was approached by someone with the opportunity to become the God of Life. I accepted."

Alana straightened. "You-... You what?"

Arkiri nodded gently. "As of the moment of that decision, I am the God of Life."

"Well, that's- Wow." Sein's speechlessness managed to make Laralei almost chuckle despite her own genuine shock.

"It is a very unusual change in my life, but I believe it will be for the best," the owl replied, smiling. "It has given me something to do with my time."

"Such a role certainly is… fitting for you," Alana said thoughtfully. "Though I confess I had never considered such a thing before. However, does this mean that the previous deity is gone? Or was their role somehow stripped from them?"

"I believe they were killed," Arkiri admitted softly. "However, I know little of their fate."

This made Alana frown and she looked at Jet. This is not good. He spoke of that person like a friend once before. He will not take it well if they indeed died.

Sein crossed his arms softly, frowning. "If that's the case, we should try to figure out more about what happened. It would be best to stop this from continuing, if it's going to be a problem."

"Agreed," Alana murmured. "I will look into it once Jet is awake and we know he is calm, at least for the time being." Something else abruptly occurred to her then, and she continued. "Grandfather, Arkiri, it occurs to me that proper introductions have not been made. The young man on the bed is our son, Jet. I don't believe either of you have met him before."

T'alo blinked several times. He had assumed, based on the boy's green plumage, that he was related to Laralei… but only now was he paying enough attention to notice the traces of Kath's aura in him as well. So I have a great-grandchild as well… I will have to get on you later for not thinking to mention that to me, Kath. Knowing what "Jet" was a translation of from the standard ancient dialect of ancient Babylonian, he glanced at Sein. "He shares your name?"

Sein beamed at T'alo, obviously a bit proud of such despite how he'd been feeling up until now. "Yup."

Arkiri chuckled a bit at this. "That's sweet."

This made Alana smile softly. "You could stand to be less smug about it," she teased her husband. Laralei shook her head in amusement.

The man in question simply shrugged. "I've got every reason to be smug." Arkiri, much like Laralei, was simply amused by all of this.

Alana lightly smacked her husband's arm, then shifted her attention to Arkir. "I do not mean to change subjects so abruptly, but have you seen my father? It seems he managed to disappear again. Mother was unable to find him."

Arkiri tilted his head briefly, then shook his head. "I saw him somewhat recently in his observatory, but the fact that he was unable to be found tells me that he is somewhere else. I am fairly certain I could seek him out."

"Would you mind terribly?" Alana asked him. "You and Mother seem to be the most skilled at ferreting him out, and Sein and I wish to remain with Jet for now."

"I would not mind in the slightest," Arkiri replied with a smile. "I will seek him out momentarily." He shortly grew distant, as if focusing on something else entirely. In the meantime, Laralei pulled up a chair for herself and motioned for T'alo to do the same. He politely waved her off. Seconds later, Arkiri spoke up, a slight frown on his face. "I do not sense him anywhere in a normal reasonable vicinity."

Laralei frowned. "That could spell trouble. Did anyone notice any sort of danger?"

"No," Sein replied, pursing his lips. "Unless it was Nareish, we usually would've sensed something happening."

There was a sort of… ripple. One that Alana barely sensed and certainly couldn't see. She almost hadn't noticed it at all. It had originated from the end of the hall, unless she was mistaken. "Speaking of sensing things, Sein, did you notice that?" Sein, meanwhile, was already on his feet and moving to investigate the source. Alana was quick to follow, followed by Laralei and T'alo.

"I'm going to suppose this is the family trait," Arkiri murmured under his breath, following in tow. It was always like him to suddenly appear when it was most convenient… One way or another. T'alo shot him a questioning look.

Before long, they'd reached the double doors leading into the observatory. Laralei pulled them open in time to see Kath picking himself irritably off of the ground and dusting himself off. She put her hands on her hips, eyebrows raised. "Been traveling, have we?"

"It was quite unintentional, I can assure you," Kath muttered in answer.

Arkiri chuckled softly at this. "At least you seem to be intact and in decent health."

"Lucky for him," Laralei huffed. "I'd have had to hurt him if he'd gotten himself killed. Where did you run off to, anyway?"

"I didn't 'run off'," Kath retorted, still audibly irritated. "And I have no idea where I wound up. Only that it wasn't familiar."

Sein shrugged. "Arkiri had a good point, though. You seem alright, and you're back here. Big relief for me."

It was quiet for just a second before Alana spoke up. "Father, did you just… time travel?"

That earned a sigh. "It seems most likely." His confession made his irritation make sudden sense. Continuing to not have proper control over his power wouldn't not bother him, especially when it caused this sort of thing to happen.

Arkiri approached Kath and inspected him briefly. "It would seem that you were somewhere quite distant from here, based on the lingering bits of energy I sense on you."

"As I said, I don't know," Kath answered.

His continuing irritability and slightly sharpening tone caused T'alo to issue a quiet warning. "Salone, enough," he murmured, using Kath's last name. Kath just looked away with another huff.

A smile broke on the owl's face and he stepped back from Kath. "Take a few minutes to cool off from all of that, then we can discuss more about where you ended up and what you saw. I may be able to give you a clue, if it was in the past."

Kath shook his head. "If I did wind up in another time, it was not the past. The technology was more advanced than it could have been in any previous era."

Arkiri chuckled. "Then I suppose my usefulness is gone from the equation."

More likely than not, Kath would have mentioned it by now if he'd witnessed anything important. So Alana decided that he hadn't. "I suppose it does not matter," she said. "The important thing is that you are back now."

"That's entirely true," Sein agreed wholeheartedly. "Glad you're alright."

"Come, let us return to Jet," Alana said to Sein. "Father, will you come sit with all of us for a while? He is back in the medical ward for the time being, and we could use the company."

Irritation immediately gave way to the concern Kath always had for his family, prompting him to look over at them again. "Is he alright?" Once Alana had explained the whole story again, he didn't hesitate to agree. "Alright."

Arkiri decided to teleport himself as opposed to walking, simply out of curiosity to see if he could manage it properly. Sein immediately felt concern and appeared next to the man, who had accidentally teleported on top of an empty bed and fell over onto it. The rest of the family soon arrived. Kath in particular went ahead and took Arkiri's arm to help him up. "Are you alright?" he asked, less worried and more amused at his adoptive father's slip-up. His previous bad mood had been properly cut through, it would seem.

The man laughed off his mistake, dropping down from the bed with Kath's help. "Yeah, I'm fine. I can get the teleportation thing, but every now and then I slip up just a little. Never thought it'd be this precise."

"It is highly precise," Kath answered, "as I tried to explain to you when I was younger. I believe you should have listened better."

Arkiri could only laugh again at his "misfortune", such as it was. "Who would have thought that an ordinary mortal such as I would have ever needed to learn such. I suppose that is my own shortcoming, though, as you have mentioned."

"So long as you are done being clumsy," Kath huffed, "it should be fine." He released Arkiri's arm and claimed an empty chair for himself. Laralei chuckled at them both and returned to her earlier seat.

"Ah, perhaps. I may choose to return to this state of being, however, especially if it is misfortunate for you." The owl stood for the time being, if only to preserve the space around Jet. He understood what it was like to wake up with a crowd. It was that assertion that finally earned a sound of amusement from T'alo. Namely, a soft snort that came out when he tried to stifle a laugh. Arkiri couldn't help the sound he made in return, a bit more of a snicker than anything else.

Alana, meanwhile, walked over to Jet and laid a hand on his shoulder. She leaned over him for a moment, watching, before calling quietly to her partner. "Sein, I believe he might be trying to wake up."

Sein nodded gently to this. "He will. Let him see you first, this time. I'm always right up next to him when he wakes."

"That you are, you spotlight-hog," Alana smiled. "Must you only rarely leave room for me?"

"I figure you only need the spotlight like, one in every one-hundred times something important happens," Sein replied cheekily, grinning.

"Brat," Alana said, smiling a bit wider. "Truly, you are one."

"Only for you," Sein answered easily.

Too busy trying not to laugh for her to reply, Alana just sat down on the edge of Jet's bed. She was grateful for the fact that everyone's spirits had been lifted somehow. Now it was just a matter of waiting for her son to awaken so that he could be comforted as well. He was going to need all the help he could get. And she was determined to give it to him.

~保護者~

Shadow caught himself unintentionally dozing after startling awake when Elize kicked him in her sleep. He rubbed at his eyes with the heels of his palms and then turned his head to look at his daughters. Both were sound asleep, Lia more so than Elize. However, Elize seemed to be waking up like he had. Picking her up didn't lull her back to sleep like it had all the times before, instead serving to wake her up further. She whimpered and fussed and opened her eyes for the first time since her birth. They locked right onto his own gaze, prompting tears to form and tiny hands to reach up toward him.

Holding her closer, he tried to discern the nature of her current upset. She grabbed tight fistfuls of his fur as she squirmed and cried, instinctively seeking further closeness as a means of comfort. His own instincts were getting amped up by his inability to calm her down. He suspected the cause of this fuss was hunger, but he still had no idea how to feed her. Had she taken after her chameleon heritage in this area? It was worth checking out. With that in mind, he headed to the kitchen with the baby in tow and started getting some juice ready.

It was around this time that Ghune appeared inside of the home, pausing briefly when she finally caught sight of Shadow with Elize. "Hm. Are you well?"

Crimson eyes glanced at her. "Well enough," Shadow answered. Elize, meanwhile, continued to squirm and cry as babies did.

Honing her senses on the baby, Ghune felt her gaze soften a little. She reached within her cloak and produced a vial of blood, something she felt the need to spare. "If she has taken after her vampiric side, this will soothe her hunger. It will also aid since she assuredly has taken on her Black Arms traits."

Shadow blinked. "She was… prevented, somehow, from inheriting any vampiric DNA. Someone calling himself 'Rusen' ensured it." He didn't refute the rest of what she said, though, since it was accurate. Instead, he focused on seeing if Elize would drink any of the small amount of juice he'd made. She spat the couple droplets out and kicked at him again in a fit of tiny rage.

How did I miss such a simple detail? Ghune asked herself, watching the baby quietly. I am stressed. I had almost forgotten this feeling amidst the fury and sorrows as of late. "I came to give you a warning."

"I'm listening," Shadow answered, frowning. He teleported a couple droplets of blood out of her vial and tested to see if Elize would take that instead. Like before, she spat it out and grew more upset.

"A few reminders of my past were returned to life very recently. My suspicion is Nareish, and if so… you may well be in danger. I do not believe two of them will even attempt to bother you, but one may. His name is Zsasha. If someone comes by who is a vampire and you do not recognize them, leave immediately with the children. Are you able to teleport to Babylon?"

"I can manage," Shadow answered unhappily. "However, I would have to assume that your enemies could likewise handle traveling such a distance."

"But doing so would put them in reach of four Immortals," Ghune explained, "Five, including yourself. That's suicide. They are not stupid enough to make such a foolish mistake."

"Those other Immortals have been… indisposed," Shadow explained in turn. "Jet especially."

Ghune lightly crossed her arms. "If danger were to come to their world, I am sure they would step in. There is also a Light user Immortal in their midst. Her scent is… hard to miss."

He decided he would have to take her word for it, since he didn't yet know what Light smelled like. Only Darkness and various types of blood. "Fine. I will keep an eye out for anything potentially dangerous."

She nodded softly to this, pleased. "I… Please forgive me for allowing you to get wrapped up in my mess. I have to worry for your safety."

"You have nothing to apologize for," he calmly asserted. "Just keep me apprised of the situation. I have a greater dislike for being kept in the dark than I do for most things."

"I will let nothing but business interrupt such," Ghune assured him. Shadow nodded in understanding. She glanced back to Elize, blinking once. The child was still crying, and that cry was on the verge of turning into a wail. She was not pleased and was determined to make sure everyone in the vicinity knew it. The elder vampire approached and gently set a hand on Elize, whispering a gentle spell to try and help soothe her emotions. This had a rapid effect, and the crying soon tapered off into little more than teary whimpers and whines.

Ghune looked back to Shadow and nodded for him to continue. "Try again, see if she will feed. I will also teach you this spell before I leave, for your sake. It will only ever work on younger beings, but that is all you will likely need it for."

"I do not know what to feed her," Shadow responded. His rattled instincts over his child's emotions caused his tone to be a bit sharper than he'd intended, and he was quick to quell his misplaced irritation.

She was unbothered by his sudden sharpness, blinking once. "Try the blood again, Shadow."

Stifling the urge to sigh (he really did do that too often, he'd decided), he did what he was told without arguments for once. Elize somewhat accepted it this time, but only for a moment. Then she decided again that she was more interested in expressing her discontent than actually taking in any sustenance. It reminded him a lot of how Lia had been at this sort of age. I see you have chosen to be just as much of a handful as your sister… already.

Ghune watched for a few more seconds before simply nodding. "You seem to understand her disposition more than I already. That is good."

"She so far is acting much like Lia used to," Shadow huffed. He tried for a third time to feed her, but was again rebuffed in spite of her hunger. The addition of Toru's stubbornness on top of what runs in my own family already appears to have made her more… difficult in this regard, however, than her sister was.

Elize chose that moment to turn over in his arms and bite at him in her fit. He had… a very vague recollection of biting at his own father in order to receive blood as a baby. How he remembered that, he had no idea. He was more focused on deciding whether or not that was what she was trying to do here. Did she feed like a Black Arms, taking the blood of one or both parents? It certainly seemed like she was capable, since she had drunk a very small portion of blood before now. However, she didn't do so again now.

Since that was the case, he gently removed her teeth from him and decided to address Ghune again. "I will handle sorting this out," he told her. He left the matter at that and changed the subject. "Soren told me of the medicine you had him administer to Lia. It appears to be working as intended. I smell less of the sickness in her that you had mentioned detecting before."

As he spoke, he split his attention between that and reaching out to the one other person he usually could reach out to for speedy assistance, apart from his brother and Toru. Namely, Tails. Sul had left him powers that functioned like many of his abilities as a cyborg had, so all he had to do was mentally connect to the fox's communicator in order to text him. They traded a few small messages back and forth before jumping into the issue at hand.

Tails:

So you're not sure how to feed her, huh? That can be tricky. Wery and I did look into that a while ago. Hope you don't mind.

Shadow:

What did you find?

Tails:

Well, so far as we can tell, she can't drink juice like a fully chameleon baby can. She also doesn't have to drink blood like a vampire or a baby Black Arms. We're pretty sure she can, though. I mean, we know that that's how you were fed as a baby. Did you try that yet?

Shadow:

Yes. She accepted it briefly, then refused.

Tails:

Hm. I mean… "I no eat because I angy" isn't super uncommon baby logic, from what I understand.

Shadow:

Don't ever write or talk like that again.

Tails:

Haha, sorry! It's true, though.

Shadow mentally rolled his eyes at the message, then refocused fully on Ghune for the time being to hear what she'd say. Less than a minute had passed (Tails was a remarkably quick texter when he wanted to be) by this time. Ghune waited for his attention to return before speaking up, tilting her head. "I presume you spoke to someone just now on the matter?"

"I contacted a friend," Shadow confirmed, though a bit vaguely. "He was not much help."

She blinked once, then gave him a slow nod. "Understood. Would you like me to sit with you and the children briefly? It sounds like two of them are busy, what with the clacking of wood."

"They are simply playing board games," Shadow said. "We can manage if you need to leave."

Ghune nodded again. She felt… fidgety? Somewhat anxious? She couldn't allow that to burden Shadow and the children here. "I will be going, then. Please, do not hesitate to reach out for me if my presence is needed."

"I will contact you if anything happens." Shadow paused briefly, then asked, "Before you leave… were you able to locate Father?"

"I know precisely where he is," Ghune replied. "He is under the watchful eye of Saethrim now. Black Doom will be okay in due time, I assure you." Shadow reluctantly accepted this, despite the lack of much information, with a small nod. Ghune didn't want to leave, and she surely didn't want Shadow to be on his own with the children. She had things to do. "I must go." With those words, Ghune teleported off the planet and somewhere deep in space.

Her mind reached out with her magic and she forcibly created a link with Xin. "Are you alright?"

"Cyca is back," he answered tersely. "She did no substantial damage. Otherwise I'm fine."

"That's good to hear Ak-" Ghune stopped herself, mentally reminded by a sudden thought that she knew his true name now. "Xin. Lior and Zsasha have returned as well."

He cursed colorfully in reply, something that he rarely did, before addressing the matter at hand. "Then you had best watch your back, Ghune. Zsasha in particular will come for you. You know he will."

"I know. I am hoping that he comes solely for me. I warned Shadow of the impending trouble. My only solace is that he has several children with him. Harming them would be a surprising action for Zsasha. Much of my concern lies with Lior."

"Your concern isn't unwarranted," Xin agreed. "Ghune… Ryint needs to know. For her own safety."

"No." Her reply was tense and angry. "I killed someone she loved as a friend. I will do no such thing."

His response to that was similarly tense and angry, given his apparently frayed temper after dealing with Cyca. "Then you need to fecking protect her as though far more than just her life was at stake. She cannae defend herself against a threat she doesnae know exists."

"I know!" Ghune snapped suddenly, ending the connection as quickly as she'd made it. "Fucking hell!" She didn't understand why she felt so much pent up anger, why she wanted to drink gallons of blood. Her entire body felt like it was on fire. Her chest heaved with the effort of keeping pace with her sudden takeoff, beginning her search for the three revived vampires. I'll fucking kill all of you if you put any of them in danger. I'll kill you.

~保護者~

It was a typical day (night? who even knew) in "hell", or whatever it was truly called. Countless souls endured torment and forced labor every moment of every day and would continue to do so forever. Each and every one of them had been sentenced to a term of "until the end of time", nothing more and nothing less. Most bemoaned their fates, fought to escape their suffering, day in and day out. They regretted not participating in the recent breakout and expressed that often. Others had quickly become quiet after entering this place, having accepted their fates and given up all hope. To them, there was no point in trying to escape.

Among them was an albino Tokarian in a now-tattered, but once pristine, mage's robe. Most individuals with this condition had blue or reddish eyes, but his were more of a light hazel color. He'd been virtually blind as a child, but once strong enough had used magic to repair his own vision. The lack of impairment meant that he was able to work as he was told without issue. He didn't speak, didn't argue, didn't complain… nothing.

Untold millenia had passed since he had found himself here, already fully accepting of his fate. This was where he deserved to be. Occasional mind control and intense manipulation aside, the crimes he was accused of were still his doing. Nareish had certainly orchestrated things, but he had been her pawn. It was just and proper that he was punished. All he could do was accept it, obey when given orders, and retreat deeper within his mind when it all became too much. After all, it was the only place to retreat to.

Something… Something broke through the endless haze of agony and exhaustion. He fought not to let it snag his attention. It wasn't worth focusing on, because everything in this place was a source of pain and punishment. The less it was focused on, the better. Except… the distraction kept coming unnervingly closer. Whatever confidence he had once possessed in life was largely gone, just one of many things he had lost when Nareish had finished breaking him so long ago. He didn't dare look.

Finally, it came too close to ignore any longer. Not when he realized it was… alive… and had no Darkness whatsoever. Which meant it couldn't have been a reaper, nor one of the so-called "punishers" who (as the name implied) handled the punishments carried out within this realm. It wasn't Nareish, either. No, this was something different. Something frighteningly, dangerously new.

He was seated on the ground within a raging inferno. His legs were crossed and chained together by the ankles and calves while his wrists were bound behind his back. Between his back and his wrists was a thick pole that prevented him from being able to pull away - not that he had ever tried. This was his latest batch of punishment. As always, it was accepted without a word or a struggle.

Seeing anything through the fire, heat, and smoke proved difficult. His eyes strained to make out what the unclear, wavy shape he was seeing was. When it registered (and in quite an abrupt fashion) that this living thing was no beast or animal but instead a person, his gaze promptly dropped. He'd learned, learned well, that it was better not to look the punishers in the eye. Whether that punisher was Nareish (who still made frequent secret visits here) or someone employed within this realm, it didn't matter.

Eye-contact was perceived in one of the same two ways every time. First, as a source of pleasure for the punisher because they could better see the suffering they were inflicting. Second, as a minor act of rebellion, stubbornness, nonverbal confrontation, or the like. Either way, the end result was the same. Increased pain that lasted for a longer period of time. It was best avoided at all costs. All he could do now was wait to see what this newcomer would do.

Eila approached the bound spirit quietly, inspecting his incorporeal form. After a couple seconds, she gave a soft sigh. I hate it. She was telling the truth… "You are… Kathros, yes?" she asked, keeping her tone gentle. Nothing more than a slight nod answered her. "I am not here to harm you in any way, Kathros. I need your help."

That… made no sense. He wasn't sure what to make of her words. Help with what? Too late, he realized that he'd mumbled that aloud. Which led to an entirely new question. How… long had it actually been since he'd spoken? In truth, he had no idea. Had he been alive and physical in any way, his voice would have been weak and hoarse from neglect. Instead, it was just soft.

"Your son, Saran," Eila explained, taking care to speak a little slower so he could take that in. "He has been afflicted with a form of corruption. You… You knew him well, for you raised him. He cared about you."

"...Corruption?" Kathros asked just as slowly. It took a short time for him to genuinely comprehend what he was being told, and when he did he felt a sort of cold chill race through his heart.

"Yes." Eila winced a bit. Seeing him in this sort of state reminded her… of herself. "He is nothing like himself at this time. I'm trying to save him, but I… don't know how."

Kathros turned his head further away, the gears in his head almost visibly turning. This was the most "alive" his eyes had looked in millennia. But even now they remained dull and mostly vacant. Still... he was trying to focus. "What… What happened?"

"If I tell you, I want you to understand now that it will bring you much pain to hear, if you care even a small amount," Eila explained. "I have avoided doing so until this moment for such a reason."

"Just tell me," was the sighed, exhausted response. I may deserve this fate… but my son will never set foot here if I can help it.

Eila nodded. "Nareish has corrupted him. He is not under her control, but he is roaming around with… seemingly no intentions in mind. I sensed the evil from him, and I do not wish to allow him to act on it."

More silence. Eventually, he spoke again. "How bad is it?"

"Enough so that I am unsure of how to save him," she admitted.

Kathros risked a glance at her, trying to gauge just how sincere this stranger actually was. In the end, he remained uncertain. "...What do you need from me?"

"I wished to speak to you on the matter. What you know of her corruption, what possibly may be done to remove it. Anything you can tell me about him. I am… desperate for answers."

"Her corruption can be inescapable at times," Kathros informed her quietly. "Not everyone can be saved." But Saran… I cannot let myself believe that he isn't strong enough to resist her in some way.

Eila narrowed her gaze. "That is not an option. I will not accept her grasp being inescapable."

Only the fact that he was again looking at the ground prevented Kathros from noticing her expression and subsequently falling silent again. He forged ahead for the time being. If only temporarily, he was succeeding in his goal of retaining focus. "I never knew of anyone who escaped her without receiving great help," he murmured. "Once, the other Immortals were forced to get involved. Her power proved nearly too great for them to overcome even when working together."

The cat took in a deep breath. "Could you help me?"

He shrugged as much as he could with his arms secured the way they were. "In theory… perhaps. But I am of no use to anyone now. I cannot and will not ever leave this place. No one who comes here does."

Eila blinked once. "Don't hold your breath," she murmured, channeling her psychic energy to call for Zenith directly. His presence being near her the one time had been enough to let her reach for his mind.

Zenith immediately reached back with his own limited mental powers. Namely, telepathy. "What is it, Eila?"

"Allow me to unbind Kathros. I need his help, and he is not the evil man that history believes him to be. He does not belong in this hell."

There was a moment of silence. "Hm. So I am not the only one with suspicions." This statement was quickly followed by him sharing a degree of his lingering deity-like powers with her just long enough for her to accomplish what was needed. "Do it. I intend to finish investigating how and why Nareish seems to be influencing the minds of those working within that realm."

"Good. If you wish for help investigating minds, speak to me. I have unique experience." With that said, she closed off their mental link and removed the bonds holding Kathros in place. "Stay close to me. We're leaving this shitty place."

Confused and alarmed in equal measure, Kathros made no move to stand. Instead, he shook his head slowly and said, "No. No, I… cannot."

"If a singular force dares to stop us from leaving this place, be assured that I will remove them. You do not belong here." Eila turned away, sighing. "I know the truth of what was done to you, sans the details. I know what it's like."

Emotions whose names he knew but had no idea how to cope with (owing to the fact that he'd only developed them because of his family and more so after they had died) washed over him. He did his level best not to let his mind linger on them even as he said, "Nothing was done to me. I did this to myself. I belong here whether you think so or not."

"Words are powerful, Kathros," Eila said. "Words were used against you. They manipulated you. They turned your emotions, your suffering, into something grotesque and disturbing." She found herself sniffling, but didn't dare let it stop her. "You may have done evil acts…" A pause, then she rallied herself enough to try again. "You may have done evil things, but you are not evil. We are not evil."

Kathros had mostly stopped listening. "Leave," he mumbled, looking vacantly at the ground. "You have no place here. Forget this realm exists and do not return."

"I'm not going anywhere. I need your help to save your son."

"I cannot... I cannot help you."

Eila took a deep breath. She'd learned so much in such a short time that it was hard to recall it all. She wasn't like Silver or Sonic, able to use the right words to make it just make sense. She wasn't Rouge, able to string words together that soothed hearts and minds. She wasn't Cyril, either, and she definitely wasn't Wave. "Get up. This isn't about us. This is about Saran. See this through with me, or even just share your knowledge. I don't care how you help, but I won't let you continue wasting away here. Not anymore. Never again."

There was no more fight left in him. Whatever mental and emotional strength he'd tried to conjure up before, along with the miniscule amount of courage he'd been displaying by arguing with her, was gone again. With no further words to give, he floated to his feet obediently and simply waited for further orders. Eila accepted this as a "miracle", knowing that she'd run out of inspiring words. Instead, she teleported herself alongside Kathros out of this realm. Now, she was in space, taking a deep breath. Focus and relax. You can't revive him, but others can. I need him in some sort of physical form to really help.

Eila raised a hand and conjured a portal near to Eona. "Eona?"

The ethereal woman faded into view directly in front of Eila, those with some polite feet separating them. Eona was, as always, smiling warmly. "Hello again, my dear. And hello to you, Kathros. It has been far too long." She got no answer from him, but didn't seem perturbed by it.

"I need his physical body restored," Eila explained. "I need his help to help Saran."

Eona tilted her head. "Accomplishing that will require nothing less than a revival. Doing so will end another Immortal's life… unless…" She trailed off, thoughtfully crossing her arms. Then she held up a finger. "Just a moment, please." The deity-like woman vanished. Less than a minute later, she reappeared with none other than Aethra in tow.

Aethra blinked, looked at each of her three companions in turn before saying to Eona, "I see what it is you intend to ask of me. It is a bold plan. Ordinarily, I would have objections. However… I believe this will end well for all parties involved."

Eila blinked, then simply nodded. "Good. I am far from afraid of breaking the necessary rules to ensure this plan worked." It was a partial lie, but also an attempt at humor.

The Faein woman smiled at Eila, her ancient eyes sparkling with amusement. "Indeed. However, this is less a matter of breaking rules and more a matter of… bending them a bit. I suppose Utavi would be pleased that I am taking a page out of her book."

"Explain," Eila politely requested.

With a nod, Aethra turned her hands over so that her palms faced upward and held them together as though to hold something. Pure aura formed a three-dimensional image of a baby above said palms. "This child is none other than the fourth 'ordinary' Immortal that is currently alive. She does not… have many opportunities ahead of her for a bright future. Not while she remains Immortal. In fact, most of the positive paths she can walk necessitate her simply being a mortal, just as her family is. By removing that burden from her and her life, it will be possible to revive Kathros without anyone being forced to die."

It had taken Eila little time to connect the dots before Aethra spoke, but it was still good to confirm that she was correct. "If that is the case and you do not object to my plan, I would like to move forward with it." Eila paused, then turned to Kathros. Even if this was what she wanted, she couldn't rightly force him to return to living. "Kathros. Are you willing to go through with this to help me?"

Kathros frowned and turned away so that his back was to them. "I was never willing." But… for my son… I will do what I must. Just until he is safe again. After that, he would return to Hell where he belonged. There was nowhere else for him to go, nothing else for him to do. As it was, he had no right to live again for even a short while, much less long-term. Being free from punishment for even a short time was already more than he deserved.

Eila blinked, then sighed. "I forgot what those thoughts were like for myself some short time ago. Your personality has been worn away by the torture and pain of that realm. Please, work alongside me." I think I can help. You don't deserve to rot away forever.

Hazel eyes glanced dully at Aethra, ignoring Eila for the moment. "Do what you will," he finally conceded. "I don't care."

Aethra let the image of the baby fade away and lowered her hands with a small smile. "There is a fragment of the man I remember seeing in my sleep." She turned to the youngest person in her midst. "It is done. But, Eila, I ask that you understand that this cannot be done again for any other Immortal. The reason why it was technically within our rules to do so is solely because that child was almost guaranteed to die to Nareish before the end of this war. That constitutes an existential threat, thus allowing me to act. It cannot happen again."

"I have no intentions of doing such a thing a second time, and I understand the ramifications of doing so," Eila explained. "It will not happen again."

"Good. Then this is farewell for now, young one." Her gaze shifted to Kathros, something that made him distinctly uncomfortable. "And live well, my dear kin. Do not waste this chance." Aethra inclined her head politely to say goodbye as she faded out of sight.

Kathros continued to say nothing, just waited silently to leave. Any day now… He had unintentionally (and somewhat unknowingly) retreated into his own mind again as he'd done every day for however long it had been since he'd died. It was his one coping mechanism, his one form of escape, and he leaned on it now like a crutch.

There was a moment of hesitation, Eila wanting to stop Aethra to speak to her more. However… she had nothing to say. Instead, she watched the Faein vanish, trying to make sense of the weird emotions she felt. Her gaze turned to Kathros and she gave him a concerned look. "Hey, I know it's a lot to ask, but can I share some of my memories with you?"

He blinked, slowly coming back to reality. When her words registered, he offered no arguments. "Do what you will." It was strange and uncomfortable, he decided, to be physical again for the first time in so long - a thought brought on by the way it felt to actually move his mouth and talk. He'd nearly forgotten what that was like. In contrast, he belatedly realized that he had forgotten what it was like to not exist in a sea of endless agony day in and day out. The lack of pain he was experiencing now was beyond disconcerting, beyond just being unenjoyable. It was downright nerve-wracking.

Eila took a long and deep breath to steady herself as she noticed his emotions. "Just stay still," she murmured, touching a hand to his shoulder as she prepared herself and began sharing memories with him. He reflexively flinched away from the touch, but otherwise just submitted to what she was doing. Within seconds, he was being hit with her memories, anyway. First he found himself seeing memories she had gained second hand by peering into his son's mind… though why Saran had even allowed such a thing was beyond him.

(-)

"Hello, Saran," Nareish greeted. "Such a pleasure to see you again. I trust my soldiers did not trouble you much?"

"What do you want?" he questioned her. Entertaining her small talk didn't interest him, so he didn't bother.

"Mind yourself, love," she warned with faux sweetness. He could practically hear her smile. "I am a fate worse than death."

"If your aim is to intimidate me, it will not work," he informed her.

"I am well aware," she answered, her tone light. "But it would still be wise for you to mind my words regardless." When he didn't reply, she continued. "I take it you only came here because you decided you were interested… is that right?"

"You were insistent," he answered. Unlike her, his tone was bland and unemotional. "Explain what you want before I lose that interest."

"You think it wise to threaten me, Saran? Truly?" She laughed, stood up, and began walking toward him. His ears reflexively straightened in an effort to keep track of each echoing footstep. "You should abandon your hopes of defeating me. Against true power, you have never stood even the vaguest chance."

"The only one speaking about 'hope' is you."

"Good. I will make you regret paying heed to your heart, should you ever choose to do so again."

(-)

The sheer weight of that threat was not lost on Kathros, considering his own experiences with the woman. He had no time to react much to it before seeing the next thing, however.

(-)

Nareish laughed again. "Truly, the more beautiful and pure a thing, the more satisfying it is to corrupt it," she told him softly. She now stood directly in front of him. "I remain as fascinated by your state of mind and emotions now as I was before. However, as I am now unable to corrupt anyone any longer, I find myself forced to simply request that you join me of your own volition."

Saran crossed his arms. "My answer is no."

"So you are content to stay allied with the 'heroes', then?" she questioned. "Of dying alongside them when I inevitably end their lives?"

With a sigh, he corrected her. "They are not my allies. I don't particularly care what happens to them."

Again, he could hear the smile in her voice. "So you're willing to stand aside and let them die without lifting a finger to help, are you?"

"The patience of death is embodied in its willingness to wait for us all," he answered. "Whether you prove to be the cause or not, death will find them one way or another. And as I already said… I don't care."

(-)

He had time to react this time, to wonder about a single thing. There is enough corruption and evil in him that is not bothered by the deaths of those he presumably once cared about… and yet he has it in him still to not just resist her influence, but to desire to put up that resistance. How? And why? To create in Saran such a lack of care would have required immense corruption, on the level of what Nareish's mindless slaves typically had endured. It was truly no wonder this corruption was so unique, given how utterly extreme it had apparently been.

(-)

One of her hands reached out. As she had done when he'd been under her control, she placed a finger under his chin and tilted it up so that he was "looking" into her eyes. Or at least her face. "And you will not passively let them purify you… will you?" she all but purred.

"I have lost the will to change," he shrugged. His words were honest, as there was no point in hiding this truth. "Perhaps I never possessed it in the first place."

Yet again, she chuckled. Beautiful flowers, too, eventually wither and fall. That's the fate of virtually all living beings. However, I will be perfectly happy to leave you alive in my new reality… so long as you stay like this. Should you be returned to normal, though, I want you to be aware that I will not merely kill you. I will break you just as I did Kathros."

He felt himself frown at the mention of his father. The reaction had been genuine, if short-lived, much like his earlier curiosity. This time, there had been anger.

(-)

It was… for the best that he had no time to react to the threat made against his son, or the verbal reminder of what he himself had been going through all this time. Focusing on the next snippet of memory to enter his mind was far easier.

(-)

"The weak are destined to lie beneath the boots of the strong," she told him. "If that angers you, overcome your deficits. Be better than that man was. I see potential in you. More than I see in most. Your future… I believe one aspect of it is guaranteed. Having him for a father has done one last bit of good for you, it would seem."

His frown faded, leaving renewed impassivity in its wake. "I still don't care, Nareish."

More than any other emotion she was feeling, her amusement in particular seemed to grow. "Amazing… Every word that you just allowed to spew from your mouth is an utter lie. I thought beings of Light were not prone to telling lies."

"I possess the Light no longer," he chose to remind her, though she already knew, instead of acknowledging the rest of what she'd said.

(-)

Now he was confused more than anything. Nareish seemed to have been implying something, but what that might have been escaped him. He genuinely didn't know. That bothered him immensely. But, as with before, he was left with little time to contemplate matters. He saw flashes of information from Eila's discussion with Saran about the boy's mother (thinking about her was painful, so Kathros was glad that was brief), as well as his apparent partner and child. The former, in particular, was focused on for a moment in a more detailed memory.

(-)

Eila nodded to this, then gave a frown. "What of his mother? What kind of person was she? What was her name?"

There was no emotional reaction to mention of the woman he had, prior to his corruption, loved with all of his being. All he did was blink and say, "Her name was Neferti. She hailed from the Light tribe known as the Tribe of the Moon. It is where Analia was eventually born."

"But who was she? What kind of person did she choose to be in life?" Eila urged, motioning for him to continue.

"Willful," he said immediately. "Fierce. She was deeply independent and needed no one, yet accepted help easily when it was required. People flocked to her naturally to seek her leadership. She wielded the Light, and so had many traits related to that as well."

"You speak highly of her, in comparison to the way you referred to other members of your family," Eila pointed out gently. "Why?"

"You asked for further details, and I gave them," was the blank reply. "Those were the facts, nothing more."

(-)

As Eila had noticed at the time, that was… quite a lot more information than Saran had shared about the others. Did that imply that he still had some sort of attachment to her buried within him somewhere? Kathros wasn't sure. He would have to keep it in mind.

(-)

"The thing I find confusing about that is that my Light magic is as powerful…" Eila paused, then corrected herself. "More powerful than the magic I wielded while I was corrupted. Normally, one would need to train and practice with any form of magic to make it that powerful, hence why my fire magic is far from as strong."

"You do not always have to train something to make it strong," he corrected her. "Sometimes an ability one possesses is already strong and merely requires perfecting."

…

'You are not totally lost,' Eila internally decided. 'You are acting more like your true self.'

(-)

The final memory of this set or series or whatever one wanted to call it came immediately after the previous one had finished. It was just as well. Kathros was more than ready for this to be over.

(-)

"What will you do when I come back? I presume it will not be as peaceful as you were today."

"That depends entirely on what you decide to do when such a meeting takes place."

"I would expect you to resist simply by nature," Eila replied. "You seem intent on avoiding purification."

"I am only intent on being left alone," Saran corrected her.

"You would be left alone after your purification, assuming we find a method to do so," Eila stated. "As it is, you would have very little change, simply dealing with me every once in a while."

"I am uninterested," was all he said.

Eila gave a sigh. "In that case, this may be our final peaceful meeting. You will likely attempt to kill me the next time we see each other."

He had already said his opinion on the matter once before, so Saran left it alone. "We shall see."

The cat debated her options for a moment, before ultimately nodding. "I am hoping your family will be more pleasant. They will remember the real you." She teleported away directly after, knowing what she needed to do. It was her only lead.

(-)

Kathros was silent in the wake of all this. He wasn't sure what to think. He had no comments to make. All he knew was that this was a significantly more serious problem than he had previously understood. This wasn't something he was convinced he could help with… though he knew he would still try. This was for Saran's sake. More than anything, he tried to just focus on that.

Seeing all of this once more caused Eila to… briefly lose her normal careful control. She unintentionally kept pulling up memories. This time, of her own past.

(-)

Eila was young, in her teen years as she descended into the basement of her family home. She was angry, with everything. Everyone. There were tears stinging at her eyes as she used her magic to rip away the seals around an ancient book, taking the thing and stashing it in her bag. She'd show them.

…

Some time later, Eila stood a long distance from her home, well outside of what she knew her parent's senses to reach.

"Just cast the spell, Eila. Finish casting it. This is the only way to make them recognize your strength. They won't respect you."

"Shut up!" Eila snapped at the voice in her head, cutting off the spell before it was cast. "Shut your fucking voice up! I'm doing it!"

"You're not casting it fast enough. Keep it quick. You know what'll happen if they catch you."

Furious, she stood under the shade of a tree and cast a spell from the open book on the ground. Light magic began to form, then violently shifted and turned a dark grey before exploding, sending the young girl hurling into a tree. She blacked out on impact.

…

Her vision was blurry, and her mind was a haze. It wasn't Eila anymore at the forefront. She was unfocused, enraged. Insane. Everything was an enemy. Nothing was sacred.

She descended upon her childhood home and stared down at Eila's parents, watching as they prepared to defend themselves. They were so weak and insignificant… compared to what she'd become. They stood with tears in their eyes, seeing what had become of their daughter, but they pressed on.

(-)

The memory ended there and Eila took in a sharp gasp, withdrawing from Kathros with a shaky hand. "...Forgive me. I… lost control of myself."

Kathros blinked slowly, trying to take all of this new information in. It had hit him rapid-fire, one after another, with little time to comprehend it all. But he understood enough. Certainly enough to not have any desire to comment on it due to nerves. "...It's fine," he mumbled, looking away.

"...We should get moving. Considering you have a physical body now… do you need food, or have you surpassed that requirement as an Immortal?" Eila asked, unsure of how to word this to begin with.

He had self-sustenance in terms of rest, to the point where he had no need to sleep anymore and hadn't for more than half of his previous life. It wasn't quite there for eating, though he didn't outright explain any of that. "I'm not hungry," was all he said.

Eila watched him for a moment, then nodded slowly. "The only other piece of information I wish for you to have is to know to not lie to me. If you have need for food or anything in the future, do not hesitate to say something. Even if I do not provide it for you, I can lead you in the correct direction." Despite her words, Kathros still had no intention of seeking aid from her or anyone else. He was significantly more nervous about that now, though, as he was unable to decide if her wording constituted more of a threat or more of a request. His mind felt set on believing the latter right away, in spite of him attempting to be logical about things.

The cat was quiet before whisking them both away to her room, where she began sifting through several books on shelves. "Admittedly, I am still unsure as to what way we should approach purification with Saran. I firmly believe the answer lies in some form of Immortal power, much like what saved me from myself. The only Immortal I know that is strong enough to potentially do so is…" She sighed, running a finger through her hair. "I burned that bridge before I ever knew it was constructed."

Kathros fought to keep himself from mentally disconnecting. He wasn't even entirely sure why it was happening this time. When he succeeded to enough of a degree that he could focus again, he considered her words. "What Immortal?" he wound up asking.

"Jet," Eila replied quietly. "That last memory I accidentally showed you… that was what became of me. While I was in that state, I hurt a I of people, enough so that Zenith himself recently felt the need to assure me that the spirits could not touch me while I was there to see you earlier."

Kathros only nodded in response. He had nothing to say. That is, until he decided he had a question. "Who is he? …Jet, I mean."

"The most powerful Immortal to have existed, to my knowledge," Eila explained. He nodded a second time, slower than before. "In truth, if I could approach him, we could likely save Saran more quickly. As it stands, though, me coming near him is likely to result in a litany of problems. None of which I will allow his family to suffer through." There again really wasn't much of a response. Kathros did seem to be listening, but he had nothing to say. The cat found herself at a brief loss for words before pulling out a book she'd recently written. "How much did you learn of purification before your death?" Eila dared to ask. "Of any sort."

Finally, she earned herself a verbal reply. "As much as was possible at the time," Kathros murmured. "It was new at the time, even the very concept of it. We had thought purification to be only possible through Light. One day I learned otherwise, and did my best to teach the others."

Eila crossed her arms briefly, setting the open book down on her desk. "In that case, would you mind reading the pages I have opened this to? This describes the moments in which I was purified by an Immortal. I want to see if any of this is familiar to you."

Sighing, Kathros made the book float into his hand and quickly scanned the pages in question. "This is the same technique," he confirmed. "I had not expected it to be rediscovered so quickly."

"It wasn't, not in the traditional sense," Eila explained. "In the seconds before it happened, I had control of Jet's mind. I reached in deeper and deeper and found something within him. Whatever it was, it triggered an… I will refer to it as 'ascendence'. He ascended beyond his normal state of body and mind and did in that moment what he could to ensure a better future. It just so happened that purifying me was in the interest of that."

Kathros considered what he'd just been told. It struck him as sounding strangely like an act of the Faein, but he saw no point in mentioning that. "I see." With no further comment to make, he floated the book back to where it had been.

Eila frowned. "While I do not believe that we could do the same with you, I do firmly believe that this method, the purification, is the best chance we have to save Saran. And as it stands, there are only two Immortals currently alive potentially capable of doing so. Of those two, you're the one I can rely on."

"It was my intended method from the start," Kathros said. "It is the strongest one I know. However… While it can save minds and souls, I am uncertain as to whether it can do the same for hearts. It may not restore the emotions he has lost, only remove the ones brought on as symptoms of the corruption."

"If that is the case, it is at least a step in the correct direction," Eila replied. "It would protect him from being evil, at least. I believe we should pursue it, as there is not enough information for us to ascertain if you are correct."

Her crisper tone made Kathros back down immediately. Not that he had been arguing in the first place. "Even if I am, I did not say it should not be tried," was the careful response.

Eila blinked. "I'm used to having to argue with others, even if briefly. My apologies." He shrugged, for once uncaring and unbothered as opposed to tense and nervous - in other words much more like how he'd once been. The cat tilted her head briefly, then decided it wasn't worth pointing out. She suspected he was too mentally and emotionally spent to feel anxious right now. "You should rest. I cannot begin to imagine what you have gone through. You are free to use this room and to exit as you please. I will change the door to lead somewhere outside in favor of you not being faced with several people."

"I will stay outside," Kathros told her immediately. Like his son, he preferred nature over architecture. And, besides that… he hadn't seen anything green in many, many eons. Seeing grass and trees, especially, sounded appealing.

She debated this heavily for a moment before ultimately deciding it was alright. After a brief pause, she spoke up again. "Do you know how to reach someone mentally?"

That brought up a random reminder, something he hadn't thought about in a very long time. His wife had had such abilities, long ago. Yet, strangely, he never had despite being an Immortal. It had always been a source of teasing from her. But he didn't allow those memories to linger for more than a split second. "I am not capable of it. Not now, at any rate."

Eila created an exact replica of her communicator and tossed it to Kathros. He caught it by reflex. "If anything happens, just touch the glass part. I've made it so it'll directly contact me." Absolutely nothing about that made sense, nor did he have any clue what the hell it was that he was now holding, but following instructions was simple enough to do. So he didn't argue. "It should reach me unless I'm in another realm or something. For the time being, I will be locating Saran and preparing myself for another bout I will enter soon."

"Fine." Kathros made the communicator disappear somewhere for now, much like Amy and others often did with their weapons.

For a brief moment, Eila hesitated to leave him on his own. She knew some of the emotions he was feeling, understood them on a level most wouldn't. There wasn't much that could be done about it, though. She had to trust him. She gestured toward the door, swinging a finger on her other hand to put her book away. "If you don't feel like teleporting, this should take you some distance away. Try to relax."

Teleporting actually sounded better for now. Being physical again was overwhelming him with sensations that he'd honestly forgotten all about during his many eras in hell. Walking would only increase that stimulation. He didn't feel quite ready for that, though he was prepared to make himself just get over it anyway if he wound up needing to. For the time being, he simply teleported somewhere out into the forest that Tails called home.

Eila blinked once, then nodded. Alright… now to locate Saran and Kethro. I just need to keep track of Saran, but Kethro… he has to die. He cannot be allowed to live much longer. The man needed to die. And the sooner, the better.

~保護者~

23,212 words this time. Many thanks as always to Blazing Winds for all of his help and support, and I hope you enjoyed. Posted (at about 12:50 a.m.) 04-09-23.