Disclaimer: I hereby disclaim all rights to all characters (save for those of my own creation) during this chaotic series of events… especially for the one who needs help.

~保護者~

"Turned"

~保護者~

Wave was happy that her father was getting to know his family again. Or at least some of it. The opportunity to truly meet his mother again had been stolen by his corruption. Alec was still hidden away on Gardenia too and, while Wave knew she needed to fill him in at some point, doing so would require going to where he was. That ran the risk of Nareish noticing where she went. On top of that, Thane and Han's father Yorik had so far been M.I.A. despite Han having once said that the man had agreed to join the war effort.

So, for now, Han could only reacquaint himself with Wave and Thane. It saddened her that he even had to do this in the first place, but at least he had the chance to now. However, that wasn't the only reason why she was sad. She could see the guilt in his eyes, the shame, the almost instinctive grief over having killed his mother. Nothing that had happened was his fault, but he was hurting over it nonetheless. Wave hated that there was nothing she could do to ease his pain.

And… speaking of pain… what was it that she was sensing? It was indeed someone's profound hurts, but it wasn't her father's. The source wasn't anywhere near them. Her best guess was that she could only sense it because of the Aether. After all, one of the reasons why the Aether existed was to heal and protect. Wouldn't it make sense for it to be able to sense people who were suffering and track them down? She must have subconsciously tapped into the power… somehow. Maybe it was just the Aether rubbing off on her, but she truly felt the need to intervene in whatever was going on. Whoever she was sensing was in more pain than she had been prepared to feel from anyone, and she couldn't just ignore that.

A quick word to her father and uncle that she needed to leave, and then she was on her way. Appearing high in the atmosphere of a world she barely recognized, she turned her attention back to hers and the Aether's senses. She'd apparently picked up on another new thing from her bubbly companion, though there was no telling how long she'd be able to keep it up since this was so new to her. The Aether always just seems to… know things about people somehow. Why am I suddenly able to do it, too? And why only with this one person?

Doesn't matter right now. Focus. Wave closed her eyes and did just that. Regardless of how or why it was happening, she was picking up on details about whoever the lone occupant of this planet was. She paid attention to this sense, whatever it was, and what it was telling her. This guy… Zsasha? Is that his name? …Hm, and he has some ties with some people named Cyca and Lior, I think. Not friends, not enemies… Not sure what the relationship is. He doesn't seem to socialize with them much. Whatever few social skills, if they can be called that, that he's picked up from them aren't very good.

Frowning to herself, she started to slowly descend toward the planet's surface. I don't think this guy has any idea how to live around other people, much less in a community. Doubt he knows how to interact with people much in general, either. He definitely seems to have spent a decent amount of time around those other two, but I don't think he's ever lived with or near them.

He's just been… alone. His whole life. He's never even had a genuine home. My best guess is that he took up residence on an uninhabited world in an uninhabited solar system, probably in a deep cave or some other natural shelter. In other words, a place that can be easily found on worlds like this one. Though I don't think this is the precise world in question he chose back then. By now, she and the Aether were near the very tops of the clouds. She hardly paid it any mind.

The sun was warm on her back right up until they entered the clouds. Then everything became cool and wet. Her mind kept running all the while. All three of them are definitely vampires. It feels like… It feels like he had to try to learn how to actually be a vampire… all on his own. Like there's an incredible amount of knowledge in terms of abilities and powers that he just doesn't have. He's always managed to just barely scrape by and nothing more. There are probably vampire children with more skill and know-how than him. He wouldn't even be able to answer a basic question like, "What type of feeding is the most common amongst vampires?" Even though many non-mythical races know the answer is blood. Heck, even I do, and I know next to nothing about their kind.

And that extends to existence as a whole as well, Wave realized with a start. She pursed her lips together, watching as mistiness gave way to more sunlight beneath her feet. He's extremely limited in his knowledge of existence in general. He knows a little about the Realms of Death, but not really how they function. He has no awareness of the fact that things like Immortals and the Faein exist. Just… stuff like that. She frowned a little bit deeper. Worse yet, he has no idea how to fight well. Where would he have gotten the training? All he has to rely on is instinct and his limited experience from the few fights he's actually participated in. He's strong, but in terms of skill just about anyone will outclass him.

How is any of this even possible, though?

No answer to her question was forthcoming. What she got instead was yet more information. This guy, Zsasha… He tries so hard to protect kids even though he doesn't know why. I think that on some level he recognizes that they're vulnerable… just like he is. The details that came to her immediately following that little revelation were troubling. He's been resigned to his own pain and suffering for most of his existence, but he doesn't want them to experience it. So he offers them the protection he was never given, and then he always immediately leaves because he never knows what else to do.

It felt like this tidal wave of knowledge was finally starting to reach its end. Aside from the first… I don't know, few days or so of his existence, he's never had a moment in his life where he wasn't clinically depressed. Who knows what his personality would have developed into without it? Fragments of his true self might still be there and maybe the whole thing can be brought to the surface if he gets serious help, but as of now things don't look too optimistic for him.

If things aren't managed soon, and managed both properly and well the first time, he may wind up just staying sort of… numb, detached, empty like he's feeling now. If it's bungled the first time around and this has to be attempted again, the result will likely be the same. Difference being that I think he'd go out of his way to actively avoid receiving any help a second time in that scenario. He may resist the first time, too, but he's in such a state that there's a chance he may instead just go along with it in the mindset of, "what's even the point in resisting?" Wave subtly shook her head. How awful.

Finally, she alighted upon the ground. She could sense the stranger in the distance and just hoped she was far enough away that he hadn't sensed her yet. Looking at the Aether, she murmured, "What do you think? Any chance that we might be able to help this guy at all? It's… bad." She didn't bother elaborating, trusting that the Aether had inexplicably learned everything that she just had. Probably much more quickly and easily, too, seeing as how this sort of thing was normal for the Aether.

"He'll need more than us," the Aether murmured. "But… I'm not sure who. Just… someone that can be his friend. I'm not sure we can befriend him."

"You're right," Wave sighed. "Is there anything we can do in the meantime besides just keep an eye on him?"

"Approach him and I'll follow along with you, see if I can't use my energy to help him feel even a little better," the Aether murmured. "Doesn't need to be long."

With a nod, Wave did as the Aether instructed. More specifically, she did so by walking. The last thing he needs is to have a complete stranger suddenly appear in front of him. However… the very moment they were close enough for him to smell or otherwise sense them, he was gone. Wave sighed again. "Yeah, okay. I should have seen that one coming."

The Aether gave a soft sigh. "Then, we'll have to keep watch over him. If he ends up in danger, he may need protection."

"Agreed. Hopefully it won't come to that, though." Wave was reluctant to leave, but she nevertheless teleported them both back to New Babylon. "Well, at least one good thing came of that. I managed to tap into your abilities for the first time. Not gonna lie, I wasn't expecting that."

"Ooh!" The Aether smiled. "That's good! We're on the right track for what Steam was talking about. Seems we're syncing up real fast."

"I guess so, yeah," Wave answered with a small smile of her own. "I was able to just sort of… figure out stuff about that guy, sort of like what you usually do. I sensed his pain, too, and it led me straight to where he was. That's never happened before."

The Aether nodded. "It's not a perfect sense, but once you know someone's pain, it makes them very easy to find."

"Definitely," Wave said. She walked back to where they'd been earlier and sat down on a bench close to her father and uncle. "Well, I guess we may as well go back to relaxing for now. Not much else we can do."

"Mrrh." The sound came out almost like a purring chirp as the creature shrunk down further and curled up on her shoulder.

Wave reached a hand up to gently rub the creature's head with her fingers. Hopefully nothing happens to Zsasha before we can find him the help he needs. I'm so worried…

~保護者~

Locating Novei was proving to be more difficult than Cyca had bargained for. The Therian woman was no longer at the forge and, disappointingly, neither were Akol or Ghune. They are likely out looking for me, she thought in amusement. She was forced to reach the conclusion again that her games had caught up to her too quickly… but that was alright. Short though her foray out of Hell was turning out to be, it had been worthwhile in her book. Too bad Lior would be more than happy to leave me to the wolves, so to speak, rather than assist me here. It would be fun to be able to beat them all down if I had the backup I would need. But, alas, even I cannot have everything that I want.

There were still a few things she could have, though. One was the fight she'd been wanting with Novei, assuming they could find one another without anyone else interfering. Number two was the opportunity to turn the girl - though that also was banking on a lack of interference from Ghune or Akol at any point. And thirdly, she wanted the chance to toy with the most emotionally vulnerable of her three prey items, the nephew of the man she had so recently turned and set loose. Accomplishing that goal was the easiest on the list, since all it required was her telepathy, a bit of magic, and the free time she currently had in abundance while continuing her search.

Reaching her mind out, she connected it to the one she wanted with a coy smirk. "Hello again, Li," she practically purred, a taunt in her voice. "I sense that you are just waking up from a restless sleep. Your thoughts are rather all over the place as well. Have you been feeling alright, love?" Oh, she knew full well what he was enduring. It amused her to no end. "Worry not, my little wolf cub. You are not alone in this. Your uncle has been experiencing the same hell as you have. The difference is that I have been able to sate both him and myself by gifting his pretty little neck with more bites. Shall I do the same for you? It will make you feel immensely better… and I know you are craving it."

The panic in his reply was only muddled with the strange pleasure his own addiction provided at that thought. "A-ah-, please don't-" He didn't sound convinced in his defiance, either.

"You don't mean that, do you?" Cyca teased. "You know this will make you feel better. Much better, in fact. Surely you would be willing to submit in order to achieve that?"

"N-no- …Yes… Ugh, no!" Li went silent, his thoughts racing through the mental connection as he fought his hardest against her.

"Come to think of it," Cyca said, "your little friend, whoever he is, being there would make it rather difficult for me to bring you your desired relief. Perhaps if you deal with him for me, that can be changed."

"He's an Immortal…" Li complained softly. "I can't do anything to him."

"Is he now? Then that truly is a unique problem." Cyca ran the issue through her mind for a short bit before saying. "I could simply teleport you to me for a moment. That might just be enough to gain the attention of the person I am hunting for, anyway."

"...Please?" Li quietly begged after a long delay.

Victorious, Cyca instantly did as he asked. Her grin was wide, putting her fangs on full display as a side effect. "Hello again, love," she greeted him.

Li's gaze was hazy, the man panting softly while his body betrayed his lack of restful sleep via constant shaking and shivering. "Hi, Cyca," he murmured.

"I will ask you one last time, and then no more," Cyca told him. "Do you want this? It is to be your decision, in the end."

"Yes!" Li exclaimed, moving closer and setting his hands on her shoulders. "Please, I need it…"

"As you wish." Chuckling softly to herself, Cyca instantly leaned in and bit him. She took a small amount of blood purely to help ensure that she was at full strength when Novei (or potentially someone else) found her, but otherwise she simply let her bite linger long enough to bring him the relief and pleasure she'd promised. Then she released him and healed the wound so it wouldn't bleed all over the place. She hadn't bothered to paralyze him, since she knew he was willing to let her do this.

The wolf shuddered during the bite, clinging tightly to the vampire until she finally released him. He pulled back with a gasp, holding a hand over the bite and doubling forward to catch his breath. "Oh, thank you so much…"

"Anytime, Li," Cyca answered with a more proper laugh than before. "I don't mind at all."

Li suddenly stood up straight and looked away from Cyca, eyes wide. "Novei…?"

Now Cyca was grinning again. "Perfect. Exactly the person I've been looking for."

It didn't take long for the Therian to come into view (though, Cyca had certainly smelled her moments before). Novei stared at the scene and her lip twitched. "You better send him right the fuck back to the forge," the woman bit out, hands balled into fists.

"I was planning on it. Don't worry your pretty little head." Cyca flashed Li one final smile. "Perhaps you and my fangs will meet again in the future. In the meantime, enjoy your relief while it lasts." She teleported him back to his home before he could reply.

Now that Li was gone, Novei took a deep breath and bared her teeth, materializing a horseman's pick in her hands. "This is what's going to happen. I'm going to splatter your internal organs in all directions and you're going to take your beating like the pathetic boyfriend biter you are."

"Be my guest," Cyca invited easily. "So long as I also get what I want, I don't care if I die here."

It felt weird to be using the speed she'd been born with, but for Li it was worth it to use every power she had. She appeared behind Cyca and swung down with the hammer head of her weapon, already aiming for a lethal blow. Cyca, meanwhile, decided to focus exclusively on defense and dodging for now, just until she could find an opening to get in a good bite on the other woman's neck.

Novei watched every move the vampire made as she took her next few swings. The timing of each dodge and how she defended against attacks before changing her entire approach. The next time Cyca dodged, Novei released her weapon, letting the weight of it crash into the vampire to send her tumbling. Novei was soon over the recovering woman, having reclaimed her weapon to swing it (almost) wildly at Cyca as she retreated. Every attack got closer and closer until Novei was able to suddenly slip in during a brief opening. She took the woman by the strap of her bra and delivered a strong jab to her nose.

With Cyca off balance, Novei wrapped her legs around the vampire's torso and began delivering blow after blow, bloodlust overtaking her. However, the fact that she wasn't moving herself all over the place anymore meant that Cyca was able to suddenly jerk her head forward and sink her fangs in. Just like when she'd turned Sothan, there was a sensation of energy flowing from her fangs into her victim. As soon as it was over, she released her bite with a satisfied smirk.

Novei struggled against the paralytic effects of the bite until she was released, her hand grabbing the back of Cyca's head so she could reach forward and forcibly rip the vampire's fangs out of her mouth. Cyca recoiled in pain, but nonetheless kept the smirk firmly plastered on her face.

"Fucking bitch," Novei snapped at the sight of that smirk, reaching back into the woman's mouth and yanking forward on her lower jaw, breaking and dislocating it in one go. "Smirk at me now." Cyca promptly did so while laughing openly.

Novei supposed it was her own fault that she hadn't recognized what parts smirking required in terms of anatomy (namely, lips and not necessarily jaws), but that hardly mattered as she simply returned to brutalizing the vampire. She brought her fists down as hard as she could with each strike, waiting for the woman's body to stop living. Only once Cyca's skull was reduced to whatever gore hadn't been pulverized and Novei's upper body was covered in blood splatters did she stop, finally releasing the woman's body so she could stand up. "Don't touch my fucking boyfriend," she muttered.

"Good show there, miss Therian," a voice called out from not far away. When Novei turned on her, Ryint held up her hands placatingly. "Hey, hey, cool off. I'm on your side. Came looking for Cyca and found a dead body with a Therian beating it. You seem like you feel better, too."

Novei blinked once and shrugged. She'd returned to feeling almost nothing at all, but there was no denying the fact that a small glimmer of satisfaction had made its way into her aura. "Yeah."

Seeing that this woman wasn't one to talk much, Ryint smiled. "Let's get you back to your man. I assume you came out here on Li's behalf, considering that you smell like him under all that blood."

"I can make it back fine on my own," Novei huffed, crossing her arms.

"Just lemme help ya," Ryint said. In a flash, she was next to Novei and teleporting the two away. However, Ryint didn't leave the corpse laying out. Moments after they vanished, Cyca's spilled blood began boiling, then caught fire. The ensuing flames consumed her motionless body in seconds, leaving nothing but ash.

~保護者~

How he'd wound up out here, he had no idea, nor did it matter. He last remembered being trapped in an unfamiliar room with some unknown woman coming around to taunt him every now and then. As his need to feed had grown, her taunting had grown more and more frequent. All the while, he had been kept sufficiently trapped, unable to escape no matter what he did. He must have eventually passed out when his hunger had become too great. But that was then.

Now he'd awakened here, outside, surrounded by the sounds of heartbeats and pumping blood. Without hesitation, he'd leapt into the darkness and embarked on his first hunt. Every instinct within him was urging him forward, screaming that this was good and right and necessary. There was no reason to hesitate as he prowled undetected toward the closest person he could sense.

The night belonged to him. He wore its shadows, tasted its scents, savored its sounds, embraced its silences… And then his prey was suddenly there, none the wiser that they were being stalked. He was so weak with hunger that he wasn't going to be able to fight this person despite how vulnerable they were. His only hope lay in getting a bite in immediately and therefore paralyzing them. Not wasting a second, he prowled closer before lunging and letting his fangs pierce flesh. Blood seemed to flow endlessly into his mouth, finally alleviating some of the agony he'd been enduring for so long. He drank as much as he could from this one person before finally releasing them and pulling back. They dropped lifelessly to the ground.

This was the scene that Xin came upon, gazing nervously at what had clearly been a savage feeding. Most first feedings were. They took place when fledgling vampires were often at their most ravenous. That certainly seemed to be the case here. The victim's throat had been torn open, allowing blood to freely gush from the wound so their attacker could feed as quickly as possible. Normally, such a thing wouldn't have bothered him. But because this was done by a member of his family… he felt afraid.

Sothan had to have been turned mere hours ago at the most. Given the state he was in, he must have been held prisoner for a while longer before finally being released here. The consequence of what had happened was genuine starvation. And therein lay the entire problem. He wasn't aware of himself at all right now. The real him wasn't awake in any capacity. All that existed to him was his newfound thirst and the instincts that drove their kind.

His eyes were red now, but only just so. One had to look quite closely in order to see the difference between his previous orange and this. Of course, those who knew him well enough could spot the difference immediately. Xin certainly did, along with the characteristic slit pupils that so many vampires wound up with when hungry or angry. These were just two more notes on the list of awful changes that had taken place on this night. And there was no recognition in those eyes, either, meaning the other man was now in precisely the same position Xin had once been. The difference was that Xin hadn't had help back then. He was determined for history to not repeat itself.

As for that pain, that awful pain that Sothan was stricken with… It was incredible thirst, but it was also incredible hunger. It was so deep, so hollow, so aching that the need to satiate it overpowered everything else. Xin remembered too well what it was like to feel like this as a new-blood and to not know how to cope with it, though his situation had been nothing like this in some ways. He couldn't simply stand here and let his brother-in-law and friend suffer like this. And he knew precisely who was to blame. Damn you, Cyca… Damn you straight back to hell.

He used a wisp of magic to clean the blood off of Sothan. It was reasonable that Sothan reacted a bit badly to this "stranger" doing things to him. He let out a snarl somewhere between that of a wolf… and that of a vampire. As if Xin needed any further proof of the man's condition. It made his heart ache. The emotions he was experiencing right now even left him somewhat nauseas.

All Xin could do now, considering how badly he did not want to resort to violence, was talk. "You're thirsty," he murmured. "I know. Believe me, I understand what you're going through. But you have to come with me. I'll help you take care of this. I just need you to trust me. Come home, and your memories will start coming back. They might even do so immediately. And I promise I will get you food. Just come home with me, Sothan. Please."

The fact that Sothan didn't recognize his own name was painful… but not unexpected. Xin had been damned lucky to cling on to his own way back when. His experience definitely wasn't the norm. Sothan not remembering his was. His lack of inclination to talk also was, as Xin had explained to Shadow's partner about Shadow seemingly so long ago. Xin had to rely on reading Sothan's nonverbal cues to get an indication of what the other man might do.

He didn't get much in the beginning. Sothan was thinking and hesitating, and Xin knew exactly why. There was blood and prey here. A lot of it. With his instincts raging and his hunger barely sated at all (Xin was going to kill Cyca, brutally, for having obviously made Sothan starve for so long), he was struggling to make a rational decision. Still… he wasn't rampaging right now. While he'd obviously attacked what was probably the very first person he'd found here, he wasn't lashing out at every living thing around him. He also wasn't taking off, despite the state he was in. There was a chance to make this work. Xin just had to play his cards carefully, to shift Sothan's desire away from staying here to going along with Xin back to the forge.

Ultimately, one of the best ways of getting through to hungry new-bloods was, of course, through food. I'm almost certain that you're going to hate this later, all of this, once you're able to understand what's going on… but this for your own good. For whatever it's worth, I'm sorry. Moving slowly, Xin lifted one of his hands from his side and teleported an unlabeled wine bottle into it. While the bottle had once held the very liquid one would expect it to, it had since been emptied and cleaned. Now it contained blood, all of which had been carefully kept fresh through a spell cast on the bottle itself.

Popping the cork garnered the exact amount of attention he'd been hoping for. Stalking, hunting, catching, and biting was immensely pleasurable for virtually all vampires, but this was an easy meal. Starved vampires certainly had an edge in that their hunger drove them to exhibit greater strength and speed and whatnot in order to get food (so long as they weren't starved this badly), but ultimately the goal was to feed quickly. Death by lack of feeding was the worst fate a vampire could experience. It was absolute agony for their kind. He's starting his new life off malnourished and suffering. Ghune won't be pleased. She hates to see our kind go through this.

Cyca had held Sothan for so long, more than the mere hours that Xin had first suspected (how was that possible?), that he was showing symptoms of being well on his way to meeting that very fate. Hell, it was even becoming visible now. The way his limbs were shaking, the increase in feral behavior, the rapid breathing and racing heart, the weakening fire in his eyes… No wonder you're so desperate. You're going through more than I first realized. I'm so sorry. Xin knelt down and placed the bottle at his feet, then used magic to slide it over. "Go ahead and take it. You have to feed more before you get too weak to do so. We can discuss more once you're done."

That once-orange gaze eyed him suspiciously. But in the end, hunger-based instincts won out over instincts more focused on not trusting unknown individuals and, thus, protecting oneself. Xin had to admit that he was relieved when Sothan gave in and took the bottle. Yet, he was also deeply saddened. He'd never, ever wished for other members of his family to go through this. Mixed in with that sadness, his anger lingered. He'd already had every reason in goddamn existence to want to end Cyca's life over the things she'd done to Li and over the fact that she'd stolen Sothan for food and gotten them both addicted to her bite. That she'd also caused this to happen was just one more nail in her fucking coffin.

Tracking her down was going to have to wait. He had to take care of Li and Sothan. Li was… okayish at the moment. With any luck, Sothan would be stable enough to go home before too much more time passed. Accomplishing that would make it easier to attend to Li again if his son wound up needing anything anytime soon. And with how utterly starved Sothan was, it probably wouldn't take him long to finish most or all of the bottle Xin had fetched from another vampire's personal stash. They owed him a damn favor and he was making good on that now.

Sure enough, he was drawn out of his thoughts by the soft sound of glass being set down on cracked stone. Whatever this world was, it had shitty pavement. …Which was entirely the wrong thing for Xin's frazzled mind to be focusing on right now. Much to his relief, though, Sothan was already doing significantly better than he had been about a minute ago. He wasn't completely out of the woods yet, but Xin was confident that he and Ghune (assuming she decided to get directly involved) could sufficiently care for him from here. He just needed to convince the man to come with him. "Will you trust me a bit longer?" Xin murmured. "I really do want you to go home with me."

Sothan finally had the inclination to speak. He was still hungry enough, and therefore too focused on that hunger, to say more than two or three words at a time however. It was well within the norm for a new-blood and therefore entirely expected on Xin's part. And besides, he had always been quiet around strangers. To him, that was exactly what Xin was right now. "Why should I?"

"Like I said," Xin murmured, "I'll take care of you. There's more blood where that came from. You'll be given however much you need. I just want to keep you safe. We're family, you and I, and we have more family back at home. We've been worried sick."

His eyes narrowing subtly in continual suspicion, Sothan asked a new question. "Who are you?"

That was a reasonable inquiry. "My name is Xin. A few people call me Akol, but you never have. We've been in each other's lives for a lot of years. My wife… My former wife, before she passed away… She's your sister. We had a son together, your nephew. His name is Li. He's the other relative I mentioned who's been waiting for you, Sothan." It's probably a misguided effort, but maybe if I keep using his name… Maybe that will trigger his memories to start returning before we even get back. I'd hate for Li to see him like this. Sothan will hate it, too, whenever he does remember everything.

The other wolf was silent for a long moment while thinking everything over. Xin genuinely hoped this time that Sothan's feeding instincts would take charge again. If the promise of food wasn't enough to sway him, then what else was Xin supposed to do? But, as ever, he seemed to have been caught worrying needlessly. Sothan had always been a reasonable man, after all. "...Fine."

Relief was becoming a good friend of Xin's today. If all went well, maybe that would continue. He went ahead and teleported himself and Sothan back to the forge. While it was clear that Sothan wasn't hit by the same instant tidal wave of memories that Xin had been once he'd seen this familiar place (and Li as well, of course), it was a good sign that Sothan seemed to take immediate interest in his surroundings. Something was tugging at him somewhere deep down. Whatever it was needed to be nurtured so that it had a higher chance of awakening those aforementioned memories sooner rather than later. That was why Xin made certain Sothan knew he was free to explore before leaving him briefly to procure more food.

Once he'd returned and handed it off, he took a chance and asked a question that had been plaguing him since he'd first laid eyes on his old friend a short time ago. "Sothan… do you have any idea what happened to your earring?"

Sothan appeared confused. Yet his fingers unwaveringly reached up to feel the correct ear (his right ear, whereas Yuma's had been on her left) without hesitating for a second. "What earring?" The question was genuine. Honest. But a subconscious part of him did seem to hold onto some recollection of the item in question. His case really did seem promising.

If all goes well, it shouldn't take long at all for things to come back to him. Still, it's regrettable that it wasn't as immediate as I'd hoped. "Never mind it for now," Xin responded, though the loss of something Sothan had always been so attached to and protective of bothered him. "I'll answer any questions you have in a moment. For now, drink up and explore whatever you'd like. I'll be right back." Rather predictably, this didn't garner much of a response. That was fine. He hadn't been expecting one to begin with.

Xin hurried down the hall toward Ryint without further delay. She had come here a short time ago to check on things and help where she could (as well as to describe Lior's grisly fate at her hands), but things had been mostly quiet until now. Once he found her, though he was sure she'd noticed the situation already, he was quick to tell her, "I found Sothan. Cyca turned and starved him." She already knew about the disappearance itself, so he didn't bother going over that again.

"Aye, and I found a Therian beating Cyca to death," Ryint replied easily, pushing off the wall she'd been leaning against. "Waiting for her to stop punching the mutilated corpse."

"She's dead, then?" Xin let out a sigh. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't even feel happy about it right now. Not with everything that was going on. There was relief, certainly, but he could take no pleasure from that vile woman's death when she had left so much chaos and pain in her wake. "That's good. Just leaves this problem for me to deal with."

"Yup," Ryint replied. "I'm tracking down Ghune, too. Somethin' feels kinda off." She frowned softly, shrugging. "May be nothin', but it's still worth checking out."

Xin nodded a little. "In the meantime, I need to go tell Sein what's transpired and try to keep an eye on Sothan and Li. Hopefully nothing goes any more wrong than it already has." I never wanted him or Li to be turned. Never. It's bad enough that I couldn't even save them from just being bitten, but addiction and transformation… This is too much.

"Gotcha. I'll bring the girl back when she's done. She's a woman after my own heart… when it comes to violence." Ryint offered a toothy grin and motioned for him to go and do what he needed to do.

Xin turned and hurried back down the hall. One thought rang true in his mind. Ghune had to be informed of all that had gone on since she'd left. He knew she typically preferred that people keep their messages to her brief, and he knew that she didn't seem to be doing particularly well as of now on top of what Ryint had said… but something like this surely warranted a lengthier report. Still, if nothing else, he needed to make sure that he didn't let his emotions rub off on her. The best way to do that was to hide them as much as possible for the duration of their conversation. So that was what he did.

Reaching his mind out to her, he launched right in before she could try to block him out. She had to know the full extent of what had been done. "I found Sothan," he said. "Cyca turned him. His memories are gone, but his case seems optimistic. I'm hoping he'll recover them in the next few days or less. My bigger concern is the state she left him in. Ghune, she starved him."

"I don't know how it's possible," he continued. "but he's so malnourished that he must have been prevented from feeding for days. Perhaps longer, though that shouldn't be possible since he wasn't missing long enough. He's also lost some weight, I think. I don't even know how he's still alive, much less how he's not in worse shape than he is. I've never seen anything like it."

He knew full well that he was likely testing her patience already, so he finished up as swiftly as possible. "She set him loose on the planet Netir and he'd caught someone before I sensed him. He tore their throat out and drained them, drained a wine bottle of blood I procured for him, and had an additional glass of blood on top of that. He seems more stable now, but I'm going to have to monitor him closely. I'll let you know if anything else happens, unless you'd rather I not."

Ghune's reply was surprisingly steady despite his worries, though it held a concerning calmness considering her current struggles. "Keep an eye on him. If his situation is truly looking better than most in his predicament, then all he needs is a caretaker until he recovers himself." She paused, then added, "Ensure that he is not swayed by Cyca in any way, considering that she turned him. I worry what would occur should his loyalty shift due to her influence."

"That, at the very least, won't be a problem," Xin revealed. "Novei killed her. And even without his memories, he would never align himself with a person like Cyca regardless. Still, I have every intention of watching over him until he's better."

"I will… have to question her on how she managed this," Ghune replied slowly. "She is quite strong, but I did not believe her strong enough to actually kill a vampire."

"Me either. But, then again, I don't know her all that well." Xin took a deep breath and let it out. "There's one more thing, then I'll leave you be. I know you're hunting. But Ghune… I think Sothan is like Ryint. Apart from her, he's the only other person I've ever encountered who's adapted this well to being turned, much less so quickly. And the latent strength I'm sensing from him now is much like the boost you described her experiencing as well."

"She would not like knowing that she is no longer unique." Her tone audibly darkened as this reply was given, growing upset at the subject.

It was only then that something Xin's frazzled mind hadn't had the time to genuinely process yet fully hit him. Fucking hell. Ryint is alive. How did that not even register this whole time? Doing his best to calm himself, he sought to relay this information to Ghune in a way that wouldn't get his head metaphorically bitten off. "Ghune, Ryint… She's not dead. She showed back up at the forge about thirty minutes ago, and she's completely fine. She's the one who told me about Cyca's death."

Ghune's pause was palpable, the vampire collecting herself to process this same information. The pain and anger in her tone rapidly made way for something shakier and quieter. "Send her my way. I could use her help while you watch over Sothan and Li."

"I will, but she said she's been looking for you already. It's possible she'll head out to find you before I get back to her." By now, Xin had stopped walking so that he could more properly focus on the conversation. "I still need to tell Sein and possibly Li what happened to Sothan, so I'll talk to her again afterward."

In true Ryint fashion, the woman in question walked up, patting him on the shoulder. "Be right back, bud. Found her."

Xin turned on her with a huff. "'Bud'?" he echoed dryly, though there was a small smile on his face. "I'd thank ye kindly for not calling me that."

"Trying out somethin' new. Dunno if I like it, yet." Ryint beamed at him before vanishing.

"It seems you were right. She found me. I must go. I need to speak with her briefly."

"Understood. Watch each other's backs and stay safe, for feck's sake. I'll have to kill ye both if ye manage to die for real." With that, Xin went ahead and severed the connection, though he didn't do anything to prevent Ghune from reestablishing it if she decided she wanted to get the last word in. She didn't do so, letting him end the conversation. Somewhat relieved that that was all for now, Xin resumed his quick trek down the hall toward Li's room. He couldn't immediately tell if Li was awake, so he knocked quietly on the door just in case the boy was in fact asleep. In theory, it would be just loud enough for Sein to hear, though.

There was complete silence, then the door slowly opened to reveal Sein standing at the entrance. "Hey, Xin." He kept his voice quiet, intent on the same thing Xin was being careful about.

Xin glanced past Sein toward his son. "Is he asleep?" he asked in undertone.

"He just fell back asleep. I was gonna give him a second to get into a deeper sleep so I could tell you that he vanished for a short time," Sein visibly frowned. "He started acting a lot… calmer."

Instantly, Xin was alarmed. And angry. "That… That isn't good. Those two things combined means Cyca must have bitten him again." He did his best to curb his emotions and stow them away for now. Bothering Li was something he genuinely didn't want to do.

Sein took a moment to breathe in, not letting himself react harshly to that. "I was trying to find him, but he showed back up before I could. I probably should have said something sooner…"

"Don't blame yerself," Xin said, shaking his head. "I only just returned here, anyway."

Sein nodded slowly in reply. "For now… he's resting. He seems to be sleeping better than he had been before."

"It won't last," Xin warned. "We need to be prepared for that. The withdrawals may be worse now that he's been bitten at least twice."

"Gotcha," the hawk replied before turning his gaze to the side. "What… What happened to Sothan?" he asked cautiously.

"I did find him," Xin answered with the only fully good news he could offer. "The trouble is… Cyca bit him again, too. She turned him. He lost his memories, same as I did when I was turned. But things are already trying to come back to him. I'm not worried about that part. What concerns me more is that she tried starving him, and apparently succeeded for a while. He's been left thinner and temporarily weaker than he once was because of it."

"So this situation might clear up somewhat with some help…" Sein sighed. "If you need to borrow any blood, by all means, use mine." The hawk crossed his arms. "I'm not about to sit aside and do nothing. If I can be of any help, just let me know."

"It may not be necessary lad, but I thank ye for the offer," Xin said. "For now, I plan to monitor him and take care of his needs as they arise. With any luck, he won't need to be observed so closely for very long."

"Understood," Sein replied easily. "Offer stands regardless for any of you. All of you have been amazing help as of late with… all of this."

Xin wasn't sure how much he agreed with that last part, though he didn't say so. Instead, he changed the subject slightly. "There is another thing that concerns me," he admitted. "Did Sothan or Yuma ever explain the significance or importance of their earrings to yerself and Alana?"

"Not quite, beyond them coming into existence with a matching pair," Sein replied, visibly frowning.

"The fact that they entered existence with them makes them very special," Xin explained. "They are the only two earrings like them in the whole of existence. Not only that, but they're very sentimental, as they remind their wearer every day of their sibling. As twins, Sothan and Yuma have always been practically joined at the hip, anyway, and this added another layer to it right from the beginning. Does that make sense so far?" Sein simply nodded, not wanting to interrupt with a reply.

Rather than waste time, Xin continued. "On top of the emotional importance of those earrings, each one was filled to the brim with magic. As you might imagine, Sothan's was full of creation magic, since that was his main one. Yuma's had something else. These are powerful magical objects, making them even more important than they already were. And all of this combined makes it immensely bad that Sothan wasn't wearing his when I found him. It's gone, and right now he doesn't even remember that it ever existed. Which means he can't tell me what happened to it or who might have it."

Sein took a painfully deep breath, closing his eyes. "Oh, fuck." He muttered some other expletives in Babylonian. "Nareish probably has it, then, since she likely was involved in part of this."

"Aye. That's what I'm afraid of." Xin rubbed a tired hand over his face. "It's a right mess, it is."

"I'll make sure Alana and Jet know," Sein replied after a moment. "Make sure we monitor this situation."

Xin nodded. After a pause, he admitted quietly, "And I don't know how to tell Li what happened. He'll want to know, but it might hurt him when he learns what all has happened."

"You have to tell him," Sein pointed out. "He's stronger than he looks, and his emotions are only so strong because he chooses to not mask them. If it hurts him, he'll recover."

"I know I have to, it just won't be an easy conversation," Xin murmured. Sein nodded slowly and moved to speak, but the telltale sound of footsteps caught his attention. He looked up and blanched at the sight of Novei covered in blood from the waist up as she walked into the hallway. As soon as he saw her, Xin tensed. "Are ye alright?" he asked her quickly.

"Yup," Novei said easily. "Turns out, blood splatters up when you pummel someone's skull in." She looked over at Sein who was visibly disturbed, then decided to just ignore the hawk. "Li was bitten by Cyca again."

"We figured that out," Xin admitted. "I'm going to help keep an eye on him going forward."

"He asleep?" Novei questioned, tilting her head. She was louder than Sein and Xin had been, combined, not bothering to lower her own volume. "I wanna talk to him."

"He's asleep at the moment," Xin told her.

Novei blinked, then gave a small frown. "I don't… feel great," she suddenly mumbled, audibly irritated.

Sein managed to get his disgust (toward the grotesque sight of the gore, not Novei herself) under control long enough to ask. "What's wrong?"

"Unsure," Novei huffed, blinking slowly.

"Were ye bitten?" Xin suddenly demanded, voice tight.

"Yes," Novei answered, growing quiet before all at once dropping to her knees. "Oh, fuck me," she groaned.

Xin cursed several times in Chinese and magically constructed a bed for her while simultaneously teleporting her onto it. "Lay down," he ordered curtly, "before you inevitably fall down. You cannot fight this."

"Fuck you, you… stupid… bitch." She didn't heed his words and fell forward the moment she was unconscious, but a caring hand from Ryint kept her from falling off the bed somehow.

"Ah, shit… I shoulda guessed it," Ryint huffed. "She took time to snap Cyca's jaw. Makes sense with her being a little spiteful thing."

"Sounds about right, aye," Xin said. He rubbed at his face again. "This is a mess… Sein, do not linger near her for the time being. Cyca saw fit to turn her as well. Novei is now in the process of changing into a vampire."

Ryint took charge shortly after Xin stopped speaking. "Xin, keep an eye on Sothan. Sein, stay in the room with Li. I'm gonna focus on getting her cleaned up so she doesn't go completely feral when she wakes up."

Sein had no issue with following this set of orders, looking to Xin should he have something to add. "She may need to be taken somewhere outside," Xin murmured. "Depending on how she is upon waking, being in this confined space with so many potential prey items may prove too tempting for her because of her new instincts."

"...With one of them being someone she already has a tendency to mark," Ryint quietly murmured, gently collecting Novei up off of the bed. "I'll get somewhere safe with her, get her cleaned up."

"Inform me when she wakes, will ye?" Xin requested. "I need to keep Li in the loop as much as possible. He loves her too much to tolerate being left in the dark."

Ryint gave a two finger wave and a wink. "Course, bud." Intentionally using the nickname he'd confirmed he didn't like, Ryint teleported away before retribution could be brought down on her.

Golden eyes rolled, then Xin grew more serious again. "Ye should return to Li," he sighed. "I should do the same with Sothan."

Sein nodded easily. "Yeah, I'll try to not get shocked entirely if something happens this time," he chuckled, a touch of pain in his voice.

"Stop beating yerself up over it," Xin told him gently. "I'll be nearby if ye need me, alright?"

"Same to you," Sein offered in kind. With this said, he turned and walked into Li's room, softly closing the door as he went in.

Sighing to himself, Xin turned away and walked back to where he'd left Sothan. How much worse can this day get…?

~保護者~

Zsasha had been born from a nightmare. Ghune had been born from a normal dream. One, he had always trusted. One, he never had. He hadn't been overly impressionable as a child, but Finis had nonetheless always trusted her opinions on things back then. He hadn't ever had a reason not to. That still held true today. She was seldom wrong about things and, even when she was, it was virtually never over anything serious. So when she had come to him with knowledge about his latest unintentional creation, he had believed her every word. Cere, Saethrim, and many others had as well.

That was why, though Finis knew he couldn't fight Zsasha himself, he was working to track the man down. Because while he had never faced Zsasha on a battlefield before, Ghune certainly had. She'd been the first (and later the last) person to engage the other vampire in combat. She was the most ideal person to do so again since Saethrim seemed to be focusing on taking care of Black Doom. And besides that, he could sense that Cyca and Lior were each already dead again. Zsasha would have no backup. Ghune, on the other hand, had plenty of allies to call upon if need be.

It took quite a bit of doing, but Finis managed to find his own quarry. Zsasha had his aura and other energies carefully hidden just as he'd always done in the past, but that didn't matter. His head of black-streaked silver hair gave him away instantly. The appearance of this man was too unique to mistake as belonging to anyone else. There was no other vampire in the whole of existence who looked like him. This could be no one else but him. He even had the same clothes and those same dark circles under his grey eyes as always.

Teleporting away before he could be noticed was prudent. He didn't want to get into a fight, not when he had no means of winning it. It had been mentioned to him that during his apparent corruption (why the Faein who had purified him took away his memories of the event, he still didn't understand), he had somehow managed to harm Cere and Ghune a bit. However that had been managed, it wasn't something he could do routinely or on purpose. All he could do was defend, and thus any "fight" between him and Zsasha one-on-one wouldn't be a fight at all. It would be a waste of time.

Once away from the planet, he reached his mind out to Ghune. "I located Zsasha. He is idling on the isolated dwarf planet Xerta. Do you know how to get there? If not, teleport to me. I am close, but not close enough for your arrival to be immediately sensed by him."

"I'll be there momentarily," Ghune replied easily. She didn't give him time to reply, teleporting to Finis right after she'd finished answering him.

Finis crossed his arms when she appeared. "I had every intention to stay and help you," he informed her, "but something is amiss with Cere. I need to return to her."

"Keep me informed," Ghune murmured gently. "If you need me, I'll get to you as soon as possible."

"The same goes for you," Finis answered just before he vanished.

Ghune sighed gently under her breath, reaching for her sword and unsheathing it. She couldn't let him stay alive for long. It would be no time before he started causing problems again, even if he'd started off by being quiet and unnoticed. It was entirely possible they just hadn't seen the damage he'd caused, and that concerned her more.

Rather than giving him a moment to react, Ghune appeared on the planet and unleashed her first attack, fury blazing in her eyes.

~保護者~

Steam drew in a breath as he ventured deeper into the Lost Hex. Thankfully, he was often easily unnoticed or ignored when he ventured into places like this. The last thing he wanted right now was to fight a Hexan that didn't want him around. He'd already checked a few important places, areas that he knew Yorik to be at every now and then. So far, he'd come up empty handed. That wasn't helping his nerves.

There was one place he could absolutely check, but it was a risky idea. Deep in the heart of the Lost Hex, the magic of the realm was strongest. Much like in the Realms of Light and Darkness, this strong energy had healing properties for those that had the proper magic. As it stood, Steam most certainly did not possess Hexan magic. However, he knew the limits of his resilience and it was certainly possible to travel into it, at least briefly. When he came up on the outer edges of it all, Steam coated his communicator in his own magic, then ventured in.

The spell Eila had cast on him seemed to do wonders, as he currently didn't feel any pain from being surrounded by pure magic. It didn't mean he could move slowly, though. As such, he raced his way to the depths of the magic, searching for Yorik. He paused when he finally saw the man, teleporting over in an instant. Though Yorik was covered in blood, it had all dried to the point of being… crusty. He took a moment to use his magic to clean the man's body of the stuff, then took in more of the situation.

He had likely been heavily injured, and obviously had remained here for quite some time. Whatever injuries he'd sustained were healed and it appeared that he was simply recovering the rest of the way. Cautiously, Steam reached out a hand and shook the man. "Yorik, are you okay?" No response came. Though Yorik appeared to have more or less fully healed by now, he had yet to regain consciousness. Hence why he was still laying where he'd apparently collapsed.

Steam sighed and took a chance, placing his hand against Yorik's chest and using his magic to try and stir the Hexan awake. His actions soon earned a groan. A moment or two later, Yorik coughed and lightly batted Steam's hand away before attempting to push himself up into a sitting position. He wasn't immediately able to make sense of where he was or what was going on, but soon everything began settling into place. Mumbling a few soft curses in Hexan, he started to try to stand.

The hedgehog responded to this with an almost customary greeting in Hexan, hoping to get Yorik's attention. Then he said, "Sorry for that. You okay?" He helped Yorik to stand, using his magic to pull the man to his feet.

Yorik stumbled a little despite the help. After a short delay, he returned Steam's greeting with a sigh before abruptly switching languages. "I'm fine," he answered in a thick accent. "Just need a minute."

"Take your time," Steam replied. "I'll fill you in on why I'm here once you've had a second to collect yourself."

With a hand, Yorik quite literally waved him off. "Just tell me now. No point in delaying it."

"Got it," Steam answered easily. "I came looking for you on Wave's behalf. I figured I could find you quickly enough. I'm assuming you got attacked by Nareish or someone in her army?"

"Widow," Yorik muttered. "Her and several others. She was too much of a coward to pick a fight by herself."

"Shit, you've been here for a while. The Widow is dead," Steam explained.

"Kisera," Yorik replied without thinking. It was another curse. Then he asked, "Are you serious?"

Steam nodded in reply. "Yeah. A recently awakened God of Magic killed her in a fight."

"Magic?" Yorik echoed, incredulous. "There's a deity for that now?"

"Yeah, and he's the best friend of your granddaughter," Steam explained further. "Trust me when I say you'll have to meet him to understand how he was capable of something like that."

"Best friend…?" Yorik thought back through the many, many long years of his life until he hit upon a name and a face. "I met a Babylonian boy named Cyril once when Wave was perhaps four or five. Is that the boy you're referring to?"

Steam nodded. "Yup. Cyril's the God of Magic."

"Hm. Interesting." Yorik ran a hand over his face with a sigh. "I don't suppose you know how Wave herself is doing, or my two boys."

"Wave has it a bit rough right now. Han lost his memories as a result of an attack from one of Nareish's soldiers," Steam replied. "I won't say much more, since you should talk to her yourself about anything they're dealing with. I checked in, though, and the situation with Han's memories is slowly being resolved."

Yorik nodded. "Where are they?"

"New Babylon. I can take you there, if you need help."

"No, I'll make my way there myself." Yorik took in his own appearance for a second and sighed again. "...After I clean up and fetch new shoes and the like."

Steam nodded. "I understand. I tried to clean off some of the blood, but I didn't wanna intrude too much."

"Don't worry yourself over it. You've done plenty." Yorik used a quick spell to clean himself off, but didn't bother wasting the energy to repair his footwear since he didn't care about these shoes.

"Hope to see you around, soon," Steam said after a few seconds of pause. "We could always use some more help, even if you choose to not fight. I know Wave and Han could use you being around."

"I'll fight, make no mistake," Yorik said. "Especially since Nareish say fight to hurt my family directly. I won't let that stand."

Steam understood that well. "Good to hear. You need anything, just find me or someone in your family. I need to figure out how to kill a planet-eating creature."

"Sounds exciting," Yorik chuckled. "Call me if you need extra help. Otherwise, I'm headed to Wave, Han, and Thane."

Steam gave an easy wave. "Got it." He paused again, trying to decide how to end the conversation before just teleporting out of the realm.

Alone again at last, Yorik allowed the mild friendliness to fade from his expression, leaving neutrality behind. Still, his internal emotions remained. Right now, anger was the strongest. Bastard thought she could get away with harming my son…? I'll make her pay. Mind made, he let himself vanish.

~保護者~

In her lightless throne room, Nareish examined the earring resting in the palm of her hand. So tiny… yet so significant. Did your owner ever appreciate just how much power you possess? Her dark eyes watched as the little flame within the item danced and swirled, creating a faint and ever-present glow. Perhaps it was sentimentality rather than ignorance that kept him from making use of you. Those like him are always so deeply attached to the items they enter existence with. Foolish, though that weakness has proven to be amusing in the past.

She shifted her thumb and forefinger and lifted it by the hook so that that special, glowing sphere dangled in front of her face. There was truly potent creation magic contained within this one, solitary object. Its twin was likely just as powerful, but ultimately it was useless to her. She had no idea where the wolf-woman Yuma had hidden it. Perhaps she had left it with her son. That was quite likely, in fact, given how "close" this family was. It didn't matter, however. For this task, she only needed the one.

The fact that there was nothing but creation magic within the earring didn't surprise Nareish. It was the main magic that Sothan himself had wielded as the God of the Forge and later passed on to Li. However, that magic was specifically geared toward blacksmithing. This magic wasn't. It was able to create in general. She wasn't sure if there was enough contained within for any to be leftover once she was finished, though it didn't make a difference either way. Leftovers wouldn't be needed. She knew precisely how to do this. Because she'd done this once before.

Saran's paternal family could only be traced back as far as Kathros. She knew it, Kathros knew it, his descendants knew it… but only the two of them knew the reason for it. That reason was because of magic precisely like what she was now in possession of. Back then, she'd stolen it from a Tokarian man whose magic had been truly potent and whose name had never mattered to her. Once she stole his magic and practiced enough for her own liking, she was able to use a combination of his magic and her own energies to create a child. After much deliberation, she had come up with a name for the bundle of fur she'd held in her arms.

His name was Kathros.

In truth, though she had done all that she could to mold him into a proper heir, parts of him had been disappointing from the get-go. Specifically, he'd been born with a physical limitation. His albinism hadn't been anticipated and had resulted in him being nearly blind. She'd disapproved immensely, but hadn't done anything to help him with it. If he couldn't at least get strong enough to repair it on his own, then he was entirely useless to her and better off dead. Luckily for him, he'd managed it while still quite young.

The boy had possessed great stubbornness within him as well. She swore that it was a trait every Tokarian seemed to have. Regrettably, he also retained the capacity for "good" emotions, thoughts, and behaviors even after she relentlessly molded virtually all traces of such things from her little soldier. Before long, she'd rendered him so repressed emotionally that he (like his son now) didn't even remember what it was like to have emotions. He certainly hadn't remembered that he had, in fact, had them at one point. But even so, that dammable capacity for such things had remained. That had been strike one against him.

Strike two had been when he had met the woman named Kaitiri and not only failed to kill her when ordered to, but succumbed over time to love toward her. Then he had married her, produced his own child with her. That had been strike three. Nareiesh had known right then and there that her experiment had failed this time. Her boy had to be punished… when the time was right. So she had waited. Watched. Observed him as he'd played happy little family with the pair of them. Until, one day, an opportunity arose to bring death upon one of them.

Kaitiri's death was sudden, but not bloody. Her husband hadn't known that Nareish was responsible. By then, he had deeply repressed all of his memories of his time with his dear mother within the realm of his birth, and so the thought had never entered his mind. It was foolish… but that was his own mistake. His own fault. Still, he'd done the best he could to raise his son the way his wife would have wanted. Nareish had to admit, albeit a touch begrudgingly, that he hadn't done terribly at it. Not by a "good" person's standards, at any rate.

Given his own poor eyesight as a young child, he'd been uniquely well suited to help Saran learn to navigate the world around them without sight and had subsequently done so. He had truly nurtured (to the extent of his capabilities at the time) his son's love of learning and exploring. He'd always protected the boy from harm, tended to him when he managed to get hurt anyway, never let him miss a meal or go without shelter… Everything a "proper" father was supposed to do. What he lacked in much emotion, he'd done what he could to make up for in all other ways. It was, quite frankly, disgusting.

Saran had reached adulthood and grown strong. He'd had a family of his own, a wife, son, and grandchild whom he loved dearly. He'd had passions, hobbies, dreams, goals, happiness… until the day Nareish had ended his life. Or, rather, she had orchestrated events so that her dear friend the Widow could. Once he was dead, she had made absolutely certain that Kathros was the one to find his son's brutalized corpse, that he was the one forced to bury him and walk away. Then she had swooped in and stolen her wayward son away back to his real home. She had forced him to remember everything he had tried so hard to leave behind him, and the depths of his pain and his grief coupled by the damage she knew she had done to him…. It had all proven to be too much.

For all his strength, he had turned out to be weak in the end, after all.

The hollow, broken toy she'd been left with could have only served one final purpose before meeting its own demise. Namely, torturing people for her. It was usually to gather information without her having to lift a finger, though there was another purpose behind her orders. She wanted him to practice… to be ready for the real target. The one she wanted him to destroy was Kaden. At her word, he had done just that. Kaden seemed to have been aware of his abuser's relation to his beloved deceased sensei, too, and that knowledge quite possibly played into his lengthy mental denial of his own predicament… and his long lasting trauma.

That trauma, those dark emotions… Those were what Nareish had been after. He was left deeply susceptible to corruption due to that intense negativity, something she had planned to one day capitalize on. In the interim, she had been content to merely keep half an eye on him and his life. She had dallied for too long, however, for Amnikaribah had gotten ahold of him before her. At first, she had been irritated. Her opinion had changed in time. Being a demon had suited him quite well, as it turned out.

However, that was all beside the point. After he had carried out that order, Kathros's usefulness to her had officially ended. Her original plan had been to kill him herself, right up until she had caught wind of the other Immortals and their plight. The three of them were grappling with the idea of killing him, still trying desperately to cling to the hope that he could be saved and go back to being the "good" person he'd been with his family…

But then Kaden had successfully reached their meeting place to speak with them. In a moment of pure weakness, he had begged them for their help. Despite having apparently realized that Kathros was under her influence, they had been forced to conclude that they could do nothing for him. All they could do was put an end to his life. Nareish had decided immediately to let them handle it themselves.

Kathros's death had wound up being far less brutal than that of his son. While Saran had been so brutalized that his spirit had never regained consciousness until the moment of his revival, Kathros had awakened almost immediately upon entering the Realms of Death. The time for judgement and placement had come, and he had been resigned to his fate. He was sent straight to hell.

Those realms had no filter for victims of corruption. At the time that they and Zenith (along with Eona) had entered existence, the mere concept of corruption hadn't existed to anyone other than the Faein. Why they hadn't acted to correct such a thing, Nareish could only guess. Either way, the end result was the same. And by the time people had begun to realize what corruption was, Zenith and Eona had been succumbing to their need for sleep and could do nothing with the knowledge. That was how Nareish had been able to swoop in and corrupt Zenith's older daughter Aora. Then the Aether had decided to invade her realm and free the woman. What an annoyance that had been…

More importantly, Nareish had been able to make use of this flaw by causing many of her victims throughout the years to be sent to Hell and left there to rot. Only, she couldn't rely on such a method with Kathros. He was never corrupted. Not even once. That had forced her to get creative. The "employees" who sorted souls into the proper realms (and deemed some of them well-behaved enough to be allowed the privilege of free roaming) would have seen through Kathros, just like all the others. They would have judged him guilty of his crimes, but not so guilty that he deserved hell.

Nareish hadn't wanted that. Her desire was to see her little boy burn forevermore as punishment for his shortcomings. Manipulating the minds of the judges and then subsequently doing the same with all the workers within Hell itself had been simple enough. And there he had languished for many glorious years… right up until Eila had freed him. Now she and Zenith both were suspicious. Both had noticed signs of her manipulations. Eila had even caught glimpses of Kathros's again buried memories. But Nareish didn't care. Why would she?

She had in her hand now the means to try her experiment again, to use what she had learned from her first attempt to make a second. It was true that she had no use for children, but an exception had been made once before with the goal of leaving a worthy heir behind just in case Jet and the Void really did kill her. An exception would be made here, too. Calling forth her energies, she channeled them through the earring she had been holding during her meandering journey down memory lane. Its glow intensified more and more until it filled the room. When it faded, there was a weight in her lap and a shrill cry in her ears.

So you chose to look like your father as well. Regrettable. Huffing, she looked over the wailing baby she had just created. Fiery orange eyes, black fur, pointed ears… She supposed it could be said that the child and their father could very well have been twins. Save for, of course, one tiny detail. Whereas Sothan was a vampire now, his newly created child was not. Not fully. He was instead a far rarer half-vampire and thus had shorter fangs. Otherwise he was just a seemingly ordinary little boy… because it seemed the universe wanted to have a laugh at her by burdening her with another son. He hadn't had the good fortune of being born an Immortal like Kathros had, either, as that sort of thing was down to random chance. And besides, there were no "slots" available, as it were.

Oh, well. At least she had a better idea of what to expect from a male child this time around. She knew what her end goal still was, too, and had more experience on her side to try and make it a reality. It went without saying that she wanted total obedience. No emotions. Unfailing loyalty. She had come close with Kathros and failed on all counts, but she didn't let herself go back down that mental road.

Then there was Kaden, who when corrupted had been loyal only to himself, had obeyed orders from no one, and who had stubbornly clung to some sense of care toward his children despite losing all his love for Analia. Much more recently, Saran had proven to be his opposite in terms of emotions. He was very close to being emotionless, but appeared to subconsciously retain some degree of attachment and care toward his wife at the expense of their son. He, too, was loyal to no one and did not obey orders of any kind now that he had regained his free will.

Nareish was determined for things to go differently with this one. She tossed the nearly drained earring aside, hearing the soft clink of it landing on the stone floor, then used her own power to forcibly hold her new son's mouth closed. It did nothing to soothe him, though it did shut him up. That was all she cared about. "I suppose you will be needing a name…" she mused, watching him squirm and whimper in distress. The little wolf cub began whining pitifully before long. She shook her head. "Perhaps another time. You have managed to irritate me already."

Without ever properly touching him, utterly and deliberately depriving him of the physical contact babies both needed and craved, she teleported him into another chamber and put him out of her mind. Eventually, she would have to feed him. For now, though, she was content to ignore him. Still… she was smiling faintly to herself. Welcome to existence, you deplorable little mutt.

May you grow to detest it just as much as I do.

~保護者~

13,283 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 11:30 p.m.) 06-20-23.