Erebus wasn't even sure why he was surprised when come morning, their silent vigil beside Shtola's side was disturbed by the demand for their presence in Raha's office. Still quite exhausted, he elected to let Rahm answer those summons while simply resting deeper than usual below his boy's consciousness.

"Are we in trouble?" Rahm asked his guide sheepishly, and Senri only shrugged his wide shoulders in answer.

"Dunno," the older Warrior said only when they reached the staircase and headed down skipping steps. "If you're in for a surprise."

"Huh?"

"You'll see," Senri snickered, arriving at the underground level. Rahm, following much slower, frowned while eyeing his broad grin… and changed visage.

"What's with your hair, by the way?" he asked, waving his hand toward half-bleached strands sticking out from below nearly matching them bandana on Senri's head.

"Ah, do you like it?" The taller Seeker fluttered his jet-black lashes with his absolutely ridiculous goofy grin in place and Rahm bit his lower lip not to snort. Stopping beside him, he gave the older male a purposefully slow once-over, and then he wiggled his blonde eyebrows playfully while placing his hand over his heart.

"So much my heart might not handle it," he strived for a serious tone and grinned triumphantly when Senri snorted and shook his head.

"Smartass," he replied, folded his hands behind his head, and headed toward his husband's office. Rahm relaxed quite a bit, involuntarily admiring the decorations displayed along their path.

By now knowing a tad more about his friend's experiences, he considered it a win that Senri felt comfortable around him. He could thank his mate for that because initially, Shtola warned him to be careful about ever mentioning the older Seeker's unnatural appearance. If only by curiously following Raha's novel, he would eventually understand what she meant. Eventually, about a year ago now – while he spent more time around the former Warrior – Senri started to seem far more relaxed, and his cheerful grins turned distinctively more genuine. Shtola, very pleased with that development, commented that as Raha's influence.

Soon after, Rahm was gingerly invited to join their side activities, and once he truly understood what this was about, he was wholly on board! Assisting them with his Echo in getting their world rid of the worst scum imaginable swiftly convinced him toward Senri's philosophy on the subject. And taught him that there were monsters around them far more vile than those stalking the planes.

Sending them back screaming into the aetherial sea felt both necessary and satisfying to a degree he only initially found surprising.

"Here," Senri stopped by the door at the end of the corridor and motioned toward him to go in first. Rahm frowned with confusion but complied and gripped the handle, pushed it, and opened the door. Then he froze, gawking at the three figures inside. Especially not exactly the redhead he was expecting to see sitting behind Raha's desk. "Told you so," Senri snorted, then shoved his hand between Rahm's shoulder blades, forcing him to pass the threshold. He followed, then closed the door behind them. With a friendly pat on his shoulder, Senri nudged him toward chairs set in front of the desk, then joined his husband next to the central furniture in the room. Raha saluted playfully from his perch on the edge of the desk, but Rahm saw that only from the corner of his eye, far too distracted by the other redheaded male in the office.

Uh oh, Erebus didn't sound comforting at all when the Hyur-like version of Raha arched his eyebrows and pointedly motioned toward the empty chair. Another bright-eyed male sent him a slightly strained smile from his place, leaning against the backrest of – he assumed and swallowed thickly, taking the offered seat – Damon's chair. Let me deal with this, boy.

Be my guest, he agreed easily, honestly far too unnerved by the inhumane expression of the bright cyan eyes.

All of them knew that out of the surviving Ancients, Damon was the most dangerous. He had no idea what it meant that he could apparently now leave Raha's body, but he wasn't sure it was a good thing. He felt more than a huge wave of relief when Erebus took over, gladly setting back to watch.

"Smart choice," the redheaded apparition commented wryly, and other than the delicate narrowing of cyan eyes, Damon's quite blank expression remained passive. "Will save us time, Erebus, if I don't like your answers."

"Damon," the Hyur-like male that could be Senri's twin rested his hand over the redhead's shoulder while not taking his sky-blue eyes from them.

"Answers about…?" his Ancient replied, seemingly far more relaxed than Rahm felt if he suspected the way he leaned back against the backrest of the chair was an act.

"About Convocation fucking with my gift and memories," the tone was as blank as his expression, while Rahm didn't miss how their body flinched. Two other Seekers in the room seemed confused while Ares's beautiful face noticeably tightened in a very familiar scowl.

Bast, he does look identical to Hades like this, he gasped, involuntarily amused by it. Erebus ignored him, keeping their eyes on Damon's unreadable expression.

"I can't speak about that," he said slowly, putting a heavy pressure on the word.

"Can't?" Damon's soft-spoken manner wholly missed any hint of emotion, which well matched the expression of his eyes. He folded his hands on the edge of the desk before him and delicately tilted his head. Meanwhile Erebus noticeably tensed for some reason unclear for Rahm until the redhead's lips slightly curved in not a pleasant smile. "I think you fail to understand the situation, Erebus. I promised Ares not to harm you, but now – thanks to you, mind you – I don't need to. How did nearly all the pieces of Entropy come to your possession, Erebus?" The air around him darkened in a familiar fashion while his tone grew a familiar musical cadence. Rahm could only stare, nearly feeling the strings of dynamis that dug into his Ancient's soul.

"They were bonded to the members of the Convocation who took part in the ritual," Erebus's tone was completely flat as their body sagged limply in the chair. "I assumed with the destruction of Eitherys those bonds were broken. Pieces were also bound to in case of losing their owner return to Pashtarot. As keeper of order, I was elected to pass them down to the next chosen individual. I don't know why the last piece – Traveler's – was missing."

Damon's expression twitched slightly when he looked toward his husband. Ares paled, staring at them as the line of his lips thinned.

"Piece...? Glass chalice with a twisted orange string inside it?" He swore under his breath when Erebus nodded their head. "I didn't know. Venat told me it's something inherited with the Seat," he looked at his lover with an apologetic look for some reason, and Damon shrugged one shoulder before looking at Erebus again. Aura around him thickened with dynamis while his smile turned cutting.

"Where is it? That last piece?" He asked, and Rahm's Ancient shook their head.

"West, that's all I know," he replied in a mechanical tone. "And far."

"I see," the air around him brightened some when Damon hummed in the back of his throat and scratched his chin. "Those pieces… They were bonded to the soul signature of whomever currently held the Seat, yes?"

"Yes."

"Ah, that makes sense," Damon chuckled; Ares nodded while their hosts seemed wholly confused. "The spell I created, boy, to let us reincarnate into you. Did you never wonder why we are whole while you're our broken halves…? Well, more in your case," he waved toward Raha, who frowned, then blinked rapidly.

"Wait… Copy? Huh?" He hummed, exchanging baffled looks with his lover. "But which side? We or you?"

"Copy, yes, to the finniest detail," Damon smiled for the first time, nodding toward his host like a proud teacher. "And let me tell you, it was a pain to create, taking all the variables into account. And we are, obviously," he touched his chest while nodding toward Ares. "After burying the seed containing them in our original souls, I had them record, so to speak, their memories up to the moment Venat's strike broke them. And they were warded against multiplying alongside their shards since I thought it crucial to keep their original density. I assumed – correctly – that considering how that T'senri we met described the effects of Sundering, this seed would remain thanks to that on the Source. I already told you that the trigger I set for our awakening was you two mating past the point of your souls being seven times rejoined, yes? Considering we wanted to change as little as possible, I didn't want to risk us getting woken too much ahead of time," his expression hardened again when he pinned Erebus with a cutting glare. "Too bad I didn't know that alongside our memories and aether, I made it copy the limiter you placed on my soul, hm? Otherwise, I'm guessing that after losing their owners, those pieces would be returned to me, not you. Imagine, Erebus… how much suffering having them would spare my husband."

His Ancient obviously didn't answer, and only Rahm cringed at the insinuation, thinking that he was probably starting to understand the why of last night's ritual. Damon pinned them with a long look, and his expression once more turned neutral.

"Why did you decide to return them now, Erebus?" he asked in a voice thick in something far too reminiscent of Ares's gift. And that aura about him darkened again – too fucking similar to how it looked when he used Erebus's ability to force the truth out of someone.

"I wanted to do so once I realized what you did," his Ancient replied flatly. "Though I couldn't tell her why, Nemesis ran a careful study of the circumstances for me. She suggested that your lack of aether and memory meant that in that blast, Damon… you didn't really survive that. Asking Venat for more information about what happened with spaces left after the Reflections that were rejoined to the Source, I decided that it might be worth the risk. To be safe – as much as possible in the circumstances – over the last two years, I had Rahm focus on using only the dark aether in whatever he was doing. Considering his alignment to it, I hoped it would eventually drain its source, leaving in that so-called void only the aether you left behind."

"Why not give it to me straight away?" Damon's bright eyes narrowed at them intently. "Why do this in such a roundabout way?"

"I had a pretty good idea that it would kill you," Erebus replied. Ares noticeably flinched, and his gaze finally left them to turn toward his lover. Damon's expression didn't change, but he lifted his hand and rested it over Ares's on his shoulder. "Entropy is an aberrant form of magic that burns through aether in a similar way Abyss burns through dynamis. What remained of you in Raha, I assumed wouldn't survive the sheer amount it would require for those thirteen pieces to be united. I wasn't even sure that what aether was left in the void would be enough for it, but it seemed like the safer option. Only I also assumed that it would take at least a few years before whatever result sips back through the Rift."

"Well, you were wrong," Damon's smirk could cut glass. "And it didn't sip, either. Having been quite literally starved for aether in those chalices, it fed itself on my aether, grew resemblance of consciousness briefly from it, and decided it wanted more. Accidentally, I've been casting an unrelated spell, and picking on that, it rushed over… so to speak. Giving me quite a whiplash of all the memories I ever lost," his tone grew slightly softer. "Including that talk you gave me before it was taken from me, Erebus. Was removing that also intentional?"

"Yes," his Ancient's tone was as flat and emotionless as before. "Neither you nor your mother could be allowed to remember the full scale of your capabilities. Especially her. I postulated that after that talk to Convocation, after you insisted, she might use your father's ability to rewind time to prevent it."

"Huh? What talk?" Senri asked, and Rahm was involuntarily grateful for that.

"He warned me precisely how dangerous my gift could be in the wrong hands," Damon replied, keeping his bright eyes on them. "He never had much patience for beating around the bush, I presume. Witnessing my mother's… reaction to the decision of Convocation, I couldn't disagree with that. Since Pashtarot was meant to keep order, I asked him to include her in the following memory wipe," he turned toward Senri, and his expression once more became an expressionless mask. "You see… I was thrilled about that decision, my boy, very much opposite to my mother. I hated my gift. I was young at the time, admittedly, but understanding what she created, my so-called mother literally shoved me into meeting as many gifted individuals as possible without caring for my sanity. She made contact with the Bureo only after my psyche started crumbling with an overload of information. After rewinding at least six times the moment my mind collapsed – which my miserable gift let me remember in graphic details. And they at least had the good sense to instantly turn the case to the judgment of the Convocation."

"So you wanted it removed?" Raha asked softly, and Damon's brilliant eyes turned toward him.

"I wanted to be able to think, Raha, without being constantly bombarded with the thoughts of others. Live without constantly accidentally rewinding time, having everyone spilling their nasty truths at me and…" he exhaled deeply and closed his eyes before continuing. "…without seeing their souls. My gift worked like a siphon, do you understand, my boy? Storing and magnifying gifts of every person I saw – and my mother made sure that number would drive anyone insane. And hearing the verdict of Convocation, I could hear her plan to pretend to comply. Long enough to get her hands on my father and take it all back. My well-being meant nothing compared to research on the extent of my gift. Asking for Erebus's help was the only path I could see to my own survival. Only now, I wish I remembered that." He sighed, then opened his eyes and looked at them again. "Why didn't you destroy it?"

"We tried," Erebus replied. "But tossing creation magic at it only fed it and made it further evolve. When it started to manifest itself as a physical being, Convocation agreed that more drastic measures had to be taken. Speaker of that time informed me that he'll raise the vote to have you – its core – eliminated to destabilize the process."

Damon blinked slowly, seemingly not surprised, while Ares growled under his breath and leaned against the desk beside him.

"ELIMINATE?" he hissed. "Since when did our people consider harming children?!"

"Since long before your birth," Erebus replied without emotion, and Ares leaned away as if struck.

Finally, an emotion filled Damon's cyan eyes, but it wasn't any of the pleasant kind.

"Did they? Explain," he nearly purred with the undertone of Ares's gift while the dark aura around him grew much darker.

"Before I took the Seat, it was tradition to return failed offspring to the aetherial sea. Extinguishing that took me more than five generations of the shift among the members of the Convocation."

Damon sighed and rubbed his face. When he looked at them again, his bright eyes looked dim and tired.

"Enough of this," he breathed, then raised his hand and snapped his fingers between them as the aura around him melted away. Erebus grunted, then shook his head before sitting straight in their seat. "You should be able to speak freely now. I should have done that in the first place, I'm sorry."

"It's damn potent," his Ancient chuckled hoarsely, then ran his fingers through his hair. Rahm couldn't see their expression like this, but he wasn't that surprised to hear their voice soften with a hint of worry. "And it's a relief to see that you can command it freely, Damon. I was hoping it would be the case, but… I wasn't certain."

"It's very different from the time I was a child, Erebus," Damon smiled weakly, then looked at Ares and toward them again. He grimaced and dropped his eyes to the surface between them. "Is it too late to offer my apologies for what I did to your gift? Or thanks… for stopping that tradition before my Ares was born?"

"By now, I see that twist as a blessing," Erebus laughed, waving his hand when Damon looked up. "And even back then, boy, I couldn't see it as anything but as rightful retribution for what Lahabrea forced me to do. I didn't recognize you that evening," he shrugged helplessly, smiling toward Damon's scowl. "It wasn't that long, I guess, but the difference between that skinned and miserable boy and the confident man madly – and openly – in love with the infamous Ares…? And after that, I was far too busy trying to stay sane…" he shrugged again, then sighed heavily. "I only don't understand how you still developed such a terrifying gift after the ritual, Damon."

"You misunderstood, Erebus, how it worked," Damon whispered, looking down again. "Entropy, as you named it, wasn't my gift. It was the result of mishandling it by my mother."

"Huh?" his Ancient hummed with confusion, and Damon sighed, smiling wryly when he looked up.

"What you removed from me was the twisted mix of faulty information. The overload she caused. My real skill was the understanding, Erebus. An understanding of patterns that stand behind the flow of aether. Of the information coded into it. Gifts or abilities, as we call them, were and are different strings of said 'code.' Let's take Ares, for example," he chuckled, motioning toward his husband, who frowned back. "His 'code' I would call Influence. Not precisely because of his gift, though. Did you never wonder why exactly everyone who looks at him finds him – and Senri - attractive, boys?" he looked toward their hosts, who exchanged confused looks, then looked at him and slowly shook their heads. "In normal circumstances, tastes differ, yes? Some like blondes, some brunettes, and so on… but them anyone who sees them can't help but consider beautiful. Now that I can see it – their code – both I and our people were completely wrong," Damon deadpanned, turning his eyes toward his lover. "I always assumed that your aether stores are so low because your gift causes you to not need them, love, remember?"

"Yeah…?" Ares replied with a frown. "That made sense to me, too."

"Not exactly, though," Damon sighed, slightly narrowing his eyes toward him, and then he turned his bright eyes toward Senri. "And it explained some of why your appearance changed so drastically in this incarnation, Senri. I thought my spell was faulty, having a wrong understanding of my own gift. I hardcoded that information – with their directives – while planting that seed in Ares's soul. You can think of it as that information overwriting the way you were supposed to look like when born. Which is still my bad, but makes a tad more sense."

"Huh?" the older Seeker scowled, looking toward his Ancient.

"It's complicated," Damon sighed while waving his hand toward his lover, who seemed as confused as Senri. "But your aether is low, Ares, because it's constantly in motion. Influencing everyone who looks at you like an aura. Your voice is its focus, and that is why everyone finds it so hypnotizing, but you did very much inherit your father's powerfully magnified ability. Nyx involuntarily shared his optimistic tendencies," he said toward them, and Erebus uttered a low whistle in answer, keeping their eyes on Ares.

"So, like him, I can't control it?" Ares scowled, having his eyes only on his husband when Damon frowned, then slowly shook his head.

"My guess? Being aware of it, possibly you could at least tune it down," the redhead replied, then looked at Senri. "You, too… I think. It wouldn't make him look different," he snorted when Raha gasped and opened his mouth – perhaps to protest. "It doesn't change their appearance, silly boy, but amplifies the attraction others feel toward them. Both our people and yours can't help but feel an appeal for beauty, obviously – which makes them malleable toward whatever idea they have of it. Ares's 'code,' my tweak imprinted on Senri, affects the perception of those around them. Only those who, by nature, do not feel any attraction toward them are, to some degree, safe from its influence. I actually think that if you focused on that aura, you could easily magnify the effect, too, if you were so inclined," Damon scratched his chin while his cyan eyes grew distant expression. "Like the voice, but less obvious. It could be a powerful weapon if handled carefully."

"I rather focus on tuning it down," Senri muttered, wrapping his arm around Raha's shoulders. "Would be nice not to… stand out so much."

"I can understand that," Damon nodded, then smiled at the Seeker. "Perhaps we can practice that on the way to Tural, hm? I should be able to help you with that now that I can see it."

"And me," Ares pouted, nudging his shoulder and Damon looked at him incredulously, then pouted too.

"But I like that effect," he scoffed, and his husband rolled his eyes with a huff.

"If I have more freedom to move about, I would like to do so without mortals tossing themselves at me, thank you very much. I saw enough of it from behind Senri's eyes, Damon."

"Spoilsport," the redhead purred his lips and narrowed his eyes. "Especially now, I'm more than capable of protecting you, Ares," the haughty tone of that statement made Rahm snort. Erebus flinched when cyan eyes snapped toward them with offended expression.

"You could hear that?" his Ancient asked while the rest looked between them with confusion. "Ah, Rahm thought it funny."

Sorry, he cringed involuntarily.

"No need," Damon sighed and shook his head. "And yes, I can. It's still a bit messy but with Entropy back and, thankfully, myself being far more mature, I can access all of the codes it collected. Mix them, even, as you saw. Once we're done here," he lowered his voice and turned his eyes toward his host. "And you're ready to return to that ship, boy, I might take a few days of a timeout to sort through all of it."

"Damon," Erebus started, and Damon looked at him, raising his eyebrows. "You should be careful with it, okay? That gift can be volatile. That Speaker I've mentioned? The one who wanted to raise the vote to kill you…? It ate him."

"Ate him?" The redhead repeated incredulously.

"Aether is aether," Erebus shrugged, then sighed. "If I think it was both his own and my fault. He shouldn't have picked to have that conversation in the room we kept it in, for one. And I might have gotten a little bit angry with him for suggesting that. I think that having no consciousness, it reacted to it. Perhaps to the dynamis of the emotion, I'm not certain, but it didn't look pleasant. And sorting through Rahm's memories of this and his previous lives, it seemed curious that I couldn't find the reincarnation of that man among mortals – hence the conclusion Entropy permanently consumes aether. It doesn't return to the aetherial sea, so it can't be reborn, either."

Damon's expression softened with a slight smile while Ares beside him delicately paled.

"I did know it could do that, actually. If it didn't eat him, Erebus. It erased his code, that's it. And yes, it does react to dynamis. The more potent emotion, the more powerful effect, too."

Erebus froze and narrowed their eyes at the redhead with consideration.

"Spoken from experience, I take it?"

"You could say so," Damon nodded slowly, then turned his head and looked at his husband.

"I'm fine," Ares said, leaning in and brushing his lips against his lover's cheek before looking at them again. "His parents weren't reborn, either, Erebus. "

While Rahm was confused, his Ancient nodded slowly.

"I did hear that your mother took your decision in a partner poorly," he said carefully, looking at Damon, whose face again turned into an expressionless mask. "I vaguely remember Nemesis mentioning that Cassiopeia took quite an… offense to some of Apate's comments about it. Wasn't one of them that suggestion that Ares used his gift to facilitate that?"

"Cassiopeia wasn't the only one who 'took offense,' Erebus," Damon replied softly. "I warned her what would happen if she insulted my husband, even before he became that. And I never bluff."

Remind me never to piss him off, he asked his Ancient and cringed when Damon snorted, and his expression brightened some.

"You have nothing to fear from me, Rahm, as long as you treat Shtola and your offspring right," the redhead winked at them, and Rahm, without shame, sighed loudly.

I plan to, I swear.

"Good," Damon nodded, then looked toward his husband and back at them. "If that's all, for now at least, better start packing, right?"

"Packing?" Erebus asked before he could.

"Yes," Damon nodded and sent them a slightly scary smile. "You're coming with us to Tural, obviously. That's furthest 'west' I can think of."

"Traveler's piece," Ares hummed, running his fingers through his hair. "We can't leave it loose among mortals, Erebus. That thing can bend space."

"Not to mention that it should contain codes to let me unlock the travel between the Source and the Reflections. I'm sure Shtola, when she hears of it, will be thrilled her and Nem's research fond the solution, right?" Damon's tone turned far too sweet.

But isn't that quite a long sea travel? I get sick on boats, he protested weakly. And Shtola's condition? Is that even safe?

"Don't fret," the redheaded immortal sent him a grin that was far from being comforting. "To my knowledge, Shtola's perfectly fine with travel by sea. And I'm more than capable of curing you of seasickness, Rahm, same as I did for Senri before our trip to Old Sharlayan."

When he gasped, Erebus thankfully read his thoughts and sent the older Seeker a fittingly smug grin… after rolling their eyes a bit.

"It's not like I was raised on boats or something," Senri pouted at them. "Raha's novel didn't mention my passage to Kugane?"

"I cut it out," his husband muttered, earning Senri's incredulous stare. "Who would like to read about the 'hero' puking for a moon straight, Sen?"

I would! He protested and Damon snorted, then repeated that toward Raha. Who rolled his crimson eyes at him and jumped off the desk to hug his arms around Senri's waist. Not fair. He laughed at me when we took a boat from Limsa last time.

"Kids," Damon chuckled fondly, then cleared his throat and scratched his chin. "We want to return on that ship before evening, Erebus. If you need more time, you can join us later. I hope by then Shtola will be up and about, but I'll pay her a visit to make sure before we leave. And, Rahm?"

Yes, Damon?

"Before I cure your seasickness, I might require a tiny favor, okay?" his smile seemed just a tad too innocent, and he hesitated. "Nothing serious, I promise."

...okay?

Somehow, that sounded worse than if it was 'serious.'