Both Ruby and Yang looked down where they saw Cayde-6 ride down the destroyed security hub that was high above them previously. They saw a brief flash signaling its destruction followed by smoke. They couldn't tell how far of a drop it was, but if anything, it was a long way down. They heard a thump behind them and readied their weapons thinking it was one of the prisoners, but it turned out to be their mother.
"Mom!" Both Ruby and Yang said at the same time, running over to her and hugging one another. Seeing that they were both okay, Summer ended the hug.
"You two alright?" She asked. Which was answered with Ruby re-enacting what happened leading up to this moment in a dramatic way. Summer listened to it while also filing some information away.
Roman Torchwick alive and escaping. Cayde-6 riding down on destroyed debris down far below. The usual information gathering.
She then went to the railing with Drei appearing and doing a quick scan and mental calculations.
"The drop is a good 500 feet, about a hundred floors between here and down there. Even if you were to grab both of your daughters, hold on to them as you fell and timed your jumps, risk of serious injury to both you and them is fifty-five percent. Same thing if Ruby were to use her speed semblance on us. She would run out of aura half-way down."
"Is there another way down?"
Drei went to a computer console and did a quick scan. "I can rig one of the cryo pods and request a transfer down via a train system. It will get us close, but still a dozen floors between us and him."
"Then let's catch us a train!"
00000
Finding an empty cryo-pod was easy, due to the numerous escaped prisoners now loose. Getting Drei to call a train to transfer the pod down was easy. The journey down was an adventure in itself. Both Summer, Yang and Ruby held on as the train went at speeds nearly over-clocking the speed of a sparrow at full. After the train finally came to a stop, they exited the cryo-pod that they rode in on. Getting out on shaking feet, they found themselves at a terminal room with flickering lights. Exiting the room, they found themselves in an extremely dim hallway lined with cryo-pods, all empty and all with a funky smell.
"Uhhh, something stinks here!" Ruby said covering her nose after getting a whiff. "Did a skunk explode then revived and died again?" Yang said also covering her mouth and nose. Summer having a quick whiff of it, quickly donned her helmet to limit the stink. Drei having manifested shined a light in the darkness, allowing them to see clearly, went to one of the pods and scanned it. "That smell is Ether. These pods contained Fallen. But…it's different…tainted."
"Tainted?" Summer asked, hand resting on Dire Promise.
They passed the cells, stepping over puddles of tainted ether and keeping an eye out for any Fallen that had previously resided in the cells.
It wasn't long till they encountered one.
Well, the remains of one.
It was Ruby who found the body while walking by the cell it contained. When she passed it, the cell light within flashed on showing the large dead body. Seeing it out of the corner of her eye, she turned, saw it and screamed, inadvertently activating her semblance and flying right behind Yang holding on to her shoulders, peaking out.
Both Summer and Yang at a distance, looked upon the body. It was the former that recognized the body from seeing its unique flat helmet, dark-blue cloak and the horns on its back.
"Skolas." Summer said looking upon the body.
"Skolas? You mean the one that…you know…" Yang asked looking to her mom.
"Shove a bomb up its ass and got my arm stuck up there…yep, this is him…or what's left of him." Summer said looking upon the carnage.
Skolas, Kell of Wolves, once a huge threat to the system a long time ago that once tried to unite all of the Fallen Houses in the system under his banner. Summer was the one who dealt the final blow that led to his defeat. And by final blow, shoving a bomb up his ass. It was so embarrassing that every fallen in the system lost all respect for him, and he just sat in his cell, apathetic to all around him. But now he was dead, and by the looks of it, his death was not merciful.
He was laying in his cell, cloak and armor torn showing the body beneath. Large chunks of his body were ripped from the whole and scattered all across the cell, his cloak once showing the banner of house Wolves was now shredded and unrecognizable, the head looked like something took a chunk out of the top, and the biggest one was the large hole in its lower abdomen. Enveloping the body was more of the tainted ether.
Summer found a piece of pipe on the floor and poked around the holes, disturbing her daughters who were now green in the face. "Well, the bomb is still in him, but whatever did this used teeth and claws." Summer said dropping the pipe. "That limits the suspects to War Beasts, Fallen, and Hive Thralls. Though I've never seen them do something this aggressive."
"Mom, I've found something!" Summer turned and saw Ruby with a data tablet and went to her, not seeing one of Skolas's fingers twitch.
Drei materialized and scanned the tablet. "This is a report written by Variks the Loyal. Warden of this prison dated a few weeks ago."
"Play the log. Wonder where variks is in all this?" Summer asked wondering where one of her friends was in this riot.
Drei finished the scan and read the report out loud.
"Data report #72. After numerous tests from Ether extracted from Prisoner #4503, I have found some unsettling discoveries. The Ether itself is tainted, and poisonous to all things Fallen. Shanks exposed are destroyed instantaneously. Servitors exposed corrode from the inside-out before exploding with the energies of a small bomb. However, when exposed to Eliksni, the results are clear. When exposed, they choke and clutch at their throats before expiring. When dead, the results take effect. Tumor-like growths appear on the bodies and their skin becomes grey. Several seconds later, they rise up."
Drei stopped and looked to the others. Both Ruby, Yang and Summer were on the edge of their seats, listening. All three realized that they were in the middle of a dark cell block and listening to a report about dead Eliksni rising from the dead. Summer, gun in hand and looking around, bid her ghost to continue.
"The dead have no memory of their past lives and claw at their cages. Even one Dreg that in life was docile, was hostile. Experiments in returning to death has both shown unsettling results. Loss of head has resulted in them rising again and attacking with even more aggression. Loss of vision does not hamper them and can still attack intended target regardless of obstacles. Those exposed to more of the tainted Ether has given them enhanced strength or body-mass increase. Destruction of body via incineration or full dismemberment has shown that they can't come back to life. If said remains are exposed to Prisoner #4503 in close proximity will make said results null and void. An Eliksni dead years prior when exposed to ether whether from samples or directly from Prisoner #4503 will result in said body being resurrected."
Drei was about to continue when a skittering sound came from all around them.
Both Ruby and Yang jumped and quickly readied their weapons, looking all around them. Even with Drei's light on, it still casted many shadows around them. Out of the corner of yang's eye, she saw something skitter on by and fired her weapon. The shot hit a pipe and it started to leak stem, adding to the atmosphere of fear. Summer had Dire Promise out and pointed her weapon. More skittering came around them.
Ruby jumped up and landed on her sister's shoulder.
"Oh my god something just brushed up against my leg!" Ruby screamed. Summer shot at where her daughter once stood, missing the shot. But he impact gave enough light to show a six-legged thing with blue tumors on its body skitter away back into the darkness. More skittering sounded around them, but a majority was in front of them.
They turned and saw dozens of the six-legged beings and they got a good enough look at them. They were Eliksni, but not. About as tall as Ruby's knees, bodies covered in tumors that now glowed. Ether leaking from their mouths filled with needle teeth. The swarm looked upon the three and stopped. That was when Skolas himself came out of his cell. Falling forward on all six, the legs bending inward so they would look more-spider like. Ether leaking from the chunks in his body, he raised his head looking upon them with eyes now hollow of intelligence. Summer activated her Golden gun and fired three shots into his head.
Bang-Bang-Bang!
Three shots impacted Skolas head, bigger holes appearing in his head, brain-matter and face blowing off staining the cells behind him. Yet it still looked at them then began to charge at them, quickly followed by those behind him!
00000
Down deep below at the bedrock of the Prison of Elders, Sundance materialized and scanned a bit of debris. Splitting her shell, she flashed and resurrected Cayde-6. The vanguard Hunter emerged from beneath and stretched as Sundance returned to the place within the Guardians mind that they reside in.
Cayde-6 stretched his arms out and looked around himself. He was at the very bottom of the Prison of Elders, and it wasn't pretty. Cells dark and empty, remnants of the security that was once up above now scattered all over the place, and the remains of a Vex Hydra, Minotaur and the husk of a Hive Ogre all over the place.
He tried to raise anyone on comms but got no response. "Comms must be out from that awesome landing. Either that or that fall busted it up. No problem, just got get out and…" He stopped in his tracks as he looked up and saw eight large Fallen emerge from the shadows high above him. They were large ones with unique appearances and weapons to match.
One wore the skin of a Cabal war beast like a cloak and held a custom-made Fallen Rifle in its arms. Another wore chains on its arms, legs and chest, starring at him in rage. The smallest amongst them wore welding goggles and a tool belt filled with tools. One with Hive chitin coming out of its head, chest and arms. One wore a dark cloak obscuring their face with the exception of their bright eyes. Another had a mechanical arm and secondary legs wearing a bandolier of grenades. The tallest among them had a large rocket pack on her back with a cannon in her arms. And the last one wore a unique bronze helmet that looked like the prongs of a key, black cloak with a sigil matching its helmet, and in its hands was a staff with an Arc crystal in the center.
He recognized each and every one of them, for he was the one to put them here in the first place.
Pirrha the Rifleman, Reksis Vahn the Hangman, Yaveks the Rider, Hiraks the Mindbender, Arakses the Trickster, Kaniks the Mad Bomber, Elykris the Mechanist, and Fikrul the fanatic.
The Scorned Barons.
"Hey fellas, long time no see. I see you've been busy planning this whole prison break, but I gotta say, it ends here. So why don't you all go back in your cages right now, and I'll only kill a quarter of you, sounds fair?"Cayde-6 said to them from below. His answer came from Fikrul who slammed his staff down on the ground three times. From behind him, Cayde-6 heard a noise and saw numerous fallen run at him. But these weren't normal fallen. For starters, they were dead a long time! Second, they were completely nude save for a loincloth. And finally, they wielded clubs made out of junk.
"I said, back in your cages!" He shouted bringing out Ace of Spades and firing at them. He took two of their heads out before jumping backwards to keep distance. He landed on a pile of junk before they started to climb up to him. He fired again, but they shrugged off the bullets. Even the ones he shot the heads off got back up and ran at him.
"That's new." He said before flicking a blade at one that snuck up behind him. He reloaded his weapon and fired more rounds at more approaching enemies. Seeing that they were increasing in numbers, he jumped from one pile to the next as these undead fallen ran at him and tried to club him. One got lucky and jumped at him, but he managed to duck as it flew over him, but he got a glimpse of something very disturbing.
"Oh Traveler! I did not need to see fallen junk!" He said trying to rid the image from his memory banks. "Sundance, remind me to purge that memory after this!" He said before passing a piece of debris and priming a proximity grenade. He jumped just as one of them tripped it and blew itself up along with five others.
Up above, Pirrha hoisted its rifle and went to a damaged pole to climb up. Passing Hiraks, the rifleman retrieved a green spike with Hive script on it from the mindbender and began to climb. Once he reached the top, he hung on with his lower arms and took aim with one arm while the other one loaded the spike into the gun.
The fight down below was somewhat in Cayde-6's favor. He dwindled their numbers and was about to finish them off. He jumped up and activated his Golden Gun Super and took aim at the remainder. However, he missed one that snuck behind him and tackled him to the ground, canceling it. He fell to the ground and more came out of nowhere and started to kick him as he was down.
This made him mad!
Channeling his rage into his Super he jumped up and was bathed in flames. From his hands, he created seven knives of flames and sent them flying, destroying those around him.
His Super spent, he landed on his feet and went down to retrieve his fallen hand-cannon. "Alright. Now, I am pissed!" He said loading another few rounds of bullets into his weapon, ready to take this fight more seriously. But before he could do that, he was tackled from the side and his arms pinned above him. It was another one of those undead fallen, and he got a good look at its face as it tried to bite his face off.
It wore a bronze helmet almost identical to Fikrul's, clammy pale skin, needle teeth gashing as it roared at him and tried to eat his face. Cayde-6 tried to raise his weapon, but despite its small size, it was clearly strong enough to pin both arms. Using his wits, Cayde-6 head-butted the assailant, the horn on the Hunter Vanguard's head as a makeshift weapon and impaling the front of his attacker's face. The body went still and he shove it off his horn.
Exhausted, he limped behind cover to recover. He looked down at his body and found dents, small holes in his chest and his cloak with small tears. "Was that all they got?" He asked himself as he brought out Sundance. "Hey, beautiful. Mind patching me up?"
"No problem." She said as she began to work.
Unbeknownst to them, Pirrha had them in his sights and the opportunity presented itself to the rifleman. Looking down his sights, he had the Ghost directly in his crosshairs. He smiled. "Gotcha." Then pulled the trigger.
A single shot of green light left the barrel of his weapon, impacting Sundance before everything went white!
An explosion of paracausal energies bathed the entire room before spreading throughout the prison. Everyone in the room and outside the room covered their eyes as it dissipated and the results were shown.
Cayde-6, haggard-looking and worst for wear looked down at the remains of his Ghost, his companion, his friend.
The broken shards of Sundance littered the ground, surrounding the spike that did her in. He saw the lettering of Hive script an knew that it came from a Weapon of Sorrow, or at least made from one. One of the few things capable of destroying a Ghost. Looking down at his hand, he saw one piece of her shell still intact and brought it up to his chest, cradling it. He felt the landings of several large beings land behind him. He turned and saw that all eight members of the Scorned barons were approaching him at their leisure, their victory assured. Placing the shard in one hand, he hoisted his other one carrying Ace of Spades. He knew this was his final stand. "I'm coming home. Ace." He whispered before raising his gun for one last fight!
00000
Several minutes prior…
Ruby, Yang and their mother, Summer Rose were running for their lives from the undead horde of Fallen coming at them led by the undead Skolas. Several times, all three had fired behind them to slow them down, and for a time it did work. While the shots did nothing against undead Skolas, firing at the smaller ones had a different effect. Shooting at one, exploded it into a puddle of goo which triggered an explosion into another and another until a majority of the smaller ones were all blown up. Unfortunately, they still had to deal with Skolas. And he was soon joined by more of the blue-tumored ones and much more.
Some were headless and wielded chains with lanterns on them which when slammed on the ground sent a wave of flames at them. Others with bronze shields made from scrap which deflected their shots back at them. Ruby and Yang ahd to duck when that happened. And a few beefy-looking ones that had literal torches in their four arms that also doubled as clubs.
They ran for several minutes before coming to a dead end. That was till Drei appeared and found their exit.
"Found this latch. Give me time to unseal it!" Before he went to work.
All three fired at the horde to give the ghost as much time as possible. Ruby used crescent Rose to fire at the smaller ones, but the ones with shields quickly covered them. Yang was closest and fought hand-to club with the beefy ones. Summer seeing the swarm, decided enough was enough and grabbed both of her daughters before jumping back. "Brace for it!" She said before channeling her Super.
It has been a while since she used this as she channeled Solar Light into her hands. Instead of the usual Golden Gun, she instead summoned her Golden Gjallarhorn. Taking aim, she fired three shots into the swarm, bathing them in Solar Light. The energy washed over them, incinerating them all. As her Super faded, the smoke cleared as well showing the ashy remains of the undead horde, but also the still kicking undead Skolas. Turns out that Super not only melted parts of his skin showing the skeletal structure beneath parts of his body, but also got it really angry.
They heard a click behind them and saw the latch open. Rushing to it, they jumped down just as Skolas reached for them with its arm. Slamming into the latch again and again, it only glared at them as they moved downwards.
Feeling safe for now, they took a quick breather.
"What…were those things!" Yang asked between breaths looking to her mom. "This is entirely new territory for me…but I'm thinking it was that tainted ether that we read about." Summer said a tad exhausted, using her Super to make a Golden Gjallarhorn took a bit out of her and needed time to recharge.
That was until a wave of paracausal Light washed over them. Yang had to shut her eyes from getting flashed like that, but for Ruby and Summer, they gripped their heads in pain!
They saw in their mind images, flashes of memory.
Cayde-6 fighting against undead fallen.
Using his Super.
A green spike hitting his ghost, destroying it and bathing the place in Light.
And the scream from the Ghost that died.
"Mom! Ruby! Are you two alright!?" Yang shouted at them, putting her hands on both of them, helpless as they still gripped their heads in pain. Soon the feeling receded.
Drei appeared, his eye wide in panic. "That was Cayde's Ghost, Sundance…she's dead." He said grimly.
All three pairs of eyes widened in horror. Summer most of all. With Sundance dead, Cayde was mortal. If he dies, there's no coming back. She quickly explained to her daughters what the death of Sundance signified and they were terrified for their uncle-like figure.
"We need to save him!" Ruby said.
Quickly getting back to their feet, they ran to where Drei said the wave originated from. Going down more tunnels and past destroyed pipes, they found themselves in a circular pit. Unfortunately, said pit was the dwelling for another of those undead Fallen. Except this one was as large as a Hive Ogre, muscles to match and a tiny head contained in a small helmet.
They brought out their weapons ti fight until another sound came from up above them. They jumped back just in time to witness Skolas fall from above. Turned out, he simply smashed himself through the weakened floors to follow them. Seeing two large enemies coming right at them, Summer decided to make a choice.
"You two take care of Skolas, I'll take care of the other one." She said as she charged at it, her hand-cannon firing away. Ruby and Yang jumped back as the undead Skolas skuttled towards them.
Yang cocked her fist back and counted down as the undead Skolas approached. Finally reaching zero, she timed it so her fist connected with his face, stopping him in his tracks momentarily so Ruby would shoot at the limbs, hoping to hobble him. Unfortunately, the tainted ether leaked from the wounds and made him even more angry and swatted Ruby aside as it charged again at yang.
With Summer, she was dodging the huge fists of the gigantic undead Fallen.
"You know, it's getting tiring calling this thing an undead Fallen. It needs a name." She said firing her gun at its face, which only enraged it more. "Really? At a time like this?!" Drei said as he flew around the things head, trying to get scans at it. "Vanguard protocol, I discovered it, I get to name it. I'm thinking, Abomination." "Fitting." Drei said dodging another swing from the newly christened Abomination. Getting annoyed, the newly named Abomination roared, which echoed through the room. From pipes in the walls, more undead Fallen emerged. Some were the small tubor-skinned skittering ones, some were the larger ones with torches. And one additional new enemy. This one was undead like the others, but wore a grey cloak with the same bronze-key shaped crown. Not to mention it was the same size as a fallen Captain or Baron.
"Oh great, more baddies." She said before activating her Golden Gun Super and aimed at the Abomination. The larger one, seeing her Super, tossed a small totem on the ground before the Abomination. The totem opened and a beam of Void energy came out and covered the Abomination.
Summer fired three shots, but to her shock, the shots had no effect on the Abomination. She saw the Void energy around it, looked to the totem and let out an exclamation. "You have got to be kidding me! They can create shields!" She said dodging a swing from the club-wielding ones. She did a double-jump to get high enough to fire a few more shots at it before quickly jumping to reload.
Seeing the larger one responsible, she fired more shots, but the void energy from the totem bathed it as well, shielding him. Annoyed, she tossed a Solar grenade at the totem, blowing it up. Deciding to have more firepower for the new baddies, she switched out her hand-cannon, Dire Promise for one of her newest machine guns. This one being Exitus Mark I.
Meanwhile, Ruby and Yang were pinned between Skolas and a bunch of undead Fallen with shields. Ruby aimed at several of them, but they brought up their shields to block them. A few had pistols on the other hand and took aim. Ruby dodged thanks to her semblance and Yang got a few hits on her. Thanks to the blonde's own semblance, she let the shots wash over her, ignoring the pain as it was added to her strength. She used her new strength to charge at them, sending them flying. Leaving just Skolas. The undead Skolas raised up on what was left of its limbs and roared a challenge. Ruby managed to see a bit of the bomb poking out of his chest. Deciding to once and for all end him, she closed her eyes and focused as Yang kept him busy.
Sometime back, legendary Hunter Shin Malphur had trained Team RWBY to improve their skills and give them pointers. For her, he helped her train with her innate Light abilities. Both himself, Ruby and her mother were descendants of a small group of humanity directly blessed by the Traveler long before the Collapse. This group was called the Children of the Traveler. Said blessings came in the form of using the Light in unique ways that even veteran Guardians are unable to pull off, and that was just Guardians who have said blessings. For those who weren't Guardians, with proper training and channeling, they can imitate Light abilities to a degree. During her training, she was taught the Double-Jump of Hunters, and attempted to channel Solar, Void and Arc Light into her weapon. So far, she only managed a single shot of each, the equivalent of a paintball shot. This time, she tried to channel it bigger.
Pointing Crescent Rose at Skolas, she looked in herself and channeled Solar Light. From her chest, it glowed bright orange before moving up her arms and into her weapon. Crescent Rose glowed orange before glowing bright near the barrel. Taking aim, she fired a shot.
Instead of a paintball bullet, she unleashed a cannon blast.
The shot impacted Skolas chest, which hit the bomb in his chest, making him explode in a bunch of pieces. The explosion sent Yang flying, which Ruby quickly caught using her semblance. The explosion also made both Summer and the Abominatin she was fighting pause in said fight. That gave Summer the time to activate her Super one last time. Her Golden Gun active, she aimed and fired. This time, there was no shield to protect the Abomination as it soon blew apart in Solar ashes.
Coming down from her use of Light, she ran to both yang and Ruby who were panting from the fight.
"That was the best explosion I have ever seen! You did that?" She asked Ruby after checking them both for wounds which were none. "Yep." Ruby replied.
"From Shin Malphor's training?"
"Yep."
00000
Cayde-6 went through a wall and fell to the floor, panting. His final stand wasn't going so well. He tried to dodge the Scorned Baron's attacks, but each time he dodged one, two would hit him. Already his leg was injured and his left arm was missing a finger courtesy of Yaveks using a wrench in her toolbelt to smash it. He was about to reload to trade fire with Pirrha, but Reksis Vahn who wielded a flaming ball and chain smashed into his body, sending him through a wall. Now he laid on the ground, panting, reaching for his weapon. But someone else beat him to the punch. He saw the hand belonging to an Awoken pick up Ace of Spades, stroking the barrel of the weapon. He got a good look at him and chuckled, seeing the ringleader of the Scorn Barons in the flesh.
"Hey man, thanks for picking up my piece. You mind handing it back to me?"
The Awoken male looked at the weapon with his amber eyes. "No. But I can give you a bullet with your name on it."
Cayde-6 chuckled, seeing where this was going. "You…have no idea…what you're getting yourself into. Any moment now, my best girl and her best girls are going to roll on in here and tear you and your buddies several new ones."
"Shhhhhhh. This is going to hurt…a lot." He said as he pointed Ace of Spades right at its former owner. "Any last words?"
Cayde-6 couldn't help but get snarky one last time. "How's your sister, Uldren Sov?"
Uldren Sov, prince of the Awoken and brother to Mara Sov looked down at the Hunter Vanguard with anger before closing his eyes and pulling the trigger.
Both Summer Rose, Ruby and Yang heard the gunshot and ran as fast as they could. Soon they turned the corner and stopped in their tracks as they looked upon them.
A large group of fallen on a platform stood watching them as a man turned toward the new arrivals. Summer Rose recognized him as Uldren Sov. The Prince of the Awoken raised his hand in a wave, showing her Ace of Spades in his hand. "He didn't feel a thing." Gesturing his head to his left.
All three turned to the direction and saw the still body of Cayde-6, with a large bullet hole where his heart would be.
Putting the two together, Summer looked upon Uldren with hatred. "You bastard!" She said before raising her weapon to fire upon him!
But by the time she tried to pull the trigger, the doors slammed shut and the elevated platform ascended. She looked up following the platform, still seeing the amber eyes of her mentors killer keep on her silver eyes.
Both Ruby and yang ran to the downed hunter and tried to stem the bleeding. Cayde-6 moaned feeling the pain and looked upon the three around him.
Taking several breaths, he asked a question. "How's my hair?" He said trying to lighten the mood. Normally, Yang would laugh at the joke, but not this time. "Don't worry, we'll patch you up. And you can tell all the bad jokes you want." She stuttered, silently ripping a bit of her undershirt off to use as makeshift bandages.
"No…there's nothing you can do…this is it for me…this is what I gat…for playing nice." Cayde-6 said taking heavy breaths.
"Please…don't's die on us…" Ruby said, tears going down her cheeks as she laid besides him. "Don't cry kid…even us Guardians have to die sometime…it's just a matter of when and who…my old mentor said that…someone out there has a bullet with our name…on it…it was only a matter of time…before that bullet finds me…" He said before looking at both yang and Ruby. "Yang, Ruby, it's been an honor knowing the both of you. I am lucky to be your uncle. You take care of one another, along with Blake and ice-queen." He then turned to Summer who joined her daughters besides her mentor, friend and father-like figure. "Summer Rose, you are the best Hunter I've met and trained…and you tell Ikora and Zavala…that the Vanguard…was the best bet…I've ever…lost." He said before the light in his eyes went dim.
All three cried besides his body, ignoring the sounds of Petra Venj running towards them and seeing the scene before her. "No." she said not believing her eyes.
Cayde-6, Hunter Vanguard, was dead.
A/N: Funny thing: I made this chapter weeks in advance before the latest Act of Revenant, I had no idea that Skolas would come back as a Scorn. Funny. Already finished chapters 5-8 and will be posting them over the next few weeks. Then hiatus during the holidays.
