"Father..."
"Yes, Seris?"
"Who is that?" I asked at last, shifting slightly against his knee.
On the wall was an oil painting of a woman with very light blonde hair done up in a series of braids that wrapped around her head like a crown. Her iridescent lavender eyes gave off a refined nobility that would make one bow to her presence.
Setting his book aside, he looked up at the canvas. "She... she is the love of my life. We had a disagreement that led to our separation." His voice dropped into a softer, heavier register.
He pulled his gaze from the painting, looking down at me as his fingers gently tangled in my hair. "Oh, daughter... she'd love you so much..."
"Do you still love her?" I asked, looking up into his face.
"Of course I do. It is impossible to get over such a woman..." He said, "Please, Seris. Don't ever leave me like she did... But if you ever do... I can always have you back."
***
Seris Vritra
My eyes snapped open.
Panic hit me like cold water.
I could feel the blood drain from my face as I recalled Agrona in my dream.
When did I fall asleep?
"Did you just have a nightmare, Seris?"
"What?"
Before the voice could even register, a chorus of agonizing shrieks shattered the quiet.
"AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
I vaulted out of bed and dashed toward the door. I threw my weight forward, crashing straight through the door.
Before me, my people gathered around the unlucky few who were collapsing, clawing frantically at their own skin, and moaning low in the back of their throats. They were violently tearing at their own backs, trying to rip away whatever was burning beneath their skin.
Terror appeared across their faces as they looked at me.
"Scythe Seris!"
"Help them!!!"
"It's too late! He's already here!!!"
Just when I was about to help—
"Stand down, Seris."
I fell to my knees as his voice rang in my head. The skin of my back burned as if I'd been branded, and a presence—a consciousness not my own wrapped in a sheath of power—clawed into the space just behind my eyes. I couldn't focus and could hardly see, as if a thick, gray woolen blanket had been pulled over my eyes.
All around me, I could hear my people's screams as they called for me. The rumbling baritone made my whole being quiver with desperation, as though my soul wanted to rip its way out of me and run away.
"Children of the Vritra," Agrona began, rumbling so I couldn't tell if it was in my head or booming out of the air itself, "This is your final warning. Find Arthur Leywin. Find the Lance they presumptuously call Godspell, and bring back the core he had stolen from your god. Do not refuse me."
My vision slowly returned, and I saw dozens of other Alacryans in the same position as me but in much greater pain than myself. A few had stayed standing, swaying on their feet and leaning against a wall. Only the Dicathen soldiers were unaffected.
"BRING ARTHUR HERE IMMEDIATELY!!!" I gasped, forcing the command through gritted teeth.
The panicked Dicathen soldiers did not hesitate. They turned and fled right away. And seconds later, sirens began to wail shrilly.
"Oh, Seris... It's no use... He cannot prevent what's about to happen." Agrona's voice purred in the dark depth of my mind.
"Still your minds!" I shouted, "Do not answer him! Not aloud, not in your own thoughts, keep—"
"NOOOOO!!!" One man screamed, his shirt, which covered his runes, smoking with a glow emanating through the cloth. As it lit on soulfire, burning outward from his spine, "F*ck you, you sick f*ck!!! YOU ARE NO GOD!!! YOU ARE NO GOD!!! YOU AR—" A sudden burst of black-tinged wind lifted him off the ground, spun him around, and slammed him back into the soil. Blades of wind and fire sprouted from his body, spraying blood in a halo around him, then spun, eviscerating his body and silencing his agonized screeching.
Someone else cried out, and I couldn't do a thing but look.
"They'd listen to you, Seris... You can stop this. Don't let your stubbornness kill these people."
"AGHHHHHHHH!!!"
"SCYTHE SERIS!!!"
"How many more need to die, Seris?"
"HELP US!!!"
"It's up to you..."
"...N-No..." My eyes blurred, hot tears spilling over my face.
"Oh—Don't cry, Se—ris..." Agrona's voice suddenly faltered, distorting inside my mind like a fractured transmission. "W—hat?"
"Scythe Seris!" Hands grabbed my shoulders. Caera and Cylrit—somehow entirely unaffected by the spell—were suddenly at my side, pulling me to my feet.
Before I could ask how, the courtyard erupted in a different kind of chaos. A flood of dwarven soldiers poured into the open square, moving with disciplined urgency. Right alongside them came Berk and Delsin, sliding down from the back of the massive wolf form of Regis.
The Alacryans who had been screaming in agony just moments ago now lay silently, gasping for breath as the Dicathen dwarf soldiers immediately moved in to tend to them.
"W—hat is—th—e mean—ing of—this?!!" Agrona's voice glitched inside my mind.
Delsin and Berk broke away from the crowd and hurried straight toward me. With every step Delsin took in my direction, Agrona's voice grew fainter, dissolving into meaningless static. Finally, as Delsin closed the distance, the oppressive weight in my chest suddenly snapped, and the suffocating presence of Agrona vanished into nothingness.
I slumped forward, drawing in ragged breath after ragged breath.
"Hey, are you alright?" Delsin asked, his voice laced with concern as he searched through his bag. "Can you... can you heal yourself?"
My mouth was dry. "I—I..." I wanted to say something. I wanted to at least say thank you to him, but I couldn't.
"You fool! Of course not!" Cylrit shouted, his typical composure cracking under the stress. "Get her medical stone at once!!"
Berk looked around the courtyard, his eyebrows furrowed as he took in the lingering smoke and the blood on the soil. "What... happened here?"
A flash of purple lighting passed through the center of the courtyard. "Well, Agrona had done a similar thing to Sylvie before, so..." Arthur said as the static discharge cleared. "...I expect him to do it again at some point."
***
Thanks to Arthur's foresight in positioning Delsin, the worst had been averted and everything turned out fine. But at the cost of three lives.
I sat in the quiet of my quarters, staring blankly ahead. The soft click of the latch cut through the silence, and the door swung open for Caera to enter.
"Scythe Seris... How are you feeling?" She asked softly.
"..." I didn't answer. I only turned my head, fixing her with a glare that made her halt in her tracks.
"Scythe Seris..." she tried again, her voice wavering under my gaze. "Do you need anything? I'll get it for you right away!"
"Lately, I find myself wondering," I began, "If you had at least informed me that you possessed Sylvia's core from Nico... what manner of strategy I might have devised instead."
Caera's face paled, her posture stiffening. "...I'm... sorry, I—"
I stood up, the chair scraping sharply against the stone floor. "Your apologies cost people their lives, Caera!!!" I yelled, the anger finally bursting through my exhaustion.
"I thought..." She swallowed hard, stepping back. "I believed that if my objective back then was to come here and find Arthur, it would pose no issue to deliver the core to him," she argued, her voice trembling but defensive. "Just as Scythe Nico... requested."
"Did you suddenly become his disciple? His retainer? And would it have killed you to inform me?! You were my most trusted disciple, and yet—" I sighed, closing my eyes. "...Leave! Leave my sight. OUT!"
The old heavy oak door shut with a definitive click and then, by itself, opened slightly.
I sank back into my chair, exhaling a long, trembling breath to steady my racing heart. A moment later, the soft creak of the door breaking its latch shattered my peace once more.
"I said GET OUT—" I began, spinning around with renewed fury, only to halt my own words as I realized it was Delsin, holding a plate of food in his hand.
"I—" The anger dissolved into an awkward knot in my throat.
"Truly sorry—!" Delsin blurted out. He immediately began to pull the door back, stepping backward to retreat into the corridor.
"No, wait!" I interjected hastily, stepping forward to catch the edge of the frame before he could shut it entirely. My voice softened, stripped of the harsh authority I had used on Caera. "...Please. Please, come in." I pulled the door wide open.
He took a few hesitant steps inside before stopping. "I... No it's fine. I'm only—"
"No, please, take a seat," I said, gesturing toward another chair in the room. "Please, I must insist."
"No, it's fine, really! I merely came to bring you food since no one else dared to—which is to say, do you like lava chicken? It's really tasty!"
I glanced down at the plate of chicken and then looked back up at him. "I... thank you." I gently accepted the offering.
"Great! I should be going now. Sorry to bother you—"
"No, wait! One final matter!" I stopped him before he ran off.
"Mm... Yes?"
I put the plate down on the desk and quietly tucked a stray lock of hair behind my ear, looking away for a brief moment before meeting his eyes. "I wished to express my gratitude. Thank you. Were it not for your presence, my people would have surely been killed by now."
"Who—me?" he asked, pointing a finger at his own chest. "You should be thanking General Arthur!"
"Yes, but Arthur needed you to stop Agrona."
"I... I supposed so..."
"...I was utterly terrified, and I found myself completely powerless in that moment. Thank you, Delsin."
"Oh, you have no reason to worry further. General Arthur instructed me to stay here until Master Wren is done with his examination of your people's runes. It's pretty cool! Things will fall into place soon before I start my training."
"Thank you. I feel better now."
"Great! I'll take leave now." He stepped backward into the corridor. "Good night!" He said before leaving.
"Yes. Good night, and thank you." I slowly began to close the door, but he abruptly returned.
"Sorry! I forgot to give you these." He extended his hand, offering a knife, a spoon, and a fork.
I could feel a faint curve form on my lips. A tiny, breathless huff of amusement escaped me as I accepted the silverware. "How thoughtful of you, thank you..."
"Haha... I'm leaving for real now. Good night."
***
Delsin Novak
"Caera?" I knock on the door. "Caera? Can I come in?"
"Sure..." Her quiet voice answered from inside.
I opened the door to find Caera sitting sadly on the edge of her bed, hugging her pillow tightly and playing a board game by herself.
"Are you not hungry? I brought you some lava chicken."
"..."
"I'll just put it right here in case you change your mind," I said softly, setting the plate down on her desk.
"..."
I turned toward the door, intending to leave her be, but looking at her slumped shoulders made me hesitate. I grabbed the handle, paused, and then turned back around with a grin. "Hey, do you mind if I request a rematch? I nearly bested you during our last encounter!"
"N—No you did not!" She countered, a trace of her customary pride returning to her voice. "But very well. You may have your rematch." She smiled lightly, a flicker of genuine joy returning in her eyes.
I retrieved the plate of food from the desk and offered it to her, alongside the extra set of silverware I had managed to remember this time.
"Alright, Berk can afford to wait for a short while!" I said, making myself comfortable as I began arranging the pieces back into their proper positions on the board.
"He'll have to wait much longer because there's no way you're winning." she replied, her tone carrying a trace of her usual playful elegance.
"Oh, no longer playing the humble highblood now, are we?" I laughed as I started the game with the first move.
Leaning over the board, I pointed to one of the geometric shapes carved into the obsidian stone. "Hey, what does this triangle represent again?"
"It is a fire attribute symbol, and the piece is designated as the striker," she explained patiently, taking a delicate bite of the lava chicken.
"Oh, right, right. Thanks, now I can win."
She hummed softly, a genuine amusement dancing in her crimson eyes as she countered my move with ease.
***
Agrona Vritra
"The five finest squads of Wraiths have been selected, High Sovereign."
"Excellent..."