Defeat and Anger

It wasn’t that difficult to find Katherine. Kristel’s sensitivity to meiyal wasn’t anywhere near unique, but if someone was swimming in power the way the Lady of the Void had been for who knows how long, anyone could easily spot her.

Katherine was peace and control. She was the Order of the Void.

At first, Kristel found that impression contradictory. She had never really seen the Lady be anywhere near organized or orderly as a person, especially when she had come back from her Seeker duty with Frein. But those impressions were completely washed away, just like how Katherine prevented the Nightmare Incursion from expanding.

Only in one direction, however.

When the Floating Dream Amidst the Nightmare finally broke through the Incursion and landed on broken ground, the survivors quickly filed in, seeking refuge upon the rescuers before them. Rescuers that Kristel didn’t recognize.

“Where’s Uncle Kento and the rest?” she asked as soon as Katherine met them. And when the Lady’s response was nothing but silence, she feared the worst.

Maffelyne was also around. But instead of providing the Princess relief, her dire, desperate expression only made matters worse.

“Where are they?” she repeated, using as much of her commanding voice as calmly as possible.

The half-elf tried to speak, but she hesitated and stopped. The girl was full of anger, but despite it all, she knew the question wasn’t for her.

Katherine pulled a sack from her Spatiera. Even without seeing its contents, just hearing the clinking noise inside, Kristel knew they were the badges worn by every Iristan knight.

The Princess’s heart sank before the Lady could even speak.

“They’re gone, Kristel. I’m sorry. I didn’t make it in time.”

Kristel took a second to process the news. They had been just there a few hours ago. And despite how credible Katherine was, and the desperation in Maffelyne’s face, she couldn’t find it in herself to believe them.

Venry was different, however. The grizzled Guard Knight stepped in front of Katherine, holding out his hands without an ounce of self-restraint in him.

“Advisor Kento’s dead?” he asked.

“Venry…” Katherine picked two badges from within her pocket. One belonged to Advisor Kento, and the other was his. “I’m sorry about your father.”

This news didn’t come as a surprise to him. Heavier was the sudden grief that fell upon everyone. The Guard Knight simply recovered the badges and went to a quiet place to mourn. The three Vyndivalians that had ventured into the Nightmare Lands with him silently followed.

“What happened?” Kristel finally found the courage to ask. She was too scared to utter the question, as if doing so was admittance of their passing. She was still coming to terms whether it was true or not. The sound coming from the sack of badges were almost mocking.

“It can’t be…” Xiv said, flanking the Princess along with a silent Frill. “How?”

At this, Katherine turned to the half-elf. Maffelyne’s face twisted in agony, torn between composure and rage.

“It was Smyl,” she growled. “He’s working with someone who looks like Tryvinal Bree. We were frozen in place. I was lucky enough with my Nature’s Favor, but the rest wasn’t.”

She started tearing up. “They were slaughtered like pigs! It wasn’t even a fair fight. No honorable death! And… and…

“And Smyl, that bastard! He killed his own sister!”

The rationale within Kristel was slipping away. It was only because her body was still recovering from using Verdict that she wasn’t storming back into the Incursion right now. That, and Katherine’s vigilant stare.

What remained of her rationale recognized the clues from Maffelyne. Based on Elizzel’s words, the one who took Frein also looked like Tryvinal. This was their enemy. A faunel disguising as the former Guard Knight. Alphazzel. The matter of when it had started wasn’t of any importance anymore.

Her brain was busy trying to figure out how to kill an immortal incarnation of meiyal. She was desperately trying to find a way to speak with Brymeia again. But not only was she unable to return to her Mind Palace in her current state, she couldn’t risk another blackout because of her hastiness. Frein’s warning about depending on gods and divine powers was enough to hold her back.

“What do we do now?” she asked the Lady of the Void instead. There was barely any control in her voice now.

Instead of answering directly, Katherine turned to Frill. “Send word for everyone to return to the High Palace, then come back here. Maffelyne, you’re joining them. You too, Princess Scuti.”

The Second Princess appeared out of her Nature’s Favor, surprised at how she had been caught. Kristel was too preoccupied to even notice.

“I want to help,” Scuti said weakly. “I can’t just stand back after seeing all this.”

“Fine,” Katherine submitted. “If you want to help, either go to Northsnow or Southshore and warn the people. My barrier will disappear if I die. Your best bet will be to go higher, and the High Palace is your only way for that.”

“But we don’t want the public to panic,” Kristel said, barely holding on. “And if you’re the only one holding this barrier, you shouldn’t be joining the fight.”

“How many Nightmare Signs did you break?” Katherine asked.

“One…” Kristel knew where this was leading towards. “Just one.”

“My barrier doesn’t wrap around the world. The Incursion will eventually find its limits and spill over. If we don’t find a way to stop it by then, then either Southshore or Northsnow will be gone. The rest will follow. This isn’t a discussion we’re going to entertain.

“But with regards to the public, I’ll leave that decision to you,” Katherine said. “My duty is to stop this Incursion, not run the country. But I need you to come with me, Kristel. I don’t have a lot of manpower. Venry and his team will also come with me. So will you, Frill and Xiv. The rest of you are going back or warning the neighboring cities.”

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“I want to fight, too! I’ve been training for a long time to be a part of the Order of the Void!” Maffelyne complained, flexing her meiyal. Katherine shot her down by slamming her Influence on the half-elf, resulting in instant Art fatigue.

“I’m sorry, Maff. If you can’t handle this level of Influence, you’ll turn within a few minutes of exposing yourself within the Incursion. There are ways to improve your resistance, but that takes years. You’ll have to go back for now.”

The half-elf couldn’t even respond. All she could do was slam her fists on the ground, crying about her helplessness. Scuti, defeated by this truth, picked her up without another word and helped her back to the A.I.R. ships. Frill and Xiv left to follow their orders.

Kristel could see Katherine regretting her actions, but she understood that it was necessary. They couldn’t risk stowaways playing hero and making things complicated.

“How soon until you recover?” the Lady asked.

The Princess wasn’t even surprised by her subtle assessment.

“I should be able to Gather and Mill after a few more hours.”

Katherine blinked. Kristel felt the full scan of Mesiffera.

“Sorry, I wasn’t clear,” she said. “I was talking about your recovery from the news. There’s time to properly grieve and mourn, but if you can’t wait, I can handle things on my own.”

“I’ll fight,” Kristel said simply. “I found my path to power. Even if you try and stop me, I won’t abandon my duty to this world.”

“Then I’ll depend on you to help me stop this Incursion.”

She said it so confidently, as if it was just another day at work. Katherine saw her wondering and afforded a sigh.

“It’s not a question of whether we can, Kristel.”

“Duty.”

“You two make it sound like you don’t plan on coming back,” said Admiral Garm. He dismounted from Kish, his veteran yuma.

At the same time, Enza appeared out of her Nature’s Favor. With three people Blessed with the same Blessing, Kristel wondered how common the others were. She quickly shook herself out of it. Her mind was finding ways to distract itself, finding something else other than to contemplate on their dire situation.

“It’s an Incursion, Pa,” Katherine said. “There’s basically no chance.”

“Except this time, you have the Visitor,” he retorted. “I’ve seen the things he can do. He even predicted this Nightmare Incursion. I didn’t become an Admiral just because of instinct, but I do have a damn good one. And it’s telling me that you have to get him to get rid of this problem.”

“It wasn’t the Nightmare Incursion,” Kristel began. “What he felt was a Sealed One. Velruzenshup’nertoroliz.”

She didn’t spend the brain power to consider if mentioning the name tugged at Destiny and alerted the giant Spider in the Sky. As far as she was concerned, just like she was, it wouldn’t even care.

“Velru-what?” Katherine asked. “Wait. I’ve heard that name. That’s the Sealed One in Western Sanctum. It had eight seals!”

“We saw one of those,” Venry said, joining the conversation. His eyes were red, but he had a determined look on his face. Where his badge was alone before, now there were his and his father’s. The other three Vyndivalians were with him, looking just as determined to join the fight. “There was a Deep Nightmare inside. The entire place was compromised.”

“Where’s the Sealed One now?” Katherine asked Kristel, after acknowledging the information.

“Gone. It won’t be bothering us for now. All it wants is Frein.”

“Sounds to me like he really is the key to all our problems, then,” Garm said. “When are you planning to go?”

“As soon as you guys leave,” Katherine said, moving on quickly. She knew their priorities, and Kristel was thankful for that. “We’ll use the Floating Dream to head to Befall.”

“The Floating Dream won’t be moving anytime soon,” said one of the Vyndivalians. Kristel recognized him as Dystro, just basing off of Xiv’s descriptions. “Sorry. Speaking out of turn. But the weight it carried was too heavy, and we don’t have enough dead Nightmares to feed it.”

It reminded Kristel of something she just disregarded. “What did you do to… their bodies?”

Admiral Garm understood the question. “We burned them. Advisor Kento had the same family traditions as the Veli family, so we’re bringing him back home.”

Unlike Katherine and Kristel, however, his words regarding Kento were purely coincidental. Venry kept his reaction in check.

“Don’t worry about the Floating Dream,” Katherine said, moving on from the topic as quickly as possible. She looked at the giant, floating manta-ray. “That one’s actually bonded to me.”

All eyes turned to her. She just shrugged.

“What?”

“Who bonds with a Nightmare?” Admiral Garm complained.

“It’s not actually a Nightmare, Pa. It’s more like a Cloud-Nesting Roc. Just adapted to the Nightmare Lands.”

“How did you bond to it?” Venry asked this time, accidentally interrupting what would’ve been a retort from the Admiral.

“Long story. But when I was a kid, when people were caring for yumas and vorks, I was playing with Tich.”

The Lady of the Void reached out towards the Floating Dream. The creature responded by extending one of its tubed straws, the one it used to eat the dead Nightmares. It started feeding on Katherine’s meiyal instead.

“Frein’s not the only one feeding others with his meiyal.”

----------------------------------------

“Sorry about earlier,” Katherine said to Kristel. They were aboard Tich, but the creature was taking its time, unlike before. She didn’t mind, not exactly. While she wanted to rescue Frein right away, she did miss her Floating Dream.

And the others were still in no condition to fight. They needed sleep. They were already resting, except for the two of them.

“About what?” Kristel asked in return. The Princess’s eyes were staring far away, admiring the colossal barrier that was stopping the Nightmare Incursion from expanding.

Even now, Katherine couldn’t believe that she was capable of such a feat. She was staring at it the same way.

“I know it’s hard to lose people you care for, people you’ve stood with, people you’ve fought with. I know how hard it is to stop yourself from grieving.”

“I’m angry,” Kristel said, curling into himself. “I’m angry at myself. I’m angry at you. I’m angry at everyone.”

Despite her words, the Princess’s eyes were calm. The grip of her fingers around her arms were telling a different story, however.

“I know I’m being unreasonable. It wasn’t your fault, nor anyone else’s. That’s why I’m just trying to hold it all in. I need something to unleash myself on, but I just can’t find my targets.”

“Then, you should rest,” Katherine said. “It’ll take a while before we get there. And I need you all to be prepared and ready to fight.”

Kristel didn’t reply for a long time. Katherine was tempted to use her Heart’s Will, but she respected the Princess’s silence.

“Do you have a plan?” Kristel asked.

“No, not really,” she answered honestly, much to the Princess’s surprise. “But I do have someone trying to come up with something.”

A small orb whirled around her. Sam, her semi-living M.O.B.I.L.E.

“You only really only call me if you need something, huh?” said the floating device. He was making a solid effort of keeping up with Tich’s flying speed. “Well, it’s not like I hate feeling useful, or your last resort. It fills me with ego, knowing that I’m the only one who can solve all your problems.”

“So, what’s the plan?” Katherine asked. “You had upgrades, right?”

“The upgrades are more of efficiency, and ways to make me operate within the Nightmare unlike some of my ancient fellows. No special weapon compartments, sadly. Master Jam was skeptical about my trigger-fi—I don’t have fingers… But yes, the plan.”

Sam turned to Princess Kristel and made an effort to mimic a bow.

“The plan is very simple right now, Princess. Do not, under any circumstance, die. And, without fail, succeed in rescuing Frein. Hopefully, your guy isn’t a failure unlike me.”

“That’s not much of a plan,” Kristel commented, frowning.

“In order to determine the micro of things, you must first comprehend the macro,” Sam explained. “Special stuff, I know, but trust me on this.”

“And we’ve done the macro,” Katherine said, implying her question.

“I’m still trying to figure out the micro, to be completely and whole-heart—I also don’t have a heart… but I’m being honest here. Katherine’s right, Princess. You should rest first. I should have something in the morning.”

Kristel sighed. “Fine, morning then. Frill made some air-resistant tents. Go rest too, Kat.”

“I’m sorry,” Sam said, flying low. “I was trying to lighten up the mood. I’m not used to dampened ones. Sorry, if it sounded like I’m insensitive.”

The two ladies blinked at that.

“Did you get upgrades on emotional awareness?” Katherine asked.

“I don’t think I did…”

“In any case, thanks, Sam,” Kristel said with a smile. It was forced, but at least she found a reason to do it. “I know you mean well. I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”

After Kristel left, Sam rested in Katherine’s hand.

“That was the plan all along, right?” he asked. “Nudge the Princess out of her funk, or something like that?”

“I don’t know,” Katherine said. “You tell me.”

“I’ll be honest with you, Kat. I’m not getting good numbers. I’ve ran the data I have multiple times, and I can’t find a way for Frein to lift the Incursion, or any of you for that matter.”

“What about just stopping it?”

Her M.O.B.I.L.E. whirled, taking the time to carefully calculate her query.

“Maybe…” Sam began. “If we can save Frein and if he can have a breakthrough, there might just be a chance.”