Incompetence
Smyl Solfey wasn’t used to having black hair. While his blue eyes gazed in awe upon the splitting of the Incursion and the skies, a hand of his was busy combing through his dark strands.
They were coming, just as predicted. As soon as the dark globe of the Nightmare Incursion had mended, the former Sky Knight rushed down from his room at the top of Aderis Tower to the main office below. Alphazzel, who had begun to look less and less like Tryvinal, turned from the window to stare at him.
“What?” asked the faunel in the most annoyed tone he could conceive. “Losing your nerve, kid?”
Gone was the spiky hair of Tryvinal, replaced by straight, raven black tied in a large braid that reached his ankles. A closed beard framed a now firm, rigid face. And his black eyes had a thin, white line crossing them lengthwise.
Smyl caught himself stepping back in surprise, taking a second to realize it was actually Alphazzel. The faunel smiled, noticing his apprehension. In response, he forced himself to walk into the room with confidence.
“I’m not here for your jokes,” he said. “Looks like she completely stopped the Incursion from advancing. What’s your plan now?”
“Advancing from one side,” Alphazzel corrected, smiling. He laced his voice with as much mockery and sarcasm as he could afford without looking like a cartoon character. “The moment the Incursion makes contact with the Nightmare Lands, we can consider this a win. We made sure to prevent any potential reinforcements from the Order of the Void, remember? And the plan is pretty obvious, Smyl. Why don’t you exercise your mental faculties a bit and take a guess, hmm?”
“You insufferable—”
“Oh, drop the righteous act, would you? Just humor me. It’s not like you’re going anywhere. And it’s really not that difficult of a solution. I’ll give you some time.”
Alphazzel ignored everything else and observed the destruction outside. Sword waves that cut through space, explosions that caused the earth to quake, and meiyal pressure that challenged everyone. Smyl could see why the faunel was so fixated on Katherine’s display of power.
“Before the Divine Severing,” Alphazzel started, knowing that Smyl would take some time thinking of an answer. “Practitioners like Katherine were a familiar sight. Individuals that could level entire regions with their power. Organizations that were defined by strength alone. Followings that could elevate a Deitar to godhood. It was grand, cutthroat, destructive. Calamities were as frequent as the grains of sand you could cup in your hand. Restorations were just as equally prominent. I was busy; it gave me purpose.”
The faunel gestured wildly towards Katherine’s direction.
“Now look at it. Dull. Creative, but dull. Instead of heroically sacrificing her life, she’s spending meiyal-charged materials to fuel her Deitar Art.” He shook his head disapprovingly. “Utter waste of a good love story.”
Smyl was confused. He knew Alphazzel was a particular historian, the greatest of them, in fact, but he didn’t see him as a fan of love stories.
“A good love story is when both lovers are dead?” The former Sky Knight asked.
“That means they’re together even in death, right?” Smyl asked in return, not even turning away from the destructive show. “I was trying to do the both of them a favor. Now it’s just a tragedy.”
“You’re seriously screwed in the head.”
Alphazzel scoffed. “Say whatever you want, but if it weren’t for that pesky Death’s Wish intruding in our plans, this final showdown would’ve been an epic one.”
Something clicked in Smyl’s head. “Wait. Are you saying… the plan is to just kill Katherine?”
“Obviously.” Alphazzel jerked his head out of the office. “We’ve got an infinite supply of Nightmares thanks to your mother, and since you have no use for your yumas anymore, I took the liberty of turning them into one of my fancy creations.”
There were a lot of things wrong with that statement, Smyl surmised. He wanted to dispute all of them, but there was one thing more urgent than the rest.
“You’re not supposed to harm anyone above ten percent Destiny Adhesion, remember?”
“I was asked. Not commanded. Don’t be smart with me. We all know Brymeia would be better off with that singer girl. The Seeker has no part in what comes next. She can die for all I care.”
Smyl had a lot to say against that. But before he could utter a single word, something else interrupted him. Something that shouldn’t have happened. The sound of strained chains from within the dungeons couldn’t be that much louder than the literal explosions happening in front of them.
Alphazzel turned grim. “Looks like he’s awake. That fucker…”
It wasn’t loud. It was simply prominent. Distinct. A thing Smyl couldn’t ignore. It repeated in a set rhythm. And all the while, its intensity was consistent, if not increasing.
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“I told him that if he broke the chains, he would die,” Alphazzel said rather proudly. “Zero hesitation, Smyl. Zero fucking hesitation, I tell you. Have you ever seen someone so insane? He would suffocate me with his glare if he could, just because I threatened to kill his lover.”
Smyl realized that the faunel was enjoying the rhythm. He, however, found it haunting. Where does he find the strength. He’s meiyal starved and hungry. He’d probably soiled himself multiple times already.
“Do you really take me for someone who doesn’t give a shit?” Alphazzel said. He pointed towards Smyl’s face, much to the Sky Knight’s confusion. “I don’t have Heart’s Will, but it doesn’t take a genius to notice that disgust on your face. I provide them with some form of dignity and feed them regularly. I’m nice like that.”
The constant clanging of metal chains gave the faunel a dark thought. Just as much as Alphazzel could read Smyl’s face, the Sky Knight could do the same.
“You want me to go talk to him,” he said before the faunel could even utter a single word. “What for?”
“So you can see what we’re dealing with,” Alphazzel answered. “Maybe then you’ll realize how killing your sister isn’t enough of a resolve to clash against the Visitor.”
“I didn’t kill her,” Smyl said. “She’ll be a vessel for something greater.”
“Yeah, keep telling yourself that, kid. Whatever makes you sleep better at night. You and your mom are screwed in the head, but don’t pile me with either of you. And definitely don’t compare me to the Visitor. Or all of the Visitors, for that matter. Who would sacrifice their entire life for this shit?”
With that, the faunel literally shooed Smyl away with a force of meiyal, locking the door at the same time.
He clicked his tongue in frustration, but the earth quaked again as if to reprimand his bad manners. He sighed and turned, heading to the dungeons below.
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The old wall stones of the dungeon underneath Aderis Tower amplified the rhythmic echoes of chain straining at high speeds. Smyl ignored the couple of Grinding Teeth on Living Flesh guarding the entrance. They recognized his presence and subsequently ignored him in return.
He still appreciated the small fact that even people from the Order of the Void would have their jaws dropped at the sight of an obedient Nightmare. And while that was true in every sense of the word, Smyl couldn’t get rid of the fact that these monsters were salivating at the thought of eating him right then and there. But unlike normal people, or even animals for that matter, they didn’t look the least bit disappointed by passing up food.
They simply stood there and returned to their duties as glorified guard dogs. Smyl erased his smug smirk after realizing how shallow this feat actually was and moved on at a brisker pace.
The prison cells were empty. The dungeon wasn’t particularly large. It had a hallway that turned to form a square shape. The outer walls had small cubicles that could allow an average person to lie down fully stretched and roll once, while the inner section had four larger cells for each quadrant.
Frein’s cell was in the farthest cubicle of the inner section. Opposite it was Lunasensia’s prison in the outer wall. Smyl ignored the Void Mother, showing his face to the Visitor while wondering if he would recognize him.
He was ignored. Frein was breathing slowly. His knees were bruised and scratched up, swollen from bearing his entire weight this whole time. Smyl couldn’t imagine him sleeping comfortably in such a way. He couldn’t imagine the Visitor sleeping at all, for that matter.
Frein moved. It was sudden and powerful. With all of his lower extremities incapable of movement, he pulled on the chains with nothing but his upper half. He was like a whip, twisting and lashing with a force that ripped away at his skin. In fact, his arms were bleeding. But he didn’t stop. He twisted again, the other way, and pulled the other chain, causing another massive set of echoes.
It looked like he was punching with restraints pulling back his arms.
“You know—”
“Get lost,” Frein said, slowing down his breathing. “You’re nothing but a distraction. The fact that you’re here, Smyl, doesn’t change anything.”
“You’re not surprised that I’m here?” Smyl asked, rather than pointing out to Frein the futility of his actions.
No response. The Visitor simply made another attempt at the chains.
“Come on,” Smyl said. “Humor me here.”
“No.” Frein wasn’t even looking back. His eyes were closed, strained into a frown.
“But if I threaten Katherine, I’m sure you’ll bark back.”
“That’s the most laughable thing you’ve ever said.” Frein steadied his breathing once more, preparing for another pull. “You should be more worried with how you’re going to defend yourself from Frill.”
The Visitor emphasized his point by making the chains screech once again. Smyl was stunned in place.
“How… How did you know?”
Frein paused, and then he began to laugh. It went on for so long that he missed his rhythm.
“Okay, that was pretty funny, Smyl. You’ve successfully distracted me.”
“What?”
“Do I seriously have to spell it out for you? Weren’t you a Sky Knight General?” Despite this, Frein still kept his eyes closed. He knew exactly how to counter Time’s Eye.
Smyl caught himself. There was absolutely no definite proof to point Liona’s murder towards him. Nobody else knew about his meiyal signature manipulation skill for Meiyal Armaments.
Nobody.
So how?
Smyl flinched when the chains clanged once more. But he figured it out.
“You guessed?”
“You fell for the oldest trick in the book, kid. At least that’s one mystery solved.” Finally, he opened his eyes. “So now that I know who murdered Liona, are you going to kill me? Can you do that?”
Smyl could see life in Frein’s eyes. He couldn’t believe it. Someone as tortured as he was should not have this much life in him left. Unless…
Smyl Drew an observation Meiyal Art.
“So weak. So slow,” Frein commented. “So obvious. Do they teach you to narrow your eyes whenever you’re Drawing an observation Meiyal Art? I don’t have to use mine to know what you’re doing.”
Smyl ignored his mockery. He was more distracted by the revelation he saw inside Frein’s meiyal system. The Visitor was accumulating Milled meiyal.
“How?”
“No,” Frein answered. “You’ll have to try and kill me if you want to know the answer.”
Smyl stared back at Frein’s challenging eyes. Direct. Full of confidence, despite the obvious situation.
“Silence isn’t an answer, Smyl,” Frein said, pulling the chains once again. This time, the Sky Knight General saw the Visitor use a sliver of Milled meiyal. The sound was different, slightly louder. “If your faunel friend can’t even come back down here and threaten me with his eye, then you have no chance at all. Don’t beat yourself up over it.”
“If you break those chains, you’ll die,” Smyl said, completely changing the subject. “So why?”
“I’m done talking, Smyl. You can go now.” Frein pulled the chains once again. He closed his eyes. “The next time I see you, I’m talking with my fists.”
Smyl couldn’t find a retort. The ground shaking, along with the deafened echoes of explosions, made it impossible to find one.
“If you keep standing there like an idiot, you won’t have a chance to explain yourself to Frill, or even defend yourself. And it’s starting to annoy me.”
Frustrated, Smyl turned to leave. He didn’t miss the observant gaze coming from Void Mother Lunasensia. Nonetheless, he stormed out of the dungeon having accomplished absolutely nothing.