A Veli Must Protect

For Katherine, who had spent most of her entire youth surviving in the Nightmare Lands, the change of atmosphere was as simple as a slight drop in temperature. Kristel wasn’t as acclimated, however.

It was true that the destruction of the Nightmare Signs allowed the Princess to Gather and Mill meiyal now. But the truth could not be avoided that it was still a lot slower than normal. Her Milling form, while it was far better than Frein’s, could only make up for her inexperience so much.

Katherine noted Kristel struggling, trying to shrug off the pressure of Nightmare meiyal with an intense concentration of her Sandai-Siffera. She was burning through her reserves far faster than she could refill them. Art fatigue might be no longer a problem, but she was on a timer, unless she could do something about her net negative.

Katherine helped her out by extending her Peace Within The Chaos.

“Come near me if you need to refill,” she said. “I can’t extend this without concentrating.”

“Got it,” Kristel confirmed. “I’m ready when you are.”

No, they both weren’t. Katherine could sense the difference in experience and prowess between the two of them and Alphazzel.

The faunel could see it directly, assess it personally, and scrutinize it inch for inch within Destiny. And he was more than happy to flaunt that power.

“So the two of you did fuse,” he started, pointing at Kristel. “Impressive. There were not very many futures of you two succeeding after what happened to the Aria’s little sister.”

“What did you say?” Kristel and Frill’s voice reverberated with anger.

Katherine immediately understood what was happening.

“Hey! Stop it!” she said. “Ignore him, Frill. He’s trying to disrupt your concentration and drop the fuse.”

“Oh, but aren’t you curious?” Alphazzel teased. “Don’t you want to know who killed Liona?”

“Don’t say her name!” Frill’s voice echoed from Kristel. A blurred image of the Aria in Red shifted out of the Princess for a split second.

“Calm down, Frill,” Kristel said, reeling back her retainer. “He’s trying to rile us up.”

“I am, I am,” Alphazzel said, nodding. “But I’m also telling the truth. I know who killed her. I know how she died. I know the last thing she said… Before you found her, of course. I don’t want to be called a liar under some technicality.”

“How are we supposed to believe that?” Katherine asked. She immediately felt the question was superfluous.

Alphazzel laughed. “We all know I always tell the truth. It’s my nature, Void Lady.”

“Then what do you want?” Kristel asked next. “Are you buying time? Are we supposed to beat it out of you?”

“I want Frill,” he answered almost immediately. “I want Brymeia’s next vessel. In exchange for the truth.”

“What do you want with her?”

“Nothing any of you would like, of course. But that’s none of your business.” Alphazzel folded his arms, confident that he could handle any surprise attacks without needing his hands. “That’s my price. Take it or leave it.”

A moment passed before Katherine could say her piece. Kristel stepped forward, leaving the protective barrier of Peace Within The Chaos.

“We’re not going to have this conversation, Frill,” she began. The Princess Drew a super-condensed Yondai-Kaimera, the formation alone causing ripples in reality. She directed its point towards the faunel. “Forget negotiating, Alphazzel. We’re going to beat the answers out of you.”

“You’re welcome to try, Princess.” The faunel simply presented his open arms, inviting the three of them.

Katherine readied herself, but before she could make the first move, Frill spoke again from within Kristel.

“Let me fight, Princess,” she said. “If he truly knows who killed my sister, then this is my fight.”

“Oh, but what if I’m just dangling this bait so that the Aria will come out, instead?” Alphazzel said with as much sarcasm as possible.

“He’s telling the truth,” Katherine clarified. Her Heart’s Will, sketchy as it was, read the faunel constantly. “Both knowing who killed Liona, and trying to force out Frill.”

She made her piece as neutral as possible. While her instincts told her that Frill appearing now would be the wrong choice, the realization that Destiny was playing a part with their conundrum made her stop giving a suggestion.

Alphazzel turned to her, clearly disappointed. “Not everything has to be decided by Destiny, Lady of the Void. Because not everything matters. Whether these two choose to switch or not, won’t change the outcome of this fight.”

For a while, Katherine felt smart. The implication of the faunel’s words meant that the ‘outcome of this fight’ has been decided by Destiny. But when he smiled, she understood that knowing the result wouldn’t change what would eventually happen.

And the fact that Alphazzel wasn’t running away…

“Don’t think too much about it, Kat,” Elizzel said, tugging at the Lady’s consciousness. “Destiny can be read, but Alphazzel is no god. He’s trying to bluff.”

“But we have no way of killing him.”

“True. In this place, meiyal starving him is out of the option. But you can seal him. You have the arsenal of Void Mothers now, remember?”

Before Katherine could agree, Kristel jumped into action. Her appearance changed. Silvery azure hair extending to a scarlet crimson. Blue eyes switching to purple. And the floating meiyal marks originating from her chest, switched to her left eye.

Frill instantaneously Drew a meiyal blade and sliced, aiming Alphazzel’s neck. Kaimera wasn’t even involved. The faunel held up two fingers and caught the blade in between.

The Aria didn’t care. She let go of the blade, shifted her momentum, and slammed a closed fist straight to his face. He flew to the base of the destroyed tower behind him.

“Fine,” Kristel said, her voice echoing from her retainer’s physical form. “Remember: we’re here to save Frein. Keep your vengeance in check.”

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Katherine waited, but Frill made no response.

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Every Veli was special. Whether they were married into the family, or adopted by their foster parents, a Veli was—and must—always possess a gift. That was the truth.

So Liona having two different existences, while surprising, was expected.

The moment she woke up from within Xiv’s Mind Palace, she found herself staring at her own likeness.

It can’t be… The real me is dead.

“That’s true,” said the other Liona. “But you aren’t. And I’m not Liona.”

Indeed, whoever this was, she looked much older. A mature Liona. The younger one rose from her bed, trying to understand what exactly was going on.

“Who I am doesn’t matter,” said the older Liona. “What matters is that you need to trust Xiv and Frill. Remember: it’s the Monarch’s duty to protect her people. But it’s your duty as a Veli to protect your Monarch.”

“Trust? Protect?”

Liona clutched her head. A sudden pain blinded her. Raging flames, burning with such anger that it felt so real. Then it was gone just as suddenly.

She gasp, recovering from the blur. But when she turned to find the older Liona, she was already gone.

It didn’t matter. Liona already knew what was going on.

“Xiv, where are you?” she asked, calling out to her host.

“A bit busy here, Liona. I thought you needed to sleep some more?”

“It’s my sister.”

“She fused with the Princess,” he said casually. “They’re probably fighting this Alpha-whatever.”

“I know.” Liona went out of her bedroom, rushing towards Xiv’s Forge. “She’s angry. We need to calm her down before she gets lost in her vengeance.”

“You should trust your sister more, Liona,” Xiv said. “And trust in your friends. They’ll protect her.”

She stopped right before opening the door to the Forge. Her mind was racing trying to decide which was the right decision to do. The older Liona had told her to trust Frill and Xiv. She had also told her to protect the Monarch.

“Which one?”

“Hmm?”

It was too late when she thought out loud. She tried to change the subject. “What are you doing, anyway?”

The last thing she remembered was going to sleep on the Floating Dream. Granted it would be easier to just peer through the Vyndivalian’s senses, but it would take less effort to just ask.

“Trying to rescue our trump card.”

With a sigh, Liona synchronized with Xiv’s senses anyway.

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Frill had never once hosted for a fusion, but with Kristel’s willingness to give her a chance, the task was surprisingly light.

“Just think of it as your own body,” the Princess said into her mind. “We’ve made the union strong enough to hold even with the strongest strains. Just make sure you keep your emotions in check.”

The last one was a lot harder to accomplish than handling the fusion. Frill wanted answers, stomping towards the recovering faunel while her meiyal flared.

Nightmare Influence or no, Frill’s command of meiyal had been absurdly natural as of late. Since the Ritual of Peace, it felt as if every mote of meiyal from this world belonged to her. Brymeia’s plans to make her the next vessel was proving to be truer the more she interacted with her gift.

“Answer me, Alphazzel,” she said, aiming Diferenfra at the faunel. “Just because you’re immortal doesn’t mean you don’t hurt.”

The faunel observed her, before breaking down into a fit of laughter.

“I see, I see. No wonder you’re so confident.”

“What’s he talking about?” Kristel said aloud.

“The Nightmare doesn’t work on Frill,” Katherine said simply. “It’s Brymeia’s protection.”

“That doesn’t matter right now,” said the Aria. She unleashed a concentrated beam of Diferenfra, aiming at the faunel’s leg. He quickly dodged, but she caught his movement. Just like earlier with the meiyal blade, she punched him just as he acted.

“Final warning, Alphazzel.”

“Or what?” he shouted, spitting blood on the ground out of frustration. “You’re out of your league, Veli. Your family is special, that’s true. But seeking revenge? Serving justice? Don’t make me laugh! You’re way beyond your jurisdiction.”

Frill had had enough. With Sandai-Siffera, she dashed towards the faunel, readying another strike. If Meiyal Arts wouldn’t work, then she would tear him down with physical attacks.

“Foolish girl.”

The Aria suddenly found herself unable to move. She was stuck in place, frozen. Her clothes, her hair, all stopped awkwardly in the air. She could barely breathe. Even her eyes couldn’t move.

“You think meiyal’s yours to control?” Alphazzel started, walking slowly towards her. “Whether it’s affected by the Nightmare or not, without enough concentration, meiyal is unconscious and will naturally do nothing but float in the air, swim underwater, or crawl on the ground. It is the will of the mind that controls them, Frill. And yours is weak. Laughably weak. Let me show you what true will looks like.”

Alphazzel raised a hand to the side and began to Gather. Suddenly, the Nightmare was gone. Gone, not from the result of Katherine’s previous interventions. It was gone because of the faunel. While the Incursion was spreading somewhere else, the section around the entirety of Befall was sucked right into his hand. Into a black orb.

The faunel closed his fist, shaping the dark energies into a weapon. From his hand formed a hilt, extending into a sharpened pommel on one side, and a large guard on the other. Red and black blade emerged from the handle, one of pure Nightmare. Unreadable runes ran through its entirety.

Then he moved out of her line of sight, replaced by Katherine, who was chasing after him.

“The first Meiyal Art,” Alphazzel introduced before scratching his head. “Actually, it doesn’t have a name. Destiny refuses to name it…”

Frill struggled to even struggle, the very desire of moving, even the smallest of motions, were hindered by something she couldn’t see.

“Calm down, Frill,” Kristel shouted, but her voice was muffled. She could barely hear the Princess. “Concentrate. Our meiyal’s still flowing. Force it outside!”

Frill did just that. She could feel her skin warming up as she mustered out more and more of her own meiyal. Her voice broke through, screaming against the tension of whatever it was locking her in place.

“Admirable,” Alphazzel commented, looking at the Aria with astonished eyes as if he was discovering a rare sight. “Few discover how to push away my hold. Most of the time, they just panic and die.”

Frill could finally move her head. She tracked down Katherine, colliding swords with Alphazzel. The Lady’s Meiyal Art, strong as it was, could only last a single strike before it broke down. She compensated by Drawing it rapidly.

“Fewer still completely manage to remove it,” he continued, unperturbed by the Lady of the Void. He was obviously lacking in skill, compared to Katherine, who managed to stab and slash him continuously. But he simply regenerated. Even engulfing him in flames just made him instantly reform from his ashes before his sword even fell to the ground.

Finally, he lost patience, utilizing a wide strike big enough for Katherine to avoid. He didn’t care if it ended in an exchange. Such was his advantage.

“Focus, Frill!” Kristel called out. “Kat can handle herself. Get out of this lock first.”

Frill steeled her senses and focused solely on breaking through her entrapment. She could feel the air crack; the meiyal around her had materialized into something transparent and solid right down to her pores. Her eyes, throat, and nose began to hurt, as the solid meiyal began to melt away. Only her ears were unaffected. With one final push, she finally broke free.

Frill looked for Katherine and saw the Lady steaming from Art fatigue. Her face might not show it, but she had almost exhausted herself.

“Ascensia, Freemesia,” Frill invoked, Drawing the Princess’s Meiyal Arts.

Freemesia did little to help. The lines that was supposed to guide her attacks didn’t appear. Such was the strength of their adversary. Ascensia however, was a self-improving art, covering her with wind that allowed her to move faster.

Ready with a third Meiyal Art, a super-condensed Sandai-Kaimera, Frill hurried over to assist. Alphazzel raised a hand at her, but she instinctively dodged to the far side and zigzagged her approach. A quick employment of Mesiffera made her aware of the invisible, solidifying meiyal.

Frill came in close and plunged her Sandai-Kaimera. Alphazzel made a strong move, blocking Katherine’s own Kaimera with his black sword on one hand, while grabbing hold of Frill’s with another. The Aria could see a thick layer of solidified meiyal enveloping the faunel’s hand, completely stopping her blade.

“The strongest practitioner and the great genius.” Alphazzel turned calmly from Katherine to Frill. “Both of you have been completely disappointments. I’m afraid this is where the end of your Destiny begins.”

It was all too quick. A flash of light blinded Frill despite her Freemesia. She could barely see Alphazzel moving through the blur, shattering Katherine’s weapon and stabbing the end of his pommel straight into the Lady.

And then there was another flash.

Right after the blur, Frill saw Katherine lying on the floor, unconscious. Then she felt something hot on her right arm, a piercing pain gnawing at her with each passing moment. Her heartbeat pounded and she began to palpitate.

She couldn’t feel her right arm.

“Vynore,” said a voice, as if it was enough to explain everything.

Frill looked up. Smyl stood in front of her, looking down at him with eyes dead of emotion.

“If I recall correctly, your sister died from one.” His sword dripped with blood.

Frill looked down again, searching the bloody ground. At the far corner of her eye, she could see an arm lying on the floor. The connection hit her along with the excruciating pain.

It took seconds before screams of pain and shock filled the grounds of Befall.