A bead of sweat rolled down the side of Meera's head. She hadn't even felt this scared when she stared down that massive dragon Tigris. Something about this man made her want to run and hide under a rock and pretend she was a worm wriggling around in the dirt.

Kalrina frowned at Meera's abject terror. She glanced back at the dirty hermit, who was doing nothing but staring at Meera. He did nothing that would make him seem threatening. He had a rose with a broken stem in one hand. That's it, but even then, he was the most threatening man Meera had ever seen. He just radiated power.

"What's wrong, love?" Kalrina asked, frowning. "Do you know his daughter?"

"N-No…"

Kalrina tilted her head. "I don't need the mirrors of Dorheia to know you're lying."

"Shut up, witch," Meera said through gritted teeth.

Kalrina squinted her eyes. Then they popped open in realization. "Oh." She looked to the Saint. "Oh…Oh no. Why did you do that? Moreover, how did you accomplish that feat?"

"I had no choice, and you don't know all the details. Now, shut up!" Meera snapped as she looked around for the exit, but all she saw were more trees and shrubs. There wasn't even a tree she could leave through. The tree whose branch they were hanging from was far to the right of where they had entered from, but it was her best shot.

She activated Mirror Wing and flew at full speed, hoping she wasn't wrong.

She was wrong.

She crashed face-first into the tree, broke her neck, and crumpled to the ground at the edge of the hole with the spikes. She whimpered as Vitalize did its thing and fixed her neck. By the time she got some feeling back in her body, Kalrina and Erenyx's father were standing over her.

The Saint sat on his haunches and poked Meera in the head with the stem of a rose. "You okay in there, or do you like diving head-first into trees?"

Meera still couldn't move properly, or she would have scampered away like a mouse.

Kalrina shrugged. "I haven't seen her do that recently, but I haven't known her for long. Maybe she enjoys breaking her neck."

Meera activated the secondary effect of her armor and blasted the area with tiny mirrors. The hermit Saint gasped as his eyes widened. He clapped his hands like that monkey toy with cymbals. "Wow, so shiny!"

Meera frowned, and a moment later, her spinal cord snapped back in place. She teleported away and was about to fly off again but crashed to the ground. It was like being hung over the spikes again. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't move, as it felt like the weight of the world was crashing down on her.

She used Mirror Step to escape the trap and could finally breathe. She huffed in position, dripping sweat from her brow.

The old man picked up one of her small mirrors and brought it closer to his eyes to examine it. "Oh, these are mirrors." He looked to Meera and raised a hand. Meera flew through the air as if pulled by an unseen force. She crossed her arms in front of her to avoid the impact. He caught her by the arm, squinted at her chakrams, and sniffed. He recoiled, letting her go. "Yuck! This reeks of that insufferable Midiea or all the monsters you've killed with them?" He tilted his head. "Maybe both." He took another whiff. "Definitely both."

"You have something against the goddess Midiea?" Meera dribbled out.

"It was always, Eryx, find me Rothedon. Eryx, find me his secret weapon. Eryx, help me make the ultimate weapon to defeat the monster I created. I should've found a poisonous snake for her instead if it would have done any good."

Meera shared a glance with Kalrina and knew the witch was thinking the same thing. This old hermit wasn't entirely put together.

"So your name is Eryx," Meera said tentatively, hoping to draw him away from noticing his daughter's scent on Meera.

He piped up. "However, did you know?" He grinned, showing his yellowed teeth, which needed an urgent visit to the dentist. "Are you omniscient too?"

"You're omniscient?" Kalrina asked.

His face fell. "Yes, it's my curse and blessing in a way." He looked to Meera. "One whiff of you, and I knew you're that boy's sister. You've got near identical smells."

Meera perked up. “Neel was here! Please I’ve—"

Eryx raised his hand to stop her. "It's how I also know you killed my daughter or, well, her spirit at least."

Even Kalrina backed up a step. "I would just like to remind you, sir, I'm barely associated with—"

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"Not now, sorceress. I'll come to you later."

Kalrina went as still as the dead.

Meera held his full attention now, and she regretted all the steps she had taken to get here.

"I-I had no choice…she-she wasn't in her body. She had taken control of my f-friend's body…if I didn't kill her, she would've killed me a-and a lot more people with her husband, Doro—"

"Don't utter that wretch's name here." He gave an aloof smile as he looked around. "This is my happy place, and if she had met up with that disgusting mongrel again, then it was good you put her out of her misery. She would come home smelling of that rascal's foul corpse smell." He made a gagging sound.

Meera was confused now. "You're not mad?"

He continued to smile. "At least this way, she isn't stuck in some dank, horrid cave with no sunlight. Now, she's in…" He looked upwards as if seeing something far off in the distance. "Hell." He clapped. "With her mother. Right where they belong."

"Isn't that bad?" Meera asked.

"No, that is the field they sowed. Now, they reap the rewards. Did you know she tried to kill me? My own daughter. Gave me this scar right here." He pointed to the scar on his face. "This is the thanks I got after I helped her create Shadowsteel." With that, he turned around and returned to the rose bush Meera had demolished.

Kalrina swiveled her eyes to Meera, still staying put. The Saint walked right past her without even noticing she was even there. Kalrina motioned to Meera with her eyes to say something, but Meera was far away.

One thing that stood out from what Eryx had said was he knew where his daughter was. He knew exactly where she was. This man had the power to see even in Hell…

He can tell me where Neel is in this very instant and what he's doing.

"Um, Eryx, sir?" Meera walked towards him, ignoring the witch's silent cries for help. It was nice to see her quiet for once. She wanted to prolong it for as long as she could.

"Yes?" He said, without looking up.

"The boy you mentioned earlier, my brother. Can I trouble you to find him for me? I would be indebted to you if you tell me where he is.

"Indebted, huh…" He rubbed his chin with his dirty hands, and wet soil clung to his scraggly beard, but the senile old Cosmarian didn't seem to notice. "Will you help me fix this bush?"

Meera hesitated for a moment at the simplicity of the request. "Sure."

While she knelt to fix the roses she had demolished, Kalrina stayed put out of fear. Meera felt way too good about this. She kept turning her head and grinning at the sorceress while she worked. It didn't take long. Eryx trimmed the broken stems and replanted them while Meera did her best to untangle the mess she made.

"All done." Eryx declared with his hands on his hips. He chuckled for some reason, as if someone had said a funny joke. "Oh, stop it. You're just too much sometimes."

Meera frowned. "I'm sorry, sir?"

He held up a finger, then chuckled some more. "I'm sorry, sir?" He imitated Meera, then laughed some more.

Meera exchanged a worried glance with Kalrina, who gave her a shrug. As soon as she shrugged, the Saint stopped laughing, causing the witch to freeze again.

"Firstly, I'm not Sir. I am Eryx. Nice to meet you, and second, sorry, I don't get any visitors. Now, it seems I've gotten a plethora of them in the past six months. Nasty, obnoxious things make me late for supper and smelling like…like, well, not smelling nice."

Meera was sure this man was insane. Maybe the seclusion had driven him mad, and he was literally laughing at his own jokes.

"You're safe, witch," Meera called. "This man is bonkers."

"I'm not Bonkers, I'm Eryx!" He looked at Kalrina as if noticing her for the first time. "Oh, when did you get here? Nice to meet you, Witch."

Kalrina glared at Meera for a brief moment before smiling at the senile old man. "It's nice to meet you too, si—Eryx."

"Eryx, getting back to our deal," Meera said before the Cosmarian lost his train of thought again. "You said you would help me find my brother if I helped you fix your rose bush."

"And bring back my memory," Kalrina quickly added.

Meera rolled her eyes at the witch.

"I agreed to all that?" He rubbed his chin, dirtying his beard further.

"Oh yes, you did."

He shrugged. "My memory isn't great these days, so you must be telling the truth." He laughed. "Okay, who first?"

Meera shot her hand up. "Me!"

He took a quick whiff of her and closed his eyes while upturning his nose and taking deep breaths. He frowned, then scrunched his nose as if he had smelled something disgusting, followed by a sneeze.

"Okay, so your brother is lost…" He took a long pause, and when Meera opened her mouth to speak, he said. "To me. The boy is good at covering up his smell, or he is Aetheron incarnate, as he was the only other person to evade my nose. Or! The so-called gods are sheathing him from all scouting skills. That boy Lorendor will go to any lengths to ensure his little prophecies come true."

"Did you just call the Lord of Deeds a boy?" Kalrina looked up at the sky, expecting the god to strike them down this instant.

"Yes, why? He used to play in my lap when he was a babe."

All this talk of gods being babies was undoubtedly interesting, but she was more concerned with things she was worried about. If Neel couldn't be tracked, it meant Rothedon was having shit luck as well, but the same went for Meera, and she was back to doing the same thing as before.

She coughed. "You said Neel was here. Do you know why and where he went?"

"Something to do with powering a cane with a dragon heartstring." He waved a dismissive hand. "Not my expertise, so he went to the unneighbourly sorceresses, who haven't come to pay a visit ever since they moved in centuries ago."

Kalrina looked like she was about to say something but stopped herself. Most likely didn't want to remind Eryx of some messed up thing the sorceresses did, which would set off the senile Cosmarian.

Meera sighed. Looks like I'm going to have to go to them after all. I hope they're as friendly as Narikas, but seeing Aksha, I'm going to keep my expectations six feet under.

"Of course, you're not the first to come asking about your brother," Eryx commented while picking his nose. "My nephews came to visit me, finally, after thousands of years."

Meera stilled. "Your nephews?"

A dread rose in her like none other. Please don't tell me the assassins who attacked Narikas are Cosmarians.

"Yes, those two uppity brats somehow escaped their punishments for backing Rothedon in the Eclipse war." He chuckled and shook his head. "But then they always knew how to weasel themselves out whenever they got in over their heads. I'm sure it was their mother. She never could stay mad at them for long."

Even Kalrina was shocked. Her eyes wide open as she stared at Meera. "There are literal Cosmarians after your brother. You might as well give up the search."

"What are their names?" Meera asked, chilled to the bone. The words barely escaped her lips.

"Silas and Cossus."