Chapter XXIV

Album Luz was sitting quietly in the corner of the shack’s spare room, carefully sending mana into her right arm. She still couldn’t feel it nor could she move it, her nerves ending just above her elbow. It had become a hindrance to her mobility as it hung limp from her shoulder. She couldn’t even flow her mana into it without using her left hand and she knew there was nothing either she or Nigreos could do while they were still in Omaruo. Neither of them were versed enough in Nature Magic to reattach the nerves properly and return feeling to her arm. The best she could do was reattach it to her body, but she would need to speak with Iris Mackia upon their return to have it healed.

Which means I’m going to have to finish the mission with only my left hand, she thought bitterly. How did it come to this? Retrieving the stone should have been easy, yet we keep getting defeated at every turn. First the pocket realm and now Reiner’s blood magic… The Master of Light lowered her eyes to the wooden ground and scoffed. There’s nothing we can do now. It is impossible for me to erase Eric Reiner and neither Nigreos nor I can even harm him with magic. How are we supposed to fight him if we can’t use magic?

She had been so confident that their biggest hurdle was about to be crossed. She knew Nigreos wanted to save Eric, but she never intended to let him walk away from this ordeal. By erasing him, dealing with his friends would be simple, so she took the chance Eric had provided her and tried to get rid of him, but the moment she did, Abi Reiner’s voice echoed through her mind, and she was overwhelmed by the magic intertwined within the boy. That had been all it took to take her out of the battle and even the following morning, her body was fatigued. Even with it reattached, losing a limb was not something she could just shake off.

Which means I can’t help Nigreos track down the other stone users. Album clenched her teeth. Did you foresee this, Abi? Did you know a day would come that Nigreos and I would go after your son? Is that why you did this? Did you have so little faith in us?

Blood magic was a subclass of nature magic and, despite its name, was not actually linked to the user's blood. Instead, it interacted specifically with their genetic makeup and could only be used on those who shared similar genes. It was one of the most powerful defenses that could be cast upon somebody, but due to its many limitations, as well as its complexity, very few ever bothered with it. Even Iris, who was the current Master of Nature, refrained from practicing any blood magic. It wasn’t as simple as merely casting a spell, after all. The magic had to be woven into the target’s genes, and even their very soul, and the defensive mechanisms would only awaken with the death of the spell caster. Upon their death, a piece of their soul would bind with the target’s mana and would defend them against magical attacks from those deemed the most dangerous. It was reassurance after death that someone the caster cared about would be well protected.

So when Abi died…she knew that her son would be safe. And she believed Nigreos and I were the most dangerous people to Eric’s safety.

Blood magic only reacted to a handful of individuals as determined by the caster, so the fact that she and Nigreos couldn’t harm him meant that they were Abi’s greatest fears.

I wonder if Ryokumo was included in that. Was he deemed as much of a threat as us? Or was it just us that she feared? Album then snorted in irritation, realizing how foolish of a question that was. No… Abi would never have deemed Ryokumo anything but an ally.

The Master shook her head, deciding that there wasn’t any point in further considering the matter. What was done was done and they now needed to alter their plans. She finished her healing and then slowly got to her feet. Nigreos was waiting outside so she weakly moved through the hallway and out into the main room where Alice Mendez was still being kept. For a moment, she observed the young girl who was sitting quietly in the chair, her eyes blindfolded and her mouth gagged. The only reason she hadn’t been erased yet was to continue to use her as bait for Reiner and the others. Once her worth was finished, they would send her back to the paradise she so desired.

Album turned and continued toward the front door.

At the very least, last night wasn’t a total defeat. We erased Brad Fischer and crossed off another one of our targets. That only leaves six more to find if we don’t include Reiner. We have Davens essentially within our grasp, so that just leaves Harper, Clark, Tao, Wright, and Hill. I would imagine from what Mendez told us that Evan Wright was the other boy with Davens and Fischer last night, so we have a visual on him. Perhaps he should be the next one we pursue.

Album pushed the front door open and headed out into the crisp morning air of the forest where Nigreos was pacing around, his brow furrowed in deep thought. The man glanced up at her presence as she made her way toward him.

“Feeling any better?” he asked immediately, the concern clear in his tone.

She shrugged nonchalantly. “As well as I can be without the use of my right arm. That boy is a bigger issue than even I guessed.”

Nigreos grimaced and folded his arms across his chest. “Do you still have Davens marked?”

“Of course I do,” Album replied. “Unfortunately, she’s currently on her way to school and since we can’t exactly go in there, we’ll have to wait until later if we want to try again.”

Once they’d managed to get the names out of Mendez, they had hoped they could then acquire addresses of their targets, but as it turned out, the girl only knew where Rina Davens lived. It wasn’t as much as they had hoped for, but it was a start and thus, better than nothing. She had quickly gone to the girl’s house and marked her with the same spell she had used on Mickelson a week prior. With that done, she could now find her as long as she was within a certain range.

“Yes, I suppose so,” Nigreos growled. “I think we should try again this weekend. We’ll just follow the girl around and see if she leads us to any of the others. Right now, Damien Clark, Elizabeth Tao, and Natalie Hill are the biggest enigmas. We only have Mendez’s descriptions to go off of. At the very least, Hill is in the same building as Harper, so if we locate one, we locate the other.”

“Then that’s where we should focus our attention,” Album replied. “We’ll deal with Davens and Wright this weekend, then we’ll see if Reiner accepts our ultimatum. If he doesn’t we kill Mendez. At that point, I doubt he’ll hold back. He’ll give us what we want whether he likes it or not.”

She was certain of that. In her brief interaction with the boy, it was clear how much he wanted to protect those he considered his friends. While it would be better not to let any of them die, she knew that killing Mendez to prove that they weren’t bluffing would be worth it in the long run. Reiner wouldn’t allow anybody else to die.

“I hope so,” Nigreos said. “The problem is blood magic. We can’t magically harm him and with you weakened like this, it’ll be easier for him to defend his friends.”

“Sure, but he can’t defend them forever.” She brushed his concern aside and glanced off into the trees. “He can try all he likes, but in the end, there’s nothing he can do but stand by and watch everything he loves crumble. And now, he won’t even be able to join them. He’ll be stuck in a realm where they never existed.”

“And what are we supposed to do about him now?” her partner inquired. “I know you were opposed to it, but at this point, I think taking him with us to Ijiria is the best bet. He won’t belong here soon, but there…with the talent he displayed, maybe he can attend the academy and find a life in Ijiria.”

“Do you really think he’d just go with us?” Album snapped, turning her irritable glare upon him. “The blood magic is preventing him from forgetting his friends, so he’ll never stop thinking about what we've done here. He will hate us until they end. At this point, I say we kill him without magic. Just take a knife and slit his throat.”

Nigreos scowled. “Why are you so opposed to taking him with us?”

“Because I’m not blinded by my emotions, Nigreos!” she shot back. “Do you really think it would be smart to take him to Erika? He’s going to hate us. He’s going to want revenge, and as we learned yesterday, he’s quite skilled with magic. He could never defeat us, but he could cause a lot of damage and if he does, the responsibility of what happens falls on us!”

“And if that happens, we take responsibility and then we’ll kill him,” he said softly. “Don’t misunderstand me. I may want to save him, but if it becomes clear that it’s impossible, I will kill him. After all, as you were so insistent on telling him, I’ve already killed Abi.” Nigreos narrowed his eyes. “Why did you tell him that? What the hell did that accomplish except making him despise us even more?”

Album smiled bitterly. “I felt he should know. I know you, Nigreos, and I know that you would have done whatever it took to avoid taking him down. I simply burned your bridges for you. That’s all.”

She could see the fury in his eyes, but she didn’t regret being so blunt about it. He was a man plagued by his feelings and if she didn’t step in, he would make even more mistakes. He wanted to do everything he could to save Eric Reiner simply because he was Abi’s son, but the boy was a threat to them, especially with blood protection. If Reiner hated them, it would make it so that Nigreos would be left without a choice.

“Go and rest,” he snapped. “You’re going to need your energy for the coming days.”

With that, the man spun on his heel and stalked into the forest, probably to go in search of the nerich, which still hadn’t come back since the previous night. She watched him depart with a smug grin, knowing that she had gotten to him.

It’s for your own good, Nigreos. Cast Abi aside. Put her in the past where she belongs and move on. This is an opportunity for you. If Eric Reiner is dead, you have nothing holding you back. I’m doing you a favor…

And if you refuse to kill Eric, then I won’t hesitate.

***

Nigreos walked furiously through the forests, following the trail of dark mana that the nerich had left behind in its pursuit of Eric Reiner the previous night. He’d been wanting to go after it all morning, having been worried when it didn’t answer to his summoning, but he hadn’t wanted to leave Album alone until she was finished with her healing. While she was more than capable of protecting herself, with Eric’s blood protection now in play, she was at a severe disadvantage should the boy somehow find their hideout. However, after their conversation mere minutes ago, he decided it was time to take his space from her. He had already assumed her motives in revealing what she did, but hearing it so bluntly from her lips only enraged him all the more.

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What the hell is wrong with her? If sparing Reiner is an option, we should take it! As long as he’s kept in the Citadel, he won’t be able to cause any real damage should he try to take revenge. It’s his mother’s homeland and thus, it’s where he belongs!

But Album refused to see it his way. She was dead set on killing Eric and it was something he couldn’t stand for. Ryokumo had already stressed the importance of bringing the boy to Ijiria and now that it was clear that erasing him was no longer an option, it seemed the most viable course to take.

He shook his head. I need to get through to her somehow. Her actions last night proved that she’s more than willing to take matters into her own hands. Had Abi not protected Eric then he would already be erased. Nigreos clenched his teeth. And there’s nothing stopping her from wiping him from my memories, as well. In a way…her losing her right arm might be beneficial to me in the long run.

He stepped around a few more trees, feeling the nerich’s presence close by. He knew it wasn’t dead because if it were, he would have felt his mana returning to his body and he knew Eric wouldn’t ever kill Jay Brooks. Yet at the same time, he couldn’t figure out why it wouldn’t return when he called for it.

Once again, the damn thing failed to bring the boy to me. I’m starting to wonder if Nuvo scammed me somehow. It’s been nowhere near as useful as I was led to believe.

With the presence of the creature close, he rounded a corner and stopped in his tracks as he gaped at the scene before him. The nerich was only a few yards ahead of him, its body completely encased in rock all the way up its neck. Its black eyes were open, but it seemed dazed as it stared at the ground, as if having decided it didn’t want to fight its way out.

R-Reiner…did this? he thought incredulously. But how?! How did he defeat the nerich so easily?! Is it possibly because I used a magicless being? Is that why it’s so terrible at such simple requests?!

The creature slowly raised its head at Nigreos’s presence, but it didn’t speak or even react any further than that.

“What happened to you?” he demanded. “I thought I ordered you to capture Eric Reiner? Why is it that a mere boy has eluded you yet again?”

“Master…” it rasped. “I was…not strong enough. He was…faster.”

Nigreos scoffed in irritation. “He’s a damn child… and you are bonded with a Master. How could he possibly be faster than you?”

A low growl escaped its lips. “I do not know.”

Maybe I should just erase him, he considered. If he can’t subdue Reiner then what good is he? I can only send him into the school at night and I doubt the boy keeps the relic there after dark. But after a moment’s thought, he opted against it. No…I should give him one last chance. If catching Reiner isn’t possible then maybe I can use him to find the ones we still don’t have visuals of. If only it had access to Brooks' memories…that would make this far easier.

“Fine then,” he snapped. “In that case, I want you scouring this city for any sign of Damien Clark, Elizabeth Tao, and Natalie Hill. I want them brought to me alive. Do you understand?”

“Clark… Tao… Hill…” it rasped, as if attempting to commit the names to memory. “I will bring them…alive.”

Nigreos nodded. “Good. In that case…” He stalked toward the mound of rock keeping it captured and placed his hand against it. “Perkari.”

A burst of wind magic reverberated through the rock, blasting it apart and freeing the nerich from its confines. It dropped to the ground, breathing heavily as Nigreos regarded it with disgust.

“You have one more chance,” he warned. “You have your targets. Now bring them to me.”

“Yes…Master…”

***

Where am I? How long have I been here? Hours? Days? Weeks?

Time seemed as if it didn’t exist, and he couldn’t be sure what was going on outside of the darkness that was wrapping itself around him. It was cold and he couldn’t help but shiver. He wanted warmth so badly, but he had no way to get it. He didn’t know if he was alive or if he was dead. He felt alive, yet he wouldn’t know what being dead felt like, so for all he knew, this was death. Yet, something inside of him told him that he was, in fact, alive. So, to combat the terrible place he found himself in, he thought of those he loved. He thought of the people that he wanted so desperately to see again—the ones that made fighting against that darkness worth it. The faces of those people floated around in his mind, comforting him in that awful state. They kept him alive. They kept him sane. They were his lifeline in hopelessness. After all, this wasn’t the first time he felt as if there wasn’t any hope for a better future. Back then, they had saved him. Now, they were saving him again.

“You’ve always been by my side. You’ve stuck by me and been my shoulder to lean on when I’ve needed it. You’re the last one of us that I have. So how could you ever think of yourself as a nuisance? As worthless? You have so much worth to me…more than anybody.”

“Lilly cares so much about you that right now, she’s inhabiting your nearly dead body because she wanted to give you the chance to see how much you matter. She could be risking her life right now…all for you.”

“Because you mean something to her, you dense idiot! After all your badgering, you actually got Lilly Harper to come around! And now, she’s grown to care about you enough to use the stone on you! Don’t you realize what that means? I’m not the only one who would be devastated by your death! Lilly would be, too!”

I can’t die, he told himself. I have to go back to them. When I wake up…everything will be okay. Remember her words. Latch onto those words. Don’t ever forget what she told you. I mean something to her. I mean something to all of them. I’m not worthless. I won’t be worthless. I’ll be better.

As he floated in that empty void, he allowed their words to wash over him and they were what supplied him with warmth. However, as he listened, another voice reached him, and that cold took him over once again.

“Jay. Alice is in danger.”

What? Danger? How? Why is Alice in danger?

“Nigreos and Album have her locked up somewhere, though I am still unsure of where that is. They are going to kill her, Jay. Alice Mendez is going to die and I can’t do anything about it. But you…you might know where Nigreos is hiding. You might be able to save her. Are you really going to let Alice die after everything the two of you have been through?”

She’s going to die?! No! I won’t let that happen! If I can save her, I will! I’ll do whatever it takes to protect her! After everything she did for me, I won’t let her die! She saved my life!

“Please, Jay. Don’t let Alice die. Save her. Save Alice.”

I will! I’ll do it!

“She is not your enemy. She is the enemy of whatever is inside of you. You don’t have the same goals, so take back the body that is rightfully yours and save your friend.”

Take my body back? To save…Alice?

His eyes snapped open and light assaulted him so violently that he immediately closed them again. The void was gone. Feeling had suddenly returned to his body. He could smell the forest around him, yet the sensation was far more intense than it had been before. The touch of his hands against the dirt was similar, and when he opened his eyes once more, the world seemed clearer. He didn’t know where he was or what was going on. All he knew was that he had to find Alice.

He moved along purely on instinct, crawling along the forest floor and following the scent of the girl who saved him. She felt close by and when he recalled the words of warning, he remembered them saying that she was being kept where Nigreos and Album were hiding out. He didn’t know who those people were, yet somehow, he knew where to go. It felt like there were memories in his mind that weren’t his own, and they were guiding him in the direction he sought to go in. Yet, those memories were straining his mind, like they wanted to take control of him.

Let me out! Release me!

A shriek echoed within his mind and he stopped, feeling whatever was inside him fighting to get out. So, he shoved it back inside, using the image of Alice Mendez to give him the strength he needed. He somehow knew that if he let whatever was in him climb out, then Alice would die. He couldn’t allow that. He would fight whatever was clawing at his brain to the death if it meant he could help Alice.

Go away! he internally snarled. Leave me alone! Alice is in danger! I have to help her!

Alice Mendez is our target! it shrieked back. We must end her! We must do as the master says and end them all!

He violently shook his head. No! She’s my friend! I love her! I won’t let her get hurt!

As he continued through the forest, he stopped and sniffed the air, searching for the scents of the other two beings that he knew were dangerous. If they were still in the hideout then he wouldn’t be able to check for Alice. Luckily, their scent was coming from the opposite direction. The dark one was somewhere in the city and the light one was walking around in the forest. She had been injured so it didn’t surprise him that she was still close by. He would have to be quick. He couldn’t afford to be caught.

He picked up his pace, lunging through the trees at a speed he’d never gone before. Whatever was done to him and made him faster, and he felt more alive than he ever had. He smiled gleefully as he burst from the forest and stopped before the rundown shack he had once played in as a child.

Stop! You’re defying the master! If you do this, we will die!

So be it. I need to check.

He slunk forward, approaching the porch then reaching up to open the door. He then silently moved into the house, the scent of Alice even closer now. He knew she was there. He could sense her presence and as he crept along the wooden floor, he entered the main room and came to a stop, his body going cold at the sight.

No… What have they done to her?!

Unbridled rage spread through him at the sight of his friend, bound and gagged on the chair, her right leg completely missing from the knee down. She slowly raised her head in his direction, but only muffled cries came from her mouth.

Don’t touch her! She must remain here! She must die!

The other being within him gave him pause, but he once again ignored it and continued toward his friend. He gently reached out his clawed fingers and took hold of the gag, then moved it from her mouth so she could speak.

“Who’s there?” Alice rasped. “Who is it?”

“It’s me,” he replied softly, his voice scratchier than normal. “It’s Jay.”

She exhaled sharply. “J-Jay?! You’re here?” But just as excitement and relief spread across her face, she immediately turned harsh. “No… you’re in a coma. This is a trick isn’t it? I thought I already gave them what they wanted. Why can’t I just be free? Why can’t I go back to paradise?”

He didn’t fully understand the meaning of her words so he simply shook his head. “No, it really is me. I’ve come to save you…”

DIE!

The sudden surge of hatred shot through him and without warning, his hands lunged for the girl’s throat. He only managed to take control right before his claws touched her skin. Yet, she flinched anyway, her body trembling in pure fear.

“Go away,” she sobbed. “No more tricks. Jay isn’t here. Just tell me what you want and I’ll give it to you.”

She’s scared of me? She doesn’t understand but… I almost just killed her…

As the realization struck him, he hurriedly backed away, wanting to put distance between them.

Do what you like, but the moment I take control, I will kill her. You can only keep me at bay for so long and once you lose, Alice Mendez will become a shredded corpse. Her body won’t be recognizable.

The thought of the creature inside him killing Alice with his hands sent shivers down his spine as he slowly backed away.

I can’t do this. If I try to save her, she’ll die. I can’t kill her! I don’t want to harm her!

Laughter echoed through his head as the monster mocked him, but as it did, another idea came to his mind. Hope was not lost. There were other ways to save Alice and he was determined to reach them.

“I’ll come back for you,” he whispered. “I promise.”

Without waiting for a response, Jay Brooks turned on his heel and departed the hideout, a new destination in mind.