Tianjin.

Bohai bay.

It took until the sickly sun's slow meander over the city's zenith for the Shoggoth's ink cloud of Void-sown malice to be digested by the Spiritus Mundi.

By then, China's sole northern trade hub had been burning for almost eighteen hours, and there was yet more guerrilla warfare being fought in the un-demolished sectors of the central business districts by the surviving Militia.

However, clean-ups were no longer the concern of the Regent of Shalkar. Her promised Shoggoth had come and gone—and her remaining worry was for the surviving Mermen standing knee-deep in muck and mire, chanting her name.

GWEN! GWEN! GWEN!

They were doubtlessly repeating her namesake, for she could feel the reverberation of their psychic energies in her Astral Body, sending little quakes of resonance through her toes and fingers to fizzle as golden sparks at the tips of her hair. Though bizarre, it was the same phenomenon she had witnessed at the Charity concerts on the Isle of Dog and in Elvia's sermons for the poor and ailing, only... different.

Hers did not feel like the calculated arithmetic of the Nazarene's organised religion. The Mermen's "faith" was alive— a primal belief as old as worlds and words.

With Tianjin Tower's scrying eyes still trained upon her, she commanded the borrowed platform to stop at the boundary of the spontaneous swampland salting the north of the steaming city. The stench was unimaginable, for it was an admixture of the organic and synthetic, of magic-wrought plastics and rubber together with fish and human carcasses, both grilled and parboiled by the clash of water and fire.

"Richard, Pats, stay on the platform with Evee. I'll go and see what this is all about," she gave the command. "Slylth... you can remain here or meet me back in Shalkar. What do you want to do?"

"I'll observe for a little longer," the Dragon-kin appeared invested in seeing her encounter with the Shoal. "But yes, all things considered, it might be best to reconvene in Shalkar."

Gwen nodded. Out of both respect and exhaustion, none of her other companions protested or disagreed.

Like a dark bird, the Regent stepped off the platform to sail through the air, descending alone into the hazy stench of the Mermen survivors.

At the centre of the Shoggoth's feeding—dead for the fact—was an enormous lobster as large as four construction Golems stacked back to back, with pincers so massive each could rival a double-storey building. For such a creature to exist out of the water was taxing to the extreme—and it had made it here only to be hollowed out by the Shoggoth.

Scattered around the lobster temple were the remnants of the Shoal strong enough to venture inland on the Witch-wrought Tsunami. Gwen recognised many of the Mermen subtypes, for she had fought them all in Auckland. She spotted the muscular Wave Riders with their tuna-like heads, legions of crustacean shock troops propelled by their multi-use limbs, and here and there, she saw the floating breath-bubbles of Sea Witches, Mermaid and mer-dudes both, armed with their priceless coral implements. Strangely, the ones here did not possess the homogenous colours of a well-bred army but were more like mercenaries.

As she descended, a gust of fresh wind tore apart the stench, unfurling the cloak extensions of her crow-skin armour as a pair of tenebrous wings.

The Mermen closest to her lowered their weapons, heads, and knees if they had them.

"Pale Priestess!" A cry rang out, both one voice and many, followed by an expanding ring of supplication from the epicentre of her intended landing.

Gwen's eyes scanned the scene, awed and alarmed by the spectacle, her Lightning-fuelled pride purring like a well-groomed cat. The uncanny, she acknowledged, lied not in the manner of their supplication but its implication, that of lower beings to a greater existence.

"WHO LEADS THIS SHOAL?" Her Clarion Call echoed across the horizon. "COME FORTH!"

The coral palace atop the Lobster opened like a flower, willed into an outward transformation by its Sea Witch overseers: within, appearing like the yellow innards of an enormous sea urchin, a dozen Mermen offered their worship.

Gwen's Divination-fed irises traced the details of the palace's origami folds, noting the Transmutation magic of these Demi-humans. Curiously, of the numerous Witches, the Turtle-men Shaman and the five warriors of various species present, a Mermen with almost no magical aura stood at the head of the Shoal's inner council.

The corpulent Merman raised its head, its fishy face full of expectation.

She did not recognise the Merman. For one, it was enormously obese, possessing a distended belly hidden by rich robes of human-make. It was also indescribably ugly.

A deep-sea bureaucrat of the Seven Kingdoms? Gwen wondered as she came closer. The Merman looked common, but his attire was as rich as the deference the others displayed.

"I am Gwen Song, Regent of Shalkar, Magister of the Mageocracy." She allowed her titles to roll over the Mermen crew. "You have aided us in vanquishing Zodiam, Prince of Fire—but still, I must inquire—why has the Great Shoal of the Mermen risen from the ocean for this occasion?"

Noting her hesitation, the fat one stepped forward. "OH PALE PRIESTESS OF THE COMMUNAL ONE!" He cried out, his voice deep and booming. "YOUR SERVANTS WELCOME YOU HOME!"

With a swift, uninterrupted gesture, the Mermen tore open its robe.

For a second, Gwen was positive the Mermen was either committing a sex crime, launching a chemical attack, or both.

As her Shield sprang into being, what assailed the Pale Priestess of the Old Ones wasn't offending fluids from the nether Planes but a psychological shock worthy of Carpenter's filmography.

Tendrils, tentacles, eyes and maws opened like the fingers of an opening hand to greet her, unfurling like a prehistoric fern. Were it not for the Mermen attached at the base, Gwen would have fully expected the purple-pink appendages to cry out "Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!" in a mindless facsimile of communication.

Terrifyingly, her next thought was that these tendrils were pregnant with intent. As monstrous infants baying for motherly attention, the eye-studded fingers harkened for her and reached out for her embrace, their gazes wanton and full of anticipation.

"WE WELCOME THE PALE PRIESTESS!" The rest of the council also shed various parts of their clothing.

While Gwen's sanity quotient adjusted its scales, her mind drank in the Lovecraftian accessories that had taken root in these Mermen's flesh.

Without a doubt, these were her Shoggoth—or at least, what was left of the Shoggoth's summoning. That the "bits" could continue to exist meant that their hosts supplied the appendages with fuel, be it mana, Faith or vitality.

Still, try as she might, she couldn't find a magical theory to support her present evidence. Doubtlessly, Magister Brown and Gracie would be very busy in the aftermath of this phenomenon. There would be a new dissertation founded on these Mermen, one to make careers, assuming she suffered the subjects to live.

"You are their leader?" Gwen kept up her imperial arrogance.

"I am your whip, the humble Lei-bup," the Mer-priest bowed, moving forward using smaller, subtler crawlers. "Since the South China Sea, I have been your most faithful servant."

Gwen's brain took several seconds to dredge the meaning of that familiar-sounding name from the depth of recollection.

Lei-bup! The Mermen chieftain? Or, more accurately—the "Village Secretary" of Chicken Shit Island? That's where they had performed a test Shoggoth summoning! The High Priest of this cult was THAT specific Lei-bup? Just how poor were the Chinese at purging the environment?

Full of scepticism, her eyes drew lower until she saw the item hanging below Lei-bup's neck.

"Oh dear..." Gwen's tone grew kinder once her suspicion took in the scope of what she now recognised. "You still have that?"

With reverence, Lei-bup held up a can of unopened SPAM brimming with energy. "I have it still, Mistress. It was your first gift to Lei-bup. Despite the use by date, it shall remain eternal, so long as the Shoal persists."

As one, the others also produced their SPAM cans. A few, she could see, still had the preserved prints of her likeness from the IIUC.

"Iä! Iä! Iä!" A chant suddenly broke out. "For she who lurks at the threshold!"

"For the All-in-one!"

"For the One-in-ALL!"

"Comrade Priestess!"

One of those titles is not like the others. Gwen registered as her boots touched the slimy coral tiles, noting that the lubrication was for the betterment of its inhabitant's habit of gliding.

"Why are you here, Lei-bup?" She approached within tentacle distance to show her familiarity. With a mind of their own, the appendages reached out for her.

"Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!" They seemed to murmur in silence, their mouths forming the sound without utterance.

Feeling the pressure of several hundred pairs of eyes judge her next move, she ungloved a white hand, drawing gasps from the Mermen.

Then, first with a finger and then with the whole of her hand, she took hold of the slimy bundle making her acquaintance.

"Hello, Shoggy…" she called out the creature's name.

The tentacles were warm, its lubricant rough and a little gritty. Like a multi-eyed pup, the orbs of hazel green regarded her with a sense of wonder.

Gwen knew what she had to do.

Circulating the Essence within herself, she condensed several droplets of pure, Almudj-blessed Essence upon her palm.

As a blossom of dog-tongues, the Shoggoth greedily lapped up her blessing.

"Oh, Great Mistress…" Lei-bup shuddered in ecstasy, an act that appeared utterly fanatical when enacted upon his Dace-headed face.

Gwen withdrew her hand.

For a War Mage whose head count of Mermen was in the hundreds of thousands, these particular Mermen made her feel—strangely welcome. With a quick cleaning chant, the slime came off like a second skin, allowing her to re-don her gauntlets.

A connection had been made between herself and Lei-bup, one not easily dismissed.

Again, the Mermen bowed. Lei-bup collected himself, then made another attempt at prostration. "We survive to serve, O Priestess. What is your pleasure?"

"I would like to know more of the Shoal's reason for aiding me, Lei-bup," Gwen confessed her immediate desire. "Though your methods were unorthodox, I appreciate your role in taming Zodiam. However, since the battle is over, please retreat into Bohai Bay. For your efforts, I will see your Shoal rewarded accordingly in the coming days."

"Speaker of the Old Ones." Lei-bup's expression was an avatar of fishy magnanimity. "We are already rewarded—look there! Gaze upon your Faithful and how they celebrate!"

Gwen could not look past the coral wall of the portable palace, but her eyes did register distant visions of the surviving Merman desperately scouring the landscape for…

Before Lei-bup, she would have guessed they were searching for food. Now, she knew the Mermen were looking for fragments of the Shoggoth, little bits of tentacle and tendril, a wayward eye or perhaps some left-over manifestations of tooth and maw. As for what happened once a piece was discovered—Lei-bup was already modelling the answer.

"The chosen Faithful will survive the Baptism." Following her eyes, Lei-bup proudly pointed to his enormous collection of tentacled flesh. "Those lacking the necessary fervency will be consumed in turn."

Gwen did not doubt Lei-bup's words. Now that she had accepted the condition of her unfounded role, her interest was only in managing its outcomes. Certainly, she had not intended this to happen, as it was the Chinese who were responsible for clean-ups on Chicken Shit Island, not the then-student self of Gwen Song. As for the cult—so long as they did not raid Human settlements, their business in the sea would be a problem, or a solution, for another day.

"Once the battlefield is looted, Lei-bup..." Gwen patted the slimy Merman. As a many-fingered hand, his upper tentacles caressed her armoured bodice as if the act would lend them a more stable existence in the Prime Material. "Return to the sea. Where do you normally gather?"

"Not here," Lei-bup confirmed, much to her relief. "The Yellow Sea is our home. Even if it is currently been invaded by the blasphemers."

"By blasphemers?" Gwen noted the Mermen's expression of loathing. "Do you mean the Undead?"

Lei-bup nodded. "We know not where they come from," the Priest-like Dace glowered, his whisker tentacles writhing with displeasure. "But whole Shoals have emerged from the Deep, where the Kingdoms make their home."

"The Seven Kingdoms of the Elemental Plane of Water…" Gwen chewed her lower lip in contemplation. "I shall take that into account. Do you have any contact with them?"

"No. But within the Shoal, we have countless refugees from different regions," Lei-bup caught her interest with a twinkle in his lidless eye. "Shall I summon a few? They come from all over as Comrades to our cause."

"Comrades?" Gwen considered the term.

"Yes." Lei-bup nodded eagerly. "Within the One Great Shoal, we are equal. The only requirement is to have faith in the Great Old One. However, to become a member of the inner Party, one must undergo the baptism of the Old One."

"The Old One, who is the Key and the Gate?" Gwen reflexively made a jest, pondering how much of her bullshit Lei-bup and appropriated. "The Opener of the way?"

"One moment…" Lei-bup produced a notebook, then furiously took down her words.

"Er…" Gwen battered away the enthusiastic tendrils. She wanted more information from the Mermen, but the city was on fire, and Sobel had taken her brother. "Lei-bup, I still have matters to attend to on land. Please withdraw your… people. I shall join you once the matters of the land are resolved. Here is a Glyph for my Message Device. Do you have a suitable Magitech operator?"

"We will loot what we need, Priestess..." Lei-bup promised.

"As you wish, Pale Priestess."

"The all-in-ONE!"

"The One-in-ALL!"

"We obey the Comrade secretary!"

The answers were good enough for Gwen.

She lifted into the air, shelving the adoration of the Mermen for another day. A part of her fancied the prospect of asking those strong-looking monstrosities to help clean up the city—but she somehow doubted the preservation of human life mattered to beings tethered to the oceanic food chain. If, mid-rescue, a King Crab got hungry and decided to munch on the carrion of children—she could not imagine the response from the CCP's stressed government.

Until she had time, she must gamble that Lei-bup's design was benign.

For in the future…

The Deep.

The Seven Kingdoms.

The Undead Mermen, Spectre and Sobel...

Undoubtedly, the Pale Priestess would one day require the aid of her High Priest Lei-bup.

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Tianjin.

The Tower.

Once the Saviour of Shenyang returned with the news of benign Mermen willing to retreat in exchange for all of the city's SPAM, the Mages that remained collectively understood the battle was well and truly over.

As the platform pulled into the dock, Gwen and her compatriots were greeted by continuous applause from the upper deck to the Tower's interior, including the Tower Master, who made no show of their earlier conflict.

Hands were shaken.

Elvia blessed the crew as both Ordo Cleric and the Yinglong's spokesperson.

Endless platitudes and thanks were given, so much that Gwen wondered if the city below them was still a smouldering hole of water and fire, charcoal and brine.

It took an hour of propaganda—an absolute necessity in these trying times, for Gwen to part from the Tower's leadership to finally arrive at the most dreaded moment of her present life.

In the atrium to the VIP chambers awaited her Yeye and her Babulya.

"Yeye…" She felt her throat contract, her words barely escaping her confounded lips. "Percy, he…"

Guo's eyes were distraught and dull. Rather than the keen viciousness of a bloodhound on the prowl, he looked like an old, tired Basset with no more energy to expend.

"Secretary General Miao told us to come here—after he delivered the news that Sobel took your brother," Gwen's grandfather said. "After seeing Jun, Tower Master Wang showed me what Percy had done. I know not why this had happened, Gwen. But I hope that you will know more."

Guo." Her grandmother touched her grandfather's mandarin jacket. "What is there to ask? Gwen isn't responsible for any of what happened to Percy."

The thorn of guilt hidden in her heart pierced Gwen at once.

"Yeye… I am so..."

"Patriarch Song—"

Gwen looked to her right. Elvia was the interlocutor who had spoken up, but the Cleric's tone offered neither condolences nor appeasement. Instead, the healer's expression resembled one standing on the precipice of some enormous cliff.

"—Regarding Brother Percy, there are many things you must know, most of which you may not believe. However, where Gwen has been ignorant of Percy Song's actions, the Ordo and the Yinglong are both well-versed in his crimes."

Gwen's attention was now fully focused on her sanctified Cleric.

"Crimes? Lord Vessel?" Guo's voice took on a harder edge. "Might I inquire of what you know? And what do you mean? If you know so much, might you know where this Sobel might have taken our grandchild?"

To Gwen's great unease, her friend and partner bowed deeply, then turned her flaxen head toward herself. "I am so sorry, Gwen, for what you will soon know."

"What…" Once soothed by Lei-bup's obedience, Gwen's nerves again flared red hot with uncertainty. "What are you saying, Evee?"

"Gwen. Please request a private chamber with an LRM Device." Elvia's tone hinted at what Gwen knew to be her friend's masochistic longing for martyrdom. Considering that the Knight Companion had survived an ancient Kirin and then Sobel, she had no idea why her friend would possess such a staunch air of self-loathing, and it made her insides not unlike Lei-bup's bulging belly.

"Is a private room necessary?" Gwen could taste the unwelcome tension. "What is it about Percy that we don't know about?"

"Gwennie. Please." Elvia's pleading was beyond her ability to refuse. "We need a room. We will also need Lord Golos and Lulan."

"Lulu?" Gwen tried to make sense of the request, but all she felt was puzzling alarm, that and the distinct feeling she would rather live in ignorance. "What does Lulu…"

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"I'll arrange it," Richard stepped in. "Gwen, I also spoke to Petra about this after the Percy situation at the Tower. We need to clear the air before proceeding with our rescue plans."

Gwen studied her cousins. Richard was firm, and Petra was her professional self, though the eye-bags and the fatigue of the last eighteen hours were etched harshly on their faces.

"I see," Gwen felt a little alone but not nearly as helpless as her confused and agitated grandparents. "Very well, Richard. Make it so…"

Richard left to deal with a stary-eyed aide. While they waited, Gwen couldn't help but overhear Elvia's prayer of repentance. Mathias, her Knight Protector, had also taken up a position between Evee and herself, making her premonitions all the more ominous and, for some reason, a little sad.

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As per its design, Tianjin Tower possessed many such rooms for insulated conferences and meetings of the Inner Party's members.

With confidentiality guaranteed by the presence of the Yinglong's Vessel and the Thunder Dragon's threat of destruction, Tower Master Wang loaned the Regent of Shalkar and her crew a secure briefing room warded from all outside interference, including the Tower itself.

Gwen sat at the head of the oval table, as insisted by her Cleric.

The Yinglong's Vessel and Knight Protector were seated to the right, joined by an impatient Golos.

To the left, her agitated grandparents sat on ants' nests, awaiting the secret that the Cleric promised to reveal. Besides them sat Richard, who played with his communication device, while Petra meditated to will away the awkward waiting.

SHEEEEEEIK! The gas-powered iron door slid open, revealing the figure of a doll-like girl in a mangled battle garb.

"Lulan!" Gwen stood, sending her office chair rolling backwards. The Swordswoman was injured—or more accurately, she appeared recently recovered from a significant injury. Her suit, hand-made by Dwarves for her unique talents, had a clean, seamless rent across the lower waist that reached her groin and thigh. There was a rusty taint on the tear—one Gwen recognised as dried blood. "What's happened to you? Were you in Tianjin as well?"

"Nothing significant." Lulan allowed her to inspect the gash but did not address her question with any more details. "Elvia. Ayxin asked me to bring this…"

The girl reached into her chest pocket and produced a length of familiar red string that made her grandparents leave their chairs.

With a clunk—the heavy trinket in her hand landed on the mahogany table.

It was one-half of a Kirin Pendant, the half her brother possessed.

"Lulu!" Gwen's imagination grew wild. "How did you get this?"

"Did you track down Sobel?" Guo barked from across the table.

"Lulan, where is Percy?" Her grandmother's voice rose as well. "Is he safe?"

Gwen's mind swirled with possibilities. The pendant looked clean on the surface, but she could see traces of dried blood in its complex groves. In the nook, there was even a little speck of flesh. Her heart sank downward into the Seven Kingdoms. "Is Percy…"

Lulan looked toward Elvia.

The latter looked at the amulet.

Gwen looked from one to the other.

"This is not from Percy Song." Lulan's answer confounded the left side of the table, filling Gwen with mixed relief and confusion. "This belonged to Mei Yang, whom I slew to protect Lord Ayxin."

"Mei?" Gwen frowned for several seconds before the words dawned upon her. "… You… slew her?"

"Lulan." Kladiya put both hands against her lips. "You...You're the one who killed Mei? You were the assassin in Shanghai?"

"I am not an assassin but a guard," Lulan clarified without guilt. "Afterwards, I pursued the true culprit, Percy Song, hoping to stop him before he could activate the Kirin Tomb. I lost him, but I did locate him after following the stench of Kirin Necromancy. However, due to my ineptitude, I failed." The girl touched a finger to her torn armour. "After that, Sobel arrived, and she intervened."

Gwen's grandparents stared at Lulan.

"You killed Mei?" Gwen still could not believe her lying ears. "You tried to stop Percy? What does that even mean?"

Lulan, her dear, innocent, martial-obsessed Lulu, dropped to both knees before Gwen could catch her.

"The hell is this?" Gwen could barely keep the flame of unreasonable rage in her belly from combusting. "Were you under Mind Magic?"

Lulan violently shook her head.

"It was a duty performed for you, for Master Ayxin and Jun," Lulan replied without a hint of remorse or deceit. "And for the debt I owe you."

The Sword Mage extended a hand and, watched by all, manifested a jadeite blade with its handle turned toward Gwen. "I failed to stop your brother, benefactor. I shall take any punishment, even if it is my life. You saved me and gave me a second one. Yet, I couldn't even prevent this tragedy, even with all the knowledge and power gifted to me by Master Ryxi."

The sudden escalation from waiting for Lulu to the requested execution of Lulu was beyond Gwen's current scope of mental preparedness.

Staring at the sword, all she could think about was catching Guo before he did the unthinkable.

And from the looks of Golos' readiness, she might need to block the Dragon-kin before he punched the table and sent the Song's side of the family flying outside the Tower.

Like the melody of Lulan's vibrating steel, the tension held until finally, Gwen took the sword and swept it from the table, sending it to clatter against the floor.

Bowing deeply, Lulan moved to the left of Elvia, then gingerly placed the retrieved sword against the table's edge like a waitress offering a rather fancy steak knife.

Her grandmother was the first to break the silence.

"Sit, all of you." The old Healer forcibly withheld the pounding emotions in her voice. "Guo, you sit as well. Let's hear what these children have to say. They saved Jun. There's no denying that. They must have good reasons to… be unkind to Percy."

As a man in a trance, her grandfather sat.

The gathered sunk into silence once more.

"Gwen." Elvia gestured to the LRM Device in the middle of the table. "Can you summon Lady Ayxin now?"

Golos grunted.

"Ayxin should be nursing." Gwen frowned. "Is she even awake?"

"She's awake," Golo replied. "After what Father's done, there is no way she would be able to sleep."

"Fine, I'll call her residence."

From memory, Gwen dialled in the Glyph codes on the console set for the head of the table.

A few flickers later, the LRM Device connected with a shriek, clearly anticipating its inclusion in the conference.

Ayxin's angular face, now less aggressive and more motherly, swept its peerless gaze over the gathered humans and Dragons seated in Tianjin. The mother of the Song's future looked tired, but so were they all.

"Ayxin." Gwen nodded slightly at the impeccable appearance of their Draconic royalty. "Are you well?"

"Jun is asleep and recovering." The Dragon-kin was without her usual haughty arrogance. "Thanks to our Vessel, I am resting, and so is the child.

Gwen nodded, then turned to the increasingly wooden Elvia. Her Cleric was studying the groves in the mahogany table as if some godly answer rested within the folds.

She couldn't help but also note that her grandparents' demeanour had changed when the health of Jun's scion, a true Dragon-child, was duly noted by its royal mother.

"That is good to hear, Ayxin. We're all glad that Jun shall soon be by your side." Gwen fought down the butterflies in her stomach. "But what's this about Percy? And why are we not doing everything possible to get him back?"

Of the Yinglong's family members, Ayxin's pregnancy presumably spoke for her innocence. Lulan, Gwen assumed, was taking a position related to Ryxi, her instructor. Golos had done nothing untoward, so she wasn't sure why he looked like he just ate a den of diseased Rat-kin. Mathias was decor. And as for Elvia… Gwen sensed the girl's silence was the onset of a terrific storm that would blow away all sensibility.

"Gwennie." Elvia finally looked up, her expression the most serious she had ever seen her friend compose. "It pains me to have hidden the truth, but Percy Song, your brother, is evil."

The unintended assonance between Percy and "evil" squeezed the air from Gwen's lungs. She had expected many things, such as bullying Percy. Necromancer Percy, or sexual predator Percy, considering his pedigree. But she had not expected her closest friend to outright accuse her brother of dastardly villainy.

Her grandparents look on blankly. Petra frowned. For some reason, Richard's body language was of immense relief, like a man who had finally passed a bladder stone.

"Can this evil be… clarified?" Gwen asked carefully, as one might tread while traversing cracking ice. "What sins did our Percy perform, prey tell."

Elvia, her sweet, nice, guileless Elvia, looked her dead in the eyes.

Her friend seemed unshackled as she spoke. With an accusatory finger pointed in reprimand, she gestured at the Kirin Amulet. "He attempted to usurp the Essence of Ayxin's unborn child with the Song's Kirin Necromancy."

As a group, their eyes converged upon the Percy half of the Kirin Amulet, its likeness akin to a half-moon tadpole.

Guo rose to protest.

Her Babulya arrested her husband, then produced another Kirin amulet from her jacket, depositing the dark green block of jadeite against its twin.

For the first time, Gwen saw the two halves together; one pale green and the other a dark emerald. As a whole, they looked like tadpoles chasing one another from tail to head.

"That is a heavy accusation, Evee," Gwen said, her fingers no longer dexterous as she considered the implications.

Lulan raised her hand. "I observed that Percy had left the Kirin Amulet with Mei Yang. Once Elvia left in pursuit, it activated. From what I could see, the amulet used Mei's spirit to manifest a necromantic Essence Drain. As Ryxi had tasked me to attend to his sister, I stopped Percy Song's assistant, disrupting the spell's cycle. Afterwards, I utilised a Naga tendril to pilfer the amulet."

"I see," Gwen spoke for herself and her grandparents. "So you acted in defence of Ayxin?"

"I did it for my benefactor," Lulan nodded. "And, by extension, my Master."

Gwen wanted to say Lulan's actions were reasonable, but that wouldn't bring back her brother for a much-needed interrogation.

She turned to the Chief Prosecutor.

"Lulu, we thank you for saving my future cousin. Elvia, you inferred this was merely ONE of his crimes?"

"Yes," Elvia's reading of her brother's rap sheet continued. "Do you remember when the Tower experienced a surge of mana? The result cut out the Shielding Arrays and allowed the Undead to push inland."

"And Percy did that?" Gwen felt her voice grow hoarse. She hadn't even shouted at her Evee, and her voice was already gone.

"We cannot confirm if he intended it." Her friend did not relent on rending her heart in twain. "But I can confirm he was the one who meddled with the Jade Lode. He confessed as much, stating that the Kirin was his birthright, his creature to raise. Gwen, I can swear upon my Ordo and Faith that I speak of what I know to be true. If Sir Rothwell and Kass were still here, they would support me. Unfortunately, they were consumed by Elizabeth Sobel, which led to Percy's attack on me."

Her grandfather's face changed from pink to a deep scarlet, then to white. For any grandparent, the normal reaction would be a frustrated demand for evidence. However, Elvia was a Cleric of the Ordo Bath and the Vessel of the Yinglong. To accuse her of outright lying was so absurd that not even Gwen, in all her arrogance, could accept. Besides her grandfather, her Babulya helped him circulate his Elemental Salt in case the man suffered a mana seizure.

"Can you tell me…" Gwen felt she would rather fall face-first into Lei-bup's nest of writhing eyes than listen to Elvia dismantle her brother's innocence. "… why he choked you?"

"He did so at Sobel's goading, but he did it willingly." Elvia's eyes were large, luminous and melting. "He did it spitefully, and I had expected to die. If successful, the act would have prevented Jun's healing."

Gwen almost bit her tongue. "Percy is responsible for Uncle Jun as well? Elvia… I don't know what else to say. I believe you—but I can't accept it. I don't understand why all of this happened. If you knew or suspected, why didn't you tell me earlier? We couldn't have prevented this?"

"I acted upon a vision from the Yinglong…" Elvia's voice lowered to a whisper. "I couldn't afford to change the future into one I could not intervene."

"So you kept all of this." Gwen felt her heart sink, then sink again. Try as she might, she couldn't muster the sympathy necessary to forgive her Cleric. "To yourself? Was your faith in me so... insignificant?"

"I know how much you love your family," Elvia averted her eyes. "I dared not risk invalidating the vision."

"Who else knew about this?" Gwen gnashed her teeth. "Which one of you knew?"

"We knew parts and pieces," Golos came to the cowed Cleric's aid. "None of us knew everything."

"You knew?" Gwen glared at her Dragon, then at Lulan and Ayxin. "You and you? All of you?"

"Ruxin gave us hints," Golos said.

"RUXIN!" Gwen growled. "So it's a whole damned Yinglong conspiracy!"

"Gwen Song!" Ayxin's displeasure shot over the LRM Device. "Don't be an ingrate!"

"WHO ELSE KNEW?" Gwen felt the heat on her face like a fire.

"I also told the Ordo's Master, who aided me," Elvia's confession continued, barely holding back the rolling droplets in the well of her well-loved eyes. "For my selfishness, Sir Kass and Reginald lost their life."

"Why didn't you come to me? What can you do without me? Is this why you told me that crock story back in London? The one about Sovereignty?" Gwen heard herself demand, her voice taking on a mind of its own.

Her grandmother's hand firmly took hold of her wrist. "Gwen, don't lose your temper."

"I…" Elvia was shaking now. "I didn't think…"

"You didn't think." Gwen tore her hand from her babulya's grasp. "Of course you didn't! Elvia! What the fuck?"

"You had to see Percy's evil for yourself!" The words escaped Elvia's lips. "I told you, Gwennie, you should have let Sobel take me! But I don't remember you listening! If you made a habit of listening, then maybe I would have told you! Percy would be here, answering for his crimes! And I would be dead and at peace! I could be HAPPY!"

"YOU... you little..." Gwen could barely see from her Draconic-enhanced eyes as motes of Void and Lightning surged around her conduits, cruising on the high of her turbulent emotions. "Are you serious, Evee? Are you fucking serious?"

"Magister Song—" Mathias' protest rose in a clang of armour, rising to shield Elvia from her wrath. "Calm yourself."

"Shut the fuck up!" Gwen snapped back before she even realised she had spoken. "Sit down, Matty!"

The Knight sat, pushed down by Elvia.

"I trusted you!" Gwen pointed at the amulets on the table. "We could have done something earlier! You're the Vessel of the Yinglong! Grandfather would have obeyed you, proof or otherwise!"

Her Evee shook her head, unable to answer but refusing to concede. "The Kirin in that Jade Lode is tied to the amulets—" Elvia pointed toward the pair of silent jade shards on the table. "In my vision, the Ashen Kirin had risen, and your uncle would have perished. If I had acted earlier, I would not have known the precise moment to snatch Master Jun from his ordained fate."

Thinking of Jun sleeping upstairs in the infirmary, Gwen's anger grew stifled.

"Child," Gwen's babulya spoke softly and calmly. "What your friend says makes sense. That's precisely what Jun's amulet was doing, draining his Ashen Mana and trying to claw at the vitality and Essence in his Soul Well. It took both you and Sen-sen to satiate it enough to unlatch its bond from your uncle's flesh. Outside of this moment, who knows what could have happened?"

Guo's throat bobbed like a man swallowing his teeth. "These amulets are from our ancestors… The Kirin is long buried… long dead... how..."

"The Amulet, Guo," Klavdiya reminded him. "Were once whole. I don't know if that mattered then. I know if it matters now. If Elvia's accusations of Percy hold…"

Gwen shared her grandfather's woe.

If Elvia told the truth—then Percy was a kin slayer, an infanticide, a treasonous scoundrel, and an accessory to mass murder. She didn't know how they had inexplicably arrived at this stage—but she implicitly understood that Elvia could not be lying.

But how should she treat Elvia, who took her to this point?

Was she even the Evee she knew? Or was she merely an extension of the Yinglong's will?

Looking at Elvia, the four chambers of her heart filled with the hellish paradoxes of love, loathing, pity and hate, rapidly coalescing into a bittersweet and poisoned cocktail.

She had to forgive.

But a part of her wanted violence.

Dark, dire violence that would see her slender fingers upon Evee's neck to choke out that smug fucking sacrosanct expression of selfish suffering.

"Gwen, before you murder everyone. A quick question." Richard raised his hand. "Elvia, will you be telling any of this to the Communists? They did, after all, lose a city."

The Cleric appeared confused by Richard's abrupt interruption.

Gwen glared at her cousin.

"Hear me out, Gwen. Percy's bullshit isn't a wound that should be left to rot." Richard did not back down. "Your brother's turn isn't good for the Songs or our Shalkar's future establishment. I know it's a difficult decision, but let's clear the air and cut off the gangrene, shall we?"

"RICHARD!" Gwen felt the charm bubble of her rage burst a little. "How could…"

"REGENT!" Richard's explosive voice, something Gwen had never experienced from her smiling cousin, slapped her like a backhand. "THAT LITTLE SHIT tried to kill an unborn Dragon cousin just to feed a maybe Kirin! If that child had died, all of China would be fucked. How do you even begin to defend that?"

"Percy was misled!" Gwen grasped at straws. "We could have prevented…"

"Gwen, for FUCK's sake!" Richard slammed a fist onto the table. "That's not TEN THOUSAND DEAD out there, which might just be a snack for Cali or some shit. Tianjin, before last night, had MULTIPLE MILLIONS of people! How many died because the Shielding Stations failed? How many died because of that Kirin Lode in Cali's belly? COUNT THE FUCKING ZEROS! Don't these people have brothers? Sisters? Mothers and fathers? PERCY did that! Misled? Who gives a shit? You were asking if Elvia was serious. Are you fucking serious?"

The aural assault of Richard's candid string of fucks made Gwen swallow her words.

"I ought to order Lea to give you a cold shower," Richard's voice lowered. "But you might just SOUL FUCK all of us because that's the power you wield now, Regent. When you make a shit call—like, how about we NOT tell anyone about your pet dickhead? That's how we all get FUCKED, like the city below and millions that just got fucked by Percy's fuckery."

Gwen distinctly felt as though she had fallen off a horse.

"He tried to kill her. Drain her! And that would have killed Uncle Jun." Richard reminded her. "Did you forget we all watched it live on the Lumen-caster? I didn't know Elvia meant so little to you. But you know what? I like Evee. I won't let her go like that. Anyone who tries to fuck with her, I'll clap them back twice as hard."

Under such a barrage, Gwen had to put up her hands in self-defence from Richard's spittle.

"Look at Evee," Richard commanded.

Gwen looked at her friend.

"Are you going to give up Elvia just to shield Percy from consequences?" Richard demanded. "Elvia spent a year in the dark, eaten up by guilt, expecting she would die to preserve your sanity. Look at that adorable face. Is this the face of betrayal?"

Gwen had to consciously not roll her eyes at Richard's transparency.

But her cousin's interjection had soothed her rage, and despite her redirected desire to perform violence on Richard, the Water Mage was right.

Was it fair to blame Percy's insane turn on Elvia's lack of interference?

Elvia was not the Oracle of Delphi, and Gwen Song was not an arbitrator of celestial justice. No businesswoman would be. Her morals, if any, were now so steeped in blood that sin stuck to her skin like gory gauze. Yet, for everything she had done—all the Demi-humans she had consumed, all the Necromancers' maybe minions Gwen murdered, she had not even touched the coattails of "depravity" Percy had allegedly committed.

A kin-slayer!

To have designs upon Ayxin's child—the fruit of her uncle's barren loins—was a step so far from the boundaries of acceptance that it may as well be the Quasi-Elemental Plane of the Void.

And who was she? She was no longer a fifteen-year-old adolescent who had fainted in Hyde Park after blowing her brains out over Helena. Nor was she a shallow consultant with eyes only for larger margins in the annual report. Her foundations now, after her baptisms of blood, sorcery, lightning and Void, were no less than the mighty tendrils of Sulfina's one-day World Tree.

Finally grounded, Gwen studied the bloody mess on both sides.

Her grandfather appeared to have aged a decade, but his eyes were notably fixated on Ayxin, within whom a God-child germinated. Her babulya kept Guo from toppling, but the old woman's concern was reserved only for her husband. Did her grandmother suspect? Gwen wondered unpleasantly, or was Percy's turn not surprising to anyone but herself and Guo?

Petra, as per her training, appeared utterly unfazed. She had never liked Percy and had never spoken kindly of her brother. Even during the family dinners, she never sat next to him, leaving Percy to the likes of Tao and Mina.

As for Richard…

Their eyes met once more. Gwen's cousin smiled sheepishly. In truth, she had only thought of Richard's hate for Percy to be sardonicism and mockery for a sibling who dared to compete with his favourite cousin. In hindsight, his dickish utterances of "little shit" likely possessed more insight than insult.

But Percy was still her brother.

Her only brother.

A murdering, treasonous brother.

She had thought the boy was in good hands—and by every indication of the "school reports" she received from China, the boy was well on his way to becoming a Party favourite.

And now, he was Elizabeth Sobel's plaything, assuming he was alive—for the alternative was not something she wished to entertain.

How did this come to pass?

As Gwen Song, Percy's hapless sister, she possessed no answers.

However, as the Regent of Shalkar, her experiences spoke for itself.

"Evee," she replied as flatly and calmly as she could manage. She tried not to loom, but the Da-peng armour was effortless menacing. "Tell me, what did the Yinglong gain from all this?"

Elvia's haunted silence made Gwen feel like she was kicking the biggest Golden Retriever in the Spiritus Mundi.

"Alright, little one, I'll take it from here." A thunderous drone in the hulking presence of Golos stood to make his disapproval known. "Calamity, you're unhappy with our Vessel, but don't make a habit of bullying clueless mortals. You and me. We know each other more than anyone here can know, so I'll speak. Before you accuse our Father of anything, let me remind you that everything you've accomplished today with me, with Ruxin, with your Uncle Jun up there is part of our heavenly Patriarch's benevolence. If you want to know how we benefited, listen—"

And then, the Thunder Dragon rolled out her life like a tapestry.

Jun's invitation for her to attend Essence-hunting in Huangshan.

Their first meeting with Ayxin and Golos.

Ayxin's search for Jun.

Lulan's apprenticeship.

Golos becoming her Planar Ally.

Ruxin’s usurpation of Nagaland.

Sen-sen's appearance.

And Elvia's anointment.

Gwen felt her heart petrify.

Was there a single turn by which she, Gwen Song, did not benefit? Like a fool, she had been so happy to receive every gift! With each article, Gwen felt the shackles of gratitude wrap around her ankles, tethering her anger so that her berserker rage became a baited bear roaring in frustration.

Without Golos, she would have died in Nagaland.

Without Ruxin, she might have struggled in her merchant craft.

Without Ayxin, she may not have even left China.

With each flap of the Yinglong's wings, everything for her family got better, easier, and more attainable.

Worst still, the more she digested the Yinglong's gifts, the less she understood why Percy had fallen so low when the family had risen to such lofty heights. His position was one that almost no one else in China enjoyed, and given time, he would have become a powerhouse no less than herself, especially in the thunderous wake of his new cousin's birth.

Was it true, then, that it was Percy's free will?

Or was it the Kirin Amulet?

That hypothesis, to Gwen at least, was unlikely. She had fed the amulet Alumdj's Essence. In her experience, there was no living being inside, much less a consciousness. If there was, the Rainbow Snake would have sundered the stranger.

Of course, Percy would know.

And only by taking the boy and slapping some sense into the "little shit" would she have the answers she sought—

"... And that's all I have to say about that..." Golos sat heavily, sending the gasket of the chair downward. "Are we good? Or do you want to fight?"

Gwen sighed long and hard, too tired to disguise her disappointment, not only in Elvia and her allies but also in herself.

"We thank you, Lord Golos, for the honesty," her Babulya, who had been listening to the whole while, spoke over Gwen's contemplative lethargy. "The Yinglong has given us far more heart than we mortals deserve from one so wise."

Guo stood, then bowed toward the Dragons. "We all owe He Who Heeds more than we can ever repay, Gwen included."

"Well." Golo had the gall to look abashed. "We did get what we needed as well—win-win, as the Calamity likes to say."

Only Percy lost... Gwen wanted to reach out and pluck one of Golo's smug feathers.

DING!

The familiar blossom of a first-tier emergency announcement erupted beside their ears.

Gwen wanted to ignore the Message, but when the others stopped to digest their Divinations, she felt pressured by curiosity to open her own.

"PRIVATE MESSAGE FOR REGENT SONG: YAKATERINBURG TOWER HAS FALLEN. CITY RAZED BY NECROMANTIC FORCES. URAL MOUNTAINS LOST. MAGI IGOR SAKHAROV MISSING IN ACTION. PAN-EUROPEAN EMERGENCY FOR EASTERN STATES NOW IN EFFECT. RETURN TO SHALKAR AT ONCE FOR DEFENCE DEBRIEFING. NO MORE FREE SHOGGOTHS.

— OLLY."

Before Ayxin's wedding, her mind would have imploded. After Tianjin, she could only give one silent fuck.

Petra, who had remained seated this whole while, slowly rose until her impressive height matched Gwen's.

"Gwen..." Her cousin's eyes were the largest she had ever seen. "Y-Yekaterinburg has fallen."

"Another tragedy," Gwen nodded. "One that's not far enough from Shaklar for my liking."

"No, not that." Petra licked her lips, her expression no longer the unperturbed, cold Russian Gwen had come to expect. "My parents are there."

"Your parents? They are not in Moscow?"

"After my... abscondment," Petra's face rapidly filled with blood. "They were assigned to a fortress frontier."

Gwen reached out a hand to comfort her cousin, but Richard was faster and more comforting than her distracted self.

"Don't worry, Pats," Richard spoke the words she wanted to say. "If there's anything we can do, we'll do it. Won't we, Gwen?"

"Yes," Gwen concurred. "We will help Yekaterinburg."

"You mean the refugees from Yekaterinburg. But to do that, we'll need to return to Shalkar," Richard announced, more to the table than to herself. "No doubt, this is the work of Spectre. It's all linked—these calamities that befall us—but we'll have to manage our time as best we can."

Gwen could not help but agree.

Of the Mageocracy's furthermost eastern posts, the one most abundant in manpower and resources was none other than her Shalkar.

With the Ural Mountains lost, the Moscow line was the last remaining barrier between them and the banished Undead Tides of the Great War. There would be generous offers from the West for its defence, for the eastern bulwark must not fall at all costs.

"Evee..." Gwen took hold of her doubts and boxed them for another day. "We will... need the Ordo's aid in the coming months. Will you come to Shalkar?"

"If you command it," Elvia replied neither happily nor sadly but dutifully. "Wherever the Regent of Shakar needs me, I'll follow."

Their mutual distance, she knew, would exist for some time.

Gwen turned to her grandparents. "Yeye, Babulya, in regards to Percy..."

"We'll discuss matters with the Secretary-General," her grandmother spoke where her grandfather could not. "At this time, even if Percy returned, there is no place but Tianlanqiao for him. We will investigate the Yinglong's claims, Gwen, and search for Percy however we may. You have a duty now, child, far more important than one boy. I would not keep you from it, no matter what."

Gwen sighed again.

Poor Percy...

Poor, villainous, dastardly, Kin-slaying Percy...

Not appreciated enough and now not even a priority.

"Well then! Lord Regent of Shalkar," Richard tapped his Message Device, halting her distracted thoughts. "You should speak to the Tower Master and announce our departure. I'll settle things here and brief you at the ISTC. As you can see, Axyin's already gone. Lulan, are you coming?"

"I'll follow my benefactor anywhere," the repentant Sword Mage looked longingly at her.

Gwen nodded at Lulan to acknowledge her pledge. With Lulu, at least, it was easy to forgive.

"Golos?" Her eyes fell onto her Dragon.

The Thunder Dragon grunted.

With a final hug from her grandparents, Gwen left her place at the head of the table, signalling the end of their family meeting.

Whatever unhappiness she might still possess, that would be for another day.

Now, there was only duty.

[https://imgur.com/2Q3gE3J.jpg]

With Gwen and the others finally gone, Elvia felt cold sweat breaking across her back like a tide. Her part was played—only she had not planned for a life beyond the moment she perished. Now, she felt like a hospice patient who had awakened one day to find all her fatal illnesses inexplicably cured.

Once she could breathe again, her attention turned to Richard, who stood at the door waiting, appearing more like a man amused by the daily columns than someone who had just talked down the Regent of Shalkar.

"Magus Huang…" Elvia mentally commanded Mathias to stand apart while she approached and bowed. "I don't know why you did that, but thank you."

"There's no need to thank me," Richard hand-waved away her gratitude. "If what you say is true, Evee, your deep understanding of Gwen's flaws had just saved me and my entire career. Also, don't expect me to pull that stunt again. One day, our Gwen isn't going to forgive…"

While Richard spoke, a watery hand belonging to Lea emerged and patted her head.

"Evee, don't be sad," the Water Sprite wrapped an appendage around her like a scarf. "I would have drowned Percy myself!"

"Thank you." Elvia cupped the watery digits with her own.

Richard coughed. "Anyway. Things will be more difficult from here, Knight Companion. Knowing Gwen, our Mistress will finally look toward the creation of her own Tower, hunt for Sobel and Percy..."

Elvia nodded solemnly.

"Only, on the brotherly front... capiche?"

Elvia stared at the Water Mage.

Richard's face came closer. "Capiche?"

Elvia looked at Richard, then at Mathias.

The upright Knight Companion also look confused.

Turning back to Gwen's cousin, Elvia saw a little of the future in the twinkling glint from the Water Mage's eyes.

"OH..." Elvia's lips form an O, suddenly understanding.

"We'll be so busy," Richard sighed. "And Gwen, too. I guess the rescue will be delayed... Your Ordo as well—so busy."

"Yes, very busy." Elvia didn't know what else to say.

"So get busy, return to the Ordo, and find capable men and women." Richard's purpose, Elvia knew, was not for her nor himself. Perhaps, out of all of them from Sydney, only Richard understood Gwen and was fit to be Gwen's most capable partner. "For the coming tide of refugees, Companion Lindholm, I hope that our forces be supplied with an infirmary to rival the best anywhere in the world. Remind Gwen often that someone almost took that away from her. Someone important—but not that important... capiche?"

"... is that Italian?" Elvia couldn't help her curiosity. "Why are you speaking Italian?"

"Who knows?" Richard laughed, which was inappropriate considering his suggestion, but Elvia wasn't complaining. "It's a Gwenism, so who can tell the mysteries of its origins? So, do you... capiche?"

"I capiche..." Elvia felt absolutely terrible that she understood—but simultaneously, she couldn't help but feel thrilled... and free of the spectre of Percy Song.