“Can I get you anything?” Wistoria Featherlight, former captain of Crow’s Nest, had been reduced to a doting aunt. She leaned closer to her nephew, who sat in the only other chair in her office. “Food? Water?”

“We’re fine,” Kai said.

“Are you sure? What about your friends?” Wistoria gestured to The Hangmen all standing around Kai.

“We’re okay ma’am,” Halvor replied.

“You all must be tired. I’ll get you some water.” Wistoria waved her hand dismissively. “Ophelia! Get in here!”

Within a second of her speaking, the door to Wistoria’s office creaked open. An avian hybrid with round glasses squeezed inside the room. “Yes, Mrs. Featherlight.”

“Get our guests some water,” Wistoria said.

“You really don’t have to,” Kai insisted.

“Nonsense,” Wistoria replied. “Ophelia, get them some water.”

“Right away.” Ophelia shut the door behind her as she exited the room.

Wistoria shifted her focus back to The Hangmen. “Now, what did you want to talk about?”

“I believe you were the one who wanted to talk,” Galina said.

“Oh, that’s right.” Wistoria opened a drawer in her desk and pulled out a stack of paper. “This is Zarell’s report.”

“Aren’t they still unconscious?” Draxl asked. “How’d they give a report?”

“[Memory Paper],” Wistoria replied. “So long as a person is alive and willing, you can put a drop of their blood on the paper and it will spill into words detailing their memory. Zarell’s memories unfortunately go black right when the fight broke out. I need you to fill in the details.”

“We’ll do our best, but we don’t fully understand what happened either,” Kai said.

“Any little bit is helpful,” Wistoria assured Kai.

“Okay.” Kai shook his head. “I’ll start from when Zarell blacked out.”

Over the course of the next hour, the Hangmen informed Wistoria of the events that transpired on her ship: the cloaked figures that burst out from severed fingers, the ensuing fight against them, and Kai’s crash landing.

Wistoria rubbed her eyes profusely. Her chair creaked as she leaned back and her eyes drifted to the ceiling. “You said they call themselves Revenant.”

“Yes,” Kai said.

“Then there’s no need for you to worry,” Wistoria said. “The group likely consists of revenants, people that come back from the dead to hunt down those wronged them in life. They shouldn’t bother you anymore.”

“But we stopped their attack. Wouldn’t that make us a target?” Halvor asked.

“Likely not,” Wistoria replied. “Revenants are focused on their target. You just so happened to be in their way. Revenants don’t add names to their list, gods know it’s already long enough.”

Wistoria glanced over at Riven; Riven stared blankly at Wistoria’s desk, lost in thought.

“Something the matter?” Wistoria asked.

Riven looked up, confused, before realizing Wistoria was addressing her. “It’s just … I don’t think they’re revenants.”

“What makes you say that?” Wistoria asked.

“It’s the skin color.” The stone casing around Riven’s wound where her other arm used to be jostled slightly. “Uh, fuck, can someone pull back my sleeve.”

“I got it.” With a wave of her finger, Galina telekinetically rolled up Riven’s sleeve.

“Thanks.”

“No worries.”

“As I was saying, their skin color bothered me.” Riven raised her arm, making sure her pale skin could be seen by everybody. “Whenever a person’s body regenerates they lose color in their skin. As you can see, me being a half-hydra hybrid has led to my skin growing rather pale.”

“We already know all the members of Revenant have insane regenerative powers. What’s your point?” Draxl asked.

Riven shook her head and shrugged her shoulders smugly. “This is why street smarts can only take you so far.”

“What was that?” Draxl asked.

“Revenants can’t regenerate,” Riven said.

“Don’t revenants come back to life after they’re killed?” Kai asked.

“That power isn’t regeneration, it’s reconstruction,” Riven said. “Revenants are made entirely out of essences.”

“What, like ghosts?” Cili asked.

“Kinda, yeah,” Riven replied. “Because their body is just essence, it can be remade entirely whenever it’s destroyed.”

“Let me guess, unlike regenerating a body, reconstructing one doesn’t cause the skin to go pale,” Wistoria said.

“Exactly,” Riven said. “So unless their skin is naturally that color, they aren’t revenants, because their bodies aren’t reconstructing, they’re regenerating.”

“It’s still really weird that they needed to die to trigger their regeneration,” Cili pointed out.

“And that it wasn’t a skill,” Kai added.

All eyes slowly shifted to Riven, expecting an explanation.

“I don’t fucking know why that was happening,” Riven said. “Why do I have to do all the work? You figure it out.”

“It is still strange what they said,” Galina remarked.

“What do you mean what they said?” Wistoria asked.

“Their leader, the one they referred to as Wight, said that if we surrendered then they’d kill only ‘those deserving of death.’ If they aren’t revenants, how would they know who's deserving of death?” Galina asked.

“One of three possibilities,” Draxl replied. “One, they were lying and were just going to kill everybody anyway. Two, they were lying and were just going to kill everybody, except for us. Or three, they have some way of telling who their targets are that we don't know about.”

“I don’t think he was lying,” Galina said.

“Okay, so option three,” Draxl said.

“How do you know he wasn’t lying?” Wistoria asked.

“Just a hunch,” Galina replied.

“And you all believe her?” Wistoria questioned.

“Empirical evidence dictates that statistically, she’s almost certainly correct,” Kai said.

Wistoria scoffed at Kai’s rhetoric. “You certainly sound like your mother and father.”

“None of us understand what he’s saying half the time,” Cili said.

“I don’t understand what anybody’s saying half the time to be fair,” Halvor added.

“Eh, half’s not bad,” Riven remarked.

Wistoria stood from her chair. “Well, it seems you’re all at least in good spirits despite the attack. I don’t mean to keep you here any longer. If you need anything from me, feel free to ask. Kai, your parents left me something the last time they visited. Whenever you’re available, I’d like it if I could show you.”

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“They left something … for me?!” Kai asked. He nearly leaped out of his chair, but quickly steadied his excitement and settled back down. “I’ll take a look once we’re done. Right now there’s a more pressing matter we need to attend to.”

Resurrecting Ace was Kai’s top priority; if anything, this gift served as an incentive for Kai to get Ace back as fast as possible.

“Alright,” Wistoria said. “Take your time.”

The door to Wistoria’s office creaked open once again. Ophelia stepped into the room, her expression far more serious than it was moments ago.

“Captain, I think there’s something you should take a look at,” Ophelia said.

“What is it?” Wistoria asked.

“It pertains to the ship that was attacked,” Ophelia replied. “It’s easier to show you than it is to explain.”

“Fine.” Wistoria pushed herself up from her chair and a tired groan. “Come on.”

“You want us to come?” Kai asked.

“You defended the ship, I think you deserve to know what happened to it,” Wistoria replied. “It won't be a problem if they come along, right Ophelia?”

Ophelia shook her head.

“See.”

After a brief exchange of glances, and a collective shrug, The Hangmen followed Wistoria out of her office toward the landing strip that Kai had crashed into earlier.

The shattered hull of the skyship wept blood. Of the four dead bodies, each riddled with deep cuts, only one managed to make it out of the hull before collapsing cold. Another’s hand touched the runway, but her head had rolled off her shoulders before she could pull herself into the sunlight.

Wistoria was the only one whose pace didn’t falter despite the grizzly scene. Her eyes turned to a young boy in simple clothes sitting with his knees to his chest, unable to keep his breath in his lungs for more than a moment. As she placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder, his erratic breathing stopped, then steadied.

“Are you alright?” Wistoria asked.

“It … it happened so fast.” The boy’s words creaked like an old door.

“You’re safe now,” Wistoria assured the boy.

Kai turned to Ophelia. “What happened?”

“After the crash, we assigned our staff to retrieve the cargo from the ship. While moving the crates, the figures you fought aboard the ship suddenly sprung into existence and killed four of the five people present. They then fled using a skill to obscure themselves. We are currently unaware why they decided to spare one of them.”

“We threw them off the ship. How’d they get back on?” Halvor asked.

“Their bones,” Draxl said. “The weapons they were using were made up of their own bones. Shards of bone probably fell below deck into the hull. If they can regenerate from a finger, they should be able to regenerate from bone.”

Cili pointed to the boy who survived the attack. “Can I ask him a question?”

“Be my guest,” Ophelia said.

Cili approached the boy and hurriedly tapped him on the shoulders. “Hey, can you look at me real quick?”

The boy looked up at Cili, confused. He expected her to ask a question, but instead, she just stood there staring at him.

“Um, is everything okay?” the boy asked.

“I know who Revenant is targeting!” Cili exclaimed.

“How?” Riven asked.

“It’s the eyes,” Cili replied.

Wistoria peered over Cili’s shoulders at the boy’s eyes. “When did you arrive in Aethereon?”

“About a month ago,” the boy answered.

“Did you work on skyships before then?”

“No.”

“Oh, I get it,” Kai groaned. “How did Cili think of it before me?”

“Hang on, how are eyes related to this?” Halvor asked.

“Are you referring to skystone?” Ophelia asked.

“That’s right,” Kai said.

Ophelia turned to Halvor and pulled down one of her eyelids. “Skystone dust clings to your eyes, causing flecks of blue to appear in them. Anybody who works on skyships or lives in Aethereon experiences it. Without constant exposure, it does fade with time. It’s not as noticeable on me or Mrs. Featherlight, since our eyes don’t have any white.”

“So, Revenant is targeting people with skystone in their eyes?” Halvor questioned.

“I mean, there’s one way to check,” Kai said.

“What?” Halvor asked.

“Auntie!” Kai called out. “Can I check the corpses?”

“Anything you want!” Wistoria replied.

“Is there such a thing as being too supportive?” Riven mumbled to herself.

Kai slipped on his gloves and knelt next to one of the bodies. Just as he suspected, as he gently pulled open the eyelids, bits of blue, smaller than grains of sand, were scattered all across the person’s eyes.

“This one’s got blue,” Kai reported.

Kai continued into the hull of the skyship.

“Two for two.”

“Three for three.”

“Four for four.” Kai pulled the gloves off his hands. “All of them have skystone in their eyes.”

“I’m so fucking smart!” Cili shouted.

Wistoria pat Cili on the head. “Yes, you are dear.”

“Discriminating based on the color of eyes is a new one,” Riven remarked.

“I think they’re just using it as an indication of who is from Aethereon,” Galina said.

“Okay, at least we know who they’re after,” Halvor said. “That’s progress.”

“Now the question is why,” Draxl said.

Just before Kai stepped out of the hull, he glanced up at the bottom of the deck. “Uh, Riven, can I get a light?”

“Sure.” Riven unsheathed her dagger. “[Ignite].” The tip of the blade burst into flames.

As Riven stepped into the hull, she raised her dagger high, and both she and Kai glanced up at the underside of the deck.

“You all might wanna see this,” Riven said.

“Ophelia, take the boy away from here and give him two weeks paid leave. If he needs longer, give it to him,” Wistoria instructed.

Ophelia nodded her head and guided the boy away from the skyship.

Lit by the flickering fire at the end of Riven’s dagger, crudely written in blood on the underside of the ship’s deck were the words “The Angel of Death shall embrace her domain.”

“So they hate people with blue eyes, but they especially hate whoever this ‘Angel of Death’ is,” Riven said.

“Um, Mrs. Featherlight, can you cover your ears?” Cili asked.

Wistoria cocked her head.

“Please.”

Wistoria shrugged and placed her hands over her ears.

“What is it Cili?” Galina asked.

“The Angel of Death is Willow’s epithet,” Cili said.

“Fuck,” Draxl groaned.

“Wait, how would they know what her epithet is?” Kai asked. “Isn’t her being an avatar a secret?”

“Yeah, that’s what’s so fucking weird. I don't know how they know,” Cili said. “Only people like super high ranking in her dad’s organization know she’s an avatar.”

“Even then, just because they know she’s an avatar, that doesn’t mean they know her epithet,” Kai said.

“Can we still ignore this please?” Riven asked.

“I don’t think so,” Galina said.

“Yeah I know,” Riven said defeatedly.

“Can I uncover my ears now?” Wistoria asked to which Cili nodded her head. “Thank you. I’m assuming you know something about this Angel of Death.”

“They’re a friend,” Kai said. “We actually came here to find them.”

“Looks like you aren’t the only one,” Wistoria remarked.

“We noticed,” Galina said.

“So what do you want to do?” Wistoria asked.

“Could you get in contact with the supplier of the lollipops?” Kai requested. “The only way they got their fingers into those packets is if somebody at the factory is a part of Revenant or at the very least collaborating with them.”

“I’ll contact them right away,” Wistoria said.

“I’ll come with you,” Halvor said. “Best to travel in pairs to be safe.”

“If Revenant has a vendetta against everyone in Aethereon then it’s likely tied to some big event,” Riven suggested. “Is there a library around here?”

“Students at the academy go to Knowledge’s Aerie,” Wistoria said. “Might be worth a look.”

“I also want to do some research,” Draxl said. “Nothing worse than being in the dark.”

“You can read?” Riven asked.

“I can,” Draxl replied. “I have to say, it's a lot easier with two hands.”

“I want to go find my friend,” Cili said.

“Do you mind if I come along?” Galina asked.

“That’d be great!” Cili exclaimed.

“If you need somewhere to stay, I have rooms for my staff,” Wistoria said. “It’s not fancy, but it’s serviceable.”

“It’ll be more than enough,” Kai said.

“So what’s the operation going to be called?” Wistoria asked.

“Operation?” Cili questioned.

“Do none of you know?” Wistoria asked.

“Please don’t,” Kai pleaded.

“Kai always gave an operation name to everything he did,” Wistoria said. “It was so cute.”

“That’s cool!” Cili exclaimed.

“It’s not,” Kai mumbled.

“Fuck you! I think it’s cool,” Cili said.

“You know I think an operation name would really motivate me to work hard,” Riven insisted.

“Me too,” Halvor said, without any of Riven’s sarcasm.

Kai sighed. “Well we’re trying to stop people who are functionally immortal and also there’s the whole thing with Ace, so how about Operation Death-Defying.”