Chapter One Hundred Four: ‘Chaos, be ended...’

When Ibai saw his father there, he bit his lip. “Oh. Um. Hello, Papa.”

“Ibai!” the man yelled with two voices. “What are you doing here?!”

“Um. Frankly, I didn’t realize you were in this room.”

“You can’t be--! You have to leave now!”

“Aw, but I can help!” He looked toward the man with the tattoos. “Is that the guy you’re fighting? Mm, he looks scary. Here.” Ibai teleported behind Asad and wrapped his arm around the man.

“Behind you!” came someone else’s warning.

The Sandlord turned but not fast enough.

Ibai pulled Asad through the hole in space and, with a great crack, relocated the man inside the northern wall.

The tattooed man and the wall competed for existence. And the wall lost.

Asad’s tattoos burned fiercely golden, enhancing the surly look in his similarly yellow eyes and illuminating Ibai’s gaping face as he fled into another teleport.

Ibai reappeared next to his father. “Okay,” he said, watching the Lord Najir step from the crumbling wall unscathed, “I may have miscalculated that one.”

Ismael grabbed his son’s arm. “How did you--?! Agh, it doesn’t matter! Just leave! These people will kill you!”

“Eh, I don’t know, Papa. I’m pretty tough to kill.”

“Ibai!”

Asad interjected with two voices as well. “Did that aberration just call you ‘Papa’?”

Ismael placed himself in front of Ibai. “Stay away from him!”

And even though Ibai was interested in their conversation, he couldn’t help noticing the thunderous clash between Xuan and Melchor on the other side of the room. He stared with wide eyes and a wider grin as each attack made the castle shiver. “So this was where the quakes were coming from!”

A glass prison brought Ibai’s attention back to his father and Asad. Ismael was already bashing it down with burning fists. Ibai figured he should just teleport everyone out, but then he noticed that Emiliana was missing.

The girl was with Asad and Hector now. And she was yelling something at them that Ibai couldn’t hear over all the mayhem. He could, however, hear Chergoa speaking up, as the reaper still remained in Ibai’s grasp.

‘If you are Ibai’s father,’ she said, ‘then you must be an important member of House Blackburn.’

Ismael merely ignored her and pulled Ibai toward the door, but the reaper wasn’t done.

‘If I promise to support you in protecting Ibai, will you agree to a temporary ceasefire?’

That made Ismael acknowledge her, at least. “Why would you possibly do that?!”

‘I doubt I can make you understand right now,’ said Chergoa. ‘But I am a member of House Elroy, and I am giving you my word. If you are still a true Rainlord, like I believe you are, then you know that I will honor my promise.’

Her words stopped the Lord of House Blackburn in his tracks. The man stared at her hard, then at Asad, whose attacks had noticeably stopped.

‘Please,’ said Chergoa. ‘I’m only asking for a ceasefire. Not your surrender.’

Ibai frowned at his father. “It’s not over already, is it, Papa? I barely got to fight!”

Ismael didn’t seem to hear him. “A ceasefire,” the man said, almost inaudibly. “Yes, a ceasefire...”

‘So you agree, then?’ said Chergoa.

“Yes.”

‘Alright, then call off your monster.’

Before Ismael could move, however, Melchor came splattering toward them. The mercury bubbled and sizzled beneath trails of smoke and steam, and Melchor’s liquid mass seemed to have trouble keeping its shape, dripping like hot wax.

Ismael ran over to him, pulling Ibai along as well. “Melchor!” he shouted. “Stand down! For now, this battle is over!”

“What are you saying?” came Darktide’s growling voices.

“Just stand down! I command you!”

And Melchor needed no further convincing. The mercury liquid coalesced into a human form once more and regained the pale skin color that all Blackburns shared. Orric melted out of the man’s naked body and fell into his hand. Melchor dropped to his knees, breathing heavily and sweating, looking as if he were about to retch.

Xuan arrived, still bursting with smoke and fire, as Ismael was pulling off his own overshirt to drape around Melchor’s shoulders.

“What’s all this, then?” said Xuan. “Surrendering? Wait--is that an aberration?”

Ibai was busy pulling off his pants.

Chergoa spoke up again. ‘We’ve reached a temporary understanding,’ she said. ‘Em, tell him.’

Emiliana placed herself in front of Melchor and raised both hands toward Xuan. “Please stop fighting. There’s been a big misunderstanding, and we’re requesting a ceasefire. Please.”

The Seadevil just continued to hover there, swirling in place and hardly seeming human enough to have a voice at all anymore. Slowly, however, he lowered himself down to the ground and took on his usual, smaller visage. And of course, he was also stark naked.

Asad lent him his robe, which fit Xuan like a blanket.

Everyone else had released their reapers, and by extension, their hyper-states, but Xuan still clung to his. “Return the children to us,” he said with two voices. “Only then will my cousins agree to talk to you.”

“Very well,” said Ismael.

“Good.” Xuan looked over at Asad and Hector. “Don’t let that thing eat Duvoss while I’m out, yeah?”

“What do you--?”

Duvoss melted out of Xuan’s body, and Xuan fell flat on his face, unconscious.

And when Melchor saw that, he collapsed onto his side, also out cold.

“I believe an explanation is in order,” said Asad.

‘Several explanations,’ added Qorvass.

“Indeed.” Ismael took a haggard breath and exchanged looks with Rholtam. “But first, we must inform everyone of the ceasefire. Does anyone here have a working phone or com device?”

Asad shook his head. “My earpiece was destroyed in the fight.”

“As was mine,” said Ismael.

They both looked at the young black man, who seemed to have difficulty removing his gaze from Ibai even as he answered them.

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“...I didn’t bring anything,” Hector said. “I figured it would just get broken.”

Ismael turned to Ibai, who was still trying to put his pants on Melchor. They seemed a little snug around the thighs. “Ibai, can you... tell our forces to stand down? Quickly?”

Ibai popped up to his feet again, leaving Melchor with an impressive butt crack. “Sure thing, Papa!”

Ismael held up a hand. “Ah, but before you do--please, release the reaper.”

“Aw, but we were gonna go on an adventure...”

“Ibai.”

“Tch.”

‘We’ll take a rain check on that adventure,’ said Chergoa. ‘Ha. Get it? Rain check?’

Ibai laughed. “I do get it! You’re funny!” He let her return to Emiliana and then teleported away in his underwear.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

The feeling was that of a slow boil, beginning in the pit of his stomach, reaching up through his chest and all the way into his head.

It had been thirty years since he’d felt anger like this.

Raw fury. So powerful and blinding that he knew the dam inside him would burst if he so much as moved. And he wanted to save this anger, to bottle it up inside and use it later. But right now, he couldn’t even blink. He just stared at the wall, expressionless, waiting for his brain to stop feeling so numb, for his sense of reason to start working again.

It was just too much to process at once. Everything Axiolis had told him.

The children, captured. The Rainlords, at war with each other, in addition to the Vanguard.

And Mariana...

Zeff had thought he would be able to handle it better than this. They’d both been members of the Vanguard. The notion that she might leave on a mission one day and never come back had crossed his mind before, as the reverse had undoubtedly crossed hers. They’d both known it could happen. They’d planned for it.

But not this. Betrayed by their own comrades. This was something else.

Zeff could feel that old well filling up. In the back of his head, he could feel it. He thought it had run dry ages ago, but now he realized that every drop was still there. And now there was more.

Hatred.

That was how he’d kept himself sane the first time. He’d poured all of his anger, misery, and confusion into that dark place. And the result was the old well. Distilled and purified. A reservoir that he’d kept for Abolish. It had helped him more than a few times in the past.

It would do the same for the Vanguard, he figured. For Lawrence and Dergoz and whoever else stood in his way.

He only needed to focus. To let it all drain in there. To add it to the well. Years of meditation, of discipline, of emotional control--it all served him now.

And at length, as his head finally started to clear, Axiolis’ voice began to register again.

‘-please... it’s been over an hour... Talk to me, Zeff. Please, just say anything.’

He turned his stone gray eyes toward the reaper. But what Zeff saw made him rear back in his seat.

Axiolis was different. The reaper wasn’t a large bat with white eyes anymore--like he’d been for as long as Zeff had known him. Instead, Axiolis just looked like some kind of abominable monster--so much so that Zeff still wasn’t even certain what he was seeing.

‘...Are you okay?’ the reaper asked.

Staring, he said, “You’re not the same.”

‘...What?’

“You look... very different.”

Ax was briefly quiet. ‘Hmm. What do I look like, exactly?’

“Ah...”

‘Take your time and tell me.’

Zeff sat up straight and tried harder to understand what his eyes were telling him.

It almost looked like some kind of gnarled dragon, though decidedly more marine, what with its lithe body and dark-on-top, light-on-bottom coloration. It did have wings, but Zeff couldn’t tell how large they were, because they were kept retracted into long grooves on its back, with sections rearing up into the shape of a dorsal fin. The scaly underbelly was similar, bearing space for its thick legs and hooked claws to fold up into its chest cavity. A pair of small, twisted horns crowned its head, just above its reptilian eyes.

But it was the creature’s huge mouth that made Zeff realize what he was looking at, because just beyond the jagged teeth poking out, he noticed a few faint trails of lingering white frost.

Before informing Axiolis, however, Zeff had something else he wanted to say. “I’ve never heard of this happening before. I thought each servant could only see reapers one way for as long as they live.”

‘Usually, that is the case, but in rare instances, it can change. Very rare. I’ve never had it happen to a servant of my own.’

“Do you know why this happened?”

Axiolis seemed hesitant. ‘Mm... well, it sounded sensible enough to me in the past, but now I’m not sure I want to believe it.’

“Explain.”

‘Supposedly... a change in the way you view reapers is reflective of a change that has already occurred in yourself. It indicates a kind of mental paradigm shift.’

“Ah. Then I suppose it does not bode very well for my mental state that I am now seeing you as an ice-breathing hellbeast of Lhutwë.”

The reaper floated back a little. ‘Of Lhutwë? You mean I’m--?’

“A lhugleoth, yes. It’s quite hideous.”

‘...Huh. A full-size one?’

“Full-size?”

‘Yes. They could grow to be twenty meters in length, you know.’

“They were also mythical, Ax.”

‘You don’t know that.’

“You’re, what, four thousand years old now?”

‘Thereabouts.’

“Have you ever seen a lhugleoth?”

‘Well, no, but maybe I just never looked hard enough.’

“I’m sure that’s it. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

‘I’m not entirely in love with your tone right now.’

“You do recall our people putting a stop to all of that water god nonsense back when my grandfather was a child, don’t you?”

‘Yes, well, just because the rest of you are dirty heathens doesn’t mean I have to be.’

Zeff merely gave a resigning nod.

‘I still love you, though.’

“Thank you.”

A beat passed. ‘...So am I full-size or not?’

“No,” said Zeff, able to release an amused breath but not quite able to manage a laugh. “You’re about the size of a horse.”

‘Mm. That’s a little disappointing.’

Zeff sighed and rubbed his face. He stood up and realized that he was half-dressed. He’d only managed to get that far before Axiolis had told him to sit down and listen. He resumed the task now, appreciative of the armored vest that someone had left for him by the fireplace.

‘By the way, you shouldn’t tell other people that you see reapers differently now.’

“Why?” asked Zeff, pulling his vest on. “Are you worried people will think I’ve gone mad?”

Axiolis paused. ‘Yes. Exactly that, yes.’

“Do you think I’ve gone mad?” Zeff considered wearing a tie. It wasn’t the most battle-appropriate attire, but a significant part of him didn’t really care about that right now. He was thinking more about what calming effect it might have on him. A certain sense of order and professionalism could help him keep a clear head. Maybe.

‘To be honest, I hope you have. A little, at least. Because I’m fairly certain that I’ve lost some of my marbles, too.’

“Oh? How so?” He decided in favor of the tie. He liked the blood red one on the dresser.

‘Well, for instance, I know we shouldn’t fight Lawrence. He and Dergoz have a good forty years on us in terms of both experience and soul-syncing. And they can use pan-rozum. In my mind, I know these things. Attacking them by ourselves would almost be suicide. And yet... I’d go with you to hunt them down right now, if you asked me to.’

Zeff nearly smiled. “That’s not fair. I wanted to be the unreasonable one.”

‘I apologize.’

He stared at himself in the mirror, not able to see Ax reflected behind him but still knowing the reaper was there. “It’s alright. I just have to remember them. Francisco, Emiliana, Marcos, Ramira. And Gema. Any word on her whereabouts?”

‘No. I would’ve told you earlier if there had been.’

“That girl...”

‘We’ll find her.’

Zeff straightened his tie. “Yes, we will.”

They left the room. His brethren had chosen one of Rheinhal’s nicer hotels for their headquarters, he noticed, and that was saying something in this resort town. If he were in a better mood, the luxury might have been appealing.

Axiolis led him out into the street, and Zeff immediately turned east in order to see the castle on the hill there. A few of its turrets were missing, and the red paint on its walls was rather heavily marked up, but Rhein’s Keep was still standing.

Zeff didn’t have to go any farther, however. Octavia Redwater found him before he could find her.

She smiled that tiny, wrinkled smile of hers. “It is so very good to see you again, Zeff.”

He hadn’t even thought about what he should say to this woman, and that seemed like a mistake now that she was in front of him. Too many thoughts stirred in his head at once. Gratitude, apologies, questions. Far too many.

He settled on a silent hug, instead.

The little old woman shivered with apparent surprise at his embrace. “Oh! I didn’t realize you were the hugging type, Zeff.”

‘He usually isn’t,’ said Ax, sounding perhaps even more surprised.

Zeff released her. “Thank you for everything you have done for my family.”

Octavia gave a low snort. “Fat lot of good it’s accomplished.” She locked arms with him, and they began walking together. “Honestly, darling, I’m surprised you don’t hate me. I assume Axiolis has filled you in on everything?”

“He has.”

“Then you know three of your children were captured under my watch.”

‘While you were here,’ Ax reminded her, ‘trying to rescue Zeff and his son. We can hardly fault you for another House’s betrayal.’

“Even so, you shouldn’t--”

‘I’ll hear no more of that,’ said Ax. ‘Not when you could have turned the Elroys over to the Vanguard whenever you wanted.’

“Ax is right,” said Zeff. “You will accept our appreciation, whether you think it appropriate or not.”

She snorted again. “You are much bossier than I remember.”

It was true that it had been some time since he’d last spoken with this woman. There’d been various Council meetings over the years, sure, but those were purely business, and Zeff recalled multiple occasions where Octavia had attempted to converse with him afterward, only for him to brush her off. And all because of that old resentment he’d felt when she’d tried to forbid him from rejoining the Vanguard in his youth.

What a fool he’d been.

He wanted to apologize to her a dozen times over, but he was too ashamed of himself to broach the subject now. And of course, there were more pressing matters at hand, anyway. “When will you launch your next assault on the Keep?” he asked. “I would like to be a part of it.”

“This evening.”

He frowned.

“I know,” she said. “That is longer than you care to wait, right now. But Sanko is supposed to arrive sometime today. Wendy is waiting for her at the airfield right now. So as difficult as it may be, I must ask you to be patient.”

He tried not to scowl. “Patient...”

“I’m sorry.”

And when Zeff did not respond, she seemed to become uncomfortable.

“Perhaps you would prefer to depart for Luzo, instead,” Octavia said. “I hear the siege on Marshrock has been proceeding more quickly than expected, thanks to your Sandlord friend.”

Ax had informed Zeff of Asad’s involvement, along with the sudden appearance and assistance of Chergoa’s brother, and while Zeff was thoroughly glad to hear that their siege was progressing well, he could not imagine leaving Rheinhal right now, not while he knew that Francisco and Dennex were here.

“I will wait with you,” he said.

“Are you sure?” Octavia asked. “Because if I were in your position, I don’t know if I would be able to control myself.”

Zeff nearly told her that ‘he was not her’ before thinking better of it. “I’ll stay close to you,” he said instead. “If I step out of line, you can give me a good caning.”

The day drew on from there, painfully slow. He met with the other family heads in turns, as they came and went from their patrols, and he exchanged words with each. It was frustrating, to say the least, but he felt that it was also good, seeing everyone’s support like this. These were his people. His kin. Redwater, Merlo, Stroud, Garza, and Zabat. Commanding more than sixty servants in total.

They offered him their sympathies, of course. But they also offered him their anger, which he found much more comforting. Their desire for justice. The Rain’s justice.

But of them all, Rayen Merlo surprised Zeff the most. By appearance, she had not changed since Zeff’s childhood. Unlike Octavia, Rayen was a large woman, soft-faced and motherly-looking, until she really started sharing her feelings. The vitriol in her voice nearly rivaled that in Zeff’s own heart. And he could not have appreciated it more.

At length, however, word finally arrived.

“Sanko is here,” said Octavia.