William and Joscur arrived at the elevator at nearly the same time, the former having pushed the guard out of the way when he chose to stand in their way. William gave a brief glance to the man before pressing the button that would see them rising up to the ground floor of the tower. “Aren’t you going to help protect the council?” William asked, his head craned towards the illuminated tunnel above as they began to rise.

“It is not a coincidence that those things are acting up now,” Joscur posited firmly. “They have been still for years, and then you show up and-”

“I hope you’re not about to accuse me of being responsible for the oleum,” William interrupted without taking his eyes off the rising walls above them.

“No! No. You just should not have meddled in things! Should have been grateful for the new life you were given instead of-”

“Instead of what, Joscur? Instead of learning the truth?” William again cut into Joscur’s speech who could only scoff and shake his head. He didn’t know what to say to William. Things had been so good only a few hours ago until he’d seen him leaving his apartment past curfew. Why couldn’t the young man his children liked so much have stayed put and let Joscur invite him to dinner? All of this was happening so fast and with the oleum seemingly coming back to life again… Feelings long repressed in the father for the sake of his family and sanity were stirring in his breast.

“Why are you really here with me right now?” William asked after a pair of long seconds of silence passed between them.

Joscur looked to William who did not spare him a glance before turning his head upwards as well. He started to count the lights as they passed by as a way to try and focus himself. “If something is happening in Mirage… If those things are somehow loose again after all this time… If we somehow missed one after all of the measures we took to make sure it never happened again, that no one would find out…” He gave up trying to pussyfoot around the point he wanted to make. This wasn’t the time to be the dutiful guardian of Mirage. “My family’s safety is more important to me than anything.”

William left it at that and prodded no further for reasoning from Joscur.

The instant the elevator had settled into place Joscur sprinted off of it, but William had leaped up over the edge of the mosaic floor the moment he could throw his body up over it and was three steps ahead of the man as they made their way to the now unguarded doors of Natator Tower. They stepped out into the cool desert night and jogged down the stairs, turning their heads back and forth and looking for any signs of distress. It didn’t take them long to see a group of ornithopters flying together heading towards the north. For half a second, Joscur breathed a sigh of relief. He saw nothing in the light of the triplets that suggested that something was happening towards his family’s home.

The screams reached them an instant after the last ornithopter flew past the sides of the tower. Distant and frightened. Joscur took a step to run towards his family and make certain they were safe but William reached out and grabbed the garb of his sand colored cloak, halting him.

“What!?” Joscur demanded through gritted, impatient teeth.

“Take a natator,” William instructed him calmly. “It’ll be faster than running on foot, time is precious. You’re a guard so you should have access to the docks, right?”

Joscur nodded, turning back towards the tower. “Yes. Yes, I can do that. What will you do?” he asked as William let go of his clothes and started to run back up the stairs.

“I’m going ahead to see what has those things excited! Get Marisia and Vamenco to safety!” William shouted, body half turned towards Joscur as he strode and sprinted back into the shadow of Natator Tower. Joscur was quick to follow and just as quick to diverge as William headed for the norther exit of the tower and he to one of the elevators leading up to the closest natator dock to him.

***

Mirage was on fire. The blaze was dim, the fires new, but their vermilion glow against the azure night was unmistakable. William charged towards it and the sounds of ningen screaming. There was something else he could hear as well. Not quite a bark, not just a growl. Something animalistic and unnatural. The feeling in his stomach that he got when looking at Oleum One was persistent now. He tried to sort out the facts while he ran: Lucifer discovered something new this time around. He was good at that. He ran experiments on the creature, and it mutated people to make more of itself. Whatever this thing was, it was well and truly new. That made William nervous only because of the feeling he’d been plagued by that was growing ever stronger. New wasn’t always good. New wasn’t always helpful. Lucifer would have known that, but he tried anyways, and when he found they could not help, he killed them all and fled. But to where? And why hadn’t he given any indication of where he was going so that others could find him? What had he learned that made him run away?

As he was pondering this things the world grew quiet around him suddenly. He came to a faltering stop, lashing his head from side to side as he took in great gulps of air and raised his sword. This sensation was all too familiar.

A duo of loud claps sounded out from behind him and he whirled around to face the Dandy Man who stood across the street from William, cane tucked protectively under his arm as he pulled his gloved hands apart from each other. “Bravo, Twilight, bravo! You arrived at the truth just in time! Oh, I am so pleased with myself that this all came to fruition on schedule!” the Dandy Man cheered!

“This was what Mr. Wink wanted me to find?” William demanded between pants of breath, lowering his sword and marching over towards the tall black man in white. “These new things? Oleum?”

“Yes, and no,” The Dandy Man acquiesced. “You were meant to find Lucifer’s trail and follow it, and you have done so brilliantly. The oleum are but an incidental part of the truth which my master wished you to glean.”

“I still don’t understand – what does this have to do with Cathedral Terra?” William demanded.

“Nothing, I’m afraid. Sorry to disappoint, but Mr. Wink’s and your shared goal of averting Cathedral Terra has nothing to do with the oleum, or Lucifer’s involvement in them. Not directly, anyway.”

“Then-” William began with a confused expression pointed upwards to the grinning visage of the Dandy Man, who held up a hand gently in front of William’s face to stop talking.

“My apologies. I know it is terribly rude of me to interrupt, but we have a schedule to keep, and you are only one portion of the way through tonight’s events. The revelation awaiting you is one of great importance, I assure you, though it has nothing to do with Cathedral Terra, and everything to do with our dear name thief Lucifer. Shall we talk on the way?” the Dandy man suggested, moving his hand from in front of William’s face and gesturing it, palm flat, towards the direction of the fire.

Begrudgingly, William elected to follow along the Dandy Man as he strode through time slowed to an excruciating crawl.

***

Joscur’s mind was a blur as he raced through the air over Mirage. He was trying to focus solely on getting back to his children as quickly as possible, willing himself to shut out thoughts of anything else. Daniellex, who he considered a brother and the godfather of his children, ultimately came after them and so was pushed to the side. He ignored the instincts he felt as a protector of the city to stop and awaken people from their homes as he passed by. Paternal instincts trumped all. He leaned forward on the natator as far as he dared, his upper body hanging over the nose of the metallic craft as it whizzed through the air. Marisia and Vamenco. They were his only concerns now. He tried to recall where they were as he flew through the cold night air.

Marisia was at home, waiting for him and William to arrive. Joscur had been gone much longer than he anticipated. She would be angry at him for it. She could be angry after she was safe. Vamenco wasn’t at home. He’d gone to spend the night at one of his friends. An ordinary, innocuous thing for a young child. What bad fortune it was that he would have to be taken from his fun! After getting Marisia, he’d go and find his son. From there, they could-

An explosive sound made Joscur’s head spin towards it. He could hear screaming over the rush of wind. He saw fires erupting and spreading fast. His heart sank. The shifting of his weight involuntarily caused the natator to slow down. He got a clearer look of the situation as it was developing below him. Syla’s smile invaded his mind. Her warm face The gentle caress of her hand against his cheek. The horrible way in which he had found her body.

“No!” he cried out defiantly, turning away from the fire and gripping the edge of the vehicle, leaning even further than he had before to try and coax it to fly faster through the sky street. ‘Not again! Never again!’ Joscur screamed in his head. A mantra of desperation. It would only take him a few moments to reach his daughter. If they were swift, a few moments more to find his son. Everything else was secondary! Even the memory of his wife.

***

William watched as more fire grew in the shrinking distance in slow motion, the ordinarily near instant birth of flames reduced to the light of creeping giants as he and the Dandy Man marched along towards them. The tapping of the Dandy Man’s cane against the glass street was the ticking of a clock.

“Would you care for some candy?” the Dandy Man asked casually.

William looked at him, perplexed. The Dandy Man looked down at William with a smile on his face, opening up his tuxedo jacket and reaching into an inner pocket to retrieve a trio of small black dog shaped candies which he held out in offering to Twilight. “They’re licorice, I’m afraid. My apologies, but it would seem that this is the best that I can do in these limited circumstances! Truthfully, I have run out of all varieties of better candy and have yet to replenish my stocks. For this meager offering, I am truly sorry.”

“I’m fine,” William dismissed, looking back towards the distance fires. The Dandy Man shrugged and popped one of the candies into his mouth before replacing the remaining two in his pocket, reaching into the outer pocket of his jacket, and retrieved the watch which rested there and whose hands never moved.

“My! We are running late! So much to do, so much to say, so little time!”

The irony was as crisp as the desert wind would have been if it were blowing.

“Shall I tell you a story to pass the time? As a host, it is imperative that I entertain my guests,” the tall man in white suggested.

“If you must,” William replied bluntly. He knew it was pretty much impossible to get the Dandy Man to keep his words brief.

“I must indeed. Having offered sustenance after guidance after clarification, entertainment is next on the docket of things which should be extended to one’s guests. Now, let’s see… ah! Yes, one of my favorites;” he cleared his throat and held his free hand up, index finger extended, after returning the pocket watch to its resting place. “There was an old lady who lived in a shoe-”

“I’m sorry, what?” William interrupted, growing irritated as he glared at the Dandy Man.

“Oh? Is this story not to your liking?” the Dandy Man inquired with a cheeky grin.

“I fail to see its relevance.”

“Must a story be relevant in order to be told?” the Dandy Man challenged. “Is not the art of story in of itself beauteous and, in this way, and end unto itself?”

“Don’t try and get philosophical with me. You’d lose,” William warned. “Even a being like you would lose.”

“Of course. My apologies. My penchant and passion for storytelling is well known to you. I am certain you can understand my wishing to indulge in my favorites when I get the chance. Very well! I shall start again, and this time, I ask the gentleman what sort of story he would like to hear?”

“Does it matter if all you’re trying to do is pass the time while we walk? In fact, couldn’t you just make a single step of ours take us there?” William asked, gesturing with his head towards the direction of disaster.

“To answer the latter, no, I cannot. My meager domain of power is time, not space. While it is well known that the two of them are inextricably linked and interwoven with one another,” the Dandy Man paused, lifting both of his hands up and meshing his fingers in between themselves for a moment to illustrate this cosmic relationship before bringing the cane back down and continuing his leisurely stroll, “I am unable to lay influence upon the domain of space itself. I have, thus, already extended as much of a shortening of the way as I can by slowing time around us to a crawl, allowing us to walk and exchange stories, to catch our breath and be somewhat rested for the events which are yet to come.

“As for the former,” he continued, “I posit this great truth: Words are the means to meaning, and stories are that great device of linguistics which may convey and inspire lessons worth learning, truths worth sharing, and fun worth having! Reducing a story to something with which to ‘pass the time’, as you put it, would be an insult to the craft! And so I must insist that, yes, it does indeed matter what sort of story it is you wish to hear in these precious few seconds spread out over several minutes that we have together.”

“Fine,” William replied, rotating the sword in his grip anxiously. “Then tell me about these oleum. They’re new.”

“A fine choice indeed! Now, where to begin?”

***

“Marisia!?” Joscur cried out at the top of his lungs as he burst in through the door of his home.

His daughter was nowhere to be seen in the darkened interior of the living room. His eyes darted back and forth, trying to spot her in the dark.

“Baba?” Marisia called from upstairs, beginning to make her way down. She ducked her head down low, turning her blind eyes in the direction of her father. Her ginger hair was pulled back into a loose bunch on top of her head. She was wearing a long, loose sleeved night shirt and equally loose fitting pants that were rose in color. “Baba, what is going on?” she asked, speaking her native language since there was only her and her father in the house.

Joscur marched over to meet his daughter on the stairs, reaching out and touching her upper arms. She placed her hands delicately on her father’s forearms. “We have to leave,” Joscur replied in kind. “Come, we are going to get your brother.”

“Baba, what is happening?” Marisia asked as her father turned and started to pull her down the last three steps. She stumbled at the bottom and caught her balance on her father’s arm. “Where is William? There was screaming outside, I heard-”

“Later! We must get your brother!” Joscur insisted. The pair of them stepped on the many pillows in the sitting area of their home as they made their way towards the front door. Marisia wasn’t used to being pulled like this. She, in fact, hadn’t been for the past five years. Hearing the dreadful insistence in her father’s voice and flashes of memory of the last time she was pulled like this by her mother made her stomach drop.

Marisia yanked her arm away from her father and took a step back away from him. “It’s happening again, isn’t it baba? The raids? Like when suta died?”

Joscur’s heart felt a stab of pain at the question. Marisia could hear the hurt in his voice as he spoke. “I do not know. It may be. I am taking no chances. We are going to get your brother and get the two of you safe, just as we talked about.” Joscur reached out and placed his hand against his daughter’s cheek. Her brow was creased with fear.

“Where is William?” she asked.

“I do not know. We separated. He went to… see what he could do to help.” A half lie.

“Seperated? But baba, why? If it is dangerous in the streets, then-”

“Hush, Marisia,” Joscur interrupted, brushing his daughter’s cheek with his thumb. “After tonight, I am convinced that William does not keep that sword with him for show. He can take care of himself. Now come, we must find your brother. Do you know where he is?” Joscur grabbed his daughter’s hand and started to pull her towards the door again.

“With Bolara, I think,” she replied.

“Come,” Joscur again insisted, helping his daughter step up onto the natator and had her take a seat. He stood in the middle of the craft and it rose back up into the sky street. Others were emerging from their homes by this time. Lights were coming on in windows. Curious, frightened souls looked out towards the direction of the spreading fires. They would have to take care of their own as Joscur was doing. Walking to the front of the natator and leaning to the right, the father turned the vehicle around as it rose up to the highest level and the pair sped off towards East One where Bolara resided, and the fire was spreading.

***

“To start, I suppose it would be best to catch up on your history. Do tell, how much have you learned about the past three thousand years in the time you’ve been here?” the Dandy Man asked.

“Not much,” William replied. “History wasn’t my focus, and asking too much about what I didn’t know only raised suspicion. I stopped after the first couple of days and tried to solve yours and Mr. Wink’s damn riddle.”

“But what you have gathered is…?” the Dandy Man pushed.

“That the old kingdoms are gone, replaced by a single empire,” William begrudgingly replied. “The dragons with them. Extinct. Talked about as stories or myths. Animunculi remain but serve a different purpose than they were originally designed for. That’s about it.”

“Broad strokes, then. Well! I would be delighted to illuminate the gaps in your knowledge of this world’s history, however, I suspect that you are in no mood to be taught such things, and would rather stick to the subject at hand.”

“The oleum, in case you forgot,” William replied, sarcasm laced with cynicism as he aggressively side eyed the taller man in white.

“I had not, but thank you. Let me see… Hmmm…” The Dandy Man brought a gloved hand to his chin and stroked it as he thought over his words. “I will begin with the rise of the cults, I think. Yes, a fine in medias res starting point! After the conflict, from which you were swiftly retrieved from, there came a period of instability and peace as the world recovered from its wounds. Eventually, civilizations arose, as they always do, and in the dark corners of those civilizations came cults. Not of gods, of course, not here, but instead cults of ideas. The past, it seems, is not so easily killed as the ideas that lead to the wars to which you were so thoroughly involved in, until you weren’t of course, persisted in those that survived. But they were weak, you see. The Duke was slain and so the ideas had no real substance – that is, of course, until they did.

“To the southeast of this continent is an island, and it was on this island that the cultists congregated with their impotent ideas and it was there that a revolution of sorts took place! Far from the rest of the world and free to do as they pleased, they developed a culture all their own, and in the darkest parts of their dark hearts, something began to grow. Something new! Something oily. In time, that something new took an amorphous shape and began to influence the world, and from that influence came conflict – a pitiful shadow of the Dragon Wars, but potent none the less. Those that existed there attempted to spread out over the world and in doing so caused great chaos indeed! So, the four great races of the world came together and banded as one to put a stop to the madness: Ningen, dragons, animunculi, and arbora. Together, they were able to beat the cultists back to their island – but were quite unable to destroy them entirely. You see, they were quite tenacious indeed.

“A solution was proposed and accepted by all parties involved. If they could not be destroyed, then they were to be contained. Considerable time and effort was put into place to support the containment of this threat onto the island and, despite all of the odds, they managed to do just that! A great wall was built around the island – so high and so thick that nothing, nothing, could escape it – especially with the immortally vigilant animunculi keeping a constant surveillance along with the ever durable arbora providing support. The dragons, who gave the most of the four races to contain the threat, retreated to the east and became reclusive to the world, and the ningen, content that the conflict was over, went on with their lives and built the Empire as it is known today. Happy ending for all!

“Except, the story is not over yet, is it, Twilight?” the Dandy man asked, turning and giving a coy smile to William. “One managed to escape after so many centuries. It ended up here, washed ashore, dead, but not inactive, where it was found by our dear Lucifer. Tonight, you shall see the extent to dear Darkness’s involvement in the tale of the affectionately named Oleum One and it’s fellow oleum offspring.”

“You left out so many incredibly crucial details that it feels painfully stupid to even think of pointing them out to you,” William replied nastily.

“Of course! I must preserve some mystery in order to hold my guest’s attention. The story would not be as good if all the holes were filled in,” the Dandy Man chuckled.

“You are once again trying my fucking patience by withholding information from me,” William barked over the soft laughter. “You could have told me all of this a month ago and saved us all the time! You could have-”

“As Mr. Wink is ever so fond of saying,” the tall man in white interrupted, raising an arm and giving his black cane a pair of swift, loud cracks on the colored glass below their feet. “‘It’s not a matter of time, it’s just a matter of timing’! You will have all of the answers you require tonight. Participation in this game we call life is part of the fun of it, after all. I am not a historian and not keen to fill you in the several decades of history you were forced to miss in order to have the full context of the story right away. Know, and trust, that Mr. Wink has insured that the timing is most excellent in this regard, that you will know what you need to know, and when you do, will act accordingly. Time has his full trust in your capabilities in solving this little mystery presented before you – in fact, if you have been paying attention, you may well have solved it already!”

The pair walked around a corner. By this time Natator Tower was well behind William and they were approaching the source of the fires that had grown increasingly bright as they drew closer to them. William had a feeling that they wouldn’t be walking together for too much longer.

“Fine. You’re the ones with the advantage of foresight. I’ll trust that I’m about to fully figure out what I’ve been spending a fucking month trying to solve on my own,” William grumbled, unhappy that he was extremely unlikely to simply impale the Dandy Man on his sword right then and there. “Tell me this much at least – plainly! Is Lucifer still directly involved in all of this? And if so, where can I find him?”

“Oh, poor Twilight! Gifted with every path forward but always wanting the shortest, most direct route!” the Dandy Man lamented, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the watch again to give it another brief glance. “I am delighted, of course, as any good host would be, to inform you that our dear Darkness is very much involved. Mr. Wink has seen fit, in fact, to make it so that circumstances align in just such a manner that, not only will you be meeting Lucifer again soon…”

The Dandy Man stopped in his tracks, heels clicked together, standing up straight, cane twirled before him. The pocket watch that never moved had been replaced in his pocket and William looked back at him expectantly. The Dandy Man pointed his cane forward, saying ominously in a dreadfully cheerful tone:

“He is already here.”

William turned in the direction of the pointing cane and saw that ahead of him was on fire. They were in the district of North One and an apartment building was on fire. The crimson flames shimmied and swirled in the night air excruciatingly slowly but visibly so all the same. The air was warmer now that they were within sight of the blaze. William scanned the street, the buildings, the air, trying to spot Lucifer. Instead what he saw was something beginning to emerge from the fire. At first William thought it might have just been a shadow and so his eyes passed over its shape, but the deliberate movement of the thing drew his gaze back. He took several steps to his left, trying to get a better view of it and stood watching as it revealed itself.

From a geyser of flame puffing out as a deathly cloud around the side of the building emerged a body. Not one belonging to a ningen, nor a bloodling, no. It’s oblong shape was at first only shade at the core of chemical light, but slowly it broke free of the shackles of heat and lashing tongues. William recognized it immediately but only by the contrast of it in his memory – a reasuler! Tormented and deformed, it’s reptilian head the first thing to break away from the light, he beheld how one of its jaws had been ripped away from it, the lower of the two, leaving a dark, dead tongue to hang in font of an open wound. The feathers upon its head and neck were either alight or had already burned away to black cinders. As more of it came barreling out into the street, more horror in its form was revealed. Tumorous lumps grew at random positions on its body. The stubby front limbs had become elongated, muscular to the point of ripping skin and tattering scales. Layers of exposed musculature bled black as this horrific thing galloped sideways. Open wounds oozed viscous ichor and tendrils of flame clung to it as though trying to pull it back into the inferno. A fifth leg was attached to its hip, dangling uselessly in the air and yet still functionally curling as it kicked one nanosecond at a time.

“Well, our time it seems is up,” the Dandy Man spoke up. William turned to face him. “It has been my distinct pleasure, as it always is, to speak and walk with you.”

“You’re really going to leave now?” William asked, bewildered.

“Yes, I am afraid so. What follows is for you to see through, or perish, whichever you so choose. Having you delivered to the point where you are needed most, I bid you adieu.” The Dandy Man, bowed low, bending at the waist, and crossing his cane over his stomach. As he righted himself, he vanished in a blur of motion and left William behind.

***

Mirage was devolving into chaos and fast. It couldn’t have been more than half an hour since Joscur separated from William and in that time fires had begun to rage all across the north side of the city. The ornithopters had all abandoned their routes and flocked over to the epicenter of the unrest. People were emerging from their homes, shouting, crying, fearful. They all remembered what it had been like five years ago when families would cry out in the middle of the night, trails of blood would be found, tales of monsters spread, and the oppressive arm of the city guard was in full effect to cover up the tragedy of it all. Compared to then, this sudden eruption of fiery violence was as a boom of thunder to a clap of the hands.

Joscur could see it all from up on high with his daughter. What few natators that were privately owned were beginning to be flown from their residence towards Natator Tower or one of the shelters that had been set up all across Mirage after the nightly raids. Families and individuals alike were flooding the streets and flowing like water towards these same shelters as word spread of an emergency by word of mouth or by explosive. He even saw groups of his fellow guards fighting against the crowds to get to arming stations as they prepared to defend, escort and evacuate as need be. The once dark and tranquil oasis city was becoming bright in the growing bonfire.

Part of him regretted not being down there with his comrades and helping in the efforts to keep others safe. Mirage was his home, after all. He’d lived here, loved here, been made a father here. The last five years especially had been dedicated to making Mirage a better, safer place for not just his family to live but for everyone. He shared in the trauma of the oleum just as much as anyone – more than most, even, since he knew what the actual cause of the unrest had been! Guilt toothlessly gnawed at him in a vain attempt to make him feel terrible for being selfish.

But he did not feel terrible. A cold hardness settled in over his heart anytime that he began to think about all of the panicking people down below him, the good ningen and bloodlings who were fighting to keep order in the rampant bedlam, as all it took was hearing a gasp from his daughter or a thought of his son to dismiss them entirely. They were all he had left in the world. All that was left of his Syla. He would not put their safety after that of others!

“BABA!” Marisia shouted, finally managing to get her father’s attention. He glanced back at her briefly as they sped through the sky towards Bolara’s house.

“What? What is it?” Joscur called back to her.

“I asked what we were going to do once we got Vamenco!” she repeated. Joscur hadn’t realized that she’d asked more than once until just then.

“We are going to find a shelter and hunker down in it,” he said. “Just as we discussed and practiced. It will be safer there.”

The shelters were modified sections of the Mirage underground. Portions of the city had been sacrificed and remodeled with the help of animunculi who spearheaded the engineering portions of the task as well as much of the construction after the oleum had been silenced by Lucifer. It had taken three years to complete, but once they had, everyone in Mirage had been made aware of them in case anything like those terrible months should ever happen again. The very day that they had been completed, Joscur had taken Marisia and Vamenco to the shelter closest to their home. He’d made her memorize the route by heart and would take the pair of them periodically to keep their memory of it fresh. Such visits were all the more important once Vamenco began to hold memories properly. For the past two years, he had made sure to take them every other month or so to make sure that both of his children knew where to go in order to be safe.

“You will stay with us?” Marisia asked.

“Of course! I will not leave you!”

“What about Uncle Dani?” Marisia demanded. “What about Kara? And Bolara? What of William?”

“They all know where they need to go!”

“Not William!” she countered. “He will need help! You cannot leave him up here!”

“The only thing that matters if that you and your brother are safe!” Joscur barked.

“Baba you cannot do this! You cannot abandon the people we love just to make-”

“No more!” Joscur ordered harshly, raising his voice above the desperate, fearful cries of those below them. Marisia buttoned up for the time being.

The pair of them descended down to a wooden platform sticking out from the second floor of an apartment building not far from their home. This was Bolara’s residence, Joscur’s destination, and he quickly dismounted the natator with a curt, “Wait here,” to his daughter. She stayed put only because she was blind.

Joscur burst in through the doorway, calling out, “Bolara! Vamenco!” as he did.

“In here!” came the young ningen’s voice, drawing Joscur’s attention to his left where a doorway blocked by a blue curtain was the only barrier to Bolara’s voice. He marched over and swung the curtain aside to find Bolara half stuck out of another doorway down a short hall and Vamenco clinging to his leg, another young boy behind the two of them. As soon as he saw his father Vamenco let go of Bolara and rushed forward, wrapping his little arms around his father’s torso as he was embraced and held tightly. Bolara and the other boy rushed over to the city guard as well.

“What is happening?” Bolara squeaked.

“Everyone needs to get to a shelter,” Joscur replied quickly, picking his son up and holding him against his chest. “Come, we are leaving now.”

“Is Marisia with you?” Vamenco asked, pulling his head away from his father’s shoulder.

“Yes, she is safe,” Joscur confirmed as he turned around and walked back through the curtain, leading the way back outside to the natator. He sat his son down and the young boy scuttled over to sit down and embrace his sister while their father ushered Bolara and the other young boy onto the natator.

“What is happening?” Vamenco asked, looking up at his sister. Down at the street below. Beyond to the glowing fires. Back to his sister.

“Everything is going to be alright,” Marisia replied dumbly. She didn’t know how to answer her brother. Her instinct was to try and reassure him before she could give him a straight answer.

“Where are your parents?” Joscur asked Bolara who was standing beside the guard. The other young boy, Bolara’s brother, went and sat down next to Vamenco and stared out at the glowing threats on the other side of the city.

“Left for a shelter already. I stayed knowing you would come for Vamenco,” Bolara explained numbly.

“When?”

“Ten minutes ago? Not long.”

Joscur pulled the natator away from the dock, calling out, “Left!” to everyone to help him steer.

“I am frightened!” Vamenco whined, clutching his sister’s arm. She placed her hand over his and used her other arm to pull him closer to her side.

“Hush, now, hush,” Marisia quieted. She hated hearing the fright in her brother’s young voice. It hurt her heart. Reminded her of when he used to cry as an infant and toddler.

“What is happening!?” Vamenco insisted as tears welled up in his eyes. The natator began to speed away into the night as it carried the five of them towards safety. “Is this like when suta died!?”

The question was a blunt instrument bashed against the side of his sister’s head. Her mouth ung open from the shock and her breath caught in her throat. She heard nothing from her father and felt her young brother tugging on her arm, physically insisting on an answer. She pulled his head close to her chest and lied. “No. No. This is different.” Whether it was to him or herself, or perhaps both of them, she would never know.

Joscur was speaking to Bolara. Formulating a plan of action. Reassuring the younger ningen. Marisia couldn’t make out what her father was saying over the rush of the wind, the cries of her brother, who had begun to sob quietly into her night shirt, and the occasional piercing shriek from below them. She acutely heard people below them as they flew by from time to time. They seemed to be caring about the strangest things. She heard someone mention their kora. Another, she surmised, that they had left their favorite blanket behind. She might have thought they did not understand the danger they were all in if she did not understand that each and every one of the people living in Mirage did so with the collective trauma of the last half decade.

“Look! The animunculi!” Vamenco’s friend called out, pointing over the side of the natator. Vamenco, Joscur and Bolara looked down and saw the massive metal automatons marching past people who ran around them like so much water passing over stones. They made their way toward the north slowly, in groups of twos and threes. Joscur knew that there were only a few dozen of them in all of Mirage, perhaps five or six, and that they mostly stayed below ground in the metallurgy factories. The ones that maintained Mirage’s barrier would not leave their stations if they could help it, meaning that the ones they saw were coming from beneath the streets. Likely guided by some unspoken words conveyed to them by the ornithopters.

Joscur turned away and focused on getting to the shelter. In didn’t know how much help the animunculi would be in this. Animunculi were pacifistic in nature, not trained or programmed to fight. He’d never once heard of an animunculi entering a conflict in any way shape or form when it was complex enough to be considered a person. Even the ones that he had taken with him to retrieve William from the Wastes, at the Elder Council’s orders, had been there mainly as a deterrent for reauslers. He considered, briefly, the possibility that they were going to put out the fires and save those that could be saved from the burning. The father of two gave it no more thought than that. His family still needed to be saved.

Yet, as they flew, he did find himself considering Daniellex, their godfather. Now that they were both safely with him, perhaps he could spare some time to try and find-

An explosion drew everyone’s attention away from the streets below and to buildings not far from where they flew! The boys and Marisia screamed, Bolara and Joscur stared wide eyed and shocked at the proximity of the blast! It was so much closer than any that had happened so far! Fire blossomed and spread its fingers wide into the night air before dancing its jittery dance.

The children were screaming. Marisia’s ears were ringing as she asked her father what was happening. Bolara was trying to calm the three of them down. Joscur veered the natator in the sky as his weight shifted along with everyone else, trying to get it back on a straight course. Any thoughts he had of his brother were, regrettably, set aside once again as the immediate danger to his children became all too apparent.

‘Never again,’ he thought to himself. ‘Never again!’

***

The roar of the fire was deafening as everything sped back into its proper time frame once again. Until that very instant William had been protected from the concussive sound of the erupting arson by the grace of the sound waves traveling so slowly that any noise that reached his ears was rendered into a barely registered bass. The moment the Dandy Man sped away he was set loose back into the world the heat and cacophony was there to meet him. He heard people screaming as they died in agony. He flinched at the sudden onrush of life as it was unfolding in this awful moment.

The oleum-tainted reausler came barreling towards him! Its head snapped up to look at him with its beady, glassy eyes and it let out a horrific hiss, its elongated limbs slamming down onto the rainbow glass in its galloping!

William raised his blade in front of him with both hands, steeled himself! He wasn’t afraid of this oncoming monster! He’d faced things like it before! All he had to do was choose for it to stop and-

Something was wrong. He realized it an instant after he made a choice. The corrupted thing was still charging towards him! Impossible! Unless-

William dove to his left, flinging his body down in a desperate jump as far as he could manage as the tumor-riddled reausler came skidding past him, jaw snapping at his feet! It lost its balance in the momentum of it’s charge as it tried to turn towards him mid sprint, falling down on its side and skidding over the glass!

The eidolon tucked and rolled on his shoulder and came to a stop on one knee, the single edge of his sword whipped around and pointed at the scrambling body of the mutated creature! He rose to his feet just an instant before it did, his mind racing as fast as his heart was pumping! He’d tried to have it choose to stop just then and it hadn’t. The only way that could happen was if it hadn’t chosen to charge him in the first place! And if that was the case-

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Another sickly roar! Spittle flying from fanged maw as the beast charged forth once again, seeking the blood of who it may devour!

William took two steps, one to his left and the other a backwards spinning step with his right leg that left him another step left of where he began, brought his sword first down and then high up over his head in a swift, circular motion, then brought the blade cleaving downwards with all of the skill of a master executioner as the deformed reausler rushed him by, decapitating the awful thing!

It’s head was left to free fall for half an instant before colliding with the muscle bulging forelegs and sent spinning off down the road as the bulky, reptilian body continued to crash forward for a few steps, begin to fall on its side, and then slam wound first into the wall of a building with a wet splat, sending viscera flying on a path to imitating a Jackson Pollock!

The eidolon had time to take in two breaths before his attention was wrested from him as another hissing roar assaulted his ears. He turned back towards the fire and saw another pair of twisted monstrosities come shrieking his way from beyond the burning building! These were even less recognizable as reauslers than the first had been, so misshapen were they. He raised his sword to defend himself but watched as they raced past him without so much as giving him a glance! “Shit!” William cried out, lowering his sword and beginning to give chase as he realized that they weren’t after him! Adrenaline and a distortion of time thanks to his short trip with the Dandy Man had clouded his cognition, keeping him from realizing that he was at the very fore of this fray! He needed to stop these things, before-

Thoughts evaporated in an earsplitting instant as another explosion of fire erupted some buildings down and behind from where he was. Though distant enough that he did not feel the effects of the eruption, it had been close enough that it made him flinch and stumble in place! Screams poured in from all around him as more and more people recognized what was happening.

William lifted his head, eyes squinted, trying to force the dizziness to pass through force of will alone. Another explosion, further away, behind him! William turned in the direction that the concussive force had come from and dread realization dropped upon him like an anvil: This was no accident. It was organized, attacks were happening simultaneously! All the more reason to kill the oleum while he had the chance -

No luck. Looking back, they had vanished into the night. Ningen were rushing out of their homes and into the night. Frightened! Confused! William looked to them. To the closest fire. They needed help. He couldn’t be everywhere at once. He chose to help those he could rather than chasing after monsters. He had to trust that the guards, the Elder Council, had systems in place to help protect people all over Mirage in the event of something like this happening.

Just as he was going to make a run for the fire and see if there was anyone who needed help William’s eye happened to catch sight of his blade. The blood of the mutated reausler still clung to the metal. Viscous. Black. Animate. Arms of the sickly fluid jutted out and stretched, reaching out towards something invisible. Towards Natator Tower. Beneath the ground. Though separated from its host, it was acting just as the blood of the oleum in the tanks were. Just inverted.

The grimace on William’s face was all that kept him from vomiting, so intense was the feeling of unease within him. Seeing something like that on his sword was simply unacceptable! He knelt down and dropped his sword on the glass in front of him, shrugging out of his white robes and pulling his arms out of the sleeves after undoing the small belts keeping them secure on his upper arms. He ripped the left sleeve off at the elbow in three quick jerks before wiping the blade off the awful stuff. He’d made sure to fold the impromptu cloth over multiple times to insure that he did not have any contact with it whatsoever. Once he was satisfied with the sanctity of his sword, he stood up, looking it over and keeping the soiled garment at arm’s length. Being this close to this stuff, whatever it truly was, made goosebumps crawl on his uncovered torso and a cold pulling feeling in the pit of his stomach.

As ningen and bloodling alike ran into the streets, seeking answers and shelter, William rushed over to the fire and threw the piece of fouled cloth into it before finding an entry way and diving into the inferno in search of survivors, or, lacking that, more things to kill.

***

Daniellex was a simple ningen, when you got down to it. He wasn’t the brightest, wasn’t the kindest, not the most sensitive. He would certainly be aptly described as ‘rough around the edges’ in both form and function, but he certainly had his good qualities. He was a good, loyal friend who knew how to pick and choose who to be friends with to begin with. He was wise, in his own way, despite not having the most broad of life experiences, and he was passionate in everything he did. From work to socializing with the god children to making love, he was a ningen who put his all into everything he did. He lived his life with gusto, gut first you could say and mean both literally and figuratively. Perhaps the worst thing that could be said about him was that he was more than a little bit lascivious

Which is why it should be no surprise that, when the fighting started, he was in the Scarlet Boulevard, in the arms of one of the girls he’d paid for, laying back and relaxing.

The instant that the sound of the first explosion reached them he immediately knew something was wrong. Where an instant before he’d been laid back, a nice fat smile on his bearded face, a scarlet worker on his arm, the moment the sound reached him he shot up and was instantly alert! He pulled himself out of bed and made himself as decent as possible as quickly as possible, leaving behind much of his clothing, as he stuck his head out of the room he had rented and looked around to find that others were doing the same. Overlapping talk of what was happening reached his ears and so he made his way downstairs.

At this particular establishment Daniellex was a regular and so he recognized the mistress of the house immediately. “Shebella, what has happened?” he asked, his gruff voice cutting through the chatter.

Shebella was an older lady, perhaps a decade and a half older than Daniellex himself, wearing a faded sheer scarlet gown, her ginger hair kept just shy of a buzzcut on her skull. She looked up at one of her best customers approaching her and shrugged her shoulders. “I have no idea! There was a loud sound from outside! It sounded as though it came from North Two!” she explained to him as he walked over to her and gave her shoulder a reassuring touch. Daniellex was one of the few people she allowed to touch her these days and he was always so gentle about it.

He stepped outside, shirtless, and looked around. Scarlet Boulevard was just beginning to buzz with activity as curious, not yet frightened, people stuck their heads out of windows or stepped out onto the street to look around and make sure that the sound had not come from their immediate area. Daniellex looked to the night sky for any sign of ornithopter activity, but there was none. A couple of guards came rushing past him, one of them still adjusting their leather shirt after a bit of misbehaving, clearly in a hurry to get somewhere. Seeing them running along convinced him it was a good idea to act.

He stepped back inside of the establishment, pulling his pants up a little higher on his hairy belly. “Shebella, my things, please,” he said. The lady of the house nodded and made a gesture for one of the other workers to go and fetch his things and within moments they were being brought back out to him. He was passed the black rubber suit awkwardly as well as the large mallet that he had brought with him and almost immediately relinquished once he had made it clear some six hours ago that his intention was to spend a few gems. Patrons weren’t allowed to bring such things any further than the parlor and were required to relinquish them before any business could be conducted.

“Keep an eye outside. If it starts to look like people are making for the shelters, follow them,” he said while cradling the tools of his trade. The older ningen nodded and he made his way back outside and sat the mallet down before climbing into the suit. Daniellex had never been a fan of these fire suits that he occasionally had to wear for work because of the struggle it was for him to put on. He left the hood off but otherwise made certain everything else was intact, pulled his wild hair out and fanned it over his shoulders. Then, mallet in hand, he started running.

Daniellex knew the fastest ways to get from one section of Mirage to the next, cutting through alleys and side streets to avoid the main roads, gained from his years in city construction. Even so, he found himself wishing that he had a natator to travel faster than his legs could carry him! While he sprinted as fast as he could (an area of athleticism he wasn’t proficient in), two more explosions happened! He heard the wails of people running in fear towards the shelters, saw the light of fires, saw the crowds as they thronged towards shelters. He was one of the few running towards the distress and encouraging those he passed to run away.

As he sprinted, breathes coming in heavy pants, he merged with three city guardsmen who were also rushing towards the chaos erupting in North Two. By now there was a steady stream of ningen and bloodlings making their way to safety but impeding their progress. Daniellex and the guards were having to push people past them in order to move forward. Their progression was stopped by the emergence of an oleum a ways down the road.

At first they could not see the beast, but only a clearing forming in the street as people moved away from it. It burst forth in a dark blur and latched onto an unfortunate soul’s shoulder! Their scream of agony was louder than any panic for only an instant before the shrieks of fear drowned it out. Daniellex, short as he was, struggled to see over the heads of those before him. Confusion hit him as he saw only a unicorn at first, the spiraling horn as distinct a marker for fauna as they came. The illusion of it being an ordinary beast of the Wastes was shattered as it raised its head and, in it’s maw, carried someone up who batted and clawed at its muzzle for release!

“Move! Move! Get to the shelters!” Daniellex roared, more aggressively shoving his way forward to try and help. By the time that he and the other guards got close to the oleum it was thrashing about wildly, rearing up and swinging its victim around as a doll. They could see the monster for what it was now, its emaciated body pocked with open sores and wounds that leaked black blood, almost entirely devoid of the tan colored fur that and revealing dark gray skin underneath. Its legs looked like they were broken in places, the bones sticking out against the skin at painful angles, it’s cloven hooves shattered into vicious spikes.

One of the guards was quickest to act, slinging an activated bolas through the air as soon as they were through the crowd and attempting to ensnare the thing! The electric blue lights of the flung weapon whirled through the night, leaving bright trails for the eye to follow, as they wrapped around the raised front legs of the thing! Electricity meant to incapacitate an individual ningen coursed through its corrupted body and it let out a horrid screech of pain, spittle foaming in its mouth as it dropped the person it had bitten. Any hope of saving them was quickly dashed, though, as the monstrous unicorn dropped down and stamped on their victim as it doubtlessly tried to free itself of the shocking restraints.

The three guards and Daniellex rushed forward, the four of them beating on the beast with mallet and baton. Daniellex swung his hammer wide and sent the head crashing against its rear back leg, shattering it and sending the thing falling down on the opposite side with another shrill screech. It still lived though and so the guards continued to try and club it to death while avoiding the flailing limbs and biting jaw.

“Move!” Daniellex cried out forcefully, having taken a step back and raised his gauntlet up and pointing it to the foe. The guards one by one looked to him and backed off when they saw what he meant to do and, as soon as they were clear, he unleashed a stream of fire onto the horrible thing. The sound it made as it died was as horrible as any it made while it yet lived. It took far too long for its body to go still and its blood to boil.

Daniellex only killed the stream of fire when he saw it twitch its last, his eyes drawn to the mouth of all things. It was too gaping for a unicorn. The thick leathery lips curled back over huge, flat teeth as they burned and he saw how its mouth was itself wounded as though someone had ripped the skin at the corners further down its jawline. It had no tongue that he could see and any eyes it might have one had had either boiled and popped in the flames quickly or, worse yet, he realized they might have never been there at all.

He looked to the others who were catching their breaths. One of them had pulled the body of the individual away before Daniellex had started burning and was making certain that they were dead. All of them had streaks of black ichor on them.

“What in the name of goodness…?” one of them panted.

“I do not know… I have never seen…” said another, younger than the rest.

“I have,” the guard holding the body said, their hand resting beside the indented bite wound of the unicorn. Their hand was splotched with oozing sludge that had come from the beast. “Five years ago… did any of its blood get on you?”

The two guards looked at each other and Daniellex did the same. They both found traces of blood on their bare skin and they nodded. Daniellex looked himself over and could find none that wasn’t on the suit he wore.

“My face?” he inquired, looking to the three of them. They looked him over and shook their heads.

“Ditch the suit, just in case,” the older guard said, dropping the body as he stood up. “We need to quarantine ourselves. Come, I will explain as we go…” Solemnly they turned to leave, paused, looked back to Daniellex. “You are a civilian, yes? I thank you for your help, but, seek shelter. Let the guards do their duty.”

“My brother is a guard,” Daniellex said gruffly. “I choose to go help him.”

No more words were exchanged as the three guards left and Daniellex worked to get the suit off without touching it, a task as annoying as it was difficult for him. Even more so because he had just put the thing on! He grumbled as he stripped out of the rubber suit, mentally complaining that he’d put it on in case anyone was stuck in a burning building and needed help. He hadn’t intended to use it to protect himself or others like he had just done.

The time it took him to disrobe himself of the suit gave him a moment to think. He’d assumed that, perhaps, a building had collapsed or something had gone horribly wrong in an underground facility, something like that, not that monstrous unicorns were running around Mirage trying to eat people! The black blood he was availing himself of, he realized, Joscur had told him of before. He hadn’t been supposed to, but, few things were kept secret between the two of them. With this moment of relative stillness he recalled the conversation about the oleum and put two and two together: He’d just helped kill an oleum and narrowly avoided becoming infected like the three guards had because of luck. He still didn’t understand though – weren’t only people made into those oleum things?

Recalling his conversation with Joscur made him think of him and his family. Where were they in all of this? Would Joscur have been near North Two at this time of night? Were Marisia and Vamenco still safe down in South Two? He didn’t know, but he could find out by staying the course and helping whomever he could. It was really that simple for him.

As he stepped out of the suit and picked up his mallet, he paused as his eye caught the burning corpse of the unicorn. He looked down the street that it had come from, the shadows that it must have hidden in to go unseen until it could attack. Were there more of these things running about? And if getting their blood on your exposed skin was as good as death… He glanced down at his exposed chest and the mallet that hung by his leg. It occurred to him that, should he run into more of those things, it would get awfully messy beating them to death with a hammer…

He took the time to unhook the fuel tanks and propellant gauntlet from the suit and take those with him instead of the hammer. He quite enjoyed that hammer of his, but, if he was going to survive further encounters with unicorns corrupted by black blood, it would be safer to stick with the flamethrower. So armed, he ran on to North Two.

***

William escaped the flames with a survivor on his arm, both of them coughing as they spilled out onto the glass street. The young woman was the only survivor he could find in the blaze. He knelt using his sword as a crutch while she scrambled up to her feet and ran on. Further off in the distance another explosion sang out its destructive chorus. The eidolon of Twilight looked up and ignored the stinging burns on his skin as the night air kissed them, trying to decide on where to go next. So much was happening all at once. He couldn’t save everyone.

A roar cut through his haggard coughing. The black haired young man looked down the burning street and saw another horrific beast limping towards him. Its head swung from side to wide as though unhinged from the joints in its neck with every step it took. He pushed himself up onto his feet and made ready to defend himself.

His chance to do so was cut short as a gout of flame burst into being and dosed the thing! It shrieked and fell, twitching and thrashing about. William’s eyes followed the source of the flame to find Daniellex at the end of it, holding his arm out and carefully minding his steps around the thing as he burned it alive!

“Daniellex!” William called out, coughing. He walked over towards his friend who did not take his eyes off of the monster until it stopped moving. Cutting off the flames, the burly ningen turned towards William with the fuel tanks under his left arm, a smile on his face.

“I am glad to see you safe!” Daniellex said, the smile dropping from his face as he grew focused. “What is happening? Where is Joscur?”

“Mirage is under attack. These things, these oleum, they’re organized somehow. I don’t have all of the details. They’re attacking all over the city!”

“Joscur and his family – are they safe?” Daniellex asked.

“I don’t know. They should be! Joscur went to get his children after the first explosion! Daniellex… I don’t know what to do to stop this…”

“I do not think that it is up to us to stop,” Daniellex said simply, looking around the street. “We should get to a shelter, find as many people as we can along the way. We will just have to trust that everyone is doing the same while the guards fight them off or call for help. Come, a shelter is not far.”

William took a step back from the hairy-chested ningen as hesitation filled his being. Seeking shelter may have been the right choice for most people, but he wasn’t most people. As an eidolon he felt a responsibility to try and do something to stop this, whatever this was, from happening. He hated the thought of leaving so many people to their fate. Even if he didn’t know what to do, the compulsion to do something to save them was still as strong as ever…

Just as Daniellex was going to coax William again, they both heard a cacophony to the north that whipped their anxieties to attention. The both of them saw a mass of writhing bodies just beyond the light of the fire like some tide of an angry ocean that had come to swallow them. More oleum than either of them could have imagined. William’s stomach dropped once again, but not because of the frightful sight of all of those monsters in of themselves. His eyes were drawn to one figure in particular who stood at the front of the throng. Smaller than the rest, only barely visible as an outline in the dark, with eyes like the tangerine corona of a black hole.

“You need to leave,” William said, walking forward.

“Hey! William!” Damniellex called, meaning to follow after the eidolon and pull him back. He recognized the immediate danger they were in. He just didn’t realize it as accurately as William did.

“Get to a shelter! Save as many as you can! Don’t let them bleed on you!” William barked as he started to run. Daniellex chose to heed his words, turning without another word and running in the opposite direction.

The figure raised their arms up to either side slowly as they walked forward and the horde of oleum began to disperse, fanning out and spilling into every street and alleyway. The humanoid figure vanished from sight quickly as they were overtaken, even their eyes vanishing in the dark.

They wouldn’t stay hidden for long.

From above William to the left came a scream of terror piercing the raucous air. William looked up and saw someone in their colorful clothes being hoisted up in the air over the edge of a building by the back of their skull. William stopped in his tracks – the figure! They were up there, gripping the holdout who had thought they might be safe if they stayed put!

Their life was cut short as a black obsidian blade was ran through their gut from behind, viciously drilled back and forth, and then yanked out before they were dropped down to the street below. The figure turned their orange eyes upon William as the parts of the oleum horde that did not scatter drew closer.

William could see them clearly now in the light of the fire. He froze in place, more horrified of what he saw up on that roof than by anything else he’d seen that night.

“It can’t be…” he whispered as he watched them drop from the roof and land standing on top of the body they’d just created. They stepped off of it slowly, their eyes locked on William.

“Lucifer…”

Lucifer was different from the last time that William had seen him in a way which was entirely different from he usually was. His hair was long and blond, greasy and tattered. His skin a dark, malignant gray drawn tight over the muscles of his body. He wore no shirt that hid the fact he was frighteningly thin, what remained of it hung around his waist just over his dirty pants. The knee high boots he wore, too, were disheveled and fraying. Worst of all, though, was the ichor, leaking in dark, terrible streams from the corners of his eyes, mouth, and ears, joining together as a single river under his chin that flowed steadily down and stained the front of his remaining garments as a visible sign of his corruption. William wouldn’t have recognized him at all were it not for the obsidian blade in his hand, that abyssal glass smooth as it was cylindrical, gently rounding to a point at the end, the edges chipped and serrated, the pommel a perfect glassy marble encased in dull silver. It was a dead give away to any eidolon who knew full well what that sword was.

Lucifer started to march towards William who stood frozen at the sight of the Eidolon of Darkness. Time seemed to slow down in a way that neither Mr. Wink nor the Dandy Man could control. The rushing oleum went streaking past the both of them, seeming to ignore the two of them entirely as they went on to spread further chaos and they ignored them in kind. William had forgotten all about Daniellex who couldn’t have been very far away, Joscur, his family, the council, the people of this city – seeing Lucifer like this was more important than all of it.

As they stared each other down and the deformed monstrosities passed them by, Lucifer’s visage was suddenly right in William’s face as he passed through the shadow of oleum and through another! Instantly William’s adrenaline spiked as he stumbled backward, caught by surprise by Lucifer’s sudden advancement of several feet!

The gray skinned swordsman raised his blade high and brought it down like an axe, William deflecting it to the left! Lucifer swiped right and William only barely avoided the cut of the obsidian by sucking his stomach in!

“Stop! Lucifer! It’s me! Twilight!” William pleaded, trying to reach his fellow eidolon.

Lucifer marched towards William and thrust his sword thrice, aiming for the young ningen’s head each time! William raised his sword and parried each thrust while retreating and weaving his head from side to side.

“Please!”

Lucifer responded by spinning his body forward, left hand grabbing the back of William’s single edge blade while the right whirled around and swiped at William’s upper body!

William threw his torso backwards to avoid the swing, rising up on the back and taking his first step forward as he spun around in kind and drove his left elbow into Lucifer’s temple! The Eidolon of Darkness staggered back two steps.

“I don’t want to fight! I can help you if you just talk to me!” implored William, who was answered by Lucifer regaining his balance, cross stepping his left leg over his right and swinging his dark glass blade upwards in a high arch from his left hip which William had to once again parry and back step to avoid! Lucifer followed up by lunging forward, driving the tip of his black blade down in a deep thrust which William jumped back and to his right to avoid, circling away from Lucifer as he impaled the colorful street!

William held his blade up defensively and stared in disbelief at what had become of Darkness. He saw him, hunched as he was, eyes imbrued with wicked ichor so that only the bright orange irises remained. Lucifer looked more animal than person, caught mid pounce on a prey that had just slipped by him. His lips oozed though shut and his gaze focused like any number of predators. Slowly Lucifer withdrew his sword from the glass shards of the street and turned his body to face William, raising his sword and crossing the point with William’s. Now appearing less of an animal, he was no less of a shadow of himself as William and he began to circle each other. The oleum had gone from that place now…

Save for one, William quickly realized. This brief instant of rest in their combat gave him but a moment to think about the implications of this terrible substance that had washed up on the body of some stony thing six years gone. Eidolons were not like ordinary people. They didn’t succumb to disease or infection, could only be slain by choice, luck, or astronomical skill, could not be corrupted by ideas or morality. Somehow, Lucifer had been tainted – turned into an oleum, just the same as those corpses in the tanks below Natator Tower. There was only so much in all of existence that could accomplish such a feat.

William grit his teeth and clenched his fists around the handle of his sword. He stopped pacing and so did Lucifer. They stared each other down in the fire light as monsters ran amuck in an oasis. Each took turns stepping. Testing one another’s positioning. William took in a deep breath, let it out slowly.

‘No running from this. No fighting it,’ he thought, steeling his heart for what he had to do. ‘Don’t let him bleed on you.’

The two eidolons turned their edges and pushed at the same time, William overpowering Lucifer and letting him rush forward!

***

Daniellex didn’t understand why he’d turned and started running away from William. Everything in his gut told him that he should have stayed and dragged William away at least, if not been some sort of vanguard with his flaming gauntlet! Yet he was running, panting heavily, trying to scope out a way to get underground. He was too far away to make it to a shelter entrance, not with all of those things on his tail, but if he could just find a way into the sewers or -

There! A false building! You could always tell them apart once you knew what you were looking for, so much smaller than their neighbors! They only needed to cover the stairs heading down! He started to run towards it as quickly as he could!

His pace faltered as he heard the shrill roar of more of those things! He looked back over his shoulder and saw a herd of them come rushing after him!

Daniellex curse in Mirage-Tongue, a phrase which, translated to Imperial, would mean ‘sand-fucked’, which was an expression meant to describe one being swallowed by the desert sands while still alive. Colloquially, it meant you were in trouble.

He turned his head and ran as fast as he could towards the building, hoping against hope that he’d make it in time! It came closer! The door frame, he could see it! Just as clearly as he could hear hoof and claw clattering against stained glass street! Closer! Closer! A foot closer! Another! A shriek of excitement, or was it agony?

Daniellex reached out and threw the door open, slamming the door shut behind him and pressing his body to the wood! He felt the impact of the oleum as the ones that pursued him slammed their body into it over and over! He worried that they might break the door down, looked over his shoulder to the entrance in the floor that lead to the tunnels beneath the city. Could he make it? Would they burst through if he let go?

He didn’t have to wonder for long as the oleum retreated from the door, leaving Daniellex pressing his body against it and gripping the handle with a white-knuckle grip. Were they gone? Did he dare to look out and see? The urge to do so was strong, almost as strong as his desire to step out and try to help others to get there. There had to be more people in the homes near by. People who hadn’t left yet out of fear or ignorance. He had the flame thrower, if he could just clear a path…

Daniellex let go of the door handle and pushed off of the door, turning and making his way down to the underground. He hated every step he took, but knew that he’d been lucky to get there in the first place. He wasn’t particularly smart, nor was he a hero, but he knew that if he went out there now, he would only die. Or worse. Become one of them. He couldn’t risk that, not when his god children still needed him.

He stepped down the stairs hurriedly, huffing with every step. Marisia and Vamenco were on the other side of the city. Their father was on his way if not to them already. The odds were that they were already safe underground. He would make his way to the shelter in South Two, make sure they were there, and if they weren’t, then he would go out and try to find them. It was all he could do.

***

Joscur held onto Vamenco in one arm and held Marisia’s hand in the other as they joined the throngs of people making their way to the South Two shelter. Bolara and his brother were right behind them. Dozens, perhaps hundreds, had made it so far. Word had traveled fast, fear faster, and as Joscur looked around he felt relieved to know so many had made it down into the lighted tunnels.

Marisia clenched her father’s hand as tightly as she could, knowing that if she let go she might be lost. This was one of the few times in her life that she’d felt the true sting of being blind so acutely. In her own home or in familiar environs like Kara’s place, the market stall, she was fine and could walk about unassisted. As long as she knew the layout she could take care of herself. If there weren’t so many people down there she likely could have been leading the way to the shelter herself! But she was pressed shoulder to shoulder to others who brushed past her as they moved further down the tunnel. She felt the warmth of their panicked bodies against hers. Her ears were overwhelmed by the noise of so many people talking, shouting, crying out for one another. She felt helpless for the first time since she’d lost her mother. So she clung to her father tightly, who treated her in kind.

“The shelter,” Joscur said, letting out a relieved laugh. He turned back to Bolara, pointing as best as he could with the finger underneath his son’s thighs. “The shelter is there! We have made it!”

Bolara could see what Joscur was excited about if he craned his head. The shelters underneath Mirage were all large, vault-like rooms outfitted with temporary amenities meant to get people through a few days. Fresh water, dried foods stored in surplus, basic medical tools and medicines were all standard fair in each shelter. They could support hundreds comfortably for three days, a week if supplies were rationed. City guards were positioned outside of the shelter doors, shepherding people in from either side, funneling them towards safety.

“We are okay, everything is alright Vamo,” Joscur reassured his son who clung to his neck and was uncharacteristically quiet. He was just as frightened as anyone was. Perhaps more. The young boy of five had never experienced anything like this before. It is a matter for philosophers to discuss whether this qualified as more genuine fear than that of those like his sister who would remember the events of five years past.

The group were ushered into the shelter after only a brief stop from the guards who, seeing Joscur in his uniform, asked what he was doing. “Getting my family to safety!” he had said and pushed past them. He knew they wanted him to help, and the instant that his son and daughter were inside he would – but not before. Joscur lead them over towards the nearest corner of the large, open room. Others were huddling together in groups of their own all around. The room sounded louder because of the acoustics. Joscur huddled down and dropped Vamenco on the floor, pulled Marisia close, and gave her hand to her brother.

“What are you doing?” Marisia asked while her father ushered Bolara and his brother over towards the two of his children.

“Stay with them,” he said, rising up to his feet.

“Baba, no!” Marisia cried, throwing her arms forward and latching onto her father’s arm as he turned to go. “Do not leave us! We need you here!”

“Marisia,” Joscur said, turning around and embracing both of his children as they rushed up on him. He pulled them down onto the floor with him, kissed his daughter’s forehead, her cheek, his son’s forehead. “You are safe now,” he said to them quietly so that only they could hear. “We have practiced this, remember? Remember how we have practiced? You are in the shelter now, your brother is with you, Bolara is here to help. He will watch over you three while I go and help others.”

“No, baba, no!” both of his children protested, clinging onto him tighter as he tried to pull away. He embraced the both of them again even tighter than before.

“Do not leave!” Marisia begged, tears in her eyes. “There are hundreds of guards helping! They do not need you! Stay here with us, we cannot lose you!”

“Do you not think that they have families as well?” Joscur pleaded, looking at his daughter and holding her face in his hands. “That they are not all thinking the same for their sons and daughters?” His grip tightened on his daughter’s cheekbones as he choked back the words he wanted to say and spewed out the ones he’d rehearsed for this exact scenario. “I am a guard. It is my duty to help the people of Mirage, all of them… but I helped you two first.”

The father pulled his children back into another tight hug. Both of his children were crying now. He wanted to join them.

“I am going to find Daniellex,” he said, pulling back from his children and smiling at them. “It is okay. Everything is alright. I will find Uncle Dani, I will bring him here, we will all be safe.”

“And William?” Marisia asked. She hadn’t meant to. It jumped out of her mouth before she could stop it.

“Will you find William” Vamenco whined much more innocently than his sister.

“If I can,” Joscur said. He gave each of his children a loving kiss, a final embrace, and looked up at Bolara. His silent expression told the young ningen all that he needed to know. Joscur rose to his feet and moved through the crowd. Bolara stopped either of them from pursuing.

By the time that Joscur made it back to the entrance of the shelter, the last of the civilians were spilling in. He looked to the other guards and announced his intentions: “I am going to find more civilians, bring them here! Shut the shelter once these last few are in!”

Joscur helped out the last few stragglers get inside and monitored as the twin doors were pulled shut by the other guards before turning and starting to jog down the tunnel. He felt lighter on his feet now that his son and daughter were safe. Clarity filled his being. He knew what he would do after getting out of these tunnels. The natator could carry him over to North Two, the first place he’d look for Daniellex. If his friend was not staying with them or at his apartment, he was most likely going to be in Scarlet Boulevard, and if he wasn’t staying with them, he was more likely to be there than his apartment. That’s where he’d go first. From high up, he’d get a better idea of the condition of Mirage. Be able to scout out for civilians and survivors, direct them to shelter entrances. If he found Daniellex, he could spare some time to try and find William, who could give him some answers about -

The rumbling crash was louder than any explosion that Joscur had heard with his own ears! The tunnel grew dark instantly and he was thrown forward off of his feet! Compressed air rushed past him and sandy dust barreled over him! His ears rang and his chin hurt from the impact! His head spun and he shook it to try and clear it. What had happened? Where was the light?

The lights further down the tunnel in either direction flickered on and off, struggling to illuminate as designed with the damage to their neighbors. Joscur blinked, felt the sting of sediment in his eyes, wiped them with the heels of his palm. He breathed in and coughed up dust, rolled over onto his side and looked behind him.

His heart vanished from his chest.

The other guards were also on the floor. He could just see their silhouettes through the dust. The walls on either side of the shelter door were in rubble, the doors themselves resting at crooked angles. The shelter had collapsed.

“MARISIA! VAMO!” Joscur screamed at the top of his lungs, scrambling to his feet to get back to his family.

***

Lucifer and William fought with the skills of unparalleled masters. Alone in the stained glass street now, they danced around each other’s thrusts, slashes, and cleaves with parries, blocks, pirouettes. Every move was calculated on William’s part, reflexive on Lucifer’s. Each step gained was almost immediately lost. Obsidian rang out against metal to the chorus of flames.

They each exchanged high and low blows with their swords. William advanced, Lucifer retreated.

The momentum suddenly changed as Lucifer blocked high, rotated his wrist clockwise, bringing his edge over William’s and drove his point forward, forcing William to retreat to avoid getting stabbed!

William withdrew his sword arm to untangle it from Lucifer’s and parried left. Lucifer used the momentum to bring his sword up and down in a circular motion for a downward slash on William’s center.

William stepped to his right, raised his blade, positioned his left hand against the back and pushed against Lucifer’s, giving him enough space to reach out and grab the corrupted eidolon’s sword wrist with his left hand!

Lucifer responded by cross stepping over his right leg and slamming a punch against William’s cheek, sending him reeling two steps and giving Lucifer time to right himself.

Lucifer raised his sword high, left hand grabbing his right wrist, bringing both arms down in a powerful cleave!

William dove under the blow, blocking high with his left hand supporting the spine of his sword and in so doing create an opening for himself! His left arm shot out and wrapped around Lucifer’s, left leg positioned behind his right. He straightened up and brought his sword around the back of his neck, slamming the pommel into Lucifer’s shoulder and driving the blond man down onto his back as he tripped over his leg.

“ENOUGH!” William roared, trying once again to get Lucifer to respond to him while he had his sword arm.

Lucifer rotated his wrist and found purchase in William’s back across the ribs as his blade sunk into him. William cried out in pain and reflexively released Lucifer’s arm, stumbling back as Lucifer followed by swiping his sword downward and narrowly missing Twilight, his point once again cutting into glass.

William put his eyes back on his foe, mentally assessing the cut he’d received. Shallow. A flesh wound. Nothing he couldn’t fight through. Once again Lucifer looked like a predator as he slowly rose to his feet, stoic face even and cold. William had yet to see him blink.

The pair of duelists once again circled each other. William lunged! Lucifer blocked. Lucifer advanced two steps and thrust! William parried and countered with his own downward slice and a roll of his wrist!

They were evenly matched. William wasn’t used to fighting like this. He’d never once heard of an eidolon fighting another eidolon. Never. Their goals were common, their needs the same! They had no need to fight one another! He’d already fought two guards and killed an oleum this evening. How much longer could he keep on his feet against a relentless opponent like this?

Lucifer thrust his sword low and William stepped back, blocked low with his sword, driving the tip of Lucifer’s obsidian blade into the street. Lucifer pivoted, spinning around and delivering a side kick to William’s wounded left sight! Twilight cried out and stumbled back. Lucifer assumed an ox guard stance.

William repositioned himself with his right side forward, assuming a fool’s guard. William backed up slowly, allowing Lucifer to advance. Baiting him. Lucifer took the bait.

The gray skinned fighter brought his blade over his head, around the back of his neck, left hand let go of the handle, he swung wide! William stepped out and brought his sword up to block high, arresting the black blade as he took a step forward, pushed, forced Lucifer’s arm around his left side! The pair spun around! Lucifer’s back slammed into the wall of a building! William had his blade pinned and his blade arm locked in position! William drove his sword horizontally forward, intending to trap Lucifer’s neck in the crescent of his sword!

Lucifer’s left hand shot up, grabbed the blade. Stopped the swing!

Face to face again! William panted heavily from both exhaustion and pain. Lucifer stared on in the light of the fire, microexpressions telling a story of primal frustration.

Lucifer raised his knee to strike William’s groin, who caught the knee between his thighs! Lucifer wrapped his calf around the back of William’s left leg, pulled his own back, forced William’s stance to widen!

He threw his head forward and bashed the hard bone of his forehead into William’s face! William shut his eyes, stumbled and fell backwards as his entangled leg threw off his balance! He caught himself and prevented his falling to the ground. Lucifer pushed off of the wall and lowered his sword arm back down to his side before raising it in front of him in a plow guard.

The black haired eidolon steadied his footing and held his sword far in front of him. Lucifer began to step to the left, William circled right in kind. The fire was to his back. The both of them rotated their stances, blades held near the head horizontal. William noticed a splotch of black on the edge of his sword near the middle. When had he cut Lucifer?

Lucifer spun wide, swinging his sword and forcing William to retreat and block! Lucifer’s left arm came spinning around, fist opening up wide into a bloody hand, flinging fresh black blood towards William’s face!

William ducked the blood and rolled to his right, coming to a stop on his knee and pointing the tip of his sword where he knew Lucifer to be.

Lucifer was gone.

Frantic, William rose to his feet and looked around. He quickly found the shadows that Lucifer must have vanished into, a dark curtain wedged between two buildings blocking the light of the fire. He panted heavily, his own breathing unable to drown out the sounds of people screaming off in the distance as they were brutalized. He rotated on the spot, looking for placed Lucifer could come from, edging back closer to the light.

There were too many places Lucifer could be. Darkened windows. Around corners. Wedged in between some rubble. He was anywhere. He was everywhere. William thought he saw his bright orange eyes in every shadow. His eidolon could only emerge from one of them though. The wounded eidolon watched every shadow and kept his back to the fire…

Lucifer burst out of a flaming window and lunged at William! Sword raised high, he made to chop down the eidolon from behind!

William acted fast. A split second to react! He brought his sword up high over his head, tucked his neck down, left arm extended to support the blade! He caught Lucifer! Felt the pressure on his right side. Released the grip of his sword! Both hands grabbed the blade as he stepped forward, spun around, brought his sword around wide like a hammer and drove the right side guard of his sword into Lucifer’s ribs with a murder stroke!

The corrupted Lucifer was dragged from the fire by the blow, sent sprawling out on the glass road, spinning! William looked at the guard of his sword while Lucifer began to push himself up. Blood on the guard. He’d broken skin. An open wound was in Lucifer’s left side. It’s oozing blood joined the river on his chest and dripped viscous puddles onto the rainbow road.

Lucifer looked up at William as William took a moment to tear off the other sleeve of his shirt, quickly mopping up the blood off of his sword and tossing the rag down. Lucifer rose to his feet and clutched at his side, switching sword hands.

“Lucifer… Lucifer, remember what we fight for,” William again pleaded. “Cathedral Terra. Don’t you remember? Think of Cathedral Terra!”

Lucifer paused as he raised up his sword again. His face twitched. From pain or recognition it was impossible to say. It was the most expression that William had seen from his fellow eidolon since laying eyes on him.

For an instant, William dared believe that he might have gotten through to him…

William’s shadow passed over Lucifer.

Lucifer’s left arm thrust the black blade into the shadow, everything form the elbow down vanishing before reemerging at an unnatural, disconnected angle, thrusting upwards towards William’s head!

William yanked his head back, denying Lucifer the use of his shadow and forcing his arm back to it’s natural position, and swung his blade up wildly! He’d meant to parry the obsidian blade, but managed to sink the edge of his sword into the back of Lucifer’s hand instead!

The abyssal sword was sent flying out of Lucifer’s wounded hand and went clattering over the road of North One. William looked to it in disbelief. Lucifer capitalized! He lunged forward and attempted to tackle William!

William jumped to the right and avoided being infected by the narrowest of inches! Lucifer landed on all fours, equally as close to slamming into the wall of the burning building, and sprang forward towards his sword before it had even finished settling!

William chased him with a ferocity that matched his growing frustration! Time and time again he had tried, and failed, to make Lucifer choose to end this! His actions were just the same as those other beasts, not his own! Not his choice! William had no control over him! It made the fight extremely uneven!

Lucifer scrambled to grab his sword from off of the ground! William kicked him in his left side! He rolled onto his back, black sword in hand! William rushed over and planted a foot on his chest, pinning him down and pointing the tip of his sword into his unblinking face.

“It’s over!” he growled, chest rising and falling rapidly. Lucifer’s did the same beneath his boot as the two combatants now fought for air. “Call off this attack! Leave this city! Or I’ll kill you now! Now!!”

The treat landed on seemingly empty ears. Lucifer released his sword from his left hand, brought his arm up in a swipe for William’s leg! William withdrew with a frustrated yell, stepping back and giving Lucifer the space to get up on his side again. Lucifer grabbed his obsidian blade with his right hand and prowled on all fours, slowly rising into a hunched position.

William had had enough. He let out a barbaric yawp and stepped forward, sword raised high and brought crashing down onto Lucifer, who blocked it by rolling, bringing his blade up, and falling onto his back. William hacked down at the eidolon, keeping out of arms length so that he couldn’t be grabbed as he did. He hammered away over and over again, sparks flying as metal and primordial glass collided against one another repeatedly.

Lucifer’s arms gave out before William’s did. William screamed and drove his sword through Lucifer’s gut, his angle off from rage and impaling Lucifer on his left side! The glass below cracked from the impact.

The wounded eidolon grit his teeth at William, just as dark and oozing as his skin was. His gums were a lattice of black veins over dark gray flesh, pain finally registering. William glared down at him, huffing the now warm night air, hating what he’d had to do.

Lucifer vanished from underneath William’s sword as his shadow had passed back over him. “No!” William cried, yanking his blade out from the street and raising it once again as he whirled around and searched for Lucifer. It only took him a moment to located the corrupted eidolon standing on a roof two buildings away. They stared each other down, hair catching in a passing breeze. Lucifer held onto his wounded left side with his right arm, held his sword with his left.

“LUCIFER!” William shouted, his voice echoing in the still moment of the night.

The gray skinned eidolon turned away from William and vanished into the dark of the night.

William collapsed after taking three steps to try and pursue him, falling to his knees and using his sword like a cane. The moment of fighting was passing. Reality was sinking in. His back ached and screamed in pain with his every breath from the cut he’d received. He was exhausted. He’d saved so little, and hadn’t managed to stop Lucifer in his twisted form.

The horrific cries of oleum rang out over Mirage. A sound of retreat that no one would realize until well after the fact. They vanished into the night just as quickly as they’d come. William sobbed while they retreated, unable to keep up any pretense of stoicism after all that had happened in a single evening and what he had learned. He cried in pain. In anguish. He cried for Lucifer. As he cried, he removed his soiled boot, ripped up the rest of his robe. Made sure to wipe all of the blood off of his sword and checked himself for any contamination.

When he had the strength, he threw the tainted garments into the fire.

***

A little over an hour had passed since the start of the attack and Daniellex’s rude awakening in the arms of his lover. He was down in the tunnels below the city, following along a small crowd. He’d passed by and through many of them that were headed for different shelters. He was navigating his way through to South Two, where he knew that Joscur’s family would be. He hoped he would find his friend and brother there as well. He hope that his godchildren were alright.

He had to believe it, though. He kept telling himself that. ‘I have to believe that they are fine,’ he repeated in earnest. It helped quicken his steps as he walked to the beat of his own belief.

The group he traveled with were also headed to South Two. They had come from East One where the shelter had been deemed at capacity and they had been instructed to head to the next sector. Traveling through the underground tunnels was simultaneously more straight forward and more difficult than traversing the street above. They had to be guided by people who knew the way, what turns to take, how to avoid clepsydra stations (which were like roundabouts, having many paths which lead to them and so could be confusing and not straight forward if one were heading for a shelter), where the underground working facilities were. Daniellex had only a rudimentary understanding of these tunnels and could not rush ahead on his own, no matter how much he wanted to. No matter how much it slowed him down.

Gradually, they made their way to South Two’s shelter and as one came upon the sight of it which stopped them in their tracks. Daniellex refused to believe it, pushed and shoved his way forward to the front of the group. He walked forward and came to a stop when he saw what there was to see.

A lone guardsman was climbed on top of the collapsed wall and ceiling on the right side of the toppled door, digging away with a madman’s fervor at the hunks of crumbled stone.

Joscur.