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Chapter Text

The nighttime sea coast was quiet save for the rolling waves and the occasional conebeak call on the wind. Stars twinkled above and the moonlight stretched down its silver-blue touch upon the waves and sand in a way that reflected to be a mirror of the sky above. On any other day, an evening walk by the sea would be a pleasant way to pass the time. But now, not a soul dared get close to the waters now. At least not any civilians. The remaining members of the what had once been the Resistance that monitored his activity were a different story entirely.

He was far off the coast now but a brilliant blue light that rhythmic pulsed, hampered by the distant depths, meant he was awake. All it took was a perceived threat and the flat, tadpole-like tail he used to swim would send him fleeing deeper into the waters and kick up large waves or launch him into the shallows with impossible speed.

One elf in the group, a small fellow named Arch tapped on his handheld sonar device and frequency device, anxiety setting his shoulders tense and rendering his hands shaky. Sweat beaded his forehead and his thin-rimmed glasses kept slipping down his nose no matter how many times he pushed them back up. A calming hand on his shoulder from the leader of the party settled his nerves for a second long enough to find his voice.

“What are you picking up?” His leader asked.

“W-well sir, I think the Leviathan is asleep, or at least in a period of low activity,” he reported, tapping on the blue screen of his monitor. “See this line? That picks up minor vibrations and those vibrations match up with each increase of brightness. Originally, I thought it was his breathing but in actuality, each light pulse matches up with his heartbeat. I’ve counting and his heart rate is at- quite astonishingly, I might add- about a beat per minute. It’s incredible! Not to mention how long he can sleep for without resurfacing for air-“

An impatient raised hand drew him from his ramblings and Arch promptly shut his mouth.

“Thank you for the update but if you notice anything out of the ordinary, log it,” his leader said. “We need to keep track of everything it does and see if we can establish any patterns of behavior. Every time it submerges, we run the risk of it darting off and going on a a rampage.”

“He. Not it.”

The leader of the expedition turned his sharp eyes on an elven girl, irritation already beginning to flare within. The gun in her arms ill fit her and she carried it with disdain, regardless on whether or not the ammo would even harm the Leviathan. Mayor Riva assigned her and her brother on this mission not just for her skills in weapons but to keep this particular mission leader on track and ensure he did not break this single rule:

Under no circumstances would the Leviathan be killed.

Loni and Roni promised her and the Commander that this would never come to pass. It would take two to keep this stubborn former mercenary on a tight leash. Loni locked eyes with him and tersely reminded him, “Don’t forget he spared your life, Gabilan.”

“And if he truly understood what he has become, he would ask me to take him out of his misery himself,” Gabilan snarled, his temper flaring to the surface. “Don’t speak to me like you understand the nature of losing control. You can’t even comprehend the evils that creature is capable of. That thing is not what he used to be. It’s something else.”

Loni spun on her heel to face him, marching right up into the face of the older elf. Arch ducked behind his screen and Roni almost dropped his weapon in surprise. Her serpent nostrils flared indignantly and she hissed through her teeth.

“He is still in there, you owl eyed traitor, and I won’t have you speaking ill of-“

Arch’s device cut her off with a shrill beep and the meter that read the vibrations began to spike rapidly. Up and down it went and a little red light began to flash an alarm.  At that moment a guttural groan rippled through the air up from the depths below. Loni and Gabilan abandoned their face off to look to Arch. Loni reinforced her grip on her weapon while Gabilan looked over Arch’s shoulder.

“Sudden spike in activity, sir!” Arch reported as sweat trickled down his forehead. “He’s awake and it looks like he’s headed for shore!”

“What?!” Gabilan shouted and snatched away the monitor from him. “Why?!”

Arch looked up at him incredulously, jaw flapping as he tried to piece together some kind of proper response. His mind blanked as the light beneath the waters glowed brighter and the figure concealed beneath grew closer and closer.

“I don’t know!” Arch shouted. “Tectonic activity, presence of prey, defense?! I can’t read his mind! Maybe he heard you! Maybe he-“

Panic jolted through him as the water further off bulged strangely over the mass of something big coming to the surface.  The water surged foreward, waves rising from the speed of his approach. Arch stumbled back in horror, landing hard on his back and scrambling back in an attempt to get away.

“He heard you!” Arch screamed in abject terror. “By the Erlking, he’s going to kill us before we kill him!”

“No, it isn’t,” Gabilan said with determination searing in his glowing eyes. “Loni, Roni, take aim and go for its eyes.”

Their weapons pointed at the coming wave. Loni looked to her brother through the blood pounding in her ears. His eyes were always obscured by those silly goggles she like to tease him for but she didn’t need to see his eyes to know what he was feeling. His shoulders tensed, fingers set firmly to the trigger, but his mouth was pressed into a firm frown. Every twitch of his muscles screamed hesitation and reluctance. She could feel it and she shared it.

There was only so much time and it had already run out. The surface tension ruptured, a boil of sea water sprayed in all directions, and from the dark waters burst the Leviathan. Loni and Roni had never seen him outside of witness sketches and newspaper photographs that made the former stonekeeper look more like some exaggerated cryptid. The photos almost looked doctored; this giant serpent-headed dragon creature only captured leaping into the waters or skulking behind buildings like some old monster in children’s stories. They didn’t hold a candle to the real thing.

He burst up once his feet touched the bottom, spraying foamy seawater in a monumental wave that he stood even higher than. He was massive, well around 200 feet. His lithe body stood on slender, powerful legs, gray with darker stripes along his side and spine like a tiger shark that went all the way down to that long tadpole-like tail. Like the low quality pictures depicted, his python face swiveled on a long, arching neck and was decorated with some kind of hooded crest. It wasn’t as smooth as the “cobras” Navin described, ending in a triangular point that flexed the hood open and closed. The smoothness of his white underbelly was broken up by the source of his glow, his brilliant blue amulet embedded in the very skin of his chest. Fractal patterns like lighting strikes webbed across his neck and chest as the magic that pulsed beneath his skin burnt across. Every scar, the ones that laced across his right arm and the one etched into his face years ago, glowed with that same energy beneath.

Loni had greatly looked up to him once but seeing him now, this semi-aquatic drake that had flooded Frontera and capsized vessels he thought posed a threat…. It was deeply wrong. He ran towards them on his webbed reptilian claws, magic pulsing faster and faster.

Roni raised his weapon and looked to his sister. Loni met his gaze, nodded, and took aim. Their weapons powered up and condensed plasma blasts shot out like bullets. They hit their mark and sent boiling hot blood spraying from each wound. He just kept charging. His massive size made each blast seem more akin to ant bites in his rubbery, tight scaled hide. He continued to run right towards them, each step shaking the ground with greater intensity the closer he draws. His eyes glowed, no pupils to be seen with no clue as to where he’s aiming.

“The eyes!” Gabilan orders. “Aim for his eyes!”

Arch screamed and ducked down as the creature was less than a hundred feet away. Loni and Roni raised their weapons higher to do as Gabilan ordered by neither fired yet. They hesitated for a moment and a moment too long. The Leviathan was upon them now, the trembling earth knocking the twins off their feet.

The Stone Titan bellowed so loud, Loni thought she’d go deaf. Like a massive whale call, his voice reverberated right through her. Her very bones rattled beneath her flesh and left her ears feeling like they had been packed with cotton. She couldn’t even tell if the shaking was from his footsteps or just her. A pair of arms wrap around her and Loni didn’t need to look to know her twin had abandoned his weapon just to hold her one more time. Loni’s eyes screwed shut and she held her brother just as the Leviathan’s shadow overtook them.

There was a crash and groan of metal bending beneath weight it couldn’t withstand. The rumblings faded as the Leviathan ran off inland, leaving their helicraft completely crushed and the tracking party unharmed. Loni and Roni watched him go in quiet shock. Gabilan pushed himself off the floor and looked over his team. The twins were fine and save for the mini heart attack, so was Arch. He stood up on wobbly feet with his monitor clutched to his chest.

“W-Well um…. I-I-I’m going to g-go log that,” Arch stammered, white as the clouds above and with little more to say. He staggered off on his jello legs and paused only to double over and vomit into the sand.

Gabilan waved him off, frustration beginning to boil to the surface. “When you’re cleaned up, log it, report it, and call for a pick up. Now. Please.”

Arch wiped his mouth on the back of his hand, nodded, and dug through the pockets on his vest for his telecommunicator. Gabilan turned sharply to the twins, teeth bared. He stalked up to Loni like a towering giant before Roni stepped in front to intercept him.

“Watch yourself, merc,” Roni spat.

Gabilan glared between them, his glowing yellow eyes burning with unrestrained fury. Roni didn’t back down from the older and stronger elf. He steadily stared back, Gabilan’s bright eyes reflecting off his goggles. Loni moved stand beside her brother, taking the heat off him alone.

“The next time I tell you to aim for the eyes, you aim for the damn eyes,” he hissed through bear trap teeth.

“We weren’t even his target,” Loni spat right back. “If Prince Trellis wanted to kill us, he would have done so. We will not blind our rightful king for nothing!”

“That thing is not your king,” Gabilan said, taking one threatening step closer. “Your king is dead! He is dead like his father before him!”

“How dare you-!”

Before Loni could pull her fist back and give Gabilan a more permanent reason to wear that mask, Arch’s quivering voice pipped up.

“Umm, sir?” He squeaked. “Mayor Riva is requesting our presence with the commander. I-Immediately.”

Gabilan hissed out a frustrated breath, muttering curses quietly to himself. He sharply jerked away from the twins like a predator that decided his prey was simply not worth the effort. He snatched the communicator away from Arch and ordered him to gather his items while they waited for pick up.

Loni tossed her gun aside and sat on the floor with a weary, distressed groan. Her brother plopped down beside her in quick succession, rubbing a tired hand over his forehead. The waves of the waters yards away were the only sound now, a rhythmic splash that would beckon sleep if the twins weren’t so wired.

“I’ll be honest, I think I’d prefer facing the Leviathan than Gabilan,” he whispered to his sister. “Getting squashed by the big guy would at least be an accident.”

Loni laughed quietly but the humor behind it was muted. The Leviathan was long gone now, yet that oppressive atmosphere of his presence lingered. Though he had been focused on something else and no visible pupils to indicate what exactly he had been fixated on, she couldn’t help but feel the prince stare right at her for a brief moment. The air still felt thick in her lungs and that urge to hunker down like a field mouse clung to her muscles. It was overwhelming to be noticed by something so massive. Something so obscenely powerful that weapons meant to down wyverns with ease didn’t phase the prince and he had looked right at her. Her own words rang in her head.

If he really wanted to kill me, I would be dead.

“I wonder why he freaked out like that,” Roni said, half to himself and half to her. “All our reports indicate he’s a reactive creature. Vessels getting too close, being fired upon first, the kind of stuff that would get any spooked creature to lash out, you know? Think Arch was right? That the Leviathan heard us?”

“Then we definitely would look like our helicraft right now,” Loni remarked. “I’m not even sure how good his hearing is. It’s gotta be something else.”

“Like what? You think-“

Roni sat up straight as realization yanked him forward, alert like a startled rabbit. Loni followed in case he had seen or heard something she hadn’t. The beach was still quiet save for soothing waves and birds had begun to return after fleeing from the mighty Stone Titan.

“What if he’s going to attack a city?” Roni asked.

“He doesn’t have a reason to,” Loni said. “In every instance he’s attacked, he had a reason. Even if the reason was irrational.”

“Loni, I get it but…” Roni slumped a little and pulled off his goggle to clean off smudges. “The Phoenix didn’t have a reason to attack Nautilus. What if Gabilan is right? If things go too far-“

“He’s still in there. If there’s no hope for him then…. There’s no hope for any of them.”

Roni sighed and slipped back on his goggles. He picked up his discarded weapon, ensured the safety was on, and plucked a cleaning rag from his pocket. He began to wipe his weapon down though it was merely sprinkled with sand. Neither said anything for a moment and Loni assumed the conversation was over. She lied back in the sand and listened to the crashing waves, cawing seabirds, and Arch babbling about new findings to a less than enthused Gabilan.

“I hope you’re right.”

Loni glanced to her brother while he absentmindedly cleaned off the barrel of his gun. His gaze fixed on the weapon, the shape of it reflected in his goggles. She didn’t need to see his eyes to know he wasn’t full

“I just hope that it’s what Prince Trellis would want too,” he said. “Y’know?”

Loni looked back to the sky. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky to obscure the twinkling stars above. Its vastness was as daunting as the promise she made to the prince’s brother and her commander, and the creature the prince had become. Still she had made that promise and her mother had raised them both with an understanding that promises are not made to be broken.

“I hope so too, Roni.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Black Forest wasn’t too far from the sea and significantly empty compared to the coastal cities the Leviathan had learned to avoid. Too full, weapons that scorched and stung, and so, so loud. Too loud. Had it always been that way? He couldn’t remember. He couldn’t remember much anymore. Such an unpleasantly familiar feeling. Reaching into the back of your mind to try and recall something that simply isn’t there. Grasping about that blank space only to pull your hands back, empty and unsatisfied.

The Leviathan couldn’t even remember his name. If he ever had one. Was he supposed to have one? His own thoughts were barely even certain constructs. They were more instinctual actions tied together with prompts of familiarity. For example, he didn’t like the desert place. Something bad had lived there once. Something that changed everything. Change from what? He couldn’t say. Things had grown fuzzy since then, after all.

The Black Forest itself was familiar but for a more recent reason. She always seemed to come back to Demon’s Head Mountain after days long excursions and the forest at its base was the closest he could get to her nesting site without getting driven off with a fresh set of burns. He couldn’t explain this pull. There was a physical reason; the stone in his chest would alert him like a built in warning system that another of his “kind” was nearby. Usually he would leave or seek out to drive off a potential threat.

His stone had alerted him of her roosting but this was different. But there was this weird emotional pull. The other two didn’t spark this same feeling. The feeling of seeing her, a flying mass of flame in the shape of a great eagle, filled him with an overwhelming sense of sadness. He could rationalize in whatever mind he had left that it was not a pleasant feeling. He shouldn’t actively seek out a source of sorrow. He shouldn’t seek something that seared skin with the slightest touch. But he did. It pulled him like a hook in his jaw towards certain agony. That sadness was twinged with this old sweetness he couldn’t place and couldn’t forget.

Had they been friends once upon a time?

Regardless of the reason, stone or heart, he was there now. So tall the very tops of the trees could not even brush the rubbery scales of his underbelly, he stalked through the forest towards the base of the mountain. Once he reached that unspoken border, he rose onto his back legs to try and catch a glimpse onto his old something-or-other.

The flickering glow at the top of the mountain marked her presence. From afar, it burned like a signal bonfire but not for help. It was a warning to stay away. The paths up to the mountain were rocky and treacherous so it made for a perfect nest. Even with his own powerful legs and if she posed no threat, he too was hesitant to even attempt the climb. From his place on the ground, the Leviathan let out a deep vibrating call. A groaning bellow rose from his chest that made nearby waters tremble from the force and animals run for cover. The glow on the mountain remained unchanged. The Leviathan was undeterred, instinct driving him though part of him knew how this could end. He called once more, louder than before.

I’m here! I’m here! It’s me! Can you hear me?

The glow grew brighter, flames flickering from a crackle to a roar. They took shape from a bonfire into a blazing wall of heat, morphing and twisting to mimic the form of wings. They opened and arched as she took flight from her nest of Gaboda bark and charcoal. She screeched back, far less friendly.

Intruder! Go! Go! Leave!

The Leviathan took a few cautious steps back. Once again, as expected, that blanket of sadness came to rest on the Leviathan’s shoulders. Yes there was fear as always but that sorrow accented with a twinge of sweet caring overcame it. He stood up on his strong hind legs once more and called out again, a lighter, earnest reverberation.

It’s me! It’s me!

The Phoenix shrieked and descended. She flew down to claw at him with talons of fire. Her warning had gone unheeded once again and in her mind, he posed a threat. Graceful long legs carried him out of her reach as she swooped down and up to try again. His serpentine head swiveled on his arching neck to keep her in his sights, shifting his weight onto either side in preparation. He bellow a warning and his hood unfurled in an attempt ward her off. Trying to look bigger only seemed to egg the Phoenix on. She swooped down and only then did the Leviathan raise a shield.

The stone in his chest surged with energy, light from the power coursing through him and leaking out through his scars. In an instant, a bubble of blue light surrounded him and the Firebird collided with it. Though her body was made of fire, the impact was audible in a colossal THOOM! She screeched as the energy seared, too hot for even her. She flew upwards on flustered, uneven wing beats. Shock turned quickly to wrath. She furiously blasted a superheated column of fire at the surface of the bubble. It did nothing and she tried again. Furiously, she blew blaze after blaze from her lungs and flares from beats of her wings. Still, it did nothing.

Eventually, in what could’ve been minutes or hours, the Phoenix stopped. Her wings beat slower as exhaustion set in. In that brief minute where she burned herself out, she stared at him. Anger faded into more indignant curiosity. She surveying the weird shield he fashioned from himself. She flew a few feet closer, tipping her head to the side.

She didn’t land, but then again the presence of other Stone Titans always kept her in the air, even when she was so puzzled. The Leviathan crooned out a low greeting now that she was distracted from her fury. They had clashed before but scraps usually ended with him leaving confrontations. This frustrating indestructible bubble was new but… not. It was familiar, like she had seen it in a dream she couldn’t easily recall. She flew close enough that the flames that made up the plume of her tail flickered on the grass and turned it to cinders.

Close up, he could see how puzzled she was. She chirped something, trying to figure him and his strange shield out. Her eyes that burned like live coals softened, embers losing their heat for a second. In that brief second, a whisper of a moment that threatened to pass too quickly, he could see eyes much like his own. That curious look tinged with sadness. Still, he wasn’t dumb enough to drop his shield. Whatever she had been, whatever bond the two had shared, she was as instinctual as he was now.

The Phoenix looked him over once more before a beat of her wings sent a gust of hot air his way and carried her up and out of reach. She held his gaze for a moment, indiscernible. Her eyes reignited with more intensity and she shrieked she turned midair. The stone in the Leviathan’s chest jolted with energy and with it, a bolt of fear and something worse than sorrow. Not at her no, but what suddenly called them both. At that moment, there was a deep call from somewhere in the distance.

The bellowing call of something very, very big.

The Leviathan recoiled and his shield dropped in favor of running. He looked back the Phoenix but it was too late to call her name- her name, her name, what was her name?! - She did not look back as she flew off into the sky. She fled fast and far until distance made her inferno seem more like a bright star gone supernova.

As she escaped to where the Leviathan could not follow, he paced and bellowed in frustration. Though he’d walk back to the sea with less burns to heal, for a moment they were not rivals. Just as soon as that moment began, it was over. He was no closer to answers than when he came to be. The Leviathan swung a furious webbed claw and kicked up trees in his flare of temper. The oaks and spruces flew like grass blades and crashed in the distance, paid no mind by the Stone Titan. Another call from in the distance, far but definitely more alert than before reminded him of more pressing matters. A jolt of fear lanced through his chest and he turned tail to flee back to his preferred domain.

He moved fast until the bellows faded into little more than a distant sound almost imperceptible by even his keen ears. In the time he made it back to the rolling waves, his little watchers were gone with their strange flying machine left in shambles. With the voice of the Behemoth far behind, the Leviathan took a moment to give the bent hunk of metal a brief sniff. The sharp, nauseating stench of gasoline hit his nose and clung to the back of his throat. He recoiled and snorted out the traces of that unpleasant smell. Giving the machine a distasteful nudge with his snout for a moment, he lost interest and continued his return home. He stepped over the trashed machinery and back into the cool waters. It seeped past his claws, up to his elbows once he approached the drop off, and over his head as he dove into the murky depths away.

The surface faded away to a distant blot of moonlight as the Leviathan dove down. His tadpole tail pushed him through the dark waters until he reached the sandy bottom. Clouds of sand billowed up under his weight like their fluffy airborne twins in the world  above. Rook crabs scattered in different directions as his body came to rest in a nest of sea floor kelp. Heavy enough to hold him to the bottom and enough air in his lungs to keep him there, he would wait from the for either the big fellow to lose interest, a threat to test his patience, or for the Phoenix to come back. He closed his eyes to let sleep take him, diving into depths further within his own mind full of memories he couldn’t place.

Chapter Text

The city of Cielis was buzzing with activity. Rather than busybodies going about their days, the energy in the city was filled with quiet panic. Construction workers urgently reinforced undamaged buildings from dawn until dusk. With the ones that lay crumbling beyond hope of restoration from ash and claw marks, they focused on what they could save and secure. Families stocked up on rations in the case that power would go out again and chose to either evacuate to the ground below or batten down the hatches. The marching boots of soldiers patrolling the outer rim of the city with weapons in hand was the only comfort to be offered. So long as no one looked into their anxious eyes that never left the skies or acknowledged their weapons’ futility.

The center city was no better. Most of the citizens that refused to evacuate to the ground below had moved deeper in the city and left it with the comfort of an overstuffed coop. Cielis was reduced to a mass of wriggling, terrified, poor tempered bodies. Taverns were filled with patrons looking to drown their fears and frustrations with pints of ale and thus, bar fights were a plenty. Inns were at max capacity and hospitals were stretched thin. The whole city was a hot and stuffy powder keg of pent up emotion just waiting for a spark and if it weren’t for funds and support provided by the Hayes family, that spark would’ve long been lit.

Their tension was more than understandable and Navin knew it was only the right thing to push more efforts to bring the little comfort he could. He stood at the window of the once again abandoned Guardian Council chambers and looked out upon the heavily populated city centers. The room, once already begun to be restored, had fallen into chaos, repairs long paused and now filled with dust and reports from observation crews and cities.

Navin rubbed a tired hand over his face and groaned quietly. His bones ached with exhaustion and each step felt like a challenge. Luckily, or rather unluckily, he was not permitted to stew in his weariness. The benefit of these wide halls meant footsteps echoed. Navin heard Riva’s footsteps before she even made it to the door. If not for the echoeing of her boots, it would be her almost constant squabbling with Gabilan. Navin let out a frustrated grumble and pushed away from his place on the window just as Riva opened the door, followed by the one man capable of getting under her skin.

“There is no evidence of that and you know it!” Riva snapped over her shoulder and slapped down a folder of new papers. “Attacks are far too sporadic and half the time, they just mind their own business.”

“Have your chemicals left you blind to entire toppled buildings outside?!” Gabilan retorted. “If so, you should quit apothecary if you actually want to stop the Titans and save lives.”

Navin rubbed his temples as Riva whipped around, either about to slap him across the face with her report or verbally rip into him. Navin stepped between them and placed an impatient hand on each combatants shoulders.

“Hey, let’s take a minute to calm down,” Navin said. “I didn’t call you both in just so you could tear each other to shreds.”

Riva kept her furious gaze locked with Gabilan but took a step back to compose herself. Gabilan set his jaw and his fists remained balled up in agitation. Still, he heeded Navin’s reason and kept his mouth shut.

“Ok, so let’s start from the beginning of-“ he gestured between the two with a tired wave of his hand “-this whole thing. You two have any updates?”

Riva tugged on her collar and took a deep breath. “Yes, we have reports about the Phoenix and her activities. Since the conflict, she’s been making routine stops at Demon’s Head Mountain. Though we have yet to establish an exact pattern of her resting periods, we have a range of anywhere between one to three weeks. She tends to rest more frequently after an altercation. Just yesterday, she had a short rest before the Leviathan went inland. What I don’t understand is why this one location?”

“It was one of the first places we went when we first came here,” Navin said. “She traveled there to find a cure for Aracnopod venom. It must be because it’s familiar and pretty secluded.”

“So is Cielis but it doesn’t make a nest here,” Gabilan cut in, crossing his arms and tipping his head towards the main city center. “Lots of fresh meat. The Olitiau would agree.”

Navin shot Gabilan a sharp glare and withheld the urge to snap at him. He took a sharp breath through his nose and picked up the folder from the table where Vigo used to sit. He flipped through the pages full of pictures of the effects of the Titans. The waters had finally receded from Frontera but the coastal damage was significant and 15 people had lost their lives. If it weren’t for Frontera just barely beginning its reconstruction with very few workers being stationed there, it could’ve been way worse. Still, 1 or 2 or 15 were still to many. Navin frowned deeply as his fingers passed over the image of what had once been his ally and friend.

I really hope you don’t understand what you’re doing, Trellis.

There was the destruction of Stenguard but that was more armed conflict between the Phoenix and the citizens. She was why the monarchy was in shambles after all so a fight was bound to happen. With Cielis, at least she hated other titans more than she hated being disturbed and her conflict proved to be beneficial in that case. They were still in the air because of her. Nautilus? Well… there was no excuse for that. Luckily the fire brigades were able to stop the fires from consuming half the city but there were a lot of people dead and even more injured. Some parts were still burning.

Navin tried not remember it but the awful memory pushed through his mental barriers to the forefront of his mind. Searching for an answer to the shadows in the city of Nautilus with Aly, Riva, and the twins only to find that bird of flame tearing apart the city. The agony and fear was only doubled at the soul wrenching realization that it was no creature of myth. He couldn’t explain how he knew, just that when he looked into the live coals of her eyes, he saw his sister staring back. The fires that comprised her body burned but nowhere near as painful as the feeling that remained in his chest as she flew off to sow more destruction. At least recently, her actions weren’t as malicious and she seemed to be a more violent version of her usual isolationist self.

Then there were the other two. One far more gentle than the other and the actual threat was a complete mystery. Navin flipped through the pages and noticed no new reports to register on the other Titans. The papers to the Behemoth with nothing but a large, poor quality shape leaning against one of the Coconino mountains and a flash of black flying by.

“Nothing on the Behemoth or the Olitiau?” Navin asked.

“For now, nothing on the Behemoth since it entered a low activity period and since the attack, the Olitiau has remained off our radars,” Gabilan said. “We tracked it escape heading north since the Phoenix drove it off but lost contact once it flew out of range. At least the Phoenix hates that one more than it hates us. Seems every single time any one of them gets close to a city, the bird goes feral. If it doesn’t go feral on the city itself.”

“But that’s just it, they aren’t acting like the giant walking weapons you described them as,“ Riva remarked. “They’re acting more like wild animals with basic instincts. They lash out defensively.”

Gabilan groaned and leaned back on the desk. “Oh not this again, Riva.”

“I’m serious! We can’t just blame all their behaviors on ghosts and magic rocks! Save for the Olitiau, it’s too inconsistent to be targeted! Look at the reports!”

“You may not believe in the creature that speaks through the stones but if there’s one thing Luger has right, it’s that it is behind all this! How many times do I have to tell you-“

Navin shut the folder with an audible snap and the sound stopped them in their tracks of their usual arguments. He looked firmly between the older elves, frustration beginning to bubble to the surface.

“Quit it. Yeah, the Voice is real and is the reason we’re in this mess. It’s his fault my sister is… different. But Riva has a point. There is more to it. Something isn’t matching up here and if Luger believes we can reverse this, then there’s a chance. I can feel it.”

Riva softened and she placed an understanding hand on his shoulder. Gabilan remained cold but his aim of objectivity couldn’t stand firm forever. Not when the Commander was merely a sad boy chasing hope. Gabilan’s stony resolve crumbled a little and he ran a hand down his armored face with a weary sigh.

“We can’t be doing this off feeling alone, Commander,” Gabilan said. “We need something more.”

Navin looked up and he slowly he nodded. Though Gabilan’s words were easy for the young Commander to understand and take to heart, Riva began to bristle. Her grip on Navin’s shoulder tightened for all but a moment. Regardless, she knew better that to trouble Navin with another disagreement and chose to say nothing. Yet. Despite their shared goal, Gabilan’s history and his blatant lack of empathy never failed to get under her skin. Especially when it involved Navin and the Titan situation.

“We’ll figure something out,” Navin promised. “I will personally make sure of it.”

Gabilan looked down on him with scrutinizing yellow eyes but his thoughts did not leave his mouth. Navin gently shrugged off Riva’s hand and he walked towards the door.

“I’m going to head down to the communication towers to find my mom and reach out to Leon,” he said, his voice flat and cold. “I’ll see if he has any updates on my sister.”

With that said, he shut the door hard. The two elves listened to the echo of his footsteps as the young Commander departed. Gabilan exhaled a bone deep, disappointed sigh and braced his hands on his hips. Riva pinched the bridge of her nose as she composed her flaring frustration and moved towards the window. She propped her elbows against the windowsill as she looked out on the crowded scared city but listened at the clanking, armored footsteps of Gabilan grow closer.

“You know what must happen if we can’t stop them,” he said quietly. “I will do what I can to prevent that but we can’t just cover our ears and pretend that isn’t a possibility.”

“You seem awfully eager to jump to that, considering you ordered Loni and Roni to blind Trellis.” Riva kept her gaze fixed in the city below, fingers digging into the sleeves of her yellow coat.

“I doubt the damage would be permanent. He heals at an alarmingly rapid rate, even for our kind. The burns he was recorded to have sustained from his last confrontation with the Phoenix three weeks ago are practically nonexistent now. Besides, better him blind than thousands dead. It’s what he would want.”

Riva whipped away the window and into the mercenary’s face. Her eyes locked into the glowing, owlish eyes of her rival and quietly fumed out between her teeth, “ What he would want? Trellis and Emily spared your life and in their hour of need, you are more than happy to put them down like rabid animals. You’re ready to place that on Emily’s little brother!” She jabbed a finger into his chest with quiet, mounting fury.  “Don’t you dare tell me what Trellis or Emily or Vigo would want.”

Gabilan held her intense stare, not even pausing to blink. Somewhere in her mind, her reasonable thoughts that had been patiently waiting to speak up pushed through and gently reminded her that she had gotten in the face of an actual assassin with several deaths under his belt. Be it honor, debt, or mutual gain that made him join their crew, his loyalty was questionable at best and methods vile at worst.

Best keep him in our good graces and take the high road for Navin’s sake, her reason chided. He knows more about lost Stonekeepers than most.

Still it was too late to take back her stance. Her words cut right into the nerves of the mercenary and his concealed temper began to seep through the cracks of his cold exterior. He leaned down, inches from her face, and bared his dagger teeth.

“Can you honestly tell me what the Guardians would say knowing the destruction they caused?” He snarled venomously. “Or how they would cope with the fact that people are dead because of them? I have seen just what an out of control Stonekeeper can do more times than anyone should and if you look outside-“ he jabbed an armored finger to the city outside “-You can see just a taste of what they’re capable of now. I know monsters but I also know the kind of people the Guardians were. Can you say the same, Mayor Ash?”

Riva’s fists balled up but for a moment she couldn’t say a word. Not when the faces of the Guardians were at the forefront of her mind and the events that brought her fully into the Resistance played in the back of her head; The three Stonekeepers that willingly placed themselves into the hands of Max Griffin to save their allies and risked their own lives to save an enemy army from certain death. Life was important to the new Guardian Council and that’s what separated them from the Elf King. Life mattered and if it meant sacrificing themselves….

Riva stepped back and looked away.

“Only when we’ve exhausted every single option will we consider… that,” Riva said. “And I mean every single option, Gabilan. We owe them that much. And under no circumstances are we to put that on Navin. Are we clear?”

Gabilan regained his composure and nodded in agreement. If it was that they could come to compromise on, he would accept it.

“Crystal,” he confirmed.

They held defiant gazes for a tense minute before Riva broke away first. She pushed past him towards the table and busied herself with stacking reports together. It was menial but at least she didn’t have to face him more than she was willing to tolerate.

“In the meantime, we need to focus on deterrence,” Riva said. “Vessels are to give the Leviathan a wide berth and under no circumstances are commercial fishing ships to use trawling nets in his territory. I will organize an order for them to expand their routes out of his usual path. Just keep using heat tracking systems on the Phoenix and implement measures to counter her attacks and minimize damage. Better funding for fire brigades, fire extinguishing weapons, evacuations, everything.”

“Very well. I recommend we communicate with the elven kingdom and ensure they’re on the same page. They will need our help now more than ever and vice versa.”

“We can agree on that. The last thing is monitoring the Olitiau and Behemoth. If the Behemoth so much as yawns, I want it logged and reported. But the real issue is the Olitiau. We need to find a consistent way to track it.”

She picked up one of the folders designated specifically for that creature and flipped it open to view its contents. The few images they had captured were little more than black smudges as it had flown by. There was little to go off of with the inconsistent and sometimes exaggerated descriptions from eyewitnesses that managed to survive. The only things that remained constant were words like big, black, and flying. This complete lack of understanding was anxiety inducing at best and absolutely terrifying at worst. With no Stonekeepers left to correctly identify as the creature, the last one being Max Griffin who was lost on the airship that crashed over Lucien, the hadn’t a clue where to start with the Olitiau.

“We can’t rely on radar to predict its movements so we need to find something concrete. Because we know nothing about the Olitiau and the only thing consistent about it is its aggression and unpredictability, feel free to use heavy force against it. At this rate, I’ll take an autopsy over another casualty report.”

Gabilan nodded in agreement and with nothing else he thought could be said on the matter, he turned on his heel to depart. Just as his hand gripped the door knob, Riva’s voice beckoned his attention.

“Gabilan, if the Voice of the stone really is manipulating everything, we need to find out what that is,” she said, hesitation drawing out her words. “But how? Without Trellis, Emily, or Vigo, we’re dead in the water with nothing to go by.”

“Well we get someone who does have access to that kind of information,” he said, matter-of-fact as if it was as obvious as the sky was blue. “We need a stonekeeper.”

Riva almost dropped the Olitiau file when that left his mouth. She whipped around to stare at him so quickly, her braids hit her cheeks.

“You say that like it’ll be easy!” Riva asked incredulously. “Another stonekeeper?! Where do we even find another one? Emily, Trellis, and Vigo were all that was left!”

“Leave that to me,” Gabilan said. “I’ll begin searching today.”

Before she could press about what he could mean, Gabilan left. With her alone, Riva ran a worried hand over one of her braids. Gabilan’s words clung to her like fuzz held to her form with static. She looked to the stack of reports dating back weeks after the event that turned the world wrong. She picked up one of the pictures taken from the first clash between the Leviathan and the Phoenix since the “Titan Emergence” at Valcor. At least that was what eyewitnesses were dubbing it now.

The images were poor quality, completely monochrome with the Phoenix being reduced to a blot of overexposed white thanks to her being composed of heat and light. Every image depicted what must have been a brutal combat. At least an attempt of a depiction. Photos really didn’t capture just how massive these friends-turned-creatures were, regardless of quality. She had gotten a glimpse of only one since the Titan Emergence. Even with the distance of a few miles, the clear view of the top of the Behemoth’s back poking from between the Coconino Mountains still sat in her mind like a lump of dreadful ice. In the image, Riva could make out the blurred shape of the Leviathan locked in terrified, vicious combat with what had once been his greatest ally and beloved friend.

Her eyes fell to the body of text of the report.

The Leviathan had come onto land at 6:00 and began approaching the northernmost coast of Gulfen for unknown reasons. Elven researcher, Dr. Magel Arch of Stengard reported him to be exhibiting investigative behaviors. Within two hours of his emergence on land and coming within approximately 1.6 kilometers of Stengard, the Phoenix that had been following her usual flight patterns had taken a sudden turn over the east of Valcor and made a rapid approach towards the Leviathan’s location.

Within 35 minutes, the Phoenix attacked the Leviathan unprovoked and following several sustained injuries, he retreated back to the Alledian gulf. Stengard’s militia engaged the Phoenix shortly after and conflict erupted, resulting in a total of 26-

Riva stopped reading there. She had heard of the destruction when the Governor of Stengard sent requests for medical and financial aid following the Phoenix burning down the southern quarter where a majority of their forces were. Valcor was in no shape to provide it now, so that left them reaching out for help beyond the borders of Gulfen. It had been the first time in 50 years since they had been so united. If it had been any other circumstance, she would probably joke about how ridiculous it was that something worse than the Elf King could be the only thing that could get the three parts of Alledia to cooperate. Now it just made her sick to her stomach.

She shut the folder and set it down on the old table intended for the three. She had hoped that with the coronation of their new king and the establishment of the new Guardian Council, peace would finally reign. Lucien could be rebuilt and she’d finally get to lead without worrying about her city being overrun. Now she had no clue if the skeleton of her home just beginning to regrow its shape would be drowned out, burnt to the ground, torn apart, or stepped on. Everything she had been trying to preserve was at risk once again.

Father Charles, you know I don’t believe in prophecies or visions but I could really use one right now, Riva thought quietly to herself. At least as a good second opinion.

She also didn’t believe he would answer. She couldn’t say exactly what afterlife Elder trees went to, if there even was one. She never believed in premonitions or visions or miracles but in an age of monsters, there were more insane things to believe in.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The communication center was in total frenzy when Navin made it there. It was always loud and busy but for Navin to hear the frantic shouting and sounds of footsteps running to and fro from down the hall was never a good sign. A jolt of alarm seized his heart as he pulled the door open, quick and anxious to what he would find. Communication officers ran back and forth from their logging systems to their radio controls to get more information. Robots typed out information and add them to growing stacks of reports. Papers filled every wood table and metal chairs unoccupied. Amongst the raging sea of reports and shouts, Alyson, Luger, and Karen dart between stations like frantic ants.

That jolt of alarm reinforced itself like a second push right through Navin’s heart and he weaved through clamoring officials to reach the three of them. His mother hadn’t noticed him enter until he stood right next to her. She jumped slightly when his hand touched her arm upon finally reaching her but it was gone in a moment, faded away into relief.

“Oh Navin, thank goodness you’re here!” She said with a weak smile. “It’s so loud in here, I didn’t hear you come in.”

“What’s going on?!” Navin shouted over the cacophony. “Has there been another attack?!”

“Not yet but we got new reports in from Kanalis and Coconino city,” Karen explained loudly, pulling out of the busiest section of the room to where Luger and Aly were huddled around a stack of new papers.

“That’s never a good sign,” Navin groaned, rubbing a hand over his tired eyes.

Aly looked up from her reading and through the weight of her concerns at hand, her stress-taut muscles released their tension at the sight of her partner. If for a brief moment.

“We have a new development reported early this morning from Leon,” she said, gesturing to the transcripts taken to paper. “The Leviathan and Phoenix were spotted together near Demon’s Head Mountain following Gabilan’s update late last night and during the sighting, the Behemoth began vocalizations. Movement was spotted from Coconino City and they are predicting that he is starting to wake up.”

“Wake up?!” Navin gasped.

Navin squeezed between Aly and Luger to look over the new reports. The papers were still warm from print and some portions of ink lightly smeared under his fingertips as he quickly read through them. The report was hastily typed out with spelling errors but it reaffirmed just what his mother had said. He pressed an anxious hand to his forehead and looked between the three of them.

“No activity for weeks and he just suddenly wakes up?! Why?!”

“We suspect it was because of the activity between the Leviathan and Phoenix,” Aly explained. “Our records show a pattern of increased activity whenever a titan either enters his proximity or if titans engage in combat.”

“Combat….?” Navin asked. A tight, anguished feeling flooded his chest and turned his knees to frightful putty. His mother’s hands moved to rest on his shoulders and she gave him a comforting squeeze. The way her fingers trembled as she did so did not go unnoticed. Navin breathed in a sharp breath and refocused through his overwhelming dread. He reached is hand up and he gave his mother a reassured pat along her fingers. “What was the damage? Any causalities?”

“Minimal this time,” Aly reported, handing him an image on a sheet of paper. “Some fallen trees and contained fires. She was roosting in Demon’s Head Mountain when the Leviathan approached her. City lookout managed to nail a picture of the two and reported that they had begun to face off but then began ‘communicating.’”

Navin took the picture between his fingers, ink still left on his fingers rubbing off the paper. The image was just as she said. Though the over exposure made capturing her physical form almost impossible, the bleached part flying above the cobra-drake body of the Leviathan was clearly his sister. There was some distortion around the Leviathan that blurred him and he stared directly up at her from his defensive position. So many pictures of them from the previous months capturing the friends-returned-to-foes started like this and always preceded catastrophe.

“Communicating?” Navin parroted. “Months of fighting and now they’re communicating? Why?”

Aly nodded gravely and Luger leaned back against a nearby table. He drew a weathered hand up to his chin thoughtfully and tutted to himself.

“My theory is that they are drawn by familiarity and repelled by instinct,” he said. “My memories of the time are fuzzy but from what I recall, I attacked opponents from what I had preconceived as a target. The mentality of the titans seems to be driven by similar instincts I had.”

“But what about Emily?” Karen objected. “Trellis was Emily’s friend but every time they meet, it ends in catastrophe. Why would she consistently attack him or anyone she had connections to? And we don’t even have a clue about the Olitiau or why it is even here!”

Luger pursed his lips thoughtfully.

“Perhaps it was the circumstances of her transformation,” Luger said. “To be fair these are theories and none of us were there when the Emergence occurred. I’m afraid we’re still new to this and who knows how long we have until we fully understand the nature of these Stone Titans. This is vastly different from my experiences and I can only take us so far.”

Karen frowned deeply and straightened up. She carded her nails through her blonde hair, though gray streaks born from stress had found their way into her strands years before they should have. Gathering what strength she had left, she gathered some of the reports and called over a passing communication officer.

“Please prepare an aircraft for me and chart routes to Coconino,” she ordered. “Radio Leon and tell him to meet me there immediately.”

Navin’s brows shot up in surprise while the officer saluted her and rushed off through the chaos of the center to complete his task. His mother looked to Navin and plastered on one of her lesser convincing smiles.

“I’m going to talk to Leon and see if we can survey the… Behemoth in person.” Behemoth left her lips like the words were coated in barbed wire. “See if he goes back to sleep and if the other titans show up.”

“I’m going with you!” Navin said, more a demand than an actual declaration.

“No, I need you here.”

“But, mom, I’m the commander! I have to help-“

“You are also only 12 years old. I won’t let you risk your life any more than you already have!”

Frustration, pent up and boiling, rose to the surface and the words left his mouth faster than he even had the thought to process them.

“I’m 13 now and that didn’t stop anyone else from risking my life when I was even younger than that!”

The bustling room went largely quiet, only the sound of clicking keys and whispers between some of the officers. Karen frowned, every muscle pulled taut. Navin didn’t back down and held her furious stare. Luger’s wide eyes darted between Navin and Karen before quietly he quietly excused himself and shambled off to a different area of the room. Aly stared at the mother and son stand off and said nothing, lest she accidentally set off a full scale argument.

Karen turned stiffly on her heel and walked to the door. She gripped the handle with white knuckles and all but ripped the door open.

“You’re staying here. That’s the end of it.”

With that hissed through her teeth, she slammed the door shut behind her and was gone. Navin’s fist clenched tight and he drew in a harsh breath. Fury bubbled in his gut but like a lid to a pot, he composed himself and looked to Aly. She had watched him with wide eyes and, very quietly asked him, “Are… are you ok?”

“No,” he said firmly. “Could you do me a favor and let me know if anything changes?”

“Uh, sure,” she replied hesitantly. “What are you going to do?”

“Blow off some steam before I lose it.” He all but spat that out like bile on his tongue. stormed out of the communications center and slammed the door with such a force, it rattled behind him.

The silence in the air slowly returned to contained chaos, though not as hectic as it had been. Aly stood there, papers in hand and a sorrowful look beginning to shadow her face. She stared at that door for a long moment until Luger’s voice called her back from her wistful thoughts.

“Perhaps you should go and check on him,” Luger said, gently pulling the papers from her grasp. “I’ll keep an eye on everything here.”

“Are you sure?” Aly asked. “Maybe he needs some space to process his thoughts.”

“My dear, all he’s had is space to process,” Luger said. “I think he needs a listening ear right now. Go on, I’ll handle everything here. I’m my brother’s keeper, after all.”

His voice took a sad note there but he pushed it aside for now. He patted Aly on the shoulder and gestured for her to go. She looked back at him once but after a second, moved in the direction where Navin disappeared. She departed and left Luger to his monitoring.

He picked up one of the images of the Leviathan, a survey photo taken by a scout team shortly after the Emergence. He ran his weak fingers over the face of what had once been his little brother.

“You can’t be serious!” Luger shouted after him as his brother packed rations into his bag. “Of all the foolhardy plans you could have come up with-“

“It’s our only chance,” Trellis said, his back facing his brother as he shoved more clothes into another bag with tight fists. “If we kill the King, we sever a major connection the Voice has to our world. With him disoriented and weakened, he might lose control of Emily. She’ll be there to try and defend the Voice’s puppet. With the Voice out of the situation, we can restrain her and try to talk her down.”

“It’s too risky! The king might kill you and worse yet, he might puppet Emily and use her against you!”

“It’s the best we’ve got and we’re running out of time! She’s already burned down a massive portion of Nautilus! She could have killed Navin! I promised I’d bring her back and I want to make sure her family is still alive when I do. It’s only a matter of time before they strike against another major city or us directly.”

Trellis pressed on in his packing, actions rougher and jerky. Luger shook his head and threw his hands up in complete frustration and exasperation.

“You can’t do this alone, Trellis!” He shouted.

“I have Vigo. I will be ok.”

“You both are being reckless! You’re not thinking clearly!”

Trellis abruptly slammed his bag down and whipped around to angrily face his brother. He hadn’t noticed it then- Erlking, why didn’t I notice it then -but the bags beneath his eyes had worsened. He movements had been sluggish before but even with exhaustion draining all that was left of his strength, his eyes were alert with something sharper and more frantic than just anger.

“Do you have a better plan, Luger?!”

The silence was tense and thick like tar as Trellis slung his bag over his shoulder. He stalked past his older brother but stopped at the door. His claws dug audibly into the wood. The marks were still there now. Slowly, Trellis looked back over his shoulder to his brother. Every muscle twitch, every intake of breath from the young elf screamed hesitation and fear but his resolve remained.

“I need to set this right, Luger,” he said, voice low and raspy. “I owe it to her.”

“She’s going to kill you,” Luger said. “You know that, don’t you?”

“If that’s what it takes to bring her back, then so be it.”

He left then, ignoring his brother’s call to come back and think things over. He left that day with Vigo for Valcor. Vigo came back days later without him.

Bitterness sat on his chest like a lead weight at the thought of the old man but it didn’t linger when something heavier overtook it. Luger swallowed down the lump of grief in his throat and held the picture of the Leviathan to his chest, crinkling it as he did so. He took up a radio in his free hand and listened to the chatter over the airwaves. It was the very little he could do now.

“I will set this right, little brother,” he whispered. “I will bring you back. I promise.”

Chapter Text

Navin raised the blade over his head and let out a furious scream. He slammed it down into the head of the dummy, slicing into the foamy fabric to create a prominent notch. He drew it back and stumbled over his feet before trying again and again. The blade was intended for someone taller than him but its owner had left it unused for some time. He hadn’t exactly promised to teach Navin about sword fighting since Leon would make for a more skilled teacher, but some lessons had been shared.

“No no, your feet need to be further apart- not that far apart. You look like a broadfoot.”

“What’s a broadfoot?”

“It’s a sea bird with large webbed feet. Just focus on what I’m telling you. Keep your blade up and never take your eyes off your target. That’s how you lose a limb. Don’t roll your eyes at me! I swear, you’re just like your sister!”

The memory threatened to push tears to his eyes and blur the room. He never really got the hang of it; the sword ill-fit his hands and he was never able to get the motions right. But for what it was worth, Trellis was a fairly good teacher. Even when irritated, his criticisms were more sarcastic jabs than words meant to tear him down. It was when Emily joined them that was the most fun.

Emily would encourage him and poke fun at Trellis in the same breath. The banter between the three had become less training and more of a game of wit, between three teenagers. Most of the time, the sword would remain unused and the three would sit down in a circle to share meals and continue their sharp conversations. Distance and responsibilities put an end to the beginnings of training far too soon and Leon never had the opportunity to delve deeper into technique and finesse.

Though Navin was absolutely useless with a sword, it made for an excellent destress exercise. Especially when imagine who he would love to wallop with the sharp end of the blade. At least he tried to. It was hard to imagine this specific opponent.

Not his mother- no, never ever his mother- or the Elf King or anyone he’s met and had the misfortune of earning his permanent ire. He had no idea what he looked like nor what to go off of. His sister didn’t describe him and neither did Trellis with the explanation that he hadn’t really spoken to him in years. Vigo was no help as any responses from the old man was to leave the trouble of stones to Stonekeepers. Fine advice on its own but he couldn’t say it did much good for them over the years if the walking giants were anything to go by.

Navin tried to imagine what the Voice of the stone would look like on his own. Perhaps a body comprised of thousands of stones like some walking construct made up of glassy colors. Maybe some demon like the movies on earth portrayed with ghastly inhuman skin with horns and cloven feet. Maybe some mysterious man dressed in a cloak with features obscured. Maybe a mix of all three.

Whatever the Voice looked like, construct, demon, or man, Navin wanted nothing more than to drive the blade in his hands through the creature’s gut for taking his sister and his friends. He raised the sword over his head and with a roar and hacked over and over across the Voice-dummy’s face and sides. Notches were left in the foam but nothing too deep. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and surveyed what was probably the most ineffective assault in the world.

The tip of the sword hit the floor with a loud clang when his grip on the handle loosened. Navin let out a loud, exhausted sigh. He plopped down onto the padded floor of the training room to catch his breath and let anger attempt to evaporate. The beige room was filled with old fitness gear and faded green sparring mats that stank of feet, but at least it was quiet. The two massive windows on one wall with a view of the main hanger made for a peaceful source of light and view of the sky outside. It was too bad he didn’t have the time to fill the paperwork to take a Silverhawk for a spin.

He wasn’t in the best shape to fly either way. Just swinging the sword sapped what was left of his strength and left his muscles with the toughness of wet putty. Navin looked down at the handle of Trellis’ old blade and grazed his thumb along the dark leather strips designed for a better grip. He could see his reflection in the polished, chipped iron of the sword and gingerly touched the bags under his eyes.

Any more lost sleep and I’ll have bags under my eyes that would outdo both Trellis and Luger combined, he thought to himself, half a joke and half genuine concern. It was an easier thought than thinking of just how much he and his sister looked alike.

The creak of the door drew him from his sad musings and Navin whipped around to see Aly push her way into the training room. He was easy to spot with him sitting on the floor like a depressed mop of a teenager. She shut the door behind her and walked up to him with her hands shoved into her pockets.

“I didn’t know you knew how to use a sword,” she remarked.

“I actually don’t,” Navin said. “I know the basics but I’m really not good at it. Leon promised he’d teach me more but you can see why that was postponed.”

Aly hummed in affirmation and looked at the blade. The design was long, straight, and clearly forged from tough Gulfen iron with its narrow shape and dark tinted metal. She leaned down and carefully pulled the blade from Navin’s hands. Straightening up was not so easy as the sword was deceptively heavier than it looked. She grunted as she lifted the sword onto its point, poised like the statues of sword wielding stonekeepers that decorated the outer walls of Cielis.

“Where’d you even get this?” She asked. “Gulfen metals aren’t easy to come by.”

“It’s Trellis’ old sword,” Navin said. “He lent it to me a couple times. I never had a chance to give it back to him.”

The words weighed a ton on her mind and Aly chose not to go too deep into it right then and there. She inspected the blade for a moment, noting the indents left in the leather grip straps left from its owner’s claws and notches left in the metal from duels. She looked back to Navin only to see he had quietly stood up and walked over to the large windows overviewing the aircraft hanger. She set Trellis’ sword down and followed him over as he rested his hands on the railing to look out.

“You ok?” She asked. “You were pretty upset back there.”

Navin grimaced at the thought and that still simmering anger sparked once more into a flame in his belly.

“It’s the hypocrisy of it all.” His words were sharper than he meant them to be and he took a second to compose himself. “…. When I first came here, there was danger. From the very first moment we were putting our lives on the line. My sister put that stupid rock around her neck and next thing we know, our mom was taken from us and off we were. We’ve fought giants, been thrown off cliffs, been shot at, knocked down, blown up, separated. We’ve almost died maybe a hundred times and only when my sister is turned into a giant flaming monster do people care that we’re too young. Only after the worst thing has happened is when people want to protect me!”

His fist slammed into the wooden bar and it rattled from the force. Aly jumped at the sudden noise but said nothing as Navin continued.

“My sister and our friends were turned into monsters and now they won’t let me do anything to help!” Navin seethed. “I get it, my mom wants to keep me safe but it’s too late for that! I’m already in neck deep! I mean, one was on our very doorstep just two weeks ago and if it weren’t for the Phoenix, the Olitiau would’ve knocked us out of the sky that night! Even as a monster, she’s had our backs. Even if it may have not been on purpose. We still rely on her after all this time and now they just want me to sit here and look over reports because it’s ‘safer’ while she endures whatever that demon in the stone If everyone really cared to protect us, my sister would still be here!”

His face felt hot and only when Aly’s hand press into his shoulder did he calm down enough to look at her. Aly held his gaze for a heartbeat before carefully pulling him into a hug. Her arms secured around his shoulders and Navin reciprocated, locking his arms tightly around her waist. He burrowed his face into her shoulder and bit back an anguished sob. Tears threatened to escape his eyes and he tried his very best to not to let the emotions of the moment overtake him. He tried so hard to remember his sister and her unshakable will. How through the anguish and rage, she put it aside to focus on the task at hand. Repression suited his sister fine but it fit him about as well as clothes for someone half his size; pinching too tight in places and choking the very life out of him. Still, he persevered through the pain. He couldn’t let himself get overwhelmed. He would blubber and sob like a baby once everything was set right and his sister could be there to cheekily tease him for it and wrap him in a comforting hug.

Aly rubbed her hand along his back to comfort him until Navin pulled away first. He quickly wiped his eyes and sucked in a tired but somewhat relieved breath. It didn’t lift the sorrows from his heart but it was more like an extra pair of hands had come to lift it with him. A far more pleasant Heracles and Atlas unity that softened the bitter from the bittersweet on his tongue.

“Look, I know I can’t really say it’s ok,” she said. “Because you’re right. It’s not ok. This whole situation is really messed up and never should’ve happened in the first place. I’m really sorry you have to deal with this and I wish I could take this burden from you.”

Navin swallowed back another wave of emotion but thankfully one not as blisteringly angry as before. It was warm like honey milk tea and he quickly wiped his eyes once more to ensure tears remained at bay.

“Thanks Aly,” he quietly murmured. “It means a lot to me.”

“No need to thank me,” she replied with sweet gentleness. “I’m here for you no matter what happens. And together, we’re going to bring them all back. We’re a team right?”

Navin nodded and with his mind cleared, he realized just how close he was to Aly. His hands were still around her waist and she had kept her hands on his shoulder. She smiled warmly, color beginning to touch her freckled cheeks. Something warm and fuzzy like cheerful wiggling caterpillars tumbled in Navin’s chest and he pulled away before that feeling could blossom into butterflies and take away what was left of his weary heart.

Not now but definitely later.

He looked out the window to try and squash down the color in his cheeks. It was nice to be comforted and he was not ignorant enough to not acknowledge that Aly was in a similar boat to him. She had grown up in war and was burdened with a similar struggle. How she handled it so well, he never knew.

He didn’t have long to wonder when he spotted something and it brought him out from his own mind. A lone figure dressed in dark brown armor marched out into the quiet hanger below. Navin squinted his eyes and made out the shape of an easily identifiable metal mask and long elven ears. Gabilan was down in the hanger and saddling up his stormbird, Twister. He packed bags of what looked like gray ration packages and ammo into his mount’s saddle bag before going back out of the hanger to retrieve more items.

“What is it?” Aly asked, looking out of the window and down to Gabilan. The beginnings of a scowl began to twist her expression at the sight of the familiar mercenary. “What is he up to?”

“I don’t know,” Navin said. “Let’s go see.”

The two hurried out of the room, leaving Trellis’s sword on the sparring mat, and rushed down the stairs to catch Gabilan before he had a chance to slip away. They made it down just as he was returning back with a strange weapon on his back. It looked like an unusual hybridization of a weapon. It was a compound bow in shape but in the place of a notch where the arrow was supposed to rest was a pulsing, yellow energy crystal of some kind tied to a pull mechanism along the bowstring. It wasn’t a stone like the one Emily wore but was more like a shard of contained lightning. Gabilan had an assortment of tricks and gadgets but this was one of the weirdest ones Navin had seen yet.

“Gabilan, where are you going?” Navin asked. “Did Riva send you on another survey mission? And what the heck is that?”

He jabbed a finger at the weapon and Gabilan glanced between Navin and his weird little machine.

“It’s a shockwave bow,” Gabilan replied. “I’m heading out towards the western outer areas of Alledia. I don’t know when I’ll be back or if I’ll see a titan so I’ll need some heavy protection.”

“Alone?” Aly asked as she eyed Gabilan suspiciously. “There has been very little titan activity that far west. Why? What are you up to?”

Gabilan curled his lip at the girl and turned to face her. “Oh I’m sorry, I didn’t know you had a promotion to Captain Hunter. I must have missed the ceremony.“

“Excuse me?!” Aly snapped, incensed to his blatant disrespect. “You answer to me like you answer to everyone else that questions you, regardless of rank!”

“I’m not one of your army’s little recruits, nepotism hire!”

Navin pushed between them before the fight could escalate further and shot Gabilan an irritated look. “Listen, I am kind of at the end of my rope right now and I really can’t deal with this. Just tell me where you’re going and why. Please?”

Gabilan grunted irritably but took a step back. “I was speaking with Mayor Ash and we reached an agreement. Without a Stonekeeper, we are completely blind to what the Voice is up to. We have no clue how far his influence stretches or insight on his plan. I am going to search for one and bring them back.”

“I thought the Guardian Council was all that was left,” Navin said. “How do you know there are any out there?”

“No matter how much I would prefer the alternative, Stonekeepers have been a constant since Alledia’s earliest years. There is bound to be at least one hiding away for one reason or another. At the very least, one will pop up eventually if my search is fruitless. Hopefully I’lll still be young and spry and Alledia won’t collapse by then.”

It wasn’t until Gabilan paused and awkwardly cleared his throat that Navin realized it was his attempt at a joke. He still didn’t laugh. Navin looked to the bow on his back and it clicked.

“I’ll go with you!” Navin proclaimed.

“What?!” Gabilan’s big eyes widened and he firmly shook his head. “No, absolutely not. It’s dangerous and you’re needed here.”

Aly looked to Navin in surprise and gripped his sleeve to try and pull him back from whatever he was planning. “Navin, your mom said for you to stay here.”

“And do what?” Navin said. “To play secretary and look over reports day in and day out while people I care about suffer and innocents die? I was risking my life when it wasn’t my choice. If I’m going to have my life on the line, it’s going to be on my own terms. I won’t be alone this time. Right, Gabilan?”

Gabilan hesitated and looked in the direction of his stormbird. Uncertainty set his mouth into a frown and Gabilan shook his head.

“Commander-“

“I just want to save my sister and my friends,” Navin said. “Please, Gabilan. Just let me have the chance to try and help.”

Gabilan shifted his weight in discomfort, looking between Navin, Aly, the floor, his bird, and Navin again. After a long minute of silence, he let out a groan of defeat and pressed an exasperated palm to his face. “Mayor Ash is going to kill me because of you.”

“Is that a yes?”

“Yes but my bird isn’t used to carrying so much weight for so long. You’re going to need another way to travel and the sooner the better. I don’t want to be in the same airspace as a titan for too long. Think you can get the paper work for an extended use of one of their silverhawks?”

Navin pursed his lips thoughtfully. With Gabilan in a rush to leave, there was a sense of urgency to the matter that Navin knew would not be accommodated by the higher ups of Cielis guard. Commander of the Resistance or not, they had their way of doing things. A stiff, paper filled, by the book way of doing things. It could take days

“That’ll take too long but I think I know a better way,” Aly cut in. “We just need another pilot with a private but fast aircraft.”

Navin lit up at the mention of “we” and he grinned wide to Aly. She returned it in kind and clapped him on the shoulder. Gabilan did not share their excitement whatsoever.

“I’m sorry, ‘We?’” Gabilan said, scowling at the girl. “Don’t tell me she’s coming too. I’m not playing babysitter to two rambunctious children.”

Aly scowled right back and Navin waved off Gabilan’s remark with a roll of his eyes.

“We’re a dual package,” Navin replied. “She can handle herself and we work better together. Trust me on that. What exactly do you have in mind, Aly? Do you want me to call up Enzo?”

“No, he’ll take too long to get here from Kanalis and if Leon is on his way to Coconino city, so will Enzo and Rico,” Aly said. “We’ll need something faster, less conspicuous, and better at tight maneuvers in case the Phoenix doesn’t want us in her air space or if the Olitiau decides to drop in.”

Gabilan pinched the bridge of his nose with a growl and sighed. “I don’t like where this is heading.”

”You don’t have to like it,” Aly said, propping her hands on her hips. “You just have to trust me on this. You can afford that much.”

The mercenary grunted something else, something like complaints of children and recklessness.

”Fine. What do you have in mind?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Roni lifted himself up from the engine compartment and slammed the hood down with a satisfactory smile. He dusted his hands off and looked over the helicraft, an orange model called the Bullet Hummingbird, or just the Hummingbird for short. Small, light, with a fresh coat of paint, he was proud of it and very, very thankful he hadn’t decided to take it on the survey to track the Leviathan. Hopefully he’d be able to salvage something from the wreckage once the aircraft was retrieved from the coast.

Roni climbed into the cockpit and sat in the pilot’s chair. He pressed a few buttons to activate the aircraft and the engine spluttered to life echoing across the empty outpost hanger. Cogs and wheels turning perfectly as they should, easy for him to correct when things went wrong. If only all situations were as easy to repair as getting a new part or a quick twist of a wrench.

Roni’s triumph was short lived as he received a quick smack to the back of his head from behind. He rubbed his head and looked over his shoulder to find his sister sitting directly behind him in one of the passengers seats. Her silver hair was a mess from sleep and she pulled her jacket turned blanket closer over herself.

“I already told you to keep the noise down,” she grumbled.

“Why didn’t you just head into the barracks if you wanted quiet?” He retorted.

“Because the soldiers don’t like elves and I don’t like them right back.” She curled up into a ball and closed her eyes. “Now shush, I need my rest.”

“Yeah you look like you need beauty sleep,” Roni muttered before his chair was jerked forward.

He turned swiftly in his chair as his sister tucked her leg back and she stuck her tongue out at him. He reached out and swatted right back at her. His fingers struck lightly on her leg but as soon as she moved her jacket to stand up, Roni jumped to his feet and scrambled out of the cockpit before his sister could get to him first. He stumbled out and almost lost his footing on one of the steps before coming to a stop to an unusual sight: Navin, Aly, and Gabilan flying in on the mercenary’s stormbird.

Gabilan let Navin and Aly hop off Twister first before hopping down himself once the bird settled its talons on the ground. He pet the already tired bird along his beak and fed him a dried meat snack from his pocket. Roni lifted his goggles in surprise at the sight of the unusual trio and gave a bow as Navin and Aly rushed up to him. “Commander Navin, is everything ok?”

“I’m so sorry to ask you this so suddenly but we don’t have the time to issue a personal flight form,” Navin said. “We’re going on a mission and we need a private charter.”

“Mission?” Roni parroted. “What do you mean mission?”

“Gabilan has a plan that might give us a lead on how to solve the titan issue but we need to head out soon.”

The elf pilot shot the mercenary a quizzical glance, who simply crossed his arms tightly over his chest.

“I see…. Well, it’ll cost you,” Roni said, lowering his goggles back into place.

Navin blinked in surprise and thought over exactly what he had authorization to offer as payment. He was a commander in the Resistance but didn’t have a lot of power in the terms of individual city governments. He wasn’t sure if he would be permitted to dip into any of Cielis’s funds or if he could request a favor. As Navin considered the logistics of taking out a lone, Roni laughed and shook his head.

“I’m just pulling your leg, Commander,” he said. “I gotta say though this is really short notice. If it’s for more titan tracking, you might want to give us a couple days to prepare better defenses.”

“It’s not titan tracking,” Gabilan said as he plopped down extra bags of rations and supplies. “We’re looking for stonekeepers.”

“Stonekeepers?” Roni echoed. “Well. That’s a new one for me. I got to say, merc, you’re looking for a needle in a haystack. What makes you so sure there are any more?”

“We won’t know until we check,” Gabilan said. “Mayor Ash and I are in agreement and the sooner we get out there and find one, the better our chances are ending this conflict with less causalities.”

Roni pursed his lips thoughtfully and looked over his shoulder at the flying machine. It wasn’t exactly his as much as it was one of Lucien’s fleet but as a registered flier with their own set of rules, he did have a certain amount of leeway. It wasn’t exactly unauthorized as much as it was discouraged. If Riva was in on this, then there was that safety net that would protect him from any serious trouble. Besides, it was better than titan survey work.

“Get any supplies you need but travel light,” Roni said. “Once you prepare people to work in your absence and have everything ready, come back here by seven in the morning tomorrow. We take off then. Hey, Loni! Wake up! We got a new mission.”

With that last statement hollered over his shoulder, he turned on his heel to begin his checks on the Bullet Hummingbird to prepare for flight. Loni, still half asleep, stumbled out to meet her brother and the two began to discuss what was to come. Loni shot a pointed glare at Gabilan over her shoulder but listened to Roni through the conversation.

“Come on, Navin.” Aly said, tugging on his arm. “There’s a lot to do.”

Navin nodded and the two left for the trolley system. Twister would need his rest for the long flight to come. Leaving Gabilan to his preparation, the mercenary unlatched what could be carried in the Bullet Hummingbirds belly and lifted the weight off his stormbird. Twister squawked a pleased little sound and the feathers around his neck fluffed contentedly. Any less weight was a welcome change and Gabilan added to his delight with a good scratch under his chin.

Loni looked over her shoulder as she helped her brother check the fuel. She watched Gabilan tend to his feathered companion and scoffed quietly to herself.

“Don’t make this harder than it needs to be,” Roni chided. “We don’t need to like him but we need to work together. He knows his stuff.”

“I know,” Loni grunted. “I just hope he takes care of the commander and Ms. Hunter with the same care he has for that bird.”

Roni said nothing. He opted to just let things be and focus on what he could manage for now. Machines were so much easier to deal with than the intricacies of interpersonal relationships. If only people could be as straightforward.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The mountains rumbled. Earthquakes were rare but the people of the region knew what they felt like. This was nothing like an earthquake. It was too methodical, too rhythmic to be of Mother Nature’s doing. Occasionally they would stop but like clockwork, the sound would resume. It was the bellows that were the worst. Even with their distance over a mile or two away, the roars of the Behemoth could shatter windows and shake buildings at their very foundations.

The height of the mountains concealed him but the flocks of birds that circled the great creature marked exactly where his was from the distance of Coconino city. Birds of many species flew around him, from massive wild stormbirds, to broadfoots, to conebeaks. The relationship between the Behemoth and the airborne fauna of the region would make for an interesting case study if it weren’t for how loud he was and the debris kicked up from his massive feet.

From one of the wooden watch towers erected on the city edge, a group of researchers and guards kept watch. One of them, a young lady with curly brown hair and freckles dotting her tan skin, fixed her ear plugs and stood at the railing. From her position, all that she could make out at just a glance was the birds circling in the distance, the dusty brown dirt and lush shrubbery of the mountain, and clusters of homes that dotted the very base of the mountain.

“Anything new?” The field scientist asked one of the guards posted.

A guard posted to survey the walking mountain shook his head. He tipped his head in the direction of the Behemoth. He was still hidden amongst the tallest mountains but the cloud of symbiotic birds was definitely closer than before.

“It’s a little closer now but it’s still contained in the mountain range,” he said. “It’s a good thing the old man got himself stuck before he decided to lose his mind.”

The field scientist shot him a sideways glare but picked her battles carefully. There were bigger fish to fry than the insensitivities of angry, battle hardened guards. She looked back to the mountain range and noticed something new. With the distance, she couldn’t make out exactly what it was. It looked like something green had popped up and down very slightly. She took out her binoculars from her belt and looked through them. Through the magnified lenses, she could make out the top of something bright and green. Its surface was shiny and even in the bright light of midday, she could tell it glowed. It was a crystal.

No. Not crystal. It was the shining, unusual material that made up the stones of stonekeepers.

Ever so slightly, it shifted and as if on cue, there was a dragging rumble. The field scientist lowered her binoculars and looked quickly to the posted guard.

“How long has he been doing that?” She asked.

“Since he got as close as he has,” the guard answered. “About an hour ago.”

She looked back through the binoculars and saw the very tip of the crystal shift up as the Behemoth did something unseen. There was a massive rumble and within seconds, the lush green and brown mountainside disappeared. Like someone had poured mounds and mounds of dirt, the slope of the mountain was overtaken by a massive landslide. Stones rolled, trees disappeared in the cracks and knocks of falling stones, and most horrifically, the homes at the bottom were swallowed whole.

The guard gasped and those on the outer edge of the city who had seen the landslide began to scream. Their screams were drowned out by the bellow of the Behemoth on the other side of the mountain. The field scientist dropped her binoculars to better cover her ears as the roar shook the entire city. Lamp posts shattered and sprayed glass in all directions  and the scientist was knocked down to her knees from the very force. There was a clatter of a weapon and a dull thud beside her that she barely registered until she looked to the side to find the guard she had been speaking to pale as a ghost and looking into nothing.

It was only a moment, perhaps a little over minute before it ended as suddenly as it had began. The scientist pushed herself up onto her knees and checked the unconscious man beside her. She pressed her hands to his neck and breathed a trembling sigh of relief as she felt the telltale heartbeat throb rhythmically against her fingers. Fast, terrified, but thankfully alive.

She looked over the guards present. Some had passed out as well but others were still standing, shaken but alert. Windows of nearby homes had been shattered and people were screaming louder than before. There was another crumbling sound of stone crashing upon stones as another landslide was triggered. The scientist could see it now. An indent. A chip in the top of the mountain range like notch carved into the wood.

She could see a portion of the Behemoth through it. The base of the crystal jutting up through what at first looked like dusty grey-brown grass. Only it was too long. Too fine.

It was fur on a part of the Behemoth she couldn’t even make out.

“Get emergency services to the homes at the mountain base immediately and evacuate any unaffected homes in the proximity!” The scientist ordered as she stood up to let two conscious guards help their fainted comrade. “Get me a radio! The Behemoth is digging his way out!”

Chapter Text

The early morning summer sun crept its stifling hold into the cabin of the aircraft as it came to land and left Karen’s blonde bangs sticking to the sweat beading her forehead. She fanned herself as she stepped out of stuffy cabin of one of the Cielis’ Sky Cutter aircrafts and was hit with the equally hot winds billowing through Coconino city. It was better than sitting in the orange aircrafts that seemed to fall through the air rather than actually fly and offered very little in terms of air conditioning. She had stripped off her outer tunic till she sat in the tank top undershirt that breathed far better than the clothes meant for Cielis’ cooler winds. The humidity and blazing sun overhead certainly did little help and neither did the fact that the city was more crowded the Cielis was.

Coconino city was crammed to the brim. The brick streets were lined with refugees, healthy and injured. Nurses ran too and from their wooden buildings that lined the streets. They hopped over men and women lying down in any open spot they could find off the dirt streets, either because they were completely exhausted or too injured to stand. Some were still caked in dried mud and blood that oozed from hastily wrapped wounds. The affected groaned and wailed until the very air felt like it was bursting with fear and agony that stuck to the inside of Karen’s lungs like miserable tar.

Karen gasped, hand flying to her mouth at the sea of terrified, bleeding people. She rushed down the steps of the landing platform to a woman holding her wailing baby. The woman’s head was tightly bound with bandages spotted in blood that seeped through and streaks of black hair that fell loose from the fabric. Minus a few bruises, the infant was unharmed but cried. Something twisted painfully in Karen’s chest at the sight and it took every fiber of strength left in her not to let bittersweet memories cloud her to everything around her

“Excuse me, what happened here?!” Karen asked. “Are you ok? Do you need anything?”

The woman looked up from her baby with distant gray eyes and blinked a few times like she hadn’t caught a word Karen had said. “W-what?”

“What happened?” Karen reiterated with slow, careful words. “Why are there so many injured? What happened to you?”

The woman looked down to her fussing baby and held the little one closer to her chest. She shuddered and shook her head, the distance in her eyes shifting into unmasked anguish.

“I-it was the monster,” she said. “It was that monster behind the mountain. C-Caused a landslide. M-my home… my granddaddy built that home and now it’s gone! I lost everything to that thing!”

Karen could do little to comfort the poor woman who had burst into tears. She rubbed an empathetic hand over the inconsolable woman’s shoulder and she called over her pilot with a hasty wave.

“Stay with her please,” Karen said. “Get her water and anything she needs. But before anything, please call in support on your radio. We’re going to need a lot of medical aid.”

“Yes ma’am,” the pilot said.

Karen left him to check over the woman, looking over her shoulder as she went. The woman barely registered the presence of the pilot but the knowledge that she wasn’t alone did ease her worries a little. Not by much but enough to get out her own head to navigate the city and assess her surrounding.

Karen weaved through the crowds of agitated citizens and military. She was almost pushed aside by young, navy blue uniformed soldiers marching towards the edge of the city with their disproportionately large weapons in hand. Something uncomfortable twinged in her gut at the sight of them, only about Trellis’ age with glares as serious as the elf prince’s. They pushed on through the parting crowds of people like a shark through a school of fish and disappeared between walls of civilian bodies.

The upper crust of society in their fine clothes and shiny baubles loudly complained about the state of things and why the mayor hadn’t simply “made the beast leave already.” Fathers and mothers altered between helping the injured and calming spooked children. Some of the bolder kids were more eager to catch a look at the titan or simply happy that school had been cancelled for the day. They still found the time for their games and complaints. It would have been amusing if the situation wasn’t so dire.

The one thing louder than the chaos of people was a constant sound of grating. A low drawn out rumble that would stop for a second before resuming with the loud punctuations of stones cracking against one another. They were occasionally punctuated by the screeching of engines as silverhawk air crafts soared over head, metal dots speeding by in wide circles and making Karen’s very eardrums wince in her head.

Karen gradually pushed her way through the  noisy crowds as the sounds grew louder until she made it to the line of the watch towers near the edge of town. From her position, the sound was at its loudest and she could see the mountain tremble and a wave of stone and dirt slide down with every rumble. Karen gawked at the sight and as her brain tried to process whether what she saw was just an optical illusion from distance or if the mountain had really given way. She was distracted from the unusual scene when from one of the watch towers on her left, Karen heard her name shouted by a shrill, familiar voice.

“Mrs. Hayes!” Miskit shouted, waving his hands over his head. “Mrs. Hayes, over here!”

Karen followed the sound to see the pink rabbit atop one of the watch towers. With him was Cogsley, little Dagno wrapped around his shoulders and standing on the railing to look out over the valley was Leon. He shaded his eyes from the sun with a hand, his tail twitching being the only indication of his anxiety. He looked in down when Miskit called her name and smiled when he caught sight of Karen. His tail slightly wagged and the sweet sight provided some funny relief for her troubled heart.

She ran up the wooden steps and caught Miskit in a hug when he practically leapt at her. Dagno squealed and pushed off of Cogsley’s head to take flight. The force sent his complaining robotic parent stumbling back but Dagno played no mind as he flew around Karen with a delighted chirp. She laughed and scratched him along his side as he flew by to the cheer of the little wyvern. Cogsley regained his footing with a grumble and Leon hopped down to greet her.

“It’s so good to see you all again!” Karen said with a soft but tired grin.

“It’s good to see you too,” Leon replied, removing a foam earplug from his right ear. “Are you alright? We received word of the Olitiau attack on Cielis.”

“It was… a lot but we managed to protect the civilians,” Karen said. “What about you all? You managed to get the fires under control?”

“Took some time but yes,” Cogsley said. “We’re just lucky the Phoenix and the Leviathan didn’t have an all out brawl.”

Karen winced slightly and she crossed her arms tightly over herself. “If you wouldn’t mind, I think I’d prefer if we refer to them by their actual names please.”

Cogsley raised a brow but as he opened his mouth to question her but a quick flick of Leon’s tail caught his attention. The bounty hunter nodded and gestured with a pointed look for him to accommodate her. Cogsley paused but resigned with a shrug.

“As you wish, ma’am,” he continued. “They two fled when the Be- when Vigo began to wake up. We haven’t heard anything about Emily or Trellis since then. Here’s hoping those two stay out of trouble for now. I was reading over reports and I noticed a trend. He only displays heightened activity when other titans are within a certain radius.”

Karen nodded and mumbled something under her breath. She turned her head and stared along the notch made by the old stonekeeper-turned-creature. She had never seen what had once been Vigo Light in person but had kept tabs on what he had been up to over the months. Due to his absolutely colossal size, he was difficult to photograph and reportedly spent most of his time wandering and sleeping. Last she heard, he had caused a few landslides within the mountain ranges from his tromping around where there was no population. Aside from a one off confrontation with the Olitiau that sent him into his most recent long term recovery period and caused tremors to the near by cities, he was deemed a minimal threat. Well up until now.

The side of the mountain had a sizeable dent int he side of it and Karen could make out the top of his… back? Head? She couldn’t make it out. The few low quality pictures she had seen- curse Alledia’s lack of quality photography- had looked almost bovine in nature. Or bovine-adjacent with his large head and what looked similar to horns. She wasn’t sure exactly and looking through the dent he had made in the mountain didn’t give more answers yet.

“Has he made much progress since he started?” Karen asked.

“Not sure,” Miskit replied, shading his eyes with his palm as he stared out on the mountain. “We haven’t been here too long and we’re still being brought up to speed.

“Who’s been leading the observation?” Karen asked.

“Dr. Helena Creed,” Leon said. “She alerted us to the situation as soon as his activity spiked.”

Leon gestured her to follow him over to the railing where a young woman in her 20s stood with binoculars raised up to her eyes. She lowered them at the sound of Leon approaching and turned to face Karen. Her thick curls bounced as she did so and her eyes widened.

“Hold on ma’am, there is a strict ear protection order here!” she said, a bit too loud for someone so close. “Everyone on watch is required to wear high grade earplugs and have special clearance.”

“She’s with us, Dr. Creed,” Miskit said. “This is Karen Hayes. She’s the mother of Commander Navin and Guardian Emily. Karen, this is Dr. Helena Creed. She’s been the lead researcher on Vigo’s condition since the Emergence.”

Dr. Creed lit up and a huge grin stretched across her face. She reached forward and took Karen’s hand to excitedly shake it. Her grip was strong but it was hard to be frazzled by her enthusiasm. It was almost infectious in the way she beamed and slightly bounced on her toes. Karen found herself feeling almost lighter and the weight on her shoulders eased.

“It’s such an honor to meet you!” Dr. Creed said with a chipper twinkle in her voice as she popped a foam earplug from her left ear. “It’s so exciting to meet one of the Hayes family in the flesh after all you’ve done for our people.”

“Oh, thank you!” Karen said. “That’s very kind of you!”

“Think nothing of it, ma’am!” Dr Creed said, releasing Karen’s hand. “Your family’s help during the evacuation of Lucien is why I’m still alive today! If it weren’t for you and your family, I’d be a shadow’s play thing right about now.”

Just like that, Karen’s burden sat right back on her shoulders and far heavier than before at the mention of her children. Regardless of the pain, she kept that smile plastered on her face and shook her head.

“Thank you but in all honesty, my kids were the real heroes,” Karen said. “It’s all thanks to them, Dr. Creed.”

Dr. Creed tipped her head thoughtfully and for a fraction of a second, her smile faltered with something soft but difficult to pinpoint to an exact emotion. Before Karen could deduce exactly what Dr Creed’s expression meant, it was gone and her chipper attitude was back like nothing had ever happened.

“Well, they had to have gotten it from somewhere,” Dr. Creed said. “And please, call me Helena. Let me get you some earplugs and I’ll catch you up to speed.”

She turned around to retrieve the items and as she did so, Karen felt a hand rest on her middle back. She glanced down to find Leon looking up at her with a tender look of reassurance. He noticed. Of course he did. He didn’t survive all these years without being vigilant of others. She offered only a brief half smile before Helena presented the earplugs to her.

“You might want to put them on quickly before the Behemoth vocalizes again!” Helena shouted over her own temporarily induced deafness. “Even from this distance you could risk adverse effects!”

Karen plucked the two buds made of green foam from her hands and pushed them into her ears. In a second, the sounds of soldiers shouting, distant civilian discontent, the silverhawks engines screeching above, and the sounds of the Behemoth digging his way through was muffled. The difference was stark and Karen felt her muscles relax. It left her very tired but very, very relieved. She let out a breath hadn’t realized she was holding in the deepest part of her lungs and the world was quiet enough for her to realize just how badly overwhelmed she was.

Oh, I’m definitely keeping these, Karen thought to herself as she followed Helena to the edge of the watch tower.

Helena offered her a pair of binoculars and pointed exactly where to look along the mountainside. Karen obeyed and looked in through the gear to see the Behemoth up close. From the crack formed in the mountains from his stubborn task, Karen could make out the shape of what must’ve been the titan’s humped back and his broad head. Green crystals sprouted from his form along the very top of his head in the place of what could only be curved horns and in sporadic placements along his back.

They looked almost identical in color to the stone that had once sat around his neck.

“Have we gotten anyone on the other side to survey what he’s doing?” Karen asked.

“Yes but our proximity is a bit limited!” Helena shouted back over their shared muted hearing. “The birds he attracts are too much of a flight hazard. Not to mention the mere frequencies of his voice have been found to disrupt systems within a mile radius and we suspect close proximity can have severe adverse affects on the health of our soldiers and machinery. He’s provided a walking ecosystem for such a wide variety of birds! In all my years of studying zoology, I’ve never seen anything like it!  Smaller birds like conebeaks, split-tailed hawks, and broadfoots that use him as a nesting site and attract bigger birds of prey. I’ve been collaborating with Dr. Magel Arch to track the effects of the titans on the ecosystem and honestly, if it weren’t for the immediate danger they posed, it’d be so fascinating how they’d integrate themselves into each of their specific biomes.”

Despite the scientist’s enthusiastic tone, Karen bristled slightly.

“They aren’t animals, Helena,” Karen reminded her firmly. “They’re still two children and an old man underneath it all. Please refer to them by their actual names.”

“No no, please don’t mistake my observations as dehumanization!” Helena said with bullet fast correction. “You must understand, regardless of who they are, in this form they’ve had a severe impact on the natural world in ways we have never seen. My job is merely to document that.”

“I’m sorry, Dr. Helena,” Leon interjected. “Please understand that has been a time of tremendous stress on everyone that knew the Guardians.”

Karen shot Leon a silent rebuke in the form of a sideways glance. Leon returned it in equal measure but said nothing else. Helena noted the prickly, wordless exchange between the fox man and Hayes matriarch and wisely pushed the issue no further. She opened her mouth to divert the conversation but the cries of birds drew her attention away. The birds that circled the mountains scattered higher and within seconds, a low groan rumbled through the city. Helena covered her ears, hunkered down, and shouted out into the open air, “BRACE!!!”

The entire watchtower stopped as the sound rolled through like an unseen stampede. Karen’s breath hitched as the sound rattled through her and made her feel like every nerve, muscle, and bone wobbled beneath her skin. Leon painfully winced as even with the ear plugs, his hearing was twice as sensitive as hers. Cogsley held a horribly panicked Dagno close and with a press of a button by where his ears would be and shut off his hearing. Miskit tucked the ends of his floppy ears into the holes of his audio receptors and muffled the Behemoth’s groan without issue. At least at first. Miskit suddenly twitched violently. His arms jutted out stiffly like his servos and metal ligaments had been pulled tight over and over. Cogsley did the same seconds after, dropping Dagno, who took flight and dived down to hide beneath a table. They spasmed, eyes wide, unfocused, and the lights within wildly flickering through the tremors that wracked their bodies.

“Cogsley! Miskit!”

Though Karen couldn’t even hear her own voice over the rumbled or the way the cogs and gears loudly cranked loudly within two robot, she shouted for them and ran to their aid with Leon close behind. They fumbled with the bots for a second, unsure of what to do or even where to begin with helping the malfunctioning bots.

Thankfully, relief came in the form of the Behemoth’s voice beginning to fade away. The robots stopped spasming as it grew quieter and no longer reverberated through the area. Miskit’s knees wobbled and he sank into Karen’s arms. Cogsley blinked, the light of his eyes flickering for a second or two before regaining its steady glow and he frantically searched for Dagno.

“Dagno?!” He called out. “Dagno, come here!”

The young wyvern chirped anxiously and crawled out from his hiding space at the sound of his mama’s call. He scurried over, weaving between legs to crawl into Cogsley’s waiting arms.

“Thank goodness you didn’t fly off,” the old bot huffed, giving the terrified hatchling a good scratch behind the ear. “You’d probably get carried off by a stormbird or somethin’ bigger.”

“Are you ok?!” Karen asked, looking between Cogsley and the pink rabbot in her arms. “What was that?”

“I-It must’ve been the frequency of Vigo’s voice,” Miskit stammered, popping open the panel on his chest to check the machinery within. “Goodness, I felt like I was gonna fall apart at the bolts!”

“Just from his voice?” Leon asked, dumbfounded. “This close?”

Before Miskit could answer, a new sound emerged from the mountainside. The groan had already slowed to a silence but now another noise entered the fray. It started as a faint crumble and crack of stone on stone and the team looked back as another portion of the mountain slid off and down the slope. Trees and stone tumbled down to the bottom where homes once sat intact and were replaced with recovery crews. The teams there, decorated in loud yellow colors managed to scramble out of the way, as more debris was added to their growing hill of splintered wood, rocks, and dirt.

Karen watched on in horror as a portion of the Behemoth’s face managed to crane its way up. It was hard to make out but her assessment was partially correct. It was a bovine like face, but not the cattle dotting passing fields she had seen while driving on road trips. It was more akin to a great, graying bison. It was only a corner of his face, a portion of his wide, sloping head and a single glassy eye that peered over it.

Vigo had always had very intelligent eyes. He would pick apart situations with careful deduction, calm and calculated. He could tell just what Emily and Trellis were doing wrong in their training with a glance over their positions and help them adjust accordingly. Even when he was doing nothing, his brown eyes portrayed methodical thought as he stared into the distance.

The eye that peeked through the crack was not the same eyes she had seen before. His eyes were clouded marble of green. The same that made up his stone. The same that made up his horns and newly adorned spikes. They betrayed no thought or clever idea. They focused on nothing in front of him. Just mindless sorrow and confusion swimming in that blind green.

In one slow, heavy movement, he lowered his head and disappeared behind the crack and the birds that temporarily fed came to circle back like flies to dung. Karen let out a shuddering breath she had only been vaguely aware she had been holding. She swallowed thickly and for a briefest second, eyes made of searing embers flashed in the back of her mind. Karen shoved that unwanted pang of grief back down in her chest and tried to refocus her attention on helping Miskit up.

There will be time for that later.

“The vocalizations are growing louder and more frequent,” Helena worried, standing up straight from her hunkered position. “Is everyone ok? Cogsley? Miskit? Any severe effects?”

Cogsley checked his joints with wide swiveling motions and Miskit gave his internal mechanisms another look over. Once they were sure that every cog was in its place and remained secure, they gave her a thumbs up.

“I’m guessing that’s what you meant by interfering with machinery,” Cogsley grunted while he helped Dagno wrap around his shoulders.

“Yes but the effect has never passed the mile radius,” Helena responded. “He’s had no reason to increase the volume and frequency of his vocalizations.”

“Well that could be explained by the recent incident at Demon’s Head Mountain,” Miskit noted, shutting the panel to his gear box. “Ms. Emily and Trellis had that little interaction and then he suddenly wakes up and is heading North towards the direction of Demon’s Head Mountain. Matches what we know already know.”

“But Emily and Trellis have long gone by now,” Leon said, brushing the fur of his chin in thought. “Why is he so persistent? He’s never attempted to leave the mountain range before. What do we do when he breaks through? All this studying and it seems we are stuck at the exact same deductions.”

“I know what you mean; we barely have an understanding of his abilities as of now,” Helena said. “My knowledge of zoology and ecosystems ends at the introductions of Stonekeeper magic and the thought process of a lost stonekeeper, I’m afraid. We haven’t had a concrete plan on how to deter him just yet but the Windsor militia has already begun formations to try and ward him off without risking severe damage to the city. We just have to give him wide berth to avoid the vibratons messing with our artillery’s technology.”

“What kind of non-lethal methods can we deploy as a deterrence?” Karen asked. “Perhaps we can use something to lure him back deeper into the mountain range?”

Helena paused and a strange, hesitant look crossed her face. “We’re looking into a wide range of defensive measures b-but nothing concrete of course.”

Karen frowned and her voice grew a bit more tense.

“But you are working on non-lethal methods to ward him off, right?”

Helena said nothing at first and Karen’s fists began to clench. Sensing the tension, Cogsley excused himself quietly and snuck off towards a group of surveyors to offer his assistance in whatever they were working on. Miskit awkwardly followed but lingered back to keep an ear on the conversation.

“Lethal force is not an option, Helena, and I want you to make that clear with everyone involved,” Karen demanded, her words growing more and more strained with mounting agitation. “Under no circumstance is Vigo Light to be killed, am I understood?”

Helena blinked in surprise and floundered for something to say, glancing over to Leon for some kind of help.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Hayes but it really isn’t up to me,” she said. “I’m just supposed to keep track of his activity and I’m afraid his activity”- she waved a hand towards the sight of the landslide at the foot of the mountain- “has already taken several lives!”

“Then who do I have to speak to so I can make sure they don’t add him to the list of casualties?” Karen demanded.

Leon took Karen by the arm and firmly tugged on her arm, yanking her attention away from Helena.

“Karen, may I speak with you privately,” Leon said. “Please excuse us, Dr. Helena.”

Though his tone was not sharp or teetering on reprimand, his dark eyes fixed on her with a pointedness that she had used several times on her own children. Any objection she could offer was snuffed out as before the words could even be formed and strung into sentences. Karen bit her tongue and followed him down the stairs of the watchtower, leaving Miskit to come back to quietly excuse her to a confused Dr. Helena. Once they were at the very bottom of the wooden steps, Leon turned back to her with a glower fixed upon his pointed muzzle.

“Karen, I understand and agree with your objections to deadly force but if he breaks past the mountain range, he could cause catastrophic levels of damage,” he said. “If there is absolutely no other option to prevent the deaths of hundreds we might have to actually consider using heavy force-“

“Leon, you can’t seriously be telling me we may have to kill Vigo,” Karen said. “Beast or not, that’s still him!”

“Listen to me: he left on his own accord, disappeared into the mountains, and days later became that.” Leon tipped his head harshly in the direction of the Behemoth. “We don’t know why he lost control but his self-imposed exile doesn’t look good. What does that say about him and what he’s doing now? Be his loss of control voluntary or not, he is not in his right mind and is a genuine threat to innocent people and everyone is rightfully terrified. I’m not saying we must outright kill him but we have to weigh our options.”

“And what about Trellis and Emily?” Karen demanded, anger turning her cheeks a furious red. “Will you be ok hurting them too? Possibly killing them?!”

Leon froze and for a briefest second, his lips curled into a snarl far too much like the animal his physical form mimicked. It was gone in an instant as he regained his temper with a heavy breath.

“No, of course I will never be ok with something like that,” Leon said, slow and deliberate. “I care very deeply about them and I respect Vigo as a stonekeeper and a fellow mentor. I would never be ok with having to make that decision. But this is thousands of people’s lives at stake. Not two or ten or even fifty at risk of a threat that listlessly wanders around. Literal thousands in immediate danger. I will do everything in my power to prevent that fate for Vigo but we have more to consider now.”

Karen’s fists clenched tightly and she shook her head in fervent denial.

“If we kill one then they will be quick to do the same to the others,” Karen said. “I’m not going to let that happen, Leon. I will never let that happen.”

She turned on her heel and stormed away from Leon toward the roads that lead back to the crowded inner city.

“Where are you going?!” The fox man called after her in frustrated exasperation.

“To reason to someone that does have a say in what goes on,” she shouted over her shoulder, not bothering to turn back and listen as Leon called her name.

Karen pressed on and weaved back through the crowd until his voice was drowned out by the hundreds around her. She walked into the clustered city full of warm bodies and even hotter tempers, muttering furiously under her breath.

Hurt him? Honestly how does he not see what this could cause?! Vigo isn’t targeting anyone! He’s just confused and scared! Emily has caused a lot of trouble! So what, we’re just going to shoot her out the sky too?! We’re supposed to fix this. Isn’t that what heroes are supposed to do?

As she stewed in her fury, another rumble shook the ground. The Behemoth miles away had let out another low bellow and sent another wave of reverberations that threatened to send her to the ground. Though not as intense as before, it shook her to her very core. The people around her withdrew deeper into the city in a panic, almost taking her with them into the sea of fear. She froze as another sound joined in. Another pair of aircrafts screamed by and Karen couldn’t tell what these were or what they carried.

The only thing clear was their destination as they widely circled around the clouds of birds and what had once been her daughter’s teacher.

She set her teeth and pushed on through the crowd to her own destination. It would be hard to get in but the mayors office would be easy to spot. Like the birds to the Behemoth, look for biggest swell of the circling crowds.

Chapter Text

“Travel papers, travel papers- Ah! Here it is. I really hope these don’t need to be updated.”

In the early hours of the morning, Riva stored her bag full of documents she’d need into a folder and slipped them into her backpack. Gulfen always seemed to be dropping new requirements for what was needed to cross the border and unfortunately just being an elf simply didn’t cut it anymore. Though the source of these changes wasn’t a problem anymore, it seemed border customs were slower to catch up to the curve.

At any rate I’ll have to prove I’m up to date on my shots. It was a joke to herself that even she didn’t find all that funny or worth saying out loud. She didn’t want risk jinxing herself.

She crossed her room to the supplied dresser and placed a set of clothes into a larger duffle bag. The room was scant of many notable knickknacks to make the place feel like home but she made due. She placed a vase filled with purple wildflowers on her windowsill, a small painting of a cliffside cottage she had purchased from a street vendor on her nightstand, and a cute little wooden bird Luger had gifted her right next to it. Nothing much more than that and certainly nothing she could waste the packing space on.

Riva emptied her drawers of appropriate travel attire into her bag and paused only when a knock at her room door drew her attention from her task at hand. She plopped her last couple undergarments into her bag, straightened up, and quickly opened the door. She peeked carefully around the crack of the door and her caution disappeared into a pleased grin.

“Navin, come on in!” she said. “How are you?”

“I’m doing just fine,” Navin replied as she opened the door wide for him and gestured for him to come in.

Yeah, that’s a bold faced lie, Riva thought to herself.

The few months had taken a visible toll on the boy and he looked no better than he had after their conversation the morning before. His face was pale, cheek sallow, and his usually bright brown eyes sunken and tired. Even as he walked into her room, he walked with a hidden numb, wobbling shamble she had done herself after many a long nights of her completing mayoral paperwork. Riva didn’t need to be a medic to know that exhaustion hadn’t been treating the boy well at all. Still, she decided to play along and acted like the answer wasn’t complete nonsense.

“What brings you here so early in the morning?” she said. “Hopefully good news?”

“Well it’s not bad news,” Navin sheepishly, running a hand through his short cut hair.

“Oh so just news,” Riva said. “Honestly with how things have been, any ‘just news’ is good news to me. Well go on, out with it.”

“So I was talking to Gabilan and-“

Navin paused as the mere mention of the mercenary’s name made the elf’s spine straighten up with ill hid tension and her placid smile drop into concern.

“Nothing bad, we just talked about how you both reached an agreement on something,” he said. “About finding a stonekeeper.”

Riva relaxed and she nodded. “Not sure how he expects to do that but he apparently has a path laid out. But this isn’t exactly news to me, Navin. Why come all the way to me to confirm it?”

“Well, not confirm so much as update you on something,” he said. “Gabilan, as great as he is at tracking, is only one guy. He’s going to need a team.”

“Yeah but not a lot of people are willing to work with him,” Riva scoffed, running a hand over one of her braids. “Loni and Roni do it as a favor to me and Dr. Arch only agreed because he could be protected as he studied the Leviathan’s activity. Trying to get a team of Cielan workers to accompany him would have to be enforced by higher ups and my diplomatic influence only goes so far with these folks. I don’t suppose you could try your hand at getting them to lend an elven mercenary a hand, Commander?”

Navin awkwardly shrugged as he thought about it. He had already been in some hot water as Commander in the very academy of the Resistance for being an “elf sympathizer.” He still didn’t understand that whole fiasco when it was the only two elves on their side at the time that were sympathizing with the Resistance.

“Well we don’t have to,” Navin said. “Aly and I both agreed to go with him to help-“

“Excuse me, you did what?”

Though she wasn’t exactly angry, her quick words gave him pause. She propped her hands on her hips in a way far too similar to a displeased mother and frowned tersely. Navin sheepishly squirmed in his spot under her gaze.

“Well, we wouldn’t be alone,” he continued. “Loni and Roni agreed to escort us along the way and we will be out of the titans’ usual paths.”

“Paths we’ve been able to track ,” Riva corrected. “We have no idea where the Olitiau is and the Phoenix moves incredibly fast. If she decides to pursue you for whatever reason, I doubt any of the aircrafts Loni and Roni have access to will be fast enough to outrun her. And what about the other two?”

“I doubt the Leviathan will go that far inland,” Navin said. “There’s not enough water. Unless Em goes back to the mountain to rest or the Olitiau decides to come back and change its habits- heaven forbid- we don’t have to worry about them that far west. Last I heard the Behemoth is still trapped in the Coconino mountains. The sooner we get this done, the closer we might be to finding a way to bringing them all back. I just came here to ask you if you could cover for me while I’m gone.”

Riva shook her head firmly and let out an exasperated groan.

“No, Navin, I can’t. I am heading out towards Gulfen to help organize better deterrence methods with their technology and meet with Dr. Arch. Valcor is a mess right now and if a titan saunters on in, they don’t stand a chance. They seriously need some management now that Trellis is… well, in the state he’s in.”

Navin pursed his lips and concluded fairly quickly that Riva’s priorities were definitely high on the list on necessities. If there was anyone he wanted on that task, it would definitely be Riva. He pondered on possible alternatives to who he could rely on. Aly was going with him, Leon was in another city, Riva had a whole country that desperately needed help, and he’d rather take on the Olitiau himself in an air fight than call his mom and ask her to cover him. That left one option.

“I’ll have to ask Luger,” Navin said. “I don’t think he’d object too much if it means getting Trellis back sooner.”

“Or your mother as an alternative,” Riva offered. “Either one of them would make a good supervisor but your mother is significantly more… put together. Not to sound disrespectful in any way, but Luger does look like he’d shatter if someone bumped into him too hard and he doesn’t really care for Gabilan. After what happened to Trellis, I just don’t want to put any more pressure on him.”

“Yeah but my mom is in out to rendezvous with Leon.” Navin tightly crossed his arms. “Not an option. Besides Luger has experience in leadership. He’ll be fine. He may not be as physically imposing now but he knows what he’s doing.”

Riva quirked up a brow at him and hummed. She stepped away to finish adding a last few articles of clothing into the duffle bag. Navin watched, confused at her silence, as she zipped it closed, hoisted it onto her shoulder and picked up her separate bag of travel papers and amenities.

“Just as well,” she said, shifting her weight to accommodate her bags.

Navin, twice as confused as before, shrugged in agreement. The less said the better.

“Seeing as your mom wouldn’t want you to go, Luger would probably be best.”

Navin blanked and Riva laughed. She adjusted her bag and passed by him. Navin shook off the surprise and jogged up to match her pace.

“You know?” Navin asked incredulously.

“I have eyes, ears, and more than two functioning brain cells,” Riva smirked, flicking him right on the forehead. “You don’t hide your frustration as well as you think. So are you going to tell me about it or am I going to have to guess?”

Navin rubbed his forehead and grumbled to himself, somewhere between cursing her observant nature and his own obviousness. Riva snickered as the two walked down the hall in the direction of the main kitchen and waited patiently for him to stop his grumbling.

“She wants to protect me but problem is, my sister has become a giant bird made of fire,” Navin said. “My friend is a giant snake dragon and my sister’s teacher is a huge buffalo-bull thing stuck in a mountain range. There’s a giant mystery creature flying around and with the same amount of predicability of an intoxicated bull in a room full of red. The only thing for certain I know about it is that it only attacks at night! I can’t sit here and do nothing, hoping they don’t tear each other apart or destroy Alledia.”

“I see.”

“I mean you were there when the Phoenix appeared. Back in Nautilus.”

Riva’s smile dropped and she nodded. She remembered every moment like it had been just a day ago, rather than months. An attempt to learn more about the creatures that destroyed her city, taken from clues of books and records older than her own family lineage, had lead her to take Navin, Aly, Loni and Roni to Drucker Canyon. With the fall of Lucien, they had gone there with uncertain tales from their recorded literature of the Motherstone and unnatural features within the landscape of the Canyon. They had gone down to learn about the ancient origins of stones and shadows and left with a far worse discovery.

The smothering stench of smoke and ash clung to the back of her throat for days and sounds of Nautilus’s citizens screaming as they fled the burning city above followed her into her sleep after the event. A bird of fire descended, reeking of burning flesh and eyes of coal. Navin taken one look at that unfathomable creature and knew. He knew who she was before anyone else could piece it together. That made Riva’s heart break for the boy. They could have died that day but the Phoenix, as suddenly as she attacked, disappeared into the sky. Now they were left to pick up the pieces of everything afterwards.

“Of course and I don’t think I’ll ever forget it,” Riva replied with an uncharacteristic hush to her voice.

“Seeing her like that…,” Navin said that. “I think was the worse moment of my entire life. I… felt like she was looking right at me. Emily. Or what was left of her. It’s hard to explain. Like it wasn’t her but it was at the same time.”

He stared ahead of him, remembering just how small he felt in that moment and how alien and familiar the mythical beast flying in front of him was.

“She’s still in there, Riva. I can’t give up on her and if there is hope for her, there is hope for Trellis and Vigo. They’ve all lost so much; their identities shouldn’t be one of them.”

Riva fell silent as they walked and mulled over his words in her mind. She remembered her conversation with Gabilan just the day before and the heavy implications that crept behind his words like a shadow stalking her through Lucien. She didn’t want to think about the possibility but she knew Gabilan was and his finger found the trigger far faster than she liked.

She glanced down to Navin as they walked side by side through the dark green halls of the council building. His gaze fixed on the floor in front of him as he walked, troubled and distant. To where, she only guessed but it wasn’t too unlikely for him to be all the way back in Nautilus on the day it began burning.

Her hand came up to rest on his back and he looked up at her in return. His distant sorrow disappeared as he smiled back at her. Riva smiled back to hide the way her heart painfully twisted in her chest. She didn’t want to encourage him running off with his partner in crime, two of her finest pilots, and an actual mercenary that she couldn’t trust. It was reckless and dangerous and by heavens, he was only a boy.

But she was also only a girl. She hadn’t even been 18 yet when she took up the role her dad had once filled. She didn’t want to let Navin go. Riva didn’t want to risk repeating the mistakes of those before her that should’ve done better. But there was a stark difference between the case of Navin and the case of Riva: Navin wasn’t going to be alone.

Riva trusted Gabilan the same way she trusted a rabid wyvern with a hapless, blind puppy. She didn’t know the explicit details, but seeing his occupation under the Elf King and the general apprehension he received from the close ring of the Resistance of the weeks since his arrival, it wasn’t too hard to guess the circumstances that got them “aquainted” in the first place. Paired with his prickly nature and general lack of compassion, Gabilan was someone she wouldn’t want in charge of an ice cream stand, let alone a boy. He may have known his stuff regarding Stonekeeper transformations and combat, but children weren’t exactly the same thing.

Luckily, her two finest pilots were also her two finest friends. They had been friends before she had even stepped foot into office and she trusted them with her own life. It was why she had sent them to find Navin after he escaped Lucien with Aly. It was them that brought this little team together and helped them get back to Cielis after the attack on Nautilus. As for Aly, she was a girl with a good head on her shoulders and a deep bond with Navin. It was a time of risks in hopes of reward and those three and Navin were probably their best hope yet.

It took a weight off of her chest and Riva let out a sigh.

“Listen, if you’re going to go, you need to promise me not to take any unnecessary risks,” she said. “Don’t go looking for trouble. If you see a titan, you stay low and don’t try anything stupid. And you better check in regularly on your radio with me or Luger or literally anyone you trust so we can keep track of your whereabouts. If you don’t keep in touch, I’ll track you down and drag you back myself, you hear?”

Navin brightened up but before he could profusely thank her and blabber out promises, she pulled her hand from his shoulder to raise it in pause.

“Don’t get me wrong, Navin: I don’t think you should go. I think this is reckless and you shouldn’t be going behind your mother’s back to do this. If your mom reaches out to me to ask where you are, I am not going to lie for you. Luger might but I won’t. You are going to deal with the consequences just like everyone else. Are we clear?”

Navin nodded seriously but he couldn’t hide his grateful smile for long. He practically tackled her into a tight hug around her waist in a hug and Riva reciprocated it in kind.

“Thanks, Riva,” he said. “It means so much to me.”

Riva’s smile faltered for a moment, hidden from his view. She pulled away and ruffled his hair like he was just one of the little over-enthusiastic ankle biters that used to follow her around back in Lucien.

“Don’t mention it,” she said. “Seriously, or I just might change my mind. You go ahead and tell Luger. I’m going to find Gabilan and make sure we’re on the same page about this whole situation. Ok?”

“Sure, he should be at the outpost dock on the south side,” Navin said. “Hopefully he didn’t go off on his own.”

“Loni and Roni’s hanger, got it. I’ll see you off there.”

Navin nodded in agreement and the two parted ways. Riva’s easygoing facade dropped as soon as she was out of sight and did not return. As she walked down from the Guardian towers to the nearby steel tram that would take her to the outpost, she bit her nails anxiously. Stress always seemed to bring that bad habit back but considering the situation at hand, she couldn’t beat herself up too hard about it. Still she found a way to beat herself up about other things, plopping down in her seat with her bags by her side.

Maybe I am as crazy as dad, she thought to herself. Should’ve known it was hereditary. Trusting a mercenary with a kid- no TWO kids?! Sure Loni and Roni will be there but… geez, girl, he’s an actual assassin. When Karen finds out, I’ll never hear the end of it. I guess I deserve that.

Riva leaned back against the tram chair and looked out the window. The passing buildings were still damaged, arching structures beautifully made by Cielian architects, were still left with chunks torn clean off and smoke stains still seared within from accidental “friendly fire” from the Phoenix.

Since the Emergence, there were only three attacks by the Olitiau but each had been worse than the last. All at night and only the last two were stopped by the Phoenix. It had escaped all tracking attempts and had somehow messed with the surveillance systems. It was there and gone in attacks that felt like mere seconds. Hell, she had never even gotten to see the damn thing before it was gone, with nothing but claw marks carved into buildings and the Phoenix shrieking after it as she pursued.

Just three attacks. 16 casualties overall. All things considered, it could’ve been far worse. The Leviathan caused more damage on accident but he always seemed to be stumbling into places he wasn’t supposed to be. Regardless, people were still rightfully terrified, especially of the Olitiau. An untraceable threat that came and went whenever it pleased. At least with them out of Cielis, Riva wouldn’t have to worry about Navin in danger. Unless….

Alright Riva, easy. You’re treading into paranoia territory. It’s only ever targeted Cielis. Where the Hayes have been staying. Almost exclusively. Still you have no evidence to suggest it’s targeting specific individuals.

Her reasoning pacified her for the moment or two before the thought came spinning back like an unwanted boomerang and knocking about in her head. The rest of the ride was filled with tossing it away just for it to come right back. The game of overthinking was only paused when the tram came to a sudden stop, startling Riva from her thoughts and the force making her lean against the quick motion. The doors opened and Riva quickly filed out with the few passengers that shared her stop.

She hurried down the steps of the tramway station and made it to the out into the outpost dock. It was a lone station hanger, a bit old and beat up with a rusted metal roof and faded blue walls, but great for quick access and departure in case of an emergency. Also great for isolating from the more elf averse folks of Cielis.

She pushing open one of the hanger doors to find Loni, Roni, Alyson, and Gabilan storing gear and rations into the belly of the orange Hummingbird aircraft. Twister sat in the center, preening his feathers as he waited patiently for his rider and only paused to curiously eye Riva. There was a tense silence between the three elves, shoulders stiff, and motions quick like a second longer would spark an all out brawl between the three. Aly hastily packed like a second more would lead to a flare of conflict, until she had run out of things from her designated pile and began helping the others with theirs. Riva frowned deeply and jogged up to the three.

One of Gabilan’s ears twitched in her direction and he turned to face her. If he was in a bad mood before, her presence certainly did him no favors. He let out an audible sigh and rested his back on the side of the plane as she approached him.

“What is it now, Mayor Ash?” he said. “I thought we were finally in agreement about something.”

“Watch yourself, merc,” Loni snapped, chucking a package of ammunition into the belly of the plane.

Gabilan shot her a vicious glare and turned his attention back to her, significantly less patient. If that was even possible.

“Can I speak to you privately, Gabilan?” Riva. “Other side of the hanger?”

“Ooooooh, someone’s in trouble,” Roni teased. Loni lightly smacked him on the arm. A better punishment than the death glare Gabilan sent him.

Gabilan grumbled quietly and followed her to the other side, away from the twins and leaving Aly to finish his pile of packaged supplies. They passed Twister, who began to stand up expectantly and wait for his owner to hop on. Gabilan patted the rounded end of his beak and whistled for him to stay. The bird obeyed but fluffed up in annoyance as he watched them pass. The pair stopped at the end and Riva whispered to him.

“When I agreed about finding a stonekeeper, I didn’t think you’d get to it so soon. At least a heads up that you were leaving would be ideal.”

“We don’t have much time to waste on goodbyes,” he grunted, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Oh please, you know what I mean.” Riva propped her hands on her hips and gestured to him with a firm point of her finger. “Gabilan, you showed up here to help but even as a volunteer, there’s an order to things that we have to go by. Yes, every second counts but so does every person on board. It’ll inevitably fall to me to find someone to cover for you.”

He pushed her hand away with a dismissive scoff.

“There’s plenty overeager soldiers ready to throw themselves at danger,” he rebuffed. “Getting at least one or two to perform Titan surveillance with Dr. Arch will be easy work for you. You said it yourself: I’m just a volunteer. Get someone on your payroll.”

Riva exasperatedly pressed her face into her hands and shook her head. It took a moment for her to quell the bubbling fury in her gut before she brushed her bangs from her face and met his gaze.

“You’re impossible, you know that?” She all but spat. “What’s your aim then, if not money?”

“I’m proving everyone I was right,” Gabilan snarked right back. “That’s reward enough for me.”

“At the potential cost of your own life and Navin’s? Seems like a big price to pay for bragging rights.”

Gabilan stiffened up and in a swift, jerking motion, he leaned down to hiss coldly, “That wasn’t my idea, Ash. Don’t pin that on me.”

The sudden switch in the elf startled her and she almost jumped back. Not to be outdone, the mayor grounded herself and stubbornly met his intense, raptor-esque stare.

“I’m not saying it was,” she hissed. “But even you know he’s just a boy. His safety is in your hands, whether you like it or not.“

“I never asked for that responsibility!”

“None of us asked for anything that’s happened, Gabilan! But here we are! I’m letting you do this because we’re running out of peaceful options. The Behemoth woke up and who knows when the others will start reacting. The Phoenix can’t seem to stand the presence of other titans and the Leviathan is never far behind her. We can’t have another event.”

She leaned back against the wall, as if just recalling the stakes had drained her of energy. Gabilan watched her, expression hard to read with his rebuilt mask obscuring so much of his face.

“But we can’t risk losing anyone else,” she continued, rubbing her eyes. “Especially Navin. I was there when the Phoenix first attacked Nautilus. I saw her face Navin and as easy as it could’ve been, she didn’t hurt him. He was right in front of her.” Riva looked to Gabilan meaningfully. “He’s convinced she’s still in there and I can’t say I disagree. I do think there’s a chance to bring her back- to bring all of them back- but if anything happens to him or his mother… I don’t think we’ll ever have a chance of saving Emily. I think I need you to promise me that you’re going to keep him safe. Please protect him and Aly, Gabilan.”

Gabilan let her words sit in his mind like a lead weight. The stonekeeper girl had almost killed him trying to save her mother, two or almost three years ago. Most stonekeepers probably would have finished him off right there. He was a little more than a squirming mouse wrapped in a wire trap made of crackling energy. It would’ve been so easy. But instead, Emily threw him out and left his fate in the hands of gravity and his own survival skills. It was as much of a mercy as it was a final warning. He had still threatened her mother and friends and that would not be tolerated more than once. If he had so much as scratched her mother, it wasn’t too far of a stretch to think that his story would’ve ended right then and there. How much worse would it be for an enraged Titan with little left to lose?

He hadn’t planned on letting Navin come into harm’s way. Either way, the kid had guts and didn’t go down without a fight. Even when Gabilan had him bound like a helpless fly in a spiderweb years ago, Navin kicked and thrashed with reckless defiance. It was sort of admirable. That same defiance was still etched in his bones now like instinct. Against all odds and the wishes of others, he was willing to fight for what he believed to be the right thing. Gabilan wasn’t the sort of man to scoff at that. Perhaps he actually kind of liked that about the kid. Gabilan wasn’t so fond of his little girlfriend but he wasn’t going to let her get herself killed trying to protect her partner in crime.

Maybe, in a way that surprised him after a quindecennial of amorality, he wasn’t completely stone-hearted. Maybe. Gabilan sighed deeply in resignation and gestured for Riva to stand up straight.

“I’m not going to let any harm come to him,” Gabilan promised. “That much you can be assured of. I’ll bring them both back alive and in one piece.”

If Riva had been skeptical of his oath, she hid it very well. She gave him a wordless, relieved smile and stuck out a hand to him in a silent affirmation. Gabilan studied it for a second before he firmly shook her hand in return.

The amicable moment was only cut short when the door to the hanger opened loudly and Navin entered through it. Hobbling behind him with a look most displeased was Luger. Gabilan’s temporary moment of almost pleasantness was cut short as the old man turned in his direction and began to cross towards him, passing by Navin. Navin gave Luger a double take before his eyes widened and he quickly followed with hands grasping at Luger’s cloak.

“Luger, wait please-“

“It is out of the question!” Luger interrupted Navin, swinging a hand like he intended to knock the very concept of his objection out of the air. “I knew you were insane, Gabilan, but this is an all new level of madness!”

Gabilan scowled, his armored hands already beginning to curl into fists. Riva stared in shock as Luger, with speed she had never seen before (at least from a man in his state), shambled right up and into the face of the mercenary. Or much as he could manage with a permanently hunched back. His teeth were bared and eyes were wildly sharp in a way that had become so alien on the placid former stonekeeper.

“I’m so sorry, Gabilan!” Navin apologized as he attempted to pull Luger back, but the former soldier ripped himself from Navin’s grip before he could even manage to tug. “Luger, please-“

“A stonekeeper hunt?!” Luger seethed venomously. “You plan to take Navin and Alyson on some harebrained stonekeeper hunt?!”

Gabilan’s yellow gaze flicked to Navin questioningly and Navin exasperatedly shrugged.

“It’s not a hunt, Luger!” Alyson said, having heard the former stonekeeper’s rant from her place. She jogged up to his side and rested a hand on his back in an attempt to soothe him. “Gabilan and Riva both agree that finding a stonekeeper could give us answers on how to turn Emily, Trellis, and Vigo back.”

“There’s already a way we can turn them back!” Luger retorted. “If we can establish an emotional anchor-“

“Not this again,” Gabilan scoffed, shaking his head dismissively.

“I’m sorry, have you ever lost control?!” Luger spat. “The knowledge you pretend to possess and the knowledge you actually have are far wider a gap than you are willing to admit! I have been where they are and I know how to bring them back without foolish talk of destroying stones or beating them into submission.”

“Oh no, I’m sorry, are you still pretending you ‘lost’ control? Even after you got them back, it seems your memory still isn’t up to snuff because I heard very different accounts, Luger!”

“And who’s fault was that in the first place, you vile-“

Before things could escalate, Riva interrupted. “Enough, enough! Listen to me, Luger. This is probably our best chance on seeing what the Voice’s intentions are. If we can get down to his motives, we’ll be one step closer to fixing this and have better information to use in our defenses.”

Luger didn’t take his eyes off Gabilan until Riva stepped in front of him. She rested her hands on his shoulders and lowered her head to catch his gaze. Luger pointedly met her with his eyes filled with anger, fear, and a sad sense of betrayal. He shook his head listlessly, a slow and deliberate motion.

“You don’t know what he’s done,” Luger said, voice teetering on hysterics. “What he’s capable of! You cannot trust him!”

“I know I’m asking a lot but I’m not asking you to trust him,” Riva expressed. “I’m asking you to trust me. Trust Navin, Aly, and my team. I know it’s a lot but please trust me. I really do believe this is our best chance on getting your brother back.”

Luger’s reluctance held fast as he stared between her, Aly, Navin, and Gabilan. He scowled deeper and lowered his iron gaze after a long moment.

“You aren’t going to wait for my approval, are you?” Luger asked.

Aly and Navin exchanged guilty looks and Riva couldn’t say anything. She only squeezed his shoulders in a weak attempt to comfort him. If Gabilan did have anything on his part to add, he graciously decided to keep his opinions to himself and preferred to go back to Twister and ensure the bird was ready to go.

“We leave soon,” he said over his shoulder. “As soon as Loni and Roni lock up the belly of the plane, we depart.”

Luger’s face jutted upwards at the mercenary to glare daggers at him, weathered hands clenching and unclenching. Riva gently took them into her own. Her thumbs brushed comforting circles along his knuckles and drew his attention back to her.

“I wouldn’t let them go if I didn’t trust Loni and Roni to help protect them,” she said.

Navin stood by Riva’s side and did his best to offer the old man an easygoing grin, one like countless others her fitted on before a crazy adventure.

“Please, Luger,” Navin said. “I have to do this for Emily, Trellis, and Vigo. It’s my responsibility, remember? I’m the commander.”

Luger’s fingers tightened around Riva’s at that. His wrinkled lips pressed into a thin, tense line and after a long minute of intense thought, he pulled his hands away from Riva’s grip and turned to face Navin fully. He reached forward and braced his shaking hands upon Navin’s shoulders.

“Do as you wish,” he said, tears beginning to gather in his tired eyes. “But please… p-please come back home alive. Both of you…”

Navin smiled in relief but it was hampered by Luger’s expression. He somehow looked older and more far troubled, like the turmoil that twisted beneath the surface had drained years right from his soul. Navin could only pull the old man into a hug that the former stonekeeper returned with the strength of a wilted flower. Aly embraced him as well, quietly asking that he keep her parents in the loop about the everything.

Riva watched on in silence, a heaviness settled in her chest like a lead ball. If Navin had looked tired, Luger hid his weariness with far less subtlety. He looked far too pale,  older than ever before. He had always looked frail, especially compared to his youthful and handsome younger brother and even more so to the dominating, oppressive stature of the King. Riva had never seen what Luger had looked like in his prime but with with Trellis’s absence, it looked as if those years had been decades behind the former stonekeeper rather than a mere few years.

And I’m leaving him here to run everything.

Guilt panged through her chest as she watched the small embrace break apart and Luger utter blessings of protection on Aly and Navin. Navin thanked him quietly and turned his attention to Riva. Without hesitation, she opened her arms out to him and let Navin rush her for a hug.

She held him close for a minute. He was so small compared to her. She hadn’t really noticed it until now. Something hot burned in the back of her throat and she quickly gestured for Aly to complete the embrace before emotion threatened to blur into her eyes. Aly complied and squeezed Riva tight, burrowing her face into the elf’s shoulder.

“Be careful,” she murmured. “Watch out for each other and listen to Loni and Roni. Stick together, ok?”

The slight scuff of Navin’s face against her rain coat and Aly’s mumble of agreement were all she needed and she let them go just as the loud thunk of the belly of the plane being locked rang out. The duo dutifully turned to make their way to the plane. Riva and Luger watched side by side as they climbed into the aircraft.

Loni and Roni hung back and locked eyes with Riva. She didn’t need to say a word; her friends understood and they saluted their major and companion. She sent them a tender grin and the two climbed into the aircraft. Within moments of them sealing the door and getting settled, the engine roared to life. The propellors began to spin, kicking up dust from the old hanger floor and making Riva and Luger squint to see through it.

Gabilan ensured Twister’s saddle bags were secured before setting his foot into the stirrup and swinging his leg over. He settled into the storm bird’s saddle and sent Riva and Luger a simple nod in farewell. With little left to say, he lightly clicked his heel into Twister’s side. The bird squawked and took off running until it reached the opening of the aircraft hanger facing the open sky. Twister’s wing opened as he leapt out and the storm bird took flight.

The twins’ aircraft followed with engine strengthening its breeze as it lifted from the floor and leaned forward with a groan. It glided forward towards the opening and from its window in its side, Navin peeked through to catch a final glimpse of his elven friends. Riva forced a brave smile on Luger’s behalf and waved goodbye just as the Hummingbird took off. Navin waved back with smile almost as convincing as hers.

The wind of Hummingbird’s propellers faded into a light breeze as the distance between the machine and the outpost grew. Left standing in the hanger, Riva turned to face Luger with a look of concern. Luger hauntingly stared out into the sky where the shapes of Gabilan and the twin’s Hummingbird faded into the distance.

“Are… you ok?” She asked.

“No.”

His answer was short and the air between them swiftly turned stale and awkward. She bit her nails absentmindedly as she thought of anything she could say to comfort Luger but before she could arrange her words for him, Luger turned and began to leave.

“Luger-“

“I have to go,” he said tersely. “I have to keep track the increase on the Behemoth’s activity and the proximity of other titans.”

“Luger please, I know this is hard but I really do think it’s the right thing to do,” she pressed on.

“Are you trying to convince me?” Luger turned to face her with a cold look like the frigid winds of Frontera. “Or are you trying to convince yourself?”

Riva hesitated. Before she could answer, Luger turned and left out the way he came with nothing more to say other than, “Safe travels.” The door slammed shut hard behind him and echoed through the empty hanger, leaving Riva to her thoughts. She stared at the concrete floor with nothing but her own thoughts as company.

Am I doing the right thing?

Chapter Text

As Karen had predicted, Coconino city hall was very easy to find. The front of the white sandstone mayor’s office was crowded with people all shouting at a volume that would almost rival the Behemoth. The stone steps up to the building were lined with protest. Shaking fists and banners but Karen couldn’t exactly tell what for or against. Karen weaved through the protesters and made it up to the main door. She pulled it open but her entry was halted by discontented civilians packed in like a sardine can. The sight of a wall of people’s backs made her stop short; she had been prepared to see the place filled but not to the point of overflowing.

She craned her head back to look for a clear path in but found very little in terms of space. She reached her hand up a hesitantly tapped on the shoulder of one of the men in front of her.

“Excuse me,” said Karen. “Would you mind scooting forward a smidge please? I have important titan business to discuss-“

The man she had tapped, a big fellow with hay yellow hair and face red from sun and boiling temper, looked over his shoulder at her and sneered.

“Everyone here is on titan business,” he barked. “Wait like everyone else!”

Karen was taken aback but she sheepishly attempted to prod.

“I know but this is very important!” Karen explained. “I’ve been helping overview surveys on the titan and I need-“

The man turned around to face her completely, made more difficult by the cluster of people around him. He was a tall thing, almost by a full head and he leaned down to get on her eye level. Karen jumped back as the man glared right into her face.

“And I lost my brother to one of that demon bull out there,” he growled, red as a berry and not nearly as sweet. “I need answers and I’m in no mood to deal with you ‘conservationists’ and your soap boxing for monsters. Wait your damn turn.”

With that said, he turned his back on her. Karen’s cheeks flushed with rage and she took a few steps back to survey the scenery. No change had been made in the density of the crowd and she brushed her bangs from her eyes.

Fine. I’ll just have to find another way in.

Karen shut the door and looked around the open area. The steps behind were flooded with people and her left and right were void of a clear way in.

Ok, I’ll just find a side door. Staff has to get in and out somehow. I doubt they’d have the building on full lockdown.

She walked to her left towards the corner of city hall building and quietly wrung her hands. She peeked around to see a space filled with staff on brake. Janitors and kitchen staff smoked cheap cigarettes along the walls of the alley, complaining in a language Karen couldn’t even recognize. One lady raised her head, a younger black-and-white goat woman somewhere in her 20s if Karen could guess. She was dressed in a faded green uniform of cleaning staff, a bag of personal items by her feet, and held a cigarette between her fingers. She raised a furry brow and took a long drag on her cigarette.

“Can I help ya, miss?” She grunted in a tone that did not convey an ounce of interest in helping.

“Um, yes actually,” Karen said. “I need to speak to the mayor. I work with the Titan Survey teams and I have urgent information regarding defense.”

It wasn’t exactly a lie. The goat lady pulled the cigarette from her lips and regarded Karen with a tired, unimpressed look. She brought the cigarette back to her mouth, dragged a breath through it, and exhaled the cloud of smoke. Karen scrunched her nose at the acrid smell yet chose not to comment on it.

“Go in through the front and tell the receptionist the exact same thing,” she bluntly said. “They’ll let you in.”

“I’ve tried,” Karen said. “Some of the citizens in the waiting room are a bit… hot tempered. Getting in there is practically impossible-“

“Listen lady, I can’t just let anyone in,” the goat lady cut through, jabbing her cigarette in Karen’s direction. “Either the receptionist lets you in or you take a ticket or whatever.”

“It’s a matter of life and death!” Karen said. “Please, I came all this way from Cielis-“

“Cielis? The floating city?” The cleaning lady eyed her up and down and scoffed. “You got to be kidding me? The city disappeared, let the elves take over, and only now they decide to step in? Could’ve used your help maybe 30 years ago.”

She flicked her cigarette to the ground and snuffed it out beneath her black, scuffed shoe. Karen awkwardly cleared her throat as the goat woman looked back to her with unimpressed contempt.

“Well… I myself am not a native,” Karen explained. “I just work with them to try an get this rectified-“

“Rectified?!”

A young man, dressed in the same green uniform as the goat woman, was sitting against a wall a few feet behind the cleaning lady and scoffed loudly. He was a young, lean fellow no older than Trellis was with a look twice as angry and tired as the elven teen. He pushed off the wall and shot Karen a pointed glare.

“Cielis had been the city of stones once,” he scoffed. “Now your stonekeepers are burning down cities, destroying vessels, and causing landslides. How do you plan to rectify that, lady?”

“I’m afraid that’s information for the mayor only,” Karen said, frustration beginning to prick at her skin. “Please, this can’t wait.”

“Who even are you?” The kid asked. “What makes you so special to think you can just waltz up and demand to meet the mayor?”

Perhaps it was the heat, the constant exhaustion that set deep into the pits of her bones, or the stress of Vigo’s fate creeping in the back of her mind, but whatever the reason, Karen’s patience wore thin. She snapped, startling the staff members. “I’m Karen Hayes! I have been working hard to monitor the titans for months on end! I’m tired, I’m hungry, and I can’t waste any more time with these trivia questions when my friend might be put down like a rabid dog! Please, just let me in!”

The goat woman’s eyes were wide as she watched Karen rant and once she was finished, patiently waited for Karen to collect herself. Karen took a deep, harsh breaths and rubbed her face with weary hands. The young man eyed her, confused and bothered. Once Karen had pulled her hands from her face and looked to the cleaning lady, the goat woman stood up and the back of her skirt of dirt from the alleyway floor.

“Hayes as in… that Hayes?” She asked.

Karen paused and a ball of worry beginning to rise in her chest. The cleaning lady stared at her, not cold or judgmental, but rather a glow of sympathy behind her brown eyes. It was slow, stiff, and hesitant motion but Karen nodded. The young man looked between them curiously but before he could piece together the meaning of the quiet exchange, the cleaning lady gestured for Karen to follow.

“Come on but be quiet,” she said. “Watch my stuff, Donnie. I’ll be right back.”

The steady exhaustion lifted off Karen’s frame for a second and she followed the goat woman. The young man, Donnie, scrutinized Karen with a cold look in his eyes but scooted closer to the cleaning lady’s stuff. Karen followed the goat through the side door and into the back rooms of the mayor’s office building.

The creamy beige walls were basked in a yellow lamp light, giving the hallways a warmer, almost cozy feeling. It was contrasted by the ruckus of the waiting room. The roars of voices down in the waiting room were little more than a murmur through the layers of walls and rooms. Karen didn’t really want to think about having to wait in a room full of warm bodies, loud voices, and even worse tempers. A small twinge of guilt nagged at her brain, recalling the angry man that blocked her path.

He hadn’t been very kind but Karen couldn’t really blame him for how strongly he had reacted. Being angry at Vigo was not an unreasonable feeling. Still, she would’ve preferred a more… gentler discussion on the matter. She’d rather get things back to normal and then address the issues at hand when he was in his right mind and body.

Karen followed the cleaning lady though the winding halls, left, right, left again, and past a pair of staff members rushing though the halls. As she did, the goat looked over her shoulder questioningly.

“So… mother to a stonekeeper, eh?” She awkwardly said. “How’s that been for you?”

“You mean her being so powerful or her being transformed into a giant bird on fire?” Karen replied, a touch too quick and unintentionally sharp.

A tiny voice whispered in the back of her mind that she had been too defensive just as the words had left her mouth. It had become a knee jerk reaction lately. No one in Cielis had been quick to disparage her daughter. From the tender age of 12, she had stuck her neck out for so many people just because it had been the right thing to do. She, Trellis, and Vigo had worked hard to set right the unwanted presence of the Voice and the Elf King in Cielis. There was an air of respect and a sense of paying the three back for cleansing their city that kept tongues tied and attitudes accommodating.

The same couldn’t be said for those outside of it. Karen didn’t even need to experience it first hand to know it was going to come eventually. The goat cleaning lady’s gaze darted away and she resigned to little more than a shrug.

“Yeah… sorry about that,” she said. “Your daughter, I mean. She was actually doing something about that demon king. I can respect that.”

“…. Thank you…” The words left Karen’s mouth like they were coated in barbed wire, almost followed by the thought, she never should have in the first place. But that barbed wire coating had kept the words hooked in her throat and it went no further.

“I had friends that the elf king’s forces took far too soon and thanks to her and that Vigo Light, at least we got some justice. And if he had the guts to actually do something about it, I guess that prince fellow isn’t so bad either.”

“They all did so much for everyone, even when it came at a terrible price.”

The heaviness weighed between them and turned the atmosphere stiff and heavy.

“Well, I hope whatever information you have can help them,” the goat cleaning lady said, leading her up to a door. “The mayor is here. Just tell them who you are and they shouldn’t give you any trouble.”

Karen stared up at the door. The worn white wood was graying around the handle from countless fingerprints over the years of use. She  could make out the muffled sounds of officials and staff within chattering anxiously. She turned back to the cleaning lady, who had already began to back away.

“Thank you for everything….” Karen paused as she realized she didn’t know the staff member’s name. She internally cringed at her lack of manners. Oh, if Emily had been there, she’d probably make a lighthearted, snarky jab about hypocrisies and being so impolite to strangers. Karen banished that thought back to the furthest part of her mind as the cleaning lady filled in the gap.

“Name’s Judith,” she said. “You’re welcome and good luck, ok? And do me a favor: if the mayor gets mad, we never met.”

Karen huffed out a short laugh and nodded in affirmation. With that understanding, Judith turned and left back down the hall, disappearing around a corner to return to her lunches and habits. Karen listen to the fading of her footsteps before knocking on the door. The chatter behind it didn’t cease, only one voice cutting through in a volume much louder.

“Come in!”

Karen opened the door with bated breath and pushed her way in. She had been used to hectic environments like the communication center of Cielis but the scene within was more akin to an explosion of papers and bureaucratic panic. Officials were flipping through papers, yelling governmental jargon that may or may not even tie into the situation as the mayor argued. The mayor was a stout old man, a thick mustache that would put an old western movie star to shame. Sweat beaded his balding head and he dabbed it with away with a handkerchief from the front pocket of his plaid shirt. His plump cheeks were red with stress as he barked orders to his secretary.

“Do we have anything back on those blasted defense forces?!” He shouted.

“The militia are still assessing, Mr. Abner,” His secretary reported. “They recommend a thorough overview before engagement. If we engage, it might irritate the titan-“

“It’s already wiped out the homes of outer city residents!” Mayor Abner argued. “We don’t even know how many people have been killed! We can’t just wait to see if it breaks through and kills any more people!”

Karen awkwardly cleared her throat and pushed her way through the chaos until she made it to the front of his large, oak desk. The motion called the mayor’s attention and he looked to her with a sharp jag of his head. He scrutinized her with tired, irritated eyes and Karen’s throat went dry.

“Who the hell are you?” He demanded. “I’m not receiving any visitors. How’d you get in here?!”

“Excuse me, Mr. Abner,” Karen said. “I’m Karen Hayes. I’m with the Cielis Titan Survey teams and I have some new information that can help to formulate a proper strategy and limit damages to the city.”

The words felt awkward coming from her and she tried as hard as she could to mask how out of place she felt. There was a big difference working with a team with someone to speak on her behalf than speaking to officials with far more experience. She recalled her daughter for strength and stood her ground, even as the mayor arched a fuzzy brow at her.

“Hayes? As in that Guardian Hayes?”

Karen awkwardly nodded and the mayor reclined in his chair, crossing his arms tightly over his chest. Her last name had drawn the room into a hushed murmur as the attending officials listened in on what she had to say.

“Your daughter is the one that burned down Nautilus. Seems your titans have caused a lot of trouble.”

Again with this?

He didn’t even try to mask his blunt, borderline judgmental observation as a question. Karen swallowed down her indignation and anxiety before she stubbornly continued.

“I’m well aware of the events at Nautilus and rest assured we are researching what happened there,” she said. “We don’t have a full understanding of the psychology of the titans but we do have an understanding of their behaviors. That and the flooding of Frontera seem to be a one off incidents in the confusion of the transformation. Think of it more like a distressed toddler learning how to walk. Since then we’ve been able to establish routine patterns. For example, Vigo Light, or the Behemoth as you know him now, has heightened activity when other titans are more active. Just a day ago, the Leviathan and the Phoenix had an interaction and very shortly the Behemoth awoke from a resting period.”

“And why is that?”

He waved a hand towards an unused chair in an offering. For the first time she entered the room, Karen felt ease trickle in and she spoke with more confidence as she sat down into the cushioned chair.

“Again we don’t know the exact reasons because we can’t assess the mental state of the titans but we have theories. One of my advisors was a stonekeeper who had loss control and he advised that they might be functioning based on scattered memories. If his activity correlates with the activity of the other titans, Vigo might still be trying to look for them based on what he can remember

“But we don’t know why?” Mayor Abner rubbed a hand over his face with a gruff groan. “Well this all sounds well and good but what is that going to do for getting that creature away from the city?”

“Well I think the best option is to avoid confronting him as much as possible-“

As soon as the words left her mouth, the attending officials burst into objections. One or two outright laughed at the very suggestion of a passive approach. Karen blushed in embarrassment as one woman stood suddenly, her chair flying back from the force.

“That’s insane! That monster is about to burst his way through and storm the city and you suggest we do nothing?!”

“No not nothing!” Karen argued. “If we attack, we can’t even gauge how strong his retaliation could be. Or worse, it might attract the attention of the other titans. Especially Emily. If you start a violent conflict, it will spiral out of control.”

“And how do you know?” The official argued.

The mayor gestured for the official to sit down but looked to Karen with a quizzical brow, expecting her to answer.

“We had a titan attack on Cielis not too long ago,” Karen explained. “If you’ve checked any of the public reports, the Olitiau descended and attacked the Behemoth unprompted before fleeing and leaving the Behemoth to take a rest period before he ever approach Coconino City. Before that had even taken place, the Olitiau had launched three attacks over a period of months since the Emergence. The last two were thwarted by the Phoenix. Emily drove it off twice despite having no stakes in territory. She only displays territorial behavior if people are too close in her vicinity.”

“So she doesn’t like other creatures causing a ruckus too close to her,” the mayor concluded.

“That’s what we thought at first,” Karen explained. She stood up and pointed to a map of Alledia hanging on the Mayor Abner’s wall. She tapped her finger a few inches left of Frontera on the map. “Until we got reports from surveyors stationed near the Frontera reconstruction facilities that were tracking her a little more than an hour before the second attack. Emily crossed hundreds of miles at incredibly high speeds in order to intervene in an attack we hadn’t even detected yet and drove him off.”

She turned back to Mayor Abner and braced her palms on the desk. “If Emily detects a conflict, there is a very high chance she will come here. Either to side with us or with the Behemoth. And if she is here, Trellis- the Leviathan- will not be far behind.”

Mayor Abner looked back to the map and leaned back in his chair. He raised a hand and combed his fingers through his mustache in deep thought. The room was deathly quiet as officials looked between him and Karen. The mayor looked back to her and Karen’s heart almost stopped in her chest.

“What do you propose we do?” He asked.

Karen let out the breath she had been holding and she barely stifled down the relieved smile that threatened to bloom across her face. She sat down as the officials murmured between each other and she was more than happy to pay them no mind.

“We need to find a way to lure him away from the mountain without attracting the attention from the other titans,” Karen said. “If we can work with our biologists like Dr. Helena Creed and Dr. Magel Arch, we can use what we know about creatures similar to the Behemoth and use it against him. It might take some time but better a longer and safer measure than a hasty and dangerous one. Cielis has some of the best engineers in Alledia and with the Elf King gone, Gulfen is finally on the same page as the rest of Alledia and are ready to help.

The Mayor did not seem so pleased to hear the word “Gulfen” if the slight way his brow furrowed was anything to go by. Still, he said nothing and that was better than anything against the idea. He looked to his secretary and snapped his fingers to get her attention from a log book.

“June, please write up a memo and have it sent to the militia captains as soon as possible: I want air crafts to give that beastie a wide berth and have ground militia retreat back to a further position. Put a hold on any defensive attacks unless completely necessary.”

Karen couldn’t hide her smile any longer as the secretary hurried off and the mayor placed his attention back on her.

“You got a radio?” He asked and Karen nodded in response. “Then call up your folks in Cielis or Gulfen or wherever. We’re gonna need them to think of something and fast.”

He stood up and fixed her to the stop with a serious stare. “I’m placing it on you and your folks,” he said. “If anything goes wrong, it’s on you. I’m trusting you, you understand?”

Karen nodded in understanding but the knowledge of the stakes did not take away her smile. She stood up, shook his hand, and enthusiastically thanked him before turning and hurrying out of the office. A fire of determination burned in her belly and she wouldn’t let the weight of the situation snuff it out. No matter what, she had to be ready.

The officials lingered before the mayor ordered them back to work with a gruff bark. One, Karen’s objector, stopped by his desk.

“Sir, this is insane,” she said. “It’s clear that woman cares more about saving the titans over saving the our people. Pacifism is not the way to go about this. And working with Gulfen on top of all that? The war has barely ended and we’re just going to put our trust in the hands of the elves that wanted to conquer us less than a year ago-“

“I know and I get your point but we are running out of options, Thomas,” Mayor Abner said. “If the Phoenix or the Leviathan show up, we’re in for a world of trouble. As much as I’d love to blast that big cow to kingdom come, we can’t be too hasty. Still, I’m not stupid enough not to consider that an option. We need the militia to stay on their toes. Make sure that memo gets out but have the captains be ready to deploy as soon as possible if we need them to.”

Thomas nodded and got to work, leaving the mayor to his business.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The surface of the bubbled and broke as a large looming figure pulled himself onto the shore from the depths. Water dripped down his rubbery hide as the Leviathan stepped onto land, feeling the sand between his webbed toes. What would have been a lovely distraction could only be savored for so long before another roar in the distant night sky called his attention away. He snorted quietly, the displeased motion sending water spraying from his nostrils in a condensed mist.

He calls still. Why? Quiet! Be quiet, mountain thing!

He’s tempted to hiss out a warning but that would give away his position and on would the Behemoth go screaming for him and the Phoenix. Or worse, he’d probably find a way out of his unusual kingdom of ranges and peaks and find him. The thought of it made his spine crawl with agitation. Although, he couldn’t pin down why. That tiny detail of why he didn’t want to be seen escaped him like a school of fish weaving through his teeth.

He searched his mind for why, what, and who countless times before and just like every other attempt, this search for why was easier conceptualized than actually done. This time as he rooted around the mist of what had possibly been, he did pull back something between his mind’s claws. The memory was more than a little fuzzy but he could recall a person.

Person? Yes! Person! The small screaming creatures!

The person’s face and form was fuzzy and indiscernible from the swarm of muddled memories but the action of just trying to recall him sent a weird type of familiar feeling through his hide. Old frustration set his temper to kindling impatience but a sense of respect kept that impatient temper to a low simmer. Perhaps he once was even a bit fond of the faceless person sometimes. The faceless man had been there when the Leviathan had ceased to be whatever he had been and became the Water Titan. The memory of that day was more faded now but he recalled the voice of the old man- yes! He was old! -still rang in his ears. Was he calling his name?

Name…. Did… Did I have a name? I think… I did? What was it…..

The Leviathan was born that day and came into this world carved with wounds he could not remember receiving. There was searing heat upon his hide and…. It only stopped when the Vile One had crumbled beneath his claws.

She had been there. My skin was burning then…

There was wailing, as there always was when new life began, but not his own. The man had called out to him, words lost to faded memory, but stricken with raw grief that still clung in his voice today. The Leviathan fled into the waters away from the still rampaging Phoenix and the crumbled Vileness. He fled and never saw the weeping old man again. At least not in the way that man was supposed to be.

The Leviathan couldn’t exactly pinpoint what the man in his memory looked like anymore but the connection to the faded figure in his memory and the Mountain Titan was clear; the familiarity made his skin crawl. While the possibilities of answers and some unusual connection drew him to the Phoenix like the south end to the north end of a magnet, a deep discomfort repelled him from the Behemoth like the two north ends of that same magnetic attraction. The thought of the Phoenix soothed the discomfort but replaced it with that melancholic longing of trying to recall what was fading fast in the recesses of his mind.

…. Maybe she will come back. I might see her again soon enough.

The Leviathan raised his head towards the sky and sniffed the air. The smell of smoke had long faded into a faint, stale scent trail. His hood unfurled wider as he attempted to sense her presence nearby but received nothing. He deduced she had moved west in the opposite direction, likely for the same reasons he had fled east to his waters. But the Behemoth’s calls had been ongoing for days now and it was only a matter of time until his incessant screams would ignite her infamous temper and turn her flames into infernos. She would come back eventually. He could only hope in a better mood.

The Leviathan continued until sandy shores turned to fields of grass. The cool air prickled his still damp hide and he paused every so often on his venture to check the air for her presence. Neither the bluster of her heated wings nor the acrid smell of smoke heralded her presence nearby but there was something on the wind. The energy that pulsed and surged beneath his skin picked up on something preemptive and began to prickle at his nerves. Something was going to happen and if it was big enough, she would no doubt come down to assess. Or aide, whichever suited her.

The temptation to call out to the Phoenix was strong but he held his tongue, lest the Behemoth hear him. He would not return to the sea for now. Not when what was to come was lingering on the wind, formless and looming. Out in the open however, he was too exposed and it wouldn’t be long before the very effort of moving his massive form would sap his energy.

I must find… a nest. Find a nest. Rest… rest for now.

His scattered mind faded to instinct as he began to scour the grounds for something suitable. The terrain of the north was prone to rain and muddy, perfect for his predilection to moist conditions but largely flat. He contemplated digging himself a dip in the ground to rest but too long would leave him exposed for too long. The very thought spiked the powerful energy from a gentle beat to a sharp thunder. He passed along the soft ground until he caught sight of something.

The Leviathan knew the shapes of the little ones’ cities. To him they seemed little more than anthills filled with the screaming beings and their blistering weapons but this one was better described as the shell of one. Some buildings were caved in and crumbled, their tiny residents long gone and marred with the stains of war. The stench had long faded from rains and halted clean up but he could still smell traces of death and a creature he despised more than the titan with wings of flesh. It made him nauseous with fear and a deep rooted rage. The image of a faceless figure- no, it was masked, not faceless- crept from the recesses of his mind, shrouded in the cloud of vaporous figures with eyes that preyed on the soul.

They had been gone now but the Leviathan stalked closer to check. He approached he ruins, stepping over a sign he could no longer understand, and slunk through the remains of buildings that grew taller the deeper he went. He sniffed along structures, poking his serpentine nose where he could feasibly fit it and stepping carefully over the crumbles of painted brick. The scent remained stale as he carefully inspected each crevice and street until he noted a wide space between the rows of buildings. He awkwardly weaved the empty streets as he made his way over and observed the open space.

It was a courtyard, or the remains of one. Old gray bricks with lighter spots to make up an intricate designs of diamonds with looping corners. Street lamps sprouted like dead flowers stems before what had once been the jewel of the courtyard: a now crumbled, smoldering building at the very head of the area. Perhaps a leader had lived there once, organizing events and leading their people. The Leviathan stepped into it and took in a deep breath through the nose. The reek of chemically vapor had long faded and almost masked the scent of someone. It was hard to identify the exact composition; the faint sweetness of a some variety of flower and the more clinical smells of powders and chemicals, but there was a sort of friendliness to it that offered the Leviathan a sense of peace and comfort.

A friend lived here. I had a friend once…

He couldn’t recall the face or even the form of the friend he had once, other than a sense of solidarity that one creature would find in another of its own kind. A low rumble pulled the Leviathan from his thoughts. Not a Behemoth call but the faint sound of thunder in the distant skies. He looked around at the courtyard, back up to the graying heavens, and down to the courtyard. It would be a tight squeeze but he would make do in lieu of a nest. It would only be a matter of time until the littlest creatures would stumble upon him but they only seemed to bother him when he got too close to their hives. Them and their stinging weapons that pierced hide and set his nerves on edge. It had happened too much before, once in the desert in his early days and in the ruins of an old hive. A lash of his tail, swipe of his claws, and the rise of his waters had handled their unjust onslaught. He could do it again if need be, he wasn’t too far from the ocean. Until then, he could stand to rest.

He weaved a tight circle until he found a comfortable orientation and lay on his side. The Leviathan was much too big to comfortably fit in the courtyard but he made do. He let the length of his tail coil through the streets and arched his neck until he could rest his head in the remains of the central building.

He didn’t fall asleep. He only lay there, listening as the roars of thunder grew louder and rain began to dot his flank. He tried to call back the memories tied to the building. He tried to remember the friend he had made, the one that had once lived there. He tried to recall good times they had shared when things hadn’t been so bad. He tried to recall the Phoenix, her face and name, and the closeness that drew them together. Had they had all been friends? Had they shared special moments when things were good and fair?

He tried so hard but his mind’s hand came back empty. He grasped again and it felt even further away than before.

The rain began to downpour but the memories refused to flood with it. Only whispers of a voice that made no sense.

Chapter Text

Luger watched the monitors and took a sip of his tea as the radars blipped away with a calm rhythm. The one intended to track heat picked up absolutely nothing nearby and neither did standard sonar. He leaned back in his chair and though a blank reading should have left him in a much happier mood, he couldn’t definitively say he was in a good mood. It was late and everyone had left, both his friends for their respective missions and staff for the evening. Still, Luger couldn’t sleep. Not when luck could turn on a dime and everything could go from peace to catastrophe in a second.

Luger took another sip of his tea and set down his much in one of the cup holders by the monitors. He flipped open his notebook and documented the day. It wasn’t an official record but he’d hoped it’d be some use. At least for him. He flipped until he reached the next blank page and picked up his pen.

Dear Trellis,

Another day has gone by and not a second of it goes by where it is not occupied with thoughts of you, little brother. Today has been peaceful in terms of minor titanic activities but not so much in terms of the inner workings of the group. You’ve spoken about paying any price to fix the mistakes of our ancestors once and I find myself in a similar conundrum. Not that I have a solution yet but… well, desperation is very much present within the team. I fear I have permitted something very foolish to happen. I have let Navin and Alyson go on a mission to find a stonekeeper with Gabilan of all people. I can already hear you decry this decision on my part. Or you’d probably insist on doing it yourself with you and all your self-sacrificing tendencies. (I’ll have you know that once this is all over, I will be revoking your right to do so.) At least it brings me peace knowing two elves with good heads on their shoulders have gone with them. Loni and Roni are Riva’s best. Or so she says. I’m still not keen with the plan but I fear something may change sooner rather than later.

The Olitiau is still a major problem. It seems to love avoiding our methods of tracking. Following it seems to be impossible but we are very fortunate that its last conflict with the Phoenix has seem to make it hesitant to come back. Emily’s low patience for nonsense has worked in our favor this time and since the Behemoth (Vigo’s silly little code name) has woken up, she seems to be on her best behavior. As have you.

You are a bit of a mystery to me. In the beginning since “the Emergence”- apparently that’s what everything is calling it now- you acted so confused. You won’t be pleased with all the shenanigans you’ve gotten up to over the last couple months but it seems you know to try and look for your friend. Although I don’t think the Phoenix enjoys you following her. Seems independence is still her M.O. Still, I’d bet my ears you two would make an excellent team bringing the Olitiau down. You two always were an incredible duo.

Luger swallowed down a growing lump in his throat as memories of his brother rose in the back of his mind. He had watched Emily and Trellis train together in the grounds of the Guardian Academy. He had seen them fight tooth and claw to bring each other back from the Void. Trellis still bore the scars up and down his right arm from that event. Luger could still see them in the photos of the creature whose hide of wet, fine pressed scales enveloped his brother’s spirit. Then again, everyone could see those scars now as they glowed with a crackling energy, like they were windows to the ancient magic underneath the flesh.

He had gotten those scars saving Emily and… Vigo. That name sat bitterly on his tongue. He had done his best to conceal his anger but not well enough to fool himself into forgiveness. That wouldn’t happen any time soon. Vigo Light, their teacher, their “mentor” had been there to confront the Elf King and took Trellis with him. The Emergence happened and Vigo Light came back alone. Vigo left mere days- it had only been DAYS - and soon the mountains had a new master to conceal.

He never should’ve taken you there, Luger hissed within his own heart. He never should’ve entertained such a stupid plan to begin with. He should’ve gone with Emily in that sub with that mercenary! He should’ve faced the Elf Kong with an army! Not just you two in some hopeless Hail Mary! That burden should’ve never been on you! You were just a boy, Trellis! He should have told you no! You never should have gone! If someone had to come back alone, it should’ve been you coming home! Not that- that-

Despite the anger that pushed his tears free and blurred some of the words in his notebook, Luger didn’t dare put those thoughts to paper. No matter how much his fingers trembled with anticipation to etch his wrath to the letter, he locked it back in his weary mind. He intended to share it with Trellis one day and the depths of the older elf’s despair would do nothing for the guilty conscience he knew his little brother would come home with. Luger instead wiped his eyes and jotted down his final thoughts.

And of course, we need to get Vigo back too. I’m sure the old man will be in good spirits to have his prized pupils back and complete our great trio. Hopefully,  you will be home soon. There is much to discuss, little brother, and I believe I still owe you an Othello rematch. I might even let you win this time. I miss you, Trellis, and I cannot wait to see you again.

With love always,

Luger

Luger closed his notebook and placed it back in his designated drawer. He shut the door firmly and leaned back in his chair with a tired, mournful sniffle. He looked out the window of the overlooking watch tower on the beautiful night sky. The stars were countless and glimmering high above. He took his mug from its place and took a long drink as he wondered if Trellis could see those same stars wherever he lay now.

The peace of the night and his own grief was broken by a crackle on the radio. It startled Luger for a second but he quickly recovered and picked up the radio. He pressed the button and raised it to his ear.

“Hello, this is Karen Hayes to Sky Eel Tower-Epsilon. Is anyone there? Over.”

Luger blinked in surprise and after a second, he pressed the button again to speak.

“Hello, this is Luger at Sky Eel Tower- Epsilon. It’s good to hear from you, Karen. Are you ok? Over.”

“I’m doing fine! Better than fine actually! I managed to talk to the mayor of Coconino and prevent them from using deadly force on Vigo. At least it’s not their first resort. But seems my work isn’t finished. Is Riva there? I need to speak to her first thing in the morning. Over.”

“I’m sure we can skip the radio lingo between friends,” Luger said. “As for Riva, no. She left early today. She’s heading for Valcor today. She should have been there at around five or six in the evening.”

“Oh, do you know which is the best way to reach out to her?”

Luger thought back to the Gulfen radio towers. Once upon a time, he had it remembered by heart and though it was a some time ago, at least his memory had faltered there. “She should have her personal radio but the best way is Gamma Tower 2E. Just tell them who you are with and who you’re trying to reach. They shouldn’t give you any trouble.”

Karen made a small affirmative hmph and and Luger could hear her scribble something down on a paper. He tapped his claws on the receiver quietly as she mumbled the words he had said as she transcribed them to paper.

“How are Leon, Miskit, and Cogsley?” Luger asked to fill the silence. “Is everyone well?”

“Uh they’re good. Leon hasn’t come back to the Luna Moth yet. I think he’s still surveying. Miskit is cleaning up and I think Cogsley is settling Dagno to bed. I just got to see Enzo and Rico again.“

Luger smiled at the thought of his old friends, especially of his young culinary student. His skills in cooking were… lacking and he didn’t particularly like to do it. Still, he did his best and was willing to help despite internal (and external) discouragement.

“How are they?” He asked as he paused to sip his tea.

“They’re good,” Karen replied. “Enzo misses your cooking though and honestly, I don’t blame him. Bless Rico’s heart but that poor man just can’t seem to get the seasoning right.”

“I was afraid you’d say that,” Luger chuckled. “I’ll have to write down reminders for him.”

Karen giggled quietly and Luger could hear the slightly creak of wood and squeak of metal as she settled back in her chair and it no doubt reclined.

“How’s Navin?” Karen asked. “Is he still awake?”

Luger went stiff.

He had almost dropped his mug and his breath caught in his throat. In his frozen panic, he found himself struggling between two options: tell or don’t tell. The impulse to blurt out the truth almost overrode his mind completely before he recalled Navin’s plea and locked him right back into indecision. On one hand, Navin would be livid and the mission would be all for naught. On the other hand, Karen would never forgive him for lying.

What do I do? Oh Erlking, what should I say?

He frantically pieced together something to tell her, anything that would make a lick of sense. Before Karen could question the long pause, the answer tumbled out of his mouth without his consent.

“He should be asleep by now.”

Luger cringed in shame and his head fell into his hand. Karen said nothing at first other than a quiet, “oh.”

Luger’s claws scrapped against the receiver as his fist clenched around it with such strength, it trembled beneath weakened muscles. Though Karen continued on seconds after the initial reaction, it felt like agonizing hours for the older elf.

“Well, I’m just glad he’s getting some rest,” Karen said. “I would’ve liked to talk over our disagreement in the radio tower but he’s been so tired.”

Luger squirmed in his seat. “Yes, he has been…”

“I know he wants to help more but… he’s just a boy. He’s got so much pressure already.”

“Yes but… I doubt he’s content to sit back and wait.”

“I know but I’m not content to lose my son too.” She sighed heavily and her usually pragmatic, kind voice turning soft and weak with sorrow. “He’ll understand one day. When you get a chance tomorrow, tell him to call me, ok?”

Luger went dead quiet and his mouth went dry. He could only muster a noncommittal hum and thankfully, it was more than enough for Karen. She continued with her usual pleasantries that Luger didn’t really listen to. He sat in his chair, stewing in guilt as his friend miles away carried on like her only son was asleep in his bed own bed and not skulking the borders of Alledia for a needle in a haystack.

“Well, I’m going to head to bed,” Karen said. “Goodnight and thank you for listening, Luger. Don’t stay up too late, ok?”

Luger hoarsely replied,” Of course. Goodnight Karen.”

With that said, the line went quiet. Luger put the radio down and slumped forward. His weight rested on his elbows and he pressed his face into his palms with a deep, shuddering sob.

“What have I done? ”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Navin’s eyes slowly opened as something bright began to peer through the darkness of sleep. Something bright and orange. He startled awake and was met with the steady hum of an engine and light leaking through the window of the Hummingbird. He almost knocked his forehead against the window he had been leaning near, expecting the embers of a flaming titan’s eyes to meet his but found nothing. Instead of flaming doom staring back at him, he looked out to see the rising sun. Its fiery reach spread over the tips of distant mountains with blooming spires of red and yellow light and across the faded green of distant the land below. The once dark navy clouds of night had begun to tinge lighter with bleeding shades of blue, purples and yellows. It was beautiful like painting right out of an art book.

Navin let out the a relieved huff and fixated around him. Loni was flying while her brother leaned his head back against his head rest. His goggles obscured his eyes but Navin could make out Roni’s serpent nostrils flaring with whispery snores. Loni hummed a little song to herself as she flew and paid no mind to her slumbering brother. On Navin’s right, Aly was still fast asleep. Navin hadn’t realized it at first but she was snuggled up against his shoulder, miraculously undisturbed by his sudden awakening. Navin blinked down at her, her blonde bangs shadowing her eyes and her eyelashes fluttering as she dreamed of something.

Navin blushed and relaxed his shoulders so his tension in his muscles wouldn’t push his bones into her soft cheek. Hesitantly, he rested his cheek against the top of her head in a momentary attempt to merely keep her steady as she slept. At least that’s what he told himself it was for. He looked back out the window once he was sure her head wouldn’t roll forward and tried to catch sight of Gabilan.

The mercenary was nowhere in sight on his side and he couldn’t make out the shape of him or his bird through the window across from his side of the aircraft. He quietly cleared his throat to get Loni’s attention and  one of Loni’s ears subtly twitched.

“You up back there?” She called in a hushed voice.

“Yeah I’m up but Aly isn’t,” Navin replied, being careful to match her tone. “Where’s Gabilan?”

“He went ahead to a town a few klicks north west to scope out a remote town about an hour or two ago,” she said, pointing in the direction per their orientation. “He checked back 30- maybe 49 minutes ago. No Stonekeepers yet but he said he thinks he might have a lead and will be meet up with us at these coordinates he provided. We’ll be there soon.”

Navin quirked a brow upwards and looked back out the window. With how early it was in the morning, he couldn’t imagine flying on a bird in the dark alone. Then again he wasn’t Gabilan. Maybe that was a good thing.

Navin’s gaze returned to the outside and he tried to piece together where they could be. He couldn’t make out any towns, only the pale sands of dirt roads cutting through the acres of woodland to their destinations. He could make out a mountain range ahead of them through the windshield of the Hummingbird. He couldn’t see clearly to his right with Aly still snoozing against his shoulder but he could decipher the vague outline of further mountains just at the bottom of the window.

Navin craned his neck up and the motion made Aly’s head slump forward. The sudden jolt of movement caused Navin to jump and Aly groaned as she stirred awake. She rubbed her eyes and turned her neck this way and that to stretch her tense muscles. She blearily blinked the last bits of sleep from her eyes before they focused on the area around her in confusion.

“Where are we?” She asked.

“Welcome to the land of the living!” Loni called, forgetting her sleeping brother and startling him awake. “We’re nearing Gondoa mountain!”

That name yanked at Navin’s attention and he stood up. “Gondoa?”

Loni nodded and pointed to something off her right. “Yep, there it is.”

Navin stood up on cramping legs and half stumbled up to the front. He stood behind Roni’s chair while the elf tried to piece together what was going on. Sure enough, the mountain was there and it made Navin squirm. He hadn’t been there since he was only 10. Seeing it so high up almost made the mountain look majestic but not enough to overshadow the conflicting memories he made there. It was there his adventure started and there he had feared for his life for the first time. He could remember the slugs he stopped to feed. He could recall seeing what he later realized to be Trellis standing over them on that ridge, his eyes void of the gentleness Navin now knew. He flew a plane for the first time there and almost lost his mother all in the same day.

It made his stomach twist into knots and flood it an unusual form of nostalgia all at the same time. He would’ve gone back to his chair if it weren’t for one thing that kept his eyes fixed on the mountain. A glow of light. It was almost masked by the orange hues of sunrise but it didn’t escape his eyes. In a small crook along the side of Gondoa Mountain, there was fire.

Navin’s stomach twisted harder and dropped low.

Roni sat up straight as he caught sight of it too, no longer occupied with annoyance of disturbed sleep. “Is that….”

Loni took her eyes off her flight path for a second and her jaw dropped. None broke the silence to confirm what they saw. The quiet up front drew Alyson’s morbid curiosity and she silently walked up to the front. She braced her hands on Loni’s chair and her fingers gripped the headrest tightly.

“She’s never been spotted so far this way,” Aly said. “It… it might just be a forest fire.”

“In one spot?” Navin countered, his mouth dry and voice coming out as a mere rasp.

The four went silent and Roni took the copilot controls. “Everyone sit down and buckle up. We’re gonna give her a wide berth and fly low.”

Aly and Navin rushed back to their seats in a cluster of stumbling shuffles up. They dropped into their chairs and in the haste of buckling her seatbelt, Aly’s eyes flicked to Navin to ensure he was settled in. Navin’s hands violently shook as he tried to lock the mechanism in place and his breath hissed from between his teeth in short bursts. Aly’s panic turned to worry as Navin finally locked the restraints and gripped the arm rests on either side of him. His jaw set tight and his knuckles bleached white from their hold. Aly gently pressed her fingers over the back of his hand, soothing and gentle. Carefully, she looped her fingers around and beneath his palm. His hand flipped over and he held her hand so tight, she winced. Still she didn’t dare complain.

The Hummingbird descended quickly, making stomachs lurch from the force and the machine lean heavily. They continued down until the trees below become clearer. The Phoenix did not pursue them, remaining in her makeshift nest

“Why would she nest here?” Loni asked as she had the aircraft steer left. “She’s never gone this far west! At least not that we’ve been able to track.

“She went somewhere familiar,” Navin said. “Gondoa Mountain is where Emily and I first arrived through and is pretty far from the location pf the other titans. I think she’s avoiding the Vigo. Maybe Trellis too. Demon’s Head is already too close and might attract Trellis’ attention but Gondoa is too far from any body of water.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Roni said. “She is pretty territorial. But you’d think the Behemoth would quiet down after a bit. Why would he keep calling to them?”

“I wish I knew,” Navin said. “Maybe looking for them was the last thing Vigo did before he transformed. I mean, after the Emergence at Valcor, he wandered off and boom, now there’s a giant bison wandering the Coconino mountains. It might be instinct from that?”

“Possibly,” Aly agreed. “He did leave without telling anyone.“

Navin leaned back in his chair and looked out the window as the trees below whizzed past. He tried to collect his thoughts in the moment.

Ok, so Vigo is flipping out, Trellis is looking for Emily, and Emily wants to be left alone. Checks out. But why would Vigo stay at high activity when the two left. Maybe he senses something. Emily sensed when the Olitiau attacked Cielis and she came flying over. And Trellis knew when and where she roosted without any vocalizations. It’s got to have something to do with stone magic. Emily has been able to sense when something wasn’t right before. At least I think it was sense. Sometimes she was warned by-

Navin lifted his head sharply as the realization struck like a bullet.

What if the Voice is behind this? Ok ok, hold on. Let’s think this through. Ok, The last time Emily willingly attacked a city unprovoked was Nautilus and Valcor on the day of the Emergence. That was pretty soon after she turned. Since then, she’s been reactive if someone ticks her off. Same with Trellis. I doubt the Voice would waste one of his most valuable assets so it’s weird he hasn’t been having them attack anyone. The only one that goes out of its way is the Olitiau and that thing has left us alone since Emily barbecued it. The Voice has got four titans so why doesn’t he use them at once. It just doesn’t make sense. What is that creep up to? What happened at Valcor?

He would’ve sat there all morning, puzzling over the circumstances and the Voice’s influence. However, he was disrupted from his thoughts by the sound of the radio sparking to life and a voice crackling over the other end. Loni grabbing the radio and pulled it to her lips.

“Hello, this is Hummingbird Mu Alpha-X2,” Loni said. “Do you read me?”

“It’s Gabilan,” a gruff voice responded. “Are you on route? Over.”

Navin perked up at the sound of Gabilan on the radio and breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, a friendly voice in the dangerous airspace. Loni clicked her radio and responded into the speaker.

“Yes, we had to take a small detour,” Loni said. “The Phoenix has moved west. She’s roosting on Gondoa Mountain but seems to be passive. At least for now. Over.”

“Of course she did,” Gabilan all but griped. “I didn’t see her on my way up here so she must’ve nested very recently. Luckily for everyone, this is a low populated area. Listen close, the coordinates I provided lead to this small town called Byburough. We’ll reconvene at the local bar. It’s the only one. You can’t miss it. Do you copy?”

“Yes, I copy. See you there and do me a favor, order me and Roni a coffee. I’m running on 5 hours of sleep.”

She only received a grunt in response and a blunt “out” to close out the transmission. Loni rolled her eyes and put the radio back onto its hook.

“Think he will?” Roni asked hopefully.

“I’d be surprised if he did,” Loni shrugged. “Either way, we ain’t leaving Byburough without breakfast. Hope you guys still have your restraints back there! We’re gonna punch it!”

Aly and Navin flashed her a thumbs up and she set the gears into motion. The aircraft’s nose dipped forward as it sped up and scattered leaves off the tops of the trees below in its rush. Though the promise of food did lighten Navin’s spirits. He couldn’t help but look back through the window behind them for any sign of a certain Titan of flame. Just in case.

Chapter Text

The aircraft touched down amongst clouds of dust and grass blades blown loose from the propellers of the Hummingbird. Navin waited for the propellers to slow before pushing open the door to the open area. The landing zone sat in a clearing barely big enough to be considered an air strip. A path of dirt and grass cut between the dense mountainous woodlands of the northwest-most parts of Alledia with lights on each side to illuminate the strip in the dark. Considering the landing zones he’d seen in his trainings, it was nothing remarkable. At the very end of the sandy path was a building and just behind it, less than a hundred feet were the first few buildings that made up a small town.

Even the term town was a generous description to it. Compared to the size of places like Nautilus or Kanalis, Byburough was just a penny in the palm. From his place, he could only make out the worn rooftops and the few roads comprised completely of dirt. Aly hopped out of the Hummingbird beside Navin and raised a brow as she took in the unimpressive sight.

“What are the odds a Stonekeeper is here?” She asked, jamming her hands into her pockets and tipping her head like she just might catch sight of one wandering the streets if she gave the tiny place a good look.

“Anything is possible,” Navin tsked. “What were the odds there was a door to another world in my basement?”

Aly stared at Navin in inquisitive surprise but decided not to argue with his logic. Certainly not the weirdest sentence she had heard from him. After the sight on the mountain, she could use some blind optimism to push them forward. Loni and Roni locked up their Hummingbird and gaped at the settlement.

“This is it?” Loni asked incredulously. “There were probably more people living on my neighborhood street than there are here.”

“Well, if I were trying to disappear, I’d probably hide out in a place like this,” Roni admitted, thoughtfully scratching behind his ear. “Let’s just find Gabilan and get this over with. Fast.”

“I’d prefer not to be in the air,” Aly said with a quiet shudder. “Not with the Pheonix roosting a few miles out.”

Roni and Navin grimaced in agreement and Loni straightened up her vest in an effort to not look so exhausted.

“Small towns like this so far from Gulfen don’t tend to have a very diverse community,” Loni explained. “Let’s just hope it’s a hospitable one.”

The mood dropped a little more. The thought set Navin’s temper from tired and hopeful to exhausted and borderline irritable. One too many times had he had to deal with prejudice and tensions between elves and humans at an all time low. An elf sympathizer was not one of the worst things to be called when in relation to his friends but when it usually preceded worse insults and poor treatment, Navin’s patience dwindled fast. He didn’t have much of that left.

“Let’s hope so,” he agreed with grit teeth. “Come on.”

The four walked towards the town, passing a board full of new and old community requests, a missing pet flier or two, and weather reports for the day. The dirt roads were vacant and there was a silence in the air that made Navin stay just a bit closer to his group. It brought back memories of movies he had seen and heard of back in earth that started with spooky, empty towns and chainsaw wielding maniacs. Luckily the silence was never broken by the punctuation of misused and ill intended lumber machinery but it did make every scuffing footstep on that dirt road seem so much louder in comparison.

The buildings were old, paint long faded and chipped to give once bright colored houses a dirty look with a musky wood smell to match. Businesses, or at least the skeletons of them dotted the short streets. Boards covered the windows of shops that had long closed their doors and the few that did remain in operation were marked with tiny “come in, we’re open” signs that hung from the doors in various states of unbalance. Navin counted the businesses as the four walked, keeping track of any landmarks he could find in case of maniacs to flee from and was only a little shocked to find five open businesses on the street they walked alone: a busted up hardware store, a telegram shop (he had never even seen one of those before,) a boutique with a green dress in the window that was out of fashion even by the practical standards of Alledia, and a “Burt’s Bot Shop” on a corner. The final building all the way at the end of the street was unmistakeable. With a large sign missing the first G in what should have been Gunther’s, was Unther’s Bar in massive, faded red letters. And perched right up front and helping himself to a handful of dried jerky was Twister.

The large bird lifted his head as the group approached and gave a loud, garbled squawk in greeting. Navin raised a hand to pet the bird’s beak as he passed and just as quickly retracted his hand when the bird cocked his head away and eyed him skeptically with narrowed pupils. Aly clicked her tongue at Twister like he were little more than an oversized, feathered cat and the bird’s feathers relaxed before he returned to his salty snack.

“What was that?” Loni asked. “Is speaking storm bird among your talents, Hunter?”

“My nana had conebeaks and she used to do that when she fed them,” Aly responded. “Thought it was worth a shot.”

“Try that with a snack in hand,” Roni chuffed, opening the door for the group. “If you can get that bird to love you more than Gabilan, I will literally pay you.”

“That’s so evil, Roni,” Aly snickered.

“Come on, it’s not like I’m telling you to steal his bird! It’ll be funny!”

“Not when Gabilan figures it out!”

The door jingled when Roni opened it and the smell of eggs and bacon cooking wafted out. Navin’s stomach growled and his mouth already began to water. In all the excitement of Titan sightings and the eerie town, he hadn’t even noticed how hungry he was. Now the feeling of hunger had reinforced itself tenfold; his stomach was gnawing on his spine with every step he took.

The diner itself was only slightly more lively than the town with worn walls dirty with age and scratched tables that probably should have been replaced decades ago. There was music playing off an old record player in the back and for the first time since they stepped into the town, there were actual people.

A middle aged woman worked the counter, dressed in a black and white striped dress and her graying, curly red hair pulled back in a scraggly bun. She poured cups of coffee to a small group of men ranging in age between young adults in dirty trousers and button downs and bald old men with hunched backs from decades of hard work. They raised their heads in their direction with eyes full of quiet suspicion. From stranger or elven distrust, Navin could not pinpoint. Regardless of origins, they watched them from their place at the bar as a dry voice towards a corner called Navin’s attention.

“Hey, over here!” Gabilan’s voice called from a corner towards Navin’s left. The elven man was seated at a round table, a mug of coffee in his armored hands. Menus were placed at each seat along with two piping hot coffees and a basket of warm bread. The smell made Navin’s stomach grumble loudly and he and Aly rushed ahead to sit down and grab some small rolls.

Loni and Roni dropped into their seats and Roni wasted no time in downing his mug of coffee and helping himself to some bread. Loni was not as quick to dig in. She slowly took her seat and with the same patient pace, took the time to add sugar and cream to her liking. As she took a sip, she begrudgingly muttered over the rim of her mug a hushed, “thanks, Gabilan.”

Gabilan nodded an acknowledgment in her direction and pointed at the menus. “Order quickly. I get the feeling the locals are eager for us to leave.”

“Yeah well we’re used to it,” Roni scoffed while he buttered his bread roll.

“Believe it or not, I don’t think it just has to do with being an elf,” Gabilan replied. “Though I’m not naïve enough to deny that as a factor.”

“What do you mean?” Aly asked as she took a second roll of bread.

“I didn’t get kicked out,” Gabilan said. “Or shot. You can usually tell right off the bat when you’re unwelcome somewhere.”

Navin looked around and sure enough, there were no weapons pointed at them and the suspicion that hung in the air was notably less hostile than usual. Just a standard sense of distrust. It was better than nothing. The curly haired waitress came up to the table with a notepad in hand. She scrutinized the twin elves and two kids suspiciously and Gabilan set his mug down. The corners of his lips quirked up in a weird manner as he looked up to the woman from his spot, like he had heard of a smile and had practiced replicating it in a mirror until it was convincing enough. Navin stared at Gabilan with that unusual grin that looked disconcertingly foreign on the gruff elf and the woman seemed to relax, if just a little bit.

“I see your company made it, mister,” she said in a raspy voice worn from years of shouting. “What can I get for you lot?”

“Plate of eggs for me, please,” he greeted in a voice that was shockingly polite, to an almost pleasant degree. “Scrambled. Kids, what’ll you have?”

Gabilan looked to them expectantly, that disconcerting, practiced smile never leaving his face. Loni squirmed in her seat in discomfort and ordered the same thing in an awkward voice. Roni parroted his sister’s order as he stared down at the menu and the rings of coffee stains on the pale wood table rather than eye contact with Gabilan.

“Um, eggs on toast, please,” Navin coughed.

“Y-Yeah, I’ll have the same thing,” Aly said, forcing on her own practiced smile to not rouse suspicion.

The waitress, name tag etched with the name “Lottie” on it, nodded and wrote down the orders on her notepad. She didn’t seem to notice the awkward tension and she turned around to deliver the orders to the chef in the back.

“Could you all at least try to act like I didn’t kidnap you?” Gabilan said lowly, smile dropping as his easily roused frustration flared.

“Sorry, you smiled at me with your teeth and I thought I was in danger,” Loni snarked.

“That’s still on the table, girl,” Gabilan retorted. “These folks are already wary of strangers so don’t give them a reason to investigate us.”

He nodded his head in the direction of the men at the bar, who did little in the ways of maintaining inconspicuousness. One man, a balding fellow with broad shoulders, muttered something to one of his companions and jutted his chin in the group’s direction. Gabilan forced another smile and nodded as if he was greeting the man.

“You two are my niece and nephew,” he hissed through his teeth to Loni and Roni. “We’re out researching geography and wildlife for your classes, got it?”

Navin and Aly almost laughed when Loni visibly cringed and Roni’s lips pressed to a thin, very uncomfortable line. The two didn’t argue and only shot displeased looks at Navin and Aly when the two quietly snickered at their misfortune. Gabilan silenced the two younger pilots with an impatient side glance and leaned forward to prop his weight on his elbows atop the wooden table.

“Let me catch you up to speed,” he said. “Byburough is small, population of about 100- 150 give or take and not all live in this down town area specifically. I’d bet my left hand most live on their own farm lands a ways from here and with the forested landscape, these people are lumber farmers.”

“How do you know all that?” Aly asked, for once her question not laced with suspicion but rather genuine curiosity. “Did you talk to the locals?”

“I know a thing or two about small towns,” Gabilan said, words coming out short and with no invitation to probe further. “The real challenge is narrowing down a potential location for a stonekeeper. We don’t have the benefit of easily defined farm plots to simplify the search. We can start by some light questioning. Leave that to me.”

As if on cue, the waitress came back with plates of food in hand. She set down each meal and Gabilan, flipping like a switch, offered her a polite smile and a thank you.

“Never seen you lot here,” Lottie asked. “What brings y’all to these parts?

The men at the bar did a poor job of hiding their eavesdropping. They went quiet and pretended to be invested in their cups and breakfasts of pancakes, eggs, and waffles, but they tilted their heads in their directions to keep an ear out. Gabilan seemed to pay them no mind but spoke a little louder than usual.

“Just on a bit of a field trip,” he said.

“And ya chose Byburough of all places?” Lottie remarked with a resigned sigh. “Not much to see here. Just them lumber farms.”

Aly glanced to Gabilan, for once actually impressed with the mercenary and his accuracy. Gabilan betrayed no sense of smugness and the only sign of his acknowledgment being a slight twitch of his ear in Aly’s direction.

“There’s not much nature back in Cielis,” Gabilan replied. “These city slickers-“ he jabbed his thumb in the four youngsters’ direction “- were looking to do some research. It’s certainly quieter out here. Less distraction.”

The waitress’s blue eyes widened, almost bugging right out of her skull. The men at the counter abandoned their poorly hidden eavesdropping and completely spun in their chairs to gawk at Gabilan. The quick movement set Gabilan’s nerves to disguised, pricking defense and he sat up straighter. No threats came but Gabilan did not relax.

“Yer pulling my leg, elf!” An old man irritably said, swatting his hand through the air like he could smack Gabilan’s words away. “Cielis, its people, and its Stonekeepers are dead! Dead and gone!”

Navin turned in his chair with equal incredulousness and his gaze flickered between Lottie, the men, and a confused Aly, Loni, and Roni beside him. Loni shrugged with no answer while Roni , like Gabilan, seemed more fixed on keeping his attention on his surrounds with the undivided attention of the whole bar on them. His fingers grazed over the utensils in a creeping, tense motion and though his goggles obscured his eyes, Navin couldn’t tell if the teen elf was looking at him, the men at the bar, or alternating between.

“No, it was just in hiding,” Navin said. “After the attack, the Guardians at the time used stone magic and technology to raise it into the clouds. It reconnected with the rest of Alledia a year ago, maybe 2?”

“A year or two?” The waitress echoed, dumbfounded.

“Yeah, I grew up there,” Aly interjected. “It’s definitely alive-“

Gabilan gestured softly to her to pause and he looked up at the waitress. “It was a big development. All over the general media outlet with its stories of the new Guardian Council. Did it not get broadcasted over here?”

“We don’t get much in terms of communication,” Lottie admitted with a slight whisper to her raspy voice, still dazed from the news

“And why is that, if I may ask?” Gabilan leaned forward in his chair.

“Because we don’t really want any trouble,” the same old man said. “We didn’t ask for any part in yer spats. We’d like to keep it that way, if ya don’t mind.”

“Isolationism,” Gabilan noted. “Can’t say I blame you. No one asked for a war.”

Lottie snorted a short laugh once her lingering shock had completely subsided. “Oh if you think we’re isolated, you should see the mountain folks. Don’t even think they know they live in a country.”

Interest flickered in Gabilan’s eyes but he feigned nonchalance. “Mountain folks? Sounds like a band of cryptids.”

“Might as well be, sir. Don’t come down often except to buy medicine or odd supplies. Don’t talk much either. If people ever went missing, I’d bet my money they’d have something to do with it. Luckily, they seem more than happy to mind their own business and seem polite enough. Still, I know well enough not to go trespassin’ up in them mountains.”

“I see. Well, we’ll be sure to keep clear of them.”

“Best ya do. Sorry ya came all this way fer some lumber farms. I think ya had something more interestin’ to share. Guardian stonekeepers and disappearing cities. Not what I expected to hear today.”

The waitress shook her head at the thought and propped her hands on waist with a quiet chuff. Gabilan scoffed out a dry laugh in agreement. The sound was rough, like the elf’s laugh was rusty, underused, and far from very genuine. Aly side-eyed Navin and he nodded in acknowledgment to take note of the Lottie’s words while Loni and Roni watched the conversation in silent interest, the latter finally relaxing enough to loosen his grip on his utensils.

“Well, let me finish up my breakfast and I’ll be happy to tell you what I know,” he offered. “If you and your friends over there are happy to answer some of my questions, of course. I have to say this town has peaked my curiosity.”

“Mighty kind of ya, sir,” Lottie agreed and nodded her head to him and the youngsters. “Y’all enjoy your meal and holler if ya need anything at all.”

Gabilan bid her thanks and off she went towards the bar where the men mumbled between each other, still looking over their shoulders at the odd group of strangers in their town. Gabilan began to eat his food without another word and left Aly, Loni, Roni, and Navin to stew in their confusion. Loni opened her mouth to say something and Gabilan only jabbed his fork in the direction of her plate.

“Eat before your food gets cold,” he instructed. “Once you’re done, head to the plane and get ready to travel on foot. I’ll meet up with you there.”

“But-“

“I’ll need to have a chat with some of the folks. You need to get ready to do some landscape surveying.”

He lifted his gaze towards the four and stared at them intensely through the faint white of his eyelashes. It left no room for argument and he continued eating like nothing happened. One by one, the youngsters picked up their forks. Though the gnaw of hunger in his belly was finally satisfied with mouthfuls of eggs on crunchy toast, Navin’s thoughts swam about in his head with questions still craving answers.

How far out of the loop are these people? Navin pondered. If they don’t know about Cielis, does that mean they have no idea about everything else that’s gone down? I guess they’d probably be happy to hear the war is over but giant elemental creatures trashing Windsor, Lufen, and a kingless Gulfen? Probably a rude wake up call. But they gotta know! Gondoa is not that far away!

He shuddered at the thought of another of his flame-feathered sister’s temper flares. Or worse, the possibility of the Voice’s machinations spurning something wicked and destructive. He refused to deny the Voice as a factor and him biding his time was not too far out of the wretched shadow creature’s usual methods.

He glanced back to Gabilan across the table. The man had returned to his usual gruff demeanor, eating in a mechanical, rigid way like he expected something to snatch the food away from him if he so much as looked away from it. Even with the present residents being fairly passive for now, every twitch of Gabilan’s muscles were prickling the subdued agitation. The mercenary’s words of “knowing a thing or two about small towns” rang in his ears as Navin came to the realization that he knew absolutely nothing about the elven man. He recalled the day he showed up in Cielis, drenched from braving the cyclones that surrounded the sky city on Twister. It was night then.

Gabilan had come into the Council building, demanding to see whoever was in charge. When the guards reasonably refused, the mercenary decided he would go in anyways. Navin recalled stumbling downstairs from the safety of his room with his mother at the ruckus of the guards shouting and Gabilan swearing.

“Stop in the name of the Guardian Council!” A guard had shouted as Gabilan thrashed and kicked.

“There won’t be a Guardian Council if you don’t let me see the girl’s family!” The mercenary had snarled viciously. “Get your filthy hands off me, you-“

Navin came around the corner just as Gabilan had been tackled by two young men shorter than him. Gabilan hit the floor and cursed furiously as one of the guards approached, raising his spear to hit Gabilan with the blunt end of it.

“Wait!” Navin shouted. “Hold on!”

The guards whipped around to face him and Gabilan looked up with piercing eyes. Navin recoiled. Last time he had seen that face, Navin was tied up and gagged. Bound and very lucky to be alive, he watched the man with those birdlike eyes prepare a weapon and shush him with a clawed finger to his lips. Karen rushed to her son’s side and the shock on her face darkened with fury.

“You?!” She spat. “What are you doing here?!”

Gabilan looked between them from his place on the floor. His sharp, owlish eyes held no remorse for his slights against them. His scowl never left his face, even as his cheek was pressed harshly into the cold marble.

“I need to speak with you,” he said. “Regarding your daughter, the Prince, and Vigo Light.”

“My daughter?!” Karen shouted. “You tried to murder her! You were why she went down to that ‘Nexus’ place! What do you care?! Why should we hear you out?”

The Nexus. Just the name made Navin want to jerk backwards.

In the brief time before a foolhardy, desperate plan, Trellis had spoken of the events that took Emily. Through his shame and grief, he explained all he had seen. He spoke of a Nexus, an attack, and Gabilan giving him that memory cube. The memory cube that had all of his and Luger’s lost past and the path Trellis and Vigo would take to sneak into Valcor. Navin’s stomach twisted. Gabilan’s scowl only creased deeper.

“I don’t care about your daughter,” he had growled. “I care about ensuring my home is intact. And I know a thing or two about your titans.”

Navin’s mother would’ve thrown him into the jail and let the guards extract that information themselves. No one would’ve blamed her, especially Luger. However for reasons that remained hard to explain even to him, Navin stepped forward for Gabilan.

“Mom, because of Gabilan, Trellis escaped with his life in the first place,” he had reminded his mother. “Trellis said he owed that to Gabilan. Let’s hear him out.”

Even the thought of his friend brought a painful pang into Navin’s chest now and he quietly shoved the memory aside. Whatever Gabilan’s reasons for helping or even reasons for his methods, Navin was very glad to count him on their side. Though he still would’ve liked an apology for being tied up on the Luna Moth during their first encounter or a proper thank you for vouching for him.

The group sat in silence as they ate and once plates of food and mugs of coffee were polished off, Gabilan looked to them.

“Go on and head back to the airship,” he ordered. “Update Riva and Luger about our whereabouts and any wildlife activity. I’ll pay and meet up with you in 30 minutes, maybe 40.”

The four stood up, chairs scraping on the floor as they did and they filed out. The waitress called a polite goodbye after them and they waved goodbye in return as the door shut with a jingle of the charms.

“If Gabilan ever smiles like that again, I think I’ll throw up,” Roni said. “I thought I was a hostage for a second.”

The others burst into laughter as they walked back through the quiet town, probably the loudest it had been in years.

“You think he ever smiles for real?” Aly snickered.

“I think I saw him kind of smile at Twister once,” Loni said. “Like one corner of his mouth went up a little. Half smiles count, right?”

“He gets 50% there,” Navin agreed. “Mark my words, one of us will get him to smile for real.”

“There’s no way!” Roni remarked. “Brother, if you can get him to smile for real, closed mouth or with his teeth, and I will pay you money. Make him full on laugh for real and I’ll give you the Hummingbird.”

“Wait seriously?”

Roni turned as he walked until he semi shambled backwards with a hand outstretched for a handshake. Loni looked between the two bewilderingly and swatted his hand with a loud smack. “Hold on, you can’t just gamble our plane away!”

“It’s not like he can do it,” Roni challenge, shooting a smug grin right at Navin. Navin’s jaw dropped at the audacity of the challenge and shook his hand.

“I’m gonna make him laugh so hard, you’re gonna hear it before I even have to walk over to get the keys!”

Loni’s twisted sharply to face him, mouth agape while Aly snorted out a loud laugh. “No, you won’t!” She rejected loudly.

“Sorry, we shook on it,” Navin said, very matter-of-fact.

“Yeah, it’s law,” Roni said.

“Roni, I swear if you lose this plane, I will break your legs!”

Roni’s response was a loud belly laugh that was cut off when he had to narrowly avoid her swiping a hand towards him. Aly and Navin barely managed to stay on their feet as they doubled over laughing while the twins staggered and tussled about as they walked. Similar in size, build, and strength, the equal but opposite forces were unable to knock one another over. Eventually the familial battle over the aircraft subsided as strength wore thin and so did the laughter, leaving a pleasant silence in the air save for giggles in between.

Navin’s eyes took in the group as they walked across the airstrip. Loni and Roni still eyed each other with coy apprehension and ready to fight if they needed too. It was like watching two squirrels just get into a scrap, pause to fix their fur, and be ready to do it all again if the other so much as sniffed wrong. Albeit a lot more pleasant. Aly walked with a bounce to her step beside him and kicked a sizable rock she happened across. It tumbled lightly with a crackle of stone on stone and was set tumbling once she had come up to the spot it landed. She looked happier than he had seen her in the last few months and it made something fuzzy burn in his belly.

“You know, once this whole deal is over, we gotta hang out,” Navin said as they approached the airship. “It’d be cool to go do something that isn’t work or a dangerous mission.”

“For real,” Aly agreed. “I’m tired of life threatening situations. Can we just go to the beach? I’ve never been there.”

“Yeah, that would be fun!” Roni said. “I want to go to a carnival. That would be so fun.”

“Or the circus,” Loni interjected. “I’ve always wanted to see a clown act.”

“No, you’re alone on that one,” Roni shuddered. “Clowns are freaky.”

“No they’re not! They’re just silly guys in makeup!”

“They so are! You never know what they’re thinking with those painted smiles!”

They had reached the aircraft and Loni popped open the belly of the Hummingbird, bickering with her brother the entire time.

“I didn’t know you have coulrophobia,” Navin said as he pulled down the portable steps from beneath the main door.

“I’m not afraid of them, I’m just wary of them,” Roni argued. “I keep my distance and I expect that to be reciprocated. Don’t tell me you’re not wary of anything, little man!”

Navin thought about that. Once upon a time when he still toddled after his parents and Emily had to hold his hand to keep him steady, he used to be scared of plenty things. The vacuum, the basement in his late grandmother’s house, the darkness of the empty closet, and centipedes. Now the word fear seemed to hold a new definition after all he been through in the last three years. Arachnopods, figures with malicious smiles and weapons in hand, his mom and sister in a crumpled heap and breathing so shallowly he couldn’t tell if they were breathing at all. Now he could add giant monsters to the list. It was depressing to admit now. Still, he couldn’t let that shadow him when there were bigger things at stake. He shrugged and continued up the steps to the plane.

“After all that’s happened in the last few months, I really don’t have much else to be scared of,” Navin said honestly. “Except centipedes. Those things are creepy.”

“Centipedes?” Loni stopped her light unpacking and stared up at him. “What are those?”

“Long creepy bugs with like 300 legs and huge pinchers,” Navin stated with a small grimace. “Nasty poisonous bite too. Eugh… You guys don’t have those here?”

His answer came in the twin elves blanching and Aly’s cheeks going a little pale.

“….. 300 legs?” Aly said. “Why 300? What do they even need 300 legs for?”

“Running?” Navin said as he looked between the three in confusion. “You guys have arachnopods but you don’t have centipedes???”

“No?!” Loni retorted, eyes wide in discomfort. “At least arachnopods are rare! How common are these things on Earth?”

“Arachnopods existing is already too much for my mental health but now I have to live with the existence of both those creepy bugs on my conscience,” Navin griped quietly, not even bothering to acknowledge the group’s collective discomfort at the new information about three hundred leg beasties. “When will the universe give me a freaking break?”

Navin shook his head with a resigned sigh at the absurdity and continued up the steps. He decided he’d have time to address centipede questions once he updated Riva or Luger on his whereabouts. He entered the aircraft and left Aly calling out after him, “Navin, how common are they?! Answer the question!”

Be it through the honorable thing of sparing them from the knowledge of the spookier side of Earth fauna or preoccupation, Navin left them in suspense and continued inside. They still called his name as he plunked down in his seat. He picked up his bag from beneath his chair and fished out his personal radio from one of the pockets inside the burlap flap of it.

Alledia’s lack of cellular phones was weirder now that Navin thought about it. He’d seen communication links with screens and airships but no cell phones. Not even landline ones. Maybe the war that stunted the technological growth on the commercial side, he thought to himself as he turned the long distance radio over in his hands.

The radio, like most technology he had seen was unusually advanced, yet clunky. It was a thick box of black metal in the vague shape of those old military radios he had seen in movies on earth with an extendable metal antenna. Despite its deceptively old fashioned design, it worked better than any personal two way radio on earth. His fingers traced over the buttons on the side to hold and talk into and he pondered to himself on who to speak with.

He recalled Riva’s request to speak every single day so the decision to call her up wasn’t so hard of a choice. On the other hand, Luger was very worried about him and Aly. The thought of the old elf back on Cielis made Navin’s heart sink in his chest.

He looked out the window and noted the now blue morning sky. It was still early but he could deduce Riva should be awake at this time. Whether she had her personal radio on her or not was another question but still, didn’t hurt to try and update her.

Navin clicked on device and listened to the radio scratch and beep to life. He adjusted the radio to the proper frequency and clicked the button to speak.

“Riva, it’s Navin,” he said. “Can you hear me?”

There was no response. He clicked it again and raised it back to his lips.

“Hello, Riva? Do you copy? Helloooo?”

Again, silence across the static. Navin’s thumb tapped the button as he contemplated trying one more time or just switch the radio to Luger’s frequency. Before he could apply the pressure, the radio emitted a short scratch and Riva’s voice came on the other end.

“Navin?” She said frantically. “Navin, are you still there?”

“Yeah I’m here!” He answered, relief fluttering through his chest.

“Oh thank goodness, I thought I just missed you!” She sighed. “Are you ok?”

“Yeah, I’m alright! We got to this small town called Byborough this morning. What about you? Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, I got to Valcor really late last night. Let me tell you, this place reeks. Like it smells like actual death. They’ve been working in disposing of the Elf King after the Emergence and they’ve made great progress thanks to how much the body has decayed. Still it’s a lot. It’ll take a long time but apparently it’s a lot better than immediately after the Emergence. Luckily people have been burning a lot of incense to help with the smell.”

Navin cringed; just the thought made his nose burn. “Yeesh, I do not envy you.”

“Not to be dramatic but I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy. Ugh, it’s gonna be a long day… Listen, Navin, give me a distraction before I lose motivation. Got anything new to report? Or just anything interesting?”

Navin paused and the memory of the Phoenix in her cozy nest of ash and whatever- or possibly whoever -she had scorched up on Gondoa mountain pushed to the forefront of his brain.

Oh yeah… that. That’s still a problem. He propped his weight on the arm rest as he pieced his words together cautiously as to not panic his friend. Maybe I should wait to tell her?…. No, that’s a stupid idea. If Riva- or Gabilan for that matter- find out I saw Emily out here without telling her, she’d use me as wyvern bait and cremate what’s left.

“Yeah, I do actually,” he said, chewing on his words thoughtfully. “So it’s nothing too crazy but I saw the Phoenix on Gondoa Mountain. I think she’s in a low activity state so she’s not bothering anyone or being bothered by anyone so no need to send in any forces. Just long distance observations. Sounds good?”

Riva didn’t respond. There was only the faint crackle of radio static for a moment. Navin tapped the box of the radio and checked the antenna to see if the connection was disrupted. “… Riva, you still there?”

“Of freaking course the one time she decides to go out of her usual range is when you’re all out there,” she grumbled bitterly. “Just my luck. Navin, I hope you all have enough sense to stay out of her way. I mean it. You make sure there’s no hero nonsense or Gabilan nonsense.”

Navin breathed a sigh of mild relief. All things considered, he was grateful she hadn’t demanded he come back home. Still, her tone came across sharp and very frustrated. He could already see her chewing her nails with worry.

“Understood,” Navin said, quick to change the subject. “What are you gonna do today?”

“I’m going to be meeting with some officials to try and get them to figure out a good defense against the titans. Something that’s not going to absolutely obliterate them or turn them completely against us if they decide they simply aren’t going to tolerate us anymore.”

Navin’s heart squirmed in his chest. It had to be done but the knowledge of having to use a weapon against his sister held an upsetting understanding that it would very likely not be painless. Still, the squirm settled as he remembered just who he was talking to.

Riva won’t let anything bad happen to any of them, He reminded himself. She’s not going to let any of them get seriously hurt.

“Do you have any ideas?” He asked.

“None yet, but I got plenty of ideas on what not to do,” she said with a note of dry humor to her voice. “Luckily, I don’t think it’ll take too much convincing to keep them from using heavy force.”

Navin cocked a brow at her assured tone, though Riva would not be able to see what with the miles between them. “I don’t know about that, Riva. I think they seem pretty comfortable using serious force if they have to. I mean look at Frontera. What makes you so sure?”

“Well I’m very sure they aren’t exactly too keen on killing the only heir to the throne and the ones who helped get rid of that tyrant in the first place,” Riva replied with a frank scoff. “If I play my cards right, that is.”

“Well, if it’s any consolation, I think you’re probably the best person to send out there and get them on our side.” Navin’s tone softened a notch and he smiled. “I’m really glad you’re with me on this.”

There was a second of silence before Riva’s typical soft chuckle came through the radio, though tinged with a note of gratefulness gentler than he had heard yet. “Save that sweet mushy gushy stuff for our victory, bud. It’ll be better when we have all our friends back to hear it.”

Navin snickered and nodded in agreement. “Yes, ma’am. But be ready to cry over it.”

“Oh I never cry, little man. I’m too tough for that. I’ll call you back tonightand if you can, touch base with Luger. Just to make sure he has ease of mind.”

Navin smiled warmly and nodded. “Of course I will. I’ll talk to you tonight. Over and out.”

“Yeah, of course. Over and out.”

There a buzz of static and the air went dead. Navin tapped his thumb on the mouthpiece as he listened to the scratching buzz and the thumping of his drumming through the feedback in the receiver.  He thought of Riva miles away doing her absolute best to help them, even when she could be focusing all her effort on leading her city. Even on the day they met, she put herself in danger to protect him, Aly, and Trish. They were complete strangers and she risked her own life anyways.

Though he was so happy to have an ally like Riva on his side, a something unpleasant began to creep its hooked claws into his heart. So much sacrifices had been demanded from people that had nothing to do with the titan event. Riva was his friend and Trellis’ friend but she was under no obligation to put her entire life on hold to help solve this problem. His problem.

A problem that could’ve been prevented if I had just known what was going on in Emily’s head. Navin’s fingers tightened around the radio as that thought speared into the forefront of his mind. If we had just helped her process better…. I mean, we knew she couldn’t go back in time to change what happened. Didn’t she learn that when Trellis went into the Void? Why did she stick so long to that hope? Who told her she could even do something like that? The Voice? But she knew he lied to her! He lied to her from the beginning!

Navin plunked back in his chair, his head hitting the headrest with a cushioned thump. He tried to think back to any signs in hindsight. Emily was never the same after their dad died but that was just expected at this point. She had been there when it happened and grief fundamentally rerouted the way she saw and interacted with the world. She didn’t smile as much and though she always had a shorter temper, it only got worse. The stages of grief seemed to be stuck at anger. She wasn’t mean per se but her tolerance for nonsense had only gotten lower. She had become more protective of him and their mom, something that made sense for all she had gone through. But they became the only thing she really cared about.

She had completely pulled away from the few friendships she had before they had moved to Silas’s house. Call it a response to loss but it wasn’t good. But then she made friends in Alledia. There was Trellis, enemy turned ally. They were an incredible duo since that day when they took on Max and saved each other from the Voice’s clutches. Something had changed between the two in recent years and they had been a duo that perfectly matched each other’s strengths and weaknesses. At least they were until what happened down in the depths. He only had Trellis’s account of the event to go off of and the wicked audacity of their enemy: The Voice pulled off his worst trick yet and used the face of her father to manipulate Emily into losing control. The thought alone made Navin sick with fury.

He had the audacity to use our father, the conniving hellspawn! He tricked her with our worst hurt! He hurt my sister using my dad!

Even worse, the Voice further sowed seeds of dissent through the Resistance through the event. Some of the bystanders that had been there the day they all reunited whispered about the situation being a fabrication of the traitor prince. They claimed his betrayal against the king may not have been his only one. Navin was quick to dismiss the accusations and the very bystanders from his presence. He knew better. He had seen the way Trellis looked at his arm burned from his altercation in the depths. The damage was light, Morrie had even claimed it may not even scar with proper treatment but he had been wrong. The damage was not as light as he had claimed and the scarring would not be on the outside of his body.

Navin’s throat grew tight as he remembered the look on his friend’s face. Trellis had stared at his arm with nothing but despair as he had when he told everyone what had happened. It was burned into Navin’s memory like a branding rod to a cattle’s hide.

“I don’t think she even understood we were in a trap,” Trellis had confessed as he gripped the bandaged spot on his forearm. “She had her heart set on going down the path we went. She seemed so sure and I trusted her. But the Voice had won before we even realized it. He won as soon as we stepped through the portal in the Nexus. He had her tricked long before we went down there. And I failed to recognize the signs.”

That was one of the last conversations he had with Trellis before the Emergence. Navin had never blamed Trellis for the loss of Emily but he knew the elf prince had something right. The Voice had hooked her with something and Navin wasn’t sure it was a plan made shortly before the Nexus event. It was something that was in the works for a very long while. Possibly around the time or even before Emily had accepted the stone.

She knew she couldn’t go into the past. So why did she hold out hope?

Navin groaned as he stared up at the dingy, gray ceiling of the Hummingbird and closed his eyes tiredly. All his musings had put a damper on his mood and he tried to gather his thoughts on what to do next. He needed to pull himself out of the rut before he would continue a guilt ridden carousel ride in his brain. He turned his face down to the radio that still sat in his hands, buzzing away as it awaited use. He pinched the channel knob between his fingers as he thought about contacting Luger. About what, he didn’t know.

He knew he ought to warn him about Emily on Gondoa Mountain but the memory of the older elf’s eyes flooded with tears and worry gave Navin pause. Luger had been practically tearing his hair out with worry letting him go and now with an active threat on fiery wings with a propensity for rampant, overly defensive violence, the wizened elf would probably drop dead at the update. Still Luger had wanted him to keep him in close contact and Navin had promised to do so. Navin pursed his lips as he juggled his options but before he could commit, there was a knock at the doorway of the Hummingbird.

Navin jumped in his seat and looked over his shoulder. Aly poked her head through the doorway with her hand still raised from knocking.

“Hey, Gabilan will be out soon,” she said. “Is everything ok?”

She looked at him with eyes full of concern and Navin broke his gaze away.

“Just lost in thought,” he said as he picked up his bag in one hand. “I’ll be out in a second.”

Aly nodded, accepting his answer but with his gaze fixated on everything but her, he didn’t see her face fall a bit. “Alright, just let me know if you need anything, ok?”

Navin glanced over his shoulder and he smiled in spite of his heartache. “You got it, Aly. Thank you.”

That seemed to pacify her worries for the moment and she left him be. Her footsteps faded a bit as she walked back down the little step ladder. Navin looked back at his radio and after a second, he decided to turn it off to conserve the battery. He plopped the device into his backpack and closed the zipper.

“I’ll call Luger up later,” he promised himself. “He’s probably busy right now anyways.”

He slung his backpack over his shoulder and exited the Hummingbird to where the Twins and Aly were preparing their gear for the day’s mission. There would be time to touch base later.

Chapter Text

Riva’s breath uncomfortably fanned back against the mask she wore over her mouth and nose. The fabric smelled strongly of the sweet fragrance of flowers and spices to a degree that was almost dizzying but it was better than the stench of death that absorbed the entire city of Valcor. The heat of the city was had only made the discomfort worse and she tugged at the collar of the light purple linen shirt she had been gifted.

Valcor, the desert crown jewel of Gulfen was once the most gorgeous place in all of Alledia. At least according to her father. The old man had reminisced about what it used to be before he had moved to Lucien when she was too young to remember. He had told her of the sprawling crimson desert that glittered under the sun, spices that made every meal delectable, and a nighttime sky with more stars than anyone could count. The way buildings were made offered a break from a heat that would otherwise make any other place unlivable. It helped that the people were used to heat and managed to combat it with ingenuity. Unfortunately, Riva was not one of them.

She had never wanted the constant rains of Lucien’s coast more than she did as she opened the door of the onsite townhouse residence for diplomats and stepped out. Just opening the door sent in a biting dry heat that left her squirming and immediately sweating. She had brought tropical clothes but when the guards meant to greet her had learned that was all she brought for clothing, they had a new set of Valcorian linens brought to her immediately. She had gone red with embarrassment realizing just how unprepared she was for her nation of origin and even now she shook her head at her lack of preparation.

Looking out on the from the balcony by the steps with the daylight to illuminate the Valcor, she could now see the expanse of the city previously hidden beneath the cloak of night. A cold pang of sorrow gripped her heart and her breath grew thick and weary. She realized all too late that she really wasn’t prepared for Valcor. The pictures and reports didn’t hold a candle to the damage left behind in the Emergence and the reign of the king. The desert kingdom, a pinnacle of elven conquest over what others considered inhospitable, had fallen into a state as dire as the sands around them.

Half of the city was already struggling under the reign of a false king and left its state of residence and commerce completely gutted. Businesses that flourished across the city were now boarded up with tourism at low they had never seen before. Hospitals were overrun with disease and injuries, a clustered mixture of civilians and soldiers. Those that were well enough to walk and work had lined up at the few buildings still standing and the remains of their king’s castle for the distribution of rations. Some buildings looked like the outer rims of Cielis, completely crushed and torn from conflict on the day of the Emergence. The inner city, mostly businesses and government buildings, had been completely flattened and all that remained were the crushed skeletons of wooden beams and adobe walls. The damage was in a pattern, giant footprints crushing some and leaving others gazed.

The castle, a spire at the very top of Valcor as old as the city itself, was little more than a crumbled anthill now filled with busy workers. Riva looked up at it with it being not too far from the diplomat residence and her nose scrunched at the stench that only grew worse on the breeze that passed from there. She groaned as she walked up the pathways to the main courtyard to where Arch had requested to meet her. Or at least the remains of it. The great walls that enclosed it within its carved arches were crushed to rubble and brick beneath great force. One side of the castle itself had been caved in completely, revealing the layers of rooms within like a hollow cake.

As she walked through the corpse of the castle walls, she noted the scorch marks that were seared into the walls and pathways, staining the area black. Some were narrow and direct like a concentrated whip of energy had branded the structure. Others were wide blooms of ash from cones of fire. A pit settled in Riva’s stomach as she noted the claw marks carved by massive webbed hands and the rotting boney fingers of a tyrant. As if on cue, she gagged as the reeking stench pushed through her mask and she caught sight of the source of the smell and the broken end of a massive bone.

The Elf King.

What was left of him had been caught in an unusual state of decay. Some parts completely missing and the only remainders being the skull, ribs, one leg bone, and a portion of the right humerus were offensively massive. The sprawling body was surrounded by elven workers in heavy biohazard equipment who worked like a swarm of ants taking away chunks of the body for burning. The parts of him missing had completely withered away and shrunken, leaving the area covered in a nasty dust. Other parts had kept their flesh and muscle, discolored myriads of muted purple and yellow rot that reeked of a pungent, sickly sweetness. It made Riva stomach churn and its foulness wafted from what was left of his ribcage.

The ribs had been completely broken, hooking spires of bone cracked and chipped to reveal decaying bone marrow. What was left of the king’s organs was a slurry of blackened, rubbery layers of liquidated meat. It oozed sickening yellow liquid and congealed blood that stuck to the biohazard suits of the workers. The King’s mask was shattered, bleached white lost amongst the debris of his final battle and left his face completely exposed. But there was nothing left to expose now; just a detached skull sitting in a throne of rubble, with the only thing that remained were claws carved into the yellowing bone and one unfocused milky ball rested deep in his right eyesocket.

Riva turned her gaze away and gagged once more, barely managing to keep her breakfast where it was meant to be. Rescue came in the form of a guard calling across the courtyard towards the splintered leftovers of the door to the main entry hall. She lifted her head to see two palace guards jogging towards her. They wore similar masks to her and prominent bags that hung beneath the eyes of both men. Though they were quick in their approach, their gait was sluggish, like they had just woken up minutes ago.

“Mayor Riva Ash, you’re expected in the throne room,” one said, showing her the way with gesture of his hand. “I don’t recommend being out here for too long.”

“Oh, I don’t want to be out here a second longer,” Riva gasped, staggering past them with a hand over her stomach. “I had no idea it was this bad!”

“It’s been better lately,” the other said with a hoarse voice as they both lead her to the entry hall. “The bones stink but the hazard teams have been working hard to get the flesh out to burn. You should’ve seen how bad it was just the early weeks after the Emergence. Hells, it was already bad when the king fell.”

Riva forgot her nausea for a moment and looked over at the guard. “You were there?”

The guard, stocky and shorter than his comrade, nodded grimly. His eyes fell as the three walked. “Yes, ma’am.”

Riva’s heart quickened and curiosity peaked her interest. “I only read some of the reports from news outlets,  accounts from witnesses, and from Vigo. He was…. Well, he wasn’t exactly in the best mental state when he returned. He was sort of evasive about some things and didn’t elaborate on other points. I haven’t had the opportunity to talk with anyone that was here when it happened.”

The other guard grunted something and the short one shot a pointed look at him. The taller one immediately went silent. Riva’s ear twitched at that and she looked between them. The tall one did not meet her gaze and with his mask, she couldn’t make out if he was frowning or not. The shorter one’s brow was lowered and a cloud of awkwardness made the air stiff.

“Is everything alright?” She asked. “I don’t mean to pry-“

“No it’s fine, ma’am,” the tall one said, raising a hand to rub at his eyes tiredly . “I’m afraid we don’t have much we can say on what happened. You see…. Well we don’t remember most of the Emergence.”

Riva raised a brow in confusion and looked between them. The short one glanced at her  over his shoulder and cleared his throat with a rough sound.

“Shadows were a common occurrence here,” he said plainly. “Most of the staff were infected by them by the time of the King’s death.”

Riva went pale.

Oh. That would explain the rampant sickness and fatigue. The gooey gaseous freaks could do a number on a person’s psyche.

“I’m so sorry,” she said earnestly. “That’s terrible.”

“Could’ve been worse,” the short one said with a shrug. “Some memories get hazy after being infected for so long but I think there’s a mercy to it. Getting that thing ripped from my brain so quickly was pretty disorienting so most of the hours afterwards are kind of a blur.”

“Yeah, I think all guards that were posted have scant memories of what happened after the shadows left in mass,” the taller one said. “But if you want to get a good account, you might want to speak to Logi.”

Riva’s interest piqued at the mention of that name. “He’s still here?!”

She had heard vaguely of the goblin once through an old account from Luger. Not necessarily great things with him being the loyal king’s tiny crony but in the few times Luger had spoken about him, he didn’t seem to hold him in the same contempt he held for someone like Gabilan. Only a sense of vague dismissal of the servant. Perhaps a touch of pity. Perhaps.

The tall guard scoffed and the shorter one shook his head with listless dissatisfaction. They approached a door at the end of the main hall and opened it to one of the grand reception rooms. Better described as the dusty remnants of one with the polished marble floors faded from a lack of upkeep and the once intricate and bright curtains to the arching windows desaturated with the thick layer of dust.

“Yeah, he’s still here,” they grunted in unison.

The room, underused for years with celebrations becoming more rare by the passing year, had only now received its first visitors in however much time it had been. With several door between her and the stinking outside, Riva removed her mask and took in a gulp of air. The room was flooded with a flowery smell of mixed incense that was more than a little overwhelming. Too long sitting in the room swamped in the sweet and rosy odor and Riva knew she’d be stuck with one hell of a headache. At least it beat that awful smell of rot so she would not complain.

Dr. Arch, the field researcher and elven biologist wrung his hands as he spoke nervously to two others. The skinny doctor with his beak like nose, thick glasses, and a posture most atrocious looked half the size of the tallest man, a somber elf built like an ox and dressed in the armor of the guards. His face was dower and scarred, the traces of weapons carved over his serpentine nose and across his lips. He was bald, be it stress or age, and his right ear held a notable notch.

The other was small, a goblin and Riva recognized him immediately. He was among those saved when Emily, Trellis, and Vigo had stopped the ship from crashing back when she had first met them all. Somewhere during his stay in the medical camp following the crash, his cot was found empty when he was supposed to be questioned regarding the events that transpired. All that was left was his bandage scraps.

Trellis had described Logi as a “sad creature to be treated with respectful suspicion.” Luger had said he was a spineless, miserable thing. Neither were too far off. The goblin hunched as he spoke, looking half the size of skinny Dr. Arch. He talked in a garbled, screeching voice that always seemed to teeter on the tone of cowardice and panic. Perhaps for good reason. Time and the king were not kind to Logi. His grayish fur was missing entire chunks, and the beige tunic and cloak intended for servants of the house were little more than filthy dishrags now. Red rimmed his eyes and every little sound made his doglike ears flick in its direction.

As soon as the door opened, one of his tattered ears had swiveled and he darted his gaze towards Riva and the guards. He smiled with yellow, broken teeth and scampered to meet Riva. The two guards scowled as he did and raised their heads to avoid looking at him. They bid Riva a brisk goodbye and departed quickly, leaving her alone.

“Ms. Ash, it’s so good to see you,” he rasped as he tripped into a shambled bow. “I trust you were accommodated by our diplomacy offices? Is everything up to your standards, madam?”

“Uh… yes,” she said. “I’m just getting settled in.”

“Yes, yes of course!” He chattered, bowing even lower until the furs of his chin brushed the floor. “A thousand apologies for the state of our kingdom and for me being unable to greet you when you arrived. It was most irresponsible of me! I shall make amends for my failure; whatever you wish, it will be done.”

Riva grimaced uncomfortably as Logi groveled quite literally at her feet. Admiration and flattery could be a thin line to cross and for whatever reason, the goblinoid threw himself clear across it with a pitiful landing on his face. Riva cleared her throat awkwardly and gestured for him to stand.

“It’s alright, Logi,” she told him with firm politeness. “There’s no need for all that-“

Logi was upright before Riva could even finish her sentence. He clasped his hands in front of him with a wide toothy grin that stretched just a bit too far.

“Oh thank you, Ms. Ash!” he profusely simpered. “You’re so gracious-“

“Quit your yammering, Logi,” the solemn guard called. “We have business to discuss.”

His tone held no bite nor even a shred of true negativity, but it made the servant to the old king flinch. Logi nodded hastily and with a frantic hand wave to beckon her, he trotted back to the group. Dr. Arch smiled as Riva and Logi approached and the guardsman bowed his head respectfully.

“Dr. Arch, it’s good to see you face to face again,” Riva greeted. “I heard you had a close call with the lost prince.”

Dr. Arch laughed, high and nervous. “Yes, indeed. Scared me silly but what an opportunity to finally see a titan phenomenon so close. This is beyond anything I could’ve ever imagined. In all my years of education, the titans defy everything I had ever been known.”

Dr. Arch’s eyes grew distant and dreamy as he revisited the event. The guardsman frowned deeply and crossed his arms tightly over his chest.

“You were almost crushed, Magel,” the solemn guardsman admonished coolly. “You rambled on for days about it? Swore you were quitting Titan surveying?”

“Well y-yes but I’m fine!” The elven biologist insisted. “Just a bit of shock is all and I don’t intend to get that close again-“

The solemn guardsman shook his head and looked back to Riva as Dr. Arch stammered out an explanation that no longer interested him. He extended an armored hand to her with a mechanical rigidness.

“Angron Arch,” he introduced himself. “It’s nice to meet you, Mayor Ash.”

“Arch?” Riva’s interest piqued at the last name and she looked between Angron and Dr. Arch.

“Oh, he’s my younger brother,” Dr. Arch explained, fixing his glasses as he looked back up at his brother. “He’s the new captain of the guard.”

“Younger?!” Riva gawked.

Where Dr. Arch was 30 year old frame of skin and bones, Angron was all built muscle and sported the sober wisdom and calloused hands of a man who’d lived more than twice as long as Riva had been alive. Dr. Arch’s shaggy cropped mop of silver hair was nonexistent on the younger brother and everything down to the way they stood to the very shape of their eyes was different. In fact the only thing they shared was a similar nose and that was if Riva put them up to the light, squinted her eyes, and tilted her head. Angron’s dower features lightened for a second as the corner of his lip quirked up in an amused half smile and a dry chuckle dragged its way from his throat.

“Only by 4 years,” he said with a beckoning wave. “Could’ve mistook us for twins, eh?”

Riva let herself laugh and loosened up a tad as she followed him. In spite of his solemn expression and the unpleasantness of the clean up outside, the moment of humor was refreshing. The company of four migrated to the next room through a cracked door on their left. Within the room illuminated with arched windows was a wood table set with four chairs, folders filled with documents, and notebooks for each. Logi quickly overtook the group to pull out three of the chairs for each to sit. He took the time to brush off dirt that did not exist and scrambled quickly out of the way. Dr. Arch thanked him quietly but his brother did not so much as acknowledge Logi as he plunked down in his seat with a creak. Riva sat in her own chair and glanced to Logi, expecting him to take a seat.

Logi remained standing. Wringing his hands and fussing over the setting had occupied him more and something in his nervous gaze made Riva deeply uncomfortable. She had seen a nervousness like that before and it was never without a grim reason.

“Logi, would you like to have a seat?” Riva offered, patting the empty chair beside her.

Logi lit up for a moment and it vanished as quickly as it rose up. “No, no, I should stand. I must serve our esteemed guests.”

“But-“

“Logi, please fetch us something to eat,” Angron interjected, rubbing a hand over his eyes. “This is going to be a long meeting.”

Logi nodded with a stark ferventness and scampered off. Riva watched the goblin depart and the words of the guards whispered in her ear. “if you want to get a good account, you might want to speak to Logi.” Details had been the same over and over in the reports. The same dribble: in the earliest hours of the day, there were intruders in the castle. While the city was still dark, the side of the castle suddenly exploded out and from the wreckage giant man and a fiery bird. Within moments, the. Leviathan “appeared.” Eyewitness accounts had been all over the place but that could be just because most of the inner city had begun to retreat thanks to the giant monster fight that erupted. Some said the Phoenix had chipped in to help, others said she had just took flight and watched. It was a mess of a situation with few concrete points. Not like she could ask Vigo for more details either. 

Next opportunity I get, I’ll have to ask Logi what he knows. It’s worth a shot.

Left alone, Riva looked to Angron and propped her chin on her hands. The captain of the guard looked older than his years. If he was only 4 years younger than Magel, Angron was just 26. He looked twice that. Perhaps it had been the shadows that sapped his youthfulness or horrors of war. Either were a plausibility she wanted to gently investigate. Just a smidge.

“So how did you become captain of the guard, Angron?” She asked.

“The old captain died in the Emergence,” he said bluntly. “The old king crushed him.”

Riva blanched and Magel winced.

“Oh…. Oh that’s horrible,” Riva replied, an unpleasant mixture of awkwardness and horror making her words thick on her tongue. “I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be. Not like you squashed him. At least it was quick.”

Despite his neutral, somewhat dismissive tone to the grim matter, Riva would rather not let that bit of the topic sit too long in her mind. She focused her attention to another facet that grasped her attention.

“You were there during the Emergence?” She asked.

“Sure was.” Angron leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. “Don’t remember everything  thanks to that parasite leaving my brains a bit scrambled but I recall some bits.”

“Is it alright if I ask you a couple questions about what you saw?” Riva asked. “All I have to go off is the reports from people that were not in the castle and… Vigo.”

Magel and Angron exchanged glances and Magel gestured for him to go on before scribbling down notes onto one of his notepads. Angron paused and sighed, his shoulders slumping slowly. He readjusted himself in his chair with a creak of the wood.

“From what I remember, I think I was stationed on the south side of the palace,” he began with a weary hand rubbing over his eyes. “From there, I can vaguely remember the shadow commanding me to move inwards. It’s kind of a blur after that. Next thing I know, I’m on my back as that parasite left my mind and I’m looking up to see this huge dragon knocking down a giant with what I thought was the castle on fire. Turns out that was your bird friend. I couldn’t tell if she was fighting the king or the Leviathan. The king—the old one— was swinging wild and the Leviathan just pulled something out of his chest. The king let out this… awful scream. Like I’ve heard some messed up stuff but that scream…”

Angron went pale and his eyes grew distant. “It was this shriek of pure rage. Like all the hate in the world was just spilled out of his mouth. Whatever the Leviathan grabbed, this glowing ball of something or whatever, he put it between those big teeth he’s got and crushed it. The king did this spasm. His body looked like it was held together with sheer spite but he just started falling apart. Skin sliding off, bones crumbling to dust, but not all at once. It was like he was still trying to keep his body together through will alone. At that point, I had to get out of there because he was falling to pieces on top of me and my troops. We evacuated and somewhere in that, the Leviathan and the Phoenix escaped. The rest is history.”

Riva’s very fingers felt numb as she took everything in. It had lined up with the eyewitness reports of the people outside of the family but was missing the key information she desperately hoped he had. “Did you happen to see Vigo Light?”

“Not from my position,” Angron shrugged. “Didn’t hear him above all the roaring either.”

Riva sank a little more in her chair. Angron tipped his head to one side as he regarded her.

“Not what you wanted to hear?” He asked.

Riva shook her head and sat up higher in her chair. She cleared her throat and quickly masked her disappointment with a half smile. “No no, it’s just a sad topic for me. Prince Trellis is my friend, after all.”

Angron’s expression softened and was shadowed with something very grim behind his eyes. Magel looked up to Riva in mention of the young prince’s name and set his pencil down for a brief second.

“Did you know the prince?” Magel asked his brother.

Riva raised a brow but concluded Magel’s question made a lot of sense. If he was ranked high enough to be in the line of succession after the captain died with no one to appoint as his designated replacement, he may have been around long enough to have met the disgraced prince. Angron noted the eyes on him and a somberness fell across his face.

“In passing,” Angron mumbled. “Should’ve known him better.”

That prickled something sharp in Riva’s mind but before she could pry further, Logi scampered in. He carried platters of hand cut fruits, pita bread, and a bowl of cheese and spinach dip. On one separate platter, metal cups were stacked precariously and his arm looped through the handle of large pitcher of water, its contents sloshing about within. Logi hastily set the platters on the table and served the waters with a near neurotic speed.

Riva looked back to Angron. The guard had busied himself with open up a folder and pulling out pages of information. He kept his gaze stubbornly stuck on the pages as he spread the pages between his fingers and placed the images from within the file onto the table. Try as hard as he could to hide it, Angron couldn’t stop that micro instant of a glance up at Riva to see if she was still looking at him. She was and faster than a heartbeat’s rapid pace, he pretended to not notice at all. Riva noted that and stored it away for later.

She looked down at the pictures. She had seen them before: the blotted out overexposure burned into the camera and masking the Phoenix, the Leviathan knees deep in waters and retreating from the ruins of a flooded Frontera, and the only confirmed picture of the Olitiua. Little more than a black smear whizzing by on what was horrifically large wings, but it was the best they hand. Added into the pile was a new photograph featuring a hulking, sloped bovine head peaking over a mountain ridge with a single cloudy eye visible. On the bottom inscribed in black ink was the words, “Behemoth outside of Coconino City. Photographed by Dr. Creed.” There best photograph yet and seeing the absolute colossal size of what had once been a respected teacher absolutely dwarfing the mountainside did not improve Riva’s anxiety. She quickly dragged her mind back to the task at hand and a better use of her energy.

“Let’s get down to business,” Dr. Arch said without bothering to look up from his notes. “The Gulfen army has some serious firepower that can deal with titans but we need something nonlethal. We don’t know what could happen if one Titan were to die.”

“With how the Leviathan’s activity ties to the Phoenix, he might become violent if anything were to happen to her,” Riva added. “The same goes for the Behemoth. His activity spike would most likely go off the charts. Possibly go on a rampage.”

As Logi came to stand further back from the table and listen in, his expression pained at the mention of the Leviathan. He bit his tongue and said nothing.

“The Phoenix might be the easiest to drive off,” Riva continued. “I was present when she first attacked Nautilus while I was researching shadow activity for the Resistance intelligence. She reacted negatively when I used a concoction of chemicals meant to smother flames. It’s easy to make and has been helpful in preventing friendly fire during an Olitiau attack, if you’ll pardon the phrasing.”

“We do have extinguishing methods but every single additional method counts.” Angron scribbled something down on his notepad. “The real challenge is the other two. Just by looking at the Behemoth, you can tell he’s packing some serious natural defenses. Those spikes and thick hide won’t be easy to pierce and we don’t know his sensitivity. Hell, his voice alone is damaging structures and electronics.”

Dr. Arch nodded gravely. “The Leviathan has incredibly tough hide. I’m not even sure how thick the layer is, nor of its composition. If I just knew how the transformation affected biology, I could see if methods meant to deter similar creatures could work. We could try electric based weaponry but we have no idea how he might react to it. He’s literally pulsing with energy. It might just make him stronger. Or angry.”

Riva grimaced at the thought of that ball of light emanating in the Leviathan’s chest in all his photos. It had to be his stone and definitely didn’t look like it was something pleasant to have embedded in his chest.

“I’m afraid I don’t know much about stones,” Riva admitted. “I didn’t get much time to ask Emily, Trellis, or Vigo about the ins and outs of stone magic. Luger has been our primary source of information but I’m not sure he has a concrete answer on a stone’s reaction to electricity.”

“Regardless, I do not want to use anything that might provoke a stronger reaction from any of them.” Angron drummed his claws on the table with an audible, rythmic clack and a distant look in his eyes like he was visualizing just what kid of destruction could be sowed beneath claws hundreds of times larger. “It’s just too dangerous. We need something more… perhaps passive? Something that doesn’t need to shed blood to be effective, easy to construct, and hopefully can affect them all. Or at least two out of the three.”

Riva mulled over that in silence. She raised a hand to her lips subconsciously to anxiously bite her nails. She couldn’t really come up with anything based on what she knew. There were no consistent patterns between the defensive behaviors between the three titans. Where it was fight and flight respectively between the fire and water titans, the Behemoth seemed to not really care for anything other than his fellow titans. He had one instance of conflict with the Olitiau and according to the reports of that night, he seemed to only holler wildly—to the point windows all the way south in Pomo rattled— before entering a prolonged resting period. With that being the only definitive instance of a conflict, there was nothing she could definitely say would work. What was effective for the Phoenix wouldn’t be so effective for the Behemoth. Weapons designed for the Behemoth might be little more than pebbles against the hide of the Leviathan.

“Well, we can guess that at least the Leviathan and the Behemoth have sensitive olfactory senses,” Magel surmised. “From our surveys, the Leviathan does seem to rely on smell for hunting and tracking the movements of the Phoenix. The Behemoth has huge nostrils, indicating a keen sense of smell. Dr. Helena had reported on a reliance of sound and smell and does theorize he might have poor vision. If that’s the case, a reliance on other senses might be. Perhaps we can use something to turn that against them.”

“Like capsaicin sprays for repelling predators?” Angron asked, perplexed.

“Eh, something like that.” Magel clicked it tongue thoughtfully. “If we can load them on planes like we use for forest fires, we can drop them in mass and use it to drive them off. Only problem is capsaicin doesn’t affect reptiles or birds. And the Phoenix and the Leviathan definitely fit that criteria.”

The three looked down at the images of the Leviathan and Phoenix. Sure enough, he was indeed very reptilian. Riva scrutinized the images for a moment. Repelling the Phoenix was already hard enough and she wasn’t sure spice to fight fire was even plausible. She wasn’t even sure if the Phoenix was comprised completely of fire or if Emily was somewhere tucked away within her giant form. It was highly unlikely a single drop of the stuff could get to her if she really was somewhere physically inside the bird’s chest. Not to mention some pepper sprays were flammable and that was not something she was willing to risk.

The Leviathan was another story entirely. Sure, he fit a very reptilian-draconic description but there was no comparison she could draw from. He had a cobra-esque hood attached to the head of a python, slapped onto a lithe body like some kind of freakishly lanky dog, and a tadpole’s tail. Add the coloration of some fish species and he was more of an amalgamation than anything. They had barely scratched the surface of his physiology and couldn’t get close enough to really get a clue.

Riva tapped the waxy surface of the picture with a worn nail.

“But not completely,” Riva said. ” The Leviathan may certainly looks the part of a scaly creature but I’d hardly say he’s a reptile. If he was cold blooded, he couldn’t stay for long period of time down at the bottom of the sea, right? Unless the stone works as an internal heater, we can’t say for sure. As for the Phoenix? Definitely not. We can’t rely on a flammable material for a bird made of fire. I highly doubt a bit of spice will even make her blink. We could stick with extinguishing tactics but we need something a little more preemptive. We can’t just wait for her to fly close enough to douse her and hope she doesn’t set fire to more buildings.”

“That’s just one problem, but we do have another,” Angron said. “If they are too close in proximity to civilians, we could end up dousing people in chemicals too.”

“The fire retardant is completely safe to use,” Riva interjected. “As far as I know that shar mushroom spores I use in the chemical compound might just be a mild allergens.”

“I’d hardly call mace an allergen.”

Riva stopped and what he meant clicked in her head. She almost slapped her hands over in face at the realization. She had recalled a situation once in Lucien when some Resistance members had gotten bored before it all fell apart and decided a challenge would spice things up. Literally. A can a police grade pepper spray, a line of idiots, and worst of all, a closed room. That was all it took for disaster to unfold. She had made the mistake of walking into the room to see what the commotion of pained screaming was about and even over a year later, her eyes still stung whenever she thought of it. How much damage could be done with tons of the chemical too close to a packed civilian area?

“Yeah…. That’s not going to work,” she admitted.

The three went quiet as they pondered the situation. Dr. Arch scratched out his notes l on the plan before dryly tearing out the paper, crumbling it up, and tossing it over his shoulder. Logi scampered quickly to pick it up and unfurled the paper. He read over the bits of untarnished writings and the faint sketches of the titans. He brushed aside the erasure residue as he noted the shapes of each Titan— the hook of the Phoenix’s beak, the wide hood of the Leviathan, and floppy ears on the huge head of the Behemoth. He paused for a moment, his own tattered ears and looked back to the others.

“I-If I may interject…. What if it’s not smell to target?” He said, his voice barely above a creaky whisper.

Riva looked up in surprise. She had almost forgotten Logi was even there thanks to his complete silence. The small servant held the paper in between his hands and tapped on the half scribbled out images with a pointed claw.

“They can communicate with each other through calls, right?” He asked. “If the Behemoth’s calls are so loud that it can bother the Phoenix and Leviathan from so far away, what if we managed to be louder? They have some fairly large ears after all, so something too loud might be too much for them? Like a crawler hound whistle but… bigger?”

The three elves at the table stared between each other and back to Logi, who fidgeted with the paper in his small furry hands. An ecstatic smile began to bloom on Dr. Arch’s face and he flipped through the pages of his folders.

“This might actually work!” He exclaimed. “It’ll take some testing to gauge the effectiveness but I think this might actually work! If we can produce a sound over 35,000 hertz at just the right decibels, we might be able to create a sound undetectable to elves and humans.”

“The elven maritime defense corps do have sound based weaponry,” Angron said. “There was some problems with striker fish attacking vessels so they would use pulses similar to the volume of some of their natural predators to drive them away. If we can repurpose some to play higher frequencies, we might have something to work with.”

Riva stood up, her excitement sending her chair scratching hard against the floor but oh, she didn’t care one bit. She could almost  bounce on her toes in juvenile delight. Finally they had some semblance of a plan. One with plenty to gain and little to lose. She pointed to Dr. Arch, a grin on her lips.

“Ring up Dr. Helena and any research team you can,” she commanded. “Let them know we just might have a clue and tell them to prepare for testing. We might not be able to use it on the Behemoth with how close he is to civilians, but I got a good source on the current location of the Phoenix. Have scouts try and pin point the Leviathan too, as a precaution. Go and meet up with me once you’re done. I’ll handle the diplomatic aspect and any potential evacuation plans. If it works, we’ll need Coconino clear before we even touch land over there.”

Dr. Arch nodded emphatically and gathered up his documents into his arms. With his research crammed into his arms, he took off running and left a small paper trail in his wake. Angron watched his brother scamper away in amusement and stood up.

“I’ll call the boys down at the engineering centers and relay everything,” he said. “If they got something made already, we might just be able to retrofit it. I’m not exactly a tech fella so I’ll let them make that call. Either way, they can work fast when they’re properly motivated. You can leave that to me.”

Riva gave him a thumbs up and a grateful smile. “Thanks, Angron. I appreciate you.”

He left her with a half smile on his weathered face and a flash of determination in his eye. He shut the door behind him with a loud echoing thunk reverberating through the room now occupied by Riva and Logi. She turned to Logi, words of praise on her tongue but they didn’t not leave her mouth.

Logi had walked up to the table and stood on one of the unoccupied chairs. In his hands, he held the pictures of the titans. His eyes dragged over every feature but paused specifically on one: the Leviathan. His shaking thumb traced over the image of the Water Titan’s face and his tattered ears pinned flat to his head. He didn’t say a word. The only sound in that chamber was the faintest voices of guards outside.

Riva’s smile vanished as she watched the servant of the crown hold the pictures and focus all his attention on what had become of their future king. It dawned on her that she hadn’t really acknowledged the fact that Logi had to have known Trellis before he had become a hero of the Resistance and member of the Guardian Council. Absolutely he had to, considering Trellis’s distrustful but pity filled attitude towards the goblin. Only now did she really consider the gravity of the situation: the servant no bigger than a child had to have viewed so many details of life under the king’s rule with a frightening intimacy that very few knew.

Every ruling, command, ordered assassinations, Logi had to observe. Logi knew the prince as the unfavored son, when her future friend had been only a distant monarchic figure to disregard. Worse yet, he had to have been under careful surveillance too. Being a personal servant to a tyrant must’ve been as easy of a job as cleaning the teeth of a rabid, unsedated crawlerhound. Riva could imagine just a single toe out of line could have him sent to the gallows before the next hour. Logi’s position would appear to have, at the very least, turned the attitudes of those around him sour towards him.

Pity sank in Riva’s chest as she took in the sight of miserable little Logi. She very quietly stepped towards the servant and rested her hand on his thin wrist. The contact did not startle him from his sorrowful musings as she expected. He only crinkled the photo as he held it tighter between his fingers. He said nothing.

“You’re doing right by him,” she offered, soft with sympathy. “This is going to help us keep Trellis and the others alive. That’s something to be proud of. If it weren’t for you, we might not have realized this so soon. You’ve been very helpful.”

“That… that is a first for me. I have been a very poor steward to my prince. If it weren’t for me…. perhaps, Prince Trellis would be better off.” Logi’s eyes watered and his crushed the picture to his chest in a distraught hug.

Riva stared down at the weeping servant, unsure what to say. She thought he would be celebrating his usefulness in their efforts. She had thought her words would’ve cheered him up at the very least. She frantically searched her mind for something to say to lift his spirits but it was hard to find any anchor point since she had known him for all of an hour. In the little time she had in his company, he seemed to mind a great deal about his performance and helpfulness. Made sense considering his boss would’ve killed him for the slightest mistake. Now he stood there, blubbering over the photo of the lost crowned prince and Riva found herself with nothing helpful to say.

Maybe he just needs to talk about it, she thought to herself. Perhaps — a little selfish and curious part of her mind pressed forward— he knows something important.

Unsure, Riva sat down in the seat next to him and rubbed a hand comfortingly over his shoulders.

“What do you mean, Logi?” She asked.

Logi only sobbed harder. “I was worse than a fool! I was a coward! I was supposed to serve Prince Trellis! I was supposed to protect Prince Trellis! But I didn’t! He would’ve killed me of if I disobeyed!” Logi lifted his head, looking out at nothing in front of him.

“Who, Logi?” Riva pressed, though deep down, she knew the answer.

“H-He asked me to watch Prince Trellis,” Logi replied through snot and tears. “The king! He ordered me to tell the king about everything he did. W-When Master Virgil started telling the prince about things— of shadows — I…. I told the king! I had to! Oh kind Master Virgil! Please forgive stupid Logi!”

Virgil. Riva couldn’t place where she heard that name. Perhaps once in passing during conversation or mentioned in one of Luger’s long winded lectures. It didn’t really matter where, only the fact that he was someone the brothers knew once. She didn’t ask for clarification, only listened intently to Logi’s weeping.

“I should’ve lied!” He wailed. “So many times I should have lied and I didn’t! And for what?! It didn’t matter! That rotten king- NO. Rotten Ulkos discarded me! Threw Logi aside to the shadows! Years of service, of betraying, of sneaking! All of it for nothing! Like I was nothing!”

The king’s name. Spat with so much venom from someone so small, Riva had almost thought it was some obscure insult. The king had discarded his name some long time ago, having everyone in the kingdom refer to him by title alone. According to old stories that were truly little more than propaganda, it was to dedicate his entire identity to his role as king. Perhaps it wasn’t even him anymore at that point and whatever creature that was puppeting his flesh was the cause of the king’s lost identity. It didn’t really matter that much. He got what he wanted. Eventually, other kingdoms acknowledged him by his title alone, separating him from anything remotely relatable. He wasn’t just an elf or just a politician. He was the paragon of all Alledia’s problems.

Riva would’ve admitted to being impressed by Logi’s disrespect if it weren’t for the continuation of his tirade. He shook his head so violently, it might’ve popped right off his shoulders if he hadn’t stopped hard.

“I should’ve run!” Logi hissed, smacking his head with the heel of his hand. “I… if I had run, perhaps Prince Trellis would’ve followed. But nooo! Talk talk talk! Stupid Logi opened his mouth and talked!”

Riva’s hand retracted from his back. She stared, dumbfounded. The sudden loss of contact made Logi stop, as if he had suddenly realized she had been standing there. Mouth suddenly dry, she asked, “What do you mean, Logi? Were you there? I mean, Were you with Trellis and Vigo when they broke into the castle?”

Logi crumbled in on himself, shame wracking his thin body. He fumbled for his words, tongue thick and words congealed.

“I-I was hiding in the catacombs of the palace,” he explained. “Eating scraps and rats. The king had let shadows seize everyone, b-but I fled before the shadow he intended for me could grab me. I… I hid until one night, I overheard something. Whispers. I followed them until I found them. Prince Trellis and Guardian Vigo Light. They saw me and Prince Trellis asked me where the king was. I should’ve made him leave… but…. I told him everything-"

“Why?” Riva asked.

It came out shorter than she intended. Logi flinched and Riva quickly readjusted her tone. “What I mean is, you could’ve used it as a bargaining chip with the king. Why help him?”

“I…. I wanted to help my prince.” Logi looked back down at the crumpled, tear stained picture of the Titan. “I thought… if I helped him… maybe Prince Trellis would forgive me.“

Riva’s heart twisted hard in her chest. Logi’s head hung in shame and he wiped the soaked fur on his face along his sleeve. He sniffed wistfully and placed the running pictures back in the table. Riva opened her mouth, trying to find anything useful to offer, but Logi continued.

“…. I don’t deserve forgiveness,” he rasped. “If I had just convinced the Prince and Guardian Vigo to leave, they could’ve beat Ulkos another way. But I showed them how to get to the throne room without being seen. I-I watched it all happen.”

“What happened?” Riva asked, guilty hope making her words quick.

Logi paused as if a realization creeped to the forefront of his mind. He knelt down until he sat completely in his chair. He looked down at his fuzzy hands and and back to Riva with eyes filled with tears and shame.

“You are a friend to the Guardian Council,” He said, slow and unsure. “…. Are you sure you want to know more?”

Riva nodded, though hesitation tempted her. The look on his face made her heart twist even harder than before and begin to thump painfully against her ribs.

You wanted this, a little voice whispered in her ear. You can’t back out now.

Logi drew in a deep breath and gripped the pant legs of his trousers between his furry claws.

“I showed them through the tunnels of the catacombs until we reached a secret passage into throne room,” Logi confessed. “Prince Trellis ordered me to go back and leave the castle, but I didn’t listen. I-I wanted to make sure he would be ok. watched from the walls as he and Guardian Vigo snuck into the throne room. I don’t think they even managed to surprise the king. The way the king spoke… it didn’t feel like it was him talking. It’s hard to explain. The way he spoke wasn’t like he was speaking to his son or even an enemy to the crown. He was… coy, in a way. He was taunting them about how they were ‘missing someone.’ He was laughing and Master Vigo told him to be silent. They called him ‘spirit.’”

A cold stab of dread pierced right through Riva’s gut. She knew the king was a puppet of rotting meat to something beyond them. Still, the acknowledgement felt darkly surreal. A stark reminder of the existence of what she questioned. There really was nothing in that shambling monarch, only the Voice of the Shadows.

“The king tried to bargain with them,” Logi continued. “Said that if they served him, he would release Guardian Emily. They didn’t believe him and had said they’d free her themselves. The king didn’t take that kindly and well, violence followed. Had I been twice as tall, I’d have helped—“ he laughed dryly “— but Erlking knows what difference that would’ve made.

Ulkos and the Guardian Council battled. The king fought like a demon but it was still two against one. At some point, Vigo managed to knock down the king and…. It happened so fast. I don’t even know how he did what he did, but Ulkos touched his stone and used it to call the Phoenix. One minute they were winning and the next, she burst in through the side walls and torched the throne room.”

“Just like that?” Riva asked, brow raising in confusion. “She just appeared?”

Logi nodded and shuddered.

“Maybe Ulkos or this ‘Voice’ had been keeping her near? I don’t know. I suppose only the Phoenix knows for sure now. But honestly, I don’t even think it matters. Ulkos couldn’t just leave it as the equalizer. He cackled and spluttered some ravenous nonsense before he began to change. His body lurched and just- just twisted. His skin bubbled and ballooned out. He- He became like them. The titans but…. wrong. He was rotting alive. Some of the guards have been calling him the Draugr.”

“Draugr,” Riva echoed, listless. “We didn’t really give him a classification considering he’s dead. Again.”

Draugrs were a human tale, older than any of their nations with origins blurred. Mothers would use it to scare children from wandering the graveyards and mausoleums before they were old enough to even consider the solemn locations for teenage mischief. The reanimated dead stalking their hallowed grounds and tearing the living apart between wicked, necrotic claws, envious of beating hearts. It fit, ominously so, and Riva made note to change her records when she got back.

Through her gnawing dread that set her heart to an agonizing throb, she gestured for Logi to continue. Logi bowed his head and his trembling voice continued,

“I was almost crushed when the k- the Draugr grew too large for the throne room. I tried to duck into the adjacent halls but he just kept growing until- well…. you saw the outside. I had to sprint through three rooms before the debris could squash me. He leveled that side of the palace and I could still see Prince Trellis and Guardian Vigo shielded in a ball of blue light. The titans roared so loud and beat down on that shield with everything they could muster. By all accounts, Prince Trellis shouldn’t even have been able to withstand the force in the first place. He couldn’t for long. It had begun to crack. I could see Prince Trellis and Guardian Vigo Light shouting to each other. Prince—“ Logi stopped short and took in a sharp, pained breath, tears welling up in his eyes. “Prince Trellis had been holding his hands up, b-buckling under the weight of the attacks. He looked back and shouted something to Guardian Vigo.

He let out this- this awful scream and the shield burst into this blast of blinding light. By the time I recovered… there was the Leviathan. The stone had taken control of him but I don’t think it had done a good job of keeping it. Unless having the Leviathan start attacking the Draugr was all part of the plan? Doesn’t make much sense, no. He threw himself on the Draugr and began to tear him to shreds. The strangest thing was that the Phoenix began to act weird. She had tried to defend the Draugr in the beginning, but she relented the more the Leviathan attacked. At some point? When they tumbled out of the palace, she switched sides. The Draugr and the Leviathan toppled the west wall and tumbled out into the inner city. The Phoenix and swooped and managed to get the Draugr to fall back by sinking her talons into his face. The Leviathan pinned the Draugr and managed to get a hold of the stone. He clawed it out and crushed it in his teeth. The rest is bloody, decaying history.”

Riva felt numb all over as Logi’s story drew to a close. She wasn’t sure what to think of the account. The closure she had expected eluded her and left her chest feeling hollow and sore. She rubbed her eyes tiredly, both to come to terms and to fight the sudden burn of tears beginning to rise. She had only wanted closure and now she only felt unsatisfied and with more questions. What had Vigo done when Trellis changed? How had Trellis managed to fight off two titans at once and kill his father? Why didn’t he turn on Vigo?

Logi watched as Riva’s expressions cycled between confusion, sorrow, and troubledness. He reached out a tiny hand and rested it on her arm in a small attempt at comfort. She numbly patted his hand and he quietly retracted it.

“What about Vigo?” She mumbled. “What happened to him at that point?”

“I’m surprised he wasn’t crushed by the titans,” Logi said honestly with a tiredness that bordered on near emotional collapse. “He was completely unresponsive when the Draugr and the Leviathan tumbled out of the palace. I called for him to take cover but he just stared out. I managed to make it over to him and pull him to safety with the guards. He didn’t say much throughout the whole thing and was almost catatonic. He just looked so distant and mumbled the same thing over and over.”

“What did he say?” Riva pressed harder. “What did Vigo say?”

Logi frowned, body slouching like all the energy was sapped from his tiny body. Riva began to fret that she had pushed the goblin too far but he responded. In a small, weak voice he said, “their names. He said the Prince and Guardian Emily’s names.”

Riva let that sink in. The eldest guardian who left one day and never came back. The short period they had Vigo after Trellis and Emily lost control and fled Valcor was strange, to say the least. Vigo came back alone and changed. She recalled the events like it had only been the day before. Logi’s words matched up; Vigo looked more like a shell of a man than the stoic and blunt stonekeeper. He barely spoke after detailing the bare minimum of the events to the horror stricken Resistance. He didn’t speak of Logi’s presence or what Trellis had told him in the brief moments in the shield. He did not seem to register Luger’s wailing, Karen’s questions, or Leon’s interrogations. Through her own tears, Riva saw him standing there as Luger seized him by his shirt front and shook him, demanding for answers and his little brother’s return. Vigo had looked like he aged another 10 years and eyes completely void.

He retired to his chambers once the team had split to cope with the loss. Riva made an effort to occasionally check on Vigo during his period of isolation. His few visitors had been servants to the council with trays of food. Those same trays sat cold and untouched by the door when she had come by. She had knocked and called his name. Answers would come in the form of quiet dismissals and confirmation that he was alive. He never opened that cursed door. Until, after a few days had passed losing Trellis to the curse, a servant had knocked on the door. It had creaked open, left millimeters from being completely closed and according to the servant, revealed nothing but an empty room. The entire team went into panic mode and searched for Vigo throughout the entirety of Ceilis, fearful he would do something reckless or dire. Unfortunately, they were right. Vigo’s old sail craft, one that he had taken to arrive to Cielis the day he met young Emily, had disappeared after remaining untouched for years. It was left out in the open in Coconino Valley, keys in the engine and no Vigo to be found. 

Vigo wasn’t seen again. Not as he should’ve been anyways.

Riva stewed in her memories of shut doors and the dry, monotone voice of an old man requesting she left him be. It had been so insignificant at the time. Just another instance of weary rejection she had expected to surmount once Vigo had regained his bearings and stepped out to take on the task of saving his fellow guardians. Yet here she was in a nation soiled by rot, lost rulers and guardians, and monsters that had once been her friends roaming the countryside.

Maybe, if I had tried harder, if I had just been more stubborn…. Vigo would still be here fighting to get our friends back.

No sooner had the thought passed its way to the front of her mind she shoved it back forcefully and dismissed it.

No, she corrected herself. I can’t let that thinking get to me. That’s what stole away Vigo and Trellis. I can’t afford to let that worm its nasty way into my mind. I won’t let that Voice win.

She squashed the sorrow coiling tight in her chest and stood up, feeling a rush of determination flood through her. There was much she had to uncover and she wouldn’t get answers or her friends back sitting around and feeling sorry for herself. The motion made Logi jump a little and his eyes followed her as she gathered up some stray reports. She held them to her chest, readjusted her mask back over her mouth, and looked to Logi.

“You coming?” She asked.

“You… you want me to come with you?” Logi asked, slow like he had to process her words. “Really?”

“I think Luger would want to hear what you have to say,” Riva explained. “I think you’d be a lot of help to us.”

For the first time since he began speaking, he smiled a crooked toothed smile and wiped his damp cheeks on the backs of his hands. He leaped from his chair to stand beside Riva. The corners of her eyes wrinkled with a smile and the two departed, leaving crumpled photos behind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Navin counted the oak trees as he passed, noting every different leaf shape and the way the light that leaked through the canopy in golden beams. It wasn’t very exciting work but way better than stewing in the awkward silence between him, Aly, the twins, and Gabilan. It was hard to joke around with the mercenary leading the group through the woods. He grumbled to himself as he read over a parchment in one hand and kept the bridle of Twister in the other. Twister would stop every so often to squawk in protest at being under the tree line, too close quarters for mighty wings meant for the turbulent skies above. Gabilan clicked his tongue to keep him moving and a few sharp words tossed over his shoulder to keep the group moving.

“Hurry up!” He barked. “I don’t want to be here when the sun is down. You don’t know dark until you’re in the canopy at nightfall.”

“It isn’t even midday yet,” Loni argued, shrugging her bag higher onto his shoulder.

“And this is the brightest it gets. Now stop yapping and move.”

Loni rolled her eyes and her brother nudged her with a firm look to keep it quiet. Aly tapped her hand on Navin’s shoulder and he turned his head to face her. Without a word, she pointed to a parchment in Gabilan’s hands with a questioning expression. He held it tight and would fold it between his fingers when he wasn’t looking at it. Navin looked back to Aly with a shrug and she responded with an impatient shake of her head and a push in Gabilan’s direction. It clicked in Navin’s head and he sheepishly smiled before jogging up to Gabilan’s side.

Gabilan did not turn his gaze from the path as Navin approached nor when Navin leaned his head to try and get his attention away from the road.

“So… the people in the diner gave you something to help?” He asked.

“A last clue,’ he said. “Apparently there are no stonekeepers in town so this might be our last good bet before we have to move further west. Pray luck is on our side.”

Navin quirked a brow and looked at the parchment once more. “Ok… but where exactly did they tell you to go.”

Gabilan frowned tersely but passed the paper to Navin with a short jerk of a motion. Navin took the page between his hands and unfolded it. It was a rudimentary map scribbled in blue pen with the name of roads and a single phrase at the bottom. “Ask for Jude.”

“It’s a map to the main road of that mountain community,” Gabilan explained.

“The one that just might be a compound for a cult?” Navin asked incredulously, handing it back to him.

“ Allegedly a cult.” Gabilan took the parchment back and patted the shockwave bow rested in the strap that connected Twister’s saddlebag to his saddle. “And I come with plenty back up. You don’t have to worry about getting sacrificed or anything.”

It did soothe worries but there was another that sat on his mind. “Well… what if there are no stonekeepers. What then? Emily is moving further out.”

“Well if there are no stonekeepers, we press on,” Gabilan huffed as he tugged Twister’s bridle to lead him and the group further. “Either way, it might not be too bad if she’s further west. The Leviathan doesn’t stray too far from the ocean for long periods of time and the distance might put the Behemoth back into low activity.”

Navin looked over his shoulder as if he could see his sister all the way at Gondoa Mountain. He could not, of course. The action and Gabilan’s words didn’t really settle that growing pit settling deep in his stomach. Yes, at least there wouldn’t be any trouble with her and the Leviathan and perhaps the Behemoth would calm down. Yet there was something very unusual that Emily would rest where all their problems began and so close to the only known doorway to Earth. Not like she could feasibly squeeze through the tiny cave but the thought of the full force of her unbridled fury unleashed on a world completely unprepared was more than enough to have him sick to his stomach.

He stiffly nodded and Gabilan was content to leave it at that. He checked the map once more and noting the scribbles left from some of the patrons at the bar, he looked back to find they matched completely to what he was looking for. The tiny winding path had only grown more narrow and as the little boxed xs detailed, he could see up ahead on the trail were sets of old criss crossed fences made of old sanded oak wood. They were faded with age and ivy clung to the posts like a tiny woodland tower. Gabilan read the notes along side it over and folded the page and turned to the group.

“Listen up, we don’t know what’s ahead so we need a plan,” he said. “If these people are a threat to us, you two-“ he pointed sharply at Navin and Aly “- need to stay out of the fight. Loni, Roni, your top priority is to get these two to safety. At any cost.”

He dug into one of the saddlebags on Twister and brandished two weapons. Navin recoiled sharply from the sight. With three serrated prongs that encircled the front side end of the barrel of the pistol sized weapon like a triple bayonet, it was the exact same type of weapon once pointed at Navin. He had almost forgotten all about but now the memory rusted back clear as day. His stomach knotted hard and is face empty of all its color. As Gabilan handed the weapon to Loni and Roni to let them get a feel for it, his eyes locked onto Navin. He stared for a second, noting his tense posture and the color that drained from his cheeks. Gabilan hesitated for a brief second but sighed heavily and stood closer to Navin.

“It’s just a precaution,” he said.

His voice had it’s same old bluntness but his owlish eyes fixed on Navin through his mask were perhaps the most gentle he had ever seen them. It was gone in a blink and he turned back to Loni and Roni to instruct them on how to use the weapon. Navin blinked in surprise and exchanged looks with Aly. Despite her equal surprise, she giggled and elbowed him.

“I think you might actually get the Hummingbird,” she whispered.

Navin snickered and immediately stifled it when Gabilan turned around. The elf scanned the two of them over for a brief second with suspicious gaze but brushed it off just as quickly. He held onto the bridle of Twister near the buckle that connected to the headpiece and gestured them to follow.

“It isn’t far,” he said. “Stow your weapons and follow me. Stay close.”

He marched up the incline of the trail with the four in tow. The path was narrow and rugged with a lack of travel, winding with the landscape. Aly and Navin looked up and listened to the shrieks of birds that went quieter the closer they got and resumed as soon as they passed their hiding spot.

“Huh, weird,” Navin said.

“It’s probably because of Twister,” Aly said. “Stormbirds are natural predators of a lot of smaller species.”

“You know about stormbirds?” Gabilan asked in a voice that was notably less barbed than usual.

“Uh, a bit,” Aly replied, combing her fingers through one of her twin ponytails. “Just some facts I read from my old nature books. I read they’re pretty popular with Gulfen mail carriers.”

“Among other jobs,” Gabilan added.

Aly looked to Twister curiously and the bird let out a dissatisfied squawk. She was tempted to reach out a hand to pet him but the pointed beak kept her at bay. Navin tipped his head in confusion as he looked over the bird with her and he peered at Gabilan.

“How did you get Twister?” He asked.

Gabilan grumbled something under his breath and huffed out, “I’ve had him since he was an egg.”

Navin’s brows raised. “You raised him? How’d that happen?”

“Curious today, aren’t you?” Gabilan sighed loudly and kept his eyes on the path ahead. “Don’t you have anything better to do?”

Navin demonstratively looked around the deep forest with nothing but the sound of birds and the empty road with nothing around him. Gabilan grimaced as Navin waited expectantly and he let out another deeper, more irritated sigh and rolled his eyes. “…. I grew up on a farm for breeding stormbirds. Now be quiet. I need to listen-”

“Wait, what?!” Navin cried.

That bit of knowledge lit the powder keg and the group exploded into suprised chatter, much to Gabilan’s dismay.

“Woah woah, wait a second!” Roni shouted, pushing through the group to match Gabilan’s pace. “You used to be a farm boy?”

“No freaking way!” Loni laughed.

“What was that like?” Aly asked, more interested in looking over Twister. Twister was more interested in simmering in frustration at not being allowed to fly.

“Quiet!” Gabilan snapped brusquely. “You want the entire forest to hear you?!”

His demand went unheeded.

“What’s it like working with stormbirds?” Aly asked. “What made you stop?”

“Yeah, what happened?” Loni pressed. “How did you go from raising cute little stormbirds chicks to-“

Gabilan turned sharply and scowled. The group went dead quiet and the bird calls felt all the more louder. Even Twister had went still but seemed to have no concern over the reason why. Gabilan glared hard with eyes that near glowed with intensity.

“Drop it,” he hissed through pointed teeth.

His response came with silence and with that said, he turned around and stormed up the path faster, tugging Twister along with him. The group looked between each other with wide eyes and Aly broke the silence.

“Was that suspicious or am I just crazy?” She whispered.

“Oh incredibly suspicious but I don’t want to end up buried in the woods,” Roni whispered back.

“Or left behind,” his sister added, pointing to the still fuming mercenary that stormed up the pathway and left them in the dust.

The four jogged to catch up to him and Navin mulled over the interaction. He didn’t think it was suspicious exactly; it was more intriguing than anything. He couldn’t say Gabilan had some evil secret to why he had left his farm life (thought that could very well be a possibility) but he expected there was something far different lurking in the elf’s past. Be it optimism or willful ignorance to real possibility, Navin stored that in the back of his mind to see if eventually, Gabilan would answer his questions. Perhaps.

The walk resumed in silence. Gabilan’s mood remained sour and every twig snapped beneath his harsh steps. Navin returned to looking up to the trees and noticed that the section of the woods was significantly darker than before. The canopy was thick and less light managed to leak through the density. The terrain was wildly uneven, filled with mossy stones and flourishing undergrowth that would’ve been up to his thighs if he made the mistake of stepping off the trail. despite the dim atmosphere, the forest was still alight with energetic wildlife. There shrieks and chirps of birds still hung in the air and a few squirrel like rodents scampered up the trees trunks.

Navin wondered about what forest fauna made up the wildlife of Alledia. He had seen all kinds of predatory creatures like wyverns and arachnopods, as well as the more mundane animals like conebeaks and slugs. The sight of the sky eels was one of the most wondrous sights he had ever laid eyes on. He scanned the tree line, the rocks, the sprawling undergrowth for anything unique. Probably not giant, flying eel unique but anything he would never see on earth. He could make out the tiny shapes of birds that looked similar to finches. The little squirrel creatures were covered in dusty brown fur with unusual long front teeth, like a slightly smaller set of beaver teeth had been pasted onto the jaws.

Navin heard somewhere off to his left and noticed a flash of something brown dart between the trees. He looked out in hope of seeing something new, like an Alledian counterpart of a bobcat or deer. He didn’t see anything and a heavy hand rested on his shoulder, jolting his attention back. He had not been the only one to see whatever it was. Gabilan’s hand rested on his shoulder and the older elf stared into the trees. Loni and Roni had frozen and Loni was quick to tug Aly closer to her.

“What?” Navin probed quietly. “Is it an animal?”

“No,” Gabilan said.

Navin’s heart began to hammer against his ribs and Gabilan gently pulled him back to stand behind himself. Gabilan stared hard as he scoped out before stopping at a specific spot. He narrowed his gaze at a wider oak tree and took a quiet step forward. There was a slight movement, just a few leaves of a fern jostling but it was enough for Gabilan.

“I see you out there!” He called, strong but not aggressively. “Come on out! We mean no harm. We’re just a bit lost.”

There was no response. Whatever he had seen did not so much as shudder the leaves. Navin craned his head to try and catch another glimpse of the stranger to no avail. Gabilan pressed once more, in a voice just a tad gentler.

“Please, I have children here with me,” he called. “We just need help.”

There was silence for a moment before a soft rustle rose from behind the oak tree. A small hand curled around one side of the trunk and out popped a child. A little elven boy no older than 10 had peeked his face around and stared at Gabilan with curious eyes. His hands were dirty with mud and his cropped, silvery hair was a shaggy mess, leaves sticking from it like antennas.

“M-My mama won’t like me talking to strangers!” He called. “No one comes passed the fence. Y-You need to go back right now.”

“I wish I could, young man, but I’m looking for a man named Jude,” Gabilan called back. “Do you happen to know him?”

“What do you need Big Jude for?” The boy shouted, taking a step back.

“I just have some questions for him,” he said. “The folks down in Byburough said he was the best guy to talk to.”

The boy stepped a bit further back, narrowing his eyes at Gabilan warily. “How do I know you ain’t here for mischief? Big Jude says we don’t talk to just anybody.”

Gabilan groaned under his breath and took a step forward. The child took another step back. Navin noticed and attempted to tap Gabilan on the shoulder. The elf waved him off.

“Well, you don’t have to talk to us,” Gabilan pressed, his voice beginning to edge on impatience. “We just want to speak with Jude. Please, we’ve been traveling all night and-“

The boy’s weight shifted more onto one leg like he was about to take off running. Navin’s eyes darted between the boy and Gabilan before he pushed ahead and waved over to the kid.

“Hey!”

The boy’s serpentine eyes darted to him and he tipped his head over. With the kid’s attention on him, he put on his best smile.

“Hi, my name is Navin,” he said. “I don’t think we got your name.”

The boy looked at Navin, still poised to sprint if he needed to. Navin raised his hands, both in a friendly gesture and to show he had nothing to hide. Still the boy stayed stuck to one spot and very hesitantly called back.

“I’m… I’m Beryl,” he said.

“It’s nice to meet you, Beryl,” Navin called. “How old are you? You must be…. Four?”

The boy scoffed and puffed out his chest like the very notion wounded his adolescent pride. “Nuh uh, I’m a whole 10 years old!”

“Oh man, I got that wrong!” Navin chuckled. “Can you guess how old I am?”

The boy looked up as he thought, biting his lip as he rooted through various guesses. He let out a puff of air that jostled his messy bangs and he looked back down, shifting his weight onto his other foot. Gabilan, watching in silence, simply took a step back to observe the two.

“Uhhh… 12?” He guessed.

“Ooh, so close! I’m 13! Same as my friend, Aly.”

Navin turned and gestured to Aly to come closer. Aly was taken a back a little from being suddenly included but she masked her confusion with a smile. She hurried over to stand with Navin and the boy tipped his head curiously at her. In a slight shuffle, he took a little step towards them.

“It’s really great to meet you,” she greeted. “And this is Loni and Roni. They’re twins from Gulfen.”

That caught Beryl’s attention and he looked over to them in wonder. “You’re from Gulfen?! For real?!”

Loni giggled and Roni nodded in affirmation. “We sure are! We were born in Valcor and we moved to Lucien.”

“Are there a lot of elves where you guys live?’ Beryl asked, taking a step forward.

“Oh, hundreds!” Loni replied. “Whole cities of them!”

Beryl lit up at that and smiled brightly. With the child’s nerves fading more and more, Navin decided to press a little further on the matter at hand. He cleared his throat and it got Beryl’s attention.

“Hey, we’ve been traveling all day and night and we really need to speak with Big Jude,” he said. “If you’d like, we will stay right here and wait for you to bring him down to meet us. Or you can show us the way and we’ll tell you all about our homes!”

The boy pondered on it for a long moment, gnawing on his bottom lip as he did so. He looked up towards the trail to wherever home lay, to Gabilan with a look of disdain, and back to Navin, Aly, and Loni and Roni. His gaze softened a touch. He mumbled something under his breath and finally acquiesced. “Ok, I’ll show you. But if there’s any funny business, I’ll scream and Shamira will hear. Then you’ll be in real trouble.”

He crossed until he was a yard away from the trail and began to walk up alongside the path, waving over to him to follow up. Navin sighed in relief and Aly smacked him proudly on the back. Roni flashed him a thumbs up and jogged to catch up to Beryl as the boy began to pour out his questions about Gulfen to Loni, who patiently answered. Aly followed the two and that left Gabilan and Navin lingering behind.

Gabilan tugged on Twister’s bridle and began to trudge up with Navin in tow. He kept his eyes on the path ahead and Navin tried to find something to say to fill the silence. He opened his mouth to say something but Gabilan beat him to the punch. Without looking away from what lay ahead, Gabilan, very plainly, said, “Good job, kid.”

The compliment took Navin completely off guard and he looked up to the mercenary. Gabilan did not meet his gaze and his expression betrayed no pleasantry but it made Navin’s chest swell with pride nonetheless. They continued on up the path, listening to Beryl chatter.

Maybe he would get the Hummingbird after all.

Chapter Text

“So Shamira asked me to water the crops but my dad is so much better at it! I don’t get it. I’m only 10 and I can’t lift the watering can when it’s full. But Big Jude says I’ll get stronger the more I do it and ‘we all gotta pitch in,’ or whatever. Still I like feeding the shrub chickens more! Do you guys have shrub chickens? I got a whole bunch of shrub chickens. My favorite is named Chirpy Anne. I named her after my dog, Anne. She ran away. Do you guys have dogs? Have they ran away?”

Navin would’ve laughed at the precocious little boy if it weren’t for Gabilan’s mood souring more and more the Beryl chattered. The older elf was stuck with a permanent frown that would challenge his sister in its omnipresence. For a mercenary, the art of patience seemed to elude him when the subject was under the age of 12. Though he could appreciate the conversation, Navin couldn’t exactly blame Gabilan for tiring so quickly. The walk to the boy’s home was filled with rambling. Mostly Beyrl rambling specifically. Once he got comfortable, it seemed there was no way to shut him up with his incessant questions. Or mostly just talking between his questions.

The gap between him and the group of outsiders had dwindled until he walked right next to Loni, looking between her and the bumpy road ahead or turning to walk backward to face Aly behind him. Loni and Roni had ultimately stopped asking questions and let Beryl do most of the talking, of which he was very happy to oblige.

The sound had been so raucous, the rest of the forest had gone quiet as the creatures waited for them to pass. Even Twister had gone quiet, feathers ruffled in impatience. Gabilan’s ears winced and he had prayed Beryl would grow bored and follow the example of the birds. He hadn’t listened to this long of an unrestrained, inconsequential string of conversation since he was as tall his mother’s hip and far more patient. The whisper of memory was silenced harshly and he focused his attention on everything else.

Midday had creeped closer and the sun had just began to peak at its greatest height, increasing the brightness of the light that managed to permeate through the tree canopy. Loni and Roni idly listened to Beryl’s chatter but Gabilan could easily pick apart their weariness with the unyielding noise. He noted the way their ears twitched and the way they exchanged glances in fairly mild bemusement of the little motor mouth. Aly had been spared the direct brunt of Beryl’s verbal explosion for the most part, considering walking backwards on a bumpy path had been a bit too much for the boy to multitask and he hyperfocused on his teen kin. Still, she was directly behind the pair with no buffer and Beryl seemed to get louder with excitement as he pointed out a bush where he had once seen a badger.

Aly looked over her shoulder with an exasperated smile at Navin and Navin could only offer an amused shrug and shake of his head. Gabilan quirked a brow at the exchange and waited for Aly to turn her head back around before he pointedly glanced down at Navin.

The motion caught Navin’s eye and the boy stared back with wide black eyes.

“What was that?” Gabilan whispered.

“What was what?” Navin replied, trying far too hard to keep his face blank of all emotion.

Gabilan scrutinized him with narrowed, owlish eyes before his brows raised knowingly. One corner of his mouth lifted, not a full smile. Rather, he had a sly little smirk that earned him a ruthless glare from Navin.

“You’re sweet on her,” Gabilan whispered.

“Idea: Let’s stop talking now,” Navin quickly dismissed, pointing harshly in front of him in a quick gesture to Aly, who was only 5 feet away.

“Oh please, she’s listening to the kid anyways,” Gabilan scoffed, keeping his volume below a mumble. “Is this a new thing or…”

“Hey if I can’t ask questions, neither can you,” Navin grunted, his cheeks burning too hot for Gabilan not to notice. Before the older elf could tease him, a little light bulb clicked in his head and his own little smirk began to tug at the corner of his lips. “Unless.”

“Unless?” Gabilan repeated skeptically, raising a brow.

“Question for question,” Navin proposed. “I ask you one question and I’ll answer yours.”

Gabilan’s face lost its smirk and he swung his face right back to facing the path ahead. “No thanks, I’m not that curious.”

“Oh come on, Gabilan, we’re supposed to be a team,” Navin pleaded. “Think of it as a team building exercise. Help you, help me?”

Gabilan scoffed and continued walking. From the corner of his eye, he could see Navin staring up at him expectantly with those black eyes of his that would put a puppy dog to shame. He could almost feel his face sizzling as the boy stared hard. Gabilan took a deep breath and grumbled out, “I’ll think about it, ok? Now leave me be.”

The answer, though certainly not a yes seemed to pacify Navin and he looked back to the path ahead. Gabilan grunted quietly but the discomfort of eyes did not truly leave him, though Navin was no longer looking at him. No one was but the memory of familiar black eyes made his skin prickle. It was such an innocuous little detail, plain as day and nothing out of the ordinary: Navin had eyes just like his sister’s. An unwanted memory flashed in the back of Gabilan’s mind faster than he could suppress it. Same shade of black, similar shape, but a feeling so opposite to the unfairly optimistic boy. The girl’s gaze fixed on everything with a level of intensity and scrutiny. Unfortunately and very hard for him to admit, Emily had a look similar to his own. Not the exact same. She lacked a tone of general disdain for others. It was more something that he regrettably shared: Emily had her demons to battle too. Unfortunately, whatever those demons were had gotten the better in the Nexus and Gabilan was proven right.

It didn’t help raise Gabilan’s opinion on Emily. His respect for her strength was sure, but he couldn’t say the same for other aspects of her. The thought alone settled a ball of frustration in his belly. Her arrogant self assurance bordered on complacency and her stubborn morality, in the eyes of a mercenary willing to do whatever he had to in the name of survival, reeked of self righteousness. One she wasn’t even aware of. She was so adamant about sparing lives to the point she allowed Max, a traitor and usurper to her prince companion’s inheritance, to live. She had gotten lucky that letting Prince Trellis and Luger live earned her allies, but that inability to finish the cursed job let Max destroy Frontera and Lucien, all Gabilan had seen from papers and reports at the backs of taverns and alleyways.

It was from those reports and idle bar chatter that Gabilan had heard the stories of how it was Max’s “own folly” that left pieces of hollow stone like a husk of the traitor stonekeeper and a crashing ship. He had almost scoffed that she, the one with the firepower in her trio, hadn’t had the teeth to finish him off herself. Not her or that old man, Vigo, who Gabilan didn’t even care to acknowledge. Old man had run away by his own choice and returned only to have the two teenage Stonekeepers ill prepared for the Nexus.

Ill prepared seemed to be the constant state the prince was left in. Gabilan could theoretically break his streak of brutal honesty and say it was completely Trellis’s fault. It was no secret that Trellis was rarely a favored pupil. He was too soft by the standards of the king and the memory wipe all those years ago was intended to rewrite the teachings that left his heart vulnerable. To a certain degree, the king’s efforts were in vain. At the very least to the prince’s credit, after Max stole his inheritance and the fact he was reported to have held the husk’s head over a crowd to establish himself as the rightful ruler, Prince Trellis had the tenacity of a true elf. That had little to do with the King’s influence. Trellis could be fierce; the strength behind the blast Gabilan needed to redirect on the day they battled at the Cielis outpost proved that. Yet Gabilan would bet his left hand that the prince’s strengths didn’t lie in glorious, bloody victory and that was the most mind-numbing, painfully irritating part. Compared to a girl significantly smaller and less imposing than him, Trellis’s stone blasts equated to more like bee stings. He only won against his father after becoming the Leviathan. How could he expect to earn the respect of his fellow kin as king if he wasn’t willing to kill for them?

But that’s just it, isn’t it? Gabilan scoffed to himself. They don’t have to earn anything. They are gifted power by chance, like all their undeserving kind. A gifted power they stubbornly held onto no matter the suffering it sowed upon themselves and those they loved. All Vigo knows how to do is run away like a coward when he’s needed. Prince Trellis’s weakness will be the death of him and all of us. And Emily with her foolishly unchecked emotions over whatever she had been dealing with caused her own downfall. That’s all stonekeepers are good for: destroying those they claim to care about the most.

Gabilan’s ear twitched at a light sound to his right. His gaze turned to catch a glimpse of Navin laughing at some incredulous thing Beryl had said. Navin’s cheeks puffed from the large smile on his face and his eyes screwed shut. It made something wince in Gabilan’s chest.

He’s nothing like his sister and yet… way too much like her at the same time, his mind’s voice whispered within. Their hurts must be shared, forced to grow up too fast, and having that same reckless compassion. Stupid, self-jeopardizing mercy. When push comes to shove, will he make the same choices she did? Can he make the tough calls?

That thought hung in his mind and an image that followed, a boy making the hard choices and stowing away meddling emotions. Navin standing tall, blade in hand, and ready to do what he had to for the greater good. Gabilan waited for that wave of satisfaction to flow through him, that he was right once again. But it never came. It did not fill Gabilan with the pride he expected. Only a dread that left him as confused as he was surprised.

Navin laughed again as Beryl had stumbled and irritably kicked the offending rock into the undergrowth off the trail. Gabilan recalled his promise to Riva and put aside his thoughts for now.

Stow your pride. No reason for him to take up a decision he has no reason to make. He’s still just a boy.

“How much further?” Roni asked, pulling over his sleeve to check his watch. “It’s been hours since we stumbled out here.”

“Not to far, mister,” Beryl answered, pointing up the trail. “Just past the Two Eyed Oak.”

“Two Eyed Oak?” Aly asked, raising a brow. “That’s… quite a name.”

“Yeah, it’s an old, dead tree with these two big holes that look like eyes! It’s there for ages! It’s even older than Shamira!”

Navin looked ahead and made out the general shape of a wide tree just ahead of them on the trail.

“You keep mentioning that name,” Navin said as he tried to make out the details of the tree ahead. “Is Shamira your relative?”

“Kinda,” Beryl said as he plucked some stones idly while he walked. “She’s kinda like my grandma but not really. She’s more like everyone’s grandma. She’s the oldest so she makes all the rules. She’s really nice but you better mind her.”

The group neared the Two Eyed Oak and Navin could make out more details on the wood. The grooves in the dead wood that had long grayed, jagged branches bore no leaves, and the two holes in the trunk just as Beryl had said. Only the holes weren’t the kind one would usually see like the oddly shaped knots in bark or notched left behind by a hungry woodpecker. They were perfectly parallel to each other, just like eyes on a person and set above a crooked branch just where a nose would be on a face. A cold discomfort prickled up Navin spine. Below it, gnarled and twisted like it were set in a pained, terse frown, was a mouth. A gaboda tree, long dead with hollow eyes half opened had marked a place beside the winding trail.

Beryl tossed his stone up and down in his hands and chucked it. It flew through the air and landed perfectly into the left eye. The stone’s thunk echoed in the cavity of the empty tree. Navin recoiled and gawked at Beryl. The entire group went quiet. Even Gabilan looked a bit shocked at the morbid action, lips tightening as his eyes darted between the boy and the dead tree. Beryl dusted his hands on his pants and looked back, eyes twinkling with pride at his trick. He looked between them and that pride fizzled out into confusion.

“What?” He asked. “It’s just Two Eyed Oak.”

Loni and Roni exchanged wide eyed glances. Aly awkwardly stepped forward and pointed at the tree. “That’s… Beryl, that’s not an oak tree.”

“Well sure it is! It’s got wood, don’t it?”

“That’s- No, Beryl, that’s not even how that works-“

Beryl turned around and regarded the old tree, completely ignoring Aly. There were notches in the wood from all sorts of unknown causes. The bark was twisted and parts had become a home to clusters of mushrooms. Scrapes had been indented where deer had sharpened their prongs on the old wood and termites had gnawed through.

“It been dead for years too,” he said. “Even before my mama was born. Gotta be like a bajillion years old.”

Aly turned to face Navin and shrugged questioningly, as if she expected him to have an answer to all this nonsense. Navin returned it, twice as confused and stared up at the tree. He recalled his last interaction with a gaboda tree. It was thanks to that tree’s warning that Navin was able to rush to his sister’s aid and save her from an untimely death. Now if the trees had foreseen the little problem of stone titans, that’d be some major help but Navin could guess they don’t exactly get to pick and choose what they see. It sure couldn’t predict whatever takes their own lives apparently.

The dead gaboda tree didn’t seem to have any marks of foul play or predation. There were some marks from wear and tear over the years and notches sprinkled about from plenty of stones being tossed at him after he expired. The expression looked vacant, like he had simply faded away and his eyes never closed. It sent a prickle up Navin’s spine and with it, a memory of something similar creeped up.

The image of Silas flashed in the back of Navin’s brain. It was unsettling, that emptiness behind eyes once the soul left and more than a little messed up to realize he had been ten years old when he first saw a person die. At least it was from old age (and probably long overdue considering Silas was well over a hundred years old.) Whatever took this gaboda, Navin hoped it would’ve been after a long, peaceful life.

Beryl knocked on the wood and looked up at it, completely unfazed at the moroseness. “You ever wonder what is in old dead trees?” He asked to no person in particular. “Like a family of squirrels or somethin’? Or treasure?”

“Definitely not treasure,” Roni denied quickly, half ready to run and pluck the boy away from the tree of the precocious youngster decided to give it a look either way.

“Yeah probably not,” Beryl agreed, still looking up at the tree. “Anyways, Papa doesn’t want me climbing Two Eyed Oak to look. Says I’ll fall and bust my head. I think he’s being silly. I’m the best climber, even better than Big Jude.“

Beryl tipped his head to the side and took a step back. He bent down and grabbed two bumpy rocks from the floor. He tossed one rock to the twins with neither in mind specifically. Loni reflexively went to catch the rock flung her way and fumbled for it, the stone bouncing between her palms until her brother managed to snatch it in her fumbling. Beryl smiled and wound his hand back to pitch it.

“Hey, betcha you can’t land a shot,” he challenged. “First one to get it is the-“

“BERYL!”

Before the rock could be thrown or for any of them to object, a loud voice cut through the air. Beryl dropped the rock and stumbled away from the tree in a startled leap. He tripped on roots and Aly managed to catch him before he fully fell back. Like a deer in headlights, he stared ahead at what called his name. Roni dropped his stone with a grassy plop. Navin hurried to Aly side, but before he could check on Beryl, Navin turned to see just what startled the boy.

Navin had seen a variety of Kanalians: big, small, furry, furrier, no fur, two legs, too many legs, no legs. Not much surprised him when it came to their shapes and sizes. The one ahead of the trail was similar and uncomfortably unique, and sent a pulse of anxiety to kick start his heart into overdrive. The man was large, but not in brawling mass like Balan. Rather it was in height. The Kanalian man was a snake, a diamondback rattlesnake specifically. His triangular head sat on a long arched neck attached to an oddly human upper body. He was dressed in a worn button down shirt beneath a leather vest decorated in intricate, looping markings. Below it sat a belt strapped tight to his waist with a weapon holstered to it and rounds of ammunition. And below that, contributing to his frightening size, was a huge coiling tail in the place of legs. It twisted along the bumpy path and the powerful muscles beneath sandy brown scales flexed as it coiled, ready to lunge. The end of it, comprised in the interlocking segments of tough keratin, rattled threateningly and louder than any rattlesnake Navin ever heard.

“H-Hi Jude,” Beryl said sheepishly his spot in Aly’s arms. “I wasn’t throwin’ rocks.”

Big Jude ignored him. His attention was focused solely on the group, light brown eyes drilling at each member of the group beneath a wide brim hat. His lips curled and revealed fangs, either filled with wicked poison or the potential nasty awful bite.

“Let go of the boy now,” he hissed in a tone that was deceptively cool.

His right hand twitched towards one of the weapons latched to his belt. That micro gesture was threat enough. In a sweeping move faster than any of the team could anticipate, Gabilan had lunged forward and put himself between the group and the rattlesnake man. Twister shrieked in rage but a sharp whistle from his master kept his talons rooted firmly in place. Gabilan placed one hand up, a seemingly disarming gesture but his free hand settled on his own belt. Jude’s eyes bore into him and Gabilan met his gaze unflinchingly.

Roni moved quickly to grab Aly and help her and a startled Beryl to their feet. Loni covered him and Navin, hand already on her bag with the weapon given to her by Gabilan stored inside. That action took Jude’s attention from Gabilan and his eyes widened in fury. Navin flinched and

“Listen, friend, we mean neither Beryl nor you any harm,” Gabilan said, stepping between his gaze and his wards. “We’re just here to talk.”

“I got nothing to say to you,” Jude snarled. “Not until you let the boy go and drop your weapons.”

In an instant, he seized his weapon from its holster and pointed it right at Gabilan’s head. Loni and Roni hurried to pull their weapons from their bags. In the moments it took for the twins to pull their weapons, Big Jude had pulled his second gun and aimed it at them.

“Drop your weapons!” Jude shouted, jaws opening and fangs dropping out like his animal counterparts.

Beryl yelped loudly. The boy fumbled for words, grabbing onto Aly’s arms either to pry them off or hold her closer. Gabilan ignored the panic around him and his eyes dragged over the rattlesnake, noting every single detail about him. His weapon was just an old fashioned revolver. Six shots in each hand, 12 in total. His belt was lined with rows and rows of more bullets. His tail, the only method of motion had coiled into tightly packed loops light a spring and lifted his upper body slightly higher, ready to launch himself forwards.

He’s got a quick draw, Gabilan thought to himself. Quick draw and is prepared with more shots on hand. He drew with Beryl so close so he’s gotta be confident in his abilities. Not good. Still, It’ll take him a bit to reload and he can’t afford being open with no protection outside his fists, especially with Beryl at risk. I can use that if I play my cards right.

Gabilan glanced over his shoulder to look at the boy in question and began to build a plan on just how to work the situation in his favor. Just demand the diamondback to stow his own weapon. He has no choice. Three against one with the boy’s safety seemingly at risk, he just might-

Beryl sprinted right past him in a flash of fuzzy hair and dirty clothes. Navin guided the boy by his hand, Aly crying out after him, and let go just as he came up beside the mercenary. It took Gabilan all of two seconds to realize just what happened and by then, a panicked Beryl had been pulled behind Big Jude with the end of his rattling tail. Gabilan whipped his head around to stare at Navin incredulously. Navin, a bit flustered at the situation, raised his hands as Jude’s gaze locked onto him and the end of his revolver moved ever so slightly towards him.

“Navin!!” Gabilan shouted in warning, swinging a hand in his direction in an attempt to pull him behind himself. Navin leaned away from his grip like a cat with no interest in being scratched and kept his attention solely on Jude.

“H-Hey, hey it’s ok!” Navin called out. “You’re Jude, right? Beryl calls you Big Jude?”

Jude’s serpent eyes darted down to Beryl peeking out behind him and back to the other members of the group. Beryl sheepishly smiled up at the rattlesnake man and Jude hissed out in frustration. He stared back at Navin, the ridge of one brow raising. He didn’t lower his weapons just yet. Jude cast the slightest slightest glance at Gabilan and Navin caught it just as quickly. He hastily waved to his team behind him.

“Put your weapons away, guys,” he called. “Come on.”

Loni and Roni exchanged glances anxiously and Aly harshly waved for them to heed Navin’s instructions. Loni grumbled something to Roni and he reluctantly nodded. The knelt down, placed their weapons back into their bags they dropped halfhazardly on the floor, and straightened up with their hands raised in surrender. Gabilan hesitated and locked eyes with Big Jude. His heart hammered hard against his ribs in a familiar, unpleasant beat he knew all too well. Jude stared intensely back, tongue flickering out in a way that was too close to his animal counterpart and finger still locked over his trigger. Neither moved until Navin very carefully leaned to his right and tugged on Gabilan’s wrist. The mercenary broke his stand off for a brief moment to look at Navin from the corner of his eyes. The boy looked up at him pleadingly, tugging ever very gently on his wrist once more.

“Put it away, Gabilan,” he said gently. “Please?”

Gabilan glowered at Jude but another, tiny tug at his sleeve from Navin softened it. He let out a deep, reluctant sigh and pocketed his weapon. Jude scrutinized Gabilan for a moment until Beryl patted him on the side of his tail.

“They’re nice, Big Jude,” he said in a little voice. “Honest.”

Jude regarded the group cautiously one last time before his scowl softened and he exhaled deeply. With a spin along his index fingers, Jude slotted his revolvers back into their respective holsters on either side of his waist. Beryl smiled in relief and attempted to jog back to his new friends. Before he could even skip on by, the length of Jude’s tail wrapped firmly around him and hoisted him back off his feet with ease. Beryl bemoaned loudly and attempted to wiggle free of his scaly binds. His legs only kicked uselessly at the air and Jude paid him no mind as he held him there, balancing on the widest part of his tail.

“What’s your business being here, outsiders?” Jude hissed, his forked tongue flickering out at the final s in the word “outsiders.”

Navin wondered in the back of his mind if he could smell through it like regular snake but decided asking that question wouldn’t be appropriate at the time. Or ever, considering the fact that Jude still glared daggers at the crew like he wanted them to evaporate then and there.

“We’re travelers from Cielis,” Gabilan said. “We come from far searching for people that might know anything about stones.”

Jude scoffed. “Brother, you best get yourself and your youngsters out of here if you think you can pull my tail with these stories. Why would your council send you here for stones? Ain’t they the ones with all the knowledge? What would they even want with our community?”

Gabilan grunted and Navin’s brows shot up in surprise. The people in Byburough thought Cielis was destroyed, he thought to himself. But he’s not surprised at all. Maybe these folks are more in the loop than we thought. At the very least, they know the Guardian Council is around! Just gotta play it cool.

“We’re hear on business that could help them!” Navin stepped up, much to Gabilan’s disapproval. “You see, there’s been an emergency and we’re looking for stonekeepers-“

“Navin!” Gabilan snapped, grabbing him by the shoulder and tugging him back.

“Stonekeepers?” Jude echoed, tipping the brim of his hat up in bewilderment. “Boy, what are you on about?”

“My sister is a member of the Guardian Council,” Navin explained, pushing past Gabilan’s grip. “There’s been a state of emergency and we need all the help we can get.”

Roni and Loni gaped at Navin’s brazenness and Aly seemed torn between resigning with a shake of her head or just covering her face with her hands. Honesty was Navin’s policy and she honestly wished it wasn’t. At least right now, considering Jude was staring at him like he was speaking in tongues. Or the fact that Gabilan was just mad enough to combust in a way that would put the Phoenix to shame.

Jude rubbed the back of his long neck, at a loss for words. Beryl paused his squirming and tapped the end of Jude’s rattling tail, making the segments clack together to get Jude’s attention.

“Shamira will wanna see em,” he said. “Maybe she can-“

“No reason to involve Shamira, Beryl!” Jude snapped, twisting his head on his arching neck to shoot a firm glare at the boy. “They got no business bothering her and you got no business telling them anything!”

“Please, if this Shamira has any information that can help my sister, I need to hear it!” Navin said. “This doesn’t just affect her but all of Alledia. Gulfen, Windsor, Lufen, everyone! I just want to help my sister! We’ll pay any compensation for your help!”

All eyes were on Navin’s back as soon as the words rushed from him and he felt it like hot coals to the skin. He knew he wasn’t in the position to promise anything, especially funds right from the vaults of the Guardian Council or the consistently low banks of the Resistance. However, the fires that engulfed his sister burned hotter than the disapproving stares of his crew. Desperation won out far quicker than logic and he nodded his head in affirmation.

“Even the smallest bit of help is enough,” he promised. “And won’t go unpaid.”

Jude’s brow furrowed in thought and he brought up a scaly, clawed hand to stroke under his own chin. He pondered for a moment as Beryl enthusiastically nodded and squirmed in his binds of scales.

“Can I get a dog?!” He pleaded with Jude. “I want a new one! I’ll name her Anne Two! And if I get an extra dog, I’ll even name it Little Jude after you! Please please please, Jude, pretty please!!! I’ll feed all the shrub chickens for the next two weeks!”

“You’ll be feeding the shrub chickens and tending the garden for the next two months after all your antics today!” Jude hissed. “Skipping out on chores, running off with strangers, and throwing rocks at Two Eyed Oak again! Your mother is gonna have a long chat with you once I tell her what you’ve been up to. Now pipe down, I’m trying to think.”

Beryl sulked and mumbled something glumly. He hung from Jude’s tail-grasp like a soggy towel and kicked his legs. Jude rolled his eyes in exasperation before returning his focus solely on Navin. He sniffed contemptuously and grumbled, low and inpatient, “Fine. But you leave your weapons with me and you listen to everything I say. Otherwise you’ll be out of here faster than I say ‘bang.’”

Navin swallowed thickly and his eyes darted down to one of the revolvers on Jude’s belt. Worn around the hand with its leather bleached from years of use, he didn’t want to take a chance of having a trained gunslinger’s bullet flying in his direction. Navin nodded dutifully and turned to Gabilan. The mercenary’s death stare had not faded one bit and Navin stared back unwaveringly. With all the grace of a robot’s rusted joints, Gabilan wrenched his weapon from his holster and placed it begrudgingly on the ground. Upon seeing it, Loni and Roni followed suit. They plucked the weapons from their bags, placed them on the floor, and straightened up anxiously.

“The bow?” Jude hissed impatiently, pointing over at Twister.

Still settled comfortably in the straps of his saddle, Gabilan’s shockwave bow sat unused. Navin had all but forgotten it up until now. The elf scowled harshly and shook his head. “That’s not meant to protect us from the likes of you,” he grunted. “It’s in everyone’s best interest it stays on my bird’s saddle.”

Jude bared his fangs imprudently and set Beryl down. He slithered closer, his scales ominously scrapping over the stone path like a crackling rumble. He placed one hand on a revolver as he leaned down and scooped up Gabilan’s weapon before straightening up. He towered over Gabilan and Navin, neck winding down to glare hard into the eyes of the mercenary. “I’ll take my chances, outsider. Hand it over.”

Gabilan glowered back, teeth bared in a snarl. Jude’s tail rattled and his scaly lips peeled back to show his two needle like fangs. Neither moved an inch more, just the very end of Jude’s tail snapping back and forth and emitting that grating rattling. Finally, Gabilan hissed loudly in frustration and clicked his tongue. On cue, Twister, who had been very polite and stayed put, stalked over at his master’s command. Jude smirked in triumph and made a reach for the bow. As soon as his hand had gotten a tad too close, the feathers on Twister’s neck raised and his beak opened in warning. Jude retracted his hand with a snarl of disgust and sharply gestured for Gabilan to fetch it. Gabilan, mood souring more and more by the second, roughly jerked the straps off the harness of the shockwave bow and Jude snatched it from his grasp as soon as it was far enough from Twister’s beak.

He slithered over to Loni, Roni, and Aly. Roni narrowed his eyes and Loni quickly pushed Alyson behind her. Jude studied them for a moment as he picked up their weapons, his forked tongue flickering out. He adjusted his grip on the weapons Gabilan lended them and slung his arm through the bow to carry it on his back like an archer.

“Follow me,” he said coldly.

Jude turned and slithered up the trail, placing a firm hand on Beryl’s shoulder and making the boy walk with him. Beryl glumly kicked stones as he walked and hung his head. The group followed closely, careful not to step on the end of Jude’s tail as they walked. Navin felt a soft hand on his shoulder and peeked over to see Aly’s face lean in to whisper something in his ear.

“Next time you step in front of a guy with a gun, I’m going to smack you before he has a chance to pull the trigger,” she griped. “What were you thinking?!”

“I wasn’t,” Navin said honestly. “I just knew he’d never listen to us if he thought Beryl was in danger. I had to defuse the situation before it got out of hand.”

Aly quirked a brow upward and pursed her lips as she thought it over. Her gaze darted to Jude up ahead on the trail. He was growling something to Beryl, the ridges above his eyes furrowing as he did. All the while, he reached adjusted the weapons to be carried in one arm and used his free hand to gingerly brush leaves that had gotten caught in the boy’s hair. Beryl complained but didn’t swat away the rattler’s hand. With a concluding click of her tongue, she nodded her head in surrender.

“I’ll still smack you if you do that again,” she huffed.

Navin snickered. “Yeah, that’s fair.”

Roni ruffled Navin’s hair and Loni, with an exasperated scoff, nudged him with her shoulder. “Don’t ever scare me like that again. Glad you can negotiate like Riva but please take a page from her book and be careful.”

“Yeah, I think there’s more I could definitely learn from her,” Navin admitted sheepishly.

A movement behind him and a sharp grunt pulled Navin’s attention away from his friends. Gabilan had taken Twister’s reins and tugged the bird along. He strictly avoided looking at Navin and stared hard at the path ahead. “Let’s go.”

Navin’s smile faltered and his cheeks burned in embarrassment as the elf stalled ahead. Aly rolled her eyes and lightly elbowed him.

“Don’t let him get to you,” she whispered. “It was risky but you did the right thing.”

Navin smiled weakly as she hooked her arm around his and tugged him up the trail. Despite her encouragement, Navin didn’t feel all that better. He didn’t need Gabilan’s approval; the good opinion of a person that hunted/disabled/killed people for a living wasn’t exactly something most people looked for. Still, the brief moments of kindness, even the slightest, had filled Navin with pride.

I hope this hasn’t undone all of our progress, Navin worried. He doesn’t look like someone that forgives easily.

He followed Jude up the trail, clenching and unclenching his hands with anxiety in his situation before what lay ahead made him pause. Past a line of crossed wood fences and through the arching gate, was a set of sleepy wooden houses. The surrounding woods had given the impression that any homes to be found within its deep acres would be old, creaking bones of buildings half way claimed by nature. The small, one story homes were anything but. Each home, about 25 or so, was painted soft variety of colors from pastels to darks. The homes were a touch old with their slight cracks in the wood and some paints being more chipped than others, but well loved. Porches were clean of leaves with carved rocking chairs settled comfortably upon them and a few pieces of carpenter’s wood lay beside in the bones of an unfinished project. Gardens full of flourishing produce sat beneath pools of light pouring from meticulously cut gaps within the canopy. The lowest hanging branches were adorned with glass bottles tied to ropes, clinking musically and refracting the light to scatter flecks of many colors across the maintained grass. Gray stones were laid between homes in little paths and short, fluffy brown birds not unlike chickens wandered along the steps to peck at left over seed and grubs. The abodes sat of foundations of carved out land in the elevation of the rolling hills and stacked higher and higher with one, the only two story house at the highest point at the end. Though nowhere near as colossal as the Charnon house, the structure at the very top with its aged figure and equal mystery did flood Navin’s chest with an unusual sense of nostalgia.

The forest felt a little warmer in the sleepy community and the very land felt doused in an air of coziness, like something out of an old VHS film from the attic. It was as if this pocket of land was a respite from the tumbling terrain of the mountainous forest and the troubles well beyond. It was quiet, comfortable, and most of the palpable tension within the group had begun to be sanded down by the blanket of ease. Roni had lifted his goggles from his face to get a good look at the terrain and Aly looked over the area with a look of calm wonder that matched Navin. Even Gabilan’s sourness mellowed a smidge and Twister squawked contentedly now that he could see the sky though the canopy. No one said anything, too engrossed in the scenery to dare disturb the new peace they were lead into. At least until a sharp noise cut through the silence like a knife through melted butter, making everyone except Jude jump.

One of the doors swung open with a rattling knock against the wall and out rushed a pair of elves. The man around Gabilan’s age and sporting a shaved head and serpent nose hurried out with a woman behind him, the bob of her short curly hair swishing from side to side in her high ponytail. Both dressed in old overalls dusted with dirt and old gardening gloves, the woman yanked her gloves pair off and tossed them aside as she overtook the man. Her eyes were pink and puffy like she had spent some time crying within the house.

“Beryl!!” She cried out, running down the steps with the man close behind

“Beryl, where have you been?!” The man called, relief flooding his voice. “I told you not to go beyond the fence without someone watching you! What if you’d been hurt or-“

His relief faded when he caught sight of a furious Jude and only grew more panicked to see the five strangers tailing him. He reached out and quickly grabbed Beryl’s mother by the shoulder. The woman, only now realizing the subject of her husband’s concern, gasped loudly and her tearful relief dropped like a dead weight. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously at them and propped her hands on her hips. Beryl blushed in embarrassment and shrunk behind Jude.

“Beryl, you better not have something to do with this!” She called, drying her cheeks on the heel of her palm.

Beryl sheepishly lowered his head and tried to disappear behind his tree of scales and spite until Jude tapped Beryl impatiently on the shoulder and pointed for him to go. The boy squirmed and dragged his feet over to his parents. His mother grabbed his face and turned it this way and that to check for any injuries. When she was convinced he was unharmed, she smiled in relief, grabbed him by the ear, and yanked him back towards their house. Beryl squawked and yelped as he was escorted back to his home.

“Momma, you’re gonna pull my ear off,” he whined. “You’re embarrassing me in front of my friends!”

“Stop being dramatic,” she reprimanded. “I’ve been worried sick about you and all you care about is your childish pride?!”

He groaned as his mother pulled him out of sight and deeper into the cream painted house. While Beryl was busy pleading his case and resisting arrest, a little elven girl peeked her face around the corner to investigate the odd goings on. The subtle little motion of her leaning around the doorframe caught Navin’s attention and he looked her way.

No older than five, she sported twin braids and a pair of overalls and a t-shirt just a bit too big to her. The fabric of the legs bunched around her little feet and one strap hung loose over her shoulder. She had to have stood no taller than Navin’s waist and her cheeks were sprinkled with the most prominent freckles he had ever seen on an elf. Navin politely waved. The girl did not wave back. Her eyes went wide as saucers and she ducked behind the door and followed where Beryl had been dragged off to. Navin, a smidge bemused, couldn’t help the smile that pinched at the corners of his lips.

“Listen, Jude, whatever my son did-“ the elven man began to say once his boy was safely inside.

Jude snorted and tugged the brim of his hat upward. The confiscated weapons clattered as Jude pushed them into the elf’s arms. “I’ll talk to you about it later, Roth. Just lock these away in one of the tool sheds and make sure Ira doesn’t pull your boy’s ear off. He’s gonna need em to listen to what Shamira will have to say about his little fiasco today.”

Roth dejectedly nodded and spared only a second to stare unsurely at the company behind Jude. After a moment to examine the guests passed, he turned and retreated with weapons in hand quickly to his house with an audible slam and lock of the door. The commotion had stirred the sleepy community to life as little by little, the doors opened and curtains parted to see what had happened. Jude grumbled under his breath and tipped his head to keep the group moving.

An older gentleman, a gray-bearded fellow with calloused hands crossed his arms as he watched from his doorframe. He puffed on a pipe like the spout of a steam engine. A pair of teenaged boys, a human and elf, had stepped out from a shed with arms full of animal feed. Said animal feed was dashed across the floor when the boys, shocked to see the new faces, had dropped the sacks on the floor. A Kanalian mother, a middle aged possum, nervously chided for her three kids to go to their rooms. The little ones, who had peeked their heads out from behind her skirt quickly obeyed and scurried back into their home. As soon as they disappeared into the house, a curtain parted and three pair of eyes stared out from the crack.

Slowly, more doors opened and its inhabitants trickled out from their homes and over the steps of their porches. Gabilan’s shoulders tensed and his grip ever so slightly loosened on Twister’s reins. Most of the spectators to get as close as possible were men with muscles toned from years of hard work and eyes filled distrustful suspicion. He slowly reached out behind him and curved his fingers in a gesture for the youngsters to get closer.

The subtle motion caught Aly’s eye and she quickly pulled Navin with her to step closer together. The boy jolted, too lost in the scenery to really pay much attention to the surrounding community members. His nerves bristled and he reached up a hand to squeeze her arm in reassurance. Loni nudged her brother and the two clustered closer in the back, keeping equally suspicious eyes on the locals.

Jude slithered up to the door of the house at the highest point, the only two story place in the community. The house was the only one left largely unpainted. The only traces of added color were artfully painted lilacs along the door frame and watered down splotches of vibrant primary colored handprints splattered and hastily washed away at the front base of one the porch. Flowers lined the front of the house and a pair of old rocking chairs sat still under the shade of the porch’s roof, letter A carved into one and S into the other. A knit pillow of yellow yarn sat on S’s chair while A’s remained empty.

Jude bunched his tail and carefully coiled and uncoiled like an accordion to scale up the stairs. At the very top of the steps, he turned around and Navin’s crew stopped. The crew of onlooking neighbors stopped as well, a little over a yard behind their unwanted visitors.

“Stay here,” Jude ordered shortly. He didn’t wait for any confirmation of obedience and turned back to the door. Jude removed his hat, bunched it between his claws, and rapped his knuckles upon the wooden door.

A soft sound rose from within. A creak of wieghted footsteps and rhythmic knock that accompanied them. Navin swallowed nervously and Aly’s grip on his arm tightened as the steps grew closer and the door knob began to turn with a squeaking squeal. The door drew open and a sweet smell of baked goods wafted out from the house. Shamira stuck her head out and  Navin’s worry fizzled away.

No taller than the bottom of Jude’s chest, the woman was a kanalian. She was old, perhaps older than Vigo if Navin could guess. It was hard to pinpoint exactly considering the physical age of a human was hard to compare to a sheep. A pair of rounded spectacles sat on the slope of her dark brown snout and her wrinkled face contrasted starkly with the plush of fluffy white wool that bunched around her head in thick curls. She leaned her weight on a twisted old cane and adjusted a hooded gray shawl over her blue-green dress, its poofy sleeves making her look even more plush. She looked up over the rim of her glasses with big blue eyes and the wrinkled corner of her lips curved up in a smile.

“Oh, is it tea time already, sweetie?” She asked, voice like honey and warm milk. “I completely lost track of time.”

“No, Shamira, there’s been a… well, I don’t want to worry you but there’s an…. issue,” Jude explained, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’ll have it sorted but I think it’s something you should see.”

He slithered aside and pointed at the group and the crowd of her neighbors hanging back to watch. Shamira followed his finger and her gaze widened in surprise. She eyed each one of them, blank and confused, before she pushed her glasses up her snout and got a better look at them. Her surprise melted away into an enthused, bright smile. 

“Oh visitors, how exciting!” She gushed, throwing her arms out. “Welcome! Welcome!”

She hobbled down the steps, much to Jude’s alarm and to the murmuring confusion of the community folks. Jude reached out for her anxiously yet the old woman was faster than he, or anyone, anticipated. She shuffled up and extended a dark fingered hand to them excitedly. Gabilan raised a brow and hesitantly reciprocated the gesture. The ewe’s hand was small and frail. What he thought had been white fingerless gloves had actually been wool that did little in the ways of making her grip strong. The wrinkled fuzzy skin had a considerable looseness with age that gave easily beneath his fingers and the impulsive concern that the bones below would do the very same if he pressed too hard darted through Gabilan’s mind. This is the leader Jude was so worried to speak to?

Gabilan’s gaze flickered to Jude. The rattler’s eyes fixed on the elder like she had just thoughtlessly and cheerfully put her hand in the teeth of a bear trap. His hat was squashed in his grip. His muscles in his tail tensed ready to lunge forward at the slightest provocation and the end twitched with the audible scratches of the beginning of a rattle. His worry made sense now. At her age, she was more likely to fall down the stairs and break a hip than be a tyrannical cult leader ready to have them sacrificed.

Logic sat comfortably on the elf’s shoulder and chided in his ear that this ewe’s level of threat was low; no need to be ready to break the arm of the elderly like she posed an actual threat. Suspicion— or perhaps just plain, old paranoia —hissed in his other ear that anyone was capable of harming him or the children and should be treated with equal caution. Gabilan allowed her close but did not return her smile. Shamira seemed to be blissfully unaware of the both Jude’s anxiety and alarming physical power imbalance between herself and the mercenary. She enthusiastically shook his hand and patted the back of his hand like he was merely an old friend she hadn’t seen in a long while.

“I can’t recall the last time we had visitors!” She enthused and offered the same excited greeting to Navin, Aly, and the twins. “And you brought young ‘uns! Heavens, you must be so tired from walking all the way up here! What are your names?“

All Navin’s anxiety melted away as the ewe shook his hand excitedly. Her smile filled with sweetness was infectious and he found himself grinning without really meaning to. He couldn’t remember the last time he had such a warm welcome, especially without title or grandeur he didn’t deserve.

“I’m Navin and these are my friends,” he introduced himself, letting go of her hand so she could greet the others. “This is Aly, Loni, and Roni.”

Loni and Roni smiled politely as Shamira cheerfully greeted them all. Unlike their mercenary companion, they let their shoulders go lax. Aly relaxed significantly and let go of Navin to reciprocate the old woman’s gesture.

“It’s very nice to meet you, ma’am,” she said.

Shamira’s sheep ears raised in delight.

“Aren’t you the sweetest little dear?” The old woman gushed. “Such good manners! What brings y’all to our little community? Not many folks come up here to Terra’s Respite.”

Behind Shamira, Big Jude watched anxiously and slithered forward. He tapped a claw to her shoulder and craned his head down to whisper into her ear.

“Shamira, I think we should speak privately about our guests,” he said quietly. “I have some concerns. These people claim-“

“Oh yes yes, honey, in due time but first we have to let our guests get accommodated!” She dismissed, patting his cheek as one would to comfort a child. “You all must be so exhausted! Come on in and rest your feet for a little while. You came at a great time. I just made a batch of cookies for the neighborhood kids and i have more than enough to share. I can brew y’all some hot milk tea too or some lemonade if I still have some stored away. Come on in and get cozy. Then we can all talk and you can tell me what brings y’all here.”

Jude shook his head fiercely and opened his mouth to protest. It was too late as Shamira had turned around and hobbled her way back towards the stairs. She started up the steps, much slower now and grunting with effort as she moved one leg up and pulled her weight on brittle bones. The rattlesnake’s head drooped down in resignation and he groaned under his breath. He set his hat back on and hooked a hand under her arm and the over her back to help her up the stairs.

“Thank you, Jude,” she said once she was safely on top of the stairs. “Always so helpful!”

She turned to check if her guests had followed up the steps and caught sight of her confused and suspicious neighbors. She pursed her lips with a quiet tsk. She set both hands on her cane and knocked it on the floor. The crowd hushed immediately and listened.

“Go on now, everyone,” she ordered, tender but firm. “No need to be frightening travelers when we still got plenty chores to do. I don’t want anyone working past sundown. Off you go. I’ll have the kids’ treats delivered by supper time.”

A mumble rippled through the small crowd and they reluctantly departed, breaking away like ants from an investigation. The pressure of anxiety finally lifted from Navin, Aly, and the twins as the numbers dwindled to just them, Gabilan, Jude, and the community elder. The smell of freshly baked cookies wafted invitingly out of the house and Shamira waited patiently at the door, hands folded placidly on her cane. Jude begrudgingly slithered inside, hanging his hat on a coat hanger propped up by the door.

Navin placed a foot on the step of the porch. It creaked beneath his weight and each subsequent step did the same. Aly followed close, then Loni and Roni. Just before she could make it over the last step, Gabilan reached forward and snagged Loni’s coat. She startled and Gabilan’s voice neared her ear in a stern whisper.

“Stay cautious,” he said. “We don’t know these people.”

Loni’s ease diluted. She looked back to Shamira, who had cheerfully directed the others though the entry hall. Plush like the fleece that enveloped her, she hadn’t seemed dangerous. The only toughness Loni had registered were the long softened callouses the dotted below Shamira’s fingers when they shook hands. Still, she hadn’t seemed dangerous read stories of witches and their house of sweets to beguile and trap.

You’re starting to sound like Gabilan, logic admonished. Don’t fall into distrust based on fairy tales and baseless paranoia. You’ve seen where it’s gotten people.

Still… fate favors the careful. That rattlesnake doesn’t look like he misses his shots often.

She tugged herself free from his grip and stalked inside. Gabilan followed close and kept an ear on the chatter of their secretive host further in the house, going on about cookie recipes and tea. Jude lurked by the door, waiting for them to enter fully. The floors of the old home creaked as Gabilan and Loni passed through the old entryway lined with vintage pictures and a foyer with fresh cut daisies. Gabilan let Loni go ahead of him and stopped only to glare at Jude. Jude glared right back. He shut the door firmly behind him, scarcely a few ounces of force shy of making the creaky door rattle. Gabilan lingered close and his eyes flicked down to the doorknob and the iron lock that sat inches above it. Jude’s claws remained on the handle. It stayed there, long and tentative, fingers flexing as if he contemplated just bolting the door to prove a point. Sharp tips of nails grazed the metal and the door remained unlocked as Jude pulled away and slithered passed him with a sneer. Satisfied but nowhere near at ease, Gabilan followed deeper into the house.