Matters of the Soul

They weren’t supposed to have a drill today.

Mythal had returned only a short while ago from training in Sin. It had been several months since he’d begun going to the wasteland and utilizing his newfound magic to its fullest abilities. In that timeframe, he’d managed to deepen his connection to Aeron, forging a true friendship that he, himself, wasn’t entirely accustomed to. It was probably because the Darkness King wasn’t used to connecting to anyone and the ones that he had, he’d somehow found himself attracted to. After all, he’d convinced himself that his feelings for Serilda were merely friendly until they weren’t. And there was little denying that he was attracted to Aeron, though that mattered very little to him. Seri was the love of his life and he’d long begun to understand that a person could find someone attractive and not be going against his real connection. It had taken him some time, as out of touch as he had been, but it had solidified.

Still, Aeron hadn’t been around that day. In fact, she really hadn’t been around that much at all lately. It was possible she was out doing something else or off doing a job so that she could get some jewel. Even with the Rune Knights sending her crates of supplies, there were plenty of other things she no doubt needed to get and probably weren’t free. It was possible she was stealing them but Mythal didn’t imagine that she was quite looking to catch any attention or ire. So he’d pushed aside the oddness of it once more and focused on his training. By now, it was merely sharpening skills, both old and new, into deadly combinations. He’d all but mastered the new lacrima inside of him, his senses far more keen and powerful than ever before. And now that he and Lux were of a mutual understanding, he’d even managed to bond with the Lightbringer to make some of his spells even more deadly.

He had taken a quick shower to wash the stink of Sin off of him and when he returned to his private chambers, he found a package had been delivered. Another potential outfit for him to wear for the wedding. Now that things had settled down, at least slightly, Serilda and him had begun to take planning their engagement far more seriously. It was hard to believe that only a few months ago, they had been facing off against literal extraterrestrials millions of lightyears away. An event such as that had a way of changing a person, especially given how quickly Vandrad had nearly died and then disappeared and then Mercury was kidnapped. Time was always moving forward whether a person wanted it to slow down or not and given his adoptive brother’s near-loss of everything he cared about, it had made the two Rune Knights very well aware of how blessed they had been. It also meant that they needed to stop dragging their feet where it mattered.

Sighing, the Darkness King opened the box and looked upon the outfit that was as purple as wine. It was rather regal, which made sense considering he was marrying a royal after all. Frowning, mostly in concern that the outfit wasn’t going to fit him very well, he pulled on all the articles. Black, stripes slacks wrapped themselves tight against his legs, ending at just the right height to show off his dress shoes. A form-fitted purple button up shirt, with a lighter purple vest was pulled over his torso, with a small pauldon over the left shoulder. Amusingly, a cape had been crafted into the back of the vest similar to the red one he used to wear -- no doubt Serilda’s little nod to their history. A pair of black gloves that were far too short were the last bit to be put on, the Rune Knight Director raising an incredulous brow at them. He took a moment to look at himself in the mirror and found… that he didn’t hate it. It was certainly of a higher class than he believed he was worth but it surprisingly looked pretty decent on him. He was eyeing himself in the mirror when Lux materialized behind him.

“Now that is a sharp look on you, Mythal,” the Lightbringer said as he hopped up on the edge of the table. “I knew you could clean up well but even that’s pretty nice for you.”

“I feel like I need somethin’ with a jacket though, bein’ a weddin’ and all,” Mythal commented as he kept looking in the mirror.

“Yeah probably. Maybe Seri is just getting you new stuff for after the wedding. Or maybe she just thought it would look good on you, who knows,” Lux idly remarked as his attention shifted to the window. “So things are linin’ up pretty quickly after all that alien stuff, huh?”

“Seems so.” Now that Vandrad and Mercury were engaged as well, it seemed that two royal weddings were on the docket. Mythal never even thought that he would have to deal with one in his lifetime. “Any progress on that Soul Shard information?”

“Soul stone,” Lux corrected him. “Well, apparently where Quentin used to live isn’t as easy to access anymore. You know Pergrande?”

Oh that was the last thing he wanted to hear. “Unfortunately, yeah.”

“Deep in the northeastern lands of their nation. A bit out of range for me to reach by myself. But unless you got a fancy portal to take you right there…”

He didn’t. And a Rune Knight, a God of Ishgar, roaming onto Pergrande’s land without invitation was going to cause an even bigger issue. Bellum and Pergrande were hanging by a thread and with the supposed peace talks coming up, Mythal couldn’t afford to frivolously go wandering in where he could get spotted and cause an international event. “We’ll figure something out.”

The conversation might have continued from there but that’s when the alarm began blaring. At first he didn’t quite panic; they were due a drill at some point. But then he remembered that they’d scheduled it for the week after. That meant that this wasn’t a drill -- this was a real alarm.

Mythal didn’t even spare a look at Lux before he snapped his hand out and constructed a portal of darkness. Through it he dashed, appearing down in the main hall as quickly as he’d left the upper levels of the building. The hilt of Curse was already in his hand and as his magic flowed into it, Hopebringer had been formed. His eyes adjusted to the change of scenery… and took in the horror before him.

There stood Thana, without disguise and so pregnant that were it anyone else, he would be afraid for her bursting. Her hands were up but she had a smug, almost delighted smile on her face as she looked around at the Rune Knights that had swiftly gathered and surrounded her. Mythal brought up his sword and pointed it directly at Thana’s chest, the tip of the blade only a foot away from her. How easy it would be to just move forward and impale her. Pay her back for all the pain she had caused everywhere, to the pain she had brought to Mercury, to Vandrad…

But that would rob them of answers as well. “Put her in cuffs,” he commanded the closest Knights, keeping Thana on point in case she tried anything.

Lux reappeared beside him. “Well, well, well,” he said with a grin as he looked at the Warlord. “Look who showed up.”

“She says she wants to turn herself in,” Valorie explained as the Rune Knights moved forward to put Thana’s arms in magic-restricting cuffs.

Turn herself in? No, it wasn’t as easy as that. Things never were with Thana. There was some game she was trying to get at here, some manipulation she was utilizing. And he fully intended to find out. “Bring her down to the dungeon. I’ll question her myself.” He lowered his blade but took a step forward, his eyes burning with contempt. “And she better hope I like the answers.”

“Oh yeah, totally missed you, babe,” Lux replied to Thana’s comment, giving her a slight upwards nod and a smirk. His joy was shut down immediately by a dark look from Mythal, the first demeaning glare that the Lightbringer had earned in quite some time. The root of their biggest issue, that had resulted in Lux disappearing for months on end, had stemmed from their first interaction with Thana. It was little surprise that the psychopath would put a bad taste in the Director’s mouth.

He made his intentions known but before she allowed herself to be dragged off, she insisted that Mythal would most likely want to retrieve something from her person. She shifted her head slightly to the side and the sight of the necklace against her flesh caused Mythal’s eyes to narrow further. He reached out and pulled the necklace off violently, glancing down at the gemstone embedded on its end. Then with a nod to the Rune Knights, he followed behind as they brought Thana down into the prison below. He hadn’t expected her to resist -- she had some kind of motive for being there and it wasn’t just to pretend she was being arrested and then breaking free. Her scheme had to be deeper than that but that didn’t keep him from trailing behind, just in case, acting as a constant reminder that one wrong move would result in her immediate termination. And he’d make sure of it this time.

The cell opened up and closed within moments, locking her inside and robbing her of her magic. She looked less than bothered by it, simply trailing her hand along the magical barrier and staring back at him. She remarked about his position in life, calling him by his official title before running down the list of things that had ‘gone his way’ lately. His promotion, his role as a God of Ishgar, along with his growing family life. She was trying to needle him with things to spark some kind of reaction but he refused to give it to her. He stood stoic outside the cell, the sword planted against the ground as he watched the wanted woman ease herself onto the cot. After getting herself comfortable, she opened the floor to him, wondering where he’d like her to begin her explanations.

“At the beginnin’,” Mythal responded as he dismissed Hopebringer, the magical energy fading away and leaving just the hilt. “Yer the Avatar of Ataxia, a psychopathic bitch and a murderer. But Aeron has hinted that there’s more to your story than everythin’ I’ve heard so far. So let’s hear it.”

“Cutting right to the chase, huh?” Lux responded, reappearing beside Mythal and crossing his arms. “Not the accommodations I would have given her but I don’t get a vote, do I?”

“No, you don’t. You’d pro’lly want her runnin’ free, continuin’ to do what she likes to do,” the Director remarked, barely turning his head to look towards the Lightbringer.

Lux shrugged. “I appreciate an artist when I see one, what can I say?” he said with a smirk, giving Thana a wink and a grin.

The Slayer ignored it. “Well, go on then,” he said, gesturing towards Thana. “And then we can get to why yer here and surrenderin’ yerself. I imagine you’ve got a colorful explanation for that as well.”

Thana was quick to correct Mythal, stating that she was merely ‘an’ Avatar of Ataxia, thereby confirming that she hadn’t been the sole embodiment of that title. She continued, explaining that there had been a fair number of different avatars over the years and, in fact, there were multiple often at the same time. It was just because of Thana’s antics that had drawn the attention and focus of Mythal and several others. The Director stored that bit of information away, even as Lux made his inappropriate return and tried to show himself off to his little murdercrush. When he finally managed to state what he wanted from the Warlord, she seemed almost disinterested, unimpressed even. She said that Aeron and Darius had already told him most of her backstory but before Mythal could speak on it, she agreed to his request.

Of course, a lot of her story was something he had heard before. But it was something else to hear it from the source -- to listen in as her words, slightly different, showcased her own feelings and appreciations for her past. Because at the end of the day, she wasn’t bothered by where she had come from. In fact, she viewed it as delightful; giving her a chance to grow her magical abilities and partake in the violent popularity that came from her enslavement. Eventually, her own boredom over her continuous life forced her to break free, with her former master giving chase. The name Callahan didn’t register any familiarity, at least in a criminal record sense, but Aeron had mentioned it before, when she had opened up about her past. He’d put out some feelers to try and track down the man but no doubt it was some kind of criminal alias.

After her escape, she had just wandered through the world, taking jobs when the impulse struck and doing whatever she felt like. She’d joined Elysium merely out of experimentation, by the sounds of things, truly enjoying Janet’s approach and getting the opportunity to sow some carnage in Magnolia. She remarked about getting the chance to meet Vandrad and how happy he would be to hear about her imprisonment. After the dark guild had disbanded, she had opted to continue onward without the ‘restrictions’ of guild life, not partaking in the experiment that was Plumed Serpent.

Darius had been right; Thana didn’t view it as a dark and twisted upbringing. If anything, she seemed rather emancipated by the actions she had to take control back in her life. She was certainly proud of it. But it seemed that her reasoning for coming there and offering herself up for incarceration had been due to ‘destiny’ as she put it. She believed in Ataxia’s guidance and it was through that faith that she understood she had to turn herself in for the moment. And it was due to the misguided sense of belief that she also felt it was Mythal’s destiny to save Aeron. Thana confirmed that Aeron had a crush on the Rune Knight, believing him her savior against the oppressive force that had held her hostage all of her life. But as the Warlord put it, the request to put Thana down for good was far more complicated than it looked on face value. Thana believed that there was an underlying truth that would shatter Aeron’s beliefs and sensibilities and that Mythal would be the one reveal said truth, once he was able to locate her.

It was a hanging thread, intentionally strewn with sinister intent to make him think the worst. She’d pulled off such antics before in their first meeting, when she had taken on the form of Serilda and mocked him in his future wife’s image. It had gotten under his skin; enough so that he’d held back very little of his power and gone all out to try and kill her. But now that he understood that she thrived off the chaos she sewed, he was able to temper his feelings over the matter. Though he couldn’t take full credit for that control -- he was more focused on all the information that he was hearing in the moment and what had been told to him months ago by Darius and Aeron.

“Darius, nice to see ya again,” he said, his focus on Thana still even as he spoke to the archmage inside the jewel. “I’m gonna assume that this is the moment you were talkin’ about before.” He’d told Mythal that there would come a time when Mythal could strike Thana down but would need to find control, for the sake of saving more than one life. It had been as unclear as any riddle an oracle would give but now that the pieces were starting to develop, the picture was becoming more clear. The fact was, Mythal had asked Thana to tell her story so that he could pay attention to the details, to pick up on the narrative as she spoke it. And it was remarkably, undeniably, similar to Aeron’s. Aeron had told him that Thana and her had come from similar backgrounds but it was almost too similar. In a world of unique and individual circumstances, fate rarely aligned the same star in such a manner.

“I only got once question for ya, Darius,” he said, casting a glance back to Lux before turning his attention back to Thana. “Are Aeron and Thana the same person? Or rather... are they in the same body?”

The Neutral Grounds was a place that Mythal had only visited once before, a very long time ago. He’d heard about a free device and journeyed all the way over to acquire it, much to his chagrin. Granted, back then, doing anything caused him annoyance. He really should have been happy -- the magic that tied him to Faera had been cut off by the unique lack of ethernano in the Neutral Grounds and for several minutes, he’d actually felt relatively normal.

Now he was back and frankly not having his magic was more of a pain than an advantage. Nathaniel Stratford had made the city his killing grounds, unceremoniously ending the life of each and every person that broke the law. Little surprise that a former member of Dies Irae was taking the law into their hands without following the proper channels. And normally, Mythal may have secretly considered his actions a godsend but the problem was that Nathanial is indiscriminate in his goal or targeting people. The difference between murder and petty thieft was lacking and the former legal mage struck down any that dared go against the established law.

He wasn’t a hero, that much was for sure. Misguided perhaps but he’d taken several lives at this point that he may as well be considered a mass murderer. Mythal shuddered to think of the poor souls who had grabbed food out of sheer desperation to survive and found their lives swiftly ended on the blade of a vigilante. He needed to be stopped and that was before the complicated matter of bringing him to see Thana.

The woman had laid several jaw dropping facts in a short amount of time and there really was no narrowing down what was more important or shocking. The fact that Darius was a former member of the Dread Masters and had bound his soul to an Ataxian shard was just as groundbreaking as the fact that Thana’s child’s father was the former Dies Irae vigilante he was hunting. It was all too complex and, frankly, bullshit to comprehend. It was a game and Thana was making all the rules, forcing all the action and pawns to move to her whims. The only way to ‘win’ was to refuse to play but there was no telling what lives would be destroyed by that. After all, Nathaniel’s actions in Neutral Grounds were directly Thana’s responsibility. She’d inserted herself in his life, putting herself between the woman that Nathaniel supposedly loved and the man and the result was a baby. Worse over was the fact that Thana had been the one that had abused the former Dies Irae member’s mentor.

Mythal supposed mass murdering lawbreakers was, ironically, the best outcome for that kind of mental and emotional break. Nonetheless, he had to stop it. The problem was that no one really knew where Nathaniel was. Anyone that saw him usually wound up dead. There was a level of fear that seemed to resonate in his name; the presence of his actions weighing down on the people of the city. Where there had once been respect and adoration was now terror. So if he couldn’t have someone point the finger, then it seemed Mythal would have to take matters into his own hands.

Luckily he never wore his uniform, his usual garb more homely than his position truly was. That made for a very convincing play when he dashed into a store, grabbed several items off the shelf and ran out, the store clerk yelling after him. The Rune Knight Director took off down an alleyway, putting plenty of distance between himself and the store he’d just robbed. After several minutes, he slowed to a stop in a small open area between the buildings; a crossroads of alleyways. With a sigh of relief, he knelt down at the wall nearest him and unloaded his treasure, taking inventory of what he’d managed to snatch without really looking.

Mythal was lacking in his ability to use magic but that didn’t mean his senses weren’t still above that of a normal human being. He would be able to smell whoever approached him far before they were upon him, given his innate Slayer abilities. And he wasn’t very surprised when, as he made his way down the alleyways and away from the bustling outcrops of people and stores, a singular scent trailed after him. Of course he played the part of not noticing it, fully committed to being the hapless thief until the last possible moment. It was a flashback to his days before the Rune Knights, before Fairy Tail… the Slayer had stolen quite a number of things to survive during his years on the road. It wasn’t exactly a pleasant memory but one that served even now.

He was crouched over his treasure as the smell got closer. He continued to act as if he wasn’t acutely aware of the approaching man until a voice cut through the darkness. It informed him that he shouldn’t be stealing and Mythal froze just long enough to reach to his belt and grab the katana he’d stashed there. In one fluid motion, he turned, bringing the blade out from the hilt and bringing it directly in line with the approaching chained blade, knocking it aside. Glowing lights within the steel flickered aggressively from the impact but returned to a stable blue as the Rune Knight Director used the turn to get to his feet. He stared into the darkness as Nathaniel Stratford emerged from the shadows, stating that he was feeling generous and was willing to let Mythal leave if he forgot what he’d stolen.

The Slayer idly glanced over his shoulder at the minimal effects. “Ya know…” he started, as he held the katana away from his body but still rather casually, almost unguarded. “Even for a cheap ploy that I arranged with the store owner, I was hopin’ to grab at least a few interestin’ things. Toothpaste and medicine ain’t exactly at the top of my list.” With a disgruntled sigh, he turned his gaze back to Nat. “I’ve only been to the Neutral Grounds once, years ago. I actually liked the feelin’ at the time -- not feelin’ the stupid cursed magic I had. I almost felt normal. But knowin’ I had to come back here, I realized I couldn’t exactly come unprepared. I rely on a lot of magic, even a magic sword, so I was kinda comin’ into this without much benefit, ya know? You been huntin’ here for some time now so ya know the area and the layout better than I do. Luckily the Engineerin’ department had a few toys ready to craft for me to use.” He twisted the katana slightly, a move that stated that the weapon was one such creation.

“Nathaniel Stratford,” he said, identifying the man. “Name’s Mythal Ragnos -- Rune Knight. I’m gonna need you to put your weapon down and surrender peacefully. Your days of senseless murder are over. I don’t want to make this any more difficult than it already is. So be smart and drop the sword.”

There was no answer from the murderous former member of Dies Irae, his silence deafening. Mythal held the man’s gaze with a cold, determined stare, awaiting for some kind of noise or sound. His magic may have been temporarily cut off but his superhuman senses were still, to a point, above the normal margin of someone without magic. And something didn’t feel right, which was unsurprising. Nathaniel had operated this entire time without getting caught, mostly because he’d found ways to avoid capture. His slip up here was just that -- a temporary slip up and if Mythal didn’t catch him here and now, he would learn from his mistake. Finding him a second time would prove more work than he really wanted to put into the matter.

“Don’t,” Mythal warned the other man, only a second or so before Nathaniel swung his blade at him. The God Slayer shifted his katana up quick enough to deflect the blade away from his body but it bought the former guild member the time he needed to turn and dash into the closest alley. “Son of a bitch,” Mythal cursed as he took off in pursuit. His lack of knowledge about the Neutral Grounds’ layout, though, was proving disadvantageous, robbing him of the benefit he’d had before. It took him a few turns to realize that if he was truly chasing Nathaniel, he couldn’t tell. Growling, he decided that the best option was to get up on the rooftops and see if he could at least tail him from there. He turned down a thinner alleyway and then leapt up, bouncing back and forth between the two sides of the pathway. He grabbed ahold of the edge of the roof and pulled himself up quickly, running to the edge in front of him and stepping up to look around.

There were dozens of cracks between the buildings, some wide enough for streets and others for thin alleyways. He frowned as his eyes scanned roof after roof, trying to get an idea of where to start. Acting more out of instinct than any methodical plan, he took off in one direction, taking his time as he leapt from one building to another. As luck would have it, Nathaniel himself popped up on the roof as well, appearing most likely to figure out his next step. He was only a few buildings away, though if he was quick enough, he would be able to disappear into another alley and take off before Mythal even caught up to him.

“Lux!” he called as he changed direction and headed towards Nathaniel.

In a flash of light and movement, the Lightbringer appeared in the air beside him. “What’s up, Mythal?”

“Distract that guy and track him. He’s the one that Thana wants.”

Lux grinned. “Well why didn’t ya say so?” The full figured man disappeared into a beam of light that zipped up into the air and then swiftly came crashing down in front of Nathaniel, exploding in a shower of crackling sparks and sound. The Seal reappeared in his humanoid form, stepping out of the shower in front of the former guild member. “How’s it going, goldy? I’m going to need you to stay right where you are!” Should Nathaniel ignore the orders of the spirit, Lux would sigh dramatically and then teleport next to him, floating in the air akin to that of a ghost. And indeed, even swinging at him with a weapon would find it go right through his ethereal body without any impact, though Lux would certainly make noises like he was in pain, if only for comical effect. But more importantly, this gave Mythal a direct connection to Nathaniel, as even without his magic, he could sense where Lux was and follow it right to his target.

Tracking a man on the rooftops was not hard, especially for the likes of Lux. Given his ability to float, it was exceptionally easy to simply fly beside the fleeing criminal, grinning that classic, mocking grin that he oh so often liked to bear. Knowing that Nathaniel was someone that Thana had asked for personally, he wasn’t about to let up the chase, now wanting nothing more than to impress the dangerous minx. The former Dies Irae grew outwardly frustrated as Lux continued to hover beside him. “So what’s your deal? I don’t really pay much attention to what Mythal and the rest talk about, unless it directly involves or circulates me. You’re like… a vigilante or something? I can respect that; murdering humans is always a noble profession, I get it.” Nathaniel swung his sword several times in a fury, the blade easily passing through the Lightbringer as if he wasn’t even there. Of course, that didn’t mean Lux wasn’t going to act it up; dramatically jerking his body to each side that the sword swung. He yelped and gargled, putting his hands against his chest and wiggling his fingers to imitate blood squirting out.

But it was clear that nothing was actually hurting him and Nathaniel seemed to pick up on that. His wild swings came to a halt as he tried to come up with an alternative. Lux was about to taunt the man further when the former legal guild mage swung his sword again -- only this time it wasn’t at the Seal directly. Instead, the sword sliced through a steam vent that had been sealed and upon cutting the metal open, a plume of thick smoke erupted out from the whole directly up and into Lux. “Ahh!” he yelped in surprise as he disappeared into the thick steam, hacking and coughing as he dramatically waved his hands to try and clear away the deterrent.

That bought Nathaniel precious time to relieve himself of his armor and dash down towards the street once more. Mythal was far enough behind that he would only catch the far figure of Nathaniel disappearing beside a pillar of steam. The former guild mage donned his disguise and slipped into the crowd walking along the street, slowing his pace and clearly trying to get lost in the numerous men and women moving about. It was a brilliant tactic and there was little doubt that when and if Mythal caught up, it would have made it impossible to pick him out. As Nathaniel walked, another, seemingly neutral person was walking in the same direction. He was dressed in a business suit, looking completely disinterested in the world around him and focused on whatever business task was at hand.

The illusion, however, only covered the front of the man -- the portion that Nathaniel could see. Utilizing his abilities as a Seal, Lux had clearly twisted the light around him to disguise his front self. Given that he only had limited control of his strength back, he couldn’t complete the illusion fully over but it was enough to make him look completely different from the front forward, which is exactly where he kept Nathaniel. He would follow behind him without incident, all the way to the train station, making sure the vigilante was in front of him but without showing any interest in him.

Mythal, meanwhile, had slid to a stop near the discarded armor, glancing around to try and spot Nathaniel or even Lux. He could still sense the Seal’s presence in the relative proximity but he couldn’t quite pinpoint it. Apparently Neutral Ground’s complete lack of ethernano was stronger than he anticipated. That or Lux was intentionally disguising himself for the sake of amusement. There truly was no telling which way it could be going. “Damnit Lux, where are you at?” the Rune Knight grumbled as he continued along the rooftop.

It wasn’t until they reached the train that Lux finally chose to act. He knew that Mythal was fast normally but without the aid of his magic, there would be no catching up to the locomotive. And as much as he wanted to keep toying and playing with Nathaniel, it was far more important to him to capture the man and bring him back to Thana sooner rather than later. Just before Nathaniel was able to take his step onto the train, bright chains made of light would erupt from the overhanging lamps of the platform. Swiftly they would wrap around the man’s arms and legs and hoist him up into the air, cinching his limbs tight to make sure he couldn’t wriggle free. Chuckling, Lux stepped out from the shocked and surprised crowd and dismissed his illusion so he could look up at Nathaniel.

“You’re a quick one, I’ll give you that. But it’ll take something a bit thicker than steam to keep a Seal distracted,” he stated bemusingly. He reconnected the link between him and Mythal, allowing the Rune Knight to find him once more as he stepped up to the former guild mage and looked him up and down. “So you’re the one that put the baby in Thana. Gotta tell you, bucko -- I’m a bit jealous. Here I was hoping to knock her up myself but guess you got some powerful swimmers, huh?”

“Well that was a pain in the ass.”

Mythal walked through the front doors of the Rune Knight main facility, looking about as glum as he usually did. He had Nathaniel in magic dampening cuffs, wrapped around his wrists behind his back with the Director holding them by their middle joint. He gave Valorie a quick wave as he turned the captive down the hall towards processing. “Ya know there was a time I would have liked to live in the Neutral Grounds and not hafta deal with magic. Ain’t feelin’ that anymore.”

“I dunno, it felt kind of good to be the stronger one for once. You know, until I overwhelm your soul and take control of you,” Lux remarked as he flashed into existence. He was floating in the air like he was lying upon a moving river, just in front of Nathaniel with a wicked glint in his eye. “At least I was able to capture our guest of honor. Once I name dropped Thana, he was all too willing to give up. That doesn’t mean he has a thing for her, right?”

Mythal didn’t answer. He highly doubted Nathaniel’s curiosity had anything to do with any kind of affection for the Warlord. If anything, the former guild mage probably wanted to enact justice upon the woman that had essentially taken advantage of him. He glanced at Nathaniel, a look of somber studying on his face. “A lotta recruits from Dies Irae joined Rune Knights after the guild went under. Of course, some of them also became as corrupt as the mages they used to hunt,” he spoke softly. “I ain’t gonna pretend I know what happened to ya, Nathaniel, but there ain’t no excuse for killin’ people over every little crime. Murderin’ em is more like it.”

Lux shrugged. “So what’s a couple of dead humans? Sounds like he was just taking out the nastier ones. Figured you Rune Knights would appreciate that.”

“Ya thought wrong. We ain’t about executin’ people over even the smallest crime. We ain’t even that supportive of killin’ unless we have no other choice.”

“I hear you, I do,” Lux said, sitting up. “But don’t you think it’s ironic in a way? I don’t really know the timing of it all but… what if you not killing Thana when you had a chance is what led us to all of this? I know you tried but you could have gone and double checked. In a way, you bear some responsibility for dear old murderin’ mage’s actions.” What came across as a barbed insult was actually just an observation. Lux’s tone seemed far more curious than insulting.

Mythal nodded. “Probably.” He also didn’t quite know how the timelines matched up but given how pregnant Thana was, it was either before or after finding Nathaniel that he eventually ran into her. He supposed if he asked Thana she would probably tell him, though she may also just try and spin it for her own amusement. “I ain’t got a clue why she wants to talk to you; I imagine it’s ‘bout the kid. So best to just… prepare yourself for that.”

What he couldn’t prepare Nathaniel or even himself for was the sudden squeal of the alarm system activating. The bright light that came in through the windows was quickly countered by the flashing red sirens that filled the entirety of the hallway. Mythal came to a sudden stop, looking around in obvious concern. “Maybe it’s something else?” Lux asked in a semi-sarcastic tone.

“Sure, just as we happen to arrive. Just fuckin’ coincidence, Lux,” Mythal snapped back at the Lightbringer. Thana had led him on a fool’s errand it looked like. Lashing out with his free arm, he snapped his fingers in front of them and opened a swirling portal of darkness. “Sorry Nathaniel, we’re gonna have to skip processin’ for the moment,” he said as he quickly pushed the former guild mage into the spiraling darkness.

The other side of the portal would open right outside the cell that had once held Thana. Both he and Nathaniel arrived, the Rune Knight Director snapping his attention towards the cell in question. His agitation, his anger, was all swept up in confusion and concern as there, standing where the Warlord should be, was Aeron. “Aeron?” he asked confusingly.

“Sir!” The Rune Knight lieutenant snapped around to look at the Director. “This woman was in the cell when I came by. There’s no sign of Thana anywhere!”

“That woman is a friend of mine,” Mythal said, shoving Nathaniel towards one of the other Rune Knights to hold. He quickly approached the cell but his steps slowed as he got closer, now taking in Aeron fully. She was… extremely pregnant. In fact, it was safe to say that she was as close to term as Thana had been.

“We’re getting the video lacrima footage momentarily,” the lieutenant continued as he walked up beside Mythal.

Mythal’s gaze lingered on Aeron’s stomach before slowly tracing up to her face. The look of fear on her wrenched his soul but no doubt the horror on his own was just as telling. The pieces that had been scattered were coming together, somehow fitting with one another like he never would have expected. His first mission with her, the subsequent conversations that he’d had with her when he went to visit her. And then her long period of missing. She had smelled exactly like Thana, her magic had reeked of the same magical wavelength -- something he’d never forget. Her reasoning made sense at the time and now, seeing the confusion and terror on her face, he knew that she had truly believed it. It had been real to her and that’s why he hadn’t sensed her lying.

“Aeron…” he said softly, pressing a hand up against the cell.

“She claims that Thana is still in the cell with her and--” the lieutenant was trying to provide as much information to Mythal as possible. But his words came to a sudden halt as the surveillance footage came up and showed exactly what had happened. “Oh my Gods…”

Mythal didn’t need to see it to know what had happened, though he still turned his head to look at it. It all had clicked into place before but the hard evidence was right there on the screen. An unimaginable situation that he never could have fathomed, that Aeron herself probably never even considered…

Aeron was Thana. Thana was Aeron. They were one in the same.

Two sides of the same body. Multiple personalities that each had their own look, somehow manifested by her magic. Mythal reached over and took the datapad from the lieutenant.

“Aeron… I’m so sorry,” he said softly. He looked down at the pad and rewound the footage, turning it about so the screen was facing her. “I’m so… fuckin’ sorry.”

“Well that was a pain in the ass.”

This was a living nightmare.

Never in his wildest dreams had Mythal ever imagined how close he had been to Thana the entire time. Worse yet was the fact that despite how close she was, he couldn’t bring himself to feel overwhelming rage and hatred like he should. How could he? Her and Aeron shared a body, quite literally trading places and consciousnesses like one would swap clothing. And Aeron wasn’t even aware of it; she knew that Thana existed and clearly still saw her but she didn’t know that they were one in the same form. Two distinct personalities, with their own goals, desires and demons but still unmistakably linked by both body and experience.

All he felt was sorrow. Aeron was one of his friends, perhaps one of the closest ones he’d ever had. A woman that he felt a strong connection to, only just under the one he felt towards Serilda. They had bonded quickly and only continued to form their friendship over the years they knew one another. To see her pressing herself against the cage, practically trying to force the magical force field to melt away and let her free, was killing him. But the fact that one of his worst enemies lay deep within her subconscious gave him pause to just outright freeing her. And that gutted him to his very core. She refused the truth at first, even with the video playing before her face and who could blame her? If this was a nightmare for him, then it was the deepest ring of Hell for her. He watched as she looked down at her stomach, the realization beginning to creep in and infect her with the horrifying truth. Gods, did it kill him.

His nerves were on high alert so when Nathaniel made a ruckus behind him, Mythal’s head was already swiveling around. The former guild mage had tripped up the Rune Knight holding him, grabbed the sword from its belt and was making a direct line for Aeron. Of course, there was no penetrating the shield with any kind of weaponry but Mythal’s emotions were far too raw in the moment to rationalize that. All he saw was this man rushing one of his only friends in the world at her lowest point. A surge of magical energy rushed out from his core, wrapping him in bright light and deep darkness. A manifestation of his shadow rushed up and broke the sword into pieces, rendering the weapon nothing but a hilt in his hands. At the same time, Mythal kicked Nathaniel in the leg, using almost the entirety of his strength to knock him forward. And then his hand snapped out, grabbed the former guild mage by the back of his neck and slammed him into the ground hard.

In most normal cases, he would not have used such brute force. Nathaniel would be lucky to not have any kind of broken parts of his face, given that the floor depressed under the impact of his driven body. But Mythal’s knee was already on Nathaniel’s back and he was pulling him up by the collar, even as tendrils of dark and light wrapped around his legs and feet to keep him from escaping. “Are you some kind of STUPID?!” he roared in Nathaniel’s ear. “Look at that woman,” he said, pointing at Aeron with his free hand, even as she began to break down. “That is not Thana! She is a woman who has scratched and clawed her entire life to make something of herself and has been brought back into the darkness because of that bitch. Are you so blinded by your hatred that you can’t even see the difference?!”

The rest of the Rune Knights were stone silent as Mythal unleashed his own frustrations on the prisoner. And watching Aeron throw herself around the cage that he all-too-much wanted to free her from only made things worse. “Do you even understand what the fuck is happenin’? No, you’re too busy tryin’ to put yourself and others in danger without takin’ a second thought. You’re no fuckin’ better than Thana!”

A cruel comparison but one he really couldn’t help himself from making at the moment. Furious tears threatened to escape from the corners of his eyes as he glared down at Nathaniel, all of his formality gone and his raw, emotional rage trying to force him to hurt Nathaniel more. All he wanted to do was to bash the idiot’s head against the floor. But he didn’t -- somewhere deep inside, he knew that while part of his anger was justifiably pointed to Nathaniel, he was hardly to blame for the hellish situation they were in. He just didn’t understand how deep the rabbit hole went until he scoffed dismissively at Nathaniel and let him drop to the ground, standing back up. He was already turning to move towards the prison cell again when he abruptly stopped, watching as Aeron… changed. Though curled into a tight ball, heaving and crying hysterically, the change was distinct and immediate. But it wasn’t Thana coming out of the transformation but… another woman. One with split colored-hair.

And the only word out of her mouth was Nathaniel’s voice. “You’ve gotta be fuckin’ kiddin’ me,” Mythal mumbled softly, well and truly floored. There weren’t just two of them but three. Thana, Aeron and this other woman who seemed to know Nathaniel. Stunned to silence, he could only stare in horror.

"What the hell is going on here?” A familiar voice caught his attention. Turning quickly, he found Vandrad standing near the entryway of the prison area, arms crossed over his chest and glancing at all the faces in the room.

Where did they even begin?

It had become necessary that Mythal find a means to resolve the matter of Aeron, Trinity and Thana all sharing the same body. While the very suggestion that they could be splint was a bit mad, even to the Darkness Slayer, it had actually been Lux that had suggested a means that provided a path forward. It hadn’t been that long ago that the Lightbringer had suggested they eventually go and retrieve something known as the Soul Stone. It had been an elemental construct that had found itself on Earthland and was eventually found and held onto the first human mage, Quentin Stridor. The problem that they had run into was the fact that Quentin’s former tower was deep in Pergrande. And being a Rune Knight mage from Fiore… it wasn’t the brightest move to make any kind of moves into Pergrande at the time.

So Mythal had put it off, promising Lux that they would go there when it wasn’t as precarious. Now with the war fully in swing, it would be ill favored to journey to the heart of the enemy. That had changed upon Thana’s capture and the revelation of the other women all trapped inside the same body. It still was dangerous and he probably should have bartered a bit more caution and consideration but there was no telling what Thana’s plan was. He’d gotten Serilda’s permission and through the use of one of her portals, Mythal and Lux had set out to Pergrande to find the tower.

It was an interesting adventure, to say the least. And the acceptance of the Soul stone had been relatively easy, in comparison to the other lacrima that had to be ritually placed inside of him. Granted, Quentin had believed Mythal and Lux to be a danger and had attempted to keep them away, but given his state as a spirit, his powers had been severely dwindled. That and he had ritually tied himself to the Soul stone so that if someone not worthy of its power did attempt to take it, Quentin would have a few tricks up his sleeve. Luckily, Mythal had argued his case and swayed the Sage’s belief. With permission, he had taken in the Soul stone and returned home so that he could attune to the stone properly.

There was a lot about the Soul stone that he had to uncover. But his focus had been, firstly, on finding a way to split a soul into separate bodies. That had been his main purpose and he’d explained as much to Quentin during his pleas to gain the magical construct. So that is what Quentin helped him learn; perhaps one of the hardest spells that one could attempt to master through the use of the Soul stone. During the short time period he had, not much changed in terms of Trinity, the more quiet soul remaining on the surface while she was incarcerated. It was after several days without incident that the news came; Thana had returned. She hadn’t caused any kind of ruckus, she had merely been sitting in her jail, smiling and content to simply wait out whatever was going to happen.


That meant that there was little time to think about it any further. As Mythal rose to his feet, haggard but wearing the countenance of determination, he steadied himself against his desk. Beads of sweat adorned his forehead and he wiped them against the back of his sleeve as he let out a shaky breath. “Are you sure about this? Maybe we should take more time to focus on training,” Lux said from beside him, having manifested fully into form.

“He is ready,” Quentin spoke from Mythal’s other side, his form only capable of being seen by Mythal and Lux. “You have immense magical ability, Mythal. So long as you focus on what you want, there will be no problems. I have confidence in you.”

“At least someone does,” Lux remarked offhandedly.

“Yeah, thanks for the pep talk,” Mythal replied coolly as he pressed the call button on his desk receiver. “Seri, it’s time. Get Vandrad here and meet me down at the prison.” He released the button and stood up straight, taking in another, firmer breath before he grabbed his jacket and pulled it on. It was a short trip down to the jail area but Mythal took his time, his pace as focused as he was. When he finally rounded the corner and entered the large gallery, Thana’s prison was already in front of him. And there was the woman herself, looking as smug as she had been described to him.

He stopped several yards away, simply staring at her as Lux stepped into existence beside him. “You know I don’t like this,” he told Mythal.

“Sorry Lux, but it’s the only option,” came the Darkness Slayer’s quick response.

“It’s not! There are other-”

“Lux.” Mythal cut him off, his tone forceful but not loud. He turned his gaze to the Lightbringer. “There is no other option. I’m sorry.” He held the Seal’s gaze for a moment before Lux looked away, a look of sullen anger on his face. As one of the Rune Knight prison captains approached Mythal, he turned his head enough to look over at him from his shoulder. “Get Nathaniel Stratford. And make sure he is bound and chained so he cannot move at all. I don’t wanna repeat of last time.”