Path Toward Darkness and Light

Life had been extremely busy for Aeron for the better part of the last year. Her sudden separation from Thana and Trinity – or Calliope, as she was calling herself now – as well as the subsequent realization that her entire life up until that point had been one big, delusional lie, had left the poor woman reeling for some time. A lot of truths had become apparent to her, many of them painful, but none more so than the knowledge that she wasn’t even a real person, merely a fraction of another woman’s psychosis that was strong enough to be ripped apart to form its own being, if she could truly call herself that.

It had taken some time to adjust and regain some sense of normalcy, not that any part of her existence had ever been normal. She’d struggled for a while to grasp some idea of self, but over time, and with plenty of encouragement from Mythal and the others she’d suddenly found in her life, found the strength to press forward instead of just sitting around feeling sorry for herself. She still didn’t really know who she was, but at the very least she’d decided not to let that ruin the opportunity she’d been given. So eventually, she’d enlisted with the Rune Knights.

The military life wasn’t an easy one, but in comparison to the environment she’d been raised in, it was the healthiest and most stable life she’d ever had. Not to say it was perfect, of course. There were plenty that knew who she was. Given the number of guards that had been present for everything with Thana, it was no secret that she was connected to the Warlord, and it had not taken long for word to spread. Most people were at least respectful toward her, and there were plenty that chose not to judge her, but for all of Mythal and Serilda’s efforts the Rune Knight leaders could never fully eradicate their soldiers of prejudice, and there were still plenty that didn’t hide their suspicions and mistrust of the former dark mage.

While Aeron had made many strides in branching out, socially, she still had a habit of keeping to herself most of the time. Truthfully, the words and looks of those that alienated her weren’t all that bothersome. From time to time, maybe, but for the most part she could block them out, uncaring about their thoughts. The only one whose opinion she cared about at the end of the day was Mythal’s, and anyone else that Mythal liked and trusted. Determined, she had simply put her head down and focused on her own path and training, enduring everything else without complaint or comment.

She’d made some decent progress as a result. It had been rough adjusting to a life without any magic. Or well, mostly without any magic. She could still shape shift, but her access to her former take over and nightmare magics was long since lost, Thana having retained both those magics for the brief period of time that she’d lived before Vandrad snuffed her life away. Not that Aeron had been conscious during that time, but she’d seen the aftermath of it. Try as she might – and she’d pushed herself to the point of exhaustion several times trying – she’d eventually had to accept the simple fact that she was no longer a mage. Yet that still hadn’t stopped her. There were plenty of soldiers in the Rune Knights that weren’t mages, or at least not conventional ones. She could learn to utilize magic weapons to help provide some sense of self sufficiency, and that’s exactly what she’d done, the brunette experimenting with many different styles of weaponry until she’d settled on a couple that she liked enough to put her focus on.

Not that she’d stopped trying to regain some magic, though that was more Mythal’s doing than her own. The director was convinced that he could help her become a mage again, and had taken to trying to coach her in Darkness magic, an element that he was most comfortable trying to teach since he’d been using it practically all of his life. Aeron had yet to succeed in wielding any darkness spells, which made it hard for her to find purpose in the exercises… but if Mythal believed in her, she refused to give up, if for his sake more than her own. As far as she was concerned, she owed it to him. She owed him everything. They had even discussed the implementation of a lacrima of some kind, which Aeron wasn’t necessarily opposed to, but that was a big decision, and one that she wasn’t quite ready to make just yet. So on they worked, the woman slowly shaping herself to a reliable, if inexperienced knight.

But today she was not operating as a knight. Mythal had asked her to join him on a mission, but had made it clear it was a personal venture. As such, she’d been instructed to be combat ready, but in civilian dress, not in her uniform. With only a small gulp, and surprisingly little hesitation, she knocked on the door to Mythal’s office at headquarters. “Mythal..?” When others were present she was always sure to address him appropriately, but the director had made it very clear that she was only to follow decorum when absolutely necessary, and at all other times was to be informal with him. The man hated formalities enough with most people, but he insisted that Aeron was his friend and she was to interact with him as such. “It’s me.”

Presuming he called her in, she’d swing the door open enough to step inside. Aeron was dressed in comfortable civilian tactical gear. A pair of bright orange pants were tucked into a white and black armored bodysuit that sported some new and glowing device on her chest and back that Mythal would never have seen her wear before. She wore a cropped orange and white jacket with a popped collar, the sleeves rolled up to her elbows where her hands were covered with a sleek set of black gloves. A tactical harness was strapped on either thigh, sporting a holster on each side that both carried a matching set of pistols she’d become proficient with. A stylish pair of orange glasses – more like goggles, really – were set up on her head, pushing back the lengths of her hair that, while still kept short, had grown out a bit since she’d started her new life.

It was only time and consistent exposure that prevented her stomach from breaking out into butterflies at seeing him, the brunette quite comfortable in his presence these days – even if she was painfully aware of the unrequited torch she carried for him. Aeron approached the desk. “What’s the plan? Your message was… almost ominously vague. Is everything okay?”

She was used to seeing Mythal out of uniform. He hated wearing it at the best of times, and utilized his privilege of not always having to don it almost to the point of abuse at times. But today was a little different. There was a peak of the top of his chest showing through the open collar of his shirt, his muscular arms showing at the shoulders and straining through the snug fit of his detached sleeves. Aeron gulped slightly, but otherwise managed to wrest her eyes away to meet his own, practically commanding her cheeks to keep from blushing. Almost out of instinct, she reached up and lightly fingered at the amethyst jewel around her neck for stability – Darius.

The mage wasn’t saying anything at the moment, but he was still there. Not a day had gone by since Mythal had returned the necklace to her that Aeron hadn’t worn it. For a long time, Darius had been her only company to break up the solitude of her life. While she didn’t feel it was appropriate to call the mage a friend, his presence was still a source of comfort and stability for her, despite knowing the power and danger of the shard that hung against her collarbone. That, and she knew it was ill advised to leave him unattended. She had protested at first when Mythal had insisted she keep it, feeling it was an artifact much safer in his hands than her own, but he had stubbornly refused to keep anything that he felt belonged to her. So she had begrudgingly taken it back, secretly relieved at having it in her possession once more, and vowing to do everything in her minimal power to keep it from ever falling into the wrong hands again.

Approaching the desk, Mythal apologized for his crypticness, assuring her it was only out of a sense of needing to keep things as close to the chest as possible. Her cerulean eyes flicked to the folder as he slid it across to her, her gloved fingers reaching out to pick it up so she could flip through its contents. It seemed he was focusing on the cult that had started popping up recently. Aeron had only heard about it in passing a couple times, not really paying much attention to it since it didn’t really concern her. While she was a Knight, she was still barely more than a recruit, having finished basic not all that long ago – a few months at most. She was unlikely to be sent on any destination missions any time soon, most of her focus on run of the mill grunt work shadowing sergeants on the streets of Era and learning the ropes at keeping the peace.

But her status didn’t account for the fact that she knew the director and field marshal personally, the former considering her a friend, and while she did her best to never act like that came with any kind of perks or special treatment – which typically it didn’t, anyway – there was no denying that it increased her chances to be called upon directly by the top brass. She listened as he explained that the cult was holed up somewhere on Shadow Island, her eyes scanning the pages of the file idly but doing more listening than reading. Reports had indicated that the cultists were worshipping someone known as the “Lightbringer”, which meant very little to Aeron until he reminded her that it was a title associated with Lux, the supernatural being with whom he shared a soul. It seemed Lux had been trying for some time to encourage Mythal to help locate the missing fragments of his power, and there was a very real possibility that these weird zealots had gotten their hands on it. Mythal wanted to investigate, if only to be on the safe side. The island had a bit of a reputation for being Sin lite, which at the very least meant that Aeron would find the setting to be somewhat familiar territory.

“Of course,” she told him without hesitation when he asked if she was up for a mission that he suspected might turn into a heist. It was no secret that Aeron didn’t exactly like Lux. While she’d never said as much, the few interactions with the Seal were more than enough for Mythal to observe that he made the former dark mage uncomfortable, though much of that likely had to do with how open Lux was about his favorable opinion of Thana. But the fact remained that, much like Thana had been to Aeron for some time, it was simply impossible for Mythal to separate himself from the being as much as he’d likely want to. Their lives were intertwined, for better or worse, and her dislike of Lux paled in comparison to her trust and devotion to the man that had saved her life several times over. If he needed her help, the simple truth was that she would always be there.

“If nothing else, it will give me a chance to test this new thing that the engineers gave me to try out.” She tapped the glowing plate on her chest. Aeron had gone to the engineering department with Mythal at the start of her recruitment, the director tasking them with helping her find weaponry and gadgets that would help empower her as a knight, and the scientists – always happy for an excuse to experiment – had been more than happy to help, continuing to throw a few things her way from time to time to see what sort of items stuck with  her. It was how she’d wound up with the pistols on her hips.

Normally she knew that Mythal preferred to use his magic to teleport to areas, if only to save time, but she also knew that he could only create links to places he’d visited before. Since he’d never been to the island before, the most he could do was take them to the closest port: Morgate. From there, they would have to take a ship. When he was ready, she’d follow him through the portal of darkness he’d made into the desolate and abandoned city. No one lived here anymore, at least no one but criminals and dark mages seeking to live outside the law. The port certainly wasn’t active anymore, which led Aeron to wonder why Mythal thought they could use it as a launching platform for their mission. Even if there were trustworthy enough people they could barter transportation from, she highly doubted anyone was willing to ferry them to a place that was so similar to Sin.

But it seemed Mythal had made arrangements in advance, utilizing Rune Knight resources to procure a private transport across the waters. They settled onto the ship and set sail. The trip was likely to take a couple hours at least, giving them some time to kill. Since it had been some time since she’d had any downtime with the man, she took the initiative to strike up conversation. “So, uh… how’s Serilda? And the kids?”

Aeron did her best not to grimace at the knowledge that Lux might wind up joining them, but she wasn’t terribly adept at controlling her face. There was a possibility he might not show, but given the circumstances the chances were low. Who knew if and when he would show up, though. The Seal wasn’t always actively around these days, now that Mythal had the means and power to let him roam a bit on his own doing… whatever it was that interested a being such as himself. Aeron shuddered to think what the Lightbringer’s interests might involve. But he was gone enough that Mythal wasn’t always able to contact him directly, having to send Quentin out in search of him.

Mythal chose to acknowledge Aeron’s obvious thoughts on Lux, admitting that his nephilim counterpart was unbearable at best most of the time, but the director recognized that Aeron had even more reason than most to be wary. He seemed to falter with his words, rubbing the back of his head in thought as Aeron’s eyes darted to the floor. In the end, Mythal chose not to elaborate, simply stating that they’d deal with Lux if and when he showed up.

The former dark mage nodded her understanding and the subject shifted with her remarking about it being a good opportunity to try some new tools she’d been lent by the engineers. Mythal expanded on that, hoping that the island’s shadowed atmosphere would help open her back up to the element of darkness that she’d once held a connection to, even if she’d never outright used it before, even when she was a mage. “Guess we’ll find out,” was all she contributed as far as that went. Aeron didn’t have much hope toward those kind of results, but it didn’t mean she wouldn’t at least try to give it her all.

He packed up his office and they were off, stepping through a portal and into Morgate. Despite her history living and associating with the worst forms of lowlives – and even being one herself – Aeron simply couldn’t find it in herself to be comfortable with the eyes that were on them. Maybe once upon a time she had at least grown accustomed to walking among their types, but at the time she had also been a lot more powerful than she currently was. That, and while Elysium had been a dark guild it had also been more family oriented than one might expect, so there hadn’t exactly been a lot of infighting that she’d had to worry about, especially while she was an ace. Luckily, they seemed disinclined to pay them any more attention than it took to glower their direction, which was really more to the benefit of the criminals than anything else. Aeron was confident that Mythal could easily deal with them single handedly if push came to shove.

Reaper Squad’s contact had come through, though in truth the captain looked about as trustworthy and reputable as anyone else they’d seen in the desolate city ruins so far. Aeron’s gaze was narrowed suspiciously on the man as Mythal finalized everything with him, but otherwise they were let on board without incident and off they had set.

Rather than focus on her paranoia, Aeron chose to take the time to catch up with Mythal a bit, asking about Serilda and his daughters. He told her that his fiance was well, all things considered. The war was still a prevalent stressor, but not one that the field marshal seemed inclined to overwhelm her. His daughters were getting older now, old enough to be up on their feet and running him ragged. Mythal’s smile was infectious, though Aeron hadn’t realized that she was smiling too as she looked up and observed his moment of parental pride. He took a moment to invite her over soon, assuring her that everyone would love to ee her.

“Yeah, sure. I’d like that.” As much as Serilda intimidated her, the noblewoman had never been anything but kind and compassionate toward her. Likewise, Aeron had next to no experience with children and was equally as intimidated by them, if for entirely different reasons… but she was happy to swallow her insecurities for a few hours to spend more time around her only friend and his loved ones.

Mythal turned the question back around on her, lamenting that they hadn’t gotten to talk much lately. “Nothing exciting,” she admitted with a shrug. “I haven’t really gotten out much since New Year’s. Been focused on training. A couple of the women in my barracks bully me into having lunch with them from time to time, but.. I guess I still keep to myself for the most part. They’re very nice, but also a little more rowdy during their off time than I’m used to.” Military women, as she’d quickly come to learn, were far from shy. Aeron was easily in the minority in that regard. But she recognized that a few of them were taking more steps than they needed to, more than many were willing to, given her background, and she did appreciate that, even if she wasn’t sure how to handle it just yet. “I’ve been thinking about getting a pet. I know a lot of the others have some. I just… don’t really know what I’d get. I don’t exactly have a lot of experience with taking care of any animals.”

She smirked ruefully at herself, and they continued to chat for a while until a small dark shape in the distance began to take form: the island. As they grew closer it gained more definition, though much of it was cloaked in a thick blanket of fog that clung to the island almost in spite of the warmth of the sun and the day. Through it, she could see the boughs of tall, but thin and scraggly looking trees that had managed to grow over the years but were clearly starved for proper sunlight. A shiver of unease sent a small spasm down her spine, but she had no intention of backing out now. She simply waited until the captain determined they had come close enough, readying herself to join Mythal on the eerie looking shores.

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up.” Aeron muttered at his teasing comment, though the smirk on her face was in direct contrast to her tone – and her blush. Her “date” with Trevor had been… well, she really had enjoyed it. Even when he kissed her at the end, though that was difficult for her to admit. She’d run away like a child but only because she was too overwhelmed at that point to be able to cope with socializing any longer. She hadn’t talked to him since that night, but truthfully she wasn’t avoiding him. Or at least, she wasn’t meaning to. At first she had certainly needed some time to come down from her social anxiety and find some grounding again, but after that she’d just gotten too wrapped up in work and training. With the war going on, even a new private like her had plenty extra to do, so she just hadn’t made time to reach back out to him.

Not that she’d know what to say.

Luckily, Mythal didn’t plan on lingering on the subject, instead following up on her remarks regarding her barrack mates. She snorted. “Tell me about it. They’re so fuckin’ rowdy that half the time I feel like I’m back in Elysium. Nothing mean or dangerous, of course. Just the steps some of them will go through to scheme out a prank sometimes is baffling.” Aeron shook her head. All in all they were good people, though. Even the ones that clearly didn’t like or trust her. She’d never be able to say there wasn’t any bullying, but most of it was pretty mild, and very rare. Plus, for every person that gave a snide look or comment there were three more that made attempts to defend or befriend her.

On the topic of pets, Mythal recommended that she simply shop around and see what all was out there, which might be enough to inspire her toward something. The most important thing, he informed her, was just making sure to feed and love them. They were a lot of work and could be very time consuming, particularly if she started with something that was still growing, but he also seemed to think it would be a good middle ground for her having some company that wouldn’t drain her social meter. “Yeah, I guess that makes sense. I’ll see if I can find some shops around or somethin’, see what catches my interest.”

They continued to chat to pass the time until the ship slowed to a stop, the captain indicating they had reached the furthest they could go. Aeron stood up after Mythal, brushing herself off and straightening her clothes and her equipment while he approached the bow. With little more than a flick of his wrist, he used his magic to ensnare the darkness from the island, pulling it toward the ship until a bridge had formed that would be safe and sturdy for the two of them to walk across. Or at least, she assumed it was. It certainly didn’t look it, but looks hardly meant much when it came to magic. At his behest, Aeron stepped cautiously up onto the platform, pulling her goggles down around her eyes before she could forget to do so.

It took them a couple minutes to walk to shore. When they did, the ground under her boots was hard when she stepped down, the crunching of leaves swallowed by the thickness of the atmosphere. Aeron turned a slow circle as she looked around, her visor scanning some readings back to her but nothing of any real interest. “Any idea what direction we’re headed?” she asked him, her voice muffled by the fog enough that it probably wouldn’t carry more than ten or twenty meters for anything less than a yell. On the one hand, they had a good chance of not being overheard as easily by any of the creatures that were rumored to roam the island. On the other, it meant that they also would have a more difficult time detecting the presence of those same monsters. Already her skin was prickling with unease, the familiar paranoia that kept her alive in Sin creeping back in like an old friend. She’d feel more confident if she still had her magic…

But she didn’t, and there was nothing she could do about that now. Keeping her pistols holstered for now, she followed Mythal in whichever direction he picked, both of them keeping relatively silent now so they could stay alert, only speaking if they needed to.

Aeron wasn’t sure how long they’d been walking before she stopped, her gaze panning around carefully. “Did you hear that?” she asked him, her voice little more than a whisper. The silence drew out for several long seconds, but despite that the hackles on the back of her neck only raised. More out of instinct than anything else, she reached down and loosened her holsters, both hands gripping her guns tightly. She couldn’t see more than a few feet in front of her through the fog, but her eyes stopped and focused on one spot. Were those.. Eyes? It was so faint she couldn’t be sure at first, but the longer she stared the more she was sure that there was a pair of glowing yellow eyes staring at them in the mist from several meters off. Another sound like a twig snapping drew her attention to her side, where another pair of eyes greeted her, and then yet more others. They were surrounded.

“Ah, hell,” was all Aeron managed to get out before a dozen wolf-like creatures sprang from the shadows. They were thin and angular like they had been put on a stretcher, their fur short and coarse save for around their heads and tail. Their back paws were more or less what one would expect of a canine creature, but their forelegs had humanoid hands with fingernails so long they may as well have been claws. Tearing her pistols free, she fired off several rounds at the closest monster as it rushed her, its thick skin absorbing several bullets before it turned and made a temporary retreat. Her visor alerted her that two more were almost on her at her blind side. The equipment on her chest glowed brighter as a sound like an engine warming up rumbled from it before it blasted, boosting her speed tenfold as she sprinted out of the reach of their snapping jaws and leaving a trail of blue light in her wake.

Wide eyed in surprise, she twisted and did her best to adjust to the unexpected strength of the boost, turning so she could continue to fire at the beasts as she ran circles around their small fighting grounds.

At this point Aeron was more than well aware of Mythal’s slayer abilities and some of the perks that came along with them, including his heightened senses. Though he wasn’t sniffing the air or anything like that, probably because all the fog was dampening most everything, she could only assume that he had some way of feeling for the magic or maybe the element of light due to his connection to it. She waited patiently for him to get his bearings before he pointed in a direction with confidence. Nodding silently, Aeron followed him through the strangled woods.

After some time they found themselves surrounded by these gangly and disturbing wolf creatures, the duo forced to act before they found themselves being turned into puppy chow. Aeron activated her chest plate and wasn’t quite prepared for the boost of speed it had given her. Once upon a time she’d been able to run this fast through the use of her own magic, but it had been the better part of a year since she’d been able to do so. Plus, her current body had never channeled magic before, all that power and physical memory stored within the body that had been incinerated with Thana. Or at least, the power had. Technically Calliope was the original, so maybe she retained some muscle memory and would have an easier time re-adapting to magic. Aeron didn’t really know, since she hadn’t made much of an effort to keep in contact with the other woman, not really sure what she’d say to her.

The point was that while her mind was familiar with some portion of the benefits these tools afforded her, her body simply was not trained with it like she once had been. It took her a few seconds to adjust, the brunette skidding awkwardly a couple times before finding her footing and gaining some nominal, if unsteady, control over her movements. She kept herself moving, knowing that it would be more difficult for the beasts to keep up with her if she was behaving unpredictably. At the very least her aim was decent, though Aeron had been moderately proficient with firearms before as well – something that had been much easier for her to pick back up than magic.

As she zipped around the immediate area, Aeron was vaguely aware of the fact that Mythal was doing less fighting and more dodging, manifesting a number of illusionary clones of himself to distract the creatures while he did little more than swat them aside without much thought. His voice called out to her with encouraging words, complementing her efforts and remarking on the effectiveness of her new tech. “You know what work even better? Not having to put these things down by myself.” Aeron grumbled, but her tone wasn’t fully committed to the comment. By now, Mythal knew her well enough to know that making irritable remarks was just something she did to distract herself and cover up her insecurities when she was fighting. In her heart, she knew that he was only doing this because he understood she needed the practice. That, and if he felt she couldn’t handle it then he would step in. It was just her way of being playful, if one could really refer to her as playful at all.

When the beasts were finally dead, Aeron stopped moving. Her breaths were coming in deep as she came down from the adrenaline rush of battle, the small woman leaning over and bracing herself on her knees while she waited for her body to relax. “Do you.. Remember… when I was a dark mage?” she asked him through her breathing, her voice ripe with irony. “You remember that? If I wanted… to do shit like this… I could… have just stayed in Sin… Happy in my isolated bubble… but noooo… no, I just had to make something of myself… Had to become a decent person... Gods, I miss being a criminal… At least then I only did this shit out of necessity… not volunteering for it like a fuckin’ moron.”

Straightening back up, Aeron’s breathing had somewhat returned back to normal. She glanced around at the dead bodies, mostly to make sure they were actually dead, her visor not reading any signs of life on any of them. “I’m gonna go out on a limb and assume it’s probably too much to ask that these are the only monsters we run into today…”

It was pretty common for Aeron to go on small self piteous rants during moments of high stress, though those who took any time to know her – mostly just Mythal, Serilda, and her commanding officer at that point – understood she wasn’t truly feeling sorry for herself. Given the choice, she would take her current circumstances over returning to her isolation as a dark mage every time, if only because she knew she wasn’t in any safer place than within the protective arms of the Rune Knights. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to bitch about it from time to time…. At least in front of Mythal.

He chuckled and voiced that he remembered going through the exact same thing she was now. While Mythal hadn’t necessarily been an outright dark mage like Aeron once had, he had certainly lived a less than reputable life at one point, reminiscing over the time when he used to hold interest in little more than whatever work it took to feed his alcoholism. He’d made this exact journey once upon a time, hating himself for choosing to have morals and making an effort. He’d have encouraged her that the feeling would pass sooner over later, but instead chose to be honest and tell her that she would likely continue to feel that way for a while and experience at least a dozen more moments of self hatred before she’d fully learn to let go. He insisted the important part was to keep pushing forward, no matter the temptation to do otherwise, something he was there to hold her accountable for just as Serilda had done for him.

Aeron.. Wasn’t fully sure how to respond to that. Not that he’d made her feel awkward or anything like that. It was more that she was taking his words into careful consideration, knowing it was coming from experience. It was daunting to think that her old habits would be so difficult to stamp down, the brunette mostly believing that she’d simply always live with the inclination to walk or run away from anything that went against her survival instincts, but if Mythal’s journey was any indication there was at least some hope that one day she’d learn to live more out of a sense of… compassion. Like he had learned to do.

In the end, she merely nodded her understanding. “Well.. Thanks, for the heads up, I guess.” There was little else she could say, the comment half teasing but also half serious. Changing focus, she lamented that this was likely only the first of many such fights they were about to encounter, a statement that Mythal agreed with, though he was already tired of the fog hampering their line of sight. He withdrew his scythe, a weapon that Aeron had seen him use a couple of times during training, though it was rare. With the flip of a switch he activated a lacrima core within the weapon that ignited a powerful gust of wind. After a few minutes, he was able to use the wind to push back the fog by a great amount, leaving the forest around them clear. Though a byproduct of that was that the thin and scraggly trees were all the more creepy without the fog to disguise them, the director stating as much out loud.

“Too late now.” Aeron shrugged. Sure, it was unsettling.. But after everything she’d lived through, an eerie looking forest wasn’t nearly as concerning as the unknown creatures that might live within it. Creatures that, Mythal admitted, were probably going to have a much easier time hunting them now. “Oh, great. That makes me feel so much better.”

On they moved, and over the course of the next hour or two they did, in fact, run into several more carnivorous beasts that didn’t hesitate to attempt turning the two Rune Knights into their next meal. The pair fought several times. Or rather, Aeron fought while Mythal evaded and focused on the bare minimum to observe and support her efforts. As time went on, she steadily became more adept with the contraption on her torso that increased her speed. It wasn’t necessarily second nature or something she could use without thought, but after a time she started finding small ways to use it more creatively, if unsteadily.

By the time they reached the mouth of a cave, Aeron could feel her skin was crusting with several layers of salty sweat that had built up and dried multiple times over the course of the last couple hours. She’d been dreaming of a cold, refreshing shower when Mythal led them toward the entrance of the cavern. A cursory look around was enough for her visor to indicate several readings back to her. “Safe to say this place is frequented by some of the locals,” Aeron said, nodding to the ground where there wasn’t necessarily any outright tracks, but there was a worn flat path that saw lots of foot traffic, either by people or beasts. She looked back up to him. “We going inside..?”

Aeron wasn’t terribly thrilled about going into the cave, although she supposed it was better than being out and exposed in the open. She was on edge for a bit as they wandered, the woman keeping her eyes peeled as much as she could for signs of the cultists they were hoping to find – or of any beasts that might be lurking within the cavern. It was extremely dark inside. Even with the light that Mythal produced only gave them a few feet of illumination, like the shadows around them were swallowing up the light before it really had a chance to serve its purpose. The brunette did her best not to huddle too closely behind the director, but her anxiousness over the situation made her unwilling to fall too far back.

Eventually, the way opened up to a larger opening where there was plenty of room for someone, or something, to rest in relative safety. However, she wouldn’t really get the chance to look around too much before a glowing crystal caught her attention at the back of the cave. It almost seemed to hum, the sensation making Aeron’s skin crawl. “Is that what you’re looking for…?” she asked as he approached the crystal, the brunette slow to follow.

She wouldn’t notice the staining on the floor until he pointed it out. Glancing down, she realized she was standing directly on one of the squares and hurriedly shuffled out of its proximity like something was bound to happen to her if she stayed standing on it. “Worship of what? The crystal..?” By her tone, it was obvious she didn’t hold much of an opinion for that, though frankly Aeron didn’t hold much opinion for people who worshiped… well, anything. Religion in general had always struck her as asinine. It wasn’t that she didn’t believe in gods; maybe at one point she’d had doubts about such things, but her exposure to Mythal had taught her that gods and demons were quite real. It was more that she didn’t see the point in revering them. Ultimately, she shook her head. “I’m not gonna argue it. They’re clearly not here right now, at least. This place gives me the creeps. Let grab that thing and ge–”

Her words were stopped dead by a sudden rush of air that caused Aeron to jump as much as Mythal’s sudden move to protect her had. Light filled the room so brightly that she cried out in pain, her eyes burning as she closed them and looked away with a grimace, her pistols held out haphazardly with shaking hands in the direction from which she heard a feminine voice.

Soon the room was fully illuminated with countless fractals of light as it broke away from the figure, filling up the space like candles. Aeron blinked the grayness from her eyes, squinting at the woman until her vision fully returned. When it did, the brunette stared outright with a bewildered expression. Why was this woman blue? And why was she dressed like a skank? As she slowly took in the intruder’s posture and gaze, however, a heavy sense of familiarity and unease settled on Aeron’s features. She’d certainly never seen this woman before, but her body language practically screamed Thana in terms of her confidence and arrogance.

Mythal demanded to know who the woman was, eliciting a chuckle from her. She expressed her surprise that he didn’t recognize her, though she conceded that Ruzatz likely hadn’t talked about his siblings much. The blue skinned woman introduced herself as Maereal, referring to herself as a… gate…? And working for someone called a sin?

“Who’s Azaur?” Aeron asked Mythal without taking her eyes off of Maereal. The name Ruzatz she at least recognized, if only because Mythal and Serilda had mentioned their friend in passing several times, though the former dark mage held no deeper knowledge of the man beyond his existence. But the rest of the woman’s speech might as well have been Encan for all Aeron comprehended it. “And what the fuck’s a gate? Is this bitch supposed to be important, or something…?”

Normally under these kinds of circumstances she likely wouldn’t have been so mouthy, but Aeron was rather irritated at having been rudely blinded not long ago. Plus, it was obvious that Mythal viewed her as a threat which was more than enough reason not to have any desire to speak kindly toward this woman, even if she didn’t give her major Thana flashbacks. She tightened her grip on her pistols, aiming them more directly at the newcomer and adjusting her stance to be better balanced and grounded for a fight.

Aeron’s face scrunched in though as Mythal started talking about demon lords and their soldiers, relaxing only when she finally realized what he was talking about. It had been some time since he’d last discussed Faera, Ataxia, and the other gods and demons with her. Well over a year, in fact; when she was still squatting in the remnants of Elysium’s guildhall. They hadn’t really talked about it since then, not even since he’d split her and Thana from Calliope. This in spite of the fact that Aeron was directly connected to the pantheon in some form, a fact that she still accepted only begrudgingly. It wasn’t something any of them could do much about, and Aeron assumed Mythal probably was doing his best to keep her sheltered from the bullshit, which she was frankly okay with. But it did mean that it took her a moment to realize what he was explaining to her now.

The Darkness King remarked that Maereal likely thought she was more important than she actually was, to which the demoness affirmed that she thought reasonably high of herself before insisting that they needed to leave. Mythal doubled down, stating that he didn’t plan on going anywhere without more information, demanding to know what the crystal was. She claimed it was a fraction of the demon lord’s power that he lost by mistake, a piece they’d been searching for which she claimed she’d only discovered now because she had been drawn to Mythal’s presence.

A lie. Darius’ voice in her head was calm and plain. Aeron didn’t have Mythal’s ability to sense lies, but Darius almost always knew the truth of everything, even things he should not have been able to know. As such, he was able to at least give the former dark mage a leg up in keeping track of the facts. Not about it being a piece of Azaur’s power; that part is true. But she knew it was here already.

Aeron’s brows twitched in acknowledgement, but she otherwise remained silent and continued to listen. Maereal stated her opinion on the fact that Mythal had fused an Ataxian shard into himself, curious and impressed that it had merged so flawlessly. The brunette became anxiously aware of the Ataxian shard that dangled around her own neck, the gem of which was thankfully tucked out of sight beneath the hem of her shirt. If they had discussed nothing else about the gods and demons, Mythal had made sure Aeron was aware exactly how dangerous the gem she carried was, and the kind of things that others might do to get their hands on it. Her anxiety only deepened when the blue skinned woman suddenly turned her gaze to Aeron again, and for a brief second the Rune Knight was worried that Maereal knew what Aeron carried.

But, Mythal quickly pulled the demoness’ attention back to him, insisting Aeron was a nobody that was not worth her time. That seemed to be enough for Maereal, whose gaze lingered only a moment longer before returning to the director as he asked about the cultists. She denied knowledge of any cultists, which Darius also confirmed was a fib, before idly commenting that cultist activity would not surprise her, if only because Azaur’s domain attracted a lot of human interest.

It seemed Mythal had heard enough. Withdrawing the chain whip from his belt, the weapon unraveled at the ready as he informed her that he was done listening to lies. Aeron smirked confidently as the demoness eyed the weapon with respectful reproach. Though Aeron herself didn’t know much of anything about Mythal’s weapons, she still recognized the concern in their enemy’s gaze, and Aeron was sure that Mythal was more than a match for this woman. After a moment of consideration, Maereal’s eyes returned to the former dark mage and suggested that she and Mythal take their interaction somewhere more private where Aeron wouldn’t be involved. It was then that Aeron’s smirk shifted into a scowl, her pistols humming with increased power as Maereal shifted to hold out her staff and remarked about a creature that was returning to the cave.

“Don’t even think about it,” Aeron growled, but it was far too late. Even as Mythal attempted to say something to her he was gone in an explosion of light not unlike how Maereal had appeared. Aeron’s eyes went wide with panic at the now empty spot where the director had just been standing. “MYTHAL!” As Maereal wished her luck, Aeron snapped and unloaded several rounds of pistol fire in her direction, but the demoness was gone, the shot landing home in the wall behind where Maereal had been prior. “GET BACK HERE, YOU FUCKING BITCH!”

Aeron–

“IF YOU DON’T BRING HIM BACK RIGHT NOW, I SWEAR TO GOD–"

Aeron, stop–

“--I’M GOING TO.. DO.. SOMETHING… AND YOU’RE NOT GOING TO LIKE IT!!”

Aeron, listen to me–

“WHAT?” She finally stopped screaming at the memory of Maereal, turning her anger on Darius with exasperation.

Mythal is fine. He’s still here. She merely transported them into a type of mirror universe. You can’t see him, but he is here and he will be fine. You need to focus on yourself. Aeron had been yelling so loudly that she hadn’t even heard the low growl of the beast behind her. But she did notice the bending of shadows as it stepped into the room, blocking some of the light.

She sprang back and whirled around, bringing her pistols up before she balked, her eyes wide. “Fucking hell…” It wasn’t the biggest creature she’d ever fought, but that didn’t make it any less imposing. It stood nearly twice as tall as she did, it’s body a mass of rippling, bulky muscles and wild black hair that seemed to have a red glow coming from the roots. There was a bone-like plate over where its eyes should have been, with a strange red symbol burned into it. A mouth full of sharp fangs smiled at her as it flexed talon covered fingers, pacing slowly into the room with predatory intent as something like smoke or tendrils of darkness began to billow from its body.

“I really should have just staying in fucking Sin.” It was the only rueful comment she’d be able to make before the creature charged with a snarl. Currently more angry than anxious, Aeron used her chestplate to give her enough speed to dodge out of the way, twisting as she ran to unload her pistols into the beast.

Horrifyingly, her blaster fire did little more than irritate it, the great creature’s flesh and fur thick enough that the energy bullets stood no chance at piercing them. “Oh, come on..!” she complained at the realization that her guns were all but useless. Aeron was going to have to get creative, something she very much disliked having to do. The beast charged her again, practically leaping the distance between them in one easy bound and forcing the Knight to once again use her chest plate to push her out of the thing’s reach, where she continued to carefully evade the thing as much as she could to buy herself enough time to think.

This really wasn’t good.

Aeron attempted several more times to shoot the creature down, using her visor to scan his body for potential weak spots that might be more receptive to her ammunition, only to find it all landing with little to no effect. “You have got to be kidding me,” she growled. Around and around in circles she ran, the beast chasing after her and adapting frighteningly quickly to her movements, which were beginning to slow even in spite of her gear. She’d been doing the bulk of the fighting most of the day, and her weariness from it was beginning to show. Her aim was getting sloppy, her attacks more out of wild desperation than any sense of training.

She was running without really looking where she was going, and as a result she didn’t notice the large rock jutting out of the ground until she was already tripping over it. The beast didn’t hesitate, whirling on the spot to backhand her with a massive paw and sending her flying across the cavern where she skid face first along the coarse floor, her pistols scattering in two different directions in the process. With a dizzy and dazed groan, she rolled onto her back just in time to see the creature standing over her. Aeron only had enough time for her eyes to go wide in shock before it slapped its hand on top of her, pinning her to the ground, its hand big enough to cover her mouth and neck together as it took her in a vice grip.

The Knight screamed into its palm, the sound muffled by the flesh that covered it as she kicked wildly, her fingers desperately seeking purchase to try and find a way to pry herself from its grip. It was no use. Maybe once upon a time Aeron had the strength to beat this thing, and easily, but now… now she was powerless without the use of magical tools. And she tried – oh, she tried frantically in that moment to feel the darkness around her, to call upon it and control it like Mythal believed she could. It was useless. She simply couldn’t sense it, couldn’t connect to the element like he could. But she didn’t need to be able to sense magic to recognize that the creature was building up for a death blow, a thick cloud of smoky darkness billowing up and enshrouding the beast as it brewed a spell that was surely meant to take her life.

In a last ditch effort and without much thought, Aeron charged up her chest piece, only this time she called on the thruster that was on her chest rather than her back. With a hum that increased pitch as rapidly as the glow heated up, the powerful gust from the thruster slammed directly into beast’s belly, launching the creature up into the air. Its powerful grip on Aeron meant that she was dragged up with him, but when its large body slammed violently into the cavern ceiling it was stunned hard enough that she felt herself released from its hold. Twisting in the air, she once more used the thruster to push herself to the side so she wouldn’t find herself trapped beneath the thing when they both fell to the floor, the former dark mage crying out in pain as she collided into the nearest cave wall behind her and slid roughly down to the ground.

Her breath was coming in deep ragged gasps, her lungs burning as she fought to center herself, her cerulean eyes finding the creature to see what had become of it. It was still alive – because of course it was – and while it was taking a moment to recover, it was still in the process of forcing itself up onto its feet again. But something caught her attention: dust. Pebbles and smaller rocks that she realized had been loosened from the ceiling when the beast had hit it. Stubbornly, she dragged herself up and leaned back until her chest was pointed up to the roof, once more losing a powerful blast of sonic energy that both threw her backward and rattled the ceiling. Several large boulders pried themselves from their sockets and fell with a heavy thud on the beast, who shrieked… and fell silent.

With a weary groan that was almost a whimper, Aeron sank to the floor as she tried to swallow down her anxiety. Unfortunately, her moment of respite wouldn’t last long.

Get up, Darius told her firmly. It’s not dead. Get up..!

Before she could even get a chance to question him, the pile of rubble shifted. “Oh, come on...” This just wasn’t working. Even if she made a move for her guns, they’d already proven themselves useless, and her chest gear would only help her so much. She needed something stronger. She needed magic. Not just for her, but for Mythal. There was no way of telling what he was going through while she struggled and flailed uselessly against a monster that she would have barely broken a sweat against not even months ago. She used to be able to keep up with the director; now all she was doing was falling behind, weak and pathetic, reliant on his protection like a child. That wouldn’t do. She refused to accept it. Even if Aeron didn’t believe in herself, Mythal did, she was determined not to let him down.

“Fuck it,” she growled, dragging herself back to her feet. When in doubt… go back to your roots.

Without stopping to put any thought at all into the stupidity of what she was about to do, she rushed toward the pile of rocks. Right as the beast burst free with a feral bellow, Aeron threw herself at its back. Latching on to its thick mane, she used what little supernatural abilities she still possessed to reshape her teeth into fangs as sharp as any other monster. Before it could even comprehend what was happening, Aeron bent down and bit into the meaty muscle of its shoulder. The creature howled in pain as a mouthful of its flesh was ripped from its body, leaving a bloody gash. Ignoring the disgusting taste of its blood as it trickled down the front of her face, Aeron chewed the mouthful and swallowed it, before taking another bite, holding on for dear life as the beast whipped and threw itself around the cavern in an attempt to shake her.

By the time it finally jostled her loose by scraping its back along a cavern wall, Aeron had managed to devour several mouthfuls of its flesh. The beast scrambled away briefly to nurse its wound and take stock. Meanwhile, Aeron was on her hands and knees, reeling in pain and covered in deep scratches and gashes from the course rock wall that had easily torn through her clothing on her side and back. But the pain was far from her mind. Something else was coursing through her, a feeling she had all but forgotten: power. For it was not just flesh that she had devoured, but the energy that was seeped into every fiber of its being.

The monster didn’t take long to recover, and with indignant fury it rounded on her with a bellowed roar that shook the cave around them. Before it had even finished, Aeron pushed herself up from her hands and knees to a kneel with one foot braced on the ground. Drawing in a deep breath, she roared back at it defiantly. Darkness burst from around her in thick tendrils not unlike the aura the beast had, and if the creature’s roar had shaken the cave her own was nearer to an earthquake. The creature balked, taking a surprised and involuntary step back in shock.

Manipulating the darkness, she crafted two karambits, one in each hand with her pointer finger secured through the loops on either hilt of each blade, which flickered like smoke but was no less solid in her grip. Throwing all caution to the wind, Aeron charged the beast. It recovered from its momentary fear and rushed to meet her head on. Continuing to use her gear to evade its powerful strikes, she twisted and danced around its larger, bulkier form, carving it to pieces with the darkness knives. By the time it was finally, remarkably dead, Aeron was standing on its back, heaving with the adrenaline of her newly rediscovered power.

The beast was dead, but Mythal was still missing. Mythal and that audacious bitch that had taken him. Aeron wasn’t entirely sure what a mirror world was supposed to be, but Darius had been clear enough that they were both still there, just not in a way that she could see or hear them. There was some kind of magical barrier separating them. She couldn’t feel it, but she knew it was there. The Knight scrambled for a moment in thought, trying to figure out any way to get to Mythal or at least to help him, when her eyes fell back on the crystal.

From what she understood, the power inside was more connected to Maereal’s patron than to the demoness herself… but from what little she had learned from Mythal about all the gods and demons led her to understand that their minions drew power from their masters. Maybe it would help, maybe it wouldn’t… at the very least she knew it would piss the woman off.

And that was more than good enough for her.

Storming over to the crystal, Aeron raised her knives and, with a shout, stabbed each magical blade into either side of it. Darkness poured into the gem as she forced her power into it, causing it to corrupt. Before her eyes, it quickly began to lose its light, turning black and filling the room with a darkness that would permeate the air and, unbeknownst to her, weaken the walls of the mirror dimension that Maereal had crafted. The crystal fought her. She could feel it struggling against the invading force, but Aeron’s anger and determination were far too great, and just as every last flicker of light was swallowed by the blackest of night the gem exploded, shattering into a thousand pieces and hurling her across the room.

She wasn’t unconscious, but she wished she was. Aeron’s body ached everywhere, from the numerous cuts and gashes to the many large bruises that she could feel forming all over. She was almost certain she had cracked a rib, given the sharp pain she felt every time she took a deep breath. Her face was covered in both the monster’s blood and her own, though admittedly there was more of the former. Not that she could tell by the way her head throbbed.

Aeron wasn’t even aware that her hail mary had been effective until Mythal was pulling her into his lap, the former dark mage aware of him moving her even if she didn’t have the strength to move herself or even open her eyes. “Remember when I was a dark mage?” she asked him once again, throwing back to a conversation they’d already had only a couple hours prior. “That was a good time. Fuck you very much for turning me honest.”

She groaned at the sensation of her wounds closing together as he used his magic to heal her, though in truth the pain was ebbing rather quickly. Coughing out a tickle in her throat that had formed from all the dust she’d breathed in and the crack in her rib repairing itself, she finally was able to blink her eyes open. “The next time I try to do something that stupid… do me a favor and just put a bullet in me.”

As some sense of her strength returned from his energy, Aeron became keenly aware of her placement in his lap, as well as his hand on her chest. Not that his placement was anywhere inappropriate, of course; even if he had put his hand… lower down on her chest, neither of them would be able to feel it through the metal plate that was covering her. But as it was, Aeron simply wasn’t used to any kind of prolonged touch, let alone from a man that she admired and liked as much as Mythal. A noticeable blush rushed to her cheeks and she cursed in her head, knowing that it was there and he could probably see it plain as day. Yet unlike the last time he’d held her like this, back during their first meeting in Sin, Aeron didn’t throw herself away from him in a panic. She certainly avoided eye contact and he would be all too aware of how quickly her heart was pumping blood through her, but otherwise Aeron would wait patiently until he was done, doing her best not to enjoy her placement too much.

The demoness was gone, at least. There didn’t appear to be a body of any kind, but a quick update from Mythal to explain what had happened on his end was explanation enough for that. The important thing was that he’d sent her packing, and that they’d destroyed a fraction of a devil’s power… though with that came the understanding that Aeron had likely painted a target on her back. The knowledge wasn’t exactly comforting, but there was little that could be done at that point. Instead, they chose to focus on the positives. They may not have found the part of Lux’s power that he’d been looking for, but a quick test was all it took to confirm that Aeron still seemed to have the connection to darkness that she’d stolen from the beast. It wasn’t exactly how she’d wanted to regain the use of magic, resorting back to the methods she’d used to gain power when she was a child and a slave, but given that she’d been backed into a corner, it was a decision she could live with. As such, there was almost a sense of relief about her as they gathered themselves up and made their way back to Era. Aeron wasn’t sure what the future held for her…

…but for the first time in a long, long time she knew that she would never be powerless again.