“Sophia not coming?” Katya asked, raising an eyebrow at her successor next to her.

“She’s taken on more hours at the clinic, apparently helping that Tessani Brahma girl has rekindled her psychiatric passion,” Natasha lamented.

“You don’t sound very excited for her?” Katya questioned curiously as she leaned closer.

“It’s not that I’m not happy for her, it’s just… she’s working longer hours and even Silas gets to see her more than I do. Besides, I think we have bigger problems than my marriage right now.” Natasha replied in a flat tone of voice gesturing to the fifty other chairs surrounding the large circular table in front of them.

“Nonsense. The happiness of my descendants is at the top of my list of priorities.” Katya retorted playfully.

“And besides, these old fools won’t do anything. They just wanna be able to say we told you so, later.” Katya continued with a look of disdain directed at the recently raised chairs on the opposite side of the fifty feet wide table that would be right at home at a NATO conference.

“Who the hell let that little weasel makes changes to my chairs?” Katya thought to herself, making sure to keep up her mental barriers as to not let her thoughts slip out.

“Still, Ma’am, I think it would be best to focus on the problems at hand.” Natasha said in a hushed voice as the remainder of the seats were being filled.

***

“We can’t just let these apparitions run rampant!” an elder yelled over the ongoing discussion.

“That’s right! The amount of cover-ups we’ve had to perform in the last two weeks outnumber the last six months!” Another elder voiced her agreement.

“Are you insane?! The benefits have far outweighed the costs and dangers of discovery. Over thirty infiltrators presumed deceased, another dozen confirmed. The importance of securing the valley takes priority. Everything else is secondary.” A third elder argued.

Katya had remained quiet during the report detailing the many skirmishes that had occurred over the last two weeks since she’d made her oath and declared that the Clan of the Eve had become The Titans Eve.

It hadn’t taken long before word had gotten out. The clan elders thinking it was simply the same as the previous alliance. That changed once the mark spread to the first Sentire and confirmed their allegiance.

If she had to be honest, its spread did bear a remarkable resemblance to a pandemic. Any exposure to someone bearing the mark of the oath would result in you being questioned on a subconscious level whether you would accept Katyas’ decision. Should you still consider yourself part of the clan, then you would receive the same marking and become yet another carrier.

Or should you harbor doubts and reservations about the changes in the clan, then you would simply continue on your way untouched.

This had naturally led to a split in the clan, those in favor and those opposed to the integration with their Titan. Although things weren’t always that simple as Katya spotted more than a few on either side of the ongoing debate sporting markings on their forearms, yet arguing on both sides of the issue.

“Loyalty can be a complicated topic.” Katya thought with a wry smile.

“Order.” The command came from the provisional Justiciary, currently sitting on what would normally have been Katya’s seat, silencing the hall.

“I have allowed discussion to interrupt the presenting of evidence in favor of an open discourse, but before we devolve into a mindless shouting match, I think it only proper we let our young Custodes finish her presentation.” The Justiciary drawled officiously.

“Or it just took you that long to string together that inane sentence, you old fossil.” Katya thought quietly, earning a scolding look from Natasha, who was the only one close enough to read her thoughts.

“Thank you Honored Justiciary. As I was saying, there have been over twenty small to medium-sized skirmishes, a worrying number taking place in the central valley, although most occurred in the lower valley in isolated areas. The frequency of these skirmishes has diminished overall, although there has been one just last night resulting in what reports describe as a makeshift armored vehicle being cleaved in half.” The young, by Sentire standards, Custodes flipped to another page of her report, a slight nervous twitch to her hands as she cleared her throat and continued.

“During initial inspections of the skirmish sites forensic teams noted several Rune-like markings burned into structures and nearby foliage, upon a later inspection of the sites it was found that these markings had multiplied and spread, discreetly covering an area close to thirty miles in diameter.” The young Custodes paused as the room descended into loud debate once again.

Katya tuned out the inane conversations, thinking back to what she’d seen almost two weeks ago on the roof above her suite.

***

Aleks stared into the dark horizon at midnight, the blood streaming down his arms from the two long slits along the underside of his forearms appeared black in the full moon’s light.

The pools gathering beneath his hands moved as if they had a will of their own, forming into concentric circles with Runic symbols lining each circle.

His eyes were vacant and his face expressionless. A metaphysical weight had descended on Katya, taking hold of her lungs and keeping her in place as his words echoed across the dark expanse.

I call to you, Collectors of the Condemned, those who once stalked the hunter.

I call to you, The Fallen, but not forgotten, damned to never fall again.

I call to you, The Restless riders, to once more ride across that endless sky.

I offer you your pittance; I offer you your price; And I offer it to you, thrice.

Now Answer my calls;

My Wild Hunt.

The pressure receded, but left Katya with a shiver as she looked in the direction Aleks had faced. Along the ridges of the cliffs, something thundered through the skies and Katya felt cold sweat run down her back as she heard their mournful cries.

The air twisted and shuddered as they crossed that vast distance in a matter of moments, leaving behind a trail of flaming hoofprints and the echoes of thunder.

The group of riders came to a halt at the edge of the rooftop, standing on empty space as if it were solid ground, their beasts snorting fire with their brands still aflame.

The riders were clad in gothic black armor decorated with a menacing amount of skulls and spikes, giving them the appearance of death’s own horsemen.

The most decorated among their ranks urged his mount forward and peered down at Aleks from atop the massive beast. There was none of the respect or reverence Katya had seen in his shadow creatures before, nor the hatred she had heard described from Natasha.

Against the malignant invaders pervading this, my chosen haven, I shall send, you.

You shall leave them no quarter, give them no rest. Your pursuit will be relentless and without mercy.

You will rip them out, root and stem.

Until it is done.

***

Katya was pulled out of her thoughts as the attention in the room turned to her.

“Then what have you to say, Matriarch?” The Justiciary asked.

“Nothing that has not been said before.” Katya replied, getting to her feet to address the gallery of clan members above them.

“I have done and will always do what is in the best interest of my descendants and clansmen. We were once forced to walk the dark of night, fearing for our descendants, constantly beset by enemies and those who wished us harm” Katya scanned through the crowds on either side of the above balconies.

“Now we walk freely in the light, our descendants grow safer by the day and the enemies who wish us harm have been chased out. These developments have all happened within the brief span of a year. As a race, we have always been cautious of change, as it has almost led to our downfall more than once. But change is inevitable, and new advancements happen daily in this new world of ours. It won’t be long until we face such calamities again, and when we do, we will need a Titan to stand by us.” Katya finished. Several elders voicing their assent before devolving into yet another bickering match.

***

“That was exhausting.” Katya sighed as she walked to her car, Silas already standing beside it, holding the door open.

“You did very well, Ma’am.” Silas complimented as he closed the door.

“I agree, although your little speech was a bit long-winded.” Natasha teased from the backseat opposite Katya’s.

“It had to be. Those old fogeys are too stuck in the past to see the future. But now that most of the dissent has been dealt with, at least for the moment, we should start thinking about what’s next.” Katya said with a determined gaze.

“Where to, Ma’am?” Silas asked from the driver’s seat.

“Arum Grove.” Katya replied.

“Arum Grove? I haven’t heard that name before. Where is it and why are we going there?” Natasha asked.

“You wouldn’t have. It’s a recent addition. It’s named after a certain flower and located at the upper end of the central valley.”

***

“So this is where he’s been hiding.” Natasha muttered as they drove up a dirt road towards the sheer cliff walls at the edge of the valley.

“Yes, he asked for an empty piece of land with certain characteristics, although not even I have been up here to see what he’s done with the place, considering he hasn’t requested any materials I’m half expecting a rough-looking log cabin.” Katya said with a chuckle as the car pulled to a sudden stop.

“What’s happening? We’ve still got half a mile until we get there?” Katya asked.

“It would appear there is a gate… And two familiar birds, Ma’am.” Silas replied with unease.

Natasha leaned around and sure enough, a large makeshift log gate was blocking the road, two ravens perched atop it.

Katya made to get out of the car and Silas hurried to open the door for her, only to be waved off. When Natasha joined them. They were both standing quietly, perplexed by a sign hanging from the gate.

To pass for free, you must first answer my riddles three.

“….. He has had human contact in the last two weeks… Right?” Natasha asked Katya apprehensively, but was answered by a wistful, drawn out squawk along with a remarkably expressive headshake from one of the ravens.

“I… I mean, the town is barely a couple of miles away. I expected him to go explore.” Katya said, realizing she’d made a miscalculation.

“Can Titans get cabin fever?” Silas wondered aloud.

“Well, I guess we’re about to find out.” Natasha said as she untied the makeshift gate and swung it open, marveling momentarily at the fluid action of the wooden pivot point.

“M...maybe it’d be better to just wait until he comes out on his own. Or better yet, send the birds to notify him of our presence.” Silas stuttered nervously, a slight twitch in his posture like he was reliving the sensation of being electrocuted.

“Nonsense, the gate’s open, let’s go.” Katya said as she got back in the car.

Despite Silas’s careful driving, they quickly made it to the drop off point and parked.

“Huh, guess he really did make a log cabin.” Katya said as she stepped out of the car.

“You’re kidding right? I know our standards are a bit warped by wealth, but this is anything but a cabin. Mansion might be a better word for it.” Natasha said, shielding her eyes from the midday sun as she looked up at the two storey log building perched on a low hill, seemingly carved into the cliff wall.

“It has to be at least six thousand square feet.” Silas muttered.

“I wonder where he got the glass from?” Natasha said, pointing at the enormous glass window panes around the house.

“This is crazy. He’s only been here a week.” Silas stated in disbelief as he started looking around.

TCHEK, TCHEK TCHEK.

The group heard a weird chittering sound behind them and turned around.

Behind them was a small spider-ant-like creature, its six legs connected to it’s large oval hindquarters and a pair of smaller articulate limbs were attached to the front portion underneath a small head, the head reminiscent of an ant with its signature antennas, although this was clearly not some sort of natural mutation.

The Ant-Spider thing was the size of a small dog and made almost entirely of a black metallic substance. It also looked extremely mechanical, having what looked like a pixilated red retro display with two red eyes on a black background.

Silas panicked and pulled out a gun, aiming it directly at the small mechanical creature. It responded by changing it’s emoticon-like face to one of panic and fear before it darted away from Silas while releasing a siren-like scream.

REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-

The alarm stopped and a low rumbling took its place, like a truck emptying out a load of gravel, except it continued.

“I have a bad feeling about this.” Natasha said, looking around worriedly, momentarily spotting Katya who looked downright baffled by the whole situation.

Seconds later, a flood of identical tiny robotic creatures streamed out from every direction. Hundreds of them gathered around the group to the point Silas just gave up and backed up to block Katya from a potential attack.

The spiderbots slowly crept closer and closer in unison, backing the group into a corner. Natasha herself considered trying to just run through them, but remembering the dexterity the first one had showed in its retreat, she didn’t like her chances of escape.

CAAAAAW.

They were saved from the advancing swarm by a raven swooping down between their group and the army of spiderbots; the latter responding with more fearful sirens and fleeing to the treeline at the sight of the black bird.

Natasha, Silas, and Katya collectively let out a sigh of relief.

The Raven turned around to look at them momentarily before puffing itself up and preening in front of them, batting its wings a couple of times to show off.

“Yes, yes, very impressive, although I’m still a little worried about what those things were. Could you take us the rest of the way to Aleks’Andros?” Katya responded as if understanding the little avians intentions completely.

The raven responded by turning to a black mist that traveled up Katya’s body to settle on her shoulder before it once more solidified into the shape of a bird.

Silas, having seen this multiple times, didn’t react, but Natasha was incredibly fascinated by the raven and leaned over to poke it.

“Feels solid, but it’s barely crinkling your clothes. How much does it weigh?” The ravens eye sharpened at Natasha’s question, letting out a drawn out squawk as if telling her to be careful with her words.

Katya laughed at its antics.

“Honestly, neither of them weighs enough to notice. Now, Huginn, where to?” Katya asked, to which the raven gestured with its beak towards a man-made cave carved into the cliff-side next to the cabin.

“This day just gets better and better, doesn’t it?” Silas sighed and looked around at the still peeking spiderbots trying comically trying to hide in the treeline.

***

The cave was well lit and large enough for all three to walk side by side and still have plenty of room. Katya wondered briefly if it was some kind of cement considering the even and uniform surface of both the walls, floor and ceiling.

Along the way, they passed large openings leading into truly massive areas with ceilings easily thirty feet high.

Katya idly wondered what Aleks had done with all the stone that had been excavated. It must have been thousands of tons at this point, considering they’d been walking for almost ten minutes and had passed almost half a dozen such rooms.

The group stopped abruptly when they heard a voice along with an almost speech like chittering; the group inched forward and peered into another large room equipped with forges and several nine feet wide spherical balls hovering over slabs with glowing runes placed on the floor beneath them.

“You were attacked and were just trying to defend yourself… So how exactly did Huginn bully you? Wouldn’t he just fly away?” A dirty soot covered Aleks stood with a leather apron over his torn and burned clothes, conversing with one of the small spiderbots.

The spiderbot fired off another stream of chittering sounds, wildly gesticulating with its front legs.

“What do you mean Huginn wasn’t the one who attacked you?” Aleks asked worriedly.

“Hello Aleks’Andros, have you been well?” Katya interrupted politely, breaking into the conversation.

Natasha leaned over to Silas and whispered, “Guess this answers whether Titans can get cabin fever.”