Flames covered the land. Thick black smoke rose from burning bodies, some still alive, writhing in agony. The four great messengers escorted their master across this abbatoir. That flaming sword consumed my vision. The sound of wings, all I could hear-

“Oi, Luna. You still with us?”

My eyes shoot open. In front of me are Tabitha and Cam. Junogloris was nowhere to be found.

“You okay there, Invicta?” Cam said. “You don’t look too hot.”

“Understatement of the bloody century.” Tabitha said. “You look even worse than yesterday, mate.”

“I can assure you, I’m fine.” I said, even as my vision started to waver. I shook my head, willed myself awake. I must have let down my guard, closed my eyes for a few seconds at most.

Tabitha raised an eyebrow. Seconds passed in painful silence.

“Well, whatever.” she said. “Right, Cam, the plan’s clear, yeah?”

“Sure. I go back to the boss man, pretend I escaped, keep feeding you info, yada yada yada.” he said. “This isn’t my first rodeo, Contessa.”

“Right, then. This makes this easier.” Tabitha said, grinning.

There was a blur of motion, a flash of silver, then crimson.

“Escaping without getting a bit roughed up would be a bit suspect, yeah?” Tabitha said, even as she returned her dagger to its sheath.

Twitching and lying in a pool of blood was Cam’s right arm. He looked at it. Then at the stump where his arm used to be. Cam drew a deep breath, and let it out in a weary sigh.

“You could’ve at least aimed for my offhand.” he said. His left arm glowed a bright orange, and he placed it on the ragged stump. The sickening smell burning flesh assaulted my senses.

“Fair. Now off you go-”

“Just one more thing.” Cam said. “Give me my sister’s head back.”

“Sorry love, no sale.”

“Come on, Contessa. She doesn’t deserve this-”

“I’m pretty sure at least a plane’s worth of people would disagree with you there, Cam.” Tabitha said. Cam grew silent. “‘Sides, angel parts? Very hard to come by, know what I mean?”

“…Fine, how about a trade. My arm for her head.”

“Gonna have to try harder, love-”

“-And I’ll owe you one more favour. Deal?” Cam said. Tabitha smiled, plunged her hand into the depths of her trench coat, and pulled out the Silencer’s head. Three days dead and no signs of decay, that final hate filled grin still frozen on her face.

“I’ll hold you to that.” Tabitha said, as she handed the Silencer’s head over. “Now get out of here before I change my mind, yeah?”

Cam’s gaze fell on me. He looked as if he wanted so say something, but he shook his head. He headed for the exit, his footfalls echoing in the ship’s hallways. Just as he passed the final doorway,

“Godspeed, Invicta.”

And then he was gone.

*

“And that concludes Day 3 of LadyAstair’s Travel Vlogs. Hopefully I’ll find some time to stream in the near future, probably when I finally upload these vlogs~. ‘Til then, stay strong my lovely citizens and pleb-”

“The hell are you on about?”

I looked behind me to find Tabitha, staring pointedly at me. Guess that’s another take ruined.

“Good evening, Tabitha. To what do I owe this… Well, I wouldn’t call it pleasure or anything similar-”

“Shut it, mate.” she said. She looked over at the still recording video camera, and then back at me. Her piercing gaze felt like it was peeling away every layer of defence.

“This is for your streaming shite, yeah?” she said. She cleared her throat.

“Hi everybody, LadyAstair’s ship captain speaking!” she said, though I could hardly believe it was her. She’d lost the Brittanian tinge to her tongue, replacing it with the lilting, vapid tones of a New World youth. Her posture was relaxed, and her smile showed no malice. She was the very picture of a nonthreatening, if spoiled, rich girl.

“LadyAstair’s been so cool and stuff, she’s been telling me all about her travelling and stuff and I’m like ‘Wow’! Anyways, hopefully she lets me drop in for, more like, cameos and stuff! I’d totes love to be on, like videos, maybe I’ll even play some games on her stream, ya know? Ta-ta~!” She winked and blew a sickening sweet kiss.

“You can edit out the part where I barge in, yeah?” she said, her voice returning to its normal, rough register. I simply stared at her.

“What? It’s not like this is the first time you’ve seen me put on a show.”

“You spoke English earlier, right?”

“What, do you think I’m thick or something?”

“Why are you here, Tabitha? We’re still at least a day away-”

“You haven’t been sleeping at all, have you?” she said, her arms crossed.

“I don’t see how that’s any of your-”

“Can’t have you passing out on me, Lulu. Not while you’re watching my back.” She said even as she pulled something out of her coat.

Held in her hands, dangling from a simple white cord, was a medallion made of the darkest metal I’ve ever seen. It was as if someone had taken the tapestry of midnight and woven it into metal serpents that coiled into each other, encircling towards the centre; an obsidian spiral that seemed to twist and writhe at the edge of my vision.

“Wear this. Should take care of any nightmares you have, yeah?” she said.

“No.”

“Beg pardon?”

“I said no, Tabitha.” I stood quickly to confront her, only to stumble as the world grew hazy. I held on to the bed, eyes squeezed shut, even as the everything started to swirl, even as bile threatened to spill from my throat.

“I’m not asking.” she said.

“I will not owe you any favours, Ta-” I lost all sense of balance, and fell, face first, unto my room’s unforgiving floor.

“It’s not like you don’t owe me as is, yeah?” she said. She lowered herself until we were eye to eye. “Listen, I wasn’t going to dangle this over your head, but if you insist, no skin off my nose. How about I cash this favour in right here and now, yeah?”

She grasped my hand with her own, forced that talisman into my open palm.

“Lion boy’s not left his room since yesterday. Go and have a chat with him, won’t you? I’d do it myself, but something tells me it’ll end in a massive row, yeah?”

“That’s it? No horrific wounds inflicted on my person? No suicide missions infiltrating the forces of enemy gods?”

“Why, do you want there to be?” she said. I simply stared at her. She sighed deeply.

“Look, mate. I know I’m not the most trustworthy sort-”

“You literally just chopped off an ally’s arm without a second thought.”

“- But you can rest assured-”

“And then you used that same arm as a bargaining chip.”

“Bloody hell, you going to let me finish or what?” she said. I remained silent.

“We’re on the same team, Lulu. And as long as that’s still a thing, I’ve got your back as long as you have mine. Now take the bloody pendant and put it around your bloody neck or I’ll bloody do it for you, yeah?”

I could find no trace of playfulness in her voice, that ever present manic gleam in her gaze gone. Just plain annoyance, but that harshness softened around the edges with a certain weariness, a certain familiar resignation.

“You going to stare at me all day, or what?” she said.

My eyes fell upon the pendant in my hands, and though it was light, I still felt its weight.

I met Tabitha’s gaze with mine, and I slowly put the pendant on. I stood, made my way towards the door, only to stop as a hand fell on my shoulder.

“Easy there, Lulu. Do it after you get some shut eye, yeah?” Tabitha stood, and just as quickly as she came, she was gone.

It was the best night’s sleep I’ve had in days.

*

“Junogloris, I’m coming in.” I said as I crossed the threshold into the infirmary. According to Tabitha, though she offered Junogloris a room, he had refused to even consider sleeping in one of Tabitha’s beds, something which she didn’t bother elaborating upon, though I did hear her mumble something less than kind about Junogloris’s parentage. As such, the infirmary had been transformed into a makeshift bedroom, the pile of pillows at the centre not having been moved in the past two days.

Junogloris was sitting in one of the infirmary’s beds, its flimsy metal frame thoroughly warped by Junogloris’s weight, so much so that he looked as if he was sitting not on a bed, but on a throne, with each the two raised halves serving as crude armrests.

“Junogloris?” I approached him, but it seems as though he didn’t notice me, his gaze was fixed on the LCD screen that served as the infirmary’s sole window to the outside. Even filtered through a camera’s lens, the breaking of the dawn’s deep streaks of purple and orange still put even the greatest painters to shame. The morning star softly shone, the herald of night’s passing.

“Quite the sight is it not, Mistress Luna?” Junogloris said, his eyes never leaving the screen. “The celestial spheres are unerring in their duty, Sol rises as assuredly as it did a millennia ago, even with its rightful master gone.”

The steady rising and falling of his chest the only indication that time was still moving.

“Mistress Luna, though I have hidden in shame for the past five centuries, even as I saw El’s grip on the New World tighten, even as the memory of our decimation gripped my heart and never let go. I held out hope that one day, one glorious day, we would rise again. That our banner shall once again fly proudly, that we will take our rightful place as masters of the world. Or so I thought.”

He turned to face me. I saw that his eyes were red.

“When that messenger said those words, I should have felt righteous anger, nothing more. But instead, I felt…” He swallowed audibly, his eyes took on a melancholic shine. “Relief. That I wouldn’t have to face El in all his terrible might once more.”

He sighed deeply, and averted his gaze from mine.

“What right do I have to call myself your ally, Mistress Luna? What right do I even have to continue? When I have betrayed even the thing I held the most dear? When I have shunned all virtue? And for what? For cowardice? If the Honoured Father could see me now, he would strike me down with his divine lightning, and, truth be told, I would not fight back."

Though he towered over me, he seemed ever so small. A tiny speck of a man, one who was willing himself to disappear, to free himself from the burden of existing.

“Junogloris, I…”

What could I say? What words can I speak, what false assurances can fall from my lips? Could I bring myself to sully the pride of one who was once the greatest among us? One whose fame still echoes throughout the world? One whose name is synonymous with the word “hero”?

I gently placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Junogloris, I can’t promise you anything.” I said. “But once we find the First God, everything will change. We won’t ever have to live under his boot heel ever again. We’ll be proper gods again, we’ll-”

We’ll be able to wash away the sins of the past? Did I really believe that?

I shook my head. Steeled my resolve.

“Junogloris. If you will not believe in yourself, please believe in me. I want you by my side.”

Junogloris looked at me. His gaze was weary, but beneath all of it was something else. I felt the telltale tingling within my anima, the sign that someone, somewhere, was placing their full faith in the Goddess of Victory.

“Mistress Luna.” He stood to his full height, squared his shoulders, and immediately knelt before me. “I wavered once. Never again. I swear, wherever this quest may take us, I shall be your sword and shield. We will find the First God, no matter the cost.”

It was unthinkable, Junogloris, greatest of all heroes, was dedicating himself to my service. Formally declaring his intention to be my Champion, my representative in the mortal realm, just one step removed from being my Avatar. I should be happy about this, ecstatic even, only my Honoured Father, chief among the gods, could claim to have had Junogloris as his champion. And yet…

My hands felt like lead, my heart was like drum, with each breath, it felt as if a small part of me escaped into the ether.

“Are you s-” My words died in my throat when I saw his expression. His eyes burned with renewed passion, steady breath drawn with renewed determination. His gaze pleaded at me, begging me to give him purpose.

I placed my hands on his shoulders, drew upon my authority, and gave him my blessing.

“Arise, my Champion of the Moon.” I said, and with those words, I felt the bond between us form, something which I have not felt in over several centuries. I could watch over him wherever he went, give him strength whenever he needed it, see through his eyes if need be. He now wielded a portion of my power as his own, could call upon the moon as his guide and guardian, draw forth power and skill from the Domain of Battle in times of peril, though not as well as I could.

Truly, I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that Junogloris was one of my own.

“Thank you, my goddess. I swear upon my life that I shall see your quest fulfilled.”

By the seven hills, what have I done?

*

“You’re looking chipper.” Tabitha said, looking at Junogloris. He chuckled, and smiled at me.

“Ohohoho~!” Tabitha slid up to me, a conspiratorial grin on her face. “I guess you really talked it out yesterday, yeah? Betcha talked for hours and hours, know what I mean?”

“It wasn’t like that.” I said, even as I felt my cheeks redden. Tabitha simply laughed.

“Sure it wasn’t. Now look sharp, we’re here.” We looked towards the horizon, the constant billowing of oceanic winds made standing on the deck nigh impossible.

In the distance, casting its twisted metal shadow, was an oil rig. It’s four concrete pillars covered in barnacles and creeping seaweed. The skeletal steel that once was a testament to human engineering now long bent by wind and bleached by sunlight, a broken mockery of its former glory.

“Silent alarm’s been triggered.” Tabitha said, as she looked at a tablet in her hands. “Someone’s been poking around, probably one of El’s goons. Let’s show them how we deal with trespassers, yeah?’

Junogloris nodded, his gaze never leaving our destination. I breathed deeply, the salt sea air filling my lungs.

So it begins.

*

“You know, when you said we were going to your base of operations, I was expecting something more… Well…”

I gestured at the dingy concrete walls, stained a myriad ugly shades of brown by mildew and rats’ excreta, or at least, I hope it was made by rats. Flickering lights brought headaches to any who would be foolish enough to open their eyes for more than a few seconds, and the still, musty air was like an overwhelming blanket of moisture, an icy humidity that seeped into your bones, chilling you from the inside out. This was less the home of a heavily armed mercenary, and more the setting for a low rent horror game, complete with a silvery fog that seeped in from the cracks in the wall. At least it was spacious.

“Yeah, I kinda spent everything on the ship.” she said, gun in one hand, dagger in the other. Her eyes darted back and forth, scanning every corner of the room. The telltale green wisps of energy surrounded her head.

“You remember the plan, yeah?”

“In as much as it can be called a plan.” I said, my back to her, covering her six.

“I don’t see you coming up with anything better, yeah?”

“Mostly because your ‘plan’ as it were, was so utterly nonsensical that I couldn’t believe what was hearing.” I said. I rounded the corner, keeping my back to the wall. Seriously, go in as a group, and murder everything we come across was less of a plan and more of a case of mass hysteria.

Or being a party in an RPG. Either or.

“You’ll find that I’m not alone in this, isn’t that right, Junogloris?” I said. No response. I suppose he’d grow tired of our bickering eventually. I turned to look at him.

Only to find no one behind me. Nothing but fog.

I hurriedly turned forwards, only to be met with fog so thick that it obscured all else, not even the concrete walls remained visible.

I looked to the left. Nothing. I yelled out. No response. I tried to peer into my connection to Junogloris, but I was met with nothing but white noise.

“Amazing, isn’t it? Many a child of man has killed for a glimpse of what I offer.” Someone spoke behind me, her voice was so beautiful, so melodic, that each syllable seemed it like it was sung instead of spoken. Yet that same voice gripped my heart, nearly stopped it from beating.

I turned slowly, to face whatever had captured me so easily.

A few metres away from me, the only thing that wasn’t obscured by fog as thick as clouds, was a verdant meadow, with flowers of every season in full bloom, wherein I found someone sitting upon a log covered in bright red, spotted toadstools.

Long silvery hair that reached her ankles, a silvery dress made entirely from a material so ethereal it left nothing to the imagination. She may as well have worn air itself. Her skin so pale as to almost be entirely white, her face, so perfect as to be uncanny. Each dainty eyebrow too flawless, her cheekbones too sculpted, her emerald green eyes far too cruel to be human.

I knew then, that what I faced was no messenger. This was something different, far more fickle but no less dangerous, one of the Fae.

“You must be Luna Invicta.” said the Leanan Sidhe. “We have much to talk about.”