Chapter Forty-Three

There was once a time when Mezir and Lili-Bon trained for battle, read poetry, wrote dissertations, and ventured out into Noctra together. They were as cohesive a team as one could have hoped to find. Lili was absolute shit at all things combat related and Mezir’s lack of compassion left him unable to strategize as efficiently as he desired, so she used him, and he used her. She relied on his strength and Mezir relied upon Lili’s supposed compassion. And they’d been happy. Enough so, that he remembered them very nearly exploring each other’s teenage awkwardness together, though she’d stopped them. Told Mezir to save himself for someone he actually loved.

What happened to us? Am I to blame? Is this because I left her behind? Because I chased Allicena to the ends of Noctra and revolted against my father? On her advice?!

Mezir stood at the threshold of the stairwell’s entrance with his metal arm exposed through the guise of Fernwick. The arm shook, rattled, and raged.

No. No, this is on her. On father. Not on me. Not me! I can’t believe I had to kill Rhui for you! You traitorous bitch!

He’d not even tried to stall the fury this time. Regardless that he had chosen to bring Lili-Bon along of his own accord, which he knew White somehow orchestrated, regardless of Korrin’s absence and Ta’K’s evident failure; all the blame rested on Lord White and his precious little Lili-Bon. They would pay the price. They needed to pay the price.

For Ragoth and Heria. For Korrin. For Ta’K and Amberosin.

As Mezir’s metal arm shot out and formed a blade of swirling obsidian essence that leaked from its many gashes and gaps, he was certain of the justice in his actions. Conversely, he was also entirely aware of the joy that he felt knowing how much it would hurt his father.

The instant Countess Lili-Bon Vin Dreso turned from the unnatural darkness before her, Mezir severed her head with his blazing blade of embers and sent the shocked, opened mouthed visage of vengeance enacted, soaring away. He had not even thought to take a second to really look at the stairwell, to peer through the thick shadows strangely concentrated just before the first step. Mezir hadn’t noticed the tense scene playing out only mere feet beyond his perception. When Lili-Bon’s head passed through the shadow, however, Mezir became aware of everything- everything he should have seen moments before.

All at once, Mezir realized his error.

Shadows parted and frayed like weathered fabric as Lili’s decapitated mass tore through their delicate design, and they were there by design. Mezir could already see it in their unnaturally quick dispersal, could already hear the gasp of fading essence. Before the head even broke through to the other side Mezir saw Ta’K with his arms outstretched trying desperately to regain control of all his tamed darkness, which Mezir had unwittingly dispelled. Ta’K fell to his knees when all remaining shadows gave way and parted from his unseen barricade. He was shaking profusely as if chilled to the bone. Lili-Bon’s head soared high above the first few steps and Mezir spotted Ta’K’s right leg, or rather, the lack thereof.

I… I completely forgot he was injured. I’m so sorry Ta’K.

Lili was just beginning to pass over the sixth and seventh steps, reaching the apex of her journey upward, when Mezir spotted Amberosin. The young woman was still dressed the same as the last he saw her a few nights prior, though, Amberosin’s skin looked exponentially cleaner. Pristine, he might say. Mezir was not surprised in the least to see that underneath all the muck and grime that a hard life generally entailed, she was just as beautiful as her mother. Mezir knew, however, that Amberosin’s hands covered eyes just as ghastly and monstrous as his own. It was the same with all of White’s children.

Almost exact replicas of their mother’s, save for their colorless eyes.

Amberosin… to have caused you such pain and confusion. For lying to you. I am sorry.

Lili-Bon’s head began its descent in sync with the increasingly vivid rays of light spilling in from the estate’s grand hall and Mezir saw as it rolled forward twice through the air and passed only a few feet above someone bowed entirely flat against the steps, facing away from Mezir and the others. She didn’t see the head fly above her and thanks to Mezir’s blade searing closed Lili’s wound no blood splattered down onto or around her. Still, when the woman rose a fraction of a second later and turned enough for him to see her mouth, Mezir swore she was screaming.

Mouth open, jaws spread far enough that the skin of her cheeks pulled taught beneath aged skin, her head thrown back with sweat spilling off of her chin- she was screaming. Mezir just couldn’t hear. He couldn’t hear anything. The only other time he’d experience such a thing in his life was on the field of battle, surrounded by the violent intent of friend and foe alike. Something he’d attributed to his need to focus on survival during combat but this was different, even then he’d heard the clanging of steel about him, his own breathing, and that of the men and women around him.

This silence was thick. Impenetrable. Absolute.

Though Mezir could nary hear a thing, his mind filled in the gaps as well as it could. It omitted the woman’s scream, no idea what she sounded like, to begin with, but clear as day he could hear Amberosin yelling, “fuck, shit, damn cock-” as she covered her eyes and hid from the invading light. Even being too far up the stairs to actually discern any sound from it, his mind made resounding thump-thumps when Lili-Bon’s head rolled into the veiled darkness below. He imagined about seven thump-thumps, seven stairs, and was content to let the head fall into obscure, unknowable silence for however long it damned well pleased, but the light was still growing. Continuously filling the dark chamber and abysmal stairwell with rays of reflected estorches from the grand hall.

Mezir briefly considered closing the door and shrouding them all once more. None would notice Lili’s head, he could cast flames about the body, avoiding any uncomfortable questions, and they could escape. Not to mention it would definitely help Amberosin navigate her own way. Though, when Ta’K’s gathered shadow finally gave way completely, not even a full minute after Lili’s passing through it, Mezir froze. For the second time in his life that he could recall, Mezir De Blancana felt a physical chill beneath his skin that clamped about his muscles and held him in place. The first time, he had been but a child, terrified by Lord White standing in the corner of his room in the middle of the night. He’d woken to relieve himself and had done just that. Immediately.

This time, however, it was much worse. This time, lives were at stake.

Light cascaded down the last available stairs before the curving wall blocked out anything but the slightest of rays and revealed to Mezir the greatest horror he’d ever seen, and the list of horrors he’d known was not a short one. The light first fell where Lili-Bon had disappeared and given Mezir’s mind some sense of reprieve from her thought. Multitudes of rays brilliantly shone on a steep step, a good ten away from the wailing woman, and taunted him with the impossible. On that step, dead center, sat Lili-Bon’s severed head, angled so that it shot a glare overtop of the others strewn about the stairwell in their own disarray, and landed with a heavy accusation cast upon Mezir.

Just a piece of a corpse. A corpse you knew. A corpse you made. But a corpse nonetheless. The guilt is your own, now move so you can deal with it on your own time! Legends…. I sound just like Stins, don’t I?

Mezir could handle the guilty glare of a dead friend, had done so on more than one occasion, he was overreacting because of the setting, because of the others so obviously suffering before him- yes, yes, the others. Focus there! Focus-

Light inched only a few steps further down before its silent invasion was complete and focus Mezir did on. Set just behind Lili’s lonely head directed his way, was a glaringly bright white shin guard. Behind it, he could see a cape draped about the ground.

Father!

Mezir shot down the stairwell with the force of essence propelling him from behind with enough power that he knocked Ta’K down, caused Amberosin to stumble a step back, and made the wailing woman turn to face the light completely, all in a matter of seconds. Again, the light revealed to Mezir the error of his methods. His impulses. His actions. So close, passing just above her, Mezir could see the woman’s eyes. Where an iris full of color should be he saw only glittering lights, like a thousand, impossibly minuscule mirrors dancing about in confined chaos. By the time he’d passed over her, they were swelling, cracking, and bursting with clouds of black obsidian. His arm shook and he understood.

His father was gone. Mezir had sprung headfirst into a trap, layered with purpose and seething with ingeniousness, and endangered them all. He shot through the dark where Lord White’s apparition had been when he jumped, where only emptiness met his arrival and heard an audible *pop* and willowy gasp before being bombarded with the horrid sounds of consequence.

Screaming, growling, echoed cries of distorted torment, and other agonies of all degree melded into a single noise that escaped the woman who had been wailing in unnatural silence. He’d been able to do a quick turn and land with his back against the stairwells nearby wall, essence rushed to his neck and head without a thought, protecting what was most important; but the sound left him visibly shaken.

The vitals, thanks.

Mezir’s arm rattled independently in response.

Right.

He steeled himself and faced the stranger with the mirrored eyes and saw that the clouds of black he’d spotted before had turned into malignant bulbous sacks that protruded from the woman’s sockets. The sacks writhed and slammed one way, then the other, sending her from one narrow wall to the other with enough purpose that she began bleeding by the second impact. Behind and above her Mezir could see Ta’K had already risen and was standing in front of Amberosin with his cloak thrown about her head.

Good job kid, now-

The sacs burst open and spilled a frothing obsidian mass that fell upon the still screaming woman, silencing her once and for all. Chaotically protruding about itself in all directions the writhing blackness formed a cocoon of sorts around her and began pulsing like a mother’s stomach when a baby hiccups in the womb.

Enough with this!

Mezir shot forth and drove his blade burning red with heat through the center of the giant obsidian cocoon aiming directly for where the woman’s heart should be. Upon impact, the gooey black mesh fell all around them to the floor, void of all sentience or purpose it may have had before, and on the end of Mezir’s blade was a frail old woman with empty sockets for eyes.

Ta’K stood staring from the top of the stairs. Amberosin had silent tears streaming down her face. This was also part of the trap, he presumed, but it was a part he could deal with. Later. Mezir gently laid the eyeless woman covered in frothy tar on the steps and removed his blade before he stood and said a small prayer. Only partially to save face with Ta’K. When he was done he walked up to the stair top and stood beside them both for a moment.

“Come now, we’ve got a war to win.”

***

By the time they set up camp out in the Wilders, not very far from where they’d camped before, no one had said a word. Not surprising with Ta’K, all things considered, but Amberosin had never known Mezir to be a quiet man, not in her adolescence, and not since discovering him in hiding as Schuri; the man liked to talk. It was more than a bit worrying if she was being honest. Amberosin understood the solemn, heavy silence that hung over them as they’d walked through the insufferably dark tunnels inside White’s estate; even if they hadn’t all just been scarred for life, making too much noise from inside White’s walls would’ve found them nothing aside from trouble. She’d even partially enjoyed it, taking the time walking to work through how she felt about everything, mainly how she felt about Desinra. About Mezir killing her. About White, Amberosin’s father… about her eyes. There was a lot to work through really, and as luck would have it, it was no short trek.

This is war, I suppose. A war she’d never seen herself being involved in before.

All of the cleanness Amberosin had acquired while in White’s possession was replaced with sweat, musk, and muddied pebbles of dirt that fell all about them during their passage through the tunnels. She was equally annoyed at having lost that feeling of cleanness so soon and extremely relieved to feel normal again. Her kind of normal, at least. She washed in streams and during storms, she had no magical oils or lovely washcloths, so her normal was a bit… dirty, she supposed. But it was welcome at a time when nothing else felt familiar.

Ta’K made sure to keep his hands at a comfortable temperature the whole way through the tunnels, just like in the stairwell. A few times he held Amberosin close enough that she could feel the heat of his body breaking through his wrappings and despite the already overbearing humid warmth of their surroundings, she felt drawn to it. Found herself slipping just a little bit closer to him on the next narrow section. Closer still on the last. Amberosin’s heart had been pounding so hard by the time they found the exit that she was sure Ta’K had to have heard it at some point. He only bowed low and allowed her to exit the entrance first. Behind her he cast some quick flash of light and when she turned to see the man’s magic work all she found was a completely normal wall. The only discernible difference being a thin line of melded material.

Did he seal it? Probably best, I suppose.

She’d not been able to gather the courage to ask about Korrin and Heria without Mezir breaking the silence and nothing else seemed important enough for her to venture forth first, so Amberosin waited. While she waited, she made sure to stay near Ta’K. When night began to encroach upon them she moved closer to him still, setting her back against his side, and using his cloak as a cover. He simply eased himself backward enough that she slipped closer to his chest than his shoulder.

They’d both fallen asleep there, together, and when Amberosin woke he was still lying there beneath her, but she could tell he was awake because she could hear his heartbeat. It was steady while she was still but when she moved… When she moved, it spiked, and he shifted to offer support for each shift or position. She moved once or twice before she opened her eyes and found his bandage wrapped face positioned down toward her.

Of course, he knew you were awake. Idiot.

Amberosin felt her cheeks blush but refused to react like some swooning young Lady resting on the arm of her savior, she’d done a fair bit of saving him herself… sort of. With help. She turned her head and stretched, popping her neck, back, and hip with one smooth motion. She could still hear Ta’K’s heart and heard it speed up even faster as the arch in her back reached its apex.

Oh, my Ta’K! Enjoying the show are we? Amberosin popped one eye open and caught his gaze floating across her form before he shot his entire head the other way and looked up at the trees, pointing at some nonexistent bird. She laughed harder than she had since she was a child. Ta’K joined in her laughter with his own haughty, deep, real chuckles of his own. They were the only hint she had as to what the man actually sounded like. Much like the rest of the man, she found it very welcoming.

Mezir rounded from behind a nearby swath of berry littered bushes and gave a single, loud laugh of his own, a bit more forced than either of theirs, she thought. His arms were full with multitudes of colorful, tiny morsels that made Amberosin’s mouth water as much as she assumed Ta’Ks had been a moment ago.

Damn, that was a good one, should have said it out loud! Too late now though. “Mezir! I thought you’d left us out here to rot you heartless bastard!” She smiled and sat herself up with one forceful motion. “Now come and feed me, big brother.” Mezir’s smile vanished and a look of pure panic rose on his face, only for a moment, but she caught it. She’d caught him off guard.

“Hah!” That one sounded more real than the last, and his smile seemed genuine now. “I suppose that would be my responsibility now, wouldn’t it?” Mezir sat across from the two of them with his legs folded, back straight, and laid the collection of berries out across a cloth.

The trio picked at the huge collection of tiny edible wonders quietly for a few moments, only sounds of enjoyment, belching, and more than a few breaks of wind from Mezir’s side of the setting, which he promptly attempted to blame on Ta’K each time. Unlike Ta’K, however, the puffs of ass-air were not silent. It made for a few good laughs from each of them but was ultimately just a filler for the awkward silence that begged to settle over them. Amberosin hated those. She swallowed hard and licked her lips preparing to speak but as her mouth opened Mezir grunted and cleared his throat.

“I… well I suppose now would be a good time for that explanation, yeah?”

“Hmmm, I don’t, bro- lemme see if I can piece some of it together first?” She’d not really meant to say anything but there was no stopping it now. Mezir simply smiled and acquiesced with a nod. “Alright, so the gist of it all seems to be that you left, made some friends in Trallengard, came back, and lived as a few people in disguise while you… scouted, I guess? Didn’t want to reveal yourself to anyone too soon but you stayed close to Pat, kept yourself in areas where you could check in on your old pal, I’d say. Probably me too, at some point. You creep.” Amberosin shot him a wink.

He laughed and slapped his leg, “Pretty good so far, pretty barebones and… generalized, I’d say, but not inaccurate. So, sister, why didn’t I tell you?”

Feels like he is testing me with this one. Seeing if I’ll stay loyal, brother? “Wasn’t the right time? Didn’t want to play your hand too soon? Doesn’t really matter much now though, does it?” He seemed to like that answer.

“We must truly be of the same blood, Amberosin. You are quite magnificent!”

“But.” She smiled, less joy, less play in her face, “I can’t piece together what happened to Korrin and Heria. Or why you waited so long to act. Were you looking for something specific?”

“Honestly? I have no idea where they are.” Mezir’s eyes went distant for a moment but a soft metallic hand on his shoulder from Ta’K brought him back to them. “I’d love to stay and find them both but… at this point, even if- Legends forbid- another one of us gets captured, there is no going back. No turning around. We must leave Blancana. We must leave the capitol today.” Mezir sat silent for a moment and she wondered if he was just going to ignore the second part of her question but after a deep sigh, he gave a half-assed grin. “Truth be told? I originally came back to Blancana to spy on my- our, father’s lab developments, but he made that impossible by moving all lab work into his personal laboratory, which you saw a tiny, tiny part of. And Ta’K saw even less of.” He cast a rueful grin at Ta’K, “Sorry that I forgot about your leg. I would’ve never sent you down there if I’d remembered… if I’d paid more attention..”

Ta’K shrugged and waved his hand dismissing the apology. He tapped the stone foot he’d crafted with a closed metal fist and gave a thumbs up.

“Thanks.” Mezir seemed a little less tense to her now, “ anyway… I wanted to keep an eye on how he developed his auto-casters, or blasters, or whatever he has people calling them now. I don’t know how much either of you saw at the last Ta’Hun, I know you were both there and I hope that it wasn’t near as much as what I witnessed, but some areas were worse than others- if genocide in one spot is worse than the other, I suppose- point being, around the center of the Venerable Plains our father,” Mezir forced a grin at Amberosin, seemed like he was getting more used to it already, “ sent in an elite force that he would bring back here, as his ‘Serpints’, to eradicate the most important of the Ta’, their councilors, missionaries, their leader, the Ta’ Uma. Ta’K’s father.”

Mezir was quiet again but this time Amberosin had to reach forward and bring him back, Ta’K went stiff. “Uhm, right- sorry.” Cleared his throat again. Is he buying time? Thinking out how to say whatever is next. Is it that hard? That bad? Mezir..

“ I was there with Ta’ Uma in the large, centermost tent when we heard the odd rumbling roar of the sky shuttles. I’d heard it before, of course, when they were tested years before, meant to transport resources across Noctra- or so we thought. Everyone else, however, was flabbergasted, aside from me, Ta’ Uma, and his trusted guard, no one had any idea that something terrible was about to happen. Your father, Ta’K, knew because I told him months before that White wanted the Ta’ out of the equation. That he wanted everyone with power out, for good. Being the great man he was your father simply touched my mind and saw through to the truth. Even the parts I’d left out. He never judged me for that. As you know, he believed it was no one person’s place to judge another- ironic, being that he was the chief of all the Ta’ tribes; judge of the highest degree. Still, he was a wonderful pan of principle.

We immediately cast a barricade around the central tent. Using the soil, stone, and Ta’ casters on hand we made a sturdy wall that entrenched us from all angles. The back was opened to let others in for safety and we cast downward, further and further into Noctra as more people poured in. We were in there for days, Ta’K. We saved so many people.” Mezir let his tears fall freely. “But our father, Amberosin, all of the horrible, awful, wretched things that he is- Lord White is an absolute genius. He plans every step, every breath, of his own, and everyone around him. After some of the things I’ve seen, I’ve often wondered if any of us have a will of our own, or if he’s just pulling that many strings at once. Like a god.

As such, he of course had a contingency for when we dug down. Your father and I were at the top of our burrow-city, just a massive pit of thresholds into corridors that extended into what we planned to be safe rooms. Somewhere for people to hole up. We hoped for more warriors the days after Ta’ Hun, people who could fight once the days of peace were done… but White was smarter than that. Smarter than us. He’d started at the hunting grounds, where all the warriors and hunters of any discernible skill gathered to contest themselves against one another and Mother Noctra. When the Serpint’s landed they immediately used their auto-casters to mow down everyone in sight. Just the press of a button and hundreds were gone. His force wasn’t even that large, truthfully, but for every Serpint, there were two auto-casters. For every foot soldier, there was one. The ammunition didn’t even depend on the reserves or will of the caster, just sucked it straight from Noctra and propelled it in short beams of light. Everywhere they stepped plantlife withered and died instantly. White got them all before they could even get close to us.

As for our abode, White had placed the largest of his reserves just below where we stopped our manipulation of Noctra. If we’d gone down another thirty paces we’d have found them, possibly buried them all before they had a chance to do anything.” Mezir stopped to suck in a hard breath, even, steady, but harsh. A quiet sob. “We were at the top when we heard the base give out, Ta’ Uma and I, helping more people inside. Guarding them as they entered. We spent much of our time between the threshold of our protective dome and the scarred land outside and were used to just sending others through while we fended off Serpints left and right. By the time we had gone inside that night… everyone was gone. Every child, mother, teller, painter, poet… man, woman, Alta, Nomad… all dead. Just sacks of meat to the men picking through their bodies, looking for trophies to present to their Lord. Your father, Ta’ Uma… he fell to his knees, pulled out his blade, and plunged it into his own guts. He looked at me then, he whispered to me his name, from before he became Ta’ Uma… I think so, so I would tell you, one day when you’re prepared to hear it. He knew much more than I, unfortunately, about fates and destiny. About Noctra as a whole. About peace. I, unfortunately, went into… a fit- a fit of rage, as you’ve seen, though much worse than ever before… or since, thus far. The Tainted… the thing inside me, my arm, it came out in full.

I killed every Serpint in there. Then I ran to Trallengard. Senseless. Like an animal. As luck would have it our other sibling, Stins Pyrell, a wonderful woman, was in Trallengard and the Trallens… well they’ve always hated my father so… We amassed an army and made a plan. My part of the plan was to gather all the information I could for five years. Then go back. Easy enough job that anyone could do it but… well, basically, I didn’t trust anyone else to do the job and not fail terribly.” Made sense.

“Ever since then I wanted to know everything I could about those damn infernal machines. All I found out, in the end, was that most of the veterans who used them aged unnaturally fast upon returning home. I stayed because... I was waiting.” Mezir smiled, entirely sincere if Amberosin knew anything, and she believed she did. Though not what he was waiting for. So she asked.

“Waiting for what, Mezir.”

He laughed lightly. “For you two, of course.”