Chapter XV

Without warning, the hideout of the Children of Reiner had become painfully tense and for a moment, Arisa felt the burning desire to rip her sword from her sheath and go after the new arrivals with everything she had. It was a testament to her faith in Hannah that she kept herself still, though she ensured that her fingers were always hovering over her pommel. If either of the newcomers so much as looked at her the wrong way, she was prepared to do whatever it took to cut them down. After all, she’d be stupid not to be ready, for mere moments ago, Hannah had walked through the door of their hideout with some random boy and the Master of Wind, Ryokumo Caeli. Behind Arisa, Tylo, Irin, Ardan, and Lyla were all in a similar state as her, and she could sense their mana at the ready. The room was a powder keg waiting to explode in a flurry of wind magic. Hannah was standing off to the side as she glanced around awkwardly, the unfamiliar boy looked like he wanted to bolt, but Ryokumo Caeli was calm and composed as he surveyed the five of them.

“Good afternoon to all of you,” the Master finally said. “I know it’s hard to believe, but you do not need to be so on edge. I promise you that I mean you no harm. I am here as an ally.”

“An ally?” Tylo spat furiously. “Is that supposed to be some fucked up joke? You tortured us, you sick bastard! You worked with Taurus and Ka to screw with our heads and repeatedly burn us, and now you want to pretend to be our ally?! Give me a break!”

“Tylo, please,” Hannah began carefully, inching between them and Ryokumo. “I swear to you that he’s not lying. He spared my life. Even after I confessed to killing Seiras, he still did everything he could to help me get away. He isn’t our enemy.”

“Is that so?” Lyla breathed. “Hannah, I understand why you would trust him, but you didn’t experience the pain that we did—that he helped inflict on us. I still wake up in a panic because of nightmares about it. And when I do have nightmares, I always see his face beside the other two. So why…? Why would you bring him here?”

Arisa never turned her gaze away from Ryokumo, but she could hear Lyla’s voice shaking, as well as the terror she was failing to fight back. At the same time, Ardan’s mana became stronger, as if preparing to defend his twin sister. Arisa narrowed her eyes, wanting to see how the Master of Wind would react to her words, but his expression never changed. She couldn’t see what he was feeling. For a moment, she glanced at the boy, who was staring at Lyla with a pained expression.

I understand why Hannah would bring her former master here. We’ve talked about Ryokumo before and I know she loves and respects him, but who the hell is this kid? Why would she bring some random boy to our hideout?

“I’m sorry, Lyla,” Hannah whispered. “I’m sorry to you all, but the fact of the matter is that we almost died during our attack on the gates, and even with all of this equipment, I don’t think another attack is going to go our way. We need him whether we like it or not. We need his help…if we want to finally escape this hell hole of a city.”

The emotion in her voice was genuine, but as helpful as Hannah had been to them, she wouldn’t be enough to sway the others toward trusting Ryokumo. The only way to convince them would be for Arisa, their elected leader, to voice her opinion in support of the man.

But I don’t know if I can do that… I know how Hannah feels, but I can’t forgive this man… Like Lyla, I can’t forget his face and what he did to us. But…

Amid the nightmarish experiences she suffered in the Citadel dungeon, she couldn’t help but to recall one instance in particular that took place the very first time Seiras Ka used his magic on them. When she returned from the vision, she looked up to see Ryokumo’s eyes filled with pain and pity, a far cry from the glee and excitement in the face of the deformed halfling. She remembered wondering if she could perhaps reach through to him, but at the time, she had believed that to be wishful thinking. Now, she wasn’t so sure. Which is why, rather than arguing with Hannah, she instead stared right at Ryokumo and addressed him directly.

“Hannah says we need your help if we want to escape Erika…” she stated. “But you haven’t yet said you would be willing to help us. All you’ve said is that you aren’t here to hurt us. So tell me, Master Caeli, what is your business here?”

She could feel the surprise from the Children behind her as she humored Hannah and Ryokumo, but she knew it was a question that needed to be asked. She wanted, or rather needed, to hear what he had to say for himself.

“A valid question,” the Master admitted. “It is as Hannah says, I am here to help you. In fact, I want nothing more than for the six of you to safely reach the other side of the walls and perhaps to even flee Ijiria altogether. It may be hard to believe, but I’ve never wanted any harm to come to you.”

Ardan scoffed. “Don’t give me that bullshit! What are you really after?! Why would you ever care about us, let alone enough to break the law to help us?!”

Ryokumo’s lips tightened, and for the first time, she was able to see the conflicted emotions roiling within his eyes. “I do not expect you to trust me completely. I have never done a thing to deserve it, but if it means anything to you…” Pausing mid-sentence, the Master surprised Arisa by slowly kneeling down and bowing his head before them, his forehead nearly touching the dirty ground of the abandoned house. “I am sorry… I’m sorry for what I did to you. I have nightmares about it as well, you know, and I’m sure my actions will haunt me until the day I die and I deserve it. I never wanted any of that to happen to you, and while I do not have the right to ask for your forgiveness, I would at least beg for you to allow me to do what I can to help you escape. If there’s anything I can do to begin to atone, it’s making sure that each and every one of you arrives on the other side of those walls alive. I’ll risk whatever it takes to see that happen.”

Ryokumo’s voice was shaking, and Arisa realized that he was fighting back tears. As impossible as it might have seemed, she didn’t sense any deceit in his words, and she found herself believing that he wasn’t making it up. And not only that, but he had set aside his pride and bowed his head before them—a Master of Ijiria bowing before criminals. His remorse was real, but…

“Then why do it?” she demanded. “Why do all of that to us if it hurt you this much?”

Ryokumo slowly raised his head to look up at her. “I did what I had to do…to keep up appearances. What good am I to anybody if I’m dead…or rotting alive in a cell next to you? I’m a Master…and that is a valuable ally.”

“Or a dangerous enemy,” Irin muttered. “You do realize the risk we take by trusting you, right?”

Ryokumo nodded. “Of course I do, Vixal.”

The girl paused and stared at him in surprise. “You…remember my name?”

“I do,” he whispered. “I told myself to never forget your names…or your faces, for that matter.” The Master of Wind gazed quietly at Irin for a moment, then slowly turned his head to stare at each one of them in turn. “Irin Vixal. Tylo Tannalo. Ardan Vessir. Lyla Vessir. Arisa Kirisan.” He spoke their names with conviction, his voice still shaking. “You are the children of the greatest woman I’ve ever known, and you meant the world to her just as she did to you. I know this because she told me so plenty of times before her death. The Children of Reiner…her pride and joy… I helped torture you for the sake of not showing my hand to the Citadel, and had Hannah not acted when she did, I would have left you to die in those cells. Hannah’s actions…were behind my back, but they gave me an opening—an opening to save your lives. She gave up everything to give me this chance, and I’m not going to let it pass me by!”

Arisa and the others remained silent as they listened to him speak, and while she couldn’t know what the other four were thinking, she knew that she believed his words were real—that he was tormented by the actions he took for what he perceived to be the greater good. And, even after apologizing and declaring his desire to work with them, he still didn’t lie. He admitted that without Hannah, he would have left them for dead. As far as Arisa could tell, he spoke only the truth.

So can we trust them? Am I willing to take this risk? If we had a Master on our side, helping us from within the Citadel, our chances of surviving increase by a significant margin. But like Irin said, if I’m wrong and he is lying to us, then I’ll once again be responsible for more death.

Arisa internally cringed, recalling the faces of those she got killed during their attack on the Citadel, as well as the four she led to their deaths in her foolish and impulsive ambush of Nigreos Noctis.

“You say our mother was your friend?” Tylo growled softly. “So where were you the day she died? Why couldn’t you save her? Or did you let her die to keep up your damn appearances as well?”

Ryokumo averted his gaze, his jaw clenched. “I was…not present for her death. My memory of that day is hazy, and I don’t remember much of it anymore. But if I had been there…you have my word that I would have done everything in my power to protect her, my reputation be damned.” He shook his head firmly. “And if I can, I will make up for those mistakes now! I’ll avenge Abi! My plans do not only involve getting you out of the city! By the time this is over, I will make sure that Nigreos Noctis and Album Luz are dead, no matter what it takes!”

His bold declaration left Arisa staring at him with surprise, but even more surprising was the look on the boy’s face as Ryokumo spoke, as if even he hadn’t known the true goals of the Master.

“You…want to kill Noctis and Luz… Your fellow Masters?” Tylo stuttered.

“I do,” he growled. “Nigreos took Abi away from us, and Album’s robbed me of my memories—memories that I know are precious to me!”

Nigreos Noctis… Ryokumo says he could kill that man for me…but…

She recalled how terrifyingly powerful he had been when they crossed paths in the city, and she couldn’t help but wonder if even the Master of Wind stood a chance against such intense savagery.

“Stand up, Caeli,” she said sharply. “Stop kneeling. It’s weird.”

Ryokumo hesitated, then did as she demanded and rose to his full height.

“How do you plan to do it?” Arisa inquired. “How would you ever hope to kill a man as powerful as Nigreos Noctis?”

The Master smiled bitterly. “Well, you see, Kirisan, I have my ways. Album and Nigreos are powerful, but they are not immortal. They are human, and thus, they have weaknesses that can be exploited and manipulated. I’ve known them for a very long time, so I know better than most how to kill them, and my plans begin with him.”

Ryokumo raised his hand and pointed at the boy behind him, who thus far had only stood awkwardly in the doorway of the room, as if unsure of what he should be doing. He was a very average looking individual, appearing either barely of age or slightly younger. He was tall, with short brown hair and a rather slim figure. However, there was something about his eyes that made her feel comfortable with his presence, though she couldn’t quite figure out why.

“And who is he?” Ardan demanded. “Who is this random kid you’ve brought with you?”

Ryokumo chuckled, then patted the boy on the back. “Go ahead, boy. Introduce yourself, and use your full name.”

He stumbled forward then looked around the room in apprehension, as if wondering how to begin, until finally, he took a deep breath and did as requested. “Er, hi,” he mumbled. “Uh, it’s nice to meet all of you. My name is… Er, my name is…” He was stuttering over his words and, after stopping and composing himself, he went on. “My name is Eric Reiner. I’m Abigail Reiner’s son.”

Arisa stared blankly at him, utterly stunned by the words that left his mouth. Her first instinct was to lash out at him, wanting to call it some ridiculous trick by Caeli, but as she held herself back and took the boy’s appearance in, she realized that the feeling from before came from his resemblance to her mother. His eyes had the same strength that Abigail Reiner’s had, and before Arisa had even processed everything properly, she found that she had already accepted his words as the truth. Back in the orphanage, they had always believed that their mother had a genetic child out in the multiverse somewhere, though she never stated it outright. Yet, in the way she spoke, the older kids always theorized that there was something or someone she left behind and that one day, she might return to them.

Eric Reiner…

“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Irin whispered. “He’s…her son?”

Tylo stepped forward, his features a mix of anger, shock, and awe. “You're…lying. You’ve gotta be lying. Her son…? Why would her son be here, and in the company of Ryokumo Caeli, no less? Where would you have come from? I don’t…”

“I promise…” Eric replied softly, clearly uncomfortable. “I’m not lying. I’m from a small town in Omaruo called Wilham. My mother lived there for a time, had me, and then returned here to Ijiria when I was seven. I’ve only recently been brought to Ijiria…and very few people even knew I existed. But I swear that I am her son. I’m…”

Arisa stepped forward in the middle of his attempt to convince them, feeling powerful emotions welling up inside her, and before she could even think about what she was doing, she threw her arms around him and pulled the boy into a hug. Both him and the others in the room seemed surprised by her actions, but she ignored them, feeling only the touch of Eric’s body. After a moment, he raised his arms and embraced her back, and it was then that she knew without a doubt that he was who he said he was.

His embrace reminded her of her mother.

“I always wondered…” she whispered. “...if there was a true Child of Reiner out there somewhere…and now you’ve found your way to us. Thank you…” Arisa smiled as she placed her head against his chest. “Thank you, Eric Reiner.”

***

On the second story of the run-down house that was the Children’s hideout, Eric stood alone with Arisa Kirisan at his side as the two gazed through the window and down at the empty street below. They were in what he assumed used to be a bedroom, though there was nothing left in it anymore. The window they were in front of was cracked, with some shards missing completely. He feared they would be spotted by anybody that happened to be passing by, but Arisa assured him that distortion magic was covering the glass so they were perfectly safe. Neither of them talked and he didn’t know what the red-haired girl was thinking, and when he glanced at her from the corner of his eye, he found her eyes still red with tears. After hugging him, she had cried, and he could only imagine what it must have felt like to meet her mother’s son, especially after everything she had been through. Meeting her and the others left him with a lot to think about too, but after this visit, he knew one thing for certain.

There’s no doubt about it anymore. Ryokumo is on my side. He’s going to work with the Children and help them escape, and he seeks to kill Nigreos and Album—to betray Ijiria even more than he already has by being here. Though, as much as I would love to see Album get what she deserves, he does know that killing her won’t save the people in the erased realm…so perhaps he plans to kill her after they’re free?

He wasn’t sure, but now he knew he was free to ask, and with any luck, the two of them could begin to make their move against the Masters of Light and Darkness.

“You know,” Arisa began, drawing him from his thoughts. “In a way, I guess you’re my little brother, yeah?”

` Eric smiled and laughed. “Yeah, I guess so. But little? How old are you?”

“Nineteen. You?”

“Seventeen, I think,” he answered with a grimace. “Though I’m not really sure at the moment. Apparently, Omaruo passes time twice as fast as Ijiria does. So, even though my birthday has passed there, I’ve technically only aged two months, which means I’m physically sixteen…so…it’s weird.”

Arisa stared at him with mild amusement before grinning. “Yeah, that is weird. So if that’s the case, then you were born when I was eleven, but now you’re only three years younger than me? Odd. I’ve never thought about multiverse time zones like that.” She chuckled. “But that still means you’re my little brother.”

“It does… Wow, I’ve always been an only child and now I’ve got five older siblings and then some.” He sighed. “My life just gets weirder and weirder with each day I spend in this damned city.”

“Well, actually, you’ve got some younger siblings now, too,” Arisa corrected. “Ardan and Lyla turned sixteen a few months back and Irin’s only seventeen so she’s barely older than you.”

“And Tylo?” Eric asked. “How old is he?”

Arisa thought for a moment. “Twenty-two, I think. He’s the oldest of the five of us, though I wouldn’t say he’s more mature than any of us.”

The two of them laughed together and Eric found himself loving the fact that he was getting to interact with somebody his age again—not to mention Arisa wasn’t someone he had to be cautious around. She was an ally, so he could be himself and not put on a mask like he had been with the denizens of the Citadel.

“So,” he began once the laughter subsided. “How old were you when Mom adopted you?”

“Me? Oh, I was around twelve, give or take. She found me out on the streets right as I was about to be killed by some shady bastards, so she scared them off and took me in.” Arisa’s eyes turned distant as she gazed through the cracked glass of the window. “She gave me a place to belong and somewhere to be safe and…loved. My parents died in a skirmish on the Trovian border when I was really young so I never really knew them. But Abi Reiner…filled their role. She was my mother…and she always will be.”

Eric felt a pang of sadness in his chest. Since he had been so young when Nigreos took his mother back to Ijiria, Arisa and the other Children probably knew her far better than he ever would. In some ways, that made them more her children than he was, and there was no longer any way for him to make up for that lost time. All he could do was learn about her through those who did know her.

“What was she like?” he whispered. “What kind of person was my mother? I have memories, but they’re from when I was really young. Can you…tell me about her?”

“Oh, I could tell you so much about her that it'd be winter by the time we finished talking,” Arisa joked, a nostalgic look of longing in her eyes. “She was…amazing. No matter who you were or what your story was, if you needed a home then Abi welcomed you. She loved us and gave us affection, while also being stern when she needed to be. She earned our respect, so much so that we were only ever loyal to her and never really to Ijiria.” The girl sniffled a bit and choked back whatever emotion she was keeping inside. “She even taught us everything we know about magic. She was a jack of all trades, though she was predominantly skilled with wind and nature. Everything I know about everything came from her…”

Eric lowered his head and gazed down at the street below them, specifically at a small boy and his mother who were walking down the road, hand in hand, garbed in tattered rags that failed to completely conceal how unhealthily thin they were.

“She made it her duty to make these slums a better place,” Arisa went on. “These streets have been all but forgotten by the powers that control this country. The people here are left to starve and die because they aren't useful to Ijiria. It costs money to put this place back together, and it seems Prince Reigious and the High Council have no interest in using their money on us. Abi…was the only one who cared, and for a long time, she was succeeding. But then…”

“She died,” Eric finished when the girl didn’t.

“She was killed,” she corrected. “She was killed by Nigreos Noctis for leading a rebellion against the crown.”

Eric furrowed his brow as the mother-son duo disappeared into an alleyway. “But did she? Everything I know about her leads me to doubt that she would ever violently rebel against this country and nobody in the Citadel seems to know why she would.”

Arisa shook her head. “I don't know. She didn’t tell us much about what she did in the Citadel. All we know is that one day, our mother departed for Noctalus on what she claimed was a very important trip and never came home. We only heard about her death when a soldier was sent to the orphanage to inform us two weeks later.”

So she went to Noctalus? I wonder why? What did she plan to do there, and how did it result in her death?

He wanted to ask it, but instead, another question came to mind.

“And what happened to you guys after that?” he inquired. “She died three Ijirian years ago, and yet, you guys attacked the Citadel only one year ago. What were you doing in those two years?”

Arisa gave a self-deprecating smile. “Nothing. We sat around, cursing Ijiria and wishing we could have done something. Some of us investigated, and we heard a rumor that it was Noctis who killed her, though many didn't want to let mere supposition send us down the wrong path. For those two years, the orphanage was led by the older children, myself included, and we spent so much time trying to come up with a plan—a way to avenge Mom.”

“And that wound up being the Citadel raid?” Eric asked.

Arisa nodded. “Yeah. Before she died, she granted four of us guideship behind the government’s back, though she never said where she got it from. In fact, she didn’t even tell us why she was giving it to us. She said she’d explain it when she came home, but she never did, so four of us were guides without knowing why. Attacking the Citadel was my idea. I figured that we could really kick Ijiria in the balls by stealing one of their precious relics and fleeing the city. We had a realm dagger so a few us thought we’d go to another realm, while others preferred Trovia in hopes that we could use the relic to barter for our safety.” She scoffed. “But in the end, it didn’t matter. We lost the relic, the realm dagger, and two of our four guides. I never even found out which relic we got.”

Eric cringed, knowing that it was him who allowed the relic and dagger to fall back into Nigreos’s hands. As for the guides, he understood a bit about what that meant after a few conversations with Ryokumo, and he realized just how bold they had been.

“I’m sorry,” he muttered. “I wish I could have gotten the relic back to you, but I wasn’t strong enough to beat Nigreos and Album.”

He’d already told her much of what happened in Omaruo, so she had a decent understanding of what he went through and who he was. Yet, rather than upset that he lost the spoils of their attack, she simply shook her head and chuckled.

“Don’t apologize,” she told him. “Just be proud you took them on and lived to tell the tale. Blood magic or not, it’s…no easy feat to stand up to the Master of Darkness and walk away.”

“Th-thank you, Arisa.”

Their conversation was then interrupted by a knock at the door, and when they turned to look over their shoulders, they saw Ryokumo standing in the doorway. He’d remained downstairs with Hannah and the others, having chosen to take his time to talk to them and do his best to earn their trust. Arisa had requested that the other Children at least hear him out, and after that, they had been just a tad bit less confrontational.

“Sorry to interrupt,” he said. “But I wanted to speak with the two of you.”

Arisa narrowed her eyes as she regarded Ryokumo, yet she still motioned for him to enter. “By all means, Caeli. In fact, I was interested in talking to you, too. Eric says he trusts you, so for the moment, I’ll trust you, too. However, I’ve still got an eye on you.”

Ryokumo nodded. “As I would expect you to. I don’t need you like me. I simply need you to allow me to help, and if you do that, I can get you out of Erika and you’ll never have to see me again.”

“I look forward to that day,” she grunted. “Now, what did you need?”

Ryokumo glanced over at Eric, who was content to let them do the talking, before facing Arisa once again. “I have a request to make of you,” he answered. “You see, I would prefer it if you and the other Children were out of the city before Eric and I make our move against Nigreos and Album. After all, attacking two Masters of Ijiria is a risky move and if it fails, the boy and I will be dead. Can’t help you escape if I’m dead, can I?”

Arisa snorted. “No, I suppose not.”

“I have an associate that might be able to smuggle you from the city, but unfortunately, he’s not in Erika at the moment. However when he returns, I intend to act as fast as possible,” Ryokumo went on. “Yet, for the plan I intend to use against Nigreos and Album, I will need you to do one thing for me…” Ryokumo paused and then sighed. “I would ask you to give me guideship.”

Eric and Arisa both stared at him in surprise.

“Guideship?” the latter parroted. “Why? What could you possibly need guideship for?”

The Master of Wind grinned. “Why else? To enter the Vault of the Relics without Reigious and Piura knowing I’m there.”

***

Eric and Ryokumo returned to the Citadel shortly before sundown and once they arrived back on the residential floor, the boy stepped from the lift and parted ways with the Master, who continued further up to give his own report on the blacksmith guild to the prince. And, as Eric made his way back toward his quarters, his mind was spinning. After requesting guideship from Arisa Kirisan, he finally went on to explain his plan to both take down Nigreos and Album, as well as to open the erased realm, and Eric couldn’t help but to be in awe. It was an utterly insane plan with plenty of variables that needed to work perfectly, but it might be the only path to victory for them. It was genius, and Eric found himself feeling hope for the first time since before Vinny was erased.

But I’ve just got to prepare. He said that he’d take care of everything…I just need to do one thing.

“You are going to be teaching yourself light magic, Eric,” Ryokumo had said. “Learn as many spells as you can as quickly as you can. It will take time for us to make our move. Not only do I have to wait for my associate in order to help the Children escape, but I also have business of my own to finish. However, when the time comes, you must be ready to put everything on the line. If we win, Nigreos and Album die, and if we lose, you and I die.”

Arisa had seemed just as stunned by the plan as he had been, yet once she heard what he had to say, she obliged his request. Now, both Ryokumo and Eric were guides.

If this works…then I win. After everything I’ve been through… After everything they took from me, I could finally win.

He forced himself to hold his smile back as he rounded a corner and began to approach the door to his quarters, but when he arrived, he stopped and stared at a young man already standing by the door. Based on his attire, Eric could tell that he was one of the Citadel’s squires who usually ran errands and carried messages for the more powerful individuals of the tower.

But why’s he on our doorstep? Does he need Ryokumo for something?

“Can I help you?” Eric called over.

The man glanced back in surprise, before stepping back and bowing. “Oh, good evening. You’re Mr. Reiner, correct?”

He was uncomfortable being bowed to, but he knew his status as a Master’s apprentice carried some weight with some of the workers in the Citadel.

“Yeah, I am,” he confirmed. “Can I help you? Master Caeli isn’t home at the moment, but if you need me to relay something to him then I’d be happy to.”

But the squire shook his head. “Thank you, but I’m actually here to deliver a message to you?”

“To me? From who?”

“From Master Nigreos Noctis,” the squire replied. “He sent me to deliver a formal invitation to have dinner in his quarters tonight.”