Shadowbane

From atop the bridge next to my home I watched as the airships slowly came into view. They were moving at a snails pace and wouldn't arrive at Telebron for at least another hour. Not that it matters when they arrive. The others already said that he won't enter Telebron until it's time for the summit to commence.

I heard the click clack of high heels approach me from my right side. Not long after that a lady with long black hair leaned against the guard rail directly next to me. She was wearing a long flowing black and white dress adorned with all sorts of different jewelry. And some of those pieces of jewelry I actually recognized, which was rare for me.

"Hello, Euphie. Unlike Cera, you look exactly the same. Is Lunaria keeping you young?"

Euphemia smiled at me, "Good to see you again, Rei. I'll admit, I didn't think we'd ever see you again. I only humored Aresa whenever she brought you up. But I guess even she began to think you were gone for good, as she hasn't mentioned your name in quite a long time. Until about two weeks ago, of course. And yes, I allowed the Fairy Queen to corrupt me."

"Any buyers remorse?"

Her eyes widened for a moment before she put a hand up to her mouth to hide her chuckling. She used to do that in Kellog too... I remember thinking about how weird it was, but Shana said it was a noble thing or something.

"So blatant! People with fairies inside of them can sense other fairies, so you know I have one as well. Are you not worried about upsetting Lunaria? She can obviously hear you."

"Nope. She already has enough major issues to deal with. Someone like me asking light probing questions like that especially right now shouldn't matter at all." I looked around and saw a few guards on each side of the bridge, but the person I was looking for wasn't here. "More importantly, where is Tyra?"

Euphie suddenly looked like she wanted to cry, but she switched to her usual happy demeanor almost instantly, "She died twenty three years ago. I tried to get her to pledge herself to Lunaria, but she wouldn't. She... She lost the will to live after she realized we were never taking Kellog back."

"I'm sorry to hear that Euphie, truly. It's sad to hear, but from the interactions I had with her, I can understand why she made that decision. She really did love her nation." I continued, "But I'm also disappointed. Her expertise and strength sure would've been nice to have in the coming battle."

"... You have no idea of how much it means to me to hear you speak of her so highly. When she died everyone gave me their condolences but nothing more, which I thought was enough at the time, but here you are over twenty years later, saying more about her in a few sentences than I've ever heard from anyone else."

Euphie sighed, "And on that note, I need to apologize about Seifer. I had no idea that he was carrying around a soul-stealing scythe that was corrupting him, nor that he was slowly going mad. We had so many problems when we first arrived here. So I'm not making excuses, but I really wasn't in the best condition back then. Constantly stressed, always trying to figure out how we were all going to survive here. And it wasn't easy for me to adapt to a, how do you say... Rudimentary lifestyle?"

"When I woke up in Termia I had wondered just how much you knew about his condition, but the others have long since confirmed that you were in the dark when it came to him. So don't worry, Euphie. I don't blame you in the least, and I know Shana won't either."

Bells from each district began to ring out, signifying that it was now noon.

"Are you really going to be in the meeting room with us?" Euphie asked.

"Mostly as a decoration until day three. Unless of course he tries to flee the second he sees me. At which point I've already been informed of what will happen next. And for the record, I do think it's a bad idea for him to see me before the battle begins, but Aresa is adamant that it won't change anything."

Euphie chuckled, "She's only doing it to see what kind of reaction he'll have when he sees you. But she's also right; it won't change anything. We're only picking day three because that just so happens to be the day Aresa is positive she'll reach the next level of synchronization with the wellspring, and that means she will have more control over it, which leads to extra mana for all of us. But strength or mana levels won't be all that relevant in this battle. It's about whether he has a way of escaping despite all of our precautions we've put into place beforehand."

"Which is highly possible. He's overly cautious, to the point it's extremely annoying to deal with him. I'm referring back to when I served under him, and I imagine he's only become even more cautious since then. So while I understand the plan you've all come up with, it does have several holes in it. Although I know there's nothing you can do about that since his warp ability has too many unknowns attached to it."

"That's true, but as you say, there's nothing more we can do at this point except pray that we succeed. And honestly, I'm more worried about what is happening underground right now." Euphie said.

"There's still no word from the men who were sent down there? I thought they were dropping temporary communication crystals along the way so they could report anything that happened?"

"They did until about halfway down. After that point there's just too many twists and turns. They'd need hundreds of crystals at that point, and obviously they couldn't carry that many."

{Rei. Alicia is back in Telebron and needs to talk to everyone. It's an emergency.}

Euphie and I looked at each other.

"You get the same message about Alicia?"

Euphie nodded, "Looks like our one on one time has come to an end. But 'emergency'? I can't imagine anything that happened on Zhegu would matter to us right now, but she used that word anyway. It's really worrying me... Let us hurry to my home. The fairy said she's waiting there."

I nodded and we both began to walk toward the southern district. All sorts of different people spotted Euphie and stopped to gawk at her or try and say hello as we made our way toward the northern district. Her guards kept them at a safe distance while Euphie smiled and waved at everyone.

"I see not much has changed since your time in Kellog."

"Oh hush. I told you I lived a pedantic life here when we first arrived. And even after Hyun's family helped us we still had to work our way up from there on out. Although his and Lunaria's aid obviously made it much easier."

About ten minutes later we reached our destination, a mansion that looked very familiar.

"Did you rebuild your mansion here?"

Euphemia laughed as she punched a number into the keypad by the gate, "You're not the only one who has asked that! But no, I didn't. This place just happens to look similar to my old mansion, and that's why my main goal after arriving here was to buy this place."

As the gate opened we could see Aresa and Benny appear from behind the left side wall around Euphie's estate. Instead of walking they were jogging, which was kind of fresh to see. Normally everyone had to walk slowly to match her pace.

"Let's go! Hurry, hurry!" Aresa said as she jogged past us and into the mansion. Benny however stopped outside of the gate and sat down by the wall. It looked like he was just relaxing, but I could tell from the way he was scanning the surroundings that he was ready to pounce on anyone who tried to enter Euphie's mansion.

Euphie just shrugged and began walking at the same pace we were earlier. Once we were inside the mansion she led me through several hallways until we entered a parlor that looked identical to the one I had talked to her in all those years ago. Although there wasn't a wall made of glass this time.

"Whoa, she really is back..." Alicia mumbled as Aresa yelled 'Too slow!', but I still managed to hear her.

Euphie sighed, "What exactly is the rush, Aresa? We still have three hours before the meeting begins."

"Blah blah blah! She said it's an emergency. And I want to be in the meeting room well ahead of time just in case that smug asshole decides to show up early for a change." Aresa replied.

I sat down on one of the couches as Lunaria walked through a set of doors opposite of where we entered.

"Hello~! I wanted to be here in person for this, because I heard the message from Mother as well. So I already know what miss orange hair is going to say."

"What? I got no such message though?" Aresa said.

Lunaria sat next to Aresa on her couch, "Gods only dear. You think she cares about Lords?"

"Fine, whatever. Let her play favorites. It's not like I plan on following any Eldritch decrees anyway. So just tell us what her stupid message is, since that's what the 'emergency' is then, right?"

Alicia(who looked exactly the same as back on Urza) nodded, "Lord Terra'ka told me that Mother plans on purging all of the planets and moons, but he's not sure of when. She just said 'the process has begun'."

Silence was the only response Alicia received, which was to be expected. Obviously 'purge' could only mean one thing.

Aresa glared at Lunaria as she continued to smile, "... You seem awfully happy about this?"

Lunaria shrugged, "Because it doesn't matter? You own the wellspring silly girl. Haven't I already explained to you how the purge works?"

"Uhhhh... I think?"

"Ahh my little Aresa is so cute while also so dumb.~" Lunaria reached over and tousled Aresa's hair which made Aresa begin to flail around as she tried to remove Lunaria's hand.

"Um, shall I explain then?" Alicia asked. She continued after Lunaria jutted her chin at her for her to continue, "Okay, well, the purge is only initiated when the corruption on all worlds reach a breaking point that the Eldritch are unable to contain. And according to Lord Terra'ka, such an instance has only happened once in the past. The last group of Humans were much better at rooting out Xerath corruption you see, but my Lord isn't actually sure of how they did it. He said that he didn't pay attention to them back then."

We all looked at Lunaria. In response she threw up her hands and said, "Don't look at me! I wasn't alive back then. Belfos was but good luck getting that sentient rock to stop and talk to you."

I raised my hand, "Just to make sure I'm following this. Mother told all the Eldritch in charge of the wellsprings to initiate a 'purge' which will wipe out what exactly? Everyone?"

Lunaria nodded with a smile still plastered onto her face, "Amazingly ruthless, right? It's a last resort but not one that really bothers her all that much. They have plenty of Humans and Hybrids on Mother ready to repopulate all of the moons and planets after the corruption on them has been reduced back to zero."

"Wait! Is that why everything is so unknown on the Elven continent? Because everyone was systematically wiped out and replaced by people who knew nothing? But then why are there only ruins up there and not everywhere else?"

"There were ruins... Kind of?" Alicia cut in, "I asked my Lord the same question and he said that everything built on the heavenly bodies surrounding Mother all remain intact after the purge. It's just that the time delay between the purge, removing the corruption, and then repopulation; takes a long time. So by the time people are colonizing everything again, most of the buildings look ancient and are falling apart. But as to why the Elven continent is the only place with super technology and deadly machines running around everywhere, your guess is as good as mine."

"I..." Euphemia trailed off. I looked over at her and noticed she looked just as terrified as the day Ishar explained about the broodling in her region. "I really need to make sure I fully understand this part, okay? We're going to be fine so long as the current wellspring owner declines the purge? Is that allowed? Mother will just shrug and give up if Aresa says 'no'?"

"Probably not." Lunaria said while laughing.

Alicia sighed, "Please stop jesting Miss Lunaria. Euphie looks absolutely terrified right now." Alicia looked at Euphemia, "Don't worry, we won't die. In the event we say no, Mother will send the most powerful Eldritch residing on her to Aetheria, where they will personally deal with the corruption here. She won't be happy taking resources away from the Eldritch invasion of Gaia, but she'll do it regardless of how she feels."

"Whoa hang on, I just realized something else. If the Xerath corruption is to be rooted out, does that mean they'll be wiping out the Xel'nethra?"

Aresa and Euphemia looked at me in shock but I noticed that the question had wiped the smile off of Lunaria's face.

Lunaria said, "No, they won't. Mother has deemed his nation 'not a problem'. She didn't elaborate but after I took some time to think about it, I think I understand why she and Meiza'thul are fine with what he's doing. You see, the Xerath corruption is an issue because their Gods keep all of the Humanoid souls for themselves. But Viktor barely uses any souls to sustain the ones he is using. He may feed some of his enemies to the Gods he controls, but apparently he has it setup so they constantly drain the souls of everyone in his region. It's nowhere near enough to hurt them, let alone kill them. And when people do die, Meiza'thul still gets the soul."

I wonder if he knew about this beforehand...? That seems unlikely though, so my best guess is that the overly cautious Viktor was probably just making sure that Mother understood he wasn't a threat. And that he would continue to feed souls to the Eldritch regardless of whether he used Xerath or not.

Aresa clapped her hands, "Okay, I've heard enough! I'm going to say no and then Mother will do... Whatever, who cares? Was this really an emergency? We can figure this out later, assuming there even is more to learn at this point. And as for the here and now, we need to leave!"

Aresa ran out of the room. I could hear her feet hitting the hallway carpet as she sprinted for the main doors.

Alicia smiled awkwardly at me, "It must have been quite a shock seeing the new her. Are you used to it yet?"

"I am, but I have something else I need to talk to you about, so I'm glad you're here."

Alicia motioned toward the door and stood up, so I did the same. We walked into the hallway as Euphie and Lunaria began to discuss the upcoming summit.

"I heard a little from Aresa earlier, she was talking to me through the fairies about you. I was shocked to hear that you were with Ishar. We all assumed he had died back in Viseux. And that's who you wanted to talk about, right?"

"Yes. He talked about his family back on his homeworld. Do you know anything about them? I know at this point he is probably just some colleague you had from the past, but for me I'd like to do right by him if I could. Not that I have any money yet, but I'm sure I could send something their way with a message that explained what happened to him."

We walked out the mansion's main doors and continued heading north. So the meeting takes place near the sea?

"Don't say that, Rei. That cranky Crotian warrior may be ancient history at this point for me, but I do still remember him fondly. He was my first mentor after all. And I figured out over time that his aggressive attitude wasn't a front or done out of disgust for us. It's just who he was." She continued, "I don't specifically know where his family is, but I know who would. After I'm done here, with you know what, I'll go back and tell them to send a message to his family. Just make sure you write it all down for me before then."

"I'll do it tonight after the meeting. I won't have much to do for the next couple of days after all."

Alicia smiled and then went silent. We walked like that all the way until we reached a building next to the sea that was three stories tall and clearly not the kind of place anyone in the middle class would be able to visit.

From there we passed through several checks with guards before finally entering the a large room with a circular table in the middle. There were two dozen seats around it and aside from the guards and servants, Aresa was the only person here.

She had her eyes closed and probably didn't want to be bothered at this point. Plus we had all said what needed to be said already. So Alicia and I walked to the wall behind her and sat down next to it. Alicia entered her soul realm, while I chose to just sit there and do nothing. I silently watched the room, waiting for meeting to commence.

"Good to see you again, Jorgum!"

"You as well, Yulaf!"

Greetings like that had been going on for a while now as more and more people filed into the room. At this point I had stood up and was waiting to the left of Aresa's seat for Viktor to show up.

One group after another entered the room, but not him. And it was now getting to the point that the 'large' room was starting to feel quite small. That's how many people had entered it in the past two hours.

Ah... There he is.

Viktor entered the room with several other people in tow. One brown skinned woman who I assumed was Vi. And two guards that were wearing much better power armor than the last time I had seen them. How the hell did they get those...? And I see that the werewolf is still using Ishar's spear.

The werewolf spotted me first. At first there was a blank expression on his face as his mind tried to process what he was seeing, and from there it slowly turned into a mix of confusion and terror. Not long after that he pointed at me and said something to the others.

At this point Viktor was smiling as he was greeting the people around him. But whatever the werewolf said had clearly drawn his attention. His smile disappeared as he looked at the werewolf for a second before following the trajectory of his finger.

Amazingly, the emotions on his face played out almost exactly the same way as the werewolf's did.

Another bigwig approached him and he quickly put a smile on his face before telling them he'd be right back. He then looked at me again as he began to walk my way with his arms out at his side.

Once he stopped in front of me he said, "How is this possible...?"

"You left my head intact, idiot. That's how I came back the first time too after the goblins dug me out of the rubble following Xelba's collapse." I continued, "Thanks for burying me by the way. It made reviving and disappearing much easier." I don't know if he actually buried me, but he is sentimental about the weirdest things, so I bet he did.

"She's a damned zombie?! I told you we should have cremated her!" The werewolf yelled at the other guard who seemed entirely uninterested in what was happening in front of him.

"Are you really Reimia...?" The lady asked, causing me to look at her and smile.

"Hello again, Vi. I'm glad to see you made up with your Father! Looks like that 'I'll never forgive you' scream of yours came to nothing."

Vi winced and looked down.

"Tsk, she just saw the bigger picture in the end, fool." Viktor rubbed his temples, "Goblins huh... Annoying little green rats. But it makes sense. They definitely would have been interested in everything left behind after Xelba was destroyed."

In the event he does manage to kill me again, hopefully he only cremates me. But odds are he'll have my soul destroyed this time. He's too cautious not to do that. Even so, it was worth making him think he just needs to destroy my head or body to finish me off. There's still a very low chance he'll do that instead.

"You're here to support that girl from Urza I assume. Are you actually a citizen of Termia as well? It's only a matter of time before I own this place, so it looks like you'll be working under me again."

"Very funny asshole. I'm just passing through on my way to Arcadia. I have a feeling I'll find people there who will be more than happy to assist me when I tell them I'm trying to kill you."

Viktor shrugged, "Good luck with that. You were only a kid while you were there so you were never able to spend time with the 'adults' of that society. They're a bunch of self absorbed elitist whose only passion in life is sending people off to die so they can increase their own clans strength. Lording themselves above one another is the only reason they exist." He continued, "I'm sure you'll find a few who hate me even now, all these years later. But they'll never set foot outside of Caedrus, nor will they bother sending anything or anyone down here to kill me. If they were able to do that, they would've done it long ago. No, Rei. You won't use them to kill me. Because those fools don't know or care about anything outside of their own continent, Caedrus."

"Then how the hell did you get those? Those are clearly not knock-off power armors like the ones they were wearing the last time we met."

"Indeed." Viktor said with a smirk before knocking his fist against one of the guards armors, "These are the real deal. But we obviously couldn't get them through trade or theft. No, I had to go another route, and I'm not going to tell you what it was. I apparently can't get rid of you, so it'd be a very bad idea for me to tell you anything more than this."

I'll still need to visit a temple to confirm, but I might as well ask him this just in case.

"One last question then. What happened to the branded warriors of Arkaios who were with me in Xethra?"

"The hell kind of dumb question is that? They're in Gaia. How could you not know that? Lord Arkaios gave up on this realm long ago. I understand why he thinks it'd be smarter to build his influence from Gaia before coming back out here, but I don't think it'll be that easy. The people of Gaia have vastly different priorities from the people of the real world."

'Lord' Arkaios, huh? And what he's saying does line up with one of the possibilities I had considered, but I'll need to make sure all the same.