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Chapter 17: Somewhere, somewhen.

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“Hey Hywel, this isn’t your first time on a ship, is it?” Phoenix shouted across the deck as she walked over.

“What makes you think that?”

“There’s nothing left to do, the sails are all secured, our heading has been correct the last four times I checked it, which it wouldn’t stay right if someone wasn’t fixing it, and I just checked a spot on the rigging that’s been giving me some trouble, and I think I just learned a new knot.” “And it certainly wasn’t Orwen.”

“Well, I just wanted to be helpful, yáll have done a lot letting me ride with you.”

“Is it the demon?” “Does the demon know stuff about sailing?”

“Yeah, Dere wants me to become friends with you guys.”

“Aren’t demons supposed to be evil?”

“Self-interest on his part” Hywel laughed “the hope is that I become so attached to you that I can’t sacrifice myself for the greater good.”

“Is sacrificing yourself just, like, part of the plan?”

“Yeah, pretty much.” “The thing in Core is, well, it’s really big and powerful, when I fight it, I probably won’t survive.”

“Then, like, maybe don’t fight it?”

“Hm, were that it was so simple.”

“But it is.” “You dying fighting something you can’t kill does no one any good.”

He shrugged “what does the world lose but one more monster.”

“You keep calling yourself that, you know that’s not true, right.”

“You don’t know what I did.”

“What did you do?”

“This power that I have, it cost lives, as many as a hundred people died, probably a lot more because of the war getting worse.” “I signed up with the Seekers because I wanted to help people, but in the end… that conviction failed.”

“They were going to kill you, weren’t they?” “To try to get rid of Dere?”

“How do you know that?”

“My, uh, mother, such as she is, tried to get me to do something like that. It didn’t go well.”

“That’s awful.”

“Do you want to hear a story?”

Hywel gestured for her to begin.

______________________________________________________________

“So, the whole, uh, fiasco? that comprises most of my life started the day I turned seven, actually a little before that.” “My mother left our family to go back to her military career when I was 6, right after my big sister came down with consumption, I think she couldn’t bear to watch that. My father, I think he got sick a little afterward, but he hid it, he taught me a lot of things that year, things you need to know to survive on your own, and a few weeks before I turned seven he was on his deathbed and he gave me this knife, and his necklace. He told me the necklace was for remembering, and the knife was for surviving. I did not think I’d actually have to use it.”

“I was then an orphan, but my best friend at the time, Seria, her family was kind enough to let me stay with them. So, one day, my birthday, we were walking home from school, and these big jerkass boys who like to bully us come along, they did this most days, usually it just meant calling us names and stuff.”

“The biggest guy comes up and straight out pushes me, and says something like, ‘oh, that’s what smells, its that shitty harelip comin’ through here’, so I say ‘no, its actually you, horseshit for brains. Oh, sorry, that’s an insult to horseshit.’”

Hywel was taken aback, “What?”

“Seven-year-old Phoenix was a riot.”

“But anyway, they push us around for a hot minute till I get tired of putting up with it and punch him in the gut.” “At this point you are to be reminded that I was a seven-year-old girl, and not a very big one, and my punches were not very strong.” “This guy calls me something I will not repeat and pulls a knife on me.” “It is at this point that his friends run off, presumably to have plausible deniability, and Seria backs away.” “He runs at me, and misses me with three consecutive slashes, long enough for me to draw my knife and hit him in the arm, causing him to drop his knife. I don’t remember what happened very well from then on, but he kept trying to hit me, so I kept stabbing him, like thirty-seven times.”

“So now I’ve killed an eight-year-old boy in the middle of the street.”

“I have one question for you. Am I a monster?”

“No, it was self-defense, obviously not.”

“He didn’t have to die.”

“Maybe not, but that’s not on you.”

“We are not different.” “What you did is not what defines you, it’s how you choose to live with it.” “And I recommend choosing to live, its so much better that way.” “That part of you that wants to believe you’re a monster, you have to ignore it, you can’t live like that.”

“I don’t know how else to live.”

She shrugged “You’ll find a way, eventually. I can’t speak to how long it takes, I’m not sure I’ve found yet.”

______________________________________________________________

“Potatoes, rice, beans, cabbage.” Persephone waved at Orwen. “You paying attention?” “If Phoenix comes in here before we’re done it will ruin the surprise.”

“Oh,” Orwen told himself to focus, and he quickly got the requested ingredients. “I’m sorry, I’m just distracted.”

“It’s Phoenix. You still have to turn her in.” “Chop these potatoes, thin circles please.”

“Yeah.” “But she trusts me, you all do.”

“I mean, not that much.”

“You think that in the end I’ll ‘do the right thing.’” “Here’s those potatoes.” “I won’t, you know, yáll are just making my job easier.”

“Practically easier.” “Obviously we’re introducing some extra cognitive difficulty.”

“I mean, it shouldn’t.” “This has been the plan the whole time. Anything I did to help you guys was a ploy, part of the strategy.”

“You’re a big fan of lying to yourself.” “Can you dice this onion? Real fine please.”

“I’m not lying to myself, I will bring Phoenix in, even if you all feel like it’s a betrayal.”

“Oh, I believe that. It’s just that there have been opportunities that you’ve passed up for the loyalty that you don’t have.” “You’ll probably do it, but you’ll feel bad about it.”

“No, I won’t, I’ll be welcomed back as a hero.”

“And the praise of your peers will give you the satisfaction you seek?”

“Onions.”

“Thanks dear, carrots next.” “You see, I’d be willing to bet that when you go back, you’ll have a lot of people congratulating you on a mission well done, but you’ll be left with the knowledge that any of them would have left you in Ser.” “That is to say, no one who really cares about you.”

“You don’t know me. Here’s those carrots.”

“I got beets coming out of the oven in a sec.” “Deep down, all you really want is to be with a group of people who care about you.” “But you’re convinced that no such group exists, so you go for the next best thing, mass approval.”

“That’s dumb, I don’t need to prove anything to anyone but myself.”

“I’ve heard that line before.”

“Really, from who?”

“Me.” “You’re doing everything you can to get some abstract end goal where you will have proven yourself.” “It’s like pulling on a rope with no end. You wear yourself out until your fingers are raw, but you get no closer to the end.”

“Well, then I’m not pulling it, I’m climbing it. How do you let go of a rope and not plunge into the abyss?”

“I picked up a stranger who wants nothing more than to imprison my friend, I’m on what will probably be a fruitless journey to save someone who doesn’t even care about their own life, and I’m fricking peeling apples to surprise someone who is a much better chef than me.” “Do you think I dropped the rope?”

“Who are you to judge me then?”

��No one, we all have different struggles, I just hope for Phoenix’s sake that you figure out yours.”

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@brokendarkfairyempressforever

@hijabi-flavored-nerd

@betanian117

Just to clarify, Phoenix's backstory is maybe a tad over-blown from a tragedy perspective, but like, go watch Hero Academia or One Piece or smth, its an anime trope I promise, I'm not inflicting trauma on young girls for realism purposes (though I also don't think its necessarily unrealistic sadly.)

New post for the Phoenix Story:

Up to chapter 12:

CW for some Suicidal Ideation, General Angst, Mild Body horror, and as of now, one instance of the f-word.

Chapter 1: A Beautiful Night

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Phoenix finally relaxed.

As she watched the moon slide over the sun, she relished in the fact that she was now, truly, wonderfully alone. Alone, more than anyone else had probably been in a long, long time. There are, of course, ways to be alone not requiring physical distance, and ways of being together that overcome any distance. But it had been a decade since Phoenix had truly experienced togetherness in any of those ways, and the physical isolation was as absolute as she could imagine it. There was no one within 30 miles of where she sat, on an island that no one knew existed on the edge of where life in the sky had penetrated. No one could get there, the navigational skills required were immense and rare, even in such far-flung places as this.

By all rights, trying to get to Phoenix in that moment would be like trying to contact the spirits of the dead.

It was good to be alone, for it was only in this isolation, which, she imagined, would be for some soul-crushing, that she was finally safe. For the first time in a long time, a decade, exactly in fact (she had felt her 17th birthday as she stepped onto the island,) she was safe. At that thought, a wave of, not happiness, but certainly peace washed over her.

She knew it wouldn’t last, in two hours her first scar would twinge, and that would bring back memories of the worst time in her life. And she couldn’t sustain the aloneness, if only for purely practical reasons. But she would enjoy it for now.

She looked up and saw that the moon had finished its arc, leaving only the corona of the sun visible. As the night songbirds started to sing, Phoenix went to find a place to sleep for the first night in a new chapter of her life.

And what a beautiful night it would be.

______________________________________________________________

It was of course a beautiful night, but Orwen didn’t see much of it, despite his perch on the roof of the headquarters of The Hunters. He did not admire the beauty of the stars or the reflection of the ring of fire in the lake, but rather stared into a handheld mirror, running a finger along his scar.

The scar should have been a thing of beauty, it was a perfect Hunter’s Mark, a thin but bright slash from the inside of his left eye to the right corner of his mouth. By conventional wisdom, he should have been grateful, the mark was only supposed to fall on the greatest hunters.

But to him, it only reminded him of his greatest failure. Six months tomorrow. Six months since he had fought the hardest fight of his life. Six months since the first time he thought he might die. Six months since he’d fought and killed the greatest of the Seekers, but that had not been what gave him the scar.

He was the Nitehawk, the greatest hunter of all time, but a lowlife thief had not only beaten him, she’d marked him.

“You mean nothing,” he told himself he was talking to the scar, “until I find her.”

He was not there in the morning.

______________________________________________________________

“Not so fast Dere! I can see you.”

As the figure ran along the wall, Hywel knocked an arrow.

“Not leaving on my watch!”

He let the arrow fly. It didn’t strike the figure, but it didn’t need to, because Hywel quickly Stepped, and was up on the wall, arrow gripped in his right hand. His left was soon gripping the figure’s coat, which slowly shifted back into its more natural catlike form.

“Would you believe I was just out for a walk? It’s a very nice night!” Dere exclaimed.

“No, I don’t believe the words of demons, especially not ones who I catch escaping.” Dere was always unpleasant to deal with. “And now of all times we can’t afford to give you an inch. Not with Scout dead.” Their leader had been killed 6 months prior, and morale had been severely sapped since. The Seekers, and by extension the Alliance of the Sky, had been losing ground fast ever since. They’d already lost control of Nerestar and Dorsinli.

Hywel wasn’t worried they’d lose the war anytime soon, but it didn’t look good for his chances of ever leaving this post.

As Hywel carried the wretched thing inside, it displayed an array of strategies to avoid its inevitable return to imprisonment. First it pretended to be cute and demure, then it scratched futilely at Hywel’s thick gloves, screaming obscenities that hadn’t been heard by mortal ears in centuries, then it whispered in his ears with that terrible voice, promises of power and wealth. Lies, of course, though, weighed against the prospect of spending the next decade on post guarding the creature, Hywel had to admit to being tempted.

______________________________________________________________ Chapter 2: A wonderful morning.

Other than blackberries, the island seemed to be almost completely empty. It would be a lot of work to make the place habitable long term, and that would have to include several trips to somewhere habited. But a few trips to get some chickens and sheep and then Phoenix could probably stay here for a long time. Eventually, she would have to build a house, but she didn’t know where she’d get the materials for such a project.

Its kind of ironic, I guess. To make my fortress of solitude, I have to go to people.

I can wait a while though.

She worked to clear a patch out from the blackberries – fire made quick work of the bushes – more so to distract herself than anything else. She didn’t want to think about… well anything really, because everything would eventually trail back to the fact that she had to go to town. Town, where she might encounter someone who knew her and if she found someone who knew her there, that was the only way she could die.

Why do I always think about death?

Its irrational, no one will be there, because no one knows I’m here, that’s why I came here in the first place.

But in the back of her mind, a picture would not cease to form.

I hate you, Karol. She thought as she clapped her hands, burning away another blackberry bush.

______________________________________________________________

Orwen was known for being fast, but right now he was mostly just frustrated. He had tracked slippery prey before, but Phoenix Alkaryl was one of a kind. Six months of searching had seemed only to deepen her cover, and he could still only narrow her location to about a quarter of The Sky, a pitiful performance by any Hunter, let alone The Nitehawk.

Doesn’t matter how long it takes. I will find her.

He was pouring over a map (the mirror laid just north of Levias) as he sat on the 11:45 ferry from Nerestar and Dorsinli, a convenient service which, 6 months ago, he couldn’t have used. He was glad the Free Cities were winning the war, if for no other reason than it made his job easier. Phoenix couldn’t be anywhere in Alliance territory, ever since he had killed Scout of the Seekers, the Alliance had closed their borders to all travel, Phoenix was supposed to be a good navigator, but no one got past Alliance gusters.

If she’s this far off the map, she probably wanted to disappear. So, she probably went outward.

As he left the boat, he caught a glimpse of something he’d never seen before in an alley. A tall woman, wearing golden chainmail, one side of her face, covered in burns, with three of her limbs replaced with prosthetics. Their eyes met, and she smiled with one half of her face. A Valkyrie, they were all supposed to be on the Levian front. He tried to walk quickly away, but as he turned a corner, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

“Excuse me, you are the Nitehawk, yes? You’re looking for a girl named Phoenix, right? The one who gave you The Mark?”

“Indeed.”

“I know where to find her.”

______________________________________________________________

Guarding Dere was hell, and Hywel had been booked for a full week of it. In a way, you could understand its plight, Hywel didn’t like to be cooped up either and Dere had been locked away for 150 years. But in every other way, well, the thing was pure evil. You could feel it, just standing near it, malice almost seemed to radiate off of the beast, and if you met its eyes, you saw nothing but two pools of absolute emptiness, not just nothing themselves, but threating to make you nothing as well. And its smile was dreadful, you knew it was happy with itself, and when you saw it smiling, you couldn’t even hate it, the hate would drain away before you could replenish it. All you could feel was nothing.

And then there was its voice. It didn’t make any sound, you heard it in your head. It didn’t say anything of any consequence, but it seemed to know everything about you. Or sometimes it would say the most utterly outrageous things, but that was the trouble, after a while of hearing, you sometimes wouldn’t know the difference.

It was evil. In its most concentrated and loathsome form. Precisely what the Seekers were out to eradicate. Or at least that’s what they said. In the last couple of years, they seemed to mostly be fighting in the war. Capturing and killing things like Dere was precisely what Hywel had signed up for. Though the job mostly consisted of long guarding of the one that had already been captured.

Sometimes I hate this job.

You know, if you’d be willing to make a deal, I could give you the power to do all the things you want. Just think of how much better the world could be if you had that power.

I always hate you.

It was going to be a long week.

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Chapter 3: A Long Week.

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Hyla really didn’t constitute a city. But it was enough. Big enough that she could buy chickens and sheep. Big enough that her nerves would never rest. She was only there for a few hours, but her heart pounded the entire time. Her nerves acted up around any large group of people, but they were worse this week than ever. She was constantly reminded by her scars. This week one decade prior had given her so many. A particularly large one panged on her chest as she arrived back on the island, she’d killed the bear, but not before taking a swipe.

Desperate for distraction, she started planting vegetables, with any luck, she’d get some potatoes before winter hit. Then it wouldn’t be as bad as that first winter she’d weathered. She worked furiously, and the potatoes were all planted within an hour, she’d thought it would take till nightfall.

Ok, we’ll start building shelter then.

She dug out a pit, which she preceded to thatch over with blackberries, a task that, blessedly, took her the rest of the week. It was not a complete respite from her thoughts and memories, but it provided some comfort. It wasn’t ideal, but it was critically big enough for all three of her new sheep. They wouldn’t do well outside with how cold outer ring winters could get. Even with her magic, Phoenix had not relished the idea of spending a winter without shelter.

______________________________________________________________ I probably shouldn’t trust her. The Valkyries were a very secretive organization, not known for good faith offerings of assistance. But I can’t just let her go.

“Where?”

“The city of Asera.” Asera made as much sense as anywhere else, a Free City on the outer ring with enough people to disappear into, but not enough that you would definitely get caught.

“Why do the Valkyries know that?”

“Alkaryl is of special importance to us, whenever she is spotted, we’re the first to know.” A little suspect that the Valkyries have more of a stake than the Hunters, but all right.

“And why tell me?”

“You ask a lot of questions.” She raised her eyebrow.

“Well, sorry if you don’t look like a particularly reliable source.”

“It’s her time to die.”

“Thank you for the information.” Orwen turned to go.

“You misunderstand, I am to accompany you.” Fine by him, passing up the help of one of the most feared fighters in the Sky would only hurt his mission.

“All right, we leave at once then.”

She shook her head “I have a few matters to attend to beforehand. Meet me by the northern gate.”

Orwen tried to dispel his suspicions about the Valkyrie. His instincts were usually right, but he hadn’t slept in a while, and her story made sense, he needed her help to find Phoenix. But something still just wouldn’t sit right. He’d have to tough it out, for the mission.

Traveling with Sharon was not pleasant, she seemed to be all business, and was pushing Orwen to go faster, despite the fact that he was travelling with almost three times the normal weight. Her face apparently never moved, and she refused to engage in any conversation that wasn’t complaining about how long Orwen’s Speed took to recharge (despite the fact that they were on track to cover two thousand miles in a week.) But thankfully, Orwen’s suspicions subsided, though that might have been more because he was collapsing into bed at the end of each day.

But, after all this time, he was finally moving forward with his mission.

______________________________________________________________

Hywel emerged from his Hell on the fifth day, after 4 sleepless nights in a row, facing two more, when respite finally came.

“Hywel, you have been summoned to the Chamber.”

“Thank you, and I’m sorry you have to deal with this thing now.” Hywel gestured to Dere fatalistically.

“They’re coming with us.”

“What?”

The other seeker shrugged, unlocked the cage, and slipped Dere into some kind of collar “I don’t know, I was just told to get both of you.”

Hywel was led to the doors of the Chamber and then was left with Dere’s leash.

The doors into the Chamber felt especially heavy on Hywel’s tired hands as he pushed them open. He had been here many times before, but now of all times, it felt imposing. Dere’s whispers had not stopped.

The Chamber was laden with the scent of old parchment paper and dead spells. It was deafeningly silent, except for a scribe scribbling minutes of the previous engagement, probably an execution, given the somber looks of the Council. They sat on a raised platform, overlooking the whole room, there were seven of them, and all of their choices were final.

“Hywel Sutherland. Seeker Honorable.”

“I sir.” Hywel snapped to attention.

“Do you know why you have been summoned?”

“I was not informed, sir.” He looked up, the center councilmember was the one speaking, Garrel Satia, Killer of a Thousand foes. A garish title, but Hywel was in the presence of legends.

“A great time has come upon us. For just yesterday a method has been discovered to eliminate the Demon of which you now hold the leash from this world.” Oh, this’ll be good, how do they think they’ll get rid of me this time… Dere’s voice echoed, Dere caught his eye, They try to do this at least once a year, don’t worry, it won’t work, but you might die anyway…

As if to confirm the cat’s words, another councilmember spoke, Latise SeBorno. “And we are fortunate to have such a dedicated seeker as yourself at this time, for the ritual is not without sacrifice.”

“You, Hywel Sutherland, Seeker Honorable, have been chosen for this purpose.” This is what they always do, sacrifice loyal subjects for a chance at killing the only thing they fear. By the way, my offer still stands, but this is one of your last times to take it. The last guy didn’t and they let the Nitehawk kill him.

“What kind of sacrifice does the ritual entail?” Hywel asked.

“If all goes well, it will leave you exhausted for days” Made up, killing a demon would drain anyone for years… “If the worst occurs, you may have to give your life.” You see?

A third councilmember spoke up. “It is for this purpose that you have been tested, to prove your loyalty before we asked this of you.” You’ve been guarding my cell for five days, I thought they discovered it yesterday?

“And what if I refuse?” In response to this question, all seven of them stood up.

“THE COUNCIL HAS CHOSEN; ALL OF THEIR CHOICES ARE FINAL.”

Is it too late yet Dere?

Fortunately for you, it’s never too late to make a deal!

Ok, I accept. His mind raced, but there was no time to think about this decision. Everything went black.

______________________________________________________________

It opens its eyes.

______________________________________________________________

Chapter Four: A first eventful hour.

______________________________________________________________

Two Levians were sitting at the bar. Phoenix studied them as she sipped on her drink, tea. She’d had to come into town to stock up on food, as winter had started early. Almost a month earlier than it should have. She’d been forced to come inside or be outside in a winter storm. So, she sat in the safest seat in the tavern, a lonely table with a view of the entire space and surveyed the Levians.

She knew they were from Levias for a number of reasons. The first was that they were loud, she could listen to their conversation from across the room. The second was the woman’s jade earrings, unusual for this region. They had matching upper arm tattoos of a snake eating its own tail, which probably meant that they worked for the Levian government directly.

These were highly unusual people to be here, but they didn’t seem like bounty hunters. If this hadn't been a very small town, she might have pegged them as tourists. They weren’t wearing rings, so probably not a married couple. They seemed like good friends though, which made Phoenix jealous, though she didn’t really think much of it. She took out her necklace, a piece of wood, polished so smooth that it could have been mistaken for a gemstone. It was a gift from her father, he’d given it to her after her sister died, he was already sick and said he didn’t think he’d last much longer. He died that night.

“Hey, I really love your necklace.” Phoenix had drifted into her own thoughts and was stunned to see that the Levians had come over to her table. It was the girl who had given her the compliment.

“Oh, oh, oh, umm, Thanks? I guess.” She stammered.

“Sorry if I intruded, you were looking kind of sad, and then I saw that we have the same necklace.” The woman pulled out a necklace which was, in fact, almost identical to Phoenix’s.

“Wow, uh, yeah, its cool.” Not to mention impossible, her father had never been to Levias. “How?”

“What do you mean “how”?”

“I mean, this necklace was given to me by my father, who had never been to Levias.”

“Well, then he got it from someone else, because that’s the only place they’re made.”

“Weird.”

“You look like you have a lot of stories you could tell.” The large man commented.

The woman shot him a look. “I’m sorry about Flynn, he means well but doesn’t understand social cues sometimes. We’ll leave you alone now.”

“He’s not wrong, you can take a seat if you want.” She gestured to the empty chairs. “I’m Phoenix by the way.”

______________________________________________________________

Sharon shook Orwen in the middle of the night.

He was awake.

He was running.

He didn’t know what he was running from.

“Get down.”

They both dove.

He thought they had both dove.

His hands were tied behind his back.

I probably shouldn’t trust her. Orwen’s own thoughts came back to him as he was struck on the head.

He woke up in a dark room, hands shackled to a wall.

I failed.

No, I cannot fail, I’ll escape this.

These are Valkyries, there is no escaping this.

I’m the freaking Nitehawk, I’ll find a way.

His thoughts were muddled but quick, probably a concussion. He surveyed his surroundings as his eyes adjusted. He couldn’t make much out.

Fuck this. He stomped at the ground angrily.

The cell was small and cramped, with thick iron bars, the shackles were tight enough to cut into his wrists. No way to escape unless he was let out, no way they’d be stupid enough to do that.

I will escape, I have to. He let out a scream of frustration. But this is going to set me so far back.

______________________________________________________________

Hywel woke up with a pounding headache and a feeling like dread. But not for the future, but for the past.

Yeah, the first time does that to you. There’s water on the table behind you, drink all of it. You’ll die if you don’t drink and eat enough, and neither of us want that yet. Dere’s voice in his head. But all he could think about was water.

He found the jug and downed the entire thing. But when he looked up, he took a step back in shock.

The scene before him was horror.

He could recognize the walls of the Seeker complex, but the buildings had been leveled. Everything had been stained pitch black, like the aftermath of a wildfire, though Hywel knew this had been much, much worse.

And its my fault.

His entire world started spinning. He felt dizzy. This was his choice. Everyone was dead. It was his fault. His whole life was gone. He chose this. He must have known the deal wouldn’t end well. Everything he stood for, gone in a moment.

Am I the bad guy now?

�� This one question consumed his entire world as he collapsed back onto the ground.

______________________________________________________________

Chapter Five: A second eventful hour.

______________________________________________________________

The woman had introduced herself as Persephone, and the large man was Flynn. They had plenty of stories of their own to tell, apparently it had been a while since they’d left Levias, and they’d gotten in no small share of trouble since.

“And then less than an hour after we get rid of the dragon, what do we see, but a pirate flag. Luckily, our ship has wards for cannon fire, but these are pirates with trained dragons we’re talking about.” Flynn was busily recounting the story.

“So obviously, we just hightail it out of there, we actually used the wind jar we got from the cyclops incident here, because, come on, pirates with dragons.” Persephone interjected to finish the story.

“Skull and crossbones with wings? On a background somewhere between yellow and green?” Phoenix thought she knew the pirates in question.

“Exactly.”

“Well then, that’ll be Jorge Redbeard. Kinda a nasty guy, I hear it’s not even his natural beard color. I got captured by them once, not for very long, but I did see around the ship.” Phoenix leaned in. “Dragon droppings absolutely everywhere.”

“Hilarious.”

There was a pause in the conversation, but Phoenix didn’t want to stop talking.

“So, what actually brings you all this way from Levias?”

They looked at each other awkwardly, as if sharing a secret conversation through just their eyes, before Persephone apparently decided this was information that could be divulged.

“It’s complicated, but the short version is that Flynn is suffering from a terrible disease. We’re looking for a cure.” The levity drained from Persephone’s face as she said this.

“Oh”

Flynn waved a hand dismissively “Don’t worry about me, I won’t die… at least not soon, I just can’t go back until I’m cured.” He acted like it was the most reasonable reaction in the world.

“Where are you going?”

“It’s a small village, named Ser, there’s a healer there, supposed to be the best.” Persephone was apprehensive.

“I know him, and he is the best.”

“How?”

“It used to be my home.”

______________________________________________________________

It wasn’t long before someone came to get Orwen. She unlocked the shackles but kept her hand tight on his wrist. Pushing him roughly forward. He didn’t struggle, there wouldn’t be much point yet, he’d been trained for situations like this, he had to follow that training.

He was led into a large room lit by torches, with a big round table in the middle, surrounded by Valkyries, he could recognize Sharon across the table from him. He was sat down into a chair, and his hands were locked into another set of shackles.

“Good job people. We caught him.” The Valkyrie in charge spoke to the others. “The Nitehawk, right in our trap.”

“You just gonna keep gloating?” Orwen was practiced in keeping a calm demeanor.

“You’re in no position to talk, you fell for it.”

“I mean, it was a good plan, and lucky timing, you wouldn’t normally be able to do that.”

“You’re just bitter.”

“Are you ever gonna tell me why I’m here?”

The goal was annoyance was keeping the idea that he was completely trapped. This was, of course, not true, these shackles were much looser, he could dislocate his thumbs and slide them right off. But that wouldn’t do him much good right now, surrounded and unarmed, he had to buy time.

“Why so impatient? It’s not like you’ve got anywhere to go.”

Orwen smiled. “Actually, you are detaining me from an important mission for the Hunters.” The training was working, and he’d just found his way out, an outward facing window, thirty feet up, not ideal, but workable.

“Well, if you must know.”

Monologuing? His respect for the Valkyries was dwindling by the second. The woman in charge was describing gruesome torture methods, but she was putting the implements on the table, about 3 feet in front of him. She had better get fired for such a lapse in judgement. Not that anyone less skilled than Orwen would be able to escape. Then it happened. The guard change, all six subordinate Valkyries filed out of the room through the opposite door, the new ones coming in only a second afterward, but a second was all he needed.

“I’m really embarrassed for you here.” Orwen said before using Perfection.

Everything started to move in slow motion. Then his hands were free, then the lead Valkyrie was hit over the head with a large set of thumbscrews. Then he grabbed a spear and vaulted, landing on a ledge 10 feet up. Just 20 more to go, he’d practiced the next move many times. He dashed to the corner, and then using his Speed, ran up the wall, catching the edge of the window and pulling himself up and over onto the other side. He didn’t have any speed left, but he didn’t need it. There was a direct line of sight from here to a dock with a small gondola. He stopped using Perfection, he didn’t need it anymore.

Clean escape, that’s what they’d trained him for.

Hywel woke up a second time, but this time, he just stared at the sky.

I can’t be. I spent my whole life dreaming of fighting… what I am now?

You’ll destroy yourself thinking like that, believe me I know.

So, what do I do.

Distract yourself, anything, I recommend getting off this island and getting us some food.

I can’t just distract myself from the revelation that I am now everything I know to be wrong.

What do you think demons have been doing all this time?

It wasn’t a bad point, so Hywel went looking for a boat, whatever he was gonna do, he needed to get off this island.

______________________________________________________________

Chapter 6: Godspeed.

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It was decided that Phoenix would accompany Persephone and Flynn to Ser. It was a dangerous choice, Persephone and Flynn were still not much better than strangers, but Phoenix didn’t think that she could let them leave without her, during their conversation, something had stirred within her that she hadn’t felt in a long time, and now that she remembered it, it would be impossible to forget anytime soon.

It was dumb, of course. She didn’t like it. She’d made the same mistake with Karol, and that had left her with a knife between her shoulder blades.

But this felt different.

Of course it did, this time she would take precautions. She wouldn’t let herself get too attached, and she’d remain ready to escape at a moment’s notice. She wouldn’t be trapped.

Persephone and Flynn’s ship was massive, with three masts and several decks. The fact that they had been able to sail it with no extra crew meant that it almost certainly also had magic. It was truly a beautiful thing. And it was fast. Multiple times the top speed of Phoenix’s little gondola. They had enough space to pen up Phoenix’s animals, and within a day of the end of the storm, they had left for Ser, though, even with such a marvelous ship, traveling a hundred miles in outer ring winter would be nigh impossible without masterful navigation skills. Which was probably the only reason why she’d been invited along.

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Three days and nights in a small gondola adrift in the clouds. Orwen preferred running to boating, but he was competent enough in an emergency, which this definitely constituted. Even though he’d escaped, he’d be hunted down if he wasn’t careful. That’s what had gotten him into this mess in the first place, carelessness, he hadn’t followed his training, he’d been too focused on that one thing that he’d gotten sloppy. He couldn’t afford to get sloppy. He needed to focus on everything all at once. He’d need to do this perfectly to have any chance at completing the mission.

He finally arrived at his destination. He had no reason to believe that Phoenix was in Asera, but he did have a contact here that might be able to help. He’d been to Asera before, so he knew his way around, but between constantly checking to see if he was being followed and the fog that had been slowly encroaching on more and more of his waking hours due to lost hours of sleep, he missed turns constantly, and actually getting to his destination took him almost two hours.

Three knocks on the door, pause, repeat, pause, repeat.

The door was opened, and he was welcomed into a cozy little house with a fire roaring and a meal already cooking. He did not enter but stood in the doorway.

“You look like absolute crap.”

“Feel like it too.” Orwen longed to collapse into the guest bed, Bolson always kept it ready. “But I don’t have much time, I gotta get going soon.”

“Chasing Phoenix still?” “You ought to stay and rest a little, you can’t bring her in in this condition.”

“You forget who you’re talking to.”

“All right, all right. You’re in luck, we just got word about her.”

“Really, where?”

“Our person trailing the crown prince of Levias saw her leave with them.”

“So, she’ll be in Ser, and soon.” “That’s a ways away. I better get going. Thanks.”

Orwen turned to leave.

“Hey, remember not to run too fast, you’re gonna run yourself to death at this rate.”

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Hywel had never been very good with boats, but he didn’t know where he was going anyway, so it didn’t matter that he went slowly.

Where do I go?

Big island, on the horizon, there’s houses, there’ll be food.

I know, but after that where? I don’t know what I’m doing anymore.

Just focus on now, get food, eat it, then you can think about where to go next.

Do you ever think about anything other than food?

I think of lots of things that I want.

Ok, but anything other than what you want right now?

No, what else would I think about?

I don’t know. The future, the past, the people around you and what they need. Right and wrong.

That’s complicated. I prefer food.

I guess that makes sense. What did the Seekers call you things? Holes in the universe.

And the very manifestations of hunger and lust, yes, you get it, I eat, and then I go find other things to eat.

Hywel would not be finding any answers to his problems from Dere, but of course, it wasn’t like he could keep his thoughts to himself, he didn’t know exactly what had happened, but Dere was somehow… a part of him now.

That’s why you’re evil, I guess. You can’t really be anything else. Unsatisfiable hunger never really helped anyone.

It helped you.

At what cost though? Is it even worth it? Considering that my life cost that of others?

This is why I focus on food. Anyway, we’re here.

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Chapter 7: A Sight in the Distance.

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Phoenix looked out from the crow’s nest of the ship across the sea of clouds. She didn’t have to be up here, it was a calm day, and the ship could essentially sail itself. She could have been down on the deck, where Persephone and Flynn were talking. She could be a part of that conversation.

But she was anxious. She worried about whether this was really a good choice. Her instincts told her that getting too close to these people would end poorly. Like with Karol, and Seria. Her instincts had kept her alive this long.

And yet…

Another part of her longed to descend.

Persephone looked up at the crow’s nest. Phoenix hadn’t come down in a while, she didn’t even think she’d gotten lunch. She was debating whether it would be better to bring her some food, or if she probably needed to be left alone.

“You should go check on her.”

“And have to climb all that way?”

“You could always fly up, I really don’t understand the point of hiding that stuff from her, she seems trustworthy, it’s not like she’s gonna do anything bad to us.”

“Remember that we’re taking precautions for you. You are way too important to risk like that.”

“Ok, but we both know you’re gonna check on her. It’s your arms that have to haul you up there.”

“You could probably throw me.”

“Is that not more suspicious?”

“I don’t know.” Persephone left to get some sandwiches.

“You climbed all that way just to bring me sandwiches?”

“Indeed, but mostly to check how you’re doing. You’ve been up here for a long time.”

“Yeah.”

Phoenix picked up a sandwich off the plate and started eating.

“You like being alone?”

“I don’t know if I’d say that.”

“Then it’s probably just comfortable. You’ve been alone for a long time.”

“Definitely that.” She took another bite.

“And going back to Ser is dredging some stuff up.”

“Going back to your home does that.”

“It’s not my home, hasn’t been for a long time.”

“I hear that. I could say the same for where I was born.” Persephone stared wistfully “I assume there’s no family waiting for you?”

Phoenix shook her head. “I’ve been an orphan since I was 6.” “These sandwiches are really good.”

Persephone could tell she didn’t want to talk about it. “Thanks, I make my own mustard.”

Phoenix saw the island of Ser in the distance.

______________________________________________________________

Orwen ran.

The path he was taking had been built recently, to help move supplies for the war effort. Warpaths were always good for him; they took away the requirement for ferries.

He was using every once of Speed he got, and walking in between uses. This wasn’t the healthiest way to do it, but it was the fastest. He could rest when he’d found her.

He slept as little as possible. He needed regular sleep, or his Speed wouldn’t work, but he had to keep going. He was so close he could taste it. Several times he’d thought he’d seen Valkyries in the bushes. He didn’t know if he’d know if they were real.

He was so tired.

But he had to keep running.

Run.

Run

Run.

Fight.

They were on him.

He stabbed.

They died; he’d hit his mark.

Run.

Run

Run.

Run

Run.

______________________________________________________________

Hywel ate. He hadn’t realized how hungry he was. He must have eaten every last crumb they had to offer.

I guess having a demon inside you probably does that. Ok, I ate, now what do I do?

Probably sleep.

You’re no help.

Hey, I just say what I’m feeling.

Hywel just started walking. He didn’t know what he was looking for, but he hoped he’d know it when he found it.

Possession seemed to have its merits. Even though he was constantly hungry and sleepy, he didn’t seem to need food or sleep to survive, or at least, he was able to walk without stopping or sleeping for 5 days straight, so that seemed to be the takeaway.

He finally stopped only when he saw it. The front line of the war. A burning mass of shattered, quickly constructed defenses. They had recently lost a battle. He didn’t know which side they were, and though he might have cared sometime earlier in his life, he couldn’t care less now. All he saw were the dragons.

You aren’t supposed to use dragons as weapons. In captivity they’re killing machines, and if they get loose, they cause immense amounts of damage, indiscriminately, but in the wild they are gentle giants, and rarely have negative encounters with anything other than sheep.

The fact that there was a village this close to the front line was a tragedy enough. But there was a village, and dragons. Hywel had no more thoughts.

It took seconds, or it seemed like seconds, for Hywel to get between the village and the dragons. He had climbed onto the tallest building in town. And he had his bow at the ready already. As soon as the closest beast was within range, the arrow fired, and then Hywel was on the dragon’s back. He didn’t know what he was doing, the power seemed to flow from instinct, not thought, the beast’s throat was torn out and he had leaped to another one.

It was less than a minute before he landed, standing on top of the last dragon’s corpse, in the center of the village. The villagers didn’t cheer. They had been saved. But not by a hero, but by what was, to the vision of everyone, a monster.

______________________________________________________________

It stirs in its nest, looking out over the city.

______________________________________________________________

Chapter 8: Continuance.

______________________________________________________________

Ser was not like Phoenix remembered. It was a warzone; a battle had broken out recently nearby. Keeping track of the front lines was an impossible task these days. Phoenix hesitated, Flynn and Persephone did not.

They were immediately in the streets, telling people to get out, to go to their ship if there was nowhere else. Several houses had been hit by projectiles from the battle. Flynn quickly went to work getting people out of them.

The Firethrower. That’s why the battle was here. Most towns didn’t have one, sole control over one made it almost impossible to attack you, but this town had little value outside of it. Phoenix was running, through the town, through the crowds of people. It was the major threat to the city, but it could be easily neutralized. Until she got to the battle scene.

This is insane. That didn’t stop her. She threw herself into the mass of soldiers. She was adept at moving through crowds, and she wasn’t wearing the colors that would indicate to either side that she was an enemy. So, it didn’t take her nearly as long as it should have. She didn’t know why she was doing it. She wouldn’t normally risk herself like that. But there wasn’t time to think about that right now.

The weapon was made of wood, it was trivial to set it alight with her power, though, given its size, it took a while to really start burning. She was outside the crowd of combatants before they started to realize what had happened. Both sides of the battle started retreating quickly, but as she looked back she saw sizeable groups of soldiers peeling off to follow her.

Drat. She sprinted away as hard as she could. Some of them had horses, she wouldn’t be able to outrun them, but maybe she could get back to the ship before they thought to cut her off. The town looked to have been evacuated successfully. There was a throng of people on the dock. And Flynn and Persephone were… running toward her?

“What are you doing?”

“Coming to help you!” Flynn roared.

“If you didn’t notice, there’s a full army, get to the ship.”

“We can’t lead them that way, there’s innocent bystanders.” Persephone said.

“We can’t exactly fight here.”

“Watch us.”

Phoenix stopped as she got to them and turned around to face the oncoming army. It was a hundred to three.

“You’re gonna like this one.” Persephone smiled as she threw off her cloak, revealing a pair of sparkling butterfly wings, which started to flap, as she shrunk within seconds to the size of a squirrel.

She flew straight towards the oncoming throng, reaching a fast speed before – Phoenix couldn’t believe her eyes – she grew not only to her original size, but fifteen times the size. Digging large furrows into the ground where she landed, and probably more importantly, scaring the horses, and some of the people too.

“That buys us some time.” Flynn was right. They were chaos now. But it wasn’t over, as a few dozen foot soldiers were still running towards them. “It’s big and flashy, but she can’t maintain that size for very long, she expends enough of her power just staying human sized all the time.” “I don’t suppose you are good at one versus many fighting?”

“Not really, requires touch.” She held up her hands to indicate she was talking about her powers.

“Ah, well. I’m sure Persephone will understand that this was necessary. Probably be able to scare these guys off pretty easily.” He turned towards the oncoming soldiers; they were only about 60 cubits away now. He looked towards the sky, and his body started to change.

Phoenix knew what they were trying to cure now. Ursanthropy.

Faced with a twelve-foot tall werebear, the soldiers turned tail.

That was intense. That was insane. Why did I do that?

Persephone and Flynn were returning to their normal selves as they walked back.

They didn’t hesitate. I guess I was just following them.

______________________________________________________________

There was a point that Orwen got to where he couldn’t feel exhaustion anymore. He couldn’t feel anything anymore. All that was left was determination. He was so close, within mere hours, his mission would be complete.

There was nothing left to think about but what he would do when he finally saw her face. As he sat eating his dinner – the last dinner before he got to her – he looked into his little mirror (for some reason the Valkyries hadn’t taken it.)

Soon, it’ll all be worth it.

He thought of what he’d say to her. What would be a suitable ending line for this, the greatest chase of his life.

Phoenix Alkaryl, fleet of foot and strong of spirit. I am Orwen Desinor, the Nitehawk, master hunter. You have fled me for too long, but now it is time for this to come to an end.

He pressed forward, less than a mile left to go.

______________________________________________________________

Hywel ate and killed. It was all he could bring himself to do. There was a lot to kill in this part of The Sky, word of him quickly spread, he left quite the impression on those who saw him. He came to understand that people thought of him like a monster, that was how he saw himself, but they knew that if they pointed him in the direction of something evil, he would kill it, it was the only way he clung to the semblance of sanity he had left. He was able to convince himself that even if he was a monster, he could make himself a useful one.

And Dere was happy to oblige this behavior.

He caught a reflection of himself in a pool of water. A sunken face, despite all of the food he gorged himself on, he was emaciated. He was taller than he had been (now almost seven feet), but horribly thin, his skin (grey, or purple, or red, or yellow depending on where you looked) hung off of him in most places, as if it was made for a much larger man. His joints hung loose, constantly either horribly stiff or horrifyingly flexible.

It reminded him of why he was doing what he was doing. He wanted to die, but he couldn't justify doing it in any other way. And so he ripped and tore through the other monsters in these islands, he didn’t know where he was anymore, but he didn’t care.

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Chapter 9: Face to Face.

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Qualos wasn’t there. He had died months before, not from the war, but of consumption, the same thing that had killed Phoenix’s father and sister years before. There had been an outbreak, leading to the deaths of dozens of people. There wasn’t anyone left who cared about Phoenix’s exile. Which should have been a relief, it was convenient for her. But she couldn’t be happy about death.

The damage from the battle wasn’t huge, all things considered, only a few people were injured, and the people who lived in the destroyed houses found other places to stay, at least for the time being. But there was quite a bit to do, and it was almost an hour after the fighting had stopped before Flynn and Persephone approached Phoenix again.

“So, I’m guessing you have questions?”

“Not really, I think the fact that you’re a fairy with growth powers and Flynn is a Werebear is evident enough.”

“That’s not exactly it though.”

“Hmm.”

“Flynn is also the crown prince of Levias.”

“Nice.” Phoenix smiled. She wasn’t especially surprised, the giant fairy thing had kind of prepared her for anything. “Ok, so we got a disgraced prince in exile until he can find a cure for his Ursanthropy, and his guardian slash best friend, the two-inch-tall fairy who pretends to be a human but can also be the size of a giant. Anything else?”

“That’s essentially it.” “None of that is surprising you?”

“I’ve had a weird life. Traveling thief isn’t a career for the faint of heart. And honestly, that’s a pretty logical explanation for two Levians with a massive, fancy ship traveling alone to a tiny village at the edge of The Sky.”

“So where do we go now?” Flynn asked. “I mean, this is a dead end.”

“For a cure for Ursanthropy?” “The only other possibility is Core.” “That’s a long way though. We need to leave as soon as possible.” Phoenix started towards the ship, she didn’t really want to spend any more time here than necessary, there was no closure here anymore to the pain this town had caused her.

“Is there nothing else you want to do while we’re here?” Persephone asked.

“Nope, I told you, this used to be my home.”

“Well, we can’t leave just now, we have to buy some supplies if we’re going on that long of a trip.”

Phoenix settled on wandering around the town for a few hours, she’d be couped inside the ship for long enough soon.

______________________________________________________________

She was right there. He could see her. The journey was over, there was only one thing left for Orwen to do.

“Phoenix Alkaryl, strong spirited and fleet of foot. I am Orwen Desinor, the Nitehawk. You have fled for a long time, but it is time for this to end. Have you any final words?”

“Orwen! Nice to see you! It’s been a while.” Phoenix turned around. “Nice speech. A few comments. First, my name is Alkaryl, it’s Liventis, Alkaryl was my mother, though you Hunters probably only have us under her name from the military records. Second, you will not be capturing me today.” She held her dagger close. This would be a hard fight. But he would be attempting to take her in alive, which she knew wasn’t his specialty. She clapped her hands as she said “Ok, let’s do this.”

This was a distraction tactic, intimidation like this was a Hunter thing. He ignored her and started channeling Perfection he was low on both of his powers, he needed to get this over quickly. And he only had one knife, so throwing was out. He closed the distance quickly, ducking under her first attack and jabbing into her stomach, before dashing back out of reach.

She was clutching her side where he had stabbed her, but also… smiling? “You’ll have to do better than stabbing old wounds.” Indeed, as she took her hand away from her side, she revealed a charred hole in her shirt, and underneath a large amount of old scar tissue, and the newly cauterized wound.

He dashed back in, he couldn’t sustain Speed or Perfection much longer, he needed to end this now. Her knife was red hot as she took a swing at him. A torso strike wouldn’t do much to her, she was apparently practiced fighting through the pain, maybe if he hit her wrists? He ran out of Speed, he should have saved some up, but he had been in a hurry. He was still able to perfectly parry the knife, knocking it out of her hands. He turned to strike at her body again as he saw his fatal mistake, with no speed left to dodge it. He’d been focused on the knife; he hadn’t looked at her other hand. It landed on his shoulder, red hot. He blacked out from the pain, he barely had time to scream.

He had failed.

______________________________________________________________

Dere saw fear. Hywel saw justification. Or at least a route to it. It was a horrifying scene. Thankfully Hywel knew it wasn’t happening, yet this was the future.

People screamed. The streets ran red with blood. Hywel didn’t know what was going to cause it, but he thought Dere did. It didn’t matter, he knew he could stop it.

A beast lingered over the bodies of the people it had slain, licking its lips. Hywel almost cheered. This was what he was looking for. If he was to be a monster, if all that he would be able to do was kill, he could kill this thing, he got the sense that it was the biggest monster of all.

It cannot be killed. Dere’s voice was panicked. Do not look for it, you will die.

I think that’s the goal.

No, you cannot kill this, it is not some small beast. Even we fear it.

Well, if demons fear it, then it must be evil. Maybe I can find the justification I’m looking for.

Do you know what happens to me if you die?

You’ve been fine with it until now.

Only because you haven’t been after things that I couldn’t beat. That’s no dragon, that’s… IT.

Well, we better find a way to kill it. Because I’m doing it either way.

Hywel saw where it would happen, Core. And then he thought he saw It look right at him.

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Chapter 10:

______________________________________________________________

“We can’t really do anything else except wait for him to wake up.” Persephone had treated Orwen’s burn. It wouldn’t heal completely, Phoenix had only touched him for a second, but the heat had immediately caused a bright white handprint to form, and parts were brown or almost black. “It’s a pretty bad burn, and I think that he was already pretty exhausted, but he should survive.”

“How long until we’re able to leave?”

Persephone knew what Phoenix meant; she didn’t want to be here when Orwen woke up. “I don’t want to leave him here; this town doesn’t have anyone trained enough to treat him.” “If that gets infected, and no one is here to help him, he’ll die.” “And quick or not, he can’t get himself to the next town.”

Phoenix understood that Persephone didn’t want to be responsible for his death, Phoenix didn’t want to either, especially not in this town, but still... “So, we just take him with us?” “Did you forget he tried to kill me?”

“Yeah, if we’re going to go, we should take him.“ Persephone looked over at where Flynn was “and we need to leave.” She looked at Phoenix “look, I get that you don’t want to travel with him, maybe this is where we leave you.”

Phoenix balked at that, but she didn’t know why. Yeah, that was the most logical answer. But, for some reason…

She shook her head “no, you need me if you’re going to navigate all the way to Core.” She was fighting to stay with these people? She’d fought long and hard to get to where she was, she’d gotten paid already, she should just let them go and go back to her little island. Was she really going to choose traveling with the assassin that had hunted her for months.

Yes, yes, she was. “Look, so long as he’s injured, I don’t think he poses much of a threat. As soon as he can walk though, we drop him off.”

“Absolutely. And we can keep him in a locked room too.” Persephone smiled; she was glad Phoenix wanted to stay with them. “Hey Flynn, come over here, help me get this guy loaded up so we can leave.”

______________________________________________________________

Orwen didn’t wake up for almost a day, when he did, he was on his stomach on a large, soft bed in the belly of a rocking ship. His entire back ached, but the pain was by far the worst on his left upper back. He tried to get out of bed, but twisting his body only made it much worse.

“I wouldn’t try that” Persephone brought in some food. “your left shoulder sustained some nasty burns.” “We definitely need to keep you in bed for at least a few days.”

“Who are you? Also, where am I?”

“Oh, yeah, that. Well, we couldn’t exactly just leave you in a town with no doctors with that kind of burn. But we really needed to get going. So, we brought you on board.” “I’m Persephone by the way.”

“Do you know where Phoenix went?”

“She’s here too. But I wouldn’t try anything.”

“She’s here!? Why would you let me travel with her?” Orwen was ecstatic, though confused, maybe he hadn’t failed after all.

“The other option was to essentially leave you for dead. No one wanted that.”

Kinda stupid, I would have left her for dead in a heartbeat. But I probably need to pretend to play along for now.

“All right, I assume I’m at least locked in this room though?”

“And your daggers are locked up in a closet on the other side of the ship, yeah, we weren’t gonna take that chance.”

Persephone left, and Orwen started eating his food, he’d be coming up with some sort of plan to complete the mission, but for now, he needed to sleep, his back was killing him.

______________________________________________________________

Hywel finished climbing the hill. Core was a long way away, so he’d need to pace himself. He’d made good progress; he’d walked nearly 40 miles over the last couple of days. Though, at some point he would have to find a way to increase the pace, he’d probably need to get a ship, he had a sense that what he’d seen would happen in a matter of months, and he needed to travel a lot.

As he knelt beside the pond, he scooped up some water to drink, he hadn’t had a sip in weeks, he didn’t need it. And he looked at his reflection.

It was, better, or at least, less bad. The color was starting to return to parts of his face, and the bags under his eyes had shrunk significantly, he’d slept for the first time in a while. His increased height had not diminished, he still stood almost seven feet tall, compared to his natural 5 foot 4, but he looked significantly less emaciated.

What has happened to me? Is it really newfound purpose, or am I just getting used to being a monster?

Dere remained silent, he suspected he was being given a form of cold shoulder for his choice.

He was still drenched in blood, so he used this opportunity to bathe. His clothes were mostly ruined, and none of them fit well anymore.

I need to get new ones; I’ll need to be some manner of presentable if I expect to be able to get a ride to Core.

His hair had grown ragged, it was long, but it had been falling out in tufts. He was surprised to see that he still he still had his dagger. He cut as much of the hair off as he could, better bald than patchy. He left his beard.

Wait, that’s odd, I couldn’t grow one before.

Sometimes that happens. Dere spoke up for the first time in a while. If your hair comes back, it might come back curly too. Possession does weird things to human bodies.

Oh, I hear you’re speaking up again.

Just here to remind you that if you are doing hygiene, you should trim your nails, they look like claws.

Indeed, they did.

You deciding to be helpful all of a sudden?

Maybe if we get you back in civilized society, I can convince you not to kill yourself.

Not a chance. Hywel smiled as he scrubbed the blood from beneath his fingernails, the first time in at least two months that he had smiled. But I appreciate the sentiment.

______________________________________________________________

Chapter 11: A long trip

______________________________________________________________

Phoenix sat on the deck, this area of the sky was calm, which meant slow going, but also not a lot to do as a navigator, so she was sharpening her knife.

“It’s a beautiful thing, glad to see you’re keeping it in good shape.” Flynn sat down beside her.

“It’s broken, it used to be able to fold, it also used to have a wooden handle.” Repetitive heat had fused the tang and the blade together, she’d had to weld additional metal onto it several times to keep it usable, the handle had now been shaped to almost exactly fit her hand.

“Put another way, it’s been shaped into exactly the right shape for its use.” “Weapons designed for magic have to be unique, that’s what makes them beautiful.”

“Every time I use it in battle, I have fix it up again, otherwise the blade warps.”

Flynn nodded “yeah, it’s a lot of work to hone after every fight, but what you get in return is a perfectly natural tool. I’ve seen how you fight; you use that knife like an animal uses claws, I would know.” He balled his hands up into fists.

“How does it feel?” Phoenix asked.

“Being a Werebear?”

“Yeah, that”

“It’s not bad. It’s never been the being so much as the being seen as that’s the problem.” “When I actually transform, all I feel is the power of it, like I can do anything I want to.” “That’s kind of the worst part too, is coming out of it, and not feeling that anymore.”

“Feeling like you can’t actually change anything that matters.”

“Yeah, that”

“And then comes the fear, that you’ll be trapped, and something bad will happen to you.”

“I don’t know about that; I’ve been living on borrowed time for a while. It’s more so feeling that I’m trapping her.”

“Persephone?”

“Yeah, she cares a lot, and she’s determined that I have to survive.”

“You won’t die though.”

“Not from ursanthropy directly, no, but my father, as much as he pretends. Well, we think he’s the one sending people after us. We talk a big game, but we barely survived the last attack, I don’t think we, I, make it all the way to Core.”

“He would do that?” Phoenix was astounded.

“He was willing to when we were back in Levias, said he ‘couldn’t allow exceptions to the rule of law’, even for his own son.” “I think he’s always seen me as less than my brothers, might have just been looking for an excuse.”

“I can’t even imagine that.”

Flynn smiled, trying to cut the gloominess of the conversation “don’t feel too bad, at least I got to grow up as a prince.”

“I mean, that doesn’t make any of that less tragic…”

“I don’t care that much, I’ve just kinda dealt with it.”

“That doesn’t work.”

Flynn raised an eyebrow.

“Running from your feelings I mean.” “Believe me, I’ve tried.”

“I wouldn’t call it that… I’ve just got, thick skin, that’s it.” “It doesn’t get to me.”

“Must be nice.”

“You’ve been running though?”

“Until it catches up with me.”

“And then you fight like a cornered animal.”

“That’s one way to say it.”

“Like, not trying to kill it, just make it go away.”

“I don’t like killing.”

Flynn nodded. “Does anyone really like it?”

“The last time I killed I broke my dagger.”

“That must be a good story.”

Phoenix looked at him seriously, “it was a bear, it almost killed me, gave me this” she pulled her sleeve up to reveal a nasty bite mark on her shoulder “but I killed it. I don’t like killing, so I haven’t killed since, I just run, and when I’m cornered.” “Well, if you don’t want to kill, you have to learn to inflict pain instead.”

“A lot of it.”

“Yeah, that.”

______________________________________________________________

Orwen lay in bed. The room had no windows, which, on a boat this fancy looking, probably meant it was toward the bottom. The walls were likely to sturdy to have a hope of breaking through, and there was no access to the door lock from this side, so picking wasn’t going to be an option. The only way he would be able to break out would be to jump Persephone when he brought him his food. If he did that, he could probably escape, assuming they didn’t have someone watching for him immediately outside the door.

His wound had healed considerably since he had come aboard the ship, but he strictly speaking still needed more rest. This, combined with his reluctance to assault Persephone, she seemed like such a nice person, led him to conclude that his best chance for completing the mission lay in a more, diplomatic approach. Gain their trust, lead them as close to Hunter headquarters as possible, and then bring Phoenix in at the last possible minute. He probably also wanted to save as much Speed and Perfection as possible. That meant sleep and food, easy enough, whoever was cooking the food was an amazing chef.

“I hope you’re hungry” Persephone walked in, talking in the sweet, almost sing-song tone she usually used with him, “we’ve got something delicious today, Phoenix made Borscht, I hear it’s a family recipe.”

“Does Phoenix normally cook? I’ve been wondering who it was.”

“Ever since we found out she’s absolutely amazing at it, we’ve refused to even touch a pot.”

After he tasted the soup, wonderfully meaty, he said “probably the right call.”

“From what I can tell, she just appreciates having this full of a set of ingredients.” “How’s your shoulder?”

“Much better, thank you. It’s been feeling better every day.”

“Well,” she turned to leave “let me know if you need anything else.”

“Hey, Persephone”

“Yes?”

“Seriously, thanks for doing this for me, most people I know wouldn’t.”

She walked away smiling. Exactly what Orwen needed.

______________________________________________________________

Hywel ran now. He had avoided crossing the war line before, but he could no longer. But the borders were closed, so there wasn’t an easy way to get across. And what was more troubling was that he had alerted seekers to his location. They had been tracking him down, whatever remnant of the Seekers was left apparently had capturing him as their first priority.

So, he was running, both from half a dozen trained Seekers and a large contingent of soldiers, who had at least a few boats. Thankfully, the wind was low today, so the boats couldn’t outrun his enhanced speed. He would have been captured ages ago if not for a confluence of lucky factors. He would almost definitely be captured soon, he knew where he was, and he had studied this area, Seekers were required to know the general layout of all the land around the war line. This road was old and would run out in less than a mile.

He didn’t want to have to fight them. They didn’t stand a chance, with Dere’s help he could probably have plowed through the entire alliance army, but he wouldn’t be able to avoid killing them, enough people had died needlessly because of him already.

So, he’d have to figure out a way to escape.

There’s the end of the road. Nothing within a thousand feet.

Two thousand feet out, there’s a rock, with a running start I can get you most of the way, and then shoot an arrow.

If I’m even a little short though…

You could always turn around and fight!

No.

He stopped about a dozen feet short of the edge, turned around and surveyed the oncoming army, and then he looked over the edge, nothing. If he fell, he would be falling forever.

I wouldn’t take that risk if I were you, you have choices here. Instead of throwing yourself over the possible suicide gap, you could stand and fight or let yourself get captured and break out later.

Hywel took a deep breath. No, if I want to believe I can be redeemed, there is no choice.

He backed up and took a running start. With Dere’s power, he launched himself across 100 feet, 500 feet, 1000, 1500, he just had to shoot this arrow 250 feet, not the easiest, but he could do it.

He knocked the arrow, drew, and shot. It raced toward that solitary rock…

And missed.

______________________________________________________________

Chapter 12: Impossibilities

______________________________________________________________

The wind had picked up, it was howlingly fast, the middle ring was known for wild changes in weather, but this was stronger than Phoenix had seen in a long time.

“If this keeps up, we’ll be in Dorsinli this afternoon.” She had to shout to be heard over the wind.

“Really? It feels like we just left Nerestar.” Flynn shouted back. It had taken three weeks to get from Ser to Nerestar, but only four days to get to where they were. “We’re making good time!”

“Remember that the distance from the middle ring to the inner ring is longer, and from the inner ring to Core, that’s going the feel interminable.”

“That’s not what the map shows.”

“I forget that you haven’t been farther in than the capital of Levias.” “Let me finish tying this up then I’ll come down and explain it.” The sail needed to be secured better, she finished tying the knot and then quickly climbed down the netting.

“Ok, so this is weird for people who were born on the Outer Ring, like us, but I forget that they don’t teach it in Levias, given that it only has territory in the Outer Ring.” “As you get closer to the middle of the map, it gets less accurate.”

“Couldn’t they just draw the map better.”

“No, see, there is no actual middle of the Sky. The radius is infinite.”

�� “How does that work?”

“No one really knows, but if you walk towards where the middle would be, you just find more sky. So, as you get closer to the middle, the map can’t be drawn right, because the circumferences of concentric circles still decrease.”

“That’s not geometrically possible” Flynn looked at Phoenix with a side eye.

“Thus, why the map doesn’t show it. But anyway, what it means is that each ring is significantly smaller around than the outer ones but the chords across them are increasingly long with respect to their circumferences.”

“Wait, wouldn’t that mean that they get to the point where its quicker to go around the circle than across it.” Flynn looked fully confused.

“Indeed, it depends on how far in the middle ring, but in the inner ring, every two points can be reached in less distance by a circular path than a straight one through the inside.”

“Hey Persephone, have you heard this before?” She’d just gotten back from taking Orwen his food.

“What is it?”

“I was just explaining hyperbolic space to Flynn here.”

Persephone’s face scrunched up in disgust. “I’m so glad I don’t have to navigate anymore.”

“Yeah, it only gets worse as you get further in, but it’s that or stay here with the bad weather.” Phoenix had learned the hard way, navigating by yourself out of even the middle ring was insanity.

“Hey Phoenix, Orwen wanted to say something to you.” “I told him you probably wouldn’t come.”

“Can I have Flynn outside the door?”

“Sure, I’ll stand guard.”

“Then there’s not much to worry about.”

______________________________________________________________

Orwen was surprised to see Phoenix come in.

“You came?”

“Yeah, there’s not much reason not to. I don’t have a lot else to do today.”

“I just wanted to say”

“You’ll say you’re sorry, I honestly don’t believe you. And it’s ok by the way. For you to hate me. I’d rather be on a ship with a thousand people who hate me openly than one who pretends to like me.”

Orwen opened his mouth to speak, but Phoenix raised a hand. “And don’t say it was only professional, we both know that’s not true; no one runs themselves that ragged for a job.”

I do sometimes Orwen thought probably too often, but there was no point in trying to convince Phoenix that he was, merely, following orders. “You’re right, it was personal.” “Still is. You have to know I still want to take you in.”

“Yeah, I figured that.”

“So, why’d you agree to travel with me.”

“It’s my principal flaw. I get too attached to people, I can’t leave.” She shrugged “They betray me, or they leave.” She said it in a nonchalant tone. “That’s why I have so many of these.”

“You know I could kill you right now if I wanted.”

“Oh, believe me, I know. But I’m not stupid, I wouldn’t have come if I thought there were a chance of that.” “You have to take me in alive.”

He did indeed.

“Not that alive.”

Phoenix chuckled at that one. “Hey, can you walk yet? I wanna show around the ship.”

“Now why would you do such a thing? I just threatened to kill you.”

“Oh, you’re so serious about the whole assassin thing. Its gonna grind your gears so hard to know you can’t bring me in yet.”

That much was true, it frustrated him to no end, but he wanted a distraction, and this sort of played into his plan. Though, what Phoenix had said about people betraying her got to him a bit. Just a bit. “Yeah, I can walk, let’s see it.”

______________________________________________________________

Hywel was only falling for a minute, but it felt like an eternity, by the time he realized that the first arrow had missed, he had no time to shoot another.

Well, this is how it ends, I guess. At least I’m taking you down with me.

He must have been almost a mile below the island when he felt a firm grip on the back of his shirt.

“Well, thank goodness, you’re a lot lighter than you look.”

He looked up, astonished to see a woman with two giant feathered wings sprouting from her back. She could only be described as radiant, quite literally seeming to glow, as if something within her could not be contained, and was struggling to be free.

She managed to drag him all the way up to the rock he had been aiming for. They could see the soldiers gathering at the end of the path.

“Ah, don’t worry about them, we’re almost past the border already, they won’t chase us any farther.” “I’m Karol by the way.”

“Hywel” “How, how did you find me?”

“If you didn’t notice, everyone on this side of the Sky has been following you for almost a month. I’ve been tailing you for a while, to make sure you don’t do anything stupid, like taking a plunge into the Void.” “Hey, I’d love to chat later, but we need to get going, they won’t follow us across the border, but we have about 1000 feet left.”

They traveled a pretty good distance, the rocks were close enough now that Hywel could jump between them.

“Sorry if this is offensive” Hywel started talking almost as soon as they had stopped “but what’s with the wings?”

“A recent thing, possession works weirdly.”

“Wait, you have a demon too?”

She raised an eyebrow “you don’t know much about how this stuff, do you?”

“Not a demon, then?”

She shook her head “no, demons are spirits of emptiness. Mine is a devil, a spirit of fullness, of bursting and limitless possibility.”

You’ve been awfully silent about this whole affair Dere.

Demons and Devils don’t mix. We kill each other.

“That seems infinitely preferable to mine.”

“Oh, it is, I wouldn’t have hunted down a demon.”

“You mean, you actually wanted to be possessed?”

“It’s a marvelous power, I wanted to be strong, so I could help people, I failed before.” “I think you’re the same, we both want to cleanse the world of its evil. That’s why I followed you.”

______________________________________________________________

@brokendarkfairyempressforever

@hijabi-flavored-nerd

I fixed a few things. Its almost 13 thousand words now, by far the longest thing I've ever written, and getting close to the halfway point plot-wise, which means that technically this will probably end up at Novella length (Its already 30 pages in the Word document I'm writing in).

Actually, I'm gonna tag some of my other mutuals as well, I won't tag you again though unless you want to...

@queenpiranhadon

@nervousscissorsgoopthing

@betanian117

@justalunaticfangirl

@shrxe