I said his name flat , stripped of warmth, stripped of humor. I needed him to understand. This wasn't a casual visit. This wasn't me showing up to harass him like I usually did.
He looked up at me from his chair, that same dumb look he always gives me whenever I kick his door open uninvited. I couldn't even blame him. It was kind of our thing.
"What is it now?" he grunted, raising his fists in that lazy, mock boxing stance. "Lookin' to rough up an old man again?"
I exhaled through my nose, slow and sharp. Shook my head.
"I wish."
My voice came out quieter than I expected. He stilled.
"Zeke," I started, ready to lay it all out, but , of course , he cut me off.
"Go, Erenyx."
Simple as that.
"You don't belong here, twiddling your thumbs. Go get your friend back."
It hit me harder than anything I was ready for.
For a second, I just stood there. Staring at this stubborn, irritating, infuriating old bastard , realizing he'd always been smarter than he let on.
I snorted. Then laughed. Couldn't help it.
"See ya later, you old fuck."
I flipped him off on my way out, catching the edge of his grin in my periphery.
"Better not see yer dumbass back here," he called after me.
Door shut behind me with a soft click.
And just like that, my heart felt heavier. Steadier.
The library was empty when I returned , empty except for Azmiel, perched in a lone chair, lost in some thick book that probably weighed more than I did.
Without even looking up, she asked, "You're leaving now?"
Tch. I hated how easily everyone was reading me today.
"Yeah," I nodded. "The guards have seen me too many times. Think you can change me up?"
I didn't expect her to say yes.
But Azmiel surprised me , like she always does.
"Sit," she ordered, dragging a chair in front of her.
I dropped into it without a word.
Her hands worked fast, deliberate. My long dreads , the ones that reached the small of my back , were gone in minutes. What was left barely brushed my shoulders, jagged and wild like a wolf's mane.
Honestly? I liked it.
"Your piercings and hair color…" she murmured. "I have something , temporary. It'll last you a few hours at most."
Her hands buzzed , literally vibrated , with a force I didn't recognize. It wasn't Essentia. It was something else. Something older.
When she pulled back, I barely recognized myself.
My hair bled into a midnight black, the tips stained red like dying embers. My piercings? Gone. Erased like they'd never existed.
"Go," Azmiel told me softly. "I wouldn't risk the magic fading while you're still in sight."
I wanted to say something , anything , but nothing came out. She seemed to understand anyway.
I left.
Outside, I exhaled deep , let the tension bleed from my chest.
"Astrapheon," I called.
A thunderclap answered.
Lightning split the sky as his massive form materialized beneath me. I landed on his back in a single leap, and just like that , we were gone. Cutting through clouds at blinding speed.
We flew in silence.
Until he spoke.
"Are you ready to see him?"
Was I?
What would I even say to Loretta if I saw him again? What if he didn't want to come back?
Astrapheon could feel my thoughts through our connection. He didn't press.
Instead, I asked, "Your brother… is he alright yet?"
"Shiki hasn't responded to me or the golem," Astrapheon rumbled. "But I think he's just sleeping now."
Better than unstable.
Still…
I wondered what it was like , wherever Shiki was. That place inside their bond. If golems and storm beasts could get annoyed with each other, they really were like siblings.
Maybe I should name the golem.
Eventually, I dismounted earlier than usual , didn't want to risk anyone recognizing Astrapheon's form from the sky.
The rest of the journey I walked.
Made it to the city gates without issue. The guards eyed me, suspicious but unbothered. I approached the checkpoint, handed over a "forged" ID.
"Nala Lyons."
The man behind the glass looked me up and down. Squinted.
Then handed it back without a word.
I slipped into the city , pulling my hood low, my cowl tighter , until I was just another shadow melting into the crowd.
The noise of the city washed over me , conversations, merchants, the dull thrum of everyday life.
But all I could think was,
"I'm coming, Loretta."
...
The air in this room alone could suffocate a man twice over.
Yet only two people occupied it.
One sat slouched upon his throne , a man whose face and body was cracked all over, like some ancient porcelain left to rot. His throne gleamed gold, but the longer you looked, the clearer its true nature became , bone, gilded and warped into royal shape.
Greyoll Rakiel.
"LaFlare." His voice rumbled like a continent shifting. "Tell Lazarus he has less than an hour to stand before me… or I'll have his head."
"Have the decency to call your son by his first name."
A pause stretched between them like a noose.
Then Loretta turned, footsteps steady.
"I'll see to it."
Greyoll's gravelled voice caught him just as he reached the doors.
"Why would I call my child anything but the name I gave him?"
Loretta's fists clenched. He swallowed down the heat rising in his chest , there was no winning here. Not with him.
A king with no guards.
Because who in this world could guard the strongest?
I was born Loretta LaFlare Rakiel. My mother named me Loretta. My father named me LaFlare. Ever since I was dragged back here by Lazarus, that's all my father's called me.
LaFlare.
Like it's all I am.
Finding Lazarus was always a chore. He demanded his lab be built beneath the Unlawful Zone , the city's marrow , where only vermin and ghosts belonged. But there was always a sign, subtle to those who knew.
A crow.
Where Lethe watched, crows followed.
Sure enough, as Loretta approached the lab's concealed entrance, he could feel that familiar weight, the older twin's gaze, cool and sharp, long before he reached the door.
Two figures guarded it.
Twin boys , yet gods and corpses could hardly look so different.
"Afternoon, Somnus. Lethe."
Somnus, eyes forever closed as if trapped in a dream, drifted toward him. His movements were slow, weightless , like sleep given shape. In his hand, he lazily held a pillow-sized cloth stitched with talismans, hugging it to his chest like a child. A gold censer at his hip, leaking spores.
Somnus approached Loretta with a hug.
"LaFlare… nice to see you again…"
His voice was the sound of drowning in velvet.
Lethe sighed beside him , straight-backed, composed, ever the shadow to his brother's moonlight.
"Somnus, please release the prince," Lethe said with quiet precision. "And do recall, he prefers to be called Loretta."
Loretta ruffled Somnus's hair , it felt like disturbing the surface of still water.
"It's alright, Lethe. I don't mind. It's good to see you both again."
Somnus reluctantly let go, drifting back beside his brother like a leaf carried by wind.
"May I ask your purpose here, Prince Loretta?" Lethe asked, always formal.
"The king demands Lazarus's presence. The throne room, immediately."
Lethe nodded once.
Together, as if their bodies were wired into the stone, the twins pushed open the great iron doors.
Darkness.
But not silence.
The instant Loretta stepped inside, the room bloomed with light , harsh, cold, sterile. Test tubes littered every surface, glyphs and incomprehensible symbols crawled like scars across walls and floors. In the center of it all, perched amidst chaos, was the monster called Lazarus Rhime.
He barely looked human.
From his arms to his neck stretched that jet-black carapace , armor, or perhaps a skin not meant for this world. His chest and lower body remained bare, clad only in grey sweatpants that looked almost comically mundane beneath the horror of his upper form.
From his spine jutted spikes , jagged, unclean, like something that had burst through him rather than grown naturally.
Two long protrusions sprouted from the back of his skull , prehensile, sinewy, ending in malformed hands that twitched restlessly. His hair hung in uneven spikes, wild, as if torn at in endless frustration.
Whatever Lazarus was , it wasn't something born right.
"Speak, LaFlare." He didn't look up from his scribbling. "Or stand there like a bumbling fool forever. Your choice."
Loretta exhaled slowly.
"The king wants you in the throne room."
A pause.
"How soon?"
"Less than an hour… or he'll have your head."
Lazarus crushed the chalk in his grip to powder.
"Leave."
He didn't have to say it twice.
Loretta turned on his heel and left the way he came , passing the twins once more.
Lethe offered a short bow.
Somnus waved with exaggerated sluggishness, a dopey grin tugging at his lips.
Loretta managed a small smile.
Part of me hopes he won't show. Part of me hopes Greyoll kills him.
But that's not my decision to make.
Whatever happens… happens.
I wandered the city aimlessly for hours.
Trying to clear my head. Trying not to think.
Rakiel's capital buzzed like a hive, its people always in motion but never going anywhere. The same faces, the same broken streets, the same twisted Essentia pulsing beneath every footstep.
Then came the guard , sprinting through the crowd, eyes wide, panic painted across his face.
"Prince LaFlare!"
I turned toward him, expecting more. He bent over, heaving for breath, before choking out:
"Priest Everest was murdered last night!"
My thoughts froze.
A murder? Here? In Rakiel?
It didn't make sense.
I followed the guard at once, heart hammering. We arrived at a church , or what was left of it. A crowd had gathered, people murmuring like flies, their attention glued to the chaos at the steps.
Blood , everywhere.
Splattered across the stone floor, the cracked staircase, even painted in smears across the towering church doors.
It looked like someone had exploded.
I pushed past the onlookers. Shady types mixed among the crowd , a few familiar Essentia signatures flickered at the edges of my senses, but I couldn't pinpoint where or who. Just lingering echoes.
I looked around for the guard who brought me here…
But he was gone.
Gone without a trace.
And that's when it hit me.
How did he know it was Priest Everest who was killed?
There was no body. No remains. Nothing left to identify.
I pressed two fingers to my temple.
"Lethe, come in."
A few seconds passed before I heard his voice in my head.
"I'm with you."
"Wake Somnus before you leave. Keep him on high alert."
From within the crowd, two figures watched the prince's panic unfold.
"You think he was here?" Ryai whispered, glancing up at Sorin beside him.
"What, the Devil?" Sorin scoffed. "You think he could pull off a murder here? In a major city like Rakiel?"
Ryai sighed. "Who the hell else do you know that's making prominent people explode?"
Sorin chuckled. They turned away from the scene, fading into the crowd like smoke , their presence gone, like they'd never been there at all.
The two Essentia signatures Loretta had sensed?
They belonged to them.
This was my burden. My regret. The last ghost that still whispered when I tried to sleep. I hadn't come to Rakiel for politics. I came here for one reason:
To settle a debt.
To finish a mistake.
To kill the snake I should've torn in half years ago.
And now?
That coward has become just like his brother, Elysian. Killing for coin. Leaving trails of gore without shame or subtlety. No elegance, no mask to hide the truth, well, aside from that cheap-ass Oni mask he wears like a fashion statement. Pathetic.
Even so, I know bringing Ryai wasn't smart.
We discarded our cloaks before even crossing the checkpoint. If Loretta's still around, there's a chance he'll spot us. Slim, but not impossible.
Ryai didn't blend in at all , light armor with glinting shoulder plates, a slim katana strapped across his back. Cargo pants snug around the knees, military boots stomping over cobblestone like he wanted to be noticed.
Me? I kept it grounded. Baggy jeans. A white tee. Black puffer jacket zipped halfway. Hands in my pockets. Ghost in plain sight.
Only thing I didn't agree with?
Ryai's dumbass made me wear my hair half-up, half-down.
Said it "softened" me. Said I looked "more poetic."
Sometimes, even I don't know what's going on inside that boy's head.
He looked up at me with that weird light in his eyes.
"Sorin… you're sure this is okay?" His voice dropped. "You know he's still here, right?"
Just the mention of that bastard made my temples throb. The air around me felt colder, like even Rakiel itself didn't like hearing his name whispered.
The man who gave the order.
The butcher of my clan.
The one whose eyes never blink.
"I'm sure," I said flatly. "He's not one to leave his quarters. And his eyes… they never leave his side."
Ryai nodded, but I could tell , the edge of doubt hadn't left his tongue.
We wandered for a while. Rakiel's spires loomed above us, the sun dipping low behind stone silhouettes like teeth gnashing across the sky. Evening crept in slowly, drenching the city in copper and soot.
Then I saw her.
Cloaked. Hood drawn low. A presence that couldn't be hidden by fabric alone.
She walked past me , quick, calculated steps. But as she passed, her head turned just slightly. Eyes like dying stars flicked up toward mine. Disdain oozed off her like venom in the air.
Erenyx.
What are you doing here?
I didn't stop her. Didn't move.
But Ryai?
Ryai's hand was already on his blade.
"Should I cut her down right here?" he asked, voice neutral. Like he was offering to take out the trash.
He wasn't posturing. He meant it.
I didn't even look at him.
"No," I said. "We've got no issue with the girl. Let her go."
He sighed, hand slipping off the hilt. The tension in his shoulders faded, but only slightly.
We kept walking, heading toward the Unlawful Zone.
But just before we reached it, Ryai stopped.
"Sorin," he said, not looking at me. "Can you go ahead without me? I need to check something out."
Lie.
I knew it the second the words left his mouth. His tone, the way his fingers fidgeted slightly, the faintest tremor in his jaw.
Still… Ryai was no pushover. If he went all out, there weren't many people who could put him in the ground.
I exhaled slowly.
"Sure. Don't die out there."
He tried to smirk. Tried to hide the seriousness in his eyes.
Didn't work. Nothing escapes my sight.
With a small nod, he dissolved into the shadows , his form slipping into the cracks of the world like a ghost retreating from the light.
And then… I stepped into the Unlawful Zone.
The air itself changed.
Rot. Death. Despair.
The stench of ruin hung heavy in the streets. Bodies half-buried in ash. Faces empty. Some dead. Some dying. Others wishing they were.
This city… for all its wealth, all its splendor… hides rot in its lungs.
That's all I saw for blocks.
Until he appeared.
A boy , no older than sixteen, maybe younger. He stood in the middle of the street like he belonged there. Like the sickness refused to touch him.
His eyes were closed, body swaying slightly, as if waking from a dream. Then he stepped forward. Slow, fluid movements. Unnatural grace.
He walked up until our chests nearly touched.
Lifted a hand.
Pointed straight at my eyes.
"Those eyes…" he murmured.
Then he opened his own.
They were… impossible.
Fractured glass, shimmering with every color and none at all. Like looking into the abyss and finding peace instead of terror.
"My Master," he said softly, "would appreciate those."
His voice was light. Delicate.
His intent was not.
I raised my hand. "Osu."
The force snapped outward like a detonation. The boy flew backward through the air , but he caught himself mid-flight with ease, shoes hovering inches above the cracked stone.
He brushed imaginary dust from his shoulder and pouted.
"Aww," he said, mockingly. "I thought this would be easy. Guess not."
Then he reached for his waist.
From his belt, he drew a golden censer , ornate, ancient, its surface etched in twisting symbols.
He raised it high above his head, and with a flick, it released a cascade of glowing spores. They drifted down around us like falling stars.
Sleep spores.
Not any kind I'd seen before.
But it didn't matter.
I can see through everything.