Chapter One Hundred Two: ‘The demon in the mud...’

Dust trickled down from the ceiling with each successive tremor, and Ibai Blackburn bit his lip as he stared up at it.

He’d been trying to ignore the shaking. He really had. But it just kept reminding him that a battle was going on out there. A real battle. And so close.

But Mama and Papa would be so cross with him if they found out that he left the room. Worse, they’d be disappointed in him. And of course, if he ended up having to explain precisely how he managed to get out, that would only make them even more upset.

But it had to be done. These quakes were simply too enticing to go uninvestigated. Maybe if he was sneaky about it, no one would find out.

The walls had been soul-empowered by Papa and then later overridden even more strongly by Mel, so Ibai already knew that he couldn’t simply bust his way out. What Papa and Mel didn’t know, however, was that Ibai’s ability had manifested a long time ago. He’d kept it a secret for nearly two decades now, knowing that it would only upset his family and make them look for a way to counter its effects. And that would’ve sucked all the fun out of it.

He had the layout of Marshrock more or less memorized. He’d probably spent more time here than anyone else in the entire world.

So teleporting out of this room was not going to be difficult.

He stood in the middle of the chamber, thought about where he wanted to be, and then wrapped himself in the brown shadow. It swirled around him and then winked out of existence, taking his body with it.

And for an instant, he could see.

The infinite void.

Everything and nothing. Life and death. A trillion burning stars in the sky and all around him. Souls suspended in space. Eleg, too, spinning and breathing and alive.

And all of them, ethereal. Massless shadows of reality. The universe of zero weight, where space itself was of no consequence.

In a flash, it was all gone, and Ibai reappeared in the next room over, stepping from his muddy shadow onto Marshrock’s dark stone again.

Ibai frowned. No one was around. But wait, no, that was probably a good thing. He was supposed to be sneaky. He jumped through space again, this time reappearing on the next floor up. Still no one. He jumped again, and this time there was a group of strangers looking directly at him, including several reapers. Many of them carried guns.

“Hello!” said Ibai.

‘An aberration!’

“Kill it!”

He teleported away as the gunfire erupted, reappearing in a bedroom a few floors down. “Well, that was unfortunate.” He shrugged it off and looked around.

He saw a girl with four horns on her face. She was staring at him with wide gray eyes.

“Hello,” Ibai said cheerily. “You don’t look like you want to kill me. What is your name, young lady?”

She stood up from the edge of her bed, hesitant. “...Who are you?”

“Oh, my name is Ibai. And yours?”

“...Emiliana.”

“What a pretty name,” said Ibai. “Why are you in here all by yourself?”

Emiliana lowered her brow at him. “Shouldn’t you know that already?”

“Mm. Probably. But I don’t. Do you know what is going on outside?”

“Some kind of battle.”

“Right. It’s dangerous. You shouldn’t be here. So why are you?”

“...I’m being held prisoner.”

“Prisoner? Why? Did you do something wrong?”

“No.”

“Oh, so like a hostage, then?”

“I suppose so, yes.”

“Well, that seems pretty unfair. Not to mention boring.”

She only squinted at him.

Ibai laughed suddenly. “I understand! Not being allowed to leave! You can’t possibly know how much I sympathize with you! By the way, what’s wrong with your face?”

Emiliana chose not to answer that.

“Oh, I bet you’re a servant, aren’t you? You’re one of those super-rare mucus users I heard about, right? Do you fight using snot bubbles? Could you show me?”

“Er, I think you mean mutation users...”

“Do I? Well, that sounds way less cool. Hey, where’s your reaper?”

“I don’t know, actually. She’s being kept somewhere else.”

“Oh, should we go find her, then? I bet I know where she is. Ooh, and then we could all go on an adventure together!”

Emiliana hesitated again. “What do you mean by adventure?”

“I don’t know. That’s how adventures work, right?”

“Uh...”

“Sounds like a plan!” He grabbed her hand and teleported them both into the next room. They appeared in midair, having to fall a few inches before touching the floor again, and Emiliana ended up stumbling forward.

“What in the world was that?!”

“Neat, eh?”

“But--all that--?! What was all that stuff that flashed by?! All those lights!”

“Oh, those?” A beat passed, and then he gave a lame shrug. “Anyway, let’s keep going. It’ll take a couple more jumps to reach the dungeon.”

“Dunge--”

They teleported once more, three floors down this time. Another troupe of armed strangers with reapers was right there to greet them.

‘It’s an aberration!’

“Hellooo!”

‘It’s got an Elroy!’

“Bye-bye!”

And they vanished behind a muddy curtain. When they reappeared, there was no light, and Ibai had to fumble around in the dark for a bit before finding the switch on the wall.

The ceiling lit up in intervals, revealing a long, arching corridor full of musty prison cells, all wrought from ancient rock and steel but still airtight even to this day.

“How do you know she is here?” Emiliana asked.

“Well, I don’t, but the cells on this floor are super old and were designed specifically to hold reapers. Normal cells won’t work even with soul-empowerment, because normal cells have to allow air in, and reapers can squeeze through even the smallest of physical gaps. Unless you’re using a soul net, I suppose. But those require added maintenance since they need electricity and other science-y stuff. Which didn’t even exist way back then, anyway. Or hadn’t been discovered yet, I guess. Whatever.”

“You... seem to know a lot about it.”

“Do I? That’s cool. Studying is boring, but knowing stuff is fun. Hey, what’s your reaper’s name?”

Emiliana seemed reluctant, still, but said, “Chergoa.”

“Lovely. HEY, CHERGOA! CAN YOU HEAR US?!”

After a beat, Emiliana blinked. “She can.”

“You lead the way, then,” said Ibai.

Emiliana proceeded down the length of the hall, shouting out to Chergoa intermittently, and soon, Ibai could hear the reaper’s responses.

‘You sound really close now.’

Emiliana stopped in front of a cell on their right. “I think she’s in here.”

“Okay,” said Ibai. “Be right back.” And he teleported inside on his own.

It was pitch dark inside, but he did not need light to see her. To his eyes, reapers were very small, human-shaped toys. Tiny action figures, in truth.

As soon as Chergoa saw him, she began bobbing frantically up and down. ‘Holy shit, an aberration! How did you--?!’

With nowhere for her to run, Ibai just scooped her up with his shadow. “Shh, it’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you.”

‘What--?!’

They jumped out again, and he held the reaper up for Emiliana to see. “Here she is! Safe and sound!”

“Thank you!” Emiliana moved to take Chergoa from him.

Ibai recoiled from her touch, keeping the reaper well in hand. “Ah. That’s okay. I’ll keep her safe for you.”

The relief on Emiliana’s face disappeared. “No, please, I would much rather she be--”

“Sorry,” said Ibai. “It’s not that I don’t trust you. It’s that I don’t trust her. No offense, Chergoa.”

Chergoa made no response.

“I know how most reapers see me.” He frowned. “If I let her go, I’m sure she’ll just run away. And then she’ll make you run away. And then we won’t be able to go on an adventure together! So I’ll hold onto her for now.”

Emiliana didn’t seem pleased by that information, but she chose not to argue.

Ibai took her hand again, but then paused, thinking. “Oh, I almost forgot to ask: is there anyone else you want me to bust out of here before we go? The more the merrier, I say!”

“...No,” said Emiliana.

“Are you sure? No other hostages or anything? It seems odd that you two would be the only ones.”

She kept a flat expression and shrugged. “If there are any others, they weren’t with me.”

“Hmm.” Ibai tilted his head and squinted. “That’s funny, because I heard one of those soldiers earlier say that I had ‘an Elroy’--as if to imply that there was more than one. I forget how many children House Elroy currently has, but it seems a fair bet that you’re one of them and that more are being held hostage here right now.”

That seemed to put Emiliana at a loss for words.

Chergoa spoke up for her. ‘The rest were killed. Very recently, too, so it’s not surprising that those soldiers didn’t know. Please don’t ask her any more about it. She’s been through considerable trauma already.’

“Ah, that makes sense, then. Oh, and I’m sorry to hear that.”

‘Don’t worry about it,’ said Chergoa, abruptly changing her tone. ‘So what’s this you said about going on an adventure? Because that sure sounded interesting.’

Ibai’s face lit up again. “I’m glad you think so! Let’s go find some fun stuff to do! See if we can put her mind at ease!”

Ibai jumped all three of them up a few floors and immediately ran into another group of unfamiliar soldiers. These ones were already in the middle of subduing a handful of Blackburn guards, and they were all facing the other way or otherwise too busy to notice the new arrivals. Even their reapers didn’t seem to sense Ibai’s presence yet.

“--word of an aberration in the building!” one the soldiers was yelling. The target of his anger was a Blackburn servant with a half-melted face, pinned against the wall alongside his reaper. “If you know something, tell me now!”

As Ibai looked over the scene, his smile waned. That servant’s name was Rafael, and Rafael was a dynamite checkers player.

After a beat, however, Ibai’s smile returned, even wider and toothier than before.

Ibai teleported, leaving Emiliana behind but keeping Chergoa wrapped in a brown tail, and reappeared next to the man who’d been hassling Rafael. Ibai’s shadow ballooned around the man and his reaper, and Ibai jumped away again with both in tow. This time, he reappeared next to the wall.

The man, however, reappeared in the wall. In an instant, his flesh completely fused with the rock, cracking it only slightly and creating a lifeless human statue embedded in otherwise smooth stone.

He didn’t get time to admire the craftsmanship, however. The other reapers had noticed him by now, and the fight broke out anew. Ibai jumped from enemy to enemy, creating even more havoc while they were already scrambling to contain the thrashing Blackburns.

It didn’t last very long at all, and by the end, Ibai had collected two more reapers for himself. One final reaper was fleeing down the hallway, but Ibai caught up to him easily enough, bringing the number of trophies to four. He could’ve called it five, but he decided that it wasn’t fair to count Chergoa. All the same, he returned to the other Blackburns with a grin on his face and a hop in his step.

“Thank you, m’lord,” one of them said. “You saved us.”

‘Indeed,’ said Rafael’s reaper. This one’s name was Ustox. ‘But you aren’t supposed to be here, are you?’

“Aw, c’mon!” whined Ibai, waving his captured toys around. “All the action’s out here!”

‘As you say, m’lord. We could certainly use your help. But how long have you possessed this teleporting power?’

“Er. N-not long...”

‘Indeed? I suppose it doesn’t matter. Here, m’lord.’ Ustox bobbed his tiny body toward the others, and they all seemed to understand. In addition to Ibai’s captives, the others had captured five more enemy reapers, all currently rendered unconscious.

And the Blackburns offered them to him.

Ibai blinked at the apparent gifts. “W-what are you doing?”

‘Our House is outnumbered,’ said one of the other Blackburn reapers. ‘We need you strong, Lord Ibai.’

This was too sudden.

Ibai could hardly believe what he was hearing. For more than thirty years, everyone had told him the exact opposite of this. They’d told him how much trouble he’d been in, how he should try to be more thoughtful, more careful, more gentle.

That was simply the way of things.

But now...? He didn’t understand. Were they testing him? Surely not. That would be cruel.

A ripple of cries and protests went through the few captive reapers who were still conscious, but it was Emiliana who proved the most vocal.

“You can’t be serious!” she yelled. “These are your fellow Rainlords! They would certainly have showed you mercy! You must do the same for them!”

‘Don’t listen to her, m’lord,’ said Ustox. ‘Perhaps they would have been merciful at first, but once the full truth came out, our executions would be assured.’

“What ‘full truth’?!” said Emiliana.

Ustox ignored the question.

Rafael spoke up now that the burns on his face were gone. “It’s okay, m’lord. You won’t get in trouble this time. Go on, if you want to.”

Oh, he wanted to. That wasn’t the issue. “But what if Mama and Papa find out? Or Mel? They would never forgive me.”

‘As far as anyone else is concerned, you were never here,’ said Ustox. ‘The battle in this corridor simply grew too chaotic, and we were unable to take any of the enemy reapers alive.’

“No!” cried Emiliana. “You mustn’t kill them!”

Ibai’s eyes widened with anticipation, and he bit his lip. “I-I’ve never consumed a human soul before...”

‘That can’t be true,’ said Ustox, sounding abruptly surprised. ‘To manifest that ability of yours, you must’ve consumed at least a few.’

“No,” said Ibai. “It was only ever animals. I... I tried to think of it like hunting. I even put the meat and fur to use. When possible. So... this is... this is new.”

‘I see,’ said Ustox. ‘I apologize, then. Please forgive my ignorance, m’lord. I thought--well, never mind. We will speak no more on the matter, if that is your wish. I implore you to do whatever you think is best.’

Emiliana was shouting again--something about honor this time--but Ibai had stopped listening.

Ibai truly did not know what to do now. He stared at the reapers with hunger in his eyes. Just this once, it might be okay. He would be able to see what it was like. He had a feeling that humans souls were much more potent than animal souls--and another feeling that reaper souls were stronger still. All he needed to do was crush them with his shadow and then teleport before their ethereal remains disappeared. It would be so easy.

But for some reason, he didn’t. He stopped himself.

Ibai handed the reapers off to Rafael and the others, keeping only Chergoa for himself.

And everyone abruptly stopped yelling. They were all staring at him now, even his own family members. Only the faint rumble of distant battle prevented complete silence.

“Ensure no harm comes to them,” Ibai said, uncertain if those words were his own or his father’s or Uncle Mel’s. “They don’t deserve to die, and we won’t be so afraid of their future actions as to execute them unjustly, either.”

More silence, until Rafael spoke up. “...A-are you certain, m’lord?”

Ibai grinned. “‘The rain fears not the torch,’” he said.

That only made everyone stare again.

Ibai became impatient. “What’s the matter?”

‘We are just--’ Ustox broke himself off. ‘As you wish, m’lord. Rafael, let us go.’

Rafael still seemed a bit awestruck, but after a moment, he blinked and looked at Chergoa. “What about her, m’lord?”

“Oh, she’s with me! We’re going on an adventure together!”