Mhaieiyu

Arc 2, Chapter 16

Call of the King

In the stretch of nothing, a void without colour, Emris stood with a slump, sleeping on his feet. His eyes groggily cracked open, nauseous with exhaustion, tired beyond relief. In this expanse of null, the Guardian stood, like his ancestors, whom he was biologically disconnected with like most. The Guardians stood before He, always an audience; never just once. History would not fail to repeat itself in this regard.

An audience for a King. A King whose might stood above any hopeful monarch to ever live. One who died but never perished. A perpetual incarnation to plague the world behind the curtains.

There, in the frigid black, where nothing could be seen beyond black, two gigantic jewels, rubies perhaps, blared into existence with a noise and a quake akin to a foghorn, with the reverb of an endless crowd of applauding onlookers.

This pair of red jewels manifested in such a way that even Emris, just as all before him, regardless of stature or way of life, was made stuck; unable to move even the hairs on his arms. The instinctive panic and distress this sight gave superseded that of a hopeless hero staring back at a hungered Howler alone in the Outskirts. This fear, this uncanny trepidation, was that of an explorer of many hundreds of miles stumbling upon the very door to Hell, watching it chant and chime invitingly.

The noise. The noise would shatter earth and render anyone deaf, but still, the Fifty-Seventh heard every last second; his ears rang but never loud enough to suppress the trumpets of this deity.

The smell. The smell of purgatory, where every last damned soul’s collective reek combined into a disgusting, foul miasma that should have turned his nose rotten.

Emris’ sight was taken. It wasn’t his own anymore. It belonged to the King, to watch the King, all for as long as the Guardian was attending.

And then, following the lethal hum, all came to dead silence. All was hushed as the King spoke.

“Vessel,” the unseeable giant with eyes like all-eclipsing rubies said at a great distance that felt so close. “Finally.”

Emris dared not speak. He understood he hadn’t the right. Even if he wouldn’t normally respect it, it was as if Law had exceeded reality to impose itself firmly.

“Your name. Emris.” The Guardian felt ill. The King knew his name. “Have they, Victus sons and Victus daughters, taught of whom is the King of Jewelled Eye? Of whom is I?”

Emris had no need to speak. His existence was speech enough. The jewel-eyed monarch whose crown could tease the heavens hummed in comprehension. “I stand before thee to inform: the Harbinger of Conquest’s path has been chosen. His destiny will soon lead him to visit you. Do you understand what purpose you are to fulfil in Mortos’ stead?”

Each word came slowly, patiently. This being could make you wait before a funeral.

Emris’ lips moved briefly, showing that he was never paralysed, just terrified. When faced with an opportunity to speak, he said nothing.

A long silence took place before the echoing voice spoke up again. “The prospect can seem intimidating, but you must understand. This all is purely transitional.”

Purely transitional. Those words resonated in his ears like a gong of unthinkable proportions. Purely transitional. Purely transitional. Purely transitional. Purely transitional. Purely transitional.

♦ ♥ ♣ ♠

“...urely transitional…” Emris muttered, feeling his head bob violently as the wheels bounced from a bump in the road.

“Ah, shit, sorry!” Holly said, nervous as she drove.

As she drove.

“Are ye… Are ye drivin’ a car?!”

“Yes! Now shut up, it’s hard enough focusing— Crap!”

“Right! Turn right!”

Seconds after stirring from the worst fever dream he could ever experience, Emris was jostled into action, throwing himself at the steering wheel and forcing it in the right direction. With the car’s direction stabilised, Emris slumped back into his seat with a long exhale, groaning as his stiff body relaxed into the modest backrest.

“Vicks, lass, what’re ye doin’ behind the wheel?” he asked, exasperated from the cocktail of nonsense taking hold of his life recently.

“You were conked the heck out! Next time I’ll remember to drop your cadaver for the gremlins to eat!” the Lypin shouted her rebuttal, leaving Emris to wish he were turned deaf. Her breathing tightened and panic drew itself on her face when the car started struggling. “Saintess’ mercy, what’s going on! Em!?”

“Vicks above…” Emris groaned, amused. “Ye're drivin' forty on sixth gear.”

“So what do I——?!”

“Change gear, lass.”

With a hurried yank and a pull, she switched to fourth. The car creaked and jumped but at least the engine didn’t stall. Emris sighed, happy they hadn’t crashed yet, and turned his head her way.

“So ye see bars and drive cars now. Mind tellin’ me when that started happenin’?” Emris said.

“You haven’t exactly ‘been around’,” Holly mumbled, rolling her eyes.

“Aye, I know…” Emris looked away at that one. “Been busy.”

“You were always busy. Never really stopped you from seeing me.”

“I also figured… Hm…”

Holly pushed one of her big ears out of the way. “Say again? You mumbled.”

Emris turned to look at her again and exhaled, dragging a palm over his face. “I guessed ye’d rather not see my ugly mug.”

Holly emptied her lungs following a silence.

“Aye, aye,” Emris tried to say, “I’ve got to stop assumin’——”

“You call yourself my dad over and over, bludgeoning it into everybody’s brain until they're forced to believe you. It’s no wonder they don’t,” Holly said, looking ahead with a forlorn expression. “It’s like… you don’t want to be near me.”

The veteran pried his dry lips open for a rebuttal. What a ridiculous accusation. Holly? His little ball of joy? Balderdash. And yet, it took him a good moment before he decided to speak. Instead of yapping, he chuckled softly, pushing his head deeper into the pillowy seat.

“Buttercup, ye’ve in ye a lean chunk of the light my old bones still have. Of course I fancy seein’ ye. I just…” Emris clutched his head again, trying to find the words. He noticed Holly glance at him. “Eyes forward, sweet.”

“Right, right,” she said dismissively, more concerned with what he had to say.

“I just don’t… I want to respect the fact ye’re an adult now, see?” Emris muscled out, clearly struggling to say what he wanted. “I don’t want ye to see me as that old naggin’ presence that never gave in. It’s hard, but…”

“You’re doing it for me, then?” the Lypin tried to clarify. Emris nodded. “The problem is, Em, it feels like you’re only there to make a mess when I’m loose, and not to fix things when I’m tense.”

Emris scowled at nothing, showing his teeth in a frown as he looked off elsewhere.

“I know you’re trying your best. I think you are, but… Shit, Em, it feels like you’re never… healing, you know?” she said, giving him a hurt look before refocusing on the roads. “Well, I know you ‘heal’, but not… You know what I mean.”

“Aye…”

“Not 'aye', Emris. You’re stuck in the past,” Holly said with a firmness unlike her that splintered Emris’ heart.

“Yes, buttercup. I’m sorry," he said.

Holly sighed. “I know you are. I’m sorry too. I don’t like arguing with you, but you’re a mess, and my life’s hard to keep straight as is. For crying out loud, you dragged me away from ‘danger’ and the first thing that happens is I get put in danger.”

“I couldn’t have…” Emris said, stopped by the rabbit’s voice.

“Foresight, I know, but you didn’t bring a team and you’re all your own again. Aren't VIP extractions taken seriously? I mean, you have Corvus, don’t you? Why aren’t you two together?”

The Guardian was stunned for a second. “Because it was… a one-man job…”

“You had a fight, didn’t you? I can tell. Was it with him?”

Emris grumbled something under his breath. “Nay. We don't—— it was a lil’ incident, is all. Don't mind it.”

Holly felt like squeezing the steering wheel until it or her hands cracked, but she resisted her anger. “You mumbled something in your sleep again.”

“Is that right?” Em said, leaning forward to comfort his aching back. “What about?”

“Something about transitions. And about your snakes…”

“Tendrils. Snakes…” Emris corrected with a scoff. “Don’t worry yerself——”

“Don’t bullshit me, Dad. Oh, gosh darn it.”

“Heheh, thanks. But seriously,” Emris insisted, too thrilled to be called ‘Dad’.

The car took a sharp turn that made Holly’s nerves spike. Then and there, in a hurry, she said, “We’re not out of the woods, by the way.”

“What?” Emris said with a jolt.

“Yeah, we’re still being chased, I think. Haven’t seen those black cats for a bit, but if memory serves me…”

“...Shite, the sniffers! Quick, take a detour through that path!”

“But that’s a civilian pavement!” Holly exclaimed, hesitant to turn but dropping her speed. The gearbox began to clutter again, worsening her panic.

“Just go! Ain’t no folks at this time, and the alert’s probably gone off already!”

“But I didn’t get an alert! What if——”

“Holls!”

“I can’t!” she shouted decisively in a squeal.

Emris stifled a groan, not wanting to show his precious daughter a whiff of disappointment, as he reclined back again. “Alright, buttercup. Don’t lose your senses. We’ll cross fingers and hope there ain’t too much traffic up ahead. People should’ve heard word by now…”

The Lypin exhaled a big, worried breath. “I’m sorry… When I said I could drive, I should’ve said I know how to start the engine.”

Emris winced, chuckling while grindings his molars at the amount of danger she had put herself through. “Ah, is that right? Well, heh, ye’ve got a good grip on the gear changin’. Just remember to change ‘em.”

“R-Right…”

“Like now.”

“On it!”

“Eyes on the road, sug,” Emris added with a smirk, earning an eye-roll from the lass.

“So, what were you dreaming about? I haven’t heard you sleeptalk in forever.”

“Shite,” Emris thought. How was he to explain what he saw? What he heard? What he smelled? There were no words sufficient to describe the bastardization his senses went through. If only he had gone blind, deaf and anosmic.

“Em?” Holly insisted, “Ears are open.”

"Eh, hard to say,” he said, scratching his cheek. “I might be losin’ my grip.”

The Lypin cast him a disapproving glare. “You’re not guilt-tripping me, are you?”

“Nay, ‘course not. Just old age catchin’ up to and fryin’ my brain. That, or…”

Holly, distracted, made another sharp, unsteady turn as she almost missed her cue. Good thing she did, too. The car would’ve kissed a concrete wall otherwise.

“Haah… Or…?” she said, her breathing cut.

Emris gave her poor performance a toothy grimace, which turned into a sideways glance. “Well, I’d figure you remember the ol’ King, aye? From the fables?”

“It’s not a ‘fable’ if it’s true, D— Emris,” she said with an impatient look, switfly correcting herself before she made another mistake.

“Aye, well, uh, I might’ve seen the man… thing… for myself,” Emris said between clenched teeth.

Holly shot him a horrified look. “You WHAT——?!”

“Eyes. On. The road!”

“Argh, yes, the poor stupid road! What do you mean you saw him?” the rabbit screamed, bordering on hysterical. Not a very safe driver…

The Brig massaged the bridge of his nose in silence for a maddening dozen seconds as he contemplated what words to use. It’s hard to speak of such a controversial, religiously-tied individual without the air coming tense. At least here, where the light of the Goddess prevailed over the bleakness of Her brother.

“Look, I’m not goin’ to assume or presume I know a thing about how this shite works, but as far as I’m concerned, the bastard’s next to omnipotent outside of the uh… ‘material plane’ or what else. I am the Guardian, so I suppose it makes sense.”

Holly tried her hardest to keep her pupils stuck to the windshield, but her nerves kept her shooting glances. Stuttering, she said, “Did you hear him?”

“Aye. Said somethin’ about… Wait, shite, hold on.”

“What is it?” Holly asked.

“He said I’d be seein’ Conquest soon."

“Conquest? The Harbinger…?”

Emris nodded. “Sagittar.”

Holly’s eyes almost popped out of her skull from how wide they became. “You’re joking. I thought he was dead by now?”

“Nay. Nay, I wouldn’t think so.”

“And you’re saying he just… popped in your brain… to tell you ‘ooh, ye Reaper ith a-coming’?” Holly mocked the voice of an entity whose powers exceeded even that of the limit-breaking Anomalies. Just like that.

“So her, that.” Emris chuckled, giving her an amused smile. “Aye, apparently.”

Holly raised a brow and sighed. “You don’t sound too nervous.”

“Why would I be?”

“Uh… It’s Sagittar?”

Emris chuffed, cackled and laughed, much to her irritated confusion. “Sugar, I’d scramble for a chance in Hell if it meant gettin’ another shot at takin’ that son of a bitch down.”

Holly rolled her eyes. “You think you can win?”

Emris grinned a wicked smile, bumping her shoulder. “We’re both old now.”

“Ow…” The singer in tatters gave her shoulder a rub, almost losing control of the car in the process. “Seriously, Emmy, you really think you should try again…? Even on equal footing, you’re… fucked…”

The veteran chuckled again, less honestly this time. “I’m the Guardian!” he said, matter-of-factly.

“You’re the Guardian…” Holly repeated, exasperated. Tapping the steering wheel, she took a deep breath, sniffed, and said, “I… I’ve been meaning to ask you this, but I didn’t want to put a sour on my jolly. Now that it’s done, though…” The Lypin gave him a quick look, moving her focus from the road to Emris and back again. “How long… do you——?”

“Holly!”

Emris’ shout caught the lapine off guard as she quickly slammed her foot on the breaks, bringing the car to a screeching halt that projected both their heads forward. In front of her, missed by a good four metres, was a traffic jam of unforgiving proportions stationed by a bridge’s beginning. So bad it was, that several cars’ occupants had abandoned their vehicles.

“No, no, no! Pileups? Now?!” Holly said, pounding the horn.

“And that,” Emris said, “is why when I say turn, you turn.”

Once the panicked pants and chest thumps were done, and Holly’s adrenaline became manageable after that thorough, life-saving dump into her blood like radioactive sewage in an unhappy river, she shot him a shit-eating grin and stuck her tongue out like a child.

“Well, that sucks,” she said. “Should we…?”

“Reverse? Aye. Don’t need those fuckers on our heads now.”

So susceptible to temptation fate could be — fate being a blackish grey body falling on the bonnet with enough force to dent the engine and collapsing several other vulnerable, crucial components.

“Oh for the Saintess’——” Holly complained, cutting herself off. With absolutely all her stresses exhausted, she brought her hand to the lever on her dashboard and flicked it upwards. “I’ve had enough of a rush for one day.”

Emris was startled for a moment, but guffawed some more when the squeak of barely-functioning wipers scrubbed the windshield of the excess fluids that ripped from the cadaver. The fun stopped when a second beast smashed through the driver window and draped over Holly, sinking its claws into her flesh and digging in as it struggled to gather its bearings.

Emris’ eyes flashed open, his hands moving of their own accord as he instinctively ripped the canine Crimson off the squeaking rabbit and hammered its life away with a fell drop of a fist, crushing the weak bones of its skull inward in one go. The Crawler’s limbs spasmed as it was dragged out the door by said man, thrown out against an adjacent car to bounce off and hit the pavement. Emris grunted, pushing his boot into the head grime of the beast with a shuddering growl, rubbing his hands off the darkened fluid before turning to Holly who tried with difficulty to squeeze the gashes in her arm, chest and thigh.

“Holls, sug, ye alright?!” he said, his fidgetiness indicative of his panic as he rushed over to help apply pressure to her several bleeding cuts.

“Agh, looks like they’re not done interrupting me. Shit this stings a lot!” Holly seethed, grimacing as her leg pulsated white hot pain through her system. “I’m fine… Just hoping I don’t scar from this.”

With a nod, Emris reached the opposite end of the vehicle and yanked the door open, undoing her seatbelt and taking her in arms like a bride. Quickly, he scanned his surroundings, noting how the people who were still stuck in the traffic jam ran from their vehicles in abject terror, screaming and shouting as they pushed to escape the area; Crawlers arriving as black blotches staining buildings before leaping down like a murder of crows.

Bangs and thuds and cracks and smashes soon followed. Cars were totalled and sent off course, people were crushed and floors crumbled as the cascading beasts kamikazeed to reach the ground, whereas others scaled down the gigantic walls of the skyscrapers — mindless beasts with varying degrees of common sense.

“We have to go, now!” Holly shrieked, grabbing Emris’ attention as he too made haste for the nearest street.

His heavied feet slipped and skid as he swerved around people, automobiles and more, doing all that he could to get his daughter to the safety of, ironically enough, alleyways. It wouldn’t be as easy as running, of course. Once or twice, a quadrupedal, inky hellspawn fell smack dab in front of him, to which he’d resort to kicking the beast out the way. A good two steps away from a darkened backstreet, a larger caste of the beasts rammed headlong into Emris’ side, taking advantage of the fact he was too busy shielding Holly to keep himself protected.

The bash from the behemoth, faceless canine sent the Guardian right off his toes, cast to bounce and roll with Holly held firmly in his arms. He groaned, moaned and exhaled, too battered to get back on his feet as the Lypin removed herself from him, standing up with noticeable difficulty. It wasn’t until Holly took his arm and tugged him along that he could just about creep to the safer dim-lit street. The beast that attacked them, as brainless as its similars, lost its attention with a disoriented shake of the head and continued to rip apart the thankfully empty van that it had been harassing until that point.

Emris felt his sight slowly fade. The culmination of the war, a complete disregard for his own health, a lack of sleep and the combined injuries he had sustained threatened to drop him unconscious, but he perservered. He absolutely refused to rest until he knew his daughter was safe.

Luckily, even with blurred tunnel vision, he could shift his arms and legs well enough that he didn’t break Holly’s back just to carry him along, though he still couldn’t bring himself to walk on two legs. The singer couldn’t waste time letting him recover as the main street began to flood with dangerous creatures neither of them could handle in such masses. Holly kept tugging Emris along, breathing heavy, when she finally arrived at a dingy-looking door. The Brig was too tired to object, letting out a pitiable groan of disapproval. There could just as easily be Urchins behind that door, and dealing with them now was not something either of the two could afford to do.

Whoever lived there, they showed mercy enough to open up. The moment Holly let go of Emris’ hand, his arms gave under him, and his head dropped on the rough concrete. His sight continued to flicker until darkness consumed him. He only allowed himself to submit to his tiredness when a man in shabby wears helped carry him in, a second voice ushering them to hurry as danger approached. In his sleepy judgement, he presumed them safe. Holly was safe.

♦ ♥ ♣ ♠

The horn of a being whose life should long have been claimed and removed from existence tarnished the placating atmosphere of the nothingness that surrounded him. Emris stood still in the void, his head hung, trying to sleep.

“Purely transitional.”

“Not ye again…”

“Ares't you able to understand these the words I speak?”

“Aye, spot on. Couldn’t be louder. Shite…”

“Dost you have an answer for the words I spoke?”

“Fuckin’ die.”

“It hath been everlong…”

“Fuckin’ die.”

“...since we bore witness to one cooperative Guardian. Stubbornness lies never dormant in them. To be this in way allows the gift of fortification. But you are particular. Father bestowed you with a special gift. One of his own.”

“Did ye hear me, ye gibberish-spoutin' ugly? Disappear. Ye scared the lass. Go. Out. Get out! Fuck off and fuckin' leave!”

“With no ill will, I shall say, on behalf of He, we'd not assume to think you understand the position you are in, Vessel Emris.”

He saw no lips, so as the King spoke, he spoke not. In the pitch-black, his figure melted into the environment, leaving only those two tall headache-enducing eyes to peer over anyone and everyone and no-one all at once.

♦ ♥ ♣ ♠

“Is he really the Guardian?” the underdeveloped voice of the young boy asked excitedly. “He looks really poorly!”

“That’s him alright,” Holly said, giving a sheepish grin to the extatic boy as the gash in her leg was treated by a woman in a tattered, beige old dress that reached her ankles. “He’s been fighting a bunch of bad guys, so he needs some sleep.”

“Elliot, stop bothering the man and come fetch dinner,” the father of this small, humble family said.

Holly smiled. “That’s alright. Emris is a heavy sleeper.”

The woman sighed lowly to herself before she rose to meet the Lypin’s eyes. Her voice’s accent differed significantly from the others’. “Does it hurt?” she said.

“N-No, I’m fine, thank you. I’m so sorry for the troubles.”

“Don’t concern yourself, Miss. It’s our pleasure to have a celebrity pay us a visit so out of the blue. Though I suppose charity wasn’t the intention behind today’s occasion,” the father said with a stern voice, inviting the rabbit to eat beside them on the dinnertable.

“I wouldn’t consider myself… I don’t think just me existing does people any favours, but judging from how happy it makes people, maybe I’ll do it more often. Thanks for uhm… enlightening me,” Holly said with an awkward laugh, stifling the pain in her breath as she stood up from her seat to reach the prepared meal. “More than anything, thank you for this. I promise I’ll repay you all soon, and we won’t stick around for too long.”

Before either of the parents could speak, the boy’s shrill voice spoke up again. “Why are you saying thank you? A hero and a singer, in my house? Am I dreaming?!”

The mother chuckled, ruffling his hair with a hand much to his displeasure. “Apartment, ange.”

Holly noted how the woman chose not to speak many words, struggling with the unnamed, universal tongue used not just by Hubbites, but even by Yanksies and most Crimsoneers.

The father nodded. “I insist, it’s our pleasure. You’ll have to forgive my son’s excitement. He takes joy in everything, and this occasion is very special to him. And us, of course.”

“I wanna know everything about the Guardian!” the boy said, earning a giggle from Holly’s lips.

Slowly, she turned to face Emris, who slept soundly seated in a ragged old armchair. She frowned, however, when he noticed his light twitches and mutters. In all the years they’d lived together, Holly had come to discover that her second father always slept like a log unless he had a nightmare.