As Teyva stepped further into the room, her glowing body began to add a bit of illumination to the grim surroundings. The reflective surfaces around them added to the effect to the point that it was like someone threw a light switch. The creature glanced around, his lips curled with amusement. Teyva did her best to pretend it didn’t bother her and instead glanced over to Yaga who indicated a black line just a few feet ahead of them. “You can stand there.”

Teyva strode over to the line and put her hands on her hips, “Well? You wanted to see me? Here I am.”

His bulging yellow eyes searched her face for a moment before he cracked into a wild smile, “You have changed, evolved, you grow as I grow.”

She narrowed her eyes, “I am nothing like you.”

He nodded solemnly, looking down at himself before looking back up again, “I could be! That is why I sought you out, you can grant power, the power to grow! I know it. You deceived me, I know the Azar Messenger is alive, I wonder how? I killed you,” He chuckled, “Crushed your skull, yes I did! Like paste.”

Teyva ignored Yaga shifting on her feet behind her. Instead, she knelt down a bit and looked him in the eyes, “You want power? Why?”

“Conrad craves vengeance,” He hissed, “When he is satisfied, Akos wishes to live, to experience life.”

He wanted to live? After he took away so much from Elat? Teyva took a deep breath to try to calm herself, wrapping herself in her mana and cooling her rage. She glanced back at Yaga, Yaga shrugged, “He calls himself Conrad Akos. Elat told me that Conrad was the name of the Knight that had come to his settlement. I don’t know who Akos is though.”

“I have a pretty good idea,” Teyva said darkly, “You were the one hunting us while we were leaving the forest, weren’t you?”

The creature sneered at her, “I am.”

“You hurt my friend, you understand that, right?” She said evenly, “He can’t use his hand anymore.”

“That is a risk one takes when they fight,” The creature shot back, his tone a bit more controlled and human. “If he regrets what has happened to him, then he should not have chosen to fight.”

Her eye twitched and she stood up sharply and before Yaga could say anything she whipped out her right arm. The chain wrapped around it leaped forward, wrapping around the creature’s neck and lifting him bodily off the ground. The barbs of the chain punctured skin, gold blood oozing from the tiny wounds as she lifted him higher and higher. She bore her pointed teeth at him. His eyes bulged even further as she struggled against his shackles, trying to reach for his throat. She stepped forward, “Enough out of you,” She growled, “It’s about time I saw what was going on under the hood, now look at me!” She bellowed.

Behind her, she could hear Yaga shift a bit on her feet as the monstrosity forced itself to look her in the eyes. Teyva summoned up her mana, wrapping it around herself and then letting it pool into liquid form. She urged it forward along her length of chain, the invisible substance racing across the magical metal before splashing on Conrad’s face. He twitched, struggling against the shackles that restrained him. Teyva pushed harder, forcing her mana inside and searching for that deep point buried far below his conscious mind. He pushed back, fighting off her intrusion only to double back as she increased her effort. He gagged and thrashed, the sounds of his resistance the only thing filling the room.

It took far longer than finding Batel’s soul, but in the end she found the mote of warmth and light buried deep beneath a cloud of darkness. She grabbed hold of it, “Let me in,” She hissed.

ERROR!

ERROR!

ERROR!

SOUL LINK HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED.

SYNCHRONIZING

Teyva’s vision went dark. She felt herself diving again, drifting down into that alien place. The sounds of thunder rumbled around her as she landed on her feet, turning around to examine her surroundings. Unlike her own or Batel’s souls, this place was a thick, mottled grey. Patches of white lightning crackled across the surface while some clouds turned black as they coiled around themselves. In the distance, she could see someone on his knees, his head downturned. Behind him stood another figure who had his arms coiled around the first’s body. Teyva frowned and approached them, stopping to take it all in when she was close enough.

Akos was as she remembered him, a horrific, gangly creature with a skull for a head and three bulging eyes. His chest glowed with an inner heat that seemed to grow brighter as he breathed. The creature looked up at her and wrapped its arms more tightly around Conrad. Unlike Akos who seemed to be brimming with health, the knight looked tired. His eyes were sunken and his muscles were thin and weak. He forced himself to look up at her, his tired eyes glittering a little.

“You,” He wheezed, “I saw you. You were the Azar woman. I killed you.”

“You did,” Teyva said.

“How?”

“I do not stay dead for long,” Teyva said.

His face twisted in thought as if he was trying to come up with an explanation. She canted her head to the right and tried to look him in the eyes, “Did you choose this?” She asked.

He leveled his gaze at her, “I was dying, my Lord betrayed me. Turned his mercenaries on me.”

“I gave him life, my life,” Akos hissed.

“I’m not talking to you,” Teyva growled, shooting the monster a hard look.

“Your Lord?”

“Count Bertrand Otel,” Conrad muttered, “I was his ally. I thought so highly of him. I helped him gain the power he has today. Though, I suspect I asked too many questions in the end.”

Teyva sat down and crossed her legs, well this was a familiar scenario. A small, chaotic part of her just wanted to take his side then and there over the shared issue of bad bosses. It was his own misfortune and the poor character of someone above him that had ultimately caused this. She sighed and scratched her head, she’d wait a bit before asking him more about his relationship with the count. Instead, she stuck to the immediate conversation, “Asked too many questions?”

“He believes in something called the Heroic Cycle. He says when the Azar crown a King a hero appears for the humans to destroy it. Rubbish,” The knight growled.

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Teyva said, “I’m pretty familiar with the cycle myself.”

The knight narrowed his eyes, “What do you know about it?”

“I am it,” Teyva said flatly, “Or rather, half of it. There was a bit of a mix-up and I didn’t end up in Katal when I was brought here.”

The knight’s eyes widened, “Then the messenger was truly sent by the King of the Azar.”

“Yep,” Teyva said. The knight burst into laughter, the sudden reaction even surprising Akos who pulled back a little from his host. Teyva waited for him to catch his breath before continuing. “The King just wants peace, really, he sent his own daughter to try to hash things out and your Count arranged for a group of men to hunt her down.”

The Knight frowned but nodded, “I know him for what he is now, I am not surprised.”

“Talking talking talking!” Akos hissed, “Come here to talk? To this place? Why? Could have talked outside!”

Conrad tilted his head, “The creature is right. What do you have to gain from speaking to me? Would it not be simpler just to destroy me while you have the chance? I killed you. I injured your friend.”

“You did,” Teyva agreed, “But part of me is starting to think you’d be more useful to me alive than dead.”

The knight narrowed his eyes, “Explain.”

“I won’t be acting on it anytime soon, but clearly something needs to be done about Count Otel. The King won’t do anything about it, he doesn’t want a fight with the Katali,” Teyva explained, “I have a bone to pick with the Count, though. More than one. You could argue that he’s the reason my friend got hurt, he inadvertently made you, right?”

The Knight fell silent, holding her gaze. He said nothing as she continued. “It’s becoming more and more obvious to me that I am going to need powerful allies if I’m going to make any sort of impact on this world. All you want is revenge, right?” She glanced up at Akos, “And all you want is to experience life?”

“Yes,” The monster hissed, “To live, to exist, to think.”

She looked between the two of them. The stronger Akos and the withered Conrad. Two souls. It made her think of Teyva Rani and she wondered for a moment if this was what could have been if she hadn’t defended herself. She wondered if accepting his soul as one of her children would improve his situation any, or at least put him on even footing with Akos. Teyva looked between the two of them again and let out a breath. “Work for me. It may take time but I’ll help you get your revenge.”

“And who are you to command a Knight of Katal?” Conrad wheezed.

Teyva hesitated and then squared her shoulders, “Queen of the Akurai,” She said firmly, “Adopted daughter of the King of the Azar, and Hero of the Cycle.”

He froze and then frowned, “Akurai?”

“A new race, my children.”

His eyes widened, “What on Orum are you?”

Teyva grinned, “The Mother of Monsters.”

He went silent for a long moment, then sighed, “You are not giving me much of a choice.”

“Sure I am,” Teyva said casually, getting to her feet, “Just a fairly easy one, if you have any sense left.”

“Were you planning to destroy me if I didn’t comply?” He asked, holding her gaze from his position beneath Akos.

“Yes,” Teyva said.

The knight laughed, “At least you’re honest. Fine, I accept your offer. I’ve already made a deal with one devil, why not go for two?”

Teyva tilted her head and offered him a sweet smile, she knelt down and reached her hands out to take the withered man’s cheeks. They felt strange; like they were there but they weren’t. She ran a thumb over his face and felt the connection between them begin to build. She hadn’t been intending to use her [Embrace Monster] ability when she had taken Batel and the others in. This time was different. As she cast the ability she felt a thread form between the two of them, to which Akos immediately reacted.

“Wait! What about me?” The creature demanded.

“What about you?” Teyva asked, “You’ll get what you want, but you’ll be the passenger, not him,” She returned her attention to Conrad just as the prompt she had been waiting for appeared.

O Mother of Monsters, would you accept the wretched soul you hold in your hands?

Yes / No

“Yes.”