The team didn’t wind up doing as Mari had suggested—that being ‘walk and talk’. Instead, they ran for miles in relative silence, the pervasive darkness around them only growing more stifling with every step. Leon could feel it pressing against his mind, now more obvious and more powerful than it had just outside the Black Veil separating them from the Mandian Lands.

So, he called the group to a halt. Staying on the move was smart, but they all needed to regroup, mentally and physically. They stopped on a hill, upon which Leon began carving the runes that would keep the darkness at bay. He moved quick as lightning, setting up the enchantment in mere moments.

“Our enchantments aren’t as effective as they were further from the Mandian Lands,” Leon said to Tiraeses. “We might need something a little stronger.” He glanced up at Mari. “How are you doing in there?”

“Fine,” Mari replied, her voice sounding a little strained. “It ain’t the darkness that’ll get me in here. Just the stress and the caring for potential traitors.” Leon blinked in surprise while Mari turned to Tiraeses. “What the fuck was all that, old man? Ya know that culty fucker?”

Tiraeses was quiet for a long moment, his eyes narrowed in thought. “No,” he eventually said and gave no further comment.

“… That’s it?” Mari said in disbelief. “Ya got nothing more than that?”

“I have lived in a cave on the edge of the plane for centuries!” Tiraeses growled back. “Before that, I knew many people, and was known by many more. Mulitan, Lord of Memory, may not have been courteous enough to erase me from history.”

“Ya should think it over, then, old man,” Mari snarled.

“Enough,” Leon interjected, a small part of his mind wondering if this was going to become his catchphrase when dealing with these two. To Mari, he said, “Let’s keep a cool head and not tear ourselves to pieces. Keep in mind the possibility that that cultist was lying to try and sow division amongst us. Keep in mind that we’re not going to get far if we’re constantly at each other’s throats.”

Mari turned away and didn’t respond, but Leon took her silence as agreement.

To Tiraeses, he said, “Think harder on this. If this cultist did know you, then you might’ve known him, too. Wrack your brain until you find the answer.”

Tiraeses scowled and said, “I was already praying to Mulitan, Lord of Memory, for that very information.”

“Maybe you could do something else than pray?” Mari asked, still turned away from both Leon and Tiraeses.

“The gods are our salvation,” Tiraeses softly insisted.

“The gods, if they were ever real, abandoned us a long time ago,” Mari said, directly stating the idea she’d been toying with the whole time she’d been with them. “To rely on them is to accept death. There ain’t no point in praying to them anymore.”

“There is no better time for prayer than when the world is darkest,” Tiraeses countered. “But I shouldn’t expect much else from a girl of your age.”

“Fuck you, old man,” Mari retorted.

Tiraeses didn’t answer, instead choosing to close his eyes, fall to his knees, and quietly meditate. Leon hoped he was contemplating what had just happened, but after taking a moment to make sure Mari and Tiraeses weren’t going to come to blows, he turned his attention to what he felt had to be done before anything else.

He filled the enchantment to banish the darkness with power. It had worked splendidly in Yu Nok Tor, but this time, while the runes glowed with his power, the relief they provided was significantly less than before, reinforcing Leon’s belief that the protective enchantments he’d inscribed for himself and Tiraeses weren’t sufficient.

And that meant the enchantments had to be revised. He considered asking the Thunderbird or Xaphan for help, but while they were fairly knowledgeable about most things, neither were trained enchanters.

The enchantments he’d made had worked far better than he’d expected them so far, standing up better than he’d expected when in combat. Now that that unexpectedly good performance seemed to be over, he thought he might implement some of the improvements that had occurred to him in the idle hours spent running through the blasted hellscape of Arkhnavi.

So, once the darkness was pushed back about as much as it was going to be from the enchantment he’d carved upon the hill, he brought out his enchanting tools and began the first draft of the new enchantment. It largely kept the structure of the first enchantment, but whereas that one had the ancient rune doing most of the heavy lifting, augmented by amplification and power-regulation runes and glyphs, the new one was more complex, incorporating some of the antimagic Leon had learned from the Ravens, as well as what he’d used in creating his armor. His antimagic was much less effective than he’d hoped for, but that didn’t mean the underlying concepts he’d used weren’t effective if used more efficiently—and besides, he’d created his antimagic weapons before he was even acquainted with the Ravens, and his skills and knowledge had improved quite a bit since then.

It didn’t take him long to finish his first draft, the creation process drawing a mad grin out of him. However, as soon as the draft was done, he began work on a second draft, as he could much more easily the flaws and mistakes he’d made now that the draft was complete. Over the course of several silent hours, he ran through nine drafts, some with more tweaking and some with less, until he landed upon an enchantment that he felt would work.

He quickly inscribed it upon a piece of high-quality spellpaper, pulled the resulting spell into his soul realm, and then conjured it behind his cuirass. It was a simple matter at that point to power it, and as soon as he did, the effect on their environment was dramatic—the omnipresent darkness was driven away, bringing all three some measure of relief from the constant mental pressure placed upon their minds by the Devilish magic, even though Mari at least didn’t need it.

Leon’s response was to grin in triumph, leaving Mari to speak first.

“Fuckin’ well done, Lele!” she exclaimed. “That’ll come in handy, won’t it?”

“It will,” Tiraeses said as he pushed himself back to his feet, a look of sorrow, resignation, and relief intermingling upon his features. “And as with this darkness, Mulitan, Lord of Memory, has seen fit to answer my prayers by banishing some of the fog from my mind.”

Leon’s eyes immediately locked upon the old monk. “You think you know who that cultist was?”

“As I said before, I can’t know for certain, not unless I see his face,” Tiraeses replied. “By the gods, I don’t even know if that devil spawn is even a man or not!”

“Then give us your thoughts, whatever they may be,” Leon said as Mari turned toward them both to more intently listen.

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“In the interest of not drawing the ire of the gods with dishonesty, I shall preface this by reminding you both that I have been in exile for long enough that even the most virtuous people I know could have changed.”

“But not Ard’Khil, the fatass, I guess,” Mari growled.

Tiraeses glared at her and opened his mouth to argue, but closed it a moment later and seemed to rethink his response. To Leon’s muted relief, Tiraeses decided to simply not acknowledge the comment.

“Out of everyone that I would suspect turning from the light of the gods to the shadow of the devils, there are a few, though the one I would suspect the most is Lae’Ril, the Whispering Lord.”

“Lae’Ril’s dead,” Mari countered. “Fucker bit it when the Blue Sky was first dealing with the cultists. Happened in a big battle my father told me about. Lae’Ril was like, ‘noooo, I don’t wanna die cuz I’m a big bitch with a stupid face so I’m just gonna ruuuun.’ Fucker got real close to the Red-Eyed Bitch real quick after that.”

Tiraeses frowned deeply. “By Valiant Ashatar, I wish I was surprised. Lae’Ril was never blessed by the brothers of war, Valiant Ashatar and Strong Ashagon. But he was a man utterly devoid of virtue.”

“Did you know him well?” Leon pointedly asked.

Tiraeses gave him a long, steady stare that eventually slipped into one of profound regret. “I did,” he confirmed.

“From what my father told me, knowing that bag of rotten dicks isn’t a good thing,” Mari pointed out. “You’re not lookin’ good, Fake Name. Is that why you’re using a fake name, Fake Name? Cuz you’re secretly a fuckin’ degenerate? Exiled, too, apparently. Too much of an ass for the fat fuck polishing the throne with his fat ass while everyone else starved. I wonder if I actually know you. Have I heard of you and I just don’t know it?”

Tiraeses recoiled as if physically struck, but he stated, “Everything I did, may the gods strike me down for any deceit, was to preserve the peace within the Kingdom of the Blue Sky! The Red Sky was pressing against our borders and dissidents—” He caught himself, a pained look crossing his face. “I… proved myself to be lacking in virtue back then. So I was exiled. Such was how it had to be, and it allowed me to contemplate my mistakes and attempt to regain some semblance of virtue, even if it were at the edge of the plane.”

“Ha! So—” Mari began, but Leon swiftly cut her off before she could tear into Tiraeses as she seemed primed to do.

“What about any others?” Leon asked. “Other than Lae’Ril?”

“I would have guessed Ard’Khun, had he not been taken by the Red-Eyed One already,” Tiraeses said. “My apprentice, who succeeded my position after my exile, Po’Jun, always had a darker streak to him, though he never had any kind of affinity for devilish magic. My exile was not a secret to the people, though it wasn’t widely publicized, thank the gods. Many heard of me and my crimes, though the common people, especially after so much time, are unlikely to have ever heard of me. But of those that have, an army could be raised. Or could have, may Just Helior judge all those who have been taken by the Red-Eyed One as they deserve.”

“If any were caught up in all this shit,” Mari bitterly said, “I hope they’re thrown to the devils they worshipped in life. They have destroyed too much of Arkhnavi, and now our last hope is an outsider.” To emphasize her point, Mari first gestured around them, her Ulta suit raising its arms in an incredibly human way. She then lowered both hands to Leon, who didn’t need that kind of reminder of the stakes at play here. Only the Grave Wardens could prevent the Primal Devil from getting loose—assuming Xaphan was right in saying that it wasn’t yet free of its cage—and his only hope of reaching Ambrose was maybe finding something in Tell Kirin that could help him in getting off Arkhnavi.

The barren land pocked with ruined cities they now found themselves in was reminder enough of that, as it was.

After the moment of silence Mari’s statement left on, Leon asked, “What was this place like before it… became what it is now?”

“A land of beauty and plenty,” Tiraeses said as he waved his hand and conjured a dome of light around them. The inner surface of the dome resolved into images of the Mandian Lands as Tiraeses remembered it, with fields of green and gold everywhere Leon could see. It was an obviously bountiful land with extensive farms and great, glittering cities rising out of the earth. The region was fairly flat, and Tiraeses’ illusion showed more than a hundred large cities in the distance, showing just how prosperous the Mandian Lands were if they could support such a heavily urbanized people.

“I don’t remember it ever lookin’ this nice,” Mari said as her Ulta suit’s head rotated back and forth, taking in every detail. “The east was in marginally better shape last time I was there, and the darkness hadn’t quite spread beyond the Mandian Lands, but the Kingdom of the Blue Sky has been destroyed, basically. There’s barely more than a few miserable piles of brick left that we might call cities, and all of them have been suffering from famine for a long time. It may even be gone by now, if there were reprisals for our expedition…”

“Did you have any family back in your home? Any friends?” Leon asked.

“Just my father,” Mari replied. “No one else. And now that he’s gone… I have no one…”

She trailed off, going just as quiet as tiraeses, and Leon understood that their reminiscing was over. Tiraeses waved his hand again and the dome of light dissipated.

Hoping to galvanize them even just a little bit, Leon said, “You two can ask me anything you want. In fact, I’ll even invite you two to come and live in the Thunder Kingdom when all this is over and done with.”

“Assuming we don’t meet the Red-Eyed Bitch, first.”

Leon chuckled and shrugged. “Assuming that, yes. Shall we get moving again?”

Mari and Tiraeses both agreed, and Leon led them onward. Their route would take them a little further east than it should’ve required, as Tiraeses wanted to personally check in on his homeland, if possible. The Kingdom of the Blue Sky sounded dead to Leon, with its King and Crown Prince having been apparently slain in battle, along with so much of its territory now belonging to the Primal Devil. However, he knew that if Kataigida were to ever fall, he wouldn’t give up hope for at least some people surviving until he laid eyes upon the island himself and investigated.

Piquing his curiosity, Tiraeses called the team to a halt not long after they set out once again.

“I… would like to revise our current trajectory,” he said.

“How so?” Leon asked.

“When planning our route, I sought to make Wise Farangeun proud by avoiding the city of Naxor Amis, the city where the first ritual that summoned this darkness reportedly took place. I believe—I may cause much grief to Wise Farangeun by simply stating this aloud—I believe that we should scout the city and see what has become of it. And… I believe that if we want answers about this cultist who apparently knows me, then we’ll find them in Naxor Amis.”

“That’s super dumb,” Mari stated. “We’re already heading to Tell Kirin, where this devilish shit is probably thickest, and you want us to walk right into ground zero for the destruction of the Mandian Lands?”

“If the gods will lead us to answers, then the destination will lead through Naxor Amis,” Tiraeses said.

“That sounds more like you want to meet the Red-Eyed Bitch instead, Fake Name!”

“All I want is the salvation of Arkhnavi,” Tiraeses claimed. “To do that, we need information. Naxor Amis, while dangerous beyond compare, will be the best place to try and gather some.”

“That’s a flimsy reason,” Leon said. “It would be faster and safer to bypass this city—and all others—and head straight for Tell Kirin.”

“Not necessarily safer or quicker,” Mari responded. “Lots of Black Veils got in our way during the Two Skies’ push.”

“That’ll be the case whether or not we head for Naxor Amis, though,” Leon pointed out, to which Mari’s Ulta suit shrugged. “I can see the merit, I suppose. We can check the city out from afar and make our decision then. If I judge it’s too dangerous, we’ll swing around and make for Tell Kirin. Understood?”

Mari and Tiraeses both acknowledged his decision, and Tiraeses did as he’d requested and altered their course to put them on the path that would lead them to the place where Arkhnavi’s fall began.

“Great. Any more questions?”

“Not a question,” Mari said, “but Lele, that lightning bird thing ya did with the Black Veil was really cool.”

Leon was still wearing his helmet, so he allowed himself a smile. “Thank you.”

“It was suuuper cute, too, especially the way it gouged the darkness right outta those banshees! How did’ya make it?”

Leon chuckled and began explaining what he knew about creating autonomous creatures using his power. He wasn’t nearly as good at it as Maia or Xaphan was, but he’d been taught enough and was good enough to give her the basics. From the way Mari gushed over it, Leon figured she was going to be making something that might require wisps in the future.

Just another reason for him to do his best to keep her—and Tiraeses—alive. He feared he might not be able to save the plane in the end, but he felt he at least had the power to save these two.

Assuming they all didn’t die when the Grave Wardens made their move, or the Primal Devil got loose. With that thought crossing his mind, Leon forced all other thoughts of the future out of his head so he could concentrate solely on getting out of this mess and back to Aeterna. Everything else could come after that. He just had to get home.