Everything flooded back.
"Calm. Relax. You want to sleep, dae. Sleep."
Rena heard herself speaking, saw her fingers reaching out to stroke the dae's chin gently, felt the ley rush through her body as the dae submitted to her wish, but nothing was connected. They were things happening around her. Automatic, driven by the memories and experiences and thoughts her mind was drowning under.
The dae slumped to the ground, asleep, leaving Rena backed against the wall, trying to put everything back into place.
She was Rena. Rena. Not just the word the human--Cayden! That was Cayden, how had she forgotten?--had called her after pulling her from the ash, but her name. Those two syllables sank somewhere deep inside her mind and clicked. Even before the portal had taken her name to prevent her own mind from destroying it entirely, she'd never felt like this.
She was whole.
Rena stood up, finding her feet. The portal. Inside the portal. I remember now.
Remember what? asked a voice, startling Rena. Are you okay? What happened?
Uh, was all Rena managed at first. Who are you?
I don't know! replied the voice. We were trying to figure that out together, and then there was this bright flash of light and suddenly I could see! It paused for a second, and Rena found herself able to actually feel its movements. Oooh, who's that guy over there?
Um, that's Cayden, replied Rena, glancing his direction, desperately trying to resurface her recent memories that'd been buried under the old.
She remembered being pulled from the ash, remembered Cayden pulling her up, Allegra covering her with a cloak. Remembered that feeling of utter disorientation as the eyes of many had stared at her, the chaos, the fighting--
And the voice. This voice. It'd been with her when she'd woken, just as confused and disoriented as she was.
Do you have any idea what you are? asked Rena. Are you something from the portal?
How am I supposed to know? replied the voice. I just remember being awake once, long ago. Colours and shapes, blurry things. Then everything went dark for a long time. Then the darkness, well, it didn't go away, but I woke up, and I found you. It squealed excitedly. But now I can see! I can see, uh, Cayden! That was it! I can see Cayden!
Rena grabbed her head. The last of her memories were settling back into place in reverse order. Her earliest memories now flashed behind her eyes, right up until the images faded to darkness. Yet the darkness continued to settle, like they were also memories, memories that just didn't have pictures.
Realisation struck Rena like she was tethered to a lightning elemental.
"Rena?" called Cayden, approaching her carefully. "Are you okay?"
"Cayden!" She offered him a smile that didn't reflect a fraction of the joy holding the rest of her emotions hostage. "I remember. I remember everything."
His face broke into relief. "That's... that's..." He shook his head. "You know what's going on at the portal? Do you remember that?"
"Djinn on a power trip, Order using chaotics that just broke free because of the spectre possessing the oracle?" said Rena, her memories confirmed with a nod. "Then I remember."
"Do you feel any... different?" he asked.
"Er, you could say that," said Rena. "Nazine revived me, right?"
Cayden nodded again. "It might have something to do with why you've got nine tails now, or maybe it's the new key--"
"Wait." Rena glanced behind her, spreading her tails and counting them. Yep. Nine. "When in the ley did that happen? Were they like that when he revived me?"
"I don't think so," said Cayden. "They were still orange then, but you kept them twined so I didn't get a chance to count. Isn't that why you're asking if Nazine revived you?"
Rena chewed on her lip. "I don't think he revived just me. I think he revived, well, my human side."
Cayden's face froze. "Care to repeat that?"
"I think Nazine revived my human side," said Rena. "There's a voice inside my head, and she's talking about remembering things earlier on, then darkness. The exact reverse of my own memories. Her darkness begins where my memories end, only in her darkness, she doesn't remember anything. Cayden, I think she died, and that's why I took over the body. Why I was Unbound without realising it."
Tell Cayden he looks nice. I wanna touch his hair. Can you touch his hair for me?
Rena exhaled. "She wants me to touch your hair. Would you mind if I touched your hair?"
"Uh," said Cayden, remembering how to speak. "Sure?"
Rena stepped forward and ran a hand through his hair, drawing even more giggles from the voice--her human. "We still have the problem of the djinn, right?"
"We do," said Cayden. "Though, at this point, I'm not sure how we're going to fix it. The spectre's inside the actual portal and there's a bunch of super chaotics running around destroying everything. Even with a nine-tailed kitsune, I'm not sure it's going to be enough."
Rena glanced to the new crystal key in her hand, feeling its warmth, its light, and the ley inside.
"I think there might still be a way to fix this," she said. "I remember things from inside the portal, when the ley spoke to me. I think I know how to fix the chaos."
"Any idea is better than none at this point," said Cayden, already running back the way they'd come. "Let's move, before the spectre finishes turning the entire portal chaotic. If there's any portal left to turn, that is."
Together they ran, back down the path cleared by the dae's rampage. Broken branches, long gouges in the earth, every mark guiding them back towards the portal, not that Rena needed it. She could have been blindfolded and knocked over the head several times and she still would have known exactly where it was and a fairly good estimate of how far. It was a beacon, a lighthouse in a field of lanterns.
After a minute of running, Rena was surprised to find herself far ahead of Cayden. When she slowed her pace to match his own, he waved her off.
"Get back to that portal!" he said. "I'll get there after, but they need you now!"
Don't leave him behind! squeaked the voice. What about his hair!
Sorry, said Rena. When you're older, you'll learn that there's more important things in life than Cayden's hair.
Like Cayden's face?
Try to think outside of Cayden.
The voice considered it as Rena kicked it into speeds a centaur would have been jealous of and made a bee line to the portal, ditching the dae's path.
The forest around her was angry. Rena could feel it in her bones. It was rising up, something more ancient than the trees or the ley that sustained them. As she leapt off yet another rock, catapaulting herself forward, a chill wracked her body. It wasn't from the freezing wind that pulled back her hair, the fire in her stomach ensured the cold didn't bother her.
No. This was the touch of nothing, scraping down her essence. The ley itself being destroyed.
Rena passed through the final layer of trees, breaking out in line with the front of the portal.
She took Cayden's advice and observed the scene before rushing in head first, careful to take note of anything that could hinder or help her efforts.
Both Mythic and human lay dead around the pathway, broken and bleeding. Those still alive were surrounded by the chaotics from all sides, held at bay only by a wavering shield that didn't look like it was going to last much longer. Rena caught glimpses of Svala at the centre of the defense, but she wasn't alone in sustaining the shield. Several other Mythics, not just the Unbounds, added their own strength. Even more surprising, there were Order within the group, and no one seemed to want them out.
Rena changed her focus to the chaotics. They terrified her to the core. She didn't know exactly what her nine tails meant she could do, but it was going to have to be enough. She was going to have to be enough.
She started forward, drawing the attention of a chaotic. After the first one noticed, the rest were quick to follow.
"Rena!" called Allegra's voice from inside the shield. "Rena, get out of here! Run!"
Rena steadied herself, planting her feet. She had a plan, even if she wasn't sure it'd work. She'd charmed one chaotic bent on her ley already, what was another ten? She frowned. Or was it fifteen? It was hard to tell with the way they kept shifting around.
"Rena! Get out of--"
"Chaotics, stop!" called Rena, letting her voice ring out through air and ley. Her body warmed. Her tails unfurled behind her. "You will stop!"
The chaotics hesitated.
Rena clung to her confidence and approached them, hoping the distance would help the charm hold.
"You will not attack me," said Rena. She reached the closest chaotic, some kind of fae. They towered over her, nearly twice her own height, but when the chaotic didn't lash out, she found the courage to reach out and take the fae's hand. "You want to sleep. You will sleep."
The chaotic's eyelids drooped, but their body jerked in a clear effort to stay awake.
"Sleep," said Rena, a little more forcefully.
The chaotic sank to its knees, and a few moments later, was curled on its side, asleep on the ground.
That was problem number one down, but the others were starting to move, to break free of the fragile charm. Not only that, but shouts were coming from inside the shield.
"We have to help her! Drop the shield!"
"No!" said Rena. "I don't think I can hold them if they aren't fixating on me. Stay in there!" She turned her attention back to the chaotics, hoping the others would listen to her. She didn't have words to waste convincing them. She had to be faster. "You're all tired. You want to sleep. You can feel your eyelids drooping. Sleep."
The next chaotic was asleep in half the time of the first. Rena continued to run between them, continuing to call out commands to stop. Unlike the command to sleep, simply telling them to stop seemed to work significantly better across the group and didn't require her focus to be completely directed at them.
The last chaotic drifted off into its dreams, and Rena stepped back, double-checking she hadn't missed any of them.
The shield protecting the survivors vanished. One in particular ran straight to Rena and pulled her into a forceful hug.
"Rena!" said Allegra. "You're alive! When we saw it chase you, well, we thought--" Allegra glanced at Rena's tails and whistled. "Ooooh, that explains it. That's cool."
"Yea," said Rena with a smile. "I remember everything too--wait! You, stop!" She broke away from Allegra, catching sight of an Order member standing over a sleeping chaotic, dagger poised over its chest. "What in the ley do you think you're doing?"
His face was grim. "We can't let them live, kitsune. Your efforts have given us the only chance we'll have to vanquish them, since they've broke away from their keys."
He brought the dagger up again.
"Drop the dagger," growled Rena, causing the man to send the dagger clattering to the ground with a surprised expression on his face. She cursed herself. She hadn't meant to use her charm on him. It was harder than she'd realised to hold it back. "Sorry. I'm not going to let you kill them. Not yet."
"Not yet?" came Kiou's voice. Rena glanced up to find him walking over, more than one gash marking his scaled body and several tears in the great, leathery wings on his back. "Rena, they're chaotic. They have to be destroyed."
"No, they don't," said Rena. She had one idea. One desperate, ridiculous idea based on memories she'd formed while half delirious inside the portal. "I think we can save them."
"Save them?" came a scathing voice. The djinn. Almost instinctively, Rena recoiled from him. "I don't know what you think those nine tails can do you for, Emberheart, but I assure you that cleansing a chaotic isn't one of them."
"Not to mention the spectre's still inside the portal," said Kiou. "If it stays in there too long, we're all dead or chaotic. There won't be any ley left. Even if we could save them, they aren't our first priority."
"I think we can save them too," said Rena, straightening. "Listen, we were all wrong. The Order, you," she said, giving a pointed look to the djinn. "You're all wrong about why the portals are turning chaotic."
"And I suppose our little miss nine tails thinks she has the solution?" said the djinn. "With all her infinite wisdom?"
"Do you have any better ideas?" Rena shot back. When he remained silent, she took a breath and continued. "When I healed Nazine's key inside the portal, the ley spoke to me. Or itself, I don't know. I couldn't tell. It was talking about being starved, having to consume itself to survive."
The djinn snorted. "Right, because--"
"Will you shut up!" said Rena, charm accidentally slipping into her words as the djinn's mouth snapped close. This time, she didn't apologise. "I think the ley feeds off our memories, our experiences. When I was in there, it took each memory, each experience and was... I don't know how to explain it. It was like it was learning from it. Growing. It lived through me."
"Didn't it turn you feral?" asked Allegra, more than a little concerned.
"Going inside that portal turned me feral," said Rena. "It was the trigger, the thing that snapped my mind. After I stepped out and was separated from all that ley, my mind just couldn't handle it. I think the ley knew that, and it kept my mind for me. When I used my ley before, I got everything back."
"So we have to feed the ley our... memories?" asked Kiou. "How do we even do that?"
"We commune with the portal," said Rena. "All of us."
"I thought only energy or energy halflings could do that?"
"Obviously not, if I managed it," said Rena. "Think about it. The Mythics of old, even after we were bonded with the humans, the portals were a central part of their lives. In all the tales, once every few years, a Mythic would make the journey to a portal. After the Order was founded to protect the Mythics, that's when they started regulating the portals to prevent a Mythic from overloading on ley and going chaotic that way. Mythics visited the portals less. Over time as the chaos grew, the Order restricted Mythics more and more because the chaos kept growing and they were trying to protect them."
"Until now, when only the halflings are strong enough to do it," breathed Allegra. "Pure energy and they'd slip into it too easily, but no energy and they couldn't find the link at all!"
"So how are we going to do it now?" asked Kiou. "The only energy halflings here are the djinn and Nazine, though he's out like a light back at Leristith where Allegra hid him."
"We're going to do it together," said Rena. "The djinn can guide us in, and we're going to do it together."
The djinn sniffed. "You're asking a lot of me. What if I'd rather not?"
"What are you, five?" said Rena. He looked as shocked as she felt. "If this portal goes, so do we, and you know that just as much as I do. I will charm you into cooperating if I have to, Qariinn."
"I doubt you could," he said.
Rena narrowed her eyes. "Do you want to find out?"
He hesitated for the briefest moment before waving his hand. "Fine, but I suggest we hurry. If those guardians wake up, they're going to destroy the entire portal system and anything around it." He turned, walking towards the portal. "I'll begin to prepare. You get everyone ready."
"Good," said Rena.
She turned to the Mythics behind her, many of which stared warily at the Order.
"Mythics!" she called, careful to keep the charm out of her voice. "We need your help--all of your help--to save the portal. I'll explain more in a second, but right now, I need you all to help bring the chaotics over and place them on the portal." She looked to the Order. "I need you to watch our backs. Can I trust you with that?"
A dark haired woman inclined her head. "You can, kitsune. The portal is as vital to us as it is to you. We will stand watch."
"Just to be clear," said Rena. "If I come out and you've touched any of the Mythics, chaotic, Unbound or otherwise, you're going to have to deal with me. Understood?"
The woman's mouth set into a hard line. "Understood."
Rena released a quiet breath of relief, turning to see Cayden standing at the edge. She had no idea how long he'd been standing there, but it ticked another problem off her list.
She waved him over as she made her way among the other Mythics to the portal. Despite their obvious misgivings, four or five helped to carry each chaotic over to the portal, laying them down on the ever growing void beneath the surface. The deity ribbons didn't glow as they approached, remaining as dark as the portal they grew from.
"Watch my back," said Rena, quietly enough for Cayden's ears only. "I don't know if I can trust the Order to keep their word."
"After all this, I wouldn't either," muttered Cayden.
Confident she now had her tails covered, Rena stepped onto the portal's surface, feeling the chaos growing beneath.
It was time to cleanse the heart.
*+*+*+*
A/N - Yay! This made me so happy to write for several reasons. Rena kicking butt. Rena telling the djinn to shut it. MANY HAPPIES. YOUR ENERGIES HAVE HELPED <3
Vote! Comment! <-- look they're bold and everything.
I live off the things (almost literally) and we're like 3? chapters from the end! Maybe plus an epilogue! I THINK THATS ABOUT RIGHT IDK IT COULD BE MORE OR LESS DONT JUDGE ME.