12.
Reason of Misfortune
Reyna woke up to the sound of the shower running and to an empty spot next to her. She was disappointed in not seeing Dante's sleeping face, but knowing him, he had probably woken up extra early to shower and make her breakfast. She smiled, thinking how she should make it for him instead.
Today was one of the four days out of the week where electricity was provided in batched hours for people to use. The thought of making eggs and maybe trying that pancake mix that was only a few months expired excited Reyna. Gauging by the light that filtered through the curtains from their one window, she figured there were plenty of morning electricity hours left. She stood up and stretched, but a sudden thought kept her from reaching the kitchen. Surprising Dante in the shower sounded more fun than making breakfast. Besides, she was already naked.
"Dante?" Reyna said with a naughty smile as she entered the bathroom.
He didn't answer, her voice swallowed by the falling water. She pulled back the overused shower curtain enough for her head to poke through. Reyna was met with his toned back, shoulder blades flexing as his muscular arms worked shampoo into his hair.
He turned around. "Reyna?"
She didn't answer. Her gaze was transfixed on his defined torso, how tighter his muscles looked when wet. Drops of water rolled over his collar bones, down his chest and abdomen, and fell between that "v" cut that—
"Reyna, my eyes are up here." Dante laughed, pointing at his face.
She blinked. Her face heated up, embarrassment robbing her of her courage to step into the shower. "I just wanted to see what you wanted for breakfast."
He grinned. "You."
Dante pulled her to him, the small size of the shower forcing them to press up against each other. The water was cold, as always, and Reyna felt the goose bumps rise so quickly on her skin, it hurt for a moment. Dante's smile widened, staring.
"Hey," Reyna said, flicking a strand of his wet hair, "my eyes are up here."
They kissed.
Their shower took longer than Reyna had planned and when she set out to make breakfast, she was thankful the electricity hours were still going. All they had was a toaster that half worked and an electric griddle. While Reyna cooked the last of their eggs and lumpy pancakes, Dante cut up a fruit cocktail for them.
Looking at the humble breakfast they were going to have reminded Reyna of when Dante used to have his Berserker appetite. This would've been nowhere near satisfying it. She smiled, giddy at the simple enjoyment she felt at sharing a kitchen with Dante. It was like they had been a couple for years. Living together in that tiny house for years. And maybe it felt like that because she had wanted this for years.
But she knew this was a happiness that would only last for days, if they were lucky. This current moment of bliss where the sweet smell of pancakes filled her noise and the sound of eggs frying bubbled in her ears was a veil that hid the outside world and its lightening infected sky. When she was alone with Dante in that house was the only time she felt true delight. Even though it only lasted a few hours a day, it felt like a lifetime. A lifetime that evaporated in the blink of an eye.
She peeked at Dante to see him cutting up an apple. His damp hair stuck to his forehead and neck, and Reyna caught a drop of water slide down his jaw. He didn't seem to notice it, his slight frown showing how absorbed he was in his work. He looked adorable, and Reyna felt she could love him just for that.
His eyes turned to her and he smiled. "What?"
Reyna giggled. "You're just too cute sometimes."
"Thanks?" He shot her a confused look.
She placed her arms around his neck and kissed his forehead. "Watching you cut up fruit reminded me of how much I love you."
He beamed. "I should cut up fruit more often then."
"Maybe you should."
He hugged her, resting his forehead on hers. "I love you so much, Reyna."
She smiled and was about to say something, but a knock on the door interrupted her.
"Are ya awake yet? Or are ya too busy making out in there?" said a voice from behind the door.
"Gahn," Reyna said, happy he had been true to his promise to visit them. Maybe he could've just waited a few more minutes though.
Another knock. "What? Too busy putting ya clothes back on to answer the door?"
"Hold on!" Dante headed to the entrance.
Reyna pulled out three plates from the cupboard and served the food on each. She heard Gahn and Dante greet each other, but she couldn't help but notice how strange Gahn's cheerful voice sounded. There was a strain to it the door had filtered out, but now without the interference, there was no mistaking how each of his words sounded like a struggle for him to say.
"Cutie, ya made me breakfast!" Gahn hugged her from behind. His arms around her felt clumsy and insincere.
"And it's gonna stay on the counter if you don't let me go," Reyna said and turned. When she saw Gahn, she froze.
The luster that had been so prominent in his grins it seemed a cartoonish sparkle would flash by his fangs was gone. He looked older and more tired than when Reyna had seen him at Auronmar's funeral, something she hadn't thought was possible.
Gahn's smile faltered and he took the plate out of her hand without a word.
"You should sit. You probably walked here," Dante said. He looked at Gahn in a way that Reyna figured he was also noticing his odd behavior.
He shook his head once. "I'm fine."
Reyna felt like insisting would be awkward, so she took her food and sat on the table where Dante was already seated with his. She could feel the uncertainty in the air as they ate without conversing. It seemed that pancakes without syrup tasted just as great after years of not eating any, but Reyna noticed Gahn hadn't eaten his.
After another minute of painful silence, she decided to speak, "Hey, Gahn. Now that you're here, I can fix your hair."
He gaped at her like he didn't know what she meant.
"Yeah. It's a mess," Dante said. "You look like an emo dude that tried to rebel against his parents by cutting his hair off with dulled scissors."
Gahn laughed, a small sound of sincerity in it. "And ya look like some New Jersey douche in ya too tight shirt, Dante."
Reyna snorted, almost choking. She had forgotten about that part of humanity.
Dante pouted at her. "Why are you laughing so hard?"
"Because I can totally see it! Want me to fix your hair up too?"
"I'll fix you to shut up."
She laughed again. "What kind of comeback is that?"
"Well," Gahn said.
He wore the liveliest smile Reyna had seen on him in over a week. It rejuvenated him, his usual flashy nature shining through. She couldn't help but smile herself.
"Ya two finally had some real sex, huh?" Gahn's smirk widened.
Reyna's grin disappeared, and Dante's blush crept to his ears and down his neck.
Gahn laughed. "It's so obvious. Ya eyes are all sparkling as ya look at each other and ya can't stop smiling as ya talk to each other. It's sickening."
Dante cleared his throat. "Uh. Yeah. We're together now. I guess."
Reyna raised an eyebrow. "You guess? What happened to the oh, I love you, Reyna from earlier?"
"I do love you!"
"Well good because I love you too!" Reyna faced the still grinning Gahn. "See? We love each other. We're together, so there. You can shut up about it now."
"So the sex was really good, huh?" Gahn asked.
"Gahn!" Reyna threw a piece of fruit at him. He caught it and ate it with that stupid smile that wouldn't leave his lips. Despite his teasing, Reyna was glad to see his eyes glowing like the suns they resembled.
"I'm glad for ya two," Gahn said, placing his empty plate on the counter. "I'm glad ya two found something within each other, especially now when ya probably need it most."
The shine in his golden eyes dulled. "Thanks for the breakfast, cutie. I should go now. Ya two take care."
"No." Reyna stood. "I still have to fix your hair, remember?"
His expression was halfhearted. "It's okay, cutie. I don't need it."
"Gahn," Dante said, placing a hand on the demon's shoulder that guided him away from the door. "Stay."
Gahn glanced between the two and crossed his arms. "Ya guys are making me feel like a kid."
"Well you're acting like one, pretending and hiding behind your forced cheeriness as if we wouldn't know," Reyna said.
He sighed, looking at Dante as if asking for help.
"Sorry, Gahn," he said. "I agree with Reyna."
"Of course ya do. Ya fuh—"
Reyna yanked Gahn's arm and forced him to sit on the kitchen chair. "I'm gonna pretend you weren't going to say what you were going to say. Now stay there."
Gahn put his feet on top of the table and pushed his hair out of his face. "Yeah, because ya totally not treating me like a kid."
Dante leaned on the wall, arms crossed. "To be honest, it's really good to have you here, Gahn. I missed us hanging out together."
He was silent a moment. "I missed ya guys too."
"Gahn, why didn't you come to us sooner? What have you been doing these past few days?" Reyna asked.
He looked like he didn't want to talk, gaze cast down. Reyna sat on the table in front of him and took his hand. He gripped her fingers.
"Ya hand is so soft and warm, cutie," Gahn said.
She knew what he was thinking. "Stop that. I already told you it wasn't your fault what happened to my arm. In fact, if it hadn't been for you, I probably would've been dead."
He shook his head, still looking at the ground. "Sorry," he whispered.
"Gahn, stop," Dante said.
"No, Dante, ya don't get it." He shot to his feet. "I'm just a failure. I never did anything right. I wasn't even there for Master Auronmar. He was...he might as well have been my father. I loved him like one, and I wasn't even there to protect him. Wasn't even there for his dying breath."
"Gahn—"
"No! My only purpose in life was to protect him. It was what I was born to do, but I couldn't. And it wasn't just him I failed." Gahn shook his head, walking away from them. "I shouldn't have come."
"No." Reyna blocked his path.
"Outta the way, cutie," he said. His pet name for her sounded sharp and cold.
"No."
"Reyna. Move."
"I said no, Gahn."
He shoved her. Reyna caught Dante flinch away from his lean on the wall, but Reyna shot him a look that told him to stay. Gahn kept his head down as he reached for the doorknob.
"You're so stupid, Gahn. You think showing your devotion is the only thing that counts? The only way you can prove to people you care about them?" she said.
His pause was long. "It's the only thing I know to do."
Reyna shook her head. "Stop being so damn stubborn!"
"Stop. I.." Gahn's face wrinkled staring at the ground. "Ya don't know what ya saying."
"I'm saying I care for you, you damn idiot. We care for you."
The stillness that settled was as thick as Gahn was motionless. Reyna felt sore from how stiff her body was, waiting for Gahn to react. When he reached out to her, Reyna expected to be shoved again, but instead his arms went around her shoulders.
"I'm so glad ya alive, cutie. Ya and Dante. If either of ya had died, I wouldn't have known what to do. I've failed so much. Not just with Master Auronmar. I once killed a little girl. Did ya know that? I killed a little girl when I should've killed the one I once loved most," he said.
His voice carried an immensity she had never heard in anyone before, demon or human. It was the voice of melancholy. Of regret and shame. She had always known he carried a heavy past, but it was also one he rarely talked about. This was the most she had ever heard about it, and it weighed deep inside her.
Gahn's purpose was never one derived from himself, so when he failed at what he was given, he failed at defining himself. Reyna had seen it in his frustrated frowns and fang bearing snarls whenever he was unsuccessful in executing one of Auronmar's orders. Though those failures were rare instances, Reyna had seen enough to know they were everything to him.
"Gahn." She hugged him.
He grasped her tighter as if sensing all she knew about him. "I just don't want it to hurt anymore."
Reyna heard Dante's footsteps approach them, and saw his hand fall on Gahn's shoulder.
"Reyna is right. You really are stupid. All this time we were together in the demon world and you only decide now that you trust us enough to show us what you've been carrying? That almost hurts my feelings," Dante said.
Gahn let out a single laugh and pulled away from Reyna. "It's not manly to break apart in front of ya best friend. Or to hug ya best friend's girl."
Dante crossed his arms and smiled at Gahn. "It's not like I never broke apart in front of you. Over said girl."
"Hey. Said girl has a name, you know." Reyna placed a hand on her hip but smiled.
Despite the quick mood change, she knew Gahn's anguish had lightened. His simple confession of hurt, confession of what he believed he had done wrong, alleviated him. His smiles appeared more genuine and his movements more agile and definite. Now he just needed his damn hair fixed.
"And I know just how to fix it," Reyna said.
Dante and Gahn gave her a matching look of perplexity.
She laughed, realizing she had thought out loud. More than half of Gahn's hair had singed, leaving only long locks that fell over his face. Reyna figured she could give him a slicked back swept-up cut and even out the back and sides of his head however best she could with the razors at hand...and with her left hand. That was what she had opened her mouth to explain, but something halted her words.
It was a small, tuneless chorus of gurgling, screaming, and crying. It lasted a moment, a wave of sound and fury that departed so quickly, the unnerving silence that followed was louder. Reyna looked at Gahn and Dante, her confused expression asking if they had heard it too. A new chorus of wailing broke through before they could say anything, but unlike the sharp, quick sound from before, this one bubbled and spread like a growing puddle of sap. Reyna didn't wait for anymore sounds. She rushed outside.
The smell of blood hit her first.
It was splattered up against the wall of her house from an open skull on a slumped body. Reyna had long steeled herself to the sight of gore, but there was something about the way the corpse's head was smashed, was mauled, that uneased her stomach. The skull didn't have an entry wound. She didn't understand how anyone could bash open someone's head from behind but leave a perfect funnel of blood up on a wall. Only she did know.
"Magika," Gahn said, voicing the thought Reyna didn't want to think.
"That means they're here," Dante said.
The spirits. Reyna shook her head, her eyes scanning the road where other corpses littered it. Their deaths varied. Some were dismembered or disemboweled while others could pass for sleeping, but she knew they weren't. Reyna closed her hand in a fist. Just when humanity had restarted from their last borderline extinction, another force had appeared to wipe them out. It wasn't fair. They didn't do anything to cause this. Her eyes watered as she stared at the blood. There were tears of rage and the sting of them satisfied her. Anger was supposed to hurt but it also ignited fires.
She gazed at the horizon with new determination. The sun seemed low in the sky, its size overly large and its color sleek and radiant. Reyna blinked several times, astonished at how long it had taken her to realize it wasn't the sun. The entire sky was a withering monstrosity of lightning clouds. The rays were twisted among one another like luminous barbed wire, saturating the earth with colors both too bright and too pale.
Reyna heard crying from the house next door and made out words that said to keep the door locked. There were still people alive. A small surge of hope gripped her, enough to take her breath away. It seemed only the people that had been outside had died. There was still life in this sanctuary of a town. But for how long?
"Verden. We have to get to him," Dante said.
Reyna inhaled, exhaling her jumbled nerves, and nodded. "Even if he happens to already be gone, Diorela and the others might need our help."
"No," Gahn said.
Reyna and Dante stared at him.
His smile was sad. "I'm not going."
"You can't start feeling sorry for yourself right now, Gahn!" Reyna said, grabbing his shirt.
"I'm sorry, cutie, I just need to do this."
"To die?"
"No." He plucked her fingers off. "I promise ya I'm not gonna die. I just need to go. I need to at least take this chance to save someone. It's the last one I have."
Reyna gaped at him. "What are you talking about?"
"Hurry up and go then," Dante said.
Reyna saw as the two men, one mortal and one demon, looked at each other with an understanding that baffled her even more. Gahn nodded and before Dante could return the gesture, he sped away.
"Where is he going?" she asked.
Dante's expression was half-hearted. "To save someone."
"Who?"
"Radi."
"Radi? But I thought he..."
Reyna gazed at Dante. He faced the direction Gahn had sprinted off to, a peculiar look in his eyes she both did and didn't comprehend. She sighed, his words sinking in, knowing she would've done the same in Gahn's shoes. If Dante was in mortal danger and there was a chance, no matter how slim, of Reyna helping him out she would take it without question. Even at the cost of her own life
"Yeah," she whispered to herself.
Dante grabbed her hand, pulling her in the direction of Verden's house. They raced through bloody mud and jumped over decimated corpses. The warmth of Dante's touch gave her the courage to face the death around her, but she also couldn't ignore the clammy sweat on his palm.
The world around her darkened as Reyna saw a familiar thin film of black surround her and Dante. Ram had found them again and was going to transport them somewhere. Everything around her whirled into a nauseating swirl and, like last time, it was Dante's hand in hers that kept her from screaming out in frustration. Reyna wasn't surprised when she found herself in Verden's living room. She was, however, relieved when she saw Diorela, Michael, and a sleeping Anna huddled by Neeri. They appeared shaken but unhurt.
"Reyna!" Ram took a step towards her, the expression on his face showing his suppressed urge to hug her.
Reyna swallowed her unease at seeing the disturbing smile he gave her. "What's going on?" she asked.
"The spirits are here," he said, distressed like he was taking the blame. "They're passing through the town in waves and with each wave they kill someone, destroy something."
Neeri's ears twitched but her eyes stayed on the ground. "It's how I saw them eat away at the horde of demons. They just slowly wear you down, decimating bit by bit. They're starting from the outside in. Once everyone that's outside is dead, they're going to start destroying the buildings to get whoever is inside."
Diorela caught Reyna's eyes. Her usual tan face was pale and there was the haunting contradiction of horror and vacancy in her eyes. The teen shook her head and that was when Reyna noticed the blood splatter on the side of her face. Somehow she knew it wasn't Diorela's.
"They died. The kids that were outside playing died. We heard a sound and then...it was...they were...gone," Michael said as he ran a thumb over Diorela's shaking hand, his knuckles as white as her face.
Neeri sighed. "I tried to bring the other survivors here with me, to protect them, but who I am scared them off."
Dante shook his head. "How did you think you were going to protect them? From what the spirits are doing, I find it hard to see how anyone could—"
"Hello! I am here," Ram said with a single wave.
He scowled. "I know you are."
The frown Ram gave Dante lead Reyna to believe he had hurt his feelings. But that still didn't change the fact that Ram apparently had a plan, and it didn't surprise her. Reyna knew he was the only one that understood their situation best.
"Well. I'll be right back!" Ram said and disappeared into a black puddle that shot across the floor and under the door.
Reyna was startled by his sudden exit and stared dumbfounded at the door as if he would return any second. And he did. As Reyna gazed at the large black bubble that took up half of the room, she now knew how it looked on the outside when she had traveled in Ram's dark sphere. The walls on it melted away like candle wax and revealed an irritated Mundus and a bewildered Gahn.
"What the hell?" Gahn asked as he gazed around. "Dante? Reyna?"
Mundus turned around at Reyna's name. His eyes flickered to Neeri and the kids. "We are at my brother's. Why?"
Ram patted Mundus on the back, earning a small growl from the demon. "Oh, I promise you, soon you'll know," Ram said. "Just wait another tinny, tiny minute. Why don't you talk to Sister and her lover meanwhile? Find out what they've been up to!"
Before anyone could react, Ram was gone again in his signature slither of black mass. Reyna's chest tightened as she recalled how Ram had referred to her: Sister.
"Reyna, are you well?" Mundus asked.
She felt his eyes on her before she met them, but when she did, she was surprised to find a strange change in them. She wanted to say they appeared calm, enough that the blackness in them appeared more like a dark brown, but that couldn't be right. Reyna shook her head. "We're fine," she said and bit her tongue when she realized she had included Dante in her answer.
He appeared unfazed by it and nodded before finding a wall to lean on, his sword scraping the already flaking paint.
"Why did ya deranged brother brings us here? I was trying to find Radi when I was just swooped up in darkness, and I felt like I was falling." Gahn swept his arms around him.
Reyna could see the anger and disappointment in his face. "I don't know. He brought us here too—"
Ram returned with two new guests. Cerus and Lina both stood in the center of the room. Cerus's shirt was stained with blood as was his arms and hands, but there didn't seem to be any wounds on him. Lina's palms were also bloody, but she too appeared unscratched. Their bewildered blinks were their only movements, but when Lina saw Mundus, her face lit up.
"Master! This one was coming to find you! This one was so worried!" Lina shot like a bullet towards him and embraced him.
"Lina, are you bleeding?" Mundus asked, prying her off his neck.
"No," Cerus answered for her. "But we were trying to help bandage some people. I was carrying this woman with a severed leg when—"
Again, another sentence was interrupted by Ram's return. This time, Erian and Azul had joined them. If the two were confused by where they were, they didn't show it. Erian's usual scowl was on his face, but Azul had a small smile on her lips.
"That was fun. And look. Cerus is here too," Azul said.
"What I wish to know is what is going on. Why have we been brought here?" Erian asked.
"Save your questions until everyone is here. Why are you all so rude?" Ram said as he rolled his red and green eyes.
He disappeared again and came back with Radi and her intimidating looking spirit, Jvala, if Reyna remembered correctly. Their entrance was silent, Gahn's surprised choke the only noise. Reyna felt a tang of pity, but if it was for Gahn or Radi, she couldn't tell.
When Ram left again, this time the wait was done in silence, curiosity the only thing keeping everyone in the room, Reyna supposed. Or maybe it was the nascent longing to not be alone at the end of it all.
"And that is everybody!" Ram announced as his sphere—which hardly fit in the room anymore—dispersed.
In his arms was Flow. The pup's ears were dropped and a faint whine escaped him when he saw Cerus.
"Here you go!" Ram said as he tossed the wolf spirit to him.
"Hey!" Cerus caught Flow and gave him a few pets before the pup stopped shaking.
"Okay!" Ram said a little too cheerful for Reyna's taste. "So we're all here because I brought you here."
"Yeah, no shit. We wanna know the reason, ya lunatic," Gahn said. "Some of us were trying to do something."
"Yeah. We were helping people. You took us away from that!" Cerus said.
Reyna felt like she was standing next to a small waterfall as a rush of words filled the room. Demands, colorful names, and other things she didn't catch were thrown at Ram. She figured with the end of all existence near, Ram would put a stop to the yelling and explain his reason for gathering them all here. Instead he took all the abuse with a crooked smile on his lips and a crazed leer in his eyes. Reyna shook her head. She had to cease this and coax out Aleric, but before she could, a sharp yet precise voice cut through the noise.
"Why is it so damn noisy?" Ayame appeared with her arms crossed. She scanned the room with a scowl. "What the hell are you all doing here?"
Ram smiled. "I brought them here."
Her scowl deepened. "I figured that one out. You know Verden is hurt. Couldn't you have taken them somewhere else?"
"Verden is injured?" Mundus asked.
He stood away from the wall only to lean on it again with his arms crossed, but his movements were fumbled and clunky. He was doing a bad job at hiding his concern. Ayame, however, stared at Mundus like she wanted to kill him. He met her glare, but Reyna noticed the small, backward shuffle he took. Which was weird considering he was already up against a wall.
"Is he okay?" Dante asked Ayame.
She sighed and Reyna caught the flash of worry in her eyes before they hardened to face all the demons and humans in the room. "He's fine. For the most part. I just wanted him to rest. Forced him to rest." She paused and sighed again. "He was attacked by the spirits while he was manifesting the portal. He was able to fight most of them off, but to preserve magika, he didn't heal himself, and because of that, he wasn't able to finish the portal."
"The spirits attacked here? I didn't see any as I passed by while I was looking for Radi," Gahn said.
"You were searching for me?" she asked him. Her words were quiet, meant only for him to hear, but Reyna, standing next to her, had heard them too. When she saw the gazes the two demons shared, she bit down a grin.
"Nor did I. I was south as well," Erian said from the other side of the room, referring to Gahn's statement about the spirits.
"We were in the center of town and they were everywhere. People barricaded themselves inside the stores and barns," Cerus said and Lina nodded as if enhance his point.
"None of this makes sense," Ayame said. "Why are the spirits acting so hostile? And how do they even have magika when I don't? Do any of you have any?"
Lina shook her head as did Azul. Cerus and Radi answered for their own spirits, but the answer was the same: no.
"It also seems like we're the only ones that haven't gone totally crazy," Azul said. "Why is that?"
"Okay. I'll answer one question at a time, so pay attention," Ram said and cracked his knuckles in an exaggerated manner. "Answer one. They are acting crazy because the magika is making them crazy. It's not being channeled to the living anymore, so the magika is building up inside them, and it's more than they can handle. They're like balloons ready to pop. Angry balloons with fangs and claws and magika that can rip you apart."
The chuckle Ram shared with the room was not appreciated, but he continued, probably unaware of everyone's annoyed faces. "Answer two. All you spirits here don't have magika because you're linked to your masters. Even before all this crazy stuff happened, you weren't in control of your magika because you lent it to your masters, so if you have masters, no magika for you. Ever. And answer three. See answer two. Your link to your masters is what's keeping you sane. Isn't that fun?
"And that's why I brought them all here too because I need you all to, um." Ram scratched his head, looking coy, "I need Verden to be here too."
Ayame's eyes shot daggers. "Why?"
This time his smile was genuine in the sadness it carried. "Because I need him here so he can release you. All of the spirts here need to be released. That's how we're going to fight back."
Lina's gasp was the loudest reaction. "Release us? But this one wishes to stay with master forever!"
Ayame tapped her fingers against her arms. "You mean for us to get our magika back."
"Yes," Ram said.
"But you said it was our attachment to our masters that's keeping us sane. Wouldn't them releasing us mean we'll go crazy just like the others and attack you all?"
Ram shook his head. "No. You will have a grace period before that happens. I'm guessing a few hours."
Ayame's glare was almost as fierce as the ones she reserved for Mundus. "And when this grace period ends...?"
"Oh! You'll definitely feel once you're going to start to go. So just go back to your master and he'll subdue you again and once you feel better, he'll release you again, and we'll just keep going until there's nothing left. No one left." He laughed, shattering the short-lived calmness he had shown earlier.
Reyna bit the inside of her cheek at his giggles. They sounded more like Ram's than Aleric's. In fact, Ram had been acting strange since they arrived here. Stranger. Usually she could tell when Aleric was there from his calm words and reserved actions, but the way he was acting now was a jumble. His actions were flamboyant, but his words were composed, but then he'd speak again and it would switch. It was like he was a hybrid of Ram and Aleric. Reyna grimaced. The last thing they needed right now was for such a powerful spirit to destabilize.
"Aleric," she said, hoping that name would cause him to turn to her. When it did, a small sense of relief poured down her shoulders. She stiffened again as she asked her question. "What is keeping you in check? You're a spirit too, right? Why aren't you out there like the others?"
Ram flashed a smile and Reyna swore he did a pose. "Because I'm Umbra. Sorta. It's that power of the balance that keeps me in check, but since I'm still sharing it with the real Umbra, it is making it a little hard to keep things going right up there." He knocked his skull with his knuckles.
"I don't think there ever was anything right up there," Dante said to her under his breath.
"If what you speak is true, that means Lys is not caught in this spirit frenzy either," Mundus said.
Reyna froze. Lys. She had forgotten about her. Reyna wasn't sure how to describe the crushing hand that gripped her. Her stomach knotted and her lungs wouldn't expand. Lys had released the spirits, knowing this would happen. She had been the one that dealt them this call for Armageddon. What if it was already all over?
"No," a voice said.
Reyna had been so caught up in her thoughts, she wasn't sure what the "no" had been for, but it came from a familiar and warm voice, one that had soothed her multiple times before like a big brother patting his little sister's head.
Verden walked into the room. Improvised cloth bandages wrapped around half his head, covering his left eye. They were soaked with blood. The red caked over his cheek, ear, and down his neck and into his hair. The relief his voice had brought Reyna vanished when she saw him.
"If we fight back, it'll cause a distraction and distractions buy us time, the thing we need the most right now. Keeping the spirits at bay will help me finish the portal so I can fix this entire mess. Once the magika is returned to the living, it'll vacate the spirits and they'll stop their rampage," Verden said.
Ram nodded, and Reyna felt like he and Verden had done a lot of talking while she was away. She gazed around the room. Something told her to look, that it would be the last time she would see everyone. Anyone.
Gahn and Radi seemed lost in thought, their eyes everywhere but on each other. Yet their hands were in one another's, fingers loosely laced together, yet Reyna felt like there wasn't a force in the world able to pry those fingers apart. Jvala sat in the corner by Radi's feet. There was an eerie calm coming from the silent, bandaged monstrosity.
Erian was also sitting on the ground, Azul by his side. Reyna noticed her eyes kept darting towards Mundus, but didn't understand why. A second later, Reyna saw Azul change. An intensity in her eyes faded, but she appeared more at ease. She placed her head on Erian's shoulder and wrapped an arm around his waist. Erian rested his cheek on the top of her head, a quiet smile on his lips.
Cerus and Lina were in a similar cuddle. He had his hand on her hip and both her arms were around him, head resting on his chest. There was no denying the intensity that radiated off of them. Reyna could tell how much they cared for each other without even having to look at them. Cerus kissed Lina's head just as Flow popped out from her hair to show he had found a seat on her shoulder.
Reyna felt a comfortable twinge in her heart when she saw the still sleeping Anna spread across Diorela and Michael's laps. The three of them were part of the second family she had found when she had thought she would never experience anything humane again. Ayame and Verden. They were part of her family too. The self-appointed keeper of the worlds was standing as poised as ever despite missing half his sight, but this time around, Reyna saw it was Ayame that was supporting him. Her arm was around Verden's shoulders, a balancing hand on his chest.
And Mundus.
He hadn't moved from his spot by the wall, arms still crossed and eyes downcast. It might as well been his signature pose, but Reyna sensed something different in it, and she realized what it was when he caught her eyes. She saw Auronmar in his gaze. There was a solemn isolation in them but an acceptance to it as well. The small smile he shared with her matched his stare. She hoped her returned smile illuminated more than his.
"Reyna?" Dante said and squeezed her hand.
She looked at him. He swept the bangs off her forehead and kissed her there. Reyna took a deep breath, filled with courage she didn't know she had.
"Neeri, take the kids back to the room," Verden said.
His order drew all eyes to him and Reyna felt the change in the ambiance. It was going to start. Their last chance and their final fight. It weighed on their shoulders, occupied their minds.
Verden continued. "Aleric, you take the front and distract as many spirits as you can away from the town. The rest of you, release your spirits."
Reyna was reassured when Ram nodded to Verden's instruction without a uttering a disturbing quip or giving a sly grin and exited the room as a sentient rush of black water. The other spirits stepped to the center of the room as if beckoned by an invisible force. It was an abnormal sight: a wolf pup, an intimidating creature, a floating woman, and a blue–skinned woman side by side.
Reyna watched as each demon approached the spirits. Lina gathered her locks over one shoulder. Mundus reached for her exposed neck and unlatched the black choker around her neck. Cerus kneeled down next to Flow. The pup presented his right paw and Cerus removed a thin white band around his leg Reyna had never noticed before.
When Erian came up to Azul, she grabbed the end of her braid that hung by her thigh and gave it to him. He opened the golden ring in her hair and let it fall to the ground. Radi was the only one that said anything to her spirit.
"Jvala, this is the favor you owe," she said. "You accept?"
The spirit's bandages around its mouth split and revealed a line of fangs. It bowed its head and Radi removed the bindings around its eyes where multiple slanted pupils contracted with the light.
"Ayame," Verden said.
She grimaced at the way he said her name but pulled away from him and stood before him. Ayame lifted her skirt, revealing a plain garter around her thigh. Reyna felt like she was in a wedding reception the way Verden knelt and slipped it out of her leg, but instead of throwing it to the bachelors in the room, he threw it aside.
"Now," Verden said as he turned away and began to walk, "follow me. We're going to finish the portal."
~*~*~
Author's Note: UPDATE! YAY!
*ahem* So...you may have notice there is a picture and a gif in the middle of the chapter. Well. It's a new feature Wattpad wants to roll in pretty soon. I'm one of the users beta testing it, and I wanted to show it to you guys with this update. Yay!
So, what do you think of it? I think it's pretty cool...if used sparingly and properly. I can tell you it's not something I'll add to every chapter. At least not in the middle of the actual chapter. I will probably start adding media at the end of the chapter instead of on the side...or top as you mobile readers see it. I think it looks better that way.
Anyway...yeah, let me know what you think or what you guys, as readers, now expect from this feature that's going to be coming out soon.
And of course...Thank you all so much for reading!