RE: Monarch

What was this? Where was the fear, the hostility? The moment I’d recognized where they were, I’d expected something explosive to happen, but this is almost cordial.

Cairn waved for her to follow and strode over towards the sitting room. There were a dozen people arranged on couches, milling about, leaning over a center table that housed a map adorned with countless markers and flags. They were all armored, armed, and exhausted. A few of them I recognized: Maya was there talking with Ralakos, xescalt staff broken in two at her side. Though she was older, she looked more like Nethtari than the demon that had helped Thoth burn my home. My sister Annette was fiddling with the tokens on the map. It warmed me to see her alive and well. Her blonde hair had grown long and straight, and makeup adorned her face, though she was still nearly as short in stature as she’d always been. Annette seemed to be explaining the positioning of the tokens to a little girl who looked on in stark interest.

I gawked. I knew that girl. Her hair was different, a light red, and her eyes were a dull gray, but I knew her. It was the same girl who directed me towards Persephone when I was investigating the demons. The same girl who encouraged me outside the enclave, though that second time I assumed she was a hallucination.

There were a dozen elves of all different varieties that I had no memory of. There was an uncomfortable air about them, as they intermixed, and moved like liquid silk, but none of the blatant hostility I understood was common. I spotted Cephur, though I didn’t see Tamara. The lines on the ranger’s face had multiplied, making them look almost elderly as he leaned forward on his stool, muttering as he observed the map. Not everyone was so focused, though. There was a pixie zipping around the heads of several lizard men, who snapped at her in irritation. A musclebound female elf with a stocky frame and a dwarf were arm wrestling in the back of the room.

My view panned towards the ceiling as Thoth rolled her neck, and I braced myself. Considering the makeup of the room, and that I, my sister, and Ralakos were present, I could only assume that this was a gathering of power to plan for a coming conflict.

Thoth had mentioned she had done this sort of thing many times before, in many different ways. I felt a twinge of anxiety as I waited for the slaughter to start.

But it didn’t.

The room quieted as Cairn approached. There was mounting tension as they took in the new arrivals. I realized slowly, with no small amount of surprise, that it was not fear that quieted them, but respect. They were looking to both of them, Thoth and Cairn, for answers. I watched as Cairn launched into his speech, complete with my signature pacing and gestures.

I winced. Did I really gesticulate that much? At certain points it looked like he was trying to fly.

There was a round of nods and murmurs of approval, and Cairn waved Thoth over. This was it. She was just biding her time, waiting for the perfect moment, and now she would strike.

Cairn walked over to one of the couches and lifted the tiny redheaded girl in his arms, swinging her in an exaggerated circle before popping her on his lap. The action looked practiced and casual, like he’d done it countless times before. It was almost familial.

A daughter? My daughter?

But I’d seen her before. In this life. How was that even possible? My stomach twisted. I wanted to reach out and touch her.

My confusion was magnified when Thoth did not draw her daggers. Instead, she walked to Cephur and gently patted the man on the back, asking him to move. Then I watched, flabbergasted, as the person I knew only as a villain, began to give a briefing. It was like watching the water flow upstream. My mind bent back on itself, trying to make sense of what I was seeing. I kept waiting, expecting the turn to come, but it never did. At one point, Thoth paused, looked up from the map, and everyone was laughing. I realized that she had made a joke. Thoth, the harbinger of darkness, the cruel, ever-present shadow in my dreams, made a joke during a briefing to me, to my friends, and they were laughing.

I tried to study the map, to distract myself. It was impossible to decipher everything, but I could put a few things together. There were shaded red sections around the corners of the map, and places where that red had begun to encroach inward. The red stemmed from a few, ventricle like lines that covered Uskar proper and beyond.

Leylines. The red is the corruption. We’re preparing for Ragnarök.

The briefing ended, and my heart froze in my chest as Annette crossed the room to Thoth. They studied each other for a moment, and then a rare grin broke out on Annette’s face, and she went in for a hug. Thoth embraced her in return, the long black nails of her fingers stroking through my sister’s hair.

The horror of it began to finally sink in. Thoth wasn’t faking it.

She was an ally.

A white-hot rage knifed through me more assuredly than any blade. At some point in the last thousand years, Thoth knew us. We were comrades, maybe even friends. And when she slaughtered us, she laughed.

The anger wouldn’t help me. I could feel it clawing at my mind, slanting my perspective. But this was too personal, too close.

The scene shifted, to Thoth, on her knees in the chamber of Infaris. She struggled to her feet. Her muscles bulged under the tight leathers, her body straining, her aura streaming outward, painting the room black.

“I’ve taken your trial. Now let me be on my way, before I change my mind and kill you again.” There was a quiver in her voice.

“What is your truth?” Even Infaris sounded uncertain.

“I will bear this indignity no longer!” Thoth shouted. She held out her arm, and her hand glowed green. Infaris’s etherial form began to dim and compress.

“Foolish. Do you not need your strength for what comes next?”

“Perhaps. But I can do this again, and again, and again.” Thoth strained as her fingers began to tighten, curling inward. “And you have meddled for far too long. Perhaps I will dedicate this recurrence to you, minor deity. Do you remember the last time I did so?”

There was a war of light and dark, as shadows pushed back the light, eroding the illumination until only a small ring remained around Infaris etherial form.

“Stop!” Infaris finally said, pain clear and evident in her voice. A wall to her right slid open, revealing the exit. I was somewhat surprised when Thoth released the goddess. But then again, she knew things I didn’t. Perhaps killing a deity was simply more trouble than it was worth.

Thoth spat to the side and turned to leave when Infaris called after. “Is it really so difficult to admit, interloper?”

Thoth spoke with her back to the goddess. “I am no longer some weak-willed girl for you to toy with. Interfere with me again, and I will end you. The consequences be damned.”

/////

As the vision faded, the rage remained. The dark, deep-seated scathing that Morthus had called the umber. I found myself reveling in the fact that, if I somehow won, Thoth would be remanded to the demons.

“Is there any more information you can give me? Anything that would give me an edge. I will make any deal, provide anything you require.”

“There are rules, child, rules that even I must abide by. The interloper’s truth is something you must one day hear, but only when you are ready.”

I quashed the anger, shoving it down, storing it for when I needed it most.

“Though I cannot give you the knowledge you wish for, I have no intention of allowing you to rush into this fool’s errand unprepared. Stand.” Infaris commanded.

Slowly, I pushed myself to my feet.

“Cairn, son of Gil, I bestow upon you the Aegis Infarai.” Infaris smiled, her face proud, as she held out a silver cylinder. I took it from her carefully, looking it over. It appeared to be a looking glass not unlike the kind that sailors used, only it was perfect, without a single seam or hint of machining.

I was tempted to peer through it, but didn’t want to show Infaris anymore disrespect that I already had. “What does it do, goddess?”

“You face a powerful enemy, and will face many more still. It allows you to see the truth of their power, and make it your own for a limited time.”

“Does it weaken them?”

“Yes. But only until the period is expended. No more than a day at first, but as your abilities and understanding of the artifact grow, so will the duration.”

The applications of that were staggering. Combat, subterfuge, scouting.

“This generosity is unexpected.” I said. Though I suspected part of why Infaris was giving me something so powerful was due in at least some small part to spite, considering the way Thoth had treated her.

“This is a special day,” Infaris said, “far more special than you know. Now collect your friends. And take care, they did not fare as well as you.”

“What does that… Mean?” But Infaris gone. The door Thoth exited through was open.

--

I found a series of chambers identical to the one I’d spoken with the goddess in, down to the same art figures adorning the walls.

In the first, I found Bellarex pacing.

“You made it!” Bellarex crossed the hall to me, then stopped mid-stride. The reaction was strange, muted, as if she’d held herself back.

“Yeah. I had a little help. Are you alright? The trial was… harrowing.”

Bellarex nodded so fast her head might fall off. “Yep. Um. I think.”

“Are you certain?”

“I might have nightmares for a while, but I’m doing decently enough. Better than the others. I tried to get them to come out of their rooms but no bones. So, I looked for you.”

That didn’t sound good. “You had visions?”

“Yep.” Bellarex’s smile faltered, just for a moment. “I don’t know how you can stomach it. Seeing those sorts of things all the time.”

I glanced down at her belt, where an additional silver scabbard adorned her hip. But my worry for the others overwrote my curiosity towards her boon.

“Catch up with you in a bit.” I hurried to the next room where I found Jorra, supine, staring up at the ceiling. My heart seized until I saw him draw a shallow breath and breath it out.

“Jorra.” I held out a hand. He didn’t take it. His expression was far, far away.

“I’m the last one, Cairn.”

“The last what, Jorra?”

“Maya was always better than me. Stronger than me, able to heal. And I was just another water mage like mom.” His voice was monotone. “Dad told me that was fine. That there’s nothing wrong with being ordinary, that I’d find my own strength, that comparing myself to someone else would only bring me misery.”

“Wise words.”

“He meant them well, but I used it as an excuse to stagnate.”

“Bullshit. You work hard, Jorra, I’ve seen it.”

“I don’t push myself the way you do.”

“No one should.”

“And I’ve watched you get better, and stronger, like it’s easy—only I know that’s not true because I know you’ve worked for it. But I started to feel relieved when you stopped showing up for dinner. Because I didn’t have to worry if some human was suddenly my parents favorite. I started to hate you. Because I just wanted to be ordinary and not feel bad about it.” His voice broke. The words felt like a slap. I’d wondered along those lines, but never expected something so severe.

“I’m sorry Jorra. I didn’t listen to you. You’ve been trying to tell me for a while, but I didn’t listen.” My back ached as I sat beside him. I felt that if I didn’t stand soon, I never would.

“And here, in the sanctum? I felt guilty. Every time I thought about leaving, going back to the heart. Like, I’m not that strong. I’m not particularly clever, or brave. But what if it’s the one time he needs me, and I’m not there.”

I finally understood. “So you asked Infaris what would happen if you did nothing.”

His eyes widened as he stared at the ceiling, the outlines of his pupils darting back and forth. “The sky breaks open. Fractures across dimensions. You all die, Cairn. All of you. There were so many bodies at the end I had to walk on them. Ribs cracked under my feet. I looked for hours, but I eventually found what I was looking for. You, Maya, Bell, Mom and Dad…”

It felt as if he might break, and I grabbed his hand, repeating the words that had once been said to me. “Let the dead flow by you like a river, lest you be drowned by them.”

Jorra nodded, closing his eyes and opening them again. “I can’t be this anymore.”

“That’s not on you,” I shook my head. “If everything falls to pieces, if we lose that’s not on you. It’s Ragnarök, Jorra.”

His face hardened. “Maybe it is, maybe it’s not. But all I know is if the world’s ending, I want to fight. Win or lose. I’m done stagnating. And I have a lot of catching up to do.” The last was said with such vehemence I let go of his hand. He stood, without my prompting, and returned to the hall.

Bell and Jorra conferred quietly as I walked past them, my heart wrenching with worry. I’m not sure why, or how I knew. Maya was the strongest of us. I should have expected her to be fine, to be alright.

But somehow, I knew she wasn’t.

When I opened the final chamber, a plume of smoke escaped. My lungs seized, and I coughed violently, the chemical scent and rancid odor of scorched stone. The chamber was ridden with demon fire.

Maya was crumpled in the corner, staring back at me.

“Leave me.” She sobbed.

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