By the ti Ferro realized he’d made the wrong choice, heading back towards the tower, there was no one but rcenaries and slavers down at the docks. So in order to get past them, he did the one thing rust-catkin were known for being good at.
He dove into the bay and swam, very aware of the bodies being pushed back and forth along the bottom of the piers as he swam amongst them. A few strokes into his journey, he saw a blue, pulsing light on the wrist control of his suit, and a symbol he hadn’t considered since arranging the spell flashed on and off.
Pressing it, he felt sothing start to crawl up his neck, and he fought his panic until he realized that a bubble of air had ford around his face. The distortions made seeing a little difficult, but after a few thankful breaths, he discovered it wouldn’t interfere with his swimming, and so he continued.
At each ship, he popped his head out of the water to read the na. If the prophecy was true and Val was captain of a ship, there was no reason for her to leave it, right?
In this, the bubble of air actually helped him see the nas faster, since he didn’t have to clear his eyes. Ship after ship, he rose and dove, rose and dove, until at the first to last ship at the dock, he finally found the one he was looking for.
The Queen of Iron.
Deactivating the bubble and activating the flight function of his suit, he rose to one of the square portholes, pulled open the panels, and slipped in, shaking himself free of water quickly and looking around.
He was in soone’s quarters, a pair of hammocks suspended above the deck, and the sounds of footfalls, shouts, and groans echoed from above. He was fortunate to have co into the rear of the ship, as shadowed figures ran up and down the stairs to grab supplies before going back up. Slipping between two boxes, he cycled his suit functions to the lifter spell.
"Hold him down! I’m getting more gauze!" a woman’s voice echoed just as a gazellekin hopped gracefully down the hold, landing on her hooves and running for the middle of the room, where an open crate held what she was after.
Ferro stepped out behind her and activated the spell, lifting her off the ground and simultaneously pulling her to hover in front of him as she yelped in surprise.
"Captain?" she gasped. "Wait-"
"Where’s Valera?" Ferro asked.
"You look just like her. Are you Ferrovia? She never forgot you-"
"I don’t have a lot of ti. Answer !" Ferro’s ears twitched as he heard footsteps behind him.
"She took the rcenaries into the city. One of the beastkin who ca back said they were going to the fortress. I’m just the ship’s healer, please!"
Ferro let her down, released the spell, and spoke.
"Thank you. If she cos back, tell her Ferro was here. Tell her to sail away, as far as she can, and I’ll co find her."
"I’m Lusci," the woman called after him as he turned. "I’ll tell her!"
Ferro dove out of the porthole, startling a crewman as he flew hard, fast, and low towards the Chapterhouse.
*
Malz ran with all her might, until she happened to spy a familiar aura from the corner of her eye.
Kir was already outside, stepping off the waters of the moat as he walked slowly towards the other side of the street.
Did he walk through the wall?!
Swearing, Malz ran faster, until she spotted a Kir-sized hole in the wall and dove through, knocking her wing and falling awkwardly before struggling through the water until she was able to pull herself up.
Thankfully her suit didn’t hold as much water as her wing, and so she was able to run for him with only a little bit of a boost from enhancing herself. She grabbed him by the wrist, looking up at the building and rembering who she’d seen in it. And she realized then that she was scared.
Scared of seeing Rainier and Cassiel, after more than two years. Had they been together the entire ti? Had they forgotten her?
A sudden pain made Malz look down. She’d been so distracted by her thoughts, that soone had shot her with the sa sort of iron spike that had gone through her shields and her ribcage.
"No..." she collapsed onto her side, following the montum of the slug, and only then did Kir notice her.
"Malz?" he bent, seeing her wound, and looking back to its source. With a crushing gesture, their attacker and the entire section of the Chapterhouse crumbled, the rcenary on top crushed by the stones before he dropped the section as he turned to Malz, shielding her with his body as stones and arrows flew towards him.
*
A massive crumbling sound pulled Rainier’s attention to the window as he paused mid-answer to one of Brigit’s questions. The demoness Amarena glared at him from across the room, having arrived a few monts after Brigit revealed Rose was her ex-girlfriend. The latter was still unconscious, but had been moved to a couch.
The mont he looked outside, Rain’s jaw dropped.
Soone had just expended a vast amount of mana to crush an entire section of the fort-like structure. But a mont later, a sudden surge of familiar-feeling mana drew his eyes down and...
Malzkael hovered in the air, blood on her lips and a glow coming from her eyes and mouth. Supporting her from beneath was Kir, a sad look on his face as his back was peppered with arrows.
"What is it?" Cassiel asked. "What’s that mana?"
Rain turned, his eyes watery. "I don’t know how, but Malz and Kir are outside."
A sudden race to the roof ensued, except for Amarena, who sped downstairs and burst out the door.
Rain jumped as soon as he had an opening, landing next to Malz as three wings began to grow from her left side. He stared in awe, and pain, seeing the scars on her face and hands. The missing wings on her back.
And from the other side of the pair, the image of Kir stood, staring down at himself with sadness.
"Hold , Rain..."
*
Ferro veered to the right and to the left, Syndicate rcenaries as he neared the Chapterhouse. He saw Anko battling soone, jumping backward onto a pile of rubble as she went claw to claw with-
"Valera!"
His sister turned, distracted by her na, Anko’s claws still mid-swipe. Ti seed to slow down as Ferro tackled Valera out of the way, Anko’s claws raking across his ear and muzzle as he cried out.
He saw her eyes widening from shock, felt the heat on his face as he flew past her.
Was this it? Was this the mont Val would have died?
"Ferro... Is it really you?" Val asked, as if in a daze.
"It’s ," he said, glaring at Anko, who flinched, finally recognizing the situation.
"What is this? Why are you dressed like her? What’s going on?"
A sudden burst of mana drew Ferro’s vision across the street, where he saw a stranger embracing Kir from behind, his strange, black flesh burning and regenerating in almost equal asure.
And then the sky tore open.
*
Rain embraced the pain as he held Kir against himself, his godflesh the only thing that allowed him to withstand the pain of the fiery mana surrounding his lover. Even as it tried to regenerate, the new nerves seared his mind. And then, the mont he felt Kir’s skin, sothing happened.
A sensation like lightning ripped out of Rainier, and at once the fire surrounding Kir went out, bursting into radiant mana that drew every eye.
And from the sky ca a dark, hot rain. The visage of tall trees standing amidst the ash, their trunks burned, their bark split, but their canopies sweeping through the sky in an unending breeze.
*
Amarena stared at the new face of Hell, and knew what she had wrought.
*
Ferro took the precious mont to set Valera on her feet.
"Valera, I can’t explain how I know, but I need you to run. Take your ship and get as far away from here as you can, because if you stay here, you’ll die."
"Co with ," Valera said.
"I can’t," Ferro replied, his eyes pleading. "Please."
"I’ve searched so long for you," Val’s voice cracked. "I did so many terrible things..."
"I don’t care," Ferro said. "You’re my sister. My family. Please, go. I promise I’ll find you." He took her by the hands. "I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you. To be the big brother you needed. There are people here I care about, and I can’t abandon them."
He looked at Anko, who muttered, "Sorry," and then across the moat at Malz.
*
Above, the angels circled, unified in their descent upon the source of the mana burst as Kir began to float out of Rainier’s grip, sliding upright as six angelic wings grew from his back.
Kir opened his eyes.
In a blaze of rainbow light, the world disappeared.
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