Book II – Chapter 07 – From Heartache to Heartbreak


    Kourin was nearly as surprised as Seth was when she realized the Gate was gone, and she unclasped her hands in confusion, “…That actually worked?”


    “That was amaaaazzinnngggg!” Seth shrieked, and came rushing back. He quite literally snatched her off the ground with an excited hug, and swung her around before pausing, “How did you do that!? It looked like you’d done it a hundred times!”


    Her eyes spun in her head, and she found herself chest-to-chest with the Rydell, arms pinned to her sides and feet dangling off the ground, “I…uh… I dunno, I just…turned it off?”


    The Fafnir were perplexed, but no matter what angle they looked at the barrier from, they couldn’t see the Gate within. Corbin reached forward and twisted his hand in a clockwise rotation, releasing the dome entirely. The Gate was, indeed, gone, and all the pooling pond-water suddenly rushed back to its normal course.


    Seth finally put Kourin down, and looked at that now-vacant air again, a hand scratching the back of his head, “Honestly, whatever happened…I can hardly believe that actually worked.” He turned to the petite Myrmidon again, “It seriously looked like you knew exactly what you were doing. What…did you do?”


    Kourin straightened her uniform out, but then shrugged helplessly, “It’s hard to explain to someone who isn’t afflicted… The energy flows like running water, and if you just imagine the faucet turning off, it stops. When I connected to the Gate…it just…sort of felt like it was a part of me, so when I shut off the flow, the Gate went with it.”


    “This is really great news.” The Rydell continued, still flummoxed by what he’d seen, even while wildly impressed, “Now if only I can convince Lord Rylen to let the afflicted learn how to do what you just did…we’ll never have to worry about Scyrexian ever again.” He said – and rather deliberately – then glanced back curiously to see if the woman reacted.


    “Yeah, maybe.”


    He narrowed his eyes curiously, “…What do you mean?”


    “Heh?”


    “Were you even listening just now?” Seth could feel his whole frame sag a little in prepared disappointment.


    “…Oh, maybe I got a little distracted. I figured we were done.”


    “…We don’t…have to be?” He said awkwardly, “I mean, the Rift is gone, obviously, but…maybe we could…exchange contacts? So I can follow-up with you.”


    Kourin paused slightly, like she wasn’t sure what he’d just asked, “…So…you can follow-up with me?”


    “Yeah? Why not?


    She could only give a tiny scoff of a laugh, “If you want my sync, you can just ask. No need to try and make work-excuses for it.”


    Seth could feel his face turn red, “Y-yeah…no need…” He stammered, watching the petite Myrmidon head back to where she’d piled her things earlier. Confused, he followed after her, “So…can I…?”


    “Yeah, lemee just get my helmet so I can answer.” She explained, and lifted the thing up over her head. She made a few gestures, and then waggled her hand behind herself, trying to keep the image of the mask facing the other way, “Okay, ready.”


    “…What was all that for? Don’t you have implants?”


    “Huh? No, why?”


    Seth stared at her with a shiver as she turned around to presumably gawk at him like it was a stupid question, but could only focus on the unsightly visage. Kourin just grabbed the cloak and threw the whole thing over her head, standing there like a theme-park ghost – still with her hand out – and Seth felt extremely silly, “…Now you’re just making fun of me.” He sighed as he reached to finally accept the gesture, and bumped her fingers with his own. Immediately, he saw ‘Mikkela Hennison’ pop up in his contact list, before the notice vanished into the side-bar.


    “Not trying; I just don’t bring my glasses with me when I’ve got my helmet.” She explained, and when she saw the same notice with Seth’s name on her own overlay, she pulled the whole thing off again, and reached up to straighten her hair out, “So, what’s your plan now that the Rift is gone?”


    “Compile all the data I collected and refer it back to the Inquisitors.” He answered, and turned back to where the Gate used to be, spying all the Fafnir taking the equipment down so those aforementioned Inquisitors could come collect it easier, “I’m not entirely sure what they’re doing with it, but Captain Torbus said it’s going to good use, so…” He looked back to Kourin, “What about you?”


    “I’m off to the Ward to be their canary while they extract the Core from the rubble.” She explained, “Now that all the Fafnir are available, there won’t be any more delays.”


    “Oh! You can meet my brother there!” Seth said enthusiastically, “Then you’ll have met the whole set.”


    “’Fraid I can’t.” She answered, much to his chagrin, “Once I leave this little bramble-bubble, I’ll have to go back to being anonymous. No exceptions to be made out in the wild. I probably should’ve had my mask back on when Lord Gabriel came by earlier anyway…I may get in trouble for that one, especially since a whole group of Fafnir were here, too…”


    “…I’ll put in a good word for you. It’s my fault you took it off in the first place.”


    “That’s sweet.” She said as she stepped closer, and reached a free hand to press to his forearm, “But you really shouldn’t stick your neck out for people you barely know.”


    “It’s not about whether I know you that well…it’s about paying you back for all the help you gave. You were more of a collaborator than a canary here these last two days, and you proved that the afflicted can close Void Rifts on purpose. …I can’t help but wonder how different things would be right now if Mr. Gabriel knew he could’ve just…done that.”


    Kourin paused in her reassembly, and peeked out from the bottom of the helmet briefly, seeing that anemic smile. She practically hid in the mask after that, I’m sure a lot of things would’ve been different if we just knew a little bit more back then…


    “Guess this is goodbye for now then.” Seth diverted, and made himself look at that uncanny valley face, “Thanks again for all your help.”


    “The pleasure was mine, Setharion Rydell.” She answered, and bowed her head before turning to head back to the cattle-path.


    .


    Fully releasing and extracting the Ward’s Core only took a few hours once Kourin was on-site, and every single Fafnir in the squad was there on stand-by in case anything happened. Granted, only the five fully-fledged warriors were actually anywhere near the thing; the trainees watched carefully from a distance.


    Kourin stayed somewhat-close to the massive sphere as it lifted from its anchors, standing precariously at the open door of a skiff as it hovered to supervise. She couldn’t help but look on those five Knights, a worried expression hidden under the mask, I never thought I’d feel bad for setting Scyrexian free to come after them… It was just a means to an end back then… Seth would never forgive me if he knew I was involved in that though.


    Even once she’d gotten back to her room aboard the Rosalind, she couldn’t help but feel guilty. Cowl and mask came away as she shuffled inside – it wasn’t much of a room; more like a large walk-in closet with room enough for a cot and a detached closet – but at least she didn’t have to share it.


    Perks of being afflicted, I guess…


    She rolled onto the cot, nudging her boots off as she lifted her legs up off the ground, and just laid there for a while, staring at the barren ceiling. She only noticed she’d dozed-off when the sound of a knock at her door roused her again, and she sat up with bleary, half-open eyes, “…Who in the world…?”


    The knock came again, and Kourin grabbed her boots before heading towards it.


    She was absolutely not expecting to find the Eidolon of the Fourth Wing standing outside, and she yelped and retreated to the ‘far’ wall in terror, “I’m sorry! I took my mask off for Seth’s sake, but I’m sorry!”


    Gabriel looked at her in confusion, but took the retreat as enough of a welcome that he stepped just inside and let the door close behind him, “Relax, you’re not in trouble. Not with me, anyway…Kourin.”


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    “Heehh!?” She could feel her heart in her throat, “Y-you’ve got the wrong person, using that name! I’m Mikkela!”


    “A year ago, you and I stood before a demon and plotted to sacrifice Gabriel Lugios to it in exchange for a favor.” The Fourth explained, “And now I stand before you, forced to wear Gabriel’s face as punishment for my hubris.”


    Kourin’s heart pounded so hard in her chest, she could feel the blood rushing in her ears, but when she finally caught her breath and understood the words that had been spoken, her fear suddenly changed to dread relief. The swirl of joy and heartbreak and confusion at least got her to peel herself off the wall, but when ‘Gabriel’ crouched down on his knees and bent his head down in shame, she just burst into tears and rushed for him.


    Unlike in Kitez in the past, where limited nanotech meant mantles were paper thin shells, the ones manufactured by the World Cloud actually had some substance, so when Kourin bolted for him, ‘Gabriel’ didn’t just burst into dust and collapse. Thin arms wrapped around his shoulders and Kourin sobbed against him, and ‘Gabriel’ could only hug her back, “…I’m so sorry…”


    Relief switched over to anger rather quickly though, and Kourin pulled back, hands tight on those same shoulders, “You left us! You just disappeared! How dare you come back now!”


    Blue eyes blinked at her, “I swear, I didn’t mean for it to happen like this… It would take a week to explain everything that’s happened, I hardly know where to start…”


    “Well, you better figure it out, and fast! I’m so mad at you! We all thought you were dead!”


    The Fourth just shook his head, “…I am dead… This world will never know the face of Xanarken Tellan ever again.”


    Kourin could only collapse to her own knees before the mantle, and crossed her arms as she hiccupped her breaths, “You have to tell me what happened…” She snuffled, and reached up to rub her eyes bitterly, “Everything was already ruined, and now…”


    “Kourin…” He sighed, “When you helped Scyrexianori get out of Laurier’s lab, it left Prince Aamin behind with some kind of twisted infection. I’m certain we both thought that Aamin would be fatally attacked, so when the Duchess packed him up and sent him back to Trazad for that exchange… He got in the way… I was trying to get Scyren to take Gabriel, and Aamin attacked me…”


    “So, that pillar of light…”


    “…Was the reaction of whatever Scyrexian had turned Aamin into, and my mantle, coming together. The feedback…it corrupted my entire profile… It was fried so badly that Arbelos tried to redirect me to the second network he realized I was connected to…and they reforged me with…my other mantle.”


    Kourin’s tearful eyes widened, “You’re not… They couldn’t have… They manifested you as Latheroux…?”


    ‘Gabriel’ nodded grimly, remembering all too well the mortified look on Rylen’s face when the man saw it. He reached up to his throat, “Rylen tried to strangle me to death over it. Can’t blame him, I guess… But right as I was about to lose consciousness, he stopped. I don’t really understand it still, but…he stopped… He put me on ice instead, probably to think over how he actually wanted to punish me for what I’d done, and when I woke up…the war with Kitez was over, and Rylen was telling me that Gabriel was gone. To save face, he forced me to replace Gabe as the Fourth – we couldn’t lose two Eidolon; it’s unthinkable - and I’ve been stuck like this ever since. My leash is so short, Kourin… I didn’t know how I’d ever be able to contact you guys again. What in the world are you doing in the First!? Rylen will kill you on sight if he finds you…”


    She shook her head, and snuffled again, “He hasn’t seen my face in over 300 years…he couldn’t possibly remember what I look like anymore. But we had to do something… We were so close to getting Scyrexian to take Gabriel and get back to the Wanderer…! We could taste how close we were to leaving Hadira! Tallus was so certain, if we infiltrated the Council, we’d eventually find a way to track down a Void Rift and get Scyrexian back so we could try again… Xanarken, I love you, but…this revelation about you really complicates things…”


    “I know.” He bent down far enough to set his elbows onto his legs, and lowered his head, “Without the real Gabriel…what would Scyrexian even do…?”


    Kourin rubbed her nose on her sleeve and tried to calm herself down, taking a few long, deliberate breaths, then tried again, “…I was able to commune with Scyrexian…earlier today, actually…”


    ‘Gabriel’ lifted his head in confusion, “The Gate that I saw you at with Seth…?”


    She nodded, “It said that it still has a host in this world somewhere. I don’t even know where to begin looking for it, but-”


    “It’s Scyren, now.” He clarified, “It…took Ren completely, in the end. Rylen’s kept her locked-away at some only-he-knows-where facility, out of sight and memory, using her to test all the new weapons and shield-systems that the Inquisitors are creating.”


    Kourin could only tilt her head, baffled, “…What do you mean, kept her? We all saw the Fafnir Memorial…we all saw her urn get put into the wall…”


    “It’s just an empty jar.” ‘Gabriel’ answered grimly, “He kept her. The S.D. Helmet worked too well at keeping Scyrexian under control, so he didn’t want to give up the opportunity to figure out how to protect the Fafnir against its power.”


    “…So that’s what it showed me…the four-winged creature; chained…blind, deaf, and lost… It’s Ren…stuck in sensory-deprivation… How would I even go about finding her now…? What would I even do if I found her? Without Gabriel…”


    “We never found a body.” The Fourth noted, “We know he threw himself out of a ship’s hangar on the way back to Agartha, but…Rylen personally scoured that land for days and never found so much as a hair. It’s like Gabe just ceased to exi-” He stopped suddenly and quickly rose up to his feet, offering his hands down, “Shit…Rylen’s calling me back. I can’t stay. If anyone can find Scyren, it’s Seth. Find a way to get him to help you!”


    Kourin let the Eidolon pull her up, “Xanarken!”


    The Fourth vanished without another word, and Kourin was left alone in that room with only her racing heart to keep her company. She took those few steps back to her cot, and dropped down to sit on it, eyes wide in her overwhelmed silence.


    ‘Gabriel’ manifested in Rylen’s chosen office, feeling his own heart pounding even through the distance between mantle and body. The First’s angry stare didn’t bode well, …Shit, was he listening? Did I just sentence Kourin to death…?


    “What do you mean, no?”


    “…What?”


    Rylen took a step forward and gestured at all the nanotech panels that opened around him, “Report; Lord Gabriel was summoned to help answer some questions for Sir Setharion Rydell, but he refused, and left again. Report; Lord Gabriel declined to assist Sir Setharion Rydell about the Void Gate. I’ve got a bunch of identical messages from the Fafnir from their post-mission debrief, all saying you literally showed up, did everything short of kicking Seth in the knees and spitting on him, only to leave again!”


    The Fourth balked slightly, his whole train of terror derailed. He blinked hard a few times to figure out what was even going on, “…I told you before I even went there, that I had no clue about anything Seth might ask me. I wasn’t there. I’m not afflicted.”


    “Surely Lugios told you something about what he experienced? Anything at all that might help.”


    “I’m not going to make things worse by leading that kid on. Even if I had a crumb of insight about what Gabe experienced back then, there’d be no point saying so because I’d end up saying I don’t know to absolutely every follow-up question anyway.”


    “So, you’re answer then was just no and further alienate Seth from someone he once thought was his friend.”


    ‘Gabriel’ could only leer, “You’re one to talk about building and maintaining relationships, Rylen.”


    That only earned the Fourth a shock so severe that it put his mantle on his knees.


    Rylen didn’t even blink, and just started walking slowly as ‘Gabriel’ cringed from the pain, “Were it not for the fact that Lugios threw himself out the back of a skiff when he was hours away from getting put into the Eidolon System…neither of us would be trapped in this Purgatory you’ve invented for us.” He started, fingers pressed to his temples in frustration. After a moment, he just lashed out at the Fourth again, “I didn’t give Iresha the ‘Keys to the Kingdom’ just so you and he could continue to cause me problems in Kitez! I knew that you’d be back to your old schemes the minute you made us restore the barrier-protocol around the Exclusion Zone. But all of these damned Void Rifts are opening all of a sudden, and you’re not only denying me the ability to find the root of the problem, you’re actively hindering the investigation into figuring out how the Hell Scyrexian got here! It destroyed the Fafnir Knights, Xanarken! Doesn’t that mean anything to you!?”


    The Fourth writhed, and held himself up with one hand on the floor, “You don’t…get to call me that anymore… You…declared to the whole world that I was dead… Swore the others to silence…”


    “I’ll call you whatever I damn-well like.” Rylen snarled, “It’s barely the tip of what I’m entitled to do after you lied to my face for 22 years. You stood at my side and spoke out both sides of your mouth, swearing you were doing everything you could to get Kitez to join the Accord, only to be plotting as Latheroux to keep Kitez out. I thought we were brothers! I thought we told each other everything!” He barked, only to go from infuriated to devastated all over again, “If you wanted to do something about Kitez from within, I would’ve helped you! But…you just lied… You created a whole new identity to stab me in the back with, and you lied… I can’t even begin to comprehend the innumerable little betrayals you fostered in order to keep things the way they were… And all I can think of to explain it, is that you were doing this specifically against me.”


    “I never…wanted to lie to you. ...I was…trying to protect you…” The Fourth said between ragged breaths, his real body starting to bleed from the nose, the migraine hurting more intensely with every word. It was painful enough that both man and mantle reached up to clutch at his head.


    “Protect me?” Rylen scoffed, “From what?”


    “…I c-can’t…tell you…” ‘Gabriel’ collapsed forward, actually crying out from the agony.


    “Oh, get up…I didn’t shock you that strongly.” The First snapped.


    “I…swore…”


    Rylen got down on a knee by the Fourth, both hands up in frustrated rage, “You swore!? Swore to who? You’re an Eidolon! People swear to YOU!”


    ‘Gabriel’ could no longer speak though; the migraine was so severe that the erratic heart-rate drew Etienne to the pod-room. Xanarken’s pod was locked though, and she could only look on in helpless sorrow as the support-fluid became more tinted with the red color. Nose, eyes, and ears were bleeding by then, and she messaged out to the First, “Whatever you’re doing to him, please stop… He can’t take it anymore! You’re killing him!”


    “I’m not doing anything to him.” Rylen snapped back, “Unless confronting a traitor with his own crimes is suddenly so wrong.” He pushed back up to stand normally, and calmly folded his hands together behind his back, “Keep your secrets, then. Whatever it takes, you’re going to get Iresha to let us into the Exclusion Zone. I will find this font of power that feeds the potency of the afflicted who go there, and end the tyranny of these Void Gates as well. I’m not losing one more soldier to this. …And if it turns out that this is what you swore to protect me from, then I can’t wait to revel in watching it all come crashing down around you as I march in. It’s the least you deserve for what you’ve done. Now, get out of my sight…” He growled, and waved his hand to break the mantle apart, leaving it as quickly-fading dust on the floor of the room.


    He went back over towards his wide desk, and set his hands on its top. His whole body trembled, and he reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose, I’ll never forgive you, Xanarken… Never…