Gavin jumped up at the sound of his voice, a smile spreading across his face before he could stop it. "Talus?"

"In the flesh! Or in the shadows?" He paused from struggling to push open the door to glance down at his body. The illusion Lynette had lent him had been disabled for now it seemed, his pale skin holding the same black claws to it as usual. He shrugged. "Not the usual use of the phrase, but I think it's more accurate."

"Where were you?" Selatan demanded, stalking forward to grab at his shoulders. It pulled the boy away from the gate slightly, enough to reveal an empty hallway behind him. It was then that Gavin noticed several of the shouts he'd been hearing behind the wall had stopped.

He met the Demon's stare. "I was trying to unlock the door, but man, there were so many guards. And Cearte. And then the bar got jammed and—"

Selatan didn't let him get that far before he yanked Talus forward, wrapping arms around him. Aoife quickly moved to follow while Gavin awkwardly hovered behind them. "We thought you ran."

He blinked. "Yes, I ran... to unlock the door? You said it was stuck on this side."

"By Akasha." Selatan let go to drag his hands down his face. "Communicate next time. I'm begging you."

Talus stuck a pointed black tongue at him, blowing a raspberry. "Maybe stop thinking I'm gonna miss out on the adventure. Now let's go." He waved them onward, to the front doors of the capitol. "I don't think the guards will be out for long."

Gavin peeked his head around the corner to find one man slumped against a wall, matching another further down. There was no taste of blood within the air though. Frowning, he took another step into a cool room filled with stagnant air buzzing only with magik. "What did you do to them?"

"Um." Talus scratched at the back of his neck. "Well, people tend to need to breathe, and it was dark in here so... I kind of made them drink the shadows until they passed out?"

"We tend t' call that chokin' around 'ere." Gavin wasn't ready for Eldrazi to bark a laugh out of their throat, forcing him to step away from inspecting the unconscious body and towards the Shar Drak'na who caused it. "But lovely job knockin 'em down."

"Thank you." He nodded. "It's actually why coming here was another great decision on my part. Along with-"

"Hey Talus?" Aoife cooed, causing both Gavin and Talus to turn to her. She had a hand pressed against the wall, giving them an overly sweet smile. "Did you know that while you were choking and unlocking and leaving us to fight alone, my knee just so happened to get bashed in from a warhammer?"

His eyes flicked down to her dark grey pants, soaked in blood. "O-oh. Um, I'm very sorry."

She smiled tighter, eyes growing wider in expectation. "Wonderful! So! Do you think that perchance you can save the gloating for later and let Gavin lick the Relic?"

"I'm not 'licking the Relic','" Gavin clarified flatly. "I'm flicking the ends of my tongue into the air and letting the forks touch the dip in the roof of my mouth so that the—"

A burst of violet flame cut him off, the flares writhing around Aoife making him shut up and step back. "Gavin! Lick the vaelocing Relic!"

"Right!" He gulped, quickly moving to taste the air. It was tainted by the warm, ashen flavour of Aoife's rage, but as he closed his eyes, several more followed. They came in waves of salty flesh and flashes of metal blades. Humans sat heavy on his tongue while Eunsis and Demons rested lighter in hints of cold and earthy tones. And still, beneath all that, a subtle note but unmistakable, was the sharp, bitter taste of the Relic. Like a drink of bubbles and sun-kissed dandelions.

A taste he'd never forgotten since the day he'd left it behind.

A smirk filled his face, and this time, he didn't have to hide it as he gave Selatan a nod. "It's being kept below."

"That's not surprising," he answered, only half paying attention as he scrambled to reach for the map tucked at his side, his hands far more frantic than his words. "But I don't remember any staircase being listed on the map. Unless I missed it." He squinted at the paper. "But I don't see any, and I don't know how else we would get down."

"Uh, you go down by going down?"

Gavin flinched as he felt freezing cold fingers wrap around his arm, and suddenly he was being pressed up against the others as Talus gathered them into one, giant hug. "Ready?"

"No?" the other two shouted.

"Ready!" Eldrazi called from the back of Gavin's throat, and then the world was flung into a backwards darkness.

That was the best way Gavin could describe it as he felt gravity flip to somewhere over his head in one smooth motion. Down became up, and up down, a crisp, yet hollow feeling curling through his chest while pure black pressed against his vision like a dreamless sleep. Surprisingly though, it didn't make his stomach spin like most magik. Instead, it passed by him in the same way water ran over leather, not leaving him to feel anything but confused as the vision of a floor appeared above him.

And on that floor, all in flowing, white robes, were Cearte.

"Talus!" Aoife screamed as gravity dug its hold into their bodies once more, and with that, Gavin tumbled through the air. Panic tore through his chest, making it hard to breathe, but it was less from the fall and more the group of enemies that Talus had dropped them on. They glanced up with wide eyes, just as shocked as Gavin felt as he continued to plummet.

A sharp shock collided with his back, pain ruminating up his spine as he crashed into a tall man, toppling to the floor. It was only fear that made him instantly push himself to his feet, finding himself surrounded by a good thirty Cearte.

"Um. Sorry guys?"

If Selatan or Aoife said something to Talus in response, Gavin couldn't hear it over the general roar across the room calling for arms. Not that they weren't prepared for an attack, given how ready they all seemed to be, swords in hand. No, it was more likely that they hadn't expected them to drop from the shadows above, and if that was the case...

Gavin's eyes ran along the walls to find a single door off to the right. An entrance, and most likely the only exit. And, if that was where people were blocking, the Relic could only be tucked away in the furthest point from there.

Left. He had to go left.

His thinking was cut off though by a sharp swipe across his arm. A jolt ran through him, followed by a warm wetness. Stepping back, he locked eyes with the offender, a broad-shouldered man with a bastard sword.

"Serpent boy," he hissed, and although his low voice made it hard for Gavin to pick up the rest of his words, he was thankful for it as the man continued, "Here to finish what you started?"

A small hum came from Gavin's throat as he reached for his mother's knives. He glanced over his shoulder, noticing how several Cearte had gone for Aoife and her flame, while others clamoured to reach Talus from the ceiling: a black figure forming shadowy tendrils and teeth in defence. Licking his lips, Gavin turned back, raising the dagger to the man's chest. "You could say that."

"We won't let you. We killed off that Eunsi Dávoln and we'll take you too. It doesn't matter how many people you drag along to defend you on your foolish quest. We're led by the gods." The man drew to his full height in preparation to strike. "And we will prevail."

"Ah yes. The gods and winnin' and always being right. Blah blah blah. Say Gav, doesn't that sound like balderdash to you?" Eldrazi asked, and Gavin felt his stiff stance relax, pull back into something more flowy, more poised to counterstrike. "Some real piffle. Poppycock. Bilge. Codswallop."

The man's eyes narrowed. "Shut up, Demon."

A sneer stretched Gavin's lips wide. "Malarky."

"I said shut up!" The sword dropped into a wide arc, but it only swiped the air as Eldrazi skillfully pulled one foot back, dropping their weight lower with it.

"You know, why do we have so many words for nonsense anyway?" Eldrazi asked, and Gavin was thrust forward, the man's blade too off point to be a concern as they dropped to his flank, diving his dagger beneath his outstretched arm. It didn't cut deeply, but it didn't have to for the venom to do its work. No, it was the waiting that was always the hard part.

"I don't know. I don't create languages," Gavin answered dryly before sensing movement. Again, he pulled away as the man twisted to run his sword through, but their back collided with something. Glancing up, Gavin found another white robed figure: a man with a mace. One attack avoided at the sake of another enemy. Wonderful. "Can we please focus on the fight now?"

"I just think there are an awful lot o' words for the concept of pure, meaningless gibberish." Gavin jumped to the side to avoid the mace from being swung into their head. It hit the floor with a crash, tile shattering to stone. "And that's another one! Gibberish. Why?"

Gavin turned to find the man with the sword closing his eyes, almost as if he was in prayer, and only then did he notice that the man had pointed ears. A Demon.

Candles across the room flickered, and Gavin suddenly felt a heavy, pressing weight wherever their orange glow touched his skin. He didn't know what kind of magik the Demon had borrowed, but it felt as though light had become the density of bricks, pressing, squeezing, slowing their body into place as the maced man lifted his weapon once again.

"Eldrazi!"

"Fine! By Uldyŋ you're so needy."

Gavin felt their eyes being rolled, and then the feeling of equally cold and warm thorns lacing around his heart returned. Eldrazi's focus shifted to the man with the mace, him seemingly less determined than the one with the sword. Someone who's Will Eldrazi could overpower easily as their gazes locked.

"You know, 'e never liked you, and now 'e's tryna steal your target."

Each word Eldrazi pushed towards the man sent a sharp shock of pain down Gavin's spine, making him grit their teeth. There was so much magik in the room already, churning his stomach, spinning his head... He struggled to stay alert against the pressing black.

The man with the mace shifted positions, looking at the Demon Cearte. "Hey."

The other turned, and that was enough time for the mace to be flung into his middle, a scraping noise ringing out as it collided with the armour beneath the robes, sending him flying. "Stop stealing my reward!"

The pressing weight of the light faded, and Gavin took the opportunity to step behind the man, moving towards the back of his exposed neck. With a sharp, solid hit, the dagger fit into the notch beneath his skull like a key to a lock, able to be twisted and removed just as cleanly. A choke sounded as he wrenched the blade out, coated in a red made runny from other fluids. But, as much as the gore made him wince, there was no sadness in him much more than his thoughts. The man fell first to his knees, then to the floor, stilled.

As Eldrazi dropped his own magik, Gavin glanced around the room. To the right, Selatan was removing his sword from a woman's chest, arm bloodied, Aoife had several people lying around her, but seemed uninjured beside her leg, and Talus only had a cut over his shoulder as blackness reared up to block attack after attack. "Huh," Gavin muttered as he noticed the lack of people left to attack him. "We're winning."

"Want to 'ead over and 'elp them take out the last few? Selatan looks worse for the wear," Eldrazi suggested even as Gavin shook the notion away.

Someone needs to grab the Relic before more show up, otherwise we'll never leave. He twisted his head in the same direction he'd predicted before, and sure enough, there was the pedestal.

A sense of deja vu filled him as he took a slow step towards it, the sound of the battle behind him fading away. The dizzying feeling of magik grew worse the closer he drew, and even now, acid was shooting up his throat, but he needed to grab it: the handle of a sword, wrapped in an unusual, purple ribbon. Other than that, it looked plain, but he could taste the magik– a flavour so strong he could vomit– but he needed to touch it again. It called to him with its power, its promises. All who held the three Relics together could wield the full Will of Akasha. With them, he could fix Cynwrig.

All that was blocking him was a single, Eunsi girl.

"You can't take it!" she shouted, and Gavin noticed she was young. Perhaps three and ten. The blue wings along her back spread to make her seem larger, more intimidating as taloned fingers pulled the string of her shortbow back. "I won't let you."

The sight of an arrow made Gavin pause. He met her eyes, holding her stare. He certainly didn't want to be shot, and even with Eldrazi's speed, he couldn't guarantee he could outrun it if the poundage was heavy enough. So words it was. "You don't want to shoot me."

"Why not?" she asked, and yet the bow was still infuriatingly trained on him.

"Because I will shoot back. Both my arrows and knives are tipped in poison. You have all eternity to live. Wouldn't you rather not waste—"

The girl released the string, and the side of his neck was on fire. With a hiss, he clutched the side of his neck, wet and warm. His grip on the knives tightened. "Damn Eunsi. Fine."

He dipped his head low, darting forward and making sure to stagger his steps. They needed to be random. Right, left, left again, right three times...

A feeling like a sharp snap burst through his leg, the pain immediately flowing out from a single point. It was followed by another burst through his tail, a choked scream wrenching from his lungs. It'd felt like a heavy, solid blow, but a quick glance at the shafts sticking out from his thigh and tail dripping in blood confirmed otherwise. His step instantly faltered, and Gavin was tumbling forward, the floor only further pushing the shaft through his flesh like the carving of a fiery razor as he fell to the ground.

"I warned you."

Gavin lifted his head, catching sight of her light brown hair. In a way, she looked like another Eunsi girl, one that had betrayed him, ruined him all while she laughed. His fingers scraped along the broken tile, slowly clenching as though it could alleviate the pain crawling along his nerves like ants. It was her fault Cynwrig would never be saved. He hated her. He wanted to kill her.

A shadow flicked in an unnatural movement behind her.

What? Gavin's gaze shifted to the shadow, and he caught sight of a person-shaped silhouette with pointed ears peeling away from the dark wall it had just been, a single, white iris trained on him.

A clawed hand formed out of the dark mass, holding up a finger pressed to nonexistent lips while another hand circled as if to urge Gavin to keep going as it snuck towards the pedestal.

A twitch ruminated through him at the thought that Talus would be the one holding before them, but he shook the feeling off. With Talus, he could simply ask for it later, no more effort involved. The thought comforted him as the sole of a sandal dug into his head.

"Your brother killed a lot of people, ya know." It was the girl again, her bow still fixed on him. Gavin could barely manage to look up at her, but if he pressed his eyes to the side to the point they ached, he could see tears pouring from her own. She sniffed. "He killed my mama and papa because of you. That's what the Cearte said. Is that true?"

"And if it is?" Gavin asked flatly. He wasn't going to deny it. He knew ruined his brother. That this entire war was his fault because he had pushed Cynwrig away when he'd needed someone there for him. All he had had to do was reach out, to go to Cynwrig for comfort and tell him that their mother... It wasn't his fault. It was all Tachir's, and one day, they'd find a way to free him from his Demon.

But he hadn't, and so every death that Tachir' made his brother commit fell upon him. The peace treaty between the kingdoms being broken, soldiers taking arms, families ripped apart and Dávoln children under stricter laws than ever before to prevent another incident? It was all Gavin's fault, and he wasn't going to deny it.

He watched Talus reach for the Relic, claws almost upon it.

I'm going to fix it.

"Then you're evil. A monster," the girl whispered. "And I'm going to kill you."

The words cut deep, making him want to draw in on himself and disappear to someplace where he'd no longer hurt anyone, but their tail and leg couldn't move. Everything hurt so badly, burning, pressing, closing in. Then again, it wasn't as though he didn't deserve it. So many died because he didn't stop Tachir' sooner. Their eyes closed, leaving him to drown in the beating of their own heart. It only made sense that he too, was meant to be added to the tally he'd tried to escape all this time.

"Aha! Got it!"

"What?" The girl whipped around, Gavin perking up to find Talus holding up the Relic with a gleeful smile. "When did– How did—"

The distraction was all Gavin needed to crane their head up, and, opening their mouth, he sunk their fangs into her ankle. A scream followed, but he refused to let go even as she tugged and kicked, a taste like coins flooding their mouth.

"Gavin!"

"Gavin! What are you doing?" Talus screamed, but he didn't care. A pressure was slowly alleviating from their temples as venom continued to pump into the girl. Her ankle twitched beneath their teeth, her screams becoming softer, more choked until she swayed, body toppling over.

Then he released her.

"Oh gods!" Gavin couldn't make out the sound of boots hitting the floor until Talus was incredibly close, but by then it only served to painfully echo in their ears. "Did you kill her?"

He looked up at the Shar Drak'na's panicked face, breaths slow and laboured. "I... hope she gets to see her parents again in Astren."

Gavin's eyes shut, but he could feel freezing cold hands being slid under their body, the boy surprisingly strong. Or perhaps he was just light. Either way, being held would've been nice, save for the almost electric ache from Talus shifting their skewered limbs about. He hoped the bones the arrows had struck weren't broken, but they probably were. He winced. It hurt so badly.

"Gosh. She really injured you. I—" Talus' voice cut off, and the feeling of being shaken along with the tapping of boots against tile grew more frantic. "Aoife! Selatan!"

"Here!" Aoife answered, though her voice sounded far away, all echoey in a way that made Gavin's head throb. There was a gasp. "He's not... Please tell me he didn't—"

"I'm alive," Gavin managed to get out. Drawing in a deep breath, he allowed his body to sink more against Talus', resting his head on what he could only assume was his chest? It was hard to tell without opening his eyes, and he hardly wanted to.

An incredibly warm hand was placed on his shoulder. "Oh thank goodness. I don't know what I'd do if you died."

"Talus. Can you get us out of here?" Selatan asked, his deep voice easy for Gavin to make out despite him clearly being the furthest away. "You grabbed the Relic, right?"

"Mhm."

"Then I don't want to stay any longer. As terrible as it was, this was still a surprise attack. Taking out everyone here doesn't mean they didn't call for reinforcements at some point. Gavin needs to rest, and we need to escape."

"Yessir!"

The return of the smooth, yet cold feeling of gravity slipping away forced Gavin's eyes open slightly, although he couldn't make out anything in the strange, in-between place that Talus brought them. There was only endless black, the only thing to break it up being a single dot of white, until it all fell away to a simple grey room of cells and bars. Instantly, their senses returned, bringing the scent of rot, the rancid, soft flavour of mould, and...

"Oi. This looks rather familiar, eh Gav?"

If their eyes were half-closed before, they were fully open now as Eldrazi's voice made him bolt. Don't just say that, you amdáin! You'll—

"Why is it familiar to you?" Selatan asked, and if Gavin had the energy to shove more annoyance at Eldrazi for once again being too casual, he would have.

"Meh. Once you've seen one prison, you've seen 'em all." Eldrazi went to shrug their shoulders, but quickly dropped the idea at the flash of pain that came with.

"And yet for as many as you're trapped in, you haven't seen enough, have you Eldrazi?"

What?

A chill shot down Gavin's spine, but that couldn't be right. The last Gavin had heard, he'd been tearing through village after village, slaughtering mercilessly all to find him. He wouldn't be here, in a random dungeon in the depths of Lorne, unless...

"Cynwrig?" Gavin whispered into the darkness. He reached for the bond, Eldrazi providing just enough slack to allow him to see.

Sure enough, only two cells down, a ragged man with walnut brown hair and fluffy, wolf-like ears gripped at the bars with hands topped with long, pointed nails. A fanged sneer filled his face as he glanced over with glinting, yellow eyes. "Tachir'."

"You?" Selatan suddenly shouted, pointing at the cell. "Why in Astren are you here?"

"I have my reasons," the Dávoln answered, and Gavin hated the crazed edge to his voice, the way it tainted what used to be something so warm, loving. "You come to rescue me once more?"

Selatan only glowered at him, reaching an arm to push Aoife behind his back. "You're out of your mind if you think I'd ever do that again."

"Ah, but you still have your lovely girlfriend it seems. Was it worth it?" Tachir' tipped his head– no– his brother's head, grin growing even wider.

"Um." Talus stepped forward, gaze darting back and forth between the two. "I just went to the wrong room by accident. Did you want to stay here and talk, or can we go?" He held out the last word, jutting a thumb behind him.

But we... we can't go now. The very concept sent panic coursing through Gavin, distorted his clouded, aching mind even further. He'd done it. He'd found Cynwrig in the most unlikely of places. He needed to talk to him alone, to explain that he was doing this all for him, that he would end Tachir' and they could be a family once more.

"I-I want to stay," he choked out, slowly reaching a hand up to squeeze Talus' shoulder. "He's my brother. I need to—"

"You are in no condition to talk to a murderer, family or not." Selatan thrust an arm in front of them. "Talus?"

"No!" Gavin cried, but the world was already twisting, the vision of the capitol dungeon torn away with it. His fingers reached out, but they clenched at air alone, the world nothing more than darkness. A darkness that he could do nothing to change. And even when that darkness faded into the world outside, a night full of twinkling stars and a wind cold enough to ease some of the warmth of his injuries, it didn't change anything.

Perhaps it was foolish, but as Selatan continued to push them onwards, Talus warping them further and further away from the capital of Lorne, all he wanted to do was cry. He wanted to feel awful, awful that he'd killed a man, awful that he killed a child, and awful that he'd finally, after nearly five years, found Cynwrig again, and been too weak.

But his chest remained hollow, emotionless. Perhaps that too, was the nothing, the lack of empathy and the force pressing heavy on his mind as the pain wracking at him slowly faded to numbness. Whatever it was, it was so strong that he could barely feel it when Talus came to a stop, bracing his back against... something hard, and after that, everything was gone.