NEVEN

Thirty people. Good people. People with dreams, desires, wants, willing to give it all up in the service of the light. Many more under my command. Never had his mind sharpened into razor focus. Tingles swept through his feathers, to the base of his ears where the down shielded him from cruel temperatures. Under his feet, the thick wooden bridge swayed, mist shaped into shaws to drive its teeth into the rope. His breath expanded into his lungs, every passing moment bringing the taste of blood at the tips of his fangs. Around him, the youngest of them, Maria, Yuven, Adara, and Fenrer. Why have I done this? Why couldn't I have convinced anyone otherwise? His fingers unfurled to let a glyph come to life, sapphires sprinkled across the deep hues of the world, disappearing with the seconds. Starry sinew became nothing more than the viscera of his innards when he drove his glaive through Kemal's throat and no blood split.

Neven raised his head in the darkness, the heaviness in his throat tearing at what was left of his voice. Every one of them... and I am the last. Every one of them rushed across the bridge with their backs to him, but it had been Kemal who looked over his shoulder and came back for him, hand outstretched, to remind him of his purpose. I would never be happier not knowing what it was like. Every single moment. Nevran bit on his tongue when Kemal sent a fist into his chest with a smile on his face. Every. Single. Life.

"Dad?"

Neven looked over at the call of what he could never hope to be. Yuven scowled down the tunnel, the rage, agony, and the taste of vengeance in his eyes. "We have to do something about this," he chittered when they chose a small crevice to hide in, to make their plans. "We can't just let them get away with this." Distorted ripples flowed out through his hands. "All I need is a good angle and I can tear their hearts out from their chest—"

Neven reached out to press his fist into Yuven's. "No," he said to what little was left of his humanity. "For those we have lost, we can't waste time here. We now know what they might be up to. What they've done. We can tell the citadel and prepare. But taking revenge—" Blood spilled past his lips, but never had he breathed so well. "Do not do this, Yuven. You will have your chance, but first, you must live. You must get Fenrer out of here."

Maria squinted at him, but he counted each name and the blizzard never died.

Yuven drew his fangs over his lips, but drew away from him. "You are too easygoing, Miso. They've murdered your Oathbound," his voice trembled, and the little boy trembled in fear of the endless darkness and the destruction it wrought. Neven checked on Fenrer, who had gone ashen with Kemal's final breath, a hand on his throat and his breaths coming out in short waves.

The last of my humanity.

Neven mumbled, "You must make it to the platform. I trust that you will know how to fill it with magick." He returned his attention to Yuven. "Let us find you a good place to make the trek, I want Fenrer out of here."

Yuven's feathers thinned. "How can you let them get away with what they've done?" he demanded. "They still don't know we're here. We could take out at least a few. Make it difficult for them."

"Yuv, my love, we're in a bad spot," Maria argued for him. "And Fenrer isn't in a good state. We need to get him back to Asairai where I can treat him."

Yuven released a hiss through his nose. "This is ridiculous, but fine, let's keep moving." Out of the crevice, Neven kept himself to the farthest back, unwilling to put them in any more danger, to not lose them, to not add more names to his thoughts and more numbers to count. Young lives. Young hopes. One. He rubbed his fingers together, waiting for his moment, waiting for the fleeting pressure in his head to swallow the rest of his doubtful thoughts. Openings into the dome caused Yuven to peek through them, and Neven raised his hand to the wooden platforms, old construction pieces up to the platform. Yuven followed his indication, then mumbled, "We could take that way, yes."

"Then you need an opening to get there. They will be around even if we haven't seen them yet. I would not be surprised if that's on purpose. Best to get them out of the way and open a route."

"What are you implying?" Yuven's feathers thinned.

Neven curled his tongue, but said, "You take Fenrer ahead. You head to that entrance and wait for a signal from me to fill the platform with magick."

"You are going to distract them alone?" Yuven snapped himself forward. "Miso, do not be foolish!" His voice threatened to echo through the tunnel, so Neven raised his hands to place them on his shoulders. "You have no means to escape as I do—"

"Regardless, I have no intention of dying when all of you need to escape." Neven forced himself to smile, noticing Maria and Adara giving him wide-eyed expressions. "I will meet again with you, Yuven." He pinched his cheek, though Yuven drew back an inch with a scowl. "I said I'd return, did I not? Have I not returned to you time and time again as I promised? Have faith in me, I have been at this for a long time. I know how to defend myself, and what I will have to do to protect the light."

"Yuven!" Adara shouted.

Neven whipped his head around just in time to spot Fenrer wrestling with Adara and Maria both, a glint of metal in his bloodied fingers when he fumbled for it. "I've had enough," Fenrer snapped, a surge of energy going through his other adoptive child. "I will not be used like this, not through any means, least of all my accursed eyes!" The pointed tip aimed at Fenrer's crystalline eyes, and Neven rushed forward when he fought off Adara and Maria.

His fingers grabbed onto the sharp, serrated edges of the piece of metal Fenrer hoped to pry out his own eyes with. It dug into his skin, and Neven bit on his tongue at the sting of pain. He dug his bones deeper, with Fenrer fighting for control. Yuven stood off to the side, before drawing forward to grab onto Fenrer. With the instrument of destruction out of his hands, Neven let it fall out of his hands, splattered with crimson to settle itself in the stone below. "All I can see..." Fenrer sobbed, slumping to his knees with Adara and Yuven both having a tight grip on him. "...no."

It tore through his spine, a resounding flourish of an empty voice. Flying across his mind, intent and purpose. Neven raised his hand to examine the cut while the lamps through the tunnel flickered with the distant, ominous howls. Every piece of colour started to whittle away at the corners of his vision, and he pulled his fingers through the stain of red across his palm. "We have no time," Neven said through the waking hells. "Yuven, you must. Take him." He wrapped up his hand, spinning a glyph to his side before pulling out an icy glaive from its sapphire depths. "What more must I promise you?" Neven bared his fangs, causing Yuven's feathers to fluff out, pupils thinning in the visage of their ancestors. "I will do what must be done, so must you!"

"But, Neven—!" Yuven clung onto Fenrer.

Neven dug his fingers into his glaive and let go what last dregs of Kemal remained in his soul. "Please. Survive. Live. That is all I wanted for either of you. All I've fought for. That I will continue to fight for, but I must finish this — for those that walked into this." For the ones I couldn't save. Back turned on his family, on the future they had yet to experience — for his ruined homeland and the apathetic curse which took hold of his people. Never again, will I allow this. Neven pushed himself through the darkness which wrapped its ice cold hands around his throat. Mist plumed out of his nose, farther away from his escape.

He pushed himself against a crevice at the sound of distant footsteps. How many Turns have we hunted you and yours? His fang slid into his lip at the pressure in his mind, the rumble in his chest. Fine. If such is how it must be... I've had enough. One breath. One single moment. His thoughts scattered to the four winds, using the shadows to skirt himself into blindspots at the sight of moving lanterns. On his knees, he slid his tongue between his teeth with a taste for blood when the shapes drew closer without a pet of a Derelict, no doubt following their previous tracks.

A sharpened edge. Icy serrations grew along his glaive when they drew closer. On his heel when they dared to pass his hiding spot, he swung himself out. Sinew tore off skin and their head dropped to the ground. Crimson daggers flowed out of the other's hands, but he lunged himself forward with a burst of ice straight into their eyes. He gave it a moment to let the pain settle in with their gasp, into a scream. Until the ice crawled through their veins, and he slammed his foot into their chest to scatter the ice across the ground, listening to the ripple in the air. Back into the shadows on his broken wings, he rushed further down the tunnel.

Two.

A clang sounded through the mineshafts. His fangs slipped over his lips once more, and he pushed magick through his glyph at the quickening sounds of movement. Embers blasted out of the lamps along the walls, and he used his chance to move forward. Up ahead, a couple other cultists by the previous entrance they took, investigating the remnants of magick with a Resonator. It clanged in his ears, pressing his feathers against the tips as he threw his glaive over his shoulder, taking aim at one of their standing lamps. Hand outwards, he brought the glyph forward to blast out their lights, before letting loose his fury.

It slammed into their brow with a crunch, but before the other could react, he ran forward to grab onto the shaft, tearing it out of their mind to swing it forward into the other's stomach. He pushed his magick through it at another alarming clang through the mines, letting them drop to the floor with a breath of fire through his lips.

Four.

Twenty-six left.

Neven walked through the tunnels, counting down even with their attention drawn away from his family.

Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten.

Droplets of blood slipped down the curve of his blade to sink deeper into the ground.

Twenty.

Neven tore away ropes and lines to the platform he passed, listening to them crumble to the ground below, with the shadows his only protection. Doors which led into libraries gave him no interest. Only the blood on his tongue, a far away taste of his ancestor's prey.

Eleven. Twelve. Thirteen. Fourteen. Fifteen.

No quarter given, he brought down the supports and pillars to cause crumbling rocks to block his way back — and his family the way to him. As long as any of you are around, my family will never know peace. Fifteen.

Desolation dogged at his steps, for all the names he lost to the obscura. Every friend he failed to save.

Sixteen. Seventeen. Eighteen. Nineteen. Twenty.

Each number, a name.

Ten.

Each one fell at his feet.

Twenty-one. Twenty-two. Twenty-three. Twenty-four. Twenty-five.

Four.

Kemal. Loto. Tyber. Kayal.

Neven reached a dead end, coming out into the light at the last cultist in his way. Long before they got their chance to rip out crimson blades from their own skin, he slammed himself forward, shoving his glaive into their shoulder. Their back against the metal door they sought to protect. Their hands raised with a wince of pain through the edges of their mask. "Do you seek answers, Neven Lotayrin?"

"I've had enough of answers," Neven hissed through his teeth. "Especially your answers. No. I'm not going to ask questions. I'm going to demand them. You showed no mercy to the Storm Wardens you captured. You experimented on my family. You tortured them, dared to try and kill them." Neven pushed them deeper into the door. "I know you have information on the Source Gate."

It fell quiet.

"We do," the cultist said through a rasp. Hand raised, Neven stiffened when they motioned behind them. "Right behind me. I will gladly open the door for you... but do not kill me — surely you must see further bloodshed will only serve as more means to an end?" In show, their bloodied hand dropped to the lock, crushing it apart and causing the hinges to click.

Neven raised his head to the door, prying out the glaive from their shoulder, though keeping the tip pointed at their neck as the light drowned him in its fury. Starry binds latched onto his own throat. He let the cultist sidle to the side, not so content to show mercy until he viewed what was on the other side.

As his hand wrapped around the handle, he stopped at another, familiar ripple. Magick pulsed through his feathers, and he glanced through the opening into the hollow cavern. On the platform, sparks of light clashed with red. A Derelict tossed itself over the edge with a rattling screech. Neven snapped his gaze back down to the cultist.

"We all have our choices to make, Neven Lotayrin. Us... and the Storm Wardens," the cultist said, their garb washed with red. "We're all means to an end. Through that door is but another one. That other Warden asked a lot of questions about it — but in the end, even he couldn't withstand it. Even the young Aurus who we gifted twicefold sight — all of it — this is far from finished. If it is fury you hunger for, go through the door and be a slave to your duty as they were. Die for your cause as we have. What is one life to the many?"

Protect the light. No matter the cost.

Neven looked at the door, then back at the hollow when the magick spread further. It went still. The platform rocked, but he widened his eyes when a glyphic cage raised with whipping chains, locking itself deep on whoever dared to step on it.

The tip of his glaive tore through their throat and silenced their dark words in lieu of their deeds.

He found his hand locked on the handle.

One.