The Relistar: Rejoining Vol. I

Rejoining | Ch. 10

X.

Vekzul

There they stood in Azar'kara, amongst the bodies of the dead Hunters. The Karians, as they once were called, as opposed to the Casvians who lived aside from the three Kylinstromi strongholds.

It was Ivalié, with his topknot set carefully atop his head, who stood across from Kogar. And Kogar did not look happy.

He glared. Perhaps he had said something about Liara, again. Ivalié's hands moved – not fast enough.

Kogar did not even draw his weapon. He hadn't needed to draw it to kill the Hunters, either.

Ivalié felt his throat slit, saw the blood spray, and then—

"Haaaaah!" he gasped as he rose out of his bed. He was doused in sweat, even without his shirt, even without a blanket to cover him. His heart was beating faster than any mortal's could, closer to a vibration than a beating. He gripped his chest. He hated that.

And then a shadow moved beside the rainslick wooden window of his home. He reached quickly for his spectacles from the dark stump that made his bedside table, though he already knew who stood before him.

"Could you not think of any better way to wake me?"

It was a man in black and green, breathing through an etheric respirator, some kind of device that filtered their air into something he could breathe. Without it, he would likely die; he was a victim of an inhuman disease.

"Throkos?"

"I was curious what lay within." his voice was a hissing whisper. "You fear Kogar?"

"If you're seeing my dreams, there's someone else here."

Indeed, a black-haired woman in a dark blue skirt and heavy coat slowly meandered out from behind him. She wiped her eyes with her wrists. She was crying, as always

"Throkos and Okella. What compels you to break into my home?"

"I am surprised to find you in Duskyrr. You did not move?"

"I grew up here, why should I leave for Calamon? That place has ever been infested by its population."

"Such a sad dream..." Okella hugged herself.

Ivalié scoffed. "My mind is not a place fit for congregation."

"I merely wondered what you had to hide."

"I'm not hiding anything."

"You're going to kill Kogar?"

"That's none of your damn business."

"After what he's done..." she continued to wipe her eyes, "I want to help you. I felt your pain."

"Help me?" he raised a skeptical eyebrow. The rain seemed to patter more loudly with each of her sobs.

"Kogar has become too powerful. Okella has peered within his mind."

"And?"

"She found a hollow world of death."

Okella covered her ears.

"The sky over Calamon was burning red. The moon was crimson with Vekzul's rage. He's plotting cataclysm."

"You intend to tell me that Vekzul has sided with Kogar?"

"They are withholding themselves from our order. Evra has been lost upon him."