Chapter Text
“So they expect us to just send Scylla right into their midst without any backup to discuss their surrender? That’s the most blatantly obvious trap I’ve ever heard of.” Ajax crossed his arms, glaring down at the message sent by Rumeria. The pale white scroll with delicate swirling letters seemed to taunt him from where it lay on the table. He wanted nothing more than to rip it up and shove it so far down Remus’ throat that he-
“Obviously, I am not an idiot, little fox, it's clearly a trap.” Scylla interrupted his train of thought before it could begin to spiral down much more…unsavory routes. “Our spy has given us similar information about this being a trap although they are unsure of what it details. They were unable to get more information from Boethius without causing suspicion.”
“What are we going to do then? We can’t turn you over” Elynas crossed his arms. His face already screwed up in an angry scowl in preparation for another argument with his brother. While they had somewhat decreased after the…birth? Laying? Of the egg, he had still been rather snippy. Teenagers.
Everyone made noises of agreement, puzzled over whether to simply ignore it and push ahead with their planned siege or reassess their options. Waiting could prove potentially the smartest choice, allowing them to collect more information either through communicating directly with Rumeria or through one of the spies. Foclaores snapped her fingers drawing everyone’s attention to her, a look of insanity upon her face. “But what if we did.”
Ajax felt his jaw drop at the suggestion. “Are you crazy, stupid, or both? Because right now I think you just said something absolutely batshit insane. Why don’t you reassess what you just suggested and then maybe think some more.” Focalores simply grinned back in response, her eyes twinkling like it did whenever she had something devious up her sleeve.
But before she could respond, Scylla raised a clawed blue hand, silencing any potential retorts. “Before everyone begins to jump in and start arguing, I would like you all to listen to me… I think she might be onto something. Even though it sounds insane, Focalores might have a point.” Scylla suggested, beginning to move pieces around the map. Small chunks of undecipherable words muttered under his breath as he did so, pulling even more worried whispers among the humans and the immortals around him. Focalores meanwhile puffed up at the praise, sticking her tongue out at Ajax, his hands curling up into fists to stop from reaching over and smashing her smug fucking face into the table.
Instead of the Eidolons face, Elynas’s hands snapped down instead. The little figurines shaking where they had been placed. “Onto what, letting you possibly get killed? I’m sorry but I don’t quite fancy happily shipping my only brother off to the butcher with a smile and a skip in my step!”
Giselle set a callused hand on Elynas’s shoulder. The dragon not even reacting at the touch as he might have done a few years prior. “Yes, I agree with Elynas. I would like to not see my love get murdered by wandering into a trap.” She gave said dragon a nasty glare that screamed ‘we will be having a long talk later’.
“They wouldn’t kill me, at least not in the center of their capitol. The backlash from my death would completely destroy Capitolium. They wouldn’t risk that.” Scylla carefully began to pick pieces up off the map, settling the little dragon that was him in the center of the Rumerian’s capital. “They want me to be used as a hostage, whether to use in pushing back or to gain an upper hand in negotiations. Or even just to help level the playing field for them in future battles. No…they don’t have death planned for me. It would be tantemount to suicide.”
Focalores nodded along, grabbing a few pucks that represented a couple platoons. “Exactly, we could use them thinking we were falling for their trap to stage a counter attack.” She placed them around the city near the causeway.
“But wouldn’t they expect that?” Ajax looked around the table, Elynas and Giselle giving him a betrayed look for even entertaining this idea. It wasn't the best one but it made sense. “We aren’t stupid,” Focalores and Elynas looked at each other. “And they know we aren’t. Rumeria knows we would never send Scylla in there without back up of any kind. You likened them killing you to suicide, well this is them walking into their own pitfall.”
Scylla snapped his fingers, pointing at Ajax as his other hand grabbed the little fox figurine. “Exactly, their entire attention will be on me and the areas surrounding their city where we could attack. Likely the north and east. They won’t be looking at the south as it would be nearly impossible, no it would be impossible for us to get our forces there without alerting them or taking months to do so.”
“So what’s your genius plan? Give you up to them and rush into an unwinnable battle? Or do you want us to use ships to send them to attack their southern wall. Which is by far the worst option. Rumerias don’t require food anymore, a siege wouldn’t work and just make our own forces weaker.” Giselle crossed her arms, still not seeing whatever it was Scylla was planning.
“No, we wouldn’t do that. There’s only one main causeway into the city; we would need to take out their outer wall defenses and make sure the gate is open to come through. We need someone to make that all happen.” Scylla set the fox down at the southern edge of the city. His eyes flashed with something mischievous as he looked up at Ajax. “We wouldn’t be able to send mortal forces to the southern wall to breach it, but we could send an immortal one. You could teleport to the southern wall before going inside and taking them out.”
Ajax opened his mouth to say anything but he couldn’t. There was an odd pit in his stomach he couldn’t figure out, a pit that screamed that something about this idea wasn’t good. It made some sense, he would go in and cause an internal distraction while letting their forces in and freeing Scylla. When he said as much, Focalores began to manically move more pieces.
“Exactly! You should probably let our forces in first and then free Scylla. While you are very accomplished in fighting, the size of their forces might overwhelm you if given enough time to regroup. They know their city and you don’t, you would be running in blind.”
“Not exactly…” Scylla reached under the table, pulling out a large scroll and unraveling it. Elynas softly gasped as the city plan for Capitolium emerged from the unwinding yellowed parchment. “This is a rather old map so they might have changed a few places but most of it ill be the same.”
“H-how do you have that!” Giselle pulled it closer to her, sending a few figures clattering onto the ground. “They would have guarded this with their life, how in celestia did your spy get this?” She looked at Scylla who just shrugged, unwilling to add anything to his statement.
“So…your plan is to get captured, have Ajax sneak inside and open the gates for our forces, and then free you? It seems too simple.” Elynas leaned forward on his cane, analyzing the table. He still obviously didn’t like the plan but was coming around to it.
“I don’t think it needs anything else, in terms of large moving parts. Sometimes the best plans are the simplest ones.” Focalores poked Elynas’ side. The dragon pushed her away but she just retaliated by smacking his side which got her a growl and barred teeth. She yelped and ran around the table to hide behind Ajax.
“I know you aren’t very excited for this plan, Elynas, in truth it’s a rather shit one depending on a multitude of factors and assumptions. With me entering the city, their forces will all be armed and ready for an attack. Ajax will likely struggle a bit with getting through them to open the gate.” Scylla walked up to his brother, setting his hands on his shoulders and letting their tails entwine. “But this is the only way to end this war quickly and move on. Our people need to be freed from the fear of becoming a mindless statue and be able to build a city, a home that will last. A home for all of us.” Scylla looked over at Giselle who in turn looked over at the egg where it sat on a cushion. “But we can’t do that without making a few sacrifices, and this sacrifice is me…for a short time. I will only be gone for a day or so before Ajax gets me out.”
Elynas leaned into his brother's side. “...I’m just worried about something happening, I know they don’t plan to kill you but what if…what if something happens that’s unexpected, what then?”
“Then it happens, and we all move on and adjust.” Scylla carefully cupped his face before the two of them pressed their foreheads together. “I will never purposefully leave you behind, Elynas. I wouldn’t do that to you.” The whole tent remained silent as the two draconic brothers took a moment to exist in their silence and their bond. Ajax had to look away, unable to deal with the sight of the two siblings without thinking of his own that were now lost to him.
He had failed them all, but he wouldn’t fail those two, he would make sure that Scylla would come back and Elynas wouldn’t also lose the brother who raised and protected him. After a moment longer, the two let go of one another, Scylla gently squeezing Elynas’ arm once more before clearing his throat. “Well now, since we have seemed to reach an agreement-”
“One I still don’t like.” Giselle muttered.
“-We should begin to prepare the troops and move everyone into formation. Now I plan on taking a small squadron with me as it will be more realistic and believable if I didn’t show up alone”
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The old worn red scarf sat heavy in Ajax’s hands even though it weighed practically nothing. Being careful of his claws, he brushed his fingers over the slightly frayed embroidery that his mother had painstakingly stitched. The red on red made it difficult to see at first but he had all but etched it’s pattern into his mind. While his parents had sent him to the Fatui, they always disapproved of him becoming a Harbinger. Their arguments against it faded and dull, only the base message remained. Our son is a monster and now he works among monsters. You shouldn’t be a harbinger, you aren’t good enough. Why would you do this to our family? It had always hurt him when they said such things. After all, what parent wouldn’t be proud of their child raising to the top in their field?
A now familiar ache resonated from his chest as he looked down at the last handmade gift his mother had made for him. The words she had said when he had been given it were still solid and tangible in his mind. “I-I do not like what you have become…but that new mask of yours won’t keep your nose from getting cold…not even wearing it right on your face, tch. You were always a difficult child, never bundling up enough to play in the snow.” He could still feel the phantom touch of her warm fingers as they had adjusted the scarf to make it perfect. And it was perfect. His parents were not perfect, they tried to love him but he couldn’t fault them for struggling to love the monster he became.But oh how he missed them.
“Oh Mama…I fear I’ve become more of a monster than you ever knew…” He whispered to the scarf in his native tongue that was slowly becoming more foreign upon his lips as the years went by. Tears threatened to fall as he buried his face in the age worn softness of the dull red wool.
He stood there just holding for a moment, trying to breath in a scent that no longer clung to it. One that wouldn’t exist or might never exist for millennia. Carefully, he pulled it away from his face and began to wrap it around his neck and shoulders. He tried his best to not wear it and ruin the fabric, but today he needed something familiar. If it all went to hell then he was going to do it wearing something made by Lyudmila Constaninovna Sokolova. Instead of letting it loosely drape loosely, he wrapped it around his neck like his mama showed him so many years ago.
The opal from Helene was clipped to the end of it. He had made the metal casing for it a few years ago, the missing weight of his vision and delusion wearing him down finally. It wasn’t one but the weight let him lie to himself a little more. As he turned to leave his tent, his eyes caught himself in the little mirror of polished metal.
His body drifted closer to it, taking a good long look at what he had become. His hair had once more become unruly and long, brushing the top of his shoulders. The horns that poked out from the orange strands had stayed the same size as when he had first arrived. Their bloodred tips gleaming in the low light from the beeswax Elynas and Scylla taught him to use to keep them healthy. Tilting his head up, the thin zig zag lines from where he had attempted to rip his throat out had turned a soft blue, almost invisible unless you really looked. And his eyes were dead…like always. Strange how something that had been a sign of great change was now a familiar constant.
A broken chuckle broke from his lips, his head shaking back and forth as he finally left his tent. Ajax snatched a long black ribbon from near the door as the flap swung closed behind him. Walking through the war ready camp while he pulled back his hair into a simple ponytail, it was clear that everyone was on edge but a good edge. They had done their best to keep their plan close to their chests, only telling the camp that they were going to try negotiations but still ready themselves for a fight. There were nerves and fear but not an overwhelming fear that caused men's knees to lock and their weapons to grow heavier in their hands. No, it was the adrenalin that kept you alive and pushed you to move on.
A few people waved and gave him wishes of strength but a majority simply bowed their heads. No matter how many times it happened, he just couldn’t get used to the worship. Within a few minutes he had made his way to Scylla and Giselle’s tent, the dark blue fabric fluttering in a newly arrived cold breeze. Dark clouds hung ominous above a herald to bad tidings.
Ajax rushed inside, hoping that everything was alright and that the clouds were only there due to Focalores being a little bitch or something else lighthearted. Inside was no Focalores, instead it was Scylla, Giselle, and Elynas. And the egg. The three of them all turned around to look at Ajax with varying expressions. Scylla tried to smile but it looked like a grimace, Giselle had clearly just been sobbing, and Elynas…Elynas was staring at Ajax with heartbroken eyes. “Wh-whats going on? Is something wrong?”
“Just…just a little nervous and giving me up to Remuria, but its okay. It’s going to turn out okay.” Scylla walked over the Ajax and clapped a hand on his shoulder. Giselle made a choked up broken noise. “In fact, you’ve arrived just in time. I want you to do up my hair for my horrid abduction, I’ve gotta look my best and you my dear little fox are the best at making those complicated hairstyles.”
Ajax nodded slowly looking over at Elynas trying to ask what was happening with his eyes but Elynas seemed glued to the spot, only able to follow Ajax with his eyes as Scylla dragged him over to the drake’s vanity. “I-sure I can fix your hair.” He looked at Giselle who was now sitting on her and Scylla’s bed, holding eggy and still crying. “Are you sure that everything is fin-”
“Yes. Now get to work.” Scylla growled, eyes and rhinophores glowing blue for a second. “Ahem, sorry about that, just…please fix up my hair…I want to look my best.” Scylla turned back to the mirror. Ajax took a deep breath and began to twist and braid the long white hair, being careful to not pull. As he did so, he noticed Elynas leaving the tent while Giselle stayed, eyes puffy and red as she clutched her egg to her chest. Watching with a defeated expression as Scylla got ready for his battle.
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Ajax sat hunched behind a pillar on the outskirts of the castle. A sheer drop was below him with only the roiling sea and sharp rocks below. He would have struggled to get up here without the help of an abyssal portal. In fact it likely would have been near impossible without any of his powers. The wind blew around him, making it hard to hear anything else on the wall. He was to wait until Scylla made a loud noise and then he was to teleport in and cause confusion and chaos, take no survivors and kill everyone and everything in his way.
But before that, before he could fulfill his urge for blood, to make foul legacy happy with carnage, he had to be patient. He had to sit and wait with his thoughts over what had happened and what was going to happen. Scylla was going to be captured. Scylla was likely going to become injured and incapacitated. He had to act fast to free him before any lasting effects took hold or anything worse happened to the drake.
Both him, Elynas, and Giselle's behavior before he left in the tent was strange. He couldn’t shake the feeling that they all knew something he didn’t and that something horrid was going to happen. The little pit in his stomach had become larger and larger as the dread grew more and more. After he had finished fixing Scylla's hair, he had pulled Ajax into a spine crushing hug before leaving with Giselle and eggy. Leaving Ajax with way more questions than answers. Focalores had already left her position so she was out of the question to interrogate before he left. Elynas had also been missing from the camp as storm clouds rumbled overhead. It was strange that on the day of their planned attack, he couldn’t find anyone.
Foul Legacy whispered of a trap for him, that this was a secret deal to trade him for peace. He knew that was false, why would Rumeria accept him when they could get Scylla or Elynas instead to control the other. It didn’t make sense. He refused to think hard enough to have it make sense. He wasn’t a harbinger anymore, his friends were real and they wouldn’t trade him for the chance to get even a little ahead. He couldn’t listen to the growing pit in his stomach brought upon by this entire situation. He would hold Foul Legacy back long enough to open the gate before making his way to Scylla. Foul Legacy could wait until it was time to fight and confront Remus.
Still…the little voice in the back of his head, scared to be abandoned and left behind, still whispered to him that they were going to get rid of him, that he wasn’t good enough and would thus be tossed to the side. That he was replaceable. He knew he wasn’t but the doubt still crept in.
Before anymore worry could creep in, a loud pained cry filled the air and the castle he was perched on shook. A mournful mix between the low groaning of a whale and the shriek of a cat or bird. It made the hairs on the back of his neck stand straight up. Ajax shot out a hand to keep himself from falling off as he listened to the cries of Scylla. The cries that rattled his teeth and made loose stone tumble down into the now tumultuous sea. His sign to begin his attack, to become part of the downfall of Rumeria.
He pushed down his urge to immediately run to Scylla and help the drake, instead counting quietly to ten. He closed his eyes, stealed himself, and then let go of the ledge and fell. Foul Legacy crackled in his veins as he opened a small portal and tumbled through it and into Capitolium. He immediately went into a roll, springing bac up with hydro condensing in his hands, ready to turn sharp in the blink of an eye. It seemed that fate was smiling on him as the hallway was empty. Its tall marble columns lined the long hall, gold and bronze inlays and carvings decadently placed everywhere. It was a place of filthy wealth and perfection.
Only taking a moment to briefly glance around he quietly ran down the hall. Scylla had asked him to study the map and he had been for the past few days, diligently imbedding it into his mind. If he was correct in where he had sat upon the outside wall and where he had teleported in, then he should be close to the libraries. Ajax slowly opened one of the large doors to peak inside of a room, pleased to find it filled with ceiling high shelves. A library.
A sharp grin broke out on his face as the door was gently shut and he continued on his path northwards. There was a staircase at the end of the hall that spiraled up further into the city and down into the depths. In order for him to make it to the ramparts on the wall he would need to go up, run along roofs and take out any potential archers or long range attackers.
Just as he was about to launch himself up the stairs, a person, if they could even be called a person anymore, turned into the hallway he was in. Their marble face revealed nothing as he grabbed the front of their chiton and pulled them into a hydro sword that completely beheaded them. The momentum threw the body into the wall while the head rolled down the staircase, making a loud noise with every step. A blue liquid oozed out from the neck stump and the body began to crack and fall to pieces.
“Fuck, I hope no one else uses this stair.” He muttered, looking away from the body before running up as fast as he could. A few other golem people were on it as he climbed up, up, and up; but they fell down, down, and down. The dust from their body filling the air behind the ginger as he made his way through them.
At last, Ajax hit fresh air. The top of the staircase was a flat observation-like area with two golems. Just like the previous ones, he took those out as well. Standing fully up, Ajax looked down at the glistening city below him. Marble arches, bronze roofs, and lush gardens smiled up at him. It was beautiful, a city of arts and culture that had been made on the removal of free will and an endless campaign for more. More gold, more land, more power.
Ajax understood the lust for power, he knew it all too well. Like a sickly sweet drink that is too good to put down but only leaves you wanting more. Dangerous in the hands of many, many like him that turn into monsters. But he was different. He wasn't the same as Remus nd his cohort. He had morals, he fought to get stronger to protect those he valued or were loyal to. He fought to survive, they fought purely for greed and to control people.
The sky had become a mottled gray, rain slowly descending upon the city. Ajax looked down at the spot where Scylla likely was across the city. A large set of pillars that glowed purple and emitted an energy that made the abyssal monster in him snarl and set his teeth on edge. It made him want to fight and run and thrash. The wind hit him in his face with a roar as the rain grew colder and more fell fro the crying clouds.
The causeway and the gate were on the opposite side of the palace in the center. Metal pipes shot upwards, emitting a constant lullaby. Such peaceful sounds while Scylla was restrained and who knows what else made him angry. It made Foul Legacy angry. Ajax made an aborted movement forward, pausing to stare at the great instrument that was the palace. He really should be making his way to the gate but…the palace was on the way, hardly out of the way. And besides, if something bad happened at the palace, everyone would go there and opening the gate and allowing Focalores in would be easier.
His mind made, and fate set in stone now, he leapt onto a roof below him and began his dance across it towards the palace. He would just send a slash of hydro at one of the smaller organ-like pipes. Let it fall and create chaos and confusion, if those stone people even could. Either way they would investigate.
Clawed near black fingers dug into the side of the stone palace, finding purchase where there once wasn’t and pulling his body up. He began his ascent much like a mortal scrambling to climb a mount of the gods. Praying and hoping they will be heard, that mercy will befall them for their heroic task. But it would be all for naught, and they will be tossed out for trespassing and left to become dashed upon the stones along the base. Ajax had made it halfway before his eyes caught sight of the god upon the mount.
Remus stood in the center of a large stage like platform. His body larger than the golems with three sets of arms. One sporting from his shoulders wielded a violin like instrument, the instrument made of some type of silvery wood. A pair of tiny hands folded up to his chest where instead of a heart or organs lay an empty cavity filled with the strings of a harp. His final set clasped together and pressed against his forehead. Their lower half was that of a horse, hives polished in gold with rich purple fabric draped around him.
Ajax was going to kill him. He was going to get revenge. He would avenge Adielle, Helene, Basile, Scylla, everyone. He had to kill him. Had to see him crumble to dust, to taste that strange blue ichor that flowed in his joints. He didn’t even realize he had let go and descended onto the red floored stage until he was there in front of the god of Rumeria.
“Remus…prepare to fight. I will kill you to fulfill the promise I made years ago.” He summoned his twin swords getting into a battle stance. Remus slowly removed the hands covering his porcelain face from view. A marble white mask marred with thin golden lines was revealed, face twisted in a serene expression surrounded by a golden laurel.
“And who might you be?” Remus’s voice echoed in the air, even when Ajax knew he had only whispered. As the god stood up more, little holes in his body created a sound like a flute as he moved. Not only has his entire palace a great instrument, but his body was one as well. “Ah, so you are the one of the Abyss. I can hear it upon and in your flesh, ringing and singing out in such dreadful discordant notes. But under that clanging there is a second…and third song. Ahhh you took a tumble in the sea beyond didn’t you, little mortal?”
Ajax grit his teeth, hands tightening on the blades. He wasn’t ashamed of what he once was but hearing that god say it like so made him want to rip his porcelain face right off. “Did you not hear me, get ready to fight!”
Remus tilted his head, looking at something over Ajax’s shoulders. He refused to turn and look, unwilling to turn his back on the god. If he had he would have seen a small floating harp there. “Perhaps…this is not the end I foresaw of myself. I had seen it more as a solo, one final aria before the end.” He raised a hand above his head before bringing it down to his side. “But I now see that it is in fact a duet…it has indeed been a long time since I last performed with another. Do not disappoint me.”
Ajax barely registered it as a large flame came towards him and the music changed. Instead of a sad, soft lullaby it was instead a loud and virtuous concerto that rattle his bones and made his ears pop. He dodged to the side with hydro, gingerly touching his ear. His own blood tainted with abyssal shine was coated on his hands. He winced, trying to pop his ears to relieve the pressure but it only made it worse.
Another wave of noise and pyro flew at him. He scrambled out of the way, suddenly fully realizing what he had just done. He had failed his objective, gotten sidetracked, and began a fight with a god who was likely going to take a bit of effort to kill. Focalores was going to strangle him. He dropped to the ground and darted forward, letting loos hydro on the gods legs before attempting to hit further up. Remus dodged the second strike while completely shrugging off the first, hooves crashing down to try and trample the heretic.
Dodging under Remus with a roll, Ajax tried attacking the gods underbelly but it was aking to hitting solid rock, a reinforced with elemental energy rock. But Remus was a fighter who obviously preferred far away combat, using his music to disorient and disarm, Ajax’s only real way to defeat him would be finding his weak spot and getting up close. Remus reared up, stepping back while moving his hands to play yet another cord.
Ajax used the movement to hide him changing weapons, shooting up a bolt of hydro that clipped Remus in the chin and sending him stumbling back a little. He soon recovered, no sign of wear with a measure of flames that licked at Ajax’s skin as he drew back again. The remus jumped in the air, using bursts of pyro to propel himself up before he paused for a second, the music reaching a swell before diving towards Ajax hooves first.
Using his abyssal energy, he teleported to the other side of the stage as Remus recovered, slowly standing back up and facing Ajax. “There is the Abyssal energy you wield. I have heard much of your mastery over the corrupting teachings of the depths.” His voice coming out muffled and ringing in Ajax’s ears.
“You have, huh? Well why don't I show you a little more?” Ajax felt a feral grin stretch across his face. He straightened up from where he had been crouched down, letting his blades disappear. Foul Legacy rippled over his skin, the hard metal like plates springing up and mask covering his face. He roared before charging towards the large god who was now a bit smaller. Despite having a stone face, his body language still gave off overwhelming disgust and dread at what was before him. Remus’s middle hands plucked at the chest-harp, creating a flaming shield to block the abyssal claymore crashing down towards him. “Well, what does the great god Remus think?” His voice garbled out as the pyro shield shook.
The upper arms played short notes, rapid and high pitched that made the pyro shield briefly heat up before exploding out, sending Foul Legacy across the field once more. Remus stamped his hooves, instruments raising. “I have nothing left to say that words would be able to convey. Listen to my dirge and understand the true meaning of death.”
The air smoked and vibrated as the chaotic music joined together in a symphony that caused even Foul Legacy to stumble. It lifted its claws unable to deal with the noise as its host’s soul shrieked and shook as the vibrations. With rapid speed, it smacked the sides of its head, above the ears. The force making Ajax’s ears stop ringing and all sound cut out. He just deafened himself by making his eardrums rupture. Archons he really hoped that was fixable.
Without a moving mouth, it was impossible to tell if Rmeus had said anything but it let the two focus on his movements instead. Short bursts led to short ranged explosions, the louder the larger. Longer notes were like hornets, following him even as he dodged and weaved between them to get back at Remus. Unable to find an opening, Foul Legacy summoned the narwhal. Remus appeared to freeze for a moment before summoning his shield again.
Focused fully on the whale about to crash down, he didn’t pay attention to Foul Legacy teleporting inside his shield. By the time the god had spun around, the whale crashed down, destroying the pyro shield as Foul legacy grabbed the left upper arm. Its other clawed hand flattened and stabbed with abyssal energy making its hand sharp, stuck it into the elbow joint and then twisted and pulled.
A wave of sound and pyro smacked the abyssal beast back, making him crash into one of the many columns. Dust rained down as Foul Legacy got up, staggering slightly as its charred flesh tried its best to heal. Remus was shaking, his top left arm holding the now severed end of its match. Foul legacy looked down to see Remus’s right arm in his hand, stone hand still clenched around the weird violin.
“Like a crab, it’s your insides I want. Make your shell crack open.” It laughed, unable to hear its voice but confident in knowing Rmeus heard if the new burst and pyro under his feet meant anything. The two clashed, Remus now wielding a sword of pyro opposite to Foul Legacy’s hydro. The two figures traded blows, the overwhelming strength of the god forcing Foul legacy to go on more of a defense.
Remus was no longer leaving openings close to him for the beast to exploit, taking great care to guard his joints. But it meant that he left his more solid areas open. While one or two hits didn’t do much, after a while small cracks began to ripple across the alabaster stone. Unfortunately this wasn’t all gained with some damage to Foul Legacy. Armor cracked, mottled abyssal skin burnt and mane singed. It growled as Remus’s chest harp sent even more little pyro notes at it.
It was then that Remus made a fatal error, a small opening right under his swinging sword. Foul Legacy grinned under the mask diving right into the attack, using hydro to push the sword off and away from its body. Reaching out, it grabbed one of the harp strings and pulled. Foul Legacy jumped back, but was grabbed around the ankle and slammed forcibly into the ground.
The air was punched out of its chest as it was slammed down again and again. It struggled in the hold, digging claws into the wrist of the hand. Remus was now shaking and the blueish liquid was spurting out from where the strong had been pulled out. So that was his weakness. How obvious.
A small blade of abyssal energy separated the hand on its foot, freeing Foul Legacy as Remus reeled back. The god was panicked and now making mistakes left and right. A dirge would be needed for him. Foul Legacy ran back up to Remus taking a few hits but not stopping, letting the pain burn through him. He swung up onto the gods back, struggling to hang on as he bucked and sent pyro at the parasite.
Foul legacy sent its talons right into the center of the harp and pulled. The movement of the stone beast began to erratically jerk left and right as the stings and the blue almost solid liquid was pulled out of Remus.
His blood was everywhere. It was cold, cooling against the bruns from his flames. FOul Legacy cackled as it bathed in the god of Rumeria’s life force. The bottom of its mask slipping open to reveal a tooth filled mouth and long tongue. With feverish abandon, Foul legacy shoved the innards of Remus down its throat, unable to stop even as the god gave his last fight, sharp attacks doing nothing to drown out the immense pleasure and power. After a while longer, Remus had stopped fighting and only twitched. Power flowed through him, filling up every empty spot and even more. It wanted to eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat…
As it stuffed itself with the power of Remus, Remus began to die. His energy and power leaching out and begin to build. One final sympathy promising destruction. But Foul Legacy wouldn’t allow its meal to run. It shoved itself into the center of the energy and absorbed it….
Ajax’s veins were on fire and frozen all at the same time. His body vibrated and itched and wanted to collapse. He looked down to see himself still in Foul legacy’s form. He-he didn’t want to be in it anymore, he had something to do. He was still unable to hear anything as he stood up and stumbled away from the now crumbling body of Remus…He had killed a god.
Pride should be filling his soul but…all he could feel was a sense of intense wrongness. Something was fluttering in his chest and it wanted out, he wanted out. He had to get out of Foul legacy’s form. He needed it gone now. Foul legacy revolted growling that he couldn’t, that he had to stay in it but Ajax never listened to it, why would he now. Tearing at the mask, he flung it off and toward that stupid floating harp. He watched as it hit it and bounced off, harp still floating.
Whatever…he had others things to do first, he had to help Scylla. His stomach rumbled uneasy as he tried his best to push his way to to top and send Foul Legacy back into the depths of his soul. Its claws digging into his mind, still shrieking and screaming about hunger and power. He didn’t care, he didn’t fucking care. He just wanted to go home. He wanted home!
Where was home again?
A loud pop ricocheted throughout Ajax’s mind, sending him crashing to the ground, the abyssal form fading away as he was left curling up on the ground. It was then that all time stop. Everything became clear and perfect and empty.
But then, like everything, it fell apart. Time began a new and horrid pain, worse than anything Ajax had ever felt before ripped through his stomach and chest and head and limbs and everywhere. Everything was too much, he was too much, his body wasn’t big enough, he was going to tear apart at the seams. Where his seams were he didn’t know, everywhere?
Everything was screaming, everyone was screaming. Something was roaring. Power…power flowed in the air, in his lungs, in his skin, in his bones. It was too much, too much…. Rain was falling, so much rain, so much water. Abyssal energy raged around him as reality slipped away….
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
All at once the cacophony around him vanished and was replaced with a quiet constant humming, distant and familiar. Ajax opened his eyes, finding himself in a place that looked similarly to the Abyss. The sky was akin to one on the cusp of night, lighter at the edges far off with stars blinking softly through the soft purple and blue sky above. Rocks jutted out in the distance, larger than normal with what almost looked like trees on them. Further, beyond the sharp towering rocks, a fog sat spilling over the edges. Tendrils of it snaked their way down towards him.
A quiet noise, akin to a child’s laughter, rang out around him. Ajax looked around for a source, to see if there was a kid lost in this abyssal plane that needed help. This was no place for a kid. He took off in a direction he could have sworn he heard something, but was unable to go more than an inch as something clung to his feet. “What in the…” Waving his hands around, the fog cleared enough for him to see the ground finally. It was a thick dark water with hints of a shiny, multicolored liquid on top. It sat directly on top of the black muck that clung to him even as he struggled to move forward more than an inch. Reaching down, and touching it made him jolt back up, a sharp cold chill ran down his spine as the liquid tingled and burned on the tips of his fingers.
“What the hell is this? Where the hell am I?!” Last he could recall was that he had been fighting someone…he had won? Who had he won against, why was he here? The memories and answers felt so close but it was slow coming. He could only feel the pressure of a migraine forming as he tried to piece together his memories. Remus was the god he had been fighting and he had won, the god crumbling under his hands…but then everything after became nothing but a current of pain. Someone must have hit him or poisoned him or maybe it was the effect of Remus’s music finally hitting him. If so…then was he dead?
“No you aren’t dead yet Ajax.” A kind and familiar voice pulled the ginger back to his body that he was now realizing was screaming in agony. Scylla stood in the middle of the fog, its white, sparkling wisps framing the drake in a way that made him look otherworldly. The drake looked the same as when Ajax had last seen him before the battle, his hair still pulled up the complicated twist of a bun that Ajax had put it in. He had learned how to do that one from his little sister. She had wanted to look extra pretty for the festival…what festival was it…..
“Focus Ajax, this is an easy place to be lost in memories forever. You must keep tethered in the now.” Scylla’s hand was now on Ajax’s shoulder, now suddenly in front of Ajax even though a second ago he had been ten feet away.
“Where…where is this place?” Ajax barely got out, his mouth feeling like cotton and throat sore. It was sore from him screaming. He had been screaming? Why had he been screaming?” His mind revolted at that, a hiss of pain bursting from behind his left eye.
Scylla gently cradled the others head, looking for wounds of something else on the younger’s face. “We’re inside your soul, or an area near it. Perhaps the center of your powers, the eye of the storm.” Ajax flinched away from the hands holding him, legs dragging him back as far as the sludge allowed.
“Wha-what do you mean? If-if this is my soul then why are here? Am I…am I in some sort of coma? Did you use weird dragon magic to be here?” Fully taking in Scylla, Ajax noticed strange markings on his arms. Purple-pink tendrils were wrapped around them in a mismatched fashion, tendrils that quietly pulsed with power. Power that felt oh so familiar to Ajax. A pervading sense of wrongness flooded his sense as panic set in. His mind was still on fire but he knew he had to get himself and Scylla out of there. “We-we should leave then, come on Scylla, use your weird magic and get us out of here. I’ll wake up, don’t worry. Tell the others not to worry. I-I think I just hit my head a little.”
He tried to touch his forehead but was stopped by Scylla grabbing his hands. The look on his face was a sad, sad smile but his eyes were brimming with tears. Tears and the look of someone who had lost all hope. Eyes that, in this strange area where light came from somewhere and reflected off the oily water and fog, didn’t reflect the light. Eyes that were…
“Ajax, I want you to know that I don’t blame you. It wasn’t your fault and-and I knew that it was going to happen.” No. “Maria told me, me and Giselle and Elynas,” No. “so please don’t go beating yourself up over what happened. It was fated to happen and there was nothing we could have done.” No. “Rumeria is defeated, and that was always the goal. Even if it meant my deat-” NO NO NO NO NO NO!
A loud wailing roar echoes out around them and the the sharp heaven pointed rocks shook. The sludge around them rippled and began to rock back and forth, pulling the two sideways with each movement. Ajax’s hands had grabbed onto Scylla, fingers digging into his arms as tears filled his eyes. He kept blinking them back but they just wouldn’t stop, making Scylla become a water blob in his vision. His blunt nails couldn’t dig in, pink, human and scarred. Hands that didn’t exist in that way anymore. Why were they here, why, why, why? “No. NO! NO! Don’t-don’t say it. It can’t be true, you can’t be-no, no.”
He shook his head, refusing to look him in the eyes, unable to see what he had done. See the eyes that were like his, dead. He had killed Scylla, somehow, someway. His memory had begun to make sense, the pain, the screaming. He had absorbed something from Remus, and then afterwards everything felt like it was splitting apart. Everything was breaking and he was devouring it all. At some point, the pain had reached a spot where he didn’t feel anything, it was bliss, it was hell, it was heaven. And then it all crashed down around him and he woke up here. That-that was when he had-he had killed Scylla and devoured him as well….
Scylla pulled Ajax into his chest, wrapping his arms and tail around the trembling man. He carefully ran his claws through his hair in a comforting manner, swaying back and forth with the water below. “...don’t say it, please don’t say it.” Ajax brokenly sobbed into his silken tunic. Crystalline tears soaking the pristine fabric. His already fractured voice fully breaking, words barely able to escape.
“I won’t. I won’t say it if you don’t want me to but it is true. You can’t live in a lie that you didn’t, little fox.” Scylla’s own voice, usually so strong and steady, wavered so a choked back sob entered it. “They won’t blame you, they all knew it was going to happen, that it was meant to. There is little you can do to avoid fate, little fox…You have had to become so many things, I am so sorry that you had to become my executioner. This-this was not what should have happened but it did.”
Ajax gasped for air, fighting to interrupt to say or do something. He tried to move, tried to run, to take Scylla with him and escape this place with both of them alive, but he couldn’t. His feet had started out consumed by the muck but it had risen up past his knees, the grime sticking to his clothing (grey, so grey with an unbuttoned shirt and jacket. Always so messy looking, always the opposite of put together) and skin (pink and scarred. Pink and scarred and human). Violently jerking in place, he attempted to fight his way out of it but it stuck heavy and the struggling seemed to only make the waters rise.
Scylla, throughout all his thrashing, held onto his shoulders, keeping him steady as the ginger tried in vain to push back against the growing despair. “Stop fighting Ajax. It won’t do anything. I’m gone now, but you aren’t. You must not let this drag you down.”
“I can’t! I can’t, I’ve already lost so much. You can’t do this to me! You can’t be-I can’t have-“
“AJAX!” Scylla’s claws dug into Ajax’s shoulders, the pain forcing the shorter to look right at his friend's now lifeless eyes. “I need you to get it together. Don’t make my death be in vain. I need you to promise me. Ajax, do you understand?” He nodded with a shaky sob. “Good, I need you to promise me that you’ll keep everyone else safe. That you-you’ll watch over them for me. Can you do that.”
He wanted to say no. To say he couldn’t and that he had already betrayed that promise by killing him but he couldn’t. He couldn’t bring himself to say no to his friends last dying wishes. “Okay…okay! I-I will protect them, all of them. Elynas, Focalores, Giselle, the-the egg, your followers, everyone. I’ll stay with and protect Fontaine until…until I die as well!” Ajax ripped his hands from the mud grabbing onto the dragon's shoulders as well. He wouldn’t let go of him. He wouldn’t lose him.
Scylla grinned, tears rolling freely from his face as the ocean of strange water rose up faster around them. “And yourself…please look after yourself as well, little fox. Don’t forget your own life in protecting others. For you are as dear to me as the others. I-I am honored to have called you my family, little fox.”
But I’m not worthy enough to protect. I’m a murderer and a monster. The words filled his mind but before he could respond, the water had covered his mouth. Ajax thrashed, struggling to swim up while clinging onto Scylla, refusing to let go. But no matter what he did the water rose up and up, his eyes stinging as it became coated with a multicolored glaze. Scylla’s still grinning face became covered as well as Ajax became fully consumed by the murk around him.
He panicked, his lungs burning as his hands dug further into Scylla, trying to at least hold on even if he couldn’t see the dragon, his brother, any longer. But just as the waves had torn his sight and movement from him, so did it tear Scylla away. The once warm figure suddenly disappeared, the heretics arms and hands left empty and searching in the cold muck.
He tried to scream, to drown in the mud; but the sludge had turned from a dense liquid into the cold fluidity of sea. The only taste hitting his tongue was of the salt from the ocean and from his tears that now drifted off becoming one of a million that had been shed that day.
The burning had stopped in his lungs, even as water flowed in and his body landed on the ocean floor, surrounded by the now crumbling ruins and bodies of Rumeria. Ajax’s lifeless eyes fluttered open, taking in one last shred of light above him. As if pulled by a string he raise his arm towards the flickering light as if reaching out would pull him from the ocean and from his sins. But all his clawed, discolored hand grabbed was the water around him.
He knew he was crying, even if he couldn’t distinguish the liquid coming from his eyes to one surrounding him. Perhaps…if he allowed himself to fade into that comforting darkness that pulled at him from behind his eyes…perhaps then he would be able to meet with Scylla again. And maybe…the rest of his fallen and near forgotten family….
~~~~~~~~~~~
Guizhong looked out at the now wider sea with a clenched jaw. The sea had frothed up and waves flowed ramped amongst the leftover abyssal energy and the storm caused by a dragon. The abyssal energy permeated the air even as far as Jueyun Karst, its sharp electrical tang slinking through as if proudly declaring what it had done. The energy was eerily similar to the young orange haired god Guizhong had taken under her wing, except this was wilder. A sharper quality with a new undercurrent that seemed to hum with stolen power.
“Scylla is dead.” Morax stood beside her, his tail furiously lashing behind them. “Whatever killed him stole his power for itself.”
“Or perhaps it was to keep his death from destroying anything else.” She quietly responded, eyes glued to the slowly settling sea. A pit had formed in her stomach as she tried to equate what had just happened, the complete destruction that happened, to the god she had met who had been almost innocent in how he interacted with the world. How this could have come from him, she didn’t know. Nothing made sense at this moment in time.
Morax snorted, clearly not agreeing with her sentiment. “The abyss doesn’t concern itself with protecting, it only consumes. It is clear that the god you met has been fully consumed by it. I doubt that it is anything but a vessel for the dark energies of the Abyss.” He quickly looked down at Guizhong who was looking even more distressed at his words. He sighed, rested a clawed hand upon her shoulder. “There was likely nothing you could do, but simply watching will do nothing. We should prepare for it to turn it’s sight southward. With the energy it absorbed from Scylla and likely Remus it will be strong but at this moment still digesting. It will be weak and easy to put down. If we’re lucky it will be torn apart by the energy.”
Guizhong walked forward, brushing off the claw. She said nothing as she watched the ocean with an intensity often saved for her creations. As the goddess of dust, she had no dominion over the sea and the water within it, but even still she found herself stretching herself out, trying to decipher what could be happening far below. But all she could feel from the air was the charged and tainted particles of dust swirling above the water. Some of them radiating with the leftovers of Remus white others were completely foreign and radiated a malicious energy.
Any words she had were stuck in her throat, unable to say anything as she came to terms with what Morax was saying. With the point he made. She would have to prepare to cut down Ajax, not the first god she considered a friend that she had to help end. “...okay. We should begin to make a plan.” Turning back towards Morax, she missed the clouds above the ocean of turmoil opening slightly and a thin ray of gold shining down. “We should call for a meeting, but someone should remain here to keep an eye on the situation-”
“Egeria…” Morax cut her off looking wide eyed at the the scene behind the goddess of dust. Guizhong turned on her heels, running towards the edge of the cliff face to watch the god of the waters that had been locked away by the heavenly principles years and years ago slowly float down from the parting clouds. “Did they send her to deal with the abyss?” Guizhong pulled out a spyglass from her sleeves, using it to get a closer look at the once thought-gone goddess.
Egeria landed on the water, standing still before taking a step forward and disappearing into the roiling waves. In that instant, the water stilled, like a great beast holding its breath. Then it heaved and began to beat again as the goddess reappeared, holding a limp figure in her arms. One that had a noticeable shock of orange hair. Bits of loose dust collected in the corners of her eyes as she took in the mutated form of Ajax held loosely in the arms of Egeria, curled up like a lost child.
She pulled the spyglass away from her face. If Egeria was collecting him then maybe…maybe he didn’t mean to do this. She said as much to Morax who furrowed his brow in response. “Perhaps you are right, but we should still be on guard. There is no way of knowing whether or not it will wake up and be a mindless, power hungry monster.” His ears flicked as he squinted at the tiny retreating figures above the ocean as Egeria made her way back towards the land that remained.
“...Once we have achieved peace and this is all over, I do hope that the two of you can meet.” Guizhong all but whispered, unwilling to look away from the ocean. “I have a feeling that the two of you would get along well.”
“Hmmm, I doubt that.” Morax’s tail flicked from side to side in annoyance. “We should tell the Yakshas to possibly prepare for a battle.”
Guizhong nodded and made a noise in agreement. “Yes…just to be safe. But, we should also send someone.” Morax looked at her with a raised brow. “No, don't look at me like that. We wouldn’t send someone immediately but perhaps soon, to foster peace and find out what really happened. I would be more than willing to go.”
Morax frowned, the crease in between his eyebrows growing. If he kept this up they would become stuck like that. “No, you will not go. You are too integral to our own protection and defense to worry about another groups. I do agree that sending someone to scope it out would be wise. Cloud Retainer has met the abyssal god, correct?”
“Yeah, she did. She won’t be too happy about it but she’ll know if he’s…off. Thank you for agreeing with me Morax.” Guizhong smiled up at him, gently patting his arm. The dragon just huffed before gazing back over the finally calming sea. Unaware that he would soon be desperate to keep said Abyssal god in what was yet to be Liyue, right by his side.