Chapter 15: Gaia – K. Alvares

Gaia, Blackmill

Hospitals, Ezio had discovered, had a particular feeling about them that no other location inspired. It was a strange feeling, as he sat in the waiting area, watching the wall for the most part. Occasionally, he’d glance out the window at the snow. It was falling softly to the ground, in swirls of white, and watching it fall was keeping his nerves in check. Ezio always did love the snow.

Ezio smiled to himself, and then the door opened. “Sorry about the wait, Ezio,” his doctor said, shuffling over to him and handing him a bag. It rattled.

“It’s okay,” he said.

“This is your prescriptions slip,” the doctor went on, handing him a slip of paper. “You’ll need this to get your prescriptions entered into the database of whatever pharmacy you go to. I got this first month filled now for you out of our stores, so try them, okay? And if they help, or they don’t, you tell me either way, alright?”

“Okay,” Ezio agreed.

“This is the list of them and what they’re for,” and the doctor handed Ezio another slip of paper. “Just in case you forget. And we’ll see how things turn out for you, okay? I’ll see you when you come back for your next check-up.”

“Thank you,” Ezio said. “Take care.”

The other man shuffled away, and Ezio released a breath. Visiting hospitals was a new thing, but it turned out that he did want answers for what was wrong with him, if modern medicine had them. Ezio went quiet, turning down to look in the bag of rattling medicine Dr. Sommer gave him. They had been over the medications five or six times now. Ezio knew which ones were which, could recognise a few by their shape and colour. Some of them he needed to take regularly, others were for specific, emergency situations, designed to help when Drake couldn’t.

He should tell Morgyn and Drake. He should explain what these all were, and what they were for. He knew that, at least, because when he was in too much pain to think straight, or he lost consciousness, it’d be useful for them to know what to do. Ezio was still afraid to rely on this too much. It could very easily fail him, he knew that, and maybe he was being overly cautious. He’d rather be overly cautious, however, than not cautious enough.

Ezio took a breath in, gathered his things, and stood up.

“Have a good day,” the receptionist said, as he headed out the door.

Ezio paused. “I don’t need to do anything, do I?”

“Nope,” the receptionist said. “Dr. Sommer may need you to fill out some paperwork the next time you come in, I think he wants to put you on assistance, but for right now you’re part of the subsidy programme. If you need any help getting those prescriptions filled later, just give us a call, okay?”

Give them a what? “Okay,” Ezio answered. He’d ask Lilith what a call was supposed to be, it’d be a bit less embarrassing to admit to Lilith that he had no idea what that meant. “Thank you, by the way,” he said, pausing one more time.

The receptionist smiled warmly, and Ezio stepped outside into the snow. The cold still didn’t bother him too much, smiling slightly to himself as a slight breeze kicked up and sent the snow swirling.

Ezio, so far, had not been bothered by anyone. There were no signs of stray, errant vampires with a potion collection anywhere around, and Ezio couldn’t help but wonder if that incident was a mere fluke. If, perhaps, Morgyn was right and it was a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. It felt bigger than that. He could sense it, in the dusklands, the natural order of things was disturbed. Something had shifted out of balance in one of the worlds, and now they were all imbalanced. Finding the cause of such imbalance was going to prove highly difficult. Still, Ezio had a feeling it was serious, for both vampires and the spirits to be so shaken up as they were.

Everything would make sense eventually, or at the very least, he hoped it would. As it was, he was sort of winging it and hoping things came together eventually. First of all, he needed more information about what was going on. It might be a good idea to head to Forgotten Hollow and see what he could figure out, but perhaps not right this second. He was still somewhat weakened, and if he simply got himself killed, that wouldn’t solve anything.

On the other hand, being dead was useful for unhindered exploration. Tempting.

Ezio shook his head, finally leaving the clinic porch and walking down the stairs. Across the street was Harbour Health Club, a gym and spa combination that of course he had to pass by every time he came here. Dr. Sommer had suggested some light physical activity to help strengthen his heart muscles, anyway. There was no reason why he couldn’t follow that advice, even if it seemed somewhat counter-productive to him. There were times when he could hardly get out of bed, but he assumed that pushing it wasn’t the goal. Simply, he was probably meant to nudge it, just enough that those instances became less common. He wasn’t sure what would be safest for him to start with, but perhaps he could find someone that did.

With that in mind, he started towards the doors, scurrying across the street as quickly as he could without slipping on the ice. As he got closer, however, he noticed a middle-aged looking man with dark hair and eyes outside. He was doing something, Ezio had never seen it before, and Ezio slowed to a stop to watch him. It almost looked like a dance to Ezio, but it was unlike any dances he’d ever seen before.

After several moments of watching him, the man came to a stop, and then looked up at Ezio.

“I’d ask if you were interested,” the man said, “but I think it’s safe to say you do.”

He had an interesting accent. Ezio couldn’t place that, either. “Yeah,” Ezio said. “I’m sorry, I got a little distracted. I was going into the health club but I saw you.”

“It’s called heihuquan,” the man said. “It means black tiger fist, and it is a martial art, related to the Chinese Shaolin arts.”

Oh. Was that supposed to mean something to him? Ezio simply nodded.

The man laughed. “The Chinese Shaolin arts are simply combat styles that were developed at the Shaolin temple, a Buddhist temple in the Henan province of China. It is said that all martial arts under heaven originated with Shaolin. Shaolin has great influence in the martial world.”

“That was a combat style?” Ezio asked.

“Oh sure,” the man answered. “Actually, heihuquan is one of the most external styles in the Shaolin canon. It means it focuses very heavily on external, physical factors, as opposed to internal ones, such as mind coordination and the leverage of the relaxed physical form rather than the tensed one. Most of an internal style’s teachings are about honing your mind and spirit, and uniting them as one with the body. It’s all very spiritual and fancy sounding, and I doubt there’s any true difference in execution.”

Ezio tilted his head. That sounded kind of neat, if one was asking him, but of course, this man wasn’t asking.

“Your energy seems a bit twisted up, though,” the man said, squinting.

“Is it?” Ezio asked. That probably shouldn’t be surprising, either.

“Or something,” the man said. “I’m Glenn.”

“Ezio,” was Ezio’s response. “It’s nice to meet you I think.”

“Do you want to learn?” Glenn asked.

Ezio thought about it. “Sort of,” he said. “My doctor recommended fitting physical activity in whenever I can, something that isn’t too intensive.”

“Well, some of heihuquan is very physically intensive,” Glenn said. “Practitioners of Shaolin, they jump around like popping corn kernels, anyone not used to that kind of thing will get winded and quickly, but we can start with some fundamentals, and take it a little slow. When was the last time you did anything physical?”

Ezio simply looked at him.

Glenn sighed. “Alright, we have to start back there with the very basics, and build up some strength and physical conditioning first. Come on, come stand over here,” he said. “We’ll get this figured out and you’ll be in decent shape in no time.”

If he said so… Ezio tilted his head, but he set his things down on the sidewalk, and moved to stand where Glenn told him.

The last few days had been strange. Ezio was just as quiet as he usually was when he was upset, but now he seemed to go outside a lot more. Often, Morgyn caught him outside by the stream in the back of headquarters, first thing in the morning, doing something that vaguely looked like dancing. Morgyn wasn’t sure what it was, but it seemed to give him a strange sense of peace. Morgyn was okay with anything that gave Ezio a bit of peace, no matter how strange it was.

This morning was no different from all the others. Morgyn stood on the balcony, leaning against the railing and watching Ezio across the grounds. Ezio had gone somewhere, come back, and started doing that, and Morgyn wasn’t sure what to think of it. Should the blond be concerned? It wasn’t like Morgyn had asked about it or anything. The most concerning part was probably his silence. Morgyn didn’t expect him to take having to kill the blond very well, but things should’ve evened out a little in the time since then. It almost seemed like he was taking it harder and harder as time went on, but then, he was a much more introverted person than Morgyn was. Maybe there was something else on his mind, and Morgyn simply wasn’t privy to his thoughts.

Morgyn simply watched, as he went through whatever routine he had decided he was meant to follow. His balance was way off, even Morgyn could see that, but every time he almost lost his balance, his eyes sparked with more determination, and he went through it again. It was always fascinating, watching him fight with himself that way. His anger was dealt with in a similar way, too.

Morgyn got angry and turned it on everyone else. Ezio got angry and turned it on himself.

“He’s at that again?” a voice asked.

Morgyn glanced towards it, finding Drake not far. “So it would seem,” Morgyn answered, looking back at Ezio. “How long has he been doing this?”

“Almost a week now, I think,” Drake answered. He has trouble with bits and pieces of it, but it doesn’t seem to be a notable issue. He’s getting through it anyway.”

Morgyn went quiet, watching. They were raised farmers, of course. Morgyn was likely going to spin fabrics and make preserves for however long the blond was intended to live for. Ezio would’ve taken over the farm, cared for the livestock and the fields. Fate had other ideas for them both. Still, the way they had been raised meant that Ezio had a stronger build than he looked like he should. Most likely, all this work was doing was reminding his muscles they knew how to do certain things.

Morgyn smiled a little, watching. “He looks strangely happy,” the blond said.

“Of course he does,” Drake said. “He’s only ever been free like that. You can’t change other people. But you can change yourself, and make yourself whoever you may want to be. The concept’s the same here. He may not be able to stop anyone from doing anything, but he can become the kind of person too strong to be brought to his knees by other peoples’ decisions.”

Morgyn glanced at Drake, and then looked back at Ezio. It sounded silly, when it was worded that way, but Morgyn knew what he meant. You couldn’t always change things, but you could change how you thought about them, how you reacted to them, and whether someone else could easily hurt you or not. Ezio was the sort of person that fought with words, first. But sometimes, you needed something a little stronger than mere words.

“It doesn’t look too straining,” Drake said. “Maybe whatever he’s doing is helping his heart.”

“That’s dangerous,” Morgyn said, frowning. “He could hurt himself that way.”

“Of course he can,” Drake answered. “Merely breathing too deeply can hurt him sometimes, though, Morgyn. Don’t you see it? He can control this. If and when it becomes too much, he can stop, or he can say, I’m going to keep trying, just a bit less hard. It’s why he loved dancing so much. Because when he danced, he was free.”

It was a strange thought. Morgyn didn’t have much of a concept of what freedom was, though, but that was probably because Morgyn had never had a reason to develop one. It was what it was, and Morgyn didn’t think about it too hard. It was interesting that it had a specific form for Ezio, but then it also made sense. Morgyn pretended not to have any idea what happened at France, but the blond knew. If prancing around the yard made him feel better, then who was Morgyn to judge him?

The blond did worry, though. Ezio might’ve been calmer than Morgyn, but he was still an Ember. He was still a de Lorraine. And Embers and de Lorraines, they were terrible about pushing their limits just a little bit too far, pushing themselves a little bit too hard.

“I’m just curious where he got this idea and learnt this,” Morgyn said. “He doesn’t usually leave magic realm.”

“If you’re worrying about him getting hit with that potion,” Drake said, “you know him. He’ll probably go looking for them, eventually.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” Morgyn asked.

“Sometimes, facts aren’t meant to do anything but be facts,” Drake answered. “Someone made him kill you. You didn’t think they’d get away with it, did you?”

Morgyn huffed. “I was kind of expecting Ezio to have a little more sense than I do, yes.”

“There’s a very big difference between knowing you shouldn’t do something and deciding you should play it safe, and knowing the risks and deciding they’re worth it,” Drake said, one eyebrow quirking upward. “Ezio takes risks, sure, but he does seem to know exactly what they are, and decide they’re worth it. I wish he wouldn’t, but he is still an Ember.” Asking an Ember not to do stupid things, particularly when it came to each other, seemed to be rather the futile situation.

Morgyn’s arms crossed over one another.

“You can’t in good conscience ask him not to be himself, Morgyn,” Drake said. “And as much as I wish I could change his mind, it’s his decision. I understand he will do what he thinks is right, no matter what I want. I cannot invalidate his personal agency and claim to care about him at the same time. Neither can you. All either of us can do is be here, and hope that if he needs either of us, he’ll ask for us.”

“Are you okay?”

It seemed strange that this would be the first thing out of Caleb’s mouth, but then, Morgyn should’ve figured that rumours would have circulated. Who knew what Caleb had heard by the time the rumours got to Caster’s Alley? By this point, Morgyn could’ve turned into Cthulhu and destroyed half the remaining islands of magic realm. It wasn’t like Morgyn paid attention to the rumours. It was usually safer that way.

“Fine enough,” Morgyn answered, one hand resting on a hip. “What’d I do?” It was interesting to know.

“Well, first, you got sick, and then you died, and then Ezio brought you back to life,” Caleb explained.

Morgyn snorted. “Actually, that’s pretty accurate for fifteenth-hand knowledge,” the sage answered. “Close enough.” Morgyn didn’t think explaining the whole situation to Caleb, primarily given they didn’t even know all the details themselves, and they’d lived through it, was a good idea. Ezio was still out there by the stream every morning, moving around in ways that were like and unlike dancing, and Morgyn still wasn’t sure what he was doing. It seemed harmless, though, and Morgyn wasn’t going to tell him what he could and couldn’t do.

Unless it had something to do with terrible boyfriends. Morgyn was okay with never having to deal with another of Ezio’s terrible boyfriends for the rest of their lives. That he’d given up on dating was still somewhat sad. Morgyn hoped that he changed his mind later. Then, Ezio had to learn how to love himself, more than he needed to learn what it was like to be loved by someone else the right way. Morgyn knew that.

“Well, I’m glad you didn’t stay dead,” Caleb said.

Morgyn snorted softly. “Yeah, so am I. Though it was certainly educational.” An educational experience that Morgyn had little interest in repeating, that was for sure.

“I uh, I brought you this,” Caleb said, handing Morgyn a carnation flower, the end wrapped in a water-soaked paper towel.

“Oh.” Somehow, Morgyn hadn’t been expecting that, but then the blond didn’t know why not. Caleb was like that. Morgyn smiled softly, reaching out and taking the flower. It was a beautiful, bright yellow colour. Morgyn liked yellow, but mostly red. “It’s beautiful.”

“It reminded me of your hair,” Caleb said.

Morgyn laughed. “I’m sure it did,” the blond said, resting it in one of the cups on the table, just for now. Morgyn would get it a proper vase later. “So, how are you?”

“Oh, you know the usual,” Caleb said. “Lilith’s still spending more time at Vlad’s manor than ours, but that’s alright. I work a lot anyway. Which is funny I guess, working the stands at Caster’s Alley isn’t my job.”

“But you do end up doing it a lot,” Morgyn said.

Yeah. Caleb would never admit the reason why was partially because Caleb wanted an excuse to come by headquarters sometimes. (He said he didn’t like the freaky-deaky portal things, but he managed.) “Yeah, I guess I’m too nice for my own good sometimes. Lilith says that a lot.”

Morgyn snorted. “You are,” the blond said. “But it’s a good thing, really. People could use to be a little nicer, and I think only kindess makes more kindness.”

Caleb looked a little bit confused. “So, you like me being a marshmallow?”

“Sure,” Morgyn answered. “I don’t know if you noticed or anything, but, I’m kind of an asshole. It’s best that we weren’t both assholes.” Morgyn didn’t think they’d get along as well as they did if they were both assholes. Those tended to have a habit of trying to out-jerk each other.

“I’ll try not to drastically change,” Caleb said.

“Good,” Morgyn said.

“Did you seriously die?” Caleb asked.

“Yeah,” Morgyn answered, waving a hand dismissively. “Ezio probably knows, but the spirit world’s a bit of a mess right now, as it turns out.”

“Ezio would know that?” Caleb asked.

Morgyn arched an eyebrow. “He’s a necromancer,” the blond said. “Of course he knows.”

Caleb stared at Morgyn for a moment, his features screwing up into confusion and bewilderment. “Necromancers are real?”

Morgyn snorted. “Of course they are,” the blond said. “The stories humans come up with have root in reality. Maybe it’s a little messed up reality, sometimes, but still. Necromancers are the bridge between the dawnlands, or the world of the living, and the dusklands, that of the dead. They live halfway in one world, and halfway in the other. Spellcasters can affect the dead, to an extent, but not quite the same one as necromancers. They can sense the dead in a way that others can’t, can learn to understand them, because they exist to help the living and the dead both find peace with inevitability.”

“That… sound like a pain in the ass,” Caleb said.

“I hate it,” Morgyn said. “It hurts him in ways that just living doesn’t. There are days when he can’t tell himself apart from them. Times when he’s just upset and there’s no helping it because the sadness is coming from a ghost.” Morgyn snorted. “When we were younger, he thought it was fun that he could see them, but then he started to hallucinate things, see their memories in his head. They weren’t so fun, anymore, after that.” Maybe the reason he couldn’t come to terms with living was because Ezio had never really come to terms with dying, either. He’d accepted neither that he was, nor that death was part of his life either way.

Morgyn wondered, sometimes, if the reason Ezio could see them was because he was meant to join them early, and act as a bridge from the other side, but Morgyn tried not to think about it too much. It wasn’t like Morgyn had any trouble fighting fate itself if it was for Ezio. People said they were too attached to one another, too confused and lost without each other. Maybe that was true. Morgyn didn’t know. But when Ezio had been the only person the blond could trust for two hundred years, yeah, you got a little attached. Maybe some people would think it was wrong and unhealthy.

They didn’t understand. The good news was, they didn’t have to, either.

“That sounds kind of jarring for a kid,” Caleb said.

Morgyn shrugged. “I think it’d be jarring for most anyone. This is why I say, he’s stronger than I am. I don’t mean sheer power, but probably that, too. I mean he can stare things down that would make me turn around and run. I mean he can stand back up while I’m still trying to remember which way the ground is.” Morgyn smiled. “Don’t tell him, cause I think it’d just embarrass him. But Ezio’s my hero.”

Caleb smiled. “You know, I kind of had a feeling he is.”

“What gave it away?” Morgyn asked.

“Probably the way you talk about him,” Caleb answered. They both went quiet, and then Caleb cleared his throat. “Is there anything I can help with, by the way?”

“Nah,” Morgyn answered. “Well, I don’t think I’ll be going back outside magic realm for a while, so I may need you to help get a few things here and there, if you’re up for that.”

“Yeah, sure,” Caleb said. “Uh. Anyway, I should probably go back to work now. I’ll see you later then?”

“Yeah,” Morgyn said, nodding. “Have a good day.”

Caleb turned around and headed back down. Morgyn wouldn’t know for sure, but it seemed like he walked with a little bounce in his step as he went.

His morning routine had changed dramatically, but already, Ezio was feeling better. Glenn had to change things a little bit, so that he could learn the basics without killing himself with it, but whatever he was doing was working. Ezio was a bit out of shape now, but he was getting better, a little at a time.

Ezio had to go back to the clinic from time to time already, so it worked out, and while he was out there, he’d stop by the health club, spend a little more time working with Glenn and learning heihuquan, and then he’d do most of his practicing on his own. Then, when they met up again, Glenn would watch him do the routine, give pointers, and teach him the next one. All the while, Ezio was getting stronger, and he felt stronger every day that passed, too, found things that used to be difficult becoming easier.

He’d done his morning routine, spending time out there listening to the stream and waterfall while practicing the routine that Glenn had taught him, and then he went upstairs to wade through the towers of books.

It still felt like he was right on the precipice of discovering something about this book, but since the story about the Five Families, he’d not learnt anything else. Incidentally, he remembered the pages where the information about the families was, and it wasn’t in Simlish anymore. It made him think that he was only able to read what the book wanted him to read, and nothing more. He didn’t dare ask it if that was how it worked.

Instead, he spent his time studying not the language in it, but instead the images. Some of these were old Norse carvings, which Ezio had identified by the runes beneath the images, things he could find originals for in other books. There was more mention in these books, associated with these carvings, of a people called the vanir, but it wasn’t clear what the vanir were. There were mentions of several gods that were in the Norse mythology books, and some of these gods were called vanir.

Mostly, what he didn’t understand was how any of this had anything to do with him, or with magic realm. It was possible the vanir had something to do with magic realm’s founding, but that was if you believed in gods in the first place. Of course, that delved into the possibility that what they called gods now were called something else a long time ago. The gods of many other cultures were mere humans at one time that ascended to the status of a god. The existence of the concept of a person being able to become a god in the first place suggested that gods weren’t as complicated or special as people had long believed by this point.

Ezio tended to like the gods that were once human. It made it feel like greatness was something that was attainable, rather than something one was born with.

As he flipped through the pages of another book about Norse mythology, he heard footsteps, and then a light tapping on his door.

“Come in,” he answered, half distracted.

Morgyn pushed the door open, closing it quietly, and then shuffled over to sit down on the other side of Ezio’s book pile.

“I brought you tea,” Morgyn said.

“Oh, thanks,” Ezio said, glancing up at the blond.

“What are you doing?” Morgyn asked, setting the cup down.

“Trying to figure out what the fuck a vanir actually is,” Ezio answered.

Morgyn’s head tilted to one side. “A vanir?”

“They’ve been mentioned in this book a few times,” Ezio said, gesturing at the leather-bound book on the floor. Today, its cover was blank. “The vanir seem to be important somehow, but I’m not sure how or what they even are. They’re part of Norse mythology, and there are gods that are called vanir, but I still don’t entirely know what they are.”

Morgyn arched an eyebrow, looking at the book. “This is the book you were trying to translate?” Morgyn asked.

“Yeah,” Ezio said, nodding. “It’s being a bit of a pain.”

“Can I?” Morgyn asked, gesturing at the book.

Ezio shrugged. “If it lets you.”

Morgyn reached for it, taking the book in both hands. It didn’t seem offended by that, so Morgyn flipped it open. The words were entirely indecipherable. If Ezio was making any sense of this at all, it was somewhat impressive on its own. “You can read this?” Morgyn asked, one hand tracing the designs on the side of the pages.

“Some of it, yeah,” Ezio answered. “That specific page, no. Actually, turns out a page I could read before, I can’t now. It seems to be changing the languages it’s using whenever it feels like it.”

Morgyn blinked, glancing up at Ezio, and then back down at the book. “All of it is unreadable to me.”

“Of course,” Ezio said. “It probably doesn’t want you to know what’s in it, just me, or something. I still haven’t figured out its deal.” That was fine, though. He’d figure it out eventually. Or at least, he hoped so, because if he spent the rest of his life studying this thing, and never made any sense of it, that’d be something. Maybe not a good something, either.

“Ezio, you know some of these books were enchanted by people that weren’t very good people,” Morgyn said.

“I know,” Ezio answered. “But the spirits think I need to read it, too.” Ezio didn’t make a habit of questioning the spirits. That was probably a bad idea over the long term, but so far, it hadn’t ended terribly, at least.

Morgyn frowned, but didn’t say anything at first. It was Ezio’s choice whether he answered this thing’s call or not, and the blond was trying to remember that Ezio could make his own decisions. Still, Morgyn worried. Ezio was notably more gullible than Morgyn was, in many ways. Far less so in other ways.

“Just be careful, okay?” Morgyn said.

“I know,” Ezio replied. “Hey, it’s really just curiosity at this point. And there’s nothing in our libraries about the five families or anything. Maybe this thing’s got some answers for some questions.”

“And maybe it’s lying to you,” Morgyn said.

“I know that’s possible. I just think it’s worth it.”

Morgyn sighed again. “Alright,” the blond said. “I’ll trust you, then. What’d it have to say about the five families?”

Ezio smirked, but he started explaining. The five families were where it all had begun.

And maybe they’d be where it all ended.

Ezio had gone by Caster’s Alley to see what Caleb knew. The answer seemed to be virtually nothing, at least nothing of any use to Ezio. Aside from the mystery book, of course, there was still the curious case of Morgyn going into overload because of a potion.

Ezio still owed some vampire a good hard punch in the face. With rings.

He fell into a chair, thinking. He had no way of finding this vampire anyway, unless he asked the spirits for help, and Ezio was very much against that idea. Spirits, like most creatures in the world, never gave anything for free. They expected something back, and while helping the spirits of the dead cross over was part of Ezio’s job as a necromancer, sometimes they demanded very interesting things. Sometimes they were just interesting. Other times, they were impossible.

The door behind him opened and closed. Ezio didn’t bother turning around.

“Long day?” Drake’s voice asked.

“Yeah,” Ezio answered. “Just thinking about stuff.”

“Like what?” Drake asked, moving around him and sitting at the chair beside his.

“I have a lot of questions about that potion,” Ezio said. “Why a vampire had it, what the purpose of it was, why Morgyn… The list goes on.”

Drake went quiet, thinking. “I can think of any number of potential answers for any of those.”

“I know,” Ezio said. “I can too. It feels important somehow.”

“You tend to know these things,” Drake said. “Your intuition’s rarely ever wrong. Maybe you should listen to it.”

Ezio released a sigh. Sure, his intuition was good. He did have a slight issue figuring out where to start with this, however, especially as he’d need to be careful not to get caught by the same thing that’d taken Morgyn down. They had resurrection potion on tap, now, but that wasn’t the point. Of course this was perhaps moot, because if he came across the same vampire that had taken Morgyn out, then he was taking that mother fucker down, even if it took him down too. Nobody hurt Morgyn without answering to him.

But he had nowhere to start, nothing to go on besides that this felt big. It’d seem that this situation, and the one that had the spirit world stirred up, were two different things, but he didn’t feel like that was right. In fact, it almost seemed that one of these things was happening in response to the other.

“I don’t know where to start,” Ezio said. “All I know is that it feels important, like it’s related to everything else somehow. If I think about it, sit here and be still, and focus, I can almost see the entire row of Dominoes, lined up and ready to fall over. The details are blurry, and I can’t make them out, but there’s that sense of anticipation and dread anyway. Like the world is holding its breath.”

Drake head tilted to one side. “I suppose that doesn’t help you any, no. What else is going on?”

Ezio shrugged. “The spirit world is disturbed. They keep talking about some destroyer that’s supposed to be awakening, someone that can enact great change, but what that means I don’t know. One of them at least thinks the destroyer in question is Morgyn, and I’m supposed to guide Morgyn the right way and make sure we don’t get another bad destroyer. I can’t make Morgyn do anything, so that’s not helpful.”

Drake blinked. “That’s no small order,” he said.

“No, it’s not,” Ezio agreed, tone rather bland. “I don’t want to say I can’t do it. I don’t know that I can’t. But Morgyn’s not exactly the easiest storm to change the direction of. If Morgyn decides to go the wrong way, then I can’t stop the shitnugget no matter how much I try, and I know that. All I’d be able to do then is bunker down and hope there’s enough left to work with when Morgyn’s done.” And the reality was that there may not be. Ezio didn’t know.

“Try not to think about the far future too much,” Drake said. “Maybe somewhere along the way, things will start making sense and you’ll understand what’s going on a bit better, but this probably isn’t very good for your anxiety.”

“I know that,” Ezio grumbled, sliding down in his seat.

Drake smiled. “And try and be careful, alright?”

Ezio smirked. “I’m always careful, though.” Well, maybe in some universe, he was careful. Perhaps not this universe, however.

Drake, bless his heart, snorted softly, and looked at Ezio like he’d made a good joke.

“Yeah, I know,” Ezio said, sitting back up. “I am awfully terrible at being careful. I like to pretend that I’m not.” It made him feel a little better, or something. It worked well enough for him. Of course, this was why Ezio very rarely got onto Morgyn’s case about not being so careful, because Ezio had no room to talk about it. Quite frankly, Morgyn had probably gotten it from him. From that little boy that had died at France.

“I just don’t want you to come back screaming next, Ezio,” Drake said quietly. He wasn’t so sure he could handle that. Morgyn probably couldn’t kill him, and Drake thought he could. But he wasn’t exactly jumping for joy at the possibility of finding out in real time. He’d much rather that one remained a mystery.

Ezio knew that. Being able to kill Morgyn like that, Ezio kind of wondered what was fucking wrong with him that he could. It’d worked out for the best, but that he’d done it almost entirely without hesitation made him feel like it was a sign of something fundamentally wrong. People shouldn’t be able to do that, he didn’t think. It wasn’t like he’d ever asked anyone that would have an answer for that.

“I know,” he said. “I won’t do that to you.” If worst came to worst, his mind had thought about the varying ways of offing himself before, and Ezio was rather creative. He was just creative in the unconventional ways. Like creative in how to suicide, it’d seem.

“Thanks for that, at least,” Drake said. “But still, be careful instead.”

Ezio decided not to point out that being careful not to run into the same vampire Morgyn did was nowhere on his list. He wanted to find that mother fucker.

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