Chapter Text
Dan Heng and Hysilens returned from the cave to see that Phainon and Mydei had slain every last of Aquila’s Titankin that had surrounded the cave.
Cyrene was the first to notice the two of them approaching. “Welcome back, you two! Did you manage to get the Coreflame?”
Her words made Phainon turn around to face them. “Judging by Dan Heng’s appearance, I’d say it seems pretty likely. I’m liking the new look, Dan Heng!”
Before Dan Heng could reply, a Century Gate abruptly formed behind where Phainon was standing. From the portal emerged Tribbie, who had a very concerned look on her face. In all the time that Phainon had known her, he had never seen Tribbie look so distressed.
“Snowy! Everyone! Come back to HQ quick! It’s an emergency!” Tribbie’s voice sounded panicked.
Phainon and the others all exchanged worried glances before rushing through the portal.
When they arrived on the other side, the only thing waiting for them was pure chaos. The streets outside of the Chrysos Heirs HQ were being ravaged by strange monsters that none of them had ever seen before. The sounds of people screaming could be heard all around them, as the monsters were destroying buildings and cars.
Mydei was the first one to say something. “Defend HQ! These things are going to destroy it if we don’t!”
Mydei’s words made everyone spring into action. Dan Heng used his new powers to trap nearby monsters in underground holes. Hysilens slaughtered every monster he trapped with her blades. As the group fought off the monsters, Cyrene faintly noticed Anaxa and Hyacine running towards them.
“Guys! Anaxa and Hyacine are coming back!” Cyrene called out to everyone else.
Phainon and Mydei helped the two of them clear a path to HQ, allowing the two of them to make it back safely. As soon as Anaxa and Hyacine were back, the group retreated into HQ and slammed the door shut. Dan Heng used the powers of Earth to erect walls of stone around HQ, stopping the horde of monsters from getting in.
As the group took a second to catch their breath, Mydei was the first to speak again. “What in the hell was that?!”
Anaxa furrowed his brow. “Those were human beings. Their sanity was ripped away from them by some strange virus that I’ve never seen in my life. Something tells me this is the doing of Lygus. Only someone as maniacal as him would dare to use all of Okhema as human experiments.”
Everyone in the room was collectively in disbelief.
Before anyone else could say anything, Aglaea rushed into the front lobby, followed by Castorice, Cerydra, and Cipher. The look on her face was solemn, as if she just heard what Anaxa said. She took a deep breath to steady her nerves before speaking.
“I’m sure all of us are shaken up by what we’ve just seen. Let’s head to the conference room. We need to discuss what to do from here. This is a crisis unlike anything Okhema has faced before.”
The air in the conference room was tense. No one knew what to say. Anaxa’s revelation had shaken everyone to their cores. Phainon clenched his fists under the table, feeling his anger begin to emerge again. His hatred for Lygus had reached an all time high.
Aglaea cleared her throat before speaking. “I want to first say that I understand how dire all of this looks. All of you seem to be in poor spirits after what just happened. I want you all to know that we can fix this. We have eleven Coreflames on our side.”
Mydei scoffed, gritting his teeth. “What are the Coreflames going to do here, Aglaea? Those people have lost their minds. There isn’t anything a Coreflame can do to give someone their humanity back.”
The Kremnoan’s words seemed to summarize how most of the people in the room felt about the current situation.
Hyacine’s shoulders tensed. “I have to agree, Lady Aglaea. When Professor Anaxa and I first came across one of those creatures, I tried to use my powers to heal it and undo what the virus did to them. It didn’t work. I hate to say it, but it seems like the damage being done to these people’s minds is permanent.”
Cerydra pulled out a tablet showing a graph. “I had some of my statisticians at city hall get to work immediately. Based on reports, they estimate that roughly fifty percent of the population of Okhema has been turned into a savage monster. Is it possible that this virus is the “black tide” that Dan Heng’s friend was seeing in her dream?”
Dan Heng’s eyes slightly widened. “You might be into something, Mayor. Perhaps March saw this happening in her dream, like a prophecy of sorts.”
Hysilens looked down at the floor dejectedly. “If only we had heeded her words sooner. Maybe we could have prevented what’s currently happening to Okhema.”
Aglaea frowned. “I know things look hopeless, but we can’t give up now. Our first priority should be to protect the citizens that have held onto their humanity. We’ll give Anaxa and Hyacine time to see if they can do something about this.”
Phainon let out a shaky breath. “There’s a problem with that plan, Aglaea. In order to protect the people who aren’t monsters, we’re going to have to kill the ones who are. There’s no way around that.”
Aglaea solemnly nodded her head. “That’s a reality that I’ve come to accept. I hate it with every fiber of my being, but it’s an inescapable truth.”
Excluding Anaxa and Hyacine, the Chrysos Heirs spent the rest of the day protecting the people of Okhema.
All nonessential businesses were temporarily shut down. Essential business were placed under supervision of Aglaea, Tribbie, and Cipher. The three of them ensured that said businesses weren’t attacked while they were operating. Aglaea also established a hotline that people could use to report any sightings of black tide monsters.
Cerydra and Cyrene helped spread the word of what was happening to people around the city. The two of them helped people evacuate their homes and relocate to various hotels and hospitals, which were being used as temporary shelters until the crisis passed. Cerydra designated her subordinates as the ones in charge of managing various homeless shelters.
Phainon, Mydei, Castorice, Hysilens, and Dan Heng were given the worst task of all of the Chrysos Heirs. The five of them were in charge of going into the city and rescuing people in danger. They also were the first ones to respond to any calls that were made to Aglaea’s hotline. It sounded like an honorable task, but Phainon felt it was anything but that.
Often times, rescuing someone required him to kill their loved one who had turned into a monster. He was forced to make people watch as their loved ones were put down like rabid dogs. Some of them understood that he was doing what he had to do, but not everyone saw it that way.
“How could you?!” A woman screamed at him. “That was my younger brother! He didn’t deserve to die! He didn’t deserve any of this!”
The woman ran at him like she wanted to punch him, but she was restrained by Dan Heng. “Ma’am, please… I need you to listen to me…”
Phainon didn’t hear anything else Dan Heng said. His breath hitched as he clenched his teeth, feeling many emotions swirling in his head and heart. If Dan Heng hadn’t been there, that woman would most likely have landed her punch on him. He didn’t think he would even try to stop her from doing it.
Phainon turned his head to look at Castorice. She was breaking down into tears, sobbing into Mydei’s shoulder. He was doing his best to comfort her, but there was only so much he could do. Phainon felt terrible for Castorice, knowing that she probably hated this more than any of them did.
He sat down on a large chunk of rubble, taking a breather to collect his thoughts. He noticed Mydei had separated from Castorice, and that the Kremnoan was now approaching him. Castorice had strangely disappeared, much to Phainon’s confusion. Mydei took a seat next to Phainon, handing him a bottle of water that Hysilens had presumably provided.
“Thanks,” Phainon quietly thanked Mydei, “I’m surprised you’re okay with leaving Castorice alone at a time like this. Is she doing okay?”
Mydei sighed. “She hates the idea of being an executioner. She went back to the nether realm for a moment to try and soothe the souls that were turned into monsters by Lygus. They may be dead, but they deserve to die as humans. Not as those mindless savages that Lygus turned them into.”
Phainon took a sip from his water bottle before speaking again. “I sort of understand how Castorice feels. We’re being forced into killing people. How can we call ourselves heroes after this?”
Mydei scoffed. “I don’t see anyone else trying to fix this mess. If people have an issue with the way we’re doing things, then they can go suck a dick. Lygus is doing this to get into our heads and make us question our purpose. I did some thinking and realized that even though this is a rough time for everyone, we’ve got to push past it. There’s going to be some losses, but we’ve just got to accept that and keep moving forward.”
Phainon’s grip on his water bottle slightly tightened. “I know you’re right, but it’s going to be hard. I really hope there is a light at the end of the tunnel.”
Mydei turned his head to look at Phainon. “There will be, trust me. I’ve been contemplating something for a while. I’ve decided that once all of this is over, I want to tell Castorice that I love her.”
Phainon blinked in surprise, not expecting Mydei to suddenly be so open about his feelings. “You seemed so unsure of yourself before. What changed?”
Mydei started staring at the ground. “I lived my entire life not knowing what love felt like. I know my mother loved me, but she didn’t get to live to see me grow up. I thought I was fated to never experience love, and I was okay with that. As Castorice and I grew closer, I began to feel what I had spent my entire life missing. I lost my mother already, and I don’t want to lose my second chance.”
Phainon slowly nodded his head. “I see… I think that’s an admirable way to look at things. I think a mindset like that will be important for all of us Chrysos Heirs. As long as we have each other, we’ll be able to keep living on even after all of this is over.”
A small smile formed on Mydei’s face. “Yeah, I agree. Although…” the smile faded. “There’s also a harsh reality none of us have discussed. What would happen if one of us were to become corrupted by the black tide?”
Phainon felt his heart drop for a second. “That would be horrible… but I guess it is a possibility we need to be ready for. We’re lucky that none of us were affected when it first entered Okhema.”
Mydei nodded. “Yeah. I can’t speak for the others, but if I were turned into one of those monsters, I would hope one of you would kill me. I don’t want to cause any pain to any innocent person out there.”
Phainon looked at Mydei inquisitively. “How are any of us meant to kill you, though? You’re immortal. Every time you’ve died, you’ve come straight back from the nether realm each time.”
Mydei’s face turned serious. “That’s because no one who’s killed me knows where my weak spot is. If I ever lose my sanity to the black tide, then use your sword and stab me through my tenth thoracic vertebra. I’m telling you this because I trust that you’ll do it if it comes to it.”
“I appreciate that you’re able to trust me that much, but things won’t get to that. We’ll stop Lygus and contain the black tide before anything like that can happen, I’m sure of it,” Phainon spoke confidently.
Mydei put a hand on Phainon’s shoulder. “I can respect your confidence, as long as you’re willing to face reality should it happen. No matter what happens, everyone who survives this calamity should keep living on. That goes for us, and it especially goes for the citizens who are losing their loved ones.”
Before Phainon could responded, his phone began going off. The ringtone was a unique one that Phainon used only for emergencies. He saw Aglaea’s name on the call, and additionally noticed that Mydei’s phone was also going off. The two men exchanged serious glances.
“Sounds like something bad has happened. We should head back to HQ and meet up with the others,” Phainon said. Mydei nodded in agreement.
Phainon and Mydei quickly found out that Aglaea’s emergency call went out to everyone, as all of the Chrysos Heirs had returned to the conference room.
Aglaea spoke first as usual. “Thank you for quickly responding to my call, everyone. I’ll get straight to the point. Dan Heng’s friend has woken up, and she escaped from the hospital.”
Dan Heng’s eyes widened in horror. “March woke up?! This isn’t good… we need to stop her before she causes even more damage to Okhema!”
Aglaea put out a hand as if to try and calm Dan Heng down. “You’re right, Dan Heng, but we need to go in with a plan. I spoke with Mayor Cerydra, and the two of us managed to come up with something together.”
Cerydra huffed in annoyance. “As soon as the black tide arrived in Okhema, I felt my control over Miss March 7th’s mind wavering. My powers were suppressed to the point that the spirit inside of her was able to retake control and reawaken her. I’m glad that I trusted my hunch to team up with all of you. I was right to assume that this man Lygus is unlike any other villain Okhema’s faced.”
Aglaea pulled out a map of Okhema and placed it on the table for everyone to see. “Our team is going to be split into three teams of four. The first team will be myself, Dan Heng, Mayor Cerydra, and Hysilens. Our job will be to engage Miss March and see if Mayor Cerydra can put her back to sleep again. With the state Okhema is in, we can’t afford to deal with her, Lygus, and the black tide all at once. Our best bet is to put her back to sleep until the black tide and Lygus are dealt with. After that, we can’t afford to devote our efforts to figuring out just what this spirit in her mind is.”
Dan Heng nodded his head in understanding. “I wasn’t very helpful the first time March caused chaos in Okhema. I promise I’ll help out more this time.”
“I’m sure you will, Dan Heng,” Aglaea agreed before turning to address the next group, “Castorice, Mydeimos, Tribbie, and Hyacine will be our second group. We believed these four would be a good balance of combat prowess and rescuing capability. You four will be in charge of fending off the black tide. Castorice and Mydeimos will handle the monsters, while Tribbie and Hyacine will help civilians by getting them away from dangerous areas and tending to their injuries.”
Phainon quickly realized that he was a member of the only group Aglaea had not mentioned yet. “What do you need the rest of us to do, Aglaea?”
Aglaea’s face turned even more serious. “Phainon, Cyrene, Anaxa, and Cipher. You four are in charge of defeating and apprehending Lygus. I want to stress that it’s paramount that you do not kill him unless it’s absolutely necessary. We need information out of him, namely on how to get rid of the black tide. I picked Anaxa and Cyrene for this team because I believe the two of you will be good for keeping him restrained.”
Cyrene raised her hand. “I’ve got a question, Lady Aglaea. Where are we supposed to find him?”
Aglaea pointed to where city hall was located on the map. “I had Cipher do some scouting earlier. She told me that she spotted Lygus sneaking into city hall. There must be something in that building that he’s searching for.”
Phainon frowned and crossed his arms. “That sounds uncharacteristic of Lygus… if Cipher spotted him, then I think it’s because he wanted her to. We need to be careful that we’re not falling into another trap of his.”
Aglaea folded up the map and took it off the table. “I’ll leave that up to you, Phainon. We each have our own responsibilities that we must face. We haven’t achieved our goal of uniting all twelve Coreflames, but it looks like we’ll have to wait until another day for that. Best of luck to you, everyone. Okhema needs the twelve of us now more than ever.”