"You want us to go in there," Darian said, her voice completely blank.
"Sir Zenith is most likely in the training chamber. It's a floor up, so yes, we have to go in there," Equinox said in the snittiest tone imaginable. At least until Victor pressed down on his throat, cutting his voice off in an indignant sputter.
Even so, Theo understood Darian's reluctance. They stood before an elevator that looked like a large birdcage, its elaborately filigreed brass bars gleaming in the workshop's gold-tinged light. While on the roomy side for an elevator, it was still more cramped than the hallway. Inside it, they wouldn't have much room to maneuver.
If Equinox wanted to launch a counterattack, this would be the best place to do it. On the other hand, such close quarters meant they'd have an easier time subduing him, didn't it?
Darian seemed to have decided this, because she prodded Equinox's chest with the sword and snapped, "Fine."
Mirage pressed the button to open the elevator door, and Theo watched, amazed despite himself, as the bars slid apart and unwound from one another in a graceful sequence. Once everyone was inside, they just as easily wove back together.
In here, there was just enough space for Darian to hold the sword at its full length against Equinox's chest. This meant Victor had to pretty much mash himself into the opposite wall, but he didn't seem to mind. Theo took a position to the side, staying clear of the sword.
Mirage pressed another button, and with the gentlest of shudders the elevator began to rise. The ride was so smooth Theo wouldn't have thought they were moving if he wasn't able to see the floor shrinking beneath them.
In the sudden silence, he could hear every one of his frantic heartbeats, the breaths rasping in his throat.
"Theo." When Darian spoke, Theo almost jumped out of his skin. She cast him a rueful smile, though the sword stayed firm and steady in her hands.
"What is it?" Theo made himself say. The sound seemed to echo strangely in the enclosed space.
"If Sir Zenith is here," Darian said, "then it means Cyrias is working together with Astraeon. It means...he was deceived."
Theo's stomach twisted. Darian was right. Zenith had betrayed the crew and joined Cyrias because he believed they were no longer capable of fighting the Infernal Legion. But if Astraeon was the Infernal Lord....
"Then we have to get him back. We absolutely have to," he said, and he was relieved at how firm his voice came out.
Darian nodded, just as resolved. "All these years, I thought I knew what I was fighting for. But really...I didn't understand a thing. The symptoms may be the Infernal Legion, but the true disease is my father."
"Now we know," Theo said gently. "Which means we can attack the disease at its source."
Equinox's face twisted like he was about to make an acrid retort, but that was when the elevator slid to a stop. Once again the bars unraveled, and Theo found himself facing another empty hallway.
He took a deep breath, sweat prickling the back of his neck. Would Zenith be waiting at the end of this hall?
Was Theo prepared to face him again?
Once again, the memory of their last interaction shuddered through him. Zenith's eyes, hard with disgust. His ice-cold voice. I do know. Do not presume for me.
Theo's chest tightened, crushing the air from his lungs. It was all he could do to keep walking, to not freeze in place or, even worse, turn tail and run. Still, even after all this time, the sheer depths of Zenith's anger terrified him to the core.
Could Theo really get through to Zenith like this? Would Zenith listen to a single thing he had to say?
He clenched his teeth, squeezing his staff until his whole arm went numb. That was when he felt something spark across the contract, like a shooting star streaking through the night sky.
Darian didn't look at him, or acknowledge him in any way, but he knew it had been her way of trying to reassure him. And she wasn't the only one. Victor had said it too, that he could save Zenith.
So at the very least, Theo needed to return their faith. To believe in himself as well.
When Equinox inhaled sharply and took a step back, Theo felt like he had snapped out of a dream. Darian reacted as well, lifting Victor's sword higher. "Don't stop moving."
Numb shock lanced down Theo's spine when the corner of Equinox's mouth twitched – the closest to a smile Theo had ever seen from him. "There's no need for that."
"What do you – " Darian began, only for her voice to cut off in a hiss.
Because at that moment, the Levia of the workshop surged into life. Just like when Equinox had first appeared – but far more intense, like a solar flare erupting into the depths of space. The golden light roiled through Theo's body, stealing his breath, wiping all thought from his mind.
But beneath the golden storm, he detected the faintest hint of something else. A much paler, sharper light, as if it was being refracted through a crystal....
Just as the thought struck Theo, the Levia died down as suddenly as it had appeared. Disoriented, he stumbled forward a few steps – and that was when he noticed the two figures who had appeared at the end of the hallway.
The sunlight sparkled across their armor, painfully bright. Their capes billowed like war banners, one deep violet, the other the same azure as the sky beyond the windows.
Theo's breath hitched. The others had frozen too, all staring at the new arrivals in silent shock. All except Equinox, who wasn't even bothering to disguise his quivering excitement.
Step by step, the knights approached. The steady clank of their armor almost drowned out Theo's thundering heartbeat. It was uncanny how similar the two appeared – both tall and long-haired, their strides firm and confident. That only made their differences starker. The one on the right was a woman with dark skin and jet-black hair, the crystals on her armor the same violet as her cape.
As for the one on the left....
Fighting a thousand warring emotions, Theo made himself look into the pale, platinum-haired knight's face. Into those blue eyes as cold and lifeless as the crystals on his armor.
It felt like years – an entire lifetime – since he had last met Zenith's eyes. They couldn't be more unlike he had seen them last, without even the slightest hint of disgust. No...they contained nothing at all. Only a resolve so inhuman it sent shivers down Theo's spine.
And he couldn't help being aware of something else that was missing. A clear white light that should have been reinforcing his own dawn glow. It felt uncanny, alien even, to face Zenith without being able to feel his Levia inside his heart.
The last time must have been when Oliver had captured Zenith. Then, just like now, Theo had faced him with Darian by his side. Except it was different now, because nobody had coerced Zenith. He had made the choice to stand against them.
But if he had known the truth, if he hadn't been deceived, he never would have made that choice. Theo knew this for certain.
Darian's Levia flared inside him, the cosmos deep and comforting. It gave Theo the courage to keep staring Zenith down.
Zenith and the black-haired knight finally came to a stop about three yards in front of Theo's group. As one, they drew their swords and pointed them directly at Theo's face.
"As leader of the Knights of the Firmament," Zenith said, cold and terrible, "I will allow your intrusion no longer. You will remove your presence from my master's workshop or suffer the consequences."