I came to from my memory with Bricin and Silky both standing over me.
"I don't know who this Latorakena person is, but if he is strong enough to make you faint from thinking about him, then he must be bad news," Silky said.
"Bad news doesn't properly describe that freak," I said, standing up. "He's immortal, like me, but in a different way. He revives himself from the memories of others."
"What makes him so terrifying an opponent though is his tactical prowess," Bricin noted. "He's unmatched by anyone right now. The only person who could ever outplay him was Caelis Terminus, Third ranked of the Caeli, and King of Heroes. But we don't know where he is."
"He's not in Elysium?" I asked.
Bricin shook his head. "No one has seen him there or anywhere since the war ended and he disappeared three hundred years ago."
"Has it really been that long?" I said to myself.
He looked at me with what could only be described as pity. "Who do you think we can tell?"
"I-I'm not sure," I stammered. "Last time, we didn't even know that there was something going on until Serenadia was assaulted. So there is a good chance we are a little ahead of the game this time, but it's hard to be sure."
He grunted. "You never know who could've been swayed. If Terminus was right, then there's a good chance that at least two leaders of inter-dimensional significance are against us."
I nodded. I needed to think. If it was Lato we were really up against, then this was bad. None of us had the tactical skills that he did, much less Terminus. I remembered what he had said about me being the vanguard of order. But in order for me to be the vanguard, I had to be prepared, and probably stronger. After all, Lato had whipped my butt last time. And we were only fighting for a few minutes. This wouldn't end well if all we had was spunk and sharp sticks.
I needed to focus on getting stronger too. This was going to be difficult. I needed to speak to someone with either the brains to outsmart Lato, or the absolute brute force to make any of his plans irrelevant. Or was that even possible? One reality that could almost be called a law in this vast Rift, is that there is always someone at least at the same power level as you or higher.
There's always a bigger fish.
If there was someone out there who was that powerful, would Lato have anticipated that already and sought out someone strong enough to counter them with? Or would he be able to think up a plan to defeat someone that powerful? Was I overthinking it?
There were too many questions, and I didn't have any answers.
"Lord Bricin," a servant called.
Bricin turned to them. "Yes?"
"Lord Caelis Phrygis, of the Council of Caeli would like to speak to you."
Caelis Phrygis. The fourth Caeli in authority, the third in brute strength. Of course, they hadn't had the first of either of those in a while. He had gone missing some time ago.
The current holder of the title "Phrygis" was a calculating man, but not quite as much as Terminus.
Bricin turned back to me. "Would you like to come with me?"
I nodded and he opened a gate.
-
We stepped out of the gate and onto a stone walkway. Behind us was the emptiness of the rift, in front of us was a castle. The Caelian Manor, or the Manor of the Heavens.
Yes. The Caeli titles are derived from Latin.
Caelis Terminus roughly comes out to "heaven's limit," while Caelis Phrygis is roughly translated as "of the sky."
We passed through the courtyard and into the manor. It was there that we saw a young man wearing a white suit, a light blue tie and a light blue shoulder cape fringed with gold.
I was confused, because that was the garb worn by the holder of the title "Phrygis," but the Phrygis I knew was easily twenty years older than the eighteen year old boy in front of me.
"Hello again, Bricin," he said with a bow. "And to you as well Lord Scribe. I am the current holder of the title Phrygis."
I was taken aback. But, I suppose it made sense. Three hundred years is a long time.
The boy had kind, blue eyes and fluffy blonde hair. That was the best way I knew to put it. He stood about as tall as me with a ceremonial sword by his side.
"You are aware that Lato's return is imminent, I presume?" He asked.
"Yes," I answered. "Are you able to help us?"
"Of course," he replied. "But you need to understand, Terminus planned all of this to happen exactly how it is. Even this moment now."
I doubted that, and it must've shown on my face because Phrygis then expounded on his statement.
"He left a letter for me, you see," he said. "He told me 'Phrygis, when Lord Scribe comes to you for help - and he will - tell him to remember what I told him all those years ago. By the time he comes to you for help, he will have lost his head, he will have less than half of his identity in his memory, and he will need to learn what it means to be powerful once again. He will need to gain even more strength than he ever held before. I fear what Lato has planned, because he is understandably wary of him, and for that, he will seek a way to remove him from the picture in some way. Tell him to stick to what I told him, tell him to regain himself, and to be cautious.'"
He looked me in the eye. "In other words, you need to calm down," he said bluntly. "You have a job to do. Go do it, and trust that Terminus has a plan. As it is, he knew you were going to lose your memory, he also knew that Lato would return."
I nodded. He was right, it was like that guy could see the future.
"In the meantime, I'll see if I can find Caelis Stigmata, and see if he wants to help," Phrygis said.
I cut my eyes at him. "You know where he is?"
"Yeah," he replied casually. "He was up here for a while." He pointed at his head.
"I see, so you were his vessel."
"At one point, yes," Bricin interrupted. "But believe it or not Stigmata sacrificed himself to save the boy's life. And in doing so, he redeemed his own soul and was given another chance in his own body. Of course, I still wouldn't trust him very much."
Caelis Stigmata, the Scars of Heaven. He was and is the second strongest of the Caeli, and second in authority as well. We killed his body almost a millennia ago, but somehow, he had retained full consciousness outside of his body and moved around from host to host like a parasite. Every time he took on a new body, he would call himself by that title, and he would rule over whatever world, or organization as a tyrant. He was among the most feared of Riftal inhabitants.
But I guess that wasn't a big deal right now. At least, neither of these two seemed too concerned about it.
"Don't worry about anything else besides getting stronger, and getting your memories back," Bricin reassured me.
I hesitated for a moment. It was true that as things stood, I was probably among the weakest of my companions, but I still felt obligated to help. But how could I help if I was just a hindrance?
I nodded. "I'll focus on getting my memories back, and then I'll get stronger along the way."
Bricin nodded. "We will continue to work on any countermeasures we can think of and find out who of the Kings of the Rift are among the enemy ranks."
I nodded again. "Alright, let's have some fun, shall we?"