Earl smiles at me and nods before aiming down the barrel of his newest contraption. As he does so, his eye ignites with a brilliant blue, sending bolts and sparks of lightning along the wires that coat the back of the rifle and toward the front. This lightning holds the current for a half-second before a thunderous bang resounds, nearly knocking Earl off his feet.
I hardly catch the movement of the bullet from his invention as it hurtles away faster than anything I've ever seen, even faster than Kai's charge. It dives toward the endless horizon west, and far, far in the distance, a cloud of smoke rises from it, assumably, slamming powerfully into a distant stone face.
Earl regards the effect of the rifle before turning around and lifting his invention for all of us to appreciate. It's not broken, ruined, or damaged in any way like his old Coil. This one is simply smoking from the barrel with a reddened tip showcasing its heat.
"Look! I did it! I made the Coil even better!"
I can't help but smile at his enthusiasm, and neither can anyone else as we all cheer for him. Yet, after a moment of cheers, Johnny quickly lowers the atmosphere with his observation.
"It does seem quite a bit more powerful than your last one, Earl. But... It's different, is it not? Only you can fire it. Anyone could use the Coil as long as you taught them how, even an Unsigiled child."
I watch the genius' head droop, but before I can defend him, Primrose does, standing up for him in defiance of Johnny. She puts her hands on her hips and shifts between their bodies.
"You know he's worried about the coming battle. He had to focus on power, not usability. Hell, he even managed to learn how to implant an Aid into anyone! Not even Eli did that! He could only make them! Cut him some slack, Johnny! He's just a smart man, not a monster like the one behind you. And! He made one with less power for Elizabeth!"
Johnny twists slightly, his eyes flickering over me as he smiles softly. I know he knows I advanced again, but he doesn't focus on it. Instead, he tries to calm the overzealous Primrose.
"Relax. I was not looking down on his invention. I was merely calling attention to the fact that it is different. Earl, if you truly wish to make a difference, creating a single powerful weapon won't do it—creating mighty weapons that anyone can use will. You've done it with the Ails; I'll give you that. But you have a long way to go with the Coils."
Earl nods to Johnny, placing the butt of his rifle onto the ground, the entire thing extending past his head, a whole six feet in length. The genius examines his weapon before agreeing with Johnny.
"He's right, Primrose. This thing will help in a single fight. But if I could somehow mass produce it or even the normal Coi... Even the common man could hold their own against Wondrous Realms. An Angel would have to fear a battalion of Coils. No longer could one defend a thousand or ten thousand."
Blake finally interjects as Earl finishes, asking her own question in regard to power.
"Then what about people like the Prime? Would they no longer be needed? Would we even need Angels at that point? We could all be even and free. All that discrimination from the Estates wouldn't exist due to them having the powerful in their bloodlines."
This time, Johnny shakes his head to an answer. He's the one who has met the Prime among us, after all. He would know best. Johnny points out to the expanse where Earl fired his new weapon, voicing his thoughts.
"A being like the Prime, or the Lords, would have nothing to fear from such a weapon. Their Ether moves on its own, guarding them from any threat. It is similar to Edward and yours' Shiver, Wyatt, only with a clear difference. They can do it forever. Dominions require zero effort to execute. Even a Virtue would have little fear of such a thing. Only a Power would be concerned by it. I'd say, even a hundred of these..."
Johnny leads his words on for Earl to provide a name for his newest weapon, and the genius delivers it promptly. The young man smiles with a confident comment.
"Storm!"
The gunslinger nods, as if expecting an answer like that and continues on. While doing so, he begins walking back to the train.
"A hundred of these Storms wouldn't even reach Vincent's skin. Stormshand, within its most potent part, its core, did not a damned thing to our eldest. And he didn't even show an ounce of effort, of Ether or physicality. But that's enough grim talk. Tonight, we will celebrate, though not too hard. We celebrate for our advancements and creations. Wyatt and Virgil are now 6th Sigils. Earl has created two new weapons and mastered the implementation of Ails. Even Primrose managed to get one, Kudo's Rapture. So, let's have some fun, everyone! Drinks on me!"
Primrose immediately forgives Johnny and rushes past him, hauling a familiar bespectacled man with her. As she moves, I notice that her right eye is a deep, dark purple, one with a swirling wave within it. The glance I receive at it is short, but it lingers within my mind, occupying my thoughts as everyone else hurries toward the train. These Ails... I hope Earl's got them down right. They just don't feel quite right to me.
Virgil wakes me from my thoughts, tapping me on the back of the head. The man cloaked in all manners of clothing to hide himself from the sun rotates around me with a calm tone. I always wonder what not seeing the sun will do to his skin.
"C'mon. I know you're worried about tomorrow, but it'll be fine. If you don't want to party, we can spend a bit of time familiarizing ourselves with our new abilities. You up for that?"
He knows me too well. I glance at Elizabeth and Earl's parting backs before nodding. I would much rather do this than party. I would never forgive myself if they died because of my callousness.
"Yeah. Yeah. Let's do that."
I can't see Virgil's smile, but by the way the cloth around his face moves, I know he is grinning.
"Good. Follow me."
Between passing out on the way here from the Carmine Square and... Burdenless, I feel pretty comfortable. My Ether saturation is relatively low even after the last jaunt of the sprint here, and my wounds aren't too bad. Most of it was mental, after all.
The little cut here or there is standard for me, and I can virtually ignore them in favor of focusing. So, Virgil and I soon find an open field of stone away from the city, positioning ourselves away from each other. We make sure there are no trees nearby for apparent reasons.
And just as a test, I reach for Burdenless, only to find a spiking agony that boils from the deepest part of my mind and my soul. It's so crippling that I don't even have time to grasp it with Painsforge and force it into my heart. Falling to my knees, I heave out a painful breath as Virgil's head twists, and a step brings him before me.
"Are you alright? Did something go wrong?"
Coughing terribly, I gradually recover as I tell him what happened at the Carmine Square. Regarding personal details, including those of my Sigil, I don't think I trust anyone more than Virgil. I trust others like Earl and Elizabeth but could see it being tortured or ripped from them via some kind of Sigiled. Johnny and Abraham could try to cleverly use the information for an advantage in some scenarios.
But Virgil?
He'd rather, and would, die before spitting out a lick about me. I know that because I'd do the same for him. I promised Vernon to take care of his older brother, after all.
"...So that's what happened. I'm not entirely sure what my new Sigil is all about, but the skill is great. That pain I had just now was an attempt to use it again. I reckon I have to be clear of Ether for some amount of time before it comes back or wait for my soul to cleanse itself. I'm not entirely sure, but it sounds likely based on my other ones from the Wondrous Realm also having downtimes after use."
Virgil nods at me before backstepping and resuming his preparations for fighting as he thinks over my new skills. He even lets me in on some of his own.
"That Ether saturation wiping-thing is quite unique. I've heard that pure Abbots at the 5th Sigil get something similar, but it's less pronounced. Other than that, I can't recall any other skills like it. I do wish we managed to save that man's Wayfarer. He probably had some other crazy Sigils to do what he did. The rare ones are always the best, as so few know how to counter them. My newest things are mainly that my teleportation has become even faster and... more flexible."
Virgil completes his words as he jumps backward, stepping lightly onto a hazy plane of darkness that supports his weight, forming from his very own shadow. Then, he leaps off of it sideways, tapping his boot against another that hovers sideways. The instant his foot touches the dark stepping stone, he vanishes.
Before I know it, he stands behind me, hand on my shoulder.
Twisting around, I smile at him, realizing his versatility immediately. Who can catch a man who can walk on his own shadow into the air?
My smile widens as I twist and push him away from me, readying to fight as the pain in my head fully fades from attempting to use Burdenless again. My hands extend outwards as Ether flows through me, and I prepare all my skills. Pain still wracks my shoulder as even the Bloody Palm's natural healing is slowed, and I use that to beat the forge within my heart.
Virgil's Sigil might have given him some extraordinary abilities recently, but I found some of my own in addition to those from my Sigil.
*************************
Abraham 'Nightmare' Ulren
Sitting atop a building and kicking my legs loosely, I watch the city below. Everyone else gets along with each other or fits into their own group. The humans all party, play, and fight alongside one another, while even the once-humans like Silas and Lennox find commonality with outcasts like Blake. The Bado still have a large enough group to feel like a family, and the two Rougarou prefer to be alone in their section of the train.
As for me, I don't have a group to turn to. I'm not like them. I'm only half-human, a monstrosity to many who call this world their home. Sure, I have Bonfire, of course, but sometimes that buffoon is too much. Wyatt and Johnny are kind to me, but I never truly feel as though I'm wanted. Everyone feels so lively, even when we're so close to death.
At least... the nightmares of my father are gone. Those terrible visions of my mother's death and the many incidents of torture he forced me through no longer haunt me at night. Emmet helped me through that partially, but I'm more inclined to believe my father has been overshadowed by a more terrifying threat.
The Nahullo... my kind don't do well to deaths of their people. Especially not their Vices. A storm just as big as the one Marshall conjured, if not greater, is on its way. The Viceray's daughter, Dakster, is dead, and so is the Viceroy himself, Irham Ulren. Indeed, absolutely, the Viceray and possibly even the Stalwart Spine himself will arrive for vengeance.
And that has nothing to do with what may or may not be arriving from the Prime, Vincent Harvey. Talks are that Tonuyn, the Pygmy's Creator, will join the Lords to assault Vincent the moment he takes the step forward. And something deep down tells me that Ytern will join them.
Our Warmaster is an odd man and very different from the rest of our kind. He doesn't seek war; he only seeks to end them. He wants a better place for all Nahullo, even if many only desire more battle and adrenaline. And the easiest way to end the war between Nahullo and mankind is to strike when Vincent leaps forward.
Sure, there is a chance it damns us all, but each of those at the Gate, as Vincent put it to Johnny, have the confidence that they will be the next God. Even the Creator. Even the Lords. And over the years, I've wondered how the Lords are free from the Mother Below's influence, but the reason is likely regarding that exact confidence.
Only Behemoth and Leviathan exist from the Powers, Virtues, and Dominions of legends, of millenias ago. Only those two rose above all the others and remained at the peak. Their wills and motivations must be absolutely frightening. Where others fell like Mammon, they stayed.
I just don't understand why they don't all work together. Isn't the Mother Below a far greater threat than each other? I mean, I can get the past few centuries where she was relatively inactive, but now? Are our grudges that deep?
Gazing down at the party on the train from the top of my building, I can't help but draw a wry smile. If only someone could make us all peaceful. I can even imagine a world where Vincent, Leviathan, Behemoth, Ytern, and Tonuyn all ascend to Godhood and fight the Mother Below together, along with all the Gods she has under her control, the decrepit things gradually fading and dying.
It would be a glorious future.
But it will never happen. Behemoth is too stubborn. That old fucker will never let humans live, even if he must die, too. Leviathan... she might do so under the right circumstances. She's clever, not in technological thinking but in a strategic mind. If we could offer her something worthwhile, she just may not battle against humanity.
As for Tonuyn, I can't imagine that Pygmy relenting. Humans and Pygmies have the most decisive battles as we fight for the very same territory that we both need to live. Our rivalry is one that goes to the bone, far too deep to be reconciled.
Ytern... maybe. Maybe. I don't think he'd want an object or anything tangible, however. That is not the kind of man he is. I just don't know what he would wish for to make this a reality.
And finally, for Vincent Harvey. The legendary old man would pounce on any opportunity to help rise to Godhood. I know he would.
Flickers on the edge of my vision imitate my inner thoughts as images of my fears and nightmares temporarily materialize. My heart beats at a higher pace, even though I know they aren't real. I just can't help it.
The massive, darkened, and furred form of Behemoth shakes me to the core while Leviathan's serpentine feminine figure freezes my gaze. Ytern, tall and ominous with a heart in his hand, and Tonuyn, adorned with the most powerful suit of armor in the world, catch my heart in my throat as I struggle to breathe. And the final figure, a lone man, absolutely ordinary in all ways but name, with a cane, brings the harshest tremors.
In a world where terrible monsters roam all over, it is the lone, normal, and singular human that strikes the most fear.
So many ask the same question.
"How?"
How does he do it? How does Vincent stand against these foes?
I feel a weight join me, another body placing itself on the edge of the building beside me. I turn, expecting to find Bonfire, but no, it's Skyswain who sits beside me with her wings furled.
"You should get some sleep, Abraham. It's not good to speak to the shadows."
I nod slowly to her as she repeats my advice to her back at me. Groaning, I twist around and place my feet back onto solid ground.
"Yeah... I should sleep before we fight. It's been a while."
Skyswain smiles beside me, her lips extending in that odd manner Bado's do as their eyes follow the motion. Her hand lands on my shoulder.
"Why in such a hurry? It's not even nightfall yet. Stay a while. Watch the sunset with me. It's not the same at our Spires at this height, but it's close."
I want to refuse for a moment, a singular moment as sleep beckons me, but I don't. This is what I wanted. To feel wanted. I pivot back around and stay with Skyswain on the ledge.
Minutes pass as we stay silent, watching the beautiful fall of the sun beyond the horizon. A multitude of colors shower across the sky in a haze until Skyswain speaks, breaking the moment.
"You push everyone away, Abraham. Just as I did. You all pulled until I came back. Slowly. It took me a while after 'Chaser's death, but it worked at Bent. I'll do the same for you, even if you don't want it."
Skyswain stops speaking as I open my mouth to refute her, but she continues before I can.
"You are human, Abraham. They do not care if you are part Nahullo. They don't even care that I'm not human at all. Can't you see that? All you do is hold yourself back. Sure, the average human in the city might care, but not those who matter."
I fall silent, unable to find a way to retort her. Instead, I look down, seeing Bonfire argue with another man. A short chuckle comes as I witness both conjure fire, one turning into a glorious blaze and the other with a dozen birds of flame surrounding him.
"Thanks, Skyswain. I... after my father's passing, I suppose I needed something to reorient me. Because... I never knew how much I wanted him dead. And now... I know how much I want to live. I can't wait to be free of these nightmares and sleep soundly."
Skyswain smiles again with the typical Bado grin that stretches only the sides of their beaks before patting me on the shoulder.
"Now, go be with your friends."