Did We Lose?

Ignacio’s eyes slowly opened, a jar of fireflies blurring into focus as he blinked. The roof was an intricate web of blue and brown tree roots, the lantern above him hanging from a twining hook of wood.

“Ooh,” a deep, booming voice came from beside him. “You’re awake.”

He turned, his eyes widening. A giant ape sat on the floor across from him, the round room barely tall enough to keep it contained.

Its sharp ears lifted as it smiled, flashing sharp teeth. It stretched a long, stick-thin arm out to Ignacio and offered a hand.

“Name is Shun,” the creature said, slowly. “Pleased to meet ya.”

Ignacio tried reaching for the beast's hand, but gasped as pain erupted along his side, into his shoulder.

“Oh,” Shun said, pulling his arm back. “My bad.”

“Where am I?” Ignacio asked. “Where’s Koharu and Ezequiel?”

“You’re in Orravine, with Specterveil,” Shun said, lowering his gaze to his fingers. “Koharu is currently in a fight with her brother.”

Ignacio frowned. “Her… brother?”

Shun nodded. “I’m not interrupting them. It seems important.”

Ignacio coughed, feeling something stretch around his stomach. His forehead itched, and he felt a bandage beneath his fingertips.

“How long have I been here?”

Shun tilted his head side to side. “I think fifty minutes.”

Ignacio’s ears pricked up as he heard Koharu’s voice shouting from outside. The tangled root door swung open and she stepped into the room, her face softening.

“Ignacio,” she said, rushing to his side. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” he said, waving her hand away. “Where are we?”

She sighed, scratching her forehead with her thumb. “Orravine. Specterveil’s city.”

“Specterveil has a city?”

Shun raised his hand. “I made some of it.”

“How long have we been here?”

Koharu placed a hand on her hip. “About an hour. But you haven’t been in the Ethergeist the whole time. What do you remember?”

Ignacio blinked. “I just remember laying on my back, and seeing these giant white crystals falling from the sky.”

Shun’s head perked up, ears lifting. “You fought a Hallowed Titan?”

Ignacio pressed the side of his head with his left hand. “Why do I remember? I absorbed two Aspects.”

“Three,” Koharu said, rubbing her elbow. “I carried you out of the battle.”

Ignacio sighed. “Did we lose?”

Koharu lowered her head, and Shun’s ears drooped.

“After the battle, we only had forty minutes left to be inside the Ethergeist. So I flew us as far away as I could for thirty minutes, then left you in a cave to call Doctor Ivo in the real world. When he came, he put you into an Ether-coma, and I pulled you from the Ethergeist. His theory is that without awakening your brain, you wouldn’t lose all of your memories while allowing you to recover.”

Ignacio nodded, staring at the ceiling.

So how am I going to get out of here?

He closed his eyes, forcing his mind to back track through what happened. “I… think he was right. I don’t remember everything, there are gaps. But I have a good idea of what happened.”

Koharu nodded. “Ace…”

“Where are the others?” Ignacio asked, trying to sit up but stopping as the pain in his stomach flared. “I don’t remember seeing them when I fought the Hallowed Titan.”

Koharu’s lips parted, her eyes glittering with tears as she looked up at him. “Beltran and Ezequiel…”

Ignacio’s heart sank into his stomach, blood pounding in his ears. “No…” he said, his fists balling. “Kiyomi?”

Her jaws clenched. “She’s a traitor, Ace,” she snarled. “She was working with Cypher Corp the entire time. She was trying to kill you indirectly the whole time. Even our encounter with Chey at Miraveth? It was all her.”

Ignacio squeezed his eyes. “Now, come on, Kay. You can’t be-”

“Chey was here,” Shun said. “Kiyomi thought you might try coming to us, so she sent Chey to keep watch.”

Ignacio’s eyes widened. “What?”

Koharu nodded. “Kaito beat him half to death and tortured him for information.”

“Which I had no part of,” Shun said, raising a hand.

“Where is he now?”

“Dead,” Koharu said.

Ignacio leaned his head back in the pillow, his stomach burning as the scent of lava searing into his flesh returned to him.

Beltran and Ezequiel, dead. And Kiyomi working for Cypher Corp?

“Is Daichi okay? What did Kiyomi do in the real world after she woke up?” Ignacio asked.

Koharu’s jaw tensed again. “Daichi is fine. By the time I disconnected from the Ethergeist she was long gone. Daichi said she woke up, said everything went well and said she had to take care of something. Then she just walked out.”

“She didn’t hurt him?”

“With what? He was armed with a charge-pistol, she had her scrawny little hands.”

Ignacio nodded. He wanted to be ill. They were all… gone. Ezequiel and Beltran were dead because of him. He’d put Koharu in danger, and Daichi could have been killed, too. He massaged his eyes.

Focus, Ignacio, he thought. Celeste is still out there.

And what was there to do about it?

“I… I’m sorry, Koharu,” he said, eyes moving to her.

She lowered her head. “Ace, I don’t think we can win this.”

His face burned as he leaned over the side of the bed, and threw up. The vomit splattered on the wood flooring, and he wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his white shirt.

“Yes, we can,” he said, looking to Shun. “Right? You guys are Specterveil, aren’t you? The crew that killed the first adult Psywyrm?”

Shun nodded, his slit eyes moving to Koharu. “Yeah. But Koharu and Lady Shidare are the ones trying to fight your case with our boss.”

Ignacio blinked. “Who?”

The door opened again, and in stepped the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. She had straight black hair tied in a pony tail that reached down to the small of her back, a fan of red and white scales and feathers crowning the back of her head. Gold and pearl jewelry decorated the rest of her taut hair, pinned and clipped to it, her earrings tassels of thin gold chain. A pair of katana handles poked out from behind her back, their tassels swaying as she moved.

“Ace?” she breathed, hands clasping against her chest as she walked over to the bed. “Are you okay?”

Ignacio blinked again. “I’m… sorry, Miss, I don’t know who you are.”

Her shoulders slumped. “It’s me. Lady Shidare? The Empress of Miraveth?”

This is her? He thought, mind scrambling.

“Oh, yes. Sorry, I suffered-”

“Never mind,” Koharu said, crossing her arms beneath her breasts. “Tell him what you told us, Lady Shidare.”

The Empress sighed, her wide blue eyes narrowing with sadness. “I tried taking your case to the House of Freedoms. But… the majority have decided not to aid you in this fight, Ace,” she said, her sharp jaws tensing. “I tried everything… well, almost everything, to get them to say yes. But they’re too scared. Miraveth and Velin stand with you. But Thalyssan and Specterveil do not.”