Chapter 205: Hunting a Aeon
The barren planet was oppressive, a landscape of jagged black crystal that seemed to drink the faint light of the distant nebula. The air was thin and sharp, carrying a metallic tang. You stood before the woman who called herself Phantylia, her impossible beauty a stark, terrifying contrast to the desolate world she had chosen for this meeting.
"Who are you?" you repeated, your hand resting on the hilt of your sword. Your voice was steady, but your heart hammered against your ribs.
"Me?" The woman chuckled, her voice as smooth and intoxicating as fine wine. It was a sound that promised everything and offered nothing. "I suppose introductions are in order if we're to be partners."
She glided a step closer, her black gown seeming to absorb the dim light around her. "I am Phantylia. As I said, an Emanator of Destruction. You might know my colleagues by our collective title... the Lord Ravagers."
[Inorin's Note: Lord Ravagers are the most powerful Emanators of Nanook, the Aeon of Destruction. They are living disasters, each capable of annihilating entire civilizations.]
Your blood ran cold. A Lord Ravager. One of the beings ranked just below the Aeons themselves. You had walked into a den far more dangerous than you could have imagined.
"No need to look so tense, little hunter," Phantylia's smile widened, her eyes crinkling with amusement at your reaction. "I didn't bring you to this desolate rock to kill you. If I wanted that, you would already be ash."
She stopped a few feet away, the scent of strange, exotic flowers wafting from her. "I came today to discuss... cooperation. A joint venture, you might say."
Her gaze was sharp, predatory. "I know of your hatred. I know why you hunt. Your quest for revenge against the Borisin is almost complete, but your true ire... it lies higher, doesn't it?"
She didn't wait for an answer. "I think we can work together. I think, you and I... we can slay the Aeon of The Hunt, Lan."
The sheer audacity of the proposal, stated so casually, struck you silent. Kill an Aeon? It was the rambling of a lunatic.
"You're insane," you stated flatly.
"Am I?" Phantylia laughed, a musical sound that grated against the oppressive silence. "I am a Lord Ravager; my very purpose is to bring ruin to all things. And you... you are a mortal burning with a fire that rivals my own, a fire ignited by Lan's 'merciful' arrow."
She tilted her head. "We both get what we need. You want revenge. I want destruction. Our goals align perfectly."
"And how can I possibly trust you?" you asked, your voice laced with suspicion. "You are Destruction incarnate. You would stab me in the back the moment it suited you."
"Of course I would," she admitted without hesitation, her honesty more disarming than any lie. "Just as you would do the same to me. That's what makes this alliance so stable, don't you think? We both know exactly where we stand."
She walked up to you, close enough that you could feel the unnatural coldness radiating from her. Her gloved finger, impossibly long and delicate, gently lifted your chin, forcing you to meet her gaze.
"But... since you are so cautious, so adorably mortal... I will give you a welcome gift. A token of my sincerity. Something to prove that our interests are, for now, one and the same."
"A welcome gift?" you repeated, not pulling away.
"Mm-hmm." She stepped back, her smile turning coy. "I've gone to a great deal of trouble to procure it. I've even... turned one of The Hunt's own Emanators to our side."
Your heart seized. An Emanator of The Hunt?
"I believe you... are familiar with her."
As if summoned by her words, the sound of heavy, rhythmic footsteps echoed from the darkness behind Phantylia. Someone was approaching.
A familiar figure walked out of the oppressive shadows and into the dim, crystalline light. Silver hair that faded into a striking teal-green, a tall and heroic posture, armor that bore the sigil of the Yaoqing Cloud Knights...
Your breath caught in your throat. It couldn't be.
"Feixiao?!"
You looked at the person before you in utter shock. It was her, the general who had survived the same massacre that took Jiang Li and Neergul, the woman you had reunited with on the Yaoqing. "Why... Why are you here?"
Feixiao didn't answer. She simply walked quietly, her steps heavy, until she stood directly in front of you. Her gaze was no longer the firm, proud, and sharp look of a general. Her green eyes were dull, unfocused, and held a frightening, singular, pathological obsession.
She was looking at you, but it felt like she was looking through you, seeing only an idea, a goal.
"She told me," Feixiao's voice was flat, devoid of its usual fiery spirit, "that here, I could be with you. That I could help you." She turned her head slightly towards Phantylia, then her gaze snapped back to you. "So I came."
"Feixiao... what is this?" you frowned, a terrible premonition crawling up your spine. "Didn't I tell you to stay out of it? I want to destroy The Hunt... and you are a General of the Cloud Knights. You are one of them."
"No," Feixiao interrupted, her voice still unnervingly calm. "I won't be for much longer. I am preparing to resign my commission."
You were stunned into silence. You looked into her eyes, searching for the friend you knew, but all you found was this strange, unsettling mix of madness and devotion. "Wait, Feixiao," you said, your voice dropping. "Your Moonstruck Sickness... has it gotten worse?"
[Inorin's Note: Moonstruck Sickness is a condition mentioned in the story, likely analogous to the Mara-Struck affliction, a state of madness and degeneration caused by unnaturally long life or exposure to certain powers.]
A flicker of... something... passed through her eyes. A brief spasm of pain, perhaps. Her pupils constricted, then she flashed a brittle, nonchalant smile that didn't reach her eyes. "That's none of your business, Orion. You only need to know that I will help you. And I will be by your side. That is enough!"
You whirled on Phantylia, your hand tightening on your sword. "What did you do to her?"
"I didn't do anything," Phantylia shrugged, the very picture of innocence. "I merely provided a... sympathetic ear. She was so very lonely, you know. Grieving. And that... sickness of hers... it amplifies emotions. I simply told her the truth: that you were alive, that you were on a quest for revenge, and that the only way for her to ever be truly with you was to join you."
Phantylia smiled. "I just told her she could stay by your side. She came of her own free will."
"THIS WAS MY OWN DECISION!"
Feixiao suddenly became agitated, her voice cracking. She rushed forward, not to attack, but to embrace you. She threw her arms around you, her grip like a steel vise, desperate and terrified.
"Now, I only need you, Orion!" she choked out, her face buried in your shoulder. "Only you! That's enough. Everything else... the General's seat, the Xianzhou, the Alliance... none of it matters! As long as you... as long as you are by my side..."
Held in her tight, trembling embrace, you were at a complete loss. Her body was shaking.
"On the battlefield... back then... I couldn't save you," she choked out, her words wet with tears you couldn't see. "I couldn't save anyone. I thought you were dead... I thought I was alone... Every day, I thought, if only I had been by your side... if only I had been stronger..."
Her hand came up, caressing your face, her touch almost frantic, as if confirming you were real. "Then you suddenly appeared... and I thought I was dreaming. But then you wanted to leave again... You left me alone again..."
Her voice broke. "This time... this time, I won't let you go. I won't!"
She pulled back just enough to look you in the eyes, her own green eyes now wild with a terrifying, obsessive light. "Every night, I dream of that war. I dream of you disappearing into that arrow of light... So this time, no matter what you want to do, I won't let go. Even if it means falling into the abyss, as long as I can be with you..."
Looking at this completely different Feixiao—this broken, desperate woman clinging to you as her only anchor—you finally understood. Her grief for Jiang Li and Neergul, her survivor's guilt, her terror of losing you, and the years of loneliness, all festering and fermenting. It had been twisted by the advance of her Moonstruck Sickness and expertly manipulated by Phantylia, transforming her deep affection into this suffocating, pathological love.
Losing you now, after finding you again, would make her completely collapse. She would shatter.
You let out a long, slow breath, the cold air stinging your lungs. Your own anger, your own quest for vengeance, felt so simple in comparison. You slowly, gently, raised your arms and embraced her, pulling her trembling body close.
"I see..." you sighed.
Feixiao's body stiffened at the contact, as if she couldn't believe it. Then she hugged you even more tightly, a desperate, broken sob escaping her, as if she was trying to melt you into her very being, to ensure you could never, ever be separated again.
"Alright," you whispered into her hair, your voice soft but laced with a new, cold resolve. "I understand. You won't lose me again."
You held her for a moment, then met Phantylia's satisfied gaze over Feixiao's shoulder.
"Then together," you promised, your voice a dark vow meant for both of them, "we shall destroy that high and mighty Reign-Bow."
"Really?" Feixiao looked up, her tear-streaked face suddenly filled with an ecstatic, almost manic joy. "You're willing... you're willing to let me stay by your side?"
You looked down into her obsessed, hopeful eyes and nodded. She had already given up everything for you. How could you possibly push her away now? Besides... an Emanator of The Hunt, consumed by madness and loyal only to you... she was the most powerful weapon you could ever ask for.
"I won't leave you," you affirmed.
Phantylia watched the tragic, twisted reunion, a perfectly satisfied smile playing on her lips, like a spider watching its prey finally, inextricably, tangle itself in the web.
"It seems," the Lord Ravager purred, "our cooperation can truly begin. With your... unique abilities, and with General Feixiao's... enthusiastic support, plus my humble power..."
Her smile widened, full of dark promise. "The doom of The Hunt is not far off at all."