Vainglorious. Created by Kelly Bull. Chapter 13
Rei sits on a rooftop, one arm over his knee while his other leg rests over the edge. His gaze is longing as he watches the distant sunset, which projects the last of its warm colours onto the swelling clouds behind him. A determined breeze pushes him from behind and ruffles his hair that is magically cropped short by the charmed headband and ribbon braided through.
While the scenery around him continues to unfold, Rei's thoughts turn inwards and he remembers the Queen. The memory of her mocks him, and her voice is strong in his head as she taunts:
"You think yourself wise? You think yourself grand? You're not enough. You couldn't fly if you wanted to."
Rei reflects on all the physical parts of himself he has lost along his journey — his claws, his horns, and now even his signature wild hair that has to be kept hidden in public.
Unable to face these losses, he curls in on himself, sunset long forgotten. The canyons stretch ahead of him, and the buildings embedded on the canyon's sides slowly light up, hinting at whatever life must be contained within. But on this rooftop, Rei is alone.
The moment is broken, however, as Baslo slams open the door to the rooftop. Rei jumps with tears in his eyes.
"There you are!" Baslo beams, excited to finally locate Rei.
“Come inside,” he continues, “I have a surprise for you!”
Rei wipes at his eyes and takes a final pensive look towards the canyons before climbing to his feet, and following after Baslo. He makes his way down the stairs belonging to the rooftop access. Baslo is already at one of his workstations below, arranging an assortment of items.
“Down here!” he calls. Baslo holds up a labelled vial only a bit bigger than his thumb. It’s made of a brown glass and has a cork stopper.
“Now,” Baslo begins, “this is a tonic for you to drink.” He adjusts his glasses as he considers the vial, “if I went about this correctly, it should loosen the limits of your curse. What you’ll find is—hey!”
Baslo is interrupted as Rei yoinks the vial right out of his hands! Before Baslo can fully react, Rei has already uncorked the vial and is throwing the small amount of liquid within down his throat.
“Rei!” Baslo shouts, reaching out helplessly.
Rei holds a hand over his mouth to ensure he swallows every bit of the potion, but he gags as something clearly does not agree with his body.
“I didn’t even explain the potential side-effects!” Baslo says, alarmed, “what if it does something you don’t want!”
A cough erupts out of Rei and his eyes well up with tears.
Baslo continues to rant, eyes closing in a mixture of panic and despair, “and you skipped the control tests too—ohhhhh, comparing data will be a nightmare now!”
Rei clears his throat. He’s trembling, his complexion looks weak, and his voice is shaky as he asks, “what did you put in here?”
Before he can hear an answer, Rei loses the fight with his bodily functions and pitches forward as the contents of his stomach ejects itself. Baslo watches with restrained anger for a second before throwing his hands in the air.
“Well there’s no point explaining that now, is there Rei?!” he says.
Rei can’t answer. His body is overcome with coughs and all he can do is stay on all fours as his body continues its protest.
Baslo’s eyes soften as he watches Rei’s struggle, and his temper evaporates.
“I’m sorry, let me get you some water,” says Baslo, and he hurries off to bring Rei some relief.
Rei is left behind, still on all fours. He brings a hand to his throat as he starts to splutter, and his coughing becomes more intense. Just as his coughs begin to sound closer like violent hacking, the insides of his mouth begin to glow a warm orange, as if being lit from within. Then, there is a spark, quick and small but shaped like starlight.
And fire erupts from Rei's mouth.
It spews outwards with great force, uncontrollable and eager to be let out. Rei has tears in his eyes from the effort it took to spit out these flames. They're strong, but they don't bring him any harm and flow away from him like water.
The fire soon dies out, leaving a speechless Rei to stare in shock at an equally stunned Baslo, who has just returned with a modest cup of water. The stillness lasts only a moment, and then Rei is leaping into the air, arms and legs stretched as he yells out a victory cheer! Baslo is just as excited and pumps his fists at his sides, shouting along with Rei.
Baslo is quick to encourage Rei.
"Do it again!" He shouts. And when a small puff of fire flows out of Rei's grinning mouth, Baslo cries, "yes! Again! Perfect!"
Rei blows out more and more streams of fire. With each growing flame, Baslo's cheers and laughter increase, urging Rei to create bigger and bolder displays. But they get caught in the moment and the fire quickly grows out of control, latching onto their surroundings.
"Oh no," Rei says, stopping his output.
"Too much," Baslo declares.
"Too much!!" Rei agrees.
The two hurry to grab fire blankets and fire extinguishers to put out the fast spreading problem. The room is tinged in a searing orange, and the timber beams and furniture begin to crackled under the heat.
It takes some work, but soon the fire is put out and a heavy layer of smoke overtakes the room. Rei and Baslo collapse into a heap on the workroom floor. Baslo cleans his glasses with a sigh while Rei's wide, disbelieving eyes stare into nothing.
All at once, the situation catches up to Rei and he clasps a hand over his mouth. His eyes begin watering and he's unable to stop his shaking. Baslo, still focused on his glasses, is oblivious to this change and chuckles.
"I suppose we got a bit carried away there," Baslo says, readjusting his glasses onto his face, "but this was a resounding success! What do you say, Rei?"
Baslo barely gets the last of his words out before he's enveloped in Rei's arms.
Rei hugs him tightly, shaking, his hands gripping at Baslo's hair and shirt as Rei does all he can to express his gratitude. He can't speak yet, he can only sniffle and hiccup as he cries quietly into Baslo's shoulder.
Baslo at first is concerned, but he soon understands what is happening and leans into Rei, hugging him back and smiling gently as Rei lets it all out.
All Rei can say, is a small, shaky, but heartfelt "thank you".
The sun fully sets, and Athalier's nightlife rises against it.
Up near the surface, patrons frequent open air restaurants and pubs, and nearby stadiums light up the skies as they welcome crowds of thousands. A bit further down, into the covered shopping districts, the crowds thin as shoppers prioritize thoughts of dinner and gatherings.
Even further below however, is Athalier's underbelly. The shining lights of the surface no longer reach here, and the corners of the streets become less friendly. Unfortunate passerbys fall victim to muggings, buildings are more run down, windows are boarded, and the unhoused try to find corners of comfort in tunnels.
But where there's people there's community. A group of patrons spill out of a bar, the glowing lights of the establishment briefly warming up the surrounding street, but also darkening corners where others might hide. If you look closely, Mercury stands in the center of them all, happily chatting with those around him.
The larger group moves on but Mercury chooses to stay behind. He leans against the building's walls and scribbles down some notes in a red handheld journal. A cloaked figure steps out of the shadows. Mercury spares them half a glance before returning to his writing. Not a breath later his neck snaps back towards the figure, and Mercury lets out a half formed sound of surprise.
Looming in front of him, stands her, Ereva, face as impassive as always.
They relocate back into the bar, and sit at a table in a private room. Mercury fidgets with a mug and sinks into his seat, doing his best to avoid Ereva's eyes. In contrast, Ereva sits in a perfect posture, with her hands held together above the table. Unlike her usual outfits when working around the palace, Ereva has come plainly dressed. Both she and Mercury wear cloaks with the hoods tugged off. But where Mercury only wears a red sash around his waist, Ereva wears a leather belt dotted with compartments. An unremarkable sword rests at her hip.
Neither speak.
Mercury cracks first and clears his throat. Still avoiding eye contact, he begins, "so!"
But Ereva interrupts.
"Our agreement was that you look after your end of the bargain and I turn a blind eye towards your petty endeavours," she says.
Mercury falls silent, his lips thinning as he resigns himself to this conversation.
"Correct?" Ereva checks, leaning across the table.
"No, that's right," says Mercury, leaning away and gingerly covering his drink.
Ereva continues, "destruction of property across upper levels, robbing blue class citizens, hijacking redirected palace cargo... these are all a step above small crime. I can understand your actions, to some degree, but do you know what makes me most curious?"
Here, Ereva reaches into one of the pockets at her belt and pulls out a very familiar looking wanted poster.
"What reason have you," she asks, "to eradicate the stamp trail of cell mates that — to my knowledge — you've only met once?"
Mercury clicks his tongue against his teeth — he hadn't expected Ereva to chase him for this so quickly.
Unbothered, she deepens her line of questioning, "you're a meticulous man, Mercury, I know this, else I would not have come to you all those years ago," she places Rei and Hammer's wanted poster on the table and points at it, "but you went through all that trouble to bribe clerks, tamper with city records, and reforge new identities for these pests you've adopted—"
She leans forward, gaze calculating, "and yet you leave behind their wanted posters? A little careless for you, isn't it?"
Mercury sweats under her attention, his brows are pinched and his mouth is twisted in a failed attempt at smirking.
"I can only think of one reason why you'd do this," Ereva says.
There's a beat, where the two only stare at one another across the table.
Then Ereva asks, "what do you have to gain by resurrecting Prince Ignitheos in the public eye?"
Mercury's eyes fly open and his smile freezes for a moment, twitching in place. But he quickly collects himself and bursts out laughing.
"You had me going there!" He laughs, hands waving, "reviving the lost prince! Ah, can you imagine?"
Ereva heaves a weary sigh and reaches into another one of her belt pockets. She removes a small potion bottle made of red glass and sealed with a dropper.
Mercury's laughs slow as he takes in the bottle being placed on the table. A small "um," escaping his lips as he wipes an eye.
He holds up his hands defensively, "now there's no need for threats here," he warns.
"Of course not," Ereva agrees, face impassive and arms crossed.
The two stare at one another for a silent beat before Mercury breaks.
"Oh come on!" He yells.
Ereva leans back in her seat, letting out a quiet "here we go" as she settles to listen to Mercury's appeal.
Mercury is hovering over the table now, forgetting his caution towards Ereva as his feelings rise to the surface, "you know Pyritha is a bad move!"
"She is the rightful heir," Ereva counters.
Mercury disagrees, "doesn't mean she'll be good for the Kingdom! For the people??"
He waves a hand at his side as he speaks, "my 'petty endeavours' as you call it, are the only way hundreds, no, thousands of Athalites are staying alive, fed, housed, and educated! The King doesn't leave us with enough! And you think Pyritha will do any better?"
Ereva is silent against his points, and averts her gaze.
"See!" Mercury says, vindicated, "you agree! You know she'll ruin everything!"
"I serve the crown, Mercury," Ereva frowns, "regardless of what I feel, I have a duty to carry out."
"And if you didn't?" Asks Mercury.
She scoffs, "don't be an idiot. I will remain in service for as long as there is a—"
Ereva cuts herself off, snapping her head forward as she comes to a chilling realisation.
Mercury, now full of confidence hangs over the table and grins at Ereva.
"You wouldn't dare," she says.
"Is that a challenge?"
"I won't allow it."
Mercury shrugs, "c'mon, he agrees with me!" He says, which causes Ereva to bolt up and out of her seat.
"You dragged him into your little plans??" She all but shouts, face crumpling with fear and worry, "you promised me you would keep him safe!"
Mecury smiles, "oh, nowhere safer that the eye of the storm, right?"
Ereva sees red, and before Mercury can react, she draws her sword and pressed it up against his neck. Her speed and force cuts through part of his hair, and he swallows as he watches a few severed hairs drift away.
"Tell me why I shouldn't kill you right here, right now," Ereva hisses.
Mercury considers the sword at his neck.
"Because," he says, gingerly pushing the blade away, "I can get you what you've wanted your whole life, "I can set you and everyone in this country free. Including your little prince."
Some time later, Mercury steps out of the bar. He puts his hood up and looks down the darkened streets in silence before moving on. Back inside, Ereva sits alone, contemplating Mercury’s words. Her sword, the potion bottle she pulled out, and Mercury’s untouched drink rest on the table.
Mercury’s journey back home begins at a leisurely pace. But within a few steps, he picks up speed, and soon, he’s sprinting through Athalier’s underground.
“Oh no, no, no, no, no,” he groans to himself.
A few neighbourhoods away, Carla hauls a bag of laundry up the stairs to Roelle’s house. The area is lit up with warm lamps for the night.
Carla steps through the entryway and glances down. Spread on the floor is Mercury. He’s shed his hood and shoes, and lies limp and defeated. She calmly moves around him.
“Try not to die in the entryway,” she says, removing her shoes, “people could trip over you.”
All he does is groan in response.
Rei exits the kitchen with a baked potato.
“Oh, one moment, Rei!” Carla calls out, handing him her basket of laundry, “carry these upstairs for me, won’t you?”
Mercury jolts to life, “Rei!!” He shouts enthusiastically before remembering himself and correcting his approach.
He clears his throat and shifts his demeanour in seconds, prancing over to the steps and leaning on the banister to greet Rei.
“Tiny!” He smiles, “how you doing? Can I borrow you for a minute?”
Rei scowls, potato in one hand, and laundry basket in the other, “I’m busy.”
Mercury ignores the implicit message to keep away and eagerly follows Rei upstairs.
“Right, right, right,” Mercury says, laughing nervously, “well, up we go then! Not to good to fall behind on chores, yeah?”
Adeny joins Carla in the hallway, and the two observe Mercury’s strange behaviour together.
“Ereva?” Adeny guesses.
“Ereva.” Carla agrees.
A pile of white-toned clothes tumble out of the hamper and onto a sorting table. Rei is doing his job well. But from behind him comes a deafening "click!". Mercury has not only followed Rei upstairs, but he's now locked them in the same room.
The temperature drops several degrees as Rei turns around and squints, daring Mercury to answer.
"Why did you lock the door," he asks, monotone.
Mercury smiles, "no reason!" Then, "well, many reasons. Look. I have some things I want to discuss with you."
But Rei interrupts him with a shout, "me first!" He says, "Why did you tell Carla and Slate and the whole house about my thing with the dragon hunters?"
Mercury seems shocked. He's slow to respond. And when he does it's to ask, "was it supposed to be a secret?"
At Rei's harsh glare, Mercury presses his palms to his face and hunches over.
"Oh Saints," he groans, "this is a terrible start. Um," he peeks over his hands and continues, "I'm so very sorry. I'm usually much better at keeping secrets than this."
Rei's fists clench.
"Is that why you locked me in here?" He asks, "to get me to keep a secret?"
"...Kind of," Mercury admits, "I was hoping we could partner up on something."
Rei hmphs, and plonks himself down on top of the laundry, "fine, you may speak."
"Well the mood is all wrong now," Mercury grumbles, hunched over with his hands in his pockets. "I had a plan but you—"
Rei interrupts, "just speak!!" He yells.
Mercury sulks.
Rei waits, hand to ear.
But it seems like Mercury isn't talking so Rei stands up and stalks towards the locked door.
"Okay," he says, "you explain to Aunty Roelle why I broke down the door."
That gets Mercury moving.
"Wait!" He shouts, "alright! I'll say it! Easy now!"
He still stumbles though, and has to build himself up.
"Uh, here goes, so," Mercury smiles nervously, hands open to the side, "hey! Want to destroy the monarchy with me?"
Some time later, Hammer trudges into the trio's shared room.
"I'm back," he sighs, "please tell me no one's in jail. Once was enough."
"Hammer!" Rei greets him up-side down. He's lying on the ground with his legs hovering over one of the built-in beds. His hair seems to make for a very comfortable resting spot. "Guess what!" he grins widely.
"What?"
Von joins in, "no, you have to guess!" They insist.
Hammer takes off his company-issued backpack and strikes a pose with it as the focus.
"Only if you two guess what's in my bag," he smirks.
That grabs the other two's attention and they scramble to surround Hammer.
"What do you have?" Rei asks.
"Come on, you gotta guess!" Hammer says.
"Is it food?"
"No!"
"Clothes?" Von tries.
Hammer smiles, "nope!"
"Then I'm not interested," Rei says.
"Yeah same," says Von, both of their excitement evaporating into thin air.
Hammer rolls his eyes, "you two are the worst. But I'll show you anyway. It's something I made at work with their spare parts!"
Despite claiming disinterest, Rei and Von hang around, watching Hammer rummage through his backpack.
They can't resist guessing some more.
"Is it a boat?" they ask, "a painting?"
"No!" Hammer grins, and pulls out... "ta-dah!
"A stick!" Rei observes, somewhat puzzled by the excitement.
"A mechanical arm!" Hammer corrects.
Von claps their hands together, "Hammer, you're an inventor!"
Hammer lets out a pleased chuckle, "it's nothing special," he claims, "I've been learning more about pulleys and switches and thought I could throw something together! Look," he demonstrates an action with the arm, picking up a stray cloth, "pull here and it grabs things!"
His captive audience clap appreciatively.
"And you know what the best part of this is?" Hammer asks?
"What?"
Hammer glowers, "now you can't hold things out of my reach anymore."
Rei avoids eye contact, and Von jumps.
"What?!" Von cries, indignant, "that was one time!"
At Hammer's persistent angry stare, they correct themself, "...a few times. But I will not apologise."
Rei leaps into frame, overshadowing Von, "okay let me show you my surprise!" He grins.
Hammer hums, "fine, is it—" but Rei interrupts him.
"No, enough guessing!" He points at himself, "look!"
A torrent of colourful falmes erupts from Rei's mouth. He runs his fingers through it, ridiculously pleased with to have the familiar heat back with him again. Hammer jumps back in shock while Von cackles madly.
Von captures the fire around their arm, and Hammer darts behind them for safety.
"Warn a guy next time, will ya!" Hammer shouts, clinging to Von's shirt.
"I got my fire back!!" Rei beams.
"I can see that!" Hammer nods, tears in his eyes, "congratulations!"
Rei wilts suddenly, "but human mouths don't move like a dragon's..." he says mournfully.
"So he can't control how far or wide the fire travels," explains Von.
Hammer rubs his chin in thought, "huh, that makes sense."
"However with me around, that shouldn't be a problem," Von chuckles, spinning Rei's fire into arc above their head.
Hammer rifles through his drawers, and turns to Rei, "so Baslo's potions are working then? How much longer until you become a dragon?"
Rei hesitates, "yeah about that..."
"Oh yes!" Von starts. They quickly sit themself down on the floor and pat the cushion next to them, "sit down, Hammer. Rei mentioned he had some things to tell us once you arrived."
Hammer obligingly sits and Rei clears his throat.
"Baslo can't help me any more than this," he announces.
Hammer protests, "but you just had a breakthrough!"
"What's wrong?" asks Von.
"He and Irka said it's the 'design' of my curse, it has stages," Rei explains, "today Baslo and Irka's research unlocked my ability to breathe fire. And Baslo thinks he knows how the break the glamour making me look like this. But he doesn't know how to begin getting back my ability to shapeshift."
Von brings a hand to their mouth, "oh dear."
Hammer is puzzled by their reactions.
"I don't get it," he says, "why not stick around and get rid of the glamour anyway? You'd look like a dragon again which is what you want, right?"
Rei nods, "yeah but without shapeshifting, I could get stuck in a form with no wings, or end up with no legs."
"That can happen??" Hammer shouts, horrified.
Von leans over, "oh Hammer, that's just the top of the canyon of what could go horribly wrong."
Rei continues to explain his predicament, eyes darting to the side, "and if I always look like a dragon then... I can't look human. Which means I can't visit you."
This brings Hammer and Von up short. Both pause to take this in with a quiet but emotional, "oh." Von's eyes are watery and a soft blush warms Hammer's cheeks.
Hammer recovers first.
"Right, so we're leaving?" He asks.
"Yes," Von agrees. They turn to Rei, "does Baslo have a contact we can chase down?"
Rei stops them, "that's the other thing, Mercury asked me to do something for him."
Von rubs their chin, "huh, okay. I suppose we do owe him..."
"No?" Hammer jumps to his feet, "he owes us for getting us jailed!!"
"Yes but then he gave us a place to stay!" Von argues, "and protected us! And disguised us! And introduced us to so many new and lovely friends!"
Von puts their hand in their chin and smiles up at Rei, "I think we can grant him a favour or two. What did he want, Rei?"
Hammer glowers behind them, clearly in strong disagreement. And if Rei's stiff grin is anything to go by, Hammer is correct to be suspicious.
Rei recalls his earlier conversation with Mercury in the laundry room. Rei had his arms folded and body turned away, but he leaned forward anyway, curious about Mercury's proposition.
"What do you say?" Mercury asked.
"...I have a question." Rei said.
Mercury was eager for cooperation, "fire away!" He said.
Rei frowned, "if your plan works, what happens to the dragon hunters?"
"Hrm, without the monarchy... especially without the Princess," Mercury said, "they'd fizzle out."
"Completely?" Checked Rei.
"Oh there'd be stragglers," Mercury shrugged, "but help me out and I can make sure they never have business in Athalier again."
Rei thought this over.
"Deal," said Rei, holding up a thumbs up to Mercury who—
"Back up!" Hammer yells, ripping right through the story, "what's the plan?? What did you agree to?"
"Oh calm down, Hammer," Von huffs, "you're so jumpy.
Rei avoids looking them in the eye as he recounts Mercury's big scheme.
"Ok," said Mercury, grinning too broadly as he held up an Athalite identification stamp with a golden cap, "so here is the real golden stamp belonging to the original Lost Prince. With this you can fully impersonate him in person and on paper."
Hammer looks like he's two breaths away from several burst blood vessels. His hands are shaking and neck tendons are bulging and he can barely get a coherent word out. Von has no such problems and leaps to their feet, clutching their shirt and screaming, "are you out of your mind?!"
Rei tries to do damage control.
"It's fine!" he says, holding up the golden stamp, "now we can go anywhere we like and buy anything we want!"
"Is that the actual stamp." Von asks, clutching their hair.
"What did I tell you!!" Hammer screeches, "now we're going to be executed!"
Rei scoffs, "no we won't! I'll be disguised as the Prince so they can't hurt me or my friends."
"Oh is that what Mercury told you?" Hammer asks, "Mercury who gave you a dead man's royal stamp?"
"Oh come on!" Rei complains, indignant, "I haven't even explained what the plan is!"
The other two ignore him. Von has their hands up against the wall, mumbling to themself in Vair, "I'm too beautiful to die so young."
Hammer meanwhile is biting at his thumb nail, thinking up quick escape strategies.
"It won't take long to pack," he mutters, "we can be on a boat by midnight."
Rei gets fed up.
"Listen to me!!" he shouts through a burst of flame. That grabs Hammer's attention, who ducks behind Von with a panicked, "whoah, easy there!!"
Smoke filters out Rei's mouth, "this is what Mercury said:"
"I need you to buy as much fancy garbage as you can think of. Think big. Think excessive. Think expensive. Gold infused water, ten floor tall glass windows, an entire pod of whales— I don't care."
End of update.