Malikai o' Tzelem

Angel of Shadows; Dishonored Blade of Lucifer

Broken Blades; Secrets Stolen

It was a cold, clear winter's eve when I received the summons that would once again change my life forever.As I padded down the hallway of the small cottage where my master and I lived on the Isle of Prespur, the island headquarters of our order, I thought this was just going to be another simple mission. Just a quick kill and I could get on with my life. Though, most of my life has consisted of killing ever since my master took me in two years ago.As I entered my master's study, he stood in front of the fire, resplendent in his sapphire blue robes, waiting on my arrival.
"Honorable Blade Nero, I am here as ordered," I greeted and dropped to one knee, bowing before him.Nero's robes swished as he turned to face me, "My young pupil, thank you for coming. Urgent business awaits you.""Your honor, I'm not an apprentice anymore. You graduated me nearly a year ago, so there you don't have to call me your pupil anymore…"He began pacing in agitation and, ignoring my protest, asked me, "What is the purpose of our order?"Confused, I quickly responded, "Our order, The Resonant Blades, are a secret guild of assassins who seek to curb the overgrowth of the population. There is only so much that magic can do to help the land sustain the number of people who walk it.""And what are our covenants?"Why is he asking me these questions that any apprentice could answer after even a single week of training?"Your honor, our covenants are as follows:
One, thou shalt kill.
Two, thou shalt not kill with bias, bigotry, or malice aforethought.
Three, thou shalt serve the people for the full span of thy days.
Four, thou shalt keep a journal of each and every day.
Five, thou shalt not kill fellow blades beyond thyself.
Six, thou shalt lead a modest life in word and deed.
Seven, thou shalt claim no possessions, save thy robes, scarf, and journal.
Eight, thou shalt have no spouse nor spawn.
Nine, thou shalt be beholden to no laws beyond these."I recited them from memory with ease, still puzzled about where he was going with this line of questioning."Good, and what happens if you break these covenants?" He continued."You're brought up on charges with the High Blade who will give a fitting punishment, such as having your culling targets chosen for you for a year. But your honor, any first-week newling could answer these questions. Why ask them of me now?"The swishing cloak I had been following on the periphery of my vision came to an abrupt stop as Nero turned again to me, "I ask these of you because your next mission is to cull a member of our order who risks our very existence. His followers start bloodbaths in the streets and yet High Blade Commodus does nothing to curb their violence. As such, we will take matters into our own hands."
Shocked, and more than a little confused, I finally dared to look up and meet my master's gaze. "But your honor, we cannot kill fellow blades, no matter how heinous their actions. It would be in violation of the fifth law.""The high blade has obviously made his position on the matter of the covenants clear enough by allowing them to so blatantly disregard the second," Nero almost exploded. "We will take this matter into our own hands and if he whinges, we'll remind him what they let Hadrian get away with. Now begone! Pack your scarf and your weapons and prepare yourself to leave on the overmorrow."
Every apprentice is given a scarf upon graduation. Mine was dusky purple with glints of silvery lead woven into the fabric. I think Nero thought it was funny to match the scarf to my skin, but it was handy for hiding my horns when needed."I understand your honor, but do you think I can handle this alone?""Of course you can. You are Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus and you were trained by me, Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus. You are one of the most talented blades this world has seen. If anyone can accomplish this task, you can."I huffed my ascent and left the study. What an awful name he gave me upon the receipt of my scarf and graduation from apprentice to blade. In spite of his confidence in me, I had many misgivings about this assignment. Why was he taking this matter into his own hands? Why wasn't the high blade acting if it was such a problem? I know little about Hadrian, but what I'd heard was generally good. Regardless, I had my orders, and I knew I would need help.

When I reached my small sleeping chamber, I sat at my desk and pulled over a sheet of parchment and a quill, penning out:
Dear Star,I hope you have been well since our last excursion.
Those pirates on the Dragon Isle didn't know what was in store for them after they insulted your patron like that.
I do sometimes wonder if we should have left one of them alive to carry to the tale, but regardless, the Sea of Fallen Stars will not forget their disrespect any time soon I wager.I am writing to request your assistance with a mission of my own.
The mission, as it happens, relates to destroying a member of my own order.
They have broken our code most grievously and must be brought to justice.
It is of utmost importance that it be kept secret and discreet, so street names only.
This may well be my most difficult mission yet, so I appreciate any assistance you may provide.Cheers,ShadowRolling up the parchment, I tied it to the leg of my trusty crow and sent him off to deliver the letter.
I never sleep well, but that night was especially restless with fitful dreams of the coming mission.
The reply came in the morning:Ha! You've really gotten yourself into it this time, Shadow.
We shall seek glorious revenge against those who have stained the honor of your guild!!Meet me at the docks at midnight when the stars shine brightest within the shadows of the night.StarI let out a sigh of relief, knowing at the very least that I wouldn't be alone in this hellish adventure.

The day passed quickly as I honed my knives, prepared a few select poisons, daubed some blades, and geared up for the night to come.At 5 minutes until midnight, I stood out on the only dock our small island had to offer dressed in my black leather shirt and breeches under a matching black cloak. If all went well tonight, I would be able to slip in, take down my mark, and be off without any further bloodshed.Right on time, a small sailboat emerged from the fog that always hung around the island.I walked up to the boat and greeted the pilot, a bulky, angelic figure in oil-burnished armor, "Alright, Star?"A deep, boisterous voice replied, "Ha, Shadow! Tonight, vengeance shall be ours!"Boarding the ketch, I took up a paddle and pushed us off from shore.
The brisk wind from a pending storm carried us quickly south across the choppy surface of the Sea of Fallen Stars.Once we were well underway, Star spoke up and asked, "So tonight you attack your own people. What's the plan?"I frowned at his phrasing and replied, "It is especially dark tonight thanks to that storm. Most of the order, including my target tonight, are humans. So while the dark won't bother us, hopefully, it will make it difficult for them to follow our movements. I think we stick to the usual plan. We both sneak in as far as possible until discovery, at which point you raise a ruckus before escaping and I proceed in to find the target."It took several hours of manning the sails for land to come back into sight—the howl of the wind making further conversation difficult.As I spied the inlet that was our destination, I signaled to Star and we dropped the sails to reduce visibility and took up paddles for the rest of the jaunt.
Upon reaching shore, we disembarked the boat and listened for any sign of alarm being raised. When it seemed like we were in the clear, Star motioned forward with a gauntleted hand and we quietly made our way inland. As we crested the top of the bank, the complex came into sight. Several low buildings, not too different from barracks surrounded what could only be described as a monastery, complete with a belltower. Torches hung in sconces all the way around the perimeter wall, rendering useless my idea of trying to sneak in under the cover of darkness."From what I've been told, there are two sentries in the tower, but they won't raise the alarm if we approach from the front gate. But if the guards at the gate don't signal to the sentries within five minutes of our arrival, there'll be hell to pay. I'll see if I can talk us in, but if it doesn't work, we may have to fight this one out. The target resides in the monastery and should be in their quarters at this time of night.""Ha! I have faith in you Shadow. They'll never see us coming!"We circled around the complex, staying in the cover of the surrounding forest until reaching the road before we approached. As we made it to the entrance gate, the two guards crossed their pikes in front of the door, "State your business!" The one on the left, a broad-shouldered man in gleaming chain mail called.I continued my approach and showed him a scroll that I'd prepared the day before, "I have a writ from the command at Prespur; I must speak with Honorable Blade Hadrian immediately."The guard took the scroll and studied it for a moment, then looked up at me, and back down at the scroll, "Aren't you the one known as Caligula? Pupil of Nero?"I hated that name he gave me—some bloody emperor in a far-off land that nobody liked. He thought it was a funny joke since nobody particularly liked me either. "That is I. Why does it matter?"The guard stiffened a little and glanced at his compatriot. "Are you aware of the ongoing feud between your teacher and Honorable Blade Hadrian?"I frowned at him, getting a little annoyed myself. "No, I am not. Are you aware of the massacres that Hadrian and his followers are leaving around?"The guard bristled with anger and leveled his pike at me. "How dare you accuse us of your own crimes!"He drew in a breath to shout, but before he could get another word out, the blade of my knife was sticking out of his throat. At the same moment, Star's spiked mace cracked down on the head of the other guard. Fortunately, they'd been careless and not wearing a helmet or the din would have certainly raised the alarm.Star huffed, "Well, that escalated quickly.""I don't know what he was on about. Nero is determined, but not ruthless. And what did he mean by a feud? Regardless, we must hurry from here."
The front gate entered into a guard house built into the complex wall which allowed us to enter the city unobserved by the sentries and escape into the darkness inside the walls."Ha! The fools only thought to illuminate the outside."
"Shhhhh, Star. From here we must be quiet and remain alert lest we be discovered. Try to keep down the noise of your armor."
As we continued around the outskirts of the compound, all was quiet even though it couldn’t have been more than an hour until sunrise. The storm we had watched build throughout the journey was nearly upon us keeping the sky dark and our progress hidden. Once we were as close to the side of the monastery as possible, we sprinted the distance to the entrance.
The door we chose opened into a narthex with a chapel to the left and doors into other areas of the monastery to the front and right. As I took a step inside, bells clamored overhead. The alarm had been sounded!
“Shit, they’re onto us, Star. I’m not sure if there was a spell on the doorway or if the sentries waiting on the front guard got impatient.”
“Calm your mind, Shadow. There’s no going back now for you. AND THERE’S NO GOING FORWARD FOR THEM!”
With those words, wings of dark energy erupted from Star’s back and he charged off through the doorway to the right, armor clanging, and smashing every marble bust in sight with his morningstar.
“Don’t get yourself killed! I’ll meet you at the boat in an hour. Leave me if you must do so to escape,” I called after him and sprinted through the door directly ahead.
--
The bells continued clanging overhead and I massaged my temples. It was hard to think over the cacophony and my head was starting to hurt. I hadn’t been to many places of worship, but one time I was invited up to the order’s headquarters for my graduation, and the abbot’s quarters were at the very center of the building next to the dormitories, so I headed in that direction hoping the layouts would be similar. Star was doing a good job of drawing attention as every person I encountered was too focused on finding the source of the clamor to notice me hiding in the shadows.
After a few more turns, I guessed I was far enough in and started opening doors only to find chapels, classrooms, and store rooms. Finally, I came to a large set of double doors that seemed like they might be a study. Pushing one open and slipping inside, I found myself in a large, dark office with a desk at the far end, a rack of weapons on the left side, and a set of alchemical tools on the right.
“This seems to be the right place...” I murmured to myself.
At that moment, a torch sparked to life above me and ignited a trough of oil running around the room, momentarily blinding me as the entire room was brightly lit. I’d failed to notice that behind the desk was a spiral staircase leading up to a balcony library, and standing at the edge of the rail, was Honorable Blade Hadrian himself.
“So, Nero has finally made his move,” the man spoke with a slightly nasal voice. “I wondered if he might send someone to interrupt my investigation of him.”
“What investigation?” I snarled, drawing a poison-daubed dagger in each hand. My head was really starting to pound now, and I could no longer hear the clamor of Star in the distance, though the bells continued to toll. “I’m here to bring you to justice for betraying our order.”
“Is that what he told you? Nero truly is the cruelest among us. He’s turned you into his dog by convincing you that you’d still be on the street without him. Just because he gave you a home doesn’t mean you have to follow him blindly. Salvation does not require loyalty, Ma—”
“DO NOT SPEAK THAT NAME!” I roared. “I gave up that name the day I took the oath and was given my scarf. I am Honorable Blade Caligula now and I am no dog!” As I threw my knives at Hadrian, a voice in the back of my head cackled, “Gave it up did you? Delightful,” but I was angry now and my headache was raging too hard to pay it any mind.
Hadrian dodged the daggers, and he called back, “Woah there, okay. Caligula it is. But do you not see how Nero is manipulating you? The moment I open an investigation into his misconduct, he sends you to silence me. You cannot defeat me; I doubt even Nero could. He just sent you to draw attention away from himself long enough to destroy the evidence.”
I was beyond rage by now, but couldn’t understand it. It almost seemed as though someone was egging me on. This man seemed reasonable, but I couldn’t process his words. I threw two more daggers, which he once again dodged, and charged past the desk up the stairs. Hadrian waited patiently at the top, his sword now drawn, “Caligula! Snap out of it! You’re being deceived, maybe even controlled.”
I drew my last pair of daggers and swung with one at his neck, the laughter in my head growing louder. Laughter? Since when had there been laughter? An honorable blade is not supposed to enjoy their work. We kill with compassion, not malice. Hadrian parried my strike and shouted, “I was investigating Nero for using his right to cull the population for nefarious purposes. He was culling people in droves as sacrifices to summon creatures from the nine hells!”
The roaring in my ears intensified and it felt like my head was splitting open. This man was slandering my teacher. The one who took me in from the streets and gave me a home for the first time. “You know nothing of Nero! He was the first person to ever show me kindness!” I slashed and stabbed in turn, forcing Hadrian back to where the moat of oil lighting the office burned—his cloak inches from the licking flames.He looked at me, not with fear, but with sorrow in his eyes as he flipped us around so my back was pressed into the oil trough—my daggers were knocked aside and his sword was at my throat. I could feel the heat of the flames begin to catch on my cloak. “Kindness? He tried to kill you! He only took you in after because he decided you could be a useful tool to him. But it seems you are too far under their influence to realize that anymore. I’m sorry.”
The laughter was all around us now, no longer just in my head, and a deep, sonorous, voice spoke from the flames, “Seems like you’re in a pinch, child. Do you wish to live?”
Hadrian’s eyes widened with fear and he gasped, “No!”
I could barely speak with the sword still pressed to my throat and the smoke of oil and perhaps my own flesh burning in my nose and eyes, but I managed to croak, “Yes.”
“Then by your name, and through these flames, I forge our pact.”
In the moments before losing consciousness, I saw the flames rise up from oil all around the room and swirl around Hadrian, burning him to a crisp before flashing outward and setting the room ablaze.

When I awoke, I was in a boat, with a starry, angelic figure in armor leaning over me. “Ha! You’re alive then. I wasn’t sure you’d make it after I pulled you out of the burning library. Quite a number you did on the place. What happened?”
My memories of the events in the monastery were still fuzzy, but one thing was now clear.
“Nero betrayed me.”

The Blade of LUcifer

Pick up the oar. Stroke.This dark, moonless night on the water reminds me of the disastrous night four months ago when I was betrayed by my master and conscripted into a pact by a powerful fiend… Lucifer is what it called itself, and now that's the only name I can remember—not even my own.Switch sides. Stroke again.Where did things go wrong?How far back do my mistakes go?Was it when my master tried to kill me on the streets and instead adopted me? Should I have let myself die rather than evade the blow and gouge out his eye?Was it somewhere in the years of training under him to be a Blade? Years that were spent learning to sneak around, cut throats, create poisons, and deliver death…Or maybe, it was taking on that final mission from him. A mission that I knew broke our sacred commandments, but I agreed to anyway. A mission that ended in my enslavement to Lucifer.Shudder. Paddle some more.No matter how long or short my life is, I will never forget the first time it spoke to me. "With thy name, and through these flames, our pact is forged." I didn't understand what it meant until the first dream came...I opened my eyes to a rocky and barren landscape. As they adjusted to the darkness, I noticed a faint red glow all around the horizon, as if in a solar eclipse's all-encompassing sunset. In the distance, a craggy rock formation stood slightly taller from the rest and pulsed with ruddy light as a voice boomed, "Welcome to our new home." Confused and weary, it was all I could do to stay on my feet the force of the voice was so strong.That was the first time I met my new master. He told me many things: about how he took my name in exchange for giving me power, about how the powers of hell now course through my veins, and about how I would burn the worlds for him."Crazy asshole." I muttered under my breath, recalling his anger when he learned that I didn't intend to summon him. How was I supposed to know that my old master had actually been the one experimenting with infernal summoning and delivering a demon that was supposed to consume both my target and me? Serves him right that the plan didn't work as intended.Rest the oar; the island has, at last, come into sight.I gaze at the distant towers as bittersweet memories of my first home flood through my mind—the time my old master first brought me here at the age of 15 after I'd gouged out his eye; when he praised me for getting a perfect score on the poisons exam; and the time he lashed me for getting caught sneaking off with the son of a groundskeeper… For three years it had been my home before he betrayed me. Now I return from my year in exile to exact retribution.Three powerful strokes and the canoe runs aground.As I leap out of the canoe, my entire appearance and visage shift to that of my old master. A self-satisfied smirk looks perfectly at home on his face. I spent the better part of my exile honing my new powers for this day. I'll crush this man and be on my way before anyone is the wiser.As I approach the gate, the two blade guards lower their pikes and one of them calls to me, "At dawn the flower blooms." Reciprocating the secret entry phrase I respond, "To be pruned at dusk by the Crimson Church". The guards relax their weapons, but stiffen as I make to brush past them. "Honorable Blade Nero, we must complete the re-entry exam."I summon all of the authority I can muster and retort, "Would you like to explain to the high blade why I am late for our meeting? No? He shall examine my memories as mandated." Imbuing my words with magic, I watch as the guards stiffen in fear. That should keep them quiet for long enough. Without waiting for another challenge, I sweep past them into the compound.Torches smolder along the outer wall as the darkest hour approaches.Hiding in the night, I first pay a visit to the smithy. Sliding out a loose brick in the chimney, I smile as I retrieve one of my treasures—a vividly blue eye, preserved in a small jar of liquid. Disturbed by the motion, the eye rolls to face me and almost seems to want to return to the body I'm now disguised as. As resonant blades, we're not supposed to claim any possessions, but I couldn't help but keep a few trophies such as this one.My next stop was the barracks. Upon entering, I was assaulted by the sounds of snoring apprentices and servants. The sleeping arrangements hadn't changed much in a year and I was quickly able to prick an old enemy in the foot with a poison sting, steal a coveted dagger from my rival, and slip a letter underneath another pillow.An owl swoops on silent wings—the ultimate hunter in the night.Skulking across the grounds, I head for the village. No more stalling—it's time. The familiar cottage looms in front of me; the door is unlocked. Peeking inside my old bedroom, it has clearly been searched for evidence and the findings are stacked on the desk. How careless. Did they really think I wouldn't return? Or perhaps they didn't think I'd get this far. I slip the book of poisons and a few potions into my bag and move on down the hallway. He should be asleep at this hour, but it's immediately apparent that his bed is empty. The door to the study is open, but when I enter, no one is there either—until the door slams shut behind me. Startled, I whirl around and thrust out the venomous dagger I'd just stolen, but it gets knocked aside and goes flying out of my hand. Glaring at me from behind the door is my old master—cloaked in his brilliant blue robe, and very much not asleep.Tension suffuses the air as two apex predators circle, each sizing up the other.“The guards from the front gate woke me as soon as someone bearing my face barged their way in, flaunting the entry protocols, mere hours after I had returned myself. I didn’t think you would be so foolish as to return here after what you did.”My disguise melts away and I stare at him in disbelief. “After what I did?! You’re the one who sent me there!”Calm as ever, he smiles. “The order’s records show no such thing. A junior blade went rogue, killed a well-respected senior of our order, and then burned his entire temple down with him inside, leaving nothing but un-revivable ash. And you’ve been quite busy since. I hear you paid our friends in Westgate a visit and did much the same there. And wiping out the Pirate Isle too, well done. They were certainly a nuisance.”My fury finally boils over and my hand opens, sending a bolt of black lightning straight into the man’s chest. “You knew? You did all of that to me without telling me? It’s your fault I was forced into this? And you tried to dispose of me when you thought it wasn’t working? I was right to come here. You’re a menace to the world and a disgrace to our order!”“You ungrateful little whelp. I took you in. I saved you from the streets. I can just as easily bury you below them. I OWN YOU. Now calm this tantrum and return to my side where you belong. With some careful study, we can make hundreds like you. I’ll be able to shape this world in any way I see fit.”But I’d had enough. Summoning forth my power, I marked him for death and charged in with another dagger. Each time I landed a blow, I felt his life force being drained, but even still he was driving me back. His knife was a blur of parries, thrusts, and slashes. I took a searing gash to the face and snarled, “Just die already! I won’t let you inflict this infernal fate on any more unknowing apprentices.”“You really think you can defeat me? I taught you everything you know, but that’s not nearly enough to save you!” He dropped his dagger in a feint and as I stabbed forward, he nimbly hopped backward, drew his sword, and cut off my arm all in one motion.Howling in pain, I fall to my knees and press my other hand against the stump trying to staunch the bleeding. “Please...”Pressing his blade to my throat he growled, “You had your chance. I wish you’d accepted my offer.”The whispers grow to howls of agony, and above the din.
“I don’t think so... I’m not finished with this toy yet.”Nero's head turns, “Who’s there?! Show yourself!” Finding no one in the room, he turns back to find me on my feet again and flexing an arm made of pure, writhing shadows. “I did tell you that I had a new master, didn’t I? It seems he is as irritated about you summoning him as I am. But what’s done is done. I am the Blade of Lucifer now, and my first act will be to send you to meet him.”
As if it already knew what to do, my new hand wrapped his throat in darkness and squeezed until the light no longer showed in his eyes. As the man breathed his last, his body dissolved into shadow and knew no more.

Blood On My Hands

Master Nero told me to make today's journal entry about the first time I took a life. When I asked him how he knew I had, he said it was plain in my eyes. He did find and take me in less than a week after it happened, so I guess I just wasn't quite in my right mind at the time. I obviously know what I'm getting into here—what the Resonant Blades and Crimson Church are all about, but in hindsight, it was pretty manipulative to take a kid off the street who had just suffered a great tragedy and turn him into a killer.It was the night I had first discovered what unconditional love truly meant. Since I grew up on the streets, I never really had any who I could say actually loved me. Sure people took me in here and there and cared for me for a while, but they didn't love me. Even my first girlfriend didn't really. We fooled around here and there, sneaking kisses in back alleys and what have you, but it was just kids having fun. No, my first love came from the best friend I'd ever had. He was a human who managed to see past the horns, the tail, and the color of my skin and see me as a person. Over a year we became close friends, and one day, he asked if we could be closer.In that city, it was pretty unheard of for two guys to be together. We knew it never happened, but we didn't know how villainized it was. That night, Hayden snuck me into his house. It was raining and I'd just been kicked out of another foster home that decided they didn't need the extra mouth to feed anymore. We got back and while he went in the front door, I snuck around to his window and climbed in after he opened the shutters for me. His family wasn't rich by any means, so after he ate a meager supper with them, he joined me on his straw mattress under a thin blanket. Feeling his warmth against my skin did more than keep the cold at bay.I thought we’d been quiet, but suddenly his father was standing in the doorway holding a lantern in one hand, and a club in the other. The first blow landed across my temple stunning me and breaking my horn. The second blow across Hayden's beautiful face, shattering the cheekbone. And then the father was on top of him, kicking his side, over and over. Shouting—I don't even remember what words were used. My vision closed into a tunnel, centered on the man who was beating the person I cared most for in the world. I launched at him, and before my mind could properly process what was happening, I was on the ground holding my love with my dagger buried in his father's eye.A rib must have punctured his lung because he was coughing up blood, but I couldn't leave him here. His father's lantern had shattered against the floor and the bed was catching quickly—accelerated by the spilled oil. Later, I learned that his mother perished in the fire, holding her husband's body…more blood on my hands. But in the moment, I had to get him to a healer. Hours seemed to go by in a blur. Most people wouldn't even open the door for two rain and blood-soaked boys, one carefully cradled in the other's arms. By the time I found someone with a little magic in this gods forsaken town, she told me it was too late. He was gone.In the week that followed, I barely drank, and what little I could stomach wouldn't stay down. Every time I tried to eat, I remembered the father he shared his last meal with before being murdered by the very same. Every time I tried to sleep, I remembered the happiest moment of my life being destroyed, completely and utterly. I longed for death, or so I thought because when it came knocking in the form of a blade slashing at my throat, I blocked. To this day I still don't know if he was testing me or just trying to put me out of my misery, but as the blade skittered across the cobblestones, I stared coldly into the hard sapphire eyes of the man who would become my master.

From the culling journal of Malikai, the dishonored Blade of Lucifer

Lunar Reflections

As I write this, we've settled into an odd arboreal city for the night with some people who claim to also oppose the Tenjouin Clan. Revenge is a powerful motivator, and one I understand well. Thinking back on the memory we just witnessed, I can't help but wonder, if the gods of Han ever escape their imprisonment, will they seek revenge on the exalted? Or even all of Shaytrix?I witnessed the memory through the eyes of an elf named Zurech. I could feel the power of the Shadowfel running through his veins even as it does mine. Perhaps that's why the memory chose to connect us through time. Due to my distaste for mind magic, I've never occupied someone else's body or seen visions through the eyes of another, but this close bond made the experience feel quite natural.Zurech joined a party of raiders who were sent to subdue Tsukuyomi, the Hannish moon goddess. He too felt a drive for revenge, though I think he chose to take out his anger on Tsukuyomi since the real target of his rage went missing during the severance. He failed in his mission to rescue the twin exalteds of the unknown and watched them be devoured as Pandora sacrificed them to summon the Dream Eater. Thereafter he pledged his allegiance to the four angels of Shaytrix who gave up their own lives to become the moons and save the realm. He claimed his issue with Tsukuyomi was that she still claimed to be the goddess of the moon.In the memory, we learned that she never really wanted that title, but during her travels, people began to see her beauty and the moon's as one, and her title was sealed when she married the goddess of the Sun. It seems the real reason that the exalted wanted, sun, moon, and storm locked away is that Amaterasu, the so-called enlightened one, desired to sacrifice all of the other exalted to become the new sun.Whether this would have helped Shaytrix in the long run, we'll never know, but it explains why the three gods were sealed away at least. I understand the drive for self-preservation; I've lived most of my life fighting to prolong it. However, it seems odd to me that the divine allies of a war just three years prior would turn on each other so quickly.What made The Enlightened One think this was Shaytrix's only path forward? Zurech is far more knowledgeable of the arcane than I will likely ever be and concluded that such an action would likely destroy the protection offered by the angels and wake the dreamer, inviting far worse calamities upon Shaytrix than the one they had just ended.Zurech and his allies had their resolve tested at every turn, but in the end, they defeated Tsukuyomi who was then bound by the exalteds Nuderin and Liotis and taken away before her final imprisonment. The Nuderin we met was incredibly powerful already, but witnessing the immense aura he had in his prime, it was evident that retirement had taken a toll. However, the strangest part of their adventure was the fight with Tsukuyomi herself.She had many opportunities to kill members of Zurech's crew, nullify their magic, and otherwise make the fight much more difficult or perhaps completely impossible, but she held back. It was as if she was offering one final test of their resolve rather than fighting tooth and nail to survive. Did she have some doubts about Amaterasu's plan afterall, so she allowed herself to be taken? Another question for the ages.As we were traveling to this city, I asked Airi what she thought of the gods' imprisonment now that we knew what their true motives were, and was answered that the people of Han knew the entire time and supported them. That doesn't really tell me if Airi herself still supports and yearns for their return, but I suppose we'll find out at some point. The three gods each choosing a champion to unite the Onijin is an unsettling sign their continued ability to exert sway over activities in Han.I can only hope that they never escape their confinement, or if they do, they choose to have more mercy than those who imprisoned them.

From the culling journal of Malikai, the dishonored Blade of Lucifer