A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

One of the first things Erik had asked Aaron about, was what he knew of Edda. Unfortunately, Aaron didn't recognize the name, but after Erik gave the man some more descriptions, a different name rolled out: Lilith.

Under the Humanitas Sangh ruling hierarchy, confessors wielded the second-most power, and directly served their leader, the Primarch. Deacons, like Aaron and Abigail, then served the confessors, and after that came the second rankers.

After sufficiently probing and prodding Aaron, Erik was relatively sure that this Lilith, the confessor that Aaron served, was, in fact, Edda. The only thing he couldn't fathom was why she'd changed her name. Her third rank was also a surprise but considering how little he turned out to know about her, it wasn't a particularly big one.

Aaron, unfortunately, was no help in that regard, as he wasn't even aware she hadn't always been Lilith.

Now, Naeku claimed she recognized the woman from the descriptions he'd given Aaron, and his fury instantly began to spike again.

Yet, he cracked his neck, and quickly brought himself under control again. 'Calm down, Erik,' he told himself. 'You knew she would likely be here, but this is not your objective today. I have to save mom fist.'

He panned his gaze towards Naeku, who was clearly still a little lost. So, having been pulled out of a morass of anger, impatience, and a touch of indecision by his wives just now, he decided to do the same for the werepanther.

Gently stepping out of the group hug his wives and daughter had created for him, Erik stepped over to Naeku, grabbed her shoulder, and looked into her eyes.

"Listen, Naeku," he said sternly. "I know there's a lot going on right now, but we need to deal with things in order of immediate importance, agreed?"

The werepanther blinked and looked up at him with apparent surprise, as if only now seeing him clearly. "You— You're Lady Runa's son?!"

Erik nodded gravely, "Yes, and I'd love to know how you know my mother, but that's not important right now. Neither is those soldiers getting ready for a punitive mission, because they haven't actually left yet. I can see you care about my mother, so can we agree to focus on rescuing her for now? Afterwards, I promise we'll find a way to stop the army and save your people."

At first, Naeku gulped and shook her head, but that was apparently just because she wanted to clear her thoughts, because she immediately nodded afterwards. "Y— You're right," she agreed, while looking into his steely gaze with one of her own.

"Good," Erik nodded with relief. He wasn't sure what he'd do if Naeku insisted on focusing on the army's intention to immediately march on her people again. "So, what did you see?" he then asked, gravely.

Naeku frowned, and recalled what nature vision showed her. "The first thing I focused on was identifying any third rankers in the city," she began explaining. "That was how I found this Lilith, or whatever her name is. After that I began expanding outwards, but I almost immediately found Lady Runa in the same building…"

Erik gulped and his hands balled into fists while his mind prepared for the worst. "How's she doing…?" he asked, in a slightly hoarse voice.

Naeku's expression became a little difficult, and she looked away. "N— Not good… I'm sorry…"

Erik took a deep breath as his body trembled. Yet, he managed to stay calm, mainly because 'not good' did not mean 'dead'.

So far, they'd only had Elora's assessment based on that piece of soul to proof that she was still alive, and while that had been enough to quell most of Erik's worries over the last few weeks, it was still good to have a positive second opinion.

So, he nodded semi-calmly, "I— I understand. That was to be expected. But I need details to get her out…"

Naeku gulped but nodded slowly. She trembled a little, clearly having as much trouble remembering the scene as Erik would likely have hearing it.

She closed her eyes and frowned, as the scene she saw with her nature sense played in front of her eyes again.

Mumbling, she began to describe what she'd seen, "She was… Chained to a wall by a collar around her neck… The chain was too short to even stand up completely… Wearing torn rags… Whip marks and wounds… Skin, pulled tight over her bones… her power's been suppressed, and she's starving… There's a dog bowl with food next to her, but I don't think she's eating…"

With every word she spoke, Erik's anger and feelings of guilt rose. "Edda…" he growled lowly, teeth gnashing and body trembling. He closed his eyes as he tried to get his emotions back under control.

From the stories he'd heard in his youth, hunters loved to starve both shapeshifters and vampires, while providing them humiliating ways to get sustenance. Like a dog's bowl. Now was apparently no different, except that they had to suppress their target's power, so that they'd actually need food.

Although, according to Naeku, it looked like Runa was still refusing to eat. Perhaps they'd come just in time.

Not that Erik saw it that way.

"I should have come sooner," he muttered, filled with guilt, self-loathing and anger.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"You know there was no way, Erik," Elora whispered while coming up to him from behind. "We made the best decisions we could with the information we had. It was only when we left Kirkenes that we discovered your mother couldn't have become a third ranker like we'd expected, and at that point we'd already made a covenant with Katya to save her brother."

Erik groaned. He knew all that, of course. When he first came back to Earth, he'd been under the impression his mother was already dead. Only in Frostvik did he discover she yet lived, but even then, he assumed she was a third ranker, and he'd be more of a liability than help if he went after her immediately.

Thus, he trained until he was ready… but now it all felt hollow.

His mother had never been a third ranker, and if he'd come here earlier, then perhaps she wouldn't be in such a terrible state now.

But Elora wasn't finished. Yet, the rest of her message came through their bond, so as not to let the others hear. "But most of all… think what would have happened to Astrid and her mother. If you'd left before being able to rescue Liv, Astrid would have never left with us, and they'd both be either dead or enslaved now."

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She continued in a harsh tone, but she knew Erik needed to hear this, "On the other hand, your mother is in a bad place, but still alive! Think, my love! Even knowing everything you do now, would you have done anything differently?! Would you have condemned Astrid to a fate worse than death, to spare your mother some suffering?"

Her voice became softer again, to soothe Erik's flaring emotions, "It's an almost impossible choice, I know, so be glad you didn't have to make it. But if you had, we both know you would have chosen to do the exact same thing, because you know your mother is strong, and she'd want you to safe Astrid."

"Now, stop being an idiot, and go save my mother-in-law!" she finally growled with a small, encouraging grin, as she could feel her words had their intended effect.

Slowly, Erik's body stopped trembling, and he opened his eyes. Clarity and determination shone within.

He knew what to do.