20 Zenozarax VII (Wizard)

27.04.2024

“Take this off,” Xaronzul said tensely after a while.

They would waste time doing this, the scan wasn’t complete yet and would need to be painstakingly reinitialized if they interrupted it now. But Zenozarax didn’t remind Xaronzul of it, the grave tone in his voice told him enough as much as the crestfallen shock he himself felt, once more torn apart from his Warrior.

So he stopped the process and opened up the small restraint keeping Xaronzul’s hand in place.

The moment he took his hand away the aperture turned dark and the room silent. It turned the act more ominous than it had any right to be — and Zenozarax hated the tension in his guts it evoked.

Xaronzul stood up, leaned against the console. Then his hand touched Zenozarax’.

In the absolute silence Xaronzul told him very quickly and precisely what had just happened and what the situation was on the Edge of the Universe. There was overwhelming quality to the weight of information rushing in clinical cold Vaeh into his mind. Xaronzul also mentioned Sukatar’s suspicion of Ravalor.

For a flash he felt anger, but it faded quickly. As much as he knew his own temper, he understood Sukatar’s paranoia and the tension of the situation.

— I don’t think it was him, Xaronzul ended his report. I don’t think it was any of us either. But I think Sukatar is right, it doesn’t feel like bad luck. 

Zenozarax had to agree with that. But that left only one likely option. And it was the very reason Xaronzul spoke to him like this now. Because he didn’t want Quadirymir to hear them.

But it didn’t make sense. It didn’t make sense at all, which was why Sukatar understandably had immediately suspected Ravalor, despite her own investigation into Quadirymir earlier. It was too outlandish.

— Why would he do this? Collude with Mezchinhar? Him of all wizards? For what?

— I don’t know. But the Leviathan missed the CC only by 50 metres. First strike. It was so precise. They must have known.

Zenozarax halted. Frowned. 50 metres. Xaronzul continued,

— But it’s the only thing that would explain it.

Was it? Ravalor was out of the question, he wouldn’t do that to him, he was certain. And nobody else had known. Only the crew had been brief minutes before. Why would any of them betray them? But why would Quadirymir?

— We have no way to prove it —

He sensed the objection before Xaronzul had even said it and overrode him on that as he continued

— I hate it as much as you do. Every atom of my body tells me to act and do something about it. But I can’t let myself or any of you do anything rash. Losing all of this, in this situation?

Xaronzul looked as unhappy about it as Zenozarax felt.

— You’re right.

— Right now and until we have at least a motivation we have to assume that either or both of the two events could have been mere accidents or coincidences. If this was him, we have to find out why he’s doing it and quickly. There has to be something he gets out of this… besides the pleasure of seeing us suffer.

— Maybe that’s enough for him?

— I don’t think so. He indulges his twisted mind more often than not, true, but he is not stupid and he never loses sight of the long game. Killing his own side won’t help him — unless there is something else. Maybe it would be about controlling me? But even that feels too vague.

The discussion turned quiet for a moment in which Zenozarax sensed the upset thoughts of Xaronzul more than he heard them. The young Wizard was angry, upset, afraid and grieving. But he controlled it well; the chaos around them barely moved.

— Okay. So what do we do now?

A good question. Zenozarax frowned. He wondered if confronting Quadirymir could actually work or if it was just a counterproductive impulse he had. He would have to talk to him one way or another and as soon as possible.

The silence of his Warrior was already starting to claw in the back of his mind. That distracting, crushing silence again. Like a chronic pain that had been eased just for a little while just to return on full force when one had finally started to cautiously get used to its absence.

He took a deep shuddering breath. Trying to accept it. And failed.

— We continue. We still can rebuild one Part of those we lost now. Moakatar is still whole, she’ll take care of the ship situation. And I’ll talk to Quadirymir.

— No matter what he says, we should rebuild you first. You’re the most powerful of us and you’re only of two. It’s the most logical, Xaronzul said.

Zenozarax nodded slightly. Yes it was logical. And he wanted almost nothing more than to just have his Warrior back. But it would also mean that he couldn’t leave this place for weeks.

Xaronzul, noticing the reluctance, then added,

— I’ll keep an eye on the Edge of the Universe. I’ll keep them safe. I’ll keep him safe.

*

“Quadirymir.“

“Welcome my friend.”

The sudden and very intense desire to punch that wizard in the face was almost impressive in the way only three very chipper and unbothered words could cause it.

Zenozarax however didn’t give into the desire. Not this time. Or, not yet.

He had found Quadirymir in the command centre of the Dark Citadel. It was his favourite place on the station from which he would monitor not only the station itself but all information his tendrils out in the multiverse would feed back here. There was never anything there Zenozarax wasn’t supposed to see. Monitoring who came in and who was in the room, Quadirymir undoubtedly made sure no sensitive information was shared without his approval first.

He seemed to be in a stellar mood, but that wasn’t unusual or very suspicious. Quadirymir was generally pretty content with his lot in life and Zenozarax had only once seen him even slightly nervous. It was an irritating amount of self confidence and ego that always rubbed him the wrong way. As Quadirymir noticed the grim look on Zenozarax’ own face however, his expression became more serious too — feigning a sense of respect.

“Is something wrong?” Quadirymir asked, standing up from his nonchalant sitting position at the main centre console.

“We lost the Dawnbreak. And two of our parts.” He didn’t mention the crew, Quadirymir wouldn’t care one way or another.

Quadirymir’s faces twitched to a slight frown, a slight bend of the head — Zenozarax hated both, because it looked absolutely genuine. Surprise, a hint of worry, and a bit of confusion, empathy maybe even. And since Quadirymir seemed to be incapable of the latter, all of it became a lie.

“How? What happened?”

“The Leviathan ambushed us the moment we arrived. They were waiting,” Zenozarax said, failing to keep his words free from anger. The only saving grace was that he ought to be angry either way, and Quadirymir had no reason to assume he was angry at him due to the suspicions hanging above his head.

“I’m sorry,” Quadirymir said, sitting back down but still facing Zenozarax who had come as close as reaching the centre of the room, no step further. A very safe and comfortable distance for both of them.

Zenozarax’ felt the corners of his mouth twitch, his teeth clenched tight. Every second he stared at this wizard, and left with the silence his Warrior had left, he felt the anger within him rising. Because no matter what he had said, he didn’t want to believe it all to be a coincidence either.

“They were waiting,” he repeated, his voice almost reduced to a growl. “If we hadn’t adjusted our port location, they would have sliced right through the CC and killed all three of us. They knew exactly where we would be.”

Quadirymir shook his head, willfully ignorant to the threat in Zenozarax tone. “Was it K-51-G?“

“Yes,” Zenozarax answered tight lipped.

Quadirymir checked something on the consoles as he said: “I don’t—” hesitated and began anew, “They shouldn’t have been there. Not from the information I had.” He looked back to Zenozarax. Then halted again.

“You blame me??“

“Shouldn’t I? As you said, they shouldn’t have been there. Why didn’t you know? How did they find out?”

Quadirymir actually frowned slightly, as if reacting to his competence and honour being put into question. He raised his hand, but not towards Zenozarax, instead pointing at the screens.

“All this — isn’t infallible. It’s good, it’s vital — but I don’t always know everything. Especially not the movement of the Leviathan. Lords, you know that! She moves by order of the first circle directly and it is impossible to have anyone on board that ship without Nemoneleus being aware of it. It’s impossible. Believe me, it’s not like I didn’t try. Unless she is spotted, even I can’t know where she is,” Quadirymir explained with an exhausted and desperate undertone like he was talking to a child that just didn’t want to understand. “There was always that risk, so don’t you dare put your continuous failing and the consequences of your recklessness on me. After Fallrise and Little Halo we all knew they would be on high alert. And they knew K-51 was another likely target, not important, but isolated. They probably gambled. They could have waited anywhere, might as well be in a system that was at risk and in a place where a ship would most likely port to if entering the system. And you drew the short straw.”

Yeah. There was that explanation. It was not an unlikely one. The odds would have been still in their favour, but simply being unlucky this time wasn’t impossible either. It was the very explanation why Zenozarax, despite his own prejudices, was still hesitant to blame Quadirymir outright. It was a solid explanation. It was an explanation that at least made sense. A greater than zero chance that it was just an unlucky coincidence after all.

50 metres.  

A very, very unlucky coincidence.

“We did,” he said, grim and bitter.

Then there was silence. Zenozarax knew why he was here, and yet he couldn’t bring himself to actually say the words. Every atom of his being struggled against it.

Eventually Quadirymir relieved him from that struggle as he said,

“I joked before — and I’m sorry. I know this is a dire situation for you. I don’t actually want you to grovel and beg. Well, no that’s not true, I would love to see it, but that would only be for my own amusement.” Quadirymir smiled gently, his arms now resting on the armrests of the chair as he kept on watching Zenozarax closely. Zenozarax recognized very well what he was doing. He didn’t believe the first part but the second was genuine. Cushioning the lies in truth.

“You do need my help now. And I’m willing to give it to you.”

“But?“

“No but.” Quadirymir shook his head, leaning back absolutely relaxed. “It’s a token of my friendship to you. Since Charon our relationship has been rocky to say the least and it’s not like I don’t understand why. So see this as a way of me making up for that. I know it will take time for you to trust me again — but maybe this can be a step in that direction. I can give you the izthra you need, and you can use the Citadel as you see fit. No strings attached,” Quadirymir assured him, then he stood up walking over to the side consoles.

“I’ll give you enough for three parts, alright? With that you still have it will leave you still some spare to fix some minor injuries here and there.”

“That’s very generous,” Zenozarax barely managed to press through his teeth.

Quadirymir glanced at him, a lopsided smirk on his face. “By the lords, it’s eating you alive right now, isn’t it?” He continued to enter something to the console. “Depending on someone else doesn’t have to be a bad thing. It’s how we survive out here.“

“You lay it on a little thick there.”

Quadirymir sighed and finished whatever he did at the console. “You think so? That’s unfortunate. But I mean it. It’s just hard to get it across without people suspecting me of lying. You know, curse of the Envoy.“

Yeah, right. That’s the only reason. Zenozarax kept it to himself. Instead he said, “Actions speak louder than words.“

“Ah,” Quadirymir chuckled, “We’re rolling out the wisdom. But I guess you’re right. So here, storage block G564-B95. I transferred the promised amount of izthra there. If you need my assistance beyond that, you always know where to find me.“

“Appreciated.“

“Well, as you said, actions speak louder than words. Let’s see if you do.” Quadirymir chuckled and went back to the chair. “Ah, before I forget — will you need the docks? To repair the Twilight.”

“She didn’t take any damage.”

“Fortunate. Might want to give her a once-over nevertheless. Should I set the reconstruction of the Dawnbreak in motion?“

“I’ll oversee the process myself once my Warrior is rebuilt.“

“Oh…” Quadirymir whistled through his teeth. “I didn’t realise you lost a part of you too? My condolences.“

Again, too thick. Zenozarax gave no answer to that as he turned around to leave.  

“Keep me posted!” Quadirymir smile was audible in his tone.

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