Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was a lovely day in Aviary Village. The morning sun was starting to peek through the clouds, birds were cheerfully chirping as they searched for breakfast, and several children were running around the realm portals, playing a game of tag. By all accounts, it was a beautiful, peaceful scene.

Well. It would be peaceful for now. But nobody knew that.

Except for Mayhem, the upcoming cause of the disruption of the peace. He was watching Feyra as the old man walked through the markets, and Mayhem knew this was his chance to hopefully get Feyra to finally fight back. Mayhem just had to push the right buttons, and he’d finally get the fight he wanted.

With a smirk on his face, Mayhem trailed Feyra in secret, hiding behind market stalls and jumping onto the occasional rooftop. Ever since he'd first seen Feyra a couple of weeks ago, he just knew that he would be an interesting sparring partner. So he took his time to watch him when he could, trying to figure out strengths and weaknesses and if this old guy could even be pushed into a fight. After two weeks of painful, painful waiting, he felt ready enough. (He was half-prepared, which was the most you could really expect from him. Besides, if he waited any longer, he would just explode from the impatience.)

Annoyingly, it seemed like Feyra was never in the right place to start a fight. Mayhem wanted a fair fight, as fair as it could be with only one opponent aware of the coming events. But Feyra was somehow walking through the most crowded areas, which was unusual (Mayhem had watched him almost every day, why was he suddenly changing his routine now ?).

Mayhem gripped the darkstone in his pocket with irritation. He had been as careful as possible to make sure Feyra didn't know he was watching him. So why was everything falling apart now? Sure, he'd learned from Eden's incessant ramblings that he was an Elder (or used to be one? He wasn't totally sure), but he didn't strike Mayhem as the most… what was the word, dangerous? No, aware . He didn't seem to be that aware. Or was he? Maybe doing this now was a bad idea.

Unfortunately, Mayhem liked bad ideas. He gave the little darkstone one last squeeze before jumping onto another rooftop, watching Feyra the way a hawk trails its prey.

Suddenly, Feyra turned into an empty area, setting down the cloth he’d been carrying, and Mayhem knew that this was his chance. With only a second’s hesitation to consider the fact that this could be a very stupid idea, he leaped down.

Feyra heard him, and whirled around with wide eyes, a perfect play of surprise (if Eden was to be believed, then Feyra had to know he’d been watched ).

“What are you doing?” Feyra asked, his voice soft with that annoying tone of sympathy and understanding that Feyra always had.

Mayhem leaned against the nearest wall and grinned, looking Feyra right in the eyes. "Oh, not much. Just taking a walk. You looked a bit… lonely." With each word, Mayhem's grin grew a bit bigger, his eyes glowing with reckless excitement.

Feyra’s eyes narrowed, just slightly, and Mayhem felt a rush of adrenaline go through him. This was the first time he’d ever seen Feyra with such a serious expression, aside from those annoying looks of disappointment Feyra had whenever one of his kids did something reckless (something just like what Mayhem was doing now).

"What?" Mayhem snapped. "I saw you by yourself and thought I might just say hi. No harm in that, right?"

“I don’t think you just wanted to say hello,” Feyra responded, almost sighing. Sighing . As if this was all just boring for him.

Mayhem's grin twisted into a smirk. He was still staring Feyra right in the eyes as he spoke, hoping to keep his attention away from the hand he was sliding into his pocket.

"You really think? Wow, that's not super friendly of you. Eh, now that I'm here, I'm not gonna be going anytime soon. Tough luck for you, I guess." Mayhem shrugged his shoulders. "Soooooooooo, how are you doing?"

Feyra blinked at him, and almost automatically replied, “I’m fine. But please, whatever you think you’re doing, get it over with. I have trades to make.”

Oh, how dare he.

"And what exactly do you think I'm doing?" Mayhem pushed against the wall, stretching his right arm as he slyly slipped the darkstone from his pocket. The intricate designs on his face and arms started to glow red a little bit.

He was still looking Feyra right in the eyes. By now, it was starting to get a bit uncomfortable for Feyra.

Slowly, Feyra’s previously relaxed posture became tense, and Mayhem grinned wildly. The old man was taking the bait.

He kept staring at Feyra, waiting for an answer, a movement, something . Surely the discomfort would cause him to snap soon. Right?

But the minutes kept passing. Feyra only stared back, as if this was some childish staring contest, and Mayhem eventually realized that this old guy was far more patient than Mayhem first thought. He bit his lip, pushed against the wall again. He would have to try something else.

In the blink of an eye, Mayhem covered the distance between him and Feyra, forcing a smile onto his face to hide his irritation. "Not very talkative today, old man?" he asked in a mocking tone, placing a hand on Feyra's shoulder and pushing down just a little bit.

Feyra didn’t back down at all, or even flinch. He simply stared, silent and waiting, and Mayhem distantly realized that this was going to be the dumbest thing he’d ever done (he’s probably done dumber things, but fighting a man whose eyes held the centuries of patience like Feyra’s? Very dumb.). However! Mayhem liked dumb ideas. So even if a part of him was nervous, he was going to go through with this. He'd done way too much prep work to just throw in the proverbial towel now.

Slowly, carefully, he tried to nudge Feyra against the wall in an attempt to intimidate him. Mayhem didn't really want to start this fight (well, he did, but he wanted to watch Feyra's patience snap), but if this didn't work he didn't have many other options.

“Mayhem, don’t ,” Feyra hissed, a warning, and Mayhem felt a chill down his spine as he watched Feyra’s eyes swirl with the glow of power .

Mayhem grinned, pushing Feyra closer to the wall. "Don't do what? " he asked, his voice dropping to a low growl. You could hear the side affects of the adrenaline in his voice.

Feyra didn’t answer, but his eyes looked like they held actual fire inside them. Was that just an Elder thing? Mayhem didn’t know, but it clearly meant that Feyra at least felt threatened (It was only later that Mayhem would learn that this was purely a Feyra thing, because each Elder held a different elemental power).

So he decided to keep pushing his luck. He pushed Feyra again, this time with a little less gentleness. "Well? Are you going to just stand there, old guy? Because talking isn't doing you any favors here."

Suddenly, Feyra moved, and Mayhem was left staring at the empty space before him in shock. How the hell could an old man like that move so fast ? Feyra had ducked over his arm and gone a few feet away, swirls of what looked like smoke marking the path Feyra had moved. What in all the stars?

In one fluid motion, Mayhem lifted his staff off his back and slipped the darkstone into place. As the designs on the staff's handle began to glow (and his arms, lest we forget about the already shimmering tattoos there) from the magic inside, Mayhem whipped around to see where in the hell Feyra had darted off to.

Feyra stood on the other side, staring blankly at Mayhem. Nothing was different about Feyra, but Mayhem could feel that Feyra was preparing something . This fight was going to be wonderful .

"So you can fight!" Mayhem yelled as he ran at Feyra, aiming the point of his staff at him. With his free hand, he levitated a handful of rocks and started launching them in his direction. "Well! This is going to be interesting! "

He lunged forward, shooting bullets of light from the staff. He looked more like a wild animal than a child of light at this point, eyes wide with excitement and a grin on his face.

But before he could land an attack, his vision was filled with fire . A wall of it, acting as a shield, burning the rocks so swiftly that even the stone couldn’t withstand the heat and practically disintegrated . The bullets of light from his staff were swept up by the flames, stolen by the fire, and Mayhem skidded to a stop just an inch from the inferno.

With the same suddenness with which it appeared, the fire ceased, and Mayhem saw Feyra standing there, unharmed, one hand raised before him. Feyra looked breathless, but his eyes were still ablaze, and Mayhem's grin somehow got wider than it already was.

“That’s all you’ve got?” Mayhem taunted.

Feyra huffed, an almost pleading tone in his voice when he answered, “Please don’t fight me. I don’t want to hurt you.”

Mayhem rolled his eyes before swinging the staff at Feyra like a sword. The darkstone, hovering in the staff's center, glowed red-hot with light and magic.

Feyra ducked, avoiding the blow by mere inches, and again , he darted away with that same trick as before. Mayhem realized that the old man was using his power to propel him, and suddenly the perfect plan fell into Mayhem’s hands. Feyra was an old man , and if Mayhem could just push him to exhaustion, then Mayhem would win .

He gripped his staff and sent the darkstone in it flying right for Feyra's face. It wasn't glowing with heat anymore, but with the speed it was flying at, it was going to cause some damage. And this wasn't going to be so easily avoided. Mayhem was very, very good at levitation magic.

As the darkstone flew at Feyra, Mayhem took the chance to fly on top of a building, shooting more light bullets and flinging a few rocks. He even managed to slip a massive beam attack in (thank Megabird that Sah had taught him that trick).

Feyra was too slow to avoid most of the attacks, and the darkstone left a gash across the side of Feyra’s face. Feyra made a feeble attempt to draw another shield, but to Mayhem’s utter delight , the fire was weak. Feyra let out a gasp as one of the light bullets shot clean through his wings, tearing it.

Mayhem let out a shout of joy as he started charging his staff for another, larger light beam. He also took this moment to catch his breath, though he barely needed the break. He'd done more intense demonstrations than this on the Valley's racetracks. No, this "break" was about sending a message: if he could take a break just because he could , then Feyra had no chance against him.

This was going much better than Mayhem had expected it to.

Feyra staggered, hunching over, and Mayhem took the opportunity to release that larger beam, shooting straight at Feyra’s wings. Light burst , blinding in its radiance, and Mayhem was forced to shut his eyes. Heat blasted through the area, and Mayhem flinched when he felt debris hit him.

Within moments, it was over, and Mayhem opened his eyes to find Feyra crumbled on the floor, a heap of red and gold.

Mayhem walked over, forcing himself to hide the shock on his face as he used his staff to flip Ferya onto his back.

"Holy. Shit." he whispered, eyes wide with a mixture of excitement and terror. Sure, he knew that attack was powerful, but he hadn't known it was that powerful.

The old man was unconscious, maybe even dead, Mayhem couldn’t really tell. This was exhilarating , a feeling of absolute power Mayhem had never quite felt before. It was intoxicating.

A laugh started to slip out, but Mayhem forced himself to choke it down when he saw some people running over. The explosion must've attracted their attention (and how could it not? It has been pretty loud), and Mayhem quickly knelt down to check if Feyra was still alive.

Breathing. He was barely breathing, but he was alive. Thank the stars. Mayhem had wanted a fight, but he didn't want to kill him. That would make him no better than- no, this wasn't the time to be thinking about him.

Before Mayhem could do anything else, he heard the people starting to shout, and he frowned. He wasn’t in the mood to get punished for this, and Feyra probably wouldn’t tell (Mayhem would just have to make sure of that when Feyra awoke).

Mayhem leapt up to the roof of the nearest building, leaving behind the mess and the crumbled form of Feyra as the sounds of a crowd rushing into the area were heard.

Mayhem looked back only once to see a girl glaring right at him, and he realized with a sinking feeling that she was Feyra’s sister, Euri.

Well, fuck.

Chapter Text

Mayhem stared at Feyra’s nest, waiting for everyone else to leave. He had to make sure Feyra wouldn’t snitch (if the old man had even recovered enough to regain consciousness), and Mayhem knew that Euri couldn’t stay all night, could she?

But the darker it got, the more Mayhem realized that she wasn't going anywhere for a while. Great. The wait was going to kill him if the fear in him didn't.

Unless… wait. There she was! Mayhem quickly hid himself and watched Euri leave, doing his best to not scream with relief. But he bit his tongue, and the second she was far away enough, he ran for the nest as fast as he could, praying that Euri didn't come back for some reason.

Mayhem didn't dare look behind him. If she was there, he at least wanted to get inside the nest first.

Thankfully, he managed to get in, quietly closing the door behind him. The nest  was dim,  only a single candle flickering on the table. Mayhem squinted in the darkness, slowly making out the arrangement of Feyra’s nest. It was surprisingly empty, and Mayhem quickly spotted the bed where Feyra was sleeping.

Slowly, carefully, Mayhem made his way over to the bed, a mix of fear and curiosity filling him. It was a stupid, stupid idea to be in here, but he also wanted to see how much damage his attacks had done. He had to know.

As he got closer, he could see that Feyra was propped up against the pillows, and the old man’s wing was wrapped with bandages. Feyra’s chest was covered in bandages too, and Mayhem grinned at the sight. He'd get a closer look later, though. Right now, he wanted to snoop around a bit while he had the time.

Though Feyra’s nest was rather empty, there were some items on the shelves, and Mayhem could see some books stacked on the table, old dusty volumes that piqued his interest immediately. Those books gave off the aura of power , of secrets. He didn't really have the time to read (plus his attention span wouldn't be able to focus on a book for more than three minutes), so he turned his attention elsewhere.

A few photos were framed on the wall, and Mayhem took one down to get a closer look at it. It was Feyra and Euri, drinking some tea and smiling with fireworks exploding in the background. They were with a third person, someone with scars over their eyes who Mayhem didn't recognize. Besides the unknown person, though, there was nothing really interesting in the photo, so he hung it back up.

He was tempted to go through drawers but decided against it. Too much noise, and the noise might wake Feyra up. He went back over to the books instead. Sure, he wasn't much of a reader. But any prospect of forbidden knowledge was enough of a temptation. Maybe he could read a few pages…

Summer. I’m still wandering. Eden has fallen, there are no more survivors. I think a few did get out, but that Realm is closed for good. My fellow Elders are likely dead. I don’t know where Alef is, or why he’s done this.

Mayhem stared for a long moment, a bit surprised that it was this easy to confirm Feyra’s identity as Elder. Curiosity pulled on him, insistent, and he flipped through to another page…

Winter. I miss my family. I miss Alef. I hear he calls himself Resh now. He’s ruined the Golden Shores of Mana, it’s nothing more than a wasteland at this point. I never thought this would happen when I accepted the title of Eden Elder, or when I chose Alef as the new King.

Mayhem slammed the book shut and threw it back on the table. The noise be damned; what he just saw was beyond what he had expected. This guy was responsible for Resh becoming the king?! He must be very powerful, more so than he had let on.

"Holy shit," Mayhem whispered under his breath, suppressing the urge to shout with delight. He had beaten the head Eden Elder in a fight!

Which reminded him that he needed to check on the damage he'd done to Feyra.

He turned back to the bed, where Feyra was thankfully still asleep. The noise hadn’t woken him, it seemed. The old man was sleeping way too deeply, and Mayhem felt a little suspicious now. Had he really done enough damage to result in such a deep sleep? Apparently so, because Feyra was actually sort of snoring.

Mayhem took hold of the bandages on Feyra’s wings, unraveling them so he could see what he’d managed to do. A horrific burn stretched across the wing, the red burned to black, and Mayhem felt a terrific sense of satisfaction as he inspected it.

This was gonna take ages to heal, even for an Elder.

Letting go of Feyra’s wing, Mayhem turned his attention to the bandages on Feyra’s chest, reaching out to try and unravel those as well.

And what he saw was… well, he certainly wasn't ready for what he saw.

It was bad. Really bad. A lot worse than he expected it to be. He'd seen some pretty bad injuries before, but this? Looking at wounds already made him feel bad, but oh stars…

Mayhem clenched his jaw as he stared at the huge scars and angry burns, his curiosity overriding any sense of guilt he felt. He had done this, after all. There was no harm in taking a closer-

"Nnnnngh…"

Feyra. Oh shit. Feyra made that noise. All of the prodding must have woken him up. Shit.

Mayhem quickly backed up, crashing into the table on accident. He raised his hands above his head, made a panicked run for the door, but he knew it was too late. He couldn't run from this.

Feyra groaned, twitching, and Mayhem watched in frozen panic as Feyra opened his eyes. Feyra almost immediately tried to sit up, but he stopped, a hiss escaping through his teeth as the pain of his wounds made itself known.

Mayhem tried to stay quiet, he swore that he was being as silent as possible, but Feyra’s gaze moved directly to him.

Mayhem couldn’t hide now. Feyra had seen him. So he did the one thing he could think of: running over to Feyra and attempting to choke him. He didn't intend to kill him, just shut him up for a bit. This would work. Right? Right.

Feyra wasn’t going down without a fight though, and Mayhem was caught by surprise when Feyra grabbed his wrists, trying to pull Mayhem’s hands off of his throat as Mayhem slammed him down and pressed down hard . The fact that Feyra was struggling against him wasn’t surprising; no, the feeling of something pulling on Mayhem’s light was.

It was like something was grabbing onto Mayhem’s core and trying to rip it out.

“What the-” Mayhem gasped, letting go of Feyra and stumbling backwards, nearly tripping over the table again. He put a hand against the wall, the other one gripping his core in a futile attempt to do something about the pain.

Suddenly, the feeling ceased, and Mayhem sucked in a desperate breath of relief, heart pounding in his ears as he looked at Feyra.

Those eyes…Feyra’s eyes were full of fire again.

“Do not make me kill you,” Feyra murmured, voice hoarse and quiet, but Mayhem heard his words clearly.

For a moment, Mayhem didn't say anything, just staring at Feyra while he caught his breath. But when he did speak, there was a smirk on his face.

"Do you really think you can kill me? When you're in that state?"

Despite the confidence on his face he still got his staff out, still put a hand in the pocket where the darkstone was. He wasn't taking any chances, not after whatever the hell that was.

Feyra didn’t answer, simply glaring at Mayhem as he rested a hand against his throat, visible bruises forming from Mayhem’s hands.

Mayhem put the staff away and held his hands up. "Okay, okay, I'm gonna leave now. Just… just don't… oh fuck, I forget what I was going to say. Whatever. I'm out of here."

He slowly backed up, was about to turn around to open the door, when he felt a sharp pain in his chest. He felt it.

Oh no. Oh no no no. This could not be happening right now.

Mayhem frantically searched for something he could sit on before he potentially collapsed to the ground, trying to ignore its voice in his head. He saw chairs around the kitchen table, made a beeline for them, but it wasn't fast enough.

He froze. He could easily see in his head what Feyra was seeing: his eyes going wide, glowing golden eyes turning a bright, angry red as he turned in the direction of Eden. Standing there, totally still except for his frantic, belabored breathing.

Of course the Storm decided it wanted to pay Mayhem a visit right now. Of course it did. Because it couldn't give him another ten seconds, dammit.

His skin felt tight, as if he was trapped in a massive darkness plant trying to swallow him whole. Just like that one time when-

No. If he thought about anything related to the Storm or- or him, he would get stuck in this for longer. The only thing he could do was fight, but fighting is not easy when you are paralyzed and the primordial forces of darkness are talking to you in your head.

"You seem like you've been getting into a lot of trouble today," the Storm's voice echoed in his head, rough and distorted.

"Can you please piss off ," Mayhem snapped through gritted teeth. (All Feyra would hear was garbled nonsense. It didn't matter; the Storm knew what he was saying) "This is not the time to be bothering me."

"When I told you he was a former Elder, that was supposed to be a WARNING, you know. Not encouragement. I am not Sah; I don't approve of stupid ideas."

"And you thought I was going to listen to you? Really? That's rich. Can you please go now. He's freaking the fuck out and I DO NOT need him to know that we're on good terms?"

"I hate to say it, but you kind of earned it. Myth wants to kill you for this by the way."

Mayhem barely managed to choke out a laugh. "I'm sure he does. NOW CAN YOU PLEASE LEAVE. And tell Myth he's not allowed to kill me. And that I said hi."

"He says hello back. He also says you should use your shard spell to finish him off, but that is a very bad idea, and I think we all know it. Get out of here. Do NOT escalate this situation any more than you have. And you had best find some way of repairing the damage you've done. Being Sah's favorite is only going to protect you so much."

And Mayhem finally collapsed to the floor with a scream, just as Euri walked in.

“What in the stars-?!” Euri exclaimed, and Mayhem groaned, unable to move. This was how his life was going to end, killed by some scary little girl with a fucking bunny on her shoulder.

“Feyra? What happened? Why are your wounds-”

“Euri, check if he’s breathing. It looked like he had a seizure.”

Mayhem was surprised. Why would Feyra be concerned about him? Was the old man insane? Had Mayhem hurt him enough to scramble his common sense? Why in all the Realms would Feyra care if Mayhem died or not?

Euri knelt beside Mayhem, and he really wanted to bite her as she held her hand close to his face, but his body wouldn’t move .

“He’s breathing,” Euri confirmed, and Mayhem heard Feyra sigh in relief . What the fuck?!

“Feyra, are you okay?” Euri asked, leaving Mayhem on the floor to go check on her brother, which made a lot more sense than Feyra’s weird concern.

“I’m fine,” Feyra responded, and Mayhem would have snorted if he could. Fine , sure, if that meant having multiple wounds and almost dying twice in one day.

No wonder Feyra was so easy to beat even with all his power.

Feyra was stupid.

“What happened?” Euri asked again, her voice stern. Clearly, she didn’t buy Feyra’s answer of "fine” either.

“He attacked me,” Feyra sighed, and Mayhem wished he could move . Euri was going to kill him, he couldn’t fight her right now, and honestly he probably wouldn’t blame her much if he didn’t have things he still wanted to do.

“Attacked you?!”

“Mm. That’s why he broke in, to attack me again.”

Silence.

Mayhem could practically see the anger on Euri’s face, and he halfheartedly wondered how much Myth would care about his death. Would Mayhem get a good funeral? Hopefully it had a fight. Fighting was good.

“I’m gonna kill this-”

“Euri, don’t,” Feyra said, and again, Mayhem felt floored. (Haha, floored. Mayhem almost wanted to die now.)

“He’s just a child,” Feyra continued, and immediately Mayhem went right back to wanting to hurt Feyra. How dare he. Mayhem was not a child.

The rage Mayhem felt was enough to snap him out of his paralyzed half-trance. He abruptly sat up, eyes still glowing red, and hissed, "I am not a child. And I did NOT come here to attack him again."

He stumbled to his feet and ran for it.  

Running. Yes, he was good at this. This, at least, he couldn't mess up. So he ran. Ran out of the nest, through Aviary, to the first portal that he saw.

It was the Wasteland. He thought of the journal entry he'd seen, pushed it out of his head as he kept running, through the entryway, to the giant whirlwind of clouds. And once he landed, he kept going and going and going.

At some point he reached the Crab Fields. Only then did he stop, and with a scream of rage, he channeled his energy and light into one singular beam of light that he shot straight through the clouds in what he hoped was the direction of Eden. He was pissed. He was in pain. He was exhausted.

But all he could do was stand there.

Chapter Text

For a while, all Mayhem could do was aimlessly wander around the Crab Fields, seething with anger and hatred and Megabird knew what else. He just didn't want to think right now.

He also had to keep himself hidden. Not just from the crabs and krill, but from soldiers. The last thing he needed right now was to be seen by a group of Tsadi's soldiers and have them try to "recruit" (read: kidnap) him. What didn't help was that this area was heavily patrolled.

He knew his best bet was to hide in the shipwreck. So he slowly started to make his way over. Each step felt like a drag, and he felt like he was going to be spotted by a soldier at any second. Why the fuck were there so many of them out here today?

Mayhem didn't want to think about Feyra and all the shit that had happened in his nest, but it wouldn't get off his mind as he dashed from hiding place to hiding place. Once he was securely hidden within a pipe, he gave in to the pressing need to think about it.

Feyra was an Eden Elder. The Eden Elder, no less. Well, he used to be, but still! It was impressive that he had beaten him in a fight. At the same time, though, there was an irritating thought whispering in the back of his head, the thought of this was a bad idea, he probably let you win and now you've made an enemy of someone incredibly powerful.  

Mayhem cursed under his breath before pushing aside the rest of his thoughts and doubts. He did not like how guilty this whole affair was making him feel. Right now, he needed to focus on getting to that shipwreck without being seen. Then maybe he could figure out how to fix this messy situation.

It felt like forever, but there was finally a moment where none of the soldiers were looking in his direction. Mayhem bolted out of the pipe, running at top speed, not noticing the krill that was above him until its red light shone in his face.

He froze as it started to come down. Normally, he would've kept running, or maybe taunted it, but right now, overwhelmed with anger and shame and guilt and fear, he did nothing. Honestly, he kind of deserved it. 

He squeezed his eyes shut and prepared for the worst.

He heard the thing screech, and then something heavy slammed down on his right, making him open his eyes. Someone had literally thrown a spear into the krill, bringing it down before it could attack Mayhem.

Blinking in shock, Mayhem turned a bit to see the person who had thrown the spear land a few feet away, their burgundy wings fluttering to get off the sand. They looked like a warrior, dressed in thin armor with a sword tied to their belt.

“You alright?” The person asked, and Mayhem just stared. This person looked like they’d be a great fighter, and the urge to fight them right now was building stronger and stronger as the seconds passed.

Mayhem needed a distraction anyway, he didn’t want to keep thinking .

“Hello? Are you alright?” The person asked, stepping closer, “My name is Lynx, I’m a soldier here. I can help you get through the Realm if you need.”

Lynx, eh? Fitting name for a warrior.

Mayhem was only half-paying attention to whatever Lynx was saying, though. He was too busy sizing them up, deciding whether or not he should kick this guy's ass for fun or because they helped Mayhem (which you think he would appreciate, but no, Mayhem did not like people who helped him).

Lynx took another step closer, their hand falling away from their sword, and Mayhem saw his perfect opportunity to attack. Hiding a hand behind his back, he levitated a few stones and aimed them right at Lynx's head.

The rocks shot through the air, and Mayhem was amazed to see Lynx had drawn their sword immediately, just barely quick enough to slash the rocks away, and Lynx hastily flew up, their wings flapping hard enough to send a swirl of sand in the air.

“Right, not friendly, are you?” Lynx asked, and Mayhem grinned. Lynx was clearly ready to fight, and Mayhem was delighted . Finally, someone who would actually fight back, not like Feyra-

No. No, Mayhem was not going to think anymore.

Growling, Mayhem levitated more rocks, shooting them like bullets up towards Lynx, watching eagerly as Lynx flew away, dodging by just a hair. This was good, this was distracting, and Mayhem didn’t let up, trying to hit Lynx’s wings and knock them out of the air.

The soldier was good at dodging though, deftly flying higher in an attempt to get out of Mayhem’s reach.

“You know that I don’t have to fight you!” Lynx called out, still dodging the rocks Mayhem kept shooting at them, “Leave wasteland and we don’t have to-”

One of the rocks hit Lynx’s right shoulder, and Mayhem grinned as the hit sent Lynx spiraling to the ground. Lynx managed to land on their feet, hissing as they turned to face Mayhem, flipping their sword to their left hand.

“Fine, we’ll fight, then,” Lynx growled, and Mayhem’s grin grew wider as he watched Lynx’s eyes burn.

This was going to be fun .

He popped his staff off his back and shot out a flurry of light bullets, aiming as many of them as he could for the sword arm. Even if they just hit the sword, as long as he could disarm them and keep his distance, this would be a pretty easy fight. He'd fought plenty of soldiers before; this couldn't be that much different.

The frustration and adrenaline pushed any other thoughts out of Mayhem's head. And any thoughts of Feyra that did slip into his head only fueled the fire. He was moving like a bird, swiftly and (at least, he liked to think) gracefully. Lynx wasn't proving to be much of a challenge. Yet.

The bullets of light eventually managed to knock Lynx’s sword out of their hand, but it took a while. Lynx was surprisingly nimble, still flying when they had to in order to dodge even though Mayhem could see the blood slowly soaking their wings.

The moment Lynx lost their grip on their sword, they shot up into the air, and Mayhem was about to follow them when they dived for the krill they’d killed, yanking out the spear and using it to block another wave of bullets Mayhem shot at them.

Mayhem gritted his teeth and dodged the reflected bullets. He started to charge his staff for a larger attack. If he could just keep his distance for a few more minutes…

He rose up and started flying around. Mayhem was as excellent of a flyer as he was a runner, so outflying Lynx wouldn't be hard. He just needed to not use too much of his light for flying. It was tricky, especially since he had to dodge attacks from a soldier, but Mayhem felt confident that he could do it. He just had to focus.

Lynx was quite a good fighter though, and they were keeping up with Mayhem perfectly, avoiding any more hits and even managing to cut through Mayhem’s defenses once to try and strike him. It was delightful , to fight someone who actually knew how to fight and wasn’t afraid to hurt or kill.

Mayhem laughed wildly, raising his staff, ready to blast Lynx into pieces. He’d miss such a good warrior, but Mayhem needed to kill someone. He was practically itching to see it, already envisioning the way Lynx would fall.

The beam of light ripped through the air, straight at Lynx, and Mayhem grinned as he watched Lynx’s eyes widen with surprise; it felt like everything happened in slow motion as Lynx began to try to move out of the way.

Mayhem closed his eyes as the beam ignited into a huge blast, fiery brightness bursting in the dark wasteland atmosphere.

Landing on his feet, Mayhem opened his eyes to survey what he expected to be Lynx’s corpse, but instead, Lynx was still standing .

“What the fuck-” Mayhem growled, and Lynx smiled.

“You seriously expected to kill me with a silly little blast?” Lynx taunted, “I am not Tsadi’s only general for nothing.”

Tsadi . This warrior was devoted to Tsadi .

Mayhem lost all of his patience then, the delight of fighting fading into a single urge to kill . Rage was Mayhem’s only companion in that moment.

Roaring, Mayhem pushed as much power as he could muster into his staff, preparing a blast much larger than the last one. His vision was darkened by his anger, focused only on his target; Lynx. Sound disappeared, the world growing silent as Mayhem’s fury boiled over.

The power in the blast grew far beyond anything Mayhem had done before (except for the time he’d tried to kill that little rascal Stewie) and though Mayhem could feel the pull becoming almost painful on his light, he didn’t care. He wanted Lynx dead, he could deal with the consequences later.

He needed to destroy Lynx.

Just as he was about to let the blast loose, he froze, that fucking familar pain growing in his chest. He growled, fighting hard against it, forcing himself to keep going. He wanted to kill . No stupid Eden was going to stop him.

“ Mayhem, don’t- ”

Too late.

Mayhem’s rage was enough to break the hold Eden had on his mind, and he finally let the blast go, sound slamming back into his world. His ears felt like they’d burst, and the heat of the power he’d released was akin to boiling.

Light shattered his vision, leaving him blind as he swung his staff down.

A second later, everything was silent.

Utterly silent.

.

.

.

Mayhem groaned. His body felt like it had been buried beneath the temple of Eden, crushed by the pain shooting through his entire being.

What in all the Realms had happened?

Groggily, Mayhem tried to move, hissing as the pain sharpened.

“I wouldn’t move yet if I were you.”

Who the fuck -

Mayhem’s vision suddenly cleared, and he realized he was sprawled on sand, his staff still gripped in his hand, the darkstone smoking from the power he’d released.

Lynx was sitting upright only a few feet away, and Mayhem could see that their leg looked charred. He’d managed to hit them with the blast, but Lynx had somehow fucking dodged just enough to survive it.

Fucking soldier.

As satisfying as it was to know that he had injured Lynx, he was too exhausted to care. If he'd had the energy, he would've just left. But as it was, he'd just drained nearly all his light for that attack. So he just crawled away, muttering curses under his breath and occasionally turning around to glare at Lynx. The more distance he could cover at this point, the better. The adrenaline was gone; he just wanted to be done with it all right now.

It was so tempting to just fall asleep right there in the sand…

No. No. If he showed any more signs of weakness, then he would almost certainly be taken to Tsadi. And that was the last thing he wanted.

But dammit, he was so tired.

He kept going like this for another minute before the exhaustion won. He laid down, hissing from the pain, and in a matter of seconds his eyes began to close.

The last thing he was aware of was floating. Up, up, up. Eden was probably taking him somewhere safe. Thank the Megabird. He'd had enough for one day.

And with that, Mayhem fell fast asleep.

Chapter Text

Everything hurt. It felt like his very soul was bruised, and when Feyra tried to move, he found that his limbs felt incredibly heavy. What in the stars had happened?

A groan escaped him before he could really assess the situation, and the forgotten part of him that was once a soldier hissed in displeasure. The first thing to do upon waking in a place you didn’t know was to stay silent , not alert enemies.

Groggily, Feyra ignored that voice, well aware that his days of fighting and danger were over. The only danger was Alef, and Resh had seen to it that Alef would forget everyone he’d once known.

Stars, why was he remembering such things right now? What happened ?

His eyes slid open to see darkness, and it took a moment for him to adjust, the vague lines of familiar furniture just becoming visible as he made a move to sit up, stubbornly ignoring the way his body protested such an action.

He hissed as the pain sharpened, but before he could either keep going or give in to his body's demands of rest, he noticed movement.

When he looked, he saw the kid who’d attacked him. Mayhem, apparently, who was staring at Feyra with an expression that almost reminded Feyra of the little kids who broke into the cookie jar.

Guilty. Panicked.

And then Mayhem’s expression darkened.

Feyra had only a split second to really comprehend what he was seeing before Mayhem was on him, slamming him down hard to make his body scream in protest, pain erupting and shooting through his wings. Mayhem’s hands wrapped around his throat, and Feyra choked as Mayhem tightened his grip.

What in all the Realms-

Feyra couldn’t breathe . Not even a little. Mayhem was putting all his weight onto his hands, crushing Feyra’s throat in his grip, and Feyra could barely move from the dizziness and pain storming through his body.

Desperation seized Feyra, and he called on a power he’d never wanted to have; Feyra reached out to Mayhem’s soul and began to pull .

Feyra had to live.

He had to.

He didn’t make it this far to die like this, alone with a crazed and clearly murderous child and no way to say goodbye to his loved ones. He needed to at least say farewell, he couldn’t just die on them out of nowhere.

And if living right now meant taking Mayhem’s soul, then so be it.

Thankfully, Mayhem let go, stumbling away, and Feyra released his hold on Mayhem’s soul as he gasped for air, breathing it in with a newfound reverence for the ability to just breathe .

Feyra sat up fully this time, one hand rising to rest against his throat where he could feel bruises already forming. That kid had way too much strength.

Glaring at said kid, Feyra rasped out a warning, one he knew he would back up if he had to, though he hoped Mayhem would just leave.

“Do not make me kill you.”

Feyra almost winced at the memory of those words, the feeling of fire burning in his chest as he begged with Alef one last time to leave Eden alone.

But Alef wasn’t here. No, instead, it was a different child, whose eyes were just as crazy and just as dark. Mayhem was perhaps Alef’s rival in terms of eagerness to destroy or ruin things simply because they could.

Mayhem was silent for a moment, before that mask of confidence returned, a smirk forming on the kid’s face.

"Do you really think you can kill me? When you're in that state?"

It took all Feyra had not to roll his eyes, simply in an effort to not antagonize the kid further. Yes, Feyra could kill him, within seconds if he got a good hold on Mayhem’s soul, but he truly didn’t want to. Killing was not something Feyra had ever wanted, even when it was the only option.

It was, after all, Feyra’s fault that Alef had survived the Fall of Eden.

If Feyra had just killed Alef, like Lora had screamed for him to do, maybe Feyra wouldn’t have lost everyone in that horrific disaster.

Maybe…

Feyra almost missed it as Mayhem seemed to surrender, throwing his hands up and muttering defeat.

"Okay, okay, I'm gonna leave now. Just… just don't… oh fuck, I forget what I was going to say. Whatever. I'm out of here."

Before Feyra could respond to that rambling of words, Mayhem froze. Alarmed, Feyra froze too, his power gathering as he prepared himself for a possible attack.

Instead, Mayhem looked almost…paralyzed.

The kid’s eyes began to glow . Bright, gold, painfully similar to how Ajal’s would glow when they used their powers.

Unfortunately, this kid was not an Elder. So what in the stars was going on?

Feyra was far too wary to move closer (or perhaps in far too much pain, but Feyra was never one to admit he was hurting) and he watched as Mayhem twitched and began to speak, garbled nonsense of words that Feyra couldn’t make out.

This… This was how Alef had been, in the end. That paralyzed dissociation, those glowing eyes…

The marks of possession .

This kid was under Eden’s control.

Feyra could not afford to let the kid know this, he knew how cruel Eden could be if it felt threatened, so when Mayhem dropped to the floor just as Euri walked in, Feyra fell into an easy ploy to cover his knowledge of Mayhem’s true condition.

“What in the stars-” Euri jumped as she saw Mayhem, and immediately, she turned to Feyra, her eyes falling on how Feyra still held a hand to his throat.

“Feyra? What happened? Why are your wounds-”

“Euri, check if he’s breathing. It looked like he had a seizure,” Feyra interrupted her, playing dumb as best as he could. He could see the suspicion in Euri’s eyes before she bent down to check, and after she confirmed the kid was breathing, Feyra let out a sigh of relief. He truly didn’t want the kid to die, even if the kid was crazy and attempted to kill Feyra just a few moments ago.

“Feyra, are you okay?” Euri asked, and Feyra replied automatically, waving away her concern like he always did. It wasn’t like this kind of pain was new, Feyra would deal with it just fine.

“What happened?” Euri asked, and the look in her eyes made Feyra very aware that unlike Lora, Euri was a viciously stubborn girl.

“He attacked me,” Feyra said, knowing that Euri would not accept anything but the truth. If he could keep it simple, he’d be able to continue playing clueless about Mayhem’s tie to Eden.

“Attacked you?!”

“Mm. That’s why he broke in, to attack me again, “ Feyra explained, and he could see the fury building in his dear sister’s eyes as she glared at the kid, who was still lying paralyzed on the floor. Honestly, Feyra was getting concerned. Alef had never been so debilitated by Eden’s call, so why was Mayhem? Was it because-

“I’m gonna kill this-”

“Euri, don’t ,” Feyra hissed, far too aware that she would die before she could truly hurt Mayhem in any way, “He’s just a child.”

That seemed to snap Mayhem out of the paralyzation, and he rose up on shaky legs, gripping his staff like it was his lifeline.

"I am not a child. And I did NOT come here to attack him again."

With that, Mayhem fled, leaving both Euri and Feyra in stunned silence as the kid disappeared into the dark night.

“What just happened?” Euri asked into the silence, and Feyra coughed as he tried to answer, the pain and dizziness from earlier catching up to him now that the adrenaline of everything was gone.

“Stars, Feyra-”

Euri ran over to him, carefully guiding him back down onto the bed. He only meekly tried to protest, but Euri’s glare and his own body’s cries for relief made him give up fairly quickly.

“I don’t know what the hell that was, but you are on bedrest until I say you can get up,” Euri said, inspecting the unraveled bandages Feyra hadn’t even noticed before, “And if that person comes back, me and Nova are gonna throw them to a krill.”

Feyra sighed, not dumb enough to argue at this point, and he gave in to his exhaustion as Euri finished rebandaging his wounds.

Whatever had happened was hopefully over, but Feyra was not a man of hope. Not since Eden had fallen. That kid was going to be back sooner or later, Feyra was sure, and he’d have to have a plan in place beforehand.

Hopefully, Eden didn’t realize how much Feyra knew, and the kid would stay away for a while.