Page 4199

After a moment, Zeff took a breath but still didn't open his eyes. "It's alright," he said. "He knows we're here, but he can't sense what we're discussing."

"How can you know that for certain?" asked Daro.

Zeff looked at him steadily. "I know," was all he said.

Linus took a long breath now, too, feeling ironically clearer-headed in this thicker fog. He blinked a couple times as everything they'd been talking about was beginning to register more strongly in his mind.

Kristof was there to hold his shoulder. "That's it, old friend. I can see the light behind your eyes again."

After a moment, Linus pushed the hand away. "What does that mean?"

Kristof smirked. "Do you not remember? The last time we spoke, you didn't even recognize me. Talked to me like I was a stranger. Hurt my feelings, you know."

"Graves made me forget you? Perhaps I should thank him."

"Hah!" Krstof punched him in the arm. "But this also means I'm stronger than you, Linus."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. I resisted the manipulation, while you fell for it hook, line, and sinker."

The Water Dragon chimed in again. "You weren't in a particularly good state, either, when I found you."

"Shut up, Zeff."

Daro stepped forward. "If anything, I was the one who proved the most resilient."

"Only because you were hiding," said Kristof.

"And it's a good thing I was, because I have far more precious secrets to protect than you two dullards do."

Linus paused on that thought. "Secrets, eh? How much did Graves learn from us?"

Everyone turned to Zeff for that answer, but the Water Dragon gave an uncertain tilt of his head.

"No telling, I'm afraid."

An uncomfortable silence arrived as each of the men mulled that over.

For his part, Linus supposed Daro had a point. He personally didn't have much that he was afraid would be discovered. Being so old, many secrets that he once coveted now seemed largely trivial.

But he doubted that was the case for everyone here.

Daro was the first to speak up again. "And we really intend to fight this monster?"

"Don't tell me you're getting cold feet now," said Kristof.

"Hmph. If he gets a hold of us again, will we even be able to do anything? The apparent range of his influence is absurd. If we're not careful, we'll have lost before the fight even starts."

Page 4198

Linus took a step back.

It was Kristof Raynor and Daro Bright standing there. The Jailer and the Black Artisan. His two peers in the protection of Ridgemark.

"Hey, Linus," said Kristof in that familiar tone as he slowly approached, as if trying not to spook a frightened animal.

Which was exactly what Linus was feeling like all of a sudden. How had they all appeared out of the mist like that? Had they been there all along and simply been concealed from his senses?

"It's alright," Daro was saying with similar intonations. "We're real. I promise you."

Linus didn't even know what to say to that.

"Graves was hiding us from one another." Kristof was a tall, slim man with an almost beak-like nose. His wavy brown hair was topped with a bowler hat, his pristine black longcoat looked as out-of-fashion as ever. The man hadn't changed his wardrobe in a hundred years, and knowing him, he probably never would again. "Though, in Daro's case, I'm sure that hadn't been very difficult."

"Hey," said Daro. "It's thanks to my seclusion that I was able to see through his tricks."

Kristof scoffed. "It's thanks to Zeff, not your paltry trinkets."

"Pah. Ever the downplayer. Perhaps I'll keep my paltry trinkets to myself the next time you ask to borrow them."

"And when that happens in fifty years, I doubt you'll remember that retort."

Yeah, that was them alright. Bickering, as usual.

"What are you doing here?" Linus heard himself say. He barely felt in control of his own body, at the moment. Like he was still on the verge of waking up after a long night's rest.

"It is as the Water Dragon said." Kristof crossed his arms. Up close, he was able to look down at Linus, which was not something that could be said for many. "We've come to get you. We're going to take Ridgemark back from Graves."

"And the rest of Vantalay while we're at it," added Daro.

Just then, the fog seemed to thicken, and a strange sound arrived--like the reverberating lash of a whip. Not quite a crack, exactly, but Linus didn't know how else to describe it.

The others looked to Zeff, who was standing there with his eyes closed, apparently concentrating quite hard, if the glistening on his brow was any indication. Perhaps that was just the fog sticking to him, though.

Page 4197 -- CCCXXXI.

"If that is your chief concern," said Karkash, "then it should not be an issue."

"Oh yeah? Good to hear. Because it would be a shame if we were to let such a partnership go to waste when there is so much out there that is ripe for the picking, right now."

And Karkash again remained quiet, but in his heart, he could not have agreed more.


Chapter Three Hundred Thirty-One: 'The mist that stirs...'
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Linus looked up from his work, mid-stranglehold. None of the bodies at his feet were dead, but they were all either groaning or unconscious. The average-sized man that was currently in his grip did not look so at all in comparison to his own massive frame. The guy was saying something in Valgan about where to find the next group of holdouts, but Linus' attention had already been stolen by the fog that had suddenly descended around him.

Around everything, actually. He could sense it, thanks to the merge with Dijara.

The fog went far, and it had a presence to it. Soul power. A familiar one, too.

He did not have long to wait before the creator of it made himself known.

As if melting out of the fog itself, Zeff Elroy appeared right in front of him.

"Linebreaker," said the Water Dragon of Sair, stepping around the bodies as he approached.

Linus couldn't help squinting at the sudden strangeness of this all. "Water Dragon. What are you doing here?"

"I've come to get you."

"For what?" Linus finally set his victim down, who was happy enough to crawl away, until a block of ice boxed him in a moment later. "Has there been another attack on Ridgemark?"

Zeff tilted his head at him. "Don't you find it strange that you even need to ask me that?"

Linus didn't understand.

Zeff elaborated, "Don't you find it strange that you're not in Ridgemark, right now?"

Linus just blinked at him. What kind of question was that? Obviously, he was out here cleaning up the remnants of the VMP after their defeat. It was important work, and soon enough, he would...

But... hmm.

Was it more important than protecting Ridgemark, though? Protecting Vino? And the Ruby 88? And all of the RPMP's important infrastructure?

"Ease your mind," came Zeff's voice again, then he seemed to wave someone over.

But no one was there.

Until suddenly they were. Melting out of the fog just the same way that Zeff had done.