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When Ezmortig was close enough, he started to recreate Desmond. The brain was the first thing to appear, growing out from a speck on the ground and from there, it only took a few minutes for the man’s body to regenerate fully.

Desmond took a deep breath, stretching his jaw muscles with one hand as he looked around at Karkash and the two reapers. He was nude, of course, but he didn’t seem to mind very much. He gave a loud sniff and cracked his neck. “So I guess things didn’t go very well for us, did they?”

‘I’m fairly certain that everyone else is dead,’ said Ezmortig. ‘Hanjir and Jupard might’ve gotten away, but I suspect Roman killed them.’

“Who’s Roman?” said Desmond.

‘The flying man that Karkash was fighting. We fought him, too, back when we tried to kill the Queen the first time. He told us his name at Belgrant Castle, though you probably don’t remember. His reaper’s name is Voreese.’

Desmond squinted. “That was the same guy? I don’t remember him flying around before.”

‘Seems his power has grown since then,’ said Ezmortig.

‘You should have killed him the first time, then,’ said Hoyohté. ‘If that man had not been present today, the fight might have gone very differently.’

“Pfft, whatever. I seem to recall you not killing the metal kid on two separate occasions. Three, now. Oh, and let’s not forget about your little stunt with Stoker and Nize. If you’d just let them go--or better yet, let me handle it--then maybe you wouldn’t have ended up on television and put the entire fucking plan in jeopardy for no reason.”

‘In our sect, we make an example of treasonous cowards,’ said Hoyohté. ‘I do not expect you to understand.’

Ezmortig interjected. ‘Calm down. It’s no use complaining at this point. Anyway, the real problem was the man with the light powers. Even if Karkash had been free to attack more, I highly doubt it would have made a difference. No offense.’

Karkash merely gave a small shrug and folded his arms.

“Eh, fuck it,” said Desmond, shaking his head. “So what’s the plan now?”