‘No hurry,’ said the other reaper. ‘I’m plenty patient.’ This one’s name was Chergoa.
Zeff gave a grateful nod.
Marcos stepped up next to his sister. “Hey, if Emy doesn’t want her reaper, then I’ll take it.”
Zeff exhaled an amused breath. “No, Marcos. Emiliana will still be receiving her reaper. Just not tonight.”
The relief on Emiliana’s face seemed to lessen at that, but she nodded all the same. “Thank you, Papa...”
“Francisco, see that everyone gets ready for bed,” said Mariana.
“Yes, enma’am.”
After returning indoors, they parted ways with their children. The long corridor with ribbed arches in the ceiling gave them plenty of time to speak as they walked toward the Main House’s master bedroom, all four of the reapers following.
“You do know that it is not because she is merely scared, don’t you?” said Mariana.
“Yes,” said Zeff.
“She’s not like her sisters. Gema and Ramira are both tomboys, but Emiliana is about as girly as girls come.”
Zeff threw his wife an odd look--curious and amused by the way she put it.
“She wants to marry young and live quietly as a mother,” Mariana went on. “She wants a different kind of life for herself--one without all the commotion that the name Elroy brings with it.”
He took a deep breath. “I know.”
“Then why are you humoring her? It would be better to just get it over with and disillusion her now.”
“Because I am wondering if that is necessary.”
They arrived at their room, and Zeff entered first while Mariana stopped in the doorway. “What are you saying?”
Zeff looked to Chergoa. “I know this is not what you bargained for, but would you allow Emiliana to live quietly if she were your servant?”
Chergoa unfurled her black wings. ‘Uh. I suppose I could do that. But what do you think, Axiolis? You’re the one who recruited me into this Vanguard business.’
All eyes turned to Axiolis, and for a while, the reaper just stared at Zeff. ‘Frankly, I’m not pleased by the idea. Nor will the General be.’
A dark serial novel. Set in a modern fantasy world called Eleg. Mature language. Updates every night at midnight PST by ~400 words.
Vangard? Oooh things just got morally grey up in here.
ReplyDeleteOuch...Vanguard. Well we knew things had been going astray with them lately. Looks like it's time to find out the details. My personal guess, for the moment, is the simple but profound pressure of desperation. These Aberrations are new right? Changes the field, since they can grow so fast. Darrell mentioned one that pulled the leader of Vanguard himself out in person. I'm guessing Vanguard is starting to think they are going to lose...carry those fears down the line of command, all kinds of things can go wrong.
ReplyDeleteMore like we're getting the details about the greyness. Remember we've been given plenty of indications Vanguard has been slipping from the moral high ground. Now we get to find out exactly how, and perhaps why.
ReplyDeleteMissing word:
ReplyDelete"After returning indoors, they parted ways with [their] children."
Fixed now, thank you.
ReplyDeleteDo not reply; this is my bookmark
ReplyDeleteHOLY SHIT VANGUARD!!!
ReplyDeleteI mean, yeah we've heard it's not the same as when Garovel was with them but wtf?! This doesn't fit! Zeff said the old days they used to drown! How far back were the "old days"?! Seems longer than 20 years! Did Garovel not know bout this while working for Vanguard? This entire scene is a Wham Episode!
Been morally grey for a while
ReplyDeleteYeah but until around here the Vanguard were being shown in pretty positive light to the Abolish's are very very bad thing (I mean they want to kill all humans in order to appease "The Void"), whereas all we really knew about Vanguard was they oppose Abolish.
ReplyDeleteWell yeah, Abolish is bad, we even had Stoker and Nize try to leave. But we also have Mehl, who risked her "life" to escape Vanguard. Dunno man...yeah we're being *shown* Vanguard is grey now, but we were told by Mehl bout it a while ago.
ReplyDelete