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The way Damian could disappear, for example, was very odd. Even the reapers couldn't sense him approaching or leaving. It was perhaps their largest problem right now, because it created an air of fear around them at all times. He could be right there without any of them knowing. He could be eavesdropping on any of their conversations.

It was a form of psychological manipulation, Dennex said--a way to make them second guess everything they were saying, and by extension, everything they were thinking. And of course, the thought that he could pop up anywhere at any moment would also make them more reluctant to try and flee.

Cisco didn't know if he agreed on that point. He thought the reaper might've been giving the guy a little too much credit. Damian was terrifying, sure, but he was also a chaotic mess, and that type of ploy seemed a little too calculated and cerebral for him.

Plus, Damian still had those big, underground worm monsters at his beck and call. Cisco had first heard about them from Dunstan--and thought him crazy, at the time--but he'd seen them a couple times with his own two eyes since then.

If nothing else, those things made it about a hundred times more difficult for the reapers to flee underground. Not that Damian even needed the help.

Lakefire. Come to think of it, Cisco was starting to wonder if Damian actually had any reason for bringing them to Melmoore. Maybe this was all just some random whim of his with no real justification behind it.

Would that be for the better or worse?

With Damian's constant vanishing, there was no way to know, really. He could've been going off and doing all sorts of things, talking to anyone, or even stealthily involving himself in the war. Sabotaging one or both sides, perhaps.

Hmm. Yeah, that seemed like something Damian would do.