Chapter Text
“Lahabrea has contacted me with a call for aid.”
A phrase nobody wants to hear, especially from Venat, current holder of the seat of Azem. Unfortunately, here she was, in the streets of Amaurot, saying those exact words to Erebus and Artemis, her unknowing proteges to her seat. Their unmatched martial prowess made them perfect allies for when a construct broke out of pandaemonium. An incredibly rare event to be sure, but it had been known to happen if the warding magics surrounding the containment facility began to fade.
“Do you know what escaped?” came Erebus’ immediate response. Having visited Propylaion on multiple occasions, and observed the depths of Pandaemonium when working alongside Venat, he knew exactly how dangerous these constructs could be.
“What’s the construct’s last known location?” Artemis added. Any information they could gain on the construct would be a boon to the containment, or - as it usually happened - neutralisation of the rogue construct. Without being asked, both twins were ready to step up and come to the aid of the general population of the star. It was this trait that the twins shared that confirmed to Venat that they were the right people for the seat when she stepped down from her role as the Traveler. Naming a pair of twins as a successor was unorthodox, but there was record of such a thing having occurred before. After all, the souls of a pair of twins were always identical, whether the twins themselves were or not.
“My thanks for your assistance. The missing construct is the elemental being Titanos. It specialises in earth-aspected aether, and has been shown to quite easily corrupt the aether of nearby beings, hence why it was stored in Pandaemonium. It was last seen leaving Propylaion to the northeast, but its aetherial traces should be relatively easy to track.” Venat answered, and then remembered that, while the twins had a strong affinity for viewing the past, their ability to see aether was - if she was being completely honest - absolutely abysmal. Of course, they weren’t the only people she could call upon for assistance in these scenarios, so she asked: “are Emet-Selch or Hythlodaeus available to aid us in tracking it?”
“I know Hythlodaeus is busy with his duties in the Bureau of the Architect, but I’m certain that I could drag Hades away from his work to help us” Artemis responded, the confident glint in her eye implying that “drag” may be taken a little more literally should her husband and holder of the seat of Emet-Selch refuse to help.
“Wonderful!” Venat exclaimed. “Meet me at the northern gate to the city, and ensure your wards are prepared before we set off.”
And with that the trio went their separate ways, the twins returning to their homes both to change into more appropriate travelling attire, and in Artemis’ case, retrieve her husband from his office.
Hades and Artemis’ House
“Hades, love, I have a favour to ask”
Hades suppressed a groan. Here we go again. “No. I’m not joining you on whatever insane quest Azem has this time, Artemis. I have far too much paperwork to fill out after the last one.” he sighed as he looked up to properly face his wife.
“Hades, please” Artemis begged, putting on her best puppy eyes. Hades could never resist when she did that. “We need you! Hythlodaeus is busy and we need someone who can see aether well enough to track an escaped construct!”
Hades paused for a moment, “I am just as busy, if not more so…” he noted, before his resolve swiftly crumbled under his wife’s pitiful stare, ”but I suppose an escaped construct is reason enough to abandon my post for a moment, if only because the longer it is loose the more likely it is to cause damage that necessitates further paperwork that I would need to fill out. Where are we meeting her?”
“Yes! Thank you so much dear, we’re meeting her and Erebus at the northern gate. I’ll explain the details on the way.”
North Gate of Amaurot
As Artemis and Hades approached the gate, Venat noticed their presence, waved and called out to them, “Emet-Selch! My thanks for coming to our aid on such short notice. I hope Artemis informed you about the rogue construct we need you to track?”
“She has. Titanos was last seen heading northeast from Propylaion and has a strong affinity for earth-aspected aether, correct?” Hades confirmed, now clad in his traveling attire and wearing the red mask that denoted his station as a member of the convocation.
Venat smiled. “Excellent. Before we set off, has everyone applied a ward against aetherial corruption?” After she received a series of nods from the assembled party, Venat summoned Argos, her companion and personal construct to aid in flight without use of transformation magics, got on his back, and stated,”Alright! I shall see you all at Propylaion then!” before taking off into the sky.
With no other choice if they wanted to keep pace with Venat, the remaining three called forth their mounts and began to follow after her.
Outside Propylaion
Once Hades, Artemis and Erebus had landed safely, Hades began to observe the aetheric traces to the northeast, leading away from the massive structure. It didn’t take long to pick out the trail of earth-aspected aether from the traces left by the dozens of people that called Propylaion and its surroundings home. “I’ve found the path of our wayward construct. Follow me.” he stated, before taking off along the ground, following the aether.
Unnamed Coastal Cave System (later U'Ghamaro Mines)
The trail ended a short distance from a cave entrance not terribly distant from the coast. “Huh…” Venat began, “the construct is supposed to be around here? For a being so strongly attuned to earth-aspected aether, I suppose I was expecting somewhere a little further from large bodies of water. Erebus, would you mind being the one to observe the past of this area? It should be quite simple to use the traces of aether Titanos left behind to see where it went from here. We’ll keep watch on the surroundings in the meantime”
“Of course,” Erebus replied, dismounting from and dismissing his kirin, “give me just a moment.”
The twins had both been trained by Venat in their ability to view the past of an object or location, to the point where the process was second nature to the both of them. As a result, it took no time at all for illusio to find the resonance in the ambient aether, and begin the process of rebuilding the memory of the event. While he was unable to directly see the ambient aether, both him and Artemis were incredibly skilled at feeling out its flow. After a moment, he could feel his mind begin to play out the memory, as his sensation of the present world around him began to fade.
The memory began in the same place they currently were. In the distance, a series of incredibly heavy thuds could be heard, from the direction they had arrived from. Suddenly, a huge figure burst out from the cliffside. It was mostly a greyish brown in colour, with cracks of the golden hue of earth-aspected aether running down its arms from the elbow and from the hip down the left leg to the knee. Its chest appeared to contain some sort of core, if the patch of incredibly pure earth aether was to be believed. This was most likely the construct that escaped Pandaemonium, especially given the fact that it simply charged straight through that cliff like it was wet paper, and left a valley that could have easily been mistaken for a natural occurrence, even just a few bells after it was made.
The construct appeared to be almost in a panic, likely from having experienced precisely what manners of fauna called the cells of Pandaemonium home. It looked around desperately, and, upon spotting the cave entrance, appeared to send a pulse of earth-aspected aether into the ground in an attempt to do… something, though Erebus wasn’t sure exactly what yet. After a moment, Titanos appeared to have found whatever it was looking for under the earth, and punched a hole into the earth, straight to whatever its end goal was. Once the construct had dropped down into the hole, it sealed itself back up, and the ground as if nothing had happened.
With the memory finished, Erebus snapped back into reality. “It’s beneath us, somewhere. It created a hole and dived straight into it.” he declared.
“Beneath us? You must be joking.” Hades snapped, “Unless that cave over there leads down into the depths, we are going to be here for weeks, if not months, just digging in the vain hope that the construct hasn’t already left the area!”
Artemis chuckled a bit at that, and produced a concept matrix from within her coat. “We would be,” she began, “if I had not had the forethought to grab a concept to create a tunnel down, tracing the path of a strong flow of earth-aspected aether. I dropped by the Bureau of the Architect on my way home. I had a feeling something like this might happen, especially given the construct we’re chasing is so heavily earth-aspected it can corrupt the aether of surrounding organisms.”
“Good thinking Artemis!” Venat praised, “Well then, what are you waiting for, we’ve got a construct to reclaim!”
Upon receiving Venat’s compliment, Artemis channeled aether into the matrix, and formed the construct. It rapidly began to create a hole wide enough for the four of them, aboard their mounts, to fly down.
The Primordial Navel
The moment the hole breached fully into the massive subterranean cavern, the construct dissipated into a puff of aether. In its place descended Artemis, Hades, Venat, and lastly Erebus, who collectively chose to land on a pillar in the centre of the room. Looking around, the cave itself was clearly a hub of earth-aspected aether, with the surroundings practically glowing, and bright yellow, bordering on gold, aether crystals shooting out of the walls at various angles.
“Well, we’ve definitely found its new home…” Erebus commented, “but where is the construct?” glancing around cautiously
As if in answer to the question, Titanos fell from the roof of the cave, landing directly in front of them with a roar. The agitated construct settled into what was clearly a combat stance, but where it had learned to do that was beyond the four of them.
“Well there’s that mystery solved!” Artemis exclaimed, “But it doesn’t look like this thing is going to go home without a fight!”
With several flashes of aether, all four summoned their weapons of choice into waiting hands. Venat had called upon the mage’s mantle, staff resting comfortably in her hands. Erebus chose his twinfangs, snapping them together into their glaive configuration, Hades’ greatsword settled into an aggressive overhead stance, and Artemis called forth an aetheric brush and palette.
There was a brief moment of calm before the fight began. Titanos let out another ear-splitting roar and slammed its fists together, creating a burst of earth-aspected aether that caused the twins to flinch before Hades charged in, greatsword already cleaving down into the construct. Not wanting to be outdone, Erebus zipped into the space behind the gargantuan beast, leaving heavy scratches all along the surface of the construct. The pair kept Titanos flanked at all times, while Artemis and Venat bombarded it from the edge of the pillar. A bolt of red fire-aspected paint soared across the room into the side of the construct’s head, followed rapidly by True Aero from Venat. The winds whipped around Titanos, ripping away shards of stone from the outside of its armour. The four of them worked together perfectly, with any opening one of them left being covered by another’s attack. As a unit, they whittled down the elemental construct’s health, until suddenly it stopped attacking and launched itself into the air. After a moment, gravity began to take its course and drag it back towards the pillar, which had begun to thin around the middle.
“Get away from the edge!” yelled Hades, having realised what the construct was trying to do: make the arena smaller so they had less room to maneuver around each other and, if it was lucky, drop the spellcasters to the cave floor.
Venat and Artemis dashed forwards just as Titanos hit the ground, making it to stable ground with barely any time to spare.
The battle continued in much the same manner. The four of them would chip away at the gigantic construct, it would jump up and slam down into the pillar as the edges got weaker, and the cycle would repeat. Titanos was begging to visibly slow down, however.
After the third slam into the pillar, Erebus decided things had gone on long enough, “Hades! Venat! Cover me!” he screamed as his soul flared, covering his body in a cerulean blaze. He separated his blades and slammed into the construct, leaving behind nothing more than embers as he slipped between every attack it made, landing incredibly brutal strikes into its core and eyes. He slid to a halt in front of it for a moment, clicking the glaive back together, before vanishing once more, blue slashes coating Titanos’ body as the only hints of his passing before he appeared above the beast, and slashed down through its body, causing an explosion of aether where he landed. As it swung down at where he stood one final time, he hopped backwards, landing perfectly between Venat and Hades.
Titanos collapsed to the floor and detonated into a burst of pure earth-aspected aether. Its four hunters were left breathing heavily, and proud of the outcome. While it wasn’t the ideal way to handle it, there was no way that any of them were going to manage to contain the construct and return it to Pandaemonium safely.
“Well!” panted Venat, “that could have gone a whole lot worse! Let’s head back. I’ve got a report to write on today’s events.”
Nobody argued. They all summoned their mounts, and flew home.
The Following Day, Amaurot
Artemis had decided to stop by Erebus’ house for a chat, and potentially another sparring match that would inevitably end up in a draw, as all of their sparring matches did. However, right before the pair entered the sparring room, there was a knock at the front door. While Erebus wasn’t expecting any guests, he prided himself on being a good host, so quickly went to open the front door. He certainly wasn’t expecting Venat to be standing there, wearing her convocation attire and mask.
“Can I come in? I want to ask something of you.” She seemed almost nervous, which was certainly odd, especially since Venat was well-known for being extremely confident and almost entirely unflappable, while also being one of the most approachable people in the city.
“Of course! You’re always welcome!” Erebus responded, shifting to the side as a way to invite her in. He paused for a moment, then added, “I should note that Artemis is also here, if that changes anything?”
“Actually, that’s even better, it means I won’t have to stop by hers after this.”
Entering the lounge, Artemis spotted their new guest, “Venat! I wasn’t expecting to see you here! What brings you this way, in your convocation robes no less?”
Venat paused for a moment, seemingly debating how to word this. “I have an offer to make the two of you,” she began, “and I want to preface this by saying that I have zero intention of returning to the star, not when the people who yet live still need help”
Well then. That was certainly a way to start this offer, whatever it was. “... Oookay? Please continue” the twins prompted at the same time.
Venat took a deep breath before she responded, “I intend to step down from my seat in the convocation, and I would name you both as my preferred successors.”
“Wait, wait, wait, both of us?” Artemis spluttered, “is that even allowed?”
Venat chuckled before replying, “It is. While there are only a few cases of this ever happening, there is precedent for a pair of twins to succeed a single seat in the convocation. Since your souls are identical, and the both of you have remained incredibly close even into adulthood, it would be entirely reasonable for you both to be nominated for a single seat. I intend to name you as my successors as you both hold the same respect and awe that I do for the star and its myriad inhabitants. You may be aware of this already, but the seat of Azem is typically appointed for one’s initiative, and you both showed yours brilliantly yesterday. You stepped up to aid me on my quest, even when no reward would come to you, or even knowing details past that Lahabrea had contacted me for aid. Not only that, but Artemis, you had the forethought to retrieve a construct that may well have been useful for the task at hand based entirely on your own instincts.”
Artemis and Erebus glanced at each other for a moment, seemingly having a silent conversation, before they nodded at each other, a conclusion reached. “Alright. We would be happy to take your seat in the convocation if you wish to step down and act as an advisor.” they affirmed as one.
“Wonderful! I would expect a visit from Elidibus shortly after the next meeting of the Convocation if I were you, then.”
A Few Weeks Later, Chambers of the Convocation of the Fourteen
“... From this day forth, may you bring honour to the seat of Azem, the Traveler. You may rise.” the monotone voice of Elidibus echoed out across the chamber, and the twins stood up from their kneeling position. “Take these masks as marks of your position on the convocation.” In that moment, a pair of simple, sleek, monochrome grey domino masks appeared before them. The masks of Azem. Simpler than those of the rest of the convocation, who wore red masks with what appeared to represent fangs hanging from their base, and yet they had no less impact.
“We thank you, Emissary, for this honour” the twins intoned simultaneously, and made their way to their seats at the convocation, which were placed behind the same desk. This desk was also, rather conveniently, placed exactly opposite the seat of Emet-Selch, who they could both see was smiling at the two of them, seeming exceptionally proud of the accomplishments of his wife and brother in-law.
This was the dawn of a new era in their lives.