222 - Madness

“The Mundane isn’t half bad,” Top Dog said to make conversation as they waited for the next match to start. This was the match he’d been waiting for all day, the one he really came to see. 

“Told you he was good,” Conrad said. “It’s a shame he doesn’t want to fight anymore.”

“Did he tell you why?”

“No. I’m assuming he’s found something else that brings him purpose. He’s different now. Happier, or at least more content.” Conrad shrugged. “It’s good for him. I think he’s finding some inner peace.”

“Who needs inner peace when you can have a big fat trophy and about a shit ton of credits?”

Conrad shot him a look, and Top Dog said, “Kidding.” Mostly. 

Though with the combined effort of Conrad, Isla, Tiana, and his mother, Top Dog had finally agreed to take a break from the AFC and wait for his pathways to heal.

His finances had taken a hit. A few sponsors who didn’t have the patience to wait had moved on to other fighters. He’d also had to sell one of his houses. 

But his trainer and people who actually gave a shit about him were happy.

Also, it wasn’t the end of the world, though it had felt like it at the time.

He’d nearly had a panic attack at the thought of selling the house, and he'd been an absolute nightmare to deal with for weeks to come.

Until Conrad finally came up to him one day and gave one of his serious Conrad talks.

Conrad had told him that he was just afraid, that a small part of him feared that if he rested for even one second, if he let even a little bit of his wealth slip from his fingers, it would become a domino effect and he would lose it all.

He would be back on the streets, with no one to go to, scrapping for survival. 

Top Dog had denied, but inside he knew it was true. 

He'd been scared. He still was.

But somehow, he was learning to deal. 

“That will never happen,” Conrad had continued with his sickeningly earnest eyes. “Even if you lose everything. You still have me.”

“Thanks, but I don't roll that way," he'd quipped. "Even if I did, I think Isla and T might have a problem with that.”

“Dick. As if you'd ever get a hot piece of ass like me. I meant it as a friend. No matter what happens, I’ll be in your corner. So, you don't have to worry. Alright?"

As disgustingly sappy as it was, Conrad's speech had helped.

Top Dog had then decided, since he couldn't avoid it, he might as well relax and enjoy his break. Not to say that he wanted this break to last forever.

Sure, it had been kind of nice not killing his body every day, and not having to do interviews and all that other crap.

He’d even had time to go on a short vacation with Tiana before she had to go on tour, which was nice.  Of course, they’d spent half the time they were there fighting, but that was kind of the nature of their relationship. They’d had fun too.

Then he'd also gone on a family trip with his mom and Isla.

But now, he was ready to get back into it. His leg was mostly healed, he was back to training again, and he’d come to match day today, because he wanted to watch Torin Firebringer vs Patriot. He knew Torin would win, but he wanted to see specifically how he won. 

Top Dog had been obsessively watching all the Torin Firebringer matches so far, though there had only been four.

Torin was probably the best in the new league, and TD was getting a read of his fighting style–quick, clean, without excessive flair. Very utilitarian. 

Top Dog was also trying to find any weaknesses, but so far, there were very few he could actually exploit. The boy was too good. 

Conrad tried to get him to give up on beating Torin, but he couldn’t. It just wasn't in him to give up on a fight, even when he was outclassed.

Heck, he’d been outclassed many times by different fighters, especially in the beginning of his career. But he'd always found a way to win.

If he’d just admitted defeat, he never would have gotten where he was now. He would never have been number one in the league.

He would beat Torin Firebringer. If it were the last thing he did, he would beat the Hero and reclaim his title of AFC champion. 

When the match started, Conrad was talking to Boris and another boy whose name he did not know about training.

Top Dog tuned them out. 

He watched the big screen and waited for the fight with utmost eagerness. The PHORB whizzed around the fighters, and it caught Patriot’s smug expression and Torin’s blank one.

It was different than usual. He seemed different. 

Out of it. 

Top Dog reevaluated his thoughts about the outcome of this match. Torin might lose. 

But then something happened, so quickly that he blinked and almost missed it.

It was like a lightning strike without lightning.

It hit the ground without sound, although both Torin and Patriot leaped back in alarm.

The dust between them cleared and revealed three bodies standing there. 

The smaller one was talking to Torin,

Torin’s face….the PHORB caught it first, his eyeballs practically popping out of his sockets, his jaw dropping. It was the most animated he'd ever seen Torin be.

He stumbled back and put his hand out like…like he was trying to ward off something. Then the PHORB caught what he was looking at, which was a small…girl?

It was hard to tell under all the blood and grime staining her face. Her hair was a tangled mess around her head, and her eyes were…

Holy shit. Her eyes.

He knew those eyes. 

Without taking his gaze off the screen, TD snapped his fingers and tried to get Conrad’s attention, but Conrad continued his conversation with whoever-it-was, oblivious to the world-changing event that had just happened. 

Top Dog finally smacked him in the back of the head, and when Conrad turned in protest, he jabbed at the screen, the words choking his throat. 

Just as Conrad turned to see it, chaos exploded in the audience. 

***

Everyone was yelling and screaming.

Security and ushers were running towards her, the audience standing, some attempting to climb out of their boxes to get a better look. People were also gathering on the steps now and were about to rush onto the field when security realized what was going on and doubled back to contain the crowd.

The announcer was yelling something too, confusion, and questions.

Lexie didn’t have time for it. 

She felt drained, panicked, and filled with urgency.

They almost hadn’t made it.

Once Ceciia went down, Lexie had scorched every enemy in sight, but they were more than she could handle. The very elements were against them too, the ground, the air, the sky.

The storm kept coming, and as Ryn had tried to heal Cecilia, Lexie had taken over most of the combat.

Until Ryn announced that she couldn’t do much for Cecilia. Ceilia was human, and so her soul and body weren't as resilient as Lexie's, and she didn’t have her quicker regeneration abilities.

Ryn was a weaver, not a healer, so all she could do was stitch the skin back together and stop the bleeding, but the injury was grievous enough that the soul might slip away anyway.

So, Lexie knew she had to get them out of there.

She'd sent Pvilycht away first, back to his domain, where he was to hide from Neqal until Lexie got back.

With Ryn and the other creature cards holding cover, Lexie had then tapped into Yasycht’s essence one more time, held onto the first image of her father that she’d seen.

It had brought them here. 

It took more power to get them here without Cecilia’s help than she expected.

That–combined with the fact that Lexie’s Eldritch mana had been reduced on Earth and bound to the dungeon so she had less free mana to use–meant she was exhausted after the travel.

Or maybe it was the Earth’s oath taking effect she didn’t know. All she knew was that she felt different. 

Not great.

The medics were now surrounding Lexie and co. but they kept their distance. They yelled out questions while giving Lexie a wide berth, asking what they were and where they came from.

"I'm Lexie Sparrowfoot," Lexie said, "This is Cecilia. She is a human. You need to help her right now or she'll die."

"Lexie Sparrowfoot?" One of the medics blinked. "That's impossible. Who are you really, and how did you even get here? What kind of orb did you–"

“That's not important right now. Help her!” Lexie yelled at them, pointing at Cecilia. She needed her to be taken care of so she could go find her father. 

Speaking of which, where was her father? 

She turned to Torin, but he still wasn’t saying anything. She guessed he was still shell-shocked. She didn’t blame him. This wasn’t how she’d planned to meet him again. Not that she’d planned to, but…whatever. Things shifted in her brain.

“Torin,” she said again as the medics chattered and one of them finally came forward to take a look at Cecilia.

Torin's mouth opened and closed.

“Am I dreaming?” His voice was too quiet to be heard over the din, but Lexie could read his lips. She shook her head. “No. You’re not dreaming.”

But the press of bodies was starting to become too much. They were all over her now, and Lexie was starting to feel claustrophobic. A white robed man cut through the din and went straight to Cecilia and Ryn, who was standing still, observing the chaos like she was watching a nature documentary.

Lexie figured that would be good enough. She needed to find her dad now. 

She closed her eyes and tried to access Yascycht but couldn’t.

Shit.

She needed a doorway. 

"Hey, sweetie," someone was saying. "Can you tell us how you got–"

Lexie activated her teleportation card, setting it to the back of the stadium, where an arch was.

She disappeared and reappeared there, but unfortunately, when she closed her eyes and tried to connect to Yasycht, it still didn't work. It wasn't just that the power was faint.

She couldn't feel him.

Damn it.  

Yasycht had not yet penetrated this world, at least not entirely. His powers might be limited to a given location, like they were in Belshycht's dungeon. There was likely an access point somewhere, but Lexie wasn’t there now.

So she would have to find her father the old-fashioned way. 

She opened her eyes and found that people were staring at her.

“Has anyone seen my dad?” she asked as they came closer, reaching out for her.

“Are you really Lexie Sparrowfoot?” Hands started skimming her, grabbing her wrists, and Lexie jerked back, erecting a forcefield between them.

Why were strangers touching her?

“Has anyone seen my dad?” she asked, getting increasingly annoyed. “His name is Aiden Sparrowfoot. Has anyone seen him?”

“Are you really Lexie Sparrowfoot?”

“Oh my Guardian. It really is her. Oh my Guardian!”

Lexie could barely think with all the noise. And there were so many people everywhere. They all seemed to know who she was. How? Why?

It was overwhelming. She almost regretted leaving the dungeon. 

“Lexie!”

“Lexie over here!”

"Lexie! Were you really in a dungeon?”

So many people were yelling her name now, screaming from all directions. Lexie floated off the ground to search for her dad from a higher vantage point, away from the grabbing hands.

She swung her head around and spotted some familiar-looking people. Top Dog and Conrad were running across the field toward her, with Boris at the rear.

No sign of her Dad there.

Coming from the other direction, from the entrance, was Vacek and another tall Fae-looking man surrounded by other Fae, walking quickly.

They were heading for Lexie, too.

Did they know where her dad was?

Or were they here to confront her? Did they know she was Eldritch?

Suddenly, a phantom touch of mist wrapped around her wrist.

She spun around, looking down into a pair of familiar eyes. 

“Tate?”

“I know where your dad is. Come with me.”

Lexie pressed her lips together. She didn't trust him. After all, he’d betrayed her before, and Lexie was more sensitive to being betrayed now. 

“If you’re lying, I’ll kill you,” she told him, and his eyes went wide in shock. He clearly hadn’t been expecting that. 

“Uh…sure,” he answered. 

“I’m serious.”

“Yeah, you look like it.”

Lexie lowered herself onto the ground.

Before anyone could reach them, she thought of home and activated her teleportation card. She ran the calculations quickly, then grabbed Tate's hand and disappeared.

They reappeared right outside on her front porch.

It looked exactly like how she left it.

It smelled like cinnamon and pine. So familiar it ached.

“How the hell did you do that?” Tate asked her, ripping his hand out of hers and backing up in shock. 

“Magic,” she said, and at the same time, she was unsatisfied with just how much two mere teleports drained her. Maybe she'd turned down her Eldritch mana too much. She should give a little more allowance. She hated feeling like this. 

“So where’s my dad?” she asked Tate, who was still staring at her like she had two heads.

“He’s…” Tate hesitated. “He’s gone to the Dark Tower?"

Lexie did a quick run through her memory before she realized what that was.

"You mean the place where they locked all the Guardians?"

"Yup."

She gaped. "Why the hell would he go there?"

"Because he thinks he can bring you back that way. He's going to find the Key to all worlds, and that way, he can go into the dungeon and save you. I think he was also thinking of going back in time to rescue you before you got trapped, although that would introduce a lot of problems to this world.”

Lexie shook her head. That was the last thing she wanted.

If her father succeeded, if he prevented her from being trapped in that dungeon, then Lexie wouldn't be the person she was now.

She would never have accepted the fullness of herself, her growth and power would have been forever stunted.

She would still be living in fear and shame.

She would never be fully Lexie. 

“I don’t want that,” she said. “How do I stop him?”

"I know where the Dark Tower is, but I don't know how to get there. It's not really a place that's easily accessible, but since you can teleport..." He sighed. "The problem is that once he enters the door, there's no way to get him back. And there's a security protocol that blocks the entire area out from–"

"Don't worry about the security protocol," Lexie said. "I'll figure it out."

"Okay, but I'm warning you. It's dangerous."

"More dangerous than a dungeon?" Lexie gave him a wry look. "I don't care. Just take me to him."

***

A few minutes later, they were in the eye of a storm.

Lexie had made quick work of the security protocol with DECODE, and now they were in the outer yard of the Dark Tower.

The Dark Tower was not on any map in the world, nor did it have simple coordinates.

The coordinates were heavily dependent on where you were in the world at what time, and the location reoriented every few years. Hence why you couldn't get here without teleportation.

It was known as the place at the end of the world, and the minute they appeared on the shore, chaos crackled in the atmosphere around them, attacking them, a powerful wind pushing them back.

Lexie fought back with <TRUE WINDBREAKER> and advanced, even though it felt like she was fighting against the world by doing so.

Tate stuck by her side, although the storm attempted to engulf him, too. He held onto her hand and seemed like he was clearing the mist in the atmosphere, at least until they could see ahead.

In the distance, through the darkness, Lexie saw her father's back. He was at the tower. Almost at the door.

She screamed.

The Chaos fought back, ripping her feet from the ground.

Tate held onto her, and Lexie anchored herself.

She kept moving.

She was already exhausted from all the teleportation, but she didn't stop, not even when she felt like she wanted to pass out. Instead, she turned up her mana, activated <Can I Have Your Attention> and yelled, "DAD!"

***

Aiden stared at the door in front of him.

He'd been walking through the storm for what felt like forever, and now the Tower was here.

The door was right here.

He knew the words to open it.

Once he did, he would cross the point of no return.

He thought about everyone he was leaving behind.

By this point, Tate should have all gotten his messages. Emma, Luke, Abernathy, and Max would get theirs tonight, and the rest would get theirs tomorrow.

He thought about the last dinner he'd had with Emma, Luke, Max, and Tate. It was a nice, pleasant evening, with Emma mothering the hell out of Max, Max being annoyed, and Luke being amused by the whole thing.

It was a lovely goodbye.

This could have all been different.

Maybe if he'd been a different father, he wouldn't have lost Lexie like this.

Maybe if he hadn't worked so hard, he wouldn't have lost Lara, too.

On the bright side, he was going to be with them soon. One way or another.

“Dad!” 

Aiden smiled. He could already hear Lexie's voice in his mind.

He would hold onto that, use it as encouragement to pass whatever test came at him.

“Dad! Don't do it! I'm here!"

The voice sounded so vivid, so real. He was losing his mind, but he didn't mind. He would make the madness his superpower.

"Just turn around! I'm right here! Please just turn around, Aiden!"

Aiden froze.

It had to just be his imagination, but Lexie wouldn't call him his first name in his imagination. In his dreams, she always called him Dad or Daddy. "‘Please. Turn around. Trust me.”

It was a trick. The Tower was trying to test his mettle, and maybe if he turned around, it would deem him unworthy.

But could he really go in without turning?

"Dad!" The voice sounded desperate, sounding farther away. "Please! Please! Please, Aiden!"

He was losing his mind. But he had to see.

He had to check even if he doomed himself.

He turned around.

He saw her there, amidst the storm of black.

The eye of it.

Her hair was whipping wildly around her face, blocking most of her features.

Her body was dirty and bloody.

But it was his daughter. He knew it.

Was it real? Was she an illusion?

"I'm here!" Lexie yelled at him as she put up a hand to shield her face from the wind. "I came back!"

It couldn't be real. Lexie wouldn't have come back, and even if she had, she wouldn't have known where to find him.

But Aiden couldn't stop himself from going toward her.

His magic pushed back the chaos storm, but the real chaos was within. His heart was beating so fast, it might give up on him any second now.

When he got close to her, he held his hand out.

If she disappeared, if his hand met nothing but air, it would break him.

It just would.

But his finger met skin. Hair. Shoulder. She felt solid.

He couldn't believe it.

It had to be a trick.

"L...Lex–" His voice was hoarse, breath so tight he could barely get the word out. He cupped her cheek, took a ragged breath and tried again. "Lexie?"

It’s me,” she said, folding her hand over his as their combined magic drove away the chaos. "It’s me, Dad." Her eyes grew teary. "I came back. I came back for you."

Aiden shook his head. This had to be a trick, but he didn't care. He just hoped it continued forever.

"It's her," another voice said, and Aiden finally noticed the person with Lexie.

It was Tate standing there in the same clothes he'd worn to fight.

Aiden's heart stopped.  

Tate was here with her.

Aiden wouldn't dream of that.

So...maybe this wasn't a dream.

Maybe Lexie had really come back.

"It's me, Dad," Lexie said quietly. "It's really me."

Aiden didn't think he moved, but suddenly, he was crushing his daughter against his body.

An inhuman wail left his mouth as he clutched her as close as he could manage. His whole body shook. The storm burst out of him, and he no longer had the strength to hold himself up.

His knees hit the ground.

"Lexie..." He sobbed in her hair. He cried like a child, while his daughter rubbed his back and told him everything would be alright.

It should have been embarrassing.

But Aiden was too drained to be embarrassed.

Everything else was gone.

He was shattering to pieces right now, and he didn't know how to even begin to put himself back together again.

All he knew was that Lexie was home.