Conscious, Conscientious

No matter how many times Lammy tried to encourage an explanation out of Raznizu, his magical projection continued to sit there, void and wordless.

Many minutes passed since Irma suddenly darted away, yanking the silent Aoi along. Whatever they had discovered after penetrating Raznizu's mind clearly sent them into a frantic state.

Lammy’s alarm only heightened when moments after, a low boom resonated throughout the dungeon, shaking dust free from the walls of his cell.

But despite all that, Raznizu didn't speak. Even Zayza's urgent questions didn't get through to him, despite the esteem and value he usually placed in everything she did.

Pure silence dominated the cells for longer than Lammy could tell.

Then at last, Raznizu stirred–but only to lower his head even further than it already hung. He clutched the ground.

"I failed her," he finally uttered in their heads. "First, I failed my mission to protect you from Najinzu and Fewpar. Now, I failed to conceal her secret."

"Who?" begged Zayza.

Raznizu sighed. "I didn't tell you, so that her true intentions might remain hidden from the interrogations," he said. "Queen Layla is the one behind your attempted rescue. She sent me out to find you. She's the leader of the resistance."

Zayza's mouth dropped. "Layla…sent for me…?"

"But because of my failure…" Raznizu continued.

"Raznizu, please cease this wallowing. It's rather unbecoming of you…Ow."

The voice hadn't come from any of them. But Lammy had heard it before, and recently.

Zayza gasped, and Raznizu sprung back up.

Lying stomach-down between Zayza and Raznizu's transparent figures, a projection of Queen Layla appeared–or, as Lammy knew her, the pretty blonde girl who had just sentenced them all to public execution hardly an hour ago.

She sat up shakily with a wince, clearly on an unforgiving cell floor just like the rest or theirs. There were numerous fresh scratches and small burns on her face and arms, as well as tears in her pale pink dress. Layla straightened her posture, shaking off dust and ash with a lofty frown.

“My Layla…my dear, are you okay?” Zayza choked as tears fell.

“Greetings, sister,” she said quickly, observing her new surroundings with astounding collectedness. "Right, then. It seems the communication enchantment I placed on these cells is functioning. Good."

Lammy blinked hard. She went straight to business so fast, he almost missed it entirely.

"Layla…you tried to save me…?" Zayza asked. "You…believed me?"

Layla glared ahead indignantly. "I always did. But I couldn't let Proscious know that, if we ever wanted a chance," she said seriously. "They may have deceived Vayva, but I heeded your warnings. And as I always thought, you were right about them."

Her eyes finally fell to her sister's.

"You know, if you hadn't run away," she admonished, "we could have worked to…to…"

Abruptly, her eyes grew watery. Her frown quivered.

"…I miss you so much, Zayza…" she sniffed, as the child she truly was emerged at last.

Zayza and Layla tried to near each other, the last of their family. But their magical projections simply passed through like the air.

"Can I please have a hug when we exit these cages?" Layla begged.

A laugh escaped through Zayza's tears. She nodded.

Abruptly, Lammy seemed to catch Layla’s eye. She rushed one last sniff, as if attempting to speed through the rest of her emotions. Then she turned to him, immediately shifting back to her majestic demeanor as if nobody would notice.

"You,” she said, her Queenly tone suddenly returning.

“Me?”

“You're the boy who protected my sister all this time. I eavesdropped on Fewpar and Najinzu's reports to Proscious, and heard all about your bravery."

"O–oh," Lammy stammered.

"This is Lammy. He's become a dear friend," Zayza introduced.

Here comes the laugh…or the mispronunciation…Lammy prepared himself.

"What a pleasant name," Layla noted instead.

“Wait…really?”

Suddenly Layla leaned forward into a deep bow. Raznizu's eyes widened while Zayza let out a nervous laugh.

"You saved my beloved sister's life. I owe you everything, Lammy." she pledged. "Even my very being."

Lammy beat red. "Uh…no it's fine, really," he waved off.

With Layla still in her bow, Zayza snuck him a smile that clearly stated 'I'm sorry about her.'

Lammy couldn’t bear to let this last. "So um…that whole mind-control thing didn’t work, then?" he prompted desperately.

Layla sprung back up. "Yes. Proscious never gained control of my mind,” she confirmed. “After they used and destroyed our eldest sister, with Zayza missing, my time came to be their puppet.”

She recalled the events with a pensive frown. “I suspected they were slipping concoctions into the daily meals we shared, so I had no choice but to regurgitate everything after meetings. I would sneak food elsewhere when I could, but my chances came days at a time."

Man, she's tougher than she looks, thought Lammy.

"All the while, I acted as if I were under their influence. I mimicked the regression I saw in my fallen family," she said. "I befriended the Proscious members and won their hearts the best I could. They still assigned one, Aoi, to read my mind. But for some reason…nothing came of it. I'm unsure if she ever truly did, though I don't know why."

"So you had no choice but to sentence us to death, or Proscious would've found out," Lammy connected, finding himself burying the fear in his tone to match Layla's impressive composedness.

Layla nodded. "I did as they instructed," she confirmed. "However, that–and all of this–is exactly according to my plans."

"Plans?" Lammy repeated.

"You mean…including our current predicament?" Zayza inquired, glancing around at the cold darkness.

Even Raznizu appeared shocked. "My Queen, clearly you didn't mean to allow even yourself to be trapped in this dungeon?"

Layla was unfazed by their confusion. "My original objective was for Raznizu to find Zayza and bring her home without Proscious' knowledge. That would have placed us in the best circumstances to reclaim Azvaylen," she explained. "However, if he were to fail, I knew they would place her and perhaps Raznizu in this dungeon. So I wrote enchantments into every cell over the past several nights. Then of course, I had to anticipate they could discover my true loyalties if they interrogated Raznizu. And so…"

"The explosion," Raznizu caught on.

Layla nodded to him. "I enchanted the primary meeting areas in the castle. With the pull of my dress, I could explode the walls of any of them and try to make an escape."

Man…here I thought I was strategic…Lammy thought.

"You blew up a section of the castle?!" Zayza exclaimed.

"Merely the Throne Room. You always said it needed remodeling," Layla defended dismissively. "However, Proscious is too strong. They still captured me."

"Which leads us to now," Zayza completed.

"Yes. This is the final layer of my backup plans," Layla revealed. "It is also the least ideal, as I won't be able to time when our next move will occur."

"What would that be?" Lammy asked, and Raznizu steadied himself to await orders.

"The second enchantment on these cells," Layla said. "I'd hoped to activate them from the outside when your chances seemed safest. But knowing I'd potentially end up here, I wrote them to trigger automatically after some time."

"Layla, I'm afraid you need to be more clear," Zayza requested.

"I'm unsure exactly when, but soon," Layla told them, "the cell doors will unlock."

~~~

Deon's eyes shot back up to the balcony. Clearly, Layla was standing right there; nothing about her seemed to give away evidence of unreality.

"You sure, Phillip?" he asked.

"I'm certain. That's not their Queen," he said immediately. "Whoever it is, they're using illusions to appear as her to all of us."

As this faux Layla continued her speech, poetically urging the importance of loyalty and community in these dark times, the group huddled closer together.

"It's the same technique I'm using to disguise Hiroko and Kotono right now," Phillip shared, "but…it's far more complex. This Illusionist is highly skilled. It took me a moment to detect it."

"Then someone else is calling the shots here," Hiroko muttered.

The crowd broke into a hearty cheer after something the false Layla promised.

"My dear Azvaylens, we are strong, and we will keep you safe," she said. "We will snuff out the rest of this terrorist rebellion to protect this kingdom. Though they try to resist our interrogations, we will find the truth."

She paused. Another chilling wind blew past.

"In fact," she added, "we've already begun."

Then, Deon's eyes met a sight that would never leave his memory.

Sharp, black spikes faded into existence underneath the shadow of the balcony. They stood tall from the stone floor, high enough for the entire courtyard's crowd to witness clearly.

And at the top, a man's mangled body was lodged through them, gray and motionless.

"They used illusions to camouflage it until now," Phillip analyzed, eyes widened. "It must have been here the whole time."

Deon had to avert his eyes before his mind could absorb the details. He'd never witnessed human death before–it simply didn't happen in Tailpiece. It was a reality he'd only heard of and never faced.

Until this day.

He felt sick.

The air filled with the Azvaylen peoples' screams. Hiroko hurried to cover Kotono’s eyes, until she realized she was too late.

"Nordin Faez," the false Layla declared over their cries. "The Royal Family's Master Enchanter. Zayza's terrorists used enchantments to attack the throne room, so we can assume he was involved."

"Nordin?!" a woman shrieked.

"He was a staunch supporter of Queen Layla! I thought he despised Princess Zayza?!" a man expressed to his wife.

"Even he was a traitor?!" lamented another.

Unlike Deon, Skrili focused on the sight unblinkingly. "Intimidation tactics," she observed.

Hiroko nodded. "Zayza told us this is how they traditionally execute criminals," she revealed. "But Zayza's not a terrorist, and that's not Layla. I bet this man was innocent."

Kotono hid her face from the sight with a moan.

A fire lit within Deon.

They're willing to kill innocent people? he raged, his eyes growing hot.

"Guys, let's mess these monsters up," he growled.

Skrili lightly seized his arm.

"Not yet," she whispered.

When he turned to her, he could see the orange light from his eyes reflecting in hers. He saw her own rage, but it was restrained: armed and ready to unleash.

Taking everything in his being, he nodded to her. The light in his eyes weakened. He practically shook: the discomfort of fighting within himself, resisting his very nature, tensed every muscle.

"Rubia Wozen," the illusionary Layla said next. "One of the Royal Family's longtime maids."

"Another one?" Skrili whispered.

After much inner deliberation, Deon forced himself to look back to the deadly spikes.

But no other bodies dangled there aside from the Master Enchanter.

An explanation came quickly, in the form of a pleading woman up in the balcony. Two guards forced her beside Layla and held her in place overlooking the spikes below.

"P—Please, my Queen! I knew nothing about the explosion!" she begged, tears drenching her face and clothes. "I never assisted Zayza in her crimes! Your forces read my mind just as all the others in the murder investigations!"

"Enough," the fake Queen dismissed simply.

"MAMA!!" two children wailed towards the front of the crowd.

The woman broke down, the guards' harsh grips the only reason she remained on her feet. "My babies…!" she wept.

"Guys…we can't let this happen…" Deon whispered.

"Behold closely, my people," the false Layla said as the woman whimpered. "For this the very same fate Zayza, Raznizu Duriz, and the boy known as Lammy will soon meet. And anyone else who opposes us—our kingdom, that is—will die just the same."

Time froze. For a moment, all Deon could perceive was that last statement.

"Hey, what did she just say…?" he asked lowly. "They're gonna kill Lammy, huh?"

Immediately, the fire within reignited.

"Do it," ordered the false Layla.

"Skrili," Deon muttered, fists shaking, "not yet, still?"

"Actually, I change my mind," she said.

Hiroko cracked her knuckles. "Time to blow our cover. Let's make a scene."

The guards lifted the woman in the balcony effortlessly, and tossed her over. She plummeted towards the spikes screaming.

Focusing on the air above them, Deon raced to imagine a giant pillow. It appeared just in time, and he sighed as the woman sunk into it.

Everyone around gasped.

The illusionary Layla's eyes shot wide.

"Phillip, you got it?" checked Hiroko.

"Already working on it."

He squinted at the false Queen with a grimace, pulling back his spiky bangs to gain the clearest view possible.

"There. Locked on."

Before every citizen of Azvaylen's capital, clear as day, Layla's form morphed. The air around her waved as her transformation began. She grew much taller and her dress turned into a t-shirt, jacket, and running shorts.

Finally, her hair converted into a variety of colors and tied itself into a ponytail while her face matured into that of a woman's, whose shocked eyes were each different colors: one green and one black.

She seemed not to notice the transformation until the crowd's uproar redirected towards her. Deon almost had to cover his ears from the heightened screams.

"WHO'S THAT?!"

"WHERE’S QUEEN LAYLA?!"

The woman observed her hands and clothes. She scowled subtly as if she'd found a fly.

"Ah, come on. There's an Imaginer and an Illusionist here?" she complained, her voice still amplified. "I knew I shouldn't have stayed to help. Ugh, this is gonna be such a pain."

The nearest guards on the balcony rushed to her, seemingly awaiting urgent orders despite her true identity.

"Well what do you think I want?" she replied to one. "Find them. Like, obviously."

Skrili nudged Deon. "Hurry," she muttered.

"Oh yeah!"

The woman he'd just rescued still lay clutching onto his floating pillow for dear life, barely above the death spikes. Guards were already starting to gather below.

Focusing hard, he flew the pillow away and descended her towards the frantic crowd. All the while, her head spun back and forth in confusion, unable to locate her savior.

As she neared her fellow citizens, several hands reached out to retrieve her. Deon decided it safe to remove the pillow from existence, and she vanished into the sea of people before the guards could act.

The woman in the balcony's frown increased, but only slightly. "Will you guys just find them?" she moaned as if her dinner was late. "They're making me look bad…"

Saved her, Deon thought in relief. The realization filled his whole being with adrenaline. And they didn't even catch on to me.

"HEY! This lad! I think this lad just used powers!!"

Apparently he'd assumed too quickly. A man nearby was pointing right at him.

"He ratted me out?!" Deon whispered, muscles tensing.

"He's scared of them," Skrili reasoned. "Well, here we go."

The crowd around them hesitated, until guards stepped forward from their surroundings posts at every wall and corner of the courtyard. The blue magic powering their blades rose high and shined on those closest. In that moment, everyone dashed for the exit.

"Don't run!” Hiroko commanded her friends. “It'll take the fight too close to the people! We have to take them head-on."

"Oh…" moaned Kotono queasily, red light igniting all around her.

With the crowd quickly dissipating, little stood between them and the incoming guards. The five consciousnesses shifted into a circle.

While Hiroko and Phillip took on fighting stances and Kotono broke into a shiver behind her teammate, Deon felt Skrili press her back to his.

He immediately understood.

"Defense two?" he assumed.

"Defense two."

Skip designed this technique specifically for a surrounded situation like this. It was the natural choice.

The teammates watched their attackers close in, their opposite views accounting for every angle of the incoming offensive.

As per the strategy, Deon needed to imagine their line of defense. He placed giant knives all around them in a spinning circle, widening their usual rotation to protect Kotono, Hiroko, and Phillip, as well.

"What–knives?! We're not here to kill them! They're just following orders!" Skrili shot. "Do the leather balls."

The onslaught of guards were mere steps away.

"Slice them to bits!!" the closest one roared.

Hiroko lunged forward at him in a blur. By the time Deon turned to follow her strike, she stood back in position holding the soldier's sword while he lay incapacitated, a dent in his helmet.

"I think that guy wanted to slice us to bits, Skrili," Deon pointed out.

"Okay, okay. Just nothing lethal."

“Good point,” Deon agreed. Though the danger of the situation led him to think up the most violent imagining possible, he knew he wasn’t ready to take a life. Focusing all around, he reimagined the knives into balls of rock: easier to control, but dense enough to damage metal armor.

The soldiers hesitated just before his rotating shield. But nonetheless, they charged forward and raised their shields.

The first immediately took a circular stone in the side, launching him through the air and into one of the courtyard walls.

Another managed to evade Deon’s defense near Hiroko and Kotono and prepared to swing his sword. But in a blink he was facedown, mangled, and disarmed—now Hiroko wielded two of the Azvaylen light blades.

“My left,” called Skrili.

Without aiming, hoping he could manage to put Skip’s drills to good use, Deon commanded a rock to swing down in front of Skrili. Confidence poured in when he heard the clank as yet another soldier fell to his technique.

“Nice,” Skrili uttered.

The tall guards up in the balcony leapt down, clearing the spikes with synchronous flips, and charged forward. Another line of soldiers emerged from the corners and joined.

But between Deon and Skrili’s defense and Hiroko’s swift movements, the reinforcements only met the same abrupt defeats. Deon observed as Hiroko parried two soldiers at once, and then kicked them each powerfully enough to slide them halfway across the stone floor. He felt Skrili leave his back and heard her jump, then turned to witness her redirect a sword one soldier had desperately thrown at them. It sliced the side of his leg and he crawled away in shock.

“‘Nothing lethal, huh?” Deon muttered.

“You’re welcome,” Skrili said. “And look, he’s not dead, is he?”

Deon’s blood pumped heavy, but no longer with anxiety. Now it was with pure determination. What he thought was about to be a fight for their lives had quickly unfolded into a one-sided brawl: they were literally wiping the floor with Azvaylen soldiers.

He checked up to the balcony and eyed the strange woman, curious of her response to their sheer strength.

If Deon had seen her like this without context, he’d guess she was stuck listening to a mind-numbing lecture. She checked a device on her wrist, and let her hand fall back down limply. Then she leaned her elbows against the balcony railing and observed them, her multicolored eyes so lethargic Deon thought she might nod off.

What’s her deal? Shouldn’t she be pissed? Deon wondered.

When his attention returned to their quarrel, he found the remaining soldiers abruptly turning away, startled. Seeming to locate a new target, they all ran at an empty corner of the courtyard and began swinging at the air.

“Uh…why?” he wondered.

“They think we’re over there now,” Phillip said.

“You know, I always thought the Illusionist type was just a lame version of Imaginers,” Deon told him as the group watched the soldiers fight nobody. “But you can do stuff like this, and make other people’s illusions go away. You know what, I was wrong, Phil.”

“Phillip. And speaking of that…”

The soldiers stopped their empty swinging. After a moment of confusion, they realized the deception and refaced the group.

“Her,” Hiroko uttered.

The woman in the balcony rolled her black and green eyes, mumbling something likely derogatory about the soldiers.

“She undid it,” Phillip confirmed.

The dozens of able soldiers once again raised their weapons and with shouts, charged at them once more.

“I—I got it, everyone…” came a timid voice.

Kotono stepped forward towards the stampede, red energy surging so powerfully Deon broke into a sweat from its heat. Skrili took several steps back, and considering she’d experienced Kotono’s full power firsthand, he didn’t blame her.

Still shaking, Kotono raised her hands at the soldiers.

All of this must be scaring the crap out of her, Deon thought. Which means…

“S—SORRY!” Kotono cried.

The red energy burst forward from her in an immense blast. She lowered her aim at the last instant, sending the beam exploding just before the soldiers’ feet. With shouts of pure fear and pain, the explosion launched all of them into the air, over the courtyard walls.

“G—got them…” Kotono sniveled, and Hiroko rushed to wrap an arm around her in comfort.

“Ugh…useless. Fine,” came the woman’s voice from the balcony.

The five consciousnesses watched carefully as she forced herself upright. With a bothered sigh, she jumped from the balcony and landed perfectly on the courtyard floor, only a few paces before them.

They all hesitated as she stood there, staring at them dispassionately. Nobody came to her aid—even the soldiers who seemed only minimally injured, watching from the floor.

Do we…attack her? Deon wondered.

She finally stirred with a lazy breath in. “Oh no, how like, infuriating or something…how dare you foil our executions, etc. etc. …How dare you reveal our deception to the Azvaylens, blah, blah blah…” she recited uninspiringly. “I shall destroy you now, or whatever.”

“You think one Illusionist is enough,” Hiroko inquired, “against all five of us?”

The woman took no more than a second to size them all up. “Yup,” she said plainly. “But get it right: it’s one Illusionist…”

She rolled her eyes up and brought them back. They returned pink and yellow.

“…One Dampener…”

She rolled them again. They turned blue and orange.

“…One Substitutor…”

And again. Red and gray.

“…And one Thoughtfeeder,” she finished. “And don’t go all anime-mode on me and start asking questions about it. I’m just gonna kill all five of you, and that’s that.”