Tread Lightly – Among Monsters And Men

Alexos, the man whose life I seek the end of, and I turn a corner of the ravine together to meet a full-on sprinting Virgil cloaked in darkness with an Earl far behind. Virgil has to rapidly slow himself down as he draws his weapons and puts himself between Alexos and me. The Darkstalker sees if I’m alright before he attacks.

“You alright Wyatt? Is this guy chasing you?”

I turn around and look at both Alexos and Virgil as I see that Alexos has chosen an appearance to wear for my friends as opposed to his ever-changing illusions. He looks like an average man in every way. Someone whom you’d just ignore because of how average he appears. Medium-sized brown eyes, short brown hair, a little bit of muscle mixed with fat, and only about five foot nine. Average is the only way to describe him.

Quickly, I try to remove any confusion or malice that might appear because of the circumstances.

“No, he’s fine. I was bringing him to meet you, actually. This is–”

“I’m Alex. Pleasure to meet you. Fancy meeting you here in this dark ravine at a time like this.”

Alexos interrupts my introduction of him, introducing himself with a false name alongside a handshake and bow. I notice he is leaning into his roots, the complicated words of a traveling academic.

Virgil, however, picks up on a bit of the man’s bullshit, nodding along but quickly calling him out on it. The Darkstalker has obviously been through enough to realize what’s wrong here. A random person appears in the middle of the night, at the bottom of a ravine, and days before a break. Suspicious doesn’t even begin to describe it.

“Uh-huh. What are you doing ‘round here, Alex?”

Alexos just shrugs his shoulders and answers simply.

“Y’know just traveling, studying, and investigating the terrain.”

Another question is put at the illusionist.

"And you're down here, why?"

"Like I said, to investigate the terrain. A ravine such as this is quite rare in the Bonedunes."

Virgil doesn’t let up, making a final call to the man.

“So, you’re an academic? Deep in a ravine during the middle of the night shortly before a dangerous break near the borderlands… Wyatt… Who is this man?”

I inhale sharply as I look at the two of them. I’m unsure what to do. I don’t want to lie to Virgil, but I feel as though if I don’t, Alexos will get angry. And if he gets angry my friends may die. I feel torn and hesitant in my decision. Morals can shift and bend as long as no one dies. It pains me to join Alexos in his lies, but I have to.

Just as I make my decision and go to lie to Virgil, a smile graces Alexos’ face as he laughs. The master of illusions puts his hands up and removes his guise. The illusions shift to match the face that I first saw when I met him. The second he does, Virgil attacks, the experienced once-Hunter recognizing the Phantom Pain instantly simply by the face-changing before him.

As he does so, I yell for him to stop, but I don’t even have to. Alexos chuckles once more with a hearty grin as he sweeps Virgil’s legs out from under him with a speed that easily matches if not surpasses Frederick’s. Then, with great force, he slams Virgil into the ground by wrapping his hand around the man’s neck. Cracks spread in the sandstone beneath us as Virgil coughs and sputters from the impact.

He defeats Virgil in less than a single second. His hand wraps so tightly around Virgil’s neck that I see the man immediately have trouble breathing. Virgil swings and attacks when he realizes what’s happening, but even at such close range, Alexos dodges everything like it’s nothing.

Seeing Alexos attack Virgil makes regret bloom in my heart. To fix the situation I caused, I prepare to fight the man. Drawing my blades, I flex my muscles and burst toward him to defend Virgil. But after only one step of mine, Alexos abruptly steps back and claps his hands like a job well done.

“I say we call that a skirmish well done. Now that we know who’s in charge, we can continue. As you may know, judging by your reaction after seeing my face shift, I am Alexos Walters. You may also know me as the Phantom Pain.”

At this point, Earl catches back up and looks between the three of us. All three of us, Earl, Virgil, and I completely lost in confusion. I don't know why Alexos is being so antagonistic even when I'm trying to help him. Virgil looks at me for answers, but his look isn’t confusion, it’s of questioning. Of why I’d bring this man to them so casually.

Once again, I go to speak and de-escalate the situation, but Alexos, the man who craves to be in control, interrupts me.

“I brought him–”

“He brought me for a trade. A cloak of shadows in return for words of wisdom.”

At this point, the confusion coursing through the minds of my friends reaches a maximum. Both of them look at me completely lost as I just shake my head and agree with Alexos.

“He is forced to be cryptic and odd in his speech. He can explain more later. Virgil, he needs you to use your Mask on him.”

Virgil looks back and forth between the two of us and initially seeks to refuse.

“What? No! Why would I cloak him from… anything that can see us.”

Virgil quickly stands and grabs me, pulling me to the side and whispering in my ear.

“What the fuck have you brought to us??? If this man is being watched by something, whatever is watching him will certainly kill us. Are you mad!?”

I whisper back trying to calm him down and make him see my reasoning. That I had a good reason, one that can help us.

“What’s watching him is Hura, the demon in the coming break. I think it’s been controlling him somehow. Only recently has its vigil dropped on the man, probably from being busy.”

At this point Virgil just stares at me incredulously, only picking up on the fact that I’ve met Alexos more than once.

“You’ve met this madman more than once!? When!?”

Again I try to calm him down, but I don’t want to waste too much time or make too much of a commotion. We don’t want Hura to see, hear, or feel what’s happening in any way.

“I’ll tell you later, no in just five minutes. Can you please just do this for me? Just trust me. I promise Alexos won’t hurt us. He needs us.”

Virgil still doesn’t believe me immediately and continues inquiring for more information.

“Yeah, right, that paragon of kindness just slammed me into the ground like a toddler. What do you mean he needs us? That fucker is a 6th Sigil just like Johnny or Frederick! Why does he need us!?”

I sigh as I try to let a bit out to both satiate his curiosity and make him trust me.

“I’m not entirely sure, but I think he thinks we can help him break from Hura’s control.”

Virgil heaves a massive breath out of his mouth before cursing and agreeing.

“Fuck. The insane things you make me do, Wyatt. The insane things you make me do.”

The Darkstalker then turns toward Alexos and walks toward him. The master of illusions has a smug grin that crests his face as Virgil steps over to him and places a firm hand on his shoulder. Dark but seemingly comfortable Ether funnels from Virgil onto Alexos.

I expect the Mask to take place instantly as it did to both Earl, the Nightmare, and Virgil himself. However, my assumption is wrong. Even after a full ten seconds of Virgil streaming his dark Ether into Alexos, nothing happens. Bewilderment seems to also hit Virgil about what’s happening with his skill and the lack of its effects.

Alexos laughs and encourages Virgil to continue.

“Never tried to use a skill on a man with a higher Sigil before, huh? There’s a reason why it’s called Ether Resistance when you grow capable of using more over time. It doesn’t just apply to your own Ether.”

Virgil grunts as he continues funneling darkness into Virgil through gritted teeth.

“I know that.”

Alexos mocks Virgil as he seems compelled to always do.

“It seems you do. But do you know how it scales over many Sigils? It gets twice as hard for Ether to affect someone for every Sigil they have above you, with Metamorphoses being double that. So your Ether only has an eighth of the effect on me. How pitiful.”

Once more Virgil speaks through gritted teeth as I see him about to reach his breaking point.

"I know that too. Just shut up."

The small lesson that ends just as darkness fully covers and cloaks Alexos encapsulates the man perfectly. A hateful man who seeks only to see others suffer. The first thing he says after the darkness hides him from the watchful gaze of the demon, overturns everything, however.

Alexos kneels and thanks us for helping him.

“Thank you all, so, so, so much. I am terribly sorry for the things I’ve done or said. Especially, you Wyatt. Hura has been constantly watching me for several months now, and a few months ago, at the start of the break, his attention finally waned. At that point, he would only force his power onto me if I acted unlike he grew to know me as, a murdering psychopath. A facade I had to make to stay alive deep in the wilds.

I never meant to get your teacher killed, Wyatt, but things happen. I didn’t even really kill him, though. And then after, I wanted to help save you, but that would have immediately gained Hura’s attention. All I could do was watch over you and give you the hate needed to survive. The Heirloom he holds has great power even over long distances, preventing me from anymore.”

Suspicion, confusion, and outright denial erupt from the three of us around him. I instantly think what he’s saying is a lie as I go to rebuke him. The other two just look at him with suspicion.

“What do you mean it was all a facade? Tormenting me? Wanting to kill my whole family!? Getting Edmund killed!? What about all the threats? What about what you just did, attacking Virgil? How come you’ve been so ambivalent to me?”

Alexos takes a moment to answer all my questions, calmly and without a single sign of the previous insanity. He even transforms his face into what he calls his “true” appearance.

“I’m truly sorry, young man. I never wanted to torment you or get your teacher killed. You did that, lad. Even if only in an act of support. Even your family… while they are… mischievous to say the least, I wouldn't want to kill them all. The threats and my most recent attack just fit the personality I gave to Hura when I first met him. The personality of an Outlaw, a falsity I made after I was framed for murder in Onyx Gate.

I’ve been somewhat kind to you for multiple reasons. The first is it fits the facade. I’d shown interest in people in the past, normally young men or women with depths of potential put in a place they’d never survive without a little bit of help. Hura would think I’d seek out to watch them grow before putting them down, but in reality, I’d help them grow until they eventually escape from me. Sometimes it didn’t go as planned, but it has worked a few times.

That, and I’d hoped you could save me. And you have. You found a man capable of shielding me from his gaze for just a little bit. The only other person I've ever found who could do the same was promptly put to death, but the next step is to kill him, freeing me from his control.”

His words somehow reach me despite everything that he’s done. I can feel the pain in his voice and the regret. It’s like what he’s saying is true. His voice just sounds so believable for some reason. And no matter how much I hate it, some part of me believes him. It’s the same part that stings so much when he says I killed Edmund.

I don’t know what to do in this situation, and thankfully, someone steps up for me. Virgil questions the man with his sharp wit and experience.

“I’ve heard of the Phantom Pain being an outlaw for over a decade. You were a Hunter before you turned, right?”

Alexos shakes his head.

“No. Well. Kind of. After an event that left my family dead while I was out, I, who was already a Sigiled, was contracted by the Hunters to research ruins. I had always said no in the past, but that time I agreed because I was without purpose. It was at the end of my contract that my overseer for the project, Addam Hodge, framed me for the murder of a colleague to steal the fruits of our research.”

Virgil continues to press into him, getting a bit closer to the deadly 6th Sigil.

“What were the fruits of your research? A weapon? A lost artifact?”

Alexos shakes his head in denial once more.

“No, none of the sort. At the time, I wanted nothing to do with war, fighting, or death. With a family that had left me utterly alone, I sought only one thing. A way to bring them back. So, we studied resurrection. With Occultists, Abbots, Scholars, and many other Sigiled from varying fields, we spent a whole year delving into the unknown ruin that was said to hold the secrets of eternal life.

After a whole year, though, all we were able to find was a single vial. One single vial. Of an unknown substance. Since we only found one, in a ruined room with a dozen other shattered vials of the same kind, we didn’t want to waste it. The group was supposed to turn it into the Hunter that ran the project. Grover Moore. It never ended up reaching him, however, and I never learned what the vial did.

I fell asleep the night before the end of the project, drunk as usual, the only way to numb the loss of my children and wife, and then was framed for murder. I was so piss-drunk that Addam Hodge was able to put the murder weapon, a 2nd Mark Colt into my hand and run off with the vial.”

He’s explaining much more than asked for, and I can’t tell if that’s out of guilt or to help make us believe his lie. I still struggle to wipe away what he’s saying as false. Or doing the opposite. Everything is just so difficult right now. I don’t know what to do. The only thing I can focus on is Hura. And so I do. I push aside the fact that Alexos might or might not be evil and turn to who most definitely is. The demon who started everything. The one who provoked the break that led to Edmund's death.

“Okay, enough of that. I don’t care what you have to say. I can’t handle this all right now. I want to focus on Hura and killing him because regardless of who you really are, that is something we have in common. You mentioned him having an Heirloom, what is that? And how do you think we can even help you kill him?”

Alexos sighs sadly, which somehow makes me slightly sad as well as if his emotions are entering me. This feeling rouses red-hot anger alongside cold sadness. After his sigh, he sits.

“I know you three wouldn’t believe me just from words, I’ll have to prove myself from actions. They are the most powerful way to determine who you truly are. It’s why Absolutions and Metamorphosis work on them. And like a man being reborn from the 6th to 7th Sigil, I shall prove that I am anew–”

Virgil cuts him off, annoyed and also unbelieving of his story.

“He asked you a question. Answer it.”

Alexos’ face looks hurt at the words and then goes to answers with a sad tone.

“Okay... An Heirloom is the inborn artifact of a demon. Lesser demons do not have them and neither do demons born from two other demons, only full-fledged demons born from Mother Below are born with an Heirloom. They are rare, but not unheard of as the number of true demons has been dwindling over time. The easiest way to describe it would be to compare them to a Hollow’s Artifiction or the Bloody Palm attached to you, Wyatt. Although, theirs is less parasitic and more symbiotic.

Heirlooms are the only objects with Sigils in them that have no downsides or even a will within them. They are only Sigil and Ether. Said to be crafted by the Mother Below for each of her original children. Hura possesses one of these such items as he is an original demon from her bosom, Death’s Lantern. An Heirloom that can store up to six hearts. It takes the heart from an unconscious or willing person and places it within the lantern.

From there, the holder of the lantern can end the life of the person who gave them the heart. At the same time, though, it makes it so that those who are missing their hearts are immune to any fatal injury that might affect their heart.

He has my heart.”

Alexos ends the small lecture on Heirlooms, without a single diss or hateful phrase like before, and then pulls up his shirt. Before letting any of us say anything, he waves his hand and makes his chest see-through.

He was telling the truth. His heart is missing. In place of where his heart should be, is a small pale white fire. A fire so pale and stark that it burns the eyes while it flickers. Each wave in the flame feel makes the blood in Alexos’ body pump. Like each flare of the flame is a heartbeat that sustains him.

Heartbeats that feel like they were stolen from Death herself.