cHApTEr 15. EcosysTEms (2 of 3)

Erinel hadn’t come alone. Kevin was with her, towering half a head above. He looked sulky – more so than Erinel – but that was nothing new. Mioray couldn’t recall ever seeing the lawyer smile.

To some extent, it was reassuring to see familiar faces among the strangers on the rooftop. Whether the newcomers were friends or enemies remained to be seen, but their introduction had hardly been friendly. Mioray shifted one of his legs slightly. The foot seemed to be holding in place, though he still couldn’t feel his toes.

The relief of seeing Erinel and Kevin came with reservations. If Mioray hadn’t been harassed, Erinel would never have needed to come here. The thought lingered that he might have been used as bait to draw her out. He didn’t trust those new faces. They had appeared out of nowhere, and the first thing they did was attack him. Of all of them, Lokiel was the one he trusted least. Mioray had a strong feeling the greanrip was bad news.

The young man with the blindfold stood directly in Erinel’s path. When she reached him, she stopped but didn’t acknowledge him. Her gaze was fixed on Lokiel, who was sitting beside Mioray.

“Niles, let our honorable guest pass,” Lokiel said cheerfully as he rose to his feet. “She is the queen of this city, after all.”

The man in the mint shirt, Niles, stepped aside quietly and with an odd elegance, as though he could see every movement around him. Erinel walked forward without sparing him a glance, Kevin following behind her. She and Lokiel closed the distance between them – Erinel with cold restraint, Lokiel practically bouncing in place like an excited dog.

Watching them together shattered Mioray’s earlier assumptions about greanrips. He had imagined they were all somewhat like Erinel, but that impression had come from knowing only her. Seeing her beside Lokiel made the difference impossible to ignore.

Erinel, even in this harsher mood, carried herself with the same reserved composure she always had. Her movements were controlled, deliberate. There was still that sense of distance about her, the weight of centuries behind her decisions. For all that time, though, she had only recently begun to understand modern human culture, her perspective still shaped by a much older world.

But Lokiel? He was nothing like that. He was a manipulator, and a skilled one. Someone like him had to understand people well to play them so easily. If Mioray hadn’t seen the same ring on his finger that Erinel wore, he might never have guessed Lokiel was a greanrip. He would have assumed he was just another Restored, one who thrived on mischief and chaos. The souls unfortunate enough to meet him as their guide deserved sympathy.

“Erinel, my dear, long time no see!” Lokiel exclaimed, his voice scraping unpleasantly against the ear. “You have no idea how much I’ve missed you!”

He stepped forward with his arms open, ready to pull her into an embrace. Erinel stopped him with a firm hand against his chest.

“What are you doing here, Lokiel?” she asked. Compared to his grating enthusiasm, her voice sounded like a cold river running under ice.

Lokiel shrugged, putting on a look of wounded innocence.

“What do you mean, what am I doing here?” he said. “I hurried across half the world as soon as I heard you were looking for help with the increa–”

“I never said I needed help,” Erinel cut in. “And if I did, you would be the last person I asked.”

“Why, Erinel, you wound me!” Lokiel clutched at his chest in mock agony. “Surely you don’t mean that? I’d like to think there are at least two names beneath mine on your list of people not to call. And here I was hoping you’d be happy to see me. Instead, I get nothing but insults. That hardly seems fair.”

“Nothing about you is fair, Lokiel,” Erinel replied, unmoved. “Now turn around and crawl back to wherever you came from, and take your underlings with you.”

“Hey, watch your words!” Kiriya suddenly shouted.

She slipped free from Saria, who, like everyone else, had been distracted by the conversation, and seized the moment. She grabbed Erinel by the sleeve of her blouse.

“It took us ten hours to get here, and this is how we’re welcomed?!” She complained. “You might be the queen of this city, but don’t think you can’t be dethroned. I mean, I was promised your blood and–”

She froze mid-sentence. Kiriya released Erinel’s sleeve and collapsed, her eyes still wide open but her body completely still. Tiny crescent-shaped slivers had pierced the side of her neck, and a few droplets of blood gathered along the barely visible cuts.

Kevin’s fingernails, Mioray realized.

While the girl had been grabbing Erinel, the lawyer had flicked a cluster of his nails at her, striking with precise control and leaving her paralyzed. Of course, the others had no idea about Kevin’s ability.

“What did you do to her?” Amika demanded, the remaining strands of her hair sharpening into spikes.

Now she asked questions before attacking? What had stopped her from doing the same earlier, when she had come after Mioray?

“She’s fine,” Kevin said, rolling his wrists. “Just paralyzed. It’s more efficient than asking her to let go of Erinel. This rooftop kindergarten is becoming tiresome.”

As usual, Kevin sounded rude and superior. Was Mioray included in his definition of kindergarten as well? The answer was obvious. Of course he was. Mioray had grown used to Kevin’s attitude. The newcomers, however, were seeing the lawyer for the first time, and it was easy to imagine them taking offense.

“So what, we’re just a bunch of kids to you, is that it?” Amika set her brush aside with a predatory smirk. “Care to back that up?”

She looked ready to attack Kevin without hesitation, but before anything could happen Lokiel clapped his hands.

“Alright, alright, we get the point,” he drawled. “The man is right. This is getting dull. I haven’t seen Erinel in ages and I’d like to have a pleasant conversation, but you’re all making it awkward. Saria, would you mind moving Kiriya?”

“Yeah, sure,” Saria sighed.

She grabbed the paralyzed girl under the arms and dragged her aside, quickly apologizing to Erinel for her friend’s behavior. Just as with Niles earlier, Erinel didn’t even acknowledge her. Kevin, on the other hand, gave Saria a sharp glance that made her stiffen and hurry away even faster.

“What was that about my blood being promised to her?” Erinel asked coldly.

“Ah, that?” Lokiel waved a hand dismissively. “Don’t take it to heart. Kiriya decided that on her own after I told them how you were wounded last year by those sneaky bastards. Imagine it, someone actually shooting a greanrip! Who thought we’d see a day like that?”

Mioray was certain there was more to the story than Lokiel was admitting. He clearly knew about the Order of Mercy’s ambush during the rescue of Mia, but that didn’t mean he had told the whole truth to the people around him. Just like with Amika and her husband, he could easily have left out the parts that mattered most. Lokiel was exactly the kind of person who would do that.

“So, where were we again, my dear?” Lokiel asked, flashing that triangular smile at Erinel.

“We were finishing this,” she replied. “You injured one of mine. I came to take him back.”

“What, you mean Mioray?” Lokiel looked genuinely surprised, as if hearing it for the first time. He turned and strode over, grabbing Mioray by the shoulders without the slightest concern for his injuries or for the fact that startling him might interfere with the slow process of his feet reattaching. “Erinel, my dear, you’ve got it all wrong. We were just having fun. Right, Mioray?”

“Not really,” Mioray said dryly. “And I’d appreciate it if you let go of me.”

He had to admit, Lokiel’s audacity was impressive. The greanrip in the emerald tailcoat seemed to sincerely believe that provoking Amika into tearing Mioray apart counted as fun. Perhaps it did – for Lokiel.

Mioray glanced around at the others who worked with this trickster: Jean, Amika, Saria, Kiriya, Niles. Did any of them find it fun as well?

“Wow!” Lokiel gasped, releasing Mioray. He pressed a palm to his forehead in an exaggerated gesture, closing his eyes and lowering his head. “Mioray, my friend, it really hurts to hear you say that. After all the bonding we’ve done!”

But Mioray didn’t recall any bonding taking place between them.

“Have you had enough, Lokiel?” Erinel asked.

The greanrip in the emerald tailcoat straightened. He clasped his hands behind his back, and his expression shifted so abruptly it was almost unrecognizable. The childish slyness vanished, along with the triangular curve of his mouth. Something colder surfaced instead. Fine wrinkles gathered at the corners of his green eyes. Watching him now made Mioray uneasy. Lokiel’s face carried the quiet certainty that everyone around him stood beneath him.

There was no way the others hadn’t noticed.

The man with the revolver, Jean, remained seemingly apart from the confrontation, staring out toward the firefighters as if the struggle to put out the blaze interested him more than anything happening behind him. Amika stood with her arms crossed, frowning; her injured shoulder was regaining some movement. Saria had drawn in on herself, clearly uneasy, still holding Kiriya as the paralysis began to wear off and the pierced girl slowly started to move again. Niles looked thoughtful but kept a careful distance from the two greanrips. Kevin appeared outwardly calm, though his posture had stiffened, his fists clenched. Mioray had no doubt a cluster of fingernails was already gathered in his palms, ready to be sent flying if needed.

Only Erinel seemed entirely unmoved. She met Lokiel’s gaze directly, waiting for his answer.

“Not nearly,” Lokiel said at last, relaxing again, though something unpleasant lingered in his tone. “I want you to remember that I came here out of goodwill, and out of respect for our everlasting friendship. Naturally, I expect something in return.”

“And what would that be?”

“That blade of yours. I’d like to see how it works.”

So he knew about the Cursed Blade of Avalon as well? How much had Erinel told him? And more importantly – why?

“I don’t have it with me,” Erinel replied after a brief pause. To anyone else it might have seemed immediate, but Mioray had spent enough time with her to notice the hesitation.

“Of course you don’t,” Lokiel said lightly. “It’s such an insignificant relic, after all, isn’t it?” His lips curved once more into that unnatural triangular smile. “So what are we waiting for? It would be unwise to leave it unattended. Let’s go make sure it’s safe. Frankly, this rooftop is a dreadful place for a reunion. I feel like the smell of smoke will cling to me for weeks!”

Erinel and Kevin exchanged a glance. Mioray felt a sinking dread.

Please don’t tell me we’re inviting them to–

“So be it,” Erinel said. “We’ll go to our place.”

That was a total bummer.

“The usual one?” Lokiel asked, satisfaction flickering across his face.

“It’s in the storage facility,” Kevin clarified.

“Ah, that place,” Lokiel nodded with interest. “I’ve heard quite a bit about it. I’d love to see it for myself. Does it belong to you? How did you manage to afford it?”

“Only one floor,” Kevin replied evenly. “And we are renting it out. It’s a long story. Do you have a car large enough for everyone?”

While Kevin calmly discussed transportation with Lokiel, Erinel stepped over to Mioray. She asked how he was feeling, offering him the small, reassuring smile he knew so well. He avoided her gaze and muttered something vague in response, embarrassed that she had to see him in such a miserable condition.

To make matters worse, she suggested carrying him to the car.

Naturally, he protested. At the same time, it was obvious he couldn’t stand yet. Erinel also pointed out that his soul looked weak. He tried to argue further, but she simply lifted him into her arms without any effort.

Mioray weighed about as much as any average twenty-one-year-old, yet Erinel carried him with ease, her pace steady and composed. It said a lot about a greanrip’s endurance. Come to think of it, this wasn’t the first time Erinel had ended up carrying him. She had done the same the first time the Dismantler attacked him. Well, technically, the second time. The first had been when the serial killer murdered him.

It was easier to focus on those thoughts than on the embarrassment of being carried like a child in front of so many people. The only bright side was that Farah wasn’t here to witness it. She would have teased him about it for the rest of eternity. Then again, he didn’t hold out much hope. Someone would tell her sooner or later. He should probably prepare himself for a new wave of ridicule.

Because of the late hour and the fire still burning, though not as fiercely as before, there was no one around to notice the strange group stepping out onto the street, led by a woman carrying a man in her arms. The group split into two. Three of them – Mioray, Erinel and Kevin got into a smaller car, while the other six climbed into another larger car. Both vehicles rose from the ground, lifted by leveels, and vanished into the night.

Mioray lay stretched across the back seat, still feeling like a guilty child. Kevin and Erinel sat in the front, almost like parents, the kind who were too disappointed to lecture their child, expecting him to understand his mistake on his own. The silence pressed on Mioray’s nerves. He hadn’t done anything wrong. The whole business of rescuing people from the fire had been under control. Everything had been fine until Amika ambushed him. How was he supposed to know something like that would happen?

“This Lokiel…” Mioray finally broke the silence. “He seems to know a lot about us. Did you really tell him everything, Erinel?”

There was bitterness in his voice. It likely had something to do with Lokiel being the important friend Erinel had mentioned before. Mioray had a strong suspicion it was him she meant. The way Lokiel behaved around her made it hard to doubt they had a long history together.

“I keep other greanrips informed about matters concerning the Restored,” Erinel replied calmly. “I told you before that the Restored defy the natural order. We keep watch to ensure the situation doesn’t worsen. Lokiel included.”

Mioray stared at the holes in his palms.

“I noticed he has the same ring as you,” he said. “You both wear it on the ring finger. Do you know why it’s called that? There’s a belief that the ring finger has a vein – vena amoris – that runs straight to the heart. That’s why engagement and wedding rings are worn there.”

He realized too late that he had slipped into one of those spirals where he couldn’t stop talking, stating random facts. The longer he went on, the more pointless his words sounded. Thankfully, Kevin cleared his throat loudly enough to cut him off.

“Sorry,” Mioray muttered.

He glanced at Erinel, worried she might be annoyed, but she was simply holding her hand up before her face, looking thoughtfully at the ring with the walnut-sized jewel.

“It happens,” Kevin said with a sigh. “You took quite a beating. Hair Corpse did that? The woman in the rust-colored shirt?”

“Yeah,” Mioray answered absently. “How did you know?”

Kevin looked at him through the rearview mirror, annoyance clear in his metallic-blue eyes, almost the same shade as his suit.

“You’re the one who called Farah,” he said. “She told us you were in trouble. Then Natalie Lance called me, saying you rushed into that burning building after some suspicious woman and hadn’t come back. Add Lokiel contacting Erinel on top of that, and we were able to piece together what was happening.”

Mioray lifted his head and looked through the rear window at the car following them. Jean was driving, with Lokiel in the passenger seat. The greanrip caught Mioray’s gaze and nodded, looking amused.

So the whole talk about a surprise had been a lie too? If Lokiel had already contacted Erinel, then there was never any surprise to begin with, unless Mioray getting hurt had been part of it.

Why does Erinel need his help? Mioray wondered.

Or help from any greanrip, for that matter. Who could he trust? Lokiel claimed Erinel needed assistance with soulwork, yet she had denied it outright. Mioray would rather believe her than Lokiel. But still… what if no one told the truth?

“There’s something you might want to know about Hair Corpse,” Mioray said, sensing that this mattered more than other things. “She’s Herman Clopton’s wife.”

“The Dismantler’s?” Kevin looked surprised. Erinel, however, didn’t seem nearly as taken aback. “You know something about her, Erinel?”

“I do,” Erinel replied, still studying her ring, its jewel glowing faintly. “She’s originally from Reques City. She was the first Restored we encountered, and through her we learned that human witches had begun producing an elixir capable of reviving the dead.”

Before the greanrips began recruiting Restored to guide the souls of the dead to the afterlife, Erinel explained, it had been common for several greanrips to work in the same territory. In fact, most still did; only a few did supervise Restored. Erinel and several others, Lokiel among them, had stumbled upon Hair Corpse by chance. She had already died by then and was wandering in confusion. The Order of Mercy had likely intended to take her and subject her to the same fate as the Restored who later appeared in hazmat suits, but because her death had been premature, she managed to escape before they could seize her.

When the greanrips learned what had happened, they raided the Order’s laboratories and stole every vial of the elixir they could find. At the time they believed that would be enough to halt the experiments. It wasn’t. The Order, now fully alert, continued their research in a hidden location the greanrips had not yet managed to discover.

Still, the raid had left the greanrips with the elixir. They divided the vials among themselves and spread out across different cities in search of candidates to revive. Lokiel took Hair Corpse with him, partly to keep her away from the Order, while Erinel remained in Reques City.

Some time later, after Terry, Kevin, Farah, Matt, and Mia became Restored through Erinel’s elixir, the Dismantler appeared in the city. From there, events unfolded that eventually led to Mioray himself becoming undead.

“I didn’t know she was the Dismantler’s wife,” Erinel admitted. “I don’t remember her name.”

“Her name is Amika,” Mioray said.

“I’ll remember that now.”

For beings as old and supposedly as wise as greanrips, they could be surprisingly naive. It wasn’t all that shocking that they had believed stealing a few vials of elixir would stop human research altogether. They had learned otherwise the hard way. It also revealed something about the way they saw humans. At best, humans seemed to occupy the same place in their worldview that pets did in humanity’s: somewhat intelligent, but still too limited to be treated as equals.

“Why did Amika attack you?” Kevin asked.

“It was Lokiel’s doing,” Mioray said with a frown. “He convinced her that I killed her husband for no reason. She didn’t know Herman had become Restored or that he was the Dismantler. Trust me, you don’t want to end up on her bad side. She’s even scarier than he was. It’s a miracle I managed to keep my feet, or that she didn’t finish me off. But I did lose my backpack, my phone, my mask…”

He stopped himself, but it was already too late. He noticed Erinel looking back at him over the seat.

“The mask I gave you?” she asked.

“I’m sorry, Erinel.”

“Don’t be. It’s just an object. It isn’t important.”

She smiled faintly and turned her attention back to the street beyond the windshield. The air inside the car felt heavy, the silence settling again. Kevin remarked casually that they would reach the storage facility soon, though that much was obvious without saying it. Perhaps he meant to ease the tension, but Kevin was hardly the right person for that.

The uneasy feeling remained. Why did it seem as if Mioray were the one at fault? If greanrips truly saw humans the way humans saw pets, then that was what he would be to Erinel. And when a pet makes a mistake, you might get upset, but you cannot truly blame it. A pet hardly understands the difference between right and wrong.

Yet Erinel clearly didn’t see him that way. She might have dismissed the mask as a trivial loss, but it had still darkened her mood.

Mioray cursed silently.

Stupid, stupid, stupid!

© 2026. All rights reserved.

till.do.us.part@spirittq.com