Skyguard: Chaosguard

Skyguard: a crown beyond his reach

Exos brought his anger before Drakath. He refused submission and accused his brother of betrayal, of killing their sister, and of trying to kill him. Family could no longer satisfy him, and neither could becoming a mere Lord of Chaos. He wanted a Champion’s crown. When Drakath asked which one, Exos demanded his: crown, sword, and wings together.

The challenge failed. Drakath subdued Exos and subjected him to Chaos. He called the result a new insight, promising that the clarity of Chaos would let Exos see both their goals more clearly. The Chaos Eye Drakath gave Exos would later be described as having done nothing to help his sanity.

Skyguard: a deception explained

Exos turned his suspicion back on the Dreamweaver. She had manipulated him, lied to him, and pretended to serve so that she could take credit for his work—or so he now believed. He vowed to make her pay. Drakath privately considered that the crafty old woman might be right about him and might yet be useful, then told Exos he was getting ahead of himself. A skilled manipulator was an advantage, and the Dreamweaver remained his loyal follower.

Drakath offered a more convenient explanation for the apparent betrayal. Because Exos had reacted where his brother and the Hero could see, they had believed his hatred for Invidia and learned to trust her. Exos accepted this interpretation: she had been deceiving their common enemy. Drakath ordered him to maintain the charade at their next meeting. Exos promised that everything would proceed as his Master intended. Drakath answered that, with Chaos, it never did.

Skyguard: through the chaotic keep

Invidia received the Hero and Stratos at the keep. Exos waited above, along a treacherous path to his ship; she had seen the place in his dreams and called it a reflection of his jumbled mind, chaotic even before Chaorruption. The guards and Spy-Eyes had to be overcome. Her warning to Stratos was personal: his brother no longer saw the world as he once had, and the captain would not be welcome.

Her supporting assignments targeted the chain of command and Exos’s surveillance. Two SkyLords and five Commanders would be defeated to disrupt his attention and attacks on Swordhaven, while eight Spy-Eyes would be destroyed to conceal the intruders’ movements. She welcomed the distraction because it also kept Exos from concentrating on her psychic attacks. The SkyWatcher stood between them and further passage. Amid these preparations she spoke of her grandchildren as her one regret, asking that they be returned so she could secure their futures and raise them to be powerful and dedicated.

Skyguard: the children in the hold

The assault reached the skies as an airman called out for King Alteon and Swordhaven. Inside, the Hero joked about Exos’s appearance, but Stratos saw confirmation that his brother could not be allowed to keep threatening Lore. He doubted Exos would let any of his brothers live in peace. The Hero pointed him toward a door leading to the roof. Their advance then brought a more immediate surprise: Nhia and Jarren were there.

Nhia angrily reminded the Hero that they had been left with the pirates. Jarren could hardly believe the Hero had returned. The Hero apologized: their grandmother had said they were safe, but that should have been checked. Nhia had trusted that the Hero’s friend would return because his brother had said so; with the pirates distracted, the children would have their chance to escape. The Hero praised her resourcefulness and offered to get them to safety. Stratos pressed on after Exos while the Hero attended to them.

Skyguard: brother against brother

Stratos found Exos, whose greeting was another accusation: he had known his brother would come for him. Exos attacked. The captain’s confrontation left him hurt, and the burden of stopping Exos fell to the Hero. Invidia’s challenge urged vengeance for the sister’s death and spoke of showing Drakath the Chaos created when brother was turned against brother.

After Exos was defeated, the Hero tried a joke about the captain no longer having to worry about stolen clothes. Stratos was in too much pain to appreciate it: he felt as though his brother had punched him with a dragon. The Hero had dealt with Exos and asked whether Stratos wanted to see him. Beside his fallen brother, the Hero admitted that experience in battle never made such moments easier to speak about.

Skyguard: goggles and goodbye

Stratos knelt beside Exos and left his goggles with him. Perhaps, he said, his brother would have seen what was happening more clearly if he had worn them. The apology that followed was quiet and final: Stratos said goodbye and asked that someone take care of Exos. The Hero stood with him as the family’s confrontation ended in grief.

Skyguard: a pawn and a leash

Drakath and the Dreamweaver came to Exos’s fallen body. She dismissed the affair as wasted time: the puppet had been too weak-minded, and her next attempt to prove herself would go better. At least, she argued, she had caused a great deal of Chaos. Drakath rejected the claim. She had chosen poorly and failed to account for her pawn’s past; her error had caused Chaos, rather than her skill. He did not consider her fit to serve him.

The Dreamweaver would not accept that judgment quietly. After all she had done, he still thought her unfit to serve Chaos? She told her Master to watch the skies—and his dreams. On his own platform, Drakath now had Exos’s fallen body before him. If he held Exos’s leash, he said, the fallen aspirant would serve very well as the first Chaos Knight.

Skyguard: judgment at High Command

The return to High Command brought another reckoning. The commanders would hear Stratos themselves, and Major Arshbuten expected an explanation from the usually level-headed Hero as well. Before the hearing, Stratos and the Hero quietly discussed the rescue. The Hero said that the children had to be saved: leaving them with SkyPirates would have been monstrous. Stratos suspected that his brother’s hold over the pirates had depended on the Dreamweaver’s magic or Drakath’s influence; the Hero promised to deal with her later. Neither pretended to know what would happen next.

The High Command would not permit rogue members of the Skyguard. Even if Stratos had saved citizens’ lives, his personal vendetta had put everyone at risk, and he had used his ship and recruits to pursue it. Their decision was final: he must leave both the Phereless and the Skyguard. He was ordered to collect all his gear and was offered time for farewells.

Skyguard: the crew’s choice

The farewells were not the ones the commanders expected. The Hero announced that Stratos’s crew had come to say goodbye to High Command. Tropos confirmed their decision: they would serve under no other captain. The aeropilot spoke for them all—where Stratos went, they would follow. Stratos then asserted his own claim to the Phereless. She had belonged to his father, and he alone would fly her. Serving Alteon and Swordhaven had been an honor, but he believed there were better ways to protect them than following the commanders’ orders.

The general recognized the result: Stratos had gone rogue with a ship and its ammunition, and would have to be considered a threat. The Hero maintained that the captain had always done what he believed right. It was the Dreamweaver and Drakath who deserved the commanders’ concern. When the general asked whether the Hero would take care of them, the answer was assured: that was what the Hero always did.

Skyguard: sweet dreams, for now

Invidia’s later greeting celebrated freedom for herself and the captain, but her interest in the Hero was far from over. She had seen the Hero’s hopes, dreams, and fears. When those things were faced, she said, she should be there beside the Hero—otherwise, who knew what might happen? Her farewell wished sweet dreams. It left her offer of companionship inseparable from a warning.