RED-1 followed the dozen or so members of the True Twins Gospel through the jungle, with Wadaw leading the way. The guerrilla fighters wore an assortment of green and brown colored clothing, from full fatigues to simple loincloths. Some of them held machetes, while others wielded assault rifles fitted with sophisticated silencers.

  Many of the insurgents had the reddish-brown clay from the jungle floor smeared across their faces. Their smooth, dark skin glistened in the fleeting rays of sun that flitted through the overlapping treetops.

  Prism watched Wadaw closely while the man swished his way confidently forward through the increasingly damp undergrowth. The alien found the man’s entire demeanor to be completely unexpected, especially when compared to the other stoic, battle-worn guerillas around them. Prism saw Ursun eyeing Wadaw as well, though the burly colonel was careful not to draw the masked man’s attention.

  The commander’s cold reception to Wadaw’s sassy introduction had caused Wadaw to walk off, leaving a stone-faced guerrilla with a monotone voice to step in. The guerilla had asked the mercenaries to follow the True Twins to their hidden base, wasting no time on pleasantries. They’d all traversed the Viga in silence since then, leaving the Red Wolves to discuss their jungle guides telepathically.

  “Do you know Wadaw? I mean, personally?” Leanna’s psychic voice was coated in hesitation. She sensed the nerve she was hitting.

  “I’m not sure.” Ursun shared. His answer, though honest, only intrigued his team more. Despite their curiosity, no one pushed him any further on it.

  “These guys…they’re not mercenaries at all. They look like freedom fighters for sure.” Srell shared as his eyes bounced between the prowling True Twins.

  "Don't tell me you actually bought into Gusa's propaganda..." Lorias raised his chin and looked down at Srell. "Of course he'd want people to think that the True Twins are treacherous sell-outs."

  "I didn't believe it, I'm just aware of the things Gusa says." Srell kept his eyes on the ground while he walked for a few moments. "You've gotta admit, the guy's pretty entertaining." Srell perked back up, earning him a dose of Lorias' chilling silence.

  "Everything that comes out of that man's mouth is a lie. He's a "religious leader" through and through." Leanna nearly guffawed aloud. "He's probably airing one of his daily tirades right now."

  "In the briefing, you and your brother mentioned Gusa's extensive cybernetics. How do you know that he has them?" Prism asked Ursun.

  Prism shared his voice with everyone on the team, which was the norm they’d established. Everyone on RED-1 knew what was being shared over their psychic link, regardless of who their telepathic communication was directed at.

  "A few True Twins who'd infiltrated Gusa's inner circle made an attempt on Gusa's life about ten years ago. They attacked him at one of his speaking events, where thousands of Sguvans gathered in one of Zazi's public squares. One of the assassins stabbed him with a dagger coated in a powerful neurotoxin, while another shot him at close range with a machine pistol. Gusa’s body immediately released so much electricity around him that it plasmified the air, sending arcs of electricity that killed most of the people gathered to see him." Ursun's face remained expressionless while he shared the grisly tale.

  "I haven't seen anyone with those kinds of powers on your world other than myself." Prism shared after glancing to his side at Ursun. "How did he get such powerful cybernetics?"

  "The Queen gave them to him. We still don't know the full extent of his power, just as we don't know the extent of the Queen's. We're fortunate that he hasn't left Sguvi to join his soldiers in the battles he has them waging against us back home." Leanna shared, along with a few remembered images of the incident that Ursun had described to Prism.

  "She's had a thing lately for giving her crony leaders superhuman bodies. Gryver the Bolter, aka the dictor of Rvljse, has two gold-laced arms that can shoot lightning, apparently." Lorias looked towards the south without thinking about it, in the direction of his antarctic birth nation.

  “And who knows what she's given the Vadetcal. Those Vadamite generals have been nigh unkillable” Srell shared.

  "Her royal highness probably doesn't want her loyal lieutenants getting assassinated by dissidents anymore." Lorias smiled to himself as he imagined beheading a Monarchist leader or two.

  "There's something different about this latest batch of leaders." Ursun wore an ominous expression. "The Monarchist states haven't seen this level of support and involvement from the Queen, not since the early centuries of the war. Not only is she personally raising and educating these leaders from a young age, but she's even visiting them from time to time in their own nations. She's forming deep bonds with them, earning their loyalty and making them truly admire her."

  Ursun's observations made Prism straighten his back. They'd all had the occasional conversation about the tyrants Ursun and Lorias spoke of, but those discussions had usually been dismissive of them. Prism was confronted with the reality of actually having to fight one of them; an ?ban other than the Queen who might possess abilities on par with his own.

  "You're not very princely looking. Not even teenaged." Wadaw slowed his pace as he began speaking with Prism. "Just goes to show; you can't trust anything that Gusa Sela says."

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  "You don't believe that I'm the son of Fairy King Daman, risen from hell to sow discord amongst the faithful?" Prism tilted his head towards Wadaw and smiled like a madman.

  Wadaw raised an eyebrow at Prism and said, "Should I?"

  "No, not at all. You're right; it's total bullshit." Prism smirked.

  "I may believe that, but many of my compatriots don't." Wadaw pointed around at some of the guerillas that walked around them. "They saw what you just did to those soldiers, and how you made your team appear out of thin air. These things might be explained by science, but it looks like fairy magic to the less...erudite among us."

  "Tell me, Wadaw, isn't it here in the holy land of Sguvi that the fairy tales of your world originated?" Prism figured it was as good a time as any to learn some lore.

  "I see what you're doing, drawing attention away from yourself. That's fine, I'll play your game."

  Wadaw began walking close to Prism. It was then that Prism noticed the unique marbling on Wadaw's silver face mask. The patterning seemed to move across the mask's surface like undulating waves. Wadaw put his arm around the elementeitan and began to speak into Prism's ear.

  "Before the name "Eizavoba" was known to anyone, people in Sguvi worshipped the twin moons. They made rich stories about them, anthropomorphizing the lifeless satellites into twin brothers. And like any good story, the heroes needed villains to fight against. That's where the fairies come in. Back then, my ancient ancestors devised devious monsters that were the cause of nearly everything bad in the world. They called these monsters the Faeri. The Faeri could take on the forms of animals, including those of the most adroit animals of all. I'm referring to humans, by the way. I'm not sure how bright your species is yet."

  Prism rolled his eyes at Wadaw's jab at his intelligence. The sheer playfulness of the statement kept the smile on Prism's face. " I understood your meaning. Please, continue." Prism said while quieting an inane argument between Srell and Leanna that was occurring over his team's telepathic link.

  "Well, like most things, the stories that people used to tell about the Faeri were incorporated into the newer Sguvan faiths that came and went over the centuries. So, by the time Eizavobism made its rounds, people were already figuring out ways to jam Faeri tales into it before Eizavoba's Sguvan body had been burned." Wadaw spoke slickly, gesturing with his free hand to further animate his captivating story.

  "The man responsible for Eizavoba's days-long torture, Damandh, was imagined to be the King of all Faeri, because only a truly supernatural evil could torture and cremate a selfless god who sought only to bring peace and fairness to the world. Eventually, even "hell" was created to house the Faeri King and all of his evil Faeri kin. Now, back in the present day, some call them "Faeries" while others call them "Fairies" or even "Fae". They are all the same thing, and they come from the same place; the human mind."

  "Are you sure you're a True Twins Gospel fighter?" Prism peered into Wadaw's oddly grey eyes, visible through the intricately-patterned silver mask that covered the guerilla's upper face.

  Prism searched for a hint of faith in the divine within those eyes. He found no such thing, not even a glimmer.

  "I see that you're prone to generalizing. In that, you are like we humans." Wadaw took his arm from around the back of Prism's neck and began to laugh. Some of the other guerillas watched him, but they said nothing. "It is enough that I believe that Eizavoba was a real being that existed, and that I refute the assertion that the Queen is that being's most recent incarnation."

  "Fair enough." Prism nodded.

  Prism was embarrassed by his faux pas, even if Wadaw had simply laughed it off. Though he'd just met the man, Prism already cared what Wadaw thought about him.

  "That armor looks absolutely suffocating." Wadaw placed his forefinger on his lips and looked at Prism from head to foot.

  "It's not. The suit’s material is quite breathable, and the armor itself has its own internal air conditioning." Prism patted his chestplate proudly. "But I get the feeling that you already knew that."

  "I don't know everything. These suits are a newer variety than I've seen, in any case. A bit too new for me to have good intel on them. That is, until now." Wadaw gave Prism a sly smile.

  "It isn't anything top secret." Prism waved off the implied blunder. "We're allies, so it’s fine that you know certain things. I'm guessing that the Red Wolves Company shares intel with you, and vice versa."

  "Far less than you think. Finisome is quite covetous of information. Security concerns, and all." Wadaw's head swiveled delicately so that his eyes landed on Ursun, who quickly averted his green eyes from the guerilla fighter.

  "You talk like you know Finisome and Ursun personally." Prism followed Wadaw's gaze back to Ursun.

  Ursun gave Prism a blustering look before telepathically asking what he and Wadaw were talking about. Prism gave a brief synopsis of the story Wadaw told about the Faeri, which satisfied Ursun's curiosity. The burly commander went back to scanning their increasingly humid surroundings as Wadaw began speaking again.

  “Well, I certainly can’t read their minds like you can.” Wadaw put his arms on his hips and tilted his head back.

  “Now who’s deflecting?” Prism crossed his arms and walked in front of Wadaw with a big white grin. The two of them were the same height.

  Wadaw rolled his eyes and shook his head, fighting the urge to smile as well. “I’m not the person they used to know.” Wadaw placed Prism back behind him with a bit of fancy footwork, making sure to lock eyes with Ursun for but a second before turning back around. “But they probably haven’t changed much at all.”

  The group of guerillas and mercenaries started to hear the increasingly loud sound of rushing water as they soon came upon a series of waterfalls. The four falls, standing at about two dozen meters, rushed over a large rock shelf surrounded by foliage. They converged into a pool of greenish-blue water that flowed out through a series of narrow streams filled with moss-covered rocks. Behind the largest of the waterfalls was a wide-mouthed opening to a cave, only visible by approaching the waterfall directly from its side.

  "Watch your step. It can be a bit slippery." Wadaw said to RED-1 powerfully enough to be heard over the falls.

  After a hike around the waterfall's plunge pool and up a slick, slender path to the side of the waterfalls, the True Twins led RED-1 into the cave's entrance. It was dark, cool, and damp within the cave's interior, and the thundering sound of the falls echoed off its walls. Prism, whose eyes could see clearly in near total darkness, saw that the cave was small; too small to contain much of anything. It quickly became cramped in the confined area as over a dozen people made their way inside.

  "Allow me to properly introduce myself and my allies." Wadaw walked over to the back of the cave and placed his hand on a section of its cold, craggy wall. "I am Wadaw, and we are adherents of the True Twins Gospel."

  With a twist of his wrist, the rear section of the wall behind Wadaw started sliding away, revealing a tunnel carved through the rock. Lights began to flick on within the secret tunnel, showing how rough its walls were. It was just wide enough to allow two people to walk side by side within it.

  "Now please, follow me inside our lovely little secret base." Wadaw bowed before stepping into the tunnel.