Library of Rain

Coven

The Zimir are ever-changing. Unlike the Aimir, they do not have set domains; instead, they pass their domains amongst themselves through means and for reasons I do not know, making them a far less stable pantheon of gods. This is important to note, for while this record contains the current known Zimir and their domains as of the year 79 PA, it will soon be false due to the very nature of the Zimir.

–Introduction to the Encyclopedia of the Zimir

***

“You look ready to meet the other monsters.”

Rain ignored Lon’s words. No matter how much they stung, she wouldn’t let them stop her. And in this case, he was right. Rain was dressed in her Lady Tyix costume, and Mr. Purple was telling her that the coven of the Zimir was only minutes away.

“Are you sure I can’t come with you, big sis?” Ise asked, looking worried as she fussed with Rain’s clothes. 

“I don’t know how I would take you. Sorry, Ise.” 

Truthfully, Rain wasn’t all that sorry Ise couldn’t come. From what Rain had read about the Zimir in her latest book, they were a nasty bunch. A few of them were obviously the Princes of Darkness that villains made deals with in stories like the tale of Pardeth, and others were more like natural disasters. But none had domains that sounded friendly.

“Are you sure you’ll be safe?”

“She’s a monster; it wouldn’t be a big loss if she died.”

Fortunately, only Rain could see the ghost of Lon, or Sunrise might have attacked him for that. Rain had seen her get angry for far less truthful statements. 

“I’ll be fine, though I do need your help finding my writing charcoal. It’s not where I left it yesterday.”

While this was true, the real reason Rain asked for help finding it was to distract Sunrise, who seemed more worried than Rain about this meeting. 

“Right! I’ll go look for it.”

Sunrise seemed happy to have something she could do to help and rushed off to look for the missing charcoal.

Rain took a deep breath to calm herself. She was bone tired, but that was nothing new. Her soul felt like it was on fire, but that was nothing new. She was getting ready to be surrounded by dangerous people without a friend in sight, but that was nothing new. This time, though, she was as prepared as she could be. She had studied everything she could for this, and all that was left was to go. With any luck, she might find an ally. While the Zimir seemed unpleasant, Rain would be there, so maybe there would be other good people.

Rain ignored a snort from Lon and instead watched as the minutes turned into seconds; then, while poor Sunrise was still looking for Rain’s missing writing tool, Rain vanished. 

When the darkness faded around Rain, she found herself in a large round room with a ring of pillars supporting a vaulted glass roof. Outside, the glass ceiling was swirling gray and black. Looking around at the gray stone walls of the room, Rain found no doors. She tried to find one of her bound coins but couldn’t touch it. There would be no warping out of here. She was trapped in this room until Oru was done with her. 

As Rain looked about, explosions of inky shimmer erupted around the room, leaving behind shades of people. The air around the shades twisted slightly, leaving behind images of odd things. One shade had scurrying mice with missing patches of fur surrounding it in the air, another was encircled by gaping mouths with dried and chapped lips, and yet another had creepy puppets. Rain desperately hoped Sunrise would never find a puppet like that. 

With each new arrival, Rain felt a dark pressure settle on the room. This place and these people were dangerous. 

A loud thunk rang through the room, and Rain looked up to see a slimy appendage slide across the glass roof, leaving a thick film of filth smeared across it. Rain’s mind shook, and the world tilted. Her vision went fuzzy as fingers tried to crawl across her mind but failed to find purchase.

[You have caught a glimpse of a Zimir. Due to your Aura of the Unnatural, you have been protected from 99% of the mental corruption.]

[Warning: due to exposure to an outer god, your mental corruption has increased by 3%. Current mental corruption: 26%.]

Rain closed her eyes. How could something like that exist? Rain had no doubt that it could destroy the isles if it ever arrived there. Just looking at a piece of it would have driven her completely insane three times over if she didn’t have protection against it. 

She knew Oru wasn’t on her side, but a part of her hoped another Zimir would be somewhat friendly. But if that… Rain forced her mind back; even thinking about it was dangerous. That thing was not a benevolent creature. 

Rain struck thoughts of making friends with a Zimir from her mind. Hopefully, the other chosen didn’t take after their patrons, or Rain would have to remove them before they could do too much harm.

“If you actually believe that, then you should kill yourself. Aren't you a good representation of those creatures? People can tell by looking at you that they should destroy you; just like you feel about the Zimir.”

Rain tried to shut out the whispers of Lon’s ghost, but the truth in them still reached her heart.

“After all, one of those things claimed you as its chosen. Your past self wanted to stop wars, corruption, and death, but what have you done? You created a serial killer. You turned men into murderous monsters only to have them cut down. You’ve armed criminals and fought against the laws of the isles. Everywhere you go, death and pain follow.”

Lon’s words slid into Rain's mind, cutting her with their accuracy. It was true that Rain belonged in this crowd of shades, crushed by this wretched pressure and under the gaze of the things above, but she still had to try to be better. 

Her eyes were still screwed shut while she thought, leaving her in darkness; then, for some reason, she saw the room again. Only, it was inverted with the stones made out of darkness itself, and the shades of people were replaced with monsters that would make the creatures carved into the reliefs of her library cry out in fear. As quickly as it appeared, it was all gone, leaving everything dark behind Rain’s closed eyes.

Those beings had been doing something almost like the shades were being used to anchor the creatures close enough to speak with each other. 

“You’re one of them, Rain.”

Rain opened her eyes, pushed thoughts of self-doubt away, and resumed her inspection of the room. But this time, she avoided looking up. 

These people could be dangerous, but they could also be friends. Rain needed to keep an open mind. She needed to be better than the people who judged her based on her aura alone. 

Catching a glimpse of herself, Rain realized she was also a shade here. Her skin and clothes had turned completely black, though she didn’t have any odd images around her. Rain made her cloak change shape to a puffy coat and pair of pants, then wrapped her head in several layers of scarf to hide her shape. That should help her stay unrecognizable.

Before Rain could decide if there was anyone here she could make friends with, she needed to figure out how this coven worked without doing something that could harm herself or her family. Deciding that the best course of action, for now, was to watch, Rain stepped forward and leaned against one of the pillars in a super cool pose. She regretted not bringing Blondy’s flask; now was the perfect time to drink from it mysteriously. 

As Rain mourned the loss of a great opportunity, the shade with the gaping mouths around it approached the shade with the mice. The two spoke in lowered tones. Before long, a third shade approached the group. This one had a super pointy hat that Rain had to admit looked perfect for an occasion like this. Rain wanted one.

Scanning the rest of the room, Rain noticed that only three other people were here: the creepy puppet shade that looked to be only a little bigger than Rain, a tall shade who was clearly a woman and surrounded by crashing waves, and a man surrounded by two-faced masks and daggers. He was also wearing a hat that Rain immediately recognized. After all, Rain had one in her hoard. It was the ceremonial hat from the temple of Agro. It would probably be best to avoid that shade.

There didn’t seem to be any structure or purpose to this meeting adding conviction to her feeling that the real coven was happening on the negative of this room amongst the Zimir themselves. Rain could probably get away with simply hiding in a corner and waiting for things to end. But what would be the point of that? Rain had an opportunity to find out more about the Zimir - the things people of the isles called the Princes of Darkness - and what they wanted. 

She wasn’t going to let this opportunity go.