She remained quiet for a moment.
"Apart from trust and help, I don’t exactly expect anything specific from any of you. I have no ulterior motives related to any of you, and I come with my heart open."
"I want to live. And so do you."
Her words echoed, and she stopped speaking, exhaling deeply, having said her piece.
Enoch stared into her eyes, and she stared into his, Uriel standing to the side, filled with chaotic thoughts as he keenly observed them both.
Silence reigned for a while.
"You’re telling the truth," Enoch suddenly said.
He turned to Uriel, his gaze sparkling. Uriel stared back for a moment, confused, but then understood his meaning.
"Her heart is pure. I trust her," he added to Enoch’s words.
Turning to Ayah, Uriel explained, "I can feel emotions, and he can tell truths from lies. If we are to be transparent, then we might as well start there."
Ayah nodded. "I understand, and I appreciate the trust, then."
Then, both she and Uriel turned to Enoch.
Enoch, unlike Ayah, didn’t wait.
"I’m Enoch Lothyn Thorne, and I don’t want much. I trust Uriel with my life, and he trusts you, so I trust you as well."
"I expect the same as you; trust, and a pair of hands able to pick me up if I fall."
He paused.
"I want to save my father. I want to save my...partner. And I want to save quite a few other people. All of whom I know will die."
His gaze didn’t waver, even as he noticed the shock on their expressions.
"Due to one of my abilities, I’m able to have information on events that will happen in the future, which is a massive advantage."
"I have a plan on how to survive and get out of here, and..." he thought for a moment, "...that should be it."
Ayah took a few moments to digest his words, quite a few things suddenly making sense. Her trust in her own decision to join them was only reinforced.
She and Enoch finally turned to Uriel.
"I don’t have much to say," he scratched his head. "I’m Uriel. I grew up in a strange church with all my friends."
"I was born in the church and never left it, so I don’t know much about Ithurial, outside of my grandmother’s stories, of course."
"I’m probably an orphan from one of the wars of Ithurial, and so are all the other children of the church."
He suddenly chuckled as a memory resurfaced in his mind.
"When I was thirteen, my friend Lilith disappeared, and I fell so sick I couldn’t move or see. My other friend, Arthur, helped me, and I eventually left to go look for her."
His chuckle faded, and a flicker of something dark surged from him, unnoticed by Ayah, but immediately picked up by Enoch.
"My friend Lilith died, and my friend Arthur disappeared. The church vanished as well, and I was imprisoned and sentenced to death for a crime I didn’t commit."
"Then the apocalypse came. I met Enoch and learned they were alive. So that’s my goal, to find them."
"I don’t expect anything except a good time, and hopefully good memories, and of course survival, amongst other things."
"That’s it."
Ayah’s pupils trembled.
"You’re from the—"
"Don’t." Enoch raised a hand, and she suddenly lost the ability to speak.
He threw Uriel a sharp glance, a Lie Eater surging from his eyes and instantly entering him. In a flash, the last second blurred in Uriel’s mind.
Enoch looked at Ayah, his core wafting with such pressure that one wouldn’t know he hadn’t undergone any evolution.
"Do not mention the church."
"But—!"
Enoch didn’t speak, but she felt her words stick in her throat.
With her lips tightly pressed and her face tense, she reluctantly nodded, her gaze dark as it met Enoch’s cold eyes.
SHAH!
The pressure from Enoch vanished as if it had never been there.
...
"I don’t expect anything except a good time and hopefully good memories, and of course survival, amongst other things."
"That’s it."
Uriel smiled.
The two acted as if nothing had happened—Ayah smiling warmly, and Enoch chuckling along with him.
"Well, now that we’ve laid everything out," Uriel continued, "what’s the next step?"
Enoch waved a hand, and suddenly a long scroll of gold, a system contract, appeared in front of Ayah.
[Lord Enoch has extended a Weave System-Contract of Companionship to you.]
[The first article of the contract states that—]
"It’s up to her."
Ayah exhaled deeply, and Uriel suddenly felt a dark swirl of emotion rise within her chest, utterly confusing him.
’Did I say something that threw her off?’
But beyond that, the depth of the emotion in her heart was dark, yet so tangled he could barely get an accurate read of it, something he’d never encountered before.
Her emotions were also...heavy.
He’d only seen that in two other people.
SHI!
[The contract has been signed!]
The darkness in Ayah’s heart vanished, and she signed the contract without even reading it, a smile returning to her beautiful face.
The scroll vanished, and a link between Uriel and Enoch extended to her, encompassing them all in a strange, almost warm, unifying light.
They remained quiet, basking in the warmth.
"Well," Uriel said eventually, "that’s that."
...
Eventually, they dispersed.
Though Ayah had quit her position as a housekeeper at the Emporium, she’d spent the entire day working, more than usual, due to the fact that she was leaving.
She didn’t love her position, but she loved the Emporium, and so she did her best to make sure it ran properly for the coming weeks, even without her.
She went to bed, exhausted.
Enoch didn’t linger either, still tired despite having slept for most of the day. His core still seemed to be healing itself.
He, too, went to bed, falling asleep in mere seconds.
Uriel was left alone.
He cleared the table, setting all the remaining food into trays and plates and storing them away, cleaning the kitchen thoroughly before turning everything off.
He spent quite a bit of time on it, using the peaceful quiet and repetitive motions as a backdrop to his rushing thoughts and prospects for the future.
Eventually, he finished, and for the first time, opened the window-door leading to the garden and stepped out.
’It’s been a while.’