"A bonfire?" I asked, tilting my head.
"You know, for the descent. It’s a demonkin custom to burn everything to celebrate a good occasion. Or so I’ve heard," he said, touching his head, drawing attention to the obvious lack of horns. He was human, as far as I knew.
Evla sighed, shaking her head. "It is, technically, though the customs rather...barbaric."
"I’ll ask R’lissea, see if it’s okay. She might want me to rest," I said.
The apostles all blinked.
"Seriously?" Constance asked. "Why the hell do you need permission to stay up an extra hour or two?"
Edrin nodded, barely holding back a laugh. "It’s not like you’re first-level anymore."
Evla frowned. "Well, she kind of is...."
I gave her a grateful look, but couldn’t keep the heat from my face. "It should be okay? She’s...protective."
"For good reason," Luke said, pushing Jessia away and glaring at them, quelling their mirth. "We’ll expect you around nightfall. Unless the Life hero says otherwise."
We traveled in relative silence after that, and soon, Fyren caught up to us. We left the apostles afterward, heading straight back to our horde. The demons shifted as we arrived, but remained passive, like well-trained dogs. Their eyes were definitely more gold than the other hordes. It wasn’t just a reflection.
As we approached the tent, I finally worked up the courage to ask Fyren about something that was bothering me.
He glanced at me, raising an eyebrow.
About the representative from our faction...I don’t have to do it, do I?"
"Do you know anything about war?"
I shook my head, and he laughed, reaching over to ruffle my hair. I ducked away, tail twitching.
"Then no, I don’t see why you would. I’ll try and pawn it off onto Incinderus, actually. Being in any sort of leadership position would be a burden on my time. Time I’d rather spend protecting you."
"Oh." I sighed, tail drooping in relief. "Thanks."
The sun broke over the horizon, lighting up our little campsite amid the horde. R’lissea and Elise were already awake, sitting in front of a small fire. They brightened when they noticed us, and again when I told them of Luke’s offer. To my surprise, they both agreed to go.
The rest of the day passed peacefully. I curled up with Fable, Borealis on my shoulder, and studied the runic dictionary Nithalee had given me, along with the ninth-level tome from Blacksand. Some time after R’lissea called me to lunch, I dropped in to Haven to ask Emlica a few questions on runes I couldn’t understand or find in the book. What was supposed to be a few-minute visit ended up taking the entire evening, as together, we did some more research and practiced Adaptive Resistance.
When I finally emerged and closed the gate, Elise and R’lissea were waiting for me.
"Took you long enough," Elise said, grinning.
I blushed. "S-sorry, Emlica was really talkative today. She wanted to figure out how Adaptive Resistance diffuses so much mana."
"Kind of, but she got distracted when I showed her the ninth-level tome. Apparently, she’s never seen it before."
"What? But didn’t fate give it to Blacksand? How could the librarian not know a spell in her library?" R’lissea asked.
I giggled at the memory of Emlica’s face the moment I pulled the tome out. "She marched right over to Fate and demanded an answer. I guess Fate just made the spell up on the fly, so there’s no official version of it in the Library."
They both laughed. They’d both spent time in the library before, so it wasn’t hard to imagine how incensed Emlica must have been.
"Alright, ready for your date?" Elise asked, clapping lightly.
She giggled, pushing my shoulder playfully. "Come on, Xiviyah. How could it not be?"
"But you’re going too! It’s not a date!"
"Riiiight," Elise said.
R’lissea sighed, shaking her head. "Enough, Elise, let’s just get going. We’ll find out what it’s like when we get there."
I gave her a grateful look, and together, we set off. Fyren must have sensed my soul in motion because he found us the moment we left the inner reaches of the horde.
"Did you speak with Incinderus?" I asked.
"Yes. He agreed to take on the position of representing you to the horde. I made sure he was aware of your...convictions when it came to war and ’innocent life.’"
"What about Zephryiss?"
"What about her? Afraid she’d be offended if you didn’t ask her?"
I cringed, not meeting his eye. Fyren chuckled.
"Don’t worry, demons aren’t so petty...no, they are definitely that petty, just not about this kind of thing. Zephyriss would rather die than be forced to attend any sort of council reliably. She might pop in here or there, as is her right as a demon lord, but most days she’d rather laze about the skies, feeling mortal wind in her wings."
I let out an unconscious breath. "Thank you."
Luke’s horde grew restless as we approached, stealing lusty glances in our direction. R’lisesa and I both moved closer to Fable, though Elise seemed ignorant, likely because her soul wasn’t particularly attractive. None of them actually engaged us, but a few circled us hungrily, until Fyren scared them off with his aura. By the time we reached the small grove the apostles stayed in, I’d almost grown used to it.
"Xiviyah! You’re here," Evla said, looking up as we approached.
The apostles were gathered around a large fire, with an even larger stack of wood beside them. I looked around the gathering twilight, curious where they might have found the wood. We were in the middle of the Arboreal Plains, after all, and given the grove was still here, they couldn’t have cut that down.
Constance and Edrin sat on one side, with Evla and Jessia on the other. Luke stood some distance off, watching the setting sun. He looked over at Evla’s voice and made eye contact with me. His face remained expressionless as always, but a little twitch ran down his tail.
"I, um, brought them, like you said," I said, gesturing to Elise and R’lissea.
"You’re all welcome at our fire," Constance said. "It’s not much, but make yourself at home."
Elise and R’lisea exchanged glances before sitting. Evla and Elise struck up a conversation at once, something about Elise’s dress, while R’lissea stared at the fire.
"Why didn’t you use magic?" she asked, glancing at Jessia.
Jessia shrugged. "It ’violates tradition,’ or something like that." She snuck a snide look at Evla, who pointedly ignored her.
"Xiviyah, a moment?" Luke asked.
I glanced at Fyren and, at his nod, left his side and went to Luke. We stood together at the edge of the grove, the murmur of the others behind us. Fable crept closer, but for some reason remained at a distance, Borealis perched on his back.
"How are you feeling?" Luke asked.
I looked up at him, drawn by the depths of his eyes. They were warm and caring, reflecting the golden light of my aura. The last few rays of the sun lit him from the side, outlining his sharp, masculine profile.
"Okay," I said softly, looking back to the horizon, cheeks pink. "It was nice ot have some quiet."
There was another stretch of silence. He drew a breath, his tail firming.
"I was meaning to speak with you of the elves," he said. "Why is it so important to you that we spare their shards? You know how difficult that would be."
"I...don’t know. But I have to. Everything rests on it."
"Everything? Like...you’re life?"
I shook my head, closing my eyes. When I opened them again, I was looking at Luke.
"There’s something at stake here, something more than me and you. More than this realm, even," I said. "I don’t understand it, but there’s something wrong with the Cycle. You heard Fyren today. He said the gods don’t have many worlds left."
"And what does that mean? Why would a demon care for that?"
"That’s what I don’t know. But Fate is worried, even if she won’t tell me why. Everything that’s happened, her losing her place among the gods, happened because she thought it was necessary. I can’t even begin to imagine what would make an elder god choose to fall like that. Can you?"
"I don’t care for the gods. Nothing they do ever makes sense. It would be better if they all chose to step down like her," Luke said coldly. His voice softened again. "But what does this have to do with the shards? A few measly crystals can’t possibly make a difference in the eternities. Hell, even a few worlds don’t mean anything to gods and demons."
I hesitated, tail twitching anxiously. Magic hadn’t exactly banned me from discussing our arrangement, but it felt dangerous to reveal, especially to the leader of the invasion. But when I looked at Luke, I didn’t see a leader. I saw...warmth.
I met Luke’s gaze and took a deep breath. "It’s not about the shards, Luke. It’s about a promise I made, a promise I intend to keep. A promise to a god."