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Fantasy [Private] El Stories

"I'll keep that in mind next time, if I'm cooking that is." Dust responded to her as he continued to eat his meal with Damien, it didn't take long for them to finish. "I'll wash the dishes, go on ahead Damien." He informed to his friend as he wiped his mouth with a napkin.

"Chaaaaaaarge~!" The Ikus suddenly said as he jumped right at Phantom, after the priest was done braiding Xio. "Today, you're going to be my lovely hubby~!" He rubbed his face on Phantom's, before giving a peck on him. "And I'll be your snuggle buddy!"

"Don't go too far." Dust called him out to which he replied with a 'Okay!' back to him. Continuing to rub his body on Phantom, getting himself comfortable while hugging him.

"Let's dream a lovely dream, together, Phantom!" He cheerfully said to him as he hummed to himself in happiness. The dishes were cleaned as those events unfolded, but there was still some food left for three more plates.

"I'll be back soon." He took those three portions and stepped out for a minute, before returning. He went ahead to give the guards that were on guard around this area the warm meal, they were very grateful.

He saw on how Xio was beginning to sleep and how Damien was giving more affection, maybe a little to close for his liking.

Grabbing a lantern, he lite up a small flame and put it on the table, while blowing away the other lanterns to let them sleep better. He grabbed a feather and an inkwell, some parchments and started writing his report down.

He recalled the events that occurred, from the angel's arrival, from the info that he gathered from the other demons about having captured one of the angels and then losing them, how the war took away a few dozens, maybe close to a hundred soldiers. On how two humans decided to join their cause, putting as little info in them, except that they are in his squad. And finally came the demons that defected...

"What should I say about these guys? They sided with the angel, but I didn't do anything about it... Should I have killed them for them to not leak out any info? Should I have take them in as punishment? I don't know... Why would they risk it all by siding with him? Why risk their family members? Fools... No, not fools... They're just at their limit with how things are, so they cling to anything for a change in their lives. Side with the enemy for a better life and be our enemy or side with us where the higher ups threaten their families..." He had their files... The higher ups and nobles need to know about their usefulness to keep sustaining their families or else...

He put his hands on his head, letting go a tired puff of air. His mind started to feel somewhat drowsy, but it wasn't enough for him wanting to sleep. His heart and shoulders were heavy with how much he's trying to make things right all at the same time, sacrificing a lot for a better life.

In the end, he classified their cases as MIA or considered dead. At least, their families will continue to live, but those demons wouldn't be able to see them again, because if they do, they will be all killed.

"Greedy sons of bitches... Heartless higher ups looking more for themselves than the people we're suppose to protect... This isn't us... this isn't what serving the people is about..!" He scolded quietly before looking back, he could see that Damien and Phantom fallen asleep already. For Xio, he wasn't really sure, but he'd guess that she was sleeping.

He grabbed his glass cup and took out a bottle from his sack, his private stash of Daemon Licorice when he needed it the most. In this moment, he really needed a drink.

When did he start drinking alcohol? When did he fell into this unhealthy habit? Who knows anymore... He simply grabbed a bottle and started to drink, probably to keep his cool for his pals back in his early days, those were the times that the death ratio for the demons was on an all time high. He still remembers when he took a demons life and when he saved his comrades with it. Maybe that's when it started, maybe it was when he ran into a bump in his road to find his memories or maybe it was to just get by the day.

Pouring a glass, he drank it slowly at first, let the burning in his throat settle down before taking one gulp at a time. He reached over another parchment, this one it simply held one title: Rebel army's pact.

This parchment was a the last opportunity that he could give to the humans, but for it to work he needed the leaders to come into a neutral ground to discuss this with them. If things don't come around he would need to do the cowards way, holding the earth El as a hostage, which was higher than the king of Velder. Just thinking about it would give a horrible taste to his mouth. Another glass.

For his side, he would ask of them for a few things. Mainly to keep this war as an appearance, to fool the higher ups thinking that the war is continuing to not draw attention to Chloe. Next would be for him to ask the humans for help, even if he had to be on his knees and pleading them to simply spare them some of their power, despite their current situation. It was selfish of him and towards the eyes of the demons that have fought long and hard here would be nothing more than treason, however that is nothing compared to the revolution army that he's forming.

In his case if they started to demand things, he could probably help with it. Reconstructing PART of the city, to not draw too much attention. Give back the hostages that they made, except for the earth El.

That one he wanted to discuss with them in a more, of time lending the demons the El. They would not take it, just borrow it for a few weeks at most. Their land needed this power, but the humans depended on the stone to survive, with some hope, they could establish a lending system or if that wouldn't cut it, then simply having the stone for those weeks would be just enough for demon alchemists to try and replicate the stone somehow to stabilize the land.

After that, came the obvious after war if they sign it. Many lives were lost and relations with both humans and demons would have a shaky start, no doubt. If even a slight touch were made, they would be like territorial animals. It would take more than a few months, maybe years for them to slowly open up. Demons are naturally not a bad race, but humans are more than filled with greed. They might scam them, lead them around and kill them in secret out of vengeance.

That's why rules need to be implemented, conditions on how the two of them can live in somewhat solid ground. But these conditions need to be discussed and evaluated in a neutral standpoint, not with their hearts in pain.

All of this needs to be thought and considered and not everyone will agree with this. But...

"Is this even the right thing? Or is it just a feeble attempt for a disaster?" Dust said out loud as he took another two glasses. The bottle is empty. He let go of a heavy sigh and put his feather down, with his letter of a peace treaty for the humans. It held specific requests and an accurate location to meet, however, one of the messengers need to reach the enemy camp and deliver it. If Dust could, he'd do it himself, but he needs to stay here in case of something happening and supporting Chloe and Phantom and Xio and Damien.

"If they agree, then my head can be at ease for a bit. If not, then I just sacrificed a soldier for my own selfish reasons. Ugh, I can't stay here. I need some fresh air..." He grabbed another bottle, opened it and left his tent. The nightly sky and breeze in this world was so much better than back at the demon realm, but their stars would always come on top.

He moved towards the lower bridge, just being at the base of the stairway would be safe enough. Chloe who was doing her rounds noticed him and followed the dark elf. He stopped just short on the last step and turned towards the river that passed below them. Every once in a while, he would take a swing at his bottle and keep on looking.

"What are you doing here? You should get some rest! You haven't slept in a few days already." Chloe asked, but he didn't responded it. "Dust you okay?"

"I have to be okay, don't I?" He responded back in a monotone voice. This put a weird feeling on her as this was a first. "I have to be there to give our people a sense of reassurance, have to look fine."

"Why do I have the feeling that you're... Is that a Daemon Licorice? Have you been drinking your private stash?" She asked surprised as he keeps to himself when his drink is nearby.

"I have, but it's not working as well with me. Second bottle and only feeling little." He responded while taking another swing, not even feeling it go through.

"Maybe you've drank enough. It's best for you to go to bed, Dust." She took a step forward, but his hand stopped her from moving forward.

"I haven't drank nearly enough. Haven't thought or did enough work to call it a night. Haven't relaxed even." He replied while looking down, how the water passed so silently. "The reports are ready, by the way."

"Ah right, the reports... thank you, you saved me the trouble of making them." She said as she got closer and stood by his side. "So what are you doing here? Thinking what's best to do tomorrow?" She asked to make small conversation.

"What's best? I don't know about that." Another chug. "I've been thinking a lot, that's for sure. But I've reached in a small... obstacle. I just thought that some night air would help me." He responded to her.

"I'm not worried about it. If it's you, I'm sure you'll do the right thing and help us out." She held positive in his decisions.

"The right thing?" He said as he took another swing, downing all of it contents and the turning to her. "What the fuck is the right thing!?" He yelled as he broke the bottle with his hand, some shards passed his armor and drew some blood. This surprised her making the dark elf take a step back.

"D-Dust are you alright?" She asked, this was the first time she ever saw him snap.

"Do you have any idea what I go through when these types of situations come with, uh!? You think that every decision that I make is for the best? How!? How the fuck are you so god damn positive that what comes out is the right thing to do!?" He shouted at her angrily, as she took a few more cautious steps back. She was somewhat afraid.

"This isn't a god damn game! Lives are at stake here and I don't want to spill anymore unnecessary blood, make it humans or demons! I have no fucking idea if I have any options to save everyone! There's just too many things to do and I'm only one stupid fucking nobody, trying so much against the odds against me!" He clenched his fist drawing a few more drops of blood.

"D-Dust..." She continued to back off, until she reached the rail while Dust kept walking forward.

"I have no fucking idea if I can do anything about! No idea if I can make sure these bastards can live another day to see their families! No idea if I can stop the bad blood! No idea if I can... If I can..!" He grabbed the rail and looked at her eyes. "If I can do anything, damn it!"

She was without words. The guy that she admired was having a crisis in his decision making. Maybe it's his drunken state, but his mind is clouded at the moment.

"I'm just one guy trying to figure out the best course of action, to try and get... a solution for both problems, but the only solution is such a wild gamble that I might as well be betting my life on it!! There is no, god damn way that this is gonna work! It's at the very least a 10% chance of working, maybe even less than that at this point! I... I..." He let go of the rail and took a few steps back and put his hand on his head, feeling a headache.

"I have no idea what's right or god damn wrong... My options are so limited and anything that I think of can just lead to a chaotic field of bodies... Whatever I do, I can't pull out something convenient and somehow make this war stop. This is one of those moments where I anything that I choose, will lead to death." He was so conflicted that the decision was making him falter. He felt light headed and grabbed on hold the railing.

"S-s-should I leave?" She asked not wanting to be here for now. She was at the wrong time and she wanted to leave. He simply waved and returned to watching the river to calm down.

She left, but without leaving with a feeling in her gut telling her to stay with him, but her instinct told her not to.

Phant0m Phant0m
 
Xiopetec
​
She was on her way to falling asleep when she heard Dust thinking aloud, questioning the morality about...something. The goddess kept her back to him, her eyes open as she eavesdropped and she almost huffed when she listened to him leave, but she wanted to keep up the idea that she was sleeping.

When she was sure he wasn't in the tent anymore, she peeked at Phantom and Damien. Her priest hasn't stirred, and she held her breath as she slowly climbed out of her bed, super conscious of all the sounds she did her best not to make. The goddess quickly snatched her scarf and tied her braid up to make a bun to secure the scarf on her head before tip toeing out of the tent.

Xiopetec silently followed Dust, or she assumed she was but she wasn't being noticed by him and if anyone gave her a weird look she ignored it. Once at the lower bridge, Xiopetec ducked around the corner and pressed herself against a tent, right into its shadow's embrace.

She had clamped her mouth shut, keeping her breathing under careful control to not make a sound. The goddess leaned closer to the edge of the corner and listened.

The goddess started to frown, frustrated that she couldn't understand what they were saying, and she will probably have to ask for some lessons in the demon language. But emotions are universal, and Xiopetec did not like the tone of the female voice she heard.

She dared to take a peek when they stopped talking to see Dust watching the river. The goddess started to move from her hiding spot only to freeze. How was she going to comfort him? Certainly not with a hug, Dust isn't Phantom and her priest is the only reference she has to these scenarios.

"I'm not wasting part of the night to eavesdrop like a naughty child," She huffed to herself, "Might as well do something."

And so she straightened her posture and made her way over to Dust, not bothering to be silent in her steps. Something in her gut whispered to leave him be, but she ignored it and casually rested her arms on the railing and watched the river as well.

"I can smell the booze, and..." She peeked over to catch the bloody hand, "Your hand looks terrible. There's probably glass in the wound, but I'm going to assume you don't care about that at the moment."

Xiopetec sighed and slouched. "You know...I'd like to say that morality is water. It'll only fit certain scenarios, like only so much water can be filled in certain glasses." She faced Dust. "And water wears down its environment, just like morality wears down the individual. I am not going to act like a mother and scold you for drinking. That is not my place, nor can I offer advice because I don't have much of morality either when it doesn't concern with what I view as important. I'll offer to heal your hand, and I'll offer to walk with you back to the tent so you can rest. If you don't want what I have to offer, I'll just stand here then. I've been snapped at before so if there's a round two under there you might as well get it out of your system. The mind nor the body does well under stress, and I can't imagine the amount you're in but I can definitely see that you haven't had an outlet for it."

Fume Fume
 
"Xio?" He was half surprised that she was here and for the looks of it she didn't get much info on his snapping moment, maybe it was for the best that she didn't understood what he said.

"Thanks... but I think I need to stay out here to cool down a bit." He said as he kept watching the river. For a moment, he took her words and it still didn't sit well with him. "I'm not going to snap at you... even I know it won't do much anyways, plus you wouldn't deserve it, nobody needs to be an outlet to vent their feelings." He continue to watch and his mind slowly calmed down, just a bit.

"I'm trying to do something Xio, but no matter what I think or put into a plan, there's no way anything will work. Both sides will lose valuable lives, but to us demons the war is over here. We already got the Earth El back at home. I've been thinking of using it as a bargain chip, because I know that this world needs the El and I know exactly what will happen if it's not back in place in less than a month. Both worlds will be at risk.

That's why a balance is needed and the morality based decision here is that if we take we win for a while, but in the end we'll lose. If we give we lose, but both worlds will still survive, albeit the demon realm will still be plunged in a perpetual state of rotting, with the lands changing all the time.

It's important for the demon realm, but it's more important for the humans to have the Earth El just for both worlds to still live on. Try to mediate with the humans and the demons will start losing hope for a new life, try to continue with the bloodshed and only more unnecessary lives will continue to plague the land.

But the worst part is that I'm the only one that knows about this and if I told anyone else they'd think I'm pulling their leg or think I'm crazy, that I'm becoming delusional with all the work. Maybe I am... but the decision still weights even more if you know the consequences beforehand." He said what he had in his mind on how this decision could very well lead into a disaster.

"Then comes Phantom into play..." This caught her attention. "You do know he will have to kill humans. Not just humans actually, he might have to kill that dragon if he gets in the way. After all, he's trying to be the bad guy isn't he?" He asked as turned to her. "I'm in that role, I'm the bad guy to the humans, but I give them a chance. After tonight, there are no more chances to give. That door is closing fast and a massacre is coming." His voice sounded distant as he said that.

"Ah right, I bet Damien spoke up about it. What are you thoughts of becoming a demon with Phantom? If both of you are not okay with it, then a purification ritual will make you guys have a safe passage on the demon realm. The only problem is that demons tend to have a longer lifespan than a human, so Phantom might live much longer than normal. Humans have the tendency to only live to 70 years nowadays, but a part demon can live for a good 160 years. Your bodies will also change depending on how at ease you are with your transforming bodies. You should be the one warning him about the age increase, he'd probably panic about it. It's basically a life choice that he has to choose." He switched the topic, just so his mind wouldn't go towards those parts.

"Ah right, you don't know demon language yet do you? Maybe Phantom still has his notes on them and Damien would probably help you out with the words. I'd help, but for what I'm planning, it needs my full attention. I might need your skills later on for some dirty work. Some bad apples need to be taken care of." He returned his gaze to the river. The flames of the torches around them flickered and sometimes cracked to life.

His hand glowed softly as his armor healed his wound as the glass fell down onto the water below.

"I fear that there is no right decision at all and time is running short. Just to show that even if you have all the knowledge of the world and be the strongest person, you can't change anything at all. This powerlessness... is normal to many people, but to me it's a never ending struggle to find the right call to do. Just imagine that a king has to go through this every time, while we commanders only have these in special occasions. What would you do, Xio? If you were in my shoes, what would you do? Mediate with the humans and lose the demons respect to you? Or continuing fighting, making countless lives disappear in an instant while knowing that the key to it all, the Earth El, would be your own downfall?"

Phant0m Phant0m
 
The following is a shitpost: Happy first anniversary of RP everyone~
Luna​
It was a boring evening when I decided to turn the TV on for a change, I had grown tired of the last night's work. Besides, what else could be better than watching some early morning TV before falling asleep? It would only be the usual morning news, infomercials or kid shows. All of that would make me sleep soundly. I was already pretty tired from my night shift, but I refrained from going to bed because of the summer heat that had turned my room into an oven.
As the screen turned on, however, something strange happened.
****
Yullr​
"Is that thing on?" He asked as he looked into the camera in front of him. Once he got a thumbs up from the cameraman, he nodded and gave a smile to the audience.

"Good morning, Luna. Welcome to the celebration of a lifetime. Today, we'll begin to celebrate the year since you, and many others got this story going. Even if you left many, but many, hanging around the way."

Yullr turned to his right and soon did the camera. It focused on the ghosts of Rain, Cai Er, Ash, Airi, assassin Ren, Rena, Raven, Eve and Arya that floated around an abyss.

Alec casually walked by and looked towards them, trying to analyze them and Yullr ran towards him to put him away.

"Tin can, if you stick around them, you'll join them."
"I feel that someone's missing...."

Yullr frowned and chuckled the Nasod on the shoulder. "Silly robot, we can’t Subtract ghosts."
"Don't you have a show to run, Captain Terv-?"

Yullr hit the Nasod on the head with a fist, forming a small bump on the Nasod's head. "Not everyone read my backstory, you fool. Speak to the audience in simple English." The elf replied with a slight and menacing frown on his forehead.

"Roger that, Yullr. But your name is Elven...ish. Hell, it was a puzzle for Luna to figure out how to pronounce it. Phantomhive was the one to figure it out for her."

The Nasod touched his head and, with one of his fingers, pushed down the bump. Yullr took this chance to get his show going and glanced back at the camera with a friendly smile.

"That is right, Ladies and gentlemen. And you must be wondering, how in the world can that happen? Well the reason is quite simple: Luna stole us from Somnus' hands, taking his intellectual property without even asking."

"Affirmative. It makes you wonder about her reaction on the Lara drama."

The elf nodded "Speaking of Lara, why don't we pay Lento a visit?"

From a dirt road, a van appeared and stopped next to Yullr. The driver was none other than Lara herself.

"Yo. We're behind schedule so better hurry up or we'll miss Lento." She told them, making a sign with her right arm for them to come in. Yullr, Alec and the cameraman got in and Lara put her aviator sunglasses on. Lara did not move the car and looked at them.

"What's the problem?" Yullr asked.

"Put your damn seatbelt on or we stay in the middle of this desert."

"But you'll… die if we stay." Alec said.

Lara bursted out laughing and looked back at the Nasod. "Dying? Me? Luna can't do that to me. I've lived in her writing soul since 2014. I'm the typical self-insert character from an angsty teen. But she can't hate me because of her emotional investment in stories she never made public. For the most part."

"Then I suppose Lento is her husbando."

Yullr's words brought an awkward silence between them. Lara turned back to drive and put the pedal to the floor so fast that all the passengers put their seatbelts out of fear of getting ejected through the windshield if she breaked the same way she accelerated.

"Is he, Lara?" Yullr insisted.

"Out of the NPCs in that boring game, yeah. What got her playing was Raven and the old Weapon Taker portrait."

"Then, why did she create your relationship with Darhan in the first place?"

"The same way she thought that making you gay for Lento was a good idea, Yullr."

The camera turned towards Yullr and the slight blush forming on his cheeks. "...That's not true and you fucking know it."

Lara chuckled and left Yullr to deal silently with his embarrassment while Alec kept thinking about a reason behind Darhan's appearance. "Well, considering that Somnus created a sexually abusive goddess, I'm not surprised about Luna's..." Alec took a pause before finding the right word. "...unwillingness to deal with Somnus' way of portraying women. Let alone a relationship with them."

The Nasod then turned at Yullr. "Are you gay for Lento, though?"

Lara replied before Yullr could even think of opening his mouth. "Damn right he is, Alec. Just like he was gay for Serge. We have an unofficially bisexual elf here."

"Yeah..." Yullr muttered as his face turned redder. "Unofficially. What you're talking about is something Luna wrote at 2 AM on her phone with less than a quarter of her neurones working."

"Exactly, then she toned it down later that morning. But I still have it~" Lara said before putting on the radio a Text-to-Speech version of the unpublished backstory. "...That night, Serge was more attentive to me, almost like the big brother I had lost..."

"Jesus fucking Christ." Yullr mumbled before staring at the window. Lara turned up the volume.

"...Yet, as I was being carried away in his arms, I felt that his embrace was different from what you'd feel from a brotherly trust."

"This shit is not even official guys, come on. Enough."

"Nope." The Nasod and the warrior said in unison.

"It was strange to feel the muscles underneath Serge’s leather clothes. Maybe the alcohol played a part in it, but at that moment, I wanted to imagine how his naked muscles would feel against my weak body. I-"

Yullr had opened his grimoire and an ice spirit ended the life of the radio. "Enough is enough, children. Remember that this is a good Christian show. Besides, we all know the official story. Serge was a Don Juan. I got drunk with him, he took me home and nothing else happened."

"Aaaand...you're still salty about it."

"Yeah...he's so shy just because he only fell for straight guys. Although he acts more confidently around Lento. Maybe he thinks that he holds a chance?"

Yullr smirked, certain of having his payback at hand. "I can assure you that is not the case, but that's enough about me. Lara, how come you thought it was a good idea to go NTR?"

This took also Alec's attention and he followed Yullr's thoughts.

"Yeah. I guess it's better than anything with Ash, because he was still a living being. Anything between him and you would've gotten the story banned."

Lara sighed. "Long story short, Darhan was not supposed to be revived, but Luna did it because she thought it was the only way of giving me decent character development. A hella bad way of doing it because she could've used Lento for that. She realized this later, but it was too late."

"...Ah, I see. But can the dead even get a bo-"

"STOP!" Lara made the tires shriek as the van was put into a brutal halt. The passengers had a heart attack as the windshield got very close to their faces before they were pushed back to the chair once the car stopped. Lara took off her glasses and watched a raven walk away from the road a few meters ahead of them. She sighed and smiled. "I just saved one raven today. The day is good~"

"Lara. You didn't let me finish my question."

"You did not ask anything, tin can." She continued in a calm voice, although her mana aura got menacing.

"Can they, though?"

"Use the Bleach logic, Brigadier Yullr Tervani, first with his name, immoral scientist and unsuccessful Romeo." She hissed.

Yullr nodded with a satisfied smirk on his face. "I'm almost flattered for your reply, Colonel Lara Tureen, first of her name, betrayer of hearts and suicidal healer of sirens."

Alec tilted his head and frowned at them. "You guys don't play fair. I can't understand the Elven language yet and I can't read the captions on the viewers' screen."

"Well," Lara said as she turned off the van. "sucks to suck, Alec. Anyways, here we are. Lento's residence."

Yullr and Alec got down in front of a mansion that replicated the Victorian style. A maid came down the stairs and bowed at them. "Good morning, please come in, Master Asini is waiting for you."

"Here we are, ladies and gentlemen. Who would've thought that General Lento would be this rich? " Yullr said with fake surprise at the camera.

"Yullr," Lara hollered from the van. "what kind of people are Generals in medieval-ish works of fiction?"

The elf glanced at her and nodded. "The Chosen Ones, which are usually abandoned children that live in a village in the middle of nowhere. Makes you wonder how many authors think that a mere peasant or a slave can rise through military ranks like in modern armies while no one else bats an eye. Those ranks were exclusive for nobility. Even in the eventual death of a Commander, another noble would have more chances to get nominated than a slave."

Lara stared at him, mildly annoyed. "...Hey, you know that I'm not talking about you. You're a noble too. But that's all the confidentiality contract allows me to say to our audience for now."

Lara put back her sunglasses and started the car. "I have a date with Darhan in half an hour. See ya."

With a few magic incantations, the van turned into an expensive sports car and the motor roared as Lara disappeared in the horizon. The three men entered the residence, and Lento got down the stairs with a formal white shirt and black pants. He wore a black tie and he greeted his guests, although Alec was still looking at the cloud of dust that Lara's car left behind.

"...So. Were they friends with benefits, Yullr?"

"Hello to you too, junk heap." Lento said in a cold voice.

Alec turned towards the Knight, who was a head taller than Yullr, which meant that the Nasod's head barely reached a few centimeters above Lento's elbow. The Knight's cold gaze and his imposing height made the Nasod have a nervous laugh.

"Ah..hehe...hello Mr. Lento. I thought you were mute..?"

Lento scoffed. "Luna is too lazy to leave me be the deaf man I am in the official story. Besides, with the amulet thing, it got confusing for everyone. God, how I missed hearing voices."

"Duck El." Yullr muttered.

Lento rolled his eyes. "Yes, the Duck El. Luna should not have binge-watched Gangsta before writing that post. Nevertheless, I didn't get to speak like Nicolas Brown for long. The sign language research she was doing was getting too long."

Yullr sighed and took a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket. "Yup, explaining the hand movements in text would be pain. Paragraphs upon paragraphs of sign language description would bore her to death."

Just as Yullr got a cigarette out and put it in between his lips, Lento glared at him. "Not in my house, Yullr Vicious."

Yullr shrugged and put the cigarette in the side pocket of his black leather coat. "Alright, Lento Spungen."

Lento squinted at him. "Wait a minute...Is that why you gave me that amulet that oddly looks like a padlock?"

Yullr nodded. "And that's also why I wear one. I can't believe you've only noticed now."

The knight raised an eyebrow and invited the guests to sit down on the sofa in his living room. "People usually give more obvious gifts when they try to imply their feelings."

The elf scoffed. "Come on, Lento. You know how much I like the Sex Pistols. Did it only become obvious for you until now? Seriously? We need to see Sid and Nancy again."

"We. Don't. I don't get how you could watch that movie all Friday nights for half a year without getting sick of it."

"It's my favourite movie, and that was your fault for gambling with me."

"Sid and Nancy...searching databases. No information found."

Yullr chuckled. "Of course you won't find anything in your databases. You're basically Philip Fry. Only that you look like Bender. And Neither Eve nor Elesis will be your Leela. Not when you prove to make bad decisions that end up in creating angry women authors that write replies that are at the level of Tumblr rants."

Alec looked down and lowered his voice. "Why do you have to be so rude?"

Yullr sighed. "I promote prejudice equality. Everyone gets shit."

"Uhm...g-guys." the cameraman finally said. "I think we're getting a bit off-topic here."

"Yah, why mun?"

The cameraman shook the camera, slightly embarrassed to be thrown into the spiral of prejudice equality while the rest of the men laughed at the memory.

Lento was the first to stop laughing and he took a deep breath before looking at him. "Ah, that was short-lived joke. Sorry about that, Allegro, is just that Yullr has the perfect voice to imitate so many things."

"In another world, I would've been a famous voice actor." the elf said. "And I would totally make a good Roy Mustang."

Lento nodded. "That one line that you memorized fits you perfectly."

Alec asked for Yullr to repeat the speech from Colonel Mustang, while they didn't notice the door opening to let another person enter.

"...And when I'm Führer, there will be changes. That day, all female officers will be required to wear..."

"Master Asini, Elesis Sieghart is-"

"...TINY MINISKIRTS!"

"...here."

Yullr had, in his impersonation of Mustang, gotten up and put his right foot on the table to imitate the solemn and powerful resolution of Mustang. He turned towards the redhead at the same time as the other men in the room, silently.

"Ah, Elesis, how good to see you." Lento casually said, trying to put the awkward silence behind them.

Elesis raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Well, you got some curious ambitions, Yullr. Are you looking for a demotion?"

Yullr shook his head and sat back on the couch. "No ma'am. I'm stating what good soldiers would vote for. Lento and someone else can testify on the advantages of having more...femininely dressed female superiors."

Lento turned towards the camera, slightly frowning. "Hey, Allegro. Is this what this show is about? You all came here for this kind of conversation?!"

"I-I'm sorry, Lento. I need to buy new materials a-and I'm broke. Yullr came to me with a good offer."

The Knight sighed and Elesis patted him on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it, Lento. I feel your pain, but I couldn't tell you about the confidentiality contract I signed with Yullr. My full story depends on other people that Yullr couldn't get in contact with in time."

"Y-yeah. Sorry Lento. H-how about we go back into the topic?" Allegro said.

"Right. We came to talk about Luna's little fight with Somnus over her precious favourite character. Lara's the only one that made it back from the abyss of the dead."

A breach in space opened and a masked man appeared. "Only thanks to me."

"And who in the world are you? Who invited you?"

"I'm a god. With a big G. I invite myself wherever I please."

Lento waved at him. "We meet again, Henir."

Henir nodded and sat down. "It's a rare thing to be surrounded by mortals again."

Yullr nodded. "It's a rare thing to see a walking plot convenience that is slightly more relevant than Ishmael."

Henir shrugged. "Your own past is justified over an hypothetical war that is more convenient than my own existence."

Elesis chuckled. "This whole story is just made of plot conveniences to allow us to be somewhat unique. I mean, for me to be the youngest Sieghart sibling, Elsword would be older than you, Lento."

Lento nodded. "And he's happily married man with a child in another wo-"

"Was." Henir interrupted. "Was. I mean, he's still married, but no child. The child is here, with your boyfriend, Elesis."

"H-he's not my boyfriend, ok?!" she stuttered, blushing, before mumbling what Henir had said. "...Wait...that makes me an aunt."

Yullr nodded. "Congratulations, Elesis."

"Isn't...someone missing?" Allegro asked.

"Nah. Probably just a ghost." everyone else replied.

Lento made a sign to his maid and she came back with a bottle of whisky and nine glasses with ice. Everyone but Yullr was served alcohol. The maid later came back with a glass of water for him.

"Thank you."

The maid bowed and went away.

"Are you expecting more guests, Lento? I thought it was just us."

"They'll be here any minute now. Probably together."

Yullr nodded. "Our driver will be back from her date to join us, right?"

From the outside, muffled shouts were heard.

"What do you mean you adopted him, Darhan?!"

"Oh please, Lara. Can't you see that Darhan has done the best he could to raise an abandoned child on his own?! The only thing prince Ainchase needs is a good mother!"

Yullr took his glass of water and took a sip from it. "Yikes."

"Yikes indeed." Elesis said as she did the same with her glass of whisky. "Thank god Elrios doesn't have any laws against underage drinking. Well, not like in the countries of the authors."

Henir scoffed. "It's all good until you realize that the same rules got your nephew in a lot of awkward situations."

Elesis tilted her head and the door opened to the sound of an annoyed Lara.

"Hey, Ren. I came to go to a bar and have a good time with my guy, not to go to the park with some kid that is not even mine along a teenage girl that looks to be taken out of a Bollywood movie."

Ain was taking Darhan's hand and Ren was exasperated by Lara's complaints, but she didn't say a word. Ain let go from Darhan and put himself in front of Lara.

"Lara, did you not have fun before? I had fun with all of you, we were all having fun. Was that...not true?" the child asked, looking to take her hand.

Lara crouched and her frown transformed into a kind smile. "Of course not, Ain. I was just a little upset because I thought Darhan and I would go somewhere else."

The grey-haired child smiled and hugged her with bright eyes. "I knew that dad's important soul was a good person."

Lara was surprised by this gesture, but returned his hug and lift the child up before sitting down among the rest of the guests. Darhan sat next to her and whispered something in her ear that made her smile more. Ain was tired and fell soon asleep in Lara's arms. Ren took her glass and stood in the distance, still glaring at Lara.

"Aw. Ain't that a cute family? Too bad a certain Knight is out of the picture." Henir said.

Darhan frowned. "Look, I can't protect Luna's mind from apparently good ideas, but I've already talked things out with Lento and Luna and we've all decided to forget that stuff ever happened. Besides, not a single author got-"

"Luna told them."

Darhan sighed. "I swear that one day I'll come back to her head and convince her to keep her fingers away from her keyboard and her phone when she's tired."

Yullr lifted his glass to make a toast. "You did when she was writing out ideas for me. Thank you for getting her to think twice and tone down my backstory."

Darhan nodded and took his glass of whisky to toast with Yullr. "Anything for my lil' bro."

"Cheers!" everyone said as the cups of whisky were lifted and the collective toast was made.
 
The following does not contribute for the RP, this is solely a recap of the current characters that I possess. Happy anniversary for the RP.

"Chloe"

"I still remember those harsh times of me alone, in that jungle with my abandoned sisters. That place was meant to dispose the weak and sadly I was apart of that formula. Back in the day, if you didn't contribute to the tribe, you can considered dead. Only a few years later did that law get broken, but those were a few years too late for me and the people beside me, which now I call sisters.

We moved away with our hearts aching of being abandoned, even by our families or people that owned us for 'themselves'. Yes, some of my sisters were slaves and sometimes... there were times where I truly was saddened to hear that they were deflowered by their owners. I'm guessing they got tired of 'playing' with their 'toys'.

To think I escaped that life by the slim of my teeth, however soon enough when we started on our teens, we were engaged in a bump. We were thieves by then and we were only starting that career to sustain ourselves, we were poor and lacked money so we resorted to that. But one day, we tried our hands on a big target. We regretted that decision as WE were stolen instead, he was a slave dealer and he got his henchmen to round us all up.

He saw us and thought of nothing but money, but since he was the ever so 'gentleman', he proposed the following. If we could cough out 100 thousand ED for him, he'd let us go and keep us on the down low. The catch? We had to raise the money in a week, which was impossible in this place since this area wasn't so populated. Maybe he knew that and he put that up just so that he could be entertained to see us crawl on the ground like bugs. He said that he would be waiting at the Inn for a full week, fail to deliver the money and we could say goodbye to our ways for good, since he had some connections to the demon military, all the way to Scar.

That name wasn't unheard of, the tyrant that could wipe out a town by himself and laugh all the way through. I'm still afraid of hearing his name to this day.

That's when the girls that had their fertility stolen spoke up. If we couldn't steal the money on time, then they'd sell themselves to people for services. Body for cash, at that time we were sure that we couldn't get that much, so we had no other choice, no matter how I disagreed with it. I still believe that way, there should've been another way.

We were very busy on that week. We stole and offered service to the people around, being a dark elf really was our only advantage because we had good looks, if we lacked that then we wouldn't have gotten the 100 thousand in that one week.

As I offered the slave dealer the money he was impressed by our means to get that much money, but he ordered his lackeys to subdue us. We were tricked right from the start, because he simply got the money and left laughing, ordering his minions to do what they wanted with us. We were weak by then, we skipped meals just to get the money. And so we were dragged into an alleyway where the brutes were starting to get ready with their 'afternoon game' with us.

But as they ripped our clothes off, the local militia appeared and behind the leader was a dark elf teen, just a little older than me. The men were surprised but nevertheless invited the men to join them, since we were a lot. Not noticing that they were not here to play with them, but to arrest them... and us.

It wasn't a pleasant negotiation from the beginning. The leader of the squad asked the dark elf boy what he thought, I couldn't hear his words, they sounded more like a whisper and the leader nodded his head. What followed next was a little hazy for me, but I remember that there was red, there was a head and bodies around him and then there was handcuffs on me.

Me and my sisters were taken to a cell, where we stood there as a demon would ask us one by one to come with him before separating us with a different cell. Apparently, they... were testing us for any disease that we contracted, specially the sisters that were not innocent anymore. From what my sisters told us, a female demon looked at them behind a curtain and wrote down her findings down.

Some of them got an injection and some weren't. I wondered why back then, but after a few years I got my answer. It was a cure for the many diseases that had in them. From those acts and from birth. When it came to me I was afraid of the needle and started to hyperventilate, I was appalled to have embedded in my skin and my I could feel myself slowly fainting for it.

That's when the female demon asked for help and in came the boy from before. She explained to him that I was too afraid to get the shot and he nodded his head. He motioned me to put my hands on his bandaged ones. I did with fear that he might do anything, then he told me to simply look at him and nothing else and to tell him how I was.

I started talking very slowly to him, how I was feeling afraid. He then asked me how me and my sisters got into the alleyway and retold him how we were fooled by a man that was a slave dealer. Slowly I relaxed, but just a bit. Then the demon besides us said that she was done and I quickly looked at my arm, already with a band aid on. I didn't even felt the needle go in.

That was probably the last time I saw the boy that day, because we were then transported towards the military where we learned how to fight. Learned how the assassins do their thing and learned archery and martial arts. For years we trained and we got better with our fighting.

But one day, I remembered that boy, it wasn't out of the norm, I always had that elf in my mind, but that day made him remember him specially. Why? It was the day he was there to find us, to save us from certain defilement.

Every year, at that day, I would go towards the highest point of the military grounds and look towards the town where the militia would be. Every time I was up there, I could faintly hear a flute being played through the wind. The soldiers told me that the kids name was Dust and that he'd been serving Luciela R. Sourcream for decades now as a slave. When I asked them if they knew anything else of him, they responded that he liked to play some kind of flute.

That's why when I'm up top here, I'd like to think that I'm listening to his song playing through the wind. Even though he might've forgotten me by now, or even if it's another demon glitter playing the flute.

Fast forward a few decades of continues practice and clearing missions, comes the news to me. Luciela R. Sourcream had been betrayed and was dubbed dead, her clan had fallen or were wiped out. I was shocked to hear that the ruler of that land was killed, she was such a kind person and to simply kill her off? It didn't make sense! But then I remembered that Dust served her and Karis as a slave, I thought that maybe he died as well.

A year later, a few new demons entered the army and one dark elf from the listing, though he had already a higher rank than most. According to the file, he already made countless contributions to the army and had a letter of recommendation from Berthe to join his squad. When I read the name of the person I froze. It was Dust, he hadn't died. My smile that had been hidden for a whole year returned. Why? I don't really know, but knowing that dark elf was still alive... made me happy I think.

I saw him a few times during training, he would train twice sometimes three times harder than any demon and when it came to group exercises, he would always choose support, mainly because at that time he was a combat medic.

I approach him one day and he instantly recognize me with the nickname the girl afraid of the shot. I never gave him my name, so it was natural for him to call me that. We talked for a bit and introduced ourselves respectfully. I gave him a necklace that day as a thank you for helping us.

We met a few times again and in lunch break I would ask him to join me and my sisters. A few times he refused and accepted, because he had already plans with the other demons at the time. Still there were moments where he would sit and talk with us. My sisters were very interested in him, mainly because the lack of male dark elves was none existent, so a few of them wanted to date him. Though he made himself very clear on the first time one of them asked him out. He wasn't interested in dating for now or for a decade. He said only a decade, so my sisters tried again the following ten years, he repeated himself again, however that time he joked with them, since a few of them already gotten themselves a few demons to be their bed buddies.

We continued to have conversations like that, though one day, Dust was gone.

All that he left behind was a letter saying that he would go abroad to study magic and to gather knowledge. He came back after 70 years had passed. To us 70 years can be considered 7 years, but time still passes regularly and we missed our male friend. I missed our private talks much more though. He would give me some pep talk to train harder tomorrow, or simply for me to vent my frustrations.

When he did come back, my sisters almost jumped towards him in a hug, but before them were the veteran glitters that he had made friends with. They were now old, but still remained near the military base in hopes to see their friend again. Their wait paid off as they saluted him one last time, before leaving the base for good, to join the family that they had raised themselves.

That's the thing about us elves, our lifespan is greater than humans and glitter demons, hence a lifetime can pass in an instant to us, but not for them.

As the soldiers disappeared from the base, Dust turned around to us. He had grown and he looked more mature than before. But he wasn't the only one that grew, we also did and we made sure that he would notice. He noticed my combat and leader skills, but nothing else, or if he did he made a good job not showing it.

A few weeks later, I talked with him again with my frustrations and he listened. I was fed up with how the glitters and the other demons looked at me and my sisters! Ever since my sisters didn't want to be bed buddies anymore, they continued to send signals of wanting us, me in particular since I developed the most! A bunch of pigs, every single one of them! But not you Dust, you don't notice my body at all and simply want to listen to me rambling. It conflicts my feelings sometimes... Do I want him to notice me or do I want him to be there for me? Then came the question from my sisters a while ago, asking me if I wanted Dust to be only my friend or something more.

I disregarded that question and continued talking, before I noticed the necklace on him, hanging on his military shirt. It was the necklace I gave him so long ago. He still kept and wore it. It made me happy that he still had it.

One day after several years, Ran came and put me and my sisters on his army. That was probably the day where I left the base and the last time I would see Dust in a long, long while.

Ran wasn't horrible, but he wasn't exactly mister neutral either. He made us take the lives of the innocent and had us go in this invasion of a plan to distract the humans on what's going on Hamel. The next time I saw Dust, was when that conference that he asked showed up. I went with Joaquin and we talked on how things were going. I wanted to talk with him afterwards... but I couldn't. He had already been assigned to a new mission immediately, not giving him a moments rest as he probably wanted to.

And then, a few months later, he appears again, now being assigned with me. I am happy now that he's with me. I can feel more confidant with our victory, despite us almost winning this war. He changed suddenly after a few weeks, but it's not a bad change. If anything, it made him more appealing to interact with. Maybe after this is over... I can ask master Ran to be assigned in Dust's squad, just so that I can be closer to him.

Maybe now... He can look at me, like I wanted him to."

*Next part: Dust* After this post.
 
*Dust*

"What do you call a man that has seen and felt too much? A dead man. Though we aren't going to start from there, a proper story starts from the beginning.

Now here's a child living with his family alone in the woods. Since he was 4 he was taught to not go play with anyone or even come close to them, as to make it so that the family would survive. Only his mother could go out while his father could visit only the blacksmith. Old friend goes a long way with him.

At the age of five, his father took him to visit that blacksmith. There the boy was met with an undesirable contract, a pair of chains enveloped his arms like a pair of snakes. The father and the blacksmith tried to take the weapon of the boy, for those chains were cursed with a being so horrible that would suck out the life force of anyone. But the boy told the two grown man to stay back, yelled at them even.

For the weapon actually was trembling on his arms, afraid of what would happen to it after it was caught. Was it's existence going to disappear? Would he cease to live another hellish day of clinging to survive? So the boy scooted itself into a corner and simply sat there not moving a muscle. The father and the blacksmith didn't know what to do, not did they know how the chains ended up out of the box that was sealed shut with a spell.

Five minutes, maybe ten minutes, maybe half an hour, hard to tell on how long that boy was there. But he continued sitting there, while slowly rubbing the chains with his hands in an effort to calm it down. Normally, any other person would freak out in that situation, not batting an eyelid to save themselves. But the boy was sharper than the other kids, even though he never met them before. He had a knack to calmly assess the situation and take things slowly.

Just before the sun started to set, the chains had calmed down enough to take the surrounds around it. He noticed that the boy that he clung to had not stopped rubbing him, how odd of that to it. So for the first time in what could be considered centuries for the chains, it spoke up to the boy.

The boy replied a soft hello to the huge crimson snake in his subconscious, with multiple wings around it's back and five blue glowing eyes looking at him. In this form, anyone would be scared, but not him. The boy was more curious than scared and came close to the demonic beast. Feeling it's scales and being entranced by the being.

If the stories of demons were true, they'd try to strike at you in any given chance and the beast had a clear shot to gobble up the child and make it it's vessel. However it didn't and lower it's head to the same level as the kid.

The snake was confused at the lack of fear or even not noticing the slightest bit of hesitation as the boy came at it's snout and started betting it. It confused him greatly on how could this boy not be afraid of it.

When the boy came through back in the real world, he told his father that he wanted to keep the chains. Both father and blacksmith heavily refused his decision, saying that those chains will be bounded with him till he dies and that his soul would be devoured by it. The boy shook his head and simply said that it wouldn't do that. Hearing the boy say that, the snake stood quiet as to hear the fathers response. As usual it was a no-no. Yet the boy yelled that he wouldn't come home until he was given permission to keep the chains.

4 days. For four whole days, the boy did not return home, until both his parents agreed to his condition. During those days, he only drank water and ate fruit that the forest would give. It wasn't filling and the boy at that age had lost weight. During those nights, the boy talked with the chains, as if he made a new friend with them. They only responded 2 times to the boys questions.

When the boy returned home, the chains helped the boy out when he couldn't reach certain things. Despite the parents being wary of them. Only after a year did they accept the pair and that was when the chains proposed a contract with the boy at last.

When the boy told the parents about this, they were puzzled on why they would want that now, that was when the conditions were laid. They simply wanted to spend their days with the boy, as he treated them as any other person.

With much fuss, the boy accepted and only then could they understand one another in a whole new level. They had become true friends that helped each other out. At that point, the boy knew the chains real name and trained with his father to pass the time.

Fast forward another year and a forest elf girl came along. According to the boys parents, she was the daughter of an acquaintance of his mother and was asked to adopt her, because her mother was going away very far to treat an illness, which she couldn't take her daughter with her, meaning that the treatment would probably...

For the first two weeks, the girl just ate and went inside her room, which was the guest room. Though nobody ever used it, so they had a spare place for her. At night, when the boy was heading to the bathroom, he could hear sobs coming from the room.

Three weeks later, the boy took her outside, despite her protests that she didn't want to. He knew the area pretty well and guided her to his favorite spot with the help of Samael, his chains. She whined and cried on how he was being so pushy, but as soon as they arrived, her eyes sparkled at the sight of a beautiful lake from a stream that passed through. Fairies of the forest came here ever so often to relax and take a break.

The boy told the girl that this was his favorite place from the forest and even though the spirits didn't talk back to him, for he wasn't of age for them to speak with him or simply disliked the boys attitude, he nonetheless wanted to show her. When she asked why, he responded that being all alone in that room of hers wasn't making her very happy, so he decided to take her out and that he knew how she was feeling. Her eyes welled up and started crying on the boys shoulder, the boy let the girl shed her tears that day.

The next day, she was feeling better though she still acted weirdly on her new parents, with her new brother though, she felt a little bit more at ease. For two years their bond with each other grew, though the girl had more freedom than his brother and new father. She could see the other kids with her mother.

By the time the boy reached his 10th year, that's when everything fell apart. My memory is blurry during that time, but I remember that the family, minus the elf girl, ran for many days from their pursuits. But eventually they were caught. There was no trial, it was a death sentence on the spot and flames erupted, coating the sky with smoke and marking the body with scorch marks all over.

The kid survived. Around him were two figures that had been burned down to ashes and bodies that littered the field with dried blood. Samael, his friend had killed the people that had hunted them down like dogs and protected the kid from further damage, only his hands and feet were scorched black. However that same kid was struck with a traumatic event, rendering him to lose his memories. The kid developed amnesia to cope with his whirlwind emotions.

By Samael's words, the kid moved forward, tattered and burn with his wounds covered with wraps of clothing. He wandered aimlessly through the land until a portal was opened, it was dark in nature and released an ominous feeling just being close to it. A couple of figures came out of the portal, they resembled demons, however they had human traits. The kid couldn't understand them and his strength was already drained for walking with no goal in mind for weeks. His vision was blurry and his body weak. When the demons approached him, Samael enveloped him with his chains, this surprised them as they didn't expect that a demonic weapon would protect the user.

When his exhausted body finally kicked in, the kid fainted. Samael emerged from his chains and wrapped around the kids body, preventing the demons to get any closer to it's friend. What would be a quick snag for some easy slaves turned much more interesting to a figure that had alternative plans with the boy, once he grew up a bit more. The boy looked up at the sky and saw a few figures almost laughing at him, the so called gods smirked at his misfortune, angering him yet his emotion yielded nothing but a headache. However, the other figure could think not on the sort and examined the boy from afar.

Bruised, exhausted to the point of fainting, malnourished from the traveling, wrapped in tattered clothes and makeshift bandages. Eventually, the demons grabbed the boy, though they suffered a few casualties from the rampaging chain snake.

When the kid came through, he was in a bed that he didn't own. In a room that he didn't recognize. Clothed with foreign textures and cleaned from any dirt on him. His friend was resting on his arms as usual at least. A demon that stood guard had been waiting for him to wake up, when the kid had some sort of feeling for his surroundings, the glitter soldier brought him towards two women, one sitting on a throne and one standing beside her. The one on the throne spoke in an unknown language to him, making talking almost nonexistent between the two of them.

Then she came closer to the kid and implemented a symbol on the boys chest. It was her slavery mark, half of it was hers and the other half was for her escort, though a condition was made that no acts of adultery would be made between the two demons to the child.

And so the kids life of a slave begun. To begin with, the escort made him do manual work, making his weak body work right from the start. What's worse was that he had no breaks, with a demon making sure everyone worked by whipping them.

For twenty years, he endured the pain of being put in this slave work, making him so 30 years of age in human and demon years, yet his elf heritage only meant that he was no more than 13. That's when he was admitted into the militia for ten years, forcing him to learn medical training and training him to at least survive on the land. At least he could barely understand the orders that he was given, but he had yet to learn how to write or read during that time.

Five years ahead, he was taught how to read and write by the person that enslaved him. His service during the slave work and militia owned by her had made it's way towards her, on how he was quick witted and a sound mind for the current orders, speaking only when he needed to. He was also taught on how to speak the demon language and human language more fluently, though he'd prefer the demon one for all the time he's been here.

Forty years passed and his actions carried weight, as he was beginning to be treated with some respect at least. No more beatings and no more slave work, though he jumped right back up at the militia, sending letters and what he could of his earnings to a small orphanage, helping a kind and poor glitter woman with the children. Make it his situation and the others, he had this feeling of helping others that no demon had thought. A slave helping the poor, a humble act on a cursed path.

His kind acts continued despite his predicament, leaving some demons to pity the fool for giving his earnings so easily, wasting the ingredients that he risked his own life at the corrupted forest to get only to be used on the weak when the militia needed the most. This made the group from the militia to be angered at his attitude and started to frequently bulling him without the captain noticing. Despite all of this, he kept walking forward. What else could the kid do? Fight back? That would be a death sentence. Report it in? It would fall in deaf ears.

However, it would not be ignored from prying eyes. The innocent, poor villagers that he had helped through the years have noticed this for many years and one day, they had it. They reported to the captain when he was on break and told him to look for the kid. When he saw that the kid would be almost beaten to death, he yelled out to his men for their misconduct. He had been unsure on why the kid would be roughed up so much, always giving an excuse about him falling, but now it made sense to the captain.

With a swift order, the men that were violating the rights of all that entered the militia, were sentenced to jail with no way to be released, unless they performed their dues with slave work worth of 10 years, being submitted to the same treatment as they did to the kid.

When the kid asked the captain why he would do that to the soldiers, he replied that the villagers had informed him about their activities behind his back. The kid didn't understood why the demons would risk their own security for this.

No matter how it looked like, the kid wasn't a demon, he was a dark elf so it was fine to be treated below the demons. However that wasn't the case, he was only passed on to bad hands all this time and to finally be reward for his kindness, was met with the same things. The kid had shed tears at last since he came here to this new, unfamiliar world. The sight was.. touching. On how the nice lady from the orphanage took him in, to heal his battered body and confused heart.

From that point, the kid had been granted the position of the captains right hand man of the militia. Giving his opinion when a situation was needed and when the captain was unsure on how to proceed during an unorthodox moment.

50 years passed, his actions have now saved dozens of demons and saved a few different races. One such time was when he found a slave dealers lackeys getting ready to play with some dark elves, he informed his captain that they were the guys that they were looking for. It was a mess to happen, with bodies filling the alleyway. Half of the militia group took care of the cleaning, the other half was meant to take the girls and testing them for any disease that they had. With so many books that the kid had read, he played his hand in developing medicine that could cure various diseases, though the credit would always be taken from him, for a slave had no rights during that time to own the right to create, only to be tested on.

He was summon one time the kid, because a dark elf was feeling too scared to take the shot, so he made her look at him, put her hands on his bandaged ones and asked her of her story. Once the shot was administrated, she was sent back with her sisters, now clean of any disease that she might've had. After that, the kid went right back out to the captain only to tell him that another mission came up. Turns out the military gave them a hefty number of missions, because they were busy with other stuff.

For a few years, the kid and the militia handled the work that the military didn't had time to do, which was weird. The kid always knew that the military had enough time to handle these kinds of mission, but during one mission it clicked on him as an explosion far from their position echoed. It was the castle that his master was housed, Luciela R. Sourcream had be attack while the militia was busy doing work everywhere, except being the defense of the castle.

For half a year, the kid had gone half rogue, making a small investigation with a part of the militia to investigate the case. There was indeed tampering with files and a rebellion, specially with a piece of cloth which belonged to Karis. But she wouldn't have that kind of power to do so, she was but an escort, hence the kid deemed that someone else was behind this case, however he didn't have much clues, so he dropped it for now. Karis however, was a mark forever etched on his list, but his revenge had to wait, to let the succubus drop her guard. So he had to endure it.

The kid then joined the military where he found old faces and met new ones. For a decade he had trained and gathered strength using solely his body and increasing his medical expertise, but then he stopped and knew that to further get stronger, he needed the power of magic. Luckily, through the years he has made some contacts with big shots during his time with the militia and one such person to give him that knowledge and power, would be none other than Glave, the masked man that appeared from time to time.

He left a letter and the kid was gone for 70 whole years, cultivating his knowledge and power under the guise of the masked man, however truth be told, Glave did nothing to teach, but he did asked the kid for a very 'small favor'.

Though the kid returned 70 years later, his stay with Glave made time... untraceable. For it had been more than 70 years with jumping from dimension to dimension, completing favors time and time again, a favor for a favor. That's the system that they had and it worked like a charm.

When he returned, everything changed so much that he was surprised to say the least. Everything changed. He changed. The world changed and with that laws were changed as well.

Through the following years, the kid made many changes, saved a lot of lives that he could and made more progress with the demons in the scientific department and medical department. For he had taken a few things from those different dimensions without Glave noticing, however you can't fool that man for long, hence why he might already know of what the kid did, but he still haven't made a move, which meant it was okay with it. Or so the kid wanted to believe.

The years pass, the laws changed and the military force was divided into 5 parts with a six division in the making, the kids squad. Through the years, the training and knowledge that he had successfully acquired made jumps in the demon life, poor people were still struggling, but nowadays it was much more easier with the new system in hand.

Yet, despite the undeniable service that the kid gave, his actions were only small grains of sugar, never being acknowledge on the strides of technology and medicinal improvements. At least the other slaves were being treated much better. It didn't take long for him to create an enclosure for the slaves under his squad, they had all that they needed, food, a place to stay, water, daily needs, however, some of those slaves were from nobles that disregarded them.

To those slaves, they had learned that a certain individual would accept them for who they were and they came wounded, scarred for life and such. The kid had to learn to be a more tactful person during the years with Glave, hence he was able to understand these individuals and accept them. Many cried while others adopted a less expressive nature. Only through kind actions did they release their barrier that they created and smile for the first time since who knows when.

However, one thing hasn't changed it was his compassion to man. He had learned that despite their greedy nature, man held to most interesting power that was recorded, it was their evolution. Though this could go into two paths, the righteous path and the dark path. The righteous path leads to them exceeding their limits in the most dire of situations, the dark path however, showed their true malice to the world. They could not be stopped in those ways, for they always found a way to it.

His actions set the world that he called home spinning in the right direction, however high ranking demons still held on the beliefs that they were superior in nature, something that would be corrected in the future. Slaves were still being mistreated as of today, something that would be solved soon enough. And demons that are still being hostages for their accomplishments will be rescued very briefly.

A few weeks just before a big mission came up, Karis summoned the kid. She informed him that miss's Lu's half of the slave mark would be given to Ran, his smirk was visible all the way through, however, miss' Karis has been brand as of a few years now, allowing my actions to be met with only slight resistance. The kid fails to see that she's changing, yet that side of his heart still continues to hope that she is. Even if it's false hope.

Then Berthe came along and called the kid, being his right hand man, his lieutenant to inform him of a very important mission, the capture of the El shard. With it, the lives of the farmers would become easier to grow and cultivate crops. They needed that stone, even if we must sacrifice our soldiers and lives.

Just a day before departure, the kid looked back at how much he has grown, how he crawled through the depths of hell to his position right now and how his anger towards the gods had not been quenched since that day. However one thing was made sure in his journey so far.

A proper story begins with the white prince to save the day and the princess, yet this was no fairy tale. There is no prince, nor a princess need of saving. It's the story of a boy that struggled his whole life and only now has he gotten the chance to make a difference once and for all. He does not want vengeance against the people that killed his parents, it's already past waters. He wants is equality for all now, and for that he needs to make sure that the higher ups are eliminated or taken care of. After that, he can begin his journey, even if he's accused as a criminal and exiled from his home, his track towards finishing the gods.

This is my story."
 
*??? story*

☹✋?❄☜☠ ?✌☼☜☞?☹☹✡? ☞⚐☼ ?☜ ??☜✌?✋☠☝ ✋? ❄✌?⚐⚐? ?✋☹☜☠?☜ ✋☞ ☝⚐☹?? ?☜ ✌☼☜ ☠⚐❄ ?✌?☟✋☠☜?? ?☜ ✌☼☜ ❄⚐⚐☹?? ☟✌☠? ☼✌✋?☜? ☞☼⚐? ?✋☼❄☟? ☜✠?☜☼✋?☜☠❄☜? ⚐☠ ✌☠? ?⚐?✋☞✋☜? ❄⚐ ?☜?⚐?☜ ❄☟☜ ?☜✌?⚐☠? ⚐☞ ?☼⚐❄☜?❄✋⚐☠ ⚐☼ ✌☠☠✋☟✋☹✌❄✋⚐☠? ?☼⚐❄☟☜☼? ✌☠? ?✋?❄☜☼?? ?⚐?☠? ✋☠ ✌ ☹⚐?✌❄✋⚐☠ ❄⚐ ❄☼✌✋☠ ?✋☠?☜ ?☟✋☹?☟⚐⚐?? ☠☜✞☜☼ ☝✌✋☠✋☠☝ ?☹✌?☜ ❄⚐ ☼☜?❄ ☠⚐☼ ✌ ?☟✌☠?☜ ❄⚐ ☜✠?☹⚐☼☜ ❄☟☜ ?⚐☼☹? ✌❄ ❄☟☜✋☼ ☹☜✋??☼☜?

✋ ?✌? ✌?⚐☠☝ ❄☟☜?? ❄☼✌✋☠✋☠☝ ?✋❄☟ ?✡ ?☼⚐❄☟☜☼? ✌☠? ?✋?❄☜☼? ✋☠ ❄☟☜ ✌☼❄ ⚐☞ ☞✋☝☟❄✋☠☝ ✌☠? ✌??✌??✋☠✌❄✋⚐☠? ☟⚐?☜✞☜☼ ?☜ ?☜☼☜ ☠⚐❄ ✌??✌??✋☠?? ?☜ ?☜☼☜ ?✌☼☼✋⚐☼? ❄☟✌❄ ☜✠?☜☹☹☜? ✌❄ ☜✞☜☼✡❄☟✋☠☝ ?☼⚐?⚐?☜? ❄⚐ ??? ☠⚐ ?✋??✋⚐☠ ☹☜☞❄ ?☠?⚐☠☜? ☠⚐ ?⚐☠❄☼✌?❄ ☞✌✋☹☜?? ☠⚐ ☝⚐✌☹ ☹☜☞❄ ?☠☞✋☠✋?☟☜??

⚐?☼ ?✌?❄ ✋? ?☜✌☠✋☠☝☹☜??? ⚐?☼ ☞?❄?☼☜ ☜✞☜☠ ☹☜??? ?☜ ✌✋? ☞⚐☼ ❄⚐?✌✡? ❄☟☜ ?☼☜?☜☠❄ ?✋❄☟ ⚐?☜☠ ✌☼??? ☞⚐☼ ?☜ ☟✌✞☜ ?☜☜☠ ❄✌?☝☟❄ ❄☟✌❄ ?✌✡?

?☜ ☹☜✌☼☠☜? ☞☼⚐? ?✌?❄☜☼? ⚐☞ ✞✌☼✋⚐?? ☼☜☝✋⚐☠?? ??☹❄✋✞✌❄☜? ⚐?☼ ?✋☠?? ✌☠? ?⚐?✋☜? ❄⚐ ❄☟☜ ?⚐✋☠❄ ⚐☞ ❄☼✌☠✈?✋☹✋❄✡ ✌☠? ?✌☹✌☠?☜? ⚐?☼ ?⚐☠??✋⚐?? ?⚐?☹?

?☜ ☟✌✞☜ ☞⚐?☝☟❄ ☜✌?☟ ⚐❄☟☜☼ ??✋☠☝ ⚐?☼ ?✋☞☞☜☼☜☠❄ ✌?✋☹✋❄✋☜?? ⚐?☼ ?✋☞☞☜☼☜☠❄ ?❄✡☹☜? ✌☠? ⚐?☼ ?✋☞☞☜☼☜☠❄ ✌??☼⚐✌?☟☜?? ☠⚐❄ ⚐☠?☜ ☟✌✞☜ ?☜ ?✋☹☹☜? ⚐☠☜ ✌☠⚐❄☟☜☼ ✌☠? ☠⚐❄ ⚐☠?☜ ☟✌✞☜ ?☜ ?✋?⚐?☜✡☜? ⚐?☼ ⚐☼?☜☼??

?☜ ?☜☼☜ ?✌☠✡ ✋☠ ❄☟☜ ?✌?❄? ?☠❄✋☹ ?☜ ☞☜☹☹ ✋☠❄⚐ ✌ ?☜☜?? ?☜☜? ?☹☜☜?? ❄☟☜ ?⚐☼☹? ?✋? ☠⚐❄ ☠☜☜? ?? ?✌?? ❄☟☜☠? ??❄ ✌ ?☹✋☝☟❄ ?✋?☟✌? ?☠✌??☜? ?✡ ?☹???☜☼ ✋☠❄⚐ ☼☜✌☹✋❄✡?

?⚐ ???☟ ❄✋?☜ ☟✌? ?✌??☜?? ?⚐ ?✌☠✡ ⚐☞ ?✡ ?☼⚐❄☟☜☼? ✌☠? ?✋?❄☜☼? ☜✋❄☟☜☼ ?✌??☜? ✌?✌✡ ☞☼⚐? ?☼⚐☹⚐☝?☜ ?❄✌?✋? ⚐☼ ❄☼☜✌??☼☜ ☟?☠❄☜☼?? ?❄✋☹☹? ✋ ✌? ✌☹✋✞☜? ⚐?☼ ???☜☼✋⚐☼? ☟✌✞☜ ☹⚐☠☝ ?✋☠?☜ ?☜☜☠ ☜✠❄✋☠?❄? ❄☟☜ ?❄☟??✌☼✋✌☠? ✌☼☜ ☠⚐ ?⚐☼☜?

✋ ☜✠✋?❄ ❄⚐ ☟☜☹? ❄☟☜ ?☜✌? ✌☠? ?☜☼✞☜ ⚐☠☹✡ ?☟☜☠ ✋ ☟✌✞☜ ☞⚐?☠? ✌ ☠☜? ?✌?❄☜☼?

?✡ ?☹✌?☜ ✋? ☼☜✌?✡ ☞⚐☼ ✌☠✡ ?✌❄❄☹☜? ?✡ ?⚐?✡ ❄☼✌☠✈?✋☹ ☞⚐☼ ✌☠✡ ?✋??✋⚐☠? ?✡ ?☜✌?⚐☠☼✡ ☞✋☹☹☜? ?✋❄☟ ✌???☠✋❄✋⚐☠?

?☜ ?☜☼☜ ?❄☟?? ✌☠? ✋ ✌? ❄☟☜ ⚐☠☹✡ ✌?❄✋✞☜ ?☜??☜☼ ✌? ⚐☞ ❄⚐?✌✡?

*With this, every characters past in the story has been revealed. Happy late birthday, RP.
 
And now back to our regularly scheduled rp lol

Xiopetec​

Xiopetec stared into Dust's eyes for a moment, biting her cheek as she thought for a moment. "Well, there's no perfect choice. No matter what you choose, you'll lose some respect," She started, "But I wouldn't even attempt to try to make the deal with the humans."

The goddess's expression sombered a bit. "This side has done many terrible things to them, and they hold grudges. That camp will not listen, and they won't meet without most likely planning some ambush or whatever happens in war."

She raised her arms in the air. "I'm not a war goddess." A sigh. "Death...I know and it's inevitable. The first idea will minimize the death toll or it'll add to it, we'll never know. You can try your damnest to prepare for everything but...at the end of the day, it was never up to you and your careful preparation. Lives will be lost, and blaming yourself or trying to figure out where it went wrong and obsessing over where you could have gone right would drive you mad. Just trying to carefully plan everything is maddening."

She folded her arms across her chest and she leaned against the railing. "You can give them a final chance, Dust, but I wouldn't hope for anything out of it." The goddess yawned. "Besides, these are thoughts for a rested mind. It's not like this decision is going anywhere before it's too late. Tomorrow we'll be in a better mentality-and that's a hope- to consider the important things."

Xiopetec straightened her posture and changed the subject. "This body isn't truly mine, so I don't care much about whether it should stay human or become part demon. So, if Phantom wants to become part demon so will I. If he wants to stay human, I will too. I won't have him go through it alone," she stayed looking up at the sky, "And Phantom will just have to deal with the consequences of his choices. I'm not going to shield him or coddle him when the reality of being the 'bad guy' hits him. I've been the villain before, I might as well accept that role that's forced on me with flying colors...and I'll guide him if he strays." She looked down at Dust again. "I'm heading back to bed."

Xiopetec kicked herself off of the railing and pat his shoulder. "Take care."

Then the goddess sauntered back to the tent, and tip-toed back into her bed.

Fume Fume
 
Darhan
​
Waking up to complete darkness was like being plunged into the waters of a river in winter. He gasped as if he had been choking and began to reach out into the unknown around him. He was lying on something soft, but his arms were getting tangled in invisible ropes. Darhan had no idea where he was nor how he had gotten there, and that alone was enough to scare him. He had to flee from something, but he didn't know what. He had to fight someone, but he didn't remember who. Arms wrapped around his elbows, muffled sounds began to spark around him, and that gave him more reasons to fight off whoever was trying to pin him down to where he laid.

The first thing he heard clearly was a beeping sound, growing louder, louder, faster. His heart. The first thing that hurt was a sting on his neck. The beeping sound faded into a high-pitched and long screech that hammered pain into his skull until he was forced to lay back into the soft surface he had tried to escape. He was exhausted, but that screech would not let him rest.

"...ake?"

A woman spoke. The screech was getting softer, fading out into regular beeps, slower, quieter. He took a deep breath and could almost feel the air he exhaled pass over a bandage. He was covered in bandages. Or maybe his face was. Darhan still couldn't think of a good reason why.

"Can you hear me?" the woman asked.

"Yeah." he replied. His voice was a rough whisper, his mouth felt completely dry. He felt that underneath the cloth that covered his arms, something was damping them.

"Good. You better not cause a ruckus twice, you'll open those wounds even more." The woman sighed. "I'll have to change your bandages again. Elena! Leon! Come and help me."

The floor creaked to his right, and he turned towards the sound. A wooden door opened and the sound of two paces got closer to him. Both were reluctant, perhaps nervous. Each step seemed either too rushed, filled with anger, or they were trying to be silent, careful.

"Mother, this isn't right. We should not be helping an outsider, nor keep him in the village. What if Elder Edith finds out?" the voice of a younger woman said. The nervous steps had stopped. They were hers.

"I agree with Elena, mother. Why did you stop me from killing him when you brought him to our home? He's a danger for all of us!" This time, it was the voice of a teen that had spoken. His harsh tone matched with the rushed steps that had also come to a halt now.

"I've never agreed with the policies put forth by Edith. I think I've taught you to know better than to ignore your history, unlike what that self-proclaimed Elder wants us to do. You should know by now that this whole village has more outsiders' blood than this man."

"Village?" Darhan asked in the same silent voice as before. His throat stung and his question was followed by a fit of coughing. "What village?" his breath cut short his words and he laid back, trying to relax, although he felt the cloth be peeled off from his arms. If they had taken his skin off, it would have not felt any different, but even he was too tired to scream or react anymore. The pain was getting further away from his conscience, but not the words of surprise of the teen.

"What the fuck?! What is this blue thing on his wound? Gangrene? Sir, I'm sorry, but we'll have to amputate your arm. I'll be right ba-"

"You won't amputate anything, Leon. That man's arm is not suffering from any gangrene. Replace the bandages. That's all I need you to do."

The younger woman spoke again. "Mother...I'm not one to agree with cruel solutions, but I think we should abandon this man. Elder Edith will notice that his wounds are not normal."

"What village?" he asked again, trying to find an answer to the many unknowns in his mind. If he could get someone to answer him that, then he would be more at ease to ask the other questions that ran through his head.

The sound of a cane hitting the wooden floor frayed the way for a solemn silence to invade the room. The only thing he could feel were the pores of his skin being exposed to a cooler air, then covered again by dry bandages. His eyes were not uncovered and after some time, he didn't know how much, Leon and Elena had left. He hoped that their mother was still in front of him, or at least, around him. He hadn't heard her walk, and he hoped he hadn't mistaken the sound of three paces by two.

"...Is someone still there?"

"I haven't left yet, but I will soon. You really don't know where you are, do you?"

Darhan told her that he didn't, and the woman explained calmly what he sought to know. He was a village called Varnimyr, which had closed its doors to foreigners after the First demon war. He had never heard of Varnimyr, nor of a village that had survived the massacre led by the demons in Elrios. He decided to ask her where in the continent Varnimyr was.

"Elrios? That's a name I haven't heard in a while. You're not in Elrios, unfortunately. Varnimyr is in the demon realm."

"Demon realm? How did I even land here?"

The woman sighed. "I was about to ask you that. For someone that has opened a breach out of the Void, you must not be someone weak. As to why you landed here out of all places, well, it's probably because of those ruins around in the woods. But that's just my guess."

"I opened a breach out of the Void?"

The woman remained silent for a while and her confident steps began to go away from where he was. "That's how it looked to me. The only people I've seen open the old portal in those ruins go in, but never get out. You're the first one. I should let you rest, maybe your memory will come after a good night's rest."

The door closed and locked with a key. His head didn't hurt anymore and if it wasn't for his heavy eyelids, he would've left that place. He knew that he had bandages over his eyes, but he didn't feel any wounds on his face, nor anywhere else in his head. The teen, Leon, had said that there was something blue on his arm. There was his answer. The young girl, Elena had also said that his wounds had mana embedded in them. He had one chance to find out without being too indiscrete. He touched his head until he found a small metallic clip that tied his bandages to his head.

A simple push was all he needed for most of the bandages to fall to his lap. The room was dark, it was indeed nighttime, but his sight allowed him to see clearly enough to the kind of room he was in. The walls seemed made of bricks or concrete, while the floor was in cedar. He looked down to the bandages that had fallen to his lap and noticed that there weren't any traces of blood over them. He was unharmed. He looked at the flexible cables that seemed to inject something into the veins of his arm. He looked up and saw a purple sphere hang to his upper right. It was probably a medicinal mix of mana and blood. In his days as apothecary, he had seen some, but they were far too expensive to develop, and perhaps not as effective as the one he was being given. Cables on the palm of his left hand lead to a machine, the one that was beeping nonstop.

The data on the machine's screen was too bright for him to look at them directly, but it gave him enough light to notice that there was a mirror in front of him, slightly to his right. He looked into it and couldn't believe that his reflection had changed in that way. He passed his right hand over his cheek, and the cold traits over it made him tremble. Those weren't scars, not when so much mana was overflowing from them. There were no wings on his back, nor the green eyes he had grown used to. His gaze was golden again, but those marks that would've looked like tears if they didn't go up to his forehead. The upper part was oblique and the lines almost met to form a diamond, but they simply stopped there.

The door opened again, but he was still mesmerized by his reflection. He still couldn't remember why he had been in the Void. He had been serving Ishmael, he had learned the cruel fate of Lost Souls through the fate that Lara went through while he was powerless. He had decided on a new objective, he had helped the demons, he had gotten Xavier back, he knew the demons. He knew Karis. Yet, he had been in the Void. Darhan had no idea how much time had passed since then, and, like all bad habits, his hands reached for his back, looking for old scars that he knew wouldn't be there.

A glass broke and he felt a small bump on his back. The mark of a bite. Not a demon's, but a hound's.

"W-what are you?!" a young voice asked, her voice was being choked by fear, yet it was also powered by it.

"huh?" He turned around to see a purple-haired elf girl, still in her teens, look at him, horrified. Her purple eyes reminded him of someone, but he couldn't quite pinpoint the resemblance.

"Those marks on your face, on your body...you're a danger. You can't stay here. Go away from us." she mumbled, still shocked.

"Elena! What's wrong?!"

A shadow climbed the stairs that led to the door and a short-haired elf, whose purple hair was lighter than Elena's, got next to her and the glass of water she had dropped on the floor. He turned towards Darhan with a glare that reminded him of an old regret. "What did you say to my sister?! What did you do to her?!"

"I'm sorry." he simply said before putting back his bandages, like he would do with another soldier's head during the first demon invasion.

"Don't give me that crap! I swear that I'm not training to be a scout for nothing. I'll show you-!"

He caught a glimpse of Elena putting a hand over his brother's shoulder and her quiet voice continued. "He did nothing, Leon. I'm just...sensible to magic. Tomorrow he'll be gone from here, won't he?"

Her voice was harsher, and he nodded before lying back again. The shards of glass were slowly picked up from the floor and the door closed again. Darhan reached again for the bite marks he had felt before. It was a line. A mark, engraved forever in his flesh. It was a reminder of something he still didn't understand. He fell asleep, still asking to himself unanswerable questions.

In his dream however, he was in front of a blue crystal, similar to Lara, it was maybe her. The closer he got to it, the more he could hear her, but it seemed always further away.

"Cross half the distance, and you'll have only half left, Darhan. Only half."

No matter how he ran, there was still half the distance to get near the crystal. Lara's voice repeated the same sentence over and over. Only half. Always the half of the distance. He realized this and he simply stopped walking. It was a dream, but he was sure that he wasn't dreaming alone. That crystal was something alien to himself.

"So you noticed. Good job." the crystal said with Lara's voice. "You almost got us killed, back there, you know? You should thank us for keeping you alive."

"You're from the Void, aren't you?"

"We are not Void born, we are El energy that got trapped in the Void. Energy that you liberated, but in the end we had to do the work for you. The demon realm is not exactly where we planned to be, but it will have to do for now. You'll take us back to Elrios, we're sure of it."

"You left those marks on me, didn't you?"

"It was part of the contract."

"What contract?"

The crystal remained silent. "If we force back your memories, your mind will break. For now, this is all we can show you."

Two ribbons of energy shattered the crystal and pierced his skull, showing flashes of memories. Ishmael's voice, the training, Ain's face, the Void. Hounds that bit him, darkness, pitch-black darkness. His head hurt to the point he thought it would explode under the pressure and he knelt down, holding his head in his hands. He wasn't sure if he was screaming, but the high-pitched and long beep came back, swallowing all other sounds around him. The stinging pain of the bites over his back got increasingly unbearable. Then, it was replaced by a comforting warmth. Wings. Four of them were covering him. It was his new shield.

"An archangel, huh?"

The words of the El energy echoed and the crystal shattered, leaving nothing left around Darhan. The Archangel fell to the invisible ground, completely exhausted and the wings that protected him eroded slowly away, until there were nothing but the same blue marks left.

****
Sophia
​
A week before Lento came to liberate her, Sophia was still finding more and more memories hidden deep within the sand. She wanted to know everything about the one she had taken the body of, how she spoke, how others saw her. Those were the thoughts that never left her mind after her last conversation with Lento. She thought, at the beginning, that she was doing it only to study her new surroundings, like she did in the Void. However, the more she looked into the past, the more emotional she got. Sophia thought that perhaps a part of the old Lara lived in her, and she couldn't suppress that part of her own mind.

Lento and Dust were the ones that knew Lara Tureen more than the rest, but they didn't talk often about her. The two men were focused on training, although they was a drift that separated both of them. Unlike Phantom, Lento kept most of his thoughts to himself or to Yullr. There was a spark of resentment in his gaze when Dust had his back turned, but it was somehow the same competitive spark that kept them close. Both of them were passionate about something, for Dust, it was his final goal, and for Lento, it was getting a way to overcome his lack of power. They both grew to respect each other exactly because of that, and Dust's way to motivate both of his apprentices changed a bit Lento's approach. In a good way, mostly. She still couldn't believe that the seemingly distant warrior would scold Phantom while hitting him so roughly during what was supposed to be training.

It brought a smirk to her face to see the three of them slowly open up to one another, but behind all that confidence, Dust held a lot of insecurities. He was not the only one, as Yullr also passed most time on his own, reflecting on something that the desert couldn't trace. He was more discreet about it than Dust, but he watched Lento get stronger with an increasingly depressive look. Even in the book he never left alone, Yullr had written what she thought to be a final wish. A letter of sorts directed to Lento. She merely caught a glimpse of it, but Yullr seemed to pass more time thinking on what he would write than getting words on the paper. He was hesitant, but everything he did write down seemed to be as inevitable as fate itself. From what she did see was the word 'Philosophia', and it was given a definition that resonated with her current emotional search.

Not so far away from where she had seen Yullr write down 'Philosophia', Sophia found the only place where Lara still remained. She was a bit taller than her, but other than that, they looked the same. Her calm confidence was something that was built over many scars, she had seen the same attitude in Dust. Lara was also passionate, but it was a passion born out of despair and the final effort she would make to try to be at peace with herself. She had no one to talk with for a long time, and it was during those times that she talked to herself, questioning if she could really pursue her goal, if everything could return to what she once knew. But more than that, she asked herself if she still could be at peace with herself if she returned to ashes without achieving anything. It was through her monologues that she understood why Lento was distant with Dust. Sophia had seen it, the whole village get swallowed in an explosion, the refugees crying, Lento shedding the only tears in all the desert's memories. He cared for Lara enough to stop her from killing herself by crossing the portal to certain destruction back then, even if he knew that she was the one that had killed him. Ultimately, Lara had opened Lento's eyes to a new power and had guided him. Was that the reason why he felt a strong bond with her?

Humans intrigued her. But most of all, that bond had revealed a weakness in Lara's judgement. For when she indulged in leaving the past behind her, she felt guilty. Lara was a woman in love with nostalgia, it was something that, eventually, would slip away from her hands. Sophia wondered if, in death, she had found peace, or if her fears had become true. She had cried, agonized, but she left no words of that to the desert. Maybe the answer laid in Lento's mind.

All those people from the outside had so many goals, so many things to live for more than maintaining than her own existence that Sophia began to feel empty. She was lacking a goal for all her life. If she was to stay in that desert from the rest of her life, looking at so many memories, with no threats and nothing to hunt, she would go insane if she lacked a goal.

Philosophia, the love of wisdom. That didn't seem like a bad goal to have when this desert held the crossroads of five lives. If she ever finished to watch them, understand them, maybe she would be fine with writing over the sand the stories of everyone she had seen. If that happened, she would become Sophia; she would hold Wisdom. Sophia would be the wisdom of the desert's memories.
 
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Ruby and Salvator
​
“There she is,” Ruby said, peeking out from a corner.

She has her eyes set on the carriage that she and Elriot were on before, noticing that the feathery beasts were in their pens. It looks like they were sleeping and she would feel bad to wake them up but then she noticed another beast.

“El Diabloooooooo!” Salvator suddenly yelled as he sloppily made his way to the other animal, obviously happy.

“Quiet! Not so loud!” Ruby whispered harshly, quickly following after him with Blue behind her. “Is...is he yours?”

“A beauty, ain’t he? I plucked this bad boy from one of the demons I assassinated and he loooves me for doing so,” Salvator said with happiness.

The two approached the horse, the steed seem to noticed them quickly and perked up its head. Salvator happily put his hand on the snout, in which the horse let out a deep sigh against his hand.

“This...is a phantom steed?” Ruby asked as she noticed its bright blue eyes and black fur.

“Yes ma’m! He is the finest there issss,” Salvator slurred, stroking the steed’s snout with care. “He can pull this junk of wooden box, no problem! We just need to get his armor and harness on him.”

Salvator snapped his fingers over to the equipment he mentioned of as he starts to open up the gate for his horse. Ruby quickly helped the man to get the equipment on the horse, already feeling heat radiating out of the beast. Blue simply stand by and looks up at the horse with curiosity as the steed stared down at the wolf, leaning over to sniff between her ears.

Eventually the horse was set and Ruby had to equip the horse in front of the cart as Salvator was starting to lose his balance. Ruby noticed that there was still a few items on the cart but she was in a hurry to leave. Ruby picked up their bags and tossed them onboard before sitting up at the front. She helped Salvator to get on from the other side and Blue decided to hop at the back now that there is more room.

“Where we goin, sista?” Salvator asked, shifting around in his seat as if he was trying to find the best, comfortable spot.

“Step one, outside of this city,” Ruby answered as she snapped the reins. The horse huffed once again and start pulling the cart outside of the shed they were in and towards the gate.

“Ooh we get to see my buddy, Morty!” Salvator said as he sat up straight. They reached to the gate and it seems the demon dog was up and gave them a strange stare.

“Salvator, evening or er...morning. What you’re up to now?” Morty asked with confusion in his voice and perked up when he saw Ruby. “Nice to see you again, miss. Dare I say, your beauty is uplifting around these parts!” Morty said with a grin.

“Thanks,” Ruby said with a smile.

“We gonna go oout. Ruby here is gonna be my...partnerrrr,” Salvator explained. “Cause I got a new mission and uuuh... yeah.”

“Partner? I thought you work alone, Sal,” Morty said with his nose twitching. “You okay? Usually when you talk funny, means you’re drunk...”

“He is fine. It is true, I’m going to be his partner. Why else you would think Elriot would bring in an outsider?” Ruby explained.

Morty squinted as he scratches the back of his head. “I...guess that makes sense. Safe travels then...” Morty said and snapped his fingers to have the gate open up.

Ruby let out a small sigh in relief and suddenly she heard a yell behind them. The two looked behind to see Elriot running out of the house, anger was obvious on her face and even a red blush. Ruby bit her tongue as Salvator let out a long dramatic gasp and quickly turned to the red hair girl.

“YOU DID NOT,” Salvator said, surprised and shocked.

“You idiot! Don’t let them leave!” Elriot yelled behind them, Morty’s large ears perked up as he noticed his mistake.

“Too late!” Ruby yelled and snapped the reins, causing Diablo to let out a neigh and start running forward.

“Ahahahah! Suck a dick, dumb shits!” Salvator yelled as Morty tried to get the gate closing but they were out already.

“Son of a...” Morty growled in alarm, watching them leave as he had a dumb look on his face.

“If only you weren’t so lovestruck..!” Elriot yelled at the gate guard, causing Morty to stare at her from the other side of the closed gate.

“Um...same goes to you, mistress,” Morty huffed and yelped when Elriot threw her megaphone at him.

“Call the rest of your damn family! We need that man back!” Elriot hissed angrily.

Morty huffed loudly at her but did what he was told. The demon dog rushed back to his post and grabbed an ink bottle.

“I hope you remember that they don’t do these things for free,” Morty mumbled as he got back out and briefly draw symbols on the ground with the black ink.
 
Eve
​
She had never seen such strange data from any Nasod. Her analytic programs couldn't identify it, but it was corrupting rapidly Alec's core files. Even many of his vital subroutines were affected by this alien energy. The only error message she could decode from the encrypted mess that Alec's core contained was 'Until death tears me apart'.

Days passed, and the more she searched for the root of the problem, the more it became clear to her that Alec's life was in grave danger. It was not a simple virus, nor it was something like Alterasia. It had the worst of both worlds. The "Suicide Prayer" virus, as she had called it, was caused by an abnormal mix of El energy and mana. This was, under normal circumstances, what allowed Nasods to function, but the Suicide Prayer didn't have its name just to be ominous. It took that same energy and inverted its flow in vital chips and circuits, which altered their way of functioning. It didn't quite fry them, as she would've expected, it would stay on the circuit, like a parasite, and suck on the normal flow of mana and El, feeding on it, before letting out a inverted pulse, a command to feed it more at the expense of the destruction of the rest of the functions. It didn't only feed on a host, it made the host want his death one circuit at a time.

She didn't want the last guardian to end his life by the will of a parasite, but she had no tools to remove the virus in Velder. Adam and the laboratory were in Altera. Each day that passed by, Alec was less responsive, repeating sometimes the hexadecimal equivalent of "Until death tears me apart", passing his days immobile most of the time. She had to make it before the virus took completely over his AI.

Eve liked being around Rena and Raven, they had taught her more about emotions and had shown her the world beyond what she ever imagined. There was also a war at their door, but with the arrival of a mysterious mage that called herself Sophia had calmed her fears of being needed in battle. Her companions would understand, they had also seen Alec grow quieter by the day.

It was decided.

"Rena, Raven. I must return to Altera to cure Alec. It's the only way to save him, as a queen I can't abandon my people if I know how to ease their suffering."

The elf and the mercenary reluctantly accepted, warning her about the dangerous journey she would need to get through. Eve knew already all of that, but she would run the risk. Despite the high ED cost, Eve used Cobo transport services to get to the floating island faster. Once there, she guided Alec through the Ponggo village into the laboratory from where she had been freed from and put the last Guardian in a healing incubator.

For the first time in all the weeks she had known him, Alec smiled and thanked her.

It was a good sign of progress towards his full recovery.

****
Sophia​

Not even a week had passed before some soldiers were giving her long stares. Some of them whispered behind her back, and, in her search of wisdom about humans, she paid closed attention to what humans could blabber about. Yullr had already a very negative view of her, calling her the woman that would cloud Lento's judgement and, because of that, she also was the doom of mankind's survival. However, she couldn't see any traces of that. Lento was focused on his work as the first commander in Elesis Sieghart's place.

The whispers from the soldiers were always covered by a veil of noice that made them unintelligible for her, and one day, when the soldiers were eating their last meal before resting, dinner as they called it, a blonde soldier approached her. He sat next to her while she was drinking a mana potion to quench her hunger. After she and Lento saved the camp, she had grown very hungry. Those mana pots were barely enough.

"Good evening, Sophia." the man said, although his voice seemed deformed by some substance. His breath had a peculiar smell. "That's what you call yourself now, huh?"

"That's the name I've given myself, yes."

Telling the truth wouldn't hurt. Perhaps Lento or Yullr had spoken about her while she explored the blood-soaked fields where holes filled with ashes. From what Lento had told her, it was the result of a battle.

"hahaha! The Silver Fang wants to be anonymous now, doesn't she? I don't blame you for it, your true name holds bad memories from the people of Velder. Remember Count Corkus? That was my father you killed there."

His voice had turned sour, like his smirk and his gaze was ignited with a will to fight.

"I have no idea what you might be talking about. I just got here." she said as she took another gulp from her mana potion. She was getting a little annoyed by the useless aggressiveness that the soldier had, but she thought that the human would be smart enough to notice that he would get killed if he tried anything against her. Instincts were infallible in all beasts, it had to be the same for humans. One thing was for sure, the soldier was mistaking her for Lara, and Sophia hated it.

"You don't remember? How convenient. You don't remember slicing the head off my father out of revenge of that red-head's older brother and father? Elven trash sure have a short memory, don't they?" he continued, pushing her arm, making the flask of mana drop into the floor and its contents evaporated shortly after hitting the ground. Sophia stared at it, feeling hunger and anger grow inside her. She threw a scornful glare at the man who was enjoying her reaction. He was ignoring his instincts, she knew it. It was a useless existence, doomed to be swallowed by the bigger fish sooner or later. She was the bigger fish.

The soldier continued to taunt her, congratulating himself for having stopped a witch from getting her potion. A witch. What exactly was a witch? The man continued to call her that and pushed her more. She barely moved and a group of soldiers got out from a tent nearby and called the blonde soldier out.

"What are you doing?" one of them asked. "You need to rest, man. You drank too much."

"I will go rest when I've hit this bitch enough to make her pay for a fraction of the blood she shed here."

The same soldier that had told the blonde that he drank too much ran towards him to stop him, telling him that he shouldn't hit a lady, even under the influence, but his legs were not fast enough. The blonde had thrown the first punch and it hit her cheek. She barely felt anything. The soldier threw another one, another hit, when the his companion tried to push him away. The blonde was stronger and he hit her another couple of times, until his knuckles bled. He looked at his fists, panting, but she was still standing, with only a small red mark on her cheeks.

"Tired already? You humans ignore your instincts way too much. Even the dumbest creature in the Darkness would have hit me once and ran away. Your very existence is a miracle. Until you decided to taunt a predator."

Lento had told her not to kill, but when a human was this mentally deficient, death would be a gift for generations of humans to come. The soldier looked too young to have already spread his defective genes among the human race. In the blink of an eye, she grabbed the soldier by the neck, choking him. Now his instincts were kicking in, there was fear in his eyes, he was trying to set himself free, but her grip wouldn't let go. He bit her, scratched her, but her hand wouldn't let go.

"See? You wouldn't last a day in the world I know. Who cares if your progenitor died to the hands of Lara Tureen? That just proves the only truth of this world: The weak die and the stronger survive. Your predecessors lost their lives for a reason. It's the same reason you're about to lose yours."

The soldiers had tried to stop her, drawing her weapons and stabbing her, but her wounds healed. She turned towards them. "Why are you trying to stop me? This human is a defect in your race. I'm doing all of you a favour!"

All that scene had gotten Yullr's attention, whose glare brought a feeling of uneasiness to her.

"Release that man. Now." he ordered.

She didn't doubt a single instant and did what the commander had told her. The blonde gasped for air and coughed while his companions took him away, glaring at her. Yullr shook her head and, in less than an hour, the hero that had helped saved the camp was tied with chains in a small room with bars. She could've easily broken free if Yullr hadn't put special magical enchantments to her handcuffs and on the bars that closed her new, small and damp habitat.

"Yullr, why did you take me here? Why do you put on me these restraints?"

The elf didn't turn around looked up before answering her. "For the same reason wild animals don't roam free around humans."

Sophia could not imagine such a thing, but before she could ask more, a heavy metal door closed in front of her and she was surrounded by complete darkness again.
 
Xavier and Eosfóros
​
A month has passed. Both human kind and the demon army continues to struggle against each other and hope was looking slim as the days go by. It was certain that the human will simply run out of options to defend their homeland against the savages. Yet there were a few who tried to not let that hope slip out of their fingers.

Eosfóros has been working hard on his own part and unfortunately for him, he was losing himself slowly. He gotten clumsy, angry, impatient, and cold. The ongoing madness in his head was spreading and the slow progress in the war was forcing him to work twice as much as before. Whenever help was offered, he tried his best to turn them down. At the very least, he accomplished a few things as a handicap.

The demon soldier they captured from the enemy side for one. Eosfóros interrogated the soldier and was rather not merciful for every time the demon would deny or ignore. Eventually the soldier broke and told everything to Eosfóros that he needs to know. That alone earned the demon some peace and quiet as Eosfóros believes he got everything he needed. He gave the reports to the commanders without saying much of a word and went off on his own to be alone with his own thoughts.
At the same time, Eosfóros has been practicing around with his left arm. It was frustrating and requires a lot of patience out of the man, though fortunately Xavier was there to help him. They would spar together very often, Xavier going gentle with the man so he can take his time to figure out the best way of defend and attack. Even Ciel helped Eosfóros to get a better feel of balance and proposed an idea to help the man with his off balance. Eosfóros was given armor to add into weight of his missing arm, allowing the man to be less clumsy and having a better footing around him.

This kindness was rather helpful but the happy emotion doesn’t last so long with Eosfóros. As long the war rages on and the progress continues to drag, Eosfóros will simply get worse.

His appearance were changing as well. A handful of soldiers mistaken him as a new recruit, not aware of the changes that was going on with the man. Eosfóros hair slowly gone black, his eyes became a dull red, his voice gotten slightly deeper and there was always an uncomfortable itch at the tail bone. His horns were slowly coming out yet Eosfóros always wear a hat to hide them off. He doesn’t want anyone to see.

A third thing, Eosfóros was able to provide supplies to his demon allies. He managed to trick the blacksmith and a few mercenaries for weapons and supplies, pulling stings here and there. He was able to save the allies and even hand over the demon prisoner back at camp. They have no use for the soldier but Eosfóros rather spare it than kill it off like what a few humans wanted to do...

It took some adjusting for the mentally abused demon but the others were able to take the advantage of this by making a different demon out of him; giving a new name, a false family, and his purpose. Eosfóros had to help to make their words seem believable and thus, it was a new recruit for their group. Eosfóros had plans of using this army to help the humans but yet, he wasn’t sure when is the good time for them to be back in action. So far, Eosfóros already asked the blacksmith for helmets, masks, and a different uniform for the demons. If they were going to help in the future, they should at least put up a disguise and leave everything else behind them for now.

Often times, the demon soldiers would express their concerns about Eosfóros as a few felt something strangely familiar with him. It can be bothersome but the man told them that it was nothing to worry about.

As for Xavier, his training never ceased. It wasn’t so exhausting for him but often times he would like to sit and relax for a few. Eosfóros did his best to teach Xavier about defending himself as the angels would teach him further more about his usage of the staff.

When he does find himself with nothing to do, it was time for Pryor to come out and train the dragon. At this point, the large beast has become talkative. Mumbling here and there, roaring numerous of times, and even purring whenever Eosfóros took the time to groom him around his neck. Xavier figures that it was time to teach Pryor how to talk and his dragons helped him along. It was difficult but Pryor did got basic words down. Names were hard for him to figure out so Pryor simply settled on giving strange nicknames to everyone he met.
As usual, ice cubes seem to be a famous nickname for Xavier so he didn’t mind so much when Pryor calls him by that. There was also “mima”, in which Xavier does his best to ignore that name. But he believes that Pryor knows that Xavier didn’t like that name. Reason why it was never dropped.

Besides that, Xavier have been practicing in missions every once and awhile. His training takes most of his time and it makes him almost unavailable to those who need the help. Ever since Eosfóros managed to get the demon to speak, they have been forming a plan to push through the demon army with the help of Ivy and Octavia. Selected soldiers have been running drills with both dragons so no mistakes would occur when this mission goes live. Xavier hopes that nothing bad would happen with the two of them.

Another thing, there has been more frequent earthquakes and strange weather. It has been affected the war greatly and it wasn’t only man vs demons. They were up against mother nature herself. Of course, Ivy has been very helpful for predicting these events. Yet, she continues to fear for the worse as if it would at anytime.
As if now, Xavier was looking around for Eosfóros. It was mostly to see how he was doing since he is fully aware of the changes that the man was going. He couldn’t consider him as an angel up to this point. Komodo was right beside him as they walked through the tents, looking for Eosfóros’ specifically.

The time they found it, Xavier stepped in and took a quick look around. There was Eosfóros but it looks like he fell asleep in the middle of something. Xavier could see vitals and potions on the desk he was snoring on. It looks like he was restocking. Xavier walked over to the man, looking over to the papers scattered on the desk and moving a few crumbled up paper aside. He noticed Eosfóros hand writing was getting better now and there seems to be a lot of it. Even the ink writing runs off on the desk. Xavier could also spot a few drawings here and there on the desk. Yet nothing was concerning so far.

“Eosfóros, sorry to bother you, but you want something to eat before the mission?” Xavier asked, nudging the man.

“What...mission...” Eosfóros groaned, easily awakened by Xavier’s voice. He turned his head slightly to see Xavier, the man noticing facial hair was growing.

“Remember? The mission to seize the bridge?”

“Gods..no....fucking...” Eosfóros groaned out loud, rubbing his face with his hand. He took a moment to himself, scratching his head where his horns were coming out. Eventually, the hat he wears won’t be enough. “Okay...just gimme a few minutes,” he sighed, slowly sitting up right and moving the potions around.

“Alright, I’ll meet you outside the tent then..” Xavier said, nodding his head and leaving Eosfóros be. Him and Komodo stepped back outside and waited. Xavier is willing to give Eosfóros all the time he needed. It was rather early after all.
 
"Hmm..." Dust looked beyond the bridge that they guarded, looking at how red the ground looked, sure it was faint thanks to their soldiers moving around so much, but it was enough to know that battle after battle has occurred. Sometimes the battle lasts for a day and sometimes it last almost for 4 days. Weapons sometimes were left behind as makeshift graves for their army, they couldn't pull back to have those soldiers a proper grave. He took a sip from his coffee mug, he hasn't slept well in a while, so this helps him, except his coffee beans were running out and it'll be a small purgatory not having them at hand.

Battles have come and gone, sometimes the humans got a bit too close on getting the bridge, others they didn't try enough. It's anybodies guess if their hope and determination is faltering at this point, we both lost some of our friends, they're never coming back and that's okay. This is war, things happen in that grand scheme of things. You either live another day or die trying.

Luckily, the security on the bridge is good enough to even make the dragons that are in the enemy camp back off, a small relief on the demons side. Though, for how long? Getting more ammunition takes time and proper paperwork to file it up. For now, the demons back home could only reply that we can't gain anymore ammunition, for lack of resources. Everything was in the paper on Dust's hand.

"You're not fooling anybody, you have the resources, you're just making sure that these guys get less and less crates to lower our power and fail. At least the Earth El is in the altar and being researched at full attention, maybe a week or two to start manufacturing a prototype and test it out. The earthquakes around here are making me unease as of late, too many of them and their magnitude are started to become random. They need to hurry..." He mumbled to himself as he moved deeper into the bridge, to see how Chloe was doing.

The stone bridge is starting to lose some parts thanks to the multiple tremors, chunks were being lost but at least nothing too important is being damaged, for now. More tents are becoming vacant, thanks to the body counts becoming lower. If we count before as 100%, then right now it has become a 63% counting with Joaquin's entourage. Not to mention that morale has decreased little, but only thanks to Damien's continuous efforts to uplift everyone with both his dancing and music. Not to mention his antics that help to release tension.

Though, if we compare the demons and the humans, then there is a big difference. The humans need 3 of them to kill one of the demons around a third of the time, two to kill one is half the time and a 1 on 1 match can only be done by the higher ups, for they have the most strength to fight against the demons, not counting the dragons, they can deal the most damage and wounded.

The wounded, have started to become a constant flux between good and bad, without the efforts of both Xio and Phantom and the combat medics, the war would've definitely went more towards the humans, after all they excel in continuous attacks. Not giving the enemy the energy to fight back from wave to wave.

Speaking of those two, they were being entertained with Damien's dancing at the moment with a few guards. True to their word, those two are now starting to look more demonic, with the help of the mages in the group. The mages always carry with them a spare essence from the demon realm, which helped to initialize the demonization process a few weeks ago. You'd be surprised on how much essence the mages carry around, just in case of a rainy day where they need it the most, that's why mages are known to be prepared for most situations.

Xio changed a bit, her features are more towards parts of her skin changing into scales, like that of a snake, most notably on her face and having a forked tongue. Not to mention that her fangs grew a size bigger than humans, but not too large to deform her jaw and mouth. It was no surprise for a few people since she was already associated with that animal.

Then came Phantom, the one that's changing to a relatively good level. His hands are a pearl white with a golden tint to it with the right lighting, associating his light element, his feet are also doing the same, but more towards his ankles. Small pair of white wings sprouted from his back, though most of the time they are folded around his robes, he once asked if they'll grow bigger, the answer was a definite yes, though he needed to wait a little longer for the process to continue his growth. And then came the most adorable part of him that Damien loves, not too long ago, make it a few days at most, little horns came out of his head. From the Ikus words, those were so adorable that he could barely resist himself to just touch them-

Speaking of Damien, he finally got his clothes in check, he wore the standard clothing of dancing clothes from the desert, he very much enjoyed how they gave him much freedom around and loved to feel the wind pass his abdomen.

Overall, those three were doing a good job holding on and helping around, even with the normal training that the soldiers deeper in the bridge did to not become lazy.

"Hey, you got word back home?" Chloe asked as she came out of her tent, she must've done with her paperwork at last.

"We're on our own. They refuse to give us anymore support, because they don't have more resources to spare." the brawler responded, to which the female clenched her teeth in frustration..

"Why the hell do they need to lie to us? Don't they care about the soldiers that are in the front lines!?"

"Look who even signed it." He put the paper in front of her and she immediately lost energy of her knees.

"No way... Master Ran and Earl Vlancoff? And there's also Viscount Olgarv! They were the main supporters for this war! What the hell happened?" She grabbed the announcement with signs that she might tear it apart.

"They must've notice that the Earth El is now at the demons hands, so they're pulling resources from here towards Hamel. My guess is that they would rather beef the chances to capture that town, than towards a commander that is taking more time capturing Velder than she should. So they're starting to put their chances elsewhere and putting us on second plan to rot." He said his piece to her to which she crumbled the paper and threw it on the ground with anger.

"So they don't care what happens to us if we don't start upping our game? That's just like them, those bastards! Still..! I can't do nothing but do as I'm told!" Chloe was about to loose it, but a small tap on her head made her look up.

"I'm still here, don't worry." He said in a way to calm her down. "We need to start making preparations to leave this country,they might think that we don't need it anymore and that they just want us to stall time for them. Tonight, we'll discuss with the others, okay?" He explained what might be a good choice, but without more time and discussion with the others, it might be bad. "Not to mention that those humans will probably try to catch us off guard, so we need that meeting to be brief, but also informative. And if things go the way they are, we might need hold off the most that we can."

"Yes, yes you're right. We need to think this through, we have to make sure our forces survive after all. What kind of commanders would we be if we let them die?" She asked towards him to which he replied after taking a sip from his coffee.

"Either we would be like Ran and Scar or the corrupt nobles or we would be just two very compassionate elves." He replied taking two more gulps.

"Quick question, is there anymore coffee? I'm sure that we had enough for a month two weeks ago." She asked him to which he pointed towards him.

"Here's your culprit." He said nonchalant.

"Dust... How are you not having a heart attack yet?" She asked dumbfounded.

"I don't know, but I think I might need to see a doctor when we get back home." He said slightly preoccupied with his health.

"Just don't drink anymore, for El's sake." She responded before slowly leaving. "I'm going to check the demons at the front, I'll talk to you later!"

He nodded before meeting the trio that were talking around with each other.

"How are you guys doing?" He announced his presence to them. "How's your demon forms going for the two of you? It's not being too much a nuisance, is it? We're taking the easy route on it, giving the both of you small doses to make your bodies accustomed to the change."

"Boss, help me with this! I want to put a small ribbon on his horns, but he's not letting me! I keep telling him that it'll make him cute! And GORGEOUS!" Damien asked for help as he was melting by seeing Phantom's cute face.

"I think that you're more annoying him than anything else. Plus, you shouldn't mock his horns, demons are a little sensible to that, like how humans are sensible to the size of their swords."

"You know the saying, it's not the size that matters, it's how you use them swords! Though size matters as well, I mean, the bigger the better right?" He asked in a tone that would make him sound innocent.

"I won't grace you with an answer." He quickly replied to him.

"Oh come on, commander! I already saw what you hide there, and it's not something to scoff-"

"DAMIEN!" He angrily yelled.

"Okay, okay! I yield, I yield!" He moved his hands in quick motions, in his nervous state.

Phant0m Phant0m
 
"I don't give a shit! I don't want anything on my fucking horns!" Phantom snapped, scratching at one of his horns.

Xiopetec gave a little shrug to answer Dust's question, slapping her priest's hand away from his horns. "My child is just getting some irritated horns and some back pain from the wings but other than that, he's fine," she said, "Besides, why are you so ruffled about the ribbon, child? I agree with Damien, it would look very nice on you."

"Not you too!" The priest glared at his goddess.

Xiopetec cackled, her forked tongue and fangs on display as she held her sides. Phantom's face turned red as he folded his arms over his wings and huffed.

"I just got my horns a few days ago, let them grow," He muttered.

"Child, as someone who has seen everything about you, you have the size where it matters."

"What the fuck Xio-just- what the fuck."

The goddess leaned over to her priest and gave a little look to Damien before whispering something in her native tongue in his ear. To which Phantom pushed his goddess away sputtering while Xio only laughed harder.

Despite them having a good time, it was noticable that they were tired from both the training and healing. The pair were starting to sport dark circles under their eyes from doing late shifts at the infirmary. Xio was slouching a bit instead of sitting proud, and when she was done laughing the grin quickly became a ghost.

Phantom was being quieter than usual, and the lack of sleep was making him a bit irritable. His posture was always tense from the stress of treating more soldiers than he could count, and he started to even do some last rites for those who were dying or dead since he was a priest who was conveniently available.

Today especially was tough on the pair. CJ's extensive injuries required both Xio and Phantom to treat him: Phantom doing all he could with his light element while Xio performed a surgery to stitch all of his wounds closed. Dexter understandingly was a mess, and he had a third friend with him. A cold succubus who went by the name Iris.

Phantom gave CJ his last rites, and told Iris and Dexter that he only had tonight left. His wounds left his body too damaged to recover, even if Phantom were to spend all night and all of his mana to try and reverse all of the damage.

"What should we do?" Dexter asked as he gripped CJ's pale hand. The priest couldn't get his expression out of his thoughts.

"Pray. And keep an eye on his pain. If he's uncomfortable, grab me. The best we can do is keep him as comfortable as possible until he passes," Phantom answered.

Iris placed her hand on Dexter's shoulders. "Pray to your goddess?" She asked, "She couldn't give him more time."

"She helps those who pass on find peace," Phantom defended, "He'll be in good hands."

"I'll....I-I-I'll pray to Xio...I could use some help finding peace too."

Phantom nodded. "She's not like Ishmael at all...she actually helps her followers. She's practically a mother."

Iris gave a small scoff. "I'll have to look into her then..." She looked to Dexter who had closed his eyes and was whispering under his breath.

"Shout if anything changes," Phantom said, "I'll leave you guys be."

The priest sighed, trying to push the memory away so he could relax in the moment and leaned against Xio.

"... You can't put ribbons on my horns yet. When they stop itching you can go wild," The priest gave in.

Xio chuckled, absentmindedly scratching at the scales on her cheek. "I was counting down to when you would give in, child."

Fume Fume
 
"Yay~! I'm gonna put on this horn a white ribbon and on this horn I'm gonna put a fuchsia one! Or maybe a yellow one! *GASP* Oh my god, I'm gonna put a ring on them with chains! Let's put that bad boy attitude on them! Oh, oh~! How about we also go ahead and color the horns! Red and blue are WAAAAAY~ overrated! Let's put it on a yellow color! Maybe green! Oh we're gonna have fun with you!" Damien was going all over the place with plans on his head. Dust however, could see the mood, they were exhausted.

"Phantom and Xio, you are excused from training and healing for today and possibly tomorrow. Let the combat medics with experience and the ones learning do your job for now. Also, you three are to be on the meeting for tonight with haste at 21 o'clock and no more than that. Fail to appear and you'll get a scorn from me."

"Yesh... What happened?" Damien asked surprised by the up tightness.

"We received word from the higher ups. In essential, they're gonna make us stall time here on Velder, but without resources. Everything is heading towards Hamel, orders by Ran and some nobles." He said the summarized version to them.

"Say what!?" Damien immediately stood up to that. "They're cutting our supplies, just like that!? Those bastards!" He was angry because of that.

"You can say that again, though we're not gonna give in to their decision. At the meeting, we're going to discuss a way to escape the kingdom towards back to the demon realm." He told towards the Ikus and the other two.

"Wait... But if you do that, won't you be punished by questioning and refusing to act of your superiors? The blame will go towards you and Chloe!"

"It's better to have that than to let the rest of the troops dying in a large scale attack. A little punishment is nothing compared to what they are suffering or how tired everyone is. Look at me! I barely sleep for 2 weeks, we need to act, either tonight or tomorrow in the very first ray of the sun that passes through those clouds."

"B-but you might be victim to the experiments again! You can't have another dose of THAT!" The Ikus was more preoccupied than anything now, which was unusual.

"It'll be worth it, don't worry." Dust rubbed his head. "I won't die for something like that." He resolved to do a little sweep under the bridge, just in case. "And don't bother those two, unless they want to!"

"Roger, roger..." His tone sounded sad, which barely was a reply, being bummed out.

Phant0m Phant0m
 
Lento​

He had been taught to live a life free of vices, but the length of the war was draining that strong will out of him. Neither smoking nor women were his thing, so he sometimes drank his stress down. Sophia had been kept in a special cell, and she had grown more violent against the guards. She was the trump card they had against the demons, but she was also dangerous to the rest of the soldiers. He had hoped that she had changed, considering her first reaction to the outside world, but Yullr was right. The elf seemed to know a lot about the Void as a whole, but when Lento wanted to ask him where he got all that knowledge, Yullr dismissed his question and drove the conversation to another topic. Considering the kind of situations that had made Lara familiar with the Void, Lento didn't insist.

A month and a week had passed since Sophia was in her cell, and the only positive things he could think about were Elesis's recovery and that the demons seemed to be running out of ressources faster than they were. Of course, there were more dead on his side of the war and he was pondering if he should accept Yullr's request to use his powers on the dead. It was immoral, true, but when the battle was focused on endurance, having a division of soldiers similar to him would be an unexpected advange. Yullr had talked about that two days ago, and Elesis didn't seem to be against it. Yet, the mere suggestion brought back to his mind Vanessa's death. It was the last time he had fought with Phantom.

He still couldn't quite believe that the priest had become a traitor, but some soldiers even saw him on the other side of the battle, with more and more demonic traits. Xio was with him, as he would've expected. Yet, that meant more dangerous enemies on the other side. Demonised humans, if he hadn't seen Ciel before hearing his men talk about Phantom's new appearance, he would have not believed the rumours. He looked for the formal petition Yullr had left in his hands. The paper was hidden among other things, like the camp's census of civilian and military population, the materials needed by the medics, the alchemists and the mages and the military's inventories.

He had only half of his glass of whisky left and he took a small mouthful of it. The new commander sighed deeply and looked again at the conditions put forth by Yullr. The Ash army, as the necromancer wanted to call it, would be made out of the ashes of the cremated soliders and they would maintain a form that would be closer to a ghost than to a human. They would be anonymous, covered by a spiritual armour that Yullr himself would form for them. The demons soldiers wouldn't be able to kill them, and the most demon necromancers could do was to disable their ghostly form until Yullr said the spell again to call them again. Because of this, would be relatively far away from the frontlines, as the destruction of his grimoire or his death would be the only way to end the existence of the Ash army. The size of the Ash army would be enough to confuse the enemy and make them think that there are at least fifteen necromancers helping them, and Yullr proposed many tricks to make them fall into the trap of thinking that a huge number of reinforcements had arrived from Elder.

It was not a bad plan. Hell, it was a great one. If the enemy thought that they were growing in numbers, their morale would decrease. A part of his mind was still focused on Vanessa's agony and his lack of resolve to revive her. It was too late to wake up Elesis or Yullr to ask them for the final push he needed to convince himself to accept an immoral plan, but Lara...no. It was not Lara, it was Sophia. He didn't have to go to her cell again, he simply had to activate again the link she had reconstructed between their souls.

'...Sophia, do you hear me?'

A long silence followed, but he could feel part of her anger and frustration. 'It's not a good time to talk, is it?'

'It's been a long time since anyone has spoken to me. How long has it been since I saw anyone's face...two years?'

'You mean last time I saw you? It was three weeks ago.'

'Ah.'

A single syllable held more fear than her fast-paced thoughts before. Considering where she came from, Lento wouldn't have thought that being alone would affect her that much.

'In my world, I was free, I had companions, I lived a simple life where I was myself, free from the chains and shadows of a ghost. How can anyone stay calm, living in complete darkness, in a space where you can even take three steps before running into a wall and where the only people you see leave in a matter of seconds?! Time is frozen in this place! Why did you freeze time?! Why did you tie me down in this hell made of emptiness?!'

He had hoped to find a voice of reason in her, but that was simply his old way of thinking. He realized that he was still confusing her with Lara, although they couldn't be more different. Lento finished his drink in one shot and passed his hands over his face.

'I told you, Sophia. You can't attack humans, or there will be consequences. I'll-' he sighed and told himself that he couldn't promise anything.

'You'll do what? Say it.'

'I can't go against more laws or morals than what I'm about to do now.'

'I can find a way to know. You know it.'

'I don't want to promise things that I can't give, ok?! Don't even think for a second that-'

She was more powerful than him, even more than before. He could almost feel her go through his memories of the last weeks, all his thoughts. She was going back in time, beyond he was assigned to Feita, but when she was about to tear apart his memories of his brother, he somehow found a way to stop her. It had required a lot of effort, but her claws were away from his mind.

'You are a man of influence among humans. You have the power to decide what rules to bend and you know perfectly well that everyone here owes their lives to me more than they do to you. I won't betray you like Phantom. The next battle will be a success for you if you put me there. That Ash army thing will not be a complete victory. Dust will not act according to your little plan for long. You know it.'

The image of a hydra was appearing in his mind along Sophia's voice. 'I can spread panic in the souls of those demons. None of them know what I am, where I come from nor how to fight me. Everyone fears the unknown, every human in your memories, the demons you've seen. You also caused panic when you fought them in the Shrine of Dedication. You had a hole in your chest and you continued to fight them. They wanted to retreat when they saw you get up, I saw it in their eyes. Imagine how it will be when they see me... I could win single-handedly the next hundred battles for you. In exchange, you'll set me free before the end of this week, right Lento?'

The hydra was showing its fangs, ready to bite, its blue gaze was horribly haunting, but it was also hypnotising. Lento quickly cut the link that united his mind to Sophia's and looked at his empty glass of whisky. He hit his desk with his right fist.

"Damn it all."

****
Yullr​

Only three days passed when he was informed that all the commanders had unanimously agreed to let the Ash army be created. Lento had finally changed his mind, but seeing him look increasingly troubled and moody made him worry about him. He was not the only one, as Elesis too had grown to be more ruthless against the demons when the medics finally told her that she could return safely to the battlefield. She and Eosforos sometimes passed time together, but the angel had not only changed physically. He had grown colder, and many times he dismissed her company to spar with Xavier. The rare times they were together made their gloomy moods a bit brighter, they smiled together, almost as if they had found a small piece of peace in their hearts. It was their biggest strength, but it could become their greatest weakness if the demons attacked one or the other.

Lento would sometimes stare for a couple of seconds at the undergound dungeon where Sophia was to be locked in for two months more at least. He shook his head and continued his way and kept himself doing more things than it was necessary. They still talked together during the lunch breaks they had together, but Lento seemed more reluctant to speak his mind. He was afraid of something, and it was surely related to Sophia, he could tell. Yullr tried to give him a subtle advice on keeping to be the good leader he had been since he had known him, but his reply was unsettling.

"A good leader? I wonder if I won't be the one dooming us all. How can I keep being a good leader when everything is becoming so desperate? For the El's sake..."

Yullr put his hand over the soldier's shoulder, he understood his struggle more than anyone. He had also suffered because of that, but through the years, he had grown so indifferent to it until he had settled to end his life as soon as Lento had become a hero instead.

"How the hell am I supposed to stand for my morals if everything I believed in will result in the worst outcome for all?"

"No, Lento. Not everything you've believed in has restulted in the worst outcome. Never believe that's the case. Your decisions have kept us here, you coordinated the alchemists and mages to build artifacts that keep our base stable despite the quakes. You've used your knowledge and your belief in helping others to achieve that. This war will be long, and everyone will have regrets, but if you do what you think is right for as much as you can, your achievements will outweight the regrets."

"Is that how it was for you?"

Yullr frowned. "No. Unfortunately, I was too weak to resist against orders that went against my own beliefs. As a result, I've let much of my happiness slip away from me. And I thought I would die as a villain for that, but I don't believe in that anymore."

"Why's that?"

The elf chuckled. "Because of a certain man I met one day, when he saved his village along a part of my men without asking for anything in return. He's a man that believes in a victory and perhaps a life where the demons and elves would find a way to live with humans. It's someone that wouldn't give up the chance to do good even if all the odds were stacked against him. Call it a silly reason to change, but I've been told countless times that I'm a silly man."

****
Darhan​

The following morning, the mother of the two teens went to bring him a small breakfast made of wild medicinal berries and purified water. She didn't say anything about why he was taking his bandages off, but it seemed like her children were not there. The house was oddly quiet and he didn't say much despite the fact that the woman in her fifties sat in a chair in front of his bed and stared at him.

When he was done with his meal, he thanked the woman and told her that he had to leave.

"And you'll go where in broad daylight? Have you been in the demon world before?"

"I have some contacts, I'll have to ask around and I'll get where I want. I'm not wounded anymore."

The woman scoffed. "You don't simply go around Varnimyr asking for directions when you have silver hair. You saw how my own children reacted to you, the elves out there are worse than that. It's a shame. They can't recognize a trueblood anymore."

She took a long pipe from one of the side pockets of the robe that covered her dress and lit up a few dry leaves. Darhan raised an eyebrow at her, and she glanced at him before taking a huff of smoke of tobacco. "Sorry, it's an old habit. A very ironic one. But as I was saying, you can't get out of this village just like that. Not when we have a stupid elder in charge."

Darhan nodded and told himself he could get some intel on the demon world. He knew roughly where Karis left, but the path to get from Varnimyr to her mansion was something that he'd have to study.

"Elder Edith, wasn't it?"

The woman nodded. "Daughter of a half-demon and a half-elf. She looks to have the most pure blood out of everyone, but her magic is no joke. I still can't figure out what kind of trick she used to make herself an Elder. Edith's a tyrant, but everyone seems to be happy with it."

He continued to talk with the mixed-blood, who was the daughter of a trueblood and an incubus. He didn't have many doubts about that claim, since she knew a lot of the teachings that his own father preached. In fact, if it wasn't for her mauve hair and pink eyes, he could've mistaken her for a trueblood exiled into the demon realm. She was a woman with a lot of character, enough to become a leader of her own, but she admited that she had forged herself to be stronger.

"I had to be strong for my children. Raising them safely by myself in a world that was losing a war was not easy. God knows how many kids and truebloods got enslaved or kidnapped to serve the noble houses in those times. Armies were anhiliated and our own El was cursed by Ishmael when everything was over. It was scar that not only affected us, the elves, but all the demons. I don't know this for a fact, but I suspect that the curse on the El lead to the demon king's murder."

The woman told him that there was a theoretical ritual that required the sacrifice of powerful souls to empower the El. She was certain that the author of that theory had perhaps saved the demon realm from being destroyed by the abscence of El right after the first war. Although, the solution was not perfect, as the inevitable decay in the earth's fertility reduced the demon population through famines that sometimes lasted for decades.

"I'm impressed that you know this much about the history of this realm. Are you part of the nobility?"

The woman chuckled without much joy. "I wish the demons or my fellow villagers regarded me that highly. I only know small things like this because of my children's father. He served one of the most powerful noble houses and was the greatest genius those demon bastards ever had under their ranks. The man had the brains, but he also had the weakest heart of all."
 
Eosfóros​

He wasn’t sure how long he would have to keep this up. Eosfóros hastily put away his potions and closed the glass tubes he was planning to bring with him. He was able to make another illusion of himself but it was just a little different than before. Everything else he made were just other variations of illusions, most of them based off his dreams and thoughts. He even made one that should be of interest to Xavier but that’s simply just for a last resort.

The time he put away his stuff, Eosfóros went ahead to equip the heavy armor on his right shoulder. It does act like a good shield for him and he felt somewhat at ease to feel a familiar weight. After that, he picked up his sword and made sure that his hat is on him before stepping out.

“Lu and Ciel are already eating as if now. You want to join them?” Xavier asked Eosfóros once he stepped outside of his tent. Eosfóros adjusted his hat and squinted around as he noticed how bright it was today.

“If that’s fine with you,” Eosfóros responded with a sigh.

“I believe I grown comfortable with them at this point,” Xavier said with a shrug of his shoulders.

Together they walked to find Lu and her butler and it didn’t take them long to see them at their own table. They seem to be fussing over something and Eosfóros noted that Lu’s plate of meat wasn’t even touched. He does remember that Lu doesn’t like meat. At all.

“Good afternoon, Xavier, Eosfóros,” Ciel greeted them once they approached their table. “Maybe you can help me to convince Lu to eat her meal...”

“But Ciel, I don’t know how many times I told you that I don’t like meat,” Lu grumbled.

“Meat is good for you, after all. It gives you a lot of proteins, vitamins, and minerals...” Eosfóros mumbled as Lu shook her head no.

“Fine. I’ll get you a salad if that’ll at least make you eat,” Ciel sighed, getting up from his seat.

“Let me join you for a moment, Ciel. I need my plate of food as well,” Eosfóros sighed, starting to follow the butler. He noticed Lu was staring at him and quickly looked over at Xavier who was about to follow.

“Xavier, a quick word?” Lu said to him, causing the man to stop in his tracks and leave Eosfóros to walk away.

Xavier​

“I guess you want me to eat your plate?” Xavier asked Lu, knowing the drill already.

“Yes but that’s not it. It’s about Lucius here, Eosfóros,” Lu said with a slight worried look.

“Oh...I guess you fear for the worst out of him,” Xavier sighed, pulling out a chair to sit as Komodo leaned over to the table, already taking a piece from the plate of meat.

“Well I seen him at his worst but it doesn’t necessarily last long,” Lu said, causing Xavier to raise an eyebrow at her. “How to explain this...Eosfóros is just like his father. Power wise. Just like the demon king, Eosfóros is able to absorb negative energy around him in order to gain power. He wasn’t able to do this before when he was with Ishmael since really, I’m sure it was an easy life. Eosfóros is able to use negative emotions to his advantage and convert it into raw power. It also affects him in a way he is not what he always was before. Since this is mostly a first time he would be in battle, I’m sure in the end he would feel better than before.”

“So this is...temporary,” Xavier said, almost in relief.

“Yes, but I still would be careful around him. I feel like he doesn’t know how to control it very well and one slip could cause him to...overreact,” Lu sighed. There was something that Lu may have witnessed before but Xavier rather not ask on what happened. “Now that I told you that, you understand why Eosfóros is going through this phase. Just to have enough power to protect those in danger in case anything goes sour.”

“Yeah...I understand. So I guess once he used up that energy, he’ll be back to his usual self,” Xavier said, watching Komodo taking the last piece of meat off the dish.

“Mhm. Also, does your pet have any manners at all?” Lu questioned with a frown on her face. Komodo paused what he was doing once he noticed Lu looking at him and took it for a different meaning as he inched closer to Lu to sniff her face. “Personal space is probably not in his dictionary either...” Lu mumbled as she had a look of disgust since Komodo still had the meat hanging off of his mouth.

Xavier whistled at his dragon and Komodo reluctantly pulled away from Lu and lay down to Xavier. “Well, I guess there goes what I want to eat.”

“Afternoon,” a soldier greeted them. “Is Eosfóros around here? Commander Elesis wish to have a word with him before the mission starts. It’s rather urgent,” the soldier said.

“Im here...” Eosfóros said, returning back with his food and Ciel next to him with a bowl of soup.

“My apologies Lu, they ran out of salad so I got you tomato soup instead,” Ciel said.

“That’ll do fine, bring it here,” Lu said with a nod of her head.

Xavier made sure that Komodo wouldn’t try to lean over the table again, especially now that there is new food on the surface. He as well eyed at Eosfóros as the soldier explained to him that the commander wants to speak to him. Eosfóros seem to react neutral about it, the man putting his plate down momentarily to fix his hat again. Xavier realized that it was starting to slide off now and then.

“I’ll chat the rest of you later. Xavier, make sure the dragons are already well rested and ready to go once your done with your lunch,” Eosfóros said to him before walking away.

“Will do,” Xavier said and scratch the back of his head as Eosfóros left. “Say, what does he really look like when...you know...”

“Let’s see...he does have four horns and the second pair is probably starting to push themselves out. So that hat won’t help him at all in the end. His eyes are a lot more brighter than it is right now and has a white ring around the iris. Also he does have a tail. I really don’t know when that’s coming out,” Lu explained.

“Must be painful if they are coming out of his body..” Xavier mumbled, starting to get up to get his food.

“The pain fuels him so I don’t think he minds it too much,” Lu sighed, moving her spoon around the soup. “But yeah...I do remember when my horns came in.”

“...am I going to have horns...?” Ciel asked, somewhat confused about his own self.

Lu took a good look at him, squinting her eyes. When she looked away, Komodo jumped up to sniff the soup but Xavier was ready and quickly pulled the dragon back.

“No...plus, you look good already with how you are now. I think you having horns would ruin it,” Lu said with a smile before looking back at her soup, unaware that Komodo nearly dipped his tongue into the bowl.

“Ah okay...” Ciel responded, unsure how he should feel about her words.

Eosfóros​

Along the way, Eosfóros managed to chew a piece of meat into his mouth. He wasn’t sure what Elesis wanted to talk to him about before the mission starts. Everyone around him was running around to prepare for later the day, the soldiers were sweating as the mages were anxious. He almost thought he can hear their heart racing for today, the anxiety swelling up in their lungs and the strange fear lingering around their heads.

Eosfóros let out a steady sigh as he kept on walking forward until he reaches to Elesis’ tent. He figures he would feel a bit better if he wasn’t aware of the things that was going around him. So the man went ahead to enter in her tent, clearing his throat.

“Commander Elesis, you sent a soldier to fetch me to talk with you before the mission begins. I hope it’s nothing ill that you have to tell me,” Eosfóros said, noticing the flaps of the tent knocked over his hat. He had a short panic about it but he knows that Elesis is aware about his demon heritage. Though still, who knows who could’ve saw that.

MementoDei MementoDei
 
Xio and Phantom looked to each other after saluting Dust.

"Then the resources that'll run out first are going to be the medical supplies," The goddess hissed.

"Fuckwads," Phantom gritted out. He nodded to Dust. "We'll be there on time. And maybe with some ideas."

The priest looked at Damien, watching him become bummed out before opening one of his wings and having it hug the Ikus to comfort him.

Xiopetec gave the two a glance before she looked to Dust. "It better be worth it," she said before turning to Damien, "And darling, you're free to be with us tonight. Maybe Phantom can teach you a new song or two.."

"Why are you exposing me like this Xio? Most songs I know are dumb or they are...not happy," The priest protested.

"But they're interesting! I particularly liked the one about that tailor."

"Of course, the one that's subtler than the rest but is still just as unsettling. Why couldn't you mention a different one?"

The goddess elbowed Phantom, causing him to hiss before she glanced at the sad Damien.

Fume Fume
 
Darhan​

He had spoken to the woman, who had lived decades less than him, but whose life would be shorter than her children. If this was a normal elven village, Elena and Leon would be given a special status among the rest, given their almost complete purity of blood. The children that had been kidnapped during the war had returned to the village after their training. The purebloods, however, did not. Darhan had an idea of why: a demon's soul alone wouldn't stabilize the El, but the souls of dozens of pure dark elves, which Ishmael had chosen as her vessels in the beginning, would. He lived like an outsider in the home, leaving the room he had been given only when the children weren't there. One day, however, he went downstairs and found Elena working on a simple recovery potion. She was about to put too much purified water.

"With that quantity, you'll turn anyone blind. Pour only half of that water." He told her.

"...Mind your own business, outsider."

Darhan shrugged. "Alright. Then, let me ask you a single question regarding my own business. Your village arrests outsiders, perhaps kills them on sight. You and your brother hate me, and that's been true since day one. It's day twelve, how come you've never told any of the scouts that I'm here? Wouldn't you be happier to see me dead?"

Elena stopped pouring the purified water in the flask. Half of it was left. "Mother is a person that lives a parallel life from the Elder's eyes. If we told anyone that we have an outsider in our house, what do you think that will happen to us? Mother visits those Void Ruins every week, as a way to mourn. Those ruins are the only known grave of a pureblood."

"Your grandmother?"

"No. My father. Rumour has it that he went in on his own, mumbling a promise to find someone. And you came out of that grave, but you're different from the one she lost to the Void."

****
Elesis
​
Ever since she could go back to her office, she had been given back access to the intercontinental communication orbs. She had to know what was going on beyond her point of view. She put the headphones on and her mouth in front of the sound capting crystal. The machine was too big to be carried around, but that didn't matter to simply get informed.

"It's me. How are things there?" she asked. The answer made her frown, but she replied. "I see. With the El in their hands, I'd expect nothing else from the bastards. Good job, though. Say what?"

She remained silent for half a minute, still trying to process what she had heard. "Yes, yes, I'm still here. I'm just baffled, are you sure you don't-"

Another pause to hear what their plan was. "The Hands of Midas?" the Blazing Heart chuckled. "I see, I see. Like a Philosopher's stone, you turn useless lead into gold. How long till then?"

Elesis smirked. "Oh, that's perfect. Don't worry about the technical issues, I think I have just the man for that. Hang in there. See you soon."

The Commander went outside of her tent and called a guard to make Eosforos come to her as soon as he could. She waited for the angel and welcomed him with a warm smile, which was very small, as war had drained her optimism down.

"It's nothing dreadful, Eosforos." she said. "I'm just thinking about a plan, and until now the demons you have gathered haven't done much. It's not a criticism, I assure you. Listen well, because this might be our only shot to stop the other demons from claiming victory."

Late Late

****
Yullr​

It had been by pure coincidence that he passed near Commander Sieghart's tent when she was contacting someone else. He was an elf, and his sense of hearing got him curious on what the commander was talking about. He knew very well that the next battles would be decisive, and the deaths of multiple commanders had made his own rank rise within the resistance forces. It was not eavesdropping if the information would be relayed later and he could know it in advance. The conversation barely lasted a couple of minutes, but it had brought to him many things to think about.

He continued his way towards his tent and began to write in a piece of paper what he believed would be a reinforcement to Elesis' plan. The demons could be unpredictable. He copied the same message into two separate pieces of paper. He gave one to a soldier and told him where to relay it while he took the second copy and left it on Lento's desk. The third would be given for the last person.

A decision would be made soon.

****
Sophia​

She was curled up in a corner of her cell when the same guard gave her the usual small flask of mana. She took it from his hands, taking the opportunity to scratch him. This got the guard to curse, but that reaction satisfied her more than anything else. It was her only way to spit on the world that would keep her like this.

As she took her meagre meal, she noticed that the cork was tied to the bottle by a scroll of paper. She slowly ripped it off and saw that something was written on it. She unrolled the full piece of paper and read it as she took a small gulp of mana from the flask. She chuckled and read the paper again, just to make sure that the night vision she had developed to see in her new habitat wasn't fooling her.

Sophia mumbled incomprehensible words, too fast and too softly for anyone to hear her. Her eyes were becoming more reptilian, even some black scales were appearing on her temples.

"...And never one without the other." she said to finish what she had to do. Her closed smile got bigger, revealing sharp and unnatural fangs. Her chains glowed weakly with blue for a couple of seconds. She tried to free herself once more, but the chains wouldn't break. Yet, she was smiling, for she knew that she'd have her chance. She'd only have to wait. Her human traits slowly came back and she walked to and fro in her cell before punching the left wall. It left a minor crack on it and her knuckles bled slightly. If everything went well, that'd never be the case again.

****
Lento​

He burned the small folded paper he had received and decided to head out to clear his mind. The final battle was getting closer by the hour and he'd have to make the final choice. He remembered Yullr's words and the facts that backed it up. The Phantom Knight had saved lives, more than what the odds would grant to the average soldier. But it wasn't just a matter of having the favours of Lady Luck in his hand, he had also made many of those happen. It was against his nature to give up when he could think on an alternative that would work better for everyone. He had believed, after he had passed time with Dust, that it could be possible to forgive the horrors and crimes with enough time. Humans weren't perfect either.

But all that hope was crushed by what Phantom had done. It had been the last straw he could take before turning his back on finding a peaceful future for all. Lento stood once again on the fields of battle. Right on the top of the hill where Vanessa had died. The place had a good view on all the bridges and the town itself. The Hope Bridge, the one that had been constructed after the town was founded three hundred and fifty years ago. Ironically, it was the one that was constructed by claiming many of the slaves' lives. It was filled with their despair, according to local legends. To its right was the Centennial bridge, built one hundred years after the first one, only to allow the growing population to have another way to travel. The last one had been given no name until fifteen years before this day. It was the Red Knights Bridge, to honour the losses suffered by the winning side during the Civil war. All the symbols of Velder were captured and represented the ironic nature of the Hope Bridge.

Lento was in this war to do good, to save the most people he could, or at least that what he thought most of the time. In battle, he often lost himself, drunk in the power he had acquired. Fearing death became useless, and it had made him more impulsive in the battlefield. That was the side of him that made the demons fear him, as Sophia had pointed out. He had blood on his hands, not only from the people he couldn't save, but of those he killed cruelly without batting an eye.

The Shrine of Dedication. The battle that had pierced a hole in his chest, the battle that had crushed his heart for the enemy. Lento unsheathed his sword and planted it on the ground where he could almost see the corpses of those who had died, killed by him or by the demons. He put his right hand over his heart and turned it into a fist. He glared at the three bridges, waiting to see any movement at any moment. It reminded him of some chess lessons his father used to give him.

"The white side holds the advantage at the start of the battle, it can crush the black side easily. But the black side is always the one that turns it around."

He didn't wish for more bloodshed, but this one was unavoidable.
 
Eosfóros
​
After she finished talking, Eosfóros slightly perked up with interest. “I’m sure that they’ll be pleased to do something for once. I know I told them strictly to not get too involved in the past days, but I’m really searching for a good moment when they can really contribute into this war. If you see a good use for them to win this war then I’m all in for it,” Eosfóros said with a slight smile.

He paused for a moment when a soldier walked in with a note for Elesis, causing Eosfóros to shy away for a moment since he never got his chance to put his hat back on. Of course the soldier didn’t seem to pay too much attention about this as he apologized for walking in and left after giving the note. Eosfóros took this chance to set down his plate of food on a table to pick up his hat and adjust it on his head so it wouldn’t fall over easily.

The time he was done, he blinks when Elesis handed over the note she was given by the soldier, obviously wanting him to read. He gently took the paper and read it over carefully. Once he was done, Eosfóros nods his head with satisfaction.

“This will work perfectly. Maybe the dragons shouldn’t get involved,” he joked. “Ah, but really, I don’t believe the demons would see this coming...and if this goes through perfectly...I think I can rest for a good while,” he added in with a sigh. “...All of us can rest for a good while.”

MementoDei MementoDei
 
"I'd like to hear it! It'll help not thinking on what happened to the commander last time, it was really, really bad... I can tell you more if you want, but it won't be pretty to hear." He forced himself to show a smile to them, even though the memory was a little intense to bear.

"And there's a tailor involved! Now you gotta sing to me, Phantom! I wanna know the story of this song, so do sing!" Not thinking of that time is better than thinking it. "I am VERY excited to hear it! Also... Thank you, Phantom. You're a really good friend and your wings are very, very nice to the touch... Who knew that new wings could feel so silky!" This somewhat embarrassed him as he was still a bit new to this wing business.

*****
​
Afternoon came and the soldiers were shifting their places, making sure that the bridge was secure from any aerial and frontal attacks. It had been a while since the humans last attack and that kept the demons anxious from the waiting. Every now and again, they would fidget in anticipation to the attack coming out of nowhere.

The scouts couldn't explore anymore up ahead, every spot that they had used was now being patrolled by the humans and the assassins couldn't take the rooftops anymore without being obliterated by a dragon.

They were on edge, but still maintained a cool demeanor. It was necessary, it was needed for the others to know that everything is fine, despite the many setbacks. The medical team were going overclock to the needs of the most needed, but there is only so much they can do. It was like how Phantom had told them, pray for their well being. It all came down to their determination to live.

Chloe was eating a small rice ball, lunch hadn't been too decent with the lack of rations, so she resorted to her own supplies for now to keep her strength. She noticed that her superior was on the food tent, helping everyone get their rations to taste and fill better, supplying spices that he carried, but even he had a limit to how much of a hand he could give.

"You're trying too hard, you dummy." She mumbled to herself noticing the dark spots on his eyes. He was tired, but still giving a helping hand to the rest of the troops. He wasn't met with much resistance, most offering thanks for his help. "Commanders aren't supposed to help with ration supplies, you know." She continued mumbling while eating her snack.

"That is true, if the other commanders saw him do that, then he'd get scowled for it." A glitter soldier spoke up, being on his spot hearing her. She was surprised that she didn't felt him, when she realized that he was from the assassination squad. "Though, that might be the reason why we feel more at ease with commander Dust. He doesn't view himself as a commander, he still acts so much as a soldier that it baffles me. He doesn't abuse his power, doesn't make unjustified orders and he always keeps his morals straight. He's an inspiration, but also too softhearted for his own good."

"If he's too softhearted, then why even follow his commands? You're not obliged to follow him." She said to the glitter, but he simply shook his head.

"It's precisely because of that soft heart of his, that my family can live without much fear, because even if I die in this war, I know that he'll do whatever he can to make our families survive. They'll cry yes, but it's something that I can live with. Just thinking about it, makes me smile. I want them to live, everyone one of us thinks like that. Just going back home and see our families is already a bonus to our contract."

"You glitters are also idiots." She said to him to which he laughed it off. That was a first with her.

"Yes, we are. But we're okay with that. It was thanks to him and you that we're still alive. We are grateful, even if we die for you two." He said to which her conscious took a small hit on her heart. These demons weren't the same as the ones back then. Things changed, she was the one that still kept the same view on things.

"Maybe I'm an idiot as well." She thought to herself as she left to check a few things. Just to make sure the guards weren't slacking.

Phant0m Phant0m
 
Phantom's cheeks started to turn a bit pink and the wing around Damien fluttered and twitched. "It's cuz I take care of them," he said while trying to compose himself.

Xio chuckled before moving to Damien's other side. "It's a nice song for him, Damien. He's mediocre at singing, but my child can really get into character," she praised.

The priest eyed his goddess with a frown. "Xio what time is it?"

"Early afternoon but it's been too long for you to sing."

"I have to remember how it goes! It's been years since I sang 'The Tailor of Enbizaka!'" He huffed as he started to tap on his thigh the rhytmn of the song. "But let us know when it's starting to get close to the meeting time. We also need to eat."

The goddess nodded before making the "get on with and sing" gesture to which Phantom started to sing after a sigh.

His voice wasn't remarkable compared to other singers, but it followed the rhytmn and danced over the lyrics' syllables like silk. But his expressions were claiming the show. At first, Phantom was nonchalant as he began the song of a tailor trying to reclaim her beloved's attention. As the song progressed, his expression grew a bit more mischievous and shady. It wasn't left to the imagination about who was doing the crimes in the song, and he succeeded in capturing the obsessive look at the climax of the song.

As the song came to a close, Phantom eyes blazed with anger while he gave that criminal smirk. When he finished the last note, Xiopetec gave her priest his ration and Damien his.

"Oh...thanks," He said and then he looked around at the other soldiers who were watching and the wing around Damien gave another twitch before joining its twin over his robes. He quickly bowed his head and started eating.

The goddess primly clapped her hands. "You did wonderful, child!" Then she returned to eating.

Fume Fume
 
"Oh! Ohohoho! Marvelous! Splendid! Bravissimo!" Damien clapped while whistling to the embarrassed Light Demon. "I didn't knew about that song! Nor did I know that even those kinds of expressions could tell a tale! You've really taught me something new, big guy!" He ate a spoonful of his lunch.

"But you know, maybe it's just me, you could make a song all by your own! Imagine, 'The song of Phantom the Awakened One!' Or maybe 'The Descent of a Celestial Snake!' Oh, oh! How about a song that involves the use of your element! You could create your own dancing moves with the swaying of the light on your hands! *GASP* You can even make the stage as a performer using your very own light show! Using the light to make shadows to convey your feelings, making the viewer imagine what's going to happen next!

So many ideas! So many chances! So many, many, many, MANY opportunities! Oh, oh! I bet you could even make unbelievable things Phantom, that I'm just DYING just thinking about it! Oh this is so exciting!" His eyes glittered his mood and they shone like diamonds.

"He did sang pretty well, but that song was a little... how do I say?" A demon spoke up not getting the words out, a couple of others thought as well.

"Unpleasant?"

"Don't go there, man! Go softer!"

"Disturbing?"

"SOFTER!"

"Uh... Depressing?"

"What part of softer didn't you get!?"

"Alright, alright! Final chance! Unusual!"

"That..! Actually works." It wasn't the word he would put, but it works.

"Though, we might need some encouraging song to keep out mood up." He hinted to which Damien twirled towards the demon with his maracas on hand with a silly pose, having his hand saluting, his head tilted forward with a cheery smile and his feet and hands forward, ending with a cute pose.

"That is why I'm here, fellas!" He replied while dancing a silly dance, while shaking his maracas, getting into the rhythm, his hips swung from side to side before he started saying 'Ye, ye' to the mood and then shook the instruments vigorously before hopping around singing like a little kid would do. Just fooling around and taking a more upbeat stance. "I bet if me and Phantom went around, we'd be THE best story tellers around with our songs and dancing! We're the best, WITH THE BEST!" He cheerfully said as he kept swinging his hips and jumping around.

"Hehehe! I love this little guy! We also like the both of you two! Make it songs or healing, you're already with us!"

"I actually liked Phantom song!"

"Either that's an achievement or you're really into those unease songs."

"I like everything mister! Just because I say negative things, doesn't mean I don't like other things!"

"Could've fooled me."

Phant0m Phant0m
 
Phantom started laughing after he finished his food. Xiopetec joined her priesy, giggling. Her understanding of the demon language was getting better, having her priest only speak to her in the language when they were healing or alone. Although, her speaking it was a bit rough. She kept resorting to the common human tongue, or to her divine language when she couldn't remember how to say what she wanted in the demon language...but it has been a month so Xio can proudly say she's doing pretty well with the time given.

"Maybe maybe," The priest said to Damien about the show ideas, "I mean I used to perform with some gypsies so I wouldn't mind performing again in my free time." His posture relaxed a bit as he watched the Ikus dance and sing.

At the other soldier's compliments, the priest could only beam at his goddess who returned the grin with a gentle smile of hers. She pinched his cheek.

"Go on," She urged her priest with a gentle shove towards Damien, "You might as well dance with him! We still have some time!"

Phantom stuck his tongue out at his goddess before jumping along with Damien in his dance, before wrapping his arm around the Ikus's waist and dipping him to lean close to his ear.

"I got some songs that are best saved for a private show too," Phantom whispered then winked before he helped Damien up and continued dancing with him.

Xiopetec sat nearby, sticking out in the crowd due to her height and sitting proud once more. She was leaning on a table and watching the two with a small grin and scratching at the scales on her cheeks again. Then she looked to the time and quickly snatched Phantom in an elegant twirl before picking him up bridal style despite his protests.

"If we don't move now, we'll be late for the meeting," Xio announced putting a finger to her priest's lips to shush him, "Unless you want a scolding from Dust?"

Phantom shook his head and he moved her finger. "But do you have to carry me Xio?"

"No but now I want to just because." She adjusted her priest in her arms and she looked to Damien. "Ready?"

Fume Fume
 
The City of Ferro​

Morty shifted uncomfortably with the tight cuffs around his neck and around his hands, chains connecting together with a large mineral golem that would often shove the demon dog forward whenever he slows down. The gatekeeper cast a small glare around his surroundings, noting other creatures from above as they were still as statues. His claws clicked against the smooth floor he walks on, heading towards a throne. Morty could see the generals and a few commanders along with Karis waiting, yet all had a rather an uneasy look. On the throne, there was a man wearing steel armor. Morty couldn’t quite see his face as he was wearing a helmet to cover himself up but he knows who he was facing. King Barkat.

The mineral golem shoved Morty one more time, forcing the barghest to fall over and letting out a grunt. The guard eventually stepped back respectfully for Barkat, allowing Morty to slowly get up.

“King Barkat, its a-“ Morty wasn’t able to finish his greeting when the metal collar around his neck tightened, causing him to stop mid sentence. “A-A pl-pl..”

“Save your breath, barghest,” Barkat grumbled out. “I’m not in a good mood thanks to you. You let my assassin escape. He is my favorite, you know?” The armored man sighed, clicking his fingers on his throne. “I was told you can get him back.”

Morty nodded his head fast in agreement and felt the collar around his neck loosen. “Y-yes, your highness. Though...only one of them responded back, a distant relatIVE..!” The collar tightened once again.

“A distant relative responded back to you?” Barkat questioned, unimpressed.

“Correct me if I’m wrong...” a demon general spoke up, squinting over at Morty. “But I believe this barghest’s distant family is part of the revolution going on up in the north.”

“Ah that’s right. My good friend King Aegirp is having a lot of issues on his hands. If someone up north responded to you then what good will that be on my part? I highly doubt they’ll retrieve back my assassin,” the king huffed.

“P-please, your majesty! I think it’ll be best to hear him out!” Morty yelled, the collar around his neck was cutting out his breath.

“You don’t yell at your king, mutt. Control that volume of yours,” Barkat sighed, snapping his fingers in which chains around his throne unrolled themselves and lunged at the demon dog, curling around him tightly.

“M-my apologies...” Morty breathed out, trying to avoid the chains at first before they were quick to wrap around his legs.

“Your job was to keep outsiders out and friendly faces in. You only obey your commanders and anyone else higher than you. You committed a crime for letting a stranger in when she had the driver as her hostage and letting her out along with the assassin. Not to mention the many priceless items that were stolen. Including the leftover packages in that wagon. So far, I haven’t seen anyone else with you so I’m going to believe that your distant family member won’t be here to save you from your punishment. Which is death.”

“Sire please...” Morty gasped out, unable to grasp anything as the chains tightened around his body.

Suddenly the doors were pushed open, capturing the king’s attention in which the chains slightly loosened for a moment around Morty. Morty could at least hear footsteps approaching closer and closer, up to where he knows someone was standing next to him.

It was his distant cousin, a slightly tanned looking man with black hair and bright yellow eyes. He has an underbite which a canine tooth stand out and wore rather heavy clothing meant for the winter season. His pointed ears stood up tall as he stared at the king on his throne. Lastly, he carries a large axe on his back, having a strange gleam to it: Barkat leaned over to stare at the cousin, humming quietly.

“A shapeshifter, apparently one who is flowing with dark magic. I assume traveling here wasn’t such an issue, especially up north,” Barkat commented as the newcomer lightly shrugged his shoulders.

“With shadows casting around at this time of the day, its rather easy to get here,” the cousin replied, having an accent in his voice. “King Barkat, I’m here to fix the problem that my cousin Morty has caused.”

“How about you state your name to your king?” A commander spatted. “Show some respect.”

“He is not my king,” the shapeshifter responded. “I didn’t vote for him or am part of his country.”

This seem to cause anger in the commander’s face but Barkat held out a hand to stop his commander from doing anything and let out a small chuckle. “How amusing. I suppose you’re loyal to King Aegirp then?”

“He is no king to me but a coward who hides behind his throne,” the cousin huffed. “Im loyal to no one but my family.”

“Even to a distant cousin, how interesting,” Barkat sneered but somewhat satisfied as the chains loosen around the demon dog and reeled away, allowing Morty to take in large breaths. “Tell me your name at least.”

“Lukas, that’s all I’ll give,” Lukas replied with a small nod of his head.

“So let me know if I understand this right: you’re only here to save your distant relative?”

“That’s correct. We are rather more close than you think we are. I owe him a few things after all, and this is rather a good way to pay it back to him.”

“I see. I hope you don’t mind me asking on why you dislike your king so much. You are aware that I am rather good friends with him,” Barkat mumbled.

“Aegirp does nothing but dine in his castle like a pig awhile the rest of us suffer from the ongoing war against the human race. He never give us answers, and always let his generals do the talking for him. Even a man from a different country, Lord Ran, has been taking up most of his duties. I don’t like unexplained events, same goes for my family.”

“Is that why you started a revolution against your country?” Barkat scoffed.

“Yes and no...recently we discovered something about ourselves and I don’t think I’m ready to share that yet, King Barkat. No offense,” Lukas mumbled, his ears twitching.

Barkat growled low to himself yet he steeled himself from not doing anything to the outsider, knowing that he was only here to retrieve back his slave. “You think you can get the job done?”

“Without a doubt as long as you still have a seal on him,” Lukas responded.

Barkat stayed silent for a moment as he once again clicked his fingers on his throne. “Of course. If you are able to retrieve back my assassin and capture the demon that sent him free, I’ll let Morty live. If you fail however, Morty will die and...” Barkat raised a finger at Lukas, pointing at him. “I’ll sent my own men to shut down that silly revolution of yours.” Lukas gave a small frown at that but he nodded his head, knowing much that King Aegirp wouldn’t oppose to that. “For now, Morty will stay here in the city at the underground dungeon. Due to the fact that this is a vast country and that your loyalty to your family is impressive, I’ll give you till the full blue moon. That should be enough time for you to get the job done.”

“...that’s in like two weeks,” Morty mumbled under his breath.

“It’ll be done,” Lukas replied.

“Very good, now his location...” Barkat rose from his throne and walked down the small set of stairs. A mineral table rose in front of Lukas and Morty, slowly carving away a map of the country they are in. “I do not know what the outsider wants with my assassin, but they have been steadily going East.” Lukas looked over the carved map and noticed a blue light glowing at a certain spot on the map. Yet it was fading out every once in awhile. “Im afraid that this demon as well have an equal or stronger power than I do. The seal on my slave is starting to be faded for a certain amount of time and it won’t be long that it’ll be gone completely. If you value your cousin’s life, then make haste.”

Eventually Lukas took his leave and Morty was forced back on his feet and was escorted out by the mineral golem. King Barkat watched them leave and dismissed everyone else but Karis.

“You were right to lie about the stranger taking one of your kind as hostage,” Barkat sighed. “Even though Salvator is out of our grasps, I’m sure you won’t have any troubles during the election.”

“Salvator easily scared away the competition, I won’t have any issues, sire,” Karis responded with a smirk.

“Good...its the least I can do since you agreed with me in the beginning of...all this,” Barkat said as he vaguely gestures his hand. “Though, I cannot help but to agree with the shapeshifter. King Aegirp haven’t been taking his job seriously since the civil war. I wonder if it scarred him that bad.”

“Not as bad as you, sire.”

“Hmm...” Barkat slowly tapped his finger on his helmet, thinking back to the past. “...any news about him entering back in the demon realm?”

“We have kept our eye on the portals and nothing of it. I highly doubt he would come back, it’s already too late of him to return.”

“Maybe so...shame. I still hope for some sort of competition for the empty throne of above.”

Ruby and Salvator​

Salvator fell into deep sleep after a few hours of escape and Ruby made sure the horse was still running as they were in the middle of the desert. She held out a compass and made sure that they were heading towards the right direction. After a few more hours, Ruby figures it was best to take a break and stopped by a little plaza in the middle of nowhere.

Salvator’s horse doesn’t seem tired at all as Blue seem to feel a little sick from riding so long. Ruby patted her pet as she made sure everything else was still attached on the cart. She wanted to curiously check on the other packages that they took along with the cart but there was one thing she wanted to do first. Get rid of Salvator’s seal.

Ruby settled the man comfortably on the cart so she had a better look on his sleeping face. She stared at the seal over his eye and realized that this might be painful enough to wake him up. Yet still, it has to be done. She put her hands over his face and mumbled out an ancient language, the seal over his eye giving off a faint glow. Unfortunately, that alone made Salvator wake up and slam his head against her hands, disrupting her.

“H-hey!” Ruby yelled in surprise.

“Son of a bitch, what was that?” Salvator hissed, rubbing over his eye. “Oh my head...”

“Easy, Salvator. I guess you’re suffering a hangover...” Ruby mumbled, tapping her chin.

Salvator continues to rub over his eye and slowly looked around. Ruby noticed the confusion on his face and it was growing steadily until he land his eyes on her.

“....you...” Salvator starting to say, looking like he was trying to remember last night.

“Yes, Salvator, I got you free from your little basement home. Let me just take this seal off of your face and-“

“You’re crazy,” Salvator said and starting to scramble out of the cart. “Where the hell am I?”

“Oh boy, Sal...Sal!” Ruby yelled as the man seem to walking away from her, searching around frantically.
 
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