Four days could not pass quickly enough.
Jadis and her companions continued with their duties as normal, showing not a hint of the worry that lay below the surface. No secret was revealed, no chance word overheard. They kept their silence over Alex’s offered tertiary class, and so far as any of them could tell, no one outside of their group suspected a thing.
There were a few close calls, though.
The morning after Jadis and Alex’s fateful night hunt, Kalliope the bardic Golem had congratulated Alex on reaching CLR sixty. Jadis and the others had not known that the singing stone woman had possessed a skill that let her identify status sheets, but the calm and unbothered Golem had advised that she did have a spell that let her see the CLR of individuals, though nothing more specific. Kalliope knowing that Alex had reached the level necessary to unlock her tertiary class would not have been significant, except that the Golem had offered her congratulations in front of Tiernan, General Salvius, dozens of mages, and who knew how many soldiers who were assigned to guard the mages.
Which ant that by the end of the day, everyone knew that Alex had reached CLR sixty.
Fortunately, no one had any issue with Alex’s excuse as to why she wasn’t CLR sixty-one yet. As she and the others explained, Alex had been offered several extrely rare and unusual classes and since they were so unique, she was taking so ti to think over which one she was going to pick. Aila was even able to cleverly integrate the partial lie into the reason why they had sent Noct on a sudden flight to Eldingholt with several ssage scrolls. Alex wanted advice from the scholars at the imperial university, and the letters were intended for those scholars as well as any available High Priests.
While hiding Alex’s nuclear bomb of a tertiary class option went well enough, Jadis’ conversation with the generals and the other avatar representatives explaining how she and Eir had to leave for Eldingholt in a few days was not as smoothly accepted. No one was happy with the idea of the army losing out on one of their strongest combatants as well as one of their strongest healers, especially not with how they were drawing closer to Kastoria by the day. Several objections were made, so more strenuously than others, but the necessity of Jadis and Eir’s trip won out in the end. Those who disliked that the two were leaving were reassured by several factors, though.
First, Jadis and Eir would only be gone for two days. They would leave the morning of the fourth day so that they would be able to perform the ritual the afternoon that they arrived in Eldingholt, then leave to return to Volto the next day at the very latest. At least, that was the plan, and part of the real reason why Noct had flown ahead of them to deliver a ssage to the palace, so that the two princes would be prepared for their arrival. It was always possible that the two would not be present in the capital with their questions prepared, but Jadis doubted that either man hadn’t already co up with what they wanted to ask D. She just hoped that if one or both were out of the city, they had left their question with soone trusted who could deliver it to her.
Second, Wilhelm, his companions, and all of the rest of Jadis’ companions would be remaining behind. Considering how much power that was, especially with the magical innovation Sabina had introduced with her magi-buzzers, those who were worried about being attacked on the march were reassured that they would be able to handle any enemy action.
Third, and possibly the most convincing; the Demons were no longer attacking the soldiers. It seed as though nearly the entirety of the enemy forces had withdrawn from the countryside, leaving the way to Kastoria basically unobstructed. Only small pockets of Demons attacked the column, and even then, it was growing rare to see more than handful at a ti. The skull blob sniper wasn’t even shooting at them anymore.
At least, only the scouts who ca within range of Kastoria were shot at.
The fallen city of Kastoria had beco a seething garden bed of tentacular horrors. As all the scouts reported, and Jadis saw with her own eyes as she flew overhead, the city’s demonic population had tripled in size. It was impossible to get an accurate count of how many Demons there were, exactly, but it was easy to assu that there had to be hundreds of thousands of them. Most were lesser Demons like mire hounds, of course, but not even Jadis could ignore the threat of such a flood of foes. Besides which, the evidence of other, far more dangerous enemies, was easy to see. Aside from the Demon Dos, colossal charybdis, and sightings of other unconfird monstrosities spotted in the city by the scouts, Jadis knew for a fact that at least one truly nacing enemy was within Kastoria.
Having taken Noll’s advice, Jadis had a charm on each of her weapons that would allow her to track it. It wasn’t like a GPS or anything so convenient, and it wasn’t sothing she carried into battle since it was too expensive and delicate to risk breaking, but the small, bell-like enchanted item pointed her in the direction of the paired charm that was attached to the hilt of her sword staff. Using it while passing over the skies of Kastoria, Jadis could definitely confirm that her weapon, or at least the charm that had been attached to it, was inside the Demon-overrun city.
Which ant the colossal leech was in the city, too.
When the morning of the fourth day ca, Jadis and Eir wasted no ti with long goodbyes. Everyone had their contingency orders, in case the worst should happen, and they had already spent their ti showing their love and support the night before. The Roc had arrived on the previous day and would be staying in Volto until Jadis’ return. The news had also co that the twenty-thousand planned reinforcents would be catching up with the main Voltonian force the next day, so Jadis and Eir would be coming back to a much larger number of allies. Everything was in as much order as it could be, so there was nothing left but for the two to go and find out what they could do about Alex’s class offering from D.
The flight did not take long, relatively speaking. Only a handful of hours to cross a distance that took a magical airship a couple of days, and more conventional ans weeks or even months, depending on the mode of travel. The speed at which Jadis and Eir traveled from the battlefields of Volto to the heartland of the empire was a simple reminder of just how valuable flight was. It was no wonder at all that Seraphim were so highly valued as ssengers, and Jadis could fly significantly faster than anyone else she had heard of thanks to her extrely boosted attributes. Thanks to the handful of potions that Ammy had supplied her with, and the initial boost given by Sorcha, Jadis didn’t even need to stop to rest or recoup her reserves along the way.
Upon arriving in Eldingholt just before noon, Jadis found that not much had changed since her departure. The city looked just as active as ever, and just as unbothered by the war that raged along its distant borders. One thing of note, however, was the presence of two different airships floating under the boughs of the massive tree that lood over the capital. One Jadis recognized imdiately as the Svana, the Leviathan-class airship that had been built for Eir’s parents. The vessel was being used for the transportation of trade goods, so she guessed that the ship was in the city as part of its pre-determined route.
The second airship was not one that Jadis’ company had built.
It was a smaller airship, Behemoth class, and Jadis could tell imdiately by looking at the flags displayed prominently on the sides of the balloon that it was owned by Prince Kestil. However, the fuselage of the airship’s cabin had been modified to give it exterior decking on the port and starboard sides, similar to how Leviathan-class ships were designed, and the front of the vessel had a long, sharp prow that connected to the side decks, with railing on it that indicated individuals would be able to walk on the front point. Jadis could see that the underside of the prow even had a figurehead, carved in the shape of so great bird of prey.
Part of Jadis’ deal with Kestil was the sale of several sets of pre-made enchantnts that would be suitable for a Behemoth-class vessel, leaving the actual construction of the airships for the second prince’s craftsn. Jadis wasn’t surprised to see that Prince Kestil had already succeeded in constructing one of his new airships, but she was surprised by the modifications. She wasn’t sure what the elf intended with the changes, but she supposed she should have expected them, to a degree. The sly prince could have wanted the enchantnts alone just as a cost saving asure, but it made more sense that he had wanted to make so personal adjustnts to the design of the airships that suited whatever secretive plan he no doubt had in mind for them.
Rather than head straight for the palace, Jadis flew with Eir to the Fortune’s Favored compound. Noct would be waiting for them there, having hopefully delivered all of her ssages, and they would just need to send a runner to inform the princes of their arrival in the city. There was no point in hanging around the palace just to get a couple of questions, in Jadis’ opinion, especially when she didn’t know for certain if either prince were prepared. She’d wait for them to reply to her runner instead and take the opportunity to visit with one of the most important people in the world.
“Her horns! She’s grown horns!”
Jay couldn’t help the way the tears welled up in her eyes as she beheld her beautiful little baby girl. Hope had grown in the weeks since she had last seen her daughter, which ca as no surprise considering her rapid developnt. But the little bumps that had poked along the hairline of the baby’s head had transford into two small, three-inch-long horns with sharp points. Of far greater note than their size, however, was their coloration. Or perhaps composition was the better word, Jadis thought as she gazed at the multi-hued, crystalline protrusions on her daughter’s head. The Succubus’ horns looked almost identical to raw eleria crystals.
In fact, Jadis was all but certain that eleria was exactly what the horns were made of.
“We’ve been putting so soft covers over them at night,” Vera, Thea’s mother, said as she smiled affectionately at the baby held in Jay’s arms. “Little Hope is an active sleeper. She catches her horns on the blankets if we leave them bare.”
“She’s grown so much in such a short amount of ti,” Eir said with a mix of awe and wistfulness in her tone. “And she talks so much!”
“No words yet,” Vera said while using a finger to tickle the baby’s foot, prompting the excited infant to let out a string of gurgling giggles and nonsense babble. “But she is very vocal, and very happy. Everyone agrees that Hope is the sweetest child we have ever raised.”
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Blushing slightly, the middle-aged woman whispered her next words.
“It helps that we don’t have to change or burp her.”
As Jay and Eir continued to coo over Hope with Vera, Dys and Syd were on other missions. Syd had imdiately sought out Gunnar to review any and all information that she needed to know about what had been going on for the compound, the rcenary company, and Ahlstrom Aviation. There were a lot of updates, many of which ca in the form of papers that Jadis would take back with her to Volto so that details could be reviewed with Aila and the others’ help. The most important information Gunnar gave to her right away, though, which included updates on Cobbler’s trial.
Dys had found Noct instead, who had been waiting for her arrival with several letters that had been given to her in response to the ssages she had carried for Jadis. Most were short responses, confirmations and acknowledgnts to her requests and orders, but the three that mattered most were the ones that ca from Vraekae and the two princes.
“Good,” Dys nodded as she scanned through the magistrate’s letter to her. “I knew I could count on Vraekae. Did she have anything else she wanted to pass along to ?”
“Yes,” Noct nodded. “This.”
Taking the carved wooden box that the Valravn held out for her, Dys opened it to find a small book within. The leather cover was cracked with age, and the language the title was written in was unfamiliar to Jadis. However, when she opened the cover, she found that the pages were split between the unfamiliar language and two translations, one in the elvish language and the other imperial. Reading the first page gave her the title.
“A History of Demon Lords, Their Princes, and Their Skills and Spells,” Dys read the title aloud. “This seems… really valuable. Why did she give this?”
“Be smart,” Noct replied. “Be safe.”
“Yeah, that sounds like Vraekae,” Dys sighed as she carefully put the book back in the box and latched it shut. “I’ll have lots of reading when I get back to Volto.”
Putting the gift aside for the mont, Dys opened up the first of the letters that ca from the two royal brothers. She hoped that the ssages might have the questions that each prince wanted to ask D in them. If they did, she could start the ritual right away and leave early. If not, she would be forced to wait for their proper response, which she could only pray would be tily. As Dys opened the ssage that had been sent by Hraustrekr first, she heard a loud knock on the front door of the main building.
“Are we expecting company?” Syd asked Gunnar as they paused their discussion.
The two were together at the front desk that faced the main door on the first floor of the original building that Fortune’s Favored had occupied in Eldingholt. There were a few employees in the open area eating lunch, and Syd had been tempted by the sll of Hans’ pies ever since their arrival in the compound. A guard stood by the front door, one of Bridget’s many cousins, in fact. As the orc went to answer the knock, Gunnar shook his head.
“Not that I know of, ma’am,” the buff elf replied. “Regular shipnts go through the service gate. The city guard has been keeping gawkers away.”
Gawkers were probably the least of those who had been banned from approaching the compound by the guards Vraekae had assigned to keep the peace. Jadis knew that protests had been held by those who were angry about Cobbler killing a man who had broken into the compound, so traffic around their buildings had been restricted. No one would be knocking on the front door unless they had been given permission to by the city guards, which ant the visitor was there on legitimate business.
As the door opened to reveal the two elves who stood side by side, their golden skin shining in the light of the sun, Dys finished reading the short letter from Hraustrekr which explained exactly who their visitors were and why they were there.
“Lady Jadis,” Prince Hraustrekr said coldly as he swept by the shocked guard who held the door open. “I am glad to see you at least take your oaths seriously.”
“Good afternoon, Jadis,” Prince Kestil followed a step behind his older brother, a pleasant smile on his handso face. “I’ve been keeping track of your progress in Volto. Every letter is a fascinating tale to read. I hope you will have so ti to answer a few questions I have for you after we have perford Lady Eir’s ritual. Perhaps over dinner at the palace?”
“After we’ve perford the ritual,” Syd repeated dumbly as her other self ripped open Kestil’s letter to find it confird what Hraustrekr’s ssage contained. “You an, you two want to perform the ritual with and Eir?”
“Yes, that is why we are here,” Prince Hraustrekr answered, a note of impatience in his tone. “Your letter made it clear that you have little ti to spare and must return to Volto as soon as possible. I would not delay you, as the sooner your reckless mission is completed, the sooner Wilhelm will return to where he is most needed within our borders. Let us be about this ritual.”
“But you want to participate?” Syd repeated, her composure returning. “You two don’t have to actually be involved, you know. You can just give the questions you want to ask and I’ll ask for you.”
“No,” the first prince said with the finality of a death knell. “I will ask my question of Destarious directly. Lady Eir’s ritual allows for this. I will hear his answer myself.”
“In this, my brother and I are in agreent,” Kestil said. “We will ask our questions and hear Destarious’ answers so that neither of us can claim that a falsehood has been made. This is for the best, Jadis. We will join you in your ritual.”
Aside from the fact that Jadis absolutely did not want either prince present for the question that she needed to ask D regarding Alex’s Demon Lord class, she actually agreed with the proposition. She had seen how poorly the two princes interacted with each other. It made sense for them to ask their questions of the god in each other’s presence. That way, neither could call foul play if D happened to give an answer that would indicate one would make for a better ruler than the other. Jadis didn’t think that would happen, but she understood the reasoning. Still, she had to at least try to dissuade them, so she said the first thing that ca to mind.
“You’ll both have to be naked for the ritual,” Syd blurted.
As the guards who stood behind the two princes did their very best to not react to the information Syd had just shared, Kestil smiled at her while Hraustrekr scowled.
“Is that all that is required of us?” Prince Kestil asked.
“All that is… indecorous,” Hraustrekr clarified.
“…yeah, that’s about it…”
“We are not so churlish that we cannot handle nudity in a lady’s presence like adults,” the elder prince stated.
The choked coughing that ca from the tables in the open area behind Syd did not improve the elf’s dour expression.
Seeing the look on Hraustrekr’s face and finding no sign of help in Kestil’s visage, Syd let out a defeated sigh. She could waste hours arguing the point, or she could just accept that this was the way things were going to go and deal with it. As both Noll and Vraekae had advised in the past, one had to know how to pick one’s battles. This wasn’t a battle she was going to win.
“C’mon, if we’re going to do this, let’s get it over with.”
It was alright, Jadis told herself. She and the others had brainstord several variations on the sa question and one of those could be modified so that she didn’t have to actually reveal what class Alex had been offered. She could just ask D, “What is the best advice you can give regarding Alex’s tertiary class options,” and that would hopefully be both vague enough to avoid suspicion from the two princes while still specific enough that D would give a useful answer. In fact, the mad god tended to be more helpful when Jadis didn’t get too specific, so giving D so leeway would be for the best. She really would have preferred to ask the more direct question regarding the Demon Lord class that they had co up with, but unless D did her a solid and gave her so privacy when it was her turn to talk, she doubted she’d get that chance. At least not during this round of questions. There was always next ti, in another thirty-five days if they needed to, or Jocelyn’s ritual, if they really needed an answer sooner. Though how Valtar would feel about Alex being offered the position of Demon Lord, Jadis could only imagine.
In short order Jadis had gathered her bodies together and had helped Eir with the final preparations of the Party Line to D ritual. She didn’t normally have such thoughts, but she was infinitely grateful to her patron or whoever else was responsible for the spell being so much less lewd compared to Eir’s single-person oracle ritual. The awkwardness of being naked in a candle-lit room with Hraustrekr and Kestil was bad enough. She wasn’t sure how she would have handled having to take a more active role, never mind either of the princes having to participate.
As it was, Jadis still wasn’t sure how to feel about seeing the alchemical mixture that contained her seed painted on the chests of the two elves.
Fortunately, both Hraustrekr and Kestil kept both their eyes and their opinions regarding the ritual as well as Eir’s nudity to themselves. Both behaved like professionals, not showing a hint of discomfort or other, more awkward, emotions when the clothes ca off and the ritual began. Jadis had to appreciate the well-trained stoicism that Alfhilderunn nobles all seed to display. By the ti they were halfway through reciting the prayer that Eir spoke aloud for them to repeat, Jadis had almost completely forgotten the weirdness of the situation. When they had reached the final stanzas, she truly had left behind all thoughts of the two princes as her mind slipped away from the world entirely.
The sensation of floating through the cosmic aether both dragged on forever and lasted only an instant before Jadis felt grounded once more. Opening her eyes, she was puzzled at what she saw, which should have been normal for her, since she had never once not been confused by the transition to D’s heavenly realm. Whether it was an incorporeal living room, an indescribable neighborhood, or a film-noir style cityscape, Destarious always found ways to throw Jadis off her stride when she visited the god. This ti was different.
This ti, she knew those curtains.
Jadis was sitting on a bed. There was only one of her, just as there was only one of her during every other visit to D’s realm. In front of her singular form was a window, through which she could see the non-descript, indescribably normal, Arican suburban neighborhood that D’s house was located on. She could see the street, which was the most normal street possible, and the trees, which were platonically average, and the grass, which could only be described as perfectly normal grass. On the other side of the street, she could see D’s house. She didn’t know how she knew it was D’s house, as there was nothing unusual about it at all other than it was completely featureless without missing a single necessary feature, but she knew it was D’s house. Standing on the sidewalk in front of the mad god’s domicile were the two princes, both of whom were looking around themselves with obvious confusion. As Jadis watched, the door to the house before them opened, grabbing the two’s attention. But Jadis didn’t focus on them, or whoever had opened the door, or anything else in the world beyond the second story window before her.
Her eyes were on the curtains.
They were green. A bright, garish, tree-frog green that caught one’s attention imdiately. They were the sort of green that a child would pick, and that an adult might allow begrudgingly, because they had promised their daughter that she could decorate her room however she liked, just so long as she kept it clean. The curtains even had a tiny blotch on the hem where a glass of soda had been spilled, and the stain had not co out despite multiple attempts at washing. Barely noticeable, except for soone who knew where to look.
And Jadis did know where to look.
Because she had made that stain.
Because they were her curtains.
“Good. You got my ssage.”
Jadis whirled around, slipping off an all-too-familiar bed at the sound of the voice behind her. Her head banged against the ceiling, causing her to wince as the room was far too small for her height. But she didn’t care about headroom at that mont. Her eyes were on the man standing in the open doorway of the bedroom she had grown up in. A man who was describable, almost mundanely so. A normal man, older, with graying hair and stubble, wearing a black suit and tie. The sort of man Jadis had seen countless tis in her life on Earth. He looked completely normal.
Except for the colorless voids that existed where his eyes should have been.
Taking a small tal case out of his pocket, the man opened it and pulled out a single cigarette, which he put to his lips and lit with a silver lighter. Taking a slow drag, he released a puff of smoke into the air between them. Then Samleos, the God of Death, spoke.
“It’s about ti you and I had a talk.”
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