Pink light flooded through the void, and Noah didn’t dare turn back to see what the source was. He accelerated toward the white gateway floating in wait before him, hurling himself through it.
The world warped. White stretched to cover the skies and wrapped around Noah like an all-consuming blanket. He squeezed his eyes shut and twisted his body to protect Sticky. His stomach lurched, and then he shifted.
Cold stone slamd into Noah’s back and knocked the breath from his lungs.
He drew in a sharp breath and his eyes snapped open. A void stretched out above him, black and devoid of stars. A replica of the afterlife — but not the afterlife. Exhaustion gripped at Noah’s head as he turned it to the side, letting glistening obsidian press against his cheek.
Golden lines trimd the platform he laid on, and powerful imbuents covered every inch of the ground around him.
He was back in Sievan’s domain. Back in the Damned Plains.
With a groan, Noah pushed himself upright. Sticky laid in his lap, her body frail but chest rising and falling with every breath.
She was alive.
Sohow, he and Wizen had literally stolen a life straight from the afterlife. Noah swallowed. There were different levels to slighting the gods, and he didn’t know where this one landed.
Maybe it’s not too bad. They’ve got a whole bunch of souls wandering around. Maybe they won’t miss one.
Nobody had shown up to smite him on the spot, after all. Perhaps Renewal had just been busy doing sothing else. Noah wasn’t about to complain. He was, however, probably going to have to make his fruit basket a little bit bigger.
Sothing about the size of a small continent should probably do the trick.
Noah studied Sticky for a mont. He was far from a doctor, but she looked… healthy. It didn’t seem that she was about to die at any point soon. Thin grey veins still pulsed beneath her skin, but her body was settling down.
Who would have thought that Wizen had a power like this. Not even Sunder or the Fragnt of Renewal could have pulled another soul back from the dead.
Noah was silent for several long monts. He wasn’t actually sure how he was supposed to feel. Emotion and logic twisted and fought for supremacy, only to both realize they were equally as confused and give up the fight altogether.
It’s almost ironic. The ultimate sacrifice; the power to give one’s life for soone else, in the hands of the most evil man I’ve ever t. And he used it to save a child he barely knew. He didn’t have to. He could have saved the strength and gone to walk with his daughter anyway.
Why?
There was no answer. Perhaps not every action could be described by logic. Perhaps not every man was completely good or evil. When Noah had been a teacher on Earth, he would have said that he’d had a pretty good understanding of life. That so things were inherently good, and so were evil. That was that.
But the more he witnessed, the harder it beca to understand. Wizen had not been a good man. He had stolen people’s minds with his runes. Only the gods knew how many people he had killed, and he had done irreparable damage to countless families, not to ntion countless other cris.
And, in saving Sticky, Wizen might have saved more than just a child. He might have saved the demons as a race. Even if there were others that were like her, she was the one that Noah had to work with.
How are good and bad weighed? Can you right past wrongs through good deeds? Is there so sort of cosmic scale for good and bad?
A small smile pulled across Noah’s lips.
Eh. Fuck it. I don’t know, and it’s not my job to know. That’s a problem for the gods to deal with. Maybe I’ll find an answer one day, but right now, there’s only one thing I care about. Keeping the people I care about safe.
Noah pulled his jacket off and folded it into a makeshift pillow. He slipped it under Sticky’s head and let her rest on the obsidian as he rose to his feet. She was asleep, so there was no point connecting to her mind yet — and Empty Proliferation needed so ti to regenerate its power.
Only once he had stood did Noah realize that the white light was gone. His eyes snapped over to Sievan. The Lord of Death stood exactly where he had been stabbed, arms crossed behind his back and eyes closed.
In the center of his chest was a gaping hole.
He held it until Sticky and I ca back through.
Noah swallowed. He approached the plain-looking demon, stopping several feet away from him. There was a faint, content smile on Sievan’s face. He stood proud in death.
For several long seconds, Noah stood in silence. Then he bowed his head in respect.
What a demon. He wasn’t at all what I was expecting, but after eting him, I don’t know if I can imagine anyone more fitting to wield the title Lord of Death. I would have liked to—
“Are you done?”
Noah froze. His eyes snapped up and he took a step back, his lips parting in shock.
Sievan’s eyes were open.
“I — what?” Noah stamred. “You’re alive?”
Quiet laughter echoed through the void as Sievan’s lips curled up in a faint smile. “Can Death live? Perhaps nothing has changed.”
“But… you said—”
“I died,” Sievan said with a small shrug. “A minor inconvenience. A fresh one. It was an interesting experience. Quite a beneficial one. There are so things that one cannot truly understand while they still live.”
That, at least, is true.
“Did you really have to wait to co back to life until after I had already started doing a ntal eulogy for you?” Noah asked through a laugh and a shake of his head. “You’re a bastard.”
“So I have heard.”
“Did you at least manage to fix the problem you had? Can you… ascend?”
Sievan looked down at the hole in his chest, then let out a sigh. “No. I discovered much, but the process was not sufficient. I am still bound at Rank 8 — and I suspect my soul damage will hinder for quite so ti. It seems that your own escapades were more fortunate.”
“Wizen is dead, and I’ve got the key,” Noah confird. “And Sticky as well. She lives.”
Damn. I was hoping he might be able to give so more insight into demons and how their runes work. The more I know, the less guesswork I’ve got to make. It’s too bad I can’t fix his Runes, but I don’t think Sunder could even touch a Rank 8 rune. Sievan is just too powerful, and ripping his runes apart down to Rank 1 would probably kill even him.
A smile pulled across Sievan’s lips. “So she does. And the grip of death is lessened on her, though it hangs over her head all the sa. Is it your power that binds her soul to this world?”
“No. It was Wizen,” Noah replied with a shake of his head. He looked from Sticky to Sievan, then tilted his head to the side. “What exactly did you try to do when you went to fix your Runes?”
“I sought to change the manner in which I viewed Death,” Sievan replied. “I had thought that, if I died, I could approach things in a new manner. Find an angle that I could not witness before then and attempt to wrest myself free from my maker’s influence. It was impossible. The connection is ingrained. I cannot change the core of my being.”
That is the issue, isn’t it? Demons are drinking from a well of poisoned water. You can’t fix the problem until you remove the poison — or get a whole new well. But there’s one thing I still don’t understand.
“Can you tell sothing?” Noah asked. “What controls the emotion that a demon feeds on? You feed on death. I’ve t demons that feed on knowledge, slaughter, friendship, and everything — but why? Half the ti, it’s got nothing to do with the runes. So what determines that?”
“An interesting question,” Sievan said. He scratched at the hole in his chest. “I did not determine what I fed on. My maker chose it for .”
“Do you rember why?”
Sievan frowned. His head tilted to the side and he was silent for several long seconds. “I… rember little. My creation was a long ti ago. A very long ti ago. I believe… I believe my maker was deeply unhappy at the ti he created . He wanted soone who could give him a worthy fight. A legacy. One that could end him. But I failed in that. I could not beco as powerful as him, and I do not believe his goals are the sa as they once were.”
Noah’s brow furrowed. Sievan was the original demon. There had to be sothing in his creation that could explain how demons ca to be.
I need to figure out where the energy to make a Fragnt of Self cos from. If I can get that, I can help Sticky make hers.
But Sievan is a special case. He was made intentionally by Decras, while the other demons take form themselves. What’s the missing piece?
A mumble broke through Noah’s thoughts. He and Sievan both glanced over as the small demon’s eyes fluttered open. She sat up, wiping at her face.
“I — what happened?” Sticky asked. She looked around and confusion played across her features. “I… I was dead. In a line.”
“Wizen got what he wanted,” Noah replied softly. “He found his daughter again, and he saved your life in the process.”
Sticky blinked. She looked down at her body, then back up to Noah. Confusion still gripped her features as she struggled to piece mories back together. “I helped?”
“Yes,” Noah said with a small smile. “You did.”
“Is Wizen coming back?”
“Those who pass from this realm unto the next are not ant to return,” Sievan said. “Wizen is, for better or for worse, at peace. He stole you from the gods themselves at the cost of his own life. A bold man.”
“Why?” Sticky asked, staring at them with wide, watery eyes. “Why would he do that? I’m just… . I can’t do anything. Why would he waste a gift like that on ?”
“A gift isn’t sothing that has to be justified,” Noah said. “What matters is that you’re alive, and you’re wrong about not being able to do sothing. Life has inherent value. And if that isn’t enough — I need your help.”
“?” Sticky blinked.
“Yes. I think you’ve got the key to save every single demon,” Noah replied. “But I just have to figure sothing out first. I know you’re probably confused right now. Coming back from the afterlife is… difficult. I’ve been there. Just relax for a little.”
Sticky nodded slowly. She looked down at her hands, flexing her fingers as if suddenly recalling that she had them.
Noah chewed his lower lip. “I need to figure out what causes demons to determine what they consu. It can’t just be random.”
“I have never considered this,” Sievan said. “It is not sothing we can change, so it did not feel prudent.”
“There has to be a pattern that determines what demons eat,” Noah muttered. “Aylin got Knowledge. Violet beca a Hoarder. Maybe it’s sothing that happens before you reach Rank 3? Demons could be initially partial to so emotion that then becos what they consus.”
“I’m not Rank 3 yet,” Sticky volunteered. “But I don’t really feel like there’s anything I really lean toward. I’m fine with how things are.”
Noah blinked. “Seriously? You wouldn’t change anything? Not even—”
Sticky shook her head. “No. That’s just how life is. It’s okay. And I got to et so really incredible demons because of how I am. Sievan only found because I was broken. I even got to help Wizen. I wish I could do more, but I’m happy. I want to live, but I wouldn’t change anything about myself.”
I —
Wait.
Sievan’s words echoed through Noah’s head. Back when they had first spoken, while ti had been frozen, the Lord of Death had said sothing that stuck in Noah’s mind.
Demons are the runes within them.
“You don’t want anything,” Noah muttered. “Holy shit. That’s it.”
“It is?” Sticky blinked. “Really?”
“Aylin wanted knowledge. Violet wanted to protect her family. Sievan was made of Decras’ desire to die. The feeling or power a demon ends up feeding on is the one that they lack the most. The reason Sticky’s soul doesn’t work properly is because she’s content. She doesn’t long for anything.”
“What does that an?” Sticky asked.
“Demons and their runes are one and the sa,” Noah said, starting to speak faster as excitent gripped him. “But demons are broken. They’re missing sothing. That’s why they consu emotions. They want what they don’t have. But you — you’re not broken at all, Sticky. You’re perfect. The perfect demon is literally right in front of us. You don’t want for anything, and so your soul doesn’t need to bring in a new emotion. I bet that’s why Demons can’t continuously advance either. Your souls are missing a core elent. You can’t fully comprehend your runes when your soul is focused on bringing in sothing that isn’t you. I’ve been looking for a way to make sothing that already exists. Sticky is her rune.”
“What are you saying?” Sievan asked. “Sticky has no runes. That is her problem.”
“Wrong,” Noah said with a laugh. “You told this yourself, Sievan. How could a Demon possibly exist without a Rune? The power we need is within Sticky. It just needs to be freed.”
Just like my Fragnt of Self. I didn’t truly create it. It was a part of my soul that I cut out and re-bound to myself. Decras’ Fragnts don’t work because his desires have corrupted every single demon and forcibly changed them into sothing they don’t truly want to be. But Sticky wants nothing. Her soul is pure — and that ans the energy from her Runes is exactly what every demon would need to make their own Rune.
“Can such a thing even be done?” Sievan frowned. “How would you harness such a power?”
Noah smiled. “Leave that to . Sticky, I’d like to take a quick trip into your soul.”
“Do you an…”
“Yes,” Noah said. His smile grew wider. “I can help you beco what you were always ant to be.”
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