“I…”
“You… honestly, you oughta be a bit more selfish from time to time,” Maiya said. “You can tell me to wait, y’know?”
“I…” Guilt plugged his words, but he forced through regardless. “Then wait for me, Maiya. Until I return.”
Maiya smiled. And squeezed his hand. “I will. And I have a solution. Maybe. Not like we can be together in the Ash, but maybe we can have the next best thing. When are you leaving?”
“Soon. As soon as possible, I think. I’d rather not endanger the Order any longer than I have to.”
“Okay. One day. I just need a day. Can you give me that?”
“Sure? What are you planning?” Vir asked.
Maiya cracked an impish grin. “You’ll see. Whatever you do, do not leave without me, okay? I’ll never forgive you. We’ll use my Acira. Who knows? Maybe the Kin’jal markings will drive away your pursuers.”
“No way. I won’t put your life at risk. Stay out of this.”
“Too bad. I’m gonna follow you, one way or another. If it comes to a fight, you could use some mejai support. So? What’ll it be?”
Vir was about to retort but then remembered Haymi’s Enhance Speed orb and how much stronger it’d made him in combat.
“You can do support magic now?”
“You bet I can!”
It’d mean getting to fight alongside Maiya, too… a small voice in his head whispered, but he ignored it. Keeping Maiya out of danger trumped any of his selfish desires.
But knowing her, she really would follow me on her own.
If he couldn’t keep her away, he could at least keep her close, couldn’t he? Keep her where he could protect her if needed. In the worst case, he could always force her to flee.
“Alright,” he said.
“I’ll follow you into the Ash if I have to.”
“Alright! By Janak! I swear I won’t leave before you return!”
“Good,” Maiya said, rising from the table. “Now, show me the way out. We’ve got so much to do, and so little time!”
Vir stared at his friend, feeling very much like he’d been conned.
53THE ERA OF DEMONS
Like a monsoon rain, Maiya left as quickly as she’d arrived, racing into the skies on her Acira and leaving Vir with a sudden sense of loneliness.
Forming his resolution, Vir marched to the Tribunal’s audience chamber, where he’d called a meeting. Like Maiya, he had his own preparations to make. Supplies had to be gathered, weapons sharpened.
Most importantly, he had to inform the Order.
At his appointed time, Vir stepped into the audience chamber, empty, except for the three rulers of the Pagan Order.
Vir had meant to broach the topic of his departure immediately, but upon seeing the sight, other words slipped from his mouth.
“Don’t you… have any guards?” Vir asked. “Even if it’s just me, I feel like you should keep some guards around.”
He felt awkward lecturing the leaders of a country, but it had been puzzling him ever since he took their initiation test.
All three rules chuckled. “We have our defenses.”
“Such as?” Vir asked when none volunteered further details.
“Well, you’re aware of the Siphon,” Reth said, as if that explained everything.
“Er, yes?”
“Well, you don’t think that was the only Artifact we found down there, do you?” he said, holding up an orb.
A jet-black orb.
“Ash prana?” Vir asked in shock. The orb was devoid of prana so he couldn’t confirm it, but it was black. Black orbs didn’t exist. He’d thought that was true… until now.
“Don’t get too excited,” Reth said. “We’d have given you one if you could’ve used it. These things don’t do what you’d think. They’re not normal orbs. They’re more like an extension of the Siphon itself. When activated, they suck the life out of anything they’re pointed at. Violently. Quite a painful experience. Or so it seems when we have to use it.”
“I see…” Vir said with disappointment.
“They only work in proximity to a Siphon, though we don’t know why,” Reth continued. “We’ve tried bringing them on our raids, but alas, they only work here.”
“Well, it makes sense why you’d feel safe, with something like that,” Vir said. “May I see it?”
Reth glanced at the others, then shrugged and walked over to Vir, holding the orb in front of him.
“It activates like any other orb, only it works in reverse. But it isn’t just prana it sucks. Rather, perhaps it sucks you so bone dry that it feels that way. Quite the bizarre specimen,” he said.
Vir peered into the orb with Prana Vision, and to his amazement, found trace amounts of every single affinity present. Including Ash.
“I take it not everyone knows of these things?” Vir asked.
“Well, of course not,” Reth said, pocketing it. “Only the Tribunal and a handful of our most devout demon raiders.”
Guess that explains why Reth was so confident I couldn’t hurt Badal back when they tested me.
Even knowing he couldn’t take the orb with him, it heartened Vir knowing that orbs containing Ash prana did exist. Perhaps he’d find more in the Demon Realm. Maybe even in the Ash.
“You have made your decision, then?” Disanna—the black-haired red demon—asked. “Will you stay with us?”
“I’m afraid I can’t,” Vir replied, though even as he said those words, he second-guessed himself. Was he really going to do this?
The Tribunal glanced at one other.
“Can you explain why?” Disanna asked. “Rather, how will you survive this threat on your own?”
“By escaping to a place no one would dare follow,” Vir said, hardening his expression and standing a little taller. “I intend to flee to the Ashen Realm.”
Silence fell across the hall.
“Friend, we admire your consideration for us,” Lord Reth said. “Lives will be lost if you stay, but you need not sacrifice your own life. You’ve proven yourself a trusted brother of our people. You may very well be the one from our legends. We will protect you, Vir. And we are far better suited to the task than you would be, alone. We can deceive your pursuers. We could trick them into following a false trail.”
“I know you would,” Vir replied. “I thank you. I truly do. But I have other reasons I cannot stay. I… never mentioned this, but I believe I was brought to this realm as a child. I think I was born in the Demon Realm.”
A hushed silence followed his words.
“Did Lord Janak tell you this?” Zora asked, her voice even more hoarse than usual.
Vir nodded. “He implied it.”
“For any demon to cross the Ash, let alone while caring for a child… It is inconceivable,” Zora said.
“I have this on good authority,” Vir replied. “At any rate, I believe I can survive. If I’m correct in my assumption, I’ve already braved it once, and that too, as an infant.”
“You would bank your survival on a guess?” Disanna asked.
“I have other reasons to believe I’ll be safe. I possess the same affinity Ash Beasts do. Like them, I’ll be stronger in the Ash. And… I also wish to seek our people. The other demons in the Demon Realm.”
The Tribunal had shown expressions of concern until now, but Vir thought he sensed a subtle shift.
“You truly seek the Demon Realm. Why?”
“Janak told me to go,” Vir admitted. “I wish I could tell you more, but that’s why I need to go. I need to learn who I am. What I am.”
“For centuries, we, too, have sought to reunite with our kin,” Disanna replied. “We’re but an island of demons in an ocean filled with sharks, after all. To establish a line of communication with the Demon Realm would give us an enormous advantage. Even if travel to and from is impossible, we could exchange knowledge, magic, perhaps even weapons that might further our cause.”