“How—” I paused, feeling Nora’s and Relias’s eyes on me. “Thoughtful… Yes. That pouch was exactly what I was looking for. We can put your brother’s eye in—”

  “Explain something to me first,” Oliver said slowly, drawing it closer to his chest. “Where did you encounter the Blight encased within?”

  “Blight? You mean Ereborite?”

  “Blight,” he repeated, then tilted his head. “You did seal the exposed area after removing the gross bioburden, correct?”

  “The… what?”

  Nora frowned. “You’re saying it’s not an ore… but living matter?”

  “Remnants of,” Oliver clarified. “My father’s blood, to be precise.”

  The blood… of Epiales?

  My stomach lurched.

  Ugh! I put that stuff in my mouth!

  “Any traces of his blood should have been rendered inert with Epiales’s passing,” Relias objected, even as he began to ring his hands. “And this substance is not the same color, nor composition as that we encountered in his throne room…”

  Oliver’s eyes flashed, pinning Relias in place as he drew himself up and recited,

  Upon my wastes

  I have cast Blight everlasting,

  born of my degenerate form,

  sanctified in Purpose.

  Within my blood flows power

  against the petty arcanic manipulations of mortals and kin alike,

  bending the land to my favor,

  wherever it hath spilled and gathered.

  Yet the unworthy,

  who bear or dare to draw from it,

  shall be stilled in will,

  their forms fixed in finality,

  and their silence offered to the void.

  For none but I

  shall remain to witness the end of all things,

  and what is owed to me

  shall be rendered in full.

  “Never have I encountered such desecration spoken or written!” Relias said with a gasp.

  “It was a one-time warning to other demons considering using it against him,” Oliver replied in a more casual tone. “I doubt any would go about sharing it for your benefit.”

  What exactly did Raela see in Epiales, anyway?

  “So putting your brother’s eye in the pouch as it stands…” I trailed off with a shudder.

  “Future negotiations would be impossible, to say the least,” he said with a flippant toss of his hair. “So I find myself requesting you remove all traces of it first—carefully, of course. You'd be just as susceptible to prolonged exposure as it would.”

  “And if the holy seal on the pouch breaks?” Relias asked pointedly.

  Oliver’s tone went cold. “Do you have so little faith in your Goddess?”

  “Would it be that you alone bear responsibility for the risk...” Relias clenched his fists. “Yet the risk extends to all of us.”

  I cleared my throat. “I’ll keep an eye on it… Uh. No pun intended.”

  And no need to mention that I didn’t realize I had lost the pouch once already.

  Oliver turned his gaze to Nora.

  “What do you want from me?” she asked, puffing her cheeks.

  “Your vote.”

  Nora blinked a few times. “If Rae says she can handle it, that’s all I need to hear.”

  Oliver nodded. “Then the vote is two for, and one against.”

  “You’re not counting your own vote?” I asked.

  Oliver shook his head. “I merely proposed the motion. It is the Order that has the final say.”

  After exchanging some dubious glances, Relias dumped out the pouch slowly, collecting the powder in a glass flask. After summoning a light to work by, Nora rinsed the pouch out in water with gloved hands, then boiled off the liquid until only grains remained. I wasn’t really any help, since I was still holding the eye, but I did manage to take a seat on the ground without using my hands.

  “Not sure that cork top is going to suffice,” I admitted as they added the last remnants to the vial. “Aren’t they a bit porous by nature?”

  “I’ll seal and transmute the flask into tempered glass,” Nora advised, lighting up her hands with a blue flame. “That way it can’t break by accident.”

  And so, the conversation shifted away from prophetic dooms and ancient curses to the physical properties of superheated glass, with both Relias and Oliver at full attention. You might question why Nora knew so much about it, but the answer is a bit pedestrian. Glass-on-glass mosaics had captured her attention one summer, and I’m happy to say I am the owner of her pièce de resistance—a large rainbow unicorn that is still decorating my bedroom window, with Chester reaping the benefits of its colorful display every sunny morning.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Or so I fervently wish.

  “It is not that I do not trust in your skill, Lady Nora,” Relias said hesitantly. “But would you allow me to bless the glass, to strengthen the enhancements you’ve already placed on it?”

  “Knock yourself out,” she said, tossing him the finished orb.

  He caught it in a fluster, placing a golden glow upon it before offering it back to her.

  “You blessed it, you bear it,” Nora declared, refusing the orb. “My pack’s already too heavy.”

  His acknowledging smile was a bit strained as he turned to store it, and I was a bit proud of myself that I didn’t mention to anyone that he subtly blessed it a second time once it slipped past the opening of his pack.

  Nora then held open the cleansed pouch expectantly.

  “Um… It’s going to be a tight fit,” I murmured, comparing the size differences.

  “Just twist,” Oliver instructed. “If it’s smart, it won’t resist.”

  Sure enough, just a little light pressure caused their eye to shrink to a more manageable size, and I tried to ignore the implications that it was somehow sentient while still being detached from the General.

  “I’m sorry,” I muttered as I stuffed the eye in the pouch. “Sleep well.”

  Nora yanked the strings shut just as I caught Oliver giving me a strange look.

  Well, what else can a closed eye do to pass the time?

  We ultimately decided not to return to town. Oliver advised that demons skilled in possession usually ensure their victims follow standard sleep cycles to ensure optimal physical health, especially when performing long-term tasks for their Masters. Given the low risk of his untimely death, we convinced ourselves he wasn’t our problem.

  “Will he remember anything at all?” I asked.

  “Most likely not,” Oliver replied. “Dolus will, though.”

  Relias exhaled loudly. “We will have to go through Fort Turri. I cannot foresee a way to avoid it at this point.” He glanced at Oliver. “Unless you know of another undisclosed portal we can utilize?”

  Oliver shook his head.

  Although it was against my instincts, we made camp in the clearing, rather than risking nighttime travel. Oliver was confident there were no other demons in the region and that the General wouldn’t be in any condition to send troops to our location for a long time. Relias blessed our tiny tents and surrounded them in a magic circle, while Oliver claimed a tall tree well outside the perimeter.

  “You will need to call out to us, should communication be necessary,” Relias shouted rather awkwardly. “The ward is attuned to all demons, and—”

  “I’m well aware of the specifics,” Oliver replied from his perch in the treetop. “I’ve traveled with you before.”

  “I…” Relias faltered.

  “Don’t bother with night watch. I can oversee everything myself.”

  Sleep came in fits and starts, and I had a hard time gauging how much time had passed since I had awoken last. With the surrounding area so dark, and only a tiny sliver of the moon hanging in the sky, I could only say there were still several hours remaining before daylight. Despite rationalizing the need to return to sleep, my body demanded a different action.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” Oliver asked the instant I crossed Relias’s barrier.

  “Don’t scare me like that!” I twitched angrily. “At least have the decency to show yourself first!”

  His form coalesced slowly. “Relias placed that circle on the ground for a reason, you know.”

  “Didn't you say this area was clear? And I’ll be back shortly, so it’s no big deal.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “Answering the call of nature,” I snapped.

  Oliver cocked his head to one side and listened for a moment. “That owl isn’t talking to you.”

  “What?”

  “Unless you’re after the mice she’s stalking. Then she has many unflattering things to say.”

  I groaned. “No, that’s not what that means…”

  “Another saying from the next world?” he sighed.

  “It should be pretty obvious!”

  He frowned. “Well, to me, it is not. Just tell me what you’re up to.”

  I really didn’t want to, but it was just taking too long, and I really had to go.

  “Ah! Oh. Ugh!” He went from enlightenment to disgust in a flash. “I did not wish to hear about your bodily functions!”

  “That’s why I said call of nature!”

  His form flickered for a moment, then solidified. “The area is still clear. You have three minutes to return.”

  “You’re going to time me?”

  “Would you rather I accompany you outright?”

  Unable to come up with the proper retort, I spluttered and ran off with my face flaming. While it’s no one else's business, I returned well within the time limit.

  “You performed the proper ablutions afterwards, correct?”

  “Did you really just ask me that?”

  “It’s just that you were so quick about it,” he answered, leaning against the trunk of the tree he had staked out. “I don’t know if you know this, but improper hygiene causes many human ailments.”

  “I do know that, thank you very much!”

  “... I’m only making sure you stay healthy,” he said in a defensive tone. “The less you need to rely on others for physical fitness, the better. I believe our upcoming journey will also be strenuous, so you’d do well to—” He stopped, then looked up. “Aren’t you going to take a seat?”

  I glanced longingly at my tent, then back down at him. “I suppose I will…”

  “As I was saying…”

  “Take care of myself, don’t get sick,” I reiterated. “But that’s not what you want to talk about, is it?”

  He shrugged. “I’m open to other topics. I won’t apologize for stealing that pouch, however. It was a matter of personal safety.”

  You won’t talk about something you bring up, huh?

  “Alright… I can accept that.”

  “The fact that you didn’t notice for some time also lends credence to the idea that you weren’t the mastermind behind it, either.”

  I cleared my throat uncomfortably.

  “Well then, what do you wish to talk to me about?”

  It didn’t take me long to answer. “You… actually care for your brother, deep down, don’t you?”

  Oliver sighed. “You’re supposed to work your way up into more sensitive conversations, not just shoot them out of the sky.”

  “Saves time, though.”

  “Just because I care for him does not mean I forgive him,” Oliver muttered, settling into a petulant slouch. “However, I’ll give him a bit of credit; he’s not going along with whatever Zizi wants.”

  “Zizi, huh? That’s an interesting nickname for someone who wants you dead.”

  Oliver kicked up one leg over the other. “I’d rather not destroy either one of them, but if they don’t acknowledge that Father’s ways were detrimental to us…”

  “Not entirely related, but the General knows something’s wrong with Naught,” I advised. “And that it’s affecting his children, so I can’t help but hope he might come around someday. Um… Speaking of children—”

  “None.”

  “Ah…” I fell silent.

  “You’re not going to ask why?”

  I scratched my cheek, remembering how he shut down Nora's inquiries. “Would it be considered rude if I did?”

  “Incredibly so.”

  “Well, now I simply have to.”

  He rewarded me with a smirk that slowly faded into a more serious expression. “Creating a subordinate isn’t particularly hard. If you ensure it has significantly less power than you do, you’re almost guaranteed it won’t absorb you the moment it gains sentience. However, I find the idea of creating something cursed to the same fate as myself abhorrent. That’s why I prefer recruiting other demons to my faction.”

  I moved closer to lean against the tree trunk. “And Amos is Aziza’s creation?”

  Oliver nodded. “We met when I was researching Naught in Zizi’s Cauldron. He was trying to teach others to assume a full human form, but he was failing miserably. It wasn’t his fault; he grasps the nature of human eyes better than others. I don’t believe that it is a skill that can be taught.”

  “Can you tell if he’s…?”

  “No. But he is a survivor, highly adaptable to situations as required.” He sighed and looked up at the stars. “Well, they haven’t changed. One of the few true constants in this world.”

  I frowned and followed his gaze. “That makes no sense. Constellations are supposed to drift with the seasons… And…”

  None of the stars had moved a single inch since we arrived in Speranza.

  “Nora..!”

  Book 4 is written, on to Book 5! (I'm going to post twice a week on RR for a little bit. Here's to hoping work and health play along with me nicely for a while.)

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