The air fell heavy once more, the crackling and spitting seemed to increase with the tension. I stood before those I cherished, respected and called family. I was proposing something unthinkable to achieve something I had wasted aeons on fruitlessly pursuing.
"What makes you think it will work?"
"It is working, look at the people here... They stand in defence of dwarf and demon alike, they did something few had done before and stood in my defence and the defence of my family. As for why I think it will work though..." I conjured a mirror behind me. "For everything reflected here. Us together, preparing to eat and laugh, I think it will work because we have reason to make it work."
I then got a message from Eve, requesting my presence for an infusion. "Eve needs me, use the orb, then think it over. If it isn't unanimous by the morning, I will put it to rest." I then left and returned to my wife.
As I administered the infusion I told her what we were discussing and she told me she had done the same with the ladies. We had both told everyone to think about it, now we just had to wait, since we were no longer human ourselves we had no right to force our idea into motion, however neither of us could tolerate the idea of bringing children into a world that might persecute them for being different.
"There was a question I couldn't answer. What will we do if it doesn't work?" Eve asked after the initial jolt passed.
"If it doesn't work then we will simply leave the humans to their own devices. We have our world here, where we can bring those who wish to live our way and one day we will have the Domain of Black. There was a saying in my original era. "Home is where the heart is." My home is you, our children, our immortal family."
"What about our mortal family?"
"They are mortal, I will cherish every moment of their lives, but when they are gone we can carry their memories with us where we go."
"What of their children, their children's children?"
"If we fail, there will come a time when those descendants are not counted amongst their predecessors. Most importantly though, we will do what we both decide makes us happiest, my only fear is that one day you will decide eternity is too long to spend with me."
"Do you really fear that?"
"Of course I do. Don't you fear the same of me?"
"I do. I fear you will get bored of me, that you have nothing of interest to learn from me. We can make whatever we want and I fear that will one day devalue what we have."
"Personally I fear you will hate me one day, you are so young and enjoy learning, I see you disappointed when I already know what you wanted to tell. For what it's worth being able to make anything we want makes finding you in the chaos of random chance even more valuable."
"For what it's worth every touch of disappointment will make the moment I truly teach you something even sweeter. Also, I think calling me young is a bit redundant, our daughter already tried calling me the g-word. Anyway, we best get back to the others, if we don't they'll start thinking we're using the other infusion method."
With that we cut the break short and after a proper goodbye we returned to our groups.
Mine were drooling by the time I got back, the almost ready meat blackened on the surface and emitting an aroma of deliciousness. "Whose ready for lunch?" I asked with a chuckle to silent nods of appreciation.
I then produced a few small kegs of various drinks, which the dwarves were most interested in, followed closely by, well, everyone else. I couldn't hide the sadness I felt in that moment, I had made it clear that I was not a given, they could accept or reject me as they saw fit.
"Adam, don't look glum, it makes people nervous when those with power are unhappy." Tyrland said as he took a gulp from a mug, then immediately bit into a boar leg the size of his head.
"Sorry, I have hardly switched off lately, trying to preemptively tackle issues and deal with things is exhausting me."
"Adam, you're an idiot."
"Thank you, you're a good friend."
"You are. Humans aren't a problem, they're a tragic possibility. Think of the worst case, what happens?"
"I kill them all?"
"Nope, you won't need to. My friend, I can't speak for the humans present, but those of us that aren't are almost certainly on your side. If they reject it, we will take in the humans who don't, you can carve the land away and we can forget them. Wall them in like you did to stop the war. Or even invite everyone else to The Garden.
The worst case scenario would be that we have to cut ties with all the humans you like.
You only have two main problems, the first is that stalker of yours, the second is reclaiming what memories you have left to restore."
"Actually I think I managed to put a temporary hold on the stalker issue."
"Okay, so your two main problems are recovering memories and raising children."
"Shouldn't have raising children been in that anyway?"
"What? No. Raising kids isn't a problem in itself, I just phrased it poorly. The problem is you are gonna mess up and blame yourself for not foreseeing the issue even after all this agonising. So if you stop agonising it won't be an issue."
We both laughed after that, the wisdom of an experienced father a wonder to behold.
"Hey, sorry to interrupt, but after what I saw in the orb, figured it was time for introductions." The young man said as he approached. "My name is actually one I'd rather leave in the past, I won't hide it, but I go by something different now."
"Does this abandoned name have anything to do with that group of sour-faced failures that were at the guild that day?"
"Yes and no. I am a survivor of Carago. A kingdom wiped out by the demons... Oh! Don't worry, your highness, that place deserved it..."
"Wait. Carago? Where have I heard that before?"
"It was actually where Babylon grew up and where she was... Well, I'd rather not think about it, but that stuff was commonplace in Carago. Babylon told me she left after it happened, her parents took her and fled to the place she calls her hometown."
"Boy, you and I will have words lat-"
"Don't worry... Astrael already handled it. I also asked her to rip through every thought in my head to make Babylon feel safer. The point is, most places new the stuff that happened there so they don't trust us."
"I hear no accent, nor see a trait. So how did they know?"
"I was actually the son of a woman who suffered similar to Eve, I spent my whole life trying to see that place wiped off the map. So when the demon army began marching, I-"
"You're the one who killed the lookouts, aren't you? intercepted scouts heading back to warn them. Even left packs of intelligence for my people to find."
"I also jammed the portcullis' after I got the children out. I was glad your men didn't encircle us or I never would have been able to lead them to safety."
"That is why we didn't. We knew someone there was helping us, we wanted to see if they would continue to do so. That doesn't answer Adam's question though, how did those lads know your origins?"
"Well I told them, one of them picked on one of the kids not long before we left and I stepped in. Then him and his group decided I wasn't worthy of joining and tried to slow me down, thinking they would get away with it for stopping a Carago dog slipping through the cracks."
"Well, it seems I have a soul who understands. I thought I recognised the way you were working the adventurers whilst blending in, exactly how I used to gather information before I glassed a place."
"Luckily I don't think I'm as far gone as you were."
"Luckily? It might be good to know you were rash and did a horrible thing. Lucky though? No, I can tell by the look in your eyes, the only luck you see in this is meeting someone who came back from a far worse place. Do you have a name in mind? If not I would make a suggestion."
"I did, but I think it was a bit boring to be honest."
"Then call yourself Lucifer, the angel who fell because he refused to accept humanity's flaws, a figure in the same religious text my name came from. One condemned, for only doing what he thought was right."
"Sounds kind of girly."
"Maybe, but so does the one you picked. Oh, I can read minds too by the way and I know better than to trust someone like I used to be. I take it Kriel has been training you, but don't be afraid to tell him you want to focus on stealth combat, he prefers a straight fight but he can also sneak snacks from a god's larder."