ARTIZEA
DEER MEANT FOOD. Food meant a full stomach. That was the plan. Instead, she got a talking bird.
"You are cutting it close," Rhyssand murmured.
"I amnot—" she hissed, fingers twitching, while reluctantly reangling her dagger toward the deer's eye.
"I could lend a hand, if you require my assistance…" he mumbled.
"I do not," she swiftly twisted the dagger, then let it loose. The blade struck, but not true.
The deer bucked, bleeding, crying out in pain. Artizea winced, sprinting forward to finish the job, only to find Rhyssand already kneeling, his hand pressed gently over the creature's eyes.
"Let there be eternal rest," he whispered. The light dimmed, and the deer fell still. "There, it is done," he said upon rising.
"I had it," Artizea grunted while walking past him, bending to collect her dagger.
Rhyssand blinked. "But I did it."
Artizea began to drag the deer by its neck, "I could have done it. Had you not—"
"Done it?"
She dropped the dead weight, then whirled around, stalking back up to him. "I know you have your celestial balance thing, but we humans need to eat—"
Rhyssand folded his arms, "I could tell. that is why I—"
"If you say 'I did it' one. more. time."
Behind them, Eugene and Fin stood perfectly still, watching the exchange. Eugene ever so slowly tilted his head to hear more clearly while Fin mirrored the exact motion.
"Are they always like this?" Eugene whispered.
"Worse," Fin muttered.
"I told you, we have it under control," Artizea spat. "Isn't that right, Eugene?"
Eugene straightened. "Correct as always, sister,"
Rhyssand, gaze shifting to Eugene. "And you are struggling with your casting," he noted, gesturing to the runes Eugene had sketched into the dirt. "Your equation's off—here." He crouched beside Eugene and made a swift correction, his finger drawing an additional rune into the sequence.
Eugene blinked, his irritation melting into curiosity. He murmured the revised spell, and the runes flared to life, creating a stable barrier. He looked up at Rhyssand, surprised. "That…could actually work."
"You are welcome," Rhyssand said with a soft smile. "At least someone is appreciative…"
Artizea watched the exchange, unimpressed. She crossed her arms, lips twitching in a restrained manner. Then, with a slight huff, she turned and walked off. She tore a strip from the edge of her shawl and wrapped it around a nearby stick. A spark flared from her fingertips as she summoned the smallest lick of her inner flame and, voilà—
Fire.
Holding the makeshift torch, she jabbed it into the ground like a banner staked in victory. See? She did not need him. Convincing herself, although they seemed not to notice. She peeked over her shoulder to see the two delved into a quiet discussion, Rhyssand occasionally gesturing to the notes while Eugene scribbled furiously. Artizea watched them from a distance, a small smile tugging at her lips, then snapped back to reality. She cleared her throat. "We will camp here tonight," she said flatly.
EUGENE
The crackling of the fire and the soft hum of crickets filled the air.
Artizea had gone to build the fire, while Eugene sat cross-legged by the flames, furiously still scribbling notes in his spell book.
Rhyssand leaned back against a fallen log, watching the young Prince with mild amusement. "I see you take your craft seriously," he finally said, breaking the silence.
Eugene looked up, "You do not have to pretend to care."
"I am not pretending."
Eugene glanced back at the spell book, "You know, you are not as bad as my sister made you out to be."
Rhyssand raised an eyebrow. "She talks about me?"
"More like," Eugene continued, his hands tracing the lines of a rune. "Plan's your death with the council."
Rhyssand smirked. "Ah…"
"But you did not hear that from me."
Rhyssand chuckled while watching him work, a thoughtful expression crossing his face. "I gather you are different from your siblings," he said finally.
"You mean I am not reckless?"
"Far less," Rhyssand corrected.
"My Big Brother holds that torch right now." Eugene sang. "Arthur the brave, they say—More like pain in my ass to keep healed," he grumbled.
Rhyssand chuckled, "One Question."
"So," Eugene piped up, he was waiting for this exact moment, "How exactly did you know to adjust that rune earlier? In full detail—That was not just common celestial magic."
Rhyssand gave a soft smile. "I have spent many years practicing centuries of spells from ancient times."
Eugene raised an eyebrow. "Centuries?"
He nodded his head, tossing a twig into the fire.
"Can I ask another question?"
"Shoot."
"The runes, you said they were ancient as well—?'
Rhyssand stilled, feeling the presence of another.
Artizea observed the back and forth, thought the conversation was inaudible. It was rare to see her little brother take anyone's advice, let alone thrive under it. "Alright, I am going to cool off," She called. Kneeling to touch the wood made the fire stable. She stood and stretched. "Will you fine, Eugene?" she asked, but was met with silence. She reached over, pulling a strand from his head.
He yelped in response. "Yes—I hear you!"
"Stay aware, and do not wander off," she said, glaring at Rhyssand for a mere second, a silent warning, before walking toward a nearby lake they had passed earlier.
Rhyssand's gaze lingered on her silhouette, then shifted to where Eugene lounged near the fire. It would be a creepy thing to just follow her, right? Stalking, as she called it.Do you all humans find such things repulsive? He thought while relinquishing his weight on his elbow, still shifting back and forth between the clearing and Eugene, who was balancing his book in one hand and the other practicing runes. He never put that book down, did he?
Rhyssand closed his eyes, and when they were opened, His gaze illuminated and tracked her, unhurried, until she vanished behind the trees, then slowly dimmed. Patience, one must have patience. After careful thought, He had given it exactly sixty seconds before rising to his feet. "Keep watch on the prince, Fin," he said dryly, upon shrugging off his coat. "You will answer for his safety," he decreed.
Fin narrowed one beady eye. "Since when was babysitting part of my contract?"
"Since I saved you from those timber-wolves," Rhyssand replied without looking.
Fin sighed dramatically. "Fine—" he muttered, hopping onto Eugene's shoulder.
"Why don't you tell him the story, fin?" Rhyssand called over his shoulder, "I hear humans like those," he sang while disappearing into the woods.
Eugene waved him off without looking up. "Yeah, sure, whatever…"
"Backstory time!"Fin then started to waffle away his life story, "So I was born in a really high tree, like really high. My mother left me there and then came back whenever she felt like it— I never knew her schedule."
Eugene looked up from his book with his eyes twitching uncontrollably.
"Anyway, one day I saw this worm, right? Fat and juicy, the kind that changes a bird—"
Eugene groaned internally. Moments later, he looked as though he had aged twenty years.
"And so," he droned in a poor imitation of Rhyssand's tone, 'you will live as long as I if you pledge your loyalty,' and so I did. Then—"
"Oh, look, seeds!" Eugene exclaimed, pointing across the clearing.
"Where!" Fin's head snapped up, eyes going wide before he darted toward the bushes.
Eugene exhaled in relief, leaning back against the sliced tree trunk. "At last, some peace…"
A beat later, Fin's voice rang out, muffled through the leaves. "Hey—these are not seeds. They are shit pellets!"
"Figures," Eugene mumbled. He then heard rustling. Then Snap. Crunch. Shift. Leaves moved again. Too loud to be the bird. Too purposeful. "Very funny, Fin," Eugene called out, annoyed. "You can come out now."
No answer. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up.
"Rhyssand?" he tried. "Tizea?" Still nothing.
How long had it been? He thought. Eugene knew better than to stray far from the camp, but something had drawn him deeper, a scent, strange and otherworldly, something not quite forest.
"I know you're there." He said, sharpening his gaze onto a specific spot in the darkness. He projected his now glowing hands to light the shadows, but what stepped out of the trees madehis senses pulse beneath his skin.
Then the bushes parted. White hair caught the moonlight. Iridescent pink-and-purple eyes glowing faintly in the darkness. The man's lips quirked. Then his true features were made visible. His fangs glinted beneath the folds of his tanned smile, and his irises were like a serpent's.
A Demon.
Eugene swallowed his fear. Focus, he told himself, he must have been something to draw them near, and perched in one gloved hand?
Fin. Trapped.
The demon's voice came, "You can smell me?"
Eugene's voice finally found itself, but it came out more breath than sound. "I can."
"Interesting. And what do I smell like?"
Eugene's throat dried. "I—"
The demon stepped closer. He loomed above him, like a predator disguised as a man. "Would you like to know what yousmell like?"
Eugene flushed immediately. "I would not—" he snapped, stepping back, tilting his chin up, "Who are you, and what do you want?"
"I am here on behalf of the life you took. It demands justice, and I am compelled to agree," the demon said coldly.
Eugene lowered his hands. "What of the lives you are talking—"
The demon's smile widened, slow and patient. "You are disturbing feeding time."
"You can starve for all I care—"
"We do not feed on flesh nor even on souls. We store them. It is our purpose, princeling. We, who have none, ensure that the dead who do not meet the requirements for the underworld are not lost. That is balance." The demon leaned closer, voice lowering. "That girl was already dead. You merely set free her ghost to wander in search of a body that rotted long ago." He opened his palm. A soul flickered there, glowing faintly, its silent scream twisting in the air. "You did not do her a favor."
Euegene closed his eyes upon hearing the twisted screams. He had been wrong by more than 1 % "I can explain," he finally said.
"Explain? This should be good," he said, amusingly.
"It attacked me."
"That It you are referring to, name was Noah…"The demon stepped forward. "He was barely a boy who wanted to live," his eyes narrowing. "Now he does not have a soul to …for he was killed by a celestial…"
Eugene matched his glare. "He attacked me and my family." With each step he took back, the demon answered with one forward.
"He, she, they." Another step forward, "The Rules are the same for all."
Eugene hurried back, only to be pressed against rough bark; he looked back in confusion, then, when he returned his gaze, their faces inched apart.
The demon's eyes locked onto Eugene's throat. "But…" he murmured, "I am willing to make you a deal."
"What do you want?" Eugene asked cautiously.
The demon gently lifted his hand, then deliberately brushed the center of Eugene's chest, right over his staggering heartbeat, but that is not what interested him. Below it was something even more… delicious. His thumb brushed lower, dangerously near the pulse of His soul.
Ba dum, Ba dum.
"Do you know that when a soul is freed, a life must be given in return?" he whispered with restraint and hunger. "The way it beats. So alive. So… full of life, I could hear it from miles away. It is what led me to find you." His lips almost grazed Eugene's ear, "A soul, for a soul," he murmured. The words were not metaphors.
Eugene flinched under his touch, then scowled, "How dare you—"
The demon's smirk faded.
"I may be a human, but I am nofool," Eugene hissed, regaining the distance, "Do you think it would be remotely possible that I, the second Prince of the realm, would be so easily tricked into giving my essence to someone like you, born withoutone?"
The demon's eyes narrowed. "Well, aren't you a smart one…"
Eugene straightened. "If it is vengeance you sought, you would have taken it up with the Prince of heaven." The man tensed, Eugene saw it, "You cannot, can you? That is why you are here…" he breathed out, "I am sorry for your loss, I truly am, but you will not find justice here." his mind raced as fast as his heart did in that moment, until A low chuckle stilled both.
"And what is Justice? Do you also call extermination justice?" the demon sneered.
"Exile is justice."
"Is it?" the demon asked, amusement curling his lip. "You think that will work?"
"It will," she said.
"It won't," the demon muttered, "The balance is broken."
"Eleborate?" Eugene breathed out, but he was met with silence. "Then help me fix it!" he said sharply. "Surely you do not wish that outcome if we fail—"
The demon smirked while tilting his head, almost amused. "How about this?" he continued. "I let your little talking friend here go…" He raised Fin slightly. "…and in exchange for not killing you and it where you stand—" he paused, letting the moment marinate, "You will give me… yourfriendship." he slowly drew out.
Eugene blinked. "…You wish to be friends?" eyes wide.
The demon's smile deepened, then let a harsh chuckle. "Friends?Gods No. Let us call it what it is. A beneficial alliance.You are the Prince, right? You turn a blind eye to my students… and I will not turn a blind eye when your people stray too close to their deaths. Who knows, I may even guide them the right way, too."
A long silence stretched between them, broken only by Fin's soft, distressed fidgeting. Finally, the man's voice cut through.
"Will you cease attacks on our tribes as well?" Eugen inquired. "They are reports of missing soldiers almost every cycle."
The demon rolled his eyes in boredom, "I cannot stop my students from defending themselves, young pringling. Fate chooses no sides. When it is one's time to go, it is simply their time to go…Though I can most certainly— try…to delay the inevitable."
Eugene was still processing this new knowledge.
"So, what do you say, Eugene Pendragon, second son of the realm?" the demon huffed, "Do we have a deal?"
Eugene hesitated. Then, squaring his shoulders, he extended a hand.
The demon looked at the hand with mild disgust. "Is this some kind of human jester?"
"We call it Shaking hands with the devil,"
The demon chuckled, "Very well." Then extended his free hand.
Eugene withdrew his hand ever so slightly, "Let the bird go first."
The Demon's gaze flicked to Fin, still in his grasp, "Do you even know what this is?"
"He." Eugene corrected.
The demon hummed, "Very well," he said, with a slight smirk. Then obliged the request; the instant he let go, fin fluttered weakly to Eugene's shoulder. "Happy?" he said, extending his hand.
Eugene did not reply, lowering his hand to meet his. They shook once. In that moment, Magic crackled, responding to the contract being made. When the deal was set, the man's grin turned wolfish. "I hope you know that if you break any part of this contract…" His thumb grazed the side of his hand, tracing the vein that fluttered beneath his skin. "I will take what is owed." He whispered, pulling back slowly.
"I won't," Eugene said firmly. "And may our paths never cross again, for anything."
The demon smiled, then almost reluctantly parted into his own shadow.
"Well, that was dumb," Fin hissed.
"I know…" Eugene confessed. Still, how fascinating the field is, he thought.