The next day, before the first sun began to rise, Elrith sat up and yawned. He rubbed away the crust in his eyes and turned his head to the side, noticing the blue glow that had been present for the previous nights was missing. Palan, the blue light bulb, wasn’t meditating, but it didn’t seem like he was awake either. Elrith furrowed his brow as the demon’s eyes followed him as he stood up and walked towards the tent flap. “Are you awake?” he asked, hesitating at the exit. There was no response. Elrith muttered and stepped outside, “That’s so creepy. I don’t get why Raea’s so infatuated with him.”

The fire was still smoldering outside, and Elrith collected the dishes that finished drying. He was surprised their tent wasn’t harassed during the night—they were camping in someone’s farm after all. The sky was beginning to turn red, and a rooster crowed off in the distance. Elrith did his stretches as the inhabitants of the tent started to make some noise as they woke up. Cleo was the first one to leave the tent, and she ignored Elrith while picking up the dishes and bucket. Her eyes were still half-closed, and she stood in a daze in front of the fire. Elrith watched as she stepped closer to the embers as if in a trance. His eyes widened as she leaned over and tumbled towards the fire. He let out a shout, and his arm stretched forward as he lunged for her, but he was too late. Cleo fell on top of the fire.

Elrith yanked her tail, pulling her upwards. She let out a yelp as her eyes fully opened, and she began to claw at Elrith. “What are you doing!?” Cleo said. “Let go of me!”

Elrith held his arm out to keep Cleo’s claws from scratching his face. “You fell into the fire!” he shouted back. “I was….” His brow furrowed as he looked at the place where the fire used to be. It was gone. “Did you … store it in your space?”

“Of course,” Cleo said as she struggled to get free.

“What’s going on?” Sally asked as she poked her head out of the tent.

“I’m being bullied,” Cleo said and pouted. “Help?”

Sally shook her head. “He’s scarier than you,” she said and went back inside the tent. “Raea, the sun’s rising and your brother is bullying Cleo.”

Elrith released Cleo and scratched his head before proceeding with his stretches. “I was just trying to help,” he said and sighed. When did he start caring for halflings? If it happened during his time in the army, he wouldn’t have batted an eye. He wondered how the army was doing. They should’ve reached the second sector and united with General Jones by now. He arched his back and craned his neck towards the sky before exhaling. What would General Jones think of him now? Would she hate him for deserting? Regardless, he hoped she was doing well. She was—

“What are you doing?” Raea asked, interrupting his thoughts. “You’ve been staring at the sky for a while now.” She glanced up, but couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. The tent was already packed by Cleo who didn’t bother taking it down, falling on top of it and storing it that way instead.

“I was just thinking,” Elrith said and sighed.

“About your mate?” Cleo asked. “I can recognize that sigh from anywhere. I hear it from Raea all the time when Palan’s gone.” She stiffened when Raea glared at her. “I mean, uh, Sally. Yeah.”

“This prude has a mate?” Palan asked and raised an eyebrow as he returned from emptying his bladder.

“I’m not a prude,” Elrith said and furrowed his brow. Unfortunately for him, General Jones was an archangel of chastity and temperance. “Forget it. I don’t have a girlfriend either.” He summoned his earthen spider and mounted its head. “Are we all ready? If nothing happens along the way, we’ll reach the checkpoint by sundown.”

“How old are you?” Cleo asked as she crawled up one of the spider’s legs. Everyone else boarded as well, and the spider began to run, trampling the crops in its path.

“I’m in my low thirties,” Elrith said. “Why?”

“Dear Elbegon, you’re old,” Cleo said and gasped. Elrith’s eye twitched. “You don’t have a mate yet? What are you even doing?” She turned towards Raea and questioned her with her eyes.

Raea shrugged. “Thirty isn’t that old,” Raea said. “You just think that because lizardmen turn into adults when they’re ten.”

“Thirty is ancient!” Cleo said and turned towards Palan for affirmation.

“A lot of demons don’t live past forty,” Palan said and shrugged. “The ones who do are monsters. Or cowards.”

Raea pursed her lips. “I think you should bring your sister back to Div’Nya after you reunite with her,” she said.

“But he’s a monster,” Sally said under her breath. Cleo nodded in agreement.

“Maybe,” Palan said. “I think she’d like it better here. There’s so much more prey to eat.” He licked his lips.

“And how are you going to get back to Div’Nya?” Elrith asked and snorted. “It’s not as simple as booking a carriage across a sector, you know?”

“The same way I got here,” Palan said. “Obviously.”

“You said you got here by stumbling into a random portal, right?” Raea asked.

“Mhm.” Palan grunted without even thinking about it—lying just came naturally to him. A bolt of lightning split the skies and struck his back before he could take back his statement.

“Of course,” Raea said and sighed. “So how did you really get here?” She sidled closer to Palan and clung onto his arm, not giving him a chance to get away.

“You know that thing about the meat being angel flesh?” Palan asked. “And how I lied to make you feel better?”

“Yes,” Raea said and nodded.

“Wait, what?” Elrith asked.

Palan ignored Elrith’s outburst. “Well, it’s the same concept here,” Palan said to Raea. “It’s better that you don’t know.”

“Really?” Raea asked. “Then I won’t ask about that. But I want you to tell me the truth. You really do have a sister that you want to reunite with, right?”

“Yes,” Palan said. “I do. If archangels try to stop me from reuniting with her, I’ll kill archangels. If archdemons get in my way, then I’ll kill archdemons. If the Creator tries some more bullshit to stop me, then I’ll kill the Creator.”

Raea blinked and bit her lower lip. “And if I tried to stop you?” she asked.

“You wouldn’t,” Palan said.

“But hypothetically.”

“I don’t do hypotheticals.”

“But if you did.”

“I don’t.”

“Just answer the question!”

Palan shook his head and fell silent. Raea snorted and crossed her arms over her chest. She could order him to tell her, but she didn’t. Maybe she was afraid of the answer. The spider traveled in silence.

“What was this angel flesh meat thing?” Elrith asked.

No one answered him.