Jolted awake by the sound of something hard striking the front door, Derzina rolled out of her bed and was surprised to find that it was morning. It felt like she’d closed her eyes just a moment ago, but apparently the night had passed her by. The banging continued with considerable urgency, and she hurried out of the room to see what the fuss was about.

By the time she left her room, Mostanto was already opening the front door. He was wearing his armour and his sword, though she assumed he must’ve taken them off during the night. The moment the door opened it was forced wide by a gauntleted hand and a soldier in Inea’s colours stormed in, closely followed by three of his fellows.

“What seems to be the trouble?” Mostanto asked, making no move to oppose them.

“We have come to search this building,” the leader said, “on the order of Lady Inea. I swear if you make trouble this time, she will hear of it and see that you are executed for obstructing her servants.”

Mostanto raised his hands. “You’ll find no trouble from me; I would never dream of defying Inea’s will. Assuming this is actually her will, of course.”

“I am a Paladin in the service of Lady Inea, do you doubt my word?” the Paladin asked, hand resting on his sword hilt.

“I know well who you are, Temius, and I don’t doubt your word. I merely find myself confused as to why Lady Inea would wish to violate the sanctuary of Lord Xanathel, her loyal ally.”

“It is not my place to guess at her reasons nor is it yours, I merely serve her will. Temple or not, this building is within her city and she has every right to do as she wishes with it.”

“Is that right?” Mostanto asked, tilting his head as Derzina continued to watch from the top of the stairs. “Because the last time I checked Brtet was under the protection of three gods, of which Inea is but one.”

“Your joke is in remarkably poor humour,” Temius said, “you and I both know the city would have fallen years ago if it weren’t for Inea. Much as we all appreciate Gorthar’s charity, it does little to keep us safe from our true enemies. Your lord on the other hand is far too busy skulking in the shadows and scheming to do anything to protect us. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was in league with the very demons who seek to destroy us all.”

“That’s quite the allegation. I don’t suppose you have any evidence to support it?”

“Not yet,” Temius said, brushing past him, “though perhaps we’ll find just that in here.”

“Even if we were involved in such a ridiculous thing, which of course we’re not, we’d never leave something so terribly incriminating for the likes of you to find.”

“Good, then you should have no problem with us searching the place.”

He walked past Mostanto, and his men fanned out behind him. Shaking his head, Mostanto looked up at Derzina and went to meet her.

“Do you see what we have to deal with?” he asked.

“Do they frequently search your temples then?” Derzina asked, watching as the soldiers scoured the ground floor.

Disrespectful as it was to invade such sacred places, it confused her more than anything. Why would they waste their time raiding a building with so little in it?

Sighing, Mostanto sat down on the stairs. “From time to time, despite Xanathel’s protests. But their harassment continues far beyond that, they’re always making life difficult for the servants of Xanathel.”

“Why? I can hardly imagine them going to such lengths for no good reason.”

“Then you know little of their nature, their paranoia towards us knows no bounds.”

“Paranoia founded on? You must have done something.”

There had to be some kind of reason, even if it wasn’t a good one. The only other explanation was that they were completely mad, which didn’t fit what she’d seen of them so far. They seemed unpleasant and arrogant, but also of relatively sound mind.

“I cannot begin to list all the imagined slights and crimes they accuse us of, but there is no truth to any of it. We wish only to be left alone.”

Mostanto had been honest with her so far, and she trusted him more than Inea’s servants, but she felt sure he was leaving something out. This just didn’t add up, yet she had no idea what he might be hiding nor did she wish to interrogate him on the subject with so little to go on.

“Then I shall leave you to your solitude. Good luck with being searched, and thank you for your hospitality.”

“Any time. Hopefully we’ll see you again before you leave our city for good, assuming your meeting with Araveena goes well. Goodbye.”

Stopping at the door to wave to him, Derzina left the temple behind. Her stay had been pleasant enough, but it was a relief to leave the city’s problems behind and focus on the more pressing issue of Meztraxia. If everything went well, he might be defeated soon.

On the way, Derzina wondered what Araveena was like. If she was similar to Erstanos then it may be difficult to get her to cooperate. But surely she’d be more helpful than that if she was working with the humans.

Assuming she really was working with them; for all Derzina knew Araveena was only aligned with Inea. And if they were similar, then this meeting might go rather poorly. Derzina shook off her worries, and decided she’d just have to be careful. Whatever the wizard was like, Derzina still needed their help.

After a considerable amount of walking and a few wrong turns, Derzina reached the outer wall and was carried over it by Atasimon’s shadows. From there it wasn’t long before she was back at Araveena’s tower. Though it looked the same as last time she’d seen it, its simplicity was refreshing after the visual ordeal that was Brtet’s architecture.

Spying the mechanical bird she’d spoken to last time in the window, Derzina called out to it.

“It’s me again, is Araveena back yet?”

“The master has returned. Would you like me to fetch her for you?”

“Please,” Derzina said, and the bird flew inside.

She was drawing circles in the dirt with her foot when the tower’s door opened and a short woman wearing a light blue robe stepped out.

“You’re Atasimon then?” she asked, looking Derzina over.

“In a manner of speaking. My name is Derzina, but Atasimon dwells within me. Are you Araveena?”

“I am. Inea warned me about you, she told me you were most disrespectful.”

Derzina flinched as if struck, what had Inea said about her? If she’d poisoned Araveena against them, then coming here might have all been for nought.

“I don’t know what she told you, but I intended no disrespect. Though my word likely doesn’t mean much to you, I swear I did not mean to insult her.”

“Few mean to,” Araveena said, speaking softly, “and yet it’s practically a daily occurrence. Why do you think that is?”

“I’m afraid I’ve only just arrived in the city and have little insight to offer on such a matter.” She had almost no knowledge of Inea, so it seemed best to answer diplomatically.

“I appreciate your tact, but humour me for a moment and tell me your impression of Inea. Be honest, I will not hold it against you, nor repeat what you have said to anyone.”

Derzina took a moment to breathe and organise her thoughts, trying to process all that she had seen within Brtet. “From my meeting with her, it seemed as if she were looking for a reason to be offended. I know my manners aren’t perfect, and maybe things are even more different here than I supposed, but I’ve never had someone take such offense at my words.”

“And what do you think of how she governs the city? From what you saw.”

That was a subject Derzina had a more definite opinion on and she decided to speak her mind without any regard to etiquette. “Everywhere I looked,” Derzina said, looking into Araveena’s dark eyes, “there was naught but waste. From the buildings and statues to the gardens. Even the soldiers seem to spend more time accommodating her whims than doing anything productive.”

Araveena smiled, her eyes brightening with humour. “It’s refreshing to hear frank speech for once. Between Inea and the sycophants she calls her advisors, I’d almost forgotten what it sounds like. Come, let us speak further inside.”

Derzina followed her into the tower to a room just beyond the door. Small and dusty, it contained an ancient looking set of two wooden chairs with a matching table.

“Sorry,” Araveena said, dusting off the chair closest to Derzina with her robe, “I’m afraid I don’t get many visitors these days, and I’ve let the place become a bit of a mess.”

“If I may continue to speak honestly,” Derzina said, sitting down, “I don’t mind at all. I’ve travelled a long way to get here; a little dust is of no concern to me.”

“From where have you come?” Araveena asked eagerly, taking the other chair.

“I travelled here from Ortesion. You may not have heard of it; it’s a city to the south. Or at least it was.”

“I’ve heard of it, though my business has never brought me that far south. What do you mean by ‘was’?”

“It fell, along with Ortesia and all the people who lived there, at the hands of a Demon Lord named Meztraxia and his army.”

“That’s terrible news. How was he able to breach the city’s defences?”

“From what Erstanos told us, Meztraxia stole the power of a device called the Heart of Imistala. He also said that depriving Meztraxia of its strength would require someone with a great deal of expertise with magic and suggested that you would be suitable for such a role.”

“Did he now?” Araveena asked, amused. “I suppose it’s a reasonable choice, though I wish he’d just done it himself. Especially when it’s his creation that’s causing the problem in the first place, but I suppose it would be too much to ask for him to take any responsibility.”

Derzina had a little trouble following Araveen’s outburst, but it seemed she was familiar with Erstanos. Hopefully that would work in their favour, it certainly made convincing her about the heart’s importance easier.

“Are you willing to help us then? If left unchecked, he—“

“I understand,” Araveena interrupted, “I’ll do what I can to help. Though I think Erstanos has rather overstated the simplicity of removing the heart.”

“How do you mean?”

“Though I’m sure I can unravel his magic, it will take time and my complete concentration. I assume you can imagine the difficulty that would entail, especially when we’re dealing with a Demon Lord.”

Derzina was all too familiar with how dangerous Meztraxia could be, she’d never expected this to be easy no matter what she was told.

“I can imagine, but are you willing to try despite that?”

Araveena fidgeted in her chair, tugging at the sleeve of her robe. “Is it truly of such importance that we deprive him of the heart? It would require me to take a terrible risk.”

“If he is not stopped, there is no doubt in my mind that more cities will fall by his hand while he only grows all the more powerful. It will be a terrible blow to humanity if he is allowed to continue, he might even wipe us out entirely by the time it’s all over.”

“I see,” Araveena said, spending a few moments inspecting Derzina before sighing. “Then I suppose I will do my part. Though the question of how we are going to contain him long enough for me to work still remains. We’d need quite a lot of help to manage it, unless you have far more resources than I assume.”

Derzina was about to say she had no idea what they should do, when Atasimon spoke in her place. “I can lure him here. Myself and the three gods of this city are probably our best chance of stopping him.”

“Lure him?” Araveena asked. “As in get him to attack the city?”

“Precisely.”

“If he’s as dangerous as you say, we’ll be putting a lot of people at risk.”

“I realize that, but it’s still preferable to alternative. He’s a danger to humanity so long as he has the heart.”

“Inea will never agree to this,” Araveena said, biting her lip.

“Probably, though you’d know better than I. But I don’t mean to ask for her permission. Best that they fight to defend their city without knowing what brought Meztraxia here.”

“I really don’t like that idea.”

“Neither do I, yet it is the best way I can conceive and thus it is what we shall do. It’s quite possibly the only way.”

Rubbing her forehead, Araveena looked down at her feet. “I don’t know, I can’t agree to something like this without spending more time thinking about it.”

“As you wish,” Atasimon said, standing up. “But whatever you decide, he’s on his way.”