Waiting near Yurielius’s border, I stood beside Elmidath.

“That was some quick thinking. I was starting to think we’d have to turn around and, well, I’m not even sure what. Head off to the capital again and hope the demons there would hear us out instead?”

“Thank you, and yes, I’m not sure what I’d do either. Somehow after our meeting with Erstanos I assumed everything else would just fall into place. I mean we’d already done the hard part of finding a way to defeat the Ortisfel, though I can’t exactly claim much credit for that.”

I grinned. “Sure you can. It’s not like anyone else knows that we met with him, and I doubt he’ll tell many people. The truth can be whatever you want it to be.”

“So, I can lie as much as I want? Great. Is that meant to be encouraging?”

“Amusing, mostly.”

“Well, you’ve failed on both counts.”

Despite what she said, her tone sounded at least a little amused.

“Also, I have to say, everything I’ve learnt about Soarister and his servants since we started working with them has only made me gladder that I’m not bound to him anymore. It sounds like a terrible way to live.”

“While I’d hardly choose it for myself, Yuriel doesn’t seem to mind it much.”

She had a point there, Yuriel seemed quite content with the various horrors enfolding around her. Still, that didn’t mean I’d be any happier about them in her position.

“Yuriel isn’t like us. I had an inkling about that since I met her, but that sense has gotten a whole lot stronger lately.”

While my morals certainly differed with Elmidath’s at times, I could still more or less understand. She could be merciless, but she lived in a merciless world and was at least somewhat aware that some of the things she did were wrong, even if she considered them necessary. Yuriel, on the other hand, seemed to have little concept of morality at all. At least as I understood it.

“I did try to warn you about them. It’s that very difference in values that makes them so untrustworthy. You never know what they might do to serve their lord.”

“I regret it enough already, trust me. Besides, what else were we supposed to do?”

“I know, I know, I’m just saying.”

Her ‘just saying’ sounded a whole lot like ‘I told you so’, but whatever. It was hard to even be annoyed about something like that when there were far more important things happening.

“So, are you looking forward to going back underground?”

“Ugh. I’m already dreading the thought of it. You’d think we’d have been down there enough for one lifetime, and yet here we are again.”

“Hopefully this time will be the last.”

“I’m sure it will be, one way or the other. At least we can look forward to that much.”

“Hurray.”

“Do you think Yuriel will join us down there this time?”

Elmidath stared toward Yurielius. “I imagine her or one of other Soarister’s servants will come along. Though I really have no idea what sort of forces they intend to muster.”

“Speaking of Yuriel, she’s taking a while.”

“There’s probably a lot to discuss. I can’t imagine situations like this come up often for them, I’ve never heard of Soarister’s forces leaving their territory.”

That didn’t speak favourably of our chances, but I still had a good feeling about this.

“Then we’ll be making history in more ways than one.”

“Aren’t we always making history? I mean that’s technically what living is.”

“I mean making history that people would actually care to remember, not our string of failures that have largely failed to impact the outside world.”

Elmidath gave me a wry smirk. “Hey, speak for yourself. I’ve ruined at least three holdings, I’m sure just how incredibly I managed to screw it all up is memorable enough.”

I rolled my eyes. “You can hardly take all the credit for that. Some of that was at least as much my fault as yours.”

“Oh please, even if that’s true, no one remembers the servants. They remember the leaders, that sort of responsibility comes with the role.”

“Are you even still a leader? I guess you could technically say you’re leading me, but I don’t know if that’s enough to count.”

I worried that I’d gone too far as the Demon Lord’s expression soured. “I do still have a few subjects left. At least until they either die or swear themselves to someone else.”

“It’s okay, we’ll get them back eventually. And far more beyond that.”

“I know you’re just saying that to cheer me up, but I suppose that may actually be a real possibility if we’re successful here. It’s still hard for me to believe.”

“Yeah, it still hasn’t really sunk in for me yet.”

I looked out across the barren landscape, wondering how it would look covered by Yurielius, or some other creation of Soarister. Them taking up more space wouldn’t be all that bad I suppose, it’s not like anyone was using it right now. The only problem was that how long would it be before they wished to expand into the demons’ territory? Or the humans for that matter. Giving Soarister more power was far from a perfect solution, but I’d still much rather him than the Ortisfel.

Eventually, when the suns were low in the sky and I’d long ago sat down to rest, Yuriel returned.

“Soarister has approved your plan. We will begin preparations immediately.”

I shot to my feet. “Great. What do you need us to do?”

“For now? Nothing. I will summon you when you are needed.”

“Oh okay.”

I was a little disappointed to be put on standby again, but I could hardly complain about avoiding work. Nor did Elmidath look too fussed about it, she hadn’t even gotten up. Instead, she merely stared at Yuriel as the cloud of leaves departed.

“Looks like we’ll be sleeping under the stars for one more night. It almost makes me want to sleep beneath Yurielius’s branches again.”

I shivered at the suggestion. “You do remember what that thing did, right?”

“Oh, I know, and that’s why I’m sleeping out here. Though one can hardly be too picky about remaining in the company of murderers out here, unless you wish to spend a lot of time alone.”

She was right about that, in some ways there was no great difference between myself and Yurielius in terms of our crimes. And even less of a difference between those of it and Elmidath. Yet its offenses were still distinctly worse, we had killed only our enemies or those that were unavoidable. And worse still, it was utterly inhuman. For all we knew, it could kill us as we slept simply to fuel its constant growth. With that in mind, I surreptitiously took a few steps away from its border before laying down to sleep.

The next day we were greeted by considerably altered landscape. I’d half expected Yurielius to grow past us while we slept, but it had done quite the opposite. Not only had its borders shrunk, large portions of it were withered and lifeless. Thinking that this surely must be the work of the Ortisfel, I leapt up and hurried over, shouting for Yuriel.

Elmidath, who’d still been sleeping, looked at me with annoyance. “What’s going on?”

I gestured towards the dead foliage. “Something terrible happened, though I’m not sure what yet.”

It was a while, and several more shouts, before Yuriel finally arrived. She leafy form drifted slowly towards us; she must too have been stricken by whatever the Ortisfel had wrought. When she spoke, her voice carried great sorrow.

“I was about to come and get you both; we are ready to proceed.”

I was a little surprised we were still going ahead as planned when there was such devastation before us. “What happened to Yurielius?”

She let out of a deep sigh. Or some approximation of such, given that she had no lungs. “It was a necessary sacrifice for this great undertaking. Another of Soarister’s servants awaits you within. His name is Soentas, and he will guide you the rest of the way.”

It was hard to believe she was truly in favour of this, with how lifeless and desolate she sounded, but perhaps I was reading too much into it. The reactions of something so inhuman was hardly predictable after all. Even with that justification, I felt a little bad about the decaying plant life around us as we entered once more. Unnerving as it had all been, there was beauty to it. Or at least there had been, before it was reduced to a lifeless husk.

It made our trip a little creepier than it would otherwise have been, though it was also technically safer. Deep within Yurielius’s confines, near the centre where it was more or less still full of life, we found what must be the one Yuriel spoke of.

Made of shining green shards, they stood easily a head taller than I, giving them a form with far more substance than Yuriel’s. However there had been little, if any, effort made to resemble a human in this case. The large, bulky head, bore two lines of tiny eyes that went all the way around and a long snout. While the body possessed similarly alien proportions, complete with four distinctly different arms and the musculature to support them.

The right side bore a long sharply pointed limb and one that ended with what I could only describe as a heavy club. On the left, one of its arms dangled like a rope and was covered in curved fibres, while the other was rather small and stunted compared to the others and seemed to fulfil no useful purpose.

When we drew close, it turned to us and took several steps forward with an odd swaying stride. An instant after it opened its mouth to speak, I shielded my ears from the awful cacophony that erupted. It was like a fork being raked across a plate only louder, yet somehow the noise had been twisted into words.

“Lesser beings, you have been granted the blessing of Soarister and will carry out his will. Any deviation will result in your deaths.”

Even covering my ears, the words were crystal clear though that made them no less painful to listen to.

“Could you possibly speak in a voice that isn’t pure agony?”

“Do not waste the time you have been given. Preparations are complete; follow.”

I did as I was told, if only so I didn’t have to hear Soatas speak again. Though I also took the opportunity to voice my displeasure to Elmidath through our mental bond.

“So, this guy seems great.”

“Indeed. I’m rather fond of Yuriel, by comparison.”

As first impressions go, this was about the worst one I’d ever gotten, but fortunately we weren’t here to make friends. If he’d been spent by Soarister specifically for this task, then I assumed he was at least somewhat competent and that was all that mattered. Though I still wished he wasn’t so unpleasant, I already had a headache from his awful screeching. The rustling of Yuriel’s leaves was, indeed, musical by comparison.

Soatas led us to the base of Yurielius’s core, where an enormous hollow root ended down into the earth at an angle. The vibrant green annoyance climbed down into it first and vanished from view. Sharing one last glance with Elmidath that spoke volumes of our mutual discomfort venturing beneath ground again, I went after him.