Daevas -I- ✔️

Chapter 3.2: Taint

The priest gave them each a look as they stopped inside a corridor. "We have only two rooms left available. Everyone is migrating towards the north for fear of the demons now overtaking much of the lower south," Eryk said.

"There is no problem with that. We can make do with just one room. Give the other room to some other," Freir answered.

The priest cast a discerning gaze their way as they came to a halt in a dimly lit corridor. "Food will be served early in the mornings and late evenings. If you are hungry before that time, grab something from the kitchens. Freir, you should know where things are."

Rein swung the door open and dropped a bag Ari hadn't noticed, letting it thud onto the floor. Freir slumped onto the bed with a relieved sigh and a grin.

"Good to have a roof over our heads again, eh?" Freir said.

Ari shot him a disdainful look, causing Rein to push his shoulder in return. Why pretend he knew nothing? They had broken a sacred vow, a holy oath. Nolan's judgments about them held some truth after all.

"Why do you look at me so full of hate, Ari? I came back for you!" Freir said.

Ari kicked away a small bowl on the ground before he sat down and faced the window. Freir and Rein were liars unlike Auovin, who, while not entirely truthful, did not seem to indulge in outright lies. The demon had a strange and peculiar air about him, as if he possessed knowledge hidden from Ari, delighting in dangling it over his head and toying with him. Somehow, Ari suspected Freir and Rein knew what it was and just like Auovin, they were using that knowledge to their own benefit, leaving him to wander in the dark.

"Tell me about him," Ari demanded.

"About what?" Rein questioned, eyeing Ari.

"The Blood Demon."

"We are far away from that creature now, Ari. No need to fear," Freir reassured.

"Fear?" Ari scoffed. No, fear was not in his thoughts—more so curiosity than anything else.

"When he finds me... he will not be happy... The only thing I fear is your lives being in jeopardy."

"And not your own?" Freir asked. Rein continued to stare in silence.

Ari shook his head. "He would have done so already... if he wanted to. You know, when you left me behind."

"You told me to leave you! Ari, what has gotten into you? What has that cursed thing said? They are lies, nothing but lies sprinkled with truths," Freir hissed.

Ari's eyes lowered, acknowledging the weight in Freir's words. He pressed his hand to the bite marks speckling one side of his neck and the other on his right arm. It was strange. Even at this distance, Auovin still felt close. Freir believed what he was feeling for the demon was kindred, but it was not. How could it be, after all Auovin had done to him? Yet, there was something, something there that made goosebumps cover his skin and his heart grow unsteady. Familiar.

"He has said nothing more than what I was already thinking before..." Ari mumbled before eyeing Freir again. "I had been doing this since I was a boy. Younger than most, yet I am still not eligible to become a Sanclii. Why? There is nothing that I am lacking, although you are quite lacking in many ways."

"Not right now, Ari. Things are tense," Freir warned.

"Oh, are they? I am sure they are. I wonder in which ways you relieve your tension."

"Ari," Rein growled as Ari rose from the floor, dusting off his pants.

He had never been one to be insolent towards his uppers, but he had enough. Before Freir could get in another word, Ari was out the door mumbling curses under his breath. Freir was the one who had told him swearing was as if you were swearing to the gods themselves and to never do it. Ari laughed. What a hypocrite of a man he was.