Previously
"Thanks for all of it," he stated and down the potion in his hand. With all of them gone, I set off to do what I needed.
Present
"Hey Python! You here?" I called. I was in the center of the Delphian region. A plaque above the front entrance held the medieval dragon much like some of the villagers had said. I heard the familiar slither of movement above me. Python's head came into view as they slid down from the ceiling beams. There was a bundle of extraordinarily rare herbs in their jaws. I offered my hands to relieve Python of their burden, to which they accepted and set the bundle in my hands.
"It has been quite sssome time, hatchling," they hissed, their tongue flicking in and out of their mouth. I set the herbs in my hands on a nearby table. It was littered with books, parchment, potion bottles of every shape and size, and a few lazily bubbling cauldrons.
"Aye, it has. I do hope you do not mind the intrusion. I do need your help, if you are willing to give it."
"Yessss. My price remainsss the sssame as the last time I sssaw you. Tit for tat, ssso to ssspeak."
"I remember. You will have what you are owed a week after this whole ordeal is said and done. Is that acceptable to you?"
"It issss."
"Good. I will keep in touch. I do wish to ask a question or two before I am on my way. Before that, though, I thought these might be more of your taste, Python." I held up a few chubby rats for Python. They swallowed up the rats hastily and quite greedily. Rats had always been a favorite of Python's.
"Quite right, hatchling."
"Were you out and about gathering herbs from the depths of the Realm about an hour or two ago?" I asked.
"No. I have not left this place in quite some time, little one.
"I'm afraid I must take my leave but I do thank you for your time."
"I will be expecting your communication sssssoon." I gently shut the door behind me and let out a heavy breath. That went far better than expected. I felt I could safely rule out Python. If they weren't in their tower, they would've been a damn good suspect but, they never seem to leave that temple.
Now, off to Jömungandr. He was quite the conversationalist, actually. Mimir was quite fun to speak to as well funnily enough. One of the few blessed with the eyes of the Jötun and someone I haven't seen in quite some time. I rather missed talking to Mimir and Jömungandr actually. It was one of the few things I greatly missed from my time in the previous age.
I started walking toward the Nordic section of town with my hands tucked loosely behind my head. It was rather peaceful up here. I stiffened and sniffed. I could feel my eyes turn into stars as I smelled coffee but there was something else. Spices? Well, cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove to be exact. I glanced around at the shops and saw the small shop diagonally to my right. It was cute. The sign set above lavender French doors read Stellarum in elegant silver cursive letters.
There were small desserts and finger sandwiches set on tiered trays set on tables happy patrons sat at. There, sitting in the back corner with a shit eating smirk on his face, sat my oldest snake pal. I deadpanned before heaving a heavy sigh as I made my way over to him. No wonder I could smell those three spices. I pulled out the chair across from Jörmungandr.
He currently looked to be in his early twenties with almond colored skin, golden brown hair, and piercing sky blue eyes. He was wearing what appeared to be a navy blue Kiton suit. I'll be the first to admit he cleans up well though I can't say it was something of the norm for him to be wearing all of this. For the most part, it was just jeans and plain t-shirts not suits that cost at least five digits on average.
"Cheeky little snake," I greeted as I took a seat. I tapped my heel on the ground and smirked as I felt the all too familiar spark of magic flare up and sizzle beneath my feet. None would be able to overhear us now. I grabbed a pastry as he poured two cups of coffee. He glanced up at me in question. "Just cream, please."
"You always did take your coffee simpler than most, hatchling." His voice was deeper than I remember it being. He set a cup in front of me and sniffed. "I can smell Python on you. Finally go see them, did you? The little urchin has been bugging me about you."
"Aye, that I did. Nice suit by the way. Though I can't say I'm not pleasantly surprised, what's up?"
"I do not know what you mean."
"You finally decide to dress up for once... and nothing's going on? I call bullshit, scales." He snorted. I sipped my coffee and raised a brow expectantly awaiting an answer from him.
"I can't look nice on the first meeting we've had in literal eons?" I set my cup back down on its saucer.
"It's weird! You wear t-shirts and jeans not stupidly expensive suits. You know who wears stupidly expensive suits? Lucifer. That's who. You barely like wearing the stupid thing and yet you pull it out the first time I get to see you in however long it's been and don't give me a damn warning. Not cool, man, not cool."
"You are upset that I didn't forewarn you so you could be fancy?" He asked incredulously.
"Yes! I just finished talking to the other snake and you're here already making me look severely underdressed. And before you say anything, yes, I know I could simply use magic to change but that's no fun." I picked up a tiny cucumber sandwich next. "It is good to see you, old friend."
"It has been far too long."
"In that, I cannot argue. Now, I do have a few things I would like to ask you, Jömungandr. Feel up to it?"
"Hn. Very well. I have a feeling I already know where this conversation is going so I may as well say at least this much—I was slithering around in the tunnels earlier. There's a storm coming, Rin. I fear you will be swept away again."
"Am I correct to assume that you are not certain on this?" He nodded once. "Then I can still change my Fate. I've already done it once before, remember?"
"That is what I am afraid of. Not even you can continuously run from the darkness, hatchling. It will always catch you."
"I know. And that's what scares me. Not knowing is always rather terrifying, no?" I took a deep breath to steady myself.
"I suppose so, little one. Enough of that, for now, I think. There is still more to eat, no?" My stomach grumbled greedily. Jömungandr snorted. I picked up another sandwich. Jömungandr passed me a file with my name written on it. I opened it and flicked through the pages. There wasn't much in it. Only went back to about two years ago so not long before I was in Hel.
"This is all the Cohort has on you. They asked me to fill in the blanks."
"Well, I can't say I'm surprised they want information. It is rather disappointing how little they've gathered thus far though. They're Angels for crying out loud. There's about two dozen give or take, yeah?"
"Correct. They didn't particularly seem inclined to do much more work than this, unfortunately. It is rather annoying. What do you wish to do?" I passed the file back to him.
"Fill in what you knew of me when I first met you but very little of now if you can. I'm sure they will be more than pleased to have even that much, don't you think?"
"It's a pity they only seem to wish to sit on their asses all day long and not lift a finger. Makes them all the more unfavorable among the other races," Jömungandr grumbled, pulling out a pen from an inner pocket of his suit jacket. I picked up an egg sandwich as he began writing. He quickly filled up a few sheets of loose leaf paper before setting the pen back in his suit pocket and sliding the papers into the folder and sending it off to the Cohort.
He set his chin in his palm and crossed the other over his elbow. He got a faraway look in his eyes, as if he was remembering something. Tapping away at a melody of some sort was his tell that he wasn't really paying much attention to what was going on around him. There we go. Sea shanties had always been a favorite topic of conversation. I lowered the magical barrier keeping people from hearing us, stood, and offered the serpent my hand with a knowing smirk sure to be on my lips as Jömungandr zoned back into reality.
He smiled and took my hand as he stood. I magicked a few big bills on the table as I dragged him outside and toward the tavern. Meet me at the tavern! I thought to the Zodiac. Bring everyone! It's time for a bit of fun. The city streets were crowded with people. I kept walking, occasionally needing to shove through the crowd to get through but we made it to the tavern eventually. I saw Leo standing next to the entrance with a bright smile on his face. I waved as Jömungandr and I got close.
"Hey, kid. What's with getting us all here?" Leo asked. "Nice to see you again, Serpent."
"There's something we need to do. Time for a bit of music, wouldn't you agree?" I responded. Leo threw his head back and laughed. He took my free hand and pulled us inside. I let go of Jömungandr's hand once we began nearing the center of the room. I knew he would keep a chair open if I ever needed it during the oncoming night. We had done this enough times to have some sort of rhythm down. I grabbed Mor and Amren each by the hand and pulled them closer to the stage.
"Is Syn here yet?" I asked.
"We haven't seen her at all in the time we've been up here, Rin," Amren said sadly.
"Give me a minute." I flashed to the one place I could think of her being—the Realm Travel Room. The screens were running with all kinds of different code on them with the one person I needed sitting in the middle of it all.
"Why are you here?" She asked.
"You don't need to stay in here any longer you know."
"Again, why are you here?" She sounded sad, defeated almost.
"Come on. I want you to come to the tavern with me."
"I don't think that's such a good idea."
"Can you explain to me why?"
"Cause I'm supposed to be dead. They had moved on and then I dropped in during a High Lord's meeting centuries after I had died with Tam beaten bloody and arrows in my wings. I don't deserve to be around them after all the pain I've caused," Syn said, making sure to keep her back to me and her head down.
"When I was in Hel, I had this group of friends. They could be absolutely batshit crazy at times but they would take me to all these different places downstairs. Whether it was some random bookstore, grocery shopping, or just a little hole in the wall no one really knew about, I was pulled along on all these different little outings away from the mansion or library. One of the few places we would go to quite often was the tavern, actually. It was my little slice of, well for lack of a better word, Heaven. We would play music and dance till the sun came up and our fingers were bleeding." I chuckled lightly at the memories.
"Why are you telling me this?" Syn asked, finally turning to look at me.
"I didn't realize it at the time but when I look back now, I can see they helped me stay out of the darkness I had been trapped in for so long. Sure I'm still in this pretty dark gray area at the moment, but it's not pitch black Helfire. Whether they realized it or not, what they did quite literally saved me from stepping off the ledge. I guess this is just a really long and roundabout way of saying one thing I learned from them." I sighed and leaned my back against the wall, letting the silence engulf us. My thoughts were slow and quiet for once.
"What'd you learn?"
"Hm?"
"You said you learned something from them. What is it?"
"Sometimes, all we need is a friend to sit with us in the dark. We just might not know it at the time."
"Now you're making me wonder who these friends of yours are."
"I have a feeling you might know some already."
"You don't say..." Syn drawled. She sighed and stood up. "Let's go. Before I change my mind anyway."
"Okay." I offered her a hand as I stepped off the wall.
"That's it? No asking me if I'm sure?"
"That's it. Now, come on. You want to see them again, don't you? Plus, that curse from the Sisters of Fate ended when Zeus got booted from Tam's body right?" Her eyes widened in realization. She immediately took my hand. I flashed us back to the tavern.
"You really think the curse of ours is over?" Syn asked.
"I do."
"But his soul—"
"Isn't gray any longer."
"I'm still scared though," she mumbled. "But not just because of that. They're gonna hate me."
"It'll take some getting used to, sure, but there is no way anyone that knows you could hate you. Trust me on that, okay?"
"Finally made it, eh, sis?" Rhys called, coming up with a platter of drinks in each hand. "You still owe me a drink, you know."
"She owes all of us a drink," Cas cut it.
"And an explanation. When'd you get a Mate and why didn't you tell us it was the High Lord of Spring?" Az cut it. Syn rubbed the back of her neck, eyes flicking across the floor as she tightened her grip on my hand.
"She just got back and you three are already hitting her with questions that aren't fun to answer. At least give her a chance to settle back in before the interrogations start," I cut in before anything else was asked. "And let Tam get over here as well, hm?"
"I was summoned?" Tam asked from behind me. He slid behind me as he went to Syn and gently tapped her shoulder. Her gaze snapped to his.
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Hey everyone! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
I would also like to wish everyone a Happy Father's Day! I hope it went well for everyone.
A/W... Have a good day/night and I'll see you in the next chapter! Bye y'all!