Serenity stopped in the doorway to stare at his fiancee. It was so good to see her. Did she have a glow or was he projecting his joy?

Either way, Rissa was clearly pregnant now; she had a noticeable baby bump in her otherwise lean form.

She looked up when the door opened. For a moment, she looked puzzled, but then it was like a light went off. Her face lit with joy and she charged Serenity.

He caught her as she launched herself in the air and wrapped her arms and legs around him.

“I’ve missed you so much.” Rissa’s voice was muffled by his shoulder, but it was still understandable.

Serenity grinned and wrapped his arms around Rissa. “I’ve missed you too.”

He carried her into the room, letting the door fall closed behind himself. The guide didn’t follow him in.

Once he’d set Rissa down, Serenity looked around the room. It looked very much like an extremely fancy hotel room, like some of the ones he’d seen while closing portals. He was glad to see it wasn’t one of the terrible motels; he’d seen enough of those on that trip to last a long time.

There were several doors off the main room; Serenity assumed that the others must be in those rooms since he hadn’t yet seen them. The other option was that Rissa had a suite as large as a small house to herself and that seemed unlikely.

The central room had a desk with a chair; that was where Rissa was sitting when he came in. It was the only straight-backed wooden chair in the room; all of the others, including one that was set next to the desk, were heavily cushioned. They all either had a foot stool or were simply long enough to recline on and the backs were all set so that reclining would be more natural than sitting upright. Other than the chair near the desk, the others were gathered into a clear conversation space.

The one that was different must be so that someone could more easily work., but it seemed a little odd that there was only one when there were so many other doors. Perhaps they had their own work areas?

Serenity felt Rissa’s legs relax and lowered her to the ground. “Tell me what happened that didn’t make it into the letters. Maybe over a meal?”

Rissa pulled him tight against her, then let go. “Only if you tell me why your horns are longer and silver. That didn’t make your letters either.” She winked and gave him a grin before she let go, headed to one of the doors.

Serenity absently noted that it seemed to lead to a dining area.

The horns he had, even in his human shape, were longer and silver now? That had to be from his demonic form. He hoped that was the only influence.

----------------------------------------

The next day, two acolytes of the Church of Aeons, Tinar and Deek, appeared shortly after breakfast to greet Serenity. They were to “show him the wonders of Lyka and the Church”. Everyone other than Rissa had happily stayed at the “Visitors’ Palace;” Serenity had the impression that they wouldn’t have been welcome anyway. He was glad Rissa decided to accompany him, even though she’d been on the tour before.

The first place they visited was one of the many shrines scattered around the city. Serenity suspected it was picked because it was ornate; if that wasn’t the reason, an inordinate amount of wealth was spent on all of the many shrines. That was possible, of course; the Eternal Church was clearly powerful.

Serenity tried not to show just how unimpressed he was. There were servants everywhere, even if they called them novices; some of the novices were clearly old, so he had some doubt that novices necessarily progressed to acolytes. It was beautiful and imposing, but Serenity had been in more than a few places of worship over the centuries, even though Vengeance wasn’t religious at all, and there was something that was missing from this one. He wasn’t certain what it was; perhaps it was simply the fact that it seemed more like a display piece than a place people actually went to worship.

He wasn’t certain if he succeeded or not, but the guide never seemed to become less enthusiastic.

After that, he led the pair of Earthlings to “see some more of Lyka”. They visited a number of different places, escorted by flyer then let out to observe on foot. The guide told them about different landmarks and history as they went; the most common thing he noted were miracles of Lykandeon, but there were also several places where he mentioned someone “achieving Oneness with Eternity”.

Serenity didn’t believe that he was being shown the real Lyka.

It wasn’t simply that he was being led around through fancy places or that what he was seeing didn’t match Rissa’s descriptions. It wasn’t even that everyone he saw was outwardly happy. Those simply meant that he was being shown the good side of Lyka and the Church of Aeons; he’d expected that.

Serenity had seen things like that as a child. Showing the ‘better side’ to people was normal if you wanted them to do what you wanted, after all.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

No, it was the fact that there was a heavy concentration of Death mana only a few hundred feet away that bothered Serenity. It was on the other side of at least one wall and well outside his aura’s range, so he shouldn’t have been able to sense it, but he still knew it was there. There had been a few other strange concentrations (including the sites where the guide mentioned “Oneness with Eternity”), but none of them were anything close to what he was sensing now.

This wasn’t someone who happened to die, a morgue, or even a cemetery. Those felt different, usually more attenuated and fading, probably because the deaths were either spread out or happened elsewhere. It also wasn’t a hospital or battlefield; those didn’t have the weight this did. A hospital fought against death while few battlefields lasted long enough to become this death-soaked.

It wasn’t even a charnel pit or site of a massacre. Those felt different; Serenity had seen them all.

Serenity decided he’d been led around by the nose for long enough. “What’s over there?” He gestured in the general direction of the aura of death.

Acolyte Tinar shrugged. “More of Lyka. It’s not on the tour route; I don’t know that area.”

Serenity frowned. “You’re not from here? What’s the name of this city?”

Acolyte Deek spoke over whatever Tinar was going to say. “We are in one of the Abiding sectors; there is no name other than the sector number. This is Abiding Four; as you can tell from the number, it is one of the highest prestige of all of the Abiding sectors.”

Rissa touched Serenity’s shoulder and spoke softly in his mind. :I’m pretty sure that “Abiding” is a continent designation. I’ve only managed to see a world map once, but all of the Abiding sectors were clustered on the same land mass. I don’t know why Four would be particularly prestigious unless it’s the fact that it’s a low number.:

Serenity decided he’d push a little. “Why don’t we go look, then? This is supposed to be about seeing Lyka, isn’t it?”

Acolyte Tinar looked indecisive but Acolyte Deek was impassive as he replied. “We would need permission to deviate from the tour. You may request a visit when we return to the Visitor’s Palace; if you receive permission, we will be happy to bring you back another day.”

:Deek feels uncertain but worried,: Rissa projected. :I think he knows of something in that direction that he really doesn’t want to show us. What did you notice?:

:Death. Significant and long-term, I’d guess. It feels like…: Serenity trailed off. He’d thought of all sorts of things it wasn’t earlier, but he’d just realized what it did feel like. :Do you remember when we passed near Treblinka and I told you I knew where the death camp was even without looking at a map? It feels like that. Smaller but otherwise similar.:

Rissa paled, but as far as Serenity could tell she didn’t react otherwise. She’d always been better at controlling her expression than he was. “We can talk to High Priestess Karin about looking around a bit more freely once we get back to the Visitors’ Palace; she’s supposed to visit tomorrow.”

Serenity tried to stay involved and interested during the rest of the tour, but it was difficult. His mind kept wandering back to there being a site where a massive quantity of death had happened near a prestigious shopping area. He hoped that he was wrong about it and it was something simple like a hospice, but he didn’t really believe that.

----------------------------------------

High Priestess Karin arrived just after breakfast the following morning. Her first words were not encouraging. “I hadn’t known you had an active bloodline.”

She sounded disapproving.

Serenity shrugged. He decided not to tell her that he wasn’t human, at least not for now. “Bloodlines are common on Earth.”

Karin nodded slightly. “We can help with that. The Eternal Church, I mean. To purify you.”

That statement set off warning bells, but the way she said it also made Serenity take a closer look at the High Priestess. She’d spoken woodenly and jerkily; it was almost like she was reciting a script poorly.

Serenity tilted his head. “You can? I didn’t think bloodlines could be changed.”

“They can be,” High Priestess Karin paused awkwardly again, “Suppressed. And proper management can reduce the incidence in the population. It’s …” She stopped and looked away for a moment.

Serenity was grateful for his high Perception; without it, he didn’t think he’d have caught Karin’s muttered words. “Ekari trusts him more than she trusts me. As she should…”

He waited; after a moment, Karin turned back to him. “I believe you were near a management site yesterday; I will have to see if I can permit you to visit. I do not expect that I will be able to; it is restricted to disciples of the Church unless you are invited by Population Management, and I am not in that division.”

Between what he had felt and Karin’s words, Serenity was convinced that he wasn’t wrong about what happened at that site. Population management had some very bad connotations even in Earth’s history; the term wasn’t the same, but it sounded entirely too close to eugenics for Serenity’s comfort.

At the same time, it sounded almost like Karin was trying to warn him. Serenity glanced at Rissa; he’d have to ask her later if he was right about that. She’d know.

“Perhaps it would be better if I didn’t visit, then. Population Management doesn’t sound like somewhere I’d want to be.” Had he expressed that with the right mix of disinterest and emphasis to let her know he’d caught the subtext that it might be especially bad for someone with distinct nonhuman features like his horns and hair color?

He must have, because Karin seemed to relax a little. “That’s probably wise.”

“Is there somewhere you’d recommend instead? Perhaps somewhere I might find the missing people?” Serenity knew Rissa had prodded her on it, but she’d never managed to actually meet any of the kidnapped Earthlings.

High Priestess Karin frowned. “Maybe. I have a couple of ideas, but it could be a few days. Would you be willing to go on other tours, possibly in other parts of Lyka?”

Serenity wasn’t feeling like more tours. Not at all. Unfortunately, when he glanced over at Rissa, he heard her whisper in his head. :Accept! I can’t tell why, but this is important to her.:

Serenity didn’t manage to sound eager. “I … no. We can do more tours, if you think that’s a good idea.”

This was Rissa’s idea. He wasn’t going to leave her out of the hassle.

He should really bring her anyway. She was better with people and that might be important.