Leo looked down, shocked, “What?”

“Mama!” it excitedly yelled, causing Eliza to flinch from the sudden noise.

Leo vehemently shook his head, “Oh no, this is not happening; I’m not your mother.”

Demitrus started chuckling, an impressive feat considering that he was still out of breath, “A mother? Who’d think I ever see the day Leo became a parent? I’m happy for you.”

“Cut the bullcrap; there's no way I could be a Demon’s mother.” Leo snarled, holding the Rakna away from him.

Isradine gasped in mock indignation, “How could you say that Leo? She even has your eyes.” her voice came from no particular direction. Eliza looked around but couldn’t find the little shadowy mass that had normally indicated her presence.

“Rakna don’t have eyes.” He growled.

“Exactly,” Isradine said.

The baby Rakna tilted its head in confusion as it looked over at Leo, “Ma…ma?” sounding pitiful as it asked.

“Just born, and it already thinks its mother hates it. You’re doing a marvelous job.” Isradine said.

Leo clenched his teeth, but Eliza, having caught her breath, interrupted before he could say anything else, “Give it up, Leo. The Warrior Rakna requested that we get it to safety before he gave his life to buy us time to escape. The least we owe him and it,” Eliza said, indicating towards the baby Rakna with a tilt of her head, “ is to find another Rakna nest.”

“None of that says why I need to be its mother.” He said, looking back at the baby Rakna.

“I wouldn’t be sure about that. Rakna eggs hatch by absorbing magic in the air around them. Since you constantly project magic around you, the egg most likely absorbed some of your magic and hatched. In a way, without you, she wouldn’t have been born right now.

Leah walked up and looked closer at the baby Rakna, “It’s okay, Leo, I wouldn’t mind having a new niece for a little bit; I mean, isn’t she just adorable?” Leah reached up to pet it, but the baby Rakna shrunk away from her fingers. Dejected, Leah lowered her hand.

“Xalefore want be adorable one; Leah no call others adorable.” Xalefore protested, popping up and pulling on Leah’s arm.

Leah smiled and patted him on the head, “You're Xalefore adorable; she’s baby adorable. There’s a difference.”

“Really?”

“Really,” Leah assured him.

Xalefore beamed and pulled away happily, humming to himself.

“You and I have a very different definition of adorable,” Leo muttered before he sighed, “Fine, but only until we find it another home; how am I supposed to take care of it?”

“Feed her and teach her how to survive,” Isradine said, “Now, if you're finally done, we need to get moving, we may have escaped Abernach, but nothing is stopping him from getting the other members of the SteelBlood clan to come after us.”

Sensing that Leo was no longer hostile, the baby Rakna perked up, “Mama?” it asked hopefully.

Leo sternly looked at her. “I’ll take care of you, but don’t call me mama.”

She tilted her head, “...Pa…ma?”

Leo sighed in defeat, “...fine.”

Eliza looked away with a hint of a smile playing on the corners of her lips. She tried to stand up, but the moment the sole of her bare foot touched the ground, her leg spasmed from the pain that shot up through her leg. Gasping, she looked down to find the bottom of her feet bleeding from several painful cuts. As if waiting for her to notice them, the cuts began stinging.

Demitrus stood up and started to follow the rest of the group. When he noticed that she wasn’t following, he turned back.

“What's up?” Demitrus asked, walking back to her.

Eliza looked up from her feet and glanced at the ceiling of the little cave they were in. She looked back at Demitrus, “A cave ceiling,” she said seriously.

He smiled and looked up, “Who knew?” he said before looking down at her feet. Seeing the blood seeping out of them, he raised an eyebrow, “Well, that is quite the problem.”

“You think?”

“Ignoring the question of where your shoes went, how did you get here with cuts like those?”

Isradine answered for Eliza, “As I mentioned, I've been using my magic to numb her sense of pain and hold her broken leg together. She wouldn’t have realized how injured her feet were up until we ran out of magic. The lingering effects must’ve worn off.”

“How long do we have until more come after us, Isradine?” Leo asked as he walked up, the baby Rakna curled up in his arm.

“Assuming nothing has changed in the last fifteen or so years, the nearest settlement is a couple of hours from here. But that's the last place we want to go. Abernach’s Clan, the Steel Bloods, inhabit this section of the underground, and we need to head about a day's journey north to reach neutral territory.”

“In other words, we need to get moving,” Leo said, glancing down at Eliza in concern.

“That’s what I said earlier, yes.”

“I’m fine; I’ll just deal with the pain,” Eliza said, trying to stand up again. She winced when she put pressure on her good leg but fell forward the moment she tried to use her broken one. She would've fallen if Demitrus hadn’t stepped forward and caught her.

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“Afraid just dealing with it won’t help you much when you have a broken leg,” Demitrus said, giving her a smile when she looked up at him. He helped her to the nearby wall, and she used it to keep her balance. He left her standing on her one good leg and knelt in front of her, his back turned toward her. “Get on; I'll carry you.”

Eliza stared silently at Demitrus’s back, dreading the thought of being carried by him of all people. But she didn’t see much of a better way.

“Get on his back; we need to go,” Isradine said.

“I know, I know, “ Eliza grumbled, her face slightly heating up as she awkwardly leaned forward and placed her arms on Demitrus’s shoulders. Demitrus reached back and, after securing her legs, stood up in one smooth motion.

He looked around at the rest of the group, “Shall we get moving?”

“Let me know if you need me to take over; I’ll figure something out with this one,” Leo said, indicating to the baby Rakna. He started leading the way out of the little cave they were in.

“Comfy?” Demitrus asked as he started following the group.

“Shut it,” Eliza said; he chuckled and went silent, which Eliza appreciated.

After exiting the last little bit of the tunnel, the group stopped as they entered a monstrous in size cavern.

Eliza gaped, hardly believing that a space this large could exist this far underground. Even with her improved vision, she could barely see the stalagmites on the ceiling of this place, and that was only because of the millions, no billions, of tiny clear Crystals that coated its surface, nearly imitating the stars in their brilliance.

A pillar of black stone rose from the cavern's floor, reaching the ceiling, large enough to be visible for miles around. Cracks adorned the pillar's surface, forming a pattern in the stone unlike any Eliza had seen, an eerie red glow pulsating from the cracks. A red fog built up around the base of the pillar, seeping out into the forest in front of the group and obscuring anything else from their vision.

Carefully the group entered the forest that had little underbrush. On closer inspection, the trees were, in fact, very much alive. However, instead of bark, the trees had taken on the rough texture of stone.

Leah ran her finger across the ‘bark’ of the nearest tree, “What happened to you?” She softly whispered.

“It’s absorbed the ambient magic in the air.” Isradine said, “And as a result, it mutated to reflect that magic.”

“What type of magic causes this much of a change??” Demitrus asked as the group moved on deeper into the forest.

“The Steel Blood’s magic consists of body hardening and blood manipulation.” Isradine said, “That being the case. Naturally, the trees then are as thick as the Steel Blood's skulls seem to be, and their minds are as vibrant as the vegetation here.”

Eliza looked down at the few dull and lifeless plants, little more than weeds that spread across the forest floor. If being near Demonic magic was enough to cause this much of a change in the environment, then to what degree would she change with the magic running through her body?

“Is that what's happening to me?” Eliza asked.

“More or less,” Isradine responded.

“...Will I turn into a shadow like you then?”

“No, while you’re body is being changed by the magic, something different is going on with me, but that’s a conversation for another time,” Isradine said, voice echoing out. “As I said, I don’t know what’ll exactly happen to you.”

“How do you not know, isn’t making contracts with people and corrupting them supposed to be a Demon’s thing?” Leo asked.

Isradine let out a long-suffering sigh before saying, “First of all, veer to the right; if we keep going in that direction, we’ll be walking straight to the Steel Blood settlement, as you can tell by the giant pillar ahead.” Eliza looked up, and they were indeed heading in the direction of the pillar, clearly visible through the forest's canopy. The group turned right as instructed, and Isradine continued.

“Second, Typically, it's a human who approaches us for a contract because of your ‘gods’ embargo on disseminating magic. So don’t throw all the blame on us.” She said, “Finally, she’s the first human I’ve ever made a contract with, so I don’t know much beyond what I’ve heard from stories. More specifically, each human's body reacts differently to the magic. You’ll need to talk to my grandfather if you want more details.

“I didn’t know Demons had families,” Leah remarked. She held her arm out, and Xalefore jumped up and swung on it as she walked.

“I can’t fault you for not knowing; it’s complicated; depending on the species of Demon, they're either family-oriented to the point where anybody outside of the family is a threat, or they wouldn’t mind eating each other for breakfast. Take the little Rakna and the imp as an example of each.”

Recognizing that she was being talked about, the baby Rakna burrowed further into Leo’s arms.

Xalefore, taking him being mentioned as his cue, jumped into the conversation, swung up, and landed on Leah's arm, “When Xalefore first woke up, Xalefore was alone, Xalefore not meet parents yet.” He said cheerfully as he balanced on Leah’s arm.

“I… see…” Leah said, looking at the gleeful imp with a mix of pity and concern.

A familiar coppery scent assaulted Eliza’s nose, blood. Her hands tightened on Demitrus’s shoulders.

“I know; keep an eye out.” Demitrus quietly said while scanning the forest.

It didn’t take long for them to find the source. The group came upon a small fast, flowing stream that ran through the forest. However, instead of water, blood flowed betwixt the banks towards the Steel Blood settlement.

Eliza traced the stream back to its origin as far as she could see. In the distance, she could make out the form of a fortress carved into the rock wall of the cavern. It was almost certainly the fortress they had just escaped from. Memories of the piles of bodies within crossed her mind, and Eliza could guess where this blood came from. Saying she felt sick to her stomach would be an understatement.

“What do they need all this blood for,” Eliza asked.

“The Steel Bloods discovered that every living creature's blood has a little iron in it. I don’t know how they do it, but they extract that iron from the blood to form deadly weapons and armor with their magic. No other clan has been able to match one of these weapons. From what I hear, they only allow blood extraction from clan members who have died in a duel. Otherwise, it’s forbidden, so they go after the other clans or non-demons,” Isradine said.

Leo scrunched up his nose in disgust, “It seems the value our lives hold is little more than that of a reagent. Tell me, Isradine, What does your Clan value us as? Should we fear a fate similar or worse than this.” he said, indicating towards to flowing blood.

Eliza tensed up, wanting to know as well. While she did want to get power to get back at her Uncle, this wasn’t how she wanted to do it.

Isradine scoffed, “Don’t compare the Shadow Weavers to the likes of the Steel Bloods. All that they have going for them are their weapons and their steel-like bodies. The Shadow Weaver clan does not need to rely on others for our strength, and whatever we need, we can find and create within our lands.” She said with a hint of pride in her voice, “If anything, we harvest shadows from non-Demons, but that would hardly kill one of you. Anyways, we should continue moving.”

Eliza sighed in relief and relaxed her body, eliciting a chuckle from Demitrus. She glared at him and lightly bumped the back of his head with a fist.

“What’s so funny, wise guy?”

“Nothing much, just thought that you’re easy to read, is all.” He said, following the group as they crossed the stream.

“Oh, re-,” Eliza began to say, but she cut off when Demitrus adjusted his grip and sprinted towards the stream. He leaped, easily clearing the stream, and landed on the other side.

“Oy, you could’ve given me a little warning.”

“What for? It should have been obvious what I was going to do.” Demitrus said, with laughter in his words.

“...You do know that I’m in a prime position to strangle you, right?”

“Please, As of right now, I am nothing more than a noble steed devoted to carrying your magnificence. You wouldn’t hurt a poor innocent steed, would you?”

Eliza closed the distance and wrapped an arm loosely around his neck, a smile playing on her lips, “Wanna find out?”

“Alright, alright, I give. Please show mercy.” He said with a laugh.

“Good,” Eliza said; she lowered her arm and started to push herself back up but found that she couldn’t. A wave of nausea flooded over her, and she tensed up as pain coursed through her body. It felt as if a thousand tiny needles were piercing every inch of her body.

“Hey, what's wrong?” Demitrus asked; all laughter was gone from his voice, instead replaced by worry.

Eliza couldn’t respond as suddenly the pain shifted, and she felt it localize around her mouth and feet. Unable to hold herself up any longer, she collapsed against his back and rested her head on his shoulder. She clenched her teeth, refusing to cry out in pain; instead, she tightened her grip on Demitrus’s shoulder, not wanting to fall off.

“Isradine, what's going on?” Demitrus asked.

“It looks like she’s starting her first major transformation. We need to get somewhere safe, fast.” Isradine said with a hint of concern coming into her voice.

“Well, you're the native here, show us where this ‘safe’ place is,” Leo said.

“Ah right, umm, I’m not native to a rival clan's lands, but if I remember correctly, there's a little alcove in a cliff if you turn and head straight for a couple of miles,” Isradine said, flustered.

Demitrus needed no further encouragement as he immediately started running in the direction indicated by Isradine.

Eliza’s vision had gone blurry at this point, and she could barely see anything as her surroundings began to speed by. Every step from Demitrus sent a wave of pain through Eliza, causing her to tighten her grip more and more.

“Don’t worry, I'll get you somewhere safe,” Demitrus said reassuringly through heavy breaths, “I know you're going through a lot of pain, but could you please let go of my shoulder and grab onto my shirt instead? It's making it hard to run.” He asked, his voice tight.

She lightly nodded into his back and slowly released her grip on his shoulder. Readjusting her hand, she instead grabbed onto his shirt.

Demitrus jumped over something, and when he landed, another wave of pain crashed over Eliza, and her vision went black.