She lay on the ground, dragging in painful breaths of air, trying to calm her racing heart while waiting for the world around her to stop spinning. Thankfully, she didn’t have anything in her stomach, or she might have thrown that up. And, in her experience, that didn’t tend to make the best first impressions.

Eliza recovered and slowly pushed herself to her feet while Demitrus came through behind her. She began to take in their surroundings, and what she saw was deeply unsettling. They were in a square, walled-off enclosure which, due to them not having a floor above them, suggested that they were at the top of one of the three Stalagmites in the Shadow Weavers clan’s territory.

A large main building stood in front of them, square in shape and standing about two stories tall with branching-out buildings attached, lining the walls of the enclosure. Several sets of stairs climbed up to a wooden platform that ran the perimeter of the buildings, with sliding doors leading to different rooms in each of the wings. There was an occupied main staircase leading up to the central building. The unnerving part of this to Eliza was that the structure was built in the same manner as the buildings at home. The problem is, they definitely weren’t in the Silverian Empire.

On the staircase stood one of the more human-like Demons that Eliza had seen. He was tall and thin, with black scales covering the visible parts of his body, the rest hidden beneath an unexpectedly white, fairly elegant robe that reached all the way to the ground. His face was adorned by a black mask that hid any expression that he might have, save for the purple iris that looked out through the eye slits in the mask. Finally, Horns protruded out of the sides of his forehead, poking through his ash-white, shoulder-length hair. His posture was rigid, with a clawed hand held behind his back. His other arm was noticeably absent.

He scanned the group, and Eliza stiffened, his cold gaze sending shivers down her spine. She felt the last of the magic within her quickly drain as Isradine formed into a tiny form. She lowered herself into a flourishing bow toward the Demon, “I have returned, grandfather.” she said far more respectfully than Eliza had ever heard her speak.

Grandfather’s gaze shifted from Eliza to Isradine, and he descended to the courtyard, his clawed feet poking out of his robes with each step. He came up to Isradine’s bowing form and lifted his clawed hand toward her forehead before flicking her.

Isradine was sent flying back at Eliza. Eliza braced herself, Isradine's form dissipating as she slammed into Eliza. Eliza felt no physical impact but felt much of the magic that Isradine had used return to their shared pool. A moment later, Isradine rematerialized in a much smaller form behind Eliza’s shoulder.

“What the heck was that for!” She cried out, using Eliza as a shield from her grandfather's wrathful gaze.

“You fool!” Grandfather thundered, ”You think that I cannot see the meager amount of magic you have sustaining you? And yet you dare attempt such a display in front of me?”

“But Grandfather! It's been fifteen years! How could I show up in front of you with anything less?” She said, poking a mini head out from behind Eliza’s shoulder.

“Save your grandiose displays for when you’ve actually recovered enough power not to be a few spells away from Death!” He chastised harshly. Isradine shrunk behind Eliza’s shoulder. For once, Isradine didn’t seem to have a retort, and an uncomfortable silence fell over the courtyard. Finally, Grandfather sighed and scanned over the rest of the group before calling out, “Corell.”

“Yes, master?” a voice responded. A shadow rose from the ground behind Grandfather.

“Take our… guests… and provide them with accommodations to clean the filth off of them and tend to their wounds. Provide them with something else other than that filthy Blood Steel clan garb and burn it so that it doesn’t defile this place more than it already has. “ He said, sniffing in disgust before saying, ”Make sure they’re ready for supper by the end of the hour. We have much to discuss.” He said, turning and ascending the steps up into the main building.

“As you command master,” Corell said, bowing after Grandfather’s retreating form. As soon as Isradine's grandfather had disappeared into the building, Io straightened out. Around it, similar shadows started to rise out of the ground, surrounding the group.

“This way, we must hurry,” Corell said urgently, and the shadows brought the group toward one of the side wings.

Eliza was separated from the rest of the group and taken by Corell to a room where a bath had been prepared, carved into the stone and full of water. A faint scent of lavender hung in the room, originating from the mist that filled the room but was particularly condensed on the water's surface. Again, it was disturbingly similar to bathhouses she had seen back at home.

She was directed to place her old clothes into a basket and given twenty minutes to wash before being left alone in the room with Isradine. Eliza quickly stripped before hopping into the water. Involuntarily gasping when she discovered that the water was ice cold. Gritting her teeth to stop them from chattering, Eliza cleaned herself off as best she could.

“Don’t forget to scrub off the blood and sweat, especially from your hair. Grandfather really hates the smell, Blood especially.” Isradine said. Her shadowy form floated above the water. Eliza glared at her out of the corner of her eye before untying the piece of cloth that was holding her hair in a braid. After she let her hair down, she sucked in a deep breath and dunked her head under the water. She came back up and started combing the gunk out of her hair using a comb she had spotted lying on the side of the bath.

A few moments of silence passed before Eliza said, "Hey, Isradine?"

“Yeah?” Isradine asked.

“Why is your house built this way, do you know?”

Isradine was silent for a few moments before saying, “Now that I think about it, no. My house is different from any of the other buildings on the pillar. You would have to ask my grandfather because he’s the one who built it. But why do you ask?”

“I was just curious, don’t worry about it,” Eliza said. Whatever was going on could be dealt with later. She buried the growing anxiety and hurried to finish cleaning herself off. Then she got out. Shivering, she walked over to the basket to find that her old clothes had been replaced with a set of new underclothes and a white robe similar to the one that Isradine’s Grandfather had worn but simpler in design. Important to note it was nicer and of much higher quality, than the clothes she had worn earlier.

She dressed as quickly as she could and stepped out of the bathing room. No sooner had she done so, before she was dragged to another room where she was sat in a chair. Then another tall Demon, like Jasaira, combed out her hair with her long spindly fingers. The main distinguishing difference was that this one had a mix of white with violet highlights instead of black hair.

“You have beautiful hair.” The Demon remarked.

“...Thanks,” Eliza replied, unsure how she felt about being complimented by a Demon if it was a compliment.

“I was only told to make you presentable, but it would be a shame not to do anything other than brush your hair. May I braid it?” The Demon asked.

“...Uh, sure.”

“Wonderful!” The Demon said with glee before enthusiastically getting to work. The Demon quickly began to weave her hair without ever pulling on Eliza’s hair beyond a tolerable level. Somehow The demon was able to finish within a minute. Stepping away, the Demon clapped its hands in glee, “Oh, it turned out wonderfully.” it said, walking away only to return with a mirror, which she handed to Eliza.

Eliza was shocked because it was rare for anybody but nobility or wealthy merchant families to have mirrors, yet the Demons suddenly had them as well. She wasn’t sure what to make of it.

Any thoughts that she did have went away when she saw herself clearly for the first time in months now. Her face was much gaunter than she remembered it. Most likely due to having not eaten as much as she should have over the last several months. What stood out the most, however, were her eyes. She didn’t want to believe it when it had been pointed out earlier, but her eyes were a soft violet, while her pupils had slightly elongated, somewhat resembling a cat’s. Next were her slightly pointed ears. She reached up and slightly adjusted her hair so that it hid them.

“What do you think?” The Demon asked a little trepidatiously, breaking Eliza out of her thoughts. She looked at her hair, which was now in a waterfall braid.

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“It’s very well done, thank you very much,” Eliza said truthfully, moving the mirror to admire the handiwork from another angle.

“Glad you like it.” The Demon said, clapping its hands with undisguised joy before ushering Eliza out of the room “ Now off with you. It's almost time for you to speak with the master.”

As soon as she stepped out, she was led to the dining room in the main building. Before she even arrived, she was able to clearly hear people talking in the room. She stepped into the room and found out that the rest of the group was already sitting at the table in front of her.

The room was rectangular in shape, with a long table that sat close to the floor with small cushions that served as seats. A singular cushion was on one side of the table, while all the cushions for the group were placed on the other side. The cushion in the middle of the group had been left vacant for her. The table was empty other than a couple of elegantly carved sculptures of a couple different human men.

“Now’s really not the time for your shenanigans, Demitrus, ” Leo said as she stepped into the room and started toward the empty cushion. As could be expected, everyone was wearing a robe similar to hers, and a faint scent of lavender permeated the room. Eliza reached her seat and sat down next to Demitrus, suddenly conscious of her different legs, thankfully, her robe was long enough that she could adjust it to cover them.

“What? They obviously left them here to be looked at, so I’m looking at them.” Demitrus said, sitting crosslegged on his cushion. He had clean bandages wrapped around his head and hand. In his uninjured hand, he held a sculpture of a somewhat familiar man. He noticed her sit down and turned to look at her with a bright smile while saying, “Wouldn’t you agree, Eliza-” His eyes widened slightly when he saw her, and his voice petered out. But Eliza was too shocked to notice, instead looking at the sculpture in Demitrus’s hand. Even though the sculpture was crystal clear, lacking any color. The carved features of the man were unmistakably that of her Grandfather.

Demitrus coughed, coming back to himself, “Sorry, I meant to say, what do you think, Eliza?” He said.

Eliza blinked a couple of times before she met his gaze. She then decidedly focused on the table. “Sure, as long as your not insulting our…hosts. We can’t really do much if they decide to kick us out.”

“That’s my point,” Leo insisted. Through his white robe, a bandage could be seen wrapped around his chest, “We don’t know what we can expect. Until we know, we shouldn’t let our guard down so easily. Especially since we were just attacked and Isradines grandfather seemed rather angry. ”

“Fine, fine.” He said, carefully putting down the sculpture back where he had picked it up.

“He wasn’t that angry.” Isradine said, joining the conversation, “He just has a… unique way of looking after me.”

“That involves hitting you to force your form to disperse and calling you a fool?” Leo said.

“Yeah…” Isradine replied.

“It didn’t look like that to me,” Leah said. She was sitting on the edge of the group with a bandage around her hand as well.

“What do you mean?” Leo asked.

“Well~ if anything, he reminded me of you.” She said,

“What!? When have I ever acted as he did?” Leo protested.

“When I blew up the temple.” She said,

“That was-”

“You don’t need to explain,” Leah cut him off, “I know you were just worried about me. I think it's the same with Isradine’s grandfather.

“An astute observation, young one.” A voice said, and the group fell silent. The wall on the other side of the room slid open to admit Isradine’s grandfather into the room. He walked forward and slowly sat on the opposite side of the table. Once he was seated, he looked at Leo. “As far as your concern goes, I can’t speak for the rest of the Shadow Weaver clan, but I, and those who follow me, won’t harm your group unless you give us a reason to. Is that fair?”

“It is, but why? You have your granddaughter back, and I’m not blind to the fact that the Shadow Weaver clan is obviously divided right now. Considering the capabilities you’ve shown thus far, it's likely that you know that neither I, nor Leah, have made a contract with Isradine. And it’s not too far of a stretch to say the other faction will use that against you, so why wouldn’t you get rid of us?” while Leo was speaking, some shadows came in and placed small cups in front of each of them. Each contained a violet-black liquid that distinctly smelled of grapes. Eliza hesitantly picked it up. Had they given them wine? She looked at the beverage trepidatiously. She had seen what alcohol did to some of the older soldiers, and she didn’t want anything to do with it.

Noticing her look, Isradines Grandfather said, “It is grape juice, not alcohol. Any Demon with sense would avoid alcohol like the plague.”

“Why is that?” Eliza asked, hesitantly taking a sip to find out that it was indeed grape juice.

“In many ways, our lives depend on how well we control our actions in regard to the contracts and oaths we make. And unfortunately, the magic doesn’t care whether you’re drunk or not if you happen to break them.” He said, taking a sip before turning to look at Leo, “As for your question, that may be, but I still don’t intend to leave my granddaughter's benefactors out on the street.”

“Even with the problems us being here could cause?”

“I’m one of three patriarchs of the ShadowWeavers clan, which is to say, if they don’t like it, they can deal with it.” He said while swirling the drink in his cup. Taking a sip, he placed it back down on the table. As soon as the cup touch the table, an ethereal chill ran down Eliza’s spine as the room suddenly became much cold “I do have one warning for you, Do not make me repeat myself again. It's one of the things that will make me angry.”

Almost as suddenly as it had come, the coldness in the room altogether disappeared. Eliza let out a breath that she hadn’t realized she had been holding, “Now, where are my manners,” Grandfather said, “before we continue, it would be remiss of me not to provide food before we talk about the future, isn’t the right empire girl?” he said looking at Eliza.

“...How do you know?” Eliza said, clenching a fist, and she glared at Isradines grandfather. As she said it, shadows entered the room carrying an array of different types of meats that Eliza had never seen before. No utensils were provided because everything had been cut apart and impaled on thin sticks so that It could be picked up and eaten as is.

“How does he know what?” Demitrus asked.

“In the Empire, it's an unspoken rule that if someone approaches you to form a relationship of any kind, they must provide food. If they don’t, then they can’t be considered trustworthy. But it's more than that, this building, the baths, it's not exactly the same, but it's very similar to what it's like back in the empire. It doesn’t make any sense why Demons would have the same cultural elements as the Empire. So I’ll ask again, how do you know?” she said.

Grandfather's eyes began gleaming with a hint of excitement, and even though she couldn’t see it, she knew Grandfather had a wide smile on his face. “Would you believe me if I were to say that the Shadow Weaver clan once were from the Silverian empire?”

“No,” Eliza immediately said.

“Oh? Why so confident?”

“Isradine said this is the only building on this pillar that looks like this.”

Grandfather sighed, glancing at Isradine's small form for a moment before returning to Eliza, “You're right as far as the Shadow Weavers not being derived from the empire is concerned.”

“Then why?”

“Tell me, do you know a Cassius Silvestine?”

Eliza’s eyes flicked to the sculpture of her Grandfather on the table. It just didn’t make any sense. She clenched a fist under the table and said, “He’s my Sensei,..and grandfather.”

No one said anything, shocked by the revelation, all except for Isradine’s Grandfather.

“I knew it! You shared far too many of his features for it to be a coincidence,” he exclaimed animatedly.

She tightened her fist until her nails were digging into the palm of her hands. How could he know her grandfather by name? Her parents were executed on charges of working with Demons. She was certain that they were false, that her uncle had orchestrated the deaths of her family to become the new Duke. But could it be? had her parents or her grandfather really worked with Demons? She couldn’t believe it. No, she didn’t want to believe it.

“How could you possibly know him, grandfather? You’ve hardly left the Demon realm since you lost your arm forty years ago.” Isradine asked, bewildered.

A memory surfaced in Eliza’s mind of a display in her grandfather’s training hall. It couldn’t be… the chances of this happening were almost non-existent.

“Ah, that's because he’s the one who cut off my arm.” He said, “To make a long story short, Cassius had gotten famous around here for having beaten one of the Bestial Fabricators' strongest creations. Intrigued, I sought him out and challenged him to a fight.” He said, with a hint of glee in his voice. “It was one of the best fights I’ve ever had, and it ended with him disarming me, forcing me to escape.” He said, confirming the impossibility to Eliza.

“So it was your arm then,” Eliza said.

“What was that?” Isradine's grandfather asked.

“Your arm, My grandfather had it purified and displayed it on the wall of his training hall.”

“Is that so? It seems our battle was grand enough for him to memorialize it as well.” Isradine's Grandfather said, reaching forward to pick up the sculpture of Eliza’s Grandfather and admire it.

“The guy cut off your arm, hung it for display, and you're… glad?” Demitrus asked, with a bit of surprise.

It irked Eliza a bit for her Sensei to be referred to as ‘the guy,’ but she let it go in favor of hearing Isradine's Grandfather’s answer.

“Of course,” He said as if it was obvious, “Tell me, granddaughter of Cassius, How many displays does he have on the wall of his training hall?”

“It’s one of three. I don’t know where the other displays came from.” Eliza said,

“To answer your question, boy, A human who had devoted his life to fighting Demons liked our fight enough the memorialize it among two others. Essentially he thought I was impressive. As you’ll find out soon enough, Being strong and being recognized as strong are some of the most important things to Demons, especially if someone strong is the one doing the recognizing.” he said. He then placed the sculpture down and indicated to the meat that was sitting on the table, “Now, before we go any further, let's eat. I’m sure you're hungry, and eating will help you recover both physically and magically, especially you two.” He said, looking at Eliza and Demitrus.

“Say no more,” Demitrus said, reaching out and grabbing one of the sticks of impaled meat and biting in, earning a look from Eliza.

“What? I’m hungry.” He said after swallowing.

Eliza was hesitant to start eating, but her stomach immediately vetoed the idea. Sighing, she reached forward and grabbed one of the sticks. She bit into the meat and found that the meat was soft and tender. A burst of flavor flooded into her mouth that, either due to the fact that she had eaten slop for the last few months, or it was just that good, it was delicious. After swallowing, she stopped herself from immediately taking another bite and asked, “So you fought my grandfather and were disarmed by him. How does that relate to my question?”

Isradine’s grandfather waited until the rest of the group had started eating before reaching forward and grabbing his own stick. He slightly shifted his mask to take a bite before replacing it and saying, “Simple, every Demon wants to be strong and will tend to emulate those they see as strong to become strong. And so, after I recovered, I hunted down Cassius’s location. It took a while, but eventually, he left to go to one of your families' more remote estates. I followed and observed him from the shadows to try to figure out how he had gotten so strong. Only he didn’t fight once. It didn’t make sense that someone who didn’t fight all the time would be that strong. So I concluded that it had to have been something about the way he was living his life and the environment around him.” He said before indicating with his one good arm to everything around him, “So, as you can see looking around you, I did my best to copy what I observed.”

Eliza was…flabbergasted. She pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes tightly, having no idea what to make of the situation. Her grandfather beat a Demon, and so it stalked him to copy his way of living? It sounded so surreal and stupid, but if it was true, then it meant her parents and grandfather weren’t guilty of associating with demons. So she decided to believe it. She looked up to see an expectant glint in the Demon’s eyes.

“I see…I’m glad you enjoyed your duel with my grandfather that much.” she said, silently adding, ‘and that you not angry about being disarmed.”

“Does it answer your question?” he asked.

“...It does.”

“Great, now that that's all out of the way and we’ve shared food, let's get down to business.”