God’s smile led us to a rather grimy part of town, past several people passed out drunk on the streets despite the early hour. Most of the people avoided even looking at us, but especially God’s Smile, nervously looking down and away when he walked by.

He looked more different from his wielder than the rest of us. Taller and broader, with a scruffy beard Kliali could never have grown. But even more than looks, his attitude and presence was completely different from Kliali. Kliali was good-natured, friendly, and often smiled even when threatening people. But a deep scowl seemed permanently sketched on God’s Smile’s face.

I leaned closer to Piercing Gale and whispered, “why do you think he’s so different from Kliali?”

Piercing Gale’s dark eyes flicked to me, then back to God’s Smile’s back before answering. “He’s a different man.”

I frowned, my brow furrowing, “but we aren’t so different from our wielders.”

He turned to me, tilting his head and raising an eyebrow, “aren’t we?”

Before I could formulate a response, God’s Smile called back to us, “come on.” He was holding open a door that was barely holding on to its hinges. I stepped into the shack with Piercing Gale right behind me.

God’s Smile’s home was...

Well, it was.

There wasn’t much to it at all. A mat on the floor in the corner. A cooking pit dug into the floor, a trunk full of clothes with a broken lid, and various cooking utensils and drying food hanging from the walls. Everything seemed to be made of dirt or covered in a layer of it. “Hungry?” he tossed us some jerky before we could answer. He sat cross-legged on the ground and gestured for us to do the same. Gale sat down and I followed suit. I tried to take a bit of the gifted jerky, squinting and using my whole head to pull off a bite when I found it too chewy to bite through normally.

“So, what are you three doing here... And together? I can’t imagine you were all stored in the same place.” He easily bit through the piece of jerky in his own hand.

Gale answered him, “we found each other shortly after we awoke. We are on our way to where we hope Eternal Lullaby is.”

Stolen story; please report.

“What do you want with her?”

I gave up on chewing the jerky and swallowed it mostly whole, my eyes watering with the effort.

“We need her help to reseal the Demon Lord Valeron.”

“You should come with us.” I added.

God’s Smile stared at me like I’d grown a second head, “why the fuck would I do that?”

I frowned, “huh? Why? To save the continent?” I slowed down to enunciate the obvious.

He narrowed his eyes, “what did ‘saving the continent’ ever get the Eight?”

I straightened up, my frown deepening, “glory and honor, of course.”

God’s Smile laughed, short, sharp, and humorless, nothing like Kliali’s laugh at all, “glory and honor? And you think you’re like Ves’hil’n.” He shook his head, “you can rest up here until Death-Bringer’s back on her feet. I’ll even escort you out of town but I’m not coming with you.”

“But-”

“Understood.” Piercing Gale said over me.

“Gale!” I couldn’t help snapping at him.

“What?” he asked, barely even looking at me, “you want to drag him along against his will like Night Lover? Think you can?”

God’s Smile looked between the two of us, “you have Night Lover with you?”

I crossed my arms, “no, we let him go.”

“Pity,” God’s Smile rubbed his scruffy beard, “I wanted to get a look at him. He was forged a good century or so before us, did he look like an old man?”

“No, he was a young pretty boy.” I said.

God’s Smile huffed through his nose, the lines on his face looking deeper for a moment, “not fair.”

Gale laughed, shocking some of the tension out of my shoulders, “don’t worry, Smiley, you’re plenty pretty.”

I flinched slightly and started to speak, “huh-?”

Only to get drowned out by another one of God’s Smile’s barked laughs, “now that was a Kliali-like line.”

Piercing Gale smiled and God’s Smile ever so briefly returned it. Then he stood up, “you all caused a bit of a scene. Lay low here, I’ll grab you some supplies. But you’ll have to pay me back.”

God’s Smile left us alone and we quickly fell into silence. I pulled Death-Bringer onto my lap and inspected her blade, curious to see if her weapon form showed any signs of wear and tear. After a few minutes, Gale broke the silence, “you really think I’m like Eun?”

I looked up but Gale wasn’t looking at me, “uuuhh, yeah?”

“Hmm,” he hummed, his feeling unclear. He laid down on the floor without another word.

When it was clear he had no intentions to continue the conversation, I looked sullenly back down at Death-Bringer, hunching slightly and continuing to inspect the imperfections in her blade.