It was now completely night outside, with only a few red lamps illuminating the district. Moonlight lit the street well, however, much more than on earth.

Glory directed them to what looked like a large pinboard crossed with a spiderweb. Will thought it was merely an aesthetic decision until a pair of dinner-plate sized spiders crawled from somewhere in front of Glory, who was writing something on a note. He stuck a finger to the web nearby them.

Glory didn’t appear to say anything, but gesticulated with his free hand as if having a conversation. This continued on for several minutes.

Eventually Glory put the note back onto the web, the spiders retreated, and he returned to Virgil’s side.

“The quest is arranged,” he said. “We’ll need to get to it shortly.”

“What were the spiders for?” Will asked.

“Night shift,” Glory said matter-of-factly. “Just had to discuss the details of the quest with them.”

“Sure, okay,” Will said. “Giant spiders give out quests. Okay. Sure.”

“No,” Glory said. “You’d notice if giant spiders were giving out quests.”

“Ha-ha,” said Will. “Can we go back now?”

“Certainly. It will be a dark hike back home,” Glory said. “so I suggest we find an alternative to walking.”

“Such as?” Will asked.

“We will either need a way to simplify our return or find somewhere to stay for the night.”

“I’d rather rest,” said Virgil. “I can let Dio know we’re going to be out longer.”

Rex signed something. Glory translated it as “We can find some transportation in town. No need to sit around.”

Will realized everyone was looking at him. “I, uh, don’t really care what we do.”

Glory made no visible movement but whispered in Will’s mind. “You’re exhausted. Do you really not care?”

Will said nothing.

“I’m going to break the tie,” said Glory. “by summoning a divine chariot.”

Virgil made a dissatisfied face. “You don’t have to do that,” he said. “I know it’s kind of—“

Before he could finish, what looked like a large beetle made of marble and gold appeared in the street with little preamble. It was simply not there one moment, then there another. It looked at Glory expectantly.

“Oh, yes, of course,” Glory said, pulling a whole frozen fish from nowhere. He offered it to the beetle, which it ate.

“It will take us home,” Glory said to nobody in particular for the benefit of Will.

Before Will could ask how, the beetle’s wings folded like origami, revealing a space to sit on its abdomen. Cushions lined the circumference of the seating area.

Virgil, who was only just tall enough to be eye level with the seating area, hoisted himself up with some effort. Rex simply hopped up like someone skipping a turnstile, and Will followed suit.

The beetle started moving, both more quickly and more smoothly than Will had expected.

“What is this thing?” Will asked. “It’s called a chariot, right?”

“Correct,” said Glory. “We angels raise them for transportation. This one, whose name is unpronounceable for most mortals, is one I raised from a grub.”

“Huh,” Will said. “Neat.”

Virgil, who was sticking his head out of the beetle’s side, said something in a language Will didn’t understand. It was quick and chattery, like how a squirrel sounds.

“My family and I don’t communicate much,” said Glory. “When they see her missing, I may draw their attention.”

“You have a family?” Will asked before he could realize it was a stupid thing to ask.

“Oh yes,” Glory said, less cheerfully neutral than he usually talked. “And they are unhappy with my choice of lifestyle.”

“Being Virgil’s… summoned guy?” Will asked.

“Eidolon,” Glory said, “and they think that is beneath me.”

“They used to pester me about it,” Virgil said with a dull laugh. “Nothing more fun than the lord of angels himself telling you you’re not good enough for his son.”

“Lord of angels?” Will asked. To Glory he asked “You’re a prince?”

“Angels don’t have princes,” Glory said. “But I am, for lack of a better word, privileged with the position of being his progeny.”

“How’d you end up Virgil’s eidolon, then?”

“That is a story for another day,” Glory said. He sounded uncharacteristically tired.

“Why don’t you tell us more about yourself,” Virgil asked, sitting back down. To his right Rex was face-down and already asleep.

“Oh,” said Will, who had suddenly forgotten the details of all of his hobbies and interests and academic career. “I can play the piano.”

Virgil smiled and made a ‘go on’ gesture.

“I was planning on going to university for biology,” he said after a moment of hesitation. “I have an associate’s degree and was looking to get my master’s degree as well.”

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“I work—or worked, I guess, Cheryl’s gonna be worried sick—at a game store. Cards and board games, that kind of thing. I had a girlfriend, we actually had a really big fight right before I left.”

“I was just… a guy, I guess. Just a person living his life. I don’t know what makes me the best choice for saving the world, unless it involves sustainable aquaculture of freshwater invertebrates.”

“You never know,” said Glory. “I’m sure it was for a reason that you were brought here.”

“Tell me about the aquaculture of freshwater invertebrates,” Virgil said.

“Oh, well, in aquaponics, that is, a tank system designed to raise both food plants and animals, fish are the most common choice, usually edible ones.”

“But what I’ve been studying is the possibility for a more complete ecosystem, with many different animals, may provide more food and require less direct involvem—“

Will was cut off by a loud “Help!” from somewhere off the road. “Help me!”

Glory snapped to attention, looking in the exact direction the cry had come from. “Two tainted creatures are chasing someone. They’re maintaining a steady distance, but he appears to be running out of steam. We need to act fast.”

Virgil snapped his fingers twice in front of Rex, who abruptly woke up.

“I think it’s best to take both of them head-on,” said Glory. “Give their quarry time to escape.”

“Will, you and I be the fastest,” Glory continued. “See if you can intercept and stall until everyone catches up.”

“Okay,” said Will. “I can definitely try.”

Glory flew ahead, and Will hopped off the chariot to follow. When he started to run, he found it came much more naturally to him than walking.

He could sprint faster than Glory could fly, and was running fast enough that he could bash one of the creatures with a shoulder with enough force to send it tumbling.

Suddenly standing still next to the monster, Will struggled to understand its form. It had been running on all fours, but it had long arms and clawed hands. The only visible facial feature was a wide maw, with the rest of the body covered in long, black fur that rippled and waved like tall grass in the wind.

The other creature grabbed Will’s leg and yanked him down. This one looked completely different, with nearly translucent skin showing off bones and organs that didn’t quite match a human’s. it had no face at all, just a rounded, bony dome where its skull would be.

“Eugh,” said Will as he kicked it away. Glory flew overhead, knocking the hairy one back down.

Will used the chance to get to his feet. He slashed his light whip through one, and was briefly unsettled.

“They’re like, empty,” Will said, and was privately slightly annoyed that he was now expecting to feel the creature’s soul. “Nothing inside, no-one upstairs.”

“Their souls are held captive by their traitorous flesh,” Glory said, casting some kind of spell that surrounded Will with a golden ring of light. “You won’t sense them until the body is destroyed.”

Virgil and Rex arrived. Rex simply produced a large warhammer from his backpack, while Virgil summoned a smoky outline of what looked like a wolf, which latched onto the hairy one in a deathgrip.

Will cut through the bony one again, dodging it as its arms stretched and contorted to grab him. Every time Will struck it, it made a two-tone whistling noise.

“I think it’s laughing at me,” Will said with some indignation.

It's not laughing at you,“ said Glory. ”It may, however, be enjoying itself.“

”Why would it enjoy me—” Will asked, before the answer occurred to him. “Ah.”

He slapped away a clammy hand that was attempting to clamber onto him. “Would it be possible to use my whip as a restraint?”

“Certainly,” Glory said. “Just will it to be so.”

Will scowled, slashed through the masochistic sac of organs twice more, and shoved it to the ground. With his whip, he tightly restricted its arms to cut off the circulation of blood.

It thrashed, grasping madly as its arms and hands sagged, until two long ribbons of flesh sat unmoving on the floor, tangled in knots.

“That's fucking gross,” Will said.

The hairy one, which Will had left to the others, roared. The spectral wolf that had been biting it was slammed against a tree, knocking it to the floor. Will watched as it dissipated into smoke, leaving a strange, organic looking shape, glowing blue.

On instinct, Will sliced the air with his whip, wrapping around it. It vanished, and Will felt a flash in his mind.

Blood. Bone. Carapace. The chase of prey, the ripple of warm water and the cold soil and the clean air. Allies of convenience. Family. The final bite; life slipping away in my grasp. Warm flesh, shared. The contentment of a full belly.

Will’s mind refocused. Only a moment had passed, but he felt like he’d just woken up from a long nap. The remaining tainted creature had grabbed Rex and was squashing him with a heavy paw. Long tongues, four of them, whipped around blindly. One cut across Will’s arm, and it stung like a jellyfish, and his arm felt suddenly limp.

“It’s venomous!” Will said, taking a step back. “Those tongues sting like a motherfucker.”

Virgil nodded, tossing out what looked like a buzzsaw made of that same mist, which cut across one of the tongues, severing it.

The monster screamed in a way that reminded Will of a howling dog, and its two remaining tongues whipped towards Virgil. Glorious Purpose grabbed one in midair, causing it to blacken and sizzle, but the other two cut across Virgil’s side. The halfling fell to the ground, limp.

Rex managed to unwedge himself from the creature as it tried to move, blowing an air horn-like whistle in rage. The creature tottered, and was pushed onto its back. Rex began repeatedly smashing it in the chest as it struggled, until it was barely moving. Will saw another outline, this time red, but couldn’t easily touch it with his whip.

“Christ,” Will said, breathing heavily. He felt like he was going to pass out or throw up, or both. “That fucking sucked. Is it always like this?”

“You get used to it,” said Glorious Purpose helpfully. “Allow me to tend to your wounds.”

“I think it only got me once,” Will said, and he tried to lift his stung arm. The action made him nauseous, which wasn’t helped by the horrible wet crunching sounds of Rex pulverizing the remaining creature.

Glory grabbed Will by the wrist, pushing two fingers against the wound. It was in fact superficial, but whatever venom the creature had used had burned the area around it. Glory’s hands were cool and smooth, like river stones or ceramics. Whatever magic he did was impossible to describe as a sensation, but it made Will think of bonfires and comfort food and fresh laundry.

When Glory pulled away, the wound had been reduced to a thin scar. “Don’t exert that arm too much for a few hours,” he said, and turned to Virgil, who was laying on the ground.

“This will take longer,” Glory said, scooping Virgil up and slinging him over his shoulder. “I apologize for the wait.”

“‘Sokay,” Virgil slurred, his voice strained.

“I’m going to take Virgil and Rex back to the chariot,” said Glory to Will. “The man who was being chased is hiding behind a fallen log about forty meters thataway. Can you check on him?”

“Yeah, I can do that,” said Will.

“Thank you, Will,” said Glory, turning away.

Will jogged through the forest, its tangled roots and bushes of the forest as easy for him to move through as a sidewalk.

He found a stout man curled in the fetal position behind a large, timeworn log, who made a surprised noise when Will rapped on the top like he was knocking on a door.

“We took care of those things,” Will said, poorly feigning confident detachment. “You can, uh, go home I guess.”

“Thanks,” the cowering man said quietly. “I’ve never seen two work together like that.”

“Is that so?” Will asked. Something about how Glory had found them came to mind. “They were trailing you, yeah? How fast are you?”

The man made a noncommittal gesture. “I’m not… the best long distance runner.”

“So why didn’t they catch you?”