The portal was far away, but we had to make it there. I’d heard the name Zaavi far too often since I’d been exiled from the Guild, and there was no way it was good. We walked, slowly, side by side. Callie assisted me, allowing me to rest my hand on her shoulder, my other tightly gripped the walking stick she had found for me. I discovered that my grip in my right hand was severely lacking, and I hoped I didn’t have any major nerve damage or something from my injury.

I glanced down at my pocket, seeing the thick, monstrous claw stick out of it, too long to really fit. I needed to find a better way to keep it, because I would be damned if I didn’t even get a good souvenir out of this whole experience. It was proof that we had survived. Would my mother be proud?

I wondered if she would be. I hadn’t killed any monsters; I’d simply run from them. But I had lit a fire with a rune – my first ever – and in the dark, scratched blind into the stone of a cave, deep within a mountain. I could see her now. She would look down on me, with her steel gray eyes, cold and unwelcoming, and she would tell me all of the ways I’d failed her, disappointed her.

She’d probably point out how I should be able to light a raging fire with that rune, not just a tiny little flame. She’d remind me how I should never have acted so rashly and started this whole mess. She would tell me, like she had over and over again, how I was making up that I could see demon auras. She liked to say how that wasn’t possible, how demon auras weren’t even a thing, and that I was just lying to her.

I flicked my eyes down to Callie. I’d gotten used to it, since we’d been around each other constantly for the last several days, but it was still there. Her aura, black and wild, exuded from her like a cloud. She seemed to doubt her demon self, but my eyes didn’t lie. I suppose it was possible she wasn’t entirely demon, maybe half or something. Just because I’d never heard of that happening didn’t mean it was impossible.

I sighed, and we kept stepping forward. She glanced at me, her eyes worried, and I managed to usher a smile to my lips, hoping to reassure her. It must have satisfied her enough, because she returned to stare forward, ever focused on the path ahead. I kept watching her, because she intrigued me. I’d only known her for a few days, but I could already tell how she’d changed so much.

I’d first met her in that café, and I was completely blinded by her aura, and what that could mean for me. I had thought she was a demon disguised as just a simple, silly girl. I laughed quietly to myself; she had proved herself to be far more than that.

I watched a droplet of sweat work its way down her brow, matting her black bangs. She’d shown me that despite everything, it was still possible to take charge of the world and make it give you what you want – or what you need. She took my capture of her as a joke, to amuse herself, and let me make a fool of myself in front of the entire court. Then, when that backfired, she’d escaped, and took me with her.

And now, though she’d allowed me to lead during the caves, even though that was complete and utter bullshit on my end, she had taken the reins when I couldn’t. And we were almost there to the portal, almost there to her goal. I admired so much that she was able to single mindedly work towards achieving something she felt was important. I wished I had that sort of drive, too.

We marched forward, her eyes still set on the plateau, mine still watching her. She really was amazing, demon or princess. I wished I had the dedication that she did. If she had been thrown in the hunter’s guild, like I had, then she probably would’ve been a successful hunter by now, given her determination that she’d shown me so far. I envied that of her. She wouldn’t have disappointed my mother, like I inevitably always would.

Callie, I just don’t want to disappoint you.

I looked down at the ground, watching my feet make their way ever so slowly towards her goal. When this journey ended… when she didn’t need me anymore, what would she do? Would her recommendation be enough to allow me back into the Guild? Or would I just have to wander the countryside, looking for any kind of work I could do for coin, selling whatever I could to make a living? Would all of our shared experiences mean nothing once she had settled all of this unrest?

I shook my head gently to snap myself out of it. I couldn’t’ be having these kinds of thoughts, not right now. We had work to do, and we would do it. A new wave of determination came over me, making each step I took decisive and firm. We would make it to this Hellish portal, and I would make sure she could save her Kingdom.

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She glanced at me again, a grim smile on her face, as she noticed my increase of pace.

“We’re going to get there, Tom,” she said.

“Damn right we are,” I said quietly. “Damn right.”

~

Eventually, the pace became slow again as the path began to incline. We had reached the plateau, and were now climbing, so to speak, as the worn down earth wound around, gradually making our way up. We were panting, feeling the lack of air from the increase of altitude, our muscles protesting the extra rise and all of the exertion from our travels. We’d walked so far that I was surprised we hadn’t entirely unraveled.

But we were still here, still standing, still walking, and I believed we had it left in us to make it farther. We had to. Instead of focusing upwards at how much farther we had yet to go, I turned my eyes down at my feet, only concentrating on making sure they were stepping one in front of the other. I ignored the burning sensation of the injury in my shoulder, at least, as much as I physically could. The dip in the cold lake had dulled it somewhat, oddly enough, but now as the water droplets had dried on my skin and been replaced with sticky sweat, the ache and stinging pain that shot down my entire arm had returned. I cradled my arm with the other, trying desperately not to jar it with odd movement or hard steps. I told myself that once we got through the portal, we could find someone to bandage me up, find some medicine, something, anything. I ignored the fact that we might not be welcomed with open arms into the demon realm – or at least that I might not be. Failed or not, I was still raised a Demon Hunter, and I couldn’t picture any demon finding my presence favorable.

Normally, I would have expected to be excited about this next step in our adventure, but it was all I could do to keep my eyelids pried open. Through all of this journeying and adrenaline rushes, my body was spent. I would probably be the first and only Hunter to ever set foot in the demon realm, provided we even succeeded, yet I could only muster a vague sense of acknowledgement. This travel had taken more out of me than I’d ever given to anything before. I hoped it was worth it.

I shot a glance over to Callie, who was just as sweaty and grimy as I probably was. She walked next to me, wiped her forehead laboriously, her eyes never leaving the path in front of her, ever focused on her goal. She was doing this to save her Kingdom, the alliance between humans and demons, to prevent an all-out war between the races. And me? I was just trying to scramble for a semblance of my previous life, the one I’d been aching for since I was child, always just out of reach. Her black hair was matted, her bangs clumped together from both our swim and our exertion. She still looked like a warrior princess. I just looked and felt like a mess.

I looked back down at my feet, surprised to find them still climbing onwards. We continued on this way, not talking, only traveling. The air became lighter and lighter, my pace slower and slower. It wouldn’t be too much longer before I could walk no more. My arches of my feet strained with every step, my calves tightened to the point of cramping, my shoulder, despite my care not to move it, tensed into a burning ball of pain. I wasn’t sure how much more I could take.

Then, we had made it; a surprise to both of us. Out of nowhere, the path ended, and we had landed at the flat plateau, stretching out and giving us a view for miles. But I ignored the view beyond what we had come for, although I’m sure it was very beautiful. I simply couldn’t process anything else. We stood in front of the portal, which looked like nothing more than an empty doorway made of stone. Two stones were propped vertically, standing more than ten feet tall, with a third one stacked horizontally, spanning the difference, at the top. They all appeared to be made out of the same kind of stone: beautifully smooth, as if it had been in a river for decades, smoothing out wrinkles, the color a soothing gray, flecked with small particles of black evenly and randomly dispersed throughout.

“We… made it…” Callie whispered.

I leaned on her, huffing for air. It had been quite the strenuous journey, for me more than her given my injuries.

“Do we just… walk through?” she asked me, turning to look me in the eyes.

I would’ve shrugged if one of my shoulders hadn’t been spontaneously pierced by a giant bat.

“Can’t hurt to try, I suppose,” I reasoned.

“Well, I guess let’s go, then.”

She prompted we move forward, supporting me as she had the entire march here, allowing me to lean on her. We approached the stone doorway. The air seemed to fizzle and crack around us, filled with magic, or something. I wasn’t exactly sure what would happen when we went through, but we’d come too far to turn back now.

Looking through the doorway, we could see the landscape beyond. It felt silly, staring at the massive stone doorway; aside from the strangeness of its existence, and the energy-filled air, it felt rather strange to expect it to be a portal to anywhere else. It just looked like an odd stone statue, standing tall on the plateau, framing the landscape beyond it.

We exchanged wary glances, wordlessly agreeing to step through at the same time. It was both meaningful and necessary; while we had gone on this journey together, I wasn’t sure how well I’d be able to walk without her.

We took slow steps, edging closer and closer to the opening.

And then stepped through.