Joan was enveloped in warmth, a calm, soothing warmth. Nestled once more. She tried to move, but she couldn’t. No matter how hard she tried, it was as if she was so exhausted her body refused to obey even the simplest commands. Frankly, she kind of agreed with it. Moving was hard. Her whole body ached. It wasn’t long before she drifted off again.

But when next she awoke there was something new. Something familiar flowing through her. She could feel it, enveloping, strengthening, even guiding her. Telling her she was safe. As tired as she was, it seemed to be taking the pain from her, allowing her to just rest.

In and out she went, on the edge of consciousness, before drifting back into the night. Occasionally she could almost make out sounds and sensations, but they were fleeting.

Joan didn’t know how long she drifted in and out of that state, but when she finally burst through the veil of dreams and into the realm of awakening she wished she could have slept for a few years. “Oh by the gods,” she tried to say, but her mouth just made a light gurgling sound.

She felt as if every muscle in her body had been absorbed. Not killing her. Heck, somehow not even hurting as much as it should aside from the throbbing ache. But instead making her so tired that even breathing felt like too much effort. Unlike the exhaustion she was used to experiencing from pushing herself too hard, this exhaustion ached so intensely that she would have begged Bauteut to knock her out again if she could speak. She tried to reach out to the bond she shared with the chosen, only to realize it wasn’t there.

After what felt like days of laying there, Joan slowly opened her eyes and stared up at the ceiling of her room. It took her a few moments to realize that didn’t make any sense, she couldn’t be in her room. She was even in the bed she had been gifted by the demons. She blinked a few more times and slowly more parts of her began to wake up, alerting her to all new aches and pains. At least she didn’t seem to be burned anymore.

Someone was holding her hand.

Joan blinked a few times and tried to process that before, very slowly, working up the strength to turn her head. Korgron was laying in the bed besides her, sleeping soundly. Holding her left hand? Why in the--

It took her a moment longer to process everything as feeling returned to her left hand and all of the exhaustion she felt before managed to, somehow, become overwhelmed by this new feeling. She didn’t even think it was possible, but her left arm felt managed to feel even more tired than the rest of her. If she could have torn it off, in that moment, she would have. But that would have required moving. The only thing relieving any of the exhaustion was Korgron’s hand, which seemed to be sending magic into her body. A constant stream of it that seemed to be feeding whatever devouring force was eating Joan from the inside.

“Kor… gron?” Joan asked, struggling to rasp the words out.

The demon’s eyes opened almost instantly. She sat up, her eyes locking onto Joan’s. When she did so, the blanket was shoved off and ice cold air assaulted her.

Joan let out a whimper, a weak hand feebly trying to grip the blanket and pull it back. Korgron stared at her for a moment, before reaching out with her other hand and gripping hers in it. “Shhhh. Joan, shhhhh. It’s okay. It’s all okay. You’re going to be fine. Just sleep. This will pass, I promise.”

“Korgron… I did it…” Joan said softly, though already the world was beginning to darken on the edge’s of her vision. “Door… opened…”

“It’s okay,” the demon said again. “I’m not leaving you. I promise.”

“Kor… gron… it… the…” Joan tried desperately to keep going. But once more, the darkness took her back under the sweet release of sleep.

------

Joan awoke, this time far gentler. Korgron was still there, their hands locked together. Magic flowing into her from the demon. How long had they been like this? Days? Weeks? Surely Korgron couldn’t have been maintaining this connection for too long, the exhaustion from such a feat would have been impossible.

Except Korgron was one of the chosen, more importantly she was the chosen of the crown. Probably the world’s most powerful mage. She could have likely maintained the bond for months, if not years, to dozens of people. Joan couldn’t help but feel grateful and a little guilty for making the woman tend to her for so long, however long it had been. She didn’t feel nearly as exhausted this time, in fact she felt better than she had in months. Hungry as well. She tried to pull her hand away from Korgron’s, but the magic of the demon held her bonded there, unable to pull free. On top of it, the act caused the demon’s eyes to open.

“Joan?” Korgron asked before sitting up. “Can you move? How do you feel?”

“I’m fine,” Joan said, giving a small smile to the demon before slowly sitting up. “What happened? I feel amazing.”

“You’re fine? Truly? No pain?” Korgron asked. “Tired? Aches? Anything?”

“None,” Joan said.

“Aches?”

“Not anymore.”

“Tired?”

“Just a little groggy from getting up,” Joan said. “How long was I out for?”

“You’re certain?” Korgron asked. “Nothing hurts? Nothing feels wrong?” Very slowly the demon released her hand, so gently as if she was afraid letting her go would cause her to shatter like glass. “Anything?”

“Nothing,” Joan said, a bit of annoyance starting to creep in. She said she was fine, why didn’t Korgron listen to her? “But I--” Her words were cut off by a resounding slap across her cheek, so hard her head rocked to the right.

“WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!” Korgron screamed, her voice so loud that it felt like the room shook.

“What?” Joan asked, too stunned to move.

“Do you have ANY idea what the last week has been like?” Korgron said, the fury radiating off her.

Joan quickly became aware of what the light source of the room was, a glowing orange orb that had been, until now, hovering across the room. It was now growing larger, heat radiating off it while the color turned a dark red. “What?”

“You almost died! What were you thinking?” Korgron asked. “Do you have any idea how close you came? How hard it has been just to keep you and Bauteut stable? What did you even do?”

“What? Bauteut?” Joan asked, struggling to process what the demon was saying. Korgron lifted a hand, making her jerk back, but instead of another slap the demon instead pointed across the room. Joan glanced back and felt her stomach turn. Bauteut was laying on another bed, wrapped in blankets as well. “What happened to--”

“You happened,” Korgron said, her volume far lower now at least. “This happened.” She gripped Joan’s left wrist and lifted it up.

Joan blinked and then turned a little redder. “The key? What? Wait, how did you get through the door?”

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“What are you talking about?” Korgron asked. “No, starting over. What is this? Why is it inside you? How do we remove it without killing you?”

“It’s the key. How did you--” Joan let out a squeak when Korgron lifted her hand as if to slap her again. “Please don’t slap me!”

Korgron stared at her for a few moments before, slowly, lowering her hand. “Joan. You almost died. This key, what is it?”

“It’s the key,” Joan said softly.

“The key to what?” Korgron asked.

Joan gave a soft sigh, this really was hard to explain. “Not A key. THE key. It’s an artifact of the fae,” she said. “We used it, well, will use it, to open the doorway so you and the chosen can get to the heart of the Inferno God and destroy it.”

“The key,” Korgron said, the ire in her tone beginning to rise again. “How is that a key?”

“It can absorb magical power and redirect it,” Joan said. “It’s real name is this big, convoluted fae word that, basically, translates to ‘the key of magic’. We just called it the key. We never found out how to open that door, so instead we opened it with this. The power it holds is incredible and the things it can do are amazing, though even it was almost spent after opening the first door.”

“Joan,” Korgron said, cutting her off. “Why is it inside you?”

“It requires a living host,” Joan said. “Something it can feed off of. Otherwise it’ll fade and--”

“Okay, cutting the arm off,” Korgron said before, to Joan’s horror, pulling out a long, curved knife.

“Wait wait wait!” Joan said, trying to pull her arm back. “Don’t, we need it, without it we--”

“We’ll find another way,” Korgron said. “This thing almost killed you. Why would you even have it put inside you?”

“Because otherwise we all die! You know what happens if we fail! You saw it! Please, I need you to trust me! We need it!” Joan pleaded, staring up at the demon.

Korgron stared at her for what felt like an eternity before, finally, letting her wrist go. “Very well. It’s a key. We need it. But the moment this door is opened, no more. Now, what happened?”

“That’s what I want to know,” Joan said. “How did you open the Door of the Gods? I thought time had stopped?”

“What?” Korgron asked, staring at her. “You… what?”

Joan stared right back, trying to figure out what the confusion was. “You came through the Door of the Gods, didn’t you? Isn’t that where you found me?”

“No,” Korgron said. “You opened the door? Is the key a part of that, as well? Is that the door?”

“Oh, gosh, no,” Joan said. “I wish. We tried that a few times. Err, right. Wait, what happened to Bauteut?”

“Joan, I--” Korgron said, but Joan quickly cut her off.

“Please, just tell me what you know. I can explain it better if I understand that,” Joan said. “What happened?”

Korgron looked ready to start yelling again, but finally she gave in. “Very well. As far as we know, you and Bauteut were doing the stars know what. One moment everything is fine, then we hear you screaming some gibberish over the shadows. The next moment Bauteut is screaming that you’re unconscious and dying, that she needs help. Searle found you two first and it was only thanks to his efforts that you both survived. Even then it has taken constant contact to stop you from perishing. That thing in your arm, that key, was devouring your magic. If Bauteut hadn’t been there to help spread the burden, you would have died. Even then, all she managed to do was buy you time. Searle had to use much of his own power to keep it at bay and I have been, slowly, keeping it from draining you. It seems it has finally stopped, but it was not easy.”

“Has Bauteut been unconscious this whole time?” Joan asked nervously before looking back towards the other girl.

“In and out of it,” Bauteut said. “It feels like a double heaping of healer shock flu.”

Joan yelped, jumping a little. “You’re awake!”

“Of course I’m awake, you two keep yelling,” Bauteut said softly. “Joan’s finally up?”

“Yes,” Korgron said. “Go back to sleep, bucket, you still need your rest.”

“Make me, cork,” Bauteut said.

“As you wish,” Korgron said before flicking her right hand. A red mist fell over Bauteut and, a moment later, she was softly snoring. “If not obvious, Bauteut’s symptoms are nowhere near as severe as yours. It almost drained her entirely, but I managed to stabilize her quickly. You, on the other hand, have required a much firmer touch. What happened? What does the Door of the Gods have to do with anything? It hasn’t been opened since long before my time, so how did you manage it?”

Joan gave a shrug. “I don’t know.”

“What do you mean, you don’t know?”

“I don’t know,” Joan said. “I pushed on it, then it opened. Time seemed to stop and, well…” Her cheeks turned a little redder. “I went in.”

“You went in? Alone?” Korgron asked and Joan could see the anger rising in the demon once more, her tail twitching with agitation.

“Alone,” Joan said. “Because I didn’t want to risk not being able to go back. We tried for lifetimes to open that door,” Joan said. “Hundreds. None of them could be opened. I don’t know why. It’s not like I’m a… oh.”

“What?”

Joan’s cheeks turned a little redder. “Well, we tried to open the one in the elf’s lands before. Neia’s family records were, well, that’s not important now. But that’s going to make some things much easier if I’m correct.”

Korgron let out another low growl, the orb of light glowing a dark, violent red now.

“Right, err. Well, the door the elves had was said to only be accessible by the eldest and wisest of elves, those who had guided them for centuries, even a millenia,” Joan said quickly. “But when the plague happened, most of the elves died. There aren’t any more than a few hundred years old anymore. Same with demons. So nobody could go into them. But I’m well over a thousand years old. If what I saw was correct, I’m more likely… ummm…” She paused and tried to do the quick calculations. How many times had she likely failed? Eight hundred and something? How old was she usually when she died? “Really old. Thousands of years old. Kind of. Technically.”

“You’re thousands of years old,” Korgron said, her tail flicking in a manner that made Joan suspect the demon was resisting the urge to slap her again.

“Kind of,” Joan said. “I have thousands of years of experience, at least. That might be why they opened.”

“Really,” Korgron said, not sounding the slightest big satisfied by that answer.

“I mean, alternatively the door just really finds me charming,” Joan said.

“So either you’re thousands of years old, the door enjoys the suicidal or something else happened and you’re lying to me,” Korgron said.

“What?” Joan said. “You think I’m lying to you?”

“Yes,” Korgron said. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

Joan sighed and reached up, putting a hand on Korgron’s shoulder and staring into her eyes. “Korgron. Please, listen to me. I swear not lying about this. I am a much better liar than that. If I was going to lie, I would come up with something much better.”

Korgron stared at her for a few moments before sighing. “Really? Shouldn’t you tell me that you’d never lie to me?”

“I mean, it doesn’t seem like the best way to make you believe I’m not lying is to lie to you,” Joan said.

Korgron gave a sigh before reaching up and gripping the hand on her shoulder, tugging them off. “You’re a lot of trouble, Joan. I want details. Everything that happened in there.”

Joan gave a light groan. “Can I have something to eat, first? I’m really hungry, it feels like I haven’t eaten in… oh.”

“Exactly,” Korgron said. “Fine.” She snapped her fingers and a small purple mist came off her fingers. “It’ll be here soon.”

“Okay. Can you bring the other chosen too?” Joan asked. “They’re all going to want to know exactly what happened and I don’t think I have the energy to explain it four times.”

“It’s late, but I’m sure they won’t mind being woken up for this. It better be quite the story,” Korgron said.

“Oh, it is. And hey, I did the right thing, I think,” Joan said with a small smile.

“Oh? And what is that?” Korgron asked.

“I survived,” Joan said before plopping back onto the pillows.

She did survive. She managed to get through that door. She’d gotten the key to work for her, somewhat. Now if she could figure out how to better work it without killing herself or anyone else, that would be ideal. But one step at a time. But if she could open the doorways, well, there was no telling what other things she could do now. One step closer towards saving the world.

“That didn’t answer my question at all,” Korgron said.

“It will when everyone is here,” Joan said, trying to keep the exasperation out of her voice. Just a few more steps to go.