“So, that… thing,” Korgron said.

“The Ever Devouring,” Joan said.

“That is a terrible name,” Korgron said.

“Also, it almost killed all of us. Good job, by the way,” Joan said. “If you hadn’t sent us out when you did, we’d have been dead.”

“I noticed,” Korgron said. “I really thought you were dead. That thing was terrible. I’ve never had to fight anything like it. Feeling our bodies actually melt was…” Korgron gave another light shudder. “Is that what we have to go through, now?”

“On the up side, it’s only the third and the Inferno God himself that do the melting thing as well,” Joan said. “The second is more incinerating everything to ash. A slightly better experience, if still horrible because the way it keeps multiplying if you’re not fast. Its wounds heal a lot better, too. I mean, for you guys. They don’t heal for normal people, but the Chosen heal just fine. I’m not making this any better, am I?”

Korgron shook her head. “No, not particularly. We’re going to have to prepare for the second, soon. Delightful. After I sent you off ahead, we fought. It was a hell of a battle, too. Wanna see?”

“NO!” Joan said quickly, shaking her head. She’d lived through the fight herself enough times to know she definitely did not want to see it. Especially considering the state her friends were in. “Everyone lived though. So that’s good.”

“Barely,” Korgron said. “I thought you said we were above the limits of where we should be.”

“You are,” Joan said. “But it’s advancing faster too. I don’t even know who that guy was. I recognized his amulet, but that was it.”

“Oh, this thing?” Korgron asked before holding out her hand. A moment later the amulet the elf had been wearing appeared in her hand. “Yeah, it’s some kind of illusion thing. Found out what was going on over there, by the way. Why I couldn’t see anything.”

Joan stared at the amulet, her mouth falling open. “Can… can I see it?”

“Here, go wild,” Korgron said before lightly tossing it to her. “I got it off his corpse once we finished. Not sure when he died, but that’s unimportant. I managed to breakdown the spell on it. Illusion based, makes you see what you know is there. Basically, while it was activated, you could see the fort because you knew it was there. The rest of us? All we saw were trees.”

“WHAT?!” Joan yelled before turning the amulet over in her hands. She was right. This was the amulet that the Demon Lord had. So how in the world had that elf gotten his hands on it? Had he served the Demon Lord? “That’s it? But--”

“Well, no,” Korgron said. “That was what was on it at the time. Some kind of illusion amplifying thing. I’ll be tinkering with it more, later. After the battle we were in poor shape. Of all of us, I was the only one in any shape to do real travel so I went and convinced the nearest group I could find to come collect the others. Then I tried to find you.”

Joan looked the demon over. Even now she was in a terrible state, she didn’t want to imagine what shape she had been in right after the fight. Or how she had ‘convinced’ them to come help. “You did? How--”

“Teleporting to every array I could find,” Korgron said. “I ended up spooking quite a few people. May have set off a few alarms. I went fast, though. But there was no sign of you. I ended up collapsing after a point and well…” The demon crossed her arms, a look of annoyance on her face. “I come back to find the others and imagine my surprise when I find out that not only did we know where you were, but Searle had been trying to negotiate for your return for nearly a week.”

“He had?” Joan asked. “With that throat? Can he talk okay?”

Korgron cocked an eye at her. “You think that would stop him?”

“No,” Joan said sheepishly. “Really? He’d been just trying to negotiate with her?”

“Oh, yes,” Korgron said, a bitter smirk forming on her lips. “Apparently little miss fancy elf thought it was a fine thing to drag a wounded Chosen out of bed where he should be resting so she could put on a big song and dance about how she doesn’t have to do what we say. That our authority doesn’t make our choices absolute. That we’d have to wait for all of the rest of their little elf council to get together and have a big grand talk about what they’d do. She tried that tactic on me.”

Joan couldn’t help cringing again. She hated to admit it, but she could see why the queen might have had some mixed feelings towards trusting the Hero. Wrong feelings, but at least understandable. “And that’s why you started blowing up the fort?”

“And that’s why I started reminding them that, if the choice is them or the world, the world comes first,” Korgron said flatly. “You should have been out of there ages ago. Not locked up. All of you.”

Joan nodded. She wasn’t sure she exactly approved of what Korgron did, but she didn’t think she’d do anything different if given the choice. “Thank you,” she finally said. “I mean it. It sucked in there.”

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“It seemed like it,” Korgron said before glancing down to her wrists. “Do they hurt?”

“You are missing part of your tail and one hand is almost entirely melted,” Joan said. “A bit of sore wrists is nothing.”

“But does it?” Korgron asked.

“A little,” Joan said sheepishly. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Korgron said. “I don’t blame you. So, what were you doing there?”

Joan blinked sheepishly a few times. “Err, well… that’s a bit of a story. So…” She had to give Korgron credit. The demon only reacted a little harshly towards the information about Penthe intercepting them, only four or five trees being destroyed and the smoking crater only a few feet deep. Better than some news.

The news about her sword, on the other hand, was not received nearly as nicely. “You really expect me to believe THAT’S the Star?” Korgron asked.

“I mean, maybe,” Joan said sheepishly. “It felt like it was? In the moment? But I don’t know. For all I know the Star isn’t even really a weapon and just is passed on to whatever weapon I end up with eventually. Or maybe it doesn’t exist at all anymore and I’m just experiencing wishful thinking. It’s not like I have a detailed history on what makes the Star the Star.” Joan’s cheeks started to glow a bit redder and she couldn’t help feeling more silly the more she thought about it. Especially now that she was telling Korgron of all people. She started nervously poking her fingers together. “It was probably just my imagination,” she said softly. Was she really so desperate to have some weapon that made her ‘special’ that she was just imagining it?

“Well, how would you know? How did you know before?” Korgron asked.

“I was told it was the Star of the Hero,” Joan said softly. “One of the few weapons that could stand against the full might of the Chosen’s weapons and could harm a god. Only the Hero could wield it, not even the Chosen could. The more I talk about it the more I feel I might just be imagining it. I’m sorry. Just in that moment it felt like it was.”

“Well, there’s an easy way to test it, then,” Korgron said. “Bring it out.”

“What?” Joan asked.

“Draw your sword,” Korgron said.

Joan nodded before holding out her right hand. A moment later her sword appeared in her hand. “Careful, though. I don’t want you to get burned again.”

“Oh, I won’t,” Korgron said before she held out her right hand. To Joan’s surprise, she didn’t take the sword. Instead she flicked her fingers and for a moment lightning crackled from her finger tips. It then cleaved through the blade, slicing through it with ease and causing about a third of the blade to fall to the ground.

Joan stared at her mangled blade, her eyes wide with shock. “Korgron… what… what have you done?”

Korgron looked just as alarmed as her, her mouth hanging open and staring at the smoking tip of the blade. “I didn’t think that it would actually, I just thought it would melt a bit. I didn’t expect it to cut through so easily.”

Joan stared at the tip of the blade, unable to look away. “You destroyed it.”

“Joan, I didn’t mean to,” Korgron said. “I’m sure we can fix it. It’s just metal, right?”

Joan knelt down and picked up the piece of the blade that had fallen. She couldn’t believe it. How could she believe this was the Star? If even for a moment. She numbly pushed the two pieces back together. How did you even fix a sword like that? “It’s broken…”

“Joan,” Korgron said in as soothing a voice as she could. “We’ll fix it. I promise. I swear I didn’t mean to, I thought it’d be fine.”

Joan nodded, though she felt even more foolish than she had before. The two pieces fit together, at least. Even lightly stuck together. Primarily because they were both melted from Korgron’s attack. Using it in battle anytime soon just wasn’t going to be an option. Possibly ever again. “It’s fine,” Joan said. “I’ll find a blacksmith or something. It’s fine.”

“Joan, I swear I didn’t mean to--”

“I know,” Joan said before trying to force a smile. She didn’t know how well it worked. “You know what, though? Everyone’s fine. You’re healing, the other Chosen are alive. I’m alive. We’ll find Neia. So… it’s fine. I just got over excited thinking I found the Star. That’s all there is to it. I really should have known better.”

Korgron stared at her before giving another soft sigh. “Fine. I’m going to go talk with this Neia, see what I can find out from her. But I don’t see the problem with accepting her deal.”

“That’s fine,” Joan said before turning back around. “So long as we find the next chosen, it’s fine. I’m sure having your sister look after her will be okay.”

“Joan?” Korgron said again, following after her. “I’m sorry. Truly. I didn’t think--”

“I know,” Joan said. “It’s not your fault. I just… I’m feeling really tired. Okay? It has been a long day. Weeks. I just want to get some rest. Without worrying about everyone and everything. You should too. It’s not like we can really go anywhere while you and the other Chosen are this hurt. I’ll head back soon, I need to see if I can find a blacksmith here who can fix this.” She held up the sword, showing where it was cut. “I think there’s-- huh?” Joan stared at where the melted metal had been. Now there wasn’t even a cut, let alone signs of melted metal. The blade was in one solid piece again. Almost as if it had re-attached itself.

“That’s new,” Korgron said.

“That’s very new,” Joan said. “The Star never did that.”

“Well, maybe you’re right, then,” Korgron said. “Maybe it is the Star.”

“What? Why?” Joan asked.

“Because you get damaged all the time and don’t break,” Korgron said. “So maybe this new ‘Star’ of yours is just trying to keep up.”

Joan’s cheeks turned scarlet and, once again, she felt she heard that laughter. Oddly, though, it didn’t annoy or confuse her this time. In some ways it felt like the laughter of an old, dear friend.

A friend who, like everyone else in her lives, could never give her a straight, concise answer.