The hours quickly passed as the night deepened, the only sound within the camp coming from either the knights-in-training trudging about as they patrolled or the crackling of the campfires that provided them with a bit of light and heat. Gabriel was still seated in front of the corpses, the cold wasn’t really affecting him much, it may be another side effect of having used Akasha on that demon.

Crrr…

The crunching of snow he occasionally heard got closer as someone approached him. He could roughly guess who it was based on the slight hobble and the weight behind each step, among the people he expected to seek him out, this one didn’t rank terribly high honestly.

"Wolton Delgar. He served as one of my knights for over 30 years. His father was a knight, his grandfather, his great-grandfather, he comes from a long line of knights. He had a wife, who what do you know, was also a knight. She died on one of these expeditions a few years back, before they could have a child, so it’s been just him since. He never spoke of it, but I know that he ran a small workshop where he provided simple jobs for the street kids he could find. I think he was lonely ever since he ended up alone and wanted something to fill the gap. I’ll have to pick up the slack for him now."

Arioch spoke as he sat down heavily, the snow crumpling beneath him. He looked weary, his shoulders slumped and his eyes sunken in. Judging from his expression, the answers he got after talking with Alice and Caine weren’t ones that let him rest easy. He leaned forward after he spoke, pulling a simple silver locket out of his pocket, resting it on the chest of the deceased.

"Murak Eigon. He served as one of my knights for 22 years. He doesn’t come from a long line of knights like Wolton, in fact, he’s the first knight in his family. His parents died when he was just ten years old so he was left all alone with his three year old sister. He had to provide for her so he hounded the knights for a job, they pitied him so they let him clean the training grounds. Turns out that he had some talent so he quickly became a squire, and before long he was knighted. Using his paycheck, he put his sister through every course he could find so that she could learn everything he couldn’t. She now works as a baker not too far from my estate, she occasionally comes by with bread and fresh pastries while the knights are training. The ring he prepared to give her when she finally found a man, now it’ll be my responsibility to hand it over."

The next corpse, the next life. Arioch leaned forward again after moving slightly, sliding off the ring that still carried traces of frost. A simple golden band that showed some traces of age, had it belonged to Murak’s parents? And then, there was the third.

"Altair Serosh. She served as my knight for 27 years. She comes from a line of knights, though they don’t go back as far as Wolton’s family line. But well, that line of knights doesn’t actually belong to the Barong duchy, they reside in the Sorin duchy. But she came here because she wasn’t satisfied with her life in the west, she re-did all her training to fit our standards and was quickly granted knighthood here. On colder days she liked to drink cherry tea with her husband, cherries don’t grow here so it reminded her of childhood memories. But well, on every day that wasn’t horribly cold she preferred a strong drink over tea. The number of times she had to get carried home because she got black out drunk and tried to pick fights with the other knights… Really, it’s amazing how tamed she was in front of Dorton. She was infertile due to some old wounds she suffered on an expedition so they never got to have kids, I’ll have to make sure that Dorton doesn’t become too lonely."

The third life. Once again, Arioch leaned forward. He dug into his pockets again and pulled out a silver ring decorated with a cherry-red line. Altair was the one that had her mid-section crushed by the claw so the hand that previously held the ring was no longer attached to her body, forcing Arioch to slide it onto the ring-finger on her other hand instead.

"We always lose some people during each expedition, but it’s generally only knights-in-training that got too eager or cocky, rarely have we ever lost more than a single actual knight during our ventures. And now we’ve lost 25 good men…"

Arioch’s voice trailed off as he looked at the wrapped up corpses splayed out in front of him, his hands carefully wrapping up Altair’s body again. He even brought extra knights on this expedition to make sure that it was safer than ever before, to ensure that no one would be lost. Instead, they had lost more than ever before.

"Things will get hectic once we return. A part of an ancient sealed demon was found, unsealed, and killed. People will look for the rest of it, some will try to destroy it while others will try to use it. As the ones who destroyed it, we’ll all be caught in the middle of it all."

Gabriel felt Arioch’s gaze shift. It moved away from the corpses and landed on him, but the look Arioch gave him was just tired, like a man who wanted to cry but had to just bottle it all up.

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"You will have it worst of all. I’m of the Barong duchy, Caine is of the Woodime family, and Alice is of the Vritara duchy. But you are unaffiliated, at least legally. A strong spirit, years of training, and the nigh-on unprecedented feat of having two affinities on the Divine Star. You’ll be a treat to the nobles and the Imperial Family, it won’t stop at just giving you a noble title and strongly ‘hinting’ at possible brides. You’ll need to be ready for it. It would be a shame if you got swept up and spun around."

Really, everything about Gabriel would make the nobles, especially the Imperial Family, go completely nuts. Whoever got to claim him would have the perfect idol on their hand, from a slave to a hero, they could rally as many commoners as they wanted by using Gabriel’s story. And that wasn’t even mentioning his strength, which would only whet the nobles appetite further.

"Why are you telling me all this, Young Master Barong?"

Gabriel finally opened his mouth, his head tilted slightly. He and Arioch had barely interacted ever since he arrived here in the north, he dealt more with Alice and Caine than the entourage they brought along. But now he had sought him out. Telling him about the three dead was one thing, but he was even warning him about what was to come. Arioch simply waved his hand, rubbing the bridge of his nose for a moment.

"You can drop the formalities. If the Imperial Family has their way then it won’t be long before our rank is about the same. As for why…"

Arioch knew. There was no way they would leave someone with two affinities on the Divine Star alone. Things would move, and quickly at that. As for why he spoke so much… It was honestly quite simple.

"These three died because of you, Gabriel. You wanted to have a chat with Alice during a life-or-death battle and these three knights paid the price for it. Good people, my people, loved people. And now they’re dead because of you. I can’t thank you for that."

Arioch had seen it. Alice and Gabriel chatting after he launched that sky-reaching pillar of water. The claw rushed towards him to tear him apart, and it fell to him and his men to stop it from doing just that. Thus, three more died because of the claw’s furious attacks. How could he possibly thank Gabriel for something like that? But…

"But, you are also the reason that the remaining 16 of the knights under my command can return home to their families. Had it not been for your attacks, and you ending the fight, then I do not believe that I would have been able to assure any of their lives. You killed three of my men, Gabriel. For that I cannot thank you. But you also saved 16 of them. And for that I thank you from the bottom of my heart."

It was conflicting, but that was just how life, how people, were at times. Arioch stood up and brushed off the snow that had clung to him, giving Gabriel a grateful bow before he stepped away. There were more corpses waiting for him, more mementos to either take or give.

He glanced at the distant mountains as he walked. Their silhouettes rose high in the night, like jagged teeth. As he looked at them, he felt like a strange light swallowed them for a moment. Fire, he could see flames scorching the frozen mountains. He couldn’t just see it, he could feel it and smell it. The thick stench of smoke filled his lungs and made it hard to breathe, it was as if fire swallowed the entire northern lands.

But then he blinked and the sight faded, the mountains back to their usual calm. But traces of the sensation still lingered momentarily, a stench of smoke at the back of his throat, a slight stinging of heat on his face. But in the end, that too faded and the night regained its tranquillity.

——

While Gabriel and his group were making their way back to the Barong estate, the distant Yverial Empire, separated from the Earhart Empire by the ocean, was swallowed by turmoil and chaos. The sky, the calm blue sky above their empire had split open.

As if two hands had grasped it and torn it apart, a gargantuan jagged gash split it in half, a myriad of lights swirling within the tear that looked as if it wanted to swallow the empire. A World Fissure, one larger than any in recorded history had opened above their empire. A fissure like this… There was no telling what might come through something like that.

Luckily, in the end, only a single beam of light fell from the fissure, crashing down into one of the cities that stood a good distance away from the empire’s capital. The guards and knights of the city were quick to swarm around the pillar to quickly deal with whatever appeared should it be hostile, but the thing they found at the bottom of the crater formed by the light was a single human.

A muscular young man was on his hands and knees in the crater, retching violently as a mixture of blood and stomach acid stained the smoking earth beneath him. His body squirmed as he knelt there, bones creaking and flesh wriggling. The hair that hung from his head switched between dark blue and dark golden, as if it couldn’t decide on what colour it wanted to be.

His retching stopped before long, giving him a moment to catch his breath and sit up. He had a handsome face with sharp features and a chiselled jaw, his skin so tanned that it was almost bronze. His eyes rose, shifting between a deep violet and a dark golden colour. He drew several deep breaths, his bones still shifting about while his flesh wriggled. He almost looked bloated for a moment, as if he was stuffed so full that he was about to explode.

Eventually, his bones and flesh stopped moving, as if his body finally settled down. As if to symbolise this fact, his shifting hair and eyes settled down. Dark violet eyes and dark golden hair, they accentuated his features quite well. The youth spat out another long breath before finally turning to look at the guards and knights, the corners of his mouth rising as a dull light flickered in his pupils.

"Say, are any of you interested in conquering the Earhart Empire with me?"