Sagle set us down a short distance into the forest, and then promptly turned into a bird and flew off to perch in a tree a short distance off, stating that what we had to say was no business of his and that he would prevent anyone from coming to disturb us.
I was having a hard time figuring out what to think of this guy. He starts off by offering us a deal with very good terms in regards to how much influence from the queen we will have in our lives. Then, he promptly modifies the deal. Now, he’s practically bending over backwards in order to be on our side again.
Of course, since he presumably does not know English, this was not a conversation he would be capable of listening in on anyway. This means he’s being helpful only when he knows he is at a disadvantage. I guess he’s the type I’m gonna have to watch closely. At the very least, trust will not be given so easily in the future so far as he’s concerned.
“It would be better if we could find a way to get that one out of our lives.” Tia said with a great deal of scorn in her voice. Looks like she was very much on the same page as me. “He talks just like…” Her head suddenly jerked up, and then she turned toward me with a guilty look on her face as though she had just realized what she was saying.
I silently regarded her for a while, trying to figure out what to make of her words. Mainly, whether or not I should be regarding her level of honesty in the same way I do Sagle at this point. Finally, I sighed and settled my thoughts.
“Tia, if we are going to have a heart-to-heart, it will be meaningless if we keep lying to each other. I am very well aware you are over 6,000 years old. There is no way you are genuinely this childish.” I said.
She gave me a heavy stare and let out a long breath. “Yes, you are right.” She said. “I’m sorry, I was trying to test you. You always refuse to talk about the things that demon says to you, saying that even the true things it says are attempts to deceive and manipulate you. You never want to talk about it, but…, well, the way you describe this demon… I think that it is a particularly fearsome type. Something called a satan.”
“Satans are a special type of fallen angel. The word means ‘opposer’ in the ancient Hebrew. They were tasked with exposing all of the flaws of humanity and know a person’s heart better than they do themselves. And their favorite weapon is the truth, twisted just enough to harm a person. There is absolutely no demon more clever and insidious than a satan. And… with some of the ways you have been behaving lately. Well, it scares me.”
Tia looked away after saying all of that and started shifting her weight from one foot to another, and digging around in the dirt with her toes.
“It’s alright.” I said. “I am very well aware of how demons of this type work. I was trained during my church days to protect myself against exactly these kinds of lies. It is how I recognized what I was dealing with so fast.”
I sighed and looked off into the setting sun. “It is fine. And you are right to want to help me. Maybe support at a time like this is exactly what I need.” I stepped closer to her and patted her on the shoulder. “Earlier, you dropped off just before saying a name. The name you were about to say was Samael, wasn’t it?”
“DAMN IT!” Tia suddenly spat out in rage, jerking out of my hand and kicking at the ground hard enough to send a spray of dirt and sticks flying. “So, he really DID tell you about me, didn’t he? So, how much did he tell you?!”
I paused and considered giving a vague answer. However, we were being honest right now. She had gotten to be on edge because I was keeping things from her, and if I were to go back to that habit now then it would only cause her to fill in the gaps with the worst information she could possibly come up with.
“Just now, in the dream he forced me to have, the one I just woke up from… instead of meeting him again, there was a sword.”
“Wait, sword? You didn’t touch it, did you?!” Tia demanded.
“What, huh?” I stuttered, having my train of thought derailed at her suddenly cutting me off like that. “Uhh… no. I walked up close enough to see the word “truth” engraved on the blade. As soon as I saw that, I knew it was a trap and backed off from it.”
“Hah. Ok, that’s good.” She said. “And, let me guess… as soon as you realized what it was, it turned into a snake, right?”
“Huh? Uhh… yeah.” I answered.
“Ok. That means you know that the truth it tried to show you was poisoned. That means it will only affect you if you let it.” She said. “That thing… it was an avatar. An avatar of corrupted truth. An avatar of truth looks exactly like the sword that the corrupted version looked like at first. It will have that appearance until you realize it’s true nature. Then, it will reveal it’s true poisonous form. It will force you to still see it’s truth anyway, but you will be able to avoid the poison in it if you know it’s there.”
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She chuckled and shook her head. “Well, if you were looking for a chance to see through this guy’s true demonic nature, you just caught him. Maybe I have been scared for nothing after all.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure.” I said. “The time before this, he said he was the one who arranged for Mr. Adderson to come and save us. He has only been good for us so far, but the demon’s exact words were that it would be after he has saved us that he will say something that will make me want the demon’s help.”
“Hmm…” Tia suddenly creased her brows and frowned. “Yes, I remember he did say something about an angel when we first met him. That could be trouble if he listens to that bastard and doesn’t know how to resist him as well as you do.”
“I don’t think we have a lot to worry about there. Mr. Adderson seems like quite the cynic to me.” I said
“But this demon has to have seen something in him to send him our way.” Tia mused.
“I actually think I have already figured out the trap.” I said.
“Huh? What is it then?”
“I’m not the real target. That’s where the lie was. You are the person he really wants to be upset with whatever it is Mr. Adderson is going to say. It’s going to be something to really unsettle you and make you doubt my ability to forgive you for the things you have done in the past.” I said.
“What?” She responded with a nervous chuckle. “What could someone we barely know say that could possibly do that?”
“Well, I have my theories.” I said. “However, I don’t really want to say anything until we hear it from his mouth. Just know that, whatever he says, we can talk it out between us. Just like we are doing right now.”
“Damn!” Tia muttered and looked toward the ground like she was trying to put a hole in it with her gaze alone. “Damn that Samael! I knew how bad they were, but why didn’t I see that he was going to… Damn!”
Tia’s entire body was becoming more and more tense. Her hands were balled into fists, and I was frankly surprised she hadn’t started crying yet. She really did look right on the verge of it.
“Wait! You never told me how much you know.” Tia suddenly said, turning toward me.
“Yeah, you interrupted me as soon as I mentioned the sword.” I said. “Alright, so… it showed me a few things. Several short scenes from your life.” I told her.
I went on to give her an overview of all the things it had shown me. Of how she had lost her brother and brought him back to life. Of how she had gone to the underworld with him, and traveled together with him until he died again, this time as a result of losing the faith of his followers. And then, how Licifer had found her, and how the final scene showed her deal with his subordinate, Samael. Presumably, somewhere between those two scenes the fallen angels had taught her several things, including how to take the human form she was wearing when I had met her.
“My entire life story, basically. Or all the major points that you can fit into a short presentation, anyway.” Tia scoffed. She definitely looked annoyed about how her privacy had been invaded in this way. As her sister in this life, I wasn’t really sure what to think about that.
“Well, look at it this way.” I said. “You were following me around for… I don’t know how long. You saw plenty of my life, now I have seen a bit of yours. So, we’re even. It makes us more like sisters now.”
“Haha, I guess.” Tia said. She looked awkward for a moment and then grabbed me into a hug. “I always wanted to do something like this.” She said. “I did not have arms when I was with my family in my last life. When I saw you with your grand children, I got so jealous.”
I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and tousled her hair.
“It’s alright” I said.
“You know? This isn’t really what I had in mind when I said we needed to talk a few days ago. I just got off track because of, well… what just happened.” Tia said.
“Yeah.” I said, and then paused for a moment to mentally prepare myself for the discussion to get serious again. “So, what was the real reason you wanted to talk?”
“Well…” Tia said, and seemed to gather her thoughts for a while. “It’s a little hard to talk about while cuddling like this.” She let me go and stood back up. “It’s just… how you were acting.” She said. “Especially how you were with that one fairy who dropped in on us. What was his name…”
“Nier.” I said.
“Yes, that one. I have no idea how you always remember names like that.” She said.
“I was a teacher and a nurse. Remembering a lot of names is important in both those lines of work.” I said.
“Well, anyway… You know what I’m talking about… it’s just… well… you know. You did all of that to protect us, right? To protect Levin and Rolwen. And me. And, I mean, you did it to keep yourself alive too, but… I don’t think you would go as far as you did if it wasn’t for us, right?” She said.
“Who says I wouldn’t?” I goaded her.
Tia gave me a quick, almost playful dirty look, but a flash of pain and anguish quickly mixed it’s way in as well. “Asa, I mean this seriously. The entire reason we are here right now is because you very literally sold your soul to me in order to save your granddaughter. That’s the kind of person you are. What a person does when they are at their most desperate says a lot about them, and you are the type who would go to the most extreme ends in compromising yourself if it means assuring the wellbeing of the people you love. I just… don’t want to see you turn yourself into something truly ugly for our sake. I saw it in the past week we have been running. You definitely have it in you.”
That statement felt like a knife straight to the heart. I really couldn’t deny what she was saying. Everyone had been really riled up by that incident, and it had bothered me after the fact as well. I can say it’s even the most likely reason why mom is afraid of us now.
“In other words, the easiest way for this demon to get to me is to go through my loved ones.” I said.
“That’s the first thing on your mind after hearing what I just said?” Tia asked, almost looking exasperated. However, her face quickly turned deadly serious. “You are right, though,” she said. “And with the power of a satan, there is no chance that he is unaware of this.”