Chapter 10 - Faded Memories

Lazar dipped a hand into the water, finding it cool to the touch. During one of his falls, the bandages around his palms had ripped off, and a bit of blood from his wounds pooled into the pond in wispy red trails that swirled and sank below. He frowned and crouched down to try and make out the floor of the cave, but it was too dark to see. He took a step forward, the water sloshing slightly at his ankles. The ground below felt solid, at least.

Behind him, a rock from the landslide slid down the mound of stones, plopping down into the water with a splash. If he listened carefully, he could make out muffled snarls and screeches, a few telltale rumbles knocking more rocks loose from the pile. He guessed that almost all the lumps had transformed into demons by now, and it sounded like they’d begun fighting each other. Either for food or simply for the sake of it.

Lazar scanned the cave walls that continued to stretch deeper and deeper into the mountains. There was nowhere to go but forward.

He maintained a slow pace through the cave system, acutely aware of the sounds of sloshing water echoing around the cavern as he moved. His eyes lingered on the black flowers, but they appeared mundane.

He’d never seen flowers like that before, not in any of the mortal realms nor in the cloud forest of Elysium. The way the red light caught their shadowy petals made them look a bit like embers. Seraphs often claimed there was nothing beautiful in the Abyss, but it seemed that even in a realm as low as this one, nearly devoid of essence, there were still little pieces of mundane life to be found. Mysterious and oddly enchanting.

Really, the entire cavern was different from what he knew. The Abyss was supposed to be a realm of chaos, a constant fight for survival, but in the quiet solitude of those vast walls, Lazar could almost believe he was in the manor again, wandering alone on a quiet night. Those ones had always been his favorite, when the world stilled and he could close his eyes and feel the wind and fly for as long as he wanted.

He shook his head and continued to scan the path methodically. Peaceful as it seemed, one could never be too sure.

After about an hour of walking, Lazar finally allowed his shoulders to relax a little. So far the cavern had remained entirely empty. The entrance had been rather narrow, so it was possible that most demons simply weren’t able to fit through the tight space. He doubted that was the only reason, but it was all he could tell right now.

Ahead, more and more stones jutted out from the water, interrupting the flat plane, and the flowers growing along the walls and rocks became so thick that they nearly covered the entire surface. A flower field that sprouted vertically.

The water, too, grew deeper the further in he walked, but the edges of the ground near the walls remained at a higher elevation, forming a dry path that Lazar soon moved onto. There were a few more dips within the walls as well, little nooks within the expansive space.

He ended up stopping in one of them, sitting down on a flat grey stone and using the opportunity to redress his wounds. He might not have a chance to again after he left this place.

Lazar fell into an easy trance as he worked, carefully peeling off the bandage on his thigh and methodically rinsing the wound again. It wasn’t in nearly as bad of a condition as it could’ve been, considering how much weight he’d put on it. It was already beginning to scab over, and the cuts in his palms were as well.

The bruises from the fight he couldn’t do much about, but he at least didn’t think anything was broken. He knew he wasn’t the best judge of that, though. External wounds he knew how to treat, but he was consistently poor at noticing less visible ones, especially ones that could only be identified through feeling.

His hands moved automatically as he worked, and Lazar’s mind began to wander. When was the last time, he thought distantly, that he’d been injured enough that a quick chant wasn’t enough to handle things?

—

“You’re ridiculous.”

Lazar blinked and turned his head, shifting to face the doorway where Julius now stood. The other seraph had a frown on his face, one of his fingers tapping along his crossed arms irritably.

“I’m sorry?”

Julius heaved a long-suffering sigh and strode in, yanking out a chair from under the table and sitting down. He resumed his tapping on the hard wooden surface, which was both louder and probably, on account of this, more satisfying.

“I’m not looking for an apology.”

“Oh. I—”

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“Stop.” Julius held up a hand to interrupt him. He sighed again. He was sighing an awful lot, Lazar noted.

“Just. You—” The other seraph struggled for words. He shook his head. “Why?” he finally asked.

It took a second for Lazar to understand what he was saying. He shifted on the cot, the thin white sheets wrinkling with the movement.

“It’s my duty,” he said simply. He cleared his throat. “It’s really not a big deal. Did you find those records you were looking for?”

“That’s not going to work.”

Lazar smiled. “It was worth a try.”

Julius rolled his eyes, and his wings flapped a few times. They were still at that awkward stage where not all the feathers had grown in yet and parts of them looked patchy and rough, but it was already becoming clear that he would end up with large wings similar to Lady Andire’s.

“Stop listening to the things my parents say.” He huffed. “And stop poison testing.”

Lazar chuckled, but the sound was interrupted by a sudden cough. He rubbed at his throat. He’d managed to utter a quick approximation of the counter chant just in time to stop the most lethal effects, but his throat still stung from when he’d first ingested the food. It was a rather vicious poison that the perpetrator had used, he noted: one designed to be painful.

Julius shot up from his seat, his arms outstretched like he wanted to do something but wasn’t sure what.

“I’m fine,” Lazar assured, making his voice sound as even as possible. Julius slowly sat back down, though the crease between his eyebrows didn’t fully disappear. “I’ll be okay soon.”

Lazar could practically see the other seraph’s mind churning. He always squinted when he was thinking especially hard about something, a habit that he’d carried since childhood.

“At the very least,” he finally said, “you should test in front of me. And don’t bother bringing up any of that nonsense about stations.”

Lazar frowned, and his jaw clicked shut before he could do exactly that. Instead, he took a moment to observe the other seraph, then said conversationally, “I’m not sure how helpful that would be.”

Julius raised an eyebrow.

“If you’re trying to make fun of my healing chants, you can say it to my face.”

Julius’s struggles with healing magic had been a long running saga at that point. He’d even begun sneaking into the training grounds at night for fear of embarrassing himself in front of his instructors. Lazar didn’t tell him that said instructors most definitely already knew. He wasn’t exactly subtle.

Lazar smiled to himself and let the subject drop. He adjusted his position so that his back was against the headboard and he was eye level with the other seraph.

“So, what did happen with those records?”

Julius snorted, but he ended up launching into an increasingly passionate tale that soon devolved into a rant about an infuriating guard he’d encountered.

He’d been a lot more animated back then. Julius was fairly temperamental in his youth, but adulthood and the growing expectations placed on his shoulders had mellowed him out into a much more stoic, quiet man over the years. It was still odd to think about, sometimes. How different they’d become.

Lazar finished tying off the bandage, a little tighter than intended, and exhaled, wiping a few beads of sweat from his forehead. His surroundings were still empty, the surface of the water calm and smooth. He rose again and pressed onward.

—

Further ahead in the cavern, the path narrowed and sloped upwards. The floor grew increasingly rocky until the water was reduced to a few thin streams flowing between the stones. The flowers spread down to the ground, and he felt them brush against his legs as he walked through.

Lazar’s pace slowed.

The walls curved to the right, obscuring what lay ahead. He tightened his grip on his halberd and creeped forward, listening for any sounds and holding his breath. When he heard none, he turned into the area.

The path widened again into an open circular space, bigger than the spot he’d rested in to clean his wounds, but much smaller than the largest parts of the cavern. In the center, a tall stone structure stood perfectly isolated. Despite the area being covered in those black flowers, none of them touched that stone.

Lazar stepped closer, his eyes scanning the small clearing. He came to a stop in front of the structure and scrutinized it.

It didn’t look like the crooked stone spires in the field or like the quivering mounds. This one was motionless. And yet, the longer he stared at it, the more Lazar felt a creeping unease settle in his stomach. Perhaps he was only imagining it, but the air felt distinctly colder here than it had in the rest of the caves, as if the warmth was being sucked away.

On instinct, he tried to expand his perception to determine what the structure was, but he once again found himself unable to. All he had was his own gut feeling.

“—e.”

Lazar’s entire body stiffened, and he clenched his fingers around the halberd. He concentrated on the stone, listening and waiting with bated breath for the sound to repeat.

Instead of the odd noise, however, an entirely different voice rang out from directly behind him.

“Odd.”

Lazar snapped around, and he found himself face to face with a grinning demon.

“You don’t see a human in the Abyss every day.”