Noah only let Lee’s mindspace fall away once Empty Proliferation had been completely run down to its core. He found himself in the Damned Plains once more, seated upon Sievan’s obsidian platform.

Everyone had gathered around him and Lee. Sticky clutched onto the Key so tightly that her small knuckles turned white and Moxie was frozen mid-pace, her face so creased with stress that Noah feared she was about to start sprouting white hairs by the dozen.

Noah couldn’t help but notice that Sievan’s attention seemed to be directed toward the ceiling rather than toward him. The Lord of Death noticed his attention and let his head tilt down just enough for Noah to spot the faint smile that passed over and left his features like a summer breeze. He blinked the last of the Rune’s effects away as Lee’s eyes drifted open beside him.

“Moxie!” Lee launched herself at the other woman.

Moxie only had an instant to process her surprise before a demon missile slammed into her. The demon wrapped around Moxie, clinging to her like a koala — and swiping a piece of jerky from her pockets in the process.

“Lee,” Moxie said, palpable relief washing over her features. Her eyes flicked to Noah. “Did—”

“Fixed. And it isn’t even my fault.”

“It isn’t?”

“I ate my Rune,” Lee said, but her words were spoken straight into Moxie’s side and were barely audible.

“You didn’t need mine?” Sticky asked. It was hard to tell if she was relieved or disappointed. “Did it not work?”

“No. I used yours,” Lee said, unentangling herself from Moxie just enough to free a hand and pat the other demon on the head. “I ate it.”

“You ate my rune?”

“Yes. It was very useful,” Lee said.

Sticky smiled. “Oh. Okay, then. Sievan, will you eat my rune too?”

The Lord of Death let out a gentle laugh. “No. Not today, Sticky. But perhaps one day. After the damage to my soul has healed. After I have had time to think.”

Sticky’s face fell.

Lee’s words echoed through Noah’s head. Sticky’s Rune may have been a way that demons could fix themselves… but that didn’t mean they’d want to take it. The stronger a demon became, the closer to their emotion they were.

Something tells me they can’t all do what Lee did. She said she was the worst demon, and her desire was everything. So if a demon is hyper focused on one thing, who knows if they’ll be willing to give it up, even if that means they can never advance.

That was a problem for another time — specifically, when he had some time to speak with Yoru and Aylin. They were his best references for demons right now, and he had no plans of giving up on their race now that they knew there was a solution to the problem when he had so many friends and allies that were demons.

“So… Lee is okay?” Moxie asked a second time. Her voice was tense, too scared to let herself start hoping. She managed to wrangle Lee for long enough to hold her out like an elongated cat. “You’re okay?”

“My rune is fixed. I took a bite out of Decras, just like Noah. I… yeah. That’s it. Didn’t do anything else.”

Noah squinted at her. Moxie, who normally would have never missed such an obvious interaction, was a little caught up on the first part of Lee’s admission. Her mouth dropped open.

“You did what?”

“Quite literally that,” Noah said, walking over to Moxie and gently extracting Lee from her hands so she could have a moment to actually think. Lee didn’t try to fight back. Other than eating, there wasn’t much she enjoyed more than getting carried around. “I think we’re going to need to put together a charcuterie board at this rate. A fruit basket might not cut it.”

“Oh, you cannot be—” Moxie cut herself off and turned away for a moment to wipe her face with a sleeve. She let out a long, slow breath as she steadied herself, fighting to hold her emotions down. “I can’t leave either of you alone for more than a minute.”

“We do kind of need a supervisor, don’t we?” Noah asked.

“Sometimes,” Lee said. “But that makes it harder to eat the squirrels.”

Noah grimaced. He hadn’t forgotten about that particular tidbit. For a moment, he tried to remember if he’d shared any meals with Lee after any of her… squirrel escapades. His memory failed him. That was probably for the best. Noah wasn’t so sure he wanted to know.

“The squirrels? What does that have to do with anything?”

“We agreed to stop keeping secrets. I’m sure Lee will fill you in when you get a moment together.”

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Moxie nodded her understanding. There were some things that, even among friendly company, were not meant to be shared.

“Are we going back home now?” Lee asked, craning her neck to look back at Noah.

“Yes,” Noah said. He looked to Sticky and cleared his throat. “That is… if you’re okay with trying to open a portal again? I know the last one was really stressful. No rush this time around. You can take your time.”

“I don’t need to take time!” Sticky scrambled to her feet and thrust the key out before her. “I can do it. I’m ready. It might take a little while though. I want to be careful this time. So I don’t break anything.”

“A little while is fine,” Noah said. “Thank you, Sticky.”

She gave him a firm nod and sat back down, focusing her attention on the artifact. Tiny streams of crimson energy began to twist around its surface. They were forming a lot slower than they had the previous time around. It looked like it would probably take her at least an hour or two to manage the portal.

Sievan watched over her with an expression almost akin to that of a proud father — but not quite there. There was something about the demon that made his emotions completely foreign to Noah. No matter how friendly Sievan was, he was still the Lord of Death. He and Noah understood each other, but they were far from the same.

“It has been an eventful meeting,” Sievan said, looking down at the gaping hole in his chest. “The Damned Plains will be an… interesting location in coming years. I have played a passive role for many years, but perhaps it is time for some change.”

For a moment, Noah almost felt bad for the Demon Lords. If Sievan decided that he was going to take over the Damned Plains, he was almost certain that none of them could do anything to stop him.

Sievan caught Noah’s expression and chuckled.

“Not anywhere near that extensive… but Sticky has worked too hard for her efforts to go to waste. There must be a way for demons to access her efforts, should they wish to utilize it.”

Surprise prickled at Noah’s thoughts. Somehow, he hadn’t expected Sievan to offer to help distribute Sticky Runes. He supposed it made sense — it wasn’t like he could sit around in the Damned Plains peddling them to everyone.

“I can get one for you to copy,” Noah said. “We’ll be here a bit while we wait for the portal anyway.”

“Very good. I do not expect many will initially take the risk to attempt using it, but it is a good start. Perhaps some will. Perhaps we will learn from it.” One corner of Sievan’s lip curled up. “I doubt it. We are a stubborn kind. But it will be interesting to see change in a plane that has been stagnant for this long.”

“I suspect we’ll be back at some point in the future,” Noah said. “I don’t think our business here is done. Every time I think I’ve gotten closer to figuring out everything there is to know about Runes, I figure out I don’t know shit. The Damned Plains have so much to study.”

Sievan let out a soft laugh. “That means you are beginning to truly understand. I look forward to seeing what you can come up with — but there is more business that we must conclude before I can allow you to leave.”

“There is?”

“You brought me a Death Rune,” Sievan said, his eyes flicking to Lee. “Even if I did not take it. And you will also be giving me another Rune before you leave. I am not one who leaves my debts unpaid.”

He’s going to give me a free rune? Hell yeah. I knew I loved this guy. The Lord of Death is my second favorite demo — well, Sticky is pretty endearing. Third favorite? But then there’s Aylin as well. Ah, shit. Well, he’s up there. Somewhere in the top… ten or so.

“That’s very kind of you,” Noah said, already trying to figure out what Rune would work the best. If Sievan was willing to bargain, he was pretty sure they could get something incredibly powerful.

“It is not you who I have a Rune for.”

Noah blinked. That was fine with him — but it sounded like Sievan had someone in specific in mind.

“Who’s it for?” Moxie asked. “Lee?”

“No,” Sievan replied. “You.”

***

Moxie and Sievan headed down the floating stairwell to retrieve her rune. Apparently, Sievan didn’t have it on hand. That was fine with Noah. He set about the surprisingly difficult task of duplicating Sticky’s rune.

The difficulty was almost entirely because his grimoire had decided it had worked enough without sufficient pay and stubbornly refused to give up any magical energy until he’d finally prodded it into submission.

Sievan and Moxie returned just a few minutes after Noah wrapped up his work. Sticky’s portal was almost entirely complete beside him, the final strands of energy twisting together into a twisting crimson maw that yawned open in wait for them.

There was an odd look on Moxie’s face. It was an odd mixture of pensiveness, unease, and what might have been interest. It was a look that told Noah that he’d have to ask her exactly what Sievan had given her after they got a moment alone.

Sievan harvested the duplicate Sticky rune from the book, then sent a bemused look at the grimoire’s pages.

“Do you know what this is?” Sievan asked.

“Do you?” Noah’s eyes widened. “Will you tell—”

“No,” Sievan said with a wry smile. “I suspect it would be displeased if I did.”

“What, you’re scared of a book?”

“Me? No. But it is amusing,” Sievan replied. “What a curious little… conglomeration. It seems to rather like you.”

The grimoire snapped shut on Noah’s hand. He let out a slew of curses and yanked his fingers free of its thick pages, slinging the huge book over his back. “You could have fooled me.”

Despite his words, he hadn’t forgotten how the Grimoire had saved his students — or how it had talked to him.

Yet another long conversation he was going to have soon.

One that he looked forward to.

There was a sharp pop. A wave of invisible energy rolled past Noah and prickled against his skin. Sticky’s hands dropped and her back slouched as she blew out a relieved breath. She looked too tired to do anything more than give them a small smile.

“I did it. I opened a connection back to the mortal plane.”

“You’re incredible, Sticky,” Noah said with a grin. He hesitated. “How do we control where it goes?”

“I set it to the place you told your friends to meet you,” Sticky replied. Her cheeks reddened. “We were listening in.”

“That’s convenient. Great job. Sievan, is Zath—”

“Finished with the task I set him.” Sievan nodded. “They are prepared.”

The Lord of Death cast his gaze down the stairwell. Noah followed it. The Rank 7 Demon stepped out from the hall, clearly having been called by Sievan. In his wake were a number of familiar faces.

Noah smiled as he looked back to the portal. Excitement and a smidge of anxiety rose within him. After all this time, he was finally returning to the mortal plane — and properly, this time around. Noah was returning to his students.

He just hoped they wouldn’t mind that he was bringing a few new friends back with him.