Many likely thought he was insane. In many ways he was.

There he stood with a giant red serpent towering over him. Lar’s hand shook quite noticeably. He tightened his grasp and kept looking at the serpent directly in the eyes not daring to look away.

This moment brought a sense of familiarity to him. When he previously stood his ground to face against a Divine Familiar, he hadn’t wavered then and he had no intention of wavering now. He didn’t look away or run off to try to save his own hide as he easily could’ve. He simply stood his ground knowing that if there was a chance at preventing further chaos from ensuing, then he had no other choice than to do this.

The giant serpent’s head began to lower itself. Hot air went up against him. Their tongue slithered out of their mouth as their big yellow eyes remained directly in front of them.

Rage dwelled in his eyes. He examined the both of them closely wondering whether to unleash his fangs on them. His eyelid lowered slightly as whatever consciousness that dwelled in this form contemplated its next move.

If Lucias could break through this before, then he ought to be capable of doing it again. That hope was what kept him standing there without tucking his tail between his legs and diving off the wall to escape from here. If this chance he was taking ended up failing, then he imagined at the very least, it would be a quick and swift death for himself and Lar. If a painless death was the best he could ask for, well, he’d accept it graciously.

He slithered backward a little drawing his head away from them. He opened their mouth revealing his sharp fangs once more. Each fang was larger than his or Lar’s own body’s. He knew full well, that if either of them were bitten, there would be no coming back from that.

“K-Kiran…”

“Remain strong,” he whispered quietly. It was rare for Lar to be so afraid. She was one of the most strong individuals he had ever met. That strength of hers had limitations, especially when faced against a divine being.

He stifled whatever fear existed in him. He remained stern and unwavering. He could not afford to flee now.

Lar began to tighten her grasp even further as they kept holding hands. He could feel her pulse as he held her hand, but with every passing second, it slowed and calmed. It seemed his words to her had helped in some way.

He took a deep breath and kept his eyes locked to the serpent’s. When his mouth widened even further, he did not flee even though they could easily swallow them both whole in one quick motion. And even if they chose to not swallow them or use his fangs against them, all he needed to do was use the mass of his body to kill them instantaneously. That was all that was required from such a large powerful being.

That fury and rage exuding from him tempered slightly. His mouth lowered once more until closing entirely.

The serpent began to approach once more. His head came to hover just a couple of feet in front of them. Every time he exhaled, he could feel the hot air pushing against his entire body. Kiran raised a hand to begin running it across the side of the serpent’s head. He used the back of his palm gently caress him. His skin was quite warm and strange to the touch. He had never actually touched a snake before, let alone a Divine Familiar taking such a form.

His iris locked onto him as he calmly touched them to show he was no threat and no one behind him was either. We are on the same side.

He eyed Lar and gestured with his head for her to do the same. One side of her mouth rose nervously as he kept urging her to do as he did to show that they weren’t the enemy. Don’t let me down now Lar. Show him that we’re not threats. They were undeniably his allies. If that could reach him in this form, then they’d be saved.

She reluctantly began to run her own hand against the side of his face. The Red Serpent appeared pleased if he were to judge the way his yellow eyes softened towards them.

We aren’t the enemy. Your true enemies have either all died or fled already. Those of us who remain are your allies.

Without directly stating any of this to them, the serpent appeared to understand their intent. He pulled away and arched his head up towards the sky opening his mouth to let out a terrifying scream. Saliva dripped down his fangs as the both of them covered their ears with their own two hands.

This scream was unlike any he had heard from them before. It was brutal to the ears and terrifying but it was much more than that. This one was more like a scream made to proclaim a victory of sorts. Lucias was by his measure, pronouncing that they had in fact won and succeeded against not just the banespawn, but also Noreko and his own loss of self that he appeared to have gained once more.

Golden aura began to exude off of him. Bits of yellowish orbs and wisps of fog-like energy ran across his entire overwhelmingly large body. It dissipated into the air disappearing as quickly as it appeared.

Any leftover rage once inhabiting him no longer existed. The Red Serpent’s face became entirely calm as he closed his eyes and began to shift back into his human form.

While this form of his was terrifying, there was something beautiful about it as well. A being like him was not something you get to witness every day or come across. Neither should you want to cross paths with one even if they had so far survived encountering such powerful beings twice now.

A sense of peace and calm swarmed around Lucias as his form slowly but surely decreased in size. Kiran approached the edge of the wall and began looking down it to observe the serpent shrinking down to a tenth of its previous size. He was still quite large for a serpent, but within another few seconds, he’d quickly be at a more typical size for such creatures.

“I can’t believe it. That actually worked,” Lar said.

“I never doubted it for a second.”

She shook her head a little. “Somehow I doubt that.”

The gate began to open and by the time they both got down and walked through, Lucias was back in his human form completely naked and asleep on the ground.

“Bring him inside quickly,” Halmond ordered out towards a slew of people who had returned to the gate realizing Lucias wasn’t intent on murdering them all any longer.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Lucias was brought inside along with everyone else. The gate closed and they kept carrying him away as everyone appeared immensely relieved.

Silvy shook her head at him as she kept her arms crossed beneath her bosom. “I can’t believe what I just witnessed.”

“You can’t?” he said.

“I can’t tell whether you’re an idiot or the bravest man alive to even consider doing what you just did.”

“Or he’s just the bravest idiot,” Lar said jokingly.

While they had their laughs and even he managed to crack a smile, Halmond approached him with Felmir and many others gathered around. “You have all of our immense appreciation. I don’t know how we will ever repay you for somehow tempering our master.”

“It’s no problem at all.”

“You say that as if you didn’t just throw yourself into a volcano yet somehow walked out of the lava unscathed.”

“Well, it’s not my first time confronting a being like that. I figured maybe if it worked before, it would work again.”

“You came across another Divine Familiar?” Felmir asked a bit surprised to hear that. “And you made it out alive?”

If he was to be honest with himself, that Divine Familiar was far more terrifying looking than Lucias. At least Lucias maintained a logical form. Leo had taken on a form that was more abstract and nightmarish in ways he could to this very day, scarcely describe. If he had to pick between facing Leo again or Lucias, he’d pick Lucias every single time. “It was a long time ago when I crossed paths with another Divine Familiar and that was under very different circumstances.”

“You say that so casually as if it’s just a given that you’re to make it out alive,” Halmond said. “Well, it clearly worked which I am quite relieved to say. I imagine Lucias will most certainly have a lot of words he’ll wish to say to you once he wakes up. It appears he’s in quite a deep sleep for now so that’ll have to wait. In the meantime, it would do us well to do a thorough search out there.” With a simple gesture a slew of soldiers marched up to Halmond. “Take several groups out to the lower city and search it for possible survivors. Just be careful. I believe most of the banespawn have already fled, but there might be some still lingering about out there.”

“Yes sir.” They began to march off and exit through the opened gate that was quickly closed behind them.

It was hard to describe how he felt. Relieved. Hopeful. Pleased. There were many words to describe how he felt. None quite did it justice because he also felt negative emotions as well.

He was at the very least happy that Noreko was no longer a menace to be worried about. He was finally dead although he had caused so many lives to be lost including even Zorge. But at least now they didn’t have to fear that any one of them might just be this absolutely evil sorcerer wearing another person’s skin. Such a thought had haunted his mind for a long while.

Lucias had also successfully been dealt with by getting them to not attack his own people or them for that matter. A lot had gone right, but that was all after so much much wrong had occurred.

All of the good did not outweigh the bad. Indeed, today was bittersweet. That was, as he thought about it, the best word to describe how he truly felt.

As he sat on a crate to give himself a much-needed break, Rinas and several others including Yorais, Abigail, and Frederek approached him.

He wiped the sweat from his brow as Abigail smirked at him. “Nice job out there,” she said. “I didn’t think you had it in ya.”

Hearing a questionable compliment, but a compliment nonetheless, from her of all people was quite the rarity. “Thanks, I suppose,” he said as Lar sat beside him appearing quite tired much like himself.

“You’ve done us all well,” Rinas said. “If anyone deserves a lot of accolades and rest, it’s the two of you.”

“Just doing my part,” he said. He hopped off the crate as Frederek nodded his head towards him. “We’ve still got a lot more to do before we’re done.”

“Of course, but that can wait,” Rinas said. “I wouldn’t want you to push yourself too hard. There’s always tomorrow.”

As pleased with his actions as he was, it just wasn’t enough. A part of him hated how much that was true. They were still fighting against the clock in a literal sense. Every day that passes by means even fewer supplies for all of the survivors that fled from Liall. Those supplies wouldn’t last for much longer which meant if they didn’t act quickly enough to remove the darkness from this domain, all of those people who were encamped between these two territories would die. Even if they had to get by without magic being restored to its proper place, they could properly live in the fourth domain if the darkness was resolved.

“Kiran,” Silvy said. “Relax a little or you’ll end up killing yourself by working so hard.”

“You’re not wrong,” he said as her kind eyes appeared genuinely concerned for him. “Is it that obvious I’m a bit on edge still?”

“You know what they say. The eyes never lie.”

How true her words are. He tried smiling a little and letting out a deep sigh. “Forgive me. It seems I foolishly thought I should do more than I reasonably can.”

“A common problem for many.”

He looked around trying to see whether Juna was around. Out of everyone he was close with, she hadn’t appeared like everyone else. “Have you seen Juna around?”

“Oh,” Silvy said taking a gander for herself. “Now that I think about it, I don’t think I have. I might’ve seen her when you were dealing with Lucias, but I haven’t noticed her since then. She must be somewhere close by.”

“You’re probably right.” Maybe she had passed out somewhere from exhaustion. That was always a possibility.

As things settled down later this same day, Halmond returned after doing some scouting from the skies above. He remained in his eagle form choosing to stand on a helmeted guard’s head near the front gates that they still remained close to. “It appears those reinforcements aren’t heading here anymore. They’ve begun heading in the opposite direction.”

“Good,” Felmir said as he was in his bear form. “Should we go ahead and send more out to secure the lower sector?”

“Not yet. It appears there are still a dangerous amount of banespawn lingering about, but many of them are being actively eliminated as we speak. In the meantime, I’m going to go ahead and help out our soldiers and do more scouting from the skies for them.”

“Let us know if you need us to come in and help.”

“I will.” Halmond flew off and headed towards the lower sector of the city once more.

Being a familiar sure was handy. If Kiran could take on the form of an eagle, he’d be practically unstoppable. But alas, he was just a mere human. He at least had Lar who could carry out all kinds of tasks he couldn’t necessarily carry out himself. However, she either can’t fly like Halmond or won’t since she didn’t seem interested in taking a form other than her cat form she utilized. Maybe I can convince her one of these days to take on the form of an eagle. From what he knew about familiars, they usually had a particular affinity towards a form of their choice so it was unlikely she’d stray away from her cat form.

At the very least, he’d hope that he never had to do something like what he did today in having to confront a Divine Familiar. Even though he had survived each encounter with them so far, that didn’t mean he’d survive a third, fourth, or however many more he potentially crossed paths with in the future. Let us hope Lucias doesn’t need to take on that form ever again.

He certainly understood why Lucias was so hesitant to take on such a form. He didn’t have proper control of it and things could’ve easily gone in an entirely different direction with him unintentionally attacking them all and destroying the entirety of this city.

But we made it now, haven’t we? He eyed Lar who was unaware of what he thought to himself. He smiled at her feeling truly pleased.