Ash’s POV

The moment that Sophia sent out the discovery that she’d made, Leo and I stopped arguing mid sentence. A furious discussion started taking place, with only Leo’s portions being said out loud. When he gets like this, when a massive piece of information falls into his lap, I think his mind starts flowing so fast that it becomes practically impossible for him to take the time to translate his thoughts into words, without just letting himself speak them out loud. This resulted in three rather odd looks as Leo was apparently standing there issuing instructions to himself about flame and magic tests, with me occasionally throwing different looks at him as I asked questions and commented through the open telepathic channel.

“Hey kid, did you lose your mind or something right this second? You two look a little crazy to tell you the truth.” The blacksmith forced Leo to remember that there were currently other people around.

“When we head back to the guild, I’ll send Ash through first, then run my test. Don’t worry, it won’t be Flame right off the bat.” He finished up, then turned to the three people giving him odd stares. “Sorry about that, my wife and I have a telepathic link so we can talk whenever, and I gave Ash a way to join it, so that the three of us can all communicate no matter where we are. The wife in question just now happened to make a rather interesting discovery, so we got a little excited about it. It has to do with a certain kind of special magic only she can do, and it’s difficult to explain so don’t ask.”

I nodded along, supporting his words. This seemed to be good enough for X and Rupert, the blacksmith, but Duke seemed to be more intrigued than ever. He probably felt that the amount of different concepts that Leo could teach him about had just increased even more than he’d originally expected. If that was in fact the case, boy he didn’t know how right he was.

Now that we had a test to run, our tour around the Capital had to end for the day. We made plans to meet up with X and Duke tomorrow to check out different kinds of places tomorrow, specifically stores with new foodstuffs to try. We still had a couple months before the Bazaar would be in full swing after all, and once it started, it would last for another month or so. We would need to settle into the Capital a bit, and find some things to do around town to keep us occupied while Aozia was conducting his business.

After we made our various plans, Leo and I made our way back to the Traveler’s Station, and headed into our room. He warped me into the subspace, and I ran to meet up with Sophia in the living room like we’d planned. Once I had arrived, we waited together. Waited. Waited…..

A hum of anticipation seemed to be filling the air. As a result of something Leo and Sophia referred to as ‘the Baptism’, Leo’s soul was apparently immune to Sophia’s special flame. However, it seemed as though during this ‘Baptism’, his body had not come into contact with her flame directly, meaning that it was ONLY his soul that could channel Sophia’s Aspect of Flame. Normally, this would be useless, after all, the soul is encapsulated by the body. Even if Leo managed to bring the flame from Sophia’s soul to his own, it would then be trapped there, building up pressure, and potentially even damaging him from the sheer strain of trying to hold so much power. However, Leo’s cloth was a bit odd in many ways. One of those ways included how it seemed to be directly connected to his soul, allowing both him and Sophia to summon their garments into their souls for safekeeping.

This led to a certain possibility. Could Leo summon Desire’s Flame into his soul, and then channel it through his clothing? If this is in fact the case, then Leo will reach a completely new level of dangerous on this planet. The odds of there being a Titled here are extraordinarily slim, given how rare it is for someone to discover their True Name within just a couple of centuries. This means that Leo would effectively be potentially the only person in the world capable of wielding an Aspect of Reality.

However, he couldn’t simply jump right into testing the Flame. I recommended he start out with practicing drawing Sophia’s mana into himself for his own use, and seeing if it was even possible for him to channel that mana directly from his soul into his clothing. He agreed that that was a far less risky way to practice, but first things first, he needed to become accustomed to drawing Sophia’s power into his own soul. To practice this, Leo came up with a new spell, which is what this test was for. Supposedly, this new spell would also hit the recommendation that Sean had given him to use magic referencing the stories of those surrounding him. I wasn’t sure of the exa-

My thought process was halted as the air in front of us seemed to shimmer. Odd lines were manifesting in the very space itself…no, not lines….cracks. A spiderweb of splinters gradually spreading out right before my eyes, suspended in the air. As though reality itself were being strained, and beginning to shatter. And as those cracks widened, the story that Leo was telling seemed to be transmitted into my very soul.

It was the story of a girl, alone in a world on fire. She was wandering, searching, trying to find anything to make her existence worthwhile. Time seemed to be oddly distorted as the girl walked alone through the inferno for a couple seconds.

Days.

Weeks.

Years.

Centuries.

Sometimes the girl would find something interesting buried within the ground, but when she lifted it out, the flame that surrounded her, the flame that engulfed the world, yet oddly enough did not burn her, would set upon it, ravenous. It would light whatever she removed from the protective shell of the earth aflame, whether it was a stone or an insect, and burn it completely to ash. She tried to leave the reach of the flame, but no matter how far she seemed to travel, she could not find the end of it, and due to the nature of her kind, spending time with others was dangerous, and made her risk growing attached, risk having her entire life revolve around whomever she spent too much time with, or risk having someone else’s life revolve around her. For this reason, she, as well as everyone she came into contact with, shunned each other. Kept each other at arm’s length, avoiding becoming stuck with someone they barely liked for eternity. Was this all there was to existence? Unending fire? Was she cursed to spend eternity alone with nothing, and no one to call her own?

Rage.

Bitterness.

Loneliness.

Pettiness.

A storm of emotion steadily built inside of her. They swirled and thundered, sometimes deafening, sometimes barely perceptible. However, no matter how intense they felt at any particular moment, they still increased in quantity, and gradually, they began to shift, to combine, to become a pure, unrelenting Desire. If she was doomed to having nothing but flames by her side, then why shouldn’t she just take those? The girl faced the flames that had repeatedly stolen everything from her, and stole the flames in return. The more she took, the more she Desired. It was as though the essence of the flames themselves, their ravenous nature, as well as their tendency to destroy that which they laid claim to, infected the girl. The more flame she stole, the more she seemed to Become the flame itself, and as the flame inside her devoured the flame around her, it grew. As the flames around her dimmed, as she stole their very essence, she finally found herself able to Take from beneath the earth. She Desired everything under her feet, Everything that had been kept from her for so long by the flames that she had claimed as her own. And as she Desired it, so did she take it. But it wasn’t enough.

Centuries of nothingness had left her hollow, as though within her was a void that could never be quite filled. The more she obtained, the more she Desired, until one day, she had an idea. If she Desired Everything, then why not make her own Everything? And so, the girl found her dream, her Desire, her goal to make her own world. But it would not be easy. In fact, every person whom the girl had told about her Desire seemed to believe that she had driven herself insane, an unfortunately common affliction amongst the immortals. Refusing to be discouraged, the girl sent out messages, ways to contact her, to people living in different worlds. Providing them with summoning circles, so that by drawing her to them, she could inspect the boundaries between worlds, and could study what separated them, what made them tick.

Millennia passed by, every second seeming to last an eternity, every century seeming to pass by in the blink of an eye. Millennia of being summoned, of answering the Desires of petty, inconsequential humans. Millennia of studying the borders between the worlds, of studying the concept of space, of perfecting her subspaces, building a foundation in which she could begin creating her own Everything. And after these long years, these short millennia of nonstop work, the girl met a boy. He was an odd one, one that treated her not like a tool to grant his Desires, nor like a superior existence to be worshiped. He was a boy…who treated her like a girl.

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She had never experienced something like this before. The girl had spent so long, so many countless years with everyone around her avoiding contact. Avoiding spending too much time together, avoiding attachment. She couldn’t resist the odd sensation, the new emotions flooding through her body, the feeling of being seen, of being spoken to. Of not being alone anymore. And so the girl spent time with the boy, watching over his trifling human adventures. They spoke about nothing, and about everything. The more time she spent with the boy, the less rage, the less bitter, the less lonely, the less petty she felt. As though half of what the Flame had stolen from her, was gradually being returned to her, in the form of this boy. As though this boy could be part of her Everything. And as for the other half? The other half, the boy also helped her to find. He told her where to look, and she followed. She flew up, up into the dark, up into the oppressive sky, trusting in this boy, and in the world of knowledge he seemed to contain. And…..She found what he had told her she would find. Up above the smoke, above the clouds, was a brilliant, beautiful night sky. And there, in the vast, vast distance, was the object that would make her dream a reality. The girl reached her hand high, up into the beautiful, the glorious star lit sky. Her fingers spread wide, arm outstretched, the girl reached for the moon.

The space in front of me and Sophia shattered completely, and a hand, fingers spread wide, arm outstretched, appeared before us. It connected with Sophia’s hand, also outstretched, and their fingers intertwined. Leo appeared, stepping through the crystalline shards of shattered space, brilliant clouds of white and gold billowing from him, enveloping the house, spreading as far out into the subspace as the eye could see. Leo pulled Sophia’s hand, guiding her into his arms, and kissed her on the forehead.

The sweetness of the scene, however, was slightly undercut by an odd groan I realized too late was coming from me. Sophia turned to look at me, pouting slightly that I’d ruined the moment. “Something wrong?” Leo asked breathlessly, as though he’d just survived a fight for his life. Answering his question, I pointed out the window.

“As great as it is that you’re getting closer to figuring out your Aspect, you keep making a shitload of work for us.”

Leo tilted his head, angling the side of his blindfold to peer out the window at the seemingly endless fields of luminous clouds. He let out a sigh, and said,

“Well Fuck Me.”

“Yes Sir.”

Silence descended, as the flames in Sophia’s body rushed up to her face and throat, embarrassed at her instinctive response. Meanwhile, Leo and I silently agreed to pretend that we hadn’t heard anything. At least….I thought that’s what his nodding meant, until his leg buckled under him, and he collapsed. Then I realized he was in the process of falling unconscious.

Surprised, I yelped and rushed over to help, to find out what was wrong, but Sophia just let out a sigh, explaining. “He drew an absurd amount of mana from me, considering his mana pool. Almost 5 times his maximum. He’ll be fine, but evidently even he can’t handle that much mana expenditure all at once and walk it off like it’s nothing.”

I sighed in relief, as well as letting out a light chuckle of embarrassment. I’d mildly forgotten that the mental strain from depleting your mana pool was even a thing. I’d watched Leo do it so casually, so many times, that it almost seemed like a baseless rumor at this point, despite all of the training sessions we’d had teaching me how to conserve my own, to prevent this very thing from happening.

With a wave of her hand, Sophia completed what would have been possibly days of work for me and Leo, consolidating all of the clouds outside of his shed, and even separating the white and gold for us. Normally, Leo refused to ask her for this kind of help, as he seemed to think that that would be taking advantage of her power, but with him unconscious, he had no way to reject it this time. With another wave of her hand, the shattered space, the cracks in reality seemed to come together, and seal themselves shut again, reversing the damage that Leo had done while casting his spell. Sophia then delicately lifted him up in her arms, excused herself, and carried Leo to their room.

Sophia’s POV

To be perfectly honest, ever since Leo had begun helping out with my Desire of building my own world, I had been feeling…off. As though Leo was stealing something from me, my goal, the thing I’d worked for my entire life, and turning it into something of his. After all, all of the tests, all of the planning, they were all conducted under his orders. He is the one who was doing everything, and as grateful as I was for his assistance, I couldn’t help but feel…cheated. It was completely irrational, as if I tried to do anything more than I was already doing, the project of stealing the moon would have already failed, and me, Sean, and Veronica would potentially all be dead. However, emotions do not care about rationality, they simply are.

Every time Leo came up with a new experiment, or gave out new orders, there was a small part of my mind saying That should be me.. Was I jealous that Leo knew what to do while I didn’t? Was I upset that I wasn’t doing more for MY dream, and instead letting the man I love set all the groundwork for me? Was I just being selfish? I don’t know. As a Titled, my presence tends to garner a certain sort of reverence from the people around me, so feelings of jealousy, of insecurity, of inferiority, they were all completely new to me. I hated that I felt this way, but I couldn’t deny that there was some part of me that did. I also couldn’t reject these emotions due to their sheer validity, because after all, this was my goal, the reason I had worked for thousands of years, so I have every right to be selfish about it. This is something I had been working on by myself, and for myself, I have no clue about how stealing the moon would affect Hell, and to be honest, I don’t really care. This entire project, my entire life, is the epitome of Selfishness, because that is who I am. I am an incredibly selfish person, just like most demons as a matter of fact.

Just like Leo with anything related to his Aspect, there was a part of me that wanted to ask him to stop helping, to let me figure it out for myself. The only question was…could I? Without Leo, what hope do I have at actually reaching the moon? What hope do I have at getting Veronica to the moon alive? Shit, I wouldn’t have even known Hell had a moon, much less four, if not for Leo. And it’s precisely these thoughts I have that bring about a new sense of insecurity. Is it really okay to let him help me this much? As he himself mentioned, relationships need to be built on a foundation of equality, of giving just as much as you receive, but in my eyes, I haven’t really done anything for Leo. I know how grateful he is for being sent to this new world, for just sticking around with him, and for the home I built for us, but honestly? None of that was particularly difficult. I haven’t really Worked at anything for him the way he works on things for me.

When he revealed that it was always his intention to go to the moon as well, more conflicting emotions emerged within me. On one hand, the part of me that was insecure about just how much he was helping was relieved, because at least all of this work he was doing wasn’t solely for my sake. Relieved that some of the emotional debt I felt could be forgiven. On the other hand, the cheated feeling, the feelings of having my goal, my great Desire stolen from me and made into something of Leo’s, grew stronger. I fully understood that it was ridiculous to feel this way, after all, Leo’s suggestion of stealing the moon was only one possible way to acquire enough mass to build my own world. At any point, I could just take the mass I needed from Hell itself, and the only reason I didn’t is because there is an entire ecosystem buried within the earth of Hell, as well as an entire civilization of underground demons.

Thousands of years ago, when I stole the essence of Flame from my surroundings out of pure Desire for anything, that was my moment of enlightenment. That was the moment I became a Titled, and my True Name was revealed to me. This gave me a certain amount of dominion over the flames, allowing me to move them, consolidate the fire engulfing the world into the dense rivers and lakes of flame that exist today. This allowed other demons, the demons who were not born immune to the flame, and existed buried deep underground to move to the surface and start building their houses on the land, however, there were several demons who refused to leave their homes, the underground world that they had spent thousands, or even millions of years building for themselves. This meant that if I were to steal an absurd amount of the ground beneath my feet, I would most likely end up also kidnapping thousands, if not millions of demons as well.

Now, I don’t know if Leo knows that and that’s why he suggested stealing the moon first, or if he suggested stealing the moon solely because he wanted to go to the moon. However, this new spell of his…it put everything into a new perspective. It was rather odd, actually, to see your own life through someone else’s eyes. It's odd to hear your story in someone else’s words. In a way, this new spell of his, this ‘reaching for the moon’, showed me the version of myself that lives in Leo’s mind, and I saw…understanding.

The pain I’ve gone through, the desperation I’ve felt, the unyielding void of hunger for possession, for stimulation of any kind. Somehow, despite only being alive for a short 20 odd years, he understood the feelings of eternity in isolation. He understands just how important this is to me, just how much I need…. Anything…. Everything. He understands the weight of the Desire coursing through my soul. It reminded me that…in the world Leo comes from, the world has already been explored, yet technology is not quite yet at the stage where he can explore the stars. Knowing him, he probably spent every night in his original world gazing up at the night sky, feeling that same unyielding void, that same hunger. The same weight of Desire to go out there, to see everything with his own eyes. Unlike me, he didn’t seem to want to lay claim to any of it, rather, he was fine with simply being there, appreciating its existence.

In his mind, this project was not his goal, and it was not my goal. In his mind, he was working to solve OUR goals. Getting to the moon, getting the ability to travel and explore outer space, that’s what Leo wanted. Stealing the moon, laying claim to whatever Leo managed to find in the infinite void, that was what I wanted. He took our two separate Desires and merged them, creating this moon project, a way for both of us to get everything we’ve ever wanted. After all, I have no particular interest in space travel, and he has no particular interest in laying claim to what he finds. In his mind, we are a team, each with our own separate goals, our own separate desires, and he is working his ass off to unite the two desires, so that we can work together on them.

As I considered this from Leo’s perspective, my feelings of being cheated, of having my plans stolen from me faded away. However, the insecurity, the inferiority, the jealousy that he knew what to do and I didn’t all stayed. They were not severe enough to cause any sort of real damage to our relationship, and I knew of their existence, so I could monitor what I do, what I say, and prevent them from seeping into my interactions with Leo, but…they were still unpleasant to feel. And so, I had an idea. A way to reinsert myself into the project that Leo was conducting for my sake, and in doing so, maybe alleviate these negative emotions that were subtly coursing through me.

When Leo finally awoke, and asked what had happened, rather than answering, the idea I had burst from my lips.

“I want you to teach me science. I want to help figure out how to get to the moon.”