Skarrol was bringing another plate of bread and water to Lord Luth’s cell. The Demon Lord was warming up to the half-Harpy, or so Skarrol liked to think.

Maybe he was just being over-optimistic.

Skarrol stepped into the cell with his usual announcement: “How’s my fellow Demon Lord doing today?”

As if on cue, he immediately ducked as a pebble flew over his head at blistering speeds. It splintered into dust the moment it hit the wall behind him.

“Well, then. That was pretty rude!” he exclaimed. The half-Harpy looked back at the Demon Lord with a glare. “Where’d you even get that? You shouldn’t be allowed to bring anything in here!”

“It was apparently in the bread you gave me yesterday,” Luth replied. “If not for the fact that I’m the Demon Lord, I would’ve broken a tooth on it.”

Skarrol looked at the bread on the plate he was carrying in. Surely they couldn’t possibly be leaving pebbles and rocks in the bread, could they?

“...Before you say anything else, I think they’re intentionally baking rocks into the bread you give me because I’m the Demon Lord,” Luth continued. “There’s probably a rock in this one, too, but I’ll take it anyway. Food is food.”

“They’re really baking pebbles into your bread?” Skarrol asked.

“Yes, they are. Let me give you proof, just bring that bread over.”

Lord Luth gestured the half-Harpy over, to which he immediately grabbed the loaf of bread that was offered. He immediately fished his fingers into it and begin plucking out the pebbles.

“Here’s one. And... another.”

It didn’t take long for him to find at least three in that loaf. Lord Luth picked one up, and proceeded to crush it with his fingers.

Skarrol felt a shiver go down his spine at the display of strength.

“Wait, you’re still capable of doing that? I thought the chains would’ve prevented that,” the half-Harpy said. He wasn’t sure how he said that entire sentence without a single stutter.

“The chains only inhibit any magically-enhanced strength,” Lord Luth replied. “I’m capable of being a lot stronger.”

“But why haven’t you broken out or...”

‘Hurt anyone’ was what Skarrol wanted to say, but he didn’t want to give the Demon Lord any ideas. However, when those apricot-colored eyes glanced over at him, it seemed as though Luth knew exactly what he was referring to.

“Because these chains are too strong. The Hero isn’t an idiot,” Luth said. He raised an arm, to show the magical glimmering shackles. “That, and the only person I can realistically hurt here is you... which I won’t, because you’re the only one actually giving me anything to eat.”

Suddenly remembering what he came there for, Skarrol glanced down at the loaf of bread which had been torn up to look for the pebbles.

“Oh, I’m... terribly sorry about this,” he said. “I’ll tell them not to—”

“Don’t bother,” Lord Luth jut in. “They hate me, it’s expected. Instead, can you grab me some of the other bread? What they’d normally eat, I don’t expect them to spike their own loaves with any of this... stuff.”

“Do you want a new loaf, then?”

Luth already had one of the pieces up to his mouth when Skarrol asked that. He raised an eyebrow.

“What is this, room service? Never expected you to be this hospitable. It’s fine, I won’t let this loaf go to waste.”

The conversation between the two died down as Lord Luth munched on his loaf of bread. He took a few sips of the water as he ate.

“Are you just gonna sit there and stare?” Luth asked.

“Oh! Uh...” Skarrol replied. “Didn’t mean to be rude. I just wanted to talk.”

“About what?”

The half-Harpy leaned his head back and glanced at the ceiling. “Uhh, not sure. Maybe... do you want to talk about your sister?”

Lord Luth’s answer was immediate.

“No. Zip it. I would not talk about her even if divine intervention fated it.”

Skarrol frowned. “I can’t convince you?”

“Nothing will. Now, onto a different subject—”

As if on cue, a ray of light suddenly shone right in front of Lord Luth. Both he and Skarrol shielded their eyes from the light, before it shimmered down.

The Demon Lord was staring, his mouth agape, at the rectangular-shaped illusion in front of him.

“What’s this?” Skarrol asked.

Luth blinked, then looked between the screen and the half-Harpy.

“I-I didn’t think it still worked.”

Skarrol glanced over at the illusion that had been thrown up.

“I thought I severed all the long-range magical connections you had,” the half-Harpy said.

Lord Luth sighed.

“Whenever she’s in trouble,” he said. “I can know what’s happening with her. It basically allows me to spectate her, to know exactly what’s happening.”

The Demon Lord’s apricot-colored eyes flickered over to the pigeon Harpy.

“...You’re not going to cut this one off, are you?”

There was a weariness in his voice that had Skarrol paused. By default, he would say yes. But both his curiosity and encroaching pity for the Demon Lord had him reconsider.

The half-Harpy glanced over the illusion.

“I don’t see any harm in letting you watch this. So as long as I can watch, too,” he finally said.

Lord Luth’s head snapped to give a dangerous stare at the Harpy.

“You’re just watching to tell the Hero later, aren’t you?”

“I’m not gonna tell the Hero if it’s not a pressing matter, alright?” Skarrol retorted.

“You’re taking my side?” he asked. The sincerity in his voice caught the Harpy off guard.

“Oh— Uh, look, I’d rather work with the Hero than with you, but I’m not petty. Or heartless. And anyway, I’m curious about the relationship between you and your sister to begin with.”

Lord Luth glanced from between the illusion cast up and the Harpy.

“...Fine. You can watch. Just don’t make me regret giving you permission to.”

Skarrol nodded, then glanced over at the illusion. What immediately caught both of their attentions was that Sollar was on the move, within something that Lord Luth could best describe as a ‘wagon’. But, much faster.

“What’s she riding in?” Luth asked. That’s an odd-looking carriage.”

“Oh, that?” Skarrol asked. “It’s one of the new... rail engines, I believe they’re called.”

“Magic powered?”

“Oh, no. Not at all. Powered through boiling water.”

Lord Luth shook his head. “Truly? Humans are weird. Boiling water? Psh.”

The half-Harpy shrugged. “It works, otherwise they wouldn’t have invented it.”

Meanwhile, both of them could hear a conversation between Sollar and another individual on the carriage, someone she was sitting next to.

“My name?” Sollar asked. She had a moment of pause. “My name is Soll-ar! What is your name?”

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Mine? It’s Junil. I’m the Healer of the Hero Party.”

“Jun-ar! A Heal-ar of the... party? Right?”

“Yes, that’s... right.”

Lord Luth gripped the horns on the sides of his head. “No, no, no. Sollar, don’t talk to her! She’s the Healer!”

“If anything,” Skarrol said. “They seem to be rather friendly to each other.”

“Is this your first time on the rail engine?” asked the Healer.

“My first time, yes! Going on this rail thingy! It’s fast and I can see everything moving by so quick, it’s fun!”

Lord Luth was holding his breath, but gradually brought his arms down from his horns. “Okay, maybe... this won’t end as terribly as I thought. The Healer’s not that dangerous, and I don’t see the Hero anywhere...”

“So...” said the Healer. “Where are you going, Sollar? I know we’re going to New Frontierland, but do you plan on going elsewhere?”

“I’m going to the Capital-place!”

“You’re going to the Capital?”

“Yes!”

Both Skarrol and Lord Luth blinked.

“What is she headed... here for?” Lord Luth stated. “On second thought, where in the world is Forge?”

“Forge?” Skarrol asked.

“General Forge. He’s supposed to be looking after her!”

“What are you going there for?” Junil continued. “Work, I’m guessing? It’s a bit of a trip to travel if you’re just looking for work.”

“I’m going to meet my older brother!”

Lord Luth realized where the conversation was going.

“Wait, Sollar, no don’t—!”

There wasn’t any communication back to the Demonfolk girl, unfortunately. He was only able to watch.

“Your brother? I see, he works at the Capital?”

“Work? He doesn’t work... I don’t think so?”

“He doesn’t? Though...”

“...What do you know about him?”

“My brother, Luth-ar. He’s the greatest brother ever!”

There was a pause between Junil and Sollar. The Demonfolk girl continued speaking.

“Oh, he’s a good brother! He brings me things always, and he even made me Shov-ar!”

Skarrol stared at the carefree Demonfolk girl through the illusion. “She’s not one for subtly, is she? Luth?”

The half-Harpy glanced over at the Demon Lord. He was curled up on the ground, beating the floor with a fist.

“It’s over,” he said. “It’s so over, she’s going to get found out. All that work to protect her, for nothing.”

Skarrol didn’t know what to say to the Demon Lord, but he continued watching. He raised an eyebrow as Sollar pulled a fancy-looking shovel from beneath the seat in front of her.

“Luth, I don’t think things are as bad as you think of them—”

Then, the Healer spoke.

“Luthar? You said that’s the name of your brother?”

“Yes! But he got in trouble for some reason, and people are mad at him. But it’s fine, because I’m going to go meet him!”

The cat was now entirely out of the bag.

“Luth. Luth! I think you should be watching now!” Skarrol exclaimed. If Junil was with the Demonfolk girl, that meant Ronn was somewhere nearby too. “Damn it, you’re the Demon Lord! Get your head up, you need to see this!”

Skarrol had to grab Luth by one of his horns to lift his head up.

“Things are escalating, and not in the good way.”

That was only confirmed when the two heard one particularly familiar voice.

“Junil. Get back.”

That was the Hero.

The Demon Lord seemed on the verge of tears.

“Ronn? What’s wrong?”

“I said get back!”

The Healer was pulled out of sight of the illusion, leaving a rather confused Sollar to watch the commotion at hand.

“Sollar! You need to get out of there! Now!” Lord Luth exclaimed. “You need to... Oh, Skarrol, why in the world are you making me watch this? I can’t even do anything!”

Skarrol scowled at Lord Luth. “Because she’s your sister! I know this situation’s not good, but the girl’s at least smart enough to tell if she’s in danger. Right?”

The Demon Lord stared at Skarrol and gave a short, concise, “No.”

“Oh. That... might be a problem, then.”

Lord Luth glared at the particularly unhelpful answer.

“Well, at least let me do something! Undo the blocking spell that stops me from talking to her! You can do that at least, can’t you?”

Skarrol shook his head. “It’s not as simple as that!”

“Then think of something, my sister is at stake!”

The two had been talking over the argument between the Hero and the Healer, and were only snapped back to attention when they heard a loud clang coming from the illusion.

Both pairs of eyes immediately snapped back to the illusion. They could see that the Hero’s broadsword had been brought down on the Demonfolk girl.

She had blocked the weapon with her shovel.

She had parried the Hero’s attack with a gardening tool.

Everyone on the rail engine remained still. Even Lord Luth and Skarrol were silent, breaths held in anticipation.

Then, the Demonfolk girl immediately scrambled away from the stunned Hero, through the middle aisle of the carriage. The Demon Lord started to shout directions at her again, as though she could hear it all.

“Sollar, get off that Rail Engine! No, not that way! You need to go back!”

She continued scurrying through carriage after carriage, her shovel in hand. She paused to look back, to see that the Hero was now in pursuit of her. The girl stopped, and immediately took a step back to narrowly avoid the Hero’s broadsword being swung at her.

Lord Luth gave a cry of surprise. Due to the sound of wood and canvas crashing and being sliced, neither of them could make out some of the words exchanged between the two.

“...Your journey ends here. The war is lost, and continuing to shed blood now will achieve nothing.”

Lord Luth gave an exasperated sigh. “Does he truly still believe that my younger sister is a threat? Just look at her! That Hero, I swear!”

Sollar muttered something under her breath. Neither Luth nor Skarrol heard that, but they could catch the Hero’s next words to Sollar.

“Second Coming. Do you hear me?”

Immediately followed by an outburst from the Demonfolk girl.

“That is not my name!”

“Oh, I can’t watch!” Lord Luth exclaimed, falling onto his back. “Something terrible is going to happen to her, I can feel it!”

“She’s more worried about the Hero calling her the ‘Second Coming’ than the fact she’s being chased,” Skarrol replied. “She doesn’t seem all that concerned.”

“I told you, she’s not all that bright! That girl doesn’t know the difference between a hard day’s work and danger! Skarrol, you’ve gotta stop the magical blockers that prevent me from contacting her!”

The half-Harpy shook his head. “I can’t! I can cast blockers, but I wasn’t ever really taught how to dispel them.”

“Why,” Lord Luth began. “Are you not able to dispel the own spells you cast?”

“Because it’s only Demonfolk who ever use those weird communication spells!” Skarrol replied. “There’s no consequence for casting it on a human, ‘cuz nothing does happen if it’s cast on a human!”

The two were immediately distracted from their arguing by the sound of metal banging on metal. Both their eyes snapped to look at the illusion, to see that the Hero had just swung his sword onto a coal-carrying carriage.

One that Sollar happened to be standing on.

The Demonfolk girl had jumped up as the pieces of coal were scattered about. The side of the carriage in question had been sliced through, and the black rocks tumbled out of the metal carriage to litter the landscape as it moved.

“What was that about her not being concerned about being chased?” Lord Luth snarled. “Can you say that now? Huh?”

Skarrol grimaced. “Well... not at all, but that’s a loaded question. I get it, she’s in danger!”

The Demon Lord was keeping an eye on the illusion again. Skarrol noticed that he was paying attention for some reason; he glanced over, to see that the Demonfolk girl was... there was something happening to her.

Her arms shuddered, as the skin up to her forearms began to darken. They turned a dark gray in color, the same as her horns, as the whites of her eyes reddened.

“She Flared,” Lord Luth stated.

Skarrol blinked, then looked over at the Demon Lord.

“She went Manic?” he asked.

Lord Luth wanted to correct Skarrol on the terminology. But it felt as though his words were getting caught in his throat.

Sollar’s never Flared before.

“Skarrol, let me contact her, at least once!” Lord Luth pleaded. “Just... for a moment, dispel the blockers!”

“I told you, I don’t know how to!”

“Then... then get studying, you can’t just expect me to watch this!”

The two witnessed Sollar scurry right between the Hero’s legs, almost knocking a surprised Healer out of the way. She went down the ensuing carriages, but soon ran out of carriage to scamper down.

The Demonfolk girl was effectively cornered. The Hero was demanding her to surrender.

“Second Coming, there is no escape now. I would recommend you surrender, but you are manic at the moment.”

“I told you already, that isn’t my name! My name is Sollar! Soll-ar!”

“Even when she’s Manic...” Skarrol started.

And then, her feet slipped on the edge. The Demonfolk girl tumbled off the last carriage, just as the train was traversing a bridge that went over the canyon.

She proceeded to harmlessly landed smack in a barge that just so happened to be passing below the bridge. A cloud of dust kicked up the moment she landed, signalling that her fall had been broken.

They could see the Demonfolk girl was now out cold, laying in the tarp-covered grain of the bulk cargo vessel.

“...Well, at least she landed on a barge. She’s safe. Right?” Skarrol asked.

Luth’s reply was short.

“I hate you.”

“Uh... and the Hero can’t follow her without jumping off the bridge himself, so she’s totally out of his reach!”

“I absolutely hate you.”

“And, well, even if—”

“Shut. Not another word. Remember that you’re still in arm’s length of me.”

Skarrol skittered back, out of the reach of the Demon Lord’s arms.

“Alright, alright. I get it. I’ll just... leave you to yourself for now. Maybe you just need some alone time. Right?”

“Out.”

The half-Harpy blinked. “Alright, I know you’ve been through a lot, but there’s no need to be rude—”

Skarrol ducked as a handful of pebbles, from the loaf of bread he gave earlier, sailed over his head at frightening speeds. The cell door slammed shut as the half-Harpy decided that it was better to retreat than to test his luck with the Demon Lord’s current emotional state.