After a night’s rest in the stronghold, we began our journey back down the mountain. It was not easy getting down, but it was better than going up. The only real disadvantage was that you had to look down more often. Charly was the one most affected. After his near fall climbing up the mountain, he seemed timid every time we came to a steep path. I thought about pushing him more than once when he looked down and stopped moving.

  A full day, and we finally reached the bottom. We ended up having to camp outside. Though my mother had prepared for this, adding a tent and blankets to the large pack my father carried, it was still incredibly uncomfortable. The ground was almost entirely loose rocks and ruble. There were no flat surfaces anywhere. For the rest of the family, exhaustion overpowered the discomfort. I unfortunately made the mistake of using my power to heal my body.

  Without the natural sedative of exhaustion, I spent a few hours tossing and turning on the ground before I finally gave up. I fed a few sticks into the dying embers of the fire we started when we set up camp. With the flame roaring, I stared into the night lost in the thoughts of Aurielle’s past.

  True family was a new concept for me. The closest thing I ever had was my teacher and the few other orphaned students he had adopted. We all shared the same last name that he gave us, but we were never a close-knit group. Realms, two of his students made it their life’s mission to kill their teacher.

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  My life back then was would still sometimes give me chills. It was an endless battlefield. By the age of ten I had an army of undead under my command. When I was sixteen, I brought down the Corvus Empire. At the age of eighteen, I stepped into the Endless War. I never looked back. I only returned to the empire I created a few times every decade. It was never important to me.

  The only people I ever had that I could say I truly cared for were the other members of the Five Calamities. As the final member to join the group, I was the weakest. Even at my peak, with millions under my command, I would barely be able to hold my own against one of the others.

  I never had to worry about their survival. They were strong. My family was different. With the new weapons we procured, my family would easily be able to protect themselves from the weaker Demonkin, but a true Demon was different. Even among demons, Envy was powerful. He was one of seven that served directly under the Archdemon and earned his own name. To protect my family from something like that, I might have to do something drastic.

  No matter what the cost, I will not let them die!