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The next morning, we lingered about, waiting for the extra supplies Vernie had called for. I tried to ignore yesterday’s little friction with her, knowing that team building can be rough at first.

“We’re not going to try to go through Fort Turri, are we?” Vernie asked in an exhausted voice. “There are better ways into the kingdom.”

“We are open to alternatives.” Aleph nodded. “As long as we find a priest to nullify the poison.”

“There’s a path between the mountains to Kopria.” Vernie yawned. “It’s not exactly... pleasant, but we could avoid going through the official border crossing altogether.”

“Wouldn’t we be able to find a priest faster in the fort?” I asked, recalling it was relatively close to us.

Vernie frowned. “Mmm. Yes, but…”

I envisioned a barrage of wanted posters plastered across its inner stone walls. “Let me guess. You’re pretty famous there?”

“Infamous is probably the better word…” Vernie scratched her cheek nervously. “Kopria’s smaller and a little more in our ultimate direction. There's less chance of raising a ruckus.”

“How much climbing?” I asked, looking at Tetora. Could we keep pushing him?

“No climbing. There are some inclines, but nothing so steep as requiring hand grips. Trust me, it’s much safer in the long run. It’s the priest part at the end that’s going to be a little difficult, though.”

“There aren’t any priests in Kopria?” I asked, almost rejecting her suggestion outright. Health comes first!

“Oh, there’s sure to be one,” Vernie said as she twirled her knife. “They’ll just take some convincing, that’s all.”

Tetora grunted. “We can just go straight to Chairo. I don’t need a backwater bishop!”

Aleph held his tongue even as he rolled his eyes. Perhaps he was suffering just as much as Tetora but for different reasons.

“I think it sounds like a good idea. Going to Kopria, I mean. Right?” I asked everyone else, who more or less grunted before turning back to breakfast. I looked at Aleph in particular, thinking he would make the final decision.

Instead, Aleph clasped his hands together. “We’ll do just as you decided, then!”

Wait, no! I’m not the executive decision-maker here! Betrayed by my fake father! I knew nothing about the upcoming terrain, distance, climate, possible encounters, etc… Right, Nora?

Oh. I suddenly realized Nora was still moping. She’d been reticent ever since the incident with Tetora and currently had herself absorbed in the journal. I glanced over and saw a page filled with sketches of the two demons we had recently encountered in various terrifying shapes, with several messy notes scribbled in between. In big letters underneath, Nora had written, ‘Ask Clare for more information on demons.’ What could Clare possibly know, though, all the way back home? It is better to ask the frontline subject matter experts first. But first and most important…

“I bet that one would look better with a mustache, don’t you think?” I pointed to the demon holding the spear. “It would hide his thin lips.”

Nora mumbled something unintelligible in response. I picked up her pen and started drawing it in. “See? Not nearly as disturbing. Let’s give him a bad toupee, too!”

“How can you joke about him?”

“Oh. Well. It’s because I wanted to take away his power. That’s all.”

“Take away his power?” Nora blinked. “How does a fake comb-over do that?”

“Those two were scary, right? And even though they’re not here now, they’re still hurting you. So… you, you know, make them silly and dumb in your head, so they can’t live there rent-free anymore. Talking about ridiculous things is easier when you can separate them from your real self.” That’s how I did it, anyway. It’s not a cure-all, but it can help stop the terrible memories from returning and overwhelming you.

Nora took back her pen. “She… needs a clown nose.”

“Don’t forget the wig,” I agreed.

Nora drew for a few moments more before speaking again. “We need to discuss them as a group, don’t we? You were just waiting until I was ready.”

That was giving me too much credit. I just wanted her to feel better. “Well… I mean, I have a lot of questions, but I can hold off.”

“No… You’re right,” she confirmed. “Even though it’s a little late now, we should debrief.”

“Debrief?” Vernie sat up quickly. “In front of everyone?”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“It’s… not that kind of debrief…” I winced, still feeling awkward about yesterday’s impromptu lesson, calling out how stupid I was being.

Nora set her shoulders, becoming all business. “We encountered two demons the other day. I want to talk about how this encounter went. The goal will be to talk through what happened and how it happened so we can avoid a similar outcome.”

“Oh. That doesn’t sound nearly as interesting,” Vernie sighed as she settled back against a tree trunk and closed her eyes.

Aleph cast his gaze down to the ground. “It was my fault for—”

I cleared my throat. “We’re looking for improvements, not shame and blame. Where I come from… usually we start by talking about what went well.”

Aleph and Tetora exchanged a long look.

“Well, we all survived,” Tetora noted.

“Our blessed weapons all worked,” Aleph added.

“I don’t think any of them recognized us, either,” I stated as Nora took notes. “They called us Ox, Tiger, and human girls.” Aleph and Tetora would be famous in demonic circles, right?

Nora frowned. “Why didn’t they just kill us?”

I immediately froze at the heavy-hitting question, knowing they could have done so quickly.

“They value our suffering over our death,” Aleph exhaled.

“What… do they get out of it?” Nora asked.

“Power,” Aleph confirmed. Their strength grows from the animus they extract: anger, ill will, sadness, despair. But our death is the end of all that.”

“It’s just a game of power to them…” I sighed, feeling my shoulders sag.

Tetora sniffed. “And a matter of pride… taken to extremes. They often boast about how long they can extract animus from their victims.”

Nora drew a big breath. “Let’s talk about the Private for now. Why was he flickering so much after Rae bit him?”

Aleph put on his lecturing face, so to speak. “Demons… gather and store animus in their spiritual core to strengthen themselves and create a physical form. However, direct application of enough holy amity can disrupt a demon’s hold on their animus. Usually, we use blessed weapons, and not our teeth, to do that.”

I felt my nose wrinkle. “Well, what else was I supposed to—”

“I know you had no choice, little dragon,” Aleph spoke mournfully. “I purposefully delayed proper instruction on fighting demons, thinking it would only cause you more anxiety. I also… underestimated the risk of a demon appearing before us so early in our journey. Perhaps it is time I woke up, as Vernie has suggested.” He sighed, lowering his big brown eyes.

“A-ah no, I didn’t mean anything by it! We’re taking the time to learn now, so it’s all good.” I got up and hugged his broad shoulders tightly. Don’t be sad, other-worldly dad!

“When we find a priest,” Tetora mumbled. “We should get them to bless Nora and Vernie’s knives. They’ll need to defend themselves, too.”

“Yes,” Aleph agreed, patting my head reassuringly. “I believe the proper knowledge and tools would help to improve our outcome should such a situation occur again.”

“So. The demoness,” Nora grit her teeth. “What did she do to me?”

I glanced expectantly at Aleph and Tetora, but they hesitated.

“She did something, right?” Nora continued. “I wasn’t myself!”

“I saw a black haze around you, too…” I finally admitted both aloud and to myself.

“So you’re able to see high levels of concentrated animus again!” Tetora’s head shot up.

“Wait, what?” I blinked. “Then… you guys… didn’t see it?”

“I told you before, we can’t see animus!” Tetora admonished. “But now you can again! This is a good thing!”

I refrained from refuting his statement or thinking about it harder. “Back to Nora’s question. What did the demoness do to her?”

“Dark mages are sensitive to animus by nature,” Aleph replied. “Demons take advantage of this by using their own animus to enhance their victim’s negative emotions, forcing them into animus overload.”

“Animus overload?” Nora asked. I felt a chill run up my spine as her face filled with consternation.

“A state in which rational thought is no longer possible. Sentient beings in animus overload often lash out violently without distinction. In extreme cases, the afflicted become paralyzed with rage. It can happen to almost anyone, but certain groups are more sensitive to it… hybrids and dark mages included.”

“Animus overload…” Nora mumbled again.

“You didn’t know about animus overload?” Tetora snorted. “It’s the first thing they teach dark mages!”

“How would I know something like that?! I’ve only been a dark mage for a few weeks!”

“You know powerful incantations, but not the basic tenets? Did the story not instruct you?”

“It wasn’t an instruction manual!” Nora huffed. “It was a lousy…”

Lousy what? Lousy teacher? “Nora?”

Nora shook her head with an exhale, refusing to continue with her comment. “So, you’re saying I’m susceptible to animus, and all it takes is a few negative words to set me off?”

“From a demon, anyway,” Aleph confirmed. “You will need to counteract their attempts to provoke you mentally.”

“The words she used to upset Nora were very specific,” I grumbled defensively. “How did she know about them? Is she a mind reader?”

“In a way,” Aleph said thoughtfully. “Strong demons can pick up words and short phrases tied to extremely negative emotions. If we reencounter her, she will surely use the same phrase against you, Nora. It is best to disengage those trigger words from your feelings‌. I will help you do so.”

Nora nodded with a sigh. “I’ll have to work on that. I don’t want to feed her a spicy snack again next time.”

Vernie, who had been seemingly half-asleep, opened her eyes. “Spicy snack?”

“I stupidly… tried setting her on fire with dark magic.”

Vernie looked at her for a long moment, obviously late to the party. “Huh. So, even aliens are susceptible to animus overload. You learn something new every day!”

Nora twitched. “What did you just call me?!”

“An alien. That’s what you are, right?”

“I’m not an alien!”

“You fell from the sky from another world. Alien,” Vernie concluded with a shrug. “I’m just saying.”

Nora, at a loss for words, shot a brief glare my way before turning her exasperated gaze to Vernie.

I couldn’t hold it in any longer. “My best friend’s a magical alien!” Nora would get the inside joke, as we had read another web novel with that very same title.

“Rachel Emily Smith!” Nora exclaimed as I continued to cackle. She jumped up and tackled me to the ground with mock ferocity. “Not you, too!” she admonished.

Of course, that was precisely when two of Vernie’s henchmen appeared in our camp, carrying a large wooden box between them.

“Uh. Boss?” I recognized the younger one from yesterday. “Are we… interrupting something?”

“What, haven’t you ever seen a debrief before?” Vernie replied coolly.

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Post-Chapter Omake

Rae: Our debrief here was more than a little loose. No one should use what we did as a model for a structured debrief.

Nora: Right. But it’s important to ask what went well, just like you did at the beginning. Debriefing should be a timely opportunity to acknowledge successes and challenges for learning opportunities after a critical incident occurs.

Rae: Above all else, please don’t use them to shame people or to place blame!

Nora: Yeah, there are so many other processes available for doing just that!

Rae: Uh…

Nora: You know I’m right.

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