“A gathering of the best of the worst? I am almost offended I wasn’t invited to this meeting of so-called terrible men. I am a Demon; I should get at least an honorary mention.” The two would suddenly hear right behind them.

Damon almost fell into the water from the scare, jumping back some. “Oh! Azanor!” The werewolf exclaimed.

“I am surprised we didn’t see you approach… What are you doing here?” Kazius questioned in concern.

“I am a high-ranking Demon and my powers have been returning, of course I am capable of this much. You still have a ways to go. As for what I am doing here, I am obviously eavesdropping.” Azanor mused with a proud smirk. He was honest, that much was certain, but he was too smug about admitting to eavesdropping.

“You shouldn’t be listening in on others, Azanor… Especially when others wouldn’t do the same to you.” Kazius responded with a frown.

“I wouldn’t have to if you two were better at keeping secrets. You really need to work on keeping a straight face. You would be terrible at playing cards. I was asked to keep an eye on you by Alice. She said that you two have been acting weird ever since you looked into some mirrors and is worried you two were possessed or something.” Azanor chuckled out, sitting beside them.

“I thought we were pretty calm. You have no idea how badly I wanted to beg Alice not to die when I left the vision from the mirror.” Damon admitted sheepishly.

“Normally I am calmer than this… But realizing you love someone and that they will die is too much even for me.” Kazius stated with a sigh.

“Really? Finally! Took you long enough, I was pitying poor Alice. Always giving you looks but you always seemed to not realize it like some block head.” Azanor scoffed out.

“I suppose you knew. That does explain a lot of what you have said…” Kazius sighed out.

“Of course, I knew. Eve knew, Damon knew. You are a smart person, but you sure are quite clueless when it comes to romance.” Azanor huffed out with an eye roll.

“Even Eve knew? Geez…” Kazius sighed out in shame.

“I suppose I have to be grateful to have realized this before it was too late… But… The situation is still far from good… I don’t want to lose her… I don’t want to lose any of you, but specially her…” Kazius admitted in dismay.

“Well at least we have a vague idea of how to keep track of how close the event is… That being said, as always… I will help you.” Azanor admitted with a small grin.

Kazius perked up, smiling a bit. Indeed, he was not alone, he had friends.

“Buahaha! Great! We can do this!” Damon exclaimed, clenching his fist and raising it up.

“I do agree that this should be a secret… From Eve as well, because she will blurt it out to Alice in less than a day.” Azanor added.

“Agreed.” Kazius sighed out, already able to imagine the giddy elf doing that very thing.

“What about Caleb?” Damon questioned, after all, a magic user may be useful. An obvious thought.

“Tell me, Damon. How would your brother react if he finds out Kazius becomes some sort of cruel king? And how you apparently do some unsavory things under his orders? Would he still remain as loyal to Kazius as he is now?” Azanor would question.

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Damon frowned at this in realization, “That is true. I don’t think we can tell him.”

“This stays between the 3 of us.” Kazius agreed.

“Anyway, what was I even doing in this future of yours? I wasn’t there.” Azanor stated

“I didn’t see you, but Damon did mention you and Eve. He said that he would go with you two to turn the West of the continent into dust.” Kazius admitted.

“I did see you! I was following myself.” Damon admitted, this surprising Kazius.

“What was Eve like?” Azanor questioned. After all, he likely wanted to know if his wife had her memories back.

“Eve looked weird, now that I think about it. In the vision I was going over to you to give you the orders from Kazius… I noticed Eve’s hair was black… I think her eyes were a different color too? I don’t remember… She was acting like normal… I think? She did seem excited when I told her about our orders…” Damon explained, looking to be struggling to remember such details. After all, he wasn’t likely focused on that.

Azanor seemed deep in thought before sighing.

“You should honestly tell him, maybe he will be able to help more once you explain the situation. Sure now everyone knows you are the Demon King’s brother, but only I know about Eve.” Kazius reminded him.

“Right… I suppose… You know how I am with my secrets is all… But… Since you brought it up… I want to know the details of how she acted because she doesn’t remember who she is… So if you noticed anything, please tell me. Maybe in this vision of yours there was a clue… On her remembering that she is my wife and what she is.” Azanor admitted in dismay.

Damon seemed shocked at his words, “That explains why you two are always so close!” He exclaimed in awe. “But isn’t she an elf?” he questioned, asking the same thing Kazius had.

“No.” Azanor stated, not elaborating on his answer yet again.

Kazius sighed, “Saying she isn’t an elf is not very specific, you know?”

“I know.” Azanor responded with a shrug. Kazius would never understand why he seemed to guard what Eve was so closely.

“Is she a shapeshifter?” Kazius questioned, still curious, “You said she has always preferred the form of an Elf…”

“Of course, she isn’t a shapeshifter. I only know one shapeshifter and he is the most annoying person I’ve ever met… Second most annoying person I know…” Azanor scoffed out only to think further and then change his statement, “Even my sister has nothing over him…” He stated with a repulsed expression.

“I… I see. Wait, you and the Demon King have a sister?” Kazius questioned.

“Yes, but that isn’t important. We were talking about the vision.” Azanor responded. It was clear that even once Kazius became king, Azanor would be as both honest and vague as ever.

“I don’t think I could tell anything else that was different about her.” Damon admitted, still unable to think of much else.

“I suppose a change in her appearance is a good sign…” Azanor sighed out, “That means she at least realizes she can change how she is seen some. Though if I am honest, if she never remembers, I will still love her all the same… Well, enough about me and her… anything else you two saw?”

“Well, aside me using necromancy… The orders… Not really? There was that Red Dragon… I don’t know who that was.” Kazius admitted.

“You even get one of those stubborn idiots to follow you? That is impressive. Red Dragons as a bunch of hot-headed block heads. The Chromatic Dragons, dragons with color rather than metallic… They are lunatics. Metallic dragons with scales like gold and copper… They are very pompous and annoying. Condescending and they think they’re your mother.” Azanor would grumble, likely thinking of a very specific Metallic dragon. He seemed to know a lot of people of different races, but considering he was at least over 1000 years old, it made sense.

“I see…” Kazius trailed off, wondering when he would get to meet a dragon, the idea sounding impossible, yet now he knew how possible it was.

“I didn’t see much else either. I did notice I had a sword in a hilt! If it wasn’t for everything else, I would have been happy!” Damon admitted eagerly.

“You have a spear, would you ever even use a sword?” Kazius questioned in confusion, it didn’t sound like something he would use.

“Do your wives not give you swords?” Damon asked in genuine confusion.

“Swords?” Kazius asked in confusion as well.

“No. Demons wear rings just like how humans do.” Azanor admitted, reaching into his pocket, showing off his. “Eve had one, have no idea where that went either.” He admitted.

“In Vargstam, during the wedding, the woman gives the man a sword. I would never use one, but I would always carry it. The man gives the woman an arm band.” Damon explained, after all, that was likely the only reason someone like him would carry a sword. It made sense to Kazius.

“That is great, I hope we find out who she is soon… And that by the end of this we can all be happy with the women we love.” Kazius trailed off. Sure, a lot of this conversation was all over the place, but he felt better, less alone… And even a bit hopeful for a future with Alice and his friends. He would make it happen.