The bus ride was silent.

Amy had tears in her eyes, and Brent had a blank look. Several other students had similar looks.

Corpses… were terrifying, but not only that for those two. They saw the events. They saw what did that devastation. They knew what existed now.

Grace leaned over and whispered.

“Why do they remember?”

“The Order needs to change to hunting demons. If a high-ranking member and a sponsor both agree, then they need to at least consider it.”

Cherry had her face in her knees, the sneaky stoic girl… saw something horrifying. I felt guilt for suggesting we go to the lake.

“Should I erase it?”

“No, because the cops saw us, they’d realize something was wrong if the students suddenly didn’t remember that.”

“Alright.”

Then, on the radio we heard a news case.

{At the forest a large bear killed fifty-seven tourists. Some of which was Mayor Valentine and his family. An election is taking place. The bear was neutralized, but it’s reason for going savage is still unknown, Lead Ranger, Simmons, states that it could be that someone fed the bear, resulting in it getting angry as the next person didn’t offer it food. An unfortunate but possible explanation.}

Simial certainly had a good explanation. A bear that went mad after not being offered food happened periodically, so the forest wouldn’t be to blame, and it would place blame on an anonymous tourist, no one else.

But hearing that the bear was neutralized didn’t change anything, as just hearing that a bear killed fifty people would usually be an ‘oh dear’ for most people, but they actually saw the devastation. They saw the bodies. They wouldn’t forget it.

We got to the college in time for lunch, but no one had an appetite. Those in our group simply sat quietly.

Me, Brent, Amy, and Grace sat at our table. Grace got us food, but even she didn’t touch it.

“So… now you know what the being that caused my injuries looked like.”

“Why do we go after Morgan when those exist…?”

“Because both are threats.”

Amy shook before putting her head on the table.

“I… I don’t want to… ever see one again.”

“I feel you.”

“How aren’t you horrified, Grace?”

“Because I’ve seen far worse.”

“And that makes it fine?”

“No… because I still haven’t gotten used to it yet…”

“What have you seen?”

Amy’s question sat for a minute, then Grace sighed.

“Brent, what are the protocols for dealing with an infantile atronach.”

“Don’t antagonize it and try to contain it. Why?”

“Because, when I was an infantile atronach, I was attacked, numerous times. Groups trying to use me, contain me, and more. Fey, human, it didn’t matter. I’ve seen worse because I’ve done dark and horrid things… but demons… they are far more brutal than I ever was… What’s worse. What I did was for survival… What they do… they do it for ***** and giggles.”

We were silent.

Taury spoke.

“They are organized. That’s clear enough.”

“Isn’t that atypical?”

“It is. Normally, if they are together, it’s temporary, those three seemed to be a full squad.

Brent had a dark look.

“I’ll notify Jones that we may want to make a treaty between us and Morgan, until we can stop this… demonic force.”

Amy nodded.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“If there’s a whole army of those. I don’t think I could fight…”

“You won’t need too.”

“Speaking of, what happened to the shadows… they didn’t get on the bus.”

Then another tear dropped.

“When we went for the hike… I told them to take a break at the lake.”

My eyes widened… that meant…

“I saw their bodies. It seemed that they attempted to fight too…”

I put my hand on her shoulder.

“Don’t worry, I won’t let you get hurt by one of them again.”

She smiled and spoke.

“Please don’t put yourself at risk.”

Taury snorted.

“Don’t try to dissuade him, didn’t work in my case.”

Amy smiled.

“I only hope we can stop this before the worst happens and more die.”

Taury sighed.

“I’m going to be honest with you all. More are going to die. Innocents will die. That is a default. But what we need to do is to stop as many deaths as possible, and if that means that the fey need to become a public power… then the fey will do so. I can speak for the pixies when I say this.”

She looked at Amy with pure determination.

“We won’t let humanity fall.”

Amy smiled.

“Thanks, Wings.”

“No problem.”

I smiled.

“What is it?”

“I have an idea of some help we can get.”

“Huh?”

“Obviously we are going to get time off to recover mentally, when we do, meet at my flat,”

“Why?”

“Because we are going to see my grandfather, because knowing him, he likely has some idea of what we’re facing.”

Taury raised a brow.

“How would an old famous martial artist be able to help?”

“Because he always told me stories of fey, I just never listened to them. So, he probably knows about demons too.”

“That… makes sense.”

Brent sighed.

“It may be interesting to meet this guy.”

“So, my flat… at four?”

“Sure.”

_

Me and Taury were at the flat looking at the clock.

“So… you’re free now.”

“Yeah… It’s weird.”

“Do you want to go by your name now?”

“No… if Morgan were to find out…”

“Yeah, that would cause problems.”

“She’d threaten you to keep me in line, especially with that collar of hers.”

“How do we break it?”

“*Sigh* She would need to break it herself.”

“Why was Roman so normal about it, if it’s that bad?”

“Likely he saw it but denied that it was a collar, even Morgan wouldn’t usually collar someone. I don’t like it, but it’s quite clear she needs you for something.”

I smiled.

“Hey, at least that means I’m kinda safe.”

She sighed.

“I suppose. If she didn’t need you, you would already be dead.”

“Heh, if she ever tries, I’m gaining nature magic.”

She smiled.

“Nice.”

Then we heard a knock. I opened it to a gun at my face.

“Hello, William.”

“Ah, Jones the coward, come on in, want some tea?”

“I want answers, what happened at the lake.”

“Oh? Did you not hear, a be-“

“Don’t take me for a fool.”

His serious glare permeated through me.

“Did Brent not tell you?”

“Whenever I asked he began shaking.”

“Fair, three demons attacked, one killed the people, and the others imprisoned me and Wings. We managed to get the demons to mess up and managed to kill two of them.”

“And the third?”

“Too mentally weak to be a threat.”

“And you know this how?”

“I would have killed him myself if he was a threat.”

I stirred the sugar in my coffee.

“Really?”

He didn’t seem convinced.

“Well, I mean the last time I did something like that, everyone threw a fit about a fire tornado.”

My admission of being behind the pillar caused Jones to realize that I wasn’t your run of the mill fey friend.

“That explains that mystery, but why did the demons attack?”

I looked at Taury, who nodded.

“They wanted to force the pixie with us to open a gate to the Pixie realm that lies in the lake.”

“Why would they want that?”

“Because the regular way was blocked off due to the demons being aware of the pixies’ names.”

Jones’s eyes widened.

“I see…”

He smiled.

“Perhaps we can help each other. You have the killer pixie, she’s loyal to Morgan. Many call her, her prime killer.”

“Despite her not doing much killing at all, nor being loyal to Morgan.”

“Hm… but, she could get closer, spy for us.”

“Not interested.”

“It wasn’t a question.”

I heard the gun click then Jones froze. A pixie’s blade was now at his throat.

“Don’t get me wrong, Jones. People think I’m loyal to Morgan and that I kill for her dirty work. I don’t. I don’t like killing anything other than demons, but threaten William again, and I’ll amend that.”

He shook as the ‘killer pixie’ sheathed her sword and became mini again. Jones put his gun away.

“Alright, we may have gotten off on the wrong foot.”

“Jones.”

“Y-yes?”

“Hunt demons for now. They are a much larger threat than the fey.”

“But-“

“Keep this in mind before you respond. A single demon managed to not only kill so many people but managed to overpower several fey and a mythical knight of Avalon.”

“A knight of Avalon?”

“Yes, and they are powerful fey, so a single demon managed to defeat all of that, so can you not see how they are a larger threat?”

Jones considered my words and nodded.

“Very well, we will still keep watch for fey, but I can agree that demons may be a larger threat.”

“Good, now I’m expecting guests, so if you could just please get out.”

“I have more-“

I moved the ground under his chair to the door and launch tilted it.

“AAAAH!”

I saw Jones fly out my door and I moved the floor back to the original spot.

“Now I know why Morgan does that, that’s really satisfying.”

“It looks it.”

I closed the door and sat back down, sipping my tea.

“Want a sip?”

“Why not?”

She leaned over and took a sip of the tea.

Then I heard a knock again and I walked to the door.

Opening it, I saw Brent, Amy, and Grace.

Brent looked irritated.

“Why did I see Jones flying from here?”

“I told him to go, he wouldn’t go, so I booted him.”

“He seemed okay, but this is a second-floor room, I would not suggest doing that more.”

“Awe fine, I’ll just dump him outside next time.”

Brent sighed.

Grace raised a brow.

“That was earth magic. I thought you had fire?”

“I have both.”

She nodded.

“That’s impressive.”

“Yep, Wings has also been teaching me control.”

“As she should. You do seem to be decently powerful.”

Brent nodded and spoke.

“Alright, so how do we get to your grandfather?”

I smiled.

“By train.”

“How long a ride?”

“Twelve hours.”

“Goodness… I hope that it turns out that he can help.”

“So do I.”

Amy sighed.

“So, when are we going?”

“Soon, the train leaves at eight.”

“So, we should head out?”

“Probably, but let’s have some food first. We have a while and the train’s only a 30-minute walk.”

“Alright, wanna order something?”

“Nah, I’ll cook.”

Taury, as usual,

“Can I help?!”

“Only one thing you can do that could be conceivable seen as help.”

“I’m not being a pixie dust shaker!”

Grace snickered as Brent and Amy gave a look of confusion.

“What?”

Grace sighed.

“Pixie dust is a very powerful taste enhancer, but since pixies like to keep their dust, it’s a very rarely used ingredient.”

“Huh, cool, how did William learn of that?”

I laughed from the kitchen.

“First time I cooked for us two she fell in the soup.”

“What? How?”

“She is very clumsy while stirring soup.”

“Oh… so that’s why she doesn’t help?”

She sighed.

“He tried everything, but he ended up so fed up he stuck me in a jar until he was done.”

“A jar? That’s odd.”

“That jar.”

They looked and saw the jar with massive bent holes.

“Oh… did you do that?”

“No, he did with scissors… while holding me.”

“Oh…”

“Yeah, it was then that I realized that he’s the cook, and you don’t bother the cook.”

I smiled.

“Good rule of thumb.”

Then I pulled out a steak and a sharp knife.

“Hey, that’s a lot of meat for a skillet.”

“When you live with a carnivorous pixie, you tend to eat a lot more meat.”

I cut it thinly.

“Carnivorous?”

Amy looked at Taury who was drooling at the steak.

“When I imagine fey, I thought they’d be vegetarians.”

Grace sighed.

“Some are, atronachs are omnivores. Spriggans are typically carnivorous, but they can eat plants too. Pixies, on the other hand, get revolted by plants. They can eat them, but they dislike doing so.”

“Any vegetarians?”

“Fairies and cupids.”

“Huh.”

Then Taury spoke.

“Fairies love eating mushrooms specifically, especially the hallucinogenic ones. Cupids just steal from farmers.”

“Oh, so that’s why you call them druggies.”

“Yep, they love tripping off their minds.”

“Well, dinner is ready, and I prepared a side for those who aren’t scared of plants.”

“Hey!”