The Star, The Demon, and The God - 12. Onwards to Avelin

Luno

I get that family is important, but I almost rolled my eyes when King Twine said that Avelin had a connection to Violette. Constantly hearing the siblings go on and on about their family is getting rather old.

I will say though, the mention of Laneer was interesting. Again, it sparks another thing inside me that seriously feels as though I have heard that name before.

Maybe I should ask Tobias about it.

At the moment, we have been given a room to sleep in for the night. Tobias made sure that we stayed together. He still does not trust any of the humans here.

Tomorrow, we are supposed to make a beeline for Avelin. We will stop and revive any dots along the way but the main goal now is to find that necklace.

Tobias said we were going to need as many people as we can bring. Just how big is this city? I know that it is just a bunch of old ruins now, but how big could this place possibly be?

When we were in that city in the snowy valley, I thought it was huge! Would Avelin be bigger?

I feed Kulu an egg that I stole from the kitchens. Enfi gets a strawberry simply for being the sweet thing that she is.

“I refilled the bathtub for you,” Tobias says as he walks out with only a towel around his waist.

He is...very handsome. I would not be surprised if any of the other demons were attracted to him. A tall and strong body seems to be what is needed to make the most of surviving in this world.

That and magic.

Even then, a god could swoop in and murder you and all you know. All that preparation could just be for nothing.

Tilting my head as I run my eyes over his stomach and chest, I begin to wonder what he really looks like. Is that actually what his body looks like? A bit of body hair here and there with skin that is absolutely covered in old battle scars? They are paler than his actual skin, so that must mean they are old, right?

One arm is like his chest and stomach; scars littered all over. The other arm however, it is perfectly clear and smooth; not even arm hair!

Apparently I am the one who brought his arm back? That was nice to hear I guess. Maybe it is what made him come out to see me that day. He never really told me why he was there. I just assumed it was pure coincidence.

“You like what you see?” He says, bursting me out of my thoughts.

He has a smirk on his face.

My face starts to burn when I realize that probably looked bad. Staring at his body when he got out with barely any clothes on.

“I-I am just curious,” I cough to clear my throat. “I was wondering what you look like. You told me that you hide what you really look like. I can’t say that I can think of anything else! You have only shown me this form of you.”

Tobias’ smirk slips away and it is replaced with a frown.

I should have known he would not have liked that.

“You do not want to see that,” He says, turning to a stack of folded clothes that were placed there by one of the maids. “It is best that you never see that.”

Frowning, I get off the bed and stand next to him, trying to get him to look at me. He only stares at the folded shirt.

Leaning into his line of sight more, I smile. “I already told you that I do not consider you ugly! You can stop saying that I will or ‘that I do not want to see your true form.’ You are my friend! I would never cross you in any way.”

Tobias shakes his head. “You have not even seen what I look like! I hate it so I know you will too.”

I can’t help but laugh. “Maybe you have forgotten that we are a bit different in what we like! You cannot say if I will hate it or not. I know I wouldn't!”

He looks at me with sad eyes.

Why is he so self conscious? Did someone say or do something to make him feel this way?

Since I do not want him to hate me for wanting to see the real him, I pull back.

“Look,” I smile. “You do not have to have to show me now or ever. It is completely your choice! I do not want to make you uncomfortable so I will not push on it anymore. Just know that I will always be friends with you, alright?”

He nods and turns back to his clothes.

Deciding not to make my bath run cold, I go get and get ready.

Before I walk past the bathroom door, Tobias speaks.

“You know you make it really hard to say no to you sometimes right?” He asks. He sounds like he is joking around however so I am glad to hear it. For a small moment, I was worried I may have ruined something in our friendship.

Giggling at his words, I close the door behind me.

~~~
~~~

Two Days After

Tobias

I stretch my back and groan.

Luno laughs and gets behind me to massage it as we walk.

“I told you to join me in the bed,” Luno says. I can pretty much the hear the smile in his voice. “Laying on the ground was a dumb idea!”

Rolling my eyes, I at least accept his massage.

“Well I did not expect to feel it so bad today,” I grumble. “Maybe I should have made you sleep on the floor instead.”

He laughs at me again. “I did offer to switch as well!”

Luno eventually stops massaging and walks beside me once again.

We are traveling with quite the group. Around thirty men and women are traveling with us to Avelin. Most are from the royal guard, a few are historians who love to bicker about the necklace. They hold books that they constantly shove into each other's faces.

Once again, the great, stupid Vlad has joined us. Why he felt the need to do that is beyond me. We do not need him. I have thirty other assholes that I have to deal with.

Maybe it is to make sure I keep my promise to hide my identity. The Kings and Queens said it would be best to make sure none of their followers knew that they were all working alongside a demons.

That is one thing I am grateful for. They believe that Luno is a demon as well. ‘A nice demon’ as Vlad had put it.

Hmm...I wonder if they can feel the pull as well. Apparently other demons could; can the humans feel the need to protect him?

Maybe so. There are thirty of them here right now and they made sure we put him in the middle.

“It feels weird,” Luno whispers out of nowhere.

“What does?” I ask.

He motions to all the soldiers around us. “All of this. We have been alone for a good while. All of a sudden we are surrounded. I am not sure if I like it!”

Smirking, I nod along. “Yeah I can agree with that. I am not a big fan of it either.”

“I can tell Enfi wants to come down,” He frowns up at the sky. “But if she gets too close, people might recognize what she is. She does not like that.”

I also look up at the red bird. She is flying around in circles. Drifting along and checking if everything is safe.

Grunting, I turn back to facing forward. “She and I have something in common then."

Luno rests a hand on my arm and squeezes.

After that, it is rather quiet. Too quiet. Luno was not joking when he said that humans make him scared. Normally he would be talking about something by now.

I find myself hating the silence again. Before I used to love it. Now, if I do not hear that usually cheerful voice by my side, I feel like something is wrong. Obviously now I know the reason for his silence. Now I wish everyone would just go away. Maybe asking for help was not the best thing to ask the Bancrofts.

This feels a little weird. I have been leading both of us from place to place. Now Vlad has people guiding us all. It is strange.

I am still unsure if it was safe to show Raiyo’s map to the Bancrofts. It is a God’s map. Surely it would seem like something they would want for themselves.

Looking to my left, all I see are the snow-covered trees. It is all just a blinding white.

Since that is boring to look at, I look to my right past Luno.

My eyes widen when I see a bunch of creatures bouncing between the trees.

Birds, rodents, and even some baby fawns bounce between the trees. The birds fly branch to branch. On the ground, rabbits, a fox, and two fawns jump from behind the trees closest to us. They peek out at us, always keeping up with me and Luno.

Frowning, I am wondering why they are following but then I realize they are not staring at me. They are watching Luno.

It appears the pull does not only work on Demons and Angels. I guess I should have known that earlier. There were so many different types of creatures in his sanctuary. The pull he gives off is so strong, it even manages to bring a dragon out of hiding!

A small sigh can barely be heard from Luno.

When I look down at him, Luno scratches at his arm through his coat. Every now and then I would see him glance over at the animals following us. Each time he turns away from them, he lets out a small sigh.

Smirking at the scene next to me, I lean over as we are walking.

“You could just go over to them, you know?” I say. “I doubt any of these bastards would care if you wanted to play with some animals.”

Luno looks up at me with hopeful eyes, but he soon frowns.

“Yes they would,” He says. “Animals following me is not considered normal to them.”

I shrug. “I don’t know,” I say. “You never know till you try.”

“You’re going to get me in trouble,” Luno says in the most serious tone I have ever heard him use.

Sighing, I turn to face forward again. “Whatever you say.”

It is official. Humans ruin everything. If they can make someone like Luno force himself to change his ways simply so that he can fit in, then maybe they don’t deserve our help. Especially his.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see a small spark of blue magic from his fingers.

Peeking over, I see little ice sculptures being made behind the animals.

At first, all the animals stare at the strange creations; unsure on what they are or where they came from.

One of the fawns gets the courage to get closer to ice. It climbs up a swirling ramp. It goes all the way up to the top of the sculpture. Then it slips! It slides forward on a smooth trail of ice that leads right into a soft bundle of snow.

The fawn stays still for a moment, most likely in shock. That moment passes quickly however as it bounces out of the snow and runs around to get back on the ice slide again.

Soon enough, all the other creatures begin to play around with the toy that Luno has made for them.

Luno turns to me with a smile on his face. I do not think I have ever met someone like him. Making ice slides for the animals. It is rather sweet.

It is now that I realize that not only does everything seem to have a pull towards him, he has one for everyone else as well.

~~~

Luno

We are supposed to reach one of the dots pretty soon. It is the first of eight for this trip.

Honestly, I am not entirely sure how this is going to work. All these humans would see my magic. When they see that, will they turn on us? Will they try and kill me and Tobias? Surely they would at least throw stones at us.

Okay, the stone thing was only from a past experience with a small child in Varen, but still! You can't exactly blame me for being a bit nervous.

Tobias had said that the humans have recently become a bit more open to the ideas of magic. That does not necessarily mean they are all for it. I doubt any of them have seen magic before! They cannot simply say that they are fine with it if they have never been around it.

“Honestly, I can’t wait till we get to that shitty town,” Tobias says next to me. He wipes the sweat off of his brow.

Tilting my head in question, I ask, “What do you mean? It makes me feel lonely when I am in there.”

He motions to the humans in front and behind us.

“Because we can finally have some peace and quiet to ourselves,” He says as if it was obvious.

I smile. “Even with me? I thought I was stupid and annoying!”

“You are,” He smirks. “A real pain in the ass, but not as much as these assholes.”

My eyes widen at how loud he is speaking. He should not be saying such things in front of all these people. It is rude!

“How long will it take to get to Avelin?” I ask. I never really paid attention to the whole map talk. I was busy being disgusted with the war room.

Seriously, why is it called a war room? Tobias had laughed and said we would not ever be going to war; so why is it named after that? It is dumb.

“About, three or four days,” He says. “We are not that far from it honestly. When we get there however, who knows how long we will be searching for that necklace.”

Right. We are supposed to dig around in the ruins for a necklace. How are we supposed to do that? It is apparently a big city full of collapsed stone buildings. Finding a simple necklace in a place like that seems impossible.

He just said he does not know how long we’d even be there. We could be there for days! Would that not just be wasting our time? We have other cities in need of our help!

I get that Drulai said the necklace would help, but how? I would imagine it is enchanted with some kind of magic. How would that help us? Would it bring everyone back? Is it even to help with the humans? What if the Bancrofts are using us to find their own special treasure?

Oh gods. Please don’t let it be something like that. I thought they seemed nice enough.

In my opinion, looking out for special artifacts that only benefit one person is not at all worth looking for.

I really, really hope that Vlad and his brother and sisters are not using us for something as low as that.

Tobias grabs me by the back of my jacket.

I almost ran into a guard. We have all stopped moving?

Everyone is gathering around and sitting under the trees.

Frowning, I look to Tobias for an answer.

He juts his chin towards something behind me.

Ah right. The little town. It is completely surrounded by high barricades. The main gate is partly open.

So everyone is just waiting for us to do our thing? This feels weird. I am not used to an audience. It is definitely not something I want to get used to.

Tobias starts walking for the gate. I quickly follow behind him, not wanting to ever be alone with the humans.

A few guards ask if we need their assistance. It surprised me that they even bothered to ask, but I still said no. It was polite of them though.

The town is fairly large. Not at all like the valley city, but not like any of the villages we have been through. This one even has a giant contraption to cut trees. Obviously at the moment, it is shut off.

It is not exactly hard to find all the bodies since the place is not gigantic. They are actually close to a small pond.

“I never thought the sound of boots hitting the ground could give me such a damned headache,” Tobias rubs on his temple with his fingers.

“Well let me help,” I say, reaching two fingers out to heal his little pain.

Before I can touch him, he pushes my hand away.

“I do not want your filthy magic on me,” He glares.

I almost feel hurt by that. “What?” I ask. “But...I want to help!”

He shakes his head. “You used magic on me without my permission before. At least my kind knows not to do that. The next time you try and ‘calm me down’, you will be asking for my fist to meet your face.”

At first I think he is joking around like he usually does, but his face is dead serious.

Instantly I feel tears wanting to sprout into my eyes. My lip even begins to tremble.

Not wanting to appear weak to him, I turn and walk the other way.

“I-I’ll be back,” I say, trying not to let my voice shake so much.

I hear him sigh behind me and he calls my name. I keep walking.

Ok, obviously I should not be sad. I just never realized that I made Tobias that uncomfortable. I feel awful now! Did I really hurt his trust in me because of that? He did not even mention it when we were alone the few other times before!

I hug myself as I walk between some buildings. I wipe my eyes and sniff away snot trying to come out of my nose.

Would he really punch me? I thought we were friends. If he ever punched me I would not even know what to do. I would probably do what I am doing right now. Cry and go away.

So badly I want to believe he would not do it, but I saw how serious he was about it.

It is then that I hear a voice. It is not Tobias’. It is too soft to be his. The voice sounds like is far away yet...I just know that it is not.

Keeping quiet, I walk close to one of the roads, slowly making my way back to Tobias. I am a bit scared to be alone right now. All I have is Kulu but he is sleeping!

The voice grows a little bit as I walk down this road, it is then that I realize that it is singing!

Frowning, I look to my right. It sounds like it is coming from there but there isn’t a person to claim the voice.

It is a haunting voice that sounds as if it is echoing in a far away land, but I swear it is right next to me.

Squinting my eyes, I notice a strange yellow glow next to me. I faintly see a person. They are walking away from me. They look like a hunter. I can tell by their stance and the bow in their hands.

They have a cloak with a hood on so I cannot see what they look like.

Calling out to them, the hunter's spirit ignores me and walks straight into a wall on a house. All of a sudden the faint yellow glow turns into fog and then...nothing.

Frowning, I quickly walk away to get back to Tobias. I need to bring the people back. Staying here any longer is a bad idea. Clearly something is wrong here. I would like to get as far away from it as possible now.

We need to get to Avelin and fix whatever is happening to the world.