The Star, The Demon, and The God - 2. Tobias and Luno

Just a reintroduction of the main characters

One Week Earlier

Tobias - The Demon

“Rise and shine!” A voice sings.

Groaning at the intrusion, I turn into my pillow and pull the blanket up to hide myself from the light.

“Aww, come on!” The voice calls. “We’ve got lives to save!”

I grumble out an excuse to stay in bed longer, though I doubt Luno would be able to understand me.

“No wonder you can turn into a tiger,” He laughs. “You try and sleep all day like one.”

At that I lazily open an eye at him.

How dare this idiot be able to look adorable first thing in the morning. No doubt it has something to do with what he is.

I close my eye again, refusing to be woken by this person.

This is only our third day into Raiyo’s quest and already I am growing tired of the Star.

He talks too much, especially in moments where I need silence. That happens to be all the time. Not only does he talk too much, but he is also nice. Too nice. So nice in fact, that he feels the need to help every living thing that so much as looks our way.

Oh god. I wish I could be joking.

For a good two hours, Luno had me carry around a baby deer who was “walking funny”. We learned later on that it simply had a weird walk.

Wasted two hours of our life!

“Should I let Kulu clean out your ears?” Luno says in a teasing tone.

This time I glare at him.

“If that thing gets close to me,” I say. “I’ll pull it’s dead tongue out.”

Luno laughs and holds the winged blue serpent up in his hand.

“He wishes he could do that, doesn’t he?” Luno coos to the snake. It stares up at Luno with that dead looking blank stare. Its tongue hanging out of its mouth.

I roll onto my back and stare up at the ceiling. The phoenix is perched up there. She looks down at me with her head tilted to the side.

Gods. It feels so crowded in here.

It is definitely taking a while to get used to. Before I met Luno, I would always go out alone when I was hunting Angels.

If a group was necessary, Uncle would always assign other people who were just like me. They knew exactly what they were supposed to do, never really spoke more than a few words, and they one hundred percent did not create unnecessary banter.

Not only did they not create unnecessary banter, they also did not make me want to kiss them.

Never have I ever wanted to kiss someone as bad as I do with Luno. The best part is that he lets me! I could simply ask at random and he will let me.

I did that for a good while, but then I realized something. There was no feeling coming from the other side.

It leaves me feeling conflicted. I stopped asking of course, but I do not know how to bring the topic up.

Oh well. I guess I will have to wait a see when it will come up again.

“You can’t go back to sleep,” Luno says, though he sounds as though he is speaking to Kulu. “We shouldn’t waste any daylight! Now stop being a lazy kitty and lets get a move on.”

With a sigh, I toss the blanket off and pull myself off the bed.

We had found an old hunting cabin. There were four beds inside which was lovely. We have not been on any beds in quite some time.

Unfortunately, we have to go out and search for more unfortunate souls who have mysteriously died.

“Call me a kitty again and I’ll pluck those flowers out of your head,” I glare at Luno.

He just grins and sticks his tongue out.
“Good luck,” He says. “I have tried and nothing works.”

Rolling my eyes, I grab my armor then start buckling and shoving it on.

He is so infuriating sometimes. What could possibly be holding me back from punching him square in the face? If it were anyone else, I would have done so earlier.

It really does not help that I want to kiss him.

Ugh! Gods I hate him with every fiber of my being.

“So where are we off to today?” I ask. “Perhaps we can go somewhere warm and sunny. This snow is getting annoying to walk through. Maybe somewhere near the coasts.”

Luno scoffs and swats my arm. “You can’t just pick and choose which lives we are supposed to save. That is not right.”

I groan and fall back onto the bed. My armor ends up digging into me so I sit back up.

“Besides, there are only a few more places here that need our help. We should be able to move on soon enough.”

Great...I love the snow. It is not at all annoying. It absolutely does not make everything too cold or too wet. Not at all irritating.

Sighing, I unfold the map of Thymestrys that Raiyo gave to us.

The map shows around fifty black dots that represent the strange magic that is killing the humans.

Based on what this shows, the few cities that Luno has brought back to life seem to be safe. None have fallen back into a black dot so maybe this is all working?

The southern mountains have about sixteen dots left. That does not even compare to the green middle of the map.

There are thirty four dots there.

What could possibly be killing all these humans and why? What have they done to deserve this. They are simply living their lives!

I do miss when times were simpler. When all I had to worry about was the random Angel that would possibly get too close to humans.

Now I can’t even go to these dots alone since there could be a hoard of them.

Would Luno be safe if he went on his own? I imagine he would. Though, he has said he does not wish to ever bring harm to any living being.

As noble as that might be, it is just not possible with what we are doing. We are bound to run into danger sooner or later.

“Your face is worried,” Luno says out of nowhere.

I look up from the map and see he is frowning at me.

Shaking my head, I look back down at the map. “Just confused. I want to know what is happening in this world. Wouldn’t you be curious as well?”

He hums in response.

When I look back up, I see the blue flowers changing into a dark purple.

My guess is that, that would mean he is worried, nervous, or possibly sad? It is a bit confusing at times to figure out what mood they represent.

“We will figure it all out soon enough,” he says. “I am sure of it. We have Raiyo on our side after all, right? That should be good.”

I just shrug. I am not sure if that is a good thing honestly.

Yes, I believe he is the true leader of Demons, but that does not mean he is right on all counts. If he was interested in this, maybe there is something else at play here. He does not just go out of his way to help the world. He is looking to gain something.

The main question is what it could be.

There is the chance that I could just be reading into it too much, but Raiyo is never one to be so simple as that.

Based on my knowledge, he loves to go for that dramatic flair.

With one look at him, I grunt at Luno’s attire.

“Go put on your new clothes,” I say with a scowl. “I bought them, you’re wearing them.”

Luno scoffs and crosses his arms.

“Who says I have to listen to you? I can wear whatever I want,” He says. “I told you before, the cold does not bother me. I will be fine!”

Honestly, there are people that wear way worse. I mean look at Raiyo, I always see him in thigh high boots and underwear.

Don’t even get me started on the Succubi and Incubi.

It is just really, really distracting to see him in his usual short as hell toga, or gods forbid, that weird two sided skirt thing.

Besides the distraction point it brings, it is not at all fit for this quest. We must be ready at all moments for any kind of danger and any weather conditions. I could care less if “he can’t feel the cold”.

“You either put them on, or we will go back to Raiyo and tell him we are giving up on this quest,” I say in a stern voice.

Luno’s eyes widen at first but then they narrow.

“I don’t believe you,” He says. “You would not do such a thing!”

Raising an eyebrow, I lean down to get into his face.

“Try me,” I glare.

Luno holds the stare with me for a few moments, before they actually start to water. Just as I think that he might actually cry, he turns away and grumbles a bunch of words under his breath.

The flowers in his hair have turned orange.

“Fine,” He grumbles. “I will wear your stupid clothes. Happy?”

I smile at the small victory.

“Quite happy,” I say, not at all bothering to hide my grin.

He groans and grabs the bag full of new supplies. He takes them into a closet before closing the door.

“He’s such a jerk,” I hear him say, no doubt talking to Kulu again.

Glancing up at the phoenix, I see that she is watching me still.

Creepy fire chicken.

“Stop slithering into the arm holes!” I hear Luno shout. Then I hear him groan.

I would have checked to see if he is alright, but seeing as he is a Star, I am more than sure he can handle whatever issue is at hand.

In the meantime, I pack up all our things. Well...my things. Luno does not exactly own anything. I have bought some supplies for him, but he ends up using mine!

Once again, he proves to be the most annoying person I have ever met. I doubt there was someone worse for when I was truly alive and human.

Frowning at that, I try and remember anything about my past life.

There is only one memory that comes to mind, it is always the same one as well.

It is me and a bunch of other children. We are trapped in some kind of jail house. It is dark and wet. Was it raining? Maybe it was raining. The floor of the room only has straw as our bedding. The main source of light is a lantern hanging above us.

That is it. That is all I can remember. No matter how hard I try, I can’t see anything else.

Pursing my lips, I get back to packing.

Whenever I think of the past, I concentrate to try and remember more. To remember as much as I can. Of course, it is all for nothing. Never more, never less. Always the same amount.

It is frustrating to say the least.

Most of the other Demons say they do not remember their past as well. They only remember their time as an Angel, and that is as far as it gets.

No one else seems curious as to what their past lives were. They ignore it as if it never happened. I am not sure how they can do that. It bugs me to no end. Was I truly a good person or was I forced to become an Angel like so many others?

Now it is getting to the point that these thoughts are giving me a headache. I already have something else causing me headaches. I would rather not add onto it even more.

The closet door swings open and a defeated looking Luno steps out. His bottom lip sticks out a bit more and his nose is all crinkled in discomfort.

The outfit I bought him was some dark pants, socks, knee-high boots, an undershirt, a regular shirt, and a black jacket with the inside trimmed with lamb fur. Anything to keep him from the snow.

He was angry at first with the jacket, accusing me of the sheep possibly being harmed. I can personally say they were not at all harmed in any way.

Surprisingly enough, he trusted me. Good thing I was not lying. The sheep were, and still are, fine.

I also offered him a small blade for his protection but he said that he would never ever want to use it. That did not really come as a surprise unfortunately.

Perhaps that is a good thing. It means we would not be wasting time with trying to train him. With how I have been handling things, I do not know if I would be able to train him because that requires getting up close and personal.

Luno waddles up to me like a penguin. It looks cute to be honest. Especially with the pink flowers in his white hair. I’ve gathered that is his shy or embarrassed emotion.

“I feel icky,” He says. “Is this how everyone else feels?”

I laugh and shake my head. “Icky? Never heard someone say that about clothes before.”

He sighs and wiggles his arms around.

“Seriously,” He groans. “How do people live like this? I feel like I am being choked to death. Maybe it’s a sign! The sheep were hurt!”

Chuckling, I pat the top of his head and open the front door.

“I can promise you that no harm came to any animals with that jacket,” I smirk. “Stop being such a baby and let’s get a move on.”

He sighs, gives a small glare, and then walks out the door with his head down in defeat.

“The outfit is not even that bad!” I say. “That is pretty much what the common folk wear nowadays. At least up here in the mountains.”

Luno waddles around in the snow before turning around to face me. I see Kulu is already wrapped around his neck.

Peeking into the abandoned house, I call for the phoenix.

Enfi chirps before flying past me and straight for Luno’s shoulder. It is strange seeing a firebird with the snow in the background. Even next to Luno’s hair!

Speaking of Luno, he still has a face that shows he is uncomfortable.

Oh well! He’ll get used to it.

“Stop fussing so much,” I pat his shoulder and walk past him.

Shouldering my pack, I pull out the map and look for the closest dot from our location. It looks like the closest is around six or so miles away. Looks like we are going there.

Another dot is about ten miles from the first. Two dots today sounds pretty nice! Maybe this all won’t be so bad after all.

Raiyo said we could not go for the source of all this death. Does that mean he knows what it is? Or at least an idea of who or what it is? What could he be doing to stop this madness? I would imagine it has something to do with Morgoren.

If that is the case, then he must be putting all his effort into stopping this.

“Where are we going?” Luno calls behind me.

Glancing over my shoulder, I see he is still walking a bit weird. The shoes must feel rather uncomfortable.

I wonder what that must feel like. When I met him he was barefoot. When he put on better attire, he chose to put on sandals in the snow.

My guess is that he is around a few hundred years old, so that means years and years of going barefoot. Now to finally put on some proper shoes...it must be extremely weird.

“Stop walking like some newborn fawn,” I frown. “We are going further south. It looks like small city near a lake of ice is our next stop.”

He nods and bites his lip, concentrating on walking properly.

Turning back to walk again, I try and remember any key map markers to help us make our way there safely.

The last thing I need, is to not find shelter from the moon. I don't even want to think about what would happen if Morgoren were to find Luno. Not only would I be scared of him, but also of the Gatekeeper.

Of course, Taisla does not have to worry about Luno’s safety. Not only do we have a bunch of Raiyo’s followers watching over us, but I just know I would lay down my own life for this person.

Some could say it is because I might have feelings for him, not that I entirely know what that could mean, but in reality, it is because of his abilities. More specifically, his ability to resurrect all the life back into Thymestrys.

Yup, that is the only reason why.

Well, I guess I should add that of all things, I would be scared to fail Raiyo. That will most likely see to a slow end on my life.

He never really gave the assumption, but knowing him, he will most likely do so.

No pressure!

Actually there is not that much pressure at the moment. This seems like the easiest quest I have ever been given.

We have not fought anything. The last time I saw an Angel was days ago and it never showed itself again.

Something is not right. All these dead humans should be like a buffet to the Angels, yet their bodies are not being touched.

Aside from them being piled up like trash, the humans and their animals just lay there, not even decomposing. There is more at play here, but how the hell are we supposed to figure it out when Raiyo says we should try to revive them first?

With a sigh, I fold the map up and keep walking for the next dot. If we are lucky, there could be some clues as to what the hell is going on.