After our fight, I made a point about not talking to Nymph at all, giving her the silent treatment until she settled into the idea that this was just like what living with me when I was angry is like.

I refused to give her any mana either. Interestingly enough, Tia completely backed me up on this and was doing the same. This meant that there was no one to help Nymph repair the giant hole she had made in the floor beyond the quick smoothing out of the edges she had done immediately after the incident.

It’s a good thing none of us were real toddlers, this huge hole with chunks of wood and splinters at the bottom would have been a death trap if we didn’t know how to steer clear of it. And so, that’s the state it was still in when Eirlathion came in the next day. It was almost funny how shocked he was at the sight. It made me wish I could have been downstairs when he was coming in so I could see the look on his face.

He had apparently come in to ask about the situation with Nymph and how she wasn’t taking the totalitarian tactics she had threatened the night before. He got his answer pretty quick, and he respected our shunning tactics enough to give us stairs instead of closing off the floor when he left after supplying the mana to help Nymph clean up.

I had decided on going three days with this silent treatment punishment. One day for disrupting my conversation with Eirlathion, two days for hurting herself. Or at least, that’s how I broke it down for her with the few words I spoke to her during one of her begging fits as she was feeling so deprived of attention.

Near the end of the second day though, I suddenly began to feel very sleepy. The boys were already asleep, so I just decided to curl up next to them. We were all well before the age of puberty, and the elves seemed to expect us to sleep together anyway, so I saw no problem with it.

What I did see a huge problem with though was the first thing I saw after I drifted off to sleep.

I had a shiver run through my spine as I saw I was in a white space and I was sitting on something that looked and felt like a cloud. It gave me an unpleasant creepy sense like insects crawling on my skin as I looked around and saw the thing I had hoped I would never see again. I had thought and hoped this thing would leave me alone after my incredibly clear rejection the first time.

“Hello, my child.” The self-proclaimed guardian angel said. “I am not sure if you remember my name, I am Samarael.”

“I was working hard to forget.” I said.

The self-proclaimed angel had a hurt but very patient expression as he regarded me for a moment.

“I understand that you do not trust me.” He said. “This is why you were able to function as the lord’s key, you are loyal only to him and him alone. It is quite frustrating then that you fell to that demon’s temptation in your moment of weakness.”

I sighed and stood up. I am not certain how, but I had some kind of instinctive control over my own appearance in this dream realm. In an instant, I changed from my toddler elven girl form into the adult man I was in my previous life.

“Please, don’t try this whole mending fences routine.” I said. “I know the game you are playing. It’s called matching and leading. It’s a subtle manipulation technique. So, how about we skip all that. It doesn’t seem like I can leave here until you are ready for me to leave, so how about you just tell me what you brought me here to tell me so that I can ignore it?”

“Well, it doesn’t seem like you are in very much of a mood to listen. Why is it, with your untrusting nature, that you have decided to form such a close bond with the demon who killed you?” Samarael asked.

I reached out my hand and a Jo-staff materialized out of nowhere. I grabbed it and placed both hands over the top, then rested my chin on top of that as I regarded the self-proclaimed angel.

“Seeds of doubt tactic now? Really. If you want me to believe you are an angel, then at the very least you can stop talking like Iago.” I said, referencing the villainous figure from the Shakspearian play.

Samarael gave me another one of those pained but patient looks, making like some long-suffering parent dealing with a particularly unruly rebellious teen.

“Very well then, I guess I will say what it is I want to say to you.” He said. “You made the right choice with that nymph.”

“Huh, not the direction I was expecting you to go with that.” I said, trying to figure out his angle on this one.

Samarael nodded. “I am only telling you the truth.” He said. “You see, a messenger of the queen is going to arrive tonight. They should be arriving soon after you wake up. The messenger is a fore-runner to announce one of the queen’s envoys will be staying in this village from now on. So, you see, the nymph’s plan of keeping everyone confined in this village would have brought you no gain and only harm.”

“I see…” I mused. This so-called angel was a manipulator. I was certain he was up to something. However, everything he had told me so far were things I could easily verify and check him on. I knew for a fact that he wouldn’t so blatantly lie about something like that. That means the manipulation was going to come later.

“Now, here is the important part.” Samarael said. “Do not meet with the messenger. You will have to flee the village between the time that the messenger leaves and when the envoy arrives. If you become known by either of them, you will be in danger.”

“Thanks, but I would have done that anyway. You didn’t have to bring me here just to say that.” I said rather coldly, only to get another one of Samarael’s patient nods.

“I also wanted to tell you that I have made arrangements for someone to come to your rescue should you be discovered and pursued by the queen’s envoy.” Samarael added. “After you meet with your savior, you will discover a reason why you should be more motivated to return yourself to the lord’s hand. I know I cannot say anything to get you to trust me right now, but you might listen to him. Afterward, I will be here to guide you should you accept it.”

'And, there it is.' That was the instant thought I had as soon as he said that last line.

***

My eyes drifted open almost immediately afterward. The boys were still asleep, but Tia was sitting next to me with a worried expression.

“Tia? What’s going on?” I asked.

She looked almost like she was pouting as she turned to look at me.

“You wouldn’t wake up.” She said. “The last time you suddenly got sleepy without a reason, you said a demon came and talked to you in a dream. I thought something like that might be happening again, so I tried to shake you.”

I sighed. “Yeah, you’re right.” I said. “It happened again, I just got done speaking with the same demon. She said…” I pondered how much I should tell her. A lot of what that self-proclaimed angel had said for me to do were things I would have done anyway given the situation he presented. I was certain it was the right call too. So, bringing up that this was the demon’s advice would only sow doubt.

I sighed. “He said a lot of things. Gave another prediction about the future. He’s trying to shake my confidence in my actions.” I told her. “He said nothing but things that would either be what I would do myself already, or he said things like how he had arranged for certain people to show up. I feel like everything he said is probably going to happen, but he wants me to doubt everything I see. Maybe prompt me into making some sort of mistake I wouldn’t have without him saying this.”

Tia’s brows knit together when she heard this. “Really? You… you’re sure that’s what this demon is doing?”

“Hehe.” I shook my head. “Not at all, but my training is in information manipulation. If I analyzed the words he said for the most likely lies or tricks, the only conclusion I can come to is that he realized I was suspicious of him so he went and told me nothing but the full truth, hoping I would be shaken by it and regard it in a way I wouldn’t have if he had said nothing.”

Tia put her chin on her curled up knees as she pondered this. “I don’t know.” She said. “What does…” suddenly her eyes got big. “I see.” She said. “The demon does not plan to leave you alone, does he?”

I chuckled. “No, not at all. In fact, he almost explicitly told me he plans to contact me again in the future.

“Hmm.” Tia nodded. “Ok. Next time, we need to be prepared. I will try harder to wake you up next time you suddenly feel sleepy. I’ll try to keep you from going to sleep in the first place! You don’t even need sleep at all, so if you ever feel like sleeping then it’s probably the demon trying to talk to you again.”

“Hehe, yeah, that might be a good idea.” I said. After a little bit of thought though, I started shaking my head. “Actually, around the end, he sorta implied that the next time he talks to me I will actually want the conversation. Something about how I will hear about something that will change my mind.”

Tia made a difficult face.

“So, what should we do then?” She asked.

“Right now? I would say talk me out of it.” I told her. “I can’t really speak for how I am going to think after I hear whatever he said I would hear though. He seemed pretty sure I was going to have a change of heart.”

The first time, Samarael had made a prediction that everyone around me would start turning against me as a consequence of the fact I figured out my void meditation. I wouldn’t quite agree with the ‘everyone’ part just yet, but I would have to say that one has mostly come true.

Now, it’s about something I will hear that makes me want his help. I really can’t think of what that might be, but it’s pretty clear that he has access to a lot of information I don’t and has a rather strong skill with predictions.

Tia nodded with a look of resolve in her face. “I will try my best.” She said.

“Me too!” Nymph said. Her projection nervously edged up to me.

I looked back at her and sighed. “Thank you Nymph.” I said, getting a look of elated shock from the little tree spirit and confusion from Tia. I couldn’t blame them. I had portrayed myself as rather stubborn thus far, but I wasn’t about to keep being cold to Nymph if I was going to leave in just a few days.

The hard part is going to be how I’m supposed to break it to her.