The scary urn had been removed from the house completely, as a precaution. Not that doing so was easy or quick, but it had to be done as a precaution. Several other possibly evil and or cursed items were taken with it, also as a precaution. It had given the rest of the team of five time to set up numerous other precautions, and time for Cormac and Ixia to become acquainted with what was about to take place.

Cormac had insisted that he and Ixia mostly dealt with wilderness related supernatural issues rather than more urban supernatural issues.

“We never encountered any evil books out there.” He had said.

“If you had encountered one there, it would have been exceptionally evil.” Abha had said, with Akna quick to add “Consider yourselves fortunate.”

The pair agreed they were very fortunate indeed. Even if they still weren’t entirely sure what that fortune entailed. Only that they were in too deep on this lie to back out now. 

After a round of debate, it was decided that Ixia would be the one to read the evil book. She knew just enough about it to realize it was important to her and Cormac’s goals, and she had a mental link to Cormac. Also, she and Cormac were the only ones that could read the ancient text.

“Normally, it’s me or my sister who has to read the evil book. Because of the mental link.” Akna said as she arranged a number of candles where the floor had been cleared. “So if either of you feel anything unusual going on in your head please tell us all immediately.”

Cormac had many questions, and while he figured that all of them were actual life or death questions he also had to be prudent with time. “Now when you say ‘anything’...or ‘unusual’, for that matter…do you mean…?”

“Any unusual thoughts or feelings at all.” Abha clarified without clarifying anything. She busily poured out lines of salt all around the area being prepared. “It could be nothing, it could be something, but still let us know. With the added benefit of not being the ones to read the book this time, we may magically monitor the situation and ensure a number of wards are in place for all of our protection.”

“We both appreciate it!” The Dryad said, fully meaning it. Neither she or Cormac had really doubted them when they first began their preparations. They simply had no idea what the possibilities were.

The short list of possibilities that the team of five had told them was enough to have them both on edge.

The Guardian still couldn’t help but wonder where exactly possible summonings would be summoned from. While setting out bowls of water as he had been instructed, he asked “Does anything good ever get summoned?”

“Unfortunately, yeah.” Ed sighed while using chalk to mark unknown symbols on the floors and walls. Cormac and Ixia’s confusion was loud enough for their baffled thoughts to be heard despite their otherwise silence. He chuckled and went on to answer. “See, if it was all bad stuff then no one would do it. But good stuff mixed in means that no matter how rare they are, you’ll always have someone who thinks they can avoid the bad stuff and summon an attractive lover from beyond the veil.”

“Pfft, weird.” Cormac scoffed, thinking that clearly those losers were trying too hard. If only they knew that all it took was just walking into the woods and just finding a beautiful supernatural woman. It was so obviously easy, just like stumbling into struggles against ancient evils.”How often is that the reason, though?”

The Guardian couldn’t help but ask, and Ed couldn’t help but groan and sigh as he responded. “A lot. I take it you two don’t deal with that too much?”

“Nah, more beast type stuff so…more lost for misery and destruction rather than just lust.” Again, The Guardian wasn’t lying in the type of foes they normally dealt with. Not that anything was normal for them since they were completely new to this. Just as the redhead human was amused with his own technical truth, a horrifying revelation hit him and caused his smile to die and shrivel up into a frown.”……shit I hope it’s not the other thing…”

Ixia didn’t know enough to contradict him. She didn’t want to know enough to contradict him. The Dryad wanted to live in a world where no one would contradict him ever and so she did her best to make that reality. “Of course not! The types of evils we usually fight are most ancient and unlikely to listen to any kind of summons…remember?”

The last second cover up was hastily thrown in, and Cormac only took a few seconds to catch on and remember the fake time they had discussed this in not real detail. He chuckled and shrugged "I get my ancient evils mixed up sometimes!”

The team of five minus two all came to a stop and shared a look between themselves. Fearing he had finally been found out, Cormac’s mouth ran dry and for a moment he felt his blood start to go cold. Ixia was already thinking of a possible escape that would involve the least harm for all involved.

“Speaking of ancient evils…””Ed broke the silence, then held up a hand as he corrected himself, looking back to the twins for a brief silent apology. “Sorry, ancient divine beings beyond mortal morality–”

None of that helped Cormac or Ixia figure out what was going on in the slightest.

“If this is ends up being about your boss uh…well remember that those two get their powers from him as well so we’re more understanding than most if you two need to take over.”

Somewhere in the house, a vent kicked on to keep the house at a comfortable temperature. It was the only sound there or in Cormac’s head as he tried and failed to find a way to bullshit his way out of this one. 

“Thank you for your understanding!” Ixia’s hand was on The Guardian’s as she leaned forward to thank the others. With a small squeeze, she gave an imperceptible signal to the redhead. “We should probably go discuss that before we read that evil book that might be related. I’m sure you’ll understand. Join me Cormac?”

“Yes!” The relief in The Guardian’s voice wasn’t even disguised as he quickly agreed and joined her in excusing themselves out of the room. None seemed to mind, as if this was the most normal thing ever.

Perhaps it was.

He had no idea, only letting his Dryad drag him along to a bedroom. Normally a naked green woman dragging him into a bedroom would be cause for excitement, but this time he felt only mostly relief. Mostly. 

After closing the door behind him, she took a deep breath and looked at him with what he was certain was the same look that he had on his own face.

Confusion, and a very subtle addition of the expression that someone who was drowning but trying to be polite about their situation might wear.

Both of them gestured at one another, trying to beckon the other to go first as if neither one was sure how to start this conversation.

Finally, one of them went first.

“I have absolutely no idea who our ‘boss’ is. That wasn’t a thing before…at least not that I was aware of. It seems things may have been formalized while I was…away.” The Dryad broke the silence, though not in the way Cormac had hoped. “But I think you might know him.”

“....n-no?”

“You know how in all those shows, very powerful aliens who look exactly like humans call themselves gods? And name themselves after Earth gods? And kind of act like them too?”

“....y-yes?”

“With your extensive expertise, do you happen to recognize any gods who might fit what we know? Has a thing for obsidian, nature, and magic? Ed said it was a he, and that he is divine if that narrows it down any?”

Cormac could see where she was going with this. It was admirable, but now he felt guilty that he had to be the one to tell her. He held up his fingers to count. “First, that was an incredible reach in logic. Second, it kind of works. Third, only the Egyptian and Grecco-Roman pantheons ever get used. Oh, sometimes Norse. And while the extent of my knowledge of those mythologies is filtered mostly through sci-fi, I can’t think of a single one matching that description.”

“Oh…” Crestfallen, Ixia slumped her posture and her eyes drooped. Only for a moment before shooting open as she straightened out her posture. “Wait! The gods are known to wear many masks and take on different names. Often with different domains! So perhaps one of the ones you know is our ‘boss’ by another identity! Let’s start with something that’s good for narrowing it down. The gods of those pantheons you mentioned, how familiar are you with their preferred methods of human sacrifice?”

Somewhere between a minute and a year passed as Cormac stood and blinked at Ixia. It could have been ten thousand years. It could have been only one blink. Perhaps time hadn’t passed at all. Maybe time was beyond his simple human understanding. He cleared his throat. “How about we just tuck that away in your list of upsetting truths, and we use a much better way to narrow things down.”

“Such a thing exists?” The Dryad asked as she took a step closer, wondering what tricks her Guardian possessed.

Her Guardian held up his cell phone. 

“Oh.” Ixia blinked a few times, then chuckled. “I keep forgetting those exist.”

“They really have changed everything.” Cormac said as he started tapping away a search for gods. “So for domains we’ve got: Obsidian– oh, something already came up. Looks like a god of magic, we might have a winner here! Seems this one has a lot of names so stop me if something sounds familiar. Tezcatlipoca, K’awiil and I know I’m probably butchering these pronunciations, Lord of the Near and the Nigh–”

“Oh–” Ixia stopped him with a short exclamation.

“Recognize him?”

“Him.”

“That bad?” The Guardian realized it was a redundant question from the look of horror on her face. And from scrolling down a bit more to read about this god. “Ah…sounds like an absolute–...says here he sees all. Well I don’t know if that’s true but I also don’t want to find out.  Especially if we work for him. Maybe the other things he’s known are closer to the truth!” He tapped and scrolled down a bit further. The grimace on his face grew larger the more he scrolled until he stopped and cleared his throat. “So it sounds like he is…strong willed.”

The Dryad pursed her lips, then pulled them into an uneasy smile and gave a thumbs up. “Well I think we have a good idea of who he is! Which is good! That was the point of excusing ourselves away for this discussion. We’ll just have to find out how he became our boss later. And if it actually counts for us…perhaps that is why you don’t have your obsidian blade…”

Not wanting her to fall too far into despair, Cormac set his hand on her shoulder and then pulled her into a hug. “That is a worry for later. And we will figure it out. Later.”

Ixia wrapped her arms around him, savoring his warmth and taking a deep breath. Even the world she thought she knew was finding ways to surprise her now. It made the things she could rely on and trust ever more precious. She pulled that thing closer. “Thank you, Cormac….perhaps we shouldn’t keep our new allies waiting too much longer…”

“They probably think we’re just making out in here. Or fucking.” His words worked as intended and broke the tension. Guardian and Dryad alike chuckled into one another’s shoulders.

Despite not wanting to let go, Ixia still pulled back from their embrace. This time with a warm smile. “A tempting prospect, but we’re short on time.”

A quick peck on her lips by Cormac was enough to elicit a small and pleased gasp from Ixia. Her Guardian, however, was looking entirely too pleased at her reaction. She pulled him closer to her and stood on her tip-toes to plant a longer, much fuller kiss on his lips in ‘revenge’. It seemed to work as when she withdrew from the kiss he was now as flush red as she was darker green. At least until he dove in for yet another kiss, both their lips parting as their tongues were as desperate to meet one another as their hands were starting to get bolder in roaming along the other’s body.

Just as Ixia’s hands were at his belt, some final rational part of their minds shouted at them and they parted from the kiss and embrace. Both were gasping, and sharing guilty looks with one another and nervous chuckles while backing up to put some space between them.

“We should…talk strategy…”

“Yes! Avoid doom now, fun later.”

“Gotta eat your doom before you eat your fun!”

“I’m edible, are I?”

“Absolutely delicious.”

How they had gotten close to one another again was a mystery. Again, both of them shook their heads and took a few steps away. Cormac put a hand to his chin to think on their situation as Ixia paced the room.

“Very mysterious how apparently we work for that guy now.” The Dryad said while composing herself. “But that mystery should indeed wait for another day.”

While thinking of ice baths in the Antarctic, Cormac nodded in agreement. “If it comes up, we just say it’s a personal matter. Is that a normal thing?”

“Normal enough. Especially for someone who likes His secrets.” She was putting enough emphasis on that word for Cormac to quickly figure out her feelings towards this. It seemed to be a not good situation, though not the worst. “You should also know that in terms of hierarchy, He is…well if he’s not at the top he shares that spot.”

“Powerful is good! It means whoever might stand against him would have to be crazy!” Killing any thoughts of just such a thing were currently just as important as holding back any thoughts and desires he was having about Ixia right now. Which is why he was staring at the ceiling instead of the naked Dryad pacing around the room right now. “Our new ‘allies’ seemed kinda nervous about him, so less questions. Especially if the twins know him as well as we should….how well…do you know him?”

Ixia held out her hand to give a wavering sign. “Not well. But enough to know that even if some things don’t fit, this still sounds like him.”

“And we have the power of the internet to research that later. No idea how accurate it will be but it’s something…unless we find the supernatural internet? Is that a thing?”

The Dryad recognized it was a question not directed at her, and couldn’t help but wonder about the answer as well. “We did see electronic devices at that mysterious store…”

“I know our ‘later’ list is getting really big but we should get back out there.” The Guardian straightened out his clothes to make sure it looked like they really were having a discussion in here the entire time, and not a furious debate between their tongues and lips. “You’ve got a scary book to read.”

“I’d rather read you.”

Ixia knew that one didn’t even make sense as soon as she said it, and she turned away as she was turning a much darker green to fiddle with her leaves and make sure they weren’t in disarray. No matter how little sense it made, Cormac forced himself to walk over to the door and open it for the Dryad who had cast a powerful spell over him. 

“That’s right, Ixia! I’m glad we had this talk.”

“As am I! Your insert was very valuable! Insight.”

Despite now tripping over words, at least her legs worked well enough to power walk over to the door without making eye contact. The possible doom of a cursed book was going to be a welcome distraction for both of them.