I stood stock still for a handful of breaths while terror raced its way up and down my spine.

I could not say that I was particularly familiar with that voice, but I was pretty sure I knew who it belonged to. I had heard it once, after all. It had been a faint, breezy sort of thing, little more than a gust of wind at the time—nothing like the barely contained power that had just wrapped me in its grip. And that was what gave it away. I knew the feel of that power. I could not describe how exactly. But I did.

That had been the Lady of the Dungeon. The Demon Queen. I was sure of it.

She’s pissed! Why the fuck is She pissed?! What the hell did I do now? Shit! What the hell should I do now?

She had said to stay put. But She had also said that she was coming. The fucking Demon Queen is coming here? What the fuck does that mean? How can—

Abruptly, my panicked, thought-spiral was cut short by a blinking, red box.

I was not sure what was hidden behind all of those asterisks at the end of that little message, but it kind of buzzed. And it hurt to look at. Whatever it was, it was clear that something had just put a burr under the saddle—and it did not take many guesses to figure out what that might have been.

I had no idea who was behind giving me this quest, but it sure as hell sounded like a better idea than sitting around for the fucking Demon Queen to show up. Quickly, my eyes scanned the crowd around me. And then at all of the children down in the field.

“Shit…” I swore quietly. I had no idea what sort of effect a divine manifestation might have, but I certainly did not want to risk children getting involved. Ahnbe had needed to blind me so that I would not go insane just from looking at her, after all. And she had needed to wipe my memory after… after whatever it was we had done.

“Dearest?” Arx called from several steps down the bleachers. She had turned and was looking up at me strangely. “Dearest, what—?”

I waved her question away and hustled down to her. “Later, Arx. We need to find Jax,” I announced. Then I lowered my voice so that only she could hear. “We’re going to the Stele. Tonight.”

“What? Why?” she asked, pouting unhappily. “I was hoping… Dearest, we just got to town yesterday. Wouldn’t you rather—”

“No!” I snapped, and she blanched. I frowned guiltily but I could not let myself feel bad about shouted at her right then. “Come on. No time. I’ll explain later.”

She nodded and followed in my wake.

 

“What happened?” Jax asked forcefully the instant she saw us.

She was waiting just below the steps and seemed slightly out of breath. Evidently, she had somehow sensed my distress and come running. I hoped that she had at least finished with her meeting, but I did not have the time to ask about it just yet.

“Road trip,” I announced, barely pausing to skirt around her. “My quest just got updated. We need to get to the Stele before sunrise.”

“Half-truth,” she retorted with conviction as she quickly fell into step at my side. “And that don’t explain what’s got ye so afeared.”

“Ah-ha!” I heard Arx say from behind us. “I knew it was fear. Dearest, please! You’re worrying me.”

I shook my head and glanced at the crowd milling about around us. It would not do to talk about this out in the open. Shut-in and gamer-nerd that I was, I had never been party to a panicked crowd, and I certainly did not want to start now.

“I’ll explain once we’re out of town,” I promised them. “For now, just trust me.”

“Don’t talk rot,” Jax retorted. “There ain’t a need to ask for such as that.”

I nodded gratefully without stopping.

“What about our stuff at the inn?” Arx protested. “We left the rope and a lot of our other stuff there.”

“We paid for the week,” Jax said. “If we can make the Stele before sunrise, then we can make it back afore Tips’d mess with it.”

“Come on, you two,” I said, already wending my way through the crowd. “No time for chatter.”

It did not take us much asking to discover that the Stele was located about a half-day’s journey to the west—directly between the two rivers feeding into Lake Elisaf. One of the gate guards, a different fellow today than the last time, informed us that there was something of a dirt track we could follow around the edge of the lake, and there was an unmanned ferry just upstream to cross over. After that, all we had to do was follow the path.

“Not many folks travel up that ways no more,” he had said. “Not since them book-fellas packed it up about six months back. Never found out what they was up to, but I heard they weren’t too happy about leaving.”

Arx had assumed a complicated expression at that news.

After that, we had thanked the man and set off. For a while, we walked in silence, just circling the lake along the little dirt track at its edge.

It was a rather nice day to be walking. The late afternoon sun cut through the chill winds coming off the plains just enough to warm our bones. The light reflecting off of the still waters of the lake were scenic and serene. Fishing boats trawled the waters out there, pulling in their nets and heading home for the evening. It was peaceful.

And it suited the mood not at all.

“Do you think that guard was talking about the organization you used to work for?” I asked eventually, more to break the silence than anything. “The Athenaeum?”

Arx nodded uncertainly. “I think so. I had heard they were studying the Steles, but they were nowhere close to finishing. I just can’t imagine why they would leave so soon.”

“Aye, that be a mystery sure,” Jax agreed before glancing at me significantly. “But I think we got a bigger one to talk over first.”

I nodded. Now that we were alone, there was no reason to hold back… though, I did not really want to admit to having used my identification spell to Jax. She had opinions about it. Unfortunately, I was pretty sure she had just been proven right—not that I was above eating a little crow when I deserved it. However, much to my surprise Jax seemed much more concerned when I mentioned my quest update.

“It were red?” she asked sharply. “And what did ye mean about the bits what was making yer eyes hurt?”

“It’s hard to describe, Jax,” I replied. “It’s like that part was censored somehow.” Whatever that means. Of course, it had not been the first time something like that had happened. There had been several instances when Bline had attempted to say something to me which I was apparently not meant to know. I had no idea who… or what would be the arbiter of something like that, though. Unless… maybe it’s something like what happened with Ahnbe? Maybe it’s just that there are some things that the human mind cannot handle.

It was possible and more than a little disturbing. But it was also little more than idle speculation. The problem with censorship is that it is all too easy for a person to fill in the blanks with literally anything. There was a reason that conspiracy theories were so common, after all.

“Okay, that… that’s extremely strange,” Arx said. “But I’m way more concerned with the first part. Are you sure its wise to ignore the Demon Queen? She said to stay put, right? And are you sure that it was even her?”

“No, I’m not sure,” I admitted right as we came abreast of the aforementioned ferry.

It was little more than a roughly cobbled together raft and pulley setup. Just a couple of logs with a number of planks fastened over top of it. Then the rope was threaded through some large, metal rings which were attached to one side of the raft on a bit of a railing. Meanwhile, on either side of the river, there were a couple of posts which the pulleys were attached to.

I will freely admit, the thing did not leave me with a lot of confidence in its construction. Everything looked old and worn-out. Worse, I was not sure whether lakes had tides or if there had just been an awful lot of rainfall lately, but the river and the lake looked to be running really high and fast.

“I’m not sure about any of it,” I continued once I pulled my gaze from the sketchy contraption. “All I know is that the quest seemed quite urgent. And if it was the Demon Queen… well, I’d rather She show up out here than in the middle of town.”

As we boarded the ferry, Jax grabbed one side of the looped rope and began to pull us along. I thought to help for a moment since the river really did seem like it wanted to drag us into the lake—ropes or not—but she did not seem to be struggling. Far from it. In fact, as she worked, she assumed a distant expression—as if something was bothering her.

“Are ye sure it could nay’ve been someone else what spoke?” she asked. “What if it were… were the Lady of Power? For instance.”

I glanced at her in confusion. “No. It’s been a while, but I’ve heard Bline’s voice before. I’m pretty sure it… wasn’t…” I trailed off.

Something was very, very wrong. I could feel it in my bones, but it took me a few moments to figure out what it was.

The sounds of the rushing river that had been rocking our little raft had abruptly died. Not because sound had suddenly ceased to function properly, or anything like that. No, the river itself had stilled. For a moment, we simply stood there in shock. That… should not have been possible. Rivers do not just stop flowing.

However, much more disturbingly, the river did not stay that way for long. Rather than starting up again, the river instead began to reverse course. Faster and faster it flowed, pushing us away from the lake. First as a current, then rapids, then sprays of beachheads rocketed against our little craft.

“Arx!” Jax shouted, barely audible above the surging water. “Help me! The rope’s gonna snap!”

Arx quickly grabbed hold of one end of the rope and pulled for all she was worth, but the rope was pulled so taut that just keeping our raft from capsizing was all the pair could manage—never mind actually pulling us the rest of the way across. I quickly rushed over to help them, but I stopped before I had taken a single step. Something else had caught my eye.

Something… concerning.

It was like the rules of physics had suddenly decided to take a vacation. The surface of the lake had somehow come to the conclusion that it was done with the whole ‘flat plane’ look, and instead opted to go for more of a uniformly bulging dome. And it swelled. And swelled. Like a soap bubble ready to pop.

And when it inevitably did, something… something huge erupted from the middle of the lake. Whatever it was, easily half of the entire width of the Elisaf went airborne with it—and a shimmering, scaly body shot up… and up… and up out of the water.

The sheer size of the creature was beyond comprehension. The town of Raialie, sitting on the far side, was dwarfed next to the monstrous apparition, and it had not even fully emerged from the lake. Whatever it was, it seemed… kind of like an extremely long and tubular worm… or a fish? Maybe like an eel? Except its head was all wrong. It was elongated and spiky. And there were far too many teeth.

But before I could get a good look at it—or really even remember that I needed to breathe—the beast twisted in the air. And then it began to descend. Straight for the town. I did not see what happened next.

A giant wave had eclipsed my view.

“FU—!”

Mid-swear, a weight slammed into my side, and I went tumbling into the river.

 

I was running.

The world was gray swampland as far as the eye could see. Blackened and dead trees dotted the landscape. Dark and angry clouds roiled in the skies above as though stirred by the hands of giants.

And through it all, the voice echoed:

“…amn your eyes!”

I ran on. My heart thundered in my chest. My breath was ragged and strained. The stale flavor of metal cut at the back of my throat.

I could not let that voice find me. I had to run.

“Do… …scape me…”

My footsteps began to slow. My lungs burned. The weight of the mud sucked at me. My legs were in agony. I could not breathe. My calves were twitching and my thighs were knotted from the effort of just moving forward. I needed air! One more step. One more desperate hope to escape.

I can’t breathe!

I ran on.

I can’t breathe!

“…will have…”

 

“Master!” someone shouted, and a sharp crack rang against my skull.

I jerked awake from the pain of it and blearily focused on my lilim’s face swimming in front of me. Tears and blood were liberally streaked down the sides of Jax’s cheeks, and she was holding her hand close to her chest, trembling. And while that worried me a great deal, I had a much more immediate issue to deal with. Jerking to one side, I began trying to hack up what felt like a gallon of water.

Somewhat unhelpfully, Bline then decided to inform me that I was currently suffering from Asphyxiation: Grade II. As if that were not perfectly obvious.

“S-sorry! I’m so sorry, Master,” Jax cried over my violent upheavals into the mud. “I had to. I had to wake ye up! Ye wasn’t breathing, and I were so…” A ragged sob escaped her chest, and she struggled for a moment to get herself under control. Finally, she suggested, “Use yer aura. It’ll help clear yer lungs.”

I nodded in between hacking coughs. I had certainly had things go down the wrong tube before, but this was way worse. It felt like my lungs were on fire combined with a horrific need to vomit—except there was nothing in my stomach. And believe me, that combination was a great way to trigger a full-blown panic attack.

However, once I followed Jax’s suggestion, my hacking soon began to subside. Of course, that led to a certain inevitable side-effect. But I was in no mood for that, so I quickly began shunting every scrap of it over to Jax.

“Ha~ Yes. T-that’s the way, m-my master,” she cooed gently, struggling to control herself as she stroked my back. “Just let yer Jax take care of it. It’ll be alright.”

Eventually, I was through the worst of it and looked over at her. She was a sodden mess. She looked caked in sticky, black mud, and there was a fairly deep gash just under one of her horns that was leaking a streak of blood over her brow and down her cheek. Unsurprisingly, her clothes were… disheveled to put it mildly, and her skirt had ripped up one side so that it was hanging loose and askew.

More than that, though, even through all the mud I could tell that she was still crying. And that arm was still awkwardly clutched to her chest. It looked… painful. Like it was twisted and broken.

“Are you alright?” I asked finally, my voice yet strained and raw. “What’s wrong with your arm? Do you need healing?”

“I…” she began but hesitated. “Maybe. I had to s-strike ye, Master. I be powerful sorry for it, but ye was drowned! I did nay have the choice.”

I nodded, a little confused. “Yes, so I gathered. What does that have to do with your arm?”

“It… seized like this. After,” she explained as she fought back a grimace. “I cannay get it to let me loose. It pains me fierce, it do. And not in any sort of good way.”

“What do you mean? It’s cramped?” I asked, growing concerned.

She nodded. “Aye. After I… I…” She abruptly turned and began her own bout of dry-heaving into the wet grass beside her.

“Shit, Jax!” Now, I was really starting to get concerned. “It’s okay! There’s no need to get so worked up.”

“I’m sorry!” she wheezed between heaving breaths. “I’m so sorry! I’ll… I’ll ne’er…”

What the… “For Mercy’s sake! Jax, there’s no need to get so worked up about it,” I shouted. “I forgive you, okay?”

The moment I said those words, she immediately went limp and flopped bonelessly to the ground. Hurriedly, I rolled her over and collected her in my arms.

“I thank ye, my master,” she said quietly, panting in relief. For a moment, her eyes fluttered as though she were fighting sleep, but then she sucked in a breath and focused on me. “I’m sorry to strike ye. I’d nothing else I could do for ye. Forever and again, I’m sorry.”

I sighed helplessly, and for a moment, I just held her. “Jax, will you shut up already?”

Then I kissed her.

It might not have been the most appropriate of moments. She and I were both soaking wet, filthy, more than a little traumatized, and undoubtedly in need of a good dose of healing. But I could tell that my Jax was hurting.

I had been on the brink of death. Her worst fear realized. And in order to bring me around, she had done the only thing she could think to do. She had hurt me—something that, by her own admission, she would rather die than do. But she had done it to save my life.

And now—even though it made no sense—that act was tearing her up. Both physically and emotionally.

So I kissed her. It was an act of simple forgiveness. To let her know that forgiveness was not even necessary. She was my Jax. And I loved her. There was nothing more to it.

Once our lips finally parted, her eyes found my own. They were swimming in tears, but now there was happiness there as well.

“Remind me to teach you about CPR,” I quipped into the ensuing silence. “I think you’d like it a lot more than the whole face-slapping thing. It involves kissing. Sort of.”

Her expression instantly turned serious. “Ye know a way to help drowned people what involves kissing?” Her tone was incredulous… yet extremely interested.

Just as I had anticipated. And notably, she was not crying anymore.

“Later,” I promised as I released her. Then, with a groan, I crawled to my feet and looked around. “What happened? And where is Arx?”

<ding!>

“Oh… well, shit,” I murmured.

“Dead, then,” Jax said. It was not a question. She had not even flinched at my swearing. For a moment, she looked out at the still churning waters of the lake behind me, and a hollowness slowly overcame her expression. Whatever she saw out there, she did not comment on it. Instead, she only said, “I ain’t seen her body, though. Might’ve got washed to the lake somewheres.”

I nodded. Then, with a fair degree of hesitation, I turned. I needed to see.

I very nearly wished I had not.

Raialie was… gone.

In its place, there was nothing but a great, perfectly-circular hole in the ground. The waters of the Elisaf were still crashing and swirling in a huge whirlpool to fill the void left behind by… whatever that creature had been.

Nothing was left. No trace of kind remained to mark the presence of the once bustling civilization that had existed in that place not a half-hour ago save for a few crumbling stones and broken timbers floating in the water. It had simply vanished.

“Ye hear tales from time to time,” Jax murmured distantly. “Of things like this. Great Mouths coming in the dead of night to swallow up a mess of people. Usually, it be smaller places, though. Villages and the like out on the fringes. But I ain’t never heard of no Mouth what could swallow a city entire.”

“That was a Mouth?” I asked, disbelieving. “That… whole thing?”

“Aye,” Jax affirmed. “What else could it’ve been? Biggest walloper I ever heard tell of, though.”

Slowly, I tore my gaze away from the devastation and looked down at her. “So then… all of those people? They’re in the Dungeon? They’re not… not dead?”

She glanced up at me for a moment before looking away. “Hard to say,” she said finally. “If they made it into that critter’s maw, then… aye. Most like. If they didn’t…?”

She left the rest unspoken, but there was no need to elaborate. If anyone had been out on the lake? Or perhaps on the outskirts of the town and nearer the edges of the Mouth when it came down? Even if they had not been crushed, just the surge of water that came with it had been more than enough. We had been on the entirely opposite side of the lake, and we had barely survived.

And technically, Arx had not.

Shit…

One by one, the pieces started coming together. If that really had been a Mouth… and that really had been the Demon Queen who had spoken to me… then it was possible… No, more than possible. Likely even. That this whole thing was my fault.

I had gotten Her attention by casting that spell, after all. She had said She was coming. And She came. True to Her word. She came hard. And violently.

Except… I could not fathom why. Why had She done it? What could I have possibly done to provoke something like… like this? She had never given any indication that I was pissing Her off by casting that spell. It should have been just an innocent little thing.

There was no way I could have known. I… I couldn’t have…

“Master,” Jax said slowly. “It don’t take much to tell what yer thinking. But I wouldn’t be casting blame to yerself. The wind blows. The sun burns. The stars shine. And goddesses… they do whatever it be they do. Even if ye did somehow manage to provoke… someone’s wrath,” she shook her head, “She did nay warn ye of no consequences. Nor give no chances to make amends. She just acted. Whatever deaths She caused, that be on Her head… if She cares. Don’t blame yerself for moving out of the way.”

I grimaced. That was true enough, but even so, it was a hard pill to swallow. After all, one could argue that I should have tried to warn people. Done…something. But maybe that was survivor’s guilt talking. Likely the guards would have just tossed me into a cell for inciting panic like I was some lunatic.

For a few moments, I stared down at Jax. She was still sitting by my side with her knees drawn up to her chest—and still shaking and flexing the hand that had been cramped to her chest.

“That really hurt you, didn’t it,” I said. I did not want to talk about the town anymore. There was no helping that now. “You were really in that much pain just from slapping me? Funny… that’s never happened before. You even punched me in the face once, as I recall.”

She flinched at the memory, then slowly climbed to her feet—though, I quickly noted that she was not putting any weight on her right leg.

“The bond weren’t so strong then as now,” she replied softly. “I had too much of the… that what I were… left in me. And I were… s-shamed of the want for ye that were growing in me.”

“Even back then?” I asked, curious and more than a little surprised.

She nodded, a faint smile crossing her lips. “Don’t say nothing to it. I know ye’d not have been able to return me feelings back then even if I’d been ready to admit ‘em. Took a fair amount of convincing ye even once me changes were becoming obvious… as I recall.”

I quirked an eyebrow before lightly flicking her nose, and she gave a cute little squawk of displeasure. Then, before she could recover her composure, I quickly rattled off the Words to Renewal of Consumption in order to heal her leg and the gash at her head.

Startled, she leaned heavily against me and an unwilling moan escaped her lips. “Beastly man,” she breathed into my chest before beginning to lightly nip at my flesh with her teeth. “Here I were, still holding yer Lust like the good lilim I be, and ye do such as that when I weren’t ready? I think ye like it when I lose control of meself.”

“Maybe a little,” I admitted with a grin. And truthfully, I was more than a little tempted to give her… Wait. “You’re still holding my Lust? From when? And why?”

“When ye was drowned,” she replied quickly, still pulling at my tunic with her teeth. After giving the fabric a final snap, she then looked up at me. “Ye cleared the water from yer lungs with yer aura, remember?” At my nod, she continued, “And I’m holding it because ye wasn’t hungry. No sense in wasting the Life Energy like that.”

I blinked a few times. “You’re telling me that you’re suffering under the Lust Ailment? Right now?”

“I wouldn’t say suffering,” she replied with a sultry grin. “Now come on. Let’s to the Stele. We’ve a long walk ahead of us.”

As she started down the path, I could not help but to glance at the languid sway of her hips. It was hard to tell—she usually put on a bit of a show when she knew I was looking—but it seemed to me like that sway was even more pronounced than usual. Oh, yeah… she’s feeling it alright. I sucked in a long and slow breath. To be able to just… walk off in that condition? Man… maybe I should look into some kind of Lust resistance myself.

I took a couple of steps to follow her before taking one final glance at the former town of Raialie. I had seen death before. Far more than I had ever wanted. It was a gruesome and terrible thing. But thus far, it had only been for those that were—at least arguably—deserving. I just had to hope that the Demon Queen would be merciful to the survivors. Most of those people had been noncombatants. They had been tradesmen. Tailors. Blacksmiths.

Children.

But… Jax had once told me that the Dungeon was always fair. No matter who you were or what background you had, you had a chance. And right now, that was the only hope I had—the only thing keeping me from curling into a ball and weeping.

Shaking my head, I turned once more and followed my lilim.