Lucian tentatively walked into the top floor of the spire in the Hells, holding his Inquisitor’s Spetum aloft so that it made no noise. Aurelia had advanced ahead, and watched him silently in her divine beast form, her jet-black tails waving majestically. Her divine beast form was quite impressive every time he saw it. Shame she was the way she was.

  After looking around to be sure that the demon he’d been expecting wasn’t lurking on the ceiling, he entered inside the ritual chamber. Nothing. There was no one here. They had passed by the boss arena a few moments ago. The lesser demons were there, as normal… but the big boss? She was nowhere to be seen.

  Did I really get lucky? Lucian looked around to validate that claim. She hadn’t left behind a note saying that she was going to go get groceries, but it made sense that she would be out of town while her operation was underway. She had to oversee things, make sure nothing went wrong. Or… maybe not. The woman he knew didn’t like to wander, from his knowledge.

  I’m not supposed to get lucky. That just doesn’t happen. My luck is supposed to be awful. That’s the whole running joke the universe is playing on me.

  Even still, he couldn’t deny what was right in front of his eyes. The demon he was looking for was in another castle. After doing one final scan, he descended back down the spiral ramp and called down below.

  “Escort Miriam up!” he commanded the monastics.

  A few moments later, he saw an eager pack of big white fluffy dogs trying to rush up the spiral ramp. Miriam had taken a seat on the back of one of them. Content she’d make it, Lucian looked around once more. Was there something that he was missing? There weren’t any hidden rooms in this area, he was sure of that.

  There were windows, but he’d been careful not to be within their view. The other creatures that they fought weren’t intelligent, and therefore couldn’t report any details about his appearance if they got away. This woman, however… if she saw him, and she retreated…

  Lucian looked at the windows. They were all quite small, and barred off by iron. He scanned each of them individually. Eventually, his eyes came upon one that wasn’t barred off by iron. He walked up to it squinting his eyes suspiciously. When he came to the window, he looked at the wall, rubbing it with his finger. There were iron knubs there.

  This window was barred off… but it’s been broken, Lucian realized, his breathing hastening. No… is she… Lucian leaned out the window, peering out into the endless darkness. She wouldn’t… is she running?

  Vivari the Veiled, that crazy monster, was running from him? Why in the world would she run? It didn’t make sense. Maybe she recognized Aurelia. Otherwise, he didn’t get it.

  ***

  Vivari ran as fast as her feet would carry her through the darkness, bumbling with a faint light of a torch in front of her. She was terrified. Absolutely terrified. Not only had someone managed to find this place, but the way that they had fought… it was like this assault had been planned for a long, long time in advance. Divine beasts were trailing behind them en masse, waiting to step in at any moment. That person, whoever they were, was toying with their prey, dismantling them like it was all some game.

  Vivari couldn’t begin to guess what was happening. Did they have a traitor among them? That was supposed to be their specialty. Names ran through her head quickly, but none of them gave her enough conviction to settle on. Even if Aurelia had been among those that she saw, Aurelia didn’t actually know anything about their wider operation. She hadn’t been inducted into the inner circle yet.

  There was no doubt about one thing. They were compromised, somehow, and heavily. She needed to inform the others. She needed to get word to Belcourt, at least, so that he’d have an idea about what they were up against. The only information that she had was that they had very pure holy affinity. Perhaps they were a monastic that fought without the aid of their divine beast form.

  ***

  Lucian stared out into the darkness. There wasn’t anything that he could see, but that didn’t quiet the unease that he felt. Miriam arrived at the top alongside her escort of divine beasts.

  “Miriam,” he called out, walking toward her quickly. “I’ve checked everything, and I’ve verified that all of the ingredients that you need are here. Now, I need you to do the ritual.” He produced the Jeweled Eye.

  Lucian would have preferred just taking the ingredients and running off somewhere else, but to say the least of things, some of them were far too heavy or fragile to move. There was the skull of a dragon, here, among other things. It had to be done here.

  “Believe me, I’ll do it as quickly as I can,” Miriam said, taking the Jeweled Eye. “Even if you’re comfortable in this place, I want to get the hell out of here.”

  “Hell out of here? Good one,” Lucian said, and she frowned. She hadn’t meant it as a joke, he could tell, but that only made it funnier to him. He looked to the divine beasts. “I need you to stay here, make sure that she stays safe. If a man with white hair shows up, you need to follow the escape route I told you about. White-haired guy is Belcourt Asheford. Don’t even think about fighting him.”

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  The divine beasts all nodded, including Aurelia. He pointed to her.

  “You—come with me. I want to check something out, ease a suspicion that I have. In fact, give me a ride. We need to move quickly.”

  Aurelia tilted her head in confusion, but crouched low so that he could climb on.

  “It’s probably nothing. Likely just paranoia. I mean, why would she run from me?” Lucian commented as he climbed up. “It makes no sense. I’m not intimidating at all. Can barely kill a bunch of undead archers.”

  Aurelia gave him an indiscernible glance that seemed skeptical, and then set off down the spire. Lucian knew one place to check. If Vivari really had run from him for some unimaginable reason, there was only one place that she would go. It wasn’t too far, and was a place he intended to go to anyway.

  ***

  Vivari stepped into a cave that was quite out of the way and difficult to reach. This place certainly wasn’t something that one stumbled upon by accident, and didn’t have any distinguishing markers making it easy to find. That wasn’t even mentioning the darkness that permeated the Hells. It was for all of these reasons that she’d chosen to make this area her safe house. Some of her ‘allies’ couldn’t be trusted, after all.

  After descending for a time and avoiding some of the nastier traps that she had set up, she came to a huge vault door. She set her torch aside and walked up to the part where she inputted the combination. She slid the numbers into place, one by one. It was a combination of her birthday, followed by the birthday of her dear departed son, followed by the date her master the First Emperor would arise. After each date, one locking mechanism shifted. Once all three had shifted, it was open.

  She turned the large wheel handle on the vault door, and then pulled it open. She spun the combination a few times to randomize it, grabbed her torch, then entered inside. The moment that she shut the thick, nigh impenetrable door behind her, she felt an indescribable sense of relief. None of her allies even knew about this place, save Belcourt, who’d helped her design it. If there was a traitor, they wouldn’t be able to track her down. She had time to think about her next move… think about who might be the one that was releasing their plans.

  Who could it possibly be? Not Belcourt. That would be absurd. He’s the one that gathered all of us—I can definitely trust him. As a matter of fact, he might be the only person that I can trust. All of the others…

  Vivari bit her nail, her nerves frayed. She needed to look at her son. Should she take him out of the ice, hold him? Perhaps she’d take some of his doubles, instead—she had plenty of bodies to unfreeze in this place. This shouldn’t be happening to her. She was supposed to deliver vengeance upon the empire, show them the grief that she felt, yet now it was all falling apart.

  Then, Vivari heard some rumblings from beyond the door. She froze in place, listening closely. She walked up to the vault door. She heard some more noises.

  Damn it. Did they spot me running away, follow me? Her heart beat quickly, but she calmed herself with logic. There’s no possible way that they can know the combination to the door. The code exists within my mind alone. I haven’t shared it with anyone, even Belcourt himself. The walls, the door—they’re all thick, enchanted metal. No one could break past it without many days of attempts.

  Vivari froze as she heard something click. She stepped away from the door, eyeing it warily. They’re just spinning at random, she thought. No way that they know the combination.

  Even still, every click that she heard made her jump a little. She took more and more steps back, her breathing growing in intensity.

  Click.

  Click. She swallowed.

  Click.

  Suddenly, the first locking mechanism of three shifted, and her eyes popped out of her head.

  ARE THEY INSIDE MY DAMN MIND?!

  Vivari’s heart resembled a hummingbird’s as she turned and ran deeper into her safehouse. Her Ice Palace—that would be the only place left for her, now. But ice was her domain… hers, and her demon’s. She would protect her son. Nothing was more fearsome than a mother protecting her son. She would show them why.

  ***

  “This lady’s psycho,” Lucian said as he put in the lock. “She reminds me of you, a little. Remorseless. Selfish. Probably better off dead.”

  Aurelia stared at him. If she wasn’t a little intimidated by him right now, she might be annoyed.

  “She has her dead infant son frozen in an ice cube,” Lucian said. “First Emperor promised to bring him back. She also has a bunch of other dead infants frozen. Sometimes she thaws them out, holds them in her arms to imagine what it’ll be like when he comes back to life. Nice, huh?”

  What he was saying was so visceral it brought Aurelia out of her stupor. That was… horrifying.

  “This was the company you were trying to keep, by the way. These were the people whose side you were choosing,” he criticized. “Psycho baby killers. You feel good about that?” He inputted the next combination. “Frankly, you’re probably worse than her.”

  Aurelia shifted on her paws uneasily. He clearly wasn’t going to forget anything any time soon. What exactly was Lucian? How did he know all of this? He seemed to know everything, down to every last trap in this cavern. Simultaneously, he seemed fragile, weak, at the strangest moments. For now, her theory was that he was the reincarnation of the True Divine Beast… but this was far beyond any prophecies he had ever espoused.

  Lucian finished putting in the combination, and the door unlocked. He stepped back. “Open it,” he told her.

  Aurelia walked forward and grabbed the wheel handle with her jaw, turning it until she felt it give. Then, she pulled the door back. Peering inside, she didn’t see anything out of the ordinary… except a lit torch, leaning up against the wall.

  Lucian eyed the torch, standing right beside her. “Looks like she’s definitely here.” He looked beyond. “She’ll be in her Ice Palace, I suspect. Home field advantage… worrying. Still, we can do this. Come on,” he said, prodding her.