Renewal was gaining weight. She was certain of it. After all the food she’d eaten sitting and watching Noah’s group, it would have been hard not to. Not even gods were immune to the laws of nature. Not at her level, at least.

“I can honestly say that I’m surprised,” Decras said from beside her. He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms in front of his chest. “If I didn’t know better, I would have thought that Noah actually planned every single part of this. He’s remarkably good at bullshit.”

“Makes me wonder if he stole a rune from another god,” Renewal agreed with a nod. She could barely bring herself to pull her eyes away from the screen. Her eye twitched slightly at the cat at Noah’s side. “He’s certainly good at stealing things.”

“It’s not so funny when you’re the one getting robbed, is it?” Decras asked primly. “I could have handled him if you hadn’t gotten so twisted up about it.”

“I’m getting my payment back in entertainment. I don’t need you interfering,” Renewal said with a glare. “And, as I recall it, your attempt was foiled by yet another mortal that managed to steal from you.”

“Bah,” Decras said. He turned away and focused his attention fully on the screen. It was rather embarrassing. He’d gotten robbed not twice, but three times. Three different mortals had each managed to steal power from him. One of them had even been his own man.

That has to sting. Oh well. He’ll get over it… and maybe he’ll learn to stop letting people take bites out of him. Seriously. There’s a time and a place. Then again, I don’t know how smug I can be. Noah managed to steal from me twice. At least Decras’ little thieves only got the best of him a single time.

Renewal puffed her cheeks out and blew out an annoyed breath. She distracted herself by studying the glowing screen before them. The small demon boy that Noah had recruited — Aylin — was staring at Noah with a mixture of abject awe, fear, and disbelief. Noah had somehow managed to forget his audience during the conversation with his stolen companion, and Renewal could practically hear Aylin’s thoughts just from his expression.

“He’s wondering just how strong the cat is if it can take Noah by surprise,” Decras said with a low chuckle. “I wonder if they’ll start worshipping the cat as well.”

Worshipping was the right word. The way Aylin and Violet looked at Noah wasn’t the way soldiers treated a general. It was the way followers looked to a god. The back of Renewal’s neck prickled.

It wasn’t completely uncommon for someone to manage to form a cult on a mortal plane. Mortals were motivated and stupid, a combination that worked incredibly well to generate energy. There was a reason Renewal and Decras even bothered with tending to their respective followings on the mortal realms.

But Noah wasn’t trying to become a god. At least, Renewal was fairly certain he wasn’t. She didn’t watch every second of his life — more like something around ninety percent of it.

“You don’t think—” Renewal started.

“Of course not,” Decras said with a shake of his head. “He’s barely even registered it, Renewal. He wants to try to fix the demon girl’s runes and stop the other thief. That’s it. He’s not trying to harness divinity yet.”

“Yet?” Renewal arched an eyebrow. “I’d say he’s got quite a way before he can even consider trying to form a Divine Rune — and if he relies on the faith of others to form it, he won’t get very far. I’m not concerned about him reaching godhood anytime too soon. I’m more wondering if he’ll succeed with the demon runes.”

Decras shook his head. “They’re failed experiments. No matter how hard he tries, that’s what they are. There’s no fixing them. Demons can never form a Divine Rune. They’re little more than animals, controlled more and more by their desires the stronger they grow.”

Renewal tossed a piece of chocolate at Decras’ head. He caught it before it could land, only for a second piece to nail him between the eyes.

“You’re talking with a lot of confidence for someone who gave up on the experiment after playing with it for what amounts to a flicker of time. You barely even tried.”

“Perhaps. They were useless to me. When it became clear they could not rule over their own powers, it became pointless to lend them further attention. They are a flawed species without potential to leave the mortal plane.” Decras hesitated for a moment longer than normal. Renewal pulled her gaze away from the screen to look at him and raised an eyebrow. The other god noticed her interest and pursed his lips. “I must admit that Lee has caught my attention. She is… interesting.”

“So you admit you were wrong?” Renewal prodded. “The demons are more than a failed experiment if one of them has your attention. That also means there’s a chance Lee’s runes can be repaired.”

“Don’t try to force a confession from me,” Decras said with an irritable frown. “A single demon does not a species save. She is… unique. Perhaps there is a way to repair her. Perhaps there is a way to repair the demons as a whole. I do not know. I do not care.”

“You say that, but you’ve asked me to swap our view to Lee quite frequently. I think you’re rather invested in her success.”

Decras’ eyes narrowed. “Enough of this. I grow tired of your questioning — and I have seen enough of the demon children goggling in awe. It reminds me too much of my own idiot supporters. Let us see something else.”

“Like what?” Renewal asked. “I was rather enjoying it. Noah should be due to meet up with Moxie again quite soon. They haven’t had any time together recently. I’m looking forward to that.”Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“You are a pervert.”

Renewal jerked upright in her chair and choked on her own saliva, coughing into a fist. Once she gathered herself, she glared at Decras. “That was not what I was implying. I just enjoy watching mortals interact. They’re so full of passion and — oh, nevermind.”

Decras smirked at her. “No, please. Continue. You enjoy watching passion? Do the other gods know of your side hobbies?”

“Don’t act as if you even talk to any gods other than me,” Renewal muttered as she sank back into her chair. “You’ve alienated every single god and goddess in the area with your vile nature. Just tell me what you wanted to see.”

“The other thief,” Decras said. His brow tightened and his knuckles lightened as his hand gripped the armrest on his chair. “He did not strike me as a fool, but he has plans in the Damned Plains. I want to know what he seeks… and how likely it is that he succeeds.”

“Why do you care?” Renewal asked, tilting her head to the side.

“Because I want to know if he’ll come into conflict with Noah again,” Decras said.

“Aha! Now you can’t even deny that you care,” Renewal said triumphantly. To her surprise, Decras didn’t deny the accusation. He just looked at her out of the corners of his eyes.

“I do. What do you think will happen if Noah gets his hand on the Master Rune the other thief has — or worse, if the opposite happens?”

Renewal grimaced. She didn’t say another word. She just turned to the screen and waved her hand. Noah and his growing group of followers vanished, replaced by a glistening wave of gold.

***

Wizen leaned heavily against his staff and blew out a slow sigh. “I suppose this will have to do.”

“It’s certainly a fixer-upper,” Barb agreed from beside him. She checked the necklace around her neck with her good hand, then nodded. “It doesn’t look like any of the others had any difficulty.”

“I would hope they didn’t,” Wizen said with a dry laugh. “We haven’t even started. If any of us were having problems after preparing for this long, I would be poorly prepared indeed. These first steps are just laying the ground. It will be some time before our influence extends to the City of Gold.”

Barb nodded. The ground squelched beneath her feet and she grimaced. She wiped her hand off on her apron, leaving a streak of blood across its already-stained surface. “Can we clean this place up a bit? If we’re going to be living out of it for the next few months, I’d prefer to make it a bit more homely. Maybe a nice little welcome mat at the door. A hand-carved sign.”

“Do what you want,” Wizen said with a wave. “You have your toys. I have mine.”

He turned. The blood splattered across the floor in the cave at their feet squelched again as he walked across the room, passing by the heaps of dead demons strewn across it. A single one remained alive.

His once glistening silver armor was cracked and shattered. A large, weeping gash ran across the center of his chest and one of his eyes had been put out. The demon was at the cusp of death.

Wizen’s lips curled up. He’d already forgotten the threats the demon had given him when he and Barb had walked into his “throne” room. Having a throne in a mansion hardly felt like a throne. It was just a fancy chair.

“Are you prepared to answer my question now?” Wizen asked.

“Just kill me,” the demon wheezed. “Skolas will kill you when you come for him.”

“Skolas. That’s the king of this walking city?” Wizen asked, tilting his head to the side. “A Rank 6? 7?”

“Rank 7.” A flicker of smug anger, the final victory of a dying man knowing that his killer would not be long in following him, crossed the demon’s broken features. “You will die an agonizing death for attempting to usurp him.”

A dry laugh slipped from Wizen’s lips. He knelt down and pressed his hand to the demon’s skull, digging his fingers into the top of his red-skinned head. “A Rank 7 demon will not end me, wretch.”

The demon groaned in pain as Wizen rose, lifting him into the air. His one eye met Wizen’s gaze.

“Your race is weak,” Wizen whispered, bringing their faces so close together that he could taste the fear on the dying man’s breath. “You believe you rule emotion. That you can grow stronger through them. You are wrong.”

“Stop rambling and kill me.”

Wizen’s lips pulled apart in a mixture of a snarl and a smile. “You do not rule your emotions. Your emotions rule you. Demons are a race of slaves, shackled by their own minds. I can see that you do not believe me, but I am honest man. Allow me to prove it to you by taking those shackles from you.”

The demon didn’t get a chance to answer. Wizen unleashed his Mind Runes, sending their energy worming out from his fingers and into the demon’s skull. The demon’s back arched as he screamed in pain, his will desperately rising up to fight against the Mind Magic.

Wizen blew his meager resistance to the side like a wildfire tearing through a dry field of wheat. Spikes of energy ripped into the demon’s psyche. They dug into his mind and carved apart mental walls.

Anger rose to meet the mental assault— the last remnants of the demon’s pride. It slammed into his magic. For an instant, their willpower locked each other in place. Both stood still, unable to move.

“Is that all?” Wizen whispered. “The extent of the anger you are so proud of? Are you not a demon of wrath? Of pride? And this is all you can muster?”

For a moment, the fury intensified. The final push of a dying man. It pressed Wizen’s magic back by the faintest amount. The demon’s lips curled in smug amusement as Wizen gave way and his eye refocused to stare down the old man.

The demon froze.

Wizen met the demon’s gaze and smiled.

“Forgive me. I was having a little fun at your expense,” Wizen said.

Then he released the full strength of his runes. The demon’s final defense evaporated in less than a flicker of an instant, buried completely under an immense wave of force. All the anger that he was so proud of disappeared in a flash, and all that remained in his mind was Wizen’s immense presence.

The demon screamed, thrashing in an attempt to free himself from the old mage’s hand, but it was impossible. No matter how hard he struggled, Wizen’s grasp didn’t so much as budge.

“Do you see now?” Wizen asked. “All those emotions you’re so proud of are nothing in the face of absolute fear. You are nothing.”

Wizen let go. The demon fell to the ground, landing on his knees and slumping back. The whites of his eyes were exposed as he looked up in abject terror. He no longer held his own chains. He couldn’t so much as mutter a word without Wizen’s permission.

Demons. Bah. When you give yourself so utterly to one emotion, you expose yourself to all the others. So powerful — and yet, so weak. So easy to control.

“Answer my question,” Wizen said. “Do you understand now?”

“Yes,” the demon whispered.

“I am pleased to have been your teacher.” Wizen smiled and leaned closer, his eyes going dark. “Now — tell me of Sievan. Tell me of the demon that is rumored to have passed through the afterlife and returned.”