Page 71

A time unknown, but one of unhappy departures

With his toes pointing downwards and his realm keeping him afloat and weightless – not that it mattered – Weldir folded his arms as he watched the viewing disc.

Night had long descended upon the world, and the crescent moon above offered minimal light for Lindiwe to see.

Light gusts of wind rustled the trees and shrubs nearby, and their sounds were something he committed to memory for later – to insert into his own realm.

The Veil’s forest lay just behind her, while the waterfall Lindiwe had spent many days at was just before her.

Between her and that cascade of frothing water was an impertinent half-Demon, who was grinning amicably at Weldir’s mate.

Jabez , as he preferred to be called, had his hands behind his back with his shoulders loose and lacking tension, but his pointed ears were perked upright to listen carefully.

His short white hair stuck up around his head haphazardly, messy from traversing through the forest but lacking any tangles, as if it was cleaned recently.

His clothing was the same, a cream tunic and well-fitted black breeches, and he wore his cloak.

Jabez’s red eyes drifted over Lindiwe’s form, darting side to side, before slowly coming back. His right eyebrow twitched slightly as it raised, and his grin fell as the long wait revealed the absence of Weldir.

“I thought he was going to speak with me himself,” Jabez commented, his head tipping to the side. “This wasn’t what I expected. Why are you here alone?”

Lindiwe folded her arms and grumbled, “He said he doesn’t want to talk to you directly, unless I’m not here.”

“Then wouldn’t it have been better that way?

” Jabez asked, and Weldir immediately noted the way her brows pinched in puzzlement.

Jabez then raised a hand and shrugged. “Don’t get me wrong, I like you, Lindiwe, but this is more of a business conversation.

Much hangs in the balance, and that goes beyond you and I. ”

Such a cold answer, one that Weldir somewhat expected.

“What is it you seek from me?” Weldir asked, mediating the possibility of them having an in-depth conversation around this.

Lindiwe was likely to argue with Jabez just as much as Weldir, and he wanted to get this over with. He already lacked the desire to be here or even have this conversation.

Her arms tightened. “He asks what you want from him.”

“I would prefer that you state it in the way I did,” Weldir commanded, firmer than he intended.

Lindiwe flinched and lowered her head. “My apologies. He said, ‘What is it you seek from me?’”

Jabez’s red eyes trailed down her, likely noting the change in her body language, before darting them back to her face. Jabez probably thought she was being soft and submissive, but Weldir knew better.

She was biting back her anger in order to not bite at Weldir.

“I would like to relieve you of your torment,” Jabez answered, so confidently, so brazenly, that Weldir thought him foolish.

“One must be tormented in order to be relieved of it,” he stated, which she repeated word for word.

White brows furrowing, the halfling was obviously perplexed. “Are you not trapped in your realm?”

Weldir saw no point in lying, nor hiding the truth.

“Trapped is one way to put it. Yes, I am forced to remain within my realm; however, it’s not only for everyone else’s safety, but my own.

My soul should not leave it, as it has no true body to house it.

If it were to escape, I would be unable to control how far it spread, and the flames would consume every living thing in their path. I am a danger to all.”

“Is that how you killed the other deities?”

Weldir snapped his fangs with a quiet growl, which only she heard. Once more, she flinched, but in surprise.

I should not react. It affects only her.

“How the others died is not my fault, but the product of Demons and their vileness of spirit. When your kind have not fully evolved, there is nothing but darkness containing you. A sickness that eats away at everything it touches if it has nothing to house. That is what destroyed the others. My birthing was merely a catalyst that could have been prevented.”

Jabez rolled his eyes and lifted his right hand, waving it side to side. “Whatever. What if we managed to obtain you a physical form? Then you could do as you want, go wherever you please.”

Weldir couldn’t help scoffing at that. “You have no such abilities.”

He lifted a finger. “True, but that’s from a lack of trying. There must be some way we can give you that, and I’d be willing to dedicate myself to it. There are many hidden libraries within Nyl’theria ready to be unearthed and rediscovered. An answer may be there.”

“And it may not,” Weldir retorted.

“No, but there could be a path to that answer. I have no moral compass to abide by, and I would be willing to shed the blood from my own veins if it meant your release. I would leave no option unturned, no matter how depraved it may seem to others.”

What Jabez offered seemed rather promising.

No matter how many souls Lindiwe found him, or servants they produced to assist her, there was nothing Weldir could personally do to alter his predicament. He was what he was, how he was. He could grow his power indefinitely, but it would never give him a true physical form.

He’d never be able to smell the world, interact with it, or merely touch the satin petals of a flower and know what that felt like. This , what he was doing now, was all he could do.

He was unsure if his mother, the Gilded Maiden, could ever help him achieve a physical change. Or if she ever would.

Yet he was starkly aware that no such gift came without a price.

“What do you want in exchange?” Weldir asked, his tone dull to hide his potential interest even from her.

“Remove your wards from the portals you have over the world,” Jabez stated. “The Demons and I want to use them to move between the two worlds freely.”

Lindiwe told him of the other portals.

Weldir didn’t mind, as it mattered little.

Jabez could go back and forth through any portals for all he cared.

If Weldir were to block the Elven side of this male from passing through, he’d have to stop all Elves.

And, considering communication was all but null, they wouldn’t be able to ask him to lower it.

He could control what kind of spirit was permitted to pass or not.

Then again, Weldir liked the idea of torturing Jabez a little. The other world was in reach, but only for him.

The Elysians also, in their own way, wanted him to be able to return to their city one day.

“Is that all?” Weldir asked, surprised he asked for so little.

It took Weldir a while to notice that Jabez’s legs were wide and that his stance was firm. The youth in his features was hardened by someone who was learning to take up the mantle of command. It was only now that he saw it.

Which meant he was becoming dangerous.

“No,” he declared. “I’ve gathered through different kinds of intelligence that, due to your lack of physical form, you are incapable of touching any world but your own metaphysical one.

If I help you break free of that constraint, you would offer me your assistance in destroying Lezekos.

You’d lower your wards to show good faith, as well as reveal your alliance to us. ”

“So you believe you need the power of a god in order to succeed?”

“Demi-god,” Jabez rudely pointed out, with a sly grin pulling the edges of his mouth upwards. “I don’t need anything, but it would surely make things much faster.”

Floating, his body subtly moved up and down as his mist coiled tighter, only to release, and Weldir let a pause hang over them.

But he already knew the answer.

“I have no desire to destroy the Elysians, nor the humans. Death and slaughter is for those living. I am merely what comes after life has been stolen.”

Jabez’s grin soured, and he tipped his head forward with a dangerous gaze. “You are currently in the way, Weldir. Whether you assist or not, if you continue to keep up your ward, then there will always be a bone of contention between us. We will always war.”

Weldir laughed at that, which made Lindiwe’s blank expression narrow. “You wish to fight an untouchable being?”

“But you’re not untouchable anymore, are you? You’ve given yourself a vulnerability.” Jabez placed his hands behind his back once more and straightened. Then his features turned cold and expressionless. “She even stands right before me.”

Lindiwe’s lips parted as she took half a step back in surprise, as well as defensively, and turned incorporeal to make sure she and their unborn child growing within her were out of harm’s reach. She shook her head, as if she didn’t understand exactly what he’d known all along.

Weldir didn’t even need to retort; the male continued on without care that she was right before him as he spoke mercilessly.

“I like her, I really do. I see no reason why she should need to be dragged into a battle that has nothing to do with her.”

Lindiwe was slow to respond on his behalf, her mouth opening and closing as she fisted her hands. “Weldir said it has nothing to do with him either. He’s doing what is asked of him, that is all.”

With no reward in sight, either.

Weldir didn’t mind. Maybe his lack of physical heart meant he didn’t feel such pestering desires and needs. He wasn’t content with his situation, but he also felt no reason to be discontent.

“This is what has been gifted me, instead of my destruction. A way to live beyond my prism,” Weldir continued. “I aid to repay that kindness.”

Jabez’s face twisted into a mild snarl. “Then don’t join in our fight, but remain out of it. Be truly neutral and remove your wards preventing the Demons from going through the portals.”