I lift my head before I say, expelling the tension in the air, “They’re two of the people closest and most important to me. Please treat them well Razor.”

She nods her central orb as several of her blades point towards us. She says with her amiable personality showing through her vicious appearance, “Of course Jack. I’d like for you all to feel at home.”

Petra and Joan jitter in fear and shock as we pace down the slope towards the corundum at the center of Aether and Razor’s discussion. Whenever we reach them, three slimes roll behind us as Razor says,

“For my honored guests, my slimes offer a break from the stone for a more soothing rest.”

Petra and Joan stare at me with pure incomprehension flooding from their gestures. The dim light offers an angle that accentuates the wrinkles of worry that appear on their faces, so I say,

“Thank you Razor. We'll gladly accept.”

I walk between Joan and Petra before I press on their shoulders with a gentle tug while saying, “It’s alright. These are two of the gentlest beings I’ve ever known. Power is only dangerous if it lacks direction, and both of these creatures understand themselves and this world. Be at ease.”

They sit down without resisting my will out of, what I'm guessing, is utter terror. I continue admitting, “I’ll choose to stand. I weigh around 600, maybe 800 pounds now. I believe that may strain the slime beneath me.”

Razor nods before she says, “Would you share their names?”

I grin before I say, “This is Petra. She is this world’s finest gemchainer. She has seen true horror and lived through it. She speaks with a refreshing bluntness that's laced with truth.”

My grin lessens as I stare at Joan’s shaking frame. I say, “And this is Joan. She knows of many truths in this world as she studies often and with a keen, disciplined mind. She moves with a fluid grace as she dances through her motions as each step steals my attention. She is the air I breath. She allows me to live a life free of my old darkness.”

A soothing warmth radiates from my voice as I murmur, “They mean as much to me as the angels of my parents above grant me. I would be devastated if they abandoned me, though I couldn't blame them.”

Razor replies as she taps the side of her central orb with a shining claw, “They sound incredible. To evoke such emotion by the mere utterance of their name...I would love to hear of their stories, if they would be willing to tell them.”

I let go of them both as I stand behind them. Joan stands up with a slow, smooth motion as if she were underwater.

She says, “You’ve been the demon...this entire time?”

I bite my lip before I say, “Unfortunately, yes. I am what you call, 'The demon.'”

She taps the sides of her legs before she energizes every receptor of guilt from my mind as her words crack, “Why...why did you take Gaia’s spirit?”

I frown while grimacing for a moment at her words before I say, “Gaia’s spirit spreads the energy and deformation that forces our society to gemchain. If I can gather the remnants of Gaia, I will be able to prevent future tragedies from occurring to not only us, but to the souls we use to defend ourselves with as well.”

Petra snaps, “So why did you kill all of the people above us? Why did they have to die?”

I frown before I say with resolve pouring from my words, “They represented an organization the size of a nation. They recruited resources that required the assistance of Bigel. You pointed out how they incorporated numerous high quality gemchainers who were a part of some of Bigel's most famous schools.”

I place my hand across my chest as I say with outrage and ire at the deeds of the organization, “They mentioned how several professors were a part of their organization including Helfeston.”

I bite my lip for a moment before I say, “He tried to murder me in my sleep, and I killed him whenever I defended myself. That was the true reason I ended up fighting the tarantula slime...It was to hide his body. But even without these reasons, I shall never forgive anyone who destroys the lives and souls of others.”

I lift my hand from my chest before I clench it into a fist as I say, “I shall stand for those with broken legs and broken bodies. Just as you protect the world from the deformed abominations that snap at our heels, I act as a bulwark for the helpless souls of all creatures. It isn’t fate nor destiny. It is a decision I made myself. A decision I carved into my bones and mixed with my blood.”

Petra’s expression freezes midway through my speech for a moment before she stares at me with a slow and precise turn of her head, She gazes with a different glare then before. There exists no anger or outrage in her glance. An emotion more primal, an emotion at the center of all things bubbles to the surface of her eyes. She fear shakes her voice as she rasps,

“And you killed them all by yourself...You tore them all to pieces....All those gemchainers...”

I soften my eyes before I reach my arm out to her saying, “Petra, this doesn’t mean I will hurt you or Joan. There’s no reason to be afraid of me. I would never hurt either of you with any intent for true harm.”

With my enhanced hearing, the sound of her beating heart increases the speed of its pulse. Her eyes dilate as she says, “You didn’t just kill them all...you convinced us of that you weren’t the demon.”

While raising my eyebrows together, I plead with open arms, ”I had to, otherwise you both would never have known me-”

Her eyes dart around as she snaps, “That time...Your face...That wasn’t a dream. You killed the villagers of Tahnar, you murdered Helfeston, you slaughtered the people above, and all while convincing us that you were some naive musical prodigy and a brute.”

She takes a step back before I whisper with my words stinging my throat, “There are reasons for what I do. Please...just listen-”

I take a step towards her before she steps back saying, “You’re a freak...an abomination.”

Her words slice into my mind, but I ignore the torrent of anger at the insult as I say, “The people of Tahnar tried killing me. Helfeston tried to steal my soul. The people above assaulted me whenever I tried reasoning with them. I begged them to stop stealing human souls. They replied by trying to steal my own.”

I point my hand at Joan as I say with steel falling into my voice from my feelings of outrage, “They tried murdering her best friend not once, but twice. They would have succeeded on both counts if not for my intervention. I will not sit and watch while my friends and my life are assaulted.”

She heaves for breath before she says, “I don’t see any wounds or a single scar from all the lies you just spit.”

I unsheath a portion of my sword before I gash my forearm with a cut three inches deep. Pain assails me, but I never divert my gaze from hers until I raise my forearm. The flesh and skin regrows as I say, “This is why you see no wounds nor scars.”

Petra grates her words as she hisses, “All I know is that they are all dead while you're alive. You could be lying, but their deaths are absolutely true. I’m no fool, and my gut’s telling me to run.”

She grabs Joan who glares up at her with hollow eyes. Petra snaps at her, “We must leave here. Now.”

I squint my eyes before I say with a corrosive tone, “Do my words mean nothing? Does all that we have done together mean nothing?”

Petra yanks Joan onto her feet before she hisses, “I found out that my cousin’s boyfriend and my best disciple is the demon that not only awoke the golem of the end, but he stole a shard of Gaia and befriended a queen slime as well. He almost tore my face off with a thousands insect limbs.”

She snaps, “You’re not like other nightmares. At least they show their evil. You hide it behind the mask of a kind, gentle man with fists like rocks.”

I say with a surprising harshness, “I’ve seen true demons of chaos and black. If you believe me a demon, then you’ve never faced a true evil.”

Hysteria leaks into Petra's voice as she says, “I saw the insect arms crawl from your mouth that day. I saw whatever the fuck is in you. I won’t allow you to taint Joan with whatever it is that’s tainted you.”

Petra drags Joan from the room before I lower my gaze while my fists release all tension. Petra’s words bludgeon me until my mind lays bloody and beaten, yet before I fall into dismay, Joan says as she pulls against Petra’s grip,

“I don’t believe that Jack would do this. There has to be some reason. Something. Anything.”

She shakes herself from Petra’s grasp before she flares her words with passion and pain and fire, “Petra, I’ve seen him when he plays. No demon could make music with such humanity. No demon would save my friend...No demon could be so sweet and loving.”

With her words, I no longer fear. I no longer dread. The engulfing terror of being left alone leaves me. Our ties faced a devastating crisis, yet under the weight of surprise and shock, Joan loves me still.

The feeling is hard to describe. No burden left me. No pain vanquished. No, instead a sense of serenity spreads from the back of my mind. She is my peace, and I find myself lost in her warmth.

Petra glares back at Joan’s eyes as she speaks without any hesitation. She commands. She meshes her words with might.

“He destroyed a portion of our god. He’s murdered entire towns. What the fuck is wrong with you Joan?”

Joan swaps her gaze between the both of us before she grabs the sides of her head shouting, “This just...I can’t just walk away without saying anything. I don’t want to leave Jack. He can’t be evil. I won’t accept it. I can’t.”

Petra stares at me as the dark, morbid wrath of her killing intent crashes against my skin. She roars at me, “You will not take what little family I have left!”

Her words stab into my chest before the sound of ripping iron enters my ears. I close my eyes as I find myself rendered helpless. My words transform into pointless air. They will never alter Petra’s decision. She sees me as not only the monster that aims to kill her god, but as the force that tries to rip her family apart.

Their's a portion of the accusation that writhes under my skin like worms crawling through a corpse however. She is right. I understand the sanctity of a family. I understand the fear of losing those closest to you...I would never wish that upon anyone. Not even my worst of enemies let alone my closest friends. I would only crush a family to pieces.

I sigh before I say the words to liberate Joan from her indecision, “Go to your family Joan. I am no longer human, and we...we can no longer be together.”

Joan closes her eyes before a set of golden claws slams into the stone around us with the force of thunder. The impact ends Petra's gemchain before Razor says,

“I wanted to allow you to work out your differences, but I will not allow you to hurt one another in my presence.”

Two orbs with twelve foot blades of shining yellow float in front of Petra before they crisscross against one another creating a shower of sparks. These lights generate red, glowing flashes that burn through the air. Razor eliminates all thoughts of fighting against her oppressive command with the piercing, malicious force of her words,

“Unless you wish to fight me that is.”

Petra and Joan shiver at her declaration while electricity crawls up my own spine from the death she hisses. Petra snaps at me with a mania infecting her voice, “I see monsters like to take sides with their own then.”

Razor roars with the primal force of her voice echoing in the cavern, “You are the only monster I see here. Jack is trying to explain himself, yet all you’ve done is lash out in fear and anger.”

She slams a claw into the ground shattering stone before she snarls, “You’re nothing more than a scared child running away from his sincerity.”

Razor’s act of defiance ends all questions for both Joan and Petra. They rush from the room with the feverish passion of those wishing for survival. My breath catches in my throat as they leave...One portion of my life ends while another begins. The shameful sorrow of the event nearly brings me to my knees...nearly.

I pound my fist against my chest before I bite my lip drawing the taste of blood and copper into my mouth. The familiar taste and pain stops my mind from dancing around in circles of sadness. I crush my will against my emotion. I am no longer a small minded and fragile boy.

I am a force of nature. I am the pain of fire. I am a monster, and no longer shall I wallow in grief. This is no end. Just as they left my life in an instant, they may reappear with the same suddenness as their departure.

As I collect myself, a deep silence falls on us. Despite all my efforts, despite enduring the burdens of lies and the scathing acid of poverty, the place I forged alone crumbled. Aether tears this palpable tension as he says,

“I am sorry Jack...I am the reason they found us here...I caused this turmoil...”

I lean downwards before I say with a voice tearing through the suppression of the atmosphere, “It is my thoughtlessness that has ruined this part of my life, no action of yours...Every Time I find a place I wish to stay, I rip it apart with my own hands.”

I clench my fists with enough force to shatter stone as I say, “If that is so, then I shall simply rebuild the relationships I lost using those same tools.”

I turn towards Razor as I say, “Thank you for your words. It means a lot that you stood up for me.”

Razor crosses two large claws underneath her before she rests her central orb on her claws. She leans towards me as she says, “I simply spoke the truth. They are the ones that refused to listen.”

I nod as I turn towards Aether saying, “We need to get Sophia off of campus.”

Aether stands as he says, “Would you mind elaborating?”

I cringe at my thoughts before I say, “She is the only other person on campus who can see souls. I also saved her twice, so after Petra tells the authorities about her involvement with me, I doubt they will leave her alone.”

I bend my knees before I kick off the earth flinging my body through the air until I grab one of Aether’s jutting spires of black. After jerking my body against the spine, I say my words with an urgency born from the situation,

“Let’s save her Aether.”

He nods before he turns towards Razor saying, “Would you mind harboring a friend of mine for a while? I believe she would be safest with you.”

Razor says her words with a sincerity, “I’m pleased you put so much faith in me. I will honor that trust, though I expect some compensation for the security at some point in the future.”

He and I nod before Aether leaps from the expanse onto the rocky slope to the soul processing mine. He dashes through the rocky tube before we run into a group of gemchainers who stand around a wide eyed Petra and a down trodden Joan.

Aether leaps over the chainers with his chest leading his jump before he slams onto the expanse of stone on the opposite side of troops. The characteristic detonation of sound from Aether’s movements renders our onlookers stunned.

Their jaws gape in utter awe at the spectacle before Aether pummels through the walls between the stone expanses of the rooms. Even the newest of gemchainers understood who Aether was, and his presence leaves all who see him silent.

The spectacle never slows my storming mind however. Bolts of thought rage as I ponder through each of the scenarios that present themselves. I may need to hide Antoinette and Luke as well. Sending a letter to Geralt about the issue may incite a heinous amount of hate in him, but at least the knowledge will enable him to act as necessary to prevent his own downfall.

Sophia offers me a valuable resource for preventing any of the soul forgers or gemchainers from assaulting our position as well. With her intricate knowledge, Razor and I will find a guide for designing defensive fortifications, and Aether already proves a valuable bluff for preventing any immediate assaults on our position.

Before I finish my thoughts, we breach the warehouse with several chainers stumbling from the impact. We crash through the wooden entrance knocking two guards aside allowing Aether to speed up since he no longer needs to worry for the lives of those in front of him.

He slides through the forest at a blistering sprint surpassing the pace of before. The speed of sound passes my ears as a sonic boom emits from the torrential pace of Aether’s steps. His feet and legs no longer produce shapes. The limbs blur while the fury of his stomping reveals his own thoughts. He wants to protect Sophia as well.

Within two minutes, we pass fifteen miles of forest before he dashes through the academy with reckless abandon. Without a need to hide ourselves, we cross the expanse of earth with a fiery pace before we arrive at The Hearth to the shock of the students.

Even with the tremendous alacrity of our steps, the students identify who the golem is, and once we stop moving at The Hearth’s entrance, I leap from his shoulders creating my own quake on the earth. I dash through the entrance sliding through its corridors towards a curt set of directions by Deluge.

Deluge directs my pursuit before I reach into Sophia’s room where she stands glancing over several soul forging charts with her finger tapping the edge of her chin. I say with grim urgency,

“Sophia, we have to leave!”

She leaps from her trance before she glances around at the scattered papers across the ground and on her desk. She leaps towards them scrambling as she gathers them together with a frantic panic guiding her actions. She says after she lifts several papers,

“Um, I don’t normally keep my room like this. This is just because I was working on why my experiment failed last time, and I couldn’t figure out why, so I-”

I place a hand on her shoulder silencing her before I say, “I’m sorry for how sudden this is, but we don’t have time for pleasantries. We must leave now, and it doesn’t bother me that your room is messy. It’s your space, so do with it as you please.”

She blinks several times before she squints her eyes as she says, “You’re serious?”

I gaze to my side as I say, “I...I don’t want to risk losing the people close to me.”

Sophia reddens until she appears like a tomato before she rasps, “Uh...I...Uhm.”

I look down at her for a moment as I lower my hand. I say, “Sophia, are you alright?”

She glances around for a moment before she covers her face with her hands. She says with embarrassment pouring from her voice, “I’m sorry. You're telling me all this so suddenly. I don’t know what to say or do. It’s crazy.”

I nod before I say while injecting fear into my words, “You could die. We could both die.”

The sudden declaration ends her paralyzing blush before I say, “I will carry all that lays in this room to Aether. You and he will dash towards a friend of mine named Razor. She appears like a demon, but she shelters a gentle spirit in her appearance. She is the opposite of me in that regard.”

Sophia glances around before she says masking her confusion with concern, “Why do I have to leave?”

I raise one hand in front of me before I say, “I found the secret society that tried killing you twice. I tried to apprehend them, but they attacked me whenever I tried getting them to stop, so I decimated their encampment killing them all. They have tried killing me as well, so it had to be done.”

I lift another hand in front me as I say, “Petra and Joan know that I'm the demon on campus. They aren’t reacting well, so I believe that my involvement with you will leave you in danger. Therefore, I am taking you somewhere safe so that you won’t have to worry for your life. Please trust me on this.”

She presses a hand against her mouth before she says, “Uhm...ok...Are we leaving for that journey then, Jack?”

I bite the side of my lip before I say, “I didn’t mean for this to happen...I’m sorry. I wouldn’t have forced this on you, but I just didn’t know what to think or how else to make you safe or-”

She says, “It’s ok. I don’t have much to leave here anyways.”

She looks down as she murmurs, “It would be fun to see the world with you.”

Her declaration rends the guilt of my thoughts allowing me to say, “Thank you. I was worried you would despise me for my lack of tact in this situation. I’m glad to see that you understand, and quickly too, like lightning.”

She grins before she says, “That’s only if you can carry all my stuff there in one piece though.”

I crack my fingers before I roll my shoulders as I say, “Consider it done, m’lady.” I grab her hand before I say, “We have to go now though. I need to get Luke and Antoinnette as well. I doubt they will escape smoothly without my interference.”

She lowers her gaze as I pull her with a slight tug. We pace down the steps before a pair of students walks in front of the hallway. The stalky and older of the two says, “Why the hell is the golem of the-”

I roar with an explosion of sound blaring from my throat, “Move. Now.”

The flimsier student falls backwards before the other jumps from our path. Sophia whispers, “Was that really necessary?”

I shrug as I say, “It was the fastest way to avoid the situation that I could think of. Otherwise, they would clog us down with unnecessary detail. Each moment matters right now.”

We pace outside were Aether sits with stone spires jutting from his sitting spot. He glances towards us beaming his delight with his words, “It is good to see you once more Sophia. I hope you are doing well.”

She smiles before she nods while saying, “Of course, and I am glad to see you are as well.”

brimming my words with an apologetic tone, I say, “Excuse me for a moment, Sophia.”

I grab behind her knees and her back before lifting her from the ground like swinging a shovel into the earth. She screams for a moment before she laughs as I hand her to Aether.

I say, “Wait for a moment. We need to gather some supplies from her room.”

I sprint towards her cozy home where I lift her sheets from her bed. After laying the fabric on the ground, I toss a plethora of different objects on it while making sure to set down the bottles of ink and other delicate commodities with a gentle motion at the center of the bundle to ensure they won't break. I grab the edges of the sheet tying them together, and after reinforcing the fabric with several more layers of sheets, I grab the blob by a knot I tie at its top.

All the books, parchment, gems, pens, and other miscellaneous items fit inside this pouch causing a struggle when I squeeze through the hallways. My strength allows me to conquer the task however, so I hand the contents to Aether in less than a minute after starting. He holds the ball within his enormous left hand before I sprint back off to the room where I clamp my arms onto the bed frame.

After meandering the bed outside, we all stand with a group of gawking on lookers.The most obnoxious aspect of my stay here at Mareovosa has been the constant shocked expressions of those who saw me doing almost anything. Whenever I leave, I will hide my strength from other people. The gasps provided a crisp amusement at first, but now they just fill me with dread. I hate it. At least not once I escape this place.

Regardless of my defiance, I still carry the bed to Aether as I grunt, “That should do it.”

He carries the bed under his arm as I turn towards Sophia saying, “I will meet up with you later with several of my other friends. Try not to freak out over Razor. She is kind. You can trust her, or at least you can trust Aether.”

She nods ignoring my feat of strength before she raises an eyebrow saying, “Will you be alright? You seem really...stressed.”

I grin as I say sounding my words with a confidence spawned from countless experiences bathed in turmoil, “This isn’t something I can afford to handle lightly. I’ve seen what chaos can take from those who ignore the signs around them. I refuse to fall into such a trap again.”

I clamp my fist in front of me continuing, “You can trust that I will resolve this issue.”

I turn sprinting away as she says, “Stay safe. Try not to hurt anyone!”

My hair bristles across my skin. I doubt keeping those around me safe will prove this simple. I doubt the others will want to leave.