Chapter 36 - Titan

He woke up to the sound of Rivia reverently muttering prayers. The priestess was kneeling beside him with her ‘Pestilence’ miracle book and finishing up the final hours she needed to devote to the Dark Origin. Her stomach rumbled, having not eaten over two days of fasting, and furs were wrapped around her naked body to keep her warm.

He yawned, stretched and dragged himself over to the window slats. Hearing the sounds of the others chopping wood and laughing outside, he opened the window up. Two inches of glistening white snow had covered the ground overnight, and the sky was still adding more on with little snowflakes continuously drifting downwards all across the village. The cloudy sky overhead had intermittent rays of light streaking downwards towards land, and the gray blanket above him stretched out as far as he could see. He was surprised the weather had changed so fast, but was kind of glad to see a winter wonderland. It had been a while.

Jason and Borthome were the ones chopping wood, adding it to another fire that Atharost was tending to with his magic. Napoleon was being chased around by Nommen as Estella and her two daughters, Elise and Amaia, were preparing a stew. Various ingredients including herbs, meat, salt and water were being thrown into a large pot hung over the flames.

Abruptly to his right where she knelt on the floor, Rivia began to gasp. Trey’s eyebrows raised as dark mana surged through her, encompassing her figure entirely for a brief moment. It ended as quickly as it happened, with a spark of black and green energy leaving her and dissipating into the air.

“Your minion Rivia has learned the miracle ‘Pestilence.’ Please check its status page for more information.”

She had dropped the book, with her hands on the floor, and was sweating profusely. Her breathing was labored and staggered, but she was slowly regaining her composure.

“Congratulations.” Trey muttered with a small smile, appreciating that his minions were indeed growing in strength and ability. “Maybe you’ll be a little more useful from now on.”

Rivia nodded slowly, keeping her eyes on the floor and picking up the small brown book of miracles to clutch it to her. Then she pulled out her other tiny black book, Alkir’s First Writ. “I have been studying the scriptures of Alkir during my time with you. Do you remember the ritual I spoke to you about back in Oblivion?”

Usually she wasn’t this talkative, but whenever she was - it was because she was speaking of her faith. Alkir in particular was a rather hot topic for the priestess. Even though Rivia hated Trey, if he spent the time to talk to her about her religious ideals - it without fail made her outwardly enthusiastic and happy.

“Yeah. Didn’t you say it was the ritual where you’d sacrifice someone to Alkir for permanent stat points?” He crossed his arms and watched her in amazement as a brilliant smile replaced her normally downcast features.

“Yes!” she exclaimed excitedly. “I think I finally understand where I went wrong! I was going to wait to tell you until after I acquired the Pestilence miracle, but now that it’s done… I was hoping we could try undertaking the ritual sometime? If I complete it correctly, I would acquire it as a new skill and would be able to improve it. I could use it to make all of us stronger, and I would grow closer to Alkir while doing it!”

Trey snorted. He’d need to find someone to sacrifice first. “You do realize that I’m not going to go around sacrificing people for the sake of… well, whatever this is. Right?”

Rivia nodded vigorously, getting up from the ground to join him at the window. She opened up the black book, flipped a couple pages and began scrolling over the words so he could see for himself. “We wouldn’t need any innocents! It could be anyone that you were going to kill! Such as the cultists we fought, if we’d just taken one of them or even a couple of them and held them as captives so that we could sacrifice them to the dark goddess… even that would be acceptable!”

Trey blankly stared at the stunning yet sadistic-as-fuck demoness. Her excited features began to falter as he continued to stare at her without saying anything, thinking he wasn’t interested in attempting the ritual she was trying to learn...

“Jesus you’re fucked up.” Trey eventually said with a shake of his head. “But yes, we can eventually try it out. But only with people who deserve to die, understand?”

“REALLY?!” Her falling features took a sharp rise and her smile illuminated the room again. “Thank you, master! You will not regret this!”

“Your minion Rivia has improved its opinion of you from ‘Resentful’ to ‘Wary’. Your minion still suffers a 15% experience decrease due to it remaining in the negative category.”

God damn. That was all it took for an opinion boost?

“No problem. Now put on some clothes and go get some food, you haven’t eaten in forever.”

The demoness was quick to oblige him. She donned her black silk robes and was out of there in a flash, stomach still growling even as she walked out the door.

Trey’d been neglecting his unused points for too long. The same could be said for his minions. He’d had ample opportunity to apply the unused points but had been adapting to his new life and it hadn’t taken priority. Now though, as he put off going outside into the cold snow, he figured it was as good a time as any to do it.

He pulled up the familiar teal screen of his status page and then selected his minion’s status pages as well. Napoleon was the only one who didn’t have any points to assign after his recent death and his screen was therefore promptly closed.

He didn’t want to spend too much time on this so he went fast. Trey had 1 skill point available for himself, which he put into his Chaos Ball spell. He used it frequently and it did a shit ton of damage, if he could get it to level 10 soon for an upgrade it may help even more. The 5 unused stat points he had were put directly into intelligence.

He also had 1 open control slot for another potential minion, and he was intending to use it soon… That being said, he STILL hadn’t used the ‘Least Summoning Circle’ ability he had. He didn’t even know what to expect and had a vague idea of what would happen when he did apply the innate knowledge he’d received. Linking with one of the outer realms for the possibility of finding another creature to minionize seemed simple enough, but he’d have to do it away from Vork in case it wasn’t something he could control. He didn’t want people to die for his stupid mistakes, and had already learned his lesson after he’d been smashed the first time while trying to summon demons from Talsh’Noc’Un’s soulstone storage.

Moving on he saw that Rivia still had 5 remaining stat points. After having spoken with her about how the Faith stat gave her a divinity point for every 2 Faith stat points, he assigned 4 of the stat points to Faith and subsequently saw her DP maximum rise from 15 to 17. Then he applied the last stat point to Vitality, increasing her maximum HP from 102 to 104.

Atharost was next. He had 2 skill points available to spend and 10 unused stat points. Trey wasn’t sure why the ifrit still had these points as he’d told Atharost that he could apply them himself, but shrugging it off as likely laziness Trey placed 2 of the skill points into Firebolt. He’d have applied them to the Fire Wall spell for an upgrade at level 10, but he’d only seen the ifrit use this spell once and he’d seen Atharost use firebolt about a billion times by now. He’d get more use out of the points going into the Firebolt spell. Of the stat points, he placed all 10 of them straight into Vitality to increase the ifrit’s HP by 20.

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Name: Trey Bon

HP 220/220

MP 134/134

SP 120/120

DP 1/1

Race: Human

Guild: None

Class: Infernal Summoner

Level 8

Status Alerts:

Remaining Skill Points: 0 Remaining Stat Points: 0 Current Permanence cycle: ON Current Bound Point: Mehre Forest Runestone

*The rest of Trey's status page is in the spoiler*

Buffs:

+3% resistance to all damage (Resilience) +10% resistance to all damage (Dreadlord Vorshok’s Bane) Autoregeneration (Dreadlord Vorshok’s Bane) +15% damage to offensive spells (Aspect of the Devil: Death’s Gaze) Night Vision (Aspect of the Devil: Death’s Gaze) +100% to sight, hearing, smell, reflexes and awareness (Predator) +33% to awareness (Aspect of the Devil: Horns)

Debuffs:

+8% damage taken from all Celestial and Holy abilities (Aversion to Divine)

Stat Amplifications:

20 Strength

10 Vitality

10 Endurance

9 Dexterity

16 Speed

29 Intelligence

17 Wisdom

0 Faith

0 Luck

20 Willpower

Magics

Chaos Ball (Chaos) - Level 8

Summon a ball of chaos to fling at your enemies

Chains of Chaos (Chaos) - Level 5

Summon chaos chains to bind or impale your enemies

Shadowstep (Dark) - Level 2

Teleport a short distance instantly

Roar of the Banshee (Dark) - Level 1

Silences enemies for a short time, inhibiting them from casting spells or miracles

Summoner’s Calling: Least Summoning Circle (Dark) - Level N/A

The most basic of summoning circles with a low intensity magic signature that usually (but not always) attracts the weaker denizens of the infernal realms. This broad spectrum spell enables you to communicate with the infernal realms of Hell, Oblivion, and the Void, but offers no protection whatsoever from the creatures you summon. You are able to increase the chance for a random target to appear by using double the mana and circling the center pentagram.

Summoner’s Calling: Minion’s Call (Dark) - Level N/A

Summons a specific minion you already own, or dismisses them to your personal nether realm. Dismissing a demon to their nether realm will heal it over time and allow it to revitalize. However, keep in mind it takes 30 seconds to channel this ability. You may only summon or dismiss 1 minion at a time.

Miracles

None

Physical Combat

Aspect of the Devil: Claws - Level 3

Aspect of the Devil: Mask (Chaos) - Level 3

Grants bite attacks and manaless ability to breathe short range hellfire

Blades - Level 3

Aspect of the Devil: Tail - Level 2

Hand to Hand Combat - Level 2

Polearms - Level 1

Light Armor - Level 1

Assassination - Level 3

Miscellaneous

Sneak - Level 2

Identification - Level 3

Traits:

Vatosis Inferna - *TRAIT IS LOCKED AND UNAVAILABLE.*

Earthborn - You are earthborn and experience ‘ON’ and ‘OFF’ permanence cycles. You also gain a 20% increase to any type of XP acquired when compared to your fellow NPCs, and your mana regeneration rate is increased by 30%.

Languages Learned - Ancient Demon

Void Essence - You have been chosen as a suitable host. You are now able to access black magics, skill trees, abilities, and spells unavailable to most other black magic users.

Resilience - +100 HP, +3% resistance to all damage. Mental fortitude increased.

Dreadlord Voshok’s Bane (Heroic) - +10% resistance to all damage. Autoregenerate 1% HP per minute. Autoregenerate lost body parts over time.

Predator - Participant has acquired a symbiote. Predator is a separate entity that will become bound to participant. Predator symbiote gives +100% to sight, hearing, smell, reflexes and awareness. Predator symbiote is currently in the chrysalis stage, when it matures this symbiote will be able to possess and acquire the body of a demon-class enemy - giving you a new minion. When this possession has finished, the Predator symbiote's bonuses will remain but the symbiote entity itself will no longer be bound to the master's body. Also allows participant to use the ability Consume.

*Consume - Beings that you have killed yourself may be consumed. Doing so gives you a chance to acquire Strength stat points and is largely dependent on the foe’s danger rating. Consume will also rapidly restore HP, MP, and SP.

Aversion to Divine - Participant is associated with the infernal arts. +8% damage taken by all Celestial and Holy abilities.

Physical Attributes:

Shadowform - Allows participant’s body to express shadow properties. Allows Participant to focus and bind acquired items into Shadowform, absorbing them into the participant’s body fitting a maximum weight of 500kg. May summon bound items anywhere within a 5 yard radius of participant. May unbind items when needed. If bound item is outside of a 1000 yard radius from participant, bound item automatically returns to Shadowform.

Stored Items:

Basic traveler’s outfit Cultist’s Hooded Battle Robe (Light Armor)

Aspect of the Devil: Death’s Gaze - Permanent no cost upon use Night Vision enchantments afflict your eyes, which are tinged a glowing red. This also empowers all of your damaging magics by 15% damage.

Aspect of the Devil: Claws - Summon and discard demon claws at will. Separate from hand to hand combat. Can cause bleeding, a damage over time effect.

Aspect of the Devil: Mask

Summon and discard demon Jaws at will. Allows participant to use predator’s Consume ability much more rapidly and participant is now able to use Consume during battle. Allows participant to breath Hellfire (Chaos), a medium range area of effect spell that costs no mana. Can cause burns.

Aspect of the Devil: Tail

Allows piercing and slashing attacks. Damage equivalent to Aspect of the Devil: Claws. May extend up to 25 additional feet. (Non-retractable prior to original 5 foot length)

Aspect of the Devil: Horns

These horns pick up vibrations in the air and in the ground to sense incoming attacks, +33% to awareness. (Non-retractable)

Magical Attributes:

Chaos

Dark

Skill Trees Unlocked:

Aspect of the Devil Summoner’s Calling

Control Limit Slots: 4 of 5 used.

Trey’s Minions:

Napoleon, Oblivion Imp, Level 6 (1 slot)(Admired) Talsh’Noc’Un Greatsword, Living Weapon (1 slot)(Content) Rivia Ahst, Culn, Level 3 (1 slot)(Wary) Atharost, Ifrit, Level 21 (1 slot)(Very Friendly)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Simplified Status Page for Napoleon

Name: Napoleon

Race: Oblivion Imp, Lesser Demon

Class: N/A

Level: 5

HP: 94/94

MP: 150/150

SP: 66/66

DP: 1/1

Skills: Firebolt (lvl. 8)(Fire), Sneak (lvl. 4) Fear (lvl. 1)(Curse), Small Blades (lvl. 1)

Traits: Fragile, Intelligent, Trey Bon’s Minion

Magical Attributes: Curse, Fire

Opinion of you: Admired

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Simplified Status Page for Rivia Ahst

Name: Rivia Ahst

Race: Culn, Lesser Demon

Class: Priestess

Level: 3

HP: 104/104

MP: 100/100

SP: 100/100

DP: 17/17

Skills: Rejuvenation (lvl. 4)(Dark Miracle), Immortal’s Infernal Blessing (lvl. 2) (Alkir’s

Miracle), Pestilence (lvl. 1)(Dark Miracle), Small Blades (lvl. 1),

Assassination (lvl. 1)

Traits: Curious, Faith Driven, Trey Bon’s Minion

Magical Attributes: Dark

Opinion of you: Wary

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Simplified Status Page for Atharost

Name: Atharost

Race: Ifrit, Greater Demon

Class: N/A

Level: 23

HP: 298/298

MP: 402/402

SP: 100/100

DP: 1/1

Skills: Firebolt (lvl. 26^^) (Fire), Fireblast (lvl. 20^^) (Fire), Wall of Flames (lvl. 8)(Fire)

Firestorm (lvl. 2) (Tier 2 Fire), Demon Tail (lvl. 11^), Hand to Hand Combat (lvl. 7)

Traits: Flying, Life of Phoenix, Fireform, Trey Bon’s Minion

Magical Attributes: Fire

Opinion of you: Very Friendly

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A quick knock at Trey’s door brought him back to his senses. He closed the status screens, called out that he was changing, and put on his clothes. He was cold even with the clothes on and was eager to get to the bonfire, and as he opened the door he saw Jason standing there waiting for him.

[English] “What’s up man?” Trey asked, closing the door behind him.

Jason glanced behind them and out the main room’s door leading outside. He gave a head bob so that Trey would look, and out there in the snow was a young hooded man that looked to be about 18 years old. He was of an average build and height, and had a thick fur coat with leather leggings. He was standing anxiously waiting for something or someone next to the big ifrit who was looking him over.

[English] “That guy over there wants to talk to you.” Jason remarked, blinking as a piece of dust flew into his eye and trying to get it out. “He’s one of the locals. Says he saw you fighting when the village was attacked and wants some training… He’s willing to pay you.”

Trey’s surprise was evident and he folded his arms while thinking. “Uhm… well I could always train him in hand to hand combat. I’m kinda garbage with a sword… I just started using Talsh’Noc’Un and need training in that myself.”

Now it was Jason’s turn to be surprised. “You haven’t used a sword before now? It looked like you were pretty decent from what I saw.”

Trey shook his head. “Nope. Thanks for the compliment, but I really don’t have much experience at all. I have some improved reflexes thanks to my symbiote Sithis, so that’s probably why I’m not a complete flop wielding that thing.”

‘Your assessment is correct.’ Sithis said, materializing the infernal mask and jaws for that brief moment before they disappeared again to leave Trey’s human features behind.

A chill went down Jason’s spine. “Damn dude, that’s creepy. Sithis lives in your head then?”

Trey chuckled, shrugging as he did and tightening his cultist battle robe with a strap on the waist to keep the warmth in after materializing it from shadowform. “Pretty much. Sithis is a part of me now, we talk every day. He’s been pretty quiet lately but that’s because he’s rummaging through my memories to better understand my past life. It takes a lot of effort and time, or at least that’s what he claims. Oh! Question: What do you think about all this Jason? I’m curious.”

“All this?” repeated Jason.

“Being stuck in a virtual reality, or a game world, or whatever the fuck this place is.” Trey motioned around them. “It all seems way too real, and I’m seriously wondering if I’m going insane or if all of this is actually happening. What about the message about the nuclear apocalypse we got? Was that real too? What the actual fuck man?”

He sighed, letting Jason ponder the words.

“I don’t really know.” Jason eventually said, trying to wrap his head around it all. “My life back on Earth wasn’t the best. I’m enjoying it here, and I choose to believe that these people are all real until proven otherwise. As for the apocalypse… Well, it was going to happen eventually.”

The two men laughed and Trey patted Jason on the back.

“Alright. Well let’s go see this new guy. What’s his name? Maybe I can teach him a thing or two about martial arts. Otherwise he’ll have to go learn from someone who knows what the fuck they’re doing!”

Jason laughed again and nodded, leading the way and exiting the cabin with Trey close behind. “His name is Vertz. Go easy on him, he’s just a farmer after all.”

***

[Human Dialect] “Again.” said Trey as Vertz landed on his backside and in the snow from the strike to his torso. Estela and Amaia winced, while Jason, Elise, Borthome and Atharost all laughed hardily. Vertz had insisted on sparring throughout the day with few breaks inbetween. He’d paid Trey 5 copper for the first week’s training and was now on day 3, having permission from his father to continue having lessons that their family would pay for on a weekly basis.

It wasn’t a lot. 5 copper was the equivalent of 5 U.S. dollars in this world, but Trey knew the villagers here were poor. Even poorer than usual, thanks to the cultist attack and tax from the guild who’d saved Vork.

They had a freshly killed deer cooking over the campfire and makeshift plates were strewn about their clearing. The sky had continually been dreary for the past two days and snow had fallen on and off during that entire time.

[Human Dialect] “Vertz, are you sure you’re ok to continue? I’m worried your parents will become angry with me if you get hurt!” Estela called out worriedly. Carrots were passed to her by Elise who was already chomping away.

“I’m fine! I can barely feel it!” yelled Vertz as he charged Trey to tackle him.

Trey stepped into the charge with one hand striking Vertz’ shoulder and the other to Vertz’ inside elbow - effectively stopping the charge and blocking the right hook. Simultaneously Trey grabbed on and threw a knee into Vertz’ stomach, knocking the wind out of him. Before the shorter man could react, Trey reached under his arm to come around and position himself for a choke hold. When Vertz looked like he could struggle no further, he released the hold and the teenager took a knee to recover.

[English Dialect] “Try replicating the sequence of moves I showed you earlier,” stated Trey as he walked to the other side of where Vertz stood. Jason did a quick translation with Vertz nodding his understanding. This time Trey was the one who attacked, but Vertz failed to block and was knocked back in the tackle.

Borthome choked on a carrot with a loud guffaw, thinking it hilarious to watch his neighbor’s son get pummeled like this. Meanwhile, Vertz just looked embarrassed.

[Human Dialect] “Don’t worry about it man. You’ll get it down. Let’s take a break for now and start up in a little while.” Jason repeated for Trey as Trey helped Vertz to his feet.

Trey then went over to sit next to Amaia who had not taken her eyes off of him for quite some time, ignoring the shady looks cast his way by Rivia while she sat on a log and studied scripture from Alkir’s First Writ. He couldn’t tell if Rivia disapproved because she hated Trey and didn’t want to see him happy, or if Rivia was worried about competing with the other girl.

[Human Dialect] “Shut up Borthome, you old hog.” said Vertz defensively. Borthome only laughed at the younger man harder.

“You did well for your first couple days!” said Estela, hugging the young man with a motherly smile as he sat. She’d known him and his family a long time now and was overly babying him to his chagrin. “Don’t let my ancient husband get to you.”

“ANCIENT?!” declared Borthome loudly. “I’m still in my prime, woman!”

Jason sat looking at the bag of ingredients he’d collected in the forest for his potion making, and he’d been working at it all day. The stump he’d been using as a seat was positioned next to another larger stump cut higher that they all used as a table, with the woodpile nearby being a source for other seats that Elise’s family used around the fire.

13 potions already lay along the wood in front of Jason, and every couple minutes he would take time to clear away the falling snow so that he didn’t have build-up . He’d traded various animal hides that he’d collected while hunting and herbs he’d found for vials earlier, and Elandry had given some extra vials out of his own generosity. Jason had also acquired a mortar and pestle - which he used to mash up two brown roots and the abdomen of a rather fat brown beetle. After crushing it all up, he followed with adding cow’s milk and dried leaves collected from a certain bush. He poured the concoction into a vial, put a cork in the top and shook it vigorously until a milky brown substance swirled evenly around on the inside.

[English Dialect] “Looks like my dinner from last night after I shit it out.” stated Trey, straight faced. “You’re not actually gona drink that are you?”

“That’s what it’s for. It’s supposed to make your body feel weightless, makes you run faster. Apparently.” replied Jason eyeing the strange liquid. “But… I think I failed at it again. I haven’t been able to get it right yet. The others have turned out well though - This red potion on the table is a minor healing potion. The blue one is a minor mana potion. The green is a minor stamina potion.”

“Have you actually tried any of them to see if they work?” inquired Trey doubtfully. “They look awfully suspicious to me.”

“Bro, I’m going to be a master alchemist. Leave my artistry alone douchebag.”

“Very well, alchemist Jason, I’ll try not to question your grand designs any further. My most deep and humble apologies, kind sir.”

“You are forgiven peasant.”

“Why would you call me a pheasant?”

“I called you a peasant, not a pheasant.”

“Is it because you’re fat and want pheasant?”

“I am not fat, stop objectifying me with your male gaze Trey.”

“You are too fat. I have seen 6 fat people in this village and you are 4 of them.”

“Lies.”

“One day I’m going to write a book about how dogs are better pets than women.”

“I’m not really sure where that came from, but do tell me how it goes.”

“I surely will, dear Jason.”

Pause.

“Hey Jason, what’s the name of this place again?”

“The town? Vork.”

“Not the town you buffoon, I’m talking about the country.”

“I believe Elise told me it was the Kingdom of Yosemar.”

“Thank you, pheasant.”

“Surely.”

“Well tis time for I, Trey, the greatest there ever twas, to go on and learn this game’s

‘Human’ speak. Toodles.” And with that, Trey pulled Amaia to her feet by the hands and led her away into the forest to point at various things as he went, questioning her as to what they were called. He was slowly learning the language bit by bit, and had been proud of himself for the progress he’d made.

He could actually understand pieces of sentences laced together, though Amaia often playfully laughed at his efforts. He hoped that she didn’t have any serious plans about the two of them whenever he flirted back with her, feeling a little guilty when he did reciprocate. She was definitely sexy though. Jason had done well himself with Amaia’s sister, Elise. At the very least he would have to learn the language fully and get to know Amaia better.

Only time would tell how things went in that aspect.

The two of them continued their trek through the forest and he quickly learned the words for “mushroom, squirrel, bird, animal, sky, leaf, plant, tree, bush, deer, and snow.” The last word was learned as a small snowflake hit Trey square in the forehead. He looked up and held out his hand before a couple more snowflakes touched down on his skin, melting away into droplets of water due to the heat of his body.

He smiled, and his posture relaxed. It had been a relatively short time that he’d stayed in Oblivion, but the experience had taken a serious toll on his mental health. It had been dry, bleak, and barren… but here it was completely the opposite. Life flourished here, and just being able to stand in that one moment gave him great joy. The sound-absorbing white fluff all around them gave Trey peace of mind, tranquility even. But it was still very, very cold.

Amaia stood next to him, staring at him with a gleam in her eye, and slowly leaned against a tree while wrapping the fur coat around her more tightly.

Trey breathed in the cool forest air in a state of complete contentment, letting out a long satisfied exhale. [Human Dialect] “Let’s go back, Amaia. It’s getting cold, I want to warm up.”

Amaia looked surprised after his lengthy sentence, then nodded once in acknowledgment. “Ok. Let’s go.”

She briefly reached her hand out to touch Trey’s, but withdrew before he noticed the action. She needed to become braver, she thought. But now was not the time. She was sure she’d have more time to spend with this strange man in the future, and there was no reason to rush things. She smiled at the thought, elated at finally having someone in the village that she wanted to romantically pursue, and began to skip forward - motioning for Trey to follow.

***

The blizzard pounded hard against the cabin, the wind howled so fiercely that Elise couldn’t even talk to Jason without screaming at the top of her lungs. Shutters on the windows rippled and repeatedly slammed against their bindings, and the temperature was quickly dropping. It was the fiercest storm she’d ever experienced before, and it honestly scared her. Usually snowfalls here were mild… this was unlike anything she’d ever even heard of. She’d thrown a canvas over the front entrance where snow was billowing in through the cracks of the door, but it was still getting in as the raging weather continued, and her hands were shaking even with thick gloves on.

[Ancient Demon Dialect] “Do they wish me to light a fire for them? The smoke can pass easily enough if I place it by a window… and I am able to generate heat from my own body.” Atharost asked Napoleon while watching in amusement as the humans did their best to keep the inside of the cabin warm. “You speak their language, imp. Ask them if they’d want help… if something catches fire I am usually able to absorb it back into my body as long as the quantity is small or it is my own mana.”

[Ancient Demon Dialect] “Yes yes I will say say and see if they want help.” Napoleon nodded to the large ifrit and scampered over to Borthome, passing along the message and motioning for Atharost to maintain a very small fire near the front of the room. Quickly coming over to sit next to Atharost, a majority of the family huddled in together with blankets and jackets. Then they were pleasantly bathed with an orange glow when Atharost’s body began to cinder with little flickers of light appearing then disappearing all along the demon, and giving off good amounts of needed heat.

Elise shuddered and pulled in closer to Jason, looking up at her blonde savior and grinning from ear to ear.

A few feet away the front door swung open, letting in a cold burst of air. She saw Amaia and Trey finally make it inside and gave a wave - just as the canvas was thrown open. Then it drifted to a shut position again as the door closed.

[English Dialect] “Whew! That got bad real fast!” Trey exclaimed, shaking the snow from his turquoise battle-robes and helping Amaia clean herself off as well.

Elise’s little sister didn’t take much time in drawing Trey away though. Closing the wooden door to Trey’s room behind them as well, they quickly disappeared from sight. Amaia was certainly having a good time, and Elise was curious as to how far she’d pushed her luck with Jason’s new friend.

According to Jason, Trey had been recognized by the All Spirit as an infernal summoner. Elise had guessed as much because of the multiple demons he had with him, but even then still found it hard to believe. Summoners of any type were rare, and Trey didn’t seem to fit the bill for what Infernal Summoners usually acted like. From what she’d heard, they were almost all entirely evil and hated by society for it. The stigma was a prominent one. They were a lot like warlocks, practicing in the black magics but also able to summon many, many creatures to their bidding instead of the standard 1 that warlocks got. She knew that summoners usually suffered in terms of their offensive abilities too, unlike warlocks which excelled in killing things themselves. Summoners usually stayed guarded in the back while their minions did work in the front lines, but Trey didn’t seem to match that bill either and she’d seen him effectively engage in close combat when the cultists had attacked.

Was he being wise or foolish for doing so? Elise didn’t know enough about fighting, magic, or the summoner classes to tell. Her father was a ‘Hunter’ class that he’d taken up as a boy, Elise herself was also a ‘Hunter’ class, and her mother had the class of ‘Clothesmaker,’ so those were the only ones she had any real knowledge about.

She looked at Jason’s handsome features while he cradled her against the storm. She beamed, and hugged the man even more tightly. Were they a couple now? Elise assumed yes, though she wasn’t sure as she hadn’t actually talked to him about it yet. She would definitely like to be, and hoped he felt the same way. She would have to confront him about it later, and if he needed persuading… that could definitely be arranged. She became very aroused at the thought and giggled. She was definitely the alpha in this situation, and had taken the lead in most scenarios. She didn’t mind and even kind of liked it that way. Jason didn’t seem to be a pushover, but he was very respectful of her personal space and maybe even a little TOO considerate. She wanted to make a move on him now, but had promised herself that she would try to wait a while until any intercourse happened. She wanted him to value her, and had heard stories of other girls giving up their virginity only to have the man take off to find another woman after having it.

Her heart suddenly pounded. Jason wouldn’t do that to her would he? He was so different from anyone else she had ever met. She again glanced at him, and he caught her in the act to smile almost reassuringly down at her. Their eyes locked for a long period of time, staring into each other before another brazen gust of the storm ripped open their front door and the canvas again.

“Shit!”

Jason hurried over to secure the door with a slam and got absolutely bombarded by snow as he did so. He flung off what he could and shook his head like a dog, brushing off his clothes in the process. He made his way back to sit over next to Elise on the dirt floor beside the living heat lamp Trey had acquired, and then motioned to her that he wanted to lay down. Instead, she pulled him up to lead him into her parent’s room. If Amaia was having her own bit of fun, why shouldn’t she? Elise was unable to thoroughly communicate due to the roaring blizzard and knew her parents would be kept next to the ifrit for as long as possible. They wouldn’t bother her, and shutting the door behind them she motioned for him to get under the blankets of her parent’s bed.

Jason hesitated a bit after realizing what she wanted and where it was, but after some prodding and tickling he eventually gave in and laid down. She soon curled up next to him after they took off their shoes, letting him hug her to his chest.

Jason’s own body heat comforted the woman next to him further, and she gracefully placed a hand on his abdomen to run it up his shirt and onto his chest. She scooted closer, and as he watched - she licked a drop of water that had accumulated there on his neck after a snowflake had melted. She went from licking to sucking. It felt good, and soon she had left a marker claiming him in the way of a large, circular, red spot.

She smirked. Jason flipped her onto her back with a gentle push of her shoulder, and climbed on top of her. His breathing rate had increased and he caressed her thighs, trailing up her side and to her left breast. Elise blushed brightly, almost matching the color of her hair, but didn’t make a move to stop him... and he gave her a look as if to ask her if it was ok. She merely smiled again and drew him down into another passionate kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist.

The door of the room flew open again and Elise let the kiss end as she looked over to where they’d just shut it. To her surprise, it had actually been opened up by none other than her younger brother Nommen. The child seemed hesitant to interrupt the lovers, but shook it off and tried yelling something over the storm. Elise and Jason glanced at one another, not really understanding what he was trying to say because the wind had picked up so violently just then but eventually got up to follow him when Nommen motioned for them to come with him.

They ran out the door and into the main room where the rest of the family were staring out the windows, utterly speechless. Even Trey and Amaia were there, as were all three of Trey’s minions. Atharost had his mouth hung open in shock. So Jason pushed to the front to see why in the hell they were all gaping in disbelief and letting in this absurdly cold wind just to look outside.

Jason tried to yell over the wind berating them, but it was so loud that no one could hear. Then as Trey pointed out the window and into the sky, Jason followed their gazes to finally find what they were all looking at. His mouth dropped in absolute shock, and he took a single step back.

There, high up in the sky and intermixed with the clouds was a creature that dwarfed anything Jason had thought possible. It looked alien, being many miles in length and width but he couldn’t see the entire body due the clouds obstructing it. Pieces of its long gray tail bobbed in and out of the clouds far behind its main body. It looked like a living, breathing space ship and could have dwarfed a small city. Writhing blue and white mana rippled across its body in currents that produced torrents of snow, further obscuring parts of the creature. Flippers by the dozens each the size of a castle were out to either side of the creature... But its head… that Jason could see clearly. It loomed over the land with the jaws of a turtle and three enormous eyes on either side. It was gray just like the rest of its huge body, and as they watched - it uttered out a moan that caused the very land beneath them to tremble. But not a moment after it had caused the earth to quake, in a flash of blue and white light, it had disappeared.

Later that day, according to Borthome’s family, Trey and Jason had just gotten their first look at a Titan.