“I…I don’t know…I don’t really want to be involved in the succession.” Delphie hesitates and looks around for help. For her part, Sophie twirls a strand of her violet hair which refuses to straighten itself. “Sophie, are you also participating?”

“Heh, I suppose. Eli is not a bad choice for Overlord. I trust him over my brother, anyways. That useless scum would ruin the Underworld in a year. As for the other races…obviously I have no interest in seeing any of them stand on the throne. Of course, I only speak for my half of the family. So, my support cannot be openly declared. If you were to stand with Eli, until others move, you’d stand alone.” The daughter of assassins sounds decidedly grouchy as she watches the prince play with her fish. “Do what you want though, just because I’m throwing in my lot with this idiot doesn’t mean you should too.”

“I…I see.” Delphie thinks for a while. “This is a lot to take in. You do realize that I don’t actually have any allies in my family at the moment, right? My brother liaises with most of our contacts. So, I’m afraid I wouldn’t be of much help.”

“That’s not a problem. What matters is that you are a daughter of the main line. The word liaises is the perfect word to describe the way your brother deals with his business contacts. The man has slept with half of their daughters, and is still trying to get with the others. If you were to make a claim to the family leadership, you’d be far more popular.” Sophie remarks dryly. Eli nods his head, taking his hand out of the water and shaking it off.

“Exactly, you’d be perfect. Of course, I won’t ask you to declare anything now. But soon, the Tarragon Family will make their decision public and at that point, I’ll be counting on your support. I can do that, right, Delphie? Surely you don’t want to see Yun as the Nephilim candidate.”

“N-No…definitely not him…ugh, this is all very sudden.” Delphie shrinks into herself, but can’t escape the prince’s half-human stare. “I…I’ll think on it.”

“That’s all I ask.”

#

We sit in the darkness for a while. Over in the corner, Eli and Delphie catch up. It seems like they were childhood friends. Which leaves me with Sophie, but the jealous Nephilim is too busy throwing barely hidden looks at the other two to pay any attention to me. When the Exiled Prince touches Delphie’s cheek with a hand, I hear a slight crunching noise. Sophie tosses her teacup into the sink. There’s a fresh new crack in the jade.

“So…what’s up?” Ever the conversationalist, I make an effort to try to get our host’s mind onto something besides strangling her guest. If she decides to kick Delphie out to avoid those two interacting, that wouldn’t be good. However, if the daughter of assassins notices me, she doesn’t say anything.

“Hello?”

“What!” The annoyed Nephilim practically shouts and the other two even glance her way. Breathing heavily, she reaches under the counter and grabs a shaker of some plant-based granules which she begins pouring into the koi pond. The fish eagerly rise up to gulp down the nutrients. “You need something? More tea?”

“N-No. Sorry. Just thought you have some cool place. Like these fish. They don’t have ones like this on the surface.” My small talk only causes her to give me a look which says, “I know exactly what you’re up to.”

However, she answers anyways, so I suppose I’m successful.

“They’re called Nethergulpers. Can you guess why?” Her grumpiness fades away a little as she begins to put her mind to other things. I follow her pale fingers to the surface of the water. The little fish with their white skin and multi-colored eyes greedily open their mouths and a little vortex forms in the water as the granules of feed are sucked inside. “I feel they’re quite similar to us, Nephilim. So, I like to keep them around to remind me of people’s true nature.”

“Hungry?”

“That. And greedy. I think you know it as well, Surface Boy. People are never satisfied. No matter how much you do for them.” Sophie’s voice sounds rather lonely in that moment and she quickly averts her eyes. I catch them shining suspiciously in the darkness. As if to distract, she vigorously drops more food into the pond. The fish gobble it all up no matter how much she puts. “Take…take…take until there’s nothing left. Bloodsucking little…leeches…”

“Heh, I know the feeling.” The girl seems startled to see I’m still here when I reply. Something about my expression must convince her of my sincerity because she softens.

“Sorry…I know Delphie is a big girl, and she can make her own decisions. But sometimes I think she’s not ready yet. You know I always tried to help her keep away from these kinds of things. She’s a pure soul. The kind of girl to take in a random stranger and help them heal. Leading the family…I think it’d go about as well for her as it did for her mother.”

“What happened to her?”

“Nothing…and everything. I don’t know, to be honest. No one does, she disappeared a few years ago. Delphie’s father couldn’t handle it. He went looking for her by the World Tree. Never came back.” Sophie sighs. “I could smack him for leaving her all alone, but I suppose if I ever got a man, I’d want him to never give up on me too. Too bad he wasn’t dependable enough to find her. Delphie doesn’t talk about it much, but I know she hopes they’re still alive, somewhere.”

Oh crap.

Those skeletons I found back then.

What are the odds that’s them?

Should I say something?

“…”

“Something wrong?” The daughter of assassins rapidly picks up on my hesitation now that her attention is focused on me. “Spit it out.”

“Nothing. Nothing at all.” However, thinking it over, I don’t think it would help anyone to say anything right now. I need to find out exactly what Delphie’s thoughts are on this subject before revealing anything sensitive. Especially with the Fallen still after us. She can’t be distracted right now.

“Huh, if you say so. Listen, I want some fresh air. You mind feeding the other Nethergulpers for me?” She motions at the other koi ponds on the sides of the long room.

“Sure.” I take the shaker from Sophie and she strides off. As her footsteps fade away, I check on Delphie and Eli, but they’re still talking. I see her laugh, and throw back her head at something he says and notice him watching me. Turning my gaze to the fish, I decide that these ones have had enough and make my way to a different one. There are small statues hidden behind black obsidian waterspouts. Staring through the turbulent water, I try to make out what they are. One of them keeps popping up more than the others. A woman with orb-like moons floating over her back. Concentric circles of stone hold up her orbiting celestial bodies and I notice that two violet gemstones line her eyes.

“The Forgotten Empress. Do you know of her?” Eli’s voice appears over my shoulder silently and I jump a bit. These Nephilim really are natural assassins. Jesus! “Did I scare you? That wasn’t my intention.” Turning my head over my shoulder, I see that Delphie has left the room. I’m alone with the Exiled Prince. “Delphie told me something interesting just now.”

“Huh?” I grunt as I spill some fish food into the pond. The gemstone eyes of the Forgotten Empress seem to twinkle knowingly as the Nethergulpers swarm onto the fresh food. “What’s that?”

“That you wanted to return the surface. I probably should have guessed. My mother always longed to see the light again, I should have known you’d be the same.” Eli says and I shrug.

“Yea, it’s true. This isn’t my home. But the gates don’t go out so it’s whatever…not like I have anything to return to anyway. Haven’t you ever wondered what it was like up there?” Thinking over what the System God did to me makes my eyes stings a little and I have to work to rein in my emotions before my right eye begins to glow again. Even still, the Exiled Prince seems to stare into my face a little longer than is really necessary.

“Heh, all the time. It is my dearest wish to see my mother’s homeland. But the System doesn’t make it easy. That being said…have you ever heard the phrase, ‘the System always leaves a way out’?” His statement makes my eyebrows rise.

“Yea. I have as a matter of fact. I take it there’s more to the story than there seems?” Suddenly, I’m very interested in what he has to say. With a start, I realize I’ve dumped way too much fish food in the pond. The Nethergulpers are swelling up, their bellies engorged with feed. Hastily, I close the cap of the shaker, but it’s already too late. You can’t put what’s spilt back inside. The Exiled Prince puts a hand over mine. He leans in, making my acutely uncomfortable. Uhh bro? Little too close!

However, what he says next makes up for his lack of decorum-

“What if I told you that there is another way out of the Underworld? A gate that isn’t recorded on any of the official records? Would you be interested in such a thing?” The Nephilim’s voice becomes persuasive and I instinctively swallow. My throat is paper dry. Why do I want to go back so badly, anyway? Is there anything even waiting up there?