“-it”

Herah blinked, suddenly finding herself looking towards a sprawling canopy of green leaves that was rapidly growing closer.

An unfurl of her wings and two quick beats stopped Herah’s descent, the youngling now hovering over the treetops. Spinning about, Herah’s nose, eyes, and ears were forced to quickly adjust to the new environment.

Her body felt lighter, as if her weight was now halved on this new world. The air around her felt cooler, much cooler than Herah was used to.

‘It must be around two hundred ninety degrés here. What a cold planet.’ Herah thought to herself while licking at the air, ‘And the air is so clean. Strange not breathing in fumes and toxic gas like back on Incendié.’

Looking up, a cloudless sky of blue not red hung over Herah, no smoke or fire to be seen.

Herah’s nose twitched as a foreign, fresh, and rainy smell filled it. Said smell came from beneath her, and it was dense as if billions upon billions of different scents were all combining to form it.

A glance down told Herah exactly what it was her nose was smelling.

“By the flame!” Herah put a hand to her mouth while smiling down at the sea of green, “These are actual trees!”

The rustling of leaves and that of other plants moving in the wind were the only things that Herah could hear.

Herah began to lower herself, but the appearances of two black masses around her caused her to pause and look between both as Alex and Max were spat out. The pair widened their eyes for a quick moment before Max saw Herah and reached out towards her. The youngling barely flinched as the human grabbed her by her right leg and jolted to a stop.

Alex just stepped onto the air and stood there.

“Ho-”

“Guess.” Alex cut Herah off, eyes glowing white.

A growl left her in response.

“Oooh,” Herah looked down to Max, feeling as the human ran a hand over her leg, “Your scales feel nice, like rubbing a warm and bumpy gemstone.”

A smile spread across Herah’s face, the youngling swinging her right leg up till her foot hung right over her head. A startled Max came up with the limb, her grip tightening as her head paused just a bit below Herah’s own.

“Flexible and strong too.” Herah noticed Max’s eyes go down then back up before a grin came to the human’s face, “Think you can carry me down beautiful?”

Max punctuated her question with a wink, a light dusting of pink coming to Herah’s cheeks as the youngling’s smile turned into a cheeky grin.

“Sure thing. But first,” Herah reached out to Max’s face and dragged a finger in circles over one of her cheeks. The skin was warm to the touch and smooth if slightly bumpy. Giving the human’s face a light press, Herah felt the strong and sturdy bones underneath, “I like your bones. They’re not as tough as mine, but they’re still stronger than some of the more feral animals of my world.”

“You like her bones?” Alex questioned, sounding mildly amused.

“Oui!” Herah turned to Alex with a frown, while the hand that had been on Max’s face went down to the human’s arm. It ran over and measured the small but tough muscles that sat beneath, “And her muscles are super too! Good enough to get a spear through the stomach of a Four à Chair!”

“Flesh Oven?” Alex questioned, looking back at Herah unimpressed.

Before the youngling could respond, another black mass appeared right next to Alex. It spat out a surprised Owen, the gnome giving all three present a surprised glance before flailing his arms through the air.

“By the gods!”

Owen quickly got control over his arms and thrusted them up and behind himself. A strange-looking cube within a cube, both green and lacking faces, appeared above each hand before spiraling purple runes filled in the empty faces. Green strands of energy shot out from the weird cubes and engulfed Owen in a shroud, causing the gnome to pause midair.

Herah tilted her head to the side while looking down at Owen, her pupils dilating.

‘That kinda reminds me of science.’ Herah thought, sniffing the air and trying to take in the scent of the green energy, ‘It lacks the smell, but has the same feel.’

“Hmm, so you know magic as well.” Alex crouched down while studying Owen with an intrigued look on his face, eyes still white, “A good selection to choose from to boot. You aren’t complete dead weight.”

“Thanks?” Owen responded, the question and frown clearly heard.

Owen then pulled his arms in front of himself, the strange cubes following after his hands as his body stayed in place. Afterward, the gnome spun, putting his body into a sitting position while placing one of the cubes beneath himself like a chair and the other over his hat.

Looking away from Owen and back to Alex, Herah frowned.

“Why did you call what Owen did magic? It looks scientific in origin.”

The other three present gave her weird looks.

“What?”

Alex shook his head, closing his eyes and opening them again to reveal his normal green pupils. The human then put two fingers to his temple and snapped them forward.

“I don’t care to think about your people’s weird naming. I’ll see you idiots at the bottom.”

Alex dropped from the sky and into the canopy below, causing Herah to briefly be enraptured by the sounds of leaves rustling and sticks breaking.

Once the sound of falling stopped, Herah turned to Owen, who looked at her for but a second before averting his eyes.

“Need any help over there?” Herah asked with a light grin.

“Nope,” Owen’s head tilted down, “Falls like this are not a problem for me.”

Owen then dropped down from the sky, leaves rustling and bustling under his descent.

With the gnome gone, Herah looked to Max who looked back with an amused grin.

“What?”

“You like my bones, huh?”

Herah frowned, her face turning a tinge redder as her eyes looked to the side.

“Is that anormale where you come from?”

“Anormale?”

“It means abnormal.”

Max let out a laugh, throwing her head back as her body shook.

“In that case, yeah,” Max let out a few more laughs, “That’s not the average compliment from most people.”

“Why not?” Herah tilted her head to the side, two tiny puffs of smoke shooting from her nose, “It shows a clear sign of your personal aptitude and ability to take care of yourself?”

“Eh,” Max shrugged, “Everyone has their own taste but in general, for women, it’s more about being pretty and cute.”

“Well, you’re pretty too” Herah frowned at Max while giving the compliment, “But I do not really care about that part.”

Max laughed again, her lips stretching into a wild smile while the human put a hand to her chest.

“In that case, I have two questions for you. First, would you mind either bringing us down or holding me in your arms?” Max pointed towards her hand wrapped around Herah’s leg, “I can only maintain this grip for so long.”

“Oui.”

Herah grabbed Max’s raised arm, giving it a light squeeze so that the human knew to let go. Max did, allowing Herah to move the human to the side before lowering her leg and placing an arm right under the crook of Max’s legs. Lifting the legs up, Herah let go of Max’s arm and used the same hand to quickly catch the human by the back.

“Better?” Herah questioned, eyes sharp and curious

“Better.” Max responded, grinning at Herah.

Herah grinned back, raising her legs so as to appear sitting cross-legged in the sky.

“So, what was your second question?” Herah asked, studying Max’s face closely and taking in her scent once more.

‘Still smells like those anormale flowers from earlier, carnations and anemone’s if I remember correctly’

“What is it that you find attractive?”

Herah snapped out of her thoughts and blinked at Max in confusion.

“Why do you ask?”

Max chuckled and continued grinning.

“Well, since you’re the first alien I’ve ever met, I figured I’d learn what makes you tick. And what gets someone all hot and bothered is one of the best places to start I think.”

“Hmm,” Herah tilted her head to the side curiously, “You’re anormale.”

Another laugh left Max.

“Will you answer my question? Or would you rather not?”

Herah blinked at Max again before shrugging.

“Aptitude, integrity, and will. I find those things attractive.”

“Fair,” Max nodded her head, as one of her hands went up to her hair and started to run through it, “So what, gotta check off all boxes in order to fall in your favor?”

“Oui, otherwise I’d be attracted to your brother.” Herah’s face scrunched up in disgust as her head shook, “And, well, you see how we interact.”

Max frowned and mumbled under her breath about Alex making bad impressions before shaking her head and smiling at Herah once more.

“But apparently I fit the bill? Or is that blushing I’ve been seeing from you for something else?”

Herah let out her own laugh, this one marked by reddening cheeks.

“Oui you do.”

Max chuckled.

“I know how you got aptitude,” The human let out a curious hum, “But when have I shown either integrity or will?”

“When you stood up to Norwe earlier, you showed both.”

Herah watched as Max blinked back at her, the human’s brow scrunching up as her lips curled into a frown.

“Hmm, you think that was what I was showing?”

“What would you call standing up to that ash stomper?”

“Ash stomper?” Max paused and tilted her head, “Not sure what that is but sounds like it’s rude.”

Herah blinked for a few seconds and then let out a snort.

“Sorry, I forget that I’m not talking with my parents. An ash stomper is someone who desecrates fallen kin.”

Max tilted her head to the other side and let out a hmm.

“Sounds terrible.”

Herah nodded.

“One of the gravest insults that can be given to one of my kin.”

Max nodded.

“Nice to know.”

“Now back to you,” Herah gave Max a curious stare, “What would you call what you did?”

“Dumb determination, suicidal, desperation.”

Now Herah frowned.

“Because?”

“Because I had no chance of winning that,” Max’s words were marked with a lightly crazed chuckle, “But I still did it anyway.”

Herah scoffed.

“It’s not about if you can or can’t,” Herah’s nostrils flared as green flames jetted from them, “It’s about being able to fight even when the odds are completely against you. And unlike your brother, and….”

Herah closed her eyes and shook her head, that same shame from earlier coming back up to bite her.

“And myself, you didn’t back down even when faced with Norwe’s might.” Herah smirked at the human, her pearly teeth shining, “How could I not admire that?”

Max gave Herah a strange look. Said look then turned into a small smile and a laugh from the human.

“I like you. You’re very direct.”

“I like you too,” Herah responded with her own laugh, “And being direct is something I take pride in.”

Max’s left brow went up as the left side of her lips curled up.

“You talk like someone with nothing to hide.”

Herah grinned back.

“I am.”

“Sadly,” Max placed a hand on her chest and gave a wink to Herah, while speaking in an exaggerated fashion, “I’m nothing but a miserable little pile of secrets.”

Herah frowned at Max, her nose twitching at the human’s scent shifted just a bit.

A scent that spoke of a deeply ingrained belief in what had just been said.

“You actually believe that,” Herah’s words were low and bothered, “Why?”

Max seemed taken aback for a moment, a small laugh and weak smile coming up in defense.

“Didn’t you hear me? I’m a pile of secrets,” Max booped Herah on her nose, her smile widening, “But I’m sure someone as cool as you can learn some of my truths.”

Herah tilted her head to the side, blinking at Max’s word choice, “Cool?”

“Hey Ashbrain! Max!”

Both Herah’s and Max’s heads snapped down towards the thick foliage, Alex’s voice sounding out from beneath them somewhat deafened by all the leaves.

“Hurry up and get your asses down here! We should get a lay of the land while we still can!”

Herah’s nostrils flared as smoke shot from them and her eye twitched in irritation. Max gave her a pat to the shoulders and an apologetic look.

“Sorry about him by the way, I wish I could say he normally isn’t this much of an ass, but this is pretty par for the course.”

Herah shook her head.

“Don’t apologize for him, your brother’s words and decisions are his own. Now, let’s head down.”

With those words, Herah stopped flapping her wings. Clutching firmly onto Max, the pair fell from the sky and into the treeline like rocks. While falling through the moist leaves, fragile twigs, and branches, Herah let out a curious hum at the feeling of everything barely tickling her scales and skin. Looking to Max, Herah found the human looking around with little reaction to what they struck besides narrowing of her eyes.

With a few wing flaps and some maneuvering around the larger branches, Herah and Max soon broke through the bush of the trees and into the open air of the forest floor.

“Wow.” Herah said to herself as her eyes laid themselves upon the tree trunks, grass, and leaf-covered ground. The tree bark was a light, fuzzy red while the forest floor looked like a massive blanket of green, filled with the occasional dark brown hole that were the patches of dirt. Herah’s nose twitched, taking in and distinguishing the soft and subtly distinct aromas of the hundreds upon hundreds of plants and bushes that dotted the ground from the denser and spicy smell of the trees’ bark.

Herah’s eyes and nose then locked onto Alex and Owen, the pair of them looking back up at her and Max. Alex’s lips were thinned and eyes narrowed while Owen smiled and gave them a wave on their way down.

Speaking of down, Herah realized her descent was nearing its end and flipped upright before tightening her grip upon Max.

“Prepare for impact.”

Not a second later, Herah’s feet struck the ground and her knees bent as her full weight came down. The ground rumbled as the force of her body expunged dirt and plants into the air, a noticeable dent now in the earth.

“Dramatic much?” Alex asked, while walking over to the pair and waving his arm through the cloud of brown, “You weigh half a metric ton, you could do to land with a little less noise.”

“Metric ton?” Herah questioned while setting Max down, before shaking her head, “Fuck that, how do you know how much I weigh?”

Alex pointed towards Herah then to the ground.

“The destruction your body did to the ground combined with your speed allows me to gauge your mass. From that, I just have to compare this planet’s gravity to yours and the math is simple from there. All of which can be checked with just a glance.”

Alex pointed at his eyes, both flashing white for but a moment.

“Well you’re just light, only sixty-eight semmargolik, I could fling you a good few sertèmolik with ease if I felt like it.”

Alex blinked twice at Herah before nodding his head while Max and Owen both gave her confused looks.

“You have the metric system,” Alex let out an interested hum, “Guess it makes sense, since it does originate from France.” Alex did a quick tilt of his head, “Or from your world. Though your people seem to have flipped the words over or ours did for whatever reason.”

“What are you talking about?” Herah’s expression scrunched up in confusion as Max gave her a pat to the shoulder.

“We share the same measuring system for mass and distance.” Max answered letting out a small chuckle while leaning upon Herah, “That’s pretty cool.”

“Oh,”Herah shrugged, though her mind fixated on the word cool again as her head tilted up, “Okay then.”

Looking up, Herah saw that the trees reached thousands of feet into the air, creating a roof of green with holes of light punching through to illuminate the ground. The heat of the starlight prickled her scales and skin, the comparative coolness to her own star quickly becoming normal. Smoke jetted from the youngling’s nose as her senses ate up all the alien sensations this new world made her feel, and her mouth opened slightly in awe of it all once again.

“Never seen trees before?” Owen asked, looking up to Herah with a smile.

“A few in person, most in books,” Herah looked back down before crouching and grabbing a fist full of damp, fresh soil, “I’m more amazed at just everything in general. This world seems so….soft.”

“Huh?” Owen and Max questioned together.

“Think of Ashbrain like a fly,” Alex’s waved a hand towards Herah, “She’s used to living in shit.”

Herah’s mouth opened but a swift punch from Max into Alex’s side caused her to let out a snort instead of her prepared scowl.

“She’s gonna be working with us, give her some respect you ass.”

Alex let out a light groan, hunched over, and struggled to take a breath. After a few moments of his ragged intakes, Alex leaned back up and frowned at Max.

“But to answer your questions, Ashbrain’s planet is a lot harsher of an environment than this one.”

Herah frowned at Alex again.

“What the ash are you seeing that allows you to say that?”

Alex rolled his eyes and let out a sigh.

“Since I know you’re gonna keep bothering me about this, I’ll throw you this one bone,” Alex raised a single finger, “And only this one. eE allows me to see you in your current entirety. Everything that makes you you, I can see. Your thoughts, your emotions, current actions, physical condition etcetera. I can see it, and from that I can figure out more things. Like your age, how your powers work, what type of environment you’re from. That is the nature of Insight.”

“Eh-ee?” As the word left her, Herah once again felt the familiar, foreign feelings that came from speaking in the strange language. What made this one special though, was how the word felt detailed, it was specific and seemed to describe itself in its entirety just by being thought of.

“Now stop asking about it. You’ll get no more knowledge on Presence from me.”

Alex started to walk out of the clearing, as Herah continued to frown after him, jets of green flames shooting from her nose.

“Why the fuck are you so tightlipped about this? Why the fuck is everyone so tight-lipped about Presence? My dad won’t give me a straight answer, Jeffery refuses to say shit, and even my mistress tells me I should stay out of it!”

Alex stopped and let out a sigh.

“You’re really not going to leave this alone, are you?”

“No! I’ve seen what it can do!” Herah smacked her hands into her breast, “I’ve felt it coursing through me before! Whatever Presence is, isn’t just something I can just leave alone. Especially now, seeing as I’ve seen it in the hands of Norwe!”

Alex shook his head before turning to face Herah, Owen, and Max.

“Imagine for a moment that there is a line.” Alex pointed to the ground in front of him, and drew an imaginary line. “This line, as all lines do, has two sides to it.”

Alex pointed towards Herah and the rest.

“Your side is what I like to call Heaven. In Heaven, everything isn’t always okay. Everything isn’t always perfect. Everything isn’t cheery or even happy. But in Heaven, there is bliss.”

Alex pointed down to his feet.

“My side is what I like to call Hell. Everything isn’t always bad. Everything isn’t always imperfect. Everything isn’t always sad or even disgruntled. But in Hell, there is no bliss.”

Alex pointed towards where the imaginary line had been drawn.

“That line, it’s the Presence. It promises power, it promises knowledge, it promises control. And to be honest, it doesn’t lie.”

Alex gestured towards Herah.

“You know this better than the other two Ashbrain. When you have Jeffery’s Presence coursing through you, I bet you can just feel the endless possibilities that lay before you. The power that allows you to comprehend infinity and understand you wield something that can’t even be quantified by such a thing or any of its natural extensions. Presence allows you to shed the shackles that are your mortal limitations and step into a realm that is far above the likes of godly.”

Alex tilted his head up, one of his arms rising in turn and reaching out towards the sky.

“Presence lets those of us tied to the ground reach out,” Alex closed his hand, “And touch the stars. To put it simply, it allows us to do the impossible.”

“That sounds great,” Herah looked to Owen, the gnome staring at Alex with a narrowed eyes and stern expression, “Too great in fact. What’s the catch?”

Alex chuckles slightly.

“We mortals were never meant to touch the stars.” Alex clenched his raised fist tighter and brought it down, “And in Hell, sinners are punished. Other mortals like me, beings like Norwe, beings that hate those like Norwe and myself, all await those who wield Presence. And more often than not, they’ll be more experienced than you, smarter than you, and far more deadly. In short, Presence often means an existence that ends terribly.”

Herah found herself staring into Alex’s eyes, a look of understanding clear within them as the human looked back at her.

“To answer your question Ashbrain, they probably didn’t tell you because they wanted to keep you safe.”

Alex turned away from the group and began walking.

“After all, why would you want to drag the ones you love down to Hell with you?”

Herah looked at Alex’s back, absorbing the human’s words and working them over in her head.

‘Huh,’ Herah’s turned to Max, the human frowning after her brother, ‘I can respect and accept that.’

“Such a grim outlook Soothsayer,” Herah’s ears and nose twitched, a new scent suddenly entering her field of awareness, “One might think you don’t particularly like having Presence.”

Turning to her right, Herah found a small furry creature hanging from an unnaturally low branch. About the size of a sack, the creature had a fuzzy tan coat of fur, four long limbs each topped off with three claws, a tiny nose, and brown eyes. Allowing her senses to focus more upon the creature, Herah took in the smell of damp fur and the near-silent rustle of their hairs in the light breeze of the wind.

It looked weak.

It looked like prey.

It looked adorable.

Herah hopped over to the furry creature and wrenched it from its perch upon the tree, giving their body a slight run over while tasting the air near them. The creature’s fur felt lightly wettened and tasted strandy and rough.

“So that’s how fur tastes and feels.” The youngling said to herself, lifting the creature up and over her head while running her eyes up and down its form “Disgusting, but nice.”

“Could you not pick up our Maker like a pet?” Alex asked with an annoyed twitch to his eye. “Even as a sloth, he’s still all-powerful.”

“Could you not be a poltron?” Herah responded giving him her annoyed look.

The human began to open his mouth to respond but a quick pulse of Norwe’s Presence drew everyone’s attention to the creature in Herah’s arms.

“Now now you two,” The creature’s mouth didn’t move at all, as it spoke in Norwe’s voice, “You can squabble later. But for now, you shall take me to what your first act will center around.”

“Which is?”

“You’ll see when we get there artist.”

Herah felt her eye twitch as her nostrils flared and smoke shot from them.

“And you’ll be carrying me.”

“Like ash I will!” Herah responded with a growl.

Norwe the Sloth (mentally dubbed so by Herah) smiled at the youngling before raising a slow hand to poke her in the nose.

“Do you really think you have a choice in the matter?”

“Dam-”

A swift punch from Alex, laid in between her own ribs, caused Herah to let out an annoyed grunt while turning to give the human a glare.

“Don’t be an idiot Ashbrain,” The human growled out, his voice a near whisper, “You don’t have Jeffery here to protect you and I sure as hell am not going out on a limb to save your ass.”

Herah growled in response,

“And why should I listen to you?”

“Because other than Norwe, I’m the strongest one here.”

There was a moment of silence as the pair glared at one another, one measuring and the other having already measured.

“No, no you’re not.”

Herah then tossed the sloth in her arms to Alex before flipping the human off and walking back to stand with Owen and Max.

Alex’s face and scent showed shock, the human’s stunned silence also asking Herah a single silent question.

Herah’s only response was nodding towards Max, the human and the gnome next to her both looking at them confused.

Alex blinked a few times before his eyes narrowed and his head shook.

“Ahahahaha!”

Herah gasped and stumbled, her eyes snapping shut and eardrums bursting as the joyous laughter of Norwe shook the forest. The Maker’s voice was deafening, emerging from all of the surrounding trees, plants, dirt, and even the air in a joyous laughter.

With jets of flames from her ears and a thought, Herah restored her eardrums and disconnected the nerves in her ears. The likes of Alex, Owen, and Max took the sound much better, all three just wincing in mild annoyance at the noise.

“Oh Artist,” Herah flinched as Norwe’s words somehow sounded in her ears, “You are an absolute delight.”

Watching the rest shake their heads, Herah reconnected the nerves in her ears and found the laughter had stopped.

“So Soothsayer,” Norwe’s words held a slight edge to them, testing it seemed, “Shall you deny me as well?”

Alex looked back to Herah then to Norwe, his scent shifting from annoyance to fear as the human shook his head and cradled his Maker in his arms.

“In that case,” Norwe the Sloth raised an arm and pointed ahead of Alex with a single claw, “Take us that way. There, you will find the focus of your act.”

Everyone else shared a look, before Alex let out a defeated sigh and started to move forward. Herah, Owen, and Max followed, an uneasy silence settling over the group as they traversed this new world.

As they walked, Herah spent her time analyzing the local flora. Using her nose, the youngling exhaled with smoke shooting from her nostrils and quickly spreading thin around her. Eight inhales and seven more exhales later, Herah found herself taking in millions upon millions of scents over a three-mile radius and working them through her head to be categorized.

“Uugh!” Herah put her hands to her nose, instinctively disconnecting the nerves there as soon as the thick, sour smell of death tinged with some other indescribable odor reached it.

Alex paused and turned to Herah with a frown while Owen and Max moved to her side with worried looks.

“Herah, what is wrong?” Owen asked, moving his head into her field of vision and waving a hand near her face.

“Uuuh,” Herah shook her head, reconnecting the nerves of her nose while flooding her nostrils with smoke to drown out the repugnant smell, “Smelled some strange type of la carie, seems to be a few areas dense with the stuff. We have a spot of it that seems to be in our path.”

“La carie?” Max questioned, looking to both Herah and Alex.

“Rot.” Alex responded, his nose curling in disgust, “And not the normal kind by the sounds of it.”

“Should we be worried about it bro?”

Alex shrugged and kept walking, the rest following.

“We’ll see, how long till we reach it Ashbrain?”

Herah growled, smoke jetting from her nose again.

“Fuck you and forty-five minutes to an hour.”

“You know,” Norwe the Sloth raised a claw into the air from within Alex’s grasp, “You could also ask me about the rot.”

“What’s up with the rot?” Max asked, moving up to peak over Alex’s shoulder.

“I’ll tell you when we get to it Liar.”

Herah could feel Max’s eye twitch as the human took a breath and let it out.

“Asshole.”

“Max,” Alex looked back to his sister and shook his head, “Don’t.”

“Why ask the question if he’s not gonna answer it!?”

“Because that’s how he gets his kicks.”Alex nodded down towards Norwe, before growling out, “Now leave it alone.”

Max frowned back in response before sticking her tongue out.

“Oh come on Soothsayer,” The sloth Maker put their chin on Alex’s shoulder and gave what Herah assumed to be a smile to him, “You’re far too testy around me.”

“I get the impression Alex is testy in general.” Herah said with a huff of smoke.

“I get the impression that you have the emotional intelligence of a toddler Ashbrain.” Alex responded with a snort.

“My name is Herah! Herah War Hej! Fucking use it!” Herah shouted back, her head exploding in green flames as a snarl snapped onto her face.

“Exhibit A.”

Before Herah could do a thing, Max turned her head with a smile, the youngling’s flame and anger fizzling out just as quickly as they had come.

“Hey Herah,” Max fully turned around and began to walk backwards, swinging her arms in an animated fashion, “You have comics where you come from?”

“Wha- what’s a comic?” Herah blinked at Max a few times, small wisps of smoke escaping from her nose.

“They’re like books, but with mostly images and the occasional text.”

Herah shook her head.

“Never heard of such a form of book.”

“Really?” Max gave Herah a half-grin, while shaking her head, “Remind me to show you some from my collection sometime. The whole head explodey thing you do reminds me of a few I’ve read.”

“Which ones?” Alex looked back to Max, a slight smirk upon his face, ”The Ghost Rider’s?”

“Those, Doctor Strange’s, Judge Dredd’s, Firestorm’s,” Max pauses, “A lot actually.”

“Geek.” Alex responded with an eye roll.

“Otaku.” Max said, sticking out her tongue.

“Slaves!” Norwe shouted, thrusting their arms into the air.

Everyone paused for a moment, all giving the Maker Sloth a befuddled look.

“What?” Norwe tilted his head to the side, his beady eyes blinking innocently, “I thought we were just stating facts.”

“Fuck you!”

Herah’s head flared up in green flames once again while Alex looked away with a grimace, Max frowned towards their Maker, and Owen let out a nervous laugh.

“Oh so mean Artist,” The Sloth Maker put a hand to their chest, feigning a hurt and scared tone, “I hope you do nothing to act upon your cruel words.”

Herah began to step forward.

“I’l-”

Alex waved a free arm in Herah’s direction.

SPLUTCH!

Her vision went black as her head exploded in a spray of gore that splattered the nearby trees and ground. Now headless and unable to hear, see, or smell, Herah completed her step as the same green flames from before burnt her head back into existence. When all of her senses returned, Herah came back to Owen bent over a puddle of vomit and Max holding Alex by his collar with one hand while Norwe was now hanging lazily from Alex’s back. The smell of fear wafted from Owen, while Max smelt of irritation and Alex of both.

“I don’t care if she heals from it jackass! That’s still uncalled for and rude!” Max shouted into Alex’s face.

The brother in turn let out an annoyed huff and rolled his eyes.

“Well I’m tired of her shit. So either you keep her calm with your lesbo smile bullshit or I pop her fucking head.”

Max scowled at Alex in turn, letting out an exaggerated sigh.

“Or, get this, you could do what a normal and well-functioning human being does and talk it out with her.”

“Sis, we are both the furthest things away from normal and well-functioning humans.”

“My point still stands.”

Herah let out a growl before swiping a hand through the flame covering her head. Flexing and closing her fingers, the green fire was drawn into the palm of Herah’s hand as her fist was aimed towards the squabbling siblings.

“Hey Alex.”

The human looked towards her unimpressed.

“What?”

“Fuck you.”

Herah unballed her fist and a blast of fire roared towards the twins and Norwe (who was still hanging on Alex’s back). Herah last saw Alex rolling his eyes before all three were engulfed in flames.

“Herah no!”

Herah found her hand smacked aside as Owen shot up wide-eyed. Though by then the attack was over, leaving a path of green flames though nothing appeared to be burnt or burning.

This included a surprised-looking Max, a somehow even more unamused-looking Alex, and a giggling Norwe.

“Wha-How?” Owen looked towards the three stunned.

“I can control what my fire does and doesn’t burn. I chose to only burn Alex in that attack.” Herah let out a huff and another growl, “Presence is an ash-damned annoyance.”

Alex grinned at Herah, his eyes glowing white. The twin then knocked his sister’s hand off of his shirt, before marching up to Herah while Max hurried after now smelling of worry.

Stopping a breath away from Herah and tilting his head up, Alex maintained his grin.

“Two bits of life advice for you. One, if you’re going to attack someone who wields Presence, then get some yourself. The only thing that can oppose Presence is Presence. Two-”

Alex radiated light, rays of his Presence piercing through Herah and locking her in place as an unnatural fear crept up her spine. The human then placed a hand on Herah’s shoulder and gave it the lightest of squeezes.

CRACK!

The bones within collapsed.

“-I don’t care how much control you think you have. If you ever do something like that again, I will kill you.”

Before Herah could give any response, a flood of Norwe’s Presence flooded the area causing her senses to all shut-off. Incapable of smelling, feeling, seeing, hearing, or tasting anything, Herah knew nothing but the warmth of her flame.

‘At least I have this comfort.’

Then Norwe’s voice reached her ears again.

Somehow.

“In actuality my dear Soothsayer, that would only ensure the demise of you all. You see, there are only two rules that I have for Recompense. No killing of teammates and no attempts to leave. To do either of those, will forfeit your own existence, that of your teammates, your universe’s existence, and theirs as well.”

Like a snap, Herah’s senses returned to her as Norwe pulled their Presence back in. And with the return of her senses, Herah saw Alex and Max perfectly fine, only wide-eyed and smelling scared. Owen, on the other hand, appeared to have been turned to stone and was now in the process of returning to flesh, his mouth agape in shock.

“Now,” Herah’s eyes went to Norwe, the sloth Maker now peaking over Alex shoulder with a wry smile, “As much as I enjoy the bickering, I would like to leave you all to yourselves sooner versus later so-”

Herah found herself and the rest standing in a unique clearing, smoke rising up from her repaired shoulder.

“-I’ll just move us along.”

Said clearing was unique for primarily two reasons. One, alongside its grass, the clearing was covered with glowing white and black flowers, each bunched up into homogeneous groups. Two, within its center a tree unlike the rest stood.

“This looks like a Donneur de Frêne.” Herah mumbled to herself, while looking up to the tree with narrowed eyes, “Wait a second, this is a Donneur de Frêne!”

The tree was smaller than all of the others in the forest, about half their height and width. Beyond that, its overall texture and shape was a departure from the rest as well. With smooth, grey bark the tree was shaped like an upright handbell with a star-shaped crossguard made up of thick branches. All across the trunk, knot-shaped lumps and smaller branches were strewn about with every branch having some amount of ash-grey leaves upon it. The largest amounts of these leaves could be found at the very top of the tree, helping to create the treetops bell-shape while smaller clumps big enough to sit on sat at the ends of the five center branches.

“Ash Giver?” Alex asked, looking up the tree as well, mild interest in his tone, “Why that name?”

“Not going to check yourself?” Herah asked flippantly, giving her nose a light rub as two new but similar scents registered, “You seemed to have no problem earlier finding shit out.”

Herah smelt Alex’s scent switch to anger for but a moment before it was smothered with fear, a glance towards the human revealing him tense and holding his tongue. Norwe the Sloth looked to Herah, now on Alex’s shoulders, and winked.

“Nevermind.” Alex said, looking away from Herah.

The youngling, for her part, let out a huff and walked up to the Donneur de Frêne.

“You should all move from beneath the tree.” Herah placed a palm against said tree and looked up into its rustling leaves, “It won’t be safe under here in a moment.”

Norwe drummed atop Alex’s head while the human let out a discomforted hmm, Owen moved swiftly from under the tree and towards the edge of the clearing, and Max let out her own curious hum before walking over to Alex and lightly tugging him towards Owen.

Once everyone was from beneath the tree, Herah drew her hand back an inch before slamming it back into the bark. The tree shook, black ash falling from the shaking leaves and blanketing the ground and Herah. Angered chitters filled the air as two small creatures darted out from the bush of the tree, hopped onto Herah’s shoulders, and nibbled at them.

Both creatures were as tall as a notebook and just a bit fatter than rats, with a thin but flexible layer of iron covering all but their golden eyes. Their four limbs were short and stubby, with tiny claws of metal that were currently trying to tear through Herah’s scales. Most striking about their appearance were their large, grainy tails composed of what smelled like silver shavings. Said tails seemed fluid in their shape; switching between thick and bushy, to thin and sharp, and even at one point resembling a forked tongue.

“Those kinda look like armored squirrels?” Max tilted her head to the side, the sound of wonder coloring her words.

“They’re called aimant miracles.” Herah reached up to either aimant miracle with either of her hands and gave them soft pets, “They tend to live near deposits of metal ore and Donneur de Frênes.”

“Is that why you called them Miracle Magnets?” Alex asked, now sitting at the edge of the clearing and eyeing the ash that covered the ground.

“Yup, back in my people’s earlier days these small creatures would serve to lead us to food.”

“Food?” Owen questioned, blinking in confusion.

“My people eat metal.” Herah responded, still petting the now calm metal rodents.

“Oh.”

“That’s pretty metal.” Max said, putting particular emphasis on the word metal while giving Herah a wink.

Several confused blinks from Herah, a groan from Alex, and a slight chuckle from Owen was all Max got in response.

“I guess you do not have metal music where you come from.”

“Ashbrain,” Herah growled, causing Alex to just roll his eyes in response, “I can see the ash from the tree is why they’re called ash giver. You’ve yet to show why they’re dangerous though.”

Herah scoffed, before breathing out a small ball of orange flames. With a mental command, Herah dropped the flames onto the ground.

The ash ignited, bathing the entire clearing, Herah, and the tree in fire.

“Herah!” Max and Owen both step forward, but Alex crouched and stuck out his arm stopping both of them.

“You saw her self-immolate earlier dummy, Ashbrain will be fine.”

Just as Alex finished his words, Herah began to inhale, sucking in every flame within two seconds. With all the fire gone, Herah was revealed to the rest perfectly fine alongside the now slumbering aimant miracles on her shoulders. Seeing this, everyone began to approach Herah.

“So the trees produce flammable ash,” Alex said when they finally got to her, “Defense against predators I assume?”

Herah nodded.

“No idea why it’s here though,” Herah turned to the tree and looked it over, “Judging by how the ash has had enough time to seep into the ground and start growing flowers, I’d say this tree has been here for at least two weeks.

“Should we be worried about the ash?” Owen asked, glancing up at the tree leaves with a worried glance.

“No.” Herah shook her head, “This planet is too cold for it to combust naturally like it would back home. Really this tree doesn’t belong here.”

“And that’s where I come in my dear artist.”

Herah watched as Norwe the Sloth fell off of Alex’s shoulders and onto the ground.

“For you see, I put that tree here.”

“Why?” Herah asked, folding her arms and looking down towards Norwe with a frown.

“For your Act!”

Norwe the Sloth then began the process of crawling towards the Donneur de Frêne, which was only a foot away.

A minute went by.

“Would you like me to move you to the tree?” Herah asked, her expression now perplexed.

“Nope.” Norew responded, now half a foot away from the tree.

Another minute went by.

“Are you planning to climb the tree?” Herah questioned, just staring and blinking at Norwe who was now at the base of the tree.

“Yes.”

Herah looked to the Donneur de Frêne and then back to Norwe.

“How far?”

“To its middle.” Norwe replied, reaching their arms up to start pulling themselves upwards.

Herah looked to the tree again, gauged the distance, and then looked back to Norwe and gauged the Maker’s speed.

A look of horror spread across her face.

“Oh no.”

“Oh yes!”

Another minute passed.

“Bro,” Max stared at Norwe with the same confusion Herah had earlier, “How long is it going to take for Norwe to get halfway up that tree?”

“Eight hours, eighteen minutes, twenty-five seconds, and counting.” Was Alex’s dry reply.

“We’re not,” Max paused and look to Alex with an open mouth, “We’re not really going to watch him do that are we?”

“Yes, yes we are.”

Max looked back to Norwe then to her brother.

“But why?”

“Because he could erase us with a thought, or worse. That is the only reason why.”

Max looked to Norwe.

“I think I might take that to this.”

“Don’t even joke it about it,” Alex said emptily, “He might take you seriously.”

“Yes, yes I would Liar.”

Another minute passed.

“I thought you were in a rush to leave us alone Norwe-sir.” Owen said to Norwe, his voice soft and respectful.

“Flattery will get you nowhere with me Binder.” Norwe responded, now a foot up the tree, “But to answer your question, how long a rush is subjective and tempered by age.”

“Sir, I’ve been around for two hundred eighty-nine years, and eight hours is still a long time for me.”

“Even amongst your own people, you’re still a child Binder. And I was around before the concepts of Logic and Time were ideas in my siblings’ will, so this is nothing but a blink in my eyes.”

“Then why did you interrupt us earlier? Wouldn’t that also be a blink in your eye?” Owen paused for a moment before hurriedly adding, “ Norwe-sir.”

“Because they’re fucking with us.” Herah answered, a snarl on her face as wisps of green fire began to leak from between her lips.

“Correct!” Norwe agreed.

Another minute pas-

“Fuck this!”

Herah reached over towards Norwe before finding her hand caught by Alex. The youngling gave the human a growl, green jetting from her nose. Alex glared back at her, his solid white eyes narrowed as his grip tightened.

CRACK!

“You will not touch him.”

“Oh please do, Artist.”

Herah opened her mouth but paused before saying a word, instead looking past Alex and towards Max.

The human looked back at her unsure, her body tense and scent on edge. Herah smiled and nodded towards Norwe before tilting her head back towards Max. Max blinked for a second before gaining a firm look and nodding her head.

None of this went over Alex’s head.

“Max!” Alex turned to his sister just as her hands touched Norwe’s back, “Don’t you dare.”

Max paused, and looked at Alex.

“Or what?” The twin responded, a taunting curiosity to her words.

Alex glanced to Norwe, the Sloth Maker smiling back lazily.

“He’ll erase you.”

“Will I?”

Max looked to Alex then back to Norwe.

“Worth it.”

Alex moved forward but a simple shake of Norwe the Sloth’s head halted him.

Max then, with one hand, grabbed Norwe by the scruff of their neck and yoinked them up the tree.

Five seconds later, the Maker’s sloth body splattered against one of the thick branches that was halfway up the tree. Their body liquified on contact, leaving nothing but a mint green stain under the branch.

For a moment a stunned silence hung over the group.

“For a minute there, I thought you all might actually just watch me climb up this tree.”

Norwe peaked his head out from atop the branch, a lazy smile on their sloth face.

“Norw-” Alex began but a raised hand from the Maker caused him to silence himself.

“ I shall now explain to you your Act.” Norwe gave the tree a slight smack, though no ash fell this time, “Protecting this tree, from a clan of Oni.”

“What the ash are those?”

“Big, ugly, and cruel Japanese demons.” Alex said with a growl.

“Thanks jackass, I definitely know what the fuck Japanese is.” Herah replied with a roll of her eyes.

“You seem to understand the concept of demons, however.”

“Fuck off.”

“Excuse me,” Norwe’s smooth voice interrupted the two, causing Alex to immediately clam up, “Thank you.”

“Now this group of Oni you will be facing is very different than you’re used to, in the cases of my Liar and Soothsayer, or something you’ve never faced, in the cases of my Artist and Binder.”

Norwe the Sloth extended a limb towards the group and wiggled their claws. A projection of what Herah presumed to be an overview of the forest appeared between them.

“Exactly twenty centuries, four hundred five years, thirty-six months, fifteen weeks, fifty-six days, thirty hours, forty minutes, and eight seconds ago, I created life, only plant life on this planet. It grew without issue for fifteen of these centuries before I introduced the Oni to spice things up a bit.”

Norwe directed their attention to Owen raising his hand to Herah’s right.

“Binder, do you have a question?”

“Um yeah, what’s up with the wonky times?”

Norwe the Sloth tilted their head to the side slightly, their face completely expressionless, though their bemusement impossible to miss.

“What makes you think that every universe conforms to your ideas of time or even the same laws as yours?”

“Oh.”

Norwe slowly waved the gnome off, speaking as they did the motion.

“These Oni have a unique means of reproduction that requires that they use non-native trees,” Norwe taps the Donneur de Frêne again, “Such as this in order to perpetuate their existence.”

“Oooooh.” Max said, smiling and tilting her head to the side.

Norwe then pointed at a spot on the map, one nestled right before what looked like two mountains. There, a purple dot appeared.

“Oh, that’s definitely not freaky.”

Herah mentally agreed with Max, everyone present finding their eyes drawn to to their left where even when obscured by the leaves of the tree, a distant purple beam of light was clear to see.

“That’s where the Oni reside.” Norwe the Sloth held up one of their paws “In three days time, these Oni will set out to destroy this tree. Until then, you can do whatever you like to defend against their attack. Just remember two things-”

Norwe raised a single claw.

“One, I fully expect to be entertained. How you see fit to do so is mostly up to you, though if I see fit I might intervene.”

A second claw was raised.

“Two, the Oni will fight to the last of themselves to get this tree. For them, there is no other option.”

And with those words, the Sloth Maker was gone.

For a moment, the clearing was silent.

And then Herah tore her arm away from Alex’s grip, smoke wafting from her wrist as the bones were burnt back into shape. Grabbing at her wrist and giving it a light twist to test it, Herah nodded to herself in satisfaction at the sturdiness of the joint. Once done there, Herah took note of the rest.

Alex was now breathing easier and tapping his nose, though Herah could smell anger boiling inside of him as the fear left. Max sat down on the ground and took a deep breath, appearing to be just absorbing all the nature around her. Owen was sitting with two large, linked metal rings in hand pulling them tight against each other while staring intently into them.

Nodding her head again, Herah gave the metal rodents on her shoulder a few pats on their heads to awaken them. Squeaks marked their awakening before both hopped off of Herah’s shoulders and rushed back up the Donneur de Frêne to hide away in the leaves.

“So” Herah looked to the rest, “What is our next move?”

Everyone looked to Herah, a frown from Alex and smiles from Owen and Max.

“Some planning would do us well.” Owen said rising up, tilting his hat up just slightly before tossing his rings into it, “Though we’re also suffering from a severe lack of information.”

“I’m pretty good for scouting.” Max said rolling her shoulders and hopping to her feet, “I can learn things pretty easily.”

“I can help with that.” Herah offered up, smiling at Max.

Max smiled back in response.

“Before we can do any of that,” Alex stopped tapping his nose and crossed his arms, “We need to properly decide on how our team will be structured.”

“How so?” Herah asked cautiously, already not liking the sound of Alex.

“If we want to work most effectively then we need to be put into the proper positions so as to assume a smooth and proper work flow.”

“And that would have you at the top, correct?” Herah asked, green flames already leaking from her mouth and nose.

Alex grinned at Herah.

“Correct.”

“No.”

Alex tilted his head to the side, a lopsided frown coming to his face.

“No?”

“No.”

Alex then marched up to Herah, tilting his head back upright before dropping his wavy blade from his sleeve again and lifting it up to Herah’s neck.

“I don’t remember posing that as a question.”

Herah growled, raising her own hand to Alex’s throat, her talon’s just lightly extended.

“I don’t remember you ever earning the position.”

Herah and Alex stared into each other’s eyes, one pair filled with burning rage just barely contained, the other filled with an icy anger growing cooler and cooler by the moment.

Before any moves could be made on either side, Max rested her hand on both of their shoulders.

“You two clearly need some time away from one another. So, let’s split for a bit. We can all get a lay of the land and while we do that cool our heads.” Max looked between the pair of them with a smile, “You two fine with that?”

Herah felt her rage die at the sight of Max’s smile before letting out a breath and nodding her head.

“Sure.”

Herah then turned away and began heading out of the clearing.

Chink!

Chink!

Herah paused at the soft sounds of metal bouncing off of metal and Owen’s smell approaching her. Turning to look down on the gnome, Herah gave him a confused look which was answered with a small smile.

“Are you planning to come with me?”

“Yup!”

“Why?”

“Because, you give me the impression of someone who is used to being alone.”

Herah frowned.

“Why would that make you come with me?”

Owen walked past Herah still smiling.

“You also give me the impression of someone who doesn’t like that.”

Herah frowned after Owen for a moment before letting a smile come to her face.

“Owen Vulcan? That was your name right?”

Owen paused before turning to Herah and nodding.

Herah then jogged up to him before slowing to a walk and then moving on forward. Owen followed after, the pair smiling as they silently enjoyed one another’s presence. And while they kept their smiles, they did not keep their silence, Herah starting their conversation with a simple compliment.

“I like you Owen, you smell of a forge and honesty. Two of my favorite things.”