(Castien.)

Nazanin and I sat by one of the fires that had been erected around our paused convoy. Her eyes studied me closely. I'd just finished explaining everything to her.

And I did mean everything.

I didn't believe in keeping things from my allies. Not if they had proven trustworthy and if it could at all be helped.

I was less worried that she'd somehow use the information against me than I was that she just wouldn't believe any of what I'd said at all.

Because, while yes, I imagined anyone who housed the essence of a consumed demon soul in them might run into fear and suspicion, I also doubted it was common enough for plenty of people to not believe that I wasn't just insane or lying.

"You are both a child and not one at all then," she commented. "You have truly found yourself in a strange position, Castien."

"More or less," I admitted; it felt good to share the sum of my experiences.

What I'd gone through had been weighing heavy on my mind. Even after seeing the wonders of an interstellar society and the horrors of galactic war, the mysteries and insanity of this new twisted and magical world had left me feeling somewhat emotionally drained and pent up.

"I understand that killing him is likely the best option," I admitted, "but it's not just a death. I know that there's an afterlife now. I also know that, at least so far as I can tell, that a soul I consume doesn't really remain alive."

At least the dominator demon hadn't. I, thankfully, felt no sign or hint of it continuing on as an aware being within me.

"I'm sure it's not a very good place he'd be going if he died normally," I continued, "but I'm pretty sure I'd more or less be erasing him... permanently."

"I am no shaman or priest," Nazanin replied, "but I do know that not all afterlives are the same; belief plays a roll. My people commune with the spirits of nature, whom in turn take our souls into themselves in exchange for a lifetime of respect and tradition."

"From what you say, you would be able to take that choice from someone," the elf continued; there was a tone of unnerve in her voice. "Is there no known afterlife in your past world?"

"I don't know; I'd thought there was at one time, but I'm wondering if we were all just guessing," I replied. "I'd definitely never heard of this planet and I don't think anyone else had."

"Nothing had ever really been confirmed or proven either," I admitted.

Nazanin remained quiet for a moment.

"I am not sure I can support the use of your power, Castien," she told me bluntly, "but if you were not sure of an afterlife, even doubted it, then how was killing someone in your world different than ending their soul permanently in this one?"

My face darkened and I replied: "I hadn't really made that connection; probably because I haven't had much time to sit down and think, let alone talk to anyone else before now."

"Yeah," I continued, "killing back in the Milky Way pretty much meant you were at least resigning yourself to the idea that you might be snuffing out someone's one and only shot at life."

"Maybe it's similar then to do that here, like you're saying, or at least the intent of the act is," I admitted, "but it still feels off."

"Words do not always explain everything," Nazanin agreed. "There is a darkness to the idea of the power you've been given."

A darkness that was hard to rationalize away, I agreed to myself.

"I've just seen this world's new skills as tools so far. Weapons take lives, but they're not evil," I said, "at least, I'd never come upon an evil one before, but there's more to magic than there was to the technology of my old universe. It's more complex, more nuanced, and I'm not sure all of it is naturally amoral."

Back in my old life, for example, I'd watched warships crack the crust of planets. Still, those same orbital weapons could be used to mine otherwise lifeless chunks of space rock for valuable minerals.

Demonic magic, though? The name alone made me more cautious to pursue it.

I wanted to become stronger, if only because I figured I'd eventually have things I'd desperately want to protect in this new life. And, if war had taught me anything, I knew that power decided who could protect that which they loved.

However, there were lines you tried not to cross.

My mind reflected back to what James had done to save my life.

Before I'd seen the full extent of what he'd freed into the world, I'd almost understood his actions.

But now?

It would've been better for me to die. I'd already done it once.

Now I had a feeling many more people's lives were horribly at risk than just one man's child.

Even if it had been me in James' shoes, with my own daughters at stake... it was hard to think about possibly dooming worlds on end. It'd taken a while for the saint's words to really sink into my mind.

I just hoped I'd never have to make that decision.

"The collars need to come off, Castien," Nazanin said. "Wearing them marks you all as slaves. Few people will want to help us, even if they sympathize with our plight, for fear of angering a group of unknown slavers."

"I know," I replied. "Does any of what the merchant says sound plausible?"

"I've checked the food stores; there's not enough to take us back the way we came," she admitted.

She motioned me to look at the map we'd retrieved from the supply cart from where I sat beside her.

"Mariyye is a free city. It does not involve itself in the conflicts of other city states or nations," Nazanin explained, "It is of a culture older than the Myzantines, who even now fight among themselves over the enslavement of free peoples."

"It is possible," she continued, "that we would be able to find someone there to remove these collars for a price if we had to. However, the merchant would be protected from us retaliating if he chose not to remove them within the city limits."

"That's the issue then," I said, "we can't make him uphold his end of the bargain."

"The people of this city, though, they won't free slaves either will they?" I asked.

"They won't intervene to do so without motivation, which would likely need to be monetary, no," Nazanin replied.

An idea struck me.

"Will they allow a slaver to publicly punish their slave?" I asked.

"If it does not stray into murder," she replied. "What are you thinking of?"

"I imagine they won't stop someone from keeping their slaves from running away either, not like they would if someone tried to restrain a free person?" I continued my questioning.

"I don't imagine so," Nazanin trailed her voice in reply.

"Nazanin," I addressed the elf. "Your collar was removed. Was it reclosed afterwards?"

"I don't believe so," she said; I could see her own mind start to work behind her amber eyes.

"We have the command ring," I continued. "I don't think I can interact with it beyond using voice commands due to my magical resistance, but you probably could. Going off what the merchant said, uncollaring people can only be done with a verbal command, but we saw Alister cause pain just by wearing his ring and gesturing with it."

"I didn't want to collar the merchant because I was worried he'd just get out of it anyway," I explained, "but if he does that now it'll just show us how to remove the collars. We can keep him tied up for good measure, but if we pass you off as the leader of this caravan we could likely use that to keep him under our thumb within Mariyye until he agrees to release the rest of us."

"This may work," Nazanin said. "I still do not believe this man is someone who can be trusted not to plot against us for every step of our journey."

"Alright, then we keep him in the dark until the last moment," I offered, "we don't collar him until we reach the city gates. He won't know what we're going to do until it's too late."

"He'll think he's going to be walking into Mariyye a free man, who can't be physically forced to uphold his end of the deal, but really he's going to have to if he wants his freedom, just like us," I continued.

"And if he has allies in the city?" the elf asked.

"We have to do something," I replied.

"We need to discuss our route plan," Nazanin said after a few moments of silence. "The Crypthallow Ridges are no easy place to venture through. This map shows a path that is marked as generally safer, but even then it indicates that there will be low-level monsters all along the way."

"Can we manage it?" I asked her.

"There are only two of us," she said. "I can't promise that we won't lose people and... if a higher level monster wanders into our path... we might not be able to stop it at all."

"They won't have a chance of life at all if we don't try," I replied back a bit slowly.

I didn't want anyone to die, but as she'd said before, there didn't appear to be any other routes that we could take.

"I will speak to everyone before we sleep," Nazanin replied. "We will see what they all say."