The longer Ari stared the greater Inge's grin grew. How did he— Why would he be here? And with Sascha and the others? Something was not adding up. Ari rummaged through his memories of all the interactions he had with Inge up to this point, but his mind was in a disarray. No matter how much he tried to push aside his growing fear it reached and reached until it had its hands wrapped around his throat, suffocating him in fear.

"Oh, no need to fear me, kitten," Inge said as his eyes strayed away from his, disinterested. "Plans change and we just have to change along with them."

Ari's eyes fixated on Inge's fingers drumming against the wooden table.

"What do you want from me?"

"Want?" Inge laughed. "Nothing. Like I said, plans change."

Someone came and placed another candle on the table, illuminating Inge's face more which revealed a deep gash going diagonally across his face. Ari's eyes widened in surprise. Thoughts ran rampant in his mind but he did not dare say a word.

"Disturbing, yes? This pretty face of mine..." Inge traced a finger across it before sticking that same finger in his mouth. "A minor thing, really."

"If you want nothing from me then why am I here?"

"That is a question better asked to the person who brought you here."

The candles flickered and the air grew stale. Ari chanced a glance at the passing silhouette of a person on the wall before he snapped his head back at the sound of something heavy being dropped on the table.

Ari tensed. He soon recovered by repositioning himself in the chair, ignoring the brown eyes boring into his soul.

"Sascha, tell me, why did you bring him here?" Inge asked.

Sascha scooted a chair beside Ari and sat in a relax positioned while shrugging. "You helped me. You should help him."

Inge bellowed with laughter, slapping his hands against the table. Soon his hands turned into fists and caused a hole. "Sascha, dear, I know you mean well. But this kitten here has caused me nothing but trouble."

"Still—" Sascha interrupted.

Inge put his hand up, silencing Sascha.

"As if you did not bring that trouble onto yourself," Ari glowered.

Inge's lip twitched. "Oh, you do not know a thing. You ignorant little—"

"Inge, he is like us. You must help him," Sascha said with earnest.

"I tried," Inge growled," I tried and this is what I got in return," Inge said as he pointed to his scar.

"Auovin..." Ari whispered.

"Auovin will burn in the fiery pits of hell when I am through with him. I hope he gets what he wants. I want him to. Once he does," Inge laughed. "Once he does, he will suffer the worst of fates. He will be alone. An aloneness not even Cyrus could fill. Soon he will do something to make him leave, if he has not done so already."

"He has done wrong..." Ari mumbled knowing better than to refute him. Even if he wanted to, Ari had no words or wisdom to say he was not deserving of it. Ari could no longer defend him due to Auovin's unbearable pain because that was what he caused Ari and many more to feel. Being used and thrown away... lied to and taken advantage of at his most vulnerable time.

"I am sorry I did not believe you. I was blinded by him and what I thought was love." Ari rose from the table and leaned across it. "I became sidetracked and lost, but I know what I want now and it is not him or what he has to offer. I want wisdom and I want to learn."

"Is that so?" a familiar face said through the dimness. Shadows danced across the walls as the candles flickered.

"It sounds quite vague. What wisdom do you wish to know and what is it do you wish to learn?" Ari's heart sank to the pits of his stomach as the shadow of the person became more pronounced as they stepped more into the candlelight.

"Ari."

Ari fumbled back into his chair and gaped at him with wide eyes. It had been awhile since he had last seen him. Seeing him now was out of place and misshapen— something that did not quite belong.

His eyes were no longer the muddy red he remembered him having. Instead, they were golden. More golden than Auovin's and brighter as if staring into the sun. His hair was no longer black either. It was not quite blonde nor white but something in between. He looked like an ethereal being, an angel—a god.

"I suppose you had seen me in my worst of states. Much like Auovin, I was swallowed by hate— the hate of him. However, when I had my chance to kill him, and I had many, I chose not to. Do you know why?"

Ari's eyes lowered to the floor unable to hold his eyes for too long. How could this person be him? It could not be. Despite such thoughts Ari knew he was, in fact, Ylanan.

"It is because Harun—my Harun, the real Harun,— is gone and has been gone for a long while. Killing him would not ever bring him back nor would killing the demon who posed as him. I blamed Auovin for so long for what had transpired between us. He was not to blame. Dehzi, was—is."

"Deh—" Ylanan pressed a finger to Ari's lips. "Do not say his name lest you want to bring trouble here. You must understand the meaning of names, yes?"

Ari squeezed his eyes shut and nodded. How could he so absentminded?

"Forgive me, for getting you involved. He was your father, yes, but you did not know him. Not as I had or Auovin... " Ylanan caressed his cheek with a solemn face. "But what does it matter who did what and how? You never really truly know a person... even after hundreds of years."

"It would be justice," Sascha said, turning Ylanan's attention away from Ari for a moment.

"Justice?" Ylanan said, not in judgement but in curiosity. "How so?"

"You are a Daeva. That was your—"

"Perhaps many incarnations ago, but no longer."

Sascha sat slumped in the chair, unimpressed and disappointed by his answer.

"After all, I had killed his mother," Ylanan said as he gazed back at Ari. "Tell me, Sascha, does he deserve to kill me?"

"The boy can barely kill a fly," Inge snorted.

Ylanan came behind Ari and leaned across him, opening the book that was sat in front of him. "Do you want to?" Ylanan whispered in his ear.

Ari narrowed his eyes but said nothing for some moments before shaking his head no. He had not known her either. Perhaps, before he may have wanted to, but Ari had made his peace with it long ago. Freir and Rein were enough. They would always be.

"Your mother was going to kill you. What justice would there be in that?" Ylanan said as he flicked his eyes over to Sascha.

"Greats and Blood demons never fared well together and giving birth to one, even though a half blood, was worthy of death. What justice was there in that?"

"I understand, " Sascha mumbled.

"You are still so very young, but your open-mindedness and willingness to learn will make you greater than any one of us old ones." Ylanan turned his attention back to Ari and smiled.

"I did not do it out of hate or spite. You were the last piece of Harun left, but I could not raise you. Not with the love and care meant for a child. Forgive me for that. I will give you what you want. You wish to learn, yes?"

Ari nodded yes, words too stuck in his throat to claw their way to surface.

"In exchange, forget about Auovin and Cyrus and Nolan. Focus only on this." When Ylanan flipped to a page, Ari was in shock at what picture and words lie in front of him.

Ari traced his finger around the image of himself, too dumbstruck to say much else. He looked different and a smidge older, but the same, nonetheless. He was in a gold and elegant garment that did not match the time period now. It had such extravagant embellishments and detail that was unlike anything he had seen other than the times when he was lost in the labyrinth.

"I will teach you about who you once were and what you can become now."

"And Kaval?" Ari looked away from the book and into Ylanan's bright golden eyes.

Ylanan squinted before tilting his head as if in deep thought. Soon he turned and looked at Inge who continued his incessant tapping on the table.

"That devil tried to kill me," Inge hissed.

"Do not throw around insults. It is not conducive."

"Well, what else do you want me to call him?" There was a bite in Inge's words, but Ylanan seemed to ignore it.

"I cannot forget about him," Ari interjected.

"Then do not," Ylanan said facing Ari this time which made Ari tense. "But do not think this will be easy."

"I will not."

"What will you do with the knowledge after you have acquired it?"

"I do not know. Not right now, I do not."

"Will you go after him?"

"After who?"

"Auovin, do not play dumb," Inge said causing Sascha to nudge him only for Inge to slap their hand away.

"Sin," Ylanan answered.

"Yes, I swore I would. He tricked—"

"Do not be impulsive and filled with emotion. Think on your words and actions, Ari. Once you do, come to me with an answer then."

"Kaval means much to me."

"I see that, but things are not always what they seem. You will see. You will see and you will wish to be blind."

"... I understand."

"If you seek Sin then you will need Auovin."

Ari whipped his head towards him in surprise and narrowed his eyes in defiance of ever working with him.

"Settle down. Settle down. The next time you see him... you will be different. Much different than you are now."

Ari blinked away from him then, unsure. He wanted to change some aspects of himself, yes, but not so much that he would be an entire new person. That was not what he wanted.

"That is what you want, yes?" Ylanan clasped his chin in hand and brought him close, too close for his comfort. It disarmed him, his eyes, much like Auovin's if he caught himself staring for too long.

"Not entirely, no."

"Then what is it that you want? Knowledge and power?"

Ari shook his head yes.

"And you do not think that does not come with a price?" Ylanan gazed at him in silence when no answer came.

"Listen and listen carefully, Ari, everything has its price."

"I know this."

"You can have your knowledge and power, but only if you pay its price, whatever it may be. So I ask you again now, is this what you want?"

"Yes."

"Then a Daeva is what you must become." Ylanan pointed to the picture. "Again."

"Daeva..."

"Daevas are what they are. Is what I am. And what flows in in your veins is the blood of a Daeva as well."

"Become a god and what you ask for shall be yours."

🤔

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