The flight to the final destination was quiet and uncomfortable, with Verbum tucked away in the back as far from the both of them as it was possible for him to get, eyeing the two with suspicion and concern the entire time until Ben forced himself to break the silence.

“So Verbum, I get you weren’t awake for most of that but good news, it was also an easy one. The gods are fully aware of who they are and the fact they’re out there so it’s nothing to worry about.”

“They’re called demidemons,” He shot back coldly. “How is that nothing to worry about?”

Hmm, I guess it was a bit too much to hope that he’d knocked himself out before he could see their status. Shame.

“It’s nothing to worry about because they’re harmless and more or less just victims of the forbidden gods. Since those guys are dead, nothing to worry about so why don’t we just not stress and focus on the last leg of this?”

“Why? So I can find out you two psychos have your fingers all over it too? How the fuck are two people involved in so much shit? Was meeting me and becoming my guards part of some sort of plan as well? Just what the hell are you going to do to me when all of this is over, huh? Silence me so I can’t tell anyone what sort of maniacs you are?”

“Well, seeing as how we haven’t actually done anything wrong in any of those three areas, what would you even tell?”

“I’d, I would…”

Verbum retreated into his skill, trying to find anything incriminating in the ocean of knowledge it left him swimming in, only to come up empty. It wasn’t like there wasn’t anything ethically dubious in either of their pasts, it was just neither played enough of a part in those three small investigations for him to come up with anything. At worst, there was the issue that the cubed trees had a mind control aspect to them that had altered them and their environment, but it wasn’t bad enough that Ben was worried about it being revealed to the world at large.

“Verbum, listen, you can be as paranoid as you want later but for now we should be getting pretty close to the final site so can you just give us the rundown already?” Ben sighed. “Then we can all go home and you never have to see either of us again unless I decide to find you for info on any skills, jobs, or titles.”

“Don’t come looking for me after this is done, I won’t help you!”

“No, you definitely will,” Ben told him with enough certainty to make the other shrink back in fear. “But focus on the task at hand. What are we looking into with you now?”

“...Another large dead zone in the forest. I can’t wait to find out how you both did it this time too,” He said sarcastically. “More training out in the woods? Maybe made some weird item to drive all of the animals away? Hell, what about another secret race on the planet clearing out the land? No, actually all of that is too stupid, why would we get a repeat of anything? The last three have all been different, why wouldn’t I get to see you both involved in something new and horrifying?”

His rambling continued on in the background as both Ben and Thera looked at each other, both of them unable to keep themselves from questioning if they might have played some part in whatever they were about to walk in on too.

It would be ridiculous. But then, I said that for the last stop too and look at how that turned out. Is there anything I might have done in this region of the woods? Any experiments or something? It’s far enough from the gate that I should be in the clear, right? Myriad, can you just tell me if I’m responsible at all and if I am we can just rip the bandaid off and tell Verbum before we land?

Unfortunately, his god was still silent, likely still busy with any range of tasks from dealing with his other believers or his new priestess to helping the other gods with their war prep.

A part of him wanted to go up there himself since he had the time, just to question the cube a bit to get what he could but decided against it. If he was involved in some way then he was sure it would be obvious by the time they landed and he didn’t want to take his eyes off Verbum before they were on the ground. With how stressed he seemed, Ben wasn’t willing to take bets that the panicked man wouldn’t just jump from the cart if the treetops looked thick enough to catch him.

“I think we’re good,” Thera muttered to him the moment they were on land. “What about you?”

“I don’t remember this place at all so I think it’s fine,” He said with relief before turning to their charge who was still in the cart. “Hey Verbum, good… well, technically bad news. Whatever’s going on here, we aren’t involved this time.”

“Hmph, how’s that bad news?” He grumbled. “That sounds like the best news I’ve gotten all day.”

“It’s bad news because if you look at the other three, it was all harmless and easy to get answers to since we knew what was going on. We don’t have the first clue about what’s happening here. Could be anything.”

He said it with cheer, enjoying the sense that he was guiltless in it all, even as his reasoning made Verbum sink further into his fear. Whether the pleiaden liked it or not, Ben was entirely right. The fact that none of them knew what was happening there meant they were all significantly worse off and that it only seemed to elate his guards only made it worse.

While Ben was happy that the entire report to Killi wouldn’t be covered in his name, Thera was more thrilled about what it represented, a proper adventure. There was no mystery or romance to seeing whatever they’d already been involved in in the past, but this represented something new. Likely even something exciting from the looks of things.

It was subtle at first, but despite the fact that they were told they were investigating a strangely dead region of the woods, it was filled with the small signs of life one would expect if they only looked. The occasional footprints, obvious scratches on trees, even what looked like bite marks on some plants, all pointing to the idea that it was a lived-in land, if not for the silence that filled it. No matter how long they listened, there was nothing to show that they weren’t alone.

Kind of spooky.

The most obvious explanation would be that someone or something had cleared out the woods of animal life, the same way Thera had in her training, but they didn’t see any obvious signs of people. Of course, their investigation had just started. They’d get their answers soon enough once Verbum got the time he needed to find the cause of it all.

Ben kept close to him no matter how uncomfortable his presence made the other man while Thera took a walk around the immediate area, looking for any signs of magic that could explain the empty land, along with anything else that could pose a risk, taking her role as a guard just as seriously. They both knew that Verbum’s safety was their priority, neither of them wanted to see him get hurt no matter how he may have been acting, so with the fact set firmly in her thoughts she pushed herself to examine the area on another level, both with her earth sense and her empathy.

Pushing both the best she could, she felt the first stretch out a bit beyond the subtle way it always existed in the back of her thoughts while the latter struggled to keep up, needing her active attention and to contend with the lower level, even if both felt something the moment she reached out far enough. Movement and malice, all coming right at them at high speeds.

“Ben!” She yelled out, the warning in her voice just enough to put him on his toes as the earth around them exploded with five demons rushing to its surface.