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Pyre froze as the black mouth dissolved into a puddle of shadows, leaving behind a void. It seemed like someone had taken a model of the tree and its surroundings and took a bite out of it. “No…,” he said after a few moments of silence. “I don’t think that was it. Can you do it again?”
Andrea shook her head. Her purple face had a tinge of green on its cheeks.
“What?” Pyre asked. “Why not? You did it once, why not repeat the feeling you felt to do it again?”
“It tasted really bad,” Andrea said and wiped sawdust off of her tongue. Tears formed in her eyes, and Cleo ran over to hand her a cup of water to rinse with.
Pyre stroked his chin. “Interesting. Your power doesn’t conform to gluttony’s normal standards. Perhaps it’s because you haven’t been influenced by seeing someone use it. It makes sense since people do use the same power differently. That mana level though, are you a greater demon by any chance?”
Andrea shrank back from Pyre’s glittering eyes. She hid behind Palan and clutched his leg. “He’s scary. There’s something wrong with his eyes,” she said and pouted. “Like he wants to eat me.”
A dry laugh escaped from Pyre’s lips as he took a step back. Palan’s gaze pierced him, dispelling any thoughts he may or may not have had about dissecting Andrea. Pyre cleared his throat. “Anyways,” he said and avoided Palan’s eyes. “Let’s return to the capital. The only clue I have to breaking the contract between two people is the Creator’s statue. Without it, I’d be grasping at straws.”
“Alright,” Palan said. “You know where the statue is?”
Pyre snorted. “Of course. It was one of the only things to survive the B.F.G. explosion. The other things were the floating third floor and you. I asked the remaining council members about it. They told me it was used to bestow the Creator’s judgement. Obviously, I didn’t touch it. I’m pretty sure the Creator would condemn me.”
“I’d like to see it,” Raea said. The expression on her face was dark. Her feathers rippled like waves as if there were something beneath the surface trying to get out. She spread her wings and flapped, jetting a gust of hot air at the party while launching herself into the air. “Well? What are we waiting for?”
Pyre frowned as Palan’s tails wrapped around the people who couldn’t fly except Andrea—Palan held her to his chest with his arms. Having two pairs was convenient. Pyre adjusted the tail around his waist and tapped on one of its scales. He whispered under his breath so Raea wouldn’t be able to hear him, “You might want to consider breaking off your contract with Raea after I finish researching this. She’s volatile. Her targets for revenge are gone, but her sister remains dead. She has nothing to direct her anger at, but after embracing wrath, she has to be angry. Any little thing can set her off.”
Palan didn’t respond as he leapt into the air. Andrea tugged on his arm and whispered, “I think you should stay away from her too. Are you only with her because of this contract?”
Palan frowned. “I’m not sure.”
“Then tell me how you met her,” Andrea said. Though she was in a totally different world and flying above it with a perfect view, she kept her attention focused on her brother. “And what you’ve been through while you were gone.”
“Mm. That may take a while.”
“I want to know!” Andrea said with a pout. Her eyes widened. “Please?”
Palan sighed. “Alright,” he said and began telling Andrea his story, starting from after she had fallen ill. His brow wrinkled. Could he kill that bird now that he was an existence beyond an archdemon? Well, it didn’t matter since he’d never be going back to Eljiam.
Andrea listened without interrupting him. He was a bit of a clumsy storyteller, but she didn’t mind. He was her brother and everything he did was perfect in her eyes.
When Palan finished, the group had arrived at the first sector. Surprisingly, it was in good condition, looking nothing like the fire, carnage, and wasteland he had remembered it as. Then Palan turned his head and realized the west section of the sector was still in ruins. They had arrived from the north.
“So she tricked you into making a contract with her,” Andrea said. There was a wrinkle on her tiny forehead. “And you had to stay with her to survive. But you don’t need her to do that anymore because you’re super strong now, right? So why didn’t you let her stay dead?”
Palan had excluded the bit about feeling sadness after Raea died. It was an embarrassing moment for him, and he didn’t want his sister to know. He hummed for a bit before saying, “The Creator modified the contract a bit. I’d have died if she stayed dead.”
“But if you break the contract, then you wouldn’t,” Andrea said. “You’re going to break the contract, right?”
“I don’t know,” Palan said and furrowed his brow.
“How do you not know?” Andrea asked and blinked. “You were with her to survive. Now you can survive on your own. You don’t need to be with her anymore. Isn’t it simple?”
Palan didn’t respond.
“Do you … actually like her?” Andrea asked, her mouth falling open. She seemed horrified by the thought. It was extremely rare, but sometimes demons who complemented each other’s faults managed to become monogamous with each other. Like their parents. Her mother was overbearing like a tyrannosaurus while her father was meek and didn’t dare speak up. “You can’t stay with her! You definitely can’t! She killed you!”
Palan’s expression darkened. “Be quiet.”
Andrea shut her mouth but stared at him with concerned eyes. They trembled along with her lips. No matter which way she looked at it, Raea had ensnared her brother through trickery and the bewitchment was so strong that he hadn’t realized it himself.
“She’s not a bad person,” Palan said after a long while of enduring Andrea’s puppy-like gaze. Perhaps his storytelling skills had painted Raea in an unpleasant light.
“But she killed you!” Andrea said and bit her lower lip. “Didn’t you always say people who relied on each other were idiots? Didn’t you say they were weak? Didn’t you tell me you’d never let anyone who tried to kill you live? Why are you being such a dummy right now?”
“Andrea,” Palan said and narrowed his eyes.
Andrea pouted and squirmed around so she was facing the ground. She’d find out the secret to breaking contracts from the walking encyclopedia. And she’d break her brother’s contract herself. Then he’d see she was right.