Depthless Hunger

Troulon woke up, which was something he hadn't expected to ever do again. When that syringe had entered his neck, he had been sure that it was the end, and the human part of him had welcomed it.

Except Omilaena had never intended to kill him. Somehow she had injected a different essence into his soul, disrupting his demonic arts. And while he had been unconscious, she had deadened that part of him. He wasn't sure he could even reach those parts of himself anymore.

So he was just a Paper Artisan again.

During the chaotic end of the battle he had helped to evacuate, drawing people into the Great Library and hoping that it wouldn't be destroyed as well. Somehow the battle had ended with Matiavel dead and the Commonwealth officially out of demonic hands. Now he sat on the front steps leading to the Great Library, expecting someone to be along to arrest or execute him at any moment now.

One thing he hadn't expected was a pure demon: Gorutiel strolled up to the front of the library with a grin on his face. "You want to get out of here, Troulon? I always thought you had balls for a bookworm, so you can come along if ya want."

"What are you doing here?" Troulon asked. "Entering the city right now... that's insane."

"Oh, I've been here since the start." Gorutiel jabbed a thumb toward the devastated central regions. "I was actually going to jump in and help Matiavel, but... then I saw him trying to stomp a bunch of ants and failing. And I thought: who has real strength, the guy who kills everyone he sees, or the ones who go fight him anyway?"

"Then you're retreating. Taking away everyone who doesn't want to face justice."

"That's right. Demons can adapt to just about anywhere. We don't need to be in charge. So that brings me back to what I said: want to come?"

"Ha, suit yourself! That's stupid, if you ask me, but at least you're standing for something."

Troulon remained sitting on the steps, looking at the city, as the demon vanished in a burst of smoke. Despite all that had been destroyed, many of the buildings remained. He did believe in Traeton and the accumulated knowledge of generations that it represented, even if the hunger had made it difficult to see that for a long time.

Omilaena didn't approach from the front, he just felt her presence behind him. She stood silently for a while, both of them staring out over the city before he spoke.

"You've changed," Troulon said. "You would have killed me before. Maybe you should have."

"Do you want to die?" she asked.

"I don't know. I did before, but now... is the Gray Demon really gone?"

"I'm not that powerful. But if you don't feed it, you might be able to have a normal life again."

"Assuming they don't execute me."

"I've heard they won't," Omilaena said. "The Commonwealth is going to be ruled by a council of different factions from now on, at least until someone else takes over, and they aren't out for blood. You're going to be imprisoned for life as a collaborator, but only forced to work for the city. Most likely you and others who didn't do anything flagrant will have their war crimes forgotten."

Troulon sighed and took off his glasses. "They shouldn't."

"Then write them down." Omilaena sat down beside him, for just a second like the girl he'd grown up with. "There's a lot of confusion about what happened, and Anaelina filled the CTG with countless lies. They need someone who lived through it to make sure everything is remembered." 𝐫αＮO͍𐌱Êŝ

"You... really think I should do that?"

"What else are you going to do?"

Omilaena looked back at him once as she got up and cast him a parting smile. There had been a time when he'd hoped they could be at minimum colleagues and hopefully much more... Troulon watched her go and realized that time was over. She kept walking and didn't look back.

.

..

.

Technically Ceryyn should have been pleased by the outcome, especially because it benefited her: she had been the one pushing for these outsiders from the beginning, after all, so her star was ascendant. But it felt macabre to be profiting off the death of so many, so she did her best not to think about it.

It had only been a single day since the battle and politics were already crowding in. She was immensely grateful that she had been able to spend much of that day with Kai and the others, especially because she could tell that they wanted to move on. They had been on Rosemount for a long time, pulled and pushed by various powers, and they were ready for a rest.

Oh, if only she could have given them that rest in her home! But the truth was that the three foreigners made everyone uncomfortable, even before Cloudspire forces started paying attention to them again. So the only question was how long it would be before they left. When she heard that the Council of Elders was intending to push them out, Ceryyn had whispered suggestions into a few ears.

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Once everything was organized again, the heroes of the battle met before the Council of Elders. Ceryyn was granted the highest of honors, alongside Yonto Bludshard - the laid-back man had come out of nowhere to surprise everyone with his arrow at an essential moment.

He was surprisingly cute, now that she noticed him. Maybe after the honoring ceremony, she'd have to talk to him further? But that was a matter for the future, and there was still so much past to work through.

After the other recognized heroes, her three new friends went to stand in front of the Council of Elders. They had been exhausted and in recovery after the battle, but now they looked almost like themselves again. Despite the overwhelming soul cultivation bearing down on them from all sides, they stood tall, as if they didn't feel the immense presences around them.

"The three of you have done more than we can repay," Elder Graveylin said, "including saving my life. Even if we opened all our vaults to you, it would not be enough."

"We could make a good try of it," Omilaena said, prompting a few laughs even in the council chamber. Graveylin smiled politely before she made her face serene and continued.

"But now you must understand that you have attracted a great deal of attention thanks to your role. Despite the destruction, many survived the Battle of Traeton, so your deeds were seen. In particular, Kai Clanless was seen to have survived Matiavel the Destroyer, and there are rumors it involved some sort of god technique. As you can imagine, the Empress of the Coiled Empire is not pleased."

"We don't want any more trouble," Kai said, in a heavy tone that immediately made everyone in the chamber believe it. "We just want to rest."

It was just what Ceryyn had expected him to say. She bit her lip, hoping that what she had discussed would work.

"For that very reason, we have considered a different sort of gift," Elder Graveylin said. "We would like to give you Darkmist Island."

There were murmurs throughout the chamber, but Zae Zin Nim only looked up irritably. "What's that?"

"It is an island retreat far from the coast of Rosemount, its location known only to a few. The island is rich in chakra, qi, and mana, so it has considerable value. But most importantly, it is nearly impossible to find by ship, so perhaps you can find your rest there."

Thankfully, the three of them agreed to accept the island as their reward. As they departed, Ceryyn managed to catch up and give them all her farewells, even embracing them as if it would be the last time.

Of course, it wasn't likely to be. Surely she'd see them again. But she had a feeling that by the time she did, everything would have changed.

.

..

.

Heruul Cryswind was a hero of the great Commonwealth war, though he wasn't being respected for it. Maybe he'd only fought in a few of the periphery battles, but that still made him a veteran. It wasn't fair that others got so much attention, and it definitely wasn't fair that he had to escort three pathetic humans onto one of the Elven Wilds' finest luxury vessels.

Except that they didn't seem quite so pathetic as he remembered. The little cultivator had somehow lost her scars and gained a beauty that could challenge even the highest elves. The poisoner, for all her malice, exuded a feral charm that he couldn't deny. But him...

The one known as Kai Clanless had grown a little stronger, but no less brutish. He only had a little over 500 Power, with no grace or sophistication. When he'd stayed with their clan he'd thrown himself into filthy water over and over again as if it proved anything except his own vulgarity. Heruul knew that he was superior in every way.

So why did he flinch when the man looked at him?

They reached the dock, where the luxury vessel waited. Heruul comforted himself that even though it was luxurious, it was also basically an exile. Soon the three of them would be thrown out of Rosemount, cut off from the real heart of world politics.

When it came time for them to board, Heruul couldn't stand it any longer. After the women walked up the gangway, Heruul stepped in before the barbarian could ascend.

"You're not welcome in elven lands any longer, human." Heruul pushed him back just a little. "Go back to a continent more suited to your kind."

Kai looked at him not with anger, but with a blank sort of unfamiliarity that was humiliating. "Yeah," he said wearily, "okay, I'll remember that." And then he walked up the gangplank to disappear onto the ship.

As they pulled away, Heruul had to watch them go. Some of his companions approached, almost as baffled as he was.

"I don't get those humans," one of them said. "One of those things is not like the others."

"I heard they were all at the Battle of Traeton," another said.

"The barbarian must have gotten lucky. You saw he's just at Nascent Glamour strength or so, and it has to be all brute force."

One of the women shifted oddly. "You don't think... the three of them...?"

"Absolutely not," Heruul said. "I saw them all when they passed through our territory. The barbarian is more like a servant, maybe a meat shield in combat. I have no idea why they still keep him around."

The others laughed automatically, but the rush Heruul got from it felt hollow almost immediately.

.

..

.

Kai lay back on the silk sheets, finally relaxed. This was the most luxurious ship cabin he'd ever set foot in, with a lush bed and magic lanterns, but none of that made him feel half as good as the women lying next to him.

After getting so worked up about the idea of being with two women at once, he'd been worried over nothing. This wasn't "two women"... it was Zae Zin Nim and Omilaena. There had been some details to work out, but he'd never been uncomfortable. And oh, it had been satisfying, and not just in the obvious ways. He felt as though the grandiose statements they'd made to one another at the Kama Altar had finally been made real.

"So..." Omilaena shifted into a more comfortable position against his side. "We own an island now, apparently."

"I'm skeptical about the quality of its qi," Zae Zin Nim said. After so long looking blissful, she was scowling a little, but seeing that expression lying against his chest only made him smile. "It may be potent, but I doubt it's pure."

"I hope it is," Kai said. "We need a lot more strength for everything we need to do next. Matiavel was a nightmare, and your father might be-"

"Hush!" Omilaena reached up to put a finger over his lips. "We don't need to talk about that now. In fact, I insist we don't. The three of us have been so busy, we've only scratched the surface of what we can do with dual cultivation. So it's literally the strategically best choice to run off and fuck our way to higher powers."

"It isn't really dual cultivation," Zae Zin Nim said with a slight frown. "The name isn't quite appropriate."

"Treble cultivation? Triune cultivation? Hell, let's just call it threesome fuckery."

"It doesn't matter what we call it," Kai said, and squeezed them both closer. They immediately settled in against his chest and they lay together peacefully as the ship rocked its way onward.

After so long spent on Rosemount, Kai thought that he was about twenty-five years old. The young man he had been at the Hunter Trials couldn't possibly have imagined everything that would happen to him, from the adventures on other continents to the raw power that blew away those he thought were the experts. That boy would have thought the idea of two women like this being interested in him was a silly fantasy, not a loving relationship that meant the world to him. And so he returned to the same strange thought that had occurred to him when he arrived on Rosemount.

If all this had happened in five years, where the hell would he be in five more?

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