There was nothing except an unknown figure in front of her.

Their form unable to maintain its shape, shone bright in every direction. It should have blinded Hiromi by now, yet she remained unaffected by its immaculate power. She took a couple of steps forward in their direction.

As the distance between the two grew smaller, so did the warmth emanating from it. It should have burned her, it should have melted her, but it only felt like a soft embrace.

Hiromi now stood right behind them, glaring into never ending rays of sun coming out of them.

The figure turned around without as much as a word, putting their arms around the demon. She let herself to be engrossed by it.

This time, Hiromi was pulled out of her dreams without her heart seemingly trying to rip itself out of her chest. Although her waking up lately at unusual hours continued on. As she turned her head towards the window above her, she noticed It was almost pitch black outside, aside from the stars illuminating the sky.

This constant waking up in the middle of the night began to affect her. Eye bags started to form under her eyes that were accompanying her throughout the day. She also noticed herself being more spaced out and unable to focus on anything. It was tiring to say the least.

Before she could even think of anything else, she noticed a glowing green trail, floating around the room. In a beat, she put on her glasses, whether it was out of fear or curiosity for whatever it was. She hesitantly got up from the couch, taking up a defensive posture as soon as she was standing up. That thing could have been defenseless for all she knew, still it was better to be safe than sorry. Although for all the time that Hiromi has been moving around it, it looked as if it didn’t even acknowledge her existence at all. All that it was doing was peacefully flying around the room. It had some grace to it if you really looked into it.

Since it made no actions that would indicate that it’s hostile, Hiromi decided to get closer to it. Even with that, it still made no effort to do anything else.

She was now at arm’s length with that unknown trail. Her eyes were now wide open, almost in awe of the thing that was right in front of her. Unconsciously, her hand moved towards it. Her naive curiosity was getting better of her again.

Upon the touch, the trail glowed brighter for a second, before quickly squirming away through the small space under the front doors. Without really much thought, Hiromi broke into a run after it.

The demon cringed at the realization of how loud the door creaked as she swung them open. Hopefully other inhabitants were not awaken by that noise, although that thought flew right out of her mind as she focused back again on that green trail.

The said thing was now some distance away from the house, yet it once again was flying in one place, almost playfully. It gave Hiromi an impression as if it was inviting her to chase after it. She, of course, was not one to deny such opportunity.

Just as a night before, she found herself in the same place.

The pond reflected the stars above just as beautifully as always and fireflies danced above its surface just the same. And just as before, Hiromi found the same figure, already sitting on the grass next to it.

“I’ve told you I will be there,” Nailah said, with a warm smile on her face.

Hiromi couldn’t help but feel at ease at that sentence. A slightest of grin appeared on her face but she was quick to tune it down. Wordlessly, she walked over to the other, sitting next to her but still maintaining some distance.

“I’m delighted to see you again, your majesty.”

“The feeling’s mutual,” the Goddess replied. “What brings you here today?”

A scene from her latest dream flashed in her head. A figure made of sunshine that embraced her. The warm feeling that should have burned her down. Out of all three so far, this dream confused her the most.

“I couldn’t sleep, I… I’ve been having weird dreams lately. They all seemed to have some weird cryptic messages. I’m not sure what to do about them.”

Nailah hummed, “we could try to decipher them together if you wish to do so.”

That idea resonated with the demon. Surely a Goddess would have some answers to the questions that had been harassing her. As little as Hiromi knew about Gods and Deities, they struck her as someone who would know a lot. Either way, it’s worth a shot to try.

“I’d appreciate that, thank you,” she replied.

“Well then… It started three days ago. I had a vision that I was in a void with presumably a pond. In it were something… It’s hard to describe but it tried to escape that pond. It wept. It blamed me for making it suffer.”

“Do you think it could symbolize something that had happened to you?” Nailah asked.

“I’m not sure…”

“Then, let me ask you a bit differently,” the Goddess turned her head towards her, “do you blame yourself for Ayami’s death?”

That appalled Hiromi. She wasn’t expecting this in a response, although given the thought, it made some sense. Ever since the day when it happened, she has been trying to push away any and all thoughts related to that event. She was justifying that with a thought that she cannot let any negative feelings affect her — which partially, is understandable, her life quite literally depends on it. Although some part of her just didn’t want to confront the reality of what happened. She didn’t want to acknowledge that she contributed, or even was a sole cause for the death of another being. Those thoughts, banging at the end of her head, held away as to not overflow her. Those memories…

Was she in the right to do so? After all, Ayami was an awful person. But wouldn’t killing her just make Hiromi just as bad as her? Wouldn’t that make her as bad as her father?

“I have caught a glimpse of her memories as she passed away. I think that dream reflects your feelings about her death.” Nailah continued without getting a response from the other, whether she knew what was going on in her head or not.

“A creature caged within the borders of waters, doomed to perish there. And you, standing there, unable to change its fate.”

“Unable… to?”

“Ayami didn’t really die because of you. It happened because of her father who inflicted those wounds on her. It would have happened sooner or later as that is the fate of their family.” Nailah looked down with a sadden expression on her face, “one by one, they’re bound to perish prematurely. I couldn’t save them if I tried.”

It still haven’t truly answered the question lingering in her mind. She still was the one to inflict the curse upon her, that ate her body and soul away. She still was the one to cause that harm. She still was the one to made another suffer.

Hiromi sat silent for a moment before speaking, “was what I did right?”

“Hiromi,” the Goddess sighed, “if you truly want my opinion, let me say this… your sins will never outweigh those of a God. We kill in the name of good more than you could ever imagine.”

Nailah chuckled nervously, “ah, that was a tad grim, wasn’t it? Maybe tell me about your other dreams?”

“Alright,” Hiromi responded, “the night after, I was again in that void place. This time, there was an actual person. They looked like a God with a halo behind their head. They had dark hair and clothes. I couldn’t get a good look on their face but on it I think I saw—”

“A seal,” Nailah suddenly interrupted.

The woman was taken aback, “yeah, something like that I suppose. How did you know?”

“I… Who did you meet from the Gods so far?”

“You, your majesty, Goddess Melinoe and Deity Louhi.”

“And you have never met the one from your dream?”

“I- No, never.”

Nailah’s expression turned to a concerned one. “The God that appeared in your dream sounds awfully like one that currently reigns. God Valerian, ruler of hareans.”

Hareans. That lit a spark in Hiromi. They were the ones that Miru attacked them with a week ago. She remembers them mentioning God Valerian briefly. If he’s anything like his people, she wasn’t so sure if she’d like to ever meet him face-to-face.

“I’m not sure how he could appear in your dreams if you’ve never seen him before.”

‘Surely he didn’t appear here on Earth to mess with her mind. I would have notice his presence if he somehow got here’ Nailah thought.

“Could you tell me something about him?” Hiromi asked.

“Of course. Valerian is one of the first Gods that have lived ever since the beginning of time itself. His ways of reign are… dubious, if I were the judge of that. I would advise you to stay away from him for your own safety. Nothing good ever comes out of his actions.”

The demon hummed in response. “What about the two other hareans that appeared here recently? They seem to have some kind of relationship with him.”

“Ah, those two. That’s Rheya and Roux, his current servants. He tends to send them to different planets to do errands for him. It’s just the way he goes about all of this makes it hard for me to actually keep them from coming here to Earth. He found a loophole in our system and is now abusing it.”

As much as Hiromi wanted to ask about the details of how they can achieve that, she kept those questions to herself. It was the last thing she wanted, to invade privacy of Gods. After all, she still was just a mortal and it wouldn’t be appropriate of her to try and get all their secrets.

Although just one question wouldn’t hurt, would it?

“If I may ask, why do you, your majesty, doesn’t want them to be here?”

Nailah’s eye became… empty. It stirred some uneasiness in Hiromi as she didn’t anticipate that in a response to her question. A tense silence fell between them as Nailah’s gaze was running around the place in a search of something. There was something to the words that Hiromi said that made the other completely change. It’s as if there was a deeper layer of meaning behind them that the demon was unaware of. Before she could apologize, the other finally spoke.

“I simply have a bad feeling about them,” Nailah let out a heavy sigh, “but I cannot truly do to anything to them to stop them if push comes to shove. And I’m afraid that you are somehow involved in whatever they have planned.”

“That… I actually suspected.”

This won't be the last time we see each other, Hiromi. The words of the white haired harean rang in her head like a curse.

“Nobody has control over you but neither one can protect you. Do as your heart desires but do take care.” Please. The last word came out more as a prayer, barely audible for anybody to hear.

Hiromi looked at the other. Her eyes were like an ocean, hiding secrets deep within, far away from the demon’s reach. She knew that the Goddess was letting her know only what she wanted her to. Was it from her own will or something forbade her from that? It was most likely that she’ll never get an answer to that question.

She didn’t even notice her eyelids getting heavy and her body slowly giving its way to the gravity pull. It probably would have been a good idea to start getting more sleep before it started taking her against her will.

As the image before her started to blur, she saw Nailah with the warmest smile on her face. A hand gently brushed against her hair. She let its gentleness lull her to sleep.

A familiar tune could have been heard in the distance.

In other words, hold my hand.

In other words, darling, kiss me.

Fill my heart with song and let me sing for ever more.

You are all I long for, all I worship and adore.

As the events repeated, Hiromi awoke back in the house. Other residents had already been rummaging around as she got up from the bench. Sleep still clanged to her eyelids when the breakfast was prepared and they all sat down to eat.

Today’s idea — much to Moshi’s dismay — was to study the area where they last saw hareans in a search of any traces that they could have left. Anything that would let them learn more about those species. Although she did not anticipate to find much there, it was still worth a shot even for the littlest of information.

The plan was as follows: Hiromi, Tamaki and Moshi would go and complete the research at the scene, while Shion and Maii would stay at home and explore the sources that were available for them. Later in the day, they’d all meet back at the house and share whatever they had found out. Simple.

Cut to now, as the three of them were making their way to their destination.

Soon after they crossed the boundary, Hiromi was attacked with that headache again. Seriously, where does it keep coming from? It made her suspicious of it, because there was nothing normal about it at this point. Heat, as much as it was bothering her, couldn’t be the cause as it should have affected her inside the elves’s terrain in the same way. And yet it didn’t. It didn’t cause those headaches that brought some weird feeling along. Still, it wasn’t a priority now, she needed to focus on the task at hand.

“Remember, say if you notice anything out of ordinary,” she spoke.

“Yes ma’am,” Tamaki gushed.

Moshi, on the other hand, was focused on her own… magic. Hiromi wasn’t exactly sure how it worked and what it was capable of. Honestly, she should do some research on species of her own comrades. All that she was told is that the woman was trying to look out for any signs of Hareans with a spell. Most of the species left some kind of traces that you couldn’t perceive with a naked eye, so there was a chance that those two also left something. It made her wonder if Moshi could also detect her as well this way.

A notably sharp pain struck Hiromi in the head that had made her wince. In few second, Tamaki was by her side.

“Hey, you ‘kay? Need help?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m alright. I just got a headache.”

“That might be a sign that you’re overheating,” Moshi said concerned, but still keeping up with the spell.

“If you want to, we can go back and—”

“No, let’s continue,” Hiromi cut in, before Tamaki could continue with her sentence.

They both already knew of her low tolerance of heat. It wasn’t that unusual for Hiromi to feel faint or fully lose consciousness at this point. It truly made purely existing hard sometimes. It might be also a reason for why she prefers nights over days, as it is the time where the temperatures finally drop down to a livable level. On particularly hot days, she begins to miss her home planet, Eunade — although this nostalgia is quickly swayed away in fear of what else it can bring into the demon’s mind.

“Well, maybe…” Tamaki began to speak, “let me help you with your backpack? Less baggage should help a bit.”

“I don’t want to take it off,” Hiromi whispered, almost as if wanting nobody to hear her.

The other two looked at her with rather puzzled look in their eyes. As Moshi didn’t want to pry into this matter, Tamaki was more curious — and perhaps oblivious — and didn’t stop herself from asking more questions.

“Why not? I promise not to look in to it!”

“No, that’s not it…”

So it’s time for this topic finally, huh. It was no use in lying to herself, it would come up sooner or later.

Hiromi is a teen again. It’s the same cold corridors of the mansion that is her home. She’s at the center of the main hall, with no other soul in sight.

In a moment, footsteps. At first, they’re quiet and distant, but they’re getting louder, closer. Someone’s running, the sound of boots hitting the floor is frantic.

It all happened so quick. She had no time to escape.

She felt a cold blade slice through the whole length of her back. Any words were blocked off by a terrified shriek coming out of her throat.

It was all a blur at that point.

She didn’t even notice when she was lying in a pool of her own blood. That pain was like nothing she ever felt before. It paralyzed her, leaving just that horrifying sound coming out of her. A million thoughts running in her mind and a soul escaping from her grasp.

There were people above her, there were so many people around all of a sudden.

With the use of last bits of strength, she turned her head towards whatever attacked her.

All she saw was a familiar face.

“I don’t like showing my scar.” It’s uncomfortable, too vulnerable.

“You have a scar?” Tamaki intrigued, “I didn’t really pay attention to that. Never had any occasion for that, heh. To much happening everywhere…”

Hiromi hummed in response. It sure was busy lately, and also most of the time she is trying to cover it up. It’s no surprise then that the other didn’t really notice it up until now. The other, who now had her eyes on her, clearly looking for the target of this conversation.

Without much thought, she adjusted the strap of her backpack.

“Yes, I do,” the demon replied nonchalantly, “you’re bound to get some scars when you live a risky life.”

Tamaki let out a sound of amazement, ”that’s so—”

“Shh, wait.”

The two of them turned towards Moshi. Her hands were formed in some kind of gesture, above which was flowing her characteristic “magic circle”, as so they called it. The runes in it were spinning rather quickly, in comparison to how they were some moments ago.

“What is it?”

“I’m sensing something.”

Hiromi tensed at that sentence. She positioned herself to be ready to quickly attack, being aware of her surroundings more than ever. Her gaze sharp, scanned the area around in search for anything. Tamaki, seeing the other’s reaction, took a defensive posture. All the while, Moshi’s eyes remained closed, focused on her task.

Her headache intensified. She clenched her teeth as to regain her focus. Whatever could happen, she needed to be ready. The sense of responsibility for protecting everyone was assaulting all parts of her mind at this point. Its power was almost deafening.

But there was also fear, a feeling that already had made its place in her heart many, many moons ago.

“There!”

As Moshi shouted, a glowing red beam of a familiar power to them, shot out of a ground in the distance. At first, it was unknown to them why it did that in such place, but soon, its target has evacuated from their hideout.

A figure with snow-white hair and a skin as dark as coal jumped down from tree crowns. Hiromi knew there was a small possibility for them to encounter the hareans in person, although it still felt a bit unreal in a moment. Her eyes met with a piercing gaze of Rheya, that betrayed nothing of her intentions to the demon. Like this situation meant nothing, as if it was more annoying than anything else. Half of her face was covered by a mask, which resembled that of a gas one, making her expression even more unreadable.

It didn’t took long for Hiromi to start a chase after the one they were looking for. It wasn’t a part of a plan to actually attack, but when will they get another one? Will there ever be another time where they can get rid off them for good? She had to try now, for all she knew this was her last chance.

The demon quickly manifested her scythe in her right hand, a tall black weapon with a crystal-light blade that was towering over her. Its shape never truly stayed consistent, as a black and white matter was flowing out of its parts like a thick smoke. Never fully solid yet never fully gaseous. The harean did not waste any time to run in an opposite direction from her.

She had to admit that Rheya’s speed was no less than impressive, although it still didn’t match that of Hiromi. The latter was quick to be at arm’s length to the opponent, taking no time in swinging her weapon. In the blink of an eye, the harean plunged into the air, dodging the sharp edge by an inch. The demon’s eyes were quick to chase after her movements, her body following the lead as she tossed the scythe from right to left hand, then swung it upright.

Rheya took this opportunity to kick the weapon to the ground. The other, not letting go of it, was thrown off balance. Instead of taking it out of the soil, Hiromi used it as a prop to support her body on her arms, and swinging her leg at the rival. This time, the attack landed, sending the harean to the ground.

As the demon grabbed her scythe, ready to stab it into the other’s body, she saw something in the corner of her eye.

Tamaki and Moshi were running towards her to help, but there was a figure behind them. Almost like a mirror opposite of Rheya. Dark as the abyss eyes and hair, as well as a pale complexion, which belonged to Roux.

In that moment it clicked inside Hiromi’s brain. Rheya was merely a distraction from their true plan.

She abandoned her current objective, instead sprinting as fast as her legs would allow her towards her companions, who were yet unaware of what was about to happen.

Her grip tightened around the scythe. On her last step, before she’d run into her team, she jumped into the air, ready to swing the blade at what’s behind them. In what felt like a fraction of a second, Roux closed some distance between them and made an inhuman shriek. A wave of pure power came out of his mouth, sending all three of them tumbling down.

Hiromi was quick to get up and take a defensive pose. She tried to overcome the disorientation along the ringing in her ears that came from that attack. Her eyes were wild at this point, like those of a prey, backed into a corner, ready to do anything to save its life. The ever so slight glow ignited inside of them, threatening to turn into something more dangerous. Her gaze was moving between Rheya and Roux frantically, looking for any movement from them, while she tried to maintain her breath steady.

Tamaki coughed, “Hiromi—”

“Stay behind me.”

Her tone was cold as she replied, lacking its usual monotony. It was not a plead, rather than an order to be obeyed without objections. And obey did they.

They stood behind her, as she held her scythe in a position ready to strike at any moment. Rheya and Roux haven’t moved an inch. The only motion they made was when their gazes met. Almost as if that was enough for them to communicate with each other, they nodded to themselves. The dark haired one took out a weird device, looking like a crystal trapped inside a cage. After saying something, he threw it onto the ground and a portal appeared.

Hiromi’s whole body tensed as it screamed to her to jump at them at that very moment. The only reason for which she didn’t proceed with that was a hand holding her wrist. She turned her head and her gaze was met with a pleading face of Moshi, an expression that was mixed with fear. In a moment of clarity, her eyes softened upon realizing the unspoken words that she was trying to tell.

As her gaze came back to the two hareans, they were already getting ready to get through that portal. All that she could now do was watch, watch as the chance was fleeting from her hands. Once they disappeared, so did the passage.

Just as it was planned, the five of them met together back at home. Maii and Shion were seated at the couch, along with some dust-covered books, scattered on both the floor and table. Some open on random pages, some closed. Moshi and Maii took places on chairs in front of the other two, while Hiromi remained standing, leaning on a kitchen counter.

“So, who starts?” Maii asked.

“We have encountered the hareans in person.”

Hiromi blurted out before anyone else could say anything. The two who stayed home that day, gasped at that information.

“Oh damn,” Shion utters, deadpanned but still with concert in her voice and on her face.

Maii, on the other hand, almost jumped out of her seat.

“What!? Are you guys okay? Should I—”

The demon put her hand up, signaling to the other to stop talking. After she did so, Hiromi continued her speech.

“They haven’t truly done anything, but they did land a hit on all three of us. I already performed a health check on us and nothing seems particularly wrong,” Hiromi sighed, taking a small break before her next sentence.

“One, they hide themselves pretty well. It took a while before one of their positions was revealed. Two, they can use their speech as a weapon, at least manifesting a shock wave with just it. And three, they have some kind of a device that can open up a portal to somewhere.”

“A device, portals… Oh, I know!” Maii exclaimed, “Gods can create these things as an alternative way to travel between planets. They themselves don’t use it, or just can’t, I don’t remember which one.”

“If those exists, what is the point of normal portals?” Tamaki intrigued.

“Well, for one they also have their own terms and conditions but also they need recharging from time to time. Normal portals have constant power source while those devices have a set amount of uses before it just, drops.”

“Interesting. So they are travelling between planets with it,” Moshi hummed.

“It seems like it,” Maii replied.

“Have you learned something about hareans from those books?” Hiromi asked.

Shion looked at the elf beside her, “Something, yeah. Well, you already know that but they use their speech as a main attack. Though it also varies from one person to another what speech abilities they have. But what they all share in common is that they mainly ‘attack mentally’ so to say, rather than physically.”

Maii nodded in agreement, “yes, but also using too much of those abilities sends them into the ‘no power’ mode. Kind of like that device actually! They need to sort of recharge before being able to continue using their speech powers.”

“Also,” Shion continued, “they have so-called ranks. One, two, three and four. Their speech thingy is based on that, so rank one is a weakling and four is basically overpowered. Also you can tell which rank they are based on the markings on their faces. One marking on one side of a face is rank one, two markings is rank two, yadda yadda you probably can guess the rest.”

“Other than those general information about their species, we haven’t found anything else. The elves, here at least, don’t know much about them as well. We don’t really have a need for that.”

“This is still a valuable information either way,” Hiromi spoke, her voice a bit more quiet than usual.

Attacking the mind using their speech and hard to spot, noted. Great. It might be a pain in the ass to deal with but she’ll come up with something, surely. She has to in order to protect others and she has no plans in failing to do that.

“What bothers me though,” Maii cut in, “is that we haven’t really observed any hareans here on Earth up until now. It looks like they just appeared out of nowhere.”

The conversation that followed these sentences didn’t truly reach Hiromi’s ears. Her gaze became unfocused as her mind filled up with so many thoughts. One of such was a realization that she genuinely was a target for hareans. Before, even the Goddess herself — Nailah — told her that she might be involved in their plans and now Maii’s words only confirm those concerns. Following that, why would she be their target? Does the dream that she had with apparently their God have something to do with that? Did he send Rheya and Roux after her? What is his plan then? Why would a God have something against her? Why—

Calm down, Hiromi.

The words reverberated inside her head like a bell as she caught her breath picking up. Too many thoughts that caused too many emotions stirring inside of her. Breath in, hold, breathe out. Slowly. Repeat.

Breath in, hold, breathe out.

Calm down.