- Lucifer, Death, Mira -
Lucifer was flying around looking for any signs of where Cytus could have gone.
'I will find you. Maybe not today, but I swear on my soul that I will end you.'
Lucifer couldn't find anything and decided to fly back to Hydern for now. The thought of Cytus getting away would be a thorn in his side, but he knew finding them wouldn't be easy with how close to the border they were.
Mira eventually landed in Hydern, looking around for Death who was standing with three others.
The inn was being repaired by one of the village's stone mages, who had been waiting until things were confirmed safe before showing themselves.
"Woulda helped, but you understand? Right?" The mage was a woman, no taller than five feet tall, with messy blonde hair that covered her eyes. She was wearing a purple robe full of holes.
"It's fine." Said Peter, standing outside of the inn with Lucifer and Death.
Lucifer's glare suggested he didn't feel the same.
Meanwhile, Death was looking at the damaged robe. "I can get you a new one, Fiona."
Fiona looked up at her former boss and shook her head. "No, it's fine. I wear this one whenever I repair things."
"You should probably start stationing current reapers out here again. If only temporarily." Lucifer said to Death.
"I'll ask the village chief later," Death replied.
Mira walked up to them. "What's the situation," She asked Death.
"Let me tell you," Lucifer spoke before Death could.
Mira looked disappointed that she had to hear the story from Lucifer.
Lucifer explained everything that happened.
Mira was upset at the news, "I see. I can't believe Uriel's body is being used for such things," She turned to Death, "Have you called Heaven yet?"
Death shook his head. "I was waiting for you to get back. I figured you could help me ease Michael into the information."
Peter suddenly felt out of place with everyone. "I'm goin' to go inside," He walked into the repaired inn, feeling like he could sleep forever.
"I guess I'll join him. I'll start my search backup tomorrow." Lucifer turned to walk through the inn door but was stopped by Mira.
"I want to search wit-"
She was interrupted by Lucifer. "No. I'll let you know what Cytus's last words are."
The look in Lucifer's eyes deterred her from arguing.
- Death and Mira -
Death used his diplomatic tone, "Sorry about him, but you understand his position right?"
Mira looked more sad than angry. "I just...Uriel deserved better.".
Death felt bad for her.
"Let's call Heaven." Death walked towards the back of the inn, where his uništi was, motioning Mira to follow.
Death's uništi had returned to normal and was just standing eerily still, next to the other two.
Death pulled out his echo. "Sorry, but I don't want others to hear."
"Why are you worried about others hearing?" Mira asked.
"Death talking to the archangel Michael is a conversation most only imagine," Death said getting ready to call Michael. "I don't want people staring."
"You mean the lessers, right?" Mira said casually.
"Don't use that word," Death's tone was serious. "I stand above your kind, even Michael, but I don't insult them for their relative weakness."
Mira was confused, "I didn't think of it as an insult. The rankings have existed forever, so I never gave it a second thought."
Death was annoyed, "Not forever," He called Michael. "Hello."
"I assume Mira is still with you?" Michael asked in a distrustful tone.
"I'm still here, sir," Mira answered.
Michael's tone stayed distrustful, "That's good. I had thought that Death might use that cursed steed of his to leave you behind."
Death started imagining some of his favorite things to calm down.
'Persephone's cooking. Ra's beer. Tera's singing.' He repeated the three things in his head multiple times before speaking.
Death explained, "Lucifer's group had a battle with Cytus. They caused him to run away. Lucifer is currently searching for him."
Michael's tone changed to surprise, "They caused him to run away?! Clearly, that parasite doesn't have full use of...Uriel's power," He shifted to sad tone.
Death had little empathy for Michael's problems most days, but couldn't help but feel bad for the archangel. He waited until Michael spoke again, thinking it was one of the few courtesies he should give.
Michael's voice sounded tired, "Tell Lucifer he has three days to deal with...Cytus, before Heaven gets involved."
Death didn't want Heaven involved with the human resistance, so he thought it was good that they might have a new focus.
"I'll let him know," Death said. "Cytus was severely damaged by Lucifer's team in Hydern, so wherever he is it'll have to be somewhere that has an advanced healer or better."
"Thank you," Michael sounded genuine.
Death was surprised by the gratefulness, "I guess that's everything for now. You can talk to Mira if you want."
"No, that's fine. Mira, be careful out there." Michael ended the call.
Death turned to look at Mira and noticed her eyes were watering.
Mira had already come to terms with losing Uriel, but Michael's warning to her opened the old emotional wound. She couldn't help but get a little teary-eyed for a moment. She wiped her eyes and walked away.
Death didn't know what to say to her that she hadn't already heard many times before.
'Platitudes from me won't help.'
Death put his echo away and joined the rest of the group.
- Elijah -
It was morning and the males of the group, except for Death who politely refused, and Lucifer, who was still out searching at the time, decided to go to the village's bathhouse.
Elijah had woken up before the sunrise, which shocked most of the group. He was brought up to speed with what happened after he passed out and decided he wanted to stay.
"Things go wrong, sometimes horribly so. I should have expected the worst when I agreed to Lucifer's deal." He had said.
The bathhouse was a large stone building with its name carved into the top. The five walked in.
Elijah looked around in the bathhouse, "I'm really happy these exist in this world. I've dealt with weeks of no bathing before, but I'd prefer not to have to if possible."
Peter walked up to the counter and handed the person four silver.
'Fuckin non-resident markups.'
Peter's hair had turned partially gray overnight. His hands had aged to look older than the rest of his body. The man behind the counter was darting their eyes from Peter's hands to his face, clearly wondering what had happened.
The five men walked through the door connecting the lobby to the changing areas. As Lao took off his shirt Elijah noticed a tattoo on his back.
"If you don't mind me asking, who's Dimitri?" Elijah asked.
He had lost his tattoos when he was reborn, but always felt like sharing the stories behind a tattoo was a good way to make common ground.
"My husband," Lao answered. "Before you ask, he doesn't like that I do this, but understands why I do."
Elijah didn't think someone with a loved one would do this kind of work.
'He is a healer, and I guess when you live to his age you won't let anyone talk you out of what you want to do.'
Elijah noticed a teeth mark tattoo on Sabu's arm.
Peter put his hand on Elijah's shoulder and mouthed "no" to him. Peter had a large thin tattoo going down his back in a line that looked like a sword wound.
As Elijah looked around at the other four men he realized they all had various tattoos. Sabu had multiple small black lines crisscrossing on his shoulder blades. Heinrich had a German word on his back that had multiple cut scars through it.
'Unverzeihlich?' Elijah realized he knew what the word meant. 'I don't know German.'
Peter saw Elijah looking at Heinrich's tattoo. "I have something to explain to ya after we're done here," Peter whispered to Elijah.
After bathing, Peter took Elijah to their supply cart so he could grab a book that was full of blank pages, and a pen that was full of red liquid.
Peter started writing down various words in different languages. Elijah was able to read and understand all of them, except for one.
"What does sk-sk, um, that one mean," Elijah said pointing at the word.
"Skyllamahrütshk," Peter said with ease. "That word is not human, and because of that it doesn't translate for ya."
Elijah looked confused, still trying to say the word in his head how Peter did.
Peter continued, "There's a key difference between reborn and, as their known, natural-born humans in this world. While all humans receive the benefits of mana, only the reborn seem to have the innate ability to translate most human languages."
Elijah didn't know what to say to that.
Peter took a breath. "It's believed that the same God who made echoes, that orb you've seen Lucifer use for calls, is also responsible for creatin' The Three Realms."
"Because of that, it's generally assumed the reborn's ability to translate seems to be connected to this God in question. No one knows who the God is, but most have agreed upon their name. Chaos. That's also why the extremely rare magics are called 'chaos magic' ".
"How rare is it?" Elijah asked.
Peter hummed in uncertainty. "Hard to say exactly. Statistics aren't easy to gather in this world."
Peter didn't enjoy being the one to explain things. He felt like it was better for someone more experienced like Lucifer or Death to teach this stuff.
'I'll have Lucifer double-check anything I've said, just to make sure.'
Peter put the book and pen back into the cart. "There's another type of magic that Lao is far more familiar with than me, known as martial magic. Ya can find a definition, explanation, and all that other stuff in your guide, but I'd always recommend talkin' with him if you want to know more."
"So I know 'most human languages' now?" Elijah asked. "What if the language changes over time, does my translation ability get an update?"
"That's why I said most," Peter answered. "It would seem that the translation ability has gotten stronger over time. Most of the gods speak a majority of languages and any that don't will have a reborn translator."
Peter frowned before continuing. "It's one of the main reasons natural-born humans are considered to be...defective."
Elijah scowled at the term.
'Defective? Really?'
Peter tried to lighten the mood, "It is great though, seein' two reborn's faces who speak different languages when they realize they can understand each other."
Elijah chuckled picturing the image. It wasn't uncommon that someone might hide an insult behind a language barrier so the thought of someone getting caught helped ease Elijah's mind with some humor.
Elijah's tone was curious, "How and why do the four of you have tattoos? Not judging, I had my own before I came to this world."
Peter reached his hand over his shoulder and scratched his back. "Healin' magic is a wonderful thing in this world. As I'm sure you've seen it can even heal most scars. If someone is proud of a particular battle scar they got, they will get a tattoo in remembrance of it. Hell actually has tattoo artists, if ya want to replace anythin' ya miss from your past life."
Elijah looked at the hand he had twice destroyed, now perfectly fine.
'What kind of non-fatal injury can healing magic not fix? Also what kind of injury did Peter receive on his back?'
Elijah still had a lot of questions but felt like Peter deserved a break. He had noted Peter's graying hair and aged hands.
'I hope he's okay.'
- Lucifer -
As the searching went on Lucifer was beginning to worry that Cytus might have crossed the border at some point.
"Fuck!" Lucifer yelled into the air around him.
He wasn't particularly upset at the news that Heaven would get involved if he failed to kill Cytus in three days, but more that there was a serious threat roaming around, with a vendetta against him and his team.
He decided to fly back early. He wanted to clear his mind and decided going to the bathhouse might be a good option. He asked the man operating the heating for the bathhouse if he could use his own fire for the heated water. He heated his water to a boil and poured it over his head.
'Be vigilant. Be fast. Be decisive.'
As much bad blood as there was with Lucifer and Heaven he would still repeat some of the angelic sayings whenever he felt like he was losing control of his emotions.
'Don't give your enemy strength in your mind, lest you lose the first battle.'
Lucifer left the bathhouse with a clear mind, thinking of what to do first. He almost didn't notice Mira waiting for him outside of the bathhouse.
- Lucifer and Mira -
'Please just go away.'
"Can I help you with something Mira?" Lucifer said in as nice a tone as he could fake.
She grimaced. "Cytus. Any progress?"
Lucifer scowled. "None."
Mira wasn't giving up, much to Lucifer's irritation, "How come you haven't found anything? Do you even actually care about finding him?"
Lucifer didn't want to waste his breath explaining to her all the different reasons why he wanted to find Cytus. He realized his words were better spent warning her.
"I assume he's in the northern territories. I will keep looking, but I don't expect to find anything. I would recommend you not do something stupid like look for him yourself."
Mira rebutted. "He was severely damaged in his fight. Even if he has found a healer there is not a chance he has been healed to full strength yet."
Lucifer sighed. "How many have died thinking their opponent was an easy finish? Especially in the cases where lighting magic is involved? You have illusion magic and your swordsmanship, but Cytus has an archangel's body and lightning magic, along with nothing to lose. He's a cornered vermin."
Mira was angered by Lucifer's words. She was about to storm off before Lucifer said one last thing.
"Uriel was a good man. He deserved better, and the thing controlling him deserves far worse."
Mira was surprised by Lucifer's words. She was ready to leave and search for Cytus, but Lucifer's last statement changed her mind.
'I wonder what Michael or Azriel would do?'
- Death -
Death had been acting as a supervisor while Lucifer was out hunting. He refused Peter's offer to go to the bathhouse, knowing his body was very unsettling for most.
'I hope Mira's feeling better. I'm sure at some point she's going to leave to chase down Cytus on her own.'
Death offered to feed the other uništi, while Lucifer was gone. He knew the others didn't have the mana for it, and Mira would most likely refuse. He placed his hands on the two uništi that were standing side-by-side and fed them his mana.
'I understand why so many fear you, but you really are great creatures.'
Death took his hands off the two uništi and scratched their sides.
'I don't know if you enjoy this, but I heard from humans that most animals love to be pet in one form or another. I don't think it applies to this world's creatures, but it can't hurt to check.'
Death walked back to the inn, waiting for the sound of Lucifer's wings to signal his arrival. He heard Lucifer land and went outside.
He stopped Mira before she could talk to him. "Give him a little time before asking about Cytus. A snappy answer won't make you feel any better."
She clicked her tongue. "I'll probably get an annoying answer regardless, but fine."
Mira watched Lucifer walk into the bathhouse and waited outside until he was done.
Death saw Mira walking away from Lucifer after they spoke, worrying about what had been said. Mira came up to him asking if she could use his echo to call Heaven.
"Use the one Michael gave you." Death smiled