Leif dropped another dry branch in the fire. He poked at it until flames licked around the entire length of the stick, covering it in orange tongues. He sat on the grassy hard-packed earth, leaning back so that his back was supported by a large rock. Crackling sounds made by the campfire accompanied the singing further away, where a makeshift tent was set up. Once the song ended, Tiryui emerged from the tent and took a seat on a log across from Leif.
"He's asleep now," she said.
"It's been a long day and traveling through this terrain is rough," Leif acknowledged. "He deserves the rest."
"You're not like the other adventurer with you," Tiryui said, looking at him with a slow appraisal. She was still uncertain about the human. Her thoughts bounced between speaking and staying silent, but at last she gathered enough willpower to say, "I'm grateful for your help, but tell me why did you do this for us?"
Leif looked up from the dancing fire and at the demon sitting across from him. The night decreased the visibility of the violet sheen that appeared to exude from her body. In occasional bursts, Leif could spot a reflection of that purple color in the light cast by the bonfire between them. Her eyes watched him carefully, red pupils glowing with an inner blaze that made her golden irises glow.
"It was the right thing to do," he said without hesitation.
A tender look crossed Tiryui's face as she forced a wan smile. "You must be young still," she said, "To say something so gallant. Aren't you a human, from the north? That's very close to our portals. My kind must have done horrible things to people you know. Aren't you afraid?"
"Of what?" Leif asked. "I don't think you want to hurt me. You'd have done it already."
"I'm glad," Tiryui smiled with more vigor. She relaxed, to what extent she could on the rough log seat. "I'm glad that in this world there are also reasonable people."
"Did you run into trouble with people here?"
"Not with humans," She said. "No, we weren't seen by any humans all the way until we made it to the forest. Then you found us."
"When was that?" Leif asked.
"It must be close to two months ago." Tiryui looked skyward at the waning moon. "Yes, the moon was waxing on the day we came here, and one full phase has passed since then."
"You know about our world's moon?"
Tiryui gave an enigmatic smile as she turned her attention back to Leif. "I learned many things about your world, your lands, your waters, and your skies."
Leif gave an impressed nod. "And the cabin, it looked new. Did you build that or was it already there?"
"We built it."
"You and your son? You two must be very hard workers."
"His father built it. I helped with some of the furniture," Tiryui said. Her shoulders slumped.
Noticing the change in demeanor, Leif said, "What happened to him?"
"Tehant. His father's name was Tehant. He was a scientist in our world. I remember how he used to come to every one of my shows." Tiryui's eyes appeared to shift into a warmer amber glow as she reminisced. "Even on slow nights and nights with bad weather, when no one else other than the employees were there, he would still see me. As long as I was the one on stage that night, he would be there."
"You said a stage? What did you do in your world?"
"I was a singer, a dancer, and entertainer, depending on what the bar owner needed that night."
"A bar?" Leif said. "As in, a bar in a tavern? A bar for drinking alcohol?"
"Yes, that kind of bar. We have that in some of our cities, just like you do. Why are you so surprised?"
"I feel like I shouldn't be. I just thought that, well, maybe I had the wrong idea of the Netherworld."
"And what do you think this 'Netherworld' looks like?"
"Burning? Fire? Demons fighting? Smoke?" Leif felt more embarrassed the more he revealed his assumptions.
Tiryui laughed. "Oh wow, I haven't laughed like this for a long time! Thank you, adventurer!" She wiped tears from her eyes. "Is that really what you think of my homeland?"
"I don't know. I only heard the stories."
"If that were the case, where are we supposed to live?"
Leif felt warm in his cheeks. Hearing that from a demon made it sound so obvious that their whole world couldn't be the infernal landscape espoused by human leaders. "I'm sorry, I made a bad assumption."
"It's no problem at all, you're not the only human to think that's what the 'Netherworld' looks like." Tiryui wiped away more tears and continued smiling. "And for your information, the world I come from is called Kandris, and my home was on the largest continent called Panglossus. I was a citizen of an island country called Yarben.
"And yes, we do have oceans and other bodies of water," she added, before Leif could ask.
"That makes sense to me. I feel stupid now that I noticed, but it's similar to how there are volcanoes but no one actually lives inside of one." Then remembering the topic, Leif added, "Sorry, I think we were talking about something before this."
"No it's fine," Tiryui said. "I'm really relieved that the conversation went in this direction. It helps me not to think about it."
"Good to hear that."
A silence hung over the fading fire. Leif took a stick and poked around the declining embers. "It's late now. According to my map, if we continue moving through the forest, we still have half a day before we reach the nearest sanctuary for non-humans. I'm going to get some rest now. You should too," he said.
The two of them stood up, standing less than a meter apart. The clearing in the trees and the faint light from the moon and stars provided some light in the dark night. Combined with the remaining orange glow among the ashes between them, the brightness was enough to see each other's outlines.
"Good night, Leif. Thank you for helping my son and me."
"Night."
Leif was about to turn the other direction to his tent when he hear the sound of cracking twigs. Someone, or something, was out there. Not wanting to alert anyone, Leif crouched behind the rock he had moments ago sat against. He listened, and heard mumblings in coarse Galesian.
Brigands? Raed mentioned there were bandits in the forest. Leif cursed his carelessness under his breath. The campfire would have led bandits straight to them.
Crawling close to the ground, Leif felt his way back to the campfire, throwing a handful of dirt over the remnants. He crept without sight to where he thought Tiryui and Chaibi's tents were set up.
Just as his eyes had begun to adjust to the sparse light, a brilliant flash of violet erupted where the tent was. Leif closed his eyes in pain and shielded them with an arm.
When his closed eyes felt no more brightness, he opened them and blinked away his temporary blindness. In front of him floated Tiryui and Chaibi, hovering in the air and wrapped in a violet mist.
Tiryui looked at him with desperate eyes. "Please, my son..."
There was nothing tangible holding Tiryui and Chaibi in place. Leif searched the area around the suspended Chaibi, but it was as if he were floating in a purple cloud. He checked Tiryui's enclosure next, and found that she, too, was suspended, although much lower than her son. He reached out a hand to touch the hazy barrier, and immediately felt his hand repelled like a magnet.
If he could just touch it, then maybe he could figure out how to break it. He tried again, extending his hand at a slower speed. But before he could make contact with the immaterial prison, he was interrupted by a voice.
"Hey we got them!" Whoever said that sounded like a hoarse donkey. It was close, and Leif's vision recovered enough to see the orange glow of torches through the trees.
They were getting closer. Leif did not want to risk getting caught without freeing either of the two demons. And he did not know what he was facing. Leif had never encountered the purple prisons holding Tiryui and Chaibi, but they appeared magical. And he was ill-equipped to deal with any magic users.
Leif gave Tiryui an apologetic look. "I'll be back for you, I promise." He said, before fleeing the other way and diving into the hollow root of a large tree. He pulled handfuls of fallen twigs, branches, and leaves over the obscured opening, leaving little evidence in the darkness of his presence.
After several tense seconds, Leif heard the voices grow louder until they sounded like they reached the campsite. He peered out from his hiding spot, raising his eyes above the ground to spy on the voices. A few twigs and leaves clung to the top of his head.
It was too dark to see any details of the figures, but Leif counted five torches. If they belonged to the same group, then he would stand no chance against all five. Leif slid back into the hollow of the tree roots, praying that whoever those were would leave.
"Oi, Marcus, we got two live ones here!" A rough voice yelled. "A female demon and a little demon!"
"Male or female?" Another grating scratchy voice, belonging to Marcus, yelled.
After a pause, the first rough voice returned, "Male."
"Kill it then," Marcus said.
Moments later, from inside his hiding spot, Leif heard Tiryui's earsplitting shriek followed by broken sobs and wails.
"Done. But what a waste. You think kid demon parts sell for anything?" The first voice asked.
"Don't be stupid Carlmer. Now where's the third one?" Marcus shouted.
"Third one?" Came Carlmer's reply.
"Idiot! The third one that ran away before we netted it!"
"Ran away, didn't he?"
Leif heard a slap in the darkness.
"Ow why did you hit me for Marcus?"
"He ran away!" Marcus shouted.
"That's what I said!"
Another slap.
"Why are you hitting me Marcus?"
Marcus grunted and gave a rough snarl. "You idiot! He ran away, because he didn't get caught in the trap!"
"That's right! He didn't get caught!"
"He. Did not. Get caught." Marcus was very angry.
"Yuh?"
"Which means he wasn't a demon!"
"Ohh! That makes sense." Carlmer said.
"Useless idiot!" Marcus exhaled a loud sigh. "Just throw the live one in the cage and put the dead one in ice. With any luck we'll get someone who fancies eating demon flesh," Marcus barked. "Toman, Bleck, go find the third. Fordy, you're with me. We're hunting human!"
Leif tried his best to control his breathing. His heart beat so hard he was afraid the thumping would tell the killers his location. He closed his eyes, doing his best to think of anything other than the screams from the demon with whom he had minutes ago finished sharing a light conversation.
He heard footsteps run past his position. He held his breath. There were two groups that were going after him. After a few painful seconds where Leif willed himself not to gasp for air, he heard a second pair of voices yelling further away from his hiding spot. They were moving away. The fifth man was loud enough to confirm that he was occupied.
Leif let out his breath. He inhaled slowly, doing his best to breathe in through his nose. His pulse was still sprinting but the panic had subsided. He could think again.
With recovered clarity, Leif remembered the smooth glossy tablet Raed gave him. He said it could be used to send him a message, but looking at the featureless rectangular object with rounded corners, Leif had no idea what he was supposed to do with it.
Raed said to appraise it. Leif's breathing came under control. His heart also slowed down to a fast jog. He closed his eyes, the tablet in hand, and he concentrated on identifying its materials and mechanics.
With both hands holding the smooth device, Leif felt information flow through his fingers and into his subconscious mind. He encountered things he could not understand. But they were fascinating mysteries that would have to wait for later, as Leif focused on identifying how to operate the object. Several lines appeared in his inner vision, coursing in parallel along an invisible path, stopping along circular nodules before altering direction and continuing down an endless path. He immediately recognized the physical material was gold, but the moving part was something different. It was almost as if several small lightning bolts were forced to travel along the golden lines, while contained inside a box. Leif let his mind ride along that gold-lined pathway that carried guided lightning, until he looped back to where he began.
Opening his eyes with partial but sufficient knowledge, Leif squeezed a button hidden on the side and one of the flat sides of the device lit up like the holograms on the Finulid City guild consoles. Leif searched for the emblem of an oval with a triangle extending from one end and found it on the upper left corner. He placed a finger over it and it expanded to take over the entire screen. A single entry gleamed on screen: [Raed Tening].
Leif pressed his finger on the name. A blank space emerged and rows of illuminated Galesian letters filled the bottom half of the screen. At this point Leif had figured out that the device was very similar to a handheld guild console, except much smaller and lighter. He moved his fingers across the glimmering letters, sending out a message to Raed.
After he pressed the 'Send' part, Leif slumped down. He pressed his back against the damp hollow of his hiding spot, hoping that Raed would receive the message and could help him. He listened to the now-distant voices of the unidentified group until, fatigued, he fell into a restless sleep.