Chapter 16: 16. Armaros

"Have you seen this requirement for professor Harris's class?" I asked no-one in particular. Though the only other person around who was in that class was Melissa. "We're supposed to do half the semester with a film camera? I'm not sure I've even seen a camera that uses film, outside internet or TV or whatever."

"Mhmm," Melissa responded without looking up from her laptop. "Not just any film camera either. Supposed to be something cheap and simple, like a toy camera."

I frowned, "Huh? So not a real camera? I don't understand. Are we supposed to pretend to take pictures?"

My busty blonde girlfriend rolled her eyes, "If you'd actually read the whole email you'd find the answers Mara."

"Sorry," I grimaced and focused on my phone again.

It was Sunday evening and all four of us were lounging around in the living-room sipping drinks after dinner, but we were all kind of studying or whatever.

I was catching up on emails on my phone, reading all the last-minute requirements and stuff our profs sent out after the first classes last week. Susan was reading a text or an assignment or whatever on her tablet. Amber was smiling as she watched a video on her phone, but she had the sound turned off so as not to disturb anyone. And Melissa was hard at work on her laptop, but I wasn't sure what she was up to since we hadn't been given any real assignments yet.

Like she said, the rest of the email had all the information I needed. The prof gave us a bunch of requirements and restrictions to follow if we wanted to get our own cheap film cameras, and she suggested we could find them online at auction sites and stuff like that. She also said if we couldn't find one or whatever, she had a collection of appropriately crappy cameras and she'd loan us something.

I filed that email away and went on to the next one, but I didn't get far before Melissa suddenly let out a shout.

"Holy shit!" she stated as she sat bolt-upright on the sofa. "I think I've got it!"

Sue startled slightly at the sudden loud interruption, she asked "What! What's wrong?"

There was a huge grin on Melissa's face as she turned her laptop around so we could all see the screen, "Check it out!"

My heart skipped a beat when I saw what she was so excited about. It was a six-by-six grid of letters, thirty-six in total. Some of them had accents and a couple were like two letters smushed together. And overlaid above the grid was the complicated squiggle of Armaros's name glyph.

"No way!" I grinned. "You got it?! This is his magic square?"

Melissa nodded, "Pretty sure. It hits all the points on his glyph, and covers all eleven letters we already knew about plus two more."

By that point both Susan and Amber were standing next to me and Melissa, all four of us were staring at the graphic on her laptop.

"We're not done though right?" Sue asked.

I shook my head, "This gets us all the letters in the right order, except for doubles. There'll be duplicate letters in his true name."

"At least one," Melissa added. "Maybe more. So here's the ones we have..."

She tabbed into another app where she had the letters typed out.

It read 'Armżektævlios' which looked to me like an unsolved word jumble. Everyone stared at it for a few seconds, then my girlfriends all looked at me.

"What?" I asked. "Why are you looking at me?"

Melissa grinned, "You solved Verothilas' name in like ten seconds last year. I was hoping you'd have a brainstorm and get this one too."

"Oh," I grimaced. "Sorry. I've got nothing."

Lily had been quiet but I knew she had to be watching, and maybe she was waiting for me to figure it out too. She finally spoke up after another half minute, "Let Melissa know this is excellent progress. We're ninety percent there now. I'm confident we'll figure out what's missing soon enough."

"All right Lily," I replied, then I passed all that along.

The four of us spent a bit more staring at Armaros's magic square and the pile of unpronounceable letters his square represented, but none of us had any more breakthroughs.

Eventually we all got back to what we were doing before, then a couple hours later we called it a night and went to bed.

• • • • •

I dove down just above the waves, then pulled up and passed over the little fishing boat only half a wingspan above the men's heads. There were shouts of fear and alarm as they all ducked beneath me, and I couldn't help giggling.

As I circled around again I heard a couple of the fishermen praying to Poseidon, while one or two of the braver ones shouted curses my way. One even held his oar up as if to threaten me with it.

I giggled again then dove in for another pass. It was too much fun to resist, and the one with the oar almost posed a challenge.

To be honest, I was just wasting time while I waited for either my mater or mehter to come fetch me. There'd be another lecture about how I was five centuries old now and should know better than to be this irresponsible revealing myself to the humans. Mater would complain that toying with the men would only lead to trouble down the road, and all the other boring things she went on about.

Then mehter would break down and give me a hug while mater pretended to stay angry. My northern mehter would secretly smile and congratulate me on my antics, my Mediterranean mater would complain how she had to live with these people and every time I revealed myself it made her life more difficult. Then me and mehter would fly up into the air and she'd chase me around the hills, pretending to almost catch me then letting me escape every time she got too close.

With a happy smile I buzzed the little boat again, and the brave man with the oar took a swing at me. I pivoted on a wingtip to avoid the strike, then I snatched the makeshift weapon from his hands. With another giggle I flew up into the air well out of their reach, then dropped the oar into the water not too far from their boat.

I enjoyed teasing and playing with the humans, but I didn't actually want to harm them or inconvenience them too much after all.

I continued to climb upwards in the air as I looked back at the mainland. Normally my mater would be here by now to interrupt my fun. I'd been at it for almost two hours, since I teleported from Thera to a fishing village on the little island Megaris. That was almost due south of Lilith's home overlooking the new settlement with the unimaginative name Neapolis. I preferred to fly, but I wasn't strong enough yet to fly all the way here. Someday though.

The men below continued shouting at me, but I lost interest in them as I continued looking north towards the mainland. I finally decided to head for mater's home. I hadn't seen either her or my mehter in a year, and I was looking forward to the reunion.

Soon enough I was circling above mater's home, but still nobody flew up to greet me.

I started to wonder if something was amiss, and I finally swooped down low and landed among the grape vines next to the house.

"Mater? Mehter?" I called as I approached the large wide doorway. "Are you here?"

A moment later Lilith flew out of her home at full speed. She swept me up off my feet as she wrapped her arms around me and held me tighter than I'd expected.

I had no idea what was going on, but a second later two others emerged from the small structure. I knew them both, they were practically family. My aunt Verothilas from the north-west, and uncle Armaros from the south-west.

Both of them had stern looks on their faces.

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"Mater?" I asked as she held me tightly. "What's wrong? Has something happened?"

Lilith's face was set in a stern, almost angry expression. Or at least, that's how almost everyone else would perceive it. I knew her better than most, and I could tell she was upset. She was sad, something was very wrong.

I glanced back at the house again, and I felt a sense of cold dread settle in my belly.

"Where's mehter?" I asked nervously. "Where is Efranir?"

My mater held me even tighter, as she whispered in my ear, "She's gone Mara. Do not let Armaros or Verothilas see sadness. We can mourn when they've left, but for now you must show strength. We are demons, we do not have friends, we do not show weakness."

Mater's words cut into me like shards of ice, and it seemed like time stopped. I didn't breath, my heart was still, and all I could think about was how my mehter would never fly with me again.

Lilith finally released me as she stated, "Stay quiet now Mara. Your elders are discussing the situation."

I nodded silently, and I stayed still as if rooted to the spot. I forced my emotions down and kept myself numb. Both Verothilas and Armaros were watching, and I would not embarrass my mater.

The three of them went back inside mater's home, and I quietly followed them in. I moved into a corner and sat crosslegged on the floor as I watched and listened to their meeting.

Verothilas was explaining how the skies darkened and fire spewed from a mountain in Efranir's homeland. My gold-feathered aunt traveled there immediately and flew around the area searching for her friend, my mehter.

"There was nothing I could do," she stated. "I couldn't even recover her remains, the body was quickly consumed by the lava flow. There was no trace of her killer either. Not even a scent. Whatever demon ended her, they covered their tracks well. I worry that we have a new enemy, that perhaps one of us will be next."

Armaros appeared impassive as he paced, and the ground almost shook beneath his heavy strides. His long dangerous tail flicked back and forth in irritation. He was annoyed at the insult of someone killing one of his allies, but that was all.

"Efranir was the youngest and weakest among us," Armaros said. "Who would kill her, then flee rather than claim her territory?"

Lilith suggested, "We've chased many demons away over the ages. Perhaps it was someone seeking revenge? Others know we're allies, they know it's folly to openly challenge us."

"Whoever it was they won't get away with this," Verothilas stated. "I will not rest till I find the killer."

My mater asked, "So our arrangement stands? We will avenge Efranir's death?"

"As we agreed," Armaros nodded. "Else what's the point of being allies? We defend each other's territory and avenge each other's deaths. Someone attacked one of us, all of us respond."

He added, "Verothilas, your lands are closest to Efranir's. You should take them. Defend them, and keep wary of any who seek to encroach upon that which was once hers."

"Of course," she nodded. "I will see that her territory stays with us."

Armaros then turned and his eyes locked on mine. He commented, "If this little one ever decides to grow up, if she ever chooses to come out from under Lilith's wing, she may one day inherit Efranir's territory."

Verothilas looked at me too as she responded, "Perhaps. Until then, don't worry little Mara. I'll keep your mehter's lands under my protection."

I gulped and nodded, but I kept quiet.

That seemed to be the end of the meeting. Mater and her allies agreed to meet again in a decade, then with a pulse of magic Verothilas vanished. A second pulse of energy accompanied Armaros' disappearance. And with that, my mater and I were alone.

She stood silently in the middle of the room, and her shoulders slowly slumped down and her head drooped forward as she let out a long sad sigh. I got to my feet and moved to stand before her. I wrapped my arms around her waist, mater's arms settled around my shoulders.

My head leaned against her stomach as the two of us stood together and grieved in silence.

• • • • •

I woke suddenly, my heart racing. I fumbled for my phone on the bedside table then blinked some tears out of my eyes as I checked the time. Half past three, Wednesday morning.

Moving quietly so I wouldn't disturb Melissa and Susan, I slipped out of bed then tiptoed out of our bedroom, and finally downstairs and into the kitchen. I got some juice, then slumped onto the living-room sofa. My tail curled up on my lap as I had a few gulps of my drink.

It was the third night in a row I'd dreamed about being demon Mara, and the third one in a row where Armaros had been there too. Apart from that very first dream when I got killed, almost all my past-life dreams were just of me and maybe some random humans. And I never saw Lily in the dreams before this week.

Now I was dreaming of her, as well as Verothilas and Armaros. And it was weird seeing those two as friends or relatives or whatever.

This dream was also the earliest one I'd ever had, like I was really young this time. Five hundred years old, but I looked and felt like a ten year old girl. Well, a ten year old girl who had wings and horns and a tail.

So far I hadn't dreamed of Efranir, I didn't even know what she looked like. This dream came close, but it was pretty rough. I still felt the grief and loss even now that I was awake.

I had another gulp of juice and waited for my heart-rate to settle down, as I did my best to remember everything I could about the dream. I knew why this was happening, it's like my subconscious was trying to give me clues or whatever. Like if I knew him better, maybe I could figure out his true name.

Unfortunately all I'd figured out so far was he had no sense of humour and very little imagination. Or at least that was my impression of the guy, based on a handful of dreams.

Eventually I finished my juice then picked up my phone. I opened up the notes app and stared at the jumble of letters that was most of Armaros's name.

Armżektævlios.

I was still staring at it a few minutes later as I drifted back into a light sleep sitting there on the sectional.

As soon as I was asleep I went straight into another dream, but this one was fuzzy and indistinct. It felt important, I was sure demon-Mara was there and I had the sense of being in her home back on Thera instead of visiting Lily. I couldn't hang on to any of the details though, and when I woke again a short while later the dream had already faded.

My phone was still in my hand and I looked down at the screen once more, at that name in the notes app.

Armażektæveliros.

I stared at it for another few seconds before it finally hit me what I was looking at. Adrenaline jolted me wide awake and my heart started racing again.

"Lily!?" I gasped, "You've got to see this!"

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