Chapter 327: The Past Ll

"It's only mid morning, Rowan," Qairu said to the anti mage, projecting a calm he wasn't feeling. "Too early for this crap."

Rowan remained mute.

"Demons, right? Whose idea was it to seal them in another dimension? Why couldn't they just erase them off- poof." The corrupted priest poured himself a shot of clear moonshine and offered another, larger glass to Rowan. "Here. Drink."

Rowan had avoided alcohol since the war began. He had to stay alert and ready for battle at a moment's notice. But today, he accepted the glass of liquid fire.

"Can't your mommy do something about this?" Qairu waved his glass in the air. "She's a goddess right?"

"It doesn't work that way," Rowan replied. He was holding the liquor glass but hadn't taken a sip yet.

"Then how does it work, Windwalker? Tell me so I have some words of comfort for the people praying and hoping for a miracle."

"The law of the universe is set in stone." Rowan tentatively pressed the cold rim of his glass to his bottom lip and took a deep gulp.

Qairu nodded while staring into the moonshine. The law of the universe was a mysterious thing. It held together the fabric of the universe. Written records and religious texts mentioned it sporadically but there wasn't much to learn about it.

"These.. powerful beings cannot meddle directly in the lives of the humans that worship them." Rowan knew more than the others but not enough to explain how it worked.

The priest sighed softly. What use was it worshipping them then? It was better to worship Rowan who was dying a little bit every day. He was the only miracle that humanity had. And a damned good one at that.

"What does Eos think about what is happening?" He asked the blond. They were both avoiding the topic that had led to their spontaneous bout of day drinking.

Rowan let out a gust of air that sounded suspiciously like a laugh.

"I don't know."

Qairu pressed the glass to his mouth and held it there pretending he was drinking. One of them had to stay sober if shit went down. He envied Rowan and wished it was him getting wrecked on moonshine, but the anti mage deserved a good hard drink today.

"So," his stomach curled as he began poking at the ugly mess that Rowan had been keeping from them. "What's the deal with the coffin?"

____

"Moonshine, moonshine, give me some moonshine," Qairu sang drunkenly as he counted the stars in the sky. Rowan had unloaded his secret burden onto the priest and now he had another piece of bullshit to fuel his paranoia.

After Syryn's passing, Rowan had been attacked by a large force of demons. Their leader was a powerful ice wielder but he couldn't defeat the blond fortress. At death's doorstep, the demon had begged for his life and offered Rowan a gift that he hoped would be enough to exchange for his life.

He said he could build a magical coffin that would preserve Syryn as he was, perfect and whole, forever. Since he was part demon, Syryn couldn't be preserved by the normal methods of magic. He was corruption itself and would eventually erode away. If Rowan accepted it, he would of course have to periodically feed the magic in the coffin but that wasn't a problem for the anti mage.

Rowan was a desperate man who wanted to keep Syryn by his side. His feelings had started out as deep grief that hollowed out his chest, but those feelings had quickly transformed into something else. He didn't recognise the budding signs of an obsession that would impact the fate of the world and shake the balance of power that existed in the universe.

"Q, you're being irresponsible."

Qairu turned his head to see the blurring outline of Wendy standing next to him.

"We're fucked," Qairu told her. "Fucked. Don't tell the others I said that."

"We were fucked a long time ago," she sadly replied. Syryn had saved them but it hadn't completely stopped the invasion. The Emperor and his generals could not cross into this world but they were using puppets and strange wild magic to assimilate humans into their growing army.

"Never take an offer from a demon, not even when it's begging for its life," Qairu told her. Rowan had already been ruined by one demon lord, and now the same demon lord was dead tag mating his demon friends who were continuing to ruin Rowan.

"I'm not stupid," she replied. "Which fool would accept a demon's offer?"

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Qairu burst out into laughter. "Right? Only a fool in love I suppose."

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing," he replied, throwing his empty bottle of moonshine from the terrace. "He's a bigger fool than we thought. Doesn't even understand why he can't keep away from the demon lord who shall not be named anymore."

"Is this about Rowan?" Wendy asked the drunk master who was rambling.

"What? Nooooo! Who said it was about Rowan?"

_____

For the next two months, life went on as it normally did. Humanity took massive casualties and Rowan continued to function like an automaton. Lillith and Rowan were still partners but they saw less and less of each other as the days turned into more bloody months.

Qairu had hoped that she would comfort Rowan but Lillith herself was breaking down alongside her husband in name. Their relationship was at its worst and Lillith had been spending more time with a healer who she often saw for her mental troubles. The priest couldn't blame her. Rowan had clocked out a long time ago. None of them had been the same since the war had begun. And neither could be fully blamed for the breakdown of their marriage of convenience. They were the most unfortunate couple he had ever seen.

"Q, the mayor of Green Isle has arrived with the refugees."

"Hmm. Where's Rowan?"

"He left to defend the southern encampment. We received news about a large force of demons heading that way."

"What? Why didn't nobody tell me?!"

Wendy felt sorry for Qairu who had dark purple bags under his eyes. "Rowan said you already have enough on your plate."

"I'm leaving," Qairu declared as he stood up and tossed away the quill he was holding.

____

"Rowan," Qairu greeted the blond who was armoured and ready for battle. The anti mage's sacred Claymore was strapped to his back, its hilt glowing like a stolen piece of starlight.

He received a brief glance of acknowledgement from Rowan.

"You left me behind. Friends don't do that, Goldie."

The ominous sound of several battle horns resounded in the camp. The demonic force had arrived.

"Well," Qairu commented without emotion. "They're here. Every demon and his grandmother it seems."

The army that had come to assault the camp was larger than any they had faced. The number of demons stretched out so far that Qairu could not see the end of their lines.

"Prepare for battle," Rowan told the leaders of their small army. There weren't nearly enough of them to face the huge group that was swarming towards them. They would all die today, Qairu was sure of it.

"Has anyone sent a- Rowan? Rowan, what's wrong?"

"Syryn."

Qairu's head whipped in the direction that Rowan was looking at.

"Syryn," he echoed in shock. For the first time in a very long time, Qairu felt a deep sense of inescapable and all-encompassing doom.. Traxdart had played them all beautifully.

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