“Hey, Emily!” I hear from my side. I look to see Elyse in a rather short, tight dress. Her pixie (which is sort of an insult to Fairies, but it’s more of a play name between Elyse and I) wings are decorated in lights around the edges and she is cradling a glass of what looks to be some liquor in one hand.

I step over to her. “Hay?”

“Yeah, hey! I’m surprised you came tonight!” She is drunk, no doubt.

The music is loud, so I thought maybe I didn’t hear her right. “What hay are you talking about?” I ask, expecting some silly response from her drunken mouth.

“No, not haaay, hey! Hey, like hi, but hey!” Her shrill voice is already getting to my head. Of course, there would be some new term I haven’t caught up on yet. I need something to keep me up to date on these kinds of things.

“Well, ‘hey’ to you, too, Elyse.” I take the glass from her. “How much have you been drinking tonight?”

“Oh, a lot… join me!” I am absolutely not going to. I take her by the arm and pull her to the side of the room. She resists and complains to me, “Don’t be like this, Emiiii, I’m trying to have fun!”

I look over her, seeing that she is indeed a mess. “Why are parading yourself around in such… flamboyant clothing? Do your parents know the Empress is making a fool of herself?”

She puts her hands on my shoulders, mustering a semblance of seriousness. “Listen, Emily, you are so tense and caught up in your bloodlust and you… y-you need to relaaax. Have some drinks, enjoy yourself. Ooh, let’s go take shots at the bar!”

“I don’t need target practice, I need you to mature,” I strictly say to her. Gods, I’m turning into my mother.

She spurts out a laugh, nearly snorting. “Emi, you’re so silly and so not with the times. Look at them-“ she points at almost every person at her party. “This is what fashion is now. It’s hot and fashionable to get drunk and have a good time now! You need to let loose; do you really think you are going to become the sexy new face of the Demigoddess Now section of any magazine with how you are?” She loses her words for a second, then begins to rub my shoulders. “Gods, you would really make a good model…”

I shrug her hands off me. “Go have fun, Elyse. We can talk when you’re hungover and hating yourself in the morning.”

She scoffs, probably jokingly- probably. “Whatever, lame-o.” She turns and goes back off into the crowd, disappearing instantly in the sea of people grinding on each other. It sickens me to see that this is what balls and festivals have come to. I guess people just come to these things to fulfill primal desires. I’m not one to talk, though. I have no primal desire except to feed.

A year or so ago, Allu confronted me about our… relationship, which is just a shell that he wants to fill, I guess. He asked why I couldn’t be romantic and share all of my lovey-dovey feelings with him even though I never specifically welcome the idea of courting, which is apparently called ‘dating’ now. You take dates on a date and you are then considered dating as ‘boyfriend’ and ‘girlfriend.’ Anyways, Allu was upset because of that, and I told him that I had no desire to have my own children. I thought I did years ago when I had the Rescued children looking up to me as a mother, but I realized that was just to fill the void in my life that is my loneliness. My maternal instincts never seemed to get stuck in my mind as they do most other woman because I am part human, part Void creature. Void creatures need no companionship, though I do because of my human side. I had to break it to Allu that I’m no ordinary woman. He didn’t talk to me for a while after that.

I made my way up to the overlooking balcony and am now simply watching for anything out of the ordinary. I am especially watching over Arielle, who I’m significantly worried about. With my magic and a bit of a trick I gained from defeating Rikka Selik, the God of Poison, I am able to make myself perceive anything I am focusing on as a brighter, more attractive object. In my eyes, Lucelle, Allu, Iyo, Arielle, and Elyse are glowing red, which makes them so much easier to track. I’m no stalker or anything… I just worry about them getting into trouble.

The last I was worried about was someone trying to get themselves into trouble with me, but lo and behold, I hear a voice at my side. “Fun party, hm?” I look to see Yubik, the Dark Sun. He is one of two sons (Suns) to Argoncin, the God of Light. He serves as a head of Ascentian gods and goddesses and Yubik along with his brother, Judican, the Light Sun, are both princes of the god, which is what sons and daughters of gods and goddesses are called: princes and princesses. Years ago, I thought Yubik and I had something romantic between us. A night in a room with him (which got nowhere past a single kiss, mind you!) told me there was something special about us, but then I met his fiancée, Helene, a princess of the Moon. Needless to say, we don’t really talk often, so I am stuck like a wide-eyed deer right now.

His looks have changed since I last saw him. His usual slicked back hair is now short on the sides, but long in the middle. It is slicked down to the side now, showing half his buzzed head. He’s wearing very casual clothing, completely unlike myself. “It’s been a while, Emily.”

“My, it has,” I reply, not paying him too much information. His thoughts for me go completely unacknowledged since he kissed me when he was engaged. I wasn’t going to let someone like him hurt me anymore than he has already.

“You’re distant.”

“I’m busy.”

“Is that how you talk to all god princes?”

“Seems so.”

He leans against the railing. “I like the attitude. Nothing like an uppity demigoddess to get the blood flowing.”

“Are you flirting with me?” I ask, not looking at him.

“If I was, would you welcome it?”

“No.”

“Then no.”

“Good. Where’s your handler?”

“If you’re talking about Helene, which I have a sneaking feeling that you are, she is attending to important business right now.”

“So, you thought you’d come to a mortal’s party.”

“Exactly. Is that wrong?”

“Perhaps.”

“’Perhaps’ it’s wrong for a woman to deny godship and proceed to cut off ties with her godly friends for years.” I’m not going to argue with that. In fact, I don’t want to argue with him at all.

I turn to him, keeping my guard up. “What do you want, Yubik?”

“That’s rude of you to assume I want something from you.” I keep eye contact with him, then he adds, “Alright, fine. I’ve been looking into reports of extraordinary enchantments on common items. There’s someone completely under any radar of ours-“

“What’s a radar?” I interrupt.

“It’s, uh- it-it’s a device you can use to find people or things with waves of energy. Anyways, this person is very lowkey and we can’t figure out where these enchantments are coming from. We were hoping you knew something about it.”

“Mm, you know I have a home, right?” I know I’m being a bit of a bitch to him, but he deserves it for what he did to me. He built me up so much, then I figure out from Elyse that he had a fiancée. Ugh, no wonder I don’t date.

“We are not able or permitted to go to your home and you know that, Dark Ruler.” That’s a name I haven’t heard in a while, ‘Dark Ruler.’ Many, many years ago, I enveloped the world in darkness after receiving the memories I had before becoming a fragile human girl. My mother wanted to get rid of the Void’s gift in me, but failed and I went on a bit of a rampage. However, God Argoncin and his Suns threatened me to stop or else I would start a war among worlds, something that would probably result in all mortals’ deaths, so I stopped. Well, before that was all resolved, I was nicknamed the Dark Ruler and now Yubik is the only one who actually calls me that. It used to be a sort of pet name, but I think it was now a term to annoy me.

“Hm, maybe you should take a look at your permits, then.”

“Do you know about this enchantress or not?”

“You think it’s my mother.”

He quiets for a moment, then nods. “Alright, alright. Yes, we think it’s Elektra.”

“She’s gone.” The last I remember of my mother is when I turned Ysella, her most loyal bodyguard, on her. She stabbed my mother through the stomach under the influence of one of my allies and was then carried off. I didn’t see her after that, but I have a feeling of where she might be.

“She disappeared, yes. Although… you don’t happen to know where she is?”

“I never identified any remains,” I say sarcastically.

“So, you don’t know where she is?”

“Suppose not.”

“Emily I need you to li-“ I stop listening because one of the red flares begin to leave. I focus and see Arielle being taken by the hand out of the room. Not on my watch. I thank Elyse for having the room be so dark and I blend into and walk among the shadows; thank the Void for the Dark Arts. I phase through everyone like a ghost and pass through the door they went through. I turn a corner and see some man grabbing at Arielle against the wall, so I go up and fling my fist at his face. The punch was enough to shock him and push him away, but then he looks to me with drunken anger.

“Stupid bitch!” He tries to slap me and I stop his hand mid-air before funneling visions into his thoughts. I make him see my experience of Descentia and the dreadful world it is. His eyes roll upwards and he faints, dropping to the ground with a thud.

Arielle moves to embrace me as soon as I’m finished with him. “Thank you so much, Emily.”

I pat her back, knowing it’s not her fault that she doesn’t fully understand everything in the world just as I don’t, either. “I told you to stay in sight of us.”

“He promised to take me back after…”

I pull her away and keep a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t listen to people like that. They just want to hurt you, Arielle.” After, I take her back into the main room and instruct her to stay within sight once more. She is a bit shaken up, but I think she can still manage to make the most of this experience.

I am about to push back into the shadows when I get a tap on my shoulder. I wind around to see no one there, except there is a gold-trimmed door on the wall. It’s the normal sign to tell me that I would have an impromptu meeting with someone important. I walk up, open the door, and shut myself in behind it. Inside, I see a robed woman sitting on a bed-like throne. It is wide enough for her to half lie down, half sit with her legs tucked close to her body. The silky robes cover most of her except her hands and lower half of her face and neck. I know who it is, I just want her to address me first. It was tradition, after all.