“E-Eos, stop it!”

“No! I have to see if she’s alright!” I screamed, my throat raw and my lungs burning as I managed to tear myself from his grasp.

I didn’t dare to look back, not even for a second as I ran towards the large cloud of black smoke.

How could he try to stop me from checking on her...?

I didn’t plan on it.

Hell, there was a moment I considered myself crazy for even thinking it at the time.

But...

This damn bird...she was like a mother to me.

She had constantly watched over me since the day I entered this world!

Everything I knew and shouldn’t have known.

From the smallest detail of a fight to the most obvious ones.

I knew it all ultimately because of her.

Every magical skill I had at my disposal?

Even the very fact that I could shift into a human and into a dog at will?

I knew it because of her!

From enemies to friends, from friends to family.

I knew that she’d croak one day but...like this? Under the eyes of the enemy in the heightening heat of the blazing sun?

No...

NO!

S-She wasn’t dead, after a hard battle like that? After fighting against storm and lightning?

She merely fell because of fatigue.

She had black feathers but...who wouldn’t?

There was no telling how many times she had been struck in those dark clouds!

Alive.

S-She was alive.

Not dead.  

~~

A heavy sigh escaped me as a chill ran down my back, lying in my bed covered with the soft plucked feathers from a quail’s plumage alongside sheep’s wool? Warm and fuzzy it was, somewhat, it combated against my growing nervousness alongside the feeling of a gentle hand patting my head! The hand acted like a broom, sweeping away the onslaught of worrying thoughts with each pat, though, it didn’t get rid of them all. 

“Do you feel like talking?” 

I kept quiet; my eyes akin to two moons as I simply stared into blank space. I...I didn’t know how to feel, much less how to express what I was feeling. I was a mixture of things as I let my head rest on Ryzel’s chest. The calm thump of his heart somehow only making mine quicken with the constant racing thoughts. Ibis...she was alive, alive but not well. 

She was in a coma, hell, the servants considered her dead as soon as I brought her to them! They looked at one another and then back to me, the sight of them kneeling only reaffirming the fact that the prophecy? The prophecy I oh so wanted to push away for as long as I could? It had been completed as soon as Ibis had died, her ‘resurrection’ with the use of magic not doing anything to have her take back her title of being the former Guardian.

I was neither angry nor upset with the new role, it was going to happen eventually. The bird had cheated death because I was the one screaming and crying out that we needed to take her with us and quickly, I was the one who begged and pleaded with the Beast Daemoniums to do anything they could to help her stay alive! They merely looked at me and scoffed, the bird was considered dead by the time I managed to reach her cave but...thank goodness for the servants’ magic. 

I was a Guardian, both Dog and Owl, but I didn’t feel as ‘regal’ as I should’ve. 

“It’s not good to hold your feelings in-”

 “I know.” I interrupted with a grumble before I looked up at Ryzel, each movement feeling as if I had a brick attached to me.

 “But...what is there to say? We’ve gotten out of the Desert; Ibis is in her cave trying to stay alive and I’m a Guardian!” I exclaimed. 

“Event after event after event keeps happening...I don’t have a break; the world won’t allow me one! And you know what I’m supposed to do? Sit back and try to hold on for this entire damn ride.” I vented, Ryzel chuckling quietly.

“Well, be positive about one thing at least? Such as the fact that you’re not on this little ‘ride’ of yours alone, you have people here for you my beauty.”

Ryzel smiled. “Yeah, people that will eventually come to find out that I’m a Guardian...I don’t want people to look at me differently. I don’t you to look at me any differently.” I said before Ryzel rolled his eyes and slowly shook his head. 

“I don’t worship mortal deities remember? Besides, I’ve known you before you took up this role placed onto you. I fell in love with you, not your position.” Ryzel chuckled, reaching up to place a quick peck on my cheek before I felt my cheek immediately start to warm up.

I suppose I could agree with him on that...I had people standing behind me, even before I was a Guardian! However, that still didn’t change the fact that I was just that, a deity, I had expectations and in all truthfulness? I didn’t even believe that I could keep up those certain expectations...they were too much! Too much pressure, too many rules to follow, everything! 

I was an Owl Guardian alongside being the new Dog Guardian. I was supposed to be the symbol of intelligence but I had more street-smarts and lucky chances than anything, I was supposed to be a symbol of loyalty and goodness but even I had my moments of selfishness and thoughts of turning my back on people! I wasn’t deity material, how in the hell could anyone think that this was a good idea?! Making me into something that I clearly wasn't born or made for.

I was human and if Christianity taught me anything for a time. It was that humans sinned, we weren't perfect in any way shape or form, hell, it was even confirmed to be a bad idea seeing as the former Dog Guardian went rogue! But, at the same time? I knew me and me only. I was selfish from time to time, I wasn't the brightest from time to time but...I understood myself enough to know that I could balance things out, even if it was just for a moment or two.

 Suddenly, however, just as I let out a huff and shook my head slowly, I suddenly felt a kiss be placed onto my neck, the act making me squeak and quickly redirect my attention to a smirking Incubus whose eyes began to glow ever so dimly. 

"The heck? What are you doing?" I snickered, covering the side of my neck with my hand. 

"You look stressed and worried; I have a few methods that are more than certain to help...alleviate that effect," Ryzel explained before suddenly going in for another kiss, a giggle escaping me once more before he slowly sat up, continuing to press kisses to my neck while he kept a firm grip on me. 

"Funny how you think it'll be that easy to sleep with me." I laughed, the sight of Ryzel's eyes already glowing eyes growing brighter and brighter with seemingly each passing moment making my grin widen even more. 

Ryzel then gestured to the very bed we sat on.

"I've already got you in a bed; I just need to see if I can get us out of this situation of being...Mateless Mates. You must like seeing me struggle to keep my hands off you don't you my love?" 

"Eh, a little." I grinned, a seductive purr leaving his lips before another onslaught of kisses began to cover my neck, the feeling of a few bites here and there sending an electric spark down my spine. 

Like him, I was rather eager to get out of this little term of being 'Mateless Mates'. We were just mates in my eyes! In my eyes? It wasn't necessary to do anything lewd in order to get out of the realm of being non-official lovers. We loved each other and that was that! But, with that in mind, the new thoughts and memories of the Desert and interacting with Ryzel's 'cousins' coming back to mind. I couldn't help but spoil the heightening mood for myself with a gulp. 

The war...though I was in my village, the war still raged on outside of the comforts of Ryzel's arms, outside the comforts of this cabin and village even! It was getting bloodier by the moment before we had even stepped foot onto the familiar soft grass of the Forest Continent. I remembered the Queen telling me one thing before she left with the rest of her army. 

"A battle was won thanks to you; the resting souls of the Husks are praising you in The One's bountiful plains but...the war? It shall get even more hellish from here on out." 

At the time? I didn't think much of it, I was too concerned about Ibis' well-being to do so! But now? Now that I realized that I actually wished to pursue a life with the Incubus? One without having to constantly be looking over my back or having to keep our relationship secret from other people who weren't in our village? I was- I was tired...exhausted even.

I stopped Ryzel's hands from slithering up my shirt, his head tilting a little before he placed another kiss on my cheek. 

"What's the matter? Nervous? Don't be, I'm quite confident I know how to take care of my lovely mate." He winked, causing me to chuckle emptily before I shook my head slowly.

“N-No…it’s not that.” I gulped. 

“It’s just…I’m worried, nervous actually, about the war and everything,” I said.

 Slowly but surely, the Incubus removed his hands from me with a huff. 

“Why? You’ve played your part in the war. You have won a huge victory for my people, taking down the kingdom that conducted such horrendous acts, using Incubi and Succubi for our horns and making Beasts into Husks.” Ryzel grumbled. 

“I know, I know! But still…what if?” 

“What if?” 

“What if…what if that entire show of killing Sayri wasn’t true? What if Socia is still alive? I don’t know about you but I didn’t see her get crushed under any debris back in the Desert!” I said, Ryzel’s eyes losing their glow for only a second before they regained it. 

Only…this time? It was for a different reason. 

“Eos…your former friend has been slain, your reason to avenge Koko is gone along with her. My people’s war…it no longer concerns you.” Ryzel said, causing me to cock a brow. 

“It does concern me though? After all, I participated as a spy, Daemoniums live right next to this village and I am the Lady of this village. I have to keep everyone involved with it safe!” 

His eyes narrowed. “Does your memory escape you that easily my beauty? The first time you got involved with my people’s war, I nearly lost you! After that stunt, I refuse to kneel to your reckless nature again.” He said, my eyes widening to the size of a moon before I quickly narrowed my eyes.

What was I supposed to do then? Sit on the sidelines and just watch everything go on?! The war has been going on for years from what I could tell, the Daemoniums were practically losing by the hour and…the second, they had a little help? They were immediately starting to gain the higher ground! 

“But you saw how I helped them out there Ryzel…I helped them gain a bit of ground in the war!” I huffed. 

“And I’ll forever reassure you that my people will remember you for that but that doesn’t mean you still need to continue with helping them.” He sighed, taking my face into his hands before I felt his thumb slowly start to run over the scars from the small…incident. 

Even though it's been a while since then, the burning sensation that was going through my body at the time? 

It was, quite frankly, hell. 

A hell that was burning you from the inside out and a hell that I truly thought was going to be my end at the time. However, I lived. Surely that must’ve meant something.