Apologetically and defeatedly, the younger demon closed his eyes and began to explain. “Drokn, the elf didn’t want me to make you aware, but the elven royals reject you as the newly appointed king because of all your misdeeds.”

“Why didn’t Eial want me to know?”

“I’m not sure, brother. His only wish before he left was for you to be king. Perhaps he didn’t want you to worry.”

Had the elf always planned to stay with the demon only until he became king? What of their future? What of the moments they shared wrapped in each other’s arms? The intimate touches he had shared with no other? Like clay, Drokn’s chest squeezed thick. No, Eial can’t survive without me. He needs me. “Does any of this have to do with him leaving?”

“I don't know.”

“Why don’t you know anything?!”

“You hardly know anything more, brother.” Tahgaryn’s tone was calm against Drokn’s storm.

Clicking his tongue with furrowed brows, Drokn looked away. “...Then, is he with the elven royals?” Perhaps the reason he had left had to do with them, Drokn thought. Because, that’s right, Eal wouldn’t just leave him.

Right?

“No. We had sent out an inquiry to the elves a while ago about him. They had responded that he was not with them.”

“You asked about him?”

“We. They. The others, K’ra and such.” Tahgaryn waved his hand in dismissal as if he were dusting the air as his eyes stared loosely at a wall to the right, with a few quick blinks.

Not quite discerning the other’s expression, Drokn hmm-ed. Yet not quite interested to care or question, he prodded further on the subject he did care about. “How can we trust those elf bastards?”

“Well,

Tahgaryn said calmly,

“Maybe this is why they don’t trust you either.”

~~~

Back and forth, back and forth, if someone were to watch, they would grow dizzy from the rapid steps back and forth. Occasionally there were pauses, and then the demon would swiftly turn around and continue on his repetitive dance. How was he to find a way into the elven territory? How was he to find a way to Eial?

Vaguely, the demon’s mind pictured the elven territory— nothing like how the demon territory held itself. The elven territory, much calmer, the plains brighter, uncovered by the tall standing homes like those of the demon territory. To the demon, all of such was boring. The elven territory, as flat as the elves' personalities.

Wait,

How had he even entered the elven territory prior?

Vrona. That’s right, Vrona had teleported him using her spells. How had she done it? Perhaps again she could-

Yet since the end of the battle, Vrona had yet to wake, lying in her bedchamber with caretakers by her side. Would he have to wait for her? How much longer would it be?

And then, an idea.

~~~

“You!” Drokn gestured to the demon in front after bursting through closed doors.

The other demon stared both defeatedly and with annoyance before heaving a deep sigh. “I knew I should have locked those doors.” The voice belonged to none other than Tahgaryn, a hand to his forehead, distastefully awaiting another disturbance to his desire for an uneventful day.

“You were with the rebels. Do you know where Vrona stored her spell notes while she was locked in the cells? Wait, did she have notes?”

“I wasn’t with the rebels, I happened to meet them.” Tahgaryn clarified and then paused for a moment. “But I do know where her notes are. I have them.”

“You have them? Do you know where the teleportation spell is?”

Eyes slightly widened, Tahgaryn quirked a brow. “Do you plan to try your hand at spell circles? Straight into a circle of this difficulty?” What an odd turn of events for the younger sibling to witness. Always belittling towards the magicless form of spell circles, that’s the only version of the older that Tahgaryn had known. It became clear as the days passed that his brother’s journey outside the castle walls had greatly influenced him.

Would it influence me, too? The younger demon vaguely thought, but quickly brushed off the idea. As if I would ever care to go outside.

“Do you look down on me? Difficult or not, of course I would be able to do it!” hissed the older, chest high, glancing downwards.

Perhaps the older hadn’t changed all that much, after all. “Precision is important in more complicated spells, brother. And teleportation has to by far be the most intensive. There are consequences for not executing the spell properly. You could easily lose a leg.”

Drokn bared his teeth, eyes narrow, glancing downward. His eyes bore contempt if one were to assume, but it was not from anger or defensiveness that his gaze narrowed. Rather, it was from desperation. “I can do it…”

Tahgaryn folded his lips inward, observing the other until his lips inadvertently moved. “I can help you draw the spell.” Immediately after uttering the last word, Tahgaryn grimaced, squeezing his eyes in regret.

Help? From him? ‘I don’t need your-,” Drokn started with a hiss…

…and without a breath to spare, Tahgaryn nodded his head. “Yes, you’re absolutely correct. You don’t need me.”

Drokn extended a silence, staring at the other demon who he had on countless occasions been belittled against. The more powerful one. The one with more magic. The one his father wanted to become king. Pride built walls between bitterness and reason. Yet within the muddled heart…

“And why do you think you can do it? Do you know spellwork?”

“Perhaps a little, not much though, I probably can’t do spells, honestly— alright, perhaps I’ve studied all of Vrona’s notes. I’ll be able to…” Tahgaryn looked as if he had been slapped. By himself. But when he had noticed the wrinkles forming between Drokn’s brows, his voice yet again moved without his permission.

“I’m not asking for your help,” Drokn clarified, “However… make the spell circle for me. I command it.”

“What if I refuse— Oh fine, okay, I can do it. But…”

“But?”

“I forgot the tiny detail that the spell needs an attribute of air.”

“Then, get it.”

“You see, Vrona used a flower with the air element. But, they only grow every ten years. They’re impossible to find. The one Vrona found may have been the only one, really. So, if you can wait ten years…”

“Are you fucking kidding me? There has to be something else with an air element!”

“Not that I know of or can obtain, brother.”

“Then what am I supposed to do?!” Drokn’s irises had started to redden, claws clenching into his skin. Then a denseness took his heart by lead. Drokn had built hope with this solution, yet so soon his tower of hope crumbled lower than before. His mind wandered, scraping the walls for more ideas, solutions, anything—

When suddenly, his eyes met with his warped reflection on a gold plated door knob to his left. Him, with his hair tied up in red.

[That ribbon… the silk is almost impossible to find because, like its element, it’s invisible as air.”]

“Wait,” Drokn’s eyes regained a glimmer. He could feel his heart thump against his chest. “I think have something with an element of air.”

As Tahgaryn wrapped up the last strokes of the spell circle in pheasant blood, he glanced at his brother staring intently, eager and focused. Tahgaryn could not relate to the intensity of the other. Much like when they were younger and the silent Tahgaryn would stare at his spirited and defiant brother. Devoid of desires, he sometimes would wonder how it felt to live with that much passion. If he had the energy for envy, it would be towards his brother’s resolute gaze.

Gently finishing the pattern, Tahgaryn then placed all the required materials where they belonged in the connection: a water lily on the east end, a mossy boulder on the south end, a candle flame on the west end. Using dark magic as a blade, Drokn looked at the crimson ribbon, rubbing it between his fingers until he took a breath and sliced off a small portion. Taking the larger strand, he dropped it onto Tahgaryn’s outreached palm, letting him add it in place within the north corner of the circle.

“Impressive you have this, brother. Almost feels a shame to use it.” At the older’s lack of response, Tahgaryn stepped back away from the circle and faced Drokn. “When you’re ready, place the strand of hair in the middle,” said the younger, gesturing to the center.

Drokn clenched the small piece of leftover red fabric before reaching into his pocket. He picked out a thin needle of silvery white hair that he had found stuck onto his old cape— the cape he had refused to look at since Eial’s departure. Breathing in, he prepared himself.

That’s when it struck Tahgaryn, who was usually bright minded, yet in the oddity of his mind in the circumstance, had not contemplated his current actions thoroughly. “Wait, how long do you intend to be gone for?”

Drokn smirked, “I’m bringing him back as soon as I find him.”

And then, he placed the hair right at the center.

And then,

He vanished from sight.

Tahgaryn stared at the suddenly empty room, eyes wide. “What have I done?” he mumbled and collapsed to the floor, thinking of how he’d be in charge of duties had Drokn not returned in a few days time.

With a dread in his voice, to the empty, silent air, he pleaded, almost sobbed, “You better come back soon.”