“Can we go down there?” she asked with hope in her tone, turning her skull to him in a silent plea. “I’d love to see it all properly.”
“We’ll go down in a minute. I thought it would be nicer for you to see what it’s like from above.” He faced her slightly so they could connect gazes. “It means you can gauge what it’s like before dealing with all the people. It gets rather crowded, and I didn’t want you lost or confused while you initially took it all in.”
Even from way up here, she found it startling; she was new to all this.
Bright yellow lifted into her orbs, and she made sure she shone it at him, so he knew how much she appreciated that.He is so kind to me.He could have been inconsiderate and thrown her into a difficult situation without care, but he wisely hadn’t.
It was just another reason why she liked him so much.
Leaning back to get comfortable while crossing her ankles, she soaked it all in as her gaze drifted every which way. She even followed a particularly tall Demon with large bat-like wings as they made their way through the crowd.
In the middle of the village stood some kind of statue, and she thought it may have been a man. Since they were seated behind it, she couldn’t see its features well, but he did look rather glorious with his clawed hand raised in a powerful stance. He had long hair and horns like Jabez, but she couldn’t make out anything else – she figured these features were common in Demons.
Surrounding it was a path for pedestrians, with carts on the outside that had people lining up for whatever wares were being sold.
“I’m surprised they managed to make their own scent glamour,” Jabez stated quietly. “Since I lost my ability to usemagic, the permanent glamour I placed over the whole area would have disappeared.”
She tilted her head at him. “You had a scent cloak on the village? Why?”
“They sell meat,” he answered, pointing to where she could see the statue. “It can be unpleasant for those who haven’t managed to control their urges against the scent of fear and blood. It also allows a haven for females, as it masks any heat pheromones. That cloak assists with many issues and allows everyone to walk freely without worry.”
I didn’t think of that.Her heart warmed that it was a safe place for females, and for those dealing with blood-lust. If she had scented blood, she may have already tried to climb down and hurt people.
“This place has always given me a sense of pride,” he muttered, his voice soft and filled with satisfaction. “When I was discussing problems with the more highly evolved Demons, they informed me that they wanted a place they could congregate. A place like the Elven city, or the human towns. They wanted to feel like people, rather than like beasts.”
Zylah turned her skull to him once more, and fondness swelled within her, hot and heavy.
He really did look more at ease now than before he’d reobtained his magic, and his gaze was filled with compassion. His lips had a small curl to them, but it was enough to round his cheeks and lightly crinkle the outer corners of his eyes. Long, loose white hair fluttered around his chiselled brown face in the light breeze, while his ears were pointed up but didn’t appear alert.
He wasn’t looking at her. Rather, his deep red eyes were fixated on the village of Demons, and they squinted with pleasure at different things.
Her heart quivered in her chest, as bright pink lifted into her orbs at seeing his handsome features so gentled. The unknown emotions that came with this strange, new colour were so bubbly and tender, awe radiated within her and kept her quiet as she listened.
“It took me months to grow the trees,” he continued, his eyes scanning them in the distance. “I mapped out the space between each one, ensuring there would be plenty of room, and then planted the seeds. I spent most of my days in the lake that used to be in the middle, trying to grow them.”
He let out a small chuckle, as if he was looking back at that time fondly. Her toes curled in delight at the dulcet sound.
“I would get so frustrated when it wasn’t working. I read a book on growth magic when I was younger, and the instructions were simple. Just obtain a mana stone, place the seed, and then concentrate. I failed repeatedly until I realised I was expending too much of the little mana I had trying to grow them all at once. I had to sit at the base of each one and grow them individually, andthennetwork them once they’d grown deep roots. The lake dried up as they took the nutrients from it.”
Zylah couldn’t imagine how much time and effort it must have taken to do all that.He must always work hard.She knew it to be true by how he taught her constantly and trained his body to keep it strong.
“Where we were earlier was the bottom of that lake. I placed a protection dome down so the stone had a place to rest while still feeding them magic. We filled it with dirt and boulders as best as we could, but that’s why the village dips in at the middle.” He drew a circle in the air to show where he meant, then his smile brightened as he looked up. “Every year, there was a celebration where I’d go down there and check the stone, feed it some of my own mana, and I’d make the trees bloom with red flowers. Theywere unnatural, so they quickly died by the end of the day, but the Demons here liked the entertainment.”
“You obviously care very deeply for this place,” Zylah stated, her orbs brightening in their pink hue.
She didn’t know what the colour meant, and she didn’t care. It made her stomach flutter while her chest felt all fluffy and tingly. Sheadoredthe way it kind of hurt.
She wished she hadn’t said anything because his face grew clouded and the cheer in it waned. He lowered his bent leg so it would dangle as well and rested his forearms on his thighs with his hands between them.
“This is one of the few things I’ve done that I haven’t regretted.” Then, as if to mask the sorrow she’d witnessed playing across his features, he drew a line in the air towards the village. “I actually helped construct lots of the buildings you see further in. There weren’t many of us at the time, so it took everyone pitching in to help to get this place established. I think I should have made it bigger, since they started to run out of space a few decades ago. I just hadn’t expected we’d all still be here.”
“What do you mean? Were you planning to leave?”
He turned to meet her gaze, his lips parted to say something. Instead, his eyes snapped open wide, and he darted closer to get a better look at her skull. Zylah startled and leaned back in surprise when his nose was barely an inch from her own.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Mavka’s orbs turn pink before,” he said as he twisted his head, and a fang-filled grin curled his lips. “I wonder what this colour means. I thought I knew all of them.”
Zylah didn’t know why she felt the need to turn away and cover the side of her skull with her hand to hide it from him.