God of Nothing

Aleph spent the rest of the time in silence, mulling over Rayse's story.

A fated meeting, as he put it. Talent aside, it seemed that his student's explosive growth in the battlefield was partially owed to Lost's teachings.

He disapproved of Rayse's apparent fondness of his 'friend', but Aleph doesn't blame him at all for mistaking her identity. The way he spoke of their first meeting, it sounded like the woman had purposely led him astray. Rayse disagreed, but Aleph was certain it was Erebos' ploy to get at him somehow. This was as gracious as he could be in this circumstance, and he almost believed it too, except for one glaring inconsistency.

Why save him in Kyrios?

This was what had him stuck, and he's been mulling it over since they set out from Mios. Had Erebos been keeping an eye on him since their first meeting? Then why not abduct him outright? They had plenty of opportunities in the war. In fact, why even let Deceit and Oblivion die if the demon king was in Kyrios at the time?

There was a gap in his logic somewhere, but Aleph couldn't find it. At the end of Rayse's story, all Aleph had to say to him was to get some more rest for the long road ahead. Aleph shook his head, trying to clear his mind. He felt that he was going around the subject, making him blind to the enemy's plans.

Onyx black hair and eyes to match, with unparallelled mastery of the spear and fierceness to match. That was how Rayse described her. His newfound control over Abyssal magic aside, the chances were large that it's another layer of subterfuge meant to unbalance them. 

Thinking about it made his blood boil. Erebos clearly modeled this demon king from Emily, his former lover. After facing her in battle, to see her form twisted into this wretched, hateful state was the most evil thing he'd seen Erebos do. To add insult to injury, her skills with a spear were no joke. Relentless and unforgiving, and somehow both aggressive and utilizing its reach to precision. He recalled many sparring sessions ending in frustration just as they did when he first clashed with this Lost character.

Aleph sighed, arcing his neck to relieve some stiffness. This fruitless brooding was going nowhere fast. All he'd accomplished tonight was create a multitude of questions, with not a single answer in reach. With the sun starting to peek out over the trees, Aleph willed the time to go faster. He was eager to return home, which was again surprising to him, but even more, much of what he needed to do was there. He may not have found any answers tonight, but he knew where to find them.

It was time to pay Marduk a visit.

__________________________________

After a deceptively peaceful homecoming, Rayse and the rest of the disciples decided to stay with their families for the time being. For Rayse, whose siblings had been living at Aleph's for the time being, that meant walking with his master alone. 

The air between them was still awkward, though Rayse doubted his master noticed. He would always have this far off gaze whenever they spoke, and Rayse would sometimes catch him looking over at him with a strange expression. He thought it was weird as his friends didn't really treat him any differently after finding out about the whole lost situation, but it still made things uncomfortable for him. Thus, he had to endure that uncomfortable silence all the way across town. After an agonizing couple of minutes, they exited Hios' south gate, walked up a forested hill into… another town?

"Whoah." Rayse said, admiring the newly built settlement. They've barely been away for a couple months, but to see so much progress in the building efforts was a welcome surprise.

"Lord Aleph! Welcome home!" Greeted Lily, who was seated near a fire pit nursing her child. She made to stand, but Aleph waved her down.

"Be at ease, Lily. Young Cassie might stir. Instead, may you point me where Tom could be?"

"Oh. Well, Tom's over at your house with the twins. He'd taken to having dinner with them while you were gone." Lily sighed, "Says they reminded him of his daughter…"

Aleph touched her shoulder in a comforting gesture before thanking her. Rayse found the scene so touching, but was himself eager to see his siblings. So he dashed past the pair towards Aleph's old house. The newly made cobblestone path made it just unfamiliar enough for him to have some doubts that this was the right way, but he eventually stopped at the familiar house.

It looked run down compared to the village that sprang up around it, but it still held a certain mystique. It had taken on an even more homely atmosphere since they've been gone, and so Rayse's tension began to melt away. He opened the door to see Tom having dinner with his siblings, who paused between spoonfuls to gawk at him.

"Ray! Ray!" Sheila jumped into his arms at once, almost knocking him to the floor.

"Hey, I'm back." He said, voice muffled by the young lady straddling him. He made sure to shift her to his side to get ready for her sister.

"Welcome home, brother." Shae said as she walked up to him. Rayse pulled her in, too, giving them both a hug. Tom was chuckling from the side, punctuated with a sniffle.

"I missed you guys. Hey Sheila, did you grow taller?"

"Yeah!" Sheila said loudly, right in his ear. She pulled herself away from his brother and stood up to her tiptoes proudly.

"See? I'm almost up to your shoulders!"

Rayse nodded approvingly, noting the inches she gained even discounting how she cheated.

"I better eat all my veggies, or else you'll overtake me! How about you, Shae. Are you learning well?" He addressed their other sister, who seemed content to just hug him all that time.

If Sheila grew more robust, then Shae looked more graceful. She led him to the dinner table, where they shifted the chairs so he could sit with them.

"Come! Lily taught me how to sew recently. I made this tablecloth, see?" Rayse laughed as Shae pointed things out around the house in her own excited way. 

Not to be outdone, Shiela stood from her seat and shouted.

"Hey, Ray! Look at this! Flame!" An orange globe of flame erupted from her fingertips, brightening up the table. Rayse was surprised, but they had been absorbing mana since before they left, so he thought it was just a matter of time.

"Awesome! You're pretty good at that. Who taught you?"

"Well, Shae found this book, see, and–"

"Not at the dinner table!" Shae hissed. Rayse suspected she cared more about her tablecloth catching fire than any sort of decorum though, and laughed all the same. He caught Tom's eye who, though smiling from ear to ear, he could tell wanted to give them some time to themselves. Rayse gave him a little bow.

"Hello, Mister Tom. Thanks for taking care of my sisters. Master's just outside."

"Lord Aleph's here? Odd, I'd have thought he would stay with the refugees from Kyrios for a while. " Tom stood up anyway, making his way to the door.

"Oh, we had them settle in those rooms you got for them. They'll come tomorrow. Please, at least stay and finish your dinner." Rayse said, a bit sad that he made him feel like the odd one out.

"Still, he must need something, so I better be going. Be good, kids. Rayse is tired from the road." The kindly older man responded, motioning them to get back to their seats.

"Alright, mister. But hey, swing by tomorrow. We got some really good produce from Kyrios, and I'm thinking of making a roast."

"Haha, now that I won't miss! I'll bring some chicken. The first batch of chickens from the coops had just matured." He laughed, before swinging the door open.

"Anyway, son, I'd best be going. We can catch up in the morning."

""Thanks for dinner, mister!"" answered the twins. They saw him off together before resuming their meal.

Rayse bowed to him, more deeply this time, before returning to the dinner table. What came next was a hearty meal, one that had him fully at ease. For the first time since the fight at the capital, he didn't think about Lost, the kidnapped king, or the demon army. Tonight, the most important thing was catching up with his siblings.

The whole demon king business can wait.

__________________________________

Aleph couldn't wait. After leaving Lily, he made a beeline right into the entrance to his sanctum. The light purple light of the portal had an unapproachable air, but he felt its pull all the same. I must make sure, was all he was thinking about.

"My lord." he heard Tom say from behind, just as he was about the enter the portal. He hesitated midstep, and briefly considered just ignoring the man. Still, his affection won out, so he turned to give him a hug. In a hurry or not, he still owed this man a great deal.

"How are the villagers?"

"They're faring well. James and Jodi in particular have been getting on well. Her help was instrumental in getting this place built so quickly."

"Ah. Then I must thank her soon."

"Hmm, yes."

They stood there for a while, giving Aleph's impatience more time to regain ground.

"...if that is all, then–" he began to say, but Tom cut him off.

"Aleph, you look terrible. Are you sleeping well?"

"...I'm fine."

"Did something happen, my friend?" Tom asked, his kind face contorted in concern.

"...Ghosts of the past are coming after me." He answered cryptically. 

"You mean, from the world beyond the well?" Aleph was surprised at his deduction, though he doubted that Aleph's meant it quite literally.

"Yes. Someone from the enemy bears striking resemblance to an old friend, one I thought long dead. My realm can make things clear to me, and so I must go."

"...and what will you do if it were your friend?"

"...Friend or no, we must destroy them to survive." Aleph said, but his voice shook as he said it.

"Aleph." Tom said, clutching him by the elbow. "I fear you're running yourself ragged. Are you sure it can't wait?"

Aleph only gave a sad smile in return.

"Sorry, Tom, but this will eat at me until I find out."

He broke off his grip and turned to look at the portal once again. He heard Tom walk up to his side.

"I've lived long enough to see friends turn into enemies and back again. Are you sure that you and this friend can't make amends?"

"Tom… If she is who I think she is, then we may get wiped out before we could try."