A Sinner’s Chance

I hadn't noticed it until Irellia said something but the day had grown late, and she told us that it would be best if we come and visit again later. Her demeanor had completely changed, from being extremely kind and welcoming, to suddenly trying to get us to leave, ushering us as best as she could while the already dreary sky began to darken.

Suddenly put on the street outside, with no clue as to why that had just transpired, the four of us decided to head back to Demonweb's manor. They day felt like it had been incredibly long and all of us agreed that some rest would do us well. Thankfully finding the way back to the manor was much simpler than when we'd needed to navigate the streets to find the temple that Irellia stayed in, as we could essentially see the manor at all times and even though the streets and alleys were like a labyrinth, it was simple to tell we were making progress towards it.

It was strange that as the night began to set in that the bustle of the streets from earlier was beginning to quickly fade, I had seen plenty of monsters that didn't require sleep, as well as a few evolved forms of nocturnal ones, so I had thought the night would be just as busy as the day, yet by the time we reached the manor, and the sun had basically set, the streets were empty and it was almost like the city had been deserted.

Ein met us at the door, a relieved look on her face as she opened the door and motioned for us to enter. "I didn't anticipate that you would be returning so late, I assume you enjoyed your small look around the city?"

I nodded with the other three in unison, I had enjoyed the time I spent with my grandmother, but I wasn't sure if I should tell Ein where we had visited so I kept it vague and simply said we had wandered around and lost track of time.

Ein nodded at my explanation. "I see, it is my fault for not sending an escort with you, or at least informing you that you should never be on the streets at night."

My eyes raised with curiosity. "Why not? We did notice that it was becoming increasingly unpopulated as the day began to end."

Ein hesitated a moment. "I suppose it would be best to tell you. Have any of you heard of the Sun-Eater?" she asked, her voice strangely quiet.

I hadn't, so I doubted that any of the others had, yet to my surprise both Arya and Steria nodded their heads. Ein seemed surprised as well and asked what the two knew.

Arya answered first. "My clan has a myth about a monster known as the Sun-Eater, the ultimate Yin aligned lifeform, said to be represented by a serpent that swallows the sun and engulfs the world in chaos."

Steria nodded at Arya's words. "In my pa-" she suddenly paused, a feeling of asking for approval flowing through our bond. "This involves my time as Sekhmet, is it okay for others to know?" I simply sent back a feeling of agreement. I had essentially given up on hiding the fact that I had experienced past lives, so there wasn't a reason that Steria couldn't claim the same, even if two such people meeting were statistically unlikely.

Steria cleared her throat as she felt my approval. "My past life fought against a creature that had the title of Sun-Eater, a large black serpent intent on destroying order and light, while consuming the sun, the representation of those ideas."

Ein nodded her head at their explanations, though I did notice her give a somewhat suspicious glance at Steria. "The two of you are close enough. The reason the Forest of Darkness exists is because of the Sun-Eater's Curse. It's the reason why no matter how sunny it is, or how clear the sky is, it always seems overcast. The Center ring is subject to the strongest of the curses' influence, and while rare, it is known that being out while the sun isn't runs the risk of being devoured by shadow."

I was quite alarmed by the information that had we been out for much longer we were running the risk of being consumed by shadow, though I felt that perhaps Steria and Arya would be able to hold it off for some time at the least. It was only a curse after all and not the actual monster, so the amount of power it could use was surely limited.

Thankfully we'd made it in the nick of time, though I didn't understand why Irellia had ushered us out instead of informing us about the curse, but it would need to wait until I saw her again to ask. Ein must have sensed that I had understood and excused herself, but not before telling us that should we desire the bath was free and that she would see us in the morning for breakfast along with Demonweb.

I acknowledged Ein's information and began to head off with the other three, we would likely skip the bath as we could take one in the morning, a much more likely scenario as I could tell that both Steria and Arya were strangely tense and could use some light exercise to loosen them up and relax them. Despite the fact that I had told Irellia earlier that Renae had no relationship, it didn't stop me from offering her to join us, though she politely refused and went to her own room.

Renae was a strange enigma, she'd been so passionate and vengeful as a Banshee, yet now that she had gotten a body once again she was like a emotionless doll, something that wasn't true, it was simply hard to discern what she was feeling unless she told you or you caught a rare glance of her mask-like face breaking, revealing what she was feeling.

However, it wasn't my business to pry as she was doing her best to maintain our position as employer and employee, so I wasn't going to push, nor did I actually intend on seducing her, I already had enough women by my side as it was, two of which I hadn't seen in quite some time, something that was likely the cause of the unease I'd been feeling ever since we entered the Center ring of the Forest of Darkness.