Following the mortals saved by the Wandering God, I eventually found the planet they were hiding at. It was a decently sized planet. The traces of that mortal Rachel led me to what had to be the centre of power. A large capital by the sea.

  After finding a suitable vessel, I entered the capital. When reaching the central plaza, I came upon a mortal shouting to a large crowd.

  "Come on, follow along people. The Wandering God's sermon will start soon! They have finally decided to grace us with their presence."

  Found them.

  - [Error]

  Slamming the door shut, Alice bowed before any words were spoken. "Mother, this is unexpected."

  "Don't be nervous, child. Raise your head and come here."

  She did as told and walked towards the fairy queen Fea. The woman twice her height, sat on the guest chair. Her skin was pale white, covered with garnment switching between different colors. The most remarkable part of her was her beautiful pink hair, and the red strands of hair peeking through it. When Alice came close enough, the fairy queen pulled her closer for a hug. Fea caressed her head. It wasn't a normal hug, something that had taken Alice a long time to understand — she was being treated like a child.

  "Poor you. This has to be tough on you. Being forced the responsibility of Commander." Fea tightened her grip, which made Alice wince. "Don't worry child, for I am here."

  Alice gently signaled for her to stop hugging and created some distance between them. "I have missed you as well … Mother. But why are you here? Has the Hero finally decided to act?"

  "The Hero has not decided to make his move, unfortunately. His Constellation has been in disarray ever since the Demon King locked himself inside his castle."

  "The Demon King?" She gulped. "He doesn't want to retaliate does he?"

  Fea looked at her, then laughed. "Why waste energy on something like that? No, the Demon King is no treat. She liked him and his predecessor, did she not?" Fea nodded. "That's why they need to be left in peace so that when she returns it will be like nothing changed."

  Alice nodded. "I understand. It was foolish of me to insinuate otherwise."

  "It was. But you are a child. It is natural to make such mistakes."

  She stayed silent. The less time spent with the fairy queen, the better.

  "Actually, the high priest has proven to be quite the headache. Adamant in cleansing the demons from this world, he is. We cannot let that happen. That is why the Hero decided to give you an opportunity, as a transcendent one."

  Her heart pounded. "What kind of opportunity?

  Fea smiled, revealing her rotting teeth. "An opportunity to take the seat as a part of the Constellation. His order was word for word: 'Tell her to kill the king and destroy the World-Rune before the Sermon of Sainthood.'"

  "He—." Alice fumbled. "He wants me to betray my own people?"

  Fea laughed. "Child, that—." She held her mouth and coughed. Tightening her grip on the chair, and breaking the handle, she opened her mouth and started coughing. It sounded like hundreds of different voices coughing in unison. After using her mouth to forcefully widen the jaws of her vessel, the thing stuck in her throat exited. She used her clothing to clean the saliva off her mouth. "Pardon me."

  Alice stared at the floor. On the floor was the rotten corpse of a small humanoid creature with wings. It had a green color, or it looked like it used to be a green color, but a strange black mass had infested it.

  "Where was I — oh, right. No need to feel unnecessary attachment. They aren't your people anymore, you have transcended remember? The Hero has been generous enough to allow you to live as his underling, but the humans have frankly been far too much of a problem than it's worth. Everything was better before they arrived."

  "This is still too rash of a decision," she pleaded. "I can take over the throne, and install a puppet. And then—."

  "No need," Fae interrupted. She moved her hand closer but Alice quickly moved further away. "Child, you aren't like them. You are an extraordinary oddity, worthy enough for us to preserve. If it is too tough on you, use an enchantment on yourself to numb the useless emotions. Kill the king, and destroy the World-Rune so that pesky archangel doesn't interfere with us again. Massacre all of the humans if you prefer to give them a painless death. When all of that is done, you can rest in my domain and slowly embrace your new role."

  Alice gulped. "And if I don't do as he ordered?"

  Fae smiled. "The Hero gets what he wants. Be a good child and listen to the adults, okay?"

  "I don't—." Alice stopped herself. "I understand." Saying anything more felt useless.

  "Good choice. Do not forget: it has to be finished before the Sermon of Sainthood." Fae gave her a thumbs up. "And remember to have fun!" Then she slowly vanished from sight.

  The fairy queen had left, Alice could feel it. Taking a deep breath she walked over to her desk and continued going through her remaining paperwork. The orders she had been given did make her feel sick, but they weren't surprising. This was bound to happen eventually. This was her destiny. When she returns to the capital, she would have to break her bonds to her past self for good. Destroy all that was left of humanity.

  Something within her still wanted to feel hopeful. Hopeful that reinforcement would arrive from the South. That the observers found a way to contact them. Perhaps Tom — yes, Tom was her only hope. If he doesn't manage to convince the Otherworlders Guild to help them, then she would have no hope left.

  ***

  Tom grunted as nurses examined his body again. He felt like he had been thrown around like a rag-doll. It hadn't been this painful yesterday.

  "This could be a side effect of the powerful authorities he came in contact with slowing down the healing process. Fortunately, it doesn't seem life-threatening. He would only feel slightly uncomfortable. For a safe recovery, he should refrain from doing any taxing physical tasks."

  Ilona nodded, clenching her staff and staring at him. "What about his hair?"

  Tom blinked. "What happened to my hair?"

  A nurse pointed towards a nearby bucket of water. He slowly raised his back and leaned to look at his own reflection. One lock of his hair was a strange red color. The same hint of red as The Madness.

  "Could you cut it off?"

  The nurse did as he said and they all watched as the red strands of hair slowly disintegrated into nothingness.

  He brushed through his hair. "It's likely a side effect of The Madness, but I think I have kept it at bay."

  The nurse shrugged. "If an observer says so. But you should do another checkup in the capital."

  "I will take him," Ilona said. "But I should do a few more spells for good measure."

  "Hold on—."

  After pleading for Ilona to stop, he was eventually left alone. Spamming her strongest healing spells hadn't done much for him. She had to leave soon anyway, to prepare for departure.

  Tom lay down in the bed and closed his eyes.

  "She finally left."

  He turned his head to see Hiro, sitting on the bed beside him. "Hiro, there you are. Are you … fine?"

  Hiro sighed. "Yes. I am fine."

  Tom sat up in his bed and turned towards Hiro. "It's just that the … katana you used. Aren't there any side effects? You technically used a part of yourself."

  "I did. Endorsement is an inherited ability of the beastkin race, the ability to endorse parts of your own being into something. However, I fortunately never endorsed part of my own being, such as physical strength or intelligence, only emotions."

  "And emotions aren't dangerous to lose?"

  Hiro shook his head. "Emotions are a natural part of living. They come and go."

  Tom scratched his head. "But endorsing your emotions away doesn't seem like a healthy thing to do."

  "It is common in some places in beastkin territory. Endorsing emotions into beast fury sword was how it got its name. During tribal conflicts, someone found this crystal and endorsed their anger into it. Then they molded it into a sword and killed their enemies. It is perfectly fine," he defended himself. Then he avoided eye contact. "Although, it will be much more difficult to attract spirits with my beast fury sword depleted, so I might not be as useful in a battle anymore."

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  Attracting spirits? Tom felt a weird sense of deja vu. "What does attracting spirits mean?"

  Hiro bobbed his head from side to side. "Exactly what it sounds like. Spirits represent reality but are also meaning incarnate. I don't know how observers would explain it, but for the beastkin, it is a common concept that the most extraordinary of individuals attract the most spirits and thereby have a greater potential for strength."

  "Interesting." That was a new concept. "So someone like the Hero would have a lot of spirits congregating around him?"

  "Correct." Hiro grimaced. "However, after his betrayal, the attraction stopped. The Hero allegedly switched to another power."

  "Another power?"

  Hiro shrugged. "According to rumors. Don't know more than that."

  Tom felt like he was slowly puzzling things together. The rules of the world went into disarray so the Mirror Maiden tried to fix that by creating new purposes, birthing the great error beasts in the process. Then the Hero betrayed everyone and shifted to another form of power; he had to talk to Sierra about that dark color she and the Hero shared.

  "Anyway. You are coming to the capital with me," Tom declared.

  Hiro flinched. "Hold on. Why am I going?"

  "If you hadn't filled Morpheus with your negative emotions, and weakened its purpose, then I wouldn't have been able to break it apart." Tom folded his arms. "Mark already said he would tag along to show support and say goodbyes to Ilona. I haven't asked Sierra yet, but I am definitely dragging you along with me."

  "I am not allowed to refuse am I?"

  "Nope."

  Hiro sighed. "Fine. I have never been to the capital anyway since my mom was from the northwest territory. There would be no harm in going. Not like I can do much until I regain the spirit's attention anyway."

  Tom nodded. "And hopefully the observers in the capital will help me enough so that we both can move past our Breakthrough. Ilona told me you were at that stage, isn't that right?"

  "It is." He looked down. "There is no shame in trying. Why reject fate?"

  Tom smiled. This was perfect. He only had Sierra left to convince, then he could take them on an adventure to check out the South.

  "By the way," Hiro said, narrowing his eyes. "Why is there a teddy bear stuck on your hand?"

  Tom looked down. "Oh, this." He raised his hand. "Say hello to Little Bin."

  Little Bin awkwardly moved his arm back and forth.

  ***

  "Why can't you come with us?"

  Sierra aimed her dagger and threw it at a training dummy. Bullseye. "I am literally a demon, Tom. It would be dumb of me to walk right into the enemy nation's capital. Several years have gone by since the conflict began. With all the observers living they have obviously amped up their security against demon intruders."

  Trash hummed. "I told you. You lost the bet, and my sword better be cleaned by the end of the day. All the blood and filth on me is gross."

  "Not now Trash." He focused on Sierra. "That does kind of make sense. But — you know what, forget it. It was stupid of me to ask."

  Sierra shook her head. "No need to blame yourself. I understand where you are coming from. If I was human I would have gladly accompanied you." She put her hands on her hips. "But tell me: what is your plan moving onwards?"

  "Well, my goal had been to find a way to get out of this camp. The witch Meliel told me that I was already blessed by a higher being and needed to visit the World-Rune to change it, or at least ask for some better blessings. Afterward, I thought it would be interesting to check out the South."

  "The South? I have heard rumors of the state of humanity being more complicated there. South of the capital is also where the Rossi territory begins, so you would be able to take advantage of your persona." She nodded. "Sounds like a plan."

  "… Is that all? Aren't you going to ask for help with your cause?"

  "She can keep the weird teddy bear," Trash added.

  Little Bin moved his head towards Trash and furiously moved his arms around in protest.

  "If you lobby for ending the war in the capital, something I reckon you already will, then that would be enough. Don't worry about me. Live your own life. Flee down to the South to pursue your own adventure if you must."

  Tom stared at her. "Are you sure there is nothing I can help you with?"

  She shook her head.

  "Stop trying to act like a Hero, that was supposed to be taboo these days, no?" She avoided his gaze. "Are you completely sure?" He tried again.

  "Well." She hesitated. "There is one thing worth looking at." Removing the bandage on her arm, she revealed a giant scar. It was made of black mud and had purple-looking veins throbbing on it.

  Trash hummed. "That's disgusting!"

  Little Bin literally turned his head 180 degrees away from Sierra.

  Tom grimaced. "Ew, gross!"

  "I am still here you know," Sierra said.

  Tom coughed. "That looks horrible. No offense. Why haven't you asked Ilona to check up on it?"

  "Ilona already tried healing it with no visible effect. It has to have something to do with me being a demon. If that dumb saintess had the opportunity to look further into my wound, she would for certain find out about my true identity."

  "I guess rumors must have spread by now, but did you already know she was the saintess?"

  "What are you talking about? Everyone always knew."

  His eyes widened. "Hold on. You are telling me everyone already knew Ilona was the saintess?"

  She rolled her eyes. "The girl can heal wounds in the blink of an eye and is practically a living walking lamp. Of course, everyone knew. People just tend not to be so vocal about it to distance themselves from the church. Most people think it's some kind of new advertisement trick to boost the church's popularity."

  Now here he thought he was special with his observer class. In hindsight, he should have realized. "But if even she can't heal your wound, or look at it further, then what?"

  "Then what indeed."

  She had gotten that wound because she was following his plans. There was no need for her to help her own enemy in the first place. It was only right for him to help her out. "Let me look at it."

  "Feel free." She moved her arm towards him. "Hopefully my aura isn't a complete mess."

  Closing his eyes and sensing the auras, her aura was indeed in a terrible state. Her characteristic shade of black had now strange purple lines infecting it. The purple lines moved about while the once consistent black color had gotten a hint of red whilst it moved as clumps of mud towards the purple lines buzzing about. "Yup. It's a mess."

  She sighed. "Just my luck."

  That shade of purple did look unique. The only way he could explain it was that some kind of virus had infected her. "Any idea how you got it?"

  "I let my guard down for a moment and an error beast managed to bite me. It is common for demons to especially avoid being wounded by an error beast. I presume this is the reason why."

  "Then, if we are going to get to the bottom of this, you have to explain to me how your aura even is that shade of black." He met her eyes. "During the error cults meeting, they used a feral as a decoy to make the Hero attack it. And he did so with long rods with the same shade of black as you have. Care to explain?"

  Sierra avoided his gaze. For the first time since he had known her, she looked completely out of her element. "I am not sure if I can tell you everything. It would drag you into unnecessary trouble. But to keep it short, the sonata I have is an artificial one."

  "An artificial one? Aren't all of them artificial?"

  "No, they are naturally made over time. According to legends, the first sonata was made when a great Singer sang her first tune, and the spirits developing a deep attraction to the beauty they saw, congregated together into a sonata to keep the beauty they had experienced eternal." She opened the palm of her hand and created a small black hole. "The Hero, in a search for power, found a strange black ideal hiding in the corners of the world. This black mass was said to be unchanging in nature, the antithesis of progress, Immutable. Embracing this new power he sought a sonata to use as a weapon." She closed her palm. "My people were involved with the experiment to create this artificial sonata."

  "And let me guess: before the Hero could take it you stole it."

  She nodded. "It doesn't seem like the Hero had been angered since he ordered someone else to make it for him, but my people are mad since they are supposed to hand over the sonata soon. I didn't want the Hero to get hold of such a power, it goes completely against the purpose of a sonata, so believing in the same foolish idea as my brother I stole it and traveled to the human domain."

  That did make sense. The sonata had to be tied to her aura, reflecting the same color. Or, did it really make sense? Tom wasn't sure. Things were getting too complicated lately. But there was one thing he could understand. "Your aura used to be completely consistent, but the error beast must have infected you with a virus. The black parts of your aura seem to hate these new purple colors. Therefore, the only explanation is that your aura is out of balance." He scratched his head. "Now to fix that …"

  Focusing back on her aura he tried using [stabilize]. To his horror, the aura turned into an even greater mess of trying to devour the other, and the hint The Madness in her aura grew.

  Sierra grunted.

  "Fart. Close your eyes and try to drown out the anger. Think about positive thoughts."

  She glared at him. "What does—?"

  "Do it, now!"

  She closed her eyes and did as he said. He gave a sigh of relief when The Madness started to decline, somehow.

  She opened her eyes. "That was strange. I felt so angry a moment ago."

  "That was The Madness. You know, what angered Morpheus. You seem to have some of it. Or, more correctly, it seems to grow because of the black part wanting to get rid of the purple infection. I think trying to mess with your aura would do more harm than good."

  Sierra looked dejected and began re-bandaging her arm.

  "I don't completely understand auras yet, but I could ask the other observers in the capital. They should be able to help," he suggested.

  "It's alright. I haven't died yet, so perhaps I could still manage with this wound. If you find something, send a letter. No need to return back here if you don't want to."

  Tom felt like he was supposed to say something, but he couldn't find the words. He liked Sierra, she had been his first friend in this world. Someone that knew about his true identity without trying to take advantage of him. She needed help. "Are you sure you shouldn't think about returning back home? Maybe your brother was too optimistic after all. You have accomplished a lot and could give useful intel to your people."

  She glared at him. "My brother wasn't an idiot!"

  "I — that's not what I meant."

  She looked away. "I am not returning back home. I made my decision long ago, and I will have to live with it. Have fun in the capital." Then she walked away and left him alone.

  Trash hummed. "Great job making her hate you, Tom."

  "I didn't mean to," he responded, kicking a rock on the training ground.

  ***

  Time went by quicker than he could imagine, and they arrived on the day of departure. Tom sat in a carriage together with Alice, Hiro, and Mark. Thankfully, her secretary wasn't going with them, and Ilona had left before them.

  The carriage ride was mostly unassuming as they traveled up a bumpy road. Out the windows, he could see massive mountains on either side. "Are we in a valley?" Tom asked.

  "Yes. The capital lies at the top of the valley whilst the camp and the Void are at the bottom," Alice explained. "The locations are deliberate because it is much easier to defend against an invasion from the north."

  He noticed Hiro and Mark also staring at the mountains. It was also their first time traveling to the capital.

  The trip took several hours, but eventually they could see the capital from the window. All they could see was massive walls at the top of the valley. In the distance, he could spot several buildings with balconies facing towards them. At the bottom was a massive fortified gate. After Alice gave proof of her identity, the gates opened and they drove into the city.

  They walked out of the carriage so they could look around, and it was well worth it. The city was massive, full of countless colorful houses with each their own style. The road was made of brick with a myriad of people walking along it; he mostly saw humans but did also spot a few elves walking past. To his right he saw the city moving downwards, and to the left it moved upwards towards more even ground. None of the buildings compared to what he could see at the back of the city.

  Tom walked forward trying to get a better view, but fell down after bumping into something. It was a girl who had her entire face hidden under a cloak.

  "Sorry," she stammered. She got back on her feet and ran away.

  This city was pretty busy. Getting back on his feet he gawked at the behemoth of a castle in the background. Left of it was a cathedral; although it was smaller than the castle, since it was on a platform it reached higher in the air. That had to be the grand church Ilona was staying at.

  "Hey! Pst. Over here!"

  Tom looked around until he spotted where the voice came from. He walked towards it, feeling like his mind was about to explode. It was a vending machine. A talking vending machine. "Did you just talk?"

  "Yup. Never seen a vending machine talk before?"

  No way! Was this someone reborn in another world as a vending machine? "Do you need help?"

  "Definitely."