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There was no sign of Zoe.

Another corpse lay in the snow burnt to a crisp, and since the smoke was coming from it, the girl couldn't be far.

"Search the area," Elijah told Jake. "Find a trail."

With a nod, the pardus began sniffing and scurrying around.

Elijah tried searching himself, but what Luell told him was rolling around inside his head. Could the Ancient who was a sangdevoro demon be connected to him? He didn't know who he was or where he came from, or why Lyca Corp. was so invested in him. Luell said that only those with the blood of an Ancient could speak to lycans in their animal forms, so it had to make sense, right?

He frowned in confliction as he scoured the snow with his eyes. Maybe if he found the reason behind his existence, then he might not feel so empty inside.

But finding Haru was more important, and he couldn't do that if he didn't find Zoe. That girl knew more than she let on, so maybe she might be able to answer some of his questions. Jake said that Zoe never explained all of that to him, so she had to know.

"Hey, Elijah," Jake called nervously.

He snapped out of his thoughts and shifted his sights to Jake.

The pardus was standing by a cave entrance. "Trail leads in here."

"Come on, then," he said, moving past him. But when he stepped into the cave, he couldn't hear Jake following. He stopped and turned around to see the leopard standing at the entrance with a hesitant look on his face. "What are you fucking waiting for?"

Jake drawled nervously, "Uh...well...I kinda have this thing about dark, enclosed spaces, and—"

"We don't have time for this shit!" Elijah snarled as he moved over to him and shoved him.

The pardus groaned anxiously and tried to go back. "I-I can find a way around and meet you on the other side—"

Elijah grasped his scruff. "Either you walk willingly, or I'll put you to sleep and carry you."

His face lit up. "You know, that actually sounds—"

"Just fucking move," Elijah growled, shoving him continuously.

Jake grunted every time Elijah pushed him, but once they were around a hundred feet in, and the entrance no longer provided daylight, the pardus walked on his own, clinging too closely to Elijah's side.

"Give me some fucking space," the demon snarled, elbowing the pardus' side.

"You say fucking a lot, you know."

Ignoring him, Elijah used his demon ability to see in the pitch dark as if it were day to navigate the damp cavern. All he could smell was stagnant water, and the scent of the pine trees weakened the deeper he delved.

"How far do you think it goes on for?" Jake asked nervously.

There was no way for him to tell. If the mountains weren't full of vendite, he'd be able to use his sensory ethos to locate the way out, but the only choice he had was to keep walking and hope he didn't take any wrong turns.

"What if Zoe's lost somewhere in here? We'll never find her!" the pardus panicked, looking around.

Elijah sighed angrily and glared down at him. "Do you have to talk so much?"

"Sorry, I'm just scared, okay? I don't do so well in the dark," Jake mumbled shakily. "When I was a kid, we did a lot of like...hiding and shit to get away from hunters. All my memories of places like this aren't very nice," he muttered, edging closer to Elijah as he led the way forward at a fork in the path. "We were found by the Venaticus eventually, though. My mom joined a local policing unit, but...yeah, hunters. That's how I met Zoe, actually."

The demon deadpanned, trying to keep himself from snapping. Jake was annoying enough already, but he'd rather him ramble than panic and cry.

"We went to Eimwood Academy together," he said with a sigh. "When my mom died, Zoe managed to convince her dads to let me live in one of their spare townhouses. It was better than an orphanage if I'm being honest. Yeah, the butlers took care of me, but I got to see Zoe every day."

Elijah glanced down at him. "Are you and her a thing?"

Jake laughed but then frowned. "No, not in that way. She's my best friend" He looked up at him. "Did you go to school?"

"Do I look like I went to some rich kid academy?" he grumbled.

"Oh...sorry."

"I was trained at the facility," he muttered, carefully leading the way down a steep, jagged slope. "I wasn't taught world history or how to do taxes, but I've picked up a lot of what I missed since I escaped."

Jake adorned a curious frown. "What did they train you to do?"

"Kill," he answered. He suddenly lost his footing and grabbed the closest boulder, and as he slowly stood up straight, he sighed irritably and continued to the bottom of the slope. "At first, it was like they were getting us ready for something. They'd make us fight each other, they'd make us practice our abilities on humans and other Caeleste. I lost count of how many they made me kill."

"What the fuck, man?" Jake uttered nauseously. "I'm starting to get why you're so standoffish and growly the more you tell me about that place."

"There were things they didn't teach me, though," he continued as what Luell said about the Ancients protruded to the front of his mind. "Things I've had to discover on my own, and things I'm yet to work out. I have this...burning feeling inside me," he told him.

"Like...anger?"

"No. Like there's a part of me that wants out, but I don't know how to let it out."

"That sounds like something for Zoe," Jake said. "I was around her a lot, so I got to see her dads training her sometimes. Demon ethos apparently feels like anger when it's like...dormant or whatever. When you haven't learned to harness it. Maybe that's what you're feeling, especially if you weren't taught everything."

Jake was actually right. Elijah had so many unanswered questions and knowing that Zoe could probably tell him made him feel more desperate to find her. Could she tell him why he felt like there was a hole in his chest? Could she explain why it felt like fire was raging inside him? And would she be able to help him on his way to finding out who and what he was? There was only one way to find out.

"Come on," he mumbled, picking up the pace.

Elijah led the way through the deep, dark caverns, hoping he'd spot a way out. But he kept walking, taking turns, and following slopes. When they reached a small stream, he chose to follow it up.

A green glow emanated ahead.

"Hey, look!" Jake exclaimed excitedly. "It could be a way out, right? It's late, there could be an aurora in the sky."

"Have you ever seen an aurora in Nefastus?" Elijah muttered.

Jake frowned. "Well...no. But we're out in the country, it could...."

He stopped talking when they turned the corner and saw where the glow was coming from. Along the rocks beside the stream were clusters of luminous, humming green mushrooms.

"Oh...green dragon manes," Jake said as they stopped by the water.

Elijah looked down at the leopard. "What?"

"The mushrooms. Green dragon manes. I uh...paid a lot of attention in alchemy class. I was kinda bullied for being a nerd."

The demon scoffed amusedly.

"What?"

"Keep moving," he mumbled, following the stream.

There was no sign of a way out, but Elijah wasn't going to give up. The water had to lead them outside eventually, right? What if Zoe went in the other direction? There was no way to find out.

They kept walking, and eventually, the sound of crashing water broke the silence. Thin mist ensnared the wide cavern Elijah and Jake emerged into, and the dragon mane mushrooms were everywhere.

Elijah stopped and scanned the area, and when he located the waterfall, he saw a rocky path leading up the side of it. "Up there," he said, pointing at it. Then, he started walking over there.

Something shuffled through the murk.

Jake stopped beside Elijah. "Uh...what the hell was that?"

A low rumble echoed around them, and Elijah's instincts went haywire. He knew he was being watched, and as he slowly backed against a wall, he frantically scanned the fog with his eyes. A strange, metallic odour filled the air, and among the sound of flowing water was a quiet, wet squelching.

He followed the sound with his eyes, and when he spotted a large shadow shifting through the haze, he slowly pulled his bag from over his shoulder and placed it on the ground as quietly as he could.

"W-what is it?" Jake whispered, and he was so far backed up against the wall that to get any closer, he'd have to stand on his hind legs. "I-I think we should run."

Ignoring him, Elijah gradually unzipped his jacket so that he could reach his Rovinares.

"Hello?!" Jake urged, keeping his voice hushed. "What's the play?!"

The creature suddenly lunged out from the fog—

Elijah pulled his pistols out in time and fired, and when one of the bullets hit the beast's blue, scaled face, it shrieked and scurried back into the murk faster than he'd seen anything move.

Jake screamed—of course he did—he cowered on the ground, holding his paws over his head.

The demon moved forward, ensuring that whatever was stalking them would focus on him. He was certain that Zoe wouldn't appreciate it if he turned up and told her that her friend was dead, and the last thing he needed was her being any more difficult than she already was.

Pointing his guns forward, he prowled along the water's edge, focusing all his senses for any sign of the creature. A strange metallic smell lingered in the air, but it wasn't blood—not any blood Elijah had ever smelt, anyway.

Something squelched behind him.

He quickly turned around, but there was nothing. In the corner of his eye, he saw Jake cowering, which made him grunt irritably. He would have thought a lycan of his strength would be more like him, but evidently not.

A low growl snatched his attention, and when he swung around to face the sound, he backed off and tried to locate the beast. Where the hell was—

The demon was abruptly forced to the ground under the weight of the slimy, blue creature as it crashed down on top of him. He grunted when his back hit the damp rock, and the collision made him lose grip of his guns. He swiftly reached into his coat and pulled out a blade as a huge mouthful of gnarly teeth lunged for his face, but even when he stabbed with enough strength to break bones, the blade didn't pierce the creature's armour, and he dodged the maw by mere inches, jerking his head to the side.

He snarled in frustration and kicked his knee up into the beast's belly, and as it yelped, he managed to push it off and climbed to his feet. It attempted to flee into the murk, but he wasn't going to lose sight of it again. Elijah chased after it and grabbed its spine-covered tail, and when he yanked with all his strength, he pulled the creature up off its feet and launched it towards the closest wall.

When the scaled thing hit the rock and landed with a thump close to Jake, the pardus cried fearfully and tried to run up the slope, but the creature quickly reached out and grabbed the leopard's back leg, snarling and screeching.

Elijah wouldn't have time to recover his guns. He hurried over there and grabbed the iguana-looking monster by the horns on its head and tugged it away from Jake. But the creature fought back; it swung around and slammed its front leg against Elijah's chest, and when Elijah stumbled back, Jake managed to scurry away like an alley cat, disappearing into the murk.

The lizard turned to face him, and as it let out a deafening, screeching roar, the cavern around them shook, and dust fell from above. But the creature didn't charge. It started prowling...circling.

With a quiet snarl, Elijah did the same. He wanted to go for his guns, which he could see sitting by a collection of mushrooms; however, he knew the creature was probably waiting for him to do something stupid. So he extended his claws and bared his fangs as he hissed at it.

In response, the strange animal growled and puffed its body up like a feline, and when spikes began popping out through its skin like some kind of puffer fish, Elijah searched for places on its body where he could attack without cutting himself to ribbons.

But then a dismaying thought hit him. What if this thing had killed Zoe? Had she stumbled into this cavern and become the creature's dinner? Was that why there seemed to be no other trace of her?

And...why did that make him feel hurt? Why did the thought make his heart beat a little faster? If she were dead, it would make his life easier. Yeah, he might not get all the information from her that he hoped she had, but it would mean he didn't have to lug her around with him until he found Haru.

The creature pounced—

Elijah reacted in time to slam his fist into its face, and a loud crack indicated that he'd broken something. The creature fell to the side, but when it hit the ground, it recovered immediately and charged at him. With a frustrated snarl, Elijah dived out of the way towards where his pistols lay, and as he snatched his guns and stood up, he fired them rapidly at the monster as it ran towards him again.

The demon backed off as he fired each shot, and as the bullets cut through the thing's tough skin, sending green, luminous blood to the ground, it began to slow until one final round cut between its ghastly red eyes, and it tripped over its feet and slid along the ground until it lay still and lifeless.

For a moment, Elijah feared the thing might have an incredible resistance, but to his relief, he was wrong.

But was he wrong about Zoe?

He slowly lowered his weapons, staring down at the corpse as his heart slowed and his breaths calmed.

"E-Elijah?" came Jake's petrified voice. "Is it dead?"

Elijah sighed and huffed irritably. "Obviously."

The pardus crept out of the fog and towards Elijah, and when he stood beside him, he groaned in disgust. "What the hell is it?"

"No idea," he muttered, crouching beside it. He rolled the body onto its back, and as he suspected, the creature's belly wasn't covered in spikes.

He tucked his pistols away and then stabbed his knife into the thing's stomach. Green blood oozed from the wound, and as he sliced it open, Jake gagged and retched beside him.

"What the hell are you doing?" the pardus groaned.

For some reason, Elijah began to feel anxious. He cut the creature's stomach open and let its contents spill onto the ground. It reeked of stagnant water and rotting flesh, and as much as it disgusted him, he poked and prodded the lumps of meat and sludge which flowed from inside the monster with his knife, searching for anything that might be Zoe.

But he couldn't find anything. There were a few corroded rodent bodies and dissolved bones, and even an old shoe, but it wasn't Zoe's—it looked like a combat boot. And when he used his knife to spread the wound open so that he could see inside the creature, he saw the whole intact head of a bald man.

Jake retched so loud that it sent anger rushing through Elijah. "Will you calm the fuck down?!" he snapped, sharply turning his head to glare up at him. "You're acting like you've never seen a dead body before."

"I-I haven't! Not this close up, anyway," the guy complained.

Elijah rolled his eyes and stood up.

"What did you do that for?" Jake questioned, following him over to the water.

"I thought it might have eaten Zoe," he answered, washing his knife in the stream. "Instead, it looks like it got one of the catchers."

Jake sighed heavily in relief. "Well...at least there's one less guy chasing her. We just gotta find her before the rest of them do."

Elijah slipped his clean knife back into its sheath inside his coat. "That's the plan." He left the stream and headed over to where he left his bag. He moved the strap over his shoulder, and then he started leading the way up the slope. "Why are you scared of everything?" he asked, looking at Jake as he followed.

The pardus didn't look offended as he answered, "I dunno, I'm just more of a homebody. I did most of my growing up in Eimwood, so I had the security of the safest city in the world. There weren't any bandits or creatures lurking in the woods; maybe the occasional elf, but they were always friendly."

"Eimwood?" he questioned as they reached the top of the slope.

"It's the place where the Caeleste government started, so it's pretty much HQ now. As you can probably imagine, it's super heavily guarded, and everyone who lives there is either snooty and rich as fuck or too afraid to step even an inch over the line."

"And which one were you?"

Jake frowned. "Well, I wasn't rich persé, but I did get a lot of stuff through Zoe. She made her dads...well, the one she calls Papa get me things. The one she calls Dad is kinda mean."

Elijah grunted in response. A small part of him felt depressed about the fact that he didn't know his parents and probably never would, and he'd never have the childhood Lyca Corp. stole from him. But he wouldn't let what happened consume him. All that mattered was finding Zoe so that he could find Haru.

"I met her big sister once," Jake said. "Super nice. She's a lot like Zoe's Papa." He looked up at Elijah. "She took me all the way to Sineád one time just because I wanted to try a specific food. How crazy is that?"

He made another sound instead of replying, glaring ahead. He didn't want to talk anymore. "Come on," he muttered when he spotted a hint of light up ahead and picked up the pace.

Hopefully, this cave was the last thing between them and Zoe. The sooner they found her, the sooner he could get back on track. He'd wasted enough time already, and he wasn't going to waste any more.

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✧ Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! ✧

♛ What was your favourite part? ♛

✟ Why do you think Elijah felt hurt thinking Zoe might be dead? ✟

✙ Do you think anything else is going to get in their way? ✙

❖ Got any questions? ❖

◈ Let me know! ◈