We climbed the tower, Elio a few steps ahead, and I trailed after him, my hand brushing the cold stone wall for balance. At the top, he paused at a plain door, barely worth noticing, and held it open for me. We slipped inside together, leaving the others behind in the stairwell’s hush. The room was round, almost like a forgotten observatory, and the walls were crowded with portraits—one after another, all staring in the same direction. Each painting showed an old figure draped in the same oil-slick gown that shimmered like a rainbow, their faces worn by time, their eyes fixed on a single ornate chair behind a desk. They must be the popes who came before, their silent judgment lingering in the air.
Pope Lucrezia sat in that heavy chair, her hands curled around the ends as if she might drift away if she let go. Like all the other popes, she’d left her family name—Franco—behind, clinging only to her first. She must have been close to ninety, the oldest and longest-serving pope anyone could remember. Her hair was a cloud of white, her brown eyes faded and tired, her back bent beneath the weight of years. Deep lines mapped her face, and shadows clung beneath her eyes. At first, she reminded me of my own grandmother, wrapped in that same shimmering gown as the portraits, the fabric catching the light like spilled oil. But there was something in the way she watched me that made it clear she was anything but ordinary.
As soon as I crossed the threshold behind Elio, her eyes found me and didn’t let go. A chill crept down my spine, settling somewhere deep in my bones. The silence pressed in, thick and uncomfortable. No one said a word. I drifted to the center of the room, left standing alone—there weren’t any other chairs, not that I would have dared to sit. Elio hovered behind me, pretending to be casual, but I could see with mana sense that his hand hovered near where his sword would be, ready to cut me down at a moment's notice. He must have believed that, like anyone else, I could only see what was in front of me.
The silence dragged on, heavy and suffocating. I could feel sweat gathering at the base of my neck, sliding down my back as her gaze pinned me in place. Was she trying to break me with that stare, or had she simply drifted off to sleep with her eyes still open?
Just as my mind started to wander into ridiculous territory, she closed her eyes for a moment—maybe gathering her thoughts, maybe just tired—before finally breaking the silence.
“You look exactly like the gods have shown you to me in my dream, Demon.”
Outwardly, I tried to look calm, maybe even a little bored, but inside my chest, my heart was pounding so hard I thought it might give me away.
She glanced past me, toward Elio. Maybe she thought I wouldn’t notice, but with mana sense, I caught the small shake of his head. They were sharing something I wasn’t meant to see, but I couldn’t guess what. My nerves prickled. I needed to say something soon, or she’d only grow more suspicious—if that was even possible. She already knew what I was, so I figured I’d better stick as close to the truth as I dared. Not just because it was safer, but because, for some reason, the way she looked at me made me feel like she could see straight through me, reading every thought I tried to hide.
“Your Holiness, it is an honor to finally meet you. My name is Ruby Yuwen. I must say, your reputation precedes you. Seymor told me much about your wisdom and leadership.”
I dipped into a polite bow, hoping this act would at least soften her glare, but she didn’t even blink. Inside, panic fluttered in my chest, but I forced myself to keep going, pretending I was steadier than I felt.
“I had a similar dream recently. There, I met two figures whose forms constantly shifted. One was like a burning inferno, while the other was as calm as a lake. We only talked for a few minutes, but once I woke up, almost all my mana was used up.”
For a moment, I thought I saw something like jealousy flicker in her eyes, but it vanished as quickly as it came, replaced by that same sour glare. Was she envious? After all, judging by how she has treated me so far, she shouldn't actually know about what the gods and I talked about. Maybe all she got from the gods was my face?
“What did the two figures look like?”
She was testing me, I could feel it. Was she just playing along, or did she really want to know? I couldn’t tell.
Urgh! This old hag is impossible to read.
“The Sun God Solis and the Moon Goddess Lunae constantly shifted their form, but the most memorable must have been when they appeared as the founders of Amantes King Ainer from the Kingdom Lunae and Queen Eliana of the Kingdom of Solis.”
“You have a good history teacher, Demon, but you must be mistaken. It's supposed to be the Moon god and the Sun Goddess, not the other way around, you see.”
“True, that is what they are supposed to be, but that is how they introduced themselves. They told me that their union wasn't mutual and was mostly driven by necessity. That they had to do it or else they could have been forgotten. That was also when the shift in their genders happened, to make the new King and Queen seem like living avatars of the gods and give them further legitimacy."
Anyone from the Armantes faith would have called me a non-believer, maybe even a heretic, for what I just said, but Lucrezia didn’t even flinch. Elio, however, shifted uncomfortably behind me. When I looked back at Lucrezia, her glare had softened into a slight… smile? Did I make it?
“You seem to be speaking the truth, demon. You really are who they told me about.”
I could sense Elio’s heart stutter at her words, but he pulled himself together in an instant, years of trained discipline smoothing over any cracks in his perfect image.
“What exactly did they tell you?”
"Friend."
“Pardon?”
“Only the word 'friend.' That is all they revealed to me.”
Solis called me his friend? Yeah, no way, most likely they just kept it simple so Lucrezia wouldn't misunderstand their message.
