Chapter 153 - Hubris

Akida helped Syryn carry Riaku to a building that hadn't been touched by destruction. The prince had reverted from his demonic form and was recuperating faster than Syryn had anticipated. It was an abnormal development and a cause of concern to any healer who knew about what dangerous side effects followed such rapid healing. Regardless, Syryn remained a mute spectator to it. He could not stop the healing.

While Syryn remained watching over Riaku, Rowan had gone to the border to put an end to the battle that was taking place. The demons were dead. The enemy avians had lost their trump card. And Rowan was on his way to let them know.

Syryn had initially thought it the beginnings of hubris on Rowan's part. To think that he would casually walk in and stop a war from taking place. Who did Rowan think he was? A hero? Yes, he realised, this was Rowan being Rowan. If he had the strength to back up his hubris, was it really hubris? The anti mage was powerful. Syryn was glad that he had chosen to be a good demon this life. He could not imagine the result of going up against this Rowan.

"Wait a minute.." Syryn mouthed as he looked at the wood floor. If Rowan was this strong, he was incapable of causing him injury. Rowan could subdue him with the snap of a finger so what the hell had he been doing getting ripped apart by Syryn that last time??

"You look like someone spat on your food," Akida idly commented.

"And why aren't you helping your avian buddies in the battle?" Syryn's head snapped up with the reply hot on his tongue. Rowan had tricked him somehow. Syryn knew that much. He was annoyed but also amused.

"Riaku is my priority. Now that he's half-dead, I have to stick around." The avian guard was seated on the wooden floor with his back against the wall.

Syryn watched the burns on Riaku's face fade away. A trail of dried blood made its way from his ear and Syryn knew that the prince had also suffered a ruptured eardrum. Julie was a bitch like that.

"Riaku really pulled through for Nua, didn't he?" Syryn had to give credit where it was due. The prince had gone head to head with Signus, then Julie and Zerhen, and had made it out alive. The reason why Syryn hadn't run away was that it had broken his heart to see how Nua had abandoned its prince to the clutches of the demons. Yes, war was knocking on their door, but was it too impossible to spare a few anti mages to help Riaku?

"He's an idiot," Akida said without heat. "Riaku needs saving from himself. When he does die, it won't be that sword that kills him."

Nua will kill him.

"Was he really born a half-demon?" Syryn asked Akida. Or did Nua turn him into one?

"Dangerous question to ask, Syryn. You'd best get the answers from Riaku himself."

Syryn felt sorry for the prince. When he'd first heard about how Lumi had been manipulated, Syryn's expectations of Riaku had been a caricature of wickedness. Now he knew better. The prince was just another pathetic soul like himself. Riaku wasn't an 'either-or' deal. He was a complex being and would have both negative and positive effects on the world.

"Red, you've been awfully quiet," Syryn said to the child who was looking out at the expanse of devastation that once used to be a sprawling avian neighborhood. 

"I'm always quiet," the redhead replied with a scowl on his cherubic lips.

That was true. Syryn convinced himself that he was just being paranoid because of Red's reaction to the sword.

"Akida, we need to find Utsui. I can't watch Riaku round the clock, you know."

"You want me to fetch him now?"

"If he isn't too busy with the injured, yes."

The guard stood up and stretched his long limbs. "I'll be right back, then." Akida leaned out of the window he was leaving from. "Your friends are putting out the fire. I'll let them know you're here."

-----

"Syryn, how's the prince doing?" Sebastian asked.

Artemus arrived right behind the mage. The anti mage looked just as clean and put together as he always did. Not a single wrinkle marred the perfection of his dark clothing. Syryn suspected that he had a magical shield on himself that deflected dirt and dust.

"Stable and recovering. Thank you, for coming here and helping."

Sebastian flopped down on an armchair while Artemus parked himself by the window and kept an eye out on the surroundings.

"I was bored at Elysium so don't mention it. You've done me a favour by bringin' some spice into my life." Sebastian turned and smiled languidly at Artemus. "Though I'm hopin' that A-mu will spice it up too. Someday before I croak. Right, sweet cheeks?"

Artemus' glare wasn't piercing. It was the lazy-eyed stare of a man who couldn't be bothered to respond but promised vengeance at a later point in time.

"Sebastian, what about us?" Syryn asked with a sly leer.

The mage responded with a wag of his finger. "Are you coming onto me, Syryn? I'm afraid my heart belongs to A-mu."

"I was asking about the marriage that the emperor wanted to arrange."

"Ah- that, yeah. I told him I broke it off with you. That's why I'm now stuck in Elysium playin' professor to a bunch of snot-nosed brats at King Hill. What a waste of my talents."

"As opposed to fleeing the kingdom and playing the man whore?" Artemus asked in a cool tone. "I wonder how many bastards you've sired to this day."

Syryn choked on air. Artemus was never this crude.

"If you were a woman, I'd have had made at least twenty babies with you by now." Sebastian grinned at the anti mage who had narrowed his eyes dangerously. He liked it very much when he got under the anti mage's skin. "But you're a man. And we can adopt twenty kids, A-mu. I much prefer you as a man. I wouldn't change it for the world."

Syryn had a feeling that Sebastian was placating the anti mage. There was some history in the matter that Sebastian had taken up to tease Artemus about.