Chapter 563: Quick Trip

Pink light flooded through the void, and Noah didn’t dare turn back to see what the source was. He accelerated toward the white gateway floating in wait before him, hurling himself through it.

The world warped. White stretched to cover the skies and wrapped around Noah like an all-consuming blanket. He squeezed his eyes shut and twisted his body to protect Sticky. His stomach lurched, and then he shifted.

Cold stone slammed into Noah’s back and knocked the breath from his lungs.

He drew in a sharp breath and his eyes snapped open. A void stretched out above him, black and devoid of stars. A replica of the afterlife — but not the afterlife. Exhaustion gripped at Noah’s head as he turned it to the side, letting glistening obsidian press against his cheek.

Golden lines trimmed the platform he laid on, and powerful imbuements covered every inch of the ground around him.

He was back in Sievan’s domain. Back in the Damned Plains.

With a groan, Noah pushed himself upright. Sticky laid in his lap, her body frail but chest rising and falling with every breath.

She was alive.

Somehow, he and Wizen had literally stolen a life straight from the afterlife. Noah swallowed. There were different levels to slighting the gods, and he didn’t know where this one landed.

Maybe it’s not too bad. They’ve got a whole bunch of souls wandering around. Maybe they won’t miss one.

Nobody had shown up to smite him on the spot, after all. Perhaps Renewal had just been busy doing something else. Noah wasn’t about to complain. He was, however, probably going to have to make his fruit basket a little bit bigger.

Something about the size of a small continent should probably do the trick.

Noah studied Sticky for a moment. He was far from a doctor, but she looked... healthy. It didn’t seem that she was about to die at any point soon. Thin grey veins still pulsed beneath her skin, but her body was settling down.

Who would have thought that Wizen had a power like this. Not even Sunder or the Fragment of Renewal could have pulled another soul back from the dead.

Noah was silent for several long moments. He wasn’t actually sure how he was supposed to feel. Emotion and logic twisted and fought for supremacy, only to both realize they were equally as confused and give up the fight altogether.

It’s almost ironic. The ultimate sacrifice; the power to give one’s life for someone else, in the hands of the most evil man I’ve ever met. And he used it to save a child he barely knew. He didn’t have to. He could have saved the strength and gone to walk with his daughter anyway.

Why?

There was no answer. Perhaps not every action could be described by logic. Perhaps not every man was completely good or evil. When Noah had been a teacher on Earth, he would have said that he’d had a pretty good understanding of life. That some things were inherently good, and some were evil. That was that.

But the more he witnessed, the harder it became to understand. Wizen had not been a good man. He had stolen people’s minds with his runes. Only the gods knew how many people he had killed, and he had done irreparable damage to countless families, not to mention countless other crimes.

And, in saving Sticky, Wizen might have saved more than just a child. He might have saved the demons as a race. Even if there were others that were like her, she was the one that Noah had to work with.

How are good and bad weighed? Can you right past wrongs through good deeds? Is there some sort of cosmic scale for good and bad?

A small smile pulled across Noah’s lips.

Eh. Fuck it. I don’t know, and it’s not my job to know. That’s a problem for the gods to deal with. Maybe I’ll find an answer one day, but right now, there’s only one thing I care about. Keeping the people I care about safe.

Noah pulled his jacket off and folded it into a makeshift pillow. He slipped it under Sticky’s head and let her rest on the obsidian as he rose to his feet. She was asleep, so there was no point connecting to her mind yet — and Empty Proliferation needed some time to regenerate its power.

Only once he had stood did Noah realize that the white light was gone. His eyes snapped over to Sievan. The Lord of Death stood exactly where he had been stabbed, arms crossed behind his back and eyes closed.

In the center of his chest was a gaping hole.

He held it until Sticky and I came back through.

Noah swallowed. He approached the plain-looking demon, stopping several feet away from him. There was a faint, content smile on Sievan’s face. He stood proud in death.

For several long seconds, Noah stood in silence. Then he bowed his head in respect.

“Yes,” Noah said with a small smile. “You did.”

“Is Wizen coming back?”

“Those who pass from this realm unto the next are not meant to return,” Sievan said. “Wizen is, for better or for worse, at peace. He stole you from the gods themselves at the cost of his own life. A bold man.”

“Why?” Sticky asked, staring at them with wide, watery eyes. “Why would he do that? I’m just... me. I can’t do anything. Why would he waste a gift like that on me?”

“A gift isn’t something that has to be justified,” Noah said. “What matters is that you’re alive, and you’re wrong about not being able to do something. Life has inherent value. And if that isn’t enough — I need your help.”

“Me?” Sticky blinked.

“Yes. I think you’ve got the key to save every single demon,” Noah replied. “But I just have to figure something out first. I know you’re probably confused right now. Coming back from the afterlife is... difficult. I’ve been there. Just relax for a little.”

Sticky nodded slowly. She looked down at her hands, flexing her fingers as if suddenly recalling that she had them.

Noah chewed his lower lip. “I need to figure out what causes demons to determine what they consume. It can’t just be random.”

“I have never considered this,” Sievan said. “It is not something we can change, so it did not feel prudent.”

“There has to be a pattern that determines what demons eat,” Noah muttered. “Aylin got Knowledge. Violet became a Hoarder. Maybe it’s something that happens before you reach Rank 3? Demons could be initially partial to some emotion that then becomes what they consumes.”

“I’m not Rank 3 yet,” Sticky volunteered. “But I don’t really feel like there’s anything I really lean toward. I’m fine with how things are.”

Noah blinked. “Seriously? You wouldn’t change anything? Not even—”

Sticky shook her head. “No. That’s just how life is. It’s okay. And I got to meet some really incredible demons because of how I am. Sievan only found me because I was broken. I even got to help Wizen. I wish I could do more, but I’m happy. I want to live, but I wouldn’t change anything about myself.”

I —

Wait.

Sievan’s words echoed through Noah’s head. Back when they had first spoken, while time had been frozen, the Lord of Death had said something that stuck in Noah’s mind.

Demons are the runes within them.

“You don’t want anything,” Noah muttered. “Holy shit. That’s it.”

“It is?” Sticky blinked. “Really?”

“Aylin wanted knowledge. Violet wanted to protect her family. Sievan was made of Decras’ desire to die. The feeling or power a demon ends up feeding on is the one that they lack the most. The reason Sticky’s soul doesn’t work properly is because she’s content. She doesn’t long for anything.”

“What does that mean?” Sticky asked.

“Demons and their runes are one and the same,” Noah said, starting to speak faster as excitement gripped him. “But demons are broken. They’re missing something. That’s why they consume emotions. They want what they don’t have. But you — you’re not broken at all, Sticky. You’re perfect. The perfect demon is literally right in front of us. You don’t want for anything, and so your soul doesn’t need to bring in a new emotion. I bet that’s why Demons can’t continuously advance either. Your souls are missing a core element. You can’t fully comprehend your runes when your soul is focused on bringing in something that isn’t you. I’ve been looking for a way to make something that already exists. Sticky is her rune.”

“What are you saying?” Sievan asked. “Sticky has no runes. That is her problem.”

“Wrong,” Noah said with a laugh. “You told me this yourself, Sievan. How could a Demon possibly exist without a Rune? The power we need is within Sticky. It just needs to be freed.”

Just like my Fragment of Self. I didn’t truly create it. It was a part of my soul that I cut out and re-bound to myself. Decras’ Fragments don’t work because his desires have corrupted every single demon and forcibly changed them into something they don’t truly want to be. But Sticky wants nothing. Her soul is pure — and that means the energy from her Runes is exactly what every demon would need to make their own Rune.

“Can such a thing even be done?” Sievan frowned. “How would you harness such a power?”

Noah smiled. “Leave that to me. Sticky, I’d like to take a quick trip into your soul.”

“Do you mean...”

“Yes,” Noah said. His smile grew wider. “I can help you become what you were always meant to be.”