Chapter 94

Tyson
“Grandfather I don’t rightly know what to do.” I said honestly.
“I don’t either… Kaizen aids my mate for a wish.” He said simply.
“…What could he ever want?” I asked. “We have power, position, and prestige.”
“But not protection from fate.” He said with a sorrow filled sigh. “He wants aid for his unborn twins. One will be as us, the other, mortal.” He said simply. “I will not change this otherwise.”
I kneeled.
“And what of my unborn?” I asked.
He did not sound excited… and my surprise became instant worry.
“I made him too strong…. The mixture of you and Samira’s blood is too unholy for even a lunar unicorn… and to holy for a lesser demigod of the night court….”
The demon who burns himself… will roast his mother.
 “My son is not compatible.” I mumbled.
“No… he is not.” He said firmly… he would not pick favorites and change his makeup without intervention.
“What must I do to earn a wish.” I asked.
“Mend the heart of my Herald…. Because I was right does not make it right to be so blunt.” He grumbled.
“Then I’m off.” I said going to the Last Layer of Tarteron. It was quiet.
Not a soul said anything on my arrival, worried for *my* mood too.
I could feel the charge in the air; Apythmenos’s anger felt like the moment before a lightning strike… 
Down here was undeveloped, and because of it, some even called this layer Old Hell. Homes of demons were underground here, with cellar doors, or mound entrances. The Herald’s was no different. I knew his scent and followed it. His house was only a few miles from the Pit, because he *is* the Pit given a mortal shape.
I knocked on his door, trying to remember the name of his caretaker. They are the partner of a herald as much as they are a spouse. *Noirnamu* was no different, being a dark skinned man, about the same shade as grandma Gwen, with a bone white bald head… because unlike the former wolf queen, he is a skull-headed demon. The inside of their house was pretty modern… 
It even had cable. Some gameshow called Wipeout: but THE FLOOR IS LAVA was on, along with some popcorn on their dining table…
“We’re off.” He snapped.
“I just want to talk to the Pit.” I said honestly. “I saw what grandfather did.”
“Then you know damn well that there’s nothing to talk about!” Apythmenos yelled. “I kill this universes’ rejects, I am made the villain with him, yet *I* am *Just* a *GARBAGE DISPOSAL?!* Like Really?!”
He opened the door of his bathroom, and instead of his normal pinkish hue, the Pit was red. His skin was scarlet, and his hair and horns were black. The whites of his eyes were a deeper red, and his irises were black in his anger… Like that… he looked like he belonged under the service of my grandfather. His angelic appearance was overshadowed by his demonic rage.
“I saw what he did through his own eyes and-”
“And that makes it Better?” He asked, cutting me off.
“Dear at least let him in.” Said Noirnamu.
“They only use us.” He hissed.
“We are soldiers of the Night Court.” I said firmly. “We all play our part.”
“How long before he insults *you*?” Apythmenos snapped. “He only wants you as his toy soldier in his collection.”
“I think it best you leave.” Said Noirnamu. “Come back with our daughter. That’s about the only hint I’ll give you.”
….The legends say that the Wolf Queen was raised by a high ranking demon. So much so that when he tried reintroducing her to a pack, that they all ran screaming.
It helps that I know that’s true, but how am I going to get her down here?
I teleported to the in-between, 20 miles away from her gates so as not to alarm Grindal…. The old wolf has many names but he is the *first* wolf…. I cannot defeat him, and as an emissary for the Horned One, he will not let me enter, unlike Kaizen.
After all, Kaizen is helping *grandmother* not grandfather.”
I’ll have to sneak her to Tarteron…
There was a flash of darkness, and a swift whoosh of someone within the Light Court…
I felt something in my hand. Something heavy.
I almost dropped the solid silver key… one about a foot long. The base was crescent shaped, with a wolf inside it howling… 
**A Key!!**
“I am Zumitas.” Said the Herald who almost took me.  He extended a clawed hand to shake, but I hesitated. “I swear I am only here to help.”
We shook wrists.
“I assume this is to make amends?” I asked.
“Something like that.” He said simply. “My jackass of a master smoothed over his mate’s troubles… but the rift was made from his interference. I may be a big dumb rock, but even *I* know better than to talk shit about someone in front of their face.”
“…Damn…” I said with slightly raised eyebrows… He was bitter about this too, but chose to continue to work.
“I assume this thing only has one charge.”
“You have 1 chance. Grendel is a Herald designed to protect the entirety of the In-between, meaning he’s as strong as I am.” He warned.
“But how did Arviel Still have this?” I asked.
“The majority of their war I was at the bottom of the ocean… but I heard Chroviel, the Realm Maker was found, and forced to sit at that lock and make a copy… all the while… this lay inside the bottom of my right foot, and I did not know it, not even my master… until it pulsed a moment ago.”
“Because you are the Endless Mountain.” I said and he nodded. “Where better to place the key to your commission, than the Herald of the one who asked for its making… And I assume the one given at the ceremony, was an *identical* copy.”
“Many don’t rightly know this, but the Moon Goddess did not have her own keys, because she did not make her own world.” He said firmly. “She was made on a whim. She was made without a weapon, unlike even the *lowest* lesser god… Honestly, she was only meant to be a wife, nothing more. Shit honestly less than that. Arviel *knew* Humblon already had a pet, Niyamya his high priestess.”
“And grandfather made her feel like one.” I said as the key began to tarnish in my hand… I could feel grandmother’s sorrow… I could feel her joy that I had it, but her sadness… This thing likely reminds her of why she was created…
To be basically a concubine. With no weapon she cannot question whomever Arviel *chose FOR her*… without making her own realm, being made too weak too, she may as well be mortal compared to them. Even Lia can summon thorns, and is depicted with a rose whip in some paintings and sculptures….
“And the key was in plain sight… hidden even from its maker. It makes me think that all this fighting was likely never meant to happen.” I said, breaking the silence.
“I think you’re onto something.” He said simply, leaving.
“Then it should be resolved swiftly.” I said using the key immediately.
I know something like this holds a scent Grendel will notice right away. I didn’t know where I’d end up, but I figured thinking about my soul mending grandmother would take me to her.
And I was right.
I could not stop to look at how oxidized everything was. For all of it to be made of silver, with her so upset, not a single thing shined.