Chapter 62

**Merianna**

“S-so you’re N-Nochtandriel?” Orbus looked scared enough to wet his pants now that he had finally figured out exactly who he was probably mouthing back to.

Noch beamed happily. “So you DO know me! Oh how flattering.”

“Glad to see that some stories were passed down.” Arasule huffed.

“You’re just jealous.”

Fog let out a loud sigh that had Noch double back again. Clearing his throat he glanced back down at Orbus who was visibly terrified now. He most likely didn’t think that head figures of The Order would ever be within his vicinity at any point in time.

“B-but why are you getting involved in this?” His voice shook as he now properly took in the full comprehension of someone like Nochtandiel going out of his way to personally catch him.

“Do you even realize who it was you were basically torturing, whose soul you had been playing so carelessly with?” Noch asked dubiously. “Do you even know what the name of Thyrion’s wife actually is?”

I felt Thyrion tilt his head behind me and turned my head to him in question. “Now that I think of it, I never mentioned your name to him, ever. And he also never mentioned your name in any conversations.” He whispered.

“Seriously?” That fact honestly shocked me and Thyrion nodded in confirmation.

“I d-don’t. I figured she was just a random witch.” Orbus trembled at the implication that someone like Nochtandiel had come out of the woodwork for some clearly not-so-random witch.

“The person whose soul you had been playing around with, is my lovely little scythe-loving student Merianna.” Noch announced proudly which made me roll my eyes.

Orbus practically blanched as white as a sheet of paper. “M-Merianna? The Bloody Meri?” He asked fearfully.

“The one and only. Exactly that lovely little firespitter you just saw nearly kick me into my next life.” Noch grinned.

I felt a little offended by the fact that I somehow seemed to have left behind a legacy of terror. “What? Am I some kind of boogeyman or something?” I whispered indignantly.

Fog’s hand landed on my head sympathetically as Thyrion chuckled behind me. “It’s pretty hard to escape a reputation that you unintentionally built yourself.” Fog whispered back.

“Your reputation might actually be scarier than Noch’s.” Thyrion whispered playfully in my ear. Earning him a light elbow in the ribs.

“I didn’t know!” Orbus exclaimed. “He just offered a deal with me where I take ownership in exchange for assistance in translating texts and helping to summon our Deity!” 

“And you thought that playing around with a witch’s life wasn’t going to eventually come around and bite you in the end?”

“I thought it was all fine-”

“Because she was most likely just some random witch, right?” Noch cut him off with a glare.

Orbus’ mouth snapped shut because that was indeed right. He figured that a random little witch’s soul that allowed him to put a leash on someone insanely strong like Thyrion, was a bargain that he couldn’t miss out on.

“Who was the man that gave you the key to the spell?” Noch asked darkly.

Orbus was sweating bullets, clearly not wanting to break a deal but also weighing his own likely demise or safety that hangs in the balance of the information he had. Finally he heaved a heavy sigh as he made his decision.

“I don’t exactly know his name, but he’s a man with dark brown hair and grey eyes. He comes around periodically to check on the spell and to show me the progress he’d made in translating ancient texts for summoning Denaue.” He blurted.

Noch’s eyes narrowed. That little bit of information wasn’t enough to make a definitive identification on our target. “Does said man have a peculiar guardian or familiar hanging around him?”

Orbus looked up warily. “There have been a few times that I’d seen a demon hovering around him, although I’m not all too sure if its his familiar, if they are just working together or if the guy had a leash on it. He never stuck around long enough for me to get a proper sense of their dynamic.” he confirmed.

And that was all confirmation we needed. Noch scoffed at him. “To think that yet another Warlock fell into his sticky hands. If only you knew how much that man screwed over the previous lot. Your ancestors would be rolling in their graves if they knew.”

Orbus looked confused, but didn’t seem to dare try and ask for more details.

“Does this man come by on a schedule or just pop up whenever?” Noch asked next.

“H-he mostly just pops up whenever he feels like it. I last saw him about 20 years ago.”

I felt my frown mirror Noch’s as we both seemed to dislike the fact that that wasn’t all too long ago. For all we knew he could be popping up once every generation or 150 years instead of once every 20 odd years. Dermon was clearly wandering around and actively preparing things even as we were standing here interrogating his latest and probably longest existing Warlock victim.

“And what information had he been sharing with you as of late? Does he have a solid plan on how to fix and summon your Deity?” Noch asked next.

Orbus seemed reluctant to share the information that could possibly finally bring the whole goal of all Dark Warlocks to fruition, but at the same time he didn’t exactly want to butt heads with Nochtandriel and likely get his soul shredded to pieces either.

He shifted uncomfortably before he spoke. “So far… after I handed him the items Thyrion had gotten for me last time. He said that it won’t be all that long anymore. Next all he needed was a sacrifice to contain her spirit.”

I raised my eyebrow at that. So they actually wanted to go through the sacrificial summoning route that Noch and I had uncovered in the Council’s archives. I found it surprisingly impressive that Dermon had kept a hold of those documents for as long as he had. If a person wasn’t careful, all documents would just get lost and wither away with time.

“And let me guess… said sacrifice has to be a witch or magically inclined human with enough strength to be able to handle your Deity’s power?” Noch’s eyes were so cold as he stared down at Orbus, that we could actually see a shiver run through his spine.

“What does that asshole want with the Deity Denaue anyway? It’s not like he’s a Warlock himself.” He mused darkly.

This information confirmed that some of our theories at least were indeed correct. And it made me infuriatingly angry to know that the path that the Dark Warlocks decided to take in bringing Denaue back still had no regard to who or what they bring harm to in order to reach their goal. If they ever do manage to put two and two together and I end up regaining all my former power and memories, I would be more inclined to wipe them off of the face of the earth and never come in such contact with mortals ever again.

“Are you okay?” Thyrion whispered in my ear, snapping me out of my thoughts, as he placed a hand on my forehead.

It was only then that I realised that I was burning up and broke out in a sweat. “Oh, I didn’t even notice…” I whispered back as a sudden jolt of magical energy surged through me faster than I could get hold of myself. I gasped and gripped Thyrion’s arms for support as my legs suddenly gave out from under me.

I heard Thyrion’s voice drone over my head as he probably whispered something to Fog. Then he scooped me up and silently whisked me out of the room faster than I could protest. 

As he was taking the stairs two at a time I muttered. “I’m fine, let's go back. I’ll sit in a chair or something.”

“You’re not fine. You can’t see it yourself but you look ghastly pale. I like your naturally pale complexion but this is going a bit overboard.” He gave me a quick kiss on the forehead as he cleared the staircase and headed in the direction of the infirmary where Nelia would be busy with the Ga’s.

“I probably just need a bit of rest.” I panted as I felt the energy raging again like it did before. This was probably one of the energy ‘waves’ Nelia had mentioned before that would come periodically until my current body fully adapted to my magic. It sure chose quite a sucky time to manifest though…

“You need a little more than just rest. So just let your little sister give you a good checkup.” He smiled down and gave me a squeeze.

“You worry wart.” I muttered, trying not to grit my teeth as the sensations started to intensify, making my skin feel overly sensitive and uncomfortable. It started feeling like every stitch of fabric on my clothes had suddenly grown fine nettle hairs and were slowly poking my skin. I knew in my mind that that was silly, but apparently my body didn’t want to follow my brain’s sense of logic.

Thyrion seemed like he was just about to say something when an intense jolt suddenly shot through me and made the world around me go fuzzy. The last thing I noted before I conked out, was him picking up the pace and looking like he’d just seen a ghost.