Chapter One: Julian…

Julian looked at the sky and sighed, wincing when it stretched his aching lungs. The air coming through the open window was fresh and clean, finally free of the cloying smell of the dead. Bratus flourished even with its residence gone, its life restored at the hands of a force he still didn’t understand.

Elda and Sypher had collapsed soon after the destruction of the monolith, and both were yet to wake. Julian turned and surveyed them, laid up in their Infirmary beds, and sighed. His body throbbed, still battered and bruised from the fight with Cynthia.

But his heart hurt more. The moment after waking up each morning was the worst. In that first instance Julian forgot what he’d been through, where he was and who he lost. He was allowed a single blissful second away from reality, but it swooped in when he turned over and saw the empty pillow beside him. Three words that hit him like a punch to the gut every single day.

Yani is dead.

“Are they awake yet?” a female voice asked, pitched uncharacteristically low considering the owner. Julian turned to find Brady standing in the Infirmary doorway, her arm in a sling. Dark hair hung in wild curls around her shoulders, wispy strands falling into almond-shaped eyes when she moved. The light from the enchanted lamps reflected in them and turned her beige skin silvery.

“Not yet.”

“Do you think they’ll sleep much longer?” Brady probed, approaching cautiously. She had a habit of appearing right before tears could cloud his vision, stirring Julian out of his grief before it could swallow him whole.

“I don’t know. The longest I’ve known Sypher to sleep like this is a few days, four tops.”

“It’s been a week.”

“Yeah.” He frowned at his friends, watching their chests rise and fall for a moment to reassure himself that they were still alive. He watched both of them die what he thought was a permanent, irreversible death right in front if his eyes, and yet there they were.

“I think they’ll be okay,” Brady decided. “All of us are mending more slowly than usual. It’s probably gonna be another day or two before they’re well enough to wake up.”

“Your optimism is astounding.”

“Would you rather I thought they were done for?” she asked, flashing him a bright smile. “C’mon. You need to look at something other than them for a while.”

Julian considered protesting, but he sighed and followed her through the door, trudging down the spiral staircase until they emerged into the shade of the enormous Calyx tree.

A small detachment of soldiers from Valdren had been sent to Bratus to survey the situation once news spread of its sudden lack of life. They arrived the morning after the monolith shattered to find the Soul Forge and his Keeper unconscious, two injured dragons protecting them, and the remaining four group members battered and barely able to move.

The soldiers made quick work of setting the Infirmary up and securing some dwellings to use as accommodation while they started sorting through the carnage. More units arrived within a few days, bringing much needed noise back to the forest city.

The streets Julian and Brady walked through had been cleaned, all unused residences locked up tightly and any rotten food thrown away. The consensus was that, without bodies to confirm death, the furthest dwellings would remain unused until their owners either returned or their bodies were found. The belongings from the homes closest to the city were carefully labelled and stored away in other unoccupied houses in the event that the wood elves one day came home.

“They work fast,” Brady commented, nodding towards a group of soldiers moving new livestock into the empty pen by the unused market.

“The soldiers have to eat,” Julian shrugged.

“Maybe this place could be a good home for the Vampires to re-settle,” she mused. “You know, once they find the bodies.”

“I doubt there are enough of us left to repopulate these days.” The breeze felt soothing as it raked its fingers through his sandy hair. “The only surviving Vampire I know of is my brother, and I think repopulating with him would be both morally and biologically impossible.” He shuddered at the thought.

The bear Shifter blinked. “Wait, Vampires get pregnant?”

“What, you thought we reproduced through mitosis?” he snorted. “Of course we get pregnant. Well, the women did. I haven’t met another female of my kind in a very, very long time.”

“You’d be out of the running anyway,” Brady laughed. “You know, because women don’t have dicks.”

“I’m not fussy,” he quipped, but his humour faded when he thought of Yani teasing him over Vel. He’d give anything to be annoyed by his husband’s wandering eyes again.

“Hey, I didn’t mean to upset you,” Brady mumbled.

“You didn’t,” he reassured her, forcing a smile. “In all honesty, if you weren’t around to catch me everytime I get sad, I don’t think I’d still be here.”

“You can chalk that up to my overbearing personality and irritating need to be liked,” she beamed. A laugh bubbled up Julian’s throat, seeming impossible in the midst of loss, but warming his chest all the same.

“You seem better today.” Clover’s voice cut through their banter when he and Gira appeared with a box of belongings each in their hands. “You should both be resting though.”

“We are resting,” Brady replied. “If I didn’t have this stupid thing on I’d be helping you.” She waggled her sling at him.

“Brady thought I needed to see something other than the inside of the Infirmary,” Julian supplied, glancing down at the boxes. “More houses to pack up?”

“More soldiers will be arriving from Eden and Cenet soon. We figured we’d pitch in until they arrive,” Gira explained. “I’m itching to head for Eden today, but we can’t go anywhere until everyone is healed.”

“Has there been any mention of anything strange happening in Eden?” Julian asked, his thougts straying to the monolith buried deep beneath the city. The longer it remained intact, the more risk it presented to the people living above it. It wouldn’t be long before Malakai made a play for it.

“Nothing yet,” Gira shrugged.

“I’m sure if anything does happen the soldiers here will be withdrawn in a heartbeat,” Clover decided. “We’ll know when they know.”

“It’ll be too late then,” Julian muttered. “I’m going back to the Infirmary.” He turned away before anyone could stop him, ignoring their pleas for him to stay.

Every time he approached the door, his heart swelled with hope that one or both of them would greet him from beyond it. Every time he entered the Infirmary, his hope was crushed. Still, it didn’t stop the irritating sentiment rising to the surface with every step he ascended up the huge spiral staircase. He told himself it was too soon, that it was okay if they were still sleeping, but in the pit of his stomach he knew seeing them still and silent in bed would hurt the same way it always did.

He paused outside the door, swallowing the sudden thickness in his throat. What if they never woke up? What if their dance with death had left them stuck in a permanent limbo, alive but trapped in their own bodies? Valerus would still need someone to carry its weight. He doubted he was enough to fill such enormous boots.

“Julian?” The Vampire froze, tears welling in his eyes at the sound. “I can hear you hiding out there.” When he peered round the frame, the Soul Forge was sat up in his bed, squinting against the light.

It didn’t matter that it was Vel speaking. It didn’t matter that he looked half dead. Julian shot across the room and slammed into him hard enough to knock him back down against the pillows. The demon grunted in pain, but he returned the embrace.

“Careful,” he wheezed. “That’s tender.”

“I thought you might never wake up,” he mumbled into Vel’s shoulder.

“I didn’t realise I slept,” the demon replied, sitting up slowly when Julian pulled back. “How long was I out?”

“A week.”

“Has Elda been out this whole time too?” Julian nodded. “Weird.” Vel looked around, taking in the Infirmary properly once his eyes finally adjusted to the light. “We’re still in Bratus,” he noted.

“Yeah. Valdren had already dispatched soldiers to investigate the sudden lapse in communication with the wood elves when we arrived. They turned up the next morning and found all of us battered in the cavern.” Julian looked over at Elda. “What happened, man? You were gone. I watched both of you die right in front of my eyes. You walked into that barrier and it swallowed you.”

“It’s hard to explain.” Vel’s brow furrowed. “I had to choose between killing Cynthia and saving Elda. I chose Elda.”

“How could you save someone that was already dead?”

“I didn’t,” he shrugged, a troubled ridge creasing his brow. “She saved herself. We were thrown out of the Between the moment I reached her.”

Julian blinked. “The what now?”

“The Between. The place between the After and damnation.” He looked down at the blanket over his knees. “I was one step away from damnation, even after living my life in service of the Spirits.”

“How do you know?”

“I have no idea. I just knew that if I stopped looking for her for even a second, I’d be lost.” His voice sounded far away, like he was reliving the memory. “So I kept going through the Between until I found her. The moment I found her, everything blew apart and I was back in the cavern with her in my arms. She opened her eyes and the next thing I remember is waking up here.”

Julian sat back down in the chair beside the bed, brows almost high enough to brush his hairline. “I can’t believe you got a glimpse of the After and lived,” he murmured.

Vel sighed. “That’s just it though. I didn’t see the After. I don’t think there is an After for me.”

“There is,” Julian replied determinedly. “I’m sure of it, Vel.”

“You mean that?” The Vampire nodded. “You hated me not so long ago.”

“I did. I blamed you for Nova. For losing my best friend. Even for Yani, for a short while. That was wrong of me, Vel.” Julian swallowed thickly and folded his hands in his lap. “I don’t blame you for behaving the way you did whenever you were given freedom. I know now that the times you forced your way out were only to keep both of you alive, and I understand that nothing that happened to you in Shade was within your control.” He leaned forwards and laid a hand on Vel’s knee over the blanket. “I’ll be here whenever you need me, just like I am for Sypher. I accept everything that you are, and I will stand by you now that Yani isn’t here to offer you the support you need.”

“You accept me?” Vel echoed hoarsely.

“Yes. You’re my bloodkin no matter which half of your soul is speaking.”

For a moment the demon was speechless, but then his eyebrow arched, a crooked smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Speaking of bloodkin, who said you could bite my wife?”

“She did,” Julian grinned, feeling a glimmer of the man he was before Yani died resurfacing. He shot Vel a mischievous wink. “Don’t be jealous.”

“Ass,” the demon snorted, and the Vampire felt a strange shift when the Angel soul looked back at him, like the aura around the Soul Forge altered to accomodate both sides of him at once. “I’m glad you’re okay. I was worried the monolith had killed you all when it shattered.”

“It left us a little beat up but we were mostly fine. The dragons were so happy that you two were alive, they barely noticed their bruises.”

“The dragons!” The Soul Forge sat up quickly and hissed in pain, hunching over against it. “…Ouch,” he grunted eventually.

“Yeah, maybe don’t rush off anywhere just yet. You’ve been through a lot,” Julian suggested. “Actually, none of us were sure what state you’d be in when you woke up. You were pretty battered during the fight and you haven’t really healed.”

“I haven’t?” Sypher blinked and reached up to touch a deep slash in his cheek. “And you said I was out for a week?”

“Yup.”

“Odd.” He turned to look at Elda and frowned. “She’s unharmed. She should be bruised at the very least.”

“Yeah. You’re the only one of us that looks no better than the day of the fight,” Julian admitted.

“Hmm. Maybe it’s a side-effect of getting stuck in the Between,” Vel mused. Julian blinked at the sudden switch. “I probably just need to take it easy for a while.” He sighed and looked over at Elda still sleeping in her hospital bed. “I don’t care what happens to me, as long as she wakes up.”