Carefully, step by step, Morrigan and Galandir navigated through the dark, led only by the increasingly dim shimmering of the dark river. Although she had grown up in a world where darkness ruled everything, it was so strong here and even she was starting to feel unnerved. The only thing that helped Morrigan to keep going was Galandir's warm hand.

  "Talk about dark. It's like we're walking through an abyss," the elven boy said.

  "It might not be that far from the truth," she replied, keeping her eyes locked on the river. "This is supposed to be the darkest part of the Underworld."

  "That means it'll only get brighter from now on."

  "After we find the black orb and after I repaint it into something and after I complete the ritual," she grumbled, inwardly cursing whoever dared to plant these nasty black orbs everywhere. As if she didn't have enough on her plate already.

  "Don't worry. You did it twice already. You can do it again," Galandir said reassuringly. Morrigan didn't reply. First, she received a lot of help from Azrael and then she received help from her sisters and Azrael again. This time she was on her own since she wasn't allowed to take any magic energy from Galandir.

  "Wait, stop! The shimmering is getting stronger again," she suddenly said looking back, where the shimmering seemed dimmer.

  "Then it must be close!"

  "I think I found it! Can you create a light?" Morrigan said, tugging on his hand. The elf snapped instantly conjuring up a bright orb of light that illuminated the area. After her eyes adjusted to the light, she saw how in the middle of the river sat the sinister black orb sucking up all the shimmers from the water in a circular pattern.

  "Is that it? It's so hard to see," Galandir squinted his eyes.

  "Yes! Most certainly. We must have missed it the first time we passed by because it blends in with that black liquid. It's time to get rid of it," Morrigan smiled and took the painting supplies from Galandir. She set up the canvas, pulled out her paints, and then paused, her mouth opening in horror.

  "What's wrong?" the elven boy asked, his eyebrow creasing with worry.

  "But how do I even paint this? Everything here is black," she squeaked. The black orb was basically indistinguishable from the liquid already.

  "It is quite dark, but there are still differences in tones. The cliffs look more like brownish black, while the liquid is more blue-black with the little white shimmers in it," Galandir said with a smile, pointing at the various elements. Morrigan looked at them, then calmed down, taking a deep breath.

  If I could handle a nearly completely white landscape, then I can handle a nearly black one too. There are always subtle differences to cling to.

  Morrigan took the largest brush and without hesitation painted the whole canvas black. One could argue that she could have left it there and it wouldn't be much different from the scenery in front of her. But she began to add subtle hints of other colors to the black, slowly adding distinguishing features. Black brown for the rocky cliff which stretched far above them. Purplish black for the shore they stood on.

  Then it came to the tricky shimmering liquid. Initially, Morrigan wanted to do as Galandir suggested – adding tiny little splashes of white to it with more dots the further away from the black orb the liquid was. But then she noticed that the shimmering wasn't exactly all white. There were subtle hints of light blue, yellow, purple and even red. She added the tiniest specs of color into the river.

  "Is this alright I wonder?" she asked her friend, who had been carefully watching the progress the whole time.

  "I think it's as close to reality as one could ever get. So how do you 'repaint' that black thing again?"

  "Well, the first time I just made it look like part of the original scenery. The second time, I remade into a flower and I also had to paint a part of the scenery that had been erased because of the orb interfering with magic. I imagine this time I have to do something similar," she explained.

  "But how can you repaint it to the way it was before if you don't know how it looked before?" Galandir asked, then instantly covered his mouth. "Sorry… I didn't mean to put any more pressure on you. We'll figure something out."

  Morrigan looked down, wondering the same question. If she had seen this place at least once before, then it wouldn't have been an issue. But the only thing that seemed to dominate was darkness. She looked at her paintbrush, then at paints. Nervously she picked up the blue color, thinking of tipping her brush into it, but she had no idea what she was supposed to do.

  I can't just remake it into a regular river with normal water, then it wouldn't be a sacred site anymore. Not to mention that I wouldn't even have enough magic in me to do such a drastic change. I need to restore it to the way it was.

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  "I don't know… I have no idea what to paint… Perhaps if I called Azrael down here. Damn, I think I'll have to go up and then climb back down with him. I don't know what to do without him," Morrigan was nearly hyper-ventilated, the pressure weighing down on her shoulders like a heavy rock.

  I have to fix this. I am the next Queen. If I don't fix this then nobody will be able to do it… I…

  "Morrigan!" Galandir gently shook her shoulder, and she looked at him, surprised by her own panic. When their eyes met, the elven boy smiled. "It's alright. I don't think there's any need to go back up."

  "W-What? But I have no idea how to fix this," Morrigan said, looking helplessly at him.

  "Oh, I think you do. Do you remember what they call this place?" he asked. She paused for a moment, racking her memory for an answer.

  "Chasm of Whispering Stars?" she replied.

  "So wouldn't it be safe to assume that this shimmering liquid is supposed to look like a starry night sky?" the elf smiled. "For a normal demon who has never been outside the Underworld, it would be something they had never seen before. But for you…"

  Morrigan gasped, and firmly grasped the paintbrush. She knew what she needed to do. Without hesitation she took blue and purple paint and began laying them down on canvas. While the memory was rather distant, she knew without a doubt how a starry sky looked. All she had to do was turn into a starry river.

  As she continued laying down colors, her magic began to steadily drain and she smiled victoriously, "It's working!"

  "I knew you could do it! Don't forget that the liquid would probably reflect some of its light onto the walls as well," Galandir pointed out. Morrigan nodded and kept adding more color to her painting. What had previously been nothing more than a splotch of darkness was slowly turning into a collage of light and color. Her magic began to drain faster and faster. Each 'star' she added into the river took a considerable chunk of her magic. She began panting.

  "Is something wrong, Morrigan?" the elf asked, noticing her slow movements.

  "I am beginning to run out of magic. It's okay, I'll use the reserves within the ring," she replied and tapped into the magic within the Ring of Frozen Memories. It allowed her to keep going, but each brush stroke took more of her strength. It was like the black orb was fighting against her – trying to remain where it was planted like a parasite.

  "I will finish this," Morrigan said through ragged breaths, looking at her painting. Only one spot remained unpainted – the distinct black orb in the middle of the river. She began to blend the colors within it, trying to turn into the part of the starry river, and nearly collapsed. Galandir instantly rushed to her side, propping her up.

  "Morrigan!"

  "I… I'm nearly out of magic…" she admitted, breathing heavily.

  "Then I'll give you mine!" He said without hesitation.

  "No! You cannot!" She called out.

  "Why not?" He raised his eyebrow and then his expression grew cold. "Is it because of that rule that those of different social standing cannot exchange magic?"

  "N-No… Well, yes. You know how serious demons are about these rules. If someone were to find out…" she mumbled although she knew how pathetic her excuses sounded.

  "Since when do you care about that?" Galandir raised his eyebrow. "Or have you become so entrenched with demon morals that somebody like me is beneath you?"

  "No! Of course not. You know that's not true," she growled and firmly took his hand. "Give me that magic, but not a word of this to anyone!"

  "Who do you take me for? You know I'll always be on your side," his expression softened considerably, and she could feel him channel his magic into her. It felt different from when someone from her family or Azrael did it. Their magic felt much like hers – dark, smooth and cold. Galandir's magic felt bright, and strong, almost burning her from within. It was like taking a sip of freshly opened soda – it burned your throat and nose and made you hiccup. But it was by no means unpleasant.

  Morrigan returned her attention to the painting while Galandir continued to channel his magic into her. Each brushstroke was difficult and his light orb was beginning to dim until finally it went out completely. But just as it did, Morrigan managed to add the last 'star' where the black orb was. Their surroundings began to transform.

  The shimmering within the dark liquid began to intensify, growing brighter and brighter until just like in Morrigan's painting, the river looked like a flowing night sky. The black orb was nowhere to be seen, erased from existence.

  "It's actually not that dark here after all," Galandir chuckled, sitting down on the shore, panting from exhaustion. "But wow, you ate through all my magic like it was nothing."

  "Sorry. Paint magic is quite demanding," she grinned sheepishly, rather exhausted herself.

  "But look at this place – it's so beautiful. To think I'd see something like this in the Underworld," he smiled warmly. Morrigan sat down next to him and for a while, the two of them enjoyed watching the river of stars.

  "I missed the stars," Morrigan said after a moment.

  "Yes, I missed them too. During this trip you showed me a lot of things I miss from my home," he said with a somber smile.

  "It's okay. You'll be able to go back home one day. I'll help you with your debt," she said with a smile.

  "But then I'll have to leave you," he looked her deep in the eyes and her smile disappeared. He had become part of her everyday life. She knew he'd leave one day, but at the same time, she had never really thought about the ramifications of that.

  "We can meet again sometime, I'm sure," she chuckled awkwardly.

  "A demon princess meeting some elf from the Overworld? In what weird world would that happen?" Galandir asked bitterly.

  "It's okay! I'll force Azrael to teleport me to Overworld. He'll have no choice but to comply since I have so much dirt on him," she replied cheerfully. Morrigan knew that her words were nothing more than a pretty lie. She knew that she would not be allowed to get away with that.

  "You…" he began but then closed his mouth and smiled. "Yeah! You do that."

  Both nodded in agreement, but at the same time, they both knew – once Galandir left the Underworld, they would likely never meet again.