“As a pce of sanctuary, the Sanctum has a few hoops to jump through in order to be able to enter. Of course, we’re skipping most of them, since I’ve been tasked with escorting you in. But we still need a key,” the priest, Fetan, expined. “Baelis, on the other hand, has other duties here she has to attend to. So it’ll be just the two of us for a bit.”

  I wondered if he was purposefully not counting the three guards who were once more following at my sides and back.

  “So it’s difficult to get in and out of?” I asked.

  My window of escape appeared to be narrowing. Perhaps I should have just chanced the upper exits of the tower after all. Even if it seemed unlikely that I would have gotten away if I had.

  “Moreso going in, than out, I would say. Even I can’t simply enter as I please as a priest, given that I don’t reside within the Sanctum. Though the majority of my duties take pce within and around the city.”

  I nodded along, trying to think up a way to somehow get out of this. I didn’t fancy being at the mercy of this demonic temple, regardless of what they may want from me. It would be far better to find out whether this “sanctuary” happened to be a fancy title for a prison while I wasn’t within its confines. Yet I didn’t see an easy way out of this.

  In the worst case, I supposed I was at least proficient at picking locks, though an escape would prove difficult without the aid of magic.

  Fetan led me through a small tiled half circle, past the flowing trees, flowering bushes, and benches, and to the odd pulley contraption up against the mesa wall. As we approached, a rge ptform with oddly shaped solid doors, open bars not dissimir to a cage, and a tall ceiling rolled downward. Its smooth, white metallic base touched down in front of us as Fetan pulled the key back out.

  I stopped in pce, my lips parting to spout some kind of excuse to leave. The guard behind me nearly bumped into me from my sudden stop, but thankfully none of them moved to push me forward. Yet as I stood there, no words came.

  I could guess how any potential excuse to leave would go. They’d inevitably decre it for the nonsense that it was and the guards would simply manhandle me into this lift upward if I refused to go willingly.

  “Aqua?” Fetan asked, looking back at me. “Are you alright, little one? I know the elevator can be a bit scary to use for those without wings, so if you need me to hold your hand, I certainly can. And I’ve heard that it sometimes helps if you close your eyes.”

  I shook my head. “No, just had something else on my mind.”

  Really? He thought I was being nervous about heights?

  Fetan walked up to the lift, and I followed behind. I watched curiously as he inserted the key into an odd-shaped hole in the center of the door and twisted it carefully to the right. There was a loud click, followed by a strange magical pop. Fetan backed away a step as the key was pulled inward, turning back to the left on its own. Then the flower on the end opened, widening until it was fully inverted. With a spin, the key sucked fully into the door out of view.

  After several more clicks, the door swung gently open, the strange key nowhere to be seen.

  “Excellent! Up we go!” Fetan said with cheer.

  He stepped into the lift, and after a quick gnce at the three guards, I begrudgingly followed. The guards, however, did not.

  As though knowing we were in and ready, the door swung closed.

  “We’ll likely have someone to greet us once we’re up. I believe Tafta, that’s the priestess we just visited, will have sent a message ahead for us,” Fetan said.

  “I don’t suppose you could actually tell me exactly what it is you all want from me before we get up there?” A question I’d asked already once before but didn’t get a particurly straightforward answer to.

  The mechanical lift lifted, taking us up into the air. Its gears grinded and clicked together as it pulled us up along the thick chords holding the contraption in the air.

  Fetan turned toward me. “Well, I would not say that we want anything from you, necessarily. The Sanctum is a sanctuary, as I mentioned. We strive to protect vyxa like yourself who are in need of it.”

  I sighed. Another non-answer. Not that I expected much else.

  “Would you like to hold my hand?” He reached out, a soft smile on his face.

  “No.”

  My cross gre made my point far better than words could.

  “Very well, just let me know if you change your mind, okay?” Then he continued, “If what you meant to ask was what will come of the theft, assuming you are found to be the culprit, then I believe the common punishment for vyxa is a rge fine. For which the Sanctum will of course happily take on and pay for.”

  And there was the other foot dropping, or at least part of it. He spoke as if it were somehow a good thing, but the underlying meaning was obvious. They pnned to make me indebted to them, likely followed by forced bor or something simir. I had an unfortunate idea of what forced bor might look like for a succubus, and I didn’t like it.

  “And what if I want to pay it off myself?”

  The demon looked surprisingly uncomfortable beneath my hostile gre. “Well, that’s not really my pce to say. It’s something you’ll have to speak with someone higher up about.”

  I turned away from him, arms crossed as my tail shed out behind me in annoyance. If these religious fools think I’ll let them get away with ensving me to them, they’ve got another thing coming. I wouldn’t take this lying down.

  The city gradually shrank as we climbed higher. From above, I could see the fog curling through many of the streets, much of it tinted red from the mps even during the day. The most open area was along the river, with bridges occasionally crossing over it, dyed crimson in the fog. Beyond the rge, opulent buildings near us were the chaotic cityscape of the market. The towering shops stood out over much of the city, with random doorways up in the air and hanging walkways connecting many of them.

  In the distance, near another part of the mesa, a collection of towers and pale castle-like buildings stood tall. It was my first time getting a good view of it, and I couldn’t help but feel a bit relieved that I hadn’t woken up in that part of the city. With how simir to humans they seemed, demons likely had their own version of nobility. And they were probably just as much of a headache to deal with. I much preferred the underground, pseudo nobility of the shadow families, if only due to its familiarity. Though I doubted it was something I would ever have to deal with here, at least. I was little more than a vagrant in this realm.

  The wind picked up as we rose higher, causing the rge mechanical elevator to rattle and shake. Fetan shot me a few concerned gnces, but I ignored him. While the shaking and creaks of the lift were concerning and made me a bit nervous, there was no way I was going to let him see any of that.

  As we made it up to the top, the lift slowed, its gears letting out a cracking groan as we eased to a stop. The opposite door made a loud thunk and then swung partially open. Fetan pushed it the rest of the way and stepped out, with me just behind him.

  “Now, you might feel something strange as we pass through the barrier up ahead. Those who are a bit more magically sensitive usually do. I usually have to focus to feel it myself, but I’d describe it as sort of like a buzzing feeling. It’s best to just keep going and ignore it.”

  “A barrier?” I asked, looking around him and seeing nothing but trees, bushes, and ferns.

  The two of us moved forward as he replied, “Yes! It’s designed to keep out those who haven’t been invited. A rather important feature, since so many demons could just fly in. From what I’ve heard, it’s actually the magic from the key and the elevator up that allows us in. Though I don’t know exactly how the specifics of it works.”

  “Should you really be telling me stuff like this?”

  Not that I minded, of course, but it seemed like rather delicate information to be just handing out.

  “Oh, this sort of stuff is an open secret at this point. If you didn’t hear it from me, you’d hear it from someone else. Besides,” he mock whispered, leaning forward with a hand against the side of his mouth, “they don’t tell me any of the truly secretive stuff.”

  It was during his whispering that I felt it, a strange tingling passing through my body. An itch all over that I couldn’t scratch that left a buzzing in my ear and my head feeling as though it’d been shaken up. For a moment the world tilted to the side, and then we were through and the sensations all stopped just as quickly as they’d started.

  Suddenly, in front of us were two figures who hadn’t been there before, or at least that hadn’t appeared to be there.

  “H-High Priestess Hetka,” Fetan said in Thelsian, likely for my own benefit. There was a hint of surprise in his voice.

  Then he crouched into a deep bow.

  I didn’t have time to wonder if I was supposed to be doing the same. The closer demon shot forward toward us, and my instincts took over. I reached for my bdes, only for my hands to find fabric, skin, and air.

  Then she was in front of me, lifting me up off my feet. Wide bck eyes stared into my own, shining with delight. A happy grin stretched across her face, the soft antenna above her head twitching erratically. Behind her, two massive moth-like wings stretched out.

  I nearly punched her, only realizing as I drew back that she was not attacking me.

  “P-put me down!” I spluttered out, as she twirled me around.

  “Ohhh, Rist, look how adorable she is!”

  Despite her youthful exuberance, she looked more like someone in the thirties, in terms of appearance. Giggling, she continued to spin, holding me high up above her.

  “High Priestess Hetka, perhaps you should put her down. Think about what the arch priestess would say,” her companion gently chastised.

  “You always have to spoil my fun,” she said, pouting but still pcing me back on the ground with a small pat on the head.

  I felt only a little dizzy, to my relief. Yet my indignation swelled by the moment. I had to be careful and not allow my guard to fall. Else they might pull the rug out from under me when I wasn’t expecting it.

  “Fetan, spilling all our secrets again, I see,” the other demon said.

  I turned toward her, taking in the other figure for the first time. Unlike the priests and priestesses, she wore armor instead of the white and green robes. But it was different to the armor the other guards had worn. She was equipped in shining, silvery metal, an obviously expensive suit of heavy armor that was likely enchanted. On her breastpte was the flower design from the banners I’d seen, in the same light green color with small bits of red. From her head the typical horns of an ogre sprouted up through her long bck hair, matching her light gray skin.

  Fetan stood, finally ending his awkward bow.

  “Oh, not at all, Priestess Risteldna. She’s a curious one, though. And I can’t help but want to answer all her little questions.” Fetan smiled at me, as though he’d given me a compliment. Then he coughed. “I didn’t expect you to be the one here to greet us, High Priestess.”

  “How could I not? I do just love a good mystery, especially one so small and cute.”

  Two of her four twig-like arms gestured. Her brown wings, patterned like bark, stretched out as though filled with joy and pride. Then she turned a sly smile toward me. I looked between the three demons, each of them standing a foot or more taller than me, and crossed my arms.

  “Let’s cut through the bullshit.”

  FlitterPuff