a/n: two notes for this chapter. 1, I finally gave this realm a fucking name, & 2, retconning the part about Asher being from a parallel timeline. He's now from this earth & his existence remains a mystery. Making these changes so I can segway into my official re-write of Qrow here.

—

The many creatures that inhabit Valavana, from humanoid to the smallest caterpillar, all have the ability to access the planet's natural ether (AKA magic), but they can only utilize the most minuscule fragments. That's what made a demon lord so powerful—The ability to harness any given type of magic in it's rawest form and to it's fullest potential. The unfortunate side effect being any spells of a certain type of magic that preexisted their respected demon lord are child's play for our kind. Despite that, Ricky still recommended it as a good starting point. He said learning those rudimentary spells is how he familiarized himself with the feel of shadow magic; "Developing a working relationship between you and your magic is the key to creating new, more powerful spells."

He went on about how creating new spells was a combination of imagination and intuition. It reminded me of when Ville had described soul eating as something that "can't be taught." I suppose that's the way of magic, isn't it? It's not meant to be straight forward. Much like any artform, there are basic guidelines, but no real hard rules, no right or wrong way of expression.

Aside from using my new strength to access my bat form more often, I'd done very little with this power. Lucky for me, the moon falls under the category of celestial magic, and I happen to know an expert that's easily bribed with sweets.

"Well, you have good timing." Yuu told me as I followed him down the castle steps. He can walk surprisingly fast for someone so short. "I was just about to make a fresh batch of lunar water. Moony is a little overdue for a bath. Vinny said it's still too cold to have the fountain running, so we'll have to go all the way to the river."

"We have water in the castle." I replied.

"Has to be water that's been exposed to the fresh air and moonlight. The longer, the better. It's an intermediate spell, but something tells me you can handle it." He giggled.

Suffice it to say that was an understatement. When Yuu showed me the spell, it was as damn easy as breathing. We stood at the river's bank, the beautiful soothing sound of the water's mild currant trickling through our ears. Yuu placed a freshly filled jar before me, prattling on about how it was no big deal if I couldn't get it my first try. He didn't even finish his speech and the water was glowing. And no, I don't just mean the water in the jar.

Yuu looked at the newly luminescent river, dumbfounded. "Oh."

Fast forward to us back at the castle and he's digging through a chest in his room. With a dramatic sigh, he uncovered what he'd been looking for. "This book has been passed down for, well, as far back as our tribe has existed. Supposedly, these spells are the most powerful we have."

"You know I can't read this." I said.

"That makes two of us." Yuu opened to a random page, turning the book in my direction. "It's written in a lost language. No one's been able to translate it, but I thought maybe since you've got all this crazy power now, you might be able to figure it out?" I took the book from his hands, looking closer at the symbols. Yuu babbling on, "I don't know, I thought maybe seeing it could awake something in you or whatever, but now that I'm saying it out loud it sounds kind of dumb, doesn't it?"

"No," I stopped him, "Your intuition was right. I do recognize this, but not because I'm a demon lord. This is an Earth language."

"... Huh?" Yuu's brain did a full-ass 30 second reset. "No! Are you sure? Why would- That doesn't make any sense!"

"I'm positive. It's a dead language on Earth too, but there is a cipher for it. There's a very well known ancient artifact on Earth called the Rosetta Stone. It was carved with three different languages—Dead languages. Deciphering it  was a whole ordeal back when it was discovered."

"And this was one of those languages?"

"Unless I'm going senile. I've seen the Rosetta Stone in person a few times, enough to recognize the symbols, but there's no way I could read this. Whenever I go back to Earth next, I'll find something or someone to help me translate it."

He grabbed my arm, shaking me in frustration. Well, trying to, at least. "What'd you mean 'whenever you go back'?! You just uncovered the key to my people's closest guarded secret and you're acting like it's no big deal!"

"It's not that I don't care, Yuu. Ville," I sighed, "He can't send me back right now. It's best I leave it at that. In the meantime, I need you to tell me everything you know about this book. Ville's only been accessing Earth for a few decades. This couldn't have come from him, or anyone that could've fallen through his rifts. Of course, you do have English here, so I suppose it's possible to have other Earth languages, but something tells me it's not that simple."

"Would explain how why we never found any other artifacts like it." Yuu took a seat on his bed, deflating as he absorbed this information. I imagine it's quite a lot to process all at once, given the apparent significance to his tribe. It may not be an intricate part of my culture like it is his, but it is astronomical to me in it's own way.

I continued examining the pages carefully while giving him a moment. In classic Yuu fashion, he snapped back like a rubber band, chipper as usual—Though his positive attitude seemed to be more forced than usual. "That's actually a replica of the original, but my dad says they're basically identical. He has the original, obviously. Aside from that, I've told you basically everything there is to know. Everything I know, anyways. Or can remember. I was kinda bad about tuning out during history lessons."

"Isn't your family supposed to be responsible for preserving all your tribe's history?" I asked curiously.

"Well, yeah, but obviously that's why my brother's the one training to be chief. Dad kinda figured out a long time ago I didn't have the attention span for that sort of thing."

I gave a absentminded laugh, far too focused on the pages before me. The layout was interesting. Something written to the corner of each entry, like you would write a date. Upon turning the page, a loose paper nearly fell out. My eyes immediately landed on the words 'post-mortem'. A few other phrases stood out to me, the ones that had stuck around long past the use of Latin, but as a whole, I had no idea what I was looking at, aside from another dead language. As I returned to the book proper, I saw the Latin mixed into the Egyptian.

"I don't know if this is a spell book. I think it might be a journal, and whoever's it was, I think they were trying to decipher Latin." I said.

"Another Earth language?" He asked.

"As far as I know. Another dead language too. Difference being, I might know someone who can translate this one here." I sighed, "Guess I'm headed back to Ville's anyways."

That was undeniable confirmation that this thing was tied to Earth. After I'd first encountered Asher, I had done extensive research to find any trace of Latin in this realm, and came up dry. It's not terribly odd for something Latin to end up in an Egyptian's hands. Ancient Rome wasn't too far if you were willing to cross the Mediterranean. The real concern is, how the fuck did it end up here?

—

I can't believe I'm flying three hours both ways just to see this little fucking shit. Every time I actively choose to see him, I'm just giving him more fuel to insist his desires upon me with. When I found Asher, he was wrapped in silk sheets, splayed out like a happy cat showing it's belly. His mile long hair cascaded off the bed in a waterfall of black stands. A voluptuous woman laid across his chest, blissfully asleep. At least I caught them after the fact.

"You just can't get enough of me, darling." He purred. Arm stretched out towards me as he arched his back. He rolled out from beneath the woman to lay on his stomach, his hair falling seductively to the side. Remember when I said he likes to lay it on thick? Yeah.

I miserably informed him, "I came to ask for your help with something."

"I could tell by that terrible grimace of yours. You know, I can't recall the last time you repaid one of these favors. I thought your kind was all about gentlemanliness and etiquette."

I ignored his choice of phrasing, "your kind". Suppose he's rather tolerable of me all things considered, but I won't entertain his vampire prejudices. I cut to the chase, "Can you read Latin?"

Asher laughed, "I was born in 1910, darling. In Italy. You think just because I'm a demon-" His words fell short as I shoved the open book in his face. Asher looked at it with heavy distain. "Take that away from me. I never want to see anything like it again."

"How did a book written in Egyptian and Latin end up here?"

"I don't know and I don't care."

"If you don't know anything, why are you so upset about it?" My tone was challenging.

He responded in what seemed to be sincerity, but he was clearly still withholding. Asher was serious for the first time—He wanted nothing to do with this. "I have a beautiful life here, the one I deserved all along. So do you. If you start messing around with shit like this, all you're going to do is fuck this up for both of us. I know your kind is all about romanticizing everything, but leave the past in the past. It's better for all of us."

"You know I can't do that. If you tell me what you know, I promise, I won't let any of this get back to you."

"You have no idea what  your saying. There's no world in which you can promise me that, and I won't go back to my prison just to satiate your curiosity." Asher waved his hand at me cruelly, "Leave. Now. And don't consider asking a favor of me ever again." He was cold. Colder than I ever thought I'd see him. Though I disliked his constant flirting and filthiness, I think I still preferred it over this.

Unfortunately, his anger towards this thing only made me more desperate for answers.

—

The earliest light of dawn cast into the library. Columns of light that seemed to isolate themselves in a way no other sunlight could, striking through the windows like a spear. Between the drapings of light, at the helm of the maps I'd left splayed out, I found Ezra. His hand, decorated in a marital tattoo, unsteadily traced the countries' boarders. Consumed by a trepidation foreign to a warrior or adventurer of his stature.

I'd never think he would share a common fear with Asher of all people. His voice harbored that same dread, as if he could see ghosts from the past as he looked onto me. These nightmares breathed down his neck, stained his eyes with dark circles. That morning, he told me the history behind Alfheim, one of the closed countries I'd been investigating. It was massive, as large as Russia at least. Much like Russia, it was referred to as "The Motherland" by some.

All elves can trace their lineage back to Alfheim. Originally, there was only ever light elves and dark elves. Two separate countries for each. Over time, other races came to be, and with that, prejudice manifested. A few hundred years ago, there was a war between the two kingdoms. Extremists on both sides used the chaos and bloodshed to conceal their genocide. Purification, in their minds. Yuu's ancestors, along with countless other minorities, either managed to flee the country or were slaughtered. Tale old as time. In the end, the light elves won the war, absorbed the dark elves' kingdom into their own and closed the countries' borders, effectively locking out anyone who had fled. Whether or not there were any moon elves, ice elves, or the like remaining in Alfheim today was a mystery, though the general assumption was no.

Ezra didn't tell me this merely to educate me, but to help me understand his fear. As far as we're aware, the only reason this genocide hasn't spread to our side of the world is because none have provoked Alfheim. It was clear to me that Ezra was, justifiably, concerned that poking the hornet's nest would have extreme repercussions. I was inclined the agree. To have Asher, a criminally insane sex obsessed psychopath, voice his concern to me was one thing. For my own family to do it was another.

Then Ezra brought his hand to another nearly as large country on the map. Mortuairum. The name alone was ominous, though I doubt it related to a mortuary in their language. "Mother spoke about this once. She was always open with her students, so much so that when she wasn't, it was terrifying. All she told us was to never go near there. That we shouldn't even speak it's name." He looked me in the eye, "As your servant, I have no right to tell you what to do, but as your friend, I'm begging you to walk away from all of this."

Ricky's voice came from the doorway, "I'd have to agree." As he walked towards me, he instructed Ezra "leave us." Without question, the ogre followed his orders. My beautiful love stood parallel to me and laid is arms upon my shoulders. "I will follow you wherever you feel you need to go, but..." He glanced the table of maps. "I don't like this. There's too much uncertainty."

"I know." I sighed, "I always felt the need to run after mysteries like this, but I'm not some hotshot young master anymore. I don't have anything to prove." The universe has given me a very clear warning. At this point, any fallout would be accredited to my hubris alone. Those gorgeous ice blue eyes looked upon me softly, lovingly, reminding me that my world is here now. I wrapped him in my arms as we shared a tender kiss. No need to explain ourselves, as we felt each other's hurt so intensely, it wasn't worth the wasted breathe.

—

That evening, my shadow's arms snuck around my waist while I stood over the stove. His head rested upon my back. "Smells good."

"Yet you're still not going to try it, are you?" I teased him.

"Nope." He adjusted to resting his chin on my arm, just a hair too short to reach my shoulder. "You okay?"

"I'm doing just fine." I reassured him, "My life is here, with you. Protecting that is all that really matters to me. Of course, I might be better if didn't have to give Moony an anti-toxin earlier because she ate a poison dragon's vomit."

"Did you have to bite her?"

I sighed dramatically, "I had to bite her. Vinny nearly fainted." I broke away from him to retrieve bowls from the cabinet. There was the stupidest smile on his face. "I'm glad you find it funny."

Ricky attempted, and failed, to conceal his amusement. "It's not funny. It's not. It's not!" He cleared his throat. "I sent Ryan out to collect some potion ingredients."

"Why didn't you do that a week ago?"

"Potion can have some unpleasant side effects. Plus, I was hoping Justin would develop a natural immunity so he doesn't get sick again. Apparently shitty dragons don't have great stomach flu fighting abilities."

To be fair, there's bound to be some bacteria or infections here that he didn't have in his home country. That's the excuse I let him have, anyways.

Vinny and Moony came barreling into the kitchen the second the clock turned to dinner hour. How foolish of me to think the earlier poisoning would damper their appetites. I told him to take a bowl up to Justin's room first, then they can eat.

"Are we demon lords with servants, or parents with children?" I pondered aloud. Ricky gravitated towards me, pecking my lips. Maybe the latter isn't all that bad. It seems to set him at ease.