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Cory stood in front of a metal door. She was cradling a basket of food with her wings. She bit her lower lip before tapping her talon against the metal frame. There was no response. Her brow furrowed as she tapped again, harder this time. “Room service!” she shouted. Her expression darkened when there was still no reply. Her wings were starting to get tired. A layer of lightning covered her talons, and she kicked the door knob, breaking the lock and forcing it open. She hopped into the room and was greeted by the sound of weeping. Palan was sitting on a chair, slumped over the side of a bed with Raea’s body lying inside of it. Five days had passed, but the archbishop was still comatose and no one else could revive the dead.
Cory’s mouth fell open. Was Palan crying? Was that demon who heartlessly stole the crystal out of her butt feathers actually crying? “Palan?” Cory asked, her voice almost a whisper. Palan raised his head and pushed himself off the bed. The weeping noise came again, coming from his torso-mouth.
“Shut up,” Palan said to his stomach and furrowed his brow. “Can’t you just growl normally?” The torso-mouth whimpered.
Oh. So he wasn’t crying then. He was just hungry. Cory sighed and hopped to Palan’s side, placing the basket by his feet. Before she could react, a tongue flew out of Palan’s body, wrapped around the basket’s contents, and retreated, leaving nothing behind. Danger Noodle slithered around and stared at the empty basket along with Palan’s other tails. Cory pat the red snake’s head with her wing and said, “I’m sorry, Crimson Snek. I’ll bring more next time.”
“That centaur hasn’t woken up yet?” Palan asked. There were dark bags underneath his eyes. He wouldn’t have minded being attacked by waves of sadness if it were only during the day, but it became more intense at night when he was trying to sleep. He had never experienced anything like it before, and it made him uncomfortable. Leaving Raea’s side made him feel worse, so he stayed next to her corpse all day.
“No,” Cory said as she stopped petting the red snake’s head. It nudged her wing, gesturing for her to continue. She did. “He’s just a weak centaur, what do you expect? If I had the power to revive people, I could revive at least ten times more than he can.”
“How long until he wakes up?” Palan asked, ignoring the harpy’s boast.
“I think it’s better if he doesn—err, I’ll go ask the crazy old man,” Cory said and shuddered at Palan’s glare. “Be right back.” She inched away from Palan before turning around and running while flapping her wings. The red tail seemed to pout as it spiraled up Palan’s arm and slumped its head over his shoulder. Palan sighed as he sat back in his seat. His hands rummaged through his bag, looking for something to distract himself with. He touched something cold and raised an eyebrow before removing the necklace with the skull pendant—the one he’d been planning on giving his sister.
The skull’s eyes were still closed, covered by the gems. He rolled it around in his hands a few times before tossing it onto the bed. It landed on the pillow besides Raea’s head. The small impact caused its eyes to open a crack. Palan continued searching through his bag, taking things out and placing them on the floor as he organized his belongings: He had a few pouches of poison, dozens of sharp rocks, and a few sundries. His thoughts couldn’t help but drift to his convenient baggage carrier. His lip quivered, and he furrowed his brow before slapping his own cheek. Why was thinking of Cleo making him sad as well?
Palan gritted his teeth and stored the items back inside his bag. His eyes widened as he reached for the skull pendant. It was glowing with a blood-red light similar to the one Raea’s black flames gave off. The hawk-like eyes inside of the skull were rolling up and down, side to side, as if it were searching for something before settling its gaze onto Raea’s face. Palan’s stomach dropped. He lunged forward and smacked the skull, but his hand passed through it and hit the pillow instead.
A white light blinded him. He raised his arms in front of his face, but he still couldn’t see. Using his tails’ heat vision also proved futile. The whole room was the same temperate orange—there weren’t any noticeable heat outlines to discern. “The hell is this?” Palan asked. Thankfully, he could still hear his own voice. He crouched down, using his hands and tails to locate the bed. His arm slid under the blanket, and he touched Raea’s hand. It was warm. What was going on?
His forehead tingled, causing his body to shudder. His electromagnetic sense picked up a heartbeat. Raea’s hand twitched. Was the skull pendant a rare artifact that could revive the dead? Why hadn’t it reacted earlier? Was it only usable once? Dozens of thoughts flashed through Palan’s head before his vision turned black. The blinding light had disappeared, but he still needed a moment for his vision to recover. There was a rustling noise. “Palan?” Raea asked as she sat up. She looked down and touched her chest with her right hand and murmured to herself, “I’m … not dead?”
She tried to move her left hand, but Palan was still holding onto it. “Palan, are you alright?” Raea asked and furrowed her brow. Tears were running down the demon’s cheeks. His expression had frozen when Raea first spoke. “You’re crying? Did I really die and ascend to the Creator’s side?”
“You’re not dead,” Palan said, his voice hoarse. Although he still couldn’t see yet, he still managed to yank Raea off the bed and bring her into his embrace. “Don’t you ever die again!”
“P-Palan?” Raea asked with wide eyes. She struggled, but Palan refused to let go, his body shaking. A wave of relief washed over him as he breathed in her scent. Before, she smelled like a corpse, but after that strange incident happened, the smell went away. What exactly had happened? He released Raea, but she refused to move, snuggling against his body instead. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“I’ve suffered a lot because of you,” Palan said.
“That’s only fair. You made me suffer first,” Raea said and exhaled, pressing herself closer to him.
“Uh…. Am I interrupting something?” Cory asked. She stood at the doorway with a strange expression on her face. She grabbed the doorknob with her talons and tried to pull the door closed, but it stopped midway after hitting an object. It was the necklace. The hawk-like eyes had shriveled to the size of a peanut and fallen out of the skull. “Oh. Raisins,” Cory said and picked up the wrinkled eyes. She popped them into her mouth, chewing and swallowing before Palan could react.