When the Final Seal Breaks

12th Entry

It happened

I sat down to write because I don't know what to do

But what do I even write

Why was I so calm before

***

Even before he had turned on his comprehension, he could tell from the length of the entry that it wasn't going to be normal. She hadn't even been able to write about what had happened.

She had been standing behind a group of recruits at the training grounds, watching them try to mimic her sword summoning with their own preferential elements. Her usual cold expression was frozen on her face, giving her the air of an abrasive instructor, but she was always exceedingly patient with everyone. No one could have possibly called her friendly, but she taught magic in a way that seemed too considerate. As stories of her skills as a teacher spread, the numbers of recruits skyrocketed. It wasn't that they all wanted to fight so much as they all wanted a chance to have her help overcome their personal struggles with magic. It seemed to Orleris, and everyone that flocked to central, that her experience in fighting gave her something no other professional in the world could match. And, looking at the results, it seemed they were correct in that assumption.

But on that day, her expression was a little more tense than usual. Orleris had been keeping records of the recruits that she was working with and making notes of their skills and elemental preferences, but on that day, he had been distracted by Lil's demeanour. She was on edge. He could tell from the speed she was pacing, from the way she was holding her arms crossed, from the way she kept looking down.

Then, without warning, he was just... there. There was no fanfare, no lights, no sounds, nothing. One moment she was standing back from recruits, her hand to her chest, gazing blankly in front of herself. Then, he was there.

For some reason, Orleris had imagined the Demon Lord to be three times the size of a normal human. In his minds eye he saw a giant, black cloaked humanoid with clawed hands, giant wings and long sprawling hair that splayed out behind him like an extra cape. But instead, from where he sat at the edge of the training grounds, it could have easily just been a recruit standing in front of her. Orleris didn't even know who it was.

But he had appeared so close to Lil. Her nose was almost touching his chest. He was taller than Lil, had short black hair, and was wearing clothes that had more in common with Lil's world's fare that Orleris', but since it was all black, he couldn't really make out detail from the distance.

No one else seemed to have noticed, and Orleris almost looked away again himself, until he suddenly felt an instinctual fear from the stranger. He began to run towards Lil.

The man had leaned in and whispered something to her. Orleris could see the malicious grin from where he was.

Lil raised a hand to her chest again, then yelled in a voice so abnormally loud it could only be possible with some kind of magical amplification.

"Run, now!"

A soft voice came from the man before anyone reacted, and that was how they all got their first, albeit very short, taste of miasma. Of the hundreds around the training grounds, a few fell to their knees as a wave of thick air pulled them down, but Lil reacted quickly and stopped it.

Orleris had stumbled as he ran but kept moving towards Lil. Even though she had asked them to run, several of her recruits had also decided to try to fight. The Demon Lord, his identity now clear, tried to say something to Lil again, so Orleris switched his focus to comprehension.

"-enough of a greeting. I'll take my leave. See you soon."

And with that, as Lil stood still right in front of him, the Demon Lord jumped impossibly high and ran away in the least climactic way possible. At the time they had no idea that was his preferred method of travel.

Was that how he managed to get up to the Sky Domain? Just how high could he jump?

And now it was up to him to find a way to get up there? Alone? But that's what Lilia said, she saw him there alone. He set the diary back into the bag and closed his eyes to sleep, but he couldn't get his mind off how far up it was to get to the Sky Domain.

Why had Prelude summoned him there? What was she thinking?

He had started to get an idea of what the former Goddess of the world was like. She didn't really care all that much about her people, she seemed to care more about it being an exciting place to watch, for better or worse.

Eventually he did fall asleep, after deciding that he would wait until they got back to Central to start working on a plan to actually get up there himself.