The light enveloped the body of the loli Æthelflæd and she descended through the air, drawing the attention of the group, who stood in a defensive position.
— Æthelflæd! — Leofwynn and Cwenburg embraced their friend, jumping on top of her.
Ǣg-berend hugged the three of them, and the Centaur even lifted them off the ground.
Godwyna's wings enveloped them, and Edas' hooves gently stepped on the heads of the three lolis.
— That's it, let's go back. — Leofwynn observed, looking around, but there was no way out.
— Yenno gave me this. And now? — Cwenburg showed the soul-collecting necklace. — Do we have to kill people in Hell?
— Yenno? My Master! — Æthelflæd was surprised. — That's impossible! How is he?
The others fell silent.
— He must be doing great, after all, he's a Golden Dragon! — Æthelflæd drooled a little as she celebrated her Master's return. — Besides, he must be better than all of us, he was so fucking awesome and strong as hell!
— Æthelflæd... — Ǣg-berend tried, but was interrupted by the Alchemist:
— I miss him so much, sometimes I remember our days together and my heart tightens so much I don't even know how to get back up again.
— Æthelflæd... — Leofwynn couldn't speak, swallowing hard.
— Because without him I'd be nothing! He took me when I was all tiny and made me an exemplary Alchemist!
— Æthelflæd... — Edas shed tears, the sadness in his Aura stopping his colt's heart.
— He is my north, he will always be the main safe harbor of my journeys, because I know I have him when I return.
— Æthelflæd... — Cwenburg sobbed, and would have completed the sentence if they hadn't all heard:
— I am dead. — it was Yenno himself, dead, in Hell, appearing before all of them!
— Yenno! — Æthelflæd jumped onto the nose of the enormous Golden Dragon, and hanging there, she heard the same as the rest. — The Unicorn Girl knows the way. Before you return to the Physical Plane, the Ancestral Demons are forged here in Hell. Seven were made, and two have already been killed. The other five remain here. Can you sense them, Unicorn Girl?
— I can sense them too. — Edas assured, concentrating.
— Well, good luck.
— What do you mean, Yenno? You're coming with us. — Æthelflæd demanded with doubt, looking at the others.
— You yourself said that many can return. — Cwenburg reminded.
— Billions can return, indeed, except the one who opened the portal.
— No, Yenno! — Æthelflæd screamed, thinking. — Wait, who opened that portal?
— It was Yenno. — Leofwynn explained, and then a struggle began, for Æthelflæd refused to abandon her Master, screaming and thrashing about, until Yenno himself, in his millennia-old Dragon wisdom, gave the solution:
— Use the sleeper hold.
And after falling asleep from the Vulcan's blow, Æthelflæd was carried away.
Yenno would remain in Hell for a few more years, but would soon return to the River of Life, with a sense of duty fulfilled and the satisfaction of having seen his dearest pupil once more.
Meanwhile, at the Demon King's Castle.
Cynethryth and Hærdas were eating at the enormous dining table.
— Maybe they all just died. — said Hærdas. — The world is still on fire out there, and you're so slow you can't sweep the ashes out.
— You're too pessimistic, Hærdas. Sooner or later they'll all come back safe and sound.
— Even the Demon King?
— That one seems to be properly screwed.
— I actually liked him.
— The Demon King?
— Yeah.
— Why?
— I don't know, he gave me an image of chivalry. Like an old-fashioned man. The kind they don't make anymore these days.
— You're crazy, he gave me the image of someone who could attack me at any moment. Him and Blith.
— Blith? — Hærdas was surprised. — He was just an old man.
— Hærdas, old people are the worst.
— Cynethryth...
— What? — Cynethryth retorted, eating rabbit stew.
— You're weird as hell.
Cynethryth didn't fall for Hærdas' provocation, but the Cook wouldn't stop talking. After a few moments, she broached the topic that mattered to her:
— What's going on between you and that horse?
— Edas? — Cynethryth replied cynically, barely bothering to hide it. — We're just friends.
— You and he go out together whenever you can, and spend the night in the stable. He's married. You know, to the Unicorn Girl.
— That's none of your business, Hærdas. Do I hang around the kitchen or comment on your glances at the Demon King?
— You're doing it right now. Spill it, you and Porto, did you fool around, or...
Cynethryth didn't answer.
At the same time, in Hell, after walking for a few months, at a rustic campsite, Edas inquired of Cwenburg:
— What do you think when a male takes a second female? — the unicorn couple lay side by side, sweaty, observing the vastness that was like a rocky desert. — Love is born from unexpected places. And controlling that force of nature is not simple or a choice.
— I would be very honored to have a male with two or more wives, Edas. — Cwenburg admitted, blushing. — What do you think of Leofwynn? What if you got together with her, maybe I could be with both of you. — Cwenburg's face turned red as a tomato.
Leofwynn, next to Æthelflæd, listened to the conversation in secret, spying on the unicorn couple.
— The Vulcan? Doesn't she have a bodybuilder boyfriend?
— What are the chances her boyfriend didn't die in this apocalypse? And Leofwynn adores him; she'll be all depressed. Just, thinking about that hypothesis. What do you think?
— If you choose one, I'll choose the other.
— Who are you eyeing, Edas? — Cwenburg stared closely at the Unicorn.
— No one.
— Is it Æthelflæd? — next to Leofwynn, Æthelflæd celebrated, until she heard:
— Of course not, Cwenburg. Æthelflæd looks like a boy. — Æthelflæd's tears were still falling as she ran.
— You damned unicorns, we can hear you! — Leofwynn shouted and went after the Human Alchemist, who was running among the rocks without direction.
Ǣg-berend, who along with Godwyna was preparing the lizards for the meal, just sighed, having a vision of Edas that warmed her face; the colt truly had an attractive beauty. But the Centaur said nothing, merely serving him, which the Marquis reciprocated with affection and his peculiar charm.