The wind carried the sound of casting from the camp now, heavy and compressed; this should be from an Adept if I could hear it from this distance. Soon, all the Adepts would fall, and I did not want to be anywhere near this place when it happened.

I did not let my face change. The rage that wanted to register the deaths of my companions was the rage I had been carrying since the camp had first fallen in front of me, and I could not afford to let Rex see it.

The rage was the lever Rex would use against me, since it was incredibly suspicious. An Acolyte like me should not be feeling rage at this moment, just fear, and no doubt Rex saw my sarcasm as a way to hide or deflect that fear.

He was smart enough to see that I now knew that he was part of whatever was happening, but he did not know that I knew of this before now. I saw the smile slowly return to his face, and my rage nearly escaped me.

"I can give you one chance to walk away from this conversation," Rex said.

I rolled my eyes, "While the camp burns. How thoughtful. If you have not noticed, that is what I was doing before you stood in front of me."

Rex suddenly laughed, and he shifted his weight by another inch. "I can tell that you are a more interesting Acolyte than I had given you credit for, but your smartness would not work here, Voss. You must have pieced together a clue of our work along the way, right? Still, the position you are in is more dangerous than you understand, and if you turn around right now and run back the way you came, I will not pursue you, and you will die in the eruption. Your death will be a simple death."

A look of disgust covered my face, "You are giving me a speech while the people behind me are being eaten by demons. I want you to know that I appreciate the priorities, but I think I will take my chances walking away from danger, not towards it. We are not all psychos like you, Rex. Some of us actually like our organs inside our bodies."

"Voss."

"Did you rehearse it, Aldran? The triple structure, the build," I made my voice deeper for a beat, "The your death would be a simple death. What does that even mean? I admire the craft. Most nobles I have met have the rhetorical capacity of a goose, but this is genuinely worked material. You have been thinking about this speech for some time."

Rex stopped speaking. I knew that I had pushed this fragile balance to its limits, and I did not care. A great part of me wanted to tear Rex apart, but I still wanted to know how long I could keep him talking.

From the moment I saw him, I already knew that I would not be escaping this place alive. There was a cold spot on my back that was piercing right through me, and if I had to guess, it would be Commander Rel keeping an eye on me... everyone else should be dead at this time.

I heard the sound of the ground cracking, and a new sound emerged, like the deep groan of the earth. I had lived longer than I had ever done, and yet I was not getting enough information because of this bastard in front of me.

Rex did not look away from me, and that was an enough indicator that he was very familiar with the demons, but how familiar?

"I have already seen what was on the other side of the door, Rex. If you think I am going back there to die, you are more insane than I give you credit for. What, just because you are a hidden member of the Conclave means you have the right to decide my life and death?"

I had to give him something to know where this was going, and at the mention of the Conclave, his face went still. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"That was unwise, Voss."

"What, speaking my mind? Who even are you, Rex? You are certainly not one of us."

Rex cocked his head to the side, a bit of surprise in his eyes, "You are stalling."

I shrugged, "I am conversing. There is a difference. Stalling implies I am waiting for something. Conversation implies I am present for the exchange, Aldran. I am here asking very important questions, but you are the one giving me shit for answers. If I am going to die, at least, I should not die ignorant... that seems fair."

"Voss," Rex said, and the smirk was gone, "As much as I would like to dig through your crafty little mind, you are out of time, as I have a lot of work to do ahead. So, would you return to the camp?"

"See, here is the thing, Rex, you have given me no reason to do such a foolish thing, and your insistence on my taking this foolish action only means that you are the one stalling. Besides, we are both Acolyte Rex. What makes you believe you can stop me?"

Rex smiled, and I saw a sort of light pass through his eyes. Right, he did not know that I was already aware that he was stronger and maybe much older than he looked. "Last chance."

I sneered, "For me, or for you?"

The cold spot on my chest sharpened, and he raised his staff. I also raised mine, and the wrapping I had around the head of my staff loosened, revealing the three small charms. The wrappings were to stop the charms from ringing against each other, and Rex glanced at them for a moment, and he said,

"This is going to hurt, Voss."

"Aldran," I said, "I have died to the sound of my screams eleven times. You are going to need to do better than hurt."

The first cast left Rex’s staff before he had taken a breath to draw it, and the battle began.