Chapter 8: The Empress

Song recommendation: "I cannot bear to say goodbye" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmWptm4KqSk&list=RDdRMaf5mgCZc&index=2)

"The Empress was a complicated person, even before she was an Empress. She was my friend and Albaric's too, but even I could see she had problems. Even so, she was able to overcome those problems and do something extraordinary. She's the one who killed the Demon King. That's the reason she is so loved. However, the demon king wasn't just an ordinary demon. They were a being possessed by a dark god. The Empress's magic was powerful, but she was only a human. It wasn't enough. Can you imagine the type of person who could stand up to a being of such power? The demon king was defeated but at terrible price,"

Ace remembered the towering statue of the Empress in the capital. Her resolute face against the sun was blinding.

"She died?" Ace said slowly.

"If only," Michael's voice trembled. "The punishment for killing a god was worse than death,"

"Worse than death?"

"She's...still there...in the demon world. Her body was infected with the darkest of magic. IT COULD NOT BE UNDONE! I tried and tried, but NO!" Michael exclaimed with an uneasy breath. He suddenly rose. He turned to Ace with an intense and broken gaze.

"Do you understand, Ace?" he enthused, "This is the sacrifice I made to get that necklace! She is still there in the pit of demon god but she must stay there if this world is to survive. The Emperor hates me for my weakness. Clover is the same! They want to set her free, but that isn't what she would have wanted! The woman who gave her life for them, wouldn't have wanted them to die for her. Everyone can call me selfish. I don't care anymore. I KNOW I'm right! Whether you find your place in this world or that, you must see it too. I know how you feel about me, but i..." he faltered. It looked as if his train of thoughts had been derailed by the force of his emotions.

There was a long silence. Michael returned to his seat by the fire. He bore his eyes into it with the same alacrity.

"But it's gone now. The necklace is gone," he said at length.

Ace let out an audible sigh, "Then we take it back. You really have no faith in my magic at all, do you?"

"You can do that?"Michael's eyes widened, "Can you bring it back here?" He sat up in his chair.

"I can try," Ace answered with annoyance.

He held out his hand and began to picture the necklace as he had done before. He closed his eyes and let magic flow. Once more he felt a rush of the familiar emotions. He repeated the same words as before. 'There to here'.

Ace's eyes blinked opened, "There's something wrong,"

"Ahh," Michael groaned, "I knew it,"

"It's not my magic!" Ace snapped. "I can feel it working. It's like there's something blocking my magic. This has never happened before,"

Michael's eyes narrowed, "Who did you give the necklace to?"

"Albaric," Ace replied.

"That's the reason." Michael bit his lip.

"What are you talking about?" Ace said with growing agitation.

Bird who had been quiet for some time, finally spoke up.

"It's his magic, Ace," he explained. "Albaric is a master of holy magic. It's the purest kind of magic. It repels both dark and demonic magic. As long as he has the necklace, you won't be able to call it here with dark magic,"

"Then we go to the capital and get it," Ace responded.

"We can't do that," Michael exhaled, "Once they return without the demon lord, they'll put out a bounty on our heads. I know how Leila thinks. she'll be the first to tell the court that we helped the demon lord escape. Soon, we won't even be safe here. No, there's only one way left now,"

"What way?"Ace asked impatiently.

"There's only one person who's ever broken into the capital and left there alive," Michael's face convulsed.

"Clover," he said bitterly, "Clover's the only one who could possibly get it back now,"

"You just said that Clover's the one who told them about in the first place!" Ace rebuffed.

"I know that!" Michael turned angrily, "You think I want to go begging to Clover for favours?! Because of you, we have no choice!"

"Because of me?! Because of you I just turned Clover away!"

"Then you're even stupider than I thought!" Michael retorted.

"Michael," Bird interceded, "This is not Ace's fault. I told you we should have just told them back then, but you refused to trust them,"

"How could he be trusted?" Michael eyed Ace viciously, "He's been a puppet of that demon from the beginning,"

Ace's jaw clenched. "This is bullshit!"

He stormed out of the tower and back into the brisk outdoors. The sun was rising against a pink horizon. It was much warmer than the Empire, even in the cold dawn. Ace started into the jungle as footsteps came racing behind.

Bird grabbed Ace by the arm.

"Wait!" Bird cried, "Please Ace,"

"Bird" Ace turned back abruptly, "All of this, it's too much. I..."he let out an uneasy breath.

"I know," Bird said softly, "but Ace, we don't have time. If we're going to act we have to do it now."

"Even if we find Clover, there's no way they'll help us now. Not if I'm with you,"

Bird shook his head, "Ace, you are the only reason Clover would help,"

"You don't understand!" Ace inhaled sharply, "It's...it's hopeless."

"No, it's not hopeless." Bird said firmly, "I have seen you together. I'm telling you that Clover will help. I know they care about you!"

"Maybe before," Ace said slowly, "but not now. I'm sorry, Bird,"

Ace broke from Bird's grip and rushed off into the jungle.

The dark and perilous depths of the trees were abated by the softly rising sun. The place came alive with green vitality and light. Ace kept walking. He wished it would swallow him whole. What a mistake he had made! He kept thinking about that moment. It all made sense now.

The reason Clover offered to return the necklace to him. The fact Rena offered him freedom, that was probably Clover's doing too. All the time, Clover had been offering a chance, even to the end. Why? Why couldn't they have just said the words?

Clover had admitted that they wanted to die. Is this what they meant by distraction? Ace broke into a run. He sprinted breathlessly through the forest. The pain in his chest wouldn't relent.

Finally, he found himself staring out into the sea. The water was rushing over his feet. Sweat and tears poured down his face. The roar of the ocean was enough to bring him to his knees. This world was so beautiful.

All that time in the dark and now he could finally see the light. He didn't want it to end.

"What are you doing?"

Ace kept staring ahead. He didn't know how long it had been, but the sun was now high in the sky. He was hugging his knees gazing steadfastly at the line where the sea met the blue sky.

Michael came and sat down beside him. He looked out at the dazzling blue. It was the familiar boundary he had come up against his whole life. He could still recall the Cirillian wizard's words just looking at it.

"I hate this place," he said under his breath.

"How can you hate it?" Ace scoffed, "You don't know how lucky you are,"

"This island has been my personal demon for as I can remember," Michael said in a low voice, "It's a consistent reminder of all my failures,"

"You haven't met many demons, have you?" Ace remarked, "This place is a paradise compared to the demon world,"

"I don't need to have met many demons," Michael frowned, "Just the one was enough."

"I don't want to have this conversation with you," Ace sniffed. "You hate Clover. I get it. And you hate me because I love them."

"I don't hate you," Michael said stiffly.

"You tried to kill me," Ace said flatly. "You say Clover's been manipulating me? You're worse. At least, Clover has always been honest about who they are. Who are you exactly? You want me to believe you've been fighting this battle against the Emperor all alone? Like some kind of hero? You're not... You have no self control. That's why you got yourself thrown out of the tower. Your anger completely blinded you to the obvious. If you had just reached out to Albaric, he would have helped you, but you don't trust anyone because you're selfish and vindictive."

"You think I don't know that?" Michael said in a low voice, "You want the truth. Yeah, I don't like you. You're too full of yourself. You just showed up and expected everything to be handed to you. I never believed you were innocent or naive in the slightest. Your relationship with Clover made that obvious. Not because Clover's a demon, but because you are a human. You know everything they've done yet you can sit by their side. I don't care if you lived in the demon world, you must know it's wrong,"

Ace let out a laugh, "Humans aren't so different from demons than you'd like to think. They kill. They steal. They're quick to anger and they relish in violence. Power is power, no matter who has it. It's all the same absurd chaos and death. Demons just don't make any excuses for it. Why can one murder be justified and another cannot? It can't. But everywhere you go it's survival of the fittest. Clover saved me from my rightful death. In this world, is there anything more miraculous than that?

"Survival of the fittest? Is that why you think Clover kills? The Cirillian wizard was a student of Clover's long before you and I. His magic was once in a generation. He raised me when my parents died on this shitty island because he wanted to protect me from demons like Clover. But the first thing Clover did when they found out was track him down and kill him as punishment. If I had known that...I wouldn't have become Clover's student, but of course that was just another trick. Clover takes what they want and it's not like they can't feel it like the other demons. They're half human. They feel guilt, regret and shame like the rest of us. I know they do. That's what makes it worse." Michael retorted.

"So you'll excuse me if I can't believe that anyone who could love someone like that is a good person. You're attracted to the darkness just as much as the light. Admit it,"

"Even if I did? What then, does that make me bad?"Ace said coolly, "Evil is relative. What is wrong with loving someone who shows you mercy when no one else will? Even if others call them dark, but they are light to you - why should you be forced to let them go. It's their fate, not mine,"

"For now," Michael returned, "but you had your chance to run and you didn't. So what are you waiting for? Prove me wrong. If there's really any light in Clover, by all means go find it."

Ace glanced at Michael. For once, he was right. There was still time to fix things.

"How can we find Clover?" Ace asked.

Michael turned his gaze back to the sea, "Leave that to me."