(Ch 49)Doubt

"is something the matter?" Faith asked, seeing the girl seemed uninterested in adding more context.

In response she unsheathed her rapier, thrusting it forward before Faith even had time to question what was happening. Doubt, Faith's new sword reacted by in turn unsheathing itself and meeting the rapier point.

"I don't know about you but this is certainly not how we greet each other where I come from" Faith mumbled grasping onto Doubt's hilt.

Anima backstopped, slight surprise infecting her apathetic face as she looked upon the first person her age to ever even remotely react. Anima didn't doubt faith, she just believed in herself. Given her bloodline, Anima was at a disadvantage in a physical duel and she knew that but still had confidence in her speed and reaction.

'If his sword didn't react by itself, I would've won in an instant' Anima believed.

"You are?" Faith asked, letting his guard down.

With shadow sense, he had no need to keep his guard raised and with Doubt in his hand's Faith wasn't worried about her rapier. They were by nature weapons of precision and if Doubt could intercept them then Faith had no reason to fear it. Despite being a different weapon from what he normally used, doubt felt far more comfortable than any blade he'd ever picked up. Its grip was perfect and being a longsword reminded Faith of his mother, keeping him feeling calm and secure when holding it.

"Again, you are?" He repeated.

"Anima." She replied.

Faith hadn't noticed her at first perhaps due to the lack of presence but since there was only one entrance in and out of the Terrance she must have been there the entire time.

'she's barely got any presence even when standing in front of me… weird' Faith noted.

Luna was still god knows where inside his soul space and without the comfort of his best friend, Faith hadn't a clue what to do.

"Well, I guess my father's little show will be interesting at least," Anime remarked, heading back to the tree she'd been sitting at before.

Faith sheathed Doubt finding the blade extremely light despite radiating a dangerous aura. Turning around to ask what the hell was the deal with Anima Faith found everyone else present staring at him slack-jawed.

"What?" Faith asked.

"it's just surprising that she even noticed you" Krus mumbled, barely responding properly.

It was understood from the other socials events between them that Anima had no interest nor intention of interacting with any of them, writing them off immediately without giving them a chance to argue.

Light-dark's side, the ones who interacted with Anima the most were especially shocked, considering very rarely did their little monster choose to leave her meditative state for any reason.

"Hahahaha!!!" out of all the heirs present, the first to respond properly was Reasla.

Despite being tall for his age Reasla still towered over Faith, finding it exceedingly awkward when she hugged him like a proud older sister.

"Good job Faith, showed that little bitch where to stick it" Realsa said, hugging him despite Faith's own dispute.

'I can't put the pretentious brat in her place due to our age gap, it'd just look like bullying. But this little guy went and did it for me' Realsa thought.

"Could you let me go, please?" Faith asked, trying to wiggle his way out of her hold.

All the Dark-light side congratulated him while the stares of hate that bore into his back burned even stronger than before. It hit Light-dark's pride hard that their monster had seemingly ran away from Dark-light's, though that wasn't at all the case.

He acted nonchalant about it but Anima was the only person his age Faith had ever met that his shadow sense reacted to. It Warned him almost immediately that she was dangerous and could threaten his life if she chose to.

"You did good for our side, Faith" The oldest of the bunch, Fir the avian added.

He wasn't the tallest though, that title belonging to the silver-haired, red-eyed Reasla. Fir himself had bright green eyes with a sharp glint and smooth blonde hair with a face halfway between a man and a boy.

"He's right, can't wait to see those shitty dwarves with hammers for heads try to replicate that sword" the gnome Tera, who Faith now realised was a girl with added.

Out of all of them, Tera looked the youngest with her sparkling gemstone infused skin. It looked normal from some angles but reflected light like diamonds on others while her short red hair went to accentuate the ruby style she possessed.

Tera was the only one Faith was tempted to pick up and hug to death within minutes of meeting, the side glances at his sword though gave away her true and greedy nature.

"What are we even meant to do?" Faith asked once they were done going on about how evil and nasty Anima was in which he just sidelined.

'To me, she just seems shy… poor things probably just bad at talking to people.' Faith thought.

No matter how much his race was known for their evil nature the thought of talking bad about someone who had barely done anything disturbed Faith. He was more than once tempted to ignore his enthused comrades and walk up to Anima instead but he didn't want to disturb her meditation.

Dragons and Spirits were easily the two highest forms of existence on Astretis but the way they went about obtaining power couldn't have been more different. Dragons were all unique beings of existence that each became their own force of nature by connecting completely to a single element, while Spirits instead looked to deepen their connection with nature as a whole growing closer and closer to the world and gaining power from it.

While Dragons were the ultimate specialist, Spirits were the ultimate jack of all trades.

Faith didn't want to bother her while she was in the middle of meditation it being somewhere along the lines of interrupting during his magic research, a right exclusively reserved for his father and research buddy Alzeor.

"I believe we were meant to be making ties with those Light-dark cattle, fat chance that'll happen," Fir said, spitting on the ground in disgust.

Out of all of them, Fir was the only one not wearing a suit or dress in favour of a sort of feathered ceremonial robe. It kept the majority of the back exposed allowing his wings freedom and was deep blue contrasting with their dove white.

'I wonder how female Avians dress? it would look rather scandalous given this setting if they wore something similar' Faith wondered.

The only other clothing of note for Faith were Realsa's beautiful blood-red dress, adorned in white roses, Krus's hooded three-piece suit with a purple vest, and Anima's crystal white dress that reminded Faith a little too much of a Disney princess.

With her crystal white Iris's and equally white hair, she resembled a shining princess of snow. Despite their parents desires the kids club of heirs for the next generation didn't cross the thousand-year divide.

Faith himself might've liked to make more friends but the hate in their eyes disheartened him quickly. Eventually, a maid called them back in, disappointing Faith in the lack of friendship.

'Nah cheer up me, we confirmed friendship with Krus and soon Reasla will sink into our perfectly planned trap' Faith thought, giggling at the image of the poor vampire stuck as his friend before she knew it.

He found his way back to Eshir with ease though again the stares he got brought down his mood. All Faith wanted was to be loved and to give love to others, yet the preset idea of how he should act given his race was perceived as how he would act, losing any chance of fitting most of their social norm simply for existing.

'I know I can't please everyone… but it'd be nice to at least get a chance'

Food was being served and with it everyone was expected to return to their tables, conversing between them being strongly encouraged. Faith sat down seeing the entree piping hot being served around them.

"How was your little meeting?" Eshir asked.

"It went okay… I think. A girl with white hair tried to stab me so that was interesting and the vampire is pretty nice" Faith answered.

"At least your little party went well then I guess. this whole event has been dull and worrisome but if you're enjoying it then its worth it" Eshir said, ruffling his long white hair a little.

Eshir had conversed with other high-level representatives from Dark-light while Faith was gone but found very quickly that the topic of interest would always shift to her son. Though she could talk about Faith for hours on end, perhaps even matching Alzeor, finding so many interested in him was a little frightening.

It became even more so when the talk of marriage came up and seemed to stick.

'You fuckers can keep away from my son' was what Eshir was tempted to scream out more than once.

Political Marriage was an important thing, especially for someone who had yet to go through the Trial of Ascension. Since it was hard to gauge some true potential until then, swiping suitors with promise before their first Trial of Ascension was ideal. Eshir herself had been engaged at one point though that had fallen through after she murdered her parents to assume the throne.

She tried her best to let Faith make mistakes and learn on his own but when it came to something like marriage she found herself extremely protective.

'Faith isn't like me, or any demon I know. If and when he marries someone he'd do it for love, not gain. Faith's too emotional for a political marriage, the chances he'd get his heartbroken or get used and abused is too high.' Eshir concluded.

To demons, political marriage was just a lot of gain and a guarantee on a sex partner when they were of age. For everyone in the room, it was a perfect chance to combine strength and resources during a time of peace through two future rulers.

But for Eshir it was just a headache that could lead to her little devil's heartache.