Post-Mortem

"So, Phelia. Right?"

I turned to the human to study her for the… I knew not the number.

Over the last four tendays, I watched her. Here, in the shockingly bright but cold halls of the morgue. It was just me and her here. Performing live autopsy after autopsy on those who had long been dead.

She was frail like most humans, and more. Short and lithe, with a regally gaunt face of sun-kissed skin and eyes like Mournlode, burning with an innocence that belied her position.

"Yes." I nodded, despite her being fully aware of my name. So strange, humans were.

"Where are you from?" She asked, then quickly recanted by shrugging. A crude gesture while her hands were plunged deep into her partner's ribs. "I mean, Vagua is a big place."

'Big.' I chuckled to myself and did the same with my partner. For the last month and tenday, I've been doing the same. Plunging my fingers in the cold flesh of these otherworldly beings to try and piece together the cause of their second 'demise.' It was… unsettling at first. But after the first few exercises, I realized how invaluable the knowledge was. So strange, humans were. Both inside and out.

"I am from the City of Brass," I explained, and knew she would keep prying and so chose to explain further. "I am what you would call a cousin to Zarzok if I understand human relations correctly. Because of our natures, he was always ambitious. I was not. He wanted what many in the City wanted. To rise in station and power in the Hells below.

"But, he didn't want to join any of the Families. He wanted to make his own and usurp the throne from one of the existing families. So he came here to grow in knowledge and strength."

"And you followed him," she both asked and said.

"I came to the Bodhi Tree because I thought he needed someone to heal him." I corrected. "That was until I realized he didn't. After that, I didn't know what to do. I had no dreams of returning to the City of Brass; at least not yet. Nor did I wish to continue following Zarzok wherever he goes.

"I was confused," I said. "And then Amun made his offer. Shortly after, I saw he was a much better teacher than our instructors. And he's a much more capable leader than anyone I've met thus far. I have the greatest chance of finding my purpose here. But." I turned to face her innocent eyes. "I'm surprised you joined, Scarlett Bombyx. A noble who, if I understand correctly, was born a Druid. Yet, you joined a Devil's Legions? Will you fight for him?"

"I fight for nature." She cheekily smirked. Then scoffed in apparent disbelief. "Honestly, I'm surprised you hold on to such ways of thinking, Phelia. What when you're aspiring to be a Witch. As it is in Witchcraft, Druidic Circles are the opposite of common stereotypes. Nature is a cruel mistress."

"As cruel as humans?" I found myself asking and quickly regretted it. So volatile humans could be. But Scarlett paid it no mind. Though it was more than just that. Indeed, Scarlett Bombyx of the noble druidic circles agreed with me.

"Few things are, I'm afraid," she said, melancholia deep in her voice. "A baboon will often steal a lion's cub and torture it. Which seems cruel, until you see a lioness playfully rip a troop apart and leave it for the vultures. Bears often maul people to death, but only because their cubs were threatened or their territories were encroached. Animals are cruel because that's what nature demands for their survival.

"But humans." She looked at me almost apologetically. "Humans often behave in the way nature intended. But more do they kill each other over differences in appearance or behavior. Or, as Amun says, because of the Abstract and the Absolute." She finished with a tap of her ectoplasm-covered finger against her temple, which both did and did not explain anything.

The Abstract, according to Amun, were the things that existed only in the minds of sentient individuals. Things such as borders, laws, governments, and so on. Things that were made real, only because the collective decided they were. But if at any time the collective decided against such things, they would come crumbling down faster than they could have hoped to build them in the first place.

That was how fickle such things were.

As for the Absolute, it was somewhat self-explanatory. Those who held on to the extremes of good and evil or order and chaos were far more dangerous than any creature nature- or any of the Planes- could conjure.

"Humans kill each other for survival, sure." Scarlett continued after the seconds of introspection. "But more often do humans kill each other because they believe in the wrong gods or in no gods at all. So quickly do humans turn to hate another. Each other. Themselves, even. How shamelessly do they use anything to justify their cruelty. And worse, humans believe themselves to be at the center of the realms. Above all in both morals and might."

"You speak as if you aren't one." I chided.

"I am." She nodded. "But I was raised as a Druid. And so a Druid I am, Phelia." She looked deeply into my eyes, telling me far more than words ever could. "Honestly, this is the first time I've been around so many people. Around so many different races. It's so exciting!" She nearly jumped in place, only to regress to the brink of melancholia a moment later. "But, I also saw what my family told me about humanity."

"I suppose we are the same, in that regard." I soft-heartedly laughed. "I've met a few humans back home, but those pedigrees have been in the City for centuries, so they are closer to fiend than human. Still, though, I'm surprised. I imagined you eager to return to your home after your time here."

"Well." She shrugged, her wrists still neck-deep in ectoplasm. "My family never told me they wanted me to return. Or that they wanted me to do anything really." She shrugged again. "And… well. I like Amun. Drow and Devils were more myth than anything else to me, but he still goes against the stereotypes of his labels. I mean, now we know why." She meekly chuckled. "But even before then, I knew I could trust him. So, when he asked."

"It was only natural to say yes." I nodded. "I see. However, I can safely say that, while I've heard little of drow, Amun is closer to a devil than anything else. Though, that's hardly a bad thing." I quickly reassured her. "Still, though, I've never heard of or seen a devil making deals without writing out a contract. No one has."

"Yeah." Scarlett quipped after a short pause. "In that way, he's more like a Fey."

"Fey?" I asked, hoping to glean more about the eclectic word.

"Powerful creatures from the Feywild." She nodded. "Where faeries and sprites and hags and a lot of familiars come from. It's a… strange place. And beautiful. But really dangerous!" She suddenly snapped her finger from the undead corpse to point it at me, flicking a bit of ectoplasm onto my blouse in the process. "Like, super dangerous! Creepy dangerous!"

"I can deal with creepy." I huffed.

"Not scary-creepy," she said, unrelenting in her gaze. "It's a beautiful place. A too beautiful place. So beautiful that it's weird. And the Fey are kind of like Devils. They'll take ownership of your soul and use it as a plaything. I was always told to do my best to leave if I ever found myself there."

"Devils live souls," I said, more to myself than to her. "It's how they grow and mature. And it increases their station. But, as he's implied, he plays by different rules than his kin. So." I shifted to face Scarlett?" "He's like a Fey?"

"Kinda? I mean, he is honest and he makes deals or pacts or whatever using only his words. But Fey, particularly Archfey, often trick or deceive mortals into giving over their souls. So…"

"The Devil of the Fey."

I found myself harrumphing after spouting out the title. It didn't seem so ridiculous to my ears anymore.