Discernement 1

--Leraye--

Leraye was patiently waiting for an answer. She watched the human who was lost in thought and frowned.

Never had she seen any mortal similar to this one. The woman sat comfortably leaned back in her office chair as if she was just having a Smalltalk with acquaintances.

No trace of fear or submissiveness could be seen on the calm expression the human wore, even though she was just conversing with godly beings whose strength and knowledge would easily overtower hers.

Leraye could with just a flick of a finger end this frail mortal's life. As a member of an undying race, there wasn't even the slightest chance she would lose a fight to a mere human. This assessment didn't originate from arrogance but incontrovertible facts.

However, something in the human's attitude let Leraye shudder and set her on alert. Two distant cold eyes were constantly piercing through her, not wavering at any moment. If she didn't know better she would have never connected these composed eyes with a blind person, an individual more imperfect even in the eyes of a mere mortal.

Leraye couldn't descry if the human was very fearless or just plain stupid.

The person in question took a sip from the wine glass placed on her table and voiced her reply.

"What is the artifact that you have stolen?" Eyna asked, disregarding Leraye's earlier request to join forces.

The urge to squash this tiny ant quelled in Leraye up again. If their situation wasn't that intricate they would have never invited a human to their plan.

"It is a heritage from Lucifer," Leraye answered without any change in expression.

"You don't have to know more than that, as it is contained in a sealed metal box."

Leraye left no other words about the artifact apart from originating from the deceased devil.

After the vanishment of god, the demons saw their long-awaited chance to still their thirst for vengeance and initiated a war with the angels.

Under the leadership of the devil Lucifer, the demon race surfaced and immediately invaded the angel's headquarters in the human realm, the Vatican.

After around twenty years of constant bloodshed, the demons had achieved a pyrrhic victory with heavy losses. In the course of the battle, the leader of the demons Lucifer had perished and the seven other fallen angels overtook his reign, in order to realize the objective of their former lord.

The war slowly stabilized throughout the years. It was turned into a war of attrition, in which though resources would never run out.

However, conflict over the devil's heritage never ceased as he had been seen as the most powerful being in all the three realms, only inferior to the one true God who had already vanished. Struggles even began inside the two divine armies as the unrivaled power each artifact brought was extremely tempting.

"How big is the container and how does it look?" The human continued with more questions where one was seemingly more irrelevant than the other.

Leraye truthfully answered each of the queries, however with irritation rising up.

The metal box was about palm-sized, mostly made out of iron, and decorated with many intricate adornments. Eyna only seemed pleased after they had given her a prefabricated parchment, which displayed the appearance of the container.

Leraye didn't know what advantage a drawing brought to a blind person but this specific human had always appeared to be on the verge of turning mad.

By raising her voice, Eyna pulled Leraye out of her thoughts.

"Well, I do not think I really have a choice in the decision, whether I accept or not. However, how can I be sure that I won't be silenced after I dealt with my part?" The human asked.

Leraye breathed out a sigh of relief. At least the mortal was enough down to earth to see that she hadn't much of a leeway. As Eyna was talking with members of a supreme race she couldn't really make any demands on her side and could only hope to keep her own life and safety.

"The only thing you can do is to believe in our words that we won't directly harm you after the deal has been done," Leraye answered readily, not intending to present any other form of proof.

"The plan will commence in four days' time so you better keep clear your schedule," Leraye added and without bidding goodbye exited without a sound through the window and vanished into the alleys.

"Is it really a good idea to involve a human in our undertakings?" One of the two men who had accompanied her asked once they got into the cover of the shadows.

Since the beginning, he had been skeptical to let in such an unstable variable into their plans.

"If our means weren't restricted and we weren't in such a precarious position, we would never have to choose such an option. However, as Leraye had already realized, it is possibly the only way out of this situation," the other man retorted, stating the sad truth over their current might in this town.

"I hold the same opinion. This human brings a peculiar opportunity. The worst thing that could happen is that the artifact returns to the angel's hands. As she has only strongly limited knowledge about this matter our identities wouldn't be revealed to the angels even if she gets caught," Leraye said reassuringly.

If the angels retrieved the artifact, the thrones at the gates soon would move away too, as their numbers were extremely sparse and couldn't be used to constantly guard such a remote and unimportant town.

After that, they could easily escape the angel's grasp. And Leraye assessed Eyna to have enough intelligence to not betray them to the angels.

If they were captured, Eyna would similarly be judged as she had already helped the demon race to a certain extent.

Therefore, everything should be safe. But Leraye couldn't get rid of the unsettling and bad feeling each time she thought of this specific mortal.