True Magician

Chapter 197

The Underworld.

You know, recently, well, over the last couple of hours, which is how long it took me to put the demons-Pillars to sleep, I once again realized a couple of important things that I thought I knew, but apparently didn't fully understand during my entire time in this world...

Human life was far from peaceful.

No matter how intelligent, strong, beautiful, powerful, magnificent, stunning, charming, mature, and wise a person was, danger was always present in their life, and... Although, no. Perhaps 'danger' wasn't the most appropriate word...

Cataclysm. Disaster. Fate.

These three words perfectly described what was present in the life of absolutely every person.

It was like a lurking hunter, a perfect predator whose presence the victim was always aware of, perhaps even knew, but was never quite ready to escape or fight back...

More precisely, this was how a perfectly normal, skilled predator behaved, but in this case we were talking about the 'perfect' predator.

The perfect predator, he... built up tension. He created a sense of danger even when he was not near his prey. One thought, one mention, and that was enough for the victim to begin to experience animal fear on a subconscious level. The reason for this was that the perfect predator could always reach its prey, no matter how deep it buried itself or how far it fled into a parallel world.

And the victim did not consider all of the above as a 'possibility' or 'probability', but as a constant. It was something where such concepts did not exist in principle. And the most important thing was that death was the best thing the victim could hope for after offending the perfect predator and drawing its attention.

What was the point of all this background? Well...

- "How can I put it..." I began, almost in a whisper so as not to wake the children. "Like Morga..."

- "Don't you dare mention the name of that cursed witch in my presence, Romani," Goetia interrupted me, also in a whisper, with undisguised anger, shame, and hatred.

Now Goetia and I were sitting side by side at his long, almost six-meter table, watching closely to make sure that none of the demon Pillars woke up, which would have triggered a chain reaction among the rest.

In those two hours, we had gone from enemies to allies, brothers in arms, back to back, holding back the onslaught of a multimillion-strong army. Our muscles ached, our eyes were like bottomless pits, and our minds craved silence and calm.

Why did I help him in the first place?

Something inside me made me feel compassion for him, and later I realized that it was my humanity. After all, we were, to some extent, real brothers, and I even offered him my coffee, which we were now enjoying together. As for Morgan...

A woman... Oh, I apologize. A fairy with the rank of 'Great Mother', that is, a fairy born in the inner sea of the planet, like Vivian herself, the Lady of the Lake, could be extremely cruel. Vindictive, capricious, and vengeful. That was Morgan le Fay. However, she was like any other fairy of Nasuverse.

She had no moral framework or any other such nonsense invented by humans for humans. If she was hurt, you could be sure that she would respond in such a way that the offender would wish for their own death... which almost happened to Goetia.

It is also noteworthy that as a fairy of the rank of 'Great Mother', she wields magic that is not bound to humanity in any way. The demons of Nasuverse, of which Goetia was a member, were originally spirits created by Solomon from the sixth imaginary element — a force that responds to the desires of humanity and is called upon to fulfill them.