Rogue Adventures - A Tale from Neverbeen Universe

20

On their way back to the Otherside Thanatos pondered how to break it to Raphael that he had to return the stolen artifact. If he told him right away, the Daemon would know Thanatos was allied with Lord Rhagkal and thus the trust and friendship they had built in the past two and a half millenia would crumble to naught and nothing. Thanatos didn't want that. Their friendship was so very precious to him, and he didn't want to imagine what it might be like to lose his best friend.

Then again, he might have already lost Raphael, as the younger one had escaped from the Otherside and forced the Reaper to oppose him. Thanatos had so many questions for Raphael. The most urgent one was why he did it at all. If Raphael wanted to leave Hell just for the sake of leaving, he should have talked to Thanatos. He might have found a loophole to grant his friend one day of parole on Thisside; because he knew the law like the back of his hand.

But Thanatos had the feeling that this was about something more, something bigger... why else would Raphael steal from his father? Probably not just to spite him, although that might be one of the reasons. Maybe Thanatos should investigate these artifacts so he might find out what Raphael intended with them. He could ask Lord Rhagkal next time, as he seemed hellbent on attaining these artifacts also. As far as Thanatos knew, they were made by the Lord of Time himself and contained a lot of power.

So what could Raphael want with that power? He was a very powerful Daemon himself, he probably didn't need any more. But what if he did? What in the world could he possibly want this power for? Thanatos had no clue.

He gazed at his friend, who followed so very tamely to the portal as if nothing bad had happened and this was but a silly practical joke; he seemed so accepting of his detainment that it worried Thanatos. He realized, he couldn't figure his best friend out anymore, and again he wondered, if Raphael regarded him as his friend still. What had Thanatos done that the Daemon alienated himself so much from him? Had Death changed him so much? But on the other hand, Gene seemed still the same. The human was still his friendly and good-natured and laid-back self; Thanatos couldn't detect any change in his behaviour at all.

So was he just imagining things and Raphael's and his friendship was still intact? He hoped so more than anything. Maybe he should talk to the younger man once they were back on the Otherside, just the two of them. Maybe he should reaffirm and see for himself that everything was alright between them. Maybe he should prove his suspicions wrong by hearing Raphael's assertive words.

It made him wonder why he had become so anxious that he might lose his friend. Perhaps it was not Raphael, who had changed, but himself, and he had developed a bad conscience for damning his best friend to the — pretty large — confines of Hell. It was just characteristic of Raphael to show him the limits he had overstepped and to break free from the rules authorities set for him — in this case, Thanatos. Possibly Raphael's escape was but a friendly reminder that they were supposed to be friends, not opponents, and it was Thanatos who misunderstood.

They hadn't talked much in about two months after all. And it was very much possible that this was Raphael's way of saying rethink what you're doing. But it didn't explain why the Daemon wanted the very same artifacts Lord Rhagkal was collecting. He shouldn't know about Lord Rhagkal's plans as he had been in Hell all along. Yet it was too much of a coincidence that the two Daemons started looking for the same artifacts at the same time. It seemed as if Raphael was trying to prevent Lord Rhagkal from getting all the artifacts. So was it possible Raphael knew about his father's true intentions?

Thanatos didn't know for sure. But he was aware of Raphael's nightmares. Which led to the conclusion that Raphael could have had such a nightmare, and he wanted to prevent it from happening. They had witnessed the artifact plunge into the volcano, so it was probably destroyed. It could be an explanation why Raphael was so calm and let himself be arrested so readily; the Daemon might feel assured and contented that he had changed the outcome of that nightmare.

Still his actions had been a huge infringement, and Thanatos in his position as Reaper had to take action against it. There was a range of actions however, and he had not yet decided which to choose. Maybe the right course was to listen to Raphael first. If he heard his explanation he might be able to decide on lighter punishments.

First of all, Raphael and Gene were brought to the Otherside; Thanatos and Azrael guarded them, while Ayumu chatted with Gene. They were talking about why they had escaped in the first place and Thanatos quietly listened in.

"Eh... I don't know. We just went treasure hunting. Raphael said he knew where the locations of these treasures were, so we traveled there," Gene shrugged.

Ayumu nodded. "I see. What kind of treasures were you looking for?" she asked curiously.

"Oh, right. There was this gilded cubic ruby with runes all over it," Gene told, "we met two other treasure hunters at the ruins, and in the fight the ruby got destroyed. The second treasure looked similar. It was a pyramid-shaped emerald, but was also gilded and had the same rune patterns engraved to it." He laughed quietly. "But you got us, when we were about to get the third treasure. Sadly that sapphire prism fell into the volcano."

"Oh," the witch exclaimed, "that reminds me. I should have it here somewhere..." She rummaged in her bag and her hand emerged from it with a globular gem. "Does this obsidian orb belong with your treasures? Look, it is gilded and has these runes on it. I got it from the Old Man's father to keep it safe, but I don't know what it does."

Gene looked at it and shrugged. "I don't know. It looks like it. Eh... Raphael, what do you think?"

Raphael blinked and turned to Ayumu. "May I have a look?" he asked and held his hand open.

"Sure," Ayumu agreed and handed the gem to Raphael. That was the moment when the calm was shattered to oblivion...