“So I said to the guy, ‘Kid, pick up your grandma and go. I don’t do mid-life crisis.’ And he just flipped me off. Mortals have no respect.”
Malum shook his head, saddened by the story Shad had just told. “A shame Louis decided to let him live.”
Mayura had summoned all the Divine, as she does every week, but they were there for a different reason than usual. There was something Mayura needed to speak to them about, and they knew that it wouldn’t be good news, due to the tone of the letter she sent out to them.
For the moment, they talked amongst themselves, waiting for Mayura to arrive. As soon as Mayura entered, all chatter stopped immediately. She sat in her chair at the head of the table and the meeting began.
“By now, you've probably realized that strange occurrences have been popping around. People going missing every now and then. Do any of you have any theories about what is going on?”
“Aliens,” Malum muttered. Drax chuckled.
Mayura gave them both a glare, but Malum could see she was trying to hold in a chuckle. “Really, you two?”
Louis then announced, “I have felt a dark presence every now and again. It’s faint, but it's strong enough to distract me from my work.”
“Shad, Arex, have you noticed anything?” Mayura asked them.
Arex shrugged. “I’ve been more concerned with how quickly we’ve been going through resources. We need to cut back, or find alternatives to the fuel we’ve been using.”
Shad thought for a moment. “There has been an increase in crime recently,” he admitted. “I’ve been pretty busy trying to keep everyone in line. Normally, it’s not this hard.”
“I see,” Mayura acknowledged. “Well, if things keep acting up, we might have to find out what's causing all of this. For now, continue with your duties. If anything turns up that could be related, come to me.” She then looked at Shad to make sure he was paying attention. “That goes for you too.”
Shad nodded. The rest of the room was silent.
“Malum, I would like to speak with you in private. Everyone else is dismissed.”
As the other Divine left the meeting room, Malum put his feet on the table and crossed his arms. “I have a feeling that we’re about to have an unpleasant discussion,” he stated.
“First off,” Mayura scolded, “get your feet off the table. You know better than to act like that.”
“Mayura, we’re DIVINE,” Malum reasoned. “We can pretty much do whatever we want! So what if the humans have to clean off the table after I leave? It’s what they do-”
“YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE BETTER THAN THIS! Every single time you and Drax do this, I always have to have one of the servants clean up after you! If I ever catch you doing it again ANYWHERE, we're going to have a long talk.” Mayura paused for a moment, trying to calm down. She sighed, then continued, “Back to what I wanted to talk to you about. I've gotten a report that Renae has been visiting you and the other medics for some time. Care to tell me why?”
Malum suddenly looked concerned, removing his feet from the table and maintaining a stern posture. “As a healer, I am bound by honor to maintain my patients’ privacy. If I told you, I would dishonor myself and Renae.”
“Renae is also one of us. I'm only curious as to why she's been going to you.” Mayura crosses her arms, her eyes showing a bit of curiosity and a bit of anger. “You two aren't together, are you?”
“Far from it,” Malum replied. “She’s not my type.”
Mayura calmed down a bit. “Alright..”
Malum’s eyebrow raised a little as he smirked, asking, “Does it make you feel better to know that you are?”
“I beg your pardon?” Mayura seemed confused.
Malum chuckled, relaxing and leaning back in his chair. “I’ll explain when you’re older. Nevertheless, her reasons for seeing me and my healers are classified. If you want to know so badly, go ask her.”
Mayura gave him a glare. “I'm two years older than Louis, and 2 years younger than you, Malum.”
Malum rolled his eyes. “Whatever.” He stood up, beginning to leave. “I’ll be getting back to my work, unless you’d like to keep me here for some other reason-”
It was then Malum noticed a faint streak of blush going across Mayura's face. Which came as a surprise, since she has never done that before in the view of the public. He stopped dead in his tracks and gently placed his hand on Mayura’s shoulder, playfully suggesting, “It seems you do understand what I said. Maybe we can talk more about it over dinner?”
Mayura's eyes widened. “Malum… if any of our subjects or even our fellow warriors saw us together, how do you think they would react?”
“Well,” Malum suggested, “you could repeal that little law about us not having relationships, and they’d be more accepting. Besides, everyone loves us. I don’t think they’d oppose our union.”
“They don't love you when you put your dirty feet on their tables.” Mayura joked.
Malum's eyes widened, she had never joked about anything before. “I’m in rarified air,” he announced. “The Matrin of The Divine just made a joke!”
Mayura began to chuckle a bit at her own joke. Then the two warriors caught sight of two women watching them. Both of them were servants, and both were clearly shipping them, giggling amongst themselves. Once they noticed they had been seen, their eyes widened with shock and they bowed. “S-Sorry Lord Malum… Lady Mayura..” One apologized. The other one exclaimed, “W-We'll leave you two be.” and both rushed off to go back to their duties.
Malum chuckled, moving in front of Mayura. “I think they reacted well enough,” he commented. The blush on Mayura's face intensified when she saw the servants, and continued to intensify as Malum got closer to her. Eventually, her hood fell off of her head. Malum himself started blushing when he finally saw the top half of her face, though how anyone could notice was a mystery.
They probably would’ve proceeded to commit to the most epic hardcore make-out session of their era if Shad hadn’t burst in, announcing, “There is a man at the gates!”
In shock, Mayura put her hood up and flew over to the gates. She floated above the ground in front of the gate. Shad barely even got to say a word before Mayura was already at the gate, he never knew she could be that fast. He also saw the top half of her face, and began blushing himself. He looked at Malum and began stuttering, “H-Her h-h-hood-d… d-down?! How?! WAIT.. both of you were blushing-”
Malum immediately glared at Shad, silencing him. “Do not. Ever. Speak of this. To anyone.” Shad nodded, slowly realizing what was going on and smiling with pride for his brother in arms. They departed from the Divine Hall, but not before Shad gave Malum a high-five.
