“Thank you,” I whispered and he kissed the top of my head sweetly. “You umm, want to get drunk now?”

“Ha! Of course! It’s cold up there, I’ve got to enjoy some hot stuff before our journey up the peak.”

“Cool… thanks, Baal. From now on, you’re officially hired to be part of our company of two,” I laughed and earned a glare from Baal. “I’ll meet you at the bar, I have to go offer a prayer first.”

“You pray? That’s surprising, I’ll go with. There’s an opportunity I have to thank the Goddesses for.” Baal grinned standing up from his seat to head towards the altar. “I really am thankful I got a chance to meet you.”

“You’re so strange, normal people would freak out when told that the man they’ve been travelling with is a five thousand-year-old monster, you know?”

“They would, the first time, but this isn’t exactly new to me.” Baal started walking and left me behind with my overall confusion.

“What do you mean this isn’t exactly new?” Baal ignored me as I battled with the thousand theories about his past that lay currently in my head. “Are you talking about the skeletons in your closet? Baal!”

We reached the altar and kneeled much like the other pilgrims around us. I bowed my head while Baal spoke foreign words I swore I once could understand. Minding him and closing my eyes I started praying in my head.

“My Goddesses Destiny, Moon and Aigneis… It has been a long time since I last spoke to you. I’m sorry, I don’t even know if you’ll listen to me after so long. I know Destiny is still mad at me for what I did, but I wanted to thank you…”

“Well, what can we say? It’s not every day Luke of the Ancients offers us a prayer. It is us who thank you Luke, you still have a long road ahead of you…” I looked up towards the shiny altar, the statue of the moon goddess seemed to be looking at me and I knew it was her talking. I’d recognize her voice anywhere either way. “…a road you’ll have a hard time treading. It’s… nice you’ve met someone willing to walk by your side.”

“It is… I can’t help but think it’s too good to be true.”

This was it. Everything in my life didn’t happen without the Goddesses knowing or pushing them to happen. They could force someone to believe anything if the deities deemed it necessary. The sad part was that in the end those fake beliefs would always go away. If they had induced Baal to stay with me against his will then he would leave me no matter how hard I had fallen for him…

Because his feelings would never have been real.

“You know I’m against manipulating our children. Trust me, that kid wouldn’t be easy to manipulate anyhow… he likes you, and you trying to look for an excuse to destroy what little happiness has finally arrived in your life is kind of pathetic.” The Moon Goddess sounded both annoyed and chastising. Of the three she was the one who had become more like her so-called children. “I’m telling you this because you’re such a hard-headed fool. Gerome told you and so will I, take the chance! When the time comes, it’ll be too late.”

“If I let myself really fall in love with him, and he gets hurt when the time comes… what makes you think I won’t go insane again?”

“I believe in you, I believe that you can set things straight come whatever may come.”

It was hard to believe she could trust me in such a way. I had no choice but carry onwards and believe I’d take the right decisions this time around.

“I wish you well, Luke.” The Moon Goddess’s voice seemed to be getting further away. “Be strong.”

“Thank you, my Goddess.” I voiced out loud before I stood up to wait for Baal to finish.

He took a few more minutes after I was done. I hadn’t really taken him up to be the religious type but here he was, completely dedicated to his prayers.

Finally, he stood up and bowed before the altar muttering something I could hear but barely understand. He turned to me with a bright smile plastered on his face.

“C’mon let’s go drink before we leave.” He whispered in sing song while holding onto my arm.

“Alright, let’s go.”

ΩΩΩ

“Hahaha! Seventh shot and still capable of more!” Baal’s voice had turned a little girly compared to his usual self. I swore he was trying to be more feminine in general too. The red in his cheeks warned me he was tipsy, probably drunk, but his body wasn’t giving out more obvious signals other than that. “Luuuuke, still up for one more?”

We had spent some time talking at the bar, we even ate before we started drinking. Despite him knowing what I was, our date had been a total success. By the time he started getting tipsy, Baal had decided to let a few details of his life slip out of his lips. He mentioned he had an older sister and that he hated her. The reason was she stole his man at some point and that he’d forever hold a grudge against the woman. He seemed sad to go about that memory. That’s why I told him that if I ever saw his ex I’d punch him in the face for being an idiot. He laughed and gave me a seductive smile, his midnight purple eyes hazy thanks to the drinks. At some point we started having a competition of who could drink more shots of pure Snowblaze. Baal wasn’t being shy about attempting to out drink me, he would never pull that off though.

“I think that’s enough for today, sweet cheeks.” I told him and he put up one of the flirtiest expressions I had seen him wear yet.

“Are you sure?”

I had a good idea of what he might be plotting with a face like that.

“Yes, c’mon we have to get on our way.” I told him and nudged him on the shoulder. He licked his lips and held on to my arm.

“You figured out I’m drunk, didn’t you?”

“Were you trying to pretend otherwise?” I teased, making Baal roll his eyes and whine like a teenager.

Once outside, we walked towards Ion. The horse seemed to be feeling rather abandoned, so he cheered up the moment he saw us. I stroke its nose lovingly while Baal still clung to my arm.

“C’mon Ion, we have a long journey ahead of us.”

Baal’s eyelids hung low at this point, the effects of the alcohol kicking in like a charm. I wouldn’t be surprised if he fell unconscious any time now.

“I can’t imagine a single reason of why you’d get yourself drunk pretty boy.”

“That’s because…” He didn’t quite finish the sentence, he started mumbling incomprehensible stuff afterwards.

I got him on the horse before I got on. Placing Baal in front of me, I wrapped my arm around his waist while the other one pulled on Ion’s reins.

I rode Ion through the streets of Cordelica, evening was ending and soon it’d be dark. The people had started closing their daylight jobs and the nocturnal clubs were opening up. Snow had started falling again too. I rummaged through our side bags for Baal’s cloak and placed it over his shoulders to protect him from the cold specks. He leaned back against me and I couldn’t help but chuckle at how cute he was acting.

“Luke…” He was mumbling in his sleep, the pink head had drifted off quite soundly minutes after I got on the horse. “…I like you.”

I flinched staring down at the cloaked man leaning against me. What did he just say?

“I like you so much…”

I held my breath fearing he might wake up, fearing I might ask him about his words and that he would deny saying them. He liked me back! Yet… could I really accept these feelings? Why couldn’t I just be normal about this? Seriously, there was no need for me to be THIS dramatic or hesitant about it. Sure, our time together would be short lived, but…

“…okay, everyone’s told me so, so now I’ll say it to myself. Fuck it, let’s see where this takes us, alright?” I sure as hell wished we could have had a normal meeting of sorts, maybe I wouldn’t trip on my own feet so much.

We left Cordelica behind, the cold, wintery forest landscape of the Irisian Spine mountains before us. It would take us two weeks to reach the peak if Ion didn’t get too exhausted.

As we left the city behind us I could have sworn that for a fleeting moment I sensed someone’s presence tailing us. When it vanished I decided to ignore it, people came and left from Cordelica using this path all the time after all. If the goons after Baal were in fact tailing us just now, then I’d take care of them with no problem whatsoever.

Regardless, I couldn’t shake away a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. I hoped it was nothing, I really wanted it to be nothing.