Saer squinted and shielded his eyes from the downpour, trying to get a beat on Errshek while he climbed one of the tallest trees at the edge of the campsite.
Envy, as the rest of them, had dived deep into the cups.
Runeak declined to partake in the spirits and thus served as default demoness to absorb all their respective fire and energy.Wrath sat next to the bonfire, using flames and the heat she’d been gifted to craft more figurines out of scrap metal.
They laughed.They shared jokes and stories.They reunited.
As dizziness set in and weakness persisted, the Twins, Kalia, and Saer found themselves lying on their backs in the center of the clearing.Mud soaked into their clothing while rainwater poured from the midnight sky.
“I didn’t think he’d make it up that high,” Arek said.
“I didn’t expect he’d take Alus’s challenge,” Saer replied, just keeping his words from slurring.
With lightning cracking all around them, Saer made the offhand comment that getting struck was like bathing in a fireball for an hour, but shoved into a millisecond.Errshek was instantly enthralled at the prospect of feeling so powerful, and Alus suggested he climb to the highest point of the campsite, then extend his hand for a better chance at being hit.
Alus chuckled and slung a limp arm over to hit Saer’s chest with his knuckles.“It’s all about timing, Boss.”
“Ineb—” A hiccup interrupted Kalia’s sentence and she swallowed before trying again.“Inebee—Innn—Inebriatedtiming.”
“Oh, yes.That helps.”Despite the spirits, Alus sounded as himself, if marginally more relaxed.The twin kept his eyes on Errshek but called back towards the fire pit.“Mistress Pain?”
Runeak grunted to acknowledge she’d heard Gluttony, though continued her detailed work.
“Will you catch the pup if he falls?”
“No.”
The bland response struck Saer as particularly funny and he burst into laughter, followed by his other kin sprawled nearby.
Just as they’d settled, Kalia’s whimsical voice floated next to his ear.“Neyu liked your laugh.You should do it more.”
Saer’s heart squeezed.The observation hurt and soothed all at once.
“He’s almost there,” Arek observed.
Hells knew where Errshek found the vigor to accomplish the task.His heat sense told him Errshek carried as low a temperature as the rest of them.It must have been sheer stubbornness.
True to Greed’s declaration, Envy balanced precariously on an uppermost branch which could support him at one of the highest treetops.He’d made it at least forty feet up.
With an odd reverence and respect, the earthboundDaemoenicafell silent.
Errshek extended an arm towards the welkin.
Thunder rumbled and rain drenched.
Envy’s arm started shaking with fatigue before Kalia called to him, mid-hiccup.“Good enough, now come back dow—!”
Lightning struck, the crack drowning out all shouts.
Blasting through Errshek’s arm, it danced in the boughs of his tree, highlighting his body as it jerked, spasmed, and then tumbled down.
Down, down, down.
Splashthud.
The remaining demons all jerked to sitting, hyper-focused on Envy’s frame, trying to determine between firelight and thunderclaps whether he moved.
Rolling thunder covered Errshek’s quiet groan at first.He shifted with jilted movements and sat, blinking his wide eyes.“Oh...my.” As if just remembering the rest of his kin bore witness, he glanced their way, then down with a grimace.
