Ashvale's central plaza wasn't exactly the capital of excitement.
Unless, of course, you counted the annual cabbage-throwing competition or that time Farmer Hargel's goat ate a cursed scroll and became the region's only juggling livestock. (The goat still performed twice a week outside the pub, charging half a copper per show.)
So yes—boring. Predictably, wonderfully boring.
That was precisely why Elias had brought Rhea here.
It was safe. Familiar. The kind of place where nothing caught fire unless planned and authorized by the Fire Mage's Guild. And after everything that had happened in the past week, Elias thought Rhea could use a calm stroll among potion vendors, wool merchants, and disgruntled bard apprentices.
"Do not lick the crystal."
"But it sparkles like candy!"
"That's because it's dangerous!"
Rhea stood on her tiptoes, fingers inches from a shimmering blue gem at the alchemist's booth. Her cloak was too big for her, the hood bobbing as she tilted her head with deep, scientific interest—by which she meant: Can I eat it?
Elias dragged her back gently by the collar. "Rhea, please. For the love of all that's magically regulated, don't eat the mana-stabilized crystal."
Rhea pouted. "But if it's stabilized, it won't explode, right?"
"That's not the point!"
She tapped her chin. "Will it make my poop glow?"
Elias froze. The elderly alchemist nearly dropped a jar of powdered unicorn horn.
"Why is that your first question?"
"It'd be so cool!" she said with far too much enthusiasm. "Glittery poop! Imagine the sparkles!"
Elias clutched his forehead. "I swear, one day you're going to be the end of me."
"That's okay," Rhea chirped, taking his hand. "I'll bury you in glitter. Respectfully."
They had been in the plaza for seven minutes.
Seven minutes, twenty-three seconds, and already Elias regretted every life decision that led him here.
He sighed and turned to apologize to the alchemist again—but paused.
A shadow had fallen across the booth.
A tall, brooding figure blocked the sun. He wore armor that looked like it hadn't seen soap since the last demon war, and his arms were crossed in that very specific, I-have-trauma-and-refuse-therapy way.
Elias didn't even need to look up to know who it was.
"Marek," he said flatly.
The man didn't blink. "Elias."
Rhea peeked from behind Elias's leg and blinked up innocently. "Hi!"
Marek didn't return the greeting.
"She reeks of hellfire," he said instead.
"Good afternoon to you too," Elias replied, keeping his tone light. "Enjoying the spring festival?"
Marek ignored him. "That girl. That's her."
Elias instinctively stepped in front of Rhea. "She's not a that. She's a person. And her name is Rhea."
Marek's eyes narrowed. "She shouldn't be here."
"She's a child."
"She's a demon."
"She's a half-demon. And she's trying."
Marek's hand twitched toward the sword on his back. "Trying doesn't mean safe."
Elias saw it coming a second too late.
"Don't—!"
But Marek moved.
And so did Rhea.
In a single heartbeat, the temperature around them plummeted—then surged. The air shimmered like a mirage. Her hood blew back. Her eyes, once wide and playful, glowed an eerie, sun-bright red.
A circle of ancient runes blazed to life behind her—searing symbols Elias had only ever seen in forbidden texts. The cobblestones beneath her cracked as if rejecting her presence. People screamed and scattered.
Marek reached for his sword.
Rhea raised her hand.
The air warped. Heat shimmered around her like a second skin.
She floated—floated—an inch off the ground, voice doubled, tripled, layered with echoes of something ancient.
"No one hurts my Elias."
Marek barely had time to shout before the wave hit him.
He flew backward into a fruit stand. Apples. Bananas. Something that might have been a cursed cucumber.
The crowd fled in every direction.
A mage dropped his scrolls and tried casting a containment ward while running in a circle. A bard screamed, "THE DEMON LORD HAS RETURNED!" and leapt into a fountain.
Elias stood frozen, heart pounding. He'd seen powerful mages lose control—but this wasn't loss of control. It was raw instinct, a primal flare of protective fury.
He acted without thinking.
"RHEA!"
She turned toward him.
Her eyes flickered—but didn't dim.
Elias didn't have a plan. Just one gut-wrenching truth: if he didn't reach her now, she might do something she could never come back from.
He held up his palm.
The glowing rune—the one she'd placed on him with their accidental blood pact—flared in response.
Elias poured every ounce of his healing magic into it. Not to mend wounds, but to calm. To soothe.
The bond responded. Magic pulsed between them like a heartbeat. A steady, warm rhythm.
Rhea's breath hitched.
Her feet touched the ground. The glow dimmed. The magic circle shattered into floating embers.
She looked at Elias.
Then burst into tears.
"I—I didn't mean to—I just—he scared me—!"
Elias caught her, wrapping her in his arms. "I know. It's okay. You're okay."
"I don't want to burn things!"
"You didn't. Not really. Look—Marek still has all his limbs."
Marek groaned from beneath a pile of apples.
"Most of them," Elias corrected.
Later that evening, at the Guild infirmary...
Marek sat shirtless on a cot, wrapped in bandages and spite.
Across from him, Guildmaster Tyrin paced. His white beard twitched like it had opinions of its own.
"She summoned a soul ring."
"She panicked," Elias said.
"Do you know how many years of training it takes to summon one of those?"
"Depends. Do baby tantrums count?"
Tyrin shot him a look.
"She's six," Elias added. "Or close enough."
"She launched Marek through a fruit stand."
"Only because he was about to draw on a child."
"A demon child!"
"She doesn't even know how to tie her shoes yet!"
"She set fire to cobblestone."
"That's impressive, not evil!"
Tyrin sighed and rubbed his temples. "You're not backing down, are you?"
"No," Elias said.
"She's unstable."
"She's scared."
"She could be the reincarnation of the Demon Queen."
"She's also five-foot-nothing, likes milk tea, and thinks sparkle-poop is the pinnacle of evolution."
Tyrin blinked. "...What?"
"Don't ask."
A long silence passed.
Then Tyrin muttered, "You're in over your head."
"I'm a healer with a tea addiction and an ancient blood-bond to a pocket-sized apocalyptic being," Elias said. "I live over my head."
That night…
Rhea sat curled on the bed, knees pulled to her chest. She'd refused dinner. Refused cocoa. Even refused Elias's patented bedtime story: The Misadventures of Sir Soggyboot, Paladin Duck Extraordinaire.
"I hurt him," she whispered.
"You scared him," Elias corrected gently. "Big difference."
"I don't want people to be scared of me."
Elias sat beside her. "Then don't set them on fire."
"I didn't try to!"
"I know. I'm just saying, maybe less soul-flare in public next time."
She sniffed. "Is it bad?"
"The flare? Eh. Mild apocalypse."
She glared.
He smiled.
"You're learning," he added softly. "You stopped yourself."
"I only stopped because you stopped me."
He raised his hand, showing her the rune. "And that's okay. That's what this bond is for."
She stared at his palm, eyes wide.
"I can help you, Rhea," Elias said. "We'll figure this out together."
She looked up. "You promise?"
"Cross my heart, swear on all the tea leaves in my cupboard."
She giggled weakly.
Then, hesitantly, leaned against his side.
"Thanks… Uncle Elias."
He blinked. "That's the first time you've called me that."
"Mm." She yawned. "Don't get used to it."
As she drifted off to sleep, Elias studied the rune again. It had changed—expanded. New branches. Faint pulsing threads like vines, tracing up his wrist.
Their bond was evolving.
And for better or worse, their fates were now intertwined.
He looked at the little girl curled up beside him—once a terror of legend, now small, sleepy, and snoring.
"I don't know what you are," he whispered, brushing a strand of hair from her forehead, "but I'll protect you."
Even from herself.
Even from the world.
Even if it meant facing gods, demons, or—worst of all—Marek again.
To be continued...