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"Mori? we\'ll stop here," she whispered.

"Where are we?" he asked.

"Some village, it doesn\'t have much to offer, but there is an inn with stables for the horses," she said.

"Good, we\'ll sleep there."

He took a deep breath, sitting upright. Looking outside, the night had totally fallen.

He wasn\'t used to this. Night never meant darkness, in the real world.

Lights were installed everywhere, they said it was for everyone\'s safety, however a lot more people thought it was more so that DiveCore could record them properly through the CCTVs.

Mori had never cared, DiveCore owned too many media companies for anyone to be able to untangle any conspiracy theory.

He used to be invested in figuring out the truth, but quickly stopped bothering, like most did.

In this world, however, night truly meant night. Darkness, like he never could\'ve imagined.

The true sound of silence, no buzzing sounds of electronics polluting the place.

Mori got out of the carriage, only to meet Lilae and Reaper sitting on the ground.

"What are you doing there?" he asked.

"We had to walk behind the carriage, because your guard dog there tried to slit our throats when we set foot in it," said Lilae.

Mori turned to Aura, patting her head while smiling, which she answered by smiling as well.

"Yeah, you\'re real proud of that one. Let\'s just get to that inn, Xannos went ahead to book the room."

Lilae and Reaper got up, dusting themselves as they all went toward the inn.

"Reaper," stopped Mori.

He turned around, surprise on his face while the others kept walking.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Don\'t think I forgot our deal."

Reaper frowned. "You mean..."

"You\'ll die."

He took a deep breath, "I know... You want to do it now?"

"Not yet."

Reaper exhaled in relief. "You\'re trying to give me a heart attack?"

"You\'re weak. Extremely weak, even. That display with the guards was pathetic."

"Well," quickly cut Reaper, "You haven\'t seen everything. I\'ve got more tricks, and I was tired, and-"

"It\'s fine. Just focus on your strength. You said it yourself, you\'re good at recon. I don\'t want to be taken by surprise anymore, like it happened with Luxian. I\'m counting on you, Reaper. Especially when we\'re sleeping."

Reaper\'s devious smile returned, disgusting Mori to the core.

"You can count on me."

Mori nodded, hiding his disgust the best he could.

As soon as Reaper turned around to join the others he couldn\'t contain it anymore, letting it show.

Mori\'s hands were tingling, this same feeling he felt when slaughtering humans in Dustriver.

He should\'ve killed him then and there.

Aura who noticed he stayed behind, she turned around, joining him.

"Aren\'t you coming?" she asked, approaching.

"Yes, yes."

"Oh, I got so used to it I almost forgot, even with the cloak perhaps you should get the chains..."

Ah, she\'s right, I forgot.

She took the cloak off his shoulders and then a few steps back.

Mori lifted both arms, chains appearing from the ground, piercing his own body like it happened in Griswald\'s domain.

They swirled around him, sealing him tight. Once they were done swirling around, she put the cloak back on his shoulders.

They walked toward the inn, it was quite isolated.

The village was small, there was perhaps a couple of thousands of people, Mori estimated.

There were a lot of farms, he could smell it, and this main road only had a few dozen establishments on each side.

Xannos was walking out of the inn as Mori and Aura reached the door.

"It\'s all settled. I\'ll bring the horses to the stables, they\'re totally empty, you can get some rest."

"Good," said Mori.

When he entered, it was a true let down.

Nothing like Mary\'s inn, The Wild Boar. The smell was disgustingly potent, as if the farm animals lived inside this place.

Dust was on every surface, while dirt had claimed the floor for itself. The standards were simply mediocre at best.

The innkeeper, demonfolk as well, looked at her worst.

She was in her thirties, but looked in her fifties. Her voice dragged onto words longer than necessary, as if every breath could be her last as she pronounced them.

Every movement she made was minimal, as she held out the keys.

Mori rolled his eyes, taking them.

"Let\'s go," he told the others.

"Second floor," said the innkeeper.

There was only three rooms, and he had two pair of keys.

"Okay, how about-" started Lilae.

"No."

"But, it\'s-"

"No."

"You\'re not even listening," she said.

"I couldn\'t care less. So I\'ll take that room with Aura, and you all can share the remaining one."

"How about we take the last room, here as well?" asked Reaper, opening its door.

The last door opened to a bedroom cluttered with junk. Boxes of rusted tools, broken planks directly on the bed while the window was broken, a gust of wind passing through.

Reaper closed the door, and headed toward the remaining room, exhaling, followed by Lilae.

"Don\'t you make a move on me, succubus," said reaper inside the room.

"Don\'t worry, I\'d rather die," she said in a defeated tone, closing the door.

Mori headed into his room, followed by Aura who closed the door behind him.

Darkness took over, the only source of light being the torches in the hallway extending their brightness under the door, barely making anything visible.

The window was broken, but at that moment he couldn\'t bother to care.

The bed was in such a bad shape; he refused to even sit on it.

It was foul; it smelled truly horrible. The bed wasn\'t even made. Whoever last slept in it was most likely the last person to touch it.

"By any chance, is there any spell..." started Aura.

"I wish. Nothing I can do," said Mori.

He sat on the ground, then laying his back on the cold but dirty floor. His cloak would be the only separating them from filth.

He opened his arms, inviting Aura in.

"The chains will be uncomfortable, but you can rest on my shoulder," he said.

"I don\'t mind the chains," she replied.

She got on her knees and carefully laid next to him on the cloak, avoiding the ground at all cost.

She rested her head resting against his shoulder, her arm naturally wrapping around his torso.

"Are you not going to drink some of my blood?" he asked.

Already?

Mori realized she also hadn\'t slept in a long time.

The moment her head touched his shoulder, she was gone.

He held her tight, closing his own eyes, joining her into slumber.