"I wonder why." I deadpanned.
"In any case, I have no use for these wretched lost souls." He was clicking his sharp fingernails on the table. "You, on the other hand. Well, I find you very interesting."
"I'm not in the market for a partner." I hissed.
"Very well," He sighed dramatically. I let my guard down for a single moment and he took advantage of it. "So the question remains, what are you looking for?" This demon seemed pretty willing to talk. I didn't want him to know why I was here, but I might be able to get some useful information out of him.
"What do you know about anchors?" I asked.
"Oh," His tone grew sharper. "Maybe you're not as innocent as I thought." He leaned back in his chair.
"Well?" I asked.
"Why? Do you want to make one?" He teased. "In any case, they are very dark magic."
"What if I did want to make one?" I speculated.
"Well, then that would make you very interesting." He smirked. "I'd like to talk to you more about this, but I'm not the only interested party if you catch my meaning." His eyes scanned the room, and I realized that there were at least ten demons that could be possibly overhearing this. He didn't seem to be working for Lord Morningstar, but that didn't mean none of the other demons were. Still, I didn't love the idea of going anywhere with this guy. At this point, I didn't have much of a choice.
"What is your name?" I asked.
"Bold move, asking my name on the first date." His eyes mocked me. I blushed. A stabbing pain went through me when I thought about Kairn. I stared daggers at the demon. He seemed to sense that I wasn't playing around. "You can call me Azrael." He said. I had to hope that his curiosity about me continued, but he was getting me good information.
He stood up and pulled his cloak up. He turned to me, "Are you coming?" I followed him wordlessly. Nox had been flying around above the buildings of the city. When we left the building he landed on my shoulder and nuzzled into me.
The demon was crouching and walking fast through the streets. It was hard to keep up, but I trailed him as we walked into an even emptier part of town.
"Where is everyone?" I hissed.
"Most people don't make it this far." He said darkly. There was some vegetation finally, and the air was starting to clear from all the ash. He led me all the way to an iron gate. We walked inside. It was a graveyard.
"I thought demons weren't supposed to walk on holy ground." I joked.
Despite his earlier humor, he returned with an intense tone, "Nothing about this place is holy." I felt myself grow somewhat pale. He took me toward a grouping of headstones and sat down. I kneeled down and joined him. "And if you want to know about anchors you should know they are the most unholy of all."
"What are they?" I asked.
"They are kind of magic that allows a spirit to manifest in the physical world at will." He explained. "To make one the creator must sacrifice another spirit."
"How is that any worse than what the Viator are doing here?" I asked.
"The difference is vast." He said, sounding incensed. "The Viator are somewhat like parasites. They destroy and consume because that is their nature. The world would not be able to continue without decay. Otherwise, there would be no room for new life. They are not unlike the soil in the forest that is composed of decaying plant matter. They are the foundation for everything that will grow. The creator of an anchor is a very different sort of thing." He said, his eyes alight with passion.
"I never thought of it that way," I said, to placate him. Though I still did not understand how he could justify the pointless destruction of all those souls. Annabella flashed through my mind.
"The creator of an anchor does not consume for his own sustainment. In fact, he does not consume at all. The sacrifice does not die but enters into a state of eternal awareness. They can think, but cannot act." His eyes darkened with each word. "Have you heard enough yet?" He asked.
"Yes, I think so," I paused, trying to process what I had heard. Lord Morningstar wanted to make an anchor out of me so he could come to the physical world. The anger that had become my companion, bubbled up again. Where was the Guardian of the Gates in all this? My own mother was just going to leave my fate to this crazed Lord Morningstar?
Something caught the corner of my eye. I glanced quickly towards the way we had come. Then it happened again.
The demon crouched and hissed in my ear. "I think we have visitors. Follow me."
He led me deeper into the graveyard. Was this some kind of trap? We slinked past the headstones and came to a small marble mausoleum. It was crumbling with age.
"In here," he whispered. I followed him in.
The iron bars shut behind me as we walked inside.
Azrael was already running down a flight of stairs that cut down the middle of the Mausoleum. I chased after him, my heart pounding frantically. I could hear footsteps echoing after me. The hallways turned and shifted and became darker. He slowed after a while when there were no longer footsteps audible.
"Welcome to the catacombs." He said.
"Is that what this is?" I asked. We kept walking. A musty smell began to fill the air. It was the scent of mold and mildew covering damp stone. The longer we journeyed the older the rocks began to look. Then, interspersed between the bricks of the tunnel were bones. They were inlaid in the wall in patterns. It would have been beautiful if it
