Stepping over to the circle of blood and all the weird, nasty, stuff within it… I wondered if this stuff actually worked or not.

Vim didn't seem to think so. But Celine and those like her did. So it was hard to tell.

All of the bodies had already been taken from the circle, and were currently being dealt with. Vim and the rest were burying them, and dealing with whatever it is they did to the survivors of the cult we captured.

I myself didn't care much for torture. I could do it, if I had to, but I didn't like the idea of it. It was one thing to kill someone in a battle, or for principle and stuff… but to hurt someone just to hurt them? Seemed like something only the humans did.

Though… they likely deserved any suffering they received.

I sighed as I stared at one part of the circle, where some organs still laid. Some kind of intestines and maybe a heart.

They had taken the bodies to bury, but we'd burn the rest once they were all done checking the building. I was never sure why some people thought hearts were important, and needed to be buried with the bodies, while other people didn't find such a thing important. I'd ask Vim later about that, he'd know more of it.

Still… what had that one cultist said? The one Vim had torn apart?

I glanced over to the corner of the building. Not far from the weird cross wrapped in chains was a dead man. A priest of the Epoch Cult. He looked… weird, and not just because he was dead and had been literally torn in half.

Had he skinned himself…? It sure looked like it. He looked like he had no skin, and was all muscle and stuff. It gave him a really… scary look. Maybe not so much in appearance, but purpose.

For a human to have endured such a thing as remove all their skin, and keep on acting normal afterward, either meant they were far stronger than they looked or just outright mad. Wouldn't that hurt? Like, a lot? Even a breeze, or the robes and clothes you wore, would hurt wouldn't it?

And why did they do it? Because supposedly their gods heard their pain?

Made no sense. Vim and I have met many monarchs. I don't think any of them, even the ones who spoke, ever cared at all about the suffering or plights of anything at all. Human, non-human, or even other monarchs.

Though maybe gods did hear such things? How was I to know? Monarchs although the servants of gods, were not servants themselves… so…

"Lilly, we'd like to burn this place now."

I turned to face the speaker. The broad shouldered man looked tired, the kind of tired that came from emotions and not physical stress.

"Okay," I said simply. There was no point in looking around any longer. This place, like all the other Epoch cultist circles I've seen, was the same. A place of blood and death. Of suffering and torment. And no gods to speak of. Neither theirs, or anyone else's.

Feflo nodded gently at me. He waited until I stepped over to him before he got out of the way and stepped out of the building. I noted the way he studied me as I walked past, and I wondered for a small moment if I'd be able to put up with him or not.

Although better than most of our kind, Feflo was a warrior with a backbone, he was still… well…

Like the rest.

He was sad. Upset. He looked like he was about to weep. And the oddest part was, like so many others in the Society, he wasn't just weeping for those who had been tortured and sacrificed by the Epoch Cultists… but for the cultists too.

He felt regret and shame for having to kill people. Even those who wished not just death upon our kind, but death in the cruelest way.

It made no sense to me. And was why I'd never be able to mate with him, not even just to have children.

What if my children ended up being so… weird? I'd not be able to bear it.

"We're going to set it alight now!" Feflo shouted, to let everyone else know. I glanced around, noticed the few who had gathered as to watch the burning of the Epoch Church, and looked for Vim.

Like me he didn't care to watch the fires burn the filth. I wasn't sure if it was because he didn't find any solace in it as others did, or if he simply had better things to focus on… but… Ah. There he was. Over by Celine's people.

I wasn't in the mood to talk to those gray robed idiots, who I figured were as much cultists as those were being set aflame.

But…

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Glancing around again, I wondered how many more of such scenes I'd see. This was the sixth Epoch Church I'd been involved with, and although they were seemingly becoming rarer and not as common… I felt as if there were more than ever. This location had been a whole village, almost. Nearly a hundred people, not including those they had captured and enslaved.

That was no small number. At all.

Honestly I wished they'd all be gone and dealt with already. I hated the idea of humans torturing our kind, in hopes of summoning some ancient god that may or may not exist… it made me want to hate the humans more than I already did.

But it wasn't just humans who did this, was it?

One of the priests had been one of us. A man who had horns on the side of his head. Some kind of ram or something. Vim had killed him rather quickly, as if disgusted by him. Couldn't fault him. The humans, as cruel and diabolical as they are, did what they did out of reverence to their faith. A god they believed in… what purpose did a non-human have believing in a god that supposedly demanded the torture and sacrifice of our kind? It was ridiculous…

Though… we had a few members who were supposedly members of the Epoch faith. I'd not met any of them yet, and honestly hoped I never did. I'll never understand how Vim treated them, and protected them, as properly as he did the rest of us…

"Lilly."

I blinked at my name being spoken. It had been hard to hear, over the roar of the fire. The church was fully ablaze now. I turned and had to look down… and found a young girl. One whose name I didn't know.

She had large ears on the top of her head or rather… they had been large. They were now about half a hand long, but it was obvious they had at one time been far bigger. The ears had scarred tips which no longer had hair or fur growing from them. The scars were long since healed, but it was obvious they had once been cut off or bitten off.

"What is it?" I asked the girl. I knew I shouldn't assume her age, since like Merit there were those who seemed to never grow past childhood, but I wasn't sure. Something in her eyes made me think she was just a girl, and not like Merit at all.

"I wanted to thank you. For helping," she said gently as she lifted something up to me. I hesitated a moment at the sight of a feather. One that wasn't like my own, but instead a huge white one. It was as big, if not bigger than most of mine, but had that white and gray look to it that you found on the creatures far north. Where they lived in pure snow, always.

"I…" I hesitated a moment, but knew better than to turn down the small girl's heartfelt gesture. Vim had once chastised me for doing such a thing, and I knew why he had done it. For some, this was their way of finding closure. Their way of feeling useful.

They couldn't fight themselves, or fix the problem themselves, so they offered payment to those who could. It allowed them to feel involved. To feel connected.

Reaching out, I took the feather from her with care and nodded. "Thank you… it's very pretty, you don't see such a white feather often," I said.

"Right? My brother hunted a huge hawk once. It's… all I have left of him," she said, proud to tell me so.

My heart sank at the knowledge. This was that important…!? Should I give it back to her then?

But I couldn't. The girl was smiling proudly up at me, and thanks to the burning church nearby I could see the gleam of tears in her eyes. This had meant a lot to her, and so too did the act of giving it to me.

Taking a deep breath, I nodded and went to tuck the feather away. Into my jacket, to keep it safe. "I'll treasure it, thank you."

"Mhm…!" She gave me a hearty nod, and as she did I noticed the way her scarred ears danced. The way they tried to flicker and move, yet weren't able to do so much at all, made my heart hurt even more. The poor girl was like so many of our kind… deformed, through no reason or act of their own.

She then turned and ran off, hurrying over to a large group nearby. I watched her for a moment, hoping to see her run to a mother or father… but instead found her simply rejoining the group without much fanfare. She went to standing with the others, as to watch the church finish burning.

"All she has left of him…" I whispered as I reached up to touch my jacket, where the feather was hidden away.

"Her name is Ro'so. She's the last of her line."

I turned and found Vim. I relaxed a little at the sight of him, and the fact he was alone. None of the robed jerks were nearby.

"Was she… here? Did we just save her?" I asked. I hadn't seen her amongst those pulled from those cages, but I had been occupied.

"No. But she and her family had been attacked by those here. She's one of the few survivors of the village," Vim explained.

Ah… right.

I sighed as I looked back to the burning church. It was making the air smoky, enough to bother me. "Why'd she thank me, Vim…? Why me and none of you?" I asked. Vim and Feflo hadn't been the only ones who had hunted with me. There had been nearly ten of us.

"You're a striking figure, Lilly. With your huge wings. And you the only woman amongst us," he said.

I frowned at that. "So… she chose to thank me with her special feather, just because I had been the only woman?" I asked.

"That and… well… I'm me, Lilly."

"You? You're the protector. If anyone should have been given the feather it should have been you," I said.

"That's just it. It's my job to do this. Expected of me."

My frown deepened. "All the more reason to thank you…?" I said.

He smirked gently at me. "It's my job to protect them, Lilly. To protect all of you," he said softly.

"You did…?" I said with a gesture to the burning church.

Vim's eyes hardened a little, and then they softened again… which made me realize what he meant. Or rather, what he really meant.

He spoke not of those here and now. Watching the fire burn away their enemies and fears… but instead those in the new grave site nearby.

Those graves are the ones he had failed. That we had all failed.

"No, Lilly," Vim whispered as one of the church's walls fell inward, causing a loud rush of fire and smoke to bellow out from it. No one was close enough to be bothered, but one of the groups watching it nearby shifted and murmured at it all the same. My own eyes had glanced at it, to make sure all was well, before looking back at Vim… and I found him staring at the fire too. Though unlike everyone else who was staring at it in relief… he was staring at it in shame. "No… I didn't."

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