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“I was once a jolly sell-sword for the Noxerians. What makes you think you’re safe here?”
“I would like to think that you did look upon me as friend.”
Soreth and I had never truly been what I’d have considered friends. He’d always carried an arrogance about him that clashed with my own. “Why are the mortal realm and the heavens not safe for a pure blood like yourself?”
“I have had a vision. One of a man who cracked the Omni.”
Farryn’s father, undoubtedly.
“I wish to speak with him as he is in grave danger. I believe he knows where to find the Met’Lazan.”
From what I’d read, the identity of the Met’Lazan remained a mystery, even to the angels. “Unfortunately, you’re too late. Fire demons came for him already.”
He let out a forced exhale that I took for disappointment. “That is unfortunate.”
“Take comfort in knowing he did not know the identity of the Met’Lazan. He spent a number of years studying the sigil, to no avail. My question is, what do you want with this Met’Lazan?”
“It is our duty to protect the human who possesses such power.” In spite of his cramped position, his voice held the fervor of urgency. “Do you know that the Omni grants full use of all the vitaeilem stored in Etheriusz? Do you have any idea how dangerous that would be if the individual sided with the Infernal? We would be powerless against attack.”
Suddenly, my reasoning for tracking down the Met’Lazan felt a bit selfish, butc’est la vie.
“Every angel and half-breed would be turned into slaves, or worse,” he prattled on. As if I gave a damn about any other angel, or half-breed. “It is our duty to protect the precious sigil.”
The only thing I cared about lay sleeping in her bed, and I’d fuck over every angel and demon in all five realms to keep her safe. “Something isn’t adding up. Why would the heavens hunt you for that?”
“The Met’Lazan is typically human. Only the higher power angels know the identity. Those of us in contact with humans are forbidden to know. They feel we would corrupt that power to our own gain. But I cannot help the visions. And I cannot subdue the fear of knowing our realm would be destroyed should any creature, other than the angels, get their hands on this human.”
All the more reason for me to find it first. Knowing Soreth, he’d probably squander the Omni for the good of the whole, or whatever pathetic mission the angels used to protect their power. “You said the Met’Lazan is a human soul. What else can you tell me?”
“Not much, I’m afraid. Just that they tend to be female. And that they are born in times when evil stands to threaten the realms.” He let out a groan, his leg twitching. “Perfect! I’ve a damn itch on my leg.”
“And you do not know who this Met’Lazan is?” I asked, ignoring his complaint.
“No. I only know that she was born in this time.” More twitching signaled that the itch had gotten worse. “For Heaven’s sake, can you please scratch my leg for me?”
“I’m afraid I forgot the key to your cell,” I answered in a dismissive tone. “You are certain that this female was born in our time?”
“I am an academic, Jericho. Reading scriptures and scrolls is my life, unlike some. It’s all I do, day in and out, for centuries at a time.”
“And there is only one Met’Lazan?”
“Some time ago, there were many. Perhaps a dozen, or more, who walked the mortal realm. Now, their numbers have dwindled. We do not know why, entirely. I have a theory that she resides here in Nightshade.”
My interest piqued at that. “How can you be sure?”
“In my vision, I saw a place. At the foot of Obsidian Mountain. The gates. The awful door knocker. The rooms there.”
Infernium. The place he described was the asylum.Where angels feared to tread.Meaning, if Soreth planned to seek out the Met’Lazan, he surely had no intentions of going there himself.
“Then, you didn’t just come here seeking asylum.”
“The place is believed to be haunted by the souls of Eradye.” The barren land of souls that my father had called home. The realm capable of seeping into other realms to feed off the poor souls there.
“That’s why you’re here. To recruit me.”
“You are half angel, and perhaps the only one capable of walking Eradye for any great length of time. In my pocket, I have a vial ofla’ruajhto help mask my vitaeilem for a short time. But it doesn’t keep my powers from depleting there. It would be a slow and miserable death if I were to get trapped. But you’ve walked Eradye before.
“Eradye depletes me, as well.” I had fought wars for the Knights of the Infernal Order, which had subjected me to that cold and barren world and the soulless creatures which inhabited it.
