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Ah. What was this? The slightest scent of Elya. In the direction of... Morgunov?

He sensed it now. She’d been attached to him. Not possessing or incarnating within him, of course. Koh would’ve sensed that right away, given his recent, very close proximity to the Mad Demon. But she was there, previously.

Hmm. It must have been a fleeting connection, then. To be so faint, even here and now, she must have abandoned him. Naturally. Much like Azai had done years earlier, Elya must have fled at the first sight of Koh.

Irritating. Where would she have gone? Surely, the sisters would not risk returning to their ancestral followers. That would cause a very noticeable stir, which would allow Koh to track them down much more easily.

No. Just like Makirë, they would probably seek a new shadow to hide within. But perhaps not someone as powerful as the Peacemaker, since they’d now borne witness to what had become of her. They would know that monolithic strength would not save them from him.

They would choose someone distant. Someone capable of assisting them in their flight from him, should they need it.

A few candidates were coming to mind. Ironically enough, he had his “travels” with Ettol to thank for that. He had a fairly good picture of the current structure of the modern mortal world now.

But it wouldn’t hurt to update it, either. After the storm they’d kicked up in the Luthic Ocean, the mortal world was again changing.

Lozaro seemed a likely target for refuge. A madman similar to Morgunov but more enamored with Chaos. In fact, he might now butt heads with Morgunov on that front.

And Lozaro was working under the Devil’s Knife. And Jercash was currently in Intar. A most ancient land, to be sure, with many places to hide.

Which was also where Avar could be found.

The Child of Fire was another oddity among his brethren. He was also quite attached to mortals, in his own way. And even if the process was much slower, he was one of the obnoxious few who required no assistance from his kin in order to reincarnate.

But his vessels retained much more influence over him, comparatively. Especially if, accompanied by a strong Will, they understood the parasitic nature of the Children. The danger of them. That was a recipe for great difficulty for Avar.

One that Koh had exploited many times in the past.

Should he try to do so again? Avar’s vessel this time was quite strong indeed. If their two souls merged fully, that would be no easy fight, even for him.

And the resultant devastation would likely be...

Hmm.