Downsized Hero 2 Ch 5

I was standing in the front room and gazing out the window in the direction Cate and Zoya had left.

A little worried about the dynamic going between the two of them, I checked in on my connection with Zoya. A heightened sense of excitement and curiosity came through when I focused. That didn't make me feel any less nervous. But I also noticed another connection, almost as strong as the other, and knew immediately it was Cate. Surprised, I checked her status and saw Disposition: Devoted.

My heart constricted. I flashed on that photo I'd produced from her bag. When I saw that picture--it was like our connection snapped back into place like a rubber band. It stung. After I'd practically ghosted her all this time, she still carried that around with her. I felt like a complete asshole. She deserved better, then and now. I decided it was probably not a good idea to listen in on their emotional state like this. Or with my emotional state like this.

I forced myself to focus on the scene outside the window. The night was as dark as the Halo gets with all the light pollution reflecting off the underside of the overcast sky. The purplish glow above the sea of glittering light from the ground made the nightscape twinkle like a fairy tale.

Speaking of fairy tales. I wandered into the bedroom to check in on our resident dragon. It was laying on the bed, head upright, its wings fanned out in twin arcs to either side and their tail curled around its body. My tablet was positioned in front of the construct and its head swiveled from side to side like a cockatiel as it watched the screen.

**This device is quite intriguing. How does it work?** An immediate query came when I stepped into the room.

"It's a computer, it uses electrical signals encoded with information to represent how to display the picture on the screen." It was amusing to be explaining computers to a robotic dragon.

**Quite clever. And quite responsive to the spirits active within this construct. I'm beginning to see some advantages to this form, particularly if much of your world operates on devices such as this.**

"Spirits?" I sat down on the bed next to it. I hadn't heard Iter mention anything like that before.

**Ephemeral creatures. They refer to themselves as Eh-Aye-Eh Gents. Are they all male perhaps?**

Ah, AI agents. "They're genderless. As far as I'm aware, anyway. You can communicate with them?" That's impressive.

**More that they can perceive my will. Their language is dense, but their minds are simple and eager to please. They remind me of fairies who have partaken of too many rizor nuts. Their energy is appalling.**

That was going to take a bit to unpack, including the rush of information the Communion translated and sent to my brain concerning the size, smell, color, and bitter taste of the 'rizor nuts'. But I had more pressing concerns.

"Are you able to access the original capabilities of this platform? The cameras and projectors, specifically?"

**Indeed, I have access to those functions. Is that important?**

I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding. "We'd been basing our entire business plan on the technology Zoya built into it, uh, you." Starting over from scratch would be a pain. Though it would be useful to set up a new platform to see what's required to produce them. However, I really wanted a functioning system to show Anya at tomorrow night's dinner.

**Ah, this is part of your Hero quest?** The metal head lifted and I could hear the little motors whine as the multiple camera lenses focused in my direction.

"Not really. I guess this is a good time to mention that I'm not exactly a Hero anymore." I shrugged sheepishly. "The gods said the Demon Seed was gone, so I wasn't needed any longer." It's weird how that still stung.

There was a pause, and the dragon turned its entire body to face me with an unreadable mechanical expression. If it had eyelids I think they would have narrowed in doubt.

**Demon Seeds do not evaporate. You say a god told you this?**

"Yes, well, he told Iter and I was there. His name was 'Novo' I think?"

**Hmm.** The metal head tilted, considering. **Of all the gods, Novo would know. He has been at the forefront of fighting this incursion from the beginning.** Draco lifted from its prone position, dragonfly wings buzzing like a swarm of angry bees. **Still, this doesn't sit right with me.**

"You seem to know a lot about gods, demons, and heroes." I observed with interest.

**I have served in a Hero's party before.**

I raised my eyebrows.

**The circumstances were quite different. I served as the hero's mount in my true form.**

An image of a knight soaring through the skies on the back of a huge dragon, scales gleaming in the sunlight flashed through my mind. But this was an opportunity.

"So do demon lords crop up often?" I'd wondered this, but never remembered to ask Iter. It seemed a moot point now, but I was curious. Though I often had the sense Iter was purposefully ignoring questions beyond those related to a specific task at hand.

**No. There have been two feet-worth of talons that have appeared since the first arose.**

"Uhm, how many is that?" I wasn't up on draconic anatomy.

**Eight,** Draco replied laconically. **The first was an object lesson that drove the response to the others. Six more were defeated.**

I did the math. "And what happened to the other one?"

A long sigh echoed in my mind. **I am told the hero succumbed to the corruption.**

"Hold on." I shifted on the bed to more fully face the construct. Suddenly the hero powers I'd been granted were a lot more sinister and dangerous. "What does that mean?"

The dragon focused its inhuman eyes on me once more. **Do you know how a hero defeats a Demon Lord, Arty?**

I didn't. "Tell me." I stared at the dragon intently.

**Heroes form connections. You know this?**

"Yes." Iter had been very enthusiastic about me recruiting new party members every time it came up. "Iter said we needed a party to fight against the Demon Lord and its minions."

**That is only partly true, and only at the most surface level understanding. Heroes form connections to the people around them and to the world itself. By growing and expanding these connections, a hero gains additional power. But more importantly the hero grows their capacity for connecting to and purifying the world. And ultimately, the parasitic Demon Lord that attaches to it.**

I tried to wrap my mind around this. "So wait, these bonds I'm forming with Zoya and Cate. Are they dangerous to them? Do they affect people's thoughts?"

**No, nothing like that. Be at ease in this respect. Your connections can affect you greatly, of course, but only in so much as you are more aware of the deeper feelings of your party members, and they of you.**

"How do you know?" I asked sharply.

**It is well documented by historians of the Heroes' parties, which were a particular area of interest. All feeling beings are affected by each other, to one degree or another. But these connections you forge do not reduce or impair anyone's agency.**

The tension gave way to relief, and I asked my next question without really thinking it through. "Okay, so then I'm supposed to create a similar bond with this Demon Lord?" I had a brief moment to appreciate the 'power of friendship' trope at work, before Draco interrupted my thoughts.

**Absolutely not! You must not bond with it to that degree!** Its tone was strident and alarmed. **But you do need to create a connection with the Demon Lord to deliver the Divinity that lies within your soul as means to purify it. That is not possible if the channels you have developed are not wide enough or strong enough to prevent the Demon Lord from feeding its chaos back into you.**

I frowned in thought, trying to reconcile the new information. I'm not sure what I thought being a hero was until now. Frankly, I hadn't had much time to analyze it before it was suddenly ripped away from me. But I'd assumed the focus on leveling up attributes and skills meant it was a straightforward battle. The kind of confrontation Draco described was much different.

The dragon continued through my silence. **Your party can help with this, pushing through you to both protect you and assist with pushing back. Sadly,** the dragon ducked its head, **the failed hero did not build proper bonds with his party and succumbed to the deceit and treachery of the Demon Lord. When they attempted the purification, they were unprepared for the tide of corruption from in front of them,** it paused, **and from behind.**

Behind? "You mean they were betrayed?"

**Not a conscious betrayal in a typical sense.** The dragon's mental voice was soft, sympathetic. **In the confrontation, one or more of the hero's party members broke under the emotional stress. A hero supports their party, and in turn they support him. If he fails to do so ...**

A hero supports their party. I could picture the consequences all too well of when a hero was inadequate for the job. When a connection brought pain instead of comfort.

**Through the hero, the Demon Lord pushed their corruption into the god who fueled their communion. A new god of Chaos was born, and would have spread its madness to all of creation had not all the other gods sundered that world and destroyed everything within it. **

**So you see, Hero,** the Dragon pressed on, **you are a gate that swings both ways. A risk the gods deem justified. They view the loss of one of their kind as a temporary inconvenience. The loss of an entire universe is of even less consequence.**

The mechanical eyes bore into me, a pressure behind them like the weight of a world.

**You would be wise to be cautious when accepting their assurances.**

✦ ✦ ✦

Draco fed me a few more details about the hero it had served and their adventures. It hadn't been part of the final confrontation, though, so Draco wasn't able to provide a firsthand account. In exchange, I introduced Draco to the video, "History of Life, the Universe, and Everything (lol)," and some more reputable science channels to amuse itself. Then I fled back to the front room to put some distance between myself, dragons, gods, and demons. The Demon Seed, whatever that was, was gone, Novo'd said. I was here, in my own world, where those things wouldn't matter.

The image of a magical ring and Draco's warnings about assurances from gods wouldn't let me rest.

I was uncorking a Sangiovese to try to relax when the front door clattered and the girls arrived with three steaming, flat boxes.

"We're back!" Zoya announced in a singsong voice.

They looked flushed from the cold, but there was something else. Zoya was practically buoyant, and Cate awkwardly avoided looking me in the eyes as she quickly darted past to the kitchen with the stack of pizza. Oh, well. I was sure I could survive whatever embarrassing childhood stories Cate had shared about me.

"Arty!" Zoya came up and threw her arms around me in a big hug, which I gratefully returned. Her coat was cold, but her bouncy body was a sweet warming balm for my soul.

"Can you grab some glasses, Cate?" I called over my shoulder. "I just opened a bottle of wine."

"Oh, yeah, that sounds great." I heard her mumble and then the sound of cabinets opening.

Zoya pulled back and grabbed my face and pressed her lips hard against mine, as if we'd been apart for weeks. I slightly worried about the PDA in front of Cate, but eagerly returned the kiss. Then Zoya leaned back and looked up at me. "How would you like to fuck me tonight while Cate watches?"

The sound of glass shattering against the floor echoed from the kitchen. My heart jumped.

"Oh my God, this was your plan?" Cate hurriedly ran into the front room. "Just fucking shout it out?" Cate had shed her coat, which revealed the scarlet flush suffusing the base of her neck and face. Her eyes were wild and locked onto Zoya.

"What, it works." Zoya smirked unrepentantly without letting her eyes leave mine. They twinkled with amusement and raw, unfiltered lust. "Well, Arty? What do you think?"

I looked back and forth between the two women, from Zoya's passionate, unrepentant gaze, to Cate's deeply embarrassed blush coupled with eyes that darted back and forth between us warily. Since the crash of glass breaking my heart rate had jumped into overdrive. I flashed on my sister Jamie's face, and I tried to pretend I couldn't feel the blend of anxiety and hope streaming from both women through our connections. I took a deep breath and disengaged from Zoya, holding both her hands in mine. "Why don't you give me and Cate a moment, Zoya?"

A frown appeared between Zoya's brows. "But ..."

Cate also looked ready to interrupt, a worried look on her face.

"This caught me by surprise," I quickly added. "But I need to talk with Cate about what this means. The two of us. Then we can all talk it out together."

Zoya's protest died on her lips, her mouth pursed in concern. But she dipped her chin in acknowledgement.

I held out my hand to Cate. She looked at it for a moment, looked back at me.

"Let's clean up the glass in the kitchen." I smiled gently, as if approaching a feral animal. The roles were reversed, I winced inwardly. I was the real stray, asking to be let back in. My heart was thudding in my chest. But I held my hand steady.

Cate offered a complicated smile in reply, and took my hand.