Drained and sickened, Chiya surveyed the smoking remains of the two demons' furnishings and rubbed a forepaw across her eyes as if to blot out the sight. The caves smelled like fire and death, now, with the stench of burned flesh underlying both. At least it was done, and they could leave. This had to be what had brought her here, halfway across the world, this cleansing.

Ketvia was still nosing around, careless of whether she sifted through timber, supplies, or bodies. More than just the two demons the woman Sable had warned them of had lived here, more was going on than the simple imprisoning and continual rape and impregnation of one victim. There had been seven other such women, four in various stages of pregnancy, one half-dead from a recent application of whatever force kept them here, and two desperate for freedom and terrified of what they knew was to come. They threw themselves to their death on Ketvia's claws and Chiya's magic, and the joyful expressions on their faces made Chiya shudder to remember. She'd never killed a human before.

That was only half of the horror, though. Beyond the rooms of the prisoners lay a room with a pen and shelves with a group of what Chiya could hardly call children. From infants to toddlers, they didn't look human, or even like anything Chiya recognized. The repugnant sense about them, the stench, their bared teeth and murderous eyes, betrayed what the demons were doing here: breeding half-demon children. For what purpose, Chiya could not so much as guess, and Ketvia had killed them all rather than stare at the hideousness longer than she had to while Chiya stood transfixed by it.

In the deepest rooms of the small underground system the dragons found the co genitors of the warped place, one demon-formed and massive, the other human-formed and covered in blood. Chiya's light seared them to distract and disorient the dark-adjusted creatures, giving time for Ketvia's flaming claws and flashing teeth to make short work of them, leaving the room on fire and leaving the tall dragoness satisfied that she had rid the world of two more evils.

That should have been all, but Chiya still felt unsettled, sitting among the ruins of what had once been a beautiful bedchamber. Something was unfinished, something was still wrong here, but Chiya had no idea what it was, and that frightened her.

Chiya's sense of incompletion seemed to have infected Ketvia, as well, for the Fire dragon still roamed the knot of chambers, growling under her breath and rooting around in every nook and cupboard she could find. There was something here she didn't understand yet, something they still needed to do. She wasn't thick enough to miss that this had been one more episode of the gods making their will known on Avengaea, as such things were hardly uncommon, and she certainly knew that they would not be freed of this incident until they had done all they were supposed to do. Though she was not normally a religious dragon, she knew better than to deny the gods what they wanted. It tended to be rather uncomfortable if one did.

Finally, pacing irritably back into the room where Chiya still sat, lovely coat sooty and somehow blood-streaked, among the wreckage, Ketvia saw it. The bedchamber had a second door, tucked away in the back and half-hidden by the smoking tatters of the demoness' bed. Ketvia grinned a feral grin and approached it, tossing the mattress and frame aside, and hauled open the door. A dim tunnel greeted her eyes, and she looked over her shoulder at Chiya, who had risen and followed her this far.

"I think this is what's left to do," Ketvia commented, and the Light dragoness nodded slowly. Ketvia led the way down the tunnel, her eyes swiftly adjusting to the murky darkness, and found a heavy door at the end of it. It was slightly ajar, and there was the thick smell of fear and demon coming from inside. Still with her fangs bared in a grin, Ketvia slammed the door open, and was plunged into blackness.

For a moment, the dragons were stunned, blinking at the sudden absence of any light at all. Ketvia growled and lashed her head from side to side, as if that would restore her sight, but Chiya's paw on her wing bade her be still. Puzzled, blood up and ready for a fight, Ketvia held her tongue and her fury in check.

Chiya stepped forward and said, voice gentle, "We know you're in here. We're not here to hurt you. It's all right." Her words were answered with silence, and Ketvia was sure her friend had lost her mind, to be talking to the darkness like that. Chiya spoke again: "Take back your spell, please. We can't see you." A pause. "If you don't, I'll take it back for you." Again, silence, and Ketvia snorted.

"If it's a spell," she grumbled, "then break it already!"

"I am," Chiya answered calmly, and suddenly the darkness was pierced by a blinding light. For a moment it was small, a pinpoint in a cavern of emptiness, but slowly the shadows grew more defined as the dragon-magic expanded, revealing not a vast chamber but a very small room, and a cluster of shifting darkness in one corner that reeked of fear and blood and demon. Ketvia tensed, ready to surge towards it and tear it apart, but again Chiya stopped her.

Frustrated now, Ketvia bared her teeth at her friend. "Can't you smell it? It's rotten, just like everything else here!"

"No," Chiya said, though her voice shook. "He's afraid, and he can't understand us. Stay here, and please try not to look so frightening."

A little offended, Ketvia dropped onto her haunches and huffed, breath steaming in the chilly space. Chiya crept forward, shrinking down into the shape of a petite human woman with shining hair and skin, who held out her hands to the patch of shadows. There was a long silence and stillness that felt full of words not spoken, and Ketvia watched with wondering impatience as shadows slowly thinned and faded, revealing a bloody, pale body, naked but for matted, dirty black hair that covered bony shoulders and brushed protruding ribs, curled up as small as possible in the corner of the miserable little space. Ketvia felt her lip curl into a snarl as she sensed the magic in him, even as some other part of her insisted that this terrified boy couldn't possibly be evil. Looking at the compassionate concentration on Chiya's face, Ketvia knew which part of her companion had won out.

For long, dragging moments, nothing moved or made a sound. Then, hesitantly, the creature's arms shifted so that his eyes, a frighteningly dead black, could fix on Chiya. She nodded carefully, reassuringly, and the bloody arms lowered a trifle more, as if the creature were lowering its guard that much more, as well. Chiya murmured something which he obviously didn't understand-- Ketvia even couldn't, she was too far away to hear it clearly-- but he understood the tone. He twitched, looking disturbingly like a marionette puppet whose master didn't know how to control it, and his face twisted with some unreadable emotion. Chiya held out her hands again and with a sob, he dove into the Light dragon's welcoming arms, wailing in the horrible, twisted sounds of demon-speech.

When Chiya turned imploring, pale green eyes on her, still holding the sobbing thing, Ketvia knew exactly what she wanted. "Chiya, you can't possible want to take him with us," she protested. "He's-- I mean, look at him, he's--"

"He's half demon," Chiya said sadly. "And he's been horribly abused... his mind is... I can't even describe it. We can't leave him here, Ketvia. We just can't. He'll die."

"But--"

"Please, Ketvia... please. Even if we just find somewhere where they can take care of him, teach him how to live, maybe even heal him some...."

"But--"

"Please...."

Ketvia sighed. She never could say no to that girl.