Author’s Note: This is a cute idea since Jeron has only read two books in his life: Sion’Dri’s Code (a religious text) and a pulp vampire novel left by his mother who used to read all kinds of tales to him when he was a child. Every other book she owned was destroyed by his father after her passing. Sylus was a casual writer and would likely have been Dalafaem, mortal with void magic, had Qaitax not intervened. I think they’d both like this idea. Time to see how it pans out…

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I laid in bed staring up at the blank white ceiling. Once upon a time a rainbow tapestry draped above, but as with everything she ever made or owned, it was destroyed along with her. All her light died when she did. My father made sure of that.

I was feeling particularly morose as my mind chose to force all those painful memories forward.

With a single thought, I could summon Sylus to my side, but he was always there. Always helping me cope with her loss twenty years after the fact. It wore me down so I could only imagine how much it must have exhausted him.

I turned my head on my pillow to look at the simple desk beside me. On it sat three plushies (a rainbow crochet cat swaddled in a blue blanket, a happy little purple squid, and a grinning brown bat) and a book.

Clad in a cover marked as Sion’Dri’s Code was “_”, the only book of hers I was able to save from my father’s rampage. I’d read it a thousand times. Could practically retell it word for word from heart.

I heard Sylus shuffling around in the kitchen down stairs. Reheating a ham, most likely. I closed my eyes and debated whether I should put the effort in to joining him or not.

I hated this feeling more than anything. I’d rather get torn up in a fight than lay here trapped in a spiral to the past. Sylus could at least heal my wounds. He couldn’t fix the crack in my heart, though he did manage to fill most of the emptiness just by existing.

Still she haunted me. Those white, empty eyes… The way her head…

My bedroom door swung open just as the worst memory of my life began to fully surface. “Makin’ a ham.” He always knew when I needed him most. “I saw leftover carbonara from last night. Want me to heat it back up?”

“Hey, Sy.” I croaked.

“Hey, Jer. You want that carbonara or?”

I forced a smile through dried tears. “Yeah but I can’t even get myself out of bed.”

He stepped into the room and lifted me effortlessly into his arms. The fire of his core kept him perpetually warm. I snuggled up against him as he carried me downstairs.

He placed me in a booth that was already filled with blankets. He wrapped me up to keep me warm against the chill of the Void coming in through the broken window. We’d fix it someday.

He kissed me on the top of my head before returning to the kitchen.

The brisk briny air was oddly refreshing. Even the sharp tang of the Mist was welcome compared to the stagnancy of my bedroom.

I looked out the window to the destroyed town around us. Ruins of homes scattered about. Some foundations remained, some shrapnel of walls, but not much else. It was like a bomb had gone off and wiped my beloved Orzuna off the map.

“Here we are.” Sylus murmured as he placed a plate of piping hot carbonara in front of me.

He slid into the booth across from me as his tentacles lowered a reheated ham onto the table.

“Eat.” He mumbled. “I find it helps with bouts of melancholy.” He picked up a carving knife and fork and got to work on his own meal. A meal he could have easily just bolted down, but instead he took the time to do it like anyone else.

I sighed as I slid an arm out from under my blankets. He was probably right, but eating took a level of effort I wasn’t even sure I had. I lifted the fork as if it weighed a thousand tons.

“You know,” He mumbled through a mouthful of food, “I’ve been thinking.”

I cleared my throat. “A-about?”

“Getting back into things I used to do as a mortal human.”

“Like?”

“So,” he swallowed and placed his utensils down on his plate, “I had an idea and this might be silly, but I used to read a lot to escape, well, life. When I could, of course, but I believe you understand that sentiment.”

I tilted my head to the side. “I only have the one book, Sy.”

“Yes, well.” He cleared his throat as he reached into his pocket of the Void: The Darkspace. “I found this.” He twisted his torso as he stuck his other hand through the tiny rift in reality. “Qaitax stop. I told you I’d remove it so let me!” He grunted before finally pulling a tattered box overflowing with books. “Thank you.” He sighed. “I found this. Or, rather, more specifically, Daniel found it outside his school library. I guess they were rotating stock? I don’t know how that works. ANYWAY! I dug through it and found several books with dupes!”

“A-and?”

“Well, maybe, if you’re interested, we could, I don’t know, read them together?”

I cocked a brow.

“Like the same book at the same time?”

“So… our little book club?”

He nodded with a grin.

“Just you and me?”

“And this massive box of books!” He groaned as he put it on the floor beside the table. “Plenty to choose from!”

A genuine smile finally crossed my lips. “Were you reading my mind?”

“Not at all. You know we don’t do that. I just made a bit of an educated guess as to what you might enjoy. Something I believe any partner should be able to do.”

My smile grew as I slid my hand across the table and caressed his massive fingers.

“Thank you, Sy.” I sighed. “Thank you.”

“So? Book club?”

“Yes. Book club.”

“Your choice and if there isn’t a dupe I’ll find one.”

After spending all day laying around feeling nothing, I finally found my appetite.

“I’ll go through them after dinner.”

Sylus nodded firmly before returning to his ham.

The fork in my hand no longer felt unwieldy.