Page 62

The caravans had barely left the sights of the town when the rain finally caught up to the merchants in spite of their haste. But of course, one could never outrun the force of nature, so no one uttered their dissatisfactions and complaints. The rain arrived with thunder and gale as its banners as the clouds darkened. The weather turned bleak in mere moments. However, these merchants were accustomed to travelling, and they had faced a vast array of obstacles and challenges. They had learned to be well prepared for almost every situation. A simple rain or storm would not be able to hinder their advance nor would it easily dither their spirits.

To counter the difficulties brought upon by the rain, Mages of the relevant field were employed for such situations. Protection spells to resist against the harsh weather were cast onto the caravans and the horses. The Tuskrogs were left as they are without the protection spells for they were born to withstand the harshness of nature. Their skin was even impervious to the claws of Serks, Rot-rats, Dire Wolves, and many other predatory beasts that lurked among these woods.

Under the immense wrath of such a storm, the pace of the caravans were only slightly lessened. Even the unpaved roads in their path, further ruined by the rain, were no different than pebbles by the roadside in face of the merchants' preparations.

“There we go, we are now safe from the weather,” Iris said with a complacent smile. Their conversation was brought to a halt when the rain caught up to the caravans. Erin and Lyra had expressed their concerns and Celia curled herself up in Lyra’s lap. The little girl’s antic reminded Erin of a cat but the Fox-kin kept her thoughts to herself.

Lyra brought up her worries of the dangers a storm posed to travels. Iris assured them of the storm’s irrelevance to their safety and explained to the two of their methods in weathering through the storm. “Now, where were we?” Iris said after she finished her brief explanation.

“Remnants of the Zarkoth,” Joshua reminded her.

“Ah yes, Aedan’s stalkers, and that’s to put it lightly.” Iris tittered. “But first, you two are aware of the Demon Lord known as Zarkoth, no?”

“Aedan has told us about him, vaguely,” Erin answered. “Heroes have tried and failed to subjugate this Demon Lord. Even one of them was seduced to its side. But in the end, the Demon Lord fell to the heroes' persistence nonetheless.”

“And you don’t doubt Aedan’s words?” Iris questioned.

“I don’t believe he lied but I’m convinced he did not reveal the whole truth.”

Iris recoiled with adulation. “How curious. You’re truly not as dim as you look, Lady Erin. I guess my first impression of you has been remiss.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” It was Lyra who took offense to the Umbrum’s indistinct words.

“I meant no disrespect, Miss Lyra. I’m merely speaking from experience. A pretty face is often a compensation for one’s lack of wits. I guess people have only so much time to choose either to refine their appearance or knowledge.”

Iris’ response didn’t stave off Lyra’s glare.

“Anyways, I’m going off the topic again.” Iris cleared her throat. “Before I go further, how much do you know about demons?”

Erin held her answer back. She turned to Lyra, gesturing with her gaze.

Lyra nodded in understanding and stood from her seat, with Celia in her arms.

“Where are we going?” Celia asked with blinking eyes.

Lyra smiled. “We’ll play in the corner there. Erin has something important to talk to this witch here.”

Erin stifled a laugh. Joshua let out a blatant soft giggle beside Iris but the person-in-question took no offense.

Celia canted her head. “We can’t stay and listen?”

“You don’t want to play with me?” Lyra asked as she drooped her shoulders.

Celia shook her head. “I want to play with you, Lara,” she said brightly.

Lyra responded with a chuckle and took Celia to the far corner of the room, far enough to not let any of their words pour into Celia’s ears.

“How envious. When I was her age, my father would actually force me to stay and listen to these tedious talks,” Iris said with a dramatic sigh and expression.

“Not interested in your sob past. Just get to the point,” Erin retorted.

Iris put on a downcast expression. “So cold… even after the heated entanglement we—”

“One more deviation from our topic and I’ll fling this cup tea at your unbearable face.”

“Oh my, I thought we were warm, after that fated intimate night together.”

Erin was picking her cup and her glare piercing the Umbrum.

Iris froze for a moment before plastering a smile onto her face again. “Alright alright, I yield.” She threw her hands up.

Joshua sighed. “Why do you always have to do this?”

“Just breaking the ice, Josh. No harm intended.”

“Get on with it,” Erin said with her fingers tightened around the ear of her cup.

“Where was I? Oh right, Demons, what do you know about them?”

“Only from tales of unreliable narrators and books of unknown authors. So, not much.”

“Would you do the honors, Josh?” Iris said to Joshua. “I believe this part is more of your trait than it is mine.”

The affable smile on Joshua twitched but nevertheless, he nodded. “Very well, Lady Iris.” Joshua turned to Erin. “In short, Demons are essentially beings corrupted by a potent energy originating from a place known as the Nether Realm or simply, Hell by the common folks.”

“Hell?” Erin mused. “You mean the place where all the wicked souls go? It’s real?”

“It is only the speculation of scholars. We only know that this corrupting energy comes from some place, we don't exactly know that place is. We have even yet to know how this corruption spreads into our world. The most popular belief among the scholars is that there are tears in the world, and these tears lead to the Nether realm, or Hell. These tears are not big enough to accommodate a being but it is enough for their foul air to flow through. Thus, corrupting any beings who are unfortunate enough to stumble upon these tears.”

“So you’re saying all Demons are beings of this world but corrupted by Hell magic?”

“Once again, only speculation but yes, that's what we believe. Although, there might be Demons that are born of much more, shall we say, natural phenomenon.”

“Demons breed?”

“That is not the case. Demons are of neither genders. They do not possess the necessary parts to reproduce the way most creatures do. And Demons can't turn people or creatures into Demons, except for one particular Demon.”

Erin had already guessed which Demon Joshua was referring to.

“There’s only one kind of Demon who could corrupt beings into a Demon, that is the Demon Lord. That is what Demons and a Demon Lord are.”

“And how does a Demon Lord turn someone or something into a Demon?”

Joshua smiled ruefully. “Unfortunately, there’s no recorded text or eye-witnesses to the exact process. All we know is that the Demon Lord had the power to corrupt beings to do its bidding.”

“...Interesting as it is,” Erin said after a moment of thinking. “You have yet to tell me one important point.”

“Pray tell, Lady Erin,” Joshua adjured respectfully.

“Do Demons still walk the world? I can’t find any answers for this in all of the texts I have read and the people I have spoken to.”

“Yes, undoubtedly so,” came the firm answer from Joshua. “They still exist but just not on this continent. There is an isolated continent in the southwest, completely detached from the rest of the world, where no man, Fae, or Beast-kin dared to tread upon. The Demon Continent as the people have taken the liberty to call it as such. The Demon Continent is a wasteland as far as we can tell and the only beings present there are Demons, hence the name.”

“A continent solely for the Demons themselves?” Erin questioned. “That sounds dangerous and no Demons have ever wandered out of the continent, by chance or by intention?”

“There are but the churches made sure none of the Demons trod too close to our boundaries. Especially the Ruvans, the churches have set up frontiers and outposts around the sea of the Demon Continent. They have been responsible for the absence of Demons in the rest of the world.”

"Why not just culled of every last one of those Demons?"

Iris laughed. "Believe me, they tried but it's not easy. The air itself in the Demon Continent is toxic. Your skin would rot the moment you get even remotely close to that place."

“And going by how I read none of this in books, this is not common knowledge, I presume?”

“Plenty of reasons for this knowledge to remain a secret to the public," Joshua answered. "This knowledge would only induce needless panic into the hearts of the masses and there will be many opportunists that would exploit this piece of knowledge to serve their own ambitions.”

“So why not just tell the masses that Demons are no more? Instead of leaving it as an obscurity?”

“Because sometimes, ambiguity is more believable than an established narrative, dear Erin,” Iris explained. “This is one of those times. Same as those moments when a plan proceeded too accordingly without even the slightest bump in the path, you know something’s wrong, won't you say?”

“I suppose so,” Erin said. “So, about the remnants of Zarkoth, what are they and why are they hunting Aedan?”

“Zarkoth wasn’t an ordinary Demon, he is an amalgamation of six high level Demons and one vessel of an even higher level to host these six Demons as one single being.”

Erin blinked at the revelation. Since it was Joshua telling her all this, Erin didn’t think he was jesting. But she was still having trouble believing it. It sounded completely like an epic tale from the songs sung by minstrels.

“Are you not following, Lady Erin?” Joshua asked.

“I am following but it’s hard to believe all that.”

“That is understandable,” Joshua said. “I was in your position when I learned of the same thing. So take your time, Lady Erin. Right now, we have nothing but time.”

A thunder clapped right then and a shrill escaped Celia’s lips. Erin jumped a bit from her heightened hearing ability.

“Are you alright, Lady Erin?” Lady Iris asked, hiding a laugh behind her hand.

“I’m fine. Thanks for asking,” Erin retorted. “About the vessel, just exactly what is it? A suit of armor? A corpse?” She quickly reeled the subject back on track.

“A carcass of a high level beast,” Joshua revealed. “To be precise, it was a carcass of a level ninety-six Raskhar, if my memory did not fail me.”

“A Raskhar?”

“You’re not familiar?”

Erin shook her head.

“Imagine a tall and slender man with decaying flesh,” Iris said. “Its arms are thin and long, and so is their claws. A deer skull with overgrown antlers for a head. And also a pair of bat-like wings on the back. That's a Raskhar. Fortunately, they're quite reserved and stay deep in the depths of forests with high Mana density.”

“What the hell? Isn’t that just a personification of someone’s nightmare?”

Iris chuckled. “What a wonderful reaction,” she remarked.

Erin mollified her imagination and banished the image from her mind. “Continue please,” she said.

“When Zarkoth was slain, he didn’t exactly die, not that it could ever die like a human, a Fae, or a Beast-kin could. And Zarkoth wasn’t slain in the traditional sense that you might have thought. Merely the vessel was destroyed by the hero. With the vessel gone, the remnants scattered.”

“And why didn’t the heroes destroy those remnants too?”

Joshua gave a regretful look. “No one knew what the Demon Lord was at that time. This information we have told you, it was only uncovered years after the Demon Lord’s apparent demise.”

“And Aedan? How is he involved in this? The heroes killed the Demon Lord, well, kind of. The remnants aren’t seeking revenge, they couldn’t be. Aedan was not even alive when Zarkoth was… slain, wasn’t he?”

“You are correct in that matter, Lady Erin. As to why—”

Iris’ titter interrupted Joshua’s sentences. Her titter contained more hints of amusement than before. “If Aedan told you about Zarkoth. He would tell you about the heroes. The clues are there, Lady Erin, but I can understand that it might not be enough for you to figure it out.”

“I’m here to listen, as far as I’m aware, not to play riddles, Lady Iris.”

“Well, you’re no fun at all.” Iris sighed ostentatiously. “Here’s the last clue, the glaring piece of the puzzle. What do you think happened after the second summoned hero betrayed and killed Aedan?”

“Lady Iris, we should just tell—”

“No no no, let her figure it out. It’s more fun this way.”

As much Erin hated Iris’ frolic caprice, Erin felt like her pride was at stake if she just sat here getting spoon fed with every last bit of knowledge. What’s more, she had an inkling that the answer was real close. It was right in her face and she needed only to know where to look.

“Why would the remnants of Zarkoth be pursuing Aedan? He wasn’t the one who slain Zarkoth, he helped but if it was revenge, they wouldn’t be looking for Aedan. They would be looking for the heroes, or at least their descendants. And there’s the thing Iris said, what happened after the second hero killed Aedan? Does she mean what has the second hero done with Aedan’s corpse— wait, corpse… Aedan’s corpse... A Dragon’s corpse…”

“She has figured it out,” Iris said, with her chin resting on her palm.

“The remnants intend to use Aedan as their vessel,” Erin breathed in horror at that realization.

Iris smiled and clapped lightly. “Correct. The second hero killed him and intends to offer his corpse to Zarkoth as a tribute, as a vessel. With a Dragon as its vessel, the Demon Lord would become stronger than it already was, probably the strongest in the world."

Erin frowned. "Just how high is Aedan's level?"

"Only he knows but I'm willing to wager it's definitely more than eighty."

"Why eighty?"

"Because the lowest level remnant was level eighty."

"Ah..."

"Now, back to the story. Fortunately for the world, the traitorous second hero wasn’t learned about Dragons.”

Erin canted her head. “Wasn't learned about Dragons?”

“You see, when a Dragon dies, their corpse disappears along with their soul, unless the Dragon gives away a part of itself willingly. Like a tooth, a nail, or a scale, that sort of thing, only then will it remain indefinitely. The remnants realized they need Aedan alive to use him as a vessel.”

“Wouldn’t he also just disappear altogether if he became a vessel?”

“That’s a possibility but it doesn’t change the fact that the remnants want Aedan as their vessel.”

“And where are these remnants now?”

“Back in the Demon Continent. Dormant,” Iris muttered. “After Aedan found out the Remnants’ plan for his body, he went into a seclusion and sealed off most of his powers.”

“And the remnants just gave up and went dormant?”

Iris shrugged. “This was something we are also not in the know of but… we have a guess. When the six Demons combined into one being, they lost all traces of their former consciousness and characters, they became a new entity known as Zarkoth. When the vessel was destroyed, they reverted back to their separate individuals, six Demons, but their former selves were merely a shadow then. They most likely only have a sole aim in their mind now, and that is to become whole once again. Perhaps Aedan was the only vessel they found worthy and when they couldn’t sense his presence, they lost all hope and sense of purpose to continue exist, I guess?”

“Who else knows about this?”

“A few distant acquaintances. The Ruvan Pontiff is one of them.”

Knowing Iris’ reputation, Erin wasn’t too surprised when she heard that. “And none of them took any drastic measures to ensure the remnants wouldn’t get their vessel?” Erin said, stringing out her words slowly, making sure her undertone was understood.

Iris only smiled in return. “Oh, trust me, that thought has definitely crossed their minds but there’s one problem standing between them and that thought, me.”

Erin raised an eyebrow.

“I know you see me as a fickle woman but my feelings for Aedan, they are real. I will not let them do as they wish.”

“You love him,” Erin eyed the flushed Umbrum.

“I do,” Iris answered. “But the same couldn’t be said for him. He doesn’t seem to have much interest in commitments, something that I can understand why.”

Erin fell silent. She had no words to give. She was a novice herself in the matters of love and she was just given a huge glimpse into the world and Aedan’s history. She looked over to Lyra, who was equally dazed by the revelation but still doing her best to play with Celia. Erin imagined Lyra in Aedan’s place; her blood boiled at the mere thought of someone trying to assassinate Lyra, even if the reason was something akin to save the world. “So this is love, huh...”

“It’s a lot to take in, I know, but you do understand your position now, don’t you? You are an associate of a potential vessel of a Demon Lord. The moment your acquaintance with Aedan becomes inevitably known to the powerful figures— well, you get the idea. That’s why you have to know. Especially when we arrive at Maven’s Creek, prepare yourself for the incessant opportunists. Troubles await.”

“In other words, I’m a fucking huge red target. Great, just great. And there’s also the apostles I have to watch out for… God fucking damn it...”

“Of course, I will do my best in curbing the spread of that information. All I ask in exchange is your—”

Before Iris could finish her sentence, a horn sounded loudly on the outside. At the same time, a message appeared in Erin’s mind

[Sixth Sense activated. Imminent Threat detected.]

“Wow… awesome...”