Into the Light (Axe Druid Book 1)

by Christopher Johns

  She was in front of me almost instantly with her hand on my chest. My feet moved and slid, but she didn’t budge. “You may go in and observe, but if you interrupt or go into the circle, his life will be forfeit. Swear to me that you will not intervene, and I will not stop you.”

  I looked down at her and scowled. “You swear?” She nodded.

  “Then I give my word that so long as he is safe and I think he can handle it, I will not intervene.”

  “Witnessed,” Thogan said from behind me.

  “I will allow you then. Please, be quiet, though.” Maebe turned and led us into the room.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  This room was larger, about forty-five feet squared with a raised floor in the center where a circle and pentagram you would see as the go-to symbol for a lot of occult worship on it. In the center of the circle stood my friend. His old cloak was hanging off to our right on a rack; he wore red shirt and some black breeches. His hands were out from his sides a bit, palms forward and slightly raised, as if to encourage someone to come at him. His breathing was quick but steady.

  “What is he doing?” I whispered to the Fae queen.

  “He is communing with the Demon. When it is ready to be seen, it will show itself. Quiet.” She nodded to the raised floor, and I realized that it was a circle within another, larger circle.

  “I consent to the terms of our agreement to negotiate. Show yourself,” Yohsuke ordered and looked up, dropping his arms.

  “So be it,” an ethereal, cultured voice replied.

  The air rippled in front of the Grey Elf in the circle, and there stood an honest-to-goodness Demon. He stood an easy ten feet tall, not including the scaly, curved horns that jutted out of his forehead coming to a pointed tip a foot above him. His face was stunning: eyes with glowing red irises, a masculine nose above blackened, pouty lips that let a little bit of fang peek through. His jawline and cheekbone would have made a male model jealous and most women weep with joy. His body was slim and athletically muscled, but I got the feeling that was a lie. Most beings like him had some serious supernatural strength going on; I had read it in dozens of books and seen it in all kinds of movies and shows. Just because he looked like a beefier track runner didn’t mean he couldn’t hand out some serious whoopin’s.

  His tail whipped back and forth behind him like a cat about to pounce on a mouse. At the end of it, no it wasn’t a little cartoon devil tip, it was as sharp as a javelin and pulsed a sickly green light. He stretched his wings to the edges of the barrier and yawned dramatically.

  “You called me forth for this one, Maebe?” it posed the question as it took notice of us. “You could have used my skills for anything and you chose a broken mortal?”

  “Who you calling broken, fuckface?” Yohsuke spat. “Your negotiations are with me now, not some imaginary conversation piece to try and break my focus.”

  “Oh my, this one has bite!” It clapped and smiled at the tiny man before him. “Tell me, little one, what is it you desire?”

  “I want the power to take out the Generals of War,” he said calmly but forcefully.

  “I don’t know who that is, but oh well, I will play along.” He actually took a knee so that he could stare the Grey Elf fully in the face. “And what is it that you believe you could provide me, mortal, that I would part with any of my strength for your cause?”

  “Information and safety.”

  “Oh, information I can work with. Let’s start with that. What can you tell me that I don’t already know and that you think I might care about?”

  “Someone is leaking information on how to summon Demons,” he said simply.

  “This is not new information, Broken One. Demons put forth that information often. It’s a way for us to play on the Prime realm and prey on idiots who don’t follow instructions well. A broken circle? My kind gets a new soul to play with. A miscanted word? You could very well end up a toad or some other nature of undesirable thing.”

  “They’re giving the real deal to Goblins and probably other lesser beings.” Yoh crossed his arms and smiled as fury crossed the Demon’s face.

  “Lies,” it spat venomously. “No Demon would allow himself to be summoned by a filthy Goblin willingly.”

  “I’m in the Fae realm dude. Can’t lie.” He smirked. “And I think I know who might be doing it and why.”

  “Tell me who,” the Demon demanded. His wings flared out, and I could smell sulfur from where I stood.

  “Put your damn dick away,” my friend commanded flippantly. “You know that’s not how this works. Tit for tat.”

  “Fine, what will you protect me from, if you need power so badly?” The red being looked at him contemptuously.

  “Two things: the being who is leaking the spells and summonings to lesser beings,” Yoh explained, “and me and my friends.”

  “What makes you think I would ever fear you and your pathetic friends?” The Demon actually laughed at him.

  “Because when we come to the infernal plane to take care of the motherfucker sending that shit topside, we’re coming for them and anyone in our way.” He growled and came dangerously close to the edge of his protective diagram.

  I bit back the urge to shout a warning and brought Storm Caller out at the ready just in case.

  “And when I say anyone, I mean ANYONE, including the slimeball who kept me from them. That looks like you if you don’t give me what I want.”

  The Demon inched close to the barrier where my friend’s face was, not an inch away and laughed. Just laughed. Yohsuke started to laugh, too. It was genuine. Then his right hand shot forward, breaking the barrier, and caught the Demon by its face. A bright, golden light flashed, and the Demon recoiled as if in pain. Yoh kept laughing.

  “OATHBREAKER!” it hissed at him. “I will devour your soul and torture you for eternity!”

  I started to rush forward, but Mae and Thogan grabbed me. I looked to Maebe, and she put a finger before her lips in the universal sign for quiet.

  “I broke no oath,” Yoh said calmly. “I agreed that no harm would come to me during our negotiations. You were the arrogant puto who thought he wouldn’t be harmed and didn’t feel the need to say so before the terms were deemed worthy. And if you thought that was bad? There’s plenty more where that came from because I’m going to be so much stronger when we come knocking down your fucking door. Either help me or hide because I will get what I want.”

  The look of outrage on the infernal being’s face quelled, and it started to smile. “Call your man off, Maebe, and let that one go. I am no threat to anyone in this room. At this time, no one will die. I so swear.”

  “Witnessed,” I growled.

  I stepped forward to the edge of the raised floor, to the side closest to the Demon and across from my friend. I nodded to him, and he nodded back.

  “I will give you the power I can on condition that you provide safe passage for me and two of my minions and the information you have on the traitor.”

  “You and both minions provided they aren’t helping the traitor in any way, shape, or form.”

  The Demon’s eyes narrowed, and it nodded in begrudging respect. “I can agree to that stipulation.”

  “Good, because here’s another.” Yoh smiled, and it looked dangerous. “You are to tell not a single being, soul, minion, Demon, or anything or anyone else about our mission or that we are coming. You are not to share with anyone or thing, directly or indirectly what you have learned and will learn should this deal be struck.”

  “I won’t tell anyone,” the Demon promised sweetly.

  “Oh no you don’t.” Yohsuke laughed. “That’s a stipulation in our agreement and contract. I’m not taking anyone’s damned word on that shit.”

  “I really am beginning to detest you, mortal.”

  “Deal with it.”

  “Did you want anything, little fox?” The Demon asked sweetly. “Maybe you and I could strike a deal? Hmm?”

  “He’s your man right t
here. I have a feeling my new friend would take umbrage to your trying to take me from her. Not to mention, I’d just give you the works the same way he did.”

  It looked to Maebe, and she smiled at him the same way she had her newly freed subjects—all feral and deadly.

  “I shall pass on you then.” It looked back to the Elf before it. “If that is all you want, then I suppose your soul would be too much to ask for? Not even an option? No? Fine. I agree to your terms.”

  “The deal is struck. Bring forth the contract.”

  The Demon stood up, and Yoh let him. He snapped his finger, and a piece of parchment appeared.

  “Blood to bring the words into being,” the Demon intoned as it pricked a finger and Yohsuke did the same. “Touch the page to form the contract, and say the Oath to form the Pact.”

  “I, Yohsuke, bind myself to this contract until its fulfillment or I die the final death. In exchange for the power to defeat War’s Generals, I will give this Demon information and safe passage for two of his minions—should they prove not to ally with the traitor—and they keep their silence of what he has learned this day. That he will keep his silence to all of what he will learn today as well as our coming to the Hells.”

  As my friend finished, so did the infernal being. The sheet of parchment glowed red and black a moment before words materialized. The Demon read it first to check for errors, then passed it to Yohsuke, who read it carefully.

  “Don’t you sneak shit about getting my soul, you bastard. That will cost you extra. Fix it and fork over more of your power because that wasn’t in the verbal agreement.”

  “Can’t blame me for trying, can you?” The Demon waved a wickedly clawed hand over it, and the soul bit left the page. He read it again and saw that it was good.

  “Scaling powers and more gained upon leveling up rather than a single transaction? That’s agreeable.”

  “Figured as much. Your thumb print in blood at the bottom seals the Pact. Mine is there already.”

  He pressed his thumb on the opposite side of the Demon’s, and the page doubled. “Your copy and mine should we need reminders. The item is soulbound so you can never lose or misplace it.”

  “Good,” Yoh said.

  “My payment?” Wings snapped shut and the Demon looked ready to pounce again.

  “Your traitor will be either the advisor to or an imposter of a General of the Infernal Nobility. Think of someone who, up until recently, may have been occupied in their vices or ‘work’ and has become more vocal to the community about spreading discord and chaos. More so than normal at least.”

  The Demon closed its eyes as if in thought and nodded before looking back at Yohsuke.

  “Hold still,” the Demon said.

  It leaned close to Yohsuke and whispered something even my sensitive ears couldn’t hear. Then lightning fast, struck a clawed hand into the Grey Elf’s chest and lifted him up. The ward around the outer circle flared to life and stopped me from getting inside. I started swinging my axe with wild abandon while the two beings outside it tried to stop me.

  “Power through pain was never not agreed upon, little mortal. You should have stated that!” it bellowed its laughter.

  The pulsing, green-lit tail raised behind my friend like a viper and stabbed him in the back where his heart was. I watched as the sickly light entered my friend’s bloodstream, and his veins turned black.

  In a plume of sulfurous smoke, the Demon vanished and left his victim to fall to the ground from nearly twelve feet. I watched helplessly as his health bar began to plummet. I cast my healing spells on him until my mana went dry, but nothing was working. Green foam was frothing from the side of his mouth as he coughed and sputtered. When I could do nothing else, I tried to get to him again.

  I raged against the barrier in front of me as tears flooded from my eyes. The edges of my vision started to glow the tell-tale red of rage, my Lycanthropy curse coming close to triggering. I fought it back, screamed my fury to the realm, and pounded my bloody fists against the wall before me as I fell to my knees.

  Finally, he stopped moving. His health bar drained to one hit point. “No no no no no,” I whispered.

  Prayed.

  I didn’t want to lose my best friend. The guy who had taught me so much about myself back home. The man I served with, who saved my life in my darkest times. How could I face his wife if he didn’t make it home? None of us was promised that if we died here we would respawn or go home. Even the damned gods didn’t know.

  “I’m not… dying… yet,” I heard and looked up to see my friend smiling weakly at me. “Puto.”

  I laughed at him; it was one of our favorite things to call each other when we were gaming.

  I sniffed a bit, “Get up then, fucker. We’ve got hell to raise and a party to crash.”

  “Fuck, that shit hurt,” Yohsuke groaned and sat up. He pulled a potion out of his inventory and downed it. “God DAMN those taste bad.”

  The barrier chose then to fall, and I rushed forward. I pumped a Heal into his body, and his HP jumped up by seventy and continued to rise with the potion he used.

  “Let’s go get you cleaned up, bud,” I said as I helped him stand.

  “Fucking shitbag-ass Demons and their love of wording, bureaucratic, motherfucking…” The man cursed the Demon until we got to the changing room where he bathed himself and changed into his new gear. He even threw in some classic insults and curses just to see me grin. I was glad to see he had made it.

  “Let’s go fuck with some Fae, dude.”

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  “So, the spell worked for you, brotha?” Jaken grinned at Yohsuke. “Glad to hear it!”

  “So that’s what that was!” I put my head in my hand and sighed. “A stored holy spell of some kind?”

  “Yup, Ring of Storing is definitely going to be the bane of quite a few more baddies’ existences,” Yoh chuckled. “Where’s her Lady of Darkness-ness at, bro?”

  “I’m not sure. I can’t believe nobody thought to go with you, man, and how the fuck did you know to do all that? Where did you get your information?” I started to grill him.

  “Woah, dude. Can’t give all the tricks away, and you knows I do okay solo styles. The information? I got that from a little trick my instructor taught me. I can commune with the dead. Spirits and shit. I don’t do it much because those fuckers are creepy, and they look all gross and whatnot, but it can help sometimes. After we found out that the Goblins were summoning Demons, I figured I should dig up what I could. Turns out someone high up in the food chain in the Infernal realm has been doing some shady shit, and that was my in.”

  We turned and came into the throne room at last and joined the rest of our friends. The place was set up for a huge shindig. Tables at the sides held food and refreshments. There was a floor to dance and congregate. It was lovely.

  “As far as the summoning itself, well, Maebe provided that. I guess the Demon owed her a favor. She knew his true name.”

  “Names and power. Got it. Fuck, this is all so fantasy.”

  “Video game world, brother.” Jaken elbowed me playfully.

  I grunted and began walking a bit faster over to the rest of the group. We filled them in on what had gone down, and everyone agreed that they were happy that Yohsuke had made it through.

  “And this soppy bastard starts the waterworks.”

  “I was pissed off that you were going to die before I could kick your ass at a video game, motherfucker.”

  “Shit, I might as well be immortal.” We all laughed at that.

  “I am glad that you all are well,” came Maebe’s voice behind me, “and you all look so good, too. Intimidating, I’m sure.”

  We all turned, and what I saw nearly floored me. She wore a tight fitting, black dress that seemed to writhe on her body like living shadow. Snowflakes glinted along the top near her shoulders and thinned out toward the bottom midway down her calves, and it looked much like a winter night sky. Her black hair was
up in a braid that had the highlighted portions woven in. She was stunning, alluring even though she still had her beauty-dampening glamour in full effect. The others were still taken by her, but I got the full effect of her true self.

  Wow.

  “The festivities will start soon. I take it that Svartlan went over some of the formalities and explained things to you?”

  “Yes, my Queen,” Balmur supplied. “He also said that someone may challenge us?”

  “As my champions in the Prime realm, they very well may. They could also try and win you over with honeyed words, promises of power and glory. Some may even seek to destroy you simply because you have my favor. You will need to be on your guard. I will have servants placed strategically around you, loyal to me of course, who will help if you truly need it, but I must warn you, any aid on my part, except in a few circumstances, would be seen as weakness on your part. That would hurt their support of this coming venture.”

  “Got it. Schmooze, but do it classy,” Jaken said with a hand in the air for a high five.

  “And don’t get seduced by the ladies, or gents, looking at you, Balmur.” Bokaj snapped his fingers and gave Jaken a high five.

  “Har har, you know me, man, all about the dudes.” Balmur rolled his eyes at his best friend and shook his head.

  “And try not to kill anyone unless you are challenged to a duel. They may see an unsanctioned death as an affront.”

  “There might be duels?” I voiced my skepticism.

  “It hasn’t happened in some time, and I doubt it will as this is the first time I have held court in centuries. They may take issue with me, though. You may see… things that I have to do to strike fear into their hearts. Earn their respect. I may seem cold and indifferent—more so than usual, yes Yohsuke—but I want the best for you, and you have my full support. I do not say that often.”

  She graced us all with a radiant smile and stepped away with her eyes on me a moment longer than I thought necessary. I walked over to her as she began her journey to her throne.