Pursuing the Demon Lord

by Randoman

  “My mother would never-” Egyle shouted but was backhanded by Gorlbuul. Shock and fear gripped her as her entire body trembled.

  “What do you propose Hero?” He asked coldly.

  “You said you offered slaves earlier, how exactly does that work?”

  “We connect a small device into the subject’s cranial implant. These devices are then matched to the owner’s implant and from then on are their property. The slaves will have to do everything commanded of them.” His smile was full of teeth. “Otherwise that medicine you took earlier will look like a relaxing vacation compared to the agony the device will send into their bodies.”

  “Got a few of those devices handy?” Gorlbuul looked towards me curiously.

  “Always. Why?”

  “I have a plan.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “First, lets go somewhere more private.”

  Almost an hour later, everything was as ready as could be given the rushed nature of events. The Xaylix class Corvette had been flown off to destinations unknown as part of our deal, and I was ten million credits richer. Unfortunately, I had to forgo a new identity for another time. Still, that was a minor setback compared to what could have happened. As for Princess Egyle and Hortur…well…

  “I demand you take this device off of me this instant!” Princess Egyle raged as she sat perfectly still at the tactical section of my new ship’s bridge, a silver tiara connected to her forehead. When I had first placed the slave device on her, she immediately had fought back against a simple order. And then writhed on the ground in agony for a good ten minutes. Hortur had silently accepted his new position as the device was placed upon him as well.

  “No.” I stated as my hands flicked across the controls. Retract the landing gear, check. Turn about and face outer airlock, check. “Vornalis Orbital, this is Boatsy,” Apparently someone’s daughter had named this fine vessel. “Hangar 448-A will be open for landing in a few minutes.”

  “Acknowledged Boatsy.” The comms officer snickered, “Good luck out there.”

  “Copy that.” I closed the comms and gently pressed up on the throttle, sending us on a slow course out of the space station.

  ‘Captain, new vessels appearing on the system map.’ I took a quick glance, thirty ships had appeared and were making a beeline for the station.

  “Alright people, its show time.” I selected the biggest ship of the new arrivals and opened video communications. At the head of the bridge floated King Lavian himself.

  “Hero. I assume you know why we are here.” He spoke informally.

  “Why King Lavian! What a surprise! Oh we’ve been having the most fun your daughter and I. Eggy, can you come here please?” With tears in her eyes, Princess Egyle stood from her seat and walked over to me. “Say hi for the dear old man would you?”

  “Father…help me!” She cried out.

  “Hero…what have you done?”

  “Oh this?” I touched the tiara on the Princess’ head. “Just a little thing I picked up somewhere. Does it look good on her? I think it does.” I grinned and pulled the Princess close. “It makes things so much easier for the both of us this way.”

  “I will see you scoured to the far corners of space itself.” King Lavian spoke levelly. Good, he was enraged.

  “Oh you’ll have to find me first Lardo. And by then it’ll be far far too late. Your Princess and I are about to become very acquainted with one another.” My hand tenderly stroked the Princess’ face. Her body trembled beneath my touch. “Ta-ta!” I moved to close the comms.

  “Wait! Hero…Chet, wait.” The King visibly deflated, which was impressive considering his mounds of flesh. “I’ll give you anything you wish. Just…just bring my daughter back to me.”

  His voice cracked with every word.

  “Sorry King Lavian, but no can do.” I closed the comms.

  “You’re sick.” The Princess whispered trembling. “I’ll never give in to you.”

  “Go back to your seat Princess.” With a sneer, she complied.

  Despite the Kingdom’s ships burning through their fuel cells at full possible speed, they could not catch my ship. We entered hyperspace long before they would ever pose a threat. With a heavy sigh, I stood from the captain’s chair. Definitely not the way I wanted events to transpire.

  ‘Captain.’ Aya chided me.

  “Right right.” I sighed and walked over to Hortur. With a quick hand, I removed the slavery tiara from his forehead.

  “H-hero?” Hortur looked at me curiously.

  “You’re free buddy, but it may be awhile until we get somewhere safe enough for you to head home.” He nodded in understanding.

  “Thank you. What about the Princess?”

  With hopeful eyes, she stared at me and Hortur. Hope that quickly fled as I shook my head.

  “She’s going to learn that actions have consequences.” With heavy steps, I approached her. “Just what the fuck were you thinking?”

  “Huh?”

  “What was going through that thick skull of yours when you followed me? You should have known better than that!”

  Her face twisted as the words came from her mouth. “I wanted to capture you to bring to my father! I wanted to be the one to lock you up!”

  “And so you got captured yourself. Do you even know what almost happened back there?” I was beyond pissed.

  ‘Captain.’

  ‘Shut up Aya.’

  Princess Egyle stammered as she tried to argue.

  “Shut up.” I commanded. Instantly, the Princess’ mouth clamped shut. “I’ll tell you what almost happened Princess. You were almost made into their plaything. And the worst part? They wouldn’t even need anything other than that tiara on your head to do it. You’d be busy serving them with a smile, all to avoid that agony that it can bring. Now, what do you have to say?”

  Tears flooded from her eyes as her body shook raggedly with sobbing. “Please! Take it off! I don’t want this!”

  “No. You’ve already ruined your chance back on the station. You could have left me alone. You could have been picked up by your father in peace. But you didn’t do that, and now you have to deal with the consequences. If I let you go, you’ll ruin everything. Again. So until I deem it safe enough to let you go, you’d better be on your best behavior.”

  I began to walk from the bridge, leaving the sounds of sobbing behind.

  “P-princess.” Hortur spoke in comfort as I heard him slither across the floor. I turned to him.

  “Hortur. Attempts to remove the device by anyone other than the owner gives the same result as a slave disobeying a series of orders. Don’t try it.”

  “Yes Hero. I understand.” He responded as he attempted to soothe the distraught Princess.

  I nodded and left the bridge.

  Chapter 10: A Bit of a Hand-Me-Down

  “You missed a spot.” I commented offhandedly to the blond-haired girl who was currently scrubbing the floors of my “new” starship Boatsy. I say “new” not because it was a used ship, but because it had been a giant mess. Hortur had been forced into buffering out scorch marks from various fire-related incidents. Namely faulty wires that shorted out after our first warp to light speed. Thanks to Aya’s quick calculations and power redirections, we had been saved from being blasted into space dust.

  Gorbuul and I were going to have harsh words when I decided to contact him again. Very harsh words. Thanks to those unforeseen events, we had been forced to make a pit stop in a nearby solar system for repairs and some much needed supplies. Namely, the mop that Princess Egyle was currently scrubbing the ship with. And we had to be quick about things, as the Kingdom’s forces were most assuredly on our tail.

  While almost dying to faulty wiring was pretty bad, I’m still not sure if that was the defining moment of knowing we had gotten a bad deal. During the flight after our first pit-stop, the toilets clogged and refused to atomize our waste. I almost lost a hand trying to unclog one of those bastards. Ne
edless to say, I took a long shower after that to wash away the shame of being elbow deep in excrement. Egyle had refused to look me in the eyes since that incident. I guess even space girls hate admitting that they poop.

  There was also the time we found a dessicated corpse hidden within a secret compartment in the engineering quarters. I had been forced to vent our air supplies before docking in yet another system to suck out the smell of death and decay. Even with fresh containers, the faint stench of despair never truly left, as if it had been soaked into the metal itself.

  “Ugh, I hate this.” Princess Egyle groaned as she wiped the sweat from her forehead.

  “Better than being an alien sex toy.” I remarked as buttons clicked and beeped at the controls. As far as I was concerned, I wanted to get as far from the kingdom’s capital as possible.

  “Easy for you to say! You barely do anything! Hortur and I are the ones doing all the work!”

  “I incinerated the bedsheets the first night under direct orders from the boss.” I pointed to my cranium, “Thanks to her, we’re not sleeping in sheets covered in old alien spunk. I’ve also been purchasing all our supplies since your mother froze your account. So until you can actually do something useful, you get to scrub floors.” A sad look shot across her face as she returned to her task wordlessly.

  Princess Egyle had turned relatively meek during our first stop. She had requested if she could purchase some new clothes and I agreed, so long as she paid. Happily, she had had attempted to buy a few sets, only to find she was locked out of her own money. When that happened she seemed to simply shut down inside. I had been forced to pay out of my own pocket for them in her place. She had returned to the ship after accepting them without a word.

  ‘Too far Captain.’ Aya scolded with a firm voice.

  ‘Nah, she’s fine. A little hazing builds character.’

  ‘Her tear ducts are currently expelling liquids.’

  ‘Thats called crying Aya. Its a tactic used by children to guilt their parents into doing what they want.’

  ‘Do you consider yourself her parent now?’

  ‘Oh hell no. I’m just going to force some discipline into her so she learns humility. Once we’ve got things straightened out, I’ll send her right back to her family. For now, all we need is some time for people to cool down.’

  ‘That sounds very parental.’

  ‘Shut up.’

  “Egyle, go ahead and take a break. We’ll be arriving in the Jochtek system in about twenty minutes. We should be able to dock and relax for a few hours.”

  “Thanks.” She sighed and set the mop and bucket off in the corner of the bridge close to the exit. A moment later and I was alone on the bridge with Aya humming happily in my head. I rolled my eyes,

  ‘Damn robot.’

  ‘I am not a robot.’ She huffed in my head.

  ‘No you’re not, but it annoys the hell out of you so you’ll always be a robot to me.’

  With the click of a button, I activated the ship comms.

  “Hortur report, what have you got for me?” I had to wait a few moments before the response came.

  “Four of the six plasma cannons are inoperable in their current state Captain.” With everything else going to hell in a hand basket, I asked Hortur to check the weapons. Glad I did, this ship was all sorts of fucked up.

  “Damn.” I had hoped those would have been fine. We hadn’t needed to use them yet thankfully. But as my pops once said when he handed me my first rubber, ‘Its better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.’ “Any chance of repairs?”

  “Negative Captain. Judging by the damage, they’ll need to be replaced.”

  “Fuck my ass.” I groaned in frustration, there goes another chunk of change down the shitter. “Alright, we’ll be leaving warp in twenty. Might be another ten to dock.”

  “Acknowledged, Engineering out.”

  This ship was turning into one giant disaster. The only good thing that happened to us so far is that after cleaning out the hidden compartment of that corpse, we found a stash of guns. According to Hortur, they were Kalasy Mk III’s which were a type of rapid-fire assault rifles that shot concentrated bolts of energy instead of the metal slugs I was used to. A shame we hadn’t had the chance to test them out, I’ve always wanted to blast some shit with lasers.

  With a long stretch, I rose from my seat. It was time for a quick shower and a bite to eat. The food replicators may produce fake-tasting mush, but at least it was edible. Before I could reach the door to leave the bridge, it opened. In entered a very distraught looking Egyle in a state of semi-undress whose face blushed deep crimson. I couldn’t even begin to ask what was wrong before she walked behind me, wrapped her arms around my stomach, and began thrusting her pelvis against my posterior.

  “…Egyle.” I spoke, trying to keep my voice level.

  “Y-y-ye-” She couldn’t even form full words as she awkwardly crashed against me over and over.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I-I…y-you…” She stammered. “Co-co-comm…”

  ‘I believe she took your words as a command earlier Captain. You were using the ship-wide comms after all.’

  “Egyle, stop.” I commanded. In an instant, she ceased her actions. Incoherent mumbling was all the communication she could muster. “Go back to your break.” My tone brokered no argument as Egyle nodded and rushed from the bridge.

  ‘Aya.’

  ‘I’ll not tell a soul.’

  ‘Good girl.’

  ——————————————————————————————————

  High heels clicked against stone as Queen Risat Salyzan walked through halls as ancient as time itself. Her red robes flowed behind her gracefully as the crown upon her head shimmered in the day’s light that peaked through stained glass windows. While her husband was out hunting the ‘Hero’ he should have killed when he had the chance, she had opted to return home to manage the Kingdom. At least, thats what she had told her husband. The moment Egyle had been discovered missing, she had severed her daughter’s connection to their funds without a second thought.

  As far as she was concerned, Egyle was lost to them. A shame, but sacrifices must be made for the good of the kingdom. Even if it is your own flesh and blood that must be cut away. If only she could do the same to her husband. She knew he would spend the rest of his days chasing after their daughter in a futile attempt to save her.

  ‘The fool should be commanding their forces against the growing Demon rebellion!’ Queen Salyzan raged in her mind. Word had reached her that an entire sector was currently in open rebellion, with more worlds joining by the day. ‘If he will not crush them, then I’ll just find someone who can.’

  Human Nobles from nearby systems watched her closely as she entered the massive hall where Heroes had been summoned from times long gone. As far as scientists were able to determine, the procedure of summoning was akin to folding space between this room and a random location around the universe. Somehow, it always resulted in teleporting an easily manipulated person who would carry out the crown’s bidding. At least, it was supposed to. Something had gone wrong with the last summoning.

  ‘Perhaps it was due to the Demon Lord’s influence?’ Queen Salyzan wondered to herself as she walked to her throne. With a sigh, she sat and overlooked the Hall of the Hero. Not as many Nobles had come to this summoning as before. This was an impromptu event born of necessity rather than a planned ceremony like before. Things would be different this time, she was sure of it.

  “Let us begin.” She commanded from her throne as she held her hands together in prayer. For reasons unknown to even their top researchers, the technology located within this building would only work when it sensed great desperation. It was advanced technology, far beyond what they could accomplish themselves. Queen Salyzan hated the feeling of knowing there were forces beyond her Kingdom’s.

  As the Nobles knelt and prayed alongside the
ir Queen, a bright light began to manifest in the center of the hall. Gasps and cries of surprise echoed through the hall as the light began to take form. There, standing in the center of the room, was an alien. Ten legs sprouted from an elongated body like that of a centipede. Four long, spindly arms ended in pincers with which to grab. Sixteen eyes stared directly at the Queen in confusion.

  “Where-” The creature began to speak as a loud zap rung out in the hall. The Queen stared with great displeasure at the smoking corpse in the middle of the room. With a sigh, she returned the blaster to the hidden pocket of her dress. Quiet murmurs filled the hall as a pair of guards dragged away the corpse. After a few moments of tense silence, the Queen ordered the Nobles to pray once more.

  She would never allow her people to be saved by an alien again.

  ——————————————————————————

  “Leaving warp now.” I noted to the crew as we sat at our respective stations on the bridge. Like a million specks of light, far off stars suddenly appeared the instant we left hyperspace. Jochtek was a nice little solar system. Two big gas giants orbiting the outer layer, while close to the yellow sun were a pair of habitable planets. One, Jochtek II, was an earth-like world with plenty of water to allow for vegetation and life to grow. Jochtek IV however was an island paradise. An Ocean world dotted with many, many archipelagos. It was a vacation paradise, and thats exactly where we were headed. Not for relaxation, but because thats where the main space station was located.

  “I wish we could visit the Tirarch Isles on IV.” Hortur spoke dreamily. “They’re supposed to be very nice this time of year.”

  “Father brought me there once.” Princess Egyle smiled sadly, “The sandy beaches were very enjoyable.”