by Bella Benz
When he opened them, Delsin immediately knew what he was about to witness, and it hit him hard. This was one of the last times he had seen Lilith so long ago, the point when she had started to act differently around him. The version of him standing defiantly in front of her with a weapon drawn was less than three winters from 20 years old. His body was much larger than in the last memory, but still several years from reaching its full growth potential.
Delsin’s mind did a quick scan. The only major change between this memory and the previous one was that he had started working with several teachers in an effort to be able to help train Lilith. That had backfired because those very teachers had been quick to tell him that demons could not be trusted. Of course, he had immediately rejected those teachings. Yet he had brought up what they had said with Lilith when he offered to try to help her learn how to use her own abilities. That had been such a stupid thing to do – how could it not have hurt her? It was a memory that he had revisited so many times before, and he still harbored guilt that he had made her feel that she couldn’t trust him.
Looking at the scene in front of him, Delsin was also beginning to realize that it was those very teachers he had hired that had likely sent others to track him. Before he had hired outsiders, Delsin had been progressing in his skills all on his own, learning how to mask the effects so that he was not easy to track. With his much older eyes and better understanding of the world, Delsin looked at his teenage self and could see the signs that someone had marked him. One of his teachers – or perhaps all of them – had betrayed him. He realized it was because he had argued with them on so many points that they got suspicious of what he did when he left his home. As a result, they had sent far more powerful magic users against him.
And there they were, five men menacing him and Lilith, the smugness clear in their tone. A small part of him was pleased, though – several decades older, he had a much better appreciation for just what it meant that it had taken five of them to approach him. Delsin had continued to grow in power without needing any of his teachers, often beating them during confrontations, and they could not accept that he had a natural ability well beyond their own. How many more would have been sent after him if they had known his heritage?
Too many for me to beat. The realization was not a surprise, but it did make him feel some measure of relief that he had been smart enough at such a young age to hide who he was. But even these few men would cause him decades of pain, as Lilith would finally decide to leave him without a proper goodbye.
Delsin moved behind the group, watching things unfold from a safer distance. At least one of them could probably sense him if he weren’t careful, and right now he didn’t want to do anything to distract Lilith – they were after her more than they were after him. Even two decades later, he desperately wanted to protect her as the demon’s eyes shone with fear. Circling the group, he watched the events unfold.
His teenage self was stretching an arm out as if to protect Lilith as the five mages closed in on them. In his other hand was a sword pointed in their direction. They weren’t the Dark Mages who had killed his parents, but they were a part of a similar organization. As the younger Delsin scanned their faces, he recognized one who had been there when his parents were murdered. His older self could see the recognition in the teenager’s eyes, and that was when his intentions shifted from disarming to killing the people in front of him.
Lilith held his arm. “Please, Delsin, we need to go. You can’t beat all of them.”
He shook her off of him. “Stay back, Lilith. There’s no way to run from these guys. They will not stop hunting until they kill you.”
“You can’t know that.” Her voice was pleading.
One of the robed figures laughed. “Listen to your little succubus, boy. Run away and maybe we’ll let you have a head start.” His sneer was the only part of his face that could be seen. With a sudden motion, he used a push of force to knock the sword out of Delsin’s hand.
It was the last thing he did.
Unfazed by being disarmed, Delsin said nothing as he shook a dagger out of its hiding place and sent it into the man’s eye. The mage staggered backward, not knowing what had happened. As three of the mages looked at him in shock, a fourth immediately lashed out with a virtual whip. It flew toward Lilith, but Delsin put his arm out, taking the full force of the whip. The mage gave a wicked grin. “It is so nice to see that you want to die first.” With a quick flick of his wrist, he pulled Delsin forward.
The teen stumbled two steps forward, but when he came up, there was a rapier in his hand. The mage barely had time to move as Delsin dove forward. The other three mages were already on the move, and they appeared in different places. One materialized behind Lilith and the other two in Delsin’s blind spots.
The one who stood behind Lilith grabbed her arm and pushed it up behind her back. With a yelp, she stood on her tiptoes to try to ease the pain.
“Scream, you little whore. Scream so that he can hear you.”
Pain and fear were etched on her beautiful features, but she did not do as she was told. The older version of Delsin moved around and saw that the mage was holding a dagger to her back, the knife point not visible. He had never known that Lilith had gotten hurt during the fight. Anger flared in him as he watched the dagger moving slowly further into her back.
Still keeping his distance, the older version of Delsin held out his hand and virtually wrapped it around the dagger’s hilt. The mage looked down at his hand as it began to pull back, leaving a dark, wet spot on Lilith’s back.
“You can’t use magic! We’ve neutralized thi –” The mage didn’t have a chance to finish the thought as he lost control over the dagger. Soon he was fighting with an invisible hand.
With the dagger safely out of her back, Delsin focused on the thought of the dagger as he projected it into his hand. It required little effort – even from this distance – as Delsin pulled it from the mage's hand. It was something he had done so many times before, and with the element of surprise on his side, it was impossible for the mage to fight him. The dagger materialized in Delsin’s invisible hand, then dropped to the ground near his feet.
Crouching, he looked at the bloodied tip before looking up at Lilith, his eyes flashing with an anger he hadn’t felt since that day. Delsin knew exactly what his younger self was contending with, and there was no reason for him to further interfere with the fight. His teenage self would need this to feel confident enough later in his life. The older version of Delsin had prevented anything happening to Lilith while his younger self fought off three mages simultaneously. The one mage had been right. Neither he nor Lilith had been able to use magic in the beginning; that was why he had realized it was a weapon. But with each death, the magic barrier crumbled. Soon, all of the rage the teenage Delsin felt would become a far more efficient weapon than any bit of metal.
Delsin knew exactly what to watch for as his younger self killed two of the mages with just a few turns and jabs that weakened the barrier. His eyes flicked over to Lilith as she ran from the mage who had held a dagger to her back. Neither version of Delsin could understand why she wasn’t using her own magic – the barrier was weak enough that Delsin was able to use some substantial magic, magic that was at least on the same level as what the mages had used up to that point.
However, the older Delsin was able to see how she looked around the world, and he realized that she had hesitated because if she had used her magic, it would have attracted the attention of any other mages, hunters, or demons around them. The attacks had been intensifying for weeks, but none had been this bad. It suggested that worse was yet to come.
Delsin placed a hand over his heart as he realized that she had chosen her own death instead of risking his. Shaking his head, the older version of the warlock kept his eyes on her as she looked around, clearly trying to find him, even as she fled from the other mage. At one point, she seemed to have detected him as she ran towards him, the mage hot on her heel
s. He could nearly make out the words she was saying. “Father?”
The teenage Delsin let out a scream, a spectral sword buried deep into his side. The other mage stopped to look at the ferocity of the shout. Lilith stopped, almost as if she had been struck with something. Her eyes turned to see the horror she had been trying so hard to prevent, her face crumbling into a mask of pain as she realized exactly how hopeless the situation was.
From his place, the older version of the warlock said softly, “It’s all right. He’ll be fine. This isn’t what hurts him.”
Her face turned back, Lilith’s eyes scanning the area for him. Flicking her tongue out to lick her lips, she clearly wanted to say something.
The older Delsin shook his head. “Dive to the left and run back to him.”
She didn’t even hesitate, diving to the ground and hitting it hard. Lilith tried to roll as the mage slammed into the ground where she had been. The demon scrambled to her feet and ran back toward Delsin. All of that happened in a matter of seconds.
The younger Delsin had his hand on the blade of the astral sword, his eyes flashing. It was almost as if the scream had been all that he needed to recover from the pain. The mage was sneering and saying something, but the teenage Delsin didn’t pay attention, his mind already going through a far more complicated spell than astral weapons.
The next instant, the two had shifted their locations, with the teenage Delsin holding the sword into the mage’s gut. Giving it a vicious turn, Delsin caused blood to burst out of the shocked hooded figure. He leaned forward and whispered something that was impossible to hear from the distance, but his older self knew the words because he still felt them in his dreams.
“I would ask you to say hello to my parents, but I think it best to trap your soul where it will never recycle again.” With that, Delsin pushed the sword to the hilt, pulling the mage into the weapon. His screams were soon muffled, then no more than an echo in the forest.
Delsin turned, his body covered in blood and a threat in his young eyes. The mage who had been trying to attack Lilith saw that he was now the last. Turning, he attempted to put a shield around himself to prevent any further attacks. The shield was large enough that it should have protected him against weapons as well. But the mage had not realized just how much Delsin outmatched him. Delsin materialized in front of him, within the mage’s own shield. The mage’s own dagger flashed in the young warlock’s hand. With a growl, the teenager shoved the weapon into the man’s throat. The next instant, a spectral scythe appeared in his hands, and the teen wasted no time as he swung the scythe back, destroying the barrier.
He leaned forward. The mage gurgled as his hand tried to remove the dagger. “Look into my eyes, mage. Do you recognize me?”
The mage’s eyes were too unfocused as his life slipped away.
Delsin leaned forward and whispered in the dying mage’s ear, “My father was Chase Chamberlin, mage. Know that you and your fools never had a chance. Now you will spend the rest of your existence suffering.”
Delsin moved back as the mage fell to the ground and tried to back away. Even though he was dying, the fool knew that there were plenty of things worse than death. Delsin stepped forward silently as he brought the scythe down, decapitating the last mage. The one who had killed his father. The mage’s soul screamed as it was pulled into the weapon, just like the previous mage.
As he looked at the blood spilling on the ground, Delsin staggered back. It was his own.
Lilith was by his side. “Delsin!” Her hand pressed against the gaping wound in his side. Her eyes scanned his body, but it soon became clear that there were several potentially deadly wounds on his thin frame. “Oh gods, Delsin, what have you done? You never kill. I don’t want you to –”
The teenager went limp in her arms. The older version of himself stood off to the side, his arms folded over his chest, the memories of the pain rising just enough that he unconsciously rubbed the place in his side with the scar. He barely had any memories after that biting sense of vengeance he felt with the final kill. For his whole life up to that point, Delsin had been peaceful, refusing to kill. This was when he had learned that sometimes the choice had to be made, and sometimes it was best to go for the kill.
The first time wasn’t just killing. Those two souls are still trapped. It was a recollection, not an expression of regret. He had been able to use the mages on many occasions, finally putting their existence to good use as he found nonlethal ways to contend with demons and other problems as much as possible. With a wry smile, Delsin watched the memory fade.
He once again stood in the void, his eyes tracing the web one more time. The three loose strands waved far away from the last memory. With a deep breath, Delsin progressed to the last memory of the web, his mind already decided on what he would do once he emerged.
✽✽✽
CHAPTER TEN
The next memory was much calmer, the light soft and comforting. There was a beautiful humming, and he knew exactly who it was.
As his vision acclimated, Delsin saw Lilith holding his head in her lap. She was rocking, tears flowing from her eyes.
“Please, Delsin, don’t die. I don’t know what I’ll do if you die.” Her hand brushed over his too-pale forehead. “I don’t know what to do.” Her voice was barely more than a whisper.
The older Delsin watched, knowing full well that she couldn’t take him back to her mother. She hadn’t practiced magic long enough to be able to help. She had no idea where he lived, and it was too risky to try to use her magic. Pity filled his heart as he watched the demon crying over him.
After taking a deep breath, he whispered, “Warlocks aren’t so easily killed. He is healing, not dying.”
Her eyes shot up, and she looked around. “What should I do? How can I help? I’ll do anything.”
“You are doing all that you can. He just needs you to stay with him.” A part of him wanted to tell her to always stay by his side, but Delsin couldn’t bring himself to say that. He couldn’t change the past.
You shouldn’t be able to interact with it either. Even as the thought passed through his mind, the warlock knew that this wasn’t just about him interacting with memories. He had always been there, helping Lilith when she needed it, saving her and her mother.
From that first memory, the demon had seen him and known that that particular witch would have a protector.
Delsin shook the thought from his mind. Now was not the time to consider exactly how his life had been so entangled with Lilith’s, even before he was born. And it was clear she had no idea. She could not see him; she did not know that the Delsin in her lap was the child of the parents who had given her a safe haven in her earliest days. She had been as clueless as him. She remained more clueless than him now.
Her voice wavered as she spoke up. “How can you be sure? What if he dies? I – I couldn’t live with that.”
Sitting a few inches over the ground, Delsin replied in a whisper, “Because magic users are all very similar. He will heal, but being able to see you will be vital to him. Don’t leave him.”
“How can you be sure?”
“Because I am like him.”
Lilith frowned. “What do you mean?”
Delsin took a deep breath. As he exhaled, he responded, “I’m not a demon, Lilith.”
Her jaw dropped for a moment. “How can you not be?”
There was little he could say, so he decided not to say anything. Lilith began to question him, but Delsin refused to answer. At one point, it looked like she was going to stand up and try to find him, but his younger self shifted and whimpered. Lilith gave one disapproving look around the small room before picking up a bowl of water and wiping his forehead with a damp cloth.
Deciding he couldn’t stay and watch any longer, Delsin slipped out of the room to see where they were staying. He had not been awake for any of this, so he had no idea where Lilith had brought him.
It was a small hovel that looked like it could
n’t possibly remain standing long. There really wasn’t anywhere in that area. Delsin mused as he moved around the place. After he had explored the area immediately around the small hut, he decided to learn more about where they had stayed for a few days. He placed a few barriers away from the hut itself, making it nearly impossible for anyone to know where the demon was hiding – if they were able to detect her at all.
A day passed in the memory, but nothing happened. Delsin occasionally returned to the little hovel to check on Lilith, but he had no desire to try to keep her company. The more he was around her, the more he talked to her, the harder it would be to hide who he was.
For the first time since she had left him, Delsin had nothing but time – and nothing to do with it. Resting just above the ground, he looked up at the stars and considered what he should do when he returned. He couldn’t just let Lilith destroy the village of Brexley; neither his reputation nor his conscience would allow it. Sure, no one would know if they died, and the inhabitants of Brexley had allowed the people around them to suffer, but his purpose was not to judge entire villages. At least not most of the time.
The problem was that this was the last memory. What if it didn’t show him why she had given in to her nature instead of continuing to fight for what she wanted to be?
Just talk to her when you return. If you can get her to talk. He mused on the idea, planning for his life upon return.