Legacy of Death_Revenge

by Thomas J. L. Green

  “You know awfully lot about this. What happened to the eighth demon prince?”

  “I killed him.”

  “Do they have something like a king?” Raven pried.

  “I guess. Never heard of one directly,” Lucas replied.

  You don’t guess, Lucas, you know... so this was a lie… but I will leave it at this.

  “Where do demons come from?”

  “Hell.”.

  “Where is that?”

  Lucas smiled and looked up to the sky. “That’s a story for another day. We don’t know each other that well yet.,”

  “After two years? Really? Anyway. Another day then. What do you want of me, Lucas?”

  “To help me kill a very specific couple of demons,” Lucas stated coldly.

  “Which demons?”

  “Kayleanne and Ebilezerhar, also known as Sapphire Crane and Slitherer, they are both demon princes if it wasn’t obvious by now.”

  “What do they want anyway?”

  “To fill the world with their underlings, the lesser demons. You’ve seen how many of these things are around, well, it’s the proof of how busy their respective demon princes have been. One hundred eighty years ago, the world was a better place, one which was about three times as populated, industrially advanced, peaceful… then The Upheaval came. About eighty percent of population died and here we are, stuck in the shadow of our former selves in a world littered by demons. I want the demons gone so that things can get back on track and the way to do it is by killing demon princes,” Lucas started.

  “There are so many of these demons that I cannot imagine the demon princes not having entire armies. How do we get through those?”

  “We don’t kill the army; we lure in the Palai Order to do the war for us.”

  “This isn’t a plan made by just you, is it? This would be a good point for you to tell me more about yourself, if you know what I mean,” Raven tossed up poisonously.

  “I’m from the Order. I would show you my symbol, but it’s stuck under the dried blood and slime… and yes, this is a part of a carefully planned operation, one that shall end with deaths of the two demon princes whose followers we have been destroying.”

  “Who are you, exactly?” Raven inquired.

  “I am someone who wants the demons gone,” Lucas had a straight face, voice hard and cold. Raven could feel the hatred behind the mask.

  “Anyway, what happens after you kill the two demon princes? Why are they so important?”

  “Once they die, the demons who fall under their reign shall be unable to reform their physical forms, so they shall stop appearing. To kill all the princes is pretty much equivalent of getting the world rid of the demons for good. I want the world without demons, don’t you?”

  “So… I either leave now or stay until we kill the two demon princes, do I understand it correctly?” Raven asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Alright, I promise I shall see this to the end,” Raven smiled.

  “That was fast,” Lucas observed.

  “I don’t see much to think about. I can’t imagine just walking out before the tough part, especially not after spending two years on killing the lesser demons. Plus, I don’t exactly see any downsides, killing demons makes the world a better place, so killing demon princes sounds like something I should do. Something that would be actually meaningful, unlike my other options.”

  “Be careful what you promise, prince, you might live to regret it,” Lucas remarked in a playful voice.

  “I shall keep this in mind.”

  The village disappeared behind them as the forest devoured them once more.

  “HEEEEEEEEEEEELP!” echoed through the forest.

  Damsel in distress… what are the odds of this not being a trap? Zero? Zero.

  Raven looked at Lucas who nodded. They sped up, silently as death they crept through the forest toward the sound. A large meadow opened in front of them. Young black-haired woman in traveling clothes was desperately avoiding vicious attacks of two griffins and a wyvern. Griffins and wyvern ridden by women armed with bows.

  “Hmm?” Raven turned in surprise.

  “It’s fake,” Lucas smirked.

  “Totally,” Raven concurred.

  They sat down by the tree and observed how it plays out.

  “HEEEEEEEEEEELP!”

  The woman leaped left, she narrowly dodged jaws of the wyvern. She rolled over to the side to avoid arrows followed up by a swipe of griffin claws.

  “They really practiced it well,” Lucas evaluated.

  “Oh, yes, I love the timing on the rolling dodges, so they look like she evades the claws by mere fractions of an inch,” Raven smiled.

  There is no state of the world in which this could happen as a coincidence.

  “HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP!”

  “The wyvern tail strikes are a nice touch,” Lucas made a satisfied smile as she dodged the wyverns tail by barely an inch.

  “Yes, this is fun… wish we had some beer,” Raven added.

  “Think they might mess up and kill her by accident? We might need to jump in to save her once she takes a hit,” Lucas offered.

  “Dunno, she will be dead on the spot if the wyvern catches her in the mouth,” Raven remarked.

  “She is dodging just fine, it will be a graze at worst,” Lucas contested.

  “AREN’T YOU GOING TO HELP ME??” the woman shouted at them as she noticed them.

  “We are curious how long can you girls keep it up,” Lucas replied with a grin.

  “WHAT?“ she shouted as she leaped to the side to dodge.

  “Keep going, I’m curious what more last second dodges have you practiced,” Lucas continued.

  “SERIOUSLY? Are you just going to watch me die?”

  “Yep.”

  She stopped jumping around to dodge and just walked to them. The griffins and wyvern flew off.

  “How did you tell?”

  Lucas and Raven exchanged smirks. “That’s a secret… miss?”

  “Asking a lady to introduce herself without offering your own name is seriously rude,” she made an offended face.

  “Lucas.”

  “Zoey.”

  “Zoey, your damsel in distress act has failed, so how about you go back to your friends and we go back to what we have been doing?” Lucas proposed.

  “They flew off already and I have no good way to go back. I’m coming with you,” Zoey announced. Lucas measured her with a look. Rich black hair arranged into a single braid, lean body, average breasts, average height, pale clean skin and alright looking blue eyes. The outfit was standard, although more revealing than normal.

  Pretty much average look… that’s both suspicious and dangerous.

  “No, you are not,” Lucas refused.

  “Oh, really? And what’re you going to do about it? Kill me? Knock me unconscious, so wild beasts can finish me off?” Zoey challenged.

  No, of course not. Actually… yeah, we have no good way to get rid of her.

  Lucas turned to Raven. “Help me out a little in here.”

  “I don’t see how. We aren’t going to hurt a young unarmed woman, are we?” Raven smiled.

  “She is Faye, she is anywhere between sixteen and a century and a half old,” Lucas revealed.

  “So, you do know our kind… Zoey Darkwind, pleasure to make your acquaintance,” Zoey made a slight bow.

  “Raven,” Raven nodded in greeting.

  “Fake clan name? Really?”

  “So, you do know what our clans are… have you ever been to our highlands?” Zoey inquired.

  Lucas should not have fallen for this. I guess I’m not the only one who got rusty these past couple of years.

  Lucas shook his head and turned to Raven. “Is it just me or am I getting wrecked?”

  “Zero three by my count,” Raven confirmed.

  “Alright, Zoey, how about you cover that cleavage and we start again?”

  “Like my boobies?” she smiled provocatively
while arching her back, so they stand out more.

  We haven’t exactly seen women lately… any women.

  “Zero four,” Raven counted.

  “I haven’t lost this one yet!” Lucas protested.

  “You did now,” Zoey chuckled.

  “Alright… alright. Let’s get going. Take this, if something attacks you, stab it with it,” Lucas rose and tossed Zoey a dagger. Zoey stepped to the side and let the dagger fall to the ground without touching it.

  “Nice try. I wouldn’t be a defenseless woman if I took that dagger, would I?” she inquired.

  Smart… this is not making her any less dangerous. Quite the opposite, actually.

  “Zero five,” Raven evaluated.

  “Plus really, did you think I would take into my hand a dagger that’s half covered by coagulated blood and hardened snake slime? I understand you guys have aversion to water, but really, don’t put me to the same level,” Zoey pushed.

  Lucas looked at Raven and had to agree she is right. They gave up washing the slime, feathers and blood off over a year ago. They were not a pretty sight and their smell was hideous at best.

  15

  Raven

  “I don’t want to interrupt, but I thought the river was that way,” Zoey pointed in a direction. They had been walking for an hour now. Even Zoey got the point that they don’t really talk while walking. They both liked it that way and surprisingly enough, Zoey didn’t seem to mind it that much either.

  “I know,” Lucas continued walking as if nothing happened.

  “I’ve been pondering over the smell… when’s the last time you guys washed?” she shot.

  “Gave up on it over a year ago,” Raven replied flatly.

  “That explains a lot. What have you been up to that it’s so important you don’t even have time to wash?”

  “Don’t bother pretending you don’t know,” Lucas cut her off.

  “I wanna hear it from the source. I’m here to spy on you, after all,” she smiled warmly.

  So, she is not here to just spy on us.

  “You are going to be seriously disappointed,” Raven chuckled.

  “Oh, don’t worry about it. I was disappointed the second I got sent to this mission… apparently, I am the right mix of skilled enough to have a chance to succeed and expendable enough for nobody to care if you turned out to be a bit less civilized than you seem to be,” Zoey revealed.

  That sounded rehearsed, well-rehearsed. I can’t tell which part of it was a lie if any.

  “Civilized… that’s the best we have been called in quite a while,” Lucas smirked.

  “Well… you look like reanimated piles of snake blood and crow shit, but are surprisingly normal otherwise,” Zoey evaluated.

  Normal? We are normal? That’s a new one.

  “Are we? What did you expect?” Lucas tried.

  “I expected you to either knock me out and leave me behind or at least tie me up when you take me with you,” she revealed.

  “I didn’t think you would be into that,” Lucas observed.

  “I might be... what are you into?“ Zoey countered.

  “As my friend, it is my duty to inform you that you score at zero six,” Raven laughed.

  “Hush virgin, adults are talking,” Zoey scolded him.

  “So… are you planning to ram your spear into me?” Zoey pushed.

  “You’re not my type,” Lucas refused.

  “What is your type then? Or are you two…?”

  “NO!” Lucas and Raven shouted at the same time.

  “I wanted to ask if you two are married and just left your wives at home, but I see that’s not what you are thinking about,” Zoey mocked.

  “Zero seven,” Raven announced grimly.

  “Two men in the forest. Two men who have no one else but each other for two years… I would be really surprised if you didn’t at least try it,” Zoey mused.

  “Snakes ahead,” Lucas cut the conversation as they approached a lair of the snake demons.

  “Meh. Was just wondering who from you two was on top,” Zoey remarked. “Where’d Lucas disappear to?” she added as she realized he isn’t there.

  “Looking for back entrance. Wait here… this isn’t a big one, we will be done soon,” Raven explained.

  “You aren’t going to try to sneak out and leave me here, are you?” Zoey pried.

  “No, of course not,” Raven smiled.

  “Why not?”

  “We are bored. There are only so many fun ways you can kill a snake demon before it gets stale,” Raven revealed.

  “You believe I can’t really harm you in any way, don’t you? Makes me wonder… are you stupidly overconfident or that powerful?” Zoey asked in serious tone.

  “You will need to see for yourself,” Raven smirked, drew his blade and stepped toward the entrance of the snake demon lair.

  “Did you just completely ignore the implied threat of me cutting your throat when you sleep?”

  “We keep watch. I know you are suppressing your magic so we don’t get a read on you. We all are. I am not saying I won’t reassess once you stop… but till then, well… sorry,” Raven shrugged as he turned to answer.

  A massive snake demon leaped out of the lair at Raven. Raven dashed toward it, slid down and disemboweled it in one elegant move. Horrifying mixture of screaming and screeching echoed from inside the lair. Raven disappeared from Zoey’s sight. Zoey listened to the cacophony of sounds. Horror and despair. That’s what they were filled with. The demons knew what was coming. Zoey knew it too. Death has come.

  A huge snake demon leaped out of the lair. As if something held it by the tail, it crashed onto the ground. Zoey stared as the demon dug its claws into the ground to move forward. In vain. Slowly and steadily, it was pulled back into the lair leaving behind deep marks on the ground. The screams soon stopped.

  “I swear these things get slimier by the time,” Raven complained as they were walking out of the lair with Lucas.

  “I know, right,” Lucas agreed.

  “Looks like you boys had fun,” Zoey mused.

  Much, much, much less fun than it looks like. This was fun the first few times… now I’ve lost count of how many times we have done this.

  “Wanna join us next time?” Lucas offered poisonously.

  “I would love to, but I would feel too awkward since I would be disrupting your intimate bonding moment,” Zoey countered.

  “Do I need to keep counting?” Raven chuckled.

  Lucas shook his head, exasperated.

  “Now, for the more pleasant part. If you wanna come with us, you will need to get wet and not in the way you like,” Lucas announced.

  “You couldn’t make me even if I let you try… but what do you mean?“ Zoey returned.

  “They have been using demons with great smell and general detection abilities to try to find us. The reason they haven’t is because we smell like demons, mixture of snake and bird demons to be precise. You will need to get the same fragrance I’m afraid, which is a lot easier when the blood and slime are still fresh,” he explained.

  “You are right, I don’t like this,” Zoey confirmed.

  “But of course, you are free to go back to your sisters and just let us be if it’s too much for you,” Lucas smirked.

  “Taunting me, aren’t you? Just give me a minute,” Zoey rose and walked into the cave. Few minutes later, she came back covered head to toe in snake blood and slime.

  Raven gave her an appreciating look.

  Well, this failed spectacularly. So much of not getting down to our level.

  “Let’s move; this place will soon be crawling with the searching demons.”

  “How’d you get used to this stench? I don’t feel like I’m making any progress,” Zoey complained as they set up a camp for the night.

  “Dunno… still makes my skin crawl even after two years,” Lucas smirked sadly.

  “Really? I’ve been fine from sometime around the first week,” Raven ma
de a surprised look.

  “Anyway. I’ve been with you guys for over a week and there’s one thing I don’t get… why? You are both powerful and skilled enough to be able to take over a medium sized city and spend the rest of your days worrying about nothing, while you would have a harem to keep you entertained. Instead, you spend years traveling through forests while being covered by slime, blood and shit. When’s the last time you had a fire for the night? Bath? Bed? Warm meal? A woman? You aren’t even getting paid,” Zoey mused.

  “Ain’t so bad,” Raven smiled.

  “Really? How about him? Have you ever seen him go to sleep without smoking beforehand?” Zoey asked, motioning to Lucas who was smoking a rolled-up cigar.

  “Never,” Raven confirmed her suspicions.

  “It’s just a cigar,” Lucas answered instantly.

  “Yea… except that’s not tobacco but lotus, which is literally the strongest drug there is and I think you have more than half a leaf in it. For the record, half a leaf of lotus is a lethal dose for someone who smokes it for the first time. And you, Raven, you look happy only for like the half an hour after you kill some demons. I see you are trying to put an impassive face, but you aren’t really good at it and are really just sad. How did you two get so badly fucked up?” Zoey finally spoke her mind.

  “Think you’re gonna get my story just because I’m in the process of getting stoned? Nice try, Faye, you get nothing,” Lucas smirked and continued smoking.

  “Is he always like this?” she turned to Raven.

  “Yeah. There are some things that simply cannot be helped,” Raven shook his head.

  “Now that Lucas has fallen unconscious, how about you tell me your story? How’d you become such a mess?” Zoey pried.

  “I was a slave for most of my life. I thought of freedom, but never really got to try to reach it. Then circumstances forced my hand. My best friend died because of my decision. The closest thing to my mother died because of my negligence. I killed who was pretty much my father with my own hands to gain my freedom. I left the city to see the world… and it wasn’t what I thought it would be. Not at all. I didn’t know where to go, what to do, how to replace those I have lost. I welcomed the opportunity to tag along Lucas to kill some demons. I thought it would be useful. I thought I could help things… and perhaps help myself in the process. Now… now I know I have been naive. But I still have nothing better to do than to see our task through to the end… whatever it may be. And I am really curious to see how Lucas handles himself because the burden he carries is clearly greater than mine,” Raven poured out his heart.