The Story of a Lonely Demon Ch.3
#4 of The Story of a Lonely Demon
The Story of a Lonely Demon
Chapter 3: Where a Revealed Identity Unlocks Much More
"Buvrentius, why did you leave?" Rieksi questioned, having stopped eating and was looking across the table to the hybrid.
"Rieksi... I guess I can't blame you for wanting to know, I left because a hunting party caught wind of my presence, I'm accepted by neither faction so I had to go where where neither were dominant." Buvrentius replied calmly, momentarily pausing from eating his breakfast, "I didn't take you with me because I wanted you to live comfortably, not be hunted by even your own kind for merely being with me."
"You could have at least told me the truth and not block my memories of you, I felt like you didn't-"
"Feral demon! Feral demon! At the gate, please, help!" A civilian panicked, rushing into the inn and turning towards the group of angels and demon.
"I guess we'll have formal introductions while we go see the commotion..." Red sighed sarcastically, getting up and getting his sword.
Auroran picked his sword up as well, looking toward the other three for their weapons as Tyirin pulled out the sword Rieksi gave him and Buvrentius going up stairs quickly, coming down with a claymore. Rieksi just got up simply, preferring to use his magic and teeth. They rushed out side to the center of town to see a demon not unsimilar to the one Rieksi had mauled before, causing him to flinch in confusion.
"Didn't I dispose of you a few days ago? Don't tell me there's a whole family of you..." Rieksi sighed out dejectedly, getting ready for the inevitable fight.
"You must be talking about my late brutish brother, you traitor, and besides, my fight is not with you but with the abomination to your right." The demon snapped quickly, pulling out his own great sword.
"I'll handle this, it will be simple..." Buvrentius stated casually, being unphased by the insult and stepping forward, "Come on then, don't be bashful, I'll go one-on-one."
The demon roared in fury at being taunted and lunged forward, being artfully dodged and countered by the feline. Buvrentius swung heavily and firmly, knocking the demon of balance as it blocked the hard blow, and held his sword up to collect the bolt of energy as the demon called it down. Getting steadily more frustrated, the foe channeled another bolt into the tip of his sword, only to be absorbed as Buvrentius touched the tip with his own. The hybrid straightened up finally, gathering the absorbed energy into a large ball in front of him. He sliced it into four with his sword and thrust kicked the center forward, sending all four outward and homing in on the victim. The assailant dropped to the ground on the spot, being fried by his own element. Buvrentius looked back and pointed behind his allies, more demons trying to sneak up on the kids. Rieksi turned and stumbled back, narrowly dodging the swing of another sword. The angels were in a deadlock with the other demons, no one gaining the upper hand. Rieksi crawled and rolled out of the way of swings, rolling backward and up onto his feet into pouncing position. He sidestepped another attack from his foe and leapt with agility connecting his shoulder with the attacker's heart and knocking him onto the ground, where the wolf finished off the other demon by digging his fangs into the enemy's neck and pulling. The three angels weren't going anywhere, being perfectly matched with the demons. Suddenly Tyirin heard a crackling sound and a hail of bolts came from the side, seeing at least 7 connect with his opponent before all three dropped dead.
"Rieksi, where did you learn magic again?" Tyirin asked awestrickenly, not knowing whether to cheer or check his own person for any damage.
"I learned on my own, but only wind and lightning really cooperate..." Rieksi replied, slightly embarrassed as the feline's jaw dropped in a mix of pride and envy, "What? What's so odd about casting quickly?"
"I don't know, the fact you're precise and cast more bolts than a brigade could in a matter of seconds?" Red retorted, just as shocked as the others and lowering his sword finally.
"This group is full of oddities, one can jump into other peoples' dreams, another's afraid of heights to the point of rejecting a sun pendant, another's a hybrid, and one's got quicker hands than a duelist." Auroran sighed out, shaking his head in confusion, "Starting to make me wonder what I can do..."
"What's your favorite weapon, I can tell you aren't a fan of swords..." Buvrentius asked, smirking slightly.
"A greataxe, but everything they have here pails in comparison." turning around to find the feline heading towards the smithy, "It's too much there!"
The rest of the group came over, seeing the hybrid purchase a considerable amount of steel ingots and asking to using the forge. Rieksi remembered his sword and glanced over at it while Tyirin was also taking a closer look, starting to wonder if Buvrentius crafted it as well. The cat worked with speed, first crafting a 6 foot shaft 2 inches in diameter, followed by two massive crescent shaped blades, a foot from point to point and secured them onto the shaft, giving the widest point 2 feet. Auroran's eyes lit up like a child looking at a mountain of birthday presents, smiling from ear to ear as his preferred weapon was being made for him to his dream-like specifications. The smith looked in interest, seeing the feline's bare hands move with dexterity as he hammered the edges and etched the handle with runes and and spells. The smith's eyes were as wide as Rieksi's as the metal started turning blue and shimmering as if vigorously tinted and polished. Finally Buvrentius gave a grunt as he lifted it and handed it to the angel, looking oddly as Auroran took it eagerly and went outside to get a feel for it. The hybrid looked accomplished in himself as the angel in green swung it around, raising an eyebrow as he gave a chop into the ground and created a fissure, in which he quickly pulled out his ax and began mending his damage in embarrassment.
"Do all of your weapons help channel magic?" Tyirin asked inquisitively, looking more closely at the inscription on the blade in his hands.
"Well that one I made specifically for Rieksi, but I wasn't keeping his hands in mind when I made it. If you'd let me erase the runes and re-inscribe them, I could attune to your element." Buvrentius stated gently, gesturing for the angel to give him the blade.
"It's fine, it is Rieksi's after all-"
"What's mine is yours, do with it as you will, I trust you." Rieksi interrupted gently but firmly, smiling in the angel's direction and putting his large hand on his shoulder.
"I have an idea, if it works, I won't need to erase the first ones." The feline blurted out, looking towards the blade with a glint in his eyes.
"Alright, I hope it works." Tyirin breathed out, handing it to the hybrid and backing up next to Rieksi, holding the wolf's arm and letting his head rest on it.
They both watched the feline start etching on the opposite side of the blade, then catching them both off guard as Buvrentius clamped the blade and started verily carefully etching on the back. The blade started taking on all the hues of the color spectrum and he backed away for a bit with a nervous look on his face, relaxing as the blade turned back into it's blue tint. Red was trying to lift the ax off of his chest from asking if he could hold it, his legs kicking up and flailing in the background as Auroran laughed wildly. The couple in the workshop looked back and giggled at the same time, returning their sites back just in time to the blade as Buvrentius lifted the tool off the blade and it gave off a flash, blinding everyone. As all their sights returned, the feline looked ready to jump in joy as the blade shimmered the colors of the rainbow and physical manifestations of magic swirled around the blade. Rieksi and Tyirin both raised an eyebrow as they felt a powerful charge in the air, it's presence being incredible enough to make their bodies tense with power as they breathed in. Both Auroran and Red lifted up their heads in an intrigued manner, suddenly feeling a jolt of energy surge through them and Red being able to lift the ax off with ease. Auroran picked up his ax with one hand, looking at himself oddly before walking over to see what the commotion was about.
"Tyirin, you'll have to pick it up, it binds to the one who wields it, however, if my assumptions are correct Rieksi should be able to use it as well if need be." Buvrentius explained quickly, his eyes wide with excitement.
"What was that surge of power- why is that blade glowing like that? It has an air of neutrality..." Auroran asked and commented, closing his eyes to feel the power in the air more closely, "The words justice, love, and together come to mind..."
"It seems you know what your power is, you read some of the runes without even looking at the inscriptions..." The hybrid commented, a smirk forming as the angel in green considered what was said for a second, "alright, now to test it, hand it to Rieksi and see if anything happens."
Tyirin handed the blade to Rieksi carefully, the power in the air surging to an even higher level as both their hands held the blade for a second. As Rieksi grabbed the handle on his own clumsily, the power receded to what it was before.
"Remarkable, when both of you hold the blade the presence in the air is spiked, tell me, do you two feels the same amount of energy or normal?" The feline asked curiously toward Red and Auroran.
"Actually right now my body feels normal but the air is strong." Red said seeing Auroran having to hold the ax with both hands again, "And I can say similar for Auroran by the looks of it."
"So the ideal person to hold it would be Tyirin, as his angelic nature changes the presence to that of Red and Auroran, but also affecting you because of you being his significant other." Buvrentius explicated in a learned manner, feeling the spike in power again as Rieksi handed the blade back to Tyirin and seeing the two other angels shiver in exuberance.
"I think I'm going to need a sheath for it to keep those to from shivering like they're nigh on frozen." Tyirin giggled out playfully, seeing Red give a mock insulted expression.
Rieksi blushed as Buvrentius looked to him in wonder of where the sheath was.
"I'm sorry, I cast it aside as I charged toward the light, I didn't know what was on the other side and I guessed I wouldn't be able to go back." Rieksi reasoned, shrinking back in shame, "I can make a sheath for it, all I need is a good piece of wood and a couple of tools..."
"Alright, I'll go make the tools, how about you and the others go find a piece of wood for you to carve?" The feline suggested, buying a couple more ingots from the smith.
Rieksi and the angels looked in the forest diligently, with the angels bringing the wolf countless pieces before Tyirin finally brought one he deemed suitable and they went back to town. Rieksi was still looking over the piece of wood carefully, examining which way the grain moved while they passed through the gates back to the hybrid. Buvrentius was already waiting outside, tools in hand, and seeing Rieksi inspect a piece of driftwood intricately. Rieksi nodded as he took the tools and went to the inn, nearby townsfolk staring at the wolf who was walking with a piece of wood and a set of tools. He went up to his and Tyirin's room, seeing a traveler had stayed behind and noticing he was a merchant.
"Do you have paint? I need some to coat this with after I'm done." Rieksi asked gently, seeing the traveler jump at the sight of him then relaxing.
"What colors do you need? Sorry if I jumped a lil bit, was just thinking..." The merchant trailed off distantly, still in thought while searching through his wares and pulling out a sized selection of small paint jars.
"What are you thinking about? Blue, black, white, along with those two brushes please." Rieksi asked and remarked, bending down to take a closer look at the brush bristles, "Were you thinking about painting again?"
"H-how did you know? Yeah..." The merchant aired out, embarrassed that the canine noticed the bristles being barely used.
"Don't worry, you can have them back, I'll just borrow them, how much does it come to?" The demon asked understandingly, seeing the man was more of an artist than a wanderer.
"3 silver, these paints aren't the standard run-of-the-mill, they're enchanted." The painter explained carefully, hoping he didn't say too much.
"A bit expensive, but okay. So what made you take up traveling if you are a painter?" Rieksi asked curiously, handing three silver coins over and scooping up the supplies carefully.
"Looking for inspiration, getting away from drama, trying to find a quiet place to settle down, and I think I found it." The artist sighed out, laying back on the bed and letting out a breath of air, "I just don't know how to build a house."
"The others and I could probably help, though your definition of quiet is a little loud considering there's a friendly demon, 3 angels, and a hybrid all in the same place." Rieksi giggled out, coming to accept he might be one of a kind.
"Well that's also an advantage, it's something different, exotic, I could draw my imagination from seeing such things that are so different." The painter explained eagerly, smiling faintly and letting his head rest back down on the pillow.
"Hey, the town oddity, what brings you here? Wondering if we've been ousted out by nature yet?" Another traveler questioned jokingly scooting on by.
"I just came to rent some paints, it won't be to long..." Rieksi replied, blushing slightly as the traveler gawked at how much the canine's definition of hand full differed from that of a normal man's.
"Help with the stuff would you, I'm gonna take a nap." The painter muttered out, already dozing off.
"He doesn't need help, he's got all of it in one hand... anyway, just be sure to be done with them by tomorrow night, my friend here gets anxiety over his little jars like you wouldn't believe." The wanderer retorted and explained starting toward a bedroll on the floor not to far from the painter's bed.
"Alright." Rieksi replied simply, starting to walk toward the room where him and Tyirin were currently staying and started working diligently on making the new sheath.
The wolf knew the shape and length of the blade pretty well, first splitting the wood as cleanly as he could which was child's play to him, then whittling and working with the wood carefully with his claws. Rieksi immaculately carved the two halves of the lumber to the almost exact shape of the blade, then rummaged through Buvrentius' bag and found a small jar. Rieksi looked at it curiously, the contents being an adhesive comparable to sap and seemed to work quickly, as he could see a skim forming on the surface. The demon took a claw-full at a time and applied pressure to seal split pieces of wood back together. Rieksi quickly put the lid back on the jar after finishing it and let the wood set and bond as he went out of the room towards the stairs.
"Ah, Rieksi, I was just going to say, if you're going to make a sealed sheath, use the jar of adhesive I have in my bag." The hybrid stated leisurely, stopping on the stairs and looking up to the blushing wolf, "You already used it didn't you?"
"Well I didn't have anything at the time to put the pieces together, I'm sorry, I should have asked first..." The canine replied sulkily, looking down at his feet.
"It's fine, now come. I want you to learn how to enchant weapons, that way my mind shall rest easy knowing someone worthy will know the craft." The hybrid said thoughtfully, not noticing Rieksi catching onto the airiness in his voice.
"Buvrentius... something's on your mind, speak it." Rieksi retorted sternly, stopping on the stairs.
"I once knew a wolf whose only wish was to be held in this creature's arms, now you are matured, and can sense even slight unrest in others..." Buvrentius trailed off, heaving out a sigh in regret, "I know I should have never left, and I know it'll take a lot to make it up to you if at all. But I'm willing to try the best I can to spend more time with you like I should have."
Rieksi closed his eyes and let the words sink in, keeping his eyes from welling due to both sadness and frustration, and just opened them again in an understanding manner as he continued down the stairs carefully. Tyirin looked off to the side to see the feline leading a trailing Rieksi to the forge and wondered what was on his companion's mind. Red just added to the chain, seeing the angel in blue was worried about the wolf, and Auroran traced the gazes into a pattern as he looked at the other two, waiting for them to break their gazes. The wolf put on his usual facade as he entered the forge, seeing Buvrentius was fooled by what was on the outside rather than the eyes.
"Tyirin... I'm sure he'll be fine, come on, we have work to do." Red urged consolingly, see him turn loathsomely, "If you want you can go with him, we'll handle the work."
"...It's fine, come on, let's go run these errands." Tyirin breathed, putting on a fake smile to ease Red and Auroran's minds.
Both the angels knew better about their friend, but they continued working. Rieksi's mind was at full speed, brimming on an outburst and the surface tension doing little to hold back. But he kept working until the hybrid noticed the wolf's face was red with frustration, and he broke the line.
"Rieksi, is there somethi-"
"Of course there's something! The father figure that abandoned me from my childhood suddenly returns only when I've made other friends, only for the first time I didn't \ **need* * him! If you stay I'll hate you, but if you go I'll miss you..." Rieksi exploded, his eyes narrowed and watering.
"I never stopped loving you or thinking about you, I just wanted what was best, if I could I would've gone back to hell and be with you. I know what I did was wrong, I should've known you were different and wouldn't have fit in." Buvrentius retorted softly, finally looking into the wolf's eyes and seeing he was on the edge of going berserk.
"Just... just don't think it'll be easy..." Rieksi shot back, closing his eyes and hanging his head down, breathing heavily in an attempt to calm down as he could feel his muscles tensing.
"Here, let me try making something of my own design, a serenity pendant." The hybrid aired gently, smelting a brass ingot and very delicately shaping a chain and the main piece.
He artfully twisted and shaped a wide strand of brass around a crystal vial of water, making a sturdy loop on top for the chain to pass through and adding other twists and frays to the casing. Rieksi looked in interest as the feline's hand twisted and turned the brass around the small crystal, seeing him run the chain through after he was finished and holding it up to inspect his handiwork.
"Where did you get the vial?" Rieksi asked quietly, still breathing in and out deeply.
"I've had it for ages, you find a good many things traveling and off of those who hunt you, I've got all sorts of mementos from heaven and hell off of hunters." Buvrentius replied casually, setting the necklace back down on the table, "Most of it's in my bag, I got that adhesive from an angel, strangely enough."
"So where did you learn to enchant things?" The wolf asked curiously, succeeding in relatively calming down for the moment.
"I'd be lying if I said I was self-taught, but I really don't know..." Buvrentius trailed off, digging through his memories for any glimpse of who he learned from.
"Maybe you have the same curse?" The demon replied thoughtfully, seeing the hybrid's head perk up in realization.
"I never thought of that, his face and name always eluded me." Buvrentius retorted contemplatively, "But I've never had memories come into my dreams."
"Well, you said yourself the enchantment was flawed, maybe you'll have no recollection if he did it right. So do I just fill the vial with water or something else?" Rieksi responded and asked, putting the trinket around his neck and feeling more relaxed.
"There's multiple things, you gather water from the source you feel is most calming such as a river or ocean, even a waterfall or spring."
"That's gonna take a while, I didn't even really pay attention to the river when I was there, plus I don't know what those others are." The canine responded while looking down, embarrassed.
"Well there's no going back, so we have all the time in the world, and it looks like the others are eager to travel as well." Buvrentius finished looking over Rieksi's shoulder and seeing the canine's companions at the entrance.
Rieksi looked around just in time to brace for impact as Tyirin pounced from across the room onto the demon. The wolf tried his best at regaining his balance with the new weight but wobbled backward and fell onto the ground with a hefty thump.
"We've been wanting to travel again, but we didn't have a location in mind." Tyirin breathed out excitedly, sitting on top of the demon's chest.
"Well the River seems the nearest so let's go there, and if we follow it we should come by a spring a little bit into the forest." Auroran stated, looking over a map intently, "If we keep going we should also run into a water fall and follow that to the beach."
"I know which waterfall you're talking about, there's an entrance to an underground lake near there." Red suggested, seeing he piqued Rieksi's interest and smirked, "Not all water is above."
"Alright, but first I think I should finish the sheath and we should help build a house for the traveler that was wanting to settle here." The wolf responded lightly, the angel squeezing the air out of him.
Red just in time to catch a flicker in Auroran's eyes while he gripped the handle of his axe in anticipation, "I guess we won't need to worry about wood, where does he want it?"
"We'll have to ask him tomorrow, he went to sleep after I rented the paints." Rieksi recalled suddenly, everyone else turning their heads slightly in confusion, "One of the travelers was a painter and he decided he wanted to settle down here."
"I guess we should get some rest for tomorrow as well, building requires energy." Auroran stated already heading toward the inn.
The rest followed the angel in green, all going up to their room and getting settled for an early night's rest except for Rieksi, who was now trying to paint the sheath as best he could. He was struggling to keep his hands steady and keep the brush in his hands at the same time.
"You don't have to get it done all at once, and maybe we should get you bigger brushes..." Tyirin suggested, coming over and sitting down next to the demon while everyone else was starting to doze off.
"I rented the paint therefore I only have it for a limited time, I want to get this done." Rieksi replied simply, all of his concentration going into painting the sheath.
"Alright, just don't stay up too late, we'll need our rest tomorrow." Tyirin retorted softly, sliding off towards a wall and falling asleep against it.
Rieksi knew Tyirin didn't want to disturb him but wanted to fall asleep next to him, and he took a small break to carefuly pick up the sleeping angel and bring him over next to where he was working. The wolf worked vigorously at the sheath, getting it done within 2 more hours and the moon was peeking over the treeline. Scrutinizing the sheath carefully and being satisfied with his work, he set over near the sword and went down to lay near Tyirin who was now a little puzzled in his sleep for the sudden absence of what he was holding. The angel's expression smoothed again as the wolf curled up around him, Rieksi drifting quickly as he listened to Tyirin quietly breathe.
***meanwhile in a familiar graveyard***
He rose out of the hole like a veteran rising out of a trench, knowing this job was most likely going to be like many others; oddities that need to be exterminated due to a risk of secrets being slipped. Giggling to himself leisurely, he knew this was going to be a cinch, both targets together and even making themselves known.
"Looks like the lit'le demon don't cuvva' tracks real well, I could see these prints a mile off."
Suddenly he saw a glint off in the corner of his avian eye; the glint of man-handled silver. He briskly walked over to the humans who were now starting to shrug off the creatures popping out of that particular grave, walking straight toward the man who let his necklace catch the wrong eye. As the bird approached and reached for the necklace the man dodged back and countered by slapping down his wrists. Just as suddenly as he appeared, the avian brandished a feather-shaped dagger at the man's throat as his reactions were still trying to catch up. Finally the man lurched back and started unlatching his necklace hastily, dropping it into the large scaly hand of the brigand. The bird put the dagger back in his wing and examining the trinket curiously, after a moment putting it into a small sack tied round his waist.
"Thanks mate, unbloodied jewelry is so much more appealing."
He went off into the forest, seeing more prints from other hunters obviously after the same target.
"That's no good, I'll only get my boon if my hand is the one that slays 'em."
With that he rushed into the cover of the forest and night, tracking with haste from the anticipation of competition.