Rupture: Rise of the Demon King Page 16

  Kazuma squinted at her in the dying light. “Oh no ya don’t. You’ll just kill us while we sleep.” He moved to the mouth of the cave. “I’ll keep watch.”

  “As you wish.” The girl moved to a corner, away from the others, and was soon asleep.

  Kazuma watched her until her breathing slowed. Then he turned away from them, facing the dark forest and its enemies.

  But were those enemies behind him?

  / / / / /

  Halfway through the night, Kazuma woke Keith for guard duty, and Lorissa awoke as well.

  “Watch her, Keith,” Kazuma said. “She’s too … something. I don’t know. I have to sleep.”

  Keith grunted, and Kazuma slid away and drifted to sleep.

  Keith stared at the girl at the mouth of the cave. What a strange girl, Keith thought in the darkness. The girl hugged her knees to her chest, staring at the night sky.

  What was her story, anyway? No one should want to live into this forest, Keith thought. It’s too dangerous. So why does she?

  After a moment, Lorissa responded. “I hear you, Keith.”

  Keith grunted loudly. “Can’t a man have some privacy? You’re very invasive.”

  Keith could hear the girl laughing. He moved to her and sat down at her side. “Who are you?” he asked. “And don’t talk to me in my mind,” he said. “It’s unsettling. Unless … you can’t speak out loud?”

  She shook her head and said, “I am Lorissa.”

  “More.”

  She looked to him with her red eyes. “You don’t want to know who I am,” she said with pain. “I’m more like him than you.”

  “What?”

  “The hero. I am more like him than I am like the rest of you.”

  “What does that mean?”

  She just looked away from him, into the forest.

  Keith sat silently for a moment, then said, “I’ve met others like you, with the strange-colored eyes. I can’t pretend I know what pain you’ve gone through, but you don’t have to do it alone. I’ve learned that from being in this company. It is not healthy to close yourself off to the world.”

  Lorissa was shaking. Keith placed a hand on her shoulder and turned her around, discovering that she was crying. “Our very souls have been changed,” she whispered. “We have gone through an irreversible change and will never be fully human again. We know too much.” She scooted closer to him, and Keith placed an arm around her.

  “I’m sorry,” Keith said.

  They sat there for a while, looking out into the night. Lorissa was in pain. She reminded him of another girl, whom he missed very much. He glanced to Lorissa, who had fallen asleep. Gently, he rose and placed his blanket upon her, then moved outside the cave to keep watch.

  / / / / /

  The next morning, the group found themselves in low spirits. The gloomy forest was only slightly brighter than the dark cave they stayed in, demoralizing them further. It was so humid, it felt like they were wading through water. They moved slowly through the thick mesh of trees and heavy weave of vines and ferns.

  Throughout the journey, both Kazuma and Keith kept their eyes on Lorissa, albeit for quite different reasons. Occasionally, Lorissa would share a glance with Keith, and Kazuma noted this in suspicion. Keith wouldn’t even acknowledge her glance. He kept his face a mask to the feelings inside.

  Keith pulled Seeko obediently, like before. In the morning, Lorissa spoke again to Seeko and he attacked her. Keith and Mori pulled him away from her and tightened his restraints. Now he was seething in anger behind Keith, no doubt biding his time and waiting for the perfect time to strike.

  After hours of maneuvering through the dreadful forest, Mori hung her head in frustration. Would this forest ever end?

  “Glad you asked,” Lorissa said in her head. “We are only ten minutes away from my Sisters.”

  “I didn’t ask,” Mori said to Lorissa.

  Keith and Kazuma looked over at her, then to Lorissa.

  Lorissa smiled. “Right. Sorry, it’s a habit.”

  The next couple of minutes passed quickly as the trees thinned. Soon they stood in a large clearing that sloped gently upward into a hill at the center. Atop the hill stood a brilliant white temple that seemingly emitted light into the murkiness. Its whitewashed stone contrasted with its dark stained-glass windows and the blackness around them.

  “We—” Lorissa began to say in their minds, then stopped and smiled. “Sorry … We’re here. Mother is already expecting you.”

  Mori looked up at the temple. Although the gleaming walls looked welcoming, the shrouded windows gave her shivers. She looked at Seeko, at the anger in his red eyes, the eyes that used to care for her but now only pierced through her.

  Kazuma stepped forward, breaking the silence. “Let’s just get this over with,” he said. “The sooner we leave, the better.” He pushed himself to the front of the group and marched toward the temple. The others followed suit.

  When the five of them stood before the wooden doors to the temple, Lorissa turned to them. “You will be the first visitors here that I know of. Most others come here … under different circumstances.” She looked down and then faced the doors again. She sighed and then muttered under her breath, “Here goes.”

  She pushed open one of the doors and they filed in, one after another. They stood inside a dimly lit large chapel. A dozen or more individuals, wearing cloaks similar to Lorissa’s, sat in various places upon the pews. The figures turned to reveal women hidden under their hoods.

  Suddenly, a dozen voices pierced their thoughts. They all grabbed their heads in pain, including Seeko. Mori even fell to the ground, yelling in agony. Lorissa stepped forward, staring at the tall, robed woman standing at the altar. The woman waved her arm and the voices died. Seeko ran forward, looking like he wanted to kill the woman, but Keith held him back. The other hooded women faced the one standing at the altar. Lorissa and the woman at the altar stood there for a moment, silently looking at one another.

  Lorissa looked down after a moment and walked over to sit with the other girls. Another voice entered their heads, stronger and clearer than the rest: “So you’ve come seeking help from me? What makes you think I would help you? It was out of line for Lorissa to bring you here, and she will be dealt with later,” came the cold and irritated voice from the woman at the altar.

  She appeared to be wearing something upon her back. She turned around, and the bundle on her back moved away, unfurling into a pair of black feathered wings. In the light, the wings shone a dull black, with dull green glinting around the edge of the feathers. “You seek aid from a demon.”

  Kazuma drew his blade and muttered a prayer. “I knew it. Demon worshipers.” He pointed his sword toward her, ready for an attack.

  “Relax, I mean you no harm … as long as you remember your place,” the woman said.

  Kazuma stared at her before reluctantly lowering his sword to his side. The winged woman scowled back at him, glaring with her strange red eyes. She flicked her black-green hair and moved to the group of travelers. She stopped in front of Seeko, and their gazes met, red gazing at red.

  “Who did this to you?” she asked him.

  Seeko responded, but only she heard it.

  “Hmmm … I see. I will heal you, then … if only to spite him. Come to the altar. I have had practice with mastering the demon within.”

  Seeko did not budge. The woman took the tether from Keith and dragged Seeko toward the altar. The Sisters in the pews stood and melded their mental voices into their Mother, Lorissa included.

  Soon the Mother stood on one side of the altar and Seeko on the other. Mori and company had followed behind tentatively, highly aware of the strange ritual and their exclusion from it.

  Kazuma once more raised his sword as his eyes darted from sister to sister, and Keith placed a hand on his claymore, preparing for the worst. Mori stared at Seeko from a distance, watching the Mother as she called the magic.

  “Sisters!” she said
aloud. “Give unto me your strength! For today, we cleanse the soul!” Her voice was stronger than when it was only mental, now echoing throughout the temple. The Sisters closed their eyes and began chanting a strange prayer. Kazuma watched the situation unravel, and Keith drew his claymore.

  Soon the Sisters were glowing a dull white. The radiance flew upward like a wicked flame, coalescing above the Mother. She rose a palm toward the white and formed a swirling sphere above her hand.

  Seeko struggled as the Mother reached for him with the sphere of light. He managed to spit out the gag, yelling at the woman, “Syran, I will tear your Sisters to ribbons! I will consume the flesh of your still-beating heart! I will drink your blood—”

  The Mother cut him off with a touch. The sphere entered him, engulfing him in light. The white silhouette of a man fell to his knees, grabbing onto the altar for support. The Sisters’ chanting grew more intense, and soon the Mother was also glowing.

  Then Seeko fell to the ground and the Mother lost contact with him. An unconscious Seeko sprawled on the steps to the altar, and the Mother fell to the opposite side.

  Mori ran up to him, screaming, “What did you do to him?”

  She cradled Seeko in her arms while Keith and Kazuma moved to opposite sides of them.

  The Mother rose from behind the altar. “I have healed him.”

  Mori looked at Seeko and he opened his eyes. He smiled and Mori’s heart melted.

  18: Awaken

  13 Sheri, 112 AV: Day 112

  A castaway hero lay broken on the edge of the Third Battle of Vicussa, eyes no longer working.

  “Good luck, Seeko,” he heard Yoshino say with an edge of worry.

  Seeko’s hearing went next, and then the agonizing feeling of his shuddering muscles.

  Then there was nothing but a void of emptiness, black and all consuming. Seeko floated in this darkness, a miniscule emerald light that attempted to combat the insurmountable void. Then, a light, a copper sunrise, rose above him, above the darkness. Seeko’s light was washed out in the coming brightness. He had traded dark for light, proving he was nothing in this world.

  The light moved as if noticing his thought. It focused on him.

  Something invaded his mind, a sharp prod of thought: “Who are you?” the orange light asked Seeko.

  He felt compelled to answer as if he were standing in front of a god. “Seeko Dris,” he thought back to the light. “My name is Seeko Dris.”

  The light flickered. “Amusing,” it responded. “You scrambled my name to create that.”

  “What? Who are you?”

  “Kerodesis. You are an invader, Seeko Dris.”

  “What are you talking about? Invader?”

  The thought, the orange light, flickered again. “Why are you in my mind?” it asked. “How did something so weak achieve it?”

  “This is my mind! You leave!”

  “Brave.” The orange spark of Kerodesis surrounded Seeko’s green one. “But foolish.” The orange attempted to consume, to destroy Seeko, but something stopped it.

  “Interesting,” it said. “In that case, be silent. I have work to do. I want to know how strong I am.”

  Seeko’s eyes snapped open of their own volition. Seeko still had no control over his body. “Let go of me, Kerodesis!”

  The brilliant orange spark ignored him.

  Seeko’s body laughed at Yoshino, who stood in front of him. They were still on the edge of the battlefield. The Irenic and the Halcyon were still struggling for supremacy behind Yoshino.

  Yoshino cocked his head. “You are not Seeko, but someone else, correct?”

  Kerodesis rose from the ground awkwardly and moved Seeko’s lips. “I am Kerodesis.” He summoned an orange inferno to Seeko’s hand, a towering spiral of heat. “I would like to know how powerful I am.”

  Yoshino took a step back. “You are an Akeni, created from Seeko Dris. You shouldn’t be any stronger than he is.”

  The orange spark flickered in anger. “I am much stronger than this Seeko Dris.”

  “This shouldn’t have happened,” Yoshino muttered. “You should be like the Syran; hearing the Voice, not two separate people. Seeko, you continue to fascinate me!”

  “I am not Seeko!” Kerodesis roared. The inferno in his hand flew toward Yoshino.

  Yoshino was faster, teleporting out of the way before the attack struck him. He reappeared next to him, sword in hand. “Calm down, utaru. Listen to the Kikoeru, the Voice. That will give you guidance in your new life.”

  Kerodesis summoned a copper sword of flame, swinging madly at Yoshino. But Yoshino blocked and countered with a ball of pressurized air into Kerodesis’s chest, sending him flying.

  Yoshino walked up to him calmly. He spoke to the body of Seeko, tapping him on the forehead. “Seeko, if you’re still alive, I hope you are strong enough to defeat Kerodesis.” Then he was gone, shifting into the wind and away from Vicussa.

  Kerodesis rose from the dust. “How dare that utaru insult me like that! Ahhh!” He summoned more fire to his hands. “All of you will die!” Kerodesis strode back into the battle and raised his palms. He sent the fires into Irenic and Halcyon soldiers nearby, turning them to dust. He moved back to the center without resistance, incinerating anything he could in an orange hellfire.

  Once in the center, he spun slowly in a circle, destroying everything in a fifty-foot radius with his cleansing flame. Seeko heard screams and shouts of the people he knew, powerless to stop it. Ash and cinders and death was all Seeko knew, and he tried to remember where he last saw Mori, Keith, and Kazuma. Did Kerodesis destroy them? He dreaded the idea and tried to forget it, but it kept invading his mind.

  As if to answer his question, Mori and Keith leapt from the fire, Mori launching water to counter one hand while Keith called up wind to counter the other.

  “What’s wrong with you?” Mori screamed. She launched more water into Kerodesis, who blocked it with a glowing palm. Steam went everywhere, but Keith blew it away with a gust of wind.

  “Look at the eyes!” Keith yelled. “He’s possessed!”

  Keith flung himself at Seeko, his speed augmented by his magic. He tackled Seeko and they tumbled into the ground. Kerodesis converted into an orange bonfire and Keith escaped the flames in a whirlwind.

  Mori launched a wave of water into the fire that was Seeko as Keith jumped back. By then, Seeko was human again, creating a dark wall to shield himself. Keith charged at Seeko again and Kerodesis summoned a sword to fight him. They exchanged blows, Keith falling back from Kerodesis’s superior strength. Then Mori came out of nowhere, stabbing Seeko in the leg. Kerodesis roared in pain.

  “Keith! Finish him!” Mori yelled. There were tears in her eyes.

  Keith hesitated, then swung his sword at the hero’s head. At the last second, he turned the blade so that the flat of it connected with his skull, knocking him out instead of decapitating him.

  / / / / /

  And so Seeko once more floated in the abyss, the other unconscious but in complete control of the body. As long as Kerodesis was stronger, he would control Seeko. Would he ever control his own body again?

  A muttering intruded on the thought. Seeko focused on the intrusion and the muttering increased in volume. He listened to it, now unable to ignore it.

  “Consume assault attack destroy slaughter fight assail feed kill die bleed …”

  What was this horrible voice? It was like a hundred angry people, each crying for attention, each threatening to overpower him. He tried to ignore it, to escape it, but it only grew in intensity.

  “SLAUGHTER BARRAGE BUTCHER KILL STRIKE GORGE DEVOUR …”

  “No! I don’t want to listen to this!”

  The Voice persisted. Minutes turned into hours, and still the Voice persisted. His sanity bent like a twig in a screaming wind. He had to choose between a maniacal demon and these sadistic voices. What was the point of this madness?

  After another hour or two of listening to the insanity, Seeko
decided to try to regain control of his body. He reached out in all directions, feeling around in the abyss for any hint of control. But no matter which direction he went, he always ended back at himself, or at the orange spark that was the slumbering Kerodesis.

  He returned to himself. What was he going to do? What could he do? The muttering continued. “Shut up!”

  Hours lengthened to days. Seeko’s spark recuperated as the days trudged on, but he never came back to full strength. Yoshino had split his soul, his spark, somehow. The other spark, Kerodesis, thought that he was the original, when he was just a part of Seeko. At least that’s what Seeko concluded as he floated in the darkness.

  The muttering increased in intensity as he sat there. At first, it was frustrating and annoying, but eventually Seeko got used to the mindless violence of the Voice. If he listened closely, he could hear coherent conversations underneath the violent voices. He listened to the dialogue in his spare time, picking out different voices from the chaos. Once, he thought he heard Vishoni arguing with another demon.

  Seeko noted the words the demons used. Utaru were the non-humanoid demons and an insult used by the Akeni and the Syran. The Akeni were the humanoid demons like Yoshino, and the Syran were the winged humanoids like Vishoni. He learned that the Voice itself was called the “Kikoeru,” which itself was fascinating once he ignored the muttering violence.

  So the Kikoeru is how the demons communicate … This must be how they know who is on their side as well. Some of them are discussing the Halcyon … and the mindless, violent voices must be the utaru. Is every demon represented in the Kikoeru?

  Seeko tried to talk to the Voice, but that only angered the utaru, who responded with more shouting. Seeko withdrew his attempt, content with listening.

  After what might have been fifteen days, Kerodesis awoke. This shut out the Voice, which surprisingly disappointed Seeko, who felt alone in the silence.

  “You’re stronger than I thought,” Kerodesis thought idly though their shared link. “You must have been weakened from assaulting my mind. But you are still nothing compared to the might of Kerodesis!” He chuckled through the link.