Demon Seer 2

by Kurtis Eckstein

  ‘Jericho,’ I heard the guy, Seth, warn his sister in his thoughts. ‘I think that’s enough teasing.’

  My brow furrowed as I looked at him in confusion, prompting Jericho to glance at him too, wondering the reason for my unexpected expression.

  Had I really…just heard his thoughts?

  Something wasn’t right here. I felt like something about this whole situation was off, but I wasn’t sure what. I glanced at Jericho again when she returned her focus to me, trying to remember how I knew her name, only for an uncomfortable sensation to settle into the pit of my stomach.

  For a split second, I hallucinated her without wings or horns, her body cracked and broken, as if she’d been tortured in the most heinous of ways possible.

  The horrifying imagery made me take a step back in shock, my heart racing from the grief inside my chest.

  Jericho looked surprised from my rapid shift in behavior, taking a step towards me with a gentle and apologetic expression, as if she was afraid she had truly offended me, only to stop abruptly as an azure hue lit up the front of her body.

  Blue lightning was crackling in the air between us – no, all around me – seeming to worsen as my heart pounded harder.

  And all three of them were completely stunned by the display, as if they’d never seen anything like it before.

  “I’m sorry,” I said sincerely, getting her attention as I took another step back, feeling like my chest was going to tear apart. “I mean you no harm. But I think…” I hesitated, taking another step back, my gaze locked with her icy blue eyes. “I think it’s better, for you, if we don’t know each other.”

  Something in my expression, the pain in my eyes, must have communicated my distress went far deeper than I was intending to show, because she took another step towards me, despite the electricity, her thin tan hand held out.

  “Are you in some kind of trouble? If something is wrong, we might be able to help.”

  I shook my head, feeling more desperate to get away now, but I wasn’t sure how I could. I assumed they could run as fast as me, and I had no idea how to fly.

  “Please,” I whispered. “I don’t want to see you hurt.”

  She withdrew her hand then, looking confused. “What makes you think I’ll get hurt?” she asked cautiously.

  I honestly didn’t know how to answer her, so I didn’t, instead just turning around and beginning to walk away. I sensed her begin to follow after me before her brother called her back, suggesting it was unwise to chase when clearly I didn’t want her to.

  I was thankful for his intervention, with something about his presence making me sad, in addition to my grief associated with this female stranger.

  Without further hesitation, I took off running again, aiming towards the lava river, hoping that standing on it would relax me like it did previously, so I could calm down and collect my thoughts. As I ran, the rolling clouds high above continued to glow with their crimson hue, the air around me completely still.

  The black rocks and dark red dirt stirred slightly under my feet, but produced little sound.

  When I reached the river of molten rock, I leapt right onto it, immediately relaxing from the extreme sensation that coursed through my body. Then, taking a deep breath, I began walking slowly downriver, with no goal in mind, but also not wanting to remain completely motionless.

  There was something charging about moving around.

  I didn’t get very far before I sensed a presence further downstream.

  For a moment, I considered just ignoring it, instead focusing on trying to recall my memories, but then decided I should continue with my original plan. I had been hoping to find someone to talk with in order to help me jog my memory, only to be shocked by the negative emotions caused by meeting Jericho and her brother.

  So then, maybe if I just tried speaking with someone else.

  Deciding on my new course of action, my slow walk turned into a run as I headed for the source of this new presence. The terrain became more uneven as I got closer, with lots of hills, some of them rising high enough to be considered small mountains, though they weren’t black like the massive volcano I had seen earlier.

  I wasn’t sure what I was expecting to see, but it wasn’t a twelve-year-old demon boy – with midnight skin, pitch-black hair and horns, as well as gold eyes – collecting a chunk of lava from the molten river.

  Chapter 19: Forsaken

  The kid’s complexion was so dark that he looked like a living shadow with gold irises – even his sclera was pitch-black. However, despite how dark he was, I could quickly tell that he looked ill, his skin somehow appearing fragile, though I couldn’t quite figure out why it seemed that way.

  I didn’t think about it long though, since he had given me his attention the moment he saw me in the corner of his vision, running across the surface of the glowing river.

  Up until this point, I had just been running around with my tail swinging behind me, helping me balance as I moved, not having been too concerned about my nakedness, because it felt natural. However, seeing in the distance that even this kid’s tail was wrapped around him like makeshift shorts, I quickly mimicked what I had seen that bigger demon do – the one named Reuben – covering myself up.

  Once I was closer, I began slowing down as I waved at him. However, he didn’t return the gesture, simply staring at me with a chunk of slowly dripping lava in his hands.

  Once I was within speaking range, I tried to ease any tension he might have, concerned that I was making him overly cautious.

  “Hello. How are you doing today?”

  I felt stupid the moment I said it, but I wasn’t sure how else to start a conversation.

  Much to my surprise, the boy’s almond-shaped eyes widened, the entire sphere of his gold irises now fully visible. “H-Hello,” he greeted in response, seeming even more uneasy now that I’d spoken to him.

  “My name is Michael,” I quickly added, confused by his reaction. “What’s yours?”

  “E-Ezra,” he replied. “D-Did you need something?”

  I reached up to scratch the back of my head, deciding to just be honest. “Well, kind of. You see, I actually seem to have lost my memory. I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions…” Although, now that I thought about it, I wasn’t sure what questions to ask.

  The boy continued to stare at me in disbelief.

  I frowned, deciding to just begin asking whatever I thought of – anything to break the ice – starting with what the boy was doing in the first place. I pointed to the lava that was slowly becoming more solid, the outside mostly black now with cracks of yellow and orange glowing softly. “What’s that for?”

  “M-My mother,” he replied. “She’s unwell, but eating this helps some.”

  My eyes widened in shock. “She eats that?!” I exclaimed in disbelief, having never considered it as an option. I mean, why would I? Eating lava? The idea just sounded crazy.

  Now he sincerely looked confused. “Umm, y-yes. She eats it. I do too sometimes. But not as often.”

  I paused to think about that, as well as the fact that he said his mother was unwell, focusing on his skin again. Glancing down at my own skin, it seemed…hydrated, whereas his skin was almost desiccated in appearance.

  Had he looked older, then it might have made him look like an old man, but instead he just looked really unhealthy.

  “Are you sick?” I finally asked directly, wondering if he had some kind of genetic illness.

  “S-Sick?” he repeated, his brow furrowing, his gaze becoming unexpectedly critical.

  “Umm, yeah,” I replied uneasily, realizing the language I was using didn’t have the right words to further elaborate what I was trying to say – there was nothing like ‘bacteria’ or ‘virus’ in this language. “Err, is something wrong with what I said?”

  His expression relaxed again. “Just that no one ever uses that word – ‘sick.’ I know it, but have never heard another say it.”

  “Oh…
” I paused. “So then, why are you and your mother unwell?”

  His eyes tightened, his expression pained. “Because my mother made me. This is her punishment.”

  Now I was even more confused than I had been before. His mother was sick because she had given birth to him? That was certainly possible, I supposed, but he made it sound more like someone else was inflicting this punishment on both of them.

  Was he talking about God? Did he believe there was a deity punishing them?

  After a moment, I took a deep breath. “I don’t understand,” I admitted.

  “Want to–” He instantly stopped speaking, looking nervous now, like he was about to get in trouble.

  “Want to, what?” I prompted uncertainly.

  “Umm. W-Want to come with me back home? My mother can probably answer your questions better than me.”

  “Sure,” I replied slowly. “But why do you seem…uncomfortable?” I wasn’t sure how else to say it. “Will you get in trouble for showing me where you live?”

  He shook his head hesitantly. “No, it’s just that almost no one ever speaks to me. And they definitely wouldn’t want to speak with a lawbreaker like my mother.”

  “Why not? Would I get in trouble for talking to her?”

  He shook his head again. “N-No, but it’s what mother says is ‘taboo.’”

  “Oh,” I laughed, surprised to find amusement after feeling so much anxiety and confusion. “I don’t care about something like that. If that’s all, then I’d be happy to meet your mother.” I then pointed to the molten rock in his hands, feeling significantly more comfortable. “Is that enough? Or should I grab some too?”

  Truly, I wouldn’t have believed a person could be so shocked were it not for the expression on his face. He was sincerely dumbfounded by my offer to help.

  “U-Umm. I-If you want. I’m sure someone will eat it.”

  I nodded, quickly crouching down to dig my hands into the liquid rock – the same liquid that could support my weight without me sinking into it. Once I had a good chunk, smoothing the glowing rock in my hands like a massive marble, to try to prevent most of it from dripping, I finally responded to his comment. “So there are others that live with you, then?” I assumed.

  “Y-Yes.”

  “Are they all lawbreakers?” I asked, just now finding it odd that his mother would be viewed as a criminal for having a baby.

  He shook his head, gesturing with his elbow for me to follow him. “No, some choose this punishment. And others are too weak to go to the human world on their own.”

  I abruptly stopped, extremely confused again. “Human world?” I repeated.

  He looked back at me, turning partially sideways. “Yes.” He paused. “You really lost your memory, didn’t you?”

  I could only nod in response, prompting him to continue.

  “My mother says we need human blood to be healthy, but we aren’t allowed to have access to the human world, because she bit me when I was just born. Had I been at least three years old, then it would have been okay, but biting someone younger than that is forbidden. My mother tells me that the moment she sensed me, she just had to have me as her son, even though she knew the consequences.” He frowned, his expression unexpectedly pained as he lowered his voice. “She regrets her decision now though. She says she’s thankful to have me, but wishes I didn’t have to suffer too.”

  At first, I couldn’t comprehend what he meant by human, but as he spoke, the obvious began to dawn on me.

  Human.

  I had been human – at least, I think I had.

  And this boy had been human too, as well as his mother, prior to becoming a demon. However, if the consequences were so grave, then why not just delay the transformation?

  “But wait, why not just wait until you were three?” I asked seriously.

  He sighed, his gold eyes glancing away. “Because then she wouldn’t have been able to bite me at all. The ones allowed to go to the human world can only visit once every few hundred Cycles, so it was either bite me right then and there, or never.” He dropped his gaze. “She couldn’t accept never.”

  “Oh,” I said simply, uncertain of how to respond to that, before another piece of information finally sunk in. “Wait, they can only visit a few hundred Cycles? If that’s true, then how are you so unwell already? Surely you aren’t that old.”

  His gold eyes widened again. “I’m almost two-and-a-half thousand Cycles old,” he stated matter-of-factly. “Surely you know that those bitten as children grow slowly. It takes me two-hundred and ten Cycles just to age the equivalent of one year for a human.”

  I just stared at him as I tried to wrap my mind around that. I wasn’t sure how I knew it, but like this language, I was aware that a single Cycle was only about sixty percent of what I knew to be a year, which meant this kid was something like fifteen-hundred years old, and only matured one year every one hundred and thirty years.

  Basically, it took the equivalent of a human’s max possible lifetime for him to age by just one year. And after fifteen-hundred years, he was only about twelve – at least, physically and mentally, in comparison to humans…

  Unexpectedly, one of those voices whispered to me again, making my heart ache.

  ‘More like, just shy of fifteen hundred years. At least in human terms. For my kind, I probably am close to being eighteen.’

  I froze, my gaze unfocused as I was overwhelmed with grief, a longing settling into my core, like a time once long forgotten that I wished I could return to.

  When I didn’t immediately ask another question, the boy resumed walking, prompting me to follow in silence, processing everything I’d just heard, including the hallucination whispering to me.

  Along the way, I finally spoke up again, asking Ezra why he didn’t just run, since I seemed to never get tired, and assumed he was the same. But, he disclosed that he couldn’t run – that it hurt too much to do so. It was one of the many side effects of his ‘illness,’ if it could even be called that.

  I then offered to carry him, since my molten lava had solidified enough to hold with one hand, but he explained that even being touched was painful.

  Even being touched.

  I felt bad for him, being essentially a twelve-year-old who couldn’t even do something as simple as run, and would find it painful to receive something as basic as a hug. And I was even more troubled when I considered that none of this had been his fault. Honestly, I didn’t really agree with the punishment to begin with, but also had no idea why it might be forbidden to bite an infant. However, my basic assumption was that laws existed for a reason – that there must be a reason.

  But even still, punishing a child for the parent’s decision seemed unfair and harsh. He didn’t do anything to deserve this fate.

  Not that I could do anything about it, though I wished I could.

  It didn’t take long before I realized we were heading towards a couple of hills offset from each other, the second one a darker red than the first.

  That was also when I noticed that the first hill appeared to have something on top of it, sort of like a black spike. However, as we got closer, I realized that it was the steeple of a building on the other side, peaking over the crest of the red hill.

  In total, I barely sensed the presence of sixteen people, though the sensation was extremely muted, seeming to come and go almost like I was a radio continually losing reception.

  Slowly, more and more midnight buildings came into sight, revealing a small village with the dark red ground in between the structures. A few demons came into sight, sitting outside on stone benches, with one of them lacking wings or horns, only having a tail, but the boy completely ignored them as he headed to what appeared to be some kind of chapel.

  Two of them looked at me cautiously, averting their eyes when I met their gaze, and one guy even got up and slowly walked inside what I assumed might be his home. I was shocked to discover that I couldn’t really sense this man at all with my mind, as if
he wasn’t even there, indicating that there might be more than sixteen people hidden throughout these buildings.

  It also made me wonder if the severity of his condition had something to do with it, or if he was just somehow hiding himself from me.

  The building with a steeple resembled what I’d expect to see in a traditional church, with there being an antechamber that led to a sanctuary. Although, the entire building was much larger, indicating that there were more rooms within. There was no glass in the wide windows high in the walls, but from what I could tell, it was far too hot for there to ever be any sort of rain.

  I also wasn’t sure if glass was possible in this world, even though I had this nagging sensation that I’d seen it before.

  It made me hope I was beginning to regain my memory, though thus far nothing specific had surfaced.

  Inside the sanctuary, there were a few stone pews spaced far apart, as if every other pew was missing. Ezra walked about halfway down before making a right, walking towards an entryway that made a turn towards the rear of the building not far down.

  Following after him, I stopped dead in my tracks when we arrived in a circular room full of brilliant shades of orange, purple, and red, the walls lined with windows of stained-glass. I felt extremely nostalgic from the sight, trying hard now to remember why this felt so familiar.

  At the very least, I was sure I had never been here before, and yet…

  Of course, the boy continued to his destination, unaffected by a sight he probably saw all the time.

  He knelt down next to a woman lying against the wall, her skin medium gray, being much lighter than the kid in comparison, though they shared the same gold eyes, black hair, and midnight draconic features. She definitely looked a lot worse than her son, her skin more than desiccated. It was fractured, covered in seemingly hundreds of shallow fissures.

  Yet, despite that, she couldn’t have been older than twenty-five, based on her appearance. It was strange seeing someone who looked so young simultaneously look so old.

  “I’m back, mom,” he said at normal volume, sitting down next to her. He then lifted the rock in his hands and slammed it against the black stones that formed the floor, it bursting into several dozen chunks.