Crystalline Chaos

by Gabriela Voelske

  A sudden playful shove brought his attention back to the current situation; the fire warming his body, the fish in front of him. He looked at the culprit with an unamused expression, causing the demon to flinch and back down. It was unusual for Amnur to act in such a way. Worried glances were exchanged between the others present, though they were too afraid to directly ask what was bothering him. He sighed and stood up, casting his gaze over to a particular house.

  “I need to speak with Crono,” he stated and walked off, being watched the whole way.

  * * *

  Ferdan, Ciel and Drake had found the edge of the swamp, unaware of just what danger the boggy ground hid below its unassuming surface. It had not been long before they had managed to get themselves stuck in one of the many bogs around Linlake, with the additional weight of the demons they had been dragged down further. Against recommendation Ciel had been struggling, causing him to get sucked in further; the muck was well past his waist and it was sticking fast to his wings. Drake had waded into try and pull him out but soon found his feet unable to move and he was still too far away to pull Ciel out, the limited mobility of his legs preventing him from unsticking his feet.

  Ferdan watched on helplessly, unsure how to help. His magic was of no use when it came to lifting people out of bogs, nor did he have anything to throw out to Ciel to try and pull him in.

  “I take it you’re not locals,” a voice from behind chuckled, drawing their attention to a tree a short distance away. “First rule of bogs; no struggling,” it continued, whoever was speaking could not be obviously seen from their position. Ferdan looked around desperately, trying to locate who was speaking to them. A current of wind clipped his back as a short, female demon landed beside him, brandishing a length of rope. She tossed one end out to Ciel who grabbed it tightly before turning to Ferdan, indicating for him to grab hold of the rope to help pull Ciel out. Ferdan nodded and grabbed the rope and the two of them pulled, slowly reeling Ciel towards them. The rope stung Ferdan’s fingers but the female demon was unfazed and continued pulling with her full strength.

  Minutes passed as they continued to drag Ciel free until he reached the most solid path, exhausted, cold and smelling rather rife. Ferdan helped the boy out with food and some water while the female turned her attention to Drake, who was looking rather worried. She walked up to his side, taking a close look at the ground behind him; Drake, however, was stuck at a bad angle for him to see what she was doing. “The ground behind you is solid if you sit down, your weight should tug your legs free,” she said with a hint of laughter in her voice, he was hardly even stuck.

  He did as he was told and soon enough had his legs free, a wave of guilt hitting him; if he had known earlier he could have possibly helped Ciel before he got so exhausted.

  “What’s your name?” Ciel panted from behind, in between sips of water.

  “Sakura.” The name obtained questioning looks from all of them; it was an unusual name for a demon. They were not commonly named after trees or plants, more so one that wasn’t even native to the Central Isles; the tree only grew on the vast northern continent. “And yours?” Sakura asked in return. They, in turn, told her their names; her mind hung on the name Ciel, it was familiar to her but she couldn’t pinpoint where she knew it. Regardless who he was, she could not leave them stranded out in the bog, so she offered to show them a safer way towards Linlake. They wholeheartedly accepted, not wanting a repeat of that incident. Drake decided he would carry Ciel for a while to allow him to rest; the move did not elicit any protest from the exhausted demon.

  As they walked Sakura pointed out things to look out for, such as reeds and other plants that indicated drier land and the more tell-tale signs of a bog, for future reference. She continued her informational tour of the swampland, pausing for a moment when something strange caught her eye. A slightly raised patch of the boggy ground, the light around it was tinted an eerie blue colour. Kneeling down at the edge of the solid ground, she drew out one of her blades from her belt and lightly poked at the lump, her followers warily watching what she was doing.

  Before she had time to react to the lump violently moving back, deep blue pincers grabbed her leg and a creature burst forth from the bog, slamming her hard against the floor. Pain seared up her back, stunning her for a moment and causing her to cringe. The shocked sound of the reactions behind her told her that her assailant was cause for concern.

  Forcing her eyes to focus, she was startled by the sight in front of her. A creature with a pitted azure hide held her in the air by her leg, its face lined with crystals and illuminated by their cyan glow. From the look of the damage to one of the crystals, she must have stabbed it when investigating the lump. The belly looked covered in curved auburn plates, though from her position it was hard to see much. It had yet to completely surface itself, however. Behind her she heard the sound of blades being drawn and threw her gaze back, eyes wide at what she saw.

  “Behind you!“

  Her shout was overridden by an ear-piercing screech that made her ears feel as if they were about to bleed, causing her to clutch them in pain. Ferdan peeked up at the newcomer, grasping his staff tightly and blasting the creature with an icy bolt. It had little effect, the creature simply responded with a snort before swelling the fleshy sack attached to its head with air, preparing for another wail.

  Ciel was faster, however, rushing into the tree with help from his wings and slipping his blades into the creature’s face, ripping the brightly coloured sack to shreds and sending the creature scrambling, letting off no more than a high pitched squeak. He tried to balance himself on a branch but soon found himself falling, the original wail still playing havoc with his ears. Drake reached out and broke his fall, the large demon himself having to lean on the ground in order to stay standing. Demons often had better hearing than their human and angel counterparts; such a potent sonic attack could be devastating for them.

  In the chaos caused by the arrival of the second creature, the first creature seized the opportunity to drag Sakura down into the bog. As her body was being dragged under she reached out and grasped the first thing her hand felt; a small rock, one that was hopefully well stuck in the mud. Using her free leg she tried to kick at the pincers that were dragging her down, her foot connecting successfully several times. The creature did not relent, her flailing only annoyed it more; a feeling that was confirmed when a wide area of sheer pain hit her. It had bitten into her flailing leg, stopping it dead and using its newfound leverage to try and pull her down further.

  Intense pain ran up her leg and she let out a cry, attracting Drake’s attention towards her. By her desperate attempt to hold onto the rock it didn’t take him long to work out what had happened, but he was still disorientated. He had to help her, though.

  Forcing himself along the ground using his arms, Drake reached her side and thrust his arms into the murky bog, trying to locate the creature below.

  Ciel had since gone back in the tree in search of the remaining creature, being greeted by a fast moving ball of water. It stung his skin as it hit, although he didn’t mind it too much; the water from the attack cleansed the residual bog muck. The second creature stood on a far branch and for the first time he got a good look at it. Its skin was pitch black, only broken by a bright blue underbelly and green banding on the edge of its seemingly stiff wings. An elongated yellow crest ran down the middle of its head, flanked on both sides by a band of cyan crystals in the place of eyes. It waved a tail around that possessed two groups of rounded crystals, a frontal green group and a rear blue group. The blue crystals flared as it pelted him with more stinging water bombs, preventing him from moving off the branch.

  Ferdan below had been coming up with an idea, if his pure mana had not been affecting the creature then possibly if he converted it to a more physical form it would be able to connect with its body. To put this idea to the test, he formed thick icicles and sent them flying at the creature’s tail. It struck home, piercing right t
hrough the crystals. The colour faded from them, causing it to wobble and fall, dropping onto the waiting ground below and shattering into tiny shards.

  By now Drake had managed to locate the creature hidden below and grabbed hold of it, crushing its head with one hand and the body with the other; the besieged creature had let go of Sakura’s legs in an attempt to retaliate to the overwhelming force it was experiencing. He heaved it from the bog, as the frantic creature flailing its now revealed clawed feet around, trying to nick the demon’s skin. It was being held in such a way that put the feet nowhere near its target, though.

  It started hissing at him, in denial of its inevitable fate. Cracks emerged across the deep blue body; the light from its crystals began to fade away as its body caved in.

  Once it stopped entirely, Drake discarded it back into the bog, where its broken body sunk into the water it had been hiding within. He was surprised by the resistance of the creature’s body, whatever it was made of, it certainly was not ordinary skin; there was nothing soft about the body.

  Sakura had managed to heave herself free of the muddy bog and was clutching her leg; past the thick mud, black streams of blood were becoming evident. The drops began seeping down to the ground by her foot, creating a watered down black puddle. From the coating of mud, it was unobvious how deep the wound was but the pain told her it was more than a surface scratch, in addition to being aggravated by the dirty mud of swamp.

  The commotion brought the other two back from the shattered corpse of the shrieking creature, with the blood around her leg causing Ciel notable concern. Ferdan rushed over and examined the wound, teasing one of the punctures open to check the severity of the wound. It was not to Sakura’s appreciation; the word she used was not one he knew the meaning of, yet he didn’t need to know the language to pick up on what she had just said.

  “I can use my magic to heal the wound, but it would need to be thoroughly cleaned first,” he remarked, obtaining a weak nod from the girl. She tried to stand but Ferdan kept her on the floor, her expression showing her disagreement with this action. “Do not let her walk with that wound.” He looked back towards Drake; the demon was still shaky on his feet but he had managed to remain standing, no longer requiring his hands to move himself along.

  Drake bent down and lifted her up; she protested verbally but her body relaxed in his grip, feeling the welcome warmth of his skin. Ciel came up behind him and gave the demon a celebratory pat on the back; no one had died or been fatally injured, he would consider that a victory for now.

  Ferdan looked around for his horse but saw nothing, the animal must have fled upon seeing the creatures; he would have to leave it for now, though, Sakura’s wound needed to be treated.

  The rest of the distance was calm and uneventful, to the relief of the group. Sakura was wearily directing them along from her position nestled within Drake’s folded arm; reassuring them that Linlake was close, based on what she was seeing. Ferdan pointed at a column of smoke that was rising out from a patch of trees ahead of them. Ciel breathed a sigh of relief at the news, his body was starting to ache from the repeated assault of the creature’s water bombs.

  An opening appeared at the opposite side of the trees and they were greeted with the suspended huts that made up Linlake. The demons around the fire noticed their arrival, hesitant at first at the unknown company before noticing Sakura waving to them; her exhaustion was visible on her face. They rushed over from the fireplace to help them out, curious as to what had occurred.

  * * *

  Amnur had explained the whole situation to Crono, down to every last detail. It had been weighing on his shoulders for too long, but it was also because he needed help with something. Crono remained silent for a while, digesting what he had just been told. He sat down in a chair, resting his arms on his knees, staring blankly at the floor. Even sat down Amnur still had to look up to maintain eye contact with Crono; Amnur was about on the taller side of average height for a new blood demon, standing around twelve feet tall, Crono, however, stood around twice his height.

  “Is there any evidence that whatever attacked Wintergate has moved out of the Commons?” Crono enquired, breaking the long held silence. A threat like that was the last thing he wanted to hear about with winter approaching.

  “Aside from the missing persons’ reports and strange sightings, I have no physical proof. Sakura dealt with the one we encountered, that doesn’t mean there isn’t more, however,” Amnur replied, both humans and demons went missing around the end of summer even in a normal year. Those who get over zealous could find themselves slipping into bogs, as well as those who just decided to up and leave while the weather is favourable.

  Commotion attracted their attention to the outside; Crono dreaded opening the door after what Amnur had revealed. Taking a deep breath he opened it, instead of deadly monsters he saw two demons and a human that was unknown to him. The residents of Linlake were gathered around them, or specifically gathered around one demon. He walked towards them to see what was happening, Amnur was following closely behind him, keeping himself camouflaged.

  Crono was taken aback when he saw who they were gathered around. Before he could mutter anything to Amnur it had become evident that he had already seen. Now fully visible he pushed past Crono and walked up the group, unsure how to respond.

  Her leg had now been cleaned of mud and the full wound was clearly visible, streaks of blood blended in with her dark skin as it flowed from the now liberated wound. Sakura glanced up at the newcomers and flashed them a weak smile, though it did little to relief the look of shock on their faces. She knew the swamps well, such a wound would have not had come about in a normal situation, the fact she had it meant that something much worse had happened.

  Amnur crouched down and took a look at the wound. It was fairly deep and roughly cut, it would take a while to heal naturally.

  Ferdan took a look at the demon that had crouched next to him and jerked away, one hand firmly planted on his staff. Ciel and Drake were stunned at his reaction, it was the first time they’ve seen him react so violently to anything.

  “You’re Amnur,” he stated angrily, the demon was well known within the Magi Council; he was a powerful mage and dangerous one and he had long been thought dead. Ciel recognised the name, even if he did not recognise the demon that was crouched in front of him. His father had told him about Amnur multiple times, never was it pleasant the things he heard.

  Amnur just glared at the mage, unwilling to be distracted from his injured daughter. Ferdan, however, was equally unwilling to drop the subject and threw a conjured icicle in his direction; Amnur counted simply by putting up a fiery barrier, turning the ice to water as it collided with it.

  It went on for a few attempts, Ferdan throwing different spells at his opponent, only for it to be countered completely. Amnur remained unmoving the whole time, not saying a word.

  Agitated from the pain in her leg, Sakura got increasingly frustrated watching the display. “Will you stop it!” she shouted, receiving the attention of both mages; a scornful look from Ferdan and a surprised look from Amnur.

  “He will only harm you!” Ferdan yelled back, his comment, however, did not pull the attention of his adversary.

  “He is my father!” The comment produced a stunned silence from Ferdan, Drake and Ciel. Amnur idly scratched his head, waiting for the mage to respond. Or anyone to respond, for that matter.

  “I guess that’s that,” he chuckled, not making eye contact with any of them.

  One of the Linlake residents moved in awkwardly and began wiping Sakura’s wound with a creamy salve, but the three remained in a stunned silence. Drake looked around nervously, he had not heard much of Amnur and didn’t grasp the full seriousness of the situation. He did, however, remember Ferdan’s statement that he would heal Sakura’s leg.

  “You did promise to help with that wound, at least,” Drake spoke up over the quietness; he felt it was best not to say Ferdan’s name so openly, even if S
akura could just tell her father later.

  Ferdan snapped out of his trance, glancing at her leg. It would be unfair to leave her wounded, as she had been injured helping them through the swamps. He would, however, have to report on their existence to the Magi Council, a choice that would condemn them to death and not in a pleasant manner. What he had picked up on though is the Linlake residents did not look startled, Amnur must have been living with them for a while and they accepted it without issue, which surprised him more. Somehow he had the feeling that he would not be allowed to leave alive, not unless he conveniently forgot the events that had occurred here.

  Once the demon had finished applying the salve to her leg, Ferdan slowly mended the wound without a word, unwilling to look at Amnur. The demon mage was watching him closely; making sure that it was only healing that was occurring, periodically gazing up towards Ciel.

  “You look familiar,” Amnur spoke after a while, seeing Ciel panic as he spoke to him. He was unable to respond, revealing who he was could turn Amnur against him, or possibly all of the Linlake residents. Noticing his discomfort, Amnur regarded him more closely and noted the stature of Drake. They were a spitting image of two others he knew; it was not a coincidence either, he knew that for certain. “You must be Ciel,” he began calmly, “and you must be Kaiser’s son, although I do not know your name.”

  His lighter tone calmed Ciel a bit, he had been expecting to be shouted at. Ciel stood tall for a new blood demon with short, thin horns surrounded by sleek shoulder length hair, which held many different dark hues. The demon’s body was well toned from years of training, covered by light leather armour decorated with metal plates. In all ways, he was his father, just without the burden of rule.