Devil Ash Deceit (Devil Ash Saga)

by Olson, Mitchell

  Shiva sat in the grass with eyes glazed over in wonder as she watched the two boys trade blows. They seemed evenly matched, until Phoenix started to pull ahead a little. It looked like Darko would be defeated, but the boy had one more trick up his sleeve. Before Phoenix could throw another punch the young Prince activated his soul power, vanishing in the blink of an eye. It was an amazing skill for a thirteen year old to possess.

  That looks like so much fun, Shiva thought. I wonder if I could ever be strong like my brother and Phoenix…

  Darko caught Phoenix off guard and knocked him to the ground. The fight was over. “Same time tomorrow,” Darko said. The Prince exited the yard, walking right past his sister and ignoring her starry eyes of admiration. When he was gone, Shiva hurried over to Phoenix, still sitting on the grass.

  “I’ll beat him one of these days,” Phoenix said with a determined smile.

  Phoenix was always kind to Shiva. He was the only person she could speak casually with, the only one she ever wanted to talk to. His friendship, along with Darko’s unrivaled strength, inspired Shiva to become a capable fighter. She dreamed of doing her part in protecting the Kingdom, fighting alongside her brother and their mutual friend. She wanted to be just like them.

  From then on, Shiva went to the private courtyard every day to watch her brother and Phoenix spar. Besides the occasional visit from her grandfather, watching those matches became her favorite way to spend her time. When their sparring sessions ended, she’d replay the battles in her mind for the rest of the day, anxiously waiting for tomorrow’s match.

  This became a problem when she started her schooling lessons with the private tutor her father hired. Learning was fun, but not as fun as watching the boys fight. Unfortunately for the girl, her morning lessons interfered with her favorite hobby. She would often arrive late to her lessons, having stopped to watch the sparring match and losing track of time.

  Finally, the newly elected Royal Advisor Goddard von Gosick had no choice but to go to the private courtyard. He would retrieve the young Princess, and hopefully put a stop to her attendance issues once and for all.

  “I knew I’d find you here,” he said. With arms crossed in agitation, Goddard tapped his foot expectantly. “Your tutor has been waiting nearly half an hour for you to arrive. What do you have to say for yourself?”

  The girl could only shrug and stare down at the ground. “Can’t I do my lesson after I watch them?” she asked. “They’re just getting started!” Behind them, Darko and Phoenix clashed with wooden swords, undistracted by the appearance of the Royal Advisor.

  “Absolutely not!” Goddard said. “You’ve already kept the tutor waiting long enough. You should be studying right now. And look at your dress! It’s all dirty now. Your father is going to be very upset with you.”

  “But I am studying!” Shiva insisted. “I’m studying their moves so I can fight like them some day! I wanna be a fighter, not listen to some old guy talk!”

  Goddard laughed. “You? Fight? I’m afraid that’s never going to happen. It’s for the best, though. Take it from me; a good education is the greatest weapon. Knowledge is the best way to defeat an opponent.”

  “No! Punching them in the face super hard is the best way to defeat an opponent!” said Shiva. “If I started training now, I could fight like brother does some day!”

  “Pff,” Goddard scoffed. “Your father would never allow it.”

  He gripped the girl by her wrist and dragged her out of the courtyard. She turned and struggled to catch the last developments in the sparring session as she was being pulled away.

  “Prince Darko will be a powerful asset to the Kingdom someday,” Goddard said, tugging extra hard against the struggling girl.

  “So will I!” Shiva said.

  Goddard laughed. “Sure you will,” he said as he pulled her through the door and away from the private yard, still chuckling to himself.

  * * * *

  Shiva sat impatiently tapping her foot against the hard wood floor. Her elderly instructor babbled on about fractions, variables, and something called a hypotenuse. Shiva had little use for this information, not seeing how it could help her in a fight. Her tutor slid the girl a paper with assorted math problems written on it for her to solve.

  “And this is supposed to help me…how?” Shiva asked.

  “You need a good education,” the old man said. “Don’t you want to be smart?”

  “No,” Shiva replied instinctively. “I think I’d rather just fight.”

  The old man grumbled something about it being a passing phase and that she should just be quiet and solve the problems on the paper.

  As Shiva zoned out, staring at the math equations like they were a foreign language, her teacher read to himself silently. This is how their lessons would usually go for hours. The girl was dying of boredom. That is, until the demon invasion siren started sounding. Immediately, the girl’s head perked up.

  Shiva diverted her eyes towards the window. Outside, she could see an assortment of Royal Guards take to the skies, their destination unknown to her. She watched to see what kinds of weapons they carried, or how many men were ordered to go fight. She imagined herself among them, scrambling to the front lines of a demon invasion.

  She smiled.

  “Focus,” said her tutor. Without looking up from his book, the old man knew Shiva would be staring out the window in a daze, like she did every time the sirens went off. The girl was about to look away when she saw her brother Darko flying into action. She practically jumped out of her seat to get a better view.

  “Sit,” the old tutor said. “Your work is right here, not out there.”

  This work is meaningless to me, Shiva thought. I should be out there, helping to defend the Kingdom. Just like brother is… He’s out there fighting demons and getting stronger. Meanwhile I’m stuck in here, wasting time. No one ever killed a demon with a hypotenuse… whatever that is.

  * * * *

  King Al Satan decided that Shiva’s frequent truancies and her interest in the boy’s fighting sessions was brought on by a lack of all things feminine in her life, including the noticeable absence of a motherly role model. The solution was simply to expose the Princess to some children her own age, in the hopes that a little interaction with other young girls would change her opinion on the matter.

  “Come in, come in, my dear friends!” said King Satan, ushering in a group of Nobles. Every so often, Al would host social functions for the upper-class citizens of Hell to visit the castle and gab about the various goings-on around the Kingdom. They gathered in the Royal living room, taking seats on the largest, comfiest chairs in all of Hell and lighting up smelly cigars. Servants poured mugs of wine and passed them around.

  The worst part was that Shiva was forced to attend these gatherings. The Nobles didn’t come alone: their daughters would accompany them, brought specifically to mingle with the Royal Lady in hopes of striking up a friendship with her. So far, there had been no takers. The adults sat in their comfy chairs, smoking cigars and shooting the breeze while the gaggle of little girls enveloped Shiva.

  “Why are you wearing that?” one little girl asked Shiva. They were all around eight years old, and this girl had long curly blonde locks of hair and a fancy pink dress on.

  Shiva looked down at her plain and simple denim dress full of old grass stains. She didn’t see anything wrong with it, especially compared to the girl’s silly frilly pink dress. She shrugged. “It’s comfy, I guess,” she said. “What’s wrong with it?”

  “That dress is ugly,” the girl said. “If I were a Princess, I would wear only the most beautiful dresses all the time!”

  All of the girls giggled at Shiva’s choice of clothing. They all wore much fancier dresses that their rich fathers must have bought for them. Shiva never saw the point in wearing dresses, though. She found them terribly inefficient for combat.

  “I guess I just don’t have an eye for style like you do,” said Shiva, trying to beh
ave to please her father.

  “That’s obvious,” the little girl replied. The other girls giggled even more. While the girls excluded Shiva and showed off their dolls, the little lady marched over to her father.

  The King reeked of smoke and alcohol by now, and was having an obnoxiously loud laugh at something one of the other men said. Shiva tugged on his sleeve from behind the armrest of the giant chair. Al put down his drink and cigar and turned to his daughter.

  “Not now honey,” he said. “I’m speaking to my friends. Why don’t you go play with yours?”

  “I don’t want to,” said Shiva. “I kinda hate them all.”

  “Shiva, I don’t care. They came all this way to play with you today, so you’re going to play with them whether you like it or not!”

  With a gentle shove, the King sent his daughter off to interact with the other children. Shiva was disappointed at first, but then an idea dawned on her. She approached the girls once more, waiting for the appropriate time to cut into their conversation about who was going to marry the Prince some day.

  “Wanna play a game?” Shiva asked, an innocent smile on her face.

  Moments later, King Al’s conversation was again interrupted. This time, it was by one of the girls screaming like she was in terrible pain. The Noble men and the King jumped out of their chairs and ran to the children, fearing the worst.

  Shiva sat on top of the curly-blonde girl, a golden lock clutched tight in her hand as she pushed the girl’s face into the Royal rug. King Al screamed at her to get off, and the children were swept into the loving arms of their fathers. All except for Shiva, who was gripped by her little ear and pulled out of the room.

  “Owwie!” Shiva cried. “But we were just sparring!”

  * * * *

  The King and his daughter sought privacy in the Royal throne room. Shiva’s face was beet red and her bloodshot eyes leaked tears uncontrollably.

  “Stop crying!” Al shouted at her. “You did a very naughty thing! I will not tolerate this kind of behavior! You are a Royal Princess, and you will act like it!”

  “Darko gets to spar though!” Shiva said, trying to hold back her tears.

  “Darko is a boy,” Al replied. “He gets to do things like spar, and fight demons, and protect the Kingdom. He’s strong. You aren’t.”

  “I know! But I could get stronger! I know I could!” she said, stomping her feet to punctuate every other word. “All I need is a sparring partner!”

  “Shiva honey, you’re a girl. You’re my little princess, and I forbid you from fighting. What if you got hurt? What if you died? I’d feel terrible. You don’t want to make me feel terrible, do you?”

  “I dunno,” Shiva replied, wiping her runny nose with the back of her hand. “Darko started training at my age, so why can’t I?”

  “Shiva, that’s enough! I’ve told you already. You’re a Princess. You will have your own guards to fight for you and protect you for your entire life. All you have to do is be pretty and give me grandchildren someday. Is that so hard?”

  “It is for me,” said Shiva with a sniffle.

  “Trust me, my dear. I am doing you the greatest favor of your life by keeping you from fighting. You’ll thank me one day when you’re happily married, living a comfortable life of peace. You never have to lift a finger. You should be happy; no one else in the Kingdom has the kind of opportunities you have.”

  * * * *

  It was King Satan’s constant denial of Shiva’s requests to fight that forced the girl to think outside the box. Denied, but not deterred, Shiva examined her options. If her father didn’t believe she could fight, then all she would have to do is make him see that she could. The problem was that she had never actually been in a real fight before. She needed to end her dry spell and find some equally matched opponents to spar with.

  The girl started attending her tutor’s lessons regularly, acting as well behaved as she possibly could. It was all a ruse. After her lesson was over for the day, the girl would disappear to her room where she’d disguise herself in some boyish clothing she’d bought from a nice tailor on one of her shopping trips. She learned how to tie her hair up into a ponytail and then tuck it under a large cap. She looked just like a little boy; so much that no one questioned her as she snuck out of the castle.

  The girl found the freedom of her new identity liberating. No one stopped to question her or make her return home. She wandered all over the Kingdom, exploring different parts of the four sections every day. For the first year, her thirst for action was quenched simply by exploring the Kingdom alone.

  During this time, she approached children of all ages and attempted to interact with them. No one accepted her quite as easily as the South Hell boy named Dekko. With her identity hidden, Shiva could let her real personality out and act like a normal kid. It helped that Dekko also dreamed of one day joining the Royal Guard. The shared goal brought the two children even closer together.

  When Shiva was ten years old, the Prince turned sixteen and joined the Royal Guard. He’d already been helping them out with demon invasions from an early age, but actually being made an honorary part of the team made Shiva all the more jealous. With that determination fueling her, Shiva started picking fights with every roving gang of street urchins she could find.

  She got beat up a lot. Each time she could barely escape before anyone figured out her true identity. Luckily, her ten year old body wasn’t far enough developed to be discovered a lady. She hid her bruises and scrapes with silly frilly dresses and makeup during the day. It didn’t take her long to adapt to the streets, and to even start winning some fights.

  Sparring with Dekko helped. The boy wasn’t nearly as strong or skilled as Shiva, but she had the benefit of a front-row seat to Darko and Phoenix’s sparring matches. Shiva was just happy to finally have a sparring partner, since it was at the top of all her birthday wish lists and never delivered.

  Whenever the demon invasion siren would sound, Shiva and Dekko (along with any children they happened to be fighting at that time) would scramble home for safety. The girl was not at a level where she felt confident in fighting any demons just yet. She and her friend had more than a few close calls with the demons, but they’d always managed to get away safely.

  Those years spent fighting on the streets with Dekko were some of the happiest times in Shiva’s life. For once, she had everything she’d ever wanted.

  * * * *

  When she was sixteen years old, Shiva screwed up. The Royal Guard caught her after a brawl in South Hell and her identity was finally revealed. She was brought to the Royal Throne Room, where not only her father but also Prince Darko and even her grandfather Wilhelm were gathered.

  King Al was outraged at his daughter’s secret double life, going off on her about her responsibilities as a Princess. The other two family members had different opinions. Wilhelm smiled as he listened to the girl speak passionately at length about her desire to help protect the Kingdom by fighting alongside her brother and the Royal Guards. Even Darko seemed to pay more attention to the girl than usual.

  Shiva stated her case that for the last few years she’d been fighting and getting stronger. She could hold her own in a fight now, and claimed she was ready to join the Royal Guard. Just in time, since her body had matured to the point where it was becoming difficult to hide it anymore from Dekko. There had been too many close calls during sparring where the boy had grazed her developing chest and almost figured ‘her’ out.

  “I’m all for it,” said Wilhelm, much to the dismay of his son, the King. “The girl wants to fight. Clearly, she has proved she’s willing to go to great lengths to accomplish her dream. I don’t think its right to hold her back from it any longer.”

  Shiva smiled lovingly at her grandpa as tears ran down from her eyes.

  “But!” her father was quick to speak. “She’s a girl! A Princess! It’s not womanly to fight!”

  “Need I remind you of the late Captain Venus?” asked Wilhel
m. “She was strong enough to make Captain. They’re rare, I admit. But sometimes, women can really ‘kick butt’. Let’s not forget, Shiva too has the blood of a Satan flowing through her veins. I believe that with proper training, there’s no reason why she couldn’t become a powerful asset to the Kingdom, just like Darko is.”

  While the King mulled over what his father said, it was Darko that ultimately made the call. “Let her fight,” the Prince said. “If she’s strong, she’ll survive. If not, she’ll die. That’s really all that matters.”

  “She can’t die! She still has to give me grandchildren!”

  “I won’t die!” said Shiva. “I’m strong and I’ll prove it!”

  “You’d better not,” said Al. “We’re all that’s left of the Satan bloodline. As the rulers of Hell, our survival is of the utmost importance. Your brother already agreed to do his part in giving me grandchildren some day. I didn’t think I’d have to ask my only daughter…”

  “I’ll do it!” Shiva cried. “I’ll do whatever you want! Just let me fight!”

  Al looked to his father, who gave an encouraging nod. He looked to Darko, who had his usual bored face once again. With much hesitation, the King cleared his throat and made his announcement.

  “I will let you join the Royal Guard,” he started. Shiva jumped for joy and screamed. “But!” the King was quick to add, “you must stay alive long enough to marry and continue our bloodline!”

  “Yes!” Shiva said. “I promise! I’ll make myself useful, I swear!” Wilhelm engulfed the girl in a warm hug while Darko made his way to the exit. While Shiva and the old Satan celebrated, King Al had other thoughts on his mind.