Chapter 4: The Azure Demon

Chapter 4



         I was going to protect the girl and get her safely out of town. It didn’t matter what got in my way, or who tried to stop me, she would get out alive. I stopped at the entrance to the house and partially closed my eyes, reaching out with the senses unique to my kind. I could feel the presences of a very large number of energy forms all through the town, and relatively few aura forms. The fight was beginning to wind down as Guardian found and killed the few who remained. The acrid smell of smoke from the burning houses made my nose itch, and I sniffled once and looked at my surroundings. The buildings looked like they had been plain and modest, typical of a small town like this. Many of them now sported holes in the walls, or flaming roofs. The dead were scattered all over. Most of them looked like simple townsfolk, but among the bodies I saw a few in the signature red and black of Guardian. I gave a small, vindictive smirk as I looked at one particularly mangled corpse of a soldier, his hair standing on end and his skin charred. A proud soldier of Guardian, killed by a lightning mage in a backwater town in the middle of the night. I recognized him from some other times I crossed paths with Guardian. He deserved a death like that.

         I heard the girl whimper and glanced behind me. She was nearly an adult, seventeen or eighteen if I were to guess, but there was too much light in her eyes to believe she was truly grown up. Most children are born innocent, knowing only the good, only the beauty of the world since the rest is shielded from them. As you age, you see things. You see how bad things can get, and how bad the people who make those things happen can be. Some people try to keep their eyes locked on the light of the world and refuse to see that darkness. I’d say they’re idealistic idiots. Some balance the dark with the light and assume people are just people, capable of both right and wrong. I’d say they’re wise, but easily deceived. Some people stare into the darkness and become blind to the light, and they either embrace it, or fall to it. I’d say they’re realistic, but a waste of a life.

         I wondered how seeing something like this would affect the girl. I wondered if the light would die from her eyes, or if it would grow brighter against the blackness of the world.

         As for me? …People call me a demon. What path do you think I chose?

         “Natalie.” I said her name, and her wide, wild eyes snapped to mine. I don’t think she saw me, as much as her survival instincts had keyed her in to my words. When they kick in for the first time, you stop being a person and just become a sort of wild animal that only knows to survive. At least they were smart enough to keep her focused on me and my direction. Otherwise this would be even harder than it already was. “I need you to stay close to me and do as I say. Don’t ask questions. Don’t pause to think. Do you understand?”

         She nodded once. “Yes, I understand.” Her voice was shaky, and I guessed it was as much because of her fear as the fact she was gasping for air. Her shirt and hair were soaked with sweat, and her legs looked more than a little unstable. She must have been running for a while. Why the hell did she go back home if she‘d already ran so far away? It obviously wasn’t safe. …Then again, animals focusing on survival don’t use logic like that.

         I started off at a brisk jog, and heard Natalie do the same behind me. Her footsteps, even in those ridiculous fuzzy slippers sounded two or three times louder than mine, and her breaths were so loud I wondered if everyone in town could hear her. She obviously wasn’t accustomed to moving quietly, which fortunately I had planned for. I was taking us through a path of town where there were the least around to hear us. I hurried down an alley between two houses, kicking a disembodied arm out of the way. Natalie made a whimpering sound again as I did it. I never had much respect for dead bodies… the person was gone, and all that was left was a pile of meat. I seemed to be in the minority with that view, but that‘s how I looked at it.

         We emerged from the alley into another lawn covered in green grass. It was quieter here, but the echoes of the battle still managed to reach us. Another sound caught my attention, and I whirled around to face behind me. I reached a hand out and shoved Natalie aside at the shoulder, sending her falling sideways to the ground with a startled shout. She was out of the way, but the second it took me to move her cost me my only chance to dodge the attack myself.

         A hulking man in red and black armor charged toward me, roaring a battle cry as he did. He was hunched forward, his shoulder pressed out like a spear at the head of his charge, and he hurtled straight for me.

         I crossed my arms over my chest with my palms out and hopped backward. I couldn’t get out of the way, but the backward movement meant his charge didn’t hit me quite so hard. My coat helped as well, it isn’t just for looks. It’s designed to absorb a bit of my energy, strengthening it and making it as tough as armor. Most blades couldn’t cut it, it was resistant to energy attacks, and it also would deflect and disperse a bit of kinetic force from a blunt hit.

         If all of that hadn’t been working together, he probably would have killed me instantly. He hit me with the force of an angry rhinoceros, all of his momentum focused on the relatively small point of his shoulder, aimed right at my chest. Pain erupted in my arms, but they only caught a portion of the blow, and a great deal more pain exploded in my chest. A few of my ribs broke with audible snapping sounds.

         The force of the blow sent me flying back, adding to the momentum of my jump, and I managed to flip backward once and slide to a stop, my feet and one hand on the ground. Even if the attack hadn’t killed me, suddenly having one’s ribs break due to a heavy collision is usually enough to put a person down and keep them there. Fortunately, I’m not a normal person. Energy forms like myself can control the level of endorphins and adrenaline in our body, so even large amounts of pain can be dealt with, and we can keep fighting. That pain is still there, of course, because pain is the body’s way of warning someone of injury, and a strong reminder to avoid further injury. Only an idiot would make themselves numb to it. Considering how much pain I’d been in over the decades, and the tolerance I’d built up to it, just taking the edge off the pain was enough to keep me on my feet.

          It took a moment to make myself breathe again, and as I straightened up, the other energy form just stared at me. He must have been seven feet tall, and built like a boulder. His armor was thick, but not as thick as he was, and his head was covered by a helmet designed to look like a dragon’s head. He slowly turned his gaze to Natalie, who was gawking at him in fear, the whites completely visible around her eyes. He turned back to me and slowly shook his head. “What the hell are you doing?”

         I didn’t bother to explain to the idiot that I was protecting the girl. He would have just been more confused by me openly admitting to helping an aura form anyway. Besides… endorphins or no, I’d like to see you draw in enough breath to speak when at least two or three of your ribs just got brutally snapped.

         Instead I shifted into a fighting stance, one leg extended slightly behind me, the other planted in front toward him. He moved as well, and without my eyes leaving the shaded eyeholes of his helmet, I took in the details of his stance. I saw his fingers flex slightly, and though he was bending his knees preparing for a rush, something about his torso seemed noncommittal to it, like he needed to hold himself back just a little. That was enough to tell me what his plan of attack was.

         He charged at me, shoulder first just like before, but as soon as he was in range, he reached out and tried to grab me with his hands, hoping I expected him to just charge into me again and not see the grab coming. Just as he did, I took a quick step back, remaining just out of his grasp. He lowered his head and went for the shoulder charge again once his grabbing attempt had failed, and I leapt backward with a great deal more speed this time, soaring away from him. As I did, I willed my energy into a sphere around my hand, a bomb that would explode on contact. I hurled it toward his legs. The blast was fairly small, but it was enough to send his legs flying out from beneath him and cause him to fall flat on his face. That much weight and armor is a serious drawback when you fall. His own weight would slam down on him like his shoulder did into me, and send a jolt of pain through his entire body, stunning him and giving me the opening I needed.

         When he hit the ground, my feet did as well, and I bounced right back at him, willing a sword of energy to appear in my hand. A soul art like my blade is literally an extension of my own will, a manifestation of my intent to harm and kill.

         The pain in my chest and my anger at him and his allies for what happened here meant my will to kill him was very, very strong.

         I held the blade up in both hands as I soared, and thrusted downward as I landed, stabbing it into his chest. It seared right through his armor, through his flesh, through his heart, and didn’t stop until it had pierced the ground beneath him. He made a single agonized, choking sound, then fell silent, leaving only the distant sounds of battle, and the sizzling of his flesh around my blade.

         Natalie gasped, still gawking like an idiot. I drew my blade from the soldier’s corpse, and beckoned for her to keep moving with a jerk of my head. She quickly got to her feet, and we rushed away toward the forest.

         I had no doubt that my encounter with the soldier would alert other members of Guardian of my presence. Many of them could sense energy just as well as I could, and my blade isn’t exactly a subtle use of it. They’d know I was here. On top of that, Natalie’s breath was becoming more ragged, her steps more uneven. Survival instinct can only drive you so far, and she was nearly at her limit. I had to hurry.

         We made it past the last yard, out into a large field of white flowers, and kept going. Only a few feet from the relative safety of the trees, I stopped and puffed out a disappointed breath. Then I twitched in pain as my body reminded I had some broken ribs, and probably shouldn’t be using my lungs anymore than absolutely necessary.

         “What is it? What’s wrong?” She asked. I turned around and took a few steps past her, putting myself between her and the group of soldiers who had caught up to us.

         I recognized the one in front. He looked a little winded, and his arm and shoulder were sporting some ugly looking burns that had basically fused his coat with his flesh. If I had to guess, I’d say it was lightning magic. Even so, that sneer of his was as prevalent as ever on his face, his smug arrogance evident in his blue green eyes.

         Natalie followed my gaze, then took in a sharp breath. Sever’s eyes lingered on her for a moment, then settled on me. He was flanked by three soldiers, two on his right, one on his left, and they all looked ready and able to fight. “Freak.” He said by way of greeting.

         “Idiot.” I answered, and his sneer grew.

         “Sandra.” I didn’t take my eyes off Sever as the girl sputtered behind me. “Where is Sandra? What’d you do?”

         Sever gave a single, cruel laugh. “Don’t worry about her, she’s cooling off, taking a little nap back in town.”

         “Cooling off…?” Natalie repeated.

         “Yeah. It takes a while for dead bodies to get cold, you know.” Sever said.

         Natalie made a pained sound, and I heard her let out a few sobs between her breaths. It’s difficult to really explain the hatred that rose in me as I glared at Sever. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not some wandering hero who gets disgusted when he sees evil happen. Many would say I’m evil myself for what I’ve done, and continue to do. Maybe they’re right. I don’t really care. Good, evil, wrong, right… I’ve never cared about any of it. People can be and do whatever the hell they want, it doesn’t concern me. Except in those rare circumstance where it does. I fight, and I kill, and I don’t do it because I want to make the world a better place. There are people who have wronged me personally. There are people who have harmed the very, very few I consider worth protecting in this world. Put simply… I fight for revenge. I fight to make the people who have crossed me suffer.

         My hands clenched into fists so tight that it was painful. His words hurt Natalie as badly as the knowledge that came with them.

         Sever was going to suffer a lot for what he’d done.

         His expression changed, the sneer vanished, and he looked at me with undisguised hatred, perhaps even as much as I felt for him. I heard metal sounding against metal as two of the soldiers with him drew weapons from their belts. The third raised a hand beside him like a claw, and the energy he gathered in it became visible as a deep red light.

         Sever and I, moving in the exact same way, both conjured our soul blades in outstretched hands. The air became thick with tension, everyone waiting to see who would make the first move.

         Despite my hatred, my will to bring Sever screaming to his knees, my mind stayed rational and focused. I knew this wasn’t a winning scenario. I wasn’t sure how strong his allies were, but I knew how strong Sever was. He wasn’t the most powerful energy form in Guardian, but he was its leader, and he was not to be taken lightly. We’ve crossed swords many, many times. I stopped counting after a hundred. Each and every time it was a draw. Sure, one of us may have held a slight advantage over the other at the end of the fight, but not enough to really claim victory. We both used very similar soul arts, and were both well known for our skill with the soul blade, and for our speed. Put simply, we were evenly matched in nearly every way. He was injured, but so was I. He had three other energy forms backing him up… and I had a defenseless aura form to protect. Maybe, maybe, I could have fought my way out and escaped, but I couldn’t do it while protecting Natalie. Trying to protect her and fight all four of them at once was suicide.

         Fortunately, I didn’t plan to fight them. I had to be careful not to look toward it, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw my way of escape. I could only make it out as a massive shadow, moving slowly into the town. Sever and his soldiers were focused on me, so they neither saw nor sensed what I did. I could feel the aura of the one controlling that shadow, along with a mass of other aura that could only be a group of warrior mages. Many of the other energy forms had figured out what was happening, and I could sense them moving toward that looming shadow. They had arrived too late to save the town, but were just in time to help me save Natalie.

         I charged forward, straight at Sever. The four of them roared battle cries and charged back at me, Sever approaching by far the fastest. I abruptly turned my feet, leaned backward, and skidded to a halt, then shoved my sword down into the dirt. Then I jumped back and caused the blade itself to explode, sending a large cloud of dirt and destroyed flowers into the air. Before I landed, I formed and hurled three energy bombs into the dirt, blasting more into their faces, and I heard their battle cries flounder into angry grunts as they were blinded. My feet hit the ground, and I formed another bomb in each hand. I hurled one into the cloud, and from the shouts, I gathered that I managed to blast Sever back into one of his allies. I launched the other up over their heads, toward the town.

         Toward the massive shadow.

         The shadow was still a very good distance away, practically on the other side of town, and the bomb didn’t explode anywhere near it. However, it did explode up high, right on level with its eyes. It was a snake. A gigantic snake made of pure blackness with glowing red eyes. It wasn’t a physical, living creature, but a magical construct. There aren’t many people in the world who can create a serpent like that and maintain it for long, and even fewer who lead large groups of warrior mages. I was willing to bet North Star’s mages had finally arrived, led by one of their generals whom I had heard a great deal about.

         The serpent’s eyes went to the explosion, then snapped down to look directly at us. I could feel its gaze on me, and knew it saw Sever and his troops. Apparently the one manipulating the snake recognized us, because its mouth opened wide, and it let out a hiss louder than the explosions from my bombs, one that reverberated with such fury that the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. Sever and his cronies heard it too, and for a moment, as the dust and smoke began to clear, they forgot about me and turned their attention to the oncoming gargantuan serpent.

         I didn’t stay to see what happened next. I ran toward Natalie, put one arm behind her knees and the other behind her shoulders, and lifted her up. She let out a startled scream, and I staggered back, nearly falling. Look, she was a healthy young woman, and she wasn’t exactly the lightest thing I’d ever picked up. Besides, my body was small. I was built for speed, not strength, and I’ve never been very good at using strength amplifying soul arts. Besides… I’d like to see you effortlessly lift someone up like that when at least two or three of your ribs just got brutally snapped.

         I sent my will, the power of my soul, coursing through my legs, and took off at a sprint. Natalie screamed again and wrapped her arms around my shoulders, clinging tight in surprise. When I sprint, I move fast enough that everything around me appears to be a blur of color, and the wind whistles loudly in my ears. I run faster than most people can really see, and I’ve been told I just look like a blue light flashing by. I’m used to moving that fast, and can use soul arts to amplify my vision and reaction time, not to mention my endurance, so moving at that speed isn’t too terrible an issue for me. But I’m fairly certain Natalie had never moved anywhere near that fast, and literally believed she was holding on for dear life.



         I didn’t stop for several minutes, and when I did my arms felt like they were on fire, and my chest was screaming in agony even through the pain-reducing soul arts I was using. I sat Natalie down against a tree as gently as I could in my condition, but when I tried to stand up straight again, I staggered and fell backward, landing in a sitting position against another tree, eliciting another explosion of pain from my ribs. I closed my eyes and took several pained breaths, trying to cope both with the pain, and the effort I’d just exerted. Normally running for that long a distance isn’t so exhausting, but being injured and carrying extra weight? I needed to catch my breath.

         “Oh, oh no!” Natalie stammered. I slightly opened one eye to see her kneeling in front of me, looking more worried than terrified. It seemed more natural on her. “Are you alright?”

         “I’m fine…” I said as I closed my eye again. “Just give me a minute.”

         “Oh, your chest! That… that jerk hit you earlier!” She announced as if solving an important mystery. I considered saying something sarcastic, but decided against it. That meant talking, which meant more work for my lungs. “I think I can help. Hold on.”

         I opened one eye and glared at her. “What the hell are you doing?” She reached out and gently placed her palms against my chest. I tried to sit up and push her arms away, but she firmly pressed against me, filling me with agony from my injury and flattening me against the tree again.

         “Hold still, I’ve never tried this spell on such a serious injury before.” She snapped, then closed her eyes. “Please, at least let me do this for you.”

         I felt myself bare my teeth, but I didn’t do anything else. Doing anything else would have hurt, and endorphins and adrenaline can only take off the edge so much. Still, I didn’t like the idea of magic being used on me, even if it was being done with good intentions.

         “By the spirits… You must be in so much pain…” She said, her eyebrows furrowing in concern. “He could have killed you.”

         “Obviously…” I growled.

         I felt her hands start to shake. “You knew…he could have killed you and you shoved me aside anyway. You stood against seven of them, and killed three…You…idiot!” She shouted, pressing against me again as her blue eyes opened, blazing with anger and shining with tears. “You could have died at least three times trying to save me! What were you thinking!?”

         At first my only reply was an agonized gasp as my eyes opened far too wide. She shuddered and moved away when she realized how much she was hurting me, and I took a moment to get my breathing under control. I glared at her again once I had managed to take in enough air to speak. “I was thinking… of protecting you… stupid girl.”

         The anger vanished instantly from her face. She looked both dumbfounded and heartbroken, just staring at me for a long moment. Then she swallowed and placed her hands against my chest again very gently. Natalie took a deep, steadying breath, focusing. I could feel her gathering aura for her spell. She was still fairly new at it, and even though her talents were raw, I could tell her aura was powerful. She had a lot of potential. What was even more powerful, and perhaps more important in terms of working magic, was her heart. Soul arts come from will. The stronger our will, and the more powerful our drive to accomplish something, the more strength we can draw from our soul. Magic comes from the heart, from emotions. The more a person believes in what they are doing, and the more of their own feelings and desires are invested in their goal, the more powerful their effect on the spirits of the world. Natalie’s entire life had just been shattered. Right now, there was an entire world of facts she didn’t want to face, and instead, she seemed to be focusing solely on me and my injuries. I don’t think anyone had ever really protected her before. The very idea that someone else suffered to prevent her from having to was almost as painful as the wounds I had taken doing so.

         The hairs on my neck stood on end again as I felt the water spirits moving powerfully to answer her heart. My breath caught as I felt her aura coursing through me, like water flowing across a cut to clean it. It wasn’t pleasant, but it was less painful than what I was already feeling. Her hands glowed a faint blue, and I felt the pain receding, slowly fading to nothing. I felt some odd, uncomfortable movements in my chest as her spell caused the bones to begin mending.

         When her spell finished, she moved back, sitting on her folded legs and wiping sweat from her forehead. “I’m sorry, that’s the best I can do.”

         I was impressed. She hadn’t fully healed my ribs, but she had managed to mend them back together. Her spell had washed away a lot of my fatigue as well, leaving me feeling like I had just enjoyed a peaceful dip in cool water after the night’s chaos. “It’s much better… thank you.” I said.

         She looked at me in shock and shook her head. “No, no, don’t thank me. I should be thanking you!” Her gaze went to the forest floor, and she shook her head more slowly. “If you hadn’t shown up, I… I never would have…I-” her voice cracked, and tears began to spill from her eyes. “…It’s all gone, isn’t it? Everyone is-…oh… oh, spirits, my parents!” She started trembling, and her hands went to the ground, clenching tightly. “I saw them dead… and Mr. Jonus, the grocery store owner…Sandra… Amy… Mom…Daddy…” She broke down completely, her words devolving into heavy, uncontrollable sobs. She slowly laid down on the ground, curling up in a fetal position with her hands over her face, crying wildly.

         “…Natalie…I’m so sorry…” I said quietly. I don’t think she heard me. I didn’t know what to do. I had no idea how to comfort her, to ease her of the pain she felt, the way she had eased mine. I had saved her life, but I couldn’t do anything for her heart. Instead, I sighed and kept my guard up, feeling out for any sign of approaching energy forms. I didn’t think they’d come out this far, not when North Star had engaged them, but the only thing I could do now was make sure Natalie stayed safe until she could pull herself together.

         And I was damn well going to do it.