Demon's Oath (final chapter)

Chapter 5: The Curse Of Love

Isaac just glared, “I don’t think you have it in you,” he said with my sword pointed at his throat.

This was a side of Isaac I had never seen before. He was focused on his duty so much that he would strike down his best friend if Loki told him to do so. One more reason for me to rip Loki’s heart out, but I still didn’t want to hurt my friend.

“Isaac, please step aside. I don’t want to hurt you,” I pleaded to him, but he replied with a chant from his spell book.

A wall of fire sprouted from his book and shot towards me, but I was able to roll into the cell and avoid it. Almost instinctively, I picked up Bree and held her over my shoulder as the demons ran in after me. I waited until they were almost within striking range, put as much power into my legs as I could, and jumped over them. Not an easy task, especially with an Angel on my shoulder, but we demons were known for our physical strength.

I landed near the entrance of the cell. They turned around to pursue me, but not before I struck my arm up and smashed the roof with Excalibur. Rocks crumbled and fell to the ground, until the entrance was blocked off and they were all trapped inside.

“Damn you, Isher!” Isaac shouted at me from behind the rubble. “You know you can’t run with her forever! Loki will find you!”

I just turned and started to walk away, “On the contrary, Isaac, I plan on finding him. Don’t worry, I’ll send someone to come and get you out.”

I could hear them shouting at me as a walked until their voiced faded away, and I arrived at a balcony. Looking down, I could see the main lounge of Utgard. Demons were everywhere, talking, relaxing, and ready to kill me if they ever got a glimpse of me. I looked over at Bree on my shoulder, she was either asleep or passed out.

There was another balcony on the other side of the room, but the only way to get to it’s staircase was to go down into the lounge. Of course, I couldn’t forget about my wings.

I rarely brought my wings out because they were skeletal and usually only got in the way. I couldn’t fly with them; they just didn’t have the strength to carry me into the air. The only thing they were ever good for was gliding, and that was just what I needed at the moment.

I closed my eyes and forced my wings out of my back. They reached out slowly through the sides of my armor like giant hands of a corpse. Demon wings weren’t as elegant, graceful, or strong as Angel wings, but Bree was passed out and I didn’t want to waste time in trying to wake her up.

I brought my foot up to the railing of the balcony and brought us both up to the edge. Very quietly, I clutched Bree to myself and pushed off. My wings sliced threw the air and let us float across the room without a sound. Utgard was fairly dark, so I didn’t need to worry about them spotting a shadow flying across the ground. Although, Bree was feeling heavier after each passing second in the air.

We reached the other side and I touched down as silent as I could. I folded my wings back in, and proceeded through the corridor and down a hall.

I thought of nothing except how I would take down Loki as I walked towards his door. Then I remembered Dana, she had gone in first to take him out. Maybe she had already done the job for me, and I wouldn’t have to worry about how I would beat him. Before I knew it, I had arrived in front of his chambers.

I looked around for any demons, but there were none, so I set Bree down outside the door, and as crazy as it sounds, that was the safest place for her at the time. The door swung open slowly as I pushed on it and stepped inside.

It was dark, so I drew Excalibur to be ready for anything.

The torches lit themselves and my eyes adjusted to the sudden flood of light. Then I saw him.

“Loki!” I exclaimed.

“Isher,” he said in the same calm voice he had used before. “I see you are back from your little journey. I must say, I thought the Angels would have killed you.”

He smiled.

“Save it,” I shot at him. “I know all that crap about the Angels was a lie. You deceived us all!”

“I see you’ve found me out. You always were a clever one, Isher. Although it seems I’m not the only one with plans of deception...” he raised his hand and pointed towards the back of the room.

There was Bree’s sister, Dana, sitting up against the wall. Her eyes were glazed over and seemed to be staring into a blank void of her mind.

“What have you done?” I yelled at Loki.

“Don’t be so quick to defend her. It seems she wanted to kill me...but for a different purpose. As it turns out, she thought she could rule Utgard as it’s leader if she defeated me,” he chuckled. “She was wrong. I had no choice but to curse her.”

“You turned her into an Accursed?” I questioned in disbelief. “I can’t believe I ever looked up to you. You’re a monster, and I will finish what she started!”

“He watched me intently as a raised my sword to him, “Now don’t be so hasty, Isher. If you fight me, you will suffer the same fate as her.”

“So be it,” I said, “You will still die here today.”

Loki paused and then nodded his head. A blackness formed around his body, and it was at that moment that I remembered he was a shape-shifter. The blackness grew into a giant oval with tentacle legs sprouting from the sides. Two monstrous claws formed in the front, and the rest of the darkness formed into an armor-like shell.

His size was massive, at least from what he had started as. No backing down now.

I didn’t have much time to look him over for a weak spot, as a giant claw stuck down towards me. I was able to jump to the side before it smashed into the ground. It had dug down too deep, for it was stuck and I saw Loki try to wiggle it free. I didn’t want to waste an opportunity, so I ran over and started to slash at it with Excalibur. Even for an angelic weapon, it was nearly impenetrable.

It broke free and swatted me back, not hard enough to knock me over, but it put me in the way of one of his tentacles. The leg lunged forward and smashed me into the air and against a wall. I cried in pain as I fell to the ground. He was incredibly strong now, and my armor didn’t do much to help. Another tentacle, or possibly the same one, swung towards me again, but I was able to slice at it and cut through it about half way. It retracted as I heard a yelp from Loki.

I got up slowly so I wouldn’t stumble and ran over to his other legs. They reached out to me, as expected, and I swung my sword as fast as I could to hit anything coming at me. The tentacle would get close, I would cut it, and it would retract. This happened in a rhythm until I eventually started to cut them completely off. Loki obviously got tired of this, for he turned around with his remaining legs, and started to lunge his claws at me again.

As soon as the first claw struck down, I hopped on top of it and ran up his enormous arm. I got to the shoulder and found the one place without a protective shell. His eyes.

Excalibur was raised and I focused as much of it’s energy as I could, “Fallen Crest!”

The weapon stuck down between Loki’s eyes and through his skull. Loki yelled in a horrible, ear-piercing shriek as I continued to run the blade into his head. I had soon stuck the blade so far into him, that my hands were touching the black material that he had used to transform. It slowly started to climb on me and sink into my skin. As soon as I realized this, I pulled Excalibur out and jumped from the giant monster.

I landed on the ground and looked up to see Loki slowly being devoured by his own darkness. He was dead.

---

When I went out to get Bree, she was already awake. I explained what had happened, and we went back inside to see Dana had also woken up.

“Isher...Bree,” Dana said as we walked toward her. “I’ve betrayed you.”

“It doesn’t matter any more,” Bree said. “You’re my sister, and you’ve done so much loyal service to Asgard. The Gods will forgive you.”

“It’s not okay,” Dana replied. “I’ve been cursed. It doesn’t matter how much I want forgiveness, because soon I’ll just be a creature who’s only instinct is to kill.”

The curse, I remembered my that own hands had been in contact with the black material.

“Me, too,” I said, looking at my hands. “Soon I will become what the Angels have always thought we are. A mindless, bloodthirsty demon.”

Bree had a look of shock upon her face. It must have been a lot to take in, and she seemed to be having a harder time with this fact than both Dana and me. It’s not that I wasn’t concerned about the curse, but I was too tired from the fight to show much emotion.

“It can’t be,” Bree shook her head. “There must be something we can do to lift the curse...”

“Loki’s magic is final,” I said. “There is nothing we can do to reverse it...but we can make sure no one is hurt when we are transformed. We can go into hiding so nobody will find us...”

---

So that’s what we did. Dana agreed to go the sunken city of Tetyth, she had heard there was a memorial there for fallen Angels, and that’s what she was. I left Utgard while the population of demons were still dazed about what had happened. The last time I saw Bree was at Asgard, waving me goodbye with tears in her eyes as I walked out of her life.

So here I am, and here I wait. I keep busy with my statues and inscribe my story on these ancient lithographs. I don’t expect anyone to ever see my work, but it’s all I can do to keep from dwelling on the thought of what I will soon become, it won’t be long. I don’t know if my fellow demons ever understood what happened that day, and I’m sure they must have found Isaac by now.

I look out at the sunset every day and still think of her…the curse has torn us apart, which is what every love is destined for in the end…

Love is a curse, but I am happy to have been blessed by it.

-Isher Zukari, Loyal Knight Of Utgard

The End.