Chapter 25: Argonis, the Blue Devil
The grim, stagnant air polluted the streets, after the ruckus emmitted from the townhall died down, the town fell into a defeaning silence. Reston had a serious eyes as he strutted through the streets, he presumed they must have won in some way, in which he was grateful for.
Just now a creature whizzed by over the skies, dropping a quivering shadow upon him, it quickly flew by. However, when he inspected it, it wasn't a bird or any creature, but a humanoid with bat like wings. He turned his head to assess it, no doubt about it, it wasn't a demon but a human. He then loosened up when he sensed no malintent from the flying stranger. He continued strolling slowly on the road, as though he had all the time in the world.
In a sudden, Reston flinched his eyebrows, upon sensing an incoming threat, he gripped his hilt tight then swung it on the air. A clank was heard, an incoming dagger was deflected, it fell upon the stony road.
He traced where it came, it led into the dark corners of the alley, directly just to his right. He hoisted his blade as he sensed a presence approaching, then a dark figure revealed itself after it stepped upon the side of the street. The person wore a jet black cloak, he had a hood that covered his eyes, his thin, protruding chin was visible, he displayed a sly grin that pushed out the shadows from his face.
Reston narrowed his eyes, on full alert. "Who the hell are you?" He said.
The person cackled. "Your senses are keen, as expected from General Reston, second only to the great Hero Herdis in terms of strength. I've heard of you, you were referred as the Dragon General, the vice captain of the Davon Knights and the commander of the fourth division of Thesur's great army. Don't fret, I came here to deliver a message. " He said with a hint of praise.
Reston snorted, he eyed the person intently, sensing for his next move. "Introduce yourself first." He demanded.
"You can refer to me as Grim Slasher, and this is from Lord Vanduz." He hurled an envelope to Reston.
Which Reston quickly caught, he teared it open and unrolled the letter infront of his eyes, while at the same time darting his eyes back to Grim just to be sure he won't pull anything while he was distracted, then back to the letter again.
As his eyes read through every word of it, creases piled up on his face, until his frown became heavy almost to the point of looking angry. He crumpled the papers with his fingers, dropped it down and stomped it with his foot. He drove the tip of his sword towards Grim.
Reston glared coldly upon him. "What kind of joke is this?"
Grim cackled as though teasing him. "It's simple really, you are a citizen of Yendin City, and especially to the Kingdom of Thesur, yet you betrayed his highness, so you became an enemy of the state. Right now, you are nothing, but just a rebel. But I'm offering you a second chance, your prestige, land, wealth and citizenship will be returned if you do a one simple task." His grin shot out to Reston.
Reston grunted. "Enough jests, there's no way I would do that."
"He he he, Reston as far as I remember, you swore an oath to protect the kingdom, yet why are you getting in his highness ways?" Grim said.
"Fool, the kingdom which I swore my oath upon is long dead." Reston said strongly.
Grim cackled, he returned to the alleyway, and slipped into the dark corners. "Call me if ever you change your mind." His presence then dissipated into nothingness.
Reston sighed, he sheathed his blade and continued strolling. There were some traces of rage left on his face, the letter left a bad taste on his mouth.
***
Blue stood calmly in the middle of a world covered on darkness, there was nothing on sight but pure black in all areas, there were no light source, only a faint sliver of bluish light drifting close to his foot, it resembled a miniature northern lights. There was no flow of air around his skin, it felt like a vacuum, but he can still feel his weight pressing upon a clear, white, sleek floor.
The floor reflected his features, Blue no longer wore his black attire, infact he was clad in gleaming, heavy armor. He had some memories of the armor, the falcon crest upon his arm was an insignia of the Empire he once served, about seven thousand years ago. Butost of his memories were even fuzzy, the face of the king was blurry and the face of his first beautiful wife was forgotten.
With a quick look of himself, he no longer had a tall unruly hair, his hair was neat, short and well combed, his skin had a starkly, thriving color. His overall appearance looked formal and attractive. However, he still held the same flat and cold expression.
Infront of him, an outline of a person came into form, the person had a blue piercing eyes, he seemed to be sitting on the floor with his legs crossed. The person began to snigger, his sound broke the stillness of this world. His voice was deep and hard-boiled, though it wasn't intimidating but rather spunky and with a hint of arrogance.
"Blue, it's been a while since you visited me." The person said.
Blue stepped forward. "Tell me, Argonis, is there something else you forgot to tell me on how should I break this curse."
Argonis was the blue devil that thrived inside his body, Blue became who he was after making a contract with him. However, Argonis had no domain over Blue's body.
Blue still retained a complete freewill upon himself, the great power given unto him was exchanged with only a simple request from the Devil.
The devil began to laugh as though mocking his words. "This again? Blue you fool, I gave you power and eternal youth, in fact you should be grateful. We had a contract seven thousand years ago and now you have to fulfill it. I gave you this power because I hope you would provide me an endless entertainment. I was trapped in that boulder for billions of years, that's why you should have fun with your abilities. I won't really care about your methods, whether you succumb yourself under the umbrella of evil or good it's your choice, do you want to bring despair to humanity? Or do you want to fight inorder to upheld peace? None of that matters really, I just want to see you doing something interesting, we used to have fun. But what you have been doing lately is crying about wanting to die and I despise you for it, it gives us a bad name."
Blue snorted. "Forget about that nonesense, just tell me what you think about the light magic, is that woman worth keeping alive and can she kill us?"
"You're quite hopeless, if I had given this power to someone else with ambition and vision things could have went differently. As far as we know I have no weakness, not until I saw this thing called light magic, the light spell that hit you did shook my soul though, there a chance it could harm me, but, if you kill yourself Blue, it will be quite a waste." Argonis said.
Blue smiled. "Then, she can kill me, huh?"
"Maybe, I couldn't muster my flames around her magic. But Blue, you should stop being pathetic, rise over this world, in fact I'm looking forward in seeing this demon lord. Is he powerful than you? Or me? I'll be looking forward for it." The Devil said with excitement.
Blue seemed spiritless. "Enough, I'm done here." He turned around, then left Argonis.
Argonis then cackled. "Be a man Blue, as far as I remember you weren't this pathetic, you kept talking about wanting to get stronger. But the man I see before me is only a shadow of the valiant warrior I once knew, as far as I remember your previous name was--"
Before the devil could continue, the darkness fell apart, light crawled unto the environment and the devil got swept away into nothingness.
Blue opened his eyelids, his dark clothes and usual features returned, he found himself sprawling upon a grassy field, his eyes gazed deep into the abyssal skies, teeming with glimmering stars. The crescent moon colored the forest with its faint milky glow, insects whistled endlessly under the deep life of the night.
Blue had no motivation to rise himself off the ground, he felt tired, infact he'd like to stay longer on his spot, appreciating the night sky. As much as he'd want for him and the girl to continue their journey, they both deserved a break.
"It seems I have to wait here for now." He sighed.
Then, he heard footsteps approaching.
***
Inside the mansion, the atmosphere reeked of vibrance and cheerful noises, on the ceiling, chandeliers held up lanterns which showered a steady glow upon the room. People were milled around the place, having casual chats, while some sat on their tables drinking ale and talked like there was no tomorrow.
The nobles with their fancy dresses spoke with a graceful accent, the commoners however were rowdy and brazen. But, everyone's habits were tolerated and even welcomed, there was no tension between both classes since they got united under a frightful experience.
Radmun mingled well with the soldiers, he showed off his archery skills, by using an ordinary bow nocked with an ordinary arrow. He eyed a hanging apple, positioned slightly above and distant, it was tied on a chandelier, he fired and it pierced through the fruit flawlessly, when it was pushed, the chandelier slightly swayed like a pendulum. Radmun was too confident on his skill that he felt he wouldn't miss and hit someone. He had no shreds of worry even though other people stared at it with concern, since the chandelier could fall off any second.
Radmun laughed proudly, while the men around him clapped in awe.
"As expected from the sixth pillar." One said.
Radmun pointed his thumb unto himself. "Of course, would you like to hear the story when "I" slayed an elite demon." He said.
"Woah, tell us." Another said enthusiastically.
Radmun chuckled. "It will surprise you."
On the other parts of the room, Reston sat down with some older men, they seemed to have a serious talk, with their stares tight and attention rapt. They gulped down their ale every minute or so, and afterwards released a satisfied groan.
Don was found brooding alone on the corner, he had his arms crossed as he sat on a chair, his eyes were still sharp as though the battle wasn't over yet, he was silent as he observed the people crisscrossing across the room.
Celina went towards him. "Don, you should join us." She said.
Don stared at her languidly. "No thanks."
Celina gripped his arm tight, she dragged him across the room, Don was forced to comply, since if he resisted it might embarrass him. He was then led into a table, which was filled with girls, Shiela was there as well.
There were three girls new to his sight, they looked well dressed, telling they were nobles.
"So you are Don, huh? Nice to meet you." The pink haired girl said with a smile.
Don replied with a flat face, he sighed. "You as well." He said lifelessly.
The three of them had a gaze of interest towards Don, while Don felt like leaving, too bad Celina's presence kept him locked on his chair.
"I've heard that you are good at Sashin." The blue haired one said.
Don quirked the edge of his lips to rise, the topic took his interest. Sashin was a board game that focused on outsmarting ones opponents, it had pieces that represents mages, warriors and many more, the game involves planning, strategy and a bit of luck.
"Of course, I've been playing that game since I was four." He said with mirth.
"Woah, that's interesting." The blue haired girl said. "I only learned it when I was twelve, the rules were a bit complicated." She chuckled.
Don smiled a bit.
He sighed, then turned his keen eyes to Celina. "Celina, I have something to discuss with you later."
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