Capítulo 24: Chapter Twenty Four
As you make your way back to your base your new found "friend" is trailing behind you with his eyes fixated on the ground. He quietly mutters to himself, like the broken mess he is.
"I am a demon. Why am I scared of a mortal?
I am a disgrace to my entire race."
"Chin up. I can either be your best friend or your worst enemy. Be glad I even offered you the option."
"I am your SLAVE!"
"A living slave!"
But as you get back home you notice that something's amiss. An effigy slightly tilted, the door being open despite making sure to close it when you left, your fire put out...
Someone's here. Or was.
Stopping you aim at the hut and speak up.
"Whoever you are you better come out here before I blow the tent to smithereens!"
Soon enough you get a response as a shrouded figure steps out with their arms raised high. "Well this is a surprise. Usually I have to resort to violence before you creatures surrender!"
The cloaked figure looks at your slave and they speak in disgust. "You follow this... mortal?"
"No I do NOT! And if you don't watch your mouth you'll soon join me as his slave!
So get out while you still can!"
The figure shakes its head. "No. I came here to bargain with the outsider. I have no intention to fight." They then remove their hood to reveal-
You watch as the demons long white hair unfolds and her pink skin glistens in the umbral light. Your involuntary compatriot immediately reacts in disgust matching the one he feels towards you.
"Outcast bitch! I suggest you go back under whatever rock you crawled out from before I slay you where you stand!"
"I don't think you will. Not if the big guy has anything to say about it." She then turns her attention to you. "Love what you did with the place by the way. Really accentuates the landscape."
"Thanks. So, outcast? What, do demons have established governments or something?
Last time I checked it's pure anarchy."
"You're not wrong. They just like to label anybody who deviates from the norm in an effort to feel superior. I don't really care and neither should you, for regardless of who I am I may have something which interests you."
"Such as?"
"A way out... You want to leave this place, right? Well I came to help with that." She responds.
"Now what makes you think I want to leave this place?"
"Because NOBODY wants to be here. Even bug boy over there would rather be upstairs than here."
"YOU DARE?! HOLD YOUR TONGUE OUTCAST!"
"Okay, what is he talking about?"
"It's a cute little name they give to those who don't agree with their way of life. I don't like fighting, I don't backstab or harm anyone."
"What?" You snicker. "Like a good demon?"
"You mean to tell me there are no evil people up where you come from?"
You pause at that. "Touché."
"There are good demons. Or at least benevolent ones. But usually they don't last long. We have good demons and bad demons. Guess the ratios are just opposite of yours."
"Okay... so you want to help me out of altruism?"
"Hardly. I'm still not a goodie two shoes. I just look after my own skin. Look... you want to get out of here. And I want you out of here. If I help you that's a win for both of us. Because since the day you got here things been chaotic... well, MORE chaotic than usual around here. Alliances are shifting and borders are being rewritten EVERY. DAY. I like laying low in other Makai-jin territories and steal food whenever I can. But with you around the pain in my ass has been steadily growing and I don't see it stopping unless you are out of the picture... So no, I don't want to help you out of generosity. But does that matter Doom Slayer? Seriously what's up with that name? Who gave it to you?"
"Me?" You point at yourself.
"That explains a lot."
Hearing what she had to say you respond with this. "I appreciate the sentiment but I can't accept that. I came here for a reason."
You clench your fist as you look her in the eye.
"I need to grow stronger as quick as possible! So I can't leave until I'm strong enough!"
She blinks a few moments then bursts out laughing. "Ahahahahahahahahhahaha!
Then why didn't you say so?! You want power? I can point you in the right direction!"
"DON'T YOU DARE!" Your slave responds.
Meanwhile you're just left blinking in surprise.
"Really? There is a way to get power that easily?"
"Yeah. I can take you to a source of magic.
You can certainly use that!"
"HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?!"
"Either he dies-" She responds. "Or he gets stronger and leaves. It's a win-win for us. So why don't you shut your cute little trap before I shut it for you?"
You step up and extend a hand to her.
She looks at it in confusion until you start explaining it to her. "It's a thing we mortals do.
Shaking each others hand as a sign of agreement and trust."
"Oh." She looks down and awkwardly extends both of her hands and wraps them around yours. Almost mechanically she raises it and lowers it. "Like that?"
"Y-Yeah. Like that. But can I make you an offer?"
"Hmmm?"
"I don't plan on leaving this place until I'm strong enough to take the Demon Kings head, and once that's done, I'll be the strongest being in Makai. You help me get strong enough to kill the Demon King, and once I'm ready to leave, I'll take you with me. You'll find the mortal universe to be much nicer then this."
She pauses in her shock before giggling like a little girl. "Hihihi... You mortals are so funny!
A'ight. I'll take you up on that offer. Leaving this place I mean. Got nothing to stay for anyway so a change of scenery would be welcome. But... you misunderstood me mortal."
"How exactly?"
"When I said I'd give you power. If you succeed... a mere Demon King will be nothing to you."
Upon hearing this your bug friend starts shouting again. "Y-YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS!
YOU ARE ACTUALLY TAKING HIM THERE?"
"Yeap! So once we're done you can just leave mortal. Though... I certainly wouldn't mind the Demon Kings head on a pike. But we'll see."
"What's your name by the way?" You ask the pink demon.
"Hmmm?"
"Your name. I'd like to know it."
"I... It's... Sala."
"Nice to meet you Sala."
After that weird little encounter your benefactor took you somewhere quite remote.
You've never strayed this far from your camp and you definitely won't, at least not in this direction. For as you get farther and farther you start seeing that the vegetation just... disappears after a while. There are no roaming packs of demons either and the air feels still, dead, and foul.
"What is this place?" You ask.
"It's an ancient place, long abandoned by Demon Kind. It used to be forbidden until people realized that those who come here just... die."
And to confirm that you soon started to see... bodies. Lots and lots of bodies. The variation of the dead demons sizes and shapes were as great as their numbers, the only thing that was common through all of them was their horrid expressions. "They look like they were in agony right up until they died..."
"Because they were. And the magic that did this also preserves their bodies. After a while people just stopped burning them because there was always more. Not even the mindless Makai-jin approach them for easy food, for even that's deadly."
You pry your eyes away from the carpet of cadavers under you to look back at your buggy friend. "You've been awfully quiet back there. What? Got nothing to say?"
"My only consolation is that if you go in there you'll share their fate!"
"Neat..."
After several hours of flying at full speed you finally reach what seems to be the centerpoint of this circular graveyard. A cave in a mountain.
"Is this the place?" You ask Sala as you land.
"Yeap. An ancient entity was once sealed away here. A force so vile that the Demon Gods themselves fought it... and lost.
Only thanks to the Makio, the Demon Kai that it was defeated. But that was so long ago nobody even remembers it." She then spreads her arms around and points at the mounds of bodies. "Now only this remains of it. A grim reminder that the demons aren't at the top of the foodchain."
"And... how is it that I can access its magic?"
"The Demon Kai are a greedy bunch. They thought that they could use the creatures power for themselves. So they set up a way to tap into its power. But if you go in there you'll see that theirs were the first corpses." She pauses then turns to you. "Shall we?"
"Well I hope I won't meet my father in there that's for sure..." You take the lead and head in. The other two follow shortly behind you, slightly nervously. "I thought you'd run away."
You speak to the bug.
"I wouldn't miss your death for anything.
This beast... it's so fearsome its name we don't dare to speak. Yet you foolishly dare to assume you can do what not even former Demon Kings couldn't."
"Whatever." You turn your attention to the girl in an attempt to make small talk to hide your anxiety. "You look like you take good care of yourself, how do you do that with all these other demons around?"
"I possess a rare trait that's frowned upon around here. Cowardice. When trouble brews I simply move on and leech off the land of some other schmuck who doesn't pay enough attention."
"How gutless..." The other demon retorts.
"Whatever. At least I got all of my arms intact."
"WHY YOU-"
"Enough you two! So what is this thing anyway? Some demon boogey man?"
"You could say that."
"As much as it pains me to say it but she's right. All young demons know of this tale. And the danger that lies within. It is said that whatever the creature was it was so vile, so dangerous not even the God of Destruction could kill it. He could beat it, but never kill it. So he decided to banish it into the Makai so we can deal with it."
You pause for a moment as the fact that this makes too much sense strikes you.
But you shake the feeling off and march forward until you reach some great chamber, at the center of which is what you presume to be this sealed power. Some sort of a rock construct shaped into the image of flesh.
Around it are, as the demons said, the dead bodies of disfigured Kaioshin.
They don't look like Fuwa, they resemble Roh actually. But their bodies are covered in hideous growths like spikes and bulbous growths. You aren't sure if they were born like that or whatever they tried to tap into did it to them. All you know for sure is that their expression is the exact same as everyone elses.
The bug steps forth and points at a hole in the stone. "Place your hand in there and seal your fate mortal!"
You then bitch slap him. "Don't order me around, I was gonna do it anyway." But you swallow and hesitate for a moment.
You step up to the thing and insert your hand into the gaping hole. The insides of the thing feel... warm. And moist. "Ewww. It feels like it's suckling on my arm!" Speaking in disgust you turn to the others. "How long do I have to keep it in here? Guys?"
You turn around to look at them and see that they are silently watching you without changing their expression. They are waiting.
"OW!" Suddenly you feel something.
"IT FUCKING BIT ME!" You yank out your arm and start rubbing the wound. "Is... is this a bite mark?!"
Turning around to the others you feel dizzy and before even setting your eyes on them you fall to the ground like a sack of potatoes as your body goes numb. Convulsing as your mouth starts to foam you feel something... inside you.
What little you can see of yourself during your seizure horrifies you. Strange lumps are moving throughout your body as if scarab beetles are digging their way through your flesh. But it... doesn't hurt. Or perhaps that's more due to you not feeling ANYTHING.
Looking up you get to see the reaction of the demons to what's happening to you.
The bug, despite enjoying himself averts his eyes and is currently looking for a chance to get the fuck out of here before whatever is affecting you gets to him. Sala however watches silently as she shakes her head.
"Pity." She says. "Well at least that's my problem taken care of."
You start feeling weak as the affliction takes its toll on your body. But you aren't about to die. Not yet... You need time. Time to think of something!
Gathering up whatever vestiges of power you have left you activate your psionics since everything else seems to be a bit beyond your reach at the moment. Your body may be dying but your brain is still capable of functioning.
You must act quick! You need... time! Time to think of something, time to do something!"
Gathering every ounce of willpower you have, you forcibly contract your muscles in order to enter a meditating pose. Once you're sitting upright you try to regulate your breathing. When that fails... you decide to do it manually. Same with your heart.
Using your own abilities you expand your lungs and pump your heart in order to calm yourself. As oxygen is restored to the brain you manage to enter into a sort of deep sleep.
Returning to the familiar landscape of your mind you find the empty blackness... strange.
Despite being the same as ever you feel something. A lingering will or a presence of sorts. Not quite living yet clearly alive. Not sentient yet clearly possessing thoughts and feelings. It knows things yet speaks no words. Maybe it knows no words to say. Regardless, you feel it. And despite being just a sliver of the whole you feel overwhelmed being in its presence. Like staring into the sun you feel yourself being blinded by the all consuming nothing.
You try to reach out, try to make contact with it but your words fall on deaf ears. And soon enough you find even your words to fall silent as you are choked by this overwhelming entity. But you won't give up. Somehow you'll get through to it. One way or another.
Instead of words you try to speak in a way it'll understand and convey your thoughts directly to it. No way it'll get lost in translation this time. But there is still no response... The entity seems... uncaring. Or perhaps it just doesn't recognize your presence as something worth noticing. To it, you are probably just an insect scuttling about. Even your body is no longer yours. Just like with the bug outside in realspace, the entity has power over you so it can decide what belongs to you or not. And right now... your body is most certainly not yours.
But if this keeps up this insane pressure will rip apart your body from within! You got to do something about it!
Well... if you can't beat it... annoy the shit out of it. Erecting a few barriers quietly you attempt to lock its mind in here with you.
For a few minutes it does not notice that something's amiss... After that however it does not bother to hide its frustration.
It may be powerful but its mind is nothing special. Banging and scratching at the wall like a caged animal it wants to get out.
Sadly it takes the entity several minutes to figure out you might have something to do with this.
You feel the pressure lessening on your defenses as the blackness turns to you and assaults you with its anger. In every fabric of your being you feel an intense desire for destruction. Probably that is what constitutes as a "threat" for this thing. Assaulting your mind with images of what it'll do to you.
But you have a sneaky suspicion that's what it'd do regardless.
"No. You are not getting out." You speak the words but try to convey the meaning behind them with your mind so the entity understands. "Not if I have anything to say about it. And judging by the state of my body you can't do much damage to it while here.
So let's say... I want to bargain!"
Stuck in there for... what could be best described as hours you got to understand a creature a bit. Not as a person, more like a scientist observing an animal but a bit more intimate. The creature is not governed by thought, rather it follows impulse. It has no complex feelings to speak of, only extremely basic ones. It feels happiness, anger and boredom. And it HATES boredom.
All in all, despite being absolutely ancient it feels like an infant. It feels happiness when it causes mayhem, like a child when it kicks over a castle made out of legos. The feeling of bricks falling around it, looking pretty and making some noise entertains it. The cries of the millions of lives it'd extinguish are little more than the scuttling of ants as it burns them with a magnifying glass.
And when nothing is happening, when it can't do anything and has to "sit in detention" it gets mad. Really, really mad. So when it has a chance to break free it does it at a breakneck pace and often destroys whatever it comes in contact with, ironically that usually means it gets trapped right back in. This thing... is simple.
Not dumb. But simple, predictable.
"Checkmate..."
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