CHAPTER 6

Derora rode down the hill top on her retoode, a one eyed, six limbed reptile with scaly armour as thick as metal. Its viciousness was what bonded derora to the beast of the abyss, it could trace the scent of its prey from over a mile away, that was what made it the perfect hunting creature.

The roads to Vulpix were rather long and stressful, even though she took a set of veratus with her who if course do not tire or relent from their mission, it would be good if she could track the prince down in a record time.

That's why she took the shortest route, the forests. Travelers don't pass the route she did due to the dark creatures that roamed the parts and the plants that devoured flesh since the rise of marxis.

They didn't disturb her though, it was like they felt the anger and darkness she possessed, even the veratus kept their distance. Perhaps they were afraid of marxis rage if the mission wasn't successful.

She flinched at the thought of the name, he sickened her to the core. To think that such a pathetic creature who knelt at the feet of herega could control her the demon of the abyss.

The veratus moved farther from her as she released energy, she cooled her rising rage,

Curse that parchment! She thought,

She was under the notion that she had kept the location of her last shred of humanity a close secret, it was known only to her and the mage who sealed it up and she killed obviously, a rookie mistake she would work on.

That brought her to the reason marxis wanted the boy, she heard rumours he was the last of the elixtu who she despised with her whole being. Still, it shouldn't be a problem for the servant of herega unless,

she smiled inwardly.

From her study of Marxis, what didn't pose a great threat to his realm or his life wasn't worth his time. Then whatever the prince had could ruin him, she began thinking of becoming allies with the prince, it wouldn't be her first time of mutiny, would it?.

She noticed the field of the residents of Vulpix looming in the distance, gesturing to a veratu who stepped forward,

"Raze the fields, block all corners of escape, trap and slaughter but spare their leaders and top combatants, i wish to have a word with them " she said,

The veratu called all fifty of his companions together as they bounded down the hill top on their demon steeds that left a trail of flames wherever they stepped, she back on her reptile while awaiting the cries of the souls as they were slaughtered.

For a while she sat back wondering where they were until she heard the shouts of pain and agony so melodious to her ears as the farmers were struck down. Soon the whole village was ablaze with screams of the dying.

She spurred her beast on as it bounded down the cliff in the blood driven frenzy, it got closer to the gates of the village where few people managed to escape the veratus,

"Oh no you don't!" She said as she produced her broad sword from nowhere,

She hacked and cut at any living being while the reptile devoured the flesh of any that survived the hellish cut of her blade. She looked around as the veratus lined at the gate awaiting her arrival, she nudged the beast which seemed to be chewing on the flesh if a child, these are the times she considered bringing a ferocious beast like this wonderful.

She rode into the town with the reptile still chewing on the flesh that hung between the jaws of it, it noticed the warriors that were still in the fight with the veratus, one willed fire out of his hands and setting a veratu in flames, it only hacked at the mans hands in response, she chuckled in surprise,

Elementals, so stupid to think you could burn a veratu, she thought,

After a boring full six minutes which she counted of duel, the veratus rounded up the elementals with an old woman whom she guessed was their village leader. She counted the veratus, fifty in all. She nodded to herself, maybe they weren't weak as she thought they were.

Getting off the beast and walked with slow purposeful steps, she got to the front of the woman,

"Okay old lady, I'll be nice" she started,

The old woman stated into her eyes and gasped, she smiled,

"I'm sure you know who I am" derora said,

"The demon of the abyss, she who turns day to night" the old woman replied,

Derora smiled as the men struggled in terror against the veratus who tightened their grip, what sort of stories had been passed on while she was locked up, admittedly she didn’t do anything to reduce the tales, both true and false,

"You could call me that or derora after all I was once a being like you" she replied,

"So, Marxis is that stupid to release you from the prison," the old lady replied,

"Well desperate times, desperate measures" she replied while flicking a knife in her hand,

"So, let's get to the point, we know the prince passed this route so just point us in direction and we're out of your town" she said boringly,

The old woman kept a straight face,

"I do not know who you refer to" she replied,

Derora sighed in annoyance, the same old trick, deny then brake, she did it well in her former years as general to heregas army.

"Alright then, let's do it this way, I know of the underground safe house you kept all the wives and children, it should be below the alter to aether" she said,

The old woman's eyes opened in shock,

"What?, you thought we'd just attack your village without proper surveillance?" Derora replied,

"i-i don't know what you're talking about," the old woman replied,

She was testing deroras patience and she didn't like it, she created a black energy ball that pulsed with the aura of death and sent it at the alter. It exploded on contact causing a cave in, voices cried out in pain and agony and ended at once, silenced by the fingers of death

The men howled in pain, obviously they had families down there, the old woman bowed her head, derora stood stretching her frame, she could keep going like this all day. Then the old woman began to laugh, a deep throaty laughter,

Derora frowned, she hated being made a ridicule of,

"something funny witch?" She said, anger seeping through her voice,

The old woman looked up, a glint of joy in her eyes, like she could see something derora couldn't,

"My god just gave me insight into the future derora," she said,

"How does that concern me if i might ask before I relieve that head of yours of your decrepit shoulders?" She asked irritated,

" you will serve illummino derora, this is but a small price to pay for it. You will protect the young prince and you'll get what you want most, your-" she said hanging before she could finish as derora slashed her throat,

She fell to the ground in a pool of blood, derora wiped her blade on the leather of the veratu next to her, she hated being told to serve, and definitely not the god of peace and order.

"Now that the pesky thing is gone, can someone tell me where the prince passed or do i have to make an example again?" She said,

The man by her right began blabbering something about running through the other side of the forest and companions, she smiled kissing him on the lips as he became a shade of purple and began go bleed from his eyes and collapsed in a heap of rotten flesh, she chuckled to herself,

Illummino Indeed! She thought,

"Alright boys, I guess it's time I let you go," she said as they gave her grateful looks,

She motioned at the reptile who knew what that meant, a signal he loved the most, fresh meat.

It jumped on the three remaining men as their cries filled the air, she shook her head in disappointment,

Fools! She thought,

She pondered over what the old lady said, her, serve the prince. She had to find him and skin him alive, it was not like she believed it but just to be on the safe side...

She looked at them one last time before calling on the reptile that moved to her swiftly and received a part to the head while chewing on the hand of a man,

"Good boy" she cooed,

She was derora, demon of the abyss, she had a reputation to uphold..........

************************************

Jason first felt the power of the earth seep through him, mixing with the power of aether, he gradually felt his body go back to his original state,

Thanks loathem he thought,

He then felt a roughness in his pocket, the gem, it had appeared in his pocket out of nowhere. He still felt the blades in him so it meant the gem only harboured the blade, that wasn't its use. Whatever it was he would find out.

The next wave of sounds that hit him were those of daren and terra arguing, he groaned inwardly. Those two never agreed on anything and right now, he wasn't strong enough to interfere, a few minutes later he could,

"Please terra for the love of everything tell him!" Daren said,

Woah tell him what? He thought,

He managed to get himself up to a sitting position while two of them argued on, oblivious to his position,

"You don't understand, he wouldn't understand," she replied packing a few things into what looked like a leather pouch,

Where had that come from? He thought,

"You're just being cowardly!" Daren shouted,

Ouch!, that's going hurt!

She turned with a glare at daren, her left hand filled with the energy stuff she did before, daren let out a growl,

Jason couldn't allow this to go on, they would engage in a full fight,

"CUT IT!!, both of you!!" he shouted,

They froze in shock, turning at him,

"Jason, you're awake, we've been waiting for you" terra said,

"Yeah, I can see that!" He snapped as she flinched,

Something inside of him scolded him for what he just did but he ignored it,

"I've been gone for a few hours to another reality and I wake up to the two of you arguing over a matter you still won’t tell me" He shouted,

Daren only stared, terra looked unstable, like she could break down anytime, he exhaled letting the anger cool off,

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't had screamed" he apologised,

Daren nodded with a smile, terra came forward and hugged him,

"Its not your fault" she said,

All was forgiven, now to the secret,

"So, what's this big issue you two have been hiding" he said,

Daren moved forward, he would say it if she couldn't,

"You and terra are connected in a special way" he said,

Jason scoffed, that was it?, they were connected?,

"Of course, we're connected, me, you, terra, we're best friends" he replied,

Terra moved forward, a look of defiance on her face,

"What daren means is that we're bonded, like blood bonded" she said,

Jason froze,

“blood what now?”