The Name's Azz

(Gabe’s POV)

After what felt like hours, we finally stopped in a clearing.

The strange man turned to me, “We’ll camp here for the night.”

“It’s nighttime!? How can you tell!?”

He sighed, “You get used to it after a while. A way to tell is that there is no stars in the sky when it’s day and stars at night.”

I nodded. I was in shock. He has not answered me this whole trip. Maybe I can get some answers’ now?

“Hey, why did you save me back there and where are we going?”

“Those questions I can’t really answer right now, but all I can say is that it will be a safe place for you.”

Now knowing I will at least get an answer later on, I asked another one, “Who are you?”

He scratched the back of his head, “I guess I haven’t introduced myself yet…. the name’s Azz. I am a local blacksmith and shop keeper at the capital.”

“Capital?”

“It’s the city that surrounds the demon lord’s palace. It’s a very busy place where demons all over come to either start a new life or even land a new job. There are lots of reasons demons go there, and don’t think that I can name them all.”

Azz suddenly walked away, “That’s enough questions. If you want to warm up, you better find some dry wood. I’ll look for something to eat.”

(time skip)

Why is Azz taking so long? I gathered plenty of dry wood to make a huge pile in the center of the clearing.

I shivered, ‘I hope he hurries, It’s getting even colder…’

That’s when he came up behind me, “I’m back-!”

I jumped in surprised.

He scolded me, “Keep your guard up! This is the dark world not some fairytale world that your so easily used to living in!”

“B-But!”

“No buts! That’s fact kid!”

I gulped but looked into his eyes and nodded.

“Good.” He then moved toward the big pile and frowned, “This is only big enough to last us a few hours… Oh, well…”

“A few hours!? What do you mean?!”

Azz explained, “If we are going to make a fire throughout the night, we’re going to need much more wood.”

I looked at him like he was crazy, “That’s a HUGE pile of wood!”

He Bopped me on top of the head, “No, it’s not. You can’t just make a fire with one pile of wood. You need it to have more wood nearby to help fuel it. Otherwise it’ll last barely any time.”

Now I frowned, “You have to fuel it?”

“Yes. Different rules apply to this place then what your used too.”

He then walked over to the pile and started pulling out pieces of wood one by one.

Azz then ordered me, “Don’t just stand there! Grab some wood!”

Not wanting to agitate him more, I quickly got to work.

(Titus POV)

Mother and father left. I did not want to say goodbye to them. So, I purposely slept in.

What’s wrong with them? Why would they question our generous queen and her king? I don’t get it. There is nothing amiss with her.

I patrolled the halls of the castle as I thought about what they said. A war among angels? That can’t be right. I’ve never heard of such a thing before. Was father’s retirement affecting him? I hope not.

I’ve always looked up to my father as a role model. I worked hard to become head of the royal guard. Just like him. Maybe his retirement is affecting him and all he needs is to go somewhere else for a change. That seems more like an idea. Then he’ll be back as soon as it’s over.

But. If that’s the case then why don’t I believe it myself?

I sighed and turned to the soldier beside me, “I need a break.”

“Take your time.” he nodded.

Feeling doubtful, I decided to go back to the barracks and try to squash down that horrendous feeling.

Once I got there, I noticed something didn’t feel right. That’s when I noticed a older man off to the side. I rolled my eyes and approached him.

“Hey! The barracks are off limits to citizens! What is your business here!?” I demanded.

He didn’t even glance at me, “So you think that Gabriel did commit murder like your queen says?”

“Answer me!!”

“Do you just believe every word that a person say?”

“Um, no?”

He looked at me with faded brown eyes, “Tell me, do you ask for evidence first before you make a conclusion?”

I cocked my head in confusion, “Of course-!”

“Then why didn’t you ask for evidence during his trial?”

My mind flashed back to what Gabe had said before:

“Where’s your proof? I’ve done nothing wrong! I’ve served you and your kingdom for years! Why would I stop now!?”

I bowed my head in embarrassment as I realized something: there was no real evidence in Gabe’s trial. Nothing to back up the queen’s claim. If anything, Gabe could’ve been right and that’s why mom and dad left.

Still, why would the queen lie? I need to find this out for myself. I need to find that evidence.

I turned to the man in question, but he had disappeared, “Wha-!?”

That doesn’t matter now, I need to go find the truth. I will find him and thank him later.

-

The only place I could think to look is back at the surveillance video inside the princess’s room. It should tell me what had really happen that night before Gabe left to go on his mission. So I made sure no one noticed as I made my way to the princess’s room.

Once I got there, I carefully turned off the camera and flipped the compartment open where the tape was in. I grabbed the tape and closed the hidden compartment. Looking around to make sure no one noticed me, I dashed out the door and into the long halls. Soon the security room came into my sights.

I walked in and locked the door behind me. The room was dusty and dirty as if no one had been in here in a long time. My eyes widened at the spider webs hanging on the corners on the ceiling.

“What?”

‘Shouldn’t there be someone in here all hours? Who works here?’ my thoughts seemed to whirl in my mind. The fact that it seemed no one was in here before the princess’s death just raises my suspicion.

Shaking my head, I tried to push it down. Maybe who ever worked here retired and they haven’t been able to find a replacement? It may be that it’s always appears like this to somehow keep private information safe? However, I doubt that too.

I hesitated before placing the video into the player, praying that it still worked.

When the play screen popped up, I carefully rolled through all the footage until I noticed the date that her majesty was killed appear. I gulped and hit play.

I watched as Princess Faith looked out from her balcony. She seemed to be pondering something important. The girl looked… sad?

Suddenly, something spooked her as she whirled around. I became confused when the king walked in.

He had this insane smile as he approached the girl. I squinted my eyes as I tried to make out what was behind his back. Soon their lips started to move, however, it only came out as static in my ears.

The princess stepped back and he took a step forward. She ran past him to the door. The door appeared locked from the outside as she tried to open it. Her eyes widened. The girl then did her best to pry to door open but to no avail.

In the mist of it, I could only feel panic, ‘Why is she running? He loves her as his daughter, right?’

The man soon yanked her by the wing and pulled her to the center of the room. He next placed the knife he had been holding onto her wing. She screamed. He smiled. Just like in Gabe’s trial….

My king soon sawed the bone right off and tossed it aside before starting with the next wing. Like my brother, she already had blood all over her face.

I know I shouldn’t want to watch more, however, I couldn’t pull away from the video. My mind was immersed in it.

Once she no longer had wings, he tilted her head up and spoke to her once again. The look he was giving her: it was sick and twisted.

Then, just like that, he slit her throat and she went pale.

I zoomed forward to a couple of hours later to see him in the room again. This time with the Queen, he pretended to cry alongside her as he talked sweetly to her. He did not show it on his face, but HE was the true murderer.

I click the tape off.

‘G-Gabe did n-nothing wrong and I just stood there and watched? I-I betrayed my own brother…. What do I do now? I can’t just tell the queen; she’ll never believe me! Queen Isla won’t hesitate to do anything he says!’ my mind whirled.

I fell to my knees, ‘What do I do know? Who would even believe me?’

That’s when the idea struck me, ‘What if I tell others? Spread the word.’

I thought it over, ‘If I told others, it’d be a violation of the law. So it’d be risky. I need to make sure to tell the right people. Show them this tape and enlist them to help me. But who should I……. The priests! They must be wiser than anyone! Not only that but they questioned it firsthand! If I tell them, we would surely figure something out! The people WILL believe them!’

With that in mind, I took the tape and left to go spread the word.

(Gabe POV)

“Are we there yet?”

Azz growled, “For the last time, you’ll SEE when we are there. SO, STOP ASKING!”

“But we’ve been traveling for hours!” I complained.

“It hasn’t even been a full day of travel yet!”

He was about to say something when he sniffed the air. Azz’s eyes narrowed in a certain direction.

He ordered, “GET DOWN!”

“Wha-!?”

Azz then grabbed me by the arm and forced me down onto the ground while covering my mouth.

I struggled but he had a hard grip. That’s when I heard two voices. I stopped struggling and listen in closely.

“Are you sure, dude?”

“Yeah! I thought I heard some voices over here!”

“You must be going crazy. No one would travel during winter! It’s too harsh!” He explained.

The other shot back, “Then your going crazy too! No one in their right mind would EVER follow me out here if they thought I was crazy!”

“Whatever… let’s just finish our patrol. We don’t want to make Lord Victor unhappy.”

“Fine….” the other agreed.

Once their voices faded into the distance, Azz let go of me and we got up.

“Who were those people?”

“Demon Knights.” he answered quickly. “C’mon, that means were only minutes away from the capital.”

“Demons? But they sound just like me and you…” I was frozen in shock.

He looked shocked for a moment before explaining, “All of the ‘people’ you’ve met so far are all demons. Even me.”

My eyes widened, the people that I’ve met so far didn’t seem like demons to me. They appeared quite similar to the angels back at home. Just without wings.

I looked down, I knew I was in the Dark World. But, somehow, I never even considered it. That’s when a part of a conservation I had with Ace came back into my mind. She said that I was not like any demon that she had met before.

Why did I forget that so easily? That she hinted at herself being a demon. I guess I have a lot to learn about demons.

The demons I’ve seen have been basically out of a fairytale: Big, ugly, and covered in black. But I’ve never seen a demon that looks almost like an angel before I came here. It just doesn’t add up…

Seeing the confused look on my face, Azz broke me from my deep thoughts, “I’ll explain everything once we get to a safe place.”

“Ok…”

Soon I followed Azz to what was bound to be the capital.