Awakening the Demoness

"That was quick. I never thought that we would be going up there without another fight," Midel spoke. They are now walking down the mountain where they harvested lots of different herbs including the nightfall flower. The cold air blew from time to time. And there was an odd quietness around the mountain.

Yllana stared at Lucien's back. Their journey up the mountain was indeed peaceful. She felt like something was amiss especially that Lucien decided to walk in front of them a few meters away from her. His constant watching from left to their side had been bothering since then.

Gio also started scouting through the trees. It was still nighttime and they needed to find a place to sleep, but the kid insisted that it was more dangerous to stay within that forest.

Swish!

Gio raised his arm. He was standing on a branch of a tree on their left side. When the leaves from that branch fell on the ground, she saw his eyes glint a bright red color. "Gio…" she whispered. Then she gazed at Midel.

Midel also saw the look on Gio's face. He quickly summoned his crystal ball and pulled Yllana behind him while cautiously treading the distance between them and Lucien. "Lightning Sword," Yllana took out the sword and held it firmly. Just a little bit more and they will be at the footstep of the mountain. The smell of charred meat mixed with slime and sweat filled the air. She sniffed the strange air about them. And then…

"My Yllana…"

'That voice,' she thought. When she looked at the three, they were focused in the surrounding area. Was she the only one who heard that again?

"My Yllana…" Her chest tightened. Her hand started shaking uncontrollably. An unfamiliar fear took over her system. 'What's happening?!' She wanted to shout. She reached out her hand to Midel, but he was already a few meters away from her. He didn't see the sweat forming on her face nor the color being drained out of her face!

'He's here! Someone's here!' Her mind kept on shouting. At the back of her head, she could hear Blue's faint screams calling out her name. "Laia!" at last, she could shout, but that one word freed her contracted beast, the blood rabbit.

Three pairs of eyes hastily glanced at her. Lucien saw Laia in her beast form. Her magnificent fur with metal-like blades on the edges made clinging and clanging sounds while she shook her head side to side, up and down. Her eyes were shut tight as of she was suffering. Yllana could only take a quick glance at her beast and her knees were giving up on her. She started feeling that her vision was again turning into a blur. 'What's happening?!' She couldn't find her voice. Her mind was muddled. She could hear meaningless voices about her, shaking her, even slapping her! But to no avail.

"What's going on?! Lucien!" Midel was shaking Yllana's shoulders. Her eyes were already glowing in a deeper shade of red, unlike her usual dull bloodred color. Something about her felt different now.

"She's waking up. It's too early for her to wake up." Lucien tried to calm down, but his shaky voice was failing him. With his eyes set on Gio, he whispered something to the boy and Gio disappeared quickly as lightning.

"Why now?"

"She smelled her father's blood," Lucien kneeled before Yllana and took her from Midel's grasp. He bit his finger and the next instant Midel was wide-eyed staring at what he was doing.

"Theoden's blood? But he isn't here! Why are you giving her your blood? What are you doing now?!" He took a bandage out of his space ring and was about to push it to Lucien, but he was rejected. Lucien kept on dropping his blood to her lips. She wasn't blinking. Her eyes kept on staring at the empty space in front of her, but her hands were shaking. He could smell…fear from her.

Lucien ignored him. "Yllana…wake up. Please….wake up, now. You're stronger than you know. You'll make it through," Lucien's voice almost broke at his last sentence, but he only closed his eyes trying to push back whatever hot liquid was trying to escape from his eyes.

After a while, a whistling sound echoed through the air. Midel stood up and moved in front of the two. Yllana was unconscious. Lucien is trying to wake her up. All he could do now is help protect them until she wakes up or else the South Kingdom will lose yet another ruler.

"Lucien," he whispered to the side. In the dead of the night, he heard screams ad wails from the Dimshade Valley. Is a demon attacking again? Or were it those two who attacked them earlier?

"Midel, protect her. Just, stay with her." Lucien tugged on Midel's robe and kissed Yllana's forehead before handling her gently to Midel. "Whatever happens, when she wakes up, let her know what she was trying to do for her sister and her father."

"What?" but his question was left hanging in the air. Lucien already moved forward towards the Dimshade Valley.

Under the moon's light, Midel saw one…two…then dozens and dozens more black shadows moving slowly from the Dimshade Valley. There were tall ones, fat ones, and even unproportionate creatures in that dark part. The shadows vaguely resemble human beings. Their arms were too long and their legs too. When they were only a few hundred meters away, Midel shuddered.

Indeed, those are not humans! Hundreds of demons without eyes are marching towards them! There were a hundred Saint-ranked demons and below in front of them. How could they defeat such a number with only the three of them? And Lucien was the only one facing the army of the foul-smelling demons. In front of that army, he noticed a familiar red figure limping. The body built of that demon was monstrous to the point that his veins were popping out. His red hair seemed familiar, but the eyes are…missing?

A mud-soaked cloth was wrapped around his head covering the eyes. Two red circles were painted with what seemed like blood on the cloth. His eyes were removed? And yet the demon was smiling. When the demon sniffed the air, it somehow caught a scent. He licked his lips and panted.

When the demon walked nearer, Midel felt Yllana shivered stronger and she coughed out blood!

"Don't come near her!"

Lucien stressed out every word he shouted. His tone was low, cold, and almost a death sentence to those who heard him. His eyes brimmed the same red color as Yllana's. He summoned both of his staff in his hands and cracked his neck to prepare for the deadly battle. Midel saw Lucien's neck become rigid. On his eyes, he noticed that Lucien locked his gaze on the enormous demon who seemed to be the leader of the army.

Blag!

The demon took one more step. "Ahhhh!" Yllana felt the veins in her body burning endlessly and then exploding at the same time. The pain was unbearable. She could feel her life forces within her core losing control and flying everywhere. She could feel Blue screaming in panic and crying. And she couldn't do anything! She was frozen as if…as if…. she was under a curse.

'The curse!' Her mind raced back to the words she could vaguely remember. She couldn't remember still. But she had a feeling that it had something to do to what was happening to her right now.

"Stop torturing her!" Lucien hissed through his teeth.

"I want my daughter! Give her to me!" The demon roared back. He could not see her, but demons develop a strong sense of smell as they mature. Midel looked at Yllana. 'That demon is her father?'

"Never," Lucien dashed to the glaring demon. Five shadow dragons crawled fast to the ground and attacked the lower-ranked demons on the sides.

He started the killing spree and spread the demons' black blood on the land. One spell after another, he summoned and summoned until his face too was smudged with the black blood of the demons.

Midel readied his crystal ball on the side while watching Lucien defend them against the attacks of the demons. He could clearly see Lucien's red eyes, 'A demon', he thought. Lucien is also one of them, but he did not hold back killing these lower-ranked demons. 'Why?' Midel was confused. Demons were supposed to hate humans like him. But why does Lucien fight against them?

As questions flooded his mind, he heard the ground rumble. He touched the ground. Is it a hundred horses? No. An earthquake? No. He closed his eyes and forced his mind to concentrate on what could be arriving on the side of the mountain. When he opened them, he heaved a sigh of relief, "They are here."

Lucien had killed almost a dozen demons in a span of few seconds, but that took a toll on his energy. When he heard Midel's whisper, he peeked at the side of the mountain.

"We have arrived, general." Gio was grinning from ear to ear as he gazed at the beaming red eyes on Lucien's face.