Among The Demons

The insides of the building were decorated with skulls of creatures that Kies had never seen before. But it was pretty much expected considering that Kies never left the walls of the city often due to the war going on. The only reason why he even recognized a few creatures was from the books that were in their library.

Aside from the skulls, the hallways were rather empty. There were a few torches every few meters to keep the place illuminated. The torches looked like they were carved from animal bones. Kies also sensed faint magic coming from them which surprised him since he wasn't able to sense magic before. He didn't do anything since they had left the ruins. He didn't know why he was able to sense magic now. Was it something about this place or was he just growing stronger? He didn't know.

"Hurry up your pace," Kies heard Ammine say. He had been too caught up in his thoughts that he didn't realize that Ammine was far ahead of him. Kies ran a few steps to catch up with Ammine then took a few seconds to match her pace before going back to looking at the hallway.

"Stop getting distracted, we're almost there," Ammine said in a low yet harsh voice. Kies looked in front of him and saw that they were coming up to another door. Unlike the one from before, this door was quite big and had carvings of monsters on them. Kies recognized a few of the monsters that were carved on the door but just like with the skulls, there were many that he didn't know.

There was no one standing outside to guard the door. Ammine walked up and knocked on it. "Come in," said a voice. Ammine opened the door and it creaked open to reveal a dimly lit room with a small staircase at the center that leads up to darkness.

From the darkness suddenly appeared a pair of glowing blue eyes. Kies felt something hit his leg and turned to see Ammine kneeling and glaring at him. Kies quickly kneeled as well. Whoever was in front of them was likely the leader of the demons. "We finally meet, Aeos." The voice was rough and deep. Kies also felt traces of magic in each word that was spoken. The person speaking sounded fairly old and very powerful.

Kies looked up to see the blue eyes staring down at them. He felt no fear but yet, for some reason he started to shiver when their eyes met. Kies looked back down at the floor and started to say something but Ammine glared at him again, making him close his mouth.

"You're free to speak. The both of you," the demon said.

Kies tried to look up again but stopped himself and asked, "Who are you?"

"I think you know the answer."

"Why did you want to see me?"

"I think you know the answer to that as well," the demon coldly said.

"You want me to fight for you?"

"Yes."

Kies heard the person get up and walk down the steps. "Come with me." Kies slowly got up and looked at the demon that was talking to him. He was almost twice as tall as him and though the clothes he wore were covering his body, Kies could see the muscles showing through them. Not only was his magic powerful, but he was physically strong too. The demon had white hair, a scar across his face, and a broken horn. Overall, he looked very menacing.

Ammine also got up and moved a few steps back from the demon as he walked past them and out the door. Kies and Ammine followed the demon king outside where the two demons that were guarding the entrance bowed to him.

Kies continued to follow the demon as he made his way around. At some point, the demon told Ammine to do something and she instantly flew off.

"Where are we going?" Kies asked. They had been walking for several minutes now and he still couldn't tell where they were going. The moon was high in the sky. Kies didn't feel tired even after spending the entire day fighting and walking around. By now, Kies had deduced that had something to do with him being an Aeos. He lifted his arm and to his chest and looked at the bracelet. Arc had not said anything ever since they had arrived here.

"Here we are," the demon said. They had arrived at a small hut in the middle of the wilderness. "The other demons are wary of you because you look so much like a human, so you will have to sleep here tonight. I hope you memorized the path here since tomorrow morning you will have to find your way back."

"Thank you, um... your majesty?" Kies didn't know how to address the demon so he just went with what the humans would've called someone of this status.

"I hate formality. I keep telling Ammine and the other demons to loosen up but they refuse to for whatever reason." The demon let out a sigh that sounded more like a grunt. "Call me by my name, Tornon. It saves me a lot of headaches." Tornon rubbed his forehead with his knuckles and then said, "Come find me when you wake up, whenever that is. Heck, I don't know if you even sleep. Well, you go do whatever it is that you Aeos do."

The demon walked off towards the direction they came from and left Kies alone at the hut. With no other choice, Kies opened the door to the hut and examined the inside of it. It was very plain. There was a chair, a table, and a bed. It was difficult to see with it being so dark, but Kies saw the outline of a candle on the table and folded up sheets on top of the bed.

Kies walked into the room and closed the door behind him. There was a small window letting moonlight in for him to see or otherwise he wouldn't have been able to navigate around the table and chair. He laid down on the bed and closed his eyes.

---

Grammar errors, story errors, other errors, and advice, email flightless05@gmail.com

Thanks!