A Chapter Stolen From Sho’s Perspective

SHO

Sho coughed up a mouthful of blood and glanced around careful not to let his captors see. No signs of weakness. His father had drilled that phrase into his head when he had brought him to the demon realm.

If the head demon of the ultimates (rank z/top) hadn't killed his uncle Talon then he probably would have. He remembered the other phrase his dad always said. Keep a low profile never let anyone see you as more than a decent demon. The chain around his neck had been broken and now his stats said

[Sho Whitewolf level 52 Manager(B]]

Sho glanced to his left the two chief (SS) demons escorting him to the dark caves, level 72 and 78. He sneered. If they hadn't snuck up behind him and knocked him out he would have just fought to the death instead.

Tomorrow they would reach the dark caves, a place of many rumors and few facts. He shuttered visibly. A death in battle would have been much more preferred.

Sho leaned back against the tree he was currently chained to. At least his current project had gotten away. Not only that but he had left on his own accord.

When Sho heard about how uncle Talon was thinking of trying to fight the ultimates... he knew it would end badly. Dumb, so dumb, and he had to drag the rest of the family into his mess.

His little cute adopted demon... he smiled thinking of his black hair and green eyes. So cute, yet also so naïve, naïve and a fast learner. It really made for a weird combo. If he had of stayed in the demon realm he probably would have been quite a force to contend with. He'd be safer with the humans as long as he had those contacts though; he probably grew up in a small town where no one realized green was a rare demon color.

Pity if only Sho's eyes had been green, maybe they could have grown up together. He smiled for the first time since being caught. Little Arlo, even his name was fun to say. It sounded foreign like his. Another with a human type name.

He's probably over the border by now. I wonder what he's up to. For some reason Sho pictured Arlo sleeping with his black hair partly covering his eyes. Way too cute.

Sho's eyes finally fell shut.

....

"Get up!" yelled a voice and a shoe crashed into Sho's rib cage.

He opened his eyes and glared as one of his guards. He got to his feet continuing to meet them with an icy look. Don't show weakness or they will just beat you up more.

Sho calmly let them place him on the steed in front of him. A Waraton, land whale type, Sho was sandwiched between his two captors as the beast started moving.

One of the guards licked the back of his neck. "Pity you have a family claim crest, I would have loved to make you a servant of mine. You do have wonderful silver hair. I bet you are great in bed as well."

Sho tried to ignore his remarks. He gritted his teeth, no way he'd rather die than serve someone like him.

The other guard threw in a few comments that were less than nice. Then added a final line that made Sho's blood run cold. "You know if you asked the ultimates nicely they might let you have him. The dark caves will slowly remove his crest. Granted he'd probably die before you'd be able to claim him." He paused as if thinking, "If you give him energy stabilizers he might live long enough thought."

Not going to happen. Thought Sho. I will let these dark caves kill me first. I'm not stooping to energy stabilizers or being anyone's servant.

The whale continued onward as the smell of the sea started to inundate Sho's nose. Way too salty. After a few more hours Sho saw the sea. He didn't much like salt water and today was no exception. The waves crashed against the coast as the group continued south.

The very corner of the demon continent. Farthest south west you could go before hitting the monster lands. And the infamous dark caves.

Sho shuttered at the eerie feeling coming from the black rocks as the whale left the sandy beach behind. This place.... Even the whale didn't want to linger here. It started balking at the forward movement.

One of the demon guards cursed. "Time to go by foot." He growled.

The one behind Sho shoved him off the whale and he fell to the ground. He stood up spiting a bit of sand from his mouth. Then he stepped up onto the black rocks pretending to be perfectly fine.

The effect was instantaneous. He could feel it slowly dragging on his energy life-force. Slowly like some kind of mad tormentor. An involuntary shiver ran down his side. He glanced at his own energy 52/55. How long he had to live and to also be in pain.

"Move it." Growled a guard. But he also looked very shaky up on the rocks. The cave entrance wasn't far but its effect was enough. No one in their right mind would go there.

The shaking guard tossed an energy stabilizer into his mouth and frowned. Then he grabbed Sho and hauled him forward. They crossed into the cave and the effect tripled Sho quivered all over hardly able to move.

The two guards didn't look much better and Sho felt a slight hint of satisfaction at that.

"Oye time for those pilled the boss mentioned." One guard pulled out two purplish pills and ate one tossing the other to his pal. After a few seconds they seemed fine.

Sho scowled. If you're going to drag me here with you at least feel the effects for a bit. His mind retorted but he kept silent. One grabbed his collar and dragged him deeper into the cave. The cave branched off and they took a few different paths downward.

They had been on a cliff. Were they even still above sea level? It was impossible for Sho to tell. It didn't help that his legs had basically given out on him. Finally they reached their destination. The tunnel entered into a larger cave room. A window on the side was barred up, with bits of the waves rolling over the floor.

No one would be nuts enough to try to escape that way, the waves crashed viciously against the area keeping the room constantly wet. The room was at sea level. Literally and this was low tide. Sho swallowed his dry saliva. High tide and the room would be knee deep in water. No wonder people never came out of this place. If you didn't drown you'd probably get chilled to death, and if for some reason that didn't kill you the energy effect would.

Sho's body was already shaking from the chill. He was level 52 though. The cold wouldn't kill him. At least not first. He'd either drown or die of energy loss.

"Here." Sho caught the bottle of pills the guard tossed to him. "If you feel like being my pet in the future don't die before I come back to get you." He laughed.

The other guard rolled his eyes. "The fish will eat his dead body before you get back here." He muttered. The guard chained Sho's ankles to the wall. As if it was needed. He already didn't have the strength to move.

Drowning, seems that'd be his death. The guards left arguing about some regulation that Sho definitely did not care about.

How long till high tide? How long had it been? Sho lay on the floor unmoving. Then he felt the water creeping around him. One inch, two, it stopped. Huh his estimate had been off. Small waves crashed over him. Very annoying but he could avoid drowning. Did he want to avoid it though?

He pulled out the pill bottle. He already always kept them on him in case he decided to claim anyone. Two pill bottles both mostly full. Sho pocketed them. Nah wasn't worth it. Dying was better than being trapped here hoping for someone who wasn't coming.

All the Whitewolves beside him were dead. Not that he and his family ever really got along. If they had he wouldn't have been raised in the human realm.

Nope he was all alone. But he didn't want to drown. For some reason his pride was keeping him from trying to die. That just left waiting until his energy loss killed him. At least energy loss made you sleepy. A kinder way to die. As long as he stayed on his back the water wasn't a problem. But it was still cold. What he wouldn't give to snuggle up with Arlo in a nice warm bed right about now.

Arlo, too bad he wouldn't see that tiny guy grow up. If he got reincarnated or something, he wanted to be Black Opal so that he could curl up with Arlo every night for the rest of his life. Although Black Opal was already alive, so maybe into the future body of whatever the next addition to his party was. Maybe Sho could be a cute little blizzard cat, or a demon steed of his.

Arlo....