A Deal with a Devil

Inside a small dusty room, Prince Erik would be bent over with one hand holding his stomach to slow the bleeding and the other drawing a symbol with his blood. Banging would be heard outside the door as the prince hurried, copying the drawing from a book across from him.

"There," He whispered with a raspy voice, slamming his hand into the center of the symbol. "Please help me."

The blood would start to glow brighter and gather underneath his hand. "Who calls for my aid?" A voice would ask from the pool of blood.

Pulling his hand away, Erik would look into the pool but only see his reflection. He didn't look older than sixteen, having greenish-yellow eyes and short black hair.

"Is it you who calls for me?" The reflection asked, startling Erik.

"Y-yes, it was me. I'm Prince Erik, and I wish to save my kingdom. Please help me," Erik begged.

"What are you offering?" The voice asked curiously.

"Anything, the soldiers will find me soon, please!" Erik pleaded with tears in his eyes.

"Very well," The voice sounded pleased with the response.

Red tendrils would shoot out from the blood, grabbing hold of Erik's face. The blood became thick and gelatinous, pulling itself onto Erik and slowly engulfing him. The prince would flail his arms wildly, trying to pull the red blob off his face but couldn't get a good grip. With a lack of air Erik collapsed as the creature devoured him.

Once the blob finished devouring the prince, his body began to shift as he turned into the prince himself. The greenish-yellow eyes became a solid gold as Erik looked up and down at himself.

"Not bad this form is quite comfortable. I guess I'll start going by the prince's name, Erik," The devil mused as he looked around the small room. Old books and a couple knocked over bookshelves, Erik saw bloody fingerprints all over. He saw how the prince struggled to find anything useful in here until finding an occult book on devil summoning.

The banging on the door continued as the lock gave way, and a couple of armed men charged through the door. A blade pierced Erik from behind, shoving through Erik's body. Looking down, he could see red droplets running off the sword and onto the ground.

"So your the ones," Erik mused as his form dissipated, still keeping a human shape and reformed facing the solider.

The soldier let go of his sword and turned to run, but Erik pulled the sword out of himself and impaled the soldier. The other soldier slowly pulled out a dim glowing dagger and glared at Erik.

"You're not the prince, your a shapeless," The soldier slowly backed up, keeping the knife between him and Erik. "I know regular weapons don't work on demons, but magic does."

"A magic dagger, sure it can hurt me, but you think it can kill me?" Erik laughed.

"You're the weakest kind of demon shapeless don't even have names. So yes, I believe this dagger can kill you," The soldier warned.

Erik yanked the sword out of the soldier lying on the ground. "Then I'll use your weapons," he mocked, swinging the blade at the soldier.

The soldier held his sword in one hand, blocking the attack and thrusting forward with the knife in his other hand. Erik grabbed the knife and the soldier's wrist as the small blade pierced his hand. Flinching from the burning sensation the magic knife caused, Erik grit his teeth and leaned into the soldier.

"No, let go," The soldier tried to pull away but couldn't escape as Erik's body lost its shape and absorbed the soldier inside the gelatinous body.

With the soldier absorbed, Erik would transform into him. His outfit changed from wearing the prince's royal outfit to the soldier's leather armour.

"This isn't as comfy," Erik noted to himself before changing back to the prince. His eyes drifted to the other one he killed. "No point in letting it go to waste," he thought and devoured the body.

"Now for the others," Erik walked out of the room, holding the sword he took from the soldier.

After wandering a bit, Erik would run into more soldiers, but they were already dead. Hearing a soldier cursing from a nearby room, Erik opened the door as he noticed a woman with golden hair. It was in a short ponytail, and as she turned to face him, he could see she had clear blue eyes.

"Prince Erik, it's you!" The woman yelled happily and ran towards him.

Erik panicked as he couldn't tell if she was an enemy or not. Her words sounded friendly, but the blade she was carrying was dangerous. It was thin and had a dark red glow.

Seeing the panicked prince, the girl stayed back and smiled. "Samara, captain of the castle guard, is at your service."

Erik pretended to calm down, as being told her name did help. Consuming the prince only took his appearance, not his memories. "It's good to see you again, now what's the situation?"

"Of course, but wouldn't it be better to tell his majesty the king?" Samara asked.

"My father died in the attack," Erik replied, betting on how desperate the prince was during the deal. If the king is still alive, he would have to kill him.

"I'm sorry, then the report. The attack on the outside was a distraction I noticed when they started to retreat when we went out to confront them. Upon our return, soldiers from the empire were already inside the castle. The rest of my men should be clearing out the remnants as we speak." Samara explained.

"That means they must have snuck in through a secret route," Erik replied.

"My thoughts as well, the most likely suspects are the maids," Samara pointed out.

"Perhaps we should see who else the Empire killed, were royalty the only targets or was everyone a target," Erik suggested.

"We'll look into that once my men gather, as I can't leave you alone and unprotected," Samara stated.

Erik nodded and walked with Samara into the throne room. The king was found dead inside on the floor, his back leaning against the throne, and around him lay three other Imperial soldiers. Seeing the deceased king, Samara would begin to tear up, Erik would only bite his lip, pretending to hold back the tears for his supposed dad.

"I'm sorry, you're able to hold back while I'm the one crying." Samara would blink a few times and wipe her eyes. "Don't worry, your high- your majesty, I swear my allegiance to you as I did him, and I'll protect you with everything I have."