Chapter 45

"W-what?" Fen finally says after a few seconds. His voice sounds hoarse like he's been screaming.

Aki nudges the corpse Fen has been holding on to with the tip of his foot. "Why do you look so surprised? Did Mother never tell you?" The way Aki says "mother" is full of derision, of contempt. He bares his teeth in a mocking smile that looks more like a snarl. Faster than Kit's eyes can follow, Aki has moved, crouching in front of Fen and grabbing his face in a claw-like hold. "Allow me tell you a story then."

~~~

In this world, there are three things which corrupt a human's soul: money, power, and fame. The irrational want for them is capable of driving anyone to commit acts beyond human comprehension.

Demons, for as long as humans have had a name for them, have been a source of fear; the representation of all things evil and corrupt. Demons abhor humans, humans loathe demons. But very few know that not only hatred exists between these two species, and it is possible to contact them and strike deals with them. After all, demons are selfish creatures, so if the price is right they are willing to lend a "helping hand".

It just so happened, that not too many years ago, there was a man blinded by his want for money and power. So in order to obtain them, he broke the laws of humans and summoned a powerful demon capable of granting his wish. But what could a prince of demons possibly want from a meagre human?

'A sacrifice,' the demon said, 'a flesh and bone sacrifice.'

'Anything' the man responded. 'I will give you anything if you will grant my wish.'

But who would be so foolish as to offer up their own flesh? More than riches, more than power, the body is above them all. So the man talked it over with his wife and they instead offered up their daughter.

But the demon didn't kill her as everyone thought it would. Instead, the man's daughter became pregnant and gave birth to a son.

A child both demon and human, who could possibly have wanted it? As soon as it was born, the midwife was ordered to abandon it in the forest near the house where the daughter had gone to hide while her pregnancy passed.

And so the child was abandoned to die, or so everyone thought. But perhaps the universe's twisted sense of humour didn't permit it and the child was found by another demon.

This demon had once been a prince too, but for circumstances unknown to the child, had been exiled from Hell and had been forced to live in the Forest of Mist. It rescued the half-bred child and raised it.

To destroy the human world; that was the sole lesson it instilled into the child's mind. Its hatred for humans was the only thing that had kept it going all these centuries. And now, here was a suitable successor to carry out his plans. How easy it would be to corrupt him.

But a child is naive, and not knowing about the human world, thought there was still a place for him out there. Even knowing he had been abandoned, he still longed to go back. He was convinced it must all have been a misunderstanding. Surely his own mother wouldn't have abandoned him? She must have been against it. If only he could go back…

So when he was old enough to fend for himself, having learned how to control his powers from the old demon, he left the forest.

And then, finally, after years and years of searching, he found what he had been looking for so many years.

His mother. Surely she had been mourning him all this time. Surely, she would see his face and recognise him.

He approached her, his heart in his throat…

"Excuse me, who are you? Have we ever met before?"

The words pierced through him like an arrow to the chest. She didn't even remember him.

"Who is this?" An unknown man came over. "Come on, darling, stop wasting your time here. Look, Fen is waiting for us over there."

Ah so that's how it was…

She had moved on.

All his dreams, his hopes, vanished in an instant. It was true; in this world there would be no place for him. He was unwanted.

But no matter. He would carve a place in the world from flesh and blood.

~~~

"So there you have it. Now you know what a bunch of twisted bastards this family were!" Aki shoves Fen backwards. "Isn't it better now that they're all dead?" He laughs maniacally.

Fen's mouth opened and closed wordlessly. "You… You- You're lying… Say you're lying, Aki!"

"Don't call me that," his tone suddenly turns cold, icy. "Do you really think that was me? Aki; that was just an act. So don't call me that. You have no right to call me anything."

"No! No, you-"

"Shut up!" He raises an arm as if to strike Fen. The murderous aura around him increases tenfold, and Fen draws back, whimpering. "Shut up! You don't know anything! You've lived a perfect life until now; you have no right to anything! You-" Aki suddenly cuts himself off. A crazed smile appears on his face. And then he's looking directly at Kit.

Kit feels how his whole body freezes up, his head starts pounding once again.

"HAHAHAHA, very clever! Very clever, indeed!" He starts walking towards the corner of the room where Kit is. "Hey, Fen," he says, looking back at him, "it looks like we had company all this time!"

The last thing Kit sees is the demon's hand hovering over him, tendrils of smoke coming off its fingers. The hand reaches towards him, drawing in to finish him in one blow, and then-

The room is gone. Aki and Fen with it.

Aki must have destroyed his ink creature.

But he knows now. Kit knows who the demon is. And Aki… He knows it was Kit.

He has to do something. Has to save Fen.

Even though his entire body is screaming at him not to go.

Even though he will most definitely die…

He can't turn a blind eye.