Ferrum Minus

Alexis Inn, Derunia, Earth

***

"Breaking News! Medeyin Flight 656 was reported to crash yesterday, four in the afternoon. The Medeyin Flight Airlines Corporation had said to the public that a total of about Five Hundred passengers were on that flight including the Multi-Billionaire Lester White and his known colleague Doctor Julio Magno."

"They were supposed to land at Kanlun province to heal the sick indigenous people of an unknown virus outbreak in those mountains. The last report from the pilot said that their right-wing engine failed and blew up, seemingly to be a mechanical error."

"Official technical reports are still in question as of this moment and the Leaders of Medeyin Airlines refused to give an official statement. According to our source, they are still investigating what happened. As we speak, rescue teams were dispatched to the crash site, looking for possible survivors. But until now, they haven't found one yet. We are saddened by this incident and the city of ...."

***

The Television continued to display the reporter of Morning News channel 09. It was on every news channel. It was the only sound that echoed inside the walls of Dreygo's motel as he lazily slumped on the bed. The television had kept him awake almost all night. Sleeping would trigger his hellish nightmares.

Yesterday, he was taught by Elaine how to turn the TV on when Dreygo thought it was a black mirror. Astonished by the primitive thinking that Dreygo possessed, Elaine could not handle her laughter. Although she knew that the Harbinger lived on Earth during the Medieval times.

Dreygo did not care what was in the news. He just thought that these deaths were normal and random. He would see these souls enter Hell as they came from a portal from the sky and fell to the ground like rain. He was apathetic about what happened to this world. The only thing that ran through his mind now was how to find Kragus.

He hauled himself from his bed and opened the large curtains that covered his wide windows. He slid the curtains aside and came in blinding sunlight that shone on Dreygo's eyes. He flinched, somewhat hurting from the sudden burst of immense illumination.

He was used to the darkness of Hell. There were no mornings in the Demon World, living for Centuries staring at a dark sky. For the rarest times, he smiled as his eyes adjusted to the rays of the sun.

For a moment he felt peace.

The digital clock said 7:05 am. Dreygo yawned and stretched his arms in the air. He grabbed a bottle of water from the small fridge located below where the Television was placed.

He drank the whole bottle and burped. The coldness of the chilled water provided a soothing sensation down his throat as if extinguishing the burning flesh inside. A moment of heaven felt from his throat down to his stomach.

A knock on the door overlapped the sound of the news channel. Dreygo expected it to be Elaine. They were supposed to be heading to the Seer of Derunia that morning.

'She's an hour early.' Dreygo thought.

Dreygo rushed to the door and opened it. But to his disappointment, it was a man, in his late thirties, with ear piercings and wearing shades and a black suit. He had thin features augmented by the small tattoos on his face and his hands.

"Who are you?"

The man answered indifferently, "Dreygo Mondus?"

He knew his name and the harbinger sensed a demon inside this human shell.

The Harbinger answered, "Yes. I am Dreygo Mondus! You better get to the point Demon or I will treat you as my enemy."

"I am Kesh, a demon assassin, at the service of Lord Kragus," For a split second, the man took out his Colt 45 handgun with a mounted silencer and aimed at Dreygo's forehead. The man pulled the trigger but missed his mark as the latter swept his head to dodge. The bullet only grazed the surface of the harbinger's foreskin.

Dreygo tried to grab the gun, but as he did, the man pushed himself inside the room and they both rolled on the floor stumbling, with the gun swept away from the assassin. They quickly stood up both in a fighting stance. The man took a small knife from his belt. The harbinger only had his fists.

Dreygo smiled as if he was pumped up with adrenaline. He liked to fight, he fought for a living as a Death Harbinger. Hoping this skirmish would fulfill his thirst for a kill.

"Kesh huh? I have been waiting for your arrival. I know you all fear me, so you hesitated to attack me."

Kesh smiled with his knife in his right hand. He swung it deftly, targeting the Harbinger's face but caught only air as Dreygo pulled his body away from it, evading the attack. Dreygo was now beyond Kesh's reach thus Kesh launched forward with a straight stab to the Harbinger's gut.

The Harbinger quickly grabbed Kesh's wrist and the blade stopped an inch away from his stomach. Dreygo clenched hard the assassin's arm that made the latter scream. Dreygo twisted it, and a sudden crack of Kesh's Radius Ulna was audible.

Kesh grimaced with pain and seemed to have not enough courage to remove himself from the harbinger's grip. Eventually, Kesh's hand opened and the knife fell but it did not hit the ground as Dreygo quickly caught it using his other free hand.

Dreygo pulled Kesh close to him and delivered six quick stabs at Kesh's chest at lightning speed. The assassin released a sudden scream, and blood flooded from his mouth. Successively, Dreygo's last stab was on Kesh's jugular vein at the necks fatal area.

The blade went through his nape. Kesh's eyes bulged as if they were going to pop out and blood had flown from his neck and mouth. His screaming had ceased. He was biologically unable to but only managed grunts of surprising pain. Blood sprayed the room's carpet as a splurge of enormous amount of blood.

Dreygo pushed the Demon into the wooden wall causing his body to be embedded with it. Kesh was unable to move, his body was trapped in the depressed wooden wall. Moreover, he also struggled to cease the blood gushing from his wound as survival instincts of a human being kicked in.

Swiftly, Dreygo rolled to his side and grabbed the Ferrum Minus hidden in his duffel bag. Its blade shone against the sunlight that invaded a portion of the room and held it with every intent to kill. He saw the assassin's face scorned upon the sight of his weapon.

Kesh was helplessly trying to pull out the knife lodged in his neck. After significant moments, he was successful but had difficulty freeing himself from the wall. But when he did so, it was too late. The purge blade struck his forehead.

Kesh's both hands caught Dreygo's arm with the weapon due to his body's last reflex but right after another second, the Demon's hands fell lifelessly. His eyes still bulging, his mouth opened, until his struggle was done. Right after, yellowish red light glowed to the dead demon's eyes and mouth followed by a sudden shrieking sound of a demon ether appeared.

The red light turned into smoke, and it was like an unseen force pulled the smoke out from its host and forcibly submerged itself into Dreygo's body. Dreygo felt, a little bit of discomfort, a sensation of cold and heat, as the Demon's ether entered his body but he could feel an increase in his strength.

"Demon Ether," He whispered.

It felt like he ate a hundred meals. It gave him somewhat an amount of energy ready for his consumption. He felt stronger but even so, he could not shake the fact that his body was still human.

The body disintegrated along with his suit and left a burnt image on the room's depressed wall. He fell to his knees to recover his wisp of energy. It happened so fast as his reflexes were optimized.

'I knew this is gonna work.' he thought while inspecting his weapon with appreciation.

Suddenly, a set of footfalls was getting closer to his position. He turned to the opened door and waited for somebody to emerge. Startled, his blade raised and his legs apart, on his fight stance again. The footfalls stopped and a silhouette of a woman unconcealed before his eyesight. It was Elaine.

"What happened?" Elain panted, gasping with air. "I heard a shout. I thought you were hurt."

Dreygo lowered his blade and his body relaxed. "A Demon assassin visited me." He regarded at the depressed wall.

Elaine sighed with relief and came inside the room frantically. She almost vomited as she witnessed blood splatters on the floor and the walls.

She stopped at the corner near the door and lowered herself to a chair, disallowing herself to stepped on the blood scattered everywhere. Her breathing decreased and he calmed herself. As she settled, she pointed at the TV.

"Kragus strikes! It was he who sabotaged the plane. I saw it in my dreams. I saw the suffering of thousands of people in Kanlun because of this. It was a virus outbreak. It pursued because the crash killed the Doctor capable of stopping the virus." She said sobbing, "We have to stop him, or else, millions will die."

Dreygo responded, "What else do you see? Will he strike again? If yes, when?"

"I have no clear answers yet. But I can feel that these simultaneous accidents are not random. They were carefully planned to destroy the human race."

"Now we go to the Seer. I can sense a few Demons coming to kill me."

"I have a car upfront." Elaine mused urgently.

They ran outside and went inside a vintage Corolla. The engine hummed as it started and then the tire screeched as they drove away from the motel.