BENDY AND THE DEMON'S APPRENTICE

Chapter 9

The Ink Demon lead me outside of my room, and outside to his vast Lair. Now I was in his own lair. Like we past his throne room, which was amazing and entered a room in which four glass pipes of ink flowed.

"Now, apprentice. I wish for you to follow me, and pay attention. Do not let your eyes wander, or get distracted. This is a very important training session, and you must be as alert as possible. Do you understand?"

"I do.", was my only answer.

"Good. Now, pay close attention to what happens next, as you shall begin to learn the very basics of ink manipulation. Are you ready to begin?"

"Of course I am ready."

"Great. Now, first, let us see how basic your knowledge on ink is to begin with. Please, use this ink pen, and draw a circle on the ground in front of you. A simple circle will suffice."

I was a bit unexpected. I thought it would be far more dangerous like the last task. This was easy peasy. I noticed the floor has a square form piece of wood. I took the pen gently out of his hand and drew a circle on this wooden piece.

"Good… very good. Now, you see how the ink appears, as it is coming out of the pen? Try to concentrate. Visualize how the ink is forming as it’s coming out of the pen. Concentrate hard enough, and... you should be able to begin manipulating the ink that is currently still within the ink pen to form whatever you would like. So... I shall be waiting with patience for you to begin forming the ink."

"Alright."

I closed my eyes, concentrating hard on it. I had a thing in mind what I wanted it to be formed as. As I start to form the ink, I suddenly hear voices in my head.

They say: "We are the Dark Puddles. You should not trust this demon. Let him believe you are his apprentice and loyal to him. But betray him afterwards. He will lead you to death, Roxana. We want to help you. You are controlling our ink. Continue and form a weapon.".

I didn't wanted to. I couldn't really believe those voices. I fought back. It was like a tuck of war. Suddenly I managed to make a star out of the ink.

The Ink Demon smiled when he saw me form a star out of the ink, as he looked down upon me with pride. I suggest he was not expecting me to actually be able to form a weapon, let alone a star, as an apprentice with such little knowledge on ink.

"You have done well my apprentice. The Dark Puddles speak lies, and only wish to mislead you into betrayal, you are in control of your own ink. And you have done it. You have formed an ink star. Good… very good."

"You... could hear them? W-why would they even want me to betray you... that's... absurd. You did nothing wrong.", I said, thinking why the hell would the Dark Puddles betray their lord.

"The Dark Puddles simply want to lead you down a path of destruction and betrayal. It is not your fault. It is their fault for tempting you with lies. You have shown that you are able to resist them, and for that… I am impressed by you. Now, let us take one more step. Close your eyes again, and focus your mind on the ink as it comes out of the pen. Once again, manipulate the liquid ink to something else. It can be anything, I wish to see what else you can do."

Ok, I guess. But why the hell was he so CALM? Doesn't he understand the Dark Puddles are probably combined with every ink here? Why so calm, dude!?

I ignored the feeling. I nodded and tried again. But I feared the Dark Puddles would try again as well. I started forming.

Again the Dark Puddles started speaking: "We don't tell lies. He has murdered people. Killed them. Let alone gave no mercy. Such a dangerous monster. And yet... he can't leave. But we can. We can help you leave this place. Let us help you, (Y/N)."

I tried my hardest to ignore them and tried to finish to form the ink. Suddenly I succeeded, turning the ink into a flower. The ones I saw around this place. This flower was also glowing like the ones before. Have I created life?

The Ink Demon was utterly impressed. His apprentice, me, was able to form an entire glowing flower with just the ink within the pen. He was truly proud of me. He smiled down upon me.

"You have achieved something quite remarkable. That is indeed the flower we have spotted around the place with little amounts of ink. The fact that you could form and control enough ink to form a completely new one... that is extremely impressive. No other apprentice before you had been able to do such a thing with just a pen. Excellent work, my apprentice."

"Thank you so much, Sir.", I thanked while making a slight bow. I couldn't believe I was this good. My creativity never fails me, huh.

But afterwards I got worried and concerned about something.

"Is it true that you murdered people with no mercy?"

"It is true. I have taken the lives of many people. And I have no remorse for it. But... that was many many years ago, my apprentice. Since my initial creation, I have killed countless. But... that is no longer who I am. I have changed. The past is the past. I am not the same Ink Demon from back then. I am new. I am different. You do not need to worry, my apprentice."

He was... new? So all this kindness he showed to me... wasn't at the beginning his habit. So I was right at the very beginning about him... but in a sense of the past. I didn't knew he was different now.

"How did you change?"

"My past actions were full of rage and violence. I was a monster. Someone without compassion. Someone without mercy. But one person changed my ways. That person..."

...

"...was Henry."