Daemnos: The Demon Souls Series #1

Chapter 10

The next thing Badrick knew, an unfamiliar white ceiling was swimming into focus, and his head was thumping with an unforgiving beat.

He put a hand to his forehead, only vaguely realising his armour was gone, and moaned in agony. "Agh! My head!"

Half a second later an easily recognisable voice called, "Badrick!" and he achingly glanced over to see, not only Zale standing nearby, but Mawr as well.

His location finally dawned on him; he was back at the Daemonium, in what was probably the medical wing.

Badrick gave a small, inaudible sigh of relief. He was safe again.

Well . . . safer.

His comrades were at the end of the bed he had awoken on, still adorning their armour and helmets. Zale gave him a thumbs up. "Thank God you're alive."

"Of course he's alive," Mawr chipped in, attempting to sound amused and nonchalant, though the relief was as evident in his voice as much as Zale's.

Badrick tried to sit up, but a pair of hands gripped a hold of him. The face of the medic from the battlefield came into view.

"Don't move, you idiot," she snapped, grabbing his forehead and forcing him back down.

"Agh!"

"Well, that's what you get!"

"Perhaps a modicum of carefulness, Melody?"

Silence ensued whilst everybody watched her remove a drip from Badrick's arm and slap on a flowery plaster. Badrick leered at it, not sure whether to laugh or scowl. Well, at least she has a sense of humour.

When the medic left, giving orders for Badrick to stay still for the next hour on her way out, he quickly ripped it off and threw it to the floor, sitting and propping himself up on the pillows.

He massaged his shoulder, groaning and wincing sorely. His gaze caught that of the emotionless visors of his companions, and he briefly wondered what they were thinking inside those helmets. The crack running along Zale's forced him to wonder just what exactly happened in the cave before he got there.

"What happened?" he asked them. "Last thing I remember . . . " He trailed off, unable to finish that sentence.

Zale and Mawr appeared to share a look, though he couldn't be certain due to their faces being obstructed from view.

Mawr shrugged and indicated to Zale. "After you."

Zale sighed, reached for his helmet and removed it, revealing his handsome face and unfairly awesome hair. "You opened the fourth fissure," he said softly.

Badrick simply stared at him; though he remembered his partner mentioning a fissure during their fight with the Forsaken, he had absolutely no clue as to how it related to him in any way. "I'm sorry, I did what?"

"The fourth fissure of demonic enthrallment," Mawr added unhelpfully.

"The fissures are rips in souls, Badrick," Zale explained, his hands waving dramatically, emphasising each word. "Specifically, our souls. Each Enthraller is born with just one. It is the link between our bodies and the demon inside our souls. It's what connects the two. The fissure lets the power of the demon flow into our bodies, like air through a crack in the rocks."

Mawr continued, "As we use our powers more and start to gain control it puts more strain on our souls. Mortal bodies are not meant for immortal powers, and the gravity that puts on us is immense. As a result our souls tear to relieve the strain, though ironically granting us more of the thing that is hurting us."