The Demon Within

Chapter Thirty

As Mei and Kazuma disappeared into the portal, the clouded energy vanished, leaving nothing but the stone arches and the background of the forest. Kalik took a deep breath and accepted the fact he may never see Mei again. He figured once Mei took her first step back into her own world, this world would become a distant memory to her. She was the princess, which meant she had her whole world to rule. She won't have the time to think about us. She's busy with her duties, and I'll be busy with mine. There's no way I'll see her again. He turned to leave, Takashi following him silently. Kalik couldn't help but notice Takashi seemed to be in a sour mood as well. Without a word from either of them, they walked through the temple, the wind gently rustling through the trees. The wood creaked underneath their feet and Kalik closed his eyes as sadness started to overwhelm him.

"What the hell are we going to do now?" Takashi asked suddenly, breaking the eerie silence. "We've been following Mei around this whole damn time." Kalik couldn't help the soft smile appearing on his face.

"Take her advice and rebuild," Kalik retorted as he glanced over his shoulder at Takashi. "It's quite simple."

"Someone's getting bossy," Takashi said winking. After a moment Takashi put his hand on Kalik's shoulder. "Don't get too upset. I'm going to miss her too." Kalik smiled as he exited the temple. He wished Mei could've heard what Takashi said. He knew he would never be able to get him to admit it again. They started walking back down the path in silence, neither one wanting to talk. The wind began to pick up and the distant sound of the lullaby hummed in their ears. Kalik closed his eyes again, letting the sweet melody calm him down as he continued to walk. As they reached the edge of the forest, they observed the land out before them. I wish you were here, Mei, Kalik thought. A confident smirk appeared on his face and he tightened his hands into fists. I won't give in. We'll make this world better than yours!

"Where do we start?" Takashi asked with a smile as he continued to stare out into the landscape. "There's a bunch of work to do that I'm not sure where to go first."

"Heh," Kalik laughed. "Contact the remaining clans and we'll have them start with the reconstruction. We'll start with the capital; that's our new home after all."

"We'll just say the Purebloods appointed us so they can't really argue. I don't feel like arguing with Heisuke from the Yura Clan. I am not opposed to using Mei's name to scare people into doing what I want."

"I guess whatever works," Kalik said shrugging his shoulders. "I'll leave the construction of the new capital to you. I'll head over and start rebuilding all of the villages and towns destroyed by Osamu. There's bound to be people who escaped before it was wiped out. Then the last thing we are going to do is rebuild the temple." Takashi tore his gaze away from the scenery and looked at Kalik like he was insane.

"The temple? Seriously?," Takashi asked as his voice rose in disbelief. "This whole mess was started because of the temple. Why don't we follow Mei's advice and let the demons become myths again? The last thing we need is something like...this to happen again." Kalik looked reassuringly over at Takashi, but his eyes were serious.

"We won't let that happen. We'll start our records over again, writing down what we know. I don't want the world to forget about the demons, even if they  turn into legends again. However, no one will forget they are out there."

"Write our names down in history, huh? I wouldn't mind that," Takashi said smiling as he put his fingers to his chin, pondering over the thought.  

"I had a feeling you wouldn't," Kalik said smugly as he turned to face the opposite direction. "We have a lot of work to do. Let's not waste any more time." Kalik headed out to the desolated villages, leaving the capital in Takashi's hands. Kalik had found some remaining villagers and easily convinced them to help start rebuilding the village of Era. Era was his first stop and was determined to make this village prosper again. Weeks had passed and soon Era had houses and a market again, with pastures for their livestock and small areas where crops could grow. The villagers remaining accepted Kalik as leader, even throwing a celebration in honor of him and their new village. Kalik moved then to Urager, and bitter memories resurfaced in his head as he started to rebuild there. Kalik could still smell the blood and hear the screams as people died. There are some things that will never leave my mind, he thought disgustedly as he looked over at the place where Kaito had died. There were still the remains of charred skeletons from where Taichi had burned the elites who worked for Osamu. The amount of life loss dawned on Kalik as he stared at the scorch marks, and the images of Taichi and Kaito came to his mind. The construction at Urager took longer than Kalik had hoped, but considering he had fewer villagers to help him, he considered his progress decent. After a month, the village of Urager was livable again. Kalik had built new buildings there in hopes of attracting people back to the once prosperous village. He expanded the villages' borders, giving more people the chance to move in. Before moving on to the villages farther than he had traveled, Kalik went to Irailia, where his most bitter memory came back to him. Irailia is where it all started; picking up Hintani was the one thing Kalik would never forget. It was due to Hintani he had gotten to meet Mei, which began their entire adventure. Kalik made his way over to the house that stood on the edge of the town. Kalik smiled sadly as he pictured him in his youth, sitting on his horse and doubting Hintani's very skill and Soushi scolding him for doing so. Kalik's heart ached and he willed for those memories to go away. Forcing himself to focus, he carried on with his plans. There was nothing he could do about the past except learn from his mistakes.