Daemnos: The Demon Souls Series #1

Chapter 14

 (Present Day)

"Zale?"

The sound of Badrick's concerned voice jolted Zale from his reverie, and he realised with embarrassment he'd been quiet for quite some time.

"Oh . . . sorry," he muttered, trying to get his thoughts back in order. He closed his eyes in an attempt to remember what Badrick asked him—it took him ten whole seconds, which was concerning. Eventually he was able to reply with, "Pretty much the same as you, to be honest. A church agent found me, hit me, got me here."

"Ah," Badrick sighed knowledgeably, his eyes glossing over. "That Hans dude I got whacked by was a fu—"

"Oh, I hate him as well!" Zale cried, unwittingly cutting Badrick off. "Arrogant bastard." They both laughed for a moment, their tension alleviating, and the stress of the last few hours momentarily forgotten.

However, with the Trails now looming over Badrick like an unforgiving predator Zale knew they had to get back to his training, now more than ever.

"Alright, enough chatting. Keep practising. We have very little time until the Trials."

Badrick sighed dejectedly, but obeyed him nonetheless, facing the floating targets. He took only a moment's hesitation before resuming his fruitless arm thrusting.

Zale watched absently, taking note of the methods Badrick employed, the hand gestures, the positioning of his feet. Trying to see if his demon was influencing him to instinctively understand his powers as the damn hell-spawn was supposed to be doing.

Why was Vulrick so damn unhelpful?

Forgetting what he was supposed to be doing, Zale's mind went back to the day he joined the Daemonium, though this time he was able to keep a hold on some kind of reality, resisting the temptation to fall completely into the memories of the past.

Vulrick . . .

At least that explained why Black believed Badrick could find Daemnos; who better than his own servant?

But it didn't explain what Zale's purpose was. The ability to link to other demons was not unique to Horas; most demons, it turned out, could do it if pressed.

So why had Horas and Zale been chosen?

More bewildering, he also couldn't understand the link. He couldn't even see it, or feel it, which he should have been able to.

Zale still hadn't unearthed any answers to these questions, even after four years.

And knowing Badrick's demon was Vulrick also didn't explain why the Daemonium was pushing Badrick so hard. What did they hope to accomplish by doing this? Had they discovered something else about the situation without telling him? Did it have something to do with the energy spike found on his partner?

Did they think Daemnos interfered, finally making an appearance after all these centuries? He wasn't aware of any energy spikes unique to the demon happening at all.

Zale wanted to ask them—nay, order them—to give him all the details. Or, at least enough that he could figure it out for himself, as he was always forced to do.

If people would just share things with him he could solve all the world's problems.

He smiled privately, thinking about what Carla would say if she knew he was being arrogantly confident again.

"Oh, for the love of—"

Badrick had reached the end of his tether, so frustrated with the lack of results that he actually stomped his foot on the metal floor, making an adorable clanging sound. Zale couldn't help but laugh.