The Demonblade Chronicles : Devil-Child

  “He will suffer; and then he will die,” she murmured before ending her and her father’s chat.

           Chapter 2 - The Tall Tree

  Lupus walked for what felt like an eternity, through the endless woods and plains. Eventually, he needed a rest. Near a large oak tree, he sat down and sighed. Within moments he was asleep, and local scouts reported a young boy of fifteen sleeping on their ancient oak.

  Parakunis was sitting on his wooden chair, under his wooden table, while working on a new spell tome for his Earth mage apprentice, Kai. Kai didn’t want to be an Earth mage, but to be offered an apprenticeship with Parakunis, defeater of the devil, was considered a great honour.

  Parakunis’s son, Zander, wanted to be an Earth mage just like his father. Sadly, he inherited his mother’s mastery of magic; none. Although hopeless in the arcane arts, he was skilled with a blade, and his punch could break noses. Being no more than fourteen, he didn’t have any hope of being a soldier for another four years, and unless he somehow inherited his magic powers at a certain age, being an Earth mage was not an option.

  When he heard there was a boy sleeping on the ancient oak outside his home, the ash lands, he was very intrigued.

  When Lupus awoke, there were a lot of children standing around him, observing his bright green eyes and long black hair. “Stand back, foul beasts!” he cried, unsheathing Alikira’s blade. On realising they were children, and were begging for mercy, he apologized greatly. When he was distracted Zander decided it would be a good time to catch the crook. So, Zander ran at Lupus and in the blink of an eye, Zander was in a headlock with a blade at his throat.

  “Another one of the fiend’s filthy assassins then, huh?” asked Lupus, angrily. One of the children, a girl of no more than five with silvery blonde hair walked out of the crowd. “That’s Zander. He’s bad at everything,” she giggled and walked back again. Lupus, now releasing Zander, began laughing.

  And then Zander punched.

  Lupus’s nose was bleeding and he was rubbing away the blood. “I understand you are mad, but was that really necessary?” asked Lupus, both mad and happy at the same time, half laughing; half shouting.

  “YES!” cried Zander. “This is the ancient oak! They say it’s thousands of years old and it was placed by the gods themselves, upon creating the world!” Lupus was unimpressed. “If the gods made this tree upon creating this world, why is it so small and puny?” he asked, menacingly. “Get ‘im, Gropes.” Upon saying that, a chubby boy appeared behind Zander and dragged Lupus through the ash lands and to the front of Parakunis’s tree.

  Zander led Lupus up the vine elevator and into his father’s study. “This is the boy who-” Before he could finish, Parakunis interrupted. “Yes, I heard; the boy who slept on the sacred ancient oak. Why do you have to interrupt me for this nonsense, Zander?”

  Zander hung his head in embarrassment and walked away, and departed down the vine elevator. “Uh sir...” began Lupus. “You were the one who sent the devil back to the dark, right?” Parakunis nodded and continued with his spell tome. “Well... I’m sort of, in a way, a project of the devil that was, I suppose, cancelled, because of your intervention.” Parakunis was on his feet upon hearing what Lupus had to say. “Son of the devil?” he asked, angrily. “We don’t choose who we are born to, do we? It’s our actions that make us who we are,” Lupus said, countering Parakunis’s question. He understood, and lowered his glowing hands.

  “We need to stop the devil returning to Earth,” said Parakunis, looking at Lupus. That caught him completely off guard. “He’s coming back?” Parakunis almost laughed. “Of course he’s coming back, did you think a meagre man could stop the devil?” Lupus shook his head and walked to the exit of the tree. “Perhaps, with the help of others, we can defeat him once and for all.”

  Alikira was walking down a run-down path toward an old farm, hundreds of miles away from the town where she and Lupus had once called home. Well, at least she did.

  At the end of the path, she took out her dagger. She preferred to use her blood-stone blade for interrogations, but Lupus took it with him when he ran away. She didn’t waste time knocking; she kicked the door down without the slightest effort.

  An old man was lying on the bed, and was woken by the noise of the door crashing to the ground. He was part-bald, had a big belly, and was almost always crouched. He was called Donnell, and was a very famous man in the country. As it happens, he was not famous for being good looking or growing good crops.

  “Who do ye’ think ye’ are, burstin’ in here uninvited! And breaking my bliddy door, at that!”

  Alikira didn’t like insults and, getting insults from Donnell Mc Manus could not do. She through one of her knives at his shoulder, and, a moment later, collapsed onto the bed. Taking out her dagger again, she walked up to Donnell. She pointed it at his neck. “The boy stayed with you recently?” she asked, threateningly. He looked incredibly scared, and was almost crying. “What boy?” he cried, feeling the blade pierce his flesh. “Okay, okay! He came here, sheltered from the rain for a few hours and was gone in the morning. I swear, Alikira that was it!” She smiled, grimly. “Where did he go?” she said, pushing the blade deeper. “I asked, and he told me that he was getting as far away from you as he could.”

  “Thank you, Donnell. For that reason, I’ll kill you quickly.” The screams could be heard for miles, and it was not a pleasant sound.