A fog had settled in the forest and the night was cool as Mikhail watched for lights to go out in Korin and Samhirs residence. Relaxed in the cover of the dark he was leaning up against a tree patiently waiting.
Eventually they dimmed. And then a little later the house swept into the darkness of night.
An hour had passed before he began to move, pushing away from his rest.
Hidden in the pleats of his skirts, was a thigh harness filled with slim iron dog spikes. He pulled one from its slot and proceeded to throw it into the soil. A quick snapping flick of his wrist and the spike stabbed into the earth, letting out a small ring upon impact. The sound carrying a murky wave of energy that rippled into the air.
He proceeded, counterclockwise, around the house throwing a spike into the dirt every ten paces, until he had come all the way back around to his starting point.
After a series of deep breaths he let the demon surface. It came up with a rattle of scales and a burst of coolness, filling all the little crevices of his being.
Letting the demon flood his person sent shockwaves through his body. A dark power, dense and sickly sweet slithered up the walls of his soul and sank into all the cracks and crevices. It was a completion of sorts. The demon mending every little hole and leak of Mikhail's spirit so together they made a complete and whole being. If the demon had its way it would never leave the surface of Mikhail. The two beings intertwined at birth, it felt that it had just as much of a right to exist in the world around them as Mikhail did.
Mikahil let the demon have its moment before he stretched out his arms and bent his knees. He swung his arms left while twisting himself to the right, then repeated the movement in the opposite direction. It was a methodical and fluid kind of dance that he performed a few more times before the demon came to rest in his limbs.
The demon joined the dance a dampness shrouded the night, encasing Mikhail in indistinguishable darkness. A visible wetness soaked into the world around him. Scales already fluttering from his body began to shed rapidly, hissing and rattling. His body followed his arms in a rhythmic dance, flowing up and sliding down. The twist of his hips and the strides of his footwork became whines and rolls, slow and fluid.
As they performed, Mikhail moved just slightly more to the left with each sway back and forth. His scales shedding so fast they blinked in and out of sight and their hiss became a stuttering purr. As he passed each spike it let out another resounding ring that traveled to the previous spike. Once he had come full circle again the faint ring held its tune. A low tone that resonated with rasp.
Through the eyes of the demon he could see a sphere of energy surrounding Korins home. Fibers of the humming tune wound so tight they came together in thick strands.
The demon preened, happy with itself, scales slowing to an excited pant with the completion of the ward. Mikhail loosened his posture with relief.
Earlier that day, when he had gone further into the market with Talis he had found something he had not quite expected. His encounter was so unexpected that he was relieved he had pushed the demon into the most reclusive corners of his soul to remain unseen from the eyes of the witch.
After he and the young medicine woman had wandered a few of the alleys of merchants, they had come upon the Mysai shamans of the southern continent.
And found socializing among them were priests of the Great Eeno. Three of them to be exact.
Righteous bigots, who only socialized with the Mysai shamans of the Enrobi deserts to exploit their weaknesses and undermine their practices. There had already been rumors of the priests clashing with the mysai on the great continent.
Mikhail thought of them as vermin, making their way across countries on missions to spread the word of their faith. All while secretly eliminating magic practitioners and empowered followers of other gods.
They had slowly infested the kingdom, funneling in from the central provinces. Freedoms to religious practices had granted them permission to build temples and dig themselves into the soil of the kingdom of Tellaan on the Great Continent.
Mikhail was a son of Maroi, a family of mercenaries with noble pedigree. A family that utilized alchemy and the dark arts, which sat directly opposed to the principles of Eeno. His mother, a cyclical and brutal woman, often foreshadowed that the religious faction would be the usurpers of the kingdom. They had amassed the support of the lower class quickly, feeding into fears of magic as dark and evil that spread disease and sickness, poverty and pain. Converting people and severing their devotion to the gods of the great continent. Gods that were reframed as monsters, cleverly colored as villains in stories of a god entirely pure and true of heart.
Behind closed doors it had become violent, paladins leading a silent crusade facilitated by their temple against practitioners of other faiths.
As soon as he saw them Mikhail excused himself from Talis and immediately made his way back to Korin.
It was a bit surprising to him that the missionaries would have made their way into Ipan. Ipan was very novel in many ways of its governance. One of those ways being that people could have their freedom to believe in whosoever they wished but it was strictly against the law for any religion to build places of worship or canvas their beliefs.
Because of this, religions hadn't ever really taken root in the country. The people had remained openly animistic and agnostic, possessing no real solid god figures. Their easy going beliefs never wanting to adhere to the rules and principles of religious practice.
The priests may find it hard to get a foothold for their religion here, but a mission to eradicate others could easily go unnoticed. The people of Ipan were too laid back and maybe 'minded their business a bit too much', it made it an easy place to kill.
When he saw Korin stashed back into the trees, hiding in the shadow, he felt a wave of relief. It was hard to tell that Korin was something a little more than human. It was something unknown, but just there, on the seams of her aura Mikhail could now see the tiniest hints of amaranth, crimson, and black. Constantly lighting up her edges. Unnatural and inhuman.
Before she had been attacked, he had seen only the flashes of vivid saturation once. Right after she had told him what happened to her as they had walked to the tavern. She had looked at him, her eyes contracted in the sunlight, and just for a hint of a second he saw it. A swirling red wine that silently flitted across the thinness of her pupil. Like a predator eyes deep in the night, flashing red in a passing light.
Now slivers of it continuously flowed around her, and Mikhail didn't know if the priests would be able to sense it or not. Even if not, Korin was interesting enough with her imposing presence to draw attention.
If she hadn't already.
The demon had heard the echoes of his worries and tried to resurface, eager to know what was going on. The mystery seemed to be about to take an exciting turn into something more dangerous and it wanted to play the game.
While he proceeded to push the demon down he did his best to go about things in a natural manner, showing her the items he bought that made him think of her. Then watching as the mysai witch gave a little show and tell of her own before excusing herself to her studies. He only lost focus and control over the irritated demon when Korin had said that she would be his friend. It had been a simple and childish interaction, but it had brought him and the demon closer to the woman and, admittedly, also surprised him.
It was hard to draw feelings from Korin. Only slight twitches and movements ever gave hint to some semblance of what she felt. The way she rolled her hair between her fingers, the subtle tilts of her head, and the glaze of her eyes. So, of course, when Mikhail noticed how she's become confused at his nearness, he'd exploited the knowledge to get a reaction out of her. He'd been edged with micro doses of her attention and having her forwardly express her emotions sent his heart into his throat. The demon leapt forward in the moment he was taken aback and stunned.
He let it be, having smothered it enough for one day.
And when they went to walk home Mikhail guided them to her pathways. Places they could travel away from the crowds. He insisted on walking her all the way home, keeping an eye out for the priests.
Korin and her father lived in a medium-sized building with a tiny atrium sitting above a sunroom. Chipping sandy plaster caked its walls and an unmaintained terracotta roof was speckled with cracking shingles. It was a worn yet modest accommodation that sat high up on the mountain. The last house on the edge of uninhabited wilderness, the furthest distance from the village center.
It was nothing like the lavish manors and castles Mikhail was accustomed to. But it was much more than the plebeian class of the kingdom possessed. Another special attribute of Ipan and its generally classless society and social programs. A Tellaan peasant's wet dream.
Before he sent her inside he had given her the small bags of items he had collected. It had been fun to watch her fret over the small gift. How her eyes grew distant and her feet shuffled a bit, unsure and uncomfortable. He was becoming addicted to the entertainment of it all.
Mikhail insisted she take them before she could even protest. He, after all, had bought things that he thought she would like. And the demon had a giddy urge to provide the woman with treasures in an irritatingly crowish manner.
Korin threw a single glance backwards as she made her way inside, his gifts awkwardly held with both hands. Once a creaky door clicked shut behind her he retreated, walking down the road someway before veering into the forest to make his way back towards the house.
He had set up the dancing ward to protect her in the night. The priests of Eeno had set him on edge and the demon became sickly with an odd need to protect its puzzle.
Hopefully the ward was secluded enough from the village to not be detected by the priests. If not he would have to dispose of them. One positive aspect of their insignificance in Ipan was that no one would search for answers if they disappeared.
Perhaps we should just kill them anyways? The demon suggested as Mikhail stood in the dark with his thoughts.
He shook his head and an entertained smirk played on his lips. No. He'd only kill the priests if they caused trouble. His family had affluence in the kingdom, and so did the temple of Eeno.
It was no secret that the Maroi family practiced magic. The local priests knew this and had been looking for any reason to make a move against them.
If word got back that he had somehow been involved with violent altercations with their people it could negatively impact his mother and siblings.
It's only a last resort. He told the demon.
The demon swelled in irritation before settling down with a malicious kick.
Mikhail turned from the energy field and jumped into the branches of a lone oak, one of the few of its kind that had managed to grow this high up the mountain. He relaxed along its branches and wrapped himself in the night, hidden and out of sight.
*
He'd fallen asleep when the snapping of a twig had his eyes opening as something stealthily crept through the forest. He honed into his physical senses, feeling for the lightest of vibrations, listening for the faintest of sounds. Whoever it was, was hiding their energetical presence flawlessly.
A soft shush of a body brushing leaves carried to him directly from his right and Mikahil watched as a cloaked being slowly emerged from the undergrowth and approached his ward.
From his hiding spot on the tree, still and shrouding himself in the dark, he observed the individual. They paced back and forth along the barrier. Bending over to inspect lower bands of the vibrating tune before reaching up on toes to examine higher parts.
After a pause the trees let out a groan and there was a swirling of the space around the being. An energetic charge curled outward and pulled the forest in. Leaves and needles of trees just lightly tugging at their tips. Thirsty to drink in the essence of the individual. Its energy reached out, pushing into his shadow. Tasting the air around it, searching for life. Mikahil moved himself further back, silently balancing along the branch, doing his best to avoid detection.
He kept his breathing even, controlling the rate of a heart that his mind instinctually attempted to accelerate.
Mikhail had become accustomed to being the biggest fish. Not many beings roamed the planet more powerful than a demon. But there was a way the individual's energy traveled through leaves, stems, and bark that made his hair stand on end. He'd yet to experience anything like this and he continued to silently back away as it felt around.
His back finally came to rest against the trunk, hidden as far as he could go. There were a few painful moments where the beings energy teased right at the threshold of his discovery. Hovering, licking at the space just around him with a teasing threat.
Fluttering a little to his left..
Flickering down.
And right as it backed away, deciding it found nothing, the tree at his back bulged forward, knocking him into the radius of its detection.
Mikhail went to scoff at the audacity of the tateling tree, but instead let out a choked grunt as the demon slammed into him.
It tore to the surface, ripping away at his insides, and assumed control of his body. This time the demon folded Mikhail away.
What is it?! Mikhail asked the demon. It had never taken full possession of his body before, but the moment he had touched that ancient and earthy energy, it had easily overpowered him.
The demon did not answer but instead pressed over him, like a weighted blanket, warm and comforting.
Mikhail, wrapped into an isolated room of his own being, observed behind the lens of the demon as the hooded being paused. It was a moment that dragged out forever as the full attention of their search washed over him, tasting he and the demon from every direction. They lazily scanned him from head to toe while their gaze met his.
A female with three faces analyzed him through three sets of eyes. The image of the faces stacked on top of one another was disorienting and almost nausea inducing in the effort to focus on any specific feature.
The outer face was almost human in appearance, perhaps a little too pretty in its flawless nature. The second face was a muted green, a color reflected in the undertone of the outer face. Long ears speared through the shells of the 'human' ones. The innermost face was cast in a more dark and sinister mold. Her eyes were just a bit too large, stary and black. Thick veins webbed across her skin, pulsing and moving, flickers of pale light strobing through their tunnels.
What the fuck? Mikhail slightly recoiled and the demon pushed over him, a little heavier.
It was shushing him, smothering him down. An action entirely too suspicious for Mikhail to just consent to being silenced.
Mikhail went to pull himself forward and the demon pinned him again.
No. The demon pressed into him with that same comforting warmth. It was asking him to trust it.
"Have we met before?" The three faces spoke in unison, a heavy magic rolling with the sound waves of her words.
Nimara had seen this being before, she was sure of it. Distinctively the scales that shuttered off of his skin. Black and clear scales more insect in nature than reptilian. Little chips of obsidian and dried and ground iridescence fluttering about like the dust of a panicked moth.
She hadn't met him in her current cycle, but one of her past ones. The salty taste of deja vu coated the back of her throat. She had never put any form of measured focus into the meditation it required to remember past cycles. Preferring to put her effort in this cycle towards combat, the memories did not easily come to her. This one was so distant that she could only recall the image of those same scales, a grassy valley, and the warm taste of iron coating her mouth. The only way iron could be consumed by a shi, already broken down and processed by another body, through blood.
Another taste followed, something vile and poisonous. The grassy valley became trampled and muddy as thunder and rain took the world in fury. The distant whispers of bile and vomit churned her stomach.
Mikhail straightened his posture and shook his head with a soundless laugh. "A very long time ago." Mikhail listened for the first time as the demon spoke, reminiscent of the way Korin had wept. Echoing and layered.
The demon very rarely revealed anything about itself. Mikhail watched with rapt attention as it spoke with his mouth to the powerful creature it recognized.
He stroked his chin, confidence growing as the being remained still in her observation. "What was it they called you?" He tapped his fingers on his jaw. "The shi, was it?"
The shi? The being, shi, laughed and the outer face dissolved, leaving behind the other two.
She rolled four eyes. "Don't be coy. So you know me then?"
The demon hummed, looking the shi up and down. She had relaxed as well, and the atmosphere diffused a bit. Both beings recognizing the other as strong, a silent agreement of non-violence spoken between them.
"I may have met one of your past incarnations. I am assuming you do not remember."
Nimara sucked her teeth and took a step back with a small dip of her head, giving more space between them, a common subtle act of peace among many realms. These were interesting developments. The crown prince had sent her on a mysterious mission to guard some woman. Her first speculation was that the prince had fallen in love with some human and wanted her protected. It seemed feasible enough in her mind, but on second thought, he was too noble for that. He'd probably end up marrying an aristocrat from a neighboring court for allegiances and power. She had seen those cold steel eyes swim without light, he was not a romantic. Definitely not enough to fall in love with a human.
Her mission had led her here, to a ward housing the Yuens mysterious human, with a dangerous watchdog at its border. This was obviously more important and powerful than a little romantic fling.