OKAY! So wattpad can go screw itself. Like geez. the thing deleted this chapter but then it was here and now I'm like wtf but also like okay well it's here so yay! Not all lost! Stupid computer *glares angrily*.
Anyway this bad boy is 8 pages in word :3 yay enjoy!
20
Aziz watched as Memphos entered the room, the grand black door vanishing seamlessly behind him. The demon held his normal posture, an air of eloquent indifference surrounding him. He leaned his head to the side, red eyes observing Aziz, calculating and cold.
"Tell me now where the human is, and you may go free."
Aziz didn't respond. He just stared at nothing in particular. He knew Memphos well enough to know that ignoring his majesty himself would piss the demon off more than any words.
Memphos' eyes narrowed as he began to cross the room, moving towards the table and chair. A movement from his finger invisibly turned one of the plush seats, so that it faced the bound afrit.
Taking his time, the demon king turned to the small, black table and began to pour a cup of tea.
Placing it in his palm, steam immediately rose from the once-mellow water.
Memphos sat languidly down, across from Aziz, moving, in no hurry, to sip his tea.
Aziz could only internally sigh at Memphos' passive aggressive display of dominance. Maybe it would work on someone else, but Memphos was a fool to think that he could threaten Aziz in such a simplistic manner. All it was was irritating.
God, Memphos is such a prick.
The teacup returned to it's plate.
"Your silence will be taken as a no," Memphos stood up. "But, if at any time you wish to tell me where my property is, then you will be set free."
His property? It's only his property once the guy has been marked... He didn't fucking mark Joseph, did he? He already has one mark.
Memphos was now standing in front of Aziz, looking down at him. "Really, Aziz, I would not have thought you'd fall to this level." His fingers snaked up under the afrit's chin, moving it so that Aziz was straining to look at him. "You were never known to be such a bleeding heart... These humans, they are nothing but food. It is only our right, as the apex predators, to dominate and control them. I thought you believed that." His voice became harder, his grip tightening, threatening to break through the scabs on Aziz's chin. "But obviously I was wrong. You are pathetic in the way that you wallow with the human filth. You treat them as equals! Hah! Those children should have been dead long ago, afrit-"
"Don't you dare speak of them. You do not know them." Said Aziz, his temper flaring, attempting to wretch his chin free from the demon king's vice-like grip. He succeeded, but only to be thrown back on the bed and have his neck pinned down. Memphos straddled Aziz, leaning down to whisper in the now squirming afrit's ear.
"You will not speak to me like that. You are below me, afrit, remember that." Memphos sat up, putting his weight on Aziz's stomach, pushing the air out of his lungs. "Now stop moving!" The demon king grabbed Aziz's hair, pulling the short, dark locks back.
Aziz stopped squirming, panting from the exertion. His bound hands dug into his back, awkwardly pressed into the bed.
"Now that's bette-" Began the demon king. Aziz spat, interrupting and hitting Memphos straight in the face, making the demon let go, flinching back.
His eyes flamed red at the afrit.
"You need to be put in your place." Memphos hissed, his pupils turning to slits. He wiped the spit from his face.
"Fuck you, bitch." I'm so fuck...
"You will sorely regret your disobedience, pig. The offer no longer stands. Tell me where Joseph is, and maybe I won't end you."
With that, a burning pain overtook Aziz, flooding through his veins and making him scream out.
And so it began.
***
Memphos got up from the bed, wiping the blood off his knife with a velvet rag. He didn't bother to put his clothes on, but rather walked around in only a pair of dark boxers. The demon moved through the room, cleaning up various objects and even picking up his clothing (something that his servants could've easily done). He didn't bother, though, to clean off the copious amounts of blood spatter and smeared upon himself.
He wanted Luvart to see all the blood... And lack of clothing. The thought of his reaction, the way the demon would squirm, made Memphos smirk.
Aziz watched him, though he could barely see him... the afrit's eyes were blurry with tears and swelling.
The pain was unreal. Everything hurt, ached, burned. His body was tied, though even if he wasn't bound, Aziz knew he wouldn't be able to move. Memphos had made sure of that. The sickening crunch of bone after bone, mixed with the nauseating laughter of the demon king, still echoed in the afrit's mind.
Everything burned. But at least he had stopped. A couple times Aziz had thought the torture would end, the sweet solace of unconsciousness sweeping in, only to find himself brought back from the brink by a sickening snap of Menphos' fingers.
Now Memphos was walking around, his red hair disheveled from the activities, drinking a cup of tea. When did he get tea? Aziz knew he was in such a pathetic state to not even question the lapse in time. Memphos looked up from the paper he was holding, a smirk on his lips, and made eye contact with Aziz.
Shit... was all he could say before Memphos snapped his fingers and the oxygen, and room, began to dim.
But at least the pain would end.
***
Aziz smirked, the blood staining his extended razor teeth. The whole room smelt of blood, and death, and pain.
It gave the afrit a high like no other. Not sex, not drugs, not even consuming souls could compare to the thrill of the kill- of torture.
The form of a woman, in her early 30s, barely moved at his feet. She wimpered, unable to make coherent words through her broken jaw and smashed teeth. A few feet away, her dead husband lay, his organs spewed about and half eaten.
Flies were already beginning to buzz about the shredded corpse.
The afrit smirked down, his smile growing as he could feel, could taste her fear and pain.... Just as he had felt her husband's, not an hour ago.
It was glorious.
The afrit's pupils dilated as he grabbed the young woman, dragging her up the stairs, a blood stain left on the pink carpet of the couple's living room, snail-trailing behind them.
She was in a night gown- once white but now soaked in blood and torn.
Another wimper escaped from the woman's ruined face as Aziz roughly pulled her up the stairs. He wanted to kill the woman in private.. A seperate death from her husband.
There was something that appealed to Aziz, something strangely enjoyable, that urged him to kill seperately. It was more pleasurable to murder and rip and shred in a clean room. Almost zenful and tranquil. Killing multiple people in one place... It would get cluttered and rushed.
He frowned at this thought. Grabbing a bloody, matted wad of the woman's hair, Aziz shoved her into the assumed master bedroom. She began to sob again, louder and more ugly, snot clogging her already broken nose.
"God these humans..." Aziz muttered to himself, giving her a harsh slap to shut her up.
The afrit dug a knife he had grabbed from the kitchen into her chest, blood gushing from the wound. The woman managed a mangled scream, cutting off quickly as Aziz turned the blade, ruining her heart.
He dropped the body, going towards the adjoined bathroom to clean himself up. The house held a silence, one that seemed to almost be waiting, knowing.
Aziz ran his bloodied hands under the water of the sink, the beautiful color red washing off his tanned hands.
Next I will need to clean my face... thought the afrit, looking into the tidy bathroom mirror, watching as his sharpened teeth retracted and his eyes faded from blood red to brown.
Suddenly, the house's silence was broken by a gasp. Then crying.
The hairs on the back of the afrit's neck raised.
Turning, Aziz saw the tell-tale outline of a kid in the bedroom doorway. Sobbing. Terrified.
***
Light broke through the haze of memories surrounding the afrit, ripping him back to painful reality. A groan escaped his lips as he made an effort to open his hazel eyes. Memphos was gone.
Thank god.. Aziz thought numbly. Any more of that, and, well, there'd probably be no more me.
But now he was left, bound and broken, with nothing to do.
It was going to be a long, painful day.
***
17 BCE
Cassius squinted at Fadriel. Before he could think, he blurted out, "What are you?"
Fadriel paused in the act of adjusting a white strand of hair, and Cassius paled a little.
Stupid, stupid, stupid...
Cassius mentally slapped himself. That is not how you address a touchy subject.
"S-sorry..." Cassius stuttered, wishing for nothing more than the ability to shrink into the grubby stone wall behind him. If only.
Fadriel relaxed, him features softening. "It's alright. I can understand your curiosity. It matches mine when I first saw you."
"Wait what? I don't understand... I'm human.."
"It's irrelevant." A wave of his hand. "To answer your question, I am a fae." Fadriel said, a small smile playing on his pale lips. It was a sad, distant smile.
Cassius was silent. He knew why the smile was sad. Everyone did.
Once upon a time, in the past, when the world was still young and blooming, and the gods were just emerging from the cracks of the earth, the Fae had been as prominent as humans. Unlike humans, though, they chose to dwell in the forests, at one with nature, crafting grand works of art, becoming experts in all traits. For the Fae never aged- death was a myth, a mere word, an incomprehensible notion.
That is, until the gods rose. In their strength, they controlled men easily. Any who challenged the word of the gods was slain. Almost all the magiks realized their powerlessness, and either fled or bowed.
Almost all, save the Fae.
The god-assured swift demise did not happen. Instead, the slow to reproduce Fae were picked off over the years, their numbers dwindling after many wars with the gods and their minions. The Fae, though, never bowed to the treacherous gods. They merely faded away, hiding deeper and deeper in darker and less savory lands, slowly dying away, their grand palaces and works slowly crumbling as their whole being disintegrated. Eventually, they were none more than a rumor.
Cassius had never thought he'd meet a magik, let alone a fae.
"No, please. Your pity is not worth extending upon me and my kind." Fadriel said, waving his hand dismissively, his face once again smooth.
Cassius nodded, his throat tight. Being a scholar, he knew more than most about the gruesome deeds the gods had ordered against the Fae.
"Now that story of yours...?" Fadriel said, adding an encouraging, yet sad, smile.
"Ah... yeah. That." Cassius rubbed the back of his head, tousling his now-dirty brown hair. "I was running from the guards and I must've run further than I thought because then I was walking on soft dirt in a strange garden. Then I fell under some sort of spell... I must've, because even after I has left the guards far behind, I moved deeper into the strange garden. Then there was a voice... I wish I could remember what it said... Then I awoke in a lightless cell."
Fadriel looked at him peculiarly, tilting his delicate head to the side, confusion marring his otherwise perfect features. "You walked into the Gardens of the Gods... and survived... But how?"
"So that's what it was..." Cassius felt less surprised than he should've been. "I wondered if it might've been something such as that." He rubbed his eyes. They burned, the grey irises probably rimmed red. Exhaustion and depression weighed him down. He was going to die.
Fadriel cracked a heartbreaking, crooked smile. "I like you. You're not like normal humans. Them, I can easily read. You, though, are interesting. I only wish we would live long enough to properly associate." This made Cassius give a heartless chuckle.
Fadriel joined in. Something about the thought of death gave both of them a sick feeling of humor.
I wonder why he is laughing. Thought Cassius. I ruined all hope for humanity. This power source, supposed to be the saving grace of the human race, is going to die with me.... I really fucked up.
The depression swept back in.
"Now it's your turn. Why is a magik in the human pin?"
Fadriel nodded, not looking at Cassius, but rather watching the other prisoners. The cell was heating up, everyone contained becoming hot, sweaty and agitated. A fight broke out in the women's cell. Some men jeered.
"My story.. it is much more complex than yours..." The fae said, placidly watching the going ons of the cells.
"I have been alive for a long time, yet to my people I am still young, a mere child. Maybe in a couple thousand years I will be considered an adult. But that is not important.
"I still remember a time before the gods. A time when freedom was a given. Like all my kin, the wars and death drove us into hiding, and disguise. For a long time, I too hid in the depths of the woods, where hunters didn't even dare tred, for fear of losing sight of the way back to their society.
"That home, it was nice. Peaceful. An ideal land to live in, away from the mess the gods were making. But then everything changed when villagers, lead by a supreme, attacked." Fadriel paused at this, as though remembering the day. When he continued, his smile had fully disappeared.
"I had been out on a hunting trip. When I came back, the caves we had dwelt in were caved in, the few buildings surrounding them burnt to the ground. I know not the fate of my people. All I knew to do was run.
"I went from village to village, then eventually town to town. At first, I was certain I would be spotted as something inhuman. But already by that time the image of my kind had faded in the human mind." A pause.
"A few years ago, or maybe decades (they all pass so fast... I rarely make note of the date anymore) I was in a small town, outside Rome... here.
"I was working in a small bread shop..."
***
34 BCE
Fadriel was wiping off the worn wooden counter, being careful not to soak the surface, which would ruin the wood. The shop he was in was small, a wood and brick work settled in the middle of town, squished between the dilapidated shoe cobbler and official Roman postal service. The front consisted of a window opening, the sill of which held cooling baked goods, and a ruddy open wood door, letting a much needed Mediterranean breeze in.
Inside, there was a table and two chairs, tucked in between the counter and the door. A wooden counter (the prized possession of the owner, Madame Pascal) wrapped around the room, parallel to the left and back walls. At the back of the shop was another counter, larger and covered with a slab of rock, next to a cooking fire. On the wooden counter lay a multitude of baked goods, ranging from pastries to bread. On the walls were jars and boxes filled with the raw materials for baking, such as flour and salt. A large stone basin with a hand pump sat in front of the window but behind the large wrapping counter. It was partially filled with soapy water and dishes.
Fadriel hummed, moving from the counter to the basin full of dishes.
The morning air blew through the small bakery, soothing the heat already built up by the large, industrial baking fire. It brought with it salty ocean air and the distinct smell of blossoms, as well as the promise of a gorgeous day.
Fadriel had been working at the bakery, for Madame Pascal, for the last five or so years. He got paid decent wages, for he was an amazing cook. (If it was known that he was a fae, then the expert chefmanship would've been a given. Fae, among other things, were once masters of taste, having delicate buds themselves.) But, as far as anyone the town was concerned, Fadriel was a mere mortal, very fair, yes, and well learnt (he could not only read literature, which is a rarity in itself, but also music, script and a multitude of languages), but only a man.
At least, that had been the case.
That day, the Helic twins, two particularly rowdy boys, stole a necklace from the Charmer. The Charmer was somewhat of the town mystic. She supplied little novice pieces; though, with her deep skin tones and heavyset manner, the Charmer was shoved into the mould of exotic mystic more than chose the position. Nevertheless, she held her post well, and one of her unsaid duties was to whack the Helic boys whenever they did something stupid.
And on that day, they would do something very, very stupid.
The charm they stole seemed harmless enough. Not knowing what it did, the Helic twins turned to the smartest person in town, Fadriel.
"Fadriel! Fadriel!" Antel, the taller twin, yelled, as they ran inside the Bread shop. They were gasping, out of breath, having finally lost the Charmer somewhere amongst the olive groves.
"Yes, Antel, Kasuis? What have you done now?"
"We-uh- found this-"
"-On the ground!"
"Yeah! And-"
"-And we were wondering-"
"-Since you're so smart and all..."
"If you could tell us what it is?" The boys finished the last sentence in unison, making Fadriel laugh.
"Hah! Don't you boys think it'd be better to go ask the Charmer... Maybe if you didn't steal her stuff all the time, she'd be a bit fonder of you both." said the fae, casting a light hearted glare at the two.
"Uhhh-"
"I have no clue what you're talking about."
"Yeah!"
Fadriel rolled his eyes, putting down the dish he had been washing, and drying off his hands.
"Alright you two. After I tell you what it is, you're going to give it back to the Charmer and apologize."
At first the twins protested, but after another glare, they accepted defeat.
"So what is it?" Antel asked, handing the necklace charm to Fadriel.
Fadriel took it in his hand, beginning to speak. Suddenly there was a bright, blinding green light, with a piercing wail cutting through the early morning calm.
Then the building collapsed.
***
Wahoooo. *wipes sweat from forehead.* That was HARD to write! Dayumn. Plus, the fact that I went to both Chicago and NYC in the last three weeks because of college visits does not help! Plus school starts in a week. fml. But I'm going to try and update regularly!
Anyway.. eeee stuff is getting good! Aw Fadriel :3 he's ma bae. what a cutie. but what in the world did he just do?? how did he get thrown in jail like seven years later?? Who's all your guys favorites??? c'mon you have to have someone you don't want killed off! (cus totes they're going to start dying .-.) no seriously.
Well yeah idk Aziz wtf did you get yourself into, silly goose! And what was that flashback??? Any guesses? comments?
Mmhm well it's like 1am and I have a meeting with my GC tomorrow at 10 soooo time for some shuteye.
I hope you all enjoy this:D I love love love you all soooo much! I've gotten over 400 votes! you're all amazing god that's so much more than I ever thought possible!! :3 *sends virtual cookie*
Bye~~