20 The Beginning
Exhausted from training and with a few new cuts from Fig's blades, followed by more stealing, Zephyr returned to camp last. Their weapons remained buried in their meeting spot, secure and hidden. The campfire always burned, and the Draegorths and Fig sat, ate, and conversed.
The fire burned brightly, orange and yellow hues casting aside the darkness of night and warming their ugly ass faces. The night sky was silent, and the screeches and creatures from the Dark Forest nearby had now turned into some distant lullaby. Like white noise, it made Zephyr sleepy, wanting to sleep sooner. It shouldn't, not with his last altercation there. Rubbing his throbbing shoulder, the one he'd been bitten and did have a huge chunk missing on his body, he watched the Draegorths a moment more.
If Zephyr could, his eyebrows would be raised at Fig, who was sitting in Maz's lap. Garzon didn't seem to care. Was she fucking all of them? He almost tilted his head to the side, trying to imagine how that worked, but he didn't care enough and was too exhausted to stand, let alone grab something to eat before bed. He waited a moment more, somehow still expecting Fig's betrayal and the Draegorths would turn on him for learning how to fight.
It wasn't illegal, hells, they taught Fig, though he presumed now that she earned it by other means with these creatures. None of them cared about his approach, and so a small sigh of relief escaped him.
They still had a deal.
Dropping his 'earnings' to the ground beside Garzon, Zephyr turned away without saying a word.
"Zephyr," Garzon called, stilling the Slinktail. He braced himself, expecting another tongue lashing. Turning on his heel, he looked at the strange skull head Draegorth.
"Check on Arikig. Make sure he aint dead. If he is, toss his body into the forest. Something will have him." Zephyr almost groaned, his body ached, and now if Arikig was dead, he'd have to drag him all the way to the forest. Maybe he could convince Maz to throw him over the wall.
One glance at Maz and Fig, her hand caressing the side of his furry face, and Zephyr knew the minotaur wasn't helping him tonight. Would Tez? Garzon definitely wouldn't.
Fortunately, when Zephyr opened the flap to Arikig's tent, the Slinktail was sleeping, the crushed herbs had been mixed together and put into a small vial that remained on the side. Whatever Fig made helped the Slinktail's fever and he was resting peacefully now. Arikig mostly had this tent to himself. Fig's sheets had not been slept in for a few days, and her side was tidier than any of theirs.
Closing the flap behind him, Zephyr informed the Draegorths they still had a Slinktail, and he appeared to be getting better. They weren't bothered and nodded in response. Zephyr left them to their weird little gathering and joined Dain in their tent, grunting in greeting before collapsing on his mat and passing out.
The following day his usual routine continued, stealing, and watching Maz kick the shit out of a few humans, sometimes, it was during Zephyr's activities, and he stopped to watch from afar. He wanted to know what power kept surging from him after each beating. But the Slinktail swiftly moved on before the minotaur could see him spying.
After his 'warm up' session with Dain and going through the fundamentals with Fig again, Zephyr was in another village, his right arm sliced up from Fig's temper. She wasn't a great teacher, losing her temper quickly at how shit they were, revealing her impatient and bitchy attitude.
Now sitting on a rooftop, legs dangling over the roof, Zephyr munched on more dried meat, the bitch sitting by his side. He was observing everyone; he wasn't sure why Fig was with him, but she remained quiet. Perhaps she was spying for Garzon?
Zephyr's eyes narrowed slightly as they fell on a cart, humans guarding it as it was dragged through this village's brown, slushy streets. Inside were Slinktails, off to be slaves somewhere.
"How do they overpower us so much?" Zephyr murmured, watching the humans. It pissed him off to see these arrogant bastards chatting away and laughing. They didn't appear strong. "And why?"
The demons remained in hiding. The Slinktails literally lived to serve the Draegorths, needing their protection from other gangs or humans. Were there more humans?
Fig snorted, chewing on some of the meat he didn't realise she'd been taking from the small pouch he'd taken from the butchers. "You asking me for a history lesson right now?"
'Honestly, stop relying on this wench so much.' Zephyr froze at the snarling sound of that voice again in his head. 'Acting like the same weak boy as before.'
His jaw paused, chewing on the dried meat. "What?" His eyes sparking at the voice in his head.
Fig tilted her head to the side. "Instead of story time, why don't you do your job. Gaz might get…" Her rambling nonsense started to fade away, his surroundings began blurring, and a sharp headache emerged from information pouring into his mind.
Zephyr could sort of see what was in front of him, if a little blurred, while another image formed in to the left side of his vision, it was dark, plumes of smoke erupting from the soot-coloured cracked earth, black elongating gates, as tall as any skyscraper he'd seen had been battered in, the entrance left open. Creatures of all kinds poured out of them, laughing, fighting among themselves, battle cries and chatter of the demon kind merged together in a chilling symphony.
These were demons from the pits of the seven hells, escaping after the gates had been broken.
They surfaced from the underworld hundreds of years ago, popping out of the smallest cracks of the ground on the World of Thraesia. Humans instantly feared them. They were the epitome of all evil and were similar to other creatures walking among them. They had tried remaining hidden in dense forests, dark crevices, and the shadows of night. At first, the demon kind wished to live peacefully.
What was peaceful to demons was absolute chaos for humans. Their ways were unpleasant, but the level 1 and 2 demons kept their kind in check. There were too many to return to the seven hells.
After years of peace, war finally erupted. It was a gory battle, one the demons enjoyed even whilst dying. What should have been victorious for them, their strength and power surpassing the humans, turned into their ultimate defeat. Humans emerged with new advanced technologies they'd been creating in secret, testing on demon kind to ensure they would be defeated.
Zephyr watched in his left eye as demons were segregated, many enslaved in the Valorian Empire, others escaping to the mountains, spreading thin, allowing the humans more power. Where were the level 1 and 2 demons? Didn't they have far greater powers?
"Zephyr?" A slap across his face startled him, the images fading until his sight had returned to normal.
"Fuck, what was that for?" He growled, palming his face and glaring at the Slinktail.
Fig was kneeling beside him, arms raised in exasperation. "You were freaking me out! Staring off like that! Seven hells, are you really that tired from training?"
With a sigh, Zephyr ignored Fig, grabbing the last strip of meat and putting it in his mouth before leaving the bag and jumping effortlessly off the building. He was lost in thought about everything he'd seen, asking the voice in his mind if he was Zephyrion, the previous owner of his body, but there was no response. Was he going mad?
Well, wasn't that fucking helpful? Where was this voice in his head when he needed it at the beginning?
Zephyr dismissed it. He was in another world. He'd accepted that so if he had gone mad, he'd lost his mind long ago.
With a sniff, Zephyr froze past as a pungent stench wafted to the slits of his nose. He turned around to see the cart of Slinktails. They were almost dead, two already rotting with flies buzzing around them, one bug crawling on their glassy eye.
"Oh look, one escaped." A man snickered behind Zephyr.
He didn't plan on doing anything about these men or Slinktails. He had his own shit to deal with. They looked like death would claim them within the day anyway. But the moment this vile human gripped his shoulder, Zephyr's blade sought blood.
