Cursed

Edo burst through a fern, chest heaving, and heart pounding. Eva followed close behind, as they sped through a dense, dark jungle, a far sight from the bright and vibrant landscape of the former Vinetum.

Dark clouds encompass the entire sky, and a great many dry patches have appeared in the grass. The vines, once full of gorgeous, delicious grapes, wrap themselves around the trees, parasitically sucking the life from them. While the green rope-textured vines have thickened, the fruit has shriveled and rotted. The trees have grown crooked and lost their leaves. They twist about and groan as if trying to cast off the rope-like vines.

Close behind Eva, a six-legged mammal with short red and golden fur gave chase, long sharp claws extending from each of its six paws, nine eyes glimmering on its forehead, and it opens its cavernous, fanged maw in a deafening roar. This was a widow tiger, a dangerous predator that not only could shred apart a man with its teeth and claws, but also secreted a deadly venom from those same appendages.

The pair swiftly approached a fallen tree laying across their path, with the slightest space beneath its titled frame. Edo reached down for a long, thin broken branch as he ran, and the widow tiger behind them tensed and unleashed a hellish scream.

"Eva, slide!" Eva immediately complied when Edo called out and the widow tiger soared over head, missing her by a literal hair's breadth. If she had hesitated even for a moment, she would have died. Eva's body slid halfway through the space beneath the tree before coming to a halt.

At the same time as Eva slid, Edo had leapt up, planting a foot against the fallen trunk of the tree, before reversing course and thrusting his jagged-edged branch with all his might, letting out a terrible cry of fear and anger. Edo, in spite of his hasty maneuver, managed to jam the makeshift weapon through one of the tiger's eyes, killing it instantly. The beast slumped to the ground at the same time that Edo hit the dirt.

Eva pulled herself out from under the tree and hurried to Edo. "Are you alright?"She pulled Edo up by the arm, looking at him with a worried expression.

Edo looked at her deeply, then he laughed. "My sweet Eva, you're the same as ever. Even though you're the one that almost died, you ask about me?" Edo wrapped her tightly in a hug as he whispered, "as long as you're alright, I definitely will be, ok?"

Eva nodded silently, preferring to bask in the embrace of the last person in this world she could believe in over speaking.

"Ooahww. How adorable." A cheeky voice rang out in the silence, startling the traumatized couple. Seemingly from nowhere, a strange and terrifying being stood before them. It stood on two black, furry goat legs, had six scaly red arms, each with black membranous wings attached to them, a barrel-chested human shaped torso, and a dragons head, with antlers in the shape of a twisted crown. "What's the matter? Don't you recognize me? I'm hurt." The creature smiled.

"De-Demon King?" Eva trembled at the visage of the person she one believed to be familiar and friendly. "What do you want?"

"Oh not much, not much. Just looking at how everything's progressing. I must say," The Demon King aimed his mischievous gaze at the bloodied corpse of the widow tiger beside them, "it's going rather well." At this he let out a harsh chuckle.

"Demon King!" Edo's eyes flared with hatred as he stormed towards the fiend, "You deceived me. Didn't you?!" After these months spent in the world the Demon King helped create, Edo had realized just what kind of personality this creature possessed. It had no love for either he, nor Eva.

"And what of it? Can you reverse the course of time?" The Demon King smiled amiably like a gentle grandfather, "Don't you think, at this point, it would be best to join my way of thinking? There'd be quite the future in it for you." The Demon King stretched forth his hand, palm facing downwards. "Kneel, and declare me your Lord. If you do, I can grant you the power to keep your beloved Eva safe from lowly things such as these." The Demon King kicked away the tiger's corpse with nary a glance, keeping his gaze locked onto Edo's.

Edo looked back into his eyes for a long time, as Eva watched on nervously. "Do you take us for fools? I refuse." Edo eventually spat out, venom dripping from his tone, while Eva sighed in relief.

However, the Demon King only laughed. "Oh, you. Really, you both are just so adorable. I believe I did say so before? It's just... the way you think you have a choice." At the conclusion of this statement, the Demon King lazily stretched out a finger, sending a grey fog-like chain shooting towards Eva. Before either of them could even blink, the chain passed through Eva's body into her chest.

Eva felt a cold, ethereal grip on her heart, not only filled with the horrid sensation of freezing cold, but emanating an atmosphere of fear, seeping from her heart into her soul. As she was gripped by these dreadful sensations, Eva bent over at the waste, groaning out before inaudibly muttering, "Triac, please..."

Edo jumped to Eva, but he could find no sign of what the Demon King had done. He grit his teeth and glared at the smirking Demon King, but before he could utter a sound, the Demon King stretched out the remaining four scaly, clawed fingers, his wing eerily still in spite of the bursts of wind rapidly picking up speed in the area, and 4 more chains shot out into Eva. Edo had even thrown himself before her, but the chains passed through him with no noticeable effect.

"Edo, Edo. I tried to be nice, you can't say I didn't. Well, now it wont matter. Sooner or later, you'll both bow to me." The Demon King wickedly grinned, "These five curses... well I won't give too much away. Suffice to say, those chains will drag you back crawling to me on your knees." The Demon King once again adopted his grandfatherly demeanor, "And when that day comes, I'll welcome you both with open arms."

"And what about me?!" Edo screamed, unable to comprehend what he was hearing, "You didn't put those on me! How are they supposed to drag me anywhere?"

"My dear friend," the Demon King still wore a kind face, but his eyes glimmered with mockery, "you are already well on your way. What need have you for these chains?"

Suddenly, the Demon King looked startled, "Is this still possible? I better leave," he muttered before seemingly imploding on himself out of existence. A bright light pierced the dark clouds, shining on the face of Eva.

"I am here." A loud voice rang out from beyond the newly made hole in the clouds, filled with anxiousness, fear, and a hint of joy.

"Triac?"