Chapter 7
Because Ren had invited so many lizard demons into the Tengu clan, there was a shortage of shelters and the materials used to build them were clearly lacking which is why Ren had to obtain wood. Lots and lots of wood.
"How much wood did you say it will take?" Ren asked nervously.
"Enough wood to build at least ten houses." Shaula replied with an apologetic expression. She was one of the few Tengu clan members who were born into the clan. Her features were rather unique due to the most noticeable thing about her, her ears, she has six of them, all blue in color, a pair at the place where normal ears should be, a pair on top of her head, and another pair at the back of her head blending in with equally blue hair. Her face was smooth and humanoid looking with eyes that had diamond shaped yellow pupils. Her horns were somewhat unusual due to the fact that instead of facing forward they pointed backward in the direction her hair was combed in. One could say that her horns were somewhat like hair net. She was a gentle demon, not temperamental, and followed a formal etiquette.
Of course, she was not above losing her patience when someone like Ren walks into her buck naked asking for a change of clothing.
When she spoke, Ren could tell she was rather considerate towards his feelings and tried to reason with him by talking as nicely as she could. In fact after seeing firsthand the trauma Ren obtained from Jilan Snakes, she only a.s.signed him to tasks involving plants without wild beasts involved.
She wore a dress very similar to the one Aijasyl wears with the Tengu family crest on the back. Of course hers had been modified to have openings on the back to allow her bat-like wings to extend through. The wings were dark blue in color. Ren was sure that underneath her dress she had a long tail with a clawed end that he occasionally caught sight of whenever they talked. For some reason Ren could not help but stare at the tail wondering how exactly it works.
Whenever Ren would look at her tail with unmoving gaze, Shaula would quickly hide it under her skirt, while her face would flush red. Apparently it was somewhat inappropriate to stare at someone else's tail for so long, of course Ren didn't know that.
"That much? Oh, and am I supposed to do it alone?" Ren asked in a downer tone.
"Unfortunately that is the case. I am very sorry, but everyone else already has tasks a.s.signed to them." Shaula said while looking rather apologetic.
"What about Orin, Akjan, or even Aijasyl?" Ren desperately wanted someone to help him with the task even if only one demon were to join him.
"Orin and Akjan were tasked with supervising lizard demons in planting seeds for the next harvest, Aijasyl is taking care of the Sacred Shrine." Sacred Shrine was the location where the Tengu household members frequently went to pray for the souls of their loved ones who have pa.s.sed away. Master Korgan was a frequent visitor to that place. Every now and then Aijasyl would secretly visit the shrine and leave an offering of small food, candles or flowers. It was rather obvious she was there due to the candles she left burning with green flames.
Within the Sacred Shrine, upon a pedestal, inside of an open box, lay a certain sword. It was the sword of the Karatengu family, last used by Master Korgan himself. After losing his family Master Korgan left the sword within the Sacred Shrine, so that it would pa.s.s away along with him. The sword was left in an open box without fearing for its safety for a simple reason-the sword was special. It can be only lifted by someone with the Karatengu bloodline flowing through his or her veins. Anyone else would find the sword to be so heavy that it's impossible to lift. It is unmovable for anyone who is not a Karatengu. After all, the sword was made by the founder of the Karatengu clan out of his own horn. In the past he received an injury which resulted in him losing a horn. Unwilling to part with his horn, he crushed the horn into dust and used it in the crafting process of the sword. Due to the unique properties of the demon horn and the remarkable craftsmans.h.i.+p, the sword of Kara, a demon sword that only obeyed the descendants of Karatengu clan was created.
Being able to lift the sword is the proof one is the descendant of Karatengu family. Originally Master Korgan planned on pa.s.sing on his sword to his sons, but with them gone he no longer saw a need to have it in his possession. He could not wield it like he used to either due to retaining only a single arm.
"I see, so it's up to me alone to collect that much wood, but wait how exactly do you want me to carry all of it? I am not a mule that can carry that much baggage on my back!"
"Don't worry about carrying anything. The amulet that I gave you can be used to store things within it. You wouldn't even feel the weight of things within it."
"It sounds like the necklace Aijasyl wore back at the market." Ren instantly made the connection.
"Indeed. The amulet has Orin-Yakit Crystal within it. It acts as an almost infinite storage s.p.a.ce within another dimension. Here, I will show you how to use it!" Shaula extended her hand towards the amulet hanging by the thread on Ren's neck. She took out a handkerchief with her other hand and then made touched the amulet.
The handkerchief was instantly swallowed by the amulet leaving Shaula empty handed.
"Amazing! This thing really can do the trick, but the wood pieces I am going to put are likely going to be larger than the amulet, so…"
"Don't worry about it; the amulet will absorb anything regardless of size into it as long as it touches it." Shaula explained to confused Ren.
"I see, that is very useful." Ren remarked. This kind of tool can have so many uses! It was some sort of miracle of magical manufacture!
"If you want to take something out of it just touch its surface and think of what you want to get out." Shaula did just that.
Instantly an axe appeared in her hand. It was small, colored red and black, with some flame like pattern. It definitely was sharp.
"I put this in there for you to chop down the wood, I additionally put silence spell and sharpness spell on it, so you don't have to worry about it making any unwanted noise or dulling the blade down for at least couple of days." Shaula continued on.
"That is very considerate of you, lady Shaula, and thank you." Ren tilted his head down in respectful fas.h.i.+on.
"Just call me Shaula, there is no need to be so formal, after all we are both Tengu." Shaula playfully winked her right eye. Ren found the sight unbelievably adorable. Not only did she possess a great figure, she also was one of the most polite and helpful demons in the household. In a sense she seemed like the ideal demon woman Ren came to visualize and respect. Her cute gesture just overwhelmed her stats within Ren's mind, leading him to stare at her intensely in a dreamy fas.h.i.+on. 'She is just so cute!' Ren found himself thinking.
"Is something wrong, Ren?" Shaula asked after seeing him look at her with absorbed gaze.
"Nah, just thinking that you really are just so cute." Ren accidently blurted his thoughts out loud.
"Ah?" Shaula looked at him with dumbfounded look on her face, before realizing what he just said. Ren returned her look with an equally dumbfounded look of his own. 'Oh boy, I said it out loud.'
She looked at him in the eyes for a moment before blus.h.i.+ng rather visibly due to her pale bluish skin. Apparently that was not exactly what she expected to hear.
"You shouldn't be so openly flirty with everyone, Ren. Akjan might get angry at you." Shaula said hesitantly, trying her best to dodge Ren's "advances."
"Why would she be mad at me? It's not like I tried to cook again, right?"
Ren wasn't really aware of Akjan's true feelings towards him, due to thinking of her just as a valuable comrade. She opened up to him, so he felt that he could trust her.
"You really are hopeless." Shaula said with an exasperated expression.
"When it comes to cooking, yes, that is the case." Ren admitted.
Shaula thought 'Is he deliberately changing the topic or is he really this dense? No way, no demon in the world can be this clueless!'
Unfortunately for her, the very being she thought could not exist was standing right beside her.
"Well, then I suppose I will just go on ahead, the quicker I finish, the earlier I come back!" Ren was about to leave while still bearing that goofy smile of his, but was suddenly stopped by Shaula.
"Before you leave, Sukesir requested me to give this to you." She took out something from her robes. It was colored yellowish green, scaly, and it looked rather like a cloak. Except for the fact that the part supposed to be the hood looked like an ominous hollow head. Without a doubt this was the skin of lizard demon.
"What the heck is this?" Ren examined the material. It was rough, strong, but smooth to the touch.
"Sukesir said that she is abiding the deal she has made with you, so she asked me to pa.s.s the custom made lizard cloak to you as a sign of grat.i.tude."
"Custom made, huh, neat!" Ren looked over the inside of the cloak. It was not as nasty as he expected it to be; in fact it was rather clean. He quickly put the cloak over himself. He didn't feel any weight on his shoulders; it was almost as light as a feather. When he covered his head with the hood Shaula looked at him with astounded look.
"Ehm, Shaula, is something wrong?" Ren asked, little concerned why Shaula was holding both of her hands to her cheeks, almost as if she was admiring the cloak.
"Magnificent, she said it was custom sized to fit you, but I didn't know it would make you resemble the genuine article!" Shaula's eyes were filled with admiration towards the craftsmans.h.i.+p of lizard demons.
"Wait, do you mean I look like a lizard demon right now?"
"Yes, with the hood on you can pa.s.s off for a lizard demon rather easily, I can only tell it's you upon closer inspection."
"I see, that is pretty good." Ren admitted.
"It's far better than good, it's excellent!"
"What do you mean?"
Shaula's face beamed with a bright smile.
"I mean that with the cloak you can easily blend in with the demon folk, and you no longer have to worry about standing out due to you human-like appearance!" She continued. "The lizard skin can protect against arrows and it is very durable, yet so light. It is a perfect cloak for you!"
Then the realization hit Ren's mind. This thing was perfect. Simply wonderful. He will have to personally thank Sukesir later for giving him this wonderful item.
"That is great; I didn't think that was possible, oh that makes this trip so much easier!" Ren made an awkward face. "You know, I originally planned to hide out until night before starting to chop wood in order to avoid catching attention to myself."
"That sounds unreasonable, and rather difficult to do." Shaula replied, half-heartedly wondering whether Ren's strange ideas were rather rational, at least from certain perspective.
Ren jumped up and hugged Shaula, who did not expect such an action from him. He held on tight for a moment. "Thank you so much, Shaula, you are a life saver!"
"Oh no, no, no. This was nothing, no need to thank me." She said while Ren was still hugging her. The truth is this was the first time she was hugged by a male demon, so her reaction to freeze up on the place she was standing on was rather expected.
"Well then I am off." Ren went away to chop wood, leaving confused Shaula to look after his back as he was walking out of the Karatengu mansion.
"Such a strange demon" Shaula whispered, still feeling the sensation of his body holding her tightly.
Ren went off to search for wood. Unfortunately for him, he soon found out that in Karatengu territory, where most fields were used to grow crops, there weren't much trees to chop, at all. The only ones he found were twigs that were broken into pieces.
"This will not do, she asked me to bring enough wood to build ten houses, and unless one of them knows how to magnify a twig to gigantic proportions this is not going to work." Ren reflected.
'But wait, she said nothing about being restricted to Karatengu territory. That's absolutely right! I can find wood elsewhere and just bring it with me. She did say to bring a lot of wood; she did not say where to bring it from.' Ren mischievously smiled.
Ren quickly proceeded to cross the fields. Now he officially exited the Karatengu territory. He did not know much of a path from the place he exited from, but he was confident that no matter where he went he will be able to come back. The problem no was where to go?
Ren thought for a moment, and then decided to go where his feet carry him. "Hope for good luck!" He proceeded off without a care to whose territory he might accidently step into.
Meanwhile, in the border of Aiu clan, one of the power holding families, the potion maker was preparing a special elixir in a huge pot that could easily fit three grown demons inside of it. This was the effort in order to enhance the bodies of his clansmen in order to be able to wage an uprising against the major families. In a sense they wanted to conquer their territory. Jou clan of Frost wolves has lost its leader, who was disabled and imprisoned by the Demon King. Jou clan originally posed a threat to Aiu clan, which is why they bid their time for a perfect opportunity. Now the time has come. In reality the ambition of Aiu clan was no different from Jou clan, which is why they were in a sense rivaling families. When their rival lost their leader Aiu clan was overjoyed, now they would have the chance to take the power for themselves. Although their goals were the same, the way they planned to achieve them were quite different.
Jou clan wanted to directly confront the current Demon King and forcibly remove him from power by killing him and taking over the mantle of the Demon King. Aiu clan saw this action of Jou clan as bold and foolish. Demon King may be old, but he still was one of the strongest demons in Kizilalem. Jou clan losing their leader was an expected result for directly confronting him.
Instead of such a foolish approach, Aiu clan chose to focus on growing special kind of trees and potions in order to aid themselves in making their bodies stronger. The trees that were grown were of unique nature, when eaten it would allow a weak demon to grow stronger at an exponentially high rate, and its effect on stronger demons was formidable as well. The trick was to wait until the trees bloomed flowers, which the clan members approximated to be within a single day time. Earth ranked demon, a demon of lowest possible power could become Copper ranked demon overnight under the effects of consuming the said tree. Because the Aiu clan was a family of bear demons it was an easy task for them to consume wood. The tree's name was Yoko, a tree possessing multiple uses including making strong weapons, enhancing demon's soul, and drastically empowering a demon. If every Aiu clansman were to consume this tree after it bloomed, then Aiu clan would gain enough strength to topple over any clan in its way. As such, they would conquer the territories, one after another until the Demon King would be the last one left, but by then it would be too late and he would be forced to surrender.
Currently Aiu clan had only two bronze ranked members, while there were dozen Iron ranked members, the rest were of lower rank. But with the aid of the potion and Yoko tree they would be able to gain strength to step into the same realm as Demon King, and who knows maybe even stronger than him!
The Yoko tree toughened the soul, while the potion would toughen the body, it was a flawless combination.
While the potion maker was making the final touches upon the potion, one of the clan members came to him with a report. "We spotted a lizard demon nearby, should we attack him?"
"No, the lizard demons never travel alone, they are likely in large groups, provoking one of them is same as inviting a full out battle. We can't afford to do so yet, at least not until tomorrow" the potion maker was one of the leaders of Aiu clan, named Soh Aiu, and he knew full well the lizard demons. Upper portion of his right ear was missing and his left horn was noticeably shorter than his right, and his face had a large scar running across it. Those were the injuries he has sustained from fighting lizard demons, and he knew for a fact that they were not weak and could inflict a lot of damage. "Don't provoke the lizard demon, if we don't touch him he will not attack on his own." Lizard demons never attacked first, Soh's experience has taught him this much, it was considered dishonorable to attack without a cause, part of the reason the lizard demons were in decline. Still now was not the time. "We will deal with the lizard demons once our clan members have consumed the Yoko tree after it blooms and drank the potion that will be ready by tomorrow. Until then keep track of him."
"Yes." The clan member replied. "We lost sight of him at the border of our territory, we presume he went back where he came from."
"Excellent, now we can just wait until the potion is ready and tree blooms." The potion took him few months to make and it was in its final stage, it needed to cool down all night long in order to gain its unique properties.
Unbeknownst to them all, the lizard demon they were watching out for was none other than the Tengu lad aimlessly searching for wood to cut down.
Ren managed to sneak into the Aiu clan's territory, mostly unseen, few Aiu clan members spotted him when he reached the border of the clan's territory, but afterwards they lost sight of him, mostly because Ren had a rather unfortunate luck of falling into deep mud while still walking. Luckily, the mud wasn't too deep; it reached approximately up to Ren's neck. He could still breathe, but it was hard to move. 'How did I end up here, for that matter, where am I?' Ren questioned as he literally swam through liquid mud that kept coating his body. It was a thick and dense liquid-like substance with strange smell. Ren could only hope this wasn't what he thought it was. In reality it was the place where Aiu clan members grew fertilizer for Yoko tree, which was a mix of different types of dirt which were left in liquid state in order to enhance its nutritional properties in order to help Yoko trees grow better.
Disoriented, covered in mud from head to toe, and still swimming in it, Ren wondered how exactly he ended up in this place. After exiting the Karatengu territory, he went aimlessly where he thought he could find wood, but soon enough he got lost, now he was in a territory completely foreign to himself. Unlike Karatengu territory that had solid ground covered with tall gra.s.ses, this territory seemed to be covered mostly in mud, at least as much as Ren could currently perceive. While it did make him have rather bad impression of the place he stumbled upon, it did have the result of masking his presence from the members of Aiu clan, who a.s.sumed that Ren was a lizard demon. Aiu clan thought that the certain lizard demon went away from their territory, not realizing that Ren was getting closer and closer to their land while swimming through deep mud. Due to how much of the land was covered in mud and the fact that Ren could only move slowly through such thick mud, he ended up taking most of the day to cross the mud. By the time night has come, most of the Aiu clan members went to deep slumber, with potion maker included, Aiu clan always fell asleep as soon as three suns were down into a deep slumber from which nothing could awaken them until the first of three suns rises. They were not worried, their preparations were complete. Yoko tree will bloom the next day and the potion will be ready to use the same morning, it was a strategy guaranteeing victory. Each Aiu clan member went to sleep with a single thought in their heads "Tomorrow, we shall conquer this kingdom, and we shall be the ones in control!"
After they went to sleep, they couldn't hear the sound of someone rising from the mud, finally reaching the hard earth surface after hours of swimming through the mud. He was relieved to finally find a ground to stand upon after such a long and nasty time in the mud. He smelled himself and found the stench to be horrifyingly unbearable. For some reason the lizard demon skin he was wearing seemed to shrug off the mud almost as if it was mud proof. Because of this only his body not covered by lizard hide was covered in mud stains.
"This stinks; I couldn't even find any wood to cut down…" Ren was about to complain to himself when he caught sight of ten meter long trees that were blooming red flowers. The trees didn't many branches and were very thick, but the flowers were growing on their surface. It was rather beautiful, especially due to the fact that flowers glowed in darkness, allowing Ren to see the trees.
Ren was rather captivated by the sight before him before remembering his objective. He finally has found wood to cut down. He grew excited from his finding. There was so much wood here that he was sure it would be enough to build ten houses. Ren smiled upon his luck. "Yes! I have found an uninhabited place with free wood!" not realizing that the clan to whom the trees belonged to was sleeping nearby on the ground, in their deep slumber.
Ren took out the enchanted ax out of the amulet by thinking about the ax for a moment. The ax just materialized in his right arm, it was rather interesting, one second nothing was there, the next second an axe materialized out of thin air. Ren couldn't help thinking 'This amulet sure is something', as he thought of limitless possibilities offered by carrying such an amulet.
Yet, right now was not a time to daydream; it was time to chop down lots and lots of wood!
Ren swung the ax at the Yoko trees, without realizing their value to the Aiu clan, proceeding to swiftly cut down trees one after another. Ren was rather surprised by how easy it was to cut the wood down, the trees seemed st.u.r.dy and rough, but they were no match for the supreme cutting edge of the enchanted ax.
'I really should thank Shaula again for casting such useful spells upon the ax, she made my job much easier' Ren thought while imagining how hard his job might have been if he was chopping down the wood without noise cancelation and sharpness. He would probably not be able to harvest even a single tree.
Ren quickly ended up bringing down ten trees. They were very large so Ren had some trouble in putting them inside the amulet, at least until he remembered that amulet had almost unlimited s.p.a.ce inside of it. So, he proceeded to tap the amulet upon each tree and stare in wonder as each one got absorbed into the tiny amulet. It was as if the amulet was a tiny black hole.
When Ren was finished he looked around and realized there were many more trees growing. 'Well, she did say to bring enough to build ten houses, so what I've got is not nearly enough' Ren concluded. He thought for a moment.
Then he made the decision to cut down all the wood he saw in front of him. It was rather easy to spot the trees in darkness due to their glowing red leaves.
There were at least a hundred trees. Ren took his time cutting each and every single one of them.
Ignoring large ma.s.ses of sleeping fur, which were the sleeping Aiu clan members, Ren proceeded to noiselessly cut down every single Yoko tree he could find.
By the end of it, Ren was tired from swinging the ax so many times, so after he put every tree he chopped inside the amulet, he sat down to catch his breath.
By using the ax for so many trees he had exhausted his stamina and dehydrated his body. While he was now used to the hot climate of Kizilalem, it without a doubt made him dehydrate faster. Feeling his mouth dry, Ren looked around for some springs to drink water from.
What caught his eye was not a spring however but a gigantic pot of pure black color; it had coals lit underneath it, sparkling with purple flame. Ren was unconcerned about the fact that it looked ominously suspicious; he only cared if there was a liquid inside of it.
Ren climbed into the pot, it was filled with warm liquid that glowed in blue and yellow color. He climbed inside the pot, getting his entire body wet in the process. Without a concern of side effects of drinking this unknown substance, Ren took water with his arms and after smelling it he proceeded to drink it. It definitely was drinkable and it tasted sweet too. Ren quickly found himself drinking it while still bathing in it. It just tasted so good… so irresistible!
Because of the size of the pot Ren literally swam inside of it while imagining himself back at the Karatengu mansion, taking a bath. Because of the liquid being warm, he naturally a.s.sumed that this was some sort of fancy bath, not caring who set it up like this or left it in that certain location. He didn't even notice that the scratches on his body were disappearing and the wound he received while trying to stop Akjan from killing herself started to heal itself. He sat inside the pot for at least an hour before he chose to get out and return to the Karatengu territory.
He didn't realize however the effects the potion had upon him, or the fact that he made the potion completely useless by sitting inside of it with dirty closing for so long. He ended up using the potion's full effects while leaving leftovers mixed in with dirt. Potion loses its power if it bonds with anything it's not supposed to bond with.
Not knowing what he has done, Ren proceeded to get out of the pot and head back towards the Karatengu territory. The problem was however that he forgot where it was. He scratched his head in disbelief, while still wearing that lizard cloak. 'I have a long way to go at this rate'.
Ren left the Aiu clan territory at the right time, before sun rose. After the first light of the morning came to s.h.i.+ne, Aiu clan members woke up one after another. They were expecting this day to begin with Yoko wood and potion being ready for usage and the conquest of territories to begin. Instead they were met with a horrifying sight- all of Yoko trees taken, not even stumps could be clearly seen. All of them were gone, chopped off apparently and lost to them. And their potion…
Was destroyed. According to potion maker the potion is supposed to look bluish golden in color, but this looked more like mud to them. All of them had their mouths open from shock of seeing their chance of conquest stolen from them right under their noses. Just who could have done such a thing?
Somehow their chance for conquering the demon kingdom has
They couldn't suspect that the perpetrator was a certain Tengu lad with a poor sense of direction.
The said Tengu ended up going where he thought he might find the Karatengu territory, but somehow he ended in the middle of nowhere.
"Oh, I really stink at navigating, don't I?" Ren remarked rather embarra.s.sed about his lack of progress in getting back. He had the wood inside the amulet; the ax was still with him.
He quickly put away the ax in favor of the silver knife he carried on his belt. It was the same silver knife that he obtained after the skirmish with Pishak priests. The ax may work well on wood but it was too slow, it wouldn't protect him.
The silver knife on the other hand seemed to be designed for the sole purpose of killing. Unknown to Ren, the silver knife's actual purpose was to kill demons. It was made in such a way that it was deadly to demons while harmless to humans. The silver knife had an enchantment cast on it to allow it to cause maximum amount of damage to demon's body no matter how strong demon's hide is. If Ren was a full blooded demon he wouldn't be even able to touch it without flinching from pain. Of course, luckily for him, that was not the case.
Ren played around with the knife a little bit, imagining him cutting an enemy down. He playfully swung the knife up and down, side to side, without any real clue how to properly use the knife.
After he was done fiddling with the knife, Ren proceeded to walk forward.
At least until he had a rather unexpected encounter with cloaked people.
Meanwhile, in Karatengu territory. Akjan Tang was done with her daily duties for the day. She felt alarmed that Ren didn't return yet, it was already night time. Then, she realized she was worried for him, she never worried for anyone else's sake before. But she never loved anyone like that before either…
He walked into her life like a bright spark, illuminating her existence and giving her another reason to live. She felt that her fate was somehow tied to his, without a doubt, she wanted to be with him in the future.
To love someone unconditionally, she used to think it was just a fairy tale, but turns out it is a very real feeling, she just didn't realize it until now. If it someone asked her before whether there are kind demons in the world she would definitely have answered no and that all demons are cruel and heartless.
Who would have thought her world view would be turned upside down in such a way.
If he wasn't there she was sure she would have lost her horns or maybe even her life, meeting the same fate that her clansmen have experienced. Yet, as if by contradiction to destiny itself she was still alive, safe, unharmed, and loved.
'Ren Tengu', she wondered, 'I can't seem to understand you.' On one hand he was a demon just like any other resident of Kalkan, but he was different, and not just his human-like appearance, that was the least strange thing about him, it was the way he influenced those around him that completely startled her.
He wasn't cruel, on contraire he was a rather humble fellow with a quirky smile. Yet, he wasn't an unmoving bystander, no; he was the type that does what he wants whenever he wants like a ma.s.sive interfering force. That ma.s.sive interfering force has saved her and given her a new reason to live.
He didn't let her die, no, he came at the exactly right moment to rescue her from jaws of Kas clan. She developed a slight affection to him afterwards due to his unusual kindness. When she found out her clan's fate she was prepared to end herself. But, his declaration on that day had changed it all.
Akjan still couldn't believe Ren asked her to become his family, the meaning of such words and the way he said them… Akjan sighed, drove her heart aflutter. He was the first person she had such feelings for and she hoped she would have them forever.
"Ren, no matter what happens, I will protect you." Akjan Tang decided in that moment to devote what remained of her life to protecting the one she loves. He has saved her life and now she will do her best to preserve his.
Akjan's grat.i.tude for Ren's generosity was profound, not only did he offer her a new life, but he also indirectly offered her a future, with him by her side. She would have been fine to accept her death in that dark dungeon if he had not stopped her, that demon… had so selfishly claimed her heart for his own. Akjan's heart beat faster thinking of the moment when their lips almost touched or the feeling of his embrace that made her feel like it's worth living.
Just imagining herself spending all her life with him, holding on to his hand while laughing together, gazing at each other's eyes in a loving fas.h.i.+on, made Akjan swoon from imagining it happening. Her white tail was swiveling excitedly from her innermost thoughts.
It made her happy to have fallen in love with a demon like him. He single handedly had ended her nightmare called Jar Kas and vowed to protect her and even asked her to marry him. This caused Akjan's left eye tear up. "How can you be like this? Such a weird and selfish demon!" She clutched her heart as it beat faster thinking about him. "But maybe it's because you are so selfish that you are different from all of them." She smiled while looking at the sky. No matter how many times she said this she felt like it was never enough. "Thank you, Ren." She smiled and whispered "my husband" after which she blew a kiss into the air imagining him receiving it.
Interrupting her dazed fantasy was a certain event that unfolded afterwards…
On the other, unknown territory, the young lad who has unknowingly captured Tang demon's heart was having a bad situation of his own. The cloaked people turned out to be Pishak Priests. When they saw Ren they proceeded to attack him. One of them was so strong that he ended up throwing Ren about five meters away with a punch to the chest. Ren was pinned to a tree with the force of the impact. Even with lizard skin cancelling the damage, it hurt a lot. The hood of the lizard cloak ended up covering his face so he used his left hand to take the hood off his head. He did it just in time.
The Pishak Priest's fist stopped an inch before Ren's face. Ren was sure that if he received a direct impact he would be finished. Ren was all too aware how physically weak he is. Out of all Tengu workers he was physically the weakest, much to his chagrin.
The attacker stopped his fist right before fearful Ren's eyes; his features were not visible for they were hidden under white cloak. When he saw the person under the lizard skin he hesitated in attacking him further. Originally he thought that lizard demon was approaching, but this was someone wearing lizard skin.
"Are you one of us?" He asked after looking over Ren. This person seemed like a human being, he couldn't find any demonic features, and there were no horns either. Then his sight fell upon the knife Ren strapped to his belt.
Ren was scared stiff unable to answer his attacker, he could only hope he would not be killed.
"That knife, then you really are one of us." The cloaked man dropped his fighting stance. He backed away, giving Ren some s.p.a.ce.
"Apologies, comrade, I did not intend to harm you, your disguise was most convincing."
Ren looked at the Pishak Priest in front of him. He was taking off the hood of his cloak. Under the hood there was a face of a handsome man with pale features almost like his face was carved from white rock covered in salt. His eyes were unnaturally green and his hair was short and yellow.
"Right, disguise." Ren grumbled. 'It seems he didn't realize I really am a demon.'
"I presume you are travelling towards our meeting location."
Ren wasn't sure what this person was talking about, but in order to not arouse suspicion and risk getting killed by him he just nodded his head. The punch from earlier had fractured at least one rib and it stung in a painful fas.h.i.+on. Ren could barely hold back from clutching his chest in the pained area. This guy was strong, unusually strong; one more punch from him would be fatal.
"Then your disguise is understandable, but worry not there are plenty of our order nearby, there is no reason to worry about being seen by demons, we have the numbers advantage. So you can take off the lizard skin. Do you have the order's robes on you?" when Ren shook his head, he replied "Worry not, I have a spare with me." He took out a white and blue cloak identical to the one he was wearing. He offered it to Ren, who was too scared to refuse.
Ren quickly put the cloak on. Now his face was concealed. He put away the lizard cloak inside his amulet.
"That looks much better." said the Pishak Priest.
"Erik! Did you find the demon?" A voice of the older man under a cloak shouted out.
The one called Erik turned to face him. The old man's featured were also hidden by the cloak, leaving only glowing red eyes visible. And a beard, a s.h.a.ggy silver beard. His robe was blue and red in contrast to Erik's.
"No need to worry, it was no demon, just one of us in a disguise." He pointed at Ren who now looked like a full-fledged Pishak Priest.
"Is that so." The old man looked Ren over. "Then, in that case, sorry for targeting you."
"It is fine, really" Ren tried as best as he could to make himself seem less suspicious so that he could run for it. These guys, according to Master Korgan, hunt and kill demons due to their twisted beliefs of human supremacy. 'This is really bad, if they find out I am a demon I am doomed. I have to get out of their sight p.r.o.nto!'
"I a.s.sume you are heading towards the meeting location, then you can come with us, no need to worry about safety, with three of us together a single demon is no match!" Erik proudly said.
Ren thought about it with tears flowing from his eyes from fear. Good thing the cloak's hood completely covered his head and some sort of veil concealed his features. 'Of course I should worry, I am demon after all!' he said mentally while shaking his head up and down. Apparently Pishak Priests thought of it as him agreeing.
"Follow us; we know a shortcut to the meeting location." Erik said with a strong smile and put the hood back on his head.
'Why did I nod? Why?Why?' Ren cried mental tears. He really has done it now, he got himself into a mess so huge that he wasn't sure how to get out. Now he will have to follow these Pishak Priests in order to not seem suspicious or else they might kill him.
"Let's go" the old man beckoned. Erik and reluctant Ren followed him.
The route they took was rather different from anything Ren has seen before, most likely because they were in another territory. He could barely navigate through Karatengu territory so it was rather hopeless for him to try to guess his approximate location. Unbeknownst to Ren he was only a few miles away from the Karatengu territory.
They walked through the forest and crossed a river. They walked for some time before they reached a certain location. Ren lost count of how many footsteps he took to get there. He just had to follow these guys so he didn't look around much. What he did notice was that in this place the architecture was different. It looked like some sort of altar and there were several shrines nearby. Upon each building was a golden emblem with a seven sided star inside of a full moon, all of which was surrounded by three knives. The knives resembled the one Ren had on his belt.
"We got here just in time, our deacon is probably waiting for us to show up to begin the ceremony." Old man said while stroking his beard.
'Ceremony?' Ren thought cautiously 'Well, it can't be a bad thing, right? I mean it's just a traditional thing, nothing to worry about. I can just sneak out while they are praying or even do so after ceremony ends to not seem suspicious!'
"Come brothers, let us join the ceremony!" the old man said with an audible happiness. Ren wasn't so sure he liked the sound of that.
Erik was trembling from excitement. "Finally, finally, it's our turn!"
Ren had to think of something to say so he blurted out "What a great day!"
"So it is, brother, so it is" Erik said joyously without noticing Ren being hesitant and fearful.
All three of them crossed the courtyard and walked into a building that looked like the main place of wors.h.i.+p. It was a huge building, and strangely enough it seemed much bigger in the inside. It was already beginning to be dark outside, so countless candles were lit to s.h.i.+ne inside the room. Strangely the candle light was pure white. There were chandeliers with candles hanging on the ceiling. Ren wondered how exactly someone would lite a candle that high up. The place looked like a formal place of wors.h.i.+p with many tables and chairs. There were balconies inside the building that lacked the usual rails. 'How exactly anyone can consider them safe' Ren thought. Strangely, some of the priests were standing on top of those balconies while chanting some kind of rituals while holding metal pentagrams. On top of each balcony there was a single statue, no doubt someone significant Ren knew nothing about. Each balcony lacked stairs connecting them, but they did have ropes attached to them that were used to climb on top of.
The most significant part however was that this building had about thirty Pishak Priests gathered inside of it. All of them turned their heads towards the entrance when the three came inside the building. The door closed with a dull clack, unusual sound for a door so heavy.
"Now that all of us are here, let us begin the ceremony!" a loud voice from the center of the room boomed. It was a man wearing a cloak of complete pure white and Ren noticed he had the golden emblem on the back of his cloak unlike the rest who wore blue, red and mixed cloaks without any pattern on the back. He was their leader.
All of them made a sound that resembled "YES"
Their leader was in the center of the room, near him was something covered in a grey blanket, obviously concealing what was underneath it.
On the table before him was a sword inside of a box. Ren couldn't make out the details from far away aside from the fact that box was black and red.
He was told to climb up on top of the balcony. Ren did just that.
"As you all already know, our raid of the demon territory was a huge success!"
Every single one of Pishak Priests applauded.
"For today's gathering we have earned ourselves two prizes, this sword" he pointed with his right hand, Ren noticed the arm looked rather metallic with sharp fingers. He was pointing at the sword in the box on the table. "Without a doubt it's a demon sword, one of most powerful swords created, capable of easily ending lives of any demon."
Every Pishak Priest looked in awe. Their leader tried to lift the sword up by the hilt but he could not do so. The sword seemed to be as heavy as weight of world itself. It stayed contently inside the box. "It seems it has an enchantment preventing anyone from lifting it. No matter, it's just a matter of time before we can use it against demons."
Ren sighed in relief. 'It's just a sword he can't even use, no need to worry me, there is nothing to worry about.' Ren tried to calm himself.
He turned with his back towards his audience. He was now facing something covered by grey blanket. "As for the second prize, I present to you- The Half Blood Demon!" He proceeded to take the veil off.
What Ren saw made him gasp from shock.
It was Aijasyl, bruised from head to toe, many scratches on her, and her forehead was bleeding. She was tied to a gigantic upside down pentagram by her hands and feet, and her mouth was gagged.
In Ren's mind a chaos ensued. 'Nothing to worry about my a.s.s! This is horrible! How did this happen?' Everything seemed to be going in direction of disaster. How did Aijasyl get captured? What will they do to her? By the looks of it she put up quite a fight before they took her. She seems conscious, but barely, it was obvious she couldn't cast any spells with her hands tied. "This is really, really bad, what do I do?" Ren thought. 'I can't save her, there are too many of them, and I am too weak to be of use.'
"For centuries our order existed for the sole purpose of cleansing the world from vileness of demon-kind. But we have found ourselves at disadvantage due to their power. That is why we, the Pishak Priests, have chosen to take their power for our own in order to use it against them. It was a great sacrifice of our own purity, but the price had to be paid."
The deacon spoke with authoritative voice.
"For many decades we have consumed the hearts, eyes, and internal organs of demons in order to gain portion of their power. Through trial and error, we have persevered while many brave ones lost their lives with this endeavor. After all, it's hard for a human being to be compatible with demon's power." He dramatically extended his hand. "But today, the new generation of Pishak Priests will be born! The ones who will take on the most unique power belonging to none other than this half-demon!"
Everyone except horrified Ren was applauding, but because they paid so much attention to the speaker they did not notice anything wrong with Ren.
"Unlike other demons, half-demon's powers are highly compatible with our bodies and it will grant so much more power to the recipient. Even the blood of half-demon has its uses, unlike pure demon's blood it's safe for us to consume, in fact, after harvesting her heart we will hold a feast. And she is the main dish."
Everyone was applauding in loud voice. Only Ren was clutching his mouth ready to puke. 'Exterminating demons by eating demons? I am not even sure which one of us is demon anymore. I feel sick.'
"All of her flesh will be used by us to bestow us with power like no other before it. The power we shall use to kill every demon in this realm!" He took out his knife and took of the hood of his cloak. With this he revealed his face.
Ren now saw the familiar face; he has seen this man before. When he met Aijasyl, this man tried to kill her. And that metal right arm… There was no mistaking it, it was Jama! The man who almost killed both Ren and Aijasyl, from whom they barely escaped. 'Why is he here, out of all human beings, it had to be him!' Ren clutched his head from fear. The punches from Jama hurt really badly, he had bruises on his sides for weeks after the incident. Ren was only alive because he took Jama's knife and used it against him. 'That would explain the metal arm; I guess you can't reattach what was cut off after all.'
"Now the time has come for the sacrifice, observe! Followers of purity and angels, as I shall end this half-demon's miserable existence." Jama was approaching semi-conscious Aijasyl with knife in his hands, ready to stab her heart out.
Ren couldn't help thinking 'Somebody stop that madman, somebody, anybody do something!'
Jama took each step slowly, deliberately savoring the look of terror within Aijasyl's eyes as he came closer and closer to his prey, and he was only a step away from sinking his fangs into her flesh.
Then, small sound that Ren could hear.
"Are you sure it's here?"
"Yes, I can smell them."
"You might want to get out of the way."
Then next moment was followed by an explosion that demolished the entrance of the building.
The ones who entered through this disaster zone were three demons, two of them standing while one of them floated.
Ren instantly recognized them. It was Orin, Akjan, and Shaula. They have come to rescue Aijasyl.
Orin said "Just as I thought, there are many of them."
Akjan looked far ahead and saw shocked Jama standing near helplessly tied Aijasyl. "Aijasyl! She is right over there! We must save her!"
Shaula who was flying up high swooped down in order to get closer to Jama. She flew in fast like a bolt of darkness, swiftly covering the distance with few wing beats. Yet, her motion was violently stopped by several Pishak Priests combining their powers to make an invisible barrier that repelled and managed to harm her. She still managed to lift herself up into the air but now visibly faltering. Pishak Priests apparently were well versed in magic because many of them started shooting fireb.a.l.l.s at her, forcing her to dodge. One of them shot ice projectile at her left wing that his with pin point accuracy. Her wing instantly became frozen. She helplessly plummeted down. 'That's a power of ice demon, why does human have such power' she thought while she was falling.
The others didn't fare much better. Akjan was using her extended claws on both of her hands and some form of energy manipulation to swiftly kill Pishak Priests who were attacking her. It was the infamous void, darkness magic, which she coated her hands in, giving them an aura of darkness. They made her claws much sharper and swifter than ordinary allowing her to strike down her enemies in a precise fas.h.i.+on. The trouble was the enemy was not weak, for each one she killed, two more seemed to stand up against her, and each new one was more powerful than the previous. One Pishak Priest opened his palms while facing her, revealing a brilliant light that blinded her for a moment, allowing Pishak Priests to strike a decisive blow.
As for Orin, he kept shooting many of his dark orbs that exploded with enough force to send many things flying. But because of the fact that the enemy was very swift, many of his shots missed. One in particular landed little too close for comfort to Jama. He cringed upon seeing the table upon which the sword in box was lying reduced to bits of sc.r.a.p wood. Those explosions were no joke. The sword along with the box landed on the table which was under the balcony Ren was hiding on.
Jama shouted out "Restrain him, he is the biggest threat!"
The core members of Pishak Priests sprang into action. Orin was prepared for a fight, out of all four of his arms two meter long spikes appeared. He used the spikes as make s.h.i.+ft swords against the enemies who were fearlessly ganging up on him. The trouble was due to the sheer size of his body, Orin was quiet slow in comparison to agile Pishak Priests, meaning they were easily able to dodge his attacks. Of course their disadvantage was that he was very strong. Luckily, they had a way of subduing a demon like him.
Ren quietly observed as his friends were overwhelmed by the numbers and were subdued one after another. Ren kept hiding on top of the stair less balcony, behind the statue, hoping none would notice him.
Unfortunately, in the struggle that followed the Demon trio was defeated. Shaula was pinned to the wall with a staff with semi-circular ending, unable to break free. Akjan was held down on the ground by Pishak Priests who literally chose to hold her with weight of their bodies. She couldn't muster the strength to stand up as five to seven men were crus.h.i.+ng her down. As for Orin, he kept trying to shoot his enemy down or kill them with his spikes. But his enemies managed to wrangle tough ropes around his neck and all four hands and started pulling in different directions, effectively immobilizing him, while forcing his head to point to the ceiling.
It seemed like everything was lost, the Pishak Priests were winning. They were rather overjoyed that they managed to thwart their attempt at attacking them by capturing them instead. While several of them were holding down each demon, some Pishak Priests took their sharp silver knives, fully intent on slas.h.i.+ng the throats of each demon.
Then, CRAs.h.!.+
Ren happened to be so scared that he was leaning upon the statue near him on top of the balcony, but due to the fact that he leaned too far, he ended up tilting it too much, resulting in him making the statue fall down. Ren of course tried to stop statue from falling down, but because of his miniscule physical strength, he ended up falling with the statue instead. Statue ended up falling with Ren clinging on to it.
Just by chance, the humans who restrained Orin with ropes happened to be underneath the falling statue. They were caught by surprise as a heavy stone object ended up falling right on top of them. They were instantly crushed.
The Pishak Priests who saw this scene instantly interpreted as one of their own betraying them. One even shouted out "Kill the traitor!"
Orin was freed from his ropes. As for Ren, who managed to be more or less unhurt but shaken up (He fell on top of someone, cus.h.i.+oning his fall), he tried to look for a weapon.
The only thing within his reach was a sword that was still inside the box on top of the table near him, to where it flew after Orin detonated its last location. Without a second thought Ren reached out and grabbed the sword. Then he turned around just in time to see Orin about to attack him.
"Die human!"
"Orin! It's me!" Ren quickly took off the robes, revealing his face.
Orin stopped his motion the second he saw his face. "Boss? Is that really you? What are you doing here? Why are you dressed up like that?"
"I will explain later! Right now we need to save Aijasyl before it's too late!"
One of the Pishak Priests attacked Ren with silver knife which Ren managed to block with the sword. The sword was somewhat lighter than the knife he had on his belt and it moved swiftly. It had only a single edge, but it was enough to block and cut an enemy. Ren was surprised how swift the blade was, he effortlessly ended up cutting down the human attacking him across the chest and then proceeded to behead him. Due to adrenaline rush from intense fear, Ren fought for his dear life.
Orin fired off two explosions in directions of Akjan and Shaula, causing the humans pinning them down be scattered from trying to avoid the explosions. Akjan and Shaula quickly got back to their feet and started fighting again. At least ten of the Pishak Priests were defeated, five crushed under a statue, others killed by demons. The fight continued on.
Jama seeing the fact that demons had someone on their side desperately shouted "Hold them back until I finish the sacrifice!"
Ren saw the scene in front of him. Jama took the knife and fanatically lifted it up and was about to stab Aijasyl. Running out of options, he decided to finish the half demon the old fas.h.i.+oned way. Aijasyl's eyes were filled with fear as she saw her upcoming fate-death by the hands of the same humans that killed her parents.
She closed her eyes.
Jama felt a killing intent. A sword was flying at him. Jama ducked at the right moment. The sword flew on top of his head without even touching him. It was that kid, Jama looked at Ren, finally recognizing him. 'That is the same kid that stole my arm!'
"You missed!" Jama was overjoyed, now he had the chance for long awaited revenge he was dreaming of since the time he lost his arm.
Due to the curved blade of the sword Ren threw at Jama, it ended up travelling through the air in an arc like a boomerang, which ended up reaching the chandelier that was above Jama.
The chandelier was held by metal chains, but apparently the sword was much sharper. It easily cut through the chains when it made a comeback. The chandelier now plummeted down towards the ground.
Jama didn't even realize that the chandelier above him was falling on top of his head. The only expression he had before he was crushed underneath it was gloating 'I won! I won! You can't defeat me!' Sadly for him, he was the one who lost.
The chandelier landed on him, killing him in an instant. His crushed remains looked like b.l.o.o.d.y putty. A nasty sight to see and a painful way to die. His head in particular was a b.l.o.o.d.y mess, after all that was where the falling chandelier struck him down.
Seeing their leader killed had demoralized the Pishak Priests, whose surviving members stopped fighting against demons and started to run away. All of them touched the floor and in an instant they were gone. It just showed that they could have escaped any time they wanted. Now all that remained in the building were demons and corpses of dead Pishak Priests.
Shaula still had one of her wings frozen, so Akjan was trying her best to make it come back to normal temperature.
"Lady Shaula, please stay still, this will not hurt a bit." A stream of Dark substance appeared within Akjan's palm. She took that substance and applied it on the frozen wing.
The wing quickly started to thaw out. It was as if the dark substance absorbed the cold into itself leaving only warmth in its place.
"Thank You, what was that skill?" Shaula gratefully asked. She has never seen anybody use such ability before. It was so effective that her wing no longer felt like it might shatter and returned to feeling like living flesh.
"Just a darkness magic application, nothing special." Akjan said humbly. Shaula just stared at her in wonder. 'Affinity for darkness magic is extremely rare, it is considered one of the most coveted and hardest to obtain. This girl is too humble.'
Both Akjan and Shaula diverted their attention to the single human being remaining in the room. They were alarmed. Why did he not run with others of his kind? What does he hope to accomplish by himself? He was standing near Orin. Akjan wondered why Orin wasn't attacking him.
Then that human being turned around. She saw a very familiar face.
"Ren!" Akjan ran up to him. This was unbelievable, why was he here? Did he know that Aijasyl was kidnapped and came to rescue her? How did he know about it?
"Hi Akjan, hi Shaula" He said it in unusually sad tone. What he saw today gave him a rather bad impression of humanity. No wonder demons hated them. 'But more importantly…'
"Guys, help me untie Aijasyl from that dreadful thing." Focused only upon the injured demon tied to a giant pentagram in front of him, he used his sword to cut the ropes on her left arm. Akjan came towards the right arm and with a swift slash the rope was severed. She did two more slashes to free her legs.
As her body was freed, Aijasyl plummeted down like a sack of potatoes. She would have fallen down if Ren did not manage to catch her fall on his back.
She was still breathing, thanks Great Ones. Yet, she seemed so weak, she was conscious but she still didn't speak a word.
Her eyes were open, Ren couldn't see her on his back, but he could tell drops of liquid soaking his back. It was not blood. It was tears. Ren understood that under current circ.u.mstances it was the best option to just let her cry on his back.
She held on to his back tightly, Ren couldn't really blame her.
Ren still had the sword in his arm. He s.h.i.+fted his grip on the sword so now he held it reverse grip in his left arm. With a short motion he put the sword on his belt.
He needed to use both hands to carry Aijasyl, it's not that she was heavy, in fact she was surprisingly light, but he didn't want to accidently drop her down, she was too injured already.
"Let's get out of this ghastly building already!" Ren said after stabilizing Aijasyl on his back.
Soon, all five demons exited the building. Orin launched several exploding orbs towards the building in order to completely obliterate it. Soon, all that was left were rubbles.
They walked in silence for some time, before that silence was interrupted by Ren.
"Ok, just tell me, what exactly happened while I was gone?"
Orin was the first to speak up. "I am sorry boss, they took us by surprise. They attacked the household out of nowhere and took lady Aijasyl. They disappeared shortly afterwards, somehow it was almost as if they sunk into the ground!"
It must have been the same way how they managed to get out of the building.
"Where the heck was Master Korgan when this happened?" Ren was rather angry at the fact that his mentor got hurt in this calamity and he had to know why the master of the household did not protect the household.
"Master Korgan was outside the Karatengu territory, visiting the graveyard of his family. It seems like the humans were watching us, for they struck us at most vulnerable time." Shaula answered.
"But Ren, why were you in there? How did you end up in that place?" Akjan asked him, looking at him with her round eyes almost as if seeking a perfectly rational explanation.
"I lost the track of where I was, and before I knew it, I was in there." Ren did not want to tell them of his encounter with two Pishak Priests, they had enough to worry about right now.
"Then, boss, why were you wearing their robes? A disguise?" Orin asked.
Ren thought for a moment and decided to roll with it. "Indeed, considering they outnumbered me, I had no choice but to blend in."
All three of them thought "Brilliant!" What an ingenious idea, sneaking in to their lair unnoticed and disguising himself as one of them.
"But how did you know lady Aijasyl was captured? We found her by her scent and we already knew she was abducted, but how did you find out about it?"
Ren scratched his head. "Well, their actions seemed suspicious, so I presumed I had to see what was going on. I didn't know they took her, so I was quiet shocked when I found out." Ren tried to make it seem that he sneaked in rather than was forced to go to the Pishak Priests meeting location. After all, it would sound humiliating if they found out that he was mistaken for one of the humans.
"Oh, I see." Akjan smiled. The demon of her dreams impressed her once again with being able to be at the right location at the right time.
"It was very fortunate you were there Ren, before you dropped that statue, it seemed like we were goners." Shaula admitted with sunken face. The experience of having one of her wings frozen and getting almost killed made it seem that she barely escaped with her life intact. The fact was, she was still alive thanks to the weirdo demon in front of her.
"Indeed, I am afraid to imagine what would have happened to Aijasyl if you weren't there, boss." Orin respectfully reflected. He was rather glad he was a subordinate of a demon who was this capable.
"Speaking of Aijasyl, why were they targeting her?"
The one who answered, to Ren's surprise was Akjan. Her expression was serious and glint of anger could be seen from her eyes.
"It is because they wanted to steal her powers. Those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds!" She punched the tree nearby, leaving a fist sized dent on the bark. Ren made a note to himself to never make her angry. "Why can't they leave demons alone? Their twisted view of the world has done enough harm to everyone!"
Ren did not expect such an emotional outburst from her, but it was understandable. He presumed that was the exact reason her clan members lost their lives, due to the greed for power. No wonder she was very angry at the thought of human beings stealing demon's powers.
Realizing that she showed her anger in Ren's presence and seeing him look rather alarmed, she quickly apologized. "I am sorry; I shouldn't have made such an outburst."
"It is fine, we all have a reason to have such feelings about them" said Orin.
"Indeed" Ren had to admit.
After walking for some time, he noticed that Aijasyl on his back was sleeping. When he considered waking her up, Shaula whispered "Let her rest, she has gone through a lot because of them. It is no wonder she needs this."
Ren nodded, the rest of the way they tried to talk quietly, trying to make sure Aijasyl rested on Ren's back while they walked back towards the Karatengu Household.
Meanwhile, inside the Karatengu household, Korgan Karatengu has just returned from visiting his family's grave site. The grave site was located on the mountain top, a location upon which he wished he would be put to rest once he was gone. His wife and son lay there underneath the ground, with stones marking their resting place. There was an empty grave as well with his second son's name on it because while the body was not found Korgan was sure his second son was no longer of this world. This place might be the place where the Karatengu bloodline would end, with him, Korgan, as its last member pa.s.sing away.
'I don't have much time left in this world, soon I will join you, my family' Korgan whispered before heading back towards the Karatengu household. 'It's about time I visit Akil Ras and ask him to take the Tengu clan members under his wing.' In terms of finding a leader for the Tengu clan, Korgan felt that he failed completely. Now there was no choice but to ask his old friend for help, after all Korgan planned on going back towards the mountain top and dying there for he no longer had any reason to keep living. Each day pained him and he just wished it would be over.
When Korgan got back to the Karatengu territory, he saw very awful scenery. Several houses were set on fire while there were many injured Tengu clan members being tended by other demons.
When a Tengu member named Jop saw Korgan, he immediately ran up to him. "Master Korgan you're back!"
"Jop Tengu, what exactly happened here?" Korgan said in an angry voice which surprised Jop due to the fact he never heard Korgan get this angry before.
"We were attacked by humans."
"Humans you say? Any specific groups? How did they look like?"
"I don't know who they were, but they were all wearing strange robes that covered their entire bodies and they had enchanted silver knives…"
Korgan immediately thought 'Pishak Priests! Why did they attack my clan? What are they after.'
"Were there any victims?" Korgan asked.
"Luckily there were no casualties other than several demons being injured, but …" Jop paused.
"But what?" Korgan asked, while looking at Jop with a scary expression.
"They managed to take Aijasyl and the Karatengu Sword"
Korgan's eyes opened wide. He did not care what happened to the weapon, he was more concerned with what happened to one of his subordinates.
"Do you know where they went? We must follow them immediately…"
"Master Korgan, lady Shaula already took a team with her in order to find her, and we don't know where they are." Jop said, sadly, there was nothing they could do; the enemy just disappeared into the ground after capturing Aijasyl. They just were gone, not a trace remaining after they sunk into the ground.
"This is beyond horrible, if they do something to her, I will…"
"Master Korgan, there were at least twenty of them and each one was at least as powerful as bra.s.s ranked demon or higher. We have no way of tracking them."
Master Korgan sighed. "Understood, you mean to say even if I try to track them down I wouldn't be much help, isn't that right?"
Jop gulped "Yes, I am sorry to say so, Master Korgan."
"No, you're completely right." Korgan was saddened by the fact that he could do nothing to save his subordinate, but right now all he could do was help tend the wounded.
Korgan went to the room where at least ten wounded demons lay and he personally helped each one with their wounds. Even having just one arm did not prevent Korgan from pouring his energy through his palm to restore the vitality to ailing demons. By giving them some of his energy, Korgan made sure that the injuries they received wouldn't be too life threatening.
It took him some time to tend to every single wounded Tengu member, and it did exhaust his energy, but this was his duty as their master.
After some time, someone shouted out "They're back! They're back!"
Korgan went out of the mansion to see who has returned.
According to Jop, Shaula took Akjan and Orin with her. But now returning with the three of them was Ren. Korgan noticed Ren was carrying someone and by looking closer he noticed that it was form of Aijasyl. She seemed injured and she was unconscious. Yet, Master Korgan was just glad she was ok.
Then his attention went to the object Ren was carrying on his belt.
Korgan's eyes went wide. 'Impossible, that is…' it was the Karatengu family sword. He was told it was stolen by the humans along with the box it was inside of. The sword can't be directly lifted by anyone other than Karatengu family member. For anyone else the sword would seem to be stuck to the surface upon which it lays, unmovable and un-yieldable.
But now, Ren Tengu was walking with that sword on his belt as if it was as light as feather. This did not make sense… 'Who is he?' Korgan inwardly wondered as the group approached him.
The four demons came towards the Karatengu mansion.
"Young ones, you have succeeded in saving her." Korgan said, while focused on Ren.
When Ren saw Korgan, he said "Aijasyl is injured, is there anywhere I should take her?" he said it bluntly, after all in his opinion Korgan wasn't there when his mentor needed help.
"Follow me." Korgan led Ren to a room with a large bed. Ren didn't know about this room, he never was in it before. One of the demons Ren didn't talk to much, named Raia, started to tend to Akjan's external injuries. She was still unconscious after falling asleep on Ren's back while Ren was walking towards the mansion. Shaula proceeded to help with the bandages and healing ointments as well.
Orin, Ren, and Master Korgan promptly exited the room in order to not interrupt the tending process.
Ren was slightly angry at Master Korgan but he didn't let it show.
Korgan weakly smiled and said. "I can imagine that you are angry at me for letting this happen and I don't blame you for that. But please understand I did not want this to happen and I am truly sorry for letting it turn out this way." Master Korgan bowed with his head down.
Ren sighed. "I see." Ren could no longer hold grudge against this elderly demon, after all it was humans fault for doing this, not a fault of a demon who wanted to visit his family graves. "Do not worry, I do not blame."
"Thank You" Korgan replied.
"On another matter, please follow me" Korgan said while pointing with his only hand.
Korgan, Orin, and Ren walked towards the certain chamber, the room that held relics that reminded Korgan of his long gone family.
"Ren, could I please take a look at the sword on your belt?" Korgan asked. He wanted to verify that his eyes were not deceiving him.
Ren took the sword off his belt and gave it to Master Korgan.
Korgan proceeded to examine the sword. Without a doubt, this was Korgan's sword. It was not a replica or an accidental look-alike, but the genuine Karatengu family sword. 'Yet, he is able to pick it up. Did the sword lose its property?'
Korgan put the sword down on the floor without anything but floor underneath it.
"Orin, could you mind picking that sword up" Korgan beckoned to Orin.
"Of course!" Orin bent over the sword and tried to lift it up by the handle with his upper right arm. He expected it to be easy. Grasping the handle he did, but lifting it up was another business altogether.
No matter how hard he tugged at it, the sword did not budge an inch. Thinking that more force would allow him to lift it Orin tried to use two arms, then three arms, then all four together, but to no avail. The sword seemed to have a will of its own- the will to be stuck to the surface which it lay upon.
"Master Korgan, it wouldn't move!" Orin said after the tenth unsuccessful attempt at lifting up the sword.
Korgan looked at the scene in front of him with intense curiosity. 'So the sword did not lose its selective property, then in that case…'
"Ren, now you try to lift it."
Ren approached the sword and with an awkward motion he easily picked up the sword without feeling any weight on his arms. Korgan could only watch in disbelief.
"Boss! How did you do that? It was nearly impossible for me to lift, yet you just did it!"
"It's not that heavy, look" Ren pa.s.sed the sword to Orin's arms.
Then, Orin fell down, arms pinned down with crus.h.i.+ng weight of the sword.
"You're kidding, right?" Ren said after watching Orin unable to stand up while having the sword rest on his palms.
"Boss, the weight of the sword is crus.h.i.+ng me!"
"Oh, sorry" Ren took the sword off Orin, who upon standing up was rubbing his hands, apparently it hurt a lot.
"Both of you stay where you are." Korgan Karatengu was lost in thoughts and there was only one thing that could confirm his doubts. 'This is impossible, it has to be a dream, some kind of illusion…'but he could not deny the facts.
'The sword can only be lifted up by a Karatengu. Karatengu family doesn't have any branches other than mine, and my branch ended with deaths of my children. I had only two sons and both of them have pa.s.sed away, then who in the world is he?' Hopefully Yrpak-Kan could show him the answer.
After a few minutes, Korgan returned with a strange blue crystal.
He took the crystal and smeared some blood on it from his thumb.
Instead of showing no reaction like Korgan expected, the crystal glowed bright red. One of its thirteen sides showed the direction to go in.
Korgan followed the directions and soon found himself facing to whom the crystal was pointing at – Ren.
No matter from which way he looked, or from which direction, the crystal still pointed at Ren.
The crystal can without a flaw, find the user's descendant. So now, without a doubt, Korgan found out that Ren was his descendant. 'He is my descendant? But how? Neither Omir nor Ymit had any children, unless…'
Korgan always kept two patches of braided hair in his breast pocket, closest to his heart. Each braided lock belonged to one of his sons and each was kept in his safe keeping after they pa.s.sed their training ceremony. He originally kept each lock as a symbol of pride in his sons, and after his sons pa.s.sed away he kept them as keepsakes of their memory. He never thought he would use them like this.
Korgan wiped his own blood off the Yrpak-Kan crystal with his own clothing. Orin and Ren were still puzzled over what Master Korgan was doing. The crystal returned to its normal state after Korgan wiped off his blood.
Then, Korgan pressed the first lock belonging to Omir on top of the Yrpak-Kan crystal. The crystal did not react. Then Ren was not Omir's descendant.
Disheartened, Korgan took out the second lock and pressed it upon the crystal. He half expected it to fail just like the first lock, but to his surprise the crystal started glowing brighter than it did with his blood, now almost in a violent way. The crystal was glowing in powerful light in Ren's direction. Without a doubt, Ren is Ymit's son. Korgan just realized, his grandson was standing right there, in the room. 'I have a grandson!' Korgan thought, his mind overwhelmed by joy, while his hand was shaking, he put the Yrpak-Kan down in fear of dropping it. That is why the way Ren smile seemed so familiar; it was the same warm smile his son used to give when he was truly happy.
Ren, who saw the light of the crystal, without understanding the implications, just looked confused with his head tilting to the side.
Korgan stepped forwards, facing Ren with an expression full of joy.
"Ren, when you came to this place you said you knew not who you truly are."
Ren nodded.
"Then let me give you the answer, you are my grandson!" Korgan embraced Ren with his only arm. Ignoring the fact that Ren was completely confused, Korgan Karatengu said in a tear filled voice "Welcome home, my grandchild."
To Korgan, this was a day he found that not all of his family was gone, and that his beloved son had left him a gift. The gift he was tearfully embracing. Nothing could describe the joy Korgan Karatengu felt at this moment.
He never imagined that he had a grandchild, let alone that one of his sons had a child. But this kind of surprise made Korgan thank the Great Ones repeatedly for giving him such a miracle. "Great Ones, thank you, thank you, thank you so much!" The day may have started sadly, but to Korgan it has ended magnificently.