4 Chapter 4: A puddle of anemone flowers

Vincent stood up, stretching as he did. "Well, I guess we should get going." he said, "Sure." Shiu agreed, as she made her way towards the door, Vincent following her.

"Wait, there is something you should know about, Vincent." Rogue said in a serious tone, placing a hand on Vincent's shoulder to stop him.

"What is it? Don't worry about the payment." Vincent replied.

"No, it's not about that." Rogue replied.

Stepping close, Rogue leaned in towards Vincent's ear and said, "There is a bounty on your head, look out.".

Vincent's expression shifted to a more serious one, "I see, thank you Rogue." after saying that Vincent left the room, and caught up with Shiu, who was slowly making her way back to the town centre.

"What did he want from you?" Shiu asked.

"He just wanted to let me know that there is a bounty on my head." Vincent said casually.

"Why would somebody want to take you out?" Shiu asked.

"I guess you could say I have some family issues." Vincent replied.

"So your family is trying to get you killed?" Shiu questioned, she looked surprised, again this told Vincent she had a normal family life.

"Guess so." Vincent replied plainly.

Shiu stopped dragging the topic, but in her mind she thought, "There is no way his family is trying to kill him… unless… did he do something that terrible?"

Shiu's mind continued to explore the idea, "What could possible make someone kill a family member?… Maybe he killed someone?… Nah, he couldn't kill a fly… Was it theft? Did he rob the family vault or something?" Shiu gave up on the idea of understanding the reason for this conflict, deciding that there is nothing that could possible make her hate a family member, especially one as pacifistic as Vincent.

"So, where is it that we are going?" Shiu asked, realising that she has gone through this whole ordeal with Vincent, without even asking where it is that they are heading…

"We're on an epic quest!" Vincent replied, in a dramatic tone.

"An epic quest?!" Shiu's mind turned to the idea of adventure, dodging traps, travelling the world, finding chests filled.

"That's right!" Vincent replied, "We are on a quest to create the legendary twelve heroes!"

Shiu's expression shifted to a curious one, "You mean the old tale about the party of twelve adventurers? Each one is a different race and together they shall defeat the evil from below!?" Shiu's voice got more excited as she went on.

"That's the legend. I'm surprised to see you so excited over this though." Vincent replied, his face displaying a genuine smile.

"Are you kidding? This is my chance for the life of great adventure!" Shiu replied.

Vincent expected her to make some sarcastic comment about how he was being childish following an old legend, or even mock his for being a demon wishing to be part of the twelve, considering the actions of the demon in the actual fairy tale.

"So I assume you'll be coming with me?" Vincent asked.

"Of course, I told you earlier, I can't have you dying on me."

Vincent thought seeing Shiu so excited over something was cute, but he wouldn't say it for fear of having his kneecaps busted.

"I've always wondered… what is the evil from below exactly?" Shiu said, turning to Vincent, expecting him to know.

"Well, I always assumed it was a metaphor for evil in general." Vincent replied.

"I guess that makes sense… I was always told it was demons that were the enemy." Shiu said, her face turned red as she realised what she said.

"Same, but that isn't going to stop me." Vincent replied, he didn't seem phased by Shiu's comment.

"So I assume you didn't grow up with other demons?" Shiu asked, considering the remark about how Vincent was though about the demons being the villains.

"You assumed wrong, aside from a few… servants, everyone at my old home was a demon, and they were pretty damn proud of it." Vincent said, giving a slight chuckle as he said that.

"This is my chance…" Phyl though to himself, watching from the shadow, sitting on a tree, hiding amongst the leaves.

Phyl fiddled with his dagger in his hand, if there was any moonlight it may have given away his location due to the its refection.

Phyl grabbed a firm hold on the leather handle of his dagger, saying his magic incantation as he moved his blade before his lips, "Limelight Venom", his voice was almost a whisper, as a leaf from the tree fell onto the blade, is shrivelled into a grey husk and crumbled away in an instant.

A grin spread across Phyl's face it wasn't a one of joy, pride or even hatred, it was a lustful grin, a wide grin displaying Phyl's pearly white teeth which thirsted for blood.

Phyl's hands trembled as he imagined it, his entire body coated in a warm blanket of blood, the thick crimson weighing down his clothes, making him one with his pray, the euphoria of the kill was enough to make his knuckles white from gripping his weapon so hard.

As Vincent and Shiu walked past Phyl's tree, Phyl was ready to strike, adjusting his body to face Vincent, leaning off the tree, he began falling to the floor, but before he did, he recited his magical incantation, "Fast Leap" he spoke loudly now, his murderous intent was visible in his eyes as he launched towards Vincent.

In a split second, Vincent turned to face Phyl, he was unable to dodge the attack, and as Phyl landed next to Vincent, he launched for his left kidney, stabbing his blade into his flesh, and enjoying the subsequent screams.

Vincent's vision turned red, the wound would not kill him, after all, he was able to regenerate most damage done to hum, however the pain was unbearable, falling to his knees, the wound burst into a flash of light.

"The blade must have been enchanted!" Vincent thought.

"Shiu! Get back!" Vincent yelled.

Shiu begrudgingly nodded and headed for the bushes.

Turning to face Phyl Vincent was met with a sharp swing of the dagger, free of enchantment this time.

Vincent's neck was sliced open, the blood sprayed out coating Phyl's face.

"YES, this is it!" Phyl said in a scratchy, breaking voice, trying to stop his laughter.

Phyl's jovial expression stopped as Vincent stood up, gyrating his shoulder and stretching his back, "Man, that was painful. You should be more careful with that thing, you could have killed me-" Vincent said, but before he could finish Phyl spoke the incantation "Fast Leap", as he launched towards Vincent he crouched down and slit his blade across his belly, exposing his guts.

Vincent cried out in pain once more "MAN, THAT HURTS LIKE HELL!" his voice lost the usual composure. Arching his back forward, using his hands to hold his guts in place, within seconds, the wounds disparaged, except for the kidney shot.

"What the hell are you?!" Phyl demanded, seemingly enraged by Vincent's refusal to die.

"You don't even know who you're hunting or their party!?" Vincent asked sarcastically, standing up straight.

"As if I'd need to know that stuff." Phyl scoffed.

"I don't know, you really should do some background checks." Vincent replied.

"And why is that?" Phyl asked, his grin widened at the though of taking down this cocky demon.

"Because you'd know I'm not the fighter of this group." Vincent called out as Shiu jumped out from the bushed placing Phyl in a strangle hold with on arm and holding his two hands behind his back with the other.

"Let go of me!" Phyl demanded struggling.

Phyl's attention became focused on Vincent who had a wide grin on his face, that look on his face, it shook Phyl to his very core, but instead of fear or shock, Phyl only felt laughter boiling up, until eventually he burst into a maniacal chuckle.

"I SEE NOW, I'M NOT DEALIGN WITH A ROOKIE HERE, AM I!?" Phyl blurted out as he continued laughing, his hat falling off his head in the process.

Shiu felt uncomfortable in this situation, Phyl was giving her a very bad vibe, as if he was simultaneously happy to murder and die at any moment.

"Let's just take him out already, he's creeping me the hell out." Shiu said with a wry look as she tightened her grasp on his neck.

"This is what I live for… the action… the thrill of the hunt… and now it looks like he's the hunter… or rather that cat girl…" Phyl though to himself, he imagined his death, would he be stabbed to death… perhaps Vincent saw it fit to devour his flesh like a true demon?

Before Phyl could finish thinking about any of this, he was already tied up with a rope, "W-what the hell are you doing?!" Phyl demanded before going back to thinking of his death, perhaps they'd drown him… no… they wouldn't…

The images of the water, the cold embrace of the waves, it made Phyl sick to his stomach.

"Wh-what are you going to do to me?!" Phyl asked, his gaze more panicked now, looking around spotting a river downwards from the hill they stood on, opposite the tree the leap from.

"Hm?" Vincent leaned in to Phyl, and followed his gaze to the river, a smirk came across Vincent's face as he playfully asked, "You want to go down to the river?" these words left Vincent's mouth, Phyl began to struggle, and his voice began cracking up, "NO! Please anything but that!"

Vincent's facial expression changed when he looked down at Shiu who stared back at his face, "I'm sorry, it looks like I've forgotten myself." Vincent said, before kneeling down to be on Phyl's eye level.

"If you swear to leave me and Shiu alone, I'll let you go." Vincent offered.

Phyl began to nod his head furiously, "Yes, that's fair, please!" he pleaded.

Shiu go off the shaking man, and turned to Vincent.

"Are you sure we can just let him go like that?" Shiu asked Vincent, despite facing Vincent her gaze was still aimed at Phyl, who placed his arms over his mouth as his breathing began to turn erratic.

Turning to leave, Shiu and Vincent made their way away from the sobbing man, "You think I went overboard?" Vincent asked, "I'd say you were too easy on him, but we both know you think you went overboard." Shiu replied with a sigh.

"Why do you think he was so afraid of the river?" Shiu asked.

"I'd say he'd probably afraid of water, a pretty reasonable fear." Vincent replied.

"I heard it's a pretty horrific death, drowning." Shiu said, understanding Phyl's reaction a little more.

"Yeah, the burning sensation in your lungs is unbearable, you don't get used to it, and when you get out the water in your lungs is heavy and uncomfortable, coughing it up is horrific." Vincent replied.

"What do you mean 'when you get out' ?" Shiu asked confused.

"Oh, sorry, it's nothing." Vincent replied, quickly changing the conversation topic, "Hey, why don't we go down to the river and catch some fish." he suggested.

Picking up on the hint, played along and agreed to go down to the river.

"You are weaker than I expected… pathetic." The same man who approached Rogue before appeared before, this time wearing a white fedora and matching white suit below the grey coat which reached down to his ankles.

Phyl snapped back to reality but remained silent, before he could reach for his dagger which lay nearby, the man spoke his incantation, "Black chains, restrain my target for twenty minutes." as he said that, long black chains shot out violently from his sleeves, coiling their way around Phyl's legs and up to his neck.

"What the hell do you want!? Find someone else to kill that monster!" Phyl demanded.

"Monster? Well, guess that makes me the devil…" the man said as he kicked the still tied up Phyl down the hill towards the river.

As Phyl quickly rolled down the hill, he failed to slow down, the chains seemingly had a life of their own. Before he knew it, he was already beneath the waves of the water, his mind began to panic, struggling gave his a false sense of hope, which was quickly sniffed out by the chains, which constrained like a snake, pulling his arms behind his back.

Phyl's lungs began to burn, it was just like that time in his past.

(~7 years ago…)

Phyl came from a poor family, and a large on at that, aside from his mother and father, he lived with his uncle and three siblings, it was his ninth birthday and since his family couldn't afford any presents, they decided to go down to the lake nearby, since most of the time both of his parents worked, it would be a stretch to say that they lived a perfect life, but they survived happily enough.

It was a long journey, they walked for hours on end, through a forest and even some large overgrown hills.

The mother carried the youngest, and Phyl and his two sisters walked through the grassy fields towards the large lake, "Phyl, dear. Would you mind carrying the lunch for me?" the mother asked, he expression was tired, it looked sad.

"Sure!" Phyl exclaimed, grabbing the large backpack stuffed with bread, juice and even some meat.

"Isn't this too much for one day?" Phyl asked.

His mother didn't reply, but his father chimed in, "It's you birthday after all, and we might decide to say here for the night."

Phyl's face lit up at the idea of sleeping by the lake, they didn't have a tent, but this time of year, they didn't need one.

After a long journey, they made it, they sat at the banks of the great lake, the tall grass surrounded them and the trees sheltered them from the blistering sun.

The distant birds chirped as if to sing a celebratory song to Phyl, after Phyl's father showed him he to make a fire, he looked his wife in the eyes and stood up.

"We'll go look for some firewood. You kids stay here." the man said, leaving the bag of food, next to the fire.

"Take care of your younger sisters, Phyl" the mother said, not facing her son, as she disparaged into the bushes, following her husband, holding the youngest of the children in her hands.

At first Phyl waited patiently, than he poked the fire with a stick he picked up.

Before he knew it, it has been hours, and he drifted away into the land of dreams, next to his two sisters, on five the other seven.

When he opened his eyes, he stretched his back, he began to worry that his parents weren't back yet, but this concern was overshadowed by the disappearance of this two sisters.

Frantically looking around Phyl spotted one in the water, floating motionlessly.

Phyl couldn't swim, but how hard could it be, he charged into the water, looking around to see if another one of his sister was somewhere in the water, to his relief she was not there.

As Phyl jumped into the water he soon realised that swimming was in fact more difficult than it looked, seeing his sister so pale now, in the water… as he moved closer he turned her, and saw that she was not breathing, she must have drowned hours ago.

Phyl's mind began going numb, how could this happen, this had to be a nightmare, but it felt so real.

Phyl sank lower and lower into the water, slowly finding himself in a dark abyss where less light reached.

His lungs began to burn and looking around, he found his feet tangled in some plants, "I can't die here… I have to live on for my-" Unluckily for Phyl, he came face to face with his sister, angled up in the same weeds as him, an expression of fear and pain on her face.

This was Phyl's first run in with death, he grabbed the leaves tangled around his foot, as if by instinct by this point, tore it off and slowly ascended to the surface, watching the burning light of the sun grow with the burning in his lungs.

That was until the light was blocked out by a wooden row boat, and a hand reached for him.

(Present day…)

"Light dispel!"Vincent said as the black chains around Phyl loosened and turned to black smoke, although so did the skin on Vincent's palm.

"You really need to stop with all that light magic, or you'll just burn away one day." Shiu said looking at Vincent recoiling from the pain.

"What… happened…" Phyl asked, his vision still blurry.

"Well, somebody cast black chins on you and tossed you into the river, lucky for you it's more of a stream and you just hit your head on some of the rocks in the shallow water." Vincent replied.

"Y- you saved me!" Phyl cried, standing up quickly and bowing down before Vincent who was now more confused than anybody else.

"No, I just-" Vincent tried to explain that all he did was drag him out of the water, but Phyl would have none of it.

"Please, master. Tell me your name." Phyl pleaded.

"MASTER?!" Shiu though, "what the hell is this…"

"Vincent… but there is no need for-" Vincent was interrupted again.

"Master Vincent, please let me accompany you so that I can repay my debt." Phyl pleaded.

"Look, all he did was-" Shiu tried to explain the situation but this time Vincent interrupted her for a change, "Sure, welcome to the team!" he exclaimed, Vincent sensed the opportunity, and took it!

"Thank you master Vincent!" Phyl said before he stood up.

"Welcome to the team…" Shiu said sarcastically, the truth was, she really didn't like the vibe he was giving off, but he would be a useful asset to the team.

"Well then, let's get going before the sun comes up!" Vincent suggested, "Yes!" Phyl replied as Shiu just followed Vincent.