Chapter 8

A portal opened discreetly in an alleyway within New York City.

A man in a black suit steps out. He rips off the white mask he had on and flings it to a wall. The mask doesn't break, it simply falls to the ground. Then it disappears as Agonist put back in its storage dimension.

Daemon brushes back his dirty blonde hair as he growled. His mood was the lowest of the lowest.

He couldn't even properly take his anger out on those shield agents. His shadows only got to a quarter of the people in that building before Agonist flung him into the portal.

Agonist, his system, hesitatingly floated in the air before coming down, near Daemon's shoulder.

Daemon ignored it as he walked out of the alley.

It was currently late afternoon, the reddish sun gave enough light and warmth for others to be outside.

Every person Daemon passed by took multiple glances at him. He was simply captivating.

His long legs allowed him to tower over others, as his slim muscular build was outlined in his black suit. He had deep features like a westerner and sharp jawline. His dirty blonde hair was slicked back, as his obsidian black eyes stared forward.

Fierce and bearing an arrogant demeanor. His lips carried a natural smirk, giving him a hint of playfulness.

He put his hands in his pocket as he causally strolled along the sidewalk. He paused under a tree, and sat on the bench under it.

" Find a decent bar near me." He mutters under his breath.

His system was about to reply before it saw the shadow under Daemon move.

Daemons shadow slithered from silhouette to silhouette in the shades between buildings.

A few minutes later the shadow returned with the location of a bar suiting Daemon's taste.

Daemon stood up, now humming as he opened his map in his system interface. It showed a detailed blueprint of his surroundings.

He walked to the bar in an upbeat pace. He wanted to drink until he passed out.

The system, Agonist, floated in the air dejectedly as it followed Daemon. It found it hard to deal with Daemon's mood swings.

He was literally just in a murderous mood and now he's like a child running towards sugar.

Agonist shakes it's metaphorical head. At first it wanted to apologize, but hesitated. It wasn't really its fault, but it knew that Daemon had a short fuse and a twisted personality that could snap at anything.

That's the reason it's here in the first place, to babysit the high ranking Host and keep him sane.

The system continued to grumble, berating it's own unprofessionalism. It shouldn't always react every time Daemon got on its nerves.

However...

Poor Angoist.

Yes, Daemon did snap easily, but that never meant he lacked self control. His every action was done in sound mind. He was unstable, yet somehow sustainable.

His mind was constantly analyzing and calculating his surroundings, his actions, outcomes; his brain was on constant overdrive as it took in every detail.

Not to mention his haunting past, persistently repeating. His brain would look back to keep record and learn from its past; but for Daemon, it was hell. He remembers every single thing. Well, that is, except for his origins.

The ones he killed.

Loved.

Treasured.

Or cared for, would show up every night.

As a high ranking host, he traveled to thousands of worlds, carrying on with his missions.

Each connection he would make would be left behind once he completed his mission.

Over and over, this never ending cycle eroded his heart. While his mind remained stone hard and indifferent, his heart...

Broke piece by piece over time.

He could no longer hold it together.

That's why he drank and indulged in mind numbing activities.

All to simply have a rare moment of peace. Without the shrieks and cries of ghosts, yearning for vengeance.

Without...

his own screams.

If only he could just turn everything off.

Daemon downs one drink after another. He continued until his head collapsed on the bars counter.

Multiple beautiful young women secretly peeked at Daemon under their lashes.

This dashing young man had been drowning in his misery ever since he walked in this high class bar. He rejected all their advances and simply focused on filling his inwards with toxic beverages.

A gorgeous brunette plucked up her courage and swayed her hips towards Daemon.

Once near him, she placed her hand on shoulder.

" Hon, you can't sleep here. Hey-"

Daemon sprung up.

He ignored her as he called over the bartender.

" How much do I owe you?"

" 430, sir."

Daemon digs into his empty pockets and brings out the money from his storage dimension. He drops the money on the counter and turns away.

As he was unstable, he bumped into the nearest thing. The brunette lady beside him. He grasped her shoulder to stead himself.

" Sorry. Please excuse me." Daemon smiled gently as his dark eyes shun in warmth.

The young lady was stunned, unable to utter a word as she was hypnotized by his charm. She watched silently as he left.

She thought he was a typical bad boy and player when she first spotted him. She didn't think he could be charmingly gentle.

She pressed a hand on her heart, to calm its wild beating. She rushed towards her friends, ready to spill all of her gushy gossip about that man.

But for Daemon to be gentle?...

Maybe.

If this was centuries ago.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the suite of a hotel.

Daemon sat in the bath tub silently. He leaned his head back, eyes closed as he soaked in warm water.

He was regulating his intoxicity levels at the moment.

He stood up and dried himself before heading to bed. As he made his way out the bathroom, he stumbled.

" Did you have to drink so much?!" He mumbled as he caught himself, holding onto the door frame.

The one complaining wasn't Daemon.

It was his system, Agonist.

It had the authority to control Daemons body in special circumstances.

Being deadass drunk and leaving himself defenseless counts as a special circumstance in Agonists books. If it didn't interfere, it's host would have been dragged to the home of one of those hungry witches eyeing Daemon.

Though of course, Daemon wouldn't have rejected their forward advances.

However, he would have killed them the next morning. Daemon became violent once he awoke from his dreams.

Agonists job was to keep the bloodshed to a minimum.

They couldn't attract the attention of the gods in this Universe by recklessly killing.

If Daemon killed one of the higher beings, this Worlds Consciousness would detect outsiders and kick them out its territory. Resulting in the failure of their mission.