My Demon

NOWEL

After the rigorous training, I went straight to Illinois chamber to explain to him why I was present at the castle training grounds the other day. Even though I was banned from it. As I made my way out of his chambers, I had this yen to see what my sister was up to.

I entered her room, and as usual, I loved the scenery. The giant ring of candles hanging above revealed her bed, the thick dark purple curtains that shielded the moonlight from entering. Her shelf was filled with some of her drawings. And a large dresser table facing the bed.

A small menorah cast a soft glow on her face as her eyes moved with concentration and her eyes swayed with a paintbrush in her hand. Her gown covered a part of the plush carpet due to her seating position as she continued to draw. I closed the door gently and lowered my body into a sitting posture beside her.

"Iris,"

She turned her small neck around to face me. She smiled, "Nowel, you are here? I thought you said you were to have a meeting with Illinois this hour."

"Yes, I did. He didn't...scold me too much. So I was able to leave early." She bobbed her head slowly in understanding before getting back to what had her attention before I arrived. "What are you doing?" I pretended not to have a clue.

"Draw-ing"

"Cool. Can I see what you've drawn this time?"

She beamed with a nod.

"So...what did you draw this time?" I moved closer as I peered over her shoulder to see what she had drawn. I was surprised by what I saw. A shady drawing of a...man? I guess. More like a beast or a...

"It's a demon." She proclaimed happily, and I took in a sharp breath.

"W-what?"

She giggled as she painted the hair of the drawing velvet. I was confused.

"I saw a demon yesterday in the garden. This one is different." I looked over again as she persisted in painting its long hair. "And very beautiful." She added innocently.

"Y-you saw a demon? Again?" I asked with fear.

This is the fifth time my little sister claims that she has seen a demon. Even her paintings and drawings either portray a scary beast or what she claims to be a demon. Her younger days are not left out.

There was even a time she told us that she saw a demon and he promised to come for her when she was older. That statement caused her doctors and priests in charge of healing her assumed psychosis to be paranoid at her strangeness.

My mom organized a protective prayer with a foreign priest over her little angel. But it did not work. She kept on insisting on seeing dark-winged men with horns the size of an elephant tusk.

Sometimes, I'm afraid of what she says. Visions of hell, a tea party with a demon, a demonic invisible friend...? She scares us every day. To the point, my dad distanced himself from Iris throughout his entire time on Earth. He never wants to see her. Not because he hated her or something...but her words and the way she behaved sometimes as a child is frightening.

Till now, Iris has never made any decent friends so far. She only talks to her demons which has brought great concern to everyone. Even the members of the royal court are freaked out by her.

But I'll never depart from my sister regardless of what she does. I believe that one way or the other, people tend to show some explicit and disturbing behaviors. But hers has me worried all the time.

"Yes. Isn't it beautiful?" She picked up the paper and showed me. I gave her a little smile, more like a forced one.

"Yes. Yes, it is."

.

.

.

After staring at the cloudy moon for what felt like an eternity, I silently walked down the large corridors of the castle.

"My princess," The sudden voice of the royal wizard made me pause and sent cold, tingling sparks down my back. He leaned lazily on a massive pillar, and I was surprised that I went by him unnoticed. I curtsied, reluctantly, three times to fulfill the doctrines of the royal court.

He pushed himself into an upright position and moved closer to me. He came towards me with his staff, shaped like the head of a dangerous viper. I swallowed.

"Elys," I whispered in response.

"So, how is our little demon coping with knight training ?" He smiled.

Demon? Did he call Michael a demon?

"He is doing great." I lied.

He hissed as he moved closer to me. "Can I ask you something, princess? Like a simple but disturbing question?"

I remained silent, but my looks gave him the hint to go ahead.

"Hmm..." He began, "Demons are very dangerous and never to be trusted with anything. They are violent, aggressive, and quite dominating in nature. Even the angels in the heavens could not bear their nonsense. They decided to bind them to a special prison. A deserving confinement, and it's the only place they can be tamed.

If one demon is welcomed, others would follow and it would be catastrophic. Making it impossible to get rid of them. When that happens, How would you explain to the world that by letting a demon stay, you meant good?

Taming a beast from the pits of hell, and placing him in the military force of this beloved kingdom...how would you face them?" He tilted his head a little to the left as his disfigured face deceived me with its genuine concern.

"That is if he is truly a demon as you claim him to be," I answered, feeling regretful for stopping to hear whatever silliness he had to say.

The dirty look of false concern vanished. He is a beautiful candidate for being referred to as a demon.

"He is a demon." He argued.

I rolled my eyes at his false accusations.

"My demon. He is my demon Elys so stop pestering him!"

Elys chuckled as he came closer, "I am just trying to protect all of you, my princess. Truth be told, the eye god himself is not happy about us welcoming negative energy into our home. He wants me to get rid of it before that thing gets rid of us first."

I frowned, the eye god sent Elys to get rid of Michael?

"How are you, even so, sure that he is a demon?"

"I know a rat when I smell one."

I should have slept in Iris's room rather than have this conversation with this man. I don't know why he is so obsessed with slaying demons and sending them back to where they truly belong.

I sighed. "Well, this rat is off-limits. And you are not allowed to touch or send him anywhere. You must not cast your voodoos on him or any sort of witchcraft, am I clear?"

"You can't stop me from doing the right thing princess."

"The right thing? Do you call stigmatizing and spreading false rumors about a person the right thing to do? Are you not ashamed of yourself, Elys?

Leave. That. Boy. Alone."

Elys shook his head, " I can't. He must be eliminated. Demons aren't worth all the privileges you're giving him! You are feeding a monster and he would grow only to stab you all in the back as its way of saying thank you!"

"That's enough. Please, I have had just enough. If you wish to get rid of Michael, then you would have to go through me." I said and walked away.

I should be very careful with Elys and get him as far away from Gorgeous as possible.