First Encounter With The Demons III

One thing every resident of Eos should know about demons is that they thrive in darkness. Doesn't matter if it's the darkness of the night sky or the shadow of a door, they will find power in the absence of light.

My first impression of this piece of information was not the best. You see in Eos, a place where Gods and mortals roam alike, the Gods play an active role in the state of things; such is the situation between Adriam and Lyndell.

So why do Gods of the night and darkness feed the demons power? What goal does it play? What purpose does it serve; serve them?

My question went unanswered as my father isn't the scholarly type. He only knows about fighting, surviving, war… and battle.

'And some more fighting'

However I do have a small theory. The demons did not just spawn out of nowhere, they came from Typhon, the last son of Gaea with Tartarus. Tartarus is the deepest and darkest area in Hades' realm, the underworld. Thus, I guess it is only fair they are stronger in dark areas.

'Well who knows? Not me, and certainly not a father taking his son to hunt a vampire demon…DURING THE NIGHT!'

"Watch your step Eli, if you crunch the twigs it might hear you. BHAHAHAHAH"

Stopping my foot an inch from the ground, I looked under it trying to avoid the twigs only to find nothing there.

Muffled laughs reached my ears as the seven and a half foot giant hunched over and tried to stop himself from laughing. Even the tuft of feathers atop my shoulders marking herself as a target with white antlers was giggling to herself; well hooting is more accurate, mockingly hooting.

"HA HA real funny. How about we just focus on…"

-CRUNCH

[You till stepped on something? You really are du… I mean, Uhm, don't look so shocked its okay to make mista…]

[Eset]

[Don't interrupt, I mean let me speak. People make mistakes and it…]

[Eset! Hush]

With a very tame voice I tried to get her attention again, but she seemed hard pressed to finish her sentence.

[That's it! I have been trying to be nice, but you won't even let me finish. So what! What's are you dying to say!]

With my eyes still wide open trying to unravel the veil of the night hiding all of the forest with its blanket, I turned my neck slowly to my feathery friend, afraid I would miss anything.

[It wasn't me Eset]

[What? That's what you interrupted me to say? What does that even.. Oh]

'oh indeed'

Father materialized his axe its blade roaring with the lightning element. His beard coursed with small currents of energy snaking around, and a red poisonous aura enveloped his forearms extending all the way to his hands.

"What we are hunting Eli is a vampire species called ghoul. It's very low on the hierarchy of vampires, practically a slave… A slave is, well you're too young to know this, but just know that they're at the bottom of the rung."

The bloodthirsty lunatic kept explaining about the ghoul as I tracked its dark figure shifting around. It would sprint from one tree's back to another, its mad red eyes remained fixed on our position intently.

"Ready Eset?"

[Ready.]

"Ready old man?"

"…"

"Dad?"

Figures, that's why the ghoul dared to keep on trying to hunt us. It was not intimidated by my father's aura and magic presence because he's in stealth. Even though I was near him and I could hear him a second ago, he's nowhere to be found.

'Great, just great'

I twirled my staff a few times trying to intimidate it when it got close.

Each time it would closen the distance between us, like helicopter blades my staff would twirl in defense, closing any gaps it found.

Eset, like a true caster only stood there waiting for a chance to use her magic. To her defense she did help out once, teleporting the ghoul forcibly when it caught me off guard one time.

It was a stalemate, without any of us capitalizing on a chance, we would be stuck in this cycle until one of us runs out of stamina; ghouls are undead they don't tire.

'I have to bait him'

After another round of zooming around, I knew the ghoul will try to strike again. I did not turn to him this time nor did I take a defensive posture.

[Elias, what are you doing?]

It paused for briefly a moment before charging right at me, the moonlight illuminating its long flesh torn arms and loose jaw filled with razor sharp teeth.

'Gotcha'

As it inched closer, long and sharp obsidian nails elongated and tore through the air looking to sink into the back of my neck.

[ELIAS!]

Predicting its position, I raised the staff upwards still holding it with two arms and lifted my right leg. With one swift motion, I drove my leg powerfully towards the ground and crossed my arms parallelly then stretched out my right hand towards the demonic creature sending out a cross staff strike straight to its head.

-CRAACK

I broke its neck. Its head hung loosely from its shoulders and some bones pushed through the skin. The strike obliterated its nose, broke many of its teeth and nearly popped out its eye balls out its socket. The ghoul clapped its hands on its caved face and struggled to keep its balance.

Despite all of the damage I caused, I knew that it was still alive. Those menacing swirls glaring at me gave it away.

As it staggered back I called out to Eset to complete my plan.

"ESET SWITCH"

A small crack in the air transferred me behind the ghoul and propelled a small rock to my position. Deciding to end the fight as quickly as I can, I stored the staff in the ring and took out the hatchet.

Taking out the hatchet from its holster on my waist, I sent a large chunk of Aeter to my hand and the hatchet empowering them both.

"URUZ {П}"

Brown vein-like lines webbed across the blade and pulsed with Aeter and power. To build more strength behind the strike, I jumped up into the air and twisted my body sending a devastating blow towards its neck, nearly decapitating it if not for the faintest strand of flesh keeping the head attached.

Now that the ghoul was stationary, I could finally see its whole body as I stood over it.

It had a dark grey colored skin with long hair thick as needles and a bat like visage. Its long arms and legs had tiny black blades slanted upwards.

'How disgusting. I thought something as ugly as you would have been stronger..'

Heaving a sigh, I put my hands on my hips in a relaxed manner and called out to my father.

"Can you come out now old man? I'm done, I want to sleep"

"..."

Getting no reply, I was just about to call him again before Eset's loud voice rang in my mind.

[ELIAS!]