Memories of a Million Faces

"I have about 10 minutes, guy-with-a-bloody-bat, for you to tell me what's going on," Eris warned him, "or you're going to die." 

The man, his jeans stained with blood, his white shirt freshly painted, and even his skin was bleeding without any open wounds, snarled at her. 

"The bitch won't let me have my son!" He screamed out, pointing the bat at the two behind Eris like an extension of his arm. 

Eris looked back over her shoulder again at the woman and the child. "It doesn't seem like you're wanted?" She turned to face the two humans cowering, "perhaps we can let the child make the decision." Her voice was as calm as she could make it; it was hard pretending to be a hero, and surprisingly more excruciating than she anticipated. 

The demon, who was anything but one in the moment, walked over to the two before squatting down next to them, placing a hand upon the mother's back to comfort her. 

Her actions were making herself sick to her stomach, but she had to do what needed to be done. 

She would've killed no questions asked had they been on Earth. 

"Why won't you let him see his son?" 

The woman was wearing a blue, older era dress, similar to the 40's era on Earth. Her hair was tied into a messy, black bun, and she had dark circles under her eyes to match. Though her beauty was heavily corrupted by the damage the metal bat had caused her. 

The left side of her head was brutally smashed in, and it was obvious she could no longer talk, even if she wanted to. She was barely hanging on, but she was forcing herself to stay conscious, perhaps even alive and focusing only on protecting the small child who couldn't have been more than 5. 

Eris then turned her attention to the boy who was completely unscathed thanks to his motherly meat-shield. He was barefoot, but otherwise dressed better than his mother. He had black hair to match, but was wearing blue overalls with a purple shirt underneath. 

Though, despite what was going on, and the way his mother looked, he was unfazed. Was he this traumatized by his life that this was considered normal? 

Against the mother's silent protests, Eris ripped the boy from her arms, picking him up and placing him upon her hip as she turned to face the man once more. "Since his mother can't speak, perhaps the boy can?" She then ran her fingers through the boy's hair to tussle it, finally getting a quick giggle out of him. "Would you like to go back to your father?" She asked him. 

The young boy, with large, soft green eyes looked at Eris, his pupils studying her features. The horns, the red eyes, her almost angelic skin; something he had never witnessed either and he was fascinated. "Well?" She asked him again. 

The young boy brought his hands up to his face as he began to nibble on his nails, while shaking his head no simultaneously. 

Eris turned back to face the man as he scowled at them, "looks like he made his decision," she informed him. 

"Are you dumb!?" The man screamed at her, "is it not obvious to you!?" 

Eris was taken aback, obvious? "What do you mean?" she questioned him cautiously. 

"My son loves his mother very much, as do I," the man began, dropping the bat to the ground with a melody of metal singing out upon impact while he dropped to his knees simultaneously. He knew she wasn't a human, so he had no choice but to give up. His wife was one thing, but whoever this SSS was, was a different story. The man sighed loudly, as if the next words out of his mouth would be that he surrenders. "My name is Phillip Tarvey, and my son is Fero." Phillip then leaned to the side to catch a sideways glance at his keeled over wife. "And that's Minerva; my wife of 15 years." His once raging face had calmed, and his voice softened, while his green eyes stared at Fero, his son. 

"Ok?" Eris shrugged her shoulders as she continued to hold Fero upon her hip like an auntie. 

"But that's not my wife," he snapped, pointing his finger at the bashed woman behind Eris. "That's my wife's impostor!" 

Impostor? Eris thought to herself. 

Minerva's innocent laugh started to chime into their conversation, interrupting them as both of them turned to face her. She began to rise to her feet, turning to face them when she straightened herself out; her head already healed from being hit. "For a demon, you're a bit dense." She hissed at Eris, though her voice was slowly getting deeper. 

As Phillip and Eris watched her, the rank she was assigned turned from D to S, while her body began to change into something that was far from who Minerva was; proven further by the fact that Phillip winced and Fero began to whimper. 

Blood began to pool around her feet as she laughed maniacally; her skin falling to her feet as her bones crunched and cracked as her height began to increase from 5 foot to something over 6. 

Her features began to grow all around, and as Eris watched on in horrific fascination, Minerva placed a hand over the center of her face, before ripping it off with a spray of blood as if it were only a mask. 

Phillip was right; the woman before him wasn't his wife. Minerva was a man whom had no good will for either Fero or his father. 

As the man shook his limbs free of the remaining gore that was dripping down his body, his naked body fully exposed, he began to explain to them what was going on; like he was some mastermind that had his evil plan spoiled. 

"I'm surprised you couldn't tell what I was, demon, because even if you are considered just a myth here, the memories of a million faces have shown me some type of hint that you are real. And every snippet has shown demons to have a brain of some sort; looks like that's the only myth part about you, no?"