Chapter 32 : The Darkness Devours

All appeared to be normal within the confines of the demon capital. most went about their business normally during the early hours of the day and disappeared to their homes at sundown to rest. Through the eyes of the average man, one would see nothing but mundanity, but that is not what Onvyr saw. The city was in chaos. Members of Clan Ash'ai were searching the city day and night ever since Adam left. Secretly interrogating the populace and manipulating their way into their homes. The only places left unsoiled by their presence were the palace and the holds of other big clans.

Onvyr looked out of his window and sighed, too tired to deal with both Sariel and whatever disaster was sure to be brewing in the north where Adam carried out his penance quest. He had been monitoring the Ash'ai clan since they started combing the city, but he and his clan steered clear of them for the most part. He knew Sariel to be cruel and vindictive but not a fool or traitor. If the matter was serious enough, he would bring it to the demon lord or to the great clans as a whole, even if it meant damaging his own image.

The thought of reaching out to Sariel first had crossed his mind, but the situation was dire enough as it is, adding even more problems to the pile was unappealing. Adam was at large, and the idea of him going rogue for whatever reason was a terrifying one. Onvyr knew that he had no reason to, but he did not know what Adam would find in the mist city or how said findings would change his perception of things. Onvye theorized a lot about what lay beyond the fog, he even considered going there by himself at one point, but his duties kept him from doing so.

He was too distracted going over the upcoming dangers with himself that he missed the footsteps approaching his door, and only realized that someone was there when they knocked.

"come in."

Onvyr thought that the door was going to open to reveal his guard accompanied by someone from the Dra'ig clan or a messenger from the demon lord coming with news of Adam's penance quest, but he was surprisingly mistaken. Sariel appeared from beyond the door, he had a tired look on his face, one he clearly tried to conceal behind a fabricated visage of calmness and professionalism.

He walked into the room, his footsteps lacking their usual weight and conviction. It was odd enough to make Onvyr question the real identity of the demon standing in front of him, but he acted no less courteously than he would usually do.

"greetings Sariel, what brings you here—"

"stop patronizing me Onvyr, you might be weak but you certainly aren't stupid, I assume you noticed my people combing the city already."

Onvyr noticed how tired Sariel was the minute he opened his mouth. He was known as one who would remain calm and proper even in the face of certain death, allowing nothing to break through his ice-cold exterior, yet there he was, clearly showing weakness in front of a demon he regarded as a nuisance at best and a sworn enemy at worst.

"I…I require your assistance. As you can see, the situation is dire enough for me to come to you. Uzan is missing, I believe he escaped outside the city."

His request was rather mild, Onvyr thought. He already knew that Uzan would stab his father in the back eventually, even without the whole Adam incident. Sariel was a menace to everyone, but especially to those he has high expectations for. This however could be dealt with by the Ash'ai clan alone and it would certainly not explain why he was so distraught.

"this does not seem like something that would warrant my help, but I will dispatch some of my soldiers to help search for—"

"that's not why I need your help…in all your years in this world have you ever encountered any form of talking darkness? I know it sounds absurd but the things I've experienced in the past few days…I simply cannot explain."

Sariel grabbed Onvyr's full attention with those words. He sensed no lies nor mockery in them, they were as genuine as they are interesting.

"tell me what happened, and spare no details."

Sariel took a deep breath and closed his eyes, reliving the past few days and the nightmare they brought.

"it started when I was in my office four days ago, after speaking with Uzan…"

Sariel combed through a mountain of paper. Documents, complaints, and business letters covered his desk, each one more important than the last, yet none of it captured his attention for the words of Uzan would not leave him be.

What does it all mean…true king? Did he meet someone else in that forest?

Yet another question added to the pile, as unanswerable and nonsocial as all the others he had since meeting Uzan earlier that day, and just like the others before it, that question fascinated him to no end. They demanded to be answered, and he could no longer resist their siren call.

I need to speak with Uzan again, that fool might've stumbled on a human superweapon or an ancient forbidden spell that scrambled his mind.

The excuses he told himself were utterly laughable by his own standards, but he couldn't care any less at that moment. The insatiable drive for knowledge eclipsed everything else at that moment.

But as he stood and made his way to the door, a fast and violent series of knocks came from behind it. surprised, he opened the door with his magic ready to use but the person on the other side was the furthest thing away from a threat. It was a maid on her knees, her body shaking under her blood-stained garb.

The sight was unusual for Sariel, even servants of the Ash'ai clan were meticulously selected and trained to serve with efficiency and grace, and even though they wield brooms for most of their lives, they are also skilled in combat and prepared to defend their master.

The maid stood up, brushing her blond her away from her face, leaving a trail of sweat and blood on her forehead. Her hands shook even harder than the rest of her body, and the blood on them paired with her distress told a grim story, one that Sariel was not anticipating today.

"s-s-sir, I apologize for m-my appearance, but we have an emergency that requires your personal input."

The maid tried to hide her fear and anxiety behind a frail mask of confidence, something all Ash'ai clan members are expected to do, but her disguise was unconvincing. Her voice broke apart with every word and her eyes shook after when she managed to restrain her body.

"I-I…Master Uzan has escaped his chamber somehow, a-and he left something there…you need to see it."

Sariel's eyes were wide open, he expected Uzan to attempt an escape once his two days were up but not this early and not this way. The blood was normal but the maid's reaction was not, Uzan has killed servants by accident before, yet not once have they reacted this way before.

Onvyr was disgusted while listening to the story, so much so that his face warped to reflect how he felt. He made no effort to hide his emotions from Sariel who quickly picked up on the tension.

"I know it may appear…cruel, but such discipline is why demon kind persisted for as long as it has. We, the strong, must set an example of strength that the future generations can follow."

The explanation he gave failed to convince Onvyr, but the very fact that he bothered to give it at all was a sign of just how weak his defenses were at the moment, and how desperate he truly was for help.

"needless loss of life has nothing to do with why the demon race continues to prevail, and even if it was I'd still defy such a barbaric notion. Let's get back on track, we both know the rules, a clan's internal rules are their business, so what did you find in Uzan's room?"

Sariel took a deep breath and the cursed room of Uzan manifested in front of him. It was bloody, warm, and dark. Faint screams of pain and pleas for mercy could be heard as he stepped inside, and from the darkness appeared the body of another maid, mangled and disfigured beyond recognition, laying on Uzan's bed.

Her body was more damaged than any other he had seen, yet she still wailed and cried in pain, asking for death and mercy yet unable to move or free herself from that torturous life.

Guards and other maids surrounded her but only looked on in shock and spoke amongst themselves in muffled voices until they noticed Sariel standing behind them.

"w-why have you not healed her yet you fools?"

There was a hint of fear and panic in his voice. He attempted to hide it under a layer of fabricated anger but it was obvious to all in the room with him, because even he couldn't make himself believe that a person with such wounds could still live, let alone speak or be healed. The maid should by all means be dead, but she was not.

One of the demons standing around the body raised his hand, a meek young one with a fearful expression only halfway hidden by his black hair.

"I'm the healer master Sariel, I tried healing her b-but she…I…I can't explain, please observe."

The healer cast a spell on her, one that Sariel quickly recognized as a rudimentary yet authentic healing spell, but the maid's wounds did not close. The light of his magic washed over her, but it only increased her already intense pain. She screamed, begging for them to stop.

The sight sent shivers down Sariel's spine, yet he hid it much better than his subordinates who all quacked in their boots and wiped the cold sweat off of their foreheads.

"this…is impossible, what manner of magic is this?"

Those words were not meant to come out of Sariel's lips, but he was so shocked that even his private thought managed to sneak out of his mouth. But as much of a taboo as it was to show weakness in front of subordinates, he did not care. The impossible sight in front of him acted as a loudspeaker, one that amplified Uzans words. The words he came to dread.

"is this the work of the true king?"

"did you say something sir?" one of the guards asked.

Realizing he was speaking out loud, Sariel reeled himself back, steadying his resolve and focusing on maintaining the mask of confidence and leadership that was on the edge of crumbling.

"I-I said to give her peace already, kill her, or do you want me to do it myself?"

The guard exchanged a fearful look with the others before replying in a timid voice.

"I-I can't…"

"are you disobeying a direct order?"

The guard shook as Sariel shot a terrifying glare his way.

"n-no sir, it's just…we already tried."

The guard slowly nudged the maid's head, his hand shaking as he approached her eyeless face, and with one weak push, he removed the head from the body, leaving Sariel speechless. Her body lay motionless as her decapitated head begged for mercy, still asking to be put out of its misery as it was still perfectly attached.

"I decapitated her when healing didn't work, but…but she just wouldn't die."

The horrifying and unexplainable sight was the last straw needed to break Sariel's mask. He took a step back, sweat dripping down his face and fear nestling comfortably in his chest. It was no mistaking it, he could no longer lie to himself or others. Sariel was afraid. He was afraid of the horror show unfolding in front of him, afraid of the monster his son has become, and afraid that Uzan was right about him being nothing but a rooster ruling over a chicken coop.

"g-go tell everyone to drop whatever assignments they have and focus on finding Uzan, scour the capital, and call reinforcements from Inati city to conduct searches outside…finding and killing him is now priority number one, AND BY THE GREAT SPIRITS WILL SOMEONE OPEN THE WINDOWS OR CASTE SOME LIGHTING MAGIC."

Sariel could almost hear the darkness whispering in his ears, mocking him for his foolishness and weakness. Taunting him and tormenting him without saying a word or lifting a finger, but no one moved a muscle to follow his orders.

"master…look carefully at the windows, they are wide open. It was the first thing we did when we got here. it shouldn't be dark out yet but no light is coming from them, I-I do not what to do, even our torches and candles release no light even though they are on."

A careful look at his surroundings confirmed to Sariel that the guard spoke true, the windows were open ajar and the candles were well lit, but no light came from them, the only source was from the door he left slightly open when he walked in, but just as Sariel tried to walk back and fully open it to let more light in, the guard handed him a folded scrap of paper large enough to be a letter.

"you should probably have this master, we found it on the bed next to the…body, we did not dare read it."

Sariel unfolded it and a puzzled look adorned his face as he read through the contents. The lettering could be described as the scribbles of a madman and it appeared to be written in multiple different languages, all foreign to his except the very last sentence which was written in the common tongue.

"the debt of the fathers will be paid by the sons?"

The moment he uttered those words light flooded the room from all sides. He raised his head in surprise, expecting to see the relieved faces of his subordinates, but all he was met with were cold, expressionless corpses.

Onvyr had a horrified look on his face, his eyes were opened wide and sweat ran down his wrinkled face, an almost perfect match to Sariel. Many Ideas ran through his head, he thought of ancient spells and weapons, warnings from the clans long gone that were considered madness at the time, and even the ramblings of religious fools who lived a thousand years ago looking for any explanation that would fit, but he found none.

"p-perhaps it was a very potent illusion spell, there was one demon capable of inducing such delusions long ago, but she was a special case, even for the time of the war."

Sariel shook his head, immediately throwing Onvyr's only theory out of the window.

"I know what I saw Onvyr, it was real. those bodies were alive, they spoke to me, but once the light came in…they were cold, there wasn't even a single sign of life in them. That's not the only issue either, I have been…hearing things. the darkness, it's speaking to me. I can't understand it but…I think it wants to make me a deal."

Onvyr was in shock but he remained calm, looking Sariel in his weary eyes and trying to keep the conversation from stagnating.

"what kind of deal?"

"I don't know, but I think it's the same deal it made my son…here, I need you to keep this, decipher it if you can. You know where to find me if you think of anything, I need to go aid in the search effort."

Sariel handed him a copy of the scrap of paper he found in Uzan's room and walked away, ignoring Onvyr's pleas from him to stop and leaving him alone with himself and the darkness cast by his shadow.