Chapter 28: The Elf Society Pt. 5

"My liege!" Nuala yelled, sliding a chain out and swinging it around. "What have you done to her!" She yelled at Theriault, rushing the throne.

"I'm over it," Theriault said as his scythe swung out of nowhere, knocking her out of the air, and sending her flying into the ground hard enough to crack it.

"Seriously, if any of you take another step I'll kill your queen," Theriault warned, the scythe floating behind the queen with its sharp blade pressed against her throat, causing all of the elves to stop in their tracks.

After being knocked on the ground by Theriault's scythe, Nuala was now standing up straight, glaring at the young boy who stood over her, looking down at her with an intimidating smirk, "What's wrong? Embarrassed?" He asked, his eyes shining as the elf gritted her teeth.

"Everyone stand down, this is going to be a peaceful meeting, take your seats..." Queen Imra said, keeping her composure even with the blade pressed so closely to her neck, one slight move would slit her throat open.

Nuala glared at Theriault with a murderous look, "Do you realize how many people I will kill if you hurt her?" She glared back at him as she took a small breath, looking back at Hunter and Shen Yi.

"Not intimidating when you're on your knees in front of me like this... Like your queen was not too long ago," Theriault smirked wildly as the elves gasped, looking at him with enraged expressions as the queen blushed slightly.

"Leave it, he's taunting you all, take seats... Now!"

The warriors reluctantly obeyed their queen, sitting at the long table in the middle of the room, their eyes still on Theriault as he walked over to Shen Yi and Hunter.

"How was it? Seems you guys got stronger..." Theriault said, his eyes drifting to the slave mark on Hunter. Choosing to ignore it, however, he slashed his hand through their shackles, freeing them.

"I don't think we can trust anything they say," Theriault muttered, turning around and walking back toward Queen Imra as the two of them followed him.

When Theriault turned around again, it was with a cocky smile as he watched the table of elves. "So friends, what do you think? We destroy their entire civilization... Or help them with their problem."

Theriault's words caused the elves to tense up. "What problem!?" Princess Thelassia yelled as she burst through the grand doors, her face puffy and her voice shot as if she'd been yelling for a while.

"Nice of you to join us, take a seat," Theriault said as he sat on the queens throne, gesturing toward the table.

"You think I'll sit below you? You aren't even a fraction of my age you-"

"Sit down!" Queen Imra yelled angrily, standing next to the throne. She could feel her control slipping from her civilization, and she wasn't going to stand for that... Even though she quite literally stood next to Theriault.

"Yeah fuck their problem," Hunter said, scowling at the elves and showing his slave mark. "They tried making me a slave, who knows what this mark can do!" Hunter yelled, his anger slipping and fire bursting from his mouth toward Theriault.

Theriault closed his eyes, the heat washing over him as the small beam of flame hit the cushion on the throne next to his head.

"Huh... You should probably keep calm yeah?" He suggested, smiling as he looked over at the elves.

"The problem my dear companions... Is demons," Theriault revealed, smirking wildly as the elves in the room looked at their queen, shocked.

"You see... Elves don't just keep their males in control because of some silly war, no no, it's much more than that... It almost makes it worse actually..."

Theriault looked around the room before continuing, "For thousands of years they've had a demon inside of them." As he spoke, his eyes drifted to his queen, "And every queen in the tribe since the end of the war has been hiding it..."

The elves sat there frozen in shock. "D-Demons?" Thelassia said, her eyes wide as she looked at her mother.

"Elves, when affected with enough worldly energy, have the capacity to be demons, it's why we give all males a slave mark, this blocks that out..."

"And you kept this from us? You and every queen before you kept this a secret!?" Thelassia shouted.

"We thought it would be easier that way..." Her mother answered calmly, watching her daughter with worried eyes.

"Well, it was not! If we were told about these monsters, we might have been able to fight them off," She continued to yell at her mother, enraged that such important information had been kept a secret.

"What about us? How come we haven't become demons!?" Thelassia continued, not waiting for Queen Imram to speak up.

"It only affects the royal bloodline, and it's around 100 times less possible for females because of the differences in our genetic codes... With males, it's basically ensured, a 95% chance at the very least..."

Theriault sat there, smiling amusedly at the elves as Hunter and Shen Yi looked at him in shock.

"Demons are real too?" Shen Yi asked the revelation seeming obvious, but totally unexpected at the same time.

"I feel like you don't listen, yes demons are real... They're so real... We have one in the room with us," That's when Theriault smiled widely and looked at the arguing Thelassia and Imram.

Thelassia stopped talking however after he said this, looking between him and her mother in shock. "You?... You're a demon?" She said in horror, a look of disgust on her face as she stepped back.

"I... am no demon my dear..." Queen Imram said softly, looking at Theriault with pure hatred.

Thelassia widened her eyes. "Wait... No..." Her heart dropped. If her mother wasn't the demon Theriault was pointing out then...

Queen Imram stepped forward, grabbing her daughter by the shoulders. "You must not let it overtake your mind, stay yourself, my dear."

It was only then that Thelassia realize her body was beginning to change. For nearly seven centuries she'd stayed as a 16-year-old, seeing her body change for the first time since puberty was utterly mind-breaking.

"I- I don't believe it, there's just no way..." Thelassia's skin gained a reddish hue to it as she grew taller, her muscles filling in and her vision splitting different ways, but somehow it was like she could see even better than before.

The elves stood from their seats in horror, raising their weapons and pointing them at the new beast in their presence.

"And behold..." Theriault said, holding his hands wide. "A demon."

***

Thelassia glared at Theriault, not believing what he'd said.

"I'm not a demon!"

"Oh, you're not?" Theriault asked with an amused smile as he took a step back, waving his hands and emphasizing her changed form. "You're the queen of this kingdom now. A queen of the demons... But if you aren't a demon then..."

Theriault watched with amusement as Thelassia's face changed, a look of surprise and something else... Greed.

"Queen?" She repeated questioningly, looking at her mother and seeing the queen's eyes avert.

'Is it possible? I may not ever be the queen of elves... But am I the queen of... demons?' Thelassia smiled, surprising her mother as she lashed out, grabbing the queen and flinging her across the room.

"I..." Thelassia said as her mother slammed into the walls with a sickening thud, blood spraying and covering the wall. "Could get used to this strength."

"Holy shit!" Hunter said, widening his eyes as he looked at the bloody stain on the wall that used to be the queen.

"Well, I asked you two what we should do?" Theriault said again, not even looking at the elves attacking Thelassia, he knew exactly how it would go.

Elves were simply in the first stage of their evolution, a being behind could never hope to get ahead. It was simply the law of nature...

Thelassia squashed one elf's head with a swift punch, blood splashing on her grinning white teeth, staining them as she flashed to the next elf and grabbed her by the head, slamming her into the table with a disgusting crunch.

"That's three," Theriault said with a smirk, turning around to watch the other elves attack Thelassia.

"Three?" Shen Yi questioned, feeling sick to her stomach as she looked at the sight.

"Yes, three," Theriault said, smiling as he watched Thelassia swing her arm wildly, snapping another elf's body in half.

"Princess!" Nuala screamed, stopping the battle simply with her voice. "This isn't you! Remember what your mother said, don't lose yourself!"

Thelassia looked down at Nuala, now the size of a full-grown woman. "Lose... Myself?" She said, a sad look in her eyes as she stepped toward the elf.

"That won't work on demons... They have no remorse, no compassion, just power," Theriault said as Thelassia lashed out at Nuala, barely missing the experienced elf.

"You knew, didn't you? Oh Nuala, the queens' adviser, you had to have known!" Thelassia screamed, rushing Nuala again.

Nuala dodged and kicked off the ground, jumping over the table with a serious look on her face. "Of course," She said matter of factly, not stopping and jumping a few feet away.

Thelassia gritted her teeth, flashing to the spot Nuala was in and hitting her to the side.

Nuala let out a whelp as she slammed into the ground and rolled into the wall, blood streaming from her head as she got up holding her right arm.

"Damn, I let my guard down... It's been a while since I've fought a demon," The old elf said, smiling just a bit as she let a few knives fly toward Thelassia, who swiped them out of the air and rushed the older elf again, this time aiming for a killing blow.

"Hunter, Shen Yi... Do we help the elves or allow Thelassia to raise the demons?" Theriault asked, looking at his companions as Thelassia rushed Nuala again.

Hunter hesitated, he could still feel the throb of his slave mark... But was it right to hold a grudge against the elves... And would demons be any better to have in the world?

Shen Yi was thinking the same. Yes the elves sucked, but that didn't mean she wanted demons roaming around...

"Help the elves," They said in unison just as Thelassia reached Nuala.

*Creak*

Air pressure condensed around where Thelassia had punched. Instead of Nuala on the other end of that deadly fist, it was a black handle of a scythe, steam coming off from where it had been struck.

"In that case, my crew and I agree to help the elves under the previous signed conditions of the last queen Imram!" Theriault said, smiling wildly as he held out his hand toward the scythe, his eyes glowing as Thelassia looked back at him. Her eyes locking with his.

The tension in the room rose as the two stared each other down, neither one moving until finally Thelassia turned and rushed toward Theriault, running on all fours and covering the full distance of the room in just a second.

That was too much time for Theriault.

The pale boy flashed behind her and grabbed the demon by the hair, slamming its head into the table and sending its uncoordinated body to the ground.

"You just made a dreadful mistake little demon..."