[46.4] Astra POV: Trapped Prey

[Author's note: This is back to Astra's point of view]

I slowly opened my eyes and was immediately alerted awake. I sat up in a panic not recognizing my surroundings.

I've been caught!

A human caught me!!!

Now I'm going to die!!!

Before I started to panic too much, I quickly realized that something wasn't quite right.

I sat in the middle of a poorly made magic circle that would never function since it was so badly done.

I looked over and saw a small boy looking at me with wide eyes.

I frowned, "...Um. Who are you?"

The boy retorted, "I don't give my name to a sacrifice."

I pinched my eyebrows together in confusion and looked down to see a singular drop of blood on the circle. I burst into laughter, "Please don't tell me you're trying necromancy."

He flushed in embarrassment, "A-And what if I am?!"

I shook my head, "This is probably the worst magic circle I've ever seen."

…And that includes Zephyr's.

"W-Well! This is my first time!"

I raised an eyebrow, "And where did you learn this?"

He pursed his lips, "I… I didn't learn it. I'm just guessing."

I looked closer at the magic circle, "Let me guess… You took a normal magic circle and put a drop of blood on it?"

He nodded proudly, "That's right."

I let out a chuckle, "That would never work. Necromancy is a different type of magic. It doesn't use the same magic circles."

He flushed a deeper red, "A-And how do you know?!"

"Because I'm a demon. Duh."

He clicked his tongue, "Tsk. So?"

I shook my head in exasperation, "Little boys like you shouldn't be doing this."

"I'm not a little boy! I'm 12!!!" He paused and gave me a judgemental look, "Plus, you don't look much older than me."

I ignored him, "Don't you know that you and your entire family could receive capital punishment for playing around with necromancy?"

He smiled maliciously, "That's what I'm hoping for."

This kid seems a bit unhinged.

I hummed and tilted my head.

Is it just me, or is this kid not afraid of me at all?

If he's interested in necromancy, does that mean he doesn't think demons are evil?

Is he a demon sympathizer?

The corner of my lips twitched into a smile, "So what were you trying to achieve?"

"Hm? Oh." He stood up and shouted passionately, "I am searching for immortality!!"

I felt a sour taste in my mouth and grimaced, "There's nothing great about being immortal. You never age and you'll never fit in as a result."

He crossed his arms, "That seems fine to me. I don't want to age. Plus, I already don't fit in. That's nothing different."

I stared at him closely.

I felt an irritation growing inside of me.

How dare he say this!

Does he not realize how horrible that would actually be?!

Every day I am stuck as a child and had to watch as my TWIN got to grow up! Yet, my body never did!!!

I can't even fully transform into a fox!

I am perpetually stuck in this form.

I just want to grow up…

I want to have a life like Zephyr…

But I can't.

So who is this kid to want the thing I hate the most?!

A sudden, malicious thought sprang into my head.

An ominous smile crawled across my face, "If you want it so badly, I can give you immortality."

His face lit up, "You can?!"

I nodded smugly, "That's right. However, we would have to sign a contract for it to work. Would you be willing?"

He nodded quickly, "I'm willing! I'm willing!"

Dumb boy.

He's not even asking about the details!!!

"Okay. Then all you have to do is let me into your mind without fighting."

"Done!"

I rolled my eyes and closed them to focus. My eyes reopened, revealing a bright red color. Smoke around me gathered and traveled to his head.

He let me inside without effort.

I entered his mind looking around and found him standing in the middle of an art museum.

Eh? Isn't this mama's art museum? This is his happy place?

I looked at him critically, "Why is this your happy place?"

He blushed and averted his eyes shyly, "T-This is the first place that accepted me… I kinda like it."

I shrugged it off and spoke. "Let's get down to business. I will grant you immortality and in return, I ask that you protect me."

He raised an eyebrow, "Protect you?"

I nodded, "That's right. I'm a demon who is prone to passing out in a deep sleep due to my condition. I need you to hide me away and feed me so I don't get caught by the humans and tortured."

He thought about this, "That should be fine. My stupid family forces me to stay in the dorms and no one ever checks in on me. I can easily hide you in my room without getting caught."

That would explain why he's so unbalanced.

"Perfect."

I went over to a painting that seemed to glow vibrantly and created a brush from the air with a malicious smile. I raised my arm and started to engrave my name onto that image.

He collapsed and screamed in agony, "AHHH! STOP!! STOP! IT HURTS!!!"

I ignored his cries and completed my birth name:

Astraeus.

He looked at the name in disbelief, "What… What did you do…"

I laughed hysterically, "It's a slave contract! Congratulations! You're now my slave!"

His face paled as he realized the trouble he was in, "W-Why…"

I walked over to him with a frustrated look, "Because you're an idiot and I needed help. But don't worry… I will hold up my end of the bargain."

I bent down and summoned up the resentment around me.

I pointed to his forehead, "I curse you to live forever in the body of a child so that you too shall know my pain!"

Now you'll know how awful it is to not be able to grow up!

You won't ever find love!

You won't ever have children!

You'll be stuck like this for all of eternity just like me!

The smoke filled with resentment shot out of my finger and stabbed into his forehead. He fell down and screamed from the crushing pain of the curse.