Demonborn Ch. 01

  "I think so. I've spent a bit of time in the forests surrounding my home."

  "Good. Then make haste."

  I was practically shoved out the door with a list the ingredients she wanted. "Now hurry back. I'll tell you what I know once you do." She called out to me as I was leaving. I made my way through the countryside, looking high and low for the ingredients she wanted.

  The first was a small flower that she said grew amongst the grass. It had small yellow petals and grew in small clusters. They where easy enough to find, since the yellow stood out from the rest of the green and brown colored plants. The second were some mushrooms, black and brown in color, they grew on the forest floor, and took me hours to locate. It was poisonous in nature, and so she recommended that I avoid touching them. I used a couple sticks to place them into the bag. The last was a plant, whose fronds where used in medicine. It was difficult, but I eventually found everything the witch wanted.

  By the time I made my way back to the witches cottage, it was dark. I knocked on her door.

  The witch answered, "Yes?".

  "It's me, Sebastian. I'm back."

  "Oh, good, come in."

  I walked into her cottage, and closed the door behind me.

  The witch called out, "Just set the ingredients on the table and come into the back."

  I did as she asked and went where I heard her voice emanate from. It was a small kitchen with a bubbling pot of stew cooking over a fire.

  The witch smiled and spoke in that melodious voice of hers. "You looked to be nothing but skin and bones, so I thought we had better eat before we talk."

  I was mesmerized. I could barely remember the last time I smelled something so delicious.

  "Well don't just stand their gawking, grab some bowls and spoons from the cupboard."

  I quickly did as she asked, and we sat down to eat. I inhaled bowl after bowl of the stew, meanwhile she didn't touch hers. She seemed fascinated with me, and watched me eat until I started to feel tired.

  That was when she started asking me questions. "So how long has the church suspected that I am a witch?"

  My mind was muddled. I couldn't think straight. Yet, somehow, I answered her, without thinking. "What?"

  Stood abruptly and grabbed her staff. "Don't play the fool, it won't do you any good. How long has the church known?"

  "Don't know. Not with the church."

  "Lying is just as fruitless. No one except demon hunters, paladins, and clerics would want to learn about demons. If you are not with the church, then you're with the demon hunters, which is almost as bad.

  "Not demon hunters."

  The witch breathes a sigh of relief, and set her staff on the table. "Then what possible business could you have with me?"

  "Father was a demon. Church found out."

  "And you thought it wise to lead them here?!"

  "No choice."

  The witch thought for a moment, then sighed. "Well, I would be a fool to ignore this opportunity, and I can't have you leading them to me. I am sorry for this, but it will be much more humane than whatever the church has in store for you. Consider it a kindness."

  I lost consciousness after that.

The Demon

  I woke up in a small room. My room, except everything was blurred, and gray. I reached out to touch my bedpost, but my hand passed through it like water. I went through my door, but outside of the room was nothing but a swirling void. I was instantly assaulted by every horrible memory in my life, before I darted back into the illusory bedroom.

   "Quite the fright isn't it.", a voice broke the silence. A man with my face, and red eyes, dressed in a suit of black metal armor, and a longsword, stood before me.

  "Who are you?"

  "Don't play the fool, you know who and what I am, and you must certainly know what this place is. Now what have you gotten us into?"

  "I don't know what you are talking about. Again, who are you?"

  "You, well part of you, though it might be a part that you never thought you had."

  "You are my demon half?"

  The man sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, "Yes, I am your demon half. Your inner demon, if you will."

  "So where are we? This is my bedroom, or at least it looks like my bedroom."

  "It's not. we are in your subconscious mind. That damnable witch drugged you, most likely that stew you ate. Now you're here. great work."

  "How was I supposed to know? You certainly weren't much help. What are you doing here anyway?"

  "It's not my responsibility to clean up after your mess. It's difficult enough to appear to you like this, and don't even bring up the dream warnings. I've been doing my damnedest to make sure you stay alive, and you seem to insist on trying to kill yourself."

  "Again, how was I supposed to know? In case you weren't aware, I'm a little new to being a demon."

  "Well then let this be your first lesson: Beware of free gifts. They're rarely gifts, and they're never free."

  "My foolishness aside, how do we get out of this?"

  The demon chuckled, "We? This is all you my friend."

  "Well since you are in my head, I imagine it's actually our problem, unless you have some clever way of getting out of this mess."

  "And what exactly do you think I should do? Unfortunately for you, we are stuck here."

  I start to get exasperated, "Look, there has to be a way out of this. Why don't you start by explaining what is happening."

  The demon took a seat on my bed, "Fine. Your soul is being subjugated by that witch. Soon, your power will be hers, and you will be left a mindless husk."

  "How is she going to subjugate my soul? Can I try to resist her?"

  "Not unless you've been secretly training lately, no. You've already mostly given up. This is one of the last bastions in your mind. Once this goes, poof, you're done."

  "So my subconscious is resisting?"

  "Yes, we are. You and I are the last vestiges of your soul."

  I thought for a moment, until I heard crack in the wooden roof of my room.

  "Ah, that's the witch, she seems to have found this place."

  "Wait, you said I already mostly gave up. Is that because I'm unconscious?"

  "Yes, why?"

  "How would you subjugate someone who was already awake? It can be done, right?"

  "Of course. Most demons aren't quite so foolish as yourself. It requires you to resist the opponent with all of your might. You will be tempted to give in, to let go, let the opponent have their way of things. You'll be shown the wonderful things that will come if you give in, and the death and destruction that comes with resistance. If you manage to keep up your active defiance, then you can resist."

  "And that's it? I just have to refuse whatever she offers me?"

  "Yes and no. Demons will often take a more active roll, trying to tempt their opponent, even when they are being tempted themselves."

  "So why don't we do that."

  "In order to be successful, we would need to know what would tempt her, and I didn't have the time to read her mind and learn her deepest desires, did you?"

  "No, but she is connected to my mind, isn't she? Is there must be some way to do the reverse? Can I somehow look into her mind. Maybe find what could tempt her?"

  A grin appeared on the demon's face, revealing a pair of protruding canine teeth. "You just might be able to."

  "You already knew that didn't you." I said flatly.

  "Maybe, but it's so much more interesting for me to see what I have to work with. Notwithstanding the earlier foolishness, I'm impressed. But know this, once you decide to do this, we won't be able to speak again until you are free of her."

  "Why?"

  "In order for you to escape and find a way into her mind, I will have to distract her."

  I nodded, "Is there anything else you need to tell me before we do this?"

  "Just trust your instincts, and when you are free, find a way to perform the ritual of awakening. This witch might know it, but otherwise, you'll need to do some research. I won't be able to speak to you outside of this place until then."

  "Thank you. I'll do just that."

  "Don't lose." and with that, he disappeared, as did my room.

A Meeting of Minds

  I was alone, and exposed to the tremendous horror of the witches powers. I wanted to curl up and die, but I knew that if I did that, my fate would be far worse than death. I pushed forward and made my way through the horrible place. I pushed past horrible memories, morphed into the worst nightmare my diseased mind could conjure. I finally saw the bridge that the witch was using to take my soul. I started walking, but the bridge lengthened, and wind seemed to push against me, hampering my progress. I tried my hardest, but it seemed hopeless. I was making no progress.

  No. I can't give up now. I pushed forward again, and I put all of my might into it. Then I realized, that I didn't need to walk, I just needed to get to the other side. I was in my mind after all. I lifted off of the ground, and forced myself through the headwinds. With that surge of power, I was able to make headway. I continued pushing, and slowly, the winds abated and I made it to the other side.

  Her head was a maze of memories, closed doors, desires, and strangely, a familiar presence. She had a demon as her patron. He didn't seem to have a strong hold on her, but it was enough that she was beholden to him for her powers. I looked around and tried to get an idea of what kind of person she was. The name Morgan popped into my head almost immediately. She was old, but had maintained her physical youth, and beauty through various rituals. She was powerful too. Even without her patron, she was a competent magic user. She only took her patron after she found that she couldn't save her mother with her own magic. It didn't work, which was a sticking point for her. Her mother was the only family she had, and since then, she had been alone. Memories of Mother came to me, unbidden. Once again I was assaulted by the desire to just give up. I steeled myself. Mother had told me to live well, and I wouldn't ignore her last wish so easily.

  I continued investigating her memories. Memories of her being hounded by the church, of giving aid to the poor villagers she lived with. Every memory this woman had was her alone. Sometimes someone was there, but none stayed. Even her patron was largely absent, expecting her to keep up her end of the bargain and to not bother him. A little bit of investigation showed that the past decades of her life that were tainted with the incredible sorrow that loneliness cultivated.

  I knew what I had to do. I pushed out my will, what was left of it, and added my voice to the cacophony of her own voice telling her to not be alone. I planted the seed of an idea, that she would still feel alone if all she had of me was a husk. The best ideas are the ones that were already there. It turned out that she had thought of this, but decided that she would be willing to risk it. I reinforced the idea that it wouldn't work. I gave her the idea that she would be all alone forever, if her first instinct when meeting someone was how to best to exploit them. I impressed upon her how innocent I was, how I had trusted her. Her mind was strong, but each of my mental attacks were right on target. She wasn't an evil person, and the more she was confronted with what she was doing, the more she began to question herself. I then planted one last idea. She had to have seen that I had just lost my mother. Could she really do this to one who would be a kindred spirit.

  With that, Morgan stopped what she was doing, I had to wake up before she steeled her resolve again. It didn't take her long, but it was long enough for the potion to wear off. I was awake, though most of my soul was still scattered from the witch's hasty retreat. I stood up clumsily and rushed over to grab her staff from the table.

  She was quite shocked to see me awake so soon. "You are quite crafty, not nearly the innocent boy who walked in just a few hours ago."

  "I have a lot of learning to do it seems."

  Morgan had the remnants of tears on her face. "Was it all a lie, everything I saw?"

  "You tell me."

  She wiped her face, "Well, like it or not, I can't have you leaving here with what you know."

  With that, we returned to our mental battle. Without her staff, Morgan couldn't fight me physically, and I couldn't stop focusing on keeping her out of my mind and fight her at the same time. The fight came down to two opposing ideas. She attacked my will to live, saying that this could all be over, that she knew how hard my life was, that quest was a waste of time, that I should just let go. I, meanwhile, focused on the one thing that truly ate at her soul, loneliness. I could feel her slowly losing ground, and I kept up the pressure.

  Morgan's mind gave way and she collapsed on the ground in defeat. I took a moment to collect myself. I still felt a bit hollow, but the pieces of my soul that she had been ripping out, started to fit back into their vessel. I stood there, unsure of what to do next. I thought about killing her. I really did. Every time I thought about what she would've done to me, I felt more and more justified in killing her. And then I thought about her words. I really had no idea what the church did to people like me and her, other than just kill us.

  I knelt down in front of Morgan. "You said that what you were doing was a kindness. What does the church do with witches and demons, other than kill them?"

  "Questions them, tortures them, and then burns them." She mumbled.

  I knew about the burning. You hear about that sort of thing happening. I guess not having anything to do with that world made me numb to it. But torture?

  "Why?"

  She hung her head and wept. "Just kill me and be done with it."

  The more I thought about it, the less sure I was. Yes, she would have killed me or worse, but could I really blame her? Wouldn't I have done the same to a stranger if he could expose my secret? I had thought to kill Father Augustine, and all he ever did was be a bastard, at least as far as I knew. No, she didn't deserve death, but just like her, I couldn't let her go with what she knew about me. The question then was, how do I prevent her from revealing my secret without killing her. The answer alluded me, until I thought of the presence I felt in her. The demon she had made a pact with. Without even giving a thought to how that worked, the words left my mouth.

  "Give yourself to me."

  She raised her tear stained face, eyes wide. "What?"

  "I said, give yourself to me!"

  She bowed her head again, "I can't, my soul is already given to another. He will not release me, and you can't destroy him."

  I knelt down in front of her. "Morgan, I may not be able to destroy him, but I was inside your mind. I saw the demon's hold on you, and it is tenuous at best. I may not be as powerful as he is, perhaps not even enough to break his hold on you, but I can tell you this. If this does work, I won't abandon you. If you promise to keep our pact, you will never be alone."

  Morgan thought for a moment, then nodded.

  I delved into her mind, and found the ties that bound her to the demon. The demon snarled as she and I tried to break his hold. She put everything she had and more into it. We must have spent hours like this, biting and tearing at the cords like rabid dogs. Eventually, one broke. That was followed by another, and another. Finally, the last cord broke, and Morgan screamed as the last vestiges of her demonic patron were banished from her soul. She was barely conscious, but with her final words before sleeping, she said, "I give myself to you."

  I felt a strange energy and I too fell into a deep sleep.