Spiritual, Not Celibate

The scent of blood was thick in the air. Above the panicked yelling of the civilians, an animalistic roar ripped through the city, followed by the sound of wood splintering. Amber light spilled out from a temple, followed by a behemoth of a creature.

It was a demon, with cobalt skin and a midnight blue mane. A light blue film swirled around it for a moment, before sinking into the hair. As soon as the light was absorbed, the strands began to wriggle and writhe. The creature's dark eyes flashed, before it let out another guttural roar. It was naked, but lacked genitalia, with a large stomach hanging over its groin.

Several civilians began to latch their windows or peer out through their doors, before quickly slamming them shut again. Being the middle of the night, the cacophony echoed to the outskirts of the town. A few armored night watch guards began to rush forward, drawing blades or readying spears, screaming at the townspeople to stay inside. The creature dwarfed them easily, its body rippling with power.

The hair moved, before twisting together and spiraling into one of the nearest guards. It impaled them through the chest, coming out crimson through their shoulders. Before they could even scream, their spear clattered to the ground and the light drained from their eyes. The demon growled and pulled on the hair, dragging the body toward him. Once he had hold of the body, he ripped off their breeches and started to gnaw on their thigh.

As it tore into the flesh, it didn't take notice of its own leg. A puddle of water formed around its ankle, before twisting into a more rope like shape. It began to spiral around the calf and knee, the blood from the thigh dripping onto it.

It began to strip the body of the guard further, trying to expose more flesh to sink its teeth into.

The guards began to move into a circle around the demon, keeping their blades and pointed ends of their weapons aimed at it. Although they tried to keep clear of the hair that was wriggling around on the floor.

A flint sparked, before a pipe was lit. For a split second, a woman's face was visible as she put the stem of the pipe in her mouth. She was on the roof of the shop next to the church. Her ebony hair pulled back into a tail, a tricorn hat on her head. Her dark eyes narrowed as she pulled out a revolver.

"Don't get too close," She grumbled to the guards, but not loud enough for them to hear. Holding up the revolver, she lined up the sights and set her jaw, holding the stem of the pipe tightly between her teeth. Her chest rose and fell at a slower and slower rate as she took aim.

There was a loud BANG as the revolver kicked back. A lead bullet ripped through the air, spiraling and whipping past a guard. A red hole appeared in the shoulder of a demon, before a black sludge began to leak out of it.

The demon stopped and looked at the wound, before looking around at the guards, crimson leaking from its lips and teeth. Growling, it threw the body to the ground and began to scuff its foot at the ground, preparing to charge. When it tried to move its right leg, the water rope went taut. It let out a guttural noise of confusion, before howling.

Black liquid spurted as the demon's thigh was ripped open. The water fell limp on the ground, quickly drying up.

The guards began to look around wildly.

"What was that?"

"Was that some sort of magic?"

"Are there more?"

"Relax!" The woman on the roof yelled, taking aim again. "Don't move."

The demon's eyes fell on her, and it dropped on all fours. Its long nails dug into the earth as it prepared to jump.

BANG.

This time, the demon's eye exploded and it was thrown onto its back, injured leg kicking in the air as it attempted to right itself. As it scrambled and struggled to get to its feet, the hair moving and stabbing into the ground. Dirt and dust kicked up as it finally managed to spring back up, sweat trickling down its chest and stomach.

"If you'd be so kind as to clear a path," A male's voice clipped as a robed figure walked toward the circle. In the dim amber light, it was easy to see his pointed ears and long braid of pitch black hair. He moved with purpose, weaving his way through the guards and standing an arms width away from the demon.

It growled and looked at the newcomer, easily towering over him by two or three heads, easily triple his width.

Without a word, the man dropped his robe, showing his naked upper body. Like many elves, he was slender, with a wiry build. But it was like a coil being pushed down, ready to spring. As he held up his fists, a rope of water began to wrap around his palm.

"You would do best to make sure those occupying nearby homes are moved somewhere safe," He said softly. His voice carried, seeming to entrance all those around him.

The demon lunged, unimpressed.

He moved quickly, whipping the water in front of him. It wrapped around the demon's wrist. WIth a quick dash, he moved to flank the demon, twisting the arm around its back. Pulling the rope taut, he pressed a boot at the back of the demon's weakened leg, pushing it to the ground.

"You're not welcome here," He said calmly, his face stone as the demon struggled against his grip. Sweat formed on his upper lip, his arms trembling. "We have cut off your way in or out of this realm." His eyes flicked to the busted temple roof, where a silver light started to shine through. "My companion is making sure none of your comrades will come to your aid."

BOOM. A white flash made him flinch as he leaned backward. A large bullet ripped through the creature's jaw. Sludge poured from the now open maw, spilling onto its chest and stomach. The water went slack, giving the demon time to turn around.

Straightening his arm, the man dropped the water to the ground. With his still damp arm, he ran his fingers over his abdomen and chest. The sweat and the water mixed, forming another rope around his wrist. Throwing his arm forward, he whipped the rope into the gaping maw of the creature.

The demon gagged, its body shuddering as its hair began to move. It went needle straight, before lancing forward at the man. He pulled the whip, black sludge spurting over his front in the process. Wincing, he shook his arms and started to scrape it off with his fingers, narrowly avoiding the hair as it stabbed at him. His feet moved with rhythm and practice, kicking up more dust and dirt.

Rushing forward, he pulled back a fist and slammed it into the demon's throat, before shoving the heel of his palm into the bridge of its nose.

Small red lines opened up on his forearms as the hair scraped and slashed at him. Readying a kick, he brought his heel down on top of the creature's foot.

BANG. BOOM.

A hole opened up in the demon's forehead, just as another opened up on its bicep, spinning it around with the impact. It stepped on its weak leg and howled, before falling to the ground. The hair moved to try and stand it up again, but started to slip on the sea of sludge.

"You're only going to stop us for now." The creature snarled, before vomiting up more black sludge. As the light hit it, he saw sparks of blue in it. Several runes began to appear on his body as the skin started to crack open.

"Death curse!" The elf shouted, jumping back and picking up his robe.

Blue filled his vision as pain became the world.

~

"Ark!" The voice ripped through her concentration. The power she was channeling faltered, nearly going into its direction, but she managed to hold it at the last second. The last sliver of power went into the web she had woven, before covering the circle she was standing on.

Clapping her hands together, she let the power fall to the ground, black smoke circling around the edges as several hands and limbs tried to claw their way out of it.

A blinding silver light burst forth. She held her arm over her eyes and quickly pulled it down once the power faded. Screams filled her ears, making her hair stand on end. Swallowing hard, she licked her dry lips and picked up her staff from a pew.

Panting, she tucked a loose strand of silver hair behind her ear and looked around. There were several dead bodies of parishioners of the temple, in various states of decay and mutilation. A chill ran through her as the silence of death filled the air.

At the doors of the temple, a figure in a green cloak stood, the hood pulled up to obscure their face. She held onto a rifle, the barrel of it still smoking. The leather of her gloves strained as she kept a tight grip on the butt, making sure to not go near the trigger.

"What is it?" Ark went to step forward, but her legs nearly gave out. Her staff slammed against the ground loudly. The impact was able to keep her standing, even if it jarred her arms. Panting, she tried to control her ragged breathing and placed a hand on her chest .

"It's Amandeaus." The figure turned on her heel, the cape of her cloak billowing out behind her. "He got hit!"

"You're kidding," Ark managed to keep herself upright as she staggered after the flitting form of her comrade. Before she could ask anymore questions, the doors closed behind the runner. Swallowing hard, she closed her eyes and forced herself to stay upright. Trying to not stagger, Ark followed behind, using her shoulder to push the door open.

The overwhelming scent of brimstone and burning hit her nose. Holding her hand over her nose, Ark moved toward the odor.

She saw the green cloak kneeling over a blood heap on the ground in a mess of hair and sludge. She held a knife in her hand, slashing at any strands that tried to get near the two of them.

Walking over to the fallen form, Ark drew in a sharp breath as she looked at the result of the backlash. Her feet crunched on bone as she walked over to him.

Kneeling, she placed a hand on his bloody chest. His body was still warm, but life was fading fast. Closing her eyes, she tried to tap into the last fumes of her power. Her breathing had slowed, and she felt the weight of her body slipping away.

The last bits of light visible in the outside world vanished. She felt no pain, only an exhaustion. Slowly, she stood up in the room full of darkness. When she let out a breath, she could see it in front of her. Rubbing her arms, she swallowed hard. Gingerly, she held out her arms in front of her, fanning out her fingers. Small sparks of light came from her fingers. The light rippled through the air, before becoming absorbed by the darkness.

Then, she saw a small orb of light, maybe the size of a pebble. It floated in front of her, a small tingling of warmth coming from it. It flew over to her, bobbing up and down. Slowly, it perched on her fingertips like a bird on a branch.

The light from her fingertips began to sink into the orb. It began to morph and shift into a more humanoid shape. Darkness began to recede as the light from the orb became stronger. Ark let out a sigh of relief and felt herself falling back.

She was catapulted into her own body. Amadeus gasped to life in front of her, sitting back up and placing a hand to his chest. Their eyes met and he quickly looked away from her, cheeks flushing. She realized that his hand was over hers and quickly dropped it to her side.

"Let's get you back into the inn," She said softly, before looking at the woman approaching them.

"You get it closed?" She asked Ark, taking a few puffs of her pipe and looking down at Amadeus. "Idiot. You should have stayed back."

"Yeah," Ark nodded and slowly got to her feet, leaning on her staff for support.

"The temple was a mess," The cloaked figure pulled her hood tighter around her face as more people began to peek out of their homes around the guard. "I saw the bodies... There were so many..." Shuddering, she looked toward the smoking woman. "I can't carry him and my rifle."

Ark swallowed and shivered, barely able to stay upright. "I can't carry him either, I'm about to pass out from exhaustion."

Rolling her eyes, the smoking woman slipped Amadeus's arm over her shoulder. Being the tallest of the females, she stood a head above Ark, and a hand width below Amadeus. "Keep up, then, the sun's gonna rise soon, and I want to be in bed by the time it's up."

Slipping her hand around his waist, she supported Amadeus and herself and kept them moving. Ark looked at the cloaked girl, and they both nodded at one another and began to tag along behind her.

The inn wasn't too far away, with the dawn starting to break when they approached it. The cloaked girl rushed forward and pushed the door open to allow the duo to pass, and bowed her head to Ark as she hobbled past.

"I'm going to go talk to the owner," She slipped the cloak's hood off and shook out her blonde hair, combing it with her fingers. "Let him know that the demon problem has been taken care of."

"Alright, Aeri," Ark nodded and sniffed the air as the scent of bread and meat filled the air. "Looks like you'll catch the breakfast too." She passed by the bar of the tavern, picking up a bottle of wine and leaving behind a silver piece in its place, before following the smoking woman up the stairs.

They walked into their room, pulling Amadeus onto his bedroll. Ark checked his pulse and breathing, which were stable. He mumbled with pain and looked back and forth between them, before pulling his blood robe around himself.

"I can't heal him just yet," Ark said softly, uncorking the wine with her teeth. "Most of my power was tapped out when I shut the portal." Licking her lips, she swallowed a few drops of liquid that had splashed out of the neck of the bottle.

"Is he going to die?" The woman sat on her haunches, emptying out the ashes of her pipe and putting it in her bag.

"No, he's going to sleep for a while. Once I have enough power, I'm going to make sure he's all fixed up." Ark picked up a rag and poured the wine onto it, placing it on his open wounds. His face twisted in pain and he hissed, his back arching. "I'm sorry, I know it hurts, but it'll keep you from getting an infection from them." She looked toward the woman. "You can go to bed, Winters. I'll take it from here."

Winters nodded and turned on her heel, going through a door that connected their rooms. "I'll be sleeping. Only wake me up if he's about to die."

"Understood." Ark held up a hand and waved, not taking her eyes off Amadeus, who was shivering with pain and exhaustion. She poured some of the wine into his mouth and held his jaw and nose closed until he swallowed. "You need to rest for a little bit."

He mumbled incoherently, his head falling back against the bed roll. Ark placed a hand on his forehead, glad that he didn't have a fever. Standing up, she wiped her forehead and looked down at her dirt and blood covered clothes.

"I'll be back once I get cleaned up," She promised, before standing up and shuffling out of the room. "Rest for now."

~

His eyes slowly opened as sunlight streamed in. A groan escaped his lips as his head pounded. Rolling over, he clicked his mouth shut and pulled himself into a sitting position. Closing his eyes, he listened, hearing the all too familiar sound of Winters asleep in the next room over, her snores coming under the door.

Slowly, he got to his feet and felt pain shooting through him. Panting hard, he prepared himself to take a few steps forward. The taste of wine was still in his mouth, nearly making him retch. Normally, wine would be no issue for him, but on an empty stomach it wasn't the best thing.

The scent of food hit his nose when he was in the hall. His stomach lurched, and he stumbled over to the room he knew Ark was staying in. When he tried the door, he found it locked. Placing an ear to the door, he was met with silence. His head slowly turned to look at the small enclosed shrine at the end of the hall.

Perhaps she was praying. He knew that she often would speak of her ancestors being connected to beings in the stars. He thought it would be better to leave her be. If she wasn't passed out at the bar again.

He heard laughter. Turning around, he pressed himself against the door. Two men passed him, wearing robes from the bathhouse, their hair still wet. They took one look at him and gave him a wide berth, wrinkling their noses at him. Slowly, he looked down at his attire. It was covered with blood, sludge, and dirt. Beings above knew what else.

Limping back to his room, he made sure it was locked and managed to drag himself to the bath house. He would still smell the soaps and perfumes they had placed in the water. Opening the door, he entered the filter room, where he would remove his clothes and scrape off most of the offending dirt.

He nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw a wrinkled person sitting next to a bucket. His muscles went taut as he realized that he was about to strike them. Slowly, he got off the balls of his feet and bowed his head, before stripping out of his clothes and passing them over to the launderer.

The man upturned his nose at the smell, but began to wet the attire and add herbs and soap. Amadeus went to a bucket and began to scrub at his skin, the grime coming off. Closing his eyes, he took in a deep breath to center himself. The pain had mostly ebbed away, but he was still sore.

Dipping the rag into the bucket, he cleaned it the best he could. Once he was as clean as he could be, he took a towel and wound it around his waist.

The bath was meant to be communal, but was empty during the day. Steam came off the still warm water, obscuring his vision. Several dishes with shampoo and soap were set up, having recently been refilled. His skin prickled at the sudden change in temperature, his nipples hardening. Walking over to the edge of the bath, he stuck his feet in and grabbed a bar of soap and rag.

Looking up, he saw ripples in the water, along with a shape moving through it. Shifting, Amadeus crossed his legs and set the soap on the ground next to him. Squinting, he saw another towel on the other side of the bath, along with a sudsy bar of soap and an empty shampoo dish.

Then, the shape burst through the water. Silver shimmered in the steam, before it was tossed back to reveal pale skin.

"Occupied!" Ark's voice made his grip on his towel tighten. He sat there, frozen, his heart a battering ram against his ribs. Despite the steam and his legs in the water, his mouth and lips felt dry. Twisting the towel between his fingers, he swallowed hard, trying to figure out something to say.

She put a hand over her breasts and waded over to her towel, picking it up and wrapping it around herself. Her cheeks were flushed as the towel clung to her plump frame, leaving very little to the imagination. Nervously, she licked her lips as her eyes narrowed.

"Amadeus?" She asked, pulling herself to sit up on the rim of the bath, showing her bare knees and calves.

"I'm sorry," His voice barely escaped past his lips. "I'll go." He started to stand.

"No. No." She held up a hand and squeezed the towel to her ample bust. "I'm sorry, I didn't know it was you." Her silver hair fell around her shoulders, hiding the majority of her breasts along with the towel. "I was almost done, anyway."

She turned to the dish and picked it up, revealing a bone white comb underneath it. With shaking hands, she began to run it through her hair. He then noticed the brown ribbon she tied her hair back with wrapped several times around her wrist.

"You still have that?" Amadeus chuckled, before looking at his reflection in the water. "I thought you would have replaced it a long time ago. The comb I mean, not the ribbon."

He ran his own shivering hand through his hair. Then, it dawned on him that he had forgotten to bring a comb of his own. Sighing, he slipped into the water and dunked his head under.