Azrael: The Bloodied Borough

Azrael considered telling Theresa to stop the moving metal, walk back to his cave, and live a life of solitary and seclusion; maybe even befriend the dragon in it. He was asking questions about his new world bnut he didn’t like one of the answers he received.

Serath had to stop the naggy old man with his incessant questioning before the question and answer session began, “Mr Gerund, please stop asking questions, at least for the duration of our trip back to the city. Mr Azrael might have questions of his own and it would be good to clear things up before arriving in it.”

He actually had a lot of questions so he immediately fired off one before the red-haired man could speak, “What is this thing we are riding on? We don’t have much in the way of transport back in Ost.”

“This is an energy carriage, invented and first introduced to this world by Mary The Innovator, which is Serath and Theresa’s guildmate in Fallen. People just used fast creatures as mount before this.” Elira answered as she tapped the leather seat they occupied.

They were sitting together in the backseat with Serath in the far right side and Elira in the middle.

Despite their earlier confrontation, he found solace in her presence as she seemed to be the only normal person out of his rescuers, even with her demonic appearance. Theresa scared the burning beaks out of him, Gerund was just all sorts of annoying, and Serath was just… Serath.

“It’s quite fast, but I don’t see its purpose if we could just use teleportation points.”

The black metal looked cool but it couldn’t beat the convenience of instant travel. However, no one answered him this time and when he looked around, 3 pairs of eyes were staring at him.

Gerund was the one who confirmed his doubts, “There are only a handful teleportation points in Lochley, are they common in Ost?”

He guessed as much when he saw their reactions on his cloak and dimensional cracks but he wanted to confirm it, “Uhh… yes? They’re our main mode of transport. How do you guys travel to faraway places?”

“With airships. Let me guess, you guys don’t have one.”

Elira seemed smug about these ‘airships’; they have ships back in Ost but those usually goes into the sea. He decided to ignore her and just ask another question.

“Who is the strongest person in this world?” He was quite curious about the individuals in this world as he could feel that Serath was strong and Theresa was all sorts of dangerous. He received different answers from his companions.

“Raea.” Gerund and Theresa spoke the same name to his question.

“Theresa.” Serath answered differently; he was surprised by his reply as he could feel that he is more powerful than the blindfolded woman.

“Lyria.” Elira had a different answer too but she seemed as surprised as him at Serath’s answer.

Theresa just laughed at Serath’s answer.

“Oh, don’t listen to Serath, he's just afraid of me. There’s really no way to tell but the public considers Raea The Mother of the World, and Lyria The Indomitable Sword as the two strongest individuals in this continent alone. As for other continents, they have different individuals that are as strong as the two I mentioned before.”

Azrael considered asking more but decided he’ll do his own research on the topic later. He decided to ask about the warring affairs of the world next, “Oh, are any of the continents in war?”

Theresa was the one to answer him again,“You’re in Meshiere continent, and all you need to know right now is that it has been in a state of peace for a long time. There were some minor civil wars in its cities and some incursions but nothing big.”

The blindfolded woman seemed to suddenly become friendlier after he showed the collection of books. Azrael was surprised about the collection himself, as he hadn’t sorted out through the items inside his trusted cloak. Nevan was the one who prepared the items inside as he was busy in self-pity about the impending exile.

“So, demons and humans live peacefully with each other in this world?”

Azrael asked his next question carefully; he didn’t want to offend the demon again. His gaze wandered on the demon’s pointed horns; it looked pretty dangerous and pondered if she sharpens them every day.

Elira seemed to be expecting his question and just answered with nonchalance, “Demons are humans. The Great Territorial War ended more than a thousand year ago where every humans and part-humans settled their differences.”

“Part-humans?” Azrael was surprised about the existence of other races aside from demons.

Elira raised an eyebrow at him, “How come you know about demons but not the others? Their bloodline came from the same source, just different aesthetics. There are the drakes, dwarves, elves, avians, and other half-beast blessings.”

“Avians?”

Azrael’s back straightened at that. He had enough of giant birds and living in the same city as them would be quite a blow to his sanity. He was sure that one of the bird creatures would be the end of him.

Elira’s eyebrow heightened even further, quite amused at his pale face, “Yes, they have a human body but they have down feathers for hair and feathered wings and tails on their back; this gives them the ability to fly. They have the same hands and feet as humans, but with retractable claws for nails.”

Azrael heaved a sigh of relief at her description, “They don’t have beaks do they? They sound more like an angel to me; minus the claw and tail part.”

The demon was the one with a confused face this time, “What in the Lochley’s name is an angel?”

Serath answered Elira’s question while giving him a curious look,“They are beings of the higher plane and are quite powerful. I’m surprised Mr Azrael knows of them”

“Oh... I actually haven’t seen one, just heard about them in stories.”

They didn’t answer his question about beaks, he was quite worried about that.

The rest of the ride was filled with more mundane questions like food, currency, ruling powers, and laws. He was surprised at the civilization of this world where culture, belief, governance, and technology thrived -- so unlike his constant warring world.

He also asked about how they knew he arrived in this world and from their answer, he figured that he had been hibernating for around 3 weeks in this world’s time.

It was already dark when they arrived at the city. Towering dark walls loomed before them as they entered the city gates; he wondered what they would look like in the light of day. Tall poles with glowing orbs lined the streets of the city and they shined light on the red pavement as they made their way through the inner parts of the city.

They dropped off the demon and the red haired man in a tall building; Elira said before leaving that she would meet him here in the morn of morrow for the agreed tour of the city. Azrael tried to remember the way as Theresa drove the carriage in silence towards Serath’s residence.

It turned out to be a five floor building in the northern part of the city; with the first two floors as a tavern/restaurant.

Serath gave him the key for the whole of third floor and with a simple good night, headed directly to the fifth floor. Theresa seemed to have disappeared after they parked the carriage beside the building but he was too tired to care about it.

He woke up from hibernation because of his rescuer’s arrival and he only managed to recover a very small part of his life energy. From their conversation in the carriage, there was good order in the city and his life wouldn’t be in danger inside of it.

He just dropped straight to the bed, closed his eyes, and opened them again at the sound of knocking on wood.

Serath’s muted and polite voice followed the knock, “Mr Azrael, I thought I should wake you so you could prepare for the tour in the city as it’s already half-hour before the agreed time.”

Azrael slowly blinked at the sight of the unfamiliar wooden ceiling. It was lined by a ray of light that escaped the thick drapes covering the window of his room, illuminating the floating dust motes in its path.

He lazily sat up from the small wooden bed, staring around the sparsely decorated room. His line of sight stopped at the wooden door on the far left of his bed, staring at it and slowly processing everything in his sleep-addled mind.

Another polite knock had him scrambling from the bed. He hurriedly made his way to open the door and deep blue eyes, crinkled with amusement, greeted him on the other side.

“I’m sorry if I intruded on your floor, I tried knocking from the outside but you were not answering. Should we postpone your tour to a later date?” Serath sounded sincere in his first statement but the last one had a slight teasing tone to it.

His party didn’t miss the careful way he acted around the demon and Serath was probably amused at the possible reaction of Elira if she learned of postponing the arrangement.

Images of sharp black nails digging into his skin as Elira drags him out of Serath’s residence flashed in his mind so he hurriedly answered, “No! no… today is fine, where’s the washroom?”

He had to learn on how to operate the bath as it was quite different from his previous world; not that he prepares his own bath there. With a clean body and new set of clothes, they made their way to the meeting place by walking through the streets; it was early and he could finally observe the city in the light of day.

It lived up to its name as the streets and most buildings were painted in varying shades of red. Splashes of other colors can be seen here and there but the red dominated the different structures of the city.

Various humans and part-humans littered the streets, walking with fervour to start their day. He finally saw one of the avians and he hurriedly stuck close to Serath, trying to use the tall man as a shield to the bird woman coming from the opposite direction.

‘They looked more human than bird… and thankfully they don’t have beaks.”

Azrael curiously looked at the feathered human, who noticed his curious stare but just smiled kindly at him. He saw more of the feathered people and they seem to forego upper body clothes, with the females just wearing a kind of cloth to hide their chests. He was sure his face was red at all the exposed skins and he tried not to directly look at them.

Elira was leaning at the wall of the building, arms crossed in front of her chest, when she noticed their approach, “Good you’re not late. I’m trying to avoid someone so let’s leave immediately, will The Barrier Master grace us with his presence? And is Theresa here? Yesterday was enough surprises for me to last a whole month.”

Serath just smiled at her jibe, shook his head at her last question, and confirmed his assistance to the tour.

They went for breakfast first, as his last meal had been a tasteless soup and he completely forgot about dinner last night. Serath and Elira actually fought for the bill but the man won by distracting the demon with an inquiry about a man named William. The tour went on until dusk, in which Serath said his goodbyes; the remaining pair entered the Merc Hall for the processing of his papers.

The procedure went smoothly as having The Barrier Master as his reference person opened up a lot of avenues. They were about to leave when warning bells rang in Azrael’s mind, his Seer-Instinct warning him of possible danger.

“Hey Elira, thanks for the tour. You’re pretty cool for a demon but I want to be alone for a while.”

Azrael tried to act normally but Elira’s eyebrow and swishing tail were proof enough that she knew he was acting suspiciously.

“Geez, if anyone took your fancy here and you wanted to drag the lucky person back to your bed, you could just tell me.”

Elira announced with a loud and amused voice to the room that had several heads turning in their direction. The demon just laughed afterwards and with a wave of her hand and a light slap from her tail, left him alone in a room full of curious stares.

He wanted to run out of the building immediately, but that would defeat the purpose of separating with the demon. After waiting for a few minutes and fending off several advances, he decided it’s time to confront the danger.

A crying elven woman immediately latched onto him, crying hysterically about helping her child, muttering about being ignored by other mercenaries. He knew that this was the danger his instinct told him about, but he still wanted to help the woman.

He had met with nothing but goodwill upon arriving in this world, barring the creepy-faced tree, and he wanted to give something back.

Agreeing and trying for an awkward gesture of comfort, they made their way further south of the city to the direction of the slums. They turned to a narrow alleyway and it was in the middle of the street that his instinct suddenly flared that made him stop. The elven woman was no longer crying when she leapt away from him and a dwarf that came from one side of the houses blocked his path of escape.

He could have easily escaped; he could cut a thread of space and connect it to another thread outside the alleyway, forming an escape route... but he decided to fight.

He needed to fight. This was a lesson better learned early; that he might have met good people but not all people in this world were like them.

It was better this way; his first day had been like a good dream, but the back of his mind was telling him that he already died in the abyss. That this was his mind trying to escape its inevitable death. He needed the affirmation of being alive and the slap of reality in his face is just what he need.

That violence will follow him wherever he goes.

He was a prince, butwas also considered as a soldier. Every time his brother sent him out of the palace was to try and get him killed in some war front. He was not new to fighting, and so he fought.

The dwarven-elven pair was good; it showed that they were experienced in these type of battles. They had the advantage of an ambush but he had a few surprises of his own. His flawless control of gravity and space did surprise them and he managed to successfully herd the two together.

He successfully applied a strong pull on the area below the two of them and they dropped like insects. He quickly withdrew his bow to finish them off but a slight touch of energy from inside his Shadow made his blood run cold and freeze him in his tracks.

‘Why? Why is it here?!’

The hint of energy near the location of his bow, inside his Shadow, was something he never expected to see again -- nor did he want to. It was the item that made his brother send him to the abyss, for fear that he might be chosen by it.

His seer-instinct burned through his own being, snapping him back to reality. A flash of memory assaulted his mind; his own head flying off his shoulders and his body falling lifelessly to the ground.

It was a vision of his own death.

He quickly bent his knees and rolled to his left, preparing for the next attack that will surely come -- but it didn’t.

He snapped his head up and was dumbfounded at the display in front of him. It was like watching a puppet play; him as the audience and his enemies as the puppets here to entertain him.

His hidden assailant was an avian, with black wings and skin that hid his body in the shadow of the night. He was acting as if he had successful sliced the neck from his body and the dwarf and elf were doing the same.

He knew they were stuck in an illusion and his mind turned, trying to guess the identity of the puppeteer.

‘Theresa’

“Oops, you caught me.” A honeyed voice resounded throughout the alleyway that made the hairs on his skin stand up.

“Oh, what are you afraid of. It’s just me.”

Theresa was standing on the other side of the street and he had a nagging feeling she had always been there; even during the fight.

She was wearing a sleeveless long one piece dress that hugged her well-proportioned body. It was cut on one side starting from the waist and it showed her smooth leg whilst walking towards him; high heels clicking on the dirty pavement.

Her dress had varying shades of blue and violet, like the sky just before sunrise. The color stayed on one position in the dress as she moved, seemingly part of a background rather than part of a dress.

It was both weird and enchanting at the same time.

Parting her bangs to the side with a hand decorated by different colored bracelets; producing a melodic sound at the gesture, like a wind-chime caught by the whispering air. Her red hair reached up to her narrow waist, flowing freely that swayed with her hips; blood red lips, curved in a seductive smile that was directed at him.

However, the most notable thing her blindfold; different colored lines danced inside it as if they were alive.

He could feel his attraction towards the woman growing, it confused him as he had never been attracted to one before. Something passed by his mind, an idea that tried getting away from him, but something inside told him to grab a hold of it.

“Stop that!” Azrael shouted but his breathy voice and flushed skin contradicted his statement.

Theresa just bit her lower lip and continued with her seduction, “How do I look?”

Azrael was about to give up resisting when the burning desire in his body was suddenly snuffed out; like a fire losing its air.

“Good job, you’ve got quite an impressive willpower.”

Theresa still looked the same, but the feeling of attractiveness was no longer there; she was indeed beautiful, but he no longer had the feeling of worshiping her feet.

“What did you do that for!” Azrael was gasping for air, sweat flowed freely on his face flushed face.

Theresa just smiled at him, “Just wanted to distract you, confirm some things, and cheer you up but I guess I chose the wrong gender for it.” She paused and started to think about something, but continued a few breaths later, “How was your experience with The Bloodied Queen? Though, it was missing her eyes.”

Azrael frowned at her question, “The Bloodied Queen?”

Surprise was evident on her face despite the blindfold hiding her eyes, “Oh. I forgot. Most people in this world knows her and I usually use her appearance whenever I want something.” She paused, as if to emphasize her point and continued, “Why did you freeze in the middle of the battle?”

Her question reminded him of the object in his possession; he wanted to throw it away but he couldn't even touch the thing.

“Curious, I can’t see what it is. It should have surfaced in your mind but something is blocking me.” Theresa’s statement surprised him.

Azrael was quite annoyed at the breach of privacy. “Do you always read other people’s mind?”

“Yes.”

She answered so bluntly that he was speechless for a moment. Frustration bubbled up inside him, but strangely enough, he was no longer worried about the thing.

“Feeling better?” She was smiling at him genuinely now, "What do you want to do with your assailants?"

Azrael watched the ongoing "play"; he couldn't see the illusions but the horror on their faces were visible under the moonlight. Never had he seen so much fear in the eyes of a person.

"Ask them why did they attack me."

"They got an order from someone," She answered immediately, seemingly prepared for the question, "They don't know why as they seem to be just following orders."

Following orders: like him when he reported a location of village full of non-combatants that led to their massacre, like his lover when he pretended to be his friend so his brother could control him easily.

Despicable.

"Kill them."

Four corpses now decorated the street: the dwarf without a head, the elf with a mangled body, and the other two just laying on the ground lifelessly. He didn’t even know where the demon's body came from.

“So… how do you feel about Serath?” Theresa’s sudden question made him frown, not fully understanding her question.

“What?”

She seemed disappointed at his confusion, “Hmm, shame. I could have used you as bait.”

“I think... I should leave you here and just go my merry way. Thank you very much for saving me by the way.” He decided to ignore the woman and started walking away from the street. He did not want to get caught in an alleyway with four dead bodies in it.

However, the frustrating woman just followed his footsteps, continuing her previous statement.

“Wait, you could still help me. Serath is a prince, you’re a prince, why not be together?”

“What are you on about, stop suddenly matchmaking people!” Azrael quickened his footsteps, he was seriously considering spending life energy on blinking away but then stopped as he realized something.

"How did you know I was a prince?"

"Aha, so you are indeed a prince, that explains a lot of things. I knew you were lying when you said you were nobility but I didn't know if you were a rich merchant or royalty."

He cursed himself for slipping the information.

“Serath was devastated when June died and he never found someone again after that.” Theresa’s voice sounded so sad that it caught him off guard.

However, her following statement showed her true colors, “I can’t have Serath staying alone, he might get interested in Yomire again and I can’t have that.”

“I don’t even know who the fuck these people you keep going on about. Just leave me alone, I have more problems to deal with.” His patience was running thin and he chucked the woman as a lost cause. He was about to start walking again but her next question made him hesitate.

“You mean the object that you want to get rid off? How about we help you with that?”

“You can’t. Nobody can help me with this.”

"Yomire possessed several texts from Ost, it might have been old but it has enough information for me to conjure several possibilities on your situation."

"..."

He remained silent, figuring that the less he says the less chances of him revealing more to the woman.

"What you possess is something that can even block my perception and there are very few things that can do that," Theresa was unfazed by his silence and continued her conjecture. "Coincidentally there is one such things on the records we keep and I bet you are not supposed to have it."

He looked away, closed his eyes, and tried to hold himself together; knowing that her next statement might break him. He was sure it will be the same conclusion he got after finding that damnable thing inside his own space.

Theresa was quiet for a moment but despite his closed eyes, he knew she was watching him behind the piece of cloth that hid her eyes. Just when he thought she wouldn't continue, she started listing his deepest fears.

“You’re afraid that they will come for it. That they will follow you to this world and end you permanently. You fear for your new found freedom and you fear the fate that comes to whoever denies The Emperor of Ost...”

“Your world had abandoned you and your new one is about to be engulfed in the surging tides. You feel lost. You feel despair. You feel the unfairness of the Wesh. But you are not alone, you might have Fallen to the deepest abyss -- but you are never alone...”

“How would you like to join our guild?”

End of Chapter 9