Chapter 3:

Chasing moons

Stand and scratch the itch beyond your reach

Toil away the grime of man

Hanging on the wall by black nails that will not break

Discard your sins, Discard your skin

Etch your scar upon the dirt

Aidan huddled around the warmth of the roughly made campfire. Above the crackling flame, Talbareth shone brightly in the distance as a giant flame fervently ran across it. Though at first just patrolling, the torch-carrying men had lost all semblance of order quite a while ago, desperately chasing after their target.

Long enough ago that Aidan began to worry. She had chosen to distract the villagers to give Aidan a window to escape it.

Perhaps she’d need help after all.

Just as Aidan got up, the air around him changed.

“I told you to rest.”

A large bag landed in Aidan’s lap, sending him right back down.

“Ah, you made it back. I was getting worried that they got you.”

Aidan pushed off the bag to see several bolts stuck in it.

“It’s not the first time they’ve tried.”

Aidan looked up to see Alaya approach from the darkness.

It was the first time Aidan managed to get a good look at her.

Her long auburn hair that reached the upper half of her back covered the top half of her face while the obsidian black scarf covered the lower half. With so much of her face covered, only one of her eyes was still visible. It burned auburn, just as intense as her hair.

Even with her height being such that she towered over Aidan by at least two heads, her plain peasant clothing still looked a size too large for her, covering her from head to toe with even her hands not being able to poke out the wide, dangling cuffs of her beige shirt.

Tears and holes riddled her shirt, pants, leggings, and boots. The tears trailed downwards, indicating a knife inflicted them. The holes were the same size as the ones the bolts left in the bags.

After all those attacks, imagining what state her body was left in sent a shudder running through Aidan. He had always told himself that the people who hunted and tried to kill him were unhinged, that he had just been unlucky enough to be born in the one part of the world where people capable of such horrors existed.

Alaya was proof of the opposite.

Aidan was so preoccupied with these thoughts that he failed to stop himself from staring at her. The tall girl’s eyes narrowed, and she stepped back into the darkness.

“Just because I showed myself to you doesn’t mean you’re free to gawk.”

“Sorry, sorry.” Aidan quickly turned his eyes away from her. “I’m just glad you didn’t get hurt. I can turn around again if you want.”

Alaya sighed weakly and shook her head. She slowly stepped back into the light and sat down on the other side of the campfire. Resting right next to the fire, her entire form was lit up. She stood unflinching as embers flew dangerously close to her face, illuminating a pair of deep scars running down her cheeks.

“So.” Alaya’s voice was raspy. “What you said…before, about there being….”

“A demon?”

Alaya closed her eyes and sunk her head in her hands.

“I can’t believe I’m-Yeah, whatever, I want to hear about the thing you claim is terrorizing the people here. I want to make sure this thing is even real.”

Alaya’s words took Aidan by surprise. A feeling of a threat was woven into her words.

“And if you’re not convinced?”

Without a hint of hesitation, she answered.

“You won’t make it a single step further into Talbareth.”

Aidan’s facial expression twitched slightly. She didn’t trust him after all.

With barely subdued anger tainting his words, Aidan replied.

“Surely you realize I have a sword, right?” In the middle of Aidan’s sentence, Alaya reached for a pebble. “What do you think you can-”

Aidan didn’t get to finish his words as a sharp ear-splittingly sound flew right past his ear. The piercing sound was punctuated by the noise of a large crash behind him, along with the sound of wood breaking to pieces.

The flames before him stood split in two for a split second before returning to normal.

His hand shook as he brought it to his cheek. The pain he felt suggested that he had been cut across the length of his face but touching it revealed no such wound existed.

He looked back to Alaya to see her pulling back her outstretched arm.

“Nothing you can do about it, city boy.”

Thoughts as to how Alaya was able to throw the pebble so hard were tossed to the side for the moment - Aidan desperately needed to convince her!

“...Demons are beings unique from each other in shape and size, but the things they have in common are that they are born from and are sustained by extreme emotions.”

“Unique? How come you found one here then?” Alaya pried.

“Well, demons always twist and warp the world around them. Temperature is the most obvious and consistent sign. If the temperature suddenly shifts to the opposite of what it should be, it means it’s at most a couple of hundred meters away from you.”

Alaya took a moment to process the information.

“D-Does it sound ridiculous?”

Alaya raised her hand at Aidan, indicating for him to keep quiet. Her eyes narrowed as she sifted through certain memories.

Her eyes widened for a second before narrowing into a scowl.

“Fine. Let’s say I believe that. So did ya just come to Talbareth for no reason and stumble into the monster by accident?”

Aidan swallowed nervously. He prayed that she didn’t know about the soldiers that the villagers arranged, lest his story be exposed.

“No, see, I read reports of goings-on in the empire for those containing signs of demons. Your village is not the first place I’ve checked out, but it is the first one where one is present.”

Alaya thought Aidan’s words over. Despite everything Aidan had revealed, doubt was plain to read on her face.

She’s not convinced! I, I have to reveal more!

Aidan grabbed his mandolin, only for Valerian’s voice to boom in his mind.

And what hand will you have left to play if she turns out to be the demon? If you are worried about her strength, play your mandolin and put her to sleep.

Going against his father, Aidan drew the instrument from his back and presented it to her.

“Demons sing to their prey to fully wrap them in their magic. To combat that, my father created this mandolin. The music you create by playing on it can counteract and defeat their magic. It works on humans as well. That’s how I stopped Turburn from going after you.”

“You don’t say….” Alaya looked at the mandolin with great interest.

Aidan’s body trembled as a strong sense of wrongness filled his mind. Never before in his life had he disobeyed his father’s orders.

At least now she’ll believe me.

“Play it for me.”

“W-What?”

Alaya leaned back.

“You ain’t expecting me to buy your claim with no proof, right? Play for me, make me feel the magic.”

Aidan shook his head.

“Do you have any idea how painful this is for a human to experience?!? And even ignoring the pain, you could easily die if I am not careful!”

Alaya chuckled sourly.

“Then you’d be doing me a favor.”

Aidan stood up.

“I refuse!” Aidan yelled at the top of his lungs, “I am not going to add to your scars! If you have a problem with that, chase me away! But don’t be surprised when I’m back! I’ll keep coming back over and over until I defeat the demon and have every damn person in the village beg you for forgiveness!”

Alaya was left staring wide-eyed at Aidan. He, for his part, did his best to calm himself down.

An awkward silence set in as both stared at each other. Aidan waited for Alaya to speak or to rise up and make good on her threat, but she just continued to drill holes into him with her eyes.

Even with most of her face covered up, the look of incredulity was plain to see.

Aidan’s eyes narrowed in regret. He pulled out the pendant from his bag and opened it.

“I’m sorry. It’s my fault for giving you the wrong impression. Alaya, I am not doing this for you specifically.”

Aidan gave Alaya the pendant. Inside was the picture of a man with medium-length, light cyan-colored hair dressed in the same cloak Aidan wore. On his back were strapped the same mandolin and sword Aidan currently wore.

“Is that...?”

“My father. We-”

Aidan froze. Of all the things he had hidden, this was the one he could never reveal to anyone.

I-I can’t tell her the truth….

“-We are employed by the empire. They don’t want the existence of demons to become public knowledge. Talbareth’s suffering was a terrible oversight that I’ve been sent here to correct. I do want to clear your name, but even if you weren’t used as a scapegoat, I would still risk my life to remove the demon.”

Alaya looked away from Aidan and into the fire.

“The empire, huh? My father had a mountain of bad things to say about it despite working for it himself. Guess I finally get to see it for myself in action.”

Aidan’s face lit up.

“Does this mean you finally trust me?”

Alaya shrugged.

“If you were just a fool throwing his life away, I’d still send you away. But if it’s your job, what can I do?

Hearing her finally give in, Aidan smiled, relieved.

“You won’t regret it.”

“You’re right. I won’t.”

Aidan immediately understood the meaning behind her words. All sense of compassion was gone.

Alaya, meanwhile, seemed to move on from the matter entirely. She reached into one of the bags she brought and pulled out an apple. She ripped it into two clean halves and then held on to them. Like Rana, Alaya’s touch revealed dark traces of corruption covering the apple’s flesh like a series of dark veins.

“You can remove the corruption too?”

Alaya diligently ripped out everything inedible, leaving only the healthy parts of the apple behind.

“You said it eats emotions or something, yeah? What business does it have messing with food then?”

Alaya put the cleansed apple aside and grabbed the next food item from the bag. She continued to cleanse corruption while listening to him.

“That is not exactly something they do by choice. By their very nature, they warp the world around them. What’s actually strange about all of this is why it stayed here for so long. Most demons want to keep their presence hidden and…well…other reasons.”

Alaya’s fingers suddenly sunk into the apple she was holding. Even as the juices flowed out and soaked her fingertips, she didn’t ease her grip.

“Uh, Alaya?”

“Huh? Oh, wait-” Alaya pulled her fingers out of the crushed apple before tossing it aside. “My bad, I wasn’t-Argh, whatever. They won’t miss it if it’s just one.”

Aidan raised an eyebrow.

“They?”

“Don’t mind that,” Alaya said as she grabbed the next item to purify. “Tell me; you got any plan for how to tackle the demon?”

“I do. Living in the mortal world is a constant drain on a demon. Every few weeks, they need to return to their nesting ground, or they will wither away.”

“Which is in the village…?”

Aidan nodded.

“Tomorrow, I’ll search for the resting ground. The sun melts away demons who are caught in its light while in their true form, so it is certain to be hidden in a dark spot where they can shed their human disguise. Once I find it, the rest will be much simpler.“

“And how do you know it’s not taking a nap right now?”

Aidan pointed to the myriad of torches running across Talbareth.

“If the demon were there, all those flames would be blue.”

Unless it’s holding to its human form, but then it won’t be able to rest nor remove it.

“...”

Alaya stared at the fires rolling through the streets of Talbareth. The light of the torches coalesced into a single star that blinded both her eyes. Hope swelled in her heart.

“I’ll be…free?”

Just as she spoke, a decade-old pain resurfaced. Her right hand convulsed violently, forcing her to clutch her palm just to drown out the feeling. Still, she didn’t rip her eyes away from the flames. The more she watched, the more she lost herself in the blaze.

“Weeks, huh? That close…so close…It can’t be, don’t fall for it. If Nova couldn’t, nothing can….” Alaya’s mumbling grew increasingly erratic.

“Alaya?”

His voice didn’t reach her, and her mumbling became more intense.

Aidan approached her, concerned. The air around her was oppressive and heavy. Aidan’s nose clogged up as the air pushed its way through with the weight of liquid metal.

“Alaya!” Aidan grabbed her shoulders and shook as hard as he could.

“Ah!” She yelled as she snapped her head up to face him, and the air instantly returned to normal.

“Are you alright?”

“Wah, I, uh.” Her face was visibly agitated as her eyes shifted around in a panicked frenzy, almost as if she was checking if everything was still the same.

“I’m fine,” Alaya said as sweat beads ran down her forehead.

Aidan stared at her with sympathetic eyes.

Did I sound that unconvincing to Valerian too?

“Thanks for trying to help out but - Can you step back, please?” Alaya was visibly pulling away from Aidan as she spoke.

Realizing how close he was standing to her now, Aidan hurried back to his spot. Aidan remained silent as to let Alaya recover.

After a few minutes, during which she remained motionless, she once again started to purify the food she stole from the villagers. Aidan, for his part, averted his gaze from her, only stealing the occasional glance to ensure that she was alright.

“Here, eat up.”

Aidan was snapped out of his thoughts as several fruits and vegetables landed in his lap.

“Wait, all of that was for me?”

“Hmm? Yeah, of course. You were desperate enough for a meal that you ate from the village. I’m guessing you ran out of food on your trip here.”

“Yep…I miscalculated.” Aidan looked away in shame.

Aidan ate while Alaya continued to purify the produce. Any item that she purified she placed back into the bag.

By the time Aidan finished his meal, all the bags lying next to Alaya were filled with only clean food.

Alaya stood back up and lifted all but one bag on her shoulders.

“What are you doing?”

“Don’t mind me. I’ll be back in a flash.”

“Where are you taking those?”

Alaya sighed.

“I’m returning the food. One of ‘em is enough for what I need.”

Alaya stared flabbergasted at her.

“Alaya…have you done this for them before?”

“...I have.”

“And they…still hate you?”

Alaya stopped for a few seconds as she recollected some painful memories.

“Some cabbages aren’t enough to wash the blood away.”

“...In that case, stay here. We don’t know when the demon will reemerge. It’s far too dangerous for you to separate from me.”

Aidan heard the sacks on Alaya’s back twist and turn as her grip on them got much, much tighter.

“Does it say in your contract that you won’t get paid if something happens to me?” She barely restrained the anger in her voice as she spoke.

“W-What? I-...No.”

“Then shut up. My blood’s worth less than dirt, but it’s still mine to spend.”

Aidan grit his teeth in frustration.

“Fine. However, If the temperature suddenly changes, if the flames change color, run for your life. Demons are creatures immune to blade and brawn. And, once you hear their melody, you’ll have no hope of escape!”

Aidan could tell from the look on her face that she did not take his advice seriously.

“I’ve done this trip hundreds of times, Aidan. I never once encountered anything like what you describe during it.”

“It’s precisely for that reason that you should listen to me! You won’t know what to do if you meet the monster!”

Alaya’s eyes narrowed. She didn’t say a single word. Her glare alone was enough to tell Aidan that she was done with the conversation.

“...Just go already if you’re so confident. I pray your arrogance is not misplaced.”

“Thanks, buddy. Real sweet of you.” Alaya mockingly winked at Aidan before leaving.

Left alone again, Aidan laid down beside the campfire. Closing his eyes, his mind flashed back to the moment when he found the mangled soldiers. Now, just like then, this stirred no ripple in his heart.

Would that hold true if Alaya’s body was among them?

To bleed for demons, one can never shed a tear for humanity.

These were the words Valerian imparted to him above all.

“Am I allowing pity to cloud my judgment?”

Aidan stared at the flames running about the village. His body begged him to sleep, but he could not give in to the temptation until Alaya returned. Only then could they take turns resting while the other kept watch.

Minutes seemed to stretch on for hours. It got harder and harder not to go to sleep under the serene blue glow of the valley.

Blue?

Aidan rose to his feet as he took in the sudden change before him. The great blaze of the village had shifted from its summer colors to a winter coat.

The demon had returned.

“Alaya! Alaya are you here?!?”

He yelled into the darkness to no avail. Just as he feared, she was still in Talbareth.

“Damn it, of course, she didn’t listen!”

Aidan ran for the village as fast as he could. His heart was beating out of his chest as he got closer. The sounds of grass crunching beneath his feet got quieter and quieter until, at last, he entered the silent world ruling over Talbareth.

With every demon, their sphere of influence expanded outwards in all directions, killing all sound and morphing the world with their magic. This did not require any conscious thought on the part of the demon.

As such, taking his first step into the village felt like running headfirst into a wall. The temperature was uncomfortably cold due to the inversed warmth emanating from all the search fires the villagers had lit up.

Still, it was only through them that Aidan could direct himself at all. There was nothing to see beyond their small blue flickers. The roads were swallowed by an all-encompassing black void.

Grabbing one of the torches lying on the floor next to unconscious villagers, Aidan pressed on.

Though at first unsure of how to proceed, Aidan quickly noted how the air looming above the streets felt wrong to breathe. Even when he was completely alone, an overwhelming presence kept looming over his shoulder, only to disappear when he flashed the torch in its direction.

Can it sense me here? Shit…

Aidan left the exposed roads, going to hide behind some buildings. The monster’s influence was weaker here, giving Aidan some reprieve.

“What would dad do here? I think it was to follow the temperature, but they lit up the entire village. The next best thing is following the song, then.”

Sneaking from house to house, Aidan avoided spending time in the streets as much as possible. He stuck as close as possible to the path Alaya had shown him during their escape a few hours ago.

“Stand and scratch the itch beyond your reach.”

Moving past the village’s outskirts, the demon’s voice finally reached Aidan’s ears. Its chillingly elegant voice was courted by the graceful tune of a piano. With every press of the piano keys, it felt like the demon pressed down on the bones in Aidan’s spine. It was as if his skeleton was its instrument.

The melody echoing through the streets was completely different from the one the demon sang in the forest. The original song was an angelic lullaby, gently caressing you to sleep. This was a slow elegy that etched despair into every neuron of your mind.

Demons usually only impart one unique feeling with their melodies. The only ones who were capable of more were the eldest and strongest.

During his time with Valerian, Aidan had only witnessed two or three monsters of this caliber.

I see…I’ve been blessed with a harsh baptism.

Aidan pushed through the weight pressed down upon him. The song was coming from much deeper within the village.

Should I head immediately for it? Or should I look for Alaya first?

If Aidan was lucky, Alaya would lose consciousness long before reaching the demon. If her scarf was the same as his cloak, however…

Aidan shook his head. He was too deep into the demon’s sphere of influence to show weakness. A single misstep and the demon’s song would pierce through his cloak and strike his heart.

He needed to heed his father’s words. Alaya’s fate was of no concern.

Nobody’s fate was.

Aidan steeled his heart...just a moment too late.

Unbeknownst to him, the demon’s song pierced through the defenses of his cloak. Without him even noticing, his will was being tainted.

“Toil away the grime of man.”

As Aidan traveled deeper into the village, the demon’s melody echoed above him from all directions. With much effort and trial and error, Aidan succeeded in identifying the source of the song.

It came from atop the hill where the village center resided. Aidan clutched his pendant one last time before climbing to its top.

Once his head poked over the hill, Aidan caught a glimpse of the village center. Only a few small flames were visible in the otherwise absolute veil of darkness.

“Hanging on the wall by black nails that will not break!”

Aidan dropped the torch and immediately dove for the closest building. He shakily drew his instrument while tremors ran over his body.

Aidan’s breathing was ragged and heavy. His mandolin shook as he tried to tighten his grip on it.

It was there. The demon was right there.

It’s dark. It’s so dark! I can’t see it, but I can feel it! The moment I step out into the darkness, I’ll die!

Aidan tried to play a song on his mandolin. His fingers, however, shook far too heavily, and Aidan could not even strum a single string without his finger slipping off.

Aidan clutched his cloak tightly. His father always assured him that it would protect him, but how could he trust those words?

No, there’s nothing in the world that can protect me from that monster!

“Discard your sins, Discard your skin.”

Aidan dropped to his knees, his mandolin slipping out of his hand. By now, the demon’s song had succeeded in piercing his heart. The melody etched despair deeper and deeper into Aidan’s mind.

Soon, his thoughts were not his anymore. The demon commanded every aspect of Aidan now.

“Etch your scar upon the dirt.”

Aidan drew his sword. Slowly he brought it to his neck. He could manage a fatal injury even with the blunt edge if he pierced himself hard enough.

As his eyesight grew darkt, a tiny flicker of light drew his attention. It was a single blue flame, moving about in the village below.

“Who...Who could be….”

Watching the flame move about, the realization struck him.

“Ah…that’s right. I promised her I’d free her from this….”

With great effort, Aidan fought against the malicious voice in his head and sheathed his sword.

The demon’s sway was strong. His cloak worked well to prevent its influence from outright crushing him as it did with the village folk, but if his heart wavered, the song could still wrest control of his being at any moment.

Aidan breathed in deeply and strummed his mandolin. The demon sang of inevitable decay, the rust of the human soul, and the eternal pain that awaited beyond death. A terrible death that went completely unnoticed under the uncaring gaze of the universe.

To oppose it, Aidan pictured a single white rose, the only flower left standing in its field. A furious thunderstorm raged all around it, threatening to tear it apart in its fury. The storm bent and battered it for hours, but the rose never once gave up. The rose opposed its deadly winds until, at last, the storm died out, and the sun shone once more. Before long, the empty field bloomed into a garden of flowers, with the white rose as its centerpiece.

Holding on to the image of the rose, Aidan played a melody of hope. He took the demon’s desolate landscape and only sang of the life that waited to emerge within. At first quiet and subdued, little by little, his song rose to match the demons. The two songs rang throughout the silent village, the demon’s song faltering gradually before Aidan’s.

And then, only Aidan’s song remained.

It was soon, far too soon for it to be over. Aidan rushed out from behind the house, fearing that the demon had chosen to flee.

“Haaaaaaaa~”

Nothing stood before Aidan. Nothing he could see, but he could feel it, a towering presence, twice as large as him, standing right before him.

The demon sang its words slowly to Aidan.

“Humming over her threnody

To abolish our mother’s feast

What thirst could drive one to this?”

Mother? No, it cannot be…

“Raise your tongue or lose your song.

How could one without wings nor horns

Reach and embrace her heart?”

Different.

It was a different demon from the one Aidan had met in the forest.

The realization shook his heart, and the demon’s melody wormed its way through his skin. Instinctively Aidan raised his mandolin to play on it.

**Rattle**

**Crunch**

A myriad of sounds, akin to what one might hear if they pulled at and twisted dozens of spinal cords around, rang violently above his head from every conceivable direction.

“Mine is the only chorus your words need latch on”

Hesitantly, Aidan spoke.

“I...am a lone minstrel...I sing to lift all ills dragging you down to earth.”

Upon hearing his words, the rattling of bones resumed with such a tempo that it resembled frenzied laughter.

The crunch of bones continued as Aidan felt an impact on the side of his body that sent him flying across the road and landing on a pair of unconscious peasants.

Aidan pushed them away and rose back up, only to realize that the darkness around him was fading away. Aidan looked up to see the blue-painted moon drench the world in its deep, unnatural color. Even the light of the torches scattered around him was barely distinguishable from the rest of their surroundings.

“Such nobility to carry upon your shoulders

I implore you, bright hero

Reach and pull the stake from my heart

Lest I drive it into yours.”

The bones cackled on every word it sang, leading Aidan’s eyes to the demon’s body. Its blue moon did nothing to hide its appearance. Just as he had feared, it was not the demon that attacked the carriage.

Standing at over three meters in height, the demon’s body looked stuck in indecision between quadruped and biped. The extremities of its limbs were marked with obvious protrusions that threatened to rip apart its skin. Its most outstanding quality however was its neck, reaching a length that surpassed the rest of its body, with it encompassed by a second layer of skin expanding outwards from its base. That sheet of skin expanded and contracted around the long appendage, at points being so tight one could no longer see it, at others being so spread out that it looked like a giant umbrella that was opened to its limit.

The demon’s neck undulated rhythmically, causing its myriad of neck bones to snap and crack. The sounds coming out of it were mere nonsense at first, but slowly they came together to comprise a song.

“A…a piano?”

“Oh, moon~

You shed me from your eye

A tear to stain the lands beneath,

But what right does a parent have

To thrust its ill will across generations?”

This was it. The demon started its true song. By no measure was Aidan ready for this. His father always needed to learn three special things before he could force the demon to unveil its true song.

But this demon, unique to all others, sang it of its own volition.

Aidan readied his mandolin. With no time to prepare and none of the required information, he needed to come up with a song that matched its on the spot.

The two continued their duet. The demon did nothing to resist Aidan’s song. Still, it was impossible. Without fulfilling the three conditions, without a complete understanding of the monster before him, Aidan stood no chance at purifying the creature.

Gently their song wound down to an end. The demon’s movements were just as elegant now as they were at the beginning of their duet. Aidan, meanwhile, was trembling with fear. There was nothing he could do.

And then, it was over.

The demon still hummed its lullaby to keep the inhabitants asleep, but its true song had concluded.

**Rattle**

**Snap**

Its bones laughed.

“Our duet ended, yet still, I stand.

After you survived all the poisons of this village

I placed quite high hopes on you.

Truly, your voice reached my heart,

But your will is weak,

And stirred nothing within.”

Aidan was too afraid to move.

“G-Give me another chance. Even the most skilled musicians require weeks to come up with their masterpieces!”

The demon hummed and rocked its neck from side to side.

“Perhaps your words ring true

I did not grant you any time to prepare

And yet, she will grant even less reprieve

Your talents offer me nothing, Aidan,

But do not fret,

As far as my hunger is concerned

You are still quite worthy.”

The monster walked towards Aidan. The young man tried once again to sing to it. The demon’s steps faltered here and there, but it never once stopped moving. Its heart had shut itself closed.

With no other recourse, Aidan drew his sword. He still had a chance if he could strike the monster and active the magic within his blade.

The demon leaped at him with no hesitation. Aidan barely blocked a swipe of the creature’s claws, only for its neck to swing into him and smash him across the ground.

Aidan clutched his chest. The strike had left such pain in him that even raising his face off the ground took almost everything out of him. It was only thanks to his cloak’s protection that he was left alive at all.

With the last of his strength, he looked up at the demon towering above him. The creature’s face, obscured all this time beneath its veil of skin, was, at last, visible to Aidan. When he gazed upon it, a wave of emotions rushed him. Sadness, frustration, and dreams, none of which belonged to him.

Laying on the ground next to Aidan, his sword began to stir. The middle of the three runes marked upon it started glowing cyan.

Aidan’s eyes lit up. The first step to completing the ritual was complete.

But it was too late. The demon stood upright and lifted its neck backward. In just a second, it would come slamming down on him, shattering the young man in half.

Aidan should have died. He understood this. And yet, he still drew breath.

Aidan looked up at the demon. The monster was frozen in place, its body shivering.

“P-Plague child?!?*

Aidan pushed himself up from the ground just enough to be able to turn his head around. It was then that he saw her.

A scant fifty meters away from them stood Alaya. Her long auburn air was blowing in a wind that before this moment did not exist. Her gaze was locked on to the demon, her stare stuck somewhere between shock, incredulity, and anger.

Unperturbed by the monster’s appearance or the blue world around her, Alaya marched towards the demon.

Aidan couldn’t help but feel fear as she approached.

“Alaya?” He tried to reach out to her.

She did not spare him a single glance as she stepped toward them.

“Sixteen years….So long have I had to bear the consequences of your crimes.”

“A-Alaya, you need to flee! The monster’s going to tear you in half!” Aidan pleaded.

Contrary to his words, it was the demon that backed off from Alaya. The sight before Aidan was akin to a frightened prey being cornered by its predator.

Both Alaya and the demon had stepped a few meters past Aidan when Alaya spoke again.

“And now here you stand before me, my hate….Why? Why did you do this to me?”

The demon swung its neck at Alaya at speeds that split the air in twain. Alaya covered herself with her arms as the monster struck her.

The sounds of thunder echoed across the silent village. Aidan covered his ears and closed his eyes to withstand the powerful shockwave of the strike.

When he opened his eyes again, he was met with the sight of Alaya, standing tall, unmoved from the spot. All she had to show for taking the brunt of the attack was a thin streak of blood running down her forehead.

“I know you can speak! Tell me, for what reason did you ruin my life?!?” Alaya yelled, seemingly ignoring the pain imparted upon her.

“How did you find me, plague child?

My voice confuses, my darkness redirects.

You should have been left wandering Talbareth forever.”

Alaya stared at the demon. Her body was oddly still as those two words bounced around in her mind.

“Plague child, huh…”

The demon pulled back its neck to see a look of pure rage on Alaya’s face.

“Alaya, wait! You can’t hurt it-”

Alaya lunged at the beast and planted her fist in its torso. The demon howled in pain, breaking its song in the process.

“It’s all the same! No matter who they are or what they are, who I am never changes!’ Alaya yelled while grabbing the demon’s neck.

Bones rattled violently as the demon’s neck struggled like a worm on a hook. Alaya smashed the beast’s head into the ground, after which she raised her foot and brought it down upon its neck.

The demon fought with all of its might to escape, but it couldn’t break Alaya’s hold on it. Alaya took a few seconds to observe the creature trashing beneath her. Its putrid, repulsive form was an aberration, an insult to all life.

And yet, staring upon it, Alaya’s fiery rage cooled down as a new emotion took hold.

“This is it? This is what it’s all been for? All that to feed this worm?”

With cold anger, Alaya stamped on the creature’s neck. And then again, and again. Slowly and methodically, watching it struggle and taking in every last wriggle, Alaya kept stomping on it.

The monster kept its lips sealed while struggling to escape, hellbent on not giving Alaya any satisfaction. Alaya quickly noticed this fact. A sadistic smile formed on her face, hidden behind her scarf.

The monster felt pride! Another thing to crush beneath her heel!

Alaya’s viciousness increased, and with it so did the strength of her stomps. The ground beneath the demon cracked and split apart with every strike. Under the relentless assault, the myriad of bones in the monster’s necks cracked and broke, at last breaking the demon’s will as it howled its pain into the night.

Alaya’s smile was so wide one could even notice it beneath her scarf. She had not felt this good in years, and oh how durable the beast was. Alaya could feast on its pain for hours!

Aidan stared at her in absolute shock. He couldn’t comprehend how this was possible. Alaya couldn’t just harm it; she was stronger than the monster.

Feeling the ground beneath him split open knocked Aidan out of his thoughts.

“Alaya, stop!” Yelled Aidan.

Another stomp. Another scream.

Aidan scrambled up to his feet.

“Alaya, listen to me! What you are doing won’t make it go away!”

Alaya finally snapped. She turned to face Aidan. Her eyes were filled with an endless storm of rage and malice. Even with most of her face hidden, the viciousness in her look struck Aidan down to his very core.

He had foolishly interrupted her revenge.

Alaya visibly struggled to contain her anger. It took all of her self-control to restrain her response to only words.

“What?!? Was I not enough?!? Are you taking pity on this monster too?”

Her reaction caused Aidan to do a double-take. Take his heart in his teeth, Aidan yelled back.

“N-No! It’s just that, demons need to be freed from their pain for them to pass on! You won’t get your revenge like this!”

“Oh, is that so?” Alaya’s tone grew ever more venomous. “Well, mister expert with his face in the dirt, I’ll be sure to let you sing its mangled corpse to sleep once I’m done tearing it to shreds!”

With Alaya momentarily distracted, the demon blindly pawed around at anything it could grab and use to free itself-

“Ah?”

Alaya looked back just too late to see the torch the demon tossed at her. Alaya quickly slapped the torch away, but the flames had already gotten hold of her shirt and quickly climbed up. At that moment, all her thoughts went from the demon and towards saving one thing, her scarf.

She slapped at the flames to put them out, not noticing the demon rise back to its feet next to her.

“Duck!” Aidan yelled just a second too late.

The demon’s neck slammed into Alaya, sending her crashing against the walls of a nearby building. Before she could recover, the demon leaped and landed on one of her legs, crushing it under all of its weight.

Now it was Alaya’s turn to scream.

The demon raised its upper half so that it could slam down its front legs on Alaya’s head. Just as it got to its highest point, a strong pain shot across its back, sending it falling to the side, away from Alaya.

The beast jumped back to see Aidan, barely managing to stay on his feet, holding the glowing blade.

“Don’t touch her.”

The demon inspected Aidan’s blade with great interest. It felt strong magic emanating from it. Its magic felt just like her own, and it was flowing directly into Aidan.

Perhaps he could be of use after all.

“Of that, you have my word.”

The demon’s voice was earnest, but its bones could not be laughing harder. With the two still reeling from the pain, the demon lumbered over to the unconscious villagers and tossed all of the still-lit torches at the building, setting them ablaze.

“But the fine folk? I cannot guarantee.”

The fire quickly spread to the entire village center.

“May your parley go well” Were the demon’s last words before fleeing out of sight.

With its disappearance, so did the effects of its presence, and song vanish quickly. The blue gradually turned back to darkness as the moon returned to normal. The crackle of flames filled the air as they burned through the houses.

“Damn it. It got us, it got us good.” Aidan lamented while making his way over to Alaya.

Alaya lifted herself up and then leaned on a door frame for support.

“Us? I had it at my mercy, you fool! Had you kept your mouth shut, I would have wrung the life out of it!”

“I-” Aidan’s surprise at Alaya’s outburst quickly turned into anger of his own, “-I told you to come to me if the demon emerges! You don’t know what it’s capable of!”

“And you told me that they don’t get hurt, but I heard it scream just fine! Guess the empire ain’t paying you much with how incompetent you are!”

Aidan only felt his anger grow more. But then he stopped and properly looked at Alaya. Her injured foot was raised in the air, clearly too hurt to touch the ground. Her clothes had black burn marks on them.

More importantly, her breathing was erratic, and her eyes filled with fury and regret. Thanks to the light of the flames, Aidan could see the glimmer left behind on Alaya’s face by her tears.

Aidan hung his head in shame.

“I’m sorry. I couldn’t keep my word. The demon escaped, but more importantly, you got hurt.”

Alaya looked at him with disgust. She wanted to yell at him, get even angrier. Instead, all she could do was slam her fist into the side of a nearby wall.

“Damn it! What are we going to do now, Aidan? The blasted monster’s gone, and the closest river is kilometers away!”

River? Wait, she couldn’t possibly mean to help the villagers!

“...The demon will be back. Its resting ground still lays here. For now, we need to get you out of here.”

Alaya grit her teeth underneath her scarf.

“Yeah, alright. I guess I can do that.”

Alaya tried to move from her spot, only for the pain in her leg to spike and cause her to slip forwards.

Before she could fall all the way, Aidan reached out and caught her, his body screaming at him as her full weight came crashing down on his damaged body. His legs buckled dangerously.

“Aidan! You look ready to break in half, let me go!”

“I’m fine!”

Aidan carried Alaya away agonizingly slow. The torrent of flames raged all around them, and several embers spread to nearby buildings, spreading the fire even further. The building Alaya had leaned against had already burst into flames.

Alaya’s eyes were transfixed upon the inferno before her.

“What will they think of me after this?”

“It doesn’t matter. Once we get the demon, we’ll have all the proof we need to clear your name!”

Gazing upon the collapsing houses, Alaya shook her head.

“I don’t think that’s going to be enough anymore.”

Just as she spoke, the unconscious villagers nearby began to stir.

“This soon?!?”

“Aidan, go and leave me. You can’t make it out of here carrying me!”

“Like hell I am!”

Aidan pushed himself harder, but he could not carry her any faster.

“Please, just drop me! I don’t want another death in my name!”

“This is my choice to make.”

The villagers started to mumble as their consciousness returned. In light of this, Alaya’s pleading became more aggressive.

“Argh, why do you even care? You said it yourself! You’re here for the demon, not me!”

Aidan stopped in his tracks.

…Yeah, I was supposed to….Looks like I spoke too soon, father.

“With how long they were kept under the demon’s spell, we should still have ten or so minutes before they wake up.”

“Aidan, what are you-”

“You are right. I can’t carry you out of here. Not with so little time.”

Aidan carried her over to a tree that was a safe distance away from the fire, allowing her to hold herself up.

“Can you still limp on one leg?”

Alaya looked down at her legs, lit up on all sides by the inferno.

“Yeah, I can.”

Aidan grabbed his cloak.

Never shed a tear for humanity. Or for me. Take my cloak, but leave the feelings attached to it behind.

Aidan felt the touch of Valerian’s hand on his own. Aidan pulled off his cloak with an obvious delay in his action. Once it was off, the cloak weighed heavily on Aidan’s hand.

I hope this isn’t the last time I see you, father.

Aidan wrapped his cloak around Alaya.

“Keep it covered around your head. It will keep stray kindling from hitting you, and it can help you hide better in the darkness.”

“Wha-What are you doing?”

Aidan glanced at his cloak.

“Take good care of it, ok?”

Before she could say anything, Aidan ran off in the direction of the villagers laying on the ground.

“W-What’s going on?”

The villagers were finally waking from their slumber.

“Hey, assholes!” Yelled Aidan.

“Wha-” A peasant tried to get back up only to get stomped back down, in plain sight of all the other villagers.

Above him stood Aidan, holding in his hands two torches.

Alaya watched in disbelief as Aidan turned himself into everyone’s target.

“No! Hey everyone, the plag-” Alaya yelled to draw their attention back to her.

Aidan however acted quickly and foiled her plan. Yelling at the top of his lungs, he partially covered her voice.

More importantly…

“This is payback for earlier!” He tossed a torch to one of the buildings still left untouched by the inferno.

The villagers watched in horror as the building burst into flames. His message to them was clear. He was the one responsible for the attack.

This time, Alaya could do nothing but watch as every single person stood up and chased after Aidan.

Aidan ran downhill as fast as he could. He could hear the crowd of men running after him. Unlocking one of the runes on his blade had rejuvenated him just enough to keep him out of their reach. Still, his body screamed at him. The moment the foreign power flowing through him expired was to be his demise.

Aidan arrived at the bottom of the hill with a few dozen armed men not far behind. Reaching this point had, in truth, been the easy part. Within the village were several dozen groups of villagers strewn about its streets that were awakening from their slumber. They were only identifiable from a distance by the torches they carried.

Aidan made sure to keep to the darkest streets, turning around whenever he spotted torch light.

The men following him yelled out for assistance. The disparate groups converged on Aidan’s location. More and more streets ahead of him lit up, sealing all paths out of the village.

They’re leaving me no choice!

Villagers were approaching him from nearly every direction, leaving but one avenue open to him. He ran deeper into Talbareth but it was not an issue. Aidan needed the men to gather as close as possible for his song to affect them equally.

And so Aidan ran until he came across a dead end. A section of the ground had long since been raised unnaturally above the rest of the architecture nearby, forming an uneven wall that cut through several roads and buildings. Black veinlike tendrils ran down its length, carrying an even more potent poison than that which infected the food.

If Aidan tried to climb this wall, slits would open across the tendrils and expel their poison upon him. He truly had nowhere left to go now.

He grabbed his mandolin and strummed a few notes as a warm-up. His fingers were uneasy, slipping off the strings and throwing off his song. Frustration built as he tried to correct his nervousness, which only worsened his playing.

All of the roads that stood before him lit up hellish red. The air filled with the angry voices of the people looking for him. Aidan’s chest swelled with a mix of emotions. With so many people listening to his song, fatalities were inevitable. Assuming he didn’t miss a note, of course, as that would ruin his magic and ensure his own demise instead.

Aidan looked upon the crowds that were flooding in. The crackling of their flames, their pitchforks held high, the long shadows they cast upon Aidan as they approached. They were all painfully familiar.

“This life is starting to weigh on me, Valerian.”

---

In the distance, Talbareth burned bright, lighting up the valley beneath the star-lit sky.

Resting upon a large boulder a few hundred meters away from the village stood the demon, gazing upon the chaos it had unleashed.

The world around it was perfectly silent.

“...”

But it could hear that.

With clothes damaged and riddled by burn marks, blood running down his back from a pitchfork head that had lodged within, Aidan stepped before it, holding his mandolin and glowing blade in his hands. Though mud stained his face, his eyes, lit up by the light of his sword, were focused only on the demon before him.

The man was shaking violently. It was as if his body was tethering on the edge, about to break down at any moment.

The demon smiled. It had made sure that it would intercept Aidan in case he escaped the wrath of the villagers.

“You made it back,

Would you like a reprise?”

“Your name. Tell me your name.”

“I suppose you have earned it

Listen well, minstrel.”

The demon took on its human form under cover of darkness, hidden from Aidan’s eyes.

“My name is Vaska~.”

She said with glee in her voice. And with that, the first rune on Aidan’s blade glowed, leaving only the last one still dark.

“If you can find me again, I’ll give you another chance at a song.”

“Vaska, huh? Yeah, you’ll sing….You, and all the rest.”

Aidan collapsed to the ground as the last sliver of consciousness finally snapped.

“Coming before me while in this state….What were you thinking, boy?”

Vaska walked up to Aidan’s body. A strong odor of rotting flesh assaulted her nose. Vaska took several steps back and coughed severely.

Demons are capable of eating half-rotten corpses if food is sparse, so the stench itself was nothing they couldn’t take. And yet, a single whiff of the air around Aidan was like pesticide, repulsing Vaska and attacking her nervous system.

Vaska held her nose and got close to Aidan again. Her eyes watered as she pulled up the bottom hemp on his pants. Most of his legs were covered in stained bandages, but small parts were exposed through tears in them. The smell emanated through these holes, and it was enough to send Vaska fleeing.

“This smell….You’re not with them, are you, child?”

Vaska looked over Aidan’s beat-up form. All he had as equipment was an old, edgeless blade and a musical instrument. She scoured through the contents of his bag. There was nothing inside that would tie him to them.

For the rest of the night, Vaska kept watching over Aidan until eventually-

“Aidan?” Alaya’s voice rang weakly from the darkness.

Vaska smiled and playfully cracked her shoulder. She jumped off her rock and then slammed her fist into it, smashing it to pieces and breaking the ground beneath it for several meters.

The massive impact hit everything like an earthquake. All the birds sleeping in the trees were knocked out of their slumber and sent flying away.

“Aidan!” Alaya yelled, alerted by the quake and animals.

To make sure that he’d be found, Vaska dragged Aidan by the shoulders and placed him next to the destroyed boulder.

“Come, girl, before the big bad demon eats him,” Vaska said while retreating into the darkness.

She was long gone by the time Alaya came across Aidan.