《The Adrift Oath》Chapter XXIII: Beyond Good & Evil

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When Fae opened her eyes, she could see again, she could see leaves and the sky above her yet this vision wasn't hers, she couldn't turn her eyes as if her soul itself was in a body that wasn't hers

And that wasn't far from the truth, as those purple eyes were the devil's, but Fae could see what they could see that day

It seemed that it was laying down on a tree branch, doing nothing befitting of a devil, at least for now

Although suddenly, chatter disrupted the devil's little nap, letting out a grunt and closing its eyes again for the hope that the irritating human speech would soon die out, it didn't, and if it didn't, then the devil itself would make it die

And so it went there, approaching gently she could see a group of children with one of those same kids on the ground, it didn't take too long until it realized they were harassing him

The devil hummed to itself, it wondered what that child must have done to be so hated by his peers, although it was none of its business, they didn't seem to be getting any quieter any time soon

And for children to make a devil change its resting place, that would hurt its pride much too deeply

"Leave" Its mere demonic voice was enough to bring all the children's laughter to a stop, all widening their eyes as they looked at each other

"D-did you hear that?" One asked the other

"NOW!" Though other child didn't need to confirm what the first one asked as the devil did that itself, bringing all the children to scream and run away as it itself was right between the bullied, and the bullies that were running away, though they couldn't see it as it wanted to keep being invisible

It sighed and looked over its shoulder, seeing the alienated child slowly get up to his feet, his hair was of a brown color and so were his eyes, his clothes were ragged and dirty

This child was easy prey for the devil, he didn't seem to be very liked by people of his age and if he disappeared, nobody would bat an eye

And even though the devil loved to toy with humans and the like, he would break too easily, something that it didn't quite like, fragility

So, it took its leave, walking away from the child

"W-wait, lady!" The child called for the devil that widened its eyes, slowly turning around to see the child run towards it

"What...?" Shock and awe was written on the detailless face of the demonic feminine silhouette while the child stopped right in front of the devil

"Thank you for saving me!" He told while the other raised its hand in dismissal

"Wait no shut up!" The devil replied angrily

"How the hell can you see me?!" It inquired loudly, with furrowed eyebrows and its thin black line that is used as a mouth frowned stuck

"W-what do you mean?" The child looked up at it with raised eyebrows that were as confused as the expression he had on his face

The devil let out a quite frustrated sigh, getting on one knee before grabbing the child by his chin as it looked into his eyes

"What is it?" He asked the devil who was both irritated on how this weak child could both see her and was so little afraid of her

"You seem to be gifted by your fake gods, child of man" It moved its hand away from his chin before it got up back on its feet

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"Oh... thank you!" He spoke with a sincere tone while the devil in front of him crossed its arms, it was quite annoyed

"Maybe I should pluck out your eyes with my fingers and inspect them closely, hm?" It wasn't as much of a threat as it was an attempt at keeping the devil's pride intact, it was quite frustrated by how little fear the child harbored at her

"Uhm" He scratched his cheek

"I'd rather you not do that" And then laughed nervously

"Do you know who you are talking to you, child?" The devil tightened her crossed arms and looked down at him with quite the furrowed eyebrows

"Uh..." Unsurprisingly, the child didn't have any answer to the devil's inquiry as he scratched the back of his head

"An angel?" His innocent reply made the devil snort, taking in a deep breath after that to pick up its composure before looking back at the smiling child

"Do I look..." The devil's voice turned even more demonic, as if it was mixed with multiple voices that made a horrific melody, its silhouette grew darker while an aura of the likes of the abyss started seeping out of it

"Like an angel to you?" It asked with its myriad of voices while its eyes shone in a beaming purple

"I can see you have a white heart, that must mean you are!" The child retorted, much to the devil's unamused face as a silent second dawned on the two before the latter returned back to its docile form in the blink of an eye, accompanied by an exhausted sigh

"I see that logic and critical thinking grow late in humans" It said with its hand on its face, wiping down

"Uhm, sorry?" The child didn't quite understand what the devil in front of him was muttering about

"Nothing, nothing at all" It then looked at the child with its uncanny purple eyes

"Be gone now, skedaddle before I change my mind and have a look at your pupils" It then shoo'd the child away like it was a stray pup

"Is it fine if I stay with you?" His answer made the devil tilt its head to the side

"No" Just a single word felt like it required too much power to let out from how irritated the child was to the devil

"Pretty please!" He pleaded, but the devil didn't have any time for what to it, felt like complete utter nonsense

"No! and that's the end of it!" It yelled at him

"Leave me be!" And then turned around and walked away from the child, it didn't want anything, and it was too weak to be a toy for the devil, that's why it couldn't bring itself to harm him, right?

....

The devil walked on and on under the heavy rain, its mind was tormented by how the child could see it through its invisibility, nobody did in all the millennia that the devil has lived, none of them did, why now?

The dark entity let out a sigh, it knew that the child was following it closely behind, no matter how far it walked away from where they met, he was still behind, doing his best to follow it and his utmost to not be seen by the devil, but it knew, how could it not

Seconds, minutes, and then hours passed yet he still was on its tail for some unknown reason that was very confusing for the devil, why was the child so hellbent on following it, was the child defective? did he not have any sense of self-preservation?

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All of a sudden however, the devil turned over to look at its shoulder quickly, it could feel that the child stopped moving and that made it wonder why, did he finally give up and was thinking of heading home?

Whether or not that was the reason it ever so piqued its interest as it walked back to where it was sensing the child to be at, quickening its pace when it could also feel other beings around that same kid

Passing through bushes, it could finally see him, unconscious and on the ground, while the rain poured on his innocent face, although what made the devil furrow its eyebrows were the stray dogs that were sniffing him

It raised its right hand to then slowly clench it into a hard fist, and just as her fingers closed, spikes started protruding from the ground around the child, scaring the canines that quickly scurried off elsewhere while the human was seemingly enrobed in a protective evil cage that then gently disappeared as the threat to the child was gone

Slow steps could be heard with a gentle splash following each stride, the devil towered over the sleeping child as it then crouched down to take a closer look at him, his white face had a sickly pale shade while the rest of his body shivered

The devil looked up at the cloudy and rainy skies, it seemed to be too cold for humans, not like the devil could tell as the cold of nothingness never bothered it, neither did the fiery sun

It looked down again to see the face of the child who had a slight touch of pain and discomfort, it was obvious that the child wouldn't last very long out here without at least a source of heat, but why should it care? it was the life of a fragile being that wasn't liked by its own race, why should the devil care about his wellbeing?

....

The child gently opened his eyes as he felt a warm wave crash against his face and chest, through his blurry vision he could see dancing flames close to him that brought him some much needed warmth, as his vision gently was set straight, he could see that he was in some sort of cave while he himself was laid down in front of a campfire

Putting a hand on his chest as he wondered how was he brought to this place, the child was surprised at how dry his clothes felt, he looked down and realized that the clothes he wore weren't his own, a fact only watering the confusion that had already sprouted

Feeling something behind him that made him widen his eyes, the child ever so gently turned to look over his shoulder at what he felt was something piercing his back with its malevolent gaze

Although it felt evil, the child's face beamed with joy as his eyes could see just exactly what was behind him, leaning against the wall with its arms crossed and head tilted

"Did you bring me here?" The child asked while the devil's nod to that answer brought a warm smile out of the kid's face

"Thank you!" The enthusiasm he displayed exhausted the devil, pushing it to let out a sigh as it pushed itself away from the wall, walking slowly towards the child before towering over him

"Don't thank me for something you forced me to do" The devil's stern tone and cold expression made the child stutter with his words as he looked away in guilt while the evil that stood next to him sat down to his left

"You're right, I'm sorry" He spoke while his eyes looked far away from the devil's

"Good" The evil replied, grabbing a piece of wood that was next to it and tossing it to the campfire while it could still hear the sound of the rain outside, it was too soon to deal with the child next to it

Suddenly a grumbling made the devil widen its sharp, purple eyes that then quickly looked at the child next to it who had his legs folded while his arms were wrapped around them

"Sorry" He muttered under his breath while his stomach grumbled again, much to his embarrassment as he rested his head on his folded legs

"Are you hungry?" The devil asked while the child nodded yet couldn't look at it in the eyes, let alone raise its head

"Fine" It got up on its feet while the child raised its head in curiosity

"W-where are you going?" It told the devil who raised an eyebrow at the inquiry

"To get you something to eat" The child smiled at those words

"Thank you, you're very nice" He told the devil with a warm smile and soft eyes that weirdly enough prompted the devil to scoff to itself

"Nice, right" It said to itself

"Anyway, you hide and don't answer to anybody, understand?" The child nodded quickly to the evil that cared for him

"But, how will you find me if I hide away?" He inquired with a tilted head and a raised eyebrow

"Don't worry about that, I always know where you are, no matter where you're hiding" The devil nodded to the human child before it turned and walked away

"I'll be back shortly, try to stay alive" The child gave out quite the concerned smile as he didn't quite appreciate the ominous ribbon that was around the words the devil gave him

Although even as ominous as their owner's nature, the devil was an entity of its word as it quickly came back with what seemed to be a basket in its hands, the child had quite the raised eyebrows that had a slight touch of both curiosity and excitement to them

"I thought I told you to hide if you hear something" The devil sternly spoke as it looked down at the child sitting down in front of the campfire, legs folded and arms around them

"Oh, I knew it was you" He told it, making the evil silhouette put a hand on its thin waist and furrow its eyebrows in an unconvinced way

"Really now?" As if giving permission to the child to talk about his favorite hobbies, the kid had a huge beaming smile on his face as he clenched his fists in excitement before replying

"Yeah! It's like I can feel that you're around me!" He spoke while the devil hummed to itself, rubbing its chin as it looked down at the excited child

"That's how I followed you through that forest!" The devil seemed to have had enough of the child's explanation, whether it was convinced or not now that was another question

Though it still sat down next to the child, the latter being warmed by the campfire while the former still felt nothing

"Here" The devil put the basket between itself and the child

"All yours" It then gestured to him that he could open it, and that he did as he got on his knees in front of the basket and opened it

"There are so many sandwiches!" He spoke with excitement while the devil had it's eyes locked with the child's face, they wouldn't budge anywhere else

"Where did you find this?" He then asked his evil caretaker, gesturing to the basket that was in front of him

"Saw some noble family going for a picnic, swooped in and took it" It replied to the child as it then raised an eyebrow at the reaction he had

"Oh..." He didn't seem quite pleased

"What's wrong now? feeling bad for them?" The devil furrowed its eyebrows slightly as it spoke to him

"A little, I guess" The child then looked away

"Well, don't be, they're richer than you could ever imagine" He heard the devil say, looking back at it and resting his eyes on its dark, abyssal face

"They can just buy more, any time they want, how many they want" It explained to the child who let out a hum before he nodded, taking one sandwich into his hand before taking a bite

The devil's purple eyes didn't leave his face, especially not when that same face beamed with joy at the taste of the mouthful of bread and whatever was inside it

"This is delicious!" He was so ever joyful about just a mundane meal

So joyful that it made the devil feel weird, awkward, a feeling that it never felt until now and one that it couldn't describe it even if it wanted to

"Take one!" He handed her one sandwich out of the many, though it had to refuse the offer

"I can't really eat, so I'll have to refuse" Those words seemed to have sucked out all the happiness on the child's face

"W-what do you mean?" He inquired with somewhat of a hurt tone

"I just can't, nor do I need to, I don't require any sustenance" It explained, though the child had no idea what sustenance meant and he wasn't even going to try to pronounce it, what mattered is that thing he thought was a lady in front of him couldn't enjoy the meal as he did, and that didn't sit right with him

"But" He looked away and spoke with a disheartened voice

"It would've been nice to eat with somebody" The devil looked at him for a silent second before rolling its eyes

"Ugh, fine" It spoke, attracting the child's attention whose eyes glinted in hope

"Let me do something about it" It then looked up, thinking what kind of faces she met on her heist for sandwiches

"Ah, we could do this" And after a short period of silence dawned on the two, the devil spoke again and then started to change, the feminine dark silhouette slowly turned into what seemed like a black-eyed brown woman with short dark hair wearing a maid outfit with a long skirt

"Whoah" The child was nothing short of amazed by how quick the devil turned into a human

"Well" The devil, who was now a beautiful woman in her 20s looked at the child and smiled

"Can I have mine now?" His face immediately beamed in joy, just like it did a few seconds ago

"Of course!" He loudly replied as he handed her the other sandwich he had in his left hand that she gladly took, looking at it while the child was looking at her face, impatient to see how she found them

She bit, chewed

"Mhm" And then she swallowed

"You're right, it's pretty tasty" The devil's newly acquired taste buds were ever so overwhelmed by the sweetness that her tongue felt, she didn't really know what was between the bread, only that it was something humans made with fruits and sugar

While the devil took another bite, the child also took one, happiness painted all over his face

"Actually" The devil spoke words through the food in her mouth before she swallowed hard while he looked at her with beaming excitement

"You haven't told me your name yet" She spoke as her brown eyes gave the child a side look

"It's Dominic" He responded to her, having an ever so small smile on his face

"What about yours, lady?" The child then added on with his own question to her, one that made her lips slightly part while her mind had no words to say, needing a moment to ponder on that question

"I..." Her eyes narrowed gently as she then pursed her lips

"I don't have a name" She spoke, her eyes glued with the half-eaten sandwich she had in her hand

"Do they not give angels names?" He asked with quite the serious tone as his mouth was curved in a tiny frown

She sighed and then for a silent second looked at him deep into his eyes, he's wrong about her nature as an entity

"No, no they do not" But as she delivered those words with her soft tone and gentle smile, she thought that maybe the misunderstanding was for the better

"That's mean" His reply brought a very small chuckle out of the devil

"Yes, how mean of the gods" She said, tilting her head slightly as she looked at Dominic

"I should take your complaint to them, maybe then they'll start naming us" The devil was enjoying her little talk with the child, more so that he had no idea that all was a lie

"Please do! you can even take me with you if you want!" He sincerely said with furrowed eyebrows and a serious frown

"Heh, maybe when you grow older, no promises though" The devil smirked before taking yet another bite

"Fine by me" While the child was ever so ready to make his mind known to his gods, when the time comes

And so the unexpected duo of natural and supernatural sat there enjoying their meal with little to no conversation, until they finished that is

"Thank you for the food lady" The child attracted the devil's attention as she looked at him with a sidelook, her mouth still chewing the last piece of bread while her head gave him a gentle nod

As she swallowed, she looked down at the body she changed to, her brown hands were ever so soft and she recalled the face she masked her demonic appearance with was quite attractive, all in all she presumed that maybe this human veil was more softer on the child's eyes, if anything at least it was one of it's own kin

She looked at the fizzling campfire and narrowed her eyes, wondering what really drove her into this situation in the first place, a part of her mind truly believed that this child put some sort of spell on her, her narrowed eyes suddenly turned to the child, finding him licking his fingers that were sticky from the jam, that scene brought a small smile on her face against the devil's will

The child then noticed the stare that was given to him, he looked back into the masked abyss and then raised an eyebrow

"Are you not going to be you again?" He asked, bringing the devil to gently furrow her eyebrows in confusion

"What do you mean?" She inquired

"Uhm, like, change to yourself again" The child was looking for the right word, to transform, yet it's small vocabulary was blurry and fuzzy

"Oh" Though the devil could understand what he meant

"I thought you'd like this woman" She added on, raising her arms to inspect what was not her body

"I do, but..." The child then attracted the devil's eyes again as she landed them on his own brown ones

"I like you more" He continued, for a second her expression fell from her face before it was replaced by a slight smirk

"From where did you get your tongue from child of man, was your father a bard by chance?" She joked, but the child didn't quite understand

"He's a soldier" And his innocence answered for him

"I see" The devil was used to toying with humans yet right here and right now her mind couldn't really link words to form much sentences

"Well, speaking of which, how about I walk you back to your village?" She offered to the child

"Your parents must be worrying about you as of now" And he smiled, agreeing with her with a nod

And so she got herself up, she would have smacked the dust of the clothes she had but instead, she slowly transformed back to her own self, it was like a wave that started from the end of her limbs that then made its way towards the rest of her body, slowly changing her appearance back into what the average being would call evil

The devil then looked at the child who was standing next to her, seeing him and the soft smile he had on his face to prove that he just liked her that way

Though the devil's thin line that was her mouth didn't form a smile, it frowned, she sensed a lot of humans coming this way

"Hm..." She then looked at the innocently smiling child

"How about we explore this cave together first?" She told him with a gentle smile

"Oh? what for?" He questioned with a genuine tone and a slight tilt of of his head

"I don't know" She said

"I feel like doing something with you first, do you not want to?" She tried to win over him, and by the beaming smile he had her plans clearly won

"I'd love to!" His enthusiasm brought a chuckle out of her as she then walked alongside him deeper into the cave

Her senses were still sharp and tracking what she felt coming, she could easily take care of them yet the devil didn't want the child to see any bloodshed, his innocence had to be preserved

"Easy there" Holding the child's hand, the devil gently helped him walk down from the rocky path, deeper and deeper into the cave

A bit too deep, as it seemed that they were only going down, she was hoping to find another way out but it seemed that there was none, nonetheless she still choose this path

And so they walked the uneven path for dozens of minutes, their way illuminated by the weak flame from the makeshift torch the devil held in her hand, she could perfectly see in the darkness but the child couldn't, that's why she held it

Though as hopeless as this path seemed, the child spoke up

"Cold" He muttered, referencing the heavy breeze that struck the both of them, maybe there truly was a second way out, there was light at the end of the path and even weirdly enough the sound of a river flow, both of which brought some relief to the devil

Yet as they reached the end of that narrow corridor, both of their eyes widened in shock, they were met with huge abandoned ruins with water flowing down from them, towers of old and torches burning up with blue fire, it wasn't a way out but it sure as hell stole the child's breath with its beauty

"Whoah!" He exclaimed, the devil wasn't very much moved by the scenary however

Suddenly he let go of the devil's hand as he walked down to the river that the water formed

"Come! let's go see it!" He beckoned for her, prompting her otherwise evil face to form a gentle expression

"Not so fast though!"

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