Devil Ash Days (Devil Ash Saga) (8 page)

“Alright! It’s a demon attack!” Shiva said.

“How do you know?” There was a hint of cowardice to Ash’s voice. “Maybe they’re just…hanging out.” As if that was their cue, the giant demon birds began their descent.

“Here they come!”

An incredibly loud siren started blaring, and then Royal Guard soldiers from all over the Northern section of Hell could be seen taking to wing while the devils evacuated the skies and streets and headed indoors. Most of the soldiers held weapons like swords and spears, while some of them flew upward forming fireballs in their hands.

Shiva grabbed a spear off a nearby weapon-wagon.

“I’m borrowing this! Official business!” she told the vendor.

Ash could only watch as she took flight and joined the other soldiers. Ash couldn’t get an exact count on the number of demons, but there were plenty to go around. Never before had the human boy seen war waged in the air quite like this. All above him, soldiers flew and slashed t
heir weapons at the giant birds. Most of them weren’t fast enough. The demons could navigate the skies more precisely than the devils.

Ash followed Shiva’s movements as best he could. She was surprisingly quick, more so than a lot of the other soldiers. She’d fly straight at an oncoming demon, like some insane gravity-defying game of chicken. At the last moment, the demon would pull up and Shiva would shoot forward her spear, stabbing the
monster in its belly. Twice, this tactic worked for her. The third time, she was not so lucky. This demon did not pull up at the last moment but instead slammed right into her, face-first. Shiva had the wind knocked out of her and began to fall.

There was little Ash could do, but his inst
incts and good nature kicked in and he ran towards the spot where she was falling. It wasn’t that far away, and with his improved devil speed he made it there before she even got close to the ground. With his arms stretched out, ready to catch her, he waited. It would have been quite the save too, if Shiva didn’t recover in midair and return to hunt down the beast that knocked her out of the sky. Ash put his arms down, somewhat disappointed. He wanted to be helpful.

Demons were raining from the sky.
Someone
was going to be eating well tonight. Despite the large number of soldiers cutting and burning down the birds, a single demon was giving everyone the most trouble. This particular vulture was the largest of the flock, and faster than anything else in the sky. It alone was responsible for picking off the majority of the men who’d fallen. Shiva had her sights set on it for a while but hadn’t been able to catch up to it yet.

A terrified scream brought Ash’s attention back down to the ground. With all the action in the sky, he hadn’t even noticed the birds that landed on the ground. Two demons were chasing after some citizens that had nowhere to hide. The men were barely able to keep them at bay with their flames. But it was one demon in particular that held Ash’s attention, because it was where
all the screaming was coming from.

It w
as a little girl and her mother backed into a corner and terrified by the advancing demon. They had nowhere to go and little hope of making it out alive.

“Hey!” Ash tried calling out for one of the Royal Guards. “Hey! Someone help!” No one was listening. Everyone was either too busy fighting their own battles or running away. With the demon drawing nearer, it was up to him alone to save the two.

He dashed forward with no plan of attack. He’d underestimated the sheer size and scale of the monster. Luckily, he made it to the demon before it could take a bite out of the two scared citizens. Ash shot his fist straight out, smacking the bird’s feathered back. The demon didn’t appear to be hurt by this blow. It turned away from the mother and her child, which gave them the opening they needed to run. It faced Ash and puffed out its chest and feathers with a loud squawk. Ash about peed himself.

It certainly didn’t look that big in the sky
, Ash thought. He turned and ran, but didn’t make it very far before the demon stretched out its long neck and pecked at his legs, tripping him and sending him tumbling into the street. On his hands and knees he tried crawling and climbing back up, but it was no use. The shadow of the creature engulfed him, and as he turned around he saw the demon was on him. He didn’t even have time to close his eyes before Shiva intercepted.

She moved so fast, Ash almost thought he was seeing things. She shot forward, spear pointing outwards, and rammed it right into the demo
n’s torso. It flapped its wings trying to get away, but it was too late for the beast. It dropped to the ground dead. Shiva looked at Ash with distaste in her eyes.

Goddard was right
, Ash thought.
I really am helpless on my own…

He climbed to his feet and thanked Shiva, who
turned her back on him.

They
returned their focus to the sky, where the situation was almost under control. As the last few demons dropped, only the largest one remained. There was a group of at least ten devils chasing after it, throwing fireballs and stabbing at it when they got close. No one was able to hit it. The demon retreated.

“Looks like that one’s going to get away,” Ash
said in an attempt to change the subject from his humiliating rescue.

“Don’t be so sure,” Shiva told him. Before the demon could escape the kingdom limits, another devil came shooting down like a missile from high above, heading straight for the demon. The creature didn’t even see him coming. The mysterious missile-man slammed into the demon, resulting in a silver shockwave that sent them both plummeting from the sky.

“Come on!” Shiva said and took off. Ash chased after her. They ran down a few streets, dodging people until they found what they were looking for: the giant vulture demon, impaled to the ground by a massive sword. It was a bloody, disgusting mess in the street now, but the missile-man was nowhere to be found.

“Where’s the guy that did this?” Ash asked, searching for the missile-man.

“Look up,” Shiva said. Above them the man drifted down to the ground. He deployed his wings shortly after slamming into the demon and stabbing it. The silvery, spiky armor-clad man dropped down next to the demon carcass and pulled his sword out. He swung it around a little to get some of the blood off it, before making use of the sword’s talents.

Gathering flame in his hand, he channeled the fire through the sword’s inner-workings and out the vents along the blade. Infernos lit up, cleansing itself of demon blood. Shiva smiled, awestruck at the sight. This man of course was The Prince of Hell, though Ash didn’t know it yet. The Prince gave an undignified grunt at the sight of the pair and turned his back. He walked away without saying a word.

“That was
so
cool
,” Ash said.
Maybe, just maybe, if I could become that strong… I could go home some day,
he thought.

Chapter Seven: Fight Test

They walked back to the castle, seeing many of the same sights along the way. Ash wished they’d take an extended tour, or at the very least a different return path, but he was too timid to ask Shiva. At least he had a coat now. The castle guards allowed them inside the courtyard, and shortly after that they were entering the castle, pacing its winding hallways once more. Ash couldn’t be sure, but it seemed like Shiva was quickening her pace. Maybe even becoming antsy.

The tour of the kingdom and the trip to the tailor bored her to tears. The demon attack
was the only highlight of the excursion, and now she looked forward to the next task: fighting with Ash. She led him through the candle-lit halls, past Royal Guards and chambermaids speeding about, until they arrived at a small wooden door that Shiva pressed her way through. They emerged outside, but in a small courtyard.

“This is the private yard,” Shiva said. “Outsiders like yourself aren’t typically allowed in here.” It was a very lovely yard with lush green grass. Wide and open, surrounded by enormous walls that Ash couldn’t even see over. That was about it though. Besides the grass, there was nothing there.

“Cool. It’s very, umm… grassy.”

Shiva
stepped in front of Ash and slapped him across the face. Ash, completely unaware it was coming, took the slap full-force. He’d never been slapped before, and it hurt as much as he thought it might.

“Ow!” h
e cried, grabbing his cheek where a throbbing, red hand mark was starting to form.

“You didn’t even try to block that,” Shiva
said. “Did you even anticipate it at all?”

“No!” Ash
said. “Why would I anticipate you hitting me?”

“We’ll need to work on that.”
She began stripping off her armor. Ash felt himself turn red in the cheeks, but was glad to see she wore a tank top and shorts underneath the armor. “Okay, come at me.”

“
You want me to hit you?”

“Yes. Go ahead and throw a punch at me.”

“Okay, remember you asked for it though.” Ash wouldn’t usually hit a girl, but given the recent change of circumstances, he was willing to give it a go. He drew back his arm, wound up, and let his fist fly… straight into the open palm of Shiva, who grabbed his fist in one hand, then took his arm and flipped the boy over onto his back.

Ash lay in the grass for a moment, trying to deduce what had just happened.

“You’re way too slow,” Shiva said, standing over him. “And predictable. There’s nothing wrong with throwing a punch directly at your opponent, but you’d better have the speed and power to back it up.”

Ash climbed to his feet, brushing the grass off his knees. He was fed up with being beat around and treated like crap. He was, after all, still half adolescent-human. And as anyone who has ever been an adolescent human before knows, they don’t always act intelligently. This was one of those moments.

“What the heck is that!” Ash said, pointing behind Shiva. She turned her head to see what Ash was talking about, and Ash saw the perfect opportunity to launch his attack. He tried again, throwing another punch at her. Without even moving her head back to face him, Shiva caught his fist again.

“Cheap tricks are a good way to get yourself killed here,” she said, and quickly placed her foot on Ash’s stomach, kicking him so hard he shot backwards, tumbling onto the grass behind him. “I’ll give y
ou one more chance,” Shiva said. “Then I’m going to start beating you senseless.”

Inhaling a de
ep breath, Ash closed his eyes.

Okay, that’s it,
he thought.
They want me to fight
?
Then I’m damn-well going to fight
!
No more mister nice guy
!

He exhaled.
Opening his eyes and grabbing a handful of grass, the boy stood up.

“Okay,” Ash said.
“This time…I’m seriously serious.”

“Alright, let’s see it,” said
Shiva. She took a step toward him.

“Ha!” Ash shouted, throwing his
fistful of grass up in the air.

While
Shiva was distracted by the grass, Ash rushed in low, aiming for her stomach. Shiva caught on and crouched down, preparing to retaliate. Perhaps a little too preemptively, Shiva stuck her arms out to catch Ash’s fist, but the boy did something to disrupt her plan. He jumped back a couple of feet instead, throwing her movements off. Shiva extended her arms to grab at nothing, while Ash shot forward again, this time with his real attack.

He caught Shiva completely open and delivered a mild slap across her face that wouldn’t even have harmed a
child.

Shiva recoiled, expecting to feel pain. When she finally realized what happened, she was not so happy.

“What was that?!” she said.

“I’m sorry about the grass, I just thought-”

“Not the grass! That was a
good
idea!”

“It was?”

“Yes! I’m talking about the puny slap you just hit me with!”

“But you’re not mad about the grass? It wasn’t another cheap trick?”

“No, it was a genuine distraction. That shows some actual thought went into your attack. You can’t always win on strength alone. Sometimes you have to have a strategy.”

“Oh, cool. I didn’t really think it would work.”

“That hit couldn’t have been your full power though!”

“Well no,” Ash said. “I still just don’t feel right about hitting a girl, I guess.”

“A
girl?!
” Shiva repeated, shoving Ash backwards. “I’m not going to hold back anymore, so get ready!” she said, leaping at him. Despite her warning, Ash was completely unprepared for her assault. She first landed a blow to his stomach, and then followed up with a shot to his cheek, ending the combo with a jump kick to his chest. Ash stumbled backwards, but did not fall this time. He remained standing, his feet planted to the ground.

“I decided,” he said, gasping for breath, “just now, that I’m not going to fall down anymore.”

“Oh? What brought this on?” she asked.

Ash needed only to think for a moment before he gave his answer.

“I may not like this. I may not want to be here…in Hell. But if my mom truly is safe, and has already forgotten me, then I’ll have to get used to calling this place home. And if I’m going to fit in, and more importantly
survive
, then I’ll need to fight. You’re just trying to teach me. So I’ll do my best.” 

Shiva smiled, and for a moment Ash thought he had gotten through to her and made a real connection. He thought he’d hea
r her say something encouraging or uplifting. Instead she said:

“I decided, just now, that I’m going to make you regret telling me that.” She rushed forward and attempted to sweep his legs out from under him. Ash jumped. He came down, expecting to plant a punch on her face, this time for real. Shiva countered by grabbing his fist and placing her feet on his chest, tumbling backwards, and tossing him. Ash rolled and sprang up to his feet.

“Not down!” he shouted triumphantly as a ball of fire hit the back of his head, knocking him to the ground. He sat up rubbing his singed head, panicking that his hair might be on fire.

“What the hell was that? I can’t do that yet!”

“I never said I wouldn’t use flame.”

“That sucks! I
thought you would at least cut me some slack and hold off on that for a bit.”

“You thought wrong,” Shiva replied, conjuring up another fireball in her hand. “You’re not always going to get a fair fight here.” With a sadistic smile, she aimed at Ash and
fired. Ash barely managed to jump out of the way in time and the fireball hit the grass where he was sitting. Shiva followed it up with another. Ash did his best to dodge for a while, but the girl eventually caught up with him, barraging the boy with a combination of flames and fists.

After an hour of this, Ash was exhausted and beat up, but still managing to stand.
He took his coat off long ago, partly to avoid any damage that could be done to it, and partly because he was sweating. Shiva could tell that he couldn’t take much more.

“I propose we take a break,” she said. Ash, assuming it was a trick of some sort, didn’t respond. Instead he prepared himself for another barrage from her. “No, I’m serious,” she continued, “Clearly you need a break. I can only beat on you so much before it actually starts impairing your ability to learn from it. Unfortunate, really. I could beat on you all day.”

Ash collapsed to the ground. “This doesn’t count,” he said. “We’re on break.”

“Whatever,” Shiva replied
.

She gave Ash a look-over. He wasn’t bl
eeding, but he was badly bruising in a lot of places. His new clothes were already worn out. It was a good thing he had more coming.

“I guess now that we’re on break, I could go for something to eat,” Ash
said.

“That’s right, you haven’t eaten in two days.”

“
Two days?!
No wonder I’m so hungry!”

“I’m surprised you didn’t star
t complaining about it sooner, really.”

Shiva led him back through the castle, down a long hall, and through a large door into a great dining hall. The dinning hall was comparable to Ash’s high school cafeteria, complete with many long tables and a buffet-style counter along the back wall. Shiva motioned Ash to take a seat and he obeyed.

At the many tables sat various guards, their armor in a variety of conditions ranging from ‘looks like it’s held together with glue’ to ‘might not actually break if you hit it’. They were each wearing slightly different variants of the armor Ash saw on the guard that escorted him to Goddard’s room. Variables included: gloves, either leather or metal; boots or sandals; and a helmet. Some even had weapons with them.

Ash also noticed an entirely different set of armor he hadn’t yet seen, worn by one group of men. This armor covered their entire bodies, and didn’t look old or worn at all. On the contrary, it looked brand new and totally awesome. The color was crimson red, like the other guards’ armor. But that's where the similarities stopped. This armor was tight, almost form-fitting, and appeared lightweight. Every inch of the soldier’s body was adorned with spikes of varying sizes, from head to toe. Their helmets actually covered their faces as well, like samurai armor Ash had seen in an old movie.

There was also one more variant type of armor, the same as the spiky-red guys, only colored black. The man wearing this armor sat at the head of his table, and cast a cold stare in Ash’s direction. Judging from the scene, Ash imagined that the spiky-armor indicated status.

Shiva surprised Ash by plopping down a tray of food in front of him. Ash was so absorbed in the different armor types around the room, he hadn’t even noticed Shiva left his side.

“This is the
only
time I will ever serve you food.”

Ash didn’t really see it as ‘serving him’, but didn’t argue. He simply nodded in acknowledgment and picked up a piece of meat. What proceeded to happen from there could be
loosely
described as eating. The word ‘eating’ sounds too civilized, too tame to really describe it though. If there was a single word that could adequately describe a pack of starving wolves gorging themselves on the tender carcass of a fresh deer; that would be a more suitable term. Perhaps ‘wolfing’. 

Shiva looked on in half amazement, half disgust as Ash piled the various foods into his mouth, barely taking the time to chew. He took a short break to wash it all down with the small cup of water that Shiva had managed to fit on the tray amongst the food. After slamming the entire cup, he gasped loudly for air.

“Enjoying your demon?” she asked.

“This is
demon?!
” Ash replied in disgust. Shiva merely looked at him as if he were an idiot. He then remembered that demons were basically animals to the devils, and that he’d even seen several types of them out on the streets being used as livestock. In a fraction of a second, his brain went from disgust to acceptance. “Yes, I am.” He continued eating. After all, it tasted
great
.

“Splendid,” Shiva said in a tone that implied she didn’t care at all. “I’m going to my room, I’ll be back shortly.” She rose from her seat and exited the dining hall. Ash couldn’t say anything because his mouth was too full to even try to speak, but if he could have said something he would have asked about her room. He wondered if that meant she lived at the castle. Maybe she was a high-ranking official. He was suddenly curious as to what exactly her job title was.

As he stuffed more mystery meat into his mouth, he pondered what a devil girl’s bedroom might look like. With the food on his tray completely gone, Ash made a trip to the counter area and grabbed a new tray. He made his way down the line of unique-looking food, not recognizing anything. It all looked like pretty standard meat; chicken, pork, beef, and fish. He knew that it was actually their demonic counterparts. It all tasted the same though, and that’s really all that mattered to him.