Rupture: Rise of the Demon King (13 page)

Vishoni nodded off to no one. “You two are looking for the portal? I can lead you to it.”

Mori backed up a step. “How did you sneak up behind us?”

“Magic!” A strange spasm twisted his head in a bizarre way. He shook his head.

Seeko came up next to Mori. “We can’t trust you. You’re crazy,” he said.

“No! You need me to show you the way. It is difficult and treacherous.” He nodded again. “What choice do you have?”

Seeko squinted at him. “We can just go to the small peak without you, you know. We do have that choice.”

Vishoni laughed. “I can’t take no for an answer … It demands that I take you … So let’s go!” He ambled down the slope, back the way they came. “Come now!”

“You’re going the wrong way! “Seeko shouted. “The mountain slopes this way!”

But he waved them off and continued to move.

Mori and Seeko exchanged glances. “Should we trust him?” she asked him.

“No. But he at least looks like he might know the way.”

Mori nodded. “Let’s go, then. Don’t want to lose him.”

Seeko recalled Vishoni’s pointed ears as they rushed to catch up to him. But he’d already seen giant cattle-foxes, men teleporting, and battles being fought in his name. So, pointed ears weren’t that weird, right? “Are there elves in Kismetia?” Seeko whispered to Mori after a minute, afraid that Vishoni’s ears gave him super-hearing.

“Why are you whispering?” Mori said. “And what’s an elf?”

“Shhh! He can hear us with those ears!”

Sure enough, Vishoni twitched eccentrically, perhaps eavesdropping.

Seeko dropped his voice even further: “Elves are like humans, but with pointed ears. Also, they’re usually better than us in most stories about them, but they don’t really exist on Earth.”

“There aren’t any elves on this planet; we don’t have crazy things like that here.”

Seeko pretended she didn’t just say that. He dropped the subject when Vishoni tweaked out again.

The path they took sloped downward for a while then curved back upward and around the mountain. In multiple places, it became nothing but a narrow pass, and at other places, the path was bordered with cliffs falling far into the forest below. Seeko was glad they had followed him. They would have never found the way otherwise. But why was he helping them?

Another few hours passed and the sun reached its peak. This high on the mountain, the sun’s heat avoided the trio, leaving Mori and Seeko shivering from the cold. Vishoni, however, was unaffected, giving the lame excuse of “I’m used to it.” They passed snowdrifts, and a chilling breeze picked up. Before long, Seeko saw their destination, the smallest of the three peaks. Seeko worried about what could be at the top of the peak. A super-powerful demon? A bunch of those bat things? He prepared for the worst. But his fears were unfounded and soon they stood at the summit. Seeko examined the portal before him.

The darkness, the abyss, was a slowly spinning sphere that stood about seven feet high. Dark reds and purples invaded it and twirled around it like ribbons caught in the wind. The portal stood in a relatively flat area, with the mountain sloping away gently in all directions. It was a portal to another world, just like the one on Earth. There were several snowdrifts at the top, but the portal itself was on dry ground. Seeko saw bleached rocks nearby, but paled when he realized what they really were. Bones.

Vishoni gestured to the portal. “There it is. That is where we come from.”

Seeko’s eyes widened and he backed up a step from Vishoni. “
You’re
a demon? So, you can look like a human?”

Mori, too, looked shocked. “I didn’t know that, either. So why haven’t you killed us already, monster?”

Vishoni’s right hand trembled, but he seemed to have better control over whatever was wrong with him than he did earlier. “Please. Not every demon, especially the sophisticated Akeni and the winged Syran, are mindless killing machines.” His hand flew to his chest. “This is different. I want you to free me from this … this prison.”

Seeko rose an eyebrow. “What?”

“I am the guardian of this portal, and I am bound to it as surely as you are bound to the ground.” He looked to the sky with longing. “No matter where I go, I always find myself back here eventually.”

Seeko took another step back. “What exactly do you want us to do?”

Vishoni ignored him, instead approaching the portal. “I want to have fun, to frolic, like my brothers. I want to be free!” Only then did he stare at Seeko. “I want to play a game.”

“What does this game have to do with the portal?” Seeko asked.

“Everything!” Vishoni seemed to be losing his inner struggle and was now grinning.

Seeko looked to Mori, who only shrugged.

Vishoni continued. “All you have to do is touch me. Then I will tell you how to close the portal. Sounds easy enough, right?” Vishoni screamed and fell to his knees.

“What’s happening?” Seeko shouted.

Suddenly, a pair of bloody bat wings burst from Vishoni’s back. Another pair soon followed, and Vishoni visibly shook as the wings unfolded. His wings looked like those of the bat demons they’d already faced. Vishoni flapped the wings once, blood flinging in all directions. Then he looked up and smiled again.

“Save me, hero!” he cried out, no longer smiling. “Save me from … myself!” With that, he took off, cackling like a madman.

13: Necklace

22 Rynr, 112 AV: Day 91

“You mean physically touch you?” Seeko shouted so that Vishoni could hear him.

“Yes! Exactly!” Vishoni flew higher and summoned darkness in his palm. It compressed quickly and he launched it at Seeko. “Take this!”

Seeko ducked and avoided the black orb. “You’re going to attack us too?”

“It wouldn’t be fun if I didn’t!”

Seeko’s response was green fireballs, which Vishoni evaded.

Vishoni landed on the ground and sent a shock wave of earth in all directions. The wave of earth rose higher as it flew away from him. By the time it reached Mori and Seeko, it was as tall as their knees and sent them sprawling.

“What element is he?” Seeko shouted as they regained their footing.

Mori shrugged and shot water at an amazing speed toward Vishoni. But the demon took off again, dodged the water, and countered with a wave of ruby fire, which he sent toward Mori. Seeko raised his hands and bent the flame, sending it back into Vishoni. A surprised Vishoni was hit square in the chest and plummeted. He struck the ground at an awesome speed, and dirt and dust flew in all directions. When it cleared, however, he was nowhere to be seen.

“Where is he?” Seeko shouted.

A loud snap from behind answered him and he reflexively ducked—which was for the best, because he barely avoided a dark whip aimed at his head. Apparently, Vishoni could teleport and use several elements. Seeko and Mori were vastly outmatched. And he was only messing with them. If he were to fight them full on, he would kill them in seconds, Seeko figured.

Vishoni soared past him, blasting Seeko and Mori with his wake. He flew upward, dodging Mori’s water lashes and Seeko’s fireballs. Then he stopped and fired dozens of small black spheres from his fingertips, laughing as he did so. The spheres shot downward like meteors, forcing the duo to dodge. Still, Seeko was clocked in the head and slammed into the ground with a thud.

Vishoni stopped sending out black orbs, instead content to launch fireballs at them. Seeko recovered and diverted the fireballs, but each deflection took more and more of Seeko’s rapidly fading energy. He noticed that he deflected one into a nearby snowdrift and he idly watched water trickle out of it.

That’s it!

“Mori!” he called out. “I have a plan!”

Mori came up to him, shielding herself from the fireballs with a thin film of water. He told her of the plan and she nodded. Seeko deflected a few more fireballs into the snowdrift, and soon the majority of it was melted.

“Is it enough, Mori?”

“Combined with what I already have, it should be good!” She moved to the puddle of water and watched Vishoni fly around sporadically.

He stopped shooting fireballs, instead drifting closer to them and taunting them. “It feels good to stretch my wings! And to have a playmate, after so long!” He lowered himself until he hovered about ten feet above Seeko, gesturing to the bones. “Most of my friends are not as fun.”

Seeko drew Vishoni’s attention away from Mori. “Tell me how to save you, Vishoni! I will cure your madness!”

This seemed to intrigue Vishoni, until his head twitched and he grinned. “No one can help me, hero.”

While they talked, Mori summoned all the water around her. She created a tower of water under her, raising her upward and behind Vishoni.

“I’m the Hero of Endetia!” Seeko continued. “If anyone could heal you, it would be me!”

Vishoni laughed. “I can cast every element and I can’t fix it!” Vishoni flapped his wings and the buffet became blades of air, which cut Seeko all over. He fell to his knees.

“Where did that girl go?” Vishoni said.

He spun around, and at that moment, Mori tagged him. Her tower of water collapsed and she fell to the ground as Vishoni took off.

Seeko smiled, but Vishoni continued to fly around. “Now tell us how you close it!” Seeko said.

Vishoni stopped and hovered again. “You didn’t touch me though, hero! Your girlfriend did!”

Not his girlfriend … “But you didn’t say
I
had to. You merely said to touch you, but you didn’t specify
who
had to touch you.”

Vishoni placed a palm to his face. Then a disquieting chorus of laughter emitted from him. He landed in front of them and painfully retracted his wings back into himself. “You’re right. I guess you win.” Vishoni placed a palm to the ground and muttered as the struggle began anew in his mind. “It said not to kill you … but it said nothing about the girl … and I haven’t killed anyone in some time … The Kikoeru demands sacrifice, but I’m better than this!” Vishoni shook his head violently, his neck cracking, then stared into Seeko’s brown eyes. “Hero, approach me! Do so quickly!”

Seeko hesitated. “Is this some sort of trap? You’re mad because we won?”

“No! Quickly! Do you want to seal the portal or not?” Vishoni said.

Seeko had no real choice since he had to seal the portal. He looked to Mori, who nodded. “If he tries something,” she said, “I’ll kill him.” She pulled energy from her spark and drew water all around herself.

Seeko took a step forward. Vishoni clutched his heart, or at least where his heart should be, and said, “Hurry! Before I do something drastic!” He twitched again like a rag doll.

Seeko picked up the pace, sword clenched firmly in hand. When he was a step from the demon, he stopped. “Tell me!” He raised his sword, trembling.

The demon tore into his chest and pulled out a small jewel. The bloody gem was framed with black metal and a chain was attached to one end. A necklace? Didn’t Physis mention something about the necklaces?

“All you have to … to do … is take this necklace away from the portal. Then I can’t keep the portal open with magic.”

“Why don’t I just destroy the necklace?” Seeko asked.

Vishoni looked instantly to one side. “You don’t think I’ve tried that?” His eyes swiveled to Seeko. “I’m stronger than this!” He threw the necklace at Seeko’s feet. “I didn’t want this … this curse! You … please … kill me! Before … I kill you!”

Seeko’s sword hand shuddered. Kill him?

“Do it! He’s a monster! He deserves nothing better!” Mori shouted behind him.

But he had never killed anyone before. Even those bandits lived. Even though Vishoni was a demon, he couldn’t push the blade forward.

“Do it!” Vishoni shouted. “Free me from this agony!” A shiver coursed through him, and his wings extended back out, bloody and grotesque. “Please …”

“I … I can’t! I won’t!” Seeko threw his sword down.

Mori’s voice was ice. “If you won’t, then I will.” She fired a torrent of water at the demon, but before it connected, Vishoni took flight.

“It is too late! I have to … have to kill!” Vishoni’s voice changed as he said it, becoming deeper and more menacing. Vishoni rose ever higher, and cackled again. “Finally! I fly again! Not shackled to the portal!” Vishoni forgot about Seeko and Mori as he flew off toward the forest, soaring just above the canopy.

Seeko wasn’t paying attention to him anyway.
Kill or be killed.
What gave him the right? A title? Hero? Why did he have the power to pass judgment? He fell to his knees, trembling. His hands fell onto the necklace and he picked it up. This was too much of a burden for anyone.

“Uh, Seeko …”

Why me?

“Seeko!” Mori’s voice snapped him from his fear. “We have to move away from the portal before more demons come through!”

Right … Seeko got up and retrieved his sword, thoughts still rushing through his mind.
This is a weapon designed to take lives,
he thought as he stared at his sword. But he couldn’t do that with it.

Mori came to his side and together they headed back down the mountain. They glanced back periodically, watching the portal close once Seeko took the necklace a certain distance away.

A little farther down the mountain, Mori chastised him. “You can’t freeze up like that, Seeko! You said yourself that you wouldn’t!”

“Sorry.”

“Remember how this is a dangerous world?”

“Yeah.”

“You are the hero!”

“I know!” he shouted. “But now that I know what that means, I don’t want to be your
hero
! Go find someone else!” Seeko walked faster, outpacing her.

Mori caught up with him and grabbed his shoulder, forcing him to stop. He spun around to confront her. “Seeko? What’s wrong?”

He looked away from her. “
You
wouldn’t understand. It’s so easy for you. You can just kill anyone who gets in your way.”

“You think I like to kill things? It has to be done, Seeko! How could we live if I didn’t kill the fish we ate to get here?”

“That’s not what I mean! I mean people!”

“That demon was not a person! He’s a monster!”

“No! What defines a person? Is it because he has a different lifestyle then yourself? He was trying to change!”

“The demons are demons because they kill with no remorse, not to survive, but for enjoyment!”

“Vishoni didn’t try to kill us out of enjoyment! In fact, it seemed like he was struggling with himself
not
to kill us!”

Mori sighed. “Seeko … Did you expect to stop this entire war without taking a life?”

Seeko squinted at her. “If I can, I will.”

She paused, shook her head, and smiled. “You truly are a hero.”

“What the hell does that have to do—”

Mori interrupted him with a kiss. Seeko’s eyes went wide as their lips connected, but eventually passion replaced surprise and the kiss lengthened. The alluring scent of her seemed so sharp in his nostrils, and for a moment, or perhaps forever, he lost himself in her. Then it was over and she was staring into his eyes. Her rich sapphire eyes shone in the sunlight, and they shared smiles in the perfect moment.

“You’re blushing, Seeko.” She walked away from him, laughing her beautiful laugh as she did so.

She made him feel like he was capable of anything. Maybe with her around, he was. He stood for another moment, dumbfounded.

Then reality hit him.

Wait a second! Did she just win that argument? Ahhhhhh! She’ll pay for this!

/ / / / /

The day ended and the two made camp in the same place they did yesterday. Seeko placed a hand into a pocket and found the necklace Vishoni had thrown at him. He didn’t remember picking it up. What was this thing? What did it do? He examined the necklace in detail. Underneath the dry blood lay an orange gemstone set in a black metal diamond. It was about the size of a half-dollar, and the gemstone glowed faintly.

“Mori, look at this thing. Tell me what you think.” He tossed it to her.

She scratched some of the blood off it. “I think this jewel is a topaz. It’s glowing, so it must have a spark.”

“Items can have sparks?”

“Yeah, but it’s not the same as ours. It can’t actually attack us or anything. It more or less is just like another reservoir of magic. But it does make it hard to destroy.”

“So what does this thing have to do with the demon portals?”

“I think if we were to channel magic into it, it would open the portal again. Most magical items have a secondary purpose in addition to just being another pool of magic.”

“How do I use it? Do I wear it?”

She handed it back to him. “You could … but I think that you may want to hide this from curious eyes. Magic items are rare, and as long as it’s near you, it will strengthen your magic.”

“Maybe you should keep it if it makes you stronger.”

“I am not going to keep something that came out of the chest of a demon. Besides, you’re my
hero
. You should be stronger than us
mortals
.” She smiled.

“I am your hero. Remember that the next time you decide to mess with me.” He pointed at her, remembering the water that was dumped on his head not twelve hours ago.

She scooted closer to him, batting her eyelashes. “Whatever do you mean?” She leaned closer to him. When she got close enough to kiss, she laughed and pushed him down. She stood up. “You may be my hero, but you’re also a fool.” She offered him a hand. He took it after a moment. “But you’re my fool.” She pulled him into a hug.

What exactly was happening? She was so hard to read. Mori walked away from him and retrieved the blanket from the pack. “You have first watch again. Obviously.” She laughed and settled down into the blanket. He watched her until her breathing slowed.

I’m your hero, but what are you to me?

/ / / / /

The walk back to Irris was uneventful. The duo rounded the mountain and came across the Mediose River again, following it out of the forest and back to the lake. Then they followed the southern coast of the lake until it began its path back north, at which time the pair headed straight south. They entered another, smaller forest, but nothing strange assaulted the pair.

Seeko tried many times to access the pool of magic inside the necklace, but for some reason could not. What was going on? He could see the orange spark of the jewel, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not reach it. After a while, he gave up. Maybe it was passive, or it wasn’t the same element as him and so he couldn’t use it.