Rupture: Rise of the Demon King (18 page)

No. She had to be positive, for his sake. Someone had to be there. Seeko’s life depended on it.

/ / / / /

Finally, after weeks of hard journeying, they stood before the dreaded Penumbran Forest. The tall, crooked trees enclosed in darkness sent a shiver down Mori’s spine. The shadows seemed to sap the warmth from the grasslands bordering it. “This is it. Once we go in, we may never come back,” she said.

“This isn’t about us, it’s about Seeko,” Keith said from behind her.

She shook her head before looking back. “The hero is supposed to be saving us … not the other way around.”

“Did ya really travel all this way to have second thoughts?” Kazuma said from behind Keith.

She stared at the ground beneath her. “I care about him. I’m not going to give up on him.” She smiled. “He will have to call us ‘heroes’ after this.”

“That he will,” Kazuma said, “so we better make sure he gets there in one piece. Keep a watch out for demons.”

She took a deep breath and walked into the forest. The others followed close behind. “Stay close,” she said. “I don’t want to lose you, too.”

Soon the forest canopy shaded the sun from sight, bathing the four of them in darkness. The smell of dust and moss stuck to their noses and the rapid change in humidity made their clothes stick to them.

They wandered in the forest for a little while until they stopped to drink some water. Keith removed Seeko’s gag and he drank heavily.

“So,” Kazuma said, “what exactly are we looking for?”

“You came all this way and you don’t know what you’re looking for?” Seeko laughed until Keith shoved the gag back into his mouth.

“If only he didn’t have to eat or drink …” Keith muttered to himself. “Anyway, what
are
we looking for?”

Mori stopped in her tracks. “I thought you said there were demon worshippers in the forest.”

“It was only a rumor,” Kazuma said. “Truth is, no one knows what is in this forest.”

Keith nodded.

Kazuma furrowed his brow. “But I thought ya knew, Keith.”

Keith shrugged. “I’ve heard the same rumors as you, Kazuma. We’re from the same empire.”

Mori’s voice rose. “So we came all this way on a
rumor
? Why did you guys go along with it?”

They said nothing. Seeko laughed again through his gag.

“I can’t believe you two!” Mori shouted. “Why are we even in this forest?”

“Whoa, calm down,” Keith said.

“We aren’t all lifeless dolls, Keith! I can be mad if I want to!”

Kazuma rose a finger to his lips. “The demon worshippers will find us if ya keep shouting!”

“What demon worshippers? There’s no one here!”

But the two of them just stared past Mori, frightened. Finally, Mori turned to find a young girl of maybe sixteen standing in front of them. The girl had midnight-black hair, long and wavy. She wore a long white robe with black trim, and a large hood concealed her eyes, but her smile was still visible from underneath the hood. She flipped back her hood, revealing frightening red pupils.

“I told ya there were demon worshippers,” a wide-eyed Kazuma muttered to Keith.

“She looks more like a demon than a demon worship—”

“Hush, you two,” Mori hissed back at them.

Suddenly, something invaded Mori’s mind, a spear of thought. She flinched at the intrusion, and saw Kazuma and Keith do the same. Mori flung her spark at the intrusion, using its brilliant blue to combat the crimson-hued thought. But no matter how hard she tried, the spear stayed firmly in place, unmoving.

“That’s not necessary,”
the mental spear said within her mind.

“Who’s in my head?” Kazuma yelled.

The girl responded by waving.
“It’s not often we get visitors,”
she broadcasted to them. Her voice in their minds was melodious and sad, like a song for the lost.
“Most fear the forest, and for good reason. I mean, we are demon worshippers after all.”

Keith’s and Kazuma’s eyes went wide.

“I’m kidding.”

Kazuma and Keith stood in place, untrusting of the small woman in front of them. The girl ignored them, walking up to Seeko.

They heard what she communicated to him but not Seeko’s responses:
“You hear the voices, correct? … You are not him? … I see … I think our Mother can fix you … She knows the counter to your magic, Akeni.”

“What are you?” Kazuma asked the girl.

She faced him, fixing her intense red eyes on his dull green ones.
“I am a human, just like you.”

“Not a demon?” Keith asked.

“No.”

“Why are you talking to us inside our heads? How?” Mori asked.

“In order to understand one’s enemies, we must be like them, no?”

“What enemies?” Mori asked. “The demons?”

“The demons can communicate with their minds, so we are encouraged to do the same. It works over long distance, so my Sisters already know you are here. Come. We will fix the corrupted one.”

The girl turned away from them, heading in the direction she’d come from. Mori followed a moment later.

Kazuma stood his ground. “And if we refuse?”

“Not in your best interest. You are lost, right? You will never leave this forest without us.”

Kazuma exchanged glances with Keith. “Was that a threat?”

Keith marched forward, pulling Seeko along with him. “If it was, I can take her.”

Sighing, a hesitant Kazuma followed.

“The key to this communication is to understand how the demons communicate,”
the girl thought to them.
“All demons have a voice, a mental representation of themselves, within their minds. Using magic, they can communicate to other creatures like themselves.”

“So, why can’t we do it, then, if all it takes is magic?” Mori asked.

“It takes a certain element of magic. You have been taught that there are only four elements, when in actuality there are six. Dark and light magic are more powerful than the elemental magics and can do wonderful and terrifying things. Their dark magic has coalesced into a creature they call the ‘Kikoeru,’ which is the being that links all of them together.”

“This dark magic explains why the demons are so strong,” Kazuma said. “They already have access to multiple elements, but now we know that they have access to six elements and not just four?”

“Demons for the most part can only use elemental magic and dark magic, but not light. Very few humans have ever used more than one element, and it is almost impossible to learn another discipline of magic. Here in the forest, we have been taught how to use light magic. And so we have replicated the Kikoeru, using light instead of dark.”

“How do you know all this?” Mori asked.

“Our Mother knows all of this. She is a demon … so I suppose we are demon worshipers. But she is different. She knows both light and dark magic.”

“Ya are demon worshipers?” Kazuma said as he drew his sword.

“Not all demons are bad.”

“Tell that to the ones that have tried to kill me! As in all of them!” Kazuma said.

“He does have a point,” Mori said. “I haven’t met one that wasn’t trying to kill me.”

“You have only met the violent utaru in combat, but most Akeni and Syran are not interested in mindless killing. Halcyon demon forces are primarily utaru. They are the vicious ones, kept in check only by the Kikoeru.”

“This is all very interesting,” Kazuma said as he looked to his sword, “but demons are still inherently evil. They killed my family in Vicussa and took my finger. They turned Seeko into one of them.” He waved his sword at the girl before him. “Who’s to say that ya won’t go insane like these utaro or whatever? You’re just like them!”

“No. We are not like them. We hear them sometimes, when Mother does, but she protects us from them.”
The girl stopped.
“We rest here for the day. We will resume travel tomorrow.”

Before them was a small rocky alcove with a stream flowing through it, emptying into a small pond via waterfall. A small cave was on one side of the waterfall and the girl walked into it without fear.

The others were not so fearless. “She’s going to eat us in that cave,” Kazuma said.

“Mori,” Keith said, “Kazuma is right. We can’t trust her.”

Mori used magic to wick the sweat away from her body and then flung it into the waterfall. “What choice do we have?” Then she went into the cave, following the slim girl into the darkness.

Hopefully, they weren’t right, or else they wouldn’t live long enough to regret it.

/ / / / /

Kazuma watched the girl as the group prepared for the night, surprised that her jaw hadn’t dislocated and consumed one of them yet. But he knew she was up to something sinister. The group of them huddled down, eating what leftovers they had from earlier in the day. Then Keith and Mori turned in, trusting Kazuma to keep them safe in the night.

Eventually, the girl spoke to Kazuma’s mind, for she, too, was still awake:
“You should trust me,”
the girl said through their link.
“I am your only hope for healing the hero.”

“That just makes me want to trust you less …”

“Let me start, then.”
The girl moved next to him, and locked eyes with him. “Hi,” she said shyly. “My name is Lorissa.” She leaned against him.

“This is not going to work, little girl.” Kazuma pushed her away. “If ya weren’t a demon devotee …” What was he thinking? She was much too young, and the enemy.

“What will it take to convince you that I am not your enemy?”
she thought.

“The fact that ya want to be my friend makes me that much more suspicious. Just stay away from me.”

She accepted this.
“I’ll take watch over you four. I already know the threats in the forest.”

Kazuma squinted at her in the dying light. “Oh no ya don’t. You’ll just kill us while we sleep.” He moved to the mouth of the cave. “I’ll keep watch.”

“As you wish.”
The girl moved to a corner, away from the others, and was soon asleep.

Kazuma watched her until her breathing slowed. Then he turned away from them, facing the dark forest and its enemies.

But were those enemies behind him?

/ / / / /

Halfway through the night, Kazuma woke Keith for guard duty, and Lorissa awoke as well.

“Watch her, Keith,” Kazuma said. “She’s too … something. I don’t know. I have to sleep.”

Keith grunted, and Kazuma slid away and drifted to sleep.

Keith stared at the girl at the mouth of the cave.
What a strange girl,
Keith thought in the darkness. The girl hugged her knees to her chest, staring at the night sky.

What was her story, anyway?
No one should want to live into this forest,
Keith thought.
It’s too dangerous. So why does she?

After a moment, Lorissa responded.
“I hear you, Keith.”

Keith grunted loudly.
“Can’t a man have some privacy? You’re very invasive.”

Keith could hear the girl laughing. He moved to her and sat down at her side. “Who are you?” he asked. “And don’t talk to me in my mind,” he said. “It’s unsettling. Unless … you can’t speak out loud?”

She shook her head and said, “I am Lorissa.”

“More.”

She looked to him with her red eyes. “You don’t want to know who I am,” she said with pain. “I’m more like him than you.”

“What?”

“The hero. I am more like him than I am like the rest of you.”

“What does that mean?”

She just looked away from him, into the forest.

Keith sat silently for a moment, then said, “I’ve met others like you, with the strange-colored eyes. I can’t pretend I know what pain you’ve gone through, but you don’t have to do it alone. I’ve learned that from being in this company. It is not healthy to close yourself off to the world.”

Lorissa was shaking. Keith placed a hand on her shoulder and turned her around, discovering that she was crying. “Our very souls have been changed,” she whispered. “We have gone through an irreversible change and will never be fully human again. We know too much.” She scooted closer to him, and Keith placed an arm around her.

“I’m sorry,” Keith said.

They sat there for a while, looking out into the night. Lorissa was in pain. She reminded him of another girl, whom he missed very much. He glanced to Lorissa, who had fallen asleep. Gently, he rose and placed his blanket upon her, then moved outside the cave to keep watch.

/ / / / /

The next morning, the group found themselves in low spirits. The gloomy forest was only slightly brighter than the dark cave they stayed in, demoralizing them further. It was so humid, it felt like they were wading through water. They moved slowly through the thick mesh of trees and heavy weave of vines and ferns.