"For your sake, I pray you are not leading me astray."
"You are welcome to stop following at any time!"
I followed behind the Hero, and had been following behind her for a while now. True to her word, Ash had slain another rabbit; if nothing else, the girl was an efficient hunter.
I did not know how elusive this 'rabbit' was, but judging by their taste, they had to be elusive indeed to have survived as a species.
The Hero had been following the course of the river, occasionally glancing left and right.
"Most races require constant intake of water. Without it, they die. You believe that by following this river, you will find other people."
Ash stopped midstep, so suddenly I almost ran into her. "Did you figure that out on your own?" she asked.
"Yes," I said, chest puffed out.
The woman looked at me, shook her head, and kept walking.
Time would tell if the Hero wasn't simply leading me in circles. She certainly seemed confident enough. Then again, so had every fool I'd ever executed.
The clouds had been rumbling since the night before. The rain finally came at dawn. It was a light drizzle, cool on my skin, though this was not like the river's coolness -this was softer. In the Demon Realm, rain was acidic. One did not simply walk in it, not unless they were strong enough that it didn't matter.
I did not object to this 'rain'. What I did object to was having to follow this girl at all. Perhaps I would simply leave her behind when the fruitlessness of her effort was laid bare.
"We need to find either people or shelter before it really starts pouring," Ash said. "I'm not sure I could build something that would survive through that."
"Hah, so there are limits to not having a [Skill] after all."
Ash stopped in place. This time, I did end up running right into her. My armor clapped off hers as I took a step back.
"What is-"
"Shh," Ash said, leaning down. She cupped her hands around her ears.
The sky grumbled again.
"You cannot hear-"
"Shh!"
I frowned and my left eye twitched. There was nothing to do but fold my arms and wait -well, save for kicking her. The childishness of it was the only thing that stopped me, mostly.
"There's someone nearby." Ash was already moving. "Hurry! Put on the hood!"
The hood. It was a wretched thing she'd torn from her undergarment that morning, after a short and infuriating argument I had not won -or rather, had won, but that victory hadn't been accepted by this thickheaded girl.
It was humiliating, to hide even a fraction of who I was. I pulled it on, and it barely even hid my horns. The alternative was being left behind, and I would not give her that satisfaction.
I raced after her. The rain had turned the ground into a mess of puddles, and water splashed under my feet. The girl was fast -she had to be using mana -and I was forced to match her. We didn't have to run far.
She stopped at a small bridge over a wide bend in the river, where I saw a large green caravan crossing. Ash was already at the front of the caravan, smiling at a rotund man by lantern light.
She turned, pointed at me, and waved me over. More lanterns lined the caravan, and there was nothing to do but step into their glow.
"This is my friend. She and I got a little lost in the dark. We'd appreciate some shelter from the rain, if you'll have us."
The man wasn't just rotund -he was old. He smiled at Ash, and regarded me with far more caution in turn.
"I don't like the hood, lass," he said, turning and speaking to Ash instead as if she were the obvious 'leader'.
"I'll check her," another voice said from a shadow I did not see. Hearing it made me start.
The voice belonged to a short black haired man, decked in leather armor, with a sword at his back. He stepped towards us cautiously, one hand on the hilt of the blade.
Ash stepped in front of me. "That won't be necessary. We're just looking for shelter from the rain. That's all."
"Do you think no brigand has ever spun that tale before?" the man asked.
He looked to the apparent owner of the wagon, received a nod, and moved forward. Ash tensed and looked back at me, then at the two.
"Very well," I said, the barest of mana projecting my voice. Let this farce be over with -it was never going to last.
I moved the hood off on my own, letting my full demonic figure bear down on the two. They stared at me for a moment. No doubt, they were paralyzed by the deepest of fear. Surely the man in the armor was going to attack at any moment. I braced myself. It would be a short fight.
Oddly, they relaxed instead.
"Oh, it's just a half-demon," the carriage driver said. "Relax, Marsh. You're always jumpy."
"You can never be too sure," the man -Marsh- said.
The barest pulse of mana escaped my grip before I could pull it back.
Excuse me?
Half-demon.
The man -Marsh- had said the word. It was a silly, stupid term -a term so stupid that it didn't make the barest of sense on the face of it. One might as soon mention half-tree or half-ground or half-elf. Yet the man had been certain, certain enough that whatever suspicion he'd had faded away in an instant. I did not know the word, nor did I know what it could possibly mean.
The other oddity was that they did not revile me. Neither did they attack nor flee. They instead offered passage. We rode on the back of the cart, wedged in between closed boxes, with no place to sit but on the boxes themselves. It was no throne.
"-scared me right and proper," Marsh laughed, sitting across from us. "Two dangerous looking folk coming out from the middle of the forest. I had half a mind to attack first and question later."
"You would not have found me an easy foe, human," I cut in.
He paused and glanced at me.
"I apologize for my f-friend," Ash smiled. "She is…odd."
Marsh nodded, then smiled. "Aye, I feel ya. I've got some friends back in Koralis who are the same. Must be hard on ya. Say, what's the name of your party? You must be adventurers too, right? What with that fancy armor…"
The cart was bumpy, flailing over every single pebble in its path.
"They must be important ones," the merchant -Tom- called back from the front of the carriage. "Definitely a step above you, Marsh."
The adventurer in question laughed awkwardly. "Come now, Uncle, don't embarrass me in front of our guests. You know I'm just busy moving up in the world."
How spineless. Where was his [Warrior] pride? Perhaps it had melted in the rain.
"T-the Violet Blades!" Ash said quickly. "We're only small though, so I doubt you've heard of us."
What kind of absurd name was that?
The conversation continued, though I paid it no mind. My mind fixated on the simple word again: half-demon. Why did it bother me so? It was not a [Race] present in the system -that much I was sure of.
Why did Ash not ask? Surely she knew this as well as I. Surely she knew this entire situation was strange.
"So, what are your names, friends?" Marsh asked. The sky howled at almost the same time, nearly drowning out his question entirely. I still heard it.
"Ash," the Hero said easily. "And this is-"
"I am Lysanthia, human," I said, head raised. "Do be honored. It is not a name one can directly hear from my lips and avoid the blade that follows."
Instead of being intimidated, the adventurer just looked confused.
He tilted his head and eyed me. "Lysanthia? Like…the old Demon Queens? Why would anyone name their daughter that?"
"Fool, it is because I am-"
An elbow struck my side -the blow was hard, not hard enough to hurt, but enough to notice.
I glared at Ash, who studiously ignored me. "Her name is L-Lily. She just…calls herself Lysanthia."
"Oh!" Marsh said, eyes widening. "Some half-demons do that sometimes. I thought most of them grow out of it when they're children. It's rare to see one this old still keeping that up."
What was this fool babbling about? My jaw tightened and I moved to speak again.
Another elbow came, harder this time.
"My friend is just odd," Ash laughed. "Don't mind her. Just call her Lily."
Something had crossed Ash's face when she'd said "Lily", just for a moment -there and gone, as if the lie had cost her something. Heroes and their damned righteousness.
I clicked my tongue and pressed my back against the cart. Fine. If the Hero insisted on this charade, then I could relent. Just this once. She would owe me for it.
I found myself staring behind the cart, at the path it had treaded. The rain was pouring by now and the small puddles had turned into tiny rivers. The smell of it all hit my nose-it smelled like the earth itself, nothing like the burning air that came with my rain.
"Tell me," Ash said over a crack of thunder, "is Koralis where we're heading?"
"Nah, lass, that's much too far," Tom called back from the front. "We're heading to Hamel. It's just a small village on the way, where we're both from."
Ash's smile tightened. "I can't say I've heard of it, friend."
"No one has," Marsh said cheerfully. "In fact-"
"Don't start that talk again now, lad," Tom said, cutting the man off.
"Come now, Uncle, you know it as well as I do."
"Would you rather walk back to Hamel?"
Marsh raised his hands and grinned. "Yeah, yeah. I get it."
Finally, there was blessed silence. I allowed myself to close my eyes-never truly relaxing, but this was enough. The rain had a certain rhythm to it, one that picked up and died down again seemingly at random.
For the first time, there was space to think.
It had been nine hundred and eighty four years since my rule. The world had seemingly changed, and in strange ways. I still did not believe this talk of 'half-demon' for a moment, but the fact that someone else seemed to was concerning. Were the people of this time simply that uneducated? The mana of this time was weaker -why wouldn't everyone's minds follow? I was already a genius in my time; in this age, my intellect might truly have no competition at all.
This 'Marsh' did not look like any great warrior to me. I did not need [Inspect] to tell a weakling when I saw one.
There was a rhythm to the cart moving and bumping over the road too -one that I had found vexing, but now didn't quite find as loathsome. It melded well with the sound of the rain. Even the occasional roar of thunder did not seem out of place.
Something warm brushed against my side. I ignored it. I ignored her. There was no need-
I fell asleep.
"Careful. No sudden moves. Just stay calm and steady, and they'll pass."
The panicked whisper disturbed my sleep and the growling ended it. I opened my eyes and looked.
There were wolves -a full pack of them, blocking the path ahead, with more on either side of us from the sound of them. Both Ash and Marsh huddled near the front of the carriage, peering out around them. Tom slunk back.
"Mountain wolves," Marsh muttered. "There's a damn lot of them too. I told you we shouldn't have taken this path."
"Don't say that now," Tom snapped.
"You fools cower from a few mangy beasts?"
The three of them looked back at me. The man and this 'adventurer' were spineless and beneath my notice. I only met Ash's gaze. She nodded slowly.
"You're going to fight them?" Tom said hopefully. "You think you can win?"
"We will," Ash said. "Just stay with the cart."
Ash hopped off the front of the carriage. I glanced back at the wolves, who were slowly closing in. These beasts had interrupted a Queen's nap, had they not?
I hopped out the back.
The wolves balked when they saw me and took a step back. One of the wolves was larger than the others -he almost came up to my chest and was clearly their leader. He growled, and the others steadied, taking a cautious step forward.
"Oh? A challenge, then? Do you know the meaning of the word, mutt?"
Someone stepped in next to me. "Let me help."
I turned and stared at the fool. Marsh might have been a head taller than I, but to me he was smaller than the most diminutive ant.
Whatever.
"Don't get in my way."
Marsh had been in six fights in his life. Real ones, anyway.
Two of those fights had been against single wolves, and both times he'd had one other man beside him. There were at least nine wolves here, and it was just him and the strange half-demon to fend them off.
He had begged his Uncle not to take this path.
The first one came low. Marsh swung and caught it with the flat of his blade, but the wolf barely stumbled. Two more circled behind him.
His Oxblood Line burned on his forearm. Stamina poured through him, keeping him from shaking. His body could take punishment and pain -that was all his mark had ever been good for.
A wolf lunged at his exposed side. He got his arm up in time, barely. Teeth punched through his leather sleeve and into his forearm. He screamed and slammed the pommel of his sword into the thing's skull until it let go.
Green light pulsed from the Line. The wound began to close, only just fast enough to be useful. He could feel the blood soaking through his sleeve. He set his feet and waited, doing his best to keep his arms from shaking.
That was his only real skill: to stand and wait.
One of them feinted forward. Marsh didn't see it and swung wide. The second hit him from the side. He went to one knee, his free hand at the wolf's throat, barely keeping the jaws from his face. His arm shook, and he barely managed to shove it off. When he rose, his feet were shaky, and his Line was burning hot.
That was when he looked to the other side of the carriage. He'd expected to see this 'Lysanthia' in trouble. Half-demons were tougher than most, and she might have been an adventurer, but these beasts were not to trifle with -to say nothing of the Alpha at their head.
She was standing in the middle of five wolves, and she was not crouching or stumbling or swaying. She was not dead. She was standing.
One wolf lunged for her. The half-demon's fist came down on its skull, and the sound that came back was wrong. The wolf hit the ground and didn't get up. There was no attempt to guard, and little footwork -Lysanthia didn't even try to dodge. All she did was hit.
Even the wolves circling Marsh stopped, turning their attention away from him.
The alpha came for Lysanthia next. It was the size of a small horse, and it hit her dead center. She caught it, only sliding back a few feet in the mud, then her arms were around its throat.
Mana flared. Marsh felt it from ten feet away-he saw it. You were not supposed to be able to see mana, not anywhere around here. He could not tell if it was Essence, either. It was thick and impossibly dense, and he felt the pressure from it even at this distance. The alpha thrashed and snarled in her hands, but the half-demon's grip didn't budge.
Crack. Something cracked inside the wolf's throat.
Crack. Something cracked deeper inside the beast.
Crack. The beast went still.
She let the body drop and it landed with a dull thud. The half-demon straightened and looked around.
The pack broke. Even the ones who could have so easily killed him turned and simply ran. Marsh stood still with his Line still burning and his half-closed wounds still leaking. He should have been focused on that.
Instead, he looked at the red-eyed woman and tried to make sense of what he'd seen. She had a Sigil, at least-maybe higher. What in the hell was someone like that doing all the way out here, and why couldn't he see her mark? Even with a Somatic, it might have been hard to believe, and he'd seen it with his own eyes. She met his gaze. Her hands were bloodied, and her crimson eyes caught the light, and for one brief, stupid moment, every instinct Marsh had told him to run.
For one moment, he believed the fantasy -that she really was Lysanthia.
How dull. It was hardly a fight. It was closer to extermination.
Marsh met my gaze and blanched a little when he saw my bloodied hand. Humans did care about the most foolish of things.
"You're hurt!" he cried out and stepped forward.
"Hurt?" I wanted to laugh. "Me? From-"
His hands glowed with green, warm light. His sleeve had ridden up, and I caught a glimpse of something on his forearm-a green line, thick and faintly alight with mana. I filed it away.
The light touched my cheek and a cut I hadn't known was there sealed itself shut.
I froze.
That was [Healing Hands] -a low-level healing spell, one I knew humans could learn, but-
I grabbed his collar. He yelped. "What is your class?!" I held him in place.
He panicked and squirmed. "What do you mean?"
"Your [Class]. Tell me what it is."
"What the hell is that supposed to be?"
I stared at him, trying to burn the falsehood from his skin. He didn't know his class? He was pretending he didn't know what a [Class] even was? It was absurd.
Hands came and pulled me back-strong hands. "What the hell are you doing?!" Ash yelled.
Marsh coughed as he regained himself and clutched at his neck. "He…" The word caught in my throat. "He doesn't know his [Class]," I said distantly.
"What?" Ash stepped to my side, staring at me wide-eyed before turning to stare at the adventurer.
"I'm telling you I have no idea what this damn 'class' is," he glared at me, then at Ash. "Control your friend. I don't know what came over her. I suppose I owe you for the wolves, but politeness has its limits." He turned away and muttered in a lower voice. "Damn half-demons are always trouble. I knew we shouldn't have-" He shook himself and walked away.
"I'm sorry," Ash said weakly. "My friend, she…" Ash shook her head and said nothing more.
Neither of us said anything.
Everyone had a class. Everyone knew what it was. This was an inviolable truth of the world, a truth so deep even I couldn't have changed it at the height of my power. And I had tried.
There was only one world where someone wouldn't know what a [Class] was-one where there wasn't a [System].
"We…we should get moving," Ash whispered. "I'll…I'll apologize." She moved away, her steps dragging as she did.
"There is no [System]?"
No chain. No anything. Was there still a cage to rail against?
All this time, I had thought the [System] was still out there, lurking and waiting to find me again. Ash not having one made sense, since she had gone through the same process I had. But to have it not exist at all?
I stared down at my hands. At the [Darkness Bi-] -no, it wasn't that anymore then, was it? It was just the Darkness Binding. My hands shook.
I stayed perfectly still until Ash had to come drag me back.