03 Atavism of the Ifrit Page 51

  “Just stopped. She wore some mask to hide her identity and I couldn’t tell what her intentions were till I touched her mind and found concern. She was concerned for me and it hitched my breathing and she made an adorable frightened squeak that had her fleeing back to the shrubs she first hid behind. I could smell her fear.

  “After another hour or so I still hadn’t moved and neither did she. She took more potion than was necessary and like a good drink, it cured her frightened nerves. She came slowly back with the pointy stick and approached me agonizingly slow. I held still as she looked at the deep wounds on my chest and legs and then just up and left.

  “For some reason I found her endearing and let her go, not caring if she returned to her village. It would be fine by me. More food would come… or so I thought at the time.

  “But at nightfall she returned carrying a filled sack and was still alone. All alone and fragile. She used a torch to see by and I ceased hiding the fact I’d faked sleeping. She was adorable freezing in place when she saw my red eyes. Her fear was great and I liked it, but she again surprised me by not fleeing again. By then I already learned her language and her intentions that left me speechless.

  “Like speaking to a child she touched her full animal skin bag and said ‘Demon, be not afraid. I am going to help. Be you good demon or bad?’ and I laughed. She stepped back, but didn’t run. Inside her head she had a passing thought that I had a beautiful voice. Beautiful? No one ever thought my voice was anything other than terrifying. So I told her ‘Does it matter?’” Zagan chuckled fondly. “So she shook her head to say ‘No. I help all in need, Demon or not. I’m going to see to your wounds, but I warn you not to eat me. I take poisons to your kind. I heal you, you no eat me.’ And then she walks slowly into my area and trips on a rock.

  “Not knowing why I’d lift a hand to help prey, but I reached out and my hand was as large as her torso so she was easy to hold, but she lost her torch that died in the loose sand and she cursed ‘The spirits think me a fool so they not allow me to help by sight.’ And I say ‘What do your spirits say now?’ and made my fire gently come alive all around us. She had the sweetest laugh as she got up and kissed my thumb. ‘Fire demons are bad omens, but I still help. Spirits can punish me later. I vowed aid to all. What is your name?’ she climbed up onto my uninjured leg and started pulling herbs from her bag.

  “So I gave her my name and asked for hers. She told me it was Binah, was seventeen summers old and a healers apprentice to her African tribe long forgotten in Earth’s histories. Binah was known in her tribe to set out alone as part of being an apprentice and left for many days as per their custom. So there she sat mixing herbs and placing them on my wounds. Her human size so diminutive to my own. Her fear gradually diminished as she focused on healing me and she stirred longings I never knew I had. I’d known for a long time some demons had changed profoundly, denying themselves souls and denying their ancestry. But little Binah helping me out of the goodness of her own heart was a treasure my greed could never compare to. Here this weak, timid morsel of a creature willingly offered to help with no intention of wanting to have me do something for her. Never had I met so pure intentions and she did something no other creature had ever done.

  “Binah broke me. A tiny female human toppled the great Fire King of Demon World. She beat me into submission and gave me what I never knew I wanted. Compassion.

  “Her smile was so bright without the mask she made my hearts beat with more excitement than all the fucking and battles I waged thrust together.

  “To my dismay she said ‘I must return to my people, Zagan. I’ve been gone many days and they will worry. I will return as soon as I can… if I can.’ And then as the sun began to lift on the horizon she gathered her belongings and left, taking something priceless with her.

  “I would have followed, but my injuries were still too deep to even stand. So there I lay alone in a cave going over these new, unexplored sensations Binah elicited. My stomach felt odd, bumps rose all over my body and I began to sweat and not from an African summer.

  “I completely healed in the second day after she had gone and needed to hunt. I had little choice, found a hippopotamus in a nearby river and pulled it from the water and brought it to my cave, letting it struggle and bite me. It didn’t hurt and I liked prey that fought. I then broke its neck while going inside and took hold of its soul and was in the process of eating it when Binah chose that moment to return and threw a rock as hard as she could in my face. It didn’t hurt mind you, but it did gain my attention and there she stood with her hands on her hips glaring at me in a way that had me stop and ask why she dared to attack.

  “‘You no need to eat soul. Meat yes, soul no! Bad demons eat soul. You no bad no more.’ She chastised me, ME!!!” Zagan laughed hard. “I wanted to be mad, really I did. No one dare told me to do anything, especially when concerning what I eat. Binah was a hellcat when roused and I found myself needing to want to give anything she desired. So I threw the soul far away so no Spirit Guide came snooping around where it didn’t belong. She was pleased, very pleased in fact I had listened to her. I cooked the prey and shared it with her. She didn’t eat much, humans rarely do, but they do eat more often so I left one leg all for her, but she was in awe of me eating the rest, especially crunching bones her people use for weapons.

  “Never had I told a single person I missed them, but when she calmed telling me how bad it was to kill souls I told her how hard it was the two days parted and she smiled. Her smile was so happy I knew I’d never satisfy my greed without her.

  “We talked long into the night, something I never enjoyed until she came crashing into my life. She made a bed of grass inside the cave with me on the promise I behave. As she slept I could not stop myself from lifting her magically and put her on my chest. She got a fistful of my chest pelt and sighed in a way I’ll never forget. She was helpless, but had the fortitude beyond any creature ever to cross my path.

  “Binah woke up and was of course mad at me, but not for too long when I told her I could not resist becoming closer. We spent two more days alone when it at last happened.

  “I was laid on my back, using my tail to rub her back as she laid on me when I confessed my feelings I didn’t understand. She explained it was love and she too felt it, but knew it could not be… until I spelled my body to shrink to a size that would not seriously harm her. I kissed Binah and she was so happy she kissed me back. She took off her skin coverings and I did the same.

  “For the first time in my life I made love, not to fuck a female’s brains out. Made love. I’d never done that before… seen to another’s needs above my own. Be gentile. It felt right… good. And she made love to me, vowing to not go back to her village for both our sakes. Hers because she’d be killed for not only sleeping with a demon, but also she was promised to another she did not want. I was so happy I would do anything for her forever.

  “A month later I hid her from her people who came looking, but by then her scent had changed and I knew she carried my child and I would keep both safe… no matter the cost.

  “The tribe eventually gave up, believing she had been killed in the forest and for eight months I watch with pride as her belly swelled with my offspring and we were more than happy. We were in love…” He paused and went bitter.

  “Until the day birthing pains started. She struggled mightily and eventually we had a son. He was beautiful, but not as I expected. He had more of Binah than me, but his scent was of mine and I was happy. He was human in all physical appearances and had more Spirit Energy than my Demon… which was both fortunate and second of my greatest pains. She was exhausted, but told me I had to bathe our son. I walked down to the river, savoring the sight of my firstborn babe. At last a father. I burned the birth cord as he wailed in the bath and he was strong.

  “Cleaning my son turned to horror as I felt a familiar presence near and hid my son safe in the hollow of a tree and flew faster than I ever had before, but it was not fast
enough.” Zagan still grieved and no one, not even the rigid Balam beside the throne could hide their tears. Kyoko gathered her falling pearls. “Armid somehow discovered Binah’s existence when I was too concerned with our son to remember applying the wards to our cave. I landed pleading for Armid not to hurt her, but I then saw she was already physically dead and he held her soul in his hand. Binah, my only love, was murdered for loving me. I summoned my blade and tried to retrieve her soul, but before I could rescue her Armid vanished, separating us.

  “In my anger I ignited and am the one responsible for creating the Sahara Desert as it is today. I tried my hardest not to destroy the entire solar system. All that remained after my fire died was my son covered and crying in ash. It was his cries that spurred me to protect him as had I left him vulnerable too.

  “I anguished holding my son in my arms. I lost my woman and my son lost a mother he’d never know.

  “When I say second hardest decision, I mean my son was more human than Ifrit and would fall prey to my many enemies if discovered so I mentally searched all Earth for surrogates to ensure he lived and would prosper. Binah forever changed me and I would make sure our son would survive so I secretly dropped him off with a European family of similar skin coloring. My beloved son had a mix of his mother’s darkness and my alabaster coloring while his angelic face took after me and his shock red hair would be ideal to the village I left him in during the dark.

  “I then knew revenge would not bring Binah back to me so I devised a plan and returned to Demon World and to the Queen of Ice who welcomed me.”

  “And you backhanded her into the far wall over there.” Chuckled Gaia who was the only one of their family to be there.

  “Indeed I did and it felt good.” Zagan sneered. “Partly for trying to kill me once again and the other was she completely disgusted me. I grabbed her by the throat and threw her out the anteroom’s opening to the outside. She flew right back as any Yuki-onna powerful enough to made a snowstorm to fly. I then banished her back to her territory and released the other mistresses. Lastly I tortured the Seer Monks for many month for tying to usurp me until I calmed down.

  “So long as Binah’s soul was intact I knew I could revive her and get my woman back… Even now I still sense her waiting for me. Loving me still though I cannot contact her. So I did what no demon king before me did, I came to make a deal with Armid. The Accords. You already know all the rules, Ethan, so I won’t bother speaking them, but only one was left unwritten, hidden and could not be read unless either my or Armid’s blood is touched to the original object that enforces the Accords. It is the true first rule he and I agreed on and few know in detail.

  “It states if I fast for six hundred years, taking neither food, soul or Spirit Energy, Binah will be revived and given back to me as my immortal queen. I knew it would be difficult, but six hundred years I calculated and knew I’d make it… Valande and Mikhale learned of this secret and prolonged the Accords for over sixty years. I made six hundred years… nine months ago.”

  “What?” Ethan and the eight said in unison.

  “Yes, but until the Accords are active for all six centuries.” Zagan emphasized. “I never go back on my word and it was too late when I knew for a certainty I would not make it. My stomach had shrunk to the point food could not stay down… unless I eat a soul which will restart my digestive tract, but I love my Binah too much to eat one. As I said, she won me completely and I obey the queen of my existence. Whenever I feel weak and desire a soul I remember that little woman throwing a rock, defying me. I vowed to love her in death, and I never go back on my word. I could not have her returned knowing I destroyed a life to get her back.” Zagan suddenly chuckled that threw everyone off. “But I screwed Armid over as much as Armid, Valande and Mikhale screwed me.

  “My only son was already full grown and had a big family by the time Armid discovered my seed had finally taken root. Humans are weak and rarely discover they have Spirit Energy shaped by their lives that can be made into a weapon. To make sure my enemies didn’t destroy the world holding my descendants I sent guardians Earth. Gaia though alone was aware of my secret mission to look after my heirs and I tasked other Lords to rule the world so the Accords aren’t broken by my scorned lover who wants to be freed to feast on mortal worlds. I limited her food supply of souls so she’s doubly irritated.

  “Amid though made sure my son and descendants never discovered their talents for fear my blood would reignite and convert them into a full blooded Ifrit and shed their frail human form. But he forgot I too am patient. You don’t live ten and a half billion years and not find it.

  “I waited and bided my time watching as Armid’s influence move away generation after generation, my blood diluting more and more within human genes, buried deeper and deeper. Ramaziel, ever the foolishly obedient son, fell into my trap when he didn’t know as his own father gathered the last scraps of my blood and gave it to you Ethan.” Ethan swallowed as all eyes glanced at him. “It is why I gave you just enough of a nudge to die because Fate would revive you if you passed his game. Using the Blue Rose of Truth ensured he’d use the remains of your body to make an exact replica and what allowed my greatest achievement to grow without notice right under Armid’s nose till it was too late.

  “So you see, My Son, you are my heir, by more than blood. You know the feeling of love, like me. We aren’t so different in the end. I’m sorry I leave you to deal with a mess and not raised you as the father you needed, but I’m proud by how you’ve risen to be the son I had to give up so long ago. I’m proud that before I die I got to say I love you, Son.”

  Catnis was the first two bawl and all the women weren’t far behind.

  “You may be a sick and twisted bastard, but I finally understand you now.” Ethan choked out. “Hearing that story humanizes you. Human’s may be weak, but that weakness means you aren’t dead inside.”

  “Bah! I prefer being a sick bastard. I’ve an image to uphold. Now leave me and enjoy becoming the Silver King. You’ve earned what they plan.”

  “Old Man, you want to join us?” Ethan asked after getting unanimous approval from all his women mentally. “Since I am your son now, a few hundred generations removed and all.”

  “I must rest, Son. Speaking is becoming too much now. My body is shutting down. My agony is almost over so you just enjoy tonight. I need to rest with Vilorogue coming to see me first thing. He already forewarned he’s doing so as soon as his wounds are healed. I’ll be fine. Go.” A fiery hand appeared before the throne and shooed them.

  “Rest, Uncle.” Kyoko said standing up with everyone.

  “Thank you, Niece. Enjoy tonight before tomorrow’s official coronation of Ethan. I hear it’ll be memorable.” Were the last words Zagan spoke as they left in silence after hearing the complete story of the Fire King’s first and last true love.

  Gaia’s lips quirked as she wiped her tears away, not going to tell anyone what laid in store. She winked when everyone looked to her for insight to what the dying king meant. By now they knew that meant it wouldn’t be bad, but she’d not spill.

  Well out of earshot Catnis climbed up Ethan’s back as those incapable of flying paired up with those that could. Gaia stood with Kyoko, Ivonniq wrapped around Flajeen and Sarimee pounced on Kanade from behind. Catnis put her chin on Ethan’s shoulder saying “That was one of the saddest love stories I ever heard. It was worse than mine.”

  “Yeah. I certainly didn’t expect the old man to starve to death intentionally. I thought it was some curse… only now do I see I was actually right. His heart is cursed, but he’ll not give it up. He’s stronger than I ever gave him credit.” Ethan then jumped and glided mostly as the others took off to cross the expanse and talk amongst themselves. “Catnis, do you mind spinning me a pair of briefs? Flying is a bit more breezy than I’m used to outside our room.”

  Catnis smiled gently and removed her back to limbs while squeezing out opaque thread to masterfully spin it around his hips an
d groin. As she spun her web Ethan saw within her mind how she went over Zagan’s story and compared it to her own. Catnis found her first real love only ten years ago in a remote jungle here in Demon World. It was from an Incubus who she was about to prey upon after catching his scent of blood, but stopped when finding he carried a Succubus newborn held up high while forcing himself through the painful equivalent of nettles and decided not to kill. She never liked killing, but nature dictated she was a killer and she did so only when required. Killing sickened her all her life and she only ate souls when forced to stay alive. If given a choice she’d be a vegetarian, but was born a predator and suffered all her life because of it. Here she found the powdered purple man with silver hair and azure eyes in a place that would kill him, but he fought and made sure the child was out of danger and would get her out to give a chance to live. Anyone willingly to walk through brush that caused pain on that level would die eventually so she threw a web strand down and helped out, especially since Catnis never killed children, being a mother many times herself. She was impressed with his dedication and eased his pain as best possible, wondering why he’d do it and found he fell in love with a Nymph and she bore him the daughter he carried. The bramble poison took his life three months later, but he changed Catnis’ perspective from then on, on dedication. Only in the months since marrying Kanade had she fallen head over heels in love with him and the others. Being the most emotional and cheery of his wives was her domain and never had she dared to hope she’d find this level of happiness.

  Ethan turned his head after flapping his wing to maintain altitude when gravity grew heavier, as it fluctuated since Demon World physics changed at the drop of a hat. He met Catnis’ six vibrant blue eyes and quickly kissed her on the lips to say “And I’m happy you are part of our lives. Out of everyone, Kanade relies on you to keep her happy when I’m gone. I love you, Catnis. You keep our family together. Its good you are an Arachne. Your webs ensnare us and keep us deeply connected.”