Lovely (Ruby x Dyrroth)

twenty-three

Several days later, Dyrroth was seated beside Thamuz, watching the orcs fighting each other with his legs crossed nonchalantly at the ankles. 'You know, it might just be my personal observation,' he said carelessly, 'but I feel like the orcs nowadays are all really damn weak.' Of course, he didn't mean that entirely. He just had to do things to fit into his role as the ruthless demon prince once in a while.

Thamuz gave him a wary look. Well, Dyrroth thought he did. It was practically impossible to tell what kind of face Thamuz was making, with that creaturelike head of his. 'I told you it was your responsibility to toughen them up,' he said to Dyrroth, a warning in his voice. 

Dyrroth folded his arms, feigning nonchalance once more. He knew he had to respect Thamuz, but honestly, he wasn't all that afraid of him. Not really. Alice, despite looking a lot more human than Thamuz did, was far scarier in Dyrroth's opinion.   

Because, although he'd never been told how Alice had turned into the Queen of the Apocalypse that she was now, Dyrroth had heard rumors. Ones that suggested she'd once been human, just like he had once been. Which was why Dyrroth couldn't help but wonder...how could someone who'd once been an ordinary person turn into a living embodiment of such ruthless destruction? 

'Thamuz,' Dyrroth said. He knew he ought to call him something other than his first name for once, for the sake of showing respect, but honestly, he simply couldn't care less. Thamuz seemed perfectly fine with the way he addressed him now anyways. 'Can I excuse myself? I'm just gonna go for a walk outside.'

Thamuz gave him an irritable look. Again, it looked like an irritable look, but he wasn't sure. 'How does a walk even help with anything?' he grunted. 

Dyrroth inhaled. It wouldn't be very seemly to get pissed at Thamuz of all people. 'I'm not gonna try and explain it to you,' he said. 'No offense, but you wouldn't understand.'

Thamuz didn't say anything, but Dyrroth could tell from the complete silence that he was slightly offended. Although Dyrroth had clearly said he didn't mean it in an offensive way. The prince couldn't help feeling annoyed. 

In all truth, by "a walk", he'd meant a really, really long one, to a village near Ruby's where Lesley lived. During him and Ruby's conversation the day before, she'd told him that when he talked to Lesley didn't really matter, as long as Lesley would have enough time to get more help from the people she knew, but he didn't really care. After all, if it was part of Ruby and her friends' plan to escape, it meant they naturally would really, really want it to work out. And Dyrroth certainly wasn't about to let them down. 

It didn't take him long to reach the edge of the Crack of the Abyss. He was familiar with this route, after all, and knew which way would take him to Ruby's village within the shortest amount of time. Just thinking about it made him cringe. To think that he'd pretty much been stalking her all those nights. He wouldn't be surprised if Ruby was secretly creeped out by him.

When Dyrroth reached the abandoned, desolate village he hardly recognized to be Ruby's, his heart sank. Thank God Ruby wasn't here to see this. She wouldn't be able to bear it. It was a haunting place that had once been neat village, but was now filled with nothing but destruction and debris. 

That was when he saw a leg sticking out from underneath a piece of debris. A human leg. A sickly feeling of dread curdled in his gut, but he gave in to his morbid curiosity and trudged over carefully. 

A putrid stench wafted out from underneath the slab of concrete, the smell of death and decay. Sickened, Dyrroth gritted his teeth and held his breath as he knelt down and dug his claws into the underside of the concrete.

And flipped it over. 

Underneath lay a vile, rotting corpse, which had dark blood stains all over its clothing, its face so scarred and disfigured that Dyrroth could hardly even make out whether the human had been male or female. It had lost an arm and a leg, and there was a gaping, gruesome hole in the right side of its torso, as if a bloodthirsty demon had bitten into it and ripped its flesh out.