The Eyes Of 'Rah

A Broken Horn

The demon king had always been a good judge of character and very skilled when it comes to making calculative decisions. His ability to make smart and swift decisions had been what made him a competent leader over the centuries.

He was disappointed that he misjudged the situation, upset that he hadn't thoroughly thought through that punishing the witch might trigger the girl's power; witnessing how she had punished his men and Joanne, he knew his own punishment would be higher.

"Let's keep calm and talk this through as calmly as possible" Damien raised his arms in surrender as he approached Seraphine slowly to appease her anger.

He knew quite well that since she just gained her full power she hadn't mastered her power and if he didn't thread carefully, there was no way he would survive an encounter with her.

"Why?" Seraphine glared at him.

He drew his breath sharply as her mere glare slashed through his skin, a faint welt appeared across his right cheeks. Damien couldn't imagine the extent of her power, if just a glare could cause a sharp pain on wherever it was directed to, who knew what would happen if her full blown power was displayed.

"You didn't hesitate to order your men to strip my friend some moments ago, neither did you stop from hitting me right on my face"

Exhaling sharply as two more welts appeared on his neck, the demon king was glad he was on his true form, which gave him the ability to endure pain. His true form could be likened to wearing a shield. He wondered how painful it could've been if he was in human form.

"I ...uh..hmmm" his inability to form words upset him so much but he dared not show it, what mattered at that moment was to look for a way to escape. Now that he had witnessed some of her abilities, he needed to change his plans. If he was to nurture the hope of possessing the eyes, he would either look for a way to control the girl or rip the eyes out from her sockets.

Darting eyes at his men who were still howling in pain, he would look for a way to shut them up permanently, no one must discover who possessed the eyes except him. That is the only way of protecting his chances of obtaining it. Casting his mind back to Joanne's display of madness, the girl had only stared at her for few seconds after whispering into her ears. The pure fear in her eyes afterwards had surprised him.

"When did you start stuttering? Cat got your tongue?" Seraphine was apparently enjoying the way the demon king squirmed. Gone was the arrogant aura which accompanied him, she could see the fury he was trying to shove down his throat as she mocked him.

Seraphine wanted to goad him further, she needed to humiliate him in front of his men.

As he closed the distance between them with a slow hesitant walk, his mind never stopped frantically searching for the right time to size the opportunity to create a portal to escape.

Calmly, Damien asked a question, he needed to stall for time, careful not to look straight into her eyes, "may I ask what you did to Joanne that scared her that much?"

"Don't worry your already heavy head with that" mocking his large long horn, "you'll experience it soon as well"

The cunning demon king braced himself for what was to come, ignoring her mocking remarks about his horn, "your friend needs to be laid on a comfortable bed" wanting to distract her to lay down her guard so as to escape but it seemed to backfire.

The sound of objects flying towards him alerted him quickly enough to deflate, "and whose fault was that?"

She looked at Annaliese who was peacefully asleep, glancing at the torn dress and the piece of cloth which barely covered her body, the scene of Damien's minion tearing it off her fuelled her fury afresh. She ran towards Damien, blinded with anger.

It was too late for Damien to deflate Seraphine's attack this time around, he felt a pull on his head and a crack sound was heard.

"What have you done!?" He bellowed when he felt some of his abilities sapping out of his body. Filled with fury as he was met with an empty space where one of his horns should have been, using Seraphine's lack of mastery of her power and his own heavy weight to his advantage, he caught her at a blind spot and pushed her as hard as he could to render her unconscious.

With her fingers tightly wrapped around half of his broken horn, She felt a sudden force as she flew across the room, hitting her head on the wall. The last thing she saw before being pulled by darkness was Damien's triumph grin.

After placing unconscious Seraphine beside her friend, he moved towards the men who were out of breath due to their unending shout but hadn't given up on crying for help.

"Now, let's shut you two up, shall we?" Regretful that he had to kill two of his best soldiers, he snapped their necks in a row, agreeing it was for the best; possessing the eyes is more important that that.

Perhaps, if he hadn't had one of his horns broken, Damien would've felt the presence of another creature lurking behind the opening just by the corner.

With the intention of killing the witch so that the only one who knows about the person possessing the eyes of Phemerah would be him alone, he took determined steps towards the unconscious ladies.

He needed to act fast before the workers woke up from the sleeping spell he had cast. To keep less prying eyes out of their business, he had sought the help of a witch to help cast a deep slumber spell on workers who had no business knowing about their night activities.

Catching his shadow which showed his reflection, along with his uneven horns, his anger brewed at the girl who had dared break his horn. Another thing he needed to act fast on, word must not go out that his horn had been broken, that would not only smudge his reputation but would also create a chance for his people to challenge him of his position.

He was sure that the topic of discussion throughout that day would be the sudden colour which had covered the night sky like fireworks during the night. A faint colour of the lavender was still brandished on the sky. The gossip mill would start grinding on the possible appearance of Phemerah or her Eyes.

Perking his ears up when a door swung from the far end of the room, he turned "who's there? " He called out, when he heard no one, he started the spell of creating a portal to transport him and Seraphine to his kingdom.

Satisfied that the portal was large and strong enough for two people, Damien turned and his eyes went wild, seeing empty space at exactly where the two ladies where once lying down.

As Xavier whisked the two women away on his shoulder, he heard the faint sound of the demon king as he roared from a distance.

It's going to be a long and tiring day ahead! Xavier thought.