Demon's Reign (Updating Every Sat & Sun)

seventeen

"Don't just stand there! Control your fear, and control your shades!"

Adorna's voice jars Sauda out of her shock and she takes her eyes off the swooping shades and looks at her succubus friend. Though her voice is strong, even the fear on Adorna's face can't be disguised as she eyes the shades in the air.

Sauda doesn't dare close her eyes, as she looks back to the shades above and thinks with all her might to them. "Stop the shades that are sucking the life out of my army... I'm sorry."

Shrieks shout through the air as shade turns on shade, and a battle in the sky has everyone frozen as they watch, still fearing death as the hands of the robbed creatures.

"What have you done to my Shades?!"

A booming voice brings everyone's attention to the box high up and the demon that's now standing in front of her throne. Being closer, Sauda can see her clearer, and feel the rage exploding out of her.

It was like the memory trickled up from the depths of her mind, but Sauda instantly recognized who was speaking to her. La Meurte was naked except for her obsidian jewels encrusted with an ornate black head piece, a black necklace covering her entire neck and collarbones, which were black diamonds that somehow shined brightly even from a distance. These were still not as dark as her skin, an almost Vantablack, yet every feature could be seen clearly. Sauda would recognize those piercing amber eyes anywhere, shining brighter than the gold face art La Muerte had drawn on her face.

Sauda felt the fear inside her. The fear of a little child facing a giant who wanted to kill her. But overpowering was all that was her own rage, fueled by the rage that she had recently feasted on.

Without trying, she could see La Muerte stick a fist through the body of an older sister, that she couldn't even remember till then, and behind that was the limp body of a brother, who was just knocked aside by an angry, abusive fat man. That rage swallowed her fear, and she wanted nothing more than to kill the Demon standing above them all, looking down as if she were royalty watching mindless entertainment.

"My Shades," Sauda shouts back. "I stole your power—"

"Not all of my power!"

"But enough of your power. As. A. Toddler."

Sauda started stalking closer to her enemy, but Adorna pulled on her arm.

She was going to turn to her battle body to tell her not to stop her, but Adorna quickly held up her hand. "Slow down. The stairs to the King's seat are that way, not straight."

Adora tilts her head to the side and Sauda can see the pathway of stairs that lead up to where La Muerte was glaring down at her from.

"Too narrow," Adorna says. "Kill more of her demons, so you can focus on taking her own and not fighting on two different fronts."

"Eat more rage." Andras pops up beside his ex wife, looking only at La Muerte. "Become stronger than her, then fight her."

Sauda nods her head. "Streamline the process."

Adorna and Andras both smile at her as Adorna puts her ear piece back in her ear and speaks.

"Make the red carpet for the Queen."

The Twins stayed near her but stretched out further, as they, her Father, Adorna and a few others in her personal party rip apart the Demons in front of them, leaving the last bit of their lives for her to suck down with their rage. And as her fighting kept going, the fighting of both sides continued, with demons on the sands of the fighting pit, and shades up in the air.

Sauda keeps walking forward, blood squelching under her feet and spreading hot sand around her. As she gets closer, La Muerte smiles at her.

"Look at you, my little Demon Shade. Sucking the life out of beings. A power you got from me, no less. You are welcome." La Muerte leans on the rail and looks across the arena before looking back at Sauda. "I'll forgive you, child. Sit at my side as my... protégé, and I'll forgive you for stealing some of my powers."

Sauda doesn't answer, but just smiles and keeps walking, ripping throats from a few stray demons that get close to her. She can feel their rage, their power swirling around inside her, filling her.

It wasn't until a knife cut the side of her arm and she stumbled a step that she noticed something was wrong.

Sweat trickles down her back as she overheats and feels the power bubbling over like water boiling over in a pot. Andras catches her before she can fall again.

"You've taken too much. Your body can't hold on anymore. Let some go," He whispers to her.

She tries to hide how hard it is to breathe as she looks at him, her heart pumping too quickly.

"And how do I do that?" She asks him. "It's not like we went over that in our little suck-Raum-dry lesson."

"My fault." Her dad gives her a little smile. "Even I saw you as the prophecy and forgot that you could have limits. Forgive me."

Sauda nods her head rapidly, waving away his apology. "Just teach me how."

"My Queen."

Jinn and Elaheh come up beside her. Jinn towering over them all, as a gigantic white cobra. A form Sauda had only seen once before, but her power knew it was him. Elaheh, with her small white body, matching her cobra friend, steps up and wraps her hand around two of Sauda's fingers and Sauda can feel her power wanting to jump to the tiny beauty.

"My Queen... something is wrong." Elaheh whispers and looks up at her.

Andras leans in. "Just like you breathe it in. Use your rage and point it, and... blow it out."

"How simple." Sauda looks to Elaheh, who nods her consent.

Like the power was begging to go to Elaheh, Sauda didn't have to use her rage or struggle to "point" it at anyone. She let her new power flow out of her and into her friend until she felt like she was still full, but not spilling over.

She looked at Elaheh, whose eyes were shining like the black diamonds on La Muerte. Even her white skin shined like the moon was beneath translucent skin.

"I feel... some kind of connection to this place." Elaheh holds her fingers just a little tighter and scoots closer. "It feels like home."

Elaheh was born here, in Iran, when it was still called Persia. Though maybe not this exact fighting pit, she was born as a slave in the gladiator's arena. Of course, she would feel uneasy and traumatized. Sauda pulled her even closer to her side, willing to comfort her, even in a fight.

"I didn't feel it before, not until La Muerte showed herself."

Sauda looks up to the box where La Muerte is smiling down on them, no longer leaning on the rail but standing taller with her chest puffed out.

"Ah!" La Muerte smiles. "Not only have you come to bring my power back to me, you have brought me my daughter."