Red Stained Crow

Chapter 3: The Power

A scene played in Archeus's head as he lay on a small cot in Crows cabin. Crow knew it was the scene of him killing his parent's the one thing the demon could not get out of its mind and interesting occurrence when it came to demons.

Archeus woke with a scream, obviously watching as all fifty corpses were pinned on huge spikes. He quickly spun his head around the room then jumped as the man beside him moved his hand out.

"Please, don't be afraid Archeus," Crow said calmly. "I'm not here to hurt you."

"W-where am I," was Archeus's first question. "And who are you?"

"You're in the town of the sages, and my name is Crow." Crow said getting up.

Archeus cowered farther away from crow when he stood, but Crow did not move towards him and only tilted his head and gave Archeus a concerned frown.

"H-how do you know my name?" Archeus asked slightly lowering his guard.

"I knew Mortimer," Crow said solemnly, returning to his chair. "He'd told me many things about you."

"Am I still dead?" Archeus asked out of the blue.

"No, why would you ask such a thing?" Crow asked looking concerned.

"'Cause the last thing I remember is a sharp pain in the back of my head after overhearing some sort of conversation." Archeus said. "Then I saw the creator…and the destroyer." Archeus said. "Now I'm having a dream about me, killing people…my parents." 

Crow sat without saying a word; he knew what had really happened was playing through Archeus' head, because the demon that he was holding inside of him couldn't stop thinking about it. A kettle whistled making both Crow and Archeus jump.

"Would you like some tea," Crow asked getting out of his seat.

"Uh, sure," Archeus said moving to lie face up in the bed. "Mint, if you have any."

"Prefer anything in it?" Crow asked as he poured something into a mug out of Archeus' sight.

"Uh, j-just honey," Archeus muttered.

Crow returned to his seat and placed a mug of tea on the night-table beside where Archeus was lying.

"So, you say that your dream, showed you killing your family?" Crow asked.

"Y-yeah, thing is, I saw it twice...was it just a dream?" Archeus asked.

Crow took a long sip of his tea, and Archeus followed. Crow heaved a long sigh and looked directly at Archeus, shadows slowly forming around him. Crow again gave a sigh. "I'm so sorry Archeus, but..." Crow got out of his seat and sat beside Archeus on the bed. "Everything in the dream, the killing of your parents, what happened to your mother, and the other girl. It all happened, and what those men, the Alchemists did to you, is the reason."

Archeus froze in place, the glass a millimeter away from his lips. He shuddered and slowly tears formed and fell from his eyes as if they were a leaky faucet. He silently repeated no and fell sideways onto the bed.

Crow looked towards Archeus with a frown on his face, Archeus was young, younger than anyone that he knew ever experienced something to this scale, even younger then himself when he lost his eyes.  He patted Archeus until one of Archeus' hands shot up and grabbed his. Suddenly Archeus' body was surrounded in a red aura.

"What did you do to him!?" Said a new demonic coming from Archeus. "I leave his body for no more than an hour and he's already a wreck!"

"I'm guessing you are Zen?" Crow said, ignoring the question.