Demon Soul (1)

XXXIII

Everything felt heavy. The air was tainted with something else, and as I breathed, it clogged my lungs and made me wheeze.

After a few tries I was finally able to pull myself into the waking world. Every blink cleared away a layer of ash and I was finally able to see. The air was filled with smoke from the explosion, and there were bodies strewn everywhere. As far as I could tell none of them were moving. Fear struck my heart and reality came crashing down on me.

"D...Delia...!" I called, pulling myself out of the rubble. My skin was no recognizable human color, instead painted with gray ash and blood. "Hello!"

"Ryker, right?"

"Shit!" I leapt to the side, shaking my head as I looked up. Someone was standing over me with his hands in his pockets, looking completely uninjured.

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you. I guess I should've kicked a rock or something." He nudged a piece of cement with his toe as he spoke. "Geez, this place is a mess. Nyx did a damn good job."

"Delia did all of this?" I asked, looking around at the aftermath. "Why...?"

"She's pretty mad at you from what I can tell. Not to mention she was trying to help me out, and voila, here I am."

"Who are you? You...look like Ronin." I squinted, trying to make his face out through the dust.

"I was. She jumped through that rift you keep downstairs and tore my bodysnatcher apart." He snickered. "Ronin's long gone."

"Who the hell are you." I narrowed my eyes as I finally pulled myself to my feet.

"Name's Mazel. And her name isn't Delia, I'm sure next time you call her that she'll bust your balls."

"Were you the one who pretty much drop kicked me off of her?"

"Yeah, you're a hefty boy." Mazel laughed, and I wasn't really getting a kick out of his humor.

"Where did she go?" I demanded, grabbing ahold of his shirt.

"Whoa, whoa, let's take it down a notch hotshot. You've been out for maybe an hour, she might've gone back to her house." He shrugged.

I dropped him and made a noise of disgust, walking back towards the ruins of the Institute and looking around. The floor had fallen through, and only very few bits and pieces were left. I saw broken stones far below, glinting off of whatever light shone through the clouds. There was also the sound of heels clicking.

"Hello?" I called into the pit, watching someone turn their attention towards me.

"Oh, good! You're alive." Asteri adjusted her glasses, looking around the mess below her. "Mazel, mind giving me a lift?"

"Coming right up."

Mazel walked right over the edge of the floor, turning to me and winking before falling about two stories. The fall would have killed someone human, but he landed with a dull thump and held a hand out towards the woman. She took it gladly and he snickered before spinning her into his arms, something gathering in the shadows behind him. A pair of wings sprouted from his back, bat like and large. Asteri let out a giggle as he leapt off of the ground, flapping back up to the hole he'd jumped from. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

"Hands up buddy." I reached back to pull a gun from its holster, only to find it missing. "Fuck!"

"Relax, Ryker." Asteri rolled her eyes, walking forward and pressing her fingers to my chest. My limbs became immediately paralyzed, just as her eyes became engulfed in a purple glow.

"You're...not...human..."

"Never have been," She smiled. "And Mazel over there is an Incubus."

"Let me...go..." I struggled to speak, my muscles tensing enough to cause my jaw to lock.