Merely Existing

Chapter 9: The Origin of Duras (Part Two)

The last chapter tells the birth of a still incomplete Duras with only 5 members and a leader. Let's fast forward the story, to reveal the origin of a new member and the bonds they shared.

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Silence. No it was a fake silence, Blacky could hear it, the quite hum of machinery, like the calm before a storm, as she sat high on top of a tree.

It's coming.

Suddenly, fire that seemed to be growing from the ground itself was shot at her rapidly, from random directions and angles, trying to trap her. But she was prepared, she saw, no, felt it coming, and with the agility of a monkey she started swinging from tree to tree, beautifully dodging everything that was hurled at her.

It was supposed to be easy, obstacles like this didn't even pose a threat to her. But today, she couldn't take it lightly because as a leader, she had to guide five others to safety, not just herself. She turned back to see how the other were doing. The plan was to have her be the bait while the others sneaked past Jordan's sight as he was the one behind the controls. All they had to do was get past the obstacles to the finishing line, which was at the lake.

Blacky could have cleared this training ages ago if she had abandoned the others and went ahead. She never did though. She kept thinking of that conversation she had with Claus six years ago.

"What is your definition of lead, Master?"

"That is a question for you to answer."

She had taken those word has an order. And slowly, she was building up that answer, an answer that took years of experience to gather. If you think being in charge is easy, there's only one place for you to go - the asylum.

She turned around to check on their progress, feeling satisfied when she saw that they had safely made it through. The group training was designed for two purposes: one, was to test her leadership and their teamwork; two, was to make sure there wasn't too much of a gap between the abilities of each members.

At first there was one ridiculously big gap between Blacky and the others. But they had steadily improved through the years so that they could manage to follow behind her lead. Although even now, none could surpass her, in fact, it seemed as if she were hiding her full capacity. Like a cat that's hiding its claws, her potential was impossible to measure.

"Bael, Dan, incoming 67 degrees to your left!" Blacky shouted as she saw the next obstacle, a shower of arrows, endangering her subordinates. Bael and Dantalion were former hit men, they had been the best among the five, but the kids had been growing in alarming rates and now they were the ones being left behind. Oh well, that was to be expected.

And yes, Blacky had given them names. What leader would call her subordinates by numbers? Thus, 01 was named Bael, 02 - Dantalion, 03 - Valefor, 04 - Paimon and 05 - Beleth. They were named, unsurprisingly, after demons. But they had embraced these names with pride, and took it as their own after mere seconds.

At her warning the two men immediately dodged the assault, but an arrow hit Dantalion's leg nevertheless. He stumbled but regained his balance, still moving despite the injury sustained to avoid the continuous attacks.

It was time to end the game, Blacky thought.

With the condition Dan was in right now, he would become a burden which will put all their efforts up till now to waste. As much as she wanted them to get through this on their own, she knew it was time she stepped in and finished it. She ran back to Dan and pulled him over her, carrying him through the little distance to their goal. She still kept flying among the trees and fighting through obstacles as if the weight of a grown man was nothing to her. But her speed had definitely decreased so that she was running side by side with Beleth the youngest but most talented in their group. If the Duras were to have a second-in-command, it would be him.