Demon's Of Pain

Chapter 4

I find myself back in the hut as Gale removes his glowing palm from my forehead, suddenly a fiery arm reaches out and grabs Gale by the throat, Valzure has taken control again! "you shouldn't have shown him that" Valzure speaking through my lips. Using my other arm I grab the demon arm coming from my left other shoulder trying to pull it off Gale. Gale holds up two white glowing fingers and attacks the pressure points in the demon arm, hitting the wrist, elbow and shoulder joints, the demon arm falls limp to the floor. My other arm suddenly blazes towards Gale, sharp nails digging and ripping into Gale's face taking out one of his eyes, blood sprays across the walls and some lands in the fire and sizzles, Gale's scream of pain brings four monks rushing into his hut, immediately penetrating my limbs with those wretched glowing weapons once more, I am really starting to get irritated at these monks for that particular reason, I may be possessed by a demon but it is still my body.

A monk stands over me with his sword, readying to plunge it into my heart, Gale leaps up and knocks him aside, clasps his hands together and his eyes closed tight in concentration, white light shoots out from his body like a force field, knocking all the monks back away from me, "We will not kill him!" Gale says to the monks with authority, "I am your elder and if you do not trust in my judgment you will be banished" the four monks look disgruntled, it's very clear they are not happy with me being here but they bow and leave the hut with me still pinned to the floor by their weapons.

"I apologize for my brothers and sisters, they are still mourning the deaths of those from your first encounter," Gale says to me as he holds a glowing palm to his face, he moves his hand and there are terrible scars left behind and an empty eye socket. Guilt grips at me with its tight clutches and I choke on my words as I try to apologize, Gale cuts me off "It is okay Child, it is not your fault, this old body is not as fast as it once was" he smiles warmly at me. "For the time being I must leave you pinned down unfortunately, though it breaks my heart to do so but the demon posses a great threat to us all, including yourself", a look of sorrow crossing his face briefly, "we need to rework and strengthen the wards placed on you to subdue Valzure".

Gale stands over me, "This will hurt but try and bear it" he says seriously, both his hands glowing, they push into my chest and grab my heart, immense pain runs through my body, It's as if my insides have been filled with fire, I scream and Valzure's scream joins mine, my vision blurs, body shaking and thrashing about wildly but unable to do much because of the weapons penetrating through my limbs, suddenly it's over, Gale slumps down next to me looking very tired and worn, "That should hold for a while, but we will have to do it a few more times in order to strengthen the wards properly. He pulls the weapons from my limbs and lays his glowing hands over the wounds healing them almost completely, "You will stay with us for a while and train your body and mind to help you control the demon possing you, It is the best that we can offer. Come, walk with me child, I'll show you to your lodgings while you stay".

We leave the hut together, I am greeted by the most amazing sunset I have ever seen, shades of pink, yellow and orange stream across the sky as the big fiery ball sinks slowly on the horizon, the monk village bathed in a golden light. I stop for a second to watch as tears start to stream from my eyes, my wife Pamela, would always sit outside peeling vegetables with our daughters for dinner, chatting and laughing, watching the sunsets, they were so beautiful. Gale sensing my pain lays a warm consoling hand on my shoulder, I force my gaze away and follow him down a worn dirt path, it is then that I notice the gaze of everyone we pass, strong and full of hatred, never leaving me, following me the whole way through the village.

The village half calved in the side of a mountain and the other half down in the valley, huts made from boulders stuck together by clay with thatched roofs, smoke billowing from stone chimneys and candlelight fluttering through their small round windows as night starts to set in, mothers calling their children home. "We live off the land" Gale explains to me, "We take only what we need and nothing more, you will learn this through your training", we eventually reach a small hut at the edge of the forest, "This will be yours, it needs a little bit of love and care, but it will be home, come find me tomorrow and we will begin your training", Gale bids me farewell for the evening and walks back up the path towards the village.

I step inside the hut and look around, there's a wooden bed frame with a mattress and pillow made from straw, a small fireplace along one of the side walls and a small table and chair in the opposite corner. I head for the bed and fall onto it, suddenly feeling very drained and tired, falling into a restless sleep. My dreams are plagued with horrible nightmares, I see myself standing in my home, the bodies of my wife and children lying on the floor in front of me, my hands covered in their blood, I fall to my knees screaming and crying. I wake in a cold sweat, my face wet with tears, I've been crying in my sleep. I get out of bed and walk to the small round window to see the sun just starting to peek out from the horizon, birds just starting to chirp. I catch something move out the corner of my eye and turn my attention towards it but it's gone, thinking nothing of it I make my way to a wooden basin just outside my door and fill it with cool crisp water from a nearby pitcher and wash my face, the cold water stinging my face slightly but it's refreshing.

I walk back up along the dirt path, it seems I am one of the first people in the village to wake. I reach Gale's hut and knock at the door, there's no answer, I push the door open and carefully step inside, "Hello? Elder Gale are you here?" from the shadows at the end of the hut, knives come flying out at me, I create a magic shield and the knives bounce off in different directions, immediately I retaliate using my combat magic learned from the tower of magicians, I conjure five blue glowing crystal balls and shoot them in the direction the knives came from, from the light of the balls I see a strange shadow clambering to get out of the way, a dark shadow tendril lurks towards me, "Illuminate!" I shout out and a bright ball of light forms in my hand, I throw it up towards the roof to light up the hut, to my horror I see my wife standing before me, her ghostly face distorting, clothes torn and ragged and her feet covered in blood, her body transparent. She floats towards me, fear and grief holding my legs in place. Screaming like a banshee she lays a hand on my throat and starts to squeeze, her touch burning my flesh yet there is no fire about her at all, I attempt to scream but it comes out struggled.

"It's all your fault!" she screams at me, her grip getting tighter, "You killed them! You killed me! I thought you loved us!" I break down in tears and gentle cup her ghostly cheeks in my hands, I pull her in and kiss her and she loosens her grip, breaks the kiss and stares me tenderly in the eyes before she disappears, Gale walks through the door just in time to see the kiss and watches Pamela disappear, "It seems your wife has been haunting you, she is a strong spirit" he says seriously. I lay on the floor clutching at my neck, coughing and gasping for air, a burn left across my throat in the shape of her hand, "Let me heal that for you" Gale offers, I push his hands away, finally catching my breath, "It is a mark I must bare" I reply, Gale says nothing, he walks over to his table and brings a salve over to me, "It will alleviate the pain at least" Gale says to me in a compassionate way. "Let us eat and then we will begin your training."