This Demon of Mine

VI

Zahi was curled up on his bed trying to summon any energy that he could get from his powers, he wasn't sure how they worked since no one ever taught him how to use them, they were just trying to take them away from him. He kept staring at his palm and thinking hard about the glow he saw. He started thinking about Nox and a spark came up from his palm, his eyes went wide and he tried to recreate the feeling to get a bigger reaction.
He focused as hard as he could when he started to see a glow from the lines in his palm, but instead of a blue light it was red. The glow grew brighter until a flame went up in his hand.
As soon as the flame grew a sharp pain went off in his head, he grabbed the sides of his head trying to numb the pain, but the flame seemed to trigger something inside of him.

He was in a distant memory, everything was hot and humid, the stench was unbearable, he was being carried by someone, a woman, she was holding him close and whispering to him,
"You're going to be alright Zahi, they can't hurt you, I won't let them."
Mom.
He remembered her, but it wasn't his mother from heaven, it was his real mother.
He was probably no older than 2 or 3 in this memory,
"Zaib, this is for his own good. He doesn't belong here. We cannot let his power escape into this world. He will not be able to control it."

"No, he'll be fine, I know it, I can raise him so that-"

"Enough! Give me the child!"
Zahi looked up and saw his father from heaven, but he looked more rugged.

"I'm sorry Zahi, forgive me..."

The memory ended with his mother's face staring at him with tears in her eyes as she grew further away.
He got a good look at her though, the same tanned skin as him with dark brown eyes.
The only thing that really got his attention though were the horns growing from the side of her head.

"My mother was a demon." Zahi whispered to himself and stared at his hand in disbelief.
The flame was smaller now and he quickly waved his hand to put it out. He looked back to see a patch of burnt skin where the flame was.
Maybe I need some more practice.

While Zahi was inspecting his hand he heard some angels walking through the hallway, he quickly walked towards the door to see if he could hear anything.

"Any progress on the little devils powers?"

"None so far ma'am. He hasn't shown any signs of possessing knowledge or control of them."

"Well keep digging then. They have to be in there somewhere."

Their footsteps stopped in front of his door and he threw himself back into his bed just in time for them to enter the room and point at him,
"You, now."

He knew better than to resist, it would only make it harder on him and the other kids. He got up slowly and shakily walked down the hall towards the room.
It's not forever, you can make it.
Do it for the other kids.

He nearly fainted as he got strapped into the chair. Luckily they weren't doing much cutting today, just lots of needles and brain monitors.
He tried to clear his mind so they wouldn't pick up any signals that he didn't want them knowing about.

After more of their tests, they seemed to get bored or gave up on trying to find whatever they were looking for and start to unstrap him from all the equipment.

He couldn't help but feel like something was wrong though, usually he's filled with joy the moment his wrist restraints come off. But something was in the back of his mind, screaming for him, begging for his attention. He wanted to say it was Nox but it wasn't the same warm tone of his, this voice was colder.
It demanded more, had a sharper pitch to it, he couldn't make out what it was saying but he didn't like the tone of it.
He tried his best to ignore it as the guards escorted him back to his room. Once they reached the door, the voice grew louder and it only got worse once he was alone after they took his roommate away.
Embrace...
Embrace it.
He could only make out those two words, the rest of what it was saying was jumbled up and sounded as if it was in a whole other language.
He was doing everything he could to make out what it was saying when he eventually heard a second voice. Finally, he heard the voice of his best friend again. It sounded like he was praying to him, begging him to help.
The way he was speaking to him broke Zahi's heart and he couldn't help but silently cry listening to him.
He could feel jolts of pain all over his body, everywhere from his back to his face. He must have done something bad because, to Zahi, it felt like torture.

Hold on just a little longer Nox, I promise I will find you.
Zahi tried his best to reach out to him, but wether he heard him or not was something he couldn't be sure of.

As he sat in his bed feeling helpless, he looked down to the scar on his palm. Maybe this power could help him to talk to Nox?
He decided to give it a try and reach out to the voice in his head.

Hello? I'm not sure who or what you are, but I need your help, I need to control you. I know I can, I'm just not sure how yet. Please help me.

Focus Zahi. Focus on my voice, how I feel in your mind. Take this feeling and push it through to his.

Zahi was startled to hear the voice talking back.
He was expecting nothing to respond and he felt kind of stupid for talking to himself in the first place, but he focused on the cool and composed feeling of the voice and thought his words with the same composure.

Nox, it's me, Zahi. Can you hear me?

Z-Zahi? Where are you?! I can't see you! Please hurry, they won't stop!

Hearing such pain and defeat in his voice was worse than death, but he knew he had to calm him down and make sure he knew to hold on just a little bit longer.

It's alright, you're going to be ok. I'm only in your head right now, but I promise we'll see each other soon enough, for now you must promise me that you'll wait for me. I will find you and we'll be together again. Just please stay strong for as long as you can.

...I understand. But please, I miss you... so much.

I miss you more Nox, and don't forget that I lo-

Before Zahi could get out his sentence, he was hit by a wave of pain. His head was pounding and he couldn't focus on anything.

It's time Zahi, it's time you fully embrace who you are.

What? What are you talking about???

We're talking about your past, your history, your heritage. Everything that makes you who you are, you need to understand where you came from.

But.. I can't remember.

Don't worry, we will show you...

Zahi's splitting headache went away as the voice faded which gave him instant relief.
He was having trouble taking everything in.
His heritage? Where he came from? What did that even mean?
He had no idea how to start finding answers so he decided that sleep would be the best option for him right now.

As he laid down on his bed, he looked down at his hands. He focused all the energy he could gather to his palms and let the feeling take over his mind. In a split second, a bright blue glow appeared and twirled around his palm, he smiled to himself and let the feeling fade away.
He started to drift off to sleep, not noticing the flame turn a crimson red as it made its way back into his body.