Memories Of Another

Chapter 6

Velvet and Seres had managed to get a room at the local inn just for the two of us. Of course, asking the abbey for lodgings would have been a possibility and would have most likely resulted in far better quality beds. At the same time, the risk of Velvet's daemonic nature being discovered would have skyrocketed tremendously. Not to mention this way the two of them could talk to each other without the chance of an exorcist eavesdropping on them.
V

elvet was placed on her bed, allowing herself a bit of comfort for the time being. Truth to be told, the desire to just lying down and letting sleep claim her was great, considering she had slept the past three years on the cold and wet ground of her cell. However before she allowed her body to relax fully, there was something she needed to know beforehand.
"You were awfully protective of that Malak back at the storage room," the daemon noted. Seres was currently looking out of the window, watching the people passing by. She was still listening to the black-haired woman at the same time.
"Velvet, aren't you at the very least a little curious why I of all people would want to help you kill Artorius?" Seres asked, getting some red bangs out of her face.
Velvet in return frowned, well she had been doing this the whole time anyway, it just deepened. The daemon woman hadn't really thought about this up to this point if she was honest. Back at the prison island, she saw a chance to escape. When their ragtag group of escapees stole the ship, she was busy trying to prevent the ship from sinking. And up until they arrived in Hellawes, she was busy watching out for daemons and planning the journey ahead. Now that she actually sat down and thought about Seres' actions so far, it became blatantly apparent that the Malakhim was acting weird in more ways than just one.
"People think us Malakhim are unfeeling," Seres spoke up again after a period of silence. "That we're just tools that can easily be replaced once broken. A lot of exorcists will happily throw away our lives for their own survival."
Seres turned to Velvet. Despite Seres' mask, the woman could see that the gaze of the redhead was hard. "There was a time were Malakhim and humans worked together hand in hand in a symbiotic fashion. But those times have long passed. Nowadays the exorcists suppress our wills, in order to turn us into their obedient little pets."
Velvet raised an eyebrow at this piece of information. That was something she had never considered in her life and how should she? Until she became a daemon, she couldn't even see the Malakhim. And all the information, albeit slim information, she had about Malaks was that they were mainly soulless beings, only there to be used by the exorcists to protect the people from daemons.
"If the exorcists suppress the wills of all Malakhim, how come you have regained your free will?" Velvet asked. "Artorius isn't someone to let his guard down even at the worst times."
"Hmph." Seres almost chuckled. She sat down on the oppositely positioned bed, before continuing on. "Artorius himself doesn't even know us Malakhim have our own will. And even if he does now, he and many others will continue to use for their own benefit. They don't care about us. They only care about their "reason."
"I see," Velvet nodded, understanding. "To them, you've become essential for their end goals. You're too valuable just to let you go and do your own thing, so to speak."
"Indeed," the Malakhim agreed. "I was able to break free from Artorius due to his lack of knowledge, but I doubt others will be as successful as I am. I have the added benefit that Artorius was and still is working towards a far grander goal, one that takes away a lot of his attention."
"And what do you expect of me now? If you think I will help you free all of your little Malak friends, then you can forget it," Velvet said sternly.
"Oh, I am well aware that you place your end goal above everything else," Seres said with a smirk. "But in the end, we both get what we want. Getting rid of Artorius is an important step towards the freedom of all Malakhim. I am not making myself any illusions that the enslavement of my kind will simply end because of his death."
"Huh, so this is your reason for freeing me. Whatever," Velvet waved off. "As long as you don't get in my way, I don't care. But do not expect me to spare any Malakhim just because of you," the daemon said sternly.
Seres schooled her expression. "As I said, I won't make myself any false illusion. A lot of blood will flow, be it that of humans or that of Malakhim. At least their souls will be free in the afterlife. I personally prefer death over enslavement any day."
Velvet eyed the woman on the opposite bed for a couple of minutes, before turning her attention elsewhere. Not even bothering to take off her equipment, be it weapon or clothes, the young woman laid down on her bed.
"We should get some rest while we can," the daemon said and closed her eyes. Seres allowed a smile to appear on her lips and she approached the bed in which the daemon was lying in. She then sat down on the bed and before Velvet could adequately react to the unexpected companionship, Seres held her hand above Velvet's back and started using a soothing healing arte.
"What are you doing?" Velvet asked, her voice on edge, although she couldn't deny the feeling of relaxation that went through her muscles.
"A lot of strain has been put on your body these past few years. Daemon or not, I prefer to make sure you will be at your peak at all times, in case we will be dragged into a fight."
Velvet scoffed and looked away. "Don't expect any thanks out of me," she said and closed her eyes again. Despite the words of the daemon, Seres continued smiling, as she went to work on Velvet's body. Daemon bodies may be far sturdier than that of humans or even Malakhim, but that didn't mean they were invincible. Plus Seres had been suppressing her big sister instincts this whole time. The Malak was sure she would explode if she didn't do something ASAP.
XXX
In the meantime in the lobby of the inn, Magilou and Minato just arrived from their small walk through the town and were pleasantly surprised when they heard that Seres had already reserved some rooms for them.
"What a generous Malak companion we have," Magilou had commented. "And who am I to throw her generosity to the wind? I think I will rest my heavy eyes for now. It has been a rather eventful day after all."
Minato had just nodded and the two had parted ways on the stairwell. As it turned out, the blue-haired boy was sharing a room with the samurai daemon. Said daemon was currently busy training, having taken off all clothes covering the upper part of his body. Minato had no idea where Rokurou had gotten the training sword from, but the man was currently busy swinging it in a way similar to how Minato used to train in kendo club.
"Hah! Hah! Hel! Lo! Mi! Na! To!" Rokurou greeted the boy, each syllable being accompanied by a swing of the stick.
Minato nodded back and placed the bag he had been carrying the whole time into a corner of the room. "Training?" he asked the swordsman, who nodded. After two more swings, Rokurou stopped and took on a more comfortable stand.
"It's been years since my last real fight. The battle we had back at Titania showed me just how rusted I have truly become," the daemon said with a competitive grin. "I have to admit, from what I have seen, you're not too bad of swordsman yourself."
Minato shrugged. "I attended kendo classes," was the boy's simple reply. His visible eye then wandered to the stick Rokurou was holding. "Do you have a second one of those?"
Rokurou's grin practically became feral when he heard those words. He tossed Minato the wooden sword he had been holding and produced a second one from under the bed. For a moment Minato wondered why the swordsman put them under the bed, but that was also all the time he had to think, for Rokurou was already on the offensive.
XXX
Two hours later, both human and daemon were laying on the ground, bruised and completely and utterly exhausted. Both of them were sweating bullets and their sticks had multiple cracks in them, indicating just how strong their blows.
"Phew," Rokurou let out a breath. "For someone as skinny as you, you're really strong."
"Thanks," Minato replied. "I have to be if I want to protect my friends."
"Your friends, huh?" the daemon repeated. "I guess we all have our reasons for fighting."
"Yeah…"
For a few minutes, the two simply remained on the floor and stared at the ceiling. Rokurou was the first one who recovered enough to get back up on his feet. He walked over to his belongings and produced a jug filled with sake. He filled a small cup with the alcoholic drink and drank it all in one go.
"I would offer you some of that, but I take it you're still underage."
"I don't see the appeal," Minato replied honestly and got up from the ground himself.
"You will see once you become of age," the swordsman replied and poured another cup. After emptying this one as well, he closed the bottle and put the cup away. "I hope you're ready for another round tomorrow. This was fun. It's been a while since I have sparred with someone who could keep up with me." Rokurou laughed, but then all of a sudden his expression became thoughtful. "You know, I wonder if Velvet is up for some training. Fighting on equal terms with another daemon will only help us both get stronger."
Minato thought for a moment. "People will notice you're daemons if you go all out," the blue-haired boy pointed out.
"Hmm, too true," Rokurou nodded, crossing his arms. His smile, however, returned relatively quickly as he found a solution to the small problem. "In that case, all we have to do is go out of town. I'm sure there are plenty of places where the two of us can have a spar. Maybe we could even hunt for some daemons until the ship is repaired."
"I don't think she will agree with the latter," Minato opined, sitting down onto his bed. It definitely was not as good as the one back at home, but it was a huge improvement over the prison cell he had been stuck in these past few months. There were a lot of things that the wild card had to think about, but given how the past 48 hours went for him, one could forgive the poor boy for simply lying down on the bed and almost immediately falling asleep. He managed to mumble out a "'Night," before his brain shut down completely.
Rokurou looked over at the sleeping boy and shook his head. "Eh, he needs some stamina training." Only a second later a yawn escaped the daemon's throat. "On the other hand, it'll be great to sleep in a real bed again." Having made up his mind, Rokurou followed the young one's example and crashed onto the mattress. In a matter of minutes, all was silent inside the inn of Hellawes, aside from the occasional snoring of one of the guests.
XXX
Sadly for one individual sleep wasn't an option at the moment. Oscar Dragonia was tired that much was true. However, he couldn't allow himself to go to bed just yet, even though the doctor ordered otherwise. He was sitting inside his cabin on board the "Swift Judgement," candles enlightening his room as he read through his available documents. The gentle shaking of the ship was something he had yet to get used to, but it was nothing compared to his eye that occasionally still felt like it was on fire.
Sighing in slight frustration, Oscar put one document away and retrieved the next. Specifically, he was going over the papers he had about the escaped prisoners, but sadly there wasn't much to go on. The first prisoner that had been seen fleeing with Seres and the daemon Velvet was known merely as Magilou. Officially she had been arrested as being a con artist and… assaulting Lord Melchior? Oscar's healthy eye blinked twice and he reread the report just to make sure he didn't make a mistake. But no doubt about it, this girl had assaulted none other than Lord Melchior for some baffling reason or other. It would at least explain why a con artist had been sent to his prison. Why she was escaping with a daemon, Oscar could only guess that the girl used the opportunity.
Shaking his head, the praetor retrieved the next report. Rokurou Rangetsu, a man that had become a yaksha daemon, a daemon craving for war. The name could be just a coincidence, but it was very likely that the daemon was indeed related to Lord Shigure. If so, Oscar could see how the family Rangetsu wanted to keep their own locked away, so the family's honor would be left unstained. He had more than a few prisoners like that, human and daemon alike. Rokurou probably was driven to the daemon Velvet due to the carnage she left behind. Even though Oscar still lacked a classification for the daemon, he could see how the two could work together, even if only temporarily. After all, the mood of a daemon was unpredictable at the best of times.
The next prisoner was a bit of an odd one. Not even being a fully adult, the blue-haired boy had been locked up due to protecting a daemon child from an exorcist. Stories like this were not uncommon as a lot of people didn't see the danger daemons represented, be they family members or otherwise close to the person until it was too late. The boy managed to do quite the damage and after seeing his unique abilities firsthand, Oscar could see how. Up until the prison escape, the praetor had never seen a human actively summoning a daemon. Sure there were those who aimed to become monsters for their own selfish gains, a most despicable bunch the lot, but this here was something completely different.
Oscar had made a rough sketch of the daemon "Orpheus" as it had called itself and from seeing it just on paper, it might go through as an odd looking Malakhim. Maybe it was a Malakhim and Oscar had merely judged too early. Speculation aside, no matter what ability this boy possessed, he was dangerous. This information needed to reach Lord Artorius as quickly as humanly possible.
Speaking of information, there was still the matter about the daemon Velvet. Oscar hadn't even known she was a prisoner of his until she made her escape attempt. Finding a report about her had been impossible as well, as it had either been destroyed or never existed in the first place. Oscar was no fool. He knew there were secrets out there that even he, a praetor, knew nothing about and there was always a reason for those secrets to be kept away from everyone. He speculated that this daemon had been considered so dangerous that she was best kept away for the time being. Why she hadn't been killed or any of the other daemons had not been killed, he didn't question. Sure he would like to know, but if his superiors deemed him unworthy of such knowledge than that was that.
Still, for the moment he needed to focus on informing said superiors that an escape had happened. Sadly the storm had delayed his voyage considerably, giving the daemons, humans and Seres a head start.
Oscar paused in his train of thought, as the image of the red-haired Malakhim appeared in his mind. This was the most significant piece of the puzzle that confused him. Malakhim had no free will. It was utterly inconceivable for one to have one. So how came it to be that Seres not only helped the prisoners' escape but also actively fought alongside them? Surely Lord Artorius had not ordered his Malakhim to do just that. Plus judging from her own words, it didn't seem very likely. So what exactly was going on?
But it was no use. No matter how much Oscar thought about it, the entire situation didn't make a lick of sense to, aside from the prisoners wanting to escape, that was nothing new. It wasn't even the first attempt. A few prisoners had tried their luck in the past, only to get killed in the most gruesome way possible. This was the first successful attempt and it was just successful because the daemons had help from outside.
Again his thought process returned to Seres and Oscar quickly realized that he was going in circles at this point. He needed more information if he wanted to come to any kind of satisfying conclusion. For the moment all he could do was warn the Lords that a dangerous daemon was on the loose and await their next orders.