Swartze

One last week of delays, I'll have more time after that so I'll prob release two or three chapters in that week to make up for it. Thnx for reading and commenting, have a good week.

“It’s finally done. The snake bit her,” said Damon.

“Is she unconscious?” asked Stolas hurriedly. Stolas had rushed over to Damon when he heard of the opportunity which had delivered itself to them. For now, he flew over the area to inform Damon if anything appeared.

“Yes, why?”

“You must give her the command to love you unconditionally forever, or else if she stops loving you, you will lose the power over her.”

“That sounds like something you should have told me before, no?”

“Even I forget. Now do it.”

Damon crouched down, “I, Damon ke Stolas order you to love me for all of eternity.” Damon decided to add a few other clauses, “don’t let anyone know our relationship changed since today. Say that you defeated the voracino. Say that you were the one to give restoration potions to everyone. Don’t tell anyone about my shapeshifting or transformative powers. And forget I’m a demon. Finally, if someone says they’re from the Tree do as they say, however, my words are absolute, and no command can overwrite that fact.”

“Did you, do it?” yelled Stolas in Damon’s mind.

“Yes, yes, relax. It’s done, but still thanks for the help. I don’t know what I would’ve done without you.”

“Yes, you should love me. Now as your lover I order you to heal as many people as possible, if she’s the only person that comes back, you’ll be sent to the chopping block for conspiracy against the duke.”

Damon ran back to grab the supply bag. But before he could heal the others, he took out a flask. Inside it, a brown liquid, not too dissimilar to tar clung to the glass, clumps of hair winded endlessly within it.

Damon quickly erected an earth wall, dug out a small hole in which he stuck the flask. When he released the spell, the earth plunged back down into the ground, and with it the evidence of the black magic potion disappeared. It was a level seven black magic curse, which lowered a target emotional state requirement, in this case, the target being Andrea. This had been provided to him by Stolas.

Although the ease at which he made Andrea fall into slavery terrified Damon, he wondered how this was fair. But in truth there wasn’t difference between this and getting shot or chained up and being shipped across the Atlantic.

These contemplations had to end. He had to heal everyone before they passed. First, he drank a potion to heal the small stab wound he inflicted on himself. The guts seen previously were a prop he got from a casualty.

Anyhow, his mana had almost hit zero when he released his shadow bind which had slowed down, and tired everyone enough for the two beasts to win. As such, he also took a mana potion, which didn’t give him more than ten points; however, that would be enough to defend himself and the others against a wolf. He proceeded to feed Andrea and everyone still breathing a potion. Andrea, who suffered the fewest serious wound woke up after a minute. She went straight to him and gave him a hug and whispered in his ear, “fuck me tonight.”

Damon pushed her back, “I order you to act as if nothing in our relationship changed today.” He was disgusted by her, not only due to her human body but also what she represented and had become. He was disgusted by himself.

Andrea took a step back, “This was a hard fight. I’m just glad some of us survived.” She turned to the people still lying on the forest floor. “We’ll have to recompense their families, but this was just a few deaths, I can’t imagine how it’s going to be in a few months when the war begins.”

Damon wondered how the demonic item functioned and how it modified her internal dialogue. He kind of wanted to try it on himself and see what level of awareness the victim had. Perhaps her true self was locked deep inside her conscious and could do nothing but scream in anger. But since her character hadn’t changed other than the fact, she would die for him it made him shiver. It was nothing like the brain control movies where the targets went grey and emotionless. He wished Andrea’s friend would come, notice the change in Andrea, scream, and cry in her face until the spell broke. At least then Damon could know that if the same happened to him he could be saved in the future.

Perhaps I should release her. Thought, Damon. Well, I’ll at least wait until her task has come to an end. Andrea was a good person who didn’t deserve such treatment. She was an innocent, good, and honest person, whose only sin was to be born the daughter of a duke. But then again, in a few months she will become a war time general or commander just as complicit as the duke or any other high officer.

#

In the end seven soldiers survived, and from those seven only three could walk. Fernando, on the other hand, had lost too much blood and didn’t wake up the same day. Thankfully, he was still alive and would live since losing such a high-levelled mage against a beast, would spell doom for any noble less than a count, and would severely crumple even the strongest of dukes. Damon, Andrea, and the three soldiers with enough strength to work made a giant sled for the injured. They tied it with vines to the lizard mounts and then slowly, but surely made their way back to the dukedom’s capital.

When they arrived at the city gates, Damon couldn’t wait to take a shower. He didn’t repair his clothes either, it would look a bit weird if he came back neat and clean.

Soon enough the duke came down himself. He immediately went to his daughter. Once he made sure she was well, he searched for Fernando and found him with the other injured individuals. The duke seemed to have a thousand and one question on his mind but held back. The man was alive and could recover, that’s all that mattered for now.

Soldiers brought out stretchers and had started to take away the injured while holy mages started to treat them. In the end, out of the seven heavily wounded soldiers, five survived, and two had passed due to infections.

The duke would certainly ask many questions; however, this didn’t concern Damon. As such he went back to his residence’s garden, took out a large bucket and washed off his body. He looked at his new wound. He had cut himself with the voracino’s stinger for his play. Thankfully, since becoming a Cambion, bacteria and viruses no longer affected him. In all honesty this might have been the most powerful ability he gained since coming here. This made him wonder about his new species, and its perks. If he remembered correctly, it didn’t tell him his life expectancy, meaning, either none ever died, or he was the first.

“Stolas, how many Cambions are there?”

“No clue, but probably very, very few. To make a Cambion you need a demon to sacrifice a great number of souls most demons don’t have access to. And the other being needs to have level 10 black magic potential, which is even harder to find.”

“But they exist.”

“Yes, as I said. They are just very rare, exceedingly so.”

“Then have any of them ever died.”

“Yes. Even demons and angels die. No one, not even gods can escape it.”

“Then how come they didn’t give me a life expectancy.”

Stolas laughed telepathically, “Oh, I understand, you think you’re special. But no, it’s just that a Cambion is a broad term, in your case you’re half me, half-dark elf and you’re the first dark elf I turned into a child. Therefore, you are the first of your kin, maybe you can say you’re special in such regards, but not in the way you imagine it to be.”

“Have you ever made a half-dragon Cambion then?”

“No dragon has ever accepted.”

“Why is that? Cambions seem like stronger versions of their base species.”

Stolas went quiet. “It’s because they’re stubborn, and don’t want to enter a partnership with anyone or anything. They rather die than accept. It’s really a shame.”

“Is that so?” Damon thought about it for a second and ignored the fact it was clear that Stolas was hiding something from him. Anyhow, he had already become one, there was no need to know more, “Then, if not half dragon, what would be the strongest Cambion?”

Stolas took a second to think, “Well, it doesn’t depend much on the species but rather the demon. If a demon king makes you a child, it doesn’t matter what you were before, you are now the child of a demon king. If you become the child of a low-ranking demon, well, then you might end up as a ghoulish type of Cambion without much power other than higher than average regenerative abilities.”

Damon thought back to his new skills, “Does the power you gain depend on the person or is it all the same for every Cambion made from the same Demon.”

“Oh, it depends. It’s based on your personality and base species. The appearance is also variable, as such, some Cambions might take on a body nearly identical to its demonic parent, or they might just grow horns, such as you. Perhaps if I had waited for you to lose all your senses of morality, you would have become a beautiful pitch-black owl. Alas, I didn’t have the time for such luxury.”

“That’s right, do you not have horns?” asked Damon.

“I do, I’m simply transformed to hide my true form.”

“Could I see your true body then?” Damon used a small soap bar to and some cloth to wipe away the grime and dirt from his body.

“I’m a demon prince, royalty in other words. As such I can only show my true form and use the full extent of my powers in hell. The same goes for angels. They may take on the form of beautiful humans. However, in truth they are much less, well, human, and much more angelic in the purest sense of the word.”

Damon nodded, but then wondered where they came from, “From my understanding. This is the first world with life in this universe. In that case where do demons, and angels come from.”

“From this world as well. Demons are the manifestation of desires, and angels are the manifestation of stagnation and emptiness.”

“That’s all well and good, but ignoring the fact angels sound more like the demons if we go by your description, where is hell and heaven?” He placed his long hair in a small bucket and started to untangle them and remove the twigs and bugs which had crept in.

“Under the crust. The top layer is the realm of angels, and the bottom belongs to us, Demons.”

“So, if humans dig deep enough, they will find angels.”

“Yes.”

Damon stopped drying his hair. He had expected Stolas to say, “No it’s in another plain of existence.” But he just got a “Yes.”

“How deep would you need to dig?”

“In all honesty I have no clue. We don’t fly up tunnels to come to the surface.”

Damon stayed quiet and guessed that he wouldn’t find heaven any time soon, if ever. Damon decided to switch back to less earthly matters. “Is there anything else to be done?”

“No, you can sit back and wait. Unfortunately, we must protect the king until Andrea gets married to the prince. When she does in half a year, all hell will break loose. The others still have things to clean up. You had the easiest job if you don’t remember.”

“Well, it would have taken me longer if I didn’t receive your help. I don’t know if I could have even spoken to her, I’m not allowed to enter the mansion after all.”

“Don’t try to flatter me, I know what you want, and you will get it when the whole operation is over.”

Damon felt the communication end. He got out of the tub and took out some noble clothes from his bag. He could get away with saying his clothes were self cleaning, however, self-repairing clothes were something else. He would have to leave and fake getting his clothes repaired for a week or two before putting them back on.

For the rest of the day, he went up to the attic and relaxed in his true form.