A quiet evening in a little village town.

I swing open the door to the tavern. Sure enough there are a few loud drunks, a few quiet ones nursing their glasses and even a few people in travel cloaks in the corner of the tavern.

The barkeep is a gruff old man with a salt and pepper beard and a smooth blad cap above the ears. He seems to be cleaning a glass as we walk up to the bar.

"Staying busy tonight?" I ask the man. A little impatient to get some beer and food in me.

"Aye, it's been steady." He replies as he eyes my cheap dress up and down.

"I'll have a round of something strong for me and the girl. Got anything to eat here?" I ask the man while trying to ignore the stab of pain in my gut.

"The old lady has got stew and bread in the fire."

"Let me get three of those. The bread as soon as it's ready." My stomach roars at me. The smells I followed from the door now coming into clarity.

The barkeep slaps two foaming beer In front of us. Then takes a step around the corner to bark out our orders.

I sip at my beer and take a look around the room. The drinks are having a laugh and playing some kind of dice game along the table.

The travelers seem like some young men on a quest or something. Light padded armor and sword belts along their booths.

A pretty blonde woman flits between the tables. She's all smiles and cheer as she flirts with the travelers and talks shit with the drunks.

This beer is good. I can only sip at it for now though.

"So your name is Alicia? Am I saying that right?"

The red woman besides me almost jumps at her name. Then she slowly releases her tension as she responds. " There's an S.. it's Alesia."

"Nice to meet you. My name is.." I pause for a second. I can be whoever I want to be now. I could take my birth name.. or..

"I'm Daemon. Believe it or not, I'm not from this world. I didn't buy you to abuse you. I bought you because I couldn't just.. leave you like that."
I fumble out words untill I run out of them.

The silence between us grows awkward.

"So you are Daemon from another world. You bought me to..not leave me..."

. . .

I sip at my beer to buy time to think.

"Here you go. Fresh out the kitchen"

I turn to face my food and begin eating. It's so hot it burns my mouth.. but still I eat.

I nibble at the bread as I swallow soup, vegetables and meat.  For the first time in a long time.. I'm not so angry.

I glance over to Alisia. She is glancing around, then staring at me.

"What's wrong? Do you not eat this?" I ask curiously.

"No it's.. I just wasn't allowed to eat at the same table as my Mistress before.. am I expected to eat with you now?" She asks, her voice barely above a whisper in her uncertain way.

"Yes, yes dig in and let me know if you need more?" I say as I turn from her and dive into my second bowl.

Alisia picks up her spoon and slowly starts eating. She perks up a bit as she tastes the stew.

Soon I'm my stomach is full of warm food and my body says with exhaustion. I wave the barkeep over to pay my tab and buy another round. I get a room from him as well. I'm told there will be a fire started shortly.

I'm halfway through my last beer when one of the drunks from the table walks up to the bar.

"Ain't right. Havin' ta animals eat at the table. Nooo noo it's wrong, ya hear? We are men. The beasts belong outside in the elements eating with their claws." He spews. The his breath wafting over me as he slouches against the hard wood.

"Fuck.. Off." I snarl at him. I'm not in the mood for all of this tonight. All I want is something soft to lay on. I'm not even 10 minutes from bed.

"Heey, hey now. That's not real friendly of ya. You're  new in town aren't ya? An' ain't that the old seamstress slave? What's she doing in here." He takes a step around me and grabs Alisia's arm. She immediately lowers her head and gets down from her stool. The picture of obedience.

I clench my fist and feel flesh beneath my fingers.

I'm holding the drunk by the neck. I'm straining as I squeeze. I feel almost as shocked as he looks as his eyes bulge in his head. Already his face is turning red, the area around my fingers going blue.

He claws at me now. His eyes a mixture of anger and pleading.

"Fuck.. Off." I say again. The white hot anger boiling over in my voice.

The drunk table gets to their feet, starting to sober up in the atmosphere.

The barkeep yells at the top of his lungs. "NOT IN HERE! TAKE THAT SHIIIT OUTSIDE!!!"

I hold every eye on the inn. The man in my grasp is beginning to go limp and it's a struggle to hold him from my chair.

I push him to fall on his ass. He chokes and sputters like I just fished him from the sea. I walk around him, driving my foot through his nose as I make my way out of the bar, one eye on his buddies.

Within moments I am outside the tavern in the middle of town with 5 drunk assholes in a half circle around me. Alisia is  standing by the entrance to the inn. The man who started shit is in the middle of the group, eyes bloodshot.

"Ya want ta eat wit' ta animals, ya can sleep in the street with them too Half-y." The ignorant shithead starts as he tries to get his boys hot for the fight. "Let's get em. Then we can take turns on the girl."

Alisia wraps her arms around her middle. I can't see her face..

I don't want to..

"You stupid little shit. I just wanted to hurt you.. but you will not shut your fucking mouth about my woman."

I take a step forward..

Then another..

Then another..

My soul burns with my anger.

"I will kill you."

The drinks close their circle around me, one raises a bottle to try and smash my head in.

My magical will wraps around and shatters the bottle, shards of glass flying in every direction. The man's hand is a ruin of blood and loose skin.

The screaming begins.

The man closest to my left takes a step forward, hurling a haymaker towards my face.

I duck beneath the wild blow, my arms wrapping around his middle. I force his body between me and my combatants.

The drunk basterd starts kicking out his legs. His arms flailing.

I send my will through my hands and soon his shirt is a fire.

His flailing grows wilder.

The screams intensify.

I smile.

I let go of the man and give him a kick in the back to go meet his friends. They don't even catch him. He ends up falling to the dirt, twisting and turning. The fire starts to die out.

But now I can smell the fear in them. They didn't know I could do that.

"He's a.. a Wizard." The skinniest of the bunch says. "We ain't fighting no Wizard."

"He's a monster fucker." Says the ugly one with my hand print around my neck. "We can't just let that happen. Not in this Gods Blessed village." He looks around at his friends. They don't meet his eye. One of them is still nursing his ruined hand.

I look at the skinny one. A crooked smile still on my face.

"Even if you run. I'll find you." I say with all the malice in my voice.

The skinny one holds my gaze for moment. Then he's all ass and elbows as he takes off, nearly tripping on himself.

The angry drunk roars at me like a beast as he pulls out a knife from his boot and charges me. His last friend draws a blade from his waist and shadows him.

I think of my options..

I refuse to retreat.

So that leaves one option.

I push forward.

I roar right back at my assailants and I run.

My legs pumping with all the adrenaline I have in me.

My enemy raises his blade, the drives it down to slash me across the the face.

I swing my arm, my hand catching his wrist as I force the blade away from my body.

We slam into each other. Both of us falling on our asses.

His buddy gets on top of me. He seems to be the only sober one here and this is not his first time using a blade on someone.

With brutal efficiency, he straddles me and drives the knife towards my chest. I raise my arms.

NOOO!!!

My mana surges. I can't even tell where it's going.

The man on top of me pops.

He explodes like a balloon full of the bits and pieces of man that got way too full way too fast.

The sound of a man's spine splintering into pieces as he comes apart.. that's the part of this I will simply never forget.

His legs still straddle me.

His waist is still over my belly.

Some of him got in my mouth.

Pause..

"Y-y-you killed him." The last idiot begins by stating the obvious.

"You killed him. You ran your big mouth and now your friend is dead." I roll the remains off of me and climb to my feet. "I told you.. to fuck off. But you just had to show me and your friends and the whole world just how much of a stupid fuck you are."

I kick at the legs of his dead partner. "Tell him again. Tell him why he had to die.."

The idiot just looks at the topless body like a lost puppy.

I consider letting him live for a moment.

I look over to Alisia. She's got that dead look in her eye again.

Yea.. mercy isn't evil is it.

I combust the air around my hand as I stalk down the last of my enemies. His mouth starts working but he's not really moving.

I grab the back of his head and shove my burning fist into his mouth.

It's kind of funny at first. Watching the man try and pull his face away and keep his mouth shut. But the fire burns so hot.

The flames lick up his nose as he tries to breathe. His jaw opens as he tries to scream.

His tongue boils first as I jam my fist into his mouth.

"I will fist fuck the stupid right out of your skull."

The fire around my fist grow more intense. His cheeks glow from the inside before the fire starts eating away at them.

It's not long after that his body falls away from me. The flames crawling down the skin of his neck. A mess of charred teeth and blackened flesh all that's left of the man who ruined my night.

"Alisia. We need to go. I doubt they are gonna let me sleep in that bed in there when I've left bodies on their doorstep."

I look down the main road into the darkness of the forest, then I look back down at the bodies I've left behind me. The man with the ruined hand has stopped his screaming, he's just sobbing to himself now.

"Fuck.. to be honest I do hate survivors." I pick up a handful of pebbles on the side of the road..

Alisia and I walk into the darkness of the forest then minutes later when she asks "Why do you have survivors?"

I look at her from the corner of my eye. Then I turn to the path in front of me.

"If you start showing mercy and leaving people alive, they go on to tell people that they lived. That's how you get assholes from every corner of the world coming after you."

It's dark up ahead on the trail. I can barely see a thing. When you look into the abyss..

"No. When I kill people.. I will kill everything they know and love. Let people really weigh the cost of coming for me. Don't let anyone hear about the time they faced Daemon and lived to tell the tale.."

It's silent for moment..

...

"What about that one you let get away?" Alisia asks..

...

...

I don't reply.