Devil Ash Deceit (Devil Ash Saga) (3 page)

Ash awoke
to the sound of Aura's horrible retching. "
Aura
..." he said weakly, turning his head to examine the dead demons and the sleeping child. "
Tell me something
."

"What?"
asked Aura, his voice raspy and tired.

"Am I going to
become one of those
demons
?"

"
What
?
No
! Why would that happen?"

"I got bit."

"No. Why would that turn you into one? That makes no sense."

"Okay," Ash's voice was only a whisper now. "
Good
."

The two boys continued to lie on the rooftop, hoping the demon invasion would be over soon.

Aura awoke ten minutes later to
Ash shaking him. The demon siren could no longer be heard echoing through the kingdom. Examining his surroundings, Aura noticed the small boy was missing.

"Where did that
kid go?" Aura asked.

"Home. He's a
tough kid." Ash said.

"How about you?"

"I'm okay, thanks to you. If you hadn't shown up when you did..."

"
It’s a good thing I followed you, then."

Ash felt a stab in his heart. Aura had followed him? Did he not think Ash could handle himself on his own yet? Perhaps even more painful was the fact that Aura had been
correct in his decision to follow Ash. Without Aura's help he would have surely died this time. Ash thought his training had made him strong enough to deal with anything, but that was obviously far from the truth.

"
Think you can walk?” Aura asked.

Ash stood up on
shaky legs. It hurt, but he could walk. Aura climbed to his feet too. The two moved to the building’s ledge. They were twenty stories up and under normal circumstances it would have been easy enough to glide to the street below. But with Ash's injuries, Aura didn't want to take any chances.

"Just wait here," Aura said. "I'm going to scope things out down below."

Ash nodded, not wanting to get in his friends way again. Bringing his wings out, Aura stepped over the ledge. Using his wings to slow his landing, the boy dropped safely to the street below and began to investigate the situation. Aura walked a few paces forward disappeared behind another building.

Ash paced the ledge trying to keep his friend in his sights. When he got to the corner of the building something unfortunate happened.
Being in South Hell, the buildings weren’t made as sturdy. The part of the building where he stepped crumbled underfoot, making him lose his balance. He brought out his wings but wasn't fast enough to regain his balance. Ash fell off the side of the building as Aura moved further away.

He fell upside down and could not correct himself.
The boy landed head first in a dumpster full of unused demon livestock parts. After the initial pain of the fall wore off, the teen climbed out of the dumpster covered in rotting demon guts. His beloved coat was blood stained and foul smelling now. Gio, his tailor, would be furious with him for ruining it. He brushed the demon guts off the best he could, but it didn't help much.

He
started searching for an exit out of the small courtyard he'd fallen into. From behind him somewhere he could hear a door creaking, but he could not tell if it was opening or closing. He stopped to look around, hoping it would be Aura or some other devil. No such luck though. Across the courtyard Ash saw another werewolf demon entering. He was in luck though, as it hadn't spotted him yet. The boy ducked down behind a bench, hoping to go entirely unnoticed. He couldn't fight in the condition he was in. Hiding and fleeing were his only options.

Ash used the opportunity to study the demon
. It was almost the same size as him, but built with much bulkier muscles. The creature was naked, and a thick dark coat of hair covered most of its flesh. Its face even looked somewhat human, aside from the canine snout and fangs. The creature's nose sniffed curiously about as it twisted its head around, picking up on some invisible scent.

Ash remembered back to when Shiva told him his scent was different from the rest of the devils. He hoped the dumpster diving he’d done recently would mask his human aroma, but he didn’t want to take any chances.
The frightened boy began to back up, hoping he could make it to another door before the demon made it to him. The monster drew closer, sniffing the air more excitedly now. It knew it was on the trail of something especially tasty.

Ash was about to turn and
make a run for it, not caring if the creature spotted him or not. It would be a gamble with his life at stake. He had to make it to the door or become dinner. Before he could move, the door to the courtyard opened again. This time it was another devil that entered, but not one that Ash wanted to see.

"Oh
my
," said a tired looking old man. "This isn’t where I wanted to be."

The demon stopped its excited sniffing. It turned, and upon seeing the old man, it began to
stride confidently towards him. Ash shambled forward as well, albeit much slower, trying to warn the old man.

"Look out!" Ash
called as the demon approached.

"I
t seems I may have spoken too soon," the old man said with a pleasant smile, not the usual reaction of someone who was about to be attacked by a vicious demon. The monster wolfman moved in for the kill. It shot forward fangs first aiming straight for the old man's neck. Ash feared for the stranger’s life but there was nothing he could do now. The boy closed his eyes, not wanting to see the gruesome sight of an old man being torn apart.

A gentle hand on his shoulder made him open his eyes. It was the old man, now standing next to Ash with the same polite smile and a reassuring hand on his shoulder. Ash had to do a double take to make sure he was seeing things correctly. The demon was still across the courtyard, right where the old man had been standing. It had nothing in its jaws and looked just as confused as Ash.

"This is where I
need
to be," he said with utmost confidence.

The wolfman demon became enraged at its lack of a meal, and spun around rapidly
searching for its prey with bloodshot eyes. Ash knew devils could sometimes move in the blink of an eye, as he'd done it before in his fight against Apsat. He never expected such an old man could be capable of doing so, though. His eyes were only closed for a few seconds and it seemed impossible for the old man to move across the courtyard while evading the demon. Yet he had done it somehow.

"
You may want to stand back, boy,” the old man said. He held out his arm and pointed at the creature with his pointer finger. A fireball the size of a marble formed at the tip of his finger.

“Are you crazy old man? That thing’s going to kill us!”

Then as if it were rocket-propelled, the tiny fireball shot forward and pierced the demon through its chest. The creature stopped at once and stood still. Its face twisted into agony and its eyes rolled back in their sockets. The demon burst into flame, flailed about for a second, and then dropped to the ground dead and toasty. All of its fur was burned off and a stream of smoke filled the courtyard.

"
What’s that, boy? I’m a bit hard on hearing these days," the old man said turning to Ash as if nothing impressive had just happened.

Ash’s jaw dropped as he stared in disbelief at his elderly savior.
What a crazy old dude!
was all he could think.

“Cat got your tongue, huh? Well don’t worry, that was the last of the demons. The Kingdom should be cleared now. Why don’t you head outside and take a look around?”

Ash nodded awkwardly and turned to march towards the exit. After several paces he stopped. He could only hear one set of footsteps.
His own
footsteps. He turned around and the old man was already gone.

Despite his best efforts, Ash’s favorite coat still ended up ripped and soaked with blood. The ravaged youth limped out of the courtyard searching for any trace of the old man who saved him. More and more civilians were spilling out into the streets, as enough time had passed since the invasion siren stopped sounding for the people to feel safe again. Ash thought he spotted the old man on one occasion, but quickly lost sight of him in the surging crowds.

His worried friend Aura grabbed him from behind, turning him about face to make sure he hadn’t grabbed the wrong person again. “Ash?” he asked with a worried but hopeful voice. Seeing it was indeed his friend, Aura gave him a light shove.
"I told you to stay put! I thought you were dead meat when I went back to find you and you weren’t there!" Aura said.

"
I’m sorry,” Ash replied. “I fell off the roof.” It was a difficult and embarrassing admission, but he was excited to tell his friend what happened next. “But you won’t believe what happened after that! I met this awesome old man," said Ash.

"
Awesome in what way?”

"Well, he was really fast,” Ash explained as they continued their morning walk (more of a limp in Ash’s case) to the castle.
“He did that ‘flashy’ thing and moved across the room in the blink of an eye, even sneaking past a demon. He made a tiny fireball with just his finger and then shot it like a bullet! The guy was one of the strongest people I've ever seen."

"
That doesn't surprise me," said Aura, who seemed unfazed by Ash’s story. "There are still some people like that alive today. Old fogies, left over from the last generation. They
had
to be strong back then to defend the entire kingdom, since our population took a nosedive and we were so low on soldiers. An entire generation was pushed to become the strongest devils ever. One guy in particular, Commander Aster, was one of the greatest heroes in recent devil history. He’s pretty much the reason we won the last war with the demons.”

“
Aster? That’s my mom’s favorite flower! Your great hero was named after a flower!” Ash tried his best to conceal a grin.

“Aster was a righteous bro and he deserves your respect!”

“Okay, okay,” Ash said. “To show my respect, I’ll change my name to
Daisy
.”

Aura rapped his friend lightly on the shoulder, but couldn’t help smiling. The two boys gave in to another round of joking and laughter that lasted all the way to the castle. 

Entering the
castle courtyard, and especially the castle itself, was a difficult process. Many watchful sentries stood atop the castle walls on constant surveillance. Ash and Aura had already been lectured once by Goddard von Gosick, the royal advisor and their ‘boss’, about proper etiquette for entering the palace. They flashed their team’s flame-wing pins to the gate guards, which was the only way they were allowed in.

There was something of a rivalry between them and the Royal Guards, who were probably under orders to give the boys a hard time. To that end, the guards allowed them to enter the courtyard, but would not open the gate.
Instead, the two guards stood idly by, beaming at their cruelty making the two boys pull the heavy gates open themselves.

Inside the long courtyard was the usual bustle of various nobles and citizens, all eager with business concerning their own issues. These we
re people with problems and they looked to the Royal Family of Satan for guidance. Al Satan, the current head of the Satan household, mostly let Goddard handle the people's problems. As the boys trudged on towards the castle, Ash caught snippets of conversations. One man was practicing a speech to inquire about the supposed reimbursements he was to receive after the Royal Guards wrecked his shop during a demon attack. Two scholars were arguing over whose expedition was more deserving of being funded: one expedition to the North, or one expedition to the South.

“I’m telling you, there’re more resources to be found in the forests to the North!”

“The North is a waste of time! The South is where we’ll find ruins of an ancient civilization!”

“You’re both wrong,” A third man claimed. “Across the ocean is the clear choice for the kingdom’s next expansion!”

  Ash ignored their arguments and kept limping, shaky from the post-battle adrenaline rush. After a long stairway climb up to the castle gates, the boys were stopped once more and had to flash their pins, even though the guard on duty had admitted them several times before and clearly knew who they were. Again, the guards made the boys open the doors themselves. It seemed to be a running joke with the Royal Guard. Apparently it was still funny. Inside the castle's luxurious torch-lit lobby, the boys ascended a stone stairwell up several floors to find Lady Shiva waiting for them inside their usual meeting room.

Shiva dressed in her female royal guard armor, which was colored crimson and
constructed to be lightweight. Her speed was her greatest asset, and she refused to wear anything that slowed her down. On several occasions, Aura had tried to convince her to wear something a little more girly, but that had always led to a fight between them. The boys could immediately tell that something was wrong, because Shiva was doing something she rarely ever did: The girl was smiling.

"Sit down and shut up," she greeted them.
At least her banter was still the same.

The boys took their usual seats far across the table from her. They did this to make her speak unnecessarily loudly while they pretended they couldn't hear her.
It
really
drove her nuts.

"What?" Aura mouthed silently, holding his hand to his ear.

Shiva jumped up and took the chair directly between the two boys instead.

"Not going to wo
rk today, Draxler," Shiva said, still smiling that eerie smile.

"Someone's happy today," Aura noted. "
Did you enjoy this morning’s demon activity?"

"
Clearly not as much as you two,” Shiva said. Her attention was fixed to Ash, who looked like a hobo in his bloodstained and damaged coat. A small puddle of blood was forming on the stone floor, the droplets leading back to Ash. “Come on, let’s see the damage.”

Despite
the boy’s protests, Shiva eventually won in the end and got Ash to strip down to his underwear. Shiva poked and prodded his near-naked body, not seeming to care about how roughly she handled his cuts and burns. It was also difficult for her to tell what was a bruise and what was a charred patch of skin. Her favorite method of finding out seemed to be flicking the affected area.

When she'd had her fill of examining the boy's body, Ash was given the okay to put his clothes back on.
The problem was, now that he was out of them, he didn't really want to put the disgusting outfit back on. Shiva directing them to a storeroom where they could find some old servants clothing and Aura hustled off to retrieve the clothes for his friend. While the death toucher was gone, Ash and Shiva sat in awkward silence.

The two weren’t left alone on many occasions
. Not since Ash had first arrived in Hell, anyway. They sat on opposite sides of the long conference table, not saying anything. Once or twice, Ash would catch Shiva sneaking a peak at him. In his boredom, Ash began to inspect his own body. He had changed a lot since becoming a devil. His muscles, while never very large or strong, were now at least a little bit bigger. Definitely harder. No longer were they the jello-like lumps of flesh they'd been his whole life. His belly, which was always more rounded, was now flat and tough. He still didn't have a six-pack of washboard abs or anything, but he was getting there. His brown hair was growing shaggy and his bangs even reached far enough to cover his eyes.

The door to the room flung open and Goddard von Gosick entered suddenly. Behind him was Aura, holding a few folded articles of clothing in his arms. "I found Mr. Draxler upstairs," Goddard said. "When he told me what he was doing I had to come see for myself."

Goddard was a perplexing man. He had long white hair but was not
at all old looking. Although his actual age was somewhere around two hundred, he had the appearance of a thirty-year old human. Devils lived a lot longer though, and aged much more slowly. Despite all devils having perfect powerful eyes, Goddard was the exception who had to wear glasses. He explained this was because of the vast amount of books he'd stayed up late reading by candlelight over the course of his life. He was the only known devil to have ever worn out his eyes in such a way.

It was Goddard's turn to inspect Ash's wounds. Ash quickly pulled on the servant's clothes that Aura brought him. It didn't take Goddard long to make an assessment though, and just as Ash was carefully pulling on the dull
white robe, the royal advisor made a declaration.

“These clothes are ruined,” Goddard said while inspecting Ash’s bloodstained pile of clothing. “I’ll have a servant throw them out.”

“No!” Ash was quick to stop him. “I want to send my coat back to Gio. I’m sure he can fix it! But I think you should have the servant send it through the mail… I doubt Gio will be happy about it. He may even get violent…”

“Very well,” Goddard replied. Later he would give the coat to a particular servant he hated and make him hand-deliver it straight to Gio.
"It appears I have misjudged your combat abilities," he continued. "I was under the impression that Lady Shiva had been training you thoroughly, but I was mistaken."

"That's not true!" Shiva said,
her smile disappearing. "I've trained them both every day. They're not great, but they're not terrible either!" That was as close to comfortable as she felt complimenting them.

"
Yes, but you train primarily in hand-to-hand combat. Obviously, there are major differences in battling against a fellow devil and a demon. Demons are wild and unpredictable monsters, and no amount of sparring can prepare you for a fight against a creature like that.”

“To be fair though,” Ash cut in, coming to Shiva’s defense. “I was carrying an injured civilian child and on the run from three of those demons. I could have probably taken them if I wasn’t so distracted.”

“That was foolish,” Goddard scolded him. “You should have left the child.”

“If I had, the boy would have died for sure. The poor kid had his arm torn off!”

“So?” Goddard replied casually. “That kind of thing happens here regularly. You can’t always save everyone.”

“
Not with an attitude like that
,” Ash replied in a hushed tone.

“If saving someone else’s life is going to get you killed, it’s better to just let them die. Remember: you work for me now. Your life is not yours to foolishly sacrifice.”

“I just don’t like watching people die,” Ash said. “Even less when I know
I’m
the one responsible for it.”

“Your bleeding heart aside, something must be done about your bleeding
body
.” Goddard turned to Shiva. “In light of Mr. Kaplan’s abysmal condition, your team assignment for today will be something of a
less physical
nature.”

"Wait, you don't mean..."
Shiva started to grow worried.

"No training. No rebel hunting. I'll assign you a different job today."

Aura was positively beaming like a light bulb, hoping for an easy job they could wrap up quickly. After a long demon fight, he’d love to have the rest of the night off to party. Ash was relieved to have whatever ‘rest’ Goddard could provide, but also felt guilty. He knew Shiva would find a way to take out her aggressions on him one way or another, and she had
plenty
of aggression from Goddard’s scolding.

The group sat tight while Goddard went through his stack of papers. The service request forms he’d been trying hard to avoid offered a variety of boring tasks and tedious labor that he didn’t intend to properly take care of on his own. The Royal Advisor was pleased to finally have his own team to handle it all for him. He dug through the stack till he found a particular chore so droll it hadn’t been tended to in years. It was perfectly terrible.

“You can clean out the air ducts in the basement,” Goddard said while concealing a smirk.

“The basement? Isn’t that where Commander Stryd and his goons hang out?” Ash sounded nervous because he disliked the Commander of the Royal Guard, Sepultura Stryd. The man had always been a pain to deal with, and seeing the boy in his injured state would only give the Commander more ammunition to insult Ash with.

“No, you’re thinking of the barracks,” Goddard replied.

“He’s talking about the prison,” Shiva said, all the joy sucked from her face.

“Prison? What prison?” Ash asked.

“There’s a giant prison beneath the castle,” Aura said. “That’s where they keep the worst criminals in Hell.”

“Why
underneath
the castle though?” Ash questioned. “Wouldn’t they want to keep criminals
far away
from the royal family?”

Goddard got a chuckle out of Ash’s question. “Do you think we would keep dangerous criminals so close to the royal family if it were even
conceivable
that they could pose a threat? Of course not! The prisoners all have seals placed on them to limit their strength and mobility. Once they arrive in their prison cells they become as weak as
humans
.”