The Daemon

Chapter 12





It took a compromise where I gave them all a lock of my hair and allowed them to see me before they would allow us to leave the settlement. Ayisa decided to come along as she was disgusted by the fanaticism of the people of her town. She met us at the edge of the forest a couple days later after she had said her goodbyes to her Fae father.



I chose Mikan to be my guardian after that. He was a reason to go on. The soft yet deep voice made me feel wanted and needed. He became my rock and though he still would help out Kairen, he was mine and no longer the vampire lord’s.



Even Anje followed with the claim that she wanted to stay with someone as “pretty” as Ara.



It felt like I had a bit of family once more. I know that Grandmother was there but it was not the same.



We traveled slowly back to my grandmother and we saw many things. It took nearly a year to get back to my town. During the way I noticed the toll that the humans were taking on our lands. We allowed them to come here and now they are spreading like rats. They seemed to have no idea how to control their population. In visions I can see our forests becoming something rare. I can see our waters, the rivers, lakes and oceans drying up or dying from disease. I could feel my heart break as we taveled. I knew that I had to do something but how can I influence demons and humans when I was only forty one years of age (7 ½ yrs human). It would take many years before my visions would come true but I wished I could stop them now.





at 88.8yrs=16 years old





“No more!” I screamed at them as I stormed out of the cottage. It had gotten to the point that Lord Kairen and Makhail seemed to take turns guarding me. I had put up with it at first because of the remaining fears of what had happened when I was younger but now I felt restricted and hemmed in. I needed to feel the rhythm of the world around me and was too distracted to do so when they were near.



Grandmother had returned to her home a few years ago and allowed me the cottage as long as Mikan would check on me often. Lord Kairen had complained long and loud about how his cousin was not put through the torture he was to learn how to take care of Ara. That was when he found out that she had known all about his involvement with the slavers initially and that I knew as well. He apologized profusely and even got on the floor on his knees to ask for forgiveness. We both told him that there is nothing to forgive other than that he had kept it a secret for so long. Apparently I had inherited a gift of seeing from a long ago ancestor and no matter if it was that night or another, the series of events did not change very much.



As it was it was not an easy road to forgiveness. Grandmother tortured him in her own way with the chores and nonsense lessons that she had put him through for many years. She did not let up on him even when Mikan returned with me and kept at him for years there after.



I had learned to love that arrogant ass as a friend and his beauty could no longer blind me to the child underneath. I was angry at him for a long time but my gifts would not allow me to do anything but see the truth so eventually I did forgive him.



Ayisa, who had become known as the golden lady because she really was golden in varying shades all over, became my caretaker when Mikan was not around. Makhail looks at her in a strange way off and on that makes me wonder if he is finally done grieving over my sister. They are ones that I cannot ‘see’ what is in store for them.



Anje and I have become like twins. No of course we do not look in any way alike but our personalities meshed in the sense that she has taught me how to be the child that I thought I lost long ago. We still can hear the screams from the nobles of the city five days ride away. We had played a trick on them when they had come on a ‘tour’ claiming that these lands were under their jurisdiction and should follow their laws. They acted so hoity-toity that we could not help ourselves. Anje had turned into a small firefly like light and sprinkled them with a special powder that makes them see things. We were not quite sure what they were seeing but one of them was talking about his mother and a special toy as he cuddled into the bosom of one of the eldest ladies in town and he would not let go no matter how much she pushed or bashed him with her broom.



The other noble was a lady who had her nose stuck so high up in the air that I was surprised she was able to see where she was going. She ended up in the pond in the pasture that the stables used, singing at the top of her lungs and splashing around like she was taking a bath. A horse had come over to her and was nibbling on her hair. Apparently she though the horse was a maid because she was giving instructions to the creature about how she liked her hair cleaned. When the powder wore off the scream she let out was probably heard all the way to the city.



Needless to say, the nobles high tailed it out of town and were even heard calling us heathens as they went. Anje and I were rolling on the ground laughing at that one. We got into so much trouble when Mikan and Ayisa found out.



Despite the return to ‘normal’ everyday life, I never forgot that my world was changing and that the change was not necessarily for the better. I had Mikan teach me to fight with fist, knife and sword. Makhail taught me the staff and Ayisa and Anje taught me magic. They knew that I saw things and would not question my need to learn these things. Kairen I think was in denial about it all and saw it just as a need to defend myself after all the bad things years ago.



More humans than ever were in the demon lands and they were bringing machinery with them. The mechanical items did not work so well and clashed with the magic of our lands but they were stupidly persistent.

After a while, the demon governments started to implement passes that were required to immigrate into our world. They closed or regulated what they could of the portals yet the humans still found a way to come into our lands.



My town even has a few human families now. They are not so bad and are willing to learn from us so that they do not over tax what resources we have. I even made friends with some of the kids and we talk and play games. Some of the boys have even come to me to ask to join in the lessons of swordplay. They thought it was “cool”.



It was another twelve years before the governing bodies of the demon world had declared enough and that all passage between worlds was to be stopped. They had finally noticed that the humans were taking over. We were a long lived people so we did not reproduce as quickly or as often as the humans.



The slaver camps had grown. I did not know if I was ready to face them and try to take back our people but it had to be done. They either worshiped us or hated us. Very few humans took the time to learn our ways and many feared us. I found through my few human friends that there are horrid stories of demons possessing, eating, maiming and who knows what to humans. These fears and stereotypes had followed them here and were now working against us. I did not want another child to live through what I did or worse.



It was now time to act. I had had pain and happiness. My dreams are now filled with humans, military personnel, religious fanatics and guns. Blood flows and the demons are losing. It was time. I needed to be able to close the portals permanently and stop the large groups waiting to come through the portals. The governing bodies had finally realized that vast amounts of land and untapped resources lay in our lands and greed has finally won out over diplomacy.



I packed up a couple of bags with clothing and camping gear. Some food was also packed but I intended to hunt and trade for what I could. There was a cave that I needed to find. My dreams showed me a special hidden chamber that held scrolls and books from ages past. An ancient demon library filled with knowledge that has been lost over time would hold the key to protecting my people. It needed to be done. My dreams showed me the deaths of all that I held dear and I had lost enough in my short life to stand back and allow such a thing to happen.



I did not tell anyone that I was leaving. A note lay on my desk that they would find after I had already gone. I had reached my majority so they could not keep me here any longer and it was time to fill that vast empty darkness that I saw in my vision so long ago.



I slipped out in the middle of the night. Only a sliver of a moon lit my way through the dark. Mikan had given me a gift of a horse on my majority and she was as beautiful as the stars. She was mostly black but had a white mane and tail. Her forehead had a star shaped patch and her left foreleg was white to her knees. I called her Wishing Star because when I saw her running in the dark, it looked like a comet streaking through the night.



We took off to the east. The deserts of the dragons was my first stop and I needed their wisdom and guidance as some of the longest lived beings here. They would recall the hidden library and could point the way. It was the direction that I felt I should go and my seeing ability refused to help me find this place without them.



Not a week had gone by before I was found. Mikan, Ayisa and Anje arrived in my small camp at daybreak just as I had opened my eyes.



“Boy, if you weren’t too old for it I would take you over my knee,” Ayisa growled as she shook her finger in my face. I never did ask how old she was and she always treated me like a child. She was my “mother” if you will, though she would never replace my true mother, she had taken over that role and it fit well. She quickly gathered supplies and started breakfast over the fire that Mikan had gotten going again.



As for Mikan, he only gave me “the look” that said many different things like that I was in trouble and that I had disappointed him by not telling him my plans. He had been my confidant for so long that I had hurt him by not speaking of what I was doing.



Anje just flittered about chattering about how we were now on a great adventure. She was not one to worry or really be hurt if I did not tell her things. She was just happy to be involved with anything that we did. She was my sister reborn and yet she was not. A bit confusing to be sure but I just accepted it for what it was.



I did not really speak of what my goals were just yet. There were so many things that I needed to work out. I was glad for their unquestioning support and love. I had felt so alone before they came.



I smiled as a ray of light came and lit up my camp. There was hope yet and I would have help and most importantly I was not alone.