The Demon and the Elf (Book 1)

Chapter Eleven pt 3

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Loud sounds seemed to be the theme of the day.

Hearing the boom, the demoness quickly made her way to the source of the noise. Luckily for her, Drokn's magic seemed to have worn off at the entrance of the cabin, letting her bolt inside without pause. Well, without initial pause. She stopped right as she entered and saw a scene that made her laugh in astonishment. "You kids have a water fight or something?"

The cabin was a drenched mess. Water covered every surface imaginable, and that, of course, included the two who were inside.

"S-sorry!" the elf apologized, frazzled. "Oh jeez!" Immediately, he faced every direction, and with a fluid gathering gesture, water from the surfaces came together to combine into a blob in front of him. The last was the demon and himself. He smiled apologetically before waving the dripping water off of the both of them. As if he was throwing a ball, he pushed the large form of water upward through the hole above that he had entered from and let it slide off the rooftop. And with a last wave of hand, warm air magic dried the two.

Still laughing, the demoness asked, "What happened?"

"I— I lost control of my magic."

Instantly, her laughter seized. "Lost control? Has this happened before?"

Eial looked at his palm as if it were a foreign object. He did indeed remember a similar feeling of bewilderment and confusion only once before— in the elven cells. "This is the second time," he said, keeping back from revealing further details.

"Did you notice a similar pattern both times?"

"I'm not sure..." Drokn had been near Eial then and now, but that was all he seemed to connect.

"Then, what happened right before you lost control?"

"Nothing." Drokn had stayed silent during this interrogation, but felt the need to interject now.

Eial, however, didn't catch Drokn's intention of stopping the conversation. "I don't remember the first time, but this time, he—" Eial glanced at Drokn. "—just touched my hand when it happened."

The demoness held back another laugh and smirked knowingly at the demon before turning back to Eial in seriousness. She stepped out of the cabin and gestured for Eial to follow her. When they were both outside, she asked Eial to create a small stream of water, which he obediently complied to. Asking the demon to come over for this experiment resulted in failure.

That is, until Eial looked straight into the demon's eyes with shy expectancy. The demon put a show of grunts and groans but nonetheless made his way over. "I just have to touch his hand, right?" he asked, well knowing what he was asked to do, but pretending he didn't care.

The moment Drokn's fingertips grazed the back of Eial's hands, the small stream from Eial's finger immediately turned into a large geyser, wetting the fields in front of them.

"Well, looks like we won't have to water those plants!" the demoness exclaimed and joked, her eyes full of eager excitement.

Eial shifted his gaze to notice the demon's wary eyes before turning to his mother who was beaming. He remembered this expression. Every time her experiments were successful or she learned something new, her eyes would glow as they did now. "Is it because...?"

"Amplification," the demoness started. "Seems like whenever Drokn touches you, your magic is amplified!"

The demon's fist clenched and his eyes deepened in color. Shoving Eial to walk past, he smiled coldly and hissed, "Of course! You'll always fucking have one over me, sxrol!" Drokn spread his wings and flew off, but the elf didn't move.

Expressing between frustration to concern, the demoness looked back and forth at the demon and the elf. With a sigh, she rubbed Eial's shoulder and said, "I'll talk to him. I'll be nice, I promise," before taking off on foot.

The demon hadn't flown far before he landed and stomped on foot through the gaps between the trees. Despite the short travel, it did take a while for the demoness to catch up. Panting slightly, she slowed down as she came upon his back.

After a few steps of them following the same trail several feet from each other, Drokn lifted his wings in an attempt to fly away again, but was immediately stopped by a spell circle written on a piece of paper that was slapped onto his wings. Spinning around to try to grab the sheets, his arms moved behind him futilely.

"What did you do?!" roared Drokn, his eyes red at the woman across from him.

"They're just temporary to stop you from flying. Look... I know you hate me, but for Eial, please. Let's talk."

"If you know I hate you, why do you think I would talk to you?"

"Because you won't talk to Eial, either! Treat me however you want, but why do you keep treating him like shit? Even though you obviously..."

"Why do I have to treat him nice?"

The demoness looked baffled, her jaw agape. "He's your bond!"

"Since when did demons care about bonds?" Drokn scoffed.

"Then why are you even with him now??"

"Obviously to use him."

A lightning struck at her core and her blood began to boil. "What...?"

Drokn wore an odd smile, his eyes wide in hysteria. Looking at his hands, he laughed. "Amplification, huh? Well maybe that'll work in my favor. The more magic he exerts, the more magic I'll get."

"What do you mean?" the woman's voice was slicing.

Lifting his face up, Drokn looked at her with a sinister look. "When he touches me, his magic comes into me. He's perfect to use! I keep him by my side and in return, I get his magic. Seems like a fair deal to me!"

The only piece of care the demoness thought the demon had for the elf was from yet another selfish desire of his. She'd hoped that their meeting would go well. That, just like her, his brief time with the elf would teach him to care. That maybe he had some resemblance of a heart, unlike his father.

But she was wrong. She'd gambled wrong and Eial was paying the price. Her teeth grated so hard, they may have burst. The veins on her hands stood out and throbbed, and her face painted red. "You bastard!" she yelled and stepped to lunge forward.

But a familiar voice froze them both.