The Star, The Demon, and The God - 5. The Stranger

Luno

Thankfully, I do not have to search very far for Tobias.

He is standing just across the frozen lake. Since he is alone, I can only assume the other Demons have retreated back into their portals.

To my surprise, Enfi is perched on his shoulder. She is rubbing her face along the places his horns and hair meet together. He looks particularly annoyed by her affection at the moment. It makes me laugh to myself when I see that.

Tobias said that the horns were made from splitting the Angel halos in half. Did that ever hurt him? I hope not. The whole process of going from an Angel to a Demon sounds like it could hurt.

“Let me guess, they were useful for once?” He asks, shaking his shoulder to get Enfi to fly off. She does not move away at all.

I give a small shrug. “Kind of? They added more questions to be honest. Their final memories have been wiped away. All they remember was living their normal lives and then boom...it all turns black.”

He frowns and stares at the village across the lake.

“So they die and stay stuck in the Middleplains,” He says slowly, most likely to himself. “That only makes things more frustrating to figure out.”

He sighs and pulls out his favorite map once again.

“We are headed for the next place already?” I ask.

Tobias does not answer, he just nods to himself and turns to move towards whatever black dot could be next in line.

Groaning out loud, I grab my bag off my shoulder and pull the winter clothes out.

Is it weird I actually started missing them? The cold air is starting to get to me for once. I am not entirely sure how I feel about that.

There is a small hut that sits in the middle of the open. With a quick knock to see if anyone is inside, I open the door.

There is nothing in here? Well that is not entirely true. There is a small chest inside. Letting my curiosity get the better of me, I decide to check what could be inside.

Inside the little chest sits three items. A doll of a girl with armor, an old owl skull, and a drawing of the doll.

The drawing is a bit more grown up in my opinion. Is shows an older lady with flowing dark red hair coming from her helmet. Her armor is silver and menacing looking. She stands on a rock with her sword piercing it.

A snow owl is perched on her shoulder.

Flipping the paper over, I see a name has been written in the corner. It is a bit faded out but I can read it just fine.

Violette Bancroft

Is that the name of the artist or is that the name of the armored lady? Either way, I have no idea who this is. She seems interesting. I am not sure if she is alive or not however. For all I know, she could sitting in a pile of bodies like many others.

Well not sitting...you know what, this is a bit dark and depressing to think about.

Putting all the contents back into the chest, I close it and start putting my winter clothes back on. This time it does not feel so stuffy.

Something tells me this little hut was made for a child in the village. A little place to hide their things. They must be a fan of whoever Violette Bancroft is. My only question about her is if she is someone from the past, or was that poster something from the present?

Perhaps Tobias could answer this for me! I just hope he did not get too far from me. He tends to keep walking since he knows that Enfi will find him for me.

There have only be a few times that I have gotten lost. They were mainly my fault. I saw some furry faces that needed my help. Tobias just moves on without me since he gets tired of that pretty quickly.

I can’t help it! Everyone deserves help. Not just the humans. They are not the only living beings in this world.

Yes, that would include the Demons.

Pushing open the door, I almost run into Tobias. He has an annoyed look on his face. One that is starting to seem like the regular look.

“What are you doing in here?” He almost yells. “If you are going to go somewhere else without telling me, then what is the point of us working together? For all I know, an Angel could have swooped down and taken your bitch ass to Morgoren!”

My eyes widen at the sudden tone of his voice. If I was not mistaken, I would think he was worried.

“I was just changing into my winter clothes!” I say. “I wanted to get back into them because the air here feels like it has gotten colder.”

Tobias rolls his eyes and grunts before turning to leave; not before grabbing my arm to pull me with him.

Since I am back with him, I might as well ask him about the stuff i found in the chest.

“Do you know anyone named Violette Bancroft?” I ask. “There was a chest full of things that were about her. I think one of the village children must look up to her.”

He hums in response, not at all sounding like he is paying attention.

“She seemed important if someone was willing to make a doll and poster of her, right?” I ask. “That seems about right, right? Have you ever heard of anyone named Violette? I have never heard of anyone like, but you are a Demon who has been out here in the world a lot longer than me, so surely you would know who she is.”

As soon as I finish talking, he glances at me with an eyebrow raised and a small smirk.

“You done talking?” He chuckles. “If you would have taken a small pause, you would have given me time to answer.”

Oh right...that probably would have been the smart thing to do.

“Hey, I would like it you did not let those flowers of yours droop because of me,” He says. I guess they were wilting because of my mood? “To answer your question, I have indeed heard of Violette Bancroft. She was a human. A powerful human.”

“A powerful human?” I frown. “Powerful how?”

He shrugs. “She had a lot of friends. Friends with armies. She managed to bring everyone together to fight against an evil group of humans that were in Morgoren’s favor. She slew countless foes and managed to survive many, many battles.”

Tobias smiles to himself. “I would say she was one of the good Humans in this world. She was more open-minded to working with Demons. More than most living in the mountains.”

So this woman lives way up here where we are. I do not know any people from here, so it is rather interesting to learn about them now. I guess there are more humans here that are more open to magic then?

“Was she a mage?” I ask.

Tobias shakes his head. “No. A full warrior with her sword and shield. Apparently she was to be some King’s wife, to only be a source for children and a warm bed. She did not want that at all. She had trained in secret with the King’s guard, one of whom, she had grown to love.”

“Is she still alive?” I ask. “I have not heard of great wars like that. Especially with all the humans in the situation we are in at the moment.”

“Nah, she is not alive,” He says. “She died over a thousand years ago. That was back when they did not have to worry about whole cities dying in piles. She lived a long life with her husband and children.”

I smile. “Well that is sweet. I am glad she found love.”

Tobias chuckles and shrugs. “If you are into that sort of thing, I guess.”

“What do people in love do?” I ask, a bit curious about it. I know next to nothing. All I have read are stories about how a wife and husband are pretty much in love, but I never understood how. Everyone just says it as if it is a fact. That does not tell me what love is.

Tobias looks at me for a moment, most likely thinking things over in his head.

“Kiss, fuck, and have children if you can I guess,” He says, his eyes hardening and turning back to keep walking forward.

Frowning in confusion, I reach out and grab his arm.

“Kiss?” I ask. “I thought...I thought that was what people did for greetings or just for close friends and family.”

He chuckles and shakes his head. “There are different types of kisses I guess.”

Tilting my head, I walk beside him in silence.

Different types of kisses? What could that possibly mean? Viktor gave me kisses on the lips. Does it mean different things with where you place the kiss? Tobias has kissed me on the lips a few times now, but I do not think both of them meant it in the same way.

Monie gave me kisses too! They were only on the cheek though. Did that kiss mean something different?

I just assumed that kisses were some way of communicating. Sure, I tended to like Viktor’s kisses more than Monie’s, but I did not know they meant something like love!

Now I am...conflicted. Have I been doing this wrong?

“Tobias?” I say.

Tobias looks over at me.

“What do our kisses mean?”

If I was not mistaken, I swear I could see his skin turning a shade of pink.

“N-nothing,” He almost chokes on his words. “Absolutely nothing. Nothing at all! Those were just mistakes. There was no feeling behind them. Just forget about them!”

Frowning, I nod along to his words.

I guess it would be best to listen? After all, he is telling me to forget about the kisses. I was probably just overthinking it anyways. For all I know, they were spiteful kisses. Tobias has made it clear that I annoy him after all. He said there was no feelings behind them, but I am sure there must have been something there.

Honestly, I can’t say that I have ever heard of angry kisses, but maybe Tobias did those? They did not feel angry though. They were actually quite gentle.

This is confusing me now. I should distract myself with something else honestly. Maybe I should look on the map for our next place to sleep for the night.

~~~
~~~

Tobias

I think that may have been the worst question he could have asked me.

How the hell am I supposed to know what kisses mean? Why can’t he just be like everyone else and understand how the world works?

Gods it is so infuriating how stupid he can be.

Okay, okay. He never really grew up around normal people. He was busy jumping around with giant wolves with moss on their backs. I cannot entirely blame him.

I will just blame the Gatekeeper.

Still, he apparently learned nothing from whatever books he has been reading. I find it a miracle that he can read at all to be honest.

Now I know why there was no feeling in those previous kisses. He thought they were a normal thing as if they were a handshake between strangers. Guess I cannot be too mad about it now. It would be foolish of me.

I am a bit torn about them still though. Who knows, maybe it was just a few moments of weakness for me. Sure I find him irritably attractive and nice, but he is also a huge pain in my ass.

Looks like I will let this be my true reminder that I should not get attached. Absolutely no reason to. Especially with some crazy, nature person.

Glancing at him, I see he is a bit behind me now and has snow twirling above him. Snow shaped into butterflies fly around for Enfi to chase down.

Luno laughs when one particular butterfly ends up exploding above him, splattering snow into his hair.

Yes. Crazy indeed.

The next village or city we are visiting is only a two hours away. We will have Luno bring them back and then we should find a place to stay.

There is a clock on the map that slowly moves, telling me how much time is left before the moon comes out. We have about six or seven hours. We should be fine. There are a bunch of abandoned buildings.

Well, I guess they are not entirely abandoned. The humans are simply unable to walk back to said ‘abandoned buildings’.

It is never best to think about such things, however. I would say that we are borrowing their homes for a time. It is not like we are doing it for nothing after all. In the end, we are paying the humans back with their lives.

“Tobias?” Luno’s voice says behind me. I inwardly cringe at what other frustrating question will come out of his mouth.

I sigh, waiting for another unnecessary this time. “What do you want this time?”

Luno bounces in front of me, walking backwards as he speaks.

“I am only curious about you,” he beams. “Since we are friends, why not learn from each other? I would like to know what made you...well you!”

I roll my eyes and glance at the map, doing a once over of all the past places we have gone to. No black dots have reformed.

“Please?” He practically sings. “Come on! What have you got to lose?”

Huffing in annoyance, I finally look up at the smiling idiot.

“I have nothing to share with you,” I say. “Nothing that would be of your interest, that is.”

He shrugs and keeps walking in pace in front of me.

“With you, I will take whatever you can give me!” Luno grins.

I let out a small chuckle at his wording, but I know he has no idea how his words could be taken. That may be one of the few good things about him. He is too naive. Perhaps too much for his own good.

This brings me back to my own problems though. I barely remember my past. All I have been told was that I may have died in my home during a war. Nobody tells me anything else. The only one who has hinted anything was Raiyo.

One day, Raiyo said he could feel my confusion. I had questions that not many of the others had. For some reason, I had gained enough favor with him to grant me a fragment of a memory. Not just any memory, however. A memory that affected the entirety of my human life.

When he said it was a fragment, he really was not even close to joking. All I get every three days are those dreams of being in some room with other children and straw.

It confuses the hell out of me.

“I am afraid, I can not share because I am not able to,” I say. “I lost all of my-” I trail off when I look over Luno’s shoulder.

Grabbing him, I push Luno behind me and pull out my pistol and sword.

“What are you doing?” Luno exclaims.

Hushing him, I glare at the thick trees to the right of our path. I know I saw someone sneaking around there somewhere. Thanks to Raiyo, I know when my mind is being played with, and I know it isn’t now.

“I know you are out there, Human,” I shout. “Come out now unless you wish your soul to burn in Enfierna!”

“Tobias!” Luno smacks my back. “Do not scare them like that! They could just be looking for help!”

Grunting at his words, I keep my eyes on the woods in front of us.

At first, nothing makes a move to come out, but a few moments later, I hear footsteps in the snow. They are coming our way.

I tighten my grip on my sword and pistol, ready for whatever danger could be headed our way.

A hooded man slowly comes out from behind a tree. His hands are held up in the air in surrender. He wears fur under leather armor. A pistol and axe are strapped to his sides.

“I did not mean to scare you,” The man says. “We were simply curious if the rumors were true.”

Narrowing my eyes, I keep my pistol trained on him.

“We?” I ask. “How many more of you cowards are hiding in that forest?”

More footsteps can be heard. There are not many people with this man. They will not be a problem if they try and test me.

“There are three of us, Demon,” The man says. “We do not wish to fight you.”

Two woman in the same hooded armor step up behind him. They both have bows and daggers strapped to them.

“Forgive me if I made the wrong decision,” The man says.

“You did,” I glare.

He nods along and removes his hood, revealing his face.

“My name is Vlad,” he says. “These are my spies in training.”

This Vlad has dark red hair and a freckled face. He looks like a human in his thirties. A few scars are scattered along his face like mine. The difference between him and me would be that he still looks like a friendly face. That only keeps me from trusting at all. He is a fighter, but who does he fight for?

“Why are you spying on us, Human?” I say, not at all moving my pistol.

Luno is standing behind me still, he has his face pressed to my back, no doubt scared of the intruders.

The human laughs. Laughs.

“News of people coming back from the dead tends to reach high places rather quickly,” he smiles. “Your little friend behind you has gotten the attention of my clan.”

My jaw clenches at his last sentence and I back up slowly so that Luno can get further away from this spy.

“Oh no!” Vlad laughs. “I mean no threat to you both. What I meant to say was that, we could use your help. We are more than willing to try and help you on your journey.”

Raising an eyebrow, I say, “What do you know of our journey?”

Vlad shrugs. “Well to me, it looks like you bringing all the humans back. Unless your actions are for something else?”

Luno peeks up over my shoulder.

“We are trying to bring you all back to life,” he says in a small voice.

Vlad smiles and gives a nod. “My thanks to the both of you then. It would be an honor to help your in your cause.”

Frowning, I slowly put my weapons away.

This is strange. They see my horns. He has already made it clear that they know I am a Demon. Yet...they gave me their thanks?

I’m conflicted.

Luno’s hand massages into my shoulder. For some reason it is calming the tension that has been in my chest this whole time.

“We would like that,” Luno says with a smile. “Right, Tobias?”

A bit confused, I nod along. Weirdly fine with this agreement.