POV Sephiroth

She observed him as he calmed down instead of reacting how she had hoped. Too bad, it couldn’t always work. She saw the determined glint in his eyes. It looked like he had caught on to a part of what she was doing. But what he didn’t realize was that this was also part of the game. Laughing in her mind, she let him believe in having achieved a certain amount of control.

Seducing someone was a little bit akin to fishing. First one would pull the fish towards himself, testing its strength. The fish would realize that it was in danger and try to escape. One would let it run a little, using up all its power in the process. Later it would be reeled back in, getting caught once and for all.

Yes, she would wait and sooth his sense of danger. Let him have his illusory control for the time being. Later, it would feel even better when she took it all from him.

Sephiroth quietly followed him to his rooms. It was study time.

She quickly checked the chambers for any potential threats while he changed his clothes to something more comfortable. Ready for studying he set himself down and grabbed a book to read. It was a history book about the past of the continent. Sephiroth knew the book, she had once read it when she was younger.

During their first week it had surprised her that he put so much emphasis on learning about history, geography and relations with different races. All of that was common knowledge. Had he slept through half of his childhood?

But after having seen his soul, she had connected the dots. He didn’t come from this world! Others might be very shocked and scared of him, but Sephiroth was not normal herself. She had learned about many mysterious secrets in the past and being an infernal being gave her an inborn aloofness that didn’t let her be shocked about such matters.

A twenty-eight year old soul from another world that had inhabited a sixteen year old body was nothing too earthshaking to her. It was special, but nothing she couldn’t deal with. The hoarding part of her demonic soul got even excited about it. Who else could say that he owned an alien entity? Nobody! She felt that the recent information only strengthened the value Aron had to her.

It also assured her belief that he would accept her for what she was. As an alien being, he didn’t posses the inborn hatred against demons all other creatures had. She would look to it that he got the “right” education, so he would never become like the rest of them.

While Sephiroth was planning Aron’s future for him he had arrived at a new chapter in the book.

With a glance over his shoulder, she recognized the topic he was reading.

In the past, before the order of today existed, the world looked differently. All races lived together in harmony. But at a certain point the demons attacked the other races. They thought it was their right to rule over everyone.

To succeed they had to break the second strongest force living on the continent, the humans. At the beginning the humans got overwhelmed, not prepared they lost battle after battle. But as it was usual in such times of darkness and wars, heroes appeared.

Brilliant generals and mighty warriors popped up one after another. The situation evened out. If the humans had more power, they could turn the situation around. Knowing that, they sent ambassadors to the other races. They talked with the dwarfs from the mountains, the elves from the woods, the beast-men from the plains and even the spider-women of Arachea. But nobody wanted to help. They feared the retaliation of the demons.

Standing alone, the humans felt abandoned. As their former friends didn’t want to help they focused on the options they had. The most brilliant mages researched new kinds of magic that could help them in their war effort.

They succeeded. When the major armies of both nations clashed with each other, the mages of humans acted. By sacrificing a big part of themselves they built a magical spell so mighty, it had never been seen before.

On that fateful day, ninety percent of the demon army perished. Had it not been for one demonic infiltrator, the entire army would have vanished. The humans had lost a big part of their mages, they were severely weakened as well. In the end they didn’t pursue the demons but focused their strength on rebuilding their former lands.

With that, one could say peace had unfolded once more. But the humans hadn’t forgotten all the races that had abandoned them when they had needed them most. After they had regained some strength, a purge of all the “traitors” started.

The other races were either killed or pushed out of the human lands until only the humans were left. The human empire was born and with it the power distribution that still existed today. The demons were pushed back into the north, and the other races were exiled into the west. They could live in the wilderness, the humans didn’t care.

Many years went by like that. No more big wars were waged, all the races were licking their wounds. The borders were closed. Armies were stationed and anyone that didn’t belong to humans was mercilessly killed if they tried to enter.

This went on until the lineage of the Trueflames came into power. The people that had fought against the other races had long since died, it was time for a change.

The emperor slowly opened the borders to the other races, commerce was reborn. Nonetheless, they were still distrustful of each other. They remembered the stories of the past. Some humans were not happy with that change as well. During the past centuries they had begun to believe that they were better than the other races. They didn’t like what the new emperor set in motion.

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Naturally all these talks about commerce and better relations were only for the races of the wilderness. The demons were still killed on sight.

After having remembered the past, Sephiroth felt a little melancholic. Because of her ancestors, she had to be cautious and hide her identity. She glanced out of the window and realized that it had become late.

Should she inform Aron of the time? He was so concentrated that he had missed its passing. She checked his progress; he had devoured most of the book during the last few hours. The next chapter would talk specifically about the demonic infiltrator that had disturbed the spell and had saved so many of her race.

Crap! that would be bad. The infiltrator had been a beautiful demoness. Disguised as a human she had seduced one of the head magicians. Her poisoning him at the crucial moment followed by changing some of the key components of the spell template had been responsible for the outcome of that battle.

What should she do? Luckily Aron stretched himself at that moment and rubbed his eyes. An opportunity had presented itself.

______

POV Aron Brightcloud

At the beginning I had wanted to focus on magic, but later I had decided to first read about the continent’s history. It had proven fruitful. A lot of questions had been answered.

I had gone through most of the book in one go. My eyes hurt and the muscles in the back were tight. I stretched myself. My back wasn’t happy with me, my eyes neither. But I wanted to read the last chapter of the book. How had the demons infiltrated the army of the humans?

Suddenly, two velvety hands kneaded my shoulders and Sephiroth’s pleasant voice wormed itself into my ears.

“Relax, Aron. You read for over three hours. Why not rest a little? Let me ease your soreness. Afterward you can read further.”

Sephiroth had found one of the problem spots on my back and had kneaded it with all her skill. It felt so good. She had slipped her hands under my shirt and slowly made her way over my muscles. Making it impossible to not relax.

“That's all right Aron, let yourself go, everything is fine. Why don’t you close your eyes a little, they must be sore as well?”

Before, I would have succumbed to her skillful manipulation. But this time I was aware of her dangers.

“Sephiroth, please stop. I want to first finish reading the book. Thank you for your concerns.”

Not showing my suspicions, I politely refused her intention. I would get to the bottom of this. Her sudden intervention only intensified my belief that the knowledge I was about to read was important.

_______

POV Sephiroth

Aron had shrugged off her distraction attempt at the worst possible occasion. Knowing his analytical mind, he would see certain similarities between Sephiroth and that demon. He would connect the dots. It was still too early for him to find out about her real race!

She had to find a solution! What should she do?!

At that moment Sephiroth heard a knock from the door.

Her charge stopped reading. “Come in” he called.

A second later a young face emerged next to the now partially opened door.

“Aron, I can’t sleep. Can we play please?”

Aron was visibly warring with himself but couldn’t deny his little sister.

“Okay dear, let's go play but afterwards you have to go to sleep. It is already late.” With a sigh, he raised himself from the chair and walked towards the now beaming Lea.

Sephiroth followed them. Thanking lady luck profusely.

_______

POV Aron Brightcloud

I had been playing with Lea for the better part of an hour before I could convince her to go to bed. I watched her as she made herself comfortable. She was so pure and innocent. Warmth filled my being. I loved this child. I don’t know how she had done it, but in not even slightly more than a week she had wormed her way so completely into my heart it astounded me.

“Sleep well, my little sister.” I smiled fondly at her.

Her faint voice traveled over as I was about to walk back to my quarters.

“Aron, can’t you sleep here? Please. I don’t want you to leave.”

I turned back towards her. Seeing her begging Eyes I agreed for this one time.

After the accident, I had been mostly absorbed with improving myself. Although I had felt the insecurities and fears during our playtimes, I had invested little time in helping her. She was much younger than me and had nearly lost her older brother. That had to have left marks on her. I would have to finish the book tomorrow.

I looked over to Sephiroth who was standing at the entrance to the room.

“I will sleep here tonight. You can take the rest of the night off. Richard will protect us.”

With an understanding nod, Sephiroth said goodbye and closed the door.

I slipped into the bed next to Lea. She immediately moved closer and hugged me before drifting contently to sleep.

Silence permeated the now dark room, only interrupted by Lea’s quiet breathing. I looked up at the ceiling and reflected on today.

Once more I had been a hair’s breath away from death. Even so, I felt surprisingly undisturbed. Maybe it was because of all the experience of dying and harsh situations I had gone through, but I took it simply as another step in my life. Now that I knew how the monster manifested itself, I could defend myself. It was no long-term solution as my hitch-hiker was getting stronger over time, but for the intermediate term I was confident to not fall for the same trap again.

On another note, it was time to take control of my social life once more. I had played enough to Sephiroth’s tune; it had to end.