Devil’s Doll Reincarnation | Chapter 10 | Face the Facts
My eyes suddenly dart open, scouring the surroundings for any available info. I was trapped in a dark, musty cell. Its walls and floors made of stone bricks, reminding me of the old castles in my previous world. A barred window was positioned high upon the wall, preventing easy access, but still allowing for a decent amount of light to shine through.
It appears that we were caught, and amazingly enough, I remember it very clearly. We continued our frantic escape through the forest for about ten minutes, eventually deciding to hide within another tree after we realised the grey skinned man was nowhere to be seen.
In this brief moment, Anna gave me a quick rundown of the situation. I was confused at first, and once again thanked lady luck that I had Anna by my side. Putting it simply, there were odd rumours going about, detailing that evil demons were snatching away any who wander too far into the Eternal Forest.
Anna knew for a fact that this was true, revealing yet another reason for her continued visits to Geralt’s cabin. She was afraid something would happen to him, and sadly, she was right. Anna had overheard her father issuing guards to patrol the forest border, talking in detail about multiple kidnappings and mysterious disappearances. Yet even he was not fully informed.
A group of knights would routinely come to collect taxes from the village, and with Anna’s obsessive worries to guide her, she eavesdropped the commander for a few days. They spoke of an entire continent full of demons growing to the South, kidnapping humans for some unknown cause. The higher-ups were fully aware of this, willfully hiding away the new threat, rather than announcing it to the rest of kingdom and causing widespread panic.
There were many things Anna wanted to discuss, but unfortunately, there was nowhere near enough time. A loud cracking sound whipped through the cool night air, shortly exposing my body to the outside cold. I looked up, watching as the upper half of tree slowly slid from its base, landing with a loud thud onto the forest floor. My hiding spot, now reduced to an empty stump, reminded me of looking up from the bottom of a well. Unaware of what this world beheld.
I felt very out-of-place, stifling a laugh about common sense. In this world, many things I previously thought impossible were now the norm. I thought it was unfair, as nothing could’ve prepared me for something like this. How could I possibly beat someone who could slice a tree in half with such ease?
And with that out of character sense of loss, I was scooped up by the man who was chasing us. Slapped in the face with copious amounts of weird purple dust, and slung over the man’s shoulder. The last thing I saw before passing out was a bunch of people pointing and staring as we flew away on the back of his giant bird. Then, after an unclear amount of time passed, I awoke to find myself chained to a cell wall. Once again missing an arm. While Anna was firmly locked away inside a sealed metal box, placed in the corner of the room.
Overall, I think that’s about everything. Not much happened for around two days or so, aside from the occasional complaint over unclean joints, all I could really do was talk to myself and jingle my chains. I would’ve loved to chat with Anna during this time, but everything she said came out muffled from within the metal box.
I was trying to stay positive, but this was seriously testing my patience. On the third say someone finally showed up. It was a tall man wearing a wooden mask under his hood, that was in the shape of a cultic looking octopus. He also wore long, patterned robes covering him from head to toe. If anything, this weirdo heavily reminded me of the cultists from Skyrim. Which was already a rather obvious alarm.
The cultist ripoff took out a notepad, skimming through it while glancing at me every now and then. He was muttering to himself in another weird language I couldn’t understand, but soon enough the grey skinned demon returned, striking up a conversation with him.
Sliding the notepad into his robes, he strolled over and knelt down beside me, causing his long robes to sprawl across the floor. He began chanting – not in the happy, cheery kind of way mind you – while holding his hands out as if warming them around a fire. I pushed myself against the wall, knowing I wouldn’t be able to escape this one. When the chanting finished, he scratched his head and shrugged, looking back at the demon in loss.
After taking a moment to gather my thoughts for another thirty seconds, I mentally face-palmed, realising that I had yet to even speak during the weird skit the two were going through. So, without any warning, I spoke up in the clearest totally not trembling voice I could muster.
“Hey… I don’t suppose either of you could explain the situation?”
The two froze, slowly changing their focus back onto me, as if expecting me to jump. The robed one rapidly stood up and began scribbling down in his notebook, jotting down something I probably wouldn’t appreciate. The demon simply grinned, closing the cell door behind him.
“So, not only are you a golem capable of making more golems, but a talking one too. Quite the lucky find this week huh.” he drawled, seeming quite proud of himself.
Seeing my chance to make small talk, I grabbed it by the reigns and pushed ahead.
“Well… Mr?”
“Alek.” he provided.
“Thanks… then Mr Alek, mind answering my question?” I asked in the most polite way I could.
The demon crossed his arms, unsure as to what he should do. He patted the back of the robed man, pointing him to the exit. In understanding he soon left and closed the cell door, with the demon waiting for the footsteps to be barely audible before continuing.
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“Well, little one, I’m going to give it to you straight and simple. Welcome to the Devil King’s army, you have been forcibly conscripted and will spend the rest of your life here serving him and your superiors.”
The metal box in the corner suddenly began shaking violently, and loud clanging noises banged around inside. The Demon sighed, snapping his fingers towards the box. The lid popped open ever so slightly, allowing Anna to morph her hands and pry the top open, launching herself out as a blob on the floor. She laid on the cold ground for a moment, taking in her surroundings, before spring back into shape; donning her original appearance.
Taking in a deep breath, she shouted, clearly not having any of it, “Hell no! Why would anyone in their right mind do that!?”
The demon looked at her small figure, scratching his chin in contemplation.
“… Hmmm, it seems I was correct in assuming you were also a golem. Two for the price of one I suppose,” snickering at his bad joke, he continued “And as to answer your question: you quite literally have no choice in the matter. Unless you would prefer a life of slavery instead?”
Anna and I grimaced, immediately shaking our heads. When you think about it, we could always try an escape at a later date. With that sorted out though, I decided to clear up one more thing.
“Well, that’s all well and good, but do mind telling me what the robed guy was doing earlier?”
Alek looked at me like an idiot, clearly we weren’t on the same page, “What do you mean? It is one of the first spells any golem-meister learns, surely you would know that?”
After blankly staring back for a few seconds, he found his answer. He then demanded to know exactly what Anna and I were doing inside the Eternal Forest. After going through the ins and outs of what happened over the past few weeks, making sure to leave out any soul travelling madness, Alek rubbed a hand over his gloomy face.
Heaving out a long sigh, he spoke up, far less enthusiastic than before, “I guess I got ahead of myself then. To come across an experienced golem maker so easily, not a chance. In the first place, they would never go that deep into the Eternal Forest, even if the reward was to die for.”
“Oh... sorry for getting your hopes up, I guess.” I said, in the least sincere way possible.
“No, it is but a minor setback. I know what I saw though. You were controlling a golem you made yourself, which is no small feat, meaning you must have some promise in the craft either way. I’ll transfer you over to the golem crafting quarters instead and put you to work.”
Taking note that he ignored my question, he pulled out a bunch of keys from… somewhere, and proceeded to free me from my chains, only to clamp on a smaller pair around my legs. Anna attempted to pounce him while his back was turned, but was deftly swiped from the air with only one hand. The demon needn’t even look. He tossed her back into the metal box, picking it up with his left, and me with his right before leaving the cell. I thought of going for one of the axes on his belt, but figured he would crush me with his bare hands before I could manage anything.
It was a weird feeling to be carried so easily. Especially under another person’s arm by the stomach like some sort of housecat. I was previously a fairly fit, six-foot-one male, but even in my previous body I was still shorter than Alek. Who looked to be reaching almost seven-foot. I mean seriously, his hand was almost larger than my waist.
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Alek carried us through the massive castle, greeting similar looking demons on the way through. It brought back memories of my childhood, when all the parents would chat together for just a bit too long, leaving their children to entertain themselves. I decided it was best to just not interfere. Spending the time peering through every window and crevice I could find, while gradually trying to reconnect the mental link with Anna. It seemed to only work while we were both connected.
The outside cityscape had plenty of gothic style buildings, each billowing black and purple smoke from their chimneys. The ground floor looked like a disturbed fire ant nest, with thousands of tiny red things scampering around. Upon closer inspection, I could also make out taller, grey demons like Alek. That were commanding the red ones by the dozen.
There must have been some sort of hierarchy going on where the bigger and smarter demons ruled over everything below, which also conjoined with my fictional knowledge on the subject. I continued this for a while, stopping only when a tall, pitch-black demon with white horns stared back into my eyes me from atop another tower.
On a side note, there was a distinct lack of women in the area, and although I had my theories, I thought it best to save them for later. As we had finally arrived at our destination. A giant, hollow tower spanning fifty metres across, with hundreds of wooden bridges connecting one side to the other. Looking down made my head spin, as it was lit up the whole way down from the countless lamps and floating flames.
Each step over the bridge made me increase my grip on Alek, but this only made him laugh, joking about sprinting across as fast as he could. He put us down when he reached the other side, thankfully resisting the urge to taunt me, but reminding us to once again not act up as he took off my chains. I couldn’t help but be weirded out with how nice he was being, what with the whole hunting down and kidnapping stuff. Now, he acted more like the cool motorbike riding uncle you would see once a year.
“Well, this is the place kid. We call it the golem quarters, but nobody really cares. I may not be an expert on the subject, but this is without a doubt one of the best places to learn the craft. I’ll hand you over to that meister from earlier, and from then on I expect you to work hard. I’ll come by in a month or two to checkup on your progress, and if you’re not up to my standards, you’ll be sent to the mines to waste away instead. You got that?”
Nodding my head, I looked over the weird patterns carved into the door, startling myself when it suddenly creaked open. A shorter version of the cultist stepped out, being only a head taller than myself, and looked me up and down. I was curious as to why the golem-meisters wore such weird clothes, summing it up as some sort of labcoat equivalent. When Anna was finally released, we fused together once more, sending a shiver down my spine as she slid in place.
The golem-meister was clearly weirded out, looking to Alek for an answer. Who simply handed over a bundle of files, clearly experienced with this already.
“I’ve caught two sentient golems, both potentially capable of crafting as well. I believe you know how important these assets are, so treat them well, unlike the human scum that is usually brought in.”
The meister nodded, seemingly impressed, then grabbed me by the arm. He dragged me inside before closing the door, clicking a heavy lock back into place. I was astounded by the contents of the large room, with the roof being much higher than expected. It was by no means well-lit and beautiful, in fact it was quite the opposite, but spread all over were large machinations of various design. It was like walking into a tech expo. Where a hundred or more stalls were setup side by side, each one containing a group of meisters working on strange golems and other weird projects.
I also spotted a few rag covered humans, busily loading heavy ores into wheelbarrows surrounded by guards. I felt my heart ache as they stared at me with sympathy, knowing that they thought of me as just a child. Even the other demons had been fooled, often questioning why Alek was carrying a human child before they noticed my damaged arm. I had so many things to say, but was too afraid of what may happen.
So, I just followed the meister. Who guided me away from the other humans that watched on in misplaced worry. I needed to become stronger, powerful enough to make my own decisions. For my sake and Anna’s, I needed to be capable of defending myself, so that I may forge a safer path of my own.