"Okay, I know it's like some, hyper tense, crazy moment right now, but I have to know. How have I not heard of Santa's chickens?" Asked Alex, the question ripping itself from him as though it had been fighting to get out for a long time prior.
"Look kid it's. . . Wait a minute, why haven't you? I love my chickens!" Says the man in red. A red that Alex now recognized as the color of fresh blood. "Come on, we're getting to the bottom of this." He says as he stands from the faux leather couch that he had gotten comfortable on while telling his story.
"Where are you going?" Alex yells after the man as he scrambles to catch up with the man who swiftly grabbed his hat from the counter where he had left it and walked through the door.
"I don't know, I'm gonna look at shit and see if anything has a history that reveal's the answer," He says as he throws open the door. I ran out behind him to the eerily still night air, marveling at the world that you could forget was frozen when inside, with everything we touched becoming animated again. It was wonderful to Alex to see birds frozen in mid-flight and snow in the middle of falling. As they left the building Lanetli started glaring at things around him, and Alex could only assume he was inspecting the items' history, or planning a genocide of all bug zappers. Alex notices that it's still active, and would cause problems with the house when it got covered in snow, so he decides to unplug it for them. The purple light flickers out and Alex returns to Lanetli's side.
"What do you want me to do?" Alex asks, wandering around with the man who had appeared in his house, seemingly hours before.
"I don't know, just-" he starts before being cut off by a shimmering green oversized chicken poking its head around a corner. It rushed the man in red, jumping and flapping its wings to get into his arms, all while angrily clucking away at the man. "I know I took forever in that house, but look!" he says, pointing at Alex. The chicken quickly stopped clucking, cocking its head to the side as it took in the still-moving form of Alex.
"Is that the famed-"
"Yes, it's Major General Bakaw." Says Lanetli, cutting off Alex. "I'll continue my story, you shut up and listen while I get to the bottom of this."
"Alright, I guess," Alex responds before Lanetli continues his story while periodically trailing off and glaring at an inanimate object and petting his chicken.
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As the demon approached I saw the ethereal nature of this demon's magic and I knew that it was a half incarnate. I focused on his history, something I had been ignoring with the demons because they never gave useful information for killing them.
This demon was never summoned, and he had nothing better to do than sit in his realm and study his concept, something that had been gone over hundreds of times with the only icon in the realm being Corruption. But this demon thought he could find something new. Each demon chose something to infect and pervert to their purposes, such as insects and flying creatures to create the monstrosities I had fought thus far. This demon decided that the nature of Corruption was to take and pervert indiscriminately, rather than choosing one medium to steal. He was a revolutionary in his field, learning magic and channeling it stronger than anyone else, however, he was still never summoned. Even as his power grew, he had no way to use it.
His growth reached a point where he was writing papers for others to read, a true scholar of the ages. He half incarnated at a young age, as far as demons go. He was only three thousand years old when he was chosen as a champion for Corruption, with the prerequisites for such an achievement being to make strides in the concept that had never been made before, and having channeled enough Corruption to permanently take on aspects of it.
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From then on he couldn't be summoned, as a half incarnate he was too strong to be directly summoned, even by another half incarnate. One day, a crack appeared in the ground, widening and growing. Looking through alongside many others, they found that it was not a simple crack, but a rift, a portal between worlds bigger than any seen so far in history. Many went through immediately, throwing themselves into the new world.
But this demon waited. He watched with interest how the demons more experienced in interdimensional travel acted. It was. . . brutish to say the least. They slaughtered with no cause and simply rampaged. The least sick of them was a sibling, who would capture and torture humans to death with her corrupted hive living under her flesh. It was terrible, and this demon saw no reason to go through the portal. He did watch though.
One day, while the demon was watching, he saw something interesting moving at speed through the underbrush of this new world. Two, seemingly very powerful demons, being pulled along on a sled, buy large fowl. Now he had to see how this odd behavior originated.
The light mage took the blade from mid-air and slammed it into the demon, with the demon reacting just in time to turn it to the side, the flat of the blade smashing him roughly to the ground. I prepared for battle, subtly throwing my curse on the demon. It took hold, seemingly without the demon noticing and the Light mage fell, landing softly on her feet, though she seemed rather exhausted.
"You aren't a demon." It said, confusion lacing its voice heavily.
"No, and this isn't your realm. We are native here, and will die fighting against invaders." I told him.
"You don't use magic like we do. It is something I have never seen before. And I have never seen another like me. You follow another path, but I have no clue which one." he said, only making statements and never questioning.
"You could always leave. I will tell you of the other icons in the pyramid if you do." I offered, knowing it would get me nowhere.
"I'm afraid I learn through hands-on demonstration. I believe bisecting you will give me all the information I need for the two concepts I see before me."
"I hope you know I can't let you do that. I need to close the rift before something goes unstable." I told him.
"That won't be your problem." He said before rushing forward, magic disappearing into his soul. I instantly start prepping the area, but he breaks the magical matrices as he steps through. I use my eternal moment, slowing him only the barest of amounts, but it helps. I start summoning chickens with my left as I fend off magical beams of darkness and melee attacks from his hands, which have coated themselves in the ambient magic as a corrosive substance, with my right. Every once in a while the Light mage will shoot a beam of light at him, distracting him for bare moments as the battle goes on. My chickens finally make themselves known, rushing the demon and giving me enough Time to secure a small area for my icon, leaving the other half incarnate with no connection to his icon.
"That is something I have never seen before!" he says, and though he seems slower, he is in no way debilitated as the other demons were. I set my blade on him, regenerating and pumping my eternal moment all the while. "You seem to forget that half incarnates become a factory for their concept. I can live without a connection to my concept for eternity, though I don't have the benefits that the connection gives me. I may be weaker, but I am in no way out of this fight!" he says, dancing around my blade and swiping at me with weak magical claws. I allow them to hit, taking him in the shoulder as I instantly regenerate the wounds he inflicts. It looks bad for him at the moment, but I'm not doing damage fast enough.
I make several more hits on the demon but he just keeps coming back for more, until my concentration runs out, and I fall to my knees, no longer held aloft by the ambient magic forcibly converting itself for me. I fall to my knees, my vision doubling as I prop myself up on my sword. The demon rises from the floor, where he had been forced to scrap for his life.
"That is a very interesting use of a half incarnates power! I must learn it for myself." He says as he walks calmly over to me. The Light mage fires another ray of light at the demon but he simply absorbs it.
"Thank you. . ." I say in her general direction. "And fuck you," I say, turning back to face the demon, exhaustion clear on my face. I fight to stay even on my knees, trying not to fall on my face.
"I do appreciate the fire, but your time is up now," the demon says, not knowing just how ironic his words are. One final step closer and he is within arms reach, ready to take my life in a moment.