"Why can't you just praise me a little more?"

                "Why should I praise you for causing more harm than good?"    

                "We're alive aren't we?"

                "More or less."

                "Why are you so mad?"

                "We could've used the evidence to indict that criminal."

                "No, it's better this way. We get rid of his merchandise and slowly chip away at his power."

                "It would've been better for him to rot in a jail cell and then stab a dagger through his heart."

                "You are indeed vicious Silvia…"

That was the conversation I had with Silvia when we were trapped in an underground dungeon.

It was the dungeon of a former noble who used his wealth and power to subjugate the populace around him. We were there on recon together but we ended up getting caught. I improvised and fought our way out with the use of explosives. Silvia thought we should've sneaked out without a fight. In the end, we destroyed all his merchandise of drugs and weapons.

Gabriel used to say that we were birds of the same feather but I just couldn't see it. I could never hide my disdain for what I thought was wrong. Silvia always kept her composure but always had a dagger behind her back waiting to strike. We always had different ideologies in our approach. I preferred to tackle my obstacles head on while Silvia played the waiting game. While I was a Thief, Silvia was an Assassin, and our tactics were naturally different.

But still, I could hide if I wanted to and Silvia liked to be seen in plain sight.

Colds winds blew through the silent city fortress and I walked up to the castle. I sheathed my blade as the song disappeared from my ears. The huge doors opened as if they expected me to come through. I never hesitated and moved forward through the doors and into the large castle. There were demons that stood up everywhere inside the castle, mindless like drones.  The castle walls were filled with paintings of old generals and wars. Weapons, armors, and other trinkets seem to litter the hallways as decorations.

A song of melancholy played through the castle as if it invited me towards it.

I followed the main hallways attracted by the song. I didn't see any more Blackbirds, perhaps they were hidden or maybe they were just cautious of me. The song echoed louder as I headed to the audience chamber. The castle was cold and silent just like the outside. You would have never known people were inside the castle walls.

I made it to the audience chamber and the song stopped abruptly.

The audience chamber was spacious almost like it belonged to a King's. A giant portrait of the former Demon Lord hung on the wall left of the chamber entrance. A huge black armor carved with intricate designs ornamented the wall opposite of the portrait. A large great sword hung next to the armor and various portraits of Demon Generals. In front of me stood a woman garbed in fiery red with long black hair.

It was Silvia, my former companion, who was also the leader of the Blackbirds.

Silvia had her eyes closed as if she tried to remember something. She opened her eyes and revealed their dull emotionless radiance. They were honed and tempered with the years she spent as an assassin. Sometimes you would think she were a living doll because of those eyes she had. The way she stared at you, you'd believe you were dead. Perhaps, she thought of the many ways she could kill you in her mind, so in the end you were dead to her already.

Only the Hero Gabriel brought those eyes of hers to life.

Sitting behind Silvia on a decrepit throne was a Demon who wore the attire of a military commander. I guessed that the Demon behind Silvia was the Demon General Bartholomew. The Demon General looked withered away as his horns and hair were white as snow. His hair covered his face as he slouched into the chair seemingly weary of life. Wrinkles covered his face and hands like he was more of a corpse than a living being.

                "So it was you Demitri," Silvia said. "Welcome to the Demon General's fortress."

Silvia looked around the chamber audience for a moment and then to me.

                "Don't worry my flock won't intervene," Silvia said. "You have done well at killing my birds that have chased you."

                "You want me killed?"

                "I do."

Silvia flashed me a face of bitterness and resentment.

                "I won't die so easily," I said.

I gazed back and forth between Silvia and the Demon General.

                "What did you do here?" I said.

Silvia put a hand to her chin and tilted her head to look surprised.

                "Nothing," Silvia said. "I was invited here but the same can't be said about you."

                "Invited here? What happened to all these Demons!?"

                "For revenge, this old Demon General gave in to everything."

                "He betrayed the demon race for revenge?"

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                "I was told to take care of them, " Silvia said with a fake smile. "So I did."

                "Using the Nectar of Madness!?"

                "Oh, so you remember. Yes, testing it on these demons had shown it's quite something now. I can control these vermin with my song."

Silvia played her flute and a number of Demon maids came into the chamber. They all bowed in unison and stayed still not moving afterward. The Nectar of Madness had been perfected for mind control. The Demons had become puppets on a string for Silvia.

                "Why are you with the Blackbirds!" I yelled. "Why!?"

                "You know why Demitri!" Silvia said. "To change the world! Like he always wanted!"

                "Did you not know what the Hero did during the war!?"

                "Of course I knew!"

I had left my mouth agape at Silvia's words.

                "You knew? And you let him carry on with those evil plans?"

                "The Hero was right to cull the weak, it was for the future and the good of others."

                "So the Hero decides who lives and who dies!?"

Silvia looked at me with disdain.

                "You were just jealous of him," Silvia said. "You were never better than him."

                "I might have been jealous of him," I said. "But I looked up to him, I trusted him, and I believed in him."

                "Yet, you murdered him."

I grimaced a little but I knew all the more what I've done.

                "I know what I've done," I said. "But what about you and these Blackbirds you've hated. You are a pawn of Helen now!"

Silvia looked up to the heavens and then to me.

                "When he died, I questioned my purpose. But, I remembered what he told me. He told me to live on for others and so I will change everything from the inside. I will make the Kingdoms safer with the help of the Blackbirds. Following Queen Helen is a necessity to change everything."

I stared at Silvia quiet for a moment as the pain in my heart resurfaced.

                "Where's Liz?" I asked.

                "Liz?" Silvia said with some confusion. "Liz isn't here, why would she be?"

I balled up my fists, I didn't know if Silvia was playing a game with me or that she didn't truly know.

                "The Oracle was supposed to meet with the Demon General for a parley," I said. "She never came back."

                "Oracle?..."

A connection formed on the face of Silvia.

                "Liz is the Oracle!?...then….you're….Hahahahhahaha."

The dull and emotionless Silvia reverberated with laughter.

                "It all makes sense," Silvia said. "That's why you're here! Of course! It would be you! So that's why Liz…yes of course..."

                "Stop with the games," I said. "Where's Liz!?"

Silvia sighed for a moment and then glanced at the shambles of the Demon General Bartholomew. Silvia walked over to the withered Demon General and whispered something in his ear. Truly, the Demon General was a withered old husk of his former self. The Demon General mumbled something back to her. Silvia's eyes widened for a moment and she returned to her stoic face.

                "Liz never came here," Silvia said. "The Demon General never received notice of the Oracle arriving."

I was confused for a moment.

                "You lie!" I said. "That Demon General is under your control!"

                "I never needed to control this Demon General," Silvia said. "Look at him, he is worthless but perhaps I might get to use him afterall."

Silvia had a evil grin on her face and whispered something into the Demon General's ear.

                "De…mon…Demon…Lord?" The General spoke softly.

Silvia nodded and then pointed to me.

                "Yes, he's the Demon Lord now, the one who killed your son and… the one who killed your previous Lord."

The Demon General stood up as if given new life. Bartholomew roared and a strange aura surrounded him. The Black armor on the walls shook and flew towards the old Demon General. The armor covered the Demon General and the great sword flew into his hands. Bartholomew stabbed the great sword into the ground and his white hair fluttered with vigor.

                "You….are….Demitri!?"

                "I am."

                "You are the Demon Lord and you killed my son?"

                "I am…and I did."

I would never deny my actions.

                "YOU…YOU MONSTER!" the Demon General roared.

I was startled for a moment and slowly backed away.

                "Entertain the General won't you Demitri?" Silvia said and played a song with her flute.

As the tune sounded, the Demon maids moved to block my retreat. The path behind me had been cut off and in front of me stood a deranged Demon. Glowing mana like light swirled in the air and the General began breathing in the mana. The skin and horns of the General returned to color as his hair revitalized as well. His muscles grew and I realized how enormous the General was as he stood tall.

I glanced at Silvia who smiled at me and then looked up at the Demon General.

                "How can I make it right?" I said. "I don't want to fight you if I don't have to."

                "YOU ASK ME HOW YOU CAN MAKE IT RIGHT!? While my Lord is dead because this servant could not protect him! When my son is dead within the dirt because of your hands! You ask me!?"

The General stomped his foot and I drew my sword.

                "What a farce that a bloodthirsty monster such as yourself is the Demon Lord," Bartholomew said. "I will never accept it! Fate has done me cruel in this world."

                "I was just here for Liz," I said. "The Oracle."

                "That witch! She is a schemer! I can tell by her very nature, she is hiding a truth that you and the Marquis will realize all too late!"

                "What are you saying?" I said.

The Demon General glanced over to the portrait of the former Demon Lord.

                "My Lord has always told me that there will be peace. I never believed him, he was the most gentle and kind being that this old man had ever known and you humans killed him! Murdered him in his own home! In the lands that you banished us to!"

The Demon General lifted up his great sword and pointed it at me.

                "When your body is deep underground and its ashes are torn apart, when your soul is rendered asunder…that is when all will be right!"