~Tabbing quotes for easier viewing~ nEoquicksilver

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The maid Sabrina was leading me up the castle of the Marquis to a forbidden area.

I desperately wanted to meet the Marquis because of the news I found out from Petra. The Humans of the Unified Kingdoms have called for war against the Demon race. Helen was now crowned Queen and leader of the Unified Kingdoms. Then the most preposterous news I heard yet. Gabriel, the Hero of the Veil had come back from the dead.

How could all this be possible?

I didn't know if I wanted to scream for joy or cry in despair.

What happened when I was incapacitated for these two months?

 I had pleaded with Sabrina to meet with the Marquis earlier than intended. Sabrina had told me that the Marquis was in his office hidden away from people while he worked. I could only guess that the Marquis preferred solitude while he worked. Not many people knew of the Marquis' location inside his castle and he wanted it that way.

After a lot of stairs and passageways, we had arrived at a chamber hidden away inside the upper floor of the castle. Two stone golems in the shape of armored knights guarded the chamber door. As we approached, the slits of their stone carved helmets lit with blue fire. The golems drew their weapons and intercepted us from going any further.

                "Halt!…You…Are…Forbidden…From…Entry…"

Sabrina gave the Golems a curtsy and glanced at me before looking at the chamber doors.

                "Pardon my rudeness," Sabrina said. "Lord Demitri would like a word with the Master."

The fire in the helmets of the stone golems blazed for a moment and distinguished in almost an instant. The golems reverted back to their positions standing on the sides of the chamber doors. I was puzzled as we didn't receive any answer. Sabrina nodded before giving me a bow and leaving my side.

                "Wait, where are you going?" I said.

Sabrina looked back at me before giving me another bow.

                "I have other duties to attend to my Lord and it seems that Master would speak to you in private."

I scratched my head and heard the opening of the chamber doors. I looked at the opened chamber room and saw nothing but darkness inside. I let out a sigh before I gathered some composure to enter. As soon as I stepped inside the chamber, the door slammed shut behind me.

                "Come in," an authoritative voice beckoned to me.

The chamber room was dimly lit with candles but then the candles roared. Fires from the candles ignited and brightened the room. All around the chamber room were bookcases that reached the high ceilings. The bookcases were filled to the brim with books, scrolls, scripts, and other parchments. In the far end of the chamber room, there was a modest desk with some chairs.

A Demon was sitting behind the desk and he paid me no attention as he looked to be writing something. It was a long blonde haired Demon with ivory horns who wore spectacles as he worked. The Demon had a skinny frame and I could notice how tall he was just by him sitting behind the desk. His attire looked like that of an aristocrat and I could only assume that this was the Marquis.

                "Lord Demitri, I presume?" The Demon asked.

                "Yes," I said. "And are you the Marquis?"

                "Yes," the Marquis said as he continued his work.

I walked towards the desk and saw the Marquis patiently doing a stack of paperwork.

                "Please, sit down, Lord Demitri," the Marquis gestured to me without even looking at me.

I sat down on the wooden chair in front of his desk and felt out of place. The Marquis looked to be working hard on something and I seemed to have been interrupting him. I had never seen people in the upper echelons of society work as hard as I saw the Marquis. Still, I needed to know what was going on in the world and the Marquis would have the answers.

                "I'm glad you have awakened Lord Demitri," the Marquis said. "Why is it that you want to see me now instead of having our meeting at dinner?"

I stared at the Marquis who still hadn't paid any attention to me.

                "War," I said. "I needed to know what is happening."

The Marquis finally had set aside his pen and pushed up his glasses to look at me.

                "Ah, so, you have heard the news and want to know the circumstances of such?"

The Marquis displayed a regal bearing and I nodded my head to affirm to his question.

                "Well, I apologize Lord Demitri," the Marquis said. "That information is confidential."

                "What!?"

The Marquis stared back at me with the blue specks of his eyes. He grasped his gloved hands together while putting it under his chin. His demeanor and words were of utmost respect but the way he looked at me had given me shivers. I felt the burning hatred from his eyes when he laid his gaze at me. I was confused at why the Marquis wouldn't give me the information I wanted. But I knew that he didn't like me very much at all.

                "Aren't I your Demon Lord?" I said.

                "Are you?" The Marquis said. "I heard that you didn't want to be our Demon Lord and for that, I cannot completely trust you."

I stood up from the chair and tensed up my fists. He was right in that sense, was I really their Demon Lord? Did I want to help the Demons? The Marquis kept a stoic expression on me and then moved his gaze to the black ring on my finger. Sadness filled his eyes for a moment and he looked away. I sighed and then sat back down in the chair.

                "I just want to prevent a war," I said. "To save people from suffering."

                "To save Humans or to save Demons?" The Marquis said. "War is coming, no matter what you say or do about this matter."

                 "Why is it this way?" I said.

                "It's this way because of humans," the Marquis said. "People such as yourself who waged war with us invaded our lands, and killed our leader."

As the Marquis raised his voice, I felt a well of anger rise up inside me.

                "It was the best for Humanity to stop evil!" I said. "He was the Demon Lord!"

I slammed my fist on the table and the Marquis kept his composure.

                "He wasn't evil but he was our Lord," the Marquis said. "He was our savior and my best friend."

I could tell that the Marquis was very rational but the sounds of his words had deep emotion in them.

                "He was saving our people and gave us new ways to live here in this cold desolate area that we were banished to," the Marquis said.

                "So you despise me for killing your friend?" I said.

                "Wouldn't you?"

                "Then why am I here? Why all this charade for me?"

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

                "A symbol, Lord Demitri, that black ring of the Demon race has chosen you as it has done to my friend before you," the Marquis said. "While I do loathe you Lord Demitri, I understand what's best for my people."

I gave the ring a glance before looking back at the Marquis.

                "So do you just want a puppet? or a figurehead?" I said.

                "It doesn't matter either way Lord Demitri," the Marquis said. "What I want is for the Demon race to survive."

I gripped my pants tightly as I stared at the Marquis.

                "Do you want war?" I said.

                "If the Demon race is to survive because of war," the Marquis said. "Then bring the war."

The Marquis gave me a slight smirk which irked me.

                "The Demon race has divided into four sections, if your presence will unite us all then I and all those who serve me will willingly follow you," the Marquis said.

                "You're a leader yourself, why don't you take up leadership for the Demon race?" I said. "It looks to me that you have a great following and you have an air of nobility around you."

I gave the Marquis a smirk back but he had just smiled at me.

                "I know my role and my place in the world," the Marquis said. "Others would have a far greater claim to leadership than I do but I trust the words of my friend who said that I should follow the one who bears this ring next."

The Marquis pointed to the black ring on my finger and then to me.

                "As the storybook for one ends," the Marquis said. "The story for others still continues."

                "So you really want me to be the Demon Lord?" I said.

                "As I said before, it is not my choice to make."

The Marquis looked at me to say that it was my choice.

I didn't really know if I could become the leader of the Demon race. I wasn't a Demon but a Human that had become prone to trouble and despair. My past haunted me and I wanted to change it but it kept me in its embrace. Were violence and war the only way for me? I'm not a pacifist but I wanted peace and I wanted people, Human or otherwise to live with it. I had to stop this war but could I do so by myself?

                "So if I do accept that I am your Demon Lord," I said. "Would you do as I say?"

The Marquis relaxed his posture and leaned back into his chair.

                "I will take everything into consideration as you say Lord Demitri and I will hope that you lead the Demon race into prosperity."

I wanted to stop the madness of war but I was no leader and I never saw myself as one. I had once thought only about stopping the Demon Lord and the Demon race itself. Then I had found out that they were not the evil race that I once thought them to be. I contemplated heavily on the matter at hand but I couldn't throw myself into a strong agreement.

                "You do not have to answer now," the Marquis said. "We may talk again at dinner with the Oracle present."

I stood up from my chair once I heard the news.

                "Liz will return today?" I said.

The Marquis nodded and then returned to his work. The sail of my thoughts dropped when the Marquis mentioned Liz. I had to speak to Liz and I just had to see her again. I held my breath for a moment and waited for the Marquis who continued his work. I had believed that he wouldn't speak any further on the matter so I then begrudgingly left my chair. I walked towards the exit until the voice of the Marquis stopped me.

                "For the information you wanted," the Marquis said. "For good will, I will go against my senses and tell you."

I looked back at the Marquis who looked up at me from his desk.

                "So Gabriel?" I said.

                "Ah yes, I could guess that this is about your former friend," the Marquis said. "The Hero Gabriel has not returned, but there is a new Hero of the Veil that is being championed by the Unified Kingdom's propaganda."

                "What!? A new hero of the veil?" I said.

                "Yes, just as news being spread of a new Demon Lord has raised the hopes and dreams of the Demon race," the Marquis said. "The Unified Kingdom will, of course, counter this news with their own."

                "Then why are they saying it was Gabriel?" I said.

                "The new Hero, oddly enough, looks almost identical to the Hero Gabriel," The Marquis said.

                "So Gabriel hadn't returned from the dead?" I said.

                "The murmurs of people say that he has risen from the dead but of course that isn't true," The Marquis said. "If it were, I would have wasted all my effort and resources in finding a way to resurrect my dead friend."

                "Then who is this new Hero?" I said.

                "That I do not know," The Marquis said. "Now if you'll excuse me Lord Demitri, I have work that I must finish before dinner."

The Marquis continued back to his work and I left his chamber room. The door to the chamber closed shut as soon as I left. Sabrina was outside the room waiting for me and guided me back to my quarters. I laid down on the couch inside my room and started to process the information given to me.  I felt a sense of relief from the news but some sadness.

The Hero Gabriel was dead and buried in the ground.

I sometimes think that it was a mistake and that I couldn't have possibly done what I did. Though I knew better and I had to continue on living as others go to the dirt. The Hero Gabriel being alive or not wouldn't change anything to the matter at hand. War was coming and I had to choose which side I was on. I just knew that I didn't want to be on Helen's side.

Helen, now a Queen of the Unified Kingdoms. She was the one who made us go to war in the first place. Yet did she became Queen without any bloodshed? No, there must have been bloodshed behind the scenes for her to accomplish her goals. She is not that caring of a person for what she wants.

But what of this new Hero? Who is he? The Church of the Veil must have endorsed him for him to be called the Hero of the Veil. As I pondered this question I heard a knock at my door. I went and opened the door to see Liz standing before me. She was in her blue robes and looked fatigued as if she ran here.

                "Demitri," Liz said. "You're awake!"

Tears looked like they were welling in her beautiful green eyes.

                "Liz," I said. "You've come back."

In an instant, Liz rushed inside and gripped me with her slender arms.

Liz moved her head away from my chest and looked at me with a gentle gaze.

Suddenly I felt the slight warmth of her lips as they touched mine.

My heart was beating fast and then I held her in my embrace.

Again, our lips touched and we held each other tightly.

I closed the door to my room.