That day, Garrett stayed at Eona’s house while Derek and Desmond left for the Forge. They saw him again when they returned for dinner. Tristan tagged along again and the conversation was quite lively as his friends grew more accustomed to Alicia and her friends. Derek was happy that they were getting along so well, but he grew weary and begged permission to head back to his room. His mom escorted him to the door, but before he left she delved him, “Hmm, your grandmother and I can’t detect anything wrong with you, but you look terrible. Go home and get some sleep. Do you need me to send someone with you?”
He smiled, “No mother, I can make it back myself. There is no need to worry about me.”
She smiled back before kissing his cheek, “Hmm, ok, I love you, hurry home and sleep.”
Kissing her cheek he turned to head out the door, “Goodnight, mom. I love you too.”
The trip back to the dorms wasn’t supposed to be a particularly long one, but he felt as if it was taking forever. Halfway across the training grounds his vision started to distort and he would get confused and take incorrect turns. Eventually, after getting lost many times, he made it to his dorm building. As he entered, Jonas the manager turned from lighting the first floor lamps to look at him and gasped in surprise, “Derek, you look awful. What is wrong with you boy?”
Derek waved feebly at him and headed towards the stares, “I am ok, just a little tired. I will head up to my room now.”
The manager sealed the lamp he was lighting and came over to him, “You are most definitely not ok. Let me help you to your room.”
Grabbing the boy by the shoulder, he pulled him up the stairs. Derek was starting to stumble, so the man lifted his arm over his shoulder and half carried him up the stairs before unlocking his door and bringing him into his room. He placed Derek on his bed and hurried back downstairs, grabbing his coat and rushing out into the darkening evening.
The moment he lay on the bed, Derek was asleep and already in that nightmare land. He felt terror as he repeated the cycle of spawning, clawing his way to the top, then dying and being cast into the pit again. He knew only that he needed power and he needed to break free.
There was some barrier containing him and he felt that he must break through, so he threw himself at it, rending and tearing at it and howling in rage and pain as he felt every wound he rent into it. The pain was deep as if his every fiber was being torn. After making some headway he would collapse from the pain and be sent back into the pit and there he would have to climb his way back out to rend the barrier again. Over and over again he repeated this process as he felt the fanatical need to break free from this place.
Then there was light. Holy magic, firm, powerful, and insistent, washed over him and the dreamscape shattered. He heard feral cries of pain, fear, and rage from within it as his mind was freed from the cage it had been entrapped in. He gasped, pain wracking his body as he tried to sit up, but strong hands restrained him.
“Calm yourself boy, you are safe.” Derek heard a familiar voice and started to relax. He calmed himself before checking his surroundings. His bed was a mess, sheets tangled and bloody. His clothing was torn and bloody as well, and hs skin where it showed through the torn fabric showed signs of freshly healed injuries.
There were almost a dozen people in the room with him. His grandfather, Ander, was the one holding him. Once he stopped struggling, the old man released him and stepped away, oblivious to the fresh bloodstains on his clothing. His mother and other grandparents were there as well, hovering anxiously behind the old smith. There were other adults from House Windreach around the room and Derek could hear other people outside the room as well, whispering and gossiping among themselves.
What was most surprising was the other man beside his bed. Derek gasped, still struggling with the memory of pain, “Old ancestor, when did you get here?”
“Ehehe, boy, it is good to see you haven’t forgotten me already. I arrived a few hours ago and was meeting with some other old fogies when we heard of your ailment. It seems Granny Katherine was correct. That old beast is trying to have his vengeance on you. I have dealt with the problem for now, but that is only a temporary solution. Tomorrow, we will go down to the Cathedral to meet someone. For now, sleep.”
At that command, Derek’s body went limp and he was fast asleep. One of the old men in the room signaled servants forward to bring Derek out on a stretcher and others to change the bedding. They were quick and efficient. Soon the room was clean and the old man signalled for the others to leave with him.
As he entered the hallway he turned to Derek’s dorm mates who had been standing by the door. “You may return to your room now. Your dorm mate will return when his ailment has been cured. I apologize for the disturbance. You should get some sleep now. Classes for each of you will resume in the morning.“
The next morning Derek woke to find himself in his room in his mother’s house. He turned his head to see his mother sleeping in the chair next to him. He quietly got up and tried to fix her blanket without waking her, but she reached up to grab his hand. Her eyes opened, and he could see her worry and love in them, “Silly boy, you scared me to death last night.”
The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
“Mother, it isn’t good to sleep like this. You will be sore during the day.”
“Oh, you aren’t changing the topic. I heard from some of the staff that they saw you stumbling through the grounds. If you were that tired you could have stayed here and we would have been able to get help to you faster.”
Eona seemed rather cross with him, and the fear and worry he saw in her eyes hurt him deeply. He had never meant to scare her this much. He kneeled next to her chair and hugged her, “I am sorry mother. I was just tired when I left. I didn’t know it was anything more significant.”
She clung tightly to him, tears forming in her eyes, “Derek, my son. You were so bloody when we entered the room. There was Unholy mana pouring out of you. It was as if I was walking into my worst nightmare. I was so afraid for you. My son, my only son.”
He held her as she wept. It seemed that she had been bottling her emotions up during the night and needed a good cry. He was truly sorry to have frightened her so much, “It won’t happen again mother. I promise.”
After a moment there was a light knock on the door before it was opened, “Ehehe. I am sorry to interrupt but we should get going now. My Penny wouldn’t be pleased with me to delay too late into the day with a matter this important.”
Derek’s mother tensed up, before sighing and reluctantly releasing him. “Derek, get dressed. You will be going with your Ancestor to the Cathedral. You will be there for a while so I will send a servant to deliver clothes and your books. You are not to fall behind on your coursework while you are gone.”
“What about my classes?” He asked as he stood.
The answer came from the doorway as his maternal grandmother walked into the room and responded before his mother could, “Your classes will be there when you return boy. You will only be gone for a week or two and we will send your coursework to you. If you keep up with those you will only have to worry about your practicals and the only class where that could be problematic for you is the Auras class I am teaching. I will have Sofia help you when you return. For now all I can suggest is that you convalesce quickly so that you have less catching up to do when you get back.”
Madeliene turned to her daughter and handed her a scroll, “Eona, this is his truancy permission form. I received this from Karl and have already informed all of Derek's instructors. You do not need to worry about him falling behind and from what this Ancestor of his has said he will be in good hands at the Cathedral. So come, let’s return to our duties. You can go see him at the end of the week.”
Eona took her mother’s hand and stood to leave the room, “Yes, mother. Derek, I will be by in a few days. Be good while you are at the Cathedral.”
Derek changed quickly, wearing the dark doublet and hose he preferred to wear under his armor. Coming into the antichamber, he met up with the old ancestor. “I am ready Ancestor, should we go now?”
“Ehehe, of course. Let’s go boy.”
The old man led the way out of Derek’s mother’s house, setting a quick pace through the Academy grounds. This time there was no strange method of traveling and while they moved at a decent pace, there was no strange distortion of the surroundings that caused them to warp from place to place like that night in the mountains.
They exited the gates of the inner city as they were being opened and entered the city proper before turning to the southeast to head down to the Temple District. In spite of how early it was, there were already many industrious people moving along the streets or setting up their shops and stalls. The streets were not yet as busy as they would be later in the day, but already they were coming to life.
As they walked the old man talked to Derek, “Ehehe, now boy, when we get to the Cathedral you must be polite to the people there. Our Clan has a deep relationship with the Church of the Sun and throughout the years many of our clansmen have been part of the Church or have collaborated with it. In fact, our first Ancestor was originally an Archpaladin of the Church before founding the way of the Demon Warrior.”
Derek glanced over at him, “If that is the case, why are so many of the followers of the church so hateful to us? They call us abominations and savages.”
The old man smiled sadly, “It’s reasonable isn’t it? it’s been five thousand years since the war, and five thousand years is a long time. In the time since the war, the Church and our Clan have grown apart from each other and there have been many opportunities for the two to interact and they haven’t all been positive. Five thousand years provides ample opportunities for grudges to develop between prideful people.
“But, I am afraid that isn’t sufficient reason for them to call you an Abomination, heh. During the war our first Ancestor was the first to act out the ritual we have come to know as the coming of age ceremony. There were many others who did it, but only he survived the war. The records of the war are spotty, but there are some records of these other Demon Warriors.
“Our Clan coming of age ceremony prescribes a period of months where the youth meditates at the Shrine of the Sword for a reason. There is a danger to becoming a Demon Warrior. The soul itself is put at risk and if the Demon Warrior isn’t prepared appropriately, they will succumb to the very Demon whose heart they have consumed. Their soul will be devoured by the Demon and their body will become its new host.
“From there, the atrocities that would follow were truly horrible to hear tales of. There were entire cities destroyed by Demonic infiltrators, orgies of blood and death, and treachery of the most heinous kinds. The records speak of untold horrors committed by them, and some of the more horrific and hard to explain events of the war against the Demon Lord are often suggested to be more cunning Demons given human vessels this way.
“Those failed Demon Warriors were called Abominations and it is right that they are feared. Certain members of the Church hold on to that teaching and believe that since the war has been over for thousands of years now, the practice of creating Demon Warriors should be considered anathema. They believe that our ways present more risk than benefit to human society and they would see us scoured from the world for it. It is only because they have lost sight of the true threat that Demons still pose to us, boy, never forget it.”
He looked up and Derek looked as well. They were in the Temple District. Ornate buildings could be seen in every direction, each block having its own form, conforming to the aesthetic of its church or order. Before them was a grandiose building with dozens of itinerant buildings around it. The old man smiled, “Ah yes, the Cathedral of the Sun. We are here boy, now let’s see if Penny will make us breakfast. I am starving, ehehe.”