As they walked away, once they were a good distance away, Damon spoke up.
“Buahaha! That went well, thankfully he believed us.” Damon stated with a content grin once they were alone.
They were following the whispers of The Shadows that were guiding them towards where Eve and Azanor could have gone. In all truth, Kazius did not need Damon’s help to find the missing ‘couple’, but he brought his friend along anyway. Alice was so adamant about being able to handle things in Vargstam, that he did not have the heart to do anything other than agree to what she wanted.
Not to mention, while Alice was involved in their conspiracy against Vind; Damon, Azanor, and himself were guilty of hiding so much worse together. Kazius felt like it would help Azanor to have two people there who understood what he was dealing with.
Despite how well things were going though, Kazius’ face was solemn.
“Yes… I am glad that went well… I… I am sorry you had to lie on my behalf… I… I led you down a bad path, didn’t I? Because of me, you were yelled at.” Kazius admitted in dismay, he was absolutely filled with guilt.
His friends were good people yet he felt like if he kept going down the path that he was going, he would lead them down a bad path… He had to try harder.
Damon’s expression softened a bit at Kazius’ words. He let out a good-natured laugh.
“Buahaha! Are you really worried about that? I could not care less, Kazius. I told you many times, you could become the worst person in the world, and I would still be on your side. I mean it. I am okay with lying if it helps you… I do feel bad for hiding things from Alice… But I understand why we have to.” Damon stated, waving his hand as if dismissing Kazius’ concern as silly.
“What about Vind? When I asked for your spear… I didn’t even tell you what I was going to do… As things are… If Vargstam found out half of what we did… Everyone in town would become our enemy.” Kazius admitted with a frown.
“And? I told you, but maybe I just didn’t explain it well… I don’t feel like I owe Vind anything. She gave the same power to my father and everyone else in my family. When things got bad, what did she do for me? Everyone in Vargstam has been my enemy for a long time, Kazius… The only reason it is different now… Is because of you, my friends. If they go back to being my enemies because I am staying by your side, that won’t change my mind. I forgive them… I will be their friend as long as they let me… But, I don’t owe them anything either.” Damon admitted with a shrug.
Kazius was not sure whether to be happy or concerned at Damon’s words. It seems he means a lot to Damon, they all do… But he held more resentment for the people of Vargstam than he realized.
“I appreciate it, Damon…” Kazius stated, but his tone revealed his concern.
As they finished this conversation, they walked into a situation that Kazius did not expect at all.
Eve was crying, her expression was her usual ugly cry. Snot was coming out of her nose as she cried her eyes out. She looked absolutely heartbroken.
“I’m sorry, Eve… Just go back… Please… I want to be alone right now… I… I don’t think I can be around you right now.” Azanor stated, his expression was pained as he said this. He looked incredibly guilty and sad to have caused her so much grief.
Eve did not want to be sent away, but Azanor clearly was not budging.
“But…. But you are my best friend.” Eve whimpered out, devastated.
Azanor frowned, the Demon looked at his wits end. He was under too much stress… And hearing his wife address him as a friend… It was too much for him right now. He could not look at her.
“Yes… You are… But… Please… Just go. I can’t look at you…” Azanor stated in dismay.
Eve stared at him, searching his face in desperation, but seemed to not find what she wanted considering not long after… She ran off in tears. She was not used to Azanor acting distant with her.
Then again, Kazius did not blame her, even he was shocked at the fact he was telling her to leave. He knew Azanor was probably feeling quite terrible at his slipping control, but he did not understand why he would distance himself from Eve like that.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Is…. Is everything alright?” Kazius questioned in concern.
“Of course it fucking isn’t. You saw me, earlier, didn’t you?” Azanor questioned with a frown.
Damon and Kazius were a bit taken aback by his attitude, but Kazius knew that it was in Azanor’s nature to have more bite to his words. He had likely given up on keeping up his filter now that Eve had left. So Kazius did not take it personally.
“Earlier?” Damon asked, considering he had not seen Azanor.
“Yes, earlier. You know… When we stole that pathetic Goddess’ power? I could feel her anger and agony from where we were… Then there was the suffering of those The Frost Giants… Some of them survived and their terror… it was…” Azanor shuddered as he spoke, he seemed to gulp dryly.
“I felt so hungry… I am so, so, so hungry… I… I am struggling with trusting myself… But… I can’t afford to eat another fucking soul. I won’t… I can’t…” Azanor stated in distress.
Kazius could understand Azanor’s internal struggle, but the way he spoke… It was starting to sound more like he did not eat souls due to more than just moral reasons.
“Is it even safe for you to go around and not eat? I know my kind acted very… Feral back when the famine was happening…” Damon questioned in confusion.
“It is safe… At least I would like to think it is… I don’t know 100%, honestly. It isn’t like any other Demon has been dumb enough to do this… I don’t know of any other Demon that would voluntarily not eat… Not like I had a choice while I was sealed away…. But still… The way I see it though… I feel like it is just necessary for us to get stronger, not to live… That doesn’t mean we don’t get hungry though… Normal food helps, but we don’t need it… Might as well eat garbage, it makes no difference to us… But… My control has been slipping… You saw a bit of my true form, Kazius… I am a Monster… A real and true Monster.” Azanor stated in dismay, his expression darkening.
It surprised Kazius to think that Azanor’s real form was so beastly… But to him, it did not matter… He was still his friend… But hearing from Azanor speak about how hard self-control came to him… It did concern Kazius…
He was not worried about Azanor, but rather thinking about the day Demons would be free again… A day he knew was coming… And how they would all be very VERY hungry… Including their King… And that they would not have Azanor’s saint-like self-control. Such a thought was enough to lose sleep over.
“Azanor, enough about this Monster nonsense. I know you hung out with Ratier and those other idiots, but I don’t see you that way… If you want to talk about terrifying things, I would fit that description too. You don’t see me that way, do you?” Kazius questioned with a frown.
“No… But… I don’t want to hurt any of you… Especially Eve… It… It scares me… I already have a contract with her… I… I would not forgive myself… I am entitled to take her soul, the only reason I haven’t is because I refuse to. I am scared of what I could do if I ever lose control…” Azanor admitted in shame.
“Azanor, we all know you don’t have it in you to do that… Who are you kidding? Not even in your wildest dreams. You love her too much. Not a lot of people would stick around a spouse that doesn’t even remember them, especially not so patiently.” Kazius stated with a scoff.
“I think Kazius has a point. You two are practically attached all day.” Damon assured with a grin.
Azanor frowned at this, he looked like he truly did not trust himself right now.
“You don’t know me as well as you think. I love Eve with everything I am… But I am also awful, I am a terrible person. I thrive off suffering, I literally eat souls. How much worse could I fucking be for you to see that you should stay away?” Azanor snapped.
“What, you think you enjoyed that view all alone? I loved every bit of it... I… I am starting to realize that I am not as great of a person as I like to think I am. I am not immune to my own nature… I didn’t know how far we were taking things, but I wasn’t entirely clueless about what we were doing to Vind. I might as well be continuing where my father left off, you know, the one you don’t even want to say the name of. If anything, seeing you have such good self-control helped me out a lot. You need to have faith in yourself, Azanor.” Kazius assured, his expression softening greatly.
“You are not bad people because of where you come from… You guys taught me that… That is why you also need to think better of yourself, Azanor. I think you don’t give yourself enough credit. I heard the stories about how Demons can’t help but lie… To never trust a word from them… But you are one of the people I trust the most. You never lie.” Damon assured, showing how much faith he had in them.
“Stop praising me, I don’t deserve it. There is no afterlife or anything for souls I eat, you know? I am just some hungry soulless fiend that steals from others what I cannot have.” Azanor admitted bitterly. He had hinted at it in the past, but it seemed Azanor truly did not have a soul, at least not one he could see… And that fact greatly bothered him.
“And I am Seselis’ son, who has Shadows around me constantly encouraging me to do bad things. Join the club. We try to be better than we are. That is enough. Yes, you haven’t told us everything about yourself, but neither have I.” Kazius assured.
Azanor frowned, looking nervous and panicked. It seemed like he had something weighing on him greatly. He seemed to grip his cane to himself, almost as if he was seeking comfort from it.
“So just stop-” Kazius began only to be cut off by Azanor having an outburst.
“I AM THE ELDEST SON OF THE PREVIOUS DEMON KING!” Azanor snapped out in panic, looking scared as he finally admitted this piece of information.
“You… What?” Kazius asked in shock, his eyes widening.
“That is the reason I know so much about your father, is because my family is the oldest family of Demons there is. My grandfather was the Demon King during the time… I am the disgraced Prince of Demons, The current Demon King’s older brother. You are looking at the biggest disappointment in Demon history… And one of the main causes of The Demon War. I would be safe to say that it is all my fault, really.” Azanor continued, his expression showing his exhaustion from all that he was carrying. It seemed like he intended to fully come clean.