"Alissa… Can you get me that book from the top of the shelf? Hurry up will you?." The older woman called out to her younger child, pointing to a shelf few metres away from her position, "Try not to tumble it over."
Alissa — the younger child who'd sat down to read the books scattered on the ground, lifted her head to stare at her mother in silence. After locating the book, Alissa stood to her feet, walking towards to the book.
Just as she was about to drag the book down from the top of the shelf, she heard a knock from the front door, and paused. After a few seconds, she dragged it down from the shelf and ran to her mother.
"Will you go get the door? I guess your father has come back from his hunt." The woman smiled at Alissa, raising her right hand to pat the younger child's head, "I will be waiting for you here. Don't run off somewhere else."
Alissa nodded to her mother, then ran out of the room to open the front door. She rushed towards the door at her maximum speed, reaching it in a few seconds. After she'd reached the door, Alissa opened it.
Behind the door were two tall men. Confused, she took a step forward to look around with knitted brows. To her confusing, the young girl was unable to locate her father amongst the men who'd arrived at the house.
"Is your mother inside? Please call her for us, we've bad news for her." One of the men spoke coldly, wearing his plainest expression. The other besides him looked even colder, although the second remained silent.
"Yes… she is… inside." The young girl felt a bad feeling a second after hearing what the man said. Seeing that neither of them had the intention of coming in, Alissa turned around, "Mother!"
After some seconds, the woman from earlier rushed to the door only to find the two men standing outside. She stared at her daughter in confusion, wondering why she had screamed so loudly, "What is happening, Alissa?"
"They… want to… talk with you." Alissa explained to her mother, numerous thoughts running in her mind due to the current situation. She was scared that something had happened to her father in battle.
"Oh? Then, they shouldn't be standing outside. Where is Matthew? What is he doing outside?" The woman was confused, but wore a polite smile to welcome the guests into her home, "Don't just stand there, come inside."
"This is fine ma'am." The silent guard finally spoke out, not moving an inch from his position. He paused, then a second later, began speaking again, "Your husband was called back into the battlefield. He won't return today."
“Won't return? It's been five years already, why wouldn't they let him return to his family! They're working him to death. He hasn't rested from battle in five years!" With the realisation of the situation striking her, she exploded,
"Why are you guys even pushing him like this? There's nothing he's done to deserve this punishment! Are you guys planning to let him die in battle without seeing his family even once?"
The guards remained silent. Neither of the duo spoke a word as they watched the fuming woman. They did not understand what she was passing through, but they felt the rage boiling inside of her.
"We're sorry." Saying that, the duo turned around and walked away without looking back. Leaving an angered woman with her daughter to muse on the news gotten from the two men.
——
Alissa held out her hand, calm as it rained upon her. Mylos and Aysla exchanged goodbyes with the family as they packed their bags, boarding a bus that would drive them to a new location. These demons had caused quite the ruckus, and it would only attract trouble.
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Amidst the tears, the hugging and the sight of Mylos pushing the truck with a finger, she found solace in musing over her memories as they returned to her. It was a slow process, and the more revealed the less she wanted to recall.
“You think about this too much.” Aysla stepped back to stand with Alissa, placing her hand on the woman’s shoulder. There was silence as Alissa also thought that through. Maybe she was just putting too much thought into this after all. Maybe this was the reason zombies did not need intelligence?
“Yes, I do.” Alissa turned to the side, then she sighed. Now that she was like this — what was she going to do? Soon these urges she felt from within her would overwhelm her completely — the urge to rip through and consume flesh and bone. Her fingers twitched as she thought of that.
Aysla sighed then threw her arm across Alissa’s shoulder, “As for eating human flesh, you will get used to it — no matter how terrifying that sounds. It was difficult for me too when I had to eat other demons and I got used to it after a while. It is what you can call a necessary evil.”
“Don’t even mention that again… it is making my heart tighten.” Alissa chuckled drily. This wasn’t something she would ever imagine herself doing — it was blatant cannibalism! She was still human, or a part of her still was… Alissa shook her head, not wanting to get confused again.
“Okay!” Mylos clasped his hands, turning around to the dead bodies piled up beneath him. There was silence for a while as he stared the the headless body of the receptionist and as he reached out his hand, he froze for a second. He paused calmly then closed his eyes.
How to raise the dead? Sadly he was not well versed in this level of manipulation over his energy, given the fact he was not the best when it came to demonic arts. He wondered within himself: What if he had a chance at developing one or a few? He sighed within himself.
Everyone stared at Mylos as he stood there with his hand stretched forth. Maybe it did not work because they had already destroyed their cores? The cores were the central part of any undead that held them together — once destroyed, it would render the undead body inanimate until repaired.
“Is this the point where I say something cool?” the lights from the buildings around flickered to a fault — dying instantly. He frowned. The commotion was sure to attract bystanders but the night was thick and there were no windows in the area directly overlooking the location.
“No.” Aysla rolled her eyes, “It’s the point where you do something.” Although demon attacks are not rare in these parts of the city, they attracted hunters. She sighed calmly as she shifted her eyes to gaze into the dark road — there was no one in sight.
“She moved!” Karen shouted, her index finger pointing at the headless Lisa. The latter’s fingers twitched and everyone caught sight of it immediately. Mylos stepped back as he stared down upon a dead pile, his eyes cold as he noticing them twitching as they began to regenerate.
“That is great and all but I caught someone’s shadow behind the tall red roofed building standing at the centre of that cluster. It could not have seen the bodies from that angle and across the distance but there is no way to be sure. We need to hurry up with this stunt.”
Alissa turned in the direction Aysla pointed in then returned her gaze to Mylos. The receptionist’s body jerked up and every leapt back with a start. Her head regenerated at a fast speed whilst the old one burned away in a black purple flame. It was same for the other demons with their old limbs.
Mylos staggered back, his eyes gleaming. He had not expected this to work and was stumped for words as the receptionist regenerate her head completely, opening her eyes. The others followed in slow succession, groaning in pain as confusion settled in.
The receptionist stared at Mylos for some seconds then she staggered to her feet. She tried her best at summoning her codecs but they refused to reveal themselves. Lisa stood there with her eyes shaky and knees wobbly, staggering back and breaking into a stammer, “W-what did you do to me?”
“Heh., you can’t escape now.” Mylos wore a strange smirk on his face. Lisa saw that look and she stumbled back, falling on her butt. She backed away from Mylos as if she had seen a ghost, her face ghastly pale. She tried hard, but she could not bring herself to attack him — why?
The other demons were in a worse state than Lisa, completely rooted in their positions without being able to move. One of them fought with all his might, lifting his hand to claw at his face as veins popped throughout his body, but they were held by an invisible force — the will of a great authority.
“Mylos, necromancy is dangerous business.” Sylvia spoke up, glaring down upon the demons that lay sprawled beneath her with disgust. She tightened her hand on Karen’s shoulder, speaking calmly, “If the god they worship were to find out then you will be in a bigger mess than you can handle.”
Mylos chuckled, crouching to glare into Lisa’s eyes as he listened to Sylvia. When she was done with her speech, he reached out his hand and grabbed Lisa by the jaw, his grip like iron, “I want the game to be simple. I am the villain and you are my minion. Together, we’ll bring down the church.”
He spoke within himself, “and soon enough your gods will follow.”