Demons and their Uses IC (An Ethir/Erranruin Production)

A cool breeze filtered through the trees, rustling leaves and dislodging loose branches, throwing them to the floor in a lazy manner. The noise of this itself was enough to cover his tracks, and Deaken couldn't help but smirk a little. He hung loosely on a branch midway up a tall ash tree, peering through the breaks in the tree's arms and keeping an eye on his prey. Huddled in a clearing next to Prime, were a group of boisterous teenagers, laughing and shouting at each other as if they were a mile apart. Prime hummed gently, and the group merely thought she was meant to sound like that, but Deaken knew otherwise. Prime should be silent, for the connection with her other side, Nosk'ova, had been cut millenia ago and silence had also fallen in the forest. But now she was humming, a sign of her annoyance at these intruders. Demonic wards were spread around her to keep the Evilkind out....but it had little effect on teenagers. So here he was, taking it upon himself to settle her and bring silence back to the forest. There was a reason the cityfolk had dubbed these woods the Forest of the Damned, and these boys were soon going to find out exactly what that reason was.

A rustle in the bushes beside them startled the group. There were about six of them in all, 2 span round to face the noise and stood up in defense, another retreated back slightly, 2 others hugged each other closely and Deaken suspected they may be a couple...or extremely scared, and the last stepped cautiously toward the source of the sound. A black shape jumped out and the approaching boy screamed and tripped, his arms flailing, while the other boys laughed at his dampened form on the wet forest floor. The noise was caused by a mere squirrel foraging for nuts, and the group saw fit to terrorise their fallen friend for his troubles. Deaken decided to seize the moment and dropped from the tree, almost silently, the crackling of leaves underfoot the only source of noise, and even that was slight. The boys didn't notice, and so Deaken drew a sword from a sheath on his belt, and their heads turned to face him, for the withdrawal of his weapon resonated around the clearing. "You know," he called out to them, "For a boy, you have an awfully high pitched scream. I'd suggest getting that checked out but, I doubt you'll live long enough to process what I said" He smirked and launched his sword, charging forward as it whizzed through the air and lodged itself in the forehead of one of the hugging boys. His partner yelped and pushed him away, grabbing the sword and yanking it out, raising it to face Deaken as he charged towards them. The boy raised the weapon ready to strike, but something knocked him flying into a nearby tree and the sword dropped to the floor. Deaken's companion roared as he picked up the boy who tripped and tore through his neck as if it were paper, and howled as he brought the wound to his mouth and started to drink gulp after gulp of the oozing blood. The three remaining stood watching on in shock, one turned to run but was knocked down by a knife thrown by Deaken, and another fell as he reached the group, and tackled one to the ground. He straddled the boy and wrapped his hands around his neck, squeezing the life from him as if he were a puppy playing with a chew toy, while his companion finished the final one off by simply snapping his neck. Deaken sighed as the last breath escaped the asphyxiating boy and stood up, retrieving his weapon and sheathing it. He caressed the bloodied bald head of his companion and muttered an order to feed in his ear.

Lightly stepping over the first corpse he had made, he approached Prime, her humming now ever much louder than ever it was when she allowed the passage of Demonspawn. His feet made little noise as he approached her, and he smiled as he stepped through the so called powerful Demonic wards set up by the Wizards of Old. She settled slightly as he approached, but her humming still continued. "Hush now my dear. They are gone. I have rid you of these peasants so you may settle once more. All is well, hush now," he whispered to her quietly, wishing to reach out and caress her had she a form he could touch. Instead, the swirling black mass of darkness quietened to her silent state, and the forest felt empty once more. This clearing is so tainted not even the birds may sing here. Silence...just the way I like the world. His own thoughts made him chuckle as always they did, and he knelt on the ground, his hands falling lightly on his knees as he settled. Were Prime a God, this would be the position to which he fell to worship her, but for now, he stayed like this and began uttering an enchantment, in the hope that a string of words may restore a little of her once magnificent power.

Ahhh... she should be at peace. She really should be. Why couldnt she let it go? The forest was quiet, it had molded to her shape, dark, quiet, reverent in her presence. She should be content to stay here. But she wasnt. She had had her time of power, dominance, destruction. But she wanted more, it was her purpose. How were her little ones coping without her? There were so few of them, they were probably eating eachother. And what of her faithful Vanguard? They were no doubt wandering this realm in search of her, but they would not find her, she was far to clever, far to good at hiding nowadays. It rankled. So she stayed, wandering the woods about the Prime. Every now and then she would come upon some unwary lesser Angel, searching for her no doubt, she fed well on those unlucky few. She knew Azazel could feel her when she bit into the flesh of his Kin and it gave her courage

But it was not angels that drew her from her lair. She felt a ripple across the ether, a tiny thrum of familiar energy. Ahh, it could be a trap, so easily it could be her final downfall. But why did she want it so badly? It shouldnt draw her so easily, both the possibility of it being a way back and a way to her death. Did she want to die? She supposed she must do, but she also wanted to return, she wanted to see him again. She wanted to taste his flesh rather than that of his kith and kin. Well if that was the way of it, she might as well take a look. The wolf, black as night, blood-red eyes, jagged teeth, stood and padded from under the huge knarled roots, leaving the little girl playing mudcastles. She followed it with her nose, but really she could sense it anywhere, it was just she had begun to enjoy playing the role of the wolf. Once or twice she had joined a pack, but it hadnt been long before they had started attacking eachother and eventually she had been left amongst their shredded bodies. She was still good at silent though, no twig breaking, no shuffling of leaves, it was as though she wasnt there.

Soon her head began to ache, her stomach spin, she knew she was getting close to the wards. Her black nose poked through the bushes to peer into the clearing, her soft red eyes watching the man wreak his physical carnage with careful practice. Ahh, she remembered this one, he let her through, he made both her salvation and her doom all for her. She had reason to help him and maim him brutally... interesting. He seemed very attached to his Prime, what was that look in his eyes? She'd seen it before, many times, but it was long ago, maybe she was forgetting who she was in this... static place. Argh she needed to get out. But anyway, this one she remembered and he caught her interest slightly. But he stilled the Prime's humming and suddenly nothing seemed that interesting anymore. She padded out into the open briefly, as he knelt before his little alter and prayed to a god who wasnt there. She gave a little thrum of her own, her power might be less but it was still the same power. The oldest power, the strongest power, it commanded attention and respect, she commanded it. With her investigation complete she retreated, no longer interested. There was nothing for her here. She slowly disappeared back into the undergrowth.

His silence was interrupted by a sound behind him. Instantly on his feet, Deaken whirled round in time to see what appeared to be the tail of a wolf retreating into the darkness of the trees. How curious, he thought to himself, pondering the quieter wolflike hum the creature had given him. The authority in it was mighty, and not something his mind would let him dismiss so easily. Dusting himself down he decided to follow the fleeing beast, and perhaps uncover it's intentions.His light footsteps made as little sound as the wolf had done on her approach, and he called his feasting companion as he walked past. He still had not named him, after all this time, but he preferred it that way. A name would involve personal attachment, something he would rather much avoid a second time round. His companion grunted as Deaken stepped past him, growling in annoyance over leaving such a bountiful feast behind them, but followed regardless. It took only a few strides before the darkness of the canopy had encompassed them in it's grasp.

The wolf was quick and made subtle movements, for Deaken lost it within moments, his eyes not as easily adjusted as the beasts'. He sighed as he continued forward, knowing full well he allowed his chance to slip him by. Perhaps if he'd cast a tracing rune upon the ground at Prime, her power would have boosted the charm long enough for him to follow the wolf, but by now it was far too late to contemplate such a thing. His eyes glowed a dim yellow, much like that of a cat's, which gave him more of an advantage in the dark than most, but not more than this creature. The sense of magic he felt around it had been as mighty as it's authority, and he knew it could traverse the wilderness far better than he ever could, even after tearing through the land for the last millenia. Beside him, his companion grunted and growled as he ripped through the undergrowth, tearing branches from trees regardless of their amount of obstruction, and generally causing an all out riot of noise. "Will you please calm down you stupid fool! How on earth am I meant to find this thing with a noise like that?!" he was angry at his companion, but his follower didn't care. He couldn't sense anger, nor much else, for his emotions had died with his body just as Deaken had intended.

The racket continued as they traipsed through the dampened, leaf covered floor until they reached a clearing, about 10 times smaller than that of the one around Prime. His companion stopped dead, pausing with his foot in midair, as if contemplating whether to step forward or not. He had become cautious, fearful of what may happen if he took this next step. Deaken didn't notice this until he was halfway in, too late to turn back. He shook his head and sighed, turning back to continue walking...into a tree. The trunk took him by surprise and he flailed uselessly as he tried to stop himself colliding with it. Rubbing his nose he turned around again to see a little girl playing with the muddy ground. The structures spread around her were like simple sandcastles, much like those a child would make, except these were far more detailed than a child could possibly even imagine. He tilted his head to get a closer look at the figure on the floor, his eye catching on the red cloak flapping gently in the breeze behind her. His eyes widened as a flashback cascaded in front of him, a scene filled with darkness and terror, of a woman, but not a woman, in a long red gown with the train trialing for yards behind her. He knew who this was, simply by the redness of that cloak, he remembered she was who he was looking for. "Mimble," he called out to her, calling her by the nickname he would use when they would often converse, his voice as gentle as a mother's with her own child, "I've found you at last" He fell to his knees and bowed his head toward her. This was his Mistress, and he would show her the respect she deserved.

The wolf had known it was being followed, she could easily sense Deakon's presence, so she made it easy for him. Normally she walked a twisted rout through the tangled trees but today she cut a straight path, letting her old servant follow her. The wolf returned to the clearing far ahead of its little follower and Mim focused back to the little girl. She found her mind had wandered to the memories of Mim's old sovereign in Nosk'ova, the mud forming cruel spires and high parapets with her little children scuttling about the halls and towers. It was an intricate work, the child's hand to eye co-ordination benefiting greatly from Mim's guidance. It was a nostalgic sight and it brought back the memories of her old greatness as well as the lands she ruled. The plains of the shadow grass that stretched for miles, so many lost to its oppressive influence. The smell of it hovered tantalisingly in her mind and the little girl sniffed to try and catch more of the scent. Alas, it was in her mind only.

To the left she saw that the mortal was close and the wolf stretched itself under the roots to sleep, controlling both at the same time was not hard but it was a bother when she was expected t engage in conversation, something she hadn't done in countless centuries. The Servant emerged with his hollow creature at his side and called to her in that name she only just recognised. It wasnt her name, but it was subtly close, was she forgetting her own name now? She supposed she was, she hadn't heard it in a long time.

"You looked for me, Dee?" Her child's mind took the name and the words that Mim gave her and pronounced it in the only way it could. Ah, she had neglected the child's speech capabilities, why should she when she never spoke? It was irritating and she pricked the child in her anger, making it scream and cry. Mim let it for a few moments before exerting her full control over it and completely possessing its tiny frame. She preferred to let it keep some capabilities but for this conversation she was going to need full control. The childs face did a skin-crawlingly fast change from weeping and miserable to ice cold and old, its eyes turning an eerily glowing red.

Deaken grimaced at the sound of the child's scream, but his expression softened in to a smile as her features changed. In the right light, her face could be mistaken for his old Mistress which pleased him to no end. He had found her. Millenia of searching and waiting and searching some more have all led to this moment of victory. He had finally found her, and the world would soon surely fall as it had once before. "Looked for you? M'lady, I've spent best part of hundreds of years attempting to find what little of you remained after the Revolution. Those...BEASTS that dare to upheave your rule, those that call themselves Man...the history has been wiped M'lady. I could not have known what they had done to you, could not find you as I had wanted, for their interference ensured you remained hidden from prying eyes such as mine. Beleive me I tried to find you sooner, I truly did, but my powers are not what they used to be. I have been weakened by the passing of the years and I am ashamed to admit I am closer to Mankind than I ever have been. My magic is fading quickly Mistress, but now I've found you, now I know where you are, we can overthrow the overhrowers and ensure we are the mightiest in this land once more!" He couldn't help but cackle madly, his madness resonating throughout the clearing. It would be a lie to say he had not lost part of his mind, had not become delirious aftr so many years searching for a being he was not entirely sure existed anymore. Deaken was on the verge of insantiy before this day, but now he had found what he was looking for he hoped his mind could be restored back to it's former glory. He knelt down to her and caressed the aged cheek of the child with a touch as soft as an autumn breeze, "Mistress," he whispered to her quietly, "Prime is waiting for you. She is ready to bring forht the hordes of Demons that make up your army, but there is a problem. Only I may weaken the binding magic cast by the runes set by the Wizards of Old. But as I have told you, my magic is weak, barely strong enough to conjure but a small fire in the forest. You must help me regain my powers, M'lady. Your Vanguard should be able to help, if we could assemble them together so that they may channel the magical energy from the air to me, just enough to break the magical seals, then the world can be ours yet again M'lady. Are they here?" Deaken stood up and scanned the clearing, his eyes searching through the gloom at the edges hoping to see the awful creatures that accompanied Mim in her plight and battle for the Earth.

Mim watched with eyes of complete disinterest. This one was all power and control, yet he knew nothing of either. So mad, so greedy. He tried words of respect, tried to woo her to his will. She sensed his opinion of her form, sensed that he had naturally assumed weakness from her. Perhaps it was true, perhaps she was different now. But no, she did not feel different. While her power had diminished is had not changed and while her body had changed form, her mind and memory was and would always be the same. So this was not acceptable, he wanted to protect her, felt that she needed to be protected. No. Her hand whipped out in vicious force, snapping Deaken's hand away from her face and shattering the bones in his wrist. She quickly gripped his hand and held it in a violent, crushing grip.

"I Must? Oh Deaken..."

Her silence said more of violence and sickening torture than any words could ever say. She kept his eyes locked with hers, piercing his soul, dredging his heart, pulling all of the dirt and slime of his soul to the surface of his mind. He needed to remember how to be a slave, remember what it meant to be totally inferior to another in all ways. He needed to remember just how little his life mattered next to her's, that in her shadow, he barely existed.

"My Vanguard are scattered to the winds of this world. I will not call them to my side for your lust for power. You do not know power. But if you can open the Prime... perhaps I can find them. Perhaps I might do as you suggest. We demons have wandered in this static world for too long."

Her own other hand rose to carress his cheek, her nails digging into his skin, yet gliding across his face softer than a flower.

Deaken was thrown by her swift moves, gasping as his hand was swept from her face with little resistance, but he did not feel the pain of her crushing grip. His companion beside him yelped and screamed and whined in pain and Deaken giggled childishly as he saw the damage his mistress had tried to deal to him transfer over to his dimwitted foot soldier.

"You have not changed Mistress, not at all. I had to be sure, you see. I needed to make sure it was you. I'm not foolish enough to treat you as if you really were a child...surely you know me better than that?" His teeth glinted as he grinned at her but his smile faded as memories of the past flooded his mind. His eyes were locked with the child's, unable to move from her piercing glare. It was as if he were being transported back in time, millenia ago, back through the Revolution, back further to the opening of his precious Prime and the coming of the demonic storm, back further still to the time he first travelled over and his mistress claimed him as hers. The time he was but a whimpering fool in her great presence, the time he was but a slave, a speck of dust in a desert of blood and anger and hatred and pure evil.

"Y-your vanguard are gone, M'lady?!" He stammered a little at first, as he overcame the presence of old memories in his mind, "How is that possible? I thought they were but strapped to your side? And what is this you speak of wandering for too long? Do you mean to travel back home to Nosk'ova? This was not what I wished for when I told you I could reopen Prime. I had rather hoped you would bring forth the storm of Evilkind you once unleashed upon this Earth...do you not want to see this world destroyed after...after what they have done to you?"

He tipped his head to one side, as her hand was raised to the other, caressing and harshly scratching his cheek. Deaken grimaced but once again it was his companion that took the blow for his master.

Mim's eyes glinted with a fleck of rage. Her patience frayed as she stared into Deakon's eyes, annoyed that his companion was taking all her gifted pain for him. With a sudden burst of red energy, she wrapped Deakon in her aura, connecting him deeply with this body she wore. Ruthlessly she grasped her wrist in her hand and slowly twisted and twisted until there was a sickening crack. The pain bounced across their temporary connection, striking at Deakon directly, ignoring his Companion's presence.

"Do you dare Question me welp? You have lived too long thinking yourself great I deem.. My judgement is my own, you have but to do as I will."

She continued to twist her wrist, broken bones piercing through the skin and blood dripping into a pool on the floor. Her face remained blank at all times, ignoring the pain completely. This was comforting pain, it reminded her of Nosk'ova.

His Mistresses words struck him deep and Deaken felt as if all the warmth from his body had been dragged out and hung in front of him. His insides felt like they used to, like he was not in control of himself anymore, she was. And she could do with him what she wished. He struggled as her red aura surrounded him, his arms flailing and his legs trying to run away, but his efforts were in vain. She had hold of him now, and with a sickening crack his wrist snapped where she had broken hers. Deaken screamed aloud, a piercing scream that matched, if not beat, that of a banshee calling in the night. He fell to the ground, clutching his arm just below his newly broken wrist and holding it in the air, hus eyes begging her to release her own wrist and cease the pain she was causing him. His Companion roared with a noise that was half angry and half terrified. It had not seen this kind of power for millenia, but he was furious this child would harm his master. It drew it's sword from it's sheath and raised it high above his head, swinging it downward in an arc of silver light which flared as it struck Deaken's flesh and parted his hand from his arm. Deaken's scream increased and he turned on the creature,

"YOU IDIOT!" he shouted at it, his pain evident in every feature of him. Furious with his Companion, he gasped the words for a spell and watched as the creature was flung into the air and held there by a mysterious force, as it's own limbs were torn one by one from it's body. It screamed as loud as it's master had done as it's limbs fell to the floor, before reattaching themselves with the help of another gasped spell, with an equal amount of pain. When it had been reconstructed, Deaken left it whimpering in a heap on the forest ground before turning back to his Mistress, a begging look in his eyes,

"Please Mistress...please..." he cried aloud to her, "Please stop this pain...and my hand...my wondrous hand....please return it to me.....I did find you after all...PLEASE?!" His raised his voice but the sounds that came out were little above a whisper. He wondered if she would be generous enough to grant him his wishes, but highly doubted she would. After all, he knew what she could do, what she was capable of doing to him and this world just by uttering a single syllable, regardless of her state of power...

Begging, pleading. Yes this was proper, this was right. He was desperate, he needed her, he had been reduced to a base and primitive thing that wanted the pain to stop. She smiled happily and with a flick of her wrist it was healed and in place, Deakon's too. She rewarded good behaviour.

"There there Deakon, is it not better this way? Now let us find my faithful Vanguard."

She turned immediately to business, nothing out of the ordinary had happened, she could now return to work.

"They will have done much the same as I, taken a mortal body and lived in it. Perhaps some will have even forced themselves to forget their true nature in order to stay hidden from their angelic pursuers. But they cannot hide from me. However my search will draw attention, can you defend against angels Deakon? We must pray you can, come then let us go. I have remained in this forest for too long, hiding is against my nature."

The wolf opened and eye and trotted over to the little girl, their movements synchronised perfectly. The girl mounted the wolf and the pair paused for a moment as the girl's eyes glazed over.

"Ah there you are my faithful."

And with that the pair darted into the bushes, assuming Deakon would follow.