Tarnished Soul
"What is darkness? Merely an absence of light. Or, perhaps, it is when the light is hidden away, to keep it from extinguishing. Darkness, whether good or ill, hides within itself. Maybe to protect itself? For when light comes into a darkened room, see you not how the shadows fall back? Does that not speak of fear, and a fear of being hurt? Many claim to be light, and others dark. Me? What am I but another lost soul looking for truth? Which way do I turn? Who do I follow? None. I shall go my own way. I shall stay in the shadows, neither dark nor light."
Sirithiliel, Jynn A'Tonic
Disclaimer: Characters are not mine. Story plot, world, etc is.
Summary: AU. Dark fic. Bakura, a demon like no one has ever seen one before, arrives in a land already torn by conflict, and begins a reign of terror.
Author's Explanation: Now, when you hear 'angel', you probably think of the feather-winged avatars from God, and when you hear 'demon, you think of their evil, dragon-winged counterparts who exist in Hell. These are not those Angels, or those Demons. They are called by such names merely because they bear a resemblance to the mythical creatures. The angels of this earth did indeed have feathered wings, which is why they were named after the icon of purity and goodness. The demons bore the same resemblance to the demons of the religious type, with great bat wings, barbed tails, fangs and claws. But in my story there is no God, no Heaven or Hell. I used the names merely for their resemblance.
8/16/06
Tarnished Soul
Many, many years ago, the Greater Daemons ruled over the Lesser demons, as the Greater Angels ruled over the Lesser angels. But, the Lesser races grew bolder in their servitude, and planned to overthrow their Masters and Lords. They drove them underground, and centuries of time made them forget the truth of what happened, and the Greater races were made out to be creatures of myth, never having existed.
But, in reality, they existed. They lived underground, having forgotten what had truly happened as well over time, until all they knew was that if they went above ground, they were killed.
But one Greater Daemon did go above ground. A mother, on the run from her husband, and with her two sons in tow, fled the depths of the caves and hid on the forbidden surface world.
But her husband was not going to let his prized sons go so easily. Led by him, a raiding party of Greater Daemons attacked the village she had hidden in. She was killed, and Bakura, her eldest, was taken by his father back to the caves.
Ryou, the youngest, was lost.
Raised by his father, Bakura became a weapon, used by his father against his enemies. For fourteen years Bakura lived this way, killing under his father command.
A life of bloodshed and death warped the mind of the youth, until he became unstable and eventually went insane. Slaying his guards, he escaped.
To the surface world.
- - -
It was a dark night. The human soldiers shifted uneasily, walking down the road towards one of the smaller villages that they were to spend the night at, while in the morning they would continue on to a neighboring Kingdom as their King had commanded.
Something was not right in the air…
"Look, there!" One soldier said, pointing. A dark figure had appeared, standing in their way, thirty feet down the road.
"It's a demon, look! See the wings?" another soldier exclaimed, struggling to see through the darkness.
"Oy, demon!" One soldier hailed, "Are you in need of aide?" the demon just stood there, watching them with glowing eyes.
"Look…its eyes are glowing…that's not a demon." The first soldier whispered.
"What is it then?" another scoffed.
"I don't know…" The soldier drew his sword, and as if this was a signal the others did as well.
With an enraged howl, the creature leaped forwards, blades suddenly flashing in the moonlight. Black Shadows seemed to roil out from beneath his feet, blurring his form and making it difficult for the archers to sight. Screams rent the air as one after another the victims fell, slashed and burned, bleeding onto the ground.
Bakura was angry. He was always angry, and these pathetic humans will pay!
This will teach them…this will teach them all:
You don't mess with Bakura!
He whirled in a dance of death: slashing, cutting, burning, laughing.
Twenty-eight remained…
With movements as quick as chain lightning, Bakura cut down another opponent. Bones crunched beneath the force of the blow, and blood flew as he swept his blade in an arch.
Twenty-seven…
He was the darkness! He was the ultimate Lord of War, the Dealer of Death! None could face him and survive when he was in full fury!
Fangs bared, wings snapping behind him, Bakura dove into the masses of his enemies.
One blade got lodged under the rib of one foe, and was sequentially torn from his hand as he twisted to avoid a spear thrust. He noted one enemy, standing behind the others and moving his hands in the beginnings of a spell.
Not about to let a mage get a spell off, Bakura threw his dagger with all his might, the blade flashing in the moonlight and pierced the man's throat perfectly, dropping him limply to the ground.
Weaponless, but far from defenseless, Bakura's claws extended to their full length, and he whipped around to face his remaining enemies, head lowered to give him a slightly hunched appearance, his great wings arching. With a feral grin, red eyes glowing, he confronted his remaining foes.
All seventeen of them.
Stillness…the calm before the storm…
Suddenly his body tensed, and he leaped into their midst, slashing with his claws, biting and tearing with fangs, and lashing out with his barbed tail and clawed wings…
The blood bath that ensued was to be spoken of in future tales as a night of pure, wanton slaughter. Death by a savage means and done with enjoyment from the perpetrator was considered one of the worst of fates.
By morning, all thirty-two of the humans were slain, their life-blood soaking the earth and staining the soil.
- 0-0 -
In a land where humans were not the only intelligent race to inhabit the earth, there existed two others: the angels and the demons.
The two races exist with the humans and each other, and the earth was populated with kingdoms, villages, and towns. Not all was peaceful, though. Some kingdoms were at war with others, certain lords feuding over land and territory, while the members of town councils squabbled to get a position on their king's court.
The villages that peppered the lands between kingdoms and their outlying towns would fight tooth and nail to keep their land and their freedom, while the nearby kingdoms would try and subvert the village to their own allegiance.
No, all was not peaceful.
Angels held themselves apart in their kingdoms, the humans in theirs, while the demons themselves had nearly driven their race to extinction with a massive civil war. In an angel kingdom you will find humans and demons, and in the human kingdom you will find angels and demons, but never in an amount to equal the main race of the kingdom.
And it was in this land of petty conflict and bloodshed that there arose one demon unlike any have witnessed before. Tales have it that he was born from the mythical Daemons of old, full of the savage desire to kill, maim, and destroy, and with fiery eyes. Legend states that he had twice the strength of a demon, and could move faster than any angel. He drank the blood of his enemies, and on a dark night could disappear at will, blending into the darkness.
None of this had been proven true, quite similar to the superstitions and rumors of werewolves, ghosts, and, of course, Angels and Daemons of the old lands. No one was sure what was true, and what was false, as no one had ever had a good look at him, or caught him in he act.
But there are rumors, and supposed 'evidence', of this dreadful creature's existence. Namely, the ravaged village of Hamset, the haunting cries that echoed on the night of the Blood moon around the Norshire kingdom, and the devastated coastal town of Nathaya.
And now, this…
Humans, angels, and the few demons of the town of Sinsole gathered around the scene, wide-eyed with shock, their horses and their carts of goods forgotten. The bodies of thirty-two soldiers, all human, lay on the ground, ripped and torn, the earth below them stained a dark red.
The scene of carnage was located on the road leading to the realm of Solomon, and his Kingdom, Kame. Sinsole was one of many small towns that existed within Kame's boundaries, and the customary trading of goods had started that morning as it always had.
That is…until they reached the area where these soldiers had made a stand, and been slaughtered.
Now, Solomon was an angel, as were his two sons, Atemu and Yugi. His kingdom consisted mainly of humans, with a fair amount of angels, and a scattering of demons. He was a fair king, separating himself from the cutthroat politics of the Kings that neighbored him.
He did not tax his subjects unfairly, and was actually, genuinely concerned with the well-being and prosperity of his lands.
When he heard news of the slaughter, King Solomon dispatched two trusted warriors to go and see what had happened, and inspect the site for evidence. Along with them, he sent his eldest son, Atemu. He also sent a battalion along, humans mostly with a few angels mixed in.
Flying at top speed, the three angels reached the area in fifteen minutes. One thing they did was immediately clear the observers, sending them about their business. Once the battalion arrived, having had to walk instead of fly since the majority were humans, they set themselves up to guard the area and prevent any civilians from walking too close.
Atemu and the two selected warriors, Jou and Honda, inspected the site, jotting notes as they examined one body after another, the marks in the earth, and the lack of anything to tell of the enemy that might have done this.
The only bodies were those of Solomon's soldiers, the only weapons belonged to them as well, and while some of the fallen bore signs of knife wounds, the others were slashed, ripped, and torn apart in a way that reminded them of the old tales of great beasts that possessed great fangs and claws.
"Man, Jou, what do you think did this?" Honda remarked, inspecting one long knife wound that was…burnt? Yes…it was burnt around the edges…Honda shuddered, trying not to breathe too deeply as the sun rose and began to heat the area. Flies buzzed around, and in the sky vultures could be seen circling.
Honda and Jou were both in training to be the King's Investigators and Guard for the Prince, and so the King had decided this was a good opportunity for the three of them.
"We need to get the bodies moved," Atemu said, eyeing the circling birds. He gestured to the surrounding soldiers, and they nodded, moving forwards.
Atemu waved at Honda and Jou, and they followed him a short distance away from where the soldiers were setting up a borrowed wagon to place the corpses on.
"What do you think?" the Crown Prince asked his close friends, nodding towards the wagon.
"I don't know, man," Jou sighed, running a hand through his blonde hair. "I don't know. It looks like they were knifed, you know?" He kept glancing at the slaughter, before glancing away again, before his eyes trailed back almost against his will.
He gave an shudder when he realized that not all the bodies were as whole as they seemed, as a few of the soldiers realized when they lifted one, and ended up having two…he glanced away quickly, furiously focusing on something other than the slaughter.
"Yeah…but they were also mauled." Honda pointed out. "And it does not look like two creatures, but one.' Atemu sighed, rubbing his forehead. This was a puzzle, and while he normally enjoyed puzzles, he didn't like the ones that involved real life and dead people.
"You know what it sounds like, right?" Jou said quietly, glancing about as if suspecting someone listening in.
"Come on, Jou," Honda said, "You know that's just stories from scared peasants."
"What?" Atemu questioned, glancing between the two.
"Nothing, it is just stories," Honda replied, waving it off.
"No it's not!" Jou said, and turned to the Crown Prince. "There have been rumors going around…a strange creature, nasty thing he is, running around and killing." Jou said, dead serious. Once again he glanced over towards the soldiers and their grisly work.
"Those are just stories!" Honda protested, and Jou frowned at him.
"What about that coastal town? People were murdered there!" Jou said, and motioned to the north. "Then there was that one town, Hamset, burned and destroyed by a winged creature with flaming eyes!"
"Yeah, and those cries on the night of the Blood moon by Otogi's castle," Honda said, shaking his head. "There are logical explanations for those, I'm sure."
"What? What do you think it is, Jou?" Atemu asked, frustrated. He didn't get to listen to the gossip that flitted about the kingdom like his friends could.
"A Daemon…" Jou said quietly, regarding the bloody, torn ground as the soldiers moved towards the Kingdom with the corpses.
"A demon? Well, okay, what's the problem with that?" Atemu asked, now royally confused. If it was a demon, then they would just apprehend the murderer. What was the big deal?
"Not a demon, a Daemon." Jou corrected, putting an emphasis on the "De", as was usual when discussing the mythical creature verses the demons they see everyday. There was a slight difference in pronunciation in how the names were said, but easily misunderstood as the other when you didn't listen closely.
"You can't mean…" Atemu trailed off, seeing the seriousness in Jou's eyes. His blonde friend flipped his wings nervously, slightly embarrassed, but determined to stick to his views.
"Think about it! He looks like a demon, yes, but there are things he does that only the Daemons of the old tales can do!" Jou said, and sighed as Honda shook his head.
"Well…while it seems unlikely, I think I'll keep my mind open to all possibilities." Atemu said after a moment's thought, and Jou grinned.
"How are we going to tell the King that one of the mythical Daemons did this?" Honda asked, pulling a leaf off a nearby tree and tearing it into strips, brow furrowed in thought.
"I don't know…we'll have to just hope he doesn't laugh at us right off the bat," Atemu groaned, rubbing his head.
"Sound's good. How are we going to start?" Jou asked, stretching his gold and beige wings in the warm breeze.
"First off we'll inform my father, and we'll continue from there." Atemu said with a smile.
With that, they took to the air, the vultures dispersing around them. They flew over the soldiers and towards the distant castle, gliding on the spring breeze.
- 0-0 -
Ryou was reading a wonderful book, full of fantasy and adventure. There were dragons, princesses, knights in shining armor!
"Ryou?"
The book was a story about a grand quest of one brother searching for his missing brother, who had been kidnapped by pirates!
"Hey, Ryou!"
It was tremendously exciting, and Ryou didn't want to stop reading for anything. There were oceans, mountains, dense jungles! Cannibals, sea monsters, and an old sea witch!
"RYOU!"
Ryou jerked, blinking up at the faces of his best friends. They were twins, with sandy hair, intense violet eyes, and large arching wings of pale gold feathers with glittering white tips.
"Sorry, Malik, Marik. What were you saying?" Ryou said softly, smiling at them. Malik, the shorter and younger of the two, shook his head, sighing dramatically at the demon. Ryou was the only demon in the Vitone village, and as such was slightly proud and slightly shy because of it. He had grown up with Malik, Marik, and their elder sister Isis, and so considered them his family.
"We were telling you that lunch was ready." He sighed. "Isis is out tending to Tea, you know, the girl who got hurt in the forest? So I made it!" He struck a pose, grinning broadly.
Marik snorted, pushing him aside. "We made it," He corrected, holding out a hand to Ryou and pulling his friend to his feet. "Tea…what a bitch. Always complaining!" he muttered about the human girl, curling his lip.
(A/N: No offense to any Tea fans reading this! I had to use someone random, and she was the first I had thought of!)
"Come on! For lunch we have…" he paused, and seemed to be trying to think of a name for it. "We have something special!"
"Then I'm really afraid," Ryou said, grinning. Malik scoffed, pulling Ryou along.
"Nonsense! We made a wonderful meal of…um, we made a wonderful meal!" Malik pulled Ryou into the house that he shared with the eccentric twins and their sister, and Ryou's nose twitched at the smell that permeated the building.
It actually smelled good…
"See? We did a great job!" Malik sniffed, sounding hurt. Ryou smiled and gave his friend a quick hug.
"I'm sorry for doubting you guys." He giggled, and followed Marik into the kitchen. "It really does smell good," he commented, flipping his tail about lazily, the barbs folded back so that they were barely noticeable. (Think of the puffer fish, the spines on it are not that noticeable until it puffs up)
"That's the spirit! Here you go, a plate for you," Marik chuckled, handing a plate of…something…to Ryou. "One plate of food for our resident demon!" the angel snickered, purposely stepping on Ryou's tail.
"Yeowch!" Ryou yelped, pulling away, the barbs on his tail snapping out. Marik hastily stepped back, though he was still grinning. Ryou gave him a weak glare. "That wasn't funny," He muttered, soothing the barbs back into their normal position.
"It's fun to get you riled up, Ryou." Marik chuckled. Ryou gave him another glare, smacking him lightly.
"I'll bite you," He warned, grinning. He carried his plate into the living room, plopping down.
"Careful, Marik, he might have rabies." Malik chirped, carrying his own plate in after his friend. Ryou threw a carrot at the other.
"Do not."
"Heh…" Malik took a bite. "Mmm…we did a good job, Marik. Better hurry up, Isis wants us to help her so that she can finish before that big storm hits."
"Storm?" Ryou blinked.
"Yep," Marik nodded. "There's supposed to be a big one tonight." He inhaled his food, eyeing Ryou's.
"Feel sorry for anyone stupid enough to try and fly in it." Malik commented, taking care of their plates.
"Yep, it's supposed to be really bad." Marik said, gathering up his fishing pole. "You know, fish always bite before a storm…anyone up?" He grinned, and the other two smiled back, grabbing their poles.
"Let's go fishing!"
- - -
"What?" Jou exclaimed, while Atemu stared in surprise. They were standing before King Solomon, on one of his private balconies.
"You mean it is true? There really are Daemons?" Honda said, just as shocked as his friends.
"Yes, they are real. They're called the Greater Daemons." King Solomon explained. "It is a secret normally known only to the King and his advisors. After all, if everyone knew, there'd be panic, and then the innocent demons who haven't done anything wrong would start getting persecuted, because not everyone is going to stop and look for the differences between Great Daemons and normal demons."
"That makes sense…" Atemu mused.
"What are the differences?" Jou wondered at the same time.
"First, I'm going to need you three to promise not to mention that I told you to anyone." Solomon said gravely. "Atemu, you would have found out when you were made King, but I still need all of you to promise me."
"I promise," the three swore, raising their right hand and arching their wings, as was traditional.
"Alright, I'm going to place great trust in you three not to abuse this information." Solomon said, and motioned for them to follow him off the balcony and back inside, to his study, where he went to his book case and retrieved a key from his pocket.
He crouched down and opened a hidden door in the bottom panel of the book case, pulling out an old, leather-bound book.
He opened it up and motioned for them to come closer as he sat in a chair.
"Okay, first off, what is it you know of how Daemons look?" Solomon asked them, leaning back and holding the book in his lap.
"Um…they are like normal demons, but they have red eyes." Jou offered, and Solomon nodded. "But you can't trust that as normal demons have red eyes sometimes too."
"Correct, anything else?" he asked, glancing about. There weren't that many that the general public knew, so when he didn't receive anymore answers, he wasn't surprised.
"Well, the lesser known differences are few, but obvious and hard to hide." He opened the book and showed them an illustration. It looked like the usual demon, but he pointed to the wings. "Two claws on the wing, not one." He flipped to a different page. "The tail barbs are twice as long as a normal demons', and there are three black rings near the tip of each barb." He tapped the illustration showing a close up of the tail and its deadly barbs with their hooks on the edges.
"You are serious about this?" Honda remarked, eyes wide with wonder. All his life he had been taught to believe that Daemons were myths and the stuff of legends, something to scare children when they didn't behave.
"Yes." Solomon said, and pulled out something that was inset in the book's back cover. He held up a thin, long quill. It was as nearly four inches long, and was similar in appearance to a feather quill, being wider at the bottom and pointed at the top. The tip had three bands around it, and there were small hooks on the inside of the barb's curve.
"That's…" Jou trailed off, peering at it. "That is the real thing, isn't it?"
"Yes. This is a quill from the tail of a Greater Daemon." Solomon said. "There are a few more differences, but not so noticeable."
"So the claws on the wing, and the tail barbs?" Atemu asked; eyes narrowed.
"Yes." Solomon answered. "From everything I've been hearing, there is a Daemon on the loose, and he's dangerous." He shook his head. "That is one thing I don't quite understand…Daemons are deadly, yes. They're temperamental…but never like this."
"You said they live underground, right?" Atemu asked, thinking hard. "And that they remain underground, believing the surface to be dangerous? Well…maybe he's an outcast from their society…and got exiled up to the 'dangerous surface' to die."
"That has merit, certainly." Solomon mused. It was a possibility, one of many. Maybe also the Daemon was a scout at the head of a larger army. There were many reasons why he could be here. "The important thing right now, boys, is that he's out there and he's killing people. I have something I wish you to do, but it's going to be dangerous…"
"You want us to go out and see if we can find him, without letting everyone know that one of their myths have come alive." Atemu guessed, and was rewarded with a smile from his father.
"Yes…" Solomon answered. If they could find him, knowing what to look for, the dangerous creature could be caught and contained.
"We'll do it!" Jou said, grinning. "You can count on us." Honda nodded, and Atemu smiled at his father.
"Be careful, okay?" Solomon said; his eyes serious. "I suggest you start looking north of here; that is where most the reports came in." he stood, replacing the barb in its slot and put the book in its hidden compartment.
"What do we do when we find him?" Honda asked; standing and stretching.
"I don't want you to confront him, as he is very dangerous." Solomon answered. "But if you do find him, try and keep track of him, and notify me, alright?" he stood and hugged his son, pulling him close. "Be very careful."
Atemu smiled reassuringly at his father.
"Don't worry, we will." He bowed, turned, with Jou and Honda in tow, and walked out of the private rooms of the King.
"Atemu!"
The Crown Prince turned around, and saw his younger brother, Yugi, running towards him.
"Where are you going now?" He asked when he reached them, narrowing his large eyes.
"On a trip," Atemu responded. Yugi frowned at him, knowing he was leaving things out. He ran up and hugged his brother.
"Be careful, okay? Knowing you guys, you'll probably get in trouble." Yugi said, grinning at his brother.
"Yeah, well, we're tough! We'll take care of ourselves." Jou said, ruffling Yugi's hair.
"Don't worry, we'll be careful." Atemu promised, grinning.
And they were off, to gather supplies and a map and be on their way.
"So where are we going?" Jou asked, as they flew away from the Kingdom.
"Well, we can't go as far as we wish to. Look over there." Atemu said, pointing off in the distance. Jou and Honda followed his gesture, and let out a low whistle. There were storm clouds building up, and it was going to be a bad one by the look of it.
"Yeah…I see what you mean." Honda muttered, eyeing the clouds warily. He wasn't the best of fliers anyways, and he did not want to see how he would manage in a storm.
"Well…there is a town about an hour away, straight ahead, that we can get too before that hits. From there, we will meet up with someone my father knows, and he will let us stay with him." Atemu explained, and his friends sighed with partial relief. No flying in storms.
Or so they thought.
- 0-0 -
End.
Well? How do you like? Never tried a Alternate Universe story before, and this idea has been sitting in my mind for a while. Thought I'd test it out.