Chapter Eleven.

Several hours had passed before Sienna left her safe haven, her mind and body tired from the hard training she put herself through but she felt at ease, as if a large weight had been lifted. As she left the covers of the trees she noticed a lone figure sitting on the grass up ahead, her eyes shining in delight at who it was.
"Training tire you out that much, huh?" she joked, her voice jerking Erik out of his thoughts as his head whipped in her direction, a tired welcoming smile on his lips.
"You missed lunch and dinner" he told her as Sienna took a seat by his side, only now noticing the sun making its gradual decent from sight. Erik lightly chuckled at her realisation, smiling in her direction. She smiled back at him, a part of her glad that she had returned to his side. It gave her comfort, safety… and something else she couldn't quite describe.
"I'll make something to eat in a bit…" she told him, laying herself down onto her back as she sighed and closed her eyes.
"… I just want a few minutes to relax" she continued on after a brief pause, her tired muscles relieved. Erik kept his eyes on her, taking in her soft, delicate features. She seemed relaxed, the most relaxed he had ever seen her. Was she that tired or did his presence cause it?
"Erik" Sienna softly murmured, her voice only just heard by the demon. She knew he was listening so she continued on.
"You've often ask about me, something that many people besides the Anderson's have failed to do… What is it that has captured your attention?" she slowly asked, the curiosity clearly recognisable in her tone. At her question Erik lay himself besides her, their shoulders and arms touching one another.
"You're mysterious, someone so different and yet… in some ways I find myself connecting to you. On day one you saw through my act, and act that even I had found myself believing. You made me consider things that I simply ignored before…" Erik responded thoughtfully. She hummed at his words, as if the question had been bothering her but he didn't have the chance to expand on it.
"What was life like before you came to the Human World?" she softly asked, Erik looking down at her in surprise.
"You want to know about that?" he asked, his voice making Sienna peek one eye open to peer up at him.
"The old man only knew a few things about you and your brothers, whatever information he had he shared with me. I guess a part of me wishes to know more about you; about the past you and how you came to be. You could say that you have also captured my attention" she honestly told him without a falter. Sienna watched as Erik grasped onto a nearby flower, beckoning her to sit up. She did, giving him a look of confusion before focusing her eyes onto the flower. It was a small daisy, one white petal missing but as she glanced into the centre the yellow shifted to purple until, finally, something appeared and expanded.

In her view was a large, royal castle that sat upon a flat land. The ground itself was soiled yet it seemed tainted, poisoned to any trespassers that would dare to walk upon it unnoticed. The castle itself was in excellent condition, its walls strong and its trenches deep but something unnatural circled in the atmosphere, a feeling of hate, power and madness.
"That is the place we had to call home. Every day we would all be doing something exciting… well it was an empty excitement but it allowed my brothers and I to bond together" Sienna heard Erik speak beside her, his low tone causing a shiver to trail up her spine.
"It is relieving you do not have the same power as your home emits" she couldn't help but mention, her eyes still peeled onto the scene.
"You can sense it?" he asked in surprise but Sienna shook her head, knowing that Erik's eyes were on her rather than the scene before them both.
"Not sense but rather see, I can see flecks of colours within the scene" she told him. Erik seemed to sigh at her words, knowing where its source came from.
"That would be my father's doing then, there are so many spells and curses set onto that place that it's almost suffocating" he explained,
"Even though I can feel the wards placed here it's comforting, soft… almost as if they're pure" he continued on. Sienna tensed slightly at his words but relaxed down once more, nodding in agreement. The scene shifted to inside the castle, the great hall where the large throne sat. A tall, bulky demon sat upon it, his long cape slung over the armrest. He had a smirk playing on his lips as he peered back at the pair, as if he could see them there and then. Sienna found herself flinching at his image, as if a face had finally been put to a name.
"That's my father. He only cared about James really seeing as he was the oldest out of us but I too was forced to study and learn. If James was to fail then I was the second to take the throne" Erik grimly told her, placing his focus onto the woman once more. He could see and feel the tension in the woman, a frown appearing on Erik's face.
"This is not the first time seeing his face" Sienna honestly told him, rubbing the back of her head. Erik couldn't help but wonder where she had seen him before… if she had seen him before then she must have been to the abyssal plains at some point.
"Duty" she added as an explanation but even without asking Erik knew she couldn't explain any more than that. The demon beside her lightly sighed, dismissing the image as it faded into nothingness.
"If you have seen him before then you must know what he was like" Erik quietly mumbled in a pained manner and Sienna could only nod to confirm it. After a small moment of silence she placed her hand onto his,
"Try not to compare yourself or your brothers to him. Although I have not known you all for long the Old Man gave nothing but good words about you and your brothers and I have seen why. You're all good people, think of your arrival to the human world a new start for you all. The human world is the most forgiving one after all" Sienna gently told him, her words comforting the demon as he sighed.
"What makes you think that?" he asked and Sienna let out a gentle, sad chuckle as she released his hand and set hers back onto the ground again.
"Well it accepted me" she told him, a thankful smile gracing her lips.

Erik kept his eyes on hers as she looked up at his sitting form, Sienna sighing in content as she closed her eyes once more. Even with her eyes closed she knew Erik's full attention was still on her form.
"Y'know Erik in some ways we aren't too different. When I first truly ventured into this world with no duty and without my heart being lifeless I too strived for change. In our worlds we were both bound to duty, bound to what those above us strived for. We were nothing but pawns to the mastermind, our lives not one we could control unless we did… something drastic" Sienna lowly spoke to the one beside her. Erik took in her words, tilting her head ever so slightly.
"But you are still bound to your duty… are you not?" Erik asked and even before she spoke her reply he could see the dark presence around her neck threatening to take her breath. She allowed a timid smile play on her lips.
"Yes I am although not quite… as harshly as before. Even though I am still chained I have more freedom now. You already know of one of my boundaries, the one preventing me from speaking freely" Sienna answered him.
"Do you have many boundaries?" he asked and Sienna shook her head slightly.
"Just one other; I am not to involve myself when… observing… unless it comes under my duty" she answered him briefly. Erik frowned at her words, wondering what exactly was classified as her duty.
"Is there a way to remove your boundaries?" he asked and her smile faded.
"Not really… unless I disobey them perhaps" she answered him.
"What would happen if you disobeyed them?" he carefully asked and Sienna opened her eyes, her golden orbs unsettled.
"I would naturally be punished for my actions" she uneasily explained, slowly sitting herself up. She looked up at the sky, noticing that the outside world was slowly darkening, the day slowly turning into the night. Erik could feel his heart pang harshly at her words; even though it was an obvious answer a part of him still hoped it was something different.
"I have never had the need to break my boundaries when they were given to me but…" she spoke, turning to look at Erik with an uneasy smile.
"Perhaps I've found a good enough reason to break them" she continued on. She yawned, stretching away her stiffness as she gave him a true smile.
"Don't look so glum, all will work out in the end. We should probably head inside soon though, I can feel the dampness in the air" she suggested and, as she finished her words small droplets of water began to fall from above. Erik lightly laughed at the timing, nodding in agreement.