"It reeks of human around here," Adramelech grumbled as he breathed in the air of Satan's private chambers while giving his Lord and Liege a rather curious look from the corner of his eyes.

"Oh?" Satan mused as he briefly looked up from the papers he was looking through with blatant disinterest, "I never would have guessed, Adramelech. Please, do tell me when we began using the humans as servants around the Castle?"

"Tch, don't joke around, m'Lord," Adramelech spat as he leaned against one of the onyx walls, "It doesn't suit you."

"I shall take your word for it then," Satan murmured as he once more bent over the sheets of paper and scribbled down notes on a fresh piece of parchment.

"The issue with the Fey Folk, Lord Satan, has that been seen to?" Adramelech continued on, growing ever so slightly annoyed with the fact that his Lord was clearly ignoring him.

"Alciel was sent to negotiate with them at dawn," Satan said absentmindedly as he continued to scribble on the parchment for a few more seconds before finally standing up from behind his desk.

"Lord Satan?"

"You are not at ease with the fact that I had something brought here without your knowledge, are you?" Satan asked bluntly as he stared at the Minotaur with piercing eyes, "Malacoda was the same way, if you must know, although he was much more… curious about the fact that I brought that something into the Castle that was human while still enveloped by Wild Magic of all things."

"Wild Magic? I thought that was supposed to have been eradicated by the Church over one hundred years ago," Adramelech commented as he looked back at his Liege.

"True enough, Adramelech," Satan drawled as he walked towards a large bookcase and plucked out a large, intricately decorated book from the top shelf. He glanced over the numbers on the bottom of the pages before he finally reached the spot he had sought after and turned back towards the desk.

"Wild Magic was originally from the Northern Isle, based around the southern tip of that particular continent," Satan said as he put down the book and moved it so that Adramelech could see the picture drawn on the dry parchment.

The page depicted a man with closed eyes holding both hands up, the palms towards the sky, as a healthy, oaken tree stood behind him.

"So?"

"The woman who hid me from our enemies was able to heal me from a fatal injury without using anything but herbs scarcely found in an almost empty forest, not even performing anything remotely close to Magic while doing it."

Adramelech's eyes widened at Satan's words—having not heard what had transpired in his Liege's absence from the front lines on the Eastern Isle—as his entire depiction of what exactly had transpired on the Isle was altered by the words of his Liege.

"A woman healed you? A human woman?"

"Indeed," Satan commented as he once more looked down at the picture on the parchment, "However, after Malacoda's statement I sent him to investigate further into the knowledge we have of Wild Magic. If this book is correct, then that girl I have spent one of my best soldiers on getting here should be able to perform more than measly healing with herbs. She would be able to uproot entire forests if her rage and anguish was deep and clear enough."

Adramelech narrowed his eyes as Satan's words sunk in, the idea sounding more and more ridiculous as the seconds passed by.

"You do not believe me, do you, Adramelech?" Satan asked with a smirk resting upon his lips, and Adramelech nodded slowly.

"I'm sorry, milord, but what I just heard sounds more like a folk's tale than something a Demon Lord, such as yourself, should take serious."

Satan's lips parted in a somber grin, "You always were the skeptic one when we first met, Adramelech. I'm glad that it hasn't changed since then."

Adramelech snorted carelessly, but was unable to keep the slight smirk off his lips when he saw the matching one plastered on Satan's thin lips.

"I wish to show you something, Adramelech," Satan said calmly as he moved away from the desk and the book, instead heading for the doors leading out of his private chambers before having the Minotaur follow him further down the hallways. He stopped in front of the doors that led into the one place he had explicitly forbid any demon enter—both from within and from outside of the Castle.

"The scent is stronger here, Lord Satan," Adramelech commented as he eyed the door from top to bottom before looking at his Liege with cautious eyes, "Why am I here?"

"To confirm what I have had brought here," came the cryptic reply from Satan as he produced an ornately decorated key and unlocked the door with a few movements before slowly pushing it open.

The room inside was bathed in a soft, yellowish candlelight from positioned all over the chambers, except for one particular place where a large bed could be seen through the semi-dark atmosphere.

Satan stepped inside the room, before turning around to beckon his General to do the same, and strode towards the large bed. He looked down at the slumbering female lying completely oblivious to the fact that two, grown demons stood at her bedside and stared down her, causing his lips to widen even more than they already were.

"Did you bring that little girl here to play around with?"

"And if I did?"

"That that would be your own business, I suppose," Adramelech grunted as he ran his remaining hand through the thick, knotted hair on the back of his head, "But something's just… wrong about that girl you've gotten interested in."

"The woman was able to heal my body from a fatal wound with nothing but herbs found in the woods on the Eastern Isle. If that is not interesting enough then please enlighten me," Satan repeated once more as he watched Noah sleep beneath the covers on the bed.

"She's wrong," Adramelech growled once more and tightened the grip on his Halberd.

"She might be capable of controlling Wild Magic, Adramelech," Satan snapped at his General, his crimson eyes never moving from watching Noah's prone form, "She might be just what we need to get an upper hand at the Church and winning back the efforts lost on the Eastern Isle."

…

…

Chapter 36: A Knight Rises, A Woman Breaks

…

…

"I want to be a Knight!" Samuel demanded as he looked up at Father Andrews with narrowed, determined, eyes and a sinister scowl on his youthful face.

"Excuse me?" the Priest coughed as he abruptly put down the wooden mug of water down on his wobbly, temporary desk and stared down at the crippled lad in front of him.

"I want to be a Knight!" Samuel exclaimed as he slammed a hand down into the Priest's desk, making the mug of water threat to fall to the ground, "I want to do it so I can be the one to help kill Satan and his Generals and… and bring Miss Noah back here!"

Father Andrews inwardly groaned at the boy's reasoning before he forced a slightly strained smile on his face for the young child.

"Samuel," he began, "You are too young to be taken in as a Squire for the Holy Church, and besides that then there's still your legs to take into consideration, is there not? How will you complete your Squire training with a pair of crutches and legs that can barely hold your own body up?"

"I'll…" Samuel mumbled, "I'll figure something out, Father Andrews!" he exclaimed stubbornly as his shaky grip on one of his crutches tightened.

The red-haired Priest sighed heavily as he looked down at the determined child, a frown working its way out on his forehead as his thoughts whirled around in one turbulent storm inside his head.

'Oh Samuel… what in God's name will become of us now?'

oOo

"How long are you going to keep me locked up in here?"

The question came in the same second that Satan stepped inside the guest chambers that belonged to his little human woman, startling him for a few moments before he regained his composure and strode towards the small woman sitting against the large panes of colored glass.

"Does it matter to you, woman? You are mine to handle, what could you possibly do to win your freedom back?"

"Then there is nothing to do about it, I suppose," the woman muttered as she leaned the back of her head against the cool glass, "Nothing that I can do about it whatsoever…"

Satan looked at the woman sitting on the floor with narrowed eyes, a scowl appearing on his lips as he took in her physical state.

Dark circles had appeared beneath her eyes and her skin was paler than the last time he had seen her. She looked… spent, almost as if there was no more energy left in her body, but there had been nothing wrong with her the last time he had seen her about a week ago. Still, her clothes hung on her body instead of having the space within them filled out by her body, almost as if she had been losing weight as well.

"Woman, what is happening to your body?" Satan growled as he strode nearer to his healer, glaring down at her with fiery, crimson eyes, "How have your condition suddenly decreased like this?"

Noah laughed weakly at Satan's question—no, demand—before turning her face away from him and instead opting to look out through the colored glass behind her.

"Why should you care about my… condition?" she whispered hoarsely as tears began dribbling down her cheeks, "Why should you care about anything else than conquering this world?"

"Do not be foolish," Satan said as he reached down to forcibly turn her head in his direction, "I am your Master now, and I will not have those I have promised to protect fall around my ears."

Noah's eyes suddenly widened in a sudden burst of anger at Satan's words before a scowl spread on her lips.

"Those you 'promised'?!" she snapped angrily as she yanked her head out of Satan's clawed hand, not even flinching when the tips of his sharpened nails cut through the soft skin on her chin, "You have a lot of nerve telling me about the things that you promised, Satan!" she snarled, her eyes burning from anger and sudden resentment.

"You are referring to the destruction of your villa—" Satan began only to be cut off when Noah's small fist slammed into his armored chest.

"Shut up!" she cried as the tears began flowing even faster now, "Don't… don't you dare speak of that, you monster!" she screamed in despair as she continued futilely hitting Satan's chest.

"You blame me for what happened."

A statement, a fact, yet Noah was too blinded by hatred and sorrow to see through the haze that surrounded her head.

"You're the reason they're dead!" Noah screamed at him as she continued hitting as hard as she could against his chest, "You're the reason why all those children and old people and soldiers are dead! If only you'd never existed this wouldn't have happened!" she continued on, "None of this would have happened, and I would still be with the people I love!"

Satan's eyes narrowed at her words before a wicked sneer spread across his lips, "So those people who shut you in a cage are people you love? Those who stacked the small square in their makeshift camp with kindling fire and hay for your execution pyre were people who appreciated what you had ever done for them?" he grinned haughtily as he watched Noah's facial expression go from furious to surprised before returning to the fury that seemed to emanate from every part of her body.

"Shut the Hell up!" she screeched at his words before aiming her fist for his cheek, a choked sob escaping her as she vented all her anger, all her sorrow, all her despair out on the man in front of her.

SLAP

She stiffened when her hand met Satan's cheek, the trembling limb keeping still in the air as she stared up at him in a mixture of shock and horror.

"You are unable to deal with the fact that they rejected you," Satan continued on, ignoring the urge to reach out towards her throat and throttle her for her actions, "You are unable to deal with the fact that no amount of prayers or apologies will let you regain a place among the humans you love so much."

"S-shut up!" Noah cried as she slowly retracted her arm, only to gasp when Satan's much larger hand wrapped around it, locking her into place.

"You are weak," he began softly as he looked down at her shivering, crying form, "You are a weak, delusional human woman who cannot deal with the fact that she has been abandoned by everyone she held dear in her life."

"N-no!" Noah choked as she tried pulling her hand loose from Satan's iron grip, "That's not true!"

"You are just a weak little girl trying to hold together shrapnel that once was a real, loving image, but now it is nothing but mere ashes scattered in the wind," Satan droned on, completely cold and uncaring to the way that his words were affecting his healer, "All you want is someone who will never leave you, but no one ever stays for as long as you want them to. You are simply unable be loved."

"GET OUT!" Noah screamed as her legs collapsed, fat rolls of tears appearing in the corners of her eyes as she hung her head in shame, "Just… just get out!" she sobbed.

'He's wrong, he's wrong, he's wrong, he's wrong, he's wrong!' she screamed inwardly as she continued to hang between the floor and Satan's hand, refusing to meet his eyes as his words kept twisting and turning her insides.

"You were brought here for my pleasure," Satan said coldly as he—finally—released her hand and stalked towards the door, "Do not make me regret my choice in saving your life from the flames."

Noah completely crumbled to the floor when he exited the room and slammed the door; absentmindedly she recognized the sound of the key locking her only connection to the outside world, before she let out a despairing wail.

"...someone…" she sobbed violently as she heaved for breath against the cold stones beneath her skin, "Someone… please help me…"

Reviews about thoughts of the chapter would be greatly appreciated ^^