Chapter 26, Past of demon and beast
"You have become stronger, Kevin," the older beastman said, "managing to make it down here and survive was an impressive accomplishment, I admit that."
"You…!" the prince snarled, getting to his feet even though he was unsteady.
"Son."
Beast King shook his head.
"There's no need to fight. Besides, even though you have grown much stronger than I would expect you to become in such a short time you're not that skilled yet. Especially not in your current state."
"You fooled me! Kill Karl!" Kevin spat, his fists shaking in rage even though he was about to loose his balance in exhaust and pain.
Father and son glared at each other, fighting a silent battle. Lise just sat there, unable to do anything for Kevin. This was his lonely…
The older one shook his head again.
"You were always weak, Kevin," he said, "perhaps because you lacked your mother's care. You had no anger within you."
Kevin snorted, but Beast King went on, just as calm.
"Our people used to be weak as well, but we turned our anger into the strength that gives us life today. When Arceia died I promised her that I wouldn't let you be weak, because there were still demons like that one around."
He motioned at Rakadra without moving the rest of his body the slightest.
Kevin blinked, his rage staggering in confusion.
"Mother? But…" he stuttered.
"No. No, she didn't run away. I lied to you to help you build up your anger. But perhaps you need strength from another feeling…"
The old beastman looked at Lise, and even though he didn't smile his grim expression turned a little softer.
"And Karl?!"
Kevin's shout was hoarse with anger and cold bitterness. He threw out his arms in desperate rage, the completely meaningless fact clawing at his soul.
"For anger!?" he almost screeched.
"No, Kevin."
The statement startled both Kevin and Lise, the prince stared at his father in new confusion.
"I am a beastman, some claim a demon too," the king said and lifted his cloak, "but, no matter what many hold as the truth I see no use in killing the innocent."
"Arf!"
With an overjoyed barking a half grown wolf leaped forward below Beast King's cloak and tackled the thunderstruck Kevin, who lost his balance and fell backwards with his arms astonishedly but tightly around the animal.
"Ouff! K-Karl?!"
"Arf!"
The wolf attacked his friend's face with his long tongue until Kevin rolled aside with a loud laughter of pure joy. He bumped into the still dazzled but widely smiling Lise and got up into sitting, Karl leaping onto his lap.
"Karl is alive!" the prince called, as if he wanted to shout out over the whole world that he hadn't murdered his first true friend after all.
Lise didn't care about the fact that Beast King was watching, she caught her beloved ally and thereby also his animal friend in another fond embrace. That was until Karl managed to wriggle out of it and after sniffing her hair for about two seconds started licking her face as well.
Kevin and Lise let go so that she could try handling the wolf instead.
"You mad pup!" she laughed after miserably failing to make him calm down a little and hugged his neck in defeat.
Karl buffed her cheek with his head and then finally laid down on the ground, his tail still twitching excitedly.
"But what happened?" Kevin asked his father, as he turned to the beastman the joy fell slightly back.
"It was an illusion," Beast King calmly said, seemingly untouched by the youngster's happiness, "of Deathjester's black magic. It's not important. We should leave this place now."
He turned his heel and walked out, not looking around once or even waiting for a reply. But as he exited the room and heard his son call upon the holy elemental's healing powers again, the old beastman smiled a little. With pride.
'You did well, my son.'
"My equipment…?" Lise said with a frown as she and Kevin walked towards the room's exit, their wounds healed and with Karl jumping around their feet.
"In corridor, they didn't bother to hide it," the prince calmed.
The corridor was a story within itself, though. Undead warriors turned to smoke or dust when they perished, but the trained, mad wolves and the werewolves didn't fit in that category.
'Oh my…'
Lise turned her eyes away and focused with all her might on picking up her spear, backpack and armor that laid thrown on the floor without further notice. When she straightened up she saw that Kevin was rubbing the back of his neck with one hand while Karl sat on his back legs and scratched at his half human friend with a front paw. The beastman was grimacing, staring at the floor.
He hadn't left a pretty sight behind. The tunnel wasn't very long and well lit either, but that didn't help much against the simple facts. About a dozen beasts had tried to hinder Kevin and who knew how many ghosts and vampires in Rakadra's service… all meeting the same fate as their master when they had been dumb enough to try stopping the prince from saving his friend.
His love.
"Went berserk…" Kevin grunted, a great deal of awkward shame in his voice.
He, who Lise knew hated killing.
"And you did it well, too," Beast King said without turning around, walking through the mess seemingly untouched by it.
Lise pursed her mouth after the cold blooded beastman and dropped her spear to put her hand on Kevin's cheek.
'What can I tell him?' she wondered.
She didn't want to say "they were evil and deserved it", because that was just horrible. If she even thought something like that she wouldn't be any better than the merciless half demon.
Maybe "it was for a good thing"? No… that felt wrong too. Maybe more true, sure… but somehow egoistic. It just felt misplaced.
He didn't really like fighting, but always did what he had to do. That was the truth.
"Kevin, it's alright. It's alright."
Slowly he let out a deep breath and nodded.
"Had to…"
"Yeah."
She calmly said so when his voice trailed off.
Again she picked up the spear and Kevin took her armor as they began hurrying through the tunnel to get away from the sight as soon as possible.
Ascending up a short stair and past a torn apart bush they finally reached the fresh air and both Lise and Kevin breathed deeply of relief. Kevin's backpack laid on the ground; he had thrown it off before entering the caves so that it wouldn't hinder him in the fights he knew would come.
Beast King was waiting for them, but he didn't say a word. Not until Lise managed to formulate a question.
"Rakadra claimed that it was you who helped us on the ship a few weeks ago," she carefully said, "was that so?"
"It was."
For a moment it seemed like that was all the old beastman was going to say, but then he added:
"Normally I wouldn't interfere, but he was using tricks I couldn't allow him."
The silence was rather thick during a few stretched seconds.
"And why he hate so much?" Kevin finally asked.
Beast King pursed his mouth.
"Rakadra's parents were killed by me and Arceia after a long battle that stretched over several years. And it might have caused her death, yes. I could never find out the truth about that."
His voice had remained calm up until the last two sentences, where a growl slowly but steadily took over. He found himself and straightened up even more to mark an end of that conversation.
"And now then, why did you come back here so early?" he asked Kevin.
"Looking for Lise's brother," the son said after a short pause, "taken by man with red eyes who knows black magic. Thought Deathjester maybe knew."
"A man with red eyes?"
Beast King frowned and his sharp teeth showed between his lips in a sudden growl. The effect was lightly said creepy.
"And he took your brother?" the king grimly said, turning to the princess.
She blinked, surprised at this sudden act of concern.
"Yes, he bought Eliott in Byzen's slave market and then they both disappeared in a shadow," she said, "that's all we know… do you know him?"
"Yes, I do. Hm."
The king glared at the bared opening in the ground.
"You won't find him here, at least I hope so," he growled, "having Rakadra in my own back yard without noticing it is bad enough but Jagan… no."
"Jagan?" Lise repeated, frowning.
Didn't he say…? Oh great.
"Rakadra said something about his master's name being Jagan!" she darkly said, "and… he wanted to release the Mana stone of Light by killing me… oh goddess…!"
"What?" Kevin and Beast King said simultaneously.
"He wanted me for the Wind stone earlier!" Lise groaned, "they must have taken care of that, then… Eliott?!"
She stared at Kevin in horror, who shook his head and tried to calm her by draping an arm around her shoulders. Lise tried to fight back the despair she felt, she couldn't give up to new fears and let them crack her down! She had to be stronger…
"Do you have any information from Jinn, Luna?" Beast King slowly said.
Lise looked up in surprise as the Moon elemental emerged from thin air, her warm light spreading over the area.
"He forgot to tell you that you can summon him since you met him, didn't he?" Luna said with a kind smile and chuckled, "he's such an airhead… no, princess Lise, your brother hasn't died by any Mana stone."
The princess held back an urge to leap forward and hug the elemental; she wasn't sure if that would prove healthy. And Luna looked as if she was listening to a voice only she could hear, thoughtfully tilting her head.
"He says that there was a knight in a dark armor who showed up with an already half dead Altenan soldier…" the Moon guardian finally said, "Jinn had had troubles with that knight before and couldn't stop him."
"And would Wisp be able to fight Jagan?" Beast King roughly said.
Luna's wings rustled nervously.
"I don't know, Beast," she said, "among us he's got the best possibility, but I don't know. He's worried too."
"You know that if Rakadra doesn't show up with you, they'll kill someone else," Beast King grimly said.
"Jagan has Eliott, I have to confront him in any case!" Lise said, her eyes like steel.
The old beastman silently watched the two youngsters before him for a moment. Then he very slowly nodded.
"Go to the goddess statue in the south and rest for a few hours," he emotionlessly said, "healing magic isn't any good alone. I'll send you a couple of birds to take you to the old kingdom of Light."
"Wh-what?" Kevin and Lise said simultaneously, lightly said surprised.
"You heard me."
Beast King put a hand on Kevin's shoulder and glared at him with something that could be called harsh kindness.
"That's all I'm going to do to help you," he grimly said, "you're on your own. Fight for what you believe in, Kevin, that's all that matters."
The prince found himself amazingly quickly and gravely nodded.
"I will. Thank you, father."
It sounded as if he was about to say something more, but stopped himself.
Beast King just took his hand away and turned to leave.
"Your Majesty," Lise hurriedly said as she remembered something more, important, "Rakadra mentioned that a couple of demons were on their way here to bring me to the kingdom of Light…"
He looked around and his grim expression almost turned friendly.
"I'm prepared for that, then," he said with a twitch of his fingers that brought out a fine set of deadly claws.
And then he kept walking away without looking around.
After a while he glanced at the spirit floating by his side.
"I never thought you'd do such a thing," she said with a small smirk.
He didn't reply, but a tiny frown appeared in his forehead.
"You're proud of him, aren't you? You just can't admit it, Beast," Luna went on.
Beast King's impressive eyebrows twitched once.
"Why do you keep calling me 'Beast'?" he gruffly grunted.
"Oh, I think it's got a nice ring to it."
"Don't."
"Hang on, I know this one…" Luna thoughtfully said, "there was only one person ever to call you 'Beast' before now, right?"
"You should know, you're the guardian of the forest," Beast King growled and trampled on.
The monsters that normally would attack any traveler fled the muscular beastman and the elemental as they walked/flew on.
"Guardian," Luna nodded, "yes, I am the guardian. And you are the king, whether you like it or not."
Beast King stopped and gave her a look that would have thrown a human backwards into a wall.
"You are the king because you led your people so well that they finally became free from the tyranny of hunters and humans with demonic minds. I can't say that what followed was very good, but I guess you'll just get worse as you age."
She smacked his head with one of her wings; he didn't even try to duck. For had he tried, she would have missed.
"Now tell me, you old idiot," she coldly said as she floated just a few inches before his face, "what on earth made you order the destruction of Astoria? Haldor's labs are long gone and forgotten, the only thing that happened was that many innocent were killed. Again. And Jad? Wendel? The hunters are dead, their families are merchants and sailors."
"Jad was a base," Beast King said, slowly, "I believe many more than me remembered Astoria for what it used to be. I ordered no massacre."
"You should have thought about saying something against it. What was the purpose, Beast? I thought you didn't hate humans as much anymore."
Luna's voice was lower now, almost sad.
"Humans are weak minded," Beast King said, "they forget. And people of the world were looking for new goods to sell. I cannot allow more hunters to ever enter the forest."
"I know you can't, Beast. But Deathjester?"
"What, do you think I trust him? Pha!"
Beast King sounded almost ironically amused as he with those words walked past the Moon elemental.
"Just making sure. And Beast, stand still when I'm shouting at you!" Luna called.
He stopped again and turned around to thoughtfully watch the elemental. She glared back.
"How, why?" he finally demanded in a rough voice.
"Because you're so goddamn slow!" Luna smirked and drifted closer.
And as she moved up to him she transformed into a tall human woman, dressed in a simple brown dress and with a sword in a belt around her waist. Fiery red hair fell down her back and tumbled around her shoulders as she reached up and placed a pair of almost transparent arms around the beastman's thick neck.
"Heaven is awfully peaceful without you, you know," she said in a low voice.
"That doesn't explain how you can be here, Arceia," Best King grunted with rough tenderness.
She weighed absolutely nothing, not that she ever had seemed heavy to him even though she had been taller and stronger than regular human women.
"They didn't call me Luna's warrior priestess for nothing, you should know that," she replied, fine yet strong fingers burying in his thick hair.
"But that you were that close to her?"
"We can do this soul switch temporarily," Arceia said as the to everyone else seemingly heartless warrior wrapped his muscular arms around her transparent body, "but not as often as I would wish for. However, she and I agreed that I have to check on my family every now and then. You didn't really think you were imagining your own senses, did you?"
"I never saw you," he grunted.
"And what do you use this for?" Kevin's mother snorted and swiftly touched the tip of his nose.
"Why haven't you told me before?"
"Allow me to put it this way. You are the worst father figure ever to step out in the moonlight, starlight, sunlight and candlelight!"
His right eyebrow twitched a little, like his lips.
"I see," he said.
"That is, up until now it's just been worse. Now I note a small point upwards."
"I see."
"Now tell me honestly what you think about Kevin."
Beast King grunted, and it sounded like a chuckle.
"You know what I think of our son," he said, "even Jagan will face a hard battle if Kevin and his princess join forces with Wisp."
"Yeah, I think so too. But you know, Beast…"
Arceia looked up into his golden animal eyes and shook her head.
"He can't ever be your heir now, but you already knew that, didn't you?"
He didn't say anything, but the twitch of his lips spoke well enough. Arceia nodded.
"Me and Luna will find Lugar then," she said.
"That would be a good idea."
"I know."
She lifted herself inside his embrace and became carried as she placed a smooth, half ghostly kiss on Beast King's lips. Then she faded backwards through his arms with a sad sneer and turned into Luna again. The elemental shook her head, seeming slightly confused for a moment. Then she smiled a bit at the beastman.
"I'll come to the castle as soon as we're ready for another switch," she kindly said and drifted away in the night.
Beast King slowly nodded and began walking again.
And a word so rare in his mouth it was almost extinct lived a short life as he uttered it.
"Thanks."