While I have a writer's block for "Sky Shine", I'll continue my other fics. Sorry for taking so long to update and review your fics. I have more time now, though I can't access internet on weekdays (which is really beginning to get on my nerves...).
Anyway, thank you very much for the wonderful reviews!
VampireNaomi – Eh? I didn't mention that it wasn't a one-shot? Hm... But I would never write the start of a romance in a one-shot fic, I already think I'm too fast even with several chapters... -.-" Oh, yes... the name... I was going to give him a Chinese-like name, but then I realized that he has NOTHING to do with China! o.O
Forgotten Love – Hehe, now you made me blush... n.n" You really know how to write a great review and find good points that even I hadn't found. Thank you very much! I really feel like writing an original story, but I'd have to come up with a plot first... Oh, and don't worry. I don't think anyone got you wrong.
Tipo Topo & Topo Tapa (XD) – Tosco é você, que comenta uma fic sem nem ter lido! ò.ó E muda esse nick pra Pangaea King!
Now I'd just like to warn you that this chapter has a torture scene. Some blood here and there, but nothing too bad.
Chapter 2: Demons Fun
"I'm telling you, Po. Dai Gui is up to something. Remember when we went to Egypt and he enslaved everybody there without my permission?" Bai Tsa said while she and her older sister walked for Dai Gui's underground palace. Po Kong sighed.
"Bai Tsa, Egypt isn't even your territory..."
"Yes, it is!" Bai Tsa practically yelled. "It is not my fault if Tso Lan spends all his time in the moon and let the Romans invade Egypt!"
"Then it wouldn't be Dai Gui's fault if his soldiers invaded Gaul because you spend all your time here complaining in my ears, right?" Po Kong teased smirking. Bai Tsa opened her mouth, but did not say anything. She stopped, leaving her sister continue walking alone.
"Well, that's different!" she finally shouted. "Besides, Tso Lan has a whole continent for himself, a small land too little will not make any difference."
Po Kong stopped as well and turned to face her sister, then walked to her with a serious look.
"Look at yourself. You are not empress only of Atlantis, but also of the biggest empire of the present times, an empire that grows bigger each day by conquering other people, suppressing their cultures and subjecting them to you. Dai Gui did not say anything because he had more important things to do, and Tso Lan tries to avoid useless wars."
"Are you suggesting I robbed them?!" the water demon asked in disbelief.
"No. I'm just saying that you already have too much, you have to stop being so selfish. When will you understand that?"
Bai Tsa did not reply, just faced her sister angry. Po Kong turned her back on her and went away.
"Sister Po doesn't look very intelligent, but she really knows to say the right thing when necessary," a voice said behind Bai Tsa, who widened her eyes a bit and turned around.
"What?"
Xiao Fung shrugged. "It's the truth, you're way too possessive."
"How strange to hear that from someone who owns three great empires but cannot even read," she snapped poisonously, narrowing her eyes. The wind demon cleared his throat and looked away nervously.
"... Did you know about what's going to happen today?" he asked quickly to change the subject.
"No, what?"
Xiao Fung smiled again. "It seems that some Ottomans and betrayers were condemned to death, but everybody asked for a public execution" he explained.
"And...?" Bai Tsa asked crossing her arms.
"Dai Gui's children will torture the men and some women, and we are going to watch it. Don't you want to come with us?" he invited and Bai Tsa uncrossed her arms, snorting.
"Torture men? Please... What a waste."
"Waste?" Xiao asked a bit surprised. Then grinned maliciously. "What do you mean? Do you really think you could take all of them?"
Bai Tsa turned as red as her eyes, and glared daggers at her brother.
"Xiao Fung! You shouldn't say such things to an elder sister!" she scolded and he chuckled.
The water demon snapped and turned to go away. She must have been with a really angry face, since all the humans she met flinched and looked scared at her, and even Shendu and Hsi Wu stopped and got out of her way before continuing their own.
Leaving the palace did not make her feel much better but at least she would hardly see any of her annoying siblings. It has been one week with them already in that horrible, dry and hot palace with no one to talk with or have some fun.
She stopped as she saw the area when the new slaves were working. The demons who guarded them held whips in their claws and eventually used them just to impose authority or enjoy the humans' suffering expressions. The humans were carrying heavy sacks and boxes, apparently with metal and wooden objects inside. Bai Tsa guessed they were weapons and armors for the war against the Ottomans.
While slithering there watching that nasty scenery, she heard the noise of something heavy dropping in the ground. She looked at where that sound came from without really caring. Just when she saw what was going on she immediately got more interested. Next to the dropped box – which surprisingly had not broken – the young wizard she had met few days ago was lying in the ground. Three men who were working as well stopped and approached to ask if he was all right. The wizard said that he was, though it did not seem to be truth.
The men turned to look at a demon a bit bigger than Bai Tsa who was coming towards them, holding a whip.
"What are you doing there? Come on, go back to work!" he ordered.
"He's in no condition to do that!" one of the men defended.
"That's not of your concern! Keep working right now!" he demanded and the trio obeyed after some hesitation. The white-haired man got up by using the box as support and glared at the demon. "What are you looking at? Work you too!"
"I can't!" the man protested, and the demon's orange eyes glow dangerously.
"I don't care, just do it!"
The man reluctantly tried to lift the box, but barely took two steps forward and fell again, this time breaking the box.
Several metallic pieces rolled on the ground, and the demons squeezed his whip angrily.
"You idiot! Look what you did!"
"You are the only idiot here! I told you I couldn't carry that box!"
Bai Tsa had to slap her forehead. What kind of stupid snapped at a demon who was twice bigger than him? And on top of that, in those conditions?
The demon did not think twice and raised his whip threateningly. When he was about to punish the slave for his insolence, he heard a new voice, even firmer and more authoritarian.
"Stop!"
Both of them looked at where the voice came from and saw the mermaid-demon.
"Nobody ever taught you that slaves bring more when they are healthy? You are just making things worse, you imbecile!"
The other demon stared at her in suspicion.
"And who the hell are you?" he asked rudely and she smiled slyly.
"Someone who certainly is more intelligent than you and who you should bow before."
"Don't make me laugh, you're nothing but a mere weak demon-" He could not finish his provocation when he was hit by a water torrent so strong that it made his pass out. Bai Tsa smiled amused and proud of her power.
The wizard glanced at the unconscious demon, who now was lying in the ground few meters away, and then glared at her.
"You didn't have to help me, I can take care of myself," he stated.
"Of course you can..." she replied in a sarcastic tone. "You cannot even remain standing very well, but facing a demon twice bigger than you is so easy..."
He did not reply, but looked away. Bai Tsa had to smile. She loved proud men. Her most recent conquest had been the Roman emperor, a great and fun challenge.
"Why did you help me, anyway?" he wanted to know.
"Let's just say that I prefer a western wizard than stupid demons to keep me company," she answered and he frowned in confusion. Bai Tsa realized that his concept of demons should be the one that demons like Tchang Zu, Dai Gui, Shendu, Xiao Fung and Po Kong gave to humanity. The concept that all the demons were bloodthirsty beings that did not care about anything but themselves, and whose greatest fun was watching or participating of massacres and abusing humans. Few of the people who lived in empires of those sort of demons knew that others could be more sensible. "Oh, come on... You did no think I would let a genuine western wizard die so easily, did you?" she questioned and he blinked even more confused.
"You want me to teach you western magic?" he asked unsure and she flinched. She was not stupid like her siblings but also had her pride. It would be very humiliating to be apprentice of a mortal slave.
"Of course not! I just..." She stopped and thought. All right, perhaps she did want to learn some spells, but she would never admit that aloud. She glanced at him. He was staring at her, waiting for an answer. She had to say something and fast! "First of all, my brother Dai Gui made clear that he doesn't want you to die yet. And besides, I'm on an investigation," she answered quickly.
"Investigation?" he asked in suspicion.
"Uh... Yes. I'm asking some questions to the slaves to find out where you are from."
He got up, still staring at her.
"But I already told you that."
"Exactly!" she stated and paused to organize her thoughts. "You may be a Briton, but you were in the Roman region next to Gaul with all these people when you were attacked and brought here, right? Then that means that everybody here, except you, is mine," she said and was glad to see by his expression that her explanation made sense. "And I want them all back, because nobody has the right to take away my belongings," she continued already more self-confident. Now that she had said that, she wondered why she had not thought of that when questioned Dai Gui about the mortals stealing.
The wizard nodded in thought and smiled.
"Lucky them, huh? Then you will take them away from here?"
"Not yet. First I have to know what exactly happened when you were captured."
They heard screams and more sounds of whips snapping.
"Perhaps we should go to a quieter place," she proposed and together they headed to the woods not very distant but far away from the aridity that Bai Tsa hated so much. The young man sat down while she remained standing.
"Where do you want me to start?" he wanted to know.
"First, what is your name?" she asked in front of him, crossing her arms behind her.
"Cassius," he answered shortly, looking a bit uneasy.
"Cassius?" she repeated in a quiet voice deep in thought. That was a Latin name. Was he really from Britain?
Bai Tsa noticed his nervousness and quickly took her black-haired human form.
"Is it better this way?" she asked smirking and he looked away, still smiling nervously.
"A little."
She sat down. "I want you to tell me how you and those people ended up here."
"Well..." he started. "As I said, I lived almost all my childhood in a region controlled by Rome. I even returned to my homeland, but I always visited the continent. But during one of my visits, I met a very beautiful Greek woman. Her name was Helena, and her hair was golden like the sun, her eyes were blue like the sky, and her sweet smile-"
"Could you get to the point still in this century?!" Bai Tsa demanded interrupting him. He smiled, rubbing the back of his head.
"Yes, you are right. Well, then we came to live in the same region where I lived my childhood, and we even had two sons. One of them would be my apprentice, you know."
She nodded slowly. "And where are they now?"
"Patience, I was getting to that. We and all those people you were talking about were going with a huge group to Britain, but then we were caught unawares by demons who came from Hispania. They were all your brother's soldiers."
"I knew it!" Bai Tsa muttered, clenching her fists. "And them what happened?"
"A lot of people died during the attack, specially the men. I was injured, but not enough to die." He paused, thoughtful, and then shrugged. "Of course, otherwise I wouldn't be here telling this to you."
Bai Tsa rolled her eyes. "Go on already!"
"Oh, yes. The men who survived either were too injured to move or were being held by the demons so that..." he stopped again, lowering his glance to the ground.
"So that what? Say it!" she demanded. He sighed gloomily before continuing.
"So that we couldn't stop the demons while they... raped the women and then ate them and most of the children..."
The water demon was speechless. She could have a clue of how horrible it must have been to him to watch not only his friends being massacred, but also his wife and raped and his sons being cruelly killed right in front of his eyes. Even though she was a demon, she could understand how painful that was.
"And the group was divided into two," he continued after a silent moment. "One part was brought here and the other was taken to Iberia, to be sold. My oldest son was in that group."
"That wrenched earth demon!" she muttered hitting the ground with a fist.
"What?" he asked and she got up angry.
"If what you said is truth, then he did rob me. That cursed liar thief! How does he dare to disrespect my property?!"
The young man stared coldly at her and was about to say something, but they heard many screams not very far away. Screams of pain, of rage, of excitement, from both humans and demons.
The duo followed the screams and got to a kind of arena. Around it, there were several humans – some of them were slaves, others were local inhabitants – and demons. Even her siblings were there. All of them, for her surprise. Xiao Fung, Dai Gui and Tchang Zu were the most excited ones.
The arena was covered in still warm blood and pieces of flesh. Mutilated bodies were everywhere in the arena. The women tried to cover the children's eyes so that they would not keep watching the horrible scene while they cried desperately. In he center, Dai Gui's children smiled proudly at the audience.
A man was dragged onto the arena by Di Zhen, the oldest one. He was not an Ottoman, but seemingly had betrayed his lord when giving information to the enemy. All the demons and surprisingly even some humans demanded that he was killed. Di Zhen pushed him over to his brother, who thanked him by bowing his head.
Xiao Fung clenched his fists in excitement. Di Mian knocked the man against the ground and dug his claws into his chest. The man screamed in pain until finally losing his strength, exactly when Di Mian took his heart out and lifted it still beating in the air, shouting in victory and tasting the blood that dropped on his face.
Those who had asked for the man's death got even more excited, while the others could just stare in horror. Bai Tsa swallowed and crossed her arms in a slight discomfort.
Soon they brought another condemned man. This one had an even bloodier end. After some torture, Di Zhen cut off his head and gave it to his brother to eat it, while the rest of the body was given to the demons around the arena.
Cassius could not stand it anymore and looked away, then closed his eyes. The incessant slaughtering got more and more violent and cruel, and Bai Tsa began to flinch at each scream of pain. It did not take too long until the wizard beside her covered his ears and turned to get away from the arena. The water demon followed him, she did not feel like continue watching that massacre either.
He knelt down looking disturbed and she stood next to him.
"I... will end up like them..." he murmured, finally opening his eyes.
"No, you won't. My brother said that you are important, remember?" she said but he shook his head.
"If I don't die in the war, I will die after it. When he doesn't need me anymore, he will send his children to kill me after a long torture."
Bai Tsa sighed and turned to look towards the arena. She focused on her wisest brother, Tso Lan, and frowned in determination.
She did not look back again, just concentrated on the moon demon. She walked to him and when approached took her true form. The fact that he looked as cold as the usual annoyed her, but she suppressed it. She could not disrespect him.
"Tso Lan."
Some of her siblings glanced at her, but soon turned to watch to the bloody spectacle again. Only Tso Lan and Xiao Fung kept paying attention to her.
"Oh, Bai Tsa! How good, I thought you would lose all the fun!" Xiao said cheerfully, making his sister snort.
"You call this fun?! This is an absurd, it must stop now!"
This time Xiao looked very surprised. "Stop? But why, Bai Tsa?"
"This is completely pointless, you are wasting men who have potential! Of course it is good to kill some humans once in a while, but this..." She pointed at the arena. "...is over the line!"
The two demons stared at her. Xiao Fung looked confused while Tso Lan was still the same.
"Don't you think, Tso? Isn't this all stupid?"
"Bai Tsa, speak more quietly. Someone might hear you," Xiao whispered.
"Good, that's the idea! I want everyone to realize the stupidity they are doing!"
"But if you say such things aloud, some may think you are weak," the wind demon explained simply and she was quiet.
"He is right, Bai Tsa. Even if you don't like what's happening, you don't have to try to stop them. You have to be indifferent to that sort of thing," Tso Lan added. Bai Tsa did not reply, but hissed angry and looked away stubbornly.
"Ah, Bai Tsa! Now we are going to see the brain dance," Xiao announced eagerly.
"Brain dance?" she repeated turning to the arena and stared oddly when seeing Di Mian stepping on a dead man's head, sticking a sword into it and then pulling it back with his brain on it. Some women who were going to be executed fainted and the children felt nauseas while the demons kept cheering.
"Hmm, they say that eating brain gives you more intelligence and knowledge," Xiao remarked and Tso Lan and Bai Tsa looked at him in despise. He blinked in confusion. "What?"
"I think I will return to the moon. It is more silent than here," Tso Lan while he, Hsi Wu and Bai Tsa observed the moon. The moon demon was seated and his two siblings were lying in the ground, their heads leaned on their hands.
"But compared to this afternoon, tonight is quite silent, don't you think?" the water demon asked.
"No, the earthly night still has many sounds. Here, there are strong winds, owls, crickets..."
"But otherwise, we would go mad because of the total silence," Hsi Wu said.
"What do you mean? I spend almost the whole time in the total silence of the moon, and did I go mad?" their older brother questioned. Hsi Wu and Bai Tsa glanced at each other, deciding not to answer. Tso could not help but note it and frowned slightly. "I do not like that silence of yours."
"Eh, but didn't you just said that you like the silence?" Hsi Wu said, chuckling at the irony of the situation.
"Are you two suggesting I am mad?" Tso Lan asked, his eyes glowing red.
"No, of course not, brother Tso," the youngest one answered.
"It's just that... spend centuries seated in the dark with nothing to do is not exactly the concept of fun to most of the demons," their sister added.
"What is it, then? Spend the whole day swimming around for not having anything better to do either?"
Hsi Wu and Bai Tsa raised and looked surprised at Tso Lan, and then at each other.
"Did you hear that, Bai Tsa?"
"I did, but I cannot believe it!"
"It is not possible! Tso Lan actually told a joke!"
"True, he indeed did!"
"It was lame, but it was a joke!"
"Too bad only we two witnessed that..."
"Ah, the others have to know about it!" Hsi Wu flew up and returned to the palace. Tso Lan stared at them, sweat-dropping.
"What happened?" Po Kong's voice asked behind them and they turned to look at her.
"Po Kong, you won't believe it! Tso Lan told a joke!" Bai Tsa stated, making her sister laugh.
"I really don't believe it."
"It's truth! It is not funny at all, but it's a start." She turned to the moon demon. "Come on, Tso. Repeat what you just said."
"Leave me alone."
"It is indeed not funny at all," Po commented.
"Tso, that's not what you said!" the water demon complained. For her frustration, her brother continued in silence, ignoring her. Po Kong got sick of it and decided to change the subject.
"Look, I am going to a tavern. I will see if there is a mortal there who is worthwhile. Don't you want to come with me?"
"Oh, why not? It has been a good while since I had fun that way," Bai Tsa said getting up.
"Are you coming, Tso?"
"No," he answered shortly and coldly.
"All right, see you in some hours, then," Po Kong said shrugging and taking her human form.
"Or perhaps tomorrow," Bai Tsa said doing the same.
At the tavern, Po Kong chose two men and took then to a room after drinking some wine with them. Bai Tsa, on the other hand, could not find a good man, therefore she just kept drinking, leaned on her table. The fact that she was theoretically a woman and yet be in a tavern made the men think that she was a prostitute, which was beginning to really get on her nerves. If at least they were cute...
She sighed, already sick of refusing the stubborn men who once in a while went to her table to make a pass at her or offer her money to have some fun for the night.
"I can't take it anymore," an already very familiar voice said angry from the table behind her and she began to pay attention to make sure of who was talking.
"And what are you going to do?" another voice asked.
"The same thing we had planned," the first voice answered, confirming what she had guessed.
Cassius!
She heard one of the men hit the table with his cup violently.
"You are really angry," the unknown man remarked after a short while.
"Those monsters... That's why I hate demons. I swear I shall kill all of them someday..." Cassius said. Bai Tsa widened her eyes, then frowned angry.
"Oh, really?" she murmured smirking and finish drinking her wine with only one sip. She buried her face in her hands as if she was tired and when opened her eyes they were green. She pulled a scarf out of her shirt and used it to tie her hair in a simple cock. Then stood up and walked to the table where the wizard was, smiling.
"Good evening, gentlemen," she greeted with a voice different from the one she usually used and they looked oddly at her.
"Unh... good evening," they replied shrugging. She did not even bother to look twice at the brown-haired man who had been talking to Cassius. She went closer to the wizard and leaned her hands on the table, looking at him deeply in the eyes. The young man did not know if he looked at her eyes as well or at her daring neckline.
"How about we talk there in the room?" she proposed and the white-haired one stuttered and gulped, pulling his collar with his index finger.
"Cassius," the other man called. He did not say anything else, but Bai Tsa knew that there was a message behind his uneasy look.
"I am really sorry, miss, but I have something very important to do right now," Cassius said very reluctantly. Bai Tsa frowned a bit and stood again. She shifted her weight to only one foot, which caused her hips to make a sensual curve from the point of view of human men.
"Are you sure?" she insisted, placing one hand on her hip. The brown-haired man dropped his cup on the table, spilling the wine. The duo stared at her openmouthed.
"I... I am. I don't have money, anyway..."
She smiled maliciously and approached her face of his, brushing his hair with her fingers.
"For you... I'll make an exception tonight," she whispered on his ear. Cassius immediately stood up and glanced at his friend.
"Look, we can decide how to kill them later, right?" he asked and the other snorted looking bored.
"Yeah, I think we can."
"Kill who?" Bai Tsa asked while they headed to one of the rooms of the tavern.
"Oh, we are going to set an ambush and kill all the demons of the palace, including lord Dai Gui. Thus we humans shall be free again."
"How interesting. And, let me guess, you will be the leader of that revolution?"
"Well, I don't want to boast of that, but I thought of the whole plan, and I will control the ambush and kill lord Dai Gui. And them I will lead everyone and incite revolutions in all the places I can."
"Oh my, you really are very courageous. It is a very dangerous mission."
"Yes, but I have been devoting my life for that for years, and I am ready. All those despising demons will pay for what they have done."
They entered a room.
"But of course, I can have some fun at times," he said beginning to sound eager and heard how the door was slammed.
"You will kill all of us, huh?" the woman spoke with some hatred in her voice. He turned around to see her leaned against the door she had just closed, glaring at him. He immediately frowned seriously, and she decided this was the best time to take her true form. As did so, she could see his surprised expression.
"Bai Tsa?!"
"Men... They are all the same. Even though you are a wizard, you are so delighted with me that you did not even felt my demon chi. How pathetic."
He clenched his fists and teeth angrily and stepped back on guard. She sighed.
"And on top of that, you revealed me all your stupid plan to destroy us. You trust people way too much, don't you?"
"How would I know that a demon sorceress would lower herself by acting like a vulgar prostitute?!" he defended.
"Watch your tongue! I just did that to bring you here!" she shouted and then took a deep breath. "It is you who is no good. Planning to kill the demons not caring that not all of them deserve that."
"Exactly like you do! But the difference between you and humans is that you are all the same, maniac killers!" he yelled and in the following second Bai Tsa punched him hard on his left cheek, making him fall to the ground.
"Don't dare to compare me with those wild animals! Not all the demons are like that!" She flinched when he raised his glance and glared daggers at her. That look was really full of hatred and contempt, which now were focused on her. She had to admit that that disturbed her. For some reason, it was unbearable to be the target of that glare. Perhaps because of the wizard's strong chi.
"You just proved me otherwise," he said shortly.
"Well, then I shall prove I am telling you the truth... that I am not bloodthirsty or maniac... and that I do think some humans are more useful alive than dead," she stated and he rolled his eyes, making her realize what she had just said. But now was already too late.
"Oh, really? And what are you going to do, join the revolution?" he asked mocking and getting up.
"No, but I will pretend I didn't hear anything that you said tonight," she replied and he frowned.
"What do you mean?"
She smirked. "What do you think? I'll give you an advantage. I shall neither tell anyone about your ridiculous plan nor try to stop you by myself. I already made clear that I do not want to have anything with battles that are not of my concern."
"You are making a mistake, Bai Tsa," he said smiling enigmatically. "I already got everything perfectly planned, there is no way I can fail. I shall win for sure. And when you see me about to kill your siblings, you won't stand it anymore and will come to fight me, regretting for not having told them about this. And then, you shall die," he spoke the last sentence slowly, and smiled self-confident. "Or you are going to tell them about my plan and show to the world that I am right. You will lose anyway."
"Don't be so sure about that," she said smiling equally self-confident and turned to leave. "Besides, I always keep my words."
To be continued...