The Daemon
Fire, fire everywhere…
A golden palace built at the roof of the world, set ablaze…
Warriors in gold, red and white fighting against daemons…
An angel, grievously wounded, fighting desperately as the masses of mankind attempted to rally around him…
A warrior on a golden throne, preparing to make his last stand…
Hayreddin awoke.
He had not realized that he had fallen asleep. The sun had gone down, and he could see the fires lit where the men were roasting fowl for dinner. Everything appeared to be well.
But for some inexplicable reason, Hayreddin felt uneasy. He got up and went to join the men for dinner. Cheerfully greeting him, they made a place for him at the fire and gave him the first piece, a fat leg. Hayreddin bit into it, savouring the taste and bade that the men also start eating. As they settled in, Hayreddin looked around at all of them.
After spending several months on the island together, Hayreddin had already memorised all their faces and names; from Porto, the unofficial spokesman for the men, to the thin boy who had just seen his sixteenth birthday. Hayreddin's keen memory however, made him realise that one face was missing.
"Where is Ravenna?" Hayreddin asked the man nearest to him.
The man shrugged. "Saw him down by the raft earlier, could still be there."
Hayreddin got up and several of the men, including Porto, stood up to go with him but he waved them down.
The feeling of unease grew stronger as Hayreddin made his way to the raft. His heart was beating faster and dread clung to him. He could not remember feeling so uneasy…except once.
The day his mother and father were murdered.
The darkness that clung over Nuba…
The darkness in its streets…
The red flames in the square…
The glistening pool of blood growing around his father's body…
The knife plunging into his mother's heart…
Without realising it, Hayreddin found himself running.
The raft was deserted when he arrived, but he looked around just to be certain. There was no sign of Ravenna anywhere. But the uneasiness would not leave, if anything, it tightened its grip around Hayreddin's heart like a claw. As he looked around, he suddenly noticed something farther inland.
The mountain.
On most nights, it loomed silently in the dark, blocking out the stars like a giant, brooding sentinel.
Not tonight.
Its peak was glowing.
Even as Hayreddin stared, the glow grew brighter, before it suddenly exploded with a radiance that blinded him.
The visions took him.
Confused torrents of images; crowds of people stretching as far back as the eye can see. Individual faces, men, women, children, families, friends and lovers all bombarded the eye within the space of a heartbeat. A terrible lance of fire descended upon them, enveloping them in flames. But it did not kill them.
It did worse.
The once-humans morphed into monsters; misshapen, grotesque abominations that turned upon their own. Mothers and fathers devoured their children, lovers tore at each other's throats, all humanity lost in a firestorm of Chaos.
But then, a golden glow appeared over the horizon. Its radiance grew and forced the monsters back. Those who were untouched scrambled towards it for safety. He saw the source of the glow, and wept.
A god in golden armour, bearing aloft a sword of fire strode towards the monsters. The humans untouched by the fires of Chaos threw themselves at his feet, weeping while the monsters scrambled back, screeching in both hatred and fear. The glow grew even brighter and he now saw twenty demigods striding alongside the warrior in golden armour. Their features were lost in the radiance, but he could sense Hope, Enlightenment and Salvation promised by these beings of glorious light.
Hayreddin fell to his knees, tears of joy streaming down his face. Surely humanity would be saved with such beings to watch over them?
"They will be betrayed…"
The voice whispered, and darkness was suddenly across the Light. Already the monsters grew bolder and began to resist the march of the god and the demigods.
"…and all will be lost…"
Darkness fell.
Hayreddin awoke. Somehow, he had fallen onto his back and passed out. When he got to his feet, the world had gone mad.
Fires raged across the once-lush jungle. He saw the animals running for the sea, many of them set ablaze, shrieking in agony. In the distance, he could hear screams coming from the settlement.
Hayreddin ran towards it.
XI XI XI
The huts were on fire when Hayreddin came racing into the settlement. But it was not the fire that had killed the men.
The bodies were strewn all over, most of them in pieces. Fighting down his horror and rage, Hayreddin knelt to inspect the nearest corpse; missing both arms and half a head. It looked like the work of a massive predator.
Or a monster.
A scream drew Hayreddin's attention. He swiftly ran towards it, heedless of the heat from the fires. As he rounded a collapsed hut, something flew past him, splattering blood as it went. Hayreddin's eyes followed it as it landed on the sandy ground, rolling before it came to a stop.
A head.
His rage began to overtake his horror as he turned to behold the perpetrator.
A monster, for surely no animal could have been born by natural means, stood before him. Its flesh was granite grey and covered in scales, and its back was twisted, but it was twice as tall as Hayreddin. Its head was a grotesque mockery of a human's; bald, covered with purple, pulsating veins and eyes that glowed red. Blood dripped for a massive maw filled with sharp fangs.
In each of its clawed hands, it carried a corpse. The headless corpse of a young man, and Porto, whose throat had been bitten into with such savagery that the head remained attached by only strand of skin.
Even as the sight finally caused Hayreddin's rage to completely overshadow his horror, a pair of massive, bat-like wings unfurled from the monster's back, and it took to the sky, dropping both corpses.
It flew in the direction of the mountain.
Hayreddin let out a roar of rage and pursued.
XI XI XI
The fires continued to consume the jungle, but the path to the mountain was miraculously untouched. Hayreddin sprinted through the tunnel of flame, heedless of the scorching heat. All he saw was the blood and bodies of the men, mutilated in unspeakable ways and the mountain.
Every now and then, through a lull in the firestorm, Hayreddin could glimpse the mountain looming through the smoke. He saw that the peak was also ablaze. He also saw the monster flying to the peak.
Hayreddin pursued.
He burst out of the burning forest and ran as hard as he could towards the mountain. When the ground became too steep he used his hands, climbing with manic fervour, ignoring the cuts on his hands…and the unnatural speed with which they healed. He climbed and he climbed and when he finally reach the peak, he came face to face with a wall of fire.
Heedless, Hayreddin took a running leap.
The flames licked at him, and burned him, but he reached the other side; his burn-wounds already healing.
He saw the monster, it was perched on a gleaming white rock in the middle of a boiling pool, watching him. It rose to its full height, snarling.
And then Hayreddin saw the sword.
He had seen it many times, strapped to Ravenna's back or flashing in the sun during their battles together.
The red haze fell across Hayreddin's eyes.
"What have you done to Ravenna, daemon!" screamed Hayreddin as he snatched up the sword and charged.
The daemon, for a daemon it was, howled and leaped at him, unfurling its wings.
It met Hayreddin's charge with thunderous force, sending him sprawling onto the ground. Before Hayreddin knew what was happening, it was on him, reaching with its claws. Hayreddin slashed out, and the daemon recoiled with a howl, one of its clawed hands dropping to the ground, an ichor-gushing stump where it was once attached to the daemon's body.
The creature made a keening sound as it cradled the stump, backing away as Hayreddin advanced on it. As Hayreddin drew closer however, it made an odd sound, almost as though…it was chuckling and before Hayreddin realised what was happening, it lashed out with its maimed hand.
Hayreddin leaped back, but pain flared in his midsection. Looking down, he saw claw marks across his abdomen which were already healing. Looking up, he saw that the daemon's hand had regrown. Gritting his teeth, Hayreddin charged it again. He ducked under the swiping claws and scored cuts of his own across the daemon's torso. It snorted almost contemptuously and swatted Hayreddin away. He swiftly got back to his feet but saw that the wounds he dealt the creature had already healed.
Hayreddin swore. He had once heard an old wives' tale that a daemon can only be killed if it was decapitated or struck in the heart. He had never put any stock into it, but he was determined to try it now.
And so the duel between man and daemon continued, surrounded by the raging inferno. Time and again Hayreddin and the daemon would clash, exchanging furious blows that caused wounds to each other, but nothing fatal. It was as though the daemon knew of Hayreddin's intentions and it made good use of its massive size and reach to keep him away from its heart and head. Hayreddin attacked relentlessly, the thoughts of the slaughtered men, and what the daemon could have done to Ravenna fueling him. After an indeterminate amount of time, Hayreddin finally struck the blow that hurt the daemon.
Ducking under a swipe, he dealt a slash on the daemon's side before using his momentum to swing onto its back where he dealt a slash that sheared off one of its wings.
The daemon shrieked in true agony, and tried to throw Hayreddin off, but he clung on, noting even then that the wing was re-growing. Clutching the growing appendage, Hayreddin drove Ravenna's sword into the daemon's back, right where he believed the heart to be.
The daemon's shrieks died away immediately, replaced with a soft gasping sound that was almost human. Slowly, it toppled forward onto its face. Hayreddin got off, breathing heavily. The beast was still alive, trembling as it lay prone on the ground.
Steeling himself, Hayreddin approached its head, intending to cut it off, but just as he got within striking range, the daemon, with tremendous effort, rolled onto its back. Something was happening to its head; it morphing, pulsating as it reshaped itself.
Hayreddin watched with a mixture of disgust and fascination.
When it was finished, he stepped closer.
The head was smaller now, a misshapen thing. Its face was almost human, almost familiar…
The sword fell from Hayreddin's hand as he fell to his knees.
It was Ravenna.
Hayreddin felt a scream building up inside him, threatening to escape…
"Hayreddin…"
Ravenna's voice was a rasp, a death-rattle. Hayreddin scrambled over to Ravenna and cradled his old friend's head in his hands as best as he can.
"I'm…so sorry…" whispered Ravenna.
"Ravenna…what happened?"
Ravenna coughed. "A trap…I was…trapped…" His eyes suddenly bulged. "I was inside…my body was moving…killing the men…but I couldn't stop it…I had no control…"
"Ravenna…"whispered Hayreddin urgently. "How did this happen to you?"
The older man's eyes became glazed. "Something…took me…spirits…called me…warned me…but something took me….changed me…"
Ravenna coughed and blood mixed with daemon ichor dribbled down the sides of his mouth. "Hayreddin…help me…"
"Yes…Ravenna, we'll get you off this island…get you help," said Hayreddin.
"No…your strike…didn't go deep enough…the heart…is healing…finish it…"
For a moment, everything went silent around Hayreddin. Even the roaring inferno around him seemed to have gone silent as he contemplated the meaning of Ravenna's words.
"Finish it…" whispered Ravenna.
"No…no I can't…"
"Hayreddin…if you don't…"
But Ravenna did not have to give voice to what would happen. To Hayreddin's horror, Ravenna's face began to contort again, becoming more like the daemon once more. But still, Hayreddin couldn't.
"I can't kill you…"
Tears were streaming down Ravenna's eyes. "I'm already…dead….please…give me…this mercy…"
The skin on Ravenna's face rippled and he grimaced in agony.
"Please…" whispered Ravenna again.
Hayreddin nodded numbly and retrieved Ravenna's sword. He placed the point over Ravenna's heart, not quite believing what he was about to do.
"Thank you…Hayreddin…" whispered Ravenna, managing an agony-filled smile. "Please…don't tell…Isan…look after her…and my children…"
"I will…" said Hayreddin, his voice filled with grief and self-loathing.
Ravenna nodded. "Do…it…"
The sword drove down, straight through the heart.
Ravenna jerked and gasped, exhaling his final breath. And Hayreddin knew it was over. The corruption fell away from his old friend's body like dust. Soon, all the remained was Ravenna's human body, but even that began to fall apart like dust. As the life left his eyes, Ravenna's turned his gaze on Hayreddin, even as his face began to crumble apart.
Soon, nothing was left of the physical remains of the man called Ravenna.
Alone, surrounded by fire, Hayreddin wept.