Demon's Rising

Ch.4 Capture and torment.

I for one hate when people just burst through a door without knocking first. It's just plain rude, it doesn't matter who you are either. Period.

The grey clouds hung over the mountains. The animals started to scurry back to their homes as the rain started to gently drip from the heavens. On the lonely, wet porch slurin watched the sky. There he pondered. He also sought for something; he knew that what his heart sought for was too dangerous to have, but this isn't what was bothering him. A small feeling had started to grow inside his chest. A warm feeling, not strong enough to be a full flame, it was shallow. It was only warm enough to be on the edge of cold. Lureana opened the door. She wondered as well, but not what he wondered.

"slurin what are you doing?" she asked him.

He didn't reply. He couldn't shake the feeling. He didn't know if it was good, evil, dangerous, or harmless. He was confused. He had never had this feeling before. He still pondered as he slowly followed lureana inside. He could tell something was on her mind.

"lureana are you alright?"

"yes."

"then what's wrong?"

"nothing, I actually just wanted to ask you something. That's all."

"what?" he asked as he sat in a chair.

"slurin… I just want you to use your powers for good reasons. If you could learn to control yourself, you could help aviean defeat your father. Now I know you don't like him much, but it might give you a chance to show everyone who you are… who you truly are."

Slurin was hesitant. He had never thought of himself as anything that his father had taught him to be. A monster. He looked out of the window. The rain was pouring. The clouds had become darker. He slowly closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he sensed many horses trotting towards the cottage. He turned to lureana.

"I will… try lureana."

He gently grabbed her hand. Nothing else in the world mattered at this moment. He was with his beloved, and nothing would ever change that.

Men crashed through the door. They surrounded slurin and lureana. Their swords were drawn.

"So karroff was right." Aviean said as he stepped through the door. "The little witch was hiding the evil abomination!"

Lureana's face turned red. She pushed her way through the solders. She looked aviean straight in the face. Her eyes burned like blue fire.

"I'm not hiding an abomination. Oh, and another thing… I absolutely refuse to marry a thick-headed, selfish, stuck up, big, fat, and absolutely soulless prince like you!"

Aviean's face had become dark. His green eyes flashed with anger, hate, and then pure hatred. He grabbed lureana roughly by her wrist and shoved her outside.

"Seize him!" he shouted as he went out the door.

Slurin struggled to escape his attackers, but there were too many of them to fight off. They grabbed his arms and pulled him to the ground. The chained him on his neck, arms, wrists, waists, and ankles. He was barely able to catch his breath before something jerked him out of the house. A machine was attached to the chains that kept pulling. He couldn't stop himself from being dragged through the mud.

"You should have known monster." Aviean said coldly. "That I always win."

Aviean kicked slurin's face. Lureana broke loose from the guard the held her and bolted at aviean. She jumped on to him grabbed his throat. He threw her off sending her onto some sharp rocks that cut into her hands. He stood above her. His eyes were full of fury.

"You little witch!" aviean shouted as he slapped lureana. She fell back into the mud unconscious.

Slurin's mind was boiling. He fought back the demon as best as he could. He was slowly losing control.

"I'm going to kill you!" he screamed as he charged towards aviean.

He was only one foot away before something shocked his entire body. He fell to his knees. He grasped his chest stunned. Aviean looked at the creature at his feet.

"Magic. It's a wonderful thing isn't it?" he smiled wickedly. "Can't break through enchanted chains, can you?"

Aviean looked at the solders standing around him. He whistled for his horse and got onto the saddle. He looked back at his solders smiling.

"Have fun." He said as he rode over to lureana.

The solders chuckled as they surrounded slurin. Slurin struggled to stand; he could only see one thing. A solder grabbed lureana and threw her in front of aviean on his saddle. They started to ride away.

"Lureana!" slurin shouted.

A soldier kicked slurin's stomach. He shouted for her again only to be answered with two more kicks. While one solder punched another one hit or spat. Every solder had a torturous turn. The brutality continued for hours. The sun had sunk below the hills. They laughed as they went on their way. Slurin could only feel pain. Every muscle throbbed; he felt warm blood flow from his nose and mouth, the knife wounds on his side stung with every rain drop that fell on them. They had left him unchained, but he was broken, injured, and his soul was torn.