Author's Note: Wow, I was completely floored by the amount of attention the first chapter got. I really can't thank you guys enough for reviewing and following/favoriting! It means so much to me!
This is my first time writing fantasy so please let me know if anything is confusing or not descriptive enough. Also, just a heads up, I might change the title a few times. Ashen Throne doesn't really sit well with me (sounds weird) but I can't think of anything else that fits the story. I'm considering Decrepit Crescendo, but I'm still not sure. If you have any suggestions, I would greatly appreciate it!
...The first thing Rin felt after the black creatures of the Gate flung him forward was a sheer, piercing cold. He tripped over his feet and landed on something soft that flew up in a dense cloud around him. At first, he believed it was snow, but, when his head stopped spinning and his eyes finally adjusted, he realized it was too dark and too thick.
Rin struggled to sit up, his head heavy and foggy, like he had been separated from his own body and ruthlessly shoved back in. Propped up on one arm, he caught a few flakes out of the air as they settled around him. He rubbed them between his thumb and index finger, and was surprised to see they left faint, black stains on his skin.
It wasn't snow—it was ash.
He slowly breathed in the thick mists surrounding him, the cool sensation clearing his head. That was strange... Why didn't inhaling the air here burn his lungs or scratch his throat? Wasn't that usually what happened when people—humans—breathed in ash filled air?
Needing a distraction from all the impossibilities he had suddenly been tossed into, Rin finally sat up and glanced around. The sky was a gloomy shade of gray, impenetrable clouds concealing all traces of the sun. Everything seemed to be covered in a thick layer of ash, so much so that he couldn't tell what anything was. There were mounds of the stuff sticking out of the ground in sporadic places, but whether they were part of the structure he was sitting on, or…something else, he'd never know. Behind him towered a large, stone archway, (presumably the place where the Gate spat him out). Strange, glowing sigils covered the surface. He inclined his head and squinted, trying to make sense out of the unfamiliar characters. As he continued to stare, they started getting brighter.
And brighter…
Rin shut his eyes tight against the blinding, blue light that spewed from the arch. The next thing he knew, Ammon was standing in front of him, a large, white snake coiled around his body, its head resting atop his right shoulder. "Hey!" he smiled, "glad to see you made it safely, your majesty." He reached out and offered a hand to Rin, who accepted reluctantly.
"What happened to the other asshole?"
"Astaroth? He decided not to join us today."
"Where are we?" Rin struggled to steady himself, feet completely buried in ash. He stumbled as he tried to move forward—there was more packed ash underneath the loose, top layer, making it difficult to walk in.
"We're at the Kingsgrave—Astaroth's Octant. The device you just traveled through is called an Archstone," he gestured to the archway behind them, its sigils no longer glowing. "There are four Archstones located in each of the cardinal directions, (we're at the East Archstone, if you were curious)." Ammon paused and placed a hand on his chin contemplatively. "Well… There's a fifth at the palace…but only Satan could activate it, and we've yet to discover an alternate way to open it...if one even exists..."
Shesha seemed to roll his eyes before nudging his master gently with his nose. Ammon snapped out of his wandering thoughts and cleared his throat loudly, obviously embarrassed.
"A-anyway, what we're standing on used to be a temple erected specifically for the Archstone." He tapped a foot on the ground, causing puffs of ash to dissipate into the air. "This was once the roof. It collapsed under the weight of ash about seven years ago. It's a miracle the Archstone survived its downfall."
"Octant? Archstone? Temple?" Ammon made a sour face—he could almost hear the gears grinding in Rin's head as he tried to comprehend everything around him.
This was going to be much harder than he originally expected.
"We have books at the palace that you'll need to read and Asterius—our historian—can help explain things that might be too difficult for you to understand. Our escort should be here to take us there momentarily."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold on! I said I would come through the Gate, but I never agreed to go anywhere else with you!" Ammon gave him a bemused frown in response. "I'm staying right here until you open that…whatever it is," (he was referring to the nearby Archstone), "and take me back home!" The demon raised a brow, glanced at his snake, and then burst into laughter. "What's so funny!?"
"I'd love to take you home, Rin, but I'm afraid Nightbringer is out of energy."
He stared at Ammon with stupefied disbelief, eyes wide and mouth agape. "E-energy? What do you mean energy!?"
"I'm not Satan; I can only activate an Archstone once every couple of days," he shrugged, smile widening, "guess you're stuck at the palace with me until then."
Rin's anger flared and his voice cracked sharply. "Y-you didn't say anything about that!"
"Whoops. Did I leave that part out?" He hummed and placed a hand on the side of his face, pretending to be deep in thought. "Well, if you'd rather stay at the temple ruins until I'm ready, I can arrange to have a tent set up. However…it would do you well to rethink this decision, your majesty. It does get dreadfully cold here at night, and there's hardly anything around you could use for a comfortable fire…but, if that's what you'd prefer, I can't say no." That didn't sound like a bad suggestion at first, but, as Rin looked around him apprehensively, he realized the empty, windless wasteland was more unnerving than a city full of monsters.
"So you would just leave me here!?"
"You'd rather stay here than go 'anywhere else with me', right?" Ammon grinned at him with ill-concealed delight. The snake on his shoulder made a strange, airy noise, almost like it was laughing at him.
Rin could feel his cheeks reddening deeply, and the sensation made his blood boil with rage. "Fine! But, I'm only going with you because I don't want to be alone! Not because I want to!"
"Of course, your majesty." The prince huffed and turned away, lapsing into an angry silence.
The two stood side-by-side, ankle-deep in ash, waiting for their ride—whoever it was—to break through the fog that obscured their view of the distant horizon. As the empty moments slowly passed, Rin found himself giving in to his impatience. He became increasingly restless, awkwardly shifting his weight from one foot to the other and looking everywhere but at Ammon, who seemed preoccupied with petting his drowsy familiar. Finally, the prince could no longer stand the quiet, and snapped. "Well!? Are we going to the palace today or not!?"
"Yes, eventually." His quick, calm response startled Rin. "Wren should have been here by now," he paused and glanced up at the sky. Small, light flakes of ash had just started falling. "He's not normally late...I hope he isn't lost."
"So we're just going to stand here until he arrives?" Rin asked with a stubborn frown.
"You may sit if that's what you prefer, your majesty, though I do advise against it. You shouldn't get any dirtier than you already are—a filthy king isn't widely accepted in the eyes of a starving public. Oh, don't worry; there's hardly any ash in the city. Astaroth's Octant seems to get the worst of it for whatever reason." He leaned in and lowered his voice to a low, mocking whisper. "Personally, I think it's because Gehenna is fed up with him rotting the soil and plants. But don't tell him I said that—he's sensitive about his...'abilities'."
He glared, annoyed by the demon's uncomfortably close presence. What the hell did that even mean? Half the shit that came out of Ammon's mouth didn't make any sense to Rin. "Fine, whatever," he spat, reluctantly content with standing.
And, with that, another bout of dreadful silence fell between the two. Rin, as petulant as ever, made a great effort to appear distracted by the barren scenery—though this did little to curve his boredom or calm his growing irritation. At last, (after having waited an agonizing hour), the rumbling sound of wagon wheels approached them. From this distance, Rin could just barely make out someone seated atop what he could only describe as a moving boulder. The rider stopped a few feet away, dropped the reins, and clumsily descended the rock.
"S-sorry I made you wait, s-sir!" he stuttered as he tried to bow and wrap his cloak around him at the same time. "I-uh-I overslept..."
Wren—Rin assumed—looked oddly human for someone who was a supposed demon, (much like Ammon, he realized.) He was a short, fat boy with a large, round face, a bulbous nose, wide, worried green eyes, short, unruly, black hair, and upright, brown, dog ears where his human ears would be. He fidgeted violently with the long sleeves of his woolen cloak and glanced around restlessly, as if he were unable to focus on any single thing for too long.
Ammon stepped forward, a sincere smile brightening his face. "No worries, Wren. It's a relief to know you're safe and well." His benign tone did nothing to quell Wren's frightened behavior. "Rin, I would like to introduce Wren—your adviser and personal servant."
"Oh...uh, hello-"
Wren cut him off loudly, arms rigid and pressed to his sides as he bowed deeply to Rin. "P-please forgive my tardiness, your majesty! I swear to you it will not happen again! So, please, give me a chance to prove myself to you!"
Rin, having never been received by such a desperate and despondent welcome, stepped back anxiously, uncertain of how to respond. He instinctively looked to Ammon for help, who, with a shake of his head, laughed awkwardly. "Uhh, Wren…isn't used to meeting royalty like this." He stood beside Rin and leaned toward him to whisper in his ear again. "He's good at his job—I picked him for a reason—but he suffers from a lack of self-confidence. Wren has been practicing what he would say to you for almost a month, so I'm sure you can imagine how nervous he is. Be gentle with him."
Wren straightened his posture, though he continued to keep his eyes on the ground, displaying his apprehension all too plainly for the prince to see. "My apologies, your majesty…" His voice was full of shame.
"Uh, i-it's okay, really!" Rin tried to think of something that could offer even a scrap of comfort, but came up blank.
Thankfully, Ammon saved him from having to say more. "Wren," he started lightly, trying not to make matters more difficult for the demon, "let us be on our way before dusk—the prince and I have much to discuss."
"Oh, of course!" All traces of fear seemed to leave him as he turned back to the carriage and busied himself with preparations.
"Sooo," the prince started after a brief pause, "how long do you think it will be before you can open that...arch thing?"
"The Archstone? I know it's not a pleasant place, but are you that eager to leave?" Rin frowned, an unamused expression that quickly wiped the playful smirk from Ammon's face. "Two days if we don't encounter any interruptions."
"Two days!?" he said it with an exaggerated groan. "You mean I'm stuck with a bunch of violent, blood-thirsty demons for two days!?"
"Yes—at this point, two days is the fastest I can manage."
"I can't believe this bullshit..." Rin mumbled obscenities between clenched teeth. "This is all your fault, old man."
Wren stumbled over to them, pausing to give the two a short, respectful bow. "We're ready to depart," he announced, slightly out of breath.
"Wonderful! Right this way, your majesty." Ammon stepped aside and inclined his head, an arm outstretched to show him the way to the waiting carriage.
"I'm only going because I don't have a choice. Not because I want to," he growled a curt reminder to the green-haired demon as he passed. Ammon made no other remark but a quick, playful shrug.
He stopped just before the strange, moving boulder, his curiosity piqued by the unnatural way it shifted as he approached. "Y-your majesty," Wren called in his timid voice, "it would be wise not to stand too close to Chaul."
"Chaul?" At the sound of its name, a large, brown crustacean with dull, yellow eyes on various parts of its exoskeleton emerged from beneath the hollow rock it was apparently using as a shell. Rin scrambled back in shock. "What the fuck is that!?" He cautiously crouched down to get a better look at the creature.
The crab's antennae twitched toward him inquisitively and, with one quick movement, it raised a massive claw, intending to snap Rin's neck in half. Before he could react, (or even comprehend what was happening), Ammon jerked him back, pulling him halfway behind his body. The loud, metallic clang that followed pierced the sullen silence around them.
"L-Lord Commander!" Wren took a few steps forward, but soon stopped, knowing he would only get in the way.
"Here's your first Gehenna lesson, Rin: do not stand in front of a boulder crab." Rin found himself unable to do little more than stare blankly as he was scolded. Instead of flesh, Chaul's claw had clamped onto the thickest part of Ammon's gauntlet. Shesha hissed viciously, extending his neck ribs to form a large hood, and the frightened crab disappeared back into its rock.
"Holy shit!" Rin couldn't tear his eyes away from the gauntlet. "What is that thing made out of?"
"Hopes and dreams." Ammon flexed his hand.
The prince scowled, his voice losing all traces of emotion. "Very funny."
"Are you alright, sir?" Wren decided it was safe enough to approach them, his ears drooped slightly.
"We're fine—right, Rin?"
"Yeah, yeah…" he muttered, his bravado false and bitter.
"Then let's be on our way."
. . .
Rin was surprised by the ease at which the carriage was pulled through the ash. Using its heavy shell, the crab plowed a flat path for the wooden wheels and Wren, seated comfortably on its back, guided it by pulling on thick reins attached to its claws—if he pulled left, Chaul moved left, and if he tugged right, Chaul would promptly turn in that direction. Despite its ornery nature, it was fairly well-trained…for a crab, he supposed.
The inside of the carriage was comfortable, though not very spacious. There were two plush seats across from each other and small openings on either side of him that served as windows. Rin glanced repeatedly at the Lord Commander as they slowly rolled through the Octant, trying, (unsuccessfully), to watch him and avoid his eyes at the same time.
"Something on your mind, Rin?"
He flinched at the sound of Ammon's voice. "Um," Rin began after a moment, "thanks for saving me from that crab…thing. B-but, this doesn't change anything! I still expect you to take me back home!"
The demon shrugged indifferently. "Two days is a long time, your majesty. Something might change your mind by then."
"Nah, I doubt that," Rin replied stubbornly, fidgeting with the torn, unbuttoned sleeves of his suit.
Ammon's already exhausted patience was hanging by a fraying thread. He suppressed a sigh and closed his eyes to compose himself, a distinct crease forming between his brows. "Rin," he said, his tone showing no trace of the frustration he clearly felt, "I really don't want to be the type of guy who forces people to think less of themselves, but there's a few things you need to hear."
The prince perked up, suddenly interested in what Ammon had to say.
"You are a demon—a half-breed—but a demon nonetheless. Do you truly believe, once I return you to Assiah, that things will go back to how they were before?"
"Well...No, but-"
"You are not human. And, now that this information has started to spread, exorcists from all around the world will be looking for you. When they catch you—because they will—you will be executed." He paused, but Rin had no response for him. "In Assiah, you have no family, no resources, no home to go to, and no friends to help you."
Rin narrowed his eyes and frowned, brow knitted together in disbelief. "No... No, you're wrong! I have Yukio and Father Fujimoto, and-!"
Ammon abruptly cut him off. "Shiro is the Paladin—a sort of leader for the organization. Your brother—also an exorcist—despises you greatly for being born a demon. You've been surrounded by murderers your entire life."
"T-that… That's a lie!" He slammed his fists weakly against his legs. "Yukio would never..." But the words died in his throat.
"Yukio would be the first person to turn you in to the Vatican, if not kill you himself." Ammon's expression was cold—colder even than the ash that fell around them.
"…Why?" His mouth was painfully dry. "Why are you telling me this?"
"Because you don't yet understand—humans have always viewed us as monsters, as an evil to be hunted and killed. You are now one of those monsters and regardless of the good you do, or the people you help, or the miracles you perform, you will always be seen as evil. This hidden war has waged for centuries. And, if you don't help us, the senseless killing on both sides will never stop."
Unwanted memories suddenly flooded Rin's mind—images of cowering children as he threw a tantrum, faces of bullies as he found joy in beating them senseless, the fear in their voices as they screamed demon. He lowered his eyes and stared intently at his hands, as if he didn't recognize them anymore.
Ammon's voice softened as he continued. "Please reconsider, Rin. We are offering you a place to call home, protection from exorcists, an opportunity to do good for the people who look up to you, a chance to do something meaningful, to make someone of yourself." He paused, and then sighed heavily when Rin remained silent. "I will take you back if that is what you truly wish," he said quietly. "But, understand that, now, your life belongs to more than just you. If you were to leave us, you would condemn us all to a slow death."
"I… I still don't understand what you want from me." Rin finally raised his head. "I can't do anything right. I couldn't even make it for my interview!" Ashamed, he buried his face in his hands.
Ammon reached across the space that separated them, hoping to offer some form of comfort, but his fingers stopped short of Rin, as if the touch might be unwelcome. "The Order of Angels will take care of all the hard work—we just need you to live and be seen by the people." He lowered his arm. "I know this is a lot to take in. All I ask is that you think about your options a little while longer."
He moved his hands away and snorted sarcastically. "Why bother? I don't really have a choice, do I?"
"You always have a choice, Rin. You just need to be prepared to live with the consequences." Rin blankly examined the bruises on his knuckles and the cuts that Yukio had dabbed with alcohol the day before. Silence stretched between them for a few extended moments, and the path Chaul was making slowly turned into a paved, dirt road. "Look," Ammon pointed out the window, grabbing his attention, "you can see the city from here…"