Chapter 38: What I meant to say
Eyes of contemplation rested on Izaya for a couple moments, almost as if Shizuo were trying to come up with arguments opposing Izaya's ideas.
But the chance to speak was quickly robbed.
As if on cue ruptures shook the ground and the familiar view of blue and turquoise moved back into Izaya's sight as the anilas jumped in agitation.
"What-" Izaya started, but movement from the ground underneath forced him to a quick stop.
Wings much grander than Izaya remembered unfolded in a quick and fluid fashion and before he knew it Shizuo had picked him up and off the ground.
Plants, stones, creatures- the entirety of nature seemed to shift from an unknown cause and within a few seconds the landscape had warped into a new form. Currents of blue had returned and cast their wiggling shadows onto the even grass that showed the flowers Izaya had seen earlier.
The anilas seemed more than happy about the change and leisurely rolled onto their backs.
"The guardian turned around," Shizuo answered the question that Izaya hadn't managed to finish and he blinked in mild surprise.
"You mean it's heading into our direction?" The crab. The mountain on top of it.
So far it had only distanced itself from the two of them, having it turn around now shouldn't come as a surprise as it had always been moving randomly, but somehow Izaya found himself oddly doubtful of such convenient behavior.
"That's why these returned," Shizuo added and nodded towards the anilas, happily playing with each other.
It was a picture not made for hell, really.
"How convenient." Izaya mumbled, while lifting his gaze towards the sky that was hiding invisible structures of true heaven.
It was funny, his sight had reverted to normal and yet now that he knew about heaven's presence above he felt somewhat caught.
The priestess at his heels, their journey, the demon that had tried to kill them, among all the other creatures stupid enough to approach Shizuo had somehow formed a decent understanding of what it was like to live in this world.
Shizuo's sigh didn't come as a surprise after everything that had happened.
With their clothes back on and the crab moving into their direction the landscape kept changing without rest.
Water currents, more anilas, but most importantly-
"Fancy."
Izaya wasn't quite sure what he had expected from Crysteria. Maybe some kind of castle? Or an even surface on top of a mountain? Hell even a giant fire would have fit the bill somewhat.
The stairs suddenly ascending from the ground as if someone were shaping it carefully with his own hands came as yet another surprise of grand scale.
Grand, because it was one hell of a flight of stairs.
Seeing how they moved, and breathed, according to the crab's movement. Like a snake they ascended in twirled motions and Izaya took the liberty of stepping onto the first step.
It was soft. Weird. Alive almost.
Head snapping up he looked for the giant crab Shizuo had been talking about, the guardian carrying Crysteria, but all he saw was earth, vegetation, the landscape in itself, moving, but not showing any shape similar to what he expected.
"He is moving underground," Shizuo quickly filed in as if he had read Izaya's thoughts, while joining him on the first step.
"And there I was looking forward to holding a decent conversation with the guardian," Izaya laughed.
But Shizuo didn't.
Awful silence had clouded the demon's attitude and caused Izaya's laugh to fade. "What's wrong?"
Shizuo seemed troubled. Troubled by the presence of the crab, but even more so by Izaya's question. Another sigh left his lips and he closed his eyes for an annoyed second. "You know what, I don't want to attend this shit."
Huh?
Perplexion was the upfront emotion Izaya felt upon his words, and yet they didn't come as a surprise.
"It's Crysteria. I thought you wanted to attend when your new demon lord was being chosen?" he tried, but his words only seemed to close the clam that was Shizuo as soon as they were spoken.
Izaya wasn't stupid. He knew something troubled Shizuo.
Something about this choosing of a new demon lord. Or the place? Was it someone that might attend Crysteria? Or was it sheer worry over how the present demons would react to Izaya's presence?
Then again Shizuo himself hadn't realized Izaya was human until using what appeared to be his form for combat. The grown horns, the wings, the glimmer of hatred illuminating his eyes- Izaya wouldn't be surprised if it were those changes that had blown his cover.
But his question was left unanswered- instead he spotted movement.
Wiggling motion. A snake- no wait.
A human face stared at Izaya from not too far and for a second his blood froze.
A creature. Some kind of atrocity out to kill them- it had to be one for sure.
Smiling as if it had spotted a fresh delicacy it smiled into their direction- but oddly enough it didn't approach.
The stairs leading to Crysteria were slowly starting to shift as the crab kept moving without rest and the serpent creature quickly started ascending the stairs that were about to fade.
A single glance was all he received as he looked towards Shizuo and a hand found its way to his shoulder, pulling him in.
"Stay close to me."
It was an order. But none Izaya felt an urge to resist.
Of course.
This was Crysteria.
This place was going to swarm with creatures and demons like the one that had tried to kill them just a moment ago.
And suddenly it was there.
Excitement. Paired with anticipation and dread.
The goddess. His old life. The demon lord.
Long forgotten did his plan to ask the demon lord for help to defeat the goddess seem- and silly on top.
Shizuo was one of a kind, but not the average demon at all. If he had to compare the new demon lord to anything they had seen so far, then the bastard that was now missing his head was probably a more accurate expectation.
Izaya wasn't sure what to expect- horns? Eyes? Multiple at once? A tail made of snake venom? Or maybe just the good old depiction of a guy skinned in red with a trident at hand?
Movement quickly brought his speculations to a halt, and Shizuo's palm cupping his shoulder tensed.
Demons.
They were there.
More, and more as they ascended the stairs.
Gathering.
The mountains left and right shrunk in size as the staircase led onto what appeared to be its own peak. Height was left behind and the stairs grew narrower in size.
They had started at a broad of a few couple meters, maybe five or six. But now, as if they were trying to force the demons to encroach on each other, they narrowed down to two.
Izaya wasn't sure what he had been expecting from this destination but one aspect was not included.
The speed-
They had barely even started to walk and yet they were already approaching the top.
It was only then that Izaya realized the stairs were not only moving sideways in accordance to the crab's movements, but also upwards, almost like an escalator.
Gruesome faces, legs more than Izaya could count and angered hisses clouded the air. Creatures looking less like demons and more like the critters Shizuo had killed on sight joined their walk and Izaya felt the need to bail.
He felt hot. Cold.
Both at the same time.
Looking towards Shizuo barely helped as he looked far from relaxed in this atmosphere. It was when a particularly ugly specimen of what might have been a mixture of human and ant at some point glared towards Shizuo instead of Izaya that he paused.
He had attributed the hostility he had felt to his own self- being human and all- because for some reason he had a feeling these demons were very well aware of that fact.
But he was wrong.
Killing intent, glares and scorned expressions directed towards the one demon that was on his side and not him.
"I see why you didn't want to attend. They don't like you much, huh?" he leant in with a quiet whisper- but to his great surprise Shizuo didn't whisper back.
He snorted.
Quietly, but he did, and it was as though someone had poured soap into a dish filled with pepper as the demons took their distance at the speed of light.
Surprise called to Izaya's expression and a soft jerk moved his body a little closer to Shizuo.
"What?" Izaya whispered, not thinking that he had asked a particularly funny question, but Shizuo had no answer to offer.
Instead he nodded forward and Izaya's eyes followed Shizuo's line of sight.
The top.
They had reached the end of the staircase.
Steps speeding up just the slightest bit Izaya moved his vision ahead- and then he saw it.
Crysteria.
For the entirety that it was worth.
The mountain they had been following appeared to be no true mountain at all. It was a volcano. Resting and silent it appeared to have ceased its eruptions, but streaks of violent red and a certain heat still lingered everywhere.
Cozy and almost comforting breeze carried the warmth all the way up to Izaya's face as he looked at the structure built upon the middle.
It was a fort. Rectangular with diamond shaped ends on all four ends it served a symmetrical counterpart to the small shrines Izaya had seen.
The same kind of material seemed to have been used to build the structure and an air of purple mist up high seemed to guard the place from being entered by means of flight.
Electric currents traveled upon the layers of fake clouds and Izaya swallowed for a short moment as he stopped on the last step.
It was time to head down. Right into the pits of hell.
It was when Shizuo's hand circled his wrist and pulled that Izaya's limbs moved again and his brain unfroze.
Stairs of the same kind that had led them upwards, descended into the volcanoe's stomach.
Quick, quicker than Izaya liked, and suddenly they were there.
On even ground. In the midst of dozens of demons- and Shizuo pulled him to the side.
The entrance of the fort was grand and huge, or at least large enough to let multiple heavy sized demons in at once, and yet the front didn't seem to be Shizuo's destination.
Grazing atop the heated ground Izaya felt mild discomfort at the brimmin heat surrounding them. Felt as if he were walking in the desert, with no hope for water available for the next few weeks.
It was in front of a particularly cracked surface of the outer fort's wall that Shizuo stopped.
Words, quietly and unfamiliar slipped from Shizuo's lips and suddenly it parted. Folding into itself like chocolate melting in a pot the wall gave way for a new entrance.
With a yelp Izaya found himself being tugged forward and he expected heat. Heat of inhuman kind. Pain of some sorts. He was ready to scold Shizuo for being an idiot for not considering his human skin and need for lower temperatures.
But oddly enough he had no reason to complain.
Because the inside of the fort was not hot.
A hallway.
That's what he was facing. Colors of red and gold decorated the walls, but they weren't made of magma or fire, but fabrics and ornaments.
Beige marble seemed to make up the fort's interior and for a second Izaya found himself too perplexed to speak.
They were alone too. He could hear the demons entering the fort not too far, but this corridor was positioned in a way that allowed for them to be alone.
"Where are we heading?"
Izaya whispered as soon as he felt his wrist being tugged forward- and Shizuo stopped.
Just for a second.
A troubled expression seemed to linger in his eyes and for a moment he sighed deeply before his eyes directed themselves at Izaya.
"Say. Can you promise me something?"
Promise?
For a second Izaya felt the urge to point out that he had yet again avoided one of his many questions- but he didn't. Because he saw it in his eyes. Care paired with insecurity.
Something was troubling Shizuo more than he liked to admit and it caused Izaya to hesitate as the demon seemed to search for the right words.
"Can you… not judge me for this?" Shizuo whispered and Izaya felt his guts curl into a ball of ice.
"What? Are they gonna open a buffet of humans?" he tried to joke to lighten the mood, but it didn't serve that objective in the slightest.
A tired smile spread across Shizuo's lips and his eyes narrowed in what looked like… guilt?
Guilt for what?
"No, though I guess what lies beyond this curtain could be equally disturbing to you."
Curtain?
Ah. Now that Izaya looked ahead he spotted it.
A red curtain on the side of the wall. He wasn't quite sure what to expect from it nor what he was going to see beyond- and yet his curiosity topped his dread.
What could possibly be so bad that Shizuo was this concerned about his reaction?
"Can you?" Shizuo repeated and Izaya realized he had yet to reply to his request.
A teasing, no, was on the verge of his lips, but he refrained from speaking it aloud.
"... sure." Whatever it was that was troubling Shizuo it seemed to be connected to Crysteria- and so he moved.
Pulling Izaya over he left him right behind the curtain and a deep breath filled his lungs before turning towards Izaya.
"Wait here."
No emotion, safe for concern and love lingered in his eyes and then he moved- past the curtain- and all sounds of the fort seemed to cease.
The fabric of the curtain moved and with nimble fingers Izaya quickly caught it midair.
He wanted to see.
Wanted to know where Shizuo was going.
Why he was so worried, what it was that was happening beyond this point.
And he did.
Peeking past the curtain he saw the hall.
The stupidly large inside of the fort filled to the brim with demons of all kinds and appearances. Hundreds, no maybe even a thousand of them were chattering and frowning, and suddenly they stilled as if someone had spoken a spell for silence and a unified chorus caused their lips to move their lips in the same manner.
"All hail the demon lord!"
The demon lord?
What?
He thought this event was taking place to choose the next? He thought hell had no lord at this point in time?
But the devotion was hard to ignore and so Izaya moved the curtain a bit further.
Who was it?
What kind of entity was he going to see?
But there was no one.
Only Shizuo.
Shizuo and whispers from the front row demons lingering in silent air.
"So that disgusting human was just food after all."
"Good lord, I thought he was losing his sanity."
"He lived secluded for a millenia, everyone was on edge."
And suddenly Izaya understood what he had failed to understand.
Shizuo… was the demon lord.
End of Act 1
to be continued~
DUN DUN DUUUUUN
xDDD
Some of you saw it coming, some mentioned him being suspicious- and I loved it ahaha Now I can tell you, you were right xD and a lot more answers will be given next chapter, along with some very good questions hahaha C:
Happy new year everyone 3 C: and see you next friday xD