Chapter 13: Raw strength
How long had they been walking?
Must have been a few hours at least.
Hours of deafening silence.
In the same way that the sugar gliders had abandoned their nesting places seconds prior to the critter's attack, every other living being seemed to avoid Shizuo in his way.
The high class demon was still walking up front. No word had been spoken, no glance had been cast into Izaya's direction.
And Izaya was glad about that fact.
Undying curiosity was going to be nothing but the death of him in this kind of environment, and even though he had a lot of questions on his mind regarding his new guardian he kept his lips shut and legs distanced. This was not the time to delight himself with a meaningful conversation about life and death with a demon.
Faster than Izaya expected them to be, their surroundings changed quite drastically in their appearance.
The large trees in the shape of thistles had thinned out to the point Izaya rarely even spotted one.
While the golden and white gleaming farn seemed to be quite stubborn in its presence as it was still covering the ground in abundance, everything else seemed not so fond of the temperature and weather. The sugar gliders were gone, same for the sandy ground and puddles of water. The land had dipped downwards to merge into what seemed to be a valley up front.
Izaya could tell from the way he wasn't able to see beyond the sharp edges of the probably man made, pardon, demon made, path. Sets of nacre stone aligned on the ground in a fashion that could have been a coincidence and small figures chiseled from stone decorated the left and right every couple meters.
If Izaya hadn't known it better he would have said they were heading into the direction of some sort of shrine.
Although his idea probably wasn't too far off. Because the setting seemed far too big in scale and meticulously built to just belong to a random demon fancying a pretty garden.
Soft tinges of frozen water drew intricate patterns on jagged natural minerals sprouting from earth like buds in spring. Their size outclassed Izaya by double his height and prompted the reason Izaya had no idea where they were heading. The consistency, touch and color reminded Izaya a little of rose quartz.
Letting the tips of his fingers brush across the naturally formed crystals he couldn't help but notice that they were unexpectedly warm to his touch.
Only the tip seemed to be freezing for some reason and Izaya hummed before hurrying down the broadly built staircase.
At least it was easy to follow the demon.
Shizuo had been walking down this path for a while now. Leisurely and with no show of inhuman speed, strength or anything else that could have set Izaya at a disadvantage.
And while that was actually great, Izaya had realized one fact that didn't exactly help putting him at ease.
That mountain? The one he had seen in the distance and figured Shizuo was heading into?
It was way farther off than he had thought.
From the looks of it he had estimated a day trip or two to get to it. But now?
That damned piece of hell seemed to be moving not even an inch closer despite the vast amount of time spent walking towards it.
If he were at least able to climb up onto one of the crystals to gauge the proper distance- but he couldn't. The chance of losing sight of his probably only source of protection was too high to risk.
Moving his left hand to rub at his upper arm he tried to retain at least some warmth.
It was cold.
The temperature had dropped considerably within only a couple hours. Was it due to the night? If he had to guess then he would have said the temperature laid just a few degrees above the freezing point.
Then again, seeing as the sky was completely dark and the ground serving as the only source of light, Izaya sighed whilst walking past the gleaming crystals.
The temperature wasn't the only issue at hand.
Izaya couldn't quite come up with a solution regarding his latest issue. Arguments to convince a demon lord to help him defeat the goddess.
He was simply lacking crucial information. About this world, about demons.
What was it that they wished for? Simply assuming that Izaya could offer a soul or two from earth by tricking someone wasn't going to cut it. He had no idea about the demon's relationships with humans.
It surely wasn't the best one since Shizuo had asked Izaya about whether he was wearing the clothes of his last meal. But what about church? Were the demons at war with the goddess? Was she an ally?
The sick idea of the demons worshiping the goddess as the one and only god of the entire world also had sprung to mind and caused a shudder to trail down Izaya's back. Judging from her appearance he wouldn't doubt that for a second.
But if that were the case, why didn't she come to finish him off yet?
Riddles over riddles presented themselves in front of Izaya as he descended the endless flight of stairs.
The fact that he was getting more exhausted by the minute was putting a time limiter on his predicament as well and he sighed.
Eyes trailing forth, Izaya looked at Shizuo.
There was only one conclusion left. He had to talk to this demon. Or meet another. A friendlier one that was willing to converse a little.
He needed information. All kinds. That's the way his tongue worked, that's the way he could deal with anything no matter what it was that this world threw at him.
Skipping ahead Izaya made it a point to advance just a little bit closer to the demon.
The pathway had circled to the right like a snake searching for food and Shizuo disappeared behind the curve.
Quickly hurrying ahead, Izaya skipped a few steps of the stairs to catch up. He couldn't lose sight of this demon, not yet.
It was when he turned around the corner of the particularly huge crystal that Izaya realized his mistake. Having stopped right there, Shizuo hadn't walked on- and Izaya had definitely come too close.
Whipping around with a slight annoyance the demon glanced towards Izaya as if watching an unwanted pet that had decided to tag along.
Freezing in his steps Izaya quickly moved backwards.
Izaya was about to speak, what exactly he had yet to decide, maybe a quick apology, maybe he should avert his gaze- or would that be a show of disrespect? Did demons even have gestures they shared? What about beliefs? Religions?
Manners?
But none of that seemed to matter as one of the many crystals around them suddenly moved.
Right in front of Shizuo the top of the jagged stone lifted and revealed a creature nestled within. Retaining the crystal as its topping of protection its broad jaw seethed with hatred as it spat liquid of gray onto the ground from a small opening up front.
A set of two claws suddenly appeared out of thin air, as if having undone some kind of invisible spell and within the brink of a second it charged at the demon.
It was massive. It was absolutely disgusting. But it didn't seem to have a brain if it was stupid enough to aim for Shizuo.
Izaya wasn't quite sure whether to compliment its guts or laugh at its stupidity.
Stopping the oversized claw with his bare hand only, Shizuo turned the creature upside down with the kind of ease a child would need to flip a piece of toast.
The ground cracked at the force it was met with and a few crystals on the side did the same. The sharp edges of the crystal on top of the creature embedded itself into the ground like a skewer piercing meat and within a second the creature was violently thrashing around with no way to reverse its position.
Shizuo made a quick job of it.
Smooth, as if gliding through butter Shizuo jabbed his hand into the screeching jaw- for a second Izaya thought he was going to get bitten, but his worry had been for nothing as that hand returned without even a scratch, but a freshly pumping heart inside its grasp instead.
Pathetic twitches ruptured through the monster and before long it ceased all movement.
It was dead.
Shizuo had killed it as if it had been nothing but child's play.
Goosebumps traveled down Izaya's spine at the show of nothing but raw power.
It was exhilarating in a weird way. This strength. He had already seen Shizuo kill what he called a critter in under a minute, but this right now, the amount of gruesomeness and merciless behavior somehow set that earlier encounter aside as cute compared to this.
Somehow it made him want to talk to this demon. Made him want to find out more about his ways. His ideas, behaviors.
Shizuo was a demon, called Izaya a mediocre one, but now looking at how easy he was strolling around with seemingly no care in the world Izaya was convinced that Shizuo was not the average down in hell when it came to strength.
It was a thrilling sensation to think about-
Jumping away from the creature in order to avoid the waterfall of blood steaming from its jaw, Shizuo suddenly stood closer to Izaya than he expected and his body jerked in response.
Like a warning, Shizuo's earlier words repeated in Izaya's mind and he cursed under his breath. He was supposed to stay out of the demon's sight- this was anything but out of his sight. Barely a meter separated the two of them and Shizuo's eyes turned into a displeased frown.
He would kill him- just for fun. Make a quick job of him, just like that creature that had been stupid enough to get too close.
Izaya hadn't even approached Shizuo, it had been the demon's fault for jumping into his direction, but who was he to argue with the demon to convince him that he messed up his own request?
Waiting for a reaction Izaya kept his mouth shut-
And Shizuo moved.
Away from Izaya.
Releasing the breath Izaya hadn't realized he had held, his body regained its motion. He was lucky.
Shizuo didn't take unreasonable offense in his momentary presence it seemed.
Uttering not a single syllable the demon approached his newly slain opponent.
The pumping heart had been cast aside somewhere to the right, sprinkling the remaining crystals around with unexpectedly dark blood.
Turning his head back, the sound of stone breaking caught Izaya's attention.
Shizuo was standing atop the freshly killed corpse.
With ease and quick motions he tore at the claw the monster had tried to hit him with and ripped it from its body.
Face automatically scrunching into a show of slight disgust, Izaya quickly regained control of his expressions.
The claw was of a deep purple color and it's insides a gray pink. Turning towards the upcoming pathway Shizuo suddenly took a deep breath-
Izaya wasn't quite sure what to expect. A scream? Maybe a victorious one? A warning to all other critters present to get the fuck away from him? He certainly had a few ideas in mind, but none of them included spitting fire.
Melting heat ruptured through the air and melted the tip of the crystals frost covered tops within the brink of a second as Shizuo blew was looked like flames at at least 600 degrees into the direction of one of the crystals.
Melting beyond recognition the cold stone actually went aflame and for a moment Izaya was surprised and intrigued for two reasons.
Firstly, how in hell did stone actually burn?
And second- what was Shizuo? A fucking humanoid dragon?
Sitting down onto the nacre ground one leg propped up and the other tugged in Shizuo easily lifted the claw that was taller than him by at least three times towards the flames as if roasting a marshmallow above his very own personal campfire.
It was a surreal sight in so many ways Izaya wasn't quite able to decide what to think of it.
It was then that Shizuo's eyes turned towards Izaya once more and he realized with dread that he had not only been staring, but failed to regain the distance Shizuo had demanded.
Quickly, as if having been issued an order, Izaya backtracked his steps beyond the corner.
Out of sight.
That had been Shizuo's words.
Serving as a sufficient hiding point Izaya let himself slide down to his ass. The fire Shizuo had lit was casting a shadow onto the opposition crystals and Izaya was able to determine Shizuo's position from it.
That was good.
He could remain here and wait until the demon decided to move again.
The adrenaline that had spiked shortly upon the exposure to Shizuo and the encounter of that monster vanished with ease and made room for exhaustion and notice of missing warmth.
Circling his arms around his body, Izaya closed his eyes for a second as he let the back of his head connect with the crystal.
Was it getting colder?
Maybe this was nightfall? Did hell even have a natural day to day rhythm? It was hard to tell considering the sky was as black as it had been upon Izaya's arrival.
The sound of stone cracking oddly resembled the sound wood made when burning down in a fireplace and Izaya couldn't help but sight softly.
How he wished to be by that fire. He had no means to make himself one.
Unlike Shizuo he wasn't quite able to breathe fire, nor had he brought any matches or lighter into this realm.
Ah. A soft snort accompanied by an amused shaking of his own head followed as he frowned upon his own misjudgement. Lighters didn't exist anyway. Neither did matches.
What did people this age even use? Firestone?
The sensation the idea brought was highly unsettling for some reason. Izaya had managed to get reincarnated into a world that couldn't even light a proper fire without the right stone.
It was a level of stone age like setting that made his guts churn in all the wrong ways. This was not his world. Not the way he wanted to live. And he dreaded whether killing the goddess would even be the solution to this problem.
Taking a deep breath he quickly chased away the depressing thoughts. Right now he should be grateful for the breather.
He felt heavier than he thought, how much longer was he going to be able to follow? His deduction of a few days had been a joke- he wasn't going to last even a day.
Either it was the location or the time spent, but Izaya felt those invisible weights attached to his body only increase over time.
When it had been two bottles of milk tied to his ankles earlier, then the pressure he felt now had at least doubled.
"Come over."
Startled by the words, Izaya's eyes flew back open.
Shizuo. The demon had actually addressed him.
Eyes moving to the shadow in front Izaya was able to determine the demon's position. He was still sitting at the campfire.
The deafening brutal sound of the monster's leg breaking in half hallowed between the crystals and Izaya swallowed at the idea of what the request might have been for.
Was the creature the main course? And he? The dessert? He had yet to outrule cannibalism between demons.
Reluctance marked his limbs as he pushed himself off the ground. His mind was on high alert. The stupid idea of trying to run surfaced from the back of Izaya's mind and he quickly discarded it.
There was no saying what would happen if he turned down the demon's request- And so he did as told, and moved towards the fireplace.
to be continued~