Demon Sigil

Her hand whipped out, as she grabbed his wrist. Before he could snatch it back, she used her claw from the other hand to draw some type of sigil. He winced in pain as her claw pierced his flesh and a symbol made of his flesh and blood was drawn out.

Once she was done, she linked her hand with his, fingers entwined. Mateo would have confused the action with one of affection if it weren't for the blinding pain he felt. As she squeezed his hand an energy flowed from her clawed hand and seared his own.

The entire time she looked into his eyes with a smile. She brought his hand–still captured by her own–to her lips and kissed it. With that kiss an even more potent flow of Demonic Energy flowed into his hand. A second marking appeared on his hand, this time on the back of his hand. If the front had been a sigil with a demonic face, the back was a pair of smiling lips.

She released his hand and he quickly flipped it over, dreading the damage he might see. The wound was healed up, but the scarring displayed the design she had inscribed. The sigil on the back of his hand was instead more akin to a tattoo. The next second the sigils both vanished, his hand showing no sign of scarring.

“The sigil of the hand is the mark of the Demon, it shows that you are an agent of the Demons.”

“What about the other one?”

“That one belongs to me, it means that you belong to me.”

“And how did I end up receiving such a privilege?”

“Because you entertain me. I want such entertainment for myself, and I am not one to share. Just know that I can be very jealous.”

As she said this she ran her claw over her face, in a gentle way. He didn’t doubt that this gentleness of hers could be taken away at any moment. He knew what needed to be done to keep things this way. He snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her close.

“Then I can only say, look forward to the performance I have in store for you.”

Her smile became even more fiendish. She brought her face up to his ear as she whispered into it.

“My palate is a very difficult one to appease. Be careful, if your “performance” is not up to snuff, then I might make you my entertainment instead.”

She escaped from his grasp, gliding across the ground as she made her exit. She never turned away from him nor did she ever lose that smile of hers. Her eyes even as she left made him feel that everything about him was laid bare.

Even as she was no longer in sight Mateo didn’t dare to budge or look away. Only when he felt the bone-chilling sensation of fear subside did he finally relax. Once he did so he doubled over and dry heaved as sweat ran down his body. His eyes unfocused as he placed his hands on his knees.

What was she? She didn’t fit the description of the Demon Generals, but the feeling she gave him was far too different from that of the Demon Lieutenant that Belle had killed. Was the information that the Humans held unreliable?

He looked back down at his spotless hand, front and back. At least she hadn’t left him something that would immediately expose him. With shaky legs he started to make his way over to where the Anti-Hero Party should be. Luckily for them, that woman headed off in a different direction.

Even if she did, Mateo felt like she wouldn’t have slain them though. No, that would be far too boring for her. This also let him know that every one of his classmates' deaths would have to be a grand performance. Something like Duncan’s assassination would probably not be satisfactory for her.

After about ten minutes of walking, Mateo was able to recover his composure and find signs of the battle. The battle appeared to have started here before being deliberately moved in the opposite direction from which Duncan had been taken.

More than likely the party had been pushed back to halt any chance of pursuit after the bird demon. Looking down at the tracks he decided to deviate from them a little bit and made a roundabout route.

After a bit more walking he finally saw his classmates huddled together sitting. Standing guard over them was another Knight Captain, Oakley. He raised his hands and entered the clearing. Even before he appeared, Oakley was already looking in his direction. Everyone got up and raised their weapons when they finally spotted him.

Thankfully, no projectiles or spells were hurled his way. Their fear was replaced by surprise and relief when they recognized who it was. Oakley also got out of his battle ready state but refused to lower his guard.

“Trainee Mateo, why did you appear from there? Where is your team?”

“My team was ambushed, I’m guessing you also went through something similar. The Instructor was wounded so I had Glenn, Helen, Kyle, and Noah retreat and seek treatment for her. I had me and Alicia go out and warn the other parties of Demons in the forest and the possibility of more ambushes happening. You all are the first party I’ve found.”

“Have you seen Duncan!”

Frederick, the leader of the Anti-Hero Party, suddenly interrupted their conversation.

“Duncan? Why, what happened? Isn’t he with you?”

“Something snatched him.”

“Why are you just sitting here then? Shouldn’t we go find him? What direction did it go?”

Frederick gave a start, but turned and looked at the Knight Instructor. His pleading eyes were only met with stern ones.

“I cannot allow you to look for him. My highest priority is to keep you all safe. The best way of doing so is retreating. Taking you all to find Trainee Duncan will only put you in more danger.”

What was unspoken was that Duncan was more than likely already dead. He had been captured when the fight first started, and it had already been nearly half an hour since then.

“I can look for him while I try to find other parties.”

“Denied. You are to stay with our party and retreat with us. You and Trainee Alicia should have never separated from your party. The only reason this happened in the first place, I presume, is that Knight Captain Belle was incapacitated. Otherwise she would never have agreed to let you two go.”

“What about the other parties?”

“They have probably already been ambushed. Ambushes like this are usually staged to happen simultaneously. There is nothing you can do, but pray.”

Mateo thought it over and decided to concede. Any more arguing might bring too much unwanted attention in future endeavors. It would do him no good if those in charge deemed that he required oversight.

“Alright. Party Leader Fredrick, Knight Captain Oakley, I am under your care and leadership.”

Everyone remained silent as they started their journey to the edge of the forest. Along the way they never encountered any more demons. It made Mateo even sure that the demons that he fought with Duncan were lying in wait rather than some random patrol.

The purpose of the ambush was not to massacre them but rather to gauge the capabilities of the new Heroes. This was even more apparent seeing how each of the ambushes only consisted of one Demon Lieutenant, from what Mateo could assume from his own experience along with the information Fredrick provided him about their own ambush.

He couldn’t help but wonder, were they really trying to kill Duncan? Surely the human-bird demon could have just flown to a higher altitude and dropped him.

Was the purpose to capture him?

He looked down at his hand, at what he knew was hidden just under his skin.

Maybe the Demons had achieved their true goal?