Nick's eyes fluttered open, he saw a stone ceiling above him. I guess I'm alive... That's a relief. He slowly sat up, looking around. He wasn't in the medical ward like he had expected, it was a sealed stone room with a bed, table, and a couple of other things in it.
The room kind of reminded him of the room he was in on earth when he woke up, meaning he was in a coma in this world as well for some time. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up, he wasn't attached to any kinds of machines or anything so there was no reason for him to stay in bed at this point. There was a large wooden door with metal reinforcements on the other side of the room. It seemed a bit overkill, even if they thought he needed to be protected for one reason or another. He was in the castle, there was no safer place.
He walked over to the door and pulled on the bar that would open the door, it didn't budge. He then tried to push it in case he just tried to move the door the wrong way, but it still did not move. What the hell? They lock me in? Come to think of it, if they were trying to protect me wouldn't this door be locked from the inside?
He began to knock on the door loudly, looking over the door. The door was locked from the outside, meaning this was a room to keep something in not a room to keep something out. Why would they lock a comatose person in a room? He then tried to open the door once again, and he noticed something. He did not notice it before, it did not register in his mind until just now because he just spent eight hours on earth.
He had his hand back, it looked no different from before besides being a few shades lighter in color. The difference in color was not noticeable enough to see immediately, but you could see it if you looked for it. Huh, so you can do this kind of stuff with healing magic too? That is amazing. He held his hand up in front of his face, looking it over like he did not think it was actually his.
While he was looking over his new hand the door in front of him began to open. He quickly moved out of the way of the door while it swung open, the royal guard captain stepping in. She was in full plate armor and had a sour look on her face when she saw that Nick was indeed awake. She also had two members of the royal guard directly behind her. What is her problem?
"About time you woke up, demon spawn."
What the fuck is she talking about? "Uh, excuse me, what?" He was completely caught off guard by her remark, that was the last thing he expected to hear come out of her mouth. Before Kendra replied she connected a solid punch to his gut, making him double over and cough. He was quickly able to regain his composure.
"I should have known when you summoned a demon as your familiar. That almost never happens, unless you are one of them."
"Again, I have no idea what you are talking about. My parents are very human." If his parent were demons, he know.
"Shut it, we know what you are. Three different scouts told the same story of your eyes turning red."
Nick's face contorted in confusion. He has no idea why his eyes would turn red, he did not even know if they did, but was that all they had to go on when accusing him of being some kind of demon? "What are you talking about? My eyes are brown. Besides, doesn't Alyssa also have red eyes?"
"She is a vampire, she is different. Everybody knows of the vampire race's connection to demons, they also know that most vampires don't have a choice in the matter and want nothing else than to live normal lives. However, we don't know anything about you or your demonic heritage. Your eyes turned red for a couple of seconds, meaning you have demon blood in you but you are not a full blooded demon."
"You're speaking madness. I'm not from this world, where I come from we don't have magic or vampires or anything like that. There is no way I am some kind of half demon or a quarter demon or any percentage of demon." Once again Nick received a punch to the gut.
"Do you take me for a fool? There is no doubt that your eyes turned red, high ranking members of our military saw it. There is no other explanation other than you being part demon. At any moment your demon side could take over, you are a danger to yourself and everyone else in the kingdom."
"So, what? You going to keep me locked in this room forever?"
"That is the idea, yes. Don't even think about trying to escape, you are surrounded by the royal guard on every side and my office is not far from here."
"Did you come in here just to tell me that? I'm not stupid, I know that if I tried to escape I wouldn't get far."
"No, we are going to need to take you somewhere else for a while. We brought in that bandit leader that was holding you and the others, but he says he won't talk to anyone but you."
What? That makes no sense. Why would he do something as cliche as that? "Why does he want to talk to me? Before the guards came he was about to let me be executed."
"How should we know? He will only talk to you. Now come on, before we decide to drag you." She turned and walked out of the door, one guard following her and the other motioning for Nick to walk in front of him.
He sighed, deciding he didn't really have much of a choice in this situation. Demon? Yeah, right, sure I am. I have horns and a tail and everything. My eyes 'turning red' was probably just a flame reflecting off of my eye or something. Hell, maybe I even got some blood in my eyes that did it.
He followed the guards down the hall, the guard behind him making sure he kept up and did not do anything stupid. It was a bit overkill, one royal guard would be able to kill him before he lifted a finger. He was able to kill that bandit by sheer luck and adrenaline, not because he was demonic or skilled. At least, those were his thoughts on the matter. To him, this was just happening because they are scared of the possibility of a half, quarter, or whatever, demon living among them.
He had to admit that they had a bit of a point, his familiar was a demon after all. A demon approving of you enough that they accept you as their master would obviously be sketchy to anyone. That coupled with the fact people were claiming they saw his eyes turn red would scare anyone, hell, he would have locked himself up. "In here." Kendra opened a door and motioned for him to enter.
When he entered he saw a cell sunken into the wall, it was similar to the cell he was in at the bandit camp, but it was smaller. There was a stool in front of the cell, inside the cell was the bandit leader. He still had the same look on his face that he had when in his office where they first met, like he was not inconvenienced at all.
"Ah, the demon child. I must say, you put on quite the show. It is something I will surely never forget."
The fact that this man looked back on a member of his crew getting killed as a fond memory disgusted Nick. This was someone that the man worked closely with, yet his death entertained him even as he was rotting in a cell. "Whatever. Why did you want to talk to me? Surely it was not just to congratulate me on my win."
Nick sat down on the stool in front of the cell, the three members of the royal guard behind him standing in front of the door. "Well, I figure since I'm not getting out of here any time soon I might as well make some kind of deal. To put it simply, in return for an early release I will give you information on the people who I work for. A seriously dangerous criminal syndicate."
Nick raised an eyebrow in interest, he didn't expect that this guy worked for someone. "Alright, I don't know why you are talking to me. I can't do anything for you, you have to talk with the royal guard, I assume, to make some kind of deal. I'm just a kid who is currently not in a much better position than you are. Everyone is convinced I'm some kind of demon spawn even though I didn't even know those existed until a little over a month or two ago."
"They already accepted the deal, they will release me in a year's time for the information as long as it is good. But, I have the condition I will only tell it to you, that is why you are here. I wanted you to be one of the first to hear about it, because given enough time you may be one of the only people who is able to stand up to the leader." The man chuckled.
"What do you mean by that?" Kendra spoke up, which got a glare from the bandit.
"This boy is special. Not only can he use both healing and shock magic, but he seems to also have some demon blood. He is a C rank adventurer, bordering on a B rank, and he is only fifteen years old. Who knows what this child could accomplish in years to come with proper training? The leader of this syndicate is not someone to be taken lightly, you may need someone like this boy to win against him."
"What do you mean?" Nick is aware of his own power, he knows he is strong for his age and that he is certainly one of a kind... But there are so many people stronger than him. Like Trak, Kane, Rolfe, and any member of the royal guard.
"This syndicate goes by the name 'The Dragon's Circle.' I don't know much about it beside the fact that it is lead by eleven people, the leader and his ten generals. This leader is a user of draconic magic and it is also rumored he is able to use dark magic due to a pact with a demon." The bandit leader explained.
This was a lot to of information for Nick to take in, and it sounded completely out of his league. He did not even know that draconic magic or dark magic even existed in this world until just now, he didn't think he would be able to handle this man even if given a couple of years to become stronger. "Surely you don't think this is something for me to handle... There are many people much stronger than me who would be better suited for something like this."
"Perhaps right now, but I believe you could grow to be one of the strongest warriors this world has to offer. I will be watching you closely once I get released, it will be a pleasure to watch your destiny unfold."
Those words sent chills down Nick's spine, he was seriously creeped out. "Draconic and dark magic... This might be something we have to bring to the adventurers guild. S class or maybe even higher." Kendra said. "What else do you know about this syndicate, its operations, and its leaders?"
"Not much, just that all of the generals are strong and each one controls a number of gangs and groups that conduct all kinds of illegal activities. I worked under a general whose name is Sabrina, I don't know much else about her other than the fact that she is far stronger than me and anyone from my former crew."
Far stronger than that guy... That guy was a lot for me to handle even if he didn't get to use magic. If I hadn't taken that chance to kill him I probably would have lost that fight. I only won because he didn't expect me to fight back after he cut off my hand.
"Sounds like it isn't something I would be able to handle. I don't know what you would expect me to do anyway, I am going to be locked up in some room in this castle for the foreseeable future because some guys saw my eyes turn red." Nick sighed, looking back at the royal guards briefly.
The bandit leader shrugged. "I'm sure you will figure something out. Anyway, that is all I know. Should be enough to earn me that early release."
"If your information is accurate then yes, but until we verify what you have told us your sentence remains unchanged. It is time to go back to your room, Nick." Kendra opened the door to the room, walking out into the hall.
Nick got up and walked out of the room as well. They were in the same formation as before when going back to the room, two in front and one behind. Once he was back in his room they left without another word. He took another look around the room, it was pretty simple. There was a clock, a bed, a small bookshelf, and a desk.
It was currently 7 in the morning, and he had basically nothing to do for the next twelve or so hours before he would go to sleep. He eventually decided to do some work outs like pushups and sit ups and also read whatever books were in the room. Some of the books were history, some were educational, and some were fiction and nonfiction. The hours passed faster than expected, before he knew it it was already 6:40 and he was getting tired. He got in bed and went to sleep, eventually drifting off to sleep at 7:00.