Warning: Graphic Content. This chapter contains descriptions of a person subjected to torture, it might be best to skip parts of this chapter if things like that bother you.
Nick has been walking around this forest for hours, searching, but he has yet to find anything useful. There is not one trace of the man he is searching for. At one point he thought he was on to something when he saw a broken branch... and then he found the home of the bear that broke it. Luckily the bear slept like a log and didn't even budge when Nick entered its cave. Regardless, he was running out of places to look.
Well, that is not entirely true, but the forest was far too big for one person to search alone. He could search for a week on his own and never find anything. He had a decent enough sense of direction, he was able to keep track of where he was relative to the bear trap that got him and where the exit of the forest was, but other than that he was lost. He knew the way to go to get out of the forest, but he had no idea where to go to actually accomplish his goal. I guess this is why quitting is always the easier option...
Nick began to look around, letting out a sigh. He was about to start heading back to the bear trap to search in a different direction until he saw something... It was perfectly hidden, a wooden cabin covered in green moss and camouflaged in trees in bushes. Son of a bitch... could that be? A smirk slowly crept across his face as he snuck closer to the small cabin.
The hope he had slowly disappeared the closer he got, it didn't look livable. The windows were broken, the wood rotten, the door barely on its hinges, the bushes seemingly undisturbed. From looking into the windows he could see the inside was not in much better shape. Furniture looked to be a scratching post for some and a bed for others. Everything was covered in bugs and overgrowth.
Shit. If he did live here at one point he must have abandoned it. He sighed, slowly pushing open the front door of the dilapidated building. This place would have been fine with a bit of general upkeep... not to mention if the person here moved out why did they leave the furniture here to rot? The floor boards creaked loudly under his careful footsteps. It felt like he would fall through the floor at any second.
The creaking suddenly came to a stop, his foot hitting a surprisingly solid part of the floor with a thump. He was in the middle of the main room, on top of a now destroyed rug. The hell? As he pulled the rug out of the way hope started to come back to him, a trap door was hidden under the rug. What do we have here?
The trap door was silent as he opened it up, not the slightest squeak in the pristine hinges. He slowly climbed a ladder down a narrow metal shaft, slowly and silently closing the trap door behind him. When he reached the bottom of the ladder and the end of the narrow shaft he began to look at the large well-lit room it lead to. A completely metal room full of what looked to be science equipment and medical tools. Well, this is either the home of a mad scientist or a torturer... but where is all the blood?
Nick expected the lair of a torturer to have bloody tools and jars of teeth and limbs just lying around... this place looks almost sterile. Not even the white rags that were laid out in various locations had a speck of blood on them. He slowly made his way over to one of the tables, picking up a hefty looking knife. The knife contrasted everything else in the room. Everything else was a shiny metal and looked medical in nature, this was a large hunting knife.
As he looked over the blade with interest something caught his attention, it was a muffled grunting sound. He knew it couldn't be anything good, this man was a torturer and whatever made that noise sounded human. Whatever made the sound was locked behind a sturdy metal door, a thick wooden bar keeping it closed. Why does he need so much security for someone probably restrained? In the info about him on the quest paper it said that he keeps his victims bound, gagged, and blindfolded for the majority of the torture.
He quickly removed the large wooden bar from its holder, placing it on the ground near him. The actual door was heavy and seemingly all metal, even for him it was not simple to move. The first thing he noticed when he opened the door was an unlit torch mounted on the wall on both sides of the door. He tapped them with his gloved hand, Azara using her fire to light them. They lit up the room surprisingly well, but not well enough.
In what he guessed to be the middle of the room he could see legs bound to a chair, a pool of both dried and wet blood around the person's feet. The rest of the person's body was completely shrouded in darkness. Whoever it was made weak groaning noises, presumably due to whatever torture the man had inflicted upon whoever was in the chair. Near the chair there was a torch on a stand, as he walked up to the person he hesitantly lit the torch. When the woman in the chair was lit up Nick gagged and had to look away.
She was horribly disfigured, it was a sickening sight that filled Nick with rage and sympathy. He could feel his eyes light up as the anger dominated his mind. He reluctantly turned back to the woman, taking in her features. It would make even some of the most hardened adventurers puke, Nick might have if not for his rage and demonic genes. A human couldn't have done this to another person, the man who did this was a monster.
The woman's face was bloody and bruised, every inch of her face was black and blue and spattered in dried blood. That wasn't even close to the most horrific part. The woman no longer had eyes, just dark bloody holes where eyes once were. It was a haunting sight, especially coupled with her mouth. Her jaw was broken so her mouth hung open, all of her teeth had been pulled out of her mouth.
She was so disfigured that Nick was not even sure the most skilled medical magicians in the land could fix her up completely. That was just her face, too. Her right hand was missing multiple fingers, her arm covered in deep lacerations that had just begun to heal. Her entire left hand was missing and bandaged, the rest of her left was not in much better condition that her right. The rest of her body was covered in tattered and bloody clothes, her body surely in a condition similar to her arms.
He couldn't believe the woman was still alive, let alone conscious. Though he was not truly sure if she was conscious, she couldn't exactly talk in her condition. The longer he looked at her the more wounds he saw, not only was she blind but the blood coming out of her ears possibly meant that she was also deaf. Nick's eyes at this point were a bright red beacon in the dark room, the brighter they got the better he could see even if they did not actually light up the room. He didn't know night vision was one of his demonic abilities, but that did not matter to him right now.
I have to help this woman... I don't know how long she can survive with all of the injuries she has. Who knows how much blood she has lost on top of that. Or if he has even fed her or given her anything to drink in days. He wanted to heal her but he also didn't want to startle her and make her freak out. She didn't have any way to tell that he wasn't her torturer.
As he looked over her injuries and thought about a way to handle this he was caught off guard by the sound of the heavy metal door slamming shut, making both him and the girl jump. He was not sure if it was the sound of the door slamming shut or the feeling it sent through the room that startled her. She began to weakly struggle against her restraints and let out quiet pitiful whimpers as a small metal slot on the door slid open. "Took you long enough to find the place."
Nick's eyes flared at the man's face on the other side of the heavy door. "You..."
"I left you a friend in there so you wouldn't get lonely when you got here. She is my oldest test subject, her parents died before they could pay the ransom so I've just been testing new techniques on her. Only problem is I have done so much to her that I have run out of things I could actually do." Billy said with a disappointed tone that just infuriated Nick further.
"You aren't getting away this time you despicable piece of shit." Nick charged toward the door, a cocky grin spreading across Billy's face that just infuriated him further. When he got to the door he summoned every bit of strength her had to kick it, upon impact he could feel one of the bones in his leg crack. The door was in much better shape than his leg, rattling around a bit before showing the kick had no effect.
"No matter how strong you are, boy, you aren't knocking this door down. This door has held much stronger men than you."
The man infuriated Nick to no end but if he kicked the door again his leg would snap, that wouldn't help anybody. "I'll get out of here one way or another."
"Oh, I will let you out in time. Hey, you must be getting hungry, right? You must have food in your bag but I wonder how long that will last? Maybe a couple of weeks at most." The man let out a wicked cackle, staring at Nick with a smug grin.
"What are you getting at?"
"I know your type. You want both you and the girl to survive but we both know that is not possible. Only one of you will survive this, you get to decide who that is."
Nick began to grit his teeth. Is he suggesting I kill her to save myself or kill myself to save her? Both of those options are unacceptable. He will kill both of us in the end anyway. "So how do I do that?"
"It is simple, either you kill yourself and she lives..." He paused as his face became even more smug and wicked. "Or you use her as your food source, eating her to live."
That sent Nick over the edge, his eyes glowing brighter than they ever had before. He clenched his jaw so tight a couple of his teeth cracked and began to bleed. "You're a monster..." Nick said, clenching his fists so tightly that his nails drug holes into his palms. The blood from his palms began to drip onto the floor.
He did not feel any pain, his demonic nature was slowly taking over and he was completely fine with that. This man deserved to be ripped apart and he was happy to do it. "Monsters don't belong in this world, so I will send you to the next one." His voice was filled with a cold determination that even made Billy's grin falter. Nick brought his arm back as he got ready to punch the door.
This made Billy regain his composure. "You are going to punch the door? You sure talk big but you are just a stupid kid after all."
Nick began to gather all of the mana he had in his fist, unleashing a punch with every bit of power he had in his body. He unleashed a devastation blast of shock magic the instant his fist touched the door for the maximum amount of power. The door bent slightly as the wooden door bar snapped, sending the door flying open. Billy was sent flying back into a table, all of the tools once on it falling to the floor. He was no longer grinning.
Once he used all of his mana in that attack he almost passed out, his demonic will keeping him from collapsing. He began to walk towards Billy who got up and got into a fighting stance. Billy grabbed the weapon closest to him, the big hunting knife Nick saw earlier. Nick slowly got closer, not saying a word as his urge to kill the man only grew. "Back!" Billy demanded, thrusting the knife at Nick's chest.
Nick easily grabbed the wrist of the hand that was thrusting the knife with his left hand, his right hand wrapping around Billy's throat. The look of pure fear on Billy's face was enough to make Nick grin.
"Azara, fire. Not enough to kill."
"Alright..."
Azara sounded hesitant to follow Nick's orders but did not have much of a choice. Billy tried to scream out as the fire that now coated part of Nick's hand charred the skin on his neck. As Billy dropped the knife Nick threw him to the side, he fell to the floor and began to crawl backwards away from Nick. He wasn't going to get away. Nick grabbed the knife and advanced towards the man.
"Damn it!" Billy shouted, pointing his palm at Nick, Nick quickly put up a protective layer of mana but it didn't matter. He had barely regenerated any mana after using it all to get out of the locked room. He could feel a strong wind pick him up and throw him across the room into a wall, that hurt. It knocked the wind out of him and he couldn't regain his composure before falling onto a table covered in sharp object.
"Shit!" Nick groaned, rolling off of the table into a standing position. From the pain on his back he knew he was cut and bleeding in several places, using some medical magic to diagnose himself he could tell none were life threatening.
"You used all of your mana to get out of that room, didn't you?" Billy was now standing, his cocky grin returning.
"I don't need magic to tear you apart." Nick quickly charged at Billy, who shot a concentrated blast of wind that hit Nick in his chest like a baseball bat. As he fell to one knee, groaning, the other man couldn't help but laugh.
"You may not need magic to tear me apart, but you at least need to protect yourself from it to get close to me."
Nick punched the ground in frustration, Billy was right. He didn't have enough mana left to protect himself so he was completely open to attack. Damn wind magic. I guess I was wrong when I called it a lame affinity. Nick stood up once again, wincing, he didn't need to use his magic to tell that he had a couple of bruised or cracked ribs.
"I'm going to take my sweet time killing you. Once I'm done with you I should probably dispose of that woman, she is far too damaged to be used as a test subject anymore."
The demonic energy that was lessening inside of Nick's pained body flared back to life at the man's words. He was too wrapped up in wanting to kill this man that he forgot he has a person he needs to win this fight for besides himself. He knew there was no way for this woman to escape unless he helped her. He would be surprised if she could even stand at this point. "I'm afraid that isn't going to happen, you are the only one who is going to die today."
"Big talk from a man who can't even get close to me." Billy laughed.
Nick gritted his teeth as his eyes flared red. How the hell am I going to get close to this guy? This wind magic is perfect for keeping someone at a distance. Especially if that person is out of mana like I am. I underestimated this guy.
"Um, you are aware that I'm still here, right? I think this would be a good time for me to help you out. I still have almost all of my mana."
Nick had almost completely forgotten about Azara in his rage, if there was one time to let Azara do her thing it was now. A grin grew across Nick's face. "What are you grinning about? You are aware you can't win, right?"
"Just don't kill him, Azara. I want to have the honor." The air was filled with girlish laughter as Nick's glove turned into fire and eventually formed a woman standing in front of him.
"Sure thing, boss." Azara said, a large grin on her face.
Billy's smile instantly disappeared at the sight of a true full-blooded demon. Even if she was just a lesser demon. "W-what? How? How in the hell could you have summoned a demon!" Billy shot a strong and concentrated air blast at Azara, one that would surely break Nick's ribs if it hit him. When it hit Azara it was like it hit a wall.
"That's all you got? Pity. You were giving my master such a hard time that I thought I might have a bit of fun." Azara slowly began to walk towards the man, Billy continued to shoot blast after blast at her with no effect.
Billy made a face that portrayed pure fear, the fear of death. Instead of firing more blasts at Azara he attempted to make a run for it. His attempt to flee was cut short by Azara grabbing his collar and throwing him into a nearby wall. Nick just watched the scene unfold with a grin. Billy fell to the floor with a low groan.
His eyes were filled with pure fear and fury as he pointed his palm at Azara, shouting as he unleashed the biggest blast of wind magic either Nick or Azara had seen from him so far. It was powerful enough to make Azara take a few steps back upon impact. "That's more like it! Too bad that seems to be the last bit of magic you had left in you." Azara giggled and crouched down.
"He's all yours, master." Azara's tail flicked around happily as she looked to Nick.
"Thanks." Nick began to approach Billy, he tried to stand up but was kicked in the face by a now standing Azara. "Man, I was worried for a second, but it seems I didn't have anything to worry about."
"You would be dead without your demon bitch!" Billy shouted, spitting blood in her direction.
"That's not a very nice thing to call a lady." Nick said as he shoved Billy's own knife into his thigh. He let out a deafening scream as Nick began to twist the knife. "Say you are sorry."
"Fuck you!" Billy's face was contorted in both rage and pain.
"Let's play a game. Every time something comes out of your mouth that isn't an apology I cut off a finger. You like games, right? Well, that little outburst cost you your little finger." Nick grabbed Billy's hand and lifted it up, quickly severing his little finger.
"God damn it! Fuck you and your demon!" Billy yelled. Nick sighed as he placed the knife at the base of the other man's ring finger. That is when he noticed something.
"Hmm? A ring?" On Billy's ring finger was a ring that seemed to be a dragon eating its own tail. Only one thing came to mind at the symbol. "The Dragon's Circle..."
"Yeah! That's right! I'm one of their biggest earners, if you know what is good for you then you will leave here and never come back! If you kill me they will come after you and give you a fate worse than death!"
Nick sighed, quickly severing his ring finger before placing the knife at the base of his middle finger. "You really don't know when to shut up, do you?" He said as he cut off the middle finger too.
"Shit! Shit! Okay, I'm sorry! Please just stop!" Billy said, his voice a whimper.
"Sure thing." Nick said with a smile, quickly moving the blade across the man's neck. "Huh, it is a lot different from the movies..." He remarked as blood began to pour out of Billy's gashed neck. He tried to talk but was unable to make anything but barely audible gurgling noises.
"Movies?" Azara looked to Nick with an inquisitive expression.
"Don't worry about it." Nick picked up the ring from the floor and put it in his pocket. "Now, I gotta try my best to fix up this girl before we take her out of here. It's going to take a while because I still don't have much mana. We are going to need to camp out here tonight, but tomorrow I'm going to make sure I get this girl the treatment she needs."
Nick looked to Azara. "You are dismissed. Get some rest, you earned it."
"Sure thing, summon me when you need me."
As Azara disappeared Nick's eyes slowly went back to their original brown color. With the lessening of his demonic energy the pain from the battle slowly began to rear its head. Damn. Well, I can't worry about my own injuries right now. The girl is in far worse shape than I am. I can't even imagine how much pain she must be in.
Nick slowly made his way back into the torture room and over to the girl, taking another good look at her injuries. Christ. I did the world a favor by getting rid of that damn monster. Nick placed his hand over her ears, focusing his healing magic on those so he could explain the situation to her. She began to freak out the instant Nick touched her.
She's nearly deaf, I'm going to need a few minutes to repair her ears before I can say anything to her. After that I should fix her jaw and work on her cuts before I wake up in the real world. Nick couldn't help but grimace at the extensive damage the girl had. With the help of his medical magic he was able to tell that she would not die, but the damage to her body must have her in constant and intense pain. She was also dehydrated and needed food.
After fixing her ears and explaining the situation, which made her calm down some, Nick spent the majority of his time left in the world healing her more serious injuries as well as wrapping her arms and legs with a bandage. Once he healed most of her major injuries he put her in Billy's bed to sleep for the night as he would soon be waking up on earth. "I'm going to need to go and do something, don't leave the bed and I will be back in the morning. I know you are in pain but please try to get some sleep. Your jaw will be too sore to eat but I put a glass of water on the table beside your bed."
She nodded and grabbed the glass, taking a few large sips before setting it down. "When I come back I will take you to town and get you the help you need. I know some people in the capital who can do some really good work on healing you." Nick slowly stood up and made his way to the door. "Good night."
She simply nodded once again, taking a few more sips of water before getting under the covers. Nick sat around for another hour before his alarm brought him back to the real world. I should have plenty of time to regain mana while she rests. Tomorrow is going to be a long day.