POV David
May 30th 913 (2016)
I grumbled silently to myself as I slowly drew my sword from the scabbard. The city guard had been carefully audited, those that were no longer loyal to the people, those that only had their own interests at heart had been captured and jailed only hours ago, hundreds that had turned their back on their compatriots for a little extra coin, those than ran racketeering schemes and abused their station, those that had decided their oaths of protecting the people meant nothing.
I looked at the soldiers around me, a few dozen good women of the Aucterfilth city guard. Their equipment was shoddy, their gear showing signs of rust, but they had a determination in their eyes. We waited silently in the alley across the way from one of the largest establishments in Aucterfilth while all across the barony the guard prepared to apprehend the corrupt that had enabled this poor state of affairs. A few dozen feet away were a pair of figures, huddling under a thin cloak as the rain battered them, their emaciated forms a result of the drugs circulating these streets.
The soft tolls of the church bells rung through the city. I nodded to the guards around me and sprinted across the street to a building with a dozened brightly lit windows, light spilling into the streets. Planted myself and kicked the door down, the guard at the door startling in surprise as they were rushed and restrained. A soft haze of drugs floated in the air as the guards stormed the den.
Figures screamed, others rose to their feet, rushing to escape as the armed soldiers rushed them. I already knew these scum would be arrested, my goal lay underneath this scummy brothel. Guards came pouring in from the other exits, restraining and tying the prisoners together while myself and a few others rushed to a nondescript door, barely propped open by its lock. I ripped the door open, rushing down the stairs to the landing.
A woman with a whip spun around, anger, the fear flashed across her face as I drove my fist into his stomach. The woman doubled over and I slammed my boot into her face. A guard dropped next to her and started restraining her while handing me the ring of keys. I looked up, the rows of cells filled with men and boys, the occasional girl.
I turned away from the cells, my revulsion twisting my chest. How far had these people fallen? I'd thought the reports were exaggerated. I was being proven wrong in the most unsettling of ways. "You haven't won, the mistress will take you all."
I almost ignored the writhing slaver being pinned by the guards. I turned and walked over, crouching above the defiant slaver, bound tight with rope and wriggling like a worm. "I'd start doubting that if I were you."
"My lord, there's a…" the world swirled and spun as the guard's voice became hazier and hazier. I spun around but only saw a thick mist spilling into the room from the stairs, creeping forward like a plague.
"Oh? This is unexpected." A honey sweet voice whispered. I spun around, trying to locate the source but saw no one. Even the guard, the slaves, and the slaver had disappeared. Leaving me alone in a room slowly filling with this odd mist.
"You will be fun to break." A voice purred as the world seemed to swirl. I grabbed for my sword, but found nothing there, my hand grasping empty air.
I slowly spun, looking for anything as my surrounding swam, looking like some shitty mirage. An illusion? I tried to remember what Thorick had mentioned off handed about them.
Damn… I continued looking around as the fog continued to grow, casting long shadows across… was this my home? The couch crammed between the desk and my television of the small apartment.
I walked over to the couch, the worn leather, the stain from where I'd dropped a pitcher of Gatorade. I clenched my jaw. No! This wasn't real.
I looked around the small apartment, slowly picking apart the illusion. "You don't know my past enough to fool me."
"Oh? Don't I?" A voice I hadn't heard in months spoke. I spun, finding my old coworker, Vanessa, the beautiful, first woman…
I grabbed the nearest thing to me and hurled it at her, the tv remote sailed straight through her, and Vanessa dissipated into a swirling cloud.
"Fine. Be that way." That earlier voice snarled as a stunning woman materialized inches in front of me. She started spouting a series of odd sounding words as she made some odd gestures with her hands.
I lunged forward, crashing into her, my fist connecting with the side of her face. Knocking her head back. The world snapped back to the dark basement and its cells. The woman… no, the deviless.
Horns curled back from her forehead, leathery wings splayed out behind her. I dropped my knee into her chest. She gasped, her eyes bulging as I placed the blade of my sword to her neck.
"Lady Sira above…" the guard that had come rushing down the stairs gasped as she quickly pushed herself back to her feet.
"Stop! Spare her life my lord. Bind her to a contract." The guard intervened as blood, a thick viscous red began to stain my blade.
I turned my eyes to the devil below me, her face streaked with fear as my blade continued to dig into her neck. "Let's make this simple then demon. Submit, or die."
"Yes, yes, I will comply." She squeaked hoarsely.
"Swear it." I hissed, leaning into her, driving the breath from her again as my knee continued to dig into her chest. Her unhindered hand was drifting closer to a knife at her waist. I shifted my weight. Quickly grabbing my knife and driving into her arm, pinning it to the ground through her wing.
She screamed, a blood curdling scream of pure agony. I slightly drew the blade from her neck. "So what will it be demon?"
Tears streamed from her eyes as I glared down at her. "I'll swear to it!"
"Good. Get to it." I replied while pressing the blade to her neck, leaving just enough room for her to speak.
"I, Shyora. Submit myself to my master, to do no harm to him; to serve him unconditionally till his worldly death of which I must not contribute to."
A glowing seal appeared in the air between us and I suddenly got the feeling I needed to say something. "I, David Alexander Fulton, accept Shyora as my servant."
The seal flared before slowly branding Shyora, then slowly faded till it was barely visible. I continued to stare into the demon's eyes as the guards around me stared in shock and the slaver began trying to deny everything, insisting it was all some bad dream.
I slowly stood, keeping my sword ready. Slowly Shyora stood as well, keeping her eyes staring at the floor. "Did I say you could rise?" I asked, venom dripping with every word.
"No master." Shyora said as she dropped to a knee.
I turned to one of the guards. "Make sure these scum are taken for trail… start tearing this place apart."