We trotted back to the base as we recalled the events of the night. The woman was an especially surprising twist to end the night. My healing was already kicking in but she gave me a few noticeable blows.
'Who was she, I wonder' I thought to him. He was rummaging through my thoughts trying to find something.
'I haven't a clue. Whoever she was, she could prove to be great fun in the future.' The demon said back as he dug through.
'What are you looking for?' I asked him as I was getting quite scatterbrained from him looking around.
'Well truthfully, something that will connect the dots for who she was. I'm almost sure I've seen her somewhere in here before..." the demon said before his voice trailed off to somewhere else in my head.
'I can't really think straight when you're rummaging around in there. Will you hurry up so we can go into the base already?' I said as we sat on the ground at the bottom of the cliff for the base. Trying to force him back into somewhere I could half operate, I focused my thoughts towards my human life and my friends from before.
'This is not going to help either of us. Just let me have free reign for a short while longer and I'll stop whether I find what I'm looking for or not.' The demon said as he dug through the only section I had open for him. After careful consideration, I decided to give him just a few minutes to look. But he stayed right where he was.
'Oh? She's here? Isn't she quite the interesting specimen?' The demon said as he watched a memory. I could tell roughly where he was but not exactly so I had no idea what he was watching.
'Come in and look if you are so curious.' The demon said as he surfed around watching the memory. As I sat and watched, I had no idea where I was. My friends were around me laughing as we usually did as we walked home.
"We're going to crush Lancer High at homecoming tonight" One of them said as we all laughed about it. They were one of the best teams in the area but little more earned little more than a passing glance from us. It was going to be an absolute blowout as it was every year.
"I still don't know why we are even rivals with them, honestly. They are not good at all." Fias laughed as we walked. He was holding onto his girl as Linz was walking close behind me. We joked for a while as we continued. As we passed the usual gas station on the way, a woman caught my eye this time that I hadn't noticed that day. Upon closer inspection I could see Linz lock eyes with her and get even closer to me.
"What's the matter, Lindsey? Why are you so close?" I asked as I looked at her hugging my arm. She always was near me but never that close.
"Nothing. I just think we should get out of here quick." She said still looking at the woman. When I turned to her she shifted her attention away from the group but when I had my back to her looking at Lindsay, she winked at the girl.
Her cocky demeanor lit a bulb in my head. This was what he was talking about when he said he saw her before. She watched me as the group continued walking. She was in a bright yellow hoodie with some tech-wear pants and stylish white shoes. Even under the darkness of her hood I could see her devilish grin.
He popped us out of the memory then so we could go back into the base. We walked back to see the princes when we landed on the ledge to the base. They needed to know of our finding. We would leave out why we were there, though.
"Let him in!" Hideki called from behind the doorway. When I knelt in front of the princes, they were eyeing me strangely.
"What's this? You are quite injured, or were rather. You should go get yourself healed when we finish this talk. What have you?" Hoizon asked watching me. Without lifting my head I told him half the story.
"I was in the city taking care of some business. On the way out, I was caught up by a noisy Moonwalker and someone else..." I started before being cut off.
"What do you mean someone else?" Hideki asked interest piqued. "If you ever mention someone, you always say you beat them with little effort. You are an unusually cocky one for such a new made. But that's besides the point. Who, or what, is this 'someone else'?"
"Well, to be honest I have not the slightest clue what she was. She said her name was..." I said before the demon intervened.
'Lie.'
"Uh, I think she said her name was Mestasula." I said without skipping a beat. They would be none the wiser to whatever I said her name was.
"Interesting name. Sounds like something made-up." Hideki said glaring at me. Without looking at him I continued.
"She was something else. Her Moonwalker characteristics were present but she was superior to any I've ever met. No matter how angry I got or how much I pushed, I could not phase her defense. Only the other me could beat her. She battered me before I could get him to come to my aid. I was defenseless." I said emotionally. The frustration was overtaking me as I grabbed my head and almost screamed.
"Calm down, young warrior. There will be many who beat you, maybe even a few who beat the 'other you' as you refer to him. You must train more efficiently and learn from your losses. It is the trademark of a truly great warrior." Hoizon said looking down at me. I was losing it at the possibility of losing more battles. My mind was clouded with frustration and detriment as I thought of how weak I truly was.
"Let me speak to the other one." Hoizon said simply before I totally lost myself. I looked up at him with tears in my eyes as I blacked out and the demon took control.
"Why did you let him get beaten so badly? Aren't you supposed to be his protector?" Hoizon said seriously as he looked at the demon.
"This was a good learning point for him. He needed to know that he couldn't always just use me to save him and he needed to toughen up on his own for future battles." The demon said as he sat back and started picking his nails.
"Rise and speak to your princes with respect!" Hideki angrily snarled as he stood up looking at us.
"You should keep in mind who it is you speak to. I am not as weak as Skytel. I will break you. Do not test me, boy." The demon shot back looking at Hideki. The tension could be cut with a knife between them.
"Hideki, sit down. This is not Skytel. He is different: older, stronger. Let us not test his battle prowess now." Hoizon said eyeing us over. We gained power much quicker than predicted but still were not strong enough to take all 3 princes at once which would certainly be the end result of starting a fight in here.
"Back to the problem at hand. Surely there was a better way to teach him a lesson. He is a cocky boy for sure but no one deserves to be mentally broken like you left him." Hoizon said sitting forward as he looked at us.
"Was there a better way? Probably. Does it concern me? Not even a little. This way was effective and seemed to push the point across. Now he knows to train and learn. Will I save him from dying? Of course I will. If he dies, we both die but I will not come running to his aid every time he loses a fight. I have other things I like to do while inside the boy." The demon said sitting cross-legged and looking back at Hoizon.
"That is an interesting point. What is it you do while you are inside of him exactly?" Hoizon asked interested.
"It depends on the time usually. Sometimes I surf his memories and look for things, other times I watch what is happening through his eyes." The demon said. "I have to control his emotions. He is fragile. If I want him at his strongest, I have to fuel the right things and extinguish other aspects."
"Your last statement has me quite interested. Who are you?" Hoizon asked invested. He was wondering who the demon was as I now was. I had never got a name but always just referred to him as that, demon.
"I have told you all before." the demon said out loud before saying directly to me, 'As I have you. I would appreciate you not trying to dig into things you shouldn't.'
"I am Skytel. The voice inside him. I am him and he is me. We are one." The demon said quizzically.
"That does not answer the question at all. I know you are part of Skytel now but who were you before?" The other prince asked. He was not much of a talker so when he did, everyone listened.
"I was a demon before. We were there before the humans time. This was our world long before it was you all's." The demon said dodging the question. He was a master at not giving out information. But the princes were smart. He would not be able to get out of this like he does with me.
"I do not care about that. Who are you? Not your kind or your plane or anything, who are you specifically?" Hoizon asked taking control of the conversation again.
"Me? If you really want to know, I suppose I have no issue telling you but you will not like the answer at all. It could prove to be a fatal mistake for you in the future. I will not go out of my way to defend you all if you come to know my identity. Are you sure you want to know?" The demon said seriously. His attention was focused. Our mind was locked on the conversation.
"Tell us." The prince asked now seriously interested.
"I am what you humans refer to as 'the cardinal sin; wrath'. My brothers and I are powerful. More so than you could ever dream but I am different from even them. They have limits to their strength, I do not. As we continue to get older and Skytel figures out this new body, we will grow in strength. You have heard of me in your legends I am sure." The demon said. This was quite a shock. I knew vaguely how strong he was but he was above anything I could've imagined.
"This is impossible! You are but a fable. You all are. Wrath wiped the past humans out. All of your brothers and sisters did. The seven of you are almost entirely responsible for the humans' death and subsequently almost ours." Hideki said in a sweat. His face was telling how panicked he was hearing who we were. I had a vague understanding of who the demon was but I was far removed from the religious teachings of my family.
As great as my parents were, the rest of my family was just as bad. They were animals and we lost touch with them shortly after I got into grade school. Something happened but I was always unclear on the details. They were very religious, though, so I always assumed it had something to do with that.
My parents were strong on the 'Let him decide what he wants to do' mindset and let me pick my religion or lack thereof, my physical conditioning, my career choice, everything. They always backed everything I did but never pushed anything on me.
"We did. And it was the worst mistake we ever made. Gluttony pushed us into extinction." Wrath said looking at the ground angrily.