". . ." Jarod looked at the black water that was now resting in a small metal pot they had stolen from a small store. "How? How did you burn water?" Arlyn narrowed her eyes at the dark liquid as if the harder she glared it the more likely it would turn back into its natural clearness.
"That's. . . not possible, is it?" She asked as she looked to Jarod. He shrugged.
"I don't think it's ever been done in human history, in fact, I think you're actually the first person in existence to ever do such a thing." He then began chuckling lightly, earning a raised eyebrow.
"What's so funny?" She questioned semi-angrily. He pointed at her and began laughing harder, clutching his sides with his other arm.
"Y-You can't cook worth shit!" Arlyn's crimson red eyes narrowed, the sword on her side slowing sliding out of its sheath.
"I wonder what half-demon flesh taste like?" She wondered aloud, standing up. Jarod's eyes widened as he shot up, holding his hands up in surrender.
"Woah Woah Woah, calm down Arlyn, it was just a joke!" He let out a sigh of relief as he watched her put the sword back into its sheath, only to turn paler than before, if even possible, as she pulled out the longbow that Morina had given her before they were banished from Hell, stringing a steel arrow.
"I hope you can maintain the same speed you had when we were training." She said calmly as she drew back the arrow.
"Oh shit," Jarod got out before grabbing the pot and dumping the burnt water into the dead leaves below and quickly held it up as an arrow went straight through it and stopped going forward mere centimeters away from Jarod's forehead, his eyes wide with a mix of shock and fear. "You're trying to kill me?"
"I have faith that you'll dodge," She drawled out, drawing another arrow and pointing it at Jarod. Jarod spun around and quickly dashed away from their little camp sight, weaving in between trees as arrows flew right past him.
"Jesus, how dangerous are you with a bow?" He yelled back as he ducked under another arrow. "I really hope she's missing on purpose," He muttered to himself as he hid behind a tree.
"Oh, where oh where could you be?" He heard Arlyn say in a light voice with a smile on her face, making him scowl. She was making fun of him! "When hiding from a superior opponent, you should regulate your breathing and also," It was quiet for a moment till he felt a cold metal touch the middle of his neck.
"Make sure your sword isn't poking out from behind the tree," Arlyn said dully, gesturing to the sword on his hip which was pressed against the other side of the tree.
"Sorry?" He got out, smiling uncomfortably. Arlyn sighed and quickly put her sword away.
"You need to be better at stealth, especially since you're the biggest hotspot in the entire world at the moment." Jarod frowned, the fun moment now over.
"Because of my demon aura?" She nodded. "What even is that? I think Morina told me but I probably forgot." Arlyn sighed and quickly plucked his ear, earning a small wince in pain from the Prince of Hell.
"Demon auras are like beacons. The more powerful the demons are, the stronger and bigger their auras are. The moment your demon side activated, it became the brightest and strongest aura this reality has ever seen since Lord Satan became corrupted and turned into a demon." He turned to her, his eyes wide.
"Is that what you and Morina meant by saying I had the potential to become the most powerful being in existence? You could tell by my aura?"
"Yes," She confirmed. "But the stronger an aura is, the worse it is for the said demon. Right now every Demon Hunter in the world knows that you exist and are tracking us down. I'm actually surprised we haven't encountered any yet."
Jarod looked down at the ground, glaring slightly. "Why didn't they find me earlier?"
Arlyn tilted her head to the side, not understanding. "What?" He took a few steps away from her and then turned to her, his grey eyes shining brightly as the sun reflected off of them.
"Why didn't he seek me out? Why did he let me suffer at the hands of my mother and my shitty step-father? If he had brought me to Hell as soon as I was born my hometown wouldn't have been destroyed." He got out bitterly.
Arlyn thought for a moment, trying to find a way to comfort the Prince. After a minute, she began. "I don't know why Lord Satan didn't choose to bring you to him immediately. But, if you didn't go through such things, if you didn't meet those who you did, then you wouldn't be Jarod, would you?"
Jarod was silent, thinking of her words as she continued. "I don't think that the you who grew up in Hell as a proper prince would be a very fun person like you are now. I think you would be more cold-hearted instead of the caring person you are now, a weakness by the way." She said jokingly.
"Then maybe those people wouldn't have died," Jarod replied roughly, looking at his hands. "If I grew up in Hell, I bet I would have all of my powers under control. If what you and Morina said is true, then I could be the King of Hell right now and that stupid council would be dead right now and we wouldn't be in this stupid situation!"
"You're probably right," Arlyn stated truthfully. "But that's not important because you weren't taken to Hell upon your birth, nor are you the King of Hell. Right now you're a prince who was stripped of his powers and sent on an impossible quest."
"Whatever," Jarod muttered, brushing her off. "Where the hell do we even go from here? We've barely gotten anywhere! Where in the hell are we in Virginia? We're supposed to cross the entire country!" Arlyn pulled out her magical map and studied it for a moment.
"Well, walking it'll take longer than a month due to the need for sleep and rest on your part. Right now we're not even near a town and we're about fifty-eight miles away from crossing into a state called Tennessee." Jarod groaned as he felt the palm of his hand slide down his face.
"Well, we might as well keep walking. We still have a couple of hours till sundown." Arlyn blew air of her mouth.
"We were supposed to eat." Jarod shook his head, a small smile on his face.
"Yeah, but then you burnt the water." Arlyn placed her hand on the hilt of her sword and he only laughed nervously. "Kidding, jeez you're no fun."
"And you said there were no nearby towns, didn't you?" Arlyn nodded, confirming his fears. "Damn it."
"We could hunt animals and cook them." Jarod gave her a skeptical look.
"And by we, you mean me, don't you?" Arlyn nodded.
"Of course!" Jarod sighed.
"Fine, since you asked so nicely I'll go find a rabbit or something." He unsheathed his sword. "Or would you prefer something else?"
"Whatever you want, I don't know which animal tastes better, I've never really eaten human food before, I've only had rice and some weird meat you all call chicken." Jarod laughed mentally.
Chicken and rice was all he ate while he trained with Morina and Arlyn, so it was a little funny that it was the only food that Arlyn had ever tasted from the human side of things.
"Hmmm, I could try and find a deer? A lot of meat and if cooked well, better than tender rabbits."
"Like I said, up to you," Arlyn repeated as she began kicking the leaves to the side, revealing soft brown soil. "I'll begin setting up camp and make a fire while you go out and kill a, what did you call it? Deer?"
"Yeah, a deer." He began walking away. "When I have time I'm going to teach you about the human world, and in exchange, you'll teach me about the demon world, deal?" Arlyn let a small smile cross her face, her red eyes shining as she sparked a fire.
"Sounds like fun," With that, Jarod left to go find something to eat as she slowly fed the fire dead leaves and small branches.
Was this what it was like to have a friend? She had never had a friend before, constantly being ridiculed by her peers back in Hell before she was saved by Morina, her master. With Morina, she didn't need friends so she never bothered to go out and find any.
But ever since they had picked Jarod up, the idiot had somehow wormed his way into her life and she couldn't help but smile whenever he did little jokes. It was a nice change of pace.
This quest, no doubt a death sentence, would test to see if she was ready to break away from Morina and become a powerful demon in her own right instead of relying on her master. If she were to succeed along with Jarod, then she would get the respect she deserved in Hell.
And also being friends with the future King of Hell was a huge plus if they did succeed in retrieving the Sword of Eden.
Cutting down a tree with her sword in a single swipe, Arlyn fed the fire logs and made sure to watch it carefully as not to put it out. If she had her powers she would've been able to light it aflame within seconds.
But she was powerless, as well as the Prince of Hell. She felt a humorless smile spread across her face.
These next few weeks, or months, would put everything she believed in to the test, including her faith in the higher-ranking officials in hell.
She secretly hoped Jarod would fulfill this promise when they eventually got home: To kill all of the obviously corrupt council members.
If they did get back, she would help him. And then, she would focus on the future along with Jarod.
This quest would determine the future of everything.
The future of the human world, Hell, and even Heaven.
Everything.