He opened his eyes, they were really heavy, as if they didn't want to open, it seemed his eyes wanted to stay shut in peace forever. His whole body was covered in fatal wounds. It felt so hefty that this man couldn't move an inch.
"What's... ha...happening? Where...Who am I?"
--
Two men in plate armor, walking through a city with staffs in their hands to clear their way through a pile of dead bodies. It was almost like there was a war exclusively in this small part of town. Fresh blood on the walls of all the buildings and stalls around, and obviously corpses to accompany that blood.
"Hey! Over here!" one of the men shouted "This one's still alive. Get the healer, we can't move him in his condition!"
A healer got there in a hurry.
"Let me see him, move aside." He looked really surprised as he cast some kind of bright golden, warm light of healing magic on the injured man's body. "We should be able to move him soon, we should take him to the head mage then, this is out of any of the normal healers' league. He shouldn't even be alive"
"Does anyone here know this man?"
"Yes sir! His name is Ka__ I think, he is one of captain Corkus's men."
"In that man's squad at such a young age!? Of course, he was bound to end up like this sooner than later"
The injured man was taken to the first aid camp's tent closest to the head mage's tent. The head mage was a really old man, with a long white beard coming up to his lower chest. In a shiny robe, with a worried expression on his face, he arrived to help this young man.
"What could this ominous feeling be?..." he was thinking to himself.
He gestured the healing mages to continue their treatment as they moved back in respect for the head mage. He took a stern look at this man near death's door, inspected for a long while. Still inspecting the head mage moved around to the left side of the man. All of a sudden he stopped moving completely. Sweat started profusely coming down his forehead, his expression was as if he'd seen death itself.
"STOP! Get away from him!" he yelled at the healers. "Get all the sealing and attack mages available. We are gonna restrain him, I'll personally see this through." All the soldiers looked surprised, the head mage helped with healing the grievously injured sometimes, but for him to personally seal a man, who was already in such a miserable state... just who was this man? why did such a powerful man in both magic and position look so terrified of him?
The head mage had calmed down by the time they sealed away the injured soldier, however, he still looked cautious, not at all relieved just yet.
"I'll see this man in the Fiend's chamber when he wakes up."
The soldiers were staggered. Take this already almost dead man to the Fiend's chamber! The healers looked at their superior in doubt!?
"You've healed him enough, he won't die, though I'd rather have him die without us having to do anything. And send a messenger, arrange a meeting with the council, and request for the ambassador to be present."
The soldiers quickly dispersed to follow their orders. There was still a lot of clean up to be done from the battle too.
--
The council was all present. A quite rare occurrence that could otherwise only be seen in a major situation of crisis for the whole nation. All of these men held the head mage in high regard. The ambassador was like the ruler of the nations under the imperial kingdom's reign. Every such colony had one. When the ambassador arrived only then this council could proceed. The council members all stopped muttering amongst themselves once the ambassador arrived.
"What's the meaning of this, How can you summon Madam Velvet at such short notice, Sir Aldaon! and just sit there frowning like that without uttering a word!" one of the council members finally spoke breaking the silence.
"Why thank you, but I can speak for myself, Lord Jeff. And you should know better than to take up that tone with the head mage"
The lord bowed to both Aldaon and Velvet and settled down as humility donned his face.
Velvet gestured to Aldaon "It must be something important, I understand Sir Aldaon. If you need more time to think, it will be granted, but the quicker you share the matter the quicker we can solve whatever has you so worried..."
"This is going to be groundbreaking news. So everyone must brace themselves. It's about an injured man we found near-death around where the recent demon attack occurred."
Everyone was already on edge due to the demon incident. They all knew something really negative was at their door when something so unheard of took place in broad daylight. It was a truth witnessed by many, suffered by even more at just the sight of it, a truth that could not be rejected. No one tried to interrupt. They were listening way attentively than just a moment ago.
"I think he could be a perpetrator disguised as one of our soldiers. The one who caused all this."
One of the lords intervened at that point, enquiring whether the culprit was not witnessed by several people, rhetorically. To that the head mage replied,
"The culprit was indeed identified, but no one saw where he disappeared in the middle of all that chaos. In fact, I want to believe the culprit to be the man we captured, who then disguised as a soldier, to fool us, but failed to escape the massacre he himself had orchestrated. At least that's how I would explain his condition. Because if it's not him then that means there are two people with the devil's power roaming around the face of our planet."
Every single person's eyes widened in the council hall. All of their heads turned towards the head mage, mouths open. The ever composed madam Velvet also flinched.
"The power of the Devil!??" the whole council went into chaos
The ambassador calmed everyone down by raising her arm.
"What are you talking about? First demons, only heard about in stories yet, believed to be a myth of the legends, attack all of a sudden out of nowhere, emerging right in the middle of the city and now you mean to tell us that the assault was orchestrated by a man, that someone can control these horrid creatures of legend!?"
One of the councilmen said in a hasty but stuttering voice
"If this person believed to be able to harness the power of the devil is been incapacitated, then why is he still alive? Why capture him? Get rid of him now! Order the men to en..."
The Religious head who was sitting at the side of the ambassador spoke up, without fully opening his baggy eyes, that had collapsed on themselves, in a calm but scary tone,
"Now now, don't be so hasty about it son. If Aldaon is speaking the truth, then we can't predict what will happen if we take any missteps. The Devil is more sinister than even it's own power can handle. The capture might as well be something it desires. "
He continued his statement after a short silence to ask how the head mage had come to this conclusion of his.
"You know the accusation you just made calls for the ultimate penalty, for a person to even think of, you couldn't afford the backlash, even with your position, if any of your words are untrue that is."
"I know full well what the consequences of my actions can be, and take full responsibility. I was already alert due to the ominous presence around me. So when I inspected thoroughly, I managed to disclose the source of that ominous energy. The accused has the cursed blessing of The Devil himself placed upon him. The mark from which is sitting on the side of his neck emanating the evil energy of hell"
The Religious head suggested cleansing the area of the attack. No, the whole city needed to be cleansed.
Velvet spoke as though to assert her importance.
"We should hurry then. Inspect him thoroughly for any curses. Have him reveal every truth he knows, his purpose to be here. Then exterminate him as safely as possible."
"No! Don't you think deciding his punishment already without giving him a chance to prove his innocence is unfair."
The whole council made an annoyed face at the very sound of this rather pleasant voice. This voice belonged to a beautiful young woman who'd stayed quiet and made her presence scarce all this time.
She looked at the councilmen. The look on her face was of determination, yet it looked superficial.
Fin.