I woke up with a jab. I had a nightmare but I can't remember anything from it.
I had been lying on my back. Covering me was my discarded cloak. A black tunic was folded to use as a pillow while beside it were the gold decorations removed from it. A cloth sticking on to my forehead slipped down to my eyes. I grasped it before it slips off anymore. I also noted the environment was back to what it used to be.
I looked around me and found Claudina. It seemed she was giving orders to a horde of monsters. The Stars' Blessing was gone. She must have dematerialized it.
Pity, I wanted to see it up close…
Noticing me, she finished relaying her orders and made her way towards me. She crouches right beside me. I flinched when she touched my forehead. "Your fever has gone down."
I sneakily peeked behind her. The monsters had left. "Do you want to eat something? Or are you thirsty?" I looked at her again in astonishment. "Does it hurt anymore?"
Has the demon possessed her while I was out? In this a ploy of some sorts? What is she planning?!
I reached out to her face and tried pulling it off. "Wha- What are you doing, you imbecile?!" I pulled harder. "Cease your actions, fool!!"
It was real! This was the real Claudina! I let her go.
As soon as I did so she grabbed my neck and proceeded to strangle my neck. "Die you wench! Die!"
"S-s-stop! Don't shak-ke m-me!" She let me go when my face started to become blue. I coughed. She didn't wait for me to catch my breath.
"Why did you pull my face?!"
"You cough were being cough way to nice!" Claudina was someone who was averse to skin contact and just the slightest touch could make her uncomfortable all over. So it was obvious where I was coming from. Though she didn't have to choke me...
"Tsk!" She got up and started to tap her foot, impatiently. It seemed she wanted me to get up as well.
I got up while brushing off dirt. "Where is the demon?" My face turned serious. "While it may be dead I still need to seal it."
She gestured for me to follow. We walked wordlessly till we reached a clearing. In the middle of it was a gnarled oak tree. She led me to the back to reveal the demon's mangled body. Its arms, legs and wings were gone. I questioned her about it.
"Nourishment for my pets." Why did I even ask?
I imagined her tossing the limbs and wings from a high place while the monsters clamored beneath on who will be getting a better midnight snack. I shuddered.
"Perform the sealing or do you still need more mana?" This demon like woman… "I am fine…"
I performed the sealing ritual with ease although it took a while for it to be completed.
First I curved out the demon's heart and buried it under the roots with Claudina's help. The demon's body immediately started to turn into ash. I tied an orange thread around the lower branches of the oak tree. Next the purple threads in the middle brunches. Next I chanted a verse from the Holy book. "O' Holy Heavens! Take heed of the day as the Day another one of the Evil has Vanquished! However you forgive anyone for their misdeeds. I implore you to show mercy upon this Evil that shall be trapped in this tree. May you grant it eternal rest for the years it has spent in torment!" I tied a green rope around the oak tree three times and splashed Holy water on its roots.
Then I turned to Claudina. "Mortal witness under the Holy Heavens, sewer in good faith and honesty that you shall not disclose the eternal resting place of one Evil so others may not fall prey to it due to error."
She placed a hand on her heart while raising the other one just below eye level "I, Claudina Von Crowley the mortal witness shall sewer in good faith and honesty that I shall not disclose any or what I have seen."
I splashed more Holy water on the roots. Then I lighted a fire on the roots where the demon heart was buried. After it burned for a minute I put it off. Finally I planted an asphodel stem in the ash.
Day was nearly breaking when I finished.
The sealing was done. I never felt proud of anything I did but I defeated and completed a sealing ritual of a demon. It filled me with a sense of accomplishment.
And with my closest friend and companion too!
I turned to look at Claudina expecting praise but all I got was a hardened face with cold silence.
Oh. Right.
I forgot. We are enemies. Her momentary kindness let me slip into a false sense of security.
But Claudina never forgets anything. Never.
She silently walked away from the clearing.
I swallowed hard. I lingered in the clearing before leaving.
Will she kill me now? I tripped many times on the way. My legs felt like lead while my head was dizzy. I hoped we could be friends as we were once again. The way she treated me felt like how it was fourteen years ago.
I reached back to the outskirts. Claudina was standing, her clothes back on along with her cape, gloves and sword. On her hand was a bleeding sack. She beckoned me to come closer. I did so.
She promptly handed me the sack. "I will send the rest later in the day."
I understood what she was implying. Under the new light breaking over the horizon, the light ensnared her eyes. Brilliant gold rainbows formed under her lower eyelashes. Her green eyes were lit in yellow flame, twinkling. The sun rays glowed molten gold on her hair. Her face was angled that equally highlighted light and shadows in mysterious contract. Claudina was always beautiful. She's been capable of capturing gods and mortal alike with her ethereal beauty.
"Also I am keeping your rapier. Such fine craftsmanship is wasted on you."
Right. She is only beautiful until she starts talking. I will miss the rapier. It was present for my eighteenth birthday.
"Goodbye."
I felt heaviness and regret as the sack added more weight in my movements. I hesitated. Goodbye felt too distant. Too cold.
She rolled her eyes in annoyance and started to leave.
I am going to miss my opportunity.
"Claudina," I called out. She turned sharply. I bit my tongue. I tried to spit out the words. I took too long since she started to retreat again. "Wait, please!" She halted again this time not turning.
"I was...wondering…if you would like to go…back. I – I mean I will respect your opinion, obviously! But, but I…" I took a breath. "We all would like for you to come back with us. Especially me."
I waited for her answer. None was given whatsoever. She had only tilted her head to me during the exchange. She walked away. I looked down. A least I told her…
Claudina started to whistle. My head shot up. Her hands were behind her, trapping her snow hair beneath them. Her right hand's index was covered by her left hand that formed a fist around it. A sign. It was a sigh that she would think about it!
My heart felt like it was bursting from its ribcage. Claudina agreed! She will come back!!
"Then this isn't goodbye but see you later, Claudina!" I yelled to her excitedly. She laughed her hands not moving from her back.
I turned to leave, a smile never leaving my face. Although I suffered loss, I gained something far more precious.
Neither of us made any distance when the contents of the sack appeared to wiggle. Frowning, I looked at it.
I gasped when the sack started to tug itself from me. I looked in horror when four mechanical spider like legs tore through the burlap. I dropped it. It wiggled and trashed around, more legs ripping off the sack.
A thin black tendril poked itself from the sack's tiny opening. More tendrils sprouted out alongside the first one. All of them encircled the first one. All off the tendrils continued to squirm as they formed a head. Two beady red eyes standing on tiny centipede legs crawled to the top before lodging the legs inside the tendrils. The head stared up at me.
It was a demon.