Ercale leaned back on the couch, propping his head on his fist, which rested on the armrest. His gaze wandered aimlessly, settling on the group at the table—Xain and the others, eating and chatting animatedly. His eyes were distant, the faintest hint of boredom crossing his otherwise impassive face. The conversations, the laughter, the normalcy—it grated on him in a way he couldn't quite explain.
"I should find something to do," he muttered under his breath, feeling a creeping sense of disconnection. Pushing himself up from the couch, he wandered over to the bookshelf, eyes scanning the spines until one caught his eye—a book about a man's obsessive hunt for a whale. There was no real reason he chose it, he just needed something to occupy his mind, a way to drown out the noise.
Plopping back down on the couch, he opened the book, knowing full well he'd read it dozens of times before. The words passed over his mind like water—familiar, repetitive, offering little comfort. He tried to lose himself in the pages, but the lighthearted laughter from the table kept pulling him out, seeping into his concentration like an unwelcome guest.
He glanced up, glaring at the ceiling in frustration, fighting the urge to yell at Xain and the others to keep it down. But then, his eyes drifted back to the scene before him. Xain, mid-laugh, his face lit up with genuine warmth, surrounded by friends. The ease in their interactions, the shared camaraderie—it was... real. For a moment, Ercale felt a pang in his chest, something deep and unnameable stirring inside.
Shaking his head, he tried to brush it off, forcing himself to lie back down on the couch, book still in hand. But the words blurred, the sentences losing their meaning as his thoughts spiraled elsewhere. His left arm slipped off the side of the couch, the book tumbling to the floor with a dull thud. He didn't bother picking it up.
Instead, he covered his eyes with his forearm, letting out a long, deep sigh that felt like it came from some cavernous place inside him. His body remained still, save for the steady rise and fall of his chest. But his mind... his mind wasn't still at all. Old memories crept in, memories of laughter like Xain's, of shared moments—two different groups of people who once filled his life. He couldn't stop them, and for the first time in a while, he didn't try to.
He just lay there, unmoving, letting the weight of those memories wash over him.
"Seriously, Lord Ercale, you think we will think any lower of you, just because of that?" he remembered a man's voice ask, lighthearted and sarcastic, carrying that familiar teasing tone.
"We're loyal to you first and foremost. Everything and everyone else—including ourselves—comes second," he remembered the other voice, this one loyal and friendly, cutting in with unwavering certainty.
He remembered how that conversation had come about, after they had found out about his newly formed connections.
"That sort of fanatical loyalty isn't exactly a good thing," he remembered telling them, trying to reason through their devotion.
"Oh, we agree!" he remembered the lighthearted voice say, filled with mock amusement. "If either of us heard someone else say it, we would call them out for how insane that type of thinking is."
"Then why are you..." he remembered starting to ask, before the loyal voice interrupted him.
"Because we're hypocrites," the loyal one had said, straightforward as if it were a normal thing to admit.
He remembered feeling baffled, unsure how to react. "Lord Ercale, we have been with you for such a long time—tens of thousands of years. You really should not be surprised that we are a little attached to you," he remembered the lighthearted voice explain, still carrying that playful lilt.
"Yeah, what he said. Seriously, it's like we've got Stockholm syndrome," he remembered the loyal voice adding.
He remembered sighing, frustrated with their unshakable loyalty. "I really don't understand the two of you," he had told them. "I'm a Demon Lord. I shouldn't be feeling the way I am about them. I should be following orders. I'm supposed to be the mortal killer for my namesake! And you two should be demeaning me, think me weak, plan to betray me—anything other than this!"
"Ercale, no matter what you do, no matter what you say, you'll always be human. Unlike us," he remembered the loyal voice replying to his outburst, gently reminding him of the stark difference between them.
"Rude," he remembered the lighthearted one chiming in, "but I agree. Lord Ercale, you are and always have been human. So, feeling what you are feeling towards them is normal, and we support you all the way."
"Remember, Ercale, no matter what happens, you can always count on us to help you in whatever way we can... no matter how ineffective we are at doing that," the friendly voice chimed in.
He remembered feeling conflicted, their words seeping into his mind as they always did. "There's something seriously wrong with the heads of both of you," he had muttered, almost to himself, before finally telling them, "You two wasted enough of all our time. Get back to work."
"Yes, Lord Ercale!" he remembered them both saying simultaneously, with that same loyalty and humor that never seemed to fade.
"Those fucking bastards," Ercale muttered from the couch, rolling his eyes as he sank deeper into the cushions. His gaze drifted to the ceiling, though his mind was clearly elsewhere. "Wonder if either of you idiots are still kicking around…" A flood of memories from the other group—memories he had long buried—started to poke at the edges of his thoughts. But he quickly shoved them back. It was already tiring enough to remember one bunch of knuckleheads.
"Damn ape, making me think about this shit," he grumbled, rubbing a hand over his face like it might somehow erase the lingering nostalgia. With a sigh, he sat up, turning his attention to the TV, where Xain and his friends were still chatting away, blissfully unaware of his irritation. Their laughter echoed through the room.
Ercale narrowed his eyes at the scene, a small, vengeful smile playing on his lips. "I'm going to make you regret being so damn happy around the Demon Lord Ercale," he said darkly, the words slipping from his mouth with a cruel edge.
On the other side, Xain suddenly froze mid-bite, the fork hovering awkwardly in the air. A shiver ran down his spine, making him pause as confusion set in. *Why do I feel like I'm about to get in trouble for something I didn't even do?*