Korrozak lifted his head, his eyes hardly open. He then yawned and stretched.
"Good morning." He hopped off the back of the horse and grabbed the food Nova offered him before sitting down on the tough grass, wide awake now.
"It's... not morning..?" Lyman whispered, leaning towards Korrozak as he sat down on his right. Ira sat down next to Korrozak.
"Well yeah, you think I don't know that?" Korrozak grumbled.
"But you just-!"
"Ever heard of this thing called... a joke?" he whispered.
"It's not like you made it obvious!" Lyman shouted, angrily.
"You don't get sarcasm?" Korrozak gasped, dramatically.
"That wasn't- you didn't- ugh." Lyman gave up and sat straight up again as Korrozak snickered. After he finished his food he then tossed his arms in the air and fell back on the ground.
"I feel so~o much better after that nap and food." he exclaimed.
"That was not a nap."
"I was up for three days straight. How long would you expect me to sleep?" Korrozak asked, sitting up.
"Did you know the demon slave lady ate your lunch?" Simon asked.
"I told her to."
"I can't understand why you want the demon slave to eat your lunch. It's just a slave." Nova wondered aloud.
"Ira was obviously hungrier than I was, so she deserved the food more than me." Korrozak shot with an icy calm attitude. Nova nodded nervously. He squinted angrily at Nova as she ate her dinner.
"Can you stop staring at me?" she broke after a while, blushing. "You're making me uncomfortable."
"I'm sorry, milady." Korrozak called with a bored expression. He then spun around, facing directly away from Nova. "No one look at Little Miss Princess until she feels comfortable again."
"I didn't say turn away, I just said to stop staring!" Nova burst.
"But we can guarantee we won't stare at you if we aren't facing you." Lyman replied, his back also to Nova.
"Yeah, we wouldn't want to make you feel uncomfortable, milady." Simon sang, his back also turned towards Nova. Ira was the only one who didn't turn away from Nova. Nova began to smile when Korrozak spoke up.
"Ira, turn around for me." He circled his finger in the air. Ira looked at him with blank eyes before turning away from Nova.
"Demon girl, don't listen to him! He's just some stranger that we picked up, a total weirdo! He doesn't have authority over you, I am your master! Face me right now!" she fummed. Korrozak scooted closer to Ira and put his arm around her shoulders.
"She doesn't mean any of that. She just wants attention. You don't need to turn around yet." he assured. Ira nodded.
"If you don't turn around in the next ten seconds, I'm going to eat your share of the food! You won't get any sleep tonight either! I'm going to..!" Nova ranted on.
"Have you eaten anything yet?" Korrozak asked. Ira shook her head. He gestured to Lyman to share a bit of his roll. Lyman reluctantly handed it over and Korrozak handed it over to Ira.
"Hey! She doesn't get her food! Stop it!" Nova jumped up in anger.
"What I do with my food is none of your beeswax! Buzz off!" Korrozak retorted, turning his head towards her.
"That was my food though." Lyman said to himself while Korrozak and Nova started squabbling, Korrozak turned back to Ira, shoving the food into her hands as Nova plopped back down in anger. "Eat it." he ordered Ira.
"But my master-." she started.
"Well as your guest master, I order you to eat." he insisted. Ira hesitated before digging in.
"You're still going to be on watch duty for the night." Nova demanded.
"Understood." Ira acknowledged, despite being exhausted. Ray watched all this unfold quietly, a smile on his face.
Once everyone had eaten, they laid blankets out on the ground and laid down. Ira was the only one without a blanket. It was dark, cold and quiet. Ira was constantly nodded off. Korrozak stood up, grabbed his blanket and walked over to where Ira sat. He draped the blanket over her and sat down next to her.
"You should get some rest." he said after a moment of silence.
"I can't. I was ordered to stay and keep watch." she whispered.
"Hmm, is that so?" Ira nodded. Korrozak looked up at the sky and stared at the stars. "Hypothetically speaking, if I were to set you free right now, what would you do?"
"It's pointless to think about such miracles." she whispered. "Besides, these are chains that can never be broken by even the strongest demon. A human like you could never hope to free me."
"That's why my question is hypothetical." Ira hesitated.
"I would find a nice quiet place to live, probably near the beach and fly through the skies. I would fly as high as I could and reach for the stars." Ira reached out her hand and held it towards the sky. "Hypothetically, that is. These chains keep me from taking out my wings so I can't use magic or anything like that." She pulled her hand back sadly.
"If I broke the chains, would you show me your wings?" he wondered aloud.
"I think I would."
"Do you want me to take off those chains?"
"It's not like you can. You're just human."
"That doesn't mean I'm not a powerful human." he stood up and crouched right in front of Ira. "Can I see your chains?" Ira held out her arms and let the chains dangle in front of them. He reached out to hold the chains when he hesitated. He could feel magic wafting off the chains. His eyes narrowed. Magic sealing chains don't give off magic. In fact, there's usually such an absence of magic that it's noticeable to any demon. She's been lying.
"It shocks people who touch them, but doesn't work on demons." she warned. Korrozak pulled his hands away and sat back down.
"Are they magic chains then?"
"Yes." Silence.
"Hypothetically, if I could set you free, would you like to flee north with me?"
"Why would I want to go north as a demon? I would be sold away for no reason." she whispered. Korrozak looked at her for a moment.
"If not, that's ok. But I can at least keep watch for you so you can get some sleep."
"I won't go against my orders."
"You weren't ordered to stay up all night." he reasoned. Ira didn't respond. "Good night then." Korrozak walked back to his spot by the smoldering remains of the fire and laid down to sleep on the bare ground. Once Ira was sure Korrozak was asleep, she walked over to Nova and shook her awake.
"Nova, there's something off about him."
"What is it?"
"He didn't touch the chains, even before I told him they weren't human safe."
"Should we just assume he's a demon then?"
"That sounds dangerous"
"Let's wait a bit then."
"Are you guys done lying to me?" Ira and Nova stiffened. They slowly turned their heads to see Korrozak sitting upright, staring at them. He looked tired. "What is so bad about telling the truth? You have no reason to lie to me."
"Yes we do! If you're a demon, we'd be dead if we didn't keep a close eye on you!" Ira countered.
"God, what's so bad about being a demon?"
"They eat people!"
"That was one group of demons ages ago. Thinking all demons do that is insulting."
"So you were a scheming devil!" Ira burst.
"Jeez, lighten up on the insults, will you? You're going to hurt my feelings." Korrozak put on a hurt expression. "Stop treating me like a blood-thirsty monster. I eat, breathe and sleep just like you do. If I lived on human blood I would've starved myself long ago."
"Stop lying!" Korrozak chuckled.
"Look at that. Liars calling me a liar." Korrozak's expression turned serious. "What do you take me for, an idiot? I've known you weren't actually a demon this entire time. Unlike humans, demons have magic vessels running through they're bodies. And from you-" Korrozak pointed at Ira. "-I sense no magic at all."
"If you knew, why didn't you say anything?" Nova inquired. "Were you planning to ambush us by playing along?"
"I was hoping we could all just pretend our way to the next town and forget we even saw each other after we parted ways."
"Lies! I bet you were just waiting for your chance to strike!" Ira shouted. "You're a monster, a devil! Who in their right mind would even think of trusting someone like you." Korrozak flinched. His gaze shifted towards the ground and a sad smile crept onto his face.
"So... that's what you think of me." he said slowly. His smile faded and he looked back at the girls. A chill ran down their spines. His eyes looked dead. "If that's the case, why don't you just kill me? I've already lost everything, why not take the last thing I have left?"
"You're crazy!" Nova shouted, terrified.
"What are you talking about? You're the ones that called me a monster." Korrozak said. "Or, would you rather I act like one?" He put on a grim look and spread out his magic and condensed it around them, creating a suffocating atmosphere. The girls were locked in place, too scared to move or speak. Korrozak took a step towards them.
"D-don't come near me!" Ira shakily pulled out a dagger and pointed it towards him. He took another step. She was in a cold sweat. He took another step. She couldn't breathe. Korrozak promptly walked past her. The moment he did, he released his magic, getting rid of the pressure. Nova and Ira collapsed onto the ground, trembling and breathing heavily. Ira spun around.
"W-wait!" Korrozak froze. "I want to know how many humans you've eaten and why you're sparing us."
"I haven't eaten any humans."
"Impossible! If you haven't eaten any humans, you would have black blood!" Ira insisted.
"I'm not like that!" Ira was taken aback. Korrozak spun around to face Ira. "Why are demons always the one to blame? It's always the humans who attack first! You assume that I'm going to hurt you, that you are always in danger! We're not vampires. We're not monsters. It's not instinct for us to hurt humans. We're all living creatures. No one race is inferior to the other. So why... must we have to endure this torture just because we're different?" he clenched his fist and stared at the ground.
"Korrozak..." Nova whispered. He relaxed his hand and lifted his head a little to reveal his tears. Then he smiled a sad smile and chuckled.
"Why did I think I could be friends with humans again?" He wiped his eyes with his arm, turning away to look up at the stars. "I wish I could go back to the past when I still had my parents and my friends. But that's all behind me now. This is goodbye."
"W-wha..?" Ira watched as Korrozak walked away. He waved back to them before taking off. Nova looked down at Ira.
"Ira? 'You ok?"
"He was... crying..?" she whispered. "But.. why..? I don't... understand. He's a demon, a heartless killer, a human-eating monster! He can't understand what humans go through thanks to him. So then why..?" she kept muttering, utterly confused. Nova crouched next to Ira and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.