"...huh?" I opened my eyes as a weight pressed down on my chest.
'What is that?" My eyes drifted down to the weight and I saw a fur ball curled up on my chest.
I slowly sat up as I watched the fur ball stir and hop from its spot with a groggy "weh" before rubbing its eyes.
"Oh, hey... King, right?" The demon nodded as I looked at it confused, questioning if I should even talk with King.
'I mean it's a baby, so what's the point?' I stared at King a little longer before standing up to leave.
"Weh?" It looked at me confused as I made my way to the door only to stop when I felt King grab onto my leg like before.
"What?" I looked at the small skulled dog thing.
"Do you need something?" It stopped hugging me at that and raised its clawed hands like it wanted me to pick it up.
"Up!" My brows raised at that, feeling surprised that King could speak.
'I thought it was some random pet, but maybe it's being babysat or something?' I stared at King's eyes for a few seconds before a familiar feeling bubbled up as I decided there was no harm in picking them up.
"Ok and up we go!" I lifted them as I placed them on my shoulders and walked out.
"Now, where's that crazy..." I trailed off as I saw the woman I was looking for, standing off to the side with a surprised gaze.
"There you are..." I suddenly regretted saying crazy as I watched the Witch give me an annoyed look.
"Care to repeat that kid?" I shook my head frantically as the woman's familiar grip met my shoulder.
"Good," She smiled, letting go as I felt King being lifted off me before King reached back to me making the woman smile even more.
"Looks like King likes you," I shrugged before focusing on King who was still reaching for me.
"Yeah, but didn't it do that before?" The Woman nodded as she pulled her eyes back to me.
"Not it, he," I made a mental note that it- I mean he was some kind of demon boy, confirming the theory of her babysitting or something.
"So back to the topic," I passively listened as she continued talking.
"I thought it might have been something weird he did with the nibbling and all, but it looks like he likes you," I turned my eyes to the fur ball that started to doze off in his suspended hold.
"He got tired quick," I heard a chuckle as I focused back on The amused woman.
"So do I go now?" I asked, finally getting to the topic I wanted.
"Sure kid," I felt a bit of relief at the answer, remembering what had happened for me to get here.
"But I should probably fly you out of here with all the demon beasts around," I nodded, not seeing any problem with the help.
"Excellent!" She grinned before rushing to the stairs only to stop and look back at me.
"Oh right, I haven't told you my name have I?" I looked at her strangely before I thought back on our talk and realized she was right.
'She didn't mention her name once, so why did I trust her?' I felt my face turn even stranger as I questioned my actions.
"You ok there?" The woman asked as I nodded, shrugging off the question for now.
"Yeah, so what's your name?" The woman suddenly posed as her staff flew to her.
"I'm Eda the owl lady!" I felt myself grimace as I felt the dreaded ache of images coming back but decided to try to focus on the rest of the over-dramatic introduction to dampen the feeling of pain in my skull.
**********
"Almost out..." I mumbled, seeing the forest edge as I felt the pain in my chest slowly spreading.
"..." Eberwolf looked on in concern as I kept pushing myself only to stop when they put a hand on my shoulder, pointing back to show how far we were.
"Oh," I landed as my Palisman transformed back into the shape of a fox before flopping to the ground, I followed its example.
"...?" Eberwolf gave me a questioning look as I shook my head.
"I'm fine, just have to get this thing out of my chest," I looked off into the distance where the hospital stood and sighed before looking to Eberwolf who was already in the motions of helping me up.
"Thanks," I took his hand and stood silently, focusing back on the hospital I started walking as another feeling of something spreading out in my chest emerged causing pain.
"Gh!" I gripped close to my heart as I felt a sliver touch the edge of it... I walked faster.
I kept the pace for a few more minutes before Eberwolf tapped me on the shoulder, gesturing to indicate that they had recovered enough magic to summon a beast.
"Great, just-" I stopped again as the pain returned and I felt a part of my heart being covered.
"Shit," Eberwolf glanced at me before speeding up their spell, summoning what looked to be a Griffin before I was helped onto its back.
"..." Eberwolf growled as the beast quickly took off toward the hospital but again another wave of pain hit me as I tried to distract myself, thinking of anything I could.
'Home, work, Az-' I froze as I remembered Azure. How did he deal with this? Wasn't he like this for weeks, so what did he do to slow the gunk in his body?
'Man, my kid- Azure is a tough kid,' I still felt awkward calling him my kid despite the time we spent together.
'Does he think of me as his actual dad?' I frowned not noticing the gunk in my body settle down as I thought it over.
'I'm probably like a nanny to him,' I felt myself regretting not trying harder to get to know Azure until now but I stopped myself, shaking my head at the negatives.
So what? I hadn't gotten to know him well, it's only been a month or two. I've got more chances to bond, to learn about his likes and dislikes, interests, and everything else I can.
"I just have to get through this," I mumbled as I rose from my thoughts to see the hospital closing in fast.
"..." A growl from Eberwolf let me know to brace myself as we landed a few moments later.
"Ahhh!" People jumped back in surprise as the griffin slammed onto the stone road before I hopped down with Eberwolf to enter the hospital, only for the pain to re-emerge once again, worse than before.
"!!!" I screamed out as I felt that this time, my heart was halfway immersed in the pitch-black substance.
"..." Eberwolf started to drag me along as I felt my blood which was now affected start to spread the gunk even faster with my veins.
"Hello-" The woman at the front desk froze as she gave a half-worried, half-confused look.
"What's the uh problem?" Eberwolf made some gesture I couldn't see as I looked around, again thinking of Az and my worry.
'Guess it's my turn to be the one in danger?' I smirked as I felt multiple hands lift me before I turned to Eberwolf remembering my worry with Az still in mind before I spoke.
"Look after my kid," Eberwolf gave a questioning look as I continued speaking.
"He's like those witches who were taken over on the battlefield, so please look after him as a favor," Eberwolf stared at me for a moment as his eyes went wide and then serious before a moment passed and he nodded with an indecipherable expression.
"Good," my look became a bit serious with the atmosphere but despite that my unease was settled for now, knowing someone would look after Az until I recovered.
**********
"Come on!" I looked at the house in the distance as I dreaded the upcoming lecture that Raine was going to give.
'I really hope I don't get grounded harder for this,' I frowned nervously as I arrived at the house only to see that the lights were off.
"Why would the lights be off right now?" I walked closer and looked into one of the windows to see an empty living room with an orb on.
"Did he go to sleep early?" I walked back around to the door and tried the handle only for it to not budge.
"Are you serious?" I jiggled the handle but once again, it didn't budge.
"Did Raine lock me out?" I thought about it for a moment before shaking my head.
"No, he wouldn't forget about me," I straightened up as I searched through the windows that I could see through at this time of night.
"No, I've been here for more than a month, right?" I looked through another window as I continued talking to myself.
"What's going on then, he should've been back by now..." I kept looking through the window until I saw something that stopped me in place.
"Raine's uniform?" I frowned, staring at the clothing on the bed, which seemed odd.
'Doesn't he bring that to his job?' I tried to think of the Coven name.
"Beard? No, bear?" I kept trying until a minute later I felt a spark of realization.
"Bard! It's the Bard Coven," I thought back to who had told me but I shook my head as I focused back on the clothes.
"He's part of the bard coven, so why would he leave them... no, why are they on his bed if he should be here by now," I felt the idea of him forgetting completely fade as I tried to reason why he wasn't at home.
"Is he searching for me?" I turned to the sky, seeing that he was nowhere to be seen.
"Maybe he's in the forest?" I felt my frown deepen as I turned to the forest and shook my head, "I guess, I'll just have to wait," I said feeling uneasy before I made my way back to the front door of the house and waited.
*********
I started to tap my feet as the sun had fully set by now and no one had come back, "Are you kidding me?" I stood up and started to pace.
"It's already dark," I turned to the moon, "shouldn't he be back by now?" I looked to the forest again and started to reconsider my decision to wait as a feeling of worry started to overcome me with paranoia that was starting to feel more and more likely.
Images of different scenarios had raced through my head ranging from unconsciousness to... "No way that would happen to him with his magic, right?" I remembered the time he had saved me from a giant centipede and knew there was no way.
Suddenly I heard a familiar voice emanate from inside the house, "-ospitalized-" Feeling curious and wanting a distraction from my intrusive thoughts I walked over to the window near the living room.
"-you heard it here folks, the famed centipede slayer, Raine Whispers who helped stop one of the first attacks by the infected beasts is now hospitalized, and the healers-" I felt my stomach drop at the news as I tuned out what came after not sure how to feel.
My mind should have raced like I knew it should, like with my encounter with the centipede but all I heard was a ringing in my ears as one possibility came to my mind, a pair of lifeless eyes and with it images and thoughts once again flooded my mind before I ran towards the town to the hospital.
"No, there's no way he's going to die," more thoughts of the little moments of time I spent with Raine trying his best to cook for me or when he chased me down to the library where he had spent the day waiting for me to recover from a stupid mistake I had made.
I went faster as I gathered wind symbols to myself and shot like a rocket to the gates where I passed a few people including a small orange figure that I weaved around to get inside and continue my run not hearing the sound of a yell before I was down the street, heading to the other side of town using the main road.
'Come on!' I felt my agitation fuel the gale in my body as the usual freedom I felt was weighed down by a feeling of dread that pushed it down. 'Faster!' I tried moving my legs quicker but it didn't work so I tried to gather more symbols but again I was still going too slow to reach the hospital in the distance.
'I've got to go faster!' I tried thinking of anything that could boost my speed, anything to get me there to make sure Raine wasn't... but just as I was about to spiral further I remembered my escape through the forest a few hours ago and how the earth remolded beneath my feet, making way for my steps before suddenly I felt the core of my being, my newly transformed soul respond and instinctively I felt something new.
The next step I drew a new symbol- no, it wasn't the name of these. I somehow knew they had a proper name... glyphs and with that new revelation, I drew the new set of glyphs to me as the earth reshaped to shoot me forward where with each new footfall created I gained a temporary boost of speed that shot me forward like a catapult.
I felt my speed grow to a point where everything was just wind, earth, and me as the world truly blurred beyond the point where I could make out individual figures, but that was fine because eventually, I got to the only building in the distance I could make out more clearly than the others.
"Finally," I said, stopping in my tracks as a large gust separate from the glyphs blew me forward and staggered me but only a moment later I regained my balance and turned to the hospital ignoring the feeling of my lungs practically gasping for air while I ran into the reception area.
"He-" I felt my lungs protest as I slumped and took in the air my body fought for, "Uh, hey kid are you ok?" I heard the nurse ask while I was gulping in air that I knew was important yet still annoyed me, knowing I was wasting time I could use to ask about Raine but I waited until I felt good enough to talk.
"I-I need to see Raine Whispers," I straightened my back, finally recovered enough to speak, and stared up at the apprentice healer.
"Raine Whispers?" I saw a strange look cover her face as I asked but after introducing myself, her eyes widened and she blurted out, "You're the amnesia kid!" This time it was my turn to give her a strange look before she snapped her mouth closed at my reaction.
"Sorry?" She chuckled awkwardly, probably realizing that the nickname she just said wasn't great to say in a kid's face but I ignored it as I waited for her to continue.
"S-so you're here to see your Dad?" I paused at that but after a bit of still lingering hesitation over our exact relation, I decided to go with it like I usually did.
'I mean he's my guardian,' I reasoned, 'so it doesn't matter if they call him my dad, right?' I soon nodded and the nurse checked over the ball in front of them before leading me up into a corner of the hospital located near the emergency room where I found Raine laying in bed clutching his chest where I saw... blackened veins.
I rushed up to Raine with wide eyes as my fear surged, "Raine!" I called out and with a groan, he opened his eyes which looked completely normal, though that didn't give me much relief at the still-present pitch-black veins that I knew all too well.
"Who?-" Raine looked towards me confused for a moment but eventually his eyes widened as much as mine at my apparent presence here.
"Az, what are you doing here?" I gave him a confused look at his question, "I'm here because of the news report," I stated feeling the question was pretty dumb.
"Did you expect me not to show up here?" I stared at him confused as he quickly responded, "No, just that you coming here alone when I sent someone to look after you while I was here..." My brows furrowed even more at that as Raine went quiet at my expression.
"...and I'm guessing they weren't there yet?" Raine sighed, holding his head in his hand before looking back up at me with a soft smile.
"Well how about I call him and you can wait here with me then?" I felt sort of annoyed at Raine for trying to get me out of his room as quickly as he did but I handed him my scroll anyway since I didn't see any around before he started to dial up a number.
"Sir, you can't-" I turned around when I heard the nurse speak only to see an angry-looking fur-ball that at first I thought was some kid emerging into the room growling only for it to stop as it saw the scene in front of it.
"..." It said nothing but Raine seemed to react anyway, "Yeah, this is my kid," I turned to Raine confused about why he had spoken.
"Wait, why are you talking to the random demon kid that just burst into the room?" Raine turned to look at me amused, "Well, who is that?" I felt annoyed by the lack of answer only to get a chuckle.
"What's funny?" I felt even more annoyed now that I was being laughed at and I decided to try pinching him only to stop at the sight of his condition making me frown.
"Hey, never mind that, are you okay?" I tried asking without too much concern in my voice as I ignored the new demon in the room to bring the conversation back to my original purpose for running here.
Raine's chuckle seemed to stop at that and he turned to look at himself with a neutral face, "I'm...," Raine sighed tiredly, "Look Azure, I'll be fine," Raine smiled at me and I looked at the pitch black veins that covered the place near his heart reluctant to believe his words with that in his body.
"I know it doesn't seem like it but with healing magic and a bit of boiling water like the stuff we led that centipede into, I'll be able to kill the stuff in my body in no time ok?" I grit my teeth at that but I remembered the coven member Steve and the boiling rain that had purged the blood from him and reluctantly nodded as I glanced at the orange demon nearby.
"Again, who's he?" I pointed over at the demon as I turned back to Raine who looked awkward, "Well... he's the guy who's supposed to look after you while I'm in here," Raine smiled as I looked over the demon who was the same size as me.
"Him? Not to be rude but isn't that a kid?" Raine laughed this time as the Orange demon kid gave Raine a dirty look that shut him up.
"S-sorry, no he's very much not a kid," Raine explained nervously before he signaled the demon to come closer.
"This is Eberwolf, the new leader of the beast coven and while looking... youthful, he's actually around my age if a bit younger," I quirked a brow at that, and with a curious question I asked.
"How old are you then?" I waited a moment as Raine chuckled again at my blunt question, "Uh, I'm around 40 years old?" My eyebrows raised at that, "huh, you're older than I thought..." It took me a second after saying that but I soon realized how rude that sounded as I gave a nervous smile to Raine who chuckled in a less amused tone.
"Um, sorry I didn't think about what I was saying," Raine only sighed and gestured to Eberwolf as I decided to keep my mouth shut for the rest of the conversation.
"So like Ami said before, this is Eberwolf and he'll be taking care of you while I'm here, ok?" I nodded and Raine went back to smiling, "Great, now if that's all," Raine pointed to the door with as polite a smile as he could give, "Please let me get some rest," I nodded again and headed towards the door but just before exiting I looked back again at Raine and the veins painted black in his chest, making my jaw tighten again before I stepped out of the room with my new babysitter in tow.
**********
I heard the door shut to my room as I let out a large sigh before I flopped onto the bed feeling a bit tired at keeping up the carefree act that I had shown.
"At least the pain in my chest didn't start again while he was here," They said to themself, trying to look at the positives of their situation but then they thought over Azure and how he had failed to recognize Eberwolf, the demon they told a few hours ago to take care of their kid... or at least it felt like a few hours.
Raine looked out the window to see that the sun was no longer at the edge of the horizon anymore and that it was now night which just annoyed Raine at the time it took Eberwolf to meet Azure but Raine sighed, knowing that at least now they had met each other that it should be fine until he got out... or rather hoped since an action like pouring scalding let alone boiling water would most likely send his body into shock from what the doctor had told him.
"..." Raine didn't know what to say about that but again Azure came to mind and he knew that in three months if the new experimental operation was offered to him, he would take the risk to make sure that he wouldn't end up like the rest of the infected beasts out there.
**********
Waking up the next morning was... let's say not pleasant with my body falling to the ground not from any spread of that blood but out of a habit that it ingrained into me from the multiple weeks of falling.
Next was my odd breakfast, to say the least with a large barely cooked piece of meat that seemed kinda gross to look at but I ate it and it was surprisingly not gross which raised my mood a bit but then something happened that set the mood for the whole day... I was late to my volunteer job.
"Shoot!" I scrambled around to get ready and out the door, before I remembered I didn't have a Palisman to fly me over, so with an annoyed look in my eyes I ran without using any possibly detrimental power to get to the library.
...About ten minutes later the library plaza was in sight and I saw Greg with a disappointed look standing out on the steps... waiting for me.
"Hey Greg, I didn't have-" Greg put up a finger as he sighed, "Azure, I know you're only a volunteer but you have to be better about being on time, please try getting your father..." Greg stopped and looked around.
"Where is your father?" Greg stared at me confused before I sighed finally getting a moment to explain.
"He wasn't able to take me today so I had to run here," Greg's eyes widened a bit as his expression turned slightly embarrassed, "Ahem, we'll try not to be late since as the person working as a volunteer the longest you need to set an example," I nodded absentmindedly at his comment but then I did a double-take and looked back at him.
"What do you mean to set an e-"
**********
"-example! This is the best example of why this volunteer job was the best to sign up for!" Willow said holding a book up to me that read 'History of the Boiling Isles' which made me shrug as I felt my mind wandering off to yesterday and the events that had followed before I looked to the envelope hanging out of my bag that I had brought.
'Just give the invitation to Azure if you run into him as an apology for yesterday, even if he's...' She thought of the figure she had seen yesterday that was the size of an adult yet felt so foreign despite all the types of demons she had seen in BonesBorough.
'No, he probably just got that weird disease that the adults were talking about and it turned him bigger like it did with that monster,' but it also brought up the thought, would he go crazy like that monster? She, because her parents were so chatty, also heard that they used to be normal demon beasts that lived in the forest, so logically if that black stuff she saw yesterday turned them into monsters then would Azure be able to talk to her in that terrifying form let alone receive her apology invitation to her family's upcoming party?
Again Amity shook her head and denied the possibility that her... 'new friend' would become a monster, 'Right, he'll be back however he ends up, I'll just try being-' she was dragged from her thoughts as she heard a slam from the front of the library and remembered why they were waiting there.
"Ooh, looks like the last volunteer's finally here, who do you think it is Amity?" Willow asked but Amity didn't know, all she did know was that the annoying demon that decided to show up late had earned her annoyance completely disregarding the time that everyone was supposed to show up.
'Whoever it is won't be getting any help from me or-' Amity was pulled out of her thoughts once again as she saw who it was and froze, "Azure?" "Blue hair?" "Rival!" She and two other people called out at once before Azure's eyes widened with shock.
'Probably from seeing Willow and me here,' Amity thought but before she could step forward to greet Azure, a large demon that hadn't paid much attention to until now rushed out with their fist clenched and a smile on their face as Azure turned to run...