Chapter Text
The sun was setting as the hunter closed on his quarry. Through woods and over hills he had trekked, following the thin threads of fate that lay on his prey’s trail because it was no mere earthly creature he was chasing, but a demon.
Max crested a ridge to gain a higher vantage and fidgeted with his belt as he surveyed the surroundings. This close to the damnable creature, every path would be steeped in its infernal odour. He would need to use his intuition. The trees thinned towards the north, giving way to pockmarked cliffs of volcanic rock. A perfect spot for a demon looking to hide.
As he descended the hill, Max grasped his pendant and muttered a prayer. Demon-hunting was no casual career. It required peak fitness and a disciplined mind. Even your name could be a liability if you were not careful. But it was a calling. A duty any young man should be proud to take up, and Max had become quite proficient, already vanquishing nearly a dozen demons with his silvered blades. In fact, this would be the twelfth.
The cliffs were a greyish rock filled with holes and fissures, an amorphous mass that gave the appearance of having bubbled up straight from Hell. Perhaps it had, hence the demons beint drawn to such a place. There was no soil above the bare rock so following footprints was not an option, but Max sensed something drawing him to one cave in particular. More of a crevice, in fact, as its roof was cleaved apart. Earlier in the day it would have allowed sunlight to stream in, but here the dwindling sun behind Max only lit up a few yards from the entrance.
Max kissed his pendant, lit his lantern, drew his sword, and ventured inside.
Immediately, he knew he was on the right path. The evening chill was immediately vanquished, to be replaced by a soothing warmth akin to a flickering campfire, complete with the scent of smoke. Max veiled the lantern for a moment to check there wasn't an actual fire ahead, but it seemed if the effect was an illusion then it didn't extend that far. Pressing on, the path wound between the rock walls, only barely wide enough to pass through. At least this narrowed down the sort of fiend he was facing. While he wasn't unable to combat the brutes, doing so in a narrow corridor would have been difficult. Better that this was a smaller beast.
The passage began to widen and show more of the dark blue sky. A few stars were visible now. Max surveyed his surroundings as he found himself in an oval-shaped passage, and sighed in frustration as it ended with a solid wall of rock. Depositing the lantern on the ground, he ran a gloved hand over the stone. The sensation was strongest here. The demon had to be here.
A sound echoed off the walls. Like the flapping of sheets, or the beating of large wings. Suspecting the latter, Max spun around, his hand unconsciously venturing into his satchel as the demon descended.
Its wings spread from wall to wall and its twin curved horns almost resembled a crown. Beneath a fanged grin, it was brazenly naked. Its skin wore a bluish hue that was exaggerated by the twilight. Were it to wear a less infernal guise, Max might have appreciated the feminine features of the creature. Though it had the build of a warrior like Max, its body had an alluring shape to it, and even its phallus fit into its pleasing curves. In fact, beside the horns and the wings and the tail, it resembled how Max would look as a woman. Clearly a guise created to mock and distract him.
Max gripped the bottle of holy water gently, just out of sight in the bag, and adopted a ready stance opposite the now-grounded demon. It knew the terrain and could fly to boot. He would need to wait for the right opening.
It spoke, with a voice husky and lyrical: “Good evening, my dear hunter. I worried you'd never catch up with me.”
Max scowled and shuffled forward, sword pointed.
“Tsch. You hunters make such terrible guests. Why not put the sword away and we can talk?”
The demon took a bold step forward, not battle-ready or aggressive, but casual… And off-balance. Max struck. Like lightning, the bottle of holy water shot forth and smashed against the fiend’s breast, hissing as shards embedded in flesh. It barely had time to scowl before Max rushed forward himself and thrust his sword towards the demon’s abdomen, piercing its midnight skin with the holy blade. The creature howled in pain as Max planted his feet and moved to fully impale it, to drive his point upwards into it.
Max ducked and raised his arm as the beast’s claw lashed out and felt his sword wrench from his grasp as the demon twisted away, beating its wings to re-establish the distance. It hissed at the hunter as the sword clattered to the ground between them. It was bleeding from its stomach and its hand where it had grabbed the blade.
The two eyed the discarded weapon warily. Neither could lunge for it without exposing themself to attack. Max was back to square one, only two weapons down. But the demon for its part seemed to be on the back foot.
“That fucking hurt, you ingrate. Oh and don't try that again.”
Max’s hand had slipped back into his satchel, grabbing another bottle of holy water. Only this time there was no opening at all. He withdrew so as to have both hands free.
“What's your name, hunter?”
Max said nothing.
“Stand down, Max .”
The demon had read his mind. Just the surface, though, but enough to read in his thoughts or at least his expression the exact answer to the question, and it spoke it in a cadence clearly designed to bewitch and ensnare.
Max braced himself, but no psychic assault ensued. The demon bit its lip with an annoyed expression.
“Ohhh, very clever. Masking your name. Playing a character. Typical humans. Always LYING!”
It lunged forwards. Max reached for his dagger, but too late. A fist hit him hard in the gut, knocking him to the floor, gasping for breath as the demon towered over him. Another strike, this time a foot, and Max was flat on his back as the demon snatched away the last of his weapons and tossed them out of reach.
“You don't know what I am, do you?” The demon taunted above.
“A… A grotesque demon…” Max grasped indignantly in reply.
“A demon. And what is a demon, pray tell?”
Max was confused. Confused the demon hadn't just killed him. Confused it was trying to have a conversation. Confused the demon was asking him what a demon was. Surely it knew.
Max replied, managing to sit up. The demon was pacing, just out of reach.
“A demon. Is an… An evil spirit.”
“And what is ‘evil’?” Came the reply. It almost sounded bored. “Your culture applies that term a little broadly, don't you think? I'm evil. Two men loving one another are evil. Eating pork on a holy day… Are all of these the same thing?”
“Of course you're evil! You seek to control mortals! Control everything! You're a vile, wicked spirit of domination and destruction!” Max angrily clambered to his feet. The demon's shadow loomed large on the wall as it roamed casually. It stopped and faced him again
“I won't deny that I desire control. But if that is the mark of evil, aren't your priests the same? Aren't you the same? You come here and strike me with weapons and say you don't wish to exert your will on others?”
Max hesitated, weighing up his options for attack, but the creature took it has an opportunity to speak and despite the charm failing, Max was compelled to listen all the same.
“A spirit like me is just a reflection of desire. And all desire is a will to control, to shape the world to one's design. Even those who desire the world exactly as it is must exert control to prevent others from changing it. I am no more evil than your base needs to eat, sleep, fight, and fuck. To give up your desires is to give up life. So I asked you what a demon is? The correct answer is: We are life.”
“Liar! You'd kill me if you had the chance!”
From its throat rippled a low melodious laugh. “I already did have the chance, child. More times than you know. But why would I do such a thing? I want to exert my will on you, I won't lie, but that is far more satisfying to do on a living person, don't you agree? Or is the taking of a life truly the only rush of domination that humans crave? Do you wish to take mine? To plunge that blade deep into my heart? Hold me down as I squirm and thrash like a floundering fish. Lean in towards my ear and proclaim your victory over darkness as you see the light slip from my eyes… Would that fulfill your deepest desires? Would that satisfy your implacable itch? Would that silence the gnawing at your skull even now?”
“There's no voice tha-”
“Yes. There is. Telling you there's more than this. That the real you lies buried under that mask somewhere, ‘Max’. Do you know why ‘demons’ are so uncanny for you to look at? It's because we are not shackled by the flesh. What you see is a perfect expression of who we are inside. As below, so above. But mortals… Poor, pitiable mortals… You can't show this face, trapped in your prisons as you are. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't aim to grow closer to it. Yet instead you hide from it, and blame outworld spirits for your own shortcomings.”
The demon was brazenly examining him now. A predatory gaze as he weighed up his options and found nothing.
Max protested again..“That… That still doesn't mean unchecked desire is good! I-”
“Again with good and evil! There is no such thing! Fairy tales spun by jealous old men! There is only desire and control. Now what do you desire? Truly.”
Max wanted one thing alone, to kill this demon by any means necessary.
But the demon was right. Max was the mask. The person behind the Max wanted a lot of things. A lot of things Max didn't want. A lot of things Max would need to die to let the person behind him have.
“Remember I said we were products of desire?” The demon had stepped into reach. When had it got past his guard? “Certain demons and mortals are drawn to one another. That's how you knew to find me here. That's why the elves of the north are drawn to my warrior cousins. There is no war of conquest waging in the north. Only mortals who crave violence fighting creatures created to satisfy that need.”
“And what need… do you satisfy?”
The demon reached its hand towards Max’s neck. He was outmatched. He couldn't reach his weapons again if he tried. For that moment, he welcomed the end. But it didn't come. Instead, the creature picked up the pendant around his neck and turned it over with thumb and finger. A pale blue jewel he carried everywhere he went. It kept him safe. The charm that guarded his heart and soul, and he had just let her steal it.
“Come, now. Don't lie to me. You know that I already know. And what's more, I know your real name.”
The hunter stared wide-eyed at the iridescent gemstone. His open secret he wore round his neck, even though he barely admitted it to himself, and fear gripped him. Not of the demon but of what the demon might force him to confront. He ducked out of reach, leaving the pendant in the demon’s grasp, and dashed for the exit.
He stopped dead when she uttered a single word:
“Opal.”