Tough Luck, Demon Struck Part 1
The Immoral Immortal
Act 1. Chapter 1.
Tough Luck, Demon Struck Part 1
“Somebody—Anybody! Help me!”
The screams of a panicking young woman sound in the night-fallen forest. No older than a teen, her face is tear streaked and that of fear. She keeps running all she can, but her pursuers are gradually gaining on her, having hot on her heels for a good while now. It’s when her stamina finally runs out that she tumbles to the grassy forest floor on her hands and knees. She knows her legs won’t carry her any further and the people chasing her are only small distance away from reaching her location.
“Anybody, anyone at all—please!” She shouts the loudest she can before her voice is cut off and muffled by one of her perpetrators.
“The game of chase is over with nowhere to run, Little Deer.”
The girl’s face is sheer terror when she hears the ominous voice right before a fancy man in his mid-twenties emerges from amongst the shadowy forest. The girl tries to struggle with her last efforts but her captor, another hireling holds her down with crushing grip enough to bruise her skin.
“You fool!” Their employer is quick to reprimand to restrain her but avoid leaving any marks. As such the two hirelings adjust to his wishes which brings wide smirk on the man’s face.
“It’s so delightful you won’t miss out on all the fun.” Mr. Fancy continues to speak in singsong voice, constantly addressing the girl ‘Little Deer’ as he prowls closer like a predator. He now crouches right in front of her, hand reached out to fondle her chest briefly then wipes away her tears from her cheeks speaking in almost mocking manner.
“Had you come out nicely the first time, things wouldn’t have come to this.” He moves his thumb over her cheek then lips with sinister smile drawing on his face the more he does. “It’s a shame to spoil such a pretty face, so why don’t I give you one last chance— “
“You !” The man shrieks and pulls his hand away abruptly, “How dare you bite me!” He holds his injured fingers, sheer anger flaring in his eyes.
“Anybody—help me!” The girl seizes the chance to cry out into the empty forest. But the man is quick to silence her and return the favour with forceful slap into the face which causes teeth to bruise her lip in the process. She continues to sob as the man starts to rip her clothes. The girl pleads in vain in a string of mumbling words, “Stop—please, stop...” Until her voice gets an answer.
“What’s with the noise all of a sudden...!” Sluggish voice sounds out in the forest, the new presence seemingly having appeared out of nowhere, “Hey—hey, you down there. Can’t you hear me or are you all deaf?”
The unknown speaker causes them to stop their actions altogether and grow alerted. What they find is a rugged man in humble dark garments lounging casually on a thick branch higher up on a nearby tree with clear view to the scene.
“Up until you came around, I was having a good drink with some exquisitely fine wine to accompany me.” The lad speaks in lecturing manner and emphasizes his disappointment by showcasing the wine. “But you just had to ruin the mood.”
Mr. Fancy manages to recover from his initial awe, “Who the hell are you? A drunk in the middle of a forest?” He mocks the other and hints to his right for his companion to do something to fix this awry situation.
“Get rid of that piss-pot drunk.” The words come out as more of a hiss than speech as they switch places. The hireling moves from his spot but suddenly the foreigner drops down from the branch and lands with silent grace if not for the minor unsteady wobble at the end.
Fixing his posture, the lad figures, “I recommend this for its rich flavour” and points out lazily with one hand while the other holds out the wine jar. “But you know...” His voice trails off briefly as he props up to lean against the trunk and stares at the gathering with a bit more sober expression.
The lad’s speech comes off clearer this time, “You shouldn’t treat a young lady like that. The lady told you to stop several times, did she not?” At the same time his finger begins to draw random shapes into the air to the general direction of the group.
“Get him—kill him now!” Their boss shouts out to his men, having lost his patience with all these interruptions. He pulls the girl along with him, using her as a hostage and cover in case this drunken stranger pulled anything suspicious. He slowly backtracks, creating more distance between the two parties while the hirelings deal with the nuisance.
“Oh—and you want to know something else...?” The stranger keeps on rambling his monologue and halts his drawings to cast a complacent smirk towards the men, “I’m weak against the tears of a lady.” At that moment he finishes the final brush of fingers and the spell incantations take form, floating in mid-air.
The spell takes effect, closing the whole area around them with an ominous warding circle that vibrates traces of red coloured spiritual energy. The rugged drunk changed his entire demeanour in seconds as he leaps into the fray, his movements unrestrained and precise with each strike of hand as he knocks out his opponents, leaving just their leader.
But now end up in a standstill as Mr. Fancy has taken a knife to threaten his way out as his last desperate act. “Don’t move any closer or she suffers!” He shouts angrily and shakes the girl in his grip for emphasis however it’s this brief distraction that shifts the scales into their favour.
“Nian—!”
Following the signal, a dire shadow lunges from the foliage, taking the form of large canine with leonine mane and head with partially draconic features. The creature is far faster than the perpetrator can react to as the beast ambushes its target. In the blink of an eye, monstrous fangs sink in the flesh and savagely tear off the hand that mere moments ago held the girl back.
Taking the chance Little Deer stumbles away as far as she can get from the vile man and crosses the lines of the ward’s boundary as she escapes. Mr. Fancy is left wailing on the floor for the loss of his arm and tries to crawl away when the lad calmly closes the distance in between them.
The nian beast prowls in the background, eyes gleaming with ferocity as it observes their every move within the boundary. Yet it doesn’t interfere any further and instead leaves its master to settle the scores.
“No—Stay away!” Mr. Fancy yells and attempts to gather his bearings to get on his feet. He manages to reach all the way to the barrier until he hits the wall. The boundary stands unyielding in front of the man no matter how he tries to push his way past the boundary, it doesn’t budge an inch.
“You know exactly why it doesn’t budge...so why keep the act?
In his haste Mr. Fancy turns to face his opponent once more with a twisted grin painting his features, “No—you wouldn’t dare to kill a fellow human. We are the—same—you—must—understand, right?” His voice breaks at points, fractions of it tilting in between humane and what resembles the whispers of a demon.
The other chuckles almost in amused manner when he hears the words, “We—are nothing alike.” He answers with a cheeky boyish smile. “First off, I don’t treat the ladies anywhere nearly as poor as you. Secondly, I’m far more ruggedly handsome than you—and thirdly...I don’t kill humans for
sport.” He carries on listing till his expression shifts from the cheeky grin into grim glare when he reaches the end of the list.
“I only kill—monsters.”
As soon as those words leave his mouth, everything happens in a flash. The stranger incants and reveals a sword that gleams in crimson red aura. He mouths the words “Feast— Yāojing” and sword appears as if coming alive at the call of its wielder, resonating ever more vibrantly with the surrounding demonic energies.
Then right in front of Little Deer’s eyes Mr. Fancy takes on the shape of a truly demonic being that is nothing like its human shell. With its cover revealed the demon is uncontrollably lashing at those around and releasing a terrifying roar when it cannot breach beyond the boundary. Just like that, trapped inside an arena the two sides clash, exchanging blows until the demon’s head comes off rolling in a single clean slash through the neck. It is all too much to take and she screams out of sheer terror for witnessing such a graphic scene take place and trembles in fear before finally passing out.
As the evil energy around them disperses so does the demonic body. It gradually shrinks down returning to the original human form with its head missing. The arena around them fades as its creator diminishes the seal of the formation and makes his way over to the passed-out lady.
“I call this a job-well-done,” the declares and does a swift sideway motion downwards so that the tainted demonic blood falls off the edge. He then looks at the sword mouthing quiet words, like that of demons, “You did well, now return to slumber.” The sword continues to sheen crimson ever so vibrantly until it gradually dims down with the fading demonic influences.
“Nian, did you find the head yet?” He shouts out while kneeling next to the girl and checking her condition. In about half a second later the demonic beast reappears before them with the head in tow, carrying it in his mouth.
Looking at the display the lad huffs at Nian, “Show-off,” and smirks right after. At that the beast drops the head and growls, a reprimanding voice sounding in the master’s mind, “Says the one who made the head fly off in a flashy manner to god knows where.”
“It’s because I know I can always rely on you, Nian.” The other tells back which triggers the bickering between the two.
Nian barks in commanding tone, “I am assigned as your guardian, not some fetch dog.” He is quick to remind, “And how am I supposed to protect you if you get involved with every human you come across were it at the side of a road or in the middle of forest.”
The master raises his forefinger and shakes it in lecturing manner, “Nian, you’re missing the point—each of them have been fair ladies in distress.” Undeniably there is nothing wrong in their actions however the obnoxious way the lad brings it up ticks the demon familiar off.
“You—I did not raise you this way, ChenXi!” Nian is clearly holding himself back, muttering only a couple of more notions on his master’s reckless behaviour until finally he gives in. Nian begins to shape shift, taking the appearance of a large guard dog with thick dark fur and strong form.
They end up studying the head and body, searching for reasons as to why such a drastic transformation took place. What they find is half of a mark tattooed on Mr. Fancy’s neck and the other half of the body.
“Have you seen anything like it?” ChenXi wonders aloud, tracking his fingers lightly along the mark, not finding any signs of lingering demonic presence—not even a sliver of it. It is as if the person is entirely human. Confound by this, ChenXi glances at Nian who sits by his side but the familiar shakes his head.
“As old as I am, I have never seen something like this before. The mark is also damaged from having the neck severed and as such there’s very little to add besides the obvious peculiarities you can sense, too.” Nian concludes his examination only to find his master has returned to the girl’s side. Soon after displeased expression makes it to Nianʼs face when he sees ChenXi picking her up to carry her his arms.
“What are you going to do with her?” Nian asks out of convenience even though he can already anticipate what’s going to follow.
“Has anyone ever caught me?” ChenXi grins in response in his carefree manner and fixes his hold on the girl. He turns on his heels to head towards where they first came from but pauses briefly after a few steps to mention, “You know what to do. Don’t leave any traces of us having been here.”
“Make it quick and ensure you’re not seen.” Nian’s last words resound in ChenXiʼs mind as he sets off and disappears into the night.
Author's Notes:
And here we get the first glimpses of our MC. He's quite peculiar persona and I've had plenty of fun writing this character as he is rather unique in his own wayward ways. Also Nian, he's ChenXi's familiar and yes, he's a nian beast. In folklores it's a ferocious man-eating beast. In regards ChenXi he's this always loyal follower, who's supposed to look after the man although ChenXi does make his job rather difficult most of the time. Anyhow, keep following the story if you enjoy this and thank you for reading. Have a nice day you all. :3
Until next time WIAN13
Until next time WIAN13
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