Khay was already up and stretching under the tent. "We came all the way out here to relax, let's at least stretch our legs a little."
"What's wrong sitting in here? It's just fine with me." Yousef cried out.
"Come on, don't be stubborn, and let's go." Yegan whispered to him and he didn't seem to have a choice. Everyone had already gotten up from their seats and were following after Khay and Theodora and they found themselves at the far reaches of the beach. The sand stretched out in front of them, the waves came to the shore and receded back into the ocean and behind them, and their mates ran about, playing beach volley ball and taking in the scene. The vacation they signed up for. But for them… life had them in a different ballroom. And they walked on regardless of the sound of rushing life of youth that screamed at them from behind.
"Well, Theo – chan. Feeling better?" she could only smile in response to his question. And…
"Do you guys believe in demons?" her calm voice let out as she heaved a rather heavy sigh.
"Demons? Are those some kind of integration beasts?" Trilith curiously asked.
"I'm no Lilith, read my fair share of books but I have to say no." Khay replied.
"Amine?"
"Yegan?"
"Ranfa?"
"Kai?"
"Ingrid?"
"Mira?"
The roaster fell short, none seem to have the answer as Khay called out their names.
"Evy"?
"Hodgard?"
"How about you Yousef? A prince should have knowledge about these things."
"I don't know anything like that. But I will do my research when I find the time."
"I guess the pin falls on you as always; Lilith?"
"I have to sit this one out Khay, even I don't know this one." She responded.
"No way!" They said in unison. "Even you?" Mira cried out.
"Hmm…" Khay wondered, hands to his chin. "That is very strange indeed. You read more books than I do."
"No it's not just strange, it is beyond strange, all my life, this girls seems to have a know-how about everything, even if she hasn't heard of it before, and she pulls a flat on this one?!" Her brother testified to his own surprise.
"Well then, Theo - chan, please."
"Ahh this will be difficult to get into, see, I can't say I'm an expert on the topic either, it's from the little I know. The best I can do is… well, evil spirit, cursed spirits."
"And what business do kids like yourself have to do with evil spirits?" a voice came from above them and they looked up.
"Yoshi!" Trilith exclaimed.
"Are you stalking us?" Khay added.
"Far from it young ones. Let's just say… you walked into me."
"Somebody mentioned evil spirits? What brought that out here?"
"You know about them Yoshi?" Lilith questioned.
"I've travelled around, I've heard stuff."
"This is Theodora. Theodora Lucius." Lilith introduced.
"Lucius? Ojou-chan, you wouldn't happen to know and Ernesto and Martha Lucius would you?"
Her eyes lit up upon hearing those names. "They're my parents!"
"This world really does seem big, but in the end is a rather small place. I met them about 3 years ago while on a mission and let's just say… I owe them my life. They did mentioned a young girl they left to travel the world because they didn't think it was safe to go out there with you. But they do miss you dearly."
"I'm just… wow." She was lost for words.
"But aren't you supposed to be in Urbs Lucius?"
"I left shortly after they did, but don't worry I did send them a letter and they did reply. In one of their letters, they mentioned meeting a mid-30's somewhat man. They said a lot about you." She smiled cheerfully.
"Really brings back memories. That's good to hear though. This uncle has your back more now, whatever you need!"
"Then as her sudden Uncle I think it'd be only right if we told you, right?" Han inquired.
"Told me what?"
"She was with us in Kaina's you know… she's said a lot that somehow is convincing and makes sense."
"Yeah, she asked if we knew about demons and then she mentioned evil spirits."
"Cursed spirits."
"Hahaha! Is that so? Theodora?"
"Yeah." She responded nervously.
"Forgive these homebred friends of yours."
"It's alright."
"What you're saying isn't far-fetched. In fact, it is a very high possibility. The chances of demons being involved in Kaina's incident, would make a lot of sense."
"What---"
"You know about demons Yoshi?" Trilith shot out.
"Yeah. It was during that same incident 3 years ago I met her parents, that year was really something. There was a mission I went far out the reaches of Dolrea for, a small town with no name, but it was plagued. And in my attempt to subdue this monster I found something almost inhumane but… human."
"That's rather vague, even for you Yoshi." Lilith replied.
"It's how best I can describe it, but in the end, it was her parents that put an end to it all. And since then, I couldn't be the same, Muten Yoshi died that day. I was confronted with some harsh truth that I just couldn't be the same."
"Then, uncle Yoshi, what can you tell us?" Theodora inquired.
"I didn't know much about the subject that time and I was honestly scared but it would have been wrong of me not to ask. So I asked your father." His mind took him back three years ago as he sighed.
A wooden floor, a table, a fire place. And he sat about 2 meters away from it.
"Ernesto." His defeated demeanor called out.
"Yoshi. You don't look so good." The brown haired man shared his concern. "Are you okay? Sitting by the fire place for too long can make you dehydrated you know?" he said as he walked over to the counter on the left and poured a glass of water and brought it to Yoshi. "Here!" He said, and Yoshi reached out with thanks and received it.
"So." Ernesto said as he leaned back on the counter to Yoshi's right. "What's on your mind?"
Yoshi sighed in response. He was troubled, in the past days, he had seen things he didn't think existed in this world. "What is all this? I've tried for the better part not to ask anything because it feels unnatural, all of this, but it just continues to plague my mind. How can a person be… like that? She's not adventurer, she's just a normal person so how…"
"This might end up being a long conversation." Suddenly, a gnarly voice leapt at them from above and Yoshi, stricken with fear immediately gazed up.
"Is your wi---"
"She'll be just fine. Martha is stronger than she looks, so rest easy."
"You know, just as much as people are responsible for their own actions, there are forces that also influences said actions the more you do them and sometimes, the things we do open gateways for things we would rather not have in our lives. The young girl is sadly one who has fallen to such devious forces."
"I don't get what you're saying."
"Let me break it down for you, she's possessed by what we call a demon. There's no way to soften this. They are evil spirit. Thousands of years old, they just hate humans to an extent you wouldn't even believe, they truly loathe us and would do whatever they can to destroy our lives. And sadly they tend to find grounds in our lives due to our fallen and somewhat twisted… sinful nature."
"Is what he said. But most people think its superstition, and I learnt the demons prefer it that way. But I've seen things…" he went silent on them for a while as his mind drifted.
"Yoshi?"
"Yeah… sorry, sometimes some things happen and it makes you wonder if a person, a human being was truly capable of all that evil or was there really something behind it all."
"From what your dad told me, the demons seem to exist in a plane you and I can't see with these eyes. And they do all they can to come to this realm through a host… a body, they can possess anything but they prefer you and I, human, and they do that through dubious means."
"If there really was something like that behind Kaina's incident then you guys would need more than you have right now. In any case, as long as they don't walk around with us. I think we are safe than if they were? Yeah, definitely so."
The group digested Yoshi's findings and unquestionably, they knew what he was saying was true, it stroke them that deeply.
"Well, uhm… I saw someone, he didn't feel human." She looked to the Mischievous Trio." The guy that attacked us at the end."
"I thought it was just me." Lilith added. "Something about him just felt off and sinister. So that's what he was?"
"Come to think of it, Kaina also felt really really off…" Khay added.
"This is all really really confusing." Kiriku nervously cried out.
"But why Kaina? That's what I don't get."
"Well, for now you may not have all the answers. Kaina may just be a pawn to them, someone to be used. But wait, did you say there was one, in the flesh?"
"Yes!"
"This is really bad. If they've found a way to exist among us then this is really bad." He thought to himself. "I see. In any case, be thankful Theodora was there, I don't know how it would have ended otherwise."
"Right now. Just do the best you can."
Dusk had fallen by the time the conversation ended and they couldn't bring themselves to just ease into the day. A gloomy cloud hovered around them haven been confronted with the facts of the situation at hand.