Chapter 8: The Ash of Memory
The snow crunched beneath Yuki’s boots as he hummed his little tune. Vee floated just above his shoulder, staring at the back of his head. Her mind was still reeling from what he had told her at the hot spring. A brain injury... a completely rewritten personality...
’He thinks he’s a seductor just because he worked in a parlor,’ Vee thought, a faint sigh escaping her. ’He has no idea how terrifying the real world actually is.’
Seeing him so carefree brought back memories she had tried to bury deep within her mind. Memories from a century ago, back when the sky over these very mountains burned red with holy fire.
Yuki was humming when his boot suddenly kicked something hard. He bent down and dug out an old, heavily rusted silver chest plate with a faded sun crest on it—the unmistakable symbol of the Holy Order.
Yuki held up the piece of junk, tilting his head. "Hey Vee, look! Free metal! Do you think I can sell this to the shop for a few points?"
Vee froze. Her optical sensors locked onto the shattered sun emblem.
A sudden surge of static rippled through Vee’s core. The generic system interface faded, replaced by memories she had locked away a century ago. The scent of pine and fresh snow vanished, replaced by the overwhelming stench of burning blood and ash.
A hundred years ago, she hadn’t been a floating familiar for a Demon King candidate. She was a high warrior in the Demon King’s army, serving directly under the Four-Winged General, the second-in-command of the entire demonic host.
She remembered standing on this exact mountain, watching the sky burn a twisted red as thousands of Holy Knights marched forward, slaughtering everything they considered to be vile demons. She remembered the cold, ruthless eyes of the soldiers as they cut down everything in front of them. It didn’t matter who they were—women, children, or dying men—they were all demons to the Order. They were all meant to die, to be purged from this world.
She remembered the agonizing pain of having her flesh burned off by holy fire. She remembered... in that moment, seconds away from death, she could only think of one thing: hate. Pure hate for the ones who had taken everything she loved away from her.
She had paid the ultimate price for a chance at revenge. She was given a second chance at life, compressed into a core to become the familiar of the Demon Lord candidates. Her purpose was to help them achieve ultimate power, all to gain vengeance on the Holy Order for her fallen comrades, friends, and family.
"—ee! Earth to Vee? Are you okay?"
The forgotten memory shattered like glass. The smell of burning flesh slowly dissipated, replaced once more by the crisp scent of the forest air.
Vee blinked, stabilizing her floating form.
Yuki stood mere inches from her, his face filled with genuine concern. "Vee, are you there? Did your system reboot or something?"
Vee stared at the chaotic, adorable vampire boy in front of her. The dread in her chest slowly faded, replaced by her usual exasperation. "I don’t have batteries, you idiot," she muttered.
Yet, deep within her core, a sudden, fierce protectiveness swirled. She knew what those Holy Order monsters were capable of. She wasn’t going to let them touch him. She wasn’t going to let them take someone away from her ever again.
But reality isn’t shaped by what you want; it is inherently cruel and twisted.
Away in the distance, the two Holy Order soldiers had just picked up a scent traveling through the forest. It wasn’t a standard demon, but it wasn’t human either, and it carried the lingering presence of a great calamity. No matter how hard a monster tries to hide in the shadows, the ’light’ will always find it.
"How much further away is the signal, Mage?" the Holy Order knight asked, his voice low and cutting through the quiet woods.
"Just a few hundred meters ahead of us."
"Good. Do you have the concealment spell up?"
"Yes, I do," she replied sharply. "They won’t be able to track our movements until it’s far too late."
"Good. Now make sure that the spell doesn’t break if you happen to get injured."
"I don’t plan on it," she replied, thoroughly annoyed.
"Just be quiet and do what you’re told, half-breed," the knight snapped, glaring back at the mage with barely contained hatred and disgust.
"Filthy animal," she whispered under her breath, watching him speed up and walk away from her.
As he forged ahead, she paused for a moment, genuinely wondering why she was even doing this in the first place. If she deserted right now, there was a high likelihood she could make it to a demon settlement in a few days. It would be incredibly dangerous, but it was a far better alternative than spending another single second with this bastard.
’I should have just killed him when I had the chance,’ the mage grumbled, her fingers biting hard into the polished wood of her staff.
As the two Holy Order soldiers continued to track Yuki and Vee without their knowledge, they crept closer and closer to intercepting them. But the weight of the mission finally broke the mage’s patience.
"Hey," the mage called out to the knight.
He paused, slowly turning back toward her with a scowl. "What now?"
"Why are we doing this?" she asked, her voice trembling slightly. "I mean, there’s no point in this. We don’t even know if it’s actually a hostile demon or not, so why are we hunting them down?"
The knight sighed in pure annoyance. "Would you just shut up and do your job, for fuck’s sake?"
"No."
"What do you mean, no?"
"No. I’m not doing this anymore," she declared, planting her staff firmly in the snow. "I’m not going to kill an innocent person just to satisfy your cause."
The knight’s face contorted with rage. He angrily stormed back over to her, stepping directly into her personal space until they were nose-to-nose. "Are you saying that you don’t want to follow the Holy Doctrine? Are you openly disobeying the will of God?"
"I’m not disobeying God. I’m refusing to follow you," she rebutted, holding her ground.
"So, you won’t follow my commands?"
"No."
"Very well. I knew this was going to happen," the knight muttered, his expression turning ice-cold. "You half-breeds are all the same."
"Stop calling me a half-b—"
Stab.
"Agh!" the mage cried out, her breath hitching.
"Just die already," the knight growled. He viciously shoved his blade deeper through her torso, her warm blood instantly pooling onto the pristine white snow.
The knight ruthlessly pulled his blade free, watching with total indifference as she collapsed to the frozen ground. Tears welled in her eyes as she clutched her wound, her life force rapidly bleeding out into the dirt.
"You should have just followed orders, filth," he said dryly. Turning his back on his dying comrade, he wiped his bloody sword and walked away into the trees, continuing the hunt alone.
