Blood Oath of the Shadow

Chapter 4

A small child’s cry faded fast swallowed by the night market din lost beneath the off key carousel music and the steady drumming of rain on tin roofs. Axel pulled his hood lower while his eyes swept over the crowd huddled under vendor stalls to stay dry. Bright colored lights glowed faint through thin mist and in the thick of all that noise shadow energy hung heavy clinging to his skin like cold damp that would not brush away.

Axel shifted his jaw to hold back his unease. The secondary team sent by the Order might still be searching the old building grounds but he had put plenty of distance between them already. He had powered down his earpiece the moment engine sounds drew close. The stained cloth in his coat pocket stayed warm and the guilt of lying to the order that raised him sat like a stone in his chest. But he could not turn back. Not after watching Rena’s blood purify darkness itself.

"There," he breathed catching an odd movement behind the cotton candy tent.

A little boy in a bright yellow jacket stood frozen unable to move before a creature whose jaw slowly stretched wide to reveal rows of wrong jagged teeth. It was a parasite demon unlike any he had seen before. Its form was almost transparent like a shadow twisted out of shape yet those milky white eyes left no doubt. It was hungry and the child was its prey.

Axel’s hand drifted back closing around the silver spear strapped to his spine. But before he could draw it a tangle of shadow ropes shot down from the dark above the stall. Thick black cords coiled tight around the demon’s throat with crushing strength dragging it into the narrow alley before it could touch the boy. The child gasped but made no sound.

Axel ran after them his boots splashing through puddles as he ducked into the shadowed lane. At the far end under the only working streetlamp he found Rena.

She held the boy close with one arm her pale face looking more exhausted than ever. Her other hand closed around the still twitching demon’s core crushing it until it dissolved into fine pure white ash. She let go and the powder scattered through the rain. Her expression was tight with worry as she bent to check the child her pale eyes blinking fast to make sure he was unhurt.

Only then did she notice Axel. Her body went rigid but she did not run. She set the boy down gently whispered for him to run to his mother and he bolted past Axel without looking back.

Silence settled over the alley once more broken only by rain on tin and their ragged breathing.

Axel pointed his spear straight at her chest. They stood just three meters apart close enough that he could trace every raindrop sliding down her face. She met his gaze without fear only deepening weariness and something he could not name.

"Why did you save him," Axel asked sharply. His aim did not waver but something twisted tight inside him. "You are a Shadow Mage. You are meant to destroy not protect human lives."

Rena stood unresisting before him her black cloak soaked through and dusted with demon ash. She made no move to block or flee. She simply stood with both hands open at her sides.

"Is that not what we all should do," she said softly. "Protect the weak. Is that not why we exist at all."

Axel gripped his spear tighter. "Our duty is to eliminate threats not play hero in the middle of chaos."

"Demons do not care for any life no matter how small," Rena looked him straight in the eye and for the first time Axel saw deep sorrow there. "But I care. That is the only thing that separates me from them."

His fingers curled harder around the shaft. This was his perfect chance. Rena was drained her chest wound still bleeding and she had nowhere to run in this narrow alley. One clean thrust and his mission was done. His oath to the Order demanded he strike now.

But the memory of her blood cleansing corruption in that old building stayed sharp in his mind. And another memory rose up older and deeper from before the Order found him before they forged him into their weapon. Back when he still believed goodness was real. Back when his mother taught him that guarding life meant more than killing enemies.

Without thinking he lowered the spear a few inches.

Rena did not waste the opening. She stepped forward slowly one careful step at a time carrying no threat at all. Every movement looked heavy as if she fought terrible pain just to stay upright.

"What are you doing," Axel warned though his hand no longer shook. He backed half a step until his shoulder blades brushed the damp mossy wall. "Stop right there. Do not come closer."

Rena did not answer. She kept coming and Axel saw fresh blood trickle from her wound mixing with rainwater on the ground. Her face grew paler still but her gaze stayed locked on his with strange steady calm.

When their hands nearly touched she pressed a heavy cold metal object into his palm. It felt slick and wet with blood.

Axel looked down and his heart seemed to stop beating.

It was a high ranking Order hunter’s badge. Its emblem was shattered deeply scored as if someone had deliberately hacked at it with a blade. Its surface was caked in thick black demon blood and carved on the back were a name and registration number he knew all too well. A name that made his knees turn weak.

He remembered that day clearly. Five years earlier right after he graduated top of his training class. A senior hunter he had admired above all others vanished on a secret assignment. The Order reported he had fallen in battle against a high class demon. But Axel had never seen his body never gotten to say goodbye.

This badge should have been buried with him.

"Who really owned this," Axel asked his voice tight. "He died five years ago. The Order said he died in service."

Rena looked deep into his eyes and for the first time Axel saw something there he could not understand.

"He was the one who told me," she said slowly her voice cracking near the end "that the truth you have been searching for was already killed long before you ever had a chance to see it."

Axel stood frozen.

The badge felt heavier in his hand. And through the rain he heard footsteps on the rooftops more than one moving fast and certain. The Order’s secondary team had found him.

To be continued