MYRIAD WORLDS: THE DEMON LORD GILGAMESH

CHAPTER FIVE: Yvaine Regina Immortalis

Yvaine Regina Immortalis watched the young man curiously. There was certainly Demon blood in his body, but no trace of Human, nor any of the other lesser inhabitants of the Middle Aether. The other part of his blood was pure, but she’d never come across it before. It was so strong, nearly overshadowing his Demon blood even.

Very curious.

He looked nothing like his mother, except in the eyes, sporting the same green pupils and heavy eyebrows. But he was beautiful, though. His age wasn’t shown on his body, though she was sure he couldn’t be more than 350 years old. His physical constitution was as perfect as one would expect of a Daemon, and even his magic level was decent, but he was weak.

She looked at him again, unconsciously cocking her head as she pondered. Meeting him here was a surprise, and the questions she couldn’t answer about his parentage interested her. Unfortunately, she couldn’t stay to examine him to her heart’s content because they’d be picking up her trail soon.

Gilgal moved slowly, tracking his sword in that fluid-like pattern that he’d adopted suddenly, and she realized she’d been silent for too long. She replaced the smile on her face, and followed his motions with her eyes and senses. She caught his eyes drift momentarily to her side and she frowned.

He was quick to adapt if he’d already seen through her concealment. She tutted to herself, mentally cursing Inanna.

Escaping this time from the Palace had not gone nearly as well as she would have liked. Inanna had caught her at the portal, and being Mommy’s loyal daughter that she was, had seen fit to stop her leaving. It had been a simple exchange of blows, but she’d been bruised thoroughly before fleeing through the portal. She should have known, though.

Inanna Regina Immortalis was not just her oldest sister by age, but even in magic level by leaps and bounds, able to manifest a fully tangible Dharma body. If she’d just fled when she was discovered, she wouldn’t have an opening for the young Purger to even contemplate taking advantage of.

She tutted to herself again.

When Carilliene the tenth’s dalliance was discovered by mother, she was sure the younger sibling wouldn’t leave the throne room alive that day, but it seems now like mother had known all along. If Carilliene the tenth hadn’t slept with a mere human after all, then that would explain why mother had spared her life, and why she was actively searching for the bastard child. And that would also explain why Gilgamesh was not human at all.

She watched his determined face again, and wondered if he even knew that he was completely different from the humans he risked his life to protect? Certainly not. He was beyond clueless. His precious Order must have known of his Demonic lineage, though, or they never would have let him live such a poor life.

“No more words, Demon?” Gilgal asked.

Yvaine blinked at him, still smiling outwardly. Very curious. She’d watched his duel and interactions in the town they called Wharfdale, and his rationalization to Carilliene the twentieth had been unexpected. That proved that he wasn’t brainwashed like all the other Purgers she’d met, but he still brutally suppressed his Demon blood with the enchantments. Very curious.

Or maybe it wasn’t the Demon blood he was suppressing?

“Will you come with me, Gilgamesh?” she found herself asking. And the words shocked her as much as it did Gilgal, judging by the bewildered look that appeared on his face. She couldn’t blame him. She was about to speak again, when his expression tightened suddenly and he seemed to dissolve.

Magic ready, she spotted him and prepared to transport herself again, but he was suddenly before her, even faster than before it seemed. She quickly pooled air around her injured sides, but in a split second, his wrist twitched and the direction of his sword changed.

Her eyes widened with surprise and she raised her hands easily to deflect the slash.

The clang echoed down the empty road, and she felt pain bloom on her side where the sword had been aimed.

Stumbling back, and falling away from the cocoon of air she’d erected around herself earlier, she looked down at her side in shock. The hilt of a dagger stuck out of her skin, with her scarlet blood already soaking through her gown.

She never saw him draw the dagger, and she fell for both of his diversions. His target had never truly changed since the beginning of the attack, and the more she thought about it, the more impressed she became.

The dagger wouldn’t kill her. It wouldn’t even take a minute to heal the wound, but he’d managed to land the strike despite being relatively weaker. Very impressive. She looked up at him, smiling genuinely at the flash of triumph that passed his visage. Then that triumph was replaced with wariness and determination. He was sure he was going to die, but proud to have scored a hit, it seemed.

She grabbed hold of the dagger hilt and pulled it out easily, watching his reaction. He didn’t attack, but kept his sword between them always, even as he slowly moved to circle. She tutted as she dropped the dagger, feeling her skin already mending itself.

“You’ve impressed me, Gilgamesh,” she said, changing her original assessment. Her magical senses was already being withdrawn into her body, and she looked at him again with her head cocked. “When we meet again, I hope you can answer some of my questions about your origins, won’t you?”

Gilgal frowned at her.

She sighed to herself. The prickling she could feel all over her skin was already testament to the fact that either Inanna or her mother was about to lock on to her location, and she didn’t want that. Most importantly now, she didn’t want them to discover Gilgamesh until she had satisfied her own curiosity.

She smiled at him widely and drew upon the air, wrestling it into submission from the grasping hands of goddess Algiz, then manipulating it to immediately transport her miles away.

#

Gilgal didn’t immediately relax his guard, even after ten minutes had passed and he no longer felt the presence of the Demon Princess in the air. He was alert even as he finally walked to the shade of a tree by the side of the road and sat with a long sigh.

A lot of thoughts flashed through his mind. The unknown succubus who called the Demon Lord Lilith, by the unceremonious title of mother like she never had to think about it. Then her damning comment about his blood. His father was of course Human. What else could he be? And Lilith looking for him?

He crossed his sword on his laps, adopting a meditative pose. His body and magic senses were taxed already from the few minutes of confrontation, and that took precedence in his mind at the moment. Not even the war 300 years ago, nor the Demon Princesses and Princes he’d fought against then, had taxed him as much. Employing the Lagar stance also added to his exhaustion, but he doubted it was that alone.

He couldn’t get the image of the smiling face and cocked head from his head, though, even as he channeled his magic to mend his body, and considered her words. Wyvrill Wolf had been the one to find him and bring him to the Castle, but not even the old Master had any idea who his father was. Even if his father was a Daemon also, it still wouldn’t explain why the succubus had failed to identify the other part of his blood.

And if he wasn’t even half human, then what else could he be? Being half demon was already a death sentence hanging over his head if the Order ever felt he’d lost his usefulness.

He opened his eyes, losing his train of thought momentarily as he heard Harvey’s familiar neighing. He reflected that he must have been sitting for ten more minutes, judging by the rate at which his body had mended itself. But as he started to stand, he paused in shock, then hurriedly checked his body’s magic level.

His affinity with Rhaido had risen to a startling 32% in just a few minutes, and he could feel his body tingling with an enormous store of magical energy.

Purgers ranked their magical level by their affinity to the element of the deity they were closely related to by discipline, but that affinity took years to improve. Some Purgers even lived their entire lives never making it to 30% affinity, and yet he’d gotten to 32% in less than 400 years.

The affinity with the elements also signified mastery over said element, allowing more control of the element without direct interference of the deity in charge of it. The highest affinity he’d ever seen or heard of within the Order, was that of Wyvrill Wolf at 83%, able to manifest a fully opaque Divine body of the water element.

The old Master was the pillar of the entire Order for that very reason, and his discipline was that of Lagar, with the blessing of goddess Eudora, allowing him to utilize the power of moonlight also.

Gilgal examined his body thoroughly, arriving at the conclusion that exerting his magical senses that much without suppressing his Demon blood was the reason for the change. He chose to believe this explanation, as the other possibility was very close to the succubus’ damning words.

Harvey walked up to him and nudged him with his muzzle, and Gilgal caught him with a smile, patting his cheek. Harvey was the longest companion he had on his journeys, even though he could no longer truly tell how many horses he’d christened with the same name, and which incarnation he was currently petting. One thing that never changed about Harvey, though, was his ability to serve as a friend and assistant.

He walked over to his dagger and picked it up carefully, making sure not to wipe off the blood as he drew a sigil over it, wrapping it in flows of air to keep it preserved. He returned his sword to his scabbard, and the dagger to a separate saddlebag, before mounting Harvey. Soon, he’d have no need to focus his magic and will through sigils, and when that happened, he’d have gotten to the threshold of being a Master.

As he continued on his journey finally, the memories of the succubus never left his mind, nor did her words. Her blood would be analyzed at the Castle and he’d confirm her status as one of the ten direct offspring of Demon Lord Lilith. That confirmation would mean that there was truth to what she said about Lilith looking for him. And it would also mean that she truly knew his mother, and would have theories about his parenthood.

He made up his mind then. His primary mission was still to get stronger so he could take the war to the Demons in the Lower Aether, but he now has a secondary mission which was to meet the succubus again, and find out the answers to the questions she’d awakened within him again. And next time they met, he would be sure to emerge victorious, and get his answers finally.