"The scenery is quite beautiful, isn't it?"
"W-what?!" She quickly whipped her head around to find the threat, but instead, she found a boy not that much older than her. Even with that, a sinking feeling of dread couldn't help but fill her heart. "Ahhh, Young Master, it's you! I'm sorry for slacking off!"
"Please forgive me!" The young boy could only stare at her in amusement before waving her off. "It's fine, it's fine. It's just that I wasn't expecting to find one of the servants in my resting spot...You can stay if you want." He wore a shark-toothed grin as he finished his sentence.
"Oh no, I really couldn't, Young Master-"
"Don't call me that." His voice turned grave as he stared at her with cold auburn eyes. "O-okay, Master Jax."
"Whoa, you actually listened to me?" He sounded bewildered, but a hint of joy went through his voice once again, now jovial.
"O-of course I did! Why wouldn't I?"
"It's just that I've never heard any of the other servants say my actual name." He scratched the back of his head with his right hand as he joked. "I was starting to wonder if they even knew it or not."
"Now, what's your name?"
"M-me?!" She looked around, wondering if he could be talking to anyone else before relenting. "My n-name is Mary...I think."
"You think?"
"Y-yes, I wasn't given a name at birth, so I gave myself one." She shuffled under the young lord's scrutinizing gaze until the weirdest thing happened. He smiled at her, truly smiled for reasons even he didn't know.
"I think that's a great name. You have amazing taste."
"T-thank you!" She squeaked more to herself than to anyone. She clearly wasn't used to anyone complimenting her. Why is he being so nice? The Young Master has never-
Before her mind could continue running on, his voice would cut off her train of thought.
"Mary?"
"Y-yes?"
"Do you have any friends?" The question came as a surprise to the lonely girl, and she could do nothing but shake her head in denial.
"Well then, let me be your first!"
*
*
*
She was dead.
Of course, Jax knew that she'd be dead, but that didn't help lessen the feeling gripping his heart. It wasn't sadness; in fact, he didn't really know what it was...but it irked him to no end.
A large majority of the servants, as well as a few of the knights, gathered in the red rocky courtyard of the castle and watched in silence as the dagger of ten thousand faces stabbed straight into her chest as she lay on a black steel table.
The hilt of the dagger had a gemstone inside it that glowed as it stabbed into her. The weapon itself could remove the immortality of its target, and Jax had long since stopped wondering where his father acquired it from.
He'd never be able to get anything out of that old bastard anyway.
Cain stood nearby, watching the execution with an uninterested gaze. He didn't care much for the girl; all he knew was that she was distracting Jax from what was truly important. Also, she was a filthy, horn blood.
"Tell me, Jax, what are you thinking right now?"
The young master didn't answer, as he found himself unable to. His mind was a jumbled mess of knots. In truth, he didn't really know what to think.
"Well?"
"I don't know, Cain." His voice was detached as he glanced at the armored man standing to his side.
"That is what happens when you associate with a lower lifeform, Young Master. You are so much more than she could've ever been. Please do not let such an insignificant death cloud your mind."
He couldn't even raise his voice to defend her, his mind replaying every interaction he'd ever had with his first true friend.
"I am truly sorry for my outburst earlier, Young Master." Cain kneeled before him, a small smile on his face. "But now that the problem is gone, I shall do anything in my power to make it up to you."
Finally, something clicked into place in the whirlwind of thoughts and emotions Jax felt in that moment, and a small smile spread across his face.
"Cain, remind me of where the Hallow Passage is located?"
*
*
*
It's not that he wanted to leave, it's that he felt like he had to. If he had been in a different state of mind, maybe he would've asked that foolish knight to stab himself with the dagger as well, but the location of the Hallow Passage is much more important.
He walked through the castle's hallways, a large brown backpack on his back, as he occasionally greeted servants while they could only gaze at him with an even greater fear than before. It's their loss, Mary told me that I was wonderful at conversations.
The mention of her name in his head filled him with the same feeling as before, but he pushed it down and walked forward. He had something very important to do after all.
He'd finally make his way to the room he was looking for, the library. Inside was a massive array of books that only he, his father, and his brother could access. Ranging from underworld history to the mastery of magic.
Speaking of magic...
He unfurled his black draconic wings and took off towards the highest shelf. Putting specific books into the brown backpack he was carrying.
"The arcane for dummies...Demonic magic 101...The freedom of wings...Dragons and you...Flames of Disaster..." He listed off the titles of the books before putting them into the backpack, making sure he was collecting the right ones.
"How to expand your magical repetiteur...and that should be it." Muttering to himself as he gently landed back onto the library's floor, he'd sling the brown bag over his shoulder and exit the place of learning. "Now for the next step."
"The next what?"
"Fuck..." He muttered under his breath as he turned to see a face that he hoped to never see again. "What do you want, snake?" The bitterness in his voice seemed to almost pulsate through the hallway, which only caused the smirk on the bastard's face to grow.
"That is no way to greet your older brother~" Halibel replied in a sing-song voice that only served to increase Jax's frustration.
"All I wanted to do was come tell you how proud I am of you!"
"Cut the shit, tell me why you're here."
Halibel simply chuckled in response as he grinned at hisbrother.
"It's just that I had a feeling, and now seeing you with that backpack on just confirmed it to me." He had this glint in his eyes as he grinned, but Jax couldn't really tell what it was. Which only served to dampen his already horrible mood.
"Here's the deal, worm. I won't tell father or anyone else, for that matter, about this little escape plan of yours."
"What's in it for you?"
Jax's response made the older demon boy grin even wider. "The thing that I gain from this is you leaving. With you gone father will have no choice but to have me as the next Demon King of the Burning Hell. And if you get caught and brought back, I get to see you be punished. It's a win-win for me."
"Sick freak..." Jax scoffed in response to the deal that honestly wasn't even that much of a deal. "There was no need to tell me what I already knew. I'm not that much of an idiot."
He whipped around and began walking down the hallway as Halibel waved him off.
"Besides, Father would never give a disgrace like you have such a title."