"Bastard..." He muttered to himself as he walked through the castle's large hallways, the servants trying their best to avoid him in fear. "At least he won't tell anyone..."
He'd eventually reach the front door and walk into the courtyard, the brown backpack still strung over his shoulder. He'd pull out a book, The Arcane for Dummies, and begin reading while walking towards the front gates.
"In order for demon kind to use their inherent magical ability, they need to access the arcane matrix? The hell does that mean?"
As he passed the front gates, he'd wave at the twin guards and continue walking down the black road. "The Arcane Matrix is the foundation of existence itself, and all living creatures are bound to it at birth, although few get to experience or even use its power."
That's a little intense. He thought as he kept reading the book. "The type of magic you wield is determined by the conditions of your birth, your actions in life up to casting your first spell, and your race. The strength, all the way to applications of your magic type, solely depends on those three things."
This would go on for a good thirty minutes until he eventually reached his destination. The market district, the same place he and Mary had passed just a few hours earlier. "So, how am I going to go about this?" He'd pull another book out of the backpack, Flames of Disaster.
Might as well improvise...
He'd flip through a couple of pages before landing on the correct chapter.
"I grabbed this book, assuming that my magic type was fire...hopefully I'm right, or else I'll have to go back to the library." He visibly cringed at the thought of going back and possibly seeing Cain or worse, his father.
Shaking it off, he'd walk towards the back alleys of the market district, right between two stores. Sinners are captured as soon as they fall into hell from the Hallow Passage and are taken to places like this. Eventually, he'd reach the back of a store that he honestly couldn't be bothered to know the name of and would find a back door.
The screams were louder there. "Perfect, a basic spell should be enough for me to break down this door."
"For magic of any kind to be used, the user needs to give that spell a word of power. This word could be literally anything." Reading through the book, his right hand would start glowing, waiting for the right words."Ignear bolt!"
BOOOM
In a split second, a large fireball formed on Jax's outstretched hand and impacted the door. The aftermath was not at all what he expected; not only did the door fly off its hinges, but the top half of it had been turned to ash.
"It... wasn't supposed to be that strong." He flipped through the book again, but just found that it was supposed to be an impact spell, leaving little to no burning damage. "That definitely isn't right..."
"HELP ME PLEASE!" Cutting him off was a voice coming from within the now open back room.
Sighing, Jax would trudge in and be greeted by a familiar sight. Dozens and dozens of humans were being hung up in the air by burning cages, their immortal bodies regenerating faster than their melting skin.
"PLEASE HELP US! PLEASE, I DON'T DES-" An older human pleaded to him as he screamed in excruciating pain. Any other day, Jax would've passed by without a glance, but fortunately for them, today isn't a normal day.
"Shut it, I was already going to rescue you." His eyes narrowed at the old sinner. It really was a tragedy, losing out on such a good meal. He had better things to do anyway.
Pointing his hands at the cages, he'd yell out. "Ignear bolts!" Multiple fireballs shot from his hands, impacting the cages and letting all of the sinners fall to the ground. Having to say the magic word is kind of annoying...I'll need to practice wordless casting when I get to the human world.
A few of the humans began slowly standing up, fear evident in their eyes. "If any of you move without my permission, I'll make you suffer even more than you did in that cage. That's a promise." He spoke without a care in the world, which made all of the people pause in their movements, their bodies quivering in fright.
"Good humans....I wish to make a deal with you all. I gave you freedom, but now I want you to do something for me." Jax spoke with all the grace that he could muster, a smirk crowning his face as he gleefully watched them quiver.
"I want all of you to spread out and cause as much chaos as possible.
The words hung in the air longer than smoke.
For a moment, none of them moved. Confusion bled into fear, fear into disbelief. One of the younger sinners, barely older than a teenager, let out a weak laugh, the sound cracked and hysterical. "Y-You want us to… riot?"
Jax tilted his head, flames flickering faintly along his fingers. "Riot, run, scream, burn something down, I genuinely don't care how creative you get." His smile widened. "Just make sure it's loud."
Murmurs rippled through the group. Some looked at the exits. Others stared at him like he'd become their new hope. The old sinner from before swallowed hard. "And if we don't?"
Jax didn't answer immediately. He stepped closer, heat rolling off him in waves, black wings twitching once behind his back. "Then I reconsider how generous I'm feeling today."
That did it.
They scattered.
Screams echoed down the alleys as sinners bolted in every direction, some laughing, some sobbing, and some yelling incoherent nonsense as they shoved through the market district.
Jax chuckled as he watched them run off before going around the Market District and doing the same thing to multiple other food stores.
Within minutes, the distant sounds of alarms began to ring: metal bells, horns, panicked shouts.
Jax exhaled slowly, watching the chaos bloom like a wildfire.
"Perfect, that should leave a lot of the knights busy," he muttered as he thought of Cain. "Now all that's left… are the stables."
"Can you see me, Mary? I'm doing it..."
*
*
*
"Hey, wake up, ya scaly bastard!" The large black dragon's tail flicked lazily as he tried to ignore the fly talking to him. "I SAID WAKE UP!"
Grumbling, he'd open his eyelids and glare at the boy in front of him. "I thought that after so long you'd be happy to see your master again," Jax spoke playfully, a smirk on his face. The big dragon could only snort in reply, releasing a bit of smoke from their nose and into the cave like stables.
"Awww c'mon, don't be like that." Walking closer, Jax would put his hand under its chin and begin scratching, only to be swatted away.
"Oww."
The dragon huffed again, smoke curling up toward the stone ceiling as it shifted its massive body, chains rattling softly around one foreleg. Its scales were dark, obsidian veined with faint crimson lines that pulsed like a slow heartbeat.
"Wow," Jax muttered, rubbing his stinging hand. "You really are holding a grudge."
The dragon cracked one eye open fully now, a molten gold iris fixing onto him. It let out a low rumble, the sound vibrating through the stables like distant thunder.
"Yeah, yeah, I know," Jax said, holding his hands up in mock surrender. "I vanished for a bit. Sue me. Not like I had much freedom to visit, what with the whole 'royal expectations thing."
"Oh, relax," Jax scoffed. "If I didn't come back, you'd still be rotting here, getting fed scraps and listening to knights brag about their meaningless achievements." He grimaced, already used to Cain's bragging.
The dragon snorted again, but this time it didn't turn away.
Encouraged, Jax stepped closer, lowering his voice. "I'm thinking about leaving. Well, not really thinking, I'm doing it, and I don't want to go alone."
The dragon's head lifted slightly, as it eyed its master in intrigue.
"That's right," Jax said, eyes gleaming. "Earth. Blue skies. Open air....No chains."
The dragon stared at him for a long moment, flames flickering deep in its throat. Then, slowly, it leaned forward, close enough that the heat washed over Jax's face.
With a sharp clink, the chain around its leg snapped, metal melting clean through as if it had never existed.
Jax blinked.
"…Oh," he said, a grin spreading across his face. "So you were listening."
The dragon lowered its head, close enough for Jax to rest a hand against its scales. This time, it didn't swat him away.
"Attaboy, Mercury," Jax murmured. "Now let's get the hell out of hell."