Chapter 106: Chapter 96 – Graves of old

Screams echoed from the cave. Sitting back, Wrench stared down at Charlie.

 

“A deal?” the deeper voice added.

 

“Yeah, a deal,” Charlie said, a smirk beginning to form on his lips.

 

“What exactly do you mean human?” the softer voice chipped in.

 

“Well, you wish to be free, and I wish to be stronger. Allow me to use your strength, and I swear that I will not bind you to my will or enslave you,” Charlie said, keeping his gaze locked onto the Scorpion's black orbs. For a moment the voices were silent.

 

“Interesting,” the deeper muttered. Within the Emerald field, it glanced to the angle. Tapping the side of its head, the softer voice answered.

 

“If he is, I would be willing to agree,” the softer voice muttered as it sat back on its throne. Tapping its long-clawed finger against the stone of the throne, the creature nodded.

 

“If you are about to die. On the very brink of death, your guts hang from your stomach as your blood pools onto the floor. Then you must allow me and only me to take control,” This time it was Charlie’s turn to hold his silence.

 

“First some ground rules,” Charlie added, “If I do so, you cannot harm anyone who is a friend or ally to me. You must also relinquish all control back to me once my life is secured and the threat is gone,” Charlie stared in the now normal morbid silence.

 

“I agree,” the voice said, tapping its finger against its chair. Still, though it couldn’t keep the grin off its grey lips. Even in such a situation, the boy found his way to turn it into a negotiation.

 

“Before we fully agree though, let me see what you can do,” Charlie said, wanting to see what kind of ‘power’ this voice talked of. The voice chuckled, but as if the words he spoke only got funnier as it repeated them, the chuckle turned into a cackle then uncontrollable laughter.

 

“FINE! Five seconds, give me five seconds of full control,” the voice almost seemed excited about the first time since it began to talk. Even the softer voice chuckled to see how thrilled the demon was. A little nervous about his choice, Charlie nodded.

 

“Five seconds,” he nodded, “so umm… how do we do this?” Charlie blinked for a moment, and he found himself in a field of emeralds. Looking around, he felt air fill his lungs. He even gasped as he felt air so fresh it felt like… well like nothing he had felt before. Despite so much air, he found himself breathless as he struggled to even describe to himself what he felt.

 

“Hello,” the soft voice muttered. Looking up, he saw upon a hill two thrones. One empty, but in the other sat a woman. Her eyes were soft, her skin a ghostly pale, and her eyes a deep, deep blue. Her hair was a light blue and her smile was radiant, “Welcome! I had a little chat with Jalan, and he promised not to destroy your body,” the woman said with an awkward smile as she squinted her eyes.

 

Wrench stared as their body of Charlie fell limp to the ground. Was he dead? Before he could ponder for longer, he threw himself and the bundle of cloth back onto the sand. Throwing his hands over his head, he felt the bottom of his shoes begin to melt. Glancing back, he saw emerald flames reaching into the sky and filling the hole.

“H..How high is that?” Wrench said, yet his mask was silent. He went to ask again before it interrupted him.

 

“Five miles... The flames are reaching five miles high,”

 

“Can the time stop, “

 

“Yes, yes, the time stop will be fine. No one will see it,” the mask's voice said as Wrench turned and stared up.

 

Grabbing the bundle of cloth and gently holding it in his arms, he stared up at the flames. Slowly, the flames from the mouth of the hole faded. Transfixed, he watched as the flames disappeared. Looking at the baby in his arms, Wrench shivered as he took off his jacket and placed it on the ground. Placing down the child, he then wrapped the jacket around the child to keep them warm.

 

Ash stained the top of the hole. Moving forward, he ran his fingers over the ash to just confirm what he had seen. The mask flickered a few measurements in front of his eyes. The pit had expanded by about seven centimetres. Rock of the desert was hard, so hard the Southern Realm was the largest exporter of stone to make castles and city walls.

 

Yes, these flames had turned the stone to ash. Leaning over the edge, he saw piles of ash, and the mask flickered measurements into his sight. It had sunken by about seven centre meters as well. It seemed the majority of the power of the flames had been forced up. Scanning the area, there was no sign of the Scorpion.

 

Standing at the centre, stretching his back, Wrench saw Charlie. Something though was off about him. Moving closer, he froze as Charlie turned to him. His eyes were a bright red, and an otherworldly smile on his lips. Grey, ash-like patterns covered his skin as all limbs were healed.

 

“My, aren’t you the man who had thrown my Vessel in here?” he said, stretching out his arms as the burs on him began to fade.

 

“HA! I knew it!” Wrench yelled, the face of Charlie frowning as Wrench fell back onto the sand.

 

“OH! I FUCKING CALLED IT!” he punched the air. Taking in a deep breath he sat up, “Apologies,” Wrench took a few more breaths before sitting on the edge again.

 

“Well, you see me, and my mask has been debating if there was a demon or God or something of that kind sealed inside the boy. Like he reeks of suppressed magic,” Wrench threw his hands up as he laughed again. The demon simply stared, confused by the casualness of the man.

 

“So, you threw this boy down into this hell pit, fully aware he might die, but simply because you had a hunch it might awaken the power within him?” the demon responded, questioning if he was the real one who deserved the demonic title.

 

“Well, the mask said it was a seventy-eight per cent chance of success. So, I did what I thought was best for him,” Wrench responded, seemingly more relaxed now.

 

“Why does this so-called help? I mean, what do you stand to gain from this?” the demon said, rubbing the side of his…or would it be Charlie’s head? Oh well, the point stood he rubbed the side of his head as the softer voice and Charlie began to argue over the body not being already handed back to Charlie. For a moment Wrench was quiet.

 

“Well to be completely honest… Nothing really,”

 

Even Charlie, who could hear the voice of Wrench, froze as he heard this.

“So, let me get this right. You cripple a boy, throw him into a pit, basically put him through hell since you thought you could awaken a demon that could help him and did it all for nothing in return?” The demon said, being baffled for the first time in hundreds of years.

 

“Well yeah. For reasons, the third Region Is very close to me. I wouldn’t just let anyone be in charge of it. If he had died down there, then he wasn’t worthy. But now. Well Charlie, if you can hear me, I cannot apologise enough for what I have done. If though you can bring this demon under your control, then I am willing to give you anything you could want that will assist your Region.” Wrench said, his voice giving a sincere and serious tone. Morbid silence came over the area before Wrench spoke again.

 

“Also, you are the son of Mr Black Quill, so I was interested to see what you were like,”

 

Quietly, Charlie thought to himself. Anger towards this bastard of a man swelled within him, yet something in his voice expressed to him a pain.

 

“Ask him something for me,” Charlie said, “well three things actually,”

 

“Sure,” The demon said.

 

“Number one, when I get out of here allow me to hit him as hard as I possibly can using magic. Number two, I want to hear more about his past and connections to my Region. Lastly, I want to know what he knows about my father,” Charlie began to glare down. Anger and curiosity battle for control over his mind as his fits began to tighten.

 

The demon relayed the message. Bringing a hand to his forehead, Wrench wiped away some sweat before turning his cold gaze to Charlie.

 

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“Yes. Also, I am aware my apology means nothing. So, I would rather use actions over words. But that will come in time. So, on the second question,” Wrench stretched his shoulders.

 

“I like my privacy, so I will just say a friend would have wanted this,” Wrench’s voice softened as he stared down at him, “Lastly… well I would like to show you if you are to believe me,”

 

Wrench extended a hand to Charlie.

 

“You have no reason to trust me. I wouldn’t blame you if you chose to leave now. But there is now one hour left on the time stop, so you should make your decision quickly,” the demon’s red eyes narrowed, before turning into a gentle emerald, and slowly it became the usually deeper variant.

 

Blinking rapidly and falling to the ground, Charlie began to pant. Looking to where the scorpion once stood, he saw the ash. Quickly gathering his senses, he stared up at Wrench.

 

“First, let me punch you,” Jumping over the edge and into the pit, Wrench took in a deep breath. Turning to face Charlie, he put his arms out to his sides.

 

“Go, have fun-” Wrench was cut off as a fist slammed into his stomach, followed by a swift kick between the legs. Falling and placing his hands over his privates he began to mutter.

 

“I said punch!” he roared, and Charlie grinned.

 

“And you said you would train me,”

“But I have,” Wrench stood, and tapped his metal finger against Charlie’s forehead,” think how quickly you just adapted to having a demon take over your body. By pushing you through this hellscape, I have eradicated the weakness of not being able to adapt to surprises,”

 

Charlie frowned, angered slightly by how quickly Wrench recovered. But he found himself agreeing with him.

 

“Fine, take me to where you want,” Charlie said, finding some confidence in knowing the demon.

 

He had yet to know if he could trust it, so he didn’t want to become so quickly reliant on it. Yet it was also good to say this was a ‘test run’ to make sure the demon carried on following orders. This way the demon could think Charlie was becoming reliant, while Charlie was simply using it only when necessary.

 

Frowning, Charlie allowed Wrench to grab him before leaping up onto the edge of the hole. If the two voices dwelled within his head and communicated to him through his mind, then could they also read his thoughts? The idea alone terrified him, but if they could do so, why not just manipulate him while he was younger into handing over full control to them?

 

Well, they had said they were laying low so his father didn’t find them, so maybe that meant they couldn’t have even contacted him at that time. Or maybe they were manipulating him mentally and he didn’t even know? Shaking his head and choosing to focus on the task at hand, Charlie allowed Wrench to begin to walk him through the Desert.

 

Every couple of steps, Charlie would stumble. Whatever that demon had done, it had repaired his shattered body, but still, Charlie would have to get used to a functioning body again. They walked until they could again see the outer walls. But instead of walking towards them, Wrench made a sharp turn and began to walk the perimeter.

 

With haste, Charlie followed him. For around ten minutes they walked until they reached the east side of the city. Walking for a while longer, Charlie slowed in pace as he saw the tops of white mounds. Large white stones stood in a line. Hundreds, no, thousands lined this side of the town.

 

“Each of these is a dead friend of mine,” Wrench began as he continued to walk, glancing over his shoulder to make sure Charlie was still behind him. Glancing across the stones, Charlie saw names engraved on the surface. From a distance, it looked to just be lines etched in, but on closer inspection, you could see hundreds of names on each stone.

 

“I…am sorry,” Charlie muttered.

“No, I am. I believe I had let out a lot of my anger onto you once I realised you were his son,” Wrench said, his voice slightly quieter than before. As if muffling any resentment or sorrow he felt.

 

“My father did this, didn’t he,” Charlie said, seeing where the conversation was leading.

 

“Your father, a long time ago, came through here. My parents had been accused of sparking a revolution, even though the most they did was a campaign for the rights of the factory workers here. He slaughtered them in droves. All who had sided with my family were killed, and I am the only survivor,” Wrench began, while the demon chuckled in Charlie’s ear.

“Ahhh, I thought I recognised him!” the demon said, for a moment a few flashes of street corners came into Charlie’s mind.

 

Men, women, and children the like scampered around as green flames washed over every inch of the tight spaces. As quickly as it came, the image was gone. They continued forward, Charlie staring at each of the stones, seeing not a single area was without the name of one of the dead.

 

“I am not your ally Charlie,” Wrench said as he came to a stop. Before he was rows upon rows of the same white stones, “the reason I have been willing to help you is so that I could see if you were a strong enough ally. From the looks of it, you are,”

 

Turning, he stared at Charlie. Extending his metal hand, he lifted the other to his mask. Lifting his mask from his face, Charlie flinched slightly as he stared at him. Scars riddled his face, his sunken blue eyes sparkled dimly, and his lips mattered in even more marks of conflict.

 

“I have no scars on my back, and I hope going forward neither will you,” Wrench smiled, “I have long forgotten my real name, but I do remember my friends. So, allow me to ask you, boy, will you sit down at the negotiation table with me?”

 

A sense of hatred still dwelled within Charlie, but he knew he held some sway over this town. Considering it was hard to grow their food, they would probably need a lot of it to be imported. So, getting an ally close to them who would allow them to send merchant envoys would be good. Considering as well how many guns this area produced, it would be foolish to not turn down some sort of deal to get his hands on such firepower.

 

Grinning, Charlie took his hand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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