[Terminé] Not Anymore.

Charon island, east of Rhadamanthe.
More a peninsula than an island actually, gnawed at by the sea that turned its sides into huge cliffs of black stone, gnawed at by continous wind full of salt that stopped vegetation from growing, gnawed at by beasts that roamed the area, permanently hungry.
No one lived here. No one sane anyway. Sailors avoided the place, fearing the treacherous reefs lurking right below the water.
The perfect place, really, for a fight to the death.
Behekine stood sitting, on a small beach, the cliff behind him and his eyes lost on the ocean's waves. Back and forth, back and forth they went.
The panther demon turned feral and monstruous was so immobile he looked like a gargoyle. Only the permanent wind ruffling his short fur proved he was not made of stone.
His horns were shining in the rising sun's light, almost giving him a regal look. His slave marks on his forearms were faintly shining, in rythm with his restless thoughts.

He felt conflicted.
When he left Cruor last night, leaving a message to his aggressors in the district they had ruined during their fight, anger was guiding his actions. Anger, and the will to protect the innocents from becoming collateral victims of their clash.
But now that he was here, after some rest and enough time to calm his anger, he began to ask himself why he stood there, waiting for the two childs that wanted him dead.
He could leave, to resume his mission. He felt a pull in the Pact, as if it was trying to convince him to go and do just that.
But he stayed still. Waiting.
He wanted to see the end of it, even if it could pretty much mean his own death. These two kids were dangerous, knew his name and nature, and proved intent on killing him.
Behekine wanted to know why, and was at least resolute on getting the answer, even if it meant beating the crap out of those childrens.
Which was strange, coming from him. He never did hurt children before, nor wanted to. But now, he felt really capable of going ham on the two.
Maybe the recent events in his life had changed him, turning him more savage. This feral form of his might be more fitting today for him. Behekine. The Demon. The monster. Children-killer...

Today, if they were serious about this, someone would die here, on this beach.
Maybe he would gain a new title, maybe he would be the one killed. If he stood alone, the odds were against him.
But he was not alone. Kinda.

He wanted to experiment with the magic he absorbed, the one that turned him into this monster, and... he would say it went well, but not how he expected it to go.
All he wanted was to try and see if he could use mist to create an incarnation like those he could shape when he was a mere ghost, an elemental body he could control and move around like his own, to go somewhere and help him with tasks that needed opposable thumbs and the absence of stone-carving claws.
It worked. The shaping part at least.
The controling part, however...

Five small creatures of mist were moving around him on the beach. Two-legged, none above seventy centimeters in height, they looked like deformed, impish version of himself, each with one part of their body bigger than the rest. After the surprise, Behekine had given them names, based on how they looked.
Itchy, with his back full of spines, was currently attacking every black rock he saw.
Bitey, his large jaws full of razor-sharp teeth, was drumming a beat by opening and closing his mouth in rythm.
Scratchy, hands and claws oversized compared to his body, was clawing at the waves, each time they came close to him.
Screechy was running around in circles - short ones - and screamed every few seconds : "Screeeeeeeeeeee !"
Bob, the smallest and frail looking one, just sat in front of Behekine and was looking straight at him. Immobile. Silent. Unblinking.

He could feel the five summons in his mind, a feeling similar to what linked him with the Fire Elementals he could create, but he had no real control over them. Worst, he could not unsummon them, and now felt like a lion surrounded by over-excited squirrels.
The Demon sighed.
At least, he wasn't alone, now.

"Screeeeeeeeeeee !"

Beacon…
After hearing what Behekine said, Anhydre stood up among debris. The outrageous explosion had engraved on every inhabitant’s face, shading the sky gray. The dead and the poor wouldn’t forgive anyone who had done tonight, even though they didn’t know it’s them, the three triggers.
She would go and must go there to meet him. No more fight, she hoped.
Everything just happened like this bomb… so sudden and so hysteria. From kidnapped on the street to entering the room, killing someone she thought as friend… to now, this moment, having nearly blown out a city, she hardly know what she was doing, even herself, couldn’t forgive her own conduct. Before having any movement, there was a man she had to meet first.
Anhydre picked the wasterstone into pocket sent by Behekine, which was used to led the road by watering the line, functioned like a headlight.
Then, she touched the sigil and thought:
*Where are you!*
#
In the room, again! The same as that one had been bombed in Crour.
How many rooms does he have? And where is this damn place again?
Anyway, these were not what she came for. Seeing the masked man sitting on the chair and looking relaxed, she was in a towering rage. Tearing his face up couldn’t smooth her fury. Even putting him into the blender was too kind to him. No words could fit her frenzy now, like thousand feet striking in her heart, about to burst...
Instead, loading her fists hard on the desk with full sand power, Anhydre cracked it down straightly. A mirrorlike puddle of mixed potion heated itself, drenching on the floor.
The masked man was in surprise, maybe at her impetuous temper, stood up and wanted to grab her hand but another punch far much stronger than that one on the panther-man’s chin launched on the masked man’s temple. He fell to the ground and screamed. Now she was pretty good at fighting, thanks for Behekine.
“Thanks my mercy, not having sent you to the hell.”
And then she came to his side, soon caught him by the back of collar before he could retrieve his mind and catch her foot, yanking back to the front through her shoulder, throwing him to the ground like swinging the mop. A huge sound shook the whole room. It needed a huge strength to raise the man up but now, it was just a piece of cake, compared to her gall. She faced him and pressed her right foot against his chest…

“Behekine is the panther-man! I can tell you now-”
She shouted beside his ear, loud enough to deafen him.
“God damn… and you got rid of the words on purpose- Demon of Mist- in order not to raise my suspicion. Who are you? And who is that guy? All controllers! I was fed up with you. You clearly know I wouldn’t kill it if I knew it’s him. You know I had told to him, we should have been enemies, didn’t you? And this eye-patch…”
She tried to pluck it but failed.
“blocked my sight to see him, the panther-man. Because my left eyes couldn’t be spelled and was stinging at that time, so you used it to cover up and whom I saw was a MAN. A real man!”
Anhydre. could feel she was going to become a beast and she wished so much she could really be…
“Hahahahaha, congratulation. You found it out finally.”
A slap on his face.
He opened his eyes,
“Why I didn’t tell you it’s HIM because I wanted you to focus on more important thing- SAND right. I planned to let you know as you gave him the last breath. See, now you were caught into the dilemma. I believe you won’t give up your own right but on the other side, you can’t continue. Not only you, he wouldn’t forgive you for what you had done to him. Knowing it’s him only brought you suffering but you did it still.”
Anhydre. narrowed her eyes:
“Haha, then…sorry, you are totally wrong… I decide to give up my SAND right. For 13 years, I am alive. If 13 multiplied, it could be forever. Maybe, water is not so fatal to me, don’t you think so?”
The masked man changed his look once he heard Anhydre wanted to give up her right, he said right after:
“Among the whole scheme, one thing is true and it’s FACT. Behekine is the main cause of your sickness of water.”
“How could I believe you?”
“With my blood and words.”
Still in his coma, the masked man dipped on the air. A red light spot formed.
“If it’s not true as you found. I would die right away, like the contract with Coi.”
His weak voice shook-
“Don’t you feel strange in that room, your left hand forced yourself to clench into fist when Behekine touched the wine glass after it went through your palm? And magic broke as you fisted. Don’t you feel strange why the potion dipped on your arm didn’t kill you and bring you to me?”
Anhydre knew he was starting his frame-up again but still she stayed. After all, something was better than nothing.
“A slave creature. I was his master before, believe me or not. He was a dangerous man, proficient in any kind of magic, I believe you had found it. Potion was one of magic. At that time, I had studied a kind of liquid, only I knew, or including him, which could form anything you liked and turned into real. Unfortunately, to get it, he evaporated me with another liquor, killing me like I were missing. Then, one day, I found you, the sand element. In your body, I found that liquid, which would exclude PURE water and even kill you in a drop. To test it, I dipped the same potion from the ceiling then and you were safe. I wasn’t alive when you were formed… so now you knew who made you, huh? It’s self-evidence. It’s HIM, BEHEKINE. We have the same enemy! Sand shouldn’t be afraid of water, bear in mind!”
Even though it’s not very true or totally wrong, Anhydre was pretty shocked by this LIE. Still, she acted to be completely indifferent.

Behekine created me?

Glimpsing his sneaking move under his body, she caught the very minute and shoveled his head again.
“BULL SHIT.”
Now, she got to go.
Before leaving, she poured out the needles of cactus Coi “shared”, piercing into his flesh and clothes to tag him on the ground. A shrill cries…
Then, tons of sand buried him, only left little space to his nostril for breathing. She didn’t want him die yet. Lots of things needed to be proved. However, simply a bit of move was enough to collapse the sand piled on his whole body and head, which could stuck his breath at anytime.
Without doubt, he was the one should be co-killed by her, Behekine and Coi.
If then, they were all still alive.

Before leaving…
She walked to the destroyed table and picked up a black marble in the puddle, which shone blue light around it.
Quite interesting!
It was lighter than she thought.
Anyway, she'd better brought something from here. The item might be able to lead her here again when she was full-prepared for his death.

Now,
Head to the battle field.

“Children….”
A spit.
Coi was put out by his wording, and more by his tactic. Changing the battle field might change the morale and all kinds of dominance. Under the guise of being philanthropist to turn over the table of battle, this dirty trick he couldn’t stand. Only fools would believe a demon was willing to rescue victims by sacrificing himself. Anyway, as a slave, Behekin’s killing record did fine even without this explosion.

Coward!

He would go and must go, even if this time, he was alone.
Anhydre., she would pay for this events too once his mission finished. Were it not for her, he wouldn’t come to this the end. She fought like a brainless beast at the beginning, showed weak like a lamb after knowing it was Behekine and was cunning like a fox to threaten him. No pity for her, half way to the hell. A spy, he would say.
 
Looking forward at the board of Crour…
Next moment, beacon came to his hand, a waterstone-
Coi fisted it in tight, loosed his hand and dropped it to debris on purpose. A slight step… a cracking sound shrieked under his foot. This feeling was exactly what he wanted Behekine do, pulling his feet for help.
Water spread into a lighting line, showing the only one way. At night, it was clearer but what a shame! nobody saw this shiny death path.
Scornfully, he looked down at the load. A road directed at the blood sign. Fight or flee. He would rather die than give up his lifelong mission, being a dragon. If he couldn’t made it, what’s the meaning of life. No compromise.
He headed toward it without hesitation.
 
Sleeping on the way while most of time, he used his skateboard to speed himself. He didn’t want to waste any second not on killing him, nor give him more time to think. Finally, he arrived. Charon island, east of Rhadamanthe. No trace of Anhydre. No trace of others.

Did she give up or flee away?

Near the end of tunnel, brightness waved at him, like a shrew eyes shining for him. After the dark, brightness would dye sand and ocean red, blooding Anhydre and Behekine. He expected.
Out of a long dead-like passage, he looked around to find his “prey”. Sunshine on the surface of sea pierced his eyes. Far there, he saw golden horns erect with ocean blue for background. Majestic he would say him was, only at this moment, before the last scene of life.

“Miss chances to talk as you had a bit of human sign. Water, I came for. Not expecting you know, Beaskine! Words you got anyway. And…..”
 
When he walked closer and found he was not alone this time…. Five….
They were small creatures. Playground here huh?
First one, black spines on his back.
Second one, shark teeth with fish-breathing mouth. anaerobic?
Third one, big claws catching wave like an idiot.
Forth one, screeeeeee and running around like a mindless kid. not giddy?
Fifth one……eh, no proper words for him. Too foolish. Beyond the cognition.
 
“Ha, are those your five….shits? or farts?”
He snickered.

AS the boy appeared on the beach, the small summon Bob, turned his head towards him.
In unison, the four others stopped what they were doing, and their gaze too, fell on the boy. There was an eerie silence that lasted a few seconds after the boy's last words then, Behekine got up and turned around to face his first foe. It was no surprise for him, to see that it was the most vindicative that showed himself first.
Even if the situation was serious - dead serious - he couldn't help himself and smiled :

- Really ? A crap joke ? That's the best you could find ?

His summons looked back at him - except Bob, who didn't stop looking at the boy with his big unblinking eyes - expectations in their faces made of mist.
Itchy, Bitey and Scratchy were immobile, waiting for his reaction, and the change in behaviour was unsettling, compared to their ever-moving state a few minutes before. Screechy was shaking, looking like a pressure-cooker on the verge of exploding. Bob was... himself, looking at the boy silently.
Behekine chuckled. It would be a good test...

- Alright boys. Go get him.

The reaction was instantaneous.
"Screeeeeeeeeeee !" Happily freed from his immobility, Screechy screamed again, sounding like a warcry, and charged straight ahead for the boy.
Bitey and Scratchy followed right behind, each of them going on the sides, to flank him. They moved fast, running on four legs like little deformed beasts.
Itchy jumped in the air, turned around and his spikes flew from his back like throwing knives, aimed at the boy's chest.
Bob did not move from his spot, looking at everything...

Behekine saw how ferocious they attacked, moving in and out to always harass the boy, attacks coming from all sides. Every few seconds, Screechy was going "Screeeeeeeeeeee !", adding to the chaos.
But the Demon didn't want to stay idle, during the fight. After all, he promised to show no mercy.
He looked up for a few seconds.
From the top of the cliffs, a huge cloud of mist appeared, and started to fall down like an avalanche on them, soon engulfing the whole beach in white and dense mist.
His summons seemed to grow stronger and faster from the mist around them, and attacked the boy even more after that.

Letting himself blend in with the mist, Behekine started to incant again.
He didn't notice that Bob was no longer near him...

Coi stood there, thinking what could they do harm to him. Probably, charging straightly ahead toward him. Like baseballs, he would hit them over the ocean or on Behekine’s body and made a homerun. Now their gazes were all on him, waiting their master’s command. Among all of these, the dumbest one was the least attacker he could ignore. Silent as it was, he felt a strong power hidden inside its body but hadn’t been able to figure out yet.
Drawing out a mace, with hard steel spikes on it and a button, which could emit electric shock to disperse the dense mist, Coi knew these five idiots were nothing but mist.

“Alright boys. Go get him.”

Swing-swing-swing. Waiting to have his first homerun strike.
Screechy was in a lead. To improve their morale, he yelled.
“Screeeeeeeeee.”
Their running speed rose up a huge sand storm. Coi unclearly saw others behind.
Suddenly, several spikes came from above. Someone backed the attack. Only three were in sight. The spears got toward the direction of chest. Coi threw himself at the right side without delay but one of spikes pinned him at the sand, dragging his steps and stumbled him.
Seeing Screechy, Bitey and Scratchy following up, he curled himself and then gave a hard jump to stand up. He swing his bat at a roll, intending to strike the three all in once.
However, it failed. Bitey bit the mace hard and stuck himself on it. A press. After a strong shock, it disappeared but teeth still on it. .
Screechy soon jumped on him and crawled upward. Coi plucked it off and threw it at Scratchy, who was about to fly on his arm.

Not yet.

The mist from nowhere got dense, blocking his view.
Bitey reappeared on the mace. Then, he sent the bat a hard thump on the ground, it curled up. Coi stepped on it and pulled his hammer up, separating it and the mace. Meanwhile, spikes attack again, flying like spider feet. No time to make another magical stuff. Coi soon threw the mace away. He grabbed Screechy and picked up Bitey for blocking those attackes but this was totally an awful idea.
Because of the hurt of being pricked, Screechy screamed in an ear-piereced, bitter voice, really loud to tear the sky, sommon Poseidon while Bitey gnawed at his hand brutally. Blood welled up. Bone cracked. Just as he got rid of them by shaking his hands and head, a scratch on his calf taken from Scratchy gave him a miserable shriek.
“DAMN!”
He smashed his right hands toward Scratchy.
Before another speaks attack and any of three idiots’ SAVAGE beats, he had to boomed them out. He circulated the air to form a stong current. As it got shaped, he pushed it hard forward. Rolling up yellow sand storm and the power of wind, which drove them all away thousand miles away, Coi saw the process in satsfaction but his scars and ears were still bleeding and aching. Hurt badly.

Coi turned his back, about to stagger back…. Now he found-
There was one left…and it “stood beside” his bloody foot-
The dumbest one. Bob.

A slight touch. Silently.
Everything paused.
Coi fell into the sleep paralysis...

Silence

His summons fought like savage beasts and proved quite apt for it, moving as one like a well trained squadron. They managed to disarm and visibly hurt the boy in seconds. Then, the boy used a wind spell to blast them all away. Itchy, Bitey, Scratchy and Screechy went flying, right to the sky, and the scream of the latter could be heard all the while :

- Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...

It sounded more like a squeal of joy than a scared yell though, as if Screechy was a kid in a rollercoaster...
Behekine was not afraid for his summons ; they were virtually invincible, and would come back soon enough. They did their part - and brilliantly ! - to distract the boy long enough for him to finish his own attack spell. The Demon hardened his stance, aligned his whole body to face the silhouette of the boy through the mist, opened his mouth...
The boy fell to the ground.

Behekine stopped right in his tracks, swallowing down the beam of pure arcane destrruction that was about to come out of his mouth.
What happened ?
Did his summons hurt the boy for good ?
Was it a trickery on his foe's part ?
Wait a minute, where was Bob ?

The Demon looked around him, but there was no trace of the discrete being. When did Bob left his side ?
He searched for him in his mind, following the link that he felt with all his summons ; Bob was near... close to the boy ?
Behekine stepped closer, cautiously, expecting some trap but the boy didn't move.
And he looked like he wouldn't anytime soon.

The boy was lying on his back in the sand, one hand bloodied. His eyes were open, looking into space.
Bob was sitting on his chest, like an evanescent gargoyle, and his unblinking eyes were observing the boy's face. He was calm, immobile, looked genuinely curious even. The Demon felt pride for what his summon did, but he had a tingle of fear lying underneath that. What did he created by accident ?
Behekine got closer, his face towering the boy lying on the ground, looking at Bob :

- You did this ?
Bob nodded, silently.
- And he cannot move ?
A nod, again.
- Good boy...
Bob shifted a little, like an embarrassed child.
- Hmm... can he hear ?
A nod.
- Could he talk ?
A pause. Brief. Then, another nod.
- Perfect...

Suddenly, the mist shifted around them, and the rest of his summons appeared, back from their flight. Immediatly, they ran to finish what they started, ready to tear the boy apart, limb after limb, to paint the sand in red with his blood, to...

- Hold on boys.

Behekine's words made them stop. The Demon smiled under their curious gaze :

- You did well, but I want to ask a few questions first. Let us be the civil ones. You can kill him if he tries to move or free himself though...

With what looked like glee, they obeyed, each moving to hold the boy in a different place, ready to strike if he moved a muscle.
Bitey went for the boy's throat, grabbing the flesh between his jaws, teeths dangerously close to piercing the skin. Scratchy moved towards the boy's thighs and stood ready to attack the arteria there with his claws.
Bob didn't move, still looking at the boy's face with his big, unblinking eyes.
Screechy was shaking like a leaf but, before he unleashed another shriek to get rid of his boiling energy, Itchy moved close and put one of his spines inside Screechy's mouth. Now with something to occupy his mind, the noisy summon sayed silent for once, chewing at the mist appendage like a dog would with a stick.
Behekine chuckled at that, but soon turned a stern gaze to the boy, lying on the ground.

- Kid, I trust that you can hear me, and answer too. You seem determined on killing me, even if I never met you before yesterday. Please humor me, and tell me why.
Or stay silent, and be killed right now...

A second.
The cold flow surged inside his body, from the place where Bob touched. No need for one moment, unable to give the sky last glance, Coi falling into his sleep paralysis.
Semi-wake, Seim-sleep…..

Beside the shore. White and green-blue. Claws clench the earth. Gaze afar at the end of sight. Big body shrank the beach, barely moved. Speak. A deep howl, Speak. Again a deep long howl..Looked up, an urge for the vault. Levitating heavenward, curving on the sky rapidly. A dragon?….what is it? And who am I? I am not inside it, right?…
Staring at the limitless skyline, above the blue ocean. Suddenly, a boiling hot steam burned the throat, feeling ache through whole body. Scales was peeled off, as painful as nails being pulled out. Hot, cramp, hurt… Black dots bubbling on my skin, the powder nearly chocked my breath. The howling was about to deafen me….loud enough to summon Poseidon. Stop it. STOP…. Who the hell are you, dragon?
The energy was going to run out, pain consumed me. As the last piece of scale fell to the sea-----I dived down fast-----I cououououldn’t conononontrol.
Watching myself helplessly being swooping down the ocean… At the first kiss of water, it all drained out. Blue revealed its origin look, ugly black soil. I bumped into the ground straightly, scratching out in a long line... a bloody scratch…before everything stopped, also my conscious, I guessed. I know you, dragon, you are me and I am you!

A Blue sign.

The ground started to spin, faster and faster.. Red with black. Hurt with ache. Boold in soil. Light penetrated through spilts of dark…. A huge shake… Someone was plundering my shell. Unyieding, I pulled back. It’s god damn as hurt as someone twisted my skin hard. Back and forth….
>No. Don’t. Please!<
I yelled.. but still, the piece fell to the depth of dark.

No background. Nowhere. No time. Someone.
In a calm voice:
>Pieces. Scattered. Demon of Mist keeps that one piece. A drop of water, a blood of dragon. For nothing but his freedom, A SLAVE. Taste it.<
I remebered that piece….

“Kid…..determined on killing me, even if I never met you before yesterday. Please humor….”

Someone was talking to me?!
The masked man dripped a drop on me even though I tried to escape.
The water soon was absorbed. Its taste was just like my first touch on the sea… Soft and Calm. Familiar.
>Demon of Mist. Silence’s Echo. Tear of the Stars. Mist Blade. Mineral Soul. In name of Behekine.<
Behekine! His voice just…
Miraculously, after those summon words… I heard the egg cracking sound and that aching feeling. Somone was pulling my….again...

“WHO WAS BEHEKINE?”
Deam and reality crushed.
I got to get up. Bhekine was beside me and talked to me. I got to get up. That feeling came from him. Revenge!
I forced myself to leave that dream or reality but it dragged my nerve and brain.

“A slave for freedom could snatch my identity without any warning or reason. Why should I inform him first before killing? My eggshell, you robbed 13 years ago. I still remembered. Where is it now?

BEHEKINE. ANSWER ME!”

Before the answer-
Another episode began…

The boy seemed quite out of it, groaning as if stuck in a nightmare.
Suddenly, Behekine understood what was happening.

Sleep paralysis.
That weird state of the mind, stuck between dreaming and waking up, body not responding but conscious enough to know something's wrong. Oversensistive senses turning the faintest sound into footsteps approaching, the slightest touch on the skin into rattling claws. Hallucinations powered by anxiety from this peculiar paralysis, as if the nightmare followed into the real world.
It was a common thing that happened during period of stress or sleep deprivation and, before they could explain it rationnally, people imagined attacks of monsters, demons to explain the sleep paralysis. Monsters, that came at night to sit on the chest of sleepers, strangle them, attack them...
It was fitting, with Bob sitting on the boy's chest.

Behekine smiled. He knew how the boy felt, and was almost sorry for him.
Almost.
It would be hard to question him though, if he was half hallucinating from this.
Sleep paralysis normally lasted a few minutes - short time, but it felt like eternity for the one under it - and the Demon wondered if it would last this long here, or if Bob would maintain the boy in this state for as long as he was in contact with him.
The latter would probably be dangerous for the boy's sanity ; after a while of being stretched between dream and reality, the mind would end up torn apart...

This was worse than torture.
It would be taking chances, but Behekine decided to let the boy out of this state after a few questions, even if he was a dangerous one that wanted him dead.
For a second, he thought of Odeline, and the way she had told him that he was not an evil demon...
Maybe she was right, after all...

The boy found his way back to the waking world, at least for a moment, and managed to yell a few words. Without answering him directly, of course.
He spoke nonsense, but still managed to stir Behekine's curiosity :

- Hold your horses, kid. Eggshell ? What are you talking about ? An egg ? What are you, a chicken ?
And thirteen years ago, I was a mere spirit in the mist, I had no interest in eggs. Still don't have much interest in them today, for that matter. Never liked omelettes.

The Demon put one claw on the boy's forehead, pressing slightly - which was already a lot, considering his size and weight - his voice suddenly much colder than before :

- Now, do me a favor and explain yourself with a bit more clarity, starting from the beginning. And refrain yourself from using my name, if you value your life ; hearing it in your mouth really make my patience grow thin.

Maybe Odeline had said he was nice, but he certainly wasn't that nice.
He could feel the looks of his summons on him, expecting, waiting for the order to kill the boy. He still had some hesitations about having to kill a child, but they did not...

In the pitch black, the voice was still there… Behekine, a name. Who was he? Hanging the question in a sooty hollow, silence didn’t lighten it at all. An answer, I was waiting for…
>A slave worked for a chemist. To have water essential, he snatched your eggshell for it. Afterward he killed me for the power and I was his master, then. I was that CHEMIST.<
A voice stuck in tore the silence apart.

 “……..Thirteen years ago, I was a mere sprit in the mist…..omelettes.”

Slave and Spirit.
Slave, spirit, slave, sprit, slave, sprit……. The two answers, like two currents stirring together. Gradually, the later one surrounded the former one. Is it because it came afterward?

Suddenly, a flip. The black space was turning again. This time, in a vertical way. In the spiral, my voice shook and I felt more and more giddy.
>You know me?<
I couldn’t see myself but the sound proved that I wasn’t alone.
“….Explain yourself with a bit……”
Behekine!
>Dragile. Find five pieces eggshells to be a dragon. Each piece would tell you a mission, according to what kind of dragon you are set for. And now one of those five is stolen by him, a slave. Maybe, it has gone forever, I don’t know… take it back before it’s not too late. Coi.<
To examine what he said was right in such messy condition, I read it in my “head”.
“Dragile. Five pieces for mission. Be a dragon you are set for. One piece was stolen by Behe-”
I stopped with no reason. Something interrupted my thought, barging in my brain.
>Wait. Isn’t he a spirit in a mist then?<
No reply. No answer. No response.
Didn’t the masked man hear my question? so this time. I spoke louder…
“Wait. Isn’t he a spirit in a mist then?”

……..
Nothing happened but those words sent from the darkness-
>Here is the contract.<
Like flies or mosquito, a red light spot floated. However, an explosive sound broke it into pieces abruptly once I touched it. It bombed like a Big Bang on itself. Thunder appeared in the dark with debris falling. The masked man didn’t notice this scene, continuing his speaking…
>A girl named Anhydre. Go and fetch her. A partner she would be. Something on her is perfect to kill Behekine. Not to reveal my identity-his previous master- go for me and I would give you outfit with powerful magic since I am a chemist. Don’t worry, SHE won’t know it’s you did to that her, I mean, your kidnap. You have my words. but remember, she is easily out of control.<
“Damn you a chemist. A CHEATER ! She knew everything!”
?!
The reaction subconsciously rushed out.
Anhydre! A sand girl.
Strange anger burned my head…but…
Do I know her before? The name is so familiar. And why do I know she is a sand girl?

As soon as the name came to my ear, a series of question had shot out like bullets… The darkness gave a sudden rain… or to say a regretful shower but it didn’t get me wet. The smell was sticky, as if sand mixed with water… a sea smell.
>P…panther-man-<
“Is that you?”
Without knowing why, I followed her question naturally..Did I know something between them?
>Let me know not killing you could make me so much…painful!<
Suddenly, a wire sparked. Something dropped down into the endless hole… then a big bash from the button…kept shaking the zone…
>Sand-girl? Is that you?<
“Sand-girl? Is that you?”.
I followed him word by word, no any missing second.
But … I…
“CUT IT OFF.”
 
Dark was going to break… Something was coming.
Water and Sand.
And I.

“Dragile. Five pieces for mission. Be a dragon you are set for. One piece was stolen by Behe-”
“Wait. Isn’t he a spirit in a mist then?”
“Damn you a chemist. A CHEATER ! She knew everything!”
“Is that you?”
“Sand-girl? Is that you?”
“CUT IT OFF.”

The words came. Erratic. Confused.
Useless.
The boy was lost in his forced dream, apparently living old memories again. The Demon wasn't sure now to be able to decipher the boy's confused words, nor to get anything out of questioning him...
Bob's powers were really messing him up.
Yet, it seemed that Behekine's demands had pointed the chaotic thoughts in one direction. Maybe with sorter sentences, fewer words, he could keep directing the confused mind of the boy and overhear something interesting.

Suddenly, a realisation hit Behekine's mind : the boy had said a name.
Dragile.
Was it his real name ?

- Dragile...

Whispering the name, as if tasting it, the Demon soon smiled widely when he felt the sweet tingle in magic, resonating in the boy's aura.
It was the boy's true name !
That was interesting ! Really interesting ! Just like a Demon could be summoned and bound with the use of his true name, demons developped through the centuries many ways to counter these true name based spells. Counters using the true names of those that wanted to enslave them.
These spells were designed in case of summons, but could very well be used in duels too.
To sum it up ; Behekine now had a way to protect himself from the boy's magic and spells !
Interesting indeed !

His excitement traveled through his body, ending in his tail that moved from left to right like an excited cat.
Itchy rattled his spines, sounding like a rainstick.
Bitey, his jaws still around the boy's neck, shifted a little, his eyes observing the Demon.
Scratchy squeezed the boy's inner thigh.
Screechy chirped, still chewing on Itchy's spine.
Bob... stayed himself. Unmoving and unblinking.

With his claw still touching the boy's forehead, Behekine approached his face, and asked in succession, waiting several seconds before pursuing :

- Who is the chemist ?

- Who is the masked-man ?

- Who is the sand-girl ?

- Who are you ?

Spoiler:

“Who is the chemist?
 Who is the masked man?
 Who is the sand girl?
 Who are you?”
Four questions were as alike as four punches beat by a boxer, going through my mind but didn’t stay…Somewhere I needed to go first.
Darkness cracked up. The whirling finally stopped.
 
Fire below my feet several inches burned furiously while I was in a pitch pipe. A chimney, probably. Thanks to the eye-patch, the whole room was in my sight without standing right there in person.
Water sound.. next to the room I could hear… something familiar I could feel. That strange sense was just like thirteen year ago, someone consistently pulling my eggshell. On his body and in this room, the same odor existed.
Behekine!
“Really it’s this person named Behekine robbed my eggshell! In this room, I even could feel the same odor.”
Not forgetting the mission, I sent out the “warmth spirit” to lure a girl in. She just went near here. Anhydre. Not for a while, like the masked man said, she “penetrated” the wall and got in.

“Made of SAND! Is this what the masked man said there is something special on her?”
No wind inside the room seemed to confuse her. Behekine truly gave a perfect “trap” even though it was a pure coincident.
However, when Behekine appeared. It gave me a gasp of shock. Panther and Man. A potential beast snatched my shell?!
A word, WHO ARE YOU, asked by Anhydre brought me back to the normal. Plugging up my hearing… a slave trying to get his freedom back….
>A salve trying to get his freedom back!<
“Ha, so you are enslaved again by different people? Not only the masked man?”
So fool. Looking at Behekine made me want to laugh so much.
>Need a savior?< A shock. But her next movement shocked me much more, even nearly missing the strength and dropping into the fire…
“Uncatchable hand! Then, how could she fight a fight with me?”
Apparently, Behekine had the same suspicion.
Suddenly, a “MIST” hand appeared and picked up the wine glass. Just that moment, her left hand was out of control. In pain, I could see. Like suffering spasm. Whereas, a fist closed up the whole magic. A huge blast… I caught the moment to make another fire without delay. Now, I knew what the masked man meant-
“Got it. A big strength. Once an item penetrated through Anhydre’s left palm and was touched by Behekine’s mist hand… A huge pain she would feel. A fist she clenched could break the spell.”
What the hell! Who are them?
"What’s you two's relationship?"
Seeing she was about to leave, I signaled the masked man immediately, asking him whether to take action.
>Not Now.< Two words came to reject me.
 
Listening and “watching” their interaction gave me a disgusting feeling. They didn’t know what role they were going to be, huh! Hardly could I imagine how they would fight on the battle field. It might be very interesting!
“Friends and enemies, a fine distinction.”
A cunning smile.
Anhydre. was a crazy person, I found. If she were my comrade in the future, I wouldn’t let her ruin out my whole scheme just because of her that “brainless” mind.
Apparently, the masked man didn’t like it, either. >Start.< A simple word came. A snap ended. The fire was put out. Black filled in the room but still, they were in my eyes clearly.
She was completely out of the dark and also her words- Strictly speaking, you should have been my enemy, shouldn’t you?
“SAND and WATER? Enemy? In other words, Anhydre could be killed by water, BEHEKINE!”
It’s getting more and more exciting. If Anhydre would be killed by water, then fighting with Behekine was around the corner; Maybe, at that time, her impetuous temper could be an advantage instead.
To attract her coming, a shiny thing might be helpful so a red light spot, my contact with the masked man, I gave out.
>Stay back!<
“Damn your fire!”

No way! If his fire really dashed in the fireplace, it was hard for me to escape. Besides, I mustn’t use a snap to get rid of or weaken it. Catching Behekine’s attention would be the least thing for saving myself. Preparing to make my escape anytime, I “stared” at Anhydre. She would make the final decision for me.
Death or Live.
God thanks… She blocked it! The idea, I never thought she would do. Now, I would like to stay here and see how they dealt with-
A snicker… The chuckle sound was full of the room, until…
 
A eye-pierced sunshine shot in sight even though my eyes were closed. Something got wrong here…
Dreams? All along? I tried to escape my unclear state. Nothing could I remembered. Only those vague real-like dreams.
Where am I now? What did I say in the dream?...
It would be disastrous if I said all my thought out!
ACCCCHHHEEEE.. What’s wrong with my hand and feet?
 
Behekine’s voice…
Those four questions flied back to me again-
“Who is the chemist?
 Who is the masked man?
 Who is the sand girl?
 Who are you?”
 
“I don’t know. Neither of you.
All CHEATERS”
Shouted.

“Really it’s this person named Behekine robbed my eggshell! In this room, I even could feel the same odor.”
“Made of SAND! Is this what the masked man said there is something special on her?”
“Ha, so you are enslaved again by different people? Not only the masked man?”
“Uncatchable hand! Then, how could she fight a fight with me?”
“Got it. A big strength. Once an item penetrated through Anhydre’s left palm and was touched by Behekine’s mist hand… A huge pain she would feel. A fist she clenched could break the spell.”
"What’s you two's relationship?"
“Friends and enemies, a fine distinction.”
“SAND and WATER? Enemy? In other words, Anhydre could be killed by water, BEHEKINE!”
“Damn your fire!”

The boy smiled, still sleeping, and there was no warmth in this smile.
The words were less confused now and, if Behekine understood correctly, he was now remembering the night when he met the sand-girl, in this room near Phobos Desert.
He still didn't answer his questions though...
But the informations he got there and there were interesting enough.

Starting with the fact that he'd been there at the time, hidden somewhere in the room, close enough to hear them...
For what purpose ? For whom ? He, or the sand-girl ?
Maybe he should just crush the boy's skull under his foot, and be done with it.
But he was a cat, a curious one with that, and a scientist too ; he wanted to find the truth in all of this mess.

The boy thought that he was slave to the masked-man ?
That was ridiculous, and only proved the boy knew nothing of how his kind worked, of the rules behind Demons Summonings, Pacts and Bounds.
Only one master, one slave per Pact.
Only one Pact.
Only one Mission.
A link between master and slave, to see the end of the mission.
A link only death could shatter.
Behekine was good with shattering links. A professional, you could say. During his long life, he had been summoned many times. And he had killed many of his so-called "masters".
The numbers were practically even.

There was no masked-man in the few that survived enslaving him. He would have known otherwise, when the masked-man tried to grab him in Cruor...
Which meant someone was lying.
Since the boy spoke in his dreams, he certainly spoke what he thought was true. So the masked-man was lying.
For what purpose ? Manipulating the boy into fighting him ? To find his... egg ?
The Demon had no egg on him, he was sure about that. Even amongst the magical aggregates he used to shape his first physical body, two years ago, there was no eggs.

But, even if he hit the boy's head with the truth, he would not believe him, lost as he was in his hatred and arrogance.
The boy kept talking, saying another name...

Anhydre.
The sand-girl's name ?
The rest of his words proved that it was.
A fitting name, for an Elemental afraid of touching water, seeing him as the enemy.
Now that he knew their true names, they were far less dangerous to him...

Suddenly, the boy woke up from his dream, fear in his eyes for what he might have said.
His shout brought a smile to Behekine's face. It wasn't a warm smile, either.

- Poor child, you've been deceived i'm afraid. I have not what you seek. Before you call for lies, know that I have nothing to gain from lying to you ; I don't fear you, nor want anything from you. This is my last warning, get out of my sight if you don't want to die. You see, I really don't want to kill a child like you, especially for someone else's lies.
That doesn't mean I won't.

After saying those words, he removed his claw from the boy's forehead, took Bob in his jaws like a lion does with a cub, gave a nod to the four other summons, and turned around, walking slowly to the spot he was before the boy came to attack.
With some reluctance, Bitey and Scratchy released the boy too, running after the Demon. Itchy and Screechy jumped on Behekine's back, keeping their eyes on the boy.
- Screeeeeee !
Screechy was also enjoying the ride, apparently.

Without Bob on his body, the boy would surely recover from his paralysis quickly.
What he'd do afterward was his choice Behekine would follow through and through. He'd been nice enough to bend his "no mercy" rule once...

The waves were coming back and forth.
Mist was still all around the beach, and a presence on the cloud's borders tickled Behekine's mind.
The sand-girl was there.
With a simple thought, he spread the mist a little, to create a way for her to reach them without having to deal with water, like an open invitation.
He was a civil one, after all...
Behekine let Bob go from his jaws, depositing him on the ground in front of him - the discreet summon turning his gaze to keep looking at the boy - and nodded again to Bitey and Scratchy, who ran into the mist like feral wolves. They would go and escort the sand-girl.
If she was here to attack, there was nothing to lose in being careful...

Mist kept spreading around him and the boy, soon forming a room-like structure, without any "roof".
An arena, of sort.
The waves kept going. Back and forth.

Anhydre. walked to the door and used her “thinking”, Get out!. Next moment, she appeared on the other side of the door. A dim corridor again. Throwing out the water stone to the ground, it spurt out the blue lightening line, from her feet to someplace far away. Holding the black marble, she set off.
Knowing Behekine would wait there for twenty-four hours so before arriving, she’d better clarifying what masked man told her and later questioned him one by one. There were too many things tangling together. It sounded weird but quite reasonable in other way. This time, interrogation first, fighting second. She was tired of having meaningless “bombs”, especially, after knowing everything might be made up, only killing was true.

Not to tell a lie, what shocked her most and fully occupied in her mind was- Behekine was the main cause of your sickness of water. Why?
In the room near Phobos Desert, She had once suspected he knew her so blocked her by removing the wind and would attack her with water. However, from his all kind of annoyed behavior, no sign showed he was intentional. Only grumpy. If he really wanted her to die or created her for using, then why did he act so non-calculating?
But on the other side, her aching palm brought up another mystery. That spasm happened right after his “mist hand” touching the wine glass, which went through her palm. The ache was beyond description but fist closed every piece of magic up, fire included. At that time, Behekine seemed to be surprised by her “strength”. No way to say it was his test or trap. Anyway, he was not that sort of Demon even though the mystery still couldn’t be solved.
Only one possibility- He didn’t know he was the main cause… but, what the hell!
would someone do something he/she didn’t know? A demon, in particular?

Moreover, Behekine had killed his previous master for the potion. This saying pretty stunned her and got her doubt. From every behavior or her knowledge to him, he was only a “panther-man”. A peevish one. Would he kill someone only for the benefit? Even now, his freedom lost on the master’s hand, no killing event was rumored. Nevertheless, the tactic of Evaporation was quite fit what he would do.
“Damn…”
Everything was not so true but not so right, either. From the reasoning, it was forced on Behekine while from the effect, it was Fact. SAND was really afraid of WATER.
She knew what she was going to ask him first. No lie allowed.

Anhydre kept walking. Suddenly, the black marble became restless, bouncing inside her hand. In care, she peeped at it. Nothing changed, still in a ball shape, in black color but when she put it beside the ear, a rustling noise… as if saying something in a super very low voice, which could hardly hear clear.
Anhydre cupped her hand and said to the marble-
“Hey, could you hear me?”
No answer.
“Someone there?”
No answer.
Feeling herself like a fool, she stuck it inside her palm and kept going.

The morning sunshine was delightful. Maybe, it was a good sign, telling her no fight today. However, the closer she got to the destination, the worse she felt. The sea smell grew stronger, stinging her nose. The natural instincts stumbled her feet for several times, in order to stop her moving forward.
Could it be that the panther-man choose at the beach to fight?!
“Outch…Damn you, my feet!”
Eager to move but her motionless feet stood at the original place, which would fall herself to death… Apparently, it’s not a good thing if throughout the body, even limbs, were alike with their owner- STUBBORN.
Thanks to her quick wit, Anhydre stretched herself on the ground as far as she could to collect the “beach sand” and spread it under the sole of her feet. Eventually, they surrendered and moved again.

Far there, she saw a cloud of mist… peaceful. Where was Coi, didn’t he come? She thought there would be a fierce fight, worrying how to stop them and listen to her questions but obviously, nothing happened before. Good sign.
But…a tranquil blue in front protested her voiceless… Seeing the lightening line directed across the water, she had no idea, unless taking a detour but she wasn’t sure how long it would take. It might be over a day.
Just when she was prepared for rolling herself under the sea again, needing a huge strength, a road of misty bridge stretched out from the other side. Without guessing, she knew it was panther-man’s idea. That way, she could avoid the threat of water, excepting that the panther-man broken it on the half way…No, he won’t do that!
However, something was really on the half way..and not only one!
Two!

The two misty monsters rushed to her, four legs. They looked vicious-cute… One had big claws, running faster than the other with mouth open and close. Anhydre. stopped.
What did they want to do? Attack me?
No doubt that they were magical stuffs from Behekine. From their movement, they were not for fight. If they were, they wouldn’t stop as she paused her steps. Two eyes to four eyes. They stared at each other.
When she kept left, they did. Kept right, they did too. Right, left, right, left… These two blocked her way no matter where she went. Then, she stepped back, they moved forward. What the hell!
“Hey, who are you?”
Silence.
The big mouth one started to “beatbox”. Quite rhythem but not suitable now. Another big claws one stood up and clapped its “hands”. WHAT? Now, she had an idea...
She turned back and walked, pretending she gave up walking toward that direction. As expectation, they two came to her front… Suddenly, Anhydre gave a back turn fast and then started to run forward. These two weren’t not easily to handle too. Scratchy rushed to the front while Bitey running behind. Anhydre was in the middle.
Until now did she realize what they wanted to do. ESCORT her like a hostage or a criminal. Bitey was still beatboxing…while Scratchy often gave a sudden brake to make sure their “hostage” was following them. Hardly did it know, eveytime its stop would make Anhydre nearly strike it over the “railing”, down to the sea. She thought the beatboxing was sort of signal but clealy, it was just a “noise”.  

Finally, they arrived. Three of them… but no one was there welcoming them, only mist walls forming a square. Seeing these duo’s glance, she knew Behekine was behind it. The black marble gave a huge throb inside her palm...
So, what should we do now?
Looking at those two...
Nothing doing good if she intruded in that aura without invitation. Anyway, she was not here for fight.

No matter what happened inside, Anhydre shouted toward it, not a mean way-
“Something I would like to know, Behe- no, panther-man!
Why did you evaporate your master for the potion?
Is it for changing the nature of sand? To make me afraid of you?

Isn’t that you. Right?”

Scratchy and Bitey stood on her both sides.
Three in line.
B-t-k-t-t-B-k-t
B-t-k-B-t-B-k-t
B-k-B-B-k-B-k

Waiting...

Like the curtain in a theater, the mist kept spreading away, soon revealing the boy, lying on the ground, and Behekine on the other side.
The Demon was crouched in the sand, facing them, looking calm but ready to get up and move if needed. Bob was sitting between his front legs, his unblinking eyes fixed on the sand-girl. Itchy and Screechy were still on the Demon's back ; Itchy inspecting his spines like a marksman does with his rifle, and Screechy was further on the back facing backwards and trying to grab Behekine's tail, chirping all the while.
Behind Behekine, the wave kept coming back and forth.

The sand-girl looked calm, surprised too, to see him like he was.
So, she came to talk first. That was a change... he was still cautious, but he couldn't deny liking the fact that she stopped right before using his real name. She was polite, at least, even if her words were impossible to understand for him.
Before answering her though, he looked at his two summons that had escorted her :

- Thanks, boys. You should go check how's the kid is going.

Bitey smiled, and gave Behekine a long glance. The Demon chuckled in return :

- Yes, but only if he misbehaves.

With a happy gait and devious smiles, Bitey and Scratchy ran to the boy lying in the sand, and stood vigilant around him. Thy wanted the boy to misbehave so badly...
Behekine turned back to the sand-girl :

- Now that this is settled... could you tell me what the hell are you talking about ? There's a lot of context missing there, and i'm not a telepath. You should start with the beginning.
- Screeeeeee !

Screechy finally managed to grab Behekine's tail, and was now swinging at the end of it.

Not for a long while, the answers were like a code, rolled up the veiled mist as they reached at it. Once the mist dispersed, everything was “clear”- Coi’s body, summons and Behekine’s appearance. Anhydre backed few steps.
To her stun, several hurts on Coi’s body were still bleeding and his clothes were in tatters. Sand on the beach was dyed in dark brown. He was in coma, she guessed, unable to move an inch. Something unreadable and painful wrinkled up his face. It seemed he suffered a lot of pain. What did Behekine do to him? They had a fierce fight…before she came. Even though he irritated her as a controller, she felt sorry for him still. After all, he had been her comrade before.
The glance moved on to those small things. They looked as stupid as those two beside her. So restless. Like small kids. One was checking the spine on Behekine’s back, another were playing his tail with noise, while the other, not alike any of them, fixed the gaze on her firmly. In its eyes, melancholy showed. She would feel she was going to drop into its pair of gorge eyes if the eyes kept meeting each other.
 
“P..panther!”
 
Until now…until now, she had a chance to “inspect” Behekine attentively. Until now, she found he was not the panther-man she met before. Until now, she realized everything couldn’t go back anymore. In the fights, she knew he was transformed, making a big change. However, she thought it only appeared for some emergent moments. The body is the proof that you always have to be careful for what you wish for… He once told her in the room of Desert and now she got it.
About two meters tall, the same fur as Panther-man, muscling build and spiky horns pointing at the sky, it was really impressive. Beast as it looked like, vaguely, Anhydre felt inside him, his personality didn’t change, still a GRUMY panther.
He commanded those small ones to return to their work. Supervising Coi! They were like little soldiers doing what their master told them. That’s unquestionable, those scratches and scars on Coi were their splendid record in the fight.
 
Then, he turned back to her…
“…..could you tell me what the hell are you talking about?....”
For a while, Anhydre remained speechless, rearranging the order of her thoughts and masked man’s words.
 
“Listen!
The masked man, who attacked you on the street, told me you were his slave before.  He studied all kind of potion and at that time, he had one kind of potion that could make everything real and was only known by you two but it was YOU “evaporated” him for that potion. Now he came here for revenge.
He also said in my body, he found that component, which made me afraid of pure water, even in a drop. As I "born", he wasn't exist so it's you did. To test, he once dropped the potion on me but nothing happened. Besides, in the room of Phobos Desert, I got spasm once your misty hand touched the wine glass that just passed through my left palm… He said it had a great something to do with you and the potion.
 
However, I think we hadn’t met before… so how could you make it?
Isn’t you that created me, right?”
Anhydre. looked at him without drafting sight. She really wanted to know what the hell going up there.
 
Something
About
He and She.
 
The marble throbbed…

Behekine listened to the sand-girl, and did not try to hide his perplexity. Thanks to the boy own words earlier, he knew that the masked-man already lied once. So, in all of that story the sand-girl told, where were the lies ?

- And you believe him ? I should really meet this masked-man, he seems to know who I am, what I want, who you are, what you want, who the boy is, what he wants and so on...
Anyway, I don't know who this masked-man is, but I'm sure of one thing : he never was my master, nor me his slave. I would have known otherwise, when he tried to grab me in Cruor yesterday. There's also the fact that I have killed all my previous masters to get my freedom back.
I wouldn't be a slave to my current "master" today if one of those previous ones were still alive.

To emphasize his words, he tapped a claw on his slave marks engraved in his forearm's flesh.
Bob touched the slave marks too, as if trying to comfort the Demon.
Screechy was still swinging at the end of his tail like a weird monkey.

Behekine somewhat remembered the events the sand-girl talked about, even if it was slightly different in his head :

- The story you tell does ring a bell though, and echoes with something the boy told earlier. I have been enslaved by a chemist, thirteen years ago. An old man, who lived near the Desert like a recluse. The guy was obsessed with potions. He summoned me and turned me into a slave because I know how to create purification water, which is useful with working with powerful and rare ingredients... so he got me good, using me as a water-producing machine. Not a cruel master, not a caring one either.
Still, it was slavery, and a dull job on top of that. Conjure water, purify this, hold that... not my kind of career.
I did ask the man to free me, several times, but he wouldn't listen. So I let it go, for a while, as if I was resigned to my situation. After several months, he grew complacent...
Now, I remember what he told me ; "I wish to get to know how it feels to be like you, a spirit without a body."

Behekine sighed and smiled :

- Honestly, he had it coming. What was I supposed to do ? The Pact he bound me with was forcing me to obey. I told him "Wish granted !" and I vaporized his body, killing him and freeing me in the process. He had looked surprised before turning into ash...
Summoners never learn ; when you enslave a Demon, you don't gain an ally, you get a Demon. It's funny now that I think about it ; I was a ghost in the mist back then, with not much in magic power... it was the Pact that bound me to him that gave me the power needed to grant him his wish !
Anyway, I left without looking back. I had no interest in any of his potions, but I recall that the spell I used to kill the man scattered away into the Desert's sand most of his laboratory...

Het let a few seconds for his words to sink in, before saying :

- I don't know how you came to be, sand-girl, or if it has something to do with this chemist and one of his potions.
Perhaps you should ask this boy, who had something stolen from him at the period of these events I just told you. Since the masked-man knew about it, and I did not, there might be some truth to be uncovered that way.
Personally, I find it weird that the masked-man is so intent on lying to throw you two at me, expecting to see me killed by your hand while he stays hidden. Seems the only one that might gain something from my death is this masked-man.
- Screeeeeeee !

Screechy finally let go of the Demon's tail at the end of one swing, the momentum sending him flying with a joyful scream.

Soon, after Bob removed itself on Coi’s body, he could feel his consciousness came back, as if he had woken up from a thousand-year nightmare. Amount of anger left itself intact and swept across his body again but he didn’t want to move now. NOT NOW.
There, at the far place, he sensed something was calling him. He wasn’t sure whether it’s masked-man’s another tricky play or other else… That feeling was getting closer and closer while his heart beat was getting faster and faster. Still lying on the beach, he held in his palm a handful of sand. At the same time, Behekine blocked them two and three “damns” inside a misty aura. Why did he want to do? kill me again? And where was another two damns? However, he saw nothing beside him.
And the feeling was really pressing now…
After a while, Anhydre’s voice ran behind the misty white. Fuck you, why aren’t you here until now? Coward. He would like to sit up to see how the hell the world was turning, to see what would happen as they met each other again but his hurts all around his body pushed himself back.
From her saying, there was something similar to what masked man told him- make me afraid of you- the relationship of Behekine and Anhydre and also a “slave” stuff. Since her knowledge might be also come from the masked man, the credibility should be thought over again. Nevertheless, if those sayings were made up by the masked man as lures, Anhydre’s and his “fact” would be slightly different, which were the key points to disclose the truth but it didn’t mean he should exclude the possibility of Behekine being a liar.
Coi just clearing his path of thought, the two damns came around his side TRIGAIN. He really wasn’t interested in a demon’s fart or something and they were so annoying. Were it not for the emergent information he needed to gather, a punch to homerun them would take into consideration seriously.

“….you were his slave…potion that could make everything real….you evaporated him for that potion…in my body, he found that component…..As I born, he wasn’t exist…spasm…”
He could feel his heart was going to jump out. Throoooobbbbb fast.….
“….I wouldn’t be a slave to my current “master” today if one of those previous ones were still alive….enslaved by a chemist, thirteen year ago…potions…using me as a water-producing machine…I was a ghost in the mist back then…the spell I used to kill the man scattered away into the Desert’s sand….ask this boy, who had something stolen from him…”

Behekine seemed to tell all he knew based on the fact that the masked man wasn’t his previous master. He might be right. It would be very weird if the master was alive and he had another master. If that was the case, then masked man wouldn’t be his master as he said.
If masked man wasn’t the master, then who was he? Especially, he said he wasn’t alive as Anhydre was born. T&F?
Only one thing he could sure, thirteen years ago, he was born and eggshell was snatched…

Wait, there was a key moment!

Coi tried his best to sit up, no matter how hard to make it… No time should be wasted. Although it’s really…. HUUURT! Those two demons showed out their fighting stance but he didn’t have any attention pay on them.
“Anhydre, how old are you?”
If the answer didn’t meet the number as he thought, then a forever riddle could the whole event be.
“13.”
Anhydre. turned her gaze on him…

As soon as their sight met, Coi was overwhelmed with the unbearable headache, which made him roll to the ground. Something appeared in his dream came into view… Cracking shell and his peeled scale…
Could it be….
He gave a snap toward Anhydre’s left hand. In there, something was calling him. A black marble floated out of her hand and drafted in the air, reeling….
He was shocked..
He found it was his missing eggshell.
“WHY IT’S IN YOUR HAND?” Coi stared at her furiously and looked at Behekine.
What the hell! Anhy…you..
“What’s that? I found it in masked man’s house.” Anhydre looked confused.
“MASKED MAN!”

Coi stretched out his hand and attempted to fetch his piece. However, instead, it shot out the black light that surrounded them in the black aura, a semi-transparent black spherical dome.
The black cover forming a marble shape like pills, dissolving into a scene, which was segment of memories…
It’s about the whole process of how the masked man turned the summon of Behekine and snatching eggshell episode, including the yelling, the pain, cries into the potion and wrapped the eggshell up into a black marble so that in Coi’s mind, he would always have a false preconception to Behekine. No wonder, that odor, that feeling…
After getting rid of the black coat-
Top there, a white small piece of eggshell was spinning.

[Dragile Coi. One piece of Five Dagon shells. Scale of lifelong mission- KILL.]
[Kill someone and you will get his/her power.]
[A snap of index finger could show up the attribute.]
[FINISHED]
Then, the eggshell went directly to his chest and the dome disappeared.

“Hahahahaha… congratulation! Dragile Coi. You found it out finally, huh!
See! Killing Behekine can give you a mighty water power while me… nothing good for you to be a dragon, I have to say.”
The masked man with the whole body scar, walked to three of them and five summons.
Now it’s time to lay everyone’s card on the table.

Coi snapped the index finger at the masked man…
Pretender.
A word showed.
Coi snickered.

Anhydre stood still right there as if she had done something wrong and was scolded by the teacher. The matter of “slave” was quite an interesting thing. She was shocked when the panther-man said he killed “all” his previous master. Really a Demon!
She felt a sudden eagerness to see his “current” master and would like to warn him he’d better be careful of him. Quite a Death God.
As she had said, a slave was much more interesting than a sand-girl.
 
“…Chemist, thirteen years ago…potions…water-producing machine…the spell I used to kill the man scattered away into the Desert’s sand…”
 
It was a long story. Behekine made some pause during the description to let her feel and be able to catch up the feeling of suffering from being a slave, whose freedom was deprived by a damn master. However, “With granted” two words, Anhydre couldn’t help herself laughing to. It seemed to be lacking of better option to kill his master. Could it be possible every master was killed in such “helpless” way?!
Just when he mentioned the spell scattered into the Desert’s sand, she closed up her mouth and brought a serious look on her face. That potion and Sand… Gosh! No way! 
With the masked man’s promised words, Behekine was the main cause of her sickness of water… If it’s true, then, she was that “sand mixed with potion”, made of a pile of rotten sand? Day after day.. and then POOF, Anhydre, herself?! It’s hard to imagine but it could be so possible. So likely.
 
“…ask this boy, who had something stolen from him at the period of this event…”
 
Anhydre looked at Coi, who was lying on the sand, without any motion. Stolen by the man? Honestly, she had no idea who he was exactly. Only knew he was a controller and a stalker. Suddenly he woke up and pushed himself up, although he had fallen back for several times. He asked her age. So he was listening to their talking from start to the end and he seemed to know something about “this master”. 
It made sense, if the masked man had told him the same story.
“13”
No use to lie about her age. She answered simple and clean. Moving her glance straightly to his eyes…

Suddenly, from her left palm, the black marble started to roll itself… By watching Coi held his head painfully, she knew there were something related. Maybe, it’s the similar idea of her aching palm that night in the room. Then, she saw Coi gave a snap to her direction. The marble dropped into the air…
It’s the first time seeing Coi so shocked, although only stayed for few seconds. Next moment, he changed into a cruel face that looked like he was going to tear her face up but she really didn’t know what happened and wasn’t scared by him at all…
“What’s that? I found it in the masked man’s house.”
Originally, she wanted to use it as a GPS to lead back to the masked man’s place.
 
The marble then launched the black light, which circled them in a dome-like aura. With the marble keeping running, it got smaller while the dome was darker. A summon words came through and a figure of masked man popped out and cruelly cracked the egg. He nearly used up all kinds of ways that he could come up with broke it, no matter by throwing it at the ground or hitting it to the corner of desk, and even picking up the knife and piercing toward it… with a shrill cried…finally, a piece of shell was peeled off.
And then… the masked man disappeared. A green potion was stirred round and round and someone was whispered the summon words of Behekine….
Now Anydre. got it. On the way to here, she had heard someone was talking in this marble… it actually was the summon words.
 
[Dragile Coi. One piece of Five Dragon shells. Scale of lifelong mission- KILL.]
Dragon!
So inside the egg was him!
No wonder he would be here and do his best to have Behekine die so hard! He thought it was the panther-man did.

All of a sudden, everything vanished, replaced by claps… 
The masked man was wounded so badly but he still came in his staggered paces. Not thinking he would come, how did he remove her pile of sand and those needles of cactus to the ground anyway.
His head was swelled as big as a pig head and those needles were still on his body and feet. Probably, it’s too hurt to plunk off or was stuck by his blood. Pretty much like another species of hedgedog…
 
Now on the beach, there were nine creatures. If those summons count….
A snicker mixed with the sound of wave.

When the boy got half up, all eyes around fell on him, some more hostile than others.
Behekine was cautious, of course, but Bitey and Scratchy were looking like they wanted nothing more than going in for the kill, apparently. Itchy rattled his spines, ready to draw his weapons out at any moment. Bob tilted his head to the side, which was both the cutest and eeriest thing ever. Screechy was running in circles, chasing after his own tail, but even he stopped when the marble flew from the sand-girl to the boy, turning into a magical shadow theater.
- Screeeee ?
His question was unanswered, so the noisy summon ran to jump on Behekine's back.

Shadows acted to explain the truth beehind this eggshell.
So the boy was a dragon ? Found as an egg by the masked-man, who tried to get to him and just tainted him using a potion to gain control over him...
The Demon's curiosity was far from being satiated, every answers leading to dozens of other questions, especially after the eggshell showed what purpose it really had. Behekin was old, and no stranger to seeing weird things, but that was a first to him. The boy was a dragon, no less ! And he had to earn his status as such through some weird objectives ?
The mission was quite dark too : Kill, to steal power.
This path was not about virtue and self-enlightment, that was for sure. Such a dark mission to burden a child with...

Behekine was so lost in thoughts he did not register the man approaching at first.
Face bruised beyond recognition, with needles stuck in his flesh there and there...
Only when he spoke out loud that Behekine understood who he was. The Demon straightened, and he lifted his head high to give the man a critical eye :

- The puppetmaster showed himself to the end. Look at you, like a mashed potato with limbs...

The waves came back and forth.
Behekine showed a smile, but anger was already raging in his gaze and his magic boiled right under his skin, like a storm on the point of breaking loose and tear the sky apart.
Resonating with his anger via their links to him, his summons started to show signs of aggressivity, too : Itchy flared his spines, Bitey and Scratchy forgot about the boy and turned to prowl around the masked-man, Bob looked at him and Screechy... "Screeeeee !" just like that.
The Demon shook his head :

- Honestly, tainting an infant to make him your puppet ? That's sick ! And they call me Demon...
And for what purpose ? I presume you knew the chemist, that I killed, thirteen years ago. It was a relative to you, isn't it ? Or...

He paused a second and looked straight at what was left of the man's face beofre saying :

- You were that young man I've seen a few times with the chemist. Deferent, docile, eyes downcast when looked at, but piercing gaze full of ambitious fire when you thought no one was looking...
An apprentice, maybe ? You looked poor... famished almost. Let me guess, the chemist's teachings were your key to a better life, to grandeur ? And when the man turned to ashes by my spell, so did your ideal future ?

There ! For a brief instant, Behekine noticed the sudden tension in the masked-man jaw muscles, the anger that burned deep within his eyes. The man noticed too, and he regained control of himself almost instantly, hiding his trouble behind a mocking laugh that was harsh and unpleasant to the ears.
But Behekine saw him through, and knew he guessed right. So he laughed with the man, almost sounding like a lion's roar :

- I can't believe it... petty vengeance ! Corrupting a newborn, hiding the truth from him to better keep him under your control, searching for power during more than a decade... all of that, for revenge ?

With a sigh, Behekine calmed down. Then, he slowly got up, the beast he now was soon towering over the three of them. His eyes never left the man, cold anger making them shine ominously :

- You're definitely sick. And a coward with that. Even now that you're here in the flesh, you'd rather see another one try and kill me than doing it yourself.
Tell us, before I come to kill you myself ; was the sand-girl a part of your plan ? Or did she appear out of your grasp, thanks to the same potion you used to taint the boy ? And before you came to grab the crumbs of power left by your tutor's death ?
And how could you pretend to know what's good for the boy when you speak his true name aloud in the presence of the demon he's supposed to try to kill ?

After hearing Behekine’s ironical words for the masked man’s appearance, Coi found he had a powerful gene for humor and surprising imagination. Hummm, a smashed potato with limbs. At the front line, Anhydre had laughed her head off.
Does she know how tense this situation now?
The tone changed once Behekine gave a turn to the memory and the background. They all perked up their ears and listened to him carefully, no exception of those summons.

“Tainting an infant to make him your puppet?....”
Coi drew a big gasp to his words. Real as it was, he still hardly accepted the fact that he had been controlled for such a long time, since his birth and especially, he thought what he did all along was for justice, for his right.
And the most ironic was- Now, it was Behekine that condemned the masked man, helping him insult the damn man and clarifying the truth. Even though it might be also helping Behekine himself from not being killed, Coi had slightly changed how he looked at him… Maybe, he was not so DEMON. Just Maybe!
Seeing the masked man look a bit nervous because of Behekine’s detection, he snickered again and threw a vicious stare at him. Vulgar! Coi held his knee and tried to stand up… still aching… Knees found themselves trembling unconsciously. Those summons really hurt him badly.
“Damn!”
In that way, how could he fight with the masked man?! It was time to army himself properly. He drew a skateboard with mind-control function that he didn’t need to kick back with his feet and a pair of gloves to protect his hand in temporary.
Behekine’s laugh sound brought him back to the current stage.
 
“....all of that, for revenge?.... Tell us,……”
The masked man laughed out loud after a series of questions bombard on him.
“Calm down, calm down…whatever you called me, one thing will never change: killing you is worthier than killing me! No matter how the history went, past is in the past. Children wouldn’t understand how deep my hatred was to you, neither you to your master. Let’s make it simple:
 
First, you mean Anhydre?! hahahaha… I would say she was my worst choice in this game. I thought she would kill you cruelly because of the fire event… However, never did I think she would give up her sand right due to…FUCKING knowing you. She was only a chess, a easy chess, I found it one day, after my lovely master’s death and picked it up on the road, then trying it out. After it, you knew…Just a bitch. Really a hard BITCH! And I found this bitch had the same potion as the one you DUMPED”

So strange! Anhydre didn’t move an inch. She should have rushed up and give him a hard punch but she let the masked man continue:
“She didn’t drop out…still in my HAND. I am not like you, Demon mist...cast her out with fire… I cherish her with my whole heart. Even dumped… I'll do recycling. ”
The masked man fisted…
Coi felt very uncomfortable with his saying… he even felt sorry for her….
“And about Dragile Coi, Oops I said it again… haha, I know it’s nothing good but so what? He was now useless. Killing me only does him harm but you..is another thing. Hahaha, I would like to see how you two fight again… in savanna, it’s an awesome show I would say. What a pity, you were not like you then. Bullfighting was my favorite sport. Ohhhh… that stab-”
 
Not waiting for his words finishing, Coi started his skateboard with high speed, dashing toward the masked man and crafted another weapon. The man then twisted his waist and suddenly released the needles and shot to him.
Over thirty needles came to his chest direction, Coi soon flipped and jumped, using the backboard of skateboard to block all of them. Just as Coi touched down, he then pulled the skateboard up with a string and swung it from the back. The side full of needles was thrown at the man’s head directly.
However, the man hauled down straightly on the sand and dragged Coi’s legs to make him fall. Before being dragged down, Coi drove the board on the man’s back and the needles prickled inside him again…
The masked man yelled…but now-
Coi was below the man’s body. The man propped himself with one hand while punched him hard, hard, hard with the other. 
Coi used his hands to prevent his head…
 
Then, a firm kick.
The masked man cried out to the ground…

Coi drew himself away and stood up.
“FUCK YOU.”

Behekine saw the fight in front of him.
The masked-man words had apparently completely turned the boy against him, and the sand-girl might not be far behind.
The Demon took opportunity of their short fight to make good use of his multicast ability. Magic buzzed and shaped inside his body, turning into spells like secret aces ready to be used. He couldn't keep them inside him for long - without a great strain on the mind, that is - but he had no plans to.

Sensing his intentions, his summons moved by themselves, which was a sight to behold for creatures supposed to be without free will. For a second, Behekine wondered again what he really created...
Without him having to say a word, Screechy ran along his back and jumped in front of him, a big smile on his big goofy face.
- Screeee !
Behekine extended a claw, and touched the noisy creature, releasing a first spell. Screechy started to shine brightly, like overcharged with pure magic. The mist creature screamed again and ran to the two currently fighting. The boy had just kicked the masked-man, and stepped back to recover.

More specifically, Screechy ran directly to Coï, at full speed - looking like a blur - and with a mighty and joyful "Screeee !" jumped to the boy's chest. The impact was actually not strong at all, and the little creature stayed in the same position for a second before falling back down, now back to his normal misty self, without any glow.

Spoiler:

Screechy stayed on the ground, and made a gesture of encouragement to Coï ( ), while the spell he released inside the boy started to work, healing his injuries and making him feel more than fine.
Behekine shook his head at the silliness of this particular summon, even if he couldn't deny liking the guy more and more. But honestly, where did he get thiese personality traits ? Certainly not from him !
Healing the boy was a risky move, as he couldn't be sure if he was out of the murder list of the boy. But he was willing to take that risk, if that meant they could get rid of this annoying masked-man.

Suddenly, a weird sound could be heard, coming from Bitey. The summon was beatboxing like crazy, even dancing in rythm with what he produced with his mouth.
The scene was so strange, everyone stopped to look at the show, and Bitey doubled his efforts in return.

Spoiler:

The masked-man got up, looking at Bitey like everyone.
He did not see the other summon coming to the side, carrying high above his head in his oversized hands and claws... the mace that Coï had drawn out during their first fight to the beach !
Once at reach, Scratchy aimed for the masked-man's hip. The attack actually looked ridiculous, since Scratchy barely gave any strength to his move.
Bonk !
Clic !
Bzzzzzz !
The masked-man yelled in surprise and pain when electricity surged through his body.

That show did make Behekine smile :

- You boys are so devious...
Then, he charged, jumping above Bob who was just looking at everything like a kid does with a circus show.
Behekine was still struggling to understand how this quadrupedal and strong body worked and moved - being stuck with this form since the night prior - but he still ran like a real beast, his allure similar to a chasing feline.
He was behind the masked-man with a few steps only and, with a mighty roar, he swang his head upwards, catching the man with his horns like a golf club does with a ball during a swing, launching him into the air at high speed.

The masked-man disappeared inside the mist fog, leaving an imprint of his body in the cloud.
Behekine was not finished with him though.
He released a second spell, and the mist shot out like a snake, catching the masked-man in the air, coiling him up and stopping his flight, before sending him back down - hard - in the sand a few feet away.
The ground shook a little at the impact, sand flying everywhere to form a small crater in which the masked-man was lying, coiled up in mist.
The Mist Blade.
The one that could turn intangible fog into hard as steel shapes.

The summons cheered him, Bitey and Scratchy looking smug even.
Itchy was still on the Demon's back, but he got up and grabbed his spines, ready to attack too if the masked-man tried to move.
Their foe was still in the mist's grasp, and looked like a mouse coiled by a boa constrictor.

- You forget that killing you will be enjoyable for me. But these childs suffered more from your machinations, so I'll let them decide your fate.
What say you, you two ?

The waves were going back and forth.

Behekine’s voice came from back…
“…. Look at you, like a mashed potato with limbs….”
Anhydre. couldn’t help herself laughing out so hard. Even it’s not appropriate, even it’s an emergent timing, masked man being teased by Behekine was what she always hoped for. She would like to see what spark they would have when they met each other and finally-
The wave came back and forth…
The wind scrolled harsher and harsher…

Just that moment, Anhydre wasn’t sure was there anyone seeing the masked man change his eyes color for one second, turning black into red. As soon as the color changed, he drove his glance straightly into her left eyes, which was not covered by the eye-patch.
A sight.
A version.
Her conscious went to another place while everything on the beach, she could also hear or sense but couldn’t have a response because she was no longer inside her body. Where was she now?
Like an echo, the sound haunted in the dark room, which almost covered Behekine’s voice, only few candles lightening.
*Hahahahaha.. Anhydre. You are really something, huh! But don’t you know you are still under my control… If you were not clear, I would let you know now!*
Without knowing whose hands but certainly not HIS, grasped her hands and tried to bind her to the chair. Anhydre bit it but found it’s not a physical hand. It’s made of “strength”.
Potion, which could make everything real…
*AHHHHHHHH….* Anhydre screamed.
*Don’t waste your energy. No use. They won’t hear you. Just only YOU and ME…*
*Let me go!*
She kept struggling, from standing to rolling on the ground, in order not to be bound. She knew once sitting on that chair, everything would be end. He could do whatever he wanted and she didn’t know what he would do. That sick.
*How dare you are! Stealing the eggshell from me…hit me like a dork and your laughing.. pay for it now!*
*What do you want from me? Everything was ruined and half of you are in the hell, don’t you know that? Later, they two-*
A hard slap flied from her right side of face.
*Bitch. Stop it. A hostage would be enough!*
*Later, they two will hit you to the cliff, and drown you under-*
Another slap.
*Well…Let’s see how Behekine see your lamentable friendship.
You gave up your own SAND right just for your past but would he also do that to you? By sacrificing himself? Or he would choose to let me kill you for exchanging his justice? Hahahahaha… it’s going to be an interesting game here.*
*He would KILL you and SAVE me! Damnnnn….*
*Are you sure?*
However hard Anhydre escaped, rolling to the corner or attached herself to the wall… Strength could penetrate through, no matter how narrow the space left. Eventually, her hands were tied by several rounds of rope. Even though now, she couldn’t launch any attack, giving up was a far concept to her.

Suddenly, a voice:
“….Was the sand-girl a part of your plan? Or did she appear out of your grasp, thanks to the same potion you used to taint the boy?....”
*How to answer him…..I guess, I should let you know my answer, Anhydre.*
She putting too much care on Behekine’s question, a strong strength pushed her onto the chair and it’s too late for her to resist it. Binding to the chair really caught her in difficulty…
Keep kicking the chair, she wanted to stand up but failed…
“…..she was a chess, a easy chess. I found it one day, after my lovely master’s death and picked it up on the road, then trying it out. After it, you knew…Just a bitch. Really a hard bitch…..Even dumped, I’ll do recycling.”

Insult, anger, lost.
No solid thing to hit, it’s useless to fight… everything came to her was empty and imaginary. If now she took it serious, only wasted was her own energy. And there were far more things than she thought that masked man could use on her since it all came from imagination and “potion”…
Who am I now? A soul or a thought?
*Actually, I don’t like to force anyone. Even now…
you now are the purest sand collection among your body. That one on beach is your “potionalized” part. Think, what if I dropped a drip on YOU… What an exciting moment, don’t you think?*
The voice made her disgusting…
*Let me go!*
She stamped on the ground, shouting in to the air.
A boiling sound came… something was cooking.. the green liquid flowing from the four upper corners. It’s more like snakes crawing on the wall in plodding. Anhydre was in the middle, seeing the scrawling line came down. Horrofied, helpless…

Suddenly, the “roome-like” space was given a huge shock… more and more liquid line oozing out from the wall, painting it in full green carpet. It’s like being pierced. A scream she heard afterward. Then, the roaring sound depressed the room in an unbearable frenquence..HOOOOOOOOOON…
“FUCK YOU.”
A huge shake. The liquid moved faster, some of them even dropped to the ground.
Scrawled…..
Appearantly, Coi seemed to beat the masked man badly. She found she was inside somewhere in masked man’s body, mind? Or magical zone? Everything happened to him would reflex on this room… also his hearing.
“Screeeeeeeeeee-”
Summons are joining the fight too.

Failed to see the scene, it’s difficult for her to catch up what’s going on now. Beyond her expectation, another attack came up following… The electronic shock “shivered” the whole room. Liquid stopped at the moment and vibrated on the floor, as if it were absorbing the power.
Before the man put his attention back on her, before the liquid full of the room, before she surrendered, no! she was not going, never to surrender…
She had to free herself. If standing up was not in the hand of possibility, what about falling backward? However, if she failed, she was doomed to die. Risk it or not. Either way for death, anyway.
No time for her to think, anger was around her head fully. Anhydre gave a back kick hard and pushed all her weight-sand power-heavily back to the ground. A dice. A crack. The chair was broken into two parts. She gave a backward roll and stood up.
Now it’s the rope… it tied her very tight that she couldn’t twist her arm to the front and bit it apart.

Just as she saw the direction of candles…
The wall protruded two sticks shaped, Panther-man?
Then, a huge “SWING”…..
It’s like flying up to the sky. Gravity–free. Flying?
Thanks to the wonderful skill of ball swing from the panther-man, it’s not in “whirling” or “spiraling” way but an undisturbed upturn, so that the liquid wouldn’t splashed everywhere and killed her in chaos. But still, the flying sped up its flowing speed, more and more... few places left “ungreen”.
Squeezing a little space by seating on her two bound hands, she poured out trace of sand. She’d better not stepping too heavily…No much sand piled up.
Pour, walk, pour, walk… Afraid of touching any drop, she made damn sure before her every back step.
STOP.
Something was stopped. Or it’s not a stop, it was merely a pause…
She should have felt the “dropping speed” if he already up to the sky… or a heavy fallen force to the ground, but nothing. Everything was like “swinging”.
While looking forward, to her surprise, the ground was drowned into the green liquid, including the sand she poured. Only a circle of sand she stood on was “yellow” but it wouldn’t stay too long because she could feel… it was sinking….

All of a sudden…
A falling speed rushing through the whole "space". Her feet separated with the ground, the liquid area, due to the gravity. She hurried to catch the candle not far from her right side with her feet. She'd better…better…reaching…reaching… it before everything was to late…
But no…still too far. Only one chance. A throw. She threw herself to against the wall with her feet supporting. That way, she wouldn't touch the liquid on it.
Then, catching the timing before she fell, Anhydre flied toward the candle and raised up her bound hands backward, that moment…
Buzzzzz… burning smell.

I made it!

Not too long…the rope was disturcted. Then, she broke it and freed her hands. However, at the same time, a huuuuuuge bumping sound… The moment-
Anhydre was pouring out the sand to dry out the floor right under her body but the ground caught her straightly and gave her a powerful hit with it motionless. Unable to cover it fully, only the part for her head, other body parts were soaked in the green liquid...

Anhydre knew-
It was ALL too late.

“You forget that killing you will be enjoyable for me. But these children suffered more from your machinations, so I’ll let them decide your fate. What say you, you two?”
*Anhydre. What’s your answer? The demon is asking you.*

Silence.

The liquid was growing
deeper,
deeper and
deeper……

Coi really didn’t want to open his mouth, especially for this kind of rubbish man, but he couldn’t control himself. Even for his self-esteem, he thought, a “fuck you.” might erase his anger a bit; a letter for one creature on the spot plus a dot for Bob, maybe. Unfortunately, nothing changed.
Ache…..
Picking up his skateboard, he walked back few steps in stagger. In order to follow any movement of the masked man, he faced him and stood up right. He felt himself was going to broken out, no! it’s “has” broken out. Anger gave him temporary power as if he had restarted the game and got a brand-new body… but when back to normal state, everything returned in double times.
The boxing from the masked man made them worse. His head, waist, limbs, spines and bones…Covering the biggest scar springing blood made by Scratchy with one hand, Coi used his fingers to wipe out the bloody lines on his feet. On his face, he could taste the blood flowing from his forehead. Not to mention the internal injury, it’s damn hurt that he was nearly to pass out.
Just as he turned his gaze in front, a SHINY “screeeeeeee-“ summon appeared in sight suddenly and dashed to him like an out-of-control racing car. He couldn’t imagine if there came another attack from it, especially in so such deadly speed. Coi put one hand right in front of the chest to block its coming. A jump. He wanted to catch it in the air directly. However, the jump sent it into his chest directly and fast. It seemed the summon chose a wrong jumping time. Not in a parabola but a straight line.
They “collided” for a second. Before Coi could “hug” it upon his chest with one hand, the summon fell to the ground and gave him a thumb-up gesture. Coi didn’t know how to react to this surprise, just simultaneously reaching out his hand, wanting to thumb-up it back. But not until then did he found only his middle finger not fractured and pointed at it… He hurriedly to take back and send it an one-eye blink.
 
After then, Coi felt the mighty power “installed”. Bones were connected in second time, scars were mended up, brain like being thrown into wash machine, renew again. Thanks to their “car accident”, he got the remedy… from Behekine, he knew.
A beatbox following came. Coi smiled at those summons…. The masked-man was also attracted by the summon’s singing and got up, looking back. Coi stood forward to be ready for any attack. Anyway, he now wasn’t afraid of him anymore.
 
From another side, the mace caught his attention. The mace was moving! The big claws one held it in its claws… wobbly…. Wouldn’t it be too heavy to it?
Coi had stood by it, if any mistake had made, such as it fell back before reaching the man or the button it failed to press, he would fill its attack. Aiming at the masked-man’s hip, the summon gave a tiptoe and pressed the button… Coi was even nervous for it.
Buzzzzzzz…..
Gosh, ssssss-, that would be really hurt. The man’s reaction and look had said everything. He “trembled” throughout the body, even his hair; anus, maybe, Coi guessed. He snickered at him again.
Far there… he saw a beast rushing toward his direction. Behekine! He ran like a true panther with allure in lion. Sunshine shot on his feline, showing a ring of golden glory. In his eyes, desperation was sure. 
A perfect swing. 
The man flew into the sky after his “slightly” throw. Score. Bye!
Behekine wasn’t satisfied with letting him drop naturally from about 100 floors high. He scrolled him in the mist and hung him up in the air…
Suddenly, a hard push down. The man rapidly rushed down from the sky and “booooom” a little on the ground. A crater was specially tailored for him with a steel-like mist around.
What an amazing show! 
 
Behekine said calmly:
“You forgot that killing you will be enjoyable for me. But these children suffered more from your machinations, so I’ll let them decide your fate. What you said, you two?”
Without thinking, Coi stared at the man:
“INFERNO.”
No response afterward.
Anhydre.?
Since hearing her laughing sound, Coi didn’t see her motion and honestly, totally forgot her existence. He just noticed it now. Where is she? Looking around… he counted the amount of creatures. Only Eight!
 
There, behind himself few meters away, he saw Bob was looked down at something silently. When they were all focus on the man show, Bob was…
Coi walked to Bob in silence and slowly. He was so afraid of shocking it again and he would fall asleep AGAIN… However, Bob might sense someone’s approach; it removed its hand from Anhydre’s eye-patch and walked toward Behekine step by step.
Coi soon came to her side and lift the eye-patch… What he found was two different eye-ball colors. One was red as she was spelled; the other was “green”. Close to her nose, no breathing sign…but a feeble pulse he could feel, really petty.
If he wasn’t mistaken, this condition only happened on "soul-taken" but where would she go now…since the man was in….
Seeing the man in the misty white, he got it. He would find her there. Lots of spaces the man had divided inside his body and she might in one of them and there must be an entrance…
Eye. The Green one. The covered one.
No wonder she wore it since she was kidnapped by the masked man.
And… Bob just dispelled it… but why and how? Because of Behekine?
 
No time for him to be Arsène Lupin.
Coi touched her green eye and closed his eyes… He could feel a powerful magic swept up his soul. It was like a soul-vacuum cleaner.
 
Next time when he opened the eyes was in a dark “space” with two candles lighting on each side…2/3 of the space was filled with green potion. Another kind of swimming pool but the potion consistently flooded in.
Coi was ALSO in the pool.
Anhydre? Not on the surface.
So he drew a breath and dived under the water. What almost, almost, almost… shocked him to death was-
A huge BOB at sight….
It “floated” inside the potion, seemed not knowing how to swim or not getting used to it, motionless with its limbs open. Coi hurried to snatch the candle on the water surface, stretching it longer and sent it to Bob… Afraid of being touched, he grasped the most end of candle while Bob pulled the other s-l-o-wl-y. Finally, they both rose up.
“Normal size” Bob lying on the candle downward like holding a drift wood… staring at Coi and Coi looked back…
 
Coi pointed at its head, meaning “Why are you here?”
Bob looked up, wanting to see its vertex but looked back to Coi silently.

Then, 
dark. Candles were put out.

The moment Coï closed his eyes while touching Anhydre's own green eye, Bob was right behind his back. The summon just ran back to the boy, his head abnormally tilted to the side and his unmoving gaze full of curiosity. When the boy's soul went through that tunnel that seemed to link the sand-girl to the masked-man, Bob just... followed him.
The summon disappeared and traveled to this different space inside the masked-man.
He appeared below the surface of this potion that filled the room like a pool, unable to get to the surface because of his body made of mist, unable to drown because he had no need for breathing. The potion around him felt weird to the little spark of Essence that animated him. Not a bad kind of weird ; more a "akin" kind of weird.

The boy brought a long candle for him to grab and get back to the surface. Bob obliged him ; even if he felt no need to get out of the potion, the gesture was nice enough.
He looked afraid, which sparkled in the summon's mind as curiosity. Why ? There was no need to be afraid !
Maybe he didn't like being wet...
Lights came off, plunging the room in complete darkness.
Almost complete.
Bob's eyes were shining like two far-away stars, unblinking, moving slightly up and down with the potion's flow.
The summon had no need for light to see, but he somewhat knew that the boy needed it, for himself and for finding the sand-girl. He could feel her nearby...
Curious, Bob plunged his mouth in the potion to taste it.
After a few seconds, he started to drink.
Gulp
Gulp
Gulp
Gulp !

A potion that could make imagination real ; it was like nectar to the nightmare that was Bob !
He drank greedily, noisily, again and again, faster and faster...
Soon enough, the potion's level went down, and down, until it was just a small puddle.
Bob stopped, got up and started to shine like a lava lamp, in shades of blue and white, full of the potion's magic but still the frail small creature, as if he had not drank hundreds of times his mass in liquid.
The summon looked at Coi and...

- Hiccup !

The light that emanated from him was enough to see the whole room.


Outside, Behekine's eyes were shining too.
He had seen the boy run to the immobile sand-girl, and had noticed how the two soon became even more immobile. It took him some time to notice Bob was no longer near him though, and it was when he tried to locate the elusive summon - using the link he had with him - that he figured out where the three "went".
To be sure, he casted his vision spell, making his eyes glow blue.
Now he could almost see the different spaces inside the masked-man's body, with the three auras stuck inside one of them... there was something boiling in the mashed-potato own aura, as if he was just a vial full of a strange liquid.

Was it the effect of the potion Anhydre had talked about ? The one that could make thoughts real ?
As a master illusionist that lived hundreds of years by shaping himself using only his thoughts, he knew how this kind of potion could be powerful and/or dangerous. Forcing a mechanic of the mind to manifest via a physical mixture was more likely to become out of control and feed itself on the drinker's fear, and bad thoughts, causing a chain reaction from there...

He also remembered how this potion was made. The Demon's purification water was essential for it, every ingredient needed to be pure and cleansed of all impure elements. But not too pure at the same time, and the balance had proved to be a long and difficult process to find and master. It had been tedious for him, mostly, the chemist that served as his master at the time leeching on his ability to produce this purification water in large quantities...
Looking at the masked-man, Behekine suddenly got an idea, and smiled like only a Demon could :

- It must have been really difficult to produce this potion... Purifying the ingredients, especially, was hard, am I right ? Did you know that the potion turned into mild water if you tried to purify it too much ?

The waves were moving back and forth.
Behekine stepped closer to the man coiled in mist, his claws leaving huge marks in the sand.
Sensing again what he was about to do, the four summons left their spot to run to the two childs immobile a few feet away, encircling them without making a sound.
Magic soon exuded from the Demon's body, molded by Behekine in such quantities it deformed the air around him like heat does above Desert's sand.
Then, he started to chant.

- From the depths comes the Bride of tides.
Heavy crown and heart.
Unmoving kingdown of silence and still.

From the ether comes the Groom of clouds.
Feeble thoughts of uncertain nature.
Ever-moving soul carrying the winds.

Together they are the childs of truth.
Together they make whole what was once shattered.
The horizon draws the line of their meeting.
Sublimation from the Sun's gaze.
Together they are the seekers of truth.

Magical energy focused in the air in front of him, soon forming a small ball of blue light, that looked like Water element itself.
The ball grew in size and intensity, attracting into itself a large chunk of the cloud of fog around them. Without warning, it flew at high speed to the sea, speeding just above the waves like a missile.
After nearly a kilometer, it plunged under the sea, disappearing from view.
The waves were going back and forth.
Back and forth.
Back and forth.
Back.
And back.
And back.
And back.

The sea was retreating from the beach, uncovering the bottom floor that never felt the touch of air before, trapping the sea wildlife out of water. Fishes flopped about while water ran away from them. Wind rushed in this new free space, howling all the while. A "hill" formed where water stopped running away, increasing in size and height by the second.
Behekine's eyes were locked to the masked-man, still coiled in mist, and the Demon's smile showed all his fangs :

- I might have overdone it. I wonder what a tsunami's worth of purification water will do to you and the potion you keep within yourself...

In the distance, the balance of powers between magic, water and gravity twisted, and the sea suddenly rushed back to it's righteous place. In its fury, the "hill" crashed down and rolled over, foam partially hiding the ten story high wave that was rushing to the beach. The wind ran away from the sea, its piercing howl turned pitiful compared to the roar of the wave.
This tsunami would probably change the shape of the coast with its crushing power, but Behekine did not move ; he did not fear the sea's wrath he provoked, protected by his own magic.
Before the wave hit them, the four summons joined their hands and formed a circle around the boy and the sand-girl. A bubble of mist formed around them, fueled in power by Behekine to create a shield against the catastrophe incoming.

- Screeeeeeeeeeeeee !
Again, Screechy seemed to have a good time.

Damn!
The sudden darkness blank his sight and thought. Nothing he could see…Anhydre was in somewhere of black. The potion flew up and down. Compared to the moment he came, the depth of water became deeper, height to his neck. Bob was out of sight too.
He should be hurry in finding her. Since made of sand, at the button of water would she be. In few minutes, he had drunk several times of potion…it tasted so bitter, spicy and pungent, just like adding vinegar and red pepper into coke…
Coucoucoucough….
Yakiiiiii.. Nearly threw up.
While on the other side, a noisy, big sound was made,
Gulp, gooloo, Gulp, gooloo, Gulpgulp, gooloogooloo….
Glup, Gooloogooloo!
Coi gaped at the dark, more specific, to the direction of Bob.
Bob was drinking the potion!
It seemed to enjoy the taste of potion and sound very thirsty. The potion to it was as delicate as honey to bees. Isn’t it made of mist? Not enough of water?To his surpise, Bob’s drinking speed was much more efficient than any drainage working. What’s more, it became a flashlight, “lightening” itself because of the potion inside…

Seeing the water level dropped dramatic, Coi went to touch the wall and closed his eyes… He could feel there was a big machine behind the wall and he guessed it was the “potion reservoir”, which could provide tons of potion liquid. For the wall, it was made of thousand millions of “pipe controllers” that charged how much potion should be given out in a time. To solve this, he drew a drop of “instant glue” with super liquidity that could pass behind the walls, flow into every pipe and stuck them in a second. However, the masked man would find his mind to Anhydre was blocked up, as if the blood couldn’t pass the vessel. If they were in his heart, heart attack might be happened while in brain, stroke would stand by…
The liquid drop across the wall like light sweep used on the special effect, Coi looked at the whole process in satisfaction.
During his work, Bob was a full “lighted” creature, shadowing blue and white light and only a puddle left on the lowest ground. He was pretty surprised and looked at this small creature.
“Hicupp!”
Coi smiled.
It was the smile he only found stupidly shown on people’s face but somehow, he “smiled” after seeing Bob’s innocent face, certainly, not a scorn way.

Since potion was all slugged and the pipes were clogged, they now could start out on the task- Anhydre.
Coi found she was not far from them actually. She faced down and looked suffering with eyes closed. The sand throughout her body was in mushy, like ooze in rainforest… Even though the clothes were completed on, sand fully got rotten inside. A slight touch, Coi could feel it disperse.
“A…Anh..ydre?”
He said in a low voice and tried to pat her up. Silence.
“Anhydre.” Silence.
With one hand, he held her arm and the other on her check. As he lifted her arm up, simply saw sand went through his fingers and dropped naturally. He couldn’t even hold her…
Coi looked back at Bob, thinking they both came too late.
It seated on the candle and rolled back and forth, against the wall, staring at him unmovable.
But…
How to tell it she was….was dead,
How to tell Behekine, his annoying fighter was gone,
How to tell himself, once being an out-of-control comrade was dead because of his late arrival.
No… he could not.

Bob responded nothing but one thing-
It foamed at the mouth with lifeless sight…
Bubbling consistently...
Poisonous Potion?

No!
Not even it gonna…
Nooooo..
Just as he gave an incredible stare at them, one had dead while the other was near…
Bob squeezed itself hard inside the seam between wall and ground, hard....
Coi looked at it. It looked at him.

Then-SHOOOOOOOOOOT

It launched straightly upon Coi's face. The force was strong enough to fly him across Anhydre and push him back against the wall…
Following up its back was WATER pouring from nowhere. Bob's body with white bubble and foam caught Coi's head tight. A kiss would be precise.

A foam-full KISS.

The foam, or to say saliva, gave Coi a perfect protection from the punch of the wall while the water crushed to his other body parts.

During their kissing time…
Hardly did they find...
Someone was looking at them.