The Demon King's Hero Of Light

Her mind wasn"t as chaotic as it had been before. Whether that came from acquiring the earth element, or just from getting a chance to rest, she wasn"t sure. The ability to think was glorious and she took full advantage of it.

Glancing around the dark cave, Aella gave a start. She couldn"t see with her eyes, but she could still tell where every b.u.mp in the floor and wall was. The water had collected here from seeping through microcracks in the walls. Before they had invaded this tiny s.p.a.ce, the water had been pure and drinkable from being filtered through the rocks. She studied the various crystals and mineral veins for a moment, and felt earth approve.

Turning her attention to Precious, she frowned at the thought of how easily he had been at the mercy of the wind from the crazy storm. If they were going to be bonded for life, he needed some kind of protection from the elements she could now control. Turning her thoughts inward, to the elements that flowed along her veins, Aella asked them their thoughts. None of them cared much for the question and ignored her. The ring of air mastery answered, though. It didn"t have a problem following the magical bond that tied them together to bestow protection from air attacks to the kitten. Precious froze, digging his claws into her arm, as the ring greeted him.

"Aella, why is something talking to me in my head?" he mewed in distrust.

"Ha! You better get used to that if you plan to stay by my side," she laughed. "I have so many different voices in my head I have to talk out loud sometimes to hear myself think."

"Is that why you mumble to yourself?" he asked, giving her a grin.

"Probably," she nodded. "I seem to be able to absorb magical items with lots of personality, and then they hold whole conversations with each other in my head. It gets pretty crowded sometimes."

"Well, I don"t care to listen to your head. And I would appreciate it if they stayed out of mine," he growled.

"The air mastery ring is the one who just spoke," she said with a smirk. "It was trying to protect you from the wind above."

He perked up. "So, I won"t have to worry about being blown away now?"

"Maybe," she agreed.

"Then, maybe I can stand it a little," he sighed, settling back into her warmth and withdrawing his claws from her arm.

Putting him on her shoulder, with an annoyed grunt from him, she teleported them both back to the surface. It must be nighttime, because it was even darker than before, and she could barely make out the huddled forms of the lizard people from the other realm.

"Are you going to kill us as well?" asked one, looking up at her.

"Do you intend to tear my realm apart?" asked Aella.

"No, we were merely fleeing from the devourers," said another with a shudder.

"As you can see, my realm is struggling right now. This storm covers the entire surface and will remain for a while. You are welcome to stay and settle down if you want, if you do not intend harm to the realm. What kind of environment does your kind prefer?"

"Our scaled hide is sufficient to protect us from the vast majority of this type of wind, but we really prefer much wetter places, with swamps and marshes," said the first thoughtfully.

Aella thought about all the places she had visited and shook her head. She didn"t remember seeing a place like that at all.

"I can take you to a place that had water and a cave for you to stay in for the duration of the storm. After it subsides, I can find you a better location?" she offered.

"Will there be food available? We like to eat a lot of fish, but any meat would be suitable," said one of the lizards, looking a little uncomfortable.

Aella wondered how long it had been since they ate last, then remembered that she needed to find food for the lions. If these things could survive the storm with the hide they had, maybe the dinosaurs would too.

"I am in charge of making sure all of the peoples of the realm are fed during the storm," she said.

"Are you the realm guardian?" asked another lizard, moving closer to ask.

"Yes, but it"s a new position," she admitted. "I"m still trying to get used to it. So, you have to excuse me if I struggle a bit."

"We had a realm guardian, but he fell to the devourers when they attacked," said the first lizard shuddering. "He"s the one who managed to open the portal to your realm for us to escape."

"I managed to grab the eggs from our brooding pools, but I fear they will all die before I can find another suitable pool for them," whispered a smaller lizard in the back, hanging its head in sorrow.

Aella didn"t see a bag on it, but it could have magic of some kind she supposed. She would need to keep an eye on these new additions, to make sure they didn"t have anything dangerous to her home, but if they did have an understanding of magic, she might be able to learn from them.

"Let me take you to the cave, then I will gather food for you," said Aella. "You must be touching me for me to teleport you."

The lizards gathered around her, struggling to all be in contact with her, and Aella teleported them to the clearing she had taken Joseph"s kids in the mountains. The cave was being the waterfall, and the lizards quickly disappeared into it. Aella followed them, to find out more about the pools they would need for their eggs. She didn"t have water, but she might be able to persuade earth to form a few pools.

Earth was surprisingly willing to go along with her request and the lizards rejoiced to know their eggs would be safe for the moment.

Teleporting high above her demon city, Aella looked around through the thick haze of the storm, to see if she could spy any dinosaurs huddling from the storm. Precious wasn"t entirely thrilled to be high above the city in the middle of the storm and burrowed his head into the crook of her neck, digging his claws into the leather bracer that she formed under him, giving him a more secure seat.

Glancing at him in amus.e.m.e.nt, she teleported to a group of dinosaurs that were moving slowly across the wind beaten field, eating the gra.s.s as it moved in sync. She was tempted to kill them all, but if they could survive the three months this way, they may be needed later in the storm, so she left them and started looking around for dinosaurs that were struggling much more.

All of the creatures that depended on flying to find their food were weak and dying, so she cleared all of the cliffsides of them, teleporting them to the city and the cave of lizards until there were more than enough for both the lizards and the lions.

"Aella!" cried Alfred as she hovered over the field looking over her recent haul and trying to decide if she was done for the night or not.

"What is it?" she asked, landing next to him.

"General Brimsey is ill, and Josephine doesn"t know what"s wrong. We"re not sure he"s going to make it," said Alfred, giving her a look. "He"s asking for you."

Aella nodded, grabbing Alfred"s arm and teleporting them to the sick room Josephine had set up. The Water Hero looked exhausted. She rushed over to her father"s side and took his hand. Brimsey opened his eyes and looked up at her.

"I don"t have long," he whispered.

"You got hurt from one of those devourers, didn"t you?" she asked, feeling the familiar taint as she held his hand.

"You better cremate me once I"m gone," he whispered.

"Don"t worry," she whispered back, feeling her breath catch. She couldn"t possibly be getting emotional, could she? Precious licked her face where tears were trickling down and hopped off her shoulder to give her a private moment.

"We"ll give you a moment with him," said Josephine, giving her a small smile of comfort before grabbing Alfred"s arm and dragging him from the room. He seemed confused but followed.

"Heard you were going to be the realm guardian," said Brimsey, pulling strength from somewhere to look her in the eyes.

"Yeah," she said, sitting on the side of his bed.

"You need to make someone else king. Taking care of a whole realm is way more work than just running a kingdom," he said, struggling to say it all without coughing.

"I was thinking about that," she said, leaning forward so he didn"t have to talk so loudly.

"I had been hoping to find out the secret behind the heroes, but I guess it"s not so important anymore."

"They were created by the realm, to watch over the different races," said Aella, surprised that he didn"t know that.

"So, the church stole them all and made them all human?" he asked, giving a short laugh and then wincing. "That sounds like them."

"I seem to be acquiring all of the elements, though," whispered Aella, holding his hand with both of hers.

"Whatever you do," he started to say, then paused to catch his breath. His energy seemed to be fading fast.

"What?" she asked, desperate to make the moment last. How could she be losing him already? He was her father!

"Don"t take the light," he whispered. "Dark doesn"t like…it."

Aella sat on the side of the bed for several moments, watching the life drain from her father"s face. Despite all the scars and lines of age, his face looked peaceful. As his face started to ripple from the devourer toxins taking over, Aella teleported him back to the cave Rupert had died in. It seemed fitting to cremate her father there.

As the shadow awoke in her veins, she found she could see in the dark without any light at all. What other abilities had she just gained?