Title: Shattered Tower Part 1
Author: Shaded Mazoku.
Email: herukatto@hotmail.com.
Part: 1/?.
Disclaimer: Actually, they’re all mine, though the names are borrowed.
Warnings: For this chapter, some gore and a very minor shounen-ai hint.
Rating: R.
Summary: Being a demon exterminator is a very risky job.
Pairing(s): Just a married couple in this one, though there will be more in upcoming chapters.
Fandom: Original fiction.

*

”You really shouldn’t go any further.” The speaker was a slender young man with black and blue hair; skin the color of tea with too much tea and black eyes that were glaring at them from a face too pretty for a man. He was sitting on the top of the portal leading to the next part of the tower, his black, bat-like wings twitching in annoyance as he spoke. “We do not appreciate visitors.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Go away now and you’ll stay unharmed.” Audrey snorted and glared up at him, her fingers toying with the heavy symbol of Kellan she wore around her neck. “Why should we listen to a demon?” She asked, displaying the hot temper the clergy of the Sun God was so infamous for. Egnirys nodded, placing a hand on his wife’s arm to show that he supported her.

The demon sighed and shrugged. “Your loss,” he said, disappearing in a flash, leaving the five adventurers behind. Audrey glared at the spot he’d occupied. “I really hate demons,” she said, taking a step closer to her husband. Egnirys grimaced. “You’re not the only one,” he told her, wrapping an arm around her, pulling her close. The rest of the group ignored them. They were used to the sudden displays of affection the couple were prone to, especially now that they were expecting their first child. The two of them could be overly sweet.

The five of them were demon exterminators. The group consisted of four men and a woman, and they all had their tasks in the group. Their leader was a Paladin called Berry due to his bright red hair. He was the one who had started the team. Then there was his brother Mask, whose nickname came from the fact that he wore a mask to battle, a fighter of renown. Amber was their mage, a slender elven man with little sense of humor and a rigid school of thoughts he followed. Lastly, there was Audrey and Egnirys, a cleric of Kellan and a thief. They were both desert dwellers, who had known each other their entire lives. They’d decided to tackle the infamous Shattered Tower, dreaded for its powerful demons, to show people that they were the best demon exterminators around. Some ominous warnings from a demon weren’t going to scare them off. Not now that they had come so far. 

They all looked at the twisted doorway that should logically lead to the next floor. However, the lack of stairs behind it hinted at a different destination, or at least at an unusual layout, not that they hadn’t expected that with demons. Berry snorted. “We’re not going to run off just because a demon tells us to, are we?” He asked. The group’s resounding “no!” felt reassuring, though he’d never admit to being frightened. He suppressed a shiver and stepped forwards, into the doorway. There was an immediate feeling like he was being taken apart and put back together again, and he really didn’t like it much. In fact, it was all he could do not to loose his lunch. A quick glance behind him told him that the others weren’t much better off. Audrey, already queasy from her pregnancy, was bent over, emptying her stomach on the cold stone tiles that covered the floor.

They managed to pull themselves together and looked around the room they were now in. It was a normal enough room, with a desk, some chairs, a bookshelf, two torches and a huge window, and lots and lots of floor space. However, the room was filled with something odd. Amber lifted his hands to cast a spell, but he suddenly fell silent, his arms falling limply down to his sides. His body seemed completely calm, but for his eyes. In his eyes, there was a look of pure terror, as he saw something unspeakable. Egnirys looked around to find that all of his companions looked the same, as if they were seeing their greatest fears. He shivered, and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he was standing in a stone cottage, looking down at his bloodstained hands, and at the two lifeless shapes at his feet. One was a girl who looked so much like a miniature of Audrey, but with his eyes and nose, the other was Audrey, though she was older now. They were both dead, their skulls having been cracked open. On his hands, blood and brains glittered in the light of the pale moon.

Egnirys screamed and stepped back. What just happened? He asked himself, desperately searching his mind for an answer. I was in the demons’ tower, and now I’m here? He didn’t understand how he could have forgotten what seemed to be about seven years, judging by his daughter’s apparent age, only to slaughter his family. There had to be something wrong. Maybe those demons did something to me, he reasoned. The thought wasn’t a pleasant one, though. Even if it meant he wasn’t the only guilty part in the death of his wife and daughter, it meant that Audrey had lived with a modified version of him for seven years, without noticing. Yet she claims to love me, came the unbidden thought. He was beginning to wonder if those claims were true. Audrey was a good liar when she felt like it. He’d seen her lie to people many a time. Maybe she deserved dying, he thought. Who knows what she has been up to while I couldn’t notice it? He was beginning to seriously doubt his wife’s love for him. Curling up, he looked at the girl on the floor, who looked so much like Audrey, but no longer like him. Funny, he thought to himself, she seems to have a reddish cast to her hair. He wondered if she was even his.

Suddenly, Audrey rose from the floor, blood and gray matter dripping down her pretty face. She walked towards him, with shambling, jerky movements, as a result of her brain being ruined. The look in her eyes was utterly agonizing. Her eyes showed a mix of grief, betrayal and anger that he’d never seen anything like in his entire life. “This is all your fault, you know,” she said, her voice gurgling from the blood in her throat. She reached out for him, but he stepped back. “If you’d paid more attention to me, this wouldn’t have happened.” Egnirys shivered, and looked at the corpse. “I always paid attention to you, Audrey,” he said, forcing himself to stand still, and not run away screaming. “You’re the love of my life.” Audrey snorted, and glared at him. “Liar!” She took another step towards him, reaching out with a pale, visibly decayed hand. “You’ve lied to everyone, my love,” she spat. “Most of all to yourself.” Egnirys fought back an exclamation. He’d never told anyone about his doubts and fears, not even Audrey. “You’re a worthless creature, Egnirys,” the corpse of his wife said, her voice accusing. “The world and I both are better off without you.” She was right, of course. He was a liar and a coward, and he wasn’t worth the air he breathed. He would be better of dead, so that he wouldn’t be a burden to his family. No child should have to grow up with him as a father.

A sudden scream tore through the air, and through Egnirys’ soul, as the room around him rippled. The apparition that had pretended to be Audrey faded, leaving him in the room in the tower where they’d all been before the scenery had changed. The rest of his party was all there, still locked inside their personal nightmares. It was Audrey who had screamed. Tears were streaming down her face and her eyes were wide in disbelief and shock. “No…” She whimpered, reaching in front of her. “I won’t let you! I’d rather die!” With a last scream, she tore loose of the force holding her in place and threw herself out the window. For a moment, she seemed to hover in the hair, before plummeting. Egnirys tore himself loose and ran to the window. A scream bubbled up in him, but got stuck in his throat, at the sight of his wife, impaled on the cast iron fence that surrounded the tower, a gaping hole in her chest where one of the black spears had penetrated her body. 

The rest of the party had broken loose as well, and gathered around the window. They all stared down at Audrey’s corpse, not knowing what to say. Egnirys wasn’t the only one with tears in his eyes, though he was the only one who didn’t try to hide them. Amber, who never showed much of any emotion, had stepped closer to Mask, almost without noticing it, and was twining the end of his long, blond braid around his slender fingers. Mask took his mask off, holding it carefully, as he tried to think of anything to say that might comfort the thief. But he didn’t know what to say to someone who had just lost their wife. Berry was praying silently, his eyes closed. He was a Paladin of the same church as Audrey had been a member of. They were all silent, watching their deceased team member quietly.

“I told you to turn back, didn’t I?” They all turned, to find the bat demon they had encountered earlier standing behind them. “It’s not too late. Turn back, and give your friend a decent burial. Don’t go any further, or you’ll be joining her.” Egnirys hissed and threw himself at the demon, who sidestepped his attack easily. “You killed my wife!” He screamed, pulling out his daggers. “I’ll kill you! No matter what happens, or where you go, I will track you down and avenge my wife and unborn child.” The demon sighed and looked at them all. “I’m warning you. Go home, now, and you’ll live.” The party all glared at the demon. “We’ll get rid of you all,” Berry said, pulling the two-handed sword he carried from its sheath. “Your evil will be vanquished.” The demon shook his head slowly. “How many more of you must die before you turn back? Very well, then. Come to your deaths.” He vanished in a flash, leaving them behind. The door to the next level was in front of them, ominous in its darkness.

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