The Demon Lord And His Hero

That night, Syryn fell asleep hours after midnight. He was restless and worried about Lucien whose deep sleep could not be disturbed even when Syryn poked him on the cheek several times. After a long time spent tossing and turning, he checked the boy's vitals one final time and then fell asleep holding him.

The avians were up before sunrise. Syryn was woken up by Rei who informed him of breakfast being ready. The teen groggily checked Lucien's pulse and found that it was normal. He then attempted to wake the boy but his efforts proved futile.

"Why won't he wake up?" asked Rei who was standing beside the bed.

"I have no idea." Syryn was feeling a spring of panic welling up in his chest. Lucien was breathing fine, his pulse and heart rate were both normal. Then why was the child sleeping continously? "Luci, please open your eyes." There was no response.

"Call Riaku. Tell him I need him here," Syryn instructed the guard.

Rei left immediately. Syryn then paced the room and not even a minute later, Riaku swiftly arrived beside him.

"Syryn, what's wrong?" The prince asked as he looked at the sleeping redhead. "Is he not responding at all?"

Syryn shook his head. "Lucien has been like this since last night. I don't know what's wrong with him. And until I can wake him up or diagnose him, I'm afraid I can't come with you to Nua." The only reason that the alchemist hadn't exploded into full blown panic was because of what Luci had said right before falling asleep.

"We can wait till tomorrow," Riaku told Syryn.

"No. Your life continues to remain in danger. Go home as soon as you can, Riaku. We will make it to Nua when Lucien is better."

"Then I will leave Fei with you."

"Leave Gosan here as well then," Syryn told him. "I'm aware that you bought the mounts because of us. Without us getting in the way of your flying home, you can make it to Nua faster."

"Gosan is not your burden to shoulder."

"If something happens to him during the journey, can you take the responsibility for it?" Syryn countered.

"No, I cannot. Thank you, Syryn." Riaku bowed at the waist and it was an honour that Syryn didnt think he would receive from a prince.

"You dont have to do that," he told Riaku.

The Prince raised his head and then looked at Rei. "Stay with Syryn and perform your duty as you would if I were in his place. We will send reinforcements to aid you as soon we reach Nua."

"Understood," Rei fell to a knee and paid his respects to the prince.

Once Riaku left, Syryn got out his medical kit and began to prepare himself mentally for the worst.

"Rei, do you know how to do a basic screening for toxins and infestations?" Syryn lined up glass vials and ceramics in front of the guard. "Aminata extract, Oxblood, and an aqueous solution of Piper's copper. Can you do it?"

Rei nodded and took over the responsibility of setting up the tests while Syryn drew Lucien's blood.

Half an hour later, the two healers waited for the blood drops to change consistency or color but it didn't happen. No clumping, beading, crystallisation or change in color.

"So, nothing then." Syryn was even more frustrated now. If any changes had shown up, he would have known what to do. The blood works were either very good or terrible news since it only detected the existence of abnormality in the blood and not the rarer conditions that required special tests.

His mind went back to Luci's final assurance, of how Red had said it was going to be okay. If that was true then Red had anticipated this to happen. How did Red know it was going to happen? Was it something he had done? Syryn's thoughts meandered back to the spell that Red had cast.

"What do we do now?" Rei asked. There were no outward symptoms of sickness and no indications of abnormality in his blood.

Syryn's biggest fear for Lucien was starvation and dehydration. The last time the boy had eaten something was during their stop at the first village. "I'll think of something," Syryn told Rei. He decided to trust that Red knew what he was doing.

"Can I have some more Estranise for Gosan? I'm almost out of it."

Syryn blindly handed him a tinted bottle and went back to worrying about Lucien. A knock on their door pulled him out of his worries. It was Riaku and Emi.

"We're leaving, Syryn. I've paid the innkeeper for a month's stay including meals. I hope that Lucien wakes up before then. We'll be flying to Nua so expect a few guards to arrive by tomorrow."

"I dont think we'll need extra guards," Syryn told the prince. "No ones really looking to kill us."

"Nevertheless, it will put me at ease knowing that you're in good hands."

Syryn thought about his supposed stalker with the skills of a fly on the wall. If he hadn't met Dinah, he would have never known of the existence of such a thing. He had a stalker who didnt have a presence. Syryn promptly reconsidered his refusal to take Riaku's guards.

"Thank you," he told the prince.

-----

The avians departed after selling their mounts and shifting into their bird forms. Syryn would have liked to have seen Riaku's bird form but he had been busy writing several lists for ingredients he needed. The alchemist was already running low on potions and now they were stuck in a village where he couldn't possibly buy all the ingredients needed for his potions. If Lucien wasn't incapacitated, he would have foraged in the lush forests that surrounded the village. Syryn was sure of finding good ingredients to work with inside the vast expanse of green he could see from his window.

"I wonder if the priestess saw anything last night," Rei casually mentioned to Syryn. For their convenience, he had suggested booking a larger room where both patients could be accommodated along with their caretakers.

It seemed like a good idea so Syryn had left it to Rei to negotiate the costs with the innkeeper.

"Mister healer." A muffled voice called out from behind the door of the room. It was followed by a gentle knocking. "Mister healer!"

Syryn gestured for Rei to check the door. The purple masked guard swung the door open and there stood the inn keeper's young daughter. She shyly looked at Syryn and made a small bow. "There's been an accident and your help is being requested, mister healer."

"Don't you have a healer in this village?" Syryn asked. It wasn't like he didnt want to help. He was just too busy for it at the moment.

"Ah- well, It's the healer who is injured. His back has been torn open from an encounter with a wild animal and he can't stitch it up himself."

"Doesn't have an apprentice who can do that for him?"

"The apprentice left the village to visit his fiance who just moved to Elysium last winter."

"How convenient," Rei commented. "I can go stitch him up. Carry on with whatever you're busy with."

Syryn was done writing his lists but he didnt want to leave Lucien with anyone else other than himself so he accepted Rei's offering. "Thank you, Rei. Come back before lunchtime if you can. Oh and one more thing, take these." Syryn handed over his lists to Rei. "See if you can find them in the healer's possession or wherever he gets his supplies from."

The guard left the inn holding several sheets of paper in an envelope that smelled of an expensive perfume.

____

"Dinah, what brings you here?" Syryn had another guest after Rei had left. The priestess had changed into her temple robes which were the color of fire. A bright red gem embedded in a gold pendant rested on her chest. As with other magical objects, the pendant seemed to give off a presence that warned people of its wearer's strength.

"Heard that you were still hanging around so I came to visit."

"Oh. Aren't you looking a little too fancy today though?" Syryn looked her up and down. "That and the low key lump of a gem surely won't attract the eyes of the villagers." His sarcasm brought a smile to Dinah's face.

"Just reminding them of who I am. After last night, we can't be too careful around the superstitious ones who are holding a grudge."

Syryn could agree with her on that. "So did you meet a ghost in the forest?"

"Nothing. I did meet a healer though who was on his way to some cave. He said that night time was the best time to harvest stripped shrooms." Dinah made her way inside the room and made herself comfortable on a chair. "I met Cami again this morning."

Syryn's thoughts about the stripped shrooms, a valuable ingredient that gave off a feeble light at night was hijacked by Dinah's change of topic.

"She hasn't improved at all which isn't surprising. But she doesn't look any worse. I'm not a healer so I can't make an educated guess about her condition, but as a priestess, I'll say this again - she's not possessed. I dont care what her family members say. There are zero signs of possession."

"What's the easiest way to tell that someone is possessed?" Syryn asked the priestess.

"You really want to know?" She asked him.

"Why do you think I asked?"

"If a powerful entity has possessed a victim, you'll see it in their eyes. Strange things."

"What a vague answer," Syryn complained, but he caught sight of something dark moving at the edges of Dinah's sclera.

"No," he said with disbelief.

The smiling priestess put a finger to her lips and looked away. "How long has he been out?" Dinah asked as she took in the sight of a sleeping Lucien.

"He has been this way since last night. That too after sleeping through almost the entirety of yesterday." If she didnt want to talk about, he wasn't going to ask.

"Do you know what I see?" Dinah turned to the alchemist. "I see a child who must face that which he dreads the most. Love him as much as you can because he needs it more than you can imagine."

Syryn grit his teeth when he felt a wave of helplessness overpower him. It always happened when he thought of how Traxdart was going to one day steal Lucien away.

"How can I stop the prophecy? Can I even stop it?" Syryn asked Dinah. From her words, it was apparent that she knew about the prophecy.

"I'm sorry, Syryn," Dinah's answer was sympathetic.

The alchemist felt a fresh attack of rage blossom in his chest. He had to kill the real Traxdart then, the only way to ensure that Lucien would never belong to the man. Rowan was right about having to kill the man in the other plane. The enormity of the undertaking felt like a crushing weight that stole his breath away. Could they really do it?

"Syryn, you're not alone." Dinah was right in front of him, her hands on his shoulders, lightly squeezing, grounding him. "Don't carry this burden alone."