Demonbound Elf: Fallen from Grace

Black liquid spewed out from the gaping hole in the deformed woman's chest.

The man back inside the tent fell to his knees, placing two candles gently on the ground before him. With swift, precise movements, he retrieved a small plastic cup from the depths of his pocket, its seal still intact. Peeling it open, he dipped his fingers inside and traced an upward arrow onto the floor.

He then proceeded to press his palms together slowly, as he prayed to the God of Hope.

"O, Divine God of Hope, hear the voice of your faithful servant."

Whilst he was praying to the Divine being, his hat blew off from the sudden gust in the air through the hole inside the tent, which revealed a man with a neatly combed side part.

BOOM

The man wearing the gray suit with a coat and glasses snapped his fingers, the ones which were stationed inside his pocket. As he glanced at the tent, he could see glistening golden powder swirling in a circle.

"The stage is set." He smirked, a contrast to his serious look, as he nimbly jumped down onto a street lamp.

The deformed woman, who was once marked by a gaping hole in her chest, stood whole again. Her flesh had regenerated, but instead of her pale skin, a vile, blackened hide had formed.

She looked at the man who jumped onto the street lamp, drool seeped from the corner of her mouth, glistening as it dripped down her chin.

"And for my final trick..." The man perched on the pole dramatically paused, with theatrical flair. His once, serious expression twisted into something playful, a wide, clownish grin appeared on his face.

With a flourish, he reached into his coat and drew out a deck of cards, fanning them between his fingers.

"Pick a card... any card!" He smiled brightly, his voice filled with anticipation. He then flashingly threw out 52 cards, all at once.

The woman growled, her eyes turned blood red as a blood vessel inside them popped. She ripped a card that flew towards her with her abnormally long nails.

"Aha! You have made a good choice!" He bowed deeply.

With a sharp snap, six glittering diamonds suddenly materialized and pierced her flesh with precision.

He held a hand above his head, then he theatrically snapped his fingers once more, one by one the diamonds which pierced into her skin detonated, each explosion sending sharp jolts rippling through her body.

As she was hurled toward the building, a sudden flash of blinding light engulfed her, forcing the man who had bowed to shut his eyes against its brilliance.

When the radiance faded, her body was laid down, scorched and radiant, as if struck down by a divine entity from the lands above.

The man with the neatly combed side part approached the dead body. "Another evil spirit case." He said with surprise in his tone.

"Something's wrong..." He paused, recalling something. "Evil spirit's usually show their faces every year, but this year there's already been 3 appearances." The man with glasses shuffled his cards as he was in thought.

"Ludger, let's head back." The man with combed hair reminded his partner as he put his hat back on.

"James, what of the Elf?" Ludger asked with cold indifference.

"We were told to observe him for irregularities, tomorrow we will have people observing him in the academy." James replied as he turned his back to face the department officers who arrived on scene.

"Are you with The Order?" The officer asked. James studied the officers for a few seconds before he reached in his pocket and slowly showed them a badge.

*******************

Kieren thanked the coachman, reaching into his wallet to hand over the fare. With a nod, he stepped down from the carriage and crossed the cobblestone bridge, the sound of his footsteps echoing through the apartment building.

Moments later, he opened the door to his apartment room and suddenly realized something.

I didn't lock my door. I need to do that next time.

Kieren nodded, and entered, locking the door after closing it.

He let his body fall face first onto the comfortable bed, he sighed deeply. He thought back to when he got his fortune read.

Who blessed me and cursed me at the same time? That doesn't even make sense, but judging by the way she spoke, it was probably a deity.

He suddenly sat up and let out a long yawn, glancing out the window before rising to his feet. Moving to the chair tucked neatly beneath the desk, he pulled it out and sat down, quickly rummaging through the scattered papers in search of the 3rd entry to his research.

"Day 3 of recording and translation. I found something terrifying. No translation today, but I will record something here, perhaps Mr.Moriarty will see this.

In my 121 years of living I've never seen an Awakening, or Awakened person. Today, that changed. I saw a man wearing a top hat, he didn't even look at me but the moment I laid my eyes on him, a chill ran down my spine, I felt like I might die. Instinctively, I ducked out of sight and chose to follow him secretively.

He soon met with someone in a quiet corner, and their secret conversation revealed something interesting. They were discussing about some secret organization.

He mentioned something about "The Order, Crimson Sun and The Conspiracists."

I heard that and I decided to leave. I didn't want to get involved with the secret organizations!

I am very fascinated, I finally confirmed the Awakened people exist!

December 2nd, 1172."

Reading this Kieren was pleasantly surprised. He was silent for a moment, gathering his thoughts together as he reread the contents within the page.

Kieren eventually came to a conclusion.

"Who's Mr. Moriarty? It seems that past me trusted him, I should try to find him. I need to be wary of secret organizations too, they probably have an eye on me since I just returned after being missing for a couple weeks. I wouldn't be surprised if people start following me, I need to keep a low profile for these upcoming weeks."

Kieren put the 3rd paper on the edge of the corner, stacking it on top of the previously read pages as well.

As he looked back at the papers which weren't in the stack, he frowned. "Why did i stop recording and translating? There are only two more papers remaining..." Kieren sighed as he searched for the fourth one.

"Day 4 of recording and translation. I learned a key piece of information! The secret organizations that I learned of are actually hidden by specific churches. The Order is hidden by The Church of The Twilight Goddess, Crimson Sun is hidden by The Church of The God of War, Conspiracists are a question mark unfortunately...

This tells me that in each province there might be different organizations!

Their goal is a question mark right now.

Aside from that, I was translating a few runes in a cave I found and we found a carving of an ancient artifact!

Translations I found: Evil entities are truly evil. They are the reason for many casualties during the 2nd Epoch.

It took me a couple of month to translate that. Happy New years!

16th of February, 1173."

Kieren's pupils dilated as he was reading.

Was the cave the one where I lost my memories perhaps?

Kieren rubbed his temples and placed the paper in the stack of read papers. He quickly found the corresponding paper.

"Day 5 of translation and recording.

God of Salvation and The Forsaken Creator are very mysterious. They have been mentioned in many runes from the 2nd Epoch. I know for a fact that none of the provinces allow worship for them, as they are evil existences.

I met a guy, he's a weapons manufacturer who works for the Conspiracists! I'm a bit suspicious of him but he has given me very interesting information.

The Conspiracists are a group who believe in the existence of a Primordial Creator, a being who crafted everything, including the laws that allow humans to gain supernatural powers. According to their belief, it's not the individual gods themselves who create powers, but rather this Creator who made it possible for mortals to access such gifts in the first place.

Their reasoning for this is really crazy! Of course that guy is a complete moron! Primordial beings long existed, The Conspiracists are a bunch of crazed. I need to avoid him.

Happy birthday to me, 10th April, 1173."

The Conspiracists are definitely some lunatics then, Primordial beings have long existed and there is no concrete evidence...

Kieren shook his head as he placed the paper in the stack. Kieren grabbed the stack of papers, then he ripped them up and threw them into a bin.

Kieren tucked in his chair, and went to bed.

The world around him felt distant, muffled, like he was underwater. He drifted through the darkness of sleep, weightless and quiet. It felt peaceful, his head was overloaded with many questions and now it was quiet.

He opened his eyes. A thick, colorless fog blanketed everything around him. The ground beneath his feet was soft but unfamiliar, like the wet cobblestone floor after a rainy day.

Shapes loomed in the distance, hidden behind veils of mist. The sky was a pale grey void.

In front of him was a large chain, as he looked beyond the chain, there was another one, he counted the chains. One, two, three, there were ten chains, beyond the chains was something he could not see.

Kieren suddenly sat up from his bed as he recalled the contents in his dream.

"A nightmare...?" He asked, clearly perplexed.

He looked at his wrist, the chains actually moved! This time there was one single chain piercing the crescent, the other 2 were seemingly vacant.

Kieren sighed, as he rubbed his eyes. The sensation was strange. Instead of relief, the rubbing felt deep and almost painful, as if his fingers were pressing into the very depths of his eyes.

He could feel his eyes themselves, alive and aware beneath his skin. When he reopened his eyes it felt as if his vision had improved, like the world was clearer now.

"What is happening...? Am I actually Awakening?" Kieren couldn't help but ask himself. He looked outside the window and realized it was sunrise.

As he got up, he reached inside his closet, pulling out a few clothes. He put on a white shirt, with black pants. Then he put on a black coat and hat. He grabbed his identification card and keys before heading outside.

He shut the door and then locked it. He stopprd in his tracks, seemingly recalling something. He approached his mailbox and opened it.

Inside was an envelope, and a lot of scattered papers. Kieren reached inside.

Among the scattered papers, one caught his eye, it was marked with an official stamp. He studied it closely, realizing that it was a declaration he was meant to deliver to the director of the Twilight Academy.

Without hesitation, he folded it and slipped it into his pocket.

His attention then shifted to a sealed envelope. Breaking the seal, he reached inside and pulled out its contents. To his surprise it was a revolver, it felt heavy and cold to the touch. It was accompanied by extra magazines neatly packed within.

Kieren came to the conclusion that the revolver was packaged by the crazy weapons manufacturer that he used to know. Why would he have sent it to Kieren?

He stuffed the recover into his pocket after making sure the safety fire was on. He slipped the letter with extra magazines through his door, simply because he was too lazy to unlock the door and place it inside.

Kieren exited the apartment building and approached the cobblestone bridge, instead of going to the bridge he went to the canal of water underneath it.

He grabbed a handful of water and splashed it on his hair, running his hand through his hair.

The water was crystal clear, so if there was anything that would spoil the water, he would've noticed.

He got up and hurried past the fountain. He took a left and approached Davey's vendor.

"Aye! Boss man! How ya' doing?"

Kieren smiled upon seeing Davey, the young man was blonde and had quite a slim figure.

"I'm doing great! I'm about to go to the Twilight Academy, I haven't lost my job because I've been provided with legal justification!" Kieren smiled and informed Davey of his current status.

Davey smiled upon hearing that, Kieren continued.

"I'm here to get a piece of bread so i have something to eat as I make my way to the academy."

**************

Knock knock knock

James knocked on a door which had "Captain's room" written on it.

"Come in." The door opened on its own, James walked in, taking off his hat.

"Captain, there was another case with Evil spirits."

The young beautiful white man looked at James, tapping his glabella, seemingly in thought.

"I'll send a letter to the Spiritualist. Any irregularities with Kieren Rosevell?"

James thought for a while before replying.

"At 12:42, Kieren Rosevell was observed returning to his residence carrying a bag of bread. At approximately 14:13, he exited the premises and proceeded on foot to the Southwell Posting Station.

At 14:20, Rosevell engaged in a brief but suspicious interaction with an Evil spirit, which has since been neutralized."

"Keep a close eye on him."

James opened his mouth to testify, but in the end he nodded and left the room.

As he walked past a group of people playing cards, he stumbled upon Ludger.

"Hey, Ludger."

Ludger looked at James with cold indifference.

"I gave the report to the Captain. He told us to keep watch over Kieren Rosevell."

Ludger scoffed, "We aren't going to terminate a potential threat?"

"I'm not sure what the Captain is thinking, I'll keep watch over the night, get some rest and watch him during the day."