The Demon Akahaziel: Spirit Link

They were interrupted by a knock on the door. It opened and Ivan led Antonio in. Dmitri turned to Marcus, “I’d like you to meet my apprentice, Antonio. Antonio, this is Father Marcus, he was the priest that sent word that we were needed. He’s just been explaining the situation.” They quickly filled Antonio in who nodded as he listened. After the explanation, Antonio had a question, "You mentioned the flames keep Him away, who is that?" he asked. Dmitri nodded as he was thinking the same thing.

"Yes, I'm not sure exactly. They say he is some sort of demon, Akahatal or something, I never did quite understand. It's based on one of their legends; a great bloodthirsty demon that would ravage the countryside, flocks would be decimated, people were too fearful to leave their homes after dark and so on. But one day, a great warrior arrived, Alyosha I believe he was called, and he fought the beast. The battle raged for days, the upper hand swung back and forth and lightning crashed through the sky. But when lightning struck a tree near Alyosha, he grabbed a burning branch and thrust it at the demon. The demon's thick fur caught on fire and it fled, but not before it had delivered what would be a fatal blow to Alyosha. Their spirits having been raised by the appearance of Alyosha were saddened at this, but while some stayed to tend the fallen warrior, the rest took up branches and brands and took off after the demon. They chased him away from the village towards a cave further up the mountain, where they stopped at the mouth of the cave and planted the torches there. Cornered, the demon turned to attack, but all the villagers threw flaming spears and more at the beast. It turned and fled deeper into the cave. So the beast was well and truly driven away by fire so the story goes and the villagers stick by it."

Dmitri had been watching Antonio during Marcus’ story and after Marcus had finished, Antonio blinked, having not realised how entrancing the story had been. Dmitri could see why Father Marcus was a natural at his role as a priest; if he could entrance Antonio with a story, he could draw anyone in by the sound of his voice.

"What happened to Alyosha? And when did they put the fire there?" asked Antonio eagerly.

Marcus saw the excited look on Antonio’s face and laughed, "I'm sorry, I didn't realise it would be that exciting. Alyosha did die and was buried along the path to the cave. The people kept the torches there where they had planted them. The shelters were apparently built soon thereafter, but I'm not certain about any of it for sure. It is after all an old legend. They say the torches will go out when the great hero returns to deliver them from evil once more, but who's to say?" Having finished his story, Marcus got up and poured himself a goblet of water. Passing Dmitri and Antonio one each as well, he said, "Oh, one more thing, there are some sort of runes in the stone of the pathway too. I've not seem them in years, so I don't recall the exact details. You'll see them anyway when you go to the cave."

"What does the legend say the demon looked like?" Dmitri asked before Antonio could say anything else to side track the old priest.

"Ah, that I don't know, but they say it was big and furry, so I'd probably say about the size of a bear standing on its rear legs." Dmitri raised an eyebrow at the mention of a bear. "Yes, I know what you're thinking, it was a bear? I don't know; the story was passed down the generations; so it is possible that it was a bear. We don't get many of them around here so the villagers could have seen it and simply feared the worst."

"I've seen some odd things in my time as an Exarch, but nothing that tells me there are demons around. I'd imagine the first telling of the legend had it as a lot smaller then the version you just told me." Dmitri said reassuringly, "Besides, I have the element of fire on my side." With that, he gestured the glyph for fire with his fingers and a flame appeared dancing on his palm.

Father Marcus gasped at this, "I see now why they say you Exarchs are powerful. It's no wonder we of the church task you to do our work."

Dmitri raised his hand to stop him, "Please Father Marcus, I only do what I need to do to help, don't heap your praises on me, I do it for the people, not the acclaim. Anyway, let's move away from that and talk about how I should go about this."

Father Marcus nodded and they began to discuss plans.