The Demon Lord and his Hero

Rowan wasn't keen on exploring the market because he was afraid of what other cursed item might catch Syryn's interest. The duo stopped at a shop that sold narcotics. The blond bought copious amounts of hallucinogens and stimulants which he stuffed away in his dimension ring. Such substances were cheap on the island because it was made and sold without restrictions on their production and sale. If Rowan resold the substances back in Elysium, he would make five times the amount he was spending to buy them.

Syryn watched the blond pack away his illicit goods with an interest that prompted the blond to explain why he was buying them.

"Goods for the ship," he told Syryn sheepishly. The mage understood. Rowan was putting on a show for the people that were keeping an eye on them. It was a surety that Bella had already been informed of the rich merchants visiting Coop for goods unique to the island.

"Nice doing business with you," the seller told Rowan with a grin. The anti mage had bought out nearly everything in his shop. Normally it would have taken at least a month to sell so much.

___

On their way back to the inn, the duo came across a fight in the middle of a brightly lit up street. There was a huge crowd of people surrounding two burly men who were brawling it out savagely in the middle of the crowd.

"What's going on here?" Rowan asked a tall woman who was counting money from a bag at her hip.

"Are you stupid or-" when she looked up, the lady swallowed her words. "Hey there, stranger," she continued after recovering from her surprise.

The blond smiled pleasantly at her.

"I've heard of you two," she said to Rowan. "Merchants looking to buy something special at Coop."

"Word travels fast," Rowan replied. "Is this a fighting ring?"

"Sure is. The usual place was burnt down to ashes when a fight broke out among some betters. Set the whole thing on fire. Now we're here- oh!" A fighter fell to the ground after being kicked in his face by the opponent. "Why don't you gentlemen stay and bet on the next fight?"

"Sure."

"No, we-"

Syryn and Rowan had spoken at the same time.

"It's late, Ryn," Rowan meaningfully told him. "We have to wake up early for the hanging."

A series of wet punching sounds were heard. The victorious fighter was on top of the fallen man hitting him again and again in the face which was already bloody and broken.

"He's gonna die. Why isn't anyone stopping that guy?" Syryn asked the woman.

She shrugged in response. Life and death were cheaper than a meal on Coop island. The fighters were here to fight to the death and provide entertainment to the people that paid and bet on them.

"Let's go," Rowan told Syryn with an air of finality. He took the mage's hand and tugged gently. Syryn tore his gaze away from the dead man who was being dragged away to be used as feed in the rat farms of Coop. Aside from seafood, protein was hard to come by locally so rats were bred as food for the growing population of the island who couldn't all afford to buy meat brought from across the ocean.

"Do I know how to fight?" Syryn asked Rowan as they headed away from the noisy crowd. They were taking the longer route this time.

"You're almost as good as I am," Rowan replied. No pride in it; the anti mage was just stating a fact. "Which means you could very easily take on the man who won back there."

"But I don't remember how to fight."

"We'll spar sometime, Ryn. I'm sure it'll come back to you."

The duo reached the inn without further incident. They both took baths and fell asleep on the same bed.

Syryn was wide awake. Rowan was shirtless, a warm body hugging the mage to his chest. Wriggling in his embrace, Syryn turned around and faced the blond whose eyes were also open.

"Rowan, you say we're engaged but where's the proof?"

Syryn pressed closer to the anti mage till their noses were almost touching.

"We haven't exchanged any vows yet but we both know that in this life or the next, we'll only be with each other."

"So you'll never leave me."

"No. And you'll never leave me either. Do you want to know why?"

"Tell me," Syryn said to the man whose fingers were caressing the skin on his hip.

"Because I'll never let it happen, Ryn. You permitted me to kill anyone that comes between us. And I intend to do just that."

Syryn swallowed thickly. He was engaged to a damn psycho. But then if he had really given permission to the anti mage to do that, didn't it mean he was also a psycho? They were a match made in hell.

"Let's get rings," Syryn told Rowan. "Make it official."

Rowan's heart suddenly began to pound. Syryn hadn't explicitly talked about it but the anti mage had understood that the mage was afraid of officially committing. Syryn hadn't even been sure of whether he did or didn't love Rowan. Without all the baggage of his memories dragging him down, the mage was more forward and clear about his heart's desires.

"Let's get the rings now," The anti mage suddenly declared as he tossed aside the blanket that covered them.

"What?! Now?!" Syryn couldn't understand the urgency that had taken over Rowan.

"Now. Get dressed, Ryn. We're going out."

Rowan was already throwing on his shirt. This was an opportunity that he would not let go of. If Syryn recovered his memories tomorrow, there would be no more rings to look forward to. He understood that if his lover rejected the commitment after he regained his memories, there wasn't much that Rowan could do about it. Regardless, he was going ahead with it.

"Why the hurry? Let's get it tomorrow!"

Rowan grabbed Syryn's hand and placed it on his chest. His heart was beating hard and fast.

"You feel that? That's how excited I am, Ryn."

Syryn looked into Rowan's eyes. What the hell was he getting himself into?

"You crazy bastard," Syryn said with awe in his voice. "Let's go get the rings."