The Demon Lord and his Hero

Bella's town quickly went into lockdown after the rat incident. Every single man and woman in her faction took to the streets, ready to torture and kill the attackers. Suspicious people were immediately apprehended and killed by the faction when they found them. The unlucky ones were sent to prison to be interrogated by Bella's cruel wardens.

With such measures in place, Syryn and Rowan found themselves hard-pressed to find a place to stay. The blond wanted to remain low key though Syryn wanted him to just murder every single goon that got in their way. Rowan had already dispatched a few of them who were attempting to capture the duo.

"They're all just a bunch of low life criminals," Syryn said as he expertly broke the neck of a man who had tried to alert his companions. "Don't hesitate to kill them."

Syryn too was once a low life criminal, guilty of crimes that Rowan could not mention at that moment. And he had spared the man, thus setting off a chain of events that the anti mage could never have foreseen. Maybe Syryn was right. When a patrol of seven men walked into the scene, they died before their next breath was taken.

"Nice," Syryn commended the anti mage.

____

Three days had elapsed since the attack on Bella's town had commenced. A full-scale war was going on between Bella's faction and the united group of the Red Sun and Iron Raider factions. Jorah, Red Sun's leader appeared to be at the helm of the attack but the true strategist was Artemus, who remained in the shadows and advised the man. The anti mage had also been the one to broker an agreement between the two smaller factions who would divide Bella's territory between themselves once the war was won.

Rowan had found an abandoned home that wasn't too shabby. It was located at the edge of the beach where activity wasn't very hot. They had intended to lay low and keep an eye on the situation but trouble came for them in other ways.

Syryn was snacking on a piece of seasoned dried squid when he felt the air grow thick with power. The dried squid got stuck in his throat when time suddenly stopped and he was frozen like a statue. Syryn could still hear and see what was going on around him. Rowan wasn't affected by the spell but the anti mage didn't come to Syryn's rescue. It wasn't that Rowan didn't want to help Syryn. He was unable to.

"Sorry, Ryn. I'll be right back." The blond quickly left the room, heading for the roof where a woman was waiting to confront him.

"Here to try and kill Syryn again?" He asked her as soon as he found the woman.

"Just let me through and I promise that it'll be a quick and painless affair. Then we can all go about our businesses saving the world and being heroes," she replied in a friendly tone, like old friends having a conversation.

"Who sent you?" Rowan asked. His tone was the complete opposite of friendly.

"Nobody sent me, Rowan. Syryn is an eyesore and a demon so I came to kill him as is the natural order of things. He has to die or we are doomed to repeat history."

"The timeline has already changed considerably. History will not be repeated," Rowan replied. "I'm doing my job, Elius. Stop interfering or I'll have to fight you. We don't want that, do we?"

"You're a fool, Rowan. Falling in love with a filthy demon child. What do you expect will happen? Even if you save the world, the next step they will take will be ridding the world of demons and their spawns. And your lover will be killed as well. Stop letting your heart dictate what you must do."

"Try again, Elius. You almost sounded sincere at the bit where you were concerned about me." Rowan began to destroy the time barrier that Elius had erected. It began crumbling from the outside, causing strange waves in the air that came through holes in the fabric of time-space.

"Stop that!" Elius said with a note of panic in her voice.

Not caring about the consequences, Rowan continued breaking down her barrier. The air began to dangerously vibrate. And from a tiny black pinprick that appeared suspended above them, a hole began to emerge in empty space.

"Damn it, Rowan!" Elius cursed as she banished her spell. "There will be hell to pay for this."

"That's not my problem," Rowan replied. "You're the one that came uninvited to attack my person. This is self-defence. Tell that to whoever sent you."

Elius snorted daintily. "You're only prolonging the inevitable, Rowan. One day, Syryn will have to die."

"Not while I'm alive, Elius. If you want him then you'll have to go through me."

Elius laughed like she found Rowan's words to be a joke.

"Maybe that's all I have to do then. If I leave you two alone, Syryn might have to die by your hands, again. And this time, there won't be a redo." The delighted smile she wore was as evil as it was beautiful. "One day, Syryn will remember. He will. I hope you're ready for it, Rowan. Because I am. The fallout will be so exciting!"

"I had no choice," Rowan replied. "I'll do it again if I have to." The darkness in his eyes would have terrified anyone else if they saw the anti mage at that moment. "Things aren't the same anymore. Ryn will not have to suffer this time."

Elius smiled coolly.

"You could choose to let him go and there won't be any pain, any heartache, Rowan. Why are you making this so hard for yourself?"

"I do not expect you to have the capacity to empathise with how I feel. You're heartless, Elius. Every one of you. You've all forgotten what it's like to be human and to love."

The beautiful woman nodded. "You're right. And I'm glad that I don't love. The power of love is strong, isn't it? Drags you down and prevents you from becoming a version of yourself who can destroy worlds and control time. Look at you, Rowan. So weak and pathetic. You could be better, stronger, greater. You only have to say it."

"Goodbye, Elius. Don't come back."

Rowan blew a hole in the roof and jumped through it.

"Syryn?" He knelt before the unconscious mage. A trickle of blood was drying below Syryn's nose. Rowan had seen this before. He lifted the mage and put him in bed, not knowing how many days it would take for the mage to come back.