Demonic Fate

Why?

I stretched out my arms as I began to walk away from the others. They all were enjoying the feast, but there was something bugging me. Why wasn't he there? We should've seen him, considering that this was the last base.... so.... why? 

The question kept tugging at my mind, as I wandered off, making my way through a small, poorly lit area of the village. Two, long white walls from the buildings within the village lined up to make a small alley way. 

I leaned against one of the walls, as I let countless thoughts appear in my mind. A slightly disturbing thought surfaced. "Could he have already known that we'd show up?" I muttered out my thoughts.

"Who knows?" A voice hummed out softly, in response. A very, very familiar voice.

My eyes trailed towards the direction of the voice, where I met with its source: A black haired man with an amused smirk, and piercing blood red eyes.

I felt myself freeze in place. "Aron...?" The name slipped out of my mouth as I watched him slink closer to me.

His smirk seemed to get bigger as he inched closer to me. "Good to see you again, Martana." Aron greeted me as if it was perfectly natural to do so.

As if it was still back then; when we were kids. I could've almost sworn that my heart was about to be ripped out of my chest, as he stood directly in front of me. "What are you doing here?" I tried to make myself speak confidently, but my voice went quiet.

I slid my hand to the handle of my gun. "Relax, I'm not here for a fight." His voice echoed in my mind, as I assumed that he noticed where my hand currently was.

Glaring, I forced myself to make eye contact with him. "Then what are you here for?"

My glares seemed to not have any affect on him, as he simply chuckled at me. "An offer, perhaps?" He responded calmly, with a small smile on his face.

"Offer?" Despite the fact that I knew I shouldn't continue this conversation, I decided to listen to what he had to say. 

Aron took one step closer to me, and before I knew it, I had my back against the wall. "Join me." 

I blinked. "What?"

He sighed. "Join me." His blunt, yet calm voice resonated in my mind once more.

I snapped out of my trance. The insane, unnatural request clicked into my mind. "Are you crazy...? What makes you think that'd I'd agree to such and absurd offer?!" I snapped. What was he thinking?!

"The past... possibly?" Everything seemed to stop after that sentence escaped his lips. The world around us was plunged into silence, as not a single sound or movement was made.

In the silence, it felt like something large had shattered. Something important had broken into pieces. The tension was suffocating.

The silence began to  bother me, so I decided to respond. "The past... does that really matter any more? Does it really have any meaning... considering that we're on opposite sides now?" I sighed out, leaning against the wall behind me.

Before I knew it, my lips had started moving on their own. "Why? What happened, Aron? What happened to cause things to be this way? What exactly... happened to all of us?" Images of the past flickered in my mind. 

A heavy sigh echoed in my ears. "You really haven't noticed at all, have you? You haven't so much as even thought about it, I bet." I blinked in confusion towards his words, and met his extraordinarily serious gaze.

"Noticed? What are you talking about?" I asked, puzzled.

He let out another sigh as a small, slightly sorrowful smile spread across his lips. "Our "Lord" is quite the strange one, don't you think? No, he's practically nothing like the rest of us. A treaty of peace between us and the humans? Does that even make any sense to you, considering who--no, what-- we are? He's too soft, and that very detail will bring us to our demise."

"Soft? Do you honestly believe that the treaty is-" I was cut off abruptly as he finished my sentence.

"Absolutely ridiculous and unreasonable? Possibly." His fierce, ice cold gaze shot right through me.

I heard a small thump beside my head. He had set his hand against the wall, and was leaned slightly towards me. "Why, though? Why should it matter so much...?" I whispered, feeling heat rush to my eyes.

"Because, this one ruler... could determine everything...! His decisions could lead to our very end." His response was still unsatisfying. 

I could see nothing wrong with our current ruler. Sure, I have no idea what he could be thinking during certain occasions, but still... How is he such a horrible ruler in your eyes? The one question ran chaotically in my mind, as all I could do was peer right back into his eyes.

I could suddenly sense the distance between us become smaller, physically. "Please, Martana... I want... I want things to return to how they used to be..." Aron's voice was light, and had no force in it.

He was never exactly the type to force decisions onto others... but, even so... How could I just respond to such a serious question right away? This was too much from a man I thought I had known everything about. 

Distressed, I could only stand there, my lips sealed tightly shut. Aron sighed once more. "I won't push it any further, for now... but at the very least... think about it, would you?" He spoke calmly.

I felt his forehead lightly press against my own, as my cheeks began to feel wet. A light, gentle warmth spread through me from my lips, as I had my eyes firmly shut. What little strength I had left fled my body, as I simply stood paralyzed. My heart ached painfully from the intense sadness I felt.

He moved away from me. "Give it some thought, then tell me your decision when we meet next, alright?" With those few words, he vanished from my line of sight.

I slumped down into a sitting position against the wall, and hugged me knees against my chest. I hung my head, letting the tears seep out of my eyes. 

A couple of minutes flew by before I was finally able to collect myself, and headed back to the inn where we were staying at. I entered my room, exhausted, and with the powerful urge to simply lie down and sleep.

Before I could sit onto my bed, I heard a light knock on my door. Martyr opened it. "Can I come in?" I nodded as he let himself in.

"Do you need anything?" I asked him, as he closed the door behind him.

He shook his head lightly. "No, but I remembered something." He dug into his pockets, and dragged out a crimson, heart shaped pendant, with a silver chain. "I completely forgot to give this back to you." He spoke, and handed me the pendant as I stared at it wide eyed.

"Yeah... thank you, Martyr." I held onto the pendant, as he left my room with a happy smile on his face. I felt another tear drip down my cheek, as I stared at it... This was... the pendant Aron gave me, a long, long time ago... The memory made my heart ache, however, instead of crying, I threw the blanket over me, and forced myself to sleep.

With some difficulty, I felt my eyes begin to get heavy, and I was soon taken in by the relieving embrace of slumber...