THE ORPHAN

Chapter 4: Disappointment

Lucas was asleep, dreaming with her, walking on his balcony and this time she didn't speak, he felt that this was his moment to be heard. So he spoke, he told her that he loved her, that his life got a meaning because he met her and even when she left, she did only good to him and he expected at least to have been able to give her a genuine smile. Then, like if he knew what was about to happen he told her:

"Don't forget, never ever, that once... a man loved you… loved you so much."

He woke up, he saw not the precious woman he loved turning pale, he saw not her arms embracing the empty space where he was one second before he woke, he saw not her tears and he heard not the deep cry of pain escaping from the deepest of her being.

A door to Hell was opened.

The tiger men were fighting alongside his father with a minor devil, and his mother was holding a shield to protect the non-fighter members of the Circus.

Viktor and Mimi cast spells from the inside of the shield killing many lesser devils, but there were around three hundred.

The silver lions joined his father and a few seconds later the rest of his beasts, slaves, friends, they fought against the demons and devils as Lucas regretted for he couldn't help them. He needed all his might to fight the naked man that was in front of him, smirking, eating what appeared to be a hand with a ring: Bruno's ring.

"You are doomed, human!" declared the demon lord and Lucas attacked.

Their power clashed. Lucas wielding holy light and the demon green fire that could only belong to the third circle of Hell. Their battle was spectacular, apocalyptic.

Viktor was scared, scared of his brother, scared of the demon. He knew it was a demon lord because Lucas taught him about demons recently.

A powerful hit dragged his attention. The shield of his mother started to c***k and his fear grew, even more, when he saw horrendous and big things approaching. His fear made the child fail his shots.

"I'm here, I'll protect you! Don't forget that!" Mimi proclaimed on his mind, killing the two big demons, but not fast enough to save the shield. Viktor knew that they were doomed.

But hope fell from the sky, between the demons and the Circus of Dreams.

Dressed on winey colored clothes, with a gentle smile, the genius had appeared to protect his family.

"The scum of Hell has come to entertain me!" he declared, laughing, insanely, earning all the creatures' attention. "COME! Get closer!"

Viktor saw everything.

A man fighting for what he loved, falling and rising, again and again, until he was on the top of a mountain of infernal corpses, like a god of death and even then he didn't stop.

Only the demon lord survived, kneeled before Lucas, in front of the Hell's door. 

"I wouldn't do s-" the demon lord started, but it was late, Lucas closed the door and heard Mimi releasing a horrible scream.

Someone laughed, it was cruel laughter. Lucas glanced at his family.

"I think the kid just fainted!" an evil voice said, smirking.

"When?" Lucas muttered, he couldn't believe it.

The devil lord smiled at both, Lucas and the demon lord; shaking Viktor as a toy, surrounded by the bodies of everyone else.

Lucas moved, giving no time to his foe, but the demon lord predicted his movement and made the exchange simultaneously.

The devil lord blinked, it was just an instant and the next he saw was his own body without head and the high magician hugging the ki- that was not the kid.

"I really liked you, you know?" the demon lord whispered, hugging Lucas back.

Lucas didn't understand, he couldn't, he had not time, for the hand of the demon lord pushed the dagger deep in his chest.

"I like that expression," the demon lord said, delighted by the surprise on Lucas' dead eyes.

"NO!" Johan, buried on the corpses of his friends, cried, horrified.

Viktor reminded his mother to say something…

"Protect him!" she said to Mimi, joining Orim to fight the devil lord, which was surrounded by the Circus crew.

"Don't look," Mimi said, but he saw. One instant later his parents were not anymore.

"Ah! A silver lioness, weren't those back there your friends?" the devil lord said pointing at the lions dead behind him.

Mimi roared, the battle started, then she made an unnatural sound filled with desperation and infinite pain, that horrible that Viktor felt his heart breaking… with her and the rest was silence.

The devil approached, but it didn't matter, nothing mattered, for her last roar tainted the world of black.

It was just a nightmare, Viktor wished.

His eyes opened and he saw his brother falling to the ground, like a puppet with its strings cut, covered on blood.

Viktor remembered his gentle smile, his poems to the sky, his eyes always filled with yearning, like if he were an angel trapped in the mortal world.

"Stand up, Lucas, stand up! Brother!" he cried, but his mouth pronounced no word.

"Your friend died trying to protect you, little boy," the demon lord explained, smirking.

Viktor tried to stay away from him, but the demon dragged Viktor over the ground, back to him, with his telekinetic powers.

Viktor screamed, begged for help, but there was nobody else, just he alone with the vicious demon lord.

"Don't be afraid, I won't kill you," the demon lord teased him. "We could even be close friends! Your family would be happy if you make a new friend… after all… You don't have any, do you?" the devil lord poked fun at him, offering the kid a view of his doings and when he did so, he felt that maybe he had committed his worst mistake. No, he understood that to attend to that pitiful magician was the worst movement, in his whole existence.

Viktor saw everything the first time and yet his mind refused to believe, to protect him, but he was forced to see it again… his parents… two drops fell on the cup; his brother, another drop; the artists, singers, musicians… the cup was plenty in a blink; the beautiful sister of the contortionist, the girl who taught him how to kiss… another drop; and his eyes, his brown eyes, met Mimi… and the cup broke out, flooded on red rage and despair and the sky became red, and the land became red, and everything turned red, and when he realized, he was alone over a red lake that appeared to be infinite, and everything was of the red of the blood.

"You certainly are into a predicament," a powerful chorus of voices said.

"Whoever you are help me!" Viktor said, realizing that he was given a last chance, he had entered the astral realm.

"Everything has a price, young man," the voices said and Viktor tried to find out from where they came from.

"Help me to survive and I'll pay the price!" Viktor declared.

"Not revenge then? Hm... survival… not unexpected but I thought you'd pick revenge," the voices proclaimed and the scenario changed to a luxurious office.

"Help me, please! Help me!" the boy begged. An act.

"Cold minded, cold-hearted, even when you've lost everything and your soul is crying for revenge, you keep the act to get what you want… how exquisite! How ironic! How wonderful…" the voices acknowledged, delighted.

"How much?" Viktor interrogated.

"Now we are speaking," the chorus replied. "Well, how about souls, not yours of course, but what about their souls?"

"What?" Viktor didn't want to understand what he had already understood.

"The souls of the Circus of Dreams are now under your domain, kid, for you're are the last one, the one in which their hopes lay, if you give them to me, I will help you to survive, that's the price," the chorus said.

Viktor meditated about his options a bit and as fast as his brother he took a decision.

"I would die right now, but not if you help me; so if I will give you their souls…" he doubted thinking at extreme speed, "I will give them to you only if we sign and make a deal that satisfies us both."

The voices laughed.

"You certainly have done your best not to be cheated by a devil, kid," the voices conceded.

"Do we have a deal or shall I keep looking for someone to deal with?" Viktor added.

"No one would accept that risk, kid," the chorus answered back and then they laughed, but as their laugh started it disappeared; "but, it would be interesting to see how much you accomplish."

"Let's make a deal then," Viktor contended.

"Take a seat then, let's create a decent document for something that important," the chorus announced.

As the eco of their voices died, a young man dressed in a dark blue suit, with a white shirt, long and curly black amber hair, and blue eyes materialized. He seemed to have the same tastes as Lucas.

"You are a powerful demon, aren't you?" Viktor spoke, admiring his majesty, his perfection. The most powerful demons looked like flawless humanoids, exactly like his future partner.

"But where are my manners? I'm prince Nathan, son of Ahriman god of chaos, it's a pleasure," the man greeted.

"I'm Viktor Blake, son of Catherine and Orim Blake, brother of Lucas and friend of Mimi," he managed to say and the face of the demon prince showed a feeling that Viktor couldn't describe.

"Let's start then," the prince said.

Viktor escaped from his spell and woke up flying.

Their eyes met, Viktor's were filled with a deep but not irrational rage, the sky was covered by clouds in a blink, and lightings of every color crossed from one side to another, like if they were the rage that Viktor couldn't express. The demon lord was forced to kneel, and only at that instant he understood: Chaos itself was there.

Six wings of blacklight extended marvelously behind the newcomer, he was wearing an exquisite black armor, a spear, and a big kite shield.

When he saw him, the demon lord understood that to attend to the call of the weak magician, was indeed his worst mistake ever.

"I didn't know…" the demon lord managed to say, asking forgiveness, and it was the last thing he ever said.

Nathan didn't even look at the demon lord.

It was his first time there. He saw everything, from the smallest thing that could happen to the biggest one, then returned his attention to the human who had summoned him.

"It's an entertaining world, but is not my thing," he said, looking at the west, but there was nothing, nobody.

"We signed a deal," Viktor said.

"I'll keep my word, don't worry, but if you want my favor, don't summon me again," Nathan instructed. "And before you ask me who would make sure that my word will be kept, let me introduce you to Count Adam."

A blonde man appeared from nowhere, as surprised as Viktor.

"Adam was defeated by Duke Michael and his fate was oblivion, but since he is the only one who has nothing to do, he will be your servant."

Adam kneeled before prince Nathan, saying nothing.

"Well then, goodbye, Viktor," Nathan announced, he didn't stop looking at the west, like if there were something or someone and just vanished.

"I'm at your service, lord Blake," Adam said as a silver ring materialized on Viktor's right ring finger.

Viktor admired it for a while, ignoring the demon.

The ring was made of two snakes intertwined, one biting the tail of the other, their eyes were two tiny crystalline tears and on their scales was written the contract in a supernatural language.

"It's the ring of the bond, my lord, it will grant you many skills," Adam started, but he stopped for his master's attention got focused on something else. 

"We should grant them a proper burial," Adam suggested. He was sure those, the corpses, were his master's loved ones. The sacrifice he had probably paid.

A dwarf was weeping.

"No, we'll take them home," Viktor said, his voice sounded bitter, there would be no more lesson with Lucas; his voice sounded cold, no more hugs with his kitty; his voice sounded ironic, his parents were gone; he was disappointed, touched by the abyss of insanity named life and yet, his eyes were burning with the fire of those who never give up.

The wind began to howl.