Arcana: Myths & Legends

Demons

Spherewalker Origins, Part Two

by Mark Edwards

Do you wonder where you are?

Of course you can't answer me, so stop trying. You will have little luck with clarity since I removed your tongue.

I did not do it to be cruel. We are not a cruel people. It was for our safety. You creatures are not to be trusted to speak.

Or move. You may stop struggling, you will not break loose. You are well bound, and the bindings are enchanted to make them stronger.

And yes, this stone you are bound to is one of our holiest relics. And this hilltop is a place most sacred to the deities.

Is that fear I see? I didn't know that your kind knew fear.

We don't know much of your kind. We know you come from beneath the earth, through the unentered gate. We know you look much like us. That some of you seem to be kind. But we know your secrets. We don't know everything about you, but we know what you are.

Demons.

The first of you came in the time of legend. She was a storyteller, a mage, a performer. She told tales night after night of mighty heroes and grand adventures, and then left through the gate. The children of that generation grew up with those stories dancing behind their eyes, and many of them left us to seek adventure. Some died. Some became heroes. But they left our people weak of young fighters when our ancient enemies, the People of the Claw, attacked. And the Claw has ruled us since.

Another came centuries later. A fighter so skilled he could catch spears and juggle swords. He brought us the gift of bronze, told us how to make it from tin and copper. He trained our folk to fight. We replaced our stone spearheads with this new metal and made a war for our freedom against the Claw. But they learned how to make bronze, and after many years and many deaths, they defeated us and and began a harsher rule. See this? They take the right hand from each child of our people, so we cannot grow up to fight them.

There was another, just before I was born-a woman with golden hair and cat eyes. She did the greatest crime of all. One of our number had been hidden from birth, unmutilated by the Claw, and it was prophesized that he would lead us to freedom. But he fell in love with this woman of gold while merely a boy, and followed her back beneath the earth.

What? I'm sorry, I can't understand. And even if I could, I would not wish to.

Our priests then knew who they were-demons in human guise, sent by the gods to plague us.

So now we watch the unentered gate. You are our first catch. We will sacrifice you to the sky gods, hoping that they will aid us against your kind.

It is a pity, you look so much like us. But in that lies your treachery.

We are not a cruel people. I will use the stone knife, but it is sharp, so your pain will be brief.

If demons can even feel pain...

Demons by Mark Edwards copyright © 2000 Gaslight Press. All rights reserved.