FicWad

Right, here are the boring, annoying legal terms.
Lame-o Disclaimer: I do not have the game, nor do I truly know the story line (only a few lines) so this is not a game adaptation.
Most characters are © SEGA. Shrania, Jenari, Necros, Burlow, Glythin, Crystalline, Abascol, Jabberwocky, Princess Myar, Anthenial, Urkenian, everyone else in the council, new designs for Silver, Mephiles, Iblis, the story, and related ideas © Mika (Emerald the Otter, Takashi, etc.). Do not use without permission.
Genres (if interested, and in order): Tragedy, mystery, horror, crime, fantasy, spiritual, supernatural, angst, adventure, drama, friendship, Sci-fi, humor, “hurt/comfort” bleh (Whole lot there, huh?)
Warnings: This is rated R (censored version) for /extreme swearing, thematic elements, fantasy magic, suggestive speech and actions, and extreme violence/. People who are too young generally cannot take such vulgarities maturely, so they are asked to leave unless it is possible to be an adult. If you still disagree with this, you cannot say anything against me. I warned you.


Mephiles the Dark




"Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR."- Mark Twain



Tribute to Mephiles:





PART I: DARK
Chapter the First: The Day of Disaster


“You have FAILED!”

“I’m…sorry, Master….” Large green eyes looked up anxiously at the giant, imposing figure. He fidgeted, twitching his eye.

“I have no idea what I am going to do with you, child! This is the second time!” the voice rumbled.

“…”He hesitated, breath caught within his throat as it soon became a barren, cold tunnel. His feet scuffled against the ground. Why did he agree to this…?

“It seems I shall have to step this up another notch….”

“I…I truly am sorry….”

Red eyes glared at him. “SILENCE, GLYTHIN!” The scratchy roar echoed across the landscape. “Something must be done….” They mused. “Something that will make you of use to me and satisfy Burlow…. He always has gone on about your worthlessness… Thus, I do believe I shall improve you.”

The one known as Glythin stood up hopefully. “Improve, Master?”

“Yes, improved.” The crimson eyes shimmered in cruel mirth.

He was so excited, and proceeded to clack his beak. Nothing special had ever happened to him before. Improvement sounded nice, whatever that was.

“CRYSTALLINE!”

The shriek pierced the sky as he whipped his head around. A gaseous ball of darkness drifted his way. Glythin blinked and moved away. “Wha…?”

“Crystalline, I have at long last found you a host,” the figure hissed in cold joy. Yet, it had no emotion…none….

The young one wanted to push it away and followed through with the motion, but…. His breath hitched nervously as the gas seemed to form onto his arm…then his shoulder. Green eyes trailed down in panic to find a pinkish crystal coating along his limb. The appendage didn’t seem to belong to him anymore.

“Yes, you are improved, Glythin….”



“GAH!”

His shuddering form lurched upwards in blind panic. Cold green eyes darted to every corner as he gripped his ratty covers in a vice hold, knuckles white. The black creature took a gulp of cool air and slumped. “Calm down,” he muttered, mentally smacking himself for overreacting.

“I’ve been having that dream often,” the demon said quietly after a moment when his breath had resumed its normal pattern; he wiped a thin line of cool sweat off of his forehead.

The room was cold. Then again, it always had been. Bare walls of clay towered over him, creating a shadowy room. Living underground had those effects, though. He raised his paw up to his pale face and stared at it, making sure it was still there and was still his. The demon shook his head, quills swaying a bit from the motion. “Preposterous.”

Just a dream. Only a stupid dream. It disgusted him that something that did not even exist had set him off time and time again. He scratched his ear in aggravation and swung his legs over the right side of his broken slab of rock. Paws moved down to grab boots and fasten them on to his lower limbs.

“I just don’t understand why this keeps on happening to me,” he muttered. “All day, all night. It just keeps coming to me…. I don’t even know what it’s about.” Silently, he slipped on his gloves, making his considerably large paws look slim and skeletal for some reason. ‘Perhaps it was the fur that made them look so huge,’ he mused subconsciously.

His purple boots went up to his knees almost with silver rings on the tops just as the same types of rings were on his wrists. White zigzags swept across the footwear with a yellow dot on the inside and outside of both. He raised his head and stared at a blank wall, pondering.

“MEPHILES!”

His black furred head snapped to the left so quickly, he could have sworn he had heard a crack resound in his neck. “Necros. What are you doing here?” he hissed quietly.

The gray fox rolled his eyes. “Ever the cheerful one, aren’t you?” His orange tipped tail swayed behind him.

His paws fell into his lap. “It’s not every day someone randomly barges into your home,” he retorted sharply.

The other snorted. He looked around, inspecting the area. “This is hardly a home. More like cell. Ever tried decorating this place?”

His long tail with a darker colored spade shape at the end lashed around behind him. “No. And I do not plan on it,” the periwinkle streaked one snapped.

His paws came up in front of him in defense. “Woah, calm down! I just came to remind you about that white mobian kid….”

The one known as Mephiles stood up quickly. “Silver? Yes. I almost forgot.” He strode out of the opening to his ‘home’. Doors always have been useless things by his standards. ‘Why create a boundary that everyone crosses?’

Shaking his head once more, he continued, walking across the red and very bare ground. Life had not thrived there for years…. Many years. A grin plastered itself across his muzzle. That was the way he liked it. …And now he was going to make it stay that way.



*


“Death is more common than life…. People live in fear…. No hope is seen….” Amber eyes glanced at the destroyed building. Flames danced below. “I know in my heart that it wasn’t always this way….” He sighed, lifting his paw, which had a blue glow surrounding it…like the rest of him. There were two quill-like objects pulled behind him and a bunch of fur was shaped almost like a starfish of sorts.

“SILVER!” He turned his head down to the left from his place of levitation. A lavender cat stared up at him. “Iblis has risen again!” She leapt away to his left, red coat flying behind her.

His ears drooped. “What does he want now?” The otter dashed off in the direction the other had left.

“Come on, we might be too late!” she said breathlessly to him as they skidded to a stop at a clearing.

“Nonsense, Blaze,” he retorted. “Iblis is there, and we are going to try and stop him.”

“Again,” she replied sullenly.

Silver turned to face her. “Yes, again,” he said firmly.

A large mass of rock and lava spurted out of an opening in front of them, roaring horrifically. One large green eye pierced their very souls with terror, but they stared forwards solemnly. The two braced themselves, a face full of dancing, rippling heat bounded into their current area. There was no turning back now.


*



Mephiles leapt up onto a building top, muscles contracting. ‘I hope I’m not too late….’ He had been feverish ever since being requested to do this.

Silver smashed his paw against one of the concrete upholders of the leaning building. “How can we fully defeat Iblis?” he cried out in frustration, squeezing his eyes tightly shut. It’s all just a nightmare, I’ll wake up and it’ll be like one of those fairytales where I’ll have mom and we’ll have nice house….

‘Just in time.’ He stood up and walked forward so people below saw him. “By finding the source of course,” he called out.

“Mephiles!” the otter shouted, attitude instantly brightening. His friend was here; he could possibly solve their issue. After all, he had claimed he was working on it.

“Just as a flower comes from a seed, and a chicken from an egg,” he continued, “/everything/ has an origin.”

“Can…” Silver paused. “Can you tell us how to stop Iblis?”

The one up above lifted up his paw and paused. “…” He and Blaze--who was clutching her arm in pure agony--waited with baited breath. Mephiles looked down. “Come with me.”

The spiky being leapt down onto the ground beside the twosome and beckoned them to follow him. “Now, I have been doing some research on Iblis. And…what I have found is rather shocking, to say the least.”

Blaze blinked. “What do you mean by ‘shocking’?”

Mephiles held up a finger, and stopped, turning to her. “All in good time, Blaze. All in good time.”

“Well, time is not something we have in this place,” she spat. “And call me Queen Blaze. I am the ruler of the third dimension, have not you forgotten. And who, pray tell, are you again?”

“Yes, yes,” he muttered in response, beginning his walk once more. Ignorance was the response to her question.

Silver stared ahead. “Where are you taking us?”

Green eyes glanced up at him for a moment. “My research lab.”

“We…have no labs, Mephiles.”

“I make due with what I have,” he replied stiffly and veered sharply to their right. “Now come!”

Blaze shrugged to the otter and ducked under a slab of sheet rock leaning against another formation of charred stone. Yellow eyes glowed in the dark as she went gradually under the surface. Silver stared for a moment before following the two down, ramming into the wall on accident more than a few times.

“Um, not to sound rude, but where the heck are we going?” he asked, rubbing his sore head. He had absolutely no nocturnal vision and sometimes he didn’t know if that was a plus or a minus—whatever those words meant.

Mephiles looked at the lavender cat by his side in the dark. “/Queen/ Blaze, could you please have the honor of showing poor Silver ‘where the heck are we going’?”

She sighed and in a moment, concentrating, there was a crackling fire blazing in her paw. “There. Better, guys?”

The otter winced and nodded. “Much better.”

After a few disoriented moments of slamming into walls when Blaze not so ceremoniously doused her flame, Silver was relieved to find the dark one standing at a metal door. “We’re here.”

The two younger ones heard a jingle of keys and some mild cursing after a moment. “What’s wrong?” the cat asked.

“Seems I’ve lost my key….” Mephiles looked up. “No matter.” Silver was about ask what he had meant when a crack was heard then--

/GONG!/

It echoed across the clay tunnel and everyone had to hold their ears in fear that they may fall off. “Much better,” he said and briskly walked in. Blaze and Silver stood there dumbfounded for a moment until his head poked back out. “Well come on!”

They stepped in to find desks pushed to the walls along with chairs. At the end was a large computer. “Woah.”

A smug grin plastered itself across his muzzle. “I know. Salvaged this little object from the ruins of an ancient city called Robotropolis.” His face turned deadly serious. “My calculations suggest that someone was the cause of Iblis’ flames.” The hedgehog turned towards them. “ ‘Who did this?’ you may ask. Well, I have the person’s name…and how he did it.”

Silver blinked and waved his hand. “It’s impossible that one person was responsible for this!”

“Impossible, but it happened. His name….” He spread out his arms and looked around for dramatic affect, “is the Iblis Trigger!” Mephiles paced over to the large computer taking up the wall before them and clicked a button to wake it up.

“Why that’s the Festival of Soleana!” Blaze said, eyes wide in recognition at the pictures. “I’ve heard about it. The last one was over 300 years ago.”

“It was where the last moment of the world took place,” Mephiles added gravely. “The Iblis Trigger entered there…and set off the bomb.”

“Bomb?” the otter beside him asked, raising an eyes brow. He had heard of bombs. They were sort of like one of Iblis’ fire balls that he shot out at times only they exploded on some sort of timer.

“Not a real bomb, fool,” he hissed. “It’s an expression.”

Amber eyes glanced at him. “Then who did this?”

“…. Here,” Mephiles mumbled, handing him a purple diamond cut gem from behind his back suddenly. On the inside, he tensed, hoping they bought it. For Silver, it was no doubt…but the for the Queen, that was another story…. “This is who you have to blame.”

Silver tentatively took the jewel and stared into it. “I--I see it!”

Flames rose in his vision, a flurry almost like a whirlwind…. There was heat, a massive, death-like heat; a city was being washed with fire and bathed with sick light. People were screaming. It was the definition of pain, horror. Flames covered the landscape like a vast blanket. A girl was crying, clad in white. Destruction, death… And….

“A blue hedgehog,” he gasped in shock. Those eyes! The same eyes as Iblis himself! A cobalt specimen stared ahead ruefully, emerald eyes twinkling in the light, a frown plastered across his muzzle.

Blaze blinked. “Blue hedgehog?” It sounded familiar, no doubt…. Almost like a faraway dream…. She shook her head.

Mephiles shook his finger. “Indeed. Now we must dispose of him by going back to the time when Iblis was released.”

The white one cocked his head to the side. “But…that’s impossible.”

“Of course it is, boy. You see, Silver, I have the power to travel through time!”

A grin crept along his muzzle. “So we can get rid of this Trigger fellow!”

The cat beside the two reached out hesitantly. “I’m not so sure about this, Silver.” She sighed. “It could be another trick from Iblis…and you, I am not quite sure of your identity….” Her eyes gazed pointedly in the demon’s position.

Green eyes turned to her. “I am Mephiles the Daemon, at your service, Queen Blaze.” His fangs glinted in the artificial light emitting from the computer. He made a mock bow towards her. “Have not we met before?”

Silver smiled. “Of course! Heh…. Ignore him, Blaze. He just likes creeping people out at times.” He then promptly slapped Mephiles on the back. “Cut it out, man. Show some respect.”

A frown placed itself on his muzzle and his ears lowered. He did not like being told what to do, ever. “Whatever,” he snarled, turning his head away. “I honestly do not care for your views on ‘respect’. To put it quite frankly, you could do with some lessons in respect yourself.”

He rolled his eyes. “You’re always so negative. Try smiling for once.”

“I would if you’d stop disappointing me,” he sighed.

Amber eyes averted from their previous position. “I know you don’t mean that.”

“Of course not.”

Silver flipped his head around in frustration; smile sliding off for a few seconds. “Then why do you say it, man?”

Mephiles took back the violet jewel. “Because you tend to annoy me at times.”

Blaze sighed impatiently. “I hate to break this up, but what do you want us to do about this Trigger?”

He rolled his eyes. “Ma’am, I thought it was obvious. /Kill him/. We shall kill him.”

Her mouth tightened into a thin line. “Fine. We shall kill him...but not today. I am hurt from that monster.” She clasped her right arm in a vice-like hold to stop blood flow that was already thinning in its rush.

Fangs glinted once more in the pale light as his lips lifted. The cat couldn’t help but feel unnerved some how. Something was terribly wrong with this fellow Silver claimed to know. “Very well.”





_____

“I can’t believe you’re trusting him!” Blaze said, aspirating. She shook her head in aggravation.

Silver blinked. “Well, why not?”

Her mustard eyes glared into his golden ones. “I am getting vibes from him, Silver. And they’re /not good/.”

He merely laughed off what she had said, shaking his head. “Trust me, Blaze! I’ve known this guy all my life, if he anything bad to do, he would have done it to me long ago.” The otter set a paw on his boney waist (the condition due to serious malnutrition, no doubt). “I trust him with my life!” he declared lightly.

The lavender cat turned away from him, her red coat swishing as she did so. “That was what I was afraid of,” she muttered, staring at the wall.

Silver looked at the ground quietly. After much deliberation on the right thing to say, he merely shrugged. It was a senseless battle between him and the queen. “Come on, let’s get outta here…. This place is giving me the creeps.” He rubbed his upper arm and started to walk out.

She sent on wistful look at the computer screen before following him out, but not before saying on sentence to herself, “Whenever we have these debates, I am always right, so believe me, Silver, this ‘daemon’ fellow is no good….” She turned, head held high, and stalked out of the holed in area. ‘Daemon…whatever that was!’



Dark violet streaked wings clasped themselves together. “Aw, visiting your lil’ sister, dear?”

He stared solemnly at her; green eyes fixated just a feather above her head. “Jen, you know I hate visiting you.”

She set a brown-gloved wing on her waist, sighing. “I know.” Head snapping up, hazel eyes glared at him, the two reasonably large tufts (almost like a deranged owl’s) that sat in a streamline position pulled behind her head rustled. “What do you want?”

The demon held up his claws. “Woah, no, I am not asking you for help-”

“Pleading for it?” she mocked. “Mephy, I’m Jenari, a psychologist, a studier of one’s inner nature. I am no fool.”

“Come on, Mephy! Just this way, over the hill! Then we can get rid of that big bad-”

“/NO/,” he growled, ears laid back. “Do not call me /that/.”

No smart comment. She closed her golden beak, withdrawing from her verbal attack. Readjusting her mangled ‘glasses’ on her forehead, she asked softly. “Then what is it, Mephiles?”

He shook his head, breathing hard. The demon couldn’t believe that had set him off again. The hedgehog was over that type of crap. Perhaps the mere unexpectedness was the cause. He knew not. “You have to do that, do not you? I thought you were supposed to help one with their mental issues, not heighten them,” he hissed sullenly.

She rolled her eyes. “It was a mistake. Now what do you want from me?”

“Merely a few…pointers, shall we say?” He made several un-meaningful gestures with his claws.

The response to this was a raised brow. “Pointers? Of what sort?”

“Jenari, some acquaintances and I are going into the past. These acquaintances are rather young….”

The eagle cut him off. “What can I help you with? Are you trying to lure children under your manipulative spell?” she snapped angrily. “Are you going to make them your pawns? I am not going to help you, Mephiles!”

He blinked calmly, and was apparently unaffected by her words from now and earlier. “No,” the demon spoke slowly. His eyes told her to remain calm…. She didn’t like it. “I am merely asking you: would time travel back to the year of 2009 affect their miniscule brains?”

She didn’t like it at all. “ ‘Affect them’!” she screeched shrilly. “Are you bloody /MAD/?”

“That is what the mental tests said-yes,” he informed. “We are going to dispose of the Iblis Tirgger.”

“SENDING THEM INTO THE PAST-WHY I NEVER,” she raved, and then paused. “An assassination? My….”

His tail curved upwards. “They are desperate for an end.”

Jenari shook her head. “Oh my…. But you lie to them! How-”

A paw was held up as he answered, “ They do not know of my false truths, despite them merely being ‘white lies’.”

Sighing was sent from her in response. There was a moment of silence until she spoke quietly.

“You miss her, don’t you?”

“…”





Incoherent mutterings were heard from him as he walked off, head lowered. He slanted his eyes dangerously and shook his head.

“You have to stop doing that.”

His head whipped upwards. “What do you want, Necros?”

The gray fox laughed, as though hearing something terribly funny, from his perch on the cracked and broken mass of metal that was once a hotel balcony. “Heh, I learned I was a great liar when I was six. You?”

“What do you mean?” Mephiles asked dangerously.

Another hollow laugh. “Come on, dude. That whole ‘Iblis Trigger’ thing you told Jen about-genius.”

He bit back a snarl. “Whatever.”

“Huh? No smart/annoying comments? Sheesh! Or, maybe five and a half eons of spiting others has taken its toll on your verbal abilities,” the fox stated lightly.

The demonic one ignored this. “Get out of my sight you miserable excuse of a mobian!”

Necros held up his tattered, gloved paws. “Just like with Shrania, huh? A loss for smart words.”

His quills rose. “How about a deal, Necros? You never bring up Shrania again, and I’ll never get pissed enough to throw you into the pits of Iblis’ terrain.”

The fox grinned. “You can do better than that, I’m sure, Meph.”

“If you are easily offended by swearing, I suggest you leave the premises and try not to correspond to the creature below you for at least six weeks.” The other’s tail twitched.

He would have slapped the demon on the back, if given the chance. “That’s it, buddy. Just like when you were with Shrania! Though I would say you were all tongue and no fire back then-”

“********************(1)” This was followed by a rude paw gesture.

“Oops!” The brown-eyed mobian disappeared from view.

Mephiles sighed. “And stay the ** away.”

A wince was heard. “Could you tone it down a bit?”

“Really?” This was followed by a steady rant from the black demon (not to mention a chorus of Old Babylonian swearing to accompany it).

The fox shook his head, then paused, muscles tensing. A noise sounded behind him. “Sh! You hear that?”

Mephiles paused, ears flicking back for a moment. The word escaped from his lips in a breathless horror as his throat tightened. “Iblis.”








A shudder ran up his spine as he stumbled around in a drunken haze towards the central gathering area of the city. Blinking blearily, he tapped on the slab of rock six times down, four times over. The mineral moved to reveal a small raccoon. The girl had one a raggedly torn lime shirt and some pants.

“You have to look before you do that, Marine,” he advised her quietly.

She nodded quickly. “Are you okay, sir?”

Of course. Instant concern. That would be beaten out of the child from the council with lies and pain. Personally, Mephiles was glad he had raised Silver with the teachings of Babylon, city of the sky. Help; be helped. Assist, and you will be spared. (He would never admit this though.)

The girl was worried by his unresponsiveness, unlike others who knew him. “Sir, maybe you should come to the infirmary-you’re in a bad way….”

He shook his head. “Nonsense, the ones who need medical help are the ones who are dying. Unless you have a shrink in mind, I may agree to that.”

Marine didn’t understand the quality of his sharp tongue, not to mention his vocabulary, blinking. “A shrink…? Well, sir, it’s dangerous to keep this open….”

Finally. The blasted fool was using her head. With a reckless mind as hers, she would be in just as much danger as his two acquaintances. He cleared his dry throat. “Very well, let me in.”

“Sir….” She paused. Not good. “Who are you? Just to make sure, though I doubt Iblis would have made spies.”

Shit. Total and utter shit. The demon glanced at her before staring at the skies. “I am an entity. I have no true name. Now please, girl, move.”

Marine didn’t budge. “One more question, sir: Can you tell me a story?” It was fabled that monsters, or demons (djinn, afrits, and such), could not tell a tale, for tales showed individuality, and morals.

It was totally false.

“I have no time for this, Marine. I need to speak to the council.”

He elbowed her out of the way, striding downwards in the twisting tunnels. The girl fidgeted, but closed the makeshift door, blotting out some of the heat created by the carbon dioxide that covered the air like a wretched blanket.

She followed him quietly.

he set a paw on her hip. “Come on, are you chicken or something? Be bold, Mephy, not bashful!”

He really had to get his musings away from those areas of his mind. One day, when books were no longer illegal, he would write one about how much he despised his mind. Mild speculations on the past at these intervals were getting on his nerves. It always had seemed to happen whenever he spoke with Jenari.

Memories brought back speculations. Speculations brought back past ideas. Past ideas created misfortune for those who dwell on them. The past had always been an unworthy piece of shit, in his opinion. Why live then when you can live now? And oh, he tried. He tried desperately to do so, to stop thinking about yesterday, to start believing his absolute future. Clawing, and scrabbling to grasp what was real….

“SIR!” A tug was sent to his tail, which made the feeling jolt up his spine in a rather unpleasant way.

“What?” he hissed.

She blinked. “Shouldn’t I alert the council?”

The demon nodded. “Of course.” Mephiles would never cease to be amused by mortals’ need for ‘organization’. Claimed it created a ‘society’ or something like that. What an idiotic statement. It was almost like the fabled Perfect Sphere. Moronic. Utterly moronic. That drunken fool who stated it and then….

Don’t think about it. Just don’t think about it. Think about other things. Think about your mission up ahead.

Like said before, don’t live then, and just live now. God, he hated himself. And that was something he could settle his mind on easily. Hatred. It was such a delicate, yet easy topic to discuss. Fools who knew not of true hatred could reel out (2) several dozens of paragraphs concerning their so-called ‘hatred’.

Please, Mephy boy. Just shut up, quiet down.

He scratched his ear quietly, thoughts settling back down. ‘Sometimes I hate you….’

When haven’t you? Please, try some originality, some innovation, some novelty, and some imagination, with your comebacks.

Mephiles shook his head. ‘Such a demonic beast like you should not even exist to torture others so.’

Okay, now you’re just trying to cover the fact you’re really asking, “Why are you so mean? You hurt my feelings!” Please, I can do much worse and you know it! Now don’t bore me to death with your musings. Your aimless thoughts are of idiocy, absurdity, ridiculousness, and ludicrousness.

‘Maybe I would if….’

Can you come up with better comebacks? Any witty replies in store, or have you drained them all out?

‘…’

You’re not worth my time. Ciao. Goodbye. See you later.

‘…Thank God….’

“Mister, they’re waiting for you,” Marine said quietly, returning. Her tail was laid on the ground behind her.

He nodded and followed, ducking under a slab of earth as they moved through the winding tunnels that led to a larger area. Within that space was the council, “neatly” set up as always. The girl turned and left quietly.

“Mephiles,” a purple cockatiel greeted, standing up. His blue eyes stared at the demon.

“Anthenial,” he replied with nowhere near as much courtesy as the other. A disgruntled frown placed itself upon his muzzle and made itself comfortable.

A yellow salamander next stood up. “What is it that you want, Mephiles?” he questioned gruffly. “Want to kill us all?”

“Want to weasel us out to Iblis?” another asked, standing up. The otter glared at him, her orange coat standing out against the dull walls just like the other two.

He had a comeback this time. “I would do no such thing,” he replied, “I cannot begin to tell you how much you have hurt me with that statement.”

“Really, now?” she snapped, “Last I checked, you—”

“Urkenian, calm down,” another female said, stepping forward. She was a feline, no doubt. Her magenta coat matched the world surrounding them from above perfectly. “Now, what is it that you need, Mephiles?”

“Orine,” he spoke, “Silver, the Queen, and I are going to new place to find sanctuary.”

She raised a brow at this, tail waving behind her like a flag. “With all due respect, Mephiles, for I know you have been here longer than I, how can we trust you?”

“No respect is needed due to my age, ma’am,” the demon responded, “But I can assure you that I am telling the truth. Ask nothing more of the mission, though. Trying my trust is utmost insult, I shall admit.”

Raising a paw to her chin, she mused for a moment. “Granted, you have done some wonderful things for us, but most tell me you cannot be trusted. Apparently, you are a demon in disguise.”

‘You are a demon in disguise’? Mephiles cocked his head to the side at a moment. “Superstition really is controlling everyone as of late, no?” he said quietly, containing himself, “For if I were demon, I would be in hell, if not that, I would be from hell, I would like hell, and I would be like hell. That isn’t to say I’m not the latter, but I am no demon, madam. And, demons do not take other creatures’ forms unless they are rather high in rank. In that case, they’d rather stay in /hell/.”

She nodded uneasily until the salamander bellowed, “Then you are a demon! I have seen you next to Iblis’ area. That is enough hell!”

Mephiles’ eye twitched for a moment. “Then we all are demons, no? This place—” He indicated to the area they were in, pointing to each and every clay wall. “This entire world is a hellhole/. We laugh in this /hellhole/, we play in this /hellhole/, and we /live in this God forsaken hellhole. So, if my reasoning is correct, we all are demons. We are all creatures of hell. I wish to change that, though.”

The demon walked up to him. “Care to challenge me to that logic, asshole?”

“You might want to watch your language!” he snapped.

“I can say what I want! I’m an adult. You’re an adult. Grow up,” the other snarled. The tension was high and everyone could feel it all the way down to the nucleus of every single little cell. The air molecules buzzed with excitement.

Anthenial knew when to intervene. “That would be correct, so would you both stop acting like blasted /children/?” he asked, aspirating.

The salamander paused. “Yes, but I do not take such foul language lightly.”

“Then try to ignore it, Grunstone.”

Mephiles was mentally sticking his tongue out at the other. “As I was saying,” he went on casually, “I am going to leave with two /acquaintances/.”

“Age?” he demanded.

“That would happen to be none of your business.”

“Actually, it is. Under the law—”

The demon held up one claw, smirking smugly. “Aw, but I am not under that law, Grunstone. I was born before it was created, thus it does not qualify to me unless I choose so. And, believe me, I have not chosen so.”

“Because you’re a—”

“Now, now, Grunstone. No need to be a hypocrite, right?” He wagged his claw, tail moving behind him lazily. The lizard bared his teeth before turning to simply glaring at the other. “So, I’ll be off now.” And with that, the demon was gone, disappeared behind the winding the passages.

“Bastard.”




__



“Hey, where have you been?” Silver asked, grinning as usual from his position on the beaten couch. To say beaten would actually be acting like it was just store-bought compared to the true condition.

Mephiles looked at him for a moment before sitting down on the opposite end. Blaze as immediately cramped in the middle. “Do you mind moving that tail of yours?” she snapped.

His only response was compliance as he stared ahead thoughtfully. One paw supported his head. “Meph, where have you been?” Silver repeated.

The demon absently leaned down and picked up a scrap of metal, examining it thoroughly. “Hm?” he said.

“Stop ignoring us, demon!” the feline hissed. If looks could kill, Mephiles would be a fine red mist at the moment. Alas, that was but Blaze’s wish.

“Where did you go?” the otter asked curiously once more.

Mephiles scratched his ear with his opposite paw. “I wish I could have some chicken….”

It was pretty obvious he was ignoring them, and that wouldn’t change too soon. Blaze then settled for staring at the one roomed home. Save for their discolored, deformed couch at the eastern end of the room, there were two piles of scraps on the dirt floor for bedding and a small metal container with “first-aid” in case on of them got hurt beyond natural healing at the northern end. “They” meant Silver and Blaze. Mephiles was content enough out on his own—and to put it quite frankly, with Silver around, Blaze didn’t blame him one bit.

Silver had once asked the demon how large their home was, but he replied with gibberish. It was something like “around three meters horizontally and two yards vertically”. The otter had then told to her that meters and yards sounded like types of rock or something. Silver was naïve, no doubt about that. Blaze had never heard of them either, though.

Mephiles stiffened. His ears rose. ‘Crystalline….’

You are persistent in ignoring me, refusing to pay attention, hm?

‘What do you want?’

The four horsemen will come, arrive, turn up, and approach. The youngest will strip you bone from bone, Mephiles. I asked him and he agreed. Death will—

He ignored the other’s taunting. “So, how’s the weather, guys?”

Silver raised his head. “Same,” he answered.

“Silver, you wouldn’t know. We’re not outside,” Blaze argued, folding her arms. Her frown deepened.

“Oh, would you let up?” Mephiles snapped.

As always. That’s you. You never let someone make a sensible statement, declaration, report, avowal, and assertion.

‘Shut it, you demon.’

According to my title, I’m an “angel”, a seraph, or a cherub, if you may.

‘You? A seraph? Don’t make me laugh.’

You truly are a bastard, no?

Ivory otter hopped up and down on his section of couch. “I can’t wait until this future looks better,” Silver exclaimed. “Just think: we’ll have all sorts of learning places and everything—and some better weather.”

Mephiles rolled his eyes. “Naïve, thy name is Silver.”

“You’re name isn’t Silver,” he responded, confused.

“Thy means ‘your’, Silver.”

“Oh.”

Blaze shook her head. “I am wondering how you managed to raise something and make it turn out so unlike you.”

He raised a finger, the very essence of smug splayed across his face. “Pure skill, Queen Blaze. Pure, unalienable skill.”

Yes, you are quite a bastard, now that I think about it. You are a rascal, a weasel, a scoundrel, a louse, a reprobate, a mongrel…need I go on?

‘It’s be greatly appreciated if you didn’t insult yourself in such a way.’

Why, that is so funny, hilarious, comical, amusing, hysterical, quaint, and witty that I have forgotten how to laugh.

Mephiles changed tactics with the beast. ‘How ingenious of you to say.’

Thank you, you have my gratitude, I am grateful.

He stood up, walking towards the exit. “Well, I’d best be off,” he said gruffly.

Blaze held up a paw. “Wait, demon, you—“

“I am not a demon. I am a /daemon/.”

“Daemon, demon—same thing,” she snapped.

Mephiles raised a claw. “Actually, that definition you used would happen to be archaic. In this case, I would prefer being called a daemon.”

The feline raised a brow. ‘Archaic? What does that mean?’ “Fine, /daemon/. Why are you leaving? Have some more evil doings to attend to?”

‘I said demonic was an archaic definition,’ he fumed quietly. “Yes,” was the demon’s brisk response, “I have much more sin to spread, so I must be on my way. Fare thee well.” With that said, he was gone.

Silver swore he was some sort of phantom with those acts. “He’s pretty good at that stuff, huh?”

She shook her head. “Demon.”

The otter shot a glare at her.








“So, how is my big fluffy friend of love and affection?” Mephiles stared at him for a moment. Necros smacked him on the back. “Come on, man! So, how’s Wacko White?”

“Fine.”

“That all?”

The demon’s eye twitched. “How fine can one be in these times?”

Necros laughed. “You must be fantastic. I mean, Iblis offering you practically anything you desire just to help him retain order--that must be awesome.”

He flicked at a piece of debris absently. “Not really. It’s a literal hellhole, actually. The one thing I want is for it all to stop—and that’s not going to happen, obviously. Say ‘no’ and you’re dead as soon as you utter half of the syllable.”

“You must be offered some women, though,” the fox offered, grinning.

“I am not an incubus, Necros, nor do I have a gender.”

He contemplated this for a moment. “So you’re a succubus?”

“/No/, Necros.”

“A sinccubus?”

“That is not a word.”

The fox shrugged. “Can’t blame me for a trying.” He needed a subject change—and fast, for he feared Mephiles was prepared to rip his head off with the suggestions he had presented. “So, how was the council?”

Mephiles shook his head. “Not good. They demonize me, oh Moronic One. It was almost impossible to slide past them this time. I had to use my age as an excuse—and you know I don’t believe in benefits for the elderly.”

Necros nodded, understanding. “Yeah. You are an old man/woman.” A rough tug to his tail silenced him with a yelp. Rubbing his rear, he reacted, “Okay, I’m sorry. Jeez!”

He was met by a glare yet again. Sometimes the fox wondered if Mephiles had any other facial expressions to choose from. “Let us change the subject.”

“There’re such things as apostrophes—you should use them.”

Mephiles ignored the retort and stared at the scenery. Smoking buildings stood barely erected in their spots, ready to be pushed over by a simple—

--Weak, feeble, delicate, pathetic attempt. I’m sure you’ll have absolutely no difficulty in that.

‘Now stop being a bastard,’ his thoughts snapped back.

It’s not nice, kind, proper, or etiquette to swear. What would your mother think?

Broken scraps of gravel lay splayed across the land before them. Fires crackled menacingly on his right side about ten feet away giving the demon a rather uncomfortable, prickling sensation dancing along his skin. The darkened sky hung as ominous as ever above their heads, seeming to taunt them, mock them, dare them to challenge the rein of such a powerful creature that had caused this catastrophe. He sighed.

This is as good as it gets.

‘Damn you.’

I tell no lies. This is as good as it gets. Life’s not fair—no matter how much you want it to be, Mephy. We tell our kin it is, but it’s a terrible thing.

‘…’

There is no true happy ending to this fairytale, this child’s story. There are no gumdrops, no sugarplums. You’re not going to wake up and everything’s going to be fine. You can pretend, but it’s a fool’s dream. A hero is a fool’s dream. This is hell, Mephiles. Heroes don’t go to hell because heroes don’t exist.

He stared ahead for a moment before knuckling his head. “Mephiles?”

“What?”

The fox rolled his eyes. “Sometimes you can be such an idiot, you know that?”

“So can’t you.”




His paws slammed against the ground. Faster. Wind whipped past his form. “Come on, we’re gonna be late!”

Necros stumbled behind him. “Well, after what had just happened, I’d judge we could take a rest,” he snapped. He appeared winded—and was.

Bright green eyes stared at him, looking like sharply cut emeralds. “Do you know what will happen?” He stared his left paw absently, stopping. Raising his other large paw, he traced the long cut. “We must protect this place—at any cost.”

The fox gulped at the gryphon-like hybrid. “Burlow’s going to kill you, you know….”

Glythin’s head whipped around. His eyes narrowed. “You act as though you’re afraid of him.”

He rolled his eyes. “Aren’t we all, though?”

“True enough,” was the response. Glythin was never much for words, but always seemed to take sentences in stride. “Now come on.” His paw gripped Necros’.

“Sometimes I wonder how the hell I get friends like you.”

He flashed a cocky grin, sharp teeth being revealed underneath the ebony beak. “Because I rock.” The ground was moving in a quick succession past them. They seemed to be…elevating to an extent.

“GLYTHIN,” he screeched. Air, no bottom, his feet kicked against nothing.

The “gryphon” blinked, clacking his beak. Beating his non-connected wings, he went higher. “It’s faster, Necros.”

Necros wore a sullen expression. “See if I care!”

“Guys!” The scream cut through the air.

Glythin knew who it was, and he felt the panic, scratch that, he could smell it. “Shrania, what is it, man?”

Looking down, a dusty colored kangaroo was beheld, standing atop a dirt mound. A thick metal bracelet with pulsing marks lay on her right wrist and was starkly visible against the earth-like tones on her person. A tuft of hair hung over her eyes. Panting, she said, “You…you have to see…”

Both males were completely befuddled, no doubt, as Glythin came in for a horridly placed landing. “What’cha mean?” the fox snapped, once stumbling to his disoriented feet.

“Look to your left…” she croaked.

Turning to that said direction, Glythin simply stared in horror and disgust. It was a gut-wrenching scene, to see the most fantastic city of the twenty first century being burn to ashes. Two words escaped his beak, two very damnable, but fitting words: “Crisis City.”






It was nighttime by the period Mephiles had returned to Silver and Blaze’s home. One would scarcely believe it was at nocturnal hours, though. Fires shot through the skies still, igniting the landscape. “Hey,” he greeted.

“Hey.” The ivory otter looked up. “What’s up?”

Mephiles paused for a moment. “You want this future to change?”

Silver nodded. “Yes.”

“Get Blaze up and come with me.”

He leaned over to jab the other. She was then shoved awake, eyes cracking open. “I need my rest, you know,” she hissed. Her ears were plastered against her skull stubbornly.

The demon was obviously amused. “I thought that felines were nocturnal beings.”

“What?”

He rolled his eyes. “Nothing.” Trudging up through the debris, he held out his paw to Silver who gladly accepted it to assist him. He pulled away his paw when the feline came forward.

She snorted indignantly, climbing up herself. Turning, she glanced at him in resentment. “Hey, the weather really is the same,” Silver exclaimed.

The feline rolled her eyes, exhaling. “Let’s go.”

“Yeah, let’s go!” Blaze shot a glare of daggers at the otter. He winked. “Come on.”

Mephiles led them through the same winding turns and down to the dungeon-like pathways. Silver was much more sure now, despite stumbling in broad firelight on a rock or two.

He passed through the broken doorway of his ‘lab’, signaling for Silver and Blaze to follow. “You want to change the past?” the demon questioned.

Both nodded, ivory one more vigorously than lavender one. “Of course,” Silver said, “anything to destroy this monster!” His eyes were ablaze with frustration, pain, desperation, determination.

Only solid, lovely word formed in his mind. ‘Perfect.’

“You do realize that by changing the past, this time will be completely destroyed, and you two may never exist, or meet each other.” Yadda, yadda, yadda. He had to inform them, that way he had a safeguard when the folks went after him.

Blaze’s mouth turned into the thin line once more. “Yes.”

“That you will put all of existence in jeopardy to insure that Iblis’ flames will not roam and rip through this land?”

“Yes.”

“That you are going to have to trust my advice in order to see this mission through?”

Her face scrunched up like there was a pound of salt on her tongue. “Yes.”

The demon almost grinned—almost. This was serious business. “You will go against creatures stronger than yourself, and may have much more craft.”

“I realize that.”

There was one last shot at this. “That you are going to kill a fellow being--a being that breaths like you do, functions like you do, looks relatively like you do, feels like you do, and may even think like you do?”

Silver stepped forward. “No creature so heartless is my fellow brother.” He punched a fist into his palm. One word could describe his expression: grit. “The Iblis Trigger will die.”

Mephiles remained apathetic. “Very well.”




















1: Some mild swearing would be putting it quite lightly. Pity. Necros should have taken Mephiles more seriously. Censored for those who have delicate ears…er, eyes.

2: Read: Rant, in Mephiles’ opinion.