Raito Crownguard's Story

Raito Crownguard {Playlist}
Fateful Night

It was dark inside the cave; there was little differentiation between the blackness inside and the darkness outside. The only illumination inside the cave was the meager fire that the boy was tending to. It had just started up, and he was coating the twigs of driftwood with an oily substance from inside the container that he had brought with him. Whatever it was, it must have been flammable, for the fire did not seem to be affected, other than that the smoke it gave off turned an oily, black color.

The boy coughed and raised an arm to his mouth to block the smoke as it caught on the rough wind and was dragged outside. It was raining heavily outside, the water coming down heavily and freezing cold; the occasional clap of lightning was proving to be the only thing that could penetrate the night sky.

Fitting, thought the boy, a mixture between a grimace and a grin pulling at the corners of his mouth as he lowered his arm. Fitting weather, for the night that I sell my soul to the devil.

Glancing back to the fire, he inspected the arrangement of tary, black lines and piles of herbs that surrounded the fire. He reached out to light the two candles that he'd placed in the top left and right of the arrangement, and then went on to pull more substances from the pile of containers to his left and place them in specific locations. He worked, although diligently, with an air of resignment; as if he was both anticipating and dreading the results of his actions. After a point, he turned to inspect and flip through a few pages of the large, leather-bound volume that was propped up on the cave wall to his right.

He'd preformed this ritual twice before, but neither time had proved to be as complex an ordeal as it was currently proving to be. The new measures that he was taking required precise modifications to the basic formula, and those changes were difficult and thorough in nature. So much work, just to talk to a demon; especially one who seemed to be so eager to talk with him. If only it was as easy as calling out its name.

Not that he knew its name, of course. Only that it seemed to have a perverse and malicious interest in him.

And as the boy went back to work, assuredly mixing together the volatile herbs that he needed, that exact demon was watching him. He was not exactly in the cave with him, for demons could not exist in the mortal realm without the protection of a host. However, he had worked down the boy's resistance a long time ago, pierced right into his fragile heart. The boy was steeped in his influence so that it was like Umbris' eyes were surrounding him, his presence all around. He could even read every thought the boy had, sense his emotions...he may as well have been connected to him, connected and plugged in like a piece of fitting machinery.

He grinned minutely as he watched the boy work. It was completely unnecessary, of course; occult practices were equally divided between trash and the absolute truth. Yet, no complex rituals were needed to get the attention of a demon, least not one who had his entire attention focused on you.

Everything...was going according to plan.

{* * * * * * * * * * * * *}

Umbris Echious had invested far too much time and energy into this boy. From 17 years ago, his entire existence had been the boy's life. Ever since deciding that he was to be the vessel, Umbris had set out to ensure that he turned into the perfect one. He touched the boy while he was still in the womb, taking partial control of the pregnant mother while she dreamed, while she was vulnerable. His touch was obvious; by the boy's first birthday, his fine black hair and been bleached of all color, and his eyes had turned into liquid silver.

He'd ensured that his parents took good care of him for the first few years of his life, as that was crucial to a successful youth. He'd also ensured that both of his parents were killed by age 4. It had been simple, possessing a truck driver and crushing both the human beneath a metal monstrosity of their own race's invention.

After all, parents could be such an unnecessary influence later in life. Not to mention that they would prove to be obstacles to him once he finally took control of the boy for good.

He'd orchestrated the boy's placement in the Crownguard Orphanage, and got him settled there. From there, he let things proceed almost naturally. He only made two main changes: persuading the head of the orphanage to adopt the boy so that he'd have the wealth he needed; and influencing the people around him to do away with needless influence. He made certain that the boy had a few friends, for they, like parents, were necessary. However, he never let them bond too much, lest they become a problem. It would surely be a detriment to the boy if he had to hear that his good friend had suddenly and unexpectedly died.

He had primed the boy's body, keeping him healthy but meek enough so that he wouldn't be outgoing. He had primed the boy's mind, ensuring that he was quite intelligent, yet innocent at the same time; he did not want the boy asking the wrong questions when his time finally came. He'd primed the boy's feelings, keeping him just happy enough to keep him sane, but depressed enough so that he was never fully happy.

He'd even gone so far as to put the book that contained the information on demonic rituals, the very book that he was browsing right this very moment, right into his hands.

He'd practically whispered into the boy's ear, telling him to give into Umbris' demands. He'd been a constant presence in the boy's life, as a dark specter that lurked around whenever something bad happened, and at crucial good moments. He'd excited the boy's curiosity, and his morbid depression. After all, what hope could he have if he was haunted by a demon?

Yes, he’d invested far too much into this boy. He hadn’t just had to control the boy; he’d had to control dozens of other people as well. For some, a simple nudge in the right direction was all it took to ensure that they did what he wanted, but for some, he had had to almost fully possess them to steer them into preforming their part of the plan. He had killed those whom he possessed to that degree, of course, so that they did not start to cause problems once he removed his influence from them. Mortals tended to be…negatively affected, after such direct contact with a demonic force.

But all of that did not matter anymore; the countless hours, the unimaginable amount of energy, all the convoluted twists and turns: they were finally paying off. Tonight was the night, the night he would have his prize.

{* * * * * * * * * * * * *}

The boy finally completed his ritual, lighting the last little jar of herbs on fire with a match. The smoke from the fire and the incense pots melded together towards the roof of the cave, and although the wind was just as violently sucking it out of the cave, it still permeated the air, giving everything a sickly air. Coughing once more to clear his lungs of the foul air, he proceeded to sit in front of the fire, legs crossed, and stare into the orange and yellow flames.

He waited but for a moment, a courtesy, before raising his eyes to look just beyond the fire, into the imaginary space where he thought the demon was lurking, and called out to it in a voice that managed to be meek and firm and the same time.

In answer, Umbris struck at the fire, drawing the necessary energy from the boy. The fire popped, one of the sticks splitting straight down the middle, and turned a ghastly shade of green. Eyes wide, the boy watched intently, but to his credit, he did not flinch.

Just a little bit of showmanship, to help set him in the mood…

Then Umbris threw his consciousness against the boy’s, his presence pushing against him, battering him from all sides. Now, he did flinch; shuddering and groaning from the force of the impact, he pulled inward on himself, hoping to lessen the force of the demon’s intrusion. And, although it must have gone against his basic nature to do so, he allowed the demon to breech his defenses and enter his mind.

You called?

The boy shuddered again, upon hearing the demon’s voice. However, steeling his nerves, the boy spoke back aloud, “Who are you, Demon?”

You know, who I am.

The boy blinked confusedly, his mind instantly racing as it tried to decipher what it meant. Sensing his lack of understanding, the demon went on to say:

I made you. I am the one who has watched over you, day by day, night by night. I am the black hand, who has made your life, what it is.

“Why? Why me?” shouted the boy to the back of the cave, his voice bouncing back from the walls of the cave.

Because I chose you.

“F-for what? What do you want?”

You. Know. That.

The boy exhaled, pulling his knees up to hug them against his chest as his worst fears realized themselves before his very eyes. So it was true, then, what he had suspected. The demon wanted him, his body, for whatever its purposes were. It wanted to possess him. Upon realizing that, the shadows around the cave suddenly became all the darker; the storm outside became all the more haunting.

He felt satisfaction emanating from the demon.

Then, resigning himself to a decision, he nodded. The boy looked up, once again staring straight at the spot where his mind was envisioning the demon to be hovering, and said, “Alright, then. I’ll give myself up, but only if you answer me three questions.”

Why would you do that? Why would you give your life away?

“Because…it was never really my life to begin with, was it? No matter what I do from here on out, you would just lead me into doing what you want. It’s what you’ve done in the past, isn’t it? Every time I get close to doing something or getting close to another person…you take them away from me. It’s like you trapped me in this bubble of darkness, where no light can penetrate. No matter where I look, all I see is this darkness…there’s, there’s really no hope left for me…”

The demon was quit for a moment, but at length, it accepted his reasoning with agreement, and told him to ask his questions. He thought for a moment, what he wanted to ask the demon, and soon came up with the first question.

“What will happen to me, once I die? Where will I go, once you’ve done what you will with me?”

That, I know not. I have never been beyond, nor do I ever plan to. Whatever happens to you once you are there, will be decided by a power that is…perhaps, greater than me.

The answer seemed to amuse the boy, or at least, that the demon was admitting that there was something more powerful than him; that God, or whoever or whatever it may be, was still stronger.

“Why do you need my body, demon?”

I cannot take on a mortal form on my own. For that, I require a human host to take.

Understanding washed over the boy. So that was what this all was about. In order to do whatever he really had planned, he needed a body, and he had chosen his own. The pieces were falling into place.

“Ok. Then, what will you do, once you have my body?”

Kill her.

The answer only confused the boy, and he went to ask the demon what he meant, but caught himself as he started to form the first word. He bit down on his tongue and lowered his eyes to the floor, the gears turning in his head. He’d already asked all three questions…

The demon laughed then, a cold and nearly colorless laugh that made the hair on the boy’s body stand up and his blood freeze. Such a laugh was completely unnatural.

I will tell you, boy, for you have amused me continuously throughout your life…I will kill her; the mortal who bears the mark of the one who took my eyes.

The boy smirked then. “Ahh, revenge…that, I can understand…”

As you should. As I made you to understand.

He nodded again, only now beginning to understand the full implications of the demon’s words. Everything, every part of his life, from his beliefs to his actions, had been the demon’s work…he was, truly and wholly, a shadow in a body that it does not belong to.

“Ok, then, Demon...I consent, I give in to you. I relinquish my grip on this body that you have made. I am ready…to be done with this world. How do I?”

The demon’s presence then began to move him, steering him to the wall of the cave and leaning him against it. It was odd, to move involuntarily.

Sleep. Just sleep, and I will do the rest.

As the demon spoke, the boy was already starting to fall. It was a combination of the demon’s influence and his own willingness, but no matter the reason, before the demon’s words were even finished, he was already slipping away...

Slipping, farther and farther into the darkness…the comforting darkness…

And the demon was coming forward, out of his realm and into the mortal one, slipping inside the boy’s body and becoming a part of it…

The boy’s eyes opened, but they were not the same anymore. They no longer saw with the gaze of a seventeen year old boy, but with the gaze of a timeless demon. He could see now, see the world once again with real eyes.

He stood, shakily lifting himself off of the wall. He flexed his fingers, then his arm. He repeated the action with his other arm. He stretched all over, twisting his back and popping his neck, like a sleeper waking from a deep rest. He then opened his mouth and exhaled, marveling at the ability to breathe.

He walked out the entrance to the cave to stand on the cliff face in the rain, the icy water running down over him and plastering the boy’s white hair and white clothes to his body. He raised a hand up to wipe the hair from out of his eyes, and then gazed at the dark horizon.

He was awake, once more. Umbris Echious was awake, in the body of a boy.

He was awake! And she, she would die now; she will surely die.

And he laughed; Raito Crownguard laughed with the dark mirth of the demon inside him, as he began to envision the next step in the plan…

{* * * * * * * * * * * * *}

And that was several days ago…

Raito Crownguard

Raito stirred in his bed, turning from the wall so that he faced outwards to the room. He hadn’t opened his eyes yet, and simply lay there, quietly breathing, as he spread his conscious outward. He kept his Other Eye open when he slept, for obvious reasons, but only centered around his person. When he was awake, his reign of sight extended for much farther than the normal sight range, allowing him to perceive a much wider view of the world.

A hand reached up and rubbed his left eye as he sluggishly picked out each denizen of the orphanage with his demonic sight.

His eye then opened, the other still pressed against his pillow like half of his face, and lazily scanned the room around him. It was a quiet room, not much within it to be distraction, or interesting, depending on your view. With muted colors that were appropriate to the room’s inhabitant, which were currently awash with the early morning sunlight that was entering through his half-unshaded window.

Another night without a disturbance…now, he was perturbed.

He had expected the Guardians to make their presence known immediately after he had taken control of the boy, seeing how in the past, the Guardians had not been known for hesitation or discression. When they did now show then, he did not question it, instead thankful for the chance to somewhat prepare before he was forced to simultaneously avoid the attacks of several demon hunters and engineer their deaths without directly engaging them. Not an entirely unfamiliar activity for him, but not exactly an easy one when he was not at top form.

Still, they had not shown even the next day, or the next. On the third day, he had even taken down the potent wards around his room, expecting them to take it as a feeling of security and strike then. Still, nothing.

The lack of their activity was quite concerning. In the past, the Guardians had never failed to respond to demonic activity. He had taken precautions not to draw attention during his take over, of course, but he had not really expected that to stop them, they who were so adept at detecting demons no matter how they try to hide.

His original excuse for their lack of response was that they were elsewhere occupied, but no matter how he searched the air, he could not catch the scent of any demonic activity anywhere within the proximity of the town. Nothing large enough to warrant the Guardians’ attention.

Still he lay in the bed, the mind of both boy and demon running through situation after situation that could explain their action, at a pace that a normal human would not have been able to duplicate. Twice, he had done this. Twice, he had been unable to find an answer that sat well with him.

After a few minutes had passed, he gave the task up as unnecessary. He had sat and thought on it for over an hour the other day, and if he had not come up with the answer then, he would not now. He would just have to wait and gather more information.

He had made good use of the time he’d been allotted by their absence, after all. He had set about constructing the defenses around the orphanage the very night he arrived. It had been troubling for him to decide what to do, since he did not want to do anything permanent. He did not plan for this to be his true home, for it was much too large and vulnerable. Still, he could not leave it so soon; it was the boy’s home, and leaving it would draw unwanted attention.

In the end, he handled the major defenses that he would implement anywhere, and even went a bit beyond that which he would do for a temporary hideaway. He had set up fields of magic security around the place, doing everything mortal security can do and beyond, far beyond. He then had created a new set of runes and seals around the place which hid those defenses, rendering them undetectable. That did not hide the new runes, however, so he then also went ahead and created a third layer of seals which hid the second under a false layer which was disguised with more trivial defenses, the kind that a minor demon would put around its home.

He’d also filled these mock-seals with a false demonic presence, and left an indistinct trail of that aura leading off into the woods, to a small cave in the cliff face. Within the cave, he imprisoned a minor a demon, a terror imp, a devilish little creature who is adept enough at magic to be expected to be able to create seals of equivalent power and skill to those mock ones that Raito had made. He sealed it within a circle of runes, which would keep it suspended in a null zone until a Guardian entered the cave, at which time, it would be released and sent to attack the Guardian.

That would prove to be enough of a diversion, he thought. Even if they manage to see through it after the fact, it would allow him enough time to escape. He was confident, though, in that his defenses would not be seen through.

Doing all of this required an exorbitant amount of energy, however; far more than Raito could have possibly stored in his own body. Umbris had prepared for that, thankfully. During the planning phase of this advent, he had carefully stored energy in several, scattered, independently secure sources of energy throughout the surrounding area. He also had three people whom were possessed by minor demons subservient to him, all of which he had stocked full of demonic energy so that he could drain it from them later.

From these stores, he had depleted quite a large number of them, although he was careful to leave enough of them in strategic locations should he ever need them. Overall, his defenses had require around three-fourths of twenty years’ worth of energy.

The result: he was dead tired. Not literally, of course; his energy stores were sufficiently topped off from one of his energy sources, but that did not mean that his body was not fatigued. This would not have been that case if he was still purely a demon, but since he was now part human…

It was an odd quality of the human body. If you refill it with energy from a foreign source, it will take it happily without dissent at first, but when you do so repeatedly in a short span of time, it seems to hold onto its tiredness. It was full of energy, but the body still felt worn. It was quite the strange feeling, being both exhausted and energetic at the same time, and not one that most humans can experience.

This had not been ideal, because at the same time, he was trying to adjust to his new body. In order to act as he needed to, he required a perfect connection to his body, an instant and razor sharp reflex to match that of his mind. It was difficult to foster that when one was so spent.

Tired as he was, he allowed himself to rest in bed for a few minutes more, but then drew himself from the mattress, throwing the covers back and leaning over the side of the bed. His nightshirt hung loosely on him, his hair fell into his eyes, he looked every part the tired teenage boy.

He stood and grabbed the things he’d laid out for himself the night before, and headed towards the shower that was connected to his room. Showering was one of those human ideas that he did not fully understand (in order to clean himself, he would have simply used his powers), but which he pertained to simply to keep up the illusion of him being normal, even though no one was watching him, that he was aware of.

Although his current tousled appearance was not the best indicator thereof, Raito actually looked better than he had in ages. His skin had lost some of its sickly pallor, now appearing more healthy and more true to his Asian coloring. His hair was not so frail anymore, now possessing that sheen that it lacked before, although still perhaps weaker than is normal. It was ironic, but it was as if being possessed by a demon took well to him.

He knew that was not the case, though. Rather, it was the absence of afflicting demonic energy, the first absence the body had ever experienced. Now the energy was inside of it, one with it, rather than fighting against it.

He stepped out of the shower room, now dressed for school in gray slacks and a white, loose collared shirt. The white of his shirt blended in better with his natural coloring rather than drawing attention to it; the result was pleasing, giving him a completed and well-rounded look. It was the kind of look that he was trying to foster, to go with the fake identity that he was attempting to set up. He had to be careful how he integrated himself in the school, careful of the personality he displayed; he had to make the ideal impression so that nothing would hold him back later on in his plans.

He wiped the still damp hair out of his eyes and smirked. How easy would it be to fool hundreds of teenage humans? How easy would it be, to have them eating out of the palm of his hand? He may not be physically strong, but in affairs of the mind…he was the superior being.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

He arrived at the school in the orphanage’s car, one of the butlers acting as a driver for him (it took a simply flicker of mental influence to make him; everyone at the orphanage may as well have been his slaves by now). He stepped out of the car neatly, drawing with him a suitcase –style pack which contained the school materials he’d had collected by his servants.

After leaving the car, things started to pass in a blur. In all honestly, it was a bit disconcerting, seeing so many people at once. For having not seen many humans except for indirectly for so many years, suddenly being ambushed by hundreds of them…if Umbris was any less mentally collected, he may have slipped up and blemished the identity that he was so carefully constructing.

The nice, quiet boy who was good natured, if a bit reserved. It was the perfect cover, for it would endear him to people and have them on his side, but not bring them close enough to restrict them. Neither an enemy nor a friend; the safest defense lies in gray, after all.

The morning held little for interest, most of the time spent thoroughly examining each person and acting his part, but one incident did draw his attention. He had been walking down a nearly deserted hallway, taking a circuitous route to a class to give himself a break from human company.

What he saw in that hallway, was what interested him. He passed a pair, a girl and boy, in close contact. The boy had grabbed her and was close to her, as if he was attempting to tell her something. It wasn’t an entirely unusual scene, if it had been strictly mortal in nature. But, as he passed them on the other side of the hallway, giving the pair a wide berth, he sent out his demonic sight towards them, taking in every detail. He saw the fathomless darkness of the boy’s eyes, as he showed the girl without thinking for a moment that the person who was now past them in the hallway could see them. He touched the girl’s consciousness just barely, imperceptibly…but it was enough, he could sense it in her too: the faintest air that betrayed the soul inside as that of a demon.

So, there were other demons here, and they were rather bold. He’d known that there would be some here, of course; he had detected it long before he had even possessed the boy. They would not be allowed to interfere with his plans, not at all. In fact, they would assist in them, whether they wanted to or not. He would see to it that those…fledgling demons, were of use to him. ‘Use the resources at hand’.

He grinned to himself, leaning his head back and casting the corner of his eye back to the pair. He hoped that they would be more exciting and skilled than the usual demonic trash he encountered during his stays in the mortal realm.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Although nothing happened during the course of the morning, the afternoon…was much more interesting.