Shintra-6

One day, he was doing an experiment when two of his men barged into his room. “Sir, we capture a human who has an interesting tale,” one of them said before he could angrily yell at them for disturbing him. The other one shoved a frightened merchant forward and forced him to his knees.

Intrigued, Shintra used his magic to assuage the man’s fear and commanded, “Don’t be frighten. I won’t hurt you. Now tell me your name.”

“It’s Peisin, sir.”

“Well then, Peisin, why don’t you tell me your story that is supposedly interesting to my men?”

The man nodded and began, “I was doing business in this small village when one of the villagers asked me if I wanted to see a special Duermon that they managed to capture and tame. Curious, I agreed and they led me to a pit where I saw a young man, who didn’t appear to look demonic at all. When I asked, they told me that his father was possessed by a Duermon when he impregnated his wife and thus, he was the first Duermon-human hybrid. Alarmed, I asked them why didn’t they kill him, but they said that they couldn’t because he’s immortal. To prove it, they showed me the very spot where he died and I saw a clove of glowing white flowers blooming.

“Then they asked me if I noticed how lovely the weather was and I told them that I have. That was when they informed me that he has the power to control the weather. Amazed, I asked them how they were able to convince him to work for them, and they just said that they beat him into submission until he agreed to help. At first, I didn’t believe them until they asked the boy to make it rain. He just nodded and before I knew it, a light shower occurred, which convinced me. After I finished my business with the village, I left and later encountered your men close by. I thought they were after the boy so I blabbed the story to them, which was why they brought me here to you. I hope my story pleases you, my lord.”

Rubbing his chin thoughtfully, Shintra was intrigued. The very idea that a human boy was a child of a Duermon was preposterous, but the other details in the man’s story were fascinating to say the least. There was a Sendoan boy who was an immortal just like him and has a frightening power as well. He should have figured that he wasn’t the only one blessed by the gods. Of course that would mean there were others out there as well. Then a thought occurred to him; what if he could use his powers to control the boy and make him do his bidding?

“Yes, your story greatly pleases me, Peisin.” The merchant gave him a wide grin, happy that he had made his master day. “Now I have a new task for you. I want you to lead some of the men to this village so that we may ‘save’ this poor boy.” Turning to the Duermons who captured the men, he continued, “Lithu, gather thirty men and go to that village. As soon as you manage to infiltrate the village, I want you to capture the boy and bring him to me. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Lord Shintra,” they said automatically and took their leave. Shintra sat back down in his chair but he couldn’t sit still. The anticipation was too much for him. The thought of having another immortal serving him was too much for him so he decided to take a little break. Walking back to his room, he wondered which girl was waiting for him.

Seera 15, 1787

Lithu and his men came back from their excursion, but their expression on their face told Shintra that things didn’t go exactly as planned. “Sorry, my lord,” the Duermon apologized, “but it seemed that the boy made an escape before we arrived. However, we managed to capture more human hosts and kill any that we deemed weak.”

Before he could open his mouth, one of the prisoners broke free of his bondage and screamed as he fought some of the Duermons, “I’ll never become a host for you maggots! I would rather fight and die before I become an empty husk enslaved by you Duermons!”

Amused, Shintra observed the spectacle before using his power to subdue the man. Walking up to him, he noted that the man had a strong build and was quite young. In other hand, he has a suitable body fit for a Possessor Duermon. Perhaps he would be useful as his bodyguard. “What is your name, child?” he asked.

“Puloog,” he spat. Shintra wanted to laugh; the intense hatred in the young man’s eyes filled him with glee.

“Well, Puloog,” he mocked and used his power on him. “I just want to inform you that you now work for me. Your entire life is to serve and protect me. Do you understand?”

“Yes, I do understand,” Puloog said as he knelt; his eyes were full of feverish adoration. Some of the other villagers immediately cried out in alarm at the sight. Shintra knew what was on their mind: what on earth did that Duermon do to him? “What is your first command?”

“I want you to allow this Duermon to reside in your body.” He pointed to one of his stronger Possessor Duermons whose name was Balster. The boy nodded and held out his hands as if to welcome the Duermon. The Duermon readily left his former body and entered Puloog’s body by going through the boy’s gaping mouth.

After a few minutes of adjusting, the possessed man smiled. “Thanks, boss,” he said with a wicked grin. “I think I’m going to have fun with this body.”

Shintra nodded and turned his attention to the others. “As for the rest of you, I want you to do the same. Your bodies are not yours to do as you please. They are made for my men to use. Surrender yourselves to them and know that you have greatly pleased me.” All of them raised their hands and immediately gave themselves to the waiting Duermons. As he watched, he noticed that one woman was kept separated from the others and walked up to Lithu to question why. From what he’s seen, she was of a weak mind and in poor health.

“It’s because she’s the boy’s mother,” Lithu explained before he could even ask. “I thought you would wish to question her to find out any information on that ‘hybrid’.”

“I see,” Shintra muttered as he glanced at the woman. She shivered and started crying, which vexed him. Why do some human act this pathetic? “You did well, Lithu. I’ll handle things from here. Why don’t you celebrate with the men? I’m sure they want to get used to their new bodies.” Lithu nodded eagerly and immediately ran off. Turning his attention to the woman, he caressed her soul to calm her down. Gasping, she looked up at him with her glowing amber eyes. “What is your name, woman?”

“Huthi Gruong,” she replied meekly.

Putting his arm around her, he led her back to his office. “Well, Huthi, I’m your new master,” he informed her as he showed her into the room. “You may call me ‘Lord Shintra’.” She nodded and immediately took her seat across from him. “Now I have heard an interesting story about your son. What is his name?”

“Zentran, my lord.”

“Zentran, huh?” he smiled as he poured more power into her. “Now why don’t you tell me everything I need to know about him?”

Mazu 1, 2107

Several centuries had passed since Shintra seized control of the border town. What was once a crumbling slipshod town was now a bustling city. News of his success caused more Parasitic and Possessor Duermons to come to his city and pledge allegiance to him. Some even forfeited their leadership positions willingly and became his commanders. Of course, Shintra made sure to keep his achievements hidden from the Idilarian government; now it was not a right moment to usurp control.

In spite of everything, he still has one issue to deal with – the Aerians. Every time he sent a group of men on a raid, he always lost a few because of the Aerian attacks. It always annoyed him to no end. Some of those lost were his best fighters too! There had to be a way to get rid of the problem. But how? Those winged fiends were fast and elusive. There was no way he could place his spell on them that easily.

Finally, after another raid disaster, he had enough. “I’m going to join you in your next raid,” he declared. The other Duermons looked at each other in alarm and tried to protest, saying that they didn’t want his safety to be in jeopardy. However, he stubbornly refused and they reluctantly agreed. But then they didn’t have a choice in the issue, did they?

It must have been fate that he made that decision because he encountered a solution to his Aerian problem. As they reached the Idilarian border, they encountered a Sendoan military encampment. Why were the humans doing there? None of the humans was that stupid to be so close to the enemy. Shintra immediately motioned his men to halt and he had two of his men followed him to the edge of the campground to investigate.

As soon as they reached the camp, they could easily eavesdrop on the conversation among the Sendoan soldiers. “Stop being so jittery, Kwon! You’re making me nervous,” a night guard admonished his comrade.

“Sorry, Suin, but we’re just near the border so what if we got under attack by some Duermons?” his friend apologized as he glanced around his surroundings anxiously.

“I know how you feel, but you have nothing to worry about,” Suin reassured him. “After all, we have General Fulong’s secret weapon. If any of those monsters dare attack us, they will be in for a nice surprise.”

Kwon laughed softly. “Yeah, a nice explosion that would decimate the Duermon population. You’re right. I guess I was just being paranoid.”

Shintra tuned out the rest of the conversation because he found out what he was looking for. A secret weapon, huh? That definitely got his attention. I guess it’s time for me to meet this General Fulong and find out about this weapon of his, he thought amusingly and stood up to make his appearance known, ignoring his men’s protests.

The two soldiers immediately spotted him, but before they could alert the others, he had them in his power. “Take me to General Fulong,” he commanded and they did. He marched through the camp conspicuously much to the other Sendoans’ amazement. Whenever a group of soldiers tried to stop him, he just used his power and they allowed him to pass through.

After passing through several tents, he finally reached his destination, which was a large tent that was twice as big as the others and had a more elaborate design. Based on the numbers of banners hanging near the entrance, this General Fulong was full of himself. Smirking, Shintra pulled open the tent flap and let himself in. The general and his top officials spun around when they saw him. Fulong was a slightly plump man with salt-and-pepper hair. Medals decorated the front of his military uniform. “Who are you and what are you doing here?” he demanded; his face was flushed with anger.

Shintra just smiled. “My name is Shintra,” he introduced himself as he casted his influence on the men in the room, “and I’m here to discuss your secret weapon. Why don’t we have a seat, shall we?”

“My weapon?” Fulong’s face turned pale and the Duermon noted that his eyes were darting back and forth as if he was trying to his best to hide the information.

“Yes, your weapon.” Shintra poured more of his magic into the general. “Now be a good man and tell me about it.”

Swallowing, the man answered, “I have my exorcists create a large exorcism circle that would appear in the sky and blast down to destroy a large amount of area within seconds. With this weapon, we can destroy all of the Duermons without asking for the Aerians’ help every time!”

“Aerians, huh?” The Duermon eyed the general’s soul and casually asked, “And how do you feel about the Aerians, my old friend?”

“The Aerians? Why, they are the Sendoan ally who does everything in their powers to protect us from the vile Duermons and their evildoings!”

“No, I don’t want to hear that propaganda spiel, Fulong. I want to know how you truly feel about them.” Shintra smiled because he already twisted the man’s personality, but he wanted to hear it from the old man himself.

“My true feelings?” Fulong’s face darkened. “They act like they’re better than us, but they’re not! The Aerians just wished for us humans to be dependent on them so that they could feel good about themselves! I wish I could find a way to put them in their place!”

“Oh, but you do,” Shintra pointed out gently and the man gave him a confused look. “You have your weapon, remember?”

Fulong immediately lit up as the idea dawned on him. “Of course, you’re right! We can use that weapon and kill them all! That way we can prove our might against those winged hotshots and forced them to admit our superiority!” All of his men nodded eagerly in agreement.

The Duermon gave him an approvingly smile. “Why don’t you show me your power then?”

“Of course!” Fulong stood up and led him outside. Gathering the exorcists, he ordered them to set up. They nodded and immediately chanted a spell. Soon a magical circle appeared in the sky above a small segment of the Aerian region. Before Shintra even blinks his eyes, a pillar of light shot down and blasted everything below it. By the time the smoke dissipated, there was nothing left but a large crater. A pleased General Fulong looked at Shintra and asked, “Well?”

Shintra couldn’t speak at first. The destruction was better than he has expected. Just the thought of what it could do just excited him. Turning to his new “partner”, he replied, “It’s better than I thought. I think the Aerians won’t know what hit them.”

Keju 7, 2107

For the past few weeks, Shintra watched the spectacle from the roof of his headquarters. Seeing the destructive power of Fulong’s exorcists always filled him with awe and terror. Just think he and his men could have been easily destroyed by that thing if he hasn’t encountered those Sendoans! Now it was the Aerians that face the wrath of Fulong and his men. He could only imagine what they were thinking when the attacks began. Most likely they were in disarray and full of confusion about what was happening to them. But then they deserved it. When the last attack occurred, his men let out a loud cheer as they celebrated the death of their eternal enemy. Now there were no Aerians left to protect the humans.

Suddenly, he felt something wrong and frowning, he looked down at his hands, which held Fulong and his men’s souls. Their souls were… fading. The only time he saw that happened was when some of his men died. That would mean that all of them were killed. What a pity! He was hoping to use them to infiltrate the Sendoan government and… wait a minute – Fulong and all of his men were killed? He would have thought at least one or two would have survive, but whoever it was that attacked them made sure that there were no survivors. He regretted not having one of the exorcists stay with him so he could figure out how they did it so he still would be able to have that weapon.

A sudden thought occurred to him – could it be that immortal Sendoan? Based on what the boy’s mother told him, Zentran was a very formidable fighter. His followers couldn’t locate him however even after Huthi provided information about him; it was as if he had disappeared from the face of the earth. Did he finally decide to make his appearance known after so many years? If so, he needed to send a scout group to locate him.

However the thing that disturbed him the most was the Idilarian government’s reaction. According to his spies, Emperor Celab Lanxu and his cabinet were in panic mode as soon as they heard the report of the Aerian annihilation. Right now they were scrambling to remedy the mess for some reason. Shintra didn’t know why they should care about what happened to those winged foes. They should have thanked him for his service! It wasn’t until a century later did he find out why.

Keju 8, 2107

Another report caused him to forget the manner with Fulong altogether. He was reading an interesting book about the ancient religions when he heard a knock on the door. “Come in!” he shouted absentmindedly and Balster entered the room. The Possessor Duermon usually took quite good care of his body, which was why Shintra has allowed him to inhabit the human formerly known as Puloog. “What is it, Balster?”

“We found him,” was all he said. Shintra immediately knew who he was talking about – Argus. As soon as he rose to power, he ordered a search party to look for the elusive Parasitic Duermon who rejected him.

“Really? Where?” He jumped out of his chair and walked over to his bodyguard.

“At the base of Mt. Senri,” Balster added, “According to my sources, he’s mostly skin and bone so if you want to retrieve him, you better hurry. Otherwise, he’ll just shrivel up and die.”

“Then grab me a map and show me where exactly I can find him.” His bodyguard nodded and quickly left the room. Shintra grinned wickedly. At least he can get his revenge on that bastard Argus; he’s going to make sure that the ancient Duermon regret not accepting his offer.

Keju 12, 2107

He arrived at the base of Mt. Senri with high expectation. The others wanted to come with him, but he forbade it. He wanted to savor the moment alone. In fact, he had replayed what he envisioned will happen. An irritated Argus would crawl out of his home and shout his usual spiel of how he doesn’t want to be disturbed. Then Shintra would sweetly ask if he recognized him. It really didn’t matter if that Duermon warrior remembers or not because he would remind him of how Argus insults him. That was when he’s going to use his power on that demon and forced him to be his slave for the rest of his life.

Standing at the entrance of the cave where the Parasitic Duermon supposedly lived, he shouted, “Argus, come on out now! I know you’re there so don’t bother ignoring me.” However, there was only silence. Peeved that his ideal scene didn’t happen as he wanted, he repeated his message but still nothing. Don’t tell him that he just missed that bastard! He started kicking the dirt on the ground out of frustration but stopped when he noticed the slither marks. Examining it closely, he realized that Argus didn’t leave at all. Most likely he crawled out of crappy home to die. Dammit, he just missed him by a couple of hours then! Disappointed that he couldn’t get revenge on one of his insulters, he trekked back home dejectedly.