27 years ago
"Fuck, it's cold." Clyde said as he climbed the side of the Huron Mountains towards his destination.
He was a little perturbed if he was being honest. It was a Saturday, and he had planned to spend it drinking and sleeping like usual. A man with as much time on his hands as himself didn't have much to do. He worked hard at his job. Being Chief of the paranormal police required much of his time, and as such, he didn't have much time for any other endeavors.
So, when the police chief of the local township asked him to come and check out a local disturbance, he had grumbled, but he had come nonetheless. The chief up here was the only paranormal in the area, and he had rather mediocre magic, so he wasn't suited for checking out this place. Clyde was probably his best bet in the state for investigating this place because of his abilities, but Clyde would have done it regardless. The dude was a good guy.
Some local hikers had ran to the police station on numerous different days, making some odd and disturbing reports. People reported finding a cave high up on the mountain tops hidden behind some rocks and trees, or at least that's what he was told. The strange part about it was that the reports were of weirs beastial chittering noises coming from the inside, and many people also said they heard what sounded like someone crying from inside of the cave.
No one was brave enough to enter the cave though, and once Clyde had arrived at the spot, and found the cave, he understood why immediately. There was a dangerous air to the place. A feeling that said, "you should not be here." It felt oppressive, and in some ways, it felt... almost evil.
"Color me very interested now." Clyde said, unfazed by the feelings being sent his way.
He'd be doing this for a very, very long time, so there was little that truly scared him these days. As he got closer to the cave, he notice a few things. For one, it smelled pretty damn bad. He choked before he schooled his expression, and put the scent to the back of his mind. The 2nd thing that he noticed is that, yes, he could definitely hear the sounds of... something coming from the inside, and it gave him pause as, he had no bloody idea what it could be.
*Faint crying*
Clyde's body went rigid. There it was. As he thought that, he heard it again.
"It does sound like a kid." He said, and without anymore preamble, he made his way inside. If a child was in danger in there, he wouldn't just stand around.
Making his way inside, he pulled out his flashlight, as well as his enchanted sidearm, and held them both forward out in front of himself, his flashlight illuminating the darkness from underneath the barrel. His custom M1911a1 was enchanted with runes of increased force as well as speed. The bullets themselves were enchanted with a magic penetrating effect that would do well against many different paranormal beings, but if that failed, well, he always had his fists.
The sounds of what sounded like chittering and strange clicking was getting louder, as well as the sobs of what sounded like a little girl. He quickened his pace, but it would have been stupid to rush in headlong, despite how much he wanted to do just that. He always had a soft spot for kids, yet never had any of his own, despite his many long years of life. After all, besides his physical enhancement magic, his other power was not truly a power he could use, but is was immortality. As long as he was not killed by external factors, he would not die.
He entered a large open area of the cave, and attached to this part were dozens of different paths that led deeper into the mountain. It could take someone hours to map this whole cave system out depending on how deep these other tunnels went, but there was no need to do so for him.
In roughly the center of the cave was a cluster of... well, some truly fucking horrid looking creatures. They all resembled large and misshapen versions of creatures he recognized. Black and red wolves, spiders as large as a goddamn ottoman, and these ugly looking goats that walked on two legs. He didn't really focus on the details though, as even with his flashlight, it was still dark as all hell.
His mana sight was acting strange, as all he currently saw was a pink aura surrounding all of the beasts. It all seemed to be pouring out from from the middle of the beasts, as they all seemed to be crowded around in a circle, and once he got closer, he was a little shocked by what he saw.
Clyde was a tall man, and as such, he was able to peer over the monsters with ease, minus the goat looking one that were taller than even he was. Thankfully, those ones were fewer than the other ones that did not stand much taller than 3 or 4 feet in height. In the middle of this circle of monsters was what looked like a child, but also had the properties of something not quite human.
Small horns stuck out from the top of her head, and her skin was light red color. The pointed tips of her ears stuck out not quite as much as an elf's would, but the point of them seemed more pronounced. A small spaded tail wipped back and forth wildly as the girl cried again, and in that moment, the pink aura fled from them as her concentration seemed to flag, and what he saw froze his blood. Black and red aura's came off of the beasts in waves of depair and hatred. He looked at the beasts even closer now, and this time, he realized what they truly were.
"Demons..." He thought, noticing the red eyes and the smoke that came from their airways as they exhaled.
He had run into these kinds of evil creatures before, just not ones that looked like this. The last time he ran into a demon, it was against a lesser varient that was half humanoid, and half bat. Fighting that annoying bastard had tested his patience, as he really hated fighting anything that can fly. He had finally killed it when the bastard had gotten too cocky, and flown down to close to him, allowing him to rip the thing out of the air by its tail before using an enhanced stomp to turn its head into ground beef.
Despite the brightness from his flashlight, and his not so sneaky heavy footfalls, they didn't even seem to notice him. He peered closer at the demon child in the middle of the circle, and he felt a tug in his chest. She was a mess, covered in dirt and shallow cuts. Her tears fell from her eyes in multiple streaks, cutting through the dirt and grime on her face. Despite everything about her appearance that should make him flinch away, all he saw was a scared child that was crying for someone to help her. He had never once seen or heard of a demon showing emotion like this before.
"What am I doing?" Clyde said, as his feet began to move on their own.
His footsteps became even heavier as his physical enhancement activated on reflex, and this did garner some attention. The child's sobs cut off as she wipped her head in his direction, alerted by the cracking of stones beneath his feet. This caused many of the other creature to turn towards him, and Clyde grimaced as they began growling in a sickening tone at him.
"Well, goddamn it." He said, as he readied himself for a fight.
It didn't take long as the wolves began bounding towards him, and the spiders fanned out to begin crawling up the walls and across the ceiling in his direction. The goats, 4 from what he counted, continued to stay near and harrass the girl, and now that he looked closer, it seems like they were trying to grab at her and pull her away, yet something was stopping them from doing so. Perhaps it was the strange aura he had seen from earlier.
During that time, 2 of the wolves pounced at him, jumping through the air with their jaws extended. He quickly aimed and pulled the trigger on his pistol. His first shot struck true, blowing the upper jaw off of that wolf as blood and bones flew from the point of impact, blowing out of the back of the wolf's head as it thumped to the ground with the finality of death. The 2nd wolf was far to close, so he timed his strike just right, before smashing his fist down on top of its head right as it reached him. Its head cracked like an egg.
During that time, four of the spider demons launched themselves from above towards him. He flicked his aim up and fired off 3 shots in quick succession, and each shot hit home, causing 3 of the spiders to explode into green goo and body parts. Someone with as much firearm experience as himself wasn't going to be taken down so easily. Using all of the tools at your disposal was the best and safest way to ensure you stayed alive, regardless of what powers or abilities you might have.
The last spider demon was merely a foot away from Clyde before he smacked it out of the air with an open palm. The force caused the spider to go flying in a bloody mess before impacting the wall the wall, where its body fell apart, with legs, blood, and internal bits flying in every direction. Clyde couldn't help but sneer at how absolutely disgusting all of these things were. Still, he wasn't idle, as in that time, he quickly reloaded his pistol, putting his spare mag in his belt, before taking aim again.
Now the 5 goat demons were well and truly pissed off, seeing their mumbers taken out so quickly by someone like himself.
"Hang on kid, I'll get you out of there!" Clyde shouted, the child's eyes now glued to him as he took aim, and fired another round at the closest goat.
The goat actually moved to the side slightly at the last moment, causing the bullet to slam into its left shoulder. That still wasn't good for the demon though, as it tore a chunk out of the demon's arm, and sent it reeling back with a hiss of pain. Another goat rushed at him, far faster than the rest, but Clyde was prepared for attacks like this. Just as it reached him, and tryed to gore him with its horns, Clyde used an empowered side step to dodge to the side.
Clyde grabbed one of its horns as it passed him, arresting its movement before spinning it around to face him, shoving his gun in its face, and pulling the trigger. After this, he quickly spun around to find that the wound of the demon he had shot previously was already healing, and he cursed under his breath. This was going to be tricky.
Just as he thought that, the goat furthest to the left grabbed a massive rock, and chucked it at him. He ducked the projectile, only for 2 of the goat demons to launch themselves at him at the same time.
Empowering himself even further, he sent out a straight jab at the demon the reached him first, causing the sound of shattering bone to echo throughout the cave, and in another quick motion, he brought his gun up and brained the next demon right before it reached arms length. The other demon had dropped to the ground at this time, and he quickly aimed down and blew that one's head wide open as well.
Meanwhile, the child's eyes were glue to him, unsure of what to do or think. She could feel people's intent, their state of mind, and their emotions due to her abilities to feel and influence minds. She had been doing her best to keep the monsters away ever since arriving in this cave, but they just wouldn't leave, and they wouldn't stop scaring her. She hadn't slept in days, just sitting here and willing the demons to stop. While they did, she couldn't move from this spot without disrupting her concentration, and she was just far to afraid to move.
She was actually very closer to running out of mana, but she pulled on whatever she could to just keep them away. She didn't want to go back home. No way, no how. She had just began to give up hope when put of no where, this big man had came out of nowhere and began killing the monsters that had scared her for so many days. He told her he would get her out of here, and began of her ability to feel out those words, she knew them to be true.
In his mind, his goal was to kill the monsters surrounding her, and to get her to safety. He had already made up his mind. He wanted to save her, he wanted to help her. Only one person in her whole life had ever done that for her. Her mother had sent her away to save her, and even now, she could feel the pain she was being subjected to, even if it was only slight mental pressure. Her mother had simply smiled at her, and told her to find a way to live a good life.
And now, here was this huge man, offering her the same help, and meaning it. He had just taken out 3 goat demons, and the other two became more cautious as they pushed towards him. She still had power left, and if it was the last thing she could do, she wanted to return the favor. She now wanted to help this man, who only thought of saving her simply because he felt it was the right thing to do. Her eyes glowed bright purple, the light reflecting off of the cave walls, and a purple aura spread out to capture the two remaining demons.
Clyde could only blink in surprise as the demon's eyes began to glow pink, before they stopping moving entirely.
"What the...?" He asked, and the girl suddenly shouted at him.
"I CAN'T HOLD THEM FOR LONG!"
Understanding her words, he quickly dispatched both of them with quick shots to the head, their bodies thumping to the ground with the finality of death. Clyde breathed out a heavy breath as he checked around for more immediate threats, but didn't see any. The girl's eyes dimmed, and she slumped, taking deep lung fulls of air. Clyde wasted now time as he jogged over to her.
"Hey, little one, are you okay?" He asked as he knelt down in front of her.
She looked up at him, and Clyde was surprised to not see her flinch or even shy away given his imposing size. He could tell she was terrified, yet she just looked at him with what he could only describe as hope. She began to cry as she looked at him with the most adorable eyes he'd ever seen.
"Will you really help me?" She choked out, and she sounded far older than she looked. From her voice, you would think she was young adult, despite looking between the ages of 12-14.
This girl had sharp yet small curved horns. Her skin was a light red, adding more to her inhuman side despite being a relatively cute looking child. Her spaded tipped tail thrashed behind her to match her swirling emotions. All of this and more were what many people would see above all else, but not to Clyde's eyes. He saw a small and scared child who just wanted someone to help her. And well, Clyde wouldn't just leave a child out here all alone when she needed someone.
He held out his hand to her.
"Of course I'll help you, little one. Come on, lets get out of her before more of them beasties show up." Clyde said with a genuine smile.
The girl looked at his hand for only a moment, before placing her tiny hand in his. He pulled her up with him, and then she yelped as he picked her up, and held her to him, as he turned around and ran for the exit. His feet cracked the ground beneath him as he ran, and in only a few short moments, he saw the remaining light from outside, as the sun had nearly set. Emerging outside, he continued to run, the child cluching tight to him from where she rested in his arms.
He ran for a few minutes before he arrived at his truck, throwing open the passenger door, gently placing the little girl inside and buckling seat belt, before closing it and going over to get into the truck himself. He got in the driver's seat, sat down, and breathed out a heavy breath.
"Holy crap." He said, being mindful not to curse in front of the child.
The girl just looked at him in both shock and awe, like she couldn't believe he had just done all of that.
"Are you alright, little one?" He asked, and the genuine concern in his voice touched her little heart, and she bagan to sob.
"Hey, hey, it's okay." He said, reaching over and rubbing her head affectionately, "The scary monsters are gone now. You're safe."
She reached up and hugged his large arm, and the something about the gesture brought something back he had long since forgotten about. His chest warmed in a way it hadn't in many, many years. Clyde smiled, and he felt a prickle in his eyes before it went away just as quickly.
"What's your name, little one?" He asked, and the girl looked up at him with big, pink, tear filled eyes.
"Nephilina... my mother used to call me Lina." She said through a small sob, and he just kept rubbing her head.
"That's a pretty name. I like that. My name is Clyde. It's wonderful to meet you, Lina. Tell me, where is your mother right now?" He asked, and a pained look crossed her face before she answered.
"She's... back home. She sent me here, to start a new life a away from home. She said I was a good girl, and hell wasn't the place for me." She said, and Clyde continued to smile at her.
He could tell she wasn't telling him the full story, but maybe it was just painful for her. Perhaps at some point she would, perhaps not. Either way, he was already finding himself becoming strangely fond of this young one, and he felt a strong surge of parental instincts he thought long gone resurfacing to the front of his mind. He wanted to help and protect this girl more than anything else right now. She was a demon, yes, but unlike one he'd ever seen or even heard of before. It was... strange.
"Say, are you hungry?" He asked, and just like one of those silly tropes from a cartoon, he stomach rumbled.
Her face went light red to dark in an instant, and Clyde just chuckled.
"I... am very hungry." She said, the tears now long since gone.
Clyde started his truck, startling the girl, before she calmed down from his gentle reassurance.
"Well, what do you say we get out of here and grab some food?" He asked, and the girl just looked at him, and smiled with watery eyes.
"Okay... thank you very much... for everything." She said in a soft voice.
From that day forward, that girl would be forever cemented into his heart. A girl not of his blood, but one he would always and happily call his little girl. He went in there to rescue a child, and instead, he found a daughter. Life is full of many twists and turns, it would seem.