Erik Feuer, a young man in his early twenties, sat beside the midnight train that would soon arrive at his hometown. The day had been long—filled with coffee sipping and the pages of his favourite book—and now he waited in the dim station, his dark-raven hair unkempt, his black long-sleeved shirt clinging with the stale stench of old sweat and cheap perfume that had lingered since morning.
Despite his well-chiselled physique, which spoke of discipline and long hours of training since his arrival in the city of Volker, it was not his body that drew attention—it was his eyes. There was a glint in them, strange, unsettling, as if they carried secrets no ordinary man should bear.
Inspite of the heavy work load at the retail store he worked at, the cat calls he got from some of the ladies who bought things there and the traffic when he boarded a taxi to get to the library, hence, causing his lateness to the first train heading to Volker-A1, the city he resided in, the young man was calm, a look of peace in his eyes.
It was this serenity that unsettled the middle-aged woman who took the seat beside him. She wore the crisp attire of a secretary, her eyes weary and deranged from too much work, yet there was something about her gaze that made Erik jolt. His dark eyes widened briefly, and he sniffled faintly, as though catching a scent carried on the air—something unusual, something that seemed to be coming from her.
"How interesting?" he muttered under his breath.
The middle-aged woman noticed this, feeling a sudden shift in the atmosphere as the young man muttered this very sentence. In that moment, it felt like something bad was about to happen, a scenario that she wouldn't be able to escape if she didn't leave.
Erik's aura was calm yet disturbing, a contradiction that gnawed at her nerves. When he cast her a lingering side glance, she turned her gaze sharply to the tracks, but her discomfort did not move him.
Erik now stared at her, a side glance that stayed long in her mind, forcing her to glance at the tracks, but her discomfort didn't faze him.
His sudden attitude left her thinking, He's some creep. That thought burned brighter than the gaze this man gave her.
Trying to throw him off, the woman stood from the bench, making her way to the exit of the train, which required going through a flight of stairs. The poor woman began to sweat, her heart beating.
Who could that man be? Why was he staring at me like that?
Finally, outside the tense atmosphere of the train station, leaving behind the musty smell of fiery perfume, which caused her discomfort and the gaze of a man who was possibly deranged, she sighed, a wave of relief washing over her like a shower.
Taking a shortcut through a cold, narrow alley, she passed the flickering drum fires of homeless men who didn't even glance at her. Her steps quickened, only for her path to end abruptly at a wall. Confusion clouded her mind.
A dead end? How did I even get here?
Then a voice—calm and resolute shot out from behind her, familiar but terrifying.
"You seem lost, don't you know your way home already!"
Erik stood behind her, the book under his armpit, with his arms placed inside his pockets.
The woman dared not turn, her gaze still locked on the wall, "P-Please, I don't want any trouble, I'll give you whatever you want," she stuttered, "Just... leave me alone... please"
Erik Feuer smiled, chuckling after, "You're begging for your safety while still gazing at the wall," he said, "That's not how humans behave now, isn't it? Maybe you're not even human at all"
The woman went quiet, her gaze turning from scared to cheerful, a grin spreading across her face from ear to ear, looking almost inhuman.
She chuckled, her sudden change of behaviour failing to bother Erik Feuer, "Oh, almighty lord Feuermahl, you seem to know us very well," she said with a twisted tone, her voice eerie and demonic, "Even after we betrayed you, we can't blend in without being detected"
Turning her towards Erik, the young woman's face had changed; from her head sprouted horns, her human eyes, which were double, had become quadruple with a fiery glow emanating from each.
Her body convulsed, bones snapping, skin splitting. Horns erupted from her skull. Her eyes multiplied, four glowing with fiery intensity. Flesh twisted into magma-red skin, her frame towering, wings unfurling like blades of fire. She laughed again, her breath scorching the air.
Erik's face turned serious as he saw this. "There we go," he said, stretching out his hand. From his palm, a sonic wave was emitted, the whole atmosphere changing in an instant.
It was still the same city, but everything looked different now; the busy streets were quiet, and the night sky was replaced by a red mist, colouring the atmosphere.
"Where have you brought us!" the demon lady roared, angered as she noticed the change in the city.
Erik smiled, "Just a little change, get you away from civilians, it also serves as a grave for demons like you," he chuckled confidently.
The demon lady was angered, her breath heating up with flames, "Take me back!" she warned. Then she charged, her claws poised to strike.
Erik stood still, the glint in his eyes changing for a brief second before the demon lady crashed into him, red dust clouding the air around her. Chuckling confidently, she had thought that she was victorious in striking the young man down, but as the dust cleared, there was nobody under the weight of her claws.
"What?!" she roared, disbelief washing over her face as she glanced around, looking frantically for Erik, "Where have you hidden now?!"
"You should learn to look for something carefully; gazing into the sky doesn't help"
Erik emerged behind her, the look on his face altered, but what was far altered was his appearance: His dark-raven hair, blending into the night, was now a snow-white colour, his dark eyes with a strange glint a blood-red light.
"Maybe try looking behind you once in a while," he muttered again, his tone deeper and more eerie.
"You seem to have changed the colour of your hair and eyes," said the demon lady, "But that changes nothing!"
From her mouth, flames began to emerge as she poured them in Erik's direction, which he had easily avoided, leaping into the air. Frustrated, the demon lady leapt, following the young man with a claw attack.
"You can't evade my attack mid-air, idiot!" she declared, her fiery claws reaching for his face.
Erik leapt skyward, evading her fury with ease. She followed, claws aimed at his throat, but he slipped past her strike, appearing at her back with one finger pressed between her wings.
Erik smiled, a dangerous glint in his eyes as he defied laws, escaping the fiery attack and managing to emerge behind the demon lady, his finger pressed on her back, in-between her winged appendages. A burst of red fiery energy exploded from the tip of his nail.
Boom!
Her scream shook the air as her body convulsed, magma spilling from torn limbs. She collapsed, her wings shredded, lava streaming down her face like tears.
Erik emerged from the air, landing gracefully, "You seem to be in pain," he said mockingly. "Do you need help?"
Her eyes blazed with shock. "This is impossible! The Fire Lord killed you—I saw it! When you were fated to reincarnate, all your power was supposed to vanish. How are you still this strong?!"
"Calm down, would you?" Erik replied with a smile, then his grin faded into a deadly seriousness. "I don't even have my full capabilities yet. If I did, you wouldn't have the luxury of looking up to me, you demon trash."
The demon lady was enraged; her hatred boiled over. "No...NO!" she declared, "I won't be subjected to such torture from you, never again!"
With a final scream, she spewed flames from her throat.
"DIE!"
Grinning brightly, Erik stood unfazed by the flames, the fiery breath only burning his clothes. "That's enough out of you now," he declared, reaching forward as he held the demon lady by her face, his fingers digging into her skull, and with a pull, he ruptured her entire head.
Lava spilt in the place of blood, the demon lady's body falling limp as her fiery breath was drawn from her. Erik breathed with a sigh, his hair returning to its dark nature, his eyes returning from the blood-red hue.
It seemed Erik Feuer wasn't the simple, charming human that most ladies saw him as. He was 'Feuermahl', the fiery dragon lord born from a human mother, the ruler of the demon era. After his fallout from his new era, betrayed as he was struck by the blade which he used to strike fear, now he was reincarnated into this modern world, bound to spend eternity.
But he wasn't bound for peace, now hunted by his very own army. In this new world, over two thousand entities resided here, hiding in plain sight.
Now taking the identity of a simple retail store worker and book reader, he hid as well, making sure to take down every demon he could run across.
The red mist dissolved. The city returned. The station looked unchanged, the night sky calm. Even his torn clothes were restored. He bent down, picking up the book he had left behind, dusting off a faint speck of red ash.
The demon's remains lay scattered as smouldering dust and brimstone.
Erik smiled faintly.
"Hmph. I almost thought you had potential, how disappointing"
And with that, he walked away into the night.