Chapter 40 - Tithonus : Part 1

"There, in his dark corner, he went on withering and shrivelling till at last, he turned into a grasshopper, chirping for all eternity." Kiaran closed the book in his hand, red eyes calmly watching the sleeping boy on the other side of the mirror.

He just had to be patient before Axel finally became his brother again. He could not rush anything too much. He had to take it to step by step.

He put down the book of Tithonus to the desk in front of him. Without looking away from the human, he straightened his wings a little and took a glance again at the project DM-2 on Axel's table.

Kiaran smiled knowingly at the paper and swiftly turned his back on it. The demon began walking away from the mirror, taking one last glance at Axel before leaving the room.

Kiaran slowly closed the door behind him, completely unaware of the presence of a demon beside him right now.

"Hello, brother-in-law, how's it going?" A brunette excitedly greeted, two red eyes happily looking at the voice manipulation demon.

Kiaran's wings flared open, and he almost slipped by the sudden appearance. The demon slowly moved his head over to Zack with a restrained smile.

"Hello, waste of time," Kiaran greeted back before diverting his gaze to Adreanna, who was creeping on the corner of the hallway. "Care to explain why your dumb boyfriend is in here?"

Zack popped out in between Adreanna and Kiaran, covering both of the sibling's points of view with his big horns. "I'm literally this anarchist group's informant." The grey-eyed demon defended, staring at Kiaran's unbothered eyes.

"Oh, right." Kiaran darted, giving his noticeable fake smile to the brunette as he continued. "The information is too useless for me to remember, so pardon me," The demon walked past Zack, ignoring him completely, "-informant."

Zack looked back at the black-haired teen with a grimace. "Ouch."

The informant quickly jogged his way to Kiaran, trying to catch up with him. "But!" Zack stood in front of him again, spreading his hand as he tried to speak. "You'll find the information I'm about to tell isn't useless."

Kiaran raised an eyebrow. "Oh? I'm intrigued."

Zack clasped both of his hands. "Okay, good." He muttered and began to wander around a little before looking back at the black-haired demon.

"So Adreanna is telling me about all the 'taking your brother back' shenanigans which are kind of fuck up if I may add." The brunette began, shrugging a little at the mention of kidnapping a literal replica of a dead person from another world.

Zack bit his lips as he continued. "But well, I'll do anything for my lady, so anyway-"

The brunette demon made a motion with his hands as he began to explain. "I found out how to turn a human without making them mindless," Zack stated, leaving Kiaran frozen in his place.

"Apparently, the person who will get turned should have the demon's power inside their body. For example, if you use your blood to turn the person, that said person has to be familiar with your power first."

"Oh, and you have to slit your skin with the cursed arrow. The black roots will mix with your blood as it gets transferred to the human's heart." Zack added, feeling proud of himself that he could help Adreanna.

Kiaran widened his smile, and it turned into a mad grin.

Adreanna watched from behind.

✵✵✵✵✵✵

Kiaran spun in the air as he waged his wings. The fancy trench coat he wore blew around with the breeze for how fast he flew.

He was flying on top of a forest, slowly closing into a hidden building within the tall trees.

The half-moon was on sight, watching the demon flying alone on top of the calm trees. It shined through the night, high up in the sky as the world went to sleep. It just stood there, stalking the demons with its beauty.

The demon stopped right on top of the building, looking back to the moon for a second, letting his red eyes meet with the beautiful white light that it stole from the sun.

When he diverted his gaze, the teen that was often mistaken as an adult, flew closer to the front of the building.

He looked at one of the windows and scanned it. A sideways smile tugged on his lips as he backed off a little. The demon prepared himself before going at full speed to the window with both of his feet on the front, ready to break in.

He let both of his feet crush the glass and landed inside gracefully.

The demon blew off his messy hair a little and put his hands inside his fancy trench coat pockets. The teen casually strolled to the empty hallway, letting the back of his coat dance a little as he walked.

The anarchist stopped in front of a double door of woods with a danger warning sign. He kicked the door, making them wide open with a loud bang. He hummed around as he got inside the dim room.

As he went further inside, a sight of fancy potions, yet a messy room was in sight. Though, no one was inside aside from the long cloaks-wearing woman with a ridiculously pointy black witch hat.

Her red pupils were focused on the arrow in her hand as she held some kind of a wan in her other hand, mangling with the cursed arrow. She let her curtain bangs messy as she let loose her shag haircuts.

The woman in her late thirties looked as young as ever despite her age. People would mistake her for the twenties, not some middle-aged woman.

That said woman sighed as she kept her eyes locked on the cursed arrow. "What do you want, Vergessene." She stated robotically.

"I've come to ask a favour and offer some favour." The Vergessene shrugged. He could see the woman roll her eyes at his answer.

He walked over to the table near the witch. He jumped and sat on top of the table. Feet were dangling around as he watched the woman with mild mischieve eyes.

"You did not tell me you have the cursed arrows, old lady." He declared after a few beats of silence, red eyes still locked on the woman.

The woman switched the wan in her hand with a knife. "You and your names calling."

Kiaran's fingers were tapping on the table he was on as he raised one of his eyebrows. "You prefer a crazy witch then?"

"That's actually better." The woman answered fast, clearly wanting the teen to disappear from her sight.

Kiaran jumped onto the floor with a soft thud. He brushed off the leftover window cracks on his fancy trench coat before walking closer to the witch and standing beside her.

"How many times have I told you to not break in through the window? I have a door." Without even looking at the choice manipulating demon, she spoke at him with a tired irritation in her tone.

"You know you wouldn't let me in either way," Kiaran answered offhandedly.

"You're right, so please do me a favour and get out." The witch retorted back and continued working with her work.

"I might already do a favour to you, actually." He darted, circling behind the woman, and stopped on the other side where he was standing before.

The demon grabbed three cursed arrows that he kept inside his coat and waved them in front of the witch's face. The witch finally looked up from her work. Her face was full of contained emotions as she caught the sight of the three cursed arrows.

"You're an actual mad demon, Vergessene." Commented the woman as her red pupils kept staring at the arrows in his hand.

"That's what they call me." Unblinking red eyes calculated the crazy witch in front of him as he spoke.

The witch was about to reach for the three black arrows, but Kiaran jerked his hand back, making the woman sigh. "What do you want?"

Kiaran cracked his neck as the woman's red pupils met with his red ones. "Now we're finally talking about business."

The demon witch put down her knife in her hands as she clenched her jaws. "What? Do you want more power? Just give me the price."

"I want a pendant. A necklace pendant that could hold my father's red aura and make his power slowly get into the heart of the person who wears it." He demanded with a low voice echoing in the room.

The woman raised her eyebrows that were hidden between her curtain bangs. "That's it?"

Kiaran spun the arrows in his hand as he leaned on the table. "Yes." He paused, stopping the arrows in his hand, eyes sharpened as he stared at the witch with dangerous glint.

"Though you have to tell me your plan on what you're going to do with the arrows too."

The woman stiffened. He looked at him with mixed emotions and glowering eyes. There was silence as she thought about the deal. Though deep down, she knew she had no choice.

"Alright. But keep it between us, or I'll kill you." She gritted her teeth as she finally looked away from the anarchist to her table again.

Kiaran took her hand and shook it happily. "It's a deal then, old lady!" He cheerfully exclaimed. However, the witch caught the dark undertone behind his words.

As he let go of her hand, he put down the three black arrows in his other hand to the table and slid them to her. She quickly picked the arrows with her hand slowly, looking at them as some kind of gem.

The mercenary let the witch fall into her own world for a moment. He was tapping his foot as seconds went by.

"I know where the last one is. I need it for a future problem." The teen tilted his head to the wall beside him as he caught the sight of a black roots mirror.

Kiaran could vaguely see his counterpart talking with the witch's counterpart. As if his other self sensed his staring, the human looked over at him with two content eyes.

Though the anarchist knew that his other self could not see him.

"I'm using the arrow for my youngest brother to turn him to be better. I'll retrieve the last one if you do one more thing for me." His red eyes were still staring at his counterpart, looking right through him.

The witch gripped the edge of the table with her hand as she looked up at Kiaran once more. Red pupils sharply waited for the anarchist to say what he wanted.

An etched madness sprouted on his face as he returned the stare. "Tell me, when will my other self see the world burn."

The witch furrowed her eyebrows, head pounded with tension as she did so. "Why?"

A crazy grin adorned his face as it was hidden behind his mask. The demon chuckled darkly, and he went closer to the witch with madness sparking in his eyes.

"I want to see the other world burn too, of course."

Kiaran would take it as a chance to have Axel too. All according to his plan. He was the brain of the family anyway.

✵✵✵✵✵✵

Kiaran opened Axel's room slowly. The plan had worked. Well, of course, it would work.

He took the book of Tithonus on the table in front of the mirror. The demon walked over to the withering boy on the bed and sat right beside him.

Kiaran was startled a little when Axel suddenly opened his eyes, dully looking at him with one blue eye and one red eye.

The demon smiled fondly at Axel as he opened the book in his hand. "One day, there was a young man named Tithonus who was just a mere human."

And we all knew Tithonus would be kidnapped and turned without his consent.