Devil's Rise 16 The Thief

A dark cloaked man was moving swiftly through the Wesser forest. The forest was endless, dark, and thriving, Its canopy was competed for by alder, linden, and felwood, enough light shimmered through their crowns for a mosaic of ferns to reign the rich grounds below.

Curling branches dangled from the occasional tree, and a range of fel herbs, which were unique to the region, grew sporadically in the otherwise jade scenery. A hodgepodge of beastly noises, belonging to various kinds of demon beasts and other forest natives added to the life of the forest.

While James was preparing mentally for his interaction with Mikael, Johnson was strolling through the forest looking for wood based materials to assist the Devil Ancestor in forging. He had to go to the unclaimed territory for the level of material Kogthoz needed. As long as he didn't head to the truly deep areas, the forest was like taking a stroll in his backyard.

The Wesser forest was a wild and unclaimed territory in this Abyss, although it was considered a part of the Hudson Estate even he did not know what terrors lurked in the deepest areas. Only a small amount of it had been officially claimed as camp grounds and deemed safe for ordinary travel. The rest was unclaimed wild lands.

"Jurrath!" yelled the black robed man as he got to the deeper part of the forest near a large cave. Outside of the cave was clear not even a mouse could be seen. The demonic aura emanating from the cave was stifling. It was easy to tell that this was a territory claimed by a powerful demon.

Out came a creature about the size of a large cat, with six legs and a long thick tail. It had a soft, but strong skin covered in thick hairs. The hairs were a combination of blue, yellow, light gold, and bronze. It had a rather small mouth with large canines and a long tongue.

It had thin, narrow eyes and large standing ears. The creature moved agilely outside of its cave. The demonic creature sat on a rock opposite of Johnson, his air was the air of a ruler. Not a bit of subservience could be seen from this creatures demeanor.

"How have you been my friend?" said the black robed man with a smile as he greeted the demonic beast.

Jurrath was one of the strongest demon beasts residing in Wassax forest. A truly terrifying existence. He was even stronger than Johnson, the hand of the Devil Ancestor! Johnson was not even sure his exact cultivation level because he would never dare fight him.

Jurrath cared more about creating mischief than creating wide massacres so he was always a good demon to trade with when rare materials found in the forest were needed.

The creature roared and gradually changed it's form to become more humanoid. Light green, sleek hair hanged over a handsome face with violet eyes.

"Meow. What brings a civilized person such as yourself to my demonic wilds Johnson?" Questioned, the demon, Jurrath.

"Do you have any rare wood resources?" asked Johnson.

"Meow. You know about the old Soulwood tree guarded by that Condor tribe? It's very difficult to get them to trade away any Soulwood."

"Meow. Luckily for you I recently acquired few Soulwood branches from them." laughed the demon Jurrath. He hated those unreasonable bird brains and was a mischievous demon who loved to cause chaos in the forest.

They quickly came to an agreement in the trade, Johnson received the branches and Jurrath got some new shinies for his collection.

"Thank you, the forest has been quite lately right? Their aren't any new hostile beast lords trying to push their weight around?" questioned Johnson, it was always good for him to have the best information available to [Mountain Shadow].

"Meow, only newly ascended Viscount beast lords like to push their weight around corralling weak minded beasts to attack locations so they can pillage the benefits."

"Meow, that old jaguar has an iron grip on this part of the forest and doesn't like it getting too hectic."

The old jaguar was wise and had spent countless years as a beast sovereign so his management of his territory was top notch. Anyone that violated his rules would die swiftly with a hint of murderous demonic aura around them from the forest so one dared disobey his rules!

"Meow, Newly ascended lords in this area have to think twice before causing trouble less they end up dead."

"Meow, right now the forest has been peaceful. That stupid condor leader has been heading around bullying demon beasts taking their Soulwood claiming it was stolen from his tribe!

"Meow, What kind of heartless demon would steal Soulwood branchs from those condors?"

"Meow, We should go help the condors seek justice!" said Jurrath righteously.

Johnson rolled his eyes internally. ~It's obvious it was you that has stolen the branchs from the condors. You're even gloating to me about it! That condor just doesn't have the face to ask you for them back so he has to pretend he's looking for them elsewhere. It's a classic occurrence of a demon to bully the weak and fear the strong.~

"I think they can handle that them self." said Johnson while shaking his head, he couldn't be bothered with Jurrath's antics.

This mischievous demon beast was even making him an accessory to the crime by pawning off the branches to him. He had no choice but to accept them though as he urgently wanted to finish this task Kogthoz had given him.

The reason demon beasts even stayed politely in the forest and didn't attempt to overrun the territories claimed by the Hudson clan was thanks to their own chaotic nature.

Stronger demon beasts saw the constant stream of visitors from a nearby devil settlement as their very own food delivery service.

Many of the weaker demon beasts died with the settlement, but they repopulated fast. Stronger demon beasts however had a big uptick in happy meals coming their way. Demon beasts like the jaguar mentioned were simple minded only caring about their own benefits.

It was much easier to wait as foolish humanoids ventured unsuspectingly into the forest where they became his prey than to go pissing off a devil Empire. Most demon beasts around the Abyss in wild lands populated with demon beasts would group with their race or factions regardless of their strength.

It was easy for traveler deaths to occur when traversing them, you could easily run into a demon beast sovereign who just didn't like the way you looked. Thats why devils usually liked to explorer properly charted areas to ensure they would not casually walk into one of these death dens.

That's the role the camps in Wessex Forest held. They broke up the demon beasts by cultivation level ensuring no death dens were created.

Places were very powerful demon beasts with no decorum for law become death zones such as the deeper areas of Wesser Forest. Not even Johnson would dare tread there. You could tell simply by the demonic aura that there were very powerful creatures residing there.

Demons were chaotic by nature, preferring to live alone in dense fel areas to increase their strength. They were very different from the law abiding nature of devils.

One particularly well known death zone was known as u003cDeath Canyonu003e, although the fel quality was amazing, the aura of death was stifling there. No one was known to have ever exited u003cDeath Canyonu003e so it was universally known as a death zone.

Another well known death zone was u003cGhost Capitalu003e it was a city were a very ancient empire was situated. The entire ancient empire was exterminated with one attack. The powerful Devil who launched the attacks hatred was so great he wanted none of the inhabitants to even have peace in the afterlife creating the current u003cGhost Capitalu003e.

Spirits populated the area and the only thing you could do by trespassing there was submit an application to joining them. No one wants to walk along and randomly get flatted by a much stronger opponent, so smarter people avoided these death zones.

Back to our devil hero James who was confronting Mikael at the Hazel Canopy camp.

"Mikael, do you know where the manager to this Hazel Canopy Knight camp is? I need to check in to begin my service."

"Little cousin you are speaking to him. I will be managing this camp ground until further notice."

~Blood, more and more blood. My heart, It just keeps seeping out, why won't it stop? There was a puddle of my own blood beneath me and it just keeps coming, it just keeps flowing? How am I even standing? Does this mean I will be okay? No, impossible. ~

~There's no fixing this. How am I still standing? This is so annoying! Why am I so weak? I can make it out of this mess, I know I can. So why am I still here? Come on stupid body stop being so weak. I can make it. We can make it, just stop being weak.~

~I'm tired. My entire body is shaking, I can't keep this up any longer. I must lay down. It's okay, I just need to make sure I keep my eyes open. Yes, that's all. This'll save me energy too, I just need to make sure I do not fall asleep. That can't be too difficult.~

~Oh god, please, somebody find me, I'm going to die. I don't want to die alone, somebody find me please. I know I will die, so be it, I just don't want to die all alone. Somebody, please, hurry up and find me.~

~I'm exhausted, my eyes are heavy and my body is numb. I'm going to take a quick nap, I hope it's just a quick nap. But I really need to close my eyes and rest for a while.~

James had died on the spot. His soul shattered to never reincarnate. Or at least thats how he felt internally. James soon came to his senses.

"You! You can't manage a camp! To manage a Knight camp one must be a Devil Knight!"

"I broke through just two days ago little cousin. You must diligently practice your devilry. You are falling behind because of your slacking, always trying to boast and bluster around Hudson City. No up and coming members of the Hudson clan stay in Hudson City. The majority of the Hudson clan are posted at the camps!"

"Don't worry I am here for you. We must use this time to bond well. I will ensure no one thinks my dear younger cousin is trash just because he practices Soul Dao. Come lets enjoy a meal. Your tasks will be assigned tomorrow. Today us cousins must enjoy ourselves for much hard work is to come."

~God damn it, he started monologuing again! Why can't I be the older stronger cousin being a bad influence on the younger generation. If I was older and stronger I could have completely corrupted Mikael, instead he bullies this young master always trying to get me to do the right thing. Hard work is for common devils, not this young master!~

Chapter end