Devil Ash Deceit (Devil Ash Saga) (6 page)

Feeling around with his arms in front of him, Ash found a wall. There was a wooden bench to sit on, so Ash took one last silent look around to see if he could get an idea of how large the sauna room was. The steam was too heavy to see all the walls, but he thought if anyone were in the room with him, he’d have heard them make a sound by now. The boy was certain he was alone.

Ash decided to relax and enjoy it, so he took a seat on the wooden bench. The wood felt soft and squishy on his bottom and he thought that was very odd. Only when he heard a guttural growl did the boy fully realize his mistake. He’d sat on a man. A very
large
man.

At once the flustered boy jumped up, shouting an incoherent apology.

An enormous flame burst suddenly, clearing a portion of the steam in the room. The flames came from the angry person, and in the split second the steam cleared Ash caught a glimpse of the man he now faced. It was someone he knew well.

Not you again…

Dunger, a huge muscular man Ash had fought before in his earlier romps through Hell, charged forward at the boy. The giant baldy grappled with the teen until Ash was tossed through the wall of the sauna. He rolled, climbed to his feet, and turned to run away. A smart move, except that he was too tired and in too much pain from his injuries to effectively evade his pursuer.

That, and he took off running in the direction of one of the baths. He plunged in without thinking about how stupid a move it was and only when he had made it to the middle of the pool did he stop to think about
where
he was. How would he fight waist-deep in water?

No time to think. Ash turned to see if Dunger was still after him. He barely turned around in time to see Dunger fly through the air and strike downward. Ash was only able to avoid the attack because of his training with Shiva. His dodging reflexes had become more alert than he ever thought possible.

Dunger’s fist connected with the floor of the pool, and not being a very sound structure, the whole bath caved in. Ash was caught in the resulting whirlpool and went down with the current. He splashed to a halt on a hard floor below, apparently in the bathhouse basement. Down here, men and women worked to keep fires burning hot under the bottoms of the baths.

The employees became very concerned, as they weren’t all that accustomed to customers breaking through the bottoms of the baths.  They started shouting directions at one another, going through their emergency protocol. Ash wasn’t paying attention to them. He was more concerned about his own nudity again, having lost his towel. By a great stroke of luck, a wet towel came floating by. He didn’t care if it was used; he snatched it up and wrapped the towel around his waist.

Dunger was back on his feet, smiling and cracking his knuckles as he moved in on Ash. The ruffian stepped forward readying a small fireball in his hand. He held his arm forward, palm pointing at Ash, and fired. The ball of flame blasted forward at the boy, but it was slower than the fireballs Shiva conjured. Once again Ash knew he could evade. In just one fluid pivoting sidestep with his good leg, Ash formed a comparable fireball and returned fire at Dunger before the man even knew his own attack had missed.

The bathhouse employees continued to run around hectically trying to plug up the hole in the bath but their attempts were slowly failing. More and more water was pouring down and before long that entire bath was drained. Now the employees set their sights on the two brawling strangers.

“You two! Stop fighting!”

“You’re not supposed to be down here!”

“Take it outside, right now!”

Ash realized that was probably the right move to make at the time, and while Dunger was still reeling from the fireball to his face, the teen took off for the nearest door. Employees waved him in the right direction while a couple of men moved in on Dunger. But the brute would not stop yet, and after coming to his senses again he resumed the chase.

Ash entered a stairwell and climbed to the top. The door deposited him in a hallway, and a nearby sign directed him to the exit. A smile spread across his face, feeling a moment of joy at the thought of his successful escape. He barreled out the exit unaware that it was an exit into a back alley. He immediately plowed into some garbage cans that belonged to the restaurant next door and toppled over.

There he sat in a pile of thrown out demon fast-food as Dunger stepped through the door. The giant man walked slowly, chuckling to himself about Ash’s situation.

“You really want to fight me that bad?” Ash said, picking a few strands of pasta out of his hair. “I’m injured, man! I can’t even fight right now!”

Dunger lit a retaliatory fireball in his hand anyway.

“You
would
…” Ash grumbled. In the tight alley his escape routes were limited. He could run towards Dunger, but that would be risky and likely not work out. If he turned around and ran, Dunger’s fireball would probably hit him anyway, unless he did a fancy dodge roll or something. Ash hesitated. That sounded painful what with his wounds.

Dunger pointed his flame at the boy. Just as Ash came up with an idea for a getaway, the idea became irrelevant. Dunger’s fireball shot forward. Ash stood. Then the mysterious mustachioed old man came back, stepping in front of the fireball with only a raised hand to defend himself. Ash was horrified for a split second as the fire wrapped around the old man, engulfing his upper body.

“
No
!” Ash screamed.

Then the flames began to rotate. They shrunk and grew and swirled together, forming into a new fireball that rested safely in the old man’s hand. The surprising senior smiled, his upper body not burnt in the slightest.

“
Flame thief,
” the old man said. “The ability to overpower one’s flames with your own. Just mix in your flames little by little, and eventually the enemy’s control will weaken and their flames will become yours.” Ash was in awe of his savior’s skill once more. Dunger froze, terrified, as he stared into the face of the old man.

“So how about it, sir?” the old man asked. “Care to try it out on me?”

The old man pointed his enormous fireball straight at Dunger. Dunger made the smartest decision of his night and fled without so much as a backwards glance. The old man smiled happily and extinguished the flame. He turned around and extended a helping hand to Ash, pulling the boy up to his feet.

“That’s twice you’ve saved me now,” Ash said, brushing the remaining garbage off. “I can’t thank you enough. My name is Ash. Please, tell me yours.”

“You’re very welcome Ash,” the old man said. “You may call me Wil.”  Wil brushed some chopped demon meat off Ash’s shoulder and placed his sturdy hand there. “I’m just doing my duty. After all, children are the future.”

“Sure…
Um," Ash stammered to think of a suitable question to ask his twice-savior. "You suppose that guy will leave me alone from now on?" was the best he could come up with.

"I should think not," Wil
said. Ash deflated. "Don't worry though. It's a nice thing to have a sparring partner and rival. Someone to keep you on your toes, making sure you’re always improving and getting stronger. You’ll come to admire him in the future, just you wait and see.”

"Maybe if he wasn't a complete psycho," said Ash. "Besides, I have enough sparring partners already."

"You are the same Ash that defeated that crazed Apsat Glumb a month ago, are you not?"

"Yeah, but no one knows that! The stupid Royal Guard covered it all up and said Commander Stryd was the one who beat him. No one would
even believe that I could have. I mean, look at me!" Ash gestured to his battle scarred, near naked, garbage-covered body. He was in a sorry state.

"But
you
know you did it. And your friends know you did it. And most importantly, Commander Stryd knows you did it. Its only a matter of time until the story of the invincible Ash Kaplan starts to spread," Wil said with a cheerier tone.

"You really think they'll start calling me the invincible Ash Kaplan?"

"They will if you give them a reason to." At that, Wilhelm tipped his top hat and turned to go. "Think on that. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a very important dinner date." Wil left Ash standing in the alley, still naked except for the damp towel wrapped around his waist.

Ash was speechless.

The next thing he knew, the bathhouse door opened once more and several men were shoving someone else out into the alley.

“
What gives
?” Aura shouted. “
I wasn’t doing anything! You can’t kick me out! I’m leaving!
”

After yelling his last words at the employees, who had already shut the door on him, Aura turned to see his best friend standing there.

“
Hello Aura
,” Ash said, trying to conceal his temper. None of this would have happened if Aura hadn’t dunked him in the bath and left.

“Hey buddy,” Aura replied, surprised to not only see his friend standing in the alley, but also at his friend’s lack of clothing. “Don’t tell me all that racket I heard in there was from
you
?”

“Let’s just go home now, okay?” Ash said, trying to let go of his aggression.

“Sure thing,” Aura agreed. “Um, do you think you could go inside and get my clothes? I’m probably not allowed back in there…”

“I don’t think I am, either…” Ash replied.

Well,
the boys thought,
this will be an interesting walk home in our towels…

That same night, after a mad dash through Hell’s back alleys on their way back to their flat, Ash told Aura about the old man showing up and saving him again.

“His name was Wil,” said Ash. “He had white hair with a big white mustache. You know any Wil’s that might fit that description?”

“That’s a fairly common name. I know a bunch of Wil’s, but no old man Wil’s. Unless…”

“Unless what?” Ash asked with anticipation. The level of thought that Aura seemed lost in was unusually deep for the boy. After a moment, he snapped out of it.

“No, never mind,” said Aura. “That wouldn’t make any sense…”

* * * *

The next morning as the flames rose through the dark sky to create the kingdom’s sun, the two boys awoke. They were both in good spirits. Ash was particularly excited to learn more about controlling his flame. It took him a while to get the hang of it, but after coming into contact with God’s Blessing his firepower had awoken. He could create it with no problems now, but do little else besides shoot it directly forward or just hold it.

Aura outfitted Ash with an older jacket he had laying around, similar in style to his favorite black and blue jacket. Ash tried wearing it like Aura usually does, with the jacket slung over his shoulders and buttoned on at the neck just like a cape. He decided only one man at a time could pull off a jacket-cape, and that man was Aura Draxler.

The two headed off to work. At the castle entrance, like every other day, they were stopped and made to push the giant gates open themselves. They groaned and glared at the royal guards, hoping their little recurring joke would come to an end soon. Through the courtyard, past all the desperate bureaucrats and scholars, and up the stairs to the castle gate. Again, they are met by the same unfunny joke. “Pull the gates open yourself.” Big laughs all around.

The boys made their way through the castle and swung by the cafeteria, grabbing handfuls of finger food from the free employee buffet. Some of it they stuffed into their mouths and some of it they stuffed into their pockets. They’d come to realize that Shiva wasn’t always the best at judging when it was lunchtime; so in order to ensure they got fed on time the boys began collecting rations at the beginning of their day.

After a quick breakfast they walked through the elaborately decorated stone halls of Castle Hell and wound up at the small inner courtyard where their morning sparring sessions were held. Only this time it was so much better. The lovely Yazma Bethilda, someone Ash had once thought of as a ‘goth beauty’, stood waiting in one of her usual form-hugging black dresses, a beacon of femininity. Shiva was also there, doing her own thing.

“Good to be working with you again, Ash,” Yazma said, smiling like a pageant winner. Ordinarily she taught young children, so getting to tutor an adult was like a vacation for her. She also felt honored to be selected to work with the blossoming celebrity that was the half-human in Hell. And to a lesser extent, she was also proud to be working with the Lady Satan and that bizarre death touching kid that wouldn’t stop hitting on her.

“Glad to have you back, ma’am,” Ash blushed. He had a small crush on Yazma, but it’d probably never work out between them.

“And I’m glad to once again be bathed in the radiant glow of your beauty, miss,” Aura said, one of his more theatrical pick-up lines.

Yazma ignored Aura entirely and pulled Ash aside. “Okay Ash, do you remember everything I taught you so far?”

“More or less,” Ash said with confidence.

“Lets review some of the basics real quick, just you and I.”

While those two were busy with their private reflection, Aura got over his recent dismissal and studied Shiva.
She hasn’t said a word yet,
he thought.
She’d normally start out the morning by shouting her voice hoarse. Not today though. Instead she seems distant. Her mind is definitely preoccupied with something, but what? Come to think of it, her behavior the other day was kinda odd as well. Could she be hiding something? What would she have to hide? She’s the most boring person in the kingdom
! The boy thought on it for a few minutes while Yazma drolled away with Ash.

Then it struck him:
what if Shiva is hiding a boyfriend? That must be it! She spends all day with us, but we have no idea what she does after work. She doesn’t have any friends. She could totally be dating someone and not want us to know about it! From now on, I’m going to be on high alert for any suspicious males casting admirable glances at the ‘Lady’ Shiva. Also, maybe it’d be fun to go tail her after work.

“It seems like you got the basics, Ash,” Yazma said. “Why don’t we get on with today’s lesson: advanced flame creation.”

“Let’s do it! Where do we begin?”

“We already learned how to create flame,” said Yazma. “But in that lesson, we learned how to form flame that emits from the palm of the hand. We did so because the palm is the best appendage to emit from. There are many theories as to why, but they all boil down to one simple explanation: it’s just the easiest.

“But today I’m going to show you how to form flame from a smaller source, the tip of your finger. Why would you want to form flame there? Because, a smaller focal point takes much more concentration and control. This has the added benefit of being a much more controllable flame.”

Yazma held up her pointer finger. “Now do as I do, and try to emit from the tip of your finger.” The three followed her lead. Not surprisingly, Shiva and Aura did so immediately. This was still pretty simple stuff to them. Ash on the other hand, who was the primary pupil of this lesson, struggled with it a bit.

Even with his hand balled up and pointer finger extended, his flame naturally emitted from his palm. This resulted in his hand spontaneously bursting into flames several times. Each time his flames tingled his hand till it tickled. He watched as the flame went from engulfing his entire hand, to just his pointer finger, and then finally the flames started trickling up until they emitted only from the tip of his pointer.

Aura gave an encouraging nod. Shiva rolled her eyes, painfully bored at something she considered child’s play.

“Well done, Ash,” said Yazma. “Now, focus on that spot, emit, and separate the flame to form a fireball.”

Again, Shiva and Aura were able to do this immediately, and had already done so. Ash took a little longer, but like the first time did get it eventually. With a little concentration, he could dance a pebble-sized fire pellet off the tip of his pointer. The next exercise was a little trickier. They had to switch between forming flame on their right hand and left hand as quickly as possible. At last, Shiva was defeated! This time, like Ash, she was stuck slowly switching from right to left.

Aura on the other hand was extremely proficient at the drill, and could switch between right and left hand rapidly and even emit flames from both hands at the same time. He hoped his skill would win him favor with Yazma.

“How about we leave these two to practice for a moment while you give me a more
private
lesson?” he said while he juggled his fireballs, moving in closer to the teacher.

Yazma sidestepped Aura, ignoring him once again. She continued to coach her less seductive pupils. “You’re doing good, just keep working at it. Take all the time you need. No pressure. There, you’re getting it. Good job. Shiva, maybe you should take a break.”

Shiva, her mind still somewhere else, was being left behind by Ash. Within only an hour of working at it, Ash was up to Aura’s level of skill. He could emit flame from both his pointer fingers and rapidly switch between hands. Shiva could do it too, but at a much slower pace. Maybe if her heart was in it like usual she could switch faster. Meanwhile Aura was keeping himself busy by practicing emitting ten tiny flames from the tips of all ten of his fingers. It was no easy task, and with Yazma around he couldn’t find the concentration to make it work.

After another hour of training, Aura discovered why Shiva had been seriously spacing out all morning. Their training was interrupted when someone he’d never met before entered the courtyard unexpectedly. Well,
almost
unexpectedly.

“Grandpa!” Shiva shrieked like an excited little girl when she noticed the old man saunter in to the courtyard. She contained herself, embarrassed, and quietly rushed to his side. The boys also diverted their attention towards him. Ash recognized the old man at once.

“That’s him! That’s Wil!” Ash said to Aura.

“No way…” Aura said in disbelief. “I didn’t think it’d really be
that
‘Wil’
…
”
Guess that explains her odd behavior these last few days,
Aura thought.
She was happy because she knew her grandfather would be dropping by soon.

After greeting his granddaughter, the old man joined the group.

“Wilhelm Satan,” he reintroduced himself to Ash and the gang. “So the fates have it that we meet again, Ash. I hope my presence will not be an intrusion today?”

“Not at all, my Lord.” Yazma curtsied respectfully. “It would be my honor to show my teaching skills to my Lord.”

“Aura this is the old guy that keeps popping up and saving me!” Ash said. Aura did not reply. He got down on one knee instead, with his head bowed in respect to the former King.

“Arise little Draxler,” Wilhelm said to him, grasping him by the shoulders and lifting him to his feet. “I am no longer the reigning Satan. There is no need for such formalities anymore.”

Suddenly Ash felt very silly for having acted so candidly in front of Wilhelm all this time. Even
Aura
, the womanizing slacker, showed his respect! Shiva’s grandfather, the previous ruler of Hell, must have been one great man.

“Wait, Grandpa, when did you meet
him
?” Shiva asked.

“Ohhh,” the old Satan mumbled. “Ash and I have bumped into each other around town on several occasions.”

The previous King Satan has seen me naked
, Ash thought in despair.

“Don’t tell me…” Shiva said. “Gramps, did you take time off from working in the West just so you could follow Ash around?” Shiva was back to her normal self and shouting now. “You told me you took time off work to come and see me!”

“Uhh, well, umm, you see…” Old Satan struggled to find the right words with his angry granddaughter pressing him.

“
I can’t believe she yells at even her own grandpa
,” Ash whispered.

“
I can,
” Aura replied.

“
That’s an odd family dynamic for sure
,” Yazma added.

When Shiva’s anger was satisfied the lesson continued. Wilhelm sat down in the grass nearby to be a spectator. No one objected to his being there, and Ash even suspected the Old Satan might teach him a few more of his tricks.

“Right, well it looks like you’ve all got the hang of emitting flame from a finer point,” Yazma said. “Next we’ll test your maximum flame output capacity.”

“That sounds hard,” said Ash.

“It’s easier than it sounds,” Yazma said trying to sound encouraging. “All you have to do is keep forming a fireball until you can’t supply any more flames. Lady Shiva, why don’t you start us out and show your grandfather what you can do?”

Shiva was all too willing to oblige, eager to show off for Wilhelm. She held her hands out and started making a small fireball grow between them. It started out marble sized, but quickly became the size of a baseball. She concentrated, pumping even more flame into it and soon it was basketball sized. After holding the blazing orb for a minute she was already becoming tired.

She got it to the size of a beach ball before finally gasping for breath and stopping. The girl held her creation in one hand while shooting a cocky, triumphant smile at her subordinates. She didn’t think they could top it. Aura shrugged, sauntered up next to her, winked at Yazma, and held out both his hands palms-up. It took him no more than thirty seconds to create not one, but two fireballs of equal size to Shiva’s. The exertion cost him, as he could only hold the fireballs long enough to cast a mocking smile in Shiva’s direction before they fizzled out. He looked to Yazma for a compliment, certain she’d have to acknowledge him now.

“Let’s see what you can do, Ash,” Yazma said, clearly unimpressed with Aura’s display. The boy deflated as Shiva scowled and Wilhelm clapped.

It was Ash’s turn at last. The nervous boy stepped before his friends, unsure of how this was going to go down. He seriously doubted he could outperform Aura, who had clearly shown that he was more capable than anyone expected. Ash held his hands out like Shiva did to form one fireball between them.

With a determined grunt Ash began emitting flames from his palms, feeding it all into one collective globe. The ball grew quickly with no signs of slowing down. It only took seconds for his flame to reach a size so large that he could no longer hold it between his hands. Instead he had to thrust his hands upward, holding the enormous fireball above his head.

His company was impressed. There were equal parts confusion and admiration among them. The admiration came from Yazma and Wilhelm, while Ash’s teammates supplied the confusion. The fireball continued to grow. It was nearly as large as Ash himself, and he wasn’t even tired yet.