Demon-Hunting Demon: The Djevel

• #95 Draw or write about a talisman for your character. It can be something that is sentimental, magical, or in some way meaningful to your character. It's not required, but many adventurers who journey to these different worlds keep their Portal badges on their talisman as a way to showcase all of the places they've journeyed to
  
  

 

Oliver trudged along the muddy hill. His feet were aching, he was hungry, but most of all, he had a huge headache.

 

"LET ME OUT, HUMAN!"

"I AM SICK AND TIRED OF BEING STUCK IN YOUR HEAD, LET ME OUT!"

"C'MON, JUST LET ME HAVE SOME FRESH AIR AT LEAST. YOU AIN'T THAT CRUEL, RIGHT?"

Oliver gritted his teeth and stomped onwards. Mephistopheles was getting harder to deal with by the day. Oliver could feel his control on his own body starting to slip away.

 

That was why he needed to urgently visit the Dragon Village.

 

"OLIVER, I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME! WHY DON'T YOU JUST LET ME OUT, HUH???"
"Mephistopheles, can you just shut u-"

"IT'S MEPHISTO TO YOU!"
"I SWEAR TO- Ok. Fine, you know what? I can do this. I'll just make it to Dragon Village and I'll be able to properly contain you, without you blowing up my "

"AHAHAHAHAHA THAT'S WHAT YOU THINK. YOU WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO CONTAIN ME! I REPEAT, YOU WILL-"

Oliver tried to drown out Mephisto's voice, and continued his long trudge up the hill.

 

About an hour later of trudging, arguing and headaches, Oliver finally saw a village in the distance. That must have been the Dragon Village. However, almost immediately, Oliver encountered a problem. As soon as he got close enough to the village, a huge, 20-ft tall dragon flew out of nowhere and landed directly in front of Oliver, eyeing him closely. The moment Oliver took one step, the dragon started spitting fireballs rapidly, all falling around Oliver, forcing him to take a step back. He felt the heat graze his skin, but none of the fireballs seriously injured him. 

"Oh jeez, that looks like a nuisance to deal with! Well, I suppose you'll just have to leave Dragon Village!"

"Don't even think about it, Mephisto. I'll figure out some way to get past this..."

Mephisto groaned inside Oliver's brain.

"Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiine. Just make it quick. And for the record, I will not be helping you. PERIOD."

Oliver almost laughed. "You seem to have forgotten that I can freely use your abilities, whether you like it or not. I will not be needing your help.

"Oh gosh darn it I thought you would forget. Welp, I'm going to take a nap. Wake me up when you get killed!”

Oliver tuned out the voice in his head and focused on the challenge ahead of him. Surprisingly, the dragon didn’t seem like it wanted to kill him anymore. It simply went back to its previous state of eyeing him warily.

Seemed quite suspicious.

Oliver decided to try something. 

Instead of taking a step back, or step forward, he took 2 steps forward.

Immediately, the eyes of the dragon filled with rage. He let out an angry roar, and let out a breath of searing flames. Oliver immediately jumped back, as the flames incinerated the exact same spot he’d just been standing in moments ago.

However, the moment Oliver stepped out of range, the dragon immediately stopped and reverted back to gazing.

The dragon didn’t seem to want to kill Oliver anymore.

But the moment Oliver took a step too close, the dragon would immediately go crazy.

It didn’t feel natural.

It didn’t feel like the dragon was natural at all. It felt like a machine.

Oliver smirked. He finally knew how to deal with the dragon. He raised both hands and chanted loudly:

“Mephisto Second Ring: Deceitful Chains!”

Immediately 6 rifts opened up behind Oliver. Out of each one came a flaming chain that flew towards the dragon. The moment they made contact, the dragon evaporated.

 

Mephisto Second Ring: Deceitful Chains

An attack that opens up the gates of hell and summons magma chains. These magma chains evaporate all enchantments and magic, and prevent anyone restrained in them from using magic.

 

The dragon was nothing but an enchantment created by the people of the Dragon Village to scare intruders off. Oliver was glad to be done with that, but he had other problems coming up. As soon as he came into view of the village gates, two dragon half-born guards rushed out.

“Who are you?!” one of them shouted, “and how did you get past the dragon?!”

Oliver calmly raised both his hands. “Look, I mean no harm. I just came here to find someone, and the dragon was really annoying, so I ended up getting rid of it. I promise I don’t have bad intentions.”

“We’ll see about that,” the other one snarled. “Fang, let’s take him to Fafnir!”

Both dragons jumped behind Oliver, and the one named Fang handcuffed his hands.

“Oh, you really got it coming now,” sneered Fang, “Fafnir ain’t gonna let you off easy.”

Oliver tried to hide his smirk. These dragons had no idea they were bringing him to the one person he was trying to find.

 

…

 

As Oliver walked through the Dragon Village with the two guards, he took a good look at the village. It looked like any other human village. Most of the buildings were made from wood.The real difference was that the humans were replaced with dragon half-borns. Honestly, he wasn’t sure what he was expecting

Oliver got lots of weird looks as he walked through the village. Mothers quickly hustled their children indoors, fearing for their safety. Obviously, the village didn’t get a lot of visitors.

Oliver approached (what he assumed was) Fafnir’s house. It was bigger than most of the other houses and it was painted red. Symbols had been carved into the side of the wall.

Fang and the other half-born (Oliver still didn’t get his name yet) opened the door and forced Oliver through it. Considering his hands were cuffed, he didn’t have the greatest balance. He fell on the wooden floor with a THUNK!.

Oliver got up and examined the room. The inside of the rooms was also made of wood. There was a huge forge in the back of the room. He could hear the flames crackling from the forge. Lining the sides of the walls were an assortment of weapons and armors. In the center of the room, sat a red dragon halfborn, who looked much older than many of the dragon halfborns he’d seen through the village. The color of his scales looked much duller, but more than that, his eyes were glowing blue. The eyes of dragon half-borns only start glowing past the age of 500, so this one must be really old. Oliver guessed that this was Fafnir.

Fafnir had been in the middle of pounding a sword into shape on his anvil. Glancing up at Oliver and the two guards, he sighed and got up. 

“Fang, Ladon, who’s that?”

“An intruder!” said Fang. He scratched his head. “Somehow he managed to get past the dragon enchantment. He must be strong! We have to make sure he doesn’t hurt anyone in the village!”

Fafner sighed. “Return to your posts. I’ll talk to him.” The two guards bowed, then exited the house.

He then gazed at Oliver, not unkindly.

“Young man, you don’t look like you have bad intentions. You'd better explain why you were after our village,” said Fafnir with a raised eyebrow.

Oliver smiled sadly. “It’s a long story, but I was actually looking for the Legendary Dragon Blacksmith, Fafnir. Perhaps you know of him?”

Fafnir laughed a deep, throaty laugh.

“Well, then you’ve come to the right place! What would you like help with, young man?

Oliver licked his lips. He knew his request would be a bit… hard to explain.

“I need help containing a demon.”

Fafnir faltered. “Say what now?”

…

Oliver explained his story to Fafnir over a cup of tea. His wife, the contract, demon hunting… etc.

Fafnir listened attentively throughout the entire story. He took a long sip of tea and pondered for a few moments.

“You say Mephisto’s stuck in your head, young man?”

“Well, it’s really more complicated than that. He’s like a secondary spirit to this body, and I can always hear his voice in my head. I’m just afraid I’ll lose control of him. I really need you to help me with that.”

Fafnir took another long sip of tea. “You sound like you don’t need help containing him.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, correct me if I’m wrong, but by losing control of him, you mean you're afraid he’ll take over your body, right? You're afraid your mental power will one day fall below his. So really, what you’re asking is for something to boost your mental power, and make sure Mephistopheles has no chance of ever taking over your body.”

Fafnir finished off the tea in his cup, then set it back on the table.

“Come back in a few hours. I should be done by then,” he said, flashing a kind, toothy grin.

Oliver smiled. “Thank you so much, Fafnir.”

 

…

“I’ve got a surprise for you, Mephisto,” Oliver said as he made his way to Fafnir’s house.

It had been 4 hours since he’d last been there. Now, Mephisto was wide awake, and had been giving him a headache. Oliver would be really glad to shut him up. 

“I LIKE SURPRISES, BUT COMING FROM YOU, I’M GETTIN’ A BIT WORRIED”

“Yeah, you should be,” Oliver admitted.

Oliver made his way into Fafnir’s shack, where Fafnir was hammering away at another sword.

“Oliver! Glad you came! Here, I got the perfect thing to help with your inner demon.”

“WAIT, WHAT? ISN’T THAT…” Mephisto gasped

“OLIVER, PLEASE DON’T DO THIS TO MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE,” he wailed.

Oliver tried his hardest to tune out Mephisto’s voice, but it was near impossible.

Fafnir wandered over to the back of the room. Lying on top of the forge, was a talisman. It was black, with a big red gem in the center, and smaller red gems encircling the center. What was curious about this talisman, was that it had two pointed “horns” on either side, making it look like a demon.

“I call it Djevel. I made it have horns to represent what it was made to do,” Oliver heard Fafnir say. 

The moment Oliver put Djevel around his neck, he immediately felt immense strength. Mephisto’s wails immediately quieted down.

“Oliver! Can you still hear me????”

“Yep, but you’re definitely more quiet,” he thought.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOO! My chance of taking over this body! GONE!” Mephisto wailed.

Oliver rolled his eyes. “Thank you so much for your help, Fafnir. I really didn’t know what I would’ve done without you.”

Fafnir flashed another toothy grin. “Don’t worry about it, young man! Good luck on your adventures!”

Oliver smirked, and walked out with his head held high.