The Old Master (Complete)

Part 1

Down the depths of the Inferno was an ageless tree long since dead, yet its fruit still grew under the care of its giver. The caregiver had made his home out of the old tree, the massive trunk gave him shelter and the bark he had sculpted his trustee staff from. This was the home of the all-powerful sorcerer supreme, the ancient adviser of the devil, Legion.

Inside his home the ancient arachnid stood over his cauldron and stirred a most toxic brew. He had together different herbs into the bubbling liquid which fumed out the smell of rotting fruit. It was a sign that he had perfected it. He took a fresh cup and scooped enough of the poisonous liquid to fill it. Just as he was about to unveil his monstrous mouth, which remained hidden underneath his ragged scarf, a knock at his door halted him. The old demon sorcerer bellowed a small groan. Being interrupted from his morning tea was one of the many annoying things he despised.

Setting aside his cup he lingered to the door like an aging spider. He opened it and saw girl, a very human girl, stood before him.

"Hi Legion." Rosemary greeted.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of you being outside my humble home, young one?" The old demon bellowed. All six of his dark, soulless eyes peered at the courageous girl.

"I wanted to bring some flowers from here to my biology class. Can you help?"

Part 2

Rosemary trekked along the plains of the Inferno with Legion lingering not far behind. His old, skinny spider legs tried to keep up with the youthful wanderer.

"You didn't have to go with me, you know." Rosemary reminded the old demon.

"Do you know this terrain?" Legion questioned the girl. "Do you know its inhabitants? The beasts the crawl on the rocks? The rocks that hide the beasts? If you wandered here alone it won't be long before you'd be dead."

"So what are we looking for?"

"Wrethkars, native beasts of this realm. They share many similarities to your world's Sus scrofa domesticus, the domestic pig. It is they who will help us find the flower fit for your presentation, which you have not provided the specific details about it. Why ask me for assistance? Why not your father?"

"Stepfather," Rosie corrected. "And do you honestly think he knows anything about plants?"

"Valid point."

"Besides, I don't know much about you, and I think it'll be cool to, you know, get to know you a little better."

"I'm afraid there isn't much too tell."

"Oh come, that's not true. I'm sure you're full of-" Rosemary suddenly tripped off a small ledge and tumbled down to the bottom of a rocky ravine. After she recovered from her brief disorientation, she looked up and stared into a pair of dead pale eyes. Those eyes were part of a massively wide head of a large, four-legged, pudgy beast that relayed a loud, monstrous squeal and unveiled its toothy and tusked maw. Rosie gasped at the sight of its snout rounded that was much like a pig's and its reddish-pink hide was covered in armor plating. Spikes and horns engulfed most of its back and tail. 

She couldn't move as the beast drew closer. Rosie's heart pounded faster than a marching drum with each sniff the beast took from its large piggy snout and for every minute it opened its mouth opened wide like a hippo's. Just as the wrethkar edged over to Rosemary's spot, it lunged its head up when it caught sight of Legion posed over the ledge. His thin, arachnid legs crept down the slope, careful to step over the frightened Rosie and slowly approached the defensive creature.

"Legion, do something!" Rosie cried. "Zap it!"

Legion ignored her pleas and raised his staff above the squealing beast, which emitted a green light before its eyes. The wrethkar watched the light, captivated of the glow.

"We mean you no harm, great beast." The ancient demon softly spoke, waving the hypnotic staff left and right. "We are trespassing on your territory and we apologize. Let there be peace between us."

With a final wave of his staff the light diminished. The wrethkar uttered one last squeal and then trotted off. Its fat feet kicked up some dust as it lumbered towards more of its kin nearby. Rosie picked herself up and gazed in awe at the large herd of wrethkars. There were large and small, young and old, all roaming the ravine freely.

"These beasts are mainly innoxious if not provoked." Legion explained. "Now show me your injury."

"My what?" Rosie asked.

"It smelled your blood, and so can I," Legion bellowed. "Now show it to me."

Rosemary obeyed and lifted up her right pants leg. Underneath revealed a small, fresh scrape still bleeding out. Legion drew himself closer and placed his six-fingered hand around her injury. Rosemary saw a white light flash beneath. When he lifted his hand off and her injury was gone.

"That," Rosemary fumbled her words. "What you did... I saw Mike do that when I accidentally cut my finger on some broken glass."

"Healing touch," Legion explained again. "Angelic magic."

"How do you know angel magic?"

"An angel taught it to me long ago."

"But isn't that, like, restricted or something? That's like good magic, and demons use evil magic, right?"

"Magic is neither good nor evil. Its only allegiance is to the one who wields it. Now come along."

Old Legion walked off into the herd of wrethkars with Rosemary close behind Legion's abdomen and cautiously watched each of the wrethkars. It surprised her how they ignored the duo as the casually walked among the beasts. So docile and so relaxed as if they were part of the herd. They did not nip nor charge nor gave a leering gaze but continued their business, scrapping the ground and squawking at one another. Once in a while Rosie felt a breeze whenever one of the wrethkars gave a sniff but were still left alone like how the old sorcerer left them alone.

"You needn't worry about them. I won't let them hurt you." Legion reminded the mortal girl, sensing her growing fear of the creatures.

"But when that thing was coming after me. Couldn't you just shoot it with a fireball, or turn it into a toad?" Rosemary questioned the demon yet again.

"Why? Its intentions were not to harm me, therefore I had no intention to harm it. I deplore violence anyways. You can solve more problems with a strong mind than brute force. Now, for that flower-"

"What?" Rosemary asked. It took her a full second to remember their reason being there. "Oh right, that! So what flower are we looking for again?"

"It is called a Deathly Bloom." The old demon explained. "This plant can survive outside this realm, and it won't spread deadly pathogens to you or other species from your world."

"Why do you need wrethkars to find it?"

"Wrethkars are omnivores, consuming both plant and carrion materials. Usually where there are wrethkars, there are flowering plants. They'll likely be scrounging the soil for them, or better yet they have excreted their seeds long ago and the flowers will be freshly bloomed by then."

Rosemary cringed in disgust at the thought of picking flowers from old monster poop, but she smiled a little when she listened to the royal adviser talk. Oblivious to the old demon, Rosemary pulled out a small notepad and pencil. She knew that her project was about to get interesting when her pencil readied itself for fresh notes. "You sure know a lot about everything, huh?"

"No, not everything." Legion calmly said.

"But you seem to know everything."

"That is because I spent most of my life studying everything there is to know on every subject that has been documented. Every form of science, every form of magic and sorcery, and every culture built of various intellectual species of the known universe."

"Wouldn't it be easier to just know the answers to everything?"

"Then there would be no point to learning. What is life if you could not keep learning? One day when my time ends, just as all life must do so, my knowledge will be passed down to my apprentice."

"Like Dominic?"

"He has potential. One day, perhaps, when he is ready."

Rosemary's smile never faded when she listened to his lecture. With every word the adviser spoke she make sure that she wrote down everything. But then her note taking stopped when she heard a gentle thud. She glanced over to the open plain and saw one of the larger wrethkars laid immobile on its side. It wailed a mournful cry that ached at Rosie's heart. Abandoning her guide she ran over to the poor creature. When she encroached it cautiously she noticed that the large creature's belly was swollen like a balloon. Rosemary then walked up to its skull, petting the ill creature. The armor plating felt like coarse sand with every stroke. Its milky eyes, whose eyes were very reptilian, looked upon the strange newcomer that sought to aid it. It did not sense her as a threat but whatever ailment was developing inside forced the beast to continue its painful squeals.

"Legion, something's wrong with that one." She cried for the arachnid-like demon. "I think it's sick."

Legion crawled over to his worrisome assistance, studying the sickened beast. His six-fingered hand caressed along the fattened belly. "Perhaps. Or perhaps it is time."

The old sorcerer moved himself towards the wrethkar's lower half. He placed his left hand between the creatures hind legs while his right hand lightly pressed against the stomach.

"Push, old girl." He whispered softly. "Push."

The wrethkar bellowed out its loudest roar, a roar so painful that Rosemary had to cover her ears against it. Yet there was nothing that could cover her breaking heart when the beast cried. Legion felt something pasty engulf his hand. The blobulous mass started to take form and then it grew heavy.

The cries ended. The wrethkar's stomach deflated a little smaller. It started breathing normally. Rosemary watched as Legion peeled off some white goop but could not see what he cradled in his hands. When he finally turned she was stunned that in his old hand was a much smaller wrethkar with no horns or spikes, or a hard armored skin. Its small eyes finally opened to its first sight. Its first breath of air powered its lungs, which led it to cry soft squeaks and squeals much like the adults. The tiny legs and tail kicked around the air as Legion held it by its soft underbelly.

Rosemary gasped in awe at the newborn. A giant smile formed so large tears nearly poured from her eyes. The newborn reminded her how happy she was when she met her baby sister for the first time. She wanted to pet the thing so much but she looked up to Legion for permission. The softness of his six eyes were enough to guarantee an okay, so she lightly touched its backside. The infant's skin felt as smooth as leather in contrast to its mother.

"Such miracles and wonder life can bestow." The old demon sorcerer chuckled.

Part 3

The wrethkar herd continued their free roam in the ravine. Wandering amongst the herd was Legion, the great demon sorcerer, who searched for a flower, the Deathly Bloom, that would be suitable for Rosemary's upcoming presentation for her class. And where was Rosemary Gravely? She sat away from the old demon an a small boulder pile, no longer interested in her project but more so on the gentle herd that allowed the two of them to roam with. She sketched out drawings of a few of the beasts in her notepad. She drew in detail of each spike and scale of the young and the old. She even drew Legion guiding the herd like a old shepherd, which made her smile even more.

Suddenly she felt a tug on the back of her hoodie. She turned and saw an infant wrethkar gnawing at the cloth. It was the same baby that Legion helped birth. The newborn released her and gave a small squeak, then jumped down from the boulder pile. It was born not that long, perhaps only an hour or two, yet it was already walking and running at an accelerated rate. With every couple feet it ran it would always look back at Rosemary, coaxing her attention.

"Oh, you want to play?" Rosie giggled. She could resist its temptations. Jumping down from the pile, Rosemary pursued the swift infant. It ran farther and farther from the human girl that she could barely keep up. She soon chased the newborn down the ravine which led them to a canyon. The infant cut through a rocky corner and disappeared. Right then she heard frantic squeals of the infant.

"Oy! Snagged another one!" A grizzled voice cried out.

Rosemary darted for the large rock and crouched down. She poked her head from behind the large rock and saw three demons, that she has never met until now, gathered around a small campsite and safeguarded a set of large, wooden crates. One demon appeared like a muscled skeleton, much like Ghuul, but the horns on his head were longer like a gazelle. The second demon was much thinner and shorter than his comrades, with his appearance head and legs appearing rather goat like. The third demon was much more sinister looking than the others, with his muscular appearance much like a cross between a human and a lizard, complete with flaky scales, a short tail that swung behind, and his left eye so scarred up he couldn't open it.

"Remind me again why we're snatchin' up these babies." The skinny goat-demon whined. "Why can't we hunt down the bigger ones?"

"Their hides are only soft like this until they get bigger." Their horned leader explained. "Good for makin' some smooth leather, and worth quite a fortune to the right buyers. I gots me a flyboy in the heavens whose looking to buy off on some of their skins."

"Oh I can't wait to tell me brother." The skinny goat-demon giddied. "He's gonna be jelly of me when I come back stupid rich."

"You best keep your gob shut less you don't wanna loose your head!" The scarred lizard-demon warned his eager partner. "If any higher demons finds out what we've been up to it'll be our hides that's skinned."

Rosemary grew angry of what these demons were planning. She knew she had to get them out of that crate. As the demons talked among themselves of how their profits would be split, Rosie sneaked quietly to the crate. The closer she drew she heard the desperate pleas of the baby wrethkars inside the crate. She reached for the lock and tugged with all her might, but the lock wouldn't budge.

Suddenly she felt something yank at her hood and hoisted her off the ground. She could help but let out a small yelp from the hoisting. Off the ground she dangled in the hand of the scarred demon, who barred his sharp teeth at her.

"Looks like we've got ourselves a spy in our mist, boys!" The scarred lizard-demon hissed to his comrades.

The other two demons gather around the two. They watched how Rosemary kicked about in the air and her small naval was exposed from her hoodie and shirt being held up.

"What is it?" The skinny goat-demon asked.

"Looks like a soul." The horned leader commented.

The scarred lizard-demon took a couple sniffs at Rosemary and hissed once more, "Don't reek like one. Too fleshy and clothed to be a soul."

"I'm a girl, you jerks!" Rosie retorted. "And you better let these baby wrethkars go!

"Or what?" The horned leader jeered.

"Or I'll tell my stepfather!" She warned. "May have heard of him. He's the devil, sometimes referred as the boss."

All three of the demons gulped at the mention of her stepfather. Small sweat beads dripped down from their monstrous heads.

"She's the boss's brat!?" The skinny goat-demon squeaked.

"No she ain't!" The horned leader denied. "She's a liar!"

"Hey, what if she's telling the truth?" The skinny one asked. "What if we're ratted straight to the devil?"

"She's a kid. Kids always tell lies to get outta trouble." The lizard-demon spat. He then drew a large bowie knife from his belt and raised up to the girl's chin, to which she gasped at its sharpness. "Kids also know how to keep their mouths shut or risk their tongues cut out if she spills to anyone."

"And what of me?" A familiar voice bellowed nearby. "What is my punishment for knowing?"

All four looked to the path and saw the great demon sorcerer supreme himself lingering down their way. His old staff tapped the ground with each slow step. Each pair of spider like eyes glared to each of the poaching demons. The horned leader and skinny goat-demon pulled out their machetes from the sheaves of their pants and readied themselves.

"Oy! That there's Legion, the royal adviser." The skinny goat-demon gasped. "Kid was speakin' the truth!"

"This ain't your concern, old timer." The scarred lizard-demon hissed.

"You are trespassing on ground you do not belong in," The old arachnid said. "You are holding my assistant hostage and are threatening her life, and you have a few infant wrethkars boxed up with intentions to craft their hides into leather and sell it to the black market, an act to which I myself established a ban all across the depths of Hell. I would say that this indeed is now my concern. I am will grant each of you mercy and pardon your crimes if you do the following: release the wrethkars, apologize to the girl, leave this place, abnegate your professions, and never return.""

"Gut this old wizard!" The horned leader ordered.

The scarred lizard-demon dropped Rosie onto the ground and charged forward with the skinny goat-demon following suit. Legion spun his staff around and struck it against their heads. The skinny goat-demon took few more strikes against his body before being sent flying to the canyon wall by a final blow. The scarred-lizard demon tried to blast Legion with a couple fireballs, but, without a single glance, the sorcerer dissolved them with his hand. A purple glow emitted from the arachnid's hand followed by a great gust of wind, which blasted the scarred attacker into the canyon wall as well.

The horned leader charged forward only to drop to his knees when Legion's staff jabbed him below his belt. A hard strike across his head knocked him on his back, which forced the demon to groan loudly from his pain. He then gagged when the wooden staff pressed down on his throat with the sorcerer standing above him.

"My offer still stands." Legion reminded them.

After their humiliating defeat at the hands of the old demon, the poachers did exactly as he instructed. They dropped their weapons, unlocked the crate of baby wrethkars, to which the babies scampered back to the herd. The poachers then followed up with a short apology to Rosemary, who mockingly smiled and laughed as they all ran out of the canyon, screaming like scared girls. 

Legion raised his left hand, which emitted a hazy green glow. Sprouting from the tainted ground were large roots that coiled around the crates, crushing them down into tiny splinters, so they can never be used again. The six eyes peered over to Rosemary. 

"For one so small you seem to constantly find yourself in big trouble." He uttered under his sacred scarf.

"It's a bad habit." Rosie jested. "What about you? I thought you were against violence."

"I am. But I am for self defense."

Legion's six eyes beamed. Caught in a mesmerized trance, he slowly crept to a corner of the canyon.

"There." He muffled. Rosemary was confused. She looked to where the old demon was moving for where she caught a glimpse of a patch of what looked to be plants that sprouted from beneath the mouth of a very small gaping burrow.

"Here we are," Legion thrillingly exclaimed. "The Deathly Bloom!"

His human compatriot ran toward the opening to see what his excitement. Yet Rosie's eagerness could not match that with the demon sorcerer's for when she arrived at where he knelt she saw only a large patch of dying weeds. The stems were bent like fish hooks, the leaves below were dried up, and their black petals were closed together.

"But they're all dead." Rosie said sadly.

She then felt Legion's large six-fingered hand slide along her own. Two of his fingers directed her index finger outward; then he guided her to one of the dead flowers before them. With a light poke on a frail petal, the Deathly Bloom waved back and forth like a swing caught in the wind. The petals blossomed up and revealed its lively spark that it hid away. Its glistening colors of radiant purples and browns, along with shades of black and grey, all blended wondrously together that it looked like this small flower held a whole new galaxy inside. Rosemary's eyes twinkled at the sight of the flower's natural beauty that a gleeful smile enveloped again on her face.

"Sometimes you have to look past what seems scary or hideous in order to see the true beauty within." The wise, old demon boasted.

Rosie started poking at every flower she could spot. But then Legion stopped her with his staff. "Back away!" He warned.

Legion crept low to the soil with all his eyes locked on a single flower shadowed by a black mist. He unhooked the skull amulet he carried around his neck and whispered into it in strange tongues. Rosie watched as the skull opened his small mouth and the black mist surrounding flower shoot inside like it was sucked through a straw. The skull clamped shut, forever locking whatever contamination had engulfed the decay-looking plant along with other evil souls he had locked prior.

"What was that?" Rosemary asked.

"A taint that has been long since forgotten." Legion replied. "Nothing you need to concern yourself over."

"Tell me." She softly urged once more.

Legion exhaled his hesitation, but he complied. "There were others before your father-"

"Stepfather." Rosie corrected the demon elder again.

 "-stepfather to claim the title as Devil. What you witnessed was an extraction of a piece of a soul of the worst of them, the one before your father. Most would not mention him by name, but we called him Baracrus. Cruel, heartless, relentless. Baracrus sought the destruction of Heaven and its angels, back in the long days of the old war. The Heaven-Hell War, a war for all the souls of the universe."

"What happened to him?"

"During the final days of the war, a trusted member of his council plotted against him. This member made a deal with the Archangel Council to help them defeat Baracrus. With a temporary alliance of angels and demons Baracrus was destroyed, and Lucifer was made our king. Only shattered fragments of his dark soul remain. I've spent many centuries collecting these impurities and keeping them away from corrupting other souls. Even in death he is still capable of corrupting the strong willed. 

"I feared if Baracrus' reign had continued he would have destroyed all of creation. It mattered not the collateral damage he dealt, or how many had to sacrificed, victory through any means was all that matter to him. Even if it meant corrupting a young angel to his will, having him turn against his home and family; only to ultimately be damned here with us, and then be created into a living weapon that would give demon-kind an edge in that dreaded war."

Rosie looked deep into his eyes. She saw half his eyes expressed sadness. The other half expressed regret. Feelings that she didn't believe this old demon, or any other demon, could have these same feelings much like a human. His emotions faded when Legion waved his hand once more, which emitted a brown glow around it. With his magic he crafted a clay pot out of the earth of the surrounding cave mouth. Carefully he scooped up one of the Deathly Blooms into his hand then placed it inside the materialized pot. Once inside he gently patted and smoothed the soil, which made the flower feel more comfortable in its new home. With his telekinetic powers he lowered the pot to Rosemary, which she gratefully took.

"Know this, child." Legion lectured once more. "Your father — stepfather — is a good king. But I fear by following the orders of one monster, I forever cursed him with another."

Part 4

Inside his hut the demon sorcerer brewed another hot, bubbling cauldron. One smell from the toxic fumes informed him of the perfection of the fresh brew. Just as he was about to take a cupful of poisoned liquid, he heard a knock outside his door. Interrupted during his morning tea yet again.

"Enter." Legion bellowed.

"Legion, old friend!" Lu said as he stepped through the door.

"My lord," His loyal adviser said with a bow. "How may I be of service?"

"You can give yourself a pat on the back for starters." The devil boasted. "Rosie got her essay back. A+, gold star, and everything - and she said it was all thanks to you. I'll admit I was a little jealous that she didn't pick me to help her out."

"With all do respect, my lord. You don't have much knowledge to botany."

"What are you talking about?" Lu asked. "Oh, she didn't tell you. You might want to read this then."

Confused, Legion took the short essay from his king's hand and read it. He, the all powerful, the all knowing, the wise master of the dark arts, was deceived by a human child. What he read was certainly not about biology or plants, but what he read was enough to craft a smile beneath his tattered scarf.

                                           Who I Find The Most Interesting

                                                   By Rosemary Gravely

There sure are a ton of interesting people in the world that it's hard to choose one that interests me the most. And if you've met my stepfather and some of his employees, interesting is just one word to describe them all. But I think the one that stands out the most to me would be my stepfather's adviser, Legion. 

Legion serves as the royal adviser for my father, making sure he doesn't go through with whatever dumb scheme he cooked up. He's also a part time scientist and teacher. Don't make him angry because he can even kick some serious ass. He's like Gandalf, Yoda, and Mr. Miyagi all in one. 

When I first met him I really didn't know what to think of him. I mean he's pretty creepy looking, he comes off as kinda crude with his brutal honesty, and he can be kinda boring at times. But sometimes you gotta look past what you think is scary and hideous in order to see the true beauty within.