The Prince of Demons

I got up, glaring at the ceiling. How? How was I supposed to do this ridiculous challenge? Something felt off today, but nothing serious. The in the air is kind of weird today. Krahinn so easily rewound time; it made me wonder what all loopholes were in the . The weird might be a side effect of him doing that. He did help me at least. I began getting ready for the day as I thought over what I should try today. Something in my head clicked. Maybe you should try reflecting on your past. Krahinn did give me a hint; he definitely implied I likely know the answer. I thought of the Burgomaster. Cunning, manipulative, and all around not good person. I mean, she had her good points. Not many; her greed was what eventually did her in. Yet somehow, the Burgomaster was able to get Nautilus to settle down with her. Looking back, what was Nautilus like last time? Her personality seemed similar. Carefree, soft spot for kids, and still had her rough mannerisms.

Better yet, with my new knowledge of Nautilus deducing the wager counts as my loss, how did I try this? If I made it too obvious, Nautilus could put two and two together. Maybe if I asked Krahinn he’d have some method for me to look at past memories better. I highly doubted he’d be helpful twice though. Wait, it’d be thrice because he gave me a hint. It didn’t hurt to ask; he’d likely just taunt me somehow and make me leave. I felt around for where he was, seeing Krahinn was yet again on the roof. Why does he like the sky so much? It took a lot of will power not to sigh in frustration as I prepared to scale up the castle to Krahinn again. Oh well. I went out a window and began climbing up to the top. On the bright side, it was decent practice and a minor workout. It took all of three seconds for Krahinn to have an eye following me. You could use to bring me up. That wasn’t Krahinn’s style though. It took me about fifteen minutes to climb all the way to the top where Krahinn was. He was laying against the spire again, looking right into the rising sun. It was hard for me to describe his face, as he clearly wanted to tease me, but there was this odd somberness to it.

“Good morning Krahinn.” I told him politely.

“Shameless bezka ain’t ya?” Krahinn asked with a chuckle. His other eyes were looking at me a bit amused.

“I had a question I was hoping you could answer.” I informed him.

“Oh really? You didn’t want to come admire the sunrise with me?” Krahinn taunted as his face turned into the painted-on smile I was familiar with.

“We can do that.” I agreed. Krahinn laughed to himself a bit.

“Wow, you must really want my help.” Krahinn teased. I could already tell the gears were turning in his head.

“Is there a way to view past memories? Like, recall the memory and be able to review or relive it?” I pondered. Krahinn looked pained for a second. For the briefest moment, his face slipped. He still had the fake smile projected on his face, but his eyes and rest of his face looked utterly miserable for a moment.

“ are free from time in a sense. It has many useful applications, but it also means it is hard for us to let things go. There is a that is designed to mimic this; just know, once you learn it, you can never unlearn it.” Krahinn warned me. Wait. He didn’t say no.

“Grand observation.” Krahinn mocked. It did shake me that Krahinn gave an actual warning rather than mocked me.

“It should. This is as much a burden as it is a benefit.” Krahinn confirmed. The fake smile was soon replaced with his real one.

“Why are you so forthcoming?” I probed. Krahinn laughed as he looked at me.

“Luna, if I decide to help Nil or he wins our wager, I am not one to spite myself. Question, in the timeline you remember, how much could you harm Nil?” Krahinn asked pointedly.

“I’d have been lucky to scratch him. Our resistance and fighting were indirect and more to sabotage him rather than deal with the demon none of us could do more than inconvenience.” I confessed with a heavy sigh.

“Exactly; you are dead weight. If you want to not be a massive liability, you need to shape up and train harder as your current efforts are woefully inadequate. Lux is at least trying to catch up to Nil.” Krahinn confirmed. His words stung, but he was probably right.

“Probably? Undeniably. You, Lux, and the rest of the family matter too much to him which is unfortunate because you all collectively lack his ability. Granted, that does Nil a huge favor on that front.” Krahinn snapped. I felt a bit defeated. Are we that much of a burden?

“Yes. Stop thinking about it and get working on doing better. I might be an , but I value my time too much to waste it on this drivel.” Krahinn informed me. His eyes were wildly unamused.

“Okay.” I agreed. Wait, was Krahinn trying to manipulate me into learning the ? Krahinn began laughing with tears rolling down his eyes.

“Like I’d be this blatant. If the truth makes you feel that desperate, that’s on you. Just don’t waste my time with you coming to terms with your uselessness. Frankly, I’m amazed Nil puts up with such a lackluster being.” Krahinn told me between fits of laughter. I was trying hard not to feel insulted or humiliated, but his words stung.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I snarled at him. Krahinn was still laughing at me.

“Nil has talent, ability, intelligence, and even comes from royalty. What about lil Luna? No. The only thing special about you is as far as I can tell, you are the first Regressor. You were given an amazing gift and opportunity and all you have done is squander it. I guess you did become Nil’s plus one, but that’s more on him being weak.” Krahinn mocked. He was really laughing now. His laugh is so grating.

“Aww, someone doesn’t like my laugh?” Krahinn taunted, smiling viciously. I took a deep, composing breath.

“Nil is not weak. Him liking me, is not weakness.” I spat at Krahinn. Krahinn absolutely lost it at that. He was laughing so hard he began rolling down the roof; his smoke hand shot out and caught himself before he fell off.

“So delusional. You are currently his biggest weakness because you are pathetically fragile. But the reason Nil likes you is weakness. His desire to belong and have the happiness and things he lacked in his previous life make him weak.” Krahinn clarified, wiping a few tears away.

“Liking someone you can talk to and feel normal around isn’t weak.” I snarled at Krahinn. Krahinn had an odd expression for a brief moment, but it quickly reverted back to his mocking one.

“Wanting to fit in and having a connection isn’t the part that makes him weak; the fact he is spineless to keep what is around him happy and stay fitting in is. Nil needs to learn to be and accept himself if he wants to survive. It is a horrible habit he developed that will need addressing should he manage to win.” Krahinn explained. I felt an odd pang as he said that.

“He’s not spineless.” I grumbled. Krahinn gave me an oh really face in response.

“You might have a point.” I conceded. Krahinn is so annoying.

“I’m sorry, reality is often cold and unpleasant. Now, breakfast is in about five minutes, so do you want to learn the or not?” Krahinn checked with his fake smile again.

“Yes.” I told him. Part of me wanted to ask a few clarifying questions, but Krahinn was right. I was currently way too weak.

“Relax, take a deep breath, and do not resist.” Krahinn instructed as he began stretching.

“Resist what?” I probed while he popped his neck.

“When someone uses the I’m about to, there is a natural urge to push back against it. Do not do that, as it’s only going to make it hurt more.” Krahinn informed me.

“Fine. I’m as ready as I’m ever going to be.” I stated. Krahinn let out a small chuckle before putting his ethereal hand to my head.

Oh, forling Lords above. I wanted to scream as I felt Krahinn forcibly imprint the information of the into my brain. My legs went to give out from the sheer agony of the . I should have asked a clarifying question. Why did I not notice he said more before starting this? Krahinn enveloped me in his as he used his other hand to stabilize me as I thrashed. This was by far one of the most wildly uncomfortable and excruciating sensations I ever had the displeasure of experiencing. How could I even push back? This was beyond painful. Please be over soon; wow this was truly horrible. As quickly as the pain began, it ended. My mind felt like it was nearly split in two as Krahinn looked at me with an amused smile.

“Why didn’t you warn me?!” I cried at him which only got a snort of amusement.

“What’s a bit of pain for a few minutes to learn a powerful ? It’s called by the way. Don’t know why it has that name, but some people name in practical, to the point fashions, and then there are morons who want to be a bit more poetic.” Krahinn explained with a shrug.

“Thank you for helping me.” I told him as I rubbed my temples.

“Again. And it's because you need a lot of it.” Krahinn taunted as we were suddenly in the dining room. Nil gave me a quizzical look as I suddenly appeared with Krahinn who plopped down.

“Where’s the food?!” Krahinn whined not even half a second after sitting.

“On it’s way.” Nil informed him.

“But I’m hungry now.” Krahinn groaned. Trying to understand him was honestly challenging. All the adults looked at him with a sigh.

“King Krahinn, please wait a few more moments for the food to arrive.” Emperor Father Nil requested in a polite tone.

“Is the fluffball going to try and swipe the fish on me again?” Krahinn laughed, a few of his eyes glaring at Lux.

“My fish.” Lux spat back at him. I just had to wait until I was free later to use it to review the past a bit. Part of me wondered why Krahinn called the a burden.

Because it is easy to cast it in your sleep. Events of the day that remind you of old things might cause you to accidentally cast the for your entire dream to be consumed by it. Krahinn explained to me mentally. Was he ever not snooping on our thoughts?

You have no idea how effortless it is to me. Everyone but the physical kids already adapted to keep their minds shielded. Krahinn answered. I still wasn’t sure if he did that to annoy us or not. Krahinn’s chuckle clarified nothing.

What has Krahinn happy? Nil inquired, seeing how cheerful Krahinn was.

I’m not overly sure. He’s hard to understand. I told Nil. Why he was cheerful was beyond me; I guess he found my hopelessness amusing.

Okay. Nil quipped as he looked at Lux. The two bobbed their heads back and forth at each other as they had a quick mental conversation.

Is everything okay? I probed, seeing the two glare at each other.

Lux wants to duel in three days, and I better be ready. Nil chuckled. Lux and Nil both trained hard. I thought I did, but Krahinn clearly thought it needed vast improvement.

Someone is confident. I teased him. Nil smirked.

Because I don’t think Lux realizes Krahinn showed me a very nice . Lux is going to have a blast. Nil answered with a sinister smile. Lux clearly told him something mentally.

“If you are going to chat mentally, just say it so we can all hear it. It’s not that interesting.” Krahinn interjected with a bit of a yawn.

“Thanks for being so helpful this morning.” I thanked Krahinn again. His eyes narrowed as he debated why I thanked him again. Just need to wait for after my lessons to try the .