Ridley

Screams echoed through the ballroom as demons began to run left and right, evacuating as quickly as possible. I gazed up at the beast, my entire body trembling. The thing was huge and resembled some sort of boar crossed with a bear. It towered over everyone, its head almost brushing the top of the giant ballroom. Even lord Lyell had thrown down his weapon, running with the others towards the exit. I instinctively fumbled for my sword only to remember with a start that Vandel still had it in a multidimensional pocket.

The beast let out a growl so loud that it shook the entire ballroom floor sending me to my knees. My breathing quickened as I scanned the room for anything I could use to defend myself. That's when the monster's gaze suddenly locked on me. I could feel its stare practically seething into my chest. It was going to lunge at me and I was completely and utterly defenseless.

And then all of a sudden the creature simply stopped.

It was as if the beast had been frozen in place. I glanced around and realized to my shock that the bone monster wasn't the only one. Glasses appeared to be frozen mid fall, the last of the demons escaping were stuck in place. It appeared everything around me was set on pause except myself. In panicked confusion I slowly rose to my feet.

"I stopped time for you," a calm voice said behind me. "I thought you might need a moment or two to collect yourself from your latest near death experience before lunging straight back into battle."

I spun around and came face to face with the man standing there. He was tall, white hair cascading down over his shoulders.

My eyes widened in recognition. "I know you...you're the man from my dream!"

The man nodded, smiling. "I'm glad you remembered. Dreams are usually the easiest way for me to contact my owner. Well...unless it's a dire situation. Once in awhile when something happens like this I really do need to take matters into my own hands."

I blinked, processing what he had just said. "Your...owner?"

The man nodded. "Yes, you own me. You have for awhile now."

I shook my head violently. "I...I don't know what you're talking about. I would never...I mean uh...I don't own anyone..."

The man laughed now. "Don't you recognize me? I've been by your side this entire time." He extended an arm, pulling up his sleeve to display a long line of shimmering diamonds curling up the length of his arm.

"Those diamonds," I whispered softly, "they're the same as my sword."

"So have you put it together yet?" The man let out a soft laugh. "I am your sword."

"Wait you're...you're Crystalbreaker?" This all seemed impossible yet here he was, standing before me.

The man nodded. "Yes, but you can just call me Crystal. I've been doing my best to watch over you all this time, just as I watched over your father."

I stared at him, wide eyed. "You knew my father?"

Crystal nodded. "Of course. I was his sword too after all. In fact, I'd even consider your father a close friend of mine. A sword is often a lifetime companion." He smiled at me now, reaching forward to give my hair a little ruffle. "He would be proud of you. I hope you know that." I felt a slight flutter in my chest at those words, I had worked my entire life to try and be someone my father could be proud of and the sword's words meant more to me than anything. Crystal cast a wayward glance towards the bone monster now. "Well," he said arching a brow. "Are you ready to fight it?"

I stared up at the frozen creature as well. "I want to..." I said slowly, "but I have no weapon."

Crystal chuckled. "What are you talking about? You have me!"

"Yes but prince Vandel put you in a multidimensional pocket. I don't have you here with me."

This brought about another laugh from the weapon. "My boy," he said softly. "I have just manifested into a human form and frozen time for you and you don't think I could do something as simple as transporting myself here?" He flashed me a bright smile. "Don't worry. We'll defeat this thing together. So, let me ask you again...are you ready to fight?"

I gave him a small nod. "Yes."

The second the words left my mouth the ballroom practically exploded back into motion. The creature roared, the glasses shattered, the demons continued to run. My gaze fell to my hand and with a start I realized I was tightly clutching Crystalbreaker.

I could feel an energy surging through my body from the arm that held the sword. And then all of a sudden I was moving forward, it was as if my body was acting on its own...as if the energy racing from the sword into me was controlling my movements.

The creature lunged at me but I sprung forward, slashing deeply across the monster's leg to which it let out a loud howl in pain that echoed around the ballroom. Next I jabbed forward, striking it in the eye which caused the creature to let out a blood curdling screech. While it was distracted in one swift movement I found myself jumping onto the creatures back, holding onto its fur as I pulled myself up towards its neck. All the while the creature bucked from under me but I held on, continuing to scramble towards its neck. It was surreal, my fights with bone monsters up till now had felt impossible, like I'd never be able to win, yet with Crystalbreaker guiding my body it felt like every move was perfect and slaying this giant monster was as simple as killing a deer.

I smiled slightly, offering a silent thanks to my sword for lending me its power (and quite literally saving my life) before I slowly raised the blade over the nape of the bone monster's neck.

Vandel

I had finally managed to bring the last group of pets to neutral territory. I carried two human teenagers in my talons and a small human girl on my back. When I landed the three finally dismounted. My breathing was ragged as I struggled to pull myself together enough to make one more flight back....though I wasn't sure I wanted to see what awaited me when I got there. Was I going to have to see Ridley's head on a spike? I swallowed hard, hating the stinging sensation in the corners of my eyes. I should have tried harder. Fuck, wasn't there anything I could have done to save him?

Why...why had he done something so stupid?

Why had I let him?

HELL why had I helped him?

Suddenly I felt a small tug on one of my wings, I glanced over, seeing the young girl there. I looked to her now, surprised she would even want to approach me in this horrific hybrid state.

Her gaze quickly darted to the ground when I looked to her. "Uh..." she said softly. "I wanted to thank you."

I was taken slightly aback by her words. "You wanted to...what?" I asked slowly.

"Thank you." She looked to me now, meeting my gaze, the hesitance gone. "If you hadn't helped us....we...." her lip quivered slightly. "You have no idea how much pain we were in. Every moment was hell in that place and you and that knight...you both risked everything to rescue us. You're...you're both my heros."

My eyes widened in shock. "I think you're mistaken. I'm not a hero."

The girl laughed softly. "You saved us didn't you? I don't know what else to call it. I've never seen a demon who would take that kind of a risk for a human and it...it almost gives me hope that maybe things will be different someday." She offered a small smile. "I think I speak for each and every one of us when I say we'll never forget what you and that knight have done for us...we'll make sure his sacrifice is never forgotten. I promise."

I bowed my head. "Thank you. He deserves that. And..." I could feel that burning sensation in my eyes again, my mouth felt dry and I quickly stared down at my feet hoping the girl couldn't see. "When you recount the tale could you leave me kissing him out of it? It was...all on me. I don't want his reputation to be ruined by people thinking he was dirtied by a demon. It wasn't like that so-"

"Don't worry," the girl whispered softly. And then suddenly she leaned forward, pulling me into a hug. I automatically tensed, shocked that a human child would ever offer such contact to a demon.

Finally she let go. "Goodbye demon," she said softly. "And never forget that you're my hero." I swallowed hard before offering her a small nod.

And with that I took flight once more, flying into the night back towards the demon palace and whatever horrors of what happened to Ridley awaited me there.