“What do you think lies in the depths of hell?

Noelle pondered about the question Elza had just imposed on her. For the past few minutes, the female demon orbited her, drawing out jagged symbols and markings on the ground with a twisted dagger she had in her possession. Noelle didn’t stop once to consider the moral implications of getting help from a demon.

“Other demons? Tortured souls?” Noelle wildly guessed. Hell was a concept parents often told their children about to scare them into obedience; Noelle herself had always believed hell to be constantly in flames, with rivers of lava containing the charred bodies of a thousand sinners and torture devices lining the sides for the especially naughty ones.

“It isn’t as bad as what people think,” Elza chuckled to herself as she continued carving markings into the ground. Noelle wondered how she was able to see in the dark.

“We’ve got your tortured souls, but they all get used to it after a few decades,” the demon continued, “but we also have a section of hell dedicated to non-human creatures.”

“Like what, dogs?”

Elza laughed:

“No no no, I’m referring to demonic creatures. Luckily for you humans, specialized monster-hunting demons like me keep them at bay.”

“Is that your job? Capture and kill monsters?” Noelle scoffed, “since when did demons care about humans?”

“I prefer the use of the word ‘taming’. These creatures are wonders of nature, each of them unique in their own way.” Elza seemed to have drifted off into her own world and Noelle had to clear her throat to pull her back to the task at hand.

“Four centuries ago, I recall.”

Elza paused and finished up the last of the markings. A haunted look rested, dormant, behind the pair of dark, unearthly eyes, glinting with subdued malice. Noelle could almost see the desolate cities in them, burning and smouldering, echoing the screams of its citizens.

“Daechlador, the great demon dragon. He’s killed a fair share of Angels and we’ve lost our own brethren in the process of capturing him. It took twenty demons and twenty weeks to finally bring him down; Daechaldor thinks himself an unholy God but now he rests under my thumb, powerless.”

Noelle saw that Elza was looking at her peculiarly, almost admiring her.

“Anyway, I never really liked Dallen. I’ve even thought of killing him myself on some occasions. Kid’s crossed the line this time. I’m gonna bind you in a pact with Daechlador, he’ll aid you in your vengeance.”

“You’re going to what?!” Noelle gawked at Elza, “isn’t he dangerous?”

“Of course he is, why do you think I’m entrusting him with you? Would you like a demonic bunny rabbit to accompany you instead?” Elza motioned to two circular markings on the ground near Noelle’s feet, “now put your feet there.”

Noelle did so. Hesitantly.

“Now what?”

“Your hands. I’m going to have to draw some of your blood. That will summon Daechlador and bind him to you.” Elza’s smile was now almost malicious, her eyes glinting with dark feverish excitement, but with her heart pounding in her chest, Noelle failed to take note of the potential dangers that lay behind Elza’s expression. Instead, her eyes were fixated on the small, crooked dagger Elza produced from beneath her clothing.

Trembling in an ecstasy of fear and excitement, Noelle’s outstretched hands wavered every so slightly in the night. A quick slash was all it took for the skin of her palms to rupture, spilling blood all over the grass. It seeped into the earth - a dark, crimson stain that mingled with the soil.

In a matter of seconds, the blood had disappeared. It had convulsed and writhed around, attacking the soil like a small pool of thrashing snakes before dissipating completely.

Suddenly, the patch of earth enclosed by Elza’s strange, carved symbols grew dim. The grass and the dirt turned pitch black, as if not a single fraction of light could touch them. Nothing but sharp silhouettes of the grass blades encircled Noelle.

Then, the symbols started glowing with a dark red hue; they lit up in no particular order, spontaneously and erratically. They threw up towering obelisks of intense maroon light, beams that seemed almost tangible.

“Elza?” Noelle panicked, realizing that she could not see anything past the obelisks. Claustrophobia took over as she found herself alone in the cage of light, suspended in the middle of a vast void of darkness beneath her. She looked frantically around, the desire to flee almost overpowering her, but afraid of stepping out of the spot Elza had designated her to stand on, lest her life be compromised out of her own folly and cowardice. That was when she saw a set of inhuman, luminescent amber eyes glaring at her from the shadows.

Those eyes were huge.

Hisses echoed around her in the night, then a roar erupted, reverberating the ground that Noelle stood on. A strong gust of wind enveloped and whirled around her above the sound of leathery flapping. Instinctively, she made to step back, but before she could place her foot one step behind her, Elza’s thunderous voice jolted her senses and she froze.

“DO NOT, MOVE.”

Obediently, but quite unsure and unconscious of what she was actually doing, Noelle’s foot automatically returned to its previous position above the marking carved on the earth. She held her breath, then released it sharply when all of a sudden, a wicked curved claw pushed out of the darkness beyond and smashed itself down onto one of the obelisks.

Noelle had been sure that, made of light, they were not tangible, yet the obelisk shattered, breaking into shards of light that scattered everywhere.

Something that resembled a suspended whirlpool of angry darkness advanced into Noelle’s cage - her cage - led by the very same pair of bright amber eyes. A crooked, contemptuous and condescending grin accompanied the eyes and a pair of huge, blade-like horns were angled in her direction. The monstrosity that stood tall and proud before her was, without a doubt, Daechlador, the great demon dragon. Everything about this fantastic beast pointed towards villainy and evil, from its onyx black scales to its jagged, battle-scarred wings. A suffocating, dark aura permeated its hide, infusing with the atmosphere and darkening the surroundings as if a translucent veil had been pulled over Noelle’s eyes.

Petrified and confused, Noelle could only stand as still as a statue, holding her breath as the dragon drew closer. She knew that it was enjoying every second of watching Noelle suppress her urge to run, savouring the fear in the air that intensified with each passing moment.

“So,” Daechlador finally spoke, his voice a deep, rumbling baritone, “why are you down here, mortal?” The dragon circled around Noelle as she tried to pull words out of her parched throat; she watched him fully enter the cage, swishing a long, bladed tail as he went. The blade was unlike any sword or knife she had seen; the mere sight of its edge chilled her skin.

“Do you even know where you are?” Daechlador asked. He was behind Noelle now and she could feel his disgustingly hot breath behind her back. Despite having her muscles locked in position, she managed to reply a weak and barely audible: “I think?”

“Aw,” Daechlador theatrically cooed, “you’re just as helpless and clueless as everyone else that has fallen before me. I’ve been hungry for a long, long while. You have certainly offered me a great appetizer of fear. Don’t mind me now, but I am dying to help myself to the main course!”

The obelisks of light shattered all at once and Noelle found herself back in the grass fields outside Blackfog. Cold, night air revived her senses and her motor functioned again, allowing her to exhale and finally break the sweat that had somehow been frozen underneath her skin the whole time.

“Hmm? Where am I?” Daechlador asked aloud from behind her and Noelle instinctively spun and backed away. The dragon basked in the moonlight, gazing out into the starry sky in wonderment, as if he had never in his lifetime beheld such a sight.  Noelle could not see it, but his amber eyes had softened.

“Daechlador!” Elza exclaimed, spreading her arms and walking towards the dragon with a level of confidence Noelle found absurd to possess, considering how Daechlador was responsible for past genocides and general chaos and destruction.

“How does my lovely dragon?”

Daechlador shot a murderous look at her and his nostrils flared open.

“You, you incoherent degenerate of a demoness! You released me. Why? I demand to know what terms you have freed me under!”

“Calm down, sweetheart, and allow me to explain. See, the moment you stepped into the summoning perimeter I conjured earlier, you were bound to this mortal girl. Her name is Noelle Declan. Now be good and speak your pleasantries.”

Noelle blinked in confusion. It’s done? It’s over?

“THIS IS ATROCIOUS!” Daechlador gave off a series what seemed like infuriated dragon howls, stomping the ground, eventually ending off with multiple grumpy snorts that blasted hot, angry breaths of air into Noelle’s face.

“Noelle?” Elza smiled sweetly at her. “Could you kindly brief our dearest friend here what you require of him? It is your pact with him, after all.”

The girl eyed the dragon wearily. The dragon glared back at her. But all of a sudden, the bloody scenes of Elric’s death came rushing back to her all at once, and she remembered her cause. She remembered vengeance, and revenge.

With an icy stare, she spoke: “I reckon you find Angels particularly delectable?”

Daechlador narrowed his eyes. “Well. Maybe,” he growled with perceptible reluctance.

“Assist me in clipping the wings of Dallen Braely, how does that sound?”

“Are you ordering me around, mortal?”

Noelle folded her arms and drove her foot into the ground. Again, she found strength to return Daechlador’s glare, to assume control of the situation and solidify her presence.

“Listen you half-wit. I’m not bound to you. You are bound to me! If I am giving you any orders, you better damn well follow them!”

Elza clapped her hands and laughed. The banter between Noelle and Daechlador was too much for her to handle; it was like watching two of the the hottest heads in the county compete with one another on who could annoy the other more.

“So feisty! She’s a keeper, Daechlador-”

“This is not the least bit humorous, you cur!” the dragon bellowed, rearing his head back as if he was preparing for an attack on Noelle: “you called me out here to listen to a whiny, mortal half-ling and have me help her greasly bottom kill a worthless Angel. You two are a waste of my time, even though I have an infinite amount to live. Pact or not, I refuse to serve lesser beings who aren’t even fit to spare their bosoms for doormats!”

“I don’t think you have much of a choice, my dear.” In a split second, Elza materialized her long, lashing whip, and in a deft movement, struck both Noelle and Daechlador with it.

Both crumpled to the floor.

“AGHHH! IT BURNS!” Daechlador shrieked, howling bloody murder. He covered his head with his claws, pawing at where it hurt the most.

Back on the ground, Noelle felt a searing pain flare through her neck, as though she had been scalded by a smithy’s hot iron tongs. She grasped wildly at the skin, vaguely feeling the rough texture of something carved crudely into her flesh.

“It’s very simple, Daechlador,” Elza checked her nails nonchalantly as she spoke, “her death will result in yours. If you refuse to help her, she will pursue the Angel alone and likely die.”

“No,” Daechlador spat into the ground bitterly, “that cannot be.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“Curse you! Curse you and whatever mongrels and cattles you have for your family! I’ll make you pay with more than your life-!”

Daechlador cut his string of insults and threats short as he felt Noelle walk past him, back towards the town of Blackfog. She had left without a word, leaving only the rustling leaves to signal her exit.

“You! Where do you think you’re going?”

Noelle cocked her head back and raised one of her throwing knives for Daechlador and Elza to see.

“I’m going to kill an Angel,” she replied.