Daemonium

"Don't... be... scared..." Words meant to be a reassuring coo came through a tightly clenched jaw, gravel grating through those quite obviously unused vocal cords. Red eyes were wide, gleaming and lost in madness so wildly that it was clear he'd made a home in it long ago. Mismatched pupils, his left dilated and his right not, quickly motioned toward his right in an instant like a classic cat wall clock, locking on to the sight of the young woman beside him. Domina. His heart beat steadily as his mind warped her view, her figure had grown so eerily similar to Zuriel's in her maturation that it made it nigh impossible for him to think about anything else but her mother when laying his eyes on Domina.

Adrenaline soared through his veins as he thought of the Demon Mother, the mere thought of her making his paws radiate in pain as a reminder of the work they had been put through when he had left to find her. He did not blame her for abandoning him, he knew he never deserved her forgiveness nor her love in the first place... but the hope she had instilled in him being stripped away broke the fragile mind he already had when she disappeared. He assumed this was all due to him for failing the demons, by not meeting their demands.. how could he forget he was a slave? He had been so distracted by Zuriel's love, by starting a life with her... he got careless. He was growling again. Quickly, the low rumbling of his vocals quieted once he was aware.. he only hoped the sound of the molten rock shifting beneath them and around them was enough to mask his slip up in front of Domina.

Not that.. the young woman was fooled in the slightest that her father was sane and not prone to involuntary sounds and gestures. She'd come to learn this to be a part of him, he was something wicked and strange... and he'd been this way for as long as her memory would allow her to recall. The current nightmare she was living in seemed to go on for so long now, she'd forgotten the souls she once knew in Ruina. She'd forgotten her other brothers and sisters, but the smell of sulfur was becoming intoxicating as nostalgia overwhelmed her. No, no, no. Disconnect again. Domina did her best to push away the flood of memories, the smell of her mother, the smell of her siblings. Missing them was just too much for her to let herself fall into again.

She looked to the man at her side, the ear furthest from him folding back against her head to express her uncertainty while the one closest to him refused to let the man out of her radar entirely. She didn't look at him, but she could feel his eyes on her. His words were something she had come to learn to ignore, but they'd been so few and far between lately that the sound of his voice at all was shocking enough she couldn't help but pay attention. Don't be scared? Scared of what...? Well, fuck. Now she was scared.

Elias looked away from her only as the earth beneath them began to shake and vibrations strong enough to move pebbles across the volcanic plateau around them captivated him for a brief moment. The power was enough to make the demon stall, his paws coming to a complete stop while he looked upward to the glowing rim of the mountaintop, rockets firing from within and lighting up the ashen sky above the mountain. The rumbling subsided as the pressure built up within the volcano began to release and bubble around that rim, though only spread into a few thin, trickling rivers of red.

The sound of Katar's voice rang in Elias' mind, her soft angelic laugh humbling him as he witnessed the work of the Ruina demons. That marred muzzle wrinkled slightly as his black lips pulled back around his thickly grown in teeth, the pleasant feeling of being home again washing over him to bring peace in his madness if only for just a brief moment.

'Bring her to us, Elias. You owe us...' Katar's voice purred in his ears, dripping with desire in it's beckoning.

Without putting any thought into it at all, his paws began to move again.. long limbs carrying the tall beast further across the warm ground beneath him. He looked again to his side, checking for his daughter as he continued. She wasn't moving, her eyes locked at the very peak of the volcano as she watched those rivers crawl down the blackened sides of Mount Volkan. Her own head had become dizzy, indiscernible whispers gaining her attention as they became progressively louder. She didn't know what they were saying, but she knew what they were. Whether she was brainwashed by her father's fantasies or she shared the same madness as he, she didn't know.. but she'd done her best to mute these whispers and ignore their existence every time she heard them. Now would be no different. Still.. this.. was all too bizarre. She'd been here before, she knew it. She'd heard those whispers before, she felt them. The sky was alive with fire, fire water flowed from a mountain that shook the earth. How was she supposed to stay calm, to keep her sanity? This was all too surreal. What if everything was real, what if her father wasn't crazy...? What if these whispers meant something? Whatever they were saying, she couldn't make it out.. but they seemed very vocal in this place.

"Domina!" He growled, growing impatient the longer she stood there staring. Her narrow head snapped toward him, her lithe frame nearly jumping forward as she obediently complied. Whatever he was on to, she wanted to know. Suddenly, she was inspired by all the stories he'd told her. She had to see this out, had to see what her father was trying to show her. Maybe she hadn't lost him, maybe they really were... legends. She ran forward to walk beside him, setting aside her skepticism as her heart raced in synchronization with Elias' own. Together they climbed in between the flowing rivers of lava, even as the air burned their eyes, nose, and lungs.. they kept going.

Her little veins were swollen with adrenaline now too as fear started to grow within her heart the nearer they came to the volcano's crown. She remembered what her father said... don't be scared. She was fearless, she was a Praetor. A descendant of the demon Apollyon, of the first wolf. She had nothing to fear. She watched her father's steps carefully, following his lead perfectly to ensure she didn't slip and ruin this whole thing. The climb was tough on her young legs, but traveling way past the point of exhaustion had become something both of them had become used to. They reached the top and Elias turned to look to Domina. She met his gaze with wide, fiery eyes that were eager to discover what they were getting into up here on Mount Volkan.

"Do you feel their souls?" Elias whispered.

Domina lowered her ears, her eyes narrowing as skepticism returned to her naturally. She'd been so used to fighting the insanity he was trying to infect her with that she couldn't help it, it was reactionary. She waited a moment and took in a deep breath, the smell of sulfur making her light-headed once again.. her features softened. She wasn't sure what she felt, but.. it was something.

She nodded.

Elias was surprised, to say the least... though it made sense that she had come to this clarity at this moment. It had to be the work of the Ruina demons, she was so close to them now they were already digging their claws into her mind and preparing to claim what was rightfully theirs.

"They are proud. To be laid to rest here, of all places, is a great honor for Ruina souls. The fire within this mountain is the fire of Apollyon, to be returned to it is to be returned to him. These souls run with Ruina for eternity, as the strongest entity of strength there is. Who wouldn't be proud of that?" Another rumble shook the earth strong enough to cause Domina to grip the ground with her toes and bend at her knees, trying to anchor herself. Suddenly, she was much more afraid. Her father's words mixed with the uncertainty of her grounding.. she wanted to leave. He was starting to sound crazy again...

"Stop, child. Stand up straight. This... is... an... honor." His eyes narrowed as he barked his words, his entire snout rippling into a snarl in an instant. The fur of his mantle came to life like wings reaching for the heavens while his heart soared in this moment. This was no ordinary sacrifice. This was a sacrifice of his own blood, of Apollyon's own blood. Of a defiant brat who didn't deserve that blood, who needed to be reclaimed. This would surely gain the attention of the demons, this.. would bring the Demon Mother back... wouldn't it?

"W-what?" Her eyes pleaded as they looked up to him, then quickly flickered back to the burning sight of the core of the mountain. It was so bright it hurt to stare at it directly, but she had to.. they were far too close to that heat. She could feel her pawpads burning, she could feel the earth threatening to crumble beneath her. Everything within her was telling her to run, but she was holding on the hope that there was something here she needed to learn, something here that would solve the mystery that was her father and restore her faith in him. His words were barely making sense to her, but perhaps... they soon would. She felt so close to the truth she could taste it.

Her world slowed as she watched her father's muscles spring to life, his titanic frame lunging toward her as his jowls swung open.. strings of saliva glistening with apparent embers as they reflected the fiery glow that surrounded them. Suddenly, she understood what he was trying to show her. Suddenly, her heart and her eyes wanted to burst as she realized what he was meaning to do. He was intending on 'laying her to rest' here before she was even dead. She was so afraid, so mad at herself for letting her hope put her in this position. She knew better than this. She didn't know when she started screaming, but scream came so thick and strong that it burned her throat. Her legs kicked against the ground and she lost her footing, her fragile body beginning to tumble back down the mountain.

Elias' jowls snapped shut on the skin of the right side of her neck before she fell out of reach. His own body slid a few inches while his talons created vales to keep him upright. The danger only seemed to fuel him as he finally found stability again. The strength of the muscles in his neck and back lifted the light girl quite easily in his adrenaline-fueled frenzy, in moments he returned them to the rim of the volcano. She kicked at his chest so hard it triggered his instincts to act much faster than he had initially intended, he had wanted to do this slow.. do this right... but there was something instinctual that overcame him with that kick. Her scream rang across the mountains only for a split second longer as he tossed her violently down against the rocks beneath them, her scream turning into a painful whimper. He threw her against it so hard it winded her, fracturing her ribs and her skull instantaneously though she was not dead quite yet.

The memories of Elias' parents' funeral flooded his mind as his teeth sank deeper into her skin and then pulled apart flesh and arteries. As he swallowed her flesh in reality, he swallowed the flesh of his parents' in his memories. It was formal to do so, it was the only way to send off a Praetor... and it is the least he could do considering her sacrifice. She would live on, through him, and through his eyes guided by the Ruina demons... she would finally understand everything he was trying to teach her, everything she had been so persistent about defying.

The pain of being eaten alive sent Domina into shock, but she felt every second of it up until there was no more blood left in her veins to fuel her brain enough to stay alive. Minutes went by before she found peace, but eventually.. she did.

Elias picked out her jugular first to make the death quick, then moved to the side of her chest to pull back her tiny ribs. He dug until he found her heart and pulled it from her, devouring it as means to always keep it with him. She was dead not long after that, though he went next to pluck her glossy, still open eyes from her skull in an attempt to always let her watch on through him. Once he was satisfied with what he had chosen to take with him in this life, he looked down upon her mutilated and still-bleeding corpse in admiration. He would give her to Apollyon, undoubtedly, but something about her peacefulness in death kept him stuck in this moment. Some part of him screamed through his madness, sobbed for the loss of his child.. but it was so estranged from who he was, he barely knew how to recognize the feeling of guilt. This left him.. eerily still, barely breathing.. disconnected from everything else in this world other than the two of them and the mountain.