The Demon King's Hero Of Light 99 Chapter 99 Eyes Of The Abyss

She had no experience with children, but she was pretty sure they should be loud and boisterous, not quiet and somber. Some of those babies should have been crying from one reason or another, yet not a single one was fussing. Standing there, watching as they filed into the throne room, she saw that they were all wearing clean, new clothing, and even shoes, but that some of them were limping as they walked. Others had a strange gait, that she recognized from when she was in the pits. She had walked like that after having been whipped.

Teleporting to her throne elicited a few gasps from some of the children, who gazed at her with a mixture of fear and amazement. The demoness that entered behind some of the children, walked with a slow gait, keeping a close eye on the children who flinched as she pa.s.sed.

"Your Majesty?" she said, curtsying deeply, and remaining until she realized Aella wasn't going to tell her to stand. "You summoned me and the children?"

"Where are the rest of the children?"

The demoness jerked at the question before answering. "Not all of the children were well enough to come, Your Majesty."

"I ordered ALL of the orphans, not just the well ones," said Aella, her voice taught with the anger she was keeping contained. "Fetch them!"
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She curtsied again, though not as deep, and left much quicker than she had arrived, not even glancing at the children she left.

"Orolon," she said as he entered, looking back at the retreating demoness, before turning to bow at Aella. "Follow her and make sure every orphan is brought, whether they are on their death bed or naked!"

He didn't hesitate to leave the room, not even bothering to bow.

"Children," said Aella, in a much softer tone. "How many of you have been whipped?"

None of them answered, barely glancing at each other with wide eyes.

"Why are the babies not fussing and crying? You must answer me, I am your King."

One of the girls stepped forward, her curly hair tightly tied back. "The ma'am gave them medicine to stay quiet, King, and we've all been whipped. She says it's to remind us who's in charge."

Aella frowned, the fire raging in her veins demanding she burn something, particularly that demoness who was supposed to be caring for these children.

"Show me your marks," she said, trying not to growl.

The children hesitated for only a moment, before setting down the smaller ones, and the babies, and removing their s.h.i.+rts. Some were stiffer than others, begging those next to them to help them remove their clothing. As the blue marks, blood and scars began to emerge, Aella was shocked to see that some had wings at one point that were cut off. Jumping to her feet, she rushed towards them, scaring some into cowering against the wall. Pulling the s.h.i.+rts off of the smallest children, she found that some of them had their wings cut off as well. They should have been howling in pain, but whatever medicine the demoness had given them made them too sleepy to do much more than whimper. Even the babies weren't spared. Red marks covered their backs and none of them had wings either.

Aella was so enraged, she was all but vibrating.

"Xathtak," she managed to spit out, when she could keep from screaming, "Fetch my healers and Josephine!"

The demoness advisor almost fell rus.h.i.+ng from the room. Ernun shuffled his feet anxiously as Aella glanced at him.

"Would you like for me to fetch the royal seamstress and tailor?" he asked, obviously looking for an excuse to flee.

"Yes, and get Edgar in here, too," she hissed.

He fled the room, also not bothering to bow. Josephine arrived a few minutes later, as Aella paced, unable to calm down with the sight before her.

The moment Josephine saw the condition of the children, she gasped and went straight to work, healing them.

"What happened?" she asked, as she soothed the painful cuts on their backs with her water.

Aella watched the children flinch away from the human and her magical water, but the moment the water touched them, they visibly calmed down and allowed her to do her thing.

"These are the orphans of my city. I found out that they had been being abused, instead of cared for, as they should. The one responsible has been sent to fetch those too 'ill' to come when I summoned."

Josephine's face was all she needed to justify her rage. "How can any child survive this? Some of these scars have been reopened so many times, there's scaring on the bones beneath! And their wings! Aella, this is horrifying!"

"I know," Aella growled.

When the royal healers arrived, Aella had them start with the babies, removing the poison in their systems and then healing them. The problem was that all of her healers were getting tired and there were still more children being brought, who were supposedly in even worse condition than this.

By the time the demoness returned, with children who were on the verge of death, and only blankets clothing them, who were also covered in wounds and open sores that were seeping from infection, Aella was beyond enraged. There was no word for the rage she felt at the creature that had caused this.

The healers were all looking at the children who were being brought in by servants Orolon had grabbed to help, with hopeless looks on their faces. They had exhausted all of their magical ability. Even Josephine was looking drained, despite still trying to heal some of them.

"As you can see, Your Majesty, these ones are too sick to have been brought. I fear some of them may die from being taken out of the warmth I had them in," said the demoness, frowning as she looked down at the closest children, she had just brought in.

Aella could feel her eyes beginning to change, but she wasn't aware of how, nor did she care at the moment, as she approached the demoness. The demoness looked up at her, at the last moment, and Aella grabbed her by the throat before she could react to the look on Aella's face.

"For the harm you have caused, you forfeit your life."

Aella's voice was strangely calm as she turned to the dying children around her. Using the healing powers within her, she ripped the life energy out of the demoness and directed it into the children.

Gasps rang out as the healers backed as far from her as they could, without actually leaving the room. Josephine stopped trying to heal, as the shock of what Aella was doing, sunk in.

The demoness never uttered a sound as she began to wither away. Her skin sucked up against her bones, her eyes rolled back into her skull, and then she seemed to exhale one last time, before dying. Every child in the room was fully healed. Those who had lost wings suddenly had new ones grow to replace them. The babies woke up from their drugged stupors and began to fuss and cry, some of the children laughed, and others fell to their knees in shock.

"Aella, stop!" cried Josephine, jumping towards her.

Aella dropped the husk of a body, and closed her eyes. Something was wrong, but she wasn't sure what.

"Are they all better?" she asked Josephine in a whisper, her eyes still closed.

"Yes, Aella. They are," whispered Josephine back. "Aella, are you alright?"

"No, I'm not. Tell Edgar to feed the children, and make sure they have blankets to sleep on, here in the throne room. I will be back in a bit."

"Alright, Aella," said Josephine, but Aella didn't stay to hear what else she said.

Teleporting back to the other continent, Aella opened her eyes and looked around. Everything was hazy, as if something covered her eyes. Reaching up to wipe one clean, her hand came back covered in blood. Moving over to a slow-moving stream, she kneeled to wash her face, and saw her reflection. b.l.o.o.d.y tears trailed down her face, but the thing that caught her attention, was the color of her eyes. They were completely black.

Was.h.i.+ng her face, she managed to get all of the blood away, but the color of her eyes remained. With a sigh, she looked around. This place was very peaceful. Birds called over the yellow gra.s.ses that waved gently in the breeze. The water had been cold, which helped her to calm down some. Never before had she seen something as evil as that demoness she had just killed. Looking down at her hands, she clasped them into fists at the thought of what she had done. She would do it again, if she knew how she had done it. Was it a hero ability? She couldn't imagine air or fire stealing life force to put into someone else. It must have been a king thing. There was only one person she could think of talking to about kingly things, and the last time she had visited him, she was almost trapped there with him.

Should she try again? Would she be able to escape like she had last time? Would Bob be furious with her, if she had to teleport to him, again?

She had to risk it. The dark black streaks on her palm that had held the demoness by the throat, hadn't washed away in the cold water.