The Dog

I’d never seen him up close before. In fact I’d avoided him with all cost. Of course I’d seen him around the inner circle and he’s appeared on formal occasions. But everyone knew not to get close to the Sasaki’s family dog. He wasn’t a real dog of course. He was the only son of the family and next in line to become the King’s advisor. And about as crazy as they come. Rumor had it  that he would beg and grovel to get the Castle's guards to hurt him. He'd never come to me though and I suppose that's a good thing. I'm not sure how I would have handled that. Part of me would have wanted to hurt him just for annoying me but another part wouldn't want to give him the satisfaction of getting what he wanted. I didn't know what was wrong with him or what caused his behaviour but he definitely wasn't all right in the head. I'd seen him wander off suddenly during important meetings, his parents nearly having a fit as they tried to contain their shame and rage. He had such potential and the gifted opportunity to become the King's advisor but yet he did absolutely nothing to attain this. He could have so much power coming from a high class family like his and he just threw it away. I even heard he never once given an order to a servant. Needless to say I didn't like the guy. It was just such a waste.

We stopped walking as we reached a locked chamber. I could hear something banging against the door from the inside and I tilted my head to the side with a frown. I didn't know what I expected. Two Castle guards moved to unlock the door but kept close to the opening as if they expected a breakout. I was all about ready to see Akkan bolting out of the room all foam mouthed and crazy but that didn't happen. He stepped out of the chamber slowly, regarding the two guards as if he didn't quite get why they were there. At the first sight nothing seemed especially wrong with him. I arched an eyebrow wondering  whether the rumors had been just rumors after all. It wasn't until he locked his amber eyes on mine that I felt a chill go down my spine. Even though he seemed calm his eyes were definitely off. "Ahh Akkan, your presence is required at the court. Please do come along", it was Asraq with his musing voice and his eyes glinting with amusement. He swirled around on his thin legs and lead the way. I wondered whether he had even noticed the look in Akkan's eyes. And even if he did would he care? With one last look at the chocolate brown demon I turned to follow Asraq. Just why did I have to get paired up with the nutcase of the Castle on my most important mission?

"Acuzio, my most promising Castle Guard", Asraq had started with after he called me in earlier that day. "I have a very special proposition for you. Provided you are interested?" he tilted his head uncomfortably far to the side, his curious eyes on me intently. "Of course sir. I'm always up for a challenge", I replied with a dip of my head. "Ooh I was so hoping you would say that as this is such a very important mission", he cooed and threw up his head. There was no telling if he was serious or was just having some fun with me. Yet the idea of him wanting to send me on an important mission sparked my interest. Perfect completion might lead to a promotion. Asraq leaned back against his throne lazily before he spoke again, "So there is this lower class demon that has escaped hell. He's been out for a while now and it's quite essential that he's retrieved quickly." I'd heard about this before. It was quite the ordeal when word got out that a demon from the outer circle had just escaped through the gates of hell. No one quite knew how he'd managed to do it. Although it seemed like a big deal at the time I had a hard time figuring out why this was such an important matter now. It was only a low class demon, he hadn't broken any laws nor had he stolen anything. "And you want me to get him back sir?" was what I asked instead of why it was so important. "Certainly! And  if you come back you'll be sure to be met with  a promotion to my personal guard", he told me his voice musical and his eyes shining. It took me a second to realize what was wrong with that sentence. "Don't you mean 'when' I come back sir?" I couldn't possibly know why there would be a reason for me to fail such a simple task. He didn't answer my question, instead he grinned at me. "Come now we mustn't dawdle. Let's go get Akkan", he got up out of his throne and skipped down the steps like a filly. Go get Akkan? Why on earth would we need that freak? "With all due respect sir but what does Akkan have to do with this?" I asked confused and alarmed. Asraq always seemed to have something up his sneaky sleeve. "He'll be coming with you of course. He's vital to this missions completion", he nodded at me gravely and I just stared back at him dumbfounded. "But why? He doesn't have any Guard training and let's face it he's-" "He's coming with you because you need him to complete this mission. He'll be with you and you'll make sure nothing happens to him. Do I make myself clear?" suddenly his voice had grown dark and authoritative all the fun from earlier gone. I froze in my place and nodded my head, "Yes sir. I understand." I didn't dare ask him why Akkan was so vital to this mission now. His stern gaze rested on me for a moment before his face eased up and he perked his ears. "Good. Now let's go free Akkan from his chamber", his voice was all light and upbeat again not a trace of the darkness left from just a few seconds ago. There would never come a day that I would understand king Asraq.

Akkan had stayed strangely quiet as we'd walked down the halls. I'd glanced back every once in a while, thinking that he might snap at any moment. Asraq recapped the mission to Akkan on the way out of the castle. Akkan hadn't given even the slightest response. "So now that we're all up to speed there's a little thing you need to know before you go", Asraq spun around, forcing me and Akkan to stop in our tracks. My ears flattened against my neck for a second, I knew there had to be more to this mission. "For the ones who payed attention during their lessons you'd know there exist Hell demons, that would be us, and Earth Demons. Now what would happen if a Hell demon would find himself on earth?" Asraq regarded us with expectant eyes much like a teacher. A quick sideways glance showed Akkan's glassy eyes, clearly he was either not listening or he had no idea what the answer was. "He would die", I answered, my voice matter of factly. "Correct! Now our little escape artist has been on earth for a while now so he probably doesn't have much time left. So time is of the essence. Also out of precaution you'll both be turned into Earth Demons. Any questions?" Asraq smiled, looking completely oblivious about the fact that he just suggested something quite impossible. I looked over at Akkan for a reaction on his part. Nothing. Desperately I tried to come up with a sentence to voice my concern without flaring Asraq's rage again. Nothing. Without any words I searched for Asraq's eyes to maybe try and reason with him. "What's wrong Azuio? You look constipated. You're not scared are you?" he'd furrowed his brow before bursting out into laughter."I'm not scared, but sir-" "Splendid! Let's get started then!" he interrupted me in a high excited voice. I was completely flabbergasted. I didn't even have anything to say in response.

Suddenly Asraq's eyes flared a bright orange and a strange wind whipped up from behind him. My eyes grew wide at the sight before me. Logic was somehow no longer applicable on this situation. Then a bright fork like object appeared  enveloped in the orange light. I realized my mouth had dropped open and before I had time to close it the glowing fork whacked me in the face. A surprised noise escaped my lips and then my vision turned to black. I stumbled forward in the darkness my head throbbing and my ears ringing. It somehow felt like I was being pulled apart and then put back together again. As my vision returned the aching faded and the ringing stopped. I blinked a few times and carefully shook my head a little to get back to myself. On my left stood Akkan swaying slightly on his legs. Somehow I felt different. Weaker. "What the hell?!" my voice erupted from my throat before I could think about my manners. "What did you do to me?" I demanded looking up at Asraq. He seemed utterly unimpressed. "I literally just told you", was his only response before he proceeded walking again. "But that's impossible. There's no way.." I muttered, my mind reeling. "Well then it's time for you to go", Asraq said, his eyes shone with anticipation as he turned toward us again. I looked around but there wasn't a gate of any kind in sight. I wished Akkan would speak up for once but of course he didn't. Then out of nowhere dark poles started to rise up out of the ground. The earth shook as the massive objects erupted before us. Sure enough Asraq's eyes were filled with orange light again, apparently he was doing this. I never knew he was capable of magic of any kind and he'd surprised me twice now. A strong wind whipped up from the magical activity and the gate was now fully risen its doors slowly parting. "Wait!" I called out, things were suddenly moving way too quickly. "You haven't told me where to look for him!" I reminded him with urge. From what I'd learned the earth was immense, I couldn't just randomly go looking around. "You have everything you need to find him", Asraq's eyes still glowed but he was visibly grinning. I looked over at Akkan for some backup but his face was impassive as always even with everything that was going on. He was really starting to piss me off. The doors were opening more quickly now a force starting to pull everything towards it. "But sir!" I started and a look of an epiphany crossed his face. I thought that maybe finally he would give me some useful information. But all he did was hand over a black leather leash to me. "You'll need this", was all he said to me as I numbly took it from him. "What for?" I asked without much hope for an answer. I realized Asraq was definitely being vague on purpose just for his own amusement. "Oh and Acuzio?" he started as he guided me and Akkan towards the doors. Defeated, I looked at him, I had no idea what was going to happen anymore. " You better return with both the target and Akkan alive and well. If not don't bother trying to come back", he smiled at me his eyes amused but deadly. There wasn't a single part of me that doubted his words. For once he was serious and it made me shudder. Before I could respond to him he stepped back and suddenly the pulling force intensified dragging me forward. With one last look over my shoulder I could see a smiling Asraq nodding goodbye and then with my mind in shatters everything went black.

To be continued...

Woohoo the very first part of Acuzio and Akkan's story together!
I'm so glad to finally get this thing off the ground! It took me so long to write out their backstories and such so their actual story has just been waiting to be told  All of these characters are such a blast to write, especially King Asraq xD He is just such an odd but amusing character

So yeah the story is kind of long since I didn't want to split it up in two parts. I do hope you'll still take the time to read it though I would love to hear what you guys think about it!

The drawing is a bit meh. Akkan looks rather off and I just cannot draw walls or stone >:c So I used a wall texture and tried desperately to make it fit in here. Kind of worked but I really just rather draw backgrounds myself. Oh well luckily they'll be on earth in the next part so I don't have to worry about the stupid castle background anymore

I hope you guys will like it!

Acuzio, Akkan & Art: Me Paardjee
Pose References: Both Christiane Slawik.