The Young Heir
“ Vyrion?”
A young female with calico cat ears and tail quivered as she knocked on the intricate door to the room she stood in front of. She waited for a brief moment, nervously reaching down and brushing some imaginary dust from her white-frilled apron before knocking on the door once more.
“Vyrion? Sir? Your mother and father are waiting for you. The party is about to start and they will be very upset with you if you’re not ready in time.”
Her fingers continued to graze her apron searching for more dirt. As another moment passed, she reached up to knock on the door a third time. As her knuckles approached the wood to rap on it, the door finally opened.
On the other side of the doorway stood a young man with black shaggy hair, highlighted by red streaks, that cascaded down to his shoulders. He looked down at her with a confident smile, reaching out to pat her on the head. The feel of his hand on her head caused the young maid to blush and look down submissively, nervously gripping her apron.
“Don’t worry your cute little ears off. I’m ready, okay?”
He did a quick little spin in place, not noticing the small glare she gave him from her bowed position as he flaunted his new black suit. The crimson silk accents flared up in the hall lights before he came to a stop, done with modeling the clothes that his parents recently gifted him for the festivities tonight.
“Well then, let’s get going.”
Making his way past the young girl, he walked down towards the main dining hall of his parent’s large mansion, leaving the maid to clean his room and close the door behind him.
As he reached the dining hall, he was stopped in his tracks. The aroma of the salty ham, freshly baked apples, and buttered corn mixed with the sweet custard-filled pastries hit him. When smells entered his nose deeply, he took a moment to enjoy the intoxicating sensation before he noticed his mother and father waiting for him at the head table in their usual formal wear. Making his way over to them, he bowed deeply; never forgetting to show his respect as he smiled at them. “Evening mother, father, thank you for this wonderful party!”
His father, wearing a striped pattern suit in the family’s trademark red and black colors, gave a little chuckle and nodded his head. “Of course, son. Only the best for my child. Not to mention, you did ace all your classes and I’m sure you’ll graduate at the top of your class next year. Soon you’ll be ready to take over the family business.”
“Father, I appreciate your offer, but you know I do not want to take over the business. I’ve told you before, I want to go to the school for Casters and prove my worth there. I want to help others-” Vyrion attempted to make his point, but his father cut him off abruptly with a wave of his hand.
“I thought we had been over this before? Our company helps many people! We even help those Infurnals by giving them jobs so they can afford to live in our nation!” His deep voice began to rise as it always did whenever his son tried to argue against taking over the family business. A tradition at this point.
Thankfully for Vyrion the argument was interrupted by the doors opening and many of the family’s rich friends coming inside.
Like always, this was the moment that Vyrion’s mother finally chose to give her thoughts on the matter. “Come now Leon, Vyrion’s still young and I’m sure he’ll understand by the time he graduates.” She stood and stepped away from the table to greet their attendees, her heels echoing lightly against the marble flooring.
Leon watched his wife make her way to the guests before looking back to his son. “This conversation is not over; we’ll discuss this more later. There’s no need to bring up such silly topics in front of our friends, understand?” Without waiting for a reply from his son, he turned his back and plastered on a fake smile to greet the family’s friends along with his wife, beginning the evening’s festivities.
With a heavy sigh, Vyrion knew he could not hide away due to the shame it would bring on his family, so he copied his father’s actions and smiled at the first guests he walked up to. This party was for him, or at least that’s what his parents had said, but he knew the truth. This party was another chance for his parents to brag about their perfect son who never did anything wrong and always got perfect grades. The better behaved he was and the more he stood out as the best in his school, the better his family looked and the more support they would get. Though Vyrion never really complained about this, enjoying the admiration he got from his classmates and the praise he received from the teachers at his school. Still, a part of him longed to do more.
Soon after everyone had been greeted properly, they were all sitting at their tables, Vyrion and his parents with two others, an elderly couple who had known Vyrion’s parents since they were his age. They were the family’s strongest supporters and were always nice to them, and even constantly gave Vyrion different types of gifts, so he never minded seeing them. As they sat and ate together, two Infurnals made their way around the room to keep everyone’s drinks topped off and plates full.
One of the Infurnals was an older man in a butler’s outfit with raccoon ears and tail, as well as dark raccoon-like circles around his eyes. He bowed to another of the guests as he finished filling their drink. The other was the older sister of the maid that had retrieved Vyrion from his room earlier; she had ears and a tail that matched her sister’s calico pattern. She was carrying multiple platters of differing foods and allowing the guests to choose what they would like to sample off of each.
The butler made his way to the head table and filled the elderly woman’s glass as she continued to speak, “Yes, yes, my husband and I are really quite impressed with the work your family has done. You know, Liza, so many people the world over still believe the Furs to be beastly and dangerous, but here you two are allowing them in your home, giving them jobs, and giving them such respectable pay!” The raccoon man flinched a little at her remark, but kept quiet as he knew better than to say anything; moving next to the elderly man to fill his drink.
“Oh, well, you know. We just felt so bad for them,” Liza responded to the other woman. “Hearing that they were being slaughtered just for being different from us. It’s not like it’s their fault that they’re born the way they are. We realized that many of them are hard workers, and so we wanted to give them a chance at a decent life, so long as they’re willing to work for it.”
Leon smiled, wrapping an arm around his wife and kissing her cheek. “It’s thanks to Liza here that we were able to do so much for them. If it weren’t for her having such a warm and open heart, who knows where these poor Furs would be now.” He noticed the hurt look on the butler’s face and gave him a warning glare. “What is it?”
The man’s eyes widened in surprise and he quickly shook his head. “Um, nothing sir. I apologize.” He spoke through gritted teeth, mustering all his strength to be polite.
“Good. You’re a good butler and I would hate to have to give your job to anyone else.” Leon stated matter of factly as the butler finished filling all their drinks once more before making his way back to the other tables.
Vyrion stayed silent in the middle of this. He always ended up feeling uneasy at times like this, but he knew if he spoke up it would make him look rude and make his parents look bad in front of others. He was never even sure as to what he wanted to say, but he always had that feeling that he wanted to, needed to say something at times like these, but he could never find the courage to do it.
The party continued late into the night, some of the guests getting a bit noisier as they had a few too many glasses of wine, but thankfully for the family and their Infurnal staff, the party ended without any further incident.
The family saw their friends out of their home, smiling and laughing and telling them goodbye. Once the doors were closed, Leon looked back to his son. Vyrion expected that this was when their argument from earlier would continue, but was caught by surprise as his father merely muttered goodnight to him and headed up the stairs to his own room. Liza smiled at her son and kissed his forehead, wishing him goodnight as well before following her husband up the stairs.
The teen boy watched his parents head to bed before giving a sigh. He looked around and saw the Infurnals working on getting the dining hall clean. With a yawn, he walked past them and towards his room, but stopped and thought for a moment. He then looked back to the servants that worked for them. “Um, thank you for your hard work.” When he was met with surprised and confused looks, he turned and went back to his room.
As soon as he made it back to his room, he fell face down onto his bed, sighing heavily. “Dammit, why can’t they see how much it means to me? I know I have some kind of talent; I can feel it. If only they’d let me go to the school for Casters, I could prove myself.” He rolled over onto his back and looked up at the lights hanging from the ceiling; hazy thoughts beginning to cloud his mind. The alcoholic taste still lingered as he thought back on the night’s events. Vyrion’s limbs felt heavy, like lead; a cold sweat began to coat him and the pounding sound of the pulse in his ears was almost unbearable.
A loud crash startled the black-haired boy awake, causing him to quickly sit up and frantically look around his room. “What the-!?” An ear-piercing shriek broke through his questioning, muddled thoughts. He was out of his bed, running out of the room, and down the hall to find out what the cause of the commotion was before he could gather his thoughts.
Whipping open the wooden door, it slammed against the lavender-painted wall as he dashed to the end of the hall and looked around. Coming to a complete stop, his eyes widened as they landed on a gruesome sight. The older raccoon Infurnal was hanging over the railing of the stairs leading down into the dining hall, his bottom half lodged inside the fanged jaws of a shadowy creature that resembled a wolf. It’s head was twice the size of a normal wolf’s and it’s tail was spiked and whipping around, slamming into the floor and breaking the solid flooring into chunks of rubble. The man’s eyes were wide, but no longer showed any signs of life. The pool of blood at the fiend’s clawed feet grew larger by the second.
The creature was so focused on devouring the rest of its meal that it did not notice the young calico maid on the floor, shaking and crying with her trembling hands covering her mouth, unable to move. An audible crunch was heard from within the creature’s mouth as it drooled around the man’s dead body; the sound broke the traumatized girl from her state long enough to see Vyrion standing there. She looked at the teen in fear and confusion, unable to make sense of the nightmare unfolding in front of her.
Vyrion managed to tear his gaze away from the horrendous scene long enough to look at the petrified girl still on the floor. He could feel his blood running cold as he clenched his hands into fists, his knuckles turning white. He was young, but not an idiot. The man was dead, but the girl was still alive. He wanted to save her, to protect her, to protect everyone else who was still alive in the house, but it was an IMP. He’d heard about them in school; they had even studied some of them. IMP stood for ‘Infected Magical Person’; horrendous, nightmarish creatures created through a surge of uncontrollable magic found in people. As he was seeing right now, it was not just humans affected by this. It was humans, animals, it seemed to be anything living.
Trying to gather his courage, he attempted to swallow his fears as he slowly took a step closer to the scared girl, though this also meant taking a daring step closer to the vile beast. Glancing at the creature, Vyrion felt bile start to build in his throat as his pulse drummed in his head; the creature dislodged its jaw with an audible cracking and scraping to take more of the poor man inside of its mouth. Crunch after snap after crack, the Infurnal made its way down the beat’s throat. However, this meant it was still distracted by it’s meal and so the young boy took another step, followed by another, slowly making progress towards the girl.
As he got close enough, he reached out a shaky hand to the girl, nodding to her but trying to stay calm and silent. She looked back to him and slowly reached out, taking his hand.
“Vyrion, what are you doing!? Get away from that thing!” Leon’s voice came thundering through the room, startling everyone including the IMP, as he charged towards the group; wielding a large, beautifully decorated katana with both hands, the blade shining furiously in the darkness of the room.
Vyrion quickly pulled the calico eared girl towards him and they stumbled back as he watched his father bring the sword down across the beast’s face. The creature attempted to back away, but was caught by the silver blade across its face and let out a loud, blood curdling screech that caused Vyrion and the maid to both cover their ears, attempting to block out the pain.
The beast rolled its head from side to side, delirious from the surge of pain caused by the large gash created by Leon’s sword. An odd, grey liquid oozed from the wound on the creature’s forehead accompanied by a stench reminding Vyrion of a mix of sulfur and rotten eggs; but it was only stunned for a moment before its focus came to Vryion’s father and it began to snarl, drool spilling from its mouth as it took its first step towards the older man.
Leon proved his skills with his sword through practiced maneuvers as he managed to defend himself from the IMP’s first attack, deflecting the claw and attempting to circle around the beast to get closer to his son. “While I have it distracted, run to the dining hall and barricade the doors!”
While the beast was distracted Vyrion tried to help the maid up, but she was still too traumatised to remember how to use her legs.
“What are you doing!?” His father scolded him. “Just leave the Fur or we’re all going to-argh!” He cried out in pain as his focus was drawn from the beast and to his son, the creature sensing the opportunity and taking the chance to bring its large claw down across Leon’s muscular chest.
“Father!” Still, knowing there was nothing he could do to help his father at this moment, he looked back down to the maid still trembling at his feet. With a grunt, Vyrion picked her up in his arms and started to make his way to the dining hall in a mad dash, taking two steps at a time down the large staircase. Behind him he could feel the beast trying to catch him, its sickening breath assaulting his senses as it aimed to strike out towards his legs with its claws. The monstrosity released another angry screech as it felt Leon’s sword digging into its left hind leg.
Vyrion didn’t bother to stop or look back until he was finally downstairs and through the doors, inside the dining hall. He finally let the calico girl go, letting her stumble back into a seat as he started to barricade the door with chairs and tables, anything he could find. Wiping away the droplets of sweat on his forehead, he breathed heavily as he stared at the door nervously, trying to catch his breath; hoping beyond hope that it would hold if the monster continued its rampage.
“Please be okay father..” He whispered under his breath as he could still hear the fight
continuing on the other side of the door. Blade clashing against claw, claw scraping against stone, cries of pain echoing through the mansion and through the blocked doors. Then silence.
After a few agonizingly slow minutes passed, the silence coming from the
other side became unbearable. Had his father won with his sword skills? Had the beast won with it’s insane strength? Had they both lost? What of his mother, where was she?
Waiting only another moment, Vyrion slowly pressed his ear to the door, trying to hear anything through the deafening silence that was now filling the house.
SLAM! The door was hit hard from the other side, causing Vyrion to get knocked back and onto the floor, some of the chairs and tables that blocked the door shuttering from the impact. With scared eyes the teenager looked at the door, watching the doors shake with every blow and listening to the snarling beast as it attempted to break through the doors. “No..” Vyrion shook his head in fear; realization striking him as the beast slammed its body against the door once more. His green eyes darted around the room, looking for anything that could be used as a weapon, or for anyone who could help him and the maid was still too shocked to do anything.
He looked to the maid, but saw the traumatized look on her face and knew she would be of no help to him, not that he could find any right to blame her with the horrific events that had transpired on this night. The Casters! Guardians of the people with powerful magic who were stationed in every city were supposed to keep the people safe. It was their job to keep these creatures from breaking into the cities and attacking the civilians!
“No, I have to focus!” He grumbled to himself under his breath, standing back up on shaky legs. “Father fought it and got in some good hits, it has to be wounded.” Not finding any other options, he grabbed a nearby sturdy chair and picked it up by the back, readying himself to swing at the beast as soon as it broke into the room.
The beast slammed its body against the door once again, causing the doors to begin to splinter and break apart, which caused Vyrion to reflexively tighten his grip on the chair he was wielding as his only hope of defense. He could make out the beast a bit through the breaking door now, it looked to be preparing itself to tackle the door one final time. He could still see the grey ooze seeping out of its head wound, an obvious target to aim for when the beast barged in.
The wood exploded into pieces, wood flying through the room as the beast successfully barged its way inside. The IMP wasted no time, its claws never ceasing to dig at the marble flooring under it as it lunged towards Vyrion, dislodging its large jaw and baring nightmarish fangs, as if it planned to eat him whole.
With a quick step to the side the teenager believed he had managed to barely dodge the beast, before feeling its teeth slice through his nightshirt and catch his side just under his ribs. Crying out in pain, he tightened his grip on the heavy chair; this was his chance and with all his might he brought the chair down onto the creature’s head, a direct hit to the open wound caused by his father. The strike was powerful, the chair breaking into several pieces as the beastly creature fell hard onto its stomach and stopped moving.
Breathing heavily, Vyrion stumbled back and fell to the ground, holding the remnants of his shirt against his side in pain, attempting to stop the bleeding. Glancing down, he could see his once white shirt darkening due to his own blood, and he could feel his face starting to go pale as the blood drained out of him. His rest was quickly interrupted when he heard the calico girl scream.
“It’s still alive!” Her tears wouldn’t stop as she pointed at the IMP, its tail twitching as it slowly managed to get back up on all fours. Its stance wasn’t steady, but the threat of the beast was still all too real.
Vyrion groaned in a mixture of agony, disbelief and panic, unable to get back up after losing so much energy and blood. “Dammit, just stay down already...please.” All hope of his wishes being answered were shattered as the dark red eyes of the beast focused in on him. The creature wanted him next, he knew it, and he knew there was nothing more he could do.
Slowly the wolf-like beast stalked towards Vyrion as its long tongue rolled along bleeding lips, lowering its head and opening its jaw a final time. Vyrion reached out his shaking hand, hoping to somehow stop the beast as the fear began to build rapidly inside of him. To his own surprise, a tiny black orb formed in front of his palm and shot forward, hovering in the air over the beast’s body. The beast’s body suddenly started to crack the floor under itself, as though its weight had more than tripled. The creature still would not be stopped though, as it tried to force its way through the sudden increase in its own density. A sudden shot rang out through the room, followed by a flash and the creature recoiled, crying out as its body became rigid. Visible bolts of lightning began coursing through and around the creature’s body for a moment, small sparks jumping from its large form with a crackling sound before it fell to the ground, no longer moving except for an occasional twitch from the surging electricity.
“Are you okay?” A woman’s voice spoke up as she came forward. She had long flowing crimson red hair kept out of her view with a high ponytail which reached far down her back, a long scar decorated her left freckled cheek just under her green eyes. She stood strong and confident in her jet black military coat with red outlines, matching black pants and black boots. In her arms she carried an odd looking modified gun, nothing like the ones Vyrion had trained with in his courses at school.
She made her way next to Vyrion in quick strides, kneeling next to him and looking over his wounds with a quiet focus. “I don’t know how an IMP infiltrated our city, but I made my way here as soon as your father activated the Calling Stone.” She pressed a hand to his wounded side and looked to the maid who was watching everything that had just happened.
“You. Are there any other survivors in the house?” She could see the girl was scared, but she was lucky in the fact she had come out of this without a scratch on her. The red haired woman waited a moment before speaking to the calico Infurnal in a more demanding tone. “Come on, this is urgent! Are there any other survivors!?”
“I-I don’t know ma’am!” The girl’s ears twitched nervously as she gripped her knees, trying to calm herself. Her words came out in a trembling voice. “My, my sister isn’t here, but I don’t know about the lady of the house. Lord Leon, he was fighting the beast outside of the room and he…” She trailed off as she shook her head, the night’s events still too much for her to handle only moments after it had all ended.
The red headed woman shook her head, placing her gun in its holster at her hip and she reached into her pocket to retrieve a small blue stone. She whispered a few words into it and the stone began to glow with a dim light that slowly became brighter. After a moment the stone reached its peak brightness and she began to speak more clearly. “Yes, this is Chelsea Cass. There was an IMP that managed to attack civilians within the city. It has been disposed of, but there are wounded. I’m sending my coordinates, hurry!”
Vyrion groaned a bit as the pain in his side pulsed, continuing to affect his ability to stay conscious. The vision of the woman who saved him blurring and becoming foggy. “You’re a Caster.” He slowly reached down to touch his side, finding the woman’s hand there instead. “The IMP, where’d it go?” He blinked his eyes, attempting to sit up and look at his savior, but she wouldn’t allow it, gently putting some weight on him to keep him down.
“Don’t worry, the IMP is gone. You have to stay down though, you received a nasty injury. If you move too much, it could prove fatal.” She spoke softly but matter of factly. Her eyes glanced back to the beast that lay still on the floor, fried from her electricity and covered in slash marks along with what looked to be broken limbs. She only took a moment to ponder the state of the creature before she looked down into the scared child’s eyes, helping to calm him. “Just try to stay awake until the medics arrive, all right?”
The teenage boy gave a small nod before losing what little energy he managed to hold onto. His head fell back down towards the hard floor under him, Chelsea’s hand protecting him from the impact. Forcing his eyes to stay open, he glanced around and through tear-filled vision and was only able to make out the maid and the woman who came to their rescue. “Mom, dad…”