The Lost Prince and The Demon King [BL]

Perry found himself questioning his own judgement. What kind of person agreed to this sort of thing?

"This doesn't look safe," Perry observed, watching raptly as the prince moved a brush smoothly over the stone floor of his cell.

"It most certainly is not," the prince said cheerily.

Perry groaned helplessly and ran a hand down his face. "Then why are you insisting on doing this?"

The prince sighed and stood, tilting his head this way and that to check his work. "As I have exhaustively explained, to test the—"

"Limits of my 'magic'." Perry moved his fingers in exaggerated air quotes. "Yes, I got that part. But why this? Why can't we summon something else, something that's not going to want to eat us and leave our carcasses out in the sun to dry and be set upon by vultures?" 

"Oh." The prince's eyes lit up. "Did you have a run in with The Crimson Star Lords? What was that like?"

Perry stared at him blankly. "Can't say they were very accommodating hosts."

"No, I imagine not. Their numbers have been steadily growing over the past few years. I suppose we will have to deal with them eventually." Satisfied with his work, the prince set the brush aside.

"Really? Is eventually really the best you can do? If only you were the prince of a kingdom, in charge of an army or a legion or Royal Guards who are concerningly obsessed with you." Perry shifted to the side, careful not to step on the symbols the prince had drawn.

With his luck, he'd breathe too hard on something and accidentally summon a vengeful spirit. Or worse, given what they were about to do. 

"I assure you, all of the Royal Guards are loyal to the crown. None of them are obsessed with me."

Perry suddenly understood why some people shouldn't be allowed to have too much power. 

"I assure you, there is at least one of them who is. Not to mention a particularly violent revenant who you're lucky can't leave the boundaries of her graveyard." Perry gestured to his own face and then pointed an accusing finger at the prince. "And thanks to this, I'm the one who has to answer for you ghosting them."

"Ghosting? You have met the Revenant of the Graveyard Road? How is she? Which of the Royal Guards is obsessed with me?"

Perry pressed his fingers as hard as he could against his temple. It did absolutely nothing to mitigate the headache behind his eyes. 

"One, ghosting basically means disappearing without a word. Two, yes, I met her and she seems fine. Her blade is still sharp or whatever. Three… no, wait, four, your Royal Captain, mister spits-a-lot, is the wone who is obsessed with you." Perry resisted the very real need to sit and let his mind rest. 

"Your explanation for ghosting makes no sense since ghosts are rather common and have the habit of making their presence abundantly clear."

"Of course they do," Perry mumbled.

"I am glad she is alright. She seemed… rather lonely when we met." The prince smiled softly, his gaze lost somewhere far off. Perry was momentarily stumped. Then the smile morphed into a smirk and the prince let out a chuckle. 

"Stop. Whatever it is you're thinking about, just stop," Perry all but begged and shuddered. 

"I did not expect you to be such a prude. It is a perfectly natural and normal—"

Perry tried to cover his ears but since his wrists were shackled together, he could only cover one ear at a time. "Please, please, stop. I don't want to know any details. In fact, I don't want to know anything."

"Fine. But I would also like to add that Captain Orryn is not obsessed with me, as you so carelessly claim." The prince took a step back from the symbols he'd drawn on the floor.

"Sure, let's go with that." Perry followed his lead and also took a step back, his back bumping against the wall. 

That was the stark difference between them given the present situation: if anything went wrong, the prince could always bolt out the door and lock Perry in there to deal with whatever he summoned. While Perry… well, Perry was shackled to the wall, with no way of escaping this madness. 

"I know I've said this before, but I would like to firmly state that I am against this whole plan of yours. Also, this doesn't seem particularly fair." He shook his hands, the shackles and chain clinking with the movement. "You know, in case anything goes wrong."

"What could possible go wrong?" The prince asked.

"I don't know, seeing as I've never tried to summon a demon before. Or summon anything, for that matter. But everything I've learned over the past twenty years tells me this idea of yours might not be so smart."

"I assure you, we are perfectly safe. I am an adept in all elemental magics and a very efficient fighter. You have nothing to worry about."

"What if you summon a super powerful demon?" Perry asked.

The prince gestured to the symbols perfectly painted on the floor. "That is what the containment area is for. Whatever we summon will not be able to break free from my spell. Well, except for a demon king, but you have nothing to worry about. It is not possible to summon one of those without their express permission."

Perry frowned, curious. "How can you be so sure? You said it yourself that you've never summoned a demon before."

"But I have tried," the prince pointed out and Perry nodded, conceding. "And demon kings rarely leave the safety of their respective circles. Furthermore, you must obtain a demon king's name and permission so that you may then summon them. Although, it is said that particularly powerful individuals do not require direct permission, merely the name is enough. But I would advise against it as they are known for being… somewhat vengeful."

"And when you say 'somewhat' vengeful, you mean…" Perry trailed off and gestured for the prince to complete the sentence.

"The sort that could potentially burn an entire kingdom to the ground with single blow, or so I am told."

"Of course. I guess it makes sense," Perry grudgingly admitted. "Why are names so important?"

"Perry," the prince said. 

"Yeah?" 

"Perry?" The prince repeated. 

Perry frowned. "What?"

The prince smiled at him and singsonged, "Peeeeerryyyyy."

"What? What?!" Perry threw his hands up in exasperation. "Why do you keep saying my name?"

"Why do you keep answering?" The prince blinked at him innocently.

Perry paused and thought about the prince's question. Understanding dawned on him and he nodded. "You could have just explained."

"Why? Showing you is much more rewarding." The prince grinned at him. 

"You're evil, did you know that? Straight up evil," Perry grumbled. 

"Yes, yes. Now, the last thing we need is a drop of your blood."

Perry scoffed. "I am definitely not giving you that. You'll have to hold me down and bleed me if you want to go through with this. And just as a heads up, I'm not a skilled fighter, but I kick and I bite. And I can swing a tree branch like nobody's business."

"Alas, we do not have any of those lying around. Also, I will not need to hold you down and bleed you." The prince lifted a thin needle with a small, red stain on the sharp tip. "This will be more than enough."

Perry's mind shot back to when the prince had tested him to make sure he wasn't some kind of blood puppet. 

Trust me, he'd said. And like an idiot, Perry had. Why? Just because he looked like him? Just because there could possibly be some kind of blood connection between them? That wasn't reason enough. 

How many kids had Perry seen come and go from the orphanage, abandoned by their own blood? Left behind and forgotten by the people who they should've been able to trust? Too many to count. 

He should know better by now. The only person he could trust was himself.

Perry took an involuntary step toward the prince. "You son of a bit—"

"Ah ah ah, do not smear the formation. It could end very badly for us," the prince said casually.

"For me." Perry hit one fist against his chest, the metal of the shackle leaving a faint ache behind. "You can just run out the door. I'm the one chained to the fucking wall!"

The prince ignored him and knelt in front of the symbols. Perry stood completely still as the prince tossed the needle in the air and cupped both hands in front of his chest. The needle froze mid-air and turned until the blood-stained tip was facing the ground. 

Then the prince closed his eyes and moved his hands and fingers in careful and precise gestures. The air inside the cell shifted and Perry found it hard to breathe. His heart started to beat erratically in his chest. 

"Stop," Perry said weakly, clutching the front of his still damp tunic, silently willing his heart to calm down. "Please, stop."

His legs felt weak and even though Perry tried to stay upright, his knees gave out and he fell an all fours. His lungs felt like they were being squeezed by an invisible hand and spots danced in front of his eyes. 

"Stop…" 

For a split second, the cell disappeared and Perry was once more in that field of tall grass, prostrated in front of one of the gravestones hidden in between the stalks. Perry scrambled and grabbed the headstone for balance as the world tilted around him. His vision swam and sweat dripped down the side of his face. 

He tried to speak, but he didn't have a voice. Not here, not anywhere. He was porwerless. Like a bug being pushed around under a microscope, helpless to stop what was being done to it. 

Perry could do nothing. He was nothing. Nothing at all.

The headstone swam in and out of focus, the symbols he knew but couldn't understand shifted and danced on the surface of the rock. And then, everything stopped.

The wind. The sound of the grass swaying. His own heartbeat. The symbols stopped moving and coalesced into words. A name. 

Malrik Vir Erythros.

Perry had never seen it, but he knew it. He knew it. Anger rose inside of him, white-hot and pure. The name tugged at his heart, like a hand reaching up from beyond the grave.

Perry didn't hesitate to grab it. 

Help me, Malrik Vir Erythros. Please, help.