Devolve

How had it come to this? Sometimes he found himself wondering at how he'd come to feel this way, and yet it still felt...right as a scream tore through the night and he chuckled. That scream made him feel giddy, bubbly in a way that nothing else could. He knew that it wasn't normal and yet why would he feel bad? This woman was too weak to protect herself and he had every right to take advantage of that.

Once he'd had his fill of her, as a silent victim was much less satisfying than a vocal one, he decided to move on to the smaller one that sat shivering and trapped against the house he'd decided was now his. At his approach, her eyes began to water and leak tears while her lungs fought to suck in air rapidly. Yes..this is what he loved most about his power, the ability to strike such fear into others that they could do naught but shiver in fear and imagine how their end would arrive. A breathless giggle escaped him then, and another, and another until he could not stop the steady stream of cackles that washed over him. She thought he did not notice when the girl slowly rose to her knees, and then to her feet. She thought he did not notice when she went to check on the older woman that was most likely her mother. When she recieved no response despite her efforts heavy tears dripped down her face silently as she backed away and dashed through the tree line of the dense forest that surrounded the house she had previously occupied. Barely withheld sobs forced her entire body to tremble and shake until she believed she was far enough away to release her pent up despair.

His ears perked up from where he'd been following the girl silently, almost breaking into another fit of giggles when he realized that she thought he hadn't seen her when she tried to escape him. No one ever escaped him, especially not after the seal on everyone's magic had been broken and he'd gained the abilities that his heritage bestowed upon him. The blood of demons flowed thick in his veins. His kind dealt in deception, which is why when that little girl had tried to remain silent in order to slip away in lieu of his fit of hysteria he'd been able to realize immediately, a lack of sound can be as loud as any alarm under the correct circumstances.

He allowed her to continue on for another few minutes until he realized that the lights of a town were coming into view, and he couldn't have his fun spoiled by other people in desperate need of a heroic fix. It wasn't as if they would have been any match for him, but the thought of the crowd and the scenario that would take place with the attention of so many was exhausting to think about, and he only wanted to have some fun tonight.

Gripping the girls' hair roughly, he dragged her back to hold her against him, unable to wriggle free. When she tried to scream he released her hair in favor of forcing her mouth closed as he dragged her into a quiet clearing, far from any prying eyes or ears that may become too curious for their own good.

"Stop screaming or I'll jerk that pretty head of yours so far to the right that it'll pop right off of those tiny shoulders." Immediately she ceased her squirming and almost became dead weight in his arms. Good, that was more like it, she never would have stood a chance, so giving up was her only viable option and she knew it. That was always his goal, to make sure that the weak knew their place, and everyone was weaker than him. He'd proven that to himself time and time again, he'd kill every living being in his dimension to prove it to anyone who did not believe.

As he looked around, he felt the girl begin to squirm in his arms once more and he looked down at her face to warn her for the last time when a flashback shot through him as if he were being electrocuted.

They were running through a warm meadow, the breeze carressing their bodies welcomed as they sweat beneath the glare of the sun. The girl in front of him was magnificent, a glowing beacon there to lead him through his dull and mundane life. She was laughing, perhaps he'd said something that she found amusing. He did that often, make an odd remark that seemed perfectly normal to him and she would burst out laughing before apologizing for being rude when she'd thought he was joking. After a while he'd begun to make silly remarks on purpose just to see her smile a little more, he could never get enough of seeing her happy.

All at once he was ripped from his pleasant flashback and forced into a memory of his time with the people who'd taught him how the world should really be. That girl and her infectious happiness were a disease meant to be smothered, happiness did not belong in this world where your strength determined what you could and could not do. He was the only one who knew true freedom, they had told him so. The people that had enhanced his natural generational advantages as the strongest of his kind, the leader of the demon race. They had said they were creating a master to lead all races, that his power was the easiest to manipulate into becoming a stronger version of itself. He could lead everyone into an era in which no one would ever need to question where they belonged or what they should do ever again. Anyone who was weak simply needed to submit themselves to the strong, and all the strong would submit to him, their leader and alpha. There was no other way to create a lasting peace, they had assured him of that, and even gone so far as to ensure that every single one of his potential rivals were killed off by his hand. All except one, that girl from his dreams, from his memories, the one who always seemed to slither through his subconscious to leave a trail of warmth that was entirely unwelcome. She had proven too resilient to fall as all the others did, and he was going to find her and make sure that he did not fail a second time. There could be no one but him to rule over this world's weakness.