The merchant himself went back home to his family, his wife, and his children, and he lived with them until the day he died. But this story is not as strange or as amazing as the story of the Twins and the Demon.
These are the details. In a town not very far, but not very close to here there was a pair of 11-year-old identical twins, named Clarke and Avery. Not much was known about them, except that their parents had disappeared without a trace when the twins were 5 years old. They tantalized the town with their dangerous pranks and with their trickery. No one knew where the twins lived and whether or not they had any kind of guardian after their parent’s disappearance. The one thing they knew is that they were tired of the twins stealing food from the shops, and playing pranks on the people of the town.
One evening, the people of the town got together to devise a plan to catch the twins in the middle of stealing from one of the shops and have them be placed under arrest until a suitable guardian could be found for them in a different town very far away. Several of them, along with guards, set up a net to trap the twins inside the bakery they knew the twins frequently stole from at night. They succeeded in capturing the twins and they were then taken to the guard’s holding area.
They were surprised to see that the stone faces that the twins previously wore had suddenly become faces of anxiety and fear. They confessed that the Demon had kidnapped their parents and had told the twins that they only way to free them was if they stole from the town’s stores and played pranks on the town for his own enjoyment until they were 12 years old.
The town was split in terms of believing the twins, but after learning that the twin’s 12th birthday was 4 days away, they decided to test whether or not they were telling the truth by freeing them with the threat of recapture in 5 days.
For the next days the twins continued their stealing and pranks until the day of their birthday. When the clock struck midnight, a large bam was heard throughout the town as it was covered in fog. That afternoon the town was rattled to see the twin’s appear upon the guards hand in hand with their parents. Many people from the town cried for never trying to understand or help the twins and asked for their forgiveness.
The twins forgave the town, because there was no way the people could have even guessed their situation. However, they quickly turned their attention towards their parents, who they just reunited with. They asked their parents what had happened to them during their captivity. The dad got a rush of energy and proceeded to tell a story:
The first 3 years of our captivity was miserable. Me and your mother were stuck in a room where food was given to us through a small opening in a door. Days and days were spent looking up at the ceiling, thinking about you two and how to escape. In the fourth year, we had our first outside interaction.
The demon frequently came to our room, and verbally abused us. However, he always looked troubled and upset when he initially walked into the room. After 6 months, I finally asked what was wrong. The demon stopped yelling instantly, looked me in the eye and started to weep.
He told me that he feels powerless in his day to day life, and that the other demons don’t respect him. They used his wife and his property at their will. He captured us as a way to make himself feel more powerful, but it didn’t work. Upon hearing this, I concocted a plan that would solve his problems and in turn let him free us.
I trained the demon in fighting and fitness for the rest of the year. I gave him confidence, and would have regular discussions about how his life was doing. Finally on the fifth year, the final act of my plan was being set in motion. I proposed using the skills he acquired with me to slaughter the demons that abused him and disrespected him. He was reluctant at first, but finally agreed.
We went from house to house slaughtering every demon and taking their possessions as our own. Your mom was kept at the house to prepare us meals for when we returned from battle every night. The demon and I formed a bond, and over time our chemistry in battle was unmatched by anyone.
When he finished slaughtering every demon at the end of the year, he ended up having over twenty different properties and sixty wives as his own. I asked him if me and your mother could be free, but he mentioned his deal with you two and that we would have to stay for another year. I wasn’t upset when I heard this, and I waited out the year by enjoying the spoils of our battles with him. At the end of sixth year, the demon let us go. Before he did, we embraced and told each other that if we would help each other out in battle if it was needed.
The twins were shocked to hear this story, but had a few stories of their own exploits to tell their parents.