Chapter 1 - The Blood Demon
Boys my age go to school and hang out with their friends. They go out to get food, they work out in their favorite gym and they meet pretty girls around town.
I was never like them. I’ve always been a closeted child, spending my days exploring alone, reading, or drawing. I hadn’t tried making friends as a kid because I didn’t understand the need for them. Once I turned eighteen though. I was forced to enter the world of adults where the need for companionship is more appealing and solitude is regarded negatively. By that point, I had no social skills and I had no desire to experience humiliation any more than I already did from my embarrassing attempts.
Don’t get me wrong, I tried socializing. I tried to make friends countless times but I’m either too awkward, too shy, or coming off as too desperate. My story begins with the last of those attempts. Approaching some guys sitting on the bleachers in front of me. It was a sunny January morning, a cold breeze coloring my cheeks red while the sun warmed my hands. The yard was empty except for the five of us. The rest were either in class or at home. I had a free period and was reading a book. Loud noises from a group of guys woke me up from my trance. They seemed nice and cheerful. One of them was showing the others a video clip on his phone and they were all laughing, pointing at the phone and laughing even harder. Amused at the thought of a cat falling in a bath or an idiot dropping his birthday cake. I slowly slid along the planks, getting closer while thinking of what to say to them. I’ve never had friends before and this was my chance to gain some. They were in a good mood and nothing could go wrong if I was confident enough. That was the internet’s advice and I was taking it to heart.
I thought, hey, why not look at what they’re watching first before I swoop in with my perfectly composed and thought-out joke? I slid slowly behind them and squinted at the phone. The naked body of one of our classmates getting pounded in a dark room, lit only by the flashlight of the camera. Her face is zoomed in and I recognize her. It’s Alice and she always seemed like a nice person. This is wrong. They shouldn’t be laughing at her personal life. I tried to silently fall back but they noticed me.
“You think it’s cool to spy on people’s business from behind?”
Punches and Kicks. You can imagine the bruises and the broken ribcage. My mother came into the administration office to complain but that only made the matter worse. I was despised in school even though it wasn’t my fault she saw the broken nose. The guys that beat me up told the whole school that they caught me jerking off to a video of Alice (one of the guy’s girlfriends) and beat me up for it.
My locker got trashed, my books were burned. Classes went horribly that month. Every time I stood for an answer I got laughed at or called a perv, a scumbag… In the halls, they either stared and insulted me or they pointed at my alleged perversion and laughed… sometimes it was subtle, they’d leave me out from group projects or sit away from me at lunch. Even professors started avoiding me.
My parents never made a motion after the complaint and went back to their ordinary life thinking they solved my problem. They dismissed me when I told them it made everything worse, claiming I’m just a child who didn’t know any better: “I’m sure they were just being boys”, “It’s only high school, It doesn’t matter”...
The worst part was when Alice's video spread through the entire school. She never spoke to me but you can guess she believed the made-up story and she blamed me for her newfound popularity. Not her shitty boyfriend who had the original video. No, she blamed me...
I’m walking home one day. It was close to six in the afternoon and it had been two months since the incident. My life was finally falling to its original, less horrible, course. The sunset was coming down and I leaned over the railing of the wooden bridge leading to my part of town. The air was cold and the sky felt endless with its ever-changing colors and tiny floating clouds. I had been depressed since the incident and that view was calming. It was promising a new beginning. A better tomorrow.
Out of nowhere, I felt a hand grabbing me from the back of my neck. I didn’t know this guy but I was his target: “This is for Alice”.
My head was slammed repeatedly against the railing and my vision wasn’t getting blurrier. It was gone. I couldn’t hear anything but the constant ringing in my ears. I was left there motionless, laying on my bloody, broken face. My leg was shattered with a steel pipe. My school bag was stolen alongside my wallet and keys. I gained consciousness when it turned dark.
I lost the hope I had. I lost the image of the better future I imagined. The air wasn’t chill anymore, it was freezing and my face was worse than before. I didn’t feel like going home anymore. I wanted to sit and cry but the tears never came out. I tasted the blood on my lips, I felt my shattered teeth with my tongue. The scent of blood overpowered the other smells. My nose was broken and so was my spirit. I should have just died. I didn’t belong in this world with these people. I lost faith in humanity that frightful night.
My house was still far away and I didn’t have the energy nor the ability to walk towards it. We lived outside the city near the crimson forest. Where sequoias grew long and redwood sprang where the sun shone. I’ve loved that forest since I was a kid. I went on adventures exploring, trailing animals, collecting plants, and camping. I knew the entire topography from the narrow creek up north to the rabbit warren down south. From the cow barn out west to the bridge I was standing on. I knew I’d be safe sleeping there tonight and going home tomorrow. With my broken leg, I could just about reach one place. The red cave was my only refuge for the night.
The red cave is -hopefully, and to my knowledge- an abandoned bear cave. It digs into the hill looking towards a deep lake connected to the previously mentioned creek. The deep lake shines a teal color when struck with sunlight, ever-changing into cyan under the moonlight. The trees plant their roots deep in the ground close to the lake, growing firm with thick shrubbery and long branches. Squirrels jump from one tree to another, Owls silently fly across the land looking for mice and foxes resting by the waterside. It was a mini-ecosystem and it was still the same after all those years. The bear cave itself was nothing special. Surrounded by stone from either side and digs in a slope after a few steps. Moss hangs from the entrance and red berries grow on the front.
I reached the spot and it was the same as it used to be. Aside from a tree that fell halfway into the lake. the unnecessary ringing cicadas and the croaking frogs never left this spot after so many years. The moon shone on the entrance and the reeds were surrounded by fireflies. I washed my face and hands in the lake and sat in front of the cave staring at the moon.
I used to be happy being alone. This was the solitude I loved. Not the gut crunching loneliness I felt every day since joining the world. My expeditions here when I was young were the happiest days of my life, staring at the vastness of the wild across from the cave. Listening to the gentle falling water. Watching space and counting stars. But at that moment, It was a reminder of how I failed in the game of life. All I wanted was some company, I wanted a friend or a companion to share my books and have lunch together. A friend who understands me and believes in me. Someone I can count on and they could count on me. It was my only wish and it was lost. The tears ran across my disfigured face and I couldn't stop them. I wanted to cry.
My tears ran red streaks across my face. This was the theme: The color red: the crimson hue, death and destruction, scarlet torches burning inside me. The symbol of rage as the anger boiled deep in my heart. The auburn leaves land on the lake and settle, creating ripples across the serene void. That’s where I wanted to be. Somewhere calm, Somewhere devoid of hate and everything bad. I wished I had the power to stop it.
I feel like plunging and diving into the great hollow. Giving myself to the environment that sustained the lives of other animals, yet I was too weak.
I laid down and looked up into the ceiling of the cave. I closed my eyes and tried to fall asleep. Though it’s faint. I felt a warm air above my face but my eyes were bloodshot. I fell asleep.
Unbeknownst to me. I was sleeping under the watchful gaze of a demon. His hand reached through the ceiling, aiming for my heart while reciting my curse with his breath. He saw the rage I collected towards the cruel characters of my world and settled on it. But I wouldn’t know that. Not until the day of the Burasagatte massacre: internationally known as The hanging children massacre.
Chapter 2 - The Hanging Children Massacre
It took me less than a week to recuperate, the visiting doctor was surprised at the speed of my recovery. I made it home the day after my attack and swore I would never set foot on that wretched school again. Of course, My parents wouldn’t concede: “you were not attacked in school... your classmates had nothing to do with it... You’re just dizzy from the blow”.
Somedays, I hear my parents argue about me downstairs and the option of moving out of town for my sake. My father opposes the idea and my mother concedes to his thoughts after a few relieving words. It didn’t help the fact that I woke up with less bruising to show than I had expected the morning of the incident, making it look more like a fall than an attack. I wouldn't blame them if they thought I was staging it. My injuries didn’t look serious when I got home.
I begrudgingly went back to school. Stepping through the front doors. I felt all eyes scanning me while I walked through the halls. They were expecting scars or bruises after the new rumors floated around but my skin was clear as snow and my walk normal. My broken leg healed miraculously fast. I couldn’t make out their murmurs but they mostly left me alone. I saw Alice next to her locker. Surrounded by her boyfriend and his gang, staring at me with disgust. I kept my head low and walked to my newly “decorated” locker. “Pervert” in bold streaks of red paint. I glanced back at them to catch them laughing. I opened the locker to find a cum-covered magazine thrust through the locker’s openings. I closed it and left the magazine there. Then I proceeded to walk past the hysterical laughter of the students that took part in the “prank”.
I went into class, sat in the back row next to the window, and let my head fall into my arms. I wasn’t feeling sad. I just wanted to sleep. I hadn’t been getting much of it before that day. My dreams had turned into nightmares about suicides and people killing themselves. I’d dreamt about the students in my school drowning in the deep lake or getting mauled by bears. They were angry dreams, displaying the sort of feelings I’ve never had before, like a newly found grudge or years of suppressed anger resurfacing. I’ve always considered myself a passive person and I wished that incident didn’t change me into a bitter personality. Someone who’d do bad things to other people just because they felt sad for themselves. I, also, saw Alice in my dreams. Her naked frigid body was entangled by rose bushes, her blood getting sucked by thorns springing from the vines. I felt like a psycho.
I heard a commotion in class. I got up from my seat and saw that the professor had gone out of class and the “Alice gang” had surrounded my seat. Two of them grabbed my body and pinned me to the ground while one of them was taking off his pants “Hey pervert, Why are you back so early?”. I struggled to get up and I tried fighting back. But the two jocks outweighed me. I closed my eyes. I couldn’t push them away from me, I had no one to help me at that moment. I heard a girl try to keep them off me but they pushed her back. She ran out of the room to look for the teacher. It was too late. I felt angry. I felt the same hatred I felt under the moonlight in that sorrowful lake. I felt powerless and fragile. I didn’t belong in their world and this was my punishment. I wished I would just disappear. I wished everyone would just disappear.
The orange light passing through my eyelids went darker. Expecting incoming punches, I was surprised with nothing. My body was free, no one was holding me back. I opened my eyes to the granted wish.
There was no one. I was all alone and the sun was outside but it wasn’t emitting any light: a bright orange disc surrounded by darkness. I got up from where I was laying down. Looking at an empty classroom. I checked for sounds. Maybe they ran away. The silence was deafening and no class would run that fast without making a commotion. I turned my head to the window by my table hoping to catch something that would explain the abnormal situation. I saw nothing unusual, the building across and the dim star which, of course, freaked me out. It wasn’t an eclipse. I moved toward the window sill to get a better look and was surprised at the scene displayed on the ground floor.
I will never forget it; The creature walking between the still dead bodies evenly laid on the terrain, the entire population of my school. The horror settled into my heart once I figured out I was the one that caused the genocide outside. I recognized that creature. I saw all of this in a dream and it felt like a déja Vu. I couldn’t believe it. I thought maybe I was hallucinating but the signs told otherwise: The heat in my face, my legs going weak, and my heart beating faster than I could breathe. I ran down the stairs of my building, heaving, with a pain in my chest, out into the yard.
I couldn’t decide my feelings. I was shocked at the image that lay before me. The heads of Alice and her gang surround the neck of the horrid creature. Their faces were composed of hollow eyes with streaks of blood on their pale gray faces. The four-skulled demon dug giant rusted nails into the ground and attached ropes of gooey blood, Stretching to the roof of the building. Hanging evenly by their spines were the headless naked bodies, dripping blood from their bare feet. I turned to face the creature only to find him staring into the back of my soul. He was a tall humanoid figure. His “headpiece” consisted of four skulls in a cross: A fox, a boar, a cat, and a goat. “We feast today before the end,” He says with a vibrating, ominous sound coming from the depth of his robe. He steps away slowly to pick up a bone ax by the courtyard. Chopping the heads of students and consuming them with the hole in his ribcage. The words can’t describe my horror and the level of terror I felt on both levels, The first being this abomination walking around, consuming heads and hanging their bodies to dry. The second is the fact I caused the massacre and didn’t know how to stop it. I screamed at the devil to stop.
“Wasn’t that your wish? For everyone to disappear” he said while settling his weapon on the ground.
I glared at the enormity of his figure. He sat in the half-light, like that of dusk, orange embers and swirling smoke. The old, rough cloth covered his long slender arms. The bones of his chest creaking with minimal movement, the hot air around him, caused by the exhaling smoke of burning flesh. He was right. I couldn’t fight it but I could try.
Chapter 3 - Siobhan, The Holy Chain
The world had witnessed horrible realities: Planes crumbling down from the blue sky, mothers launched from their economy class seats, holding their dear babies for life. Human experiments condoned by corrupt governments, operated on prisoners of war, ranging from school children to teachers; Which allowed the creation of deadly toxins that would, without a doubt, be used in winning more wars and maximizing profit. There were bombings, school shootings, racial crucifixions… A sea of mayhem, with no end in sight.
It was our job then to settle the world back on its feet once an incident like that happened: Journalists wrote articles condemning those actions. Reporters uncovered the facts on national and international television. Volunteer centers donated to the poor. Therapists offered their services to the families of the deceased. Sunday mass acknowledged and reassured the subjects of their religion. Lawyers suited up to make someone responsible. Memorials were built, Marches were held. Angry teenagers tweeted in all caps and stay-at-home moms wrote about them on their blogs.
It was the media that people relied on most to get follow-ups of the story; to grasp what happened and understand the root cause of the incident, whatever it may be. So at the very least, they could avoid making the same mistake in the future: a lonely kid brought an AR to school? Let’s make lonely kids feel more inclusive !!!
When it came to the Burasagatte massacre, The world stood on its very shaking knees and it felt like time had stopped. They had never seen anything like it before: Imagery of glistening, scarlet ropes stretching from the ground to the sky on a slope. Lit by rays of sunshine or the police’s blinking red and blue. Boys and girls ranging from children to young adults, hanging by the bone structure of their backs to dry like wet clothes.
Everyone had their field day, trying to decipher what the hell happened. Printers were overworked and social media exploded with the cursed topic. Judgment day, ghosts, elaborate CGI… Questions went unanswered on live tv. Therapists didn’t learn about this sort of savagery in their “highly esteemed” universities. Wherever you looked, a question was proposed: Who did this? How could something that massive be unnoticed while in the making? Why did no one else survive other than a couple of kids? What’s so special about those kids? It was a shit storm for everyone involved with the school and an even shittier shit storm for the surviving two students: a girl and a boy. They both made little to no comments, the reports claimed that they were asleep when it happened and they woke up in class with a nauseous feeling. They were questioned endlessly but to no benefit. They were both useless as witnesses. The world was clueless as to what to do.
Meanwhile, inside the headquarters of the underground religious group: Hidden Grace. A phone call was made to a certain woman working in an office, located in the Shibuya center. The call didn’t last more than 5 seconds: “Bring him in” in a voice resembling a very old man and the phone hung up. The woman picked up her jacket and closed her office.
Roughly three seconds later, under the snowing gray sky. She was at Fujisaki’s doorstep. She stubbed her cigarette and gathered her hair in a bun. She checked her surroundings, looking for any hiding reporters. She could smell the scent of death looming around the house, concentrated in the second-story room. That’s where he is, she thought. She rolled her sleeves, revealing her naked arms. Two chain bracelets dangling from her wrists and a plethora of scars and burned tissue on her upper forearm. A second later, she was in his room.
This woman was Siobhan, appropriately nicknamed “the Holy chain”.
Siobhan had no brief history. No one in the organization -except for the elders- knew anything about her except her name, nickname, and her inglorious achievements. But I’m here to give you the full rundown.
In the year 1889. Under dripping yew trees, Dark moss lay beneath a baby wrapped in linen cloth. Staring at the night sky with bright grey eyes. Smiling now and then, unconscious of her mother’s grave decision to leave her in the forest. The cloth unwrapped itself and the baby, now free, was exposed to whatever lurked in the verdant forest. Yet, nothing came near the little one and she was warm and safe from danger. A gentle ghost had found the baby before the ground ripped open to swallow it whole.
The ghost was not gentle, nor an actual ghost. She was an outcast demon, banished from a high position. She roamed the cross-stitch of woodland ferns, poppy flowers, and hanging vines. Consuming the souls of ambitious adventurers who were lost in the woods.
Her stance was hunched over little Siobhan. She was hooded with ragged robes and her wings shielded both of them from the cold flowing through the forest that night. The demon had chains snatching prey from the grounds around them. Suffocating the life out of owls and stoats. Feeding the blood to the baby through her mouth like a kestrel to its chicks. The chain demon carried the baby with her ashy, frail arms and walked right past the hanging disfigured body of the woman who left her kid out in the wild to die. The body was found three days later under a willow tree, Her face frozen in fear. The villagers were left to wonder what beast she came across and whether the baby’s flesh had subdued its raging desires...
The chain demon was called Hokaku and baby Siobhan was not afraid of her. She accepted her as her loving mother. Which made Hokaku love her as if she was hers. It was true love and It was pure. A connection that can’t be severed. A chain bound their hearts together. It made the demon stronger and Siobhan her vessel.
They lived in the woods, in an old abandoned house which the demon took care of by “force hiring” servants she found in distant villages. In the meantime, Siobhan was learning to control her powers as she was growing old. At first, she learned to travel progressively long distances in a matter of seconds, the speed of thought; An ability she used to see the vastness of the underworld hokku introduced.
She learned to use the chains by catching field mice and rats, then rabbits and foxes. Boars were a little difficult but she got the hang of it. Deer, Moose, and buffalo were an easy catch once she turned 16. Hokku, later in her daughter’s life, shared secrets from the underground world, and her daughter listened carefully. They traveled to shrines together. They fought demons and prayed to forgotten gods. They explored dark spaces unknown to humans; Chasms full of undying ghosts, tortured demons, and corrupted witches.
When Siobhan reached adulthood, the process of growing older slowed down significantly. By that point, she had mastered all the techniques of the chain demon, Hokaku sat her down on a boulder in the middle of a forest. It was time she showed her the true -ironically enough- unchained abilities of the chain demon vessel.
The sun went dim, stars shone behind a large burning disc. The trees between them and the village out west were sucked to the ground leaving nothing but floating leaves, crushed squirrels, and broken nests. Leaves floated about in the air and insects buzzed away from the perceived danger. From the boulder, the vessel watched as the villagers gathered, a mile away, at the edge of the opening her mother had created. Farmers in work clothes and pitchforks came first to survey the area, then came the women in long dresses covered in mud, dragging their children behind them and carrying their babies on their back. They could make out, amidst the mess, the figure of a woman in a black gown sitting on a large stone. Her long, stark, white hair fell on her shoulders.
Hokku asked if she could demonstrate to the villagers. Siobhan had no feelings towards humans and generally didn’t care if they lived or died. She agreed to her mother’s proposal.
Chains spewed out from the ground beneath the boulder and spiraled into the necks of the villagers. Once the links were settled, the chains hastily retracted, with enough speed to keep the captured alive. The villagers were at the vessel’s feet.
Siobhan sitting on the boulder. Her forearm on her knee and her other leg drooping to the side, watched as the villagers, with bloody faces and broken knees, struggled to stand. Their babies ate dirt, their muddy dresses got muddier, their bodies left behind them a trail of roughed up ground. The people cried and wailed, screamed and shouted at the top of their lungs, begging for mercy from the vessel and the ghost floating behind her. The chains kept them to the ground, kneeling before her. “Ask them to pray, Siobhan. For you”.
She commanded and the villagers did as they were told. Farmers knelt and so did their wives. Staying alive was thought to be the most favorable option. But in a matter of seconds, it would become the least.
Wooden rods came out of the scorched earth and ensnared the captives. They sunk into the ground wherever they came. Fear exhuming from their grass-full mouths, muffled by dirt. The trees were brought back up and the sun shone again.
The village was left desolate, abandoned in the middle of time. Fields half sowed, animals unfed. Burning, Boiling pots bubbling inside dusty homes. Fishing poles and scythes sitting on the edge of the forest, rusting and molding.
“As long as you have captives, locked in your shrine, you will not die. They will die for you”.
Her shrine was a mossy prison, standing tall above a deep ravine, the dark base hidden by smoke and twisting wood. Men and Women of all ages were strangled by their necks with wooden hands stemming from the ravine sides. Their faces were bloated with the blood but unable to die. They were heaving from their lungs, with slow beating hearts, waiting for their turn to die.
Chapter 4 - Blood and Steel
Fujisaki sat in the middle of his older cousin’s room, sending the chill air flowing through the window. Watching inside his own mind, listening to the words spoken by its new inhabitant.
Due to the shocking and unfortunate events of the massacre. His parents had sent him to stay with his uncle and aunt until they had successfully moved out of the cursed town. They were hoping the country air would clear his mind from the mess that had occurred. Fujisaki didn’t say a word since he came back from school that fateful day, until the day he left for his new lodging. His parents mistook it for trauma, or their new favorite word: PTSD. But it wasn’t either of those things. Fujisaki was in another space. A shrine, structured by death and blood. A large seat made of bones sat in the middle of a blood lake, erupting bubbles now and then. He didn’t want to ask how they were generating. He could guess the gory answer.
On the throne, built out of a criss-cross of femurs and humeri, sat a hooded giant. His feet splayed apart, his ragged robe dangling from the side of the chair. He was leaning on an arm and talking through his smoking skulls to his vessel.
“Welcome to my home,” he said in a vibrating voice. A skull popped out where it bubbled in the scarlet liquid.
The anguish Fujisaki felt during the weeks leading to his departure from his hometown was unbearable. He wept in the middle of the night like a whimpering ghost. When he slept, he saw the bodies hanging from his fingertips. Startled awake, He would stare at the ceiling, unable to think. His mind was both silent and roaring.
The time spent in the shrine wasn’t in vain though. Fujisaki had been learning from his undesired friend/foe: Demons needed vessels to operate their gruesome powers, at least until they reached the throne again. A deep bond was necessary for the demon and the vessel to connect, which was easy to find if the demons weren’t sealed in certain locations, unable to wander. The two subjects shared hatred of humans, for a brief moment at least. Fujisaki didn’t hate humans. He merely got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, with the wrong feeling. He managed to save one classmate, the one who tried to help him. He bargained a deal with the blood demon, a taste of his skull, a tooth for a soul.
Fujisaki swore to never hurt another soul. He thought about using the blood demon for the good of his kind but realized any wrong move could result in the death of innocent people, something Fujisaki vowed to avoid.
He sat in the middle of the room, legs crossed, staring into the abyss. He was learning from the demon who rarely left his body -unlike the chain or poison demon- and settled at his shrine, teaching the young one about the origins of his descent, the old gods, and human’s end.
A long, long time ago. Humans lived as they did in Fuji’s Era. The demon explained that human existence is a cycle of death and rebirth. Each cycle was signified by certain mighty gods. There was The Archivist’s era, The one cycle where everything was run by a single being. It’s foretold between demons that he calmly ended the humans with little to no pain using light and water. There were also The Soulmates. They managed to sit between good and evil. Their apocalypse consisted of splitting Earth in half and recalibrating it for better living conditions in the next cycle. There were the monoliths, the thread-weavers, the hazels… They served, they finished their duty and then they ascended to wherever they came from. Except for the three demons. They were the only ones who stayed on earth due to the end of their cycle, which the blood demon never spoke of.
The identity of the being overwatching Fujisaki’s cycle is unknown to the demons until the upcoming apocalypse.
Fujisaki opened his eyes, sensing someone staring at him from across the room. He saw Siobhan, sitting by the door, with her hands above her knees close to her chest, playing with the silver bracelet on her wrist. She was waiting for him to finish. Her eyes locked onto his when he opened them. Both demons whispered in their ears about the person in front of them. Siobhan knew who the blood demon was. Fujisaki was clueless to the identity of the girl in the black suit pants and white office shirt, but he could feel the energy surrounding her. He got up on his knees, so did she.
“Who are you? What are you doing in my room?”
-I can’t believe he chose you. You’re… very different from us. Although you did make quite the scene.
“Who are you talking about?”
-I know it’s you who slew those students. I can see your demon behind you.
I turned back my head, only to find the blood demon floating tall above me. His skulls calm, unlike their usual fiery state, His robe still, unaffected by the rising wind flow.
“Look…”
I turned my head back towards the girl, trying to explain. I was met with a tall figure shielding her with her large wings. Chains hanging from her arms like Amazonian vines. Her soulless milk-white eyes staring at the giant behind me, with tears. Her gray, cracked lips contrasted with her blue-colored skin.
“I’m not… the only one”
-What? That’s your reaction
I fell back on the bed.
“Are there more people like us?”
-You are asking the wrong questions.
“...”
-Yes there are, only one more, but we have to find him, time is running out.
“We… I thought you were here to kill me or something”
-That’s what they sent me to do.
“They?”
-The organization I work with. They want to capture your demon
Ketsueki’s ax -that’s my demon’s name- crashed through the ceiling and into his hands.
-Calm down. I’m not going to do that, I simply used their resources to track certain artifacts, your demon, and toxin.
“Okay, wait a minute. There’s an organization that knows about our existence, you used them to your advantage, there’s another one like us and you call him toxin”
-Come with me. I’ll show you everything you need to know
“Why would I do that?”
-Because we’ll both die if you don’t.
--------------------
The sky was a combination of orange and purple. The numerous tiny clouds aligned over the dark blue ocean. Waves crashed miles underneath our feet, breaking against the rocks, continuously shaping and reshaping them.
Her coat danced with the wind, her auburn hair tucked underneath its collar. She spoke softly between the waves of destruction underneath us. Stark, red lips catching a strand of hair now and then but she kept on talking as if she never had the freedom to do so. It started as it was supposed to, a history lesson: We spoke first of the demons possessing us. She explained to me their past. Ketsueki, rarely but continuously, corrected her when it came to his past. Then she spoke of her life; At first, it was hard facts: Orphan, Raised by a demon, Trained to hone her skills… then her facts turned into thoughts, emotions started to seep in. Her feelings of loneliness were displayed under the guise of strength. She was brave, fearless, and ruthless. She stood her ground against titans and beasts to reach her goals, but when it came to normal life. She couldn’t relate to her coworkers who revered her, she couldn’t connect with “weak” humans, whom she can easily add to her shrine of undying substitutes.
Under the vast starlight, the sea settled and the air turned cold. She pressed my heart with her hand. Her voice had become soft after hours of intertwining conversations. We skipped from demon talk to recent literature. We talked about dreams, nightmares, feelings of regret, and remorse. I couldn’t figure out who needed that conversation more, but if it wasn’t clear enough: I had found a friend I can finally relate to.
I learned a great deal that night; I can make the air warm around me using the bloody core that replaced my heart. She left her hand against it and snug her cold head under my neck and closed her eyes. The blood in my veins rushed up and down through my limbs, generating heat and controlled by the demon inside me. My body went from cold to warm. I gazed at the still dark water under my feet. I’m a host of chaos with no real purpose. I was looking for friends and I found one most inconceivably. A friend who accepted me for who I am, who looked past the entity that inhabited my soul, a companion who stood by my side when my world turned upside down. Siobhan made my dreams come true and I had to do the same.
“I’ll help” I whispered “What should I do?”
Chapter 5 - Change The Past
Pop-quiz: What kills demons?
You might think about angels and you’d be right, but if you picture them as airborne blonds or floating eyes with runic lettering orbiting them, you’d be wrong.
Angels, in our case, were the product of fear and creativity.
In the year 80000, far ahead in the future. A single man by the name Wilson286868 woke up in the middle of the night, startled by unbelievable nightmares. He had a vision of past lives and demons, delayed apocalypses, and old gods. According to his suicide journal: He witnessed three people that go by the names Fuji, Siobhan, and Oliver. They were holding tremendous powers, ones that would change the course of history forever. They’d reform the way humans were supposed to live. The powers themselves would become omnipotent beings watching over the earth, harvesting the humans' souls and feeding on them. While the vessels would die after the conquest. He witnessed everything that happened in the year 2020, accompanied by an old being that goes by The Archivist, explaining every intricate part of their story in great detail. Leaving him with a plan to prevent the chaos that became after the demons succeeded.
What happened though was that the meal he ate that night before going to sleep was contaminated with Methylenedioxymethamphetamine, so he slept high. Somehow, through sheer luck, he did see the right thing and understood everything that needed to be learned. He wore an inhaler over his face and went out into the wasteland, heading for his bunker.
It would come as no surprise that humans became biological resources in that bleak future. He was privileged to have an IQ over 800, which was the minimal level mandated by the government to have independence. Otherwise, he’d most likely become cattle or a test experiment, just like the ones he had in his lab.
Since that fateful night, the mad scientist worked incessantly, fueled by the desire to save his species from the doom they were living in. He had to change the past to steer the cycles in their right course. The three demons had successfully controlled everything after they united, halting the apocalypse for an eternal ruling. So instead of a fresh restart, humans lived on to see the reason why their cycles had to end after a certain time limit. They lived past what was supposed to be possible. Too many people crammed in one small spinning globe. They tried leaving the planet but all efforts failed. They couldn’t sustain life on other planets, which led to going underground. They dug deeper and deeper, the poor lived closer to the core while the rich enjoyed their winds and oceans. It went like that until it became too crowded and space was an extreme necessity. The cannibalism act had been elected, passed, and heavily enforced.
This was all part of the demon’s plans.
Wilson had three subjects: a dishonorably discharged ex-marine and his two sons. He had managed to save them from turning into fodder, claiming he needed them for a project, which ironically became true. Their mother wasn’t so lucky and went through the meat grinder. I forgot to mention that Wilson was a renowned engineer. He specialized in Planetary Projectiles, a new industry created in the year 21000 when they needed new metals. The industry consisted of turning moons and planets into smithereens by sending a single rocket that dug through the surface, into the core, and through a freezing process. The planets cracked then blew up. Drones were sent to collect the dust floating in space.
Only madness survived past the 10K year.
The man and his boys were never under any control or supervision. They stuck in the engineer’s bunker and helped him with his work out of sheer gratefulness. When he informed them of his nightmares and his non-negotiable plan, they tried to kill him with a wrench. Before walking into the bunker though, he had left his mask on and released a toxin which, a few seconds before they bashed his skull in, put them to sleep.
He worked for years on their unconscious, living bodies. First, He stripped all memories and unnecessary information from the subject’s mind, except for one: the loss of the wife and mother. He made it seem like it was their fault for not saving her from the three chaotic demons by augmenting the chemicals controlling grief, regret and anger; An additional incentive to win against the vessels. Then, He improved their human, frail, poorly fed bodies. Their senses were heightened to the extremities, so they could see, hear more. Their damage responders were nullified (if their bones cracked or lost a finger, they wouldn’t feel a thing). He started with the armor platings after he finished. Built out of pure, dark, enhanced tungsten, Infused with heavy machine guns, Sharp cobalt swords, Bullet fabricators, and toxin developers. For energy, he used molten cores which were fragments of fractured stars.
In his mind, He called them Cerberus, after the three-headed dog. They were attached, secretly, to the blank rocket heading for meteor-906 flying by Earth. It was supposed to look like a failed operation. A malfunctioning rocket, unable to explode. When in reality, It housed the three under a timer. The meteor would then go according to the calculations, through a black hole. Which he had learned, through The Archivist in his dream, that it achieves travel through time.
The rocket was sent and the math was right. Inside the black hole, Cerberus woke up with a set of instructions on how and where to land on earth-2020. They broke from the inside of giant tubes with milk-white liquids. Their armor was clean and sleek, Their minds: empty. He succeeded in terraforming them into clear-headed soldiers with one objective.
“Get ready”
“Yes father,” said, in unison, the armored soldiers reloading their guns.
The science behind their planetfall is unbearable. To be perfectly honest, I don’t understand it myself. So I’ll skip to the fun part.
Through the serene, calm blue sky. A ball of steel came crashing down leaving a smoking trail behind its fiery body, which exploded before reaching ground level, launching Cerberus in the air. The three titans fell in the bearing sea while the sky rained metallic shards and burning fuel. They weren’t too far from shore.
Oliver’s home was 85km away from their location. They cleaned their armor and disengaged their drones. Finding the optimum route without being discovered by humans who were already heading to their crash location.
Chapter 6 - Flowers For Julie
Under Alaska’s morning sky and rustling pine needles. Oliver sat with his tools on the dewy grass, covered in mud. He was working on a small garden behind his wooden cottage. A verdant backyard filled to the brim with colors and hanging vines. He lived all alone at the edge of the forest like a witch, banished from civilization, with his small beagle puppy, Gen.
Oliver had one visitor. Early in the morning, he’d wake up and start making coffee in his old kitchen. He’d leave it to cool down outside on a vintage table and bring two metal chairs, placed them -conveniently- right next to each other. He enjoyed the days when she came. The cold air that made his nose red became warm and coffee-scented. The rough gray trees that covered the back of his house were no longer jail bars, but a barrier, separating them from the real world while they sipped their morning brew, facing the fantastical mountainous terrain across his homes’ neighboring blue lake.
He got up from his work, with a hidden smile, when he heard the sound of wheels turning above cracking sticks and rustling ferns. She sat in her usual chair and he brought her a bouquet of blue orchids. “You’re early, give me a few minutes”. He went inside, placed his tools on the counter, and grabbed a bucket of ice-cold water. He came out in a clean, long-sleeved, white cotton shirt and dark sweatpants. His rose-red cheeks contrasted with his snow-white face. His unkempt short hair was still wet. Gen jumped on his lap and sat quietly, listening to the two talking while Oliver ran through his fur with a tiny comb.
Oliver was looking for a few plants when he met Julie. She laid down on an old white blanket reading and kicking with her feet, surrounded by white clover at a clearing in the middle of the forest. The whole scene was lit by a burst of unusual sunshine. He came up to her slowly, trying to grab her attention, afraid of scaring her. Her orange-red hair fell on her shoulders while she turned a page and traced the words with the side of her thumb.
“Hello,” he said. She raised her head at this dirty-blond young man carrying a basket full of mushrooms and twigs. Oliver could barely speak out of awkwardness: “What’s… what’s your name?”
The conversation was slow at first. Oliver could barely make conversation without a silent pause every now and then to think of his next line. It picked up speed a little later when the sun fell a little and botanical shadows began to form around them. Julie slowly opened up to him in a way she could never achieve before. His calm demeanor made her feel safe and comfortable. It was the start of a lovely friendship. They promised each other by the end of the day they’d keep in contact, to meet again in the same spot tomorrow. She would bring her favorite books to share and he would bring her lunch he prepared himself and flowers from his garden.
After finishing their morning drinks, They walked through the forest collecting mushrooms and talking about the latest news, their new reads, and what was happening in their lives. Oliver didn’t have much to say. His monotonous routine never changed. She talked about her university courses and chatted about her friends. He always felt a sliver of jealousy whenever she mentioned a boy in her class that dressed well or said something funny, but he let that feeling go.
Julie always wondered why he lived so far away from civilization, such a smart, clean, and handsome young man. He resembled a twenty-one-year-old Gatsby, without the entitlement or delusions of grandeur. Her mind often wandered around the idea of him out there changing the world or making money, instead of gardening and reading all day, although that’s what made him charming in the first place. She never spoke her thoughts out loud. Afraid her parent’s desires were manifesting themselves to break something she loved.
She rode on the back of Oliver’s bicycle along the edge of the forest, listening to music through her earbuds while he pedaled to reach their favorite lunch spot. They sat under a small blossoming tree, her head burrowed into his lap, laughing at his dumb jokes or making her own. In their silence, they listened to the creek and tiny waterfalls, he fiddled with her hair while reading his favorite book in a comical fashion. He reenacted the voices and scenes, WAAR!!! And she’d giggle at his poor voice acting. She was happier than she had been in a long time. While Oliver finally felt what it’s like to be in love.
Oliver was thinking of starting a life with Julie. The financials were never a problem for him, due to a very large inheritance, which he never felt the need to use. Julie was perfect for him. They’d been with each other for months and even though she never expressed it, he knew she felt the same way about him; as he felt about her.
At night, He’d think about all the possibilities he could achieve. Moving into a bigger home outside the US, to live in japan like he used to with his grandfather when he was young. He would skip a few minor details like telling her he loved her and go straight to thinking about their wedding venue and the linen of their bed. He would think that after all those years of horrible curses. He could finally have a family of his own. He wouldn’t just belong to it, he would build it and take care of it. Oliver and Julie sounded nice in his head.
The puppy got up from under Julie’s palm and stared ahead, just like his master. Oliver and gen were both thinking the same thing: an unusual scent in the forest alerting them of danger. The three heard a booming sound in the distance and they could make out the cabin’s wooden planks, flowers and pantry flying in the air. His home had just been bombarded. Julie got up frightened while Oliver sat where he was, analyzing in his head who in their right mind would attack his home. He planted his hand under the grass and into the dirt, fiddling and digging for something. ”Gen” was the only word he spoke while Julie tried to convince him to move. The dog who wasn’t a dog looked at his master. They can feel a presence in the area, someone was watching them.
Straight across from the tree where Oliver was sitting and Julie was gathering her things, The black marine stood, and on the other side of the field, his companion stood. They were both getting ready to attack the picnic party.
Oliver’s mind ran through one thought: How can he get Julie out of there unharmed? He knew people were watching him from the edge of the forest, Toxin knew it as well, but if the sun went dim and his demon got out, she would die out of the poisonous fumes. A small field of natural air around the tree would be the solution. She would sit there unharmed while he fought in the gas. He can, also, either use Gen to shield Julie while he fought alone, or he could use Gen to help him and Julie would be left against the open fire.
“Julie, I need you to listen to me… no, no, no, don’t say anything, just listen. In a few minutes, some people are going to try and kill me. I need you… no, please just listen. I need you to stay here with Gen. I can take them on, but you have to stay here, he will protect you”
“Whatever you see, Please don’t hate me. I’m sorry for lying to you”
Oliver stood up while Julie gave him a look of both suspicion and bewilderment. His hand came out full of passed-out bugs and worms. He patted Gen and asked him to protect her.
The sun went dim, The forest sang its lonely song of rustling branches and the angels stepped out. The marine’s face behind a dark helmet ran red with anger. His rage throbbed through his veins. He could see the killer of his wife and the mother of his children. The other angel’s mind ran memories of his mom’s body going through the meatgrinder, operated by Oliver while hysterically laughing. True unrelenting rage consumed both of them. If they were ever to stop the pain, it would be by finishing the asshole and his demon.
There were no words. The angels knew the forest would close behind their backs once they stepped into the clearing, and it did. Barks collided with each other and leaves formed a dome. A green smoke pierced the grass underneath their feet, creating a smokescreen for Oliver. There was a small circle of clean air where Julie stood with Gen under the tree, but the rest became unbreathable toxic gas. The armor kept the poison outside and filtered clean air because Wilson had thought of everything.
Once the gas settled, They heard the hissing of funnels under their feet. A wooshing sound went by the unwavering marine. Oliver was nowhere to be seen but they were already aware of his abilities. They were waiting for his mutants to strike. The marine listened to his son’s machine gun going in the distance and the cries of a monster, the stridulations of a giant centipede running across. He holstered his machine gun down his armor and pulled the cobalt sword. A hum of energy vibrated from the blade while he struck the slimy worm coming after him from the left. His blade went through the middle of its large prostomium, dazzled with hundreds of shiny teeth buzzing like a chainsaw. The worm’s body slid on either side of his sword until it split in half. Its mutated intestines leaked toxic acid on the ground. His son landed right next to him, turning a rock into gravel, with the head of a black Beatle bleeding through his luminescent sword and the marks of its mandibles clear on his helmet. They shook off the acid of their swords and watched each other’s backs. The centipede’s rattle sounded closer. It was time to clear the air. The marine shot in front of him a blank shot. A whirlwind, accompanied by a fat bass sound, pushed through the smoke, clearing the path before them towards the girl.
Oliver couldn’t transform or heal fast enough. If he lost a limb, it was lost forever. If he was shot in the head or heart, he’d instantly die. That’s why it was imperative to hide inside the toxic smoke. His mutants had been killed one by one. When he noticed they were targeting Julie, He sent more and more. But they kept on hacking and slashing until he ran out. Gen jumped out of Julie’s arms and watched as the black-armored angels walked towards them, killing whatever stood in their way.
It’s at this point I must tell you. Gen was the poison demon -aka Doku but they called him toxin.- The puppy walked a few feet from Julie and collapsed on the ground. His stomach blew like a balloon, and small critters came out of it like a spider egg. Through the opening in the puppy’s body. A long slender arm came out, and then another, and another… almost sixteen arms came out of the puppy. His body grew exponentially and there it stood. An upside-down mutt drooling acid, a slender, faceless human body sitting on a throne of thorny long arms and muscular legs.
Before the critters grew bigger and stronger. The younger angel shot incendiary missiles, burning and relieving them from the pain of fighting a few hundred enemies. Oliver appeared behind Julie. She was terrified and urging him to run away while he was reassuring her he could protect himself
.
The machine guns rained hell at the demon. He dodged and ducked but he couldn’t evade the rapid, successive fire, as the bullet fabricators were working incessantly to match the reload time. The mutt attacked the younger angel, pinning him to the ground, while the demon sitting on its back pulled a halberd from its stomach. He passed the long weapon to the arms behind his back and they ran it through the angel’s arm, like a needle through cloth. He didn’t scream nor feel the loss of his limb. He kept on punching the beast with his right cobalt claw, ripping chunks from his flesh, while his father took care of the extending arms, hacking through the extending ones and dodging the fast-moving halberd.
To kill the demonic being, they had to pierce his heart. And to reach his heart, they needed to dig through the hole from which he appeared.
The third angel, who was occupied with blowing up the young man’s house, crashed through the dome, above Oliver and Julie’s heads. She was suddenly pushed from her side. She looked back at Oliver whose lower half-cracked under the weight of the heavy armor.
Chapter 7 - To Your Grave
Oliver had no choice left.
To save himself and his struggling, he needed to go where they both had a chance to survive. The angels had the advantage over them, both in numbers and skill, and somehow their armor was equipped with the right tools to counter his toxic gas and killer mutants. Something didn’t feel right but he couldn’t think straight. Under the torment of his broken legs, the cry of his girl and the thumping sound of falling arms and wailing machine gun above his head. A crackling sound came out of his jaw. The floor beneath the entire dome collapsed into a new world: The factory.
Giant vats full of toxic sludge, fuming chimneys and corroded walls, the smell of rust and decay floated around the place, its natural air. The ancient floor tiles broke under the angels’ feet. They found the demon had escaped somewhere, its fresh acidic spit trailed behind a wall and into the unknown. “Guess that’s what all the arms were for.”
The factory wasn’t a place for pedestrians, rails suspended from the ceiling in all directions. A chasm, as deep as an ocean, stood between the angels and their path as green miasma collected beneath with a yellowish smoke. Their only way to pass was through the monkey bars above their heads.
“Fuck that, we’ll make a path”
The youngest angel pushed through his colleagues and aimed both his arms toward the other edge. Both his arms collided to form a large canon, humming with energy. It rotated around itself, generating energy and sparking through the dark metal. The cannon shot a large continuous stream of liquid which his superior froze with a couple of cooling grenades. Turning the mess of water and explosions into a sturdy ice bridge. They repeated the process a couple more times to ensure a safe passing.
On the other side of the chasm. Toxin was trying to fix Oliver while Julie went unconscious through the fall. They both lay facing each other while the demon worked his magic. Oliver’s eyes watered at both the pain of the surgery and his inability to protect her. Her eyelids occasionally twitched while he whispered comforting words.
Feral dogs came at them, acid rained on their armor. Swarms of giant, mutated, furry flies attacked them at once, but nothing stood in their way. Metal clanked under their heavy strides, walls were breached with explosive missiles and ammo shells went through the belt system to get refilled for re-usage.
They finally reached the limping vessel and his demon, guarding their sleeping damsel. The angel had re-attached his arm using nanites and aimed his smoldering hot weapons with his brother at the target. The marine stepped forward
-The demon’s heart or we finish the girl.
-no chance.
-suit yourself.
The dark scene lit with the unrelenting fire force that could break a village in mere seconds. The guns bled energy and lead. Red beams and orange bullets. They cut through large tentacles from a Lovecraftian monster like a buzzsaw through a plank. The young angels were fast and precise, while the marine stood in front of them, projectiles flashing from his left and right.
The fight lasted for hours. The marine watched their backs while the kids broke through every single creature thrown at them, moving ahead until they grabbed the weakened demon with a firm grip and shot his head with a golden bullet from the older one’s gauntlet. It slowed his movement but did not kill him. Oliver sat behind him. Covering his girlfriend’s unconscious body with his own, afraid for her life. He was unable to comprehend their unstoppable ferocity. What once was a powerful demon hired by the government for nuclear weapons, was being dug through with cobalt claws. The angels managed to pull strange artifacts; Blades he used earlier to cut through their limbs, a shield of rough adamantite which blocked the laser beams…
His heart was finally pulled, seeping acid, The demon shrieked his last cry and disintegrated. The factory crumbled around them and they stood in the forest again. The sun was bursting with energy. Oliver’s chest crushed under the heavy pain of losing his bond with the demon. A bond formed of gentle kindness, which was born in the backyard of his grandfather’s house. The marine watched as the confused girl woke up and held her friend in her arms while his eyes struggled to hold the pain back. Her stare diverted to the demon killers towering in front of her and realized it wasn’t a dream. One of them emptied his gauntlet of a golden shell, dropping it into the ground with a silver smoke trail, while the other refreshed his gauntlet and reloaded.
The marine’s mechanical components clicked as he walked towards her, sword in hand. She crawled back against the tree, dragging Oliver with all the power she could muster. He was unconscious from the severed bond trauma, or at least that’s what she thought.
The towering angel stood next to her, under the blossoming tree. He pierced the ground with his mighty blade, which would pull out a massive chunk of dirt and drop it next to them. She watched intently as he dug what was a grave. Stunned with shock, she wouldn’t move and try to urge Oliver to wake up and run away with her, with tears in her eyes.
He removed his helmet and sat on his knee to face her. His eyes were gentle, unlike what she thought. He reached out with his gauntlet towards them. She flinched and screamed at him to get away from her. The two other angels watched intently behind their father’s back.
Oliver had been dead since the demon’s heart got crushed, something she failed to realize, or maybe she did and wouldn’t believe it. Like a feral cat, she tried defending him but the marine didn’t harm them. He merely stood up and walked away.
She looked at his face and tried waking him up several times. The realization settled with every passing moment, with every breath he wouldn’t take, with his cold lifeless body. Tears gathered behind her eyes while she remembered their days together and the future she envisioned with him.
Hours passed as she held on to him under the tree where they both laughed and hung out together for months. The angels stood far away, still and staring into the sky as the sun dropped behind the tree line.
“I don’t like killing”
“Neither do I”
Well, that’s our job.
The branches rustled between their silence.
“Do you remember anything about her, dad?”
A few stuff, yes
“Like what?”
She used to write me letters when I was in the service, long letters, about you guys when you were younger.
“I miss her”
So do I…
A wolf howled in the distance, the younger one sat on the ground.
“Are we going to kill the other two as well?”
Unfortunately, yes
“I wish we could change things”
We are, that’s why we’re here, following the mission to save everyone.
“What happens to us when we’re done with this demon business”
There wasn’t anything about that in the plan, so I guess it’s up to us.
“Hey, what do you want to do?”
“I’d like to sleep maybe”
“I’d like to fight the rest of the evil in this world”
Sleeping doesn’t sound so bad.
They left the next day, leaving behind them a full grave.
Chapter 8 - Devotion
I don’t know why I felt depressed so suddenly. Siobhan came to have dinner with me the night before and everything was fine. I felt happy, secure, and most importantly, I had a purpose. But somehow, that purpose fell from my mind the moment I woke up. Ketsueki was unusually reclused and silent. Siobhan didn’t text me as well.
It was raining that day, heavy rain. The sort of rain that signified boring school days and overwork, covered by a layer of thick smoke. I waited to change schools after the incident for a few weeks. Which left me wandering around the city now and then, trying to find comic book stores or catch movies in the empty cinema.
Weirdly, I felt powerful. I walked through dark alleys at unusual times. I wished someone would try and attack me. The fear that consumed my life in the past was overpowered by a newfound ego. I could crush and break anyone in my way. Maybe the demon saw in me something I didn’t see myself the night of the possession. Maybe my hatred for humans wasn’t a momentary feeling, but a hidden build-up. I know I’ve only talked about the school issues but there was also my family, the people I met on the street, the ones who cut in line, who operate sweatshops, who traffic little kids for rich billionaires…
I couldn’t dilute myself any longer, I hated humans.
We’re in a different city every week. Siobhan is trying to run away from Hidden grace, who kept sending cursed ghosts after her. We’ve had a couple of encounters but they were no match for her capture ability; They’d get sucked right into the floor, which I sort of felt bad about at first, but after a while, I didn’t care anymore. Their life felt as meaningless as everyone else.
Siobhan, on the other hand, was very different from everyone else. The sun rose higher when she walked out the door. People watched as she passed them in her bright-colored sundresses. She felt alien, untouchable. Her character had grown softer with me since I offered to help her achieve her goal:
“So what is it we’re doing?”
“We’re going to gather as many followers as we can and try to get another shot for our demons to ascend after the apocalypse”
I didn’t argue with her in that regard. She seemed confident we can do it and I followed along her path.
I sat in a small library looking for a few books to gift to her when she teleported next to me. I got used to it by that point and didn’t move when the wind blew by my side. Her hand grabbed my shoulder. I turned around expecting a smile, only to witness the scariest expression I’ve ever seen her make. Empty eyes, pale face…
“We lost everything”
“What do you mean?” I said silently
“Toxin… he’s gone, I can’t feel him anymore”
“What?” I exclaimed, dropping the book I was holding back into the shelf.
“I don’t know, I woke up this morning and I can’t feel his energy anymore, Hokaku is dormant, probably weeping the loss”
Suddenly I remembered the terrible feeling I had all morning “No wonder I can’t reach Ketsueki, but what does that mean for our plan” I exclaimed
“It’s… What plan? A god killer is looking for us, hunting us”
“Is it your organization?” I asked calmly, trying not to focus on her offensive tone
“No, they couldn’t kill Toxin that easily, they would’ve hired him or capture him, not kill him”
“A demon killer, How did he do it?”
“Can you stop with the questions? This is your fault, You proved our presence with your ‘scene’ and now someone powerful is looking for us. I can’t believe it”
‘You need to calm down” I politely asked
“Calm down? Our entire plan has been ruined, We needed toxin for the…”
“Forget the plan, we need to find the demon killer and end him”
Her anger became frustration then pure depression. I could see how much her dream meant to her, how her whole life was devoted to a single purpose. I felt sorry for her, I tried hugging her but her face changed in the middle of the moment, her hand shifted from her hair to my neck.
My ears started ringing. It wasn’t two seconds before we were high in the sky, between electrically charged clouds, miles above the wet ground. I thought she was trying to kill me, but when I looked down, a cloud had formed beneath us. Where the library once stood, became a mess of fire and rain, shrapnels flying in every direction, cars slid across the road into the pavements. It was an explosion. “What the hell was that,” I asked.
“They found us”.
A flash came from the building across the explosion, then a smudge in the air became a fast-moving rocket. My demon intervened to make an armor of bone around me while Siobhan tried to teleport. The explosion sent me to the left like a shooting star or a burning meteor, while Siobhan, or whatever was left of her flew upwards, Chunks of her body squirting blood, which mixed with the rain and trickled on the glistening armor of the dark marine.
“Break her, I’ll bring the kid when I’m done”
Chapter 8 - Garnets on the street
The bullet passed by his head with kaleidoscopic swiftness, blood gushed from the face of a walking stranger while his body dropped dead on the pavement. The vessel and his demon were occupied in getting out of the bone armor; they forgot to notice the dark-armored giant in front of them.
People were running from corner to corner, the wailing sounds of alarms, cops, and firemen pierced Fuji’s ear. The marine stood still, aiming his gauntlet-gun at Fujisaki. “Kill him,” he said in a terrified voice. The demon rushed through the space between the two. Jumping over the angel with his bone-axe. Fuji stood in his place watching, waiting for this hell to end, while the light escaped the city and the star disc went dim. To his surprise, the giant mechanical soldier grabbed the demon from one of his skulls and slammed him on the pavement, turning it to dust. He shot three golden bullets into his cranium, which didn’t have the same effect on him as they did for Toxin. He kept him pinned to the ground under his knee while cramming his claws down the demon’s chest, Fuji started sprinting away.
“Come back,” Fuji said hastily. The demon melted, leaving the marine holding a pool of blood. Fuji was in full escape mode. He didn’t know who that soldier was, but the energy around him was intimidating: the scars on the metal platings, the steady resolve, the speed of his strike… He was sure that machine or whatever had been the one who killed Toxin. Ketsueki kneeled on his bone chair inside Fuji’s mind, recuperating. They had to regroup with Siobhan, she’d know who that is and how they could stop him.
Beneath his feet, a large expanding shadow formed. “Hold against the wall” Fuji screamed out loud. The demon appeared inside the building, grappled the angel midair, through the glass, and reeled him in against the concrete wall and mirrors shards. Fuji kept on running and turning corners, sending his demon to delay the forthcoming attacks and bringing him back. When he got tired, he accidentally wished he could be any faster. Fortunately, the demon heard the wish and slithered across Fuji’s body in streaks of blood. His muscles grew larger, his back expanded and his feet pounded the ground beneath them.
The structure of his body morphed into a giant abomination of flesh and blood. A giant gorilla-shaped human, with more muscles and bones to protect him. Fuji looked back at the incoming missile and guarded with his forearm, the explosion sent him across the street, untouched. His bones regenerated to cover the damaged area
Fuji looked to the tower behind him and began climbing, thinking the armored marine would not be able to climb after him. In giant leaps, he held on to window sills, rails, and ledges. Flying across from one side to another. The marine equipped his machine gun, which carved into the building with streaks of tiny even holes. Bullets followed Fuji wherever he went, sometimes missing him, yet breaking the handles he was supposed to climb on. When the marine almost lost him. He climbed the building by himself using integrated rocket boots to jump between the building and the one across from it.
There was no running away from him, Fuji had learned. If he didn’t stand and fight, he would not stop chasing him. Fear also settled within him. From what he heard from Siobhan: Toxin, who was strong and had armies of mutant monsters, lost to the marine.
-------