‘Many years ago, creatures used to live on this planet. Demons that tempted, feared, or even outright destroyed many lives. Humans tried to fight them, and slowly but certainly, humans gained victory, as they banished the demons to a dimension running parallel with the dimension the humans live in. In that dimension, the demons could not attack humans, only whisper thoughts in their heads. These thoughts were quite easily removed by any who would hear such a thing. After quite some time has passed however, some humans who were leaning toward darkness discovered a way to summon demons. The summoned demons, in their own selfish way, helped the humans. But not before making sure that temptation of power, and success has grabbed hold over their thoughts and their entire being. Another war was inevitable, fought and won by those who wanted nothing more than to get rid of the demons once and for all. In the haste of protecting the worldly realm however, one thing was missed. This was a crucial artifact, capable of summoning great and dreadful power on whoever wields it. This artifact was concealed, and has gone missing ever since the last great war. While humanity rebuilt, it continued to lie in wait, waiting for a moment to return. A moment, in which all consuming darkness could once again be spread across the lands.’
An old man looked up from his book, and looked at the students of his class. He noticed that there were only about twelve of them, all paying very close attention. Most of them were awestruck, but some of them had a different look. A look that worried him, but he couldn’t exactly point out what is was that worried him so much about this. One student, a young and beautiful blonde haired girl, raised her hand.
‘Yes Fasha?’ He replied.
‘Sir, what happened to that artifact?’ she asked.
‘Well’ he replied. ‘Nobody knows. Up until this very day, a search is ongoing to retrieve it.’
In the distance, a bell started ringing, signaling the end of the class.
Immediately, the students began packing stuff and walking towards the door.
‘Remember, there will be a test about this subject tomorrow!’ the man shouted, just before the students left the class. As he turned around and looked out of a class window, he noticed that in the distance, the sky has suddenly darkened for a brief moment, before returning back to normal.
‘That’s weird’ he muttered, before taking no further note of it. He turned around quickly walked towards a bathroom, where he takes a moment to briefly reflect on the class he had.
‘Most students reacted the way I expected. Except for one.’ He muttered to himself, as his thoughts go to the raven-haired girl who always sits in the back of the class. ‘Shayenne, that was her name right? I’ve got to learn to remember the students’ names more quickly.’
He looked up in a mirror. What he saw was the face of a man from which you could tell he’s already been though quite the trials and tribulations. A scar on the left side of his face, running from his eye to the corner of his mouth was proof of that.
‘As soon as I can, I’ve got to find out what I just saw.’ He continued. He put his hands in a bucket, and scooped up some water. After splashing himself with it, he walked out of the room, and back to another class, unaware that Shayenne has quickly left the building.
Many miles away from that school, which resembled a monastery for those that are unaware it was a school, a group of mysteriously robed men have gathered on an open field, with one of them holding an equally mysterious item.
‘Is this it?’ one asked.
‘I think so.’ Another replied.
‘Can’t you feel the power emanating from it?’ A third man asked impatiently.
‘I can feel something coming from this item indeed.’ The first one replied again.
‘A man who can’t feel any energy from any item can feel it coming from this one?’ A fourth replies, laughing. ‘Guess this should be the real deal then.'
From the distance, a young raven-haired girl is approaching. The fourth man turns around and looks at her. ‘Oh, it’s you Shayenne!’
‘Yeah’ she replied. ‘Sorry for my late arrival.’
‘No worries, you’re right on time.’
‘Really Markus?’ she replied to the fourth man, while turning her face to look at him.
‘Take a look for yourself’ Markus grinned.
She stepped forward to take a look at the object.
‘Yes, I can feel its power resonating. This one will definitely do. Although it’s not the most powerful one.’ She replied, while staring at it.
‘Are you sure?’ Markus looked at her curiously.
‘Absolutely. This one might work.’ She muttered more to herself than to anyone else in particular. She immediately turned around and looked at the group.
‘We leave immediately.
Don’t leave any trace of our presence behind.’
‘Yes ma’am.’ The men replied. They quickly began meticulously removing their footsteps, just before the entire group dispersed. Just moments after, she decided to follow the men, leaving the grass plain behind.
Another class has passed, and Fasha noticed that Shayenne was missing. She decided to walk to the teacher from the previous class, to ask if he knows more. She walked toward the classroom he’s supposed to be in, and found him there. Seeing the door still open, she decided to immediately walk in.
‘Mr. Marius?’ she asked.
‘Yes, how can I help you Fasha?’ he replied.
‘Have you seen Shayenne? I didn’t see her the entire hour, and she’s to be in class with me the previous hour.’
Marius pauses for a brief moment to recollect his thoughts. ‘No I haven’t’ he eventually replies.
‘That’s weird. Any idea where she might have gone to?’
‘No, no idea either. Sorry I couldn’t help.’
‘No problem sir. I’ll be on my way then.’ She apologized to him, just moments before she turned and left the room.
She quickly decided to go outside. Once she was there, she realized she had no idea where Shayenne could be. She decided to look around for a bit. The moment her gaze turned southwards, she noticed the black sky in the distance.
‘What is going on?’ she muttered to herself.
Right after she has muttered those words, a ground has begun to shake violently for a split second, before returning to normal. Although it was only very brief, it was enough to throw her off her feet. After a short moment of confusion, she managed to pull herself together.
‘I don’t know what’s going on, but I need to get out of here.’ She thought to herself. She started running, not looking back at the stone building. Just moments after she started running, the building got struck by a strange lightning bolt that immediately set the place alight. She turned to look at it, and could feel tears welling up in her eyes. She turned around again, and decided to run, without looking back.
After a few minutes of travelling, Shayenne reached a small village. Out of exhaustion, she decided to walk for a bit, before continuing at full speed again. As she walked through the narrow streets, she couldn’t help but notice that the people quickly ran into their wooden houses, and barred the windows. A released a sigh while she continued walking. ‘Everywhere we go, it’s the same’ she thought. As she looked up to where she needed to go, she noticed a castle situated on a hilltop, towering above the village as a menacing warning to any potential enemy. ‘Like that did a lot of good’ she muttered. As if she was struck by lightning, she suddenly stopped. A weird dread was falling over her and it froze her solid in her tracks. ‘I… shouldn’t be doing this. This is wrong…’ she thought to herself, all the while trying desperately to regain control over herself. As she looked back through the street that is on a slight down slope, she couldn’t help but notice the strange dark sky. A cold shiver ran through her body. She immediately decided to turn around again, and move toward the castle as quickly as possible. ‘I don’t have a choice. I’ll have to keep on going. If I don’t…’ Another shiver ran through her body at the thought of what might happen to her, so she kept going. She quickly moved up the hill, and stopped at the entry of the castle, where she found herself awaited by an old man.
‘You’re late Shayenne’ the man spoke, agitated.
‘My apologies master’ she replied with her head down.
‘Where is the artifact?’
She retrieved the artifact from her left pocket in her robes, and handed it to him.
‘Here it is master’
He grabbed the artifact and looked at it. ‘Good, very good. I can sense its power.’ He looked up at Shayenne. ‘Good job. Let’s go inside. We’ve work to do’
‘Yes sir’ she replied submissively.
They proceeded to quickly walk through the courtyard. Once they reached the other side, the man quickly opened a door, and they proceeded to walk through in silence. All the while, Shayenne kept her head down, the looming fear growing inside her. Another door was opened, and they met up with a group of 10 different people, all of them hooded. She noticed that in the darkly lit room they entered, there was a ceremonial shrine, which was covered by a large piece of red cloth. The few candles that did provide the scarce lighting were placed in semi-circle, and the group was standing in a semi-circle opposite the candles. The shrine was the center of the scene. In silence, she moved in place, and waited for the master, who quickly followed her example, and closed the circle by taking his place as well. Once in place, the man waited for a couple of seconds before beginning to speak.
‘Welcome everyone. As you all know, today is a big day. Because after today, the kingdoms will cower in fear, and we will control them all!’
Except for Shayenne, everyone in the group cheer loudly until, with a slight flick, the cheering stops.
‘Now, let us focus on what needs to be done’ he stated calmly. ‘The ritual is going to take some time.
The master stepped forward, and placed the artifact, which looked like nothing more than a stone, on the shrine. He then stepped back, and they all raised their hands forward. As they began chanting the following words, ‘Ura, Meya, Ina, Do’ya, Sino, Kayo, Se’no, Boya’ over and over again, Shayenna noticed that her body was being locked in placed through a stong magic and she could not stop herself from chanting. As her fear was about to take control, she suddenly felt her mind become empty, as if she was taken in a state of trance.
Fasha, still running without a clue on where she’s going, noticed that she was heading south as she entered a village known to her. ‘This is Shindo. Have I really run that far?’ she thought to herself, while she stopped for a moment to catch her breath. As she looked around, she noticed that the narrow streets seemed abandoned. Her footsteps on the cobblestone streets sounded eerily loud. The only thing she could hear was the wind and the slow rocking back and forth of the shop signs. Two men wearing robes similar to Sheyenne’s walked towards her. As soon as she noticed them, she decided to continue walking as though she hadn’t seen them. Despite doing that, she had a feeling that these two men might be trouble, and was immediately on her guard.
‘Halt!’ the one on the left commanded.
She stopped immediately. ‘What’s going on?’ she replied cautiously.
‘You’re not allowed to enter here.’
‘Why?’ she asked, while cautiously looking around, looking for a way to get out.
As the two men stepped closer, the first one replied again. ‘Because we said so. No be gone lady!’
The second man drew out his halberd, and walked toward her with an evil grin, while the first one continued: ‘or do you want us to give you a reason to forever stay here?’
She stepped back, and walked a couple of yards back in the direction she came from. ‘Now what?’ she muttered to herself. Unbeknownst to why, she suddenly had a feeling that she had to go further, towards the castle that lay just a bit further south from the village. In a desperate attempt to find a way, she started looking around for something that might help. After looking around for which seemed like an eternity to her, she found a broadsword hidden under the corpse of an old man.
‘I’m sorry old man, but I’m going to need this’ she whispered through her teeth. She proceeded to grab the broadsword, and immediately felt an unknown power flowing through her. Casually swinging the sword around, it felt like the sword was guiding her. She turned to look at the two men again, and noticed they had their backs turned toward her as they were walking back to their original positions. Knowing that she had only one chance, she decided to sneak up to them, with the one carrying the halberd as her primary target. She carefully snuck up behind them. Using all the force she could muster, she managed to thrust the sword through the back of the guard holding the halberd in his hands. As the man that spoke to her turned around, she pulled the sword from the dead guard, and with a quick spin, decapitated the other guard too.
She took a moment to look at the scene. An overwhelming feeling of nausea struck her. She avoided throwing up by quickly turning away. Now the road lay clear for her to move south. She continued with the sword in her hands. The roads remained clear, and after a couple of hours of climbing hills, she found herself at the entrance of a castle. A dark, demonic sounding voice could be heard. She immediately took cover, making sure that not a single part of her could be seen from within the castle, and listened:
‘Why have you dared summon me?” the demon demanded to know.
Immediately, Shayenne regained full consciousness and control over her body, and stepped backwards until her back hit the wall. She looked at the demon. Although the ceiling of the room they were in was higher than any she’s ever seen before, the demon had to slightly duck in order to not break the ceiling. The initial fear returned into her body again. The urge to make a break for it was almost irresistible, but knowing what punishment she’ll receive for running away, she decided to stay for as long as she could. She remained silent as the master replied:
‘We have things we want you to do.’
‘Really now?’ the demon replied. ‘What things?’
‘Start a war, bring chaos, so we can bring order to this world, and rule it!’
‘No, not going to happen’ he refused.
The master, visibly confused, replied: ‘but we summoned you, you’ll have to obey us!’
Shayenne saw the demon laughing, before returning to his normal, dark self again.
‘And just because you managed to summon me, means you own me? That means that you can make me do everything you command me to do?! Foolish mortal. Do you even know who I am? I. am. Death!’ The demon spread its arms, and a strong force pushed everything outwards. Shayenne, already standing against a wall, felt a tremendous force pushing against her body, causing her to be unable to breathe. The force that pushed against her was so strong, she feared she was going to pass out. But just before that could happen, that force was lifted, and she found herself gasping for air.
‘Now that I’m here, you’ll suffer the consequences, Hokai!’
The demon jumped up through the ceiling and landed on the roof of the castle. The castle, never having had to bear such a weight, began to crack. Shayenne saw this as the opportunity to escape, and started running toward the exit. While the demon jumped away, causing ceiling boulders to fall down, crushing several people and crushing the shrine, she managed to escape, only to find a familiar face. The looked at the face with surprise.
‘Fasha?’
‘Shayenne?’ Fasha replied in equal surprise. ‘What are you doing here?’ Quickly afterwards, Fasha noticed the fear in Shayenne’s face. Shayenne grabbed Fasha, and before Fasha knew it, they were both running away from the scene, while Shayenne replied: ‘no time to explain. We need to go, now!’
Realizing that this is the first time she noticed that Shayenne has shown any emotion at all, Fasha decided to remain silent, and ran along with her. After several yards, they both stopped to regain their breaths. Still clearly audible were sounds of panic and anguish. Several explosions could also be heard.
The master found himself on a field in front of the castle. After standing up, he noticed that several men were standing around him. He looked at these men for a second.
‘Where is he?’ he asked, angered that he managed to let himself caught off guard like that.
‘He’s at the barracks sir.’ one man replied.
From the distance, another man approached the group.
‘Sir, we have a problem. Barracks one to five have been destroyed!’
‘What?!’ the master replied.
More men approached. All of them wounded to a certain degree. Some falling dead before they could reach the group. The master looked around, and turned to the man at his right.
‘Onai, muster all the men you can. We must go after him. We must capture him!’
Onai, keeping his face hidden, just like all the other men, nodded, and quickly ran off.
They heard a roar coming from the barracks, and the demon jumped off, and heading north-west from the castle, straight for Shayenne and Fasha. Shayenne, noticing this, grabbed on to Fasha, and just before the demon managed to land the strike, teleported off to a place unknown. The demon was confused for a bit when he noticed that both girls have disappeared, but as he turned around, he noticed more of them appearing. A shout could be heard: ‘Rangers! Attack!’ A seemingly endless stream of men appeared and charged straight for the demon. The demon, not wasting any time, turned around, and roared as loud as he could. The stream of men stopped in mid-air, like they hit an invisible barrier. The demon kept roaring, and more men hit the barrier. Eventually, the stream of men hitting the barrier stopped. As the remaining men gathered to get the men that fell back on their feet, they noticed that all of them have died instantly. One man, a scholar, appeared in their midst, and looked at the corpses. He stated: ‘It’s like their very souls were sucked out of their bodies when they hit whatever that was. He turned, and looked at the remaining men, and continued: ‘Be careful. No need to toss your life away.’ He then turned to face the demon that simply turned around and jumped away from the area, not noticing that Shayenne and Fasha were still in the area and saw everything. Soon after the demon disappeared, Shayenne grabbed Fasha again, and they teleported out of the area.
The master looked at his men, and quickly noticed he needed a bigger army to defeat this demon. As he turned and looked at the castle, he quickly saw that the castle has fallen into ruin. He turned to his men, and stated: ‘we need to head north-east, to the city of Shimayar. There’s a hideout we can temporarily stay. We’ll recover our strength there, and then head further north, to Grimalar, to our second stronghold.’
The remaining men just nodded, and they too, went off.
The demon was moving quickly. He saw the world gliding underneath him as if it was a sea he was crossing on a boat. ‘I stick out way to much in my current form. Curse them for force summoning me!’ he thought to himself. ‘But, doesn’t matter, I just need to find the right body to hide in.’
As he entered the capitol city of the Western Kingdom, he noticed the people that started screaming and running immediately. However, one boy remained standing. By the looks of it, the boy did not look any older than 10 years old.
‘What is this, is he stupid?’ the demon thought to himself.
‘I know what you are’ the boy began to speak.
‘Really?’ the demon grunted. ‘Then why don’t you run, like everyone else?’
‘I’m not afraid of you.’ The boy simply replied.
This took the demon back a bit. ‘Really? Hmm… maybe’ he thought. Then another grin appeared on his face. ‘Yes, that will do’
The demon spoke the following words: ‘Rumo, fino, esto, maja, hino, dor’. The next instance, a lightning bolt struck the boy, knocking him unconscious, and the demon disappeared. A few moments later, a man and a woman appeared and shouted at him. ‘Faendal! Faendal!’ Slowly, the boy opened his eyes and looked at the man and woman.
‘Yes, momma, poppa, I’m okay.’ He replied softly.
‘Where did that… thing... go? Faendal’s father replied, still in shock of what’s happened.
The demon, now hiding inside Faendal’s mind, quickly replied before Faendal himself could.
As such, Faendal heard himself reply: ‘he’s gone poppa. He disappeared.’
‘By the gods’ the father responded in joy. ‘Come boy, let’s go home.’
Faendal, knowing he could not warn his parents about the danger found himself under partial control by the demon. As such he responded with: ‘okay poppa’, as they went in.
In Faendal’s mind, the demon was laughing softly. ‘I’m going to make you experience the worst little boy. This world is going to experience the worst.
An old man looked up from his book, and looked at the students of his class. He noticed that there were only about twelve of them, all paying very close attention. Most of them were awestruck, but some of them had a different look. A look that worried him, but he couldn’t exactly point out what is was that worried him so much about this. One student, a young and beautiful blonde haired girl, raised her hand.
‘Yes Fasha?’ He replied.
‘Sir, what happened to that artifact?’ she asked.
‘Well’ he replied. ‘Nobody knows. Up until this very day, a search is ongoing to retrieve it.’
In the distance, a bell started ringing, signaling the end of the class.
Immediately, the students began packing stuff and walking towards the door.
‘Remember, there will be a test about this subject tomorrow!’ the man shouted, just before the students left the class. As he turned around and looked out of a class window, he noticed that in the distance, the sky has suddenly darkened for a brief moment, before returning back to normal.
‘That’s weird’ he muttered, before taking no further note of it. He turned around quickly walked towards a bathroom, where he takes a moment to briefly reflect on the class he had.
‘Most students reacted the way I expected. Except for one.’ He muttered to himself, as his thoughts go to the raven-haired girl who always sits in the back of the class. ‘Shayenne, that was her name right? I’ve got to learn to remember the students’ names more quickly.’
He looked up in a mirror. What he saw was the face of a man from which you could tell he’s already been though quite the trials and tribulations. A scar on the left side of his face, running from his eye to the corner of his mouth was proof of that.
‘As soon as I can, I’ve got to find out what I just saw.’ He continued. He put his hands in a bucket, and scooped up some water. After splashing himself with it, he walked out of the room, and back to another class, unaware that Shayenne has quickly left the building.
Many miles away from that school, which resembled a monastery for those that are unaware it was a school, a group of mysteriously robed men have gathered on an open field, with one of them holding an equally mysterious item.
‘Is this it?’ one asked.
‘I think so.’ Another replied.
‘Can’t you feel the power emanating from it?’ A third man asked impatiently.
‘I can feel something coming from this item indeed.’ The first one replied again.
‘A man who can’t feel any energy from any item can feel it coming from this one?’ A fourth replies, laughing. ‘Guess this should be the real deal then.'
From the distance, a young raven-haired girl is approaching. The fourth man turns around and looks at her. ‘Oh, it’s you Shayenne!’
‘Yeah’ she replied. ‘Sorry for my late arrival.’
‘No worries, you’re right on time.’
‘Really Markus?’ she replied to the fourth man, while turning her face to look at him.
‘Take a look for yourself’ Markus grinned.
She stepped forward to take a look at the object.
‘Yes, I can feel its power resonating. This one will definitely do. Although it’s not the most powerful one.’ She replied, while staring at it.
‘Are you sure?’ Markus looked at her curiously.
‘Absolutely. This one might work.’ She muttered more to herself than to anyone else in particular. She immediately turned around and looked at the group.
‘We leave immediately.
Don’t leave any trace of our presence behind.’
‘Yes ma’am.’ The men replied. They quickly began meticulously removing their footsteps, just before the entire group dispersed. Just moments after, she decided to follow the men, leaving the grass plain behind.
Another class has passed, and Fasha noticed that Shayenne was missing. She decided to walk to the teacher from the previous class, to ask if he knows more. She walked toward the classroom he’s supposed to be in, and found him there. Seeing the door still open, she decided to immediately walk in.
‘Mr. Marius?’ she asked.
‘Yes, how can I help you Fasha?’ he replied.
‘Have you seen Shayenne? I didn’t see her the entire hour, and she’s to be in class with me the previous hour.’
Marius pauses for a brief moment to recollect his thoughts. ‘No I haven’t’ he eventually replies.
‘That’s weird. Any idea where she might have gone to?’
‘No, no idea either. Sorry I couldn’t help.’
‘No problem sir. I’ll be on my way then.’ She apologized to him, just moments before she turned and left the room.
She quickly decided to go outside. Once she was there, she realized she had no idea where Shayenne could be. She decided to look around for a bit. The moment her gaze turned southwards, she noticed the black sky in the distance.
‘What is going on?’ she muttered to herself.
Right after she has muttered those words, a ground has begun to shake violently for a split second, before returning to normal. Although it was only very brief, it was enough to throw her off her feet. After a short moment of confusion, she managed to pull herself together.
‘I don’t know what’s going on, but I need to get out of here.’ She thought to herself. She started running, not looking back at the stone building. Just moments after she started running, the building got struck by a strange lightning bolt that immediately set the place alight. She turned to look at it, and could feel tears welling up in her eyes. She turned around again, and decided to run, without looking back.
After a few minutes of travelling, Shayenne reached a small village. Out of exhaustion, she decided to walk for a bit, before continuing at full speed again. As she walked through the narrow streets, she couldn’t help but notice that the people quickly ran into their wooden houses, and barred the windows. A released a sigh while she continued walking. ‘Everywhere we go, it’s the same’ she thought. As she looked up to where she needed to go, she noticed a castle situated on a hilltop, towering above the village as a menacing warning to any potential enemy. ‘Like that did a lot of good’ she muttered. As if she was struck by lightning, she suddenly stopped. A weird dread was falling over her and it froze her solid in her tracks. ‘I… shouldn’t be doing this. This is wrong…’ she thought to herself, all the while trying desperately to regain control over herself. As she looked back through the street that is on a slight down slope, she couldn’t help but notice the strange dark sky. A cold shiver ran through her body. She immediately decided to turn around again, and move toward the castle as quickly as possible. ‘I don’t have a choice. I’ll have to keep on going. If I don’t…’ Another shiver ran through her body at the thought of what might happen to her, so she kept going. She quickly moved up the hill, and stopped at the entry of the castle, where she found herself awaited by an old man.
‘You’re late Shayenne’ the man spoke, agitated.
‘My apologies master’ she replied with her head down.
‘Where is the artifact?’
She retrieved the artifact from her left pocket in her robes, and handed it to him.
‘Here it is master’
He grabbed the artifact and looked at it. ‘Good, very good. I can sense its power.’ He looked up at Shayenne. ‘Good job. Let’s go inside. We’ve work to do’
‘Yes sir’ she replied submissively.
They proceeded to quickly walk through the courtyard. Once they reached the other side, the man quickly opened a door, and they proceeded to walk through in silence. All the while, Shayenne kept her head down, the looming fear growing inside her. Another door was opened, and they met up with a group of 10 different people, all of them hooded. She noticed that in the darkly lit room they entered, there was a ceremonial shrine, which was covered by a large piece of red cloth. The few candles that did provide the scarce lighting were placed in semi-circle, and the group was standing in a semi-circle opposite the candles. The shrine was the center of the scene. In silence, she moved in place, and waited for the master, who quickly followed her example, and closed the circle by taking his place as well. Once in place, the man waited for a couple of seconds before beginning to speak.
‘Welcome everyone. As you all know, today is a big day. Because after today, the kingdoms will cower in fear, and we will control them all!’
Except for Shayenne, everyone in the group cheer loudly until, with a slight flick, the cheering stops.
‘Now, let us focus on what needs to be done’ he stated calmly. ‘The ritual is going to take some time.
The master stepped forward, and placed the artifact, which looked like nothing more than a stone, on the shrine. He then stepped back, and they all raised their hands forward. As they began chanting the following words, ‘Ura, Meya, Ina, Do’ya, Sino, Kayo, Se’no, Boya’ over and over again, Shayenna noticed that her body was being locked in placed through a stong magic and she could not stop herself from chanting. As her fear was about to take control, she suddenly felt her mind become empty, as if she was taken in a state of trance.
Fasha, still running without a clue on where she’s going, noticed that she was heading south as she entered a village known to her. ‘This is Shindo. Have I really run that far?’ she thought to herself, while she stopped for a moment to catch her breath. As she looked around, she noticed that the narrow streets seemed abandoned. Her footsteps on the cobblestone streets sounded eerily loud. The only thing she could hear was the wind and the slow rocking back and forth of the shop signs. Two men wearing robes similar to Sheyenne’s walked towards her. As soon as she noticed them, she decided to continue walking as though she hadn’t seen them. Despite doing that, she had a feeling that these two men might be trouble, and was immediately on her guard.
‘Halt!’ the one on the left commanded.
She stopped immediately. ‘What’s going on?’ she replied cautiously.
‘You’re not allowed to enter here.’
‘Why?’ she asked, while cautiously looking around, looking for a way to get out.
As the two men stepped closer, the first one replied again. ‘Because we said so. No be gone lady!’
The second man drew out his halberd, and walked toward her with an evil grin, while the first one continued: ‘or do you want us to give you a reason to forever stay here?’
She stepped back, and walked a couple of yards back in the direction she came from. ‘Now what?’ she muttered to herself. Unbeknownst to why, she suddenly had a feeling that she had to go further, towards the castle that lay just a bit further south from the village. In a desperate attempt to find a way, she started looking around for something that might help. After looking around for which seemed like an eternity to her, she found a broadsword hidden under the corpse of an old man.
‘I’m sorry old man, but I’m going to need this’ she whispered through her teeth. She proceeded to grab the broadsword, and immediately felt an unknown power flowing through her. Casually swinging the sword around, it felt like the sword was guiding her. She turned to look at the two men again, and noticed they had their backs turned toward her as they were walking back to their original positions. Knowing that she had only one chance, she decided to sneak up to them, with the one carrying the halberd as her primary target. She carefully snuck up behind them. Using all the force she could muster, she managed to thrust the sword through the back of the guard holding the halberd in his hands. As the man that spoke to her turned around, she pulled the sword from the dead guard, and with a quick spin, decapitated the other guard too.
She took a moment to look at the scene. An overwhelming feeling of nausea struck her. She avoided throwing up by quickly turning away. Now the road lay clear for her to move south. She continued with the sword in her hands. The roads remained clear, and after a couple of hours of climbing hills, she found herself at the entrance of a castle. A dark, demonic sounding voice could be heard. She immediately took cover, making sure that not a single part of her could be seen from within the castle, and listened:
‘Why have you dared summon me?” the demon demanded to know.
Immediately, Shayenne regained full consciousness and control over her body, and stepped backwards until her back hit the wall. She looked at the demon. Although the ceiling of the room they were in was higher than any she’s ever seen before, the demon had to slightly duck in order to not break the ceiling. The initial fear returned into her body again. The urge to make a break for it was almost irresistible, but knowing what punishment she’ll receive for running away, she decided to stay for as long as she could. She remained silent as the master replied:
‘We have things we want you to do.’
‘Really now?’ the demon replied. ‘What things?’
‘Start a war, bring chaos, so we can bring order to this world, and rule it!’
‘No, not going to happen’ he refused.
The master, visibly confused, replied: ‘but we summoned you, you’ll have to obey us!’
Shayenne saw the demon laughing, before returning to his normal, dark self again.
‘And just because you managed to summon me, means you own me? That means that you can make me do everything you command me to do?! Foolish mortal. Do you even know who I am? I. am. Death!’ The demon spread its arms, and a strong force pushed everything outwards. Shayenne, already standing against a wall, felt a tremendous force pushing against her body, causing her to be unable to breathe. The force that pushed against her was so strong, she feared she was going to pass out. But just before that could happen, that force was lifted, and she found herself gasping for air.
‘Now that I’m here, you’ll suffer the consequences, Hokai!’
The demon jumped up through the ceiling and landed on the roof of the castle. The castle, never having had to bear such a weight, began to crack. Shayenne saw this as the opportunity to escape, and started running toward the exit. While the demon jumped away, causing ceiling boulders to fall down, crushing several people and crushing the shrine, she managed to escape, only to find a familiar face. The looked at the face with surprise.
‘Fasha?’
‘Shayenne?’ Fasha replied in equal surprise. ‘What are you doing here?’ Quickly afterwards, Fasha noticed the fear in Shayenne’s face. Shayenne grabbed Fasha, and before Fasha knew it, they were both running away from the scene, while Shayenne replied: ‘no time to explain. We need to go, now!’
Realizing that this is the first time she noticed that Shayenne has shown any emotion at all, Fasha decided to remain silent, and ran along with her. After several yards, they both stopped to regain their breaths. Still clearly audible were sounds of panic and anguish. Several explosions could also be heard.
The master found himself on a field in front of the castle. After standing up, he noticed that several men were standing around him. He looked at these men for a second.
‘Where is he?’ he asked, angered that he managed to let himself caught off guard like that.
‘He’s at the barracks sir.’ one man replied.
From the distance, another man approached the group.
‘Sir, we have a problem. Barracks one to five have been destroyed!’
‘What?!’ the master replied.
More men approached. All of them wounded to a certain degree. Some falling dead before they could reach the group. The master looked around, and turned to the man at his right.
‘Onai, muster all the men you can. We must go after him. We must capture him!’
Onai, keeping his face hidden, just like all the other men, nodded, and quickly ran off.
They heard a roar coming from the barracks, and the demon jumped off, and heading north-west from the castle, straight for Shayenne and Fasha. Shayenne, noticing this, grabbed on to Fasha, and just before the demon managed to land the strike, teleported off to a place unknown. The demon was confused for a bit when he noticed that both girls have disappeared, but as he turned around, he noticed more of them appearing. A shout could be heard: ‘Rangers! Attack!’ A seemingly endless stream of men appeared and charged straight for the demon. The demon, not wasting any time, turned around, and roared as loud as he could. The stream of men stopped in mid-air, like they hit an invisible barrier. The demon kept roaring, and more men hit the barrier. Eventually, the stream of men hitting the barrier stopped. As the remaining men gathered to get the men that fell back on their feet, they noticed that all of them have died instantly. One man, a scholar, appeared in their midst, and looked at the corpses. He stated: ‘It’s like their very souls were sucked out of their bodies when they hit whatever that was. He turned, and looked at the remaining men, and continued: ‘Be careful. No need to toss your life away.’ He then turned to face the demon that simply turned around and jumped away from the area, not noticing that Shayenne and Fasha were still in the area and saw everything. Soon after the demon disappeared, Shayenne grabbed Fasha again, and they teleported out of the area.
The master looked at his men, and quickly noticed he needed a bigger army to defeat this demon. As he turned and looked at the castle, he quickly saw that the castle has fallen into ruin. He turned to his men, and stated: ‘we need to head north-east, to the city of Shimayar. There’s a hideout we can temporarily stay. We’ll recover our strength there, and then head further north, to Grimalar, to our second stronghold.’
The remaining men just nodded, and they too, went off.
The demon was moving quickly. He saw the world gliding underneath him as if it was a sea he was crossing on a boat. ‘I stick out way to much in my current form. Curse them for force summoning me!’ he thought to himself. ‘But, doesn’t matter, I just need to find the right body to hide in.’
As he entered the capitol city of the Western Kingdom, he noticed the people that started screaming and running immediately. However, one boy remained standing. By the looks of it, the boy did not look any older than 10 years old.
‘What is this, is he stupid?’ the demon thought to himself.
‘I know what you are’ the boy began to speak.
‘Really?’ the demon grunted. ‘Then why don’t you run, like everyone else?’
‘I’m not afraid of you.’ The boy simply replied.
This took the demon back a bit. ‘Really? Hmm… maybe’ he thought. Then another grin appeared on his face. ‘Yes, that will do’
The demon spoke the following words: ‘Rumo, fino, esto, maja, hino, dor’. The next instance, a lightning bolt struck the boy, knocking him unconscious, and the demon disappeared. A few moments later, a man and a woman appeared and shouted at him. ‘Faendal! Faendal!’ Slowly, the boy opened his eyes and looked at the man and woman.
‘Yes, momma, poppa, I’m okay.’ He replied softly.
‘Where did that… thing... go? Faendal’s father replied, still in shock of what’s happened.
The demon, now hiding inside Faendal’s mind, quickly replied before Faendal himself could.
As such, Faendal heard himself reply: ‘he’s gone poppa. He disappeared.’
‘By the gods’ the father responded in joy. ‘Come boy, let’s go home.’
Faendal, knowing he could not warn his parents about the danger found himself under partial control by the demon. As such he responded with: ‘okay poppa’, as they went in.
In Faendal’s mind, the demon was laughing softly. ‘I’m going to make you experience the worst little boy. This world is going to experience the worst.
