1
Behind a castle and across a stoned balcony, a garden turned several shades darker unnaturally quick. The warm light from the five stars that lit the cloudless sky were blocked by a swarm of creatures flying speedily, but conspicuously, through the air and over the castle. Men and women that were strolling along the pebbled paths in the garden stopped abruptly to look up at the cause of the odd shade only to begin hurrying hastily into the safety of the castle.
Before the darkness had reached over her head, Josephine had already looked up and recognized the throng of creatures flying through the air.
“Demons,” she said quietly to herself and stood up from her chair closing her book swiftly with a light thump. She dropped her book onto the chair taking a brief glance at the direction the swarm of demons was heading. Still watching, Josephine began sprinting into the castle.
“ISABEL!!” Josephine called out loudly while she ran.
“Right here!” cried out a young lady who appeared instantly on command. She looked to be about the same age as Josephine. Running into the room, Isabel held out both of her hands expectantly.
“Here! It’s time again!” Josephine took off her small diamond encrusted tiara and threw it with impeccable aim into Isabel’s hands. Then with another deft sweep, she slid her mask off and tossed it into Isabel’s hands as well.
“Yes, Princess!” Isabel answered confidently and nodded as she ran off into another room placing the tiara and mask on.
Josephine continued to run through each room. She could hear the sound of her heels echo as it hit the tile then hardwood to carpet and tile again. Yet her movements were odd and sporadic. She avoided any room already occupied. Instead, she made sharp detours through other rooms and turned so skillfully as she ran that it was obvious she had done this more than once.
Then, suddenly, Josephine leaped at least three feet into the air as a whirlwind enclosed her for several seconds before she landed again and continued to run. She was no longer in her attire of a light blue dress with silk sleeves. Her black hair no longer waved about her face when she moved and the sound of her footsteps had immediately ceased into small, light taps. She no longer needed to mind about sprinting through rooms of people.
She wore a full body black suit with a shallow V-neck cut that reached the beginning of her chest bone revealing a black net that ran underneath below her collarbone. She had on crimson kneepads that extended further down covering her shins. Black cloth shoes similar to the style of riding boots covered comfortably over the lower half of her shin-pads with the same crimson colored cloth tied tightly underneath each arch of her foot for support.
Around Josephine’s waist, a crimson cloth was tied tightly around holding in place a soft shield of the same color that covered her stomach in a semi-circle, slimming down like the bottom of an ice cream cone halfway over her thighs. Another shield of the same design was located around on her back. She wore crimson shoulder pads and elbow pads with a glove that looped around each of her middle fingers. Attached to her back were two swords with pure white hilts that tied over the front of her torso. Underneath each forearm lined a row of ninja stars inside a long pocket. A small mask with slits covered over her mouth, cheeks, and nose.
Reaching the entrance of the castle, one of the two massive doors opened a small slit from the assistance of the servants of the castle. Josephine nodded her head in thanks and leaped straight out the door.
Demons covered the view in front of the castle and only rays of light that managed to escape through the swarm fluttered in and out. Under the dark atmosphere, Josephine sprinted up to join the battalion further up front who reacted to her sudden presence without the slightest cringe from the change.
She leaped over five people and landed beside a young man who was obviously the leader. He turned to face Josephine and smiled.
“About time, Princess,” he said smirking.
Josephine turned up to face the demons with a small “hmph” and said indignantly, “You know, it is a little difficult to run in a dress from the back of the castle, Prince.”
“Why are you identifying me with such disdain?” The young man smiled again and continued, “I’m actually allowed out here Princess.”
Josephine turned her head and stared at him angrily, then flicked her eyes towards the rest of the army on her right.
“Yes, yes. I know. I’ll be saying no more,” said the prince amusingly, then, without warning, changed his composure as he looked up into the sky again.
“ON MY MARK!” he shouted out.
The men unsheathed their swords and stood patiently with an air of confidence.
“WE’LL DEFEAT THEM AS WE USUALLY DO! RIGHT, MEN?”
The army of men behind him cheered loudly and as if taking the queue, the swarm of demons began to head straight down towards them.
“NOW!!” roared the prince.
Running forward at full speed, the men clashed with the demons head on and swords waved around crazily as it sliced heads, bodies, and tails. The air filled with a deafening noise as demons roared and screeched trying to bite their victims with their poisonous saliva or tear them into two. One by one, as each demon fell lifeless onto the ground, their body dissolved to dust and faded away.
Screams echoed through the air as men grabbed their bodies or faces that the demons’ teeth managed to sink into allowing venomous saliva to flow seep in. Yet, the screams only lasted temporarily. Leaping around at an unmatched speed was the prince as he continued to battle other demons along the way.
He grabbed one man by his arm and placed his hand an inch above the man’s wound as it glowed and gradually returned to normal. The man’s pained face relaxed and he opened his eyes in gratitude as he stood up and continued to fight again. Nodding in encouragement, the prince stood up and bounded his way around to other men.
Josephine had no time to look around as she focused on a snake-like demon flying at her. She twitched her wrist slightly and a ninja star shot down straight into her hand from her forearm. Leaping into the air so that she reached the same height as the demon, Josephine hurled the star straight into the demon’s neck causing it to flinch.
A flinch was all she needed though, and she whipped out her white-hilted sword and sliced the demon’s head from its body as she landed gently back onto her feet. The demon turned into dust, disappearing and Josephine swiftly walked up to grab her star. However, at the moment her hand reached out, a massive three-toed foot thundered in her way.
“Eh?” Before she could say anything more though, she felt a rush of wind coming straight for her neck. In reflex, she did a back handspring and stepped out to take a look at the creature as the ground in front of its foot held a gaping hole from the club it held in its left hand.
The demon grunted loudly in frustration and Josephine took the chance to jump and kick the demon straight into its head and watch it fall into the dirt. She stood for a second to watch the demon stand back up slowly and stagger before she leaped directly for the demon again. The demon prepared itself, and its four eyes followed Josephine’s movement as it waved its club wildly. Ducking, Josephine cried out and kicked the demon straight into its chin causing the demon to fly off the ground.
Without another pause, she twitched her right wrist again, and pressed the center of the star before chucking it at the demon. Aimed for the falling demon, the star unexpectedly opened up to two more levels of blades, each larger than the last, as it reached midway in its flight.
A few moments later, two thuds hit the ground one right after the other – one was the demon’s back and the other was its face. The star had completely sliced the demon in half from the bottom of its feet up.
Raising her right arm expectantly, Josephine caught her star, already recoiled back into its original form, and placed it back into her forearm’s pocket. Then she leaped straight back to the gaping hole in the ground and grabbed her other star.
After another ten minutes of fighting, the sounds of grunting and screeching demons ceased. Instead, the air was filled with heavy breathing and moans from men who haven’t had the chance to be healed by the prince.
Josephine exhaled a long breath and slid her sword back into its sheath behind her. She wiped her forehead in sweat and leaped from tree to tree back to the main army. Landing in front of the prince, he stood up after he finished healing the last man and smiled. Blushing, Josephine smiled back although he couldn’t see because of her mask.
“You did well,” the prince said, and he reached over to hug her, when Josephine caught his arm and pulled him so that their heads were adjacent to one another.
“You can’t be all lovey-dovey now Endymion!”
Josephine let go of his arm and although he looked a little disappointed, he nodded, and shook her hand. He then turned to face the rest of the army. Those who were sitting stood up quickly and those who were already standing stood taller showing their fullest respect and attention.
“MEN! We have won once more! Our kingdom shall stay in peace! If we continue like this, I know one day before your children grow up to be men like you, perhaps this whole land will be demon-less!”
Josephine cheered with the other men jumping up and down in excitement. The five stars lit the castle brightly and the trees glittered green. As the men slowly made their way back into the castle to rest up, Josephine stayed behind to make sure all the living men were accounted for. She bowed her head mournfully for the few who didn’t survive and then quickly joined the rest of the men in the back.
Suddenly, the trees to Josephine’s left began to quiver oddly as if someone had taken hold of its trunk and shook it. She looked up curiously with the other men in her small group and stared at the leaves of the tree trying to make out what was behind it.
“Birds?” one of the men asked.
“No,” answered Josephine focusing closer, “Birds could not manage to shake the entire top of the tree like tha – ”
“BEHIND YOU!!!” screamed someone as a demon shot straight through the leaves of a tree behind her.
The demon’s mouth opened wide as saliva flew back from its speed, and its eight legs turned to face the group. Josephine and the men whipped around instantly. It was obvious that there wasn’t enough time to dodge the demon and the group prepared themselves for the clash.
For the first time that day, Josephine was scared. Without thinking, she threw her left hand in front of her with her palm facing the demon, as her right began to reach for her sword on her back. Only several feet away from her hand, the demon screeched on top of its lungs and claws shot out of its legs preparing to pounce on its victims.
Josephine screamed unsheathing her sword to slice the demon in whatever way, but all of a sudden, a small white light extended from the center of her open palm and grew to encircle the entire group with her. The demon smacked straight into the force field and rebounded off into the dirt.
Disappearing as quickly as it had come, the force field reverted back into a light and receded into Josephine’s palm. Before the demon could get back up, Endymion had come up and sliced it neatly in half with his sword. He turned to face Josephine and the group.
“It..it happened again…” said Josephine quietly looking at her palm after sheathing her sword.
“Guardian…how did you do that?” asked one of the men.
Josephine looked up at him and then to Endymion and said, “I don’t know how. It always happens when I’m in danger or when I get scared. I can’t control it yet.”
She stared at her hands again trying to figure it out and sighed. Ever since she could remember, she knew she had this special power, just like the prince had his healing. However, unlike the prince, she couldn’t use it at will yet.
Still staring at the center of her palm, the sunlight shining on her palm flickered for an instant. Josephine snapped out of her thoughts and immediately turned around looking up and around.
“Guardian…what’s wrong?” The small group behind her stopped and turned around too.
“Could it be more dem – ”
“Shhhh,” said Endymion raising his hand up.
The triumphant atmosphere suddenly changed to an ominous silence. The prince jumped straight up a tree and stood there as he looked around in the sky. His eyes squinted from the light of the five stars and the men below began to grip their swords in preparation.
Then, coming in from the light, a huge demon flew directly at the prince with its claws extended out. Blinded from the light though, Endymion could barely see the demon, and only managed to barely dodge the attack as the demon smashed straight into the tree breaking the branch the prince was on.
Endymion jumped backwards and landed onto another branch when he heard a hoarse screech behind him. Before he finished turning around though, Josephine had kicked the demon straight off its path and into the dirt. The men came and sliced off its head. Endymion stood there for a second and bowed.
“And once again I owe you my life, Guardian.”
Josephine looked up at him. “I am, after all, your Guardian, prince.”
With that, Josephine leaped onto another tree and the prince turned back around laughing quietly to himself. The laughter was short-lived when suddenly one demon after another began pouring out from where the five stars were, exploiting the light behind them to blind the men.
“What’s going on!!” shouted Josephine and she jumped out of the way of a demon’s path. She only landed for a second, when she was forced to jump again and again, from branch to branch as another and another demon came in head first for her.
Screams were heard below and hundreds of demons had taken over the ground gnawing and chewing different men all at once. One man tried to defend himself from one giant troll-like demon as another demon came flying for him in the same direction.
Josephine dived off the branch and grabbed the man as the flying demon ended up with a mouthful of dirt. Landing with a thud, she and the man rolled in different directions. She immediately popped back up though with dirt stains all over her suit.
“Are you alright!” she shouted and turned around but grimaced from the scene she saw. Another five demons were gorging on the man she had just managed to pull out from the demon’s path.
Josephine groaned, but had to instantly dodge another two demons heading her way. Letting out a short breath, Josephine concentrated on destroying them.
She jumped straight up as high as she could, coming off the ground about thirty feet into the air as she twitched her left wrist and a ninja star shot into her hand. Simultaneously, she pulled her sword out with her right and wrapped her wrist around a strap that was attached to the guard of the sword.
Seven other demons flew straight up for her and when she reached the zenith of her flight, she pressed the center of her star and hurled it at each demon – one after another without pausing. Twitch the wrist. Press the center. Hurl the star. Twitch. Press. Hurl. Twitch. Press. Hurl.
Three out of the seven demons were successfully sliced in half, while one was deeply gashed and the rest dodged it easily. However, like a boomerang, the stars came back towards Josephine and managed to slice one demon into 3 pieces and it fell while turning into dust.
Three demons were still left and one took the initiative and began to fly full speed at Josephine. She didn’t manage to duck in time, and the demon pounded its head straight into her stomach sending her soaring at an angle into the ground.
At the last moment though, she managed to regain her composure and let go of her sword. With the help of her shoulders, she popped off her hands and back onto her feet. With the sword still strapped around her wrist, Josephine swung her arm skillfully around as she landed causing the sword’s grip to swing directly back into her hand.
She was grateful to have her mask on right then because the ground was covered in a thick layer of dust and the putrid smells of dead bodies and demons. Although the nauseating smell was not avoidable through her mask, it did however prevent the dust from flowing into her mouth and nose.
Wincing from the dust in her eyes though, Josephine hastily jumped out of the layer of dust and onto a tree branch. She would have been safer in the thick dust however for three demons spotted her and began rapidly soaring towards her.
Josephine calmly waited, and at the last second before one demon could collide into her, mouth open, she leaped into the air and with a back layout aimed straight down with one foot smacking the demon’s head. Grunting in pain, the demon dropped from the tree and stayed still, until a few seconds later where it turned into dust.
Landing next to the dead demon before it completely dissolved to dust, Josephine had already leaped again and sliced the next demon straight in its stomach. With one more jump, she kicked the last demon under its chin and as it flew up from the force, she already had her sword prepared for the impact causing the demon to split into two.
Satisfied, Josephine landed back onto a branch of another tree breathing hard, yet with her sword poised and still alert. Clouds of dust floated aimlessly below her and she could hear herself panting trying to catch her breath as she stood still listening.
The screams of her comrades had all disappeared now and the sounds of gnawing and grunts could be distinguished beneath the dust. Josephine closed her eyes in sadness and frustration gripping her sword more tightly than before.
How could possibly so many demons come out all at once?
Then suddenly a man appeared beside her on the branch.
“Prince,” Josephine whispered and she let her grip loosen on her sword in relief.
“This…this is all wrong,” he said wiping off saliva from the side of his mouth.
“What do we do now…”
The prince turned toward Josephine surprised at her words and holding her arm with his hand he said determinedly, “We fight.”
Josephine’s eyes widened in fear, but the prince grinned and nodded his head towards the dust and held his sword readily. An aura began to exude from his sword. It glowed a fiery sapphire color.
“We fight until our deaths Josephine.”
Josephine winced at the unfamiliarity of the prince calling her by her name instead of “Guardian” and suddenly felt saddened at the feat that lay before them.
She gulped and said, “Yes…YES!”
Yet, they never would receive that chance.
A screech as loud as a twenty fire horns echoed through the air and Josephine dropped to her knees from the volume only to look up and gasp. Thousands of demons had completely filled the horizon in front of her and were flying at a frightening speed towards the castle.
It was like an inevitable black hole that grew larger every second. Gaping at the screeching glacier of demons, Josephine forced herself to take control of her thoughts again and turned around to stare at the prince who shouted, “RUNNNNNNN!!!!”
Before the echo of the prince’s voice could finish
resounding through the air, the two were already jumping at un-human speed from
branch to branch trying to get back to the castle.
They want to kill the prince for his sword.
That’s all they want… because once they do, this castle, this land, this kingdom, will become theirs.
Everything.
As the view of the castle entrance grew larger rapidly, the doors of the entrance opened only a sliver and the prince and Josephine slid straight through with the doors closing immediately behind them.
“GET EVERYONE TO THE CENTER ROOM OF THIS CASTLE NOW!!!” bellowed the prince and everyone scattered off in different directions shouting the same thing over and over again.
The prince sprinted and leaped from room to room shouting his orders as loud as he could as the clatters of heels, boots, and little shoes vibrated along the tile in all directions.
“Guardian! Guardian!” screamed someone.
Josephine turned around and Isabel came running through wearing the exact same garment Josephine had worn earlier that day with a mask around her eyes and tiara upon her head.
“PRINCESS!” shouted a servant running out from the same entrance towards Isabel. “You must follow me to safety now!”
“No!” said Josephine waving her arm at him and he stopped abruptly. “The princess will come with me. Please lead yourself to safety. Do not worry about her. She is my responsibility now.”
The servant nodded obediently and ran off.
“Guardian, Guardian,” repeated Isabel anxiously, “What am I to do now?”
“Shhhh, it’s okay,” consoled Josephine. She felt terrible. Isabel was guarding her identity as she always had ever since she was little and she was always able to handle any situation, but this type of situation was too much for anyone.
A deafening screech sounded through the castle walls resonating from wall to wall. Screeching, grunting, scowling, and every imaginable sound a demon could possibly make could be heard.
“No way…” whispered Josephine realizing how close the demons were, “Please don’t…”
But as she had feared most, the windows of the room to her right exploded and demons came pouring in screeching loudly and wildly. They flew around relentlessly exploring their surroundings when they spotted Isabel and began flying full speed towards her. Josephine grabbed Isabel and began to run when she heard a loud smack. The doors separating the two rooms had closed and in front of the doors stood the Duke.
“DUKE!” said Josephine relieved.
The Duke let out a breath and his face was pale from fear. However, fear seemed to only fuel him as he shouted, “FOLLOW ME YOU TWO!”
The trio sprinted out of the room and the Duke shouted above the uproar of the demons from outside, “We’re going to the room.”
“The room?” said Josephine in surprise as she easily bounded along with the two.
“Yes! It’s..it’s our only savior now,” said the Duke sprinting, turning sharply.
“Wait! What about the prince!” asked Josephine.
“He already knows!”
Josephine had always wondered what the room was. The room was located along the exterior of the castle. When she was a small child, she would often sneak behind the bushes and try to look through the tall windows to catch a glimpse of anything inside. Yet, she never could with the drapes always hanging down dead still as if it had never been moved for over a century.
She learned from gossip she had heard around the castle that the room was never opened unless absolutely necessary. No one had the key except the Duke. It was the Duke’s duty to take care of the room along with the prince and princess. And it was only the Duke that knew what was inside that room.
When they had reached the entrance to the room, the Duke swiftly took a long silver chain from his neck and pulled firmly so that it broke. He cupped the chains of the necklace and squeezed tightly where a small glow emanated from his closed hands. As he opened up his hands again, Josephine could see in place of the chain was a small silver key. Without a word of explanation, the Duke quickly stuck the key inside the door’s lock and pushed the massive, heavy door slowly.
The room was completely dark, but light from outside crept through three long windows and its drapes. Shadows of demons flickered in and out of the soft light as the Duke led Josephine and Isabel to the center of the wall on their right.
There, in the center and attached to the wall was a semi circular metal ring. In the area of the ring, a fluid matter flowed slowly around and reflected off the light from the windows.
“A… portal?” asked Isabel in awe.
“Yes,” answered the Duke. “Don’t step too close Isabel, you’ll be hurt. Only royal blood can step close enough…meaning you, Josephine.”
Suddenly the doors behind them closed and the three turned to see the prince stride quickly to join them. The Duke took a small breath and said, “Time is running out…you must go through…NOW…”
“Wh—wha??” said Josephine completely confused.
The prince took Josephine’s hand and said hastily, “It’s a portal to the human world. Right now, you and I are in grave danger and the only possible way we can save ourselves right now is to go to the human world. The demons cannot find us there and until we are ready to return, we will stay there. There is only one portal that exists and no demon has been able to step even close enough to the portal without being destroyed.”
Human world?
Josephine sputtered wildly, “I…I always heard about the human world in comparison to our demon world, but never…never have I thought it could possibly exist.”
Then a loud screech echoed and the shadows of the demons on the floor suddenly began to move crazily.
“They have sensed us,” said the Duke beginning to push the prince and Josephine more towards the portal.
“Okay, you two must go NOW. Here is what will happen once you pass through that portal and your instructions,” said the Duke as the screeching outside began to get rapidly louder and louder. “Once you pass through, you will be re-born as humans and as a result you will lose your memories of your identity and who you are now.”
“Wha…” gasped Josephine.
“However, at a certain point in your age you will awaken when your duties become apparent to you again. By then, the demons should have settled down and lost hope of finding you two. There is one exception to all this though: while you may regain who you are and your duties, you will not be able to remember what has happened here, this life, this moment, immediately. That may take much more time.”
Josephine listened to all of the Duke’s words in disbelief. Yet, there was nothing she couldn’t believe about it either.
She raised her head and faced the Duke with determined eyes and nodded. The prince quickly hugged the Duke and Isabel before grabbing Josephine’s hand again and partially stepped into the portal when Josephine realized something and said “Wait!”
The prince turned around and Josephine beckoned him to go on ahead and let go of his hand. The prince nodded and continued to step through the portal. When Josephine was sure he has stepped completely through, she turned back around and took off one of her straps to her mask so that her face was revealed and the mask was left hanging by one strap.
“Isabel,” she said as she reached for Isabel’s hands.
“Yes, Princess?”
“Promise me, promise me, that when my duties awaken as Guardian, that you do not inform me that I’m the princess.”
Isabel’s eyes grew huge in shock. “But why!”
“It would be too dangerous to him and to me. To everyone. The demons do not even know who I truly am. That I’m battling on the field with the prince. My duties will come as Guardian and not as the princess when the time comes and if the fact that I am also the princess is revealed to me too early, the weight of that information, of keeping it a complete secret may not sink into me. If the demons find out who I really am, they might kidnap me or use me as bait for Endymion…and if that happens- ”
“We lose,” said Isabel shaking her head.
“So do you promise me!?” asked Josephine taking Isabel’s face in both her hands so that she was forced to look at Josephine directly in the eyes.
“I…I..”
The screeching reached to a deafening nose and the Duke stared at the windows in horror. Josephine looked up and the demons had suddenly stopped and began backing away as their shadows suddenly grew smaller.
“They’ve found us,” said the Duke despairingly and turned to face the two girls.
Josephine looked up at the windows and then the floor. “They’re going to try to smash through the windows,” she said frantically.
Then immediately looking back at Isabel, she said firmly, “I ORDER you, Isabel, to never tell me that I’m the princess until the time comes that the prince himself awakens.”
Isabel grabbed Josephine’s wrists and pulled her arms lightly off her relenting. “Yes…Princess.”
“GOOO!!!” bellowed the Duke.
At that moment, it seemed time almost stood still for Josephine. As she turned and sprinted towards the portal, she could see the windows and drapes slowly bend into the room as the demons screeched pushing. She turned back around when she heard Isabel scream and she could see the three windows explode together as the shattered glass stood still in the air for a second before shooting off in different directions. Demons began to pour in and Josephine screamed as she fell backwards into the portal holding her hand out where a white, celestial light erupted from her palm and everything turned a blinding white.
2
A beep sounded through the school, and ignoring it, Jo continued to talk to her friends at a small table near the front of the campus.
“I better go…” said a girl standing up fixing her hair as she pulled her backpack on.
“Yeah, yeah, I guess I should too,” agreed Jo when she felt someone smack her backpack from behind. She turned around and a boy with dark brown hair stood facing her, smiling.
“Endy!” said Jo happily.
“Hey, heading off to class?”
“Yep!”
“Well what are you doing after school today?”
Jo looked at Endy sarcastically. Endy laughed and said, “Yeah, I already know. Gymnastics and karate practice.”
“Then why ask?”
“I just like the look you give me whenever you ask,” answered Endy as he suddenly moved his face only an inch from Jo’s so that she was staring at him into his eyes.
Jo laughed nervously and backed away laughing. “I’ll see you later, Endy.”
“See ya,” said Endy as he turned around and walked off in another direction.
Heading off to class, which was right across from where she was sitting, Jo walked in not thinking of anything in particular except for maybe Endy’s last few words resonating through her head. The room was oddly quiet though, and looking up where her assigned seat was, a small crowd of her classmates that sat nearby were standing up staring like vultures at her as if expecting something. Perplexed, she suddenly saw her desk.
A single red rose lay horizontally in front of a small, pure white teddy bear that held a cute, red plush heart in its paws. There was also a letter in front of the rose and bear with her name clearly written out in an attempted cursive, “Josephine”. Exhaling deeply in utter surprise, Jo assumed naturally it was clearly on the wrong desk, but with the small gathering, and name clearly in view on the envelope, Jo’s thoughts began to think otherwise.
As she dropped her backpack lightly beside her desk, Jo sat down and took the envelope into her hands and smiled shyly at the people around her implying that they had done enough. Understanding her silent message clearly, her classmates returned to their seats feigning to work on the warm-up posted on the board, but in reality waiting anxiously to see who the secret admirer was.
In an attempt to prolong the moment before she would have to open the letter, Jo placed the bear and rose under her desk to allow space for her notebook and also to hide any conspicuous and unusual objects from her teacher. Finally, seeing that no more needed to be set up or removed on her desk, Jo took out the letter.
Not being able to help herself, Jo immediately veered her eyes straight down to the signer and read: “Sincerely Yours, Endymion Locket”. Her mind went blank. Without even having read the rest of the letter yet, Jo’s heart suddenly felt so light, so excited, and her pulse immediately began to increase rapidly. She began to read the letter, memorizing each word as it processed through her mind seeing that the very letter she held in her pulsing hands was from the very guy she wished so hopefully it would be from.
It read:
Dear Josephine,
We’ve been quite good friends for the last year now and I hope this does not come to such a sudden shock to you, but I’ve always liked you. Even before we became acquaintances, I always was a little interested in meeting you from the first time I saw you. And so, saying that, I was very happy that we became such close friends – feeling that we can confide in one another about almost anything. However, I couldn’t help but like you and I hope we could become something more than just friends. I’m not asking you to be my girlfriend right now, but I hope you would consider me as a potential in your future interests. Even if you do decline, which I would completely understand and not take it offensively, I’m still happy I received the chance to meet you.
Sincerely Yours,
Endymion Locket
The rest of class was a blur. Jo continuously kept turning to look at the clock impatiently waiting for class to end so she could find Endy and tell him, “YES!!!”. I’m not asking you to be my girlfriend right now … Jo couldn’t help but smile wildly to herself, unable to control this accumulating giddiness every girl has when something like this happens.
“I want to be your girlfriend,” thought Jo trying to make sure she appeared to be paying attention. Looking down at her notes, or lack of notes actually, Jo leaned slightly over and took another peek at her rose and little stuffed bear resting peacefully beside her backpack. Taking a deep breath, Jo convinced herself to be more patient, to focus in class knowing quite well that there wasn’t anything preventing her from seeing him later that day.
When her last class before lunch ended, Jo moved rather slowly despite a palpable excitement flowing through her veins. Her hands trembled as she grabbed her backpack, rose, and bear and she waited until the rest of the class had left until taking her leave.
Taking her normal route down the stairs, then turning the corner into the main quad area, she pretended to walk nonchalantly to her lunch table and placed her things down. The calm atmosphere barely lasted though as her gifts came into immediate view of her friends.
“What is that!” cried out one of the girls pointing at the rose excitedly.
An entire cacophony erupted in ecstatic questions and Jo tried to hush it as quickly as possible embarrassed about the entire ordeal. She didn’t have time to quiet her friends down though when a sudden rumble emanated deep below the earth, shaking like an earthquake above where she was sitting. Everything went quiet and students looked puzzled at one another waiting for a possible explanation to reveal itself.
Then another rumble began to echo through the earth. It was as if a huge organ had its keys smashed into its lowest notes, its notes rumbling in dissonance across the earth causing it to vibrate uncontrollably. The ground shook in rather tiny, but rapid movements back and forth – oscillating causing everything to look like a small blur with one image merging into another. Students sat down trying to hold onto their tables while simultaneously attempting to make sense of what was going on. Then it stopped.
Without a second to even open her mouth, a loud boom emanated from behind Jo, and she whipped around to find a snake-like demon shooting out into the air. Its belly was about four feet in width and approximately at least ten feet in length. When it unearthed itself completely, it flew wildly through the air without any sense of direction.
“Oh..my..god…” someone managed to say.
“They’re here too…” Jo heard another announce.
Staring at it and trying to follow its sporadic movements through the air, Jo immediately remembered reading about a cosmopolitan city in experiencing immense trouble from demons recently. It occurred about a decade ago, when they began to appear in random locations where there was almost no human habitation. Scientists were baffled, wondering what could possibly be these beings and couldn’t describe it as anything else, but as demons as descriptions fit them from books. They couldn’t explain this completely unpredictable occurrence, and a decade later all they could manage was to identify them simply in a general term as ‘demons’.
The only reason though that no further action had been taken, as Jo remembered very well from watching it on the news, was that oddly the demons caused no harm. They caused mass destruction, yes to all the infrastructure and buildings, but they never attacked anyone or anything, and after flying or crawling wildly around for several minutes, they usually receded back into the earth.
Everyone on the campus stayed still, not moving a hair, and waited cautiously for the demon to fly straight back into the earth. However, the demon instead suddenly stopped, frozen with its head gently bobbing up and down as if sniffing, listening, waiting, something.
Then without warning, the demon screamed and its head jerked to its right no longer bobbing but instead alert, focused and evidently staring at something, or someone. Jo took a quick breath knowing in that very direction was another large cluster of tables where Endy usually sat at.
“Go back, go back, go back,” repeated Jo in her head. “Go back as you usually do. As you always do. Fly around and recede.”
The demon obviously had other thoughts when it suddenly screamed again and it bolted straight for the cluster of tables and Jo could hear students screaming as they sprinted out of the demon’s way. A deafening crash resulted and pandemonium erupted as students everywhere began to sprint and dodge the whipping tail of the demon towards the opposite side of the campus, into classrooms, and behind adjacent buildings.
Following several of her friends, Jo sprinted out trying to survey her surroundings in a matter of moments as she ran without much sense of direction. The ground suddenly shook violently though and Jo fell on her knees in the grass and she looked over her shoulder seeing the demon had dug back into the earth. Silence fell over the entire campus and Jo didn’t move from her position, waiting to see if anything else would happen.
“It’s not suppose to attack!!!” screamed a student from somewhere and a tumultuous sound rippled through the student body asking wild questions while fear stricken faces tried to find comfort.
Jo began to breathe heavily as she recapitulated everything that had just happen. She barely had a moment to breathe though when a rumbling began to vibrate again.
“Nooo…” she gasped shaking her head in disbelief.
The rumbling grew more and more powerful as the grass beneath her fingers began to shake violently back and forth. She whipped around realizing she was lying right next to the hole the demon had come out from, and it suddenly enlightened upon her that the shaking of the earth was coming mainly from that hole.
Trying not to panic, Jo could not manage to stand up and instead threw herself onto her stomach and rolled further away. She stared at the hole and she could see other students doing the same when out burst the demon screaming on top of its lungs. Students screamed in fear holding their ears and the demon continued to shoot out of the earth and ended up hovering about fifteen stories above the campus.
Staring at the demon, Jo slowly stood up ready to sprint away, if necessary, but she noticed that the demon was oddly focused unlike its previous entrance. It stared with deep intensity at something, but she couldn’t make out what it was from such a distance. It could be anyone. Then almost half expectedly, the demon shot straight towards the campus again and rammed its head into a tree as a group of students poured out from that direction.
Jo backed away quickly from the sight, but without a pause, the demon flew back up several feet before screaming and ramming its head again at the sidewalk, and again at a bench, and again. It was after someone Jo realized leaning against a wall trying to focus on who the demon’s eyes were aiming towards. She gasped. It was after Endy.
At the very moment her eyes rested on Endy and realized he was the victim, something pulsated powerfully through Jo. She gasped as her vision blurred for several seconds, then returned to normal.
While other students around her rushed further away from the demon, Jo found herself slowly taking steps towards it instead. Something pulsated through her and it was not fear, horror, or exhilaration. Rather it was a completely new feeling, this sensation, an innate emotion that compelled her to go towards the demon and protect Endy.
She couldn’t make out the ineffable feeling as she continued to stride faster towards his direction. It was not because she already had existing feelings for him and wanted to protect him, which she did in a small sense, but the strengthening pulsation in her body was telling her she needed to protect him at all costs. It was as if this feeling suddenly awakened the moment she saw that the demon’s victim was Endy.
Jo allowed the feeling to embody her and she began to sprint. The demon had managed to corner Endy and he tried anxiously to strategize an escape in an attempt to save his own life. Realizing there was possibly no way for him, Endy turned his head and faced the demon straight ahead of him, about six feet away. Its eyes were deep crimson and saliva oozed in seeping drops out its mouth causing bits of steam to emit as it touched the cement. The demon breathed heavily from the continuous struggle of trying to smack Endy, but it was still alert as ever and it occurred as clearly as Endy had realized, that it had finally caught its prey.
The moment only lasted several seconds before the demon screamed and rushed in, but Endy found himself pushed violently to his right and caught himself on a ledge whipping around to see his savior for an instant. Jo had shoved Endy out of the demon’s path and she found herself on her knees in terror with wide eyes staring pleadingly at the demon. Without thinking, her right arm went over her eyes in reflex as her left stretched out in front, palm open and a white light began to engulf the demon and herself as Jo felt a rush of cold, icy air.
