Frisson

~He watched her sit alone, the only light in a world of temporary darkness. Monsters danced on the walls, waiting for the girls light to fade so they could feast upon her ever present nightmares. The dull glow of the laptop faded, but the pulsing light of the power button persisted, if only for a moment. She blinked once, twice, then she fell into that nocturnal haven that they call sleep. The demons laughed as they seized their chance to feast upon that which dwelt inside the girls mind. He moved ahead of them, arms spread. He knew that if he gave them the chance to feed they wouldn't stop, not until all that was left of this girls sanity was theirs, and so he protected her. He held them off, throwing them as far away from her as he could, but his strength was fading. He kept going though, he had to, it was, after all, the reason he was still there. He protected her throughout the night, and when the first beams of sunlight forced themselves through the blinds, the monsters finally left them. He collapsed against the wall, exhausted. He couldn't rest now though, he had to get up, he had to say goodbye. Using the wall for support, he pushed himself up. Tears began to form as he stood over her. He bent down and whispered in her ear, "You will always be my little girl, and I never want you to give up, no matter how hard it gets. I have to go now, but I want you to always remember that I love you with all my heart and I'm so proud of you." He kissed the scars on her arm and brushed the hair out of her face before kissing her cheek. She rolled over, and as a single tear fell from his eye onto her, he was taken back to the afterlife.

~Everything stopped without warning, and as a small light appeared at the far side of the room, she heard her father's voice. "You will always be my little girl, and I never want you to give up, no matter how hard it gets. I have to go now, but I want you to always remember that I love you with all my heart and I'm so proud of you." She jumped as she felt something touch her arm. As she lifted up her long sleeve she watched her scars disappear. The hair that hid her face from the world parted to reveal the tears streaming down her beautiful face. Her father was standing in front of her now, his hand moving down from her face. He kissed her cheek, and as he did, a single tear landed on the smooth skin of her shoulder. She opened her eyes and sat up, but her bedroom was empty. She looked down at her arms, but her scars were still there. As she turned her head she saw a drop of water roll down her shoulder; the tear of her father. The tear of an angel.

Being of Fire, Chapter 6

(Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5)

You can't even begin to imagine how boring it is to rule the whole world. I mean, after I burnt everything to a crisp, there was nothing else to do. Nothing else to burn, everything was alread ash, either that or covered in it. I decided to build myself a castle from the bricks that remained. I fould a whole lot of bricks, built them into a castle and collected all of the metal that i could find. I covered the castle in the metal and melted it to fit. I gatherd coal and put it into the melted metal as it solidified. It was a genius idea really. I held my sword in both hands, one hand on the handle, the other on the blade. My Masamune is completely indestrucable and blocks any sort of magic, so when I tried to unleash all of my power through it, it simply held it back and built up pressure inside of me. I reached a point where the pressure was almost unbearable and then, all at once, I unleashed all the heat and pressure upon my castle of coal. I had instinctively closed my eyes and when I opened them, my once black castle was a blazing red. The red slowly faded to reveal a castle of diamonds that sparkled in the flickering light of fire like stars in the darkest sky. I did this again to the other side of the castle and waited for it to cool. 

That was months ago now and I've been living in my diamond castle in the middle of the Lut Desert ever since, only venturing outside to visit my little farm of humans that I've kept alive purely to feed on. So that's what I was doing one day. I had my fangs out, sword strapped to my back when I heard a smooth voice calling from behind me. "Lucifer." I raised my head towards the sky and turned to face the man who so rudely interupted my delicious meal. My eyes were pitch black and stod out against the blood that coverd and dripped from my mouth against my large fangs. I hissed. "Oh please be civilised."  The man wore an expensive looking blue suite that was covered in golden lace and jewels. 

"What." I said. He was a vampire, I could smell it.

"Giovanni demands an audience with you." Giovanni! Oh God, I had completely forgotten about Italy! It was the only country that I hadn't completely destroyed. Despite my complete shock at the realisation that I had forgotten my whole purpose in this world, I played it cool.

"'Kay. Now tell me, Who are you?"

"My name is Lucien, I am Giovanni's personal assistant, if you will." It was a demeaning job for a vampire, but he seemed to carry it as a noble title. Now I'm not one for ancient vampire laws or anything, but that pissed me off a little.

"Poor you, being stuck in such a demeaning job, one fit for a human more than a vampire."

"Oh, I don't see it that way, in fact, I think it's an excellent job. Giovanni and I are more friends actually, brothers even."

"Ha! I doubt that. Now go away and let me finish eating."

"Perhaps you didn't hear me. I said, Giovanni demands an audience with you. Right now."

"Well perhaps you didn't hear me. I said, go away and let me finish eating!" Lucien barked a word of magic and I fell to my knees in pain. My head was pulsing as my hands reached up to stop it from exploding. Anger rose within me as I looked into his eyes and charged at him as I tried to engulf him in flames, but a wall of water stood in my way. I stopped inches away from it and watched as it fell to the ground again. Lucien was standing there with a book in his hand, wait, did he have that book before? I stood up straight and held my palm out towards him, he did the same to me. This move was one of my personal favourites, and one that I had thought of and taught myself almost as soon as I gained my powers. I sent as much power as I could to my hand and held it there, prevednting it from escaping. I was staring straight into Lucien's eyes but I could still see my hand glowing a deep blue. Lucien, on the other hand, still held his palm towards me while reading from the book in his other hand. Azure rings began to appear around his feet and the wrist of the hand that was pointed towards me. Runes from a time long past hung shimmering in the air around the rings, buzzing with power. I held back my power for a few more seconds before unleashing millions upon millions of tounges of blue flame from my hand and watched as they all shot towards him but stopped just before they hit their target. Why? Well, it was only as I'd expected. You see, Lucien, before he became a vampire, was a powerful sorcerere. which explains the book that appeared out of nowhere and his whole wall of water, but this, I'd never seen before. As my flames stopped infront of him, a great hand emerged from his, but it was not his own. The hand reached out and dug it's claws into the ground, tearing at the Earth to pull itself forward. While my flames vanished from the air, I held my sword on my side with both hands and fed all my power into it. When the hand was half way towards me, I slashed upwards towards Lucien and released all of the pressure that had built up. A wave of white hot flames was sent out, cutting deep into the Earth. They flew straight through that hand and straight through Lucien too. He stood there, motionless, all the magic around him was gone now. He just stood there, book in hand, hand out-stretched, pointed towards me. I saw the smile creep across his face and watched the small trickle of blood flow from his mouth. His upper body slid off of his lower body and landed on the ground with a moist thump while his lower body stood there swaying, and eventually, it too fell to the ground. I walked towards the man whose body had been completely cut in half. I picked up his book and tried to read it only to find that it was in an old language that I couldn't understand. Before I could even begin to try and understand the first sentence, the book burst into flames.

Italy was always a nice place, actually, it was my most favourite place in the world, but now that it's my world, it's almost like an alien planet. They even organised a welcome party for me! A whole army of humans that have been blooded. They're only half-vampires, but I'm sure that they'll be easier to kill than humans. I stood on what used to be the Austrian-Italian border a few feet from Italy, watching the army that had gathered on the other side of the border. I lifted up my arms in a way that looked like I wanted to give them a hug, but none of them wanted to give me one; it was almost like they couldn't cross the border. I clapped my hands and sent a vertical wave of fire flying towards them. It reached the border and exploded, sending embers in every direction except for over the border. A barrier. I look up and saw a white line across the sky that curved to coverthe whole border, I could easily jump it if i tried. I bent my legs and sprang up, propelling myself forward using flames. I went over the border and began falling back down to Earth, only to stop in mid-air. The barrier, as it turns out, was in the shape of a dome over the whole of Italy, but what was worse was that the whole country had gathered to occupy one area, and that area was wherever I was. They could look straight up and see me, and I could look down to see them. I rushed forward and sure enough, the crowd moved so that the exact centre was directly below me. At least they couldn't get me. Giovanni would be in the Vatican, so that's where I was headed.

I must have lost the crowd somewhere along the way because when I reached the Vatican there wasn't a single sign of human (or magical) life anywhere. Now, how to breach the shield. It was magic, and my masamune nullified magic, so if I... I thrust my sword into the barrier and the whole thing shattered into tiny shards of magic and scattered and sparkled like diamonds in the sky. I landed infront of the obelisk in St. Peter's Square and looked up to see a woman standing on top of it. She was wearing a black, long-sleeve dress, her hair blowing in the wind. She vanished in a puff of smoke which rushed at me. She reappeared from the smoke and looked me right in the eye. "Hey Angel" I said while she wrapped her arms around me.

"Lucifer! I haven't seen you in years! How was life in jail? Was it fun? Did you get plenty to drink?" She asked, overly-excited to see me. She was always like a sister to me, and she's still one of my best friends.

"It was fun, don't worry about me," I laughed. "Do you know where Giovanni is?"

"Yes, he's at the Colosseum. Why?"

"I need to do something, I'll be back though, I promise."

"Ok, I trust you, just don't do anything stupid, like burn the world to ash."

"A bit too late for that," I replied, laughing.

"What do you mean?" But it was too late, I was already gone and on my way to the Colosseum.

When I got to the Colosseum, there was a massive crowd surrounding it, all talking. As soon as the crowd saw me, a chilling silence filled the air and they parted for me, leading me towards the door. I walked through the Colosseum and reached the arena to see Giovanni standing there. The silence that had met me outside had followed me in, as if it were the silence of death. Giovanni looked different from what I remembered. He was wearing a tight, sleeveless black top and matching pants. He was barefoot and his long, black hair was streaked with silver and slicked back. His skin was smooth and flawless, contrasting with his piercing amber eyes. In his right hand he carried his very own Masamune. "Lucifer. It's been a while, old friend." He spoke in a cold, smooth voice.

"It has, hasn't it. Too long."

"Indeed, but it seems that today you'll die. That's a bit sad, don't you think?"

"Actually, I believe it's you that's going to die, but either way, it'll be fun."

"Oh come now, do you really think that you're a match for me? The great Giovanni da Verrazzano?"

"Yes."

"Oh."

"Do you think you're a match for me? The great Lucifer?"

"Great?"

"Well if you're great then I'm great." I said as I brought out my sword and slashed at the air between us, sending a wave of fire towards my target. The wave split in two as Giovanni slashed at it with his Masamune. 

"Now now, that won't do. You know that Masamunes nullify magic," he said smugly. He rushed forward and slashed at me. I ducked under him and sent a fist full of fire into his gut. He flew into the air, spinning as he went. As he fell back down to earth, he shifted his weight and landed on his feet. "Let's be real men here and fight hand-to-hand. No swords." He put his sword back into it's sheath and threw it to the other side of the arena. I did the same. I pushed at the air, sending fire towards him and illuminating the whole Colosseum in a blaze of orange and yellow. When the flames clear, Giovanni's gone. I look around for him, but he's nowhere to be found. "You're not the only one with powers, Lucifer," his voice whispered in my ear. I punched at the air where the sound had come from, only to find my fist pressing againt his. With a twist of my wrist I grabbed his arm and fed heat into him as he held onto my own arm. As I filled him with heat, I felt something cold being pushed into me. It wasn't the kind of cold that you get with ice, where it gets so cold it burns; it was a cold that felt empty and hollow, almost like death. "I have power of darkness Lucifer, you can't win." We let go of eachothers arms. His arm was glowing a bright red, while my arm had turned pure white. I threw a fireball at him, but he blocked every shot with a walls of shadow. I ran to get my sword only to be tripped up by a ring of shadows. I felt a sudden flash of pain as a blade made of shadows dug itself into my leg. I screamed as it travelled up my leg, slowly cutting it in two. I unleashed intense blasts of fire to send myself hutrling towards my sword. I grabbed it and cut at the darkness that was still inside my leg, instantly destroying it. My leg was completely cut in half. I burnt the wound closed, but I couldn't stop the pain. Giovanni sent a wave of darkness towards me. I raised my sword and cut the wave in half, but the jagged edges of darkness that were left cut into my arms. I was leaning against the wall of the arena, crimson rivers streaming down my arms, mixing with the pool that formed from the damage to my leg. It was time to end this. I reached deep inside and took all my pain, all my suffering, all the hate, sorrow, even what little fear I had ( which wasn't much), and concentrated it all towards Giovanni, who was walking towards me. As I was about to burn him to the ground, a dart of black shot from the sky. A blur of black feathers and blood unfolded before me as I remembered that I had once befriended a crow. When the crow had gone, Giovanni's face was covered in blood and scratches and his eyes were gone. I made my fingers into the shape of a gun and aimed it at Giovanni's head. I fired a thin, white beam of fire straight through his head and watched as the thin bean grew into a roaring inferno. 

The Colosseum had been full while Giovanni and I had fought, but they had always been silent. They were gone now. They left as soon as they knew Giovanni was dead. My inferno did leave some of them burnt and others dead though. I would have fed on them, but I couldn't move, I was in too much pain. I could feel myself drifting in and out of consciousness from the feeling of a leg that had been cut in half and countless cuts on my arms that reached down to the bone. I looked up at the sky, it was beautiful. Giovanni's dead body had collapsed a few feet away from me, a hole burnt through his head. I looked down at him just as his body vanished behind a veil of smoke.

"I knew an angel would come for me sooner or later," I laughed half-heartedly.

"Lucifer, you promised me you'd ome back. I waited a whole day and you never came back, so I came to find you," she said as she began to fix me and patch up my wounds properly.

"Thank you, Angel." I said. I drifted off to sleep while I watched a crow land on her shoulder.

Ruins

You return to this place every year for reasons that you can't explain. All that's left of the old city is an echo of it's former glory, far from the memories of your childhood. The once busy streets and market place are now empty. You shiver as you get further into the city, almost like the ghosts of all who died here are begging you to free them from these unforgiving desert ruins. You flinch as a small green lizard swiftly skitters across your foot and continues towards the other end of the street. On either side of the wide, sand and gravel path there are old, broken down houses with doors made of sand and decaying wood. An empty shell of a castle sits at the end of the street. Countless spires are still standing as they reach for the sky, longing to grab hold of what they lost of themselves. The doors of the great structure no longer stand where they once were, instead resting with the statues of different Gods that line the foyers walls. It's not the first time you've entered the hollow castle, but it's still as breath-taking as it is every time you visit.  You walk through the room towards the heavy wooden doors on the opposite side. Though the wood is rotting away, you still struggle to open them on your own. You manage to get them open and continue into the vast palace courtyard. The steps are made of bricks and as you climb down them you see that there's no shortage of grass growing between the square lumps or stone. In the middle of the yard is a well that's grown green with moss. The entire courtyard is filled with fauna. The ground is covered in grass, trees are growing in random places, some bear exotic fruit while some don't, and there's an abundance of flowers that seem to grow in beautiful every time you visit. The courtyard is the only place that wasn't hit by the disaster that happened here and has always been your favourite place in the town. You reach the well and as you touch it, all of the memories that you've hidden inside you come back out.

It happened when you were only a child. You were with your friends on the main street, back when there was life everywhere. The hot air was filled with the sound of music and the smell of food. You remember that you had just stolen some fresh bread from one of the market stalls and were running home when it happened. The sky went dark and everything stopped. Monsters emerged from the shadows, the likes of which haunt your nightmares to this very day. Their bodies were like deformed human skeletons covered with a thin layer of skin which looked exactly like paper. They rushed at you and everyone else around you, their sharp claws ripping through flesh. Everything sprang to life in an instant. People were running and screaming, pushing and shoving, crying and dying. You could only stand there as the horror unfolded before your eyes. The once yellow sand turned red with the blood of the people within the city. The beasts were attacking everything, not just people. One of the grotesque beings stopped in front of you, snarling. It's sharp claws dug into your arm, releasing you from your fear induced paralysis. That's when you ran towards the castle, it's spires untouched by time at that point. You ran through the open doors and squeezed through a small gap in the doors to the courtyard before turning to close the doors fully. You waited until the sky had cleared before you went back outside. You were greeted by a wave of death. Bodies lay everywhere along the streets, some half buried in sand. and so you ran, and you didn't stop until you came to the next town.

It's only now that you remember seeing skeletons on your way to the well. There was something odd about them though. You ask yourself what was wrong with the skeletons, but you can't place your finger on it. You try so hard to remember what was wrong with them, and that's when you realise. The skeletons were standing. Rows of human skeletons were standing along the sides of the street. Standing in front of the broken down houses whose doors were made of sand and bone, not wood. There were no statues in the foyer of the castle, only skeletons. Now you can see them. They're surrounding you, and you can see what they're thinking. You look into their empty eye sockets and you can hear the voices of a million souls speaking as one, repeating the same question over and over. "Why do you get to live?"  You flinch as you feel something brush against your hand. You turn to see the well and nothing else. You look inside it and see yourself as a child. Your heart drops as you finally realise what's happening, but it's too late. You look scared. Your eyes are wide and your heart's beating so fast and so hard that you can hear it, even though the well must be far too deep for you to be able to hear anything that's on the bottom. This isn't happening, you know that much. You turn around as you steep away from the well, only to find yourself face to face with a grotesque being. It's body was like a deformed human skeleton covered with a thin layer of skin which looks exactly like paper. It's hands, if you could call them that, end in sharp claws and you can feel the scars on your arm burn in the presence of what created them. It's skin is darker than the night sky, and it's eyes brighter than the sun and moon combined. You feel it's claws dig into your arm as a cool darkness engulfs you.

But you cannot die.

You can see it now, the ancient city. You return to this place every year for reasons that you can't explain. You always return, and yet, you know, deep down inside, that you can never leave this cycle of constant death. However, you cannot die. You refuse to die.

Daylight

He'd never known much about outside world, only what he learnt from books that They let him read. He didn't know who They were, but he guessed that they were his parents, although he looked nothing like them. He had just finished reading a book when he heard them coming. They walked through the dull grey wall in front of him. They both looked the same; tall, white skinned, big black eyes and grey robes that were the same colour as the walls so they looked like they were a pair of floating heads. They were humanoid in shape, and could even be mistaken for humans if you saw them from a distance, but once you got closer, you'd notice the spikes running down their spines, the hollow eye sockets, skeletal limbs, black lips and lastly, their mouths full of sharp, jagged teeth. "Time for bed sweety." The one on the left (his mother) said as a bed appeared out of the wall behind the boy and he hopped in.

"Hey mum?"

"Yes dear?"

"What's daylight?" The boy had been in this small room his whole life, knowing only the grey walls, fluorescent lights and books. His mum laughed.

"Daylight? That's just a myth sweetie. These are the only lights in this world," she pointed to the ceiling with a talon like finger, "and they're going out now. Goodnight my sweet."

"Goodnight mum, goodnight dad."

"Goodnight son," his dad added. He knew that it couldn't be a myth, if only he could find the door to his freedom and see the world outside. He lay there on his bed and fell asleep, dreaming of vast green fields, clear blue skies, large forests thick with trees and the great oceans of the world.

He woke up the next morning and looked around the boring, grey room, then down at the hot breakfast of French toast that his parents had left on a small table for him. He knew that he wasn't like them. He had fur on his head, small balls in the holes in his head and something between his skin and his bones. He had tried to draw himself once by touching his face with one hand, while drawing with the other. He wasn't allowed a mirror for some reason. This particular morning he looked at his metal fork after wiping it on his clothes. He could see himself in colour. His fur, or maybe it was called hair, was long and black, the balls in his head, which he had thought were called eyes, were a bright, clear blue, the colour he imagined the sky would look like. The skin he had was soft, smooth and a pale like the pages in his book. He picked up a book and looked at it. "The Boy in the Stripped Pyjamas". He looked over as his mother as she came in to get his empty plate. "Mum, what am I?" She paused for a second.

"You're human sweetie."

"Then, what are you? I'm not like you am I"

"You'll find out when you're older."

"Am I a prisoner?" She paused again.

"You've been reading too many books." She growled as she snatched the book from his hands.

"You didn't answer my question."

"Some questions are better left off unanswered." She stormed out of the room, disappearing through the wall without a trace. He got up and tried to follow her, only to find that he couldn't walk through the walls. He walked around his room, walking into the walls before collapsing in the middle of the room. He closed his eyes and imagined the world in his books. It was a cruel world, but it was filled with things beyond what this grey prison allowed him to imagine. he imagined the smell of flowers, the sound of gunfire, fire, earth and wind. He imagined the wind blowing through his hair like it had done to some many of the people in his books. He imagined what it felt like, what it smelt like, how cool it was flowing over his head. He lifted his hand up and felt it flow between his fingers.. He felt it. He wasn't imagining it! But where was it coming from? He crawled through the wind trying to find where it was coming from. He reached the far wall and put his fingers up to where it connected to the floor. They slid right under. He pulled them back in shock. He looked closer at where his fingers had gone and noticed a thin line. He followed it and noticed that it was only a metre or so long. He stood up, put his hand on the wall and pushed, but it didn't budge. He tried and tried again, but with still no luck. he sat infront of what he hoped was a door and just stared. He put his fingers under the door and pulled. It swung open, almost hitting him in the face. He stepped out of the room and into a long corridor that was just as dull and grey as his room. Along the hall there were hundreds of doors, all numbered. He turned around and saw a number on his door.  He ran through the hall, turning a corner, then another, and another. He turned another corner and ran into a full-length mirror. He looked at himself and at his collar. It was black with white writing on it. What it said made his heart drop. "Subject #5672". He was right, he was a prisoner. Was this like in his stories? Were his "parents" going to eat him? Was this a concentration camp? He ran as fast as he could, turning every possible corner, hoping desperately to find a way out. He ran around a corner and bumped into one of those monsters that were keeping him there. "You! What are you doing out?!" The boy turned and ran away from the beast. He ran until he couldn't breathe and then he ran some more. As he bolted around yet another turn in the path, he crashed into a wall. It was a dead end. He stood up and jumped back as, all of a sudden, the wall hissed. It slid backwards and up. The boy instinctively closed his eyes as daylight poured fire into his blue eyes, burning away the grey that slept within his mind and suffocated his imagination. As he opened his eyes and stepped outside he saw all that he had imagined. Grass stretched out in front of him and seemed to go for miles. He could make out a forest to his right, and running water to his left. They told him it wasn't real, that it was just a myth, and yet here it was, all around him. Daylight.

He lay in a clearing in the forest. While in what used to be his home, he had read several survival guides and knew which plants and berries were poisonous, how to catch and cook animals, and everything else he needed to survive. It was lucky that he had a near perfect memory. He was staring at the clear blue sky, the exact same colour as his eyes. The boy had grown since he left that strange place he was raised in. Nearly two years had gone by since his escape and the boy, now a man, had grown big and strong. His eyes were more blue than ever, his hair was long and messy and he was beginning to grow a beard. As he returned to the cave he had been living in, he decided that it was time to move on and begin a nomadic life. He gathered a supply of food, water and leathers he had used to repair the clothes he had been wearing since his escape, and left the forest.

It was a month after he had left the forest when it happened. The soft grass had given way to restless sand and hot rock. Trees were miles apart and water was scarce. Heat had always been anathema to the man, but he had gradually become accustomed to it. He knew that this was one of the deserts that so many people had died in, but he seemed to be doing well, after all, he had lasted a week in this place already, but it was beginning to take it's toll. He noticed that there was a great canyon ahead of him with a not-so-stable-looking bridge leading across it. As he walked towards the bridge. he noticed that, on the other side, was an oasis. The man stepped onto the bridge, carefully analysing each step before making it. When he was half way across the bridge, it was only half the size it was when he had first stepped onto it, but even though it creaked and crumbled, he made it across to the other side. He walked along the edge of the cliff towards the oasis. He was too thirsty to feel that the ground around his feet had become softer. As he aproached the oasis, he took one step too close to the edge. The edge of the cliff where he was standing crumbled away and he began the long descent into the darkness, and towards his death. Sand, rocks and water fell with him, some pushing down on him, making him fall faster. He pushed those ones on top of him off as he continued to fall into the darkness of the abyss. He could barely see the sun now, the daylight. Just as he was certain that his fall was going to last forever, like it had in some of his stories, it came to an abrupt, tragic end.

But it was not the end.

He couldn't move, he could only look up. He was sure that he should have felt some pain when he hit the ground, but there was none, not even the slightest discomfort. In fact, he was completely at peace, maybe the reason he couldn't move was because he didn't want too. It was only then that he noticed him. There was a man standing over him. There was only just enough light to see by, but he knew who this stranger was. He wasn't like they described him in the stories. He was wearing a black pin-stripe suit and black gloves. His face and head were surrounded in shadows and were impossible to see. The new man stretched out an arm towards him. "I can't move." He said, but the stranger just stood there, hand outstretched. "I-I told you, I-" 

"Try." He tried to lift up his arm and soon found his hand in the hand of this new man.

"So, are you who I think you are?" He asked.

"Yes."

"I knew that I'd meet you eventually." The man said to the stranger as they began walking. "I'm not afraid of you, Reaper."

"You have no need to be afraid. Fear is a response to evil, and I am neither good, nor evil."

"When I met you, I was expecting a big robe and a scythe, not this."

"Alas, I had to change my appearance. A man carrying a scythe around a city is a bit suspicious, don't you think?"

"Yea, I guess you're right. You don't seem very..."

"Grim?" The Reaper finished for him.

"Yea. Grim."

"Well, in times long past, in England I believe, a king once taught his people to fear death so that they would come to him in search of long life, and what's scarier than a grumpy old skeleton carrying a sharp blade on a long stick?"

"So you're.. not grumpy?""No, not at all."

"Are you going to keep me here forever?"

"My boy, do you even know what a Reaper is?" The man stopped to think for a minute before deciding on an answer.

"Well, a Reaper is a being that takes away your soul after you die and guides you to the afterlife." They kept on walking in silence for hours without a break in the walls appearing.

"You're wrong you know." The Reaper said.

"About what?'

"Reapers."

"Explain?"

"We don't actually 'reap', we simply... inform." 

"I still don't get it."

"I've been with you for every second of your life. I know all that there is to know about you. I can go wherever you've been, wherever you've ever wanted to go, everywhere that you've ever dreamed, as long as it's connected to you. I know everything, and now that your time has come, it's my job to share all that  I know with you."

"Wow, so you know everything?" The man said with wonder in his voice.

"Yes. Now, take a seat, I'm going to show you how to play a game," he said as a small table with two chairs appeared in front of them. On the table was a board. It was decorated in equal amounts of black and white squares. At two ends of the board, opposite each other, there were two rows of game pieces, forming two teams. One was black while the other team was white. "This game is called Chess," the Reaper said as he took a seat.

They played for what must have been years. The dead man and his Reaper. Each time they played, it was the mand that lost, but each time he did, the shadows around his Reaper's head became thinner and thinner and the boy felt lighter and lighter. The game board was almost empty, with only a few possible moves left, the boy moved his knight into place. "Checkmate." The Reaper smiled as the shadows vanished from around his face. His hair was long and black, his eyes were the blue of a clear, sunny sky. 

"Congratulations. You're ready now. come with me." They stood up and continued their walk. All of a sudden, the rock walls that had been on either side of them up to this point, parted, giving way to a magnificent burst of daylight. The boy felt his mind explode with knowledge as he learnt everything there was to know in this world. The boy couldn't see, the light was too bright. He heard the Reaper speak. "You owe your freedom to yourself. It was you that fed a breeze through the bottom of the door. When the time comes, you'll know." Then, the light faded.

He was in a dull, grey room, fluorescent lights cast an empty light upon the room. A baby was sitting in a crib in the middle of the room, happily gurgling at the two monsters standing above it. The boy was fascinated. He couldn't look away. He knew what he had to do, and he remembered. His Reaper wasn't a reaper at all, but a guardian, a friend. He remembered seeing things as a boy, things that would move at night, and he realised that it was him that was watching himself. He was the guardian, the "Reaper". He watched every second of his life unfold before his eyes, he didn't even notice that his other self had passed on, or that he had changed clothes. He never stopped watching his former self, and when he felt that it was the right time, he stood outside of his door, and blew a wind through the crack at the bottom. He led himself to freedom, led himself to safe food to eat while he was in the forest, led himself to the oasis, and finally, led himself to his death. He played chess with himself too, and felt proud as he was beaten. As they walked and the walls faded away around them, he felt himself drift away within the one thing that had filled him with pure happiness and caused his soul to soar. He faded away, flying to heaven in the purest thing that life had to offer. Daylight.

Daemones Dominus: Zhaira

(Daemones Dominus)

~ "Disgusting. Truly disgusting." She was standing on the edge of a tall building looking down at the rows upon rows of horrible, ugly, man-made buildings and houses. "I swear, one day I'm going to kill them all one by one, and I'm going to start with..." She raised her arm and pointed at an average looking house. It was white with a black slate roof. It was two stories high and had a small lawn with a white picket fence. 

"Are you sure about that? I mean, we don't know who those people are." The demon behind her said. "They could be sorcerers or Hunters or they might even have a demon more powerful then me, not that that's likely, but it's always possible."

"You're a demon, you're meant to embrace a challenge and destroy fear and caution."

"Yes that is the stereotype, but I'm just a tad smarter then the average demon, it's not luck that's kept me alive for this long."

"Well whatever it is, it might run out soon if you don't shut up." Although he was powerful and intelligent, he was a bit too cautious for her liking. She was a Dark God and he was her demon, it was unusual for him to know caution. She turned away from the view of the suburbs to face the demon. He wore a long robe with a baggy hood resting on his head. He wore a plane white mask over his face, he always did, but she knew that underneath that mask was a face that was so horribly mutilated that anyone who gazed upon it instantly collapsed and vomited all over themselves. "You're my demon, that's why you're still alive. Nothing else."

"I apologize." He said as he lowed his head to her.

"Good. Now come here." She crossed her arms behind her back and stood up straight as he walked towards her. He stepped closer and closer until he was only a couple of millimetres away but he kept walking. He placed a foot on hers and it sunk to the floor. He took another step and soon his body had completely merged with hers. She let out a sigh as she felt his power add to hers. She turned to watch over the city. She walked to the edge but didn't stop. She walked over the edge and kept going as though there was still something beneath her. She stopped walking a metre from the roof and stood there for a few seconds before dropping straight down.

~ The dreams started a week ago. The same thing every night. I'm just having a normal day at school, working hard as always and then everyone would vanish. I'd run outside but there was nothing there, just a barren wasteland, that's when she shows up. A tall lady completely dressed in black. There's never any wind but her long black hair still flows around her shoulders, but it never blows in front of her face. And God, her eyes. They're the most beautiful, spectacular eyes I'd ever seen. They wear a bright purple and they looked as though she could stare right into your soul and know everything about you in a fraction of a second. She wore a smile on her lips, almost like she had just finished laughing and was still thinking about the joke, but it was still subtle. She was so beautiful. Then she started to walk towards me. I couldn't move even if I tried; she had hypnotised me with those eyes. She reached out with her hand and touched my shoulder. I knew what was coming but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't stop it. She leaned in close, hand still on my shoulder. Her lips were getting closer to mine, I could feel her breath now. Then I was free to move. I stepped back and looked at her again. She was still holding my shoulder but now she wore a long robe with a big hood over her head. Her free hand lifted the hood off of her head to reveal a plane, white mask and no hair. I tried to pull further back but sharp nails dug into my shoulder and broke the skin. As I felt the blood flow out of the wounds I lost control of myself again and lifted my hand up to the mask. I felt cold white stone touch my hands and I lifted off the mask. The face was so horrible that I can't even begin to describe it. I wanted to throw up, I wanted to run, but I couldn't. The girl was gone, replaced by this... thing, this monster, the only thing that was left of her was the eyes. I looked deep into them and began leaning forward. Whatever it was leant forward too. We were really close now. I closed my eyes and lifted my head, her eyes still in my head. I look down just in time to see that beast open it's mouth and dig it's teeth into my neck. That's when I jolt awake screaming. My mum always worries about me when I have those dreams. She hears me scream when I wake up and runs into my room. Before she gets there there's always a dark figure in front of the door. I can't tell who it is, all I can see is a pair of purple eyes staring at me through the dark.

~ She loved to torture humans before she killed them, but she was going to take extra care to completely destroy this one before she finally let him go. She would watch him as he slept, feeding him the same dream each night. She always kept her demon inside her, it's was too dangerous to keep him out all of the time, just in case he tried to escape. They always ran for freedom sooner or later. Soon she grew bored of tormenting him in his sleep. She watched and waited, following him wherever he went, memorising his daily routine, and soon, she had almost learnt everything about him.

~ I saw them again today, those god damned purple eyes! I swear, everyone I see has purple eyes, but then I look again and they're normal, it's driving me insane! I talked to my girlfriend about it but she thinks I'm just imagining it, and I would of thought that she was right until what happened when I got home that day. I explained it all to my mum and she could tell that I was all shaken up. "I'll bring you some water after I bring the washing in ok." That's what she told me, and I was ok with that when she left the room. She came back a minute later holding a glass of water and a bowl of chips. "Here you are sweety," she said as she put them on the table. She left the room but popped her head around the corner again. She had a big smile on her face as she looked at me, "oh, and I hope you get better." Her smile grew bigger as her eyes turned into a bright purple and she left the room again. I just stopped and stared at the spot where her head had been, unable to move. She walked back into the room holding a glass of water. "Oh, you got your own water," she said, noticing the water and chips on the table. I just sat there, staring, so many questions were running through my mind. What was going on? Who was that woman with the purple eyes? But above all else, why me?

~ She was loving this. The paranoia she caused him to have coupled with the fact that almost nobody believed his stories of a woman with purple eyes were slowly driving him over the edge, and she was ready to push him just that little bit closer to the brink of insanity. She would take away the one person that believed him, the one person that could never think he was crazy. She would take his mother away from him. Zhaira positioned herself in the upstairs room, right above the green house in the back yard and called the mother's name in her sons voice. Thinking her son was home from school, she went upstairs to see what he wanted only to find the room empty. She slid open the glass door on the other side of the room and looked down upon her greenhouse. Zhaira dropped down from the ceiling without making a sound and threw her victims mother over the wooden railing of the balcony. She gazed down and watched as the woman fell down. She hit her back on the steel frame of the greenhouse and smashed through the glass. Zhaira didn't even notice the man standing beside her until he spoke. "Just like you to attack from behind." She didn't look up at her visitor, only kept staring at the bleeding mess of flesh bone and glass. 

"I am honoured to be visited by the so-called 'Daemones Dominus'."

"Don't sound so excited." He replied as she looked up at him and smiled. "It's been a while Zhaira." She looked into his black eyes and watched as they poured out shadows that twisted and danced into the sky as if mimicking smoke. His black feathered wings gently moved in the wind and his tail danced behind his back.

"I agree. Far, far too long. So how have you been? What's it like to be the new Lord of the Demons? Tell me everything Jesse."

~ Mum's been in hospital for months. I try to visit her everyday, but it's getting harder, and her health is slowly getting worse. I don't think she'll make it. When she tripped and fell over the balcony she broke her neck and her back which left her completely paralysed. They've been feeding her through a straw and she's been put on life support. I don't have a dad, he left when I was 2, so if my mum dies then I'll be all alone in this cold world. I have noticed something though. I haven't seen that lady in a while, or the man. I don't particularly miss them, but I can't help but think that maybe my mum didn't trip, rather, she was pushed by that woman. I don't now why she chose me, or why she's even doing this. I just wish she'd stay away forever.

~ The three of them walked together through the grave yards of the world, pointing out their victims and telling stories of their victories. Zhaira lifted her hand and the three became two as her demon walked back into her. "That one was great. This guy was taking a tour of a brewery when I pushed him into a big vat of beer." Zhaira said, motioning to a grave that read 'R.I.P. Nick Tran'. "Of course he thought it was a good thing to be in there, but that vat was the vat filled with beer that had been contaminated. He was drinking it when the draining system turned on and sucked him down through the pipes underneath. What was worse was that the suction that made the beer drain faster was made by lots of sharp, spinning blades. He died with his lungs half full of beer and no legs. I laughed for a week at that one." They walked on a bit more before stopping at another grave that read 'R.I.P. Matthew Clark. Loved by many.'

"Oh man, this guy was great." Jesse began, "now this guy Matt had lots of friends and so what I did was I killed them all, and then I brought them back from the dead and made them follow him so that he thought he was crazy. Then one day, I made them all appear in front of him and he shot himself because he couldn't take it any more. I would have said that he quite while he was ahead, but he didn't have a head after he quit." The demonic pair laughed before carrying on their walk. They reached the end of the cemetery and found one last grave. 'In memory of Katie Bognuda'. Jesse stopped in hesitation as he remembered the name Katie and thought that it must have meant something to him, but what.

"This was one of mine," Zhaira said, "she didn't have many friends, but she had lots of cats, so one day.." Jesse wasn't paying any attention to the story, he was too lost in his forgotten memories, trying to remember the significance of that name. Katie. Who was she? "It was obvious that the cats enjoyed eating her because when the police found her only a few pieces of flesh were lift on her bones," she finished. Zhaira looked at Jesse who was just staring blankly at the grave and the name.

"Did I know her?" He asked.

"No, but when you were human you had a girlfriend named Katie." She responded.

"When I was... human?"

"Of course. Every demon starts off as a human, and I'm the one that turns them. The only pure blood demons are the ones that kill humans without my help, but they don't last long before they get caught."

"Who did I used to be?" This wasn't a good sign. Zhaira knew that whenever a demon questioned their origin, they'd always turn back to it and grow a conscience.

"Listen, why don't I take you to a house with a lovely old couple whose blood you can drink. You know that the older they are the better the blood. Come on, you know you want to."

"I do, but.."

"But nothing, come one, I'll show you where they live!" Zhaira said, showing as much excitement as a small child on a Christmas morning. She led Jesse to the house that used to be his own. The house that his parents still lived in, and watched, laughing, as he slaughtered them.

~ She's gone. My mum died. I haven't left my room in days except to get food. I know it's only a matter of time before she comes back, that demon. When she does come back I'm going to kill her, and nothing's going to stop me.

I saw her, she's back. The purple eyes are all around my room, more of them. Seven, eight, all in random places. I blink once and they've moved, it's impossible to track them. They hurt when I look at them too, in my chest and my head. It burns, so much.

There's more now. Thousands. All over my room, there's no more wall left that isn't covered by purple eyes and white masks. Why me.

~ She was enjoying this! She would make reflections of herself and place them throughout his room but only make her eyes visible. Then she'd sit back and watch him as he'd sit a squirm, unable to do anything until he forced himself into a restless sleep filled with nightmares of her. And through all of it, she'd watch, and she would laugh. Pretty soon he would snap, and go completely over the edge, spiralling down into the eternal chaos that he would call insanity, led by those unnatural purple eyes and the plane white mask, all the time asking why; why him? However, he wasn't the only one asking that question. As soon as she realised it, she cast him out, the demon. "You're going soft on me, demon." She said as he appeared in front of her, shadows swirling around his dark robe. 

"I have a name, and why do you persist with this one, he's suffered enough."

"I'll decide when he's suffered enough, now get back here demon!"

"My name is Kratich."

"Hm, do you really want to do this?"

"I'm sick of you." He threw a shard of shadow towards Zhaira who simply absorbed it into her body.

"You really want to just throw away your life?" He sent another blast, and another, each one being absorbed by her as she walked closer. "You were such a nice demon when I made you. What happened?" 

"I became better than you." He said as he lunged at her, but it was too late. In a single move she reached out and grabbed his throat, knocking his mask off at the same time. She lifted him up into the air while his hands grabbed uselessly at her arm and his screams filled the room. The boy woke up from his empty sleep and screamed as he saw the conflict that had unfolded in front of him. Zhaira and Kratich both turned to look at him and watched as his screaming stopped and he fell unconscious. 

"Maybe you're right, maybe he has suffered enough." Zhaira said, still holding her new victim off of the ground, "but you haven't." His face filled with fear and pain as a wave got sent up Zhaira's arm and he knew that she was absorbing his powers. He grew cold and weak before finally passing out, but she didn't stop, soon there was nothing left of him but a limp, empty shell. He was dead, his very life force taken away by his master. Now there was only one thing left to do.

~~~~~~~~

~ A neighbour had called the police after she hadn't seen the boy leave the house in over a month, she hadn't even seen him moving through a window or anything. The police entered the boys room and were shocked at what they found. There were burn marks all around the room and a large burn mark on the floor in the shape of a man. at the far end of the room was a bed, and on it was the boy. His skin was dark with decomposition. The officers that entered the room had to leave, but the once that stayed threw up because the smell from the body, as long as the smell from the pool of blood, vomit, sweat and human waste that had accumulated around the body was too overwhelming for any man to take. On the victim's chest was a plane, white mask that was completely spotless, untouched by the filth around it. An officer named Pete Jones collected the mask and placed it in an evidence bag. As he turned to hurry out of the room, he caught a glimpse of what appeared to be purple eyes floating on the other side of the room, but ignored it as a simple trick of the mind, but even then, he was still shaken by the sight. His boss noticed it when he returned to the office that day. "Jones, are you alright?" He asked. Jones recoiled at the sight of his boss' purple eyes, but relaxed when they slowly returned to their usual grey colour. However, he couldn't help but think, did his boss' eyes look ever so slightly more... purple? His boss looked into his eyes, no, into his soul as a cruel smile crept across his face, the smile of a Dark God.

Update

So, I'm in the middle of writing 3 stories, the second part of Daemones Dominus, the sixth part of Being of Fire, and a completely new story that I haven't named yet. I'm trying my hardest to finish at least one of them, but a lot's been happening in my personal life and I've been having trouble trying to concentrate on actually writing anything. When I've finished I'll post the stories up here.

Cheers,
Vergilius Tenebrae

Daemones Dominus

22 August 2018 - Wednesday

Today was great! It was my birthday (I turned 16) and I got $150 from my Nana, a new laptop from my parents and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. I also got this leather notebook that I'm  going to use as a diary. I'm not gonna put "Dear Diary" though, that's just stupid.

23 August 2018 - Thursday

Oh man, today my girlfriend gave me a  special "treat" at lunch today behind the gym. I don't think I should tell you what it was though, it was pretty.... sexy

24 August 2018 - Friday

I had the strangest dream last night. I got up and was walking down the road. While I was walking past the House of Mirrors (a mirror shop in my town) I noticed that my reflection had small lumps on it's head and black eyes. The eyes weren't just black though, well, they were, but whenever I moved, they'd leave a small trail that would disappear after a few seconds, like they were pouring shadows. I didn't seem to notice though and I kept walking. I walked all the way through to the other side of town and out into the western suburbs. I stopped outside of Steve's house (one of my friends). I just stood outside, staring at the house. Then I walked up to the door and just held the handle. It was night time and I didn't want to wake anyone up so I tried to leave, but I couldn't take my hand of the handle, then a voice (it sounded like my voice) whispered, "I think it's time you went to sleep." That's when I woke up in the middle of the floor of my room. I have to go now, mum's yelling at me to get ready for school.Steve wasn't at school today. I'm probably just being paranoid but I think it had something to do with that dream. It was so strange, no matter how weird or violent or restless the dream, I've never woken up outside of my bed, or sleep walked.

25 August 2018 - Saturday

They announced Steve dead today. They said that his mum found him yesterday after coming home from work. He died in his sleep, no one knows how. 

27 August 2018 - Monday

The funeral was yesterday. I didn't have time to write.

28 August 2018 - Tuesday

I'm completely over Steve's death, it's almost like I never knew him or never cared at all. It's like those stories on the news. People die but you have absolutely no connection to them and you know it's sad but, you don't really care. I also had another dream last night, just like the other one except this time horns had grown where the lumps were and I had a tail. This time though, I was outside Marcus' house before I woke up.

29 August 2018 - Wednesday

Marcus was away today, but I almost felt happy about that. If he's dead, does that make me a bad person for being happy about that possibility? When I woke up today my laptop was on and a text file was open. The only thing it said was "Daemones Dominus." What language is that?

30 August 2018 - Thursday

I was right, Marcus is dead. He was a good friend, but I'm not sad about the loss. Actually, I almost feel... happy? proud? I feel good about it, but I also feel physically and mentally stronger. Why?

31 August 2018 - Friday

Another dream, this one different. I was in my room, standing in front of the full-body mirror by my desk. I remember putting on my glasses to hide my eyes. There were others too, two of them. One was a girl with black hair and purple eyes, the other one looked like the Grim Reaper except that it had a plane white mask on. I couldn't tell if it was a guy or a girl but I think it was a guy because he looked kind of buff. I remember having a conversation with the lady. It went like this:

Me - "Who next?"

Girl - "How about your best friend, or your girlfriend?"

Me - "No, I'm saving them for last, when the transformations complete."

Girl - "Good thinking."

Me - "Go to sleep now."

And that's when I woke up. Could I be killing them?

1 September 2018 - Saturday

I didn't have a dream last night. I've also been feeling different. I feel fitter, stronger, faster, smarter and ultimately better. I also don't get tired, the only down side is that I have gaps or lapses in my memory. I don't know what's happening, but it feels great! I don't get hungry either!

6 September 2018 - Thursday

I feel crap. My eyes hurt, my head hurts, my back hurts and my tail bone hurts.It feels like something's trying to force it's way out of my body. I've also been seeing purple eyes around and in my room, never more then one pair at a time. What's happening to me?

20 September 2018 - Thursday

I've been in hospital since the 7th. They ran every test on me but found nothing, only small lumps on my head, lover back and on my shoulder blades. They wouldn't let me bring my diary with me, but now I've been released. I'm still in a lot of pain, but there's nothing they can do for me. Help.

21 September 2018 - Friday

I haven't been to school since August. I think it was the 31st, but I can't remember. I was told that almost all of my friends are dead, only my best friend Tom and my girlfriend Katie are still alive. I know I killed everyone.

25 September 2018 - 

Tom's dead. I'm losing track of all the days. That things coming for me. The girl and the reaper. I can only keep writing to save my mind but I don't know why. Katie's next. Then me. Save me.

PLEASE HELP ME.

28 September 2018 - 

Time is short. I know what's happening now.

I don't know how it's possible, but it is. I'm hiding this note book away in the hope that one day I'll find it again. If anyone should find this before me, then they must know hat I am barely human any more. The horns don't hurt any more, but the tail and wings are still growing. My time is up, but to anyone finds this, please remember me. I love you Katie. I miss you already, I'm sorry that I couldn't say good-bye in person. Please remember me. My name is...

~~~~~

15 May 2030 - Wednesday

I completely lost my humanity 12 years ago. I don't remember much about that time, only what's written in this journal. I found this while searching the house of my latest victims. It wasn't until something drew me to this book and I read it that I realised they were my parents that I killed. I miss them. Sorrow. A human emoting I abandoned 12 years ago. I've missed it. I miss being human. I took everything I had for granted. I'm the Lord of the Demons now. The youngest ever, 28 by human years, but barely even a child by demon years. I was destined for this, or so I was told. Zhaira (the girl with purple eyes) took me under her wing when the transition started. She's not a demon, but she's not human either. I have no idea how powerful she is, or what she is, but she has a demon as a... slave? He's almost as powerful as me, if not more. I'm remembering more now about my human life. I think somewhere, somehow, I'm still human. A human trapped in a demon's body? Why me? I don't  know, but the more I write, the more I remember, the more I feel. I feel an emptiness I haven't felt in an eternity it seems. I miss life, I miss my friends, I miss my parents, I miss everything. I don't feel like myself any more. I feel... human. Do you think that somewhere out there, even a devil may cry? I can feel it. The warm liquid flowing down me face. What was it? Tears, I think that's what they are. Yea, tears. I'm crying. I feel so alone, so weak, so vulnerable. I don't want this. I am the Lord of the Demons. Daemones Dominus. That's who I am, but I don't want it. I want to be human. I want to live again. I want to love, to cry, to feel emotion, to sleep, to eat. I want my life back, I want to be human. I want to be human.

Katie. I wonder how she is. Is she happy? Maybe, in another reality, I could of at least said good-bye. Daemones Dominus.... A noble title, surely, but not one that I want.

Who am I? I don't deserve a name. I'm a devil, a monster. I don't deserve to live, but I will seek out my humanity.

I want to be human.

~~~~~

She walked through the rows of grave, holding a bouquet of roses. It was raining, but she still only wore jeans and a t-shirt. She stopped in front of a grave. It looked like any other moss covered grave. She read the date, ignoring the name concealed by moss. 22 August 2002 - 28 September 2018. She knelt down and cleaned the grave, placing the roses on the newly cleaned grave one by one. 29 roses. "One for each year," she whispered, "happy birthday." She stood up, letting the rain fall on her. She heard something behind her and she turned to face what looked like a man. He ad wings, a tail and two horns on his head. His head was lowered and his dark hair hung over his face.

"Katie?" He asked.

"Who are you? How do you know me?" He raised his head and pointed at the grave. "Who are you?" She asked again. He was wearing glasses.

"I've missed you." He replied with sadness in his voice.

"Tell me who you are or else I'll call the police." She noticed a small leather notebook in his hand. He raised his free hand to take off his glasses revealing black eyes. Katie stepped closer, staring into his eyes. "I know you, don't I." He nodded and his eyes grew lighter. "Tell me, who are you?" She reached up and felt his face. She realised he was crying. His eyes became completely clear and human and she instantly recognised him. She stepped back in shock as she said his name. "Jesse?" The man closed his eyes and she rushed forward to hug him. "I've missed you so much!" She said. He hugged her and gave her the book. For a long time they stood there holding each other without saying a word. Then he whispered in her ear, "I want to be human."

(Zhaira)