Quantum Recoil

So now I have to finish it, eh?

Chapter One: And So the Battle Begins
My dilemma began with a sewer and a pipe.
I guess I have to describe myself. I usually have black T-shirts and khakis, not anything special, brown hair, long-ish face. So, you know what I look like. Let me get on with it. So, I’m driving with my Toyota down into a small group of red, brick buildings off to East Los Angeles, and out of no where, my tire goes whoosh. I got out of the car and looked at the tire, ripped up and full of marks extending along the circular shape.
Now, at this point, I would’ve been pissed off, but I figured it wouldn’t do me any good. I remembered that there was a small service phone on the wall of a sewer at the entrance below the ladder, so that might help…but it was dark down there, pitch black. I don’t know how I’m supposed to use a phone. But wait, there’s a Wall-Mart in these buildings. If I could steal a flashlight…

Now, stealing isn’t my expertise. As soon as I stepped into the place after breaking the front window to the guard house, a guard looked up at me and cursed, then yelled, “Hey, kid! Do you know how many laws you’re about to break!?”
I didn’t pay attention. I just ran straight at him, and tackled his gun right out of his hands. It was pretty stupid; he could’ve shot me. But I guess he was too fat to move that finger of his onto the trigger. It’s just Cops and donuts, a combination that helps just about every last criminal out there.
As he hit the ground, I grabbed his keys to the gates that lead into the store and punched him, landed one right on his face. He was knocked out cold. I ran with the keys up to the employee door, and unlocked it. As soon as I got into the room, full of equipment and boxes, another, much slimmer guard took notice of me. “Hey! Get on the ground, kid!”
“If you haven’t noticed, I’m twenty-one. I ain’t a kid.” I pounced onto the nearest stack of Xmen Origins plush toys to doge any random attack he might’ve used, and then jumped right onto his head. The guard flailed around, his body a blur. I struggled keep control of him; he was like a bull and a red cape. “GAH!” I yelled as I was swung around like a toy. The guard’s arms flew into the air, gun in hand. I jumped off in time to dodge the yellow blast of fire that came from his gun and the lead piece of sharpened metal referred to as a bullet, too.
“You’re dead, kid!”
“Tell that to you’re lawyer.” I said as I grabbed his arm and cracked the fragile limb.
“ARGH!” He fell to the ground in a maze of pain. His head hit it with a THUMP.

That’s it. I robbed Wal-Mart. I walked away with the flashlight (and since I went to all that trouble, I stole out an extra hundred bucks from the cashier’s desk), brightened by police lights. They still don’t know who did it.
I approached my Toyota and flicked on the black cylinder of light, and then came to a halt in front of the man-hole. “Here it goes.” I pulled off the cover and slipped into the darkness.
Now, it’s really cold in sewers sometimes. I mean, really cold. I was shivering as I stepped into the dark liquid that covered the bottom of the brick cave. The yellow light from my stolen tool brightened the sewer. I could see that there were red bricks everywhere, and there was a small phone to the side of the sewer. I came close to the phone when I heard a small swoosh in the water. I looked up. Nothing here. Hmm, strange. I continued to the phone, right in front of it.
Turn around, Kevin.
“Who is that?”
Just turn around. You’ll find an unexpected surprise. I won’t hurt you, I’ll just tell you the truth.
“I’m not turning around ‘till you give me a name.”
Leo’s the name. Now turn around.
I turned. At the point where you see a red-ish Cyclopes about seven feet tall, you’d usually freak out. But I didn’t. It just felt right to meet him here, now. “So…what’s the unexpected surprise?”
“I see I’ve got the right person. Don’t worry, your Toyota won’t go anywhere, but just come with me.” The red Cyclopes requested.
“I don’t know…” I looked down to the ground in a thinking position. He seemed pretty sure about the car, and this also felt right, so I said, “…Yes.”
“Good.” He beckoned me to follow him with his arm as he marched down the tunnel.

As we came out of underground odor hell, Leo gestured for me to be silent. He exited the sewer as I hid behind the pipe to the left of me. Leo started talking with another, much taller blue Cyclopes, I couldn’t make out the words, but I knew it was about me. It sounded something like, “I’ve found him,” and, “bring him to the doctor, he’ll explain.”
Leo looked back at me and moved is hand towards him-self, a sign for me to advance.
I looked at the bigger Cyclopes. “So,” I said, “name?”
He grunted. “Alkaed. Leo’s the only one with the American name.”
“So, something about a doctor?”
"Yes. Leo, bring him to the doctor.”
“Yes, sir.”

The doctor’s tent was just plain white with a small red circle on-top. I don’t know what that was for. Leo brought me inside, and the white creature in the middle stared at me like the big dipper in the midnight sky. It had multiple legs, a snake’s body, a human face, and a set of red arms. “You have come.”
“Yeah.”
Leo nudged me as if he didn’t want me to talk that way.
“You have much to learn.” The snake/octopus/person gestured three of it’s legs to the back. I followed it’s signals.

It sat in a small black chair in the small and clumsily built room. “So, what is there for me to learn today?” I scooted up in my seat, mocking the ‘you have much to learn’ line as if this was school.
“You must learn what you are.”
“Oh, don’t tell me, unoriginal half-human- half-monster thing, right?”
“No, full monster. You must know what kind, and it’s very unexpected. You just can’t see your own features until you believe in them.” The snake’s body shifted, as if being scared.
“So, what am I?” I was getting less annoying and more nervous by the second.
“Partly Phoenix, you can fly.”
“There’s the good news. But, partly?” I looked down. Huh. Part Phoenix, would you look at that.
“The good news is over. The bad news, is the partly Dragon part.” The creature shifted again.
“I…” I stopped mid-sentence. There was nothing to make fun of. That was…disturbing. As soon as I accepted it without realizing, my body’s features changed, completely. My skin replaced itself with fathers and a scaly skin under it. My mouth grew out two inches and became different like my body as well. I could feel searing heat down in my bowels. “…I don’t know what…” As I was about to say, I didn’t know what to say. It was just…weird.
The doctor looked pleased, yet scared at the same time. “You now know. Let me explain this campout here in the mountains.”
I didn’t care about the camp. I just found out that I’m a monster. It felt strange, as well. I didn’t feel Human is all can offer as a description.
The doctor noticed my surprise. “Trust me, there’s more to that form than feathers and scales. Welcome to the family, by the way.”

Chapter Two: I Deserve an Explanation
“So,” the doctor cleared it’s throat, “our camp was developed by Hans Trio in 1987 to secure the fate of monsters in this region. Every week we set out for more monsters to keep safe within our borders. You see, the reason you’re able to beat a cop is because of the agility the Phoenix part of you has. The strength comes from the Dragon part, you see. And don’t worry about the strange feeling, you’ll get used to it soon. All monsters do. Only rarely do monsters see their parents. You are an orphan, correct?”
“Yes.”
“Then you must find your parents. Once monsters figure out what their parents are, they set out for them. You’ll do it, trust me. They’re out there somewhere, unless a Demon killed them.”
“A Demon?”
“Why, yes, they exist, too.”
“Well, that sucks.”
The doctor rolled it’s eyes. “Tell me about it.”
“So, what kind of monster are you anyway?”
“Oh, I’m related to lots of branches. They’re still making up a name for me.”
“I’d say because of the snake part, you kind of look like a medusa kind of monster.”
“They may just use that for the name. Anyways, on to the camp history. I warn you, you will be bored.”
“Oh, I’ll be fine.”

I’m pretty sure I snored. Well, combine the smoke and bird sounds, and I don’t know if that’s snoring. As soon as I opened my eyes, I heard…
“…and that’s how we were founded.”
“Huh…?” I was still tired.
“Ugh, I warned you.”
My eyes slipped closed and I dozed off again.

When I woke up I was in a small bunk in a room full of beds and green tarp. “Where’s the doctor?” I asked to the air in a low and tired voice.
I could see a Hydra-like creature on the bed next to mine. He was awake, as well. “Oh, you’ve passed that stage. Hey, what’s you’re name?”
“Kevin. Yours?”
“Tyu. You might want to get a new name. It just doesn’t sound right for a Phoenix.”
“Phoenix and Dragon as well. I’ll think on the name thing. So, when were you found?”
“Last month. The doctor was right, you do get used to the feeling. It’s just stranger when out of the blue you have four heads when you accept it.”
“It’s stranger to grow new skin. Still tingling all over my body.”
“You don’t think I grew new skin? Mine’s made out of armor, that feels weird. It’s like someone, out of nowhere, puts metal armor all over you and smelted it to your body.”
I grinned. “How old are you, anyways?”
“Seventeen. You?”
“Twenty-one.”
“A little late to find out what you are, but OK.”
A small man, the size of a computer desk, walked in. “I need ‘Kevin Drag’ for Alkaed immediately.”
“You’d better get going.”
“See ya’, Tyu.” I waved my hand to the side once in a small stroke and continued to the man. “Here.”
The little man looked up. His eyes were small and green, and he had horns on top of his head. He had brown fur extending down his legs, which looked like a goat’s. Probably either a Satyr or just a half-goat random guy. “Good. Follow me to Alkaed.”

“Ah, I see he’s gotten the truth into his head. Welcome, winged monster.” The Cyclopes said, happily.
“Hey, Alkaed. What do you want me for?”
“I’ve set up your lessons. Every monster needs to know how to fight and fly if he’s got wings, right?”
“Uh, I don’t know how to use those muscles…”
“Oh, don’t worry, you’ll figure it out.”
“As for the fighting part-”
“Pfft, all monsters say they know how to fight until they get into my classes.”
“-I guess that solves it. So, when are these classes?”
“Tomorrow, eight o’ clock. But since we don’t have watches, you don’t know when that is, so I’ll be sure to come get you.” He had a spark in his eye.
“Oh crap…” I muttered, “…he’s going to have fun with that part.”
He looked me in the eyes. “I’ll be sure to.” He laughed and sighed. “You may go back to your quarters.”
“Wait, what kind of being is that guy?” I pointed to the goat-man.
“As you guessed. Satyr. Now get back to that bed of your. Dismissed!” He waved his hand in the direction of the exit.

Tyu looked up at me. “So, what’d he say?”
“Flying and fighting classes tomorrow.”
“Oh…” he looked surprised. “…all I can say is, be prepared.”
“That doesn’t sound very encouraging.”
“It shouldn’t be. The classes are hard, trust me.”
“I don’t have to trust you to believe that. I sucked in college.”
“Most monsters do. It’s just heritage. I sucked at preschool.”
We both gave a faint laugh, and I drifted off. I’ve been doing that since I became a monster in my appearance.

Next thing I knew, Alkaed was standing over me with a blow horn, about to squeeze the rubber, red sphere at the top. “Don’t squeeze it! I’m awake!”
“Feh. I was hoping I’d get to see you squeak like the rest of the Phoenix when I do that.” He was holding a video camera.
“I guess this is reality…” I sighed and got up out of the tiny bunk bed. Tyu was gone to some place.
“Come on. Flying classes come first. They don’t expect much from a newbie.”

The instructor was a half-Cardinal half-Human, red bird wings and all. “My name is Yuious. You’re first lesson: how to use your wings.” He gave his gaze to a different monster every ten seconds, inspecting the students, including me. “First, feel your wing bones with your shoulders. Exchange the movement to your bones as you move your shoulders.”
I did this, and to my surprise, my wings moved in the direction I wanted them to.
“Next, do this for ten minutes. Get comfortable with it.”
We did as we were told. For ten minutes, the twenty of us aimlessly swayed our wings around. It did get quite comfortable after that time. This is some easy to learn stuff, I thought.
“Now, push them constantly towards the ground. You will be lifted off shortly.”
It happened, like all other things he’s told us to do. This was a really patented lesson. My legs were floating above the surface of the rocky brown cliff. I could feel the air circulating under my body.
“Now leave. Practice this at your quarters or during break at fighting.”
I stopped swinging my wings, and fell to the ground and hit it hard. I need to work on my landing.
Alkaed came bounding towards us at high speed. “DEMON IN THE CAMP!”

Chapter Three: I Get a Taste of Battle
Fights with demons don’t go well.
So, after Alkaed completely bailed out, all our men and women marched and charged to the direction of the demon. I was left standing there with nothing but the air and Alkaed around me. Alkaed saw that I was walking in that direction for a second to see what was happening, so he came up to me and placed a giant hand on my shoulder.
“You’re not quite ready for a fight.”
“Why’d you run away, of all people?”
“Oh…it’s a private thing. Childhood meetings with king demons don’t go very smoothly unless your parents are twenty feet tall.”
“I can see how that would…wait, king demon?”
“Yes, there are more types. The one in here is a simple scout, king demons aren’t really kings, but they deliver a good deal of damage when they come through.”
“Are you in a war, or something?”
He turned to the doctor’s tent and yelled, “I told you he’d figure it out!” His voice echoed through the camp’s valley. He turned back to me. “Yep, and you’ve got to fight in it.”
“What?”
“Here.” He brought out a list of monster races, ranging from giant salamander to something referred to as “Apocalypse Machine.” He held it out to me, and I took it. It read,
-DRAGON
-G. SALAMANDER
-FIRE BIRD
-CYCLOPES
-APOCALYPSE MACHINE
-PHOENIX
-HYDRA
-SEA MONSTER
-SWITCHING DEMON
“What’s the switching demon for? We’re fighting them, right?”
“Switching demon switches sides. It’s pretty obvious.”
“And what’s the Apocalypse Machine?”
“Ranges within all races, comes every two generations, and right now, we could really use one.”
“So it’s a super-powerful version of whatever race it is?”
“Exactly.”
The ground shook as if it had been struck by lightning, and rocks flew in all directions. I looked up in its direction…the direction of the battle. “What was that?”
“The fight is ‘heating up’ as you call it.”
A huge wave of flames soared overhead. Then it all got quiet. “They killed the demon?”
“We’ll see. Come on.”

Well, I can’t say I’m not surprised. If it takes so much as to burn the ground, rip it to shreds, and completely disintegrate the demon, they must be pretty threatening. One of the Fire Birds, engulfed in flames, was panting. He must’ve given off the wave of flames. Another Hydra had claw marks on his body, and coincidentally, it was Tyu. He didn’t see me at first, so I gave him a squawk to get his attention.
He turned around, and his face was obviously bleeding. “There were two. We suspect a third…” He was talking to Alkaed, but then he noticed me and said a simple “Hey” then went on to explaining the thing to Alkaed again. “…so, there was another, but we can’t seem to track it down, even with our canines.”
Alkaed nodded suspiciously. “So we must look harder. If real help is needed, send out the cardinals. They usually get it done.”
“Sir, the best of the best searchers are already out there. We’ve lost one down in the valley, but it’s too dangerous down there to go searching for his body.”
“He will reform in the next few months.”
“He’ll reform down there if we don’t bring his body up here.”
“Well, you can’t send another searcher to lose…” He turned to me, then back to Tyu. “You, Kevin, and Pyro all go down there.”
“Pyro? Isn’t she in her dangerous state right now?”
“It’s always the best time to go on a kill n’ search mission.”
“Humph.” Tyu grunted.
Alkaed grinned and waved his hand in the ‘go away’ motion as he does with me, and we walked away.
Tyu looked nervous on all those eight heads of his. “Pyro is too dangerous right now, and I’m not sure if you know how to fight a demon quite yet.”
“I’m so sure myself.”
“Where is Pyro, anyway? Shouldn’t Alkaed have let her out of the cage by now?”
“Cage?”
“Yeah, whenever someone’s going through what we call ‘monster puberty’, they’re always locked up.”
I shivered. Locked up? “When do you hit monster puberty?”
“At about twenty-five.”
Great, I’m gonna have to go through that.
The small bushes off to our side rustled. Tyu drew a small dagger and his heads seemed to go towards his body. Must be his fighting position. “Get out of the bush,” he said.
The bushes moved again.
Tyu raised his knife higher. “Get out.”
No response.
Tyu advanced.
Still no response.
He put his knife in striking position, high above the bush.
No movement at all.
He must’ve been making sure it was nothing, because Tyu stabbed the thing like crazy.
RAGH!
Tyu backed up to the side of where I was standing. He turned my way. “You ever fought any other monster or mythical enemy?”
“Well, there was this one time…” I shifted. “…um, no.”
‘Oh, hell…” He looked just about hopeless. “Have you ever even fought something bigger than you?”
“Yeah, a million times.”
“Then I guess you might stand a chance.”
RAHHR! The bush shook violently and a shadowy figure jumped out and landed just before us with a long a hopeless THUMP.

Chapter Four: Demonic Arms
So, you may have guessed from the last fight that demons are hard to kill. You’re right.
Tyu slashed at it with his knife: not successful. He was knocked backwards like he was just another guy who got in the way. For some reason, the demon barked curses into the air. He was bleeding in his thigh.
His golden eyes shimmered in the light. The horns over his head seemed infinitely tall, and his red skin reflected the sun nefariously. “Die, useless monster. You were an accident of nature.” He sprinted in my direction.
A small arrow zipped through the air and exploded on the demon just before he got to me. I turned to Tyu. He just said, “Ain’t me.”
It turns out that even monsters can be hot. A medium-sized bird—perhaps a fellow red Phoenix—jumped out of the nearest tree, bow in hand. Tyu nodded and whispered, “That’s Pyro.” She had thick red feathers all over her body and a large beak.
“Having some trouble with this?” She turned her head gracefully at me. “Who’s that?”
I could’ve sworn I was blushing. “Uh…” I came to my senses. “…Kevin.”
“What kind of monster?”
“Half-Dragon, half-Phoenix.”
Her foot shifted position at the word ‘Dragon’. She turned to Tyu. “Why did it attack you?”
“We killed two of its buddies up at the camp.”
“Then I guess we have to kill two more,” she looked back at me. “So, we’re all going? Alkaed already told me of the mission.”
“Yep,”
I felt a tingling sensation in my abdomen. “Let’s get moving, then.”
Tyu turned toward me. “Well, you seem eager.” He grinned and walked on, Pyro following. I stumbled as I began to move, found my balance, and got going.

“What do you mean they were KILLED?”
“Sir, I-”
“No excuses!” The Demonic Colonel glared at every nook and cranny around the room looking for people to strangle. “If you fail like this again…” He sighed. “…it’s just not going to be pretty.” His golden eyes shone light as they closed, and his dark red arms flew in the direction of the exit as his index finger and knife-like nail (or a claw) pointed. “Out,” he commanded.
The other Demon sighed and marched out of the war room. He turned, and gave a maniacal grin. “I do offer important information, however…”
The superior Demon gave a “Humph,” and said, “Oh, really? Then I suggest you show it to me.”
The other Demon squinted and began to talk, “There was a red Phoenix and half-Dragon in the presence of two other monsters; the green-plated Hydra and another red Phoenix. I heard the two names of, ‘Pyro’, and ‘Tyu’ mentioned. Perhaps these are their names?”
The larger Demon smiled just as the other was. “Your information is valuable…and useful. You are excused for our scouts’ deaths.”
The other Demon smiled happily again. “Thank you, Lord Azure.”
“My pleasure, Hugo.” Azure responded. Hugo the Demon left.

I was spread across the grass of the valley, admiring it. Nature was much more compelling ever since I changed to my real form. Tyu was snoring loudly on each one of the eight heads, and Pyro’s nefariously beautiful face lye upon the direction of the mountains, awake, possibly on watch. The mountains glowed with another compelling thing of nature: green. They shimmered at night as if made of light, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it moved one to tears.
Pyro was still.
“Hey, uh,” I couldn’t remember her name by looking at her. THAT meant something.
“Pyro,”
“Yeah, Pyro, how many years have you been at that camp?”
“All my life, and it really pays off to train for fights so much. Demons are blocks in my way at this point.”
“So, you were born into your monstrous form?”
“Yep, I’d have it no other way.”
I grinned and I fell into a deep sleep…

BAM!
“What was that?!” I asked in shock.
“Pfft, I mean, we’re not getting attacked BY A HORDE OF FIREBIRDS!” Tyu screamed.
“What?!” I jumped out of my place in the grass and bonked my head right on a metal tray. “Ugh! What the hell?!” I looked up in dizziness to see who had the tray. It was Tyu, laughing so hard he was crying.
“Oh…TYU!” I was laughing even though I was disoriented by the tray. He dropped the tray and sat on the ground, still laughing.
Pyro walked over to us and grabbed us by our necks, Tyu’s the hardest. “You two stop the silliness and get serious!” She dropped us.
We kept on laughing nonetheless.
“Ugh,” she cursed, sighed, and then finally decided to join our laugh.
It didn’t last more than a minute.
WHAP!
Or was it a bang? Well, anyways, has a layer of rock, on fire, and covered in sulfuric acid ever flown right over your head? Well, if yes, you know what the next moment was like.
It sprayed over us like paint and covered up the ground around us like a brush to a wall. Pyro stood, anger boiling. She lifted her bow with an icy liquid nitrogen arrow strapped to the string. “Get off our land, Demon!” She let the arrow soar, high above the hill from which the rocks came from, and it dropped down when we heard a yelp in the distance.
Silence.
Pyro walked in that direction to examine her pray. She went flying back to us only after reaching the hill. “Argh!” she yelled, and she hit the ground next to us, which was silent compared to the roar that was now bellowing from the hill. She got up, and told us to be quiet. “It’s not a monster, nor a demon. It’s a mutation of what a normal Giant Land Serpent would be.” She put her bow down in a sign of haste to get the hell away.
We ran as fast as our legs could move, or for me, more like talons. The beast roared, long, large and orange. Its tail flailed around like am mace as it hit the hillside and literally blew the top off. The grass and dirt lay around us after it hit the Earth once more, and we kept on running…until the three more showed up and were ratted out by their little friend, and I say little by comparison.

Chapter Five: Capturing the Trio
Azure leaned upon his dark-blue throne. “So, you suggest that they are actually nearing in on this temple?”
“Yes, lord Azure.” The demon, Hugo, responded.
“So…” Azure made a shifting motion in his giant chair then moved back. “…how many? Was it three?”
“Yes, milord, three it was.”
Azure’s golden eyes sparkled at the number. “Then we are capable of their defeat. Send out that king demon we’ve been training for the past eternity.”
“But, milord, the king demon might reap the lands of life! It is only safe in a desert or body of water,” Hugo yelled, he was obviously worried.
“I see how your concern burdens you, Hugo, but I’ve got it under control. They invented a new and very creative way to handle that.”
“Oh? Well, it must be how an old demon learns new tricks.”
Azure grinned with his crusty red lips at the comment, and dismissed Hugo with a wave of his hand. “We’ll see how this’ll work out.”

Azure paced through the demonic courtyard, brightened by the fires of hell that gleamed in the distance. The wooden torches beside the path that glowed red fire resembled worship to the Emperor Demon, the master of all demons, and the stones of the walkway glowed the color when they were on, as they were now.
Azure’s guards, Rio de Trij and Cop, with their red spiked tails guarded the entrance to the Emperor’s palace and his, right across from each other. Azure nodded as Rio de Trij opened up the way by lifting his black and poisoned spear. The giant grey, menacing doors opened up to reveal a majestic black-tiled room, full of satanic symbols. One demon sat upon a golden throne in the middle of the room. He smiled at Azure.
“Ah, I see you’ve come, Azure. I already know your situation, our demons are making haste.” Instead of golden eyes, this demon bore blood-red eyes. His body seemingly emitted an intense red and his ‘whites’ of his eyes were bloodshot. He wore a large tunic strapped in more red, topped off with the red flag of Hell hanging above the throne.
Azure bowed to his knees and spoke, “You’re looking as fiendish as ever, Emperor.” Azure chuckled silently at this, for the Emperor was lied to left and right about his appearance.
“Thank you, Azure. At ease,” he ordered.
Azure loosened himself in a regular manner, and made battle plans. “So, you suggest a vote, Sir?”
“Yes, hold the meeting tomorrow in the hall of…” he made a quick movement in his chair, and continued. “…hall of God and only invite king demons and scouts. The resident demons must stay here.”
Azure brought out a vine-covered communication device—a demon’s cell-phone—and touched the front screen. Orders were immediately carried out. “The kings and scouts have been alerted.”
“Good,” the Emperor grinned to the right side, “then we are to send those kings out in two days.”

Azure lifted his hand in the sign of silence. “BE QUIET!” he yelled at the gossiping scouts. They flicked their heads towards him and shut their mouths. Azure put his hand down. “Now, the Emperor has issued a vote. It is about these three monsters prowling in our lands.”
The scouts and kings whispered to one another.
“And we must decide what to do. One of them poses a threat, which killed one of our demons, El Appalachian, almost single-handedly. Whoever votes in favor of killing, lift your arm high.”
Seven.
“…all in favor of capturing and torture?”
Eight.
“…and all for mind-control?”
Two.
“…so it is decided. Capture and torture will be carried out by the kings.”
The kings in the room grinned.
“Dismissed.”

“Stab it in its heart, Pyro!”
“I know that!”
She swayed from side to side as she embedded her hunting knife into the second one out of the giant serpents.
I was doing something very similar: attempting to jump a serpent, and stab into its head. The icy cold ground—cold because of the liquid nitrogen arrows—was freezing the serpent’s underside. I leaped from the first orange horror, flew for a second, and landed spot on, the second one’s head. Pyro was having trouble with it down lower, and I was flung nearly as fast as their tails. “Damn, Tyu…” I had completely forgotten about him since the fight started. “TYU!”
“Yeah, I’m right here.”
I looked up, and saw a haze of heads above me with a giant arrow in hand, Pyro’s favorite flaming weapon of torture. He gave a simple salute, and stabbed the serpent with it, fire engulfing the beast. He pounced off, rolling in time to save any breaks. I jumped as well, wings softening my landing.
Tyu looked up to see Pyro nearly touched by the blaze and trapped by a gush of organs that came out of the hole she stabbed at. His stand immediately shifted to a sprint. He was climbing that thing in no time. I followed, but before I could reach her, he did first. He cut the organs in half, dropped to the ground, and caught her. I leaped down, too.
He let her go (she was in his arms when he got her down), and I exchanged the, ‘we’ll fight over this later’ look with him.
There was still one more, and this one, was extremely large. Its body destroyed acres of grass and dirt, and it’s large, leaking mouth sputtered acid everywhere. Its round set of teeth munched on a set of trees. RAGH!, it roared.
Pyro was all over it; shooting deadly arrows and sending a flurry of ice and fire down its back. It was actually trying to get away (I don’t blame it, sometimes Pyro can be scary). It blasted at the ground fiercely with its tail and body, attempting to dig away. Pyro was hitting it so hard, I couldn’t help from yelling, “Pyro, let it get away!”
She jerked her head in my direction. “Why? This is so easy!”
“Just let it go, it’s only as much a monster as us.”
Her expression of ruination quickly changed to a relaxed one, and she pulled her bow to its sling and put her knife in its sheath. “Oh, alright, if you put it that way.” She hit the ground and paced towards me and Tyu.
In the background of Pyro, the serpent was frantically hitting at the dirt. It crawled away with multiple scars.
“So,” she said, “we survived that ordeal. I wonder what’ll try to kill us next.”
“Probably another demon, maybe a mythical beast, who knows?”
She gave a grin, and then Tyu dropped to the ground and began snoring.
“Tired, already?” I asked.
“Yep, you may not be used to it now, but those fights tend to…” she yawned. “…tend to wear you out.” She dropped to the ground as well.
I shrugged, yawned, too, and my eyesight went dark.
I was fast asleep.

Chapter Six: Not So Easily
My head throbbed with a dastardly headache as I moved my body to sit up. My eyes creaked open.
There were fires, enveloping the greens of the nature around me. Powerful flares shot up in the sky, turning the blue into an orange. There was a humanoid shape appearing from the smoke, wavering from side to side…it raised a red pillar of fire…, and it crumbled upon me.

I threw my head up in a maze of confusion. A dream? I looked to my colleagues…a dream. I sighed, and whispered questions to myself. I lifted my trembling arms to push myself to my feet. I looked around briefly…there was nothing suspicious. I sat back down.
I looked down at my hands, that of a monster. “Why…?” I fell back asleep, head hitting the ground.

“Kevin…hey, Kevin! Wake up!”
I lifted my head for the second painful time that day. “What?”
“We’re traveling again.” It was Pyro.
Tyu was talking in the background of Pyro. “So…if we go that way…or maybe over there…”
Pyro twisted her head. “Oh, you’re hopeless.” She snatched the map from him. “We go east. Now that wasn’t too hard, was it?”
Tyu groaned. He’d been woken in the same fashion as me.
I lifted my body up, and extended my legs…or talons, whatever you want to call them. “So, how far today?”
“Oh, ten, twenty miles, break, then twenty more.”
“Ugh…”
“Amateurs.” She strolled off.
Woods were in the near distance, creating an embassy of shadows. Foxes and birds went through it happily. For a somewhat obvious reason I now thought as them as if being people.
A smoking tree burned in the distance.
“I think that that’s humans,” Tyu said.
“Maybe,” I responded. I wasn’t quite comfortable referring to people in that way yet.
Tyu’s fourth head flicked to the right. “See that?” He inched forward, all heads pointed in that direction on our right.
“Wait up.” Pyro headed along with him.
I hurried to catch up.

A lone, blue, icy Demon sat on a large rock in blackness. He turned his head up to reveal his two eyes with a lightly tinted blue coloring the iris. His crumbled form of lips cracked and shivered as he moved the form. His horns were made of pure ice. His rusty lips moved. “Azure, we cannot keep up this foolishness. We must tell him the truth.”
A tall red form shaped from the shadows behind the blue Demon. “I can’t be sure, my master. He might be your son, but he still doesn’t know and shouldn’t know.”
“Azure, you can stop calling me master.”
“Alright, Drag.”
The blue one smiled.

I crushed the leaves behind me as we continued up a curving stream. The blue water gave a reflection of the cloudless sky. I lifted my head up to a large tree, gazing upon its harmful marks; the trail of a human. “Hey, Pyro?”
“Yeah…?”
“I’ve been wondering…”
“Uh-huh?”
I stuttered in my next words as I looked upon the scratched bark. “Maybe this isn’t a…human.” I had trouble saying that one. “Maybe it’s something else.”
“Like what?”
“I’ve done studying on ancient Demons when I was still in my old school. Maybe this was caused by Abaddon.”
“It can’t be Abaddon.” She looked down. “No matter what. I’m pretty sure that he was slain.”
I truly beg to differ. I pointed to a trail of vacancy in the leaves of the trees. “He flew over there. Either that or a colossal gale just so happen to zip through.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Let’s get moving.”
Tyu sighed. “Alright then.” He cracked his many necks and started on forwards.
We followed.

The blue Demon approached a dark altar, sitting upon a black rock in the cave he resided in. A single glowing light source burned on top of the altar: a candle. “I must tell him the truth…the secret. He will live in the darkness of the ignorant abyss of his forever if we do not.”
Azure stepped closer. “Sir, but I am your true son! There is but on heir, and that’s me!”
“Do not be too sure.”
“But, father…”
“Your own secret lies hidden. His must not. He believes in the wrong side. I will not allow…” He forced his old body up to his feet in front of the glowing altar…he seemed to be giving off an aura. “I will not allow my son to support them.”
“But...”
“You may not be on the wrong side, but you lie in a pathetic world of poor questions and useless answers. I’m sorry to say, you are not the mature and great heir this world needs. You are dismissed from my presence, Azure.”
Azure wiped his face with the red, wrinkled hand of his. He left. I’ll kill him. I’ll have my father back, and he’ll admire me.

The night was gaining a bright twilight as I moved along the wet edge of the river.
Tyu shifted his confidence to a suspicious look. “I think we should move faster.”
“Why?” Pyro apparently does not want to believe in Abaddon being alive. She felt the feeling of danger, too.
“This…this place is covered in demon’s markings.” He motioned to multiple heaven and hell symbols across the shady trees.
“And so it is.”
“Who was that?”
“It is your greatest fear, but does thy have the mental strength to withstand my existence?”
“It’s Abaddon…sh—”
“Too late, my mortal friend.” A demonic gust swirled overhead.
The shape of wings and red hit the ground.