FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

this is an unfinished story but will continue it if enough people read it and this story is m/m ... enjoy

Chapter 1

It was late or early in the morning but the time doesn't matter to me. The street lamps have been turned off, that's all we need. I highly doubted anyone would see three boys picking a lock. They might not even care at all; stores get robbed all the time in Chicago. There we go. I heard the lock click and I pushed the door open. "Remember, only take what we need and nothing else," I told Cody and Sid swinging the door shut behind us. We hurried to the non-perishable section of the store and cautiously snatched food that would last for awhile. When all of a sudden sirens; blared from every corner of the store. "Let's go. Come on! Before the cops come!" I shouted to Cody and Sid. We darted to the back. I picked up a bottle and hurled it out the window not caring about being heard. As long as we got out of there uncaught. Luckily by the time the police showed we were out back running down an alley. I wasn't entirely sure where we're heading but we can't get caught. After about an hour of searching around we found our "home". Well not really a home but a safe alley with a bunch of cardboard boxes. I looked sadly at the stash of food we stole. Not nearly enough, I thought. We'll be lucky if this lasts the week. "Why do we have to do this? There must be a better way than stealing," Sid said. I looked over able to see silent tears in his eyes illuminated by the light of Cody's fire. Poor kid, I thought. It doesn't have to be this way. It shouldn't be this way. We aren't bad kids, especially Sid. But we were screwed. I looked over at Sid's teary face and remembered how he looked when we first found him seven months ago. His clothes were torn, dirt covering his body, and his eyes. That's something I'll never forget. They weren't just teary but scared to death. We brought him under our protection and he told us what happened. Sid is a homosexual and his parents threw him out of the house for it. The real problem is that it isn't his choice either. His father had molested him at a young age and even though he was ashamed beyond belief. He grew up thinking that sex with the same gender is right. When he told his parents they were furious and then he was homeless with Cody and me. I looked over at Cody's emotionless face eating stale chips. I laughed to myself. He's basically been the same ever since I found him two years ago. Always the strong one; didn't even have a tear in his eye when we met. Although I'm not sure I can blame him. Poor soul had to live with alcoholic parents that beat him about every night. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore. He bolted out with only the clothes he was wearing. Now we've been living and stealing together for two years. Come to think of it Cody ran away only four months after I became homeless. My parents were killed in front of my eyes when I was fifteen. I remember someone had broken into our house. He couldn't find anything worthy of stealing and went for my mother. Of course my father, who had loved her with all his heart, attacked the man. Unable to subdue the man, my father was stabbed to death. He told us to run away, to leave him behind but we couldn't. My mother had grabbed a knife from the kitchen drawer and went after the man. She was easily out- matched by him, but was able to wound him in his leg. All the while I stood there watching my parents killed one by one in front of my eyes. They gave their lives to me and I had to make sure it wasn't in vain. With a cut up leg the attacker made a break for it. Controlled by anger and sadness I grabbed the knife my mother used to protect me, and made chase. It was easy catching up with him and tackling him to the ground. I spent most of my lonely school days lifting weights and this wounded man was no match for me. I stood up and the guy looked at me with terror in his eyes. "Don't kill me.... please," he pleaded. I didn't answer. "Please...please...please." "Why should I spare you? You killed my parents you JACKASS!" I shouted at him He recoiled when from my anger, "I'm so...s-so-sorry....please" "I'll see you in hell," I said to him quietly and I stabbed him in the chest. I stood there watching him die. After which I went back home packed some belongings and burned the house down. I didn't want to remember what happened in that house. To this day I still have the knife I used to kill my parents murderer next to a picture of them. It's all I can do to honor them. "John what's wrong," Cody said interrupting my train of thought. "What? Oh nothing. I think I'll head off to bed. I'm pretty tired," I said evasively. "That's probably a good idea. Sid looks like he's going to fall in the fire. I'll get him into his box," said Cody. "Okay. Goodnight." The next thing I remember I was floating in an endless void of darkness, just floating. Then in the distance I could see a faint glow. Slowly it got closer and closer. Then I could make out that there were two things and that they were people. I opened my eyes wide with amazement and excitement. It was my parents. "Mom, Dad," I shouted at the top of my lungs, trying to get there attention. To my dismay they didn't look over in my direction. "Mom, Dad I'm over here," I tried to run to them but my legs wouldn't move. "Mom, Dad no, don't leave," I said as they started to turn and leave. I tried to run after them again but still my legs wouldn't move. "Come back," tears starting to role down my face, I knew deep down what would happen next and I tried to braced myself. "NO RUN, GET OUT OF HERE!" I heard my dad scream. I just stood there numbness taking over my body. Then to my horror I heard my mother screaming. The numbness faded replaced by fear. I heard something I wasn't familiar with next. It was a scream no doubt, but I never heard this one. I looked around to see who it was and when I didn't see I realized that it was my own. At that point, I woke with a start, screaming, cold sweat running down by back. I looked around to see if I had waked anyone up. When I saw that I didn't I looked again to see what time it was, and when I did I saw Sid curled in a ball asleep next to me. I wasn't surprised to see him there. He usually snuck into my box to sleep when we pulled a robbery. I rubbed his back to wake him, and when he did he looked around to see where he was and when he finally realized he looked up and had a sorry look in his eyes "sorry," he mumbled tilting his head forward as if in shame. "It's ok, don't worry about it," I said smiling warmly at him. "Why don't you go wake up Cody so we can get the day started." Secretly I wanted him to leave so I could have time to myself to process the dream that I had just encountered. "Are you ok?" he asked, "You look kind of down." "Yea I'm fine," I said, "just had a nightmare." "You want to talk about it?" "Not right now," I said in a sincere voice, "thanks though." "No problem," he said. As he was leaving to wake up Cody he added, "I'm always here if you want to talk, you know that right?" "Yea thanks," I replied. Then he left me to my thoughts. I laid down staring at the "roof" of my box wondering why did I dream about that, well that one was obvious. The next question I had was, why couldn't I move to run and help them, and why did it seem so real, I mean more real then any of the other dreams I had about them? These stumped me, I couldn't think of an answer. So I put those questions on hold when I had more time to think about it, because I knew that Cody and Sid would be waiting for me outside. So with new things to think about tonight when we got back stored in the back of my mind I stepped out to see what new sick and twisted things the world had to throw at us today.

Chapter 2

I heard loud clangs outside. I sprawled out of my box, natural defense instinct taking. I searched for the culprit. To my surprise, Sid and Cody was sword fighting with a couple of old pipes. I sighed in relief thanking it wasn't a real threat. "Hey John," Cody called, "look what Sid found. There's even one for you." He tossed me one. I pointed it at him and said, "If you two ever scare me like that again, I'm going to beat you." Cody smirked and Sid chuckled. I lowered my pipe and smiled at them. They knew I would never hurt them. "What are we going to do today?" Sid asked "Well we stole enough food to us for a couple of days. So do you guys want to mess around with the pipes? Who knows, it might be good to have some sort of tool around here?" I answered. They seemed pleased by that. A day they didn't have to do anything but goof off. They deserve it though, I thought. All day we practiced "sword" fighting with our new, old pipes. By the end of the day we were actually getting pretty good with them. Wow I thought to myself, I was just lying when I said they might be useful. I can see now how they might come handy. It was getting late I told the others to go get some sleep. "We'll have time to play with them tomorrow," I told Sid several times until he went to his box. I stayed up after they went off. I didn't want to get those dreams again. I was afraid to admit to them that these nightmares were putting such a huge emotional strain on me. They made no sense. It bugged me the most about that my father told me to leave. Why would he do that? Did he not love me anymore? No that can't be it, they loved me with all their hearts. It had to be something else it just had to. I couldn't fight it off for much longer. My eyelids grew heavier every minute, but I knew if I fell asleep I would have the nightmares again, and if I screamed, I didn't want to worry the others. Right after this wonderful day too that would be cruel. Finally, I couldn't fight it anymore. I crawled into my box and looked at the picture of my parents through weary eyes and whispered, "Help me. Why am I having these dreams?" I stared at their picture until unconsciousness took over me. *************** I woke up extremely tired. I had had another nightmare last night, but at least I didn't scream this time. It was bad but I have had worse. In my dream I saw the last few minutes of my parents' murderer's life. I was so glad that I didn't see them getting killed. But when I bent over to kill the man I saw my reflection in his eyes. That scared me the most. I almost didn't recognize myself. I saw me but it wasn't me at the same time. I looked like I had wanted to watch him die with that murderess intent in my eyes. "I'll see you in hell," I told him. I never thought those words would ever come from my mouth. When I stood after I stabbed him blood was dripping from the tip of the blade and hitting to my new shoes. The shoes I had begged my mom to buy for me the very day before. I looked slowly over what I had done and slowly I looked in his lifeless eye again, but this time what I saw filled me with fear. I saw a huge black monster with yellow teeth covered in red jutting from its mouth and long sharp spikes coming from his back covered in what I only imagine was imagined was blood for it was feasting on the man I had just killed. Then slowly did I realize that the monster was looking at me with its piercing evil red eyes. It looked like it was trying to read what I was going to do next. I tried to run but I couldn't move frozen with fear as it growled and then it pounced. That's all that I remembered, kind of sad that I didn't answer any of the questions. After I had recapped the dream it left me with more questions then I had started with. "What was that thing," I whispered to myself. Is that me? Could I really be a monster like that thing I saw in my dreams? "No of course not," I said to myself, "they're just dreams." I composed myself and started a new day. The others were already up and eating some stale chips. I looked over at our food stash wondering why they had been eating the stale ones. To my surprise we had already depleted our stash. Sid noticed me. "We're going to have to steal today aren't we?" he asked with a sad look in his eye. "I'm afraid so bud." I turned to Cody, "Hey can you give us a look out and tell us where security is the lowest in town." "No problem," he smiled. He always liked these jobs; the ones that can get him in trouble. He waved and ran off leaving Sid and I alone to work more with our pipes. Cody came back before sundown with good news. "The south side of the city seems to be pretty low on protection. I think we should go there this time," he said. "Ok," I said, "Let's bring our pipes and see how useful they really can be." We practiced until it was dark enough to make our move. Hiding in the shadows of the alleyways the whole way, it took us about an hour to get there; our "home" was up in the northern section. When we arrived we were surprised to see that the door was already opened ajar. "Weird," I thought out load. "Yea," agreed Cody "Well makes it easier for us." I nodded in agreement. True, usually we spent about ten minutes picking the lock, five on a good day. We went inside of the small department store that we have never even heard of. We looked around first to see if there we any night guards there, and when we didn't see any I said my usual line "Ok guys remember just take what we need and nothing else." "Ok," said Cody as he turned to see what he could find. Sid didn't say anything he just nodded silently and turned away, he was always silent when we were stealing. For him to be this upset about stealing even after so many times his parents must have at least taught him something right, I thought as I took some noodles off the shelf and shoving them into my large trash bag. Going to the canned food section I was thinking about the dream I had last night again, trying to solve the questions I put on hold till I had some time alone. Then I heard a clattering in the isle I was about to turn into thinking it was one of the others being clumsy I turned in saying "Need some hel-," cut off by fear from what I saw. "No," I whispered as I feel backwards on the ground. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It looked like something out of a gruesome horror film. It was blacker than any black I've ever seen, muscles bulging from every part of its odd body. Its body looked sort of human except for the enormous size of its muscles but its hands and feet were like paws and its head. Its head looked like some kind of animal never seen before. It didn't even have eyes, where its eyes should have been there was nothing, just empty sockets. You could see the blood vessels pulsing with each heartbeat. And its heartbeat seemed to be faster then the regular human, or animal for that matter. "John, are you alright over there!" Cody called. "I thought I heard some noises." I turned and started to run away from the monster and called to the others, "Go! We have to get the hell out of here!" Cody appeared around the corner and I plowed right into him. "What are you doing?! Get the fuck out of here! NOW!!!" "John, John. Calm down man there's nothing there," he said to me. "Th-then what was that thing?" "What was what?" Sid asked me. "The uh never mind let's just get out of here. We'll steal something tomorrow night." "Are you alright John?" Sid asked. "Yes!" I snapped at him and instantly regretted it. "No, I guess not." "Please tell us," Sid pressed on cautiously. "You two won't believe me," I said. Sid and Cody simply stared at me. "Well I've been having dreams of the night I killed my parent's murderer, and when I see myself I see me but it's not really me. I look tortured beyond belief and then my body turns into some demonic creature. I-I saw the creature, well a creature just now in the store. I know it sounds crazy but this thing is real, I just know it is." "We believe you," Cody said solemnly, with a doubtful look in his eye. "Anyway it doesn't matter now. It's gone. Let's go and get some sleep and rob a different place tomorrow." We set off in silence walking slowly back home. The others kept their eyes on me obviously worried that I would go into another fit. "John," I heard something whisper my name. The others didn't take notice. Was this happening in my head? I looked around but didn't see anything. "Yes," the voice whispered. "I want your blood. I want to rip your body limb by limb and suck on your warm human blood." Human blood I thought to myself. Then what the hell are you. "You won't be alive long enough to figure that out. By then I'll be feasting on your succulent insides. Do you know what my favorite part of the human is, it's the heart but only if it is fresh, and yours oh yours sounds mouth watering." It groaned in pleasure by just the thought of it. GET OUT OF MY HEAD, I screamed at the voice, LEAVE ME ALONE!!!!! The demonic voice laughed darkly but faded away leaving the inside of my mind silent. "I have to take a rest," I said to the others, "You two go on without me. I'll catch up" "I don't think we should John," Sid said. Cody grabbed his shoulder and started to drag him away, "Come on Sid he'll be fine. He always is. Don't take too long though John," he called over his shoulder, obviously worried. When they were out of sight I sat down with my face in my hands and silently cried. What's happening to me, I thought. The thing looked so real. It even broke into that store, but how can that be real. Monsters are exposed to be imaginary. Yes, that's it. It must've been my imagination. Finally, I composed myself and headed back towards home. "I'm not in your imagination John. I'm very real. Maybe even more real than you are," the voice said, "You will find out just how real I am soon enough." Not you again, I thought. What do you mean you're more real than I am? "You think you're so tough but there you were crying like a baby. Ha-ha humans are so weak, but yet so succulent, and juicy" How do you know this? Where are you? "I am everywhere and nowhere John. I am the nightmare you dream and I am what you fear when you are awake. I control you." "You control nothing!!!" I shouted out loud. "I am my own self!!!!" Something threw me against the wall. I could feel blood oozing from unseen wounds. From the corner of my eye I saw a black, purplish vortex come out of nowhere. From the swirling vortex the demon from my dreams came out laughing hysterically. "You little fool," it said, "How you dare question my existence. If I weren't real you would've been able to alleviate me from your thoughts." I pulled out my pipe and shouted, "CODY, SID, HELP ME!!!!!!" I heard feet shuffling down an alley. I charged at the demon swinging my weapon blindly at the beast. It was taken by surprise and did not prepare itself in time for my assault. I was able to get a blow to his head but he barely moved. I stared at my pipe in terror. The long metal was bent in half from the blow to its head. The monster lurked towards me slowly as Sid and Cody caught up to me and stood tall by my side. "John what the hell is this thing?" Cody asked, fear plaguing his voice "This is the creature I've I saw in the store." I answered. "That's the thing you saw in the store?" Sid chimed in bewildered. "Yes" "This must be my lucky day," it said taunting us. "Three delicious looking humans right when I thought I was going back Runtair empty handed." "What the hell are you and what is Runtair," Cody was brave enough to call to the monster. "If you must know I am called Azariath and I am what you humans I believe would call a demon. Runtair is my homeland. Much like your Earth if you will but without the filth," he gestured to his surroundings, "And now I think I will take you with me to Runtair for me and my brothers. We haven't had a nice human meal in a while." He smiled at us showing his yellow fangs and drool dripping from the corners of his mouth. "Like hell you are," Cody shouted and we started to run away. The demon jump in front of us and blocked our path, he was unbelievably fast. He grabbed us all in a bear hug and carried our helpless bodies to the swirling vortex. "No!" we shouted, kicking it with our powerless legs "Let go of us!" The monster said nothing as he stepped into the vortex and we disappeared from our planet, our home. I felt us land on soft grass. I wasn't sure how long the trip was. I passed out about half way through. I looked at the others noticing they were still unconscious. I decided to play smart and pretended to still be lifeless. The monster Azariath, let out a huge bellow. Probably calling its friends I thought. From the woods three more demons ran to our bodies and started sniffing us. "Nice haul Azariath," one of them said. "Beautiful" "I call dibs on the soft looking one." Sid I thought miserably. This is my entire fault. Pain engulfed my body as one of them stomped on us. I heard Cody and Sid scream with me as they just woke up. The demons looked at us with pleaser from our screams. Cody controlled himself but Sid continued to groan. I felt so bad. I did not want to die, but I would've rather died than to watch them die with me. AARGH another one stomped on my back. As I was drifting in and out of consciousness I swore I saw an angel in the far distance. The angel came closer a bright white light surrounding its half naked body. I studied the figure through my heavy eye lids. There was a sword strapped to her back across her wings. Before I lost it I saw the angel take out her sword and attack the four demons. "Thank you," I whispered inaudibly and drifted off into darkness.

Chapter 3

When I awoke I saw the sky, well at least I assumed it was the sky. But I wasn't sure for it was a crimson red color. I was pondering about what made it red until I remembered. I sat up quick which turned out to be a bad idea cause I fell right back down with dizziness. As I sat waiting for the dizziness to fade I heard a chuckle. "Who's there," I said trying to sound tuff, but I obviously failed. "Calm down you don't need to be afraid anymore," said a calming voice, "they're gone now and won't harm you anymore." Able to stand up now I looked around, looking for the source of the voice. I noticed we were lying in a circle around a fire. I didn't see any immediate danger, so I calmed down a bit. I'm sure that if we were in real danger we wouldn't be laid in a circle around a fire. The others were still out of it and I didn't want to wake them up. That's when I noticed that neither of them had their shirts on and they where covered with a skin blanket of some sort over their torso. I looked down in realization and quickly grabbed the animal skin that was placed over me and wrapped it like a towel around me. Whispering as to not wake the others I asked the unseen person, "What have you done with my clothes?" "Don't worry they're drying, I'm not sure but I don't think you would want to be wearing bloody clothes the whole time you're here do you?" the voice said sarcastically. "Not really, thanks" "Don't worry about it, I got bored after a few hours." "A few hours," I said shocked "how long was I out for?" "Oh I don't know, maybe half a day," her voice was so sweet and melodic, like an angel's. "Wow that long?" as I spoke the source of the comforting voice emerged from the nearby forest. She looked like an angel her silver wings glistening a faint red color reflecting from the sky, her hair was black as night, and her eyes were a faint golden. Before I was done processing everything that I could about her she hurled something at me. "There's your clothes," she said throwing my just washed clothes at me, "and yours, and yours," throwing Sid's and Cody's clothes at their sleeping body's. They both woke with a start standing as fast as they could incase they had to defend themselves. Realizing that there was no danger, they looked at each other and realized something else. Quickly they grabbed their clothes and covered themselves, faces turning an uncontrollable shade of red. Laughing I looked to the mysterious savior and she was sitting on a stump trying to hold in a giggle, but not succeeding very well. "Do you three wish for me to turn around until you are done getting dressed?" she teased. "YES," said Sid and Cody almost simultaneously and both sounding very embarrassed. After I dressed I went over to our savior and said, "Thank you for saving us." "I should be thanking you. I've been hunting those bastards for a while now. I'm sorry you were hurt but fortunately those guys won't be able to hurt us, or anyone for that matter, anymore." I had so many questions for her, "Who are you? What are you? What is this place?" "Alright, alright one at a time, ok first one, I am Emrildos. I am not like those demons you saw earlier." "Wait! You're a demon? But you're so nice and, well and pretty." "Yes I am a demon. But you must know that demons aren't all bad or ugly. It's just a race like you humans. I'm not all demon either. I am part angel. A hybrid if you will. After I was born my village was raided and instead of killing me they took me away. After years of captivity they found a way to make me part demon. I was lucky. Angel blood is resistant to many poisons, but I was injected with so much of their venom I became part demon. I've learned to control those instincts now and made it my job to hunt down every demon, bad demon if you will." "I'm sorry about your past." "Don't worry about it. What's done is done. What was last question again?" "What is this place and, how did we get here?" "This is Runtiar. I don't know how you got here, I'm curious about that myself, and I pray that no one else is able to." My stomach growled loudly, "I'm sorry you three must be starving." "Very," Cody shouted from a distance, obviously listening in. She laughed, "Come on I'll take you to my village. You will have a place to sleep and more than enough to eat. And hopefully we'll be able to find a way to send you back to your home." We followed her through the woods Sid, Cody, and I awed by this mystical place. I've seen pictures of forests on Earth but this was something else. It was so beautiful and peaceful here when you weren't being attacked. We reached he outskirts of her village. Then we saw it. The village was somewhat on the small side, but this is the opinion of someone who lived in a major city. All the houses were made of wood and leaves like you would see on the discovery channel, except there was one thing that caught my eye. There was a huge stone structure, almost as tall as a skyscraper, near the middle of the little village. The entire outside of the village was blocked off by a giant wooden wall made with tree trunks that were sharpened at the tip, obviously to keep unwanted company out. "This is your village?" I asked, still staring at the tall structure. "Yea, well its not so much a village as it is a resistance," she replied, waving to the watchmen who stared at us. Just as I was about to ask Sid spoke up. "What is that thing?" he asked pointing to the stone building. "That," she said with pride in her voice, "my friends are where the founder of this glorious place lives." "Who goes there?" bellowed a foreign voice from inside the resistance. "It is I, Emrildos returning from my hunt," she paused, "and I bring three visitors in need of shelter and food." The large gate opened revealing the contents of the resistance. From a distance the houses looked like simple, plain wooden houses. Up close they were a master piece as if taken from the Baroque period. Everything was crafted with such amazing detail it was hard to believe they made this by hand. As we made our way through the village more and more citizens came out of their homes to get a good look at us. Never before had they seen someone as plain as us. I looked around at all of the different figures noticing there wasn't really a set race here. Just about everyone, or everything was different in some way. The only things they all had in common were being hybrids and wanting to see the bad demons die. Emrildos nudged my shoulder. I hadn't realized we made it to the skyscraper like building. The members of the resistance took me aback from young to old, male and female. The look they cast over us with astonishment but not suspicion. I must be because Emrildos is with us. "Follow me in here," she told us, "I'll be able to sort everything out with the resistance leaders." We followed her up the countless number of stairs until we reached the top floor almost crawling the last of it. Giggling, Emrildos knocked on the only door and a faint voice replied, "Enter Emrildos and friends." The door opened without anyone turning the knob and we entered. In the room, an old man sat on the floor in a meditative position. "Elder Eurogian these boys need to stay in the resistance village for a while," she said to the old man. "Why is that you need them to be here?" asked Eurogian. "I found them out in Twilight field where they were being attacked by Azariath and his pack." "Yes but they are safe now. Why bring them here instead of there own home?" "Well that's a little complicated. These boys came from... what did you say it was? Earth. I don't know how they got here or why they're here in the first place." The old man seemed to not be paying attention but instead in deep thought talking to no one in particular, "The prophecy always foretold a warrior would come into Runtair from another dimension. But there are three people here and they certainly do not look like warriors. If anything they look like starving mertphos." Her laughter filled the halls. "I would say that," she said when she got hold of herself "Excuse me Elder err... Uh... Eurogian. What prophecy?" I asked. "What did he call us?" I hear Sid asking Cody in a hushed voice, "And what the hell is a mertphos?" "please call me elder," he said losing his train of thought, "and the prophecy said one day a warrior would come to Runtair from another dimension. A place that is different than our own world. It described the warrior would look very much like you three. Not in appearance but in physicality. This man would become the greatest fighter in our land and either save us all or rule Runtair and ultimately bring it to its end." "How long was this prophesized?" I asked my voice filled with worry. "My good boy it's nothing to fret about. The prophecy was told thousands of years ago. If it were true something would've happened by then. You boys may stay and Emrildos will look after you for while." He bade us good-bye and practically shoved us out of his room. I don't believe him, I thought, he was humoring us. He was worried just as much as I was. He will be keeping a close eye on us that's for sure. We headed out of the building following Emrildos who had led us to a small hut in the direct center of the village. "It's not much," She told us sadly, "But it should be good enough. She gave us a grand tour of the four-room hut. Bade us goodbye and left telling us she'd be back tomorrow to give us a tour of the village. Compared to what we had to live with for a few year in Chicago this hut was like a palace. Comfy beds to sleep on, chairs to sit in, a window to look out, the works, well to us anyway. After we were done looking through everything we sat down around the table. "Either of you two heard what the elder said?" I started. "Nope I was to busy staring at the bowl of food that was sitting right next to him," said Cody, "I mean did you see it, it looked so good I mean like the best food I have ever seen." "I heard him," stated Sid. "What do you think it might mean?" "I don't know but I don't think that I like it very much," "You know what I don't like," Cody chimed in, "talking on an empty stomach. I'm going to get some food anyone else want some?" "Yea I guess we could all use some food," I said as my stomach started to growl. Thinking about it now when was the last time any of us ate. Probably just before we left to go get some more food, and who knows how long it took for us to get here. Thinking about this I walked into what I assumed was the kitchen area, do they even eat the same thing as us. Maybe what they find food we find poisonous. Trying not to think about that I looked to see what was in the cabinets. To my dismay I didn't find much. "Ok guys looks like there's not much in the way of food here also we don't even know if the food here is edible." "Oh great what are we going to do now?" asked Cody and Sid simultaneously. "I don't know but we will think of something," I assured them. But in reality I wasn't sure that we would. If we were stuck here for good who knows how long but without food we wouldn't last very long. Half hoping I walked outside, and thankfully Emrildos was sitting there on top of our little hut, her face looking serious. Half afraid to speak to her I said "Hey ummm I don't mean to bother you but we don't have any food in here that we can eat." "Oh I'm sorry I forgot to stock you up on food didn't I? " she replied with an apologetic look on her face. "Yea you did," "Ok well here let me call someone to go get you some," she said smiling. "Thanks that would be great." "Ok what is it you guys eat?" she asked "Ummm here why don't I go with you," I offered. "Ok why don't you bring the others too?" "I think that they want their rest, they seemed really tired," I stated "Ok then let me get someone to come over here and guard your place till we get back," she said as she waved her hand to get one of the street guards attention." Would you please go and fetch Caulter for me?" "Right away," he said, and ran off. "Why do we need guarded?" I asked worried. "Well since the beginning of the new moon we have gathered that there is a spy in our presence and we haven't caught them yet, and since you are here and you fit the prophecy it is very likely that they might try to attack you," as she said this she looked at the roof tops as if hoping to find them there. "You mean to tell me that someone might try to kill us?" I asked, looking to the hut hoping that the others did hear what we were saying. Thankfully they weren't. "Yes but you don't need to worry Caulter, and I will be here," "How do you know that you can trust this Caulter character?" "I can trust him because I have known him since we were little kids," she said with a hint of anger in her voice, "and also he is my detrun, well I guess in your language it could be translated as my husband." "Oh," I replied felling a bit shameful of myself for doubting her, "sorry," "Don't worry about it. You're just looking out for you and your friends," she replied with a smile, "I understand that you're scared, and if I couldn't defend myself I would be worried too," "So," I said, trying to change the topic, "what is, umm, Caulter right?" "Yes," "Ok, so what is Caulter like?" "You will see he should be here any minute now," she replied, "actually here he is now," "Really?" I asked, looking down the street trying to find him "Where?" I saw Emrildos looking in the sky, following her gaze I saw him. I could feel my jaw drop as I witnessed the majestic creature known as Caulter land on the roof of the hut. "Emrildos," a man's voice called. "You asked for me?" "Yes I did," she said as she jumped onto the rooftop and embraced him. "I need you to look after these boys as I go and get them something to eat." "Sure." She kissed him goodbye and left us alone with her husband Caulter. I wasn't sure what to think of him. Emrildos assured us he was good but he looked like the complete opposite of our angel savior. I wasn't exactly sure what creature he resembled but a dragon would be my best guess. "Ummm... Caulter?" I asked as he jumped down. Finally seeing his whole being I was surprised, his crimson red body was tall and muscular, white armor with blue embroidery was covering most of his body going down to his dragon like legs, his feet were bare except for spikes strapped to tops, his pitch black wings were leathery looking. His head was what shocked me the most, his head was in the shape of a dragons' head, a horn was jetting out like a rhino's would; he also had long curved horns, almost like antlers, where the ears on a human should have been. A helmet covered the rest of his face and out of the back I could see his long black hair with a red streak going through the center. Over one of his hands he had a gauntlet, but this wasn't like any gauntlet. Where the fingers should have gone long curved blades replaced them. The other hand was sort of like the gauntlet one but he had no gauntlet on it, it was naturally formed in the shape of a claw. Beating his large leathery wings he slowed himself and landed softly on and ground right in front of me. "Yes... John right?" He said to me politely. "I don't mean to bother but what kind of demon are you exactly?" "I am, how would you say, a dragon demon. The only one of my kind that I know of." "How come you don't look as human as the rest?" "That's a good question and you're not the first one to ask that. I think it's because Emrildos came into my life. Of course she thinks I had the power all along to become the way I am now. I didn't use to look human." "Does that mean you were a bad demon?" "Yes," his face was pained as if remembering a memory he would've rather forgotten," I didn't always look like this. I once was a fully formed dragon and I was a menace to Runtair destroying everything in my path. Emrildos was sent to put a stop to me but she couldn't. It's not that she wasn't strong enough. Her reason for not killing me was she saw something in my face that stopped her. Naturally when I noticed not attacking me I calmed down and came to the realization that maybe I'm not as bad as I think I am if some one as beautiful as her could stare so politely at me and not be afraid." He paused for a moment remembering his only happy memory as an uncontrollable demon. "Every day she would come and see me. I rarely talked but she did. She told me about her past and about her family. I fell in love with her and to my surprise she fell in love with me. With her coming to me everyday and treating me like another person instead of a monster I gradually turned into the man I am today. We're married and have a great life together." I smiled for Caulter's happiness, glad he was able to change as far as he did. Maybe all demons aren't bad, I thought, but Emrildos knew that he wasn't bad he just wasn't able to control his dragon instincts. I guess it all depends on the demon. Maybe like humans they all have different personalities regardless of their race. "Now tell me about yourselves. How is it that you appeared here in Runtair?" I told him a little of our background but spent most of the time explaining in full detail about the demon. "It was so horrifying. Seeing that...that monster coming out of a vortex and try to eat us. We tried to fend it off but everything we threw at it just broke apart. Thankfully Emrildos came to our rescue." Caulter stiffened, "Yes it was a good thing she did go though, even though I told her not to." "Why would you do that?" "You don't know how those demons are. They won't stop fighting even if they're hurt and it's nearly impossible to kill them. Even though she says she 'slain them' I am not convinced. I know they are out there still thinking of a way to get to you. I know that she's strong and has a strong will to survive but you can never underestimate them no matter how many you have slain without trouble. A demon will stop at nothing to kill what it wants to." I shivered in fear remembering the face of the demon. How it swept all of us up with no trouble and carried us here. Seeing this Caulter put his clawed arm around me, somehow having his arm around me made me feel safer. "It's ok we wont let anything happen to you. You have my word on that," he said looking me in the eyes. This is the first time I noticed them. His eyes were a stunning gold that you could get lost in thought in without even trying. "Thank you," I replied after I collected myself. Not long after that Emrildos returned arms full with what appeared to be fruits and vegetables. "Here you go," she said with a proud look on her face, "Some of the finest fruits in the village." "Ummm thank you." I said taking one of the odd looking fruit from her giving hands. I took a bit hastily not wanting to hurt her feelings but instantly regretting it. Its taste was horrid but I managed to keep a straight face. Maybe I can get used to the taste I hoped. "It's great," I lied smiling with great effort. She smiled widely and grabbed her husband's hand, claw thing and said, "I'm glad you like them. Tomorrow I'll try finding some meat that you'll find edible. We're off for the night but don't worry there are always several guards watching the gates of the town. You'll be perfectly safe. Good night." Without another word she and Caulter flew off to their home on the edge of the village. After watching them fly away I followed Sid and Cody back into the hut. Together we suffered through eating the fruits until we couldn't eat any more. All groaning we went off to our separate rooms for the night. I hoped this wouldn't make us sick. Emrildos said this was edible for us but still the taste was awful. Worse than living off of the garbage we found in the trash. I laid down in the bed jolts of pain jutting in my stomach. It seemed that I was not going to get some sleep. From the other rooms Sid was groaning loudly and Cody attempted to not let the pain get to him but every now and then a few whimpers would escape him. Hours later the pain must have subsided from the others as I heard their even breathing drifting into my room. Unfortunately it only seemed to get worse. I thrashed around my room tangled in my bed sheets. How I wasn't making any noise confused me. I should be screaming my lungs off. It was unbearable. I never had food poisoning but I'm guessing this is what it felt like. Finally I threw up in violent heaves tossing up every bit of the fruits I consumed. I hoped this would flush the bacteria out of my body. When my stomach was empty I no longer felt like crap but now I was hungrier than ever. It was a little ironic. When I was homeless I was never this hungry, but now that I have house I was starving. "John," I heard an eerie voice call. "Oh Jo-ohn." "What do you want," I whispered. "I'm going to get you prophecy child. Your flesh is as good as mine you little bastard child. Oh I can just taste your flesh right now so good and warm fresh from your body. And your skull I will present to the master myself and be recognized everywhere for what I have done, for my accomplishment, for stopping the only threat to my master. You are mine." I woke with a start falling out of the bed. Gasping for breath I got on my knees, feeling a wrenching sensation in my stomach I instantly grabbed the waste pot that was beside my bed and put my head in it. Since there was nothing in my stomach I could only dry heave. After I was convinced that I was done. I stumbled out of my room just to fall right back down over Sid. "Sid what are you doing here? Why aren't you in your bed?" I asked, rubbing my forehead where I hit it against the floor for the second time. "Oh I'm sorry I didn't mean to trip you. It's just that I couldn't sleep on the bed. It's so soft, too soft. I guess I'm just use to the hardness of the floor, and I couldn't sleep on the floor in my room was cause I threw up all over it. So I moved out here to sleep and it's not that bad, the ground is perfect here, it's not too hard and it's not too soft," He replied, smiling, patting the ground next to him. Reluctantly I lay down next to him. To my surprise it was more comfortable then the bed was. The look on my face must have given away my surprise because Sid smiled happily and lay down next to me. Before I knew it I heard Sid's breath regulate. Wow, he must have been really tired if he can just fall asleep so easily after me tripping over him. The coldness of the floor and Sid's even breathing soothed me. I had almost completely forgotten the reason I awoke and drifted of into a dreamless slumber.

"Ugh what is this mess," said Cody, disgust plaguing his voice. "What happened?" I woke up with a start at the sound of Cody's voice then staring at the vomit covered floor from last night. Surprisingly, the rancid scent of vomit had spread through out. I could barely smell it now even though I was right outside the door to my open room. "Ummm the fruits didn't agree with me to well." I told him feeling much better than last night. "Yeah I know what you mean but still. Look at this mess." "Where's Sid?" I said nervously just now noticing his absence. "He went to wash up. You might want to do the same. No offence but you smell terrible." I wasn't paying any attention to him anymore. I sat on the ground looking into my room thinking that I'll never be able to sleep in there again. There was a loud knock on the door by Emrildos yelling, "It's time to get up you three! I brought you some more food." Groaning I went to the door, great more food for me to throw up. As I opened the door I was surprised to see Caulter standing there with what looked like a dead deer over his shoulder. "You guys eat deer right?" he asked, holding the dead animal in front of him. "Ummm yeah some people do. We personally have never tasted it," I said still shocked that there were deer in this area. "Ok well let's get this thing cooked and eat, I don't know about you guys but I'm starving. I had to contain myself from eating it on the way over here." He said as he entered the hut. When he walked in it made the whole house look smaller compared to his dragon like body. "What's that horrible smell?" "I don't smell anything," Emrildos said walking in behind him. "You will soon," He promised. Caulter lead the way to the source of the smell. My room. "Now I smell it," Emrildos said staring sadly at the filth. "I'll send some one over to clean this up. Caulter can you cook the deer up for them they must be starving as well." "Yeah, come on guys." Caulter took us out back of the house and started a fire by just breathing heavily on a pile of sticks. He noticed my curious expression and said, "I have control on whether I breathe normally or not." I tried to make myself look interested but I didn't really care. If he didn't have control of it I think I would've found out by now. Caulter skinned the deer but after that he was completely lost on how humans would cut it for consumption. We did our best trying to figure out the most edible parts and distinguishing the organs from meat. Of course nothing of the deer was wasted. Caulter was more than happy to eat the bones and skin as well as the meat. Just as Sid and Cody went inside, Emrildos came out looking disgruntled. "Caulter stay with them for a while. I need to check the perimeter." "Why? What's wrong?" "I don't know for sure but something just doesn't seem right." "Ok be safe. Do you want me to save anything for you or are you good?" "I'll be alright." Without another word she flew off into the sky. After she was out of earshot I looked at Caulter's stern face. "Are you worried about her?" I asked. "Yea I am. I know that she can take care of herself but I cant help but worry about her. If something happened to her I don't know what I would do. She's the only thing that can keep me sane," he said staring into the flames, "I guess the main reason I am so worried about her was because of one time about three months ago. She saw a demon running through the forest on her way home from checking a disturbance call from another resistance base and she chased after him, but it was an ambush and she fell right into it. Needless to say she won but she was so beaten afterwards she couldn't move. Thankfully someone from the resistance found her and brought her to me. She was unconscious for days. After that she wasn't the same, I still love her more then anything, but she just was never the same. She constantly trains and I tried what she does once and frankly I am surprised that she can still do what she does when she gets home, and then the next day she does it all over again." "Why what does it consist of?" "I can't even begin to describe it but after I was done the first thing I did when I got home was fall on the bed and sleep for who knows how long. All I remember after waking up was that I was hungry as hell and my body was so sore and stiff I could barely get out of bed to satisfy my stomach." "Well if it made you sore," I said, looking at his large muscular build, "I don't even want to think about what it would do to me." Chuckling, he said, "You, my friend, probably wouldn't make it through the first parts of her warm up." "Looking at you two I probably wouldn't make it through a stroll through the park." "Umm what is a park?" he asked looking confused. Shit! That's right we are in another dimension completely. How could I forget I mean I am talking to a demon, a very sophisticated one, but a demon nonetheless? "Well," I said, thinking of the best way to describe a park, "it's just like being in a field, but at a park they have things that kids can play on and pathways to walk on." "Oh," Caulter said obviously still confused. "Speaking of training I thought we should probably give you guys some workouts so at least you're not completely defenseless." "Thanks," I said. "That would be helpful."

Chapter 4

A loud noise in the bushes caught the attention of Caulter. He stared off into the direction the noise was originating from. Noticing his disturbance I asked, "What's wrong?" "I'm not entirely sure but let's go inside. Take today off and train tomorrow." "Umm alright." We started to head off to the hut but halfway through Caulter practically threw us inside as the disturbance in the brush grew more ominous. Caulter turned around with a defensive growl and brandished his sword in front of him prepared for a fight. A colossal demon came straight through the bushes and charged not at Caulter but at the window where the guys and I were watching out of. I was stricken with fear. The demon looked so much like Azariath but it couldn't be. Even though Caulter believed that Emrildos had not completely finished them off but how could it have survived an assault like that unscathed? Then I noticed the difference between them. It was their eyes. Azariath's were bloodthirsty, desperate for a kill. These eyes were mesmerizing. I couldn't look away from all of the colors I could in such a high definition I had never seen before. They seemed so magnificent even though they were from a crazed demon waiting to kill us. I leaned forward against the window trying to get a better look at its eyes. I heard someone screaming my name but I wasn't paying them any attention I did not want to miss a single moment of looking at its eyes. Then, awakening me from my daze, I heard a loud crashing sound and saw the demons head lying on the ground outside the window. A pool of blood was gushing out around me but I didn't notice, I was looking at its eyes getting lost again in their endless void as I was about to bend over to pick up the head to get a better look at its eyes Caulter shoved two metal talons into its now empty eye sockets. A loud scream brought me back to reality, realizing it was coming from the severed head I recoiled in fear. "What the hell just happened?" I asked, looking at the blood filled eye sockets. "He was sent to kill you, the demons are afraid of you. This should stop them for now but they will be back. They really think you are the human the prophecy talks about," he said poking the demon with the tip of his sword, making sure that it was dead. "Why was I trapped in its eyes like that?" "Some demons have ... well special powers, and it is different for every demon. There are similar ones some even practically identical but there's always a difference in the powers" "But why was I drawn to them even when you chopped off his head like that," I asked as I pointed to the demons now lifeless head. "Just because you chop off a demons head doesn't mean that it is dead," he replied shrugging like it was nothing special. This place was so much different than Earth but so similar at the same time. I wished I were dreaming. I didn't want to be the warrior that decides the fate of thousands of lives innocent or otherwise. I looked at the others not knowing what to say and apparently neither did they. Cody and Sid stared at me in disbelief. I was always their protector and now it was a possibility that I was born to protect. Or to destroy we would have to wait to find that out. Caulter kept us locked inside while he roamed around the hut searching through every brush and neighbors house until finally Emrildos came back. "What the heck happened here?" she said pointing to the blackish blood covering the grass and looking at the broken window. "A demon was sent for the boys. Apparently they're really starting to think he could fulfill the prophecy and they're scared. They remember last time the legendary mortal warrior fought for them and they think John is going to be our warrior, but I got to him before he could cause any damage," replied Caulter landing right beside her. "I think we should move them to a new location, incase he could also transmit thoughts telepathically," "Is there a safer place. Do you really think there is place safer than inside the Resistance," said Emrildos hands on her hips. "I don't know what to think. That demon had gotten in here with no one noticing. There may be no place left here that's safe," he said looking at her with fear in his eyes. Emrildos was taken aback by the fear in his voice. She unrolled her wings defeated and said, "I'll go look around for a possible safe spot to hide these boys." "We will be at the elders, meet us there when you're done." "Ok," she called back. "So we are going to see the elder?" I asked finally grasping what was going on. "Yes we should report about how easy it was for the demon to slip by our defenses," he said as he went inside the house. When he came back out he was carrying a black bag tied shut with a piece of rope. "Need some proof that this actually happened and maybe he will be able to tell us what exactly this little bastard could do." He said holding up the bag. Gagging I realized what was in the black bag. After I resisted the urge to throw up we took off. Trying to get my mind off of what just happened I started to think about what Caulter had said about every demon having different abilities. "Hey Caulter may I ask you something?" "Yea, go ahead." "Umm well you said that demons have different abilities right? So I was wondering what is yours, I mean do you have one other then breathing fire?" I ask stumbling over my words trying to figure out how to ask it. "Well I'm not too sure, you never really know until it happens. I mean I can fly but that's only because I have my wings and I can breathe fire because of what I was before, other then that I haven't discovered anything new. Keep in mind that not every demon has special powers," he replied. "Oh ok, well what are some other things that demons can do?" "Well there are so many of them it is hard to know cause new abilities could pop up any time, but some of the ones I know of are like controlling elements like ice, fire, and wind. Some others are mind control, super speed, the ability to enter dreams, unnatural strength, healing, and probably the most dangerous I have heard of is the ability to absorb others abilities." "Absorb abilities?" Sid asked. "Yes, I have only fought one demon that has that ability, but it is a powerful one and fortunately it is extremely rare." "How does it work exactly?" Sid asked, moving closer to Caulter, obviously interested in what he is saying. "I'm not too sure but I think if someone has this power and watches someone use one like throwing a fireball then they too can throw a fireball whenever a demon of that power is around. I'm not entirely sure of the distance but I'm pretty sure it's good for many miles." "And you say you have fought someone with this power?" I asked. "Yes me and five others, sadly I was the only one to survive, and the demon escaped. It was such a frightening experience watching my friends around me dying caused by the hands of their own powers." I had tried to give Caulter a couple of minutes of silence to mourn the deaths of his friends but my curiosity had won over, "So you say that there was another human in this place before right? So what ever happened to him or her?" I asked trying, to change the subject at least. "Yes there was and he was a powerful warrior and his ability was indescribable. But no one really knows what happened to him. After he helped the demon infiltrate and conquer Runtair, he just disappeared. There are rumors of sightings of him but everyone else believes that he has returned to his home land and died a peaceful death in the mortal realms." "Wait you said that he had an ability? So humans can have abilities too?" I asked looking at Caulter. "No they can't. Well they aren't supposed to but the prophecy says there are a select few that possess powers in this world that they didn't have in their own. It doesn't specify what kind of powers. It only says that they can be extremely dangerous if in the wrong hands." I looked at the others. Hope and excitement filled their eye and I could tell that mine did too. If this is true and I am the chosen child what would my ability be? Would it be would it be breathing fire like Caulter or would it be flying, or would it be absorbing others ability like that one that Caulter fought? Before I had time to think of any more abilities that I would like we arrived at our destination. As we went in it was obvious that Elder Eurogian heard that we were coming. "What has happened here Caulter?" he asked in a calm tone. After Caulter told the elder what has happened. The elder just nodded. "The boys will stay here with me and you and Emrildos may stay if you wish too Caulter." Looking at us he nodded and said, "Thank you elder, I think that would be best for all of us. We will wait outside for Emrildos, she is sweeping the perimeter for more demons and for a new place for the boys." As the doors shut behind us a thought occurred to me and I could help but ask, "What is the elders ability?" "No one knows some believe that he has no ability because no one has ever seen him use it but most believe that it is something so powerful that it could destroy an entire army. I personally believe that it is powerful indeed but not powerful enough to destroy an army of demons. The only person who knows his the elder himself and Emrildos, but even after all of the badgering she still will not tell me so I just stopped asking in all. She just assured me that it was very powerful." "I wonder what it is?" asked Sid in a curious tone. "I'm not sure and I don't think we will find out any time soon. Ah, look there is Emrildos. Don't bring up the elders power around her she gets angry when someone does," he said, looking very serious. "Too many people asking about it," he added as he waved. "Alright we wont say a word," replied Cody. But I knew that he was as curious, if not more, about the elders ability and I knew that he would ask when Caulter left. Nudging him in the arm I mouthed "Don't even think about it." He replied with a roll of his eyes which was as good of a yes that I would get out of him. As she landed she must have seen me nudge Cody because the first thing she said was "What where you guys talking about?" "Nothing," Caulter said quickly, before Cody could ask, "The elder wants the boys to stay here with him so they won't get attacked as easily again." Interrupting Caulter "Really? That is a surprise almost no one is allowed to stay here." "And," he said continuing what he was saying, "we are staying to." "WHAT? ARE YOU SERIOUS?" "Yes," he said smiling. "Good," she whispered in his as they embraced, "I don't want them to anywhere without us." "I feel the same way love." As they hugged even in the midst of the love of those two I couldn't help but feel worried. If we are so important that we need to stay in this impenetrable tower we must have some high expectations to meet. Looking to the sky I thought, "great it is only going to get harder from here on out." Chapter 5 As Emrildos was talking to the elder telling him what she has found, Caulter was showing us to our room. As we were going down the long spiraling corridor I saw weird writings on the walls. "What's that written on the wall?" Sid asked, almost like he read my mind. "Those are the names of all the solders who died fighting the demons back in the war. Before the war this was one of the biggest most prosperous cities there was in Runtair. But when the war began this was one of the first places that they decided to attack. Before we knew it they were at our front door. All of these solders were fighting bravely and valiantly but it wasn't enough," he said pounding the wall making the floor shake beneath my feet. "By the time help came from the other cities around us thousands of our men were already dead, only a handful survived and most of them are dead now from old age, some went insane and killed themselves. Only five are still alive today. The elder, Emrildos, myself, the other two are known as the Blood Lust twins. That name was giving to the solders that saw them fight. They said it was like watching the devil himself fighting, they also say that there was so much blood on them from the slaying of all the demons that they killed that it stained their white angelic wings blood red, hence the name Blood Lust twins. But since no one has seen them since the end of the war many think of it as just an old legend." "Wow they sound really strong," I commented. "They are, from what I heard they have never lost a fight. But many of the fights they've won were based on physical strength and not actual tactics. A fight can't be won with just strength. You need to have a strong mind, endurance, and will. " "How much longer till we get to our room?" asked Cody, I was wondering that myself. We have been walking down the hallway for several minutes now. "Well we are actually here now," he said stopping. "What are you talking about there is just an empty wall," stated Sid. "That's what it looks like," as Caulter said this he touched the stone wall with one of his clawed fingers and without warning the stone where he touched started to mold into the one next to it and like chain reaction all the ones above and below it started to do the same thing. Before we knew it all the stones that were there were replaced by an empty door way. Chuckling to himself at our reactions he opened the door and walked in. "How the hell did you do that?" We all asked at the same time as we followed him in the newly formed door way. "It's a secret room. The elder uses this room to protect people who are important and need protecting," he said shrugging " and you don't want to have another incident like earlier do you?" "No," I replied. That's all I could say at the moment. I was too stunned by how nice the room was. The room was at least 100 feet wide and 30 feet long. The ceiling was about 15 feet high. There were no windows, which was probably for the best if we were suppose to be in hiding, but the room was lit by a gigantic chandelier hanging from the center of the ceiling. And just underneath the chandelier was a water fountain that looked like it belonged in the Tashma hall. There were plush looking cushions to sit on in front of a long wooden table that was covered in I assume was food. Opposite the table was a nice comfortable looking bed that could easily fit all three of us with room to spare. One of the long walls was covered in ancient books that I couldn't even begin to read the names of, and on the other walls there were portraits of heroic looking soldiers. I had recognized the portraits of Caulter and Emrildos with ease. Their pictures were placed next to each other. Caulter must have done that, I thought. While we were still amazed by our room Caulter walked over to a place on the wall and touched it. Yet again the wall opened up to show a bathroom, or what I assume would be the bathroom. It had a golden bowl with a trickle of water flowing gently into the bottom, beside that there was an object that look remarkably similar to a toilet and on the other side of the room completely was a water fall that flowed out of the wall into a grate covered hole. It was fit for a god. "This is your bathroom," he said catching Sid and Cody's attention. "How do you do that, open up the wall I mean?" asked Sid after we were all done gawking at the bathroom. "All you do is touch the wall and push a little and it will open. Come over and try it." Nervously Sid walked over and did as Caulter said, and just like Caulter did the wall opened. "Holy shit that is so cool!" Sid exclaimed happily. After we all tried it out Caulter showed us how to tell that we were at the right spot to open the wall. "The way to tell that you are at the right place is on the ceiling you see how it is made of little brown and black stones. Well right above the door there is a little cluster of white stone," he said pointing to a bunch of white stones right above where the door would appear. "Alright well you three have had a long day why don't you go grab something to eat and get some rest you have a long day tomorrow," Caulter said as he opened the door again. "Ok and thanks," I replied. As the wall started to close back up I turned around and saw Caulter looking at me. When he saw me looking back he quickly turned around and started to walk back down the hallway, but not before he notice me blush. "What was that about, and why the hell did I blush?" I thought to myself as I turned toward the table where Sid and Cody were already starting to eat. After we were done eating we settled down in the bed and almost immediately fell asleep. Chapter 6 "Where am I?" I asked as I floated in darkness. Out of nowhere all the darkness vanished and was replaced by a white light, almost as if someone flicked on a light switch. Clutching my eyes from the pain of the sudden light change I heard a voice laughing. Slowly lowering my hands so I didn't scar my retinas again I looked around for the source of the laugh but all I could find was never ending white. "You wont be able to help them you know," said an all too familiar voice "You will lead them all to their deaths. Sid, Cody, Caulter, Emrildos all of them will die because of you." Turning around I saw who was talking and it was myself. But it wasn't me it looked like me but its eyes were red and half of his face was tattered and torn. He was covered in blood so much that it was dripping off of its fingers into the never ending space of white. Then it was talking to me while the bodies of my friends appeared and were floating around me. Dead. Petrified I tried to get away but my body wouldn't move. Before I could even think about how to get out of there the monster grabbed me by the face and shook me screaming "YOU WILL KILL THEM ALL. YOU HAVE KILLED BEFORE AND YOU WILL DO IT AGAIN BUT THIS TIME TO THE PEOPLE YOU LOVE!" "NO I WONT, I WOULD NEVER DO THAT," I screamed back trying to brake free from the monsters iron tight grip. "Let me control you. Let the darkness flow through you. We can take the entire kingdom, and I can help you save them. All you have to do is let me free." At the moment he said that the bodies of my friends started to move and I saw their bodies move is if they were alive. Cody missing half of his head gurgled something but I could understand what he was saying as if he had his whole head "Why?" Then Sid rolled over and started flailing at me almost like he was swimming toward me, but as he turned over I saw his intestines hanging out of a large gaping whole in his chest, his heart still pumping and with every pump blood spurted out. Emrildos caught my attention next struggling to move she looked at me. Her head was holding on to her neck by literally a string of skin and her arms and legs were bent and obviously broken in grotesque angles, Caulter then let out a loud roar and caught my attention with arrows sticking out of him like a pin cushion and battle axes and swords and spears sticking out of him. He let out another cry of pain. As I was looking at Caulter screaming in pain Sid managed to make it to me and said in a pained voice as he grabbed my pant leg "Why did you do this to us? Why didn't you help us?" I wanted to reply that I had not done a thing to them but I was unable to speak. Silent tears just fell down my cheeks as I buried my face in my hands. Gasping for breath I sat up. Looking around I realized it was a dream. Sid, woken by my moving so suddenly, looked at me then slid over by me and hugged me. Looking up I saw him smiling then without even thinking about it "I love you so much," I said in a half sob as I rapped my arms around him too. Lying in each other's arms Sid rubbed my back in a circular motion. As I started to get drowsy I heard Sid say softly "I love you too John. More then you will ever know." To tired to try to figure out what he meant I fell back asleep but this time to not a nightmare but a weird dream. I was sitting in the bed that I fell asleep in but Sid and Caulter were there talking about something. They were talking about me. Talking about how great of a person I was, and how much I meant to them. Then they turned around and said in unison "Oh there you are John." Coming back to where I was they sat on either side of me and started laughing for no reason. As soon as the laughing started it stop and was replaced by snoring. Before I knew it they both rolled over on top of me and I put my arms around both of them and played with their hair as they slept on my chest. When I awoke I was the only one in the bed the other two were over at the table eating breakfast. Just then Sid got up and walked to the bathroom but he seemed different. Just then I put two and two together, my dream, how I always felt closer to Sid and why I blushed when I saw Caulter looking at me, and realized. I was falling in love with both Caulter and Sid. Realizing that I hadn't moved since I woke up Cody walked over. "Hey, you ok?" he asked. "Yea it's nothing to worry about." "You sure? It looks like your upset about something." "No it's nothing. I'm just thinking." "About what?" "Nothing." "Ok well if you want to talk you know that I'm here for you and I am positive that Sid would be more then willing to help also let alone take a bullet for you," he prompted hoping that would help. "Yea thanks," I replied only half paying attention. "Sid is one hell of a kid I have to give him that. So happy all of the time, I don't know how he does it," he said changing the subject, as Sid hopped out of the bathroom grabbing a towel and running back in. "I don't know either but if you ask me that is his best quality," I answered, happy that he changed the subject. "Yea I know. I mean it is nearly impossible to stay upset around him." Getting up I walked over to the table to grab a bite to eat. Cody following continued the conversation. "Why do you think that is, Sid being so happy all the time I mean?" "I don't know but whatever it is it must be wonderful," I replied. "Yea it must be." At that time when we finished the conversation Sid almost instantly walked out in his towel. "Oh my god. I can't remember the last time I had a shower like that. It was wonderful. You guys should try it, and also do either of you know where the clothes are?" "No sorry," Cody said. "Sorry Sid I don't," I replied. "Hmm, Oh well I can wait till Caulter comes back to ask him. Oh that's right, John, Caulter said that the elder wanted to talk to you about something. So when you are done eating and showering you are supposed to go see him." "Ok thanks Sid." After Sid gave me the message he went to go lay down on the bed and I went back to eating my breakfast. The food that I ate was so weird looking I couldn't even describe it but it tasted good and it didn't bother my stomach. So much better then anything that I had at home. After I was done stuffing my face with delicious food I grabbed a towel and touched the wall that opened the bathroom. Walking in I found the waterfall to be a different color then I remembered it being. "Hey Sid can you come here for a second?" I asked. "Sure what do you need?" he said half hopping over to me. "Why is the waterfall this lime green color?" "Oh I found out that you can change the color of the water. Here I will show you," he said. Pushing me toward the water, "Ok now take off your towel and step in." "DO WHAT!" I said looking at him in shock. Grabbing my towel he pushed me in and pushed me in the waterfall. To my surprise it wasn't cold at all. In fact it was pleasantly warm. Embarrassed I covered myself with my hands shouting expletives. I turned so my back was to him, "Ok now look up and you will see a few chains. The ones on the left change the temperature and the ones on the right change the color of the water." After I was done experimenting with the colors, I decided to leave it on a color I have never even seen before, I turned and started to wash myself and found that Sid was still standing there. "You can go now I think I got the hang of it," I said turning back around, blushing. "Oh right sorry." Turning he rushed out blushing and looked slightly disappointed. After I finished my shower I encountered the same problem as Sid. I had no clothes to put on. Walking out I looked around and only saw Sid sitting there on the bed. "Hey where did Cody go?" I asked, joining him on the bed. "He went to go find Caulter to ask him to show us where the clothes are." "Oh ok." Sitting there in his towel I couldn't help but look at Sid's body. It looked more developed then when I first found him. I was impressed on the amount of muscle he had accumulated over the time we had been together. Also since he took a shower he wasn't covered in dirt. I never noticed that he had a naturally tannish skin tone. Before I was done looking at him the wall opened and Cody came walking in with Caulter. I looked away from him and looked at a picture hanging on the wall feeling my face turn red. Caulter walked over to another spot on the wall and touched it. At his touch the wall opened to revel a walk in closet the size of a large moving truck and had more then enough clothes to choose from. "Sorry I forgot to show this to you before," He said scratching the back of his head. "Don't worry about," said Sid as he and Cody went over to the closet looking at all the clothes to choose from. "Hey John the elder wants to see you as soon as you are available," he said to me. "Ok I will be right there." "I will be waiting in the hallway to show you where to go," he said motioning to the hallway. "Ok." As Caulter went out to the hallway I stole a quick glance at him and his surprisingly attractive body. He turned around before I could realize it and this time I was the first to blush and turn away quickly. He gave me a weird look, I was sure he had noticed. Fortunately he had not said anything in front of the other guys and I prayed that he wouldn't say anything about it to me. Walking over to the closet I picked up a black tunic looking thing and a pair of white cloth pants and quickly changed into them. They seemed to fit perfectly to my body as if they had been expecting us all along. When I got out to the hallway Caulter was standing there waiting for me. "Ready to go?" he asked. "Yea I think so." "Ok well lets get going then." As we walk Caulter look like he had a look of confusion on his face. "Something bothering you?" I asked. "No it's nothing, I was just wondering how different is your world then Runtair?" "Well give me some examples and I might be able to answer them," I said. "Well do you guys have these things in your world when you are sleeping images pop into your head?" "Yea we call them dreams." We talked about dreams for a while a knowing we were entering the last few minutes before we got to the elders place I then asked him "So why were you wondering about dreams?". "Well have you ever had a dream that you were turning evil and hurting everyone else around you and you couldn't do anything to help them?" Before I could answer we were in the elders chambers "Welcome John. I hope you like your accommodation's are to your liking," said the elder when we walked in. "Oh. Uh yea they are wonderful, we thank you for your hospitality," I said back taking a good look at the elder and it frightened me how much he looked like Caulter but much older looking. "Good, good. I am glad to hear that now I have some business I need to discuss with you regarding the prophecy. Since the demon attacked I am certain that you three, well at least you, are to fulfill the prophecy. Now you are the oldest of you three am I correct?" he asked. "Yes I am but don't you think the others should be here to hear this as well as myself?" I asked back wondering why I was the only one to be here to hear this aside from Caulter. "No I do not believe it would be wise to have them here because there are things I wish to talk to you about after we are done talking about the prophecy. Since you are the oldest you are more then likely the leader of the three right?" "I don't know I always saw us as a group without a leader." "Well you are now for you will need one in the future and from now on all of you are soldiers in my army so you three now are going to start training starting tomorrow with Caulter. You understand that the way you are you wouldn't be able to beat a Vustermond." "Ok so we start training tomorrow. Now what was the other thing you wanted to talk to me about?" I asked starting to get anxious with curiosity. "Right, ok Caulter can you go and tell the other two what I have told John here and also bring them back to me I need to see them alone also?" he asked. "Of course, right away," said Caulter moving toward the doors to leave. "John would you please come here there is something I must find out?" Asked the elder as soon as the door shut behind Caulter. Doing as he said I walked up the stairs to where he was sitting. "What is it you wish to find out?" Motioning for me to sit on a cushion beside him, I did and still waiting for an answer he moved his chair so it was directly in front of mine and looked me in the face. "All I am going to do John is read your thoughts." "What? No way I don't want you to read my thoughts. Those are personal," I said getting up. "John I need to be absolutely positive you fulfill the prophecy if this is going to work. I do not want to shed any blood over a false occasion. Or if this is all a clever hoax by the demons." "Promise me you won't tell a soul about anything you see in my mind ok," I said sitting back down against my will. "I promise." Then before I could even blink his thumb and middle finger were touching my temples and squeezing slightly. "Ok I am going to start now, it will be uncomfortable but try not to move too much," he warned. Stiffening my muscles so I wouldn't move I prepared myself. Then out of no where it felt like jolt of electricity went through my head and memories started to flash before my eyes, and before I knew it we were standing in my living room. Turning with happiness I started to remember what it was like before my parents were kill as I turned to look at the couch where I had seen mom and dad fall asleep together so many times in front of the T.V. I saw something that changed my happiness to immediate fear. Turning to look at the living room window I saw it shattered all over the ground. Then I heard something that made my heart turn Ice cold. "NO RUN, GET OUT OF HERE," I heard my dad scream. "Why did you bring me here?" I asked tears starting to form in the corner of my eyes. "I needed to see the most traumatic moment in your life, I no you don't want to remember it and if I could see this on my own I would but I cant," The elder replied. THUD THUD THUD THUD THUD. "NOOOOOO," I heard the women from my past scream. Hearing my mother screaming and the pounding I knew what had just happened. Crying I fell to the floor mourning my fathers' death for the second time and trying to mentally prepare myself for what was to happen next. Hearing the kitchen cabinet open I knew she grabbed the knife and was going after him trying to both avenge her husband and defend her son. THUD Turning I saw my mothers lifeless body staring at me. I turned so I couldn't see her anymore. Through the tears I could make a figure limping for the door. Knowing what would happen next I turned my head and covered my ears. It was no use since I was thinking about it. I heard what was said next like it was being screamed at me "Don't kill me.... Please, please...please...please." "Why should I spare you? You killed my parents you JACKASS!" "I'm so...s-so-sorry.... Please." "I'll see you in hell." THUD THUD THUD THUD. Looking at me the elder nodded and grabbed my hand. Jumping through my memories again we stopped at the first time I met Cody. Only this time there was no sound. "Why isn't there any sound this time?" I asked with a sniffle, curiosity getting the better of me. "You must not have been able to hear at the time so we can't hear what you didn't." Thinking back, trying to remember what had happened just before I met Cody, I remembered that I was trying to steal lunch from a construction worker and he hit me in the head with a lead pipe and I was unconscious. Just then we saw me start to stir and sit up clutching my head. All the time that this was happening the sound started to come back slowly. "Don't sit up too fast or you will just lose consciousness again," said Cody, sitting right next to me from my memories. "Who are you ... and why am I laying here?" The past me asked, quite rudely. "I'm Cody and you are laying here cause I saved your ass." "Oh well umm thanks." "Yea you should be more careful when you steal lunch from a dude with a pipe next time." "Yea I guess I should, shouldn't I." "Hey well I was about to go get some lunch for myself do you wanna come alone. I mean if you don't have any other important meeting with construction workers," he said starting to get up. Seeing all this made me smile. It was one of the best memories that I have and I remember what happened next too but before we could go any further in this one the elder grabbed my hand and yet again leaped through my mind. It was raining but we didn't get wet, the water passing right through us to the puddles we were standing on. Realizing where and when we were I smiled even more. Turning I saw Cody and I running through the alleyway to our "home" so we wouldn't get any wetter. Running right through us the Cody and I dove right into our boxes only to have Cody slam right into Sid. "OH GOD DAMN THAT HURT LIKE A BITCH. WHO THE HELL ARE YOU AND WHY ARE YOU IN HERE?" Cody screamed. "Sorry I didn't mean to hurt you, I just needed a place to sleep out of the rain and I saw these boxes and I didn't think that they were anyone's so I just went in. I'm so sorry," replied Sid with terror filling his voice. "It's ok you can stay here if you want, actually why don't you stay here with us," I heard myself say. "Really I can stay with you guys?" "Yea I don't see why not." "THANK YOU!" Sid cried with joy hugging me. Cody looked at me with anger and I jerked my head to the side as if trying to say, "What else could I do?" He turned away and had pulled a spare beaten down jacket and threw it on Sid. The elder was intrigued by the life we had lived in my world as homeless children. It was obvious he was surprised in how well we had managed to get by without help, I mean who wouldn't be impressed by three kids no older then a teenager making it so far on their own. As though he was getting tired he nodded his head and again they were spinning, but this time they didn't reappear in the city or a store. They reappeared floating in darkness. Turning around I saw something. It looked like a giant cage. "What is that thing?" I asked moving closer. "That is a very good question. I have only seen this one other time in my life. It looks identical to the cage that is holding Caulters true form inside of him, but why would you have one in your mind?" "This thing is in my mind?" "Yes," he replied. Moving closer I see someone sitting in the middle of the cage. "There is someone in there," I said to the elder pointing in the cage. As I said that the being inside the cage slowly turned its head. Everything grew darker and all I could see of the being inside the cage was one of its eyes that glowed blood red and the glinting of it teeth shining with red dripping liquid that I could only assume was blood. "Shit we have to go now," the elder said. Before I knew what happened the elder quickly grabbed hold of my hand and everything was spinning but not before I heard a shrill and high-pitched shriek and felt a long sharp claw scratching my face open. Falling over back in the elders chamber I clutched my face screaming where the thing in my mind clawed my face. Hearing the scream Caulter busted through the door standing in an offensive stance. Seeing that no one was in the room aside us he ran over to me, flapping his wings to get to me faster. When he got to me he moved my moved my hand to see the extent of the damage done to my face. "What happened to him?" Caulter asked ripping the sleeve off my shirt and tying it around my face to clot the blood flow. After I stopped screaming from the pain, through a flap in the cloth I could see the elders face and how full of fear it was. Chapter 7 That night I couldn't sleep for I knew what awaited for me in slumber and let me tell you it wasn't rainbows and unicorns. Getting up out of the bed I walked over to the bathroom and fully dresses stepped under the waterfall. Finally deciding that I would rather see what I am doing I turn on the lights on the waterfall. The lights turn on to a nice relaxing sea foam green. Standing there thinking about what happened today. "What the hell is inside of me?" I say out loud pounding my fist against the wall. "You are going to kill them all you know." Practically jumping out of my skin I turn around to see who is there but to my dismay no one was there. "Who's there?" I ask. "You should stop talking to yourself or people will think you are crazy." The voice replied. "Who are you?" I scream. "I'm you John. Well part of you anyway. I'm your darker side if you will." Just as it was saying that the water turned blood red and in the reflection I saw the very thing I was trying to avoid. In the reflection I saw a glowing red eye. "I am you." "No," I said in disbelief trying to back away but finding that I couldn't move. "Oh yes even you know it all you need to do is open your eyes and accept it." "You are not part of me you can't be," I replied. "Oh but I am I became a part of you when you became a monster like me." "Why me?" I ask half sobbing. "Because of two reasons, one. I want to destroy this place and everyone in it and two. I feed off the sorrow of people and let me tell you I have never tasted anyone so delicious as you are, you are so juice and plump with sadness. Its quite invigorating." He replied laughing as he did so. "I wont let you do that." I said staring intently into the red eye in the reflection. "You can't do anything to stop me. I mean you would be dead already if it wasn't for the old coot grabbing you at the last second. I will brake free and I will kill you and all of your pathetic little friends." Just then the door opened. I turned around to see Cody standing there; "Sorry I didn't think anyone would be in here this late." Turning back around I look at the reflection only to find that the water turned back to the sea foam green color and that the red eye has disappeared only to be replaced by my bloodshot blue eyes. "No I'm just finishing up," I say grabbing a towel and walking out. "Are you alright?" He asks looking worried. "Yea why do you ask?" I reply not turning around. "Cause normally people don't wear clothes while they are showering." "Oh, yea its nothing don't worry about me." I say walking out and closing the door before he could say anything more. When I was back in my room I closed the door and slump to the floor and pound the ground with my fists until my knuckles started to bleed. Getting up I walk over to my bed, not even bothering to mend to my bleeding hands, and fall into the soft bed and cry myself to sleep, like I use too way back when.