At that moment though, the ground began to tremble. The wind started to come out of nowhere, cold like ice stabbing your body in the back. Something was coming, Joey could feel it in his body.
“Oh crap, not now, shit. I don’t think I have enough energy left to fight them off,” Joey said as he started to circle Lucuris with his staff in both his hands. “I have to hold them off, he has to finish his transformation,” Joey said as he pointed his staff in front of him and began chanting in small whispers. At that moment his staff threw out a black shadow that covered joey’s whole body and then transformed him. Just a few minutes ago in normal clothes now equipped with his Mage attire. The hat covering his head was black, and dark as the night’s sky, and pointed at the end, and on the front was the insignia of his order. His robed was pitch black which looked more like a long trench coat and also covering his whole body. He was preparing for a battle in his warriors’ armor, the fight would be a long one, but Joey knew the risk, after all, without risk there is no glory.
Lucuris tried to look up and see what was happening but he barely caught a glimpse of joey and his mysterious outfit, he was in awe for a moment, but then he saw what he feared. Demons coming out of the ground, the same from the last time, winged animals, fangs wanting blood and meat. “Oh for...Not again really? Can’t we get one break?” Lucuris said as he could feel himself tremble in fear. He had no way to protect himself and only had Joey to rely on.
“Don’t worry Lucuris. I will protect you, even if it costs me my life,” Joey said looking back at Lucuris, and then putting a small veil over his mouth to half covered his face, only showing his eyes.
The demons looked upon them as their prey, waiting to be ripped apart. They started to circle Joey and Lucuris mocking the both of them. There were more coming out from the ground and just seemed like an endless wave. Like something, or someone was commanding them, showing their army, and getting ready for a large-scale attack.
Lucuris did not know what to think about it all, why were they coming out like some army? It didn’t make any sense to him what was going on. All he could think about was Abigail, Jessica, and how this could be the end for him, this really could be his last images. He just wanted to see all his friends one last time, to see Diana. “I can’t do this Joey, I’m not strong enough. I’m not like you, or everyone else, I’m powerless,” Lucuris said as he tried to get up but was having trouble, by his body trembling. It hurt to just try and get up, he could feel his arms and legs shaking and wanting to give out.
“There is no room for doubt Lucuris, not right now. You have to stay calm and believe in yourself. These demons will smell the fear on you and pounce at the smell of it,” Joey said holding his staff out as he tried to look back at Lucuris to make sure he was close to him.
The demons were ready to feast upon them, as they began attacking the two men. Joey swung at a few demons who leaped towards them with his staff, forcing them to land back into their ranks. He wanted to try to conserve as much energy as he could, not wasting the magical energy he did have. But Joey had no choice but to attack using magic, because the demons just kept coming back, no matter how beaten they were. “This is not your work, your plague against the world, and I will never let you have it for your own,” Joey said as he began turning his staff with both of his hands. Spinning it until white orbs began to spring out of the crystal that sat firmly at the top of his staff. The orbs started to circle Lucuris and Joey and started to make their way over to the demons. The demons looked at the orbs in confusion not able to understand what was going on. Once the orbs were all over the demons they started to glow brighter, and brighter, until it started to burn the demons, making it hard for them to walk closer to Joey and Lucuris by how much pain they were in.
“What is happening to them?” Lucuris said as he grabbed Joey’s left shoulder and using it to help him stand up.
“Those are Light orbs, they combat darkness, and evil presences. Think of them as an Anti-Demon detergent. But it won’t last for long, it will probably only give us a few minutes, we got to come up with a different plan. But you Lucuris, you have to stop letting fear get to you. Once you let fear devour your body whole, you become easy prey,” Joey said as he turned to Lucuris eyeing him up and down.
“I Just...can’t do this Joey. Like I said I’m not like you, I’m not a Mage or part of your order,” Lucuris said as he looked down at his feet.
Joey was furious to hear the words coming out of Lucuris’s mouth. He seemed to almost give up completely and lost hope. He didn’t want to try and use force to make him snap out of it, but he had to try something. “You know...I wasn’t always this brutal towards people. There was a point where I did not even want to be a Mage. To be put into a role and had all these people counting on you, that is not something I desired. I just wanted to live my life on the land. But your father once talked to me and told me that life throws us obstacles and it is up to us to raise to the challenge or to crumble beneath the weight. You think you’re alone in this, with fear, doubt, and just feeling alone, but you have no idea how much we are alike. How much you and your sister, your friends, and I are all lost children of the same flock. I’m not asking you to be the savior of the universe, but if you had one thing to protect wouldn’t it be something?” Joey said to Lucuris with sorrow in his eyes.
Lucuris knew what he would protect, he thought of it and it burned within him. “I would protect...everyone Joey. I know at first, I always thought I had to protect my sister or friends, but now I see that is just greedy. I see everyone as valuable, and seeing the demons try and tear that away shattered my heart. I want to be brave, to become strong ,to prove to my birth father that his son will fight despite being afraid,” Lucuris said as he stepped in front of Joey and seeing the white orbs ability wearing off as the demons began slowly walking closer and closer to them.
“Maybe I was wrong about you after all Lucuris, maybe you can teach me a few things. I pushed you, tried to mold you into something you are not, yet here you are right next to me. Giving me the time of day after all the stuff I did to you,” Joey said to Lucuris as he tried to keep his calm.
Lucuris could feel his weakness taking over, his transformation was not quite done, and he didn’t know what he could do...but he had to try something. “Look Joey I want you to go into the car and go find Abigail and the rest we need their help if we are ever to fight off these demons,” Lucuris said to Joey pushing him towards the vehicle with all his strength.
“Wait whoa, you are in no condition to fight these things Lucuris. What are you mad? They will shred you into pieces. Look I’m staying here, we can do this just me and you,” Joey said as he pushed Lucuris and went forward facing the demons. Both were ready for a fight, even though one of them had no power whatsoever, but they both knew that even when it seems the darkness a ray of light shines hope.
Chapter 11
Joey and Lucuris could feel the odds being against them, but all they could do was try and survive this one fight. Joey struck first he threw his body into the demons ranks and landed on them slamming his staff into the ground and then saying words in his language. As soon as he did, he pointed his left palm facing towards the demons and a giant fireball shot out from him and slammed into the evil spawn setting them ablaze. “You think this world is up for the taking? You think we are easy prey? Well what will you all do when your food fights back,” Joey yelled at the top of his lungs unleashing his power.
“Oh, hell no, Joey isn’t taking all the glory in this,” Lucuris said to himself with a small smile spread across his face. He could still feel the pain within his body, the soreness in his muscles, but he was feeling something else, something more than pain, hunger. “I have no idea what I am doing and I’m not a proper Mage, but like any good fight sometimes it’s best to just throw yourself in the fray and give it your all,” Lucuris said as he ran into the demons swinging his hands at them madly not trying to focus, not trying to be afraid, but just giving it his all
, like it was his last day alive.
Joey turned around after firing off his fireball and then faced towards Lucuris and saw he was having trouble. Sure, he was beating them down, but they just kept coming in numbers. “Oh man, if only you could see your son now. You would be laughing and just smiling, maybe even proud,” Joey said looking at the sky once and then aiming his palm to the clouds in the sky. “You will not lay your claws on Lucuris you filthy demons. You will know true fear,” Joey said as lightning started to spark around them and targeting demons setting them on fire. The loud sound of the lightning flashes sparked fear into the demons, they started to run away from Lucuris and Joey as to save the last of their army and to fight another day.
Lucuris could see them running but still chased after them, he wanted more. He hungered for more fighting, his body was trembling, not by fear, but pure excitement. It felt so good to him he felt it to be exhilarating. “Come back here and fight you trash, I’m not done with any of you,” Lucuris yelled as the demons kept running away and into the forest until their shadows disappeared.
“Hey, Lucuris, calm down man, they’re gone, we got them buddy,” Joey said to Lucuris as he grabbed his shoulder, but at that moment of doing so, Lucuris grabbed his hand and threw him forward.
“Don’t ever touch me again,” Lucuris said with anger seeping through his eyes, something was changing in him, after he said that he calmed down and saw what we did, and he was as much surprised as Joey was.
Joey looked at Lucuris and started to get up to his feet patting down his pants getting the dirt off them. “I guess I deserved that man, seems the transformation is completed. But it seems to have some side-effects, which isn’t good,” Joey said as he was looking around Lucuris seeing if he was hurt or anything, but he had nothing on him. No scratches, no cuts, no blood, and Joey wondered how in the world he came out of that fight without any marks.
“Uhh I guess I was too quick for those demons to touch me or something, but I feel really great now,” Lucuris said as he began to shadow box with himself while Joey was looking him over. Lucuris could feel the power surging in him and he felt really strong, like no one can stop him from doing anything. For once he felt powerful and he could not wait to show everyone else.
“Look man let’s get in the car, get out of here and go find everyone else, we need to see what’s up with these demon attacks,” Joey said as he went into the vehicles passengers side while Lucuris began to drive off away from the cave.
Lucuris and Joey were silent all thru the drive back into town. Lucuris parked the car and sat inside just looking forward and spacing out, almost forgetting Joey was beside him. “Man, Abigail is going to be so mad at me. I can’t believe I took her car without asking, and it seems the rest of the gang 's here waiting,” Lucuris said as he looked in their driveway and saw a black vehicle that had seen better days, he knew it was one of his friends, most likely Nick due to him and Abigail getting kind of close.
“Look Lucuris...what happened back there…,” Joey said as he paused for a few minutes thinking about how to word what he wanted to say. He didn’t want to anger Lucuris and trigger something, but he wanted to just make sure he was okay. “Let’s just keep tonight between us. The transformation part, better not to let your sister worry,” Joey said as he began to open the car door and giving Lucuris a weak smile.
Lucuris nodded back and followed Joey to the front door of their place. He didn’t know what to say to Abigail, how to explain where he was all day. His body was getting hot and he could feel sweat start drip down his cheeks. “Oh man, this is worse than going to pick up a girl for a date,” Lucuris said to himself softly as he started to knock on the door.
As soon as he got to the second knock the door swung open. In the middle of the door was Abigail as she looked frustrated, her eyes staring not directly at Lucuris and Joey but thru them. “Took your sweet time, figured you stole my car Luc, dick move bro. But I guess you two were just hanging out,” Abigail said as she pulled them both in and shut the door hard. “By the way, dig the white streaks you have, makes you look like some kind of anime character,” Abigail said as she walked to the couch and sat down next to Nick and Jessica.
“Oh shi…,” Lucuris began to say forgetting his hair changed color after his incident, but as soon as he could speak anymore Joey bumped the side of his arm to shut him up.
Joey saw that everyone was here, even Oracle, and wondered why everyone was gathered at one place. “Uh why is everyone here? I mean...there is not any demons coming out tonight is there? You guys look pretty comfortable,” Joey said as began to look around and see if there was anything strange going on.
“Chill dude, it’s movie night. Why don’t you go sit next to Oracle on that little couch next to us,” Nick said as he was starting to laugh at whatever they were watching.
Lucuris could see Joey was clueless as to what a movie was, he thought the guy did his research being from a different dimension and all, guess not enough. Lucuris looked at the couch that Jessica was sitting on. She looked a bit uncomfortable sitting next to Nick, but she saw Lucuris and gave him a smile. Lucuris decided to sit next to Jessica on the armrest of the couch. He was tired but really wanted to talk to her, especially since they were on a team, and about the Diana thing. They kind of left on an awkward note the last time. “Hey, it’s nice to see you…,” Lucuris said very shyly, trying not to see too excited to see her.
Jessica could sense he was uneasy being next to her, but she was glad that she finally got to see him. She just wished she could spend time with just him and her, instead of it being a group thing. “Oh, yea your sister wanted us to all hang out together and watch a film. Honestly this film kind of sucks. Really hate how films just have explosions and no story, oh and let's not forget the cheesy jokes they try to put in,” Jessica said as she began to laugh a little.
“Yea totally get you there, but then again you always got to have these types of films, make the good ones look that much better,” Lucuris said to Jessica while smiling at her.
At that comment Jessica gave Lucuris’s side a hard nudge, annoyed at first but then started to laugh a bit. “Please nobody wants to suffer through these kind of films,” Jessica said to Lucuris as she began poking him.
“I mean sometimes bad movies can help break the ice, and people can just make fun of them together, or people could just make out during them,” Lucuris said to Jessica as he tried to keep his eyes on the screen... He could feel the tension just watering off like nothing. It felt so natural to him, like he knew her forever. Even though they were just talking with each other he knew how awesome she really was.
Jessica could feel her heart thumping hard as she was talking to Lucuris, she didn’t know why. Maybe she was crushing on him, or maybe she loved him, but she didn’t want to let it slip out, she didn’t want to ruin her friendship with him. She wanted the bond between them to last forever.
Chapter 12
The very next day Lucuris decided to head to the closest mall with Oracle and Jessica, just to go window shopping and maybe grab some lunch. Lucuris still felt uneasy due to what happened that night to him and Joey, he was more afraid of it slipping out, he felt that keeping secrets was bad and always felt guilty for holding them in.
“Oh man this is so awesome, I knew the new consoles were coming out, just didn’t know we had a demo at this mall. Lucuris we gotta test it out man!” Oracle said as excitement started to fill him, he always loved technology, just hated having to go out in public to get the new stuff that came out.
Lucuris could see how excited he was talking about his hobbies, he didn’t mind Oracle leaving him and Jessica behind, he was glad in fact. Looking around, seeing tons of people just in the food court eating not knowing what really went on in their crazy world. Lucuris felt jealous of them, how simple they had their lives not knowing the true dangers, but also felt more responsible for protecting them.
“Hey? Something the matter with you Luc? You seem to be
distracted by something,” Jessica said to Lucuris looking at him and then putting her right arm onto his left shoulder. She could feel something was bothering her friend and wished he would just speak up. It frustrated her knowing that he was keeping in all his pain and worries, just bottling them up.
“Nah, nothing is the matter really, don’t sweat it,” Lucuris said as he turned to Jessica giving her a weak smile. He started to walk faster trying to keep up with Oracle.
Jessica wasn’t buying what Lucuris was saying was true, she knew something was wrong. She was getting more pissed off by him not telling her. “Look I know something is bothering you, so you better just tell me or I swear I’ll go ask Joey or Abigail and then your sister will raise hell,” Jessica said while grabbing both of Lucuris’s shoulders and just shaking him ferociously.
Lucuris was getting a bit agitated and was trying to keep his calm, he really didn’t like it when people nagged him about something, and he definitely didn’t like repeating himself. “Look it’s nothing, just drop it. Don’t worry about it. It’s none of your business anyways,” Lucuris said trying to keep his voice low and keeping his calm.
The Book of the Magi Page 9