Master of Darkness

by K T Kaye

  “If we survive this then I’ll pay for two rounds!”

  26

  ‘Demons taste like Chicken!’

  JASON

  The cells were dark, lit only by a single red lightbulb that swung like a washing line in the wind. Skeletons sat lonely in several of the cells and dried blood covered the icy floor. I didn’t like it! I still couldn’t really understand why Angel had felt the need to drag me down to the cells with her. I was a panicking emotional wreck; I was hardly going to be of any help. Also the cells were cold! Really cold, and I’m not a fan of the cold…nor am I a fan of warm weather. I like nice middle temperature weather, sorry am I rambling? I feel like I’m rambling.

  “Jason calm down,” Angel said softly, her breath visible, “I’m not going to let you get hurt. You’re going to be fine, so stop panicking and if you can’t stop then can you at least block your mind, your rambling is giving me a headache!”

  “Sorry it’s just, this place smells!” I moaned, “A lot! And it’s cold! Really cold!”

  “I’ve not been down here for a long time,” Angus mumbled.

  “When was the last time you were down here?”

  “1862.”

  “That’s certainly a…” Suddenly the floor began to shake violently. I stumbled to the ground. This is it, I thought, this is the end. I closed my eyes and prepared myself for the endless sleep. My entire life flashed before my eyes, there were a lot of cat videos.

  “Is everyone alright?” Angel asked once the shaking had stopped. She grabbed hold of my elbow and forced me to my trembling feet.

  “What was that!?” I squeaked, hitting a pitch I didn’t realise I could reach.

  “It came from below,” Angel pressed her ear to the ice-covered ground.

  “There’s something under there,” Roger muttered, he sniffed the ground and wrinkled his nose in disgust, “Not friendly, I’m guessing.”

  At that moment I noticed something in the corner.

  “Aww, I think there’s a cat in here,” I said kneeling down to get a better look at it, “Come here kitty.”

  “Jason that’s not a…” Before Angel finished her sentence, a demon pounced on top of me. It looked like a cat, but it definitely wasn’t a cat! Rather than soft silky fur, the cat-demon had sticky blubber that clung to my face and suffocated me. I couldn’t see. I couldn’t breathe. Just as I was about to have a nervous breakdown, Roger (in his wolf form) ripped the cat demon from my body. Roger clawed at the cat-demon, pulling its body apart.

  “Jason are you okay?” Angel asked as she helped me up.

  “I’m fine,” I stuttered, “Mentally scarred for life but fine!”

  Another cat demon ran up behind Angel and sunk its sharp fangs into her ankle. Angel transformed into a fire nymph and burnt the cat-demon into ashes. As she transformed back into her natural form, Ethan was attacked by a third cat-demon. The cat-demon pounced onto Ethan’s back. Ethan struggled as he tried to avoid getting his ear bitten off. I tried to pull the demon away, but it held fast. Its skin stuck to my fingers.

  “This is gross!” I exclaimed.

  “Jason set it on fire!” Angel yelled as she fought against a fourth cat-demon.

  “Fire? Ah yeah, I can do that!” I closed my eyes and pictured fire. When I opened my eyes, I found that my hands and the cat-demon were on fire…as was Ethan!

  “Jason! Stop! You’re burning me!” Ethan cried.

  “Sorry,” I clicked my fingers and the flames extinguished.

  “You burnt a hole in my coat!” Ethan exclaimed as he brushed the cat-demon remains off his back.

  “Sorry.”

  “Is everyone okay?” Roger asked transforming back into his natural form.

  “Fine apart from the third degree burns I have on my back!” Ethan hissed.

  “I said sorry!” I exclaimed.

  “Was that all of them?” Angus asked.

  “I hope so,” Angel muttered, she knelt down and began to heal her bitten ankle, “Angus are the cells as big as the base?”

  “The cells cover…” Before Angus could finish a large demon crept up behind him and bit off his head.

  The demon was huge.

  It had a large pig-like face and sharp claws. Its body was covered in scales and its eyes were blood red. From its mouth sprang a pair of milk white fangs. I stumbled back. I was not okay! This demon was terrifying and was staring straight at me! I couldn’t do this. I was going to die! There was no way I was going to make it out of these cells alive. These three sentences rattled around my head as Angel gently pulled me back.

  “Oh this isn’t good. Not good at all. We’ve met this kind of demon before,” Roger explained whilst backing away, “They’re very hard to kill. They’re bulletproof, fireproof and swords can’t break through their scales.”

  “How did you kill the last one you met?” I asked.

  “It got squashed by an avalanche.”

  “Oh.”

  “Jason, turn into a demon,” Angel muttered backing away from the monster, “Right now.”

  “I can’t do it on demand!”

  “Why not?”

  “I don’t know how!”

  “Well learn how and quickly!”

  And that was when I began to panic. I had never released my demon on purpose before. What was I supposed to do? How was I supposed to release it? It wasn’t like I could just press a button and transform into a demon. I would have to unlock all the locks in my mind and then let it take over. But what if I couldn’t get it locked up again? What if I ended up becoming a demon forever? What if I accidentally ate someone!?

  “Jason, I apologise in advance if this doesn’t work,” Angel said before stabbing me in the stomach.

  I fell to the ground.

  Blood poured from my belly. I had never felt so much pain before. I pressed my hands against the stab wound, trying to stop the blood from pouring. Tears rolled down my cheeks.

  I wanted to scream but I couldn’t get the words to leave my lips. I stared at Angel. She was watching me closely, a small smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. How could she be smiling!? I was going to die! My body trembled. My vision went blurry. This is it, I thought for the second time, this is the end.

  Then suddenly the pain stopped.

  I pulled myself to my feet and stretched my aching body. My body seemed larger and heavier than usual. It took me a moment to get used to it. My stomach rumbled. I was hungry. I was really hungry. It felt as though I hadn’t eaten in weeks. I could smell something.

  Something delicious!

  What was it? Where was it coming from? I followed the smell until I found the pig-faced demon staring up at me.

  Huh, I thought, how did this demon get so small? It was huge a moment ago.

  And when did it start smelling so good!?

  The pig-faced demon pounced on top of me. I grabbed it between my fangs and threw it into a wall. It slashed its claws in my direction. I span around and bashed the demon with my spiked tail. The pig-faced demon slumped to the ground. I stabbed my fangs into its flesh. Its blood tickled my forked-tongue.

  Surprisingly it tasted a lot like chicken!

  Once I had finished my meal, bones, and all, I turned to the others. Angel, Roger, and Ethan were staring at me. Horrified expressions covered their faces. I took a step towards them, but they backed away. Ah, I thought, they’re probably just surprised to see me eat a demon.

  Wait I just ate a demon!

  And I liked it!

  Wait I had a tail!? And fangs!?

  I looked down to find bird-like claws where my feet should have been. I raced over to a patch of ice and stared at my reflection. In the ice, a large demon stared back at me. It looked like a black Chinese dragon, only it had bird-like legs and sharp claws. Spikes ran from the top of its head all the way to the end of its powerful tail. Its eyes were blood red. I stumbled backwards in surprise. My body trembled once more, and I found myself sinking. My body gave way. I collapsed to the icy gr
ound. I shut my eyes as the world span.

  “Jason? Are you okay?”

  “Am I still a demon?” I asked.

  “No, you’re back to being you.” I opened my eyes and found Angel staring down at me. I looked down at my body. No tail. No fangs. No spikes. I was back to normal! “Did I just turn into a demon?”

  “Yes,” Angel nodded.

  “Oh right good. Oh good. I turned into a demon. A demon! I turned into a demon, that means I just ate a demon.”

  “Jason are you okay?”

  “I just turned into a demon!”

  “Yes.”

  “And I just ate a demon!”

  “Yes.”

  I placed my head into my hands and mumbled, “I might have a massive panic-attack.”

  “Could you have it when we get back to the base? We don’t really have time for it right now.”

  “Okay. Wait, you stabbed me!”

  “Yes,” Angel nodded sheepishly as she pulled me to my feet.

  “Why?”

  “Because I could hear your internal panic-attack from the other side of the room! We really needed you to turn into a demon.”

  “So you thought stabbing me would be the best way to bring my demon out!?”

  “Yeah.”

  “It hurt!”

  “But it worked.”

  “I thought I was going to die!”

  “But you didn’t.”

  “What did the demon taste like?” Ethan asked.

  “It…tasted like chicken.”

  “Really? Huh I thought it’d taste like pork. Was it tasty?”

  “It…” I stuttered, “It was…it was really tasty.”

  “I’m not sure if I’m disgusted or fascinated by this situation,” Roger stared at me.

  “Stop staring, you’re freaking me out.”

  “Guys save your questions for when we get back home, and for after Jason’s had his mental breakdown,” Angel walked over to Angus’ headless body.

  “Poor guy,” Ethan muttered, “He seemed like a decent fella.”

  “He seemed…” before Angel could finish her sentence, we were attacked, again! At first it looked like a puddle of black paint but then it grew and stood up. The demon was featureless. It had no eyes or nose, just a pair of long thin arms. It pointed at me.

  “Why is it pointing at me?” I asked.

  “Take a step towards me,” Roger said. I did so, the demon’s pointed finger followed me.

  “What does it want from me?”

  “Well you did just eat it’s friend,” The demon suddenly leapt forwards. It pushed Roger to the ground and grabbed hold of me.

  * * * * *

  I fell backwards but instead of hitting the ground, I fell into a strange shadowy world. Angel and her brothers vanished. I was alone. I got to my feet and stared at the barren plane I had landed in. There was nothing for miles and miles. A grey sandy desert was all that could be seen. There were no stars, just a jet black sky.

  “Where am I?” I asked aloud.

  “You are in my mind,” came a reply.

  I turned around to find the strange faceless demon stood behind me.

  “In…in…did you just say…did you just say I was in your mind?”

  The demon nodded.

  “Oh…that’s…wait you can talk!?”

  “You can hear me. You can understand me.”

  “Yes.”

  “Only a Master can understand the language of the demons. You belong with us.”

  “Ha! No. No I don’t think so.”

  “We’re connected. You and me. Both of us creatures of darkness.”

  “If you say so. Now if you wouldn’t mind showing me the exit…”

  “Your powers, they’ve been locked away. Someone locked them up. When you were a child, a baby, all alone. Crying for your sister.”

  “What are you…I don’t have a sister.”

  “The Master of Darkness always has a sister. The Master of Darkness and the Mistress of Light are bound together. There can’t be one without the other. Just you wait, she’ll enter this world soon.”

  “If you say so.”

  “Let me unlock your powers. It’s time for the Master to return to full strength.”

  “Why…why would…?”

  “I do not wish to harm you. I am your friend.”

  “I don’t think so.”

  Before I could finish my sentence, the demon raced forwards and pressed its hand over my heart. Images of caves of blood and slime echoed into my mind. I saw demons fighting each other and rotting bodies stumbling across a sandy wasteland. There was a long black river of acid that bubbled and spat at me as I walked past. Snake-like demons slithered over broken bones and featherless vultures flew across the crimson sky. As I stumbled through the monstrous abyss, I suddenly realised…

  I was in hell!

  “I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to be here,” I muttered, “Demon take me back! Take me back!”

  * * * * *

  I opened my eyes. Angel, Roger, and Ethan stared down at me.

  “I’m back,” I gasped.

  “Back? Jason you didn’t go anywhere,” Roger helped me to my feet.

  “I did. I went…I went to hell. Where did that demon go!?” Roger, Angel and Ethan just looked at each other, none of them seemed to want to answer.

  Finally Roger coughed, “It went into you.”

  “Pardon?”

  “It went into you.”

  “Jason save it for your mental breakdown later. Just tell us what the demon did to you,” Angel said sharply.

  “Right, well the demon said I was in its mind. It said my powers had been locked away and that it was going to unlock them for me. It said that we were connected and that it was my friend…which I thought was a bit weird. Oh then it said that the Master of Darkness can’t be without the Mistress of Light and that I do have a sister. I think that’s what it was saying, to be honest I was a bit confused by the whole thing. Then it showed me hell.”

  “That’s…what is that?” Angel stared at a shadow under the ice.

  “There’s something beneath us,” Roger whispered, “And there’s something in here with us.” Roger pointed to a dark figure that was hiding in the corner of one of the cells. Angel shone her torch in its direction, but it slipped away from the light. Angel walked into the cell.

  “Was that a gorilla?” I asked following the shapeshifter.

  “Where did it go?” asked Angel to no one in particular.

  At that moment the large gorilla-like demon pushed Angel to the ground. The demon had spikes instead of fur and fifteen small eyes. Angel struggled against the demon as its spikes pierced her skin. She reached for her sword, but the gorilla-demon squashed its body against hers, making it impossible for her to move.

  “Jason a bit of help here would be appreciated!” Angel yelled. Without thinking, I raised my fist and released my fingers. The gorilla-demon exploded into tiny pieces. Angel got to her feet.

  “Why didn’t you do that earlier!?” she exclaimed.

  “I didn’t know I could,” I stared at my hand in wonder, “How did I just do that? I didn’t plan to do it.”

  “You didn’t overthink it, you just did it. That demon, maybe it really did unlock your powers.”

  Before I could respond, Roger raced into the cell quickly followed by another gorilla-demon. The demon grabbed hold of me and shoved me to the ground. I was about to pull myself up when the demon decided to sit on top of me. I gasped as the demon squashed the air out of my lungs. Roger transformed into a wolf and pounced on the gorilla-demon. They rolled across the ground.

  Angel transformed into a chimera; a strange creature that had a lion head at its front, goat head sticking out of its back and a snake head attached to its butt. The goat head blew fire at the gorilla-demon. The fire bounced off the demon’s body. The chimera and the gorilla-demon fought against each other. The gorilla-demon picked the chimera up and threw it across the cell. As
it landed, the chimera transformed back into Angel.

  “Jason stop staring and blow it up!” Angel hissed.

  “Right,” I muttered as I got to my feet. I released my fist and the gorilla-demon crumbled into nothingness.

  “You should have done that to begin with,” Roger muttered transforming back into his usual form.

  “Sorry I was distracted by, Angel what did you just turn into?”

  “A chimera,” Angel explained.

  “I was distracted by how ugly the chimera was.”

  “Jason that chimera was me, are you calling me ugly?”

  “I…no…that’s not what I…It’s just that the chimera isn’t your most attractive form. I mean…Err…I don’t know what I mean.”

  “She’s just messing with you,” Roger laughed.

  Angel smiled, “You’re even easier to tease then…hey where’s Ethan?”

  “Guys!” Ethan yelled from the corridor. We ran out to join him. In the middle of the corridor was a massive slug-like demon. It had wrinkled purple skin and large fangs.

  “Oh that is disgusting,” Roger muttered, “Jason please blow it up.”

  I released my fist and the slug-demon exploded. However the exploded pieces then joined back together, and the slug-demon returned to life.

  “What the…?” I released my fist again and once more the slug-demon exploded only to stick itself back together.

  Suddenly the ground began to shake. From under the ice, tall human shaped figures push their way up to the surface. They had grey scales, fish-like faces and mouths full of sharp fangs.

  “I’ll take the slug,” Angel ordered, “You guys deal with those.”

  Angel transformed into a dragon and attacked the slug-demon. I exploded the fish-faced demons, however as I killed one, two more would pull themselves to the surface. I was about to explode my seventh demon when one jumped onto my back. I fell face first to the ground. The demon dug its teeth into my back. I yelled out in pain. I reached for my sword and stabbed it into the demon. The demon screeched and rolled off me. I got to my feet and blew it up, just as it was about to take a bite out of my ankle.

  As I continued to fight against the fish-faced demons, Angel battled against the slug-demon. Dragon Angel blew fire in the demon’s direction, but the fire bounced off its skin. Dragon Angel then attacked the demon with her claws. She scratched at the demon, cutting into its wrinkled body. The slug-demon coughed up toxic slime and spat it at dragon Angel. Angel fell to the ground, transforming back into herself as the toxic slime burnt her dragon scales. She raised her hand and water soaked her body, washing the toxic slime away.