“I need to find my brother,” Kate said.
“Where is he?”
“At the school.”
There were more screams and police sirens heard. There were also ambulances and fire trucks on every corner of Sunnyside Street.
This was really bad.
“Let’s hurry,” I said to everyone.
We started running and when we hit the intersection, a gigantic fireball hit the front of my school. The impact was so strong, it knocked all of us off our feet, and we landed on our backs. I glanced at the building, and it was on fire. I got up quickly, and helped Kate and my grandfather. We started running again, and got to the baseball field, which was empty.
“Are you sure he was here?” I asked.
“Yes, I was just here 30 minutes ago,” she replied.
Another fireball hit the field, followed by an explosion. Thankfully, we weren’t close, but it could’ve injured us. More screams were heard coming from the neighborhood. I looked over to my left, and there were houses on fire, and some were crumbling down. I saw people running like crazy in the distance. I looked up at the sky to see where those fireballs were coming from, but I didn’t see anything.
“He couldn’t have—?” Matheus mumbled.
“He couldn’t have what? Who?” I asked. Kate gazed numbly at both of us. She couldn’t believe my dog just spoke.
“Ethasus? We need to find The Others now,” Matheus kept on.
There was a monstrous scream.
We all looked around, but didn’t see anything. All I heard was wings flapping. Whatever it was, it was heading towards us. I looked up at the sky again, and there it was.
A giant cyclops.
How? Did these things follow me here?
He came on to us, and we dodged him. He made a 360 up in the air, and came back for another round.
“What the hell is that?” Kate screamed, terrified.
I watched the demon, perplexed, who had crossed over to my side of the world.
“Looks like Satu has opened another gate here on Earth, and released his demons,” Pops said.
“He did what?” I shouted.
This monster wasn’t the only one attacking us. There were hundreds, chasing the neighbors and hurting them. The demon flew at us again, and almost got Kate.
Oh no he didn’t.
I grabbed her by her waist, wrapped my arms around her, and pulled her away from danger. I wasn’t going to let anything happen to my future girlfriend, no sir. The demon missed Kate, but then turned to me.
“Look out!” my grandfather warned.
The beast almost got me this time, but I ducked before he could cut my head off.
That was close.
“How can we get him off our tail?” I asked.
“Cyclops have a weakness. It’s their eyes,” he informed me.
“What is that thing?” Kate broke in.
I glanced at her and I struggled to explain, but my head went blank.
“It’s a long story. You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“Well this is a pretty good reason to start?”
She did have a point. It isn’t like you see demons every day, trying to attack humans, and fireballs falling from the sky. Not to mention, a talking dog.
“We need to move, now!” Pops shouted.
The demon landed. It wanted to attack us from the ground, or more likely, me. The thing stalked me everywhere. I scanned the area for something to defend myself with, and I saw the third base near me. I ran to it, and the demon ran after me.
I sledded towards the base on the ground, grabbed it, and bashed him, full force, on his face. The demon whined in pain. He was bleeding from his jaw and upper lip. I think I broke a few teeth out of him too.
“Quick! His eye, Ethasus, his eye!” Matheus reminded me.
I quickly whacked him in the eye with one of the tips of the base, and his eye erupted with purple goo.
It was sickening.
He went tumbling down to the ground, dead.
Another demon spotted us. This was a different demon. I had never seen this one before. It was curvy on the hips and chest, had long legs, human feet and hands, with long black sharp nails. Body was slim and athletic, with long black wings, a long tail and its brown skin was lizard rough. Both its eyes were yellow like a snake. The hair was black, long and braided. The teeth were sharp as well. What made it even more terrifying is that the demon was female. In Inferno, I learned that all female demons were more dominant and more dangerous than males. We were all in danger, and we couldn’t hide and we couldn’t run.
The demon’s eyes were locked on mine. She just observed my every move. She was squatting down, close to the ground, studying me like a cat, ready to strike.
My knees were trembling from fear and I thought I was going to get sick to my stomach.
“Come on! You want a piece of this? Come and get this, you scrawny, little—” I placed my hand over Kate’s mouth as fast as I could. I sure didn’t expect Kate to be suicidal. I had to shut her up, for all our sakes. Kate didn’t like that, so she bit my hand.
Ouch.
“Interesting world,” the demon finally said. “Never thought I’d see it with my own eyes.” She looked around, intrigued.
“Who are you? And who sent you?” my grandfather asked.
“I was sent for him,” was her response, still looking away, while pointing at me.
Yikes!
I was dying from fright as she stalked me again on all fours, trying to get closer to me.
I kept moving away.
“Though I’m very curious as to why Satu would need all my demons, to get one little boy?” she said.
Kate glanced at me, as if I was some kind of alien. All of this was pretty weird to her, so when she stared at me, I only shrugged and smiled. Kate wasn’t smiling back, though. The demon stood up straight, and walked towards me.
Her hips swiveled from side to side, while her arms swung loosely back and forth, like a model. Matheus wasn’t sure of her intentions, so he quickly jumped in front of me and acted as a shield. His glowing red eyes were fixed on hers. He growled at her, and unexpectedly, she did too, but her growls were louder.
“Out of my way!” she hissed.
“Go! Get out of here!” Matheus commanded.
My grandfather got the message and without wasting any time, he pulled Kate and me away from danger.
“Wait! We can’t just leave him!” I shouted.
“We need to find The Others now, before it’s too late,” my grandfather responded.
“But she’ll kill him!”
He kept trying to pull me away, but I kept pulling back. The demon and Matheus started fighting each other to the death. He would bite into her legs and arms and she would brush him off. She was too strong for him. He tried to jump on her several times, but she would punch him away or grab him, and slam him into the wall. I thought for sure he had crushed bones. Slowly, he tried to get on his feet, but she clamped her nails into his furry skin and picked him up with one hand. She was going to go for the kill. I refused to let anyone get hurt trying to protect me.
I pulled away from my grandfather and ran towards the demon. Her back was facing me, so she didn’t see me coming.
“Erick! No!” my grandfather cried.
I picked her up with my shoulder and tried to slam her to the ground, but she jumped up and flew over my head, landing behind me. I turned quickly, swung, and I missed. I swung again, but she kept dodging all my punches. Her agility was unbelievable, and I knew she was toying with me.
Matheus jumped on her back and bit her shoulder. She delivered a powerful punch to both our chests; we were tossed away in the air, and we landed somewhere near the bleachers.
I’m not going to lie, that hurt pretty badl
y.
I couldn’t move, and I also couldn’t breathe. I thought I had dislocated a shoulder. The pain made it hard to catch my breath again. I looked over my shoulder, and Matheus was in pretty bad shape too. My grandfather came running, and tried to help me up.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I think so,” I said, trying not to worry him.
“Good!” He hit me in the back of my head.
“What was that for?” I asked, confused.
“What are you trying to do? Give me a heart attack?” he shouted. “Stop being a hero, or you’re going to get yourself killed, Dumbo!”
I noticed Kate ran off somewhere, and I knew it was because she was horrified. Wherever she ran off to, I hoped it was a lot safer.
For some weird reason, I had this gut feeling that I just had to protect her.
“Kate?” I called.
She didn’t stop. “Pops, go after her, keep her safe,” I implored.
“But Erick?”
“Pops, please, do this for me. You said to listen to my soul, and that’s exactly what I’m doing right now. Don’t let anything happen to her,” I said, while looking straight into his eyes. My grandfather looked at me for a moment, then he ran off after her.
“Ethasus, you need to get out of here!” Matheus yelled, hurt, while trying to get back on his paws.
There was another explosion, and it was closer to the school. It was another fireball. I hoped Kate and Pops didn’t get hurt.
The demon got back to business. She picked me up, then slapped me so hard with the back of her hand that my body twisted. I thought she broke my neck.
As I bled from my nose, I wiped it off with my good arm, then jabbed her in the jaw with my fist.
That didn’t hurt her, but it sure hurt me. My knuckles were burning. As I rubbed my hands, she kicked me with the toe of her foot, right on my chin. I wasn’t expecting that.
She then round kicked me on the side of my head, and I fell to the ground. I think I lost my sense of hearing, and I saw stars. Definitely was about to black out.
Matheus jumped on her back again, and with his sharp teeth, he bit her hips.
She screamed. I know that had to hurt.
She grabbed him by his fur and pulled him off her skin, and as she did, black blood was dripping from her back. That only made her more furious. She kicked Matheus to the ground with such force that he left a dent in the ground. She flew off up in the air, and stood on top of the fence. With the little energy I had left, I crawled to Matheus, who was on the ground, bleeding and hurt.
“Matheus?”
“Ethasus? Why are you still here?” He was weak and taking short breaths from the pain.
“I can’t let you have all the fun!” I replied, with a bloody smile. “We can do this together.”
He couldn’t comprehend why I was so calm and confident. That gave him strength. He smiled back and nodded.
The demon was ready to attack again. She came back, full force, straight for us. Surprisingly, Matheus transformed into that majestic Phoenix I once saw before. With his huge beak, he caught her in the air, and tried to swallow her whole.
She refused to be bird food.
With her strong arms, she opened his beak and flew away. Matheus was faster, and pecked her on the head and she went down, moaning in pain. Her screams were horrible. So bad it hurt my ears.
Matheus was ready to charge again but her tail stretched out like a sharp knife, and stabbed him in his chest. He was severely injured.
“Nooo!” I screamed.
I ran to her and grabbed her in a bear hug. I saw her yellow demon eyes as she glared at me sideways. She pulled her tail from Matheus’ chest. Then she slowly ducked, did a split, and I lost my balance. With her arms, she pushed me over her head and I landed on my back. She immediately stood up and placed her foot on my neck, and I was choking. Her focus was back to Matheus, who was regaining consciousness.
“This is between you and me, so leave him alone!” I said, gasping for air. I had her attention again. She could’ve broken my neck if she wanted to. Thankfully she didn’t. Something tells me she wanted to torture me to death instead. She was now hovering over me with a sinister face, and stomped me right on my chest. It was the most excruciating pain ever.
“You’re a tough one! I can see why your soul is worth a lot in the underworld.” She stomped on my chest once more. I thought she broke a rib or two that time. “You are not like most spirits. You are very different. I love different. You could be quite useful to me,” she sneered.
My body was in so much pain, I didn’t even feel a thing anymore. I don’t even remember what happened after that. All I could remember was Matheus calling my name, but his voice was fading away. Then everything went dark.
I blacked out again.
Chapter 13
I slowly opened my eyes.
Everything was still blurry and I felt lightheaded, and a lot of pain. The sun was still out, and I could still hear the chaos out on the streets. As I regained consciousness, I felt someone’s warmth. I turned my head slowly and I saw these beautiful blue eyes staring down at me.
It was a familiar face.
I was laying on her lap, while she tended my wounds. Her perfume was strong but sweet and it smelled like bubble gum.
“Kate?” I said, surprised to see her. I was going to get up but she pulled me back down.
“Shhh, don’t try to get up,” she warned me.
I finally remembered the demon, and our deadly fight. I turned my head, trying to find Matheus.
Gladly, he was okay and he was sitting right next to me. He was back to his original form.
“Matheus!”
“Glad you’re okay, Ethasus!” he said, happy to see me. I noticed his injuries were gone too.
“Where is she?”
“Where is who?” Kate asked, looking around.
“The demon,” I responded, while I tried to sit up. I felt severe pain on my chest.
“She’s not around anymore and we can’t stay here. We might get spotted again,” Matheus advised. “By the way, that was a very brave thing you did back there, Ethasus. You stood up for me,” he said respectfully.
“Nah! It was nothing.”
“How did you do it?” he asked, eager to know. I sure didn’t know what he was talking about.
“Do what?”
“You made me stronger, and I was able to transform more than once in this dimension. I just don’t understand why you would put yourself at risk for me. It’s crucial that you stay alive.”
I took a moment to think.
“I just did what I thought in my heart was the right thing to do. You were trying to protect me, so I wanted to do the same for you. I felt the need to give up everything in order to change things. Besides, I was chosen to destroy Satu right? So The Creator wasn’t going to let me lose to one lousy demon.”
“I’m really glad you have started to believe in yourself, Ethasus,” he said proudly.
Kate looked at me differently. I made her seem to wander off deep in her thoughts too.
“Where’s Pops?”
“I’m right here, Dumbo” he answered. I looked over my shoulder and saw that he was okay and he also had a big smile on his face.
I realized why.
Right next to him were five other guys. I recognized their faces and I sure was happy to see them. I couldn’t believe it was them all along. They were the ones I was looking for.
Jimmy, Bruce, Patrick, Luis, and of course Larry.
My allies, my friends, The Others.
“’Sup, Chief?” Larry said while helping me up.
“Hey guys!” I responded cheerfully.
“How did you guys find us?” I asked.
“We were playing a game, then we heard explosions and peopl
e screaming. When we were on our way home, we saw these things flying around and hurting people,” Jimmy started.
“Yeah, then we came across Harris and Kate who told us you were in danger,” Bruce broke in. "We came running to kick some butt.”
“Is she dead?” I asked.
“You mean the demon?” Larry asked.
I nodded.
“She flew off somewhere before we got here. I don’t know where to,” Larry replied.
“We have to get out of here,” Pops said. My grandfather stopped in front of us and turned to face us all.
“As you all may know, from now on, you will not be able to go back to your families until this is all over.”
“What?” Kate shouted.
“These demons know who you are now, and we cannot afford to lose any of you.”
“But—I have to go back. My parents are in danger,” she said panicking.
“Kate listen, Mom and Dad are okay. They called a few minutes ago.”
“Where are they?”
“I don’t know,” Larry responded.
“None of us know where our parents are,” Bruce added.
Kate was trembling. I knew she was scared and worried. I slowly walked towards her and grabbed her hand gently, and spoke calmly and firmly.
“I know that you think this might be a crazy nightmare, and that you’ll wake up and it’ll be over soon but this is all real, Kate. Your brother, Larry, my grandfather, the boys, we were all chosen to stop a demon, that if not stopped soon, it will be the end of the world. Not just this world, other worlds too.”
She looked at Larry for confirmation. “You guys are really going to save the world?” she asked in disbelief.
She thought we were joking, but we were all serious.
“There’s a lot of things that you need to know, but you must come with us and we can explain,” I said.
She took a few seconds to let all that sink in. She looked up at Larry again, then at me. She nodded and accepted to come.
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