Chapter 1: The Scarlet Book

It was two in the morning and Jake was already up. Why? It was because the Starlight Festival was taking place. It was held every year but each year seemed to be more like a century to him. With all of the constant battling and casualties, it was nice to just relax and enjoy some roasted pork and other delicacies.
Jake Hunter was your average 14 year old. Or as average as an outcast kid living in a village of outcasts could get. Which wasn’t really average.
Jake was part of a rebel organization, called Omega that resisted the power of the King of Demons himself. He was a shady character. No one knew his name or how he had came to power over the Demons, but one thing was certain. He was deathly.
It had all started about two hundred years ago when the US Government - isn’t it weird how most problems start out with the Government of the US? – discovered Demon Seals in the Bermuda Triangle. They carefully covered up and guarded it for further research when they also discovered more Demon Seals in the most hospitable of places such as in a cave deep under the Sahara Desert, the center of Antarctica, the Pacific Ocean, even in the center of a volcano, and many other inhospitable places on Earth. When one unknowing scientist accidentally damaged the seal in the Bermuda Triangle, it caused a chain reaction and they had reopened the gates to another world which had apparently been sealed away thousands, and if not millions, of years earlier.
The good news about this was that it also released Magic that was also sealed with the other world and had returned to their rightful places inside some of the humans. But only a few people gained that ability. It was like one in a million chances that you were one of those who wielded Magic. And most of those Magic wielders had been killed by the Assassins. They were a group of thirteen highly skilled death machines. After about a month, it had become clear to everyone who weren’t butt heads that they had been ordered to kill all of those who had Magic in them as well as any of the Omega organization members that got in their way.
But enough with the details of our miserably small, insignificant lives. The Starlight Festival was held to celebrate the day when the Demons were weakest in the year. The Summer Solstice. It was also when the two moons – it had been like that ever since the Demons’ world was opened – were perfectly aligned and the shooting stars from the sky fell. It was strange that shooting stars only fell on that day. It was as if all the meteors were gathered up in the atmosphere then dumped on us all at once. It was a pleasant experience for most people. The ones who didn’t have any fun were the ones who had a space rock nearly split there skull in two. It wasn’t that uncommon for a star to be dumped you on the head today, actually.
“Jake! Get your ass in here!”
Jake flinched. It was Patrick Cooper, the weapon manager. He’s the one that makes sure all the guns and other deathly things were in good shape for battle at any given moment. But he was the one with the shortest fuse.
“JAKE!”
Not wanting to be told another time, Jake entered his tent. The hard dirt floor was littered with dirty rags, used Kleenex, hundreds of late water bill notices, and empty instant Raman bowls. It was a miracle he was still married to Jane Cooper, his devoted wife.
Jake found Patrick towards the back of his tent with a wrench opening crates as big as he was. Patrick was a big guy. And in height and stomach. He was also buff with his MASSAVE muscles that he liked to show off to his kid, Simon. His face was covered in soot and oil and it was like he had a permeate scowl on his face. Then he noticed that Jake was finally here and wiped his hands on his shirt, covering it with black oil and gun powder.
“I need you to clean all of this…” Patrick taped his oversized wrench on the contents of the crate.
It was loaded with guns of various designs, and all of it looked like it was dragged though the mud, torched, then dumped in the garbage heap for a month, and considering the fact Patrick was too poor to actually buy any weapons from the merchant that often passed through, that was probably what happened to them.
“You want me to clean all of this?” Jake said dumbfounded.
“Oh, not all of this.” He said, “All of this!”
He pointed at a stack of more open crates to the right that he hadn’t noticed. And they were all just as big as the first.
“Why? Where are you going?”
“Out hunting. I got to eat don’t I?” Jake doubted that he would be able to catch anything since he would scare half of the forest off when he shot at anything that moved. And he didn’t think he needed anything more to eat.
“But what about the festival?” Jake was really looking forward to attending this year.
“That’s today? Wow, how time flies when you’re pounding metal all day.” He said with heavy sarcasm, “That’s your problem not mine. Deal with it. Now get to work!”
Jake was busy scrubbing a machine gun and was about to move onto a silver, now brown, handgun. He glanced at the small clock on the table. Four o’clock in the morning. Great, Jake thought. Two hours and I’m not even done with half of the first crate.
“Jake, I think you can take a break now.”
He jumped at the voice, nearly dropping the still loaded gun and potentially shot a hole through his foot. Jake glanced over my shoulder and noticed that it was only Mrs. Cooper, Patrick’s wife.
“Sorry, Mrs. Cooper. I thought it might have been someone else.” he tried to keep things polite. Not one of his strong points.
“It’s OK dearie.”
Mrs. Cooper was a plump woman. Not too fat (*cough* *cough* Patrick) but not super thin like she’s been starving herself of food for her enjoyment – he would never understand girls.
“Are you sure that I can take a break?” Jake asked unsure.
“Oh, sure! The Starlight Festival is still young. You go have fun while you still can.”
Jake thanked her for her hospitality and nearly crashed into the elephant, which belonged to Jordan and was elaborately decorated with – fake – jewels, that was passing by the tent on the way to the festival. That thing weighed over a ton and was big enough to squish Jake and think it was just a bug.
“Make way!” Jordan hollered. “Elephant coming through!”
Jake thought it was kind of obvious that there was a ten ton elephant in the middle of a dirt road. But he knew that Jordan had wanted to show off his cleaned and decorated elephant.
Jake heard some of the kids gasping and pointing at the sky. He looked up himself and saw a marvelous sight. The sky was covered in shooting stars. Some were so close that it fell only half a mile away or on top of tents. Others were distant, landing in who-knows-where. Jake sprinted off to his favorite spot. On a small cliff that jagged out right over a small waterfall on the cliff face. It presented the clearest view of the shooting stars. For a while, he watched in awe at the amazing sight. The overlapped moons was glowing a light blue hue.
Then he spotted a very bright object in the sky. It’s probably going to land really close, the thought. And he was right. In fact, it was headed strait for him. The object streaked thought the sky at blinding speed. He didn’t have any time to react. He felt the thing whack him in the face. Then he saw black…

Jake woke up with a groan. His head throbbed but he didn’t find any blood when he rubbed his temples. He looked at the sky again. He could see a faint hue over the horizon. It was morning. He slept through the whole festival. He frowned. Jake was looking forward to watching the torch juggler and the pie eating contest, though everyone always lost to the all time champion, Patrick. Not to mention the battle tournament that was held. The winner got a HUGE sack of gold and silver coins.
Jake surveyed his surroundings, wondering where that object had landed. It was pretty close. Only twenty feet away. It must have skidded over after it had hit him in the head.
He went over to survey the object. Then he noticed something strange. It was a book. He frowned. Why would a book be falling through the sky? Where did it come from? Did I really get brained by a book?
He picked it up. It had a tough scarlet colored leather cover. On the spine was written in dark letters: Violet Blackbird. Violet Blackbird? Who was she? Whoever it was, this book was really prized to her. There was a heavy gold chain that bound the book with a thick lock. Jake also noticed that in the center of the front cover, there was faint etches of a spell circle. Puzzled, Jake pulled out a little wire out of his pocket. His lock picking tool. But no matter how hard he tried, the spell circle prevented him from picking the lock. It probably only works with the real key, he thought.
Jake decided to take the book with him. His dark side told him that whoever lost this would pay big bucks to get it back. But he shook that thought aside. Obviously whoever owned this book knew magic. He didn’t stand a chance against this mystery girl.

Chapter 2: The Assassins On The Move

Violet’s eyes stung in the constant bright light. Sure she was fine on most days. But she hated more than a couple of hours in bright light. She also hated summer. The sun was unnaturally out way to long. She much preferred the winters on Earth. The nights were chilly and long. Then when it got cold enough, little white flakes of frozen water would fall. Snow they had called it. She especially liked the places they called the north and south poles. They had the longest winters of all. That was probably why most of the demons had settled in there, migrating yearly to avoid the constant hours of light. She especially hated the full moon. Though there were full moons back in the demon world too, she still hated them. Every time, her hair would turn bright silver as if to reflect the moon. And today was a full moon. Sometimes she wondered if the Lord was making a wise decision when the gates had opened.
“Violet.”
She turned slowly around. There stood a man in his late twenties. He was buff but his legs were short for his body. His face was misshapen, giving him the appearance of something like a boar. His back was hunched but the coat he had on only hid the fact that he had giant leathery bat wings. He always reminded her of a Neanderthal will this unruly pitch-black hair and wild green eyes. He was fast even though he didn’t look like it, but he was one of the slow demons that made up for it with defense and abnormal strength.
“What?” Violet was impatient today. She was always impatient and on edge in the event of a full moon.
“You heard the Lord’s orders. You’re pairing with me tonight to take down some of those… Omega pests.” He said the word omega like it was the worst possible insult he could muster. “Though, I don’t see the point. I could easily take those push overs without your help. You’ll just be extra baggage.”
“Shut your damn mouth or I’ll shut it for you!” she hissed.
“Why do you want to come anyways? It’s not like the Lord is forcing you to go. Or are you just tagging along to play around with your prey?”
Violet let out a small smile. “Yes, that’s one of the reasons…”
“What’s the other?”
She hesitated and she hated it when she hesitated. It meant she was unsure. She didn’t like unsure.
“Let’s just say I have to pick something up.”
“We leave tonight then. If we do, we should be there within a week. A little more if we run into trouble.” The man decided.
“Are you sure that Gladius doesn’t want to tag along?” Violet asked.
The man scowled, making his deformed face even uglier. “That Gladius… who died and made him top dog? No, Gladius is taking on the southern Omegas. We’re headed north.”
Violet nodded in understanding. Then she melted into the shadows and disappeared, teleporting herself through the shadows to Gladius’s place.
Before she could leave completely, she heard him say, “And I love what you did to your hair. Why don’t you keep it?”
Violet’s eyes became a dangerous black. Before she could grab him though, she was gone.
She stepped out from behind the shadow of the dead oak tree in the center of the cemetery. She rumpled her nose. She hated Gladius’s choses for temporary camps. Last time was on an abandoned cruse ship that was washed up on the shore. The bad part about that was that it was still underwater with only small pockets of air here and there. Plus it smelled of death where ever he was.
“So you decided to turn up. Finally.”
“It’s nice to see you too…” she muttered.
In front of her, she saw a tall blond haired man with emotionless deep brown eyes staring at one particular grave marker. The man had wolfish characteristics to him. A slightly elongated face, sharp nails, and pointed teeth that looked like mini daggers. At his side, there were two long swords, the classic swords you would see a knight riding into battle with. Its hilt was decorated with a gold depiction of a snake forming the handle. He was dressed a black robe that nearly covered all his body.
“Ventus is as cold as ever. Care to tell my why?”
“You know why, Gladius. His pride as the strongest of the Assassins is diminishing ever since you were recruited thirty years ago.” Violet said, carefully keeping her temper in check.
Gladius chuckled softly. “If he wanted to keep his precious title, he should have never challenged me to the duel in the first place.” This fighting has been going on even before Gladius had joined the Assassins, “But we all know he wasn’t the strongest in the first place.”
His eyes glanced at her for a moment, and then looked back at the grave. Then he continued.
“You are the Lord’s handpicked general of the main army as well as part of the Assassins. And you are one of the few who has ever actually seen his face.” His voice was filled with envy but not a good kind. A murderous kind.
“Is it true that you’re going to attack the southern Omegas?” Violet was desperately trying to change the subject, though she didn’t show it.
He only nodded in response.
“What about the others?”
“There has been ambushes all around the globe on our demon troops.” He replied, “Those Omegas are targeting our supply routes. The others are in charge of taking care of that.”
Violet raised an eyebrow. “We need the rest of the Assassins just to take care of a couple ambushes?”
Gladius shrugged, “As I said, it’s happening all over the globe. Plus I hear that they have some heavily armed Magicians there as well. It is the Lord’s orders.”
Violet shook her head. “I have a feeling that he’s been trying to get rid of us for a while…”
“You are probably right. He has been acting very rashly all of the sudden. But Marilyn will keep an eye out for anything else.” Marilyn was another Assassin.
Before Violet could reply, there was a loud screeching noise. It would have been undetectable to an average human, but who says that she was an average human?
In the sky, there was a large black, slimy dragon. It had no eyes but Violet could tell that it sensed us. Its teeth were the size of an arm each and crooked. Its tail was like a spiked ball and its talons were like harpoons. On its back was one of the Lord’s many Demon Messengers.
The lizard like Demon jumped off the dragon’s back and bowed at our feet.
“The Lord has sent a message for Master Gladius Satan and Mistress Violet Blackbird.”
“Speak.” Gladius said without interest.
The Demon shot him an evil look and faced Violet instead.
“The Lord has asked to see you Master Satan, Mistress Blackbird.”
“What about the Omegas?”
“Yes, he has asked for you to postpone your trip until in three days time. The other Assassins have been ordered to assemble as well.”
Three days? By then, all the supply routes would be trashed. How were thy going to sustain such a large population of Demons? And why would he suddenly pull back his orders? The Lord’s mind is beginning to be clouded.
“Of course. You may leave now.” Gladius answered.
The messenger climbed clumsily back up his dragon and flew off.
“The Lord must see the danger in leaving our supplies unchecked. Soon, most of the Demons will have nothing to eat and our armies will be weak.”
Violet nodded. “But he is still Lord… for now. We must still obey his command. We must wait and see if he will keep his throne or if he will pass it down to his son.”
“I highly doubt he will give away his throne to his little brat anytime soon. That man will do anything for power.”
“Gladius, you must not say such things. We might be more powerful physically but he still has his reputation on his side. He can crush us if he wanted to.”
“It would take a lot more than just a point of the finger to convince the army to attack the Assassins.”
Silence enveloped the two has their minds raced to piece together the puzzle. But there was still one piece missing. What was it?
“We should go now. The Lord hates waiting.” Gladius then left and when he passed into the forest, his essence disappeared.
Before Violet left, she looked at the grave that Gladius had been looking at. Etched onto the stone were the words:
Xavier Blackbird
1739 – 2012
Our best Demon Warrior
Fallen in battle

It was Violet’s father. He was also an Assassin but had fallen in battle when the gates had first opened. Violet had taken his place as an Assassin after that. Over two hundred years have passed and she had not thought about him for a while now.
His grave had reminded her of her book that she had lost. Her father had given it to her about a year before he died. Those angels will pay for stealing the property of an Assassin one of these days, she thought. She remembered that the angels had dropped it somewhere in the Omega Territory. At least, that’s what the angel said when she had captured him and threatened to cut off his wings. She had planned to go with Ventus up north and retrieve the book without notice. Now her plans were postponed for three days. What if someone reads it during that time? She shook off the idea. She had placed powerful spells on that book. There was no way a mere human could be able to read it.
Not wanting to look at Xavier’s grave any longer, she melted back into the shadows.

Chapter 3: Demon's Strike

Jake inspected the book at his desk. He was back in his tent now. It was small compared to some of the others. Just enough space for his study desk, a sleeping bag, and a fire place to cook and keep warm. It was all he could afford with the limited budget.
He tried everything to open the lock on the book. Melt it, pound it, break it, he even tried to shoot at it with a gun. Nothing. Zip. Net even a dent.
After a few more tries with Patrick’s jackhammer, he finally gave up. This thing was like a top security vault. He tossed it back on the desk. He would have to try later. For now, he was late for his job. He shuddered. Markus would not be happy for his millionth tardy in a row. In fact, two days ago, he was about to throw a chain saw at him. Luckily, Jake was smart enough to duck.
Markus was in his late thirties and has been in a lot of battles. Scars were all over his body. A gunshot wound on his shoulder, a long cut on his face from his left eye to his chin, and a couple other souvenirs. Markus had urgently sent the message for all soldiers to assemble in exactly one hour fully equipped for battle.
He grabbed his saber and headed off towards the northern end of camp, the military training area. It took up about half of the camp, not including the training obstacles placed all over the forest. Each able body man, or women, must contribute to the army in some way. It doesn’t mean they have to go into battle. They can supply the men and treat the wounded. Jake’s job was to relay messages to the soldiers. Not much. He had always wanted to be in the front lines and fight. But he was too young and everyone insisted he would stick to the job at hand. He was a really good fighter too. It was like he was born to have a sword in his hands. It just came naturally to him.
Markus was waiting for Jake in the command box located above the training area on top of the slope that separated the camp from the military base where he can keep an eye on everyone.
When Jake looked around, everyone was tense. Some where even shaking in their boots. Something wasn’t right. They were all aligned in perfect rows and as still as night. Jake tried to avoid notice but being the only thing moving, that was kind of hard to do. Some people snickered. But others just looked at him and resumed their positions. They were used to seeing him late.
“Thank you, Jake, for joining us today.” Markus said in his booming voice.
Jake didn’t reply but he was burning with anticipation for it to end.
“Now that everyone’s here,” Markus said, “we have news that the Demons that were ambushed by the Council’s orders have organized a counter attack.”
Whispers aroused.
“Why do the Demons attack in the middle of the summer?”
“The Council has doomed us all.”
“I’m getting way to old for this…” (This was Patrick by the way.)
“I’m betting one hundred dollars that Jordan won’t last ten minutes.”
“Hey, Simon, you look a little green. You OK?”
“Most of the men are still drunk form last night. They probably planed for this.”
Jake scowled at the last comment. The men couldn’t fight if they can’t figure out the difference between friend and foe. They would just shot at anything they see. And it was a disgrace that they would be defeated because some men drank one too many beers.
Markus held up his hand and the soldiers became silent once more. “I see reason for you to fear but we cannot let such feelings cloud our judgment and let the Demons get the upper hand.”
Some of the soldiers nodded in agreement.
“What happens if we lose?” one of the soldiers whispered to himself. But it was still loud enough for everyone to start doubting.
Markus glared at the person who had spoken. It was Simon. Patrick’s son. He looked like he was going to faint any moment now.
“Keep thinking like that and you wouldn’t last a second on the battle field. Demons take advantage of our darkest feelings. Hate, anger, doubt, loneliness, and countless others. You should know better than to doubt our abilities.”
Simon seemed to be trying to sink back into the crowd, his face red with embarrassment. “Y-yes sir! It won’t happen again, Sir!”
“You all know the battle plan!” Markus focused back onto the waiting crowd. “What are you waiting for ladies? Get to work!”
The soldiers all marched to their battle stations. The only two Magicians of the camp, Lucky and Bon, tended to their giant eagles.
“Jake.”
He jumped at the voice and spun around to find Markus standing before him. He stood up straighter.
“Sir!”
“Relax, Jake. I’m not here to throw another chain saw at you.”
Jake’s shoulders slackened a little, but he still stood to attention.
“I want you to get to the camp with Lucky and Bon. I have a feeling that the lines won’t hold for long…” Markus’s voice betrayed his worry. This scared Jake. It took a lot to make Markus nervous.
When he saw Jake looking, his expression hardened. “Don’t worry though. It takes a dragon to take down those two.” Markus gestured to the eagles. “Those slimly worms are going to have a tough time getting past us!”
“Yes, sir!” Jake said, and then scrambled over to Lucky and Bon.
Lucky and Bon were twins. They both had blond hair and hazel eyes. They were also three years older than him – 17 years old if you can’t do math – but they were some of his best friends. The only way you could tell them apart was that Bon had a scar on the side of his head. As for Lucky, that wasn’t his real name. His real name was Ben. Lucky was just a nickname given to him when he was the sole survivor in a mission to steal some info from a Demon base. Bon had stayed behind. Jake thought that they just called him Lucky, though, because it was kind of confusing with Ben and Bon.
“Lucky! Bon!” Jake called them over.
They looked up for a moment. Tied down their eagles and jogged over to him.
“Hey, Jake! Where were you last night? We thought you wanted to throw water balloons at Patrick with us? You should have seen his face!” Bon called.
“I was… busy.” Jake decided to keep the book a secret.
“Whatever. What are our orders this time?”
Jake relayed the message. He also told him that Markus doubted that the lines could hold.
“Wow. If even Markus doubts our survival, we don’t have much of a chance.” Lucky said.
“Don’t worry about it! We still got you guys! Those Demons won’t be able to stand against your magic!”
Lucky and Bon didn’t share Jake’s optimism.
Right then, all hell broke lose.
A hundred of fiery arrows flew to the front lines, followed by a rain of bullets. A dozen fine men fell. The others either dove into the cement wall seeking protection or held up shields. Lucky and Bon threw up a protective barrier in a split second.
“What the hell? Already?” Jake yelped.
Lucky was notching Magic arrows onto his bow. When they hit their target, they exploded. Jake really wanted that. Bon was flinging protective spells around the soldiers. The Demons were slowed down, but they would soon find a way around it all. Lucky tried to create a bigger bombing arrow, but that was snapped in half by a dog headed man. Bon suddenly switched to offense. He swung his spear and used magic to extend its range. Anything that got within five feet of it seemed to be chopped in half. Jake displayed his skills against some of the lesser demons.
“Damn, that was my last one arrow…” Lucky muttered, as the monster before him exploded into a million pieces.
“Keep calm, Lucky… just keep calm!” Bon was anything but calm. He was running low on magic and his spear had been knocked out of his hands.
Lucky and Bon retreated to the eagles. They took off and their powerful wings knocked aside the Demons. Bon swooped towards Jake and the eagle’s talons enclosed around him, lifting him in the air. Jake climbed onto its back behind Bon.
“Never… do that… again…” Jake wheezed as the eagle did a death spiral down to the ground, slicing a Demon in half with its talons.
“Sure, sure. But never mind that. Look there!”
Jake glanced down towards the ground. Some of the demons had gotten past the defenses already. And they looked buff, even from two hundred feet off the ground.
“We can’t let them enter camp!”
“No duh, genius!” Bon called behind him, as his eagle swooped down once more, aiming it’s talons at a snake/man. Lucky was doing the same at an undead leopard corpse.
They eagles were locked into combat. Jake, Lucky, and Bon had to get off before they roll over and flatten them into pancakes.
The Demons swarmed them. Lucky and Bon had flung out a few more spells, and then announced that they had run out of juice. All they had to defend themselves against the attack was a bow, Jake’s Saber, and Bon’s stick he had broken from a tree.
“Are you serious? A stick? We’re so gunna die!” Lucky yelled at Bon.
“Thanks for your vote of confidence!” Bon said as he stabbed a lizard like Demon in the eye.
In the frenzy to get up the slope and to the camp, Jake, Bon, and Lucky all got separated. Bad news for them.
One of the Demons swung an ax at Jake’s head. He ducked and swung his saber at the Demon’s legs. It howled in pain and one of its paws slapped into Jake’s face, leaving long scratches from its claws. Jake swung again, this time it left a gash in its arm. Using its surprise, he dug the saber into its chest. The Demon collapsed.
Jake was sweating from that one battle. That scared him. If it was that easy to tire him, he wouldn’t have a chance against those monsters.
Before Jake could catch his breath, something slammed into him from behind. Jake collapsed face first into the blood stained ground. Jake’s sword spun out of his hand in the process.
Before he could react, a Demon pinned him and had a knife at his throat. The Demon was ready to strike, and Jake closed his eyes. Was this really the end for him?
At the last second, the Demon recoiled, his face etched with utter disgust. “You don’t smell of a full human. But I don’t smell of any full Demon. What are you?” His voice was snake like.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Jake spat. This was hard considering that he had a heavy foot on his back, squishing his lungs.
The Demon didn’t have any time to reply because the tip of a sword suddenly emerged from his stomach. The monster fell over and landed next to him.
“Well that was close.” It was Markus, with his Kanata in his hands.
“Markus! What are you doing here?”
“I came to save your sorry ass as usual.” Markus said, “Get back to work! This is no time to be laying down on the job!”
Jake managed a small smile, but that soon disappeared. “Yes, Sir!”
Jake took another look at the Demon. What did he mean? He was absolutely sure he was a human. Right? Jake used his sleeve to wipe away most of the blood from his face. Markus was already out of sight. Jake reached for the saber and climbed up the slope. What he would see there would haunt him in nightmares from that point on.

Chapter 5: Assembled

Violet appeared again out of the shadows. This time she was at the black Judgment Gates. It was in the middle of a giant meteor crater and the gates had nothing behind it. Just a gate with inscriptions of death and torture etched onto the metal.
Her eyesight went fuzzy for a moment, then refocused. The distance she had covered was at least sixty miles. If not, more. The amount of energy required to travel through the shadows depended on how far her destination was. Violet regained her balance and approached the black iron gates.
“Keep away… the gates have not yet passed judgment on you…” A ghost appeared in front of the gates. He was a young boy, no older than ten or eleven years old. But his eyes were a cold, solid black that told her he will attack with the intent to kill if anything got close. His jet black hair was messy as usual and his cloths were tattered like he just had a fight. In his hand he had a black and red scythe that looked way too big for him.
“Chill out, Lucas. It’s just me.”
Lucas, the ghost, lowered the scythe a little, but kept it at the ready, “Violet… the gates claim you are no imposter. You may pass.”
As Violet approached the gates, Lucas called after her. “Violet… no trouble?”
She smirked. It might not have shown much, but she was on good terms with Lucas. “No trouble. You?”
He did not answer. His eyes seemed far away.
“Have you found your little sister yet?”
He stiffened. “No. I doubt I ever will.”
“Don’t worry about it. You’ll find her soon. I know it…” she tried to reassure Lucas.
The gates slowly opened showing nothing behind them except the rest of the crater. She paused, and then said, “Lucas, I have a favor to ask you…”

The gates closed behind her and revealed a hidden castle behind it. The stones were grey and the towers soared above her. Perched atop one of the towers was a guarding dragon. Its emerald scales were glistening in the torch light. At the entrance, there were four guards made of a black smoke like material. Their masks hid their faces and had on blood red robes. On their chests was the symbol the shape of a snake wrapped around a sword.
They pulled open the heavy iron doors with abnormal strength, allowing Violet to proceed. After walking though the long, winding hall decorated with spoils of war, she entered the throne room. It was an impressive sight. Two enormous piles of gold and jewels next to the throne were guarded by two Egyptian statues with the head of a dog and the body of a man. Each held torches the size of an elephant with another symbol the same as on the robes of the guards. On the walls were paintings of rare animals that the Lord had captured.
The man that sat on the carefully handcrafted throne was in black robes that were decorated with only the most pure jewels. His black and gold mask hid his entire face. His hair was black with streaks of grey from age.
“Oh! Oh! Violet’s here! That makes twelve. One more left!”
Sitting on the shoulder of one of the statues was Marilyn, she had the appearance of a seventeen year old girl though she was actually four hundred. Her long brown hair rolled to her waists and her ruby red eyes shone with mischief. She wore shorts and a black jacket covered in pockets. She wore black gloves that were decorated with diamonds and sapphires. She also wore combat boots and three necklaces with nearly all the jewels that existed in the world. She couldn’t fit all of them on one so she split it all up. It was no wonder that she was nicknamed the Jewel Hunter.
Violet studied her surroundings. The ten other Assassins were scattered all around the room. She spotted Ventus and Gladius bickering in the corner. Then she spotted Neko, the weird one.
Neko was a major cat lover. Maybe because his family was a long line of Cat Demons. His small but sharp teeth were displayed in his sly smile and he had the ears of a cat too. He wore the regular black cloak that the Assassins wore except for a select few. He was also the most athletic of the Assassins.
Romulus was also there, busy carving something on a wall out of boredom. Romulus was the Assassin’s weapons specialist. He was one of the few, including Violet and Marilyn, who looked close enough to human.
“Hmm? What happened to Thomas? It is not like him to be the last to arrive.” Marilyn pointed out.
“The book worm? I heard rumors that he died on the job.” Romulus said.
Gladius and Ventus stopped fighting at once. “Dead? That’s impossible!” they said together.
“Normally I wouldn’t agree with the block heads, but they have a point. Thomas is our best strategist. He would never go into battle if the risks were too high.” Neko jumped in. Neko might be weird, but he was sharp as ever.
“Yeah!” Gladius agreed. “Wait… what did you call me?”
He waved of the question. “That’s not the point. Romulus, you seem awfully calm for all this.”
All the attention was focused onto Romulus. “What? I knew he was going to die anyways. He was growing too soft to the humans.”
“Yeah, right…” this time, it was Andy who spoke. He was the tech geek who was closest to Thomas. That must be because they were cousins.
Romulus shot him an evil glare and pulled out a knife from his robes. He looked like he was going to attack him when the Lord suddenly intervened.
“Behave your selves in front of me! You may kill each other outside. I don’t want to get my floors dirty after last time.”
Romulus reluctantly slipped his knife back into his sleeve while Andy sighed in relief.
“Well? Line up!” the Lord boomed.
In a flash, the twelve present Assassins were knelt before the Lord.
“It would be useless to continue if there aren’t all thirteen Assassins present. We will have to elect another recruit.” The Lord sighed.
The doors to the throne room were swung open. “Me! Pick me!”
There stood a chubby boy with fat legs and a neck so thick, it seemed like he didn’t have one at all. His brown hair was short and wet like he had just ran ten miles. His black eyes did not possess the hardness of a killer. Violet thought the most he had done was maybe throw rocks at cats (Neko nearly killed him when he did that). He was around fifteen, sixteen at most. This boy was Shay, the spoiled son of the Lord.
“Shay, I told you to stay put in your room…” the Lord sighed once more.
“Yeah, yeah. But I over heard that you need another Assassin! I could be it! I mean I have every thing like speed!” he started running as fast as an old man. “And… umm… power!” he punched to wall, only to yelp in pain and suck his thumb. He stopped when he remembered that everyone was still watching him.
Even with the mask, Violet could tell that the Lord was growing furious as well as embarrassed by his defect of a son.
“Shay! Leave this room at once! We have no time for your useless squabbling!”
Shay seemed hurt, but Violet knew it was only an act.
“At least let me watch! I swear that I won’t interrupt!”
“Fine! If that’s what it takes to shut you up!”
Shay sat on the smaller throne next to his father’s with the look of triumph on his face. Even though he didn’t win anything.
“As I was saying,” the Lord continued, “are there any suggestions for the job?”
Silence filled the room. There weren’t many with the qualifications of being an Assassin. Then Violet had an idea.
“What about Lucas Black my Lord?”
“Lucas? No, no. that won’t do. He is already the guard of the Judgment Gates. Once he takes that job, he cannot leave his post until the Judgment Gates release him from his contract. That is a rarity already.”
Violet felt a little stupid to miss such an obvious factor.
“My greatest apologies, my Lord.”
He waved the apology away and focused on the other Assassins. “Any ideas?”
Neko shifted back and fourth. “What about…”
“What about whom? Speak!”
Neko stiffened, then continued. “What about… Thorn?”
“ARE YOU CRAZY, NEKO?” nearly all of the Assassins blurted out.
Marilyn nearly strangled him. “That guy’s a lunatic! He’ll kill us all! No one can control him! If we release him from the jail, this whole castle is going down!”
“Marilyn… can’t… breathe…”
Marilyn put him down, and then punched him in the gut, sending him back twenty feet.
“Calm down! If you don’t like it pretend that I didn’t say anything!” Neko jumped back with great agility, avoiding another punch from Marilyn.
“… That might not be a bad idea…” the Lord mumbled.
Attention was focused back to the Lord. “Umm… I mean no disrespect, my Lord, but is it wise to let loose Thorn?” Andy said timidly.
“He will be a good addition to the Assassins… as long as there is no restriction to how much he kills… and pay him a good amount… there should be no problem…” the Lord was completely ignoring everyone’s protests.
“I’m starting to think that the Lucas idea wasn’t so bad now…” it was Leo who spoke. He was a half man, half lion. He too was wearing black cloaks. Basically, he was a just muscle brain.
The others also muttered disapprovals.
“If even Leo thinks it’s a bad idea, we’re all doomed…” Gladius sighed.
“My Lord, please reconsider! The risks are much too high…” Violet’s attempts to get though to the Lord were futile. It is as if someone is manipulating his thoughts. She weighed the possibilities. Could it have been Thorn? No. He did not possess such abilities. But something was still nagging at the back of her head.
“Who is everyone talking about?” Shay said, stuffing himself silly with potato chips. “These chips have to be the best thing that those puny humans have ever made!”
“Silence, Shay!” the Lord’s temper was raising. “Violet, Marilyn, Leo. You three are to keep an eye on him for the next three days you are here.” He pointed his long finger at the pig beside him.
“SAY what?” Shay exploded, choking on a chip.
Ignoring Shay, the Lord proceeded. “I don’t want Thorn near him. Shay is too weak to defend himself in case Thorn is tempted to attack him.”
“So we are going to release Thorn?” Neko shivered.
The Lord did not answer. He seemed to be in deep thought. Or he was listening to someone through his thoughts. “Of course… why did I not think of this earlier… that should work…”
The Assassins froze in place. Someone, or something, was watching. Its presence was unfamiliar. And above all, powerful. Even the statues sprang to life, raising their shields and spears to the ready. Violet glanced at the windows. Nothing. She could not detect anything through the shadows either. Gladius was using his highly trained nose and sniffing the air. Still nothing.
From the sound of the Lord’s mutterings and Shay’s constant crunching, they have not noticed… yet.
The Lord’s voice broke her concentration. “It is decided than! Thorn will be the new member of the Assassins! Summon him here at once!”

Chapter 6: That's a Secret

Jake did not particularly like the scene shown to him at the other side of the hill. There were at least a dozen Demon Trackers, who were known throughout the Omega Organization to find and destroy nearly every safe haven there was in the West Continents, all clad in black, blood stained armor and mounted on Hell Pigs. Yes, they were called Hell Pigs. Most of you were probably imagining black fire-breathing horses with sharp teeth or something, but these giant moving sausages were bigger and a lot more intimidating. They also have an amazing sense of smell (just as strong as they smelled themselves).
In a blur of muscle and tusks, a loose Hell Pig charged, smacking full force into the side of Jordan's elephant. The two giants stumbled their way fast towards Jake. He rolled out of the way, just in time to avoid being stepped on. Sadly for Jake, one of the Demon Trackers spotted him and raised it's bow. The arrow whizzed past his face and impaled itself in a tree, which melted and turned into a puddle of acid a moment later. Jake took note in his head not to get hit by one of those.
While all Jake could do was dodge for his life, he was mostly worried for everyone else in the camp. It was his job, after all, to help evacuate everybody before it could get any uglier. As he looked around, he had spotted Mrs. Cooper herding most of the children like goats out into the safety of the secluded forest. That was good news. But what about everybody else?
"Thank God! A sign of life!" Jordan sighed.
Jake turned around to see him stumble up to him, battered and bruised, holding a club, but otherwise in good shape.
"Have you seen Marcy?"
Jake only looked at him blankly. "Who? And why is this your top priority at the moment?!"
Jordan rolled his eyes. "My elephant, who else? My pore Marcy is probably scared half to death and wandering... not knowing what to do!"
Jake didn't think that was the case, seeing how the elephant was fighting with that Hell Pig.
"Don't worry about... her, I guess I should call it. You're better off with me!"
A volley of the acid arrows started raining down, burning through boulders like cutting warm butter with a knife. The battlefield was now dotted black like a dalmatian dog's fur. Jake knocked aside some of the arrows with his sword and now it had broken in half because of the acid. Jason's club also had a hole going through his club about the size of a dime.
"I think you do have a point." Jason said.

Jake and Jason did their best not to attract attention to themselves. Jake ducked behind tent after tent, slowly making his way throughout the camp searching for anyone left behind. There was a loud moan from behind them and they whipped around. There was someone under the ruins of one of the fallen buildings.

The painful moaning was nearly inaudible from the crackling of fire, the cries of men and demon. “He… help… somebody… I can’t feel… my body…”

Jake glanced at Jason and he nodded without a word. They both took one end of the fallen rubble and started to dig furiously. “Hey! You in there! Don’t die on us, we’re coming to get you!” Jason called. Soon into their excavation, Jake was drenched sweat, his back hurt from carrying heavy rubble. The fire that raged made it hard for him to breathe properly. They both nearly collapsed when the last piece of rubble was removed, revealing a small boy with soft blond hair covered in dust and soot and his eyes looking rather heavy were a brilliant golden brown. Jake stood on his feet shakily and scooped up the kid gently. He was much lighter than he had expected. On the boy’s back was a long gash from his right shoulder to just above his left hip. It was no doubt that a Demon had inflicted this wound.

“We better get out of here fast. I don’t think anyone else is left in camp. Let’s head for the forest before the Trackers get bored with the solders and find us!” Jake said.

“It’s a miracle this kid didn’t die. Those stones were a pain in the ass to lift…” Jason complained. “But his injuries looks rather worry some.”

There were three explosive sounds in the distance almost like thunder. On the other side of the camp in the sky, Jake could make out the figures of the two Eagles tumbling in the air with another large creature with its scales colored a deep forest green. Even at that distance, he could see the creature unhinge its jaw and release a sound that resonated through the battle field, ringing in the soldiers’ ears and piercing their unsteady hearts. Despair hung above Jake and he felt like something was dragging him down, making him feel suddenly heavier.

“D-don’t listen! Cover your ears…! Now!” the boy struggled to move and his small hands clasped Jake’s ears. Jason instinctively did the same.

Something was off. Even with the boy’s hands covering his ears, it was impossible to block out every noise on the battlefield. But, all Jake could hear was silence. The heavy cloud that weighed him down was suddenly lifted. The creature in the sky snapped its jaw closed and its leathery wings thrust downwards, lifting it higher in the air. The two Eagles were pushed away by the powerful wings and they spiraled down to the earth. It went into a blind rage and frenzy, attacking everything, both human and demon. It seemed as if the Trackers had been drawn to face the creature as he could see the Hell Pigs galloping towards it.

The boy’s hands suddenly went limp and fell to his sides, swinging back and forth. “Hey! Kid! What happened? You ok?”

Jason went up to inspect the boy. “He’s unconscious. We have to get the forest now and take him to a doctor.”

They hauled themselves through the camp. It hasn’t even been half an hour, but the devastation was tremendous. It was painful for them to look at their home in shambles. Behind them they could hear the battle raging, but the solders cries became fainter and fainter. Jake took every fiber in him to not look. He knew they were losing.

“The heck was that green thing…?” Jason muttered. “God, its roar nearly split my head…”

“A demon possibly?” Jake suggested.

“But you saw it didn’t you? It was attacking the demons too.”

Jake thought as they dragged their feet through the rubble. “Then, it’s probably the Forest Guardian.”

Jason scowled. “You don’t really believe in those stories do you?”

Jake thought about the stories again that every Omega has heard of at least once. They say Guardians were nature spirits from the demon world that took physical form on Earth. They say if there was a disturbance in the peace kept in the land, they would incarnate into a beast with fearsome power, enough to destroy both human and a demon army. But no one has ever seen them before. Those who sighted them were usually gone mentally insane.

“… It’s possible though. At this point, there isn’t anything I wouldn’t believe.”

They reached the forest edge. The air was suddenly cleared from the smoke that clogged their lungs. A woman appeared before them and escorted them to where the others were. The camp residence resided inside a forest clearing. They worked rather fast, for the medical tents were already up and the injured had all been taken care of. Markus and the soldiers had not returned yet though. Jason patted Jake on the back and staggered off too look for Marcy. Jake carried the injured boy into one of the tents. The doctors took him in and that was the last Jake saw of him that day.

Jake sat down to rest leaning against a tree. He could no longer hear the sounds of battle in the distance. The fight was probably already over. Jake intended to wait for Markus, Bon and Lucky to return, but had instead started to nod off. His fatigue was greater than he imagined. Suddenly his bones began to ache and his body began to become stiff and sore.

“How can I think about sleeping when everyone else is fighting? Seriously, I’m not an old man yet…” Jake muttered and he slowly drifted off to sleep, darkness enveloped him comfortably.

Icy cold water ran from his head and down his back and Jake snapped awake, still under the same tree. He rubbed his eyes and glared up into the tree. Bon and Lucky were cracking up and nearly fell off of their branches; in their hands was a large empty tub that once held water.

Chapter 7: Marionette

-Coming Soon!-

Chapter 8: Reverie

-Coming Soon!-

Impressum

Texte: Tiffany N.
Bildmaterialien: Tiffany N.
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 27.12.2011

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