His mind had dropped all trains of thought for a brief period. All he could pick up on clearly was the sound of his own heart beat thumping in his chest. However, a sudden rushing feeling bursts throughout his body and pushes him to rush up to his feet like his life depended on it. For a moment, all he could do was just stand there as he looked around at everyone. Who could truly say they wanted to stay after seeing that horrifying beast emerge? He probably looked like a real coward after all that, and it made him feel like they were going to hold him for this. Well, only one he could think to do, and that was walk right back into the frying pan!
Walking past everyone back to the front door, he pushed on it just enough to peek back outside. No way was he going to let himself be seen in full sight of that beast or any of those others. Luckily that horrific expression it had earlier was gone now, but it had moved. Each step it took made a loud thud, at least they could tell if they were going to be chased by this thing. A trail of red dust seemed to form behind it as it walked, making tiny black spots start to appear all over the creature's body. Just as he began to question what this could mean, the next action it took put an immediate stop to that.
It had stopped in front of one of the buildings, what seemed to look like a home of some kind. The creature raises up it's right front leg and put it gently on top of the building, only to quickly push down and crush the house with little to no effort, with the sudden collapse raising up a dust cloud. This only proved one thing to him: This thing was strong and it would have no problem crushing them if it decided on it. From what little he could see of the demons moving around, it looked as though they were all searching for new prey to feast upon. He quietly pulled back and closed the door shut, letting out a silent sigh as he shook his head.
"I'll help." His words words sounded shaky after having recovered, though even that was questionable right now. Still, he wasn't going to just sit here and wait for that thing to come crushing this place down and them with it. He could see that everyone was uneasy just from being here, it didn't help any that they each had some weird creatures showing up and making things difficult. He, along with whoever else decided to help out, went off to search throughout the gym and take whatever they could find to block up the front door. It wouldn't help any against big red out there, but at least the smaller ones couldn't find them this way and make things worse.
It sounded like Sienna would be leading them out through the back, which he had no complaints about. He didn't even know if there would be a back to go out of, but it was better to look and so he walked with them to the back of the building. Sure enough, there was a back door leading out, which took off a great burden from him and made him feel calmer, to a degree. As they headed outside, he looked around to get a better view now that they weren't stuck within the building they had just randomly appeared within.
It came as a great shock to him when he saw just how strange and yet beautiful the sky looked right now. Sure, it had an eerie feeling to it at night time, but the blue moon came off as almost inviting and seemed to put an unexplained ease in his mind. Although the buildings themselves were made of an odd structure, he couldn't help but make a mental now on how closely they resembled buildings back on Earth. It almost pained him to think that once upon a time, people lived here and perhaps acted a lot like how people did back home in Timberland. Alas, that thought came to the shattering reality that perhaps that red creature had attacked this place, and it angered him as he thought on it.
Although he expected to hear the demons all make noises, it was strangely calm and quiet all of a sudden. He wanted greatly to speak up and say something to the others, but he realized that if he did, he might end up speaking up too loudly by accident and give away their position. But that gave way to another question: Where could they go from here? Explore the town for a possible means of escape? They had no means of fighting back the demons here. Go outside the town and try to find somewhere else to go? For all they knew, there was worse out there than this big red creature! Sienna may of been right earlier when she said they might be screwed.
Meanwhile, Frederick would notice a man in a suit suddenly standing outside the school after he had finished screaming of his joy, as if this man had been waiting here for him all along.
"Ah, you came." The man spoke, closing a pocket watch in his hand and putting it away, turning to look over at him.
"Well, congratulations on cleaning up the school. You may not know who I am, but that is not important right now. What is important, however, is giving you a reward for doing such a fine job, and in such record time too! I must say, I am impressed!" The strange man would only get stranger as he tilted his head down and smiled.
"Now then, how shall I decide on rewarding you?" The man suddenly snaps his fingers as raises up his head, his eyes now closed for some reason.
"Ah, I know! Why don't we shake hands on it?" The man outstretched his hand all of a sudden, keeping his eyes closed and that smile on his face. If Frederick went to shake his hand, he would suddenly find the man pulling his arm back and opening his eyes to reveal them of a more yellow color, his grin becoming twisted and growing out to give a wicked look to him as he swings his arm across the air for some reason, however, Frederick would quickly notice everything around him blurring up before he would just poof and be gone.
"Well, that was fun." The man would suddenly become panicked as the wizard appears near him.
"Ah, yes, sorry about that old friend! Let us be going now to discuss our deal!" Without another word, the two vanished without a trace!
Back with Yohan, it didn't take him very long after thinking about all of this to stop as he heard a growl coming from nearby. His eyes widened as he swallowed nervously as his eyes went to look, and sure enough, one of those demon hounds stood there staring at them. It walked out of the shadows of one of the nearby buildings they were walking by to give them all a good look at it's new form. It's inky black body seemed to have gained a solid shape from the previous form it used to move around in, black drool came down from the right side of it's mouth as it growled, leaving a small black ooze down near it as it approached them. It's now red eyes stared them down with a glare that only held malice within it.
The demon suddenly came to a stop and rose it's head up, emitting a loud howl that made Yohan almost stumble back out of fear. When the howl ended, more growls came out as other demons quickly came to the area and began to surround them, all of them keeping a slow yet menacing pace as they began to encircle them. The numbers grew greatly, to a total of twenty of them were now surrounding the group as they all looked ready to attack at any minute. Some of them even began to bark aggressively at the group, the barks sounding deep and demonic compared to how normal dogs sounded. He felt his feet gave way and he collapses to his knees, his hands soon touching the ground as well with his entire body shaking with fear at the reality that they were doomed.
"Oh, crap." The only words he could find the
strength to get out, his heart beat raced fast and pounded hard against his chest, his hands rising up and taking hold of his head. He was so
afraid, he couldn't even notice that a man named Frederick would randomly appear nearby the group, however the demon hounds didn't seem to pay him any mind for now and kept their focus solely on the group they had surrounded. "No way, I'm going to die here? This is the end? I'm such an idiot, I should of known I would of died horribly one day. What more can I do...?"
"So is that it?" The white haired male appeared again near Yohan, the hounds all began to stop as they started to get ready to pounce.
"Not even a fight to the death for your life? You will just roll over and play dead again?""I have no means of hurting demons!" Yohan cried out, raising his head up to look at the white haired version of himself. "What can I do?!"
"Stand proudly and fight fate. You are the only who always believed that destiny was a facade. Prove yourself here and now to everyone that you aren't what they picture you to be!""I can't... I don't have the strength to fight back anymore." Yohan closed his eyes tightly.
"So you want to be looked upon as a coward forever?" This caused Yohan's eyes to open back up suddenly.
"No... That's not it." Yohan shook his head, his hands slowly gripping into fists.
"Then what is this bull about not having any strength? You know the truth deep down in your heart, don't you?" This caused Yohan to hesitate a response.
"Or do you not care if these people die along with you?""No, I don't want that!" Yohan began to feel anger rising flowing through his body, his fists began to shake rapidly in response.
"What is it going to be? Will you stand up and fight back, or will you lay here and die?!" The white haired male shouted out, staring down at Yohan with a serious expression for once. Yohan growled out as he pushed himself back up to his feet and his expression suddenly changed into that of a fierce one, his eyes becoming alive again for the first time in years!
"I WON'T DIE HERE! I WANT TO LIVE!! I WANT TO FIGHT!!!" Yohan's shout caused the white haired male to smirk suddenly, giving a sudden cackle as his form erupted up into white flames, his once human form suddenly becoming engulfed and turning into more of a shadowy figure with his eyes glowing purple.
"Very well. I have heard your response and shall leave you for now. Do not forget that I still linger in your shadow! Ah-hahahaha!" As the white haired boy's form vanishes along with the flames, Yohan felt a stabbing pain come over him as he fought hard to stay up on his head, with a new voice suddenly coming to him, one that the others could hear sounded like both Yohan and the white haired boy talking at the same time.
"You've kept me waiting, boy. I have heard your plea for help and have come to make a deal with you. If you truly wish to live, you will be wise to accept it. If you do not, you can rest back on the ground as these mutts eat you alive!""What... What is this deal?" The question caused the voice to laugh loudly, the hounds all staring curiously now as they seemed to go into a more defensive reaction, as if they could feel something threatening was coming.
"I shall lend you my power temporarily, and shall unlock part of your hidden potential. If you wish to see the true strength of your soul, you would do well to try to make me appear again in the future. I do not know when that will be, but for now, I shall ask for you to give me something of importance to you." The voice suddenly grew quiet for a few seconds.
"Ah, I know what you shall give me! Your right arm shall be my price! So, do you agree to a deal with your own inner demons?""Fine!" He didn't know what had come over him, he was suddenly shouting and having confidence in himself and this mysterious force? It was unlike him, not long ago he had admitted to himself there was nothing left inside and that he would just rot for the rest of his days. He outstretched his right arm, opening his hand back open as he closed his eyes tightly. "DO IT!"
"I like that attitude! VERY WELL!" White flames erupted out all over Yohan's right arm, burning away his sleeve as he shouted out in pain, his skin burning away with the white flames consuming all of his arm.
"But I shall not be taking it to hell on this day! Instead, I shall leave it cursed for all to see that you have made a deal with a demon! Ahahahaha!" The laughter mattered little to him over the pain he felt, the white flames merging with his arm in order to produce a fine and smooth scaly surface to replace the human skin he once had over it. Gripping his hand once more, he could feel very faintly small claws having formed over the tip of his hands as opposed to having human nails.
"Do not fear, if all goes well with the others, they shall receive the same treatment! There is more than enough hell hound scum for you all to rip apart! Now, release thy rage and call upon me!""Alright!" Yohan grew a smirk suddenly as it felt like the pressure of others judging him had faded away, for once he could act like how he truly was with no hesitation! "Come out, my
Familiar!" The demon once again laughs as a purple aura bursts out around Yohan, the demon hounds suddenly leaping back and begin barking rapidly in aggression as a figure rises up from out of Yohan's body and forms a humanoid like form behind him, though it would appear to be more like an outline of something for now, the fact it was there at all more than confirmed it's connection to him. Along with this new figure appearing, a dark purple outfit forms itself and replaces Yohan's previous attire, looking very similar to what a hero in a story to make them look cool and stand out.
"Heh, wow, how ridiculous." Yohan looked himself over and began to laugh. "Never imagined myself seriously ever wearing something like this. Whatever, this is gonna be fun." Putting a hand on his neck and rotating his head around with a battle hungry grin over his face, he brought up his arms and slammed his human fist into the demonic one. "Hell yeah, watch out you dumb hounds! You got nowhere to run now, do ya?!"
"It is time to strike, show these pathetic demons who is stronger!" Both Yohan and the strange figure laughed in sync as Yohan rushed forward and grabbed one of the demon hounds by it's head, raising it up and slamming it into the ground. Narrowing his eyes as his grin grew a little briefly, he suddenly emits a high pitch sound that rushes through the demon hound's body and causes it to howl in pain as it's body bursts into pieces and fades away.
"Well lookie here, it looks like you don't like me do ya?! Alright Familiar, your turn!"
"WITH PLEASURE!" The figure vanished from sight, reappearing in front of two of the demon hounds and knocking them quickly into the air without much time to register how fast he was moving. It quickly appeared behind the two hounds and slammed them both into the ground, punching into them rapidly before picking them both up and slamming them into one another with a loud cracking sound, with both of the demon hounds letting out a painful howl before breaking apart and fading away like the first.
"Alright, you ready for a combo this time?!"
"Yes, pick out the targets and I will follow suit!" Yohan rushed off after the figure spoke these words, slamming his demon arm into one of the hounds and knocking it down into the ground. Another hound tries to jump at him and bite his neck, but Yohan was quickly to slam his demon arm into it and send it crashing into the other one. The figure appeared near them and didn't give the two hounds much time to react as it slammed a fist into them and for whatever reason, the hounds suddenly began to speed up and twitch faster and faster until both of them erupted into pieces and, as with the other three, the pieces faded away.
"Yeah, that's how we do it!" Not even caring that it may or may not be physically there, Yohan went ahead and exchanged a high five with the figure.
"I have lent you what power I can for now. You do not remember my name for now, and you do not currently have the strength within yourself to handle my power. However, I encourage you to find the strength to one day call out my name and summon me back out! Be aware that you will only have dominion over one power, I am sure you will do fine though. If all goes well, the others will undergo the same ordeal you have and also gain new strength! Until we meet again!" With those words, the figure slipped itself away back into Yohan and faded, as the purple aura around Yohan diminished enough to just barely surround his form.
"Whoa, what?" Yohan suddenly spoke out, feeling a little dizzy as he couldn't help but feel like his head had just gotten hit full force by a punch. "Oh geez, hope I don't pass out now." He could see that fifteen of them were left, he hoped the figure was correct and that the others could handle the rest while he tried to gain a hold of himself after... Whatever the hell just happened to him!
Meanwhile, unknown to them all, a figure stood nearby and observed the situation. "Yes, I can confirm five... No, at least six of them now." The figure spoke quietly, holding a finger up to his ear as he adjusted his shades. "One of them just took five of them out with the help of his
Familiar. It was a surprise to me too, but he has the potential. From what I could hear, it sounds like he has only just awakened to his power. I believe he has
The White flowing through him, so he could prove to be an ally. I shall continue to observe and see if the other five undergo the same ordeal or not. I am sure if they do, they can handle the other demons by themselves. Yes, I understand. They could be the solution we have been looking for."