It was 7:30 in the morning, I was sitting in my room on the floor, smoking my last cigarette. My mug with my daily dose of coffee was sitting beside me while my cat was running around the room like he was chasing something. I swear, this little crazy is the only being on this world that’s crazier than I am. As I followed him with my eyes a small smile appeared on my lips. This little being doesn’t even know how cruel the world is. He’s not allowed to leave the apartment, I’m too afraid someone is going to fall in love with him and take him away from me. I wouldn’t survive that.

I looked around my room. Everything was so ordinary, like nothing happened. Everything was back on its place, nothing was broken. Nothing was lying on the floor, shattered, in tiny pieces. Like that fight didn’t happen. It was like he never existed, like he was just a bad memory of a nightmare. But I knew it was not true. Why? Because I still had the scars he gave me. I couldn’t heal them with simple spells, no. They needed time to heal by themselves. Simple demon venom, it works like that. So I had cuts all over my arms, legs, bite marks on my neck, claw marks on my back. They hurt, but not as much as the betrayal I received from him. As I remembered his red eyes, his demonic fangs, and his evil gazing… A chill ran down my spine. In the meantime my cat was still running around like he was nuts. Yeah, he definitely doesn’t know in what a cruel world we live in.

I somehow managed to force myself on my feet. I took the mug from the floor and put it in the dishwasher. Accidentally I bumped with my bruised forearm into the side of the dishwasher.
“I curse the day I met him… Damn it!” The curse words went on as I walked around the apartment to gather everything I needed. I couldn’t stay in that apartment anymore. It has been corrupted by evil forces and betrayal. I had to move to the safe haven for some time. It was a direct order from the Master.
“Great… I’ll have to live in the freakin’ sewer. A girl’s dream home… Simba, remind me that I’ll have to look for a new apartment as soon as possible!” I mumbled as I ripped my clothes from my wardrobe. Simba answered me with a meow; he sat down and looked at me with his huge green eyes. His eyes… they are incredibly green, like two gems put inside a black skull. When I think about it a bit better, he’s pretty weird. His head is completely black while his body is completely white. Yin and Yang. Good and bad in one body. How poetic… I pushed my glasses higher on my nose as I realized that I’m thinking about silly things. I went on packing; I was ripping my clothes from the gut of my wardrobe, my shoes, books, and laptop. It’s funny how a person’s life can fit in a duffle bag. OK, not exactly funny, more like sad, desperately and miserably sad. Anyone who tries to say otherwise is crazy.
My makeup! I almost forgot my makeup! I ran to the bathroom just to find all the mess that got cleaned up with my spells. It was all laying in the bathtub. Broken glass, bloody pieces of broken glass and the remains of my favourite vase I got from my Mentor before he died. I ripped off the shower curtain and covered the mess with it. I grabbed my makeup and ran out, back to my bag. When everything was finally packed I picked up Simba and sighed a bit.
“You know, I loved this apartment. It was perfect. It had the perfect view, the perfect security system and great memories. Now it’s all ruined…” I shook my head a bit with a hint of disappointment. I turned around and walked out from there with everything I owned. The only thing I left behind was my broken self.

2: Peekaboo

After 9 blocks of riding in a cab which reeked of tuna fish I finally got to the meeting point. The Master said we should meet here. I paid the cab driver and he drove off, taking all that stinky smell with him. I looked around the neighbourhood, it was a bad one. Graffiti all around the walls, “gangster” kids were lurking around on the streets. I can’t bring myself to think of them as gangsters without the quotation marks. The real gangsters wore ties and shirts and suits, not boxers with cartoon characters and dramatically oversized pants! These “gangsters” are ridiculous. Completely and utterly ridiculous.
As I was waiting for the Master a smaller gang tried to approach me. As I saw them moving closer I put down my bag and my cat and I reached to my shoulder gun holster, fastened to my back under my jacket. I had some surprise for them, but as I saw their miserable knives I let my hands fall back on their place. It wasn’t fair to bring guns to a knife fight, right? As they reached me Simba started to hiss like crazy. It was so visible on him that he’s new to the “real world”; he was just simply adorable. A tall guy stepped forward from the smaller crowd.
“What brings you on our territory, babe?” he asked with a “charming” smile on his lips. Again, I can’t say it was really charming, he was just a kid. A tall kid, but a kid; circa 4 years younger than I am.
“Business… But not with you, so if you could be so kind and leave me alone? I’d appreciate it.” I said and remained neutral, not interested.
“No, we can’t do that, right boys?” the crowd behind him started cheering and yelling different things, fortunately I knew how to ignore some idiotic younglings. “You’re on our territory, pretty… We can’t leave you here all by yourself.” he went on with the talking and he broke my personal space by stepping right in front of me, only millimetres separating us now. If I hated something, it was the breaking of someone’s personal space. Damn it, I can hear you clearly from the corner of the 2nd block from here, I think I could manage to make out your words when you’re standing just a couple of steps from me. I really wanted to tell him this, but I played nice. I didn’t want to cause them, the Master and myself more trouble than we were already in. These “gangsters” had some problems too, it was visible on them. I could tell it without looking into their minds. Actually, I refused to check what they were thinking about, I think I would have killed them right there and then if I knew what was going on in their sick little heads. I took a step back only so I could look into his eyes and he’d see my expression, which showed that I’m irritated by their actions.
“Look, boys… I don’t have time for your games. OK? Go and play somewhere else, you brought the wrong weapons today, you don’t stand a chance against me, so don’t try anything stupid, deal?” Well, I guess my subtle and calm behaviour just failed, huh? The guy got visibly angry, so did his friends. The knives I mentioned before were now in their hands. I reached under my jacket once more, grabbing my Glock 42 and Sig Sauer P229 and putting it right where everyone could see them, right in front of them. As I was pointing one at the leader of this miserable group, the other one was dancing around from one member to the other. I saw that they knew they shouldn’t do anything stupid, so I calmed down a bit.
“Look, guys… I had a though day yesterday, OK? I don’t want any trouble; I just want to meet my friend and then disappear.” I sighed, took a step back and lowered my guns. It seemed they didn’t pity me; they didn’t seem to understand my problem. The lead gangster jumped towards me but in that moment a loud thunder rumbled across the sky, followed by a bolt which broke the sky in two and separated the group from me. It was a warning from the Master, who was now standing beside me, one arm extended in front of me, in a protective manner, the other arm reaching in front of him, pointing at the young boys who looked terrified now, probably because they had no idea when did this tall and scary guy appear beside me and why did it suddenly become so dark and cold around here. The Master had some tricks up his sleeve; controlling the elements was one of those tricks. I always wanted to learn from him, but he was always busy which is understandable, he’s the leader of the whole Spirit society.
“You ungrateful, pitiful souls. You will leave now, and you will never again bother anyone around here, do you understand?” his voice was deep, clear and audible. It was impossible not to hear him. The boys, almost wetting themselves nodded and ran off. I shook my head in disbelief. Where is humanity going with its youth? They get worse day by day and no one can stand against them, because apparently, when you slap someone who just called you a bitch you’re absolutely rude and you probably deserved that “nickname”. Well, no. It’s not like that. People these days think they have the right to become gods in the eyes of those who are less fortunate. I’m sick of those people. Suddenly a waving motion in front of my eyes breaks the flow of my thoughts. I remember where I am and I look at the Master with thankfulness in my eyes. But then… he extended his arms, palms upwards, motioning with his fingers that I should give him something. I knew exactly what was he thinking, but I didn’t want to give him my babies. They were mine and without them I was naked. And besides, I didn’t hurt anyone!
“Stop whining, Destiny…” his voice cut the air like sharp swords.
“Stop reading my mind, M.” I answered. I respected him, he was a great person in my eyes, but we knew each other for ages and every time I’d call him Master he’d turn around, pretending like I was talking to someone else. We were really close to each other; we were prepared to die for each other. But all that didn’t change the fact that I didn’t want to give him my guns.
“Only if you give me your guns…” he said and he wouldn’t move his hands away, they were waiting for the ice cold feeling of the steel like a child waits for a new toy. Yeah, he wouldn’t admit it, but every time he’d take my guns from me he’d go and play with them on the shooting range. I shook my head and I returned them on their places. No way that anyone is going to take them from me, not today, not for the next hundred years, not until I’ll feel safe again. He frowned lightly “You just denied the direct order of the Master. You know, if you’d have done this when you were just a young Warrior of the Spirits, I’d kick your butt.” as he said that he tried to remain serious, but he couldn’t keep himself together, he burst out laughing.
“Yeah… Like I didn’t do that when I was young and reckless. My dear, I’m afraid that your age is starting to mess with your brain. You can’t remember how was I when we first met…” I mocked him a bit.
“Or maybe you’re the one who’s too old and I can’t recall when we first met…” Well, ouch. This one hurt.
“You know M., you can be a real pain in the ass sometimes. But I’ll forgive you, because I know you can kick my butt faster than I could ever run away… So, shall we go?” he laughed at me and nodded. He picked up my duffle bag while Simba jumped directly on my chest. That was a small trick I taught him. I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him close. We were walking on those weird graffiti streets until we reached the worst part of the whole neighbourhood. It looked terrible; garbage thrown around, used needles on the ground, homeless people laying around on some pages from various newspapers. I just closed my eyes and listened where M., was going. I literally followed him blindly, as always. After a couple of minutes of silent walking I bumped into him and we almost fell over. Apparently, I was walking too closely and didn’t have time to hit the break. As I opened my eyes I saw the same neighbourhood, and a huge iron gate. It looked old, used, and dirty. I refused to touch it. With a motion of his hand, M., opened it up.
“Sure, it’s easy like that, Mr. I-know-how-to-use-elemental-magic…” I muttered and suddenly a light breeze messed up my hair. “Yeah… Really funny, M.!” I said, being a bit frustrated because he had all those awesome gifts, and all I could do was mix some potions, use some spells and sometimes light the candle with my mind. I won’t count the mind reading and keen eyesight, because that’s something a Spirit is “born” with. I don’t know if I can use the word “born”, because Spirits aren’t really born, they are created with death. You know those stories about the reincarnation, moving on or being trapped between dimensions? Well, ignore those. After death you become a part of the Spirit society. Some live in another dimension, and just to be clear, that’s not called being trapped. That’s the afterlife, people, accept it! That dimension is like our world, only for those who had passed away. They live there, in their own home, everything’s the same, everything looks the same. These Spirits are called the Remaining Spirits. They remained as they were, they don’t have to change, they can move freely inside their dimension, but they are forbidden to cross the borders between this and their dimension, that would lead to catastrophic consequences, things would turn really bad really soon. The other kind of Spirit is the Warrior of the Spirits. That would be M., and I, and a smaller group of other chosen people. You see, you can’t just become a warrior in the afterlife. You have to be marked by someone or something, and that’s really rare. That’s a bit unclear for me too. Even though I’m here for more than a hundred years, I’m still considered a noob. All I know is that you have to have the Mark of the Warrior, which looks like an hourglass, but it’s empty. It’s found on the nape of your neck. It looks like a small, but awesome tattoo actually, I like it.  I guess the emptiness represents the time which stops flowing for the Warriors. Time flows even for the Remaining Spirits, they have their own life in their own dimension, but the Warriors jump from one dimension to the other, helping wherever their help’s needed. They can’t have their own life, because by becoming a warrior you give up all your rights to anything else. You live by the Codex of the Warrior, and you live for your people. As soon as you become a warrior, your personal life disappears. It no longer exists. In the beginning I had some problem with it because as a living, breathing human being I always had to have some “me time” and it was impossible for me to imagine myself giving all my time for something that I don’t care about. But then, slowly I realized, that was my purpose. I was born for this. M. taught me as much as he could, but he was always busy with other things. In situations like those my Mentor, Magnus, jumped in. He was officially my mentor, but he knew I always liked to work with M. more, so Magnus taught me the theory while M. tried to teach me the practical side of the spells, potions and everything else he could. Actually, I don’t blame M. for not having time. It must be tough to be the strongest, smartest and most responsible Spirit in the Spirit world. He has to do everything on his own; he’s the oldest Spirit we know about. No one knows who was the original one, but as far as anyone could remember, Master was always there. And of course, he isn’t allowed to say who was in front of him in the line of being “created”. Or maybe he really doesn’t know, he’s just too embarrassed to admit that there is something he doesn’t know. So actually that’s why we call him Master. He has his own name, but he likes it when we call him M., he says his name starts with the letter M too. I tried to find out so many times, but I always failed.
As we were moving through the dark corridors of the safe haven the smell of the street garbage disappeared. It was cold in there, and as we went deeper inside it was even colder.
“M., where the hell are we?” I asked, since I couldn’t see anything in that darkness.
“We’re somewhere under the city. This place is protected with a variety of spells so no human being or demon could ever find it. You’ll be safe here…” he answered me calmly. I always envied him for being able to stay calm even in the strangest moments.
“No wonder they can’t find it. Even I would get lost in this darkness. Why is it so dark in here? I hope you know that they invented torches, like, a long time ago, you could have bought some and put it around, just so I wouldn’t trip over my own foot…”
“Stop talking and open up your mind, you’ll see clearer then…”
“If you want me to shut up then say so, don’t play the “open up your mind” trick on me…” I huffed a bit. I didn’t have a good night sleep and in situations like that one, where I slept less than 6 hours and before that I had a vicious fight, I could get all bity and angry and snappy.
“Destiny, for the love of the gods… Just do as I say.” it was audible in his voice that he was a bit tired, too. I sighed and stopped in one place. This was the first time I was in one of our safe havens. I never needed one before, I could always get rid of my problems, or the people/creatures which were causing those problems. But this time it was all just so different.  I shook my head to drive away the bad memories and I closed my eyes. I had to concentrate to open my mind. For M. this would be a piece of cake; he could open up his mind and uncloak the spells all around him with a snap of his fingers. But as I already mentioned, I was still a noob, kind of. I needed concentration for cloaking or uncloaking the visual barriers which were put around by other Warriors so the mortal world wouldn’t notice us. We were walking among them and they could see us, but they thought we are normal human beings. Actually, no one from the mortal world could tell the difference between a Human and a Spirit. But we couldn’t let them find our safe havens or our homes.
“M., I can’t do this. I can’t concentrate. My mind is all around the place…” I whined a bit. He sighed and placed his hand on my shoulder.
“Close your eyes.” he said calmly. I did so. “Now, take a couple of deep breaths.” I nodded and started breathing slowly. In and out. In and out. Deep breaths, slow ones. My heart was beating evenly, slowly. I was controlling my mind and my body. “Now… Imagine that you’re in a foggy lake and that the fog is lifting around you, and the lake is disappearing. Imagine that your mind is getting clearer. Imagine that the fog is gone and that suddenly a bright light is around you which cleans your mind from the barricade and then open your eyes.” he said on a low voice, calmly, leading me through every step. I was following his guidance. I imagined the lake, the fog, I was standing there alone. And suddenly the fog started to disappear. I felt a bit free there, standing in the middle of that huge lake, which was now disappearing. My breathing was still even when suddenly there was a flash of light. My heart skipped a beat and I inhaled deeply. When I opened my eyes, I almost got blinded by all that light which was around me. Torches. Freakin’ torches. On the walls.
“And you couldn’t have told me this when we entered…?” I asked M. in a bit pissed way. He laughed at my reaction and shook his head.
“I like to see you struggle with magic. It’s funny.” he shrugged a bit and he started walking again. I sighed and followed him. Now that I had clear vision I noticed how beautiful the corridor really was. It was built out of yellow bricks, so the light of the torches gave them a golden shine. It was as pretty as a field full of sunflowers in the sunset. I smiled a bit at that. After some more walking we reached a huge, massive wooden door at the end of the corridor. M. placed his palm on the knob and muttered a couple of words in Latin. A click was audible and the door opened up in front of us. Behind it there was a huge room, it was almost empty. There were a couple of beds lined up beside the wall, on the other end of the room there were tables with chairs. There were two other people in there except us, Rufus and Kibou. I know them because Kibou saved my life when Rufus told a demon that I said it couldn’t take me out even if it tried, so the demon almost killed me because of that. I guess we could say that Rufus is a prankster. They looked terrible now, they had wounds too and they looked completely exhausted. It seems I’m not the only one who got attacked by demons these days. I greeted them with a nod and then I looked at M.
“Why can’t I stay at your place?” I really didn’t want to stay here. The place itself wasn’t bad, but I needed my privacy. And here we would all sleep in the same room, and if I’m right, I’d have to share the bathroom with the others. Anyone who knows me, knows that I hate to share anything with strangers. Rufus and Kibou weren’t complete strangers, but I didn’t know them well enough yet.
“And if you won’t stay here you won’t get to know them, ever…” M. added his own thoughts to mine.
“Hey! I think I told you already to stop reading my mind!” He smirked at that.
“I can’t do that. Firstly, your barrier is too weak; you have to work on it. Secondly, even if it was stronger, your thoughts are so much louder, they’d scream through the barrier.” I shook my head. I tried to create a barrier against mind readers in my head, but it was all a lost cause. All the Spirits can read minds, the barriers are only a precaution; you can never know who will read your mind and give you or your thoughts away.
“Just get out of my head, please.” I muttered as I walked over to one of the beds and sat down. Simba was still in my arms. He seemed shocked. He wasn’t moving at all, he was just looking around with huge eyes. I think the poor thing couldn’t believe what he was seeing. I put him down on the bed and caressed his back so he’d relax a bit. He just pulled closer to me and his eyes were constantly moving around, trying to realize where he was. M. walked over to us and put down my bag beside the bed.
“Look… You can’t stay at my place. I don’t know how, but the demons know our locations. Rufus got attacked on his way home, they attacked Kibou in her own yard. Your story is a different one, but I guess that was a part of their plan too. Who knows when will they find me… I don’t want you to be near when it happens.” he said and a small smile appeared on his lips. I shook my head and looked away from him. I knew he wanted to protect me, it was always like this, but I was a grownup, I could take care of myself. And if I’d stay at his place there’d be a bigger chance that he’ll survive the attack.
“Don’t even think about it, Des.” I made a face, but I said nothing. I knew I won’t be able to make a point. If there was a more stubborn person on this planet than I am then it was M.
I finally looked at him again.
“Those motherfuckers ruined my life. They broke me into little pieces. Because of them I’m forced to start a new life. I think I deserve a chance to at least try and kick their butt, don’t you think?” as I asked that I realized how selfish I sounded. M. wanted to protect me and I would gladly run into a battle and die because of my broken pride. “Whatever. Just go, I’ll be fine…” I sighed and fell on my back on the bed. Poor Simba jumped a bit because I scared him, but in the next moment he was already lying on my belly. M. gave me one of his rare, warm smiles, turned around and left. Soon after that I fell asleep.
Suddenly I was back at my old apartment. I was preparing dinner and laughing at something. As I turned around I saw him. He was just as perfect as always. His raven black hair was shining in the dim light, his ice blue eyes were seeing into my soul. His smile… He could kill with that gorgeous smile of his. And then the sound of breaking is audible. The plate fell from my hands. I was shocked, truly shocked. His eyes turned blood red, the grimace on his face was now only a mere shadow of the smile which was visible on his lips only moments ago. His fangs appeared out of nowhere. They were long, thin… Like the fangs of a venomous snake. I couldn’t react. He jumped at me and tackled me on the floor. I was struggling but I couldn’t bring myself to do what I was taught to do in this kind of situation. I couldn’t kill the man I loved. Correction… The demon I loved. He sank his fangs in my neck, only so he could inject me with the demon venom; the only venom that could kill a Spirit. It hurt, the betrayal more than the bite. I felt as it started to stream in my blood, maybe that was the only thing that triggered my rage and brought me to my feet. With a slick move I pushed him away and jumped up. And almost fell again. I had to lean against the kitchen counter, I felt dizzy. I wiped away the tears from my eyes so I could see clearly, but my vision wasn’t right. It was blurry and really weak. I was weak. I felt a strong grip on my arm, I grabbed the closest thing to me, my favourite vase and threw it at him. It broke on his head and he fell backwards, breaking my coffee table into million little pieces. I guessed I should have bought the regular, wooden coffee table, not the extra expensive one which was made out of glass. It didn’t even help that much, it merely scratched him. He got up, got rid of the shards of glass and he jumped towards me once more. I wanted to move away, but instead I fell on the floor. I was paralysed by the venom, I couldn’t move, but I could feel the pain running through my cells. I was lying on my back and suddenly the red eyes were staring right into mine. There was a sick smirk on his disgusting, deformed lips. He turned me around, now I was facing the floor and suddenly I felt the kind of pain you feel when someone’s ripping open your chest so he could take your heart out and serve it for dinner. It was terrible. I wanted to scream, but my voice left me. I felt the same pain three or four more times.
And then I woke up. My clothes were wet from the sweat and my eyes were red from the tears. Kibou was sitting next to me, I could see pity in her eyes. I jumped up and looked around. I was still in the safe haven. My brain started to realize that this was just a bed dream. Actually a memory, but a dream. I was breathing heavily, I felt dizzy and I was really thirsty. I didn’t say a word, I just walked over to the tables; there were bottles of water on each of them. I grabbed one and drank half of it. Now Rufus was the one who looked worried.
“You know, it’s easier if you talk about it.” I could hear the pity in his voice. I hated it when someone pitied me. I shook my head like a stubborn child.
“There’s nothing to talk about. Nothing happened; it was just a bad dream.” I answered silently and walked back to my bed. I took my bag and started to dig through my things. I found my black cargo pants and my white tank top although I wasn’t looking for them. But I guess it was time to change into something that’s not sticking to my body because of that damn nightmare. I looked at the two unfortunate souls with anger in my eyes, both were looking at me with that kind look in their eyes; they understood what happened and they wanted to help me. I didn’t need help.
“I’m going to the bathroom. No one goes in while I’m in there, understood?” I didn’t ask, I demanded. They nodded. I turned around and marched into the bathroom with my clothes in my hands. The bathroom was small, but it had everything you needed. I got undressed and left my clothes in a pile on the floor. I got into the bathtub and let the hot water stream all over me from the shower. I felt disgusting; I needed this shower to wash away my memories and my bad feelings. I didn’t want to feel like this. I didn’t want to feel at all. I broke the Codex of the Warrior; I let myself be led by my desires. I let myself love another being and that almost killed me. Actually, he is the one who almost killed me. I will never again make this same mistake. The only people I should care about are my own. No one else.
My mind was racing like the Road Runner, thinking of every moment from my birth as a Spirit till now and I couldn’t feel more ashamed that I made a mistake like this one. I let myself love someone… I let myself love a demon! I didn’t notice the signs, I didn’t notice that he’s evil, that I should eliminate the threat. For the first time in my life as a Spirit, I failed my people. And that almost got me and M. killed.
Yeah, M. is the one who saved me at the end. Apparently he had a weird, bad feeling all day and when, after the fourth call, I didn’t answer my phone, he decided he’ll check on me. He said that when he got to my apartment I was laying on the floor with the demon on my back. It had its claws deep in my skin, trying to get as much venom in my system as possible. It seems I’m pretty strong and a bite wasn’t enough to kill me with that crap they carry around in their system. I don’t remember any of that, I was unconscious. That was the only way I could eliminate the pain. M. says that he didn’t get to kill him. As soon as the demon saw him, it jumped up and out the window. It disappeared. I hope I’ll see the motherfucker one more time. That will be the last time we see each other because either he or I will die. There won’t be another way out. Suddenly, the water became ice cold. How long have I been standing in the tub? I turned off the water and got out. I dried myself up and got dressed. When I got out of the bathroom Kibou was playing with Simba, while Rufus was laying on his bed, staring at the ceiling.
I couldn’t stay in there for another moment. I had to get out of there.
“Hey, guys… I’m going for a walk. I’m going to check some apartments which are for sale. I won’t be long.” I lied. I’ll be out as long as it’s possible, probably until someone will get so worried that they’ll arrange a search party. Kibou nodded and went on playing with my cat, who seemed to enjoy the attention he was getting. I smiled a bit at that.
“Watch out, if anything happens, call us.” It was Rufus who said that. It seems that he’s not only a trickster, but also a fatherly figure. I nodded at him.
“Sure, I will do so.” another lie I had to tell. I took my guns and placed them in the pockets of my pants which were remodelled just for them. My babies deserve only the best. And this is way more practical than the shoulder holster, I don’t have to reach under my jacket, I just reach into my pocket. It’s an innocent little motion. No one would ever think that I’m hiding my guns in my pockets. “I’ll be careful and I’ll call you if something happens.” I took my jacket and hurried away.
I had no idea where I’m going or what I want to do. I was just running through the golden corridor. When I finally reached the iron gates I was surprised to see that it’s dark outside. I slept through the day. I frowned a bit, but still carried on, not wanting to go back inside. I’d go crazy there. I stepped on the dirty streets which were now filled with baggers, dealers and some guys with guns. I glued my eyes to the pavement and I just walked. I hear different voices yelling different things, but I didn’t pay attention. I just walked faster and finally, I was at the spot where my cab left me. I looked around and I had no idea where I want to go. I felt like I need to be near someone I know. I didn’t want to talk; I just wanted to be in the company of someone who knows me well enough to know not to ask me stupid questions. There was only one person like that on this planet. M.
Fortunately I knew where he lived. Unfortunately he didn’t want me near. But hey, since when do I care about what other people think? I started walking again. Till now I didn’t notice how many young people play around with guns on the streets. Where do they get them? Do they just walk into a grocery shop and they go like ‘Hey, I need some onion, garlic, carrots… I think some eggs too. And don’t forget my Colt!’? I don’t get it. They are so young, and they are ready to give up their lives because of some false dreams and ideas. Why? As I was wondering about things which shouldn’t concern me at all, I noticed that someone was tailing me. I wasn’t far from M.’s apartment, maybe a block away. I got to the crossroad where I should have turned right. I turned left. I couldn’t give away the location of Master’s apartment, especially if it was a demon that was following me. After my left turn I took another left and I ended up in an alley which was empty. It was a great location for an unplanned attack. I hid behind a container and waited for the being. Someone just turned into the alley way and stopped, then started walking again. Every step was louder and louder. When the mysterious someone reached the container it stopped. I had no idea who the hell this was but I was ready to jump at its throat. I was ready for that, but I received a surprise. It obviously was a demon, because it had enough strength to push the entire container and knock me over. This time I didn’t hesitate. I grabbed my guns from my pockets, jumped up and aimed at the damned creature. As I saw who it was, I wanted to cry from anger.
“You crazy idiotic bastard! I almost shot you! Are you mentally ill?” I screamed at him from the top of my lungs. I put away my guns before I’d pull the trigger. He grinned widely and stepped closer to me.
“Were you going to my apartment?” he asked as he dusted off my back.
“Yes, I was! And I thought a demon is tailing me and I almost shot you! How can you be such an idiot?!” I was still yelling, he was still grinning. I took a deep breath so I wouldn’t jump at his throat. “OK… I’m fine… Everything’s fine. But what the hell are you doing here? Why were you following me?”
“I went back to the safe haven to check on you, I didn’t hear from you the whole day and the guys told me that you went out for a walk. I immediately knew where you’d go.” he shrugged lightly. I sighed and closed my eyes for a couple of seconds, only so I could concentrate on my self-control.
“But why did you knock me over?” I tried to sound as calm as possible. I don’t know if I managed to do so.
“I wanted to teach you a lesson. You can’t walk around alone in the dark, especially when the number of attacks is this high. What if I were a demon? What if I’d attack you and I’d be much stronger than you are? You’d live through the same pain as yesterday and I wouldn’t be around to save you again.” I think he was trying to scold me. It wasn’t working.
“Did you see my babies in my hands? They were ready to shoot at you… Damn it, I was ready to shoot at you! If you wouldn’t have knocked me over you’d be lying on the ground now, whining from the extreme pain!” My guns were filled with special bullets which could kill demons, but couldn’t harm the spirits. They’d feel excruciating pain, but they could be healed with some spells. Unlike the scars which are caused by demons, the ones you get from a spirit you can heal with different kind of spells. M. started to laugh, really hard. I was just standing there, looking at him, asking myself if I did anything funny, or maybe said something that could cause his laughter. But no, I actually didn’t do anything special.
“Would you care to fill me in on your little secret joke?” He was standing there for a couple of minutes, just laughing, and then he took a huge breath and he tried to calm himself. All that time I was just standing there and was looking at him like he’s crazy or something. If I wouldn’t have been so angry I’d laugh at him, but like this? No way. He finally gathered his strength to talk.
“I’m sorry. It’s just so sweet and funny when you get so scared and worried that you start yelling, and you communicate through questions, and then you just stand there angrily and stare at the person until they feel bad and start apologizing… And your expression!” and at that point he started laughing again. I sighed and a small smile appeared on my lips. I shook my head lightly while I walked to him.
“You know, I’d like to slap you now, but I won’t because I bet you’d start laughing even harder…” I wrapped my arms around his left arm and started pulling him away from that dark and abandoned place. He was still laughing when we reached his apartment, I was laughing with him, but when we saw the only person we didn’t want to see ever again in our lives standing on his doorstep, the clingy noise of our laughing disappeared and our smiles turned into something known as a horrified grimace.

“Peekaboo, I’m here to kill you!” His ice blue eyes turned blood red… again. 

3: Weird fog, black eyes and bat wings

On the streets of New York a young man was walking around the block. His girlfriend left a suspicious note on a piece of paper on his door mat. The message was about breaking up with him because he’s not what she was looking for. It would all be fine if he wouldn’t know, in fact, that this wasn’t true. Every day since they started dating, that is for the last three years, she told him every day that he’s everything she was ever looking for in a guy. They loved each other madly, deeply, and they were always fine, great, perfect! They were the dream couple. So, what was this all about now? Was she preparing a surprise for him? Or was she cheating on him? What happened? He couldn’t figure it out so he decided that he’ll talk to her in person. He always knew when she was lying by a look in her eyes, so it was impossible she could lie to him when they are talking face to face. He dressed up, got out of his apartment onto the rainy streets of the city and he started walking. She didn’t live far away from him, only a couple of blocks. When he reached her building he noticed that the lights in her apartment are off. She was either asleep or she was out with someone. He decided to find out. He typed in the code on the entrance door and with a loud beep the doors opened. He got inside and walked up the stairs to the 2nd floor. He always hated the elevators, the stares were his favourite. When he reached her doors he couldn’t hear anything. He knocked on the door, but there was no answer. Nothing. He sighed lightly and decided that it would be better if he’d wait outside. So since then he was walking in circles around the building. For two hours already.
Night has already fallen, and the girl of his life was still nowhere in sight. He sat down on the stairs in front of the entrance door.
“Where the hell are you, darling?” he asked with fear, worry and sorrow in his voice. He knew something’s wrong. He couldn’t tell how he knew it, or what happened exactly, but he knew something’s very wrong. After another hour of waiting, worrying and almost yelling at everyone because she wasn’t coming home finally a black car pulled over in front of the building. He looked up with much hope in his heart, and there she was. But something was different… Something was really different about her. She usually wore light colours, dresses, skirts, blouses. Now? Now she had leather thighs in the combination with a black corset and a long fur coat. Her blond hair wasn’t reminding him of the warm sunshine anymore; it reminded him of the colour of the skin which ill people have. She was moving delicately, her movements didn’t change. But she seemed distant, cold. He couldn’t seem to recognise the person he loved so much.
“Evangeline…?” he whispered, almost as if he was afraid she’s going to respond and then he’ll be forced to believe that this person really was his dearest Evangeline, the girl who was always nice, warm and helping. She heard him. She turned to see him and he couldn’t believe his eyes. Her lips were different, as if she was trying to hide something under them. Her eyes were black; completely black. He could swear that they were two pieces of black holes and that they could suck the whole world into the cold eternity.
“Yes, Aidan? What do you want?” her voice was breaking his heart. It wasn’t kind, friendly. It was hostile, cold.
“What happened to you?” he was trying to find out as much as possible, but she just turned around and headed towards the entrance door. Only now did he notice her nails. They were black and long, like animal claws. He had no idea what was going on but he was starting to freak out. He reached after her and managed to grab her wrist just before she’d reach toward the door knob. She pulled away and anger was visible on her face.
“What do you want, boy?” she asked, revealing what she was hiding under her full, beautiful lips. They were fangs; long and thin fangs.
“I want some explanation! What happened to you? Who did this to you?” he was really freaking out by this time. His eyes were wide from the fear, but he wasn’t afraid for his own life but for hers. He knew that she was a good and sweet person all her life and now all of a sudden this happened. Why? How? When? He was full with questions. The girl who was now unknown to him answered slowly, on a low voice.
“You have to disappear, now. If you want to live, you’ll leave now and never look back.” her black eyes were shooting sparks, fireworks, bullets at him. Everyone could tell that she meant what she told him. Everyone but him. He climbed up the stairs and faced her, looking her deep into those two huge black holes. Slowly, he brought his palms to her cheeks and cupped them. She wanted to move away but she hit the wall with her back.
“Linnie, I know you’re still in there. I don’t know what happened to you but clearly this isn’t you. Please, fight this something that’s taking over you… Please…” he whispered softly while a tear slipped down his cheek. It hurt him to see his one and true love see like this. He knew what a good person Evangeline really is and he refused to give up on her, to see that goodness disappear just like that. He won’t give up on her, never.
“The Linnie you’re looking for is long dead, dear boy. Now go, and never return!” she hissed at him. The word “dead” hit him in the heart like a knife. It can’t be, she’s not dead. He’s cupping her cheeks and he’s touching her skin. She’s standing right in front of him. Her body is here; her soul must be in there as well! It must be hiding somewhere deep inside, in a corner where the darkness can’t reach her.
“I won’t leave… Not without Evangeline, the real one!” Aidan was really clear about not leaving without Linnie, so Evil – Evangeline made sure that he’ll leave her be. With a smooth move she let her dagger slide out of the sleeve of her fur coat and with an even smoother move she buried it deep in his chest. Another teardrop slid down the boy’s cheek.
“I… love you, Linnie.” he whispered as the blankness took over him, and finally he didn’t feel a thing. His body dropped on the floor like it was a bag of potatoes. The cold blooded girl turned around, entered the code for the doors and disappeared.
After who knows how many hours of darkness and feeling nothing, absolutely nothing, Aidan woke up. He was in a street he never saw before. He wasn’t even sure if it was New York, it sure didn’t look like it. He looked around and suddenly he realized that he has no idea how he got here. He remembered waiting for Evangeline and then nothing, a blank page in his brain. Slowly he stood up and he noticed that he has a terrible headache and he’s feeling dizzy. He needed a phone, immediately. He had to call Evangeline to check on her if she got home safely, but where was his phone? He checked his pockets, all of them and his phone wasn’t there, which was weird because he always had it with himself. The next thing he realized was that his bracelet wasn’t on his wrist. it was a special one because he got it from his brother who had one just like that one. He was close to his brother, always; they were best friends. He remembered the day when his brother returned from the war. Aidan was only 17 then and he was more than happy that his brother is back. Their parents threw a huge party for Ian, all his friends were there, there were cakes, food, and alcohol; everything that a 22 year old could wish for. But Ian didn’t seem to care about those things. The two brothers went out in the backyard with two bottles of beer, sat down on the grass and talked for hours. About everything that happened to them, about their plans and everything else that came to their mind. That was the day when Aidan got his bracelet, and since then he never took it off, not once. It was a symbol for their bond only a few can share. Suddenly something flew across the street just a couple feet away from him. He snapped out of his thoughts and tried to see through the fog which was in his head, created by the headache and the dizziness. When he looked a bit better he could see that the thing that flew was big. Actually, pretty big and it was moving.
“Holy mother of flying… What the…?” he asked with disbelief when he saw a huge guy getting up from the floor. The thing which flew wasn’t a “thing” but a person. Quickly he checked the other side of the road from where the guy was probably thrown, pushed, or something. There was a somewhat smaller guy just standing there, 15 feet away from him, and a really pissed girl who just screamed and launched into attack. He kicked the guy in the stomach and he fell on the ground, but just as if nothing happened he got up and smacked the girl. He slapped her and she shut up, there was complete silence for a couple of seconds. Then he started laughing. The flying guy was now by her side and now he was the one who slapped the smaller guy, who seemed to enjoy the hits which were thrown at him. But there was no time for him to enjoy, because the tall guy and the girl synchronised. It was as if you synchronised two robots to move exactly the same. One was hitting from the left, the other from the right. It was completely unbelievable. And then suddenly, the girl pulled two guns out of nowhere.
-
As I was standing with my guns in my hands and with that dirt bag in front of me I was full of hate, anger, despair, sorrow, sadness. I was completely negative. And the fact that he was throwing around insults and M. just a moment ago wasn’t helping his case. And now as M. was beating the crap out of him he was just laughing. He probably didn’t even notice the guns in my hands.
“M., enough…” I warned him so he could move out of my way on time.
“Destiny, put those things away, we’ll kill him the old fashioned way. With daggers.” he said and in the same moment the silver daggers dipped in holy water and blessed by a special someone only M. knew about was flashing around in his hands. With every hit he caused a wound on the demon’s face, on the face I used to know and love. And with every wound a scream would escape his throat. But he didn’t fight back. Why wouldn’t he fight back? Something was really wrong here. Tom knew how to fight, he showed me that the night he attacked me. But now? He was screaming and laughing, and again screaming and laughing. And he wouldn’t fight back.
“M., something’s wrong… Something’s really wrong.” as I said that I heard something on my left side, it was coming from the yard of M.’s house. Someone was moving there. “It’s a trap!” I shrieked and right after that three other demons appeared from nowhere. So it was now four against two. I think I heard M. mutter something like “Let’s get this party started” and I was ready, I was aiming at the demons, but then they started to teleport around us. In one moment they were in front of me and in the next they disappeared and a black cloud appeared around M. and me.
“Dessy, dear… What the hell is your ex doing? I mean… If he’s jealous tell him we’re not together…” he hissed nervously. I guessed this was a first for him. It was a first for me too, I never saw something like this before.
“Remind me of my mistake of being with that scumbag again and I’ll push you into the black fog… and it’s nice to know you killed off the chance of us being together.” as I said that I glanced at him for a second and in that moment, I swear, I could see him loose control and concentration. And it wasn’t good. Not now, it was never good to lose concentration in our world. The black fog around us became thicker and thicker and we had no idea how to get rid of them, so I grabbed my guns and I started to shoot around. My bullets, which were filled with holy water, were poking holes in the thick black something that was flowing around us but in the next second the holes would disappear and it would all go on. So I went on shooting while M. took his daggers and started to pierce through the blackness.
“Do you think they have their poison in their cloudy form?” M. asked me while looking around, trying to think of something useful.
“I have no idea, I really don’t have any idea because guess what… I never met something like this!” my nervousness was slowly starting to show on the surface.
“Well think then! Think of anything that could help us!” he answered angrily. I put away my guns and grabbed his daggers without asking. Before he could protest I shook my head.
“Don’t… Just don’t. I think I have a solution, so shut up.” I brushed him off and reached out my arms. My fingers were wrapped firmly around the daggers while I pierced the black veil. I didn’t poke around, I was just holding it there and while the fog was moving it was being cut in pieces. For a couple of seconds nothing really happened, they were moving with the same speed, same form. But then they slowed down a bit, and then they stopped. It looked like as time froze down, nothing and no one was moving.  I took a deep breath, hoping this would work.
“M., get down…” I whispered. Without any hesitation he got on all four. I closed my eyes, grabbed the handles of the daggers even tighter and with a swift turn I drew them around in the motionless darkness. They cut through it as through butter. As I reached the point where I pierced the precious pieces of silver blades into the demonic mass I stopped and pulled them out. Just like a bad dream after waking up, they disappeared. The blades fell from my hands onto the cold ground, making a clanking noise… and after that, silence. I looked down at M. who was picking up his daggers after which he shot me an angry look.
“You know, you don’t have to throw them around, they just saved our lives…” he muttered with a frown on his face while he was putting them away carefully.
“Oh, I’m sorry I hurt your babies… I’m sure they’ll survive…” I answered, not so nicely. I mean, I just saved our lives and this is thanks for it, “you don’t have to throw them around”. Yeah right. And he’s allowed to take away my guns. How nice. I didn’t want to fight right now, I knew he was irritated by what just happened, and I was too. This was something entirely new, what meant that the bad guys were working on new techniques. They have new skills and weapons while we were still fighting like in the old days. We needed improvements, good ones, and we needed them really fast. Just as I wanted to apologize to M. and tell him my ideas I heard something bump into a container or something similar. When I turned around, I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was a new born warrior. And it was also really scared. He probably wanted to run away at that point, but he couldn’t. I knew that feeling all too well, I was feeling it for months when I was still a noob. It was as if something was drawing me to these people, to their force and being. I was scared and felt alone, but I knew that I’m not alone, and that I shouldn’t be scared. I bet he feels the same right now. With my ankle I nudged M. lightly in the leg. When he looked at me I just nodded towards the boy.
“Is he…?” he asked with disbelief. I understood him. The newest addition to our little family was Jinx, at least till now, and he got initiated 53 years ago. So yeah, this was pretty rare.
“Yes, he is. But… How?” I still couldn’t believe my eyes. I knew he was a new born, I could see that special kind of glow. Not a literal glow, but the one you see on a student who got an A, or a hardworking man who just got promoted. You couldn’t see lights around them, but you could just see that they are special, that something happened to them.
“Obviously, he died.” M. answered my rhetorical question. I looked at him with rose eyebrows and my lips parted, I was ready to answer him, but then I noticed some suspicious movements in the yards of M.’s neighbours.
“We should go.” As I said that he was already on his two feet and walking. I followed him and now we were moving toward the new fellow warrior who seemed to be frozen. We reached the guy and without a sound M. grabbed him by his arm and pulled him with us.
“We should get him to the safe haven.” he muttered silently.
“There’s no more space in there, the beds are all taken.” I answered silently while looking around the neighbourhood, checking if those monsters returned.
“In case you forgot, we have more than one safe havens in this city…” he reminded me. I wanted to reply but the guy who was walking between us interrupted our conversation.
“Um… excuse me… But who the hell are you and what do you want from me?!” he asked, a slight sign of freaking out audible in his voice. I sighed a bit because I knew that from now on it will be all questions and I wasn’t a really patient person, if I hated something more than demons, it was explaining something to a noob. M. knew that very well so he took this one over.
“We’ll explain everything once we get to a safer place. The guys you saw before might be around, waiting for a chance to attack again, so we better hurry.” while we were trying to speed up a bit, the guy was trying to break free from M.’s grip.
“Are you the police or something? Because if you are then I have something to report! My girlfriend… something weird happened to her. She’s acting weird and I’m sure something happened to her… I just can’t remember what!” he was trying to recall the happenings; it was visible on his face. He must have died shortly after something happened to his girlfriend. I didn’t really care; if something happened to her she’s probably in the other dimension. But M. cared.
“What do you mean? What happened?” he asked, being all caring and nurturing, like he was the guy’s brother or father. The new born was pretty surprised by the warmth he got from him and he stopped wriggling under M.’s grip.
“I remember walking around the block, waiting for her because she left me a suspicious note in which she wrote that she’s breaking up with me. It wasn’t her stile to just break up with me like that, she’s a gorgeous soul, she wouldn’t do that, not even if she was really angry at me. And then when she got home she was weird. Cold. Dark.” at that part he got me interested in the story. Either the girl was a total bitch or something demonic happened to her. It was known that demons would possess someone who was pure at heart and turn them into this horrible, cold, mean, evil, dark being, only a shadow of the person they used to be.
“Did her eyes turn red?” I asked curiously. He looked at me like I asked the stupidest thing there is while M. made an unsatisfied noise. I didn’t care. If this was a demon deal we had to let some people know. I was waiting for an answer, I thought he would shoot at me with an answer like ‘Are you crazy? What are you talking about?’, but no. Instead, he started thinking. It was fascinating how it was clearly visible on his face when he’d start thinking hard.
“No… They didn’t turn red. But it was like a shadowy something came over her beautiful eyes. They became darker, black. But that’s impossible, I think someone hit me on the head and they brought me here and they kidnapped her. It’s possible, isn’t it? She’s not dead.” he stated. He didn’t dare to ask, being afraid of the answer he might get. Now I was the one who made the unsatisfied noise. Demons that turn into fog, a girl whose eyes turn black instead of red. What’s next? They’ll grow bat wings? This was getting out of control. Master noticed that I didn’t answer the guy’s statement, so he took over once more.
“Yeah, I’m sure she’s fine; she just got scared when… When this happened to you…” he smiled lightly, not having the heart to tell him that he’s dead. The guy nodded, not saying a word. I looked at M. with a fusion of emotions in my eyes. He glanced at me and I saw the same things in his eyes. He was puzzled, bothered by this situation, and he was also curious about the girl who had black eyes. And he was tired; very tired. I could see it on him. He usually had that strict look on his face which made him even more attractive, but now there were dark circles under his chocolate brown eyes, the lines of worry on his forehead, his lower lip was bleeding and he had a huge bruise on his jaw. I have no idea how it got there but it was there and it looked bad. I don’t want to think of all the bruises and wounds all over his body. I guess if he wouldn’t have a military haircut he’d have holes in his hair too. He looked terrible, and tired. He needed to rest, as soon as possible. “Destiny, stop worrying about me. I’m fine.” he said with a strict voice. Obviously he wanted to get back that authoritative position and attitude he always had. I only nodded, not wanting to argue with him. Soon we got back to the street full of graffitis and I could see confusion on the boy’s face.
“Where are we?” he asked suspiciously.
“We’re near to our safe haven. If it would be out in the open in the “peaceful part” of the city it wouldn’t be a secret, would it? Anyone could go in and out and it wouldn’t be safe.” that’s the friendliest thing I said to the poor soul since we’ve met. I sighed a bit, but didn’t apologize for my previous behaviour. When we got to the iron gates once more I made that same disgusted face I’d always make when something would be completely disgusting. M. used the elemental trick again and the with a creek the gates opened wide. By that time the noob started to wriggle again.
“I’m not going in there, it’s dark and filthy and who knows who is in there? Who are you people? I thought you are cops! Are you organ harvesters? What do you want from me?” he demanded answers while he was more and more forceful with that wriggling of his.
“M., take care of him or I will…” I muttered in an annoyed tone.
“Take care of me? You want to kill me?” the poor boy was now completely freaked out. M. sighed a bit and stood in one place. With a swift move he made the boy turn to face him.
“Look, you fell into a world of weird things. You never saw things like these before. I didn’t want to say this earlier because you wouldn’t believe me, maybe you won’t believe me now either, but you’re dead. You died, that’s why you can’t remember what happened to you and why you ended up in that street. Your girlfriend is a demon and that’s why her eyes turned black. You’re a member of a world called Spirit society, however you fancy it. You’re a Spirit warrior, that’s why you landed so close to that battlefield, because I was there; I’m the Master, and you shall call me so. This is the safe haven of the spirits which were attacked by demons. We have another dimension where the Remaining spirits are, they are the spirits we are protecting from the demons who want to take over that dimension and win dominance over us. The Remaining spirits get to live a “normal” life, I don’t know if it’s possible because they are dead and they are missing their previous life, but they are living their life. We can’t do so, we’re fighting off the evil and we can’t have our own lives because we have to give up everything for our destiny, which is eternal loneliness. Any questions?” he finished harshly, all the time his palms were clenched against the boys shoulders. I just gasped, I couldn’t do anything else. This was really harsh. I never saw M. talk like this to a noob, or to anyone else as a matter of fact. He’s strict but also calm. He knows to snap sometimes but not this much. He just loaded the whole truth on the poor boy and he was just staring at him like M. was nuts.
----
This man was staring at me like I was the crazy one. But that wasn’t true. He just told me the craziest things there are, he’s totally crazy! I slowly glanced at the girl who froze down beside us, clearly she also thought that he’s crazy, I wasn’t the only one.
“M., let go of him…” she said quietly. She slowly walked over to him and placed a hand on his back. “Come on… You’re tired. You haven’t slept in days, have you?” she asked with worry in her voice. This probably wasn’t the first time the guy snapped. OK, now I was entirely sure that they weren’t cops. But who were they, and why did they bring me with them? The man slowly loosened the grip on my shoulders and his hands fell beside his body. His head sank down; his chin was almost resting on his chest. It was funny how he looked like a child who just did something wrong and was waiting for a scolding, but actually he was a mountain and he looked dangerous, I think if someone would try to scold him he would break them into small pieces like they aren’t anything more but simple twigs. But the girl didn’t scold him, she just stroke his back lightly and pushed him towards the gates. He obeyed and within a couple of seconds he disappeared in the complete darkness of the tunnel lying behind those massive iron guards. The girl now looked at me and sighed a bit.
“Look… you have to forgive him. He had a long week, many things happened and he’s frustrated and he didn’t sleep for days. He’s really tired.” I could hear the apology in her voice.
“It’s OK. He freaked me out a bit, but it’s OK, I get it. But… would you tell me who you guys are and what do you want from me?” I asked, trying not to seem suspicious, I didn’t want another one of them attacking me.
“Well…” she paused, “What he said… It’s true. You’re dead and this is the world of the Spirits. You’re one of us now.” she said on a low voice. She had a look in her eyes that said that she was actually afraid that I’d freak out again and she’ll have to take care of me.
“You people are crazy. I don’t know what your problem is but you all have to go to a psychologist. You have serious problems in your head and you need pills. There are no such things as ghosts and demons and what else not. You’re all just a bunch of nutcases!” I yelled at her. She closed her eyes and was inhaling deeply. I have no idea why was she doing that, but when she opened her eyes she seemed calmer than before.
“I know this is crazy, I had the same reaction when they told me that I’m dead and the part of this new, huge society. But I got used to it in no time, and they aren’t so bad. There’s only a few of us, warriors. And you don’t even have to meet the Remaining spirits. And you can jump from one dimension to the other, it’s kinda fun! Oh, and let’s not forget the cool weapons.” a huge smile appeared on her lips. I remembered those two guns in her hands I saw in that street. OK, these people are really crazy and they have weapons. This wasn’t good, this was, in fact, really bad!
“OK, look… I have money, I can pay you whatever the price of my freedom is, just let me go…” this seemed reasonable. Maybe they’ll listen to me and take the money. Her smile faded as she heard what I have said and she shook her head.
“You can donate your money to the society, we have people who handle our weapons and take care of them, we have to pay them somehow, so yeah… Money is welcome. But you can’t pay for your freedom. Would you realize it, please, that you’ve died? Think, boy! Think! You have to remember the moment when it happened!” she started to raise her voice, but she didn’t come closer to me. I was thankful for that. I thought that she’s crazy too, but there was something in her eyes, and the man’s eyes before her. Their voice wasn’t the voice of the liars. And I felt some kind of weird bond between all of us. It was as if I really belonged here. I bet if I would try to run away they would find me within a couple of hours, thanks to that weird feeling of belonging.
“Why should I trust you?” I asked and took a step backwards.
“You don’t have to trust me, but you’ll die for the second time too if you stay out here alone. There are dangerous things out here, hunting for Warriors. Demons are only one kind of those creatures, there’s many more creatures you don’t know about. All those nightmares you’ve had, horror stories you’ve watched, folk tales you’ve heard. They are all true, and it’s even worse in reality. You have no idea. So, it’s your choice. You can come inside with me, or you can stay here, all alone, and die.” with that she turned around and started to walk towards the gates. It took me only a second to make up my mind. I felt this weird feeling when the guy left, like someone really important have given up on me; now I started to feel it again, when the girl turned away. It was a weird, numb pain; a sensation I’ve never felt before. I still had doubts and I still thought that they are going to rip me open, take out my organs and sell them on the black market but a dark part of my mind was pushing me to these people. The thing that helped me go after her was that weird noise in the street, and all the shadows that were moving around us so suspiciously.
I ran after her, and then the darkness swallowed us. 

4: Never!

As we were walking down the darkness I was feeling chills crawl up and down my spine. This place was definitely spooky and I was forced to hold the unknown girl’s shoulder in order to be able to go anywhere. I swear, without her I would have felt like I’m in the outer space, without gravity to hold you in one place. It was a really unpleasant feeling. And then I heard something, it was like someone was trying to unlock the lock.

“Damn it, wrong key…” the girl muttered. After that I heard the annoying voice only a bunch of keys can make. I knew that noise very well, I had to have a bunch on my own too; the key to my apartment, the key to the comic book store, the key to my parents apartment, and many other keys I wasn’t even using.  When the second key failed as well the girl sighed, like she was annoyed. I felt for her, I hated this “looking for the key” part too, especially in this darkness and silence.

“I swear I’ll kick M.’s butt… Why didn’t he leave the doors open? It’s easy for him, he has that fancy spell for unlocking doors and pretty much anything else… Oh, how I hate him for that, that magic of his makes everything so much easier for him.” she was muttering angrily I didn’t dare to ask anything, I was just standing behind her, listening to her voice in the darkness. She was irritated, but not because of the keys. I was a good reader of people. This girl was irritated and worried, maybe even scared a bit, but I didn’t say a word, knowing that I would probably lose my head and maybe some other body parts as well. She tried another key and the lock clicked. She unlocked the door. She didn’t seem happy about it, but maybe it was me who couldn’t see it because of the sudden, overwhelming light. Suddenly a room appeared in front of me with three beds. The guy who freaked me out outside the building was now sitting at a table, staring in front of himself. He looked terrible, like he haven’t slept for ages. There was another guy in there, he wasn’t as tall as the creepy one, but he wasn’t short either. He had well defined muscles, and… was that a hedgehog on his head? Oh, no… He probably used too much hair gel. He nodded his head in greeting and then threw himself on the bed. Suddenly a girl stepped into the room, I guess from the bathroom. She was short and really thin. If they are really warriors I have no idea how did this girl get here, is she a secretary or something?

“I’m not a damn secretary… You want to see me fight? Are you challenging me?” she asked and tossed her long, black hair behind her shoulder. I think she was Japanese, and she was gorgeous. But… how did she know what I was thinking about?

“It’s a gift you get when you become a Spirit, don’t get all freaked out when you start to notice some weird things like extremely good eyesight and hearing, and of course, you’ll start to hear other people but you won’t see moving their lips. Just… don’t get freaked out.” said the girl who led me inside.

“OK, I still think you’re nuts, people, but OK. We’ll see how this will work out. But first… let me introduce myself, since none of you bothered to do so. My name is Aiden Blackbrother, I’m born and raised in New York and I have no idea what I’m doing here.” as I said that I walked over to the creepy guy and sat down to the same table where he was sitting. He was still staring in the same spot, it seemed as if he became a statue. The Japanese girl sighed a bit, now being less irritated by me.

“We’re really sorry, I have no idea where did those two” here she motioned with her head towards the silent statue and the tall girl “put their manners. The tall, slim girl is Destiny Dawn, the guy who looks like a zombie is Master, we call him M, the guy who’s lying on the bed is Rufus Jones, and I’m Kibou Maryoku. The others are in a different safe haven.”  she smiled at me and the room became brighter. Her smile was extremely beautiful, gorgeous actually. Suddenly the other girl in the room started to giggle.

“Sorry dude, I really don’t like to read other people’s minds, but your thoughts are screaming… And… well, she has a boyfriend.” she told me that with a small smile, she didn’t want to confuse me or make me feel uncomfortable, that was visible, but she also didn’t want me to get into these wild dreams about this gorgeous girl. I only nodded and turned to the guy who was sitting on the other end of the table. He was still staring at the same point.

“So, you’re the master, right? How did you get that title? Did you have to take out the previous master? Do you have some awesome special powers because of this title?” I didn’t really know where these questions were coming from, but I just couldn’t stop myself. He slowly raised his gaze at me. He had no smile on his face, his eyes were empty. He shook his head and stood up. He walked right up to Destiny and whispered something to her. The girl nodded and walked with him to the bed. The cat, which was sleeping on the pillow till now, woke up and jumped on the girl’s shoulder. She petted it and then took her clothes off the bed. The guy sat down there while the girl glanced back at me, giving me a warm smile. When she turned back to him she placed a kiss on the top of his head and whispered something back to him. He nodded and lay down. With careful and silent steps she came back to the rest of us.

“Sorry guys, he’s just really tired and he doesn’t have the nerves to answer different questions.” Kibou smirked at that.

“That’s not the word he used…” Destiny rolled her eyes at the girls reply.

“Don’t eardrop on us, Kibou, you might lose your ears one day.” there was a bit of poison in her voice. I guessed she didn’t like to be the centre of the attention, and she probably liked her privacy, she seemed like a person who would appreciate it if everyone would leave her alone. And the wounds all over her arms and neck showed that she also liked to fight, or she was a bully magnet. One of those two things. And she wasn’t ashamed of those wounds. She wore her hair in a ponytail. It wasn’t long, it would cover her shoulders if it would hang freely. Her hazel eyes were showing no fear; we could say that she was brave.

“Don’t snap at me, girl! I didn’t say anything wrong!” Kibou answered the threat she received from the other girl, she wasn’t angry at all.

“I’m sorry… I guess I’m tired too.” she smiled a bit. Kibou just waved it off. As the two girls were standing there I couldn’t help but notice that they were kind of the same. In looks they were completely different, one was tall, the other was tiny, one had black and straight hair, the other one brown and curly, Kibou’s eyes were dark brown, almost black while Destiny had hazel eyes. But when it came to their behaviour and personality they were almost the same. They had the same short temper, they could explode any minute, they got irritated pretty easily and I bet that they both cared about their people the same way. Slowly Destiny turned away from the other girl and went to another room, I assumed it was something like a bathroom. When the other girl disappeared, Kibou turned to me and a small smile appeared on her lips.

“Yeah, we’re different but we’re the same. When we first met she had the same thoughts. It’s a shame that we don’t hang out, we could become really good friends.” while she was talking she walked over to the table and sat down. As I was looking at her I felt like I was spellbound. This wasn’t natural, I was in love with Evangeline for years, how could I feel something like this? Oh, great… a guilt trip is coming up, I already feel it pulling into the driveway, waiting for me to jump in on the backseats. I had to find a way to think of something else. In that moment, out of the blue, the sentence the hedgehog-head said hit me in the head. She has a boyfriend!

“I don’t have a boyfriend, it’s not allowed. And don’t call Rufus a hedgehog-head, hun…” she chuckled a bit. I looked over at the mentioned guy, hoping he didn’t hear this. Fortunately he was sleeping peacefully. I turned back to the girl and shook my head.

“You could stop reading my thoughts, you know. I don’t like it much.” it seemed as if my complaint was amusing her. She smiled widely, showing her perfectly white teeth.

“Sorry, it’s a habit, and besides, I like your thoughts, I never heard so many compliments about my looks and behaviour, all in one mind. It’s perfect!” as she said that I could feel my cheeks turn red. This was terrible, I had to think of something else. Slowly, pictures of my favourite place started to pop up in my mind: my uncle’s comic book store where I worked. I knew Kibou was still reading my mind, I could see it in her eyes. She focused on me, like a child focuses when its learning how to read. Considering that the others were asleep I didn’t want to talk too much, but I wanted to talk to her, so I started to think about different things, hoping she’s really reading my thoughts, and not just staring at me, thinking that I’m a freak. She nodded her head lightly, I guess that was the signal that she is. ~You know, Kibou, many people thought that I’m a freak because I’m 21 years old and I work in a comic book store. I was always an introvert, I never liked to go out and drink my brains out. I found myself a decent girlfriend, and that was another reason why people called me a freak. I found myself a girlfriend and I stayed with her through good and bad times, I didn’t cheat on her and I loved her with all my heart. That comic book store was the only place where I felt safe and at home.~ After this short, pathetic story of my life another flashback appeared in my mind. Pictures of my childhood, then about the comic book store, about the park where I’ve met Evangeline, how we became friends, best friends and at last a couple; how we laughed and cried together, how we fought and made up and then the last picture: She was standing in front of her building and I was talking to her. Suddenly she turns around, I feel this urge to hug her and help her but I don’t know what the problem is, I feel helpless; and then I feel this piercing pain, it shoots through my body, my every cell feels it, my brain explodes. I don’t even notice that I’m falling to the ground. She simply turns around and disappears behind the glass doors with a bloody dagger in her hands while I’m lying on the cold, hard ground, slowly drifting into this darkness, but it’s good because the pain is fading away.

Slowly my vision normalises and I see Kibou’s terrified face. Oh, great. She probably saw the whole thing. But what was this? I couldn’t remember if I ever dreamed of something like that, but this could be a nightmare. Or? I mean, these people did say that I died. But did I? No, it’s not possible. I never believed in the afterlife. I looked at Kibou again, she was still looking at me with that terrified look on her face. Obviously, she didn’t like my imagination. Because this couldn’t be anything else but a simple imagination; a sick one, but this could be a great plot for a movie. Maybe I’ll write the script and sell it for millions of dollars! Suddenly I started to feel as if I was locked inside a casket, I had no room to breathe, I felt claustrophobic. I jumped up and started to walk around but my brain refused to relax and realize that I was, in fact, in a huge room with other people, and that I shouldn’t embarrass myself right on the first day of my forever. Kibou stood up as well, hurried over to me and placed a hand on my shoulder.

“Take deep breaths, just calm down…” she was trying to help me but I felt even more irritated.

“Please, just… just move away, really far away. I can’t… I can’t breathe.” I muttered and hurried to the most distant part of the room, leaned against the wall and closed my eyes. My Evangeline, my dear Evangeline. How could she, why? I can’t believe this, it was someone else disguised as my blond, beautiful girl. But no, her graceful movements, her fragile appearance, it was all her, but her behaviour… I… I don’t know! I felt hot tears gather in the corners of my eyes. I blinked a few times to hush them away, I couldn’t let anyone see me cry. But I felt so miserable, so alone… so betrayed. My knees gave up and I fell to the floor, just like when Evangeline stabbed me, only this time it hurt more. Everything hurt more. I heard voices around me, Master and Rufus were wide awake now, I could hear them, I heard Destiny’s voice too, but I couldn’t see them. All I could see was the bloody dagger in Linnie’s hand, how she turned away from me and left me there to die. I really was dead, these people were right. They weren’t crazy, I was dead… dead. The last thing before I fainted was someone’s hand on my shoulder, trying to snap me out of this state. It didn’t help.

---

“Damn it Kibou! What the hell happened? Did you do or say anything? Did you start with your freaky stories again?” I was yelling at the poor girl who looked completely terrified. She didn’t know what to do, she was just kneeling beside the boy and was trying to shake him up a bit, in hope he’ll wake up and feel fine again.

“I said nothing, I did nothing, it was him… He remembered how he died.” there was a bit of hesitation before she went on “You guys… I… She… She was, I mean, is a demon, a weird one. With black eyes. I saw it all, I was inside his mind when the flashbacks started and it was all nice and cosy until he remembered how he died. She stabbed him with a dagger, and I think I saw that dagger somewhere already but I can’t remember where. I’ll try to find something about it in our library but not now.” she stroke his cheek when she finished and there was serious concern in her eyes. She knew exactly how he felt. Once Master and I were talking about stuff like how old some warriors are and how they got here, and he told me a story about a girl who lost her fiancée. It was a horrifying story, she was banned from her home town because they thought that she cheated on her fiancée, the guy went after her to get revenge, she didn’t want to fight but he attacked her without any warning, she grabbed the closest thing to her which could help her protect herself, unfortunately that object was a knife. She accidentally killed her fiancée and she is still suffering because of that. I didn’t know it was Kibou, not until now, but the look in her eyes… Who else could it be? I could swear on anything in this world it was her. Suddenly a sharp pain ran through my chest. I always felt sorry for that anonymous girl, but now that she had a face and a name, and that I knew that I know her… It was all so different. The only thing that snapped me out of my trance was the moving around me. People were talking and lifting something. When my thoughts and sight focused on my surrounding again I realized that M and Rufus were helping Aiden to the bed. He was still a mess and half unconscious but he could open his eyes a bit, and almost walk what was probably a good sign. Poor guy just realized he was killed by his own girlfriend and that he’s dead and a part of this huge world, and he still could “kinda walk”, after all this he still had the strength for this. When I looked at Kibou I was still feeling that weird feeling in my chest. We were never close friends, I didn’t even know her that much but her story, if it’s hers, was terrible and to see her like this, probably living through those moments from her life again, it must be terrifying. I walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Are you OK?” I asked with some concern in my voice. She probably noticed that because she immediately snapped out of her weird and kinda depressed mood. She straightened up and a small smile appeared on her lips

“Yeah, sure, I’m just a bit worried about the new guy here, he lived through a huge shock, it’s a wonder he could open his eyes after that kind of information overflow and shocker. I really pity him.” she finished her sentence with a shrug, turned around and hurried to the bathroom. I didn’t want to go after her, if I understood something it was that I have to leave people alone when they want privacy, I’d expect the same thing from the people around me. As I glanced at the three boys at the bed I couldn’t help myself but notice that everyone was a bit snappy, moody, tired, but still willing to help. Rufus and M placed Aiden on the bed; he was lying there, motionless, his eyes closed, his breathing shallow. He will recover from this, but this scar will rest on him forever. As he was laying there, his light brown hair all messed up on the pillow, his long body with some light muscles lying there… He was helpless. He was betrayed by the person he loved the most, somehow I could relate to him. I wasn’t in a long relationship with Tom, it lasted 10 months, but he grew so close to my heart. I really did love him, until he tried to kill me of course. Well, I guess this is destined to the Warriors of the Spirit world; your heart has to be broken into millions and millions of little pieces at least once in your miserable mortal or immortal life. Without the heartbreak you’re not a worthy Warrior. I smiled a bit at that thought. I can’t imagine Rufus or M with a broken heart, not even Jinx, although Jinx was really a ladies man. We met a couple of times before when we went on some missions to a distant part of the world, he’d always try to charm me and get into my panties. Maybe his behaviour has a heartbreakingly sad love story behind it, maybe he’s acting like this because he lost someone really important. You see, it’s all written in the Codex; you’re not allowed to love or to be loved, you’re not allowed to do this and that, but sooner or later it will happen and you can’t do anything against it, you can’t stop it.

I must have been deep in my thoughts because I didn’t hear M walk over to me. I have no idea for how long he was standing in front of me and talking but he laughed a bit when he realized I wasn’t at all listening to him. I smiled in a goofy way

“I’m sorry, I was thinking about… um, things.” I shrugged lightly, although I was almost certain he read my mind.

“I know, I read those… things.” yeah, what did I tell you? He reads my mind all the time. Why am I even surprised?

“You could stop with that, you know. I’m telling you this for some time now. When will you learn that I don’t like it when people break my privacy?” I huffed a bit, but he didn’t seem to care, he only smiled at me. Suddenly he wrapped his arms around me and hugged me tight to his body. I didn’t really know how to react so I just tapped him gently on his back while I was frozen in his embrace. I must admit, it was a really comfortable hug, I enjoyed it really much, but it was unusual. Even for the two of us. “M, hun… What are you doing?” I asked him when I realized that he was holding me like that for more than 30 seconds.

“Your brain is overthinking every damn second of our lives, all of our lives, Des. That is kinda unusual.” as he said that his hands loosened around me and they fell back on their place, beside his body. I regretted that I said anything. I only now realized how much I needed that hug. Especially after everything that happened. I glanced up at him and I could see that he’s worried.

“What?” I asked him with some frustration in my voice. I never knew how to handle my emotions and right now a whole bunch of them was messing around in my head. Rudeness, ignorance and sarcasm were the only things that could hold me together.

“Nothing… I just thought that the hug would help you, but as usual you’re even crankier after the emotion transfer that before it.” he shrugged a bit.

“Emotion transfer?” I couldn’t help myself but to chuckle at that.

“Yeah… Every time someone tries to comfort you or show you that they care and are there for you, you become this little monster who eats up everyone who tries to get close.” he smiled a bit. I was just looking at him. I should have expected this, I mean the guy is reading my mind for over a 100 years, he knows me better than anyone else, than I know myself.

“Oh, come on… bollocks.” I started to huff again and looked over at Aiden only so I wouldn’t have to look at M.

“Destiny…” he called my name. I tried to ignore him, although it didn’t work so well. I sighed and looked back at him.

“What?” I asked, the irritation was clear in my voice.

“Get ready, we have to check the other safe heavens. And we also have to make a check up on our warriors, how many of them died in the surprise attacks, how many of them escaped into the other dimension… and we’ll have to punish those so think of some good punishments. We also have to check the other dimension and see if everything’s going fine.” this was so typical for him. Every time he’d get too emotional with me or someone else and he’d realize it he’d switch to his political side, the one which is reasonable and logical. I hated that side of his, it was scary and mean. I nodded. Everyone knew that it was a bad idea to argue with the Master when he was in full political mode, although I didn’t like the idea of punishing the warriors. Who could blame them for fleeing? The demons had new tricks up their sleeves; I must admit that I got scared too. OK, it’s really unacceptable to flee from the battle and endanger the innocent lives of the Spirits in the other dimension, but really, I couldn’t blame the Warriors in this situation.

I was feeling guilty, I just turned down a perfectly fine and comforting hug and drove my friend into being an ass. I sighed and just as he wanted to turn around I caught his arm and pulled him back in front of me. My arms wrapped around his torso so automatically, so naturally. My head rested on his chest and I was satisfied when I realized that this time he was the one who froze down. I surprised him! A huge smile appeared on my lips which grew only wider when he finally wrapped his arms around me firmly.

“I’m sorry…” I whispered, so silent I was afraid he wouldn’t hear me.

“It’s OK…” he replied. Of course he heard me, he always heard me. He was always there for me. He placed a light kiss on the top of my head and the let go of me. Unwillingly I let go of him too and took a step backwards. I looked at him with happiness in my eyes and a smile on my lips. I saw the same on his face and I was really pleased.

“So, safe heavens, warriors and the other dimension, right? I’ll get my notebook and my backpack and we can go.” I said and when he nodded I almost danced over to the bed. I had no special reasons for being this happy. OK, maybe I had one or two reasons. Maybe I liked M’s hug a little bit too much. I grabbed my backpack and I took a notebook from the bag. While I was doing so I glanced at Rufus who just smiled at me in a weird way, like he was trying to tell me something. Unfortunately, he was the only one I couldn’t read. My mind reading sucked big time, but with some trying I could read M, what was incredible, considering the fact that he was the Master. Probably he let me read his mind, that’s the only explanation. I can probably read Kibou too, and I already read Jinx and slapped him afterwards, but Rufus? He was a complete mystery to me. I shot back a short smile and then hurried back to M.

“Ready!” I said happily and suddenly I felt like I was full with energy. Was this weird? I have no idea, but it was a great feeling.

“Wow, you just broke your own record, it didn’t take you an hour to get ready…” he muttered with a smirk on his lips. For that he received a smack in the ribs, it didn’t hurt him, he only laughed a bit. As we were walking down the golden corridor, towards the dark alley I was wondering how will we punish the ones who fled into the other dimension. I was thinking about dungeons, locking them up for some time should help them realize what they did… maybe. But then we’d be short on people. But then again, we have no use of those kind of people. Maybe we should ban them somewhere? Allegedly there’s another dimension which is dark and empty, they call it the Ice hole, because everything is so cold and creepy there, it sucks the energy right out of you. I heard stories about it; they say that people who betrayed the ruler of the race were sent there. No one knows what happened to them because no one ever returned from there to tell their story. Hmm, I guess the Ice hole, if it even exists, would be too harsh for these people. But they did betray the race, and like that they betrayed Master too.

I sighed from the effort to make up a nice little punishment. Every time someone needed a punishment M would turn to me, he always thought I have incredible punishments, never too cruel but the people will always learn their lesson. Now I found it impossible to think of any punishment when I knew how those poor people felt. I was terrified as well, and I’m not at all comfortable by saying this, but I was. Many new things are happening and we have no answers, no solutions. We never had this kind of situation; we were never this helpless in the war against evil. I sighed again, M stopped out of the blue and turned around.

“What is it?” he asked, half annoyed, probably by my sighs. But what could I do? I was burdened by all these things and I just needed to let go of the steam. My nose and mouth was perfectly fine for this. Way better than my other hole down below, right? We wouldn’t like to gas the place up, we already had enough trouble for one night.

“I’m thinking.” I answered simply.

“About what?”

“Many things.” I shrugged off his question. But I was surprised he didn’t read my mind. I decided not to say a word about it, because he’d start mocking me with reading my mind for the next century as well.

“I’m not going to mock you, I was just respecting your wish. For once in a century.” he said with a small smile playing on his lips. My eyebrows jumped high on my forehead. I opened my mouth to say something but I was pretty surprised by this nice gesture. I just nodded and motioned him to turn around and go on. He nodded as well and did so. When we reached the iron gates I realized it was no longer dark outside. The sun was slowly rising on the horizon. I couldn’t see it because of the mass of buildings around us, but I could see the colours on the sky. It was beautiful, just like a painting. I wanted to stay there and stare at the perfect sky above us for hours and hours, but M grabbed me by my arm and pulled me with him.

“We have no time for this. We have to get things done.” he said on a strict tone. He never liked it when I’d act like this in serious situations.

“OK, OK… I’m going, no need to pull me around.” as I said that I pulled my arm out of his grip. We were walking in silence, my thoughts were all over the place again, as usual, and the only thing that snapped me out of my trance was when he smacked my shoulder. I winced a bit. As I poked my shoulder, where he smacked me only seconds ago I realized that it was bruised. It seemed that I injured myself in the fight last night. Perfect. M noticed my little grimace and immediately threw himself on my injury.

“It’s not a big deal, let it be.” I muttered and wanted to go on, but his hand on my other shoulder kept me steady.

“Your whole shoulder is blue, it seems as if you fell on it with your full weight.” he said while his fingers were poking around the blue area. I was hissing and jumping all along and then I heard him muttering ancient words.

“What are you doing?” I asked, a bit panicked. He was already tired, I knew that, and now he wanted to heal me with a spell. Using our magic takes a lot of our energy, you have to give something so you could get something in return. That’s how it goes. And in cases like these you had to give your energy. I finally managed to break free from his hold and turned to face him. His forehead was wrinkled from the disapproval. “I won’t let you use your energy on something so silly. It will heal by itself, it’s not a big deal, M. I survived worse injuries without healing by spells. So, please, let’s go on, there are people who need our help.” I said, turned away from him and started to walk again. I had no idea where we were going since I never used the portal on this area. I slowed down and waited until M cut in front of me with long and firm steps. I sighed a bit, again, and followed after him. Soon we got to an abandoned alley and I wasn’t surprised. Warriors had to use places like the Graffiti alley and the one in which we were standing now. This was the easiest way to keep mortals away from our territory. When we reached a disgusting garbage can, with a swift move, M kicked it away and behind it ancient symbols were visible. Our ancient symbols. Slowly a river of words left M’s lips and a blue light ran over the letters of our ancestors. They started to shine brighter and brighter until there was nothing else on the wall but a big circle of blue-white light. Without hesitation M stepped into the light, I followed him, although I was having a weird feeling when the portal opened. I was sincerely hoping there was nothing wrong with our people or the other dimension.

When we stepped on the sacred grounds of our Home land I was relieved that there were no screaming people, burning buildings and haunting demons around. M probably read my mind because he smiled a bit and shook his head. He started to walk again and as usual, I followed after him. This dimension wasn’t different than the mortal one. Everything looked the same, we were in the same alley, only in the, let’s say, mirrored one. In the mortal dimension the mortal people were walking, while here the spirits were the citizens. We walked out of the alley, onto the street which was full with people, or if you’d like it better, with spirits. They all seemed careless, happy, not really realizing what kind of danger is lurking around, waiting for them to do something wrong, to cross the border and make a crack in it so the demons could get over here and destroy everything. Of course, there were situations when a demon could get inside this dimension, although we had no idea how, but they wouldn’t last long here, our warriors would take care of them and everything would go back to normal once more. I wish everything was easy in the mortal dimension as well. One more sigh escaped my lips.

“What now?” M asked without turning around.

“I’m still thinking. You’re still not reading my mind?” I was really astonished that he respected my wish this much. Although I had no idea what happened now that didn’t happen in the last 100 years and changed his mind so much. But I didn’t mind, I liked my privacy.

“Nope, only if it’s really necessary.”

“But why?” I asked with disbelief.

“Because that was your wish.” he answered casually, like we were chatting about something completely usual.

“But I was asking you to stop reading my mind for the last 100 years…” I stated, although he knew this as well. He smiled once more, he didn’t answer me. We reached a huge square and we stopped. You know I said that this dimension is mirrored? Yeah, the only difference is that on all the squares we had ancient marks which helped us summon the Warriors if they were on this side. M started to whisper the right combinations of words again and one by one the symbols on the square shot up a blue beam and drew the symbol on the sky. When the last symbol was visible on the sky M and I stepped exactly in the middle of the circle and waited. Slowly the warriors who fled to this dimension during the attacks started to show up and gathered around the circle. They seemed as if they were in some kind of trance and they really were, once the summoning started you would automatically feel this magnetic pull and you’d know exactly where you have to go. You were able to talk and think straight but you simply had to obey the call. When the last warrior took his place I stepped in front of M and cleared my throat.

“Warriors of the Spirits! We are here to bring you justice! As you know, there were a series of attacks by the demons these days and I completely understand that you were scared because they did things they couldn’t do before, but that is no reason for fleeing for a warrior never flees! Do you hear me? NEVER! We stand our ground even in the thickest of fogs and worst of times and we don’t give up on our fellow warriors and on our people who depend on us! For your betrayal you will receive a punishment. For a month you will be locked up in the dungeon in this world, you may or may not get water and bread, the Remaining spirits will decide about that. If someone will dare to tell me that we need you fools on the battlefield I will behead you right here and right now in front of all these people!” I raised my hand and motioned around at the people who were standing there curiously and listening to what I had to say. After a moment of deep silence I went on “We have no use of cowards like yourselves. After a month we’ll think about taking you back into our lines, until then you are dead to us.” I finished and stood there with attitude, waiting for an attack or someone to yell at me that I’m a bitch or a horrible warrior and I’m the real coward not them. But I received no threats, not daggers were thrown at me, no one spoke a word. They stood in a line and they slowly walked away towards the dungeons. The city might have been mirrored and it was modern, but the spirits were always people of tradition, so the dungeons were a must have. We didn’t follow the out casted, we knew they really did go to the dungeons and we trusted the warriors who were guarding the dungeons to take care of these people who regret betraying their Master and their people. I’m not just saying that, I mean it. It was clearly visible on those faces that they weren’t proud of their actions and I was glad that our warriors were so pure at heart. Not the bravest ones, but always pure hearted. I bowed my head as they disappeared behind the corner. I said a silent blessing and turned around to face M. Well, I was facing him alright. While I was talking to the people around us he snuck up behind me. I have no idea why but he was really pale now and looked really weak and sick.

“Master…” I whispered, I was terrified by this image in front of me but I wasn’t allowed to show it.

“I’m fine, let’s just go on… The safe havens, we have to check them.” as he turned around to walk away he stumbled a bit and I almost got a heart attack. I can’t remember when the last time I saw him like this was. He straightened up and walked on, like a true leader. He wasn’t allowed to show weakness in front of his own people. I followed after him back to the dark alley. Now that we finished our business here we were able to go back. He stood in front of the symbols and started to mutter the right words once more and the lights started to play in front of him on the wall. He looked so weak, but I wasn’t allowed to say a word, he would get so pissed and that would make him only weaker.

The next couple of seconds changed everything. I didn’t give a crap about his pride. He fell on the ground, shaking, like he had fever. I bet I was as pale as he was at that moment because I literally felt the blood flowing out of my body. I never saw him like this, never! I fell on my knees beside him and started shaking him but of course it didn’t help, slowly he was losing his consciousness.