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 Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2008 1:31 pm
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Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 4:51 pm
Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Right outside the Southern "Bible Belt". A small, one horse, one stop light, rural town. Population? Too small to care.
Rick slowly approached the small town, along the side of the main road going into and out of the town. "Why couldn't it be some place big, eh? Oy..."
There was a little family general store roughly a hundred feet from where he was, so that's where he'd start. He walked in and a strange smell struck his nose. The smell of warm sulfur. Rick had smelled that before. It was either a natural smell - which he highly doubted in this area - or the smell of a demon that had left its scent.
That's when he saw it. In a human body. It was glaring at him. Normally that wouldn't have surprised him, seeing as he was a random teenager that hadn't been seen around these parts before. But this was different. This was a cautious glare.
" 'ey, mate. You wouldn't happen to be a demon, would you?"
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Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 5:35 pm
The owner narrowed his glare. "What kind of crap is that, I hear?"
Just as he said that, the sharp pitches of a bell rang through the store. Followed closely behind it was the door swinging closed and the thud of boots on the old wood floors. The woman that just walked seemed more outlandish than the teenager. She was short, barely reaching 5', with thick pitch black hair that went untamed to the small of her back and the vivid, almost glowing, green eyes. Her white skin contrasted with her all black attire: a trench coat that had a button-up collar all the way to her bottom lip. She titled her head down so only her nose poked out across the top. Black pants and combat boots completed the outfit. She made her way past the two and went to scan at the freezer containing the ice cream.
The owner gave her a suspicious glare, as well. "May I help you, miss?"
She turned to him, her eyes showing that she was giving a polite smile. "Just browsing. This is a nice place you got. Do you live above it?"
The owner nodded slowly, still glaring at her. "Yes. Place was handed down through my family."
"Really?" Kai said in an interested tone. She remembered the name across the front of the building. "Johnson Family Store". There was a motto below it in smaller letters: "Made by the family, for families." "What is your last name?"
"M-my name?"
"Last name, sir."
"Last name? Er..." He licked his lips. "...Jackson."
Yep. That was the demon. Kai looked at the teenager. She could probably deal with it even with him around. If he told anyone, who would believe him? She began unbuttoning her coat, her swift fingers doing it almost abnormally quick. She soon shrugged it off, revealing a black wifebeater and, more noticeably, a katana strapped to her hip and a pair of black feathered wings. They stretched as much as they could in the small room, which didn't leave much for her 15' wing span. The demon let out an annoying cackle of a laugh.
"You had me worried, girlie. I knew you weren't human but I at least thought you were a force to be reconed with."
Kai narrowed her eyes, but didn't say anything. She hated senseless bantering between fights. Besides, he wouldn't be saying that with her blade through his skull.
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Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 7:31 pm
"Oy! Oldie-locks... I saw 'im first. And unless you can tell me where my father died, I suggest you back off. He's my kill," Rick said to the winged woman.
He reached over his left shoulder with his right hand and pulled out his sword. It seemed to look like a normal, iron, Roman short sword, being only a few inches longer. But he knew it wasn't. It had been his fathers first sword when he was a teenager, as well as the bracer.
"The name 'Amos' ring a bell for either of you mates? That's was my dads name."
Rick took a step closer to both of them, stepped under the woman's left wing, pointing the blade at the "Jackson" demons throat.
"If she doesn't know, she gets to leave. If you don't... well, mate, you die either way. So which is it?"
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Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 8:11 pm
The name did ring a bell. An intrigued eyebrow shot up into Kakairo's hairline. She wondered if the kid noticed. If so, it didn't matter. She picked up her coat, tightened her wings close to her back, and slid the clothing article back around her shoulders.
"Aye, it rings a bell," She said mater-of-factly as she shrugged into the coat. "...but I'm not obligated to give out what I know to some snot-nosed punk. And since you're doing my job for me, I think I'll just leave."
With that said, she strolled out of the establishment.
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Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 8:57 am
The demon had a concerned look in its stolen human face. An otherworldly being giving in to a cocky human? This was the first time he'd seen, much less heard, of something like this. The pride of otherworldly beings was supposed to be something to fear, all on its own... yet one just gave in to a human. He had to take care of this human, fast, and then leave before she came back.
"So... Mr. Jackson... what'll it be, mate? Tell me what you know, and then die? Or keep your mouth shut and die, regardless?"
The demon let out another cackle. "It doesn't matter, filthy human. You couldn't kill me even with her help, not that I'd tell you anyway." He grabbed his upper and lower jaws and began pulling them away from each other. A partial skull revealed itself, missing above the nose, and mostly rotted with a few flakes of skin still hanging on to the charred and sulfur-scented body.
It shed its human body and arched its back into its natural pose. A true low-level demon, but still nothing a human should be meddling with. It hissed and snarled towards the human.
Rick chuckled lightly to himself. This was what a demon looked like? It looked more like a child's nightmare, or what they'd think the Boogey Man looked like. He laughed loudly for a moment. Boogey was close to booger, and this demon had no nose. No wonder it was called the "Boogey" Man; it wanted little kids boogers.
The demon looked confused and cocked its half-head to the side.
"Haha. It's nothing, mate," Rick said quietly to the demon. He looked at his sword for a few seconds, figuring out which to use for this particular situation. Fire wouldn't work, seeing as how demons and everything else in Hell was always surrounded by fire. Darkness probably wouldn't work either; he didn't know if demons were immune to magik or not. Earth would leave the blade to small for his comfort right now. And ice? Seeing as how the demon smelled like warm sulfur, it'd probably just melt the ice. That left just the normal, iron, non-special blade. And that's what he'd use.
Rick spun the sword around like an average, cocky, know-it-all human. But that was the funny part, he did "know-it-all". He was extremely smart for his age. Both book smart and common sense smart. Then again, this was his first combat encounter with a demon. This was all just an educated guess, and those didn't always turn out right.
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Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 4:09 pm
Kakairo was leaning against a support beam right outside of the store. A huge lollipop she had swiped up on her way out made a round buldge on one side of her cheek. She rolled it in her mouth by twisting the stick between two fingers, lathering the taste on her tongue. If the situation got too hairy she would help the kid out. But he had something to prove to her first.
A beam of soft white light appeared beside her. "Get off my back. I know what I'm doing."
"If any of the innocent dies, you will be reported." The voice from before warned with sterness. "And you will regret it."
It sounded subtle, but it did not pass by her that the last part was a threat. This time, she did turn to glare at the hooded angel, slowly taking the candy out of her mouth as she did so. How she wanted to shove the sweet treat up where the sun didn't shine. The angel seemed unphased by her death glare.
"I have it.... under.... control." she said with a deadly calmness.
"For your sake and what is precious to you, you better hope you do." He disappeared again.
Rage bubbled in Kai's stomach. She snapped her glare to the spot in front of her and shoved the lollipop so fast and hard that she nearly triggered the gag reflexes in the back of her throat. She could feel tendrils of her aura pulsing off her form. She wanted to tear something to shreds. Moving the lollipop between her back teeth, she drove them into it. The two inch sphere shattered easily between her powerful jaws, sending strawberry flavored shards exploding all over her mouth.
Meanwhile, the demon decided to use a desperate move. There was one other trick he had but it cost a lot of his energy to use. Pointing all ten burnt and bony fingers towards Rick, he concentrated all his energy to the tips. One skin pore on each finger tipped openned to one millimeter and shot out a thread like material. It was light, like spider webs, but was highly acidic. A stray piece hit an iron figurine nearby. The thread sliced easily down the middle like a hot knife through butter. A cluster of them was aimmed at Rick.
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Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 4:33 pm
Rick giggled under his breath as he saw this. This was the power of a demon? "Pathetic, mate. Really." He switched the sword from his right hand to his left hand, his right hand beginning to glow a dark and menacing purple.
His body rapidly dropped into a low crouch. Rick slammed his right hand, now a fist, into the floor beneath him. As he did, the glow spread into a semi-circle in front of him, quickly raising a dense sheet of dark magik before him. It crackled and sizzled as the threads hit it, sending hot pink sparks and lines across the shield.
Behind the dark magik shield that was in front of Rick, his blade transformed into a longer, slightly curved, and evil-looking blade that glowed with the same darkness as that which was before him. ((See weapon picture for details.))
Ricks hand still planted firmly on the floor, he looked up, being able to see through the dark shield, and smirked at the demon.
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Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 8:43 pm
The demon's eyes went wide when he realized this was no ordinary human. He bolted through the door, almost tearing it off its hinges as he did so. He got five feet out the door before something strongly gripped the back of his neck and threw him backwards. He landed on the wooden floors back inside the store before he could even blink. The demon looked around and blinked, trying to figure out what just happened.
"Hurry up, kid." Kai growled from outside. "I can't leave until this bugger is dead and I ain't got all day."
Actually, she had all the time in the world. But she didn't know when someone was going to come by and she didn't want to deal with witnesses.
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Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 9:03 pm
Rick's smirk grew bigger, turning into something resembling a wicked grin. "Sure thing. Afterwords, I'd like you to tell me what happened to my father."
Without moving any other part of his body, the glow around Rick's hand turned a bright and icy blue. And it was producing just that... ice. The floor around him, but not under him, quickly retained a thick sheet of "black ice".
The ice spread towards the demon and rapidly enveloped him. The ice started out as a standard sheet of light blue ice and grew thicker with each passing millisecond. In the end, the ice was roughly seven inches thick. Too thick for - hopefully - a lower level demon to break free of... not that it'd have the time.
Rick stood and walked over to the demon, the ice before him vanishing under his feet - and only his feet - so that he wouldn't slip. And, standing over "Mr. Jackson", his blade turned back into it's normal iron state.
"This is for trying to run away," he said as his blade penetrated the ice over the demons chest and into where-would-be the heart. Rick twisted the blade as soon as it had gone all the way through and pulled it back out.
"...And this," he reared back with the blade and rocketed the edge of the blade in an arc towards the demons neck, creating a clean cut from which should have spewed pints and pints of blood. "...is for what you could have done to my father."
Rick's grin vanished and he put his sword back in it's scabbard on his back, turn around and walking out the door, standing unscathed next to the woman.
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Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 9:26 pm
Kai did not bother to even look at him. She continued chewing the paper off from the headless lollipop stick and spitting it out onto the ground. She cocked her head enough to glance at the inside of the store through the corner of her eye.
"Jeez.... they're going to have to call in a clean-up crew. I'm going to get an earful with that bullsh*t."
She looked at Rick with apathy.
"You know.... most kids you're age usually try learning the whole pull-the-rabbit-out-of-the-hat trick when they want to learn a magic. But you can go ahead and give up. I've seen greater men fall in the place you want to go, some who were old enough to grow facial hair, for starters." Kai gave him a coy sneer. "And I bet you haven't even got peach fuzz, yet."
Flicking the last bit of paper stick to the side, she began walking away. Maybe there was a city nearby she can hang out for a bit, while she still wasn't bother about hanging out with humans.
"If you want a full and happy life, I suggest you take the oppertunity to enjoy what you can from the life you have here. The worlds invisible to this one isn't all what you humans think its cracked up to be."
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Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 9:48 pm
Rick looked down at his feet and stubbed his right foot into the ground softly. He sighed thinking about never really knowing his father and all the stories his mom told him.
"Y'know, I can't even grow facial hair, mate. I don't even want it. I made sure I'd never have it with repeated treatments of fire and ice to my face. Hurt. Quite a bit. But whatever. My father experienced worse pain that I've ever felt, at a younger age than I am."
He turned his head and looked inside. Raising his right hand, it began to glow an eerie orange. The ice that covered the demon and floor began melting into water and seeped through the floorboards. And the glow became brighter, incinerating the demon's corpse into ashes, being blown away by a gentle gust that Rick created from exhaling.
His hand returned to his side and both went into their respective pockets of his darkened jeans.
"There. No more mess," Rick some-what replied to the woman, more to himself. "And I hate illusion magic. What I use isn't even macik, really. It's more of a gift... from my father and mum." He paused for a moment. "I don't care how hard or dangerous it is. I'm not asking you to take me along with you. I'm just asking what happened to him. But if you're too stuck-up to even tell me that much, then I guess we'll meet again some day... and perhaps then we'll be on opposing sides."
Rick paused again, taking a few breaths and trying to regain his composure. "Then you'll see that I'm not just a little kid. I can take care of myself, better than any other thirteen year old on this stupid planet, right now."
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Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 10:14 pm
Kai paused in her tracks. The kid definatly had a gift. One that could give him great power if honned. The only thing was... could he stay alive long enough to do that. She didn't want to bring him into a life that would cut his way too short. Christ... he was only thirteen. Why would he WANT all that?
But she remembered being that age and the amibition that came with it. She also remembered wonder, too, about her parents. Her only family was a clan of assassins that had taken her from the burning carnage of her home village. And the best treatment they gave to her was a whip. The scars on her back tingled at the memory.
Kai whirled around towards him and stormed back so that her face was an inch from his. Her aura pulsed off her in a crimson energy so dark that it looked black at first.
"I wonder how long that cocky attitude of yours can get you. You think I'm stuck-up? Maybe I'm just looking out for your pathetic hide. And you want to know from WHAT?!"
She rested a thin fingertip on his forehead and allowed some of her energy to link to his. With it came her memories she wanted him to see. The blood and gore that happened at regular bases at the Arena. To see someone or feel yourself being cut into a million pieces in a blink of an eye, though it feeling like each slice is a painful eternity. Having every bone in your body crushed. Having the ones you care about dying in front of you and you not being able to stop it. She even transfered some of her feelings: her engulfing sadness, anger, and loneliness. How it felt like being slowly torn to shreds when someone really close to you was killed. And, for his own benefit, she tossed in the memories she had of his father. All but his death. She didn't want to torment the boy too much.
When she was done, she gave him a smirk. A space sphere formed behind him. "This is what you want, eh?"
Kai pulled her finger back and behind her thumb. She flicked it back towards his head with enough force that should knock him off balance and into the portal to the Arena.
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Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 1:46 am
Jack was 19 now and two years ago left the arena... left his close friends to go and do some searching for clues to his parents deaths and what happened to his brother, in the meantime he went demon hunting and had eventually got enough money and bought himself a pure black Mercedes-Benz McLaren, he was driving accross country and had arrived in a small town in Arkensaw to gas up on fuel on his way to wherever he found answers
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Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 1:10 pm
Rick was deep in thought over the images that were just sent to him, too preoccupied to notice anything else around him. Including the pain searing his forehead right now.
He lost his balance and fell backwards into the strange, glimmering, sphere that was now behind him. Where he fell, where he was going... none of it mattered right now. He'd seen an image of his father, or what he thought was his father from the pictures he'd seen with his mother.
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