Ch. 43: Resolve

Saint hurtled through the streets of Wa-Kia in utter silence. Behind him, the rest of his attack group followed. Other than the occasional clank of Nathan’s armor or the drop of Jacob’s fish, all was silent. Up ahead, smoke could be seen pouring into the air, thick and glowing orange from the flames underneath.



Fire hissed underneath his breath. “The town center is burning. If that thing manages to get to the Grand Archives…”



“My concern isn’t the buildings, it’s the people.” Saint eyed the empty bars and inns as they sprinted along. “Notice that the streets are quiet. Nobody is here. Either everyone was dragged from their daily business and slaughtered, or they were warned ahead of time and evacuated.”



“Or maybe they’re hiding.” Jacob paused before a small, dingy bar. He cocked his head to one side, ignoring snorts of exasperation from Dye, and swung one of his salmon at the windows. It broke and caved in with a crash. Seth winced. Jake was destroying property again. But then everyone froze as hushing sounds came from inside, along with the faint squalling of a baby.



“I think you’re right for once, Jake,” Dye whispered as he approached the bar. Saint restrained him by the shoulder.



“Alright, so we know that people are hiding here. This means that we have to hurry, before Sera and the demon that possesses her reach this place.” Dye nodded, and everyone took off at full speed. As they left, Saint called over his shoulder to the hidden occupants of the bar. “Stay where you are, and sorry for breaking your window!” A muffled call that sounded like “Don’t worry about it!” echoed from inside the bar.



They were less than a block away from the town center when a loud crash thundered through the streets. Dye swore and covered his face with his arms, Jake took cover behind Dye, Saint dodged flying debris, Fire blasted raining masonry out of the way, Creed flew up out of the way, and Nathan teleported atop a nearby rooftop. When the dust settled, everyone dropped their mouths open in perfect unison.



Priest was standing in the middle of the circular town commons, amid the ruins of a once-elegant fountain. In his hand, glowing brilliantly, was a white starsword. Clustered around him were other members of Requiem, weapons drawn and facing outwards. Around them, buildings were aflame, and the edges of the town center were already beginning to crack from the sheer heat. Fire was devastated to see his precious Council of Grasp hall in ruins, but all were absolutely crushed to see the Grand Archives alight with flames, part of its front sagging as something invisible pounded it with repeated blows. At least, it was invisible to almost everyone.



“What the…what is THAT!?!?!?” Everyone turned to look at Jake, who had gone deathly white.



“Wait, what do you see?” Dye looked anxiously at Jake, whose eyes were focused on something in the far off distance, wide with fear.



Fire walked up to Jake. “Is it big, winged, and horned?”



“Yes…”



“That would be the demon. Funny, I can’t see it right now, even though I saw it before.”



Saint groaned. “Demons have the ability to choose who they can appear to. It’s useless for us to fight it if we can’t see it…” A building next to them blew up. Saint ignored it and continued talking. “But I think we’re lucky today. Jake, you can see it?”

Jake nodded slightly, his face upturned and sweaty. “It’s right in front of us.”



Dye swore and shoved everyone out of the way. The next moment, the street was torn apart, cobblestones and dirt flying. “Move it, NOW!!!” Everyone made a break for it, fighting through falling debris and orange flames as they sought protection among the ranks of their clan members. Priest welcomed them, filling them in on the situation. Dye took the time to count their numbers. Everyone seemed to be there, minus a few from Priest’s group and…Jake. “Jacob! Where are you!?!?!?” The only answer he got was the flicker of flames and the roar of buildings collapsing.



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Jake poked his head out from underneath a pile of rubble. Dye didn’t move him out of the way in time, and had left him buried when everyone fled to the town center. He reached down underneath a chunk of masonry, wiggling an eel from beneath its weight. Then he picked up his two salmon and looked around.



The whole street had been devastated by a series of blows that could only have come from a thirty-foot tall demon. Splayed footprints larger than Jake’s body led down the road of destruction and into a nearby alley. Jake turned and went the other way, only to trip and fall. He got up in an instant, swearing, then looked down. A thick, spiked chain ran across his feet and around the corner into the alley where the demon was hard at work. Jake decided to follow the chain in the other direction, tracing its path around another corner into another alley, where he found a small girl huddled up in a small bundle against the wall of a nearby building. Her face was hidden by her hands, fingers splayed, wide eyes barely visible. The chain led to an iron collar around her neck, where the skin was red and raw. As Jake approached, she looked up and got to her feet. The chain rattled, the spikes on it clawing through her thin rags, digging into her skin.



“Help me.” Her eyes pleaded with Jake. He wasn’t sure what to do. The collar around her neck was thick, and besides, he didn’t have anything to break it with. And if he tried to break it, she might be seriously hurt or even killed. As he thought through this, the girl gave a violent shudder. A red pulse shot through the collar and sped down the chain, rounding the corner in the blink of an eye. A moment later, another building could be heard collapsing in the distance. He was on a tight schedule. Jake rushed towards the girl, crouching a few feet away from her.



“Are you Sera?” The girl gave a small nod. “What’s that chain around your neck for?”

The girl paused for a moment, then answered in a small voice. “I don’t know. The voice tells me not to touch it. It said it was for my own good.” The voice? Jake knew what she meant, but that would only prove Fire’s theory in the worst possible way. When he was six years old, a voice had inhabited his head and made him do horrible things to his family and the rest of his village. Later, Priest confirmed this voice to have belonged to a demon, and with some help from the Guardians of Doom, had silenced that voice. Almost. Jake could still hear the demon’s grumbles from time to time, when he was upset or bored. But for the most part it didn’t try to influence him. On the other hand, this girl…



This girl had been completely overpowered by the demon possessing her, to the point where the demon could actually roam about as it pleased, free of her body. Priest had once told Jake that demons fed off of the life force of humans, using their bodies to bind them to this world. The chain, and the red pulse running through it, were probably what kept the demon in this world. Great. Jake would have to break that chain, and to break through it, he would need a bigger weapon. He looked around the small alley. It was pretty much deserted, apart from Sera and himself. He dashed out into the streets, picked up a heavy chunk of masonry from the piles of rubble lining the street, and ran over to the chain, which was taut and straining as the demon wreaked havoc somewhere far away. He raised it above his head, arms straining with the weight, then brought it down with all his might.



The chain glowed a violent red, and from the alleyway, Jake heard a girl’s scream. He swore and ran back to the alley. Sera was lying on the ground, writhing, gasping in pain. The iron collar around her neck was glowing fiercely, burning her. Along the chain, new spikes were growing, while existing ones were elongating, digging deeply into Sera’s scarred body. Jake ran up to Sera and tried to lift the chain away from her so that the spikes wouldn’t hurt her so much. But the moment he touched the chain, it burned him, leaving Jake with black fingertips. He looked around, bewildered.



“Help..” he muttered out loud, but no help came. Then he whacked himself on the side of the head. What was he thinking? He was beginning to sound like Sera now, asking for someone to save him like a helpless child. Jake was far from helpless, and he knew it. So what should he do? He began to run through his options. Priest would try to help the girl first, and make sure that she was safe. He had tried to do that, without much result. Blizzard would probably go after the demon and kill it first. Jake wasn’t that strong or that reckless. Saint would probably wave his fingers and do some fancy trick that would magically restore everything back to normal. Except if he could do something in this situation, he would have already done it. And Dye? Jake cringed as he heard Dye’s voice echoing through his head.



“Ignore the pain and break the stupid chain already.” Jake didn’t like that idea. So instead he took out the two salmon sticking out from his belt, and wrapped them around the chain, using the spikes to fix them in place. Each one sizzled as the chain began to fry them. Then, Jake gently lifted the chain away from Sera. She looked up, surprised. Nobody had ever actually helped her before in any way. But her hopeful expression was gone in an instant. From the far side of the alleyway, a grating roar could be heard, echoing through the narrow path like falling rocks and angry waves. Jake looked up as the late afternoon sun was blotted out by a looming shadow.

“Oh.” He backed away a few steps. Crashing footfalls could be heard, mimicking his steps. The scraping of wings could be heard against the narrow walls of the alley. Hulking arms, knotted with muscle, shoved the buildings out of the way to make space for the rest of the body. Red eyes leered down at Jake and Sera, gleaming. A chain trailed from behind it, connected to the demon by a giant iron collar. Jake gulped, wishing fiercely that he used a more conventional weapon like Dye or Blizzard. Instead of doing what any hero would do, Jake turned and ran.



The demon roared after Jake as it crashed along, passing its human possession as it tried to get at Jake. Ruined buildings became more ruined as the demon swept by in its haste, and as Jake scrambled for the safety of a destroyed shop, the demon burst into the street, horned head shaking from side to side in frenzied rage. Then, as it lunged for Jake, something snagged, and it fell backwards, held in place by its iron collar. The demon had smashed its way through so many streets that the chain connecting it to Sera had reached its limit. With a low grumble, it turned and began to retrace its steps, trying to make the chain slacken a bit. Jake rushed into the alley where Sera was hidden. She had been flung against the wall when the demon brushed past her, and had taken another beating when her end of the chain yanked on her while the demon was knocked off its feet. In short, she was in a bad state again, blood smeared across her ragged dress.



“Are you alright?” The words sounded stupid in Jake’s mouth. Of course she isn’t alright, a voice spoke in his head. You’re right, Jake replied, then paused. A voice had spoken in his head. A voice other than his own. Oh no….



Oh yes, the voice cackled. I’m back in action. But don’t worry, I’m on your side this time. We both want to get rid of that demon, yes? So sit back and let me do the dirty work for you. NO!!! Jake thought fiercely. The last time you asked me to do that, terrible things happened. You forgot, the voice replied, that it was I who saved you from certain death back when you were fighting Elitis. So what? Jake struggled to respond. So what…you’re still a demon. Why should I listen to you? The voice sighed. I can understand why you don’t trust me, but in a few minutes that demon’s going to be back to get you. Do you want to save your friends in Requiem? Do you want to save this poor girl and become the dashing, handsome young hero you always wanted to be? Jake blushed mentally. Leave out the dashing hero part, and you’ve got it. But I’m NOT letting you take over me again. Alright then, but let me help you with this battle. For starters, I can give you the weapons and the strength needed to fight that demon. But what about that chain? Jake asked. Leave the chain. That one works both ways. If we cut the chain, the demon and the girl will both die. You have a chain too, inside your head. If anyone were to cut that chain…Ok, I get the point. But what about the girl? She’ll be fine, the voice promised. The demon needs her to keep itself bound to this world, and to maintain its strength. It’s highest interest would be to keep the girl protected. Nobody can get within ten feet of her without the demon coming to protect its possession. Once the demon is dead, she’ll be released and everything will go back to normal. Alright then, so we go for the demon? Yep. Good, now give me the power.



Jake stood up. A red aura began to glow around him, supporting, but not consuming him. From the town center, he could hear yells and cries of pain above the crackling of flames. The demon was probably there right now, killing his friends. Jake raised an arm, watching red tattoos spiral their way across his palm and whirl themselves around his fingers. Then a pulse of red magic, and twin, black axes appeared, intricate fish designs carved into their surfaces. Looking up with eyes that were still his own, Jake grinned, and took off. He was resolved to finish the fight.