The Demon Inheritance

THREE

The guard gives an animalistic snarl, hunching over and snapping its webbed wings together in anger. Its teeth, yellow with stains of pink on the dull ends, snap frantically at me, and slobber flies in gray wads all over my armor. Unlike many of the demons, these guards are brainless and ugly, disgusting and feral. It slashes its marred tail, stands on two sagging legs, and turns its attention from the newcomer to me. "Ebony Kalos, that's you?" It twists its head to the side, cracking its neck. "You are no demon now, traitor! I must kill!"

As the guard dives forward, I press my sword in front of my chest, expecting it to sink itself onto my blade. Instead, it twists over and presses back with its wing so it won't be hurt. I nick its wing, and it begins snapping at my side. Stepping over, I slash my metal across its jaw. The gleam of my sword takes on a brilliant light against the darkness of its flesh, and this time, I hit it somewhere it its mangled and wrinkled arm. Red spurts out in a stream against the brightness of the sky, and vanishes as quickly as it comes. In a flash of moment, it knocks the sword from my hands with its tail. Then, the guard demon leaps onto me, knocking me to the ground and snapping for my throat.

If that wasn't enough peril, I lose my footing in the earth. The enemy and I begin sliding towards the black hole, and I can't focus enough to recreate the barrier. None of the citizens standing helplessly above have enough energy to, and they didn't know how to join their mental energy. Clawing for life and struggling to keep the demon from ripping open my neck, I cry out. I'm not sure what for; for Croma, for help, for goodbye? I'm slipping back into my old home and, inevitably, I will be killed their if not in the process of getting there.

Suddenly, a blast of flame shoots in front of my face, nearly burning my nose. A wall of lilac flinches into view, and what looks like a sheet of diamonds glimmers across it. I press my metal, armored shoes against the wall, stopping the sliding, and shove at the demon. The guard's humanoid face flickers with white hot flames. Although it is in great pain, it is still determined to kill me. The brute has more loyalty than brains, and this seems to be the only time that is a bad thing. Attempting to push it off, shoving at its saggy neck, another streak of fire hits it. Suddenly, dark, almost brown, redness splatters against my armor, followed by a coppery smell. The demon goes limp on top of me, and I have to wipe its blood from my eyes before looking over at my rescuer.

My rescuer is the very demon that climbed from the hole in the first place. His matted, white hair is as long as mine, down to his rear. Grime and dirt is smeared across his face, and his wide, black eyes are lit in deep fear. He holds a sword in the gut of the demonic guard, and the sword has the name of a Croman citizen engraved into its side. I assume he has borrowed it from that citizen, Caleb. In a single movement depending on strength, the white-haired Kalos-to-be flicks the body off of me, lowers the force field he had created, and slings the body back into the abyss. "Are you alright? Miss?"

I hold my cheek, just now realizing that the beastly demon had raked a couple of claw marks into the flesh there. "I'm fine. You?"

"I'm okay, thanks to you," he says. The white-haired male holds down a blood-and-dirt streaked hand to pull me up with. When I'm up, be both begin limping up the hill, aided by the barrier, which he morphs to stand directly behind us so we don't fall again. "The demonic guardian called you Ebony. The Dark told the males that is what his ex-daughter went by... Is that true, Miss?"

I nod, take his sword, and look to give it back to Caleb. "Yes. I'm Ebony Kalos. Your name, Mister?" I hand the sword back to Caleb, who is standing beside Carter and another man named Mun, promise to have it washed soon, and turn to the newcomer with interest.

"My name is Salt. I came up with it on my own." He smiles, sitting cross-legged on the dark grass, gray-tinted hands in his lap. "You're a hero of mine, Miss Ebony."