Before you read:

As you may have noticed, this is Book II to a little trilogy I have going on. This book is the sequel to Inner Demon. You don't have to read it to read this story, but it would help.

Okay. End note. Thanks :)

Prelude

For three years she had hidden. That was when it began. Three years for the world to end. Armageddon. It had to be. Why else would demons roam the world? All of them incongruous assortments of man and beast, combing the earth for humans to eradicate. Oh, a few of them were handsome and beautiful to look at. A glorious glimpse before leaving the bewitched captive decapitated.

For some reason, she hadn't been killed on sight when she was found. She had been taken hostage and now stood in a white, furniture less room. It stank of acrid sweat and tears with an underlying odor of feces. Other wide-eyed detainees accompanied her. Most were clam, used to the destruction and devastation of their lands. Used to the presence of demons. It was as if they expected to have been locked in a white cage. They were the ones who were sitting, some huddled, others alone. They all shared the same foreboding expression. It was the end and they accepted it.

She, however, was one of the frantic ones. Her pacing was erratic and aloof. Her hands and arms were useless appendages that kept interfering with her movements. The faded, tattered clothes on her skin were an itchy annoyance. Their sour fragrance on them a sudden recognition.

It was because she lost her rosary.

She had been a loner. Hiding. It was simple to just take care of one, especially when her entire family was states away, most likely dead. When the demons had initially attacked, she had been in her dorm. Many students and professors tried to drive away from the hysterical campus. She simply ran and ran. Away from the crowds. Harder to find one than many.

It had been an easy feat. The invading demons were brutish but stupid. Grotesque looking creatures, even more so when she recognized familiar animal, reptile, and insect features on them. Claws, fangs, feathers, scales, fur, wings, tentacles all mixed and mutated with human feet, eyes, fingers, legs, and torsos.

Thus she hid for the next three years. Transformed from a biology major to a hunter and gatherer guided by her newly born faith. The wooden rosary around her neck had always been a decorative piece of jewelry until she saw that demons were indeed real. It also turned out to be a faith that tested her.

She had seen him, a tall, chiseled man. He wore white, baggy pants and nothing else. His strange, but beautiful, hair wavered through each hue of blue with every turn of his head. Though at a distance, she could see how handsome he was. Standing before a group of humans, he was leading them away from the now dangerous and crumbling city.

My savior! she had eagerly thought, but then a small wolf appeared next to the stranger. It jumped into him. Her so called savior towered into a monster wolf that quickly decimated the humans he had been shepherding. She ran and ran again, the massacre's mayhem and blood camouflaging her fear filled escape.

But she was a captive now.

Her rosary was gone, lost on the same day she had been apprehended. But why was she not killed? Why these people?

The door opened, slicing a doorframe into the otherwise flawlessly bleached room. A lone demon resembling a mutt of a dog stood on hind legs but held a human chest and arms. Its appearance caused some to scramble away and scream. Most bowed their heads in grim acceptance. None of them attempted to escape through the only exit. A human was chosen by the demon, a middle aged man, and was escorted out. The door closed behind them. Shortly afterwards the same demon entered, alone yet again. The white room slowly emptied as, one by one, the human were being herded out.

She had watched, frozen, until the dog demon finally trudged up to her. He roughly clasped a clawed hand around her arm. The sickening warm touch prompted her into a scream. Unfazed, the demon pulled her along. She willingly walked with it, shrieking the entire way. As soon as she stepped out of the white room, she went blind. Before she could utter another yelp, her sight returned.

She was standing in a strangely lavished throne room. Everything was gold. It was like standing inside a huge golden nugget. Odd, stalactites looking chandeliers hung from the ceiling. The walls were a collage of random engravings and protruding chunks of gold. The floor was polished flat. A throne chair –rudely carved out from a mounting hunk of gold– furnished the middle of the room. Someone sat on it.

A woman with mismatched eyes, one red, the other green, blazed at the hostage. A small crown of diamonds encircled her head on top of her ridiculously long dark violet hair. Next to the sitting queen stood another female demon. An unsheathed sword was in her hand. The blade was laced with fire. Though it did not burn the weapon, its heat was felt.

"Radi, if you please," the crowned demon spoke. Her voice was both alluring and frightful.

The other demon nodded and smiled at the captive as she walked up to her. It was an empty grin that matched her equally vacant orange eyes. With the enflamed sword in hand, Radi thrusted it through the human's heart. The female gasped at the blade's touch, mostly out of surprise. She felt no pain.

"A Runner, My Lady," Radi said. "Lowest of the Teleportation Magika."

The queen tck'd. "Useless to me," she sighed. "I desire humans containing higher levels of Magika. Dispose of her."

"Yes, My Lady," Radi smiled emptily again. The sword flared.

The human captive immediately felt the pain. Her skin was blistering, flesh searing. Cooked meat sizzled and smoke caught in her throat. When Radi withdrew her weapon, a horizontal oval entirely hollowed out the human's upper left section of her chest. The lifeless body immediately slumped to the floor.

"Dispose of her and retrieve the next one," the queen ordered the dog demon.

Once the corpse had been dragged out, Radi sighed.

"My Lady," she said. "This is a waste of your time. I can do this on my own. You need not bother yourself."

"No," the demon queen sharply said. "I need this distraction."

"Auronmar and the other mortals' location have not been found?"

"No, it has not."

"My Lady should remember the time between our worlds does not run parallel. What feels like mortal years here can simply be but day's comparison in our world. The opposite can also pose true."

"Yes, Radi. I am aware. It is simply my impatience that makes me forget. Once Auronmar's location is found, however, I can completely rule over both worlds."

An ominous sound then vibrated through the golden room. A thousand whispers raked the walls, "Such can be accomplished without death, dear Divine."

A black silhouette outlined into a genderless human form manifested in front of the queen. Two green circles served as eyes. Such was the only facial features it possessed. The two demons stared at the Spirit, one with a sneer and the other with a vacant smile.

"Multiple times I have warned," the thousand voices emerged from the mouth less, dark face. "Divine is killing too many, too quickly."

The queen waved him away. "Silence, Spirit. Mortals do not deserve to be spared."

"My dear Divine, I am under your service, but that does not mean I have to whisper the words you wish to hear."

Radi's grin grew and her sword blazed.

Important Note: The following chapters have been taken down until Book I has been polished up some more. I will also not be continuing this story until that is done.

If interested in Book I, which is on this site, I suggest reading the version on my Wattpad profile. There is a link to it on my FictionPress profile. You will find more information about the status of this trilogy there as well.

Thanks for your understanding, and I hope you do decided to check out my story. ^^

April 14, 2013