1 A Demon Forged

Forged in the deepest pits of hell and powered by the rage and blood of the old wars in which it fought, thane sword shall burn all but the one of pure heart and torn between the worlds of demons and of mortals. I so proclaim this sword, Death. This is my curse and my salvation.

I never should have gone into the woods that day; it was a day I will never forget, and the day my entire world got turned upside down. It was March 16, 2004 I went into the woods behind my house despite what my parents said. It was just before twilight and I was smart enough to go only as far as I could see my house. I was about seventy feet in the woods and could still see my house. I was about to turn around when something caught my eye. Out of natural curiosity I ran to what I saw without noticing I could not see my house any more. When I got there I was in a clearing with a lone tree standing in the middle of it and what I saw turned out to be a naked woman laying face down in the dirt near the edge of the clearing. I turned her over and she was very beautiful but one thing stuck out, literally, she had horns coming out of her forehead. She was rather skinny and looked as though she had been starving.

I shook her, "Lady are you alright? Get up," I tried doing this for about five minutes till she finally got up. "I'm glad you're alright lady," I looked in her eyes and saw a void of longing in them.

The next thing I knew she had jumped on me sinking her razor sharp teeth into my shoulder her nails cut though my shirt and sliced open my skin. I fell backwards and hit my head on a rock. She drank my blood for a minute then yawned and fell asleep lying on top of me. I was stunned and covered in my own blood, my glasses were shattered and my body numb. All I could do was lay there and think, I thought about a lot of different things but mainly what my parents would think if I made it back home. I got bored with thinking and started to count the stars as they appeared though the trees. I finally got bored of this too and fell asleep.

When I awoke it was morning the woman was gone and my body stiff. I looked at my shoulder and winced as I saw bone. Surprisingly I stood up with the little strength I had left and leaned against a tree because I was about to fall over. I was pretty sure my left leg was broken. I looked at the puddle of dried blood and laughed, for no reason at all, maybe I was disoriented because of blood loss.

I couldn't see my house so I picked a direction and started walking. I had always had a really bad sense of direction and an even worse sense of time, but I kept walking and after about seven minutes I saw my house. I limped the rest of the way home on my broken leg and opened the door. I expected to have my parents to run out of the door and bombard me with a bunch of questions like where were you, and what happened to you, but they and my sister were sitting in the same spot they were yesterday and doing the same thing they were yesterday.

I walked in the door and said, "Hi."

"Hi, Matthew you were only out there for a couple of minutes usually you out there for an hour or two, is something wrong?" my mom had said looking puzzled.

"No, just tired," when I looked at myself I was injured and bleeding but to my parents and sister I was out there for a couple of minutes and perfectly intact. I put my clothes in the washer I cleaned what was left of my glasses and took a shower. Washing the blood down the drain seemed to calm me and allow me to think of other things. When I got out of the shower and dried off, I looked in the mirror at myself looking for scars but there were none. I realized I was standing on my own accord so I moved my leg and it was no longer broken and my shoulder no longer had a hole in it. When I got my clothes out of the drier they were fixed, so were my glasses, it was like none of it ever happened. All was gone but when I looked at the back of my left shoulder there was a symbol I had never seen on it. It was a line straight up with two equal length lines in the middle of it, a line at the bottom protruding right, and a line at the top going down and to the left, all together it looked weird but I didn't mind. To me it further proved to me it wasn't a dream but I wish it was.

I went to the woods again after supper to see if I could find the girl. I found the clearing and the blood puddle and in the middle of it sat what seemed to be a note. I picked it up and looked at the writing on the front. It was in a curly font that I didn't recognize but it was clearly hand written. I opened the letter and started to read.

Dear boy,

I am truly sorry about attacking you I was weak, starving, and half asleep. I would not have attacked you if had a choice. I want to make it up to you anyway I can. Meet me tonight at midnight in this spot please. I look forward to speaking with you.

You're Friend,

Rina

I staredat the letter for a while reading it over and over again, but despite my best interest I went back home and had a normal evening. When I said good night to my family I got a flash light and snuck out of the house and went to the blood puddle once again and waited for midnight. I was sitting there leaning against a tree, thinking about what would happen. I looked at my watch and it was 11:59 p.m. I looked in the trees and saw a shadow.

"Hello, your name is, Rina is it not?" she was tall, thin, and beautiful. She had now been fully clothed and her hair fixed in dreadlocks. I saw her eyes and shuddered they looked as they were peering into my soul looking for my faults and weaknesses.

"Yes, my name is Rina. What is yours?" her voice was calming and soothed my disturbed mind.

"My name is," I felt as though I could trust her but I still did not want to give her my real name, "my name is Matt." I decided to use the name kids at school called me.

"That is an abbreviation of your name isn't it? Well, Matthias it is nice to meet you," she held out her hand so I could shake it but it didn't happen. The moment she finished her sentence I became dizzy and fell to the ground. My vision became blurred and my body burned. I began to grow, I got taller; my hair grew to my waist and turned silver. I felt the bones in my fingers ripping out from under my nails. They sharpened themselves and turned black. My teeth grew to gnarled fangs, and my shirt had ripped off my body and scabbard to a sword wrapped itself around my torso. A pair of fingerless leather gauntlets with metal plating on the top appeared on my wrists, as sleeveless trench coat laid itself on my body. I was kneeling in pain thinking it was over, but a sword went flying into the scabbard on my back creating sparks on the metal ring at the top as it went in. I wanted it to stop but it did not. My back began to burn as the bones of a dragon's wings ripped out of the space between my shoulder blades. The bones were being wrapped in muscle, blood veins, and tissue. Skin stretched form one bone to the others and veins snaked through the skin of the wings. I stood up and opened my eyes after it was finally over, and I dragged my hurting body over to a nearby creek and looked at my reflection. My eyes were a golden shade of yellow and reminded me the moon. I had a beard as silver as my hair but it was trimmed and reminded me of my grandfather.

"What the hell, happened to me?" my voice was deep and dignified. It was everything I wasn't, but you could still tell the fear in my voice.

"What the hell just happened?" Rina came and sat next to me and stared. I didn't know what she was doing but it looked like she was sizing me up. It crept me out, but I did get a good chance to look at her.

She was thin and about a foot shorter than what I was now. She had what would be considered a fine body. Her hair was a reddish-brown color and fixed in dreadlocks, her skin was bronze though the skin on her horns had a darker tint. She wore a pair of faded brown bellbottoms held up by a red silk sash. Her shirt was purple and had stains on it that looked strangely like blood. Her attire was tied together by a pair of leather boots and a dagger attached to her left leg.

The strangest thing was her eyes they were jade green and seemed to peer into the soul. Again I shuddered looking in her eyes, but I did not look away and tried not to blink. As I looked I saw a group of four one of which was Rina herself. I couldn't make the other three out very much but they were clearly not human.

Rina got up and walked to the tree in the middle of the clearing took out her dagger and carved something in the bark. As she stood there I noticed she had a tail which swayed back and forth. I didn't get to see what she had carved because the bark on the tree spontaneously combusted leaving a hole the size of me in the now bare wood.

"I would like you to come with me please," her words were sweet but the look on her face said you really don't have a choice. I got up and walked to the hallow tree, there were stairs leading straight down into a void of black. Automatically I thought, I have sinned and I am going to hell, but I was not afraid and went down the stairs. We stopped in a cavern, it was chill and the wind whispered in the cracks of the walls.

"Why are you helping me, Rina? What am I? I am not human but neither are you or the other three I saw in your eyes. What am I?" she sat down on a rock and looked up above us. Pondering why I too looked up at it and was astounded I was looking at what was crystals jutting from the walls and ceiling all around us, but they were scattered around and hit with a faint light from the entrance forming stars and planets. It was as though one was looking at the night sky.

"I'm a demon the same as you are now. I help you because you need it you are scared of what you are, but there is no need to be. I came to repay my debt to you for helping me. I am going to train you in order to repay that debt, but also to help you not be scared for I cannot stand to see people suffer," I didn't know what to say to Rina. A total stranger I had just meet who was helping me though stuff I only thought was fairytales, mere children's stories for bedtime.

"Thank you my friend," I looked at the stairs and saw the light of dawn. I began to tremble as my body reverted back to its form of an eight year old boy. My short brown hair to my dull ice blue eyes was back to the way it was at the beginning of the night. "It is morning, Rina. I will see you tonight I suppose," but she was gone when I turned to speak to her. As I walked back to my house I thought only one thing, what the hell have I gotten myself in to?