Chapter 1

Gracefully, Mei swiftly turned around and swung her twin hook swords and felled the ugly demon before her and continued running through the endless forest. She had a bit of a head start so she ducked behind a tree and waited for the next demon to appear. Mei had nearly caught her breath when the demon ran right past her. She ran after it and with a clean swoop of her sword, its head fell to the ground with a dull thud.

She turned around and saw more demons coming her way. Damn it! Why do they keep coming?! Mei tried to catch her breath and took a stance as the demons came running. She'd been fighting demons all day and she was wearing out, small cuts and bruises had already covered most of her body.

The demons finally caught up to her but Mei noticed these demons were a bit different. Their exteriors seemed tougher and harder to penetrate. They wielded their weapons better then the last bunch of demons and they seemed to be a tad smarter. A nearby demon swung its large battle axe at Mei and the clashes of metal put an end to the silence of the surrounding forest area.

Leo's ears twitched as a faint sound reached his ears. It sounded an awful lot like a sword fight and Leo was just itching to be part of it, but Lael, his older sister had told him to stay put while she went ahead to search for food.

"Ahh…it's not fair…she's always treating me like a lil' kid." Leo muttered to himself as the fight continued. He let out a soft growl, stood up, and began pacing as he waited for his sister. I'll be back in plenty of time… And with that Leo picked up his bastard sword and sprinted towards the clashing of metal. He used his sharp vision to scout for the fight but let his ears become his guide and soon, he reached the fight in no time and stopped at a small clearing to watch. I don't believe it…it's a…a…girl!…

Mei had been doing all right on her own but she was tired and panting heavily and trying to stiffen the pain of a large gash in her left arm. She took a kneeling position leaning on her swords for support waiting for the demons to come closer when something caught her eye. A boy her age seemed to be standing there, watching absentmindedly without a trace of fear in his eyes. She looked at him more carefully and saw his weapon on a large sheath tied to his back.

She took too much time looking at the stranger. A huge demon readied his weapon and struck the ground right as Mei jumped back, but she was too slow, the demon left a long cut along her right leg. Mei stumbled backwards and one of her weapons flew out of her hands. She propped herself up with her other sword and leaned heavily on her other leg. Another demon closed in on her left and took a swing at her but she parried the blow and with the hook of her sword she snaked her weapon to the demon's hand and cut it off. Mei laid down her weapon and picked up the beast's heavy club and swung it at the next demon. With an ear-splitting roar the skull was instantly fractured and another demon fell dead.

The wounds that she received earlier were making it difficult to maintain a decent fight. The pain was increasing and holding her back. Mei slowly kneeled down, leaning against the giant club. The demons ignored the stranger and continued attacking Mei, but she was now weak and vulnerable.

Ok…so I misjudged. She's strong, but she's wearing out…guess this is where I come in, Leo thought. He quickly unsheathed his bastard sword and ran into the mob of demons. One clean sweep of his mighty blade and the demon collapsed, dead in its tracks. Leo slaughtered a couple more with the same quick, clean movements as the first time. Tons of demon carcasses had already covered the small clearing of the forest but they still kept coming.

Damn, has she been doing this all day? Leo's eyes shifted in her direction but she wasn't there anymore. Strange…she was there 3 seconds ago…Suddenly Mei lunged at Leo, knocking them both to the ground.

"Hey! What's your problem?! I'm trying to help-" he stopped mid-sentence as his voice was drowned out by at least three heavy maces striking the ground where they both stood just seconds before. Apparently they had devised a plan to kill Leo and the other demons were just a diversion. "Oh…" he said quietly.

They now stood back to back as the savage demons circled around them. Their numbers had decreased immensely with Leo's help. "Wait a minute…" Leo said to Mei, "How did you know they were planning to do that? You were at least 20 feet away." Leo ducked and swiftly shifted towards the right and spun around waving his sword to cut down the next 3 demons. He paused momentarily and tried to catch Mei's eyes, but she was carefully avoiding them.

Mei was moving less nimbly and slower due to her injuries but she was still able to put up a fight. She ignored the stranger's question and paid no more attention to him as she continued to slay more and more demons. They fought in silence for the next few moments with only the sound of metal clashing as noise. Suddenly, the stranger Mei fought quietly alongside yelled for her attention. Mei turned to look at him running towards her but the next second everything went black and her vision suddenly became completely obscured and silence was everywhere.

Mei awoke under the shade of a tall, old tree. The air was crisp and the sun was about to set. She pushed a heavy blanket off her and sat up and took in the sights of her new surroundings. The boy who had helped her out earlier was leaned against the trunk of another tree not too far off. He was sleeping deeply and Mei had noticed that his arm had a white bandage stained with fresh blood. She surveyed herself and noticed that her own wounds had been cleaned and bandaged, though she winced at the pain as she tried to move her stiff and sore limbs. Mei stood up and stretched then she noticed her swords lay propped next to the tree trunk. She smiled as she picked them up. That idiot, he shouldn't have done anything. I could've handled everything, and now he's hurt. Mei looked over at him with concern gleaming from her eyes. She sheathed her weapon on a hook on her belt and turned away. "Thank you…" Mei whispered, glancing back at him before sprinting off.

Sooo…how'd you guys like it?... this is my first story that has ever been close to becoming something good. Sorry if this chapter was a little short, i'll make the next one longer.

Please leave some comments or advice. And I'm open to any criticism.

thanks for taking the time to read meh story.