Chapter 1: A Warning

Something wasn't right. I don't know how I knew, but I felt it on the inside of me and I had to investigate it. How could I not notice the whole town running in havoc in weapons and bearing arms. They looked like they were going to war, and that's what I'm afraid of. If they're going to war, that means they're going to attack the humans. I bolted off to find someone who I trusted would tell me what was going on- my parents. They're the only ones who knew how I felt about the war between demons and humans, which has been raging on for thousands of years. Anytime someone tried to revolt against the war, they would be killed. The humans have tried to for negotiations with the demons, but they were killed by the demons as well. There was no way to stop them. They were ruthless and rash.

If anyone thought something of me running, it would be that I was rushing to get ready for the attack as well. I was happy that I didn't have to sneak around to hurry, like usual, because no one thought anything of it.

I bolted into my parent's house to see them sending off my oldest brother who, sadly, still lived with my parents, to war. "What's happening?!" I breathlessly demanded.

My supercilious brother chimed in and too happily said, "We're going to attack the humans! There have been rumors of human conspirators who are trying to wage a full-scale war against us demons. HA! How stupid! Anyway, we're going to go attack them before they even get a chance to raise a full force. Take them by surprise, that is. And then-" I interrupted him. I don't think I could take that much more idiotic blundering for the day.

"What town are they attacking? When are they leaving?"

He, annoyed, answered, "They're attacking the main human town-"

"The capitol?" I sarcastically asked.

"Yeah, whatever. They're leaving by the next full moon. Why are you so interested? 'S not like you'd join or anything, pansy." He started laughing at his own joke, which, wasn't really a joke to begin with, which shows you what stupidity I'm related to. My parents just stared, shocked at the whole conversation. They didn't know the hostility between my brother and I; I left the house about 3 years ago and went to live on a river at the edge of the real to train myself and get away from the demons, even though I was a demon.

Once again, I bolted out of the house and into the heart of the town. I had to see how large their force was. It was huge. I had to warn someone! But who? The elves, yes. They were closest and they had an alliance with the humans. Which also meant that it was going to be hard for me to get in and talk to the queen. But I had to try. I just had to. I had to try to put an end to the madness. If I couldn't, then my life was worthless.

I made a mad dash towards the exit to the path that would lead me to the elves. This time, since I was running against the mob, people realized what I was doing. Some people even started throwing things at me, most of which, I avoided. Unfortunately, a few arrows made it into me. Finally I was at the gate, but I had to get past the guardian. I just ran. He ran after me, but I was lighter. He managed to get a flaming arrow all the way through my left shoulder. Engulfed in pain, I fell to the ground and the guardian caught up with me. I stood up as quickly as I could and pulled my sword out of the sheath and tried my best to fight with my injured shoulder. I couldn't beat this guy with an injured shoulder; I couldn't move fast enough with it. Even though I knew that casting a spell would draw attention to where I was, I didn't have much of a choice. I mumbled a few demonic words under my voice and the guardian froze in place.

I sheathed my sword and ran off as fast as my body, arrow, cuts, and all, would allow me. After about an hour of running, I finally spotted a small house by itself on a hill. I was stumbling over myself from exhaustion from running and bleeding. I didn't know how I was going to ask for help or even if they could help me, but I stumbled into the door and knocked anyway.

In a few seconds, a girl came to the door with a dagger in her hand. I looked up. She was beautiful. "Please!" I gasped. "help… the demons… they're att…acking… the humans." With that last gasp of breath, I tumbled towards the ground into her house and everything went momentarily black.

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I was excited! My brother had just gotten back from a long quest for the realm and he was finally home to stay for a while! I was making soup (chicken and dumplings) for everyone, since it was so cold out. It had already begun snowing.

"SEREG! EVA!"

"What?!" An annoyed Eva called.

"Diner! Get it before it's gets cold!!!

Eva came bolting into the kitchen. "Mmmm starving!" I dipped her a bowl of the soup and handed it to her, without dumplings. "Thanks! 3"

Next, Sereg came in sluggishly in. I handed him his bowl. "Thanks, sis." He kissed me on the check and sat down at the table. I was so excited! I hadn't had diner with my brother in over a month! I sat down and was started conversing and eating.

In the middle of the diner, there was a knock at the door. I stood up and headed to the other room. "Mana. Be careful. I sense something." I nodded and grabbed the dagger hanging by the door. I pulled it open and a bloody guy followed the door. He looked up at me. "Please!…help… the demons… they're att…acking… the humans" He gasped and collapsed at my fight. I shrieked and Sereg came running into the room.

"What the hell?! What happened??!" I informed him about what he said. "Well, no matter what, he needs to be bandaged and healed. Can you take care of that, Mana?"

"Of course." I nodded. "Eva…" She came straight to me and helped me carry him up to my room. "Thanks."

She growled. "Mana. Be careful. I don't trust this guy. He's demon." She threw a dagger at me. I nodded as she walked off. I didn't sense anything. He seemed perfectly harmless to me. Powerful, true, but harmless. Besides, he wouldn't be warning us about the demons if he was one of them, even though that was rare. I opened his jaw to make sure he was demon. Yup, fangs, he was.

I gently set to work and bandaged him up and took the arrow out of his shoulder. The skin around the puncture was burned, so it must have been a flaming arrow. After he was completely bandaged, I pulled clean clothes onto him and pulled the covers over him so he's stay warm. Then I took my right hand and put my thumb and middle and ring finger on opposite sites of his head, on his temples and said a little spell, "Anta telume. Anta kuile." I floated a foot off the ground and we both glowed blue. I landed gracefully to the ground.

He stirred and looked up at me. "What did you do?" He weakly asked.

"Shhh…" I moved the hair out of his eyes. "I speed up the healing process. You should be fine by tomorrow's eve, if you rest. Go to sleep." His eyes slowly faded and he slept well into the next day.

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I woke up in a warm bed with sunlight seeping in through the window. Where I laid was very very comfortable and I did not want to get up. But I knew I had to. I had to tell them who I was and why I was here. I had to make sure I could trust them, even though I partially did. I also had to ask them to help me. Besides, that's why I'm here, isn't it?

I yanked the covers off me and threw my legs over the side of the bed and sat up. I stared at the wall for a few minutes, reorienting myself. I quickly stood up. Bad idea. Faster than I stood, I fell to the ground with a loud thud. Within seconds, the same girl I saw last night came in the room and sat on the foot of the bed. She looked down at me and shook her head. "You should have called for help." She headed towards me to help, but I kept on getting up.

"I can get it myself, thank you."

"Hah! Go ahead then, by all means, fall over again. Just another bruise to add to your collection." I glared at her. I started standing again, but fell over. I didn't want to be defenseless! I growled and, to make sure I wasn't completely defenseless, I conjured up my power and I started to glow purple. I settled down after that. Keeping my face away from her, I put my back against the wall and slowly started inching up. I think I'm going to make it! All of a sudden, my knees buckle and I fall back to the ground.

Now the girl was crouching right in front of me. She knocked on my head and said, "Here, stop being so stubborn. Let me help you." She grabbed my hands and helped me slowly to my feet. "Do you need help walking?" I shook my head and took a cautious step forward only to completely contradict myself. I growled.

"I could crawl."

She laughed. "You could. I wouldn't even have to help you down, you could fall all by yourself!" I growled and started chasing her down the stairs. She pushed me into a couch and handed me a bowl of soup. She smiled. "Thought you were the kind of person who would get pissed off my a statement like that" She stuck her tongue out at me and I just glared at her. What else could I do? I mean, she was feeding me.

Another guy was sitting in a chair next to the arm of the couch on the opposite side of where I was, which was were the girl was sitting at. He started talking. "Fist of all, what's your name? Where are you from, all the basics."

"Yuhi. Eh, I'm from the demon realm. As you undoubtedly already know, I'm a demon. As you could probably guess, I'm not on friendly terms with most other demons, only because I don't agree with their ruthlessness and their idiocy." I sipped the soup before it started to cool down too much. It was good.

"I'm Sereg, she's Mana. We're both elves."

"Mm, figured that. This is good, by the way."

"Thanks," Mana answered.

"There's another girl, Eva. You'll see her soon enough. She's the only other person around here, so you'll know who she is. She's also a demon. We'll allow you to stay until you heal, and that's a definite as that'll get until we know more about your situation. We're not going to kick you out, don't worry, unless you're rude or something. So, I believe you said something about demons attacking the humans. Tell us about this."

So, for the next half hour or so, we sat there and I explained how the demons and humans were enemies, and how the hatred had started such a long time ago that no one remembers even when it started or by whom. I explained how they suspected some humans of conspiring, and how they were going to kill them at all costs. When I finished, they just sat there and stared at me.

"So, what are going to do?" Mana said to Sereg.

"The only thing we can do." I heard a voice from behind me. "Team up with him and try to attack the demons."