Devil

Slayer

Damien

Epilogue

Fiction has become truth…death has a form, a presence, a manifestation, a reality. It can now be seen, heard, felt and smelled by all…fear now had its ugly claws wrapped around humanities throat, and had no intention of letting go until it was satisfied choking the life out of it. Men, women and children lived their lives at the edge, knowing that their time could be up at any given point. No one could deny it, evil was real, and no one could hide forever. Many just tried to ignore or forget about it, knowing that it would eventually be their inevitable downfall. However, the cold, sad truth was that the world's hourglass had been tipped…and it was drawing near empty.

Demons were real; they plagued the cities, towns and streets all across the world killing the innocent for nothing but pure amusement and conquest. A few brave men and women would stand up and make a living killing the demons, they were called Devil Slayers. Many did not live to long though, they just couldn't compare to the might and skill of the higher up demons, it was all fun and games until a giant scorpion broke into your house and spliced you from head to toe. Nevertheless, they still did their best to prevent the overwhelming odds of an incoming human extinction.

One town, called Mylestone didn't have many demon problems at all, in fact, no real creditable evidence supported that there was a single demon residing in the small, rural town. That was all about to change, with the involvement of a local Mylestone High school student named Damien. He would play into important events that would forever connect him to the demonic legions of the dark realm, and to the purest of angels. His story begins on a somewhat usual day at school…

Scene 1:

Same Old, Same Old.

"Time for roll call", an old teacher said in front of a mostly absent class. The few rows of seats that were in the room were dotted with studentless desks and chairs. The teacher spoke slow and depressingly, making her voice a verbal sleeping pill for herself and the 12, maybe 13 kids in the dull, pitiful excuse of a classroom. She wasn't the most thrilled teacher; actually, she hated her job. She liked children and all, but at her age, you only care so much and then none at all. At her call, when she said a student's name, he or she would grudgingly raise their hand to confirm their identity.

Trent, Oliver, Brittney, Billy… the names just came and gone, until she got too the last two of the 13 students.

"Jennifer?" The monotoius teacher hummed. A girl with black, finger-wave hair shot her hand up in the air quickly and chirped, "Present Mrs. Everson!"

Many of the kids giggled and chucked to themselves, everyone knew that Jennifer was a constant over-achiever. Jennifer paid no attention to the squabbling and opened her small, rose-colored book and began to systematically read to herself, as usual.

"Who am I missing?" Mrs. Everson began, "Oh, Damien?"

Everyone turned to look at the kid in the seat parallel to Jennifer. Its occupant was a boy with a lean physique, long fringed jet-black hair, a black lightweight trench coat with pants to match, a bright green t-shirt and black dress shoes. Quite the interesting type, it looked as if he would fit in well with a funeral crowd. He had his eyes closed and feet propped up on the desk like an oversized footstool and CD player headphones in his ears. Mrs. Everson just stood there with a scornful look on her face and tapping her high heels on the floor tiles, which was the only noise emitting in the room, the silence was utterly eerie. Jennifer looked nervously over at him and lightly tapped his shoulder, thinking that maybe he was asleep. Then see noticed that he grinned when she tapped him and that the CD player on his lap wasn't even on. He was just merely ignoring the teacher to piss her off, which he liked to do ever so much.

Jennifer rolled her eyes in disgust and opened her book again to resume reading, she didn't want to get involved between the numerous crossfires between Mrs. Everson and Damien, he just wasn't worth the effort it in her book. Damien opened his abnormally bright green eyes and smiled deviously at Mrs. Everson.

"Oh, you mean me?" He said as he put the CD player away, stood up, brushed off his coat and cleared his throat. "Present Mrs. Everson!" he repeated in the same tone as Jennifer, trying to mimic her voice with a little sarcasm added. Laughter broke out in the nearly empty room as Damien bowed to his class mockingly and resumed his previous position, minus the headphones.

Mrs. Everson soon settled down the class and left the room, as she usually did. She would sit in the teacher's lounge for the whole day with most of the other teachers and watch the news while drinking cup upon cup of coffee like there was no tomorrow. Everyone moved their desks together in groups with their friends and the chatting began, almost on usual schedule, save for Damien, he just leaned back on his chair with his "footstool" desk. After a little while, he leisurely opened one eye and noticed that Jennifer was still next to him.

"Why aren't you sitting with your boyfriend? Am I really that good looking? I could get you a picture if you want."

"Hardly!" she retorted, "Even though its none of your business, Robert isn't here today. He has football practice." Not once did she look at him, she had already but her book away, she was just staring down at her desk.

Damien was quick to notice, "Something on your mind kido? Did I strike a bad chord with you?"

"No, I'm perfectly fine, just a little bored I guess, that's all."

Damien shrugged "Whatever…At least I don't have to see you two sucking each others face."

A younger, shorter boy with brown, faux-hawk hair who was sitting in front of Damien placed his hand behind his back, giving Damien a high-five hand jester. Damien smiled and slapped him a high-five as the kid turned his chair around to seen them both eye to eye. He had bronze colored eyes and a few small cuts on his otherwise clean face.

"Good one Damien! I was waiting for that one!" The boy said in delight.

"You know me Christopher, just got to make the timing right!"

Jennifer sighed angrily, "I cannot believe you two! You guys are horrible!"

Damien and Christopher laughed at Jennifer's distain, they were all friends, but they ragged on each other whenever they got the chance. Jennifer looked away from the two and crossed her arms tightly; they made her mad this time.

"Aww come on Jenna, were just picking on your boyfriend a bit, no harm done." Damien said.

"Yeah, lighten up" Christopher followed up quickly.

Jennifer turned violently towards them and uncrossed her arms. Her lip and face tightened up instead. Obviously, they angered her, "I told you repeatedly to stop heckling Robert! He has never done anything to you guys, so why do you treat him like this?!"

Damien looked over at Christopher questionly "Why do we make fun of his relationship with Jenna?"

Christopher stretched his neck, "Well, he fricken beats the hell out of me whenever he sees me. That's my reason, and it's good enough for me!"

Damien mockingly nodded his head, "Yeah, I like Chris's reason. Even though he hasn't done anything to me, I rag on him because…well, I can!" Damien grinned and leaned his head on his desk, he was sitting upright now.

Jennifer shook her head in disbelief, she never once believed Christopher's sayings about Robert beating him up, even though he got some kind of new scar or bruise everyday, and his locker was right next to Robert's. Damien on the other hand, had seen the torment Robert dished to Christopher, slamming him against the lockers, slamming his fingers in the locker doors, which wasn't the least bit fun and just the usual punches, kicks, the whole nine yards. Damien felt a little bad for Chris, but didn't want to get Jenna upset with Robert, even though he wound not hesitate to beat his guts out of him. Jenna never had a lasting relationship, and this was the longest so far, and Damien was not going to be the one to hurt his friend.

The three of them exchanged stories and did whatever they could to make the day pass quicker. They had an agonizing 6 hours left in the most drab, depressing and literally hollow place on earth. Else where, in a more deluded, sinister and hellish realm, a plot was beginning its premature phase by a terrible foe… a fledging demonic lord was raising an army.

"Now my brethren…time is drawing to its dawn, the time to assemble is near…"A dragonic voice bellowed from a black void surrounded by nothing but darkness. Three figures stood on a raised, clear platform which complete blackness could be seen from underneath, no ground was within sight, miles and miles of…nothing. One of the figures approached the black ghost-like cloud. It was adorn with red, medievalish armor and wore a vented, horned helmet to cover its face. It stood about seven; maybe eight feet high with an equally red, long wavy sword was attached to its left side. The demonic knight bowed on one knee and slowly raised its head.

"It is done; the traitor has been banished, as you have commanded my lord." His voice seemed to echo, as if his armor was infinitely expanding. "Also, my legions are ready at you wish." He added.

"Good Berith, time is critical. My energy… will take a long time to manifest into the human world; I'll need you to command…Thamuz…and…Mastema to distract any…interference." The orb bellowed again.

The two other figures approached out of the darkness, one resembled a giant scorpion with four, large raptor-like yellow eyes. The other was apparently a samurai, within the same height as Berith, a black bladed katana imbedded with hundreds of small cuts lined around the sides of the blade nestled to his belt scabbard.

The scorpion was the first to speak and didn't seem to happy, "So, we are t-t-t-the lackeys in t-t-t-this matter? Why does b–b-Berith get the special treatment? We are just d-d-d-demoted to mere pawns then?"

Berith quickly turned to the immense scorpion, "If I wanted your opinion Thamuz, I would have asked! I would also rather you not speak, your stutter is painfully annoying."

Thamuz edged closer to the red knight and bleared his massive claws and lowered his barbed tail in a hostile manner. "C-C-C-Careful Berith…remember who is your s-s-s-superior. If I remember correctly, t-t-t-the only reason you are leading, is because you are b-b-b-blood related to his lordship." Thamuz seemed to hiss his response, to limit his stutter, but nothing really helped.

"Say that again you inadequate crab!" Berith shouted and make an aggressive approach towards Thamuz.

"Stop…both of you!" The lordly black orb shot out. "There is no time for bickering. The reason…for Berith's command…is that both you and Mastema…have already proven your worth. It is now…his turn."

"F-F-F-Fine, Mastema lets go. We s-s-s-still have to prepare our legions. We will be ready in one hour; hopefully everyone else will be r-r-r-ready by then."

"Hmph, yes lord Thamuz." The samurai hastily spat out as he followed the oversized scorpion into the darkness, off the raised, glasslike platform.

After they left, the dark blob dissolved and melded into the surrounding darkness and left Berith alone, a bright red light in the overwhelming eclipse. Berith though to himself, even though he'd seen combat for over 300 years, that was actually not very long in service and yet, he was already commanding those who have been around for over 2000 years. Had his lordship given him this rank for being an adept soldier, or because of him being his adopted son? His lordship had another adopted son, but why wasn't he commanding the main army? And who was he anyway? He had never even met him. Berith tried not to think about it and disappeared into blackness. His lordship was right; he had to draw attention from the human military in order for his lordship to achieve his true form… the form of a god.