Ok, so I just wanted to give a little maturity warning because this chapter has some... suggestive themes... It's nothing too bad (at least not to me, but I have no idea how young or innocent some of you are). You have been warned.
Character pictures will come soon, promise!
In the shadow cast by a large oak tree in the middle of the park emerged a tall, hooded archer with bright red eyes and two demonic, six legged hounds. "Ugh, it is so bright and… cheerful here. It sickens me," Hou Yi muttered in disgust. "Mutt, what are you doing?" she shouted at An Gou, who simply cocked her head to the side. "You're the tracker! Find those Signs!" An Gou quickly jumped up and began scurrying around the park, sniffing the ground and air for the scent of nearby magic. Her head suddenly perked up and she excitedly dashed off, disappearing in an instant. "Accursed mutt, how am I supposed to keep up with her? You," she turned to Hei Gou, "You can at least track your twin, yes?" Hei Gou barked in response before trotting after An Gou, albeit far slower, as Hou Yi followed. "At least one of you two is useful."
"Ah, summer feels so good! I've been waiting for this all year!" Mavis exclaimed as she and her friends strolled down the streets of Los Angeles.
"Define 'all year'," Tim asked.
"Since the end of last summer," Mavis answered.
"Right," Liam laughed.
"The only problem is now I'm bored! Yeah school was boring but at least it was something to do during the day. Now, well there's nothing to do. And there hasn't been any demon activity since the end of spring!" Mavis complained.
"Honestly, I'd rather be bored than face another demon takeover," Mala admitted.
"At least we'll have something to do once Arran opens his restaurant!" Remy added.
"Yeah, he did offer us jobs after all," said Drago.
"I still can't believe Kuang never told us he had a son!" Liam cried.
"Well, we never did actually ask him much about his personal life…" Mala reasoned.
"That's true, I suppose," Liam said.
"Oh, speaking of family, the big Callahan family reunion is coming up next month in Ireland and you're all officially invited!" Mavis declared.
"Really? You want us at your family reunion? I mean… we're not exactly 'normal' friends," Liam said.
"Relax, there's plenty of room! It's gonna be at my uncle Seamus' old family castle so there's more than enough room for you guys! Oh, and this should go without saying, but no funny business you two!" Mavis exclaimed, pointing at Mala and Drago.
"Funny business?" Drago cried.
"What are you talking about?" Mala asked, confused.
"Oh, don't pretend like you don't know what I'm talking about. I got a text from Liam last month with a picture of a sock on Drago's doorknob entitled 'What does this mean?'" Mavis explained, pulling out her phone to show them the message.
"Oh my god!" Mala cried, her cheeks burning red.
"Wha? You were home?" Drago shouted.
"We both were actually," Remy added.
"Oh my god…" Mala muttered again, covering her face with her hands.
"All we heard was some giggling, I swear! I kinda put up a sound barrier before it got any further," Liam explained.
"I have never been more embarrassed in my entire life!" Mala wailed.
"There, there, it's all right," Mavis said, patting her back. "So how was he?"
"MAVIS!" Mala shrieked.
"What? Girls are supposed to tell each other these things!"
"I am not having this conversation with you!" Mala shouted. Grabbing the sleeve of Drago's jacket, she stormed off with her boyfriend in tow.
"Hey, this time put the sock on the apartment door, not just your bedroom door!" Liam teased as they disappeared around the corner.
"You two are just terrible," Tim shook his head in disappointment.
"What? We're just teasing!" Mavis exclaimed, trying to defend herself.
"Yeah, I don't think they appreciated it," Remy added.
"Oh they'll be fine. I'm honestly surprised it didn't happen sooner, with the chemistry those two have," Mavis grinned.
"Maybe we should just give them some space and apologize later," Liam suggested.
"And just some advice for the future, it's considered very offensive and inappropriate to talk about someone's sexual activity while they're in the room," Tim said.
"Noted. So, what are the plans for today?" Just as Liam finished his question, he felt something strike him from behind and send him falling face first into the pavement. "Ow… what was that?" he groaned as his friends helped him up. His head shot up when he heard a familiar bark, one that he hadn't heard for a long time.
"…What… is that?" Mavis asked as the four of them stared at the dark brown, red-eyed demonic hound in front of them.
"…A-An?" Liam whispered in disbelief.
The hound barked happily before jumping up to him, knocking him back to the ground and licking his face affectionately.
"Uh, Liam you want to fill us in?" Tim asked.
"T-this is An Gou," he started, still overcoming the shock and surprise. "She… she was my only friend back in the Demon Netherworld. But if she's here, then that means…" Just as Liam turned around, he saw a similar, though bulkier, looking demon hound running up to him. "Get back!" he shouted, pushing the others behind him. The hound leapt forward towards him with a roar while Liam held up his arm as the hound sunk its teeth into his arm. "Ah!" Liam cried in pain before letting out a loud shriek right into the hound's face that shattered nearby windows and knocked the hound back to the end of the block as it released its grip on Liam's arm. He quickly changed into his demon form, grabbed his three friends and shot up into the sky.
"What the hell was that?" Mavis shouted.
"That's Hei Gou, An's twin. The only problem is that he's not as nice as she is!" Linos answered.
"That still doesn't explain what they're even doing here!" Tim cried.
"You two remember those shoulder pads my dad had, the ones that looked like demonic heads?" Linos asked.
"Yeah," Tim and Mavis replied in unison.
"Well, that's them! Ahhh!" Linos cried out in pain again as his flying suddenly faltered.
"You're hit!" Remy cried, seeing a pitch black arrow shot right through his wing.
"I'm fine!" Linos assured them. He flapped his unharmed wing harder to compensate, but strangely, they didn't move at all. They just sat there in place as Linos tried to move forward.
"What's happening?" Mavis cried.
"Why aren't we going anywhere?" Tim asked.
"It's not me… It's the wind!" Linos realized. Suddenly, a gust of wind blew right towards him, sending them straight to the ground and crashing into a dirty alley.
"Linos, you ok?" Mavis asked, helping him up.
"Yeah, yeah I'm-OW!" Linos yelped in pain as Remy ripped the arrow out of his wing. "A little warning next time?"
"It's better without the warning, otherwise you tense up!" Remy argued.
"Let me see that," Linos said, as Remy handed him the arrow. "Shit…" he muttered, examining the arrow tip.
"What is it?" Tim asked.
Upon hearing the sound of approaching footsteps, the four turned their attention to one end of the alley. A dark, cloaked figure with bright red eyes and a large bow stepped into view and grinned maliciously. "Well, this is a surprise. I send the mutt off to find a Sign and instead she leads me to you. Perhaps An Gou is not as useless as she seems. The master will reward me for bringing you his head!" she declared, drawing her bow.
"Run… RUN!" Linos shouted, quickly changing back to his human form and pushing the others ahead of him.
"Who the hell is that?" Mavis shouted.
"A demon!" Remy answered.
"Obviously, but that's not what I meant!" Mavis bit back.
"Her name is Hou Yi and she's one of the Demon Commanders of my dad's army!" Liam answered.
"Your dad had an army?" Tim cried, surprised.
"All Demon Sorcerers do! He called his the Shadow Legion!"
"He can't call them that! We've already got 'shadow' in our name! It's conflicting!" Mavis yelled.
"Technically he called them that before any of us ever met! But that's not the point! Call Mala and Drago. They need to know about this!" Liam shouted. As they were running, he brought up several shadow tendrils, catching or otherwise stopping Hou Yi's arrows from striking them.
"It's ringing!" Mavis cried, calling Mala. "Hey! Mala, we've got a problem! Ok, no not about that, there's a demon that's shooting at us-HEY!" Mavis shouted as her phone was shot out of her hand and into a post by Hou Yi's black arrows. "That was my phone!"
"Not the time Mavis!" Liam cried, pulling her around the corner as they continued running.
"Mavis? Mavis? Hello? It just cut off…" Mala said, curiously looking at her phone.
"What did she want? To poke more fun at us?" Drago asked.
"I'm sure that's not it. Mavis doesn't seem like that kind of person," Arran commented. After rushing off in embarrassment, Mala and Drago had retreated to Kuang's old shop, which was nearly completely emptied out and ready to start renovations.
"…Your dad obviously didn't tell you accurate information about Mavis," Drago said.
"So what did she want then?" Arran asked.
"Uh…, um, well, it's kinda hard to explain really. Uh, Drago and I can handle it though," Mala quickly formulated her response before grabbing Drago by the arm and pulling him out of the soon-to-be restaurant. Arran narrowed his eyes curiously at the pair as they left. His interest peeked, he exited the building, locking the door behind him before following after the couple, but from a safe enough distance so that they didn't notice him.
"So what was Mavis calling about?" Drago asked as they ran.
"Demon trouble," she answered.
"Already? Heaven forbid we get a week into summer vacation before demon trouble start up again!"
"Tell me about it! Let's get to the others right away!"
"Where do you suppose there are?" Drago asked.
All of a sudden, they heard a loud explosion in the distance as a stream of dark energy shot up into the sky. "I'm gonna guess over there," Mala pointed out. Mala kept flying them ahead until they reached the park. There, they saw Liam, Mavis, Tim and Remy pinned to trees with black, claw-like arrows. Running up to them, Mala cried, "What happened? Are you guys ok?"
"Look out!" Remy cried.
When Mala turned around, she saw three black arrows flying right towards her. She raised a crystal wall just in time to block them before spotting the dark, cloaked archer that fired them.
"Who is that?" Drago shouted.
"Long story!" Liam cried back.
"TLDR, she's a demon that's trying to kill us!" Mavis yelled.
"Heh, good enough for me!" Drago grinned, throwing two fireballs at their attacker. However, before they could hit her, a gust of wind blew them out. "What the?"
"Hm, son of Shen Du," the archer commented. "I didn't expect you. Though I must say, the hounds wield your father's Chi better than you do." As she finished her sentence, Hei and An appeared by her side and unleashed a spinning cyclone of black flames from their mouths at Drago.
"You think a little black fire is gonna scare me?" Drago waved his arms to disperse the flames, but nothing happened. "Huh?" Shocked that the fires didn't obey him, Drago was knocked back by the flames as Hou Yi took the chance to pin him to a tree.
"Drago!" Mala cried out in worry. However, with sharp speed, Hou Yi took advantage of Mala's distraction and pinned the last of them to a tree as well.
"Now, back to business. Where are they?" Hou Yi asked, approaching Liam.
"Where are what?" he snapped back.
"Do not play games with me, boy. I know you have them! It is no coincidence that the son of the Shadow Demon Sorcerer would be involved in this! You must have them!"
"I don't know what you're talking about Hou Yi! And Tzan Ren is dead! What is the Shadow Legion up to?"
"Ha, you think I would divulge our plans with a little traitor like you? Darkness never dies," she whispered, leaning in close to Liam. "You are a being of darkness Linos. Do you really think the humans will accept you when they know what you are? Where you come from? Face it, you will always be one with the darkness inside your heart. That, you can never run away from. Now, tell me where the Signs are!" she threatened, drawing her bow with the arrow pointed right at Liam's face.
"I don't know where they are! And even if I did, I'd never tell you!" Liam shouted.
"He doesn't have them."
"Huh? Who said that?" Hou Yi cried, sharply turning around to see a young man with long blonde hair standing opposite to her a few feet away. "Who are you?"
"Arran! What are you doing here?" Mala cried.
"Uh… this isn't what is looks like!" Mavis exclaimed.
"Oh this is gonna be a tough one to explain," Tim muttered.
"Arran, hm? Another one of your human friends, Linos? Well, I'll be sure to make you watch as I make an example of this human!" Hou Yi drew back on her bow and fired an arrow right towards Arran. As they cried out in worry and fear for him, Arran simply raised his hand towards the oncoming arrow as a golden barrier of light formed around him, disintegrating the arrow on impact.
"What?" Hou Yi cried in pure shock while the others all stared at Arran with wide eyes and dropped jaws.
"You were right when you said that darkness never dies, Hou Yi. Unfortunately for you, neither does light," Arran whispered. Suddenly, he was enveloped in a bright white light, forcing them all to shield their eyes as best they could from the sheer intensity of it. When the light finally dimmed, everyone gasped in shock to see Arran had transformed. He was draped in white, gold and light blue cloth and armor, with a large hood over his head. His skin turned white while his hair remained the same. But the most distinguished features were the glowing, golden wings of light coming from his back and his bright red eyes that were identical to a demon's.
'…The Light-Bringer!' Mala thought instantly, recalling the prophecy her mother made before her death. The prophecy had stated that darkness would return to consume everything and that the only way they could stop it was with the help of the "Light-Bringer". 'That must be him!'
"W-what are you?" Hou Yi grunted.
Arran said nothing as he raised his left hand out in front of him. A small ball of light formed just over his palm as a bow of light suddenly formed out from it. He drew back on the string, causing an immaculate golden arrow to form. He released his grip on the drawstring, sending the arrow right at Hou Yi.
"Heh, no matter!" she declared, waving her hand to summon a dark gust of wind to blow the arrow away. However, the arrow's light cut straight through the wind, unaffected by its influence and continued down its original path. "What?" she gasped. Paralyzed in fear, Hou Yi failed to move out of the way as the arrow struck her in the shoulder. She screamed in pain as the light energy of the arrow began to spread across her body. With shaking hands, she pulled the arrow out and it disappeared. "F-fall back!" she ordered, gripping her shoulder. Followed by Hei and An, Hou Yi disappeared into the large shadow cast by a tree. Once she was gone, the arrows she had used to pin everyone disappeared, freeing them.
"Wha… how?" Mavis said, not knowing where to begin and having trouble getting her words together.
"Please," Arran said, holding his hand to silence them, "I know you all have many questions and I will answer them. But not here."
"Oh, back so soon?" Wei teased, noticing Hou Yi's return.
"Stuff it Wei!" Hou shouted, still gripping her shoulder.
"Were you successful?" Jun asked.
"What do you think?"
"I think the master will not like this…" Jun muttered.
"And what is it that I will not like?" the shadow asked, suddenly appearing before the three Commanders. "Hou Yi, where are the Signs?"
"M-master, I've failed you!" she whimpered, fearful of the punishment she knew she'd receive. "B-but it's not my fault, I swear!"
"Oh? And what exactly caused my best ranger to fail in her mission?" the shadow bellowed.
"L-Linos, he was there!"
"What?"
"It's true, master! But that wasn't the only thing. They…they had a light demon!"
"A light demon?" the shadow asked, confused.
"There are no more light demons, Hou Yi. Master saw to that when he killed Shuo Guang!" Wei interjected.
"I know what I saw!" she barked. "It was a light demon a-and he had the same powers as her, as your sister!"
"If you are lying…" the shadow began.
"I am not, I swear! Look at this," she said, gesturing to her injured and scorched shoulder, "only light could do this to a shadow demon!"
"This complicates things," Jun noted. "What shall we do now master?"
"This does not change our plans. Focus on the Signs! Once my body is restored, I can destroy this light demon myself!"
So, those of you who had Arran pegged as "The Archer/Light-Bringer" can pat yourselves on the back because you were right! I'm kinda amazed all it took was that one little mention of him to have the majority of you suspect him so quickly. I'm surprised some people chose female characters on the poll on my deviantart page. I mean, Lang Yan specifically refers to the Archer as male... so yeah
But, come next chapter there will be some information coming your way as well as a revelation... but I'm sure if you're smart you can figure it out ;)