Legendary Adventurers, Futuristic Saviors

Chapter 3: An Ancient World; Cursed by a God-Demon

The forest was quiet at it neared dawn; the forest was darkened and blanketed in fog. There was some illumination of light that shined within it, coming from the moon that shined in. however, all was not quiet in the forest as something moved through the trees. Loathsome sounds were heard rumbling deep within the forest. Suddenly, trees were being knocked down, almost as if something was breaking them down, attempting to make its way through by destroying anything that got in its way. Whatever this thing was, it was covered in shadows and hard to make out, but one thing was certain… its flesh began to move and crawl, almost as if it were alive on its own.

The creature past a family of foxes, ignoring them as it stepped right next to them. When it touched the ground, a dark shade of brown began to spread upon the green grassy ground. As it shuffled off, it left a trail of decayed earth, with a couple of slimy snake like creatures that squiggled around.

"Ugh, wha… wha happened… ? Wh… where… where am I… ?"

When Alex had finally regained consciousness, the first thing he noticed was the fresh, sweet smell of damp forest. As he slowly opened his eyes trying to refocus his vision, and trying to shake off the drowsiness spell that lasted upon him, he saw that he was no longer in the strange, underground chamber of the Sacred Tree. With a yawn and a stretch of his back, the teenager pushed himself off his back and sat up straight.

For all a while all he could do was sit and stare off into nothingness. His head felt light as did his entire body; which would have caused him to fall back down, but he found the strength to ensure he stayed up. Everything that had happened, all of it seemed like a blur of scattered memories.

He crossed his arms and frowned in thought out loud as he told himself, "Okay, I seem to recall that I fell through a tunnel underground near the Sacred Tree. Kari went to go get Dad for help. Then I went to go down that tunnel and found that chamber…" he grumbled, knowing full well he couldn't quite grasp what had happened after that. He sighed in defeat as he grumbled, "But the rest was pretty much a blur after that chamber light and that rattling."

After brooding on it, Alex stood up, but a little disoriented from whatever threw him on the ground. he looked about his current location, but was amazed as he saw that he was back on top of the surface, and saw the Tree right in front of him as fresh and new as his sister had shown him. However… the house, clinic, and temple were nowhere to be seen… not even the neighborhood. All he saw was forest that stretched as far as the human eye could see.

Startled by this, and almost on the verge of freaking out, he then cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, "Kari!"” but no response came; all he could hear was his echo bouncing through the trees. “"Kari! Dad! Anju! Aunt Jun!"” he tried again, still without response, "Anybody! Is anybody out there?"

He tried again, and again, and kept on trying to even try to get someone, as he walked through the forest, shouting out for help to get a hold of someone. After what felt like the fifteenth time and completely getting himself lost, but not as much as to forget where the Sacred Tree was, he gave up and fell back onto the soft ground, "DAMMIT ALL!!!"

The scream seemed to carry throughout the entire vastness of the unknown forest. After nearly an hour of searching for his home, his family, or even some sign that he was still in Tokyo, Japan, Alex tiredly leaned against a tree and frowned. “

"Okay, Alex. Just calm down," he said to himself as he processed the whole situation, "Let's look at the situation calmly, and logically. I fell into a mysterious underground chamber to where my aunt's sacred tree was, got zapped by some weird glow in the dark bulb, I wake up lying on the ground in the middle of some humongous forest I don't even recognize. The Sacred Tree is here but my family, home, and perhaps the entire city of Tokyo has completely vanished without a trace."

He crossed his arms, brooding at what came next, "And the only things I have for supplies is my jacket, a Swiss-Army knife, the clothes on my back, and my brains and street smarts, as well as three years worth of martial arts training and skateboarding… a lotta good that's gonna do me out here in the middle of a forest jungle."”

He huffed in aggravation and looked up at the sky, the branches and leaves nearly blotting out for him, "Oh yeah, I am officially screwed."”

He then reached into his jean pocket and pulled out the pocket knife, and looked at it with mixed feelings of relief and regret, "Good thing I always carry this in case of emergencies. I just wish this thing had a compass."

He then took out the blade and marked one of the trees nearby, "Like Hansel and Gretel's trail of breadcrumbs… except I don't have any bread on me," though he stopped for a moment to survey on his next move, "Okay, let's see…." “he pointed towards right, "Now I know, or at least I should know that this might be the West," and then pointed to his left, overlooking what seemed to be nine miles of forest, "This this might be the East, which Tokyo should be," he figured now that he had to at least find someone down that way. If this was still Tokyo, Japan that is.

He looked off towards the East of the forest; instantly, he gulped at what he saw. It looked like a nine mile walk head of him. Nine miles without any food or water, with no rest areas… and with not toilets. This realization had darkened his face and his mood as he sarcastically and sourly grumbled to himself, "Nine miles… this is just beautiful," With that said and done, he collected himself and made his way to the east of the unknown vast forest.

Elsewhere in the Forest

The shadowy creature moved slowly across the ground, shuffling and oozing its way forward like a enormous slug. Loathsome sounds rumbled from within its obscured body as it plowed through bushes and over small plants. The creature then stopped at the foot of a tree, looked at it for a moment, then continued onward. Where it's flesh touched the rough bark, a dark shade of brown began to spread. With a terrible cry of rage, the thing lurched forward and pushed the now lifeless tree over. When the obstruction had been cleared away, it moved on, leaving a dark trail of shadow, rage, and death behind it.

Back with Alex

The afternoon sun could barely be seen through the thick canopy of leaves or the web of vines created by the forest. It had only bee a few three hours since Alex had started on his trek in any signs of civilization, or at least figure out where the heck he was. But to him he felt that it had been the whole day; he had trekked on and on, and found nothing. So far, he felt that he wasn't too sure that there was anyone even around here. It was almost like he had been the last man on a newly reborn earth, where the forest had retaken the whole planet.

So far, it had just been an exhausting nature walk for the poor raven haired American teenager. He was tired, thirsty, and the lack of human contact was getting to him, more than once. He had no clue, no absolute clue, as to where he was, how he got here, nor even how much longer he would have to walk until his legs would fall off. As of this time, the American teenager could care less about all this; as long as he was moving, the less he gained a headache.

It became apparent that the more he thought, the more he knew his loneliness would creep up on him. He sighed and moaned as he stopped to think aloud, "I blame that dumb tree," he knew full well that if he had just stayed away from that Sacred Tree's nucleus core. He groaned as he sighed, "I knew I should have stayed in bed this morning…"

It was at that moment when he started to walk again, something twinge his nose. Alex sniffed the air, and then cringed as he grabbed his nose, nearly stepping back and turning away for a moment, "Oh man! What a stink! It smell like if a homeless person bathed in rancid meat, and then dried off with a towel made out of dead fish skins, and sprayed on a cologne called 'Wet Dog'," Going against all the warning bells in his head, he took a few steps forward to where the stench was coming from.

He followed the stench until he came across a shallow trench that was stretched out across the path he traveled on. When he got there, he saw something about the trench that was quite bizarre about it. Alex knelt down near it as he examined the trench's surface; the surface of the trench was coated in a layer of slimy red and black film.

He reached down and touched the slime, and brought back his hand with a few drips of the slime as he cringed a bit, "Sheesh! I feel like I'm in a bad attempt in making an Aliens movie."

But then he took notice of something else at this moment as he looked back at the trench. The plants and grass that was around the trench were all brown and dead with decay, as were the nearby trees. And some of the trees had been pushed and broken down, almost as if something rammed through them without even going at a high speed. From what Alex saw, the trees were brought down with pure powerful strength.

"Jeez," Alex breathed as he gulped a little, "Something huge came through this way," and then looked back at the trench, and saw that it seemed to continue for miles in both directions, "and it sure made a mess of this area." as he looked back at the trench again, he nearly lost his lunch as it seemed to remind him of an infected gash that his father had shown him off one of his patients.

He covered his nose now, realizing that he had taken a huge whiff of it, and realized it smelled even worse now, "Oh… oh, god. I'm gonna be sick."

He stood up again, planning to make clear out of there, but then something caught his eye. Something was moving along the trench's bottom… something still alive. Because it was too cryptic by the red and black slimy film to ID it, he carefully stepped into the trench. each step he took make a sickening squish sound, and then he crouched on one knee and moved in to get a better look at it.

"What the heck is this… ?" Alex asked as he got a good look of it.

The thing that caught his eye wriggled like a worm or snake, but it had the sickly, dark color of rotten flesh. Alex, fighting against his better judgment, reached out with one hand to touch it with just the tip of his fingers. But the moment his skin made contact with it, a burning pain shot through his fingers. "Holy…!" he shouted and hissed as he yanked his arm away and jumped out of the trench to gain distance away from the creature.

He then quickly rubbed his hand on his pants and blew at it, trying to wipe away the burning sensation on his fingers. He took a quick glance at the creature as he breathed heavily, "Jeez, you're a nasty little bugger, aren't you?"

Ignoring the creature as it continued to slither in the trench, Alex took a quick glance around the forest. He then quickly jumped over the trench, barely landing on the other side. It was then that he took another look at the trench as he cringed in his thoughts, 'Maybe there's a whole colony of those things. Like a termite or ant colony.' he shivered at the thought of running into that many critters.

He then took a huge sigh as he continued making his way eastward, "Whatever it was… I really, really, really hope I don't end up running into it along the way."

Later On

After two long hours of walking, Alex had finally came into a clearing as the forest opened up. Alex stepped out from behind the thick rows of trees, shielding his eyes from the sun. he sighed as he felt a swell of relief wash all over his form. He smiled at what he saw, "Oh, thank you, God," he looked up at the sky, thanking that his prayers had been answered, "Thank you for watching over me."

Right in front of him and onward, was a dirt path running along side a stone wall that had been built into the side of a steep hill.

Grinning with much relief, he smirked as he ran along the path, kicking up dust behind him. "I knew it," he told himself as he ran up the path, "I knew there were people around here! Nobody else could have made that wall."

As he ran, the path soon curved inward, cutting into the hill itself. The stone walls on either side of the path were too high for him to see over the top, but he didn't care about that. All he cared about was finding someone and having them tell him where the heck he was. But as he continued to run through it, he looked up and saw a strange-looking structure, starting to peek up from over the left wall.

The path eventually and finally took Alex to an open clearing covered in tall and luscious grass. He stopped as he got a good look at the structure had he had taken a glimpse of. The structure turned out to be a very outdated or primitive lookout tower. The supports were made entirely from the trunks of thin yet strong trees that sunk deep into the ground, and leaned against each other. The roof was made apparently from large dried up leaves stitched together and tied to the top of the tower. The only thing that held the ancient edifice together was a series of ropes and logs.

Strapped to the tower was what appeared to be a red elk, with big horns on its head. From the way it was, it seemed to be domesticated; almost as if it was trained to be like a horse.

Alex raised an eyebrow as he asked himself, "A log watch tower?" he then started to move towards it, still trying to figure this out, "Didn't know they still made stuff like those. I only see these things in either history books or F-Troop."

As he got closer, Alex looked up and saw an old man, sitting silently inside what he assumed was the tower's look out. But as he got closer, he noticed the old man's thick beard, and noticed his unusual style of clothing. He appeared to have been wearing a red coat made form some kind of animal fur, and wore a blue kimono shirt with brown rugged pants, that had bandages wrapped around his calves, and seemed to wear a straw hat. The elderly man had a very serious expression stretched across his face, and he didn't seem to notice Alex, as he was too fixated on the nearby trees and darkened forest.

Alex, just walked up, thinking, 'What is this, some kind of reenacting village? Like the ones back in Pennsylvania,' but if anyone knew what was going on, it had to be this guy. "Um," Alex began hesitantly, "Excuse me, um, Sir?" the old man still paid no attention to him. Alex thought for a moment and decided to try a different approach.

"YO! GRANDPA!" he shouted out, waving his arms in the air. The old man jumped in shock, and then looked down to see the young man, "Yeah, I'm down here! I was wondering if you could tell me where I…"

"Hurry, boy!" the old man cried, "Get up here now!"

"Huh?" Alex asked, cocking an eyebrow, "What's the big deal?"

"Get up here now!" the old man shouted, leaning over the platform's handrails as he looked at Alex with desperate eyes, "Get up here on high ground now! Your life is in danger!"

Alex raised an eyebrow, but shrugged, wanting to ensure not to give the old man a heart attack, "Alright." he hopped onto the first railing as he started to climb up, but as he did, he asked, "What's going on?"

"There's something in the forest!" the old man replied loudly, "It's heading straight in this direction!"

As soon as Alex got up on the look out deck, he nervously smiled at the man, and turned away dread in thought, 'Okay… this guy's completely off his rocker,' but then Alex realized something very important. Aside from the elk, there wasn't any other noise, no birds, animals growling or yelping… hell, there weren't even squirrels jumping from tree to tree. It was then that Alex turned to the old man, and aksed nervously, "Um… when you said something was heading this way… what did you mean?"

"I'm not sure," the old man answered, never taking his eyes off the darkened forest, "But I know this: it isn't human."

At that very moment, a strange crashing sound echoed from within the darkened forest trees. Alex and the old man both looked to see what was happening. Beyond another stone wall that separated them from the forest, lay a vast grove of trees. Alex narrowed his eyes as he looked deeper through the gaps between the trees.

And that's when he saw it.

Though it wasn't a clear image, the young teen boy was able to make a dark shape moving within the forest. It's shape was completely indefinable; almost as if it's form was more malleable than a solid form. Then came another sound; a faint screech that sent a chill racing down and up his spine.

"Did you see it?" the old man asked.

"I'm not sure what I saw," Alex replied. But then, he suddenly smelled something in the air. It was the same rancid odor that had saturated around the trench he had come across earlier. He immediately covered his nose as he whinced, "Oh man, it's that same smell again."

"Odor?", the old man asked.

"Yeah, I came across it when I found this trench full of dead plants and grass," but then he coughed as he tried to get the smell out of his lungs, "Only this time, it's probably ten times stronger."

"Look! Over there," the old man shouted, pointing to a spot behind the wall.

When Alex looked to where the old man had pointed, he found himself short of breath or words. A patch of trees were starting to change from a healthy green to a sickly dying brown, rotting away into shriveled skeletons. As he looked closer, he saw a black ooze bubbling through the crack in the wall.

With a crash of unearthly strength, a huge portion of the wall exploded outward. After the dust settled, the explosion revealed what Alex could only describe as the most bizarre yet loathsome creature he or anyone he knew could have ever seen in their lifetime. The creature had to be around maybe ten to thirteen feet in height; probably around the size of an RV. The creature's body was long and insect-like, with two glowing red eyes that would pierced the soul of any brave man. Its skin and flesh was composed of what looked to be millions upon millions of slimy black and red worms. The creature lumbered away from the wall and began to make its way into the middle of the clearing, leaving behind a trail of rotting death and with each step it took as well.

Alex could only gawk at this gigantic monster, "WHAT THE FUCK!" he yelled pointing right at it, "WHA… what the hell is that thing? It looks like something out of Resident Evil!"

"It's a Demon God!" the old man said in utter terror.

Alex gulped and paled at that as he turned to the old man, and then back at the creature, "A… a Demon God?"

As soon as the so-called Demon God reached the center of the clearing, it let loose an ear-piercing cry. As it did, the worms of its flesh suddenly began to ripple violently and peeled away, shooting upward like a wave. As it did this, the wormy flesh revealed a giant golden brown boar that was concealed within the rotting flesh. Its body was huge and powerful, its tusks as big as lances that could impale a man easily, and yellow eyes that gleamed in the sun… if they weren't so lifeless. The boar gave one last roar before the worms covered its form once again. When its eight spider-like legs were fully regenerated, it launched itself towards the watchtower.

As it charged towards them, Alex and the old man saw the shallow trench of black and red it left in its path. The elk had broken loose and got out of the way before the Demon God had reached its target.

In a blindingly fast movement, the Demon God engulfed the bottom of the watch tower, eating away at the supports. When it could no longer support its own weight, the tower tipped and toppled over the edge of the cliff. But before it was too late, Alex and the old man jumped off in the nick of time and landed in one of the trees near them. Not wanting to stick around and admire the destruction it had caused, or find the two humans that got away, the Demon God shuffled/skittered over the cliff and began to quickly make its way down the hill.

On the tree, Alex groaned a bit, feeling sore from doing something that crazy. But then he remembered about the old man, and looked around to find him. "Gramps! GRAMPS!" he shouted as he started to climb down the tree, not even stopping to think about what he was doing. It was when he reached the bottom, he saw the old man on the ground, sitting at the trunk of the tree. He hopped down the tree and immediately rushed over to him.

"You okay, Gramps?" Alex asked as he crouched beside the old man, holding his shoulder in order to help him up.

"Don't worry about me, boy," the old man said as Alex helped him to his feet, but he held his right arm in pain, "It's just a broken arm. I'll survive," but then he cringed in pain of it.

"Just hold on," Alex said as he looked around, "I'll see if I can find some wood to make a splint out of."

"No! There's no time," the old man stated as he looked to Alex with determined eyes, "It's heading for the village. You must warn them before that Demon reaches the village."

Alex looked hardened on doing this, not even flinching, as he asked, "Where can I find it?"

"Straight down this hill and through the forest. You'll find it as soon as you reach the clearing," but before Alex could go, the old man grabbed his arm, "You'll never make it on foot. Take my elk." The old man placed two fingers in his partially toothless mouth and whistled loudly, "Ah-Uh!" he called out, and within seconds, the elk that had fled bounded from the cliff and gracefully leapt his towards the two humans.

When it reached them, it bent its head down to nuzzle the old man's shoulder, "He's one of our fastest elks," he continued, "You'll be able to out run that monster with him."

For a moment, Alex just stared at the horned animal, and nervously asked, "You're kidding right?"”

"It's just like riding a horse, only twice as fast," the old man retorted clutching his injured arm, "Please, you don't have much time!"

'I can't believe I'm doing this,' biting his lip, Alex took hold of the elk's large antler and swung himself on to the saddle. He then grabbed the reins and turned the elk down hill, "Alright, here we go!" with a kick to the elk's sides, and a light snap of the rains, the elk lurched backward and in a flash, took off.

"Young man, be careful," the old man shouted before Alex disappeared from sight, "That thing is cursed! Don't let it touch you!" and he stood there, watching both the elk and the strangely dressed young man disappear into the trees, he could hear the sounds of loud yelping and swearing; but mostly yelping.

In the Forest

For Alex, riding an elk was like riding a living roller coaster, and he felt as if he was just seconds away from puking his guts out. He pressed his body flat against the elk's body and held the reins tightly. 'Get a grip, Alex,' he told himself as he tried to focus on the job at hand, 'There's a giant Demon God on the loose, and you've got a village to warn!'

His eyes scanned the rapidly moving forest, searching for the Demon God, or whatever the hell it was. It was nowhere to be found, but that could have been because he was moving too fast to really look carefully.

Then suddenly, from out of nowhere, the rippling mass of the Demon God burst out from behind a thick clump of bushes, turning them to smoldering weeds as it touched them. The elk, with only a fraction of a second to make its next maneuver, dodged the larger creature with Alex clinging tightly to its neck.

"Great!", he exclaimed look back at the Demon God which was now just a meter or so behind them, "now it's chasing us!" He returned his attention forward and saw that they were now coming into another clearing. "I can't see how anything could possibly get any worse!"

In the Clearing

Near the small village down the hill, three girls were making their way to it. The girls were of Asian, between the ages of twelve to fourteen, had short light brown hair that was tied up in buns, and had brown eyes. They wore short sleeved blue kimono shirts with red trimming and blue skirts with it. It was held on by a light blue sash, and they had a basket bag strapped on to their shoulders. On their forearms were blue leather guards, and on their calves, blue bandages. They had just got back from the watch tower, and had been told by the old man, Gisan, to warn the village.

But they suddenly stopped as they saw movement from the forest. Then they saw Gisan's elk ride in, with a strange young man in even stranger garments. Following them, the Demon God charged right at him, but halted. It turned as it saw the girls, and the village… and immediately, it charged right towards them.

One of the girls screamed, "It's a demon!"

The eldest girl took charge as she ordered, "C'mon!" and the trio of girls ran towards the village as fast as they could.

Then, as if Alex's question was answered, he saw the Demon God go after the three girls. When he saw this, he grumbled, "I just had to ask," he then gave Ah-Uh another kick, "C'mon, boy!" and like a bolt of lightning, they both darted down the hill in pursuit of the Demon God.

The three girls ran as fast as their feet would carry them. But even with all their efforts, they were still unable to keep a good distance between themselves and the horrible monster advancing on them.

The one leading them suddenly caught her foot on a rock protruding from the ground and fell flat on her chest. As she looked up she saw that the two other girls had not noticed her fall. “

"Go! Run!" she cried out to her companions while holding her ankle in pain. The two other girls wanted to help her, but they were too consumed by their own terror that they took her advice and fled. She looked behind her, and saw that the monster was only several yards away and the distance was quickly lessening.

Just as the Demon God was about to pounce, the girl was suddenly yanked from off the ground and pulled into a saddle as whatever it was, bolted right out of there before the Demon had a chance to slaughter her. The Demon God was so caught off guard that it fell over itself when it tried to follow the elk that had cut across its path. It's enormous bulk rolled along the slope of the hill like a piece of clay and crashed against the side of a large boulder.

When the elk slowly came to a stop, Alex looked down at the girl he had just saved. From the look of her face, she mast have been only twelve years old, just like his young sister. “

"Are you okay?" Alex asked, his male nurse instincts and actions kicking in.

Because the girl was so dazed from what had just happened it took her awhile before she was able to answer. "I'm alright," but she winced a bit. "My ankle," she said with a few tears in her eyes, "I think I twisted it."

Forgetting that he was talking to a girl, or the fact that there was a Demon God on the rampage, Alex hopped off the elk, and let her sit on the saddle as he examined her left ankle. The skin around it was swollen and purple, "Yeah, it's twisted alright."

The angry sounds of rage drew both their attention away from the injury and towards the Demon God which was now back on its feet. Alex suddenly stood up and stood his ground at the ready.

"Wait! What do you think you're doing?" The girl asked, clinging to the elk's reins.

"That thing won't chase you if it's already chasing me," he replied, "And the old guy at the tower told me to warn your village about it." He turned and gave the girl a serious look, "But you're gonna have to do it for me. Can you ride that thing?"

The girl nodded confidently, "A lot better than you can," but hesitated as she asked, "What about you?"”

"Just get your butt out of here; don't worry about me," Alex reassured her as he returned his attention to the task at hand.

The girl frowned then nodded again in agreement when she saw that there was no way of negotiating with this strange looking foreigner. “"Alright," she said, "But take this."” She unsheathed a machete-sized sword and handed it to him.

Alex took the weapon quickly and without hesitation, but looked at it with a raised eyebrow. "Well at least I'm armed, but how am I gonna…"”

He was suddenly cut off by a slimy tentacle that the Demon God had shot towards him. He dodged it and tumbled to the ground. As soon as he regained footing, he shouted to the girl, "Get out of here! GO! NOW!"”

The tentacle shot at him again but was knocked away with a swipe of his newly acquired sword. A few other tentacles shot at him, but the creature didn't count on this boy being able to dodge him so easily, much less block all its advances at him with a mere machete. As soon as he saw an opening, Alex jumped over one tentacle, and roll-dodge another, and that allowed him to get around the beast and started running.

The girl could only look back helplessly at the strange boy who had saved her as he tried to outrun the hideous monster. "Just who is he anyway?" she asked herself, "And why is he risking his life to save people he doesn't know?" she thought this while trying to push the pain in her ankle to the back of her mind. She then turned her eyes forward and kicked the elk with her good leg, "Hurry Ah-Uh, he doesn't have much time!"

Amishi Village

They reached the entrance to the Amishi village in less than a minute. Every member of the small Amishi was now crowded in a terrified uproar. Many of the old men and women had sat themselves at the edge of the village and chanted prayers, pleading to their gods for protection against the approaching demon. As Ah-Uh proceeded towards the center grounds with the girl on his back, the two girls who had left her behind came rushing towards them. Both were on the verge of hysteria.

"Kaya!" one called out, "What happened to you?"

"We thought you were gone forever!" the other added on the verge of tears.

"I'm all right, it wasn't your fault," Kaya replied, "But we don't have time to worry about me, someone's up there fighting the monster!"”

"Fighting?" an old woman asked, "One of our young men?" Her smallish eyes widened in surprise, "The hunting party came back?"

"No, the other boys still haven't come back from the lake," Kaya answered. She wasn't quite sure how to explain that the one who had saved her and who was now fighting the Demon-God was an outsider. Outsiders, no matter the circumstances, were never particularly welcome among the Amishi.

But at the moment, she didn't care as she told them, "He's an outlander." This of course earned at least a dozen gasps of disbelief. "But we can't just leave him up there to die, we just can't," She looked around frantically; her eyes almost on the verge of tears.

"Where are all the warriors?" one of the elders asked.

"The warriors are already on their way to kill the Demon!" someone shouted from the crowd of villagers.

"They'll never make it in time!"”

"Fear not, dear Princess," said the calm voice of the village Oracle as she hobbled across the ground on her stocky legs. "This young traveler of time will not die today. Fate has other things in store for him."

Back on the Hill

Alex didn't know how much longer he was going to last against this monster. Every time it tried swipe at him with its slimy arms, defending himself took more and more effort. Even with all his martial arts training, he had never had to spar against something this big or multi-limbed before. But despite all that, the youth was not willing to yield; the adrenaline surging through his body was just too strong. Backing down now was not an option as he held the machete sword in a defensive way, and he stood in a defensive stance.

"Come on, you overgrown gelatinous jello mold gone bad!" he taunted the Demon God, "Everyone's been saying you're supposed to be this mighty demon! Or is that just a bunch of rumors to compensate for something?"

The Demon God hissed with furry and lunged at the insolent youth. The attack was abruptly halted when Alex turn side stepped away, just as the Demon God past him. And with all his strength, Alex turned and drove the sharp blade of the machete straight into its left eye. It cried in agony and rolled itself into a ball within its rippling worm flesh. It then formed a tentacle as it swatted the boy away, causing him to let go of the machete still embedded into its eye socket

Alex groaned and panted as he got on his knees and recovered. He wiped a bit of sweat from his face, and half-smirked, "Well this is a first for me," he told himself looking at the sword. Still embedded into the Demon God's left eye, "Since when did I become the courageous hero type?"

The ball suddenly burst into a hundred slimy tentacles that darted towards the already exhausted youth in a raging furry. Alex got back onto his feet and prepared to dodge it again. But by the time they reached him, he was too late to defend himself. A rippling tentacle took him by his right forearm and sent him crashing into the ground… while the tentacle still held on to his arm.

Alex screamed in shear anguish and pain as the Demon God's worms seeped onto his skin, and through his pores. 'My God,' Alex thought as he convulsed on the ground; his back arched up as he could barely breath, or barely think, 'This thing… it's feels like it's trying to get under my skin… eating me alive…'

Never in his life did he imagine that something could hurt so much. Another tentacle shot out from the Demon God's body and wrapped it around the right forearm, and yanked him forward at blinding speed.

As he was pulled towards it, he saw that the machete was still embedded in the Demon's eye. It was then that he remembered his biology; if he could shove the machete in deep enough, he could puncture the brain of this thing… killing it once and for all. Ignoring the pain, but only for a little while, Alex gritted his teeth as he shouted, "I'm… I'M NOT… DEAD YET!" and as he was reeled in close enough, he used his momentum to put his feet up forward, and slammed them into the Demon's face.

He then pulled his way up, fighting against the Demon's strength to pull him in with the tentacle. And with all his might, he started to nail the machete in with his freed right foot. The tentacle worms started to crawl on his body; the main tentacle still not letting go of him, despite the creature's pain. Feeling the new sensations of pain in its body, the Demon God cried out in rage and pain, and hurled its tentacles in all directions. And then with one final stomp and a yell from Alex, he drove the machete deep within the Demon's eye, and like he predicted, struck the brain as the Demon let out one massive howling cry.

As soon as the Amishi warriors had arrived, with their bows and arrows at the ready, with Kaya leading the way, they witnessed the fight between the outsider and the Demon God. Never in their lives, did they ever perceive that one human alone could kill a Demon God with just a blade. As the giant boar began to die, the demon flesh covering it slowly started to liquefy, dropping into smoldering puddles of black.

Stepping away in a half conscious daze, Alex hopped off and staggered back, as he looked and watched as the worms covering his right forearm and hand turned to burning, hot muck and oozed off his arm. A small burn was left on the back of his right hand and forearm as he let it dangle on his side.

As he fell back onto the grass, he glanced at the dying boar, smiled, and painfully whispered, "I got you.... Porky…"”

It didn't take long for the warriors to reach both the boar and the strangely dressed young man who had killed It. While the rest gazed at the dying animal, a burly looking man walked over towards the fallen youth and knelt down beside him, "You still alive, lad?" he asked with a gruff looking smile.

Alex looked at the man half-dead and returned the smile, "It wasn't easy," he said weakly, "…but I got…" Suddenly, his body suddenly began to spasm violently as he fell flat on his back on the ground. His body shook violently and his eyes nearly bulged from their sockets. His mouth spread open, releasing a continuous round of gagging noises while his back arched upward. Suddenly, from the burns, very dark veins began to spread up to his arm and onto his neck. His hand had turned into the shade of black ooze that the creature's skin had been, and his nails grew to razor sharp points.

"The lad's been injured!" the kneeling warrior said as he tried to restrain Alex. He then examined the burn marks on the lad's right forearm and hand as they began to grow rapidly, "Goyu!" he called out to a man with a thick, gray mustache, "Go fetch the Oracle!"”

"Right," the man replied, and quickly began running down towards the village.

"The boy's not from around here," said another warrior as he eyed Alex's clothing contemptuously, "Look at that armor he's wearing."

"Forget about his armor, look at his skin!" someone added, "Have you ever seen anything so dark? So… foreign?"

It was nearly five minutes later that Goyu returned with the Oracle riding piggy-back. In her small hand she carried a large bottle of water. “"Don't touch him," she shouted, "All of you keep away from him, the boy's been cursed!"

Kaya followed closely behind riding atop Ah-Uh. When she reached the group she threw herself at the ground beside Alex who was still convulsing uncontrollably. Now the veins had reached his face as he shut his eyes tightly. He then opened them again as he let out another gagged scream, but this time, his eyes had turned completely black, with only his irises retaining color, but instead of them being blue, they were now the unnatural color of golden yellow… just like the boar's eyes. “

"What happened to you?" she asked wide eyed. She then looked back at the Oracle, and pleaded, "Isn't there anything we can do for him?"

The dwarfish, old woman pressed the bottle of water into Kaya's hands, "Take this purified water and poor it over his burns, child. You must do it carefully." she then took out a pair of scissors, and a golden piece of metal, "I need to gather some of the God's flesh and blood."

The young Princess followed her instructions and began to pour the water over Alex's right forearm and hand. Smoke and sizzling noises sputtered from the burns; and even this caused the boy pain as well as his gurgled screams became roars of pain. The Oracle ran over to the boar's body, and quickly snipped at some of the boar's fur, and scooped up some of the blood. She returned to where Kaya and Alex were, she placed the gold metal on his right wrist. She then began to mix together the blood and fur as she began to chant in an unknown dialect. As she finished chanting, she positioned the hand that held the boards flesh and blood, and squeezed it, allowing one drop of the mixture to hit the metal piece.

As it did, it glowed brightly as it seeped into the metal piece. After that happened, the metal began to flex and melt, becoming malleable and alive as it sprouted out tentacles of its own. They then shot into Alex's wrist, burying themselves into the flesh. Alex screamed out in even more pain as his convulsions became more violent. Kaya and a few warriors had to hold him down as this happened. But as it did, the darkened veins started to regress back to the wound, and the wound itself began to regress as well.

As the wound disappeared, the golden metal band had wrapped around Alex's wrist, forming into a wrist chain of sorts, with the mixture of red blood crystallizing into a red gem of sorts. When the feeling of pain began to fade from his body, Alex's eyes had returned to their normal color, and then he breathed a relieved sigh and fell into a silent coma.

With her bare feet sinking into the soft grass, the Oracle slowly made her way towards the fallen boar, as it was taking labored breaths. She stopped where the grass became lifeless dirt and bowed, "Oh, Nameless God of rage and hatred, I bow before you." She tilted forward again and clasped her hands together. "We shall raise a mound where you have fallen, and perform the ceremony of passing in your honor. Pass on into the after life in peace noble lord, and bear us no hatred," she bowed once more.

The Boar God's blood-oozing mouth suddenly began to move, "Be silent you disgusting little creature!" he bellowed with a frightening voice of death, "Your words of sorrow and honor sicken me," but then he chuckled as he looked to the outsider's unconscious form, "But it matters not; the boy may have killed me... but he will soon carry out my will. Soon that boy will share a similar fate that I had been cursed with. Soon all of your kind will feel the hatred I have felt, and shall suffer as I have suffered!" As his last words faded into the air, his body began to rot away, leaving nothing but a lifeless skeleton and a pool of foul smelling blood.

Next Chapter: The Oracle's Curse and Vison; Journey to the West