The White Mist Forest used to be inhabited, with a village at the center of it where travelers between Zago and Guzena would rest at inns and taverns. That passage is the shortest distance between the two countries that are separated by a tall mountain range. An underground tunnel system allowed the travelers to pass safely through those mountains. The other way to get between the two countries is along roads that go around the mountains, now with checkpoints on them used to gain even more money for the corrupt governments.

The main reason that people no longer take the road through the White Mist Forest is because a demon took up residence there that killed the villagers and now kills any travelers who try to pass through. The main reason we don't want to take the longer road is because we're fugitives on the run.

As soon as the government seers let those checkpoints know we're likely escaping the country, we'll be stopped, questioned, and likely put back into prison - all of us. And with so many of us now, particularly with so many good fighters, Duke Jeida will have our jail break and that arrest used as "proof" he's the head of the so-called rebellion.

We don't want to bring that upon him when what we want to do is protect him. With Geena seeing that is the path we should take, and with enough of us who are strong, and with Barago's warning that Kemil is already on his way to Nada's castle to pick up Duke Jeida, and is likely almost there, we decide we'll chance the White Mist Forest. I'm not concerned, other than the usual worries I have for Noriko when we're traveling, because I know what I am. There is no demon that can withstand me.

The Sky Demon is not just some monster of destruction. The Sky Demon is the King of Demons. I may not want to become that, and I may be fighting my own body constantly, which might be making me weaker than I have the potential to be, but there is no demon on this planet that can withstand me. I'm not in a hurry to test it, by any means, but I'm not afraid. I'm afraid of me, not them, because that's what I am.

It's why I can talk to the creatures of the planet. It's why I know where they are, where the monsters are, and why I can sense them coming. It's why I can control fire and wind, and even nature itself if I cared to pull on even more power. Because I can control nature, I can destroy with it. It's the energy and power of nature itself that I manipulate. I choose to manipulate it gently, only when necessary to the minimum necessary level, and only to defend. The prophecy says that I will use it to bring darkness and destruction.

For Noriko to say that I can choose, that the prophecy may not be true and that destiny hasn't been determined yet sits with me all that day as we ride towards the White Mist Forest. I work with her to learn how to talk to her on that heart thread, as she calls it, like the seers see.

It is tiring, like working a new set of muscles. I rest when she rests, trusting her level of strength to moderate mine. As usual - my personal level of capacity is so much greater I need to have her outer limitation to have any sense that it might be time to rest. If I'm going to be facing a demon later today or tomorrow, I shouldn't work harder on this than reasonable.

Because Noriko's words are simmering inside doing the work of the Teacher, and because she is generally close again, I'm much more calm than I was. Other things that were born earlier in our travels are also being strengthened and trying to find life now that there is new and greater light in my own life. I'm trying to ignore those things for now. One thing at a time is enough and that was such a large lesson it will take me many days I think, to be able to really face it all properly.

We reach the forest proper and ride into trees. Many of our group are nervous, but we bravely commit to the path. I'm beginning to feel like I'm being poked by a stick held by a teasing boy when the horses start to snort and shy. As that feeling increases, the horses start to whinny and buck. My horse does as well, for all it's carrying two of us, and I try to calm it, but it can't focus well enough to hear what I say to it.

"I think we'd better let the horses go," I say. "If they bolt we may be separated and lost in the woods." It would be a reasonable tactic of a demon to be able to pick us off one by one.

The others agree because all of the horses have been acting this way. We divide up the bags between us and let the horses go. They head back out of the woods as fast as they can go. We walk for not really very far and are suddenly entering a clearing in the forest with old broken down houses and buildings in it.

"A long time ago, people used to live here. It was peaceful here in those days," Duke Jeida says. He sounds like he might have seen it when it was like that. Perhaps he came through when he was young.

Thudd! Clink, clink. Noriko grabs my arm tightly, surprised into fear by the sudden loud noise coming from one of the buildings. I'm already paying close attention. The wind hasn't brought anything to me that's here in the village. There is a monster headed this way, but it's stalking us and moving slowly, not sure it wants to attack so many people at once, so I'm not worried just yet.

"Ouch!" Barago comes out of the house rubbing his head. "Yuck. Disgusting. A shelf fell on me." Banadam mutters a curse at Barago and Koriki scolds him. Banadam turns in away in a huff.

I can still feel the prickling, but it feels a little different this time. I'm trying to decide what attack it's trying this time when Duke Jeida says, "This village is half-way through the forest. We should be at the border soon enough."

Noriko frowns and shakes her head slightly. "Ah...we haven't walked far enough." She blushes a little to suddenly be the center of attention of the group. "I still have soft feet, and they don't hurt enough to have walked that far yet."

Everyone is uncertain. "Maybe it's a different village?" Gaya offers. None of us know. It's our first time to enter. Even Duke Jeida isn't sure. We can still see the mountains, so we head that way out of the village and continue our journey.

There's a twist in my head and I shake it, trying to get it cleared. In four more steps we're seeing the village again and entering it from a slightly different location. The demon has the power to redirect our steps. I don't say anything. It will give away too much to everyone for me to do so. It isn't damaging, just annoying - at least so far.

We try again one more time and that third time is the final proof for me. The demon again has sent us back into the village. "We're trapped..." It's Banadam and he's sounding afraid. I wonder if the prickling is an attack against us directly, like against the horses.

Rontarna says, "Let's try one more time and be really careful. There might be a way -"

"It won't help! We'll walk in circles until we can't walk any more and then the monster will come. We can fight it, but not exhausted!" Banadam rants.

Barago asks me if I've seen anything like it. I haven't and say so. I also have to have the demon appear to be able to do anything about it.

Banadam turns to me and scolds harshly. "Even if you're as tough as a monster, you're totally useless when you're really needed, eh?"

I don't know if he saw my changes at the castle, but the things I did are usually enough - the strength to defeat seventeen men by myself is sign enough for most men. Being able to manipulate the wind is also. Even though I understand these things, I prickle to match the prickling attack I've been feeling, the word I hate being called having come from his lips.

While I fight that internal fight others scold Banadam for me. He continues to place blame on others for the fear he feels. Then Noriko's voice cuts through the prickling and emotions. "Banadam, please stop."

Banadam glowers at her. "You were the one who said it first, that it wasn't right. Did you do it?"

Like a human girl could do something like this. Noriko stays kind and calm, pleading with him to return to sane thinking. "Banadam, this isn't like you...but it is like the horses. Being made to be afraid. Please. Do not be afraid." She also doesn't like to see me afraid.

Banadam is already too affected and his hand raises to strike Noriko. His wrist is immediately in my hand. I take the time to calm down. As Noriko said, this isn't him doing this, not really. "If there was something here making the horses want to run off with us, then that thing is still here, trying to get us to fight amongst ourselves. Listen to Noriko."

Demons feast off of the negative emotions of humans. It would want us to become angry with each other and fight so that it could feast before it killed us. And if we killed each other that would be even better because we would take those angry feelings into death with us and feed it forever.

I had someone once, when I was very young, tell me that I couldn't be a demon because I don't eat negative emotions. That one hope has held me walking forward since then. It's still a known truth for other demons, though.

Noriko walks to Banadam and puts her hand on his arm to get his attention. "Banadam. You were nice to me at Gaya's. To be so angry as to want to hit me isn't like you. Please, don't be afraid.

"This is a [magic], a...demon-like power. I've heard of it in my land. If we can find the source and remove it, we'll be able to walk out again. We knew entering we would have to fight it. If we're in the circle center, it's close. Please don't be afraid. You are strong. Many are strong. We will win and leave."

I see Banadam's mind become his own again because of the power of the gentle Teacher to calm and lead others to proper reasoning. It's a small example of what she did for me earlier today. I'm adding her teaching to my list of what she knows from her home world. Again she has talked calmly about demons and their power and I decide that she also must have demons in her world, to already know so much and not be afraid.

A confused and embarrassed Banadam says, "Ah, what...? How awful..." Regret is in his voice and I let his hand go. He won't hurt Noriko now. She's protected both him and me to return his mind back to him. "I'm sorry," he says to Noriko.

There's a sudden downpouring of rain over us and the whole village. The prickling is gone, but there's a heavy weight over the village. This is another power of the demon. Noriko grabs hold of my sleeve and we all retreat to one of the houses that's mostly whole with few holes in the roof. Now that Noriko has pointed out that we knew already there would be a demon with powers, others say the rain must also be a power of the demon and I don't have to.

As we walk into the house together, Noriko says quietly to me, "Izark, it is [sentient] and heard me? To change from circles and making angry to bringing rain?"

I'm looking for the best defensible place in the room where I can swing my sword freely if I need to. "Likely, yes." Her hold on my sleeve tightens and I look at her, since that's often a sign of something concerning I need to pay attention to. Her face is frightened. "Why does that scare you? It's a monster."

She shakes her head. "No, monsters are the flower worms, and the shadow ants, and the other things you fought to keep me safe. They only attack. They don't think. This is different."

I take us to the far back of the house's main room and settle down, pulling her to sit next to me. She sits too close in her fear and I shift away. She notices and stays put, surprising me slightly. She's afraid and distracted, but now notices the world around her at the same time. That's an improvement. I won't have to worry she'll be dead before I can get to her any more. At least she doesn't freeze any more. Now she runs, very fast. That was a great improvement, when she learned that.

I try to address her concern. "No, you said it yourself. This is demon-like power. It's likely a demon."

She blinks at me, and looks at me with eyes glazed over, as if we've just jumped from the cliff again. She finally whispers, "Can you defeat one?"

My eyes widen. She knows what I am now, or so she claimed. Has her own brain been affected? Or...is it just her being Noriko? Given the expression on her face and how much it reminds me of the first day we were together, I can't help but feel it's another opportunity to tease.

I rest my elbow on my knee and my head on my hand, to let her look into my eyes fully. My lip curls up as she continues to not see it for herself. I get to do the tease. "Noriko. Have you already forgotten what I am?"

She blinks like a pond frog and sounds like one, too. "Yes?"

I laugh at her, silently, for a long time. It was a wonderful tease. When I recover, I pat her on the head. "Yes, Noriko. It's okay. They can be defeated."

She drinks in my reassurance until she can let go of my arm. "Okay." It's timid and quiet, but trusting. Is she really so afraid when she was so calm before? "They don't really exist in my...place. They're only in stories. We can't fight them, if they are real...at least I don't think we can."

I pin her with my eyes, surprised by her statement. She was so calm because they weren't real? Then how does she know so much about them? ...Are they only in storybooks now? ...Have they hunted down all the demons that once existed so they're now only legend? I finally look away from her. It doesn't matter here, in this place. If she has knowledge that can help her or others when we need it, that's good enough.

She's still learning the differences between the two worlds and the largest differences can still make her freeze and have great fear. It's been this long to see all these reactions, but having seen them that first day, I'm glad that at least she isn't weeping on my chest. And the tease was well worth it, when she should have known better.

Later I wonder if she isn't afraid of me because to her I'm not really a demon, since in her world that's only a word, not a real thing, and she's only seen me as human other than the small changes. When the other changes come on me, then will she fear this deeply as well? That thought makes me sad, but I push it away, using her own words of hope to help me. If I can have my way, none of the other possible changes will ever come.

There's a rising anger and hatred coming our way. "The rain stopped," Gaya exclaims.

I'm up in a crouch, my hand on the hilt of my sword. Noriko immediately also goes up into a crouch watching me. "Something's coming!" I warn everyone.

In the next moment the front door is bursting open, black hair streaming through and into the room. It heads straight for Noriko. She rolls and I'm standing over her to protect her, my sword slicing at the hair. It's harder than the flower insects almost, and I have to use some power to cut through it.

Setting that as my level to work with, I damage it as much as I can while keeping Noriko protected. The hair continues to come in through the door and other windows, trying to catch Noriko, and sometimes catching me because it doesn't like being cut.

Agol draws a torch out of the fire and lights a portion of it on fire. It doesn't like that either, and turns a portion of it to attack him. Noriko pushes him out of the way but trips and is suddenly caught. The hair monster grabs me by both arms so I can't protect her this time and it's pulling her out the door. "Noriko!" I cry and the others rush out the door, those not trying to attack the hair monster in the room anyway.

Using an energy attack, I tear my way out of the hold it has on me and I'm through the door. The hair monster is very large, sitting on top of one of the other houses. It's pulling Noriko towards the main part of it. I call to her again and she answers.

Quickly I say to those standing outside looking up at her, "Catch her." Then I'm kicking off the ground and in the air. I slice at the piece of hair that has hold of her and go to jump off the main part to get to her to catch her when I'm caught and bound quickly around all of my limbs.

Inexorably I'm pulled into the center of the monster. I can see Noriko was caught by the others, however, so I'm not too worried. I can kill the monster properly from inside of it where the others won't see the full strength of what I'll need to do. "Everyone, protect Noriko!" I cry out, then am slurped up into the monster, the hairs pushing me closer and closer to its center.

I bide my time, waiting to become the worst meal it ever chose to try to eat, hidden behind my shield. "Izark, please let me know if you start to lose, so I can panic at the right time." I smile. Noriko is funny sometimes.

"I'm okay for now." I can feel her moving into action again, letting me do my job at the same time. I'm calling on my strength, building it up. There's a shiver within the monster and I worry for just a moment that it's discovered me.

"Izark, it's tearing in half. Are you okay?"

Ah...that isn't good. I didn't know it could do that. "Don't let it get you."

"Okay." I begin to feel her move, and her determination. I speed up my power increase, not wanting the second piece of the monster to get too far away, nor to damage Noriko.

She's suddenly moving very fast, and then she's very far away. Before I can do more, the monster I'm in attacks me, finally sensing my power. A keening rings in my head and I'm paralyzed and then it's as if my mind is not my own. I'm seeing the images of when I was a child, images to make my heart hurt in pain and sorrow. The memories of my mother attacking me, being injured, others rejecting me, are replayed in my mind without my wanting them to. I can't focus other than to be angry.

Then I hear a voice. "Izark, I've been taken away from the village by [magic] power. Please hold on."

"Noriko?" I grasp onto her words and our heart link, trying to escape the mind control that the demon has me in.

She immediately answers me. "Izark. I am here. Can you hear me? Please don't let the hair monster eat you. Fight it."

The demon gives me a memory of her. I take hold of that, too. Noriko has never rejected me. I choose to remember her, the times she's protected me, used her small strength in my behalf, the memories of when she's supported me with her Teaching.

That's enough to finally wrench myself free, as if coming up from a particularly difficult nightmare to leave. "I am," I answer back. With all the power that's built up, and then sucking in even more, in one sudden rush I explode the energy out from me, tearing the hair monster into pieces that shred the hair and make it float down to the ground in shaved lengths.

I land on the ground from my high place above the roof and look around. There's a fog so thick in the village I can't see any of the houses or even the people. "What's this? Is anyone still here?"

"Is that you, Izark?" a voice comes my way.

"Agol?" I ask to help him find his way to me. Suddenly my insides are seething with the pain of my affliction. I grab myself, trying to keep it contained. Why is this happening now? So suddenly?

"You're amazing. Did you kill the monster? A piece of it hit me!" Agol's torchlight comes into view but he isn't any less foggy as my legs collapse and I fall to hit the ground hard, my sword falling from my hand that can no longer hold on to it. I can only lie on the ground and try to keep breathing, try to keep my body from changing, try to not scream with the pain.

"Izark!" Agol cries out. He'll think I was damaged by the monster, and that's for the best. That assumes I can stay in control this time like the other times.

I used up too much energy to kill the monster, but I don't understand how it happened. I've used more energy before. Was it practicing with Noriko? Or was it because I also fought in the list and used up power to make the wind put everyone to sleep? Is it the accumulation of all of those things that made it too much here at this time? I wouldn't have thought so, but my body is throbbing, telling me regardless, it is so.

In a deep part of me, I determine that the next time Noriko and I can be alone, I'll ask her, ask the Teacher to learn it if she can. I hate this and want it to stop - this changing of form my body keeps wanting to do. I don't want to become a monster!

Gradually the pain lessens. This is one of the attacks that's a physical change, not one of weakness. I'll be able to go on, but I should be careful in how many more energy attacks I attempt from here on. My theory is that the more energy I channel through my body, the more it wants to change into the thing that will use it for evil purposes.

Sometimes I can go for months of using the energy and not have this happen. Rarely it will occur like this - suddenly and without warning. After I grew up a little and could control things better as an older child, it would only happen two to three times a year. The pattern lengthened, but still rare times like this would happen.

I hear voices and can breathe a little easier. I open my eyes to see that the fog has cleared a little. "Oh, he opened his eyes," Gaya likes to state the obvious so everyone can be on the same wagon.

I'm asked if I'm okay by several voices. "I'm fine. The pain is subsiding." I look around the faces I see standing over me. "Noriko?" I ask, not seeing her and then remember she said she'd been taken away from the village by the ability of the demon to twist our walking. I take a deep breath and sit up. Agol gives me an assist until I'm uprighted.

I automatically pick up my sword and then use it to keep myself upright. My body still needs more time to recover, but I'm worried. "Noriko! Can you hear me? Please answer!" I don't know if she was trapped in the mind trap, or if she was eaten, or if she's escaped. She's a long ways away from me.

"Izark, I am here. Are you free of the monster?"

"Yes. Are you okay?" I say it out loud this time so that our companions can know she's okay, too, because they're also very worried, and some of them already know we can do this.

"I'm fine. Irktule, the spirit of the morning mist tree helped me escape. He has a barrier around his tree, so I'm safe for now. He wants me to return to the village, though, to plant a branch under the altar in the center of town so he can purify the village and get rid of the monster. The other piece of the monster is waiting for me outside this place. I had to run very hard to get away from it." As usual she is wordy and tries to get it all said at once, and I have to go back and see the pieces.

"Ah. I'm so glad you're safe." The others around me exclaim or sigh in relief as well. I'm not sure what to say about a spirit talking to her and making requests, but I will need to do something about the other piece of the hair monster. It would be good if I can wait a little longer, though. It's nice to know it isn't going to attack us here immediately.

"Izark, can you meet me? Irktule will lead me towards the village, but I don't know if I can outrun the monster again. Or do you still need to stay there to fight the other half?"

I give a little laugh. She'll think of the rest of us before herself. "No, I destroyed it already. I'll meet you. I can feel where you are."

"Okay. Don't let the piece waiting for me get you. Ah, sorry. You'll just kill it, too. Irktule says the monster and the demon are separate creatures. I don't understand it all. He says that the spirits of the villagers are still here, and the demon still controls them. Can he still use their negative emotions after this long?"

I rise to my feet and decide I'll be okay for now as long as I'm not using energy attacks. "She says there's a place in the center of the village where there used to be an altar. We need to dig a hole in that place for the spirit of the morning mist tree to cleanse this village and forest of the evil. She's bringing something with her that will help it do that. I'll go get her so the other half of the hair monster doesn't. You dig the hole and protect that location." They nod and turn to hunt for the place. Koriki hands me his torch, so I can see the ground in front of me as I run, saying he'll get another.

I reach for Noriko using our heart connection instead of the wind. It won't matter how the demon turns her feet if I use that connection. And now I know how to prevent it from doing that to me. When it tries as I run forward, I punish it and it backs off, confused and still not really knowing what I am.

I still have a question to answer. "I believe so. Spirits don't die and if their emotions stay negative, that will continue to give the demon power. Will you ask Irktule if I damaged the spirits by destroying the monster?"

"Izark, he says no, they just spilled out of the monster. The demon forces them to do things, but they can't be killed or harmed by what you do to the monster."

"That's good." I'm relieved to hear I can't kill spirits, or harm them when I use energy attacks. I have as much to learn about myself still as I do about Noriko it seems sometimes.

I can feel us getting closer to each other. I can also feel the other half of the hair monster. I'm very relieved when I reach Noriko first. She's holding a branch in her arms that has white bark and purple leaves. She stopped running to catch her breath. She's still so willing to try hard, and she does her best, too.

I lift her in my arms to hold her close to me. The remaining vestiges of pain inside me melt away and I'm able to relax as her arm goes around my shoulders. I breathe in her scent for just a moment, letting the smell and wind comfort me, too. It's harder to trust the heart connection when I need my own patterns met. I pull back to look at her to make sure she really is okay.

Her face is red. "Izark..." It's then that I realize what I've done and I set her down, trying hard to not blush. Somehow I wasn't present again, and did something uncharacteristic. She's suddenly worried. "Ah, the monster is coming. Can you see Irktule?"

I look around but see only us here. I shake my head, "No."

She gives a nod of understanding. "Irktule will lead us back to the village. I'll tell you which way to go."

I put out the torch and turn around. "Get on my back. I'll carry you that way." I don't want to kill it yet if what Irktule can do will help, so I won't need my sword. This will be easier on her also. She isn't used to being carried this way and has to figure out how to balance. "Irktule, I want to go the shortest route possible. I'll outrun it." Noriko nods that I can do it.

She turns my head. "That way." I settle her a little better, then am running. She directs me to change direction a few times, and then I feel the monster just ahead of us, no longer trying to outrun us through twisting its own feet, but attacking directly. I add more speed and run past it, jumping over the strands that reach out for us.

We aren't too much farther when Noriko says, "Izark, the fog is thinning."

"I see it. It's getting ready for us in the village next." The air is getting heavy again. The rain begins again as we reach the edge of the village. I run straight up to the ring of torches we can see that the demon is trying to put out. We see why when we get there. The hair monster left us after I passed it and it came straight here to attack them so it could prevent us from planting the branch.

I stop just far enough from the monster and take back the torch. I light it again and collect the energy one more time, trying to stay relaxed as I do it, to keep my body calm. I throw the torch at the hair monster and make the fire explode a hole in the monster and keep burning it. "I'll hold it open, Noriko," I tell her.

She nods and runs courageously into the hole. The demon tries to make the flames burn her or the branch. I worry, but she doesn't care. "Over here, Noriko!" Gaya is pointing to the ground. I let the flames go out just a little, releasing the energy slow enough to keep the hair monster occupied, but not to waste my strength.

There's a sudden flash of light and the hair monster disintegrates. I release the rest of the energy and have to rest with my hands on my knees, breathing deeply. I'm relieved when the pain doesn't begin again. Instead, I feel a great burst of warm energy surge through and past me that feels like Noriko's just smiled a large smile and taken me in a hug.

I look up in surprise to see the spirit Irktule standing over the branch that was planted in the hole. He called on the energy of the forest and the earth to destroy the demon that afflicted this place. ...And I did not die. Nor was I even injured. Instead I was gifted strength. Not a lot, but enough I can stand and walk out of this place today with everyone else.

I stand in amazement until I'm collected up with the others to finish our walk to the mountains. As the spirit villagers of the forest guide us out through Geena, I wonder if there are two energies or...was it a proof that I am something different than only a demon of destruction?