Demon Heart
Chapter 1- Waking Shadows.
"DUO! Get back here!" a female voice shouted as a child dressed in a pair of dirty
britches and shirt, ran through the door to the church office. "DUO!!"
"Gotta catch me Sister! Come on, you can run faster!" the boy shouted as he pulled his
wet hair back and tied it.
"Duo, please, stop!"
Duo
laughed, his violet eyes sparkling as he ran around to the book shelf, and
pulling one of the books, opened the secret passage. He closed it just as she ran through the door, and he ran
silently down the long twisting stair well.
"Tonight
is the night Shinigami shows his face to the world!" he giggled to himself as
he pulled two flint rocks from his pocket and pulled a torch from the
wall. "Father Maxwell will be so
happy! I made my costume all by myself,
and I even found bear teeth to use as horns!"
He ran
into the large room he'd made his 'hell hole', and laughed as he spun around in
the center, standing in the middle of a large pentagram. As he twirled, he failed to notice that the
shadows along the wall were moving, eyes appearing and then disappearing as
soft murmurs sped throughout the room.
Dizzy,
Duo fell to the floor, spread eagle, in the middle of the pentagram, and his
cross flashed red once. He sighed and
slowly drifted off to sleep.
-in
the other world-
"Ichi…"
the shadows whispered to the sleeping form. "Ichi…"
"Go away! Can you not see I'm trying to
sleep?!"
"He is growing! Shinigami is growing!"
"What?"
"He is nearly of age! 5 more years, and
he will rise again!"
"The boy is 10 already! I have slept that long!? Forgive me Master, I did not know it would go by so quickly!"
Ichi got
up from the floor quickly, his blue eyes glowing softly. He rushed around the room and grabbed a
small red crystal from the corner of the dusty throne.
"Soon you
will sit here again Master, and all will be right." he whispered, the gem
turning into a pendant around his neck, "take me to the boy!"
-back
in Duo's secret room-
Ichi and
the shadows appeared along the wall, watching silently as the boy slept. Ichi smiled and walked forward to where he
had laid out his costume for the festival. Fingering it gently, he found that it was made of silk, and put together
quite well, for a 10 year old.
"Wake
young one, I will share a secret with you…" he whispered as he kneeled down
next to Duo.
"Hm? Who are
you?"
"I am Ichi, a dream spirit. Come, I want to show you something…"
Helping
Duo up, Ichi lead him to the table, and pointed to the robe.
"that's
my robe!"
"Yes. I can
help you make it to be the best costume ever, if you want to catch Father
Maxwell's attention."
"Yeah! How?"
"Just go lay back down and sleep, when you wake, I will have finished. But you must never tell anyone about me, do
you understand?"
"Uhuh."
"Good. Sleep
now young Master, let me work…"
Duo
walked back to the circle and slept, thinking it all had been a dream, but
little did he know it was not.
"Father,
have you seen Duo? He ran from me and I
have not been able to find him."
"No, I have not. Don't worry Sister
Helen, Duo can take care of himself. Besides, he wouldn't dare miss the festival."
"That's true. 1 hour and counting."
Duo awoke
looked at the small clock on the wall, and bolted up. He had 10 minutes to get ready.
Running
to the table, he found his robe, and put it on, not caring to look at it
closely, and then picked up the horns he had made. Smiling, he grabbed the torch, ran up the stairs, and pushed on
the wall that lead outside. He could
see the other kids gathering in the court yard, and ran over to another secret
door.
"I'm
going to be king of the festival this year!" he said as he ran up the steps
that lead to what everyone called 'Angel Point,' a small balcony over looking
the courtyard that had no other access but the stairwell he was now climbing.
"Alright
everyone, stand in your places and we'll get going. Has anyone seen Duo?"
"No." all the children answered as Duo stepped out onto the balcony.
"EVERYONE STOP!!" he shouted, voice reverberating
off the surrounding buildings.
Everyone
in the area stopped and looked up at him, torch in hand, and decked out in his
robe. Father Maxwell pushed through the
people to get closer, and seeing the familiar robe, stopped dead in his tracks.
"Duo! Put the torch down and take the robe off
NOW!" he demanded.
"But It's my costume!"
"I don't care! Take it off!"
"But-"
"NO BUTS!"
"No one speaks to Shinigami like that!" Ichi
bellowed as he leaped up onto the balcony railing, crouched before Duo, eyes
blazing. "You cannot stop him now
Maxwell, just as you couldn't stop him 10 years ago! You merely merged my Master with the boy!"
"ICHI! Get
away from him!"
The
shadow hissed and energy burst off of him, destroying everything it
touched. Fire erupted from the ground,
and Duo dropped his torch as everyone he knew and loved was consumed.
"FATHER!! SISTER HELEN!!" he screamed before passing
out.
"Take him to the circle!" Ichi ordered as the
shadows appeared.
"Yessss…" they hissed, disappearing with Duo's body.
When he
awoke the next morning, Duo remembered nothing of the night before, and seeing
that he was in his robe, thought he was late for the festival. Running outside, he skid to a halt when he
saw the church was burned to the ground, and everyone dead. He felt tears fall down his cheeks and
turned away from the sight.
"Death
follows me everywhere… first my real parents, now Father Maxwell, Sister Helen
and the church. Why won't you just
leave me alone!!??" he screamed as he ran from everything, Ichi blown back by
the power he displayed.
"Run
child, but I will find you…" he said before being locked away in the under
world for another 5 long years…