Chapter 2 – Midnight Groove
Ardor ran his fingers through his black spiky hair, and pulled his sheet over his head. He could hear Dante calling at him from downstairs. Ardor, who simply wanted to enjoy his day off, was persistent on not getting up from bed. After all, there was no school on this Friday, and nine o' clock in the morning was a bit too early for him. He was surprised that Dante was awake.
"Get down here, or I'll drag you down!" Ardor heard Dante shout. He was still lying on his bed when he heard Dante walking up the stairs.
"Alright, alright! Fine, I'm getting up!" Ardor barked back at Dante and muttered angrily to himself. "Lemme put on some clothes, at least..."
"You've had enough time", Dante said as he opened the door to Ardor's room; a room that fitted a small television, a bed a small desk, and of course, a wardrobe. His school bag was lying on the floor. His desk was far from untidy. Books were sorted neatly, and the only thing that lied in a slight mess was a notebook with a pencil nearby, and an open book.
"Why do you need me?" Ardor asked as he pulled on a pair of black trousers and a black tee shirt. "Is it about you and your lazy ass not being able to make some breakfast?"
"Shut up", Dante said and snorted. "The longer your ass is off the bed the less brown it gets."
"At least I don't swim in my yellow liquids", Ardor mocked back.
"No but you'll swim in your red liquids if you don't keep your mouth shut", Dante sneered and gave Ardor a cold look, who opened his mouth to retort, but decided it was best not to say anything at all. Instead, he simply followed Dante downstairs and to Dante's rather large desk. There were a few bottles of beer on the floor near the desk, a black old phone and a picture of a very beautiful, blonde young woman, who was Dante's late mother.
"So, what did you need me for?" Ardor asked and waited for an answer as Dante sat on his chair and was toying a little with his trusted twin pistols which he always took special care of: Ebony Ivory.
"I just got a call from someone. It's a big one, and a big reward. I was thinking, since you're on your spare time now and old enough, you're coming with me. It's not a request; I'm forcing you."
"Count me in!" Ardor answered and laughed. "Thing is, I don't have a weapon."
"I'll lend you one", Dante said and got up from the chair. "Follow me."
Dante walked to a sturdy-looking iron door, took out some keys from his pockets and inserted one of them in the lock. He turned the key and a sound told Ardor that the door was now unlocked. Dante opened the door, and went down a staircase. Ardor followed him down until they reached another door which Dante unlocked with the same key and led Ardor to a neat, large room.
"This is my weapon arsenal, which I've collected ever since I was little over your age."
Ardor looked at the room. There was a desk with a two-barrelled, sawed-off shotgun and a small wooden box lying on the table. Dante opened the box with a smaller key and took out a silvery chain with a very beautiful pendant on it. The pendant was also silvery, and large, and it was surrounding a beautiful, red gem; like a ruby, but a hint of purple reflected on the pendant.
"Is that magical or something?" Ardor asked.
"This... this belonged to my mother, Eva", Dante said softly and sighed. "The other half of it is missing... it's the only memento left from her."
"Oh... I'm sorry..." Ardor said and put his hand on Dante's shoulder. "Do you know where the other half is?"
"I..." Dante began, but then took a deep breath. "I've no clue where it is."
"I see", Ardor replied and slightly nodded his head, and then continued to look around. "This is rather impressive", he finished as Dante put on the pendant.
"Sure is", he responded and cracked his knuckles. Ardor continued to look at the weapons. He saw a normal medieval sword leaning on a corner and next to it was a finer decorated sword with a hilt shaped zigzag. Dante lifted it off its beautiful case and swung it a little. "This sword, the Force Edge, is a memento from my father."
"Not bad", Ardor said and bent his head a little. "Hey, you've never told me about your dad, have you? Mind filling me in?"
"Have you ever heard about the Legendary Dark Knight?"
"I've read about him in one of your books. He's the guy who formed a rebel group and waged war against the other demons of the Underworld, right?"
"The books are wrong", Dante declared firmly. "He defeated Mundus and sealed away the Underworld from the mortal realm alone, preventing Mundus from invading Earth. His name was Sparda. He was my father."
The booming sound of a lightning could be heard outside. Ardor looked at the sword Dante was holding. If that sword had once belonged to the Legendary Dark Knight himself, then surely it must've been powerful. But he couldn't see how such a simple sword had the power to defeat someone as powerful as a demonic god. Or maybe, there was something else about the sword and Sparda...
Ardor didn't have to look at the other weapons before Dante shoved a sword in his hands. It was rather large, with a long grip and a rather broad, large hilt the expanded into the blade. The hilt was carved with motifs of flat, black skulls. Ardor took an immediate liking to the sword.
"I used this for a while when some idiot needed help with a demon. I used to call it 'Woozy', but you can give it a name of your own if you want."
"How about", Ardor said and smirked, "Rebellion?"
The mission was to investigate a school in the desolate, lonely town of Harbington. Dante and Ardor had driven on Dante's motorcycle for about an hour from Harlington before they reached the designated area. Dante stopped instantly right outside the main entrance of the school and walked over to the double doors. Dante was wearing his red trousers and a red shirt with his trench coat worn over. Ardor was still in his black tee shirt and trousers. Both of them wore black boots.
"This is it", Dante said and drew his sword from his back. Ardor let his sword hang from his back. "Aaaaand the doors are no more."
As he said the sentence, he kicked on one door. The door was pushed back a few feet before slamming the floor. Dante put his sword to his back and pulled out Ebony. The school was dark, and rather eerie. Ardor noticed a turned-over wheelchair with one wheel still spinning with decent speed.
"Well, well", Dante said and pointed at something. Ardor walked over to Dante and noticed that it was some sort of map. "Ardor, you stay up here and investigate the first floor. I'll go check out the basement."
Ardor nodded and looked at the map a few seconds.
"The stairs leading to the basement is on the far end of the school's left wing", Ardor said and pointed at the map. "You go left then, and I'll go right."
"Sounds like a plan", Dante said and disappeared through the door to the left. Ardor walked to the right door, opened it, and stepped inside a waiting room. He found two doors; one led to the hallway, and another to the biology room. He entered the class room and chuckled at the memories of the biology classes a couple of years ago. He looked around in the class room when he heard the sound of a window breaking. And then he heard a scream.
"Dammit!" Ardor cursed to himself and rushed out of the room, and into a small passage that led to the chemistry room, and past that, to the class room where they educated mathematics. He looked around and noticed a door only a few feet away from the blackboard. He opened it quickly and rushed out to a small corridor with stairs leading to the second floor. He rushed up the stairs, past a door, and stopped as he stood in the second floor hallway. "What the hell..."
Before Ardor's eyes walked a lizard of some sort on its four. It was at least as large as him, and was very muscular. It wasn't really wearing anything, but it appeared to have very hard skin, and jaws with sharp teeth. Ardor also guessed that its claws were dangerous.
"This can't be good..." Ardor whispered as he held his breath, watching the beast. This was probably the first demon he had ever seen. What was it doing in a school in Harbington? Ardor was glad that the beast hadn't noticed him. Very glad. Cautiously, slowly, and very carefully, Ardor drew his sword, and carefully walked towards the monster. "I've never fought with one of these before..."
The beast turned rapidly around with a growl, startling the tense Ardor. It gave away a screech before jumping at him, attempting to swipe him with its claws. Ardor jumped aside, evading the beast, but the demon quickly leapt once more towards him. Ardor dodged under it, and paced a few feet away from it, making sure he had a rather safe distance. The beast walked slowly, keeping an eye on him, observing.
"Get over here, you scabby little reptile", Ardor spat in taunt, and firmly gripped his sword. The beast dashed towards him, and Ardor rushed towards the beast. Ardor stepped aside while running, and managed to slice a bit on the beast's arm. Ardor smiled and saw the blood dripping off the demon. However, he stopped smiling when he heard the sound of steps that sounded identical to the monster. "It can't be..."
Ardor turned around and saw how another demon approached. He looked at both of his sides, and was even more discouraged when he saw three more further down the hall, and a sixth one clutching the walls. A seventh one was climbing the ceiling. This was too much. He had never before had any actual practise with swords, nor had he seen let alone battled a demon, and now there were seven of them? He was doomed. He had to tell himself that he was doomed.
"I'm doomed."
He laughed and repeated.
"Dude, Ardor", he said to himself as the beasts approached him. "You're doomed. But if I am, I might as well go out with a big boom bang!"
He rushed towards the lizard that was alone, and performed a few swings he imagined would be useful, even though he had no idea what was useful.
Five minutes later, Ardor found himself defending and running from the beasts. So far he had managed to slay one, and greatly wounded another, but he had five rather healthy demons chasing him around the hallway. He was growing rather tired of fleeing when he finally made an abrupt stop and observed the demons.
"I'm not that much different from them", he said to himself and cracked a broad smirk. "Why am I afraid? I can kill them if I want."
Firmly gripping his sword again, this time with both hands, Ardor took a prepared stance, waiting for any beast to attack, and attack back.
"C'mon you filthy bastards... come here..."
One of them leapt in mid-air, and Ardor leapt up as well, and quickly, slashed the beast four times across each side, slashing it backwards several feet at the fourth swipe before he landed on his feet. He busted a door open and ran downstairs to the large hallway with all the lockers, sheathed the sword on his back and ran as fast as he could out to the great hall, with the demonic lizards stalking speedily behind him. He crashed through the double doors and into the great hall.
"Gotcha now, suckers!"
He drew Rebellion and slashed rather skilfully at the reptile. When another swooped from behind, Ardor made an impressive back flip and landed on a table. The reptiles hissed and jumped up to the roof, and then dropped rapidly towards Ardor, who flipped forward while slicing with his sword at the demon, which fell in two pieces, crashing the table.
One reptile had learned to block the swipes from the swords, but Ardor plunged his sword forward and pierced the beast's jaws, withdrew the sword quickly and slashed upwards, sending the beast furiously rolling against another one.
"This fiesta's getting funky!" Ardor exclaimed and felt a unique adrenaline rush. "Alright!"
Ardor plunged his sword at another beast, broke his skull and slashed the last one to death. At first he felt triumph, but then the sight of the slaughter and the stench forced him to leave the hall. He also took the opportunity to find some curtains to wipe the blood off his sword before he put it on his back.
And now, Ardor remained in confusion. He had no idea what those demons were doing in the school, and he had no idea who had screamed earlier. He walked around the school searching, until he stumbled across the door leading to the basement. "I'll go check out the basement", was what Dante had said. Maybe it was best to leave the basement to Dante. But then again...
Author's Note: Sorry for the long delay, I could've updated about a day earlier, but I got a minor writer's block, and decided to halt the chapter at around 5+ pages. I'd like to thank all of you who have given reviewed to my fanfic; trust me, it lifts my spirits waaaay high, and greatly encourages me to keep writing and update while you're still waiting with excitement.