I
I Only Own Meiko. Hope you enjoy!
Meiko's feet ached. It had been nearly an hour since the training class had ended. She had been wandering around the school grounds since everyone had left her by herself, and by now it was starting to get late. The day's sun was already disappearing beyond the horizon and the weather had started to get colder. The chirping of crickets hidden in the grass out of sight could be heard in the background. Creatures of all shapes and sizes were returning to their homes for the night, and in their places came the things that were awake in the night. Nothing was out of place; except Meiko.
Meiko continued to trudge along, covering herself in dirt and leaves as she walked through shrubs and rubbed against the trunks of trees. She rubbed her hands together as a chilly breeze blew passed her. Suddenly she stops and begins chewing her bottom lip. By now the last rays of the sun have disappeared from view leaving an early night sky. She briefly looks up at the stars to see them twinkle against the night's sky in the soft glow of the moon. Quickly she shakes her head turning away from the sky. "You need to stay focused Meiko" she says to herself as she looks around in all directions, deciding on which way to continue. Deciding to go left, she continues on her way.
It doesn't take long before Meiko stops once again. Looking around she suddenly spots shoeprints leading away in a certain direction. She walks over to them to have a better look at them. Suddenly she moans as she stands back up. She now realises that they are her won shoeprints and that she was here just a moment age. Another chilly breeze comes out of nowhere and blows against her back. She shudders as she wraps her arms around her body. She them realises her tail has begun to go numb from the cold and so she coils it around her waist before coving it with her shirt. She looks back down at her own shoeprints feeling embarrassed that she almost followed her own tracks. Suddenly she releases that she been going in circles. A wave of emotions sweep over her. A combination of anger, frustration and fear overwhelm her. She grits her teeth thinking back to how everyone left her by herself after class was finished. No one had told her where to go or what to do. They had just left her.
Warm tears begin to roll down her face as she begins to feel the loneliness she has by being by herself. "It's all their fault. They didn't tell where to go. Now I'm lost and cold" she said to herself. A sudden rage filled her as she rubbed the tears off her face. It wasn't her fault she was in this mess. It was all Papa's fault. He should have stayed behind to take her to where she was supposed to go. Filled with rage she kicks a rock and her anger is replaced with pain. She hops on the ground clutching her aching foot, before she loses her balance and falls down. "Ow, why is it that I keep hurting myself all the time." She says as she rubs her lower back. Her eyes on the verge of crying again.
Throughout the rest of the night, Meiko walked through the forest, trying to find her way. Soon the rays of the morning sky crept through the trees, making long shadows across the ground. Meiko had been walking the whole night and looked terrible. Her eyes were tired and red with large bags under her eyes, and her shoes were covered in dry mud and dirt. She walked slouched over in a slow shuffle; her feet dragging along. "I can't take it anymore!" she yelled as she ruffled her hair with her hands as she shook it side to side. Suddenly, out of nowhere she trips, flying forwards and onto her tears rolled down her face as she sat up. Between her tears she wails "I *sob* I want to go home". Tired from the long walk she breaks into tears and starts to cry. "All I wanted *sob*
was to have fun with Papa *sob*. Why can't I just have that? *sob* That's all I want."
Finally calmed down, Meiko rubs her face and looks at her surroundings. Standing before her is the edge of the forest and the first few building of her Papa's school. For a moment she sits there taking in before a light goes off in her head. "Civilisation! I made it! I'm free from that horrible forest!" she bellowed, attracting everyone's eyes who walked past. She then proceeded to kiss the stone pavement while declaring "Oh sweet path, for how I've missed you." She then jumped up and ran to the nearest person shouting "Excuse me, what years is this? How long have I been trapped in that dammed maze?" The person looked nervously at her before running in the opposite direction without an answer.
After finishing her thrill of finding freedom she stopped and looked around. "I wonder where everyone else is?" After that she began walking around the barrier of the forest, avoiding it to the best of her ability. She looked around for any familiar landmarks but turned up with nothing. Disappointed the then tried to ask directions for passer-byers. After a few failed attempts and terrified expressions, she finally got an answer. Thanking the person she then headed in the direction given. The person had told her that a pathway lead up to the main road leading through the middle of the surrounding buildings. After following them she soon found the place.
Tall buildings lined with market stall and shopping building soon stood on all sides. On wall and posts were signs saying where specific things were and how to get there. A large mass of people walked up and down the road, stopping every now and then. Meiko stood in amazement, surveying varies crickets and goods before an unfamiliar voice called out to her. "Pardon me, Miss Meiko" Looking down at her feet, was sitting was a small unknown animal resembling a dog. Confused at what to say, Meiko stared at it. It was then that the small creature but in a more frustrated tone of voice. "Miss Meiko!" Coming back to her senses Meiko then replied "Ah, y…yes." Meiko looked around and so discovered that no one else could see the strange little creature. "I've been sent by your father to retrieve you and to escort you to the location for your training" Without a reply it walked past Meiko and began to walk away. Thinking quickly Meiko ran after it, still confused from what just happened.
After following the small thing for a short time, they both came to a stop. Looking up from the unknown individual, Meiko soon came face to face with the edge of the forest. The creature then continued to walk into the forest. Meiko stood there silent before moaning "You've got to be kidding me. "
Meiko followed the tiny creature throughout the forest, as they continued to get deeper and deeper inward. Meiko looked at every tree with cold eyes. After a while distant voices could be heard through the trees. Some of the voices were familiar to Meiko and soon she found out why. It had turned out the dog-like creature had led her to the training group of fellow demons and half-demons. After bowing its head to Meiko, the creature the then disappeared into the forest. Meiko watched it leave before joining the rest of the class as it travelled deeper into the forest. Then came the voice of Drake as he walked up beside her. "Where'd you disappear yesterday?" he said as they walked side-by-side. Meiko sighed before answering "I don't want to talk about it" Drake didn't get to answer before the group stopped and the voice of Astarte could be heard.
"Finally, I was wondering where you lot got to." Meiko couldn't see her from the back, but she knew that voice came from someone not to mess with. Meiko then wondered what her relationship was with her Papa. Yesterday they had looked close to one another. Very close. Meiko shoved those thoughts out of her mind before they got anymore deeper. Astarte's voice then called out "Come on let's go. I've sorted out how I'm going to train you." And so the group started to move following closely behind Astarte.
Astarte led the group with Meiko to a series of caves before telling the class "Ok, let's separate you into groups. Those who use the elements, go stand over by that cave there. Tamers, over on the right and those who have specialised abilities, such as yours Noel, go stand in the middle." Meiko watched as the groups began to separate into the groups they had been told to, before walking over to the specialised abilities group and waited for the next instructions. Meiko then watched and listened as Astarte proceeded to say "Right, first off for our element users." Before clicking her fingers. Soon after multiple targets appeared out of nowhere. Meiko watched in amazement. Astarte then continued saying "Ok, I want you to either hit with the element you control or weapons crafted from that element. Don't worry about missing them, I'm setting up barriers around each of you and your targets so that you don't harm each other or anyone else. All I want you to do is focus on gaining confidence in your abilities." Meiko wondered what the barriers felt like if they felt like anything at all. She imagined them to be soft and spongy at touch, but quickly forgot that when one of the students power hit the side of the barrier. It didn't look soft at all but more like a brick wall.
A girl called Megumi then came and joined Meiko's group after Astarte talked to her. She had tan skin, brown eyes and black hair tied up into a ponytail like Meiko's. Meiko also noticed that she wore a black tank-top, cargo pants and large combat boots. Meiko then realised that she looked like her complete opposite, wearing dark colours instead of her own red hoodie and blue jeans. Meiko then quietly giggled to herself thinking how funny they would look if they stood beside each other. However, Meiko watched as the girl called Megumi walked over and stood on the other side of the small group.
Meiko watched as the students assigned to the element users group, began to use their powers on the targets. Most of them were pretty good, hitting the bullseye instantly on their first throw. Meiko noticed grins on their face when they archived it, but saw them quickly disappear when the targets began to move. Astarte then explained what was happening. "I forgot to mention that as you gain confidence, the difficulty of the task increases to multiple targets moving at speed whilst feigning attacks at you." Astarte then turned to Meiko and the rest of her group. The specialised abilities group. Meiko wondered how she would train her to use her powers.
"I want each of you to work on your ability and enhance it. So Megumi, work on crafting larger weapons from the elements. Noel, work on influencing and strengthening your powers of suggestion. Yuki, I want you to tell me what you can do and then I'll out your training method. Same goes for you Ame and Rei." The three girls nodded and then Meiko stood to one side; away from the rest of the group. She could hear Astarte telling Drake to stand to the side also before moving on to another girl called Yuki. Meiko then turned her attention on finding a way to enhance he powers. In the end Meiko came up with nothing and decided to wait while watching Astarte prepare the rest of her group.
After summoning a fox spirit that led the girl Yuki away, Astarte then moved on to the next girl who Meiko found out was called Ame when Astarte addressed her. Meiko listened to them as they spoke. "What about you Ame?" Astarte asked. Ame then stated "I can contort the body parts of others until they break, summon an acidic mist that can melt or deform anything and I can produce a sonic screech that can shatter objects." Meiko gulped at the thought of being at the receiving end of any of those powers. Especially the power to contort the body parts of others. Without thinking, Meiko took a step back. Astarte then replied to Ame's list of powers by saying "Ok. I kinda want to keep my hearing intact so for now, we'll work on the other two." Astarte clicked her fingers like she did before with the targets, but this time a cage filled with moaning people appeared. Everyone stopped and stared in horror at the cage.
Meiko heard someone say "What…?" but she was too traumatized by the cage of moaning people. "They are the souls of the dammed. Forever condemned to serve as entertainment to the royal family of the demons. We of royal blood can summon and dismiss them as we please. Most of the time it is only for entertainment purposes. You know, watching them fight with ravenous hell-hounds, throwing them to the Manticores, going on Human hunts. But these ones shall fulfil your needs today I think." Meiko heard Astarte explain. Meiko was filled with terror as they stared at her with pleading eyes. For some reason Meiko could not turn away.
Astarte then turned back to Ame. "I want you to select one and then focus on breaking every part of their body and melting them with your acid." Meiko saw Ame look at Astarte with uncertain eyes. However, Astarte simply said "Don't worry, they will simply go back to Gehenna when killed. Besides, they are already dead and dammed." After saying this Astarte then turned to Meiko. Trying to forget the people in the cage, Meiko bounced in excitement waiting for her training method. "Now for you." She said. Meiko smiled in anticipation.
"You can summon small worm holes correct?" Meiko nodded in response. "Yep" she replied still bouncing with energy. "I want you to practise summoning larger ones. Each one has to be bigger than the previous one understand. And to motivate you." Once again Astarte clicked her fingers. This time summoning a large hound beside her. It instantly bowed to Astarte to what Meiko assumed was respect. Astarte than continued "Every time you fail, this hell-hound will light part of your clothing on fire or bite you." Meiko froze for a brief moment and cried out without thinking "That's cruel!" Meiko stopped, realising she just spoke back to Astarte; and waited to see how she would react. "Ah, but you are family. So I can be cruel to you." Astarte said with a grin before turning to the tamer group.
As soon as Astarte left, Meiko let out her breath, suddenly realising that she had been holding it. She found her heart racing when she placed her hand onto her chest. Its rhythm fast and out of whack. "I think my life just flashed before my eyes." She said out loud. This got her a growl from the recently summoned hell-hound; who was now staring at her with its menacing red eyes. The hell-hound had thick black fur and smelled foul. To Meiko it smelled like rotting fish with a hint of sulphur along with it. It was also quite large reaching just past Meiko's waist while still sitting. Meiko continued to stare at it before figuring out that it was waiting for her to start.
Meiko was feeling nervous for several reasons. Mostly because she was being eyed down by the large canine, but also because she had only been able to summon worm holes in the past by using a door frame. Right now she was faced with creating a bigger one every time without a door in sight; and worse was the fact that if she failed, she would be barbecued or bitten by her canine fiend; now watching her every movement. Meiko swallowed hard; trying to think what her Papa would do in this situation; but instead found herself thinking back to her mother. Surely her mother was worried about her. After all, she had left and only left a letter saying where she was going.
"Are you going to begin or am I going to have to encourage you to?" the hell-hound asked, surprising Meiko. Coming back to her senses, Meiko worked up the courage to ask "Did…did you just speak?" The hell-hound then looked at Meiko in what can only be described as a look of annoyance. Meiko thought it best not to ask something like that to the hell-hound again. Deciding that she would just have to try her best instead, Meiko began to focus on a small spot in front of her. Hoping that something would happen eventually.
After straining herself for a good one or two minutes, she was about to call quits; until a small blue ring the size of a tennis ball appeared out of nowhere. At first Meiko couldn't believe her eyes! She had actually succeeded! Although she wouldn't call it a great achievement. After all it was very small. All it would be useful for would be to send something small through it. Meiko guessed it would be a useful way to send letters or maybe even a mouse if she wanted too. It didn't have a lot of usefulness. Curious, Meiko crept closer to it for a better look. The area inside the unusual ring was different to the surrounding landscape. It appeared to be the inside of a house. Meiko leaned in closer, hoping to get a better view. There was something very familiar about the way it looked. However, the ring suddenly began to shake violently before disappearing. Still curious about the image shown to her Meiko tried to resummon the ring but found herself unable to. "I guess I'll just have to keep practising until I can hold it open longer." Meiko thought to herself.
Meiko was then distracted by Astarte telling Drake he had to be more graceful in his movements. This led to her being bitten by the Hell-hound on her leg. "Ow, what was that for?" Meiko said as she inspected her new leg wound. The hell-hound simply replied "You are meant to be practising summoning larger worm holes. Not observing the rest of the class." Meiko had to agree with it on that one. She wasn't really practicing after all; but no matter how hard she tried she was unable to summon anymore of the rings. "I can't summon any more" Meiko said. Instantly regretting it. The hell-hound leaped at her yelling "That's no excuse!" Luckily Meiko was able to doge it in the last moment without getting hurt.
The hell-hound readied itself for another attack but stopped suddenly before turning its ears in a certain direction. Obviously something was wrong. Meiko noticed this when she saw Astarte on edge with Yukio by her side with guns out. After growling to several strange creatures to surround themselves around the children Meiko had seen with Astarte before, Astarte began to creep towards the forest. The hell-hound then began to growl. It's fur standing on edge. Meiko looked back and forth between the hell-hound and Astarte. Wondering what was happening. "Astarte, what is it?" Meiko heard Yukio ask, his fingers twitching on the triggers of his guns. By now everyone had noticed something was wrong and was watching Astarte. Astarte raised her hand for silence and crouched down, watching something in the distance that Meiko couldn't see.
Suddenly, Astarte's head raised as she jumped to the side, barely dogging the motorcycle that had seemed to have come out of nowhere. The motorcycle roared as it landed in the clearing. Fellow students of Meiko, cleared around it. Staying well back from the monster that sat on top of it. It was a being whose form seemed to be made of fiery skeleton. Meiko spotted a skeletal tail coiling behind it. The being then stepped off the bike and stepped towards Astarte. Meiko didn't know what to do! Did she have to run away to safety or help in some way? Stuck between the decisions, Meiko stood there and watched the scene play out.
The monster then spoke. "I see your wrong-doings, demonic angel. I have come to punish you and all those who stand with you for all have committed wrong." Meiko saw Astarte glance around before looking back at the monster. She then heard Astarte let out a laugh, before saying "You have come to punish those who have committed wrong, kin of Zarathos. But tell me, what will you do with those who have committed no wrong?" The fiery monster said nothing in repose. Astarte then continued "I have two sons present with me. Whilst they are demon in origin, they hold some angelic blood from me and they have committed no wrong deed. So will you punish them as well?" Without Meiko noticing, Megumi nudged Noel before whispering to her. After noticing what Megumi had, Noel began passing the whisper to the others. Soon Meiko knew what was going on as well, and joined everyone as they watched Astarte drew something on the ground with her tail; while hiding it with her body from the fiery being.
Astarte then said "You would at least grace me with your name so I know who to curse when I am returned to my father." The fiery being stayed quiet, and just when Meiko thought it wouldn't give an answer it said "Cassandra Martin". Everyone blinked. Meiko was sure it wasn't a girl. Astarte simply chuckled before adding "I figured as much from the feminine build of your skeleton." The fiery being, now known as Cassandra, clenched her fists before running towards Astarte. Meiko gasped. Expecting the worst. Everyone began to move to help when Meiko barely saw Astarte smile as she looked up; and said "Mizu. Put her out." Suddenly, a large blue dragon whose body seemed to be made of moving water, appeared above Astarte's head and created a wave of water headed directly at Cassandra.
Wave after wave continued to hit Cassandra when she went to stand. After the demon was forced back, all that remained was the body of a girl with pale skin, dark brown hair, grey eyes and same skeletal tail from her previous form. The girl groaned in pain as Astarte went and stood above her. Meiko wondered what she was going to do now. Everyone else seemed to be thinking the same. Everyone waited till Astarte whistled and the sound of a horse was answered. The horse that appeared had black fur and a mane and tail made of purple fire. On the horses face was a mask with a skeletal appearance. The strange horse went up to Astarte who then said "Tikbalang, I need your swift feet to help me get this half-child back to the Hospital at the academy." Meiko saw the horse nod its head as Astarte sheathed the sword that she had pulled out just before motorcycle appeared, and went to pick up Cassandra and placing her upon the horses back. Astarte then climbed up after her before telling the class "I will leave my familiars in charge for now. Until the sun is nearing its rest on the horizon, you will continue training." She then turned to the fox spirit Meiko had seen her summon earlier. "I want updates every hour understand?" The fox bowed as Astarte also said "Sora, Chikyuu. Come with me." The two children from before ran forward and climbed up behind Astarte with her help from her tail. Lastly, before leaving Astarte says "Oh and Rin? Try not to light the forest on fire." She then nudged the horse with her heels and galloped off into the forest.
Meiko watched as she left. Thoughts of all kinds raced through her mind. "What just happened?" Meiko then realised that she should get used to things like this happening because they seemed to happen a lot. After all this was no ordinary class; and she was no ordinary person.
Hi everyone! It's so good to be back. I know this chapter took almost forever to be uploaded(By almost I mean over a year) but recently I just suffered from serious depression and stuff so I couldn't exactly do any righting because of how down I felt. But I'm better now, so hopefully I'll be righting new chapters more frequently. Anyway this chapter is by far the longest chapter I've written so far and I did that for you guys since it took forever to type up and stuff; so I hope you enjoyed it. Although it's probably not that good because I'm a little rusty at righting but anyway. Well bye-bye.