Secret Longing

Chapter 1

Beginning of the Purgatory Era

She had to run for her life, she never wanted to go back…to that horrible place! Ever since the Netherworld was secretly opened a few weeks ago, a huge section of Spirit World was dominated by the beasts of hell.

Most of the spirits who witnessed the opening of the Portal of Passing to the Netherworld, most fled for a stronger place to survive, others were captured or killed.

Those who were killed were piled in seven or eight foot heaps, then burned to the last spirit and some were even burned alive for seeing the demons who invaded. The ones who were captured were taken to the nearest base and it was made into a camp of torture and prison. They were held there for ransom to King Enma and Koenma.

The prisoners were forced to learn the skills of being assassins, to kill Lord Enma and Koenma and take over Spirit World, even children as young as four were taught brutally. All prisoner's hair was dyed black, had to wear dark clothes and collars and other jewelry with large sharp spikes.

But those who refused were beaten, whipped, burnt or frozen to death and they laughed! She couldn't stand it anymore, she decided to run away. Ten spirits of different races joined her for escape, but those ten were caught by the three headed watchdogs and dragged back in pieces for punishment.

She was the only one who could fight off an entire army of the ruthless demons; she was a Night Maiden, a legendary race to have been known as the most powerful spirit in all of Spirit World, but the most unhappy spirits as well.

Night Maidens could cure sickness, resurrect the dead of loved ones who died in vain, exorcise evil possessive demons and protect the lower class demons. They only traveled and showed up when necessary, most called them "Dark Saviors".

Once the spirits in the camp realized who she was, they gathered around her and wanted to be blessed but she could do nothing, she knew she would be put to death if she spoke.

Whenever a new type of spirit entered the hell camp, they took a vow of silence to everyone, even the owners themselves. The demons were telepathic so the slaves didn't have to talk. But they had to obey some many rules to stay alive but hundreds of spirits died by the day.

Whenever someone broke a law such as: try to escape, steal from the owners, or try to kill the leader, everyone gathered around the center of the fortress and watched the person or group of people die a brutal and vain death.

After each ceremony of a death of a prisoner, all the others would ask the Night Maidens to do something to stop the demons but they never said a word or lifted a finger to help anyone.

She cried each painful and cold night in the fortress, no blankets to comfort her or anyone to speak with, but the bind of the Vow of Silence would prevent her. Other prisoners talked in secret at night when the patrol had lessened, or ones who were telepathic would have nightly conversations…talking of what life was back before the Era of Death, War and Slavery had started once again. She shut out her mind to all around her, the owners sort of backed away after she beat one of the four leaders of the camp.

Each day she would travel into the place where the rebels of the spirits were hiding, killing anyone who saw her and then she carried five times her weight in dead corpses of innocent spirits…ones she knew and ones she was close to. She was weak and got beaten a lot for lack of strength, endurance and direction. But she still kept a glimmer of faith of the person she met eight hundred years ago.

(Interruption: For those who aren't familiar with this stuff: Jin is 1,000 yrs. old and my original character is 900. So in this story, Jin is 18 and my original character is 17. Sorry for the confusion, back to the story!)

She jumped into another high tree (about ten feet tall, work with me here) and hid in the shadows until the dogs and demons came into sight. The four leaders were men demons, one a vampire demon, one a fire demon, one an ice demon and one a moon apparition, the opposite of a Night Maiden. They all were strong built and attractive but ruthless and bloodthirsty.

The main leader, the vampire, was called DarkEyes… tall, black haired, eyes of a wolf and the hearing of a wolf but had the charm of a true vampire. He lured girl spirits into the shadows and made them think they were in love with him, but his kiss made them poisoned then paralyzed as he beat them to a bloody pulp then dragged away by him as he flew into the night back to the fortress.

The fire youkai was Pyroblood, mid height and nothing but a bad boy and smarter than all four. He was the strategist of the leaders, always planning attacks on the remaining spirits and always scouted the escape routes until sun up. He had six long scars running down his face and he may be blind but his senses never failed him. He always dressed in red and black robes, and he carried weapons every inch of him.

The ice youkai was Jacknife, an ice ninja with the greatest stealth of any ninja in all three realms. His aqua hair fell to his shoulders softly, his long bangs covering his frosty blue irises, his ice blue clothes shimmering in the light of the moon and torches. He only showed some mercy around his kind and hers but often he was dark and inconsiderate around the prisoners. He was the one who did all the tortures and wrote the death wishes of the dead one the Wall of the Afterlife in their blood.

And the moon apparition was called Rathan, the darkest and most attractive of the four leaders. His long white hair and pure white wings, and pale colored irises made him the talk of the girl spirits. He licked the blood of the dead on the Wall of the Afterlife after the execution was complete, took girl slaves and lured them into the Den of Night, a place so dark and sinister not even words could explain what happened in that chamber of the fortress. Whoever went inside with Rathan never survived to tell the story except for her.

She remembered every night what he did to her, what he said to make her snap and beat him to a pulp that night. When the three leaders came to see the fight, they all actually back away to avoid getting knocked over by Rathan's thrown body. Pyroblood and Jacknife carried their companion to the Healing Springs while Darkeyes stayed with her and gave her the punishment of all suffering.

She tried to fight after the first few minutes, but he was stronger than her and he overpowered her until she couldn't even move a muscle without screaming in pain. 'A worthless, stupid, weak Night Maiden like you shouldn't ever try to kill her master, it's bad for your future,' he had whispered slyly in her ear, threw her in the Spike Chamber and left her there for a week without food or sunlight.

After that she was afraid of the four leaders of the prison and even everyone around her since that night, but once she cleared her mind one night after praying silently to herself, she gathered the ten friends she'd been together with and made a second plan to escape.

It never took the scouts long to see her and the others escape and the dogs were sent out immediately. The leaders thought of these wild goose chases as entertainment besides the beatings and the executions.

First, three were dragged back to the camp by the dogs…then two Jacknife had snuck up on while hiding in the bushes. 'Five pieces of property down, five more to kill and torture. MOVE OUT NOW!' Jacknife had ordered the other three as he jumped back into the trees to hunt down the other five. The others nodded with cold pleasure and ran on into the forest.

After an hour or so passed, the remaining four of her friends except her were captured and killed before her eyes and she didn't shed a tear for either one of them. Pyroblood had attacked her first but she drove him off by stabbing him in his left eye with her extended nails and once again flew into the dark young night.

Then Rathan grabbed her by the hair from behind and threw her down from the tree into the dirt below (a ten foot drop…how's that?). He had gracefully landed on top of her after she had fallen and tried to hypnotize her with his dreamy icy eyes. But she jabbed him in the jaw with her head, and kicked him back with her spike studded boots.

"Well well, does the night girl want to play a game of Hide and Seek?" Rathan challenged, thrusting his wings out and got into his battle stance.

But she just laughed and created a thick smoke surrounding the entire forest and continued running, holding her severely broken and bleeding right arm to her side, her tongue starting to bleed from biting down to prevent screaming or breathing hard. The four leaders could find any prisoner miles away with their hearing; they could hear a soft breath fifty miles away.

Her wings were broken in several places so the option of hiding in trees was out of the question. Her long black hair, once a lovely auburn, stuck to her face and blocked her sight from the rain and wind, she was running blind. She knew half the forest by heart, but she feared this time she would never see the light of the sun again.

She could hear Darkeyes close above her in the thick knot of tree branches, waiting for the right moment to swoop down and finish her off, she could also hear Jacknife softly running along the trees a few feet above and from her. Her mind was too focused to even think of memories of the person eight hundred years ago.

The sound of rushing water made her faintly sigh in relief as she could hear the loud splashing sound of the wide river ahead. But it was too late for the four leaders were inches away from her and she prayed that she would live but everything happened in a blur.

Pyroblood and Jacknife held her arms behind her back while Darkeyes held a Blood Dagger to her neck, and Rathan was looking straight at her, his face an inch away from her. He smirked and took her chin in his hand and studied her face, turning her face sideways both directions slowly a few times.

"Such pale skin and lovely eyes, you are quite the nasty fighter aren't you?" he teased quietly, his lips almost touching her, his eyes growing more bloodthirsty as he smelled the blood on her broken arm and in her mouth. "What do you think gentlemen? Is she worthy of a accidental death or a brutal death?"

But none of them had time to speak for she was shaking with power and suddenly the tables were turned on them. Her nails extended and pointed, her hair turned auburn and her white hot energy burned their vision temporarily. They screamed in agony, but Rathan ran after her as she made another run for the river ahead.

He cursed under his breath as he heard a splash and a couple of sick thuds as she disappeared into the wrath of the river, but a sly cruel crept along his lips and he bared his fangs. 'We'll find you Night Maiden! No one escapes from Black Cross Fortress and lives to tell the tale of the beginning of the Purgatory Era!'

TO BE CONTINUED…