D&D #9

Hey guys, ZoNe13 here. This chapter is where things finally start to heat up, so stick around and enjoy.

The game was called "Save the Citizen", as though the name of this school wasn't obvious enough. The rules were simple: Two teams of two players fight to either save the mannequin, called the "citizen", or kill her. It had a time limit of three minutes, and if the citizen was not saved by then, it would be destroyed. Ironically, the first two teams to duke it out were Stretch and Fatass as the 'villains' and me and some girl named Charley, who was nervous and fidgety for some reason, were the 'heroes'. Warren was watching from the bleachers, and was a little curious as to how this would play out.

I, on the other hand, was more inclined to give a lifetime ban to the Jarhead for having pulled this game out of his ass. Suddenly, the mannequin came from the ceiling, and a machine with spinning blades started up.

"Ready..." The Jarhead yelled. "Go!"

The fatass went straight after me, running around in circles and creating a vortex. Warren facepalmed and called out to me. "Dude, defense!" I already had that covered. I had a banana peel in case someone had super speed, so I threw it down in his course, and he slipped on it so much that he smacked right into the bulletproof glass and laid down there. I picked up the banana peel and put it into my pocket. Warren laughed, a sure sign that even he knew that something that simplistic would stop him. I turned my attention to Charley, who had just used some kind of trick to make Stretch punch himself over and over. I chuckled, then jumped and severed the rope that held the mannequin and landed safely on the ground.

"It's over, heroes win!" Jarhead announced. Everyone was shocked to the point of being speechless. Warren, on the other hand, was laughing so hard that he fell out of his seat. It was amazing that this game was so easy to beat. I walked out of the ring, and Charley quickly followed, then tapped me on the shoulder.

"Yes?" I asked.

"Thanks...they were always...picking on me." She said, looking nervously at me. She was wearing a blue and white striped shirt, a pair of blue jeans, and blue Converse. She also had dirty blond hair, pale skin, and painted sky-blue nails.

"No problem." I said, then started to walk to Warren, who by now had most likely run his lungs out of commission, but Charley said something that made me stop.

"Can I hang out with you and Warren?" She said to me, somewhat bravely.

"...If it's okay with Warren, it's okay with me as well. Come on." I said, motioning for her to follow me. We reached Warren, who was staring at the ceiling, wondering how he managed to laugh that hard without dying.

"Warren, you okay?" I said.

"Yeah. Do you have any water?" He said.

I pulled a cold water bottle from my backpack and handed it to him. He drunk half of it and handed it back, and I put it in my backpack. Warren then looked from me to Charley, and got curious.

"Who's the girl?" He asked.

Charley introduced herself nervously.

"My name's...Charley. You're...Warren, right...?" She said.

"Yup." He said. "Let me guess: she wants to hang out with us?" Warren asked, somehow calm and relaxed after a huge fit of laughter.

"Yeah. What's the verdict, Judge Peace?" I said with slight sarcasm.

He looked around to the other kids, who were paying attention to the next set of teams. Then he sat back in his original spot and took a deep breath.

"Sure. But this is the only other person in this little group of ours, got it?" Warren said finally. Charley sat next to Warren, and I sat next to her and read my book. The bell rang, and Charley followed me out of the gym.

"What's your next...class, Jason?" Charley asked.

"...Russian."

For a person who was nervous to the core, she had a very kind heart. I always thought that all of the hormonal meltdown centers known as high school kids were all pricks, but I figured out that there were a few exceptions quickly.

"What about you?" I asked.

"Art II." She said, smiling.

"Alright, then. See you at Lunch?" I said.

She nodded, and walked to her next class. I silently wondered why she seemed so familiar, as if she was someone I had known before coming here. I shrugged it off and walked to my class. Later on, when it had finished, I went to the cafeteria, grabbed a tuna sandwich, some chips, and a soda from the counter and sat at mine and Warren's usual table. Warren came three minutes later and sat down. He looked stressed, and although it was none of my business as to what happened, I asked anyway.

"What happened?"

He looked straight at me, his eyes like gun barrels aimed straight at my soul.

"I got chewed out by my English teacher for something I didn't do." He replied. I offered him my chips, and he took them and started eating. Charley came to the table and sat down, getting some nervous stares from everyone in the room. 'Nervous stares, a power that makes people hurt themselves, and some sort of familiarity that I seem to have had with her? There's only one explanation for this, and I don't like it.' I thought, subtly scared.

"Hey guys...how are you?" She said, smiling nervously.

"Charley, can I talk to you privately for a moment?" I asked. I needed to know who this girl was, because she seemed really familiar to me when she smiled.

"Sure." She said.

"Warren, you can take my lunch. I'm not hungry right now." I told him, then walked out of the room with Charley. We walked into the gym and sat down.

"Who are you, really?" I asked, preparing myself for the answer.

"What do you mean?" Charley said.

"I mean, the nervous stares from the kids in the cafeteria, your power, and the fact that you seem familiar to me somehow. Who are you?" I asked.

She looked down at the ground, her dirty blond hair covering her eyes. Then she smiled, her teeth suddenly as sharp as a pirhana's, and chuckled psychotically. I got creeped out, so I started to get up, but she grabbed my arm and threw me into the bleachers so hard that a crater formed. She then stood over me, still grinning ear to ear.

"So, you found out, huh? Your powers of perception are as they were before, Jason." She said. She took off the wig, and long, black hair covered her head now. Then she coughed up a pill, and her eyes and nails went from sky blue to a red that looked of fresh blood. Her nails also grew to the length of a cat's claws, and were as sharp as needles. I suddenly realized what I was dealing with: An Enma sister.

"My name is Ef'Shal. I'm one of the servants of the ruler of the Sixth Circle of Hell, and a member of the Sisterhood of Enma."

The Sisterhood of Enma is a cult in Hell that was formed when Enma-O, who was the judge of souls in the Japanese afterlife, was falsely accused of damning innocent souls and absolving ones that didn't deserve it. To atone for his crimes, the Eternal Courts damned his soul to an eternity of being tortured by having his eyes pulled out of his skull, only to have them regrow. It was a sickeningly endless cycle, and my dad showed me that. After the punishment was set, his servants, the newly-formed Sisterhood of Enma vowed to free him from his punishment by picking freshly dead souls from their bodies and sacrificing them, so that Enma-O could break free from his bonds and get revenge. They looked exactly like humans, but they were terrible, terrible demons.

"You're one of the most powerful souls in this world, and I shall be taking your soul. Enma-O shall be pleased."

I took a deep breath and kicked the Enma Sister in the jaw, and she flew to the middle of the gym.

"You will pay for that, Son of Satan." She then sprouted metal wings and flew off, hopefully never to be seen again. I dropped to my knees, and realized the impossible had happened: The Gates of Hell have finally opened.

"Dad..." I said, before fainting.