'I'm wasting away and it's all I can take

I'm ready to change, I'm not gonna break

I'm wasting away and it's never too late

I'm wasting away, and I'm not gonna break'

Wasting Away – Decyfer Down

--

Stage 4: The Earl's Scepter

"My dear girl, I must thank you again for waking me up from my sleep."

I felt a voice speaking inside my head. This voice sounded so cold…as if it's been in terrifying dreams all it's life. Whoever it is…could this be the Earl speaking to me?

"You know, you are so very pretty." The Earl continued, "Such a pretty girl such as yourself shouldn't be wasted in death."

What was he talking about? I don't even have a single clue about what he's saying at all. This guy must've smelled all the coffee fumes it might've gone through his head.

"This silky black hair like this…" The Earl still continued on, "It's like the color of the dried blood, from red to orange, to a deep black. And this lovely light tan such as this…it's like the heavens are now talking to me."

Okay, now this guy is really starting to annoy me. Big time.

"Your blood sounds…so tasty right about now…maybe…just one sample…" I can hear the Earl lick his lips with delight.

I opened my eyes, to see a ghostly fat figure above me. With a very tall top hat and the pointy elfin ears, I could see him. And this guy means a lot of business.

"Alright…" I glanced up at the Earl, "Who the hell are you?"

"My dear girl," He started to say, "I'm the Millennium Earl. You are the one who found my scepter, and I should guarantee that you would have a present in return for all of your efforts. Maybe…how about a nice placement for you as an admin? I want you to help me…obtain something."

"Help you to obtain what?" I said, starting to loosen up a bit. I still stayed a bit cautious.

"Help me…to find the ingredients needed to make my akuma army."

His what? What on earth is an 'akuma'? I never heard of such a word before, not even in books either. Must be some old British word or something. Hey, if you were to hear this Earl guy speak, he sounds pretty British to me.

'He's deceiving you Anari. Back away Anari…back away. This guy's up to no good…'

'But…what am I supposed to do?' I said back to the voice that echoed inside my head. 'I found this guy's scepter, I should return it right?'

'No…do not return it…I repeat, do not return it. Just take the scepter and run. Run far away from here…run. Run!'

I did just the voice told me to do. I started to run, far from this guy. For a second I thought I was home free, but just as I turned around, this guy was on my tail. He was floating fast in mid air. This guy looked really angry, and I knew I had to run faster.

"Don't think you can escape my dear…" The Earl's voice got more high-pitched, "Because nobody escapes from the Earl! Nobody can! You know why my dear? Because anyone who becomes my admin or runs away from me ends up dying a beautiful death…I am known around these parts for stealing souls and use them to make my beautiful akuma weapons!!"

This guy was nuts! No, he's not just nuts…he's beyond nuts!

I turned around, as my eyes started to glisten. The voice suddenly came back and said, 'Anari…let's stop this criminal…as one…'

I smiled, 'Yeah…let's do this thing. I'm going wolf!'

I morphed into wolf form and lunged at the Earl in midair. He bounced upwards, there was shock written on his face.

"What?" He shrieked, "What is this power?! What kind of girl are you? You…. you are not normal!!"

'Yeah…personally, I get that a lot.' I said through meditating, 'I'm a shapeshifter. I'm both human and wolf. So don't be too surprised on what I can do.'

The Earl suddenly went from shocked expression to a more evil-grinny expression. 'A soul like this one doesn't really come naturally in this lifetime. I'd really grow more powerful with this one! Hee hee…'

I gulped, he really does mean business. But I did what other heroines would do…brace myself for the worst.

"You know something my dear? I concede to you." The Earl said, sounding very polite all of a sudden. "Your power is very strong, much stronger than my own. I will let you go off early tonight, but the next time we meet, I will not spare you. So, I hope you live every day of your life…well."

He disappeared right in front of me, as I morphed back into human form.

'He forgotten to ask me to return his scepter…what kind of bad guy is he?' I asked the soul inside my head.

'I don't know…' it echoed, 'But, I guess it's a good thing that he didn't ask. I have a very bad feeling about this 'Earl' fellow.'

I blinked, and looked all around me. Every corner of this area was white, and it was blank.

'Where are we anyway?' I asked the soul.

'We are in a lost world…currently.' The soul answered, 'This is a world that you may encounter when you are in your sleep.'

'So…you mean to say…I'm asleep?'

'Yes…everything that just happened in these thirty minutes was in your sleep. But don't say this was all fake stuff. This is one of these dreams where things come to life.'

Great. That's the last thing that I'd expect to hear. Who would've thought that I'd give back life to some creepy British frat man with mental problems that was stuck inside a Halloween stick for two centuries?

'So, now what do we do?' I asked the soul politely, 'we can't just stick around here all day--,'

'Wait Anari…' The soul stopped me, 'I hear someone from outside. I think we stopped somewhere…'

Wait…stop? What did she mean by stop? I turned around, there was nobody here…there never was except for the soul, the Earl, and me.

'Open your eyes Anari.' The soul demanded.

'Wait, what?' I blanked out for a split second.

'Open your eyes! Someone's coming!' The soul repeated, she sounded anxious.

I did as she told me, and there was another flash of light from the distance.

I woke up probably the same way. On the cold, hard ground. Jeez, I really could use a shower… I thought, almost sounding like I was mumbling to myself.

As I woke up, I realized that I was not in the graveyard anymore. In fact, I was not in Freeze City anymore. I was not in reality anymore…so, where exactly am I?

I looked down at myself, my clothes were all so dirty I mean, even my purple converses have dried mud on the heels, making it's way up to my ankles. At least, my book bag didn't have much damage.

I stood up, feeling a bit nauseous. So, here I am, stuck in a place that I don't even recall seeing before, with no way to return home or to see mom ever again.

Maybe…just maybe, this is the Earl's dirty work… I began to think for a moment. I suddenly had an idea and pulled out the scepter out of my book bag. To my surprise, my hunch was right. The scepter looks completely brand new. Instead of dried mud, it was surprisingly shiny.

Did I…just go back in time?

I had to be sure. I ran through the fields like a crazy person. If I really did go back in time, I should probably find some civilization and ask someone along the way.

A smile appeared on my face, I could see a church past the hills, so I might have a chance to know where I am.

But then I skidded to a complete stop. Not only I was a few miles away, but I could also hear screaming in the distance. I have a very bad feeling about this…

I had to act smart. I went wolf again and jumped into the bushes. I sniffed out the area and the only thing I sensed was death…and I could smell the blood from here. This doesn't sound good.

Just as I reached the church (I changed back to a human again), thousands of people ran through the streets, as I saw some odd, spherical objects floating in the sky. To my surprise, these things were loaded with guns all over its craggy-looking body. They had zombified faces that looked almost drained out with a vacuum or something. They smell like trouble.

I leaped out of the bushes and tried to attack, but just before I could, I saw one of these floating things shoot some sort of a giant pencil-like bullet at some innocent old man that I saw running through the streets.

My eyes began to widen, this old man had a star-like pattern all over his body as his body turned black and crumbled into tiny pieces…

This doesn't sound good facing these things all by myself, so I had to think fast. All I could do was get these people to safety.

But then I heard another bullet fire past me, as I turned around. I thought it was me at first, but then I saw it was headed towards a tiny little boy. I freaked out and then I leaped, grabbing the boy in my arms and the bullet missed as it hurled into the dirt a few miles away.

"Are you okay?" I asked the little boy.

This little boy was adorable. He's got big green eyes, and his hair was spiked up in the back and it was a shiny silver color. He wore to what I thought was an older version of what was now called a 'polo' shirt. His collar was faced up instead of down, and he had green and white stripes going across his shirt. He wore brown baggy pants, and he wore roller skates.

The boy looked at me with such a gazing stare. But then he did the weirdest thing: he put his arms around me and started crying…

I couldn't help but put his arms around him.

But then I heard something click, as the little boy and I turned around. One of those floating things now pointed the gun at me. This freaky floating thing started to moan like a zombie, but then I heard something within. It sounded like it was crying too.

'Help me…' the soul within the floating thing said to me. 'Help me break out of here…I never wanted to kill anyone…please…finish me off with your weapon.'

What weapon was the soul talking about? Could it be the scepter that I have in my possession? Well I had to find out. I pulled out the scepter with my free hand and I still held onto the boy with my other hand.

I pointed the scepter at this floating creature, and then bursts of black rays spurted from the pumpkin's head. This energy suddenly clouded the creature, as it exploded into pieces. I saw the soul of a pretty lady floating up towards the sky.

'Thank you…' She said to me with tears in her eyes, and then she vanished…forever.

But then I turned around to see if anymore of these creatures were still here. None. But then I saw the crowd; all eyes were staring at me. They all crowded up around the little boy and me.

Just then, they started to applaud at me. I sat there, with the kid in my arms, looking bewildered.

"God has given us another one!" One man in the crowd hollered, "God has given us another exorcist!"

An exorcist? Are they talking about me?

I stood up, trying to avoid the crowd. It was like I've gone from not so popular to insanely famous. I could still hear them talking about me. Even something about making me their bodyguard…

--

Just as I left the city, I heard a couple of footsteps behind me. I turned around. That same boy I saved earlier was following me. This time, he looks pretty happy.

"Hi there big girl." He said happily, "I want to thank you…for saving me from earlier."

"Really?" I said. "Well…everyone else has."

The little boy started to laugh. "Wow big girl, your funny. Hey, my name is Josiah by the way."

"Josiah huh?" I smiled back at him, "That's a cute name. My name's Anari."

"Anari…what a beautiful name!" Josiah chimed, "Well, thanks for saving me anyways Anari."

I blinked, and then I fixed up the belt on my book bag. "No prob."

Josiah tilted his head a little; I suddenly remembered that kids his age don't know any slang.

"I mean…no problem." I explained to him. He then said, "Oh."

"So…" I began, "Why are you following me out here anyway?"

"I wanted to know something." Josiah kicked the dirt with the front wheel of his roller blade, "I wanted to know…are you one of those humans who transforms into wolves?"

I blinked and smiled sheepishly, "What makes you think that I'm a wolf?"

He made a huge grin as he spoke, "C'mon, I saw that leap of yours. No ordinary human being could pull a stunt like that."

I turned away completely. The boy was clever.

I let out a huge sigh and then answered, "Josiah, you're right. I am a wolf…"

He smiled, and all he could say was, "Cool."