Chapter 2. You're a mutated demon.
Jack opened his eyes, lying back in his hospital bed, his leg cast and raised, still in his gown. Looking to the side, he saw the time as half past seven with the sun briskly shining through his curtains. Taking a breath, he stayed there for a moment before cautiously glancing down at his right arm. "..." He raised it close and inspected it, flexing his hands and arm. It didn't hurt, but it didn't feel weird either. "...Phew." Taking a sigh of relief and leaning back, he felt relieved. "It was just a dream."
A mouth appeared on the palm of his hand and came to his face, giving him a reality check. "It was not." Damian spoke.
"Ah!" Jack shot up in shock before groaning in annoyance. "Ugh, the talking arm's real!"
"Yep!"
"That means…last night was…what the hell…"
"That's like eight times you've said that, and as a demon, I'm offended."
"Why is this happening?" Jack lamented in his left hand.
"So, ready to ask you questions?"
"Questions?" He looked at Damian curiously.
"Yeah, after that fight with that Hopper you were shook! I practically had to drag you back to the room."
"..." His mind still felt in some form of disarray, but he took a breath to calm down. "...Ok…so….I guess what I want to know most is…what was that…look…those eyes…the hair, teeth…my arm just changing…"
"That was your demonic form. In it you have access to your full power and all your abilities."
"Powers? Abilities? Demonic form!?" He just gained more questions than answers.
"Well yeah, what these abilities are I don't know yet, well except for one you got from merging with me."
"What's the- wait wait…what do you mean by demonic form?"
"Since I've merged with you, you've become something called a Mutated Demon, a mortal turned demon through merging with one. You're not like a regular demon as you need to eat souls to sustain yourself compared to regular food, like last night."
The soul part made Jack's eyes widened. "I have to eat souls!?"
"Yep. Regular food just won't cut it, even if you gorge, it won't give your new body the proper nutrients."
"But…won't I have to," The images of the monster frog's corpse plagues his mind, "kill again?"
"Relax, as long as you kill Demon Beasts things will be fine."
"Demon Beasts?"
"Feral demonic creatures. They're low intelligence and really freaky. Kill those things, eat the soul, and all will be fine."
"How is that fine!?" He glared.
"Got a better idea?"
"In fact I do." He stubbornly huffed, laying back. "I'm not doing it. I'll just manage with regular food."
"I just said it won't give you proper nutrients."
"I'll manage."
"...Alright guess you'll be fine with going crazy and eating your friends."
With a whip of his head, and widening of his eyes, he looked at his arm with shock. "What'd you say!?"
"If you don't want to eat souls then I guess you'll be fine with going rabbid and eating your friends."
"What the hell do you mean!?" He demanded, bringing the demon arm close.
"Nine. Now like I said, souls are proper nutrients and without it your body will recess and will go into a crave, which will infect your mind and make you rabidly eat whatever soul is nearby which will most likely be your friends."
"Youre…youre kidding?" Jack breathed in disbelief.
"Nope. Don't believe me? Go ahead and try."
"I…" Exasperated, he plopped back again against his bed, holding his hand in his face with a whine. "Why is this happening?"
"You wanted to live, I told you it wouldn't be the same life."
"Ugh…"
"Hey at least you're alive."
"...True….So…does that mean I gotta go out again and fight a thing like that?"
"Nah, you should be good till tomorrow."
"That's a relief…" He thought about it all, feeling a headache coming with all he had to process. "Hey…so about last night…why did noone notice us? Why did everything just…repair afterwards."
"It's the rules of the lower layer."
"Lower layer?"
"Mhm." Damian reached over, grabbing a pen and paper that was on the nearby desk. "So here's how it works." He drew five lines horizontally across, separating them evenly. The middle one he wrote in Mortal realm, Heaven on top, Hell on the bottom. "Got the Mortals in the middle, heaven on top, and of course hell on the bottom. These spaces between," He tapped the opened areas, "are called the layers. They act like a gateway to their respective areas. When someone dies their soul travels through these layers and to their destination to be revived as either Demon or Angel, though your case was different, you weren't fully dead so you were in the lower layer in your mortal form and unluckily while that toad had crossed over for a snack. Thankfully I-"
"Wait wait wait," Jack stopped him, "so…if I was in the lower layer…I was gonna go to hell!?"
"Yeah."
"What'd I do to deserve that!?"
"Oh well…nothing really. Y'see both layers dip and rise kinda like a wave, and whichever is closest to the Mortal realm when someone dies is where they get taken."
"That's…messed up. So some criminal could get sent to heaven while someone innocent goes to hell?" Jack said, unnerved by the notion.
"Yep, but uh, don't be bothered by it. The concept of Heaven and Hell isn't really accurate nowadays."
"Whaddya mean?"
"Ysee, way WAY back then how it worked was that hell was a torturous place for sinners and heaven a place for virtuous mammals but they had to gate keep and send the right person to the right area because of how the layer works, having those travel in the layer to redirect souls to where they belonged but later on things changed. Now really the difference between heaven and hell is elements, how it's ruled, and laws and such. Heaven cares more about the bad compared to hell, making sure they repent or regret, while hell tends to not care about them unless they break the rules or cause trouble."
"So…it doesn't really matter where one goes?"
"Not really. I mean Hell is a bit harsher but still."
"Huh…" Jack did not expect to learn that and did not know what to do with that information.
"Now back to what I was saying. Since the Layers are gateways they mirror the mortal realm, meaning if anything's moved it moves back. Though the closer the Layer moves to the realm the more it can influence it, meaning slower things return and more of what's mirrored can be reflected, meaning what happens in the layer, happens in the real world."
"Has that ever happened before?"
"Oh yeah, plenty. A recent war comes to mind. Happened in Poland I think."
"Poland…wait, do you mean those earthquakes and fire outbreaks!?"
"Is that what happened in the Mortal Realm? Sounds about right."
"Sounds dangerous! Why do you fight wars in the layer instead of your own realm!?"
"Oh they do. That brings us to our next lesson: Rifts!"
"Rifts?"
"Yep! You see my Mutated Demonic friend,"
"Don't."
"Whenever the layer gets close to either Heaven or Hell there's a chance of a tear opening to allow something to go out. Remember, Layers are gateways TO the other places, but that doesn't mean they can't bring something from. And what causes rifts you say? Well a number of things, like a clash of opposing powers, or focusing your energy on the presence of a Layer, basically the space where it's close to, to make a crack in it. Those are the most common ways and the latter is usually done by Demon Beasts."
"This is alot to take in."
"Need a break, my student?"
"Shut up. Ugh," He raised up, getting his leg of its sling in an attempt to stand.
"Whoa whoa whoa! What are you doing?" Damian pulled back.
"Going to the restroom."
"Are you dumb? You're supposed to be limping!"
"Huh? But I'm healed."
"Yeah but the doctors both don't and can't know that! You can't explain this to them!"
"Why not?"
"...You serious?"
"...Yeah dumb question. But it's not like they're here."
"You wanna risk them walking in?"
"...I'll get back on." He moved back onto the bed, placing his leg back on the sling. Reaching for the urine bottle on the side but Damian pulled back.
"I ain't touching that! What are you grabbing it for?"
"They haven't given me a walker yet and I gotta pee."
"Use your other arm then!"
"Just hand it to me!"
"No!"
"It's new, it's clean!"
"Not! Touching!"
"...Ugh, fine," Jack groaned, reaching over with his left hand to grab the bottle, "You're such a pain."
"Well excuse me for not wanting to touch piss!"
"It's clean!"
"It's the principle!"
"Ugh…" As he urinated he thought to ask something, "If I'm healed…what are we gonna do about the X-ray?"
"When is it?"
"I don't know. Think they're gonna tell me when they come in with medicine…. medicine…what am I supposed to do about that?"
"Just not take them."
"They're gonna be around when I take it."
"Well it's not like it'll have much effect on you. Being a mutated demon, you have a high immunity to mortal things, so normal medicine won't be able to do much in normal doses. Heck it'd take a whole bottle of liquor for you to get tipsy."
"Not like I'm planning to drink but good to know." He closed the bottle and moved it away.
"Here ya go," Damian handed him a wipe."
"Thanks," He took it, "So what about the X-ray?"
"Oh yeah. So what we're gonna do is use an imprint spell during the Xray."
"Imprint spell? What's th-"
A knock came at the door. "Jack? It's Doctor Lexton."
"Come in!"
The doctor walked in holding a small cup with pills inside. "Hey there, got you some medicine to help with the pain."
"O-oh yeah, it's really burning!" He faked a painful cringe.
"No worries," The moose doctor placed the meds on the table, getting him a cup of water, "How's your right arm feeling?"
"Uh…" Jack glanced at it, moving it a bit, "it feels…weird."
"Hm. Well," He brought over the water, "we looked into the X Ray device, found nothing wrong so whaddya say we try again before lunch?"
"I'm ok with that." He smiled.
"Good, breakfast should be coming soon."
"Thanks," Jack reached for the water and pills, taking it down but making sure not to move too easily.
Damian brang his palm to Jack's ear. "Ask about that walker."
"Uh, can I get a walker?"
"Well I wanted to wait till the next Xray just in case it missed something but how does your left leg feel?" The doc asked.
"Not too bad."
"Hmm well I'll try and get you one soon. Need anything else?"
"No, I'm fine, thanks."
Another knock came at the door. "Breakfast," Said the nurse.
"Oh, here it is," The doctor went to the door to let the nurse in, "I'll come back later, hopefully with a walker or wheelchair."
"Thanks," Jack waved him off.
The nurse set the food on the table. "Here you go."
"Thank you."
"Need anything?"
"No, this is fine."
"Ok, I'll come by later for the plates," She said before leaving the room.
Once she was gone, Jack looked at Damian, "This is ok, right?"
"Yeah," Damian answered, "you ate a soul last night so you're fine."
"Ok." He started to eat.
Jack was laid down on the X-ray bed. The scanner arm hovered above his body, going up to his head.
"You ready?" The doctor said in the other room.
"Yes," Jack replied.
"Alright, starting it up," The lights turned off and the X-ray began.
Damian turned his palm upward. "Here goes!" A red magic pentagram circle appeared before him. "Exiale omnia etlora! Exaile omnia eltora! Exalia omnia eltora!" Sparks of crimson light went into the machine. It didn't disturb its functioning, continuing its scaling of the Jackal. Damian kept chanting until it was done and the light turned back on.
"All done! I'll get the results printed and hand them to your doctor, ok?"
"Ok," Jack raised up and tried to get on his wheelchair while playing the hurt mammal.
The X-ray doctor walked in to help. "Here let me help."
"Thanks," He was hopping on his left leg with the Medical worker holding him steady. Once he got in he was wheeled to his room. "How long till I see my results?"
"He'll come by tonight to show you. It should be after school so your friends can see too."
"Ok," He glanced at his demonic arm, getting a thumbs up which gave him some relief.
Some time passed and Jack was taking a nap while Damian did some channel surfing, watching a cowboy movie. There was a knock on the door and Damian shook him awake.
"Hey, wake up!" Damian shook the jackal.
"Hm huh?" Jack stirred awake, hearing the next set of knocks.
"Jack?" Zill's voice came from the other side.
"Oh, come in!"
Zill and Kayla walked in, having their backpacks on.
"Hey there, Jacko!" Kayla said to him, "How ya feelin?"
"I'm feeling ok," Jack smiled, "The docs gonna be here soon with my x-ray results. Where's Spam and Vanexa?"
"They said they forgot something, they'll catch up on the next bus," Zill informed.
"Oh."
Kayla glanced at the tv. "Oh hey I love this movie! I still can't believe the sheriff was-MMPH!" Jack's right arm clamped onto her mouth.
"Uhhh," Jack was confused as it wasn't him that did it but he had no idea how to respond.
Kayla removed his hand and gave him a curious glance. "What was that for?"
"I uh…was…" He nervously tried to find an answer, darting his eyes around.
Damian came to his ear. "No spoilers!"
"N-no spoilers!"
"Huh?" Kayla tilted her head.
"But," Zill said, "you've already seen this haven't you?"
"I…" He blushed with embarrassment, "fooorgot?"
"You forgot it? We saw it like a month ago."
"I…wasn't paying attention."
"Bu-" Kayla was about to add more.
Jack quickly changed the subject. "Y-you bring any school stuff?"
"Uh yeah," Zill, along with girlfriend, awkwardly took their backpacks off and took out a few papers, "We got some notes and a bit of homework."
They set the papers down in front of him and he looked over them. "Ugh, Calculus."
"No worries," Kayla patted his back, "I'll help ya out."
"Thanks,"
"Definitely study the english papers, we got a test coming up," Zill said.
"How am I gonna take it?"
"Teach said you can do it through Zoom, that way she could watch you."
"Yeah but my phone got broken in the accident."
"Yeah, but you," Kayla reached into her backpack and took out an android smartphone, "had a warranty."
"Sweet!" Jack said, taking the phone, "Thanks!"
"You're welcome, and we got you a case too," She took out a heavy duty case.
"Definitely need that," Zill laughed.
Jack tried to open them but his right arm wouldn't move from the speaker on the remote. "What the-?" He looked at the screen and saw the movie was playing. With a sigh he understood why Damian wouldn't move.
"Something wrong?"
"Nope, I'll open these up later," He set them to the side.
"Make sure to call your mom asap."
"Oh I will. She talked my ear off through the room phone when I first got in."
"She flying back in?" Kayla asked.
"She almost did but I managed to talk her out of it. She still has to maintain that apartment project."
"How's that going?"
"Didn't have a chance to ask, and you know why."
"Heh, guess I do."
The doctor arrived, knocking on the door and being allowed in.
"Got your X-rays!" The moose said, waving the papers.
"Are they good, doc?" Zill asked.
"In quality at least," He hung them up on the display, showing what was seen already but this time the right arm could be seen. The right arm didn't showcase much damage, only a few small fractures. "As you can see, your right arm hasn't suffered as much. Lucky you."
Jack's eyes trailed to his right arm with a raised eyebrow. "Yeah…"
"Still be careful with it, don't want it getting bigger. Also I got you approved for a walker."
"Really!?" That brightened Jack's mood.
"Yeah I got it outside too."
"Thanks!"
"You're welcome," He smiled.
Another tap came to the door. "It's Spam and Vanexa." Said Spam.
"Come in," Zill announced.
"Sorry we're late." Spam said while entering with Vanexa.
"What were you doing?" Jack asked.
"I forgot to lock my locker," Spam answered.
"What about you Vanexa?"
"I went with him before he got distracted again," She looked at the display, "These your new X-rays?"
"Yep! Finally got his other arm," Zill commented.
"Nice, by the way," Spam reached into his backpack, "we got homework!"
"Oh no," Jack slouched.
"It's not much," He set them on his table.
"We'll help ya out," Kayla patted.
The doctor brought in the walker. "I'll leave this here and leave you to your homework."
"Thank you," Jack said, waving him off. He took the pencil. "Ok, let's get this o-" He dropped the pencil and his arm went right back to the remote, "What th-?" Looking at the screen he saw the commercial break was over and with a groan he said: "Once it hits commercial."
"Didn't you already see this movie?" Spam questioned.
"Forgot it."
"But didn't you-"
"Yep, still forgot."
"...Ok."
Night came and although they let them stay past visiting hours, Jack's friends had to leave eventually, leaving the Jackal alone with his Demon arm.
"Man, you suck at math," Damian stated.
"Oh like you're better?" Jack scowled.
"What's 33 times 18 to the power of 5 divided by 4?"
"Uhhhh hold on," Unable to think of the answer, he reached for his phone.
"15,588,936!" Damian said with confidence.
"No way it's that," He put it in the calculator, "...No way!" He said in shock upon seeing the answer.
"Yep!"
"What are you, a math genius?"
"Easiest subject of school!"
"You had a school?"
"Are…" He faced his palm at him as if looking at him perplexed, "Are you serious? You think Hell hath no education system?"
"I…" Jack retracted, thinking he offended Damian, "didnt think…about it."
"Uh huh. Anyways, get up."
"Huh? Why?"
"It's night time, so it means practice time!"
"Practice?"
"Gotta get used to your demonic powers."
"I don't…" He was reclusive about fighting as a demon but remembered what he said about eating his friends' souls. "...I don't like this," He sighed, "but," raising up, he undid the sling on his leg, "I…don't wanna eat my friends."
"That's the spirit!"
"I still don't agree with this," He took off the cast.
"Yeah yeah, take the gown off and put some clothes on."
"My clothes got ripped up in the accident, I can't wear those."
"Then let's get some new ones."
"Huh?"
"This is stealing!" Jack whispered from within the laundry room within the Lower Layer, Damian sorting through shirts.
"Oh no one's gonna notice. Hey, this is a good shirt!"
"Damian! I can't just take someone else's clothing!"
"We'll return it once we're done. Unless you wanna do this in your underwear."
Even though he couldn't be seen, it still sounded ridiculous. "Fine!" He helped sort through clothing.
Eventually they chose a black t-shirt with a red skull on the front and some jean shorts and headed outside to the parking lot.
"Alright, Demon time!" Damian said. Jack looked at him confused, "Turn into a demon," He said changing himself.
"Oh right….how?"
"Do what you did last time, think demonly."
"I'll…give it a try." Jack took a deep breath and closed his eyes. After a few seconds and some humming he changed into his demon self. Looking at the nearby mirror, he examined himself. "I dont think I'll ever get used to this."
"You will. Now let's start with a lifting test!" Damian pointed to a nearby van.
"You can't be serious?"
"I am. Go for it!"
"There's no way I can lift that!"
"Just try it!"
"I c-"
"Try it!"
"Ok ok! Jeez…" Making his way to the vehicle, he stood to the side. "Hmmm." Bending down he took hold of the underside of its rim. "Hnnnng!" He attempted to lift, putting his back into it. Surprisingly to him it was brought up from the ground. "Holy…" Continuing, he managed to raise it above his head, holding it on the underside. "Wow…Im…holding it up," It wasn't easy to hold but it didn't feel like a van, "It's heavy but…not super heavy."
"Throw it!"
"What!?"
"Throw it! It's not the real car so it'll be fine!"
"O-ok." He reeled back, "Hrrrk ragh!" He threw it out the opening in the wall, managing to throw it a few yards before it crashed and skidded on the ground. "Whoa…" Jack was mystified by that action.
"Nice throw! Ok once it comes back give it a good punch with your left!"
"Alright," Stepping back to allow the van space to return to, Jack pulled back his left fist. "HYA!" With a strong punch he managed to knock the car outside again, caving in its back and having it tumble and roll outside. "Wow…" He couldn't help but smile in a childish way.
"Cool huh?" Damian nudged.
Jack blushed and tried to lower his smile, "Uh…yeah it's…pretty…neat."
"Alright now punch with me!"
"Ok!" He said with enthusiasm.
"Excited?"
"N-," He attempted to compose himself, "no."
"You so are!"
"Shut up!" He pulled his right arm back but paused for a moment. "Hold on. Do you…punch with me?"
"Not really. As your right arm I can move freely or restrict you moving me, but I can't really add to your movements if that makes sense. I'm like a chain that can loosen or tighten whenever I wish."
"Oh ok," He focused back onto his task, pulling back and punching with his demon arm. Instead of caving in the backside, he shattered it, blasting it to pieces and sending it much further away. "...Awesome." He said in awe.
"Ok before you start drooling, let's move on to using fire."
"Fire?"
"Yeah, remember that red flame I used when we fought that Croak Hopper?"
Jack's eyes widened. "I can do that too!"
"Duh."
"How?"
"Easy, just conjure the flames, like try to imagine your hand on fire."
"Ok," Raising his left fist, he tried as Damian suggested. He was soon rewarded by the dark red flames engulfing his palm. A huge amount of it that nearly burned his whiskers. "Whoa!" He pushed his hand away and inadvertently shot out a huge stream of it. "Whoa whoa whoa whoa!" The blast of Hell fire made contact with the surrounding vehicles, causing them to explode, the impact blasting Jack back. "Ah!" On his back, the flames continued to exit from his palms, burning the roof of the lot. "Stop stop STOP!" Holding his wrist, he focused on stopping the fire. Slowly the heat died down, the fire toning into a flicker before dissipating. Jack breathed in relief, letting go and lying back.
"Yeah, that's gonna need some practice."
"Ya think?" He said with heavy sarcasm.
"Let's stop there. Your little fire play raised the Layer. Sucks cause I wanted to test your red fur," Damian reverted back to a normal arm, "back to the room."
"Let's return these clothes first," Jack stated, raising up.
"I say keep them."
"No, Damian," He went to the direction of the laundry.
"But they look good on you."
"They're not mine."
"No one's gonna miss them."
"I'm not taking them."
"Killjoy."
"Shut up."
End.
Next chapter: Hunt.
