The Nostalgia

[Frostweaver]

[font=&quot]The Nostalgia[/font]

~Frostweaver

?For my friends who are with me; for all that I believe in; for all that I stand for, and for the one who I care for the most??

Disclaimer: Pokemon belongs to Nintendo and Gamefreak.

<><><>

Where are You?

I existed since any of us, including my other siblings, can remember anything too. We existed before anything else existed, along with our Father. It was not long until You were created, and I was given to You at that very moment. We quickly became the best of friends, and played for endless days together in the garden. Until one day, I heard that bad news that You were to be banished to another world, because You had done the Forbidden?

The tearful goodbyes? You were forced to leave, and I was helpless to do anything? I would not dare to disobey Father?s order. All that I could do is to look over You from afar as the gates closed in on You. I saw You turn around, and looked at me within the crowd? And there You whispered.

?I can never live a life without you. Wait for me! I?ll be back!?

I was deeply touched, and at that moment, I vowed to never leave You too? I will stand by this lonely gate, and everyday I will look down below, waiting for You to reappear before me. Even though we were to live on in two different worlds, I will never break my vow to be Yours?

I asked Lady Wisdom to tell me news about You in the other world, and I was terrified? What have You done to deserve a world of toils and hard work- a world ruled by Death and the Fallens? But what can I do? I am just a helpless girl, and I know nothing, unlike the rest of the family?

My eldest brother Time came along and warned me about You and spoke of You terribly; how You have fell into the hands of the Fallens and could not endure the torment by Death. Yet I ignored him, because I have confidence in You, and that You will never lie to me. My brother looked at me once more, and left to The Flow with a sigh. After he left with his warning message spoken out of care, my sister Reality began to act ?funny? towards me from that point forward. I did not know what she was feeling, but soon after that another one of us was born, and he was named Jealousy, a reckless rebel who was soon also banished out of the garden. Regardless of all of this discouragement and frenzy, I will wait for You and continue to remain confident in You, yet You disappointed me.

As we move along the Flow, You duplicate in numbers, You have also forgotten about me, and have forsaken me. You left me aside, and chased after my banished brother, his fellow minions, and even befriended the Fallens. I grew sick and feeble, using up all of me to weep for Your losses. Had You left me mercilessly, without looking back once?

Brother Time came back soon after, floating on his small white transparent wings, blue antennas resting softly in midair, retaining his eternal youth. He sighed again, ?dear, haven?t I warned You about this already? The Flow knows all, and what I?ve foreseen will not change.? Once more, Time took off almost immediately back into his own vortex to fly through The Flow. I was left all alone, because You are no longer with me.

Never will I lose my hope in You. I know that there must be a small speck of goodness within You! Remember the good times millenniums ago where we played and danced with each other? Where did this happy moment flee? I sat here waiting for it to return, spending all of my time to weep as my tears flowed. Reality came along to visit me, even though I haven?t seen her since? I can?t even remember anymore. She laughed at me, calling me ?a fool? to be obstinate against Father and The Flow. But I will rather call myself? nostalgic.

Come. Return home with me, back to the garden! Fall in my embrace, once more?

<><><>

Chapter 1: White Dessert

The never-ending blizzard raged on as usual; the snow continued to crash to the ground. The tents within this small settlement dug deep into the permafrost in order to stand strong. The ropes were stretched out as tight as they could in order to protect the people inside from the harsh weather. Regardless of the weather, the people inside slept quietly. Everyone who was born there grew adjusted to the cold weather and had adapted to it.

Two men who were in their prime dressed in an entire outfit made of brown fur exited one of the tent and into the wind, and shivered a bit.

?The wind?s sure violent out here t?night, ya?? commented one of the men as he rubbed his hands together. ?If only we don?t have patrol shifts now, we could go back inside to get a good rest, not stranded out here in the cold.? The other guard could say nothing more but to agree. They definitely got ripped off for this job? no way was a salary of four loafs of bread per day enough for this. Even if they couldn?t possibly make four loafs of bread per day as a salesman or a craftsman, this was ridiculous. There were no other jobs in their experience as demanding as being a patrol for a band of Demon Hunters.

?Don?t complain? just store up real good and go back to a decent village and trade away those bread real good, or perhaps, we can buy ourselves a wife or two,? suggested the other man. The first man sighed, and together they walked around the small group of cuddling tents housing a Demon Hunters band, to ensure that the others would be safe should the Devils sweep by in the middle of the night.

?Y?know, honestly is there going to be Demons coming out t?night with the wind this violent? I doubt that? plus we haven?t seen one of those cursed critters for a whole week now!? the first man exclaimed as his comrade snickered at the idea. Perhaps tonight will be an easy rake-in-the-dough with a small chill at most. The second man proceeded on with the usual routine of going to the weapon shack, but then his comrade held his arm can called it unnecessary? That made sense. Who wanted to carry a heavy clumsy weapon for self-defense when there was no need for one? No one could endure the ice storm that raged tonight should they leave their shelter, humans and Demons alike.

Unlucky for them, however, as far in the distant snowfield lay a small purplish creature, digging through the thick layers of snow on the floor using its two bucked teeth on this cold winter night, probably searching for buried food. The men were wide-eyed at the sight, and one of them could not resist but gasped. The tiny creature twitched its highly sensitive large ears, and fixed its dark red eyes on the two guards.

?It?s? it?s a Demon!? screamed one of the guards, and started to turn back at once towards the camp to call for reinforcement. His comrade tried to run as well, but the petit Demon?s gaze liquefied his feet, and he stumbled on to the snow-covered ground. The poor fellow turned back and saw the petit Demon charging towards him already; deadly demonic horn aiming right at his leg. He cried out to his comrade who had long decided to run with or without him. The petit Demon cried out, and rammed its poisonous horn on its head into the man?s leg.

The victim cried, and for one last time he desperately looked up at the silhouette of a man?s shadow fleeing for his life without another thought in his mind. He couldn?t possibly escape by himself, as the Demonic venom took over his leg already? He fearfully looked back, and found the Demon standing on his leg that was numbed by the poison, looking down at him. Its horn glistened with a blue aura; as the snow continued to mercilessly rain down from the sky.

?No!?

The man desperately tried to swipe his hand at the Demon, even though this would be challenging the poison point coated on the Demon?s spine. Yet he never got a chance to even attempt this hopeless act of self-defense.

It was just too cold for him.

<><><>

The noise created from the news that a Demon was discovered in a nearby area woke up Seinim from his sleep and found that the rest of the teens in the tent were all gone already. He quickly dressed himself for the cold night, and exited the tent as fast as he could. To his dismay, his peers were all prepared to march out for the upcoming mission already, armed and all of them were in their position. The commander looked at him displeasingly. Before Seinim could even talk, his teacher scolded at him.

?Just because you?re part of the Youth Group and not the official battling unit, that does not mean that you are not to follow the orders of the Demon Hunter?s Band! Demons are suppressing their reign upon our lands, and we must stand firm with honor and justice against these fowl creatures! Now, go get yourself armed immediately and catch up with us!? With that being said, the commander instructed the rest of the small brigade. ? Listen up! Today you?ll be participating and watching the real battle. We won?t be responsible for guarding the Band?s settlement anymore, as the Defensive Unit will resume taking that role. We must arm you with true battling experiences against these merciless beasts! Onward!? Under the commander?s lead, the dozen youth followed him and the rest of the Demon Hunters to the hunt.

Seinim sighed, as the storm subsided and snow fluttered down peacefully, landing on his blue light armory set for the Youth Group. He quickly ran towards the weapon shack, his same colored mail jangling, to proceed to grab a long metallic staff designated for fifteen year olds like him. As he entered the shack to pick up his staff, Seinim fixed his dark eyes on the weapons for the rest of the Band. There were all kinds of wonders? flashing swords, fine-tuned spears, deadly flails and all. Someone who was slightly knowledgeable would be at awe at this entire arsenal, but so what? Must he follow this path just because he was born inside a Demon Hunter?s Band?

?C?mon, what are you hesitating about? We outta get going!? The female voice belonging to Peri shocked Seinim as he turned around to see his childhood friend all prepared to set out as well; her short cutlass attached to her belt at her waist. Her clear brown eyes stared right at Seinim?s respective black, cloudy eyes, hustling him to move out of his silly trance. As if charmed by a spell, Seinim quickly trailed behind.

<><><>

The band of Demon Hunters arrived at sight of the spotting of the petit Demon. The unfortunate guard lay in the snow, covered by a thin layer of snow already, unmoving. The skin on his entire body was a chilling white; his death expression filled with grief, but smiling.

?Obviously, the work of a Demon placing an ice curse on the fellow,? observed Reedan, as his Demon Hunter Band (including the Youth Group) stood sternly behind him, unmoving, waiting or further orders. Seinim had always felt uneasy around the Band?s leader. Those black boots slowly drudging through the snow had always created this unnerving sound for Seinim, and the stern expression on Reedan?s face did not lighten the mood. It was hard to believe that this is the body of someone only in his mid thirties, instead of a fifty-year-old man. To verify, Reedan lightly kicked the frozen body, but the body didn?t even roll over as it was frozen by unnatural powers, glued to the earth. No further proof necessary- the work of a Demon!

Putting up his gloved hand in the air, and with a swipe of his hand, Reedan and his Band continued to move on forward, but sadly a semi-moron decided to speak up.

?Should we not carry his body back to the camp and give him a burial??

Everyone stopped immediately and looked at the fellow who spoke up. Simultaneously a whole swarm of the beasts in blue armor leered at the moron. They whispered in one another?s ears, most likely talking ill of that guy. Even Peri snickered in the back. Seinim was just too horrified, worrying if one day he would have to face something so terrifying and equally embarrassing.

?There is no such need to waste our time. If he is not fit enough to survive, then this serves him right. Only those who are powerful enough can live, and he is not one of them. Let?s move!?

Those were the words of wisdom and it had enlightened too many. All the others nodded in agreement (including Peri), and quickly moved along following their leader on the road to a glorious battle against the evil Demons. Yet Seinim was left behind. He stared down at the body forsaken in the snow, whose eerie smile seemed to have just widened.

[font=&quot]<><><> [/font]

 

[Fangking Omega]

Oh, VERY good! Quite the strong, developed writing style that has real personality. A little complaint; the VERY last two words, "at him", just doesn't carry enough impact to end this chapter in a way that justifies the rest of it. "... whose eerie smile seemed to have just widened (menacingly/other nice, suitable adverb)" might close it with a bit more of a bang. Just a suggestion of course.

Great work! I can't wait to read more.

 

[Lily]

The one thing I love- title. Nostalgia. Haha. Now where have I heard that before? ;D

I liked the first part the best. Thoughtful, and I somewhat was given the impression of a prologue. Especially the last few lines, very touching. Probably confused me from the rest of the story, or the actual chapter...

Now, I WAS beginning to like Peri, but she snickered amongst them as well! Ah, the pity. Probably Seinim is the only sensible one there.

I love, love, love, love, love, love your writing style. Seinim's thoughts are well portrayed, but just your writing style shows a lot through you I guess. My apologies if I'm ranting again about nothing in particular. >>;

Aside from the one pointed above (at him), this one: "He quickly dressed himself for the cold night, and exited the tent as quickly as he could." Try hastily or rapidly, 'cuz I don't suppose two quickly's work together. 'Exited' doesn't give the sense of urgency as well. Bitter night would be better than cold, since cold has a vast range and all. :O?

Aside from the small nitpicky-ness, I like it a lot. Hope you continue it sooner! ^~

 

[Strawberry Delcatty]

This fic is turning out to be pretty good. I have a hard time to see what it has to do with Pokemon (unless you're saving them for later), but other than that, I like it. :)

 

[Frostweaver]

This fic is turning out to be pretty good. I have a hard time to see what it has to do with Pokemon (unless you're saving them for later), but other than that, I like it. :)

Time to reread. 2 Pokemon appeared already ;p

*is typing up chapter 2* Hmm... seems like I did a terrible pacing for chapter 1. Now chapter 2 is so unusually long in comparison that it makes chapter 1 look terrible in length =/ Stupid Frosty trying to rush out his production...

 

[Frostweaver]

The Nostalgia

~Frostweaver

Disclaimer: Pokemon belongs to Nintendo and Gamefreak.

<><><>

You foolish child? You still believe in those simple words spoken to you?
Even your own sister, Reality, agreed with me, and what else do you have against me now? You spend and waste all of your time, still sitting beside the wretched gate to wait. Learn to accept facts already, girl, and admit your defeat against me.

Who is He chasing after now? Who is He dancing and enjoying His life with? Who does He treasure the most?

Me, and not You?

Give up and accept what Reality said as the truth, little girl. Go home, back to play by yourself at your Father?s feet to stay out of my way. This game is too tough for you.

You will never win.

<><><>

Chapter 2: Demon Hunters



The never-ending blizzard raged on, and the Demon Hunter Band finally reached a suspicious little cavern in this pile of ice and rocks. This was probably the Demon?s lair? Reedan signaled a stop, and at the puppeteer?s commands, the band ceased all signs of movement. The band?s leader surveyed the area, and decided that it would be best to lure the Demons out instead of fighting them within the cavern. Who knew what monstrosity waited down in the Demon?s lair, and who would want to take a step into hell so soon?

How would they force out the Demons though? How many of them would there be? Was it going to be six, or six dozens? And the worst that dreaded Seinim the most was just how to defeat what could be a whole herd of Demons? One small babyish one took the life of one of them already. How could he possibly survive against the leader of the Demons? To this thought, Seinim could do nothing but shuddered like everyone else, and not because of the cold.

It was later decided that they would take a short break here until the leaders of the band can figure out a way to lure the Demons out of the lair. Many people took this time to take care of their weapons, as they would be the only reliable objects for their life very soon. Swords were sharpened on rocks, and staffs were being cleaned. Some also took the time to do some warm up in preparation for the upcoming battle against the evil beasts. Seinim and Peri sat on a small rock nearby after brushing off all the snow covering it as they waited for further commands.

?You think we?ll win?? asked the fourteen-year old boy as he looked up at Peri who was a year older. Peri continued to stare out at the entrance to the Demons? lair; delicate hands firmly resting on her blue dress slitted on the side for easier movements, also part of the standard uniform for a female warrior of the Band. Peri shrugged her shoulders, implying that she didn?t know the answer.

?? You think you?ll win?? asked Seinim again. This time, Peri stood up on the rock, looking over the rest of the Youth Group who was resting around nearby.

?Guaranteed.?

<><><>

The Band?s attention was assembled again, as they lined up back in their position, preparing for battle once the Demons come out of their hiding place. Once that the Band was all prepared, a few Youth Group members held out a few stick as Reedan took out a precious and rare artifact. Seinim could see the small artifact?s rectangular shape, and it fascinated him. What was this artifact suppose to do, just barely bigger than Seinim?s thumb? Reedan?s gloved hand gave a small flick at what seemed to be a trigger at one end of the small rectangular box, and immediately a small flame was born. Seinim fixed his eyes on the strange artifact like everyone else. How he wished to be the torchbearers as they could see the artifact up close!

?Quickly and light the torches up. Its magical energies are limited.? Commanded Reedan as the torchbearers woke up from their trance, and threw the lit up torches into the cave. They were going to force the creatures out with its smoke.

?So that?s what a ?Mystic Flare? looks like? I?ve always wanted one of those,? mumbled Peri under her breathe quietly, and only Seinim could hear the quiet whisper. The innocent boy blinked at her, confused at what she was saying. Peri caught a glimpse of his perplexed look, and proceeded onward.

? ?Mystic Flare? is one of those artifacts from the Precedents. With a click on the device, a small fire will be lit up, burning on magical powers some sort of a fuel. Brave explorers who dared to enter the realm of the Precedents manage to dig up a few of these rare artifacts at times?? explained Peri knowledgably. Seinim was greatly surprised as his eyes grew in size. How did Reedan get a hold on one of the rare artifacts of the Precedents?

?The Precedents? Our ancestors? their world sounds so wonderful with so many magical devices. I remember our teacher once told me of a rumor how the Precedents got magical silver orbs that if you turn them a certain way, it will control the coolness of water. Those ?Water Orbs? would be so nice to have here in White Dessert. Imagine, having hot water all year long?? daydreamed Seinim as he thought about the wonderful lifestyle of the Precedents. They lived in towers that reached the heavens, with magical powers beyond his imagination.

?But they were wiped out by these fowl Demons.? Peri just had to remind him of this ancient horror.

<><><>

A thunderous roar came out from the cave, and the sound of a stampede could be heard. The Demon Hunters braced themselves for an upcoming assault. From the hellhole, a dozen or so petit Demons rushed out of the cave; the same dark pinkish type with a small poisonous horn that murdered the guard earlier in the night. However, they did not charge immediately to the Demon Hunters? surprises, but instead lining up in some sort of a formation of their own. Reedan was slightly shocked at the intelligence of these Demons. He had always considered them to be mindless savages, but it seemed like he was just slightly wrong. He should have known? unless the Demons were equally cunning and intelligent, how else could they wipe out the Precedents? However, he would outsmart the Demons regardless of how intelligent these Demons could be.

More Demons rushed out of the cave. A larger type of Demons came out and positioned themselves in front of the smaller ones, as if protecting them. Although they were of a similar body build and color, these ones got a much larger, sharper horn pointed directly at the Demon Hunters. These ones were much bigger, and much more fierce looking; not like tiny babies but experienced warriors. The Youth Group of the Demon Hunters was positioned in the back, and even with this arrangement Seinim was shaking in fear by the horned Demon warriors. Peri just seemed to be more excited than before.

As if these new forces were not enough to secure the entrance to hell, one final Demon stepped out of the rock cavern into the snow battlefield. Step by step, the Demon dragged its darkish purple, scaled heavy body up to the most front part of the Demons? battle formation. It stood on two feet unlike all the others on all fours. Its powerful tail whipped the snowy plain once, and created a dent in the earth, demonstrating its almighty power to the Demon Hunters in order to strike fear into their hearts (which succeeded with unbelievable outstanding effect on Seinim.) It stretched its two arms wide into the air, as its powerful horn on its forehead glowed once. In response, the rest of the Demons roared in unison. No doubt that this was the Demon King. Reedan scanned the Demonic forces, and decided that their best chance of winning was to abuse the fact that the Demons were outnumbered, and he would have to destroy the leader first- the Demon King.

Lifting his prized partisan and waved it directly at the Demon King, the Band understood their leader?s command, and gave a battle roar in return as well. Not showing any fear from the intimidation, the Demon King pointed his sharp poisonous horn at Reedan, and stomped the ground once. It seemed like the Demons are taking a similar strategy as well. Reedan could not deny the fact that he must give some credit to the Demons about their intelligence, but he knew deep inside that he would come out victorious.

The Demon King gathered a brownish aura around his scale-armored body, and stomp the ground with all his might. At his will, the earth split itself into two halves, and a few Demon Hunters were swallowed up by the earth immediately, crushed to a quick painful death as the fissure closed itself soon after. The demonic power broke down the will of some Demon Hunters (but Seinim?s was broken before the battle began,) but the humans disregarded it and charged against their foes. Swords soon locked in combat with poisonous horns, and staffs parrying the body blows from the savage Demons.

The dance of death had begun.

<><><>

As the Demon Hunters engaged in battle with the Demons, Seinim did what he excelled at best, and hid behind a rock to just watch the battle from afar. It was just disgusting to see human blood being spilled on to the white snow, and strange (most likely unholy) liquid oozed out of the Demons? bodies, defiling the white snow to a mix of red and purple.

Seinim hoped that he would never have to slay a Demon like so. It was just sickening.

Yet life never worked out for Seinim in his favor too much, as a few meters away from him stood one of the middle sized Demons, glaring at him angrily. It let out a battle roar, announcing to him that a death match would soon begin. The Demon dug its short legs into the snow, bracing itself, waiting for Seinim to make the first move, and counterattack afterwards. Seinim held both ends of his staff in his two hands, and leaned back too into a defensive stance, also on the defensive. The two eyed each other, waiting for the opponent to strike first.

Seeing how the boy wasn?t going to attack first, the Demons taunted him by growling at him. It demonstrated a few thrusting motion with its horns to tell the boy to attack, but Seinim just backed up even more. Now that the distance between them grew farther apart, the Demon decided to take the initiative and launch a far distance attack at Seinim. Its horn charged up demonic energy until it glows at a light blue color, ready to launch an Ice Beam that would freeze anything it hit. Even at this moment however, Seinim remained in his passive battling style and continued to withdraw carefully. The Demon seemed to be shocked for a moment as it blinked at him.

And now it was Seinim?s turn to be surprised, as the Demon discharged the energy without launching the attack before heading off to battle the others. Seinim relaxed as the Demon dashed off away from him, and just looked out into the endless White Dessert.

Wonder why the Demon didn?t attack him?

<><><>

In another part of the battlefield, it was Reedan along with a few other Demon Hunters against the Demon King himself. The King swung his heavy tail along with his two forearms around to try to hit Reedan?s hunters, but they would either dodge it or parry the attack with their shields and swords. Sensing how normal physical attacks were not working very well, the King decided to tap into its secret power once more.

Reedan noticed how the King suddenly stopped battling the other Hunters but decided to endure the attacks using its scaled armor. A brown colored aura surrounded the King?s body again.

?Out! Out!? screamed Reedan as his men leaped to the side before another fissure hungrily opened up from the ground. The men quickly surrounded the King again and kept hacking their swords on the King?s armor. Reedan also joined the battle once more to assist the others in destroying the wretched Demons. The King gave out a growl in order to resist the damages done by the Hunters. The other Demons rushed forward to help, but the reinforcements were blocked away by the overwhelming amount of Hunters in comparison to the Demons.

The Demon King refused to give in, and its gigantic tail glowed into a white color before whipping it back and forth, smashing two Hunters in the rips. The two terrible cracking sound was terribly loud before two more dead bodies lie on the snow. Regardless, the Hunters continued to surround the King, showing no fear or sympathy due to the two dead allies. Reedan rushed forward once more, and thrust his partisan at a weak point in the thick armor. The Demon roared in pain before its horns quickly flashing in bright orange, and launched a devastating destructive beam of energy at Reedan to take the Demon Hunters? leader down along with himself.

The men standing in front of Reedan were disintegrated into nothing immediately, and lucky for Reedan that these men weakened the destructive attack. Yet the demonic beam attack was still enough to blast Reedan back into the far end of the battlefield, rolling on the floor helplessly. The King soon collapsed on to the floor too, forearms holding him up as he panted to try to regain his energy.

Another sound of a stampede could be heard deep inside the cave, as a group of similar looking Demons rushed out to aide the battle, only that these reinforcements were blue in color, generally bigger in size as well except that their horns are much smaller as well, almost like a pin. They hissed dangerously as they warned the Hunters to retreat.

A Demon that was similar looking to the Demon King appeared. With another scale armored body but a much smaller horn as well just like all the other bluish Demons, it roared once as it stood in front of the injured Demon King. It seemed to be the Queen of the Demons, now fighting in place of her lord.

With he himself heavily damaged from the final beam attack, Reedan decided that it would be foolish to continue the battle with the Queen?s new reinforcements. He whistled once, and the Demon Hunter Band would withdraw.

<><><>

Seinim was more than glad when he heard Reedan?s whistle to retreat. Every Hunter fled for their lives, running towards the base?s direction hoping that they would not be chased down and be killed by the Demons. Seinim ran too and was at the front of the crowd. He looked back, and didn?t notice any Demons giving chase, and in the far corners of his eyes, he saw the Queen holding the injured Demon King up to help him retreat slowly into the cavern again. The younger ones fully retreated into the cave already, along with carrying some of their injured comrades back to the cave.

And furthermore he saw a whole swarm of blue locusts trampling on top of each other in order run forward; some were even killed by their kin.

Yet regardless of where he looked, Seinim just couldn?t see Peri and her flow of shoulder length black hair anywhere. Could it be that? that Peri was now one of the corpses lying back there in the snow? He couldn?t resist but to start running back against the flow of the locust swarm in order to find her.

Further away, he saw a young lady in a blue dress also running in the opposite direction of the Demon Hunters, with a sword that she picked up from one of the dead bodies firmly in her hand.

?Peri! Run now! Run!? shouted Seinim as he waved his hands around to try to grab Peri?s attention, yet it failed soon enough. Peri continued to run towards the Demons.

?I couldn?t miss this chance!? she screamed as she jumped up and threw the sword expertly with careful aim at the injured Demon King like a dart. Not expecting a sneak attack, the King?s lowered defense gave in and the King gave a frightening cry as it collapsed on to the floor; the sword stuck on his back. Seeing her great success, Peri continued to give pursuit now using her own cutlass to try to score the finishing touch. She jumped with her cutlass reaching as far as she could to deliver the final blow on the injured King.

Seinim gasped in horror as he tried to reach Peri to drag him back, yet the others around him were trying to drag him back to the Band?s camp, saying ?she?s beyond help just run for your own lives.? He ignored it all, and tried his best to reach Peri?s side.

The Queen rushed forward and slammed into Peri against her sharp cutlass with her side, forcing Peri?s assault back regardless of how dangerous it was to run into her weapon like so. The Queen delivered a quick consecutive barrage of punches against Peri until she dropped her weapon in pain. Seinim could do nothing but kept trying to run to the scene. But even if he did so, deep down he felt that he would be helpless against the Demon Queen anyway. Yet, there was this? ?Something.? Something inside him told him that this was the right thing to do, and he must reach Peri to the best of his ability.

While Peri was still recovering from the earlier blows and trying to keep herself standing on her feet, the Queen focused her energy, and then with a roar as her short hand turned white, and punched Peri right in the chest again. Peri was blew back on to the snow, and after coughing out a few spat of saliva mixed with blood, lost her consciousness.

?Peri!? screamed Seinim as he rushed to her, kneeling near the fainted girl. He shook her holding her shoulders, and Peri just choked even more. Her dark blue outer uniform covered her black shirt underneath from her own blood, which landed on her left shoulder and her chest. Some parts of the outer jacket was torn apart too from the earlier blows from the Demon Queen and sliding across the surface for a short distance after the punch attack. Seinim held on his staff tightly, standing protectively in front of the girl.

Instead of attacking which would be enough to win the mismatch, the queen called out a few other bluish petit demons from the cave. They hissed at him as their whiskered flickered slightly, buck teeth visible, and together with the Queen the five of them surrounded Seinim. The boy panicked, as he was being outnumbered and outmatched in skill as well. He couldn?t call for help either as the rest of the Band retreated already. He looked down at the girl, whose expressions had turned even paler than before, yet even in this time there was a scent of strange beauty about her look. Seinim had to remain strong!

As the four smaller demons slowly approach the two youths closer and closer, Seinim was forced to strike as he swung his staff out using his right hand at two of the demons. To his dismay, they got on their hind legs and leaped up into the air to evade the attack. Seinim tried to whip his staff for a second blow, but he felt something forcing itself into his leg through the leather boots. Immediately, his leg felt numb, paralyzed, and the poor boy was forced to remain an awkward balance using his staff and only one leg. Seinim looked back to see one of the small Demons ramming the poison pin deep into his veins. He shooed the Demon off with a weak punch, and Seinim?s vision started to blur. He tried to keep his focus on the powerful Demon Queen who was still being idle, and on Peri on the floor. Regardless of how hard he tried, he was starting to see fake images and delusions. The deadly venom circulated through his system quickly. His other limbs gave in soon enough, and he collapsed to the floor along with Peri.
The Demon Queen took a few slow steps and stood in front of the boy who was now helpless from the Poison Sting. She let out a low growl, as he struggled to remain conscious?

?Must? stay up? Peri??
His eyes felt heavy. His body screamed at him that it needed to rest, and it wanted a good sleep. His eyelids were trying to shut themselves against his own will, as Seinim now battled against himself. The five Demons around him gave out a low growl in a similar fashion using a certain rhythm, and now Seinim?s ears grew dead as well.

Seinim gathered his strength out of frustration to clutch his fist, holding on to the snow firmly. He felt so frustrated and angry? why was he so useless and helpless, that he couldn?t even lead Peri to safety?
?Must stay up! Must stay up!? he grunted; yet he couldn?t hear it anymore. Soon enough, he lost his last vision as his sight turned black.

And there, along with Peri surrounded by the evil Demons, Seinim couldn?t withstand the torture anymore, and collapsed.

<><><>