Detarru Island

by Mickey Deymon

  She looked behind his shoulder and saw a demon.

  “What is that?!” Clara shouted while pointing at Lola. Erick noticed Christine was heading for a gun.

  “Wait! Hold on. It’s alright. She’s with me,” he said quickly before his grandmother shot her.

  “What is this demon doing here, Erick?” Christine asked.

  “She’s helping me.”

  “Helping you? You trust this demon?”

  “I do. She’s here because she wants the same thing we do. To defeat Satu,” was his reply. Everyone looked at each other.

  “It’s true,” Lola confirmed. “I’ve joined forces with Ethasus today, not because I want to, but because I have to. The Order cannot be destroyed.”

  Christine wasn’t buying it, and the rest of the crew didn’t feel comfortable with her joining the team either.

  “Look. This is not about The Order anymore. This is about something far worse than that. Satu wants to become a devil. He wants all the power in the world and right now he’s got the upper hand because—I… It… It’s my fault.”

  “What happened, Erick?” Clara asked.

  “The Others were captured,” he mumbled. Everyone couldn’t believe the news.

  “How did this happen?” Christine asked.

  “They tried to rescue me, but Pops… he…”

  “Where’s Harris?”

  Erick was silent. He didn’t know how to tell them.

  “He’s—”

  “It was my idea,” Lola finished. “I ambushed The Others because I had a plan. I asked Ethasus to join me, but everything got out of hand once Satu had control over them. He ordered one of them to kill his grandfather.” Everyone stood quiet.

  “That can’t be.” Christine broke the silence, not believing. Clara didn’t buy it either. They were more confused than sad.

  “It’s true. He died in my arms. The Others were controlled by The Book of Mythos,” Erick said with his voice cracking.

  “If The Others are being controlled by black magic, then that means we can reverse the spell and get them back,” Christine advised. Clara also agreed.

  When Erick heard that, his face changed. It seemed as if not all was lost. Erick felt relieved. There was still hope to win this battle and get his friends back.

  “Transformation won’t work without Erick,” Clara informed.

  “Exactly!” Christine exclaimed. They all turned to Erick at the same time. Erick had no idea what they were talking about. He found it really strange that Christine and Clara weren’t mourning for Harris. They ignored the fact he was gone and went back to business. He thought that’s how dedicated his guardians were.

  “Craig? What’s the status?” Christine asked.

  “Our army is in position,” Craig informed them while listening to a radio transmission with his headphones on. “The Satunians started attacking our front liners. They are coming at them by numbers, and…” he paused for a second.

  “—Oh no!”

  “What’s wrong? What’s happening?” she asked.

  “They have demons.”

  “What?!” Erick uttered. He glanced at Lola. Lola wasn’t aware of that either.

  “You said your demons weren’t going to attack my people,” Erick questioned.

  “My demons are not attacking your people,” she reassured. She was very much confused as well.

  “Then who is?” Erick shouted.

  Lola thought about it for a second. She didn’t have an answer.

  “Do you think Rukus knows about us?” he asked, pacing back and forth.

  “It’s possible, but I doubt he has something to do with this.”

  “It has to be him,” Erick said, a bit anxious. “You have to do something, Lola.”

  “I’ll see what I can do,” Lola said, and ran out the nearest exit and flew off.

  Erick was idle for a minute. He had a lot on his mind. He knew the war had started. He knew this was the beginning of what could be the end. He knew he had to gather all his guardians and fight with everything he had. If his grandmother was right about The Book of Mythos, then he might have a chance. If not, he would have to seek help from Orcoptu. But that would only mean selling his soul.

  He turned slowly to his guardians.

  “It is time,” he asserted. Then he turned to Nathan and Rebecca. "You started this,” Erick addressed them with a serious tone of voice. “Now it’s time for you to fix it.” They were all tensed. He turned to everyone and spoke again. “You will all join me today as guardians and fight with me until the end.”

  Nathan and Rebecca were shocked that Erick would even choose them as his guardians to begin with.

  “Our priority right now is to get The Book of Mythos. Without The Others, we don’t stand a chance.” He looked back at Rebecca. “I need you to get the book for me.”

  She didn’t argue. She had no other choice. She knew what she did. All of this happened because of her personal vendetta against the guardians. But now she was a guardian herself and she had a chance to fix things. It was her responsibility.

  She walked up to a table that was filled with ammunition and all types of weaponry and grabbed a 9mm and a few magazines. She locked and loaded then looked at Erick as a sign she was ready.

  “Where is Satu?” Rebecca asked, eager to know.

  She and Satu had a score to settle. This was not about helping him conquer the world anymore. This was about making him pay for what he did. She put her life on the line for him, and she believed in his cause. All for nothing. The many years she spent trying to get him out of Inferno got her wanting to kick him back into the hell he came from.

  “I need you to go with her,” Erick said, looking at Nathan.

  He nodded.

  Erick told them about the museum, and where he last saw the book. As they were ready to leave, Erick called out to them one last time.

  “Guys?” They both turned to him. “I understand we need The Others back, but you are my guardians now and your lives are as important to me. So don’t go Rambo out there and stay safe, alright? If things get out of hand, just forget about the book, and join the rest of us here, okay?” Nathan and Rebecca were happy to know that The Chosen One didn’t hate them for what they did. He had given them a second chance to make things right. They weren’t going to screw this one up again. They both left the arena in search of the book.

  “What should we do now, Erick?” Craig asked.

  Erick turned to him.

  “We’re going to join my army and finish this.”

  Satunians vs New York

  The Satunians and the Detarrunian army were battling each other to the death. The Detarrunians had the upper hand at first. They used all their militia and weapons against the Satunians.

  Until the demons arrived.

  These demons were different. They weren’t like the cyclops. They were bigger, and more powerful. They destroyed their tanks and slaughtered many by numbers. They ripped the Detarrunians’ bodies apart, slit their throats with their nails and chewed off their heads with their humongous mouths. There was a lot of bloodshed in Downtown Manhattan.

  It was a horrifying sight.

  The more people they massacred, the more the Satunians cheered. They were wicked, and they were winning this war.

  When Erick first got to the battlefield and witnessed such things for himself, it simply pained him so much. He didn’t expect to see such cruelty and violence against his people. He had to witness many amputees slithering away from the carnage, legs and hands scattered around the streets and so many people dying in the most horrifying ways, right before his eyes.

  What pained him most was that he couldn’t do anything about it. Erick’s rage for Satu grew stronger by the minute. He swore he was going to make him pay for this.

  None of his gua
rdians expected to see this carnage either. They were all hiding near a building close by. From there, they were able observe what was happening in the battlefield first hand.

  Erick had the impulse to run and join his army, but Clara held him back, shaking her head lightly.

  “We must wait until we have the book,” she reminded him calmly.

  “I hope they get to the book before it’s too late,” Christine said.

  “What happens after we get the book?” Craig asked.

  “We kill Satu and his entire army,” Erick replied, enraged. He was pacing back and forth. Everyone noted that he was not in the mood, and he surely wasn’t the same Erick they used to know.

  This Erick had changed. The entire world was counting on him, which was a serious responsibility for a teenager. He seemed more and more agitated.

  They didn’t blame him for being so angry either. Anyone else would have given up a long time ago, or gone mental. All this time he had done an amazing job handling every situation accordingly, but just how much could he take? He was only human, and he was only 16.

  There is only so much one can take before they break.

  The Metropolitan Museum of Arts

  “This is the room Erick was talking about,” Rebecca whispered. She and Nathan managed to sneak inside the museum unnoticed.

  They approached a door in the middle of a hallway.

  “Are you sure this is the one?” Nathan asked. His heart was beating fast and he knew that Satu could be anywhere in these rooms. He also knew what he was capable of. The odds of running into him were 99% out of 100%. Just the thought of that made him tremble in fear.

  “Come on,” Rebecca said. She opened the door just enough to peek inside. The room was empty. No Satunians or demons. Together, they stepped in the room.

  The room was big just as Erick described it, with a dome in the ceiling. They both searched the place, but there was no sign of the book.

  “Satu must have it,” Nathan said. “Definitely not gonna leave it out of his sight either.”

  “We can’t go back without it,” she insisted.

  They heard voices coming from the room next door. They stood quiet and got closer to the walls, and listened carefully.

  ”You are killing the humans!”

  “Yes... Yes... For power...”

  “Those are not my demons.”

  Nathan and Rebecca recognized those voices. It was Satu and Lola. What they heard was unexpected. Things were escalating into a different level.

  “We really need to find that book, Nathan!” Rebecca said desperately.

  “Looking for this?” came a voice from behind them.

  They turned startled, and saw Oliver the messenger holding the book in his hands. He stared awkwardly at them.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked.

  “We are here for the book, and I’m not afraid to use this,” Rebecca warned, pointing her gun at Oliver.

  He didn’t flinch. Instead, he turned his back to them.

  “You really think that’s going to help you?” he asked roguishly.

  “I’ll take my chances, now give us the book,” she ordered.

  “You humans never learn.” He turned back to face them, jumped up in the air and transformed into a giant half human and half bat creature. He hovered in the air with his big bat wings, and holding on to the book, taunted them.

  “Come and get it, if you can.” He snickered.

  Rebecca knew that if she used her gun, it would alert Satu and his army. They couldn’t risk doing that. Nathan scanned the room for something to use against Oliver. Rebecca did too. Desperately, they both found something.

  Oliver came at them flying and they both dodged out of the way. Nathan used a chair and threw it at him, but missed. Oliver chased him around the room.

  Rebecca quickly used an old sword that was on display on the wall and swung the thing at Oliver. He was so focused on Nathan, he didn’t realize she had cut off his left wing.

  Oliver dropped the book and tended his wounded wing. Rebecca tried to strike again but he grabbed her arm, and squeezed her hand, hard. She let go of the sword from the pain. She thought she might lose that hand for sure.

  “Quick, Nathan! Get the book!” Rebecca shouted frantically.

  It was like a slow motion movie.

  It was perfect timing for Nathan. He jumped across the room where Oliver had dropped the book, fell on his stomach, reached out, grabbed it and rolled out of the way. Oliver saw he had the book now, so he let go of Rebecca’s hand and turned to him.

  Huge mistake.

  “Psssst.”

  Oliver turned back to her. Little did he know that she was ready for him. All he saw was the cylinder from the tip of her gun, before she pulled the trigger and shot him square in the head.

  He dropped dead instantly. That alerted the Satunians in the building.

  “Let’s get out of here, hurry!” Nathan shouted. When they opened the door to leave the room, they came face to face with another demon.

  “Lola?” Nathan exclaimed, not expecting to see her there.

  She pushed them back into the room, grabbed them both and flew them out through the glass ceiling.

  Chapter 19

  The Pact

  “This is getting out of hand. I can’t just hide back here and watch!” I yelled.

  Rebecca and Nathan weren't back with the book yet and my army was being slaughtered by the minute.

  “We need to be patient, Erick,” Dad said.

  “I need to help my people, Dad,” I disputed. “They can’t fight this war alone.”

  “We’ve been spotted!” my grandmother screamed, as she pointed at a giant demon heading our way.

  “Run! Get out of here!” I screamed.

  “We are not leaving you,” Mom said.

  “I’ve already lost one guardian and I’m not losing another, so get out of here now. It’s an order,” I commanded. I wasn’t playing around and I was totally serious. She didn’t expect that out of me either, but she got the point. She knew we couldn’t jeopardize our mission.

  “You heard him, let’s go,” she instructed the rest of the team. They all ran the opposite direction towards a nearby building.

  I waited for this giant to get closer. This one didn’t have any wings, horns, or one eye like Lola’s cyclops. This was a different type of demon. It had long arms and legs, skull-like features, and was very skinny. He had long nails and long sharp teeth. It looked more like Hollows. His body looked burnt, sort of how human bodies look after a 3rd degree burn. It was really horrific. His eyes weren’t human and they stared at me abnormally.

  “Alright, ugly, what’s your weakness?” I asked the thing. Cyclops had a weakness and it was the eyes. What about this one?

  I saw something move from the corner of my right eye. It was another one of those things. As I moved back, another jumped off the roof of a nearby building and landed a few feet behind me.

  Crap! I was surrounded. This is not what I had in mind.

  The first demon growled at me and ran towards me. I rolled out of the way, and heard the one behind me coming. I turned quickly and kicked him on the jaw. He howled loudly. The other two blocked my way out, so I ran the other direction, straight into the battlefield, where it was swarming with more of these ugly things.

  I kept running, thinking I would probably lose them through the crowd.

  That’s what I thought.

  Somehow, as I ran through the crowd of Satunians and Detarrunians, I attracted everyone’s attention. What the heck were they looking at?

  The other three demons were gaining on me. I tried to speed up, but accidentally tripped on a dead body and fell to the ground, on my stomach. That was actually the worst thing that could’ve happened.

  The first demon ju
mped on my back, then the other two tried to attack me as well. All I could do was use my arms as shield. Fortunately for me, a group of military men started firing at the demons with G36s and MK46 machine guns.

  They got them off my back.

  Other demons and Satunians were heading towards me now.

  The soldiers helped me up and tactically covered me from danger while they fired their guns. Together, we made it to the center of the battlefield where the Satunians and demons had my army surrounded.

  “Make way, make way!” one of the soldiers yelled. He was the lieutenant in command of his team.

  The demons started attacking our circle and the Satunians were shooting at us too. One of the soldiers who rescued me was shot in the shoulder. He landed on his back, hurt.

  “Justin?” The lieutenant yelled. He came and helped him up as he kept shooting.

  We couldn’t hold them back any longer.

  A demon jumped high up in the air and landed on top of me inside of our circle. I tried to protect myself. He bit my arm and cut me in the stomach with his claws. I thought he had ripped right through my intestines; thankfully, he didn’t, but it still hurt so much. The other soldiers started shooting at it, but it kept biting my arm and he refused to die. I was in pretty bad shape already and I couldn’t take the pain.

  The lieutenant came running, pulled out a knife and slit the demon’s throat, and got him off me.

  “Don’t worry, kid, we’ve got your back.”

  Another demon unexpectedly attacked him from behind, and ripped off his right hand.

  It was too much for me to bear.

  I was not going to let him die like this. He had saved my life twice, and it was time for me to return the favor. I had to make a decision for the sake of my people and the whole world.

  I made up my mind and called out his name.

  “ORCOPTU!”

  A few seconds later, there were voices, diabolical voices that echoed all around us.

  Every demon in the battle zone stopped attacking and just stared blankly.