by Ruby Duvall
Every muscle in her body froze, and her heart seized painfully in her chest as a shot of adrenaline-laced fear punched her in the chest.
Her eyes widened at the hairy face of a large demon standing over her, and then darted around to take quick stock of the terrible predicament she was in. The multi-legged demon had each one of her limbs pinned to the ground and still had a few left over to feel around on her body.
A spider demon.
Memories flooded her mind…running through the woods, being chased by a mysterious, evil voice that wanted to play, being picked up and nearly raped…
She had been saved though. Who…who had it been? Her father?
The demon above her sported a pair of fangs around its mouth, which was filled with sharp and jaggedly spaced teeth. His thick beard was chopped close to his face, as if he cut it himself with the edge of a dagger. His eyes were askew, one pointed in entirely the wrong direction and the bit of skin not covered with fur or exoskeleton was covered with strange bumps.
The other demons were staying away, as if giving this kill to the much larger demon standing over her. They prowled around the two of them in a circle, though, looking like they would eat her, bones and all, if they had the chance.
“How I shall be rewarded! Excellent, excellent!” She couldn’t speak, couldn’t move and couldn’t look away from its ugly face. She couldn’t even think. The memories of what had happened to her so many years ago had taken control.
A spicy smell. Yes, that had been him. The man who had saved her smelled of some exotic spice, and it was now strangely and undeniably familiar.
“But first, I’ll get some pleasure out of this,” it rasped, roughly palming her breasts. “Ooh, very soft, very soft indeed.”
“S-stop, stop it,” she whimpered. She hated spiders. She hated them and feared them at the same time. Ever since that night, the eight-legged creatures had been able to make her have panic attacks. Seeing one from afar was enough to make her body stiffen and her heart race.
“Shumei!” Vallen screamed. “I can’t see you! Where are you?”
Vallen.
His home was near her village. He had been there nearly fifteen years ago, hoping to find Rosuke, and had been able to travel at night.
He must have heard a young girl scream for her mother.
And his scent, spicy and exotic…Kasuian soap.
It was he whom she had clung to, crying into his shoulder while he shushed her. It was he who had slain the spider demon. Vallen had saved her all those years ago. He had saved his empress, his lover, and hadn’t even known it.
A bright light suddenly swung before her eyes, and a bright splash of blood spilled onto her dress. The spider demon screamed in agony, quickly backing up as it beat a hasty retreat. It had lost two of its arms—the ones that had been touching her chest.
“I’ll chop off every limb that has touched her!” Vallen shouted, standing over her. The area around them was now brightly lit, revealing every single demon that now stalked about them in a circle. She sat up, blinking rapidly as she tried to come out of her reverie. Even with her strength spell still active, she hadn’t been able to escape that spider demon.
Perhaps Majo had been correct about the power of fear.
Vallen leapt past her, slashing again at the spider demon still roiling about in pain on the ground near them. It screamed, and more blood sprayed from its body, spilling onto the ground in buckets.
She stood, trying to get her bearings. The demons seemed to be staying away instead of attacking. Why? Where was Majo?
“Behind you, dear,” a guttural voice said, the words sounding wet as though being spoken through a mouth full of blood.
She didn’t bother turning around. She simply dropped and rolled to the side, barely dodging the white lightning that sizzled by her and hit another demon instead. It died instantly, unable to even make a sound before it fell to the ground.
“Perfect,” the witch said. It wasn’t her voice though. It was too deep for her vocal cords to produce. The evil inside of her was speaking now.
But what was perfect?
She knelt there, looking at Majo, but Majo wasn’t looking at her. The witch had her eyes on the back of her beloved black-haired soldier, who was still stabbing at the spider demon.
No.
Her enemy raised her hand, her blackened fingertips pointed at Vallen’s back. Shumei made to stand, to come between them with her mirror spell, but she had reacted much too slowly.
“Shokushi.” The lightning erupted from her hand once again, and Shumei screamed Vallen’s name. Please, please let it miss him. The name of that spell was the Touch of Death.
He had turned around just as it hit him square in the chest, and she watched, horrified, as the light left his eyes almost immediately. His mouth was open, his hand still gripped tightly around his blood-covered sword.
He fell to his knees, and she could have sworn that his eyes tried to find her.
“Vallen! No, no!” she screamed, tears instantaneously falling from her eyes. His body slumped to the side and his last breath left his body.
His eyes were still open, looking at her.
She couldn’t believe it. She was on her hands and knees, only a couple yards away, looking at the lifeless form of her lover, who had been kissing her, holding her, only moments ago.
He was dead.
He had been human only a day…after three hundred years of hopelessly wandering the land as the very thing he had fought against. He would never hold her again. Never speak to her again. Never look at her with love in his eyes again.
Her chest hurt so badly that she thought she was dying too. She would soon be as dead as he was. She never thought that pain could be so powerful. It stole her breath, brought the heat of tears to her cheeks and made her want to scream.
She gave in to the last…
Her throat released a pain-filled shriek, and her fingers dug into the leafy, grassy ground beneath her. When she ran out of breath, she took in another and screamed again through the heavy, wet sobs that threatened to choke her. Then she screamed again…and again.
A deep, loud laugh sounded above her head. She fell silent, her arms shaking, her cheeks wet with tears.
“How truly romantic. You loved him, did you? Even better,” the witch said, her voice making the leaves tremble on the trees.
My chosen one…a familiar voice called. Shumei opened her eyes, looking down at the ground. She sniffed once, blinking as the soothing tones of that beloved voice calmed her.
“Your friends still seem to be doing well, but we’ll overcome them too,” Majo informed her, taking a step closer. The toe of her boot came within her peripheral vision.
Remember what I have taught you…remember, Shumei. She took in a deep breath, becoming aware of the fluttering movements inside her belly. Her magic was trying to get her attention.
I saved it for last, but you knew…you knew when you would need to use it. The Divine One was trying to remind her of something.
“We won’t kill them just yet though. We want to make you suffer first. All of you.” The witch was gleeful and Shumei could taste her laughter.
But first things first, my chosen one. There is evil about that you must destroy.
“Just as an appetizer, we’ll mutilate your lover’s body while all three of you watch. We’ll tear him apart and do things to his body that would drive him insane were he still alive.”
She is so close to you, Shumei. You have her in your grasp.
“Then after my minions rape all of you, including the man,” she added, “we’ll find a way inside that house and bring out whoever it is you’re protecting. Your brother, I would guess. Playing with him shall be fun.”
Nothing is lost. For I am the Divine One…and you are my chosen one. Everything I have, I give to you.
“We have to finish by sunup, but there are still many, many hours until then. I shall make them feel like an eternity, I promise you,” Majo sn
arled.
“You will not touch him,” she muttered, her voice croaky.
“What did you say?” the witch angrily asked.
“You will touch neither Vallen, Rosuke nor Mai. You’ll not even see my brother.” She brought her head up, looking up at the older woman’s marred and angry face with her own look of contempt.
One hand shot out and gripped the ankle of Majo’s closest foot, squeezing as hard as it could. She could feel the bones being crushed underneath her fingers, snapping and popping. The witch cried out and tried to kick at her with her other foot, but she dodged, releasing her enemy’s leg and shooting to her feet. Majo gasped and took a step back but almost fell as she tried and failed to put any pressure on her now broken ankle.
Violently gripping Majo’s shirt, she jerked the woman close, and though the demons around them obviously wanted to help their mistress, it seemed that they dared not interfere.
It was too late to help their mistress anyway.
“Jouzaikousen.” Like lightning flashing in the sky in the dead of night, a light powerful enough to turn night to day burst from her body, reaching into every shadow, every dark place and every black soul.
The Ray of Cleansing.
Any demon within ten miles would instantly be engulfed in flame. The air was filled with the screams of the enemy’s soldiers, who were burning so hot and brightly that they would become ash in only a matter of seconds. Majo herself was crying out in pain, but since she was originally human, the light did not make her burn.
“Shuken,” she invoked, keeping one hand tightly gripped in the material of Majo’s shirt. She brought back her other hand, keeping her fingers straight and held tightly together. Her magic obediently fed its power into her arm, and her fingers melded together, hardening until her entire forearm had become a bright, shining blade, sharp enough to slice leaves as they fell from the trees.
Dagger of the Hand.
“Moui.” She called upon Fury once more, and her bicep burned with energy.
“No, please! Please don’t kill me!” the witch screamed, her voice high and frightened, sounding innocent and human for the first time that night.
“May the Divine One forgive you,” she whispered, punching her transformed hand into the witch’s chest. The sound of crunching bone and gushing blood was loud, even with the screams that surrounded them. Majo’s mouth was open and silent, and her black eyes were half-closed. Her hands fell away from Shumei’s wrist, and her body became heavy, now hanging lifelessly. Were she not using a strength spell, she wouldn’t have been able to keep the witch standing upright.
She tugged her hand out of her enemy’s body and it was covered with blood, running over her fingers like water. Even knowing the things that Majo would have done to her and her friends and family, she gently lowered the witch’s body to the ground and wiped her hands as best as she could on any clean spot on her dress. It was ruined now anyway.
All around her, the light of her cleansing spell was fading, but it was still easy to see in all directions, especially since almost every demon body had now been reduced to ash. Her eyes darted about to locate her lover and landed on the spot were Vallen fell. She felt her face tense up with renewed emotion and rushed to kneel at his side. The light still shining from her body bobbed oddly as she moved. It was easy to pull Vallen into her lap with her strength spell still active, but no spell could have stopped the tears that ran anew down her cheeks.
“Empress! That was amazing!” Rosuke called, his voice coming closer. Mai’s relieved laughter followed him. “Wow, you’re glowing! What spell was that?”
Shumei untied some of the knots holding Vallen’s shirt closed and parted the cloth to reveal his chest. The small scar on his ribs that marked where the Touch of Death had hit him was shaped like a bony hand pointing its index finger toward the victim’s heart and she swallowed upon seeing it.
“Empress, we…” Rosuke began, finally catching up to her. “What? Is he hurt?” he asked. Mai came to a stop beside him and Shumei spared the two of them only a brief glance. They were both splashed with demon blood but seemed otherwise uninjured.
She had to finish this in the next twenty minutes. It was plenty of time, but she would not wait even ten seconds for an explanation.
Rosuke, upon seeing her red eyes and tear-stained cheeks, was driven to silence for a moment and he looked to Vallen instead. His eyes landed on the mark that was easily visible on his friend’s pale chest.
“Is that…no,” he said, shaking his head. “No… No, he’s not dead.” He backed up quickly, bumping into Mai, who looked at him with parted lips. She then looked at Vallen as well, her free left hand unconsciously coming up to cover her mouth.
Vallen’s sword was still clutched in his death grip, and she used the sleeve of her dress to clean some of the blade off. The ink for this spell had to be clean.
Once she was satisfied, she pressed the tip of her finger to the blade and pressed hard, pulling quickly. Hissing at the pain, she tried to ignore it as being the smallest of sacrifices for such a powerful spell.
“What are you doing, empress?” Mai asked, her voice small in the sudden quiet of the forest. The light from her spell earlier had faded a little more, and it was like sunset had come again. Mai’s question went unanswered and she looked to Rosuke, who was kneeling several yards away, his body looking broken. Walking to him, she knelt close and looked at his face in the fading light.
His expression was slack and unblinking, and he stared at nothing.
“Rosuke,” she said softly. He had done his best to help her and protect her. In those moments when they were surrounded, slashing at the enemy that continuously came at them, it was having his back to hers that had kept her going. She felt an unwelcome need to put her arms around him and instantly denied the urge. She knew he would reject her touch anyway.
“I’m going to save him,” Shumei said, her high voice loud and clear. Mai looked back at her, watching her from the side as her empress gently cradled Vallen in her arms.
“I’m going to save him because he saved me. Because he is one of us. Because he is my soldier. Because he loves me,” she explained, her voice slowly growing softer. “And because I love him.”
She began to draw on his skin, her blood acting as the ink for what was probably the most powerful of the known set of magic circles, a circle that only the empress could cast. She drew the circle twice—once on the spell’s mark and once over his heart. Then she carefully traced a complicated pattern to connect the two. Several times, she had to pinch her finger to make more of her blood well up.
When she finished, she spent a minute looking over the results, double-checking and triple-checking the patterns, but she knew that it was perfect.
Then the final step…she spread blood on her lips and his lips, making sure that plenty of the red liquid covered them.
The Kiss of Power.
“Come back to me,” she whispered, leaning down. She pressed her lips to his and jerked at the immense amount of power that immediately began to drain from her, though it was more like it was being sucked out. Her magic burned inside her, hot as the sun. It vibrated and trembled so violently that her body shook.
You have done well, my chosen one, and so I gladly give of myself to return your precious treasure. The Divine One’s voice was clear and soothing in her head, muffling the pain of the headache now pounding in her brain.
But remember…your greatest challenge is yet to come. She felt Vallen take in a breath, his lips twitching as he tried to react to her kiss.
You have one year, Shumei. Use it well.
“The Divine One has blessed us!” Mai cried out, watching their display. “Look, Rosuke! He’s moving!” Rosuke jerked and whipped his head toward Vallen, needing to see for himself that it was true.
“Th-thank the gods,” he hoarsely exclaimed.
Shumei felt even more tears leave her eyes. They dripped onto her lover’s face, whose lips now massaged hers as he
kissed her back. She began to sob against his mouth when his hand reached up to comb through her hair.
She heard Mai and Rosuke swiftly stand but ignored it as she slid her arms around Vallen’s body.
“My God,” Mai said, her voice sounding wondrous. Vallen slowly sat up, and his arms came around her as well, his lips still pulling magic from her body.
“There’s so many of them,” Rosuke said, his tone echoing Mai’s.
Shumei kept her eyes shut but finally ended the kiss, licking her lips clean of the remaining blood. Vallen pulled her into a tight hug and she tucked her nose into the crook of his neck, inhaling the spicy scent of his soap.
“You saved me again,” he said, his voice soft in her ear.
“I’m just repaying you…and besides,” she said, tightening her arms, “I couldn’t live without you.”
“Sister! Sister, are you okay?” Oka’s voice was rapidly approaching them, his voice startling her into paying attention to their surroundings. She opened her eyes, intending to turn her head and find her brother, but the sight in front of her made her jerk in surprise. “Y-You’re covered with blood!” Oka jogged up to them, his eyes only for his sister before he realized that they were all looking into the trees beyond.
“She’s…she’s fine, Oka,” Rosuke said, sounding distracted. Oka stumbled to a halt, his breath coming out in pants.
There had to be at least two hundred people now standing in front of them. Vallen stood, bringing Shumei with him, and they both stared ahead, their mouths open in surprise. Oka immediately attached himself to her side, his hands gripping her dress. Vallen stood on her other side, his eyes scanning the sea of faces that had appeared before them.
“Who are they?” she asked softly, hoping Vallen could explain this one to her. Mai answered instead.
“They are the first wave of your followers, empress. The light from your spell told them where to go.”
“This…this is correct,” a young man said, his peers prodding him to come forward. He held a bag over his shoulder and his fist gripped the shoulder strap tightly as if he were nervous.
“You have been searching for me?” she asked, her jaw slack with simple shock.
