Chapter 1: The Demon and the Fox
“David! David!” The young angel screamed as she sailed down the hall, “David help!”
“Manda? What wrong?” David turned around as she ran into him.
“N-Neros, he he escaped!”
“What!? Get the others, I’ll deal with him.” he unsheathed his sword as he dashed in the direction Amanda had just come from.
“But David!”
“Just go! I’ll hold him till the others get there!”
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“Holy...” The normally pristine hall was drenched in blood, several bodies lay were they had fallen around a dark figure in the center.
“Another one? Heh, you fools just don’t know when you’re beat do you?”
“Neros! You’re the one that’s the fool. Trying to break out of a maximum security Angel Prison.”
“Am I now?” Neros stretched his wings, turning to see David raise his sword, “You want to fight do you? Heh, just another feather for my collection”
“Not on your life!” David charged the demon; ready to slice threw his stomach.
“More like yours Angel!” He leaped over David’s swing, using his wings to gain height. “Too slow boy!” Neros shot back down kicking David in the face.
David’s sword clattered to the floor as he stumbled back. Neros grabbed the blade, flipping it into his hand. “Shit!” David cussed as he backed away from the rapid swings.
“Not so tough now are you?” Neros chuckled as David cussed again as he backed into the wall. “Maybe I’ll spare your pathetic life. Heh, yes, that would be nice but, I still want some of those beautiful feathers of yours” He slammed David’s sword into his wing. “Good, scream. It’s such a beautiful sound.” Neros began carving into David’s wings over and over.
David crumpled to the ground, whimpering in pain. “Yes this one will do.” Neros stooped down to grab one of the smaller feathers. “Beautiful...” he held the bloodied feather to the light.
“David no!”
“Hm? Your girl is here angel.” he chuckled as the girl kneeled next to the fallen angel. “Farewell, hope your life was worthy of my generosity” he leapt into the air flying backwards to get one last glance. He blasted threw the roof and flew into the night.
--- (5 years later) ---
Cris ran as fast as he could to dodge blasts of fire from the irate dragon chasing him. “Get back here fox!” oh shit oh shit oh shit! Cris doubled his speed to avoid getting his tail set aflame. “You damned thief!”“Yipe!” Cris dived to avoid the jet of flames over his head. Huh? What’s that? A cave? He crawled towards the small crevice in the ground.
“Where’d that fox go?” the dragon snarled “Damn it!” A thin jet of fire shot from his mouth. Cris swallowed hard. Inari don’t let him find me! He begged to his god as he scooted farther into the small cave.
He turned around and sighed. “Oh boy this is bigger than I thought it’d be”
“Who’s there?” The harsh whisper startled Cris to attention, the red fur that covered the lower half of his arms and legs standing on end. Two glowing red orbs penetrated the thick darkness.
“Kyaa!”
“Shush! The dragon!” The creature whispered louder, covering Cris’ mouth with it’s clawed hand. “Ouch!” he yanked his hand back, rubbing the bite.
“Who- what are you?”
“I’m a Raizic. What else could I be?”
Cris leaned back to get a better look at the man now that his eyes were adjusted to the dim light. He was a demon; black fur, wings, claws, the whole shebang. Why’d he say he was a Raizic, whatever that is, when he’s a demon? “Um, Raizic?”
“It’s what we call ourselves. Your kind calls us demons.”
“Oh okay. So what are you doing in here?”
“I could ask the same of you Fox.”
“Eh, well I’m hiding from Sir. Flames out there.”
“Hm, looks like we’re in the same predicament there.”
“Yep,” Cris sighed, “That’s why I hate those things; all short fuses and fire.”
The demon chuckled slightly. “They aren’t all that bad.”
“Ah what do you know about dragons? You’re only the second demon I’ve ever seen so you guys aren’t seen by dragons all that much either, right?”
“Normally.”
“Huh?”
“Never mind.”
“Okay,” he shrugged. “What’s a demon doing around here anyways? You live nearby?”
“No. I live in the mountains. I was just hunting.”
“That when Dragon Mc-Flambé out there find you?”
“You could say that.” He leaned back to get into a more comfortable position. “Why is he after you?”
“This.” Cris held up a small black orb with a white swirl design.
“A spell stone!” He jerked forward, snatching the orb. The white swirl slowly started to glow a faint red, increasing in intensity until it illuminated the entire cavern.
“Cool.” Cris muttered, transfixed. In the new light he was able to see that the demon’s clothing was really quite tattered. He had a scar running from his right temple all the way to his chin. And several other scars visible threw the tares in his clothing. So many scars. He thought, his attention drifting from the spell stone to the demon holding it.
“Fox?”
“Huh? Oh, what?”
“Why are you staring at me?” He curled into a ball, the red light moving with his hand.
“Sorry, it’s just, you have so many scars.”
“It’s none of your business.”
“I know it’s just... you have so many, and I can’t even see most of your chest.”
“I don’t want to talk about it, so drop it okay?
“I just wanna know if there’s some way for me to help you?”
“No one can change my fate. Just go away. The dragon should be gone by now.”
“Your fate? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It doesn’t matter. Leave me alone!”
“But...”
“Why do you care about what happens to a Raizic like me anyway fox?”
“I like to help people. Is there something wrong with that?”
“No but, I’m not exactly a person.”
“Says who?”
“Me and the rest of the world! I’m a Raizic, a demon. Not a person like you or Rae.”
“Don’t be so negative! I’m saying you’re a person and I help people so let me help you!”
“You couldn’t help me if you wanted to Fox! You can’t change what I am.” He dropped the spell stone and flew out of the cave quickly.
“Great going Cris. Ashly was right about you being a useless ball of fur.” he mumbled to himself. He picked up the dull black and white stone, stalking out of the cavern himself.