Prologue
“Are you sure this runt’s the one? He doesn’t look very special to me.”
“Shut up! If he’s the one, then he’s the one!”
The stars glowed dimly, dotting the pitch black sky looming over the entire forest, an enormous blanket covering the eyes of the trees. A soft and soothing night breeze gently swayed the branches back and forth like a mother cradling her newborn child. This was indeed a peaceful night. Even the predators of the darkness that prowled the forest at the time made no noise whatsoever. Peaceful, but unusual to the citizens, who knew the place like the back of his hand. This was not a quiet forest.
Dead leaves tumbled over each other on the path, dancing and twirling, and the sound of someone dragging their feet against the dirt a short distance away could be heard, making a rhythmic scrape, scrape, scrape. This seemed to be the only thing that broke the forest’s silence. And even this person knew that the silence was unusual, making him feel uncomfortable as he continued on.
Two figures keeping a distance away landed silently on the trail, after hiding in the naked trees for so long. The crescent moon peeked through the many branches, casting shadows on their black outfits. The twigs created skinny distorted lines like the bony fingers of a witch, ready to grip their throats and drag them into the darkness.
One of them, a tall young man, his annoyed face hidden with a black mask, took the lead, thinking about how pathetic it was to be following this “runt.” Coming all the way here for this? Ridiculous was what he thought of it all. What was so important about this kid anyway? They had been following from his friend’s place till now, and all he’d seen was a ball game and dinner. What he had expected was more than this. A special artifact perhaps, that the boy had hold of. But no. He was a very impatient man and didn’t enjoy wasting his time when there was something better he could be wasting it for. Following a clueless teen wasn’t what he had in mind.
The other figure, a young rather short one, followed behind him. Only her unusual violet eyes were visible as they darted different directions, as if assuring herself no one else was there. In the dark, she could have been mistaken as a fallen tree branch, her petite figure making her great at disguising herself as part of the forest. She did enjoy having an ability such as that. She too found it confusing to be after the kid, for he didn’t look like much to her either. But she knew her leader too well, and he wouldn’t let her of all people go off for pointless missions.
With one gesture from the man, they crept closer to the target, the dark clothing disguising them as only a shadow. They both realized they were getting even closer, the familiar noise of a pair of shoes kicking rocks off the trail were only a few yards away. Beckoning with a hand, the man signaled for the girl to do her task while he followed behind.
She responded with a nod, though in the darkness, it would be impossible to see. Watching her partner continue to follow on ground, the girl hopped into a tree, crouching on one of the sturdy branches. Yes, her legs were strong enough to jump that high. From there, she was able to see the boy clearly through the tinier twigs. The target. Why would Scelus want to go after a brat like this? she thought, watching him carefully.
The girl cautiously took firm steps from branch to branch with a steady foot, till she was standing over the boy. Why he was out so late at night, she had no clue. Still, it made their job a little more easier, with no one else there to see and ruin the entire plan.
The kid was unaware of her presence as he paced slowly to his destination. His head swerved left and right, knowing how unusually quiet it was tonight. But never did he decide to look above him. Now was the chance.
Leaping off the tree, the girl landed lightly on her feet, but not light enough that the victim wouldn’t hear her. It was the first sound he had heard besides the tumbling leaves. The brown-headed boy froze in his spot, not daring to look behind him only to feel something hit the back of his head before falling to the ground, unconscious.
“Got him,” she muttered, slipping her glove back on. Her companion emerged from the shadows, taking long strides until he stood over the kid.
“Wow, it doesn’t take long to deal with these people, does it?” he asked, lifting the boy up by the collar and then carelessly swinging him over his shoulder.
“Hey! Be careful, he’s not a bag of trash!” the girl hissed.
“Really? I’d think otherwise.”
The girl shook her head. It was such a pain to deal with one who loved to act as careless as he does. “Never mind. Now, we’ve got the boy so we should head back.”
The man glanced at his surroundings and then made his way over to a pile of dead leaves, a little ways off the path. He kicked them away with his feet, revealing a hole just big enough for a person to fit through. From here, it would only seem like a den that a family of foxes decided to live and that was the point, it was disguised. Looking back at his partner he said, “After you.”
The girl made her way over, staring into the pitch back hole with her violet eyes for a few seconds. For her companion, it seemed like hours as he became more and more impatient. “Get going already!” he growled. “The hold doesn’t bite. We’re already late. If you stall us any longer, we get punished.”
She only answered with a sigh as she sat down with her feet dangling into the hole.
As Scelus put it, this boy, who he said goes by the name Damion, was supposed to find something that seemed special, in his eyes. He also had something that Scelus wanted, but she had absolutely no place to be asking questions about it.
“Remember, you’re not going to tell anyone about this,” her partner said coldly, interrupting her thoughts. “Not you’re brother, not you’re ‘Nanny Himala,’ no one.”
“And what happens if I do? Scelus knows it would be a great loss if anything was to happen to me. It’s not like you allow me to make any contact with them anyway, so you really shouldn’t worry about it.” Not wanting to give it a second thought, she let herself slide through the hole.
Okay, PG-13, so little kids, if you ever come across to reading this, don't read! Thank you anyone who's decided to read these chapters, it feels so nice to be appreciated. I'd like feedback and criticism(but not too heavy) on what I could do to make my writing and my story better. Or what I did pretty well. Thank you!
Chapter 1
Wake up, Damion. You can’t stay here. Wake up . . .
The sun’s heavy heat beat down on his back, causing his skin to sweat beneath the red hoodie. The light created patches of shadow on his face as green leaves fluttered from their perches on the branches overhead. Who’s voice was that? So familiar, yet he couldn’t quite decide who it was. The air brushed his face
gently as Damion Coege’s green eyes flickered open. The first thing he could see was tiny brown pieces of dry soil underneath his head, jabbing his right cheek painfully. Dirt?!
The boy swore under his breath as he lifted his head, shaking his long bangs out of the way. Oh, what a sight! Where in the world was he? His half closed eyes squinted in the sunlight as he attempted to stand. The dirt underneath him clung to his sweater and half of his face. He groaned loudly, falling backward and clenching his head in pain. It felt as if someone clubbed him from behind with a metal bat. He rocked forward and back, waiting for the pain to subside before he looked up.
The surrounding trees, the pawprints of wild animals dotting the ground, could only mean he was in a forest. Was it the same one he was in the last time he remembered? Impossible, unless he’d been asleep here through the rest of fall, winter, and spring. He swiped the dirt off his cheek and cleared off his sweater. I think I’m insane. Again, he made an attempt to stand on his own, his knees a little wobbly underneath. To his surprise, he was able to support himself.
Damion sighed and took a shaky step forward. Why couldn’t he remember anything that had happened before? It was so quiet, except for a chirp or two from birds distances away. What could he remember? He’d gone to his friend’s house after school, played a game of baseball and then had dinner over
there that night. Then came the awkward quietness of the forest, which he knew was never so silent, even at night. After that . . . that was it.
He had the sudden idea that perhaps he was kidnapped. That he was left here where no one could find him and the people responsible would come back to kill him eventually, but decided to toy around with his fear first. The boy shivered just thinking about it and shook it off his mind. Damion was a calm person, he didn’t panic very easily, even if he really was kidnapped and left out in the woods to die. All right, no he wasn’t. One can only imagine what they should do if they were in this condition. But he wasn’t going to run in circles crying about it. He would get out of here and get back home, sooner or later.
Slipping his dirt-smeared sweater over his head, he pulled his red T-shirt back in place. Wow, it felt about a hundred degrees in that thing. Summer was supposed to be over. He’d already gone through it once, and didn’t plan on going through it again. Sure, the forest looked decent, pretty enough for a picnic. It wasn’t blazing hot either, but any heat made him itchy anyway. He rolled the hoodie around his left arm and forced his feet to get used to walking again. The boy would stumble every so often as he went on, but at least they were getting used to carrying his weight again since the amount of time he had slept on the forest floor. He leaned against tree to tree to keep his balance. For sure, he knew he wasn’t in the forest that he’d always known. It couldn’t be a dream, maybe another part of the country? Another part of the world? But how? Why? Where was Ericca? Mom? His friends? Anyone in the entire world besides wild animals?
The trees seemed to go on and on, yet there didn’t seem to be another living thing on this entire world. Even with those birds chirping somewhere out there, he caught no sight of them. Now he knew how Dorothy felt after stepping out of her house and into the land of Oz. But she could have gone home any time
she wanted to. It wasn’t her fault either, that Good Witch of the North decided to tell her right after her amazing adventure in the Wicked Witch’s castle, trying to run for her life. Wasn’t the girl pissed after all she had to go through? But all Dorothy had to do was tap her feet and chant. Judy Garland must have had a lot
of fun. She hadn’t gone through the real deal.
His thoughts about how much easier it was for Dorothy and Toto vanished when the he saw sudden movement behind the bushes he stood next to. Damion froze, not daring to take another step, nor move another muscle as he stared wide-eyed at the shrubbery. A jagged rock rolled out of the leaves and into his view. It’s shape made it turn at a strange angle and stopped at his feet. It almost seemed like minutes before he opened his mouth and murmured, “Who’s there?”
Shuffling came from behind a tree near the bushes this time and he spotted a pair of dark eyes appearing behind it. He did want to run so badly but his feet had been pasted to the spot. This was against his own will too. Five pale slim fingers grasped the bark delicately as a young woman’s face appeared.
“I’m sorry if I scared you,” she said lightly and quietly. She moved away from the tree, pushing herself off with her fingerless gloves as if she was too weak to move away on her own feet. Damion gaped as he watched her, even if she did seem a bit older than himself. Her hair, long and black, slipped off her thin arms, lengthening all the way down to her waist. The dark strands flapped in the light breeze like a silk curtain. Her clothing wasn’t very appealing, almost like she’d been buried underground for a few days; a dark and tattered shirt and pants. But the girl’s clothing was the last thing anyone would ever pay attention to if you saw her face. Smooth cheeks and full lips, everything that would make another woman jealous, and when her long bangs were removed from her face, the innocent black eyes were revealed, glowing like a raven’s feather in the light. Yes, so very innocent, but it also seemed blank. Still it was something no one could forget.
Damion woke up from his trance, noticing that all he had been doing that time was standing there with his jaw dropped. “Oh, um . . . no, I just-- don’t know where I am right now. Sorry I--” He continued trying to find the perfect thing to say as she seemed to glide over. The closer she got, the faster the words
would spill out of his mouth.
The girl lifted a slender finger to his lips. “Ssh, don’t worry about it. Now just tell me. What’s your name?” As her lips curved into a thin smile, Damion had almost forgotten what his name was. Her sentences just flowed right through his ears. He answered right away, figuring he really would lose it.
“D-Damion.”
The finger set to his lips were strangely cold, as if his he had decided to kiss the inside of a refrigerator. It was the middle of summer, was that possible? Maybe she stuck her hand into a box of ice earlier from having a hard time standing the heat. But it was still strange.
“Damion?” She put her hand down. The way she said it made him shiver of either excitement or nervousness. He couldn’t tell. “Damion. I like that name, it fits you. I’m Des . . . you do seem a littlenervous at this point.”
Des tilted her head slightly, staring at Damion with curiousity. The way she spoke made him feel rather strange. His mouth refused to open. He turned his eyes from her face and sighed, making her smile disappear immediately. “I’ve never seen you around here before. You’re lost, aren’t you?”
Damion managed to nod at the least, so she seemed to be satisfied. But how pathetic he did feel at that minute. She shook her dark head. “What about this, Damion? Let’s go to the place I stay at and we’ll figure everything out from there?” Her soft cheeks lifted again. He was being helped by this girl as if asking her to lead the way home. And here he thought he could look after himself. What a wimp.
“You’d might as well talk while we’re there if we’re ever going to get anywhere with this.” An ice cold hand gripped his and disturbed his deep thinking. “Wow, you’re hand’s warm!” Des gently pulled him along behind her.
Damion gathered the courage to say something. “Where are we going?” he said quietly.
“I stay with this man, Scelus. He literally knows everything about the worlds, like he’s a walking . . . encyclopedia.”
Worlds? Damion wondered, then took it as a mistake in her words.
“I mean, sometimes it’s like he knew something would happen and certain people were coming way before they decide to . . .” Des mumbled something else under her breath, but Damion couldn’t make it out.
He glanced down at the arm she held his hand with. A scar was visible, he noticed. Maybe it was his imagination or it was really shaped like an upside-down star. Something was inside it but he couldn’t make out what it was. It was the only flaw visible on her pale skin.
“So Damion,” Des started. “If you aren’t from around here, where are you from?”
“Planet Earth,” he mumbled as a joke. Only because how he got here seemed impossible. He thought that everything that he couldn’t explain was impossible and he would be teased by his friends about that.
Des heard what he had said though. “Planet Earth . . .” She paused for a moment, then laughed like the ring of a tiny bell chiming in his ears. “Good one Damion. But seriously, where are you from?”
Damion blinked, wondering if she was actually serious or she was joking around? It was hard to tell with her tone and he decided not to answer.
“Do you have any sibilings?” Thank god, she changed the topic.
“ . . . Yeah, one. Ericca, she’s probably eleven.”
“Oh. I had a sister, Lilith. I barely remember her though. She wasn’t around for that long . . .”
“What happened to her?”
Was that a smirk developing on Des’s face? He cringed a little as they slowed down. “ . . . She was burned at stake.”
“Get serious.”
She frowned. The look on her face was telling him that she told the truth. “I am serious.”
Or that just showed what good of an actor she could be. “I mean it.”
“If I were joking, I’d have admitted it by now.”
“What?” Partly believing her, Damion pulled his hand out of her grasp. “What do you mean?” Was he even at the right time era anymore? Literally, who still burned people at the stake during the 21st Century? And Des acted like it was something to smile about. Her voice had completely changed. No longer the sweet and tender voice she had moments ago that helped him calm down. No, she sounded almost . . . evil.
Des turned to stare at him. “They thought she practiced witchcraft, now isn’t that crazy? What’s even more awkward was that she was also convicted of murder. People can be so foolish, they just have to hold someone responsible for any problem they face when it really isn’t that person’s fault at all. Of all people, they thought she was a killer when they should know that she couldn’t even harm a fly.” She put a hand over her heart dramatically. “Crazy, isn’t it?”
“Quit the act!”
“Of course, I only learned this from my drunk father. It’s surprising that he ever decided to tell me any information about this when he spends most of his time beating me to the pulp.” She shook her head and grinned while Damion could only stare at the sudden change in her. “He would tell me the stories about how it was him who killed the victim, not my sister. He forced me to listen to the gruesome details. He forced me to hide the body.”
The boy was struck by how Des acted about all this. Like it was a joke, an event from a movie. What happened to the harmless girl from before? For god’s sake, she was smiling as she spoke. Maybe she was just overreacting a little bit, but he had his doubts. She was completely mad.
“Are you . . . all right?” he asked, his voice a little louder than a whisper.
“No Damion. The question is, are you all right? I’m not the one who got lost in the middle of the forest and needs someone to guide him home like a baby who just lost his mommy.” An enormous change. There was no sign of an innocent woman. No lightheaded tone in her voice. “I’m not the one who’s unaware of what’s going to happen to me next.”
He took steps back, away from Des, but she only moved in closer, until he felt the bark of a tree against his back.
“Really?” he questioned. “What are you going to do then?”
“I’m not going to waste yoo much time on you.” She reached behind her back and a knife was pointing only inches away from Damion’s neck the next second. The smile he had fallen for looked like one of a demon’s. “Luckily for me, you don’t know what you’re capable of. Now, here’s what’s going to happen, Damion Coege. You listen to every command I say while I take you to Scelus, then you don’t receive a scratch from me. Got it?”
So she had known that he was coming here. She knew his full name. She knew what would become of him. Damion glared down at her. Even if she was shorter than he was, she was armed. He wasn’t. “Bitch,” was all he could say.
Des grinned again. “So many people call me that nowadays, it’s like a second name . . .” Her voice trailed off as she turned to listen to something that only she seemed to hear. “Don’t move,” she said slowly under her breath, the blade inching closer. Damion knew she would probably slit his throat if he moved a
muscle, even if she wasn’t paying attention at the moment. Everything was quiet again. He couldn’t hear what Des was paying attention to.
“We’ve got visitors,” Des informed him. “Good boy, be on your best behavior.”
Damion was about to talk back when he heard yelling not too far away; two people.
“Over here! Trust me this time!”
“Trust you? Go jump off a cliff!”
The voices were even closer and Damion heard Des mumble something under her breath. Something about “idiots” and “interfering.” It didn’t seem like she was worried, more of emotionless. But the people running over. Maybe he had a chance. Or maybe they were more enemies.
He turned to the voices’ direction and in no time, two newcomers skidded to a halt at the clearing; a girl and a boy both giving the same hateful glare toward Des.
She hadn’t dropped the knife as she grinned at the two. “Luana. Kuya. What in the world brings the two of you here?”
“Don’t fool around, Desdemona,” the girl, whom Damion guessed was Luana, growled.
Des pretended to think for a moment. “I don’t know.” Damion could feel the cold blade against his neck now. He pressed his head back on the tree bark and twisted it away, trying to keep away from the knife as much as possible. “This kid shouldn’t concern you anyway, Luana. He’s just a special delivery for someone.”
“For Scelus. We’re not stupid Des. The kid’s part of our business.”
“Des, drop the blade,” the boy ordered, taking a step forward. Damion could see a gun in his hand as he pointed it toward his attacker.
Desdemona let out a giggle as the blade began to press harder into his skin. He could feel the blood trickling out of the small cut already.
“I said drop the blade!”
BANG! The shot shattered the silence of the forest and caused Damion to roll off to the side, crouching in fear. He looked up at Des, still holding the knife up at where he just was. For a minute she just stood there, twitching. A trail of smoke led from the barrel of the boy’s gun to her head. He couldn’t have killed her.
Damion panicked, backing off as he was still sliding on his rump. He glanced up at the attacker again, her black eyes widened with shock. It looked as if her body would finally give way. His own body was shaking uncontrollably. He had been close to death before but never as close as having a blade touching the skin of his neck. But he still sat where he was, watching Desdemona twitch for what seemed like minutes before a smirk crept up on her face. Her eyes stared back down at Damion again, as if trying to pull his pounding heart out of his chest with her mind. Probably she would have succeeded.
Her gaze then flicked toward Luana. “Idiots. You should know by now that a single bullet won’t kill me. Luana, I know you can be smarter than that.” She lifted a skinny had to the side of her head as she spoke, plucking a bullet out of her hair and dropping it in the dirt.
Damion stared as the bullet fell, too frightened, too surprised, too amazed to do anything. He couldn’t even remove his gaze to look back at Des. The only thing to do was wait for his entire life to flash before his eyes.
From the corner of the boy’s eye, he could make out a tiny smile forming on Luana’s face. “So you’re the real thing this time?” she almost whispered.
What does she mean by that?
Desdemona shrugged at the girl’s question. “I know where the boy is now, that’s what matters. I will not lose an eye trying to do anything now. I will see you again, sweet little Damion Coege.” She blew a kiss down to him, a gesture he knew any clueless boy would drop dead for.
A whimper developed in his throat as Des’s body began to sink into the ground in front of him. As if the ground had become quicksand. As soon as no trace of the evil being was left, Damion put his head in his hands. “This can’t be happening. This can not be happening,” he repeated to himself.
It may have been hours that Damion sat there with his face buried in his sweater. He’d never been this scared in his entire life. The other two seemed to understand that he needed time to put himself together.
Make it all a dream. Make Ericca bounce on my bed and force me to get up. Make my alarm clock go off at 5:00AM to get ready for school. Anything that can get me out of this mess!
He finally heard footsteps coming toward him and felt a hand on his shoulder. Luana spoke next to him. “Damion, was it? Did she hurt you?”
Damion swiped a finger across his neck and examined it. It wasn’t bleeding too badly. “No,” he answered her, shrugging her hand away.
“We can help you--”
He stood up quickly. “That’s exactly what Des supposedly tried to do. She’d help me figure out what the hell’s going on, and she ends up trying to slice my throat! How’d I know you won’t try to do the same?”
“Damion,” Luana said patiently. Her voice voice wasn’t as soothing as Des’s had been, but it seemed pretty much human. “Do we look like people who would try to kill you?”
“Des didn’t,” he mumbled, looking off to the side. He had ignored the feeling that she wasn’t good news, but he didn’t tell Luana that. The two of them didn’t seem like people who would have done the same as Des, but he didn’t always trust his instincts. For once, he looked at her straight in the eye.
Beyond the hazel color was a look of concern for him, mixing with the same message the frown on her thin lips gave. There was actually something in her face that he did believe.
Damion let out a sigh, not answering Luana’s question verbally, but she seemed to know what he was thinking. She stood up and said to the other boy, “Kuya, let’s get him to Himala.”
Kuya gave a look toward the boy that he just couldn’t make out. No emotion.
“Whatever,” he said quietly. Damion watched as he slid the gun he shot Des with in the pocket of his baggy and muddy pants. He didn’t seem like the kind of kid who enjoyed conversations with other people.
“Seems like you’re back to your old self again,” Luana noticed, rolling her eyes before turning back to Damion. “I just need to know, what are you doing out here?”
Shrugging, he answered, “I really don’t know.” He explained all he remembered about this to Luana. She stayed silent for a minute.
“Confusing, really confusing,” she mumbled.
Kuya was tapping his foot impatiently. “Hurry up, I have errands to run,” he reminded her.
“Let’s figure this out when we get to Himala’s place,” Luana said to Damion. She turned toward Kuya’s direction. “Someone seems to be a bit impatient right now.”
The boy snorted, his expressionless face now giving Damion a slight glare before he turned his dark head away and walked off.
“We’d better follow, even I get lost in this forest.” Luana began walking at Kuya’s direction, Damion following right behind her.