"I told you to stay there!" Jessica yelled at me, her tensed voice making me shudder involuntarily.
I shook my head, staring at Caiden's silhouette, which couldn't be seen clearly through the heavy rain. "Something's off. There's no moving."
Jessica followed my gaze and murmured a nervous "Oh shit." as she started running towards them. I imitated her, continuing praying.
Jessica yelled his name. No answer. I could feel my heart hammering in my chest, as my senses became numb. I couldn't feel my body anymore. I was staring at Caiden, sitting on the grass, without moving at all. I couldn't see Kasho. I had no idea what was going on.
We got closer and the rain became stronger. It looked like it was trying to fight with us. But I didn't have time for it.
"Satoshi!" Jessica tried again, but no answer came. Only painful silence.
Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale...
"Caiden!" I yelled.
The silhouette turned its head. Caiden was moving. He was fine. His face was covered with blood, but he heard me. He was staring at us as we reached him. My legs started shaking and I fell on my knees, right next to him. Jessica was on his right, lowering her body and placing a hand on his shoulder, squeezing him tenderly.
For a few seconds, no one said anything. I let my worries fly away, as I was watching closely his perfect, pale, and pained face. He seemed... lost. Lost in his thoughts. With a shaky hand, he touched Kasho's face softly and closed Kasho's eyes. "He was a good fighter." Caiden said, his voice cracking as a few bloody tears trickled down his cheek.
"He was a sly fox. Pretty smart, to be honest. He knew how to do the planning. He wasn't as impulsive as I thought." Jessica added, looking sadly at Kasho.
I chose to say nothing. I had nothing good to say. I hated him. All he did was to make my mission more complicated than it already was. He was scary and sly and, low-key, I was happy he died. Again.
But I couldn't say that aloud. Caiden... cared about him. He considered him his friend. Jessica appreciated his skills. She thought he was, indeed, a worthy opponent.
I raised my head and I realized it wasn't raining anymore. I narrowed my eyes, watching the dark sky which should've been orange by now...
"It's the thirteenth day. We did it. The illusion is fading away, so this means we can go home." Caiden said, looking straight into my eyes. He seemed... really sick. And it wasn't because of the poison.
Suddenly, I remembered something Lucifer specified when he gave me this impossible task. Make him cry with blood.
"He gave me three tasks. Make you remember me. Get your sword. And... make you cry with blood. We did all of them now. That's why we couldn't go back when we were in the cave."
Jessica and Caiden changed a few meaningful looks and nodded at unison. "Indeed. You are right. This is just a game for him. It's like a game where you have to collect different items so you can win it. And we did it."
As he was talking, a strong wind appeared, making his words get lost because of the sudden noise. I raised my hands in front of my face, trying to protect myself from the sharp wind. I got to my feet slowly, thinking of what this could be.
"Caiden! Jessica! What's going on?!"
We didn't have time to discuss it.
Right next to us, the lake's water rose in the air. It looked like a tsunami came above us and we weren't able to move.
Someone grabbed aggressively my waist and I crushed my face into a strong chest. Caiden was holding me, trying to not let go of my small body. I clutched his kimono, squeezing my eyes shut.
"Caiden..." I said, but I didn't have time to finish my sentence.
Caiden jumped in the water, with me in his arms and everything went black.
***
I fell on something hard, but not as hard as the ground. It was quite comfortable and I frowned, not sure of the material. I patted it and I realized it could've been a cloth... and then... skin...?
"Can you stop touching me?" Caiden said, slightly amused and I raised my head, opening my eyes.
His snowy eyes bored into mine and I gulped. I pulled back quickly, letting him raise his upper body, placing his elbows on the floor.
I looked around me. We were in Caiden's kitchen, which was exactly how I remembered it. Nothing was changed. Even the Jessica's blood when she slit her palm was there, next to us. Jessica was also in the room. She shook her head and got to her feet slowly, groaning and pinching the bridge of her nose. "I hate time-traveling. It makes me dizzy."
"You did it, cutie pie!"
I turned my head towards the table, which was in the middle of the room, where Lucifer was sitting on the chair, with his arms crossed over his chest and a big smile plastered on his annoying face.
I sensed Caiden getting to his feet behind me and I sighed, doing the same.
"I have the sword. The human... completed your tasks. Is this enough for you to restore the balance?"
Lucifer shrugged, jumping on his feet. "Probably. Let me see the blade."
Caiden sighed and pulled out the cross necklace from his hidden pocket, inside of the kimono. He pressed a finger on the cross and a strange light shone for a few seconds. After the light disappeared, he was holding in his hand his sword, the demon destroyer.
With another pained sigh, he took a step forward and lent it to Lucifer. He took it, throwing him a suspicious look, not sure if he should've trusted him or not. After all, Caiden was a fox demon. Maybe even Lucifer was trying to be sure if Caiden wasn't lying or something like that. He studied it for a few seconds, narrowing his eyes. "Indeed. It looks like the original. I hope it's not a farce, fox."
Caiden rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm not suicidal. I don't want another trip to my past."
"Good to know that your mind is working well." Lucifer commented, nodding at him.
"It was quite annoying that you threw us into an illusion, but made us believe that it was the real past. Damn, I wanted to kill you when I found out." Jessica said, taking a few steps forward and placing a hand on my shoulder.
Lucifer shrugged, making the sword disappear in the thin air. "Too bad, succubus. You can try, if that makes you feel better."
Jessica narrowed her eyes. She seemed pretty angry, especially because we all knew how a battle between them would've ended.
"Then... are you going to restore the balance now?" I asked, making all of them throw me a quick look. I blushed, intimidated by their serious expressions.
"Yeah." Lucifer said and he pulled out something from his pocket. He showed us his palm, where a black feather was.
"Is that..." Jessica started, but Lucifer interrupted her, nodding.
"A feather from my own wings."
"But... you lost your wings!" Jessica commented, frowning and watching Lucifer with a suspicious air.
"Yes, but when they disappeared, a few feathers were left behind. I kept them. They could be useful someday. And... it seems like 'same day' is today."
"How will we use it? Do we have to perform a ritual?" Caiden asked, staring at the feather. He was doubting Lucifer's plan as well.
Lucifer chuckled and shook his head. "Nah, you have to place one in the hell, one in heaven and one on earth. You see, my feather was, in the beginning, the symbol of heaven, and it still is. But after I fell, its color turned to black, which made it also the symbol of hell."
Caiden's eyes widened. "It's the balance itself. Yin and yang. Source of light, but at the same time, source of darkness."
"Bingo! Good job, fox. I couldn't explain it better." Lucifer said, grinning and pulling out the other two identical feathers. "The moment you place the other two feathers in the hell and heaven, they will get connected and the balance between dimensions will get restored. Now, if you excuse me, I have to take care of something. Sayonara!"
I blinked and Lucifer was gone. The feathers were on the table, moving slowly like a soft air breeze blew towards them. Caiden sighed and Jessica took quickly the feathers, studying them closely. "Foxy fox, what are we going to do? Are we letting him escape this easily?"
"Then what do you want to do? Fight him like last time? He's too strong, Xsilia. And now he has the demon destroyer as well. He's going to kill us in a few seconds."
Jessica thought a bit about it and then pursued her lips. "Oh, well. Then I guess we'll just let him walk around with that big sword of yours. Now, about these feathers... I'm going to talk with my connections and I'll find an angel. Can you go back to hell and place that goddamn feather?"
Caiden nodded, taking a feather from her hands. Jessica put a feather on the table and looked at it for a few seconds. "What are we going to do with the one which has to stay on earth?"
Caiden followed her gaze and tilted his head. "We should throw it in the ocean. With a rock attached to it, so no human can touch it. We can do that later."
She blinked twice and then smiled. "Sounds like a great plan. Now, it will take me around thirty minutes. Cya later." She said and jumped on the window, making my heart jump as well because of the shock. She always had to do something which made me become sick of worrisome.
"Ivy."
I turned my head towards Caiden. He still looked tired, but it seemed like the poison left his organism. His face seemed to have more color than before and he wasn't panting as he used in the cave. He still had blood on his face and on his kimono, but at least the kimono was red and it couldn't be seen that easily. "Yea?" I answered as he took a step forward towards me.
"You should go and see Emily. She's worried about you. Here, we were gone just for almost a day, even though we lived in that illusion for thirteen days." He said, looking through the window at the sun which was shining happily above us.
"Oh God, you're right! I left the party without telling her anything! I bet she looked for me the whole night!" I took my jacket from the hanger and I opened the flat's door...
Caiden grabbed my arm, yanking me back, and closed the door. I widened my eyes, not expecting him to react like that. I turned around and looked at his face and one of the corners of his mouth turned upwards. "Where are you going like that? You are dirty, wet, and wearing an ancient kimono that belonged to a prostitute. I'm not quite sure if Emily is going to understand your situation."
"Oh, Damn. I totally forgot. Thanks for reminding me." I said, sighing, and looking down at my uncomfortable outfit.
"No problem." Caiden said, chuckling and turning his back at me, as he went back in the kitchen. Out of curiosity, I followed him and saw him writing something on the wall.
"What are you doing?" I asked him and he threw me a quick look, continuing painting a weird symbol.
"Opening a hell gate. It works with mirrors as well, but mine still have Lucifer's spell on them." He pressed his finger in the middle of his painting and a weird red mirror appeared on his wall. I saw my own red reflexion in it and I flinched, taking a step back. Caiden chuckled and crossed his arms over his chest. "Go see your friend. In one hour we'll meet again here. I have something to give you."
"What?" I asked him, curious because of his weird, low voice. He just smiled and entered the mirror. The impact made a strong light appear and I closed my eyes instantly. After a few seconds, the mirror was gone and the white wall was normal like it was before he painted those strange letters on it.
I sighed, walking into my room. I flopped on the bed, letting my tensed body rest for a few minutes.
I did it. We did it. We are back. And the balance of the dimensions will be restored. No one will die. We accomplished the mission. We are going to live.
I smiled, opening my eyes and staring at the ceiling.
I was pretty strong after all.