"DEATH!" The purple-colored man shouted as he tried hitting Jarod in the chest with his sword, which the white-haired teenager barely dodged by rolling to the side.
"Crap," Jarod whispered as he turned around and began running away. "I don't have a weapon!"
"My name is Pinsarar!" The purple man boomed as he chased Jarod, the ground shaking with each step he took, getting closer to the demon prince as Jarod glanced back with fearful eyes. "And you will be my ten thousandth victim!"
"No I won't," Jarod yelled back as he ducked under a tree branch and ran further into the woods, doing high knees to get through the two-feet deep snow that covered the forest bed. He ran past a tree and almost tripped when his eyes met a pair of vermillion red demon eyes.
At first, he thought it was Katlyn observing the fight, but her eyes were a slightly darker red and didn't glow like the pair he had seen. Shaking his head, Jarod quickly hid behind a tree and pressed his back against it, hoping that a power that would help him melt straight through the wood would show up and make itself known, but to no avail.
He heard the monster named Pinsarar cause trees to tumble down into the snow, roaring in frustration with each passing moment, rage building itself further in his voice. Jarod peeked out from behind the tree and saw the large purple monster looking straight at him.
"Oh shit," Jarod said aloud before tumbling through the snow. Then, he tripped on a root hidden by the blanket of snow and his eyes widened as he felt the vibrations through the ground get closer and more violent. He quickly tried using his power to use the snow and created an ice barrier but Pinsarar easily broke right through it, towering over the sixteen-year-old, his breath being visible in the cold air.
"I'm not sure what that was," He spoke angrily. "But it pisses me off!" With that, he picked up his overly large sword and swung it overhead, intending on cleaving Jarod in two but Jarod was able to throw snow right into his eyes, temporarily blinding the monster before moving once again.
As he passed a tree, he saw a glimpse of a figure dressed in black with those same vermillion red eyes meeting his own without a care in the world, but, he looked exactly like himself! He stopped running for a moment and turned around, but the figure was gone.
'Maybe I'm losing it?' He thought before he began running again. He zigzagged through the trees, hoping that maybe his skinny body would blend in with the trees, but with no such luck.
"I see you, JAROD!" Pinsarar shouted in a sadistically gleeful tone, doubling his speed as he began descending. Jarod knew he was getting closer and knew he would have to stand up and fight.
'Okay, so it's like with Jamal,' He thought as he stood running and closed his eyes. 'Just focus on your anger and unleash it.' He told himself. He thought about the times his mother and his stepfather would beat him for just whispering a single word and his hands turned into fist unconsciously.
He thought about Brookeville and those stupid hunters that had killed Ryan in pursuit of him, including the people they had killed in the school in order to get to him. Opening his eyes, Jarod revealed his own bright blue demon eyes.
"Get away from me!" He shouted at the top of his lungs as he swiped his hand in the air, the snow on the ground and on the trees and their pines needles, or what he thought was pine needles, dissolved into water before he threw his hand into the air again before it shot towards Pinsarar, crystallizing into ice midair as it hit him square in the chest as it expanded.
The ice destroyed half of the forest as it towered vertically hundreds of feet in the air and horizontally by at least a thousand feet. Jarod fell to his knees, panting slightly. He won but barely.
CRASH!
Jarod's eyes widened as he looked up and saw the massive glacier of ice he was able to conjure from the snow and water as it shook violently. Was that purple monster still conscious? Let alone alive?!
"My life sucks," Jarod said audibly as he tried forcing himself to stand up, but his knees grew weak and he fell to them once again. "Shit, come on body keep up!" Maybe that teleportation magic he used had taken some sort of strain on his body? Or maybe it was from the lack of rest he had experienced these last ten weeks, having only one day a week to rest and recuperate before he was worked to the bone once again the next day.
"You know," A dark yet silky voice whispered in his ear began, making Jarod jump as he looked back and saw the same figure he had seen just moments before. "If you let me have control I can kill this prick with ease."
The figure had jet-black hair that reached just below his red eyes that had vertical black slits going straight down the middle. His face was identical to Jarod's in every aspect except for those two features.
"Who are you?" Jarod whispered in a mix of shock and awe. Was he looking at his twin brother? If that was so, why did Morina tell him that he was the only child of Satan?
"I'm you," He whispered as he plucked Jarod in the ear before the snowy surroundings around them disappeared and they stood on a plane of empty darkness.
"What is this?" Jarod asked him. "And what do you mean that you're me? I'm me!" Right?
"Well," His identical began. "Every negative emotion you've ever had, every dark thought, every action that wasn't morally correct, I was there. Of course, I was sleeping but I was dreaming and influencing. I'm you, just the dark you." He then looked above Jarod's head. "And if you don't do something soon we're both going to die."
"I just tried my best!" Jarod defended himself. "If I can't do more than that then what else can I do?" The figure punched Jarod in the face, causing him to fall to the ground and holding his nose in pain.
"You can fight and not die like a coward. You're weak and pathetic."
"I am not!" The figure rose an eyebrow as a cruel smirk dawned upon his face.
"Then prove it. Let me take over and kill that son of a bitch!" Jarod shook his head in defiance.
"No! I'm not letting some asshole take control of my body!" He said, pointing an accusing finger at the black-haired teen. "You'll probably kill more people than just him?"
"Oh? Just like you did when you killed Ryan right?" Jarod looked at the figure as if he had just been slapped across the face and then was told to apologize for looking so slappable. "Besides, this is actually Hell, how many 'people' do you think there are that aren't getting tortured for their evil deeds during their lifetime?
"I can control our gifts and tear down this guy's body all the way down to his pinky toe, let me have control and I can save us both!" Jarod shook his head angrily.
"Why should I let you be here! Go away! These aren't gifts, they're a burden! If I was normal, Ryan wouldn't be dead!" Dark Jarod's expression shifted into one from carelessness into one of a broken mind, a sadistic grin spreading across his face as he approached Jarod.
"You know what? I think I've decided!" He said darkly as he gripped Jarod by the neck with both hands.
"Decided what?" Jarod croaked out, the oxygen leaving his lungs at a fast pace.
Dark Jarod cackled with amusement as his eyes widened and his grin grew. "Oh, you'll see!"
Jarod blinked and found himself back in the real world is Pinsarar finally breaking through his glacier, his muscles pulsing and growing bigger with each passing second as his purples eyes turned into a midnight black, glaring at Jarod as he caught sight of the demon prince.
"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU SLOWLY NOW YOU BRAT!" He roared before coming towards Jarod at double the speed he had been going just minutes before. Jarod slowly stood up, hatred in his eyes as he glared freely at the quickly descending Pinsarar.
Then he took a step forward.
"Master," Katlyn began as they surveyed the miniature battlefield as they watched Jarod fight. "Are you sure he is ready for this?" Morina looked down at her apprentice with amusement twinkling in her eye.
"Have you come to care for the boy, Katlyn?" Katlyn fought the urge to roll her eyes, something Morina easily picked up as she began laughing.
"Please Master, even my standards aren't that low." Morina shook her head and forced herself to stop laughing.
"Realistically he will need to find a queen." Katlyn's eyes widened, her emotionless facade disappearing for a moment as she glared freely at her teacher.
"Realistically he's never going to take the throne." Morina shrugged, a thin smirk on her face.
"Don't say that yet, besides," Her eyes held knowledge that Katlyn didn't have, making the younger girl a little jealous but overall it was her master's duty, not hers. "Let's just see how he does against one of the Ten Gatekeepers, hm?"
"Pinsarar is the weakest but he is still strong. I don't think the prince can win this one." Morina waved off her student's concerns.
"We'll see. If he is able to beat Pinsarar then he is truly ready to experience Hell in all its glory. We need a prince who can defeat a Gatekeeper otherwise many demons will question the prince's ability to lead if he can't even defeat Pinsarar."
"Master look!" Katlyn exclaimed in a bewildered tone, her hand extended and pointing at Jarod. "What's going on with him?" Morina's eyes narrowed.
"This might not be so good."
Jarod took another step forward as he felt power surge through his veins as the tiniest of smirks crossed his face, the roots of his hair slowly shifting from white to dark grey before turning completely black as it began spreading to the rest of his hair. His eyes turned into his bright blue demons eyes before shifting into vermillion red demons eyes as his smirk increased in size.
"Do you know who I am?" Jarod spoke, but his voice wasn't like it used to be. It wasn't slightly timid or even in the same pitch of voice. His voice sounded rougher and deeper and held so much confidence that is halted Pinsarar in his tracks.
"What is this?" He said in a confused tone, though anger was still radiating off of him in waves.
"I won't ask again, do you know who I am? Who I truly am?" Pinsarar's eyes narrowed at Jarod.
"I don't care!" He suddenly roared as he hovered over Jarod, swinging his overly large sword overhead once more, trying to split the teen in half before it suddenly shattered like glass in his hand and he felt his body move ten feet backward.
His eyes widened in shock as he looked at the bladeless handle in his hand. "What the-" He began only to stop as he saw the boy in front of him once more, peering up at him with that arrogant smirk plastered on his face. "What is this?"
"An appetizer," Jarod answered before jumping into the air and backhanding Pinsarar back another ten feet. "For me.
Pinsarar huffed out steam as he roared, the ground shaking from the intensity of his volume before he charged Jarod again and cocked back his fist and shot it forward, trying to take Jarod's head off in a clean hit, only to stop as Jarod's hand easily caught his large fist.
"My name is Jarod, and I'm the son of Satan!" Jarod whispered venomously as ice suddenly began swirling around him like a hurricane but frozen. Pinsarar took a step back as he suddenly connected all the dots.
"Ice power, black hair, the same grey eyes, he truly is the son of Satan!" He breathed out before getting on his hands and knees. "Please Your Majesty, spare me!" Jarod walked over to him, the ice storm still forming behind him as he grabbed Pinsarar by his large chin with his left hand and tilted it up to meet his glowing red eyes.
"No," He whispered before the storm behind him suddenly came together and formed a sword in his right hand before he pushed it down, piercing Pinsarar's right eye and piercing whatever was inside his skull as he screamed in agony.
"Turn to nothing but ice!" Jarod hissed venomously as he grabbed Pinsarar's head in both hands as ice spread across the purple man's body before solidifying completely. He then took a step back and admired his handiwork with a grin before he busted into laughter, cackling madly.
His head turned to the direction of Katlyn and Morina walking to him. "Oh? Is this new prey for me to play with? He was my first toy yet he broke so easily!" He shouted while laughing hysterically as he looked at Katlyn. "Will you play with me?"
"I was afraid he had a dark side," Morina muttered before laying her hand on the hilt of her sword but stopped when Katlyn already pulled out her own sword, the metal being the same color as her eyes as she looked at Jarod with emotionless eyes.
"May I take him down?" Morina sighed.
"You're having a one-sided rivalry, my apprentice. Very well then. Fight but do not kill the prince, you're just subduing him." Katlyn nodded before rushing forward. Jarod saw Katlyn running towards him and his fingernails lengthened into claws.
"Good, let's play! If I win you die, if you lose you die!" With that, he rushed forward.