The world was divided into three parts, normal, magical, and demon world. Each world is filled with its own people and unique ideas. At first, these worlds lived separately from each other with a certain level of autonomy and self-sufficiency.
Then, the normal and magic world made contact. The normal world wasn't as advanced as the magic world but had skilled workers in areas like metalworking and construction. Mirroring our world, these two nations began to trade with each other and began overlapping greatly.
But around 50 years after that, the demon world made contact. Demons were vicious and savage creatures who rampaged through civilizations, eating humans. The more humans they ate, the more healthy they got.
Originally, they had a short lifespan in this world, only around 300 years. This sounds long, but it was mostly supplemented with magic. However, humans contained a certain protein that the demons needed, and their lifespans increased to an absurd amount of years, but averaging around 800.
A great war was fought between the normal and magic world versus the demon world. As powerful as the demons were, most types had an Achilles heel. And most of them weren't that imaginative, leading to easy defeats but great losses in numbers for humans.
A decade later, the seven demon leaders and diplomats from the newly combined normal and magical world met. A peace treaty was signed, stating that demons would remain in their own lands so long as the human world supplied them with human bodies that were already dead.
This treaty was successful, leading to a new era of peace. Of course, there was the occasional demon rebellion, but they were independent.
Or that's how the story goes.
It was late at night, and I was in the library reading texts about this world. Leo and Hanson were sitting at the entrance of the library, taking shifts.
After reading the sixteenth book, I was incredibly frustrated. My hands ran through my hair for what seemed like the millionth time. All the books I read had differing information.
No one could agree on why the demons attacked, when they attacked, and how they reached the lands. Information about battles was also scarce and conflicting. Basically, no one had any idea.
The story above was the best conclusion that I could come up with, but the lack of concrete information irked me. Like why did the demons initially attack the humans? They knew nothing about them. Not to mention the conflicting accounts of motives.
I sighed in annoyance as I finished reading the book. I put it on the side with all the other books I looked at. I took the last book in the pile and began reading it again.
It had even more conflicting information, causing me even more confusion. I kept reading through for a few minutes before the door to the library opened.
The creaking of the door cut through the silence of the library and startled me. I heard Leo's sword unsheath and slice through the air.
I turned over to the door to see Leah standing there with a sword to her throat.
"Oh great god, smite the evil witch!" I said sarcastically before facing her.
"Hey sis," I called out playfully. Leo quickly took the sword away and bowed. "No need to indulge her, Leo."
"Brother," Leah began. "What are you doing in the library?"
"Reading. There's not much else to do here," I said, pointing to the books. "What are you doing?"
She coughed before speaking. "You're needed."
"For what?" I asked with a gleeful smile. "'You're' implies that you need me, but are too ashamed. So let's hear it."
"It's Alex. He wants you," She said, meeting my gaze. Her eyes showed frustration at my behavior. "He can't sleep because he's afraid that father is going to die."
"Of course he is," I said with a sigh. I closed my book. "And you, Dominick, or Addison couldn't get him to sleep."
She nodded her head. "He kept asking for you," She said disdainfully.
"Lead the way."
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We were standing in front of Addison's room. From what I was told, Alex went to Addison, who went to Leah, and finally Dominick.
"I'm still not sure what you expected Dominick to do," I told Leah. He wasn't exactly a nice guy.
"It was worth a shot," She said.
"No, you'd rather go to Dominick on the low chance that he could be nice rather than go to me, the person who he's been asking for," I told her bluntly. I opened the door before she could respond.
Alex was pacing around the room while Dominick and Addison were sitting.
"Zack!" Alex exclaimed before coming up to me.
"Hey Alex," I said gently. "Why don't we go to bed?"
I put my hand on his shoulder and led him to the bed.
"So what's got you worried?" I asked, even knowing the answer.
"I-I'm worried about father," He said. "I-I keep having nightmares of him dying."
"And?" I asked.
"I just keep thinking about what happens if he dies," Alex said, his voice started breaking. "Last time, he came home severely wounded. And I keep getting worried that I'll never see him again."
I took a moment to process what he said and come up with a good approach to calm him down. I gotta say that this event made my respect for therapists go way up.
What could I even tell him? There's a chance he'll die, but there's nothing we can do about that. Alex was an optimist, so telling him that would've made him go into denial. This would've led to more headaches.
I weighed several options before I settled on a classic approach.
"Do you want to hear a story?" I looked him in the eyes. He nodded his head.
"Well, this story takes place in a land far away called Italy. A beautiful nation that was taken over by fascists."
"What's a fascist?" Alex asked.
"Think of fascists as people that take away other people's freedoms and make them live in fear," I explained.
"Fascists took over Italy through violence. It was a time of uncertainty. But, there were some who stood up against them, just like our dad is standing up for us right now," Everyone in the room was looking at me and listening to the story.
I chuckled, reminiscing about the hundreds of times I've heard this story before.
"Italian partisans, or partigianos as they were called, were brave heroes who fought against the fascists. They fought many battles throughout their plight, but one victory stands out as one of the most important in their movement. It was the liberation of the city of Verona."
"Verona had been under fascist rule for a long time. The liberation of Verona was a strategic win, but just as important, was a symbolic win."
"Symbolic win?" Addison asked.
"Verona, having a rich historical and cultural heritage for Italy, was used to execute Partisans. It sent as message that the old way of thinking was gone, and that anyone who resisted would be faced with death," I explained.
"The partisans worked with other nations and eventually liberated it from the fascists," I said, facing Alex again. "Some of their families never saw them again, but they helped save several other families. Our dad is doing the same thing, risking his life for thousands of other people."
"But still, he could die," Alex said.
"But imagine all the other people that could die if he remained home," I said. "Are you valuing yourself above them?"
"N-no, but-"
"But even if you worry, that won't change anything. It'll only make things worse."
Alex remained silent for minutes, curled up on the bed.
"Is he sleeping?" Leah asked.
"Yes, yes he is." I said, standing up. "Well, I guess my work here is done. Good night peeps."
Dominick opened the door and started to leave, and I followed right behind him. I didn't see Hanson or Leo when I walked out, however. Were they in the library?
If so, too bad. I was tired from all the reading I did and walked down the long hallway to my room. I turned the handle and entered my dark room.
When I entered, I couldn't help but feel on edge. The silence felt deadly, a stark difference from the silence in the library. Furthermore, Hanson and Leo weren't there. Maybe I just got used to them, so I shrugged it off.
But something still felt off to me. Like a deer in headlights, a prey in the eyes of a predator. Where were they?
I started getting jittery and looked around the room while slowly walking to my bed. Was I imagining things?
My eyes traveled across the room until they eventually reached my closet. I tilted my head, and to the side, I saw a small black figure in between the closet and the wall.
I quickly took my sword out from under my bed and shoved some items in my pockets. I slowly began to back up towards the door, not taking my eyes off.
"Ah, looks like you caught me," A sound echoed from the cabinet. The black figure stepped out from his hiding spot.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"The last face you'll ever see," The figure said with a blood-curling grin. He looked around thirty, with black hair and clothing. "Goodbye, Zack Zephyr."
He took out the sword from his side and held it in front of him. Black smoke started spreading out from where he was standing. He started to motion for me to move forward.
"Guards!" I yelled out, but the sound just reflected back.
This left me with one thought, 'Is this the end of me?'