A cloudless sky stretched far overhead. A full moon glowed brightly above with the shimmering stars. A glowing cherry tree in full bloom stood tall among a field of deep blue lilies that stretched on forever. A boy with gray eyes and short, black hair was standing in the field, staring up at the tree and its blossoms. A gust of wind blew past him and the lilies all withered and disintegrated. The pure pink of the cherry blossoms suddenly started bleeding red and the sky turned crimson. Blood started to flow down the trunk of the tree, staining the now bare ground. It flowed slowly towards the boy, washing over his feet and ankles. The glow that had been so bright had turned ominous, covering the light of the stars and the moon until everything had turned a red hue. Something suddenly hit him on the head and he shot up in his chair. He was back in school. His classmates were all watching him. His teacher was standing next to him, angrily staring him down, with a brown binder raised just above his head.
"Class isn't nap time. If you aren't getting enough rest then stop playing those video games and go to bed sooner! Understand, Mr. Korrozak Zastaroth?" he growled.
"Right, sir. Sorry, sir." Korrozak apologized, rolling his eyes in his mind. The teacher nodded firmly before continuing down the aisle of desks. Behind him, a student with bushy brown hair and deep brown eyes smiled and snickered at him.
"Yeah, Korrozak! Stop sleeping in class!" the boy whispered with a teasing grin. Korrozak half turned around and gave him a light chop on the head.
"You're the reason I've been getting so little sleep, Theo!" he lightly hissed back. Korrozak then turned forward again with a little huff and leaned on his desk, looking out the nearby window at the little town before him. What a strange dream. It was spring and a friday. School was slowly coming to a close. When the last bell rang, Korrozak packed his stuff quickly and left. He started towards the general store. It was on the way home. He wandered for a bit, bought himself breakfast and dinner, then began his way home to his apartment. He was climbing the stairs when he heard familiar voices and stopped.
"Hey, did you hear? Apparently they found a demon hiding in our town again." A woman in a pink sweater and long skirt was standing on the landing above him. It was Syria, Korrozak's neighbor. She lived above him.
"Really?" A man was standing next to her. He had brown hair and was wearing a gray suit. His name was Vernan. He had moved into the apartment across from Korrozak last month.
"Apparently he had four wings instead of just two."
"What gives demons more than one pair of wings?"
"Who knows. It could be a lie. I've only ever seen a demon with more than one pair anyways."
"So who was the demon this time?"
"Sollovon."
"I didn't know him for long, but I knew there was something weird about that guy. Even his name is weird."
"Someone saw him with wings through his window. The poor guy got so scared he called the DMA and they took care of it on the spot."
"What do two paired demons look like?"
"He said one pair was normal bat-like wings while the other pair was like a black angel's wings."
"Strange." Korrozak clenched his teeth and walked up to the two. He put on a smile and raised a friendly hand.
"Hey! What are you guys talking about?" Korrozak called. Vernan turned towards him.
"Hey, we were just talking about the d-."
"-dream I had earlier." Syria interrupted, thrusting an arm in front of Vernan and wearing a hurried smile. "It was so weird. I imagined I was being chased through the sky by chocolate snakes riding cotton candy bunnies."
"That's all? I thought it was something more interesting and... realistic." Korrozak hinted.
"After I fell out of the sky, I landed on a tiger made of jello and then he stood up on his back legs and-!"
"Ok, ok. I get it! Next time you want to gossip, do it somewhere other than right in front of my door, ok?" Korrozak growled.
"Oh! Right, sorry." Syria and Vernan moved out of the way. Korrozak unlocked his door and stepped inside his house. He closed his door behind him. His apartment was dim without the lights on. It was a small, four room apartment. In front of him was the kitchen with a black fridge, sink, stove and oven, dishwasher and many different cabinets on the ceiling. To the left of that was the living room. It had a black couch with room for three people facing a TV on a short shelf against the opposite wall. Game controllers and consoles stood on the shelf under the TV. There was a small, comfy looking chair to the right of the couch, angled towards the TV. A soft, detailed rug sat underneath them. To the left of the TV was a white door where the bathroom was. To the right of the TV on the adjacent wall was the door leading to his bedroom. Behind him, Korrozak could hear Syria and Vernan's voices continue.
"Why did you lie?"
"You've only been here a short while, right?"
"About a month, yeah."
"You wouldn't know then. A demon killed his father and took his place in secret to feed off of him and his mother. Ten years ago, the demon was killed when robbers tried to break in and the demon revealed himself to protect his food source. The shock from learning her husband was a demon made his mother go crazy. I heard that she tried to drown Korrozak, then hung herself out of guilt. Now if you start talking about demons near him, he gets this evil look about him and is gloomy for the rest of the day. That's why we never talk about demons with him."
"Oh. It must've been hard living with an imposter for your whole life. Imagine the shock. Not to mention having to live with a demon-like name and his mother..."
"Those who saw the demon's body said it was covered in black ink-like blood"
"Not red?"
"No. He was brutally stabbed to death so you could tell."
"Serves him right." Korrozak clenched his fist and bit his lower lip.
"You don't know anything!" He hissed to himself. He slowly slid down the side of the door as the others outside rattled on about other things. He curled up in a ball and tuned out the other voices. He sat there a long while before he got hungry. He took a deep breath and stood up. He placed his keys on a hook near the door and took off his jacket, turned on the lights and threw the jacket onto his couch. He then set down his groceries in the kitchen and started pulling out kitchen utensils to start on his dinner. After he had dinner, he went into his bedroom and closed the door behind him. His bed was placed in the middle of the wall to his right. There was a single window with blinds and a windowsill on the wall opposite of him. There was a small cabinet in the lower left corner and a tall lamp in the top right corner. A long bookshelf filled with books covered the rest of the left side wall. There was a small nightstand with a single drawer just to the right of his bed, at its head. A small lamp stood on top of the nightstand, a digital alarm clock next to it, angled towards the bed. Twilit light shone in through the window, creating a small glow in the room. He let out a weary sigh and flopped down on his bed. He quickly fell asleep.
Korrozak woke up with a start. He was breathing heavily and sweating. He sat up and put a hand on his forehead before glancing at the window. It was night. He slipped out of bed and drowsily walked towards the kitchen for a glass of water. Once he had his water, he swished it around in the cup and thought about his nightmare. He let out a sigh. He then thought about Syria and Vernan and squeezed the cup. He froze. There was a quiet noise in the distance. He focused on the sound and realized it was a girl. The cries were faint, probably in the far parts of the town or farther, but they were there. He set his cup down, rushed to his room. He grabbed a mask from his nightstand drawer, a plain white mask that covered his entire face with only small, horizontal slits for the eyes, and donned a single pair of bat-like wings. His left wing was red while his right wing was black. His eyes changed colors to match with his wings. He raised his right hand and a black magic circle appeared in front of it. A foggy white opening appeared in the magic circle and Korrozak reached inside to pull out a shaggy black cloak and belt with small pouches. He swiftly threw the cloak and belt on and teleported out of his house. He hovered over his town and listened carefully to the silence of the night as he searched intently for the voice he heard. He swung his head this way and that in search of the girl he had heard earlier. Was I too late? He began to panic and searched harder when he heard the scream again. It was coming from the forest. He quickly flew over the forest towards where he thought he heard the scream. He stared between the leaves and branches and saw a young girl running from a wild black bear. The girl had long flowing orange hair. She was wearing a green hoodie and shorts.
The girl suddenly tripped on a root and fell to the ground. When she sat up, her face was covered in dirt and leaves. The bear loomed threateningly above her and raised a massive paw. Korrozak dived in front of the bear and guarded against its strike with his right arm, tearing his cloak and scratching his arm. He winced from the pain and threw the bear's paw off him. The bear took a few steps back as he reached towards his back and grabbed the hilt of a sword handle that appeared out of nowhere. As he pulled it, its sword and sheath materialized on his back. The sheath was black lined with lapis and covered in blue stripes that spiraled from top to tip. The actual sword was an ordinary looking shortsword. The blade and handle were black. The handle was wrapped in purple and cyan ribbons and the hilt was silver. The guard was shaped like diamond crystals and was colored dark blue. In the center of the guard was a bead with a crescent moon inside. The bear took a swing at him again and he parried it with his sword. He then swung and sliced it across the chest. It landed back on its front paws and growled at him. Zorrozak glared at it and let out a burst of magic energy. It flowed away from him in waves. Sensing its inferiority, the bear slowly backed away before turning and fleeing into the forest. Korrozak let out a relieved sigh, lowering his sword and suppressing his magic again. When Korrozak turned back to the girl, she was looking back at him with awe. She had a few scratches and what looked like a sprained ankle but other than that she was mostly untouched. She looked familiar, but through the mask he couldn't see her clearly. Korrozak let go of his sword as it, and its sheath, disappeared before reaching into one of the pouches on his belt. He pulled out a roll of bandages and proceeded to cautiously tend to the girl's injuries. As he did so, he noticed a camera hanging around her neck.
"May I ask what you were doing out here alone at night?" he asked the girl. His voice was slightly muffled by the mask. She stiffened and put on a nervous smile.
"Uh... well... I was doing a report on animals that live in this forest for a school project. I wanted to take a picture of the bear cubs while they were sleeping but I woke the mother by accident." she confessed. Korrozak sighed. He tore the extra bandages and put them away.
"You sprained your ankle. Will you be able to walk back to the village?"
"Yeah, yeah! Of course I ca-ouch!" She winced when she tried to stand up. Instead, she fell back to the ground. Korrozak bent down and offered his hand to her, which she took gratefully. He pulled her up and held her steady so she wouldn't have to put weight on her injured leg.
"It'll be hard. Do you want me to fly you back to the village?"
"Fly?"
"I'm a demon." Korrozak stated, flexing his wings a little.
"Oh, right." she suddenly seemed awkward.
"It wouldn't be much trouble."
"What if someone sees us? I could get into big trouble for associating with a demon without reporting them."
"It's ok. Everyone's asleep." he assured. She still looked nervous.
"Fine. But only this once!"
"Assuming you don't hurt your foot again."
"So you're going to come to my rescue everytime I'm in danger, o' masked knight in no shining armor?" she smiled, teasingly.
"I'd rather not have to come save you again. That would mean you've been staying out of trouble." Korrozak admitted. "Besides, there's usually a lot of people running around during the day, so as long as you keep your nightly trips to a minimum, there won't be a problem."
"You watch this village very closely. Do you live here or something?"
"You can say I took a liking to it." He walked behind her.
"If you're going to do anything weird, don't."
"What kind of demon do you take me for?" he giggled. "Get ready!" He scooped the girl off her feet and jumped into the air. The girl let out a squeal.
"Woah, woah, woah. This is too high!" she shouted.
"Relax, we're only a few dozen feet off the ground." he scolded. Once they reached the outskirts of the town he landed and set her gently on the ground. "Can you manage the rest of the way by yourself?"
"I'm a strong girl! I can manage!" she smiled, raising her arm to flex her feeble muscles. She leaned against the walls of nearby houses and slowly walked away. She turned around to say something, but he had disappeared. She stared at the spot where he had disappeared, then turned and limped into town and out of sight.
Korrozak had teleported back into his room. He took off his mask and cloak, flinching when the fabric brushed over the cut on his arm. He put the mask on his nightstand and stuffed the cloak and belt back into the magical subspace. He then turned and left so that he could check his injury in the bathroom. His bathroom was narrow. There was a sink with a cabinet underneath and a mirror above it on the right wall. The toilet was just past that and the shower was opposite the toilet, built into the wall. At the very end of the room was a washing machine and dryer, squeezed perfectly into the narrow room, with a cabinet above it.
Korrozak raised his arm and looked at the long scratch in the mirror. It was bleeding slightly but it didn't look infected or worse. He let out a sigh and walked over to the cabinet above the washing machine. He grabbed out a small, folded cloth, some ointment and some bandages. He took the cloth and soaked it in water, before wiping the wound clean, flinching from the sting, then opened the ointment and rubbed it over his battle wounds. He finished by wrapping it tightly with bandages. He put the supplies away and returned to his bedroom. Once inside, he collapsed onto the bed diagonally and peeked at the digital clock on his nightstand. It was already three in the morning. He was exhausted. He closed his eyes. I'm glad there's no school tomorrow. Soon, he was fast asleep.