Chapter 3
"Spellflash, are ya' okay!?!" Joel exclaimed as I hit the ground. "Yeah, I'm fine, I even took out a demon before I left." I proclaimed proudly, holding up both demon eyes as I said it. "I bet ya' think ya' are some kind of hotshot now, huh?" Joel replied sarcastically, but with a smile on his face. "What've ya' got here?" He said, pointing at the pile of demonic artifacts on the ground.
"Oh, I'm not sure. After I killed the demon, I went into his house and grabbed some important looking stuff, then used the paper to return back, making sure to focus on what I wanted to take with me this time." I told him, my mouth curving upwards towards the end of my sentence. "Heh, I suppose ya' heard me before the spell took ya' through the portal."
"I'm mighty impressed at ya' Spell, ya' took out a full-fledged demon an-." I cut him off. "Uhm, actually, I killed a young demon..." "Ya' what...? Oh, no. This isn't good a-tall." He said sadly. "So, what's so bad about it, Joel? I got out of there before any demon even noticed I was there." "Yes, but ya' took some of their treasure, which they can track!" Joel almost shouted at me. Feeling guilty, I looked at the trinkets on the ground. Now that I knew it was valuable, part of me wanted to know how much it was worth. Another part of me was worried because like Joel said, it could be tracked.
"If they can track it, then why aren't they here yet?" "Well, in the Nether-plane, I believe it is still mid-day, so I figure that the parents of the demon ya' killed will be home from hunting in ah few hours, which means we have to prepare." "We're going to fight them?!?" I gasped, "I barely got through a fight with a baby. I don't even think I can scratch an adult demon!" Joel laughed lightly. "Like I said before, ya' will have me. Unlike last time." He winked.
I trusted him. He was a professional Demon Hunter. I mean, he *had* killed demons with my dad on a regular basis. Hopefully, we would be able to fend off the demons when they arrived.
I gulped at that thought. Thrown into this life of being a Demon Hunter, and I could die in a few hours... Shrugging off my doubt, I decided to help Joel prepare. "Okay, you're the boss, what do we do to prepare?" I inquired. "Well, considering I don't know the lineage of the demon kid ya' slew, I'm not sure what we will be up against." "Gather up all the artifacts ya' stole, and follow me." I scooped up the ebony statues and proceeded up the stairs. "Um, I don't suppose you saw her while ya' were there, did ya'?" "Sorry, no, I didn't. I feel kind of bad now, I was caught up in the battle and just left, I didn't mean to, I wasn't thinking. Sorry Joel."
I felt a tear forming, but held it in and faced him. "It's okay Spell, ya' are still young. To be honest, I didn't expect ya' to return a-tall. I don't know what I would have done if I lost..." He cut himself off. I knew what he was going to say, but didn't push it. "It'll be okay, Joel. After this fight, we can rest up and go find her together." I said sympathetically. He lowered his head, and I saw a teardrop fall from his cheek. He brushed at his eyes with a foreleg. "Ah hope so Spell, I really do."
We reached his living room and crossed the floor to the back door. After he opened it, he stepped through, and held it open for me, considering I was carrying a bunch of statues. We came outside to a large backyard. I knew Joel was a farmer, but I had no idea he had this much time on his hooves. Everywhere I looked was a patch of vegetables or fruits. Extremely impressed, I said, "Wow! Your garden is amazing." "Eeyup. I've had quite a lot of time since ah retired from huntin' demons. Though, ah still train just in case." Suddenly, he gestured past a field of wheat to what looked like a large demon circle. I hadn't expected Joel having that large of a demon circle, or that it would be out in the open.
"Place them in tha' middle." I trotted over to the circle, and placed the objects into the middle, like he said. "Now, since we got lucky, and yuh special talent is demon magic, flip to page twenty-six, and learn the spell." He said, tossing a book to me. First, I looked at the cover. It had a picture of a demon using magic under large scripted letters that said Demonomicon. I snorted, "What a strange name to call a book." I thought to myself. I did what he asked and flipped the page to see a spell about unlocking demon artifacts. I raised an eyebrow at him as I glanced over the page. "So, you can open these things?" I asked. "Eeyup. They usually hold some kind uh, stored demonic energy. The demons will siphon off extra reserves of power into it, kind of like a magic battery." I suddenly realized what he wanted me to do. My heart almost burst out of my chest with excitement, as I read over the spell.
"You want me to take the demon magic out of them into my own body, to supercharge my magic ability?" I asked, trying to confirm my suspicions. "Exactly, Spell. But, the thing is if ya' absorb too much energy at once, it could have some nasty side-effects." Pausing, I looked over the spell one last time before reaching into my magic power reserves and carefully drew a magic circle in my mind and placing it under the artifacts, just as the spell told me to do. This time, I put the demon words for "absorb", "circle", and "unlock". The demon words were on the page, clearly visible to me. I read them out loud, "Idu'ytd, Eu'teno, Ap'nyem" The circle formed above the statue and wobbled for a second, before solidifying under it. Joel was surprised that I knew the words and could form a demon circle so quickly.
Slowly, I released the spell and the magic power came flooding into my body. Some of the magic I absorbed had memories attached to them. Images flashed through my mind and my vision started to blur. I saw a crown, royal looking clothing, and a huge palace. I cut the spell before falling to the ground. "Wha' happened? Ya' only absorbed a quarter a tha' energy." Joel said, a little panicked. "Uhm, we may have a problem." I told him about the images in my mind and he took on a serious expression. "It looks as though we will need reinforcements, Spell." He said, angrily. "Tha' demon ya' killed, he was royalty."
I was speechless for a few seconds, then said. "So, what do we do then?" "Like ah said, we gotta gather up the family, we got a full-scale war coming for us. Sooner or later, the demons will get angry and creative enough to make a new spell to cross back over into our Plane." I stared at him with a blank expression. "I started this. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean it, I was just defending myself." I said starting to cry. "I know ya' feel bad about this, but there's nothing we can do now, besides defending our world." Joel said sternly.
"Get back to absorbing tha' magic, we need ya' at yer strongest to prepare for war." Nodding, I went back to the pile of hardly-drained magical artifacts, and channeled another circle under it, like before. This time, intent on doing it all at once. Bad idea. I absorbed all the excess energy at once, my eyes blurred, I fell over, and passed out.
"..flash! Spellflash! What the hell were ya' thinking! Damn it, wake up!" Joel was screaming at me. We were back inside, just like this morning where I was on the bed and he was across from me. Though, I remember this morning having a lot less yelling. Rubbing at my temple with a foreleg, I slowly got up into a sitting position. "Sorry Joel, you said we needed to get me as powerful as possible before we're invaded. So I took the rest of the power in one big gulp." I said a little bit to arrogantly. "Yeah, but I didn't expect ya' to do that, ya' may have contracted a demon illness or something, taking in all that energy at once." He said with concern. "Actually," I said, "I feel great. I think you were just messing with me when you said that."
Suddenly a book appeared in my mind and flipped itself to a page I haven't seen before. It was the same book that had shown me how to use my Demon Hunter Swords. It finally stopped on a chapter page entitled "Ranged Weapons". Then flipped a few more, as if stopping there had been a precursor to what was going to happen next. Stopping on a page with a crossbow in the middle of it, i looked towards the top. It said "Crossbow". It showed me the necessary words to summon my new weapons and I was thrown back into reality.
I must have looked deep in thought, because after I snapped out of it, Joel looked at me again with concern and a bit of pride. "Wha' did ya' see?" He asked. "Uhm, I have a question," I paused for dramatic effect. "Can I have more than one Demon Hunter weapon? Because a book in my head flipped to a crossbow page, and I know how to do the sword one already." He gasped. "I knew yer special talent was demon magic, but I didn't expect this! Ya' combination of yer mother's and father's magic power must be pushing ya' to yer limit." He paused, thinking about this new discovery. "By all means, try it out." He said.
I chanted "Fain" as I channeled new-found magic energy into my bracelets. The gems in the sockets started to morph, like before with the demon swords, and this time, changed into a pair of small crossbows, one on each bracelet, already primed with a bolt.
Joel gasped again. "Wow, I suppose ya' are..." He said as his voice trailed off. "I'm what?" I said, a little scared, but curious. "It seems, ya' can absorb power from those Magic Batteries, and gain other abilities with the power. So, I'd suggest doing it as often as possible, but don't overexert yerself while ya' are in hostile territory." I nodded enthusiastically. I was going to be one kick ass Demon Hunter.