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The demons were surprisingly weak, easily taken down, but where they lacked in vitality, they more than made up in sheer numbers. The four humans were quickly wearing out, becoming exhausted as the swarm of demons continued coming seemingly without end. One demon knocked down Horace and grabbed his throat and began squeezing. Horace choked for air only to have his neck released as the demon’s head hit the ground without his body thanks to an ax chopping him off at the neck. Speedy grabbed Horace’s hand and pulled him up to his feet.

The four were slowly pushed back into a corner. Speedy gripped his axe half way up the handle and charged into the middle of the crowding demons and spun, swinging his axe around and slicing the demons around him. The demons suddenly stopped and backed away from the family and made an opening. Speedy looked up to see they source of the suddenly change in actions. Another demon came down from the sky, but this one was different. Unlike the other demons, this one was seven feet tall and had a more humanized form.

Speedy forced himself to his feet, but was unexpectedly grabbed as the demon dashed at the boy and wrapped his hand around his neck before the teen had a chance to react. “So, little boy, it seems like you and your little friends are interrupting my pack’s feasting. Snacks like you should know their place.” The leader threw Speedy into the wall of the house, causing it to collapse and bury the boy under a mound of wood. “You may be able to take out my underlings, but I’m on a whole other level. Mere humans can’t kill me.” The demon raised his arm and shot a fireball out of his palm and ignited the piled of wood burying the boy. The demon turned to face the now terrified family. “Now you will all die.”

“Yes, you see, right now your body is buried under a pile of burning wood, being crushed and roasted at the same time. You are going to die. But, if you just let me take control, I can save your body.” “What’s in it for you?” “Control of your body of course. You see, those cuffs on your wrists don’t let us exist at the same time. We share one body on this world. If you are around, I can’t be. Same goes for the reverse. So just let go of your body and I’ll take care of those demons out there. Don’t worry, you’ll get your body back… eventually.” “So you’ll save Horace and the others?” “No.” “But-” “Listen, they are all going to die at the hands of the demons, shouldn’t you at least save yourself?” The demon stood mere feet away from the boy and looked down on him.

“No, you can’t just let them die! If you can kill the demons, then why can’t you save the others as well?” “Because I’ll kill everything and everyone I can! Don’t you get it? I want to see their blood paint the ground along with the blood of the demons.” “You're a monster!” “Shut up!” The red demon slammed the boy into the ground and hand him down with his giant clawed hand. “You don’t have a say in the matter! So what if they die? Save yourself. If you don’t give me control, not only will they die, but you will too. You can live, you can survive. Cut out the noble bullshit and save your own hide while you have the chance! If you don’t give me control willingly, I’ll take control by force! This is you last chance, just give in to the dark, release yourself, and let me take control! Now!” The demon pushed the boy into the dark plain harder.

The red demon lifted his leg over his shoulder and his foot became engulfed in flames. The orange demon rolled out of the way just in time to avoid being struck by the powerful blow as the red flaming leg came thundered down at his head. The orange one retaliated by shooting a fireball out of his hand at the red one. But the fireball did nothing but wash over the red demon. The red demon smiled his wicked smile and formed a fireball in his hand. It was obvious even to the boy watching from a distance, that that fireball was hotter and more intense than the one the orange demon shot moments before. The red demon hurled the fireball at his enemy, but the orange demon slapped the fireball out of the air and sent it flying out into the abyss.

The boy trembled in fear as he witnessed the battle of the two claimed Infernos unfold before him. The red demon unfolded his wings from behind his back and jumped into the air. The orange one engulfed his foot in fire and waited on the ground. The red demon extended his clawed hands and dove down at the waiting demon below. The orange demon waited until the red attacker was in striking range before performing a powerful roundhouse kick, arcing the fire that covered his foot. The red demon grabbed the foot and ankle before it made contact and swung the orange demon over his shoulder and slammed him into the dark plain.

The orange demon swung his free leg and slashed the red demon’s wrists with his foot’s claws, forcing the red demon to let go. The second Inferno pushed off the ground, back-flipping away from the red demon before he could have the chance to strike him again. The red demon rocketed towards him, but the orange one slid under his legs and slashed the red demons legs as he went. The red demon, obviously irritated at the sneaky attack, spun around for attack, but the orange demon sprung off the ground and executed a flaming uppercut, sending the red demon flying up in the air. The red one expanded his wings and stopped himself in midair. The orange demon, still high from his two successful blows to his foe, unfolded his wings and rocketed up after his opponent. The red demon used his powerful wings to thrust him down at the ascending orange beast. The two engulfed their whole bodies in fire and collided in midair. But the red demon’s superior strength and use of gravity proved to be much for the orange demon to overpower and the two demons slammed into the ground below, shaking the dark plain from the force.

The newly created partners were not given time to reflect on the agreement, as the red Inferno barreled at two in a fit of rage. The orange demon moved to intercept the red one’s assault but the red beast quickly sidestepped around him and came to halt in front of the boy. “You little insect!” the monster said before sending the youth flying with a powerful backhanded swat. The orange Inferno jumped and wrapped his arm around the red one’s neck attempting to get him in a choke hold. Without a moment’s hesitation, the red Inferno bent his knees before launching into the air with his orange assailant still choking him from his back. As the two came down, the red tilted back and grabbed the orange arm around his neck with his hands and held his twin in place as they approached the ground. The orange Inferno realized what the other was doing, but it was too late to escape. The two demons crashed to the ground with the orange Inferno on the bottom and the red demon pushed to crush his victim underneath. The compounded force knocked the wind out of the orange monster.

The red Inferno slid out from the winded Inferno’s chokehold and stomped his head into the dark plain repeatedly. He stopped and spun around in time to see the human charging at him like before, and roundhouse kicked him in the face. The red demon pinned the boy down with his powerful hand before he had the chance to get up. As the boy struggled under the red demon’s mighty grip, his golden cuffs touched the golden cuffs of the red Inferno, and the two were blasted apart by an unseen force. The momentarily safe allies got to their feet as the red demon cackled shortly with electricity. “You think this is over? I still have one more ace in the hole.” The red demon frowned and extended his left arm and opened his hand. His palm created a black aura which changed shape and formed a sword shape. The aura vanished and left the red demon holding a black sword that radiated pure evil. The red demon charged at the boy and swung his cursed sword.

The boy braced himself to be split in half but felt a foot impact his face and send him sailing out of harm’s way. The sword missed its target and slashed the left eye of the boy’s orange savior. The pain crippled the orange demon. “You got lucky, if you had gotten the full force of the blade, you’d be dead right now. Let me correct my error!” The red demon brought his sword over his head and swung for a fatal blow. But the boy jumped in-between the two demons and crossed his arms. The cursed sword touched the golden cuffs and disappeared instantly. “Damn those golden cuffs! I’ll rip off your hands and get rid of them myself!” The red demon swung his claws at the boy only to be caught by the orange demon, who overcame the pain during the teen’s distraction. The red demon was caught off guard and instinctively swung his other arm, but the orange Inferno caught that one too. The orange demon began to push the red Inferno towards the dark abyss.

The family of ranchers huddled together, holding onto each other in fear as the demon leader laughed maniacally. “Now that the boy is taken care of, it’s your turn.” The demon turned and faced the family, licking his lips. The demon walked slowly and casually towards the quivering family, taking his time, and savoring the moment. He bent down and stroked his long black finger across the daughter’s chin. “You look like the most tasty. Perhaps I’ll start with you.” Violet shrieked and embraced her father “Daddy!” Horace pushed himself up out of his daughter’s grasp and faced the head demon. “Please take me instead, just don’t hurt my family.” Horace pleaded. The head demon threw his head back and laughed. “You think you’re enough to please my entire army? No, you’re all going to die, so act like the snacks you are and accept your fate.”

The sound of moving wood was heard by everyone and they turned to see the broken burning pile of wood that was once a wall bend and move around. Everyone turned back to what they were doing; figuring it was just the burning beams breaking under its own weight and collapsing. That is, until they heard the noise again, louder this time. They turned again, this time to see a pillar of wood rise out of the burning heap. The wooden board was pushed aside as the human boy slowly rose out of the burning rubble. “That’s not possible! He should be dead! What going on?” the demon leader shouted.

The boy’s dark silhouette stood up in the light of the fire. His body began to shake uncontrollably. He bent over and cried out in pain as his body began to grow larger. Horns slowly protruded out from the sides of his head and curved upwards. The back of his shirt ripped open as two leathery wings pierced through the red fabric. His voice began to grow deeper and the cry of pain began to change into a roar. His face changed shape and grew longer. His once loose fitting shirt now tightened and fit to shape the new ripped abs. His muscles bulged out and his nails grew long and sharp until they were claws. The wings opened out and unfolded to full size. The fire burning around him grew larger and larger throughout the transformation. Finally, his face lit up as he lifted his head up-right and his deep blue eyes became surrounded in fire as they slowly opened up and the scar over his left eye shined red for a second. Suddenly the fire engulfing him vanished as the monster roared and created a small explosion, blasting away the debris around him.

“Wha-what are you?! You’re no human at all!” The demon leader stuttered as he pointed at the orange demon standing on top of the smoldering mound of broken wall. “I am Inferno, and now… you will all die!” the orange beast announced to the other demons.

“Impossible! There’s no way you single handedly wiped out my entire army. There’s just no way!” The demon leader shouted. “I just did.” Inferno stated as-a-matter-of-factly. The now only remaining demon grabbed Violet from the family and held his claws against her throat. “Don’t come near me! I’ll kill her!” the desperate demon threatened. “What makes you think I would care about that?” the orange demon asked flatly. The demon pulled his arm back and swung his claws at the girl’s neck. But before he could reach the skin, his hand was stopped by a crushing force. The demon looked to see what it was, and was shocked to see the orange demon now only a foot away, holding his wrist in a crushing grip. “Let go!” the demon screamed. “Sure.” Inferno swung the demon over his shoulder and threw him across the ground, watching as his body scrapped along the rocky soil before skidding to a halt. Inferno shoved the girl behind him back, knocking her down next to her family.

The demon leader scrambled to his feet and sprinted to put distance between him and his orange assailant. Inferno spread his wings and took off after him. The seven-foot black demon turned around and held his hands out into front of him. “You’re finished now! Twisted Torch!” green flames appeared his hands a slowly began to grow into a large green burning ball of flames as Inferno approached closer. “Now die!” The demon shot the ball at the orange monster in the form of a wicked green beam of fire. Once the beam faded, Inferno was on the ground, one knee on the ground, arms crossed to block the bulk of the attack.

He was covered in scorch marks and was smoking lightly as he slowly rose to his feet. “Ha, can’t handle a taste of your own medicine, eh? Well then, let me finish you off! Twisted Torch!” The demon regenerated his attack and shot another beam of green fire. Inferno tilted his head back as the attack hit his body. He took the damage for a few seconds before throwing his head forward and unleashing a massive ball of bright blue fire that cut through the beam like it wasn’t even there and collided with the black demon at the tail of the beam, exploding on impact.

The explosion launched dirt and debris into the air, hiding the two demons in a smokescreen like dust cloud. As the dust settled, the two demons stood motionlessly for several seconds, before the black demon fell forward and hit the ground like a marionette cut from its strings. His body was charred to the bone and still smoldering. The orange demon walked casually to the burnt corpse before plunging his clawed hand through the back to where the heart was. His scar shined red for a second, before he pulled his hand back out of the body. “Stupid weakling. I’m Inferno… the ultimate fire demon.” He turned to look at the family, who were half relieved and half terrified. Inferno took one step towards them and the girl grabbed her parents and began crying in fear.

Inferno looked to the east and saw the black night sky begin to turn dark blue as the sun prepared to rise over the horizon. The orange demon turned around and took off in a blast of fire and flew west as fast as he could. The family sat huddled on the ground, surrounded by the destruction from the battle, left alone with each other, alive.

Ch.27: Matter of Survival

The impact from the downwards attack blasted a depression into the middle of the corn field, and the sun rose into the sky. As daybreak arose, the first beams of sunlight rained down on the smoke that rose out of the freshly-made crater. Nearly a minute later, a hand grasped the edge of the crater. The hand dug into the dirt as it pulled up the body it belonged to, the human body it belonged to. The boy pulled his smoking body out of the hole; his clothes gone, but his body intact. “I can’t believe we made it!” the young man bellowed. Looking down the boy realized is clothes had vanished. “What the-? Where’d my clothes go?” The boy looked around the cornfield for something to cover up with. Granted he was alone, but it was still uncomfortable for the youth.
Minutes of searching later, the boy spotted a scarecrow. He ran over to it and bowed. “I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to take these.” The boy quickly disrobed the scarecrow and put on the clothes himself, after doing his best to remove as much straw as possible. The boy staggered through the rows of corn as best he could, but he was exhausted. “So tired… I can’t even tell if my legs are still moving.” The boy mumbled as he walked. “I think I better rest.” He said before falling over on a few corn stalks and falling asleep before even hitting the ground. It wasn’t until the day was nearly over that the boy finally woke up. Looking up at the sky, he saw the sun getting ready to set in the west. “No way! It’s already sunset?!” The boy freaked out as he realized he had slept the entire day away.
He looked around at the corn field. The silent sunset was interrupted by the gurgling of the boy’s stomach. He felt bad about taking more from the farm. After being saved by the ranchers, getting Horace hurt from the bull, and destroying so much during the night last-night, not to mention stealing the clothes off the scarecrow, taking corn seemed like he was sucking the family dry. But his stomach wasn’t so sympathetic, and as a matter of survival, the boy plucked corn from the stalks. He barely managed to husk the first corn before sinking his choppers into the raw vegetable. It wasn’t a tasty meal, but ravenous hunger pushed him into devouring the starchy meal. Corn after corn, the boy filled his empty stomach to the brim. Finally he sat down full, and looked at the tiny crescent in the sky.

The boy followed the river upstream for a full day, the loneliness and quiet was insufferable. Even the voice of the demon that possessed him would have been welcome relief, but the voice was not heard. The only sounds to be heard were the occasional howls of gust and the constant trickling of the river that led the way. The boy was grateful for the grassy terrain under foot, having no shoes to protect his feet, but wished he had something to eat. Finally, on the horizon, he spotted a forest. “At last” he yelled, “a change in scenery.” The boy was overjoyed to see the tree line. His stomach growled loudly. The one ear of corn served as yesterday’s meal, but knowing that the forest offered much to eat, his thoughts turned to getting something in him. The grass licked his feet as he took off in a full sprint, charging towards to the forest. The wind blew back his hair as he followed the river to the forest’s edge.

It was nearly day’s end before he reached the trees, he had to walk most of the way, having misjudged the distance to the forest. A bush of berries welcomed the starving youth and was quickly stripped free of all it’s bounty. The berries stained the boy’s mouth, but outlined the smile of satisfaction that covered his face. The forest was far more dynamic than the grassy plains. The sounds of chirping birds decorated the woods. The smell of trees cleaned the air, removing the last scent of cow patties that still lingered in the boy’s nose. The last of the sunlight glistened through the forest cover. The taste of wild-berries still flooded the boy’s mouth. But without shoes, the sticks and stone that coated the forest floor were not such a welcome sensation.

The boy found a soft pile of moss and decided to rest for the night. Exploring an unknown forest in the dark of night without shoes was not such a good idea. Grabbing a few leaf-covered branches, the boy covered himself as he lay down on the cushiony moss. Hopefully the leaves would shelter him from the cold… and hide him from whatever roamed the forest at night. Content with his thrown together bed, the boy fell into peaceful sleep.