Chapter 1


It thrashed as I drove the sword deep into the cavernous heart of my enemy, the repugnant demon. It screamed in agony as it shook violently and finally died.

I looked down upon the dead demon and smiled in the glory of my conquest of the beast. Out of the blue, the ground began to shake severely. I stumbled onto my backside and, instinctively, chanced looking up. As I did, I caught sight of a monstrous demon, no doubt the boss of the one I had recently slaughtered.

It was taller than forty men put together, standing on each other’s shoulders, with some sort of huge stone thing on its back. It had an extremely long “beard” and was very…wide. Wider than two normal houses pushed against each other. It grunted and slung its weapon, a enormously-sized sledge hammer most likely, relentlessly downward at me. I scarcely dodged the assail and proceeded to ascend the fiend, attempting to reach its head, its fragile point.

Hazardously, I climbed the evil spirit, dancing gracefully out of the way of its grimy claws when they extended towards my feeble body, and to no avail, to reach my soft, yet able, penetrable skin. Quickly, getting a little leverage from its hirsute fur, I made it to the peak of the beast.

My katana glowed scarlet in the night, slowly turning to the shade white, then forming a rose at the grip and a thorn-like tip at the end. I mercilessly jabbed the newly updated sword into the hideous demon’s neck. It roared irately and swayed. I stabbed again and, with a whimper, it landed heavily on the ground below us, the earth grinding and breaking beneath. I leapt away from the monster and began to walk away, but a gritty paw gripping my leg told me it wasn’t dead yet. Or so it seemed.

Auras, of the colors black and purple, emanated from the demon’s corpse. It was lifted into the air and put back onto its feet by some invisible force. My eyes strained to see what had assisted the monster, of whom I was sure I had killed. For a split second, I saw a pair of glowing purple eyes from behind the monster and black strings tied to the demon’s arms, legs, and head.
So…I thought smugly, That’s what’s controlling him, hmm? Well, that shouldn’t be too hard to take care of.

I steadied my eyesight on a hazy location behind the dead demon’s head and pulled my bow from my pack. I also took out an arrow, which had a silver spiral like a screw to the end of it. I readied my arrow as the demon, or its demon master controlling it, lunged for me. I let fly my arrow and the invisible demon master screeched right before my arrow hit its mark, the center of its head. Instantaneously, after being shot, the demon master, or should I have said, mistress, became visible.

It, she, was a woman. My eyes narrowed as I saw the demon mistress’ grief-stricken face. This was not on the odd occasion to see a woman as an undead spirit, for many had been victimized and, not wanting to die, were altered unwillingly into these ghosts of the night. Undead spirits are mostly departed men, since the men in our present time were definitely lily-livered when it came to dying. Most women in my world knew what would happen later in life, as do men, but they accepted it. I squatted down before the dead woman, stroking her long, white hair.

Feelings of sadness and pity overwhelmed me as I thought of how hard it must’ve been for this woman, as it is for many women now. She still had her humanly features, as do the demon masters and mistresses who roam the lonely world of undead spirits.

There are two kinds of undead spirits. One, good spirits as they were in their human lives. Others, evil, as they were in their human lives. But unlike the repulsive demons, the spirits’ faces are beautiful. They are beautiful. The demons are not spirits. They are “resources” from the environment and formerly dead animals on the earth. Demon masters and mistresses have control over them.

I sighed as a white rose materialized in the palm of my hand. I laid it down onto the undead spirit’s chest and folded my hands together.
“Peace in death.” I murmured to the spirit and demon. Presently, they were dissolved into midair, destined to unite with the souls that had died with acceptance and had their lives taken away with no disturbance. I bowed my head in reverence for the dead.
Without warning, an arrow flew past my ear.

“Not so speedy on your recovery from a sending, are you, Nazunai?”

I turned hastily on my heel and bared my pointed teeth, hissing at whoever shot at me. My face relaxed as I heard laughing that sounded familiar.
I relaxed my stance and cocked my head. “Zen? That wasn’t funny at all!” I snapped, walking irritably up to my mentor, who was only about 3 years, my elder, as I was 16.

He held up his hands defensively and attempted to stifle his laughter, but couldn’t contain it for long and it burst into snorts.
“HA!!!” Zen shook with laughter. “I’m sorry…I shouldn’t be laughing at you, but…”
“But what?! And snorting is so not attractive.”
“Who said I was trying to be? And…your face was so adorable! It was meant to be fierce but it was so cute and tiny!”
I winced. “Cute and tiny?! That’s it, we’re taking you to the medical office back in Zainreir.” I shook my head and stalked off.
"How YOU ever ended up as a mentor I’ll never know!”

Zen stopped laughing long enough to catch up with me.
“Wait, Nazu! I’m sorry. It was just- never mind, I’ll drop it. Anyway, that was great! I wouldn’t have expected you to have what it takes to take on a string master, yet.” he smiled, clapping me on the back. “I was going to step in and help if you couldn’t get it.”
I glared at him. “Why didn’t you help before if you thought it necessary?!”
Zen shrugged carelessly. “Because I knew you’d be livid if I helped out.”
“NO I-” I blushed furiously.
Zen chuckled. “ I knew it! So, do you want to go eat something before we get back to Zainreir? You MUST be famished after that.”
“Covered in blood and dirt? I don’t think so!” I sighed, growing weary of Zen ignoring my appearance after a fight again.

Zen rolled then closed his eyes, muttering a spell.
“Be clean and neat, so next we may eat.”
At once, the crass mess that tarnished my clothes was cleared up as if it had never been there in the first place. I examined myself and gave a crooked smile as my stomach moaned.
“NOW we can eat!” I exclaimed contentedly, clapping my hands together.
Zen shook his head and jammed his hands in his pockets.
“Go on then. You can say the spell this time. Just say it, I‘ll decide the final place to get some grub.”
I nodded and mumbled the spell. “ Take us now to the feeding place, so we may finally eat in grace.”
Presently, a vortex of the tone white and yellow appeared in front of me, inviting Zen and I to step in.

From the outside of the vortex, you could see the destination that it would take you to. Zen jumped through the gateway just as I was going to walk through.
It was now my turn to roll my eyes. “Whatever happened to ladies first?” I mumbled, delicately stepping through the portal.