#1 The Aftermath Of The Apocalypse

Chapter 35: Understanding The Past

"Bring it kid." Alexander said.

I lifted my chains and swung them around and over my head as a lasso. In the blink of an eye, Alexander suddenly appeared behind me, grabbed my chains and slammed me to the ground.

"How are you this fast?" I asked. "You don't get it, do you? I had these abilities longer than you, I had practice, unlike you idiots fooling around with this amount of power!" Alexander said still keeping a grin on his face.

Luke quickly whipped around Alexander's body and swung him over and onto the ground.

"That was good, now let me show you the true power of a Blood Demon." Alexander said.

With a raise of one finger, Luke and I were just blown away down the street. Alexander then cuts his wrist and drops lots of blood. He raised his hands and the blood began to rise aswell.

"Blood Puppetry!" Alexander said. The blood was then shot towards us and hits only our shoulder.

"How are you doing this?" I said. "By concentrating. Since you and I are Blood Demons, we can do this at will and that is why we are ranked below Death Demons!" Alexander said.

With more motions of his hands, he was able to control our movements. Alexander made us rush at Tom and as soon as we were going to strike, green flames rose from the ground.

"Flame Uproar!" Luke said.

"How are you able to move?" Alexander said. "While you talked with Chris about Blood Demons, you didn't notice me freezing time and removing the blood you shot at us, so you never hit me." Luke said.

Luke summoned his bow and arrows, and shot an arrow at Alexander. As the arrow almost hit him, Tom tackles down Alexander and then punches him many times to the face.

"You...*punch* won't...*punch* hurt them...*punch* anymore!" *punch* Tom said.

Alexander was out cold, no movement was shown except for his breathing.

"Earth Casket." I said as I was released from his blood ability.

I lift the ground up and grab him down, leaving his head up for air.

"Tom, are you alright? Do you need me to call Max over here?" I asked. "Don't change the topic!" Tom said, still furious. "Huh?" I asked. "The Ritual! When were you going to tell us you were participating in something that will leave dead!" Tom said. "Oh, uhmm."

"We were going to participate just for fun." I said. "Fun!? You think joining something that could kill you would be fun?!" Tom said. "Well it doesn't matter now because now that you know about it, you're going to tell Max and he obviously won't let us go in!" I added.

"Hey, hey, take it easy on the kid, would you." Alexander said. "You stay out of this!" Tom said even more furious. "No, you shouldn't get mad at them, get mad at me, I'm the one who influenced them." Alexander said.

"How do I trust you, of all people?" Tom asked. "You don't have to trust me, just let me free and I'll be headed off for The Ritual, I won't do anything stupid." Alexander said. I let him free from the ground and following his words, he walks off in silent.

"Now, I won't tell Max unless you join The Ritual, deal?" Tom said. "Deal." I said. "Come inside, it's getting late." Tom added.

"What about your wounds?" I asked. "Oh these, don't worry about it, I had worse without anything to heal me." Tom said.

"What 'did' Alexander do to you to lose your trust?" Luke asked. "We go way back, when we were about your ages!" Tom responded hesitant.

"It was just us four doing what any teenager does in school. One was the leader, one would always get into fights, another would get all of us in trouble, and the last one was the smart one. Can you guess who fit in the roles?" Tom said.

"Max was the leader, Sean would get into fights, Alexander was the trouble maker, and you were the smart one." Luke said. "Close, I started fights and Sean was the smart one." Tom said.

"But Alexander was always into demon stuff. He would always figure out how to be one, until senior year of high-school... He figured it out. He came to school with his hair color and his eye color all different, and I knew something wasn't right." Tom said.

"What did he do?" I asked. "Alexander would always push us around and pick on anyone, even the principle. Max and I wanted to know how he was able to turn into a demon, but he never told us until he left. He gave me the instructions and asked me to join him, but I declined. He left in rage and destroyed everything in his path." Tom said.

"I don't get it, how did he lose your trust?" Luke asked. "Because he tried to kill us in school property. He called us weak, and pathetic out of no where." Tom said.

"That's not the full story." Alexander said on the doorway. Luke and I all jolted up and were shocked we didn't notice him.

"I thought you were leaving?" Tom said. "I came back to apologize, but I also overheard you guys talking about me, so I stayed quiet and listened." Alexander said. "Why do you care then?" Tom asked. "Because I wanted to hear what you were going to say about me, but you forgot one detail." Alexander added. "And what was that?" Tom asked.

"It was my first time with the ability and I couldn't control it, that Alexander that threatened you and picked on everyone, yeah that wasn't me." Alexander said.

Tom stayed quiet.

"I... I'm sorry... I thought you were egotistical and you thought everyone was just an ant." Tom said. "It's fine, and for the years I was gone, I was able to control it." Alexander said. "But now I'm headed off, I will see you guys after the ritual." Alexander added. "Goodbye and goodluck." Tom said. "Thanks."

As Alexander left, Tom looked upset.

"Are you okay?" I asked. "No, I'm not okay, I thought he was the bad guy this entire time, now I feel like the bad guy." Tom said. "Hey it's okay, he forgives you, don't feel so hard on yourself." I said.

"Look, I know you feel horrible right now, but you need to let go of the past, he isn't the same person from before. You shouldn't blame yourself even after he forgived you." I said. "I understand, but I still feel horrible." Tom said.

I slap him. "Did you not hear what I just said?" I said. "I heard you but don't hit me as if I was Luke." Tom said. "That's offensive!!" Luke said from down the hall, coming out of the bathroom.

"Anyways, it's really late, Jade is going to be worried where I am, so we're going to head back home." I said. "Alright, fly safe you two." Tom said. "We will!" Luke said.

We both head back home but the night was quiet, a bit too quiet. There were no cars driving and all the street lights were flickering.

"That's weird." I said to myself.

We arrive home and Jade was in the living room watching some movies.

"Took you long enough, what happened over there at Tom's?" Jade said. "There was a friend reunion with one of Tom's old friends and it got a bit too hectic." I said. "What about The Ritual?" Luke added. "Don't worry, I have an idea. We make clones of ourselves, we did it once when we tried to save your soul from ZOZO." I said.

"Clones!? Teach me now!!" Luke said. "Just think of yourself, then imagine splitting and boom, a clone." I said.

Luke and I make our clones and instruct them not to say where we are, and to act just like us in a normal day.

"Okay then, we're headed off, if I don't come back, tell my parents I love them." I said. "I will, be safe." Jade said.

"Let's go." I said. "I'm ready." Luke said. We both head to The Ritual's location and on our way there, we see many Half Demons and Demons headed to The Ritual.

"We're here, The Grand Canyons, where The Ritual begins." I said.