Demonic Hollow: Mask of Courage - Season Two: Behind The War

Episode Three - Him

An endless void. Nothing but darkness surrounds the area. Ryu's eyes open gently. His ears ring softly, his head feels heavy. He groans, shaking off the last of the dizziness. "You're finally awake," says a voice from afar. Ryu looks around, but sees no one. "Don't be afraid, you're perfectly fine. You're in a coma, if you will. Your body sleeps, but your mind doesn't. This is Coma," the voice explains. Ryu tries to speak, but his voice does not travel.

"I'm afraid you are incapable of speaking. Don't fret, you won't be asleep for long, the world needs you," the voice continues. Ryu stands, brushing himself off. "There was a raid, if you did not remember. Humans, you believe. It's unfortunate, there aren't many survivors." Ryu was afraid to hear that. "Your body is hidden underneath rubble from the explosions. Laurene searches for you, but is unable to find you. That is why you must wake up, find her, find your people, and get revenge."

Laurene taps the table she sat at, the other survivors speak amongst themselves, leaving her to be a cast-off. She sighs, laying her head on her arms. There wasn't much that could be done at this point, Ryu was still missing, and there was too few survivors to do anything meaningful.

She sat up, turning her eyes to the group, they seemed happy as they got to know eachother better than before. They were all demons, and they all seemed very comfortable with eachother. Laurene was envious. There was a brief pause in time, before a sudden explosion could be heard.

The house shook, it felt close. Laurene stood swiftly, running to the door, opening it just as fast. There was a helicopter above the town, and hundreds of armed men filtered down into the caverns. Laurene's face goes pale. She looks back to the survivors, opening her mouth to speak, but an explosion occurs right in front of the house.

The spell remained, but the damage done was noticeable. The shockwave sent Laurene flying, back into the house. The others saw her and immediately looked outside, fire and smoke clouded the view.

Laurene sat up, holding a hand to her head, she got a concussion. The others quickly help her up. She retrieves the stun-stick from before, activating it. Preparing for the worst. Several footsteps could be heard approaching, Laurene's nerves were struck, she lost focus, and became anxious.

A few clanks of an object alerted her, she looks down, a stun grenade had been thrown into the house. Her eyes widen as she begins to run to the others before it activates, but she was too late. A loud bang, along with a flash of light, stuns the group, and Laurene. She trips and falls.

Men rush in, bullets fire and zip past Laurene. She heard flesh being torn, blood splattering. She feared the worst. She recovered quickly, yelling, "STOP!!!"

The bullets ended. Silence. She opens her eyes, and then...they widen. "It's you..." she says quietly.

There stood Ryu, all the bullets sliced and diced laid beside him. His magic sword in his hand, a furious face stunned the armed soldiers. With the blink of an eye, Ryu appears before the men, drawing his leg back, kicking all of them out of the house. Laurene tears up, "you're here..." Ryu turns to her, giving her a warm smile, "glad to be back."

He turns back, his face grows serious. He exits the house, and into the wasteland. "Sir, we've got visual on the demon leader Ryu, how should we proceed?" The radio clicks in response, "he's alive?! Damn...I was hoping we got him in the first attack, this could be a huge problem." Ryu walks into the empty field, hundreds of soldiers surround him.

"What are you all doing back here? Was the first carnage not enough for you?" He asks, his head down, sword across his back. The men remain silent. Ryu chuckles, "okay, fine. Are you ready?" He bends his knees, slowly moving his blade to the front of him, entering some kind of battle stance. All of the men raise their arms, targeting him.