GENESIS

CHAPTER 4: DEMON PRACTISE

'Straight!' My coach yelled. His name was Berkley, which definitely didn't suit him as he was incredibly aggressive and not soft. He always had spittle flying from his lower lip, and had really light blue hair which looked like icicles. I groaned and straightened my back, drawing my sword. He was by my side, fixing up my position.

'Your sword hilt has to be level with the end of your palm. Your elbows have to be higher,' He adjusted them to an uncomfortable position, 'Now lunge. Impale the dummy!' He yelled. I poked at the moving robot, which dodged my first blow but got hit by my second. I practised more and more until I couldn't breathe anymore, but near the end, Berkley said, 'Time off.'

I sat down on the bench and wiped my face with my towel. He walked up to me, drinking from his green bottle and smiling.

'You're one of my best students.' He said. I doubted that. 'I'm nearly 200 years older than you,' I mouthed with my hands, and he spat out his water in disbelief. He stood there goggling at me for a while, and that's when I realised I had to tell him about my inner demon.

'I have a... soul inside of me. I can control it a bit, but that's because I cut out my tongue. Now I have almost no control,' I spelled out, sighing, 'could you... train it? Because I don't need to learn how to use a sword.' I laughed. He thought for a moment. Berkley beckoned for me towards the middle of the stadium, gulping the last bit of his water.

'Show me.' He said. I stared at him with frustration.

'I can't, it's going to-'

'I don't care. Show me. If we're going to teach you how to control it, I have to see it first.' He said through gritted teeth. I breathed out, then called it from my heart. It sucked out into the open space, and cast a shadow over Berkley. He stumbled backwards on his feet. Its eyes were glowing red, three of them. The teeth were iridescent white, and horns were coming from its head. Its clothes were torn and ripped but still amazing, and it had a red collar around its neck. It was the true beauty in this room.

Berkley stared up at it in awe. He started clapping.

'This is really your monster?' He asked with mutual respect. I nodded, feeling a weight lift off my shoulders for some reason. My monster snarled suddenly, roaring in its giant voice. 

 'I'M NOT A MONSTER!' it yelled, and I tried to force it back down by clawing at my skin. It winced and looked back at me. It had the expression of a small child begging for mercy.

'What are you doing, Aurora?' It cried, and I sobbed, forgetting that we're the same person. I walked up to it and patted its hand. It picked me up and pulled me into a hug. Sometimes even the scariest of monsters can feel sad, too.

Someone barged in through the front door and started yelling.

'AURORA! What are you doing?!' It was Alexa Gen. I scrambled down to the floor and ran up to her.

'What now?' I mouthed. She muttered and said, 'Your demon thing is not in custody! We have to contain it or it's going to kill everyone!'

Berkley whistled. I whirled around and he was standing in front of my demon.

'You want to get it?' He snarled, 'You have to go through me and Aurora. She knows it more than you do and can tell you that it's FINE.'

I didn't know Berkley would really protect me that way. He was a better man than I expected. Alexa Gen sighed and took out her phone. She angrily poked at it and called someone.

She talked into the phone with a serious expression.'Bring Aurora's team here. We need to have a chat.'