Marked by Daemons

part daemon?

7:28 am September 23nd 2019
East Quadrant, Veneco City

Akane rushed through the maze of twists and turns, his heart feeling heavier with each passing second. He had received Kim's call for help with her sister, and he was worried that she might be in trouble. If she was hurt by some kind of Daemon- she wasn't experienced enough to fight or use her energy -he wouldn't forgive himself for the life of a little girl. Neither would Kim after she trusted him with her sister.

There is another thing that troubles him and makes him shoot through the pathways quickly. Ashe wasn't alone, she was with Sai. She's been marked by Saltoure and if she were injured or hurt, there was a chance that the Daemon would take over her body. It wasn't just that though, during the previous week, he had grown a soft spot for the blue-haired girl.

He notices a moss-covered wall with broken windows and stops. He passed this wall just a few minutes ago. Is he going in circles? He slows down paying careful attention to his surroundings and takes a right turn further East. Keeping his eyes ahead, he notices the same wall again. A loop.

He backtracks, fingers tapping on his sword. He pulls the sheath back and readies the sword for an attack at the sound of footsteps. Crouching behind the crumbling half of a wall he tries to sense the grade of the Daemon he'll be dealing with.

Panting and the sound of something- or someone collapsing on the dirt ground. He couldn't sense any Daemonic energy. Odd. "Do you think..." heavy breathing. "We lost it?" He sits up straight, recognising the voice.

"I hope so..." more laboured breathing. Akane slowly peeks from behind the wall and gasps in relief running to the two girls who look like they've seen a ghost. "Akane!" The first voice reprimands, her blue hair loose from the short braid in the morning, the band nowhere to be seen. "Don't... jump out like... that!"

He apologises and then looks in the direction they ran from. "Did you see something?"

"We were waiting for someone to come, we heard a dog howling and called Kim for backup, but she couldn't come and oh!" Ashe's face scrunches up and her eyes well up with tears. "It was so scary! I've never seen anything like that before."

"Could you tell what grade it was?"

The two girls shake their heads guiltily.

Akane sighs, running a hand through his hair. "There's something wrong with this place," he says. "I've been walking around in circles for the past ten minutes trying to find the two of you," He picks up a rock and throws it, how you would when skipping stones, into the far distance. After a few seconds, they hear the sound of the stone landing behind them. "See?"

"Let's try to leave the way we ran here?" Sai suggests, shivering involuntarily. "But the Daemon might be there..."

"There's no other way, is there?" Ashe murmurs, rubbing her arms to keep out the sudden chill that descends on them. The two others shift uncomfortably too, feeling the shift in temperature.

Akane takes out his sword and walks toward the direction the girls came from. "Follow me, keep close," he instructs, an authoritative side of him being uncovered. "Ashe," he says without looking back as they trek through the ruins. "Summon your White energy and try to shape it so that it forms a shield around you two- Daemons are repelled by the stuff."

Ashe nods and her fingers glow, casting a white luminance on her face, the shadows making her look menacing.

"Sai, stay in between the two of us," Akane glances at her from his shoulder. "At all times. Sorry for saying this, but you're the least trained within us," Sai opens her mouth to say something, crossing her arms but Akane continues. "You're our responsibility Osama. Don't make it any harder on us."