Demon Hunt

Chapter 6 Part 1

Auren attempted calling the veil a few more times after eating, with no success. Kado suggested she spend more time reading and relaxing. It would be her last day to just rest for a while. As much as she wanted to keep trying, she reluctantly agreed. She was feeling a little tired, and her failures only frustrated her and added to her fatigue. She fell asleep while reading before the sky grew dark.

The following morning she woke early. Kado was still sound asleep on the other side of the nearly burned out campfire. After nibbling on a little of the leftover meat, she decided to finish her book. Her foster father was still sleeping when she finished the last two chapters, and she was getting bored. Not knowing how late he had been up, she was reluctant to wake him.

She could continue practicing. Maybe she would finally get it and have something good to tell Kado when he woke. A niggling in her gut told her that might not be the best idea. Kado had told her the shadow world is dangerous, but then she wasn't going into the shadow world, just trying to get a glimpse of it. Dismissing her bad feeling as doubt, Auren focused on the boulder again, shutting everything else out. It was difficult with the noise of the birds morning chatter, but she tuned them out. Being well rested was making a difference. She saw the black splotch again, but this time it continued to grow. Soon it filled her vision, and a green mist poured out of it, surrounding her.

Oh no. She hadn't mean to, but she was going into the shadow world. Kado had never told her how to leave, and she questioned her decision to ignore her gut feeling. The boulder had completely disappeared. Everything had disappeared. She couldn't even see Kado anymore, but she heard something roar in the distance. A demon. She had to calm herself. It was moving toward her at a fast pace. Maybe it was too late.

Auren tried to turn and run, but she couldn't make herself move. The demon was right behind her now. It roared loudly, then Auren felt something slam into her back knocking her to the ground. She was somehow out of the shadow world, but so was the demon. She jumped to her feet to run, but the demon was too quick. It raked its huge claw across her back. She heard the tearing of her clothing and skin moments before the pain hit. The demon stood over her as she lay face down in the dirt, screaming. Just when she thought it would land a killing blow, it bellowed out another roar and ran off, kicking her a few meters with its foot.

"Damn it, Auren. What have you done?" Kado said, kneeling beside her.

She had no idea where he came from. He stood and appeared to be considering going after the demon. The thought of being left alone terrified her. The demon tore her back open, and she didn't know how badly she was bleeding. If he left her, she might die before he could get back. She wasn't even sure if there was anything he could do for her.

"Kado, please," she cried when he took a few steps away from her.

When he looked back, she could see he was struggling with the decision to stay. Maybe he already knew she was beyond help and wanted to catch the demon before it could hurt anyone else. She let her head fall to the ground. A tear dripped off the end of her nose. If she was going to die, she just hoped it wouldn't take too long. Closing her eyes, she waited, then heard the crunching of dried leaves near her head. She opened her eyes to see Kado's boot centimeters from her face. He put a hand on her head when she tried lifting it.

"Relax," he told her. "Don't try to move."

"It hurts, Kado." Auren took a deep breath, attempting to stifle her tears.

"I know. Just relax."

"Am I going to die?"

"Hush." His tone took on a stern edge.

He sounded like he was having a difficult time controlling his anger. If Auren did survive somehow, he'd likely punish her harshly. She deserved it. This wouldn't have happened if she had trusted her instincts and waited for Kado to wake up. A tingling started in her back, which turned to warmth and steadily grew hotter until she thought she was on fire. She cried out and tried to lift her head again, but Kado held her down firmly.

Just as quickly as it began, the heat in her back had faded along with the pain.

Kado pulled her up by her arm. "Let's go," he said, tersely.

He stormed off before Auren could ask him what happened. Reaching behind her as she walked, she examined her back. There were no wounds, but her shirt was torn and sticky with her blood. Kado must have healed her somehow. She never knew he could do that. Back at the camp, he had covered the fire pit and was packing the food, his blanket and clothes that had been left out to dry. She followed suit, without a word. He looked furious, so she'd wait until he calmed down before attempting to speak with him. Before she shoved her blanket into her backpack, she pulled out a clean, hole-less shirt to wear.

"I'm, uh, going to go change." Auren held up her shirt for emphasis.

"Stay here," he said, turning his back to give her relative privacy.

She held back a groan, wishing she hadn't already packed her blanket. Even with his back turned, she felt exposed. She would have rather changed in the woods. In an attempt to keep from getting the blood all over her, she lifted the damaged shirt carefully. Her half-naked state was forgotten when she saw the big gashes. There were four of them, so straight it was as though they had been cut by a razor.

"Kado," she said after dressing. She held out the shirt. "H-how?" She wasn't sure what else to say. How had she survived? How did she heal her? It wasn't the how question that needed answering though. There were cities, towns and villages all over the island. People would die. "What are we going to do?"

Heheld her gaze for a moment. It was hard to tell what he felt at the moment. Hislips formed a tight line. "Let's go."