Demon Soul (1)

XXIX

"Ryker and I were both picked up from the same orphanage when we were kids."

Asteri and I were sprinting down the hall, passing rows and rows of empty cells along the way. We'd seen a few more Order members here and there, but none of them posed a real threat. I was listening intently as she spoke, keeping my eyes ahead of us.

"We were shoved into a group of about ten kids the same age as us. Our parents were Hunters, and they were trying to teach us how to fight and work within the Order. I picked up on medical skills pretty fast and stuck with it, and eventually everyone else found a spot except for him. He was the normal one, who wanted to draw pictures and play with dogs instead of throw knives or dissect bodies. He got thrown into a world all his own and when he finally came back out, he wasn't the same."

"Ryker was cold, calculating, when it got to the point that we had to kill our first Demon, he fired a bullet in its skull and came back out not even a minute after he walked in. I on the other hand...they put a Faerie in my room. She looked at me and I looked at her and I could see the same purple in her eyes that were in mine. I felt myself start to shake and cry, when I realized this woman was almost a mirror image to me. She said my name and...I realized she was my mom." Asteri blinked tiredly, slowing as we approached the end of the hall. "She told me to shoot her, or else they'd kill me. She grabbed my arm and symbols painted my skin, forcing me to pull the trigger as I pressed it against her temple. I walked out of there shaken as all hell, but I knew I wasn't human. They gave me my rosary and I never told a soul until now."

"So why are you helping me?" I asked, looking her up and down.

"I need out of here." She whimpered. "And demons deserve a chance to take back what was theirs in the first place."

"We were here before humans?"

"You know it." Asteri sighed, pressing her hand to a panel. It read her handprint, and the door unlocked, revealing a dirt passageway held back by glass. "I'll be waiting out here. Do what you need to do."

I nodded, sprinting through the hallway. I could feel the pull, the lure of the portal between the realms as I took the twists and turns to reach it. The room opened up and I paused, my eyes wide as I stared at the creation before me.

There were five obelisks, carved from precious crystals and contained glowing demonic runes. In between all of them was a sphere, looking like a planet made entirely of space. As I drew nearer I felt apprehensive yet inherently curious at the same time. I reached out towards it, my fingers disappearing into the darkness. I jerked them back out and took a deep breath, dropping the bag of explosives on the floor beside me gently before I steeled my nerves and closed my eyes. In a single step I had walked into the darkness, and I was pulled in, finding myself in a pool of stars and surrounded by charred, blackened cliffs.

"Looks like I'm finally home." I mumbled to myself before shouting, "Ronin!"

I was met with silence. I began to wade further out, the water surrounding my ankles as I walked. It felt strange for a dress to not be dragging behind me, but also freeing at the same time. Eventually I stopped, hearing footsteps from the distance. A boy with black hair and dark green eyes appeared from a crack in the cliff side, walking out into the water just as I had.

"Delia?" He asked, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to kill you."

I lifted the gun to his head as he neared, pulling the hammer back and snarling. He put his hands up and stared at me suspiciously, his eyes narrowed. Ronin didn't seem surprised in the least.

"So you found out the truth?"

"I know everything." My breath hitched in my chest. "You killed Blake and Tara you monstrous asshole! And for what?! To get back at me for nothing I did?!"