The Dou-Jin Apprentice of Monsters and Men In the Beginning

Chapter 3 Dou-Jin Temple Part 2

have other plans for you. I'm going to make you king of the world and all shall kneel at your feet!"

"The only ones you have to answer to are the chosen five, Luciferous, Me Lilith, Asmodeous, Mephistopheles, and Demonique."

"I will never worship the fallen!" Stephanous screamed in rebellion to Lilith. "I will kill myself before that ever happens! You will stay bound by the seals and I and the Dou-Jin order will see to that."

"Then I'll bring you back to life and you'll still do my bidding." She told him with an amused laugh. "If you commit suicide then your soul is ours according to the Dou-Jin bible.'

"Then I'll run until you can't ever find me!" Stephanous bellowed in revolution. "I will never do your bidding in life or in death! There's nothing you can do to me that will make me do what you want."

"I know where you are all the time." Lilith said to Stephanous who was sweating profusely now. He was worried that Lilith would find him and make him serve her and he wouldn't go to the afterlife and be with the Creator and his family. "What if Lilith went after His family?" He thought frantically. How could he protect his family from her and her followers. If she could get into his dreams, what was to stop her from getting into his mother's dreams or his brothers', or his baby sister's? He had no way to protect them. Lilith held all the cards and he had no training. Would his family die before he received any Dou-Jin Training?

"I shall do just that!" She said harshly. "If you don't follow me I'll hunt your family down and make them all my slaves and I don't treat my slaves kindly. They will each get the strap three times a day and thirty-nine lashes at each lashing. Then I'll heal them enough so that they still feel the pain until the next beating is to happen. Their entire life will be nothing but pain and suffering! The choice is yours. Follow me and your family will be safe or rebel and they will be in constant agony."

"No!" He screamed in rage and fear.

Stephanous sat upright from his sleep and it was still dark out. He looked around the camp and saw Brady staring straight at him. Somehow Brady had gotten into his mind and made him dream that horrific nightmare. Stephanous slept the rest of the night only halfway sleeping and never falling into a deep sleep. He couldn't fall asleep, not with Brady watching him. Somehow Brady had done some kind of Roda-Ki mind trick on him.

Stephanous couldn't wait until Brady was locked up and Stephanous was learning how to become a Dou-Jin. He would learn the ways of the Dou-Jin and destroy the Roda-Ki so that all of Theara could be at peace and no longer have to face the terrors of the Roda-Ki.

Stephanous saw that J.D. wasn't watching him and he snuck out of his bed roll and started to make his way out of the camp. He was hoping to get as far away from the camp as he possibly could before he hurt someone or himself. He didn't want to burn someone to death on accident.

A gentle hand grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around. It was Michale. The tall black man's soft eyes penetrated Stephanous's eyes with concern and care for the young boy.

"Where do you think you're going so late in the evening?" He asked in an even gentler voice.

Stephanous was startled to have been caught so quickly. He had been an excellent hunter and tracking animals you have to be quiet in following your prey and he thought he had been, so how had Michale heard him?

Stephanous swallowed hard and began explaining to Michale.

"I wanted to leave before I hurt someone." He said honestly. "That stick caught on fire. What happens if I touch you or J.D. and you start on fire, or maybe one of the animals while I'm riding or getting them ready for traveling."

The young boy's eyes began swelling with tear at the thought of hurting anyone or anything. Tears commenced streaming down his cheek at the thought of people and animal burning to ashes before his horrified eyes.

"Calm down." Michale said calmly to Stephanous. "You're not going to burn anyone with that fire, no one that's good anyway."

"Why?" Stephanous asked in a whimpery voice.

"Because that was that power of the Daughter of the Spirit." Michale answered. "Her power would never hurt anyone good. Sure it would have hurt Brady, but it wouldn't have caught him on fire."

"Running away from you problems isn't going to solve anything. I know Brady has you frightened, but he tied up with the Daughters power and she's much stronger than the power than the son of darkness. He's not going anywhere."

"But he got in my head or Lilith did." Stephanous mumbled through tear soaked lips. "She said that she was going to torture and hurt my family if I wouldn't join her. That she was going to break the seals and she was going to make me break the seals for her."

"That was just a mind trick Brady played on you." Michale replied. He had to remind himself that he was talking to a fourteen year old boy that was the size of a full grown man. "I'll teach you how to block them in the next few days. Now let's get back to camp.

The duo walked back to camp and Stephanous wiped his eyes and face of his tears.