Demon's Design

Chapter 4

"Zafina, wait!" Sarah yelled running after her sister. Zafina, the younger sister, was already sliding down the laundry shoot yelling "Yipee!" Sarah quickly jumped down after her.

Sarah and Zafina were the daughters of the leaders of the Clan of Divinity, the current King and Queen of the land. The Clan of Divinity was a powerful group of demon hunters that protected the Kingdom from demons, with the King and Queen being the most powerful demon hunters. They ruled over the continent that contained centuries worth of magic, as well as the demon hunters, mages, and witches that lived in the area.

The houses, and even the castle, had been formed using magic. There were secrete tunnels to be explored in every corner. The houses in particular had these long chutes that allowed the maids to throw clothes and rugs down for cleaning, as the laundry room was in the basement. There were pulley systems that helped them to hoist everything back up the different floors. The tunnels were supposed to be off limits, as they were for cleaning not for playing. However, that didn't stop Zafina from sneaking away and sliding down the shoot every chance she got.

Back at the castle the basement had dozens and dozens of tunnels. Those tunnels led down to a prison which held demons of all shapes and sizes. One of the main reasons the girls were supposed to stay away from the chutes, they weren't allowed down into the maze as they could get lost. That never stopped Zafina, she got her thrills exploring the unknown and making her way back out through the maze. This caused her sister much grief as she was roped into exploring with Zafina many a times. Luckily for Sarah, they were at their summer house, and the basement had no maze underneath of it.

After they landed Sarah grabbed Zafina's arm, "we need to go back. We aren't supposed to be down here." Being the elder sister, it was her job to make sure they listened to the adults and didn't cause trouble for them. 

Zafina shook herself free, "but there's so much to do down here. Look at all the tunnels and rooms. Who knows what kind of treasure we can find?" Zafina giggled and took off before her older sister could catch her.

"Zafina! We're going to get in trouble!" Sarah desperately cried out.

"Only if we get caught," Zafina said with a mischievous smile.

Suddenly the tunnels shook and screaming could be heard from above. Zafina and Sarah hurried back upstairs into the main hall. Roy, their bodyguard, came running up to them. "There you are. We need to leave." There was intense worry on his face, and the girls became nervous as fear ran through them.

There came a loud crash and glass went flying everywhere. Zafina and Sarah covered their heads and ducked down. Scuffling could be heard around them as they opened their eyes to find demons flooding the hall. The girls moved back against the wall shaking, as demons of all kinds broke through the doors and windows and into the room. A few demons lunged for the girls and Roy managed to come to their defense and push them back.

Another guard burst into the hall, closing a door behind him. He turned and yelled at Roy and the girls. "Go! Get them out of here. I'll hold them off."

"There's too many!" Roy yelled as he sliced down another demon with his long sword.

"There's still more to come. I got word the palace has been taken. The King and Queen are dead," the man's voice was filled with sorrow.

Sarah screamed, "no!"

A dark creature slipped through the shadows, trying to slide past Roy, however Roy managed to lunge at it in time. The demon slipped back into the light and Zafina turned pale and froze staring at the large demon in front of her. It had a body shaped like a large spider, with six legs it scurried along displaying its quickness and agility. It was clearly faster than Roy as it moved back and forth, left then right, and back and forth. As it taunted Roy, the look on his face was that of irritation, but also in thought. He was going to need to fight back with tactics and a bit of luck. The demon had two sharp legs in front which were like sharp medium scythes that he had to keep dodging. There were also two arms coming out of its shoulders above the torso. The torso and arms were human like giving it more mobility. Although its face and head were slightly human shaped it still looked more like a spider. There were four eyes on the forehead with two slightly larger eyes were human eyes would have been. Zafina had never seen a demon like this one and she had been down to the cells once or twice. As the demon backed up a bit more, the light from the sunset came through the window and gave it more definition. They could see the hairs standing on their end around its legs and sides of the torso.