The Raven

The Vacation

We did manage to escape the demons that day. However, what it taught us was that we had to prepare. It was irresponsible of us to continue living our lives as if nothing strange was happening around us. But there was another problem. 

Should we practice killing or incapacitating? Which path would lead us to Heaven? I guess that kind of thinking wasn't good because if you did something just to get into Heaven than it didn't actually mean that you were a good person and in turn wouldn't go to Heaven. 

The best thing we could do was try to protect our families and friends. Since the vacation time was approaching, we decided to travel to the seaside, just the two of us. We planned to use the time away to train, but we also wanted to distract the demons. If they were busy trying to find us they couldn't hurt innocent people, could they? 

We chose the seaside because it sounded plausible, everyone was going there. Why wouldn't we go there, too? 

What most people found strange was that we chose a small place off the beaten track. We said it was because we wanted peace and quiet, but the truth was that we wanted fewer people to be exposed to the potential danger of demon attacks. Also, we didn't want many people to be able to witness our training sessions because they would have found them strange. 

Once we were there, we found the poorest looking, most abandoned beach and started going there every day to train. 

At first, we trained our combat skills more, but soon it became clear to us that it was like riding a bike, we could remember fairly quickly. The true problem was using our powers. We didn't seem to be able to remember how we used them in our past lives. 

My friend could use them to some extent, but I couldn't get a hang of it. I guess it was because I used them while dead, and things were a bit different while I was alive. After a lot of training at the beach, I got my bearings back, but I wasn't as good as I was back in Hell.

More than ten days had passed before the demons tracked us down. I guess we weren't their top priority since they didn't consider us dangerous. Plus, they probably wanted us to marinate in fear so that they could savor killing us. 

When they finally came one night, I realized why they were late in attacking us. They knew exactly where we were, but they were biding their time until they could emerge in their true demon forms. 

Not surprisingly, the attack happened on the night of a full moon when my friend and I were practicing our levitating skills. 

Suddenly there was an ear-splitting sound and there was a gash, just standing there in the middle of the air. After a moment, it started oozing red liquid and to my dismay, I realized it was blood. Of course, I had seen blood before. I had seen too much blood in my past life, but somehow it seemed as if it was my first time. 

I tended to see all the horrific experiences from my previous life-like scenes from a horrifying horror movie, but facing it head-on was terrible. It made all the horrific things we went through seem worse because I started remembering them too vividly. Before that moment, it was mostly just a dim memory. 

My friend seemed fairly okay for a person who committed so many gruesome murders in her previous life. Maybe that is what she had to do. She had to leave the past behind and focus on the life she was living at the moment. 

As I contemplated this, the gash started getting bigger and bigger and the disgusting smell of old blood and rotten meat started spreading all around us. We started being able to see glimpses of another place, dark and torturous place, Hell. 

Finally, some demons appeared and when the hole was big enough they went through. They just came out and on to the beach like it was nothing. I was shocked to see them do something like that. They weren't that powerful in the past, but I guessed that as the evils of societies grew, so did the powers of demons. So it shouldn't have come as a surprise that they could do that. The fact that they didn't do it earlier was more shocking. Five demons went through and then the gash, the wound in time and space, snapped back, effectively closing.

Well, I thought to myself that it could have been much worse than five demons, but then I took a closer look and wasn't so sure if I was right. 

One of them was a huge snake-like demon which looked like it had the ability to crush you with its body. Its slimy green body was nothing in comparison with its huge teeth glistening in the moonlight. 

Two other demons were flying demons that had huge sharp wings and enormous claws on their hands. Their faces were terrifying with two sharps horns and large ears making their features even more gruesome. They were flying close to each other, so I assumed that some power they had could be multiplied by touch or proximity. 

The fourth demon reminded me of the movie depictions of werewolves only much uglier. It had an animal feature with long sharp hairs all over its body. Its eyes were strikingly yellow and it bared its huge teeth, drool dripping off the edge of its huge mouth. It seemed ready to eat, and we were on the menu for its dinner. 

The last demon, strangely enough, reminded me of a huge rat. Its head was similar in shape to that of a rat, only much larger and two of its teeth were protruding out of its mouth. The shape of the body was humanoid but the appearance was rat-like with a long tail to make the picture whole. 

They all started attacking at once. I thought for a short second how much better it would be if it were like in the movies where monsters politely attack one at the time. It wasn't like that. 

Then the battle on the beach began, as the moon glistened on the surface of the ocean making a beautiful reflection on its surface which no one was able to appreciate.