The War Within

Chapter 6

     Jake woke up and had a pain in his side from leaning on the tree. He stood up, rubbing his eyes, and stretching. It was still dark and Captain Reko, Agnus, and Red were all asleep. Jake suddenly felt a very cold chill slither down his spine like a snake. Quickly, he looked around the forest, seeing nothing, but a dark abyss.

        “Captain Reko?” He said, giving the canine a slight nudge. No answer. Jake nudged him a bit harder, but still, Captain Reko remained motionless. Jake sighed and walked over to Agnus.

        “Maybe Agnus won’t ignore me.” He said to himself. He put his hand on Agnus' shoulder and shook him a little.

        “Agnus. Agnus, wake up.” Agnus only growled a little. Jake backed away in fear, hoping he didn’t anger him.

        “Jaaaake.” A strange, dark voice called out. “Jaaaaake.” Jake gasped in horror, his heart sank to his feet, and he looked around frantically, seeing nothing at all. He had a clue on who was calling him, but this one sounded...different.

        “Wh-Who a-are y-you!?” Jake shouted, trembling in fear. The voice chuckled demonically.

        “What’s the matter, Jakey? Don’t you wanna plaaaay?”

        “Leave me alone!” Jake heard a familiar bark. It was one that Jake could identify in a millisecond. Out of the shadows came Lotus. Jake’s eyes widened as the hole in his heart was being stitched together. Tears ran down his cheeks, and he smiled widely.

        “Lotus!” He yelled as he ran to Lotus and hugged her tightly, gripping her fur, and crying in her fur. “I-I was so worried about you. Wh-Where were you?” Lotus licked Jake softly. She showed no excitement in seeing Jake. Her tail laid flat on the ground, and she walked away from him.

        “Lotus? Where are you going?” Lotus walked back towards the darkness, but Jake refused to lose Lotus again so he hurried and ran after her until he was stopped when a hand reached out from the darkness and grabbed Jake by his neck.

        “Gotcha,” a demonic voice said. Jake growled and tried prying the hand from his neck. It did nothing but amuse the demon.

        “A feisty one, aren’t you?” Jake was thrown to the tree that he slept at, and he coughed as the wind was knocked out of him. Lotus walked back out of the darkness, but she was not alone this time. Jake looked up at the thing to see a shadowy figure, but this was more abstract. He wore a long, torn cloak with the hood on, his eyes were white and glowing, and he held a sword in his right hand. Jake gasped and backed up against the tree.

        “Wh-What a-are you?!” Jake shouted. The demon guffawed at Jake.

        “My identity will remain unknown. I am a shadow demon. Your shadow demon.”

        “Wh-Wh-What are you tal-talking about?! You aren’t the same shadow I’ve been seeing!”

        “Am I?”

        “Are you?”

        “You see, this is your nightmare, and with each nightmare you have, and with each time you feel any type of negative emotions, I become closer and closer to becoming a real demon and when I do, I will kill you, Jake.”

        “What did I ever do?”

        “You summoned me. That was your fatal mistake.”

        “I…I summoned you?”

        “Right before you ran away from home, you decided to make one final call, and ever since then, I’ve been following you.” Jake looked down, realizing his mistake. He felt cold iron touch under his chin. He looked up to see the demon’s sword pointed at Jake, with its tip right under his chin.