The Silence of the Azure Demon

    The blazing sun shone on her head as she walked in the inferno of sand. The summery desert  emmittted heat that burned her bare feet. She longed for a sip of water or any soft drink. She tried    remembering what lemonade tasted like, but her tongue was too dry, making it painful to remember. The blue haired lady kept on walking despite the excruciating heat and the horrible thirst that she had. She was wearing a long, zebra hoodie and some leather pants that were wearing out due to the excessive heat and the days that she had spent lost in the desert.
      She wondered how she had ended up in that hell. All she could remember was the huge goldfish that had devoured her friend and how that goldfish then giggled and splashed away. Goldfish were not hostile most of the time, but the smell of fishsticks made them go berserk and attack everything that moves, breathes, and makes noise.
     She kept on walking until she saw a shiny, red-white spot in the distance. Wondering if she was having hallucinations again, the girl covered her vision with her hands in order to have a clearer view of what was going on. She blinked. The figure was gone and she sighed. She wished she could be found by anyone. Sadly, no one was anyone that would be stupid enough to be that deep in the desert when it was well-known that the goldfish attacks had increased around that area.
   "Killer Goldfish", humans called them. They had the appearance of the typical pet that every little boy and girl wants. Except, of course, for the size of two meters across and their unusual ability to "swim" through air. Nobody knew of their origin or why their hostility was activated whenever they sensed the smell of fishsticks.
     The girl kept on walking forward at a steady rate. Her tired eyes were closed for three seconds while she still kept on walking. She then opened them and found nothing but sand around her. Her hopes were falling and her senses failing. She wished her life could be ended quickly, instead of suffering that much. She then stumbled and was knocked down to the ground. She found a perfectly spherical stone next to her. It had a mysterious insignia on it, and it's material was almost crystaline. She reached the ruby stone with her dirty hands and grabbed it. It was no bigger than a tennis ball, so she had no problem holding on to it.
       She then felt the ground shaking beneath her and the crumbling of the equilibrium of the whole desert. From beneath the earth, like drills, three killer goldfish emerged. Their fangs shone the sun's reflection, and their growling caused a chilly charge to run on her backbone. She screamed in fear as her body was blown away by the impact of the emerging goldfish. She had never heard of such thing as goldfish that could attack from underground. Maybe they had sensed the smell of fishsticks on her friend's hoodie, which she was wearing.
         Her heartbeat drummed on her ears harshly. She could feel her blood flow through her veins, and suddenly everything seemed to happen really slowly. The world around her seemed to go at slow motion, and she watched in fear at the delayed monsters that were still recovering from their explosive arrival. She thought that her life was going to end in that moment, maybe that was why the sensation of time was so hindered, or maybe she was already dead. Her heart started racing because of the adrenaline, and her vision was invaded by black clouds. It was first a little blurry, but the blur started increasing substantially until the point that it was too dark to see. Flashbacks of how the goldfish had devoured her friend invaded her mind.
     The fear and the despair were suddenly transmutated into hatred. She clenched her teeth and closed her fists-- She couldn't close her right hand. She looked at her hand in surprise to find a monstrous whip-like, red tentacle replacing her right arm. She sliced through the three goldfish at once without thinking it twice, and their corpses turned into white sand almost instantly. The blood, however, dark and stinking, rained all over and around her. This oily substance turned into white sand as soon as it touched the ground, and there was nothing left behind but the last echoing squeal of agony of the monsters.
      She stared blankly at the sun and then back to her arm. It stretched for four meters long, and it was now hanging and with the end of the ground. She screamed in horror after the shock of the sudden bloodshed. Tears started to run down her cheeks as she whimpered in despair. What had happened to her, and most important, how could she turn back to normal? She wondered that as she horrified herself with her monstrous tentacle.
      She then threw herself to the ground facing down. Her face was buried in the sand with her eyes closed. She then noticed in amazement that it wasn't hot at all. It was like if she was invincible. She punched the sand with her left fist, but she didn't feel anything. That feeling, however, didn't feel like ordinary numbness. Her reflexes and her mind didn't feel numb at all. In fact, it was as if they were being enhanced. She stood up after thirty seconds of thinking. She was going to try out what she could do with that body of her's.
    She bended her knees while she was still standing, and jumped with all her strength. Her vision was darkened again; this time she felt really light and numb. The darkness lasted around ten more seconds, and when she opened her eyes she was surprised to find out that she was flying fifty meters above the ground.
   The tentacle was gone, and the red stone was still in her hand. It glimmered with the sun as she flew in extasis across the desert at a high speed. She had wings now. Two newly acquired limbs had grown from her back. The limbs hand joints that resembled wings. They were hard as rock, yet as light as a feather. She admirated how small things looked from that height. The wind was blowing her blue hair as she dashed through the sandstorms like an angel with red wings.
     Her hunger, fatigue, and fear were all gone now. She felt free, as if she was naked. The wind felt delicious, and so did the speed. She had never been a speed fanatic or anything, but this sensation felt like a drug. She started flying faster and faster in a straight line, trying to find the end of that wicked desert. The sound of the air rushing through her ears started to get uncomfortable and the lightness started to diminish.
   The darkness devoured her mind again, and she felt as she was falling to the ground. The weightlessness was now gone forever. The stone had slipped off her hands as she was falling in midair. She was grief-stricken as she saw her glimmering treasure suddenly shatter into dust as she continued to fall down. Her senses and reflexes were now opressed, but the pain remained. She hit the ground with a terrible crash, landing head-first. She was then devoured by darkness.
  The sounds of crickets chirping was the first thing that came to her senses, followed by a chilly wind, and the feeling of grass around her. The joyous songs of the petit insects and the humid air that surrounded her made her feel at ease. Yet, she felt that there was something wrong. Her shoulders were tense, and she noticed that she was lying on the floor facing up.   
         There was a thundering sound in the desert and the sky turned to a deep crimson as if it was going to fall appart. The hot ground started shaking and clamored in agony. In the chaos of this apocalypse, everything that was around her crumbled. Hundreds of filthy, rough hands were coming out of the dark abyss that had opened below her and grabbed her body with strength. Hundreds of demonic voices screamed in agony as they reached for their prey. The abyss of hands sank her. They pulled  her legs and arms and the abyss rapidly swallowed her while the sky and the ground slowly came back to normal as if nothing had happened.       
            She slowly opened her eyes for the first time in a while. All she saw was a blur, then slowly her sight sharpened and the stars of the dark sky were the first thing that she saw. She was in what seemed like an evergreen forest. The cold wind blew as the crickets kept playing their neverending song.
      She wondered what she was doing there and where was that place. She slowly tried to stand up, but a sudden drill inside her head started to hurt, and she let out a small whimper, falling down back to her original position. It seemed like she had had a concussion in her head, but even when she tried remembering how she got that blast, she was clueless. Immeadeately after she fell to the ground again, there was a sound of twigs breaking from a nearby bush.
     "Ah, you're awake", a male voice said. A peculiar-looking man walked to the clearing and sat besides her. He had very pale skin and white, silky hair that reached just a little below his neck. Yet, he didn't look aged. He had an uncountable number of tattoos all over his skin. There was no more than one inch of separation between each of the tattoos, and the designs all seemed to be stripes, spirals, spots, or weird insignias.
     "Where am I?", she asked as she closed her eyes in exhaustion. The pain in her head was excruciating, like if it was being constantly drilled with a sharp object.
     "We're nowhere", the young man said with a grin as he stared at her with disturbing interest. He had sharp teeth that reflected the dim light of the crescent moon above them.
    "What do you mean we're nowhere?", the girl said in a defiant voice. "Where am I, and who are you?", she demanded.
     "We're somewhere that is nowhere", he said. "Humans have given many names to places like this". He grinned again, showing his white fangs. "However, this isn't any of those places. In fact, this isn't a place at all", he said calmly. "This is just a void between a place and a no place; an intersection. Yet, it's nothing like any of them."
      "Who are you?", the girl asked, still akward at the sight of the stranger. There was a brief pause between the two of them, and the crickets and the wind continued their orchestra.
     "Beings like me do not require a name", he answered calmly, "However, I've heard humans do carry names with themselves. What is yours?"
     "My name...", she paused for two seconds, "my name...", she closed her eyes, trying to remember. Her head started pounding again, and she whimpered.
     "How odd", the young man said, "I thought all humans had names". He looked up at the crescent moon and then stood up. "I think we should play a name game", the man said.
      "A name game?", the girl whispered, with tears now running down her eyes.
      "Do you want revenge on those who harmed you?", the phantom said as he sat down again and got nearer.
      "I don't know what happened", she replied. She closed her eyes again for an instant and then opened them again.
      "You will give me a name, and I will give you one", he said, "It sure is a fair trade, right?"
      "I don't think names can be traded", she said in amusement.
      The phantom snapped his fingers, and a small fire was ignited before them. The warmth of the flames made her feel more comfortable.
      "You can start", he said firmly. His silver hair looked shiny before the fire, and his marks looked even darker, which made a strong contrast of monochrome on him.
     She kept herself silence for various minutes. The crickets' tunes were still being carried by the chilly wind, which made the leaves of the evergreens whistle gracefully.
    "I don't know", she said timidly.      
     "Very well", he replied with a smile on his face.
   "I guess I'll be the one who will start", he said, now turning serious again.
     "You seem to have suffered a lot of injuries, yet you're still alive", he said, "A normal human should have died". He stared at her silently as the moon and the fire were silent witnesses of their pact. "Your name will be Ambrosia", the man said.
     "What does Ambrosia mean?", she asked curiously.
      "It means immortal", he replied.
Drops of cold sweat fell down from her azure hair, weeping down to her forehead and making it shine with the light of the burning fire. The chilling air of the evergreen forest was nothing but an unfelt breeze compared to the warmth of the bonfire she was standing next to. Her heart was getting warmer and her body relaxed a bit, although she still hadn't stopped thinking of the strange conversation she was having with the phantom that sat before her.
         "I'm not quiet sure of what I should call you", she said, disrupting the silence. The strange specter made a disturbing smile as he crawled closer to her. Her muscles, that were starting to finally relax, tensed up again as a reaction to the stranger's actions.
       "Don't worry about it", he whispered to her ear, "you lost your turn, anyway."
        A chill ran through her backbone as he said those words to her. He then slowly went back to where he was sitting before without taking her eyes from his sight. Those eyes were the clearest expression of fear and confusion that could be ever expressed. He grinned perversely with eyes that pierced her with despair.
      "The name's Grim", he said, still grinning disturbingly. The contrasting symbols of his body were remarked by the light of the fire and his gleaming, yellow eyes reflected the orange flames of the fire. "I'm a superior entity of whom you have no comprehension at all", he said coldly.
"The reason why I saved an insignificant being like you is that you have something that belongs to me", he said as his pale face gave a slight sign of anger, which disappeared almost instantly.
   "The red jewel...", he whispered coldly, "Give it back", he said as he narrowed his yellow eyes giving a suspicious look at Ambrosia.
    "I'm sorry", she apologized, "but I have no idea of what you're talking about, you creep", she added rudely.
    "I should have let you to die with the goldfish and then searched your corpse for the stone", he said regretfully, but with a calm, almost emotionless expression on his face.  "However, if I had done that, you would've been warped into another place, and that would be even more frustrating."
    He stopped talking and looked at Ambrosia's furious eyes that were burning with hatred.
    "I remember it now", she said as she touched her head with her dirty hands. The flesh in her back made a cracking sound and pieces of skin were thrown away. Her backbone was pierced by the solid wings that came out in a flash and her arm's bones broke, being replaced by the long, rigid whip that was propelled towards the pale phantom's chest. The man's corpse was hanging in midair by the impaling tentacle. His head was facing down, his body hanged motionless, and his arms dropping down. A black, oily liquid was pouring down from the open wound that the tentacle had inflicted. Her heart was racing and the cold sweat from her damp, blue hair dripped to her eyes that were already blurred by darkness.
      While still facing down, Grim's body started shaking and he let out a hysterical laugh. He raised his head and stared at Ambrosia sarcastically.
      "So that's the power of the baits", he said calmly as he grabbed the tentacle with both arms and removed it from his chest. His severe wound was regenerated in a few seconds as his yellow eyes stared deeply with bemusement at Ambrosia.
      "As I said before", he continued, "I'll have to take it by force". All of the dark insignias that were tattooed all over his body started expanding as all of his veins thickened and his back's size increased to beast-like proportions. His back had grown to monstrous proportions to the point that he was crouching. His once mischievous grin was now a dozen of razor-like fangs that were blood-thirsty. The pitch-black demon approached Ambrosia rapidly and furiously ripped both her arms off before she could react. The sound of cracking bones and tearing flesh pleased the dark being, and the once powerful whip was now splashing around in the ground just like the tail that geckos drop as an scapegoat. However, that useless residue wasn't going to save her life. Blood flowed down the remains of her arms as she screamed in agony. The beast howled fiercely and rushed to her without removing its huge, yellow eyes from its victim.
             She opened her eyes. Her heart was racing and she was breathing heavily. Everything was blurry and her body felt slightly heavier than usual. She felt the warm cloth that was wrapping her body and the heat of the flames. Her heart was pounding heavily as she was rubbing her eyes with her small, dirty hands. The place was filled with the orchestra of crickets and with the chilling breeze of the evergreen forest.
       "Ah, you're awake", a gentle voice said. Ambrosia tried to get up, but she felt too weak to do so. She was encumbered by fatigue and body ache. The same pale phantom from before approached her and sat besides her. However, there was something different about him.
       "Oh no, no", he said as he helped Ambrosia back to her pillow. "Don't overexert yourself", he recommended with a calm smile.
       "You're lucky that I found you", he said as he started searching for something inside a brown, leather bag he had near himself. "Here, take this", he continued as he handed over some fish-sticks that were enveloped in a brown, paper napkin, "this will heal your wounds".
       Ambrosia stared in horror at the person that had just murdered her as the foul smell of fish-sticks filled her nostrils.
      "Ah, don't worry", he said calmly, "I've got a charm that keeps the goldfish from smelling the fish-sticks." The man pointed at a jade necklace that had a fish carving on it.  Ambrosia grabbed the napkin and started eating the fish-sticks. She felt her wounds rapidly soothing and all the pain was suddenly gone.
       "My name is Aroh", he said smiling,"I'm a traveling magician investigating the source of the appearance of the goldfish and other demonic beings. What's your name?"
      "Leave me alone, you demon! If you're going to kill me, then just do it!", she screamed as she threw the napkin at him and then covered her face with her hands. Salty tears started running down from her cheeks and down to her arms. Aroh laughed as he picked up the napkin handed it over to her.
     "Why on earth would I do that?", he said smiling. "I'm not a demon. I'm a demon hunter.", he said as he took out a blanket from his leather bag. "You should get some rest. You were even sleep-talking while you were unconscious."
     "So it really was a nightmare", she said as she sighed in relief. "I'm sorry for being rude to you", she apologized. "My name is Ambrosia", she said.
    "That's a nice name", he said friendly. "I'll leave early tomorrow", he added, "but I'll leave enough goods for you to survive".
    "Wait...", she said, "I have a problem you might know something about."
    "What kind of problem?", he asked with interest.
      "Strange things have happened to my body ever since I found a peculiar stone in the desert.", she said nervously.
      "A bait, perhaps?", he said with a faint laugh.
       "What's that?", she asked as she moved her blue hair backwards with her fingers.
      "Don't mind me", he apologized, "It's just an old legend about a deity that hunts demonic beings from this world with a fishing cane. They say she used magical objects that held strong powers as bait so monsters would feel attracted to them and therefore get caught. Those objects are supposed to be able to change the very essence of your self and warp it to something completely different."
      "I think it might be more than just a legend", she said worriedly.
      "I know that", he said. "That's why I investigate things around that subject. Can you show me what it did to you?", he asked.
     "I'll try", she said shyly. She tried focusing on transforming. Her heart started pumping again, her vision started getting somewhat cloudy, and her back started hurting a little, but nothing happened. "It's not working", she said regretfully, "but I'm telling you the truth."
     "I believe you", he said smiling. "You should get some rest for now though", he suggested.
     "I'll try to", she said, "and thanks for helping me."
     "I just happened to be leaving tomorrow to visit an acquaintance of mine who knows more about the baits than I do. I'll take you with me so you can show him and ask him anything you would like to know.", said the silver-haired man.
       The singing of crickets and the warmth of the flames made her drowsy, and she quickly fell asleep enveloped in the blanket that the kind stranger had offered.


      Chirping birds and the warm sunshine hitting her soft skin were the first things that woke her up that morning. The evergreen forest in which she fell asleep was now substituted by a grass prairie with a blue sky. The clouds were passing by faster than usual, but there was no wind at all. She slowly opened her eyes and then rubbed them with her fingers after she moved her blue hair away from her forehead. She took the blanket off her and sat up. The prairie was very vast, intensely green grassland with only one tree in it, the tree that was next to her. It was a thin, opaque, tree whose shadow wasn't vast enough to cover her from the sun. However, the tree was at least forty meters high. There was a mass of colorful birds flying in a triangular pattern around the tree.                 
         As soon as she was fully conscious, she looked around her for Aroh, but he was nowhere to be found. There was a glass bottle next to her pillow. Inside the glass bottle there was a roll of notebook paper that had been placed with delicacy. She tried taking the note out of the bottle, but it was placed in such a way that it was impossible to take it out without breaking it. She carefully lifted the bottle and then threw it to the trunk of the tree in order to break it. There was a sharp sound and the glass shattered into dozens of sharp, hazardous pieces that glimmered with the reflection of the sun and the rapid clouds. She carefully took the note with her hands and unfolded it.
         There was a strenuous noise and an explosion burned the black, wooden door to cinders, letting the hot flames inside the dark, checkered-floor room.  A white-haired man wearing a pitch-black robe swiftly made his way inside the mansion's lobby. There were two connecting stairs on the left and right side of the room that lead to a balcony in the second floor, where there was a brown, wooden door that lead to another room. The room had a large number of paints of abstract nature on the left side and of realistic style on the right side.
         A negative light was emitted by the dark figure and it suddenly started to levitate. Aroh glided rapidly across the vast room and got to the second floor. He tried opening the door, but it was tightly shut. There were a couple of cloud figures engraved in the hard door. There was a negative light glow around him and a strong gust blew from the entrance of the mansion and impacted the door, opening it instantly.
        "So you've come to take it away from me", said an elegant female voice within the deep darkness of the room that had been revealed.
        "Where is it?" Aroh asked as he rushed into the room. "Please hand it over!"
        He clapped his hands together and a fireball emerged from the fingertips of his right hand, slightly illuminating the room. There was a loud crack and the door from where he had entered was now sealed by a wall. He looked around for another exit, but there weren't any doors in sight. The only thing in sight was mountains of books. There were at least two hundred tall bookshelves in the gigantic room.
       "I have no intentions of giving my treasure to the likes of you", the voice said defiantly.
   The dim light was the only thing that illuminated the void in which he was. A foul, disgusting smell filled Aroh's nostrils as he stepped further into the library. He quickly clapped his hands together again as he recognized the smell of a flammable gas. There was a hysterical laugh that came from the other end of the room.
       Aroh emitted the negative light again as he held his palms together. He rapidly floated upwards and landed on top of one of the shelves. He heard another hysterical laugh as he tried to look for his enemy from up there.
         "Please hand it over!" he repeated as he jumped to another bookshelf. He then felt the foul smell, but this time it was stronger. He started feeling dizzy for a second, so he clapped his hands together. A strong gust came out with a strenuous, flowing sound of his hands and razor-like air blew the poisonous gas away. He suddenly felt a small cut in his right cheek and drops of blood started to come out. Then several other cuts were inflicted in his arms as he reached to his face. The papers from the pages of the books were cutting him as if they were knives. The negative light disappeared and so did the gust.
        "Using your powers here is futile", said the mysterious voice.
       Aroh emitted the negative light again and a small, glimmering light came out of between his hands and expanded all over the room, illuminating it instantly. His eyes' golden color could be seen perfectly in the light and the black leather robe made contrast with his tattooed skin and white hair. There was a peculiar-looking gas mask two shelves to the north of him. He jumped one shelf to the north so he could get the mask, but suddenly the poison invaded his nostrils again.
        A dark, ominous cloud of smoke started dancing from the floor of the room, which he noticed was now a sea of the black fog. The cloud started to focus around the gas mask and the smell grew thicker. The black fog condensed even more and the gas mask started floating with it. Then it rapidly condensed and revealed a slim, feminine shape.


         Ambrosia slowly unfolded the paper as the sun rays hit her blue hair that reached a little bit below her shoulders.  The birds kept on chirping as they flew in triangles around the tall tree that gave a bit of its shade to Ambrosia.
         Dear Ambrosia,
    If you're reading this, it means that you have solved the puzzle of the bottle. An emergency came up and I had to leave. I carried you to the nearest crossroad while you were asleep so you would get teleported to the place you are right now. There are others searching for the goddess's baits for the means of power.  There's a chance that I may not come back alive, but please make sure you visit my colleague, Lucas. You will be safe with him. Tell him you're a friend of mine and he'll understand. You can find him in the research academy in the town of Floitor. You should see a very long tree where you are right now. I need you to climb up and get one of the eggs. Once you finish with that, make sure you take great care of it. You can get to Floitor by using the glass bottle where you found this message. Walk north of the tree until you see the crossroad. You should get teleported to Floitor right away if you're holding the bottle.
        Always wishing you luck,
                   Aroh
         She quickly realized that the bottle that she had broken had a way of opening it without breaking it. There was a quick, faint smile on her lips and then she gazed at the tall tree. She reached with her hands and touched the rough, dry bark before her. She firmly grabbed it with her hands and started climbing. Her fingers hurt a little bit when she lifted all of her body's weight with them. She started climbing the thin tree as she realized how strong it really was.
        When she had climbed thirty meters, she could clearly hear the chirping of birds. When she was about to reach for the first nest, three birds rushed her and attacked her. She fell on her back from the fearsome height and screamed in pain as she felt the glass fragments incrusted in her soft skin, making holes on her clothes. She started to bleed from the deep wounds, but she stood up again and tried to climb the tree again. The bright sun and the deep clouds intertwined with each other in the bizarre prairie with aggressive birds. She thought of cutting down the tree, but that would make the eggs break. The birds started attacking her again as she was getting closer to the nests, but she covered her head with her hood and kept on climbing. The loud chirping of the birds became irritating and almost agonizing to her ears.
        She kept on grasping to the coarse bark with all her force until she reached the lowest branch. She was glad when she saw the bottom part of the nest. When she thought her task was going to get done, she realized that the nest was empty. She kept on climbing in spite of her deep wounds that were now staining her clothes in a deep crimson. When she got to the second nest, she also found it empty. There was only one nest left, but it was at the top of the tree. She had to climb five more meters in order to get there, but her wounds and the loud chirping of the devilish, yet beautiful birds was driving her crazy.
        Her heart slowed down and her head started to hurt. She slowly kept on climbing as the rapid clouds passed by. She tried to reach for the last nest, but a golden bird rapidly tackled her hand and scratched her. Ambrosia unconsciously used her other hand to protect herself and slowly fell from the tree. Her heart suddenly rushed and then slowed down like a rollercoaster. Her back started to hurt badly and she felt the cracking sound of her bones as her skin opened, letting out the bony, piercing wings.
      She flipped right up and flapped her solid wings so she would not fall to the ground. The demonic birds faced her at once and rushed towards her. She flapped her wings faster to get to where the nest was as she avoided the feathered monsters. She quickly grabbed the nest and flew away. The hundreds of birds condensed into a mass of feathers that resembled a giant bird. The cloud of birds approached Ambrosia as she tried to escape, but she accelerated more to lose track of them. The sudden acceleration made the egg inside the nest drop and the gigantic mass chirped loudly as it fell. Ambrosia and the birds approached the egg at almost the same time, but she grabbed it before they could break it. As soon her fingertips touched the egg, there was a buzzing sound and the loud chirping of the birds ended. She stared in horror as she saw the black remains of the once beautiful birds.  Stones of coal started raining in the prairie and the once rapid clouds stopped moving. She placed the egg inside her pocket to make sure she didn't drop it again.
     She kept on flying until she saw the large X north of the prairie. She landed on it and contracted her wings inside of her body again. She reached for her back with her left hand and removed the glass fragments from it. They were stained with her blood, but they would still do the job. She placed the fragments right in the middle of the X and then stepped in.
      She watched in fascination as the surrounding scenario started to melt and deteriorate. The green prairie turned brown and wilted away. The long tree was rapidly turned into rotten wastes as the bright sun turned pitch-black.  There was a loud cracking sound and the ground started to shake. The sky turned red and there was a blinding light that engulfed everything.