Blood Moon

Queen

Luna’s red cloak flapped as she rode on Rigel. The smell of rotting flesh was thick in the wind. Any normal person would find it sickening but she had already gotten used to it. She brandished her blade and sent her will upon it until it glowed a dark red hue. The whites in her eyes slowly turned black, as if ink was flowing through her veins. She closed her eyes for a moment and when she opened them once again, her irises were blood red and her pupils slanted. If someone else saw her, she’d be labeled as a sorcerer and hanged at the gallows, if they were able to.

As they neared the fields, she heard the ruffling in the bushes. She braced herself. Not a second later, a belua demon shot out from the thicket, claws extended and aimed at her throat. She ducked her head and in a swift motion, she swung her blade horizontally, slicing its throat. As a safety measure, she rammed the pommel of her blade on its head, breaking its skull. The blood sprayed to her face and something inside her squirmed. She ignored it.

Unlike before, Rigel is so much larger now and able to fend for himself. Back then she only used him to track demons, but now, she’s certain he can finish them himself. As they made a turn to the field, she heard a screech from above. She looked up and saw a Falon, swooping down to her. Before it could get any closer, Luna stood on Rigel’s back and threw her dagger. The blade found its mark and pierced its hard. It let out a short screech before falling. Luna jumped off Rigel’s back, her other blade on her hand. She approached the twitching body of the demon and pulled her blade out, making sure to twist it on its way out, leaving a gaping hole on its chest. She held the demons foot and started dragging it along the sides of the field, just as she always did.

Rigel kept watch as she did so. Looking around, Luna saw that there wasn’t much demons yet. She took a deep breath and suddenly, she stiffened. Swiftly she jumped into the middle of the field, claws and fangs out. A moment later, Rigel was already beside her. Her eyes stared at the row of trees surrounding the field. Then her hunch was proven correct. Red glowing eyes started to emerge from the darkness, closing in on the field. One exceptionally large belua stepped out. It had a bull’s head, its body massive and horrifying. Saliva poured out of it mouth and its stench was unbelievably strong. Luna unclipped her cloak, letting it fall on the ground behind her.

The demon raked its foot on the dirt, eyes on her. It was a challenging stance. The creature opened its mouth and let out a terrifying roar, shaking the ground. “Rigel, you take care of the surrounding. I’ll deal with this abomination first.” Rigel dipped his head for a moment as swerved to the left.

In front of her the demon lowered its knees and in one large jump, landed just a few meters away from her. Looking at its eyes, Luna could tell that this demon is different from the rest. It could think. It lunged at her in an incredible speed. She barely had enough time but Luna was able to dodge, jumping up and landing on its head. As she jumped away, she sliced its back with her blade. But the demon’s skin was thick and it only left a small scratch. She was not even two seconds on the spot she landed when the demon lunged once again, punching a hole on the place where she stood a second ago.

The demon turned to where she landed and sent blow once again. As she dodged, she quickly aimed for its chest. She drove her blade to its heart but its flesh was too thick for it to pierce. She tried pushing the pommel of her blade to make it go deeper when suddenly she heard a gruff voice.

“Is this all the future queen has to offer?” she was stunned. Before she could move, the demon slapped her away with the back of its hand, sending her flying to the other side of the field. She tumbled a few times before she came to a stop. Her body was aching but her eyes were still wide with shock.

Only sorcerers were known to speak, the best of them she met and killed at Vaga’s house. But this is a belua. And what did he mean by queen?

She was not given enough time to think about it. A second later, the demon was aiming at her again. She rolled out of the way, jumping back in quick successions create some distance. “Fight me, Queen.” The demon said the title with disdain, as if mocking her.

“I am no queen, pest.” She spat.

“I can tell.” The demon let out a laugh.

Luna looked around her and saw that none of the other demons were stepping out. They were like an audience, watching a circus show. Rigel whimpered.

The demon lunged and before Luna could move away, its fist came down on her. Rigel ran towards her but from behind the demon’s fist, she spoke. “Back off, Rigel.”

She had both her blades crossed, pushing against the large fist. With one powerful push, she deflected the fist. She continued to s***h her way towards the demon and it easily met her blow, sparks of fire coming out each time her blade and his skin came to contact. But what she didn’t expect was the demon’s foot lashing out and hitting her square on the chest. Suddenly she was flying. Her body hit one of the trees, knocking the breath out of her. Her eyes blurred and she tasted the blood seeping out from her lips.

She could see Rigel running towards her, his silver eyes filled with worry. Behind him, the demon laughed. “They sent me out to search for the demoness who left black magic trails on the mountains and what I see is a Halfling with her beloved pet. Pathetic.” Crouching down, he pulled a big boulder and threw it towards Rigel. The wolf swerved and avoid it, but the bits and pieces of rock hit his body, making him whimper. The demon laughed again. Something went ablaze inside her. Like fire was poured in her heart. Her soul felt as if it was beating out and fighting its way outside her body. Her darkened eyes pulsed.

“You are no queen. You are not fit to lead us.” He said with spite.

Luna stood up, her head still down. An uncomfortable silence came over them, as if everything was still. She was twitching her hand at her side as she stepped closer to the demon before her.

“I am no queen. I am not fit to lead you, that’s true.” She spoke in such an ominous way, the demons started crawling back into the darkness.

“After all, I plan on destroying you.” When she lifted her head, her eyes were now completely black, fangs growing past her lips. She spread her arms wide and she started to levitate. Strong winds started to flow all throughout the fields, whistling loud. From her fingertips, black smoke started to flow. It was so dark, it was as if darkness was seeping out her skin. It started to cover the field and the demons scurried further away.

“You demand to be lead? Well there’s only one place I plan on bringing you,” She placed her palm together and the smoke around her started to solidify into sharp stakes, all pointed down at the demon below her. “Back to hell.”

The staked fell down with a whooshing sound and the demon had no time to run. One by one they pierced his body, each tearing all the way through. They fell on him relentlessly until there was no more left to pierce. But she wasn’t satisfied. She could hear them behind the trees, cowering. It mad her blood boil. In her head she heard a voice. “Insolent brat! We bestow you our powers and you use it against us?”

Something squirmed inside her, fighting to take over her body. This enraged her even more. “You want your gift back, wench?” she rose eve higher on the middle of the field until she was looking at the the entire village, seeing each and every one of the cockroaches that roamed her land. “You can have it back.”

She screamed at the top of her lungs, more black smoke coming out rapidly from her body. It spread over the land and shot up the red sky. “You can have it back!”

Like meteors, her sharp black staked descended. Multiple demons fell down at once, some of them took shelter in the forest but the stakes penetrated the wood, still hitting them.

When they heard the sound of her scream, Legosi and Augustus went out, their swords drawn. When they looked up, they saw something in the sky releasing black smoke. “Is that Luna?” Augustus whispered in disbelief. Legosi started towards the barrier when Augustus yanked him back. “Legosi, look!”

He pointed at the sharp black stakes falling from above, embedding itself on the dirt and on the demons. Their corpses littered everywhere but still the rain of death continued to fall on them. “In God’s name, what is she doing?”

As King Xanadu fought, they heard something explode from afar. He buried his sword on the demon’s neck and yanked it out, his eyes trained on the sky. Suddenly they saw darkness spill from above. The black smoke was miles and miles away from them but they could see it travelling up and painting the red sky black.

“There you are, devil.”

The demons around slowly backed away, their monstrous eyes trained on the sky. They shivered at the sight of it. It was as if hell itself had opened up and was unleashing all evil upon the earth. They staggered back to where they came back as some of the knights pushed them back. Inside his carriage, King Ulysses looked up at the sky in terror. “By god, he was right.”

At the castle, the king and his knights were preparing to set out. If they used all the warlocks in the castle, they’d be able to transport to exactly where they were. But as they assembled on the field, the captain called to the king. “Your highness, please come here!” His voice was panicked as he stood on top of the walls, waving his hand.”

The king gestured to one of the warlocks and the man came to him. He held the king’s arm and said his spell. Split-second later, he was on the top of the walls. “What is it, Captain?”

With a shaking finger, the captain pointed at the horizon. At first he didn’t see it, but as he squinted his eyes and walked closer to the rail, he saw it. What seemed to be black smoke was spreading up to the sky miles away from them. Something exploded from where it was and a thin layer of smoke spread all over the sky, reaching them. Small black fragments fell from the sky, like a black snow. He looked at once again. “Could it be?”

Legosi stared helplessly at the black form on the sky. Then they heard her scream once again. It was an agonized scream, as if she was in pain. As if the power was too much, it started to clump together. Red light seeped out from the black ball, spilling out from every open space. Then it exploded. Black shards spread on the sky, falling down like hardened droplets of rain. Legosi a figure shaped like a girl fall and before Augustus could stop him, he ran outside. He took a piece of wood and used it to shield his head as he ran. He was heading to the direction of the field, the ache on his muscles overcome by adrenaline. When he made the turn, he saw the swarm of demons heading towards Luna’s unconscious form. Muttering a quick spell, he brandished his sword.

Some demons blocked him but they fell in halves just as quickly. Legosi was hacking his way through the swarm of demons like a mad man. One large belua blocked his way but he slid down below its parted legs and slashed his lower half, its innards falling down in a pile below him. Every demon that came his way was either beheaded or sliced in half. Behind him a falon aimed at his back. But before it could reach him, it was decapitated. Legosi looked behind him and saw Augustus with his glowing sword in hand. He nodded in thanks before continuing. Just a few meters away from him, he saw the demons closing in on her. Rigel stood beside, trying fend them off, but there were too many. He was outnumbered. He willed his legs to run faster but it felt as if he was being held down by heavy stones, is steps was getting heavier and heavier.

I won’t be able to reach her in time.

His blood pounded in her ears and it felt as if his sword was heavy on his palms. There was something he needed to do. He didn’t know what it was but his body seemed to. With a deep breath, he did as his instinct was telling him. He let go of his sword. His energy traveled from his heart to his hands until his palm was glowing in bright white light. His eyes were glowing too in the same way. The demons noticed the bright white light spreading across the field and they looked at it, but some was still trying to get a hold of Luna, planning to drag her somewhere.

Augustus was frozen on his spot as he stared at Legosi. He was speechless. Legosi bared his teeth and in quick fluid motions, he waved both his hands horizontally. His fingers left a trail of white light, seeming to get larger as it traveled closer to where Luna was. Before they could move out of the way, multiple demons were hacked off all at once. They fell around Luna with a thud. Not stopping to realize what he had just done, Legosi ran to Luna. He picked her up and cradled her close to his chest. He tapped her cheeks, trying to get her to wake up. “Luna, wake up.”

Legosi tried shaking her awake to no avail. He was so focused on trying to make her open her eyes that he didn’t notice the felled trees behind him where his energy had cut through.