Nirvana

Chapter two

Vanessa flew as fast as her wings would allow her to. She could see where Sarina was through the trees. She was in danger and needed immediate assistance. In a nearby office agency, she could see a large demon pinning her friend to the ground. As she flew, her eyes stung. There was fire everywhere. Thankfully, her mask filtered the air, protecting her lungs from the smoke. The demon lifted its heavy fist, ready to bring them down hard. “No!” she screamed. Fear engulfed her as she realized she wouldn’t make it in time. “SARINAAA!!” something whipped past her. More accurately, someone. For a split second, it felt like time had stopped and everything was moving in slow motion. She could make out the strong, sturdy physique of a man. He wore all black with a large hood pulled over his head and a mask to hide his face. All she could see were his eyes as they met hers. They were a brilliant shade of red, shiny like rubies in daylight. He literally took her breath away as it felt as though the air had gotten caught in her throat. Her heart raced, pulsing loudly in her ears. All she could do was stare.

Just as suddenly as the moment had come, it was over and the man in black raced past her. He was incredibly fast, soaring through the street like a gust of wind. Before the demon could pound Sarina, the man was there slamming his body into the demon. The brute force sent him crashing through a brick wall. Sarina gasped shockingly as she struggled to rise to her feet. Her body felt swollen all over, causing her great amounts of pain with every movement. She watched in awe as the strange man lifted the demon by its throat. There was no way any normal human could lift a demon that big. Hell, not even an average angel has that type of strength. The demon gurgled and clawed at the man’s arms. The man remained unfazed despite the blood that leaked from the cuts.

"How dare you?" the man spat. The demon hissed and snapped its teeth. The man squeezed harder and the demon choked and whimpered with fear. "Burn..." it came out like a whisper, but the command held power. A blaze of fire shot from the man's grip. The demon screeched in agony as its body dissolved under the intense heat.

Sarina had never seen anything like it. Was he a cryptid? One of the fallen? The man let the ashes fall from his fist. He glanced back at Sarina, eyes a blood red. She knew for certain that these were the eyes of a demon. She flinched, knowing that in her state she wouldn’t be able to take on someone this strong. He inched toward her, saying nothing. Frantic, she struggled to back away, forced to use the wall for support. “Hey, hey, you don’t want to do this buddy. I’m not a threat to you. Please don’t kill me.”

“Sarina!” Vanessa called. The man stopped and looked at the sound. Sarina looked back to see Vanessa sprinting toward her. She looked back at the man, he looked...different. In a way, his stance had softened, making him shrink in size. He no longer looked as threatening. He just stared, frozen.

Vanessa charged into the building frantically searching the room for her friend, praying she was okay. There was blood everywhere, she started to fear the worst when she heard her name being called from the next room. She used all her strength to force her way through the debris that blocked her path. Sitting on the floor was Sarina, badly hurt with a broken wing, yet she was alive. “Sarina, thank goodness I-” she stopped when she noticed the other presence in the room. The man who she had just seen outside was standing a few feet away. He stared at her, eyes wide, almost horrific. With his dark appearance and hands covered with demon blood, Vanessa placed herself between Sarina and him. She got in her stance, ready in case he decided to attack. He didn’t. For what seemed like hours, he stared at her. His gaze sent chills down her spine. As she opened her mouth to speak she noticed the skin on the man’s neck start to glow. He hissed as though it were hurting him. He backed away and before she could stop him he vanished in a spiral of fire. She wanted to go after him, but didn’t know how. Where would she even look? Sarina groaned as she tried to move. Vanessa dismissed her concern for the strange man and decided Sarina was more important. Besides, the guards will more than likely handle him. Vanessa kneeled down to assess Sarina’s wounds. “I’m sorry, I tried to get here as fast as I could. Are you okay? What happened to your wing?”

“I’m fine.” Sarina said with a slight smile. “You shoulda seen the other guy. Most of these are just scratches. He got my wing pretty good though. I don’t think I can fly.” Vanessa lifted her wing and she winced.

“Yeah, definitely broken. I can do my best to minimize the pain, but we need to get you to the infirmary.” Vanessa massaged her power into Sarina’s wing. She wasn’t a professional healer, but she had enough experience patching her friends up to know how to relieve tension and heal minor bruises. Katskai came in on her headpiece.

“Vanessa, are you alright? Where are you?”

“I’m here with Rina. She’s a little banged up.”

“I’m coming to you. We need to get outta the area before the guards get here and start the clean up.”

Vanessa pulled Sarina up, placing her arm around her neck for support. “Come on, let’s go.”

As they made their way through the streets, they tried their best to avoid the burst of flames coming from the nearby buildings. There was so much smoke rising, making thick black clouds in the sky.

Raahhhh!!!

Vanessa turned in time to see another large imp pounce in their direction. She pushed Sarina out of the way as she was tackled to the ground. The demon snapped its jaws. Its saliva burned through her uniform and skin like acid. She didn’t know how much longer she could hold it back. “AHHH! HELP!!!!”

An electric dagger struck the demon's head. Its body seized violently as it was electrocuted. Vanessa quickly pushed it off of her.

“Told you to stay close,” Raid said as he flew down beside them.

“You’re a lifesaver Raid. I owe you one.” Vanessa retreated to Sarina’s side.

“What are you two still doing here?” Raid asked. “Most of the civilians have already been cleared out. We’re being called back to school.”

“Sarina’s hurt. She can’t fly.” Raid examined Sarina’s state. “Come on, help me.” Both of them placed one of Sarina’s arms around their shoulders. Before they could get their bearings, another beefy red demon came charging around the corner. He closely resembled a bull. Its eyes glowed yellow with fury. “Oh come on, give us a break already!”

“These bastards just keep coming.” Raid released Sarina’s arm and stood in front of them, ready for combat. Before the demon could take another step, a giant rabbit sprung out of a nearby alley. It pounced on the demon like a lion on its prey. All three of them screamed with shock. “WHAT THE f**k?!”

The rabbit hugged the demon close to its body. The imp struggled to free itself, but it held on tight. They heard the sharp sounds of cracking bones. It whaled as its body was crushed in the rabbit's grip. The demon’s head swelled and the rabbit tilted its head down and let the demon's head burst in its mouth.

“Gross!” Vanessa spat in disgust. It made her want to vomit. Where did this thing come from? Before any of them could do anything, Renei came running out of the alley.

“There you are, you naughty bunny.” she ran up and hugged the rabbit as it calmly licked at its paws. “Whatcha got there?”

“Renei!” Vanessa called out to her.

“Guys! You’re okay!” Renei ran over and hugged them.

“What are you even doing out here? You were supposed to stay back where it’s safe.”

“I know, but I got so worried when Katskai called me and neither of you returned to school. I thought you may have been badly hurt.”

“Sarina’s hurt.” Vanessa admitted. “We gotta get her outta here.”

“Oh, she can ride on Cuddles,” Renei offered.

“Cuddles?” Sarina asked. “You mean the man-eating rabbit?”

“Don’t be silly, he’s a vegetarian. Demons disintegrate, so it doesn’t count. Apparently they smell pretty earthy like veggies.”

“Come on, we can talk later, let's get outta here.” Raida ushered them. They helped Sarina climb onto the rabbit’s back. Renei climbed on behind her.

“See you guys back at school.” Renei and Sarina raced off on Cuddle’s back.

Vanessa and Raid took off behind them, flying low to avoid the smoke. As they flew Vanessa glanced back at all the burning buildings and she could see, deep in the shadows, the man in black, yet his eyes weren’t red anymore. Instead they were a bright, glowing emerald green.

Back at school, students were sent to their dorms awaiting classes to resume in the evening. Sarina was sent to be treated in the infirmary, so Vanessa took it upon herself to take care of some of her student council work. She was busy organizing student incident reports when she heard a knock at the office door. Who could still be in the building? Was it a staff member? The door opened and Darren peaked in. Vanessa’s heart sank and she let out a nervous sigh. Why did he have to show up of all people?

“What are you doing here?” Vanessa asked without taking her eyes from the screen. She didn’t want to look at him. Brief interactions with humans have been giving her unpleasant hallucinations lately. “Classes don't resume until 1pm.”

“Oh, I know,” he started. “I heard this is where I’d find a student guide book. I hope I’m not disturbing you.”

“Would you care if you were?” she asked coldly.

“Why wouldn’t I-?”

“Guides are on the table to your right. Just take one.” She resumed typing on the computer. He hesitated before collecting a booklet. He turned to leave, but stopped.

“Hey, is the cafeteria still open? Because I haven’t had lunch yet.”

“I don’t see why it wouldn’t be.” Vanessa found herself growing annoyed that he was still lingering around. What did he want?

“Care to join me?” he asked. “It’s such a pain eating alone in a new school. Would be nice to have someone to talk to. Plus, we can go on that little tour you offered earlier.”

“SorrI wasn’t offering myself exactly. We have other members who signed up for the program.”

He turned his head left to right, looking for the invisible members. “Doesn’t look like anyone else is here. They must all be unavailable.”

“Yeah well, unfortunately, so am I. If you hadn’t noticed, I’m rather busy.” In reality she wasn’t that busy. She was nearly done with Sarina’s daily tasks and with everyone resting in their rooms, there wasn’t much to do. Sarina had been pretty productive planning student events for the semester and organizing student files over the summer. But he didn’t need to know that.

Unbothered by her obvious tactics to get him to leave, Darren starts walking around the office. He admired the excessive amount of books they had in the room. There were also a lot of old photos from previous years. There was a trophy case filled with awards from festival events. He spotted a table covered with pictures and aging yearbooks.

“Is this you and your friends?” he asked, picking up a photo where she and four other people were posing in track uniforms. They must have just completed a race judging by the sweat sprinkled across their foreheads. They looked younger,like first years. Vanessa ignored him so he continued looking through the photos. There were photos of them being handed awards, photos from ceremonies and debates. One photo stood out. The people in the photo were children, middle schoolers. It was Vanessa and the usual four people, yet there was another boy. They were all dressed as anime characters. The unknown boy was holding Vanessa’s hand, staring down at her with a smile. The boy seemed strange compared to the others. His eyes were so bright they were almost glowing through the photo. Before he could examine the photo more, Vanessa appeared beside him. She snatched the photo away from him.

“Can you not snoop through our stuff?” She glared at him, holding the photo close to her chest.

“Sorry, I didn’t think any of this was private considering you guys have it sitting out in the open.”

“That doesn’t warrant you to go around touching everything.” she scuffed and turned away placing the photo gently in her bag. A twinge of sadness ran through her. “You know what?” she finally said, signing out of the computer. “I can spare a couple minutes. We should start that tour.”