Inner Demons: Rebirth

oh. well, no.

*DRAMA INCREASES*

Yes.

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Arkos turned into the alley and began to climb up to the rooftop, but as he climbed onto the roof he saw something strange. Cassie stood there, but for some reason she was conversing with a rather strange individual who hid beneath a large dark cloak. He felt the evil emanating from them and quickly drew his swords.

The figure met his gaze. Cassie noticed that they were looking at something else and turned to face Arkos.

"What are you doing up here?" She was more surprised to see him then anything else. "Get back, it's not safe here."

Arkos was confused. "Who is that?" he asked "Why isn't it safe?"

A sudden burst of Chaos energy shot from the center of the roof. Cassie and the cloaked figure were knocked back, but Arkos was standing on the edge of the roof, and the shockwave was enough to send him falling into the alley below. He felt nothing for a second, but then his head hit something and the color red filled his vision. Shortly after he slipped into unconsciousness.

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When he woke up he was back in the base with his head wrapped in makeshift bandages. Randell was nearby doing something, however Arkos found that  the edges of his vision were blurred and he couldn't tell what was happening.

"You're lucky to be alive." Randell said. "Though maybe it's not so much luck, you've practically got your own guardian angel." Arkos understood what he meant by that. He wouldn't have lived half as long as he had without Cassie around. Still, he was certain he was forgetting something.

"You fell." Randell said. "In case you hit your head a bit too hard to remember that much. She dragged you here after that."

Arkos sighed. He couldn't feel much of anything at the moment and his vision was slowly fading back out. Whatever it was, I'll probably remember it later. Everything went black once again.

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When Arkos regained consciousness this time he was on a couch. Am I home? That didn't make any sense to him. He sat up and looked around. It looked like his old apartment. No, it's not real. he told himself. He shut his eyes and opened them again. Everything in the room seemed to have aged by a large number of years, things had been rearranged and broken, but it was definitely his old apartment.

"What are you doing?" Kody asked "Did the fall mess you up so bad you don't remember how to do anything?"

Arkos stood up. He was in the base. No matter what his mind told him, he knew it wasn't true.

"Are you alright?" A voice asked. He turned to see Cassie. However, it wasn't her, or if it was she had changed. Her hair was pitch black, she wore gothic make-up, blood stained her shirt.

He blinked and she was normal again. Well, except for the blood. He figured that came from him when he hit his head. "I'm fine, just a little out of it."

"That's good. I've heard that if you hit your head really hard, sometimes your brain starts to mess with things."

"Yeah, just remember if you start seeing unicorns and rainbows, that sh*t ain't real." Kody added.

"I'll keep that in mind." Arkos said.

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After five days the hallucinations faded, though Arkos noticed that the corners of his vision were always just a little blurry. He never told anyone of what he had seen during those five days, but the entire time he couldn't shake the feeling that he was forgetting something.

Arkos stared blankly at the wall. To him it was a large painting in the place of a wall, displaying a strange scene. He saw a cloaked figure and around them there were creatures, among them a snake, a spider, a bat, and a human. The paint began to run, vanishing when it hit the floor. Soon the wall was back to normal.

Cassie approached him. "Are you alright, you've been contemplating that wall for almost an hour now." Arkos simply nodded.

"If you insist." Cassie put her hand in her left pocket. "I almost forgot. I found this the other day, and I had a feeling it might mean something to you." She pulled out an amber gemstone with a chain through it.

Arkos picked it up and examined it. For some reason it did mean something to him. He couldn't tell why, but the gemstone reminded him of Jason. He looked at the chain. Some kind of necklace? Whatever it was he knew it was best to keep it with him, though he couldn't tell why exactly.

PLOTTWISTPLOTTWISTPLOTTWIST

I take it that there was some sort of twist in the plot.

Concusions are always plot twists

Well, I would suppose so.

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Arkos tried to find the meaning in the gemstone, but for some reason it seemed as though there was none. But then why. Something about it... He couldn't shake the feeling that it was connected to his brother, Jason. Cassie looked at the gemstone with something similar to regret.

"Can I see that again real quick?"

Arkos had no strong attachment to the stone, so he let her see it. Shortly after she handed it back, seemingly unchanged. Arkos was going to ask her what that was about, but decided it wasn't really all that important, especially if nothing was different now. Deciding that he had pondered the mysteries of a rock for long enough, he looked at the chain. It was rather simple, perhaps made of steel or a similar metal. He noticed that while it hung loosely out of the amber before, it had now been connected together, making it into a sort of necklace. Since it was the only connection he had to his brother now, Arkos saw no reason not to wear it.

The rest of the day was mostly uneventful until around noon, though it was impossible to tell what time it really was, when a loud screech shook the building. Arkos had heard this screech before, and knew what creature it came from without having to look. While he hoped that it was in his imagination, the screech had roused Kody, who had been napping at the time, and that meant they were probably going to have to fight the monster.

Everyone went outside to find everything was covered in a large shadow.Looking upwards they were greeted with the image of a large... thing. Just as Arkos remembered it was like two halves of a bird, but they were connected by a large spine with no form of flesh coating it. The wings were covered in plates rather than feathers and along the outside of the wings were the monster's eyes.

"Definitely a demon." Kody remarked. "But how do you fight something that large?"

"I suppose you could go for the eyes." Randell replied. "Though maybe it would be best to get it away from here before attempting to kill it. We wouldn't want it to come crashing down around here."

Cassie opened fire on the demon, but it was impossible to tell whether her bullet ever reached it. If it did, it had no effect.

"Just how high up is that thing even?"

Arkos recalled that the last time he had seen that thing it had been focused on him. He had also been unable to use Darkness at the time. Rather than try and think of any possible connections, he tried to use the Darkness now. He concentrated on forming Muramasa, and the blade appeared. The demon's eyes all turned to look directly at the sword. It let out another screech and Arkos found himself being enveloped in Darkness.

Cassie tried to grab his hand, but it was too late and he was submerged in pitch black. Arkos opened his eyes, not realizing he had closed them in the first place. He saw no buildings, and his friends no longer stood beside him. Looking down he found himself standing on a large and slightly yellowed surface. Master! a voice called in his head. The voice was not one he had heard before, but it reminded him of a puppy.

Master? What are you talking about? Arkos questioned. Not Master? But why do you have that then? Arkos didn't understand what was happening. The Muramasa, right? It was a gift from my brother. The ground beneath Arkos shifted. Not the Darkness idiot. Why do you carry the Chaos with you? A different, more serious voice asked. "I don't know what you mean." Arkos said aloud.

It took Arkos a moment to realize that he was standing on the spine of the large demon he had seen earlier. It began incredibly obvious, however, as the ground began to rotate beneath his feet. He tried to stay on top of the beast, but lost his footing and slipped. As he fell he noticed that the demon had rotated 90 degrees and, desperate to stop his fall, plunged Muramasa into the flesh of its wing. The blade cut though easily, doing little to slow his fall. Muramasa continued to cut through until he reached the scale along the edge of it's wing. The blade dug in nearly three feet before stopping and Arkos hung there, looking directly into one of the beast's many eyes. Now you've done it. The serious voice said. I hope you like falling, because that's what's going to happen. Arkos, seeking some form of victory, gathered a small ball of light energy in his free hand and jammed it into the eye in front of him.

The demon jerked violently, dislodging Muramasa. Arkos noticed that the ground was much closer than it had seemed it would be, though he still wasn't looking forward to hitting it. Closing his eyes made him feel slightly better, though it made it quite strange when instead of hitting the ground he found himself falling through water.

When his feet finally found solid ground he felt the water disperse and opened his eyes to see Randell standing in front of him.

"I have no idea what you did... but it seems to have worked..."

Arkos looked back and saw the demon losing altitude fast, though it seemed to have already passed over the city and was heading straight for the ocean. Arkos looked back down to see that the Chaos Reaper's minions were closing in on them.

"We should probably go." Randell said. He lead Arkos back to the base without much trouble.

Arkos thought to himself about the demons they had fought. Aside from their size, the demons had little in common with each other. He wondered what other demons were like, though he hoped he would never have to find out.

That seems like a very vicious demon

Demons are typically vicious. Also evil. Not really the most friendly of people.

Typically, meaning some will not be in this story

Yeah. I mean, I already planned out all of the demons, so I know that they aren't all vicious and evil, but can't go into more detail than that without it being spoilers.

That sound like a really cool story idea!

Yeah. Well, I mean all of the demons are evil, because they serve the main antagonist, but it's like they don't really want to be evil and stuff.

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Arkos stared down at the floor from his seat on the table. He tried not to think about his arm as Randell wrapped his wound.

"What even happened?" Arkos asked. "It hurts too much to have been from some sort of accident."

"You were just sparring with Kody is all." Randell said, "I guess he got a little carried away or something."

"I can't feel it, like at all."

Randell said nothing, he just finished with the bandages. Arkos tried to move his arm, but it didn't respond. I lost to Kody? Arkos thought to himself. After all of the training, after killing that huge demon, I'm still not strong enough to beat him?

Arkos had seen Kody earlier, but he only had a few cuts and bruises, nothing too serious. It wasn't fair. Without his arm, Arkos was no long able to use his twin swords. Just my luck that it would be the left, too. He was no left with only Muramasa, the blade of darkness, his brother's old sword.

"Well, you should be about done. Just tell me if the bandages start to come undone."

Arkos got up and walked away. He didn't know where he was headed, but he just didn't want to hang around here anymore. He pushed open the heavy metal front door and stepped out. The door closed behind him, locking automatically. Walking down the alley, Arkos began to think to himself.

Those guys are always saving me... why is it that I can never do anything on my own? Even the large demon seemed to just be chance and not skill. Besides, I would have probably fallen to my death without Randell there. Arkos thought back to Bill. He hadn't known much about him at the time, but he learned from Randell that Bill used to be Kody's best friend. Not only that, but he had weird psychic powers and could see the future or whatever. If it weren't for him, they wouldn't have even known I was out there, and how did I repay him....

Arkos stumbled and fell. Damn it! Why am I so useless? He lay there on the ground for a while. The Chaos minions patrolling the area noticed him and drew closer. Go ahead. Kill me, or turn me into a zombie, whatever the **** it is you guys do. Just make it quick. Arkos closed his eyes and waited for death, but it never came.

The Chaos minions hit the ground with a soft thud. Of course, here comes Cassie to save me again. God, why can't she just let me die in peace. However, once again Arkos was wrong.

"What are you doing on the ground, idiot?" A voice asked.

"Dying" Arkos replied weakly.

"Are you serious? After that stunt you pulled last night, you're just going to die that easily?"

"What are you talking about? I didn't do anything last night except get beat up."

A foot turned Arkos over so that he was staring at the sky. He looked over to see Kody standing beside him.

"So you really don't remember then?"

"Remember what? Losing?"

"Let's just say that if you weren't there I probably wouldn't even still be here." Kody's foot nudged Arkos. "See that building over there?"

Arkos looked, but there was no building. The weird thing was that he distinctly remembered there being a building over there.

"I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of the attack that caused that."

"So, you're saying I..."

Kody helped Arkos to his feet. "I don't know for sure what you did, but whatever it was, it was a good thing you did it. With strength like that, we might just be able to defeat the Chaos Reaper."

Arkos stared at the ground. "But I... Bill died because of me, and yet you guys are always going out of your way to save me... I shouldn't even be alive right now..."

"Hey." Kody said. "No matter what, you're still our friend. Of course we'd go out of our way for you. Now, let's get you back inside, that wound on your arm might get infected from all the dirt you've been rolling around in."

Arkos followed Kody back inside the base and had Randell look at his arm. As Randell removed the bandages, Arkos saw that it wasn't wounds from any weapon Kody had underneath, but two pierce wounds, almost as if he had been bitten by something with fangs. Something very large with fangs.

Just what the hell happened last night?

Aw, the poor babies!
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SNAKEBITESNAKEBITESNAKEBITE!

Also, Bill Cipher?

Actually, not Bill Cipher, but that would make the story interesting.

As interesting as the new episode?

That new episode was pretty good.

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One night earlier:

Arkos stood in the center of the street with Muramasa and Masamune at his sides. He readied his blades, waiting for his opponent to make the first move.

"Letting me go first?" Kody asked. "That's a mistake." Kody hadn't even drawn a weapon yet, so Arkos figured he wasn't really taking this whole thing seriously. Kody swung his fist, though he was too far away for a punch to connect.

Even though there was no way the attack could reach him, Arkos had the sudden urge to move. He quickly stepped to the side, barely avoiding a blue blade that had materialized from nowhere. The blade slowly retracted, and Arkos saw that it wasn't so much a weapon as it was an extension of Kody's arm.

"Impressive." Kody sneered. "I was half expecting to see your head rolling across the pavement."

Arkos realized that Kody's energy must be unique to him, so it would only make sense that it could work differently than his own. Kody swung again, but Arkos blocked with his own swords. It seems that it only takes the form of a blade though, so as long as I know where he's swinging I should be able to fight him. Their blades clashed many more times, but they seemed to be equal in skill, with neither being able to defeat the other.

"You're better than I thought." Kody said, "but how much longer do you think you can hold out?"

Arkos didn't respond. If I channel my energy into one of my swords I should be able to hit him with enough force to parry his attack, leaving him open... Arkos focused his energy into Masamune, though when he did Muramasa started to fade. I can't take too much energy or he might catch on... Arkos returned enough of Muramasa's energy to keep it solid. He blocked a few more blows, and then when he saw the chance he swung with Masamune. The blade hit Kody's dead on, and there was a flash of white light. Arkos didn't know what had happened, but he couldn't see anything and he figured Kody was no better off. Raising Muramasa he prepared to strike, but before he could a fist connected with his chin and he felt his feet leave the ground for a moment.

Arkos hit the ground hard. He was dazed, but his vision was returning. He saw Kody standing over him. "Nice try, but it'll take more than that to defeat me."

"Why did you hold back?" Arkos asked. His sight was now clear. "You could have finished me then, but you didn't."

"I wouldn't quite feel right, killing a wimp like you." Kody replied, though he seemed to be joking. "C'mon, get off the ground." He helped Arkos to his feet. The two started heading back to the base, with Kody giving Arkos tips on how he should properly wield the twin swords.

"Although they were once rivals, the two swords represent a balance between Light and Darkness. If you give power to one, it takes it from the other. However, the swords don't really have anywhere to put all the energy you're giving them, so it just kinda explodes out, like what happened back there. Also, the sword you take from becomes really fragile, leading to-" Kody stopped suddenly. "Why are you growling at me like that?"

"Huh?" Arkos asked. He had zoned out for most of what Kody was saying, but was now away of a low growling sound, like from some sort of dog. They both turned around, but Kody was pounced by some sort of large beast. He tried to get it off of him, but it seemed to be canceling out his powers.

Arkos couldn't tell whether the beast was supposed to be feline or canine. It seemed to be a mix of both, but whichever it was, it was larger than a fully grown bear. Arkos knew it wasn't the most important thing to be wondering at the moment, but he was curios. Still he had to help Kody. He tried to call his blades, but Masamune didn't respond. He summoned Muramasa, the blade of Darkness, and swung it at the creature's back. Muramasa had been giving off a faint glow of black energy, but when it hit the beast it stopped glowing. Not only did it stop giving off energy, but the blade itself snapped right where Arkos stuck. The monster reared back and let out a roar. Kody used this opportunity to get out from under it and got to his feet.

"We should probably run." He said to Arkos "There's no way we can fight it like this, but maybe if we get back to the base..."

Arkos nodded. Both of them backed away from the beast slowly and then took off running. They turned when the reached an intersection and then again into a random alley. for it's size the beast seemed to have trouble keeping up with them."

"You think it's a demon?" Arkos asked.

"Definitely."

Arkos suddenly felt strong emotions. They weren't his, but they seemed to be radiating from the other end of the alley, and all of them were hostile. Kill the leader. A voice spoke in his head. Eat his flesh. It wasn't a voice that Arkos had recognized, but he knew it could only belong to one being. Now! The voice shouted. Arkos instinctively shoved Kody to the side and put up his arm to guard his face. In an instant he was pinned to the ground by the demon. Arkos screamed in pain as the demon bit down on his arm. He heard the bone starting to crack and he felt something begin to spread through his arm. For an instant he saw an orange fluid dripping from the jaws of the beast, possibly some kind of venom. The pain began to fade, and Arkos felt relieved for a moment, but a loud snapping sound changed all of that. He didn't feel any pain, though he wasn't sure why.

He felt energy welling up inside of him, as if it could no longer reach his arm and was therefore pushed back into the rest of his body. Focusing as best he could, he concentrated as much energy as he could into his free arm. He felt it take the form of a blade, though he didn't care which one it was was. Gripping the sword tightly, he jammed it into the demon's eye. It howled in pain and rolled off of Arkos. He used the sword to support himself and rose to his feet. The numbness from his arm was spreading and he felt more and more energy being pushed into the sword. He raised it slowly into the air, and then swung down with as much power as he could muster. The energy of the blade burst forth as if it had been fired from a cannon. It annihilated the demon upon impact and continued out of the alley until it collided with a building, which it proceeded to tear through. Arkos felt the numbness spreading even more, but at the same time he was physically exhausted from using so much energy. No longer able to support his own weight, Arkos fell. Kody caught him and supported his weight, but Arkos quickly lost consciousness.

Kody carried him back to the base where Randell checked on his injuries.

"It seems his arm is broken. With the condition the bone is in, it would be impossible for me to repair it. Not only that, but there was a large concentration of venom. I got most of it out of him, but I'm afraid it might have been too late."

"After all that, you're saying he might not make it?"

"It's entirely possible. Maybe go a little easier on him next time."

"This didn't happen during a sparring match. There was a demon."

"Was? So you're saying you took care of it."

"He did." Kody replied. "He had some weird green sword that I'd never seen before and he killed it with a single strike."

"Is that so?"