I slid over a patch of musty papers as I rapidly turned another corner, nearly sending me crashing into the third-story window to my left. I regained my footing without losing much speed, though. And good thing I did, too, because whatever bird-demon-creature was behind me was right on my heels, and I was barely making any headway getting away from him.

Driving down a secluded road was nothing more than routine for Jonathan. He had driven down this dark and empty road more times than he could count and nothing out of the ordinary was ever worth making a note of. He worked the night shift in a factory and enjoyed the scenic view of fields and forests, even though it made the commute to work longer.

Coffee. I needed coffee. The irresistible urge to caffeinate, so the power of cognitive thought is regained. That need so strong, you’d step on people, push and shove them out of the way, if it wasn’t for polite society. ‘Vive la revolution’ I say. Don’t get in the way of me and my coffee or there will be trouble. Don’t get in my way or–

Thinking back on it, we should have seen the signs. We should have taken action years, decades, shit, even centuries before if we'd've any hopes of preventing what happened.

I saw the fear take over in his frantic eyes as I violently grabbed the back of his hair, pulling his head backwards abruptly; exposing his jugular. Almost as if I had become entranced, I could see his veins pulsating, my eyes widened with lust as a deceptive and lingering smile crept upon my face. He attempted to raise his hands up, trying his best to push away from me in order to escape my grasp, but he couldn’t. Something in me had shifted… I changed, almost snarling, I repeatedly and brutally stabbed him in his neck with the blade that I held in my other hand, the blood spewing from his wounds, splattering against the walls. I could hear him let out a scream in tremendous agony, as he began to choke on his own blood. The gurgling noises that escaped from his disgusting mouth only increasing and exciting me more, bringing the knife up one last time and striking him; beheading him in the process. The blood splattering my iniquity filled face as I watched his body fall to the floor, hearing his head hit the hardwood. A craze had overcome me, grinning immensely at his lifeless body I heard an intense gasp a few feet away. Looking up intently, I saw Dyrel standing there, white as a ghost at what he had just witnessed. Glancing down at the knife that was dripping blood, he took a step back, as he stumbled from the immense horror and disbelief. Stepping forward, over Rynd’s dead body, starring him down, making my way over to him slowly. Dyrel let out a shriek of terror, for he knew he was next. He ran down the stairs, desperately looking for a place to escape. The fear had taken over as he fell to the floor, quickly trying to get back up he made his way to the front door, pulling on the door handle, only to find out it had been locked. Hysterically struggling to unlock the door in his desperation, he began to see double at the suffocating dismay that had taken over him. But he immediately froze in his tracks when he heard a heavy laugh from directly behind him. Shaking, he slowly turned around, only to be face to face with me. He was withered with fear as our eyes met, he stared into my soulless blue eyes as he tried to mutter the words “Please…. no!”. I only smiled then, as I grabbed him by his throat, pinning him against the front door. Frantically grabbing my hand with both of his, wanting so eagerly for me to let him go. I saw the despair in his green eyes as I shoved the knife into his stomach, pulling upwards towards his diaphragm as his intestines began to fall from his stomach. All the while, the stench of his blood came pouring out, making me grimace in delight. I continued to stare into his eyes in the process, making sure I was the last thing he ever saw, as I slowly watched the life fade from his eyes. Pulling the knife out then and letting go from his neck, he fell to the ground, gazing at his body that laid in a pool of blood. Cocking my head to the side slightly, almost as if I was analyzing him in satisfaction. I let a sigh of contentment escape my lips, while wiping off my blade, and tucking it back into its hinge all the while I continued to smile. Chuckling to myself then, I quietly whispered “And to think, they never saw it coming.”

“Kami was multiple different things,but anyone that knew her knew that she wasn't all there but no one ever thought that she would ever do what she did. I never thought that she was lonely but maybe she was and just didn't show it to the rest of us.. Whatever made her break and do what she did is unknown to anyone but her. I guess the answer to your question is that no matter what I do to try and forget I will never be the same after what happened.” Alex said to the many reporters that were trying to pray off of him like the vultures they were. He walked away and could still hear the reporters asking more questions and the clicks of their cameras. He was hoping that if he walked to school by the time he got there they would already be gone but sadly. He made his way into the school, where it all happened, and he made sure that Alex would never be able to have a good night's rest again. The moment he walked through the door all attention was on him, mummers filled the halls as he walked to his locker. He did his best to ignore all of them, once he reached his locker he quickly opened it trying to get the day over with as fast as humanly possible. He got all of his books out of his bag and accidentally hit his right hand on one of the hooks in the locker. He dropped his books and held his bandage hand trying to get the pain to subside. He could hear two kids next to him whispering to each other. “Is it really him?” one whispered and the other replied with “Yeah! We should ask him what it's like to be friends with a monster!” Alex quickly grabbed his books and slammed his locker shut and locked the lock. The hallway went silent some of his pirates were hoping he was gonna say something about what happened, others were hoping that a fight would break out, while the teachers were getting ready to stop said fight. All Alex did was walk away, right into another set of problems. He knew that this wasn't gonna go away anytime soon no matter how much he wished it would. As he walked through the hallways to his first class mummers and whispers followed him, everyone had their attention on him as he entered the classroom. All of them had their full attention on him. He finally decided to speak. “Will all of you screw off?” he said in such a sharp tone that it could cut straight through concrete, everyone looked in different directions even the teacher. He walked over to the seat that he always sat in and laid his books on the table. He leaned back into his chair and let his head fall backward with his hands behind his head and his lazily half shut. He let out a sigh of frustration as he closed his eyes fully now. He opened his eyes and looked over at the table that he would move to after the morning announcements, where they used to sit together. He let a small smile creep onto his face as he remembered the weird stuff they would talk about. But the small bit of happiness was short lived as he saw a blood covered girl with long, dark black hair, in the school uniform. In a state of shock and fear he tried to jump back away from the blood covered girl forgetting about the chair witch made him fall to the ground as the girl finely lifted her head. She had blood flowing out of her eye sockets, no eyes filled them. “You lived but we died '' she said in a whisper “You lived but we died '' she said in a louder voice. “YOU LIVED BUT WE DIED!!” she screamed this time. This made Alex flinch and start to crawl back, he knew that none of this was real.She was dead and he knew it but it didn't make the situation he was in any better than it was before. When he closed his eyes trying to get the dead girl out of his mind when he opened his eyes again he was met with piercing dark blue eyes that were staring into his grayish-blue eyes. He tensed up trying to not scream or run away from the well dressed creature that was in front of him with a Cheshire cat like grin plastered on his face. Alex kept his eyes that straight forward staring at the thing that started right back at him. “Well are you gonna do something or not kid?” The thing asked the blond that was starting to shake with fear,he knew that the thing was a killer and the real monster. His hand started to feel like it was on fire. He finally looked away from the thing in front of him and to his hand. His once white bandages were now stained with the boys blood from the wound that had suddenly opened. He grabbed his hand in pain and heard the thing that let a dark chuckle that sent a chill down the blonds spine. He swung his head around to see nothing where that thing once was. He looked around the classroom to see all of his classmates staring at him with a mix of worry and fear. He got up and walked out the door without a word. He walked into the bathroom and unwrapped his bloody hand and turned on the cold water from the school's shit plumbing. He hissed in pain as he ran his hand under the water, he winced at the pain but opened his eyes when the pain let up to be at least a little bit. He didn't do anything. He saw the creature that was only there a few seconds before hand. He took a big breath in and exhaled with a sigh trying to calm himself down after the burning on his hand came back. He shut the water off and grabbed paper towels wrapping his hand in them. He tried to ignore the creature that was flowing the boys ever movement. Alex was about to walk out when he heard a low growl that made him freeze dead in his tracks. “You can't just ignore me kid i'm here to stay and there's nothing you can do about it.” the creature said in a tone and let out a small growl. Alex sighed and said “I'm going to go see her after school. I know you're gonna come with me but till then can you leave me alone please?” Suddenly the creature's face went from an angry and threatening to happy like a child in a candy store. He started jumping around like he was a cartoon character clapping his hands together with a smile that wasn't creepy. Alex could have shared that he looked almost human. He shook his head and walked out of the bathroom and down the almost empty halls, the only people that were in the halls were the staff. He walked to the nurses office and opened the door to where he could walk in before he shut it and turned to see her already getting the medical tape so she could bandage his hand once again. He walked over and sat on the cot throwing the paper towels away in the bucket by the wall. “So wanna tell me what happening or you're just gonna sit there being all suspicious?” she asked him as she started to wrap his hand up. “I'm not suspicious your suspicious!” he exclaimed as he looked to his left to see the creature sitting in the chair with his legs crossed and and his hands folded together watching the nurse fix the boys hand.the woman looked over at the chairs that were to her left that the odd blond had been glaring at for a few minutes to see no one there. She raised a brow in confusion as she looked back at the boy and asked “what did the wall do to you?” Alex turned back to the woman as she put the medical tape back where she had gotten it from before. “No. just thinking about… stuff.” Alex answers her question only to be met with a snicker from the thing sitting a few feet away from him. He rolled his eyes and laid down with his bandaged arm over his eyes to shield him from the blinding light of the room. The nurse replied to this with a hum that said that she didn't believe a thing he just said. Alex knew that she didn't believe him but he also knew that she was the only teacher or adult that wouldn't push him into talking about what had happened only a month or so ago. He slowly started to drift asleep. He was met with the same dream he had had or more accurately a nightmare he had every night since the incident, all of his friends were all covered in blood and missing body parts. Just like the girl from the classroom earlier they all were yelling “you lived but we died!” All Alex could do is cover his ears and cower in a corner of the room he was stuck in. it wasn't a bad room if the dead, screaming, friends weren't there the room was fairly decent. It had a queen sized bed that had a blue comforter on it with a coffee table next to it with framed pictures set on it, the window on the opposite way of the door had a bay window and blue curtains that had butterflies on them. Alex jolted awake to find a fluffy blanket on top him and the nurse gone. He looked around and saw the creature staring at him uncomfortably close to his face. Alex jumped when he saw the creature and said “Can you not please? I get it your scary.`` Alex got up and started to walk to the door. He looked at the clock as he passed it. He had slept half of the school day away. He sighed and walked off to his next class prying that the day would go a little easier.

The expression upon my face remained blank. “Do whatever needs to be done, to bring them here.” I said knowingly as I stared off into the snow covered forest. The slight breeze ran through my hair, as a few strands danced across my face. “As you wish” Floric responded, somewhat concerned and confused, but never questioning my order. I never broke my gaze as I continued watching the clusters of snow flakes fall from the dimly lit sky while I heard the pitter patter of his paws, as he ran off into the distance, headed North while in his ascended form. It only seemed like minutes before Polue, alone, had appeared at the required destination; only I was no where to be found. Confused, he called out my name, only to have me appear quietly behind him as I whispered into his ear “You’re a fool.” My breath sent chills down his spine, but before he could even begin to bring himself to muster any words, let alone move, I quickly wrapped my left arm around his chest pulling him tightly against me as I took out my blade from underneath my cloak; stabbing it into the right side of his neck. He gasped and began to choke on his own blood, gurgling and unable to breathe, just as quickly as I had stabbed him, I pulled the dagger back out; almost beheading him in the process as the blood spewed from his jugular, staining the ground a dark crimson color. I watched his body fall into the snow, all the while the blank expression remained on my face. I heard an intense gasp directly behind me as I turned around slowly to find Kalib standing there in disbelief. His face was as white as a ghost, stricken with fear as he proclaimed in terror “What have you done?!” I smiled then, slowly stepping forward in his direction. His dark green eyes stared into my twinkling blue, yet, somehow soulless eyes. Almost entranced as they were widened with despair, he then fell to his knees. He couldn’t seem to speak as he glanced at Polue’s lifeless body then back at me. Standing before him, I looked down at him disgusted, grasping him tightly by his neck, I stared into his eyes and whispered “Now you know.” His pupils dilated as a tear rolled down his cheek, stabbing him just underneath his belly button, I then dragged the knife upwards, into his diaphragm. The blood poured not only from his stomach, but from his mouth as he cried out in immense pain, attempting to raise his hands in order to stop me, but he was too late. I watched with a smile as his body began to tremble, the heart ache and treachery written all over his face. The excitement sparking within me as I watched the life in eyes begin to fade. Just as they did I closed my eyes, opening my mouth slightly, it was almost orgasmic as I heard him asphyxiate on his own blood. Pulling the blade out, he fell to his side as his last breath escaped his lips and just as he did, I opened my eyes slowly and I glanced up to see Floric standing there, frozen in his tracks. Tilting my head slightly in awe as our eyes met, it seemed like a life time as we both stood there, not saying a word. I smiled wildly as I said to him “Always remember, love makes you weak.” Stepping over Kalib’s dead body as I wiped my blade clean, I walked past Floric as he briefly nodded, still shocked at what he had just witnessed. He stood there for a moment, looking at Polue and then back at Kalib. His mouth began to quiver, but just as it did, it then formed into an iniquity filled smile as he looked up towards the now dark sky. He closed his eyes, letting the sensation flood his body and mind. Nothing but silence could be heard. For he finally understood.

I could feel him watching, waiting… as I stood there with my eyes fixed upon the ground. There was nothing but silence between us, nothing but a lost look on my face; engulfed by the reality of things. My own nightmare. I could feel a slight breeze gently trickle its way across the surface of my skin. I looked up then, to find him staring at me with a blank but yet stern look on his face. My lips quivered ever so slightly as I tried to find the right words, our eyes interlocking as if he could see deep within my soul. “I know the truth” he quietly spoke. Looking away for a brief moment and then back up at him, only a fraction of pain beamed from my eyes as I responded “You’re wrong”. Unaffected by what I had said, he shook his head slightly back and forth continuing on “You can’t free yourself from this corrupted thought because a part of you knows it to be true. It will take over, from that very moment the doubt ignited itself. You do not fit that mold. You’re independence drives you into a life of solitude”. I scoffed at him, feeling his words pierce their way through my heart. The resentment building its way up, the anger emerging, you could hear the pain in my voice “No, it’s not, it can’t be. Besides, that was then, this is now”. He took a step closer, reaching his hand out to cup my face. I quickly turned away but he grabbed me gently, slowly pulling my face towards his. Our eyes met once again and at that moment I held my breath. He spoke with manipulative wisdom, the tone in his voice never changing “Why do you remain in a fist full of lies? It is in your blood and you know that, so don’t try and change something you cannot”. My breathing quickened, I could feel the knots in my stomach intensify, I tried to be strong, but the tears slowly filled my eyes. Feeling his hurtful words bury themselves deep within my mind. “This is so much different, can you not feel it?”. He ran his fingers across my cheek, the disappointment showing itself upon his face, but I could see the deceit screaming in his beautiful eyes. “Stop trying to fight it. You know why you were put here, and to see you completely intertwined by these remote feelings makes me second guess your true abilities. You’re blinded by this foolishness”. My body felt numb by his touch, he was corrupting every thought and feeling. Squeezing my eyes shut in confusion, attempting to block out every negative aspect that tried to drown me in doubt and sorrow. But I felt it spread throughout every corner of my mind, unable to break free from such tragedy a tear ran down the side of my face as I tried to pull away from him, but in turn, he only held me tighter. I couldn’t bring myself to scream at him but he could hear the pain in my voice as I said “Don’t do this to me, not now”. Although my eyes remained shut I could see him smiling with empowerment. He leaned in then, feeling his breath against my neck, my body began to shake as his intoxicating words quietly whispered “You are not meant to feel this way. You know what needs to be done”. I could feel every touch, every word slowly slip through the cracks of my already damaged heart, as if it were a poison filling my veins, I felt weak, my mind clouded; delusional. He slowly brought me to my knees as I whispered back in sheer disbelief “This can’t be happening”. Hearing the heart wrenching weakness upon my voice he let my body go as I fell onto my side. The tears streamed down my face; silently sobbing to myself I stumbled with my words “No… please, no”. Standing over me, he smiled that deceitful smile. His face had iniquity written all over it. He knew he was winning. Slowly taking over, I felt the flame within myself dim. He was the one thing holding me together and the one thing that was tearing me apart. I just couldn’t escape.

Bedtime was my favorite time of the day, you know why because my mom tells the best stories she

I knew my fate had been chosen for me then. Through all the misery and heartache I had lost almost everything along the way. He stood behind me, watching me closely as we stood in silence gazing over the cliffs edge at the world under us. Quietly, as if almost a whisper he said “I hope you know what you’re doing.” I didn’t look at him, I remained staring off into the distance, my expression blank but in my voice you could hear the determination “I may have lost so much, but it was for all the right reasons. With everything comes sacrifice. And unlike them, they cannot understand what it is that I must accomplish.” A slight breeze emerged through the trees as it slowly twisted through the strands of my hair. Turning around to face him, he nodded knowingly but as I walked past him towards the depths of the forest his face turned to sadness. He wanted to stop me, but he knew it was what I had to do. I could feel the tears well up in my eyes as I ran for dear life towards the shadowy figure below. The wind twisted and twined its self through my hair as my heart raced in agony. My mind screamed at me to run, to let it all go, but my heart begged to fight. I let out a scream of traumatizing pain as I inched my way closer to the death filled creature that was crouched over something I could not see. And at that moment, as I swung my hand back, time seemed to slow down as it turned to face me roaring out an ear piercing sound. The confusion and hurt beamed in my eyes as I recognized the creature. It was my guardian. The saliva fell from the tips of its teeth, its mouth remained agar full of blood, snarling viciously just moments away from the grasp of its jaws. Hitting it across the face it fell to its side, I could feel the anger running through my veins and as if a knife had run its blade through the core of my heart. Looking down, it was then that I realized my heart stopped and my eyes froze when I saw his limp body lying in a pool of blood, motionless; I stared into his lifeless eyes. I felt my heart sink, holding my breath I felt the heartache take over, the tears falling from my eyes, I screamed out in despair “NO!” Falling to my knees, I cupped his face in my hands. Hearing a deep, trembling snarl from behind me I stopped for a moment, my eyes still fixed upon his handsome face. I spoke sternly, but you could hear the hurt of betrayal in my voice “Why?!” I cried “You took everything from me, and for what, to see me suffer? I finally found all that I needed” I shrieked then as I spun around “AND YOU!! You took it from me!!!” The creatures blood red eyes looked into mine with triumph, proud of what it had done. It growled deeply as its demonic voice spoke back “I suppose it was only a matter of time, but you never had anything, from the very beginning you were used and fooled.” It smiled at me then, its black fur raised amongst its muscled body. Gasping in disbelief as if almost unable to speak “You were the only one I had, you stood by me and taught me all that I know, you encouraged me and stayed by me throughout my whole life and now, now that I found what you always told me to look for, you take him from me!” Raising my voice in anger I spat “You were never my friend, nor my guardian; you were always on their side. Even after all the years you protected me, you lied to me… you deceived me!” It took one large paw forward until it was only a hairs length looking down at me, its claws glistening in the daylight, the blood falling from its jaws as it grinned evilly. My eyes red from the tears, the sadness had overwhelmed me as I continued to stare at it in disbelief. I could feel the pain rushing through my body, I felt broken beyond repair as I slowly reached my hand out to place it on the side of the creatures face. I looked at the ruffled fur between my fingers as I looked back into its crimson eyes and quietly spoke “I always loved you” and as if my words had punctured it, I could see the grin on its face slowly fade and the anger in its eyes turn to remorse. Gently patting the side of its face lovingly I stood on the tips of my toes leaning forward kissing it on the muzzle, stepping even closer wrapping my arms around its heavy build, I buried my face into its chest of fur and I silently cried out “I’m sorry, so sorry, but it has to be done.” I could feel the creatures heart quicken as I squeezed my eyes shut and screamed out as I blindly stabbed it once, hearing it shriek out in pain, I stabbed it again and could feel the warmth of blood pour out onto my hand. Letting go I opened my eyes then as I saw it wail baring its teeth as it angrily yelled out “Why, you fool?! You’ll die too!” I watched as the blood fell from its chest, watching it struggle in its pain I smiled then and whispered acceptingly “I know.” And at that moment I closed my eyes, feeling my spirit lift, my heart began to slow. Falling to my knees as the creature stared at me in shock; surprised by what I had done. I felt everything around me slowly disappear and as I fell onto my side, endearing my last breath I softly spoke “I love you.” And with that the life faded from me and just as it did the creature felt a sharp pain in its heart, as its life was being sucked from it, its eyes froze, everything faded black as it tried to scream out, but it only came out as a mere whisper under its breath “No…” Collapsing to the ground with a heavy thud it breathed its last breath. For a moment it seemed as if the world was put on pause as they lay there and just as quickly as it had started, silence filled the air once more and nothing could be heard but the slight breeze as it rustled through the trees.

The king and queen would be traveling to a neighboring kingdom to escape the tragedy and weather that mysteriously started acting awry. So many of the villagers and members of the royal blood lineage had perished since the nightmare began reeking havoc on all the people in their kingdom. Time was of the essence to escape what seemed to be a mysterious plague murdering men, women, and children regardless of their stature. Horror stories of the tragic events taking place were being told to everyone and they now lived in fear of the mystery that was occurring.

Prologue