If any are watching, I want them to know that from this point on, they do not get it easy. Removing my second blade, a dagger, which is hidden, and I know that with my speed they can only see the flash of light. The body now decomposing, and head beginning to, I sling the blade behind me, the head flies off into the darkness.
“Come on you freaks!” I yell valiantly, “I’ll take you all on...!”
As I realize that none are around, it hits me that the sun is beginning to rise. In a sense I am hopeful, that me, my son, Master and this side of the world has made it through another night. And another side of me is disappointed, which is shown as I lower Shina-Saryu, and slowly return it to its sheath. I turn, and what is left of the dead ghouls is consumed by fire, and the ashes are whisked away by winds of the city.
Like any other day, people are waking, getting ready for their jobs, those people and their jobs are all still here, thanks to me and Core, as well the long line of monster slayers. Shina-Saryu is one of many mystical weapons used to defeat evil and all its minions. Another my kind is on in the next time zone, and a couple more spread through the world, they make sure the world is safe, and pretty soon it will come to an end.
They all know of my son, and the part he plays. I am only a few more blocks from Sanctuary, the building appears to be dilapidated from the outside. But that is for cover from both demon world and the human world both of which are fully capable of destroying the sacred building.
It is a place were the wounded come to heal, both physically and emotionally. A young girl stumbled by the other night, I thought a mite, mites are comparable to pets of the ghouls. I thought it was going to attack, but as she was in the protective field of Sanctuary, she was saved, if she had not gotten to the specific space in time, I would have saved her. I appeared to her, and brought her in, she was attractive as most young females are. She of course was inquisitive, but I told her I was only passing through, and that she would be fine, if she stayed until morning. I then left to go on my daily route through the city. As dawn broke, I returned, and she had left a note.
It read:
“Dear Mister, Thank U Very Much! i thought for sure the cops were gonna come beating down, but U must know ‘em or whatever. U fixed me up pretty good, so i left U my last bit of money, its all I could do to repay U for keeping me outta the hot seat.
Thanks again,
Kris!”
It was written like a girl had written it, but something just continued to nag at me about it. Such as why would she leave me the last bit of money she had, but then it came to me that she probably would sell her body, and that would make it easy enough to get some quick cash. It caused me quite a bit of anguish, how ungrateful the people of the city are at times. Such as the girl, she had been running from cops, and I kept her from getting caught... A great hero I am, but it could have been worse, the mite could have bit her ankle, allowing the ghoul that it belonged to appear, and finish her off.
I suppose that was the blessing of Sanctuary, and its curse. It can keep any human safe, good, evil, indifferent, that is its purpose, and of course most humans know nothing of the protective power Sanctuary has. However, the select few who have discovered the war between humans and demons know what it is and often stop by.
“Yo, yo, yo,” the accent is purely Brooklyn, “James, my dawg, what’s up?!”
“Hello Darien,” I reply, “How’s it going down in your crib?”
“Man, what the hell did you just say?” Darien blurts out, “Man, don’t be tryin’ to talk ebonics to me, I will straight up kick yo’ ass.”
I try to soak it in, but I simply say, “Do you wanna take this outside?”
Darien cracks a laugh, “Oh no dawg! HAHA! You know I’m just playin’!”
“Yeah, well, beer’s in the fridge,” I give my usual speech, “Just don’t have too many honeys over this time. Alright dog?”
“HAHA! You know me man, I’ll keep it straight up in here,” Darien is a good kid, he stays away from the hard drugs and such, those things are demons in themselves. And the ones who put the drugs out for the humans to consume, truly are demons, they use them to keep a lot of the humans loyal to them. It sickens me every time I see another succumb to the drug, that is why I try hard to keep those that happen upon Sanctuary as informed as possible.
“Good, see you at dawn,” that is how I usually tell anyone staying, goodbye. I see a few more familiars as I walk outside, and pass out of the safety of Sanctuary. Sometimes I wish I could tell the whole world at one time of the Sanctuaries scattered across the globe, but it would be impossible to house them all. That is why it is key to keep the Slayers’ profiles as low as possible, all who know me, save Master Core, only know me by first name, and they know of the war between humans and demons. And they also know that if everyone knew, then they could very well jump start the Final Ascension.
Sunset. The hunt begins again, more demonic activity has been occurring lately, or that’s the story from the other Slayers anyway. My city is just as drab as usual, a few meandering demons out to stir up trouble, know of my location. Those few try, and try as they may, to get the jump on me, but I am always ready to unleash Shinasaryu. The first leaps off the nearest corner of the building behind me, another, a drug dealer, rips its human disguise off, and runs at me from the nearby alleyway. A third scurries out of the sewer.
“Give it up Slayer, our Master has already taken the last child necessary for the Ritual!” The drug dealer says as he continues he dash.
The bug like one that came out of the sewer continues, “Your son is the final component, and he is being hunted as we speak!”
I finally reply, “My son is safe, so long as I breath, and Shinasaryu is in my possession!”
The one from behind me, “That is why we have come to take it away!”
A grin crawls across my face, “You want it, come and get it!”
I know exactly how close the one behind me is, “Here, catch!”
I spin and release the sword, Shinasaryu slices the air, almost literally, finally as it sinks into the demon’s flesh, it screams in pain. I run at the screaming demon, grabbing the blade, twisting it inside, the pitch of the shriek increases, I ignore it. Pulling the blade leaves a gaping hole in the demon’s side, and it melts into decaying bones as I spin to meet the next two. They had both leapt into the air, and were coming down directly on top of me. A tricky maneuver to get out of, but no where near impossible. Especially since I had already done it once before, leaping up at them, I lean more to the bug-like one on the left, dodging its attack, my blade cuts through its midsection. I spin in the air, and catch the other in the same place. As the two foul creatures descend they decompose into ashes, which is blown away and nothing is left to hit the ground.
Suddenly, I sense Master Core, he is in pain! This was merely a distraction, the real action is going on elsewhere! I really don’t remember running all the way to the training site, but as I drew closer, I began to feel a great dread come over me. It truly began as I saw smoke billowing into the sky. Then this sickness came over me and knotted up my stomach, a lump was shoved into my throat. And the realization of what had happened kicked me, it hit so hard, that doubled over and vomited. I didn’t vomit much, because I don’t eat much, I don’t need to, but the fact was, Master was dead. Impaled on a cross, his body broken, but he was still alive. His blood still fresh dripped onto the dry ground. The training center, where I had spent my childhood, was burnt to the ground.
“James,” Master says weakly, “Listen carefully, I don’t have much time. The Evil One came, he was able to go through the barrier, and he took Bren. There is still hope, the Ritual will take 72 hours, as you know, and during that time, the Evil One will be most vulnerable.”
“Where?” I continue to stare at the burning ashes of the house.
“To Szchlizenkel, in Germany...” The Master looks down at me.
“What am I to do?”
“The Slayers in that area are already preparing, but you must go, save your son, and Slay the Evil One, or all will be lost.”
“I understand, Master, but how am I to reach Germany in three days?”
“You will fly,” He says it almost matter-of-factly.
“Sir, with all due respect...” I become flabbergasted, many thoughts ran through my head in those brief seconds.
“You can fly, you have earned that power,” Master looks deep into my soul, “You, James of all the Slayers have the power to end this, and give salvation back to the humans, you must be strong...”
I could tell he was about to die, I held the tears back as long as I could, anger, fear, doubt, hatred, all of it nearly consumed me. I trembled as I sank to my knees and Shinasaryu fell from my hand. Abruptly twenty, maybe thirty demons appeared, it was so fast that, for the first time, I was surprised, I had also been distracted, and thus did not sense their approach. I laid in a few good licks, kicking one’s jaw nearly off. I tried to take their legs out, at least ten of them wouldn’t be able to walk again. It seemed like hours, the fighting, one had been able to form some large bludgeon weapon, and when it hit me on my left side, I slid in the dirt for at least ten feet. It was at that point I knew it was do or die time, I fell into some blind rage, and don’t remember much after that.