Darkness is the Light

Chapter 2

Lorena was walking down the street, peering into the showcase windows as she strolled by. She stopped next to a jewelry store, and looked at the earrings and necklaces.

“See something you like?” Masterian asked.

“Yes, but the master wouldn’t like it,” she motioned to a silver cross. Masterian frowned, and looked at the other items.

“Well, we’ll just have to get you something else,” he walked into the store followed by his sister. “How about those?” he looked at a pair of silver star earrings, catching Lorena’s eye.

“Beautiful,” she smiled. Masterian reached for them and walked to the front desk to ‘pay’ for them. On his way there, he bumped into a man, who smiled at him oddly. Masterian nodded at him and proceeded on his way. As Lorena held the earrings in her hand, her brother pulled a small flute from his jacket and played four notes, chirping up the scale. Suddenly, small demons appeared out of nowhere and attacked the employees and customers. One little demon stopped next to Lorena and grew in a white light, to about half the size of her. She glanced down at it and nodded. The demon looked around and grinned evilly at the havoc that was happening around them. As soon as everything was silent again, Lorena put her new earrings on and thanked her brother who nodded at her. But when they turned around, the same man that Masterian had bumped into was still standing and looking at them.

“Why wasn’t he affected by the shadow demons?” she asked her brother, not taking her eyes off the man. Receiving no reply, she looked over at him, and discovered that his face had grown pale.

“It’s the Grand Angel of the North,” he said recognizing the strange mark on the man’s arm. Lorena’s usual confident expression changed to that of fear.

“Return the painting of the North and you shall go free; refuse and die,” he bellowed. She looked at the man, then at her brother.

“What is he talking about?” she asked him.

“Keep out of this, Lorena,” he hissed.

“Return the painting of the North and you shall go free; refuse and die,” he repeated and before anyone could do anything, Lorena, Masterian and the demon ran as fast as they could towards the door. Lorena flung open the door telekinetically and ran out, the demon in front of her. She heard the door slam behind her and looked back to see her brother still inside. The man had now transformed into a hideous monster, causing her stomach to churn. Masterian tried to open the door, but failed as the creature had him trapped inside. He quickly ran towards the window and pounded on it, trying to escape, pure fear on his face, a rare event.

Lorena ran up to the window and looked in at her brother, “Masterian!! Get out of there!!” she shouted, not wanting to face the fact that he was trapped. His fear was too much to bear for her and she ran at the door, pulling her hand back ready to shoot a blast at it. “I’m going back in there!” she declared, only to have her arm grabbed by the little demon. It shook its head and looked down sadly. Lorena looked at her brother through the window, seeing the creature pull back its arm, getting ready to strike him and kill him with one blow.

“No!!!” she yelled, pounding on the glass. “We’ll come back, don’t hurt him!!” she pleaded.

“Bring the painting and no harm will come to him, take your time, and he will pay for your mistakes,” his voice boomed. Tears streaming down her face, she nodded, “yes I understand,” and with that she took a step back, a black puddle appeared under her and she was absorbed into it. “I’ll come back for you,” she whispered, knowing that her brother could hear her.