The main purpose of life
I’m guessing you are expecting this to be some boring old story about psychology written by a wrinkly old fogey in his trailer he’s had since he was three.
But this isn’t. No… this is a boring psychology story written by a YOUNG, wrinkly fogey who has lived in a trailer since he was three. The main purpose of life is… *Stabbed in back* Oh… oops, let myself get killed right there. Well, now you have to read the WHOLE book to find out what it is. See you at the end! And here is our real story:
Inuyaki was a normal 7th grade guy in a normal middle school in a normal town in not so normal Japan. He had nothing to distinguish himself as abnormal in any way. Smart, but not too smart. Kind, but not saintly. Funny, but most people in Japan are. Friendly, but not desperate. And he was on an outer ring of friends. So why am I writing a story about him? I have no idea. If it was going to be really boring, what’s the point? Oh right, I’m a fogey…
The shattered shard of time
In the plane between our world and the afterlife, the Ginn-tu span, the bridge connecting our plane to the next, is the resting place of the old gods. Aquas, lord of the oceans, is trapped in his watery lair in the infinite pit. Held only by elemental chains, his titanic (sorry, bad pun) wrath still finds ways to escape. Pyrus and Magmus, the twin gods of fire and lava, are doomed forever to live in the snowfall mountain, both tied to a frozen throne in an icy dungeon. Emeraldon, the god earth, is the only one who is not restricted as he is kinder than his savage brothers of chaos. He is the one who oversees that they don’t escape to wreak havoc on both the living and the dead. Tornus, the god of wind, is bound onto a rocky precipice by both elemental chains and a timid seal. If he was to go unnoticed for even a minute he would break out of his bindings and cross the bridge to our world, destroying most everything and making the very air we breathe into a noxious gas. He is second only to the cloaked god, the one who pulls the strings and breaks the bindings, the one who is known by us as death: Necrophage. He and his four minions, Cadaveris, Bonemaw, Carnagi, and Rick Astley (No seriously, it’s actually Lichus), are the 5 things that Emeraldon cannot control. They bide their time in their sinister keep, waiting for their power to replenish so they can crush the world into dust.




“Inuyaki, please demonstrate the Fibonacci sequence with 10 numbers.”
“Uh, 0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34.”
“Good job. Does anyone else want to get extra credit for their quiz? No one? Okay. Then Inuyaki is our winner!” The bell for the end of school rang soon after. Wataru, Inuyaki’s best friend, was known for mischief and he pulled the fire alarm on his way out. Inuyaki ran to catch up with Wataru, but he wasn’t very athletic and started panting like a dog after 100 yards. Wataru stopped to let Inuyaki catch up.
“Like how I pulled the bell back there?”
“Sure, would love to start off the week with a little suspension…”
“It wasn’t that bad Inu…”
Wataru stopped to contemplate something, but when his questioning look turned into a malevolent grin, Inuyaki knew he was plotting something.
Since he wasn’t paying attention, Wataru tripped into a pile of ice.
“Damn!”
“Aww, has oo got de sniffoos?” Inuyaki smirked before resuming his walk home. Wataru brushed off the flakes and ran after Inuyaki, tackling him into giant pile of snow. Before they knew it, they fell into a giant chasm that was hidden in the icy brush. When Inuyaki regained consciousness, his friend was nowhere in sight. He curiously looked around and saw that he was floating on a platform in what looked like a primordial broth. The neon green goop glowed dimly, as if it was a glow in the dark object that hadn’t soaked up too much light. He heard a yelp from somewhere in never-ending darkness that enveloped everything not lit up by the liquid. He knew that wherever he was, it wasn’t Kansas anymore. (But, of course, it wasn’t Kansas in the first place, it was Japan. Otherwise he would have red shoes and Toto barking since he accidently fell into the goop and was being dissolved.) A rhythmic beating, like a tattoo on a drum, sounded far off into the distance. He looked up into a starless night sky. He threw a clump of frozen grass into the liquid to check if it was safe to go in. The grass exploded and corroded into nothing. Definitely acidic. He knew that he couldn’t escape until the acid water was gone, but how would that happen? Another yelp reverberated in Inuyaki’s ears, as if he was standing in the midst of a giant cauldron, just waiting to be stirred into that deathly slime.




He was. Now, complete darkness enveloped the area he was standing on. He looked up and saw a large brute looming over him. He screamed, but no sound came, as if he was mute. “What be in my pot of food? Another one of those delicious rascals I had earlier? Come here, food!” A wart-covered, mottled hand reached down and pinned him to the rock he lay on. He tried to run, but the brute made a prison with his hand so Inuyaki couldn’t escape. The thing nearly crushed Inuyaki on the return trip to the brute’s face. He couldn’t fight as he was dangling by his shirt nearly 1,000 feet off the ground. He still didn’t make a noise, even though he was screaming inside. The thing opened its jaw wide and released Inuyaki from his grasp. And I’m free, free fallin. Yeah I’m free, free fallin. (Sorry, no Tom Petty PLEASE. Why do you ask? Well the author’s association {Consisting of that old fogey I told you about back on page one and the guy who killed him} are allergic to country music. They would also ask for you to stop chewing gum, as that gets highly annoying and the smell makes them nauseous. THANK YOU for stopping your stupid habits that make people like me cringe. And I’m out!) The things mandibles snapped shut, trapping Inuyaki’s body inside.

He hit the ground running. Err, he slammed into the ground, the impact woke him up, and he started running and screaming since blood was seeping out of his head. Hit the ground running is an abbreviation, so I will use it a lot. He tripped over a bump on the slimy surface he was standing on. A huge ball of the stuff started slithering its way toward him at a surprisingly fast rate, encasing him in a mass of liquefied gunk that was rolling out the tunnel at the end of the room. The maw of the dark opening showed no sign of true ground to step upon. That was because there wasn’t any. The boulder of saliva (Yes, he is in the brutes mouth. Disgusting, eh?) Dropped off the black cliff and made a steady descent to the death trap known as an ogre’s digestive track. Imagine a roller coaster. Fun, right? Now imagine your “Car” is a huge ball of saliva. Not so fun now. Now add stomach acid, all the crap that has found its way into an ogre’s stomach, a couple of humongous tapeworms, and some poisonous gases. This is what he went through for the next three days.








Day One
The ball with Inu steadily headed down the throat. Thankfully, the mass stuck to the wall and slobbered its way down to a dry spot of land. The saliva dissipated, freeing Inuyaki from inside. The jolt of the air sent him reeling in discomfort, and he shoved two parts of his former shirt, now shreds up his nose. The stench still made him cringe, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as it had been. He started to stumble over to what looked like an exit. He could barely react before the tunnel zoomed toward him at astonishing speed, silvered metal glinting around the jaw of the hideous beast. It was a[n] (A. Zombie from Thriller B. Alien C. Huge tapeworm D. Care-bear. Let’s go with C.) huge tapeworm the size of a bus. It shot its abyssal mouth toward Inuyaki, but hooked its teeth into the ogre’s stomach. It roared with inhuman vigor and ripped its jaw out of the bleeding flesh. It jumped with surprising grace, toppling Inuyaki and nearly crushing him with the gargantuan weight of its segmented skin. A foot away from its mouth sucking out Inuyaki’s innards, a glinting steel knife whizzed by and stabbed the parasite in the uvula. Writhing in pain, it fell into the stomach acid. Nothing was left except the teeth.
A crackly voice said, “Hello, my good journeyman. What bid you to explore an ogress stomach? Documenting the worst known parasites are we? Or found yourself scooped up by one of those massive shovels and found yourself in a pot? Unfortunately for me, it was the latter of those two. I have been here for countless days. There is enough to live off of, the tapeworms partially digest the un-edible muck and provide precious meat. You probably are shocked at seeing me. The least I can offer for you is a place to rest. Care to join me for dinner? I am having parasite stew.” The man got to his feet and walked toward Inuyaki. He offered out his hand which held the pot. Inuyaki tentatively grabbed for the brown broth, and had one bite. He didn’t stop throwing up for 6 hours. “Sorry, I must have built a tolerance for it after about 300 times.” Then he went to bed on one of the woven mattresses. Itchy and scratchy, he went into a fitful sleep.
Intermission: “So, eh, Wataru, you landed into my palace have you not?”
“Who are you?!!”
“Why, I’m Necrophage. Nice to meet you. Here are my four servants. Cadaveris, the most wicked necromancer, Carnagi, the one who destroys cities with one blow, Lichus, the one who can fill the very air with the stench of un-death, and Bonemaw, my very loyal 20 ton calcium giant of a skeleton who loves to crush bones in his rotting teeth.
I am guessing you want to be employed as one of my carrion soldiers?
“Uh… uh… where am I? Holy… this looks like a castle!”
“It is, but surely not, ugh… holy.”

Day Two
Inuyaki woke up to a humid place. A steady stream of liquid, like a waterfall, was coming down the esophagus. A warped wooden boat bobbed up and down in the acid. The sides were covered in rot and the oars were rusted to the point of crimson. The slimy flakes that were left of the coat of paint looked as they would fall off at any moment. But it was perfect for travel, as the inside looked brand new and was squeaky clean. The name, Curfew, was almost ironic. Who could tell the time in this cavern? The strange man slowly walked toward him out of the humid fog. He pointed at the boat as if saying to get in. When he was inside, the boat started rowing all by itself as an unseen force dragged it through the murk.
Nearly an hour passed before a threat appeared. The slimy leech was poised on the roof of the intestine, ready to suck the nutrients out of anything passing by.
The leech coil and sprang at Inuyaki and latched on to the side of the boat. Inuyaki started kicking at the monsters mouth but to no good. It started swishing its tail to swing its way onto the rowboat. It landed with a plop, a shriek, and a sizzle. The thing carrying the boat finally reared its invisible head and threw the parasite into the rushing acid. Many more hours were spent moving through the winding canals of the intestines, with many more threats, such as various leeches and even a living tumor. It was quite a massive thing, with veins to grow off the blood of the brute. Passing by it, it latched out the tentacles and wrapped its sucker-like arm around the boat. It squeezed powerfully and the front of the boat splintered. If not for a passing tapeworm, the living cancer would have fed off their blood as well. When they finally reached a wider but much smellier place, a deep voice commanded Inuyaki to get up, as he was in the bowels of the ogress. He pointed to a small entryway half covered in a brown mush questioningly. The shimmering light gave a small nod and said he would have to leave Inuyaki alone for now. The figure took out a blanket from nowhere and laid it on the floor. Inuyaki gladly fell down and began to snore in mere seconds.










Day Three
A brown shape whizzed by overhead. The stench of dung radiated around Inuyaki. He leapt up but was quickly knocked down by another brown ball. The things he thought at first were pieces of flying scat, but they turned out to be… dung beetles? Another fluttered and perched like a bird on Inuyaki who quickly booted it away. He started to make his way to the exit, but it was blocked by a huge ball of dung. He quickly took apart the rest of his shirt and tied them into rudimentary gloves, and moved to the exit. As soon as he touched the sphere, the mass of bugs hissed and flew straight toward him. He threw a clump of the mushy sphere at one but it continued its chase. He tried to push the blockage open but only succeeded in pushing his hands farther into the poop. He wriggled them out and found a wall of beetles creeping forward at him. He reacted by shoving his body into the muck and swiveled it around so he could escape. He was so filthy that he just ripped off a piece of dry scat and used as a sled out of the ogre.
He landed in the middle of a barren desert. The sound of the ogress’ footsteps shook the floor like an earthquake. He spotted a nearby oasis and rushed to it, but filled his face in sand and coated his body with another layer of filth. It was just a mirage, he thought. The tiny granules of dust on his body started to sift away, like he never even touched sand. The whole desert was shifting into a monumental statue of an (Ahkmed the dead terrorist. It fits considering it’s a desert.) unknown god. But it was certainly not a statue as an aged voice rumbled, “Who dares awaken me?!! I am the mighty Karjak, son of Tornus! Those who awoke me from eternal slumber shall pay with their lives!!! Uh… where are you? I can’t see any ogres so… *squints* is that you? You measly little thing? Hahaha... I cannot even see how you supplied so much noise to even reach my ears! Very well… I shall kill you harmlessly.
City of sand, and ruins of dust.
Here is one more to quench your lust.
The single child who raised his hand!
To try to destroy your barren land!
He released a dust storm which sucked in Inuyaki. The air became stale and grainy and stung his eyes.
Karjak lets go of the spell, seemingly satisfied at the result of a small heap on the ground. Inuyaki was unconscious.




He woke up in a foreign place, filled with a scented perfume not unlike daisies. A small nudge on his cheek made him spring up to defend, as he was not fully aware of his surroundings, thinking he was back in the desert. “You have been sleeping for four days. We thought you were dead!” He looked around, questioningly. Their stood a tall black man wearing rough leather vest and bronze tinged pants. He laid out a tray of succulent chicken, but the skin was green, as if it was rancid. It tasted delicious. Inuyaki started to get up but the man set him down. “You need to rest, sonny. You have a big day ahead of you.” Inuyaki tried again, but the man gently but firmly held him down. “Wait here for one second please.” The man stepped out of the hut. A yell was cried outside. A couple of people started shouting incoherent words. A small cry of pain erupted and quickly faded. Inuyaki took a quick peep outside and saw a blood soaked statue and man splattered with it as well. A head was rolling down the small slope into the water of the coast. A guillotine was stark against the green landscape of the seaside village.
The man started walking back so Inuyaki quickly retreated from the curtain door. He walked inside steadily without mentioning anything of the incident. He started to make a fire, and soon a billowing cloud of smoke was trailing outside the hole in the roof. He threw in an unrecognizable fish and started to hum. Inuyaki slowly retreated to the wall, and, when he thought the man had let down his guard, he sprinted for the exit. The man caught his leg and tripped him. “Sorry kid, you are our slave soon. Make the most of our limited hospitality.” He then promptly whacked Inuyaki on the head with a pan, knocking out a tooth and some senses.
A flute-like noise was cheerily chirping somewhere far off. A hand was on his back. He looked up and saw the man from earlier. He screamed as he was dragged across the muddy road, but soon stopped as the pain in his head throbbed to where he could barely retain his memory. The man whispered silently, “Do no talk during the ceremony, or we will kill you painfully.” A blow to his face sent him huddling to the ground. Then, a very solemn growl, so low that it was almost inaudible, stated, “And where be our sacrifices?” “We only have one, Elder Mitani. This boy-“A jab to his ribs knocks the breath out of Inuyaki-“was found in a heap in the desert land.” “ The desert? He actually was found in the desert? Wouldn’t the ogres trample him into a piece of paper? But, that is strangely plausible.” Two other men, one short, squat, white man with cheeks as red as tomatoes, and one tall, lean man who looked like a celery stick (Sorry, I’m dieting. You don’t just have to act, you have to think.
Fax me in six weeks if you want me to change.) came up and took a hold of his wrists. He was slowly lead to the statue, as the guillotine’s blade steadily rose, like a wave ready to come crashing down, while its unrelated brethren lapped at the sand of this forsaken beach.





Intermission:
Wataru was standing in darkness
Alone , invulnerable
To the world.
He whirled around to face
His decaying leader,
The soulflayer
Known as Necrophage.
But this time he looked at him with
fright, and not disbelief,
As he slowly took his mobile
Corpse down the hall
And vanished out of
Sight. Wataru regained his
Senses and continued back
To his forced labor as a
Carrion soldier.
They decided to keep him
Alive, and not as a reanimated
Corpse so that he could have
A consciousness. Lichus,
The one who used necromancy
To bring back bodies of
The afterlife and place them in
A state of purgatory, faced him,
And spat, disgusted,
At what he called a lack of taste:
Life.
The only thing that he seemed to have,
while nothing else in this foreboding
castle had his distinguishable trait.






The morbid altar shadowed by the statue seemed restless, soundlessly crying for more sacrifice. The deranged priest waited, bone saw in hand, for the two men to bring Inuyaki up to his death. Inuyaki was soon standing in a mob, but was alone in what he had to face. The crowd jeered at him and some cried, “Blood! Blood!” The priest cleaned his saw on his butchers apron (Or pastor robes, but not for sermons) and prepared to de-limb his next victim. He started in a hymn of indescribable language, and soon screamed at the heavens. (He didn’t lift his face as one day a passing bird came by and well… put a brown smear in his mouth.) He then pointed to Inuyaki, and the two men took two stained silk cloth rags and tied his hands to the altar. They then took a rope and tied three knots, two for his legs and one for a pole near the corner of the platform. The mad saint then raised his saw and started the deathly arc toward Inuyaki’s head. The blade stopped an inch away from his neck. The priest was drowning in a pool of his own blood; an arrow had pierced him in the chest. The two men yelled and fell to the ground to lift him out of the gut-strewn red water. Two more twangs and all three men were soon soaking up each other’s blood and gushing out their own. One more barely audible whiz and his bound wrist was free. He loosened the knot on his left arm and slid it through the hole he created. He then went to his footholds and slid off the deathbed. The former bloodthirsty crowd was a mass of confusion as they all ran to their homes so they wouldn’t be shot. A girl, no more than thirteen years of age, leapt up on to the altar with a nimbleness and talent that no one, not even professional gymnasts could touch.
“Well, well. What’s your name kid?”
“I- I’m Inuyaki…” She smirked before jumping , cart-wheeling, and flipping onto the sand. She then muttered something under her breath and a giant wave rose and crashed into the huts. She then raised her hand and the water formed a small ball. The girl then placed her arrowhead into it, and shot the statue. With a metallic sound it rusted into red dust. She furtively glanced at the now rugged village and pirouetted in the sand creating a small vortex in air. The water dispersed in drenching barrage that knocked down the soggy planks, exposing the fearful villagers. They scrambled to safety, some yelling, some crying. The fair-headed girl soon did the most theatrical performance of jumping around to destroy the ruins in the sand. Once her work was finished she sat on the beach for a while before saying anything to Inuyaki. When she finally talked, she said, “I realized you aren’t from here, else you would know not to go in the desert. How did you end up there, anyway?”
“I, uh, was eaten by an… ogre, I think? Then I was digested I’m guessing.”
“Ha….. seriously, an ogre? That is disgusting. But it does happen, rarely. You know any vel-fire?”
“Vel-fire? What the hell is vel-fire?!”


“Your world, I believe, calls it magic. In ours, it is the basic control of all the elements. Fire, Water, Lava, Earth, and Wind are the main ones, with Frost, Mud, Steam, Smoke, Metal, Sand, and Wood being are secondary. Lesser gods, like the one you saw in the desert, control secondary elements. While there is only one god for each primary element, there can be two, three, and even sometimes four lesser gods to a secondary element.” She started to walk away at a fast pace, but Inuyaki caught her arm and pulled her back. He said,
“Wait! Please! Was what you did back there- Inuyaki points to the huts- magic?”
“As I’ve said before, it isn’t magic. It is vel-fire. Now please move away from me, since I’m on a journey somewhere you don’t want to go.” She then took one of the broken wood boards and it morphed into a shiny broadsword. The blade glinted with unnatural light and soon warped and splintered from the moisture in the air. She cursed and reformed it into the sword, this time wrapping a tattered cloth around it. The condensation rolled off in layers. She then snapped her fingers and vanished into thin air as Inuyaki tripped from leaning on her for support. Seconds later, he was in an unknown place with the same girl looking down upon him. She said to him, “My name is Rumien.
And you are…?” With no fog, he could see her features clearly. She had the same blonde hair, but he could see streaks of red and brown, as if her hair was on fire. She had light blue eyes and a small nose. Her ears were elven (You didn’t know? Inuyaki is a nerd!) and she wore a tight grin with sanguine lips. He stuttered before answering,
“I-I’m I-Inuyaki.” He silently cursed himself for being idiotic. She smirked, then placed her hand on Inuyaki’s head. A wave of relief washed over him, but his respite quickly faded when he saw that she looked fatigued. She crumpled into a small bundle on the floor, tired and vulnerable. The once strong girl that he pictured was now being quickly replaced with an image of depression. He opened up an unwrapped snack from his pocket and the girl looked at him cautiously. He said, “Open your mouth. You need food, right?” She wearily opened her mouth, and he gently broke off a piece of the chocolate and stuck in her jaw. She bit down hard, and started to widen her eyes as the treat melted.






She said, “What is that? It tastes amazing!” He took off the foil and showed it to her. “Hershey? What is this ‘Hershey’? Its taste and aroma is even better then the oh-so expensive crystals of sugar!” She grabbed the half-eaten bar out of his hand and hungrily munched it down. The second it was eaten, the grass and trees around them lurched as a fierce gale whipped through the forest.
He grabbed her arm and dragged her behind a boulder as a tree fell and started rolling past where their resting area had just been. Hundreds of branches whizzed past, fast as darts, piercing the frail wood of the swaying trees. When a crack in the boulder soon enlarged, Inuyaki knew they were in trouble. As deadly as a meteor, a tree was flung into the air by the wind. It was carried in the air currents miles away. Whatever was happening, this wasn’t a good time to run.
Intermission:
The glowing blue orb was covered in dirt from handprints, but remained unmarred in its everlasting bond. Wataru was staring intently at it, waiting for the fragmented image of his future. Necrophage, quietly walking on silent footsteps, gazed down at the ball that would soon discern Wataru’s fate. He spoke, “Have you found anything, general? Your advance in ranking was due to your tactics of war. Do not correct me now over a ball of glass.
“My liege, you know that it takes deep concentration using the eye of eternity. Talk will not help, especially three hours into the process.” With an angry glare, Wataru looked up at his lord. Necrophage laughed, a low, hoarse sound that echoed against wall after wall, not diminishing in volume until a minute passed.
A ghoul slithered out of a wall, requesting to be a servant. With a bored look, Necrophage snapped his fingers and the ghoul soon decayed into dust, as the stench of death permeated throughout the violet keep. Although such a smell on earth would not go unnoticed, the stench only mixed with the already breathtaking smell of the fortress. With a surprisingly humorous voice, the god replied,” As you see, Wataru, I made you a general not only for your strategic planning, but for your ability to criticize me. Surrounded by slaves, but with all of them unwaveringly loyal fools, you don’t gain much except a larger ego. I kept you alive so that I would be more careful on how my plans will proceed. Remember that next time.” The masked deity walked back to his ebon throne, as a screen popped open in front of him. The Prihin news, named after Reldom Prihin, was a collection of shabby reporters picking up the odds and ends that other news stations were to dignified to show. At the moment, they were talking about how two of Necrophage’s Infernals, or the hands of death, were taking over a city in southeastern Horja. Necrophage soon laughed as the female reporter told her audience that Infernals were intelligent beings. The Infernals were actually pieces of rock that were covered in the Corgus plague. When the screen turned off, Necrophage snapped his fingers and vanished out of sight.
“I got to get me one of those,” Wataru said under his breath.

The howling wind soon converged into one path, splitting everything in its way. As the air formed a deadly blade, the rock was cleaved in half like butter. The slice missed their heads by an inch. Rumien took out the blade and stood up. Her shirt was ripped when it was sucked into the stream. As soon as she looked up, a wall of hard rock formed around her and Inuyaki. She motioned for him to follow. They were soon running alongside the rock, more of it forming with each step. With each step, though, Rumien looked more and more pale, as each segment of stone took massive amounts of energy to move. At one section she collapsed. The rock shattered and rained sharp shards amongst them. With the combination of wind, they soon gained another trait: terminality. Inuyaki pulled her to the previous part with all his might. The gale soon died down. Tired and hungry, Inuyaki finally laid down to rest. He slowly closed his eyes, only half-aware of the feet coming toward him.
Inuyaki soon regained his consciousness when his head snapped against a wall.
He faintly heard strings of words. “Ruined plans…all of it… Tornus is gonna be pissed… how did they breach it… what should Sruul do….” The masked assailant threw Inuyaki’s head back against the wall. Rumien was nowhere in sight. As he coughed up blood, the perpetrator walked away. The beat-stick was leaning against the wall, and Inuyaki tried to scoot his way to it. A foot away from his escape, a ball of water expanded in front of him and smothered him in an airtight prison. The water soon closed in on him, and when the water coated the bristles of hairs on his neck, he fell on an unknown floor without dignity. Instead of black, the floor was red and soft, like a carpet. With weary eyes he furtively glanced up. What he saw terrified him. In front of him was a standing corpse, with the faint odor of death seeping through Inuyaki’s pores. The zombie talked with a measured voice. “And you are our culprit then? A mere child?! How well do guards do their job?!! Do they even do them at all!!!?” The thing struck his fist on the desk like a gavel and a guard burned into ash. A silence fell on the mob. Inuyaki took the moment to talk. “Where am I?! And who are you! I don’t even want to be here!”
“You are the fated child. You have come from another land to bring peace to all. But I will have NONE OF IT!!! YOU, BOY, YOU ARE NEVER GOING TO LEAVE THIS ROOM!!! NEVER!!!” It slithered out of its chair in an awkward movement and ran like a bull toward Inuyaki. Inuyaki, being confused, screamed like a little girl and cowered in fear.
It tripped over Inuyaki, hit its face on the floor, and the unhinged head bounced up. Inuyaki grabbed the still screaming head and threw it at one of the men guarding the door. He fell down, unconscious, letting his spear rattle on the floor. Inuyaki grabbed and deftly skewered the other one in the leg. (Just like the MMORPG I play, Inuyaki thought.)


The bloodcurdling scream echoed down the filigree-coated halls. Without thinking, Inuyaki lunged for the man’s spear. Hurrying past the surprised guards dotting the halls, Inuyaki tried to find a way to escape. The only doors led to various cells with weird prisoners, like an oversized scorpion or a cyan colored dragon bound in chains. Hoping for a miracle, Inuyaki head down a small pathway leading out of sight. With the countless numbers of guards behind him, Inuyaki was now entering Rinjax’s domain.
Hurdling small snowdrifts, Inuyaki found himself in a barren tundra with nothing in sight except snow, snow, snow. The giant drifts soon washed away the dirt from his hands and face and it stung his eyes. The shouts from the guards grew distant and became inaudible. Shocked by the cold, Inuyaki laid down to rest on a firm (Or thought to be firm) bed of snow. Looking up, the flakes of snow congregated in a sheet of white that blurred out the sky.

A hand lightly touched his face. Startled, Inuyaki found himself in a wooden lodge. The girl smiled serenely down upon him. Inuyaki leapt out of the bed and defended himself with a poker from the bubbling hearth. The white-hot iron of the tip of the poker glowed dimly before it faded out as she ended her incantation. He looked up, scared. She chortled and said to him, “We are of peace. Do not have need to be frightened by your… surroundings… We have designed it in the style of humans.” The faint blue aura surrounding the room condensed into a navy blue fog, hiding everything but the crystalline woman in front of him in darkness. And then she attacked him.
Rumien was standing in the middle of a pit- THE pit, I might add. The gaping, slack-jawed mouths of the jeering audience watched with a macabre glee as their favorite gladiator readied his axe and sneered at Rumien. “You ready for some PAIN, GIRL?!” He raised his voice so the crowd could quite clearly hear the last two words. At this sentence they screamed with a sinister joy. The man wore a crazed look of ill-intent. His scarred face only half concealed his rage, as his eyes looked like daggers and his mouth cried death. He picked up his blood-smeared axe and, with both hands holding it, started to swing it around his head at a psychotic rate. With a malevolent pirouette, he flung the weapon straight at Rumien’s neck.
It clattered to the ground. The double-edged hacksaw was bent in two at a sharp right angle. The pulsing blue shield surrounding the grave girl throbbed a couple more times and then faded into the air, as invisible as it was moments before. The man looked at her, his jaw hanging wide open like a swinging door. “Forgive me…” he gurgled as Rumien raised her hand, as if grasping a sphere. The man imploded as she clenched the fist. “Pitiful…” was all she said. The crowd stood transfixed, not able to register that their madman was dead.


The main seat in the arena was shrouded by a purple veil, symbolizing royalty. The cloaked man shouted a curse, followed by a question. “Who the HELL are YOU?!!!” She replied with emotionless words. “My name is Rumien.” The king laughed at a deafening volume. “Very well! A sorcerer needs an equal match…” The clicking of a button symbolized a danger. One of the stone vaults surrounding the battle arena opened, and a giant scorpion clattered out of its prison. Other vaults opened, revealing multiple insects and a giant blue dragon with streaks of blood on her underbelly and rimming her scales. The king continued, “And knowing a sorcerers secrets, I believe that they cannot control all forms of magic! You see, these bugs are all highly resistant to all forms of magic besides one, and that lovely blue dragon Cyantaga sure is hungry!” And with the pause, the bugs cornered Rumien into one of their previous cells, blocking any chance of exit.
And the stinger of the scorpion was wedged in the small cave, a millimeter from Rumien’s neck.
Inuyaki was on his feet in a flash. The bandages on his arms tore off in the rapid jerks, revealing massive sores oozing puss, like the tentacles of an octopus. The stinging sensation of this just woke Inuyaki up, springing his senses into action. He was a black belt in Taekwondo, so his first reaction was to kick the transforming woman square in the chest. She fell down, but didn’t seem extremely hurt in any way. She soon morphed into an ugly brown bear and started to charge at Inuyaki, foam coming out of its mouth. Trying to mangle and garrote him, the beast swiped at Inuyaki’s arm scratching it in several places. It started to bite at Inuyaki, who was pinned to the floor by the massive creature’s weight. Its bite nearly scratched his eyes, ripping and tearing off Inuyaki’s nose. He screamed, then with an instinct of someone living in a world of many fights, he kneed the bear and brought his fist smashing down on the backside of its skull. The bear slammed head first into the carpeted stone of the floor. Blood poured out of the bear’s mouth and slowly trickled like sanguine tears out of its eyes. The deranged thing leapt out of the deathly embrace and morphed back to the pristine woman, but this time with tattered clothing and a disgusting smile.
She transformed again, but this time into a lioness. She was going into a battle stance, as she put her weight on her hind legs and prowled around Inuyaki grimly.
She roared as he grabbed the poker he had used earlier, and charge at him with blinding speed, grasping his waist between sharp teeth. He yelped a bloodcurdling scream as the teeth knifed him again and again, like a serrated blade. The teeth ground into him until it met bone, then released its grip on him. It extended its claws, and, with deadly precision, cut open his cheek. Inuyaki was near fainting. He grabbed the poker softly as his final reserves of strength seeped out of his wounds, and used all his energy left to stab the monster through the head. The blade cut through like butter, spewing blood, brains, and other entrails out onto the floor. With a dead monster on his back and lying in a sticky goop, Inuyaki fell into a fitful sleep.

The venomous tail wagged like a dog across the vault. Like a pendulum, each time it scratched the nape of Rumien’s neck. She lifted her arm and tried to get a firm grip on the bulbous stinger. She ducked down as it finally managed to shove itself into the back of the prison. The tail creakily scraped its way down to rest on Rumien’s head. She pushed the tail off, and in doing so, snapped one of the armored pieces of the tail. A guttural yelp echoed as the sound bounced off the walls in the enclosed space. A small opening through the scorpions underside led back out into the ring. She started to crawl under the bulging mass on top of her, and hoped to god it didn’t decide to die. She was startled when she got up into a faceful of pincers. The beast gnashed off her hair and lowered its head for more. As it opened its small mouth, the two blades snapped shut. But it soon realized it had lost.
Rumien had used that hesitation to create a fireball hurtling through its mouth. The insect started to shake uncontrollably and exploded in a shower of white goo and pieces of brown exoskeleton. The other bugs soon were distracted by this, converging around the viscous mass, carnivorously devouring what remained of the scorpion. The blue dragon stared at her. Rumien suddenly realized it was a sentient being.
Inuyaki was still in the room when he awoke dizzily. The world seemed to spin as he had a different viewpoint once his nose was ripped off. It now only trickled blood, as a scab formed around the jagged cartilage, like a tarp barring a leak from forming. His cheek was deathly white and dark red blotches were spattered around his face. Miniature waterfalls seeped out of the sliced wounds, forming into little droplets on his chin. Each step was more and more painful until he got into the bed. The bandages were festering as unknown fungi and bacteria ate away at the blood and gunk that congealed on the linen cloth. Multiple strips of the linen were dangling on the post of the Victorian style bed, waiting to replace the ones that covered his skin earlier. He wrapped his nose and cheek in a helmet style, and soon bandaged his arms again. His legs were jelly. If not for the muscle, Inuyaki thought they would drop off at any moment. He decided to use the rest of the cloth to cover his legs in a stiff cast-like bandage. He realized that he felt much better after he put the linen on. The fire was dimly glowing, so he took the bellows leaning on the side of the brick fire place and started push air into the fire.
The flames sprang up and danced with each other. Inuyaki started to squat, absorbing the warmth of the flickering flames into his freezing body. The door swung open. A silhouette of a person walked into the rooms. Even though the small cabin was lit, the shadows surrounding the person seemed to stick to it as if it was glued on. The darkness quickly faded away when he stepped into the brightly lit semicircle near the flames. “What did you DO with my wife?! Ugh, ANOTHER one lost…” The man seemed to be covered in snow from head to toe. He had a frozen white beard and sleek, greasy white hair. His face seemed to be made of ice, as if he was a mobile iceman. A shiver went down Inuyaki’s spine. “And who might you be? Please, don’t be one of those pitiful humans I always hear about…” The man reacted quickly before Inuyaki could grab a weapon. Inuyaki was trapped in a block of ice from the waist down.
Rumien slowly approached the giant winged serpent. It flicked its tongue wildly, warning her not to come closer. She took one more step before it lunged. The sheer wingspan of the wyvern was monstrous, spanning to each edge of the arena. It flapped its wings and rose into the air, but the chains on its ankles stopped him from reaching a height bigger than 50 feet. It swooped down over Rumien, breathing flickering blue and green flames that swathed the bugs and her. The shield broke under the pressure, shattering and dissolving. The bugs were burned and charred, the speckled bumps the remainders of the exoskeleton. It landed down gracefully, and looked dangerously at Rumien.
Through telepathy, its message was convoyed. I have no choice but to fight you. If there was any other way I would not do this. Find the gate out of here. I have a vague recollection- The beast sent a blurry image through its mind-speak- Go! Hurry, you do not have much time. If you defeat me he will kill you! Multiple sorcerers of great demonic power are watching your every move. Leave now before they delve into our conversation. The mighty blue dragon roared, steam billowing out of its nostrils and mouth. Rumien ran fast, heading for a small pathway that was at the other end of the room. Flame licked at her heels as the dragon breathed its rainbow flames nearby. With singed hair, she leapt through the passage and headed out of sight.
Inuyaki was freezing, one inch at a time. The man who cast the spell revealed himself to be a demigod. His name was Rinjax. The sheet of ice was creeping up, now covering his chest. Inuyaki’s heartbeats were slowing and slowing as the sheer cold of the ice sunk in. Rinjax had left the lodge several minutes ago, laughing at his idea. The ice was now covering his shoulders. His arms lost mobility after a couple more seconds. Inuyaki was near being a frozen ice cube once the ice covered his neck. His heart rate was near 15. There was no way out.

The arrow whizzed by at 250 miles an hour, piercing and cracking the ice. A black bear charged toward Inuyaki, ripping off chunks of the frosted death.
A slender man ran in. He had sharp blue eyes, green hair, and a dark tan. He took out his bow and plucked an arrow from his quiver. He loaded the arrow and pulled back the string, but instead of shooting it, let the arrowhead catch on fire by placing it in the hearth. The second shot quickly evaporated the ice into sparkling blue water.
The water seeped into the small holes of his ragged shoes created form the fight. The ice cold water was still thawing, as small, sharp shards of ice pricked Inuyaki’s calloused skin. Nearly all off the bleeding stopped, still frozen halfway out of his skin. Who Inuyaki thought was man was actually a boy, no more than 14 years old. The older appearance came from the wrinkled skin and bags under his eyes.


Rumien bolted down the passage. Guards were blocking her everywhere, trying to kill her with there spears. Unfortunately for them, they hadn’t heard that she was a vel-wielder, and using conventional methods was useless on her. But they tried. And died. Nearly all of the pathways were barred by hundreds of sheets of stone. In some places, cracks of light seeped through the top of the doors as the floor beneath sunk farther into the planet. Using these nearly invisible openings, Rumien blasted her way to an exit. But behind the block leading to freedom lied a man she did not want to see.
The boy leaned on the cobbled stone of the fireplace. The mantle gently rocked as he rhythmically tapped on it. The boy’s name was Silva. He had introduced himself to Inuyaki hours before he released him from the ice. Inuyaki was still trying to open the door, but it was locked magically form the outside. They both knew they had little time before Rinjax came back. Silva had told Inuyaki that he actually was in the service of Sruul. “You use pretties?” Silva said the last word with disgust. “Pretties?”
“Vel-fire. The little sparkies that hurt you when you ain’t lookin fer troubl’.
Silva tipped over the mantle, knocking mounds of ash onto the wood. He swore, trying to pick up the ash by the handfuls, but each time an unknown wind sifted it out of his hands. “Leave it,” Inuyaki managed to say before the bolt in the door started to rattle.
“He’s here,” Silva whispered, “try to hide.” Silva’s pet slunk into a corner, hiding in the shadows. Silva dashed under the bed, while Inuyaki leapt behind a bronze knight. The door smashed against the wall as Rinjax entered the room. He did not notice the moving shadows, nor the shuffling bed. He didn’t even see the jiggling and clanking armor. “WHERE ARE YOU?!” Rinjax cackled as he started to send bolts of insta-freeze around the room, unraveling around different objects. A cob web shattered as the frozen threads melted, one-by-one. The small lamp exploded as the glass cracked from the cold, leaving the whole room in twilight darkness. “YOU CANNOT HIDE FOREVER, PEACEKEEPER! SHOW YOUR FACE, NOW!!!!!” Rinjax slammed his fist onto the bed, making a seismic wave. Suddenly, Inuyaki, Silva, his bear, and Rinjax were standing on an ethereal surface. “This spell lets me see everything living within a mile from me on a different plane!” Rinjax clapped his hands together above his head. The icy grips fused together into a giant white mace. Small holes in the weapon spewed snow. “My weapon has the power to expand its wrath through spores you humans call snow! These small specks will claim you!” The weapon started to gush huge amounts of snow. The black bear was soon covered as the shaggy coat trapped the flakes. With a guttural howl, the bear turned into ice, and started to move lovingly to Rinjax.



Silva rushed forward without making a sound. He looked crazed, but didn’t shout in anger. The end came quickly. Silva had taken out his pistol and started to shoot at his bear, cracking the icy covering and revealing the black fur underneath. Rinjax realized what was happening before Silva could react quickly enough to save his pet. He managed to touch the icy flakes on the pet before becoming entrapped in a solid block of ice.
Inuyaki was angry. Too angry for words. He had, until that time, escaped from danger with the help of others. He didn’t have the strength or confidence to take on a demigod. He swore. “Now don’t say that, peacekeeper!” Rinjax laughed before bringing his mace around, the spikes elongating until they were millimeters away from Inuyaki’s face. Inuyaki just stared at the mace. He didn’t care if he was hurt, he just wanted to get out of this hellhole alive. Inuyaki yelled loudly, not knowing what he was saying, but before he knew it Rinjax was a small puddle on the floor, Inuyaki was wielding a massive, rune-etched sword and Silva was hugging his bear tightly.
“Rumien, you silly girl! You promised you would never come back here! But did you come back to beg forgiveness or just prank me? The latter, of course, seems the most likely. And killing my mad barbarian! That was a nice touch. But… Oh! It seems you are startled to see me. What, did you think I would be somewhere else than my castle? Hahaha!” The weird, abnormal figure moved its liquid body near Rumien. Rumien was afraid, and she had good reason. The sorcerer who now loomed over her was Sruul, a small god who had allegiances with Necrophage himself.