The Fudal Era: Between Good and Evil

~Demons broke through the walls of the village, bloodthirsty as usual. Any unlucky men, that were stupid to be in the way, were devoured by the demons but the women were spared. They were forcefully taken from thier homes and children to the demons' leader. Ten at a time, the women were brought to the darkest cloud in the sky and dropped in the highest room of a tall, black tower. They panicked and looked around the huge room for an exit but failed to see one except for the window. They stood on a blood red carpet leading to a huge, golden throne in the back. Blood was splattered all over the walls and floor. The whole tower was made of stone so it was very cold. It was so cold the women could see thier breaths every time they exhaled. Some looked out of the window only to see countless demons circling it. The wind pushed and kept those women inside while almost lifting thier old dressess up. "Where are we!? What do we do?!" One woman shrieked.

"We have to get out of here!" Another woman screamed. She headed towards the window and jumped out, desperate for escape.

"No!" The other women started to cry out of fear once they saw the lady break through the cloud and plumment to her death while shrieking at the top her lungs. Lightning started to flash in the sky as the wind picked up and pushed them inside.

"It's about time another group came." A voice spoke from the throne. The ladies looked over and noticed a strange woman sitting comfortably wih her legs crossed. She had a ragged, ripped, severly old, black cape covering her whole body, a ripped, black witch hat that hid one red eye and black boots. The shadows hid her entire face and any visible skin making them look black like night. Her head rested on her right fist. "I was getting bored." Her voice was emotionless and cold like the wind. The ladies shivered at the very sound. "It's nice to have company even if it's for a short time."

"Who are you?! What do you want with us?!" Another woman yelled at her. Her voice was cracked from tears.

"It amuses me to no end to see humans panick. Too bad one died already. I was planning to have some fun with that one."

"You sick freak! Let us go!" The other ladies agreed with her but the woman seemed unphased. Instead she chuckled slightly.

"What's so funny?!"

"You. All of you. I'll tell you this, I want to play a game, a game that's very amusing well to me. The other ones played but they all lost, unfortunatly. Hopefully you won't be as dimwitted."

"No! We won't play any of your sick, twisted games!" Everyone chimed in against the woman in protest. The woman snapped her fingers once and from the shadows four huge serpants appeared around the group.

"Here's how it works, I've hidden a key in one chest in this room." She pointed to the far end of the room to four, small, golden treasure chests sit near the wall. "But to unlock those you must find the keys hidden somewhere in the room. I won't tell you where. What would be the point of that? It won't be easy even for a demon. Once you find the key, find the chest it belongs to. If you find the door key, get out before you are eaten. My little pets have huge stomachs and appitites so do be quick. With that in mind, let the game begin!" She snapped her fingers once again to make the serpants move. The women ran like ants everywhere, trying to dodge every serpant that tried to take a bite. They were distracted by five unlucky ladies while the other four scattered trying to find keys.

"I found one!" A lady screeched. She ran for the far left chest to find the key didn't work for that one. She tried everyone until she unlocked the inner right chest. It was empty and she threw the key inside of it. A serpant lunged for her as she turned around to face it. She screeched then the serpant bit her body, threw her up into the air, and swallowed her whole.

"You're going to need to do better than that." The woman commented. Three other women were devoured by the serpants, with their blood splashing everywhere. Two keys were found and unlocked two more empty chests. The last key was found right in front of the window. An elderly woman grabbed it then a serpant grabbed her. She dropped the key and another woman caught it and unlocked the last chest but it was empty.

"What?! Where is it?!" She was quickly attacked and eatened. The remaining two women fell to thier knees in the center of the room. Blood covered their faces, hands, feet, clothes, and hair. Fear was completly visible in thier eyes.

"What the hell?! You said a door key was in one of those chests!"

"I said a chest in this room and you failed to notice a chest behind me with the real key inside of it but you wouldn't have a chance to open it because the key was inside the stomach of the woman who decided to jump." The two ladies were stunned. "You have lost my game so you must pay the cost." She snapped her fingers once to make the serpants turn back into shadows and again to restart the game for the next group. She stood up and walked over to the now paralyzed women. "You two are the winners of my survival game so for your prizes," She stopped in front of them and held out her hands so that her palms were facing them. "GIVE ME YOUR SOULS!" Her voice turned dark and demonic as a dark purple energy emitted from her palms. The ladies screamed thier final cries then the souls were sucked out of them and into the purple light. It dissapeared from her palm and she put her arms down. The empty bodies fell over as she turned and walked back to her throne. "I have no use for them any longer." Her voice turned back to emotionless. "Get them out of my throne room." She snapped her fingers and sat down, watching ten imps appear and bowed before her.

"Yes, master." They all said at once. They picked up the bodies and carried them out of the room. The iron door slammed shut behind them, leaving her alons before the next group came.

"That was too easy. At this rate I'll be complete in no time." She was speaking to herself as a small dragon flew into her room and bowed before speaking.

"My lord, we have found her, the woman you seek." It anounced.

"Well, what are you waiting for?! Bring her to me!"

"That is a problem. She refuses and killed many of your army already. She is certaintly of the half breed you said she would be."

"Hmm...keep attacking her and wait until I get down but still bring women to this room."

"Yes, master." It flew out of the room. She got up and exited the room and came down to earth.

She looked around and saw remains of houses, bones of men and children, huge holes in the ground and the corpses of demons. Fire was blasting behind a building to finish the last of the demons then dissapeared. A beautiful, young lady stepped out from the building. She had short, red hair that covered her right eye and was spiky in the back, yellow, demonic eyes that didn't leave the dark woman for an instant, and blue lines under both her eyes. She wore a black, shortsleeve top, army capris with black string on the ends, a dark blue glove on her right hand with finger holes and it stopped a little before her elbow, and black sandles. Her right fingernails were human but her left hand had claws on them. She wore a black, diamond choker around her neck. She also carried a sheathed sword around her waist by a belt. Its handle was blue with diamond patterns of white. Far behind her stood a crowd of the remaining villagers but the numbers were few. "Who are you?" She asked calmly. "Another demon, I suppose?"

"You are partially corrrect. Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Giratina, Goddess of Shadows. You must be the half breed of my kind, you should be honored to be in my presence."

"So it was you who decided to attack my old home. I don't care who the hell you are, stay away from this place."

"You dare to order me around?!" Giratina started to laugh to call demons down from the skies. "I admire your courage, half breed, but-"

"I have a name." She interrupted. "It is Flare so do not call me half breed again. Got me?" Her voice flamed a little with anger. Giratina's smile went away faster than a second.

"Alright, fine. As you wish, I'll spare this village but on one condition, you must travel with me and never escape. Do we have a deal?" One of the young girls ran from the crowd and gripped her leg.

"Don't go! What if those demons come back! Who will kill them for us!" She started to cry as Flare looked down and the clinging girl.

'Such foolishness in youth...' She thought. "Listen, kid, I have to go but if demons come run and you just might come across one of my friends."

"But you lived here!"

"Yeah, but I've been gone for a hundred years, before you were even born." Her mother ran out from the crowd and pulled her daughter away to the crowd.

"Stop! Don't go!" She screeched.

"I have no choice, I'll go with you." She turned her gaze torwards Giratina.

"There is something I want you to do first. I've been told there once lived two great demons who wield powerful swords. Bring the blades to me even if it means to kill the two."

"Why can't you do it?"

"I would but this will be a test of how powerful you really are. Even if you have one, I want it."

"Fine. Where are they?"

"I suspect the first one will be to the south from here and don't even think about screwing this mission up." Giratina and her demons dissapeared into the tower. The dark clouds quickly emptied from the sky and revealed the shining sun and sky.

'Damn it all to Hell. I thought I wouldn't have to do errands for anybody. I'll just get this over quickly.' She walked away from the crowd and destroyed village and headed south with the sun's warmth on her back.~