HellKeeper

"Cough…Cough…" Mike choked on the terrifying smoke that made it hard for him to see the lift’s burning walls. His eyes were tearing, and that only made the matter worse.

‘Now I’ll never manage to get out from here…’ Mike’s vision started to blur. Everything was black before he himself knew what was happening.

Cole reappeared, standing beside Mike, who had already blacked-out due to all the smoke. "How weak…" Cole sighed, giving her fingers a snap. Immediately, the chaos in the lift disappeared.

"Can’t he see that it was an illusion? Maybe I was a little too rough on him." Cole rolled her eyes. She pressed the ‘Open’ button and walked out. Surprisingly, Mike’s unconscious body floated out from it, following Cole was she went to his apartment.

A stream of light flooded into Mike’s eyes.

"Whatttttttttt!?" Mike sat upright on his bed, shouting. He looked around himself, wondering which part of heaven he was.

"Huh? Isn’t this my house? Was I rescued from that lift?" Mike scratched his messy black hair. What a jerk. I really wonder why that cute girl wasted her effort carrying him back to his house.

"Huh?" Mike turned, surprised to know that anyone was in his house. But what he saw only gave him the shock of his life.

"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?" Mike yelled on the top of his voice. "What are you guys doing in my house?" Mike pointed a finger at the two transparent figures sitting on the windowsill of his room. The two figures carried an astonished expression on their faces when they saw Mike’s reaction. They returned back to their normal expressions only after Mike lowered his finger at them.

"You can see us?" The longer white figure asked.

"Why can’t I see you guys? And what are both of you doing in my house?" Mike still seemed shocked, but he cooled down a little bit.

Confusion was written all over Mike’s face.

"I can understand if you are thieves, but that transparent costume is totally…weird!" Mike blurted out.

"No wonder."

The three of them looked up at the same time. There, standing on a lamppost was a little boy dressed in black rags. He seemed to be a lot younger than Mike, about 7 or 8 in age.
The two white figures immediately bowed in respect. Mike only stared at the little boy with amazement.

"Don’t stare, it’s rude." The little boy’s voice echoed in Mike’s head. With that, the little boy disappeared.

"Prey…" The boy suddenly reappeared right beside Mike’s ear, whispering in this wild cry. Mike was totally shocked, turning around to face the little boy. Standing in mid-air, the little boy seemed somehow a little deformed. His left hand changed to an ugly shape, like the hand of a demon, with sharp claws that emit a terrifying aura.

"Master Yin! He’s not a prey! He’s only a human!" The long figure behind Mike suddenly yelled.
The little boy looked at the figure. His kind look suddenly turned into a shade of absolute hatred.

"You dare deny me…?" The little boy glared at the figure.
The long figure suddenly staggered a few steps behind.

"No! …Never in my entire life, shall I deny… you!" The figure stammered in reply.
The little boy went up to it with slow, causal steps. His look became kind again. He put his normal right hand on the head of the figure.

"You are dead, remember?" With that, the boy’s left shot into the long figure’s head, turning it into ashes. The smaller figure fell onto the floor, shivering in horror. Mike was dumbfounded, shivering with the thought of how easily that little boy kills.

The little boy smiled at Mike. His left deformed hand turned back into a normal hand.

"See you around, human. It’s fun scaring you, but if I continue, your sis will kill me!" The little boy laughed cheerfully. His rags suddenly whirled around the little boy, swallowing him like a deadly poison cloud.

Moments passed after the little boy disappeared. Mike and the figure are both still speechless from shock. Mike suddenly thought of something, and yelled, "What was that? I thought that he was human!"

The figure on the floor glared at Mike.

"He is the Demon Child. Now you should know that he’s definitely not human, right?" The figure questioned Mike.
Mike thought for a while.

"Why is his hand like that? It’s so huge! And that colour! Is it something that all of you are scared of?" Mike asked in wonder.

"He’s still not the scariest in the Demon world, I guess. There’s a girl guarding the doors and the affairs of both worlds. I heard that she’s pretty, but she can kill anyone that she doesn’t like."

"Anyway, are you a ghost?"

"What? Ghosts! I’m a spirit! A spirit! You filthy human!" The figure yelled at Mike.

"That’s sudden. But are really no ghosts in this world?" Mike held back a little, afraid that he might offend the figure again.

"Ghosts are lowly humans that are dead but still have connection to this world. They are usually bad."

"What? Then is that kid a ghost?"

"Shhh! If that Demon Child hears you, he’ll tear you into pieces!"

"A Demon Child? Is that somehow related to ghosts?"

"Grow up, kid! Don’t you know that Demons are of the highest rank in the Demon World?"

"Oh…Yeah. So he’s the highest rank in the Demon World?"

"You are so stupid. He’s just a Demon Child. A Kid. Ok? There are people of higher ranks than him."

"You know any of them?"

"Well… It’s hard to say. I think there’s one girl. She’s the guard of Hell, and of course, there’s the Demon Lord. No one has seen his true form though."

Mike kept silent for a while. Demons… Demons… Are there no angels?

"How about angels? Are there any of them?" Mike thought aloud.
The spirit seemed to be deep in thoughts. Finally, it spoke, "I think they’ve all perished. The Demon Lord slaughtered the whole group. But there is one in the Demon World. She’s the guard."

"WTF?" Mike burst out.

The spirit frowned at him.

"Nothing. Sorry. But how can an angel be in Hell?" Mike scratched his head.

"I heard that she has incredible talents and skills to fight. Maybe that’s why our Lord accepted her."

Mike’s face seemed shadowed.

"So she joined the Demon World willingly?"

"Err… Nope. The Lord is clever enough to spot her weakness and force her to join. Angels’ weaknesses are so easy to spot, you know! They are way too kind!" The spirit snorted.

"If they did not perish, I would have joined them! It would be fun, you know? I do not know what their lives are, though. But I heard that the life there is way more interesting than life on Earth!" The spirit seemed to be talking to itself.

Mike frowned. Poor Angels… Why can’t they live on? Even they can die? Mike sighed.

"Hey…Kid." A translucent hand waved in front of Mike.

"What!" Mike yelled, taken aback.

"It’s so damn rude to shout all of a sudden. But I’ll have to go. See you!" The spirit said, changing into a human form. He looked like a cool guy, in about his twenties or so.

"Wait! Do all of you look like that?" The words burst of Mike’s mouth without any hesitation.

"Huh? Of course not! There are older ones, but I died when I was in High School, and that was years ago. And the girls, they are just hard to find! Do all girls’ life span longer than guys’?" The spirit gritted his teeth.

"Can you at least introduce yourself? I’m Mike, in High School. Still living, that is."

"Ha! I’m Gorge. Short form for ‘gorgeous’, that is. Really, I have to go! But I’ll come again. See ya!" Gorge disappeared in a flash.

Mike stared at the spot where Gorge was gone. All of these just seemed too hard to believe. Mike fell onto his bed and started to recall. There was this Demon kid… And for no reason, he attacked me, and for no reason, he ran away. Wait… He did explain himself, didn’t he? Mike sat up straight on his bed.

"See you around, human. It’s fun scaring you, but if I continue, your sis will kill me!" The little boy laughed cheerfully. Mike recalled.

"My sister? When did I have a sister?" Mike let those words dash out from his mouth. He scratched his head, looking confused.

The Dream Of Three

Continued from last time's


That’s why, she only had three friends. Everyone have their own way to go now, and their distances had furthered with every minute. Now, she stood facing one of her sealed secrets—her love for so long.

The princess placed her cold hands onto the palace doors and pushed. The doors slung back, revealing a hall that seemed to be unused for a very long time. The princess awkwardly stepped into the hall, her eyes scanning the huge hall. To her amazement, there was a painting of her face in the corner of the hall. It was the only thing that has no spider webs covering it. The princess went towards it. She bent down, picking up the framed picture. Tears welled up in her eyes when she saw the words, ‘Her majesty.’

A figure stopped just behind her. The princess knew that he was there, and turned slowly to face him. Under the moonlight, she could only catch a few figures that still haunt her in her dreams. Her teardrop finally dropped. The person seemed shocked to see her crying. The princess bit her lips.

"I thought that I told you many times not to call me using formalities? Aren’t we…" The princess broke off.

"…Friends?" The man continued for her. The princess could not look up into his eyes. They only reminded her of the pain and years of suffering that she had.

"You are engaged, unlike me. Why don’t you just forget about the years we had together? Forget about me?" The man said.

"Never! You don’t know what’s it’s like to have you in my dreams but you are never there when I wake up!"

"Sometimes I feel as if this is just a dream, too."
The princess said no more. Her heart totally tore apart. Instantly, her knees went soft and landed on the cold marble floor. Her tears poured down uncontrollably. She sat there, crying like a baby.

The man kneeled down beside her. He wiped away her tears, but not a single word came from his mouth. He felt like crying too, for not being there to help her like what he once did. He felt so useless.

"What a lovely scene," A voice broke the man’s thoughts. The voice caused the princess to stutter. That voice. That man. The princess’s sorrowful eyes suddenly turned to a pair of hateful eyes. She eased her tears and stared at the man who said that.

"Jin…" The princess gritted her teeth. The figure that appeared leaning against the doorway frowned at her. The man beside the princess stood up.

"What do you want?" He breathed. Jin looked at him through the corner of his eyes. Slowly, Jin strolled towards the man.

"Did I not make it clear, that her majesty is going to be my wife soon? So keep your dirty hands off her, prisoner." Jin threatened him.

"He is not a prisoner!" The princess glared at Jin, which only made him laugh.

"Are every one of you here getting senile? Yu, you are not supposed to meet him ever again. What have gotten into you today? He is a prisoner now, the one who is imprisoned for your sake!" Jin shouted at the princess, pointing at the man.

"The evil are always on the loose, right Shu?" The princess asked suddenly, giving the man a strained smile. Jin clenched his fists. Shu only gave the princess a worried look.

"You are my wife!" Jin was outraged, grabbing the princess by her shoulder. Princess Yu did not hold up against him, but only continued to look at Shu. Jin tried to think of a solution to win the princess’ heart. Shu returned princess Yu a comforting smile, assuring her that he will be fine.
In his frustration, Jin made a dash for Shu. Only then did the princess look worried, but before she could respond to Jin’s fast movements, Jin was too close to Shu. He aimed his fist towards Shu.

"No! Stop!" The princess cried.
Jin landed on the ground, coughing. Shu frowned at him, with his fists clenched.

"You’ll have to train for two years before you can land your fists on me, junior." Shu sighed.
Shu walked towards the princess with a smile.

"You never change, do you?" Princess Yu asked Shu teasingly.
Jin panted on the ground.

"Both of you will never end up together." Jin’s words stunned the princess. His words reminded of what her father said to her. It was the last time before she ever saw Shu again until now.

"The guards have been dismissed doesn’t mean that Shu will be free. His punishment will probably be much heavier than now. You should know what the Emperor will do if he find me missing, right?" Jin just could not keep his big mouth shut.

The princess stopped dead in her tracks. Shu seemed to be deep in thoughts too. ‘Shu will be beheaded…’ the thought of this made princess Yu’s face turned pale. Jin smirked, his plan worked. Being so close to the princess, Jin did know a few of her weaknesses. She’s really sensitive whenever anyone mentions about Shu.

The princess started to shiver. Shu looked worried, glaring at Jin. He never expected Jin to be so mean, hurting his wife-to-be with rather harsh words. (to be continued)