A man sat beneath a destroyed highway. He wore a black duster over a dirty torn t-shirt and black jeans. A machete in a black sheath lay at his left hip, an unknown symbol on the sheath. On his right hip was a pistol. An old sniper rifle was slung across his back. A small switchblade was on his belt next to the pistol. It was as if he tried to hide it. He simply stared at the ground.
A group of six people approached him from the west. They wore jeans and dirty white t-shirts. Besides the one with the beard, the only way to tell them apart was by their weapons and accessories.

“Them some nice weapons, mister,” said the one with the beard. He had a baseball bat that lay on his right shoulder.

“You mean these?” asked the man sitting under the highway. He rested his hand on the hilt of the machete. He turned his head to face the group of men.

“Blight! Witch!” exclaimed the man with a longsword in both of his hands – holding it in front of him in a defensive stance. He noticed the man under the highway had milky pale colored eyes – like he was blind – the sign of a witch.

“I’m not a witch,” said the man under the highway – now known as a witch. “I’m a paladin, can’t you tell?” He put both of his hands in front of him, revealing five rings on his right, and two on his
left. They were simple bands – small finely cut diamonds were equally spaced around the circumference of each ring. The diamonds of each ring were a different color.

The man with a rusty blood-stained butcher knife spat at the witch and said, “Paladin Hunter.”

The man with biker goggles and a lead pipe said with a tone of fear in his voice, “I don’t know about this. Maybe, we should get out of here.”

“To late now,” laughed the witch – with a tone of dark humor, “You’re already here.”
The man with sunglasses and brass knuckles – who appeared to be the leader – walked forward and asked with a nervous, but authoritative tone, “Do you know who we are? We are the most deadly gang in this area, the Witchhunters.”

“Where’s your proof?” asked the witch.

“We burn them,” replied the leader.

The witch smiled and said, “Then you would know, that the bones of a witch do not burn.”

“I know,” claimed the leader defensively. “We hang their bones up in our hideout.”

“You enjoy the company of demons?” asked the witch, amused.

“We kill them for sport,” said the leader.

“Come on,” said the witch, laughing now. “Even you, know that demons are immortal.”

The leader stepped even closer to the witch. He was looking down on him now, yelling, “Look witch, do you know how many of your kind we have…”

Before he finished his sentence he was on the ground, holding his face in pain. The witch – standing now – seemed surprised and asked, “What happened? You alright?”

The man with the longsword charged towards the witch, his sword held high in the air. The witch grabbed the man’s wrist and forced him to stab himself. The rest of the group gasped, then yelled and charged forward. The witch took out his machete – a black blade with a strange gray symbol running down the length of the blade.

The group of men lay dead around the witch. The witch approached the leader – who was still on the ground, but no longer held his face – and pulled out a pistol. The pistol had a similar symbol as the machete which twisted around the entire gun. He pointed the gun at the leader and fired.


The witch approached a small town. Scattered buildings made up the town – surprisingly they were made out of stone and not a lesser material, which was rare for such a small settlement. As the witch walked through the town, people gave cautious and curious looks at him – even though he had sunglasses covering his eyes and had gloves covering the rings. He approached a particular building, the pub, and walked in. Being the middle of the day, not many people were in the pub – besides the drunks. He walked up to the counter and sat down on a stool.

“What will you have?” asked the bartender.

“Rum, triple,” answered the witch.

“Ten cards,” said the bartender.

The witch reached in the right pocket of his duster and pulled out a King of Hearts, he tossed it on the counter. The bartender picked up the card and got the drink, which he then placed on the counter, in front of the witch. As he downed the drink and asked for another, he noticed a drunk trying to make a move on a young girl who was sitting next to him. He paid for his second round and kept close watch – using his peripheral vision – on the situation.

“You look like you can handle yourself,” observed the young girl who was just getting flirted with – and still was. She had short light brown hair. Her skin was a bronze color, like most of the population of the world. A sun beating down on a desert does cause darker skin pigments. Most people ranged from bronze to black colored skin. Anyone with lighter skin tones was most likely a witch – or rubbed chalk all over their bodies.

“Excuse me?” asked the witch.

“I noticed your weapons,” explained the girl. “You look like you actually, made friends with survival.” What she didn’t mention was she thought he was a witch – which she was right about.

“Please… him?” hiccupped the drunken man that was just hitting on her.

The girl ignored the drunk and introduced herself, “I’m Eve.”

The witch introduced himself as well, “The name’s Lucifer.”

The drunken man spat towards Lucifer and accused, “That… is… a witch name.”

Eve, still ignoring the drunk, asked, “What are you doing in End?” End was the name of the town. It got the name because it was the farthest town in the north, and there was nothing further north for at least 40 miles.

“Passing through,” answered Lucifer.

“To eat all of us,” said the drunk. Surprisingly, he was actually able to get that line out without pausing or hiccupping.

“Excuse me, Eve,” said Lucifer. He grabbed the drunken man’s head, and slammed it into the counter. He threw a Jack of Spades on the counter and explained, “For the mess.” He walked out of the pub and left the town, heading south.

Lucifer was maybe half of a mile away from End when he suddenly stopped. He felt Eve’s presence behind him. Lucifer asked, “Where are you going?”

“I… I need someone to protect me, a bodyguard I guess. You look like you can handle yourself, like I said before. So, what I’m asking is, can I come with you?”

“No,” Lucifer said. He started to walk again.

“What do you mean, no?”

“I mean, no.” Lucifer continued to walk away.

“I’ll pay you.”

Lucifer stopped walking. “How much?”

“200 cards. And a casino chip.”

Lucifer walked up to Eve. “Let me see.” The cards were nothing, but the casino chip, that could be worth some money.

Eve nervously reached into a bag and took out a cigarette carton. She opened it to reveal 200 cards and a casino chip from the Lucky Card casino.

“Alright, let’s go,” said Lucifer. He began to walk again.

“Where are we going?” questioned Eve. She followed after Lucifer, trying to keep up.

“Don’t know,” admitted Lucifer. “Guess we’ll find out together.”


Leo looked up as far as he could, but still couldn’t see the top of the colossal mountain. He had been climbing for days – almost a week – but still was nowhere close to the peak of Haven – the mountain’s name – where the end of his apprenticeship lay. He would reach the domain of the Guardians, and would become a Paladin. He assessed that three days remained before he reached the top. He really needed to start moving or he would run out of oxygen.

He still didn’t know what exactly happened when he reached the Guardians – the protectors of humanity, who had been at war with the demons since the beginning of time. All he knew was that you changed, came back more mature. And another thing happened, the thing he was so scared about. Everyone that came back, all Paladins, had glowing white eyes. Like the irises and the pupils ceased to exist. He was terrified because he didn’t know the cause of it. He started to climb again.


Lucifer and Eve approached the town, Beginning. It was about 10 miles southwest from End. It got the name because the only remaining ramp to the highway that stretched north to south for miles was nearby.

Before they entered the town, Lucifer turned towards Eve. “Alright, here we are. I protected you like I promised. Now you will pay me, like you promised.”

“What?” asked Eve. “We… You… What the blight are you talking about?”

“It sounded pretty straight-forward to me,” explained Lucifer.

“You only brought me 10 miles!” yelled Eve. “I could have got here myself.”

“Then why, did you ask me to protect you?”

“I thought we would go farther than this. Isn’t that the job of a bodyguard? Travel all over the world with their climate?”

“I’m going to need more money than what you offered, for that deal.”

Eve let out a sigh. “Please. That’s all I have. I need you. You don’t understand what’s after me.”

Lucifer cocked an eyebrow. “You never told me that someone is after you. That is information you don’t keep to yourself. And that just makes my request for more money, even more of a necessity, if I’m going to continue to travel with you.”

“I didn’t say someone. I said something.”

This perked Lucifer’s curiosity. “What do you mean, ‘something’?”

“Ummm… You’re going to think I’m crazy. A dragon.”

“A dragon? You mean, a Guardian? And what did you do that a Guardian… You must have done something really bad, if that’s true.”

“No, it’s not a Guardian. It’s black, evil looking. Its eyes are… glowing black. I don’t… it’s a demon.”

“Demon you say. That’s a big accusation. You’re saying a possessed Guardian, is pursuing you? You do realize that’s what you’re saying, right? And how do you know this? It would never have let you get away.”

“I had a vision…”

“A vision? What exactly are you? I’ve never heard of a human having a vision. Are you sure it wasn’t just, a dream?”

“It’s constant. Almost every day I see it. That… monster. It is in the air, calling my name. Like it, wants me to find it, and go there. That’s why I need someone to protect me. I’m afraid it will come looking for me. If it does, it will hurt people. I don’t want that to happen. So I want to go find it, so no one will get hurt, but me. I need a guide, to lead me through the forest.”

Lucifer let out a laugh. “You are a piece of work. You want me, to lead you through the forest, so you can find a possessed Guardian, so no one gets hurt but you. And you know this because of a… vision?”

Eve got angry by his laughter. “I’m not making this up, I’m not crazy! You want more money? Fine! My uncle owns the Lucky Card casino. He’ll give you all the money you want.”

Lucifer got serious real fast. “I can’t go there. I try to avoid larger settlements, but a casino…” he shook his head at the thought, “Look at me. I’d be killed before we even entered. I can’t hide what I am, no matter how hard I try. I’m a witch. That’s all most people see. They think: witch equals evil. So, forget that plan. I’m not going.”

“No you’ll be safe, I promise. My uncle only cares about profit. He doesn’t care who is making him money. As long as he’s making money, you could be Sara for all he cared.”

Lucifer froze. Sara was a name he did not want to hear. A myth that a long time ago, a demon possessed a little girl – which happened occasionally, kids being innocent and wanting to help out. So when Sara strolled into the forest – which was obviously foolish, let alone the normal dangers of it, the fact that all evil lived in the forest – she was approached by an invisible voice, which asked for help. She obliged, letting the demon possess her. Unlike other demons – which possessed people to escape the forest and get out into the rest of the world – this demon remained in the forest – taking advantage of the immortal life he gained from possessing Sara – and waited 200 years, Sara becoming more and more corrupt the entire time. Stories are told of people going into the forest – once again, a dumb idea – and seeing a little girl, dancing with the monsters of the forest. When they run to her aid, the girl disappears – laughing joyfully – and the monsters attack the would-be saviors.

Eve had meant to tell a simple joke, making fun of the greed of her uncle, but had brought up a past that Lucifer had hidden deep down inside of him.





Lucifer and Eve approached the highway. They had to go under it, and continue southeast to reach the mountain range that they had to cross in order to reach the Lucky Card casino. Lucifer had decided to go with Eve to the casino after all. There was something about her he couldn’t quite explain, he was going to travel with her until he found out what it was.

Lucifer stopped walking. “Wait,” he told Eve. They watched as about 20 people walked out from underneath the highway.

“Look what we here,” said one of the people. He had a leather jacket on. He turned around to the rest of the group, revealing a logo on the back of the jacket. “Hell’s Angels” was on the logo, a Paladin jacket. He took out a pistol, the hand holding it had a Paladin ring on his index finger. Paladin Hunter. He must have been the leader.

“You would think people would know to avoid this area by now,” he continued. “Well, what do you have in exchange for your life?”

This group wasn’t like the other group Lucifer had dealt with. This group was an actual threat. They had obviously noticed that he was a witch, but they weren’t fazed at all. Lucifer stepped forward.

“Not another step,” ordered the Paladin Hunter. “We can talk at this distance just fine. Now, answer me. What do you have in exchange for your lives?”

“Do you really think I’d give you anything?” asked Lucifer. “Look, you’ve only killed one Paladin. I’ve killed seven.” Lucifer held up his hands and showed all seven rings. Some of the people in the group got nervous. They looked around, like they didn’t know what to do.

“For your information,” said the Paladin Hunter, “I am a Paladin, or at least used to be one. And now, you just pissed me off.” He removed his sunglasses to reveal glowing white eyes. “Now I’m going to kill you, blighted witch.”

The group grabbed their weapons, and ran to cover. The former Paladin lifted up his enormous pistol, and fired a round at Lucifer.

Time stopped.

Lucifer moved so fast, he was a blur, while everyone else appeared as statues. Two from the group laid dead – a male and a female. A blade went through the third, two more down – bullet holes where their eyes should have been. Lucifer took cover behind a