MYTHOLOGICAL BEAT!
Astralie Darang Short Preview
Prologue WELCOME TO MY LIFE... Heya! Rika, here. Sorry me and my friends—sorry. My friends and I are running for our lives here. Same old, same old. Ah!! I apologize for a vague introduction but we pissed off a bunch of giants so now they want our butts! “Sundae, look out!!!” Ooh... that's gotta hurt. Okay—okay! Introductions! Well, we're just your regular average kids, ya know; try to get good grades and all. “Aahh! Sh*t!!” I almost lost my shoe. I tried to turn around despite the frantic running and fear in my eyes. “Try and get us, butt-licks!! Ha-ha-ha...” Their ferocious growls augmented and the pace of their heavy brusque anger powered running increased. Uh-oh... That hit a nerve... cra-ap! I've got to run even faster! I looked over to the blurred vision of my friends due to the sweat running down my face. “Come on, guys! Keep up! I can't tell your moms you let these guys boil you alive again!” I looked overhead and noticed Shoka enjoying himself on his rider-cloud floating above us not even putting much effort in trying to avoid getting trampled by these huge homely things. Damn lightning gods! “Whoa! AAh!” I scrapped my leg against a harsh protruding thorn—don't worry. Kazuka's got healing abilities. She's been perfecting it this whole time. Pretty neat, huh? Well, I'm actually 15 this year. My friends, Sundae, Kazuka, Renke, Shoka, and Mare; we're the offspring's of the mythical protectors of this planet. Yeah-yeah, I know the whole fairytale craps been dealt with before— A frustrated troll threw a bulky laden club from behind me aiming for me. I thought fast and avoided it by leaping over a tall tree branch in my way. “Ha-ha! Nice try, hen-sniffers! BLAH!!” I mocked. Ugh! I've gotta' tell ya these guys are ugly! Oh! And don't worry. For the grown-ups in our lives, I know you're concerned but we did all of our homework before we came here... I'm not too sure about Shoka and Renke though. Don't ask. We come here every day to ensure the peace of this land but right now as we're running away from these giants in a crowded stifling dark forest in this rocky dirty trench I'm starting to regret it all over again. It's a pretty big job for a couple of children though, right? Yeah, well, our parents can't do it anymore 'cause they're banished for going to the pure human world: AKA. Purgatory. A Pure Human is a person—well... Not exactly a person, but it's a creature that resides in Purgatory but I'm a little more found in calling it “Limbo”. Oops! Maybe I've told you a little too much, but oh well. Breaking the laws of physics? I don't mind. It's what we do anyways. So, I guess you're in this now. “Nanner, Nanner, Nanner. Ha, ha, ha!!”
Part* I: ADVENTURE DOESN'T COST MUCH...
Chapter* 1 GET OUT WHILE YOU STILL CAN… Well, school's a bore like always. But I don't think that anything can match our school ways though. We tend to get bored with it because of the following thought that right after school we go into a world of wonders and excitement. Even though comparing people in our normal lives seem to subside the boredom even for a little bit. Example: my English Mrs. Tashina is as annoying as a baby harpy. Renke and Shoka are in my class now and I have to say it's a lot better than a few months ago when we were freshman and separated into different class rooms all around the school. Now I don't have to scatter all around the school to find them and drag them out of their rooms myself. They can be such pains sometimes though, what with Renke's demon's constant craving to slice stuff up, and Shoka's annoying habit of giving me small electrical shocks!! Ugh!! Sorry, lost my cool there for a second. Well, I’ll tell ya’ more about them. Renke’s my right-hand-man. We play and tease around a lot even pretend to be married. It's an inside joke. Again, don’t ask. I'll tell you when I know you better... He’s a really fun guy to be around even though he could never get over the habit of talking fast. He's supportive, nurturing, and cool but if you’re alone with him...careful. I am warning you... He’s a homicidal time bomb. SERIOUSLY, DO NOT STAND NEXT TO HIM A CLOSET OR SOMETHING!! HE WILL KILL YOU!!! Ha, ha, ha…uh, yeah, I know I put him out as a complete psycho, but he’s really a cool guy. Don’t tell him, but I think he’s also really cute too what with his perfect hair and all—whoa! What the hell just happened? I was taken over by some sort of hormonal force! Heh-heh. Yeah, but don’t worry, he only goes “blade crazy” when he’s around a blade or anything blunt. We caught him once with a pocketknife and h-he um…slaughtered our gym couch... But no problem! He also has us to keep an eye on him. Oh! And yeah, our couch is fine. I had to fish him out of the world of the dead (Underworld). You know: crossing the pit of fire, getting passed the annoying spirits and the dreadful sacrifices—here’s a pain: try explaining crap to The Grim Reaper...on-a Monday. No, really. *Twitch* Try it. I dare you. It’s a pain in the rump! Grrr, she never shuts up about how I should do my job!! But it’s all good. She works for Hades, you know, the actual god of the underworld and such. Man, is he ever obnoxious... Oh, and it’s not Renke's fault either. When he was only 3-years-old playing in a field after a party our parents had, a demon escaped from the other world, snuck up on poor Renke, and infused itself within his nervous system. Our parents have tried a million and one methods to remove it from him but it's no use. We're still trying though but Renke gets easily depressed about it. *Sigh* He’s got a ha-uge scar on his right arm going up to his shoulder where the demon attacked him, and another on his chest up to his neck that he keeps bandaged up. Shoka, on the other hand, is a real pain in the rump! I can’t ever sense his presence when he
sneaks up on me because of his ability to decrease the amount of friction in the air and when I do he gives me shocks! He can use electricity when he wants to that bastard. That’s right. I hate him. Mostly because it’s his fault we get into most of the crap that we do! The earlier situation with the giants in that trench was caused because Shoka took a piss on the giant's sacred burial grounds! Grr…and I’m always the one he has to tests out all his stupid little pranks on! But I guess he is like a little brother to me...even if he is a bit older. I also find it pretty funny the fact he thinks that no one in the world is “whiter” then he is. Sundae, he’s the coolest, sexiest, lethal guy I know! He’s amazing in every way...that’s pretty much it, he’s just…amazing. He’s the one that always takes us out of our stupid predicaments with any creature; dragons, werewolves, deadly harpies, pixies—you name it! Oh, the pixies... I know that they don't sound that scary but trust me. They will cut you! Sundae seems really dark, and he keeps to himself a lot. It use to kind of creep me out from time to time but it's actually pretty hot the way he lives up to his “mysterious quiet guy” label they hit him with at school. Renke and Sundae are from the same warrior land in the mythological world (Aka: “Land of the hotties!”), so they're kind of like brothers. Ahem. Kazuka’s really pretty. *Cough* Hate her. *Cough* She could get any guy that she wants! Literally! Every guy that wants her is after her all the time. It really peeves me off because they won't leave the poor girl alone. She's like a little sister to me and I'm always protective of her but Gawd! I even caught Renke eying her this one time when we were twelve. He says that I should be more “girly”, but screw that! I’m not going to whore-myself up for a boy! NO WAY! I have way too much self-respect for that and I ain't changin' a thing! Oh! Yeah, and she’s actually more mythical than any of us. The reason? It's not just because she’s so pretty. *Cough* Mermaid... *Cough* She can live underwater. How cool is that!? And she can heal any wound when she’s in contact with her special water. Mare, Mare, Mare. What is there to say about Mare—where do I start...? She can be… random...you wouldn’t believe—but she is just the cutest! She can be a pest sometimes, an A+ pest, but she comes around. She actually use to be the Easter bunny. She’s the youngest of us and she skipped two whole grades so she could be with us in school and because she's just that smart. She doesn't really talk like the rest of us, but she’s one smart cookie… Now I want a cookie… No almonds, please... Don’t think that our lives are some kind of, angel-kissin’, fairy-gift-gettin’, life either. It’s really hard and barely endurable. My teachers. All my teachers keep an eye out for me. They keep an eye out for all of us. They’re already suspicious about that one time when Mare snuck a unicorn into the school. You try explaining to the vice principal why a 12-year-old is riding a mythical creature to algebra! I’m telling ya’! It’s not easy! Oh, and this very annoying chick, Karen, is always bothering my gang and I. She’s suspicious of me and jealous too…yeah. I’m not conceded but it's very obvious. She’s in love with Sundae. Yeah before I forget and get you all confused, I gave him that nickname and only I can use it... His real name is Deison. Pretty “smexy”, huh? Well, anyways, she follows us around all the time! She’s f*cking annoying... Dealing with the difficult and hazardous task of protecting the sanctity of the mythological world is deafening enough but just how am I suppose to do it if this b*tch keeps spying on me?! It’s infuriating! She almost caught us demen-leap to the mythical world one time. I know that everyone has that person in their life that just annoys and bothers the hell out of them but it's just a lot different in high school... It's just a lot different when you're us... She’s always asking me questions like, “Why are you and Deison always around each other?”
or, “Why are you six always, like, with each other every time I see you?”, “Why are you with him and you aren’t even going out?” In my head I’d always scream, WHY DIDN’T YOUR MOTHER DUCTTAPE YOUR F*CKIN' MOUTH SHUT WHEN YOU WERE BORN?!! You'd think that'd be a city warrant but no... *Sigh* We go to the mythical world every day after school and sometimes on the weekends if it's really riled up we stay there and settle whatever's going on. Why us, you ask? ‘Cause my father use to uphold the peace and harmony of the beautiful place with their parents as well. They were band from ever stepping foot into the mythical world because of what they did with my mother. They could try to come back into the world but it just won't work. It's just impossible. I’m not even sure what they did, they never told me. Parents, right? Yeah… again another pain in the rump... Heh-heh. Guess what. My father's endless strength? Yeah, I’ve got that too. What of it? Blah! “AH!” I yelled getting out of my bemused day-dream to a sharp rousing sound of a ruler smacking itself against my desk. “Rika, pay attention this’ll be on the quiz!” said my annoying teacher. She proceeded with the grammar review and Karen quietly snickered in her seat on the far left of me. “Ugh...” I said as I let my head fall in my textbook in annoyance, puffing out some air from my mouth, and a piece of light-brown hair on my nose limped across my forehead. Look, I’ll try to explain how sh*t goes around here, but try to keep up, okay? I believe in you. Waka-Waka…
Chapter* 2 HERE WE GO NOW… I looked beyond the heavily wooden classroom door and spotted Renke and Shoka outside of the English classroom waiting for me. Shoka was sitting by the windowsill and Renke was standing watching me as I grabbed my things and headed to them. “Hey, guys? Wreak anymore havoc lately?” I smiled sarcastically. Renke scoffed as Shoka walked over. “Don’t worry; I didn’t kill anyone, so you can relax. I was with Shoka the whole time, Dear,” he gestured his thumb to Shoka over his shoulder. Shoka rubbed the bottom of his nose with an index finger. “Yeah, don’t get your 'big-girl' panties in a bunch.” I twitched a bit. If I could just casually wrap my hands around his tiny throat and—oopsie. Violent thought got triggered. My bad. I looked over at Renke who was turning the other way to conceal his morose expression. I do forget how sensitive Renke gets about the demon in him sometimes. Oh, well. Life goes on. That’s my motto. Heh-heh. The three of us quickly headed to the stairs with the knowledge that the others would be outside skipping half of the school day waiting for us to get there. Shoka stood sliding down the railing of the stairs and jumped off while Renke and I used the stairs next to him like human beings. “Whoo!” he was in his schools-out spirit again. But hey, it's only Monday. The exit was just yards away. I pushed the double door turning to them. “Alright, let’s go meet Mare, Kazuka, and Sundae in the back so we can—” “Hey, guys…” said an annoying voice almost following us out the door. “What’cha up too?” Karen asked. We turned around. I frowned at her. “None of your, ever-lovin’ business, Karen!” I snapped. Something about her just really ticks me off. Then again something about most of the girls in our school ticks me off. I don't know if it's instinct or something I just know that every time she opens her fat mouth it makes me want to slit my own ears off. Hm... I suddenly remember that artist that actually did that... Maybe he wasn't crazy. Maybe some b*tch just wouldn't shut up. She placed her hands on her hips the annoying way that she does. “Oh, shut up, Rika. I'm just wondering where my dear Deison is today,” she raised her overly plucked eyebrow at me. “Do you know? I bet you do, since you two are always together!” she snarled. Well, yeah. He wasn't with us but I actually did know where he was. Not that I'm going to tell this wannabe stalker. I sighed shaking my head at her as if she were the most pitiful thing on earth. I continued with the pushing of the door's handle and casually yet cleverly gave her the middle-finger walking out the door. I really wanted to see her face redden up with anger but not looking back made me feel so ice cold... And life goes on. Shoka, Renke, and I took a walk out back through an alley near the gym part of the building. Renke had his hands in his uniform pockets and an aloof expression. Shoka had his arms crossed behind his head, his blond hair sticking up like a plant. We walked around and I peered at Mare, Sundae, and Kazuka behind the brick wall standing
by another brick wall on our spot where we’d always meet after school. The spot that we are seems untouched by any teachers or officials. There aren't any cameras or anything just dumpsters and the many seagulls passing by it. It would always put a smile on my face when I'd see them waiting ready to go. Ah…my sweet, sweet, Sundae, waiting for me outside of school so we can finally be together again. I love how the sun rays and the shadows always compliment his handsome face. Kazuka was leaning on the brick wall adjacent to Sundae who looked calm with his arms crossed over his uniformed chest. Mare was standing and showing them something in her tucked arms as we walked over. “Hey, guys! What’s up?!” I said cheerfully. Renke and Shoka greeted them as well while I noticed Mare clutching something black... and furry... with ears sticking out in her arms. I leaned over behind her and took a closer look at it curiously. She tilted her head back looking up at me with those big brown eyes of hers, concerned in a way. My eyes widened. “What in the—?!!” I quickly took several steps back and shuddered as if 17 slugs were glued to my chest. It was the creepiest scourging looking thing I’ve seen so far today. It was a cat…sort of. Its eyes were huge. They followed me at every point I was looking at it. I also noticed it had one of Mare's collars around it's neck so I'm guessing its her new pet for the month. She keeps collars in stock in her backpack for the very hope that we'd run into a mythological creature in this world. Yeah... not gonna happen. Very unlikely because that portal is sealed up tight! I looked over at Shoka catching my attention holding his gut and laughing his stupid head off. “What’s the matter, Rika? Never seen a shark-cat before? Ha-ha-ha,” he laughed. Everyone joined in the laughter too. I was disturbed for a second with those irking eyes of it setting on me. “N-no, I haven't...” I can't clearly explain why but I started laughing too. Well... I guess that anybody would have at least snickered at my inestimable reaction. “Whoa, I’d like to see the lame-brain mutt, that’d be dumb enough to mess with this bad-ass cat,” I said rubbing something under my eye. Mare smiled that big smile of hers and chuckled. Kazuka giggled and Sundae was silent like always. Renke started acting impatient groaning loudly and moving back and forth. “So are we going or what? I can’t wait to slice stuff up!” Renke said. He was fidgety and spoke demonically for a second. We all stared over at him in a solicitous manner. Shoka rushed over behind Renke and held his arms in a lock in case he'd do anything he'd regret. “Dude, control your demon!” Shoka struggled. Renke calmed down in the grapple. He pushed Shoka off and he tried not to fall backwards on the floor. Renke exhaled sharply and breathed slowly. He turned to us and I could feel the indescribable way he was feeling just because of the very look on his disheartened face. “I–I’m really sorry, guys. I —” he slowly turned around and gazed up at the blue clouded sky and the seagulls. I found it a little unusual that he wasn't flinching at the sight of the seagulls since he always had a comical phobia for birds. Well, of course we'd forgive him. We'd forgive whatever he does but I really do hate seeing him like that. It always breaks my heart. “I just can’t stand this stupid—ugh!!” Renke punched the brick wall next to him causing his knuckles to burst out in a red tone. I wasn't really bothered by that.
Trust me. If I got concerned every time Renke would punch a wall or throw a fit I'd be a shriveled wreck by now tossing and turning in a mental institute for the easily concerned. Sundae walked over to him and lightly touched Renke's shoulder to appease him a little. “Don’t worry, Renke. We’ll get it out someday…” Sundae said. We all sighed. Oh, brother… The whole area seemed depressing. I quickly got us back on task. “Ha-ha-ha! Alright guys, stand back!” I opened the portal for us and ignored the annoying sting of it. A huge wave of light shot out from it. Somewhat of a luminous aurora you'd see in the skylines of the North Pole all gathered up into a 4-yard oval on the cement floor. The light always blinded my vision for just a second when I'd look directly in it before we'd jump in but the end result was always worth it. We all quickly took turns jumping in. First it was Mare, the cute hyperactive little animal loving scamp then Renke, the impatient exciting lovable demon warrior guy, Shoka, the stubborn minded irritating lightning god, Kazuka, our gorgeous tenderhearted little mermaid, and Sundae, the mature cool and quiet warrior. I jumped in last to keep an eye out for any wandering eyes that might have stumbled across our hangout and notice the big gaping lighting hole in the ground, not that it matters because the portal quickly closes up right after I seal it. The next thing I knew I was in a grass field with my friends once we landed. Every time we come here the clothes that we were previously wearing are traded in for our mythological traveling clothes when we're in the portal. Same thing goes for when we come back. Nothing is ever changed because I'm so good at portal conjuring. Renke was in his samurai/knight outfit with both swords under his fingertips... Which reminds me, I've got to remind Sundae to confiscate those from him—his parents are nuts! I don't care if those swords were passed down from generation to gene-who-gives-a-sh*t! Renke is not going near a blade! Shoka was in his lighting god uniform, Mare was in her really cute native land forest implied uniform, Kazuka in her land mermaid uniform, my dear Sundae in his super coft samurai/knight outfit with his sword casually at his waist...and me in my cool tracker uniform. Shoka, Mare, Kazuka, and I actually do most of the equipment carrying. Mare carries the food, a small blanket, maps, and some other stuff I'm not sure goes on in that big backpack of hers. I basically hold my tracker stuff: equip with a small book on averting a crisis with any animals, a smaller book on animal tracks (this includes mythical tracks). Gauze, a blade, rope, and mythical stuff in small sacks, and small jars that my dad gave me, you know, “just in case”. All of this crap can fit in my “happy” fanny pack. Kazuka carries her heavy medical equipment, herb books, and bandaging books in her little tan shoulder bag. Both she and Mare collect herbs but Mare uses them to feed her little woodland animal friends while Kazuka uses them for medical purposes. Shoka holds in his huge traveling backpack of wonders: blankets, rope, candy snacks, photos of a girl in our class (please don't ask, I don't even want to know), a bag of pranks, some books on clouds, and maps of towns. I looked around and knew that everyone else was enjoying the breeze as much as I was. Even Renke was in a good mood. I lied down on the short grass and enjoyed the wonderful strain releasing breezes that passed by us. I gazed up at the huge plump cottony clouds as they slowly floated away. I took a huge breath of the full crisp refreshing air, “ah… Sometimes... I forget how beautiful this place is…” I said as I slowly got up from the grass, taking a good look around. I smiled at the sight of Mare's back facing me with her shark-cat sitting on her head.
It slowly turned its head around and stared up at me with those huge eyes... I shuddered in a stunned way. “That’s ‘cause you have the attention span and of a cyclops,” Shoka said picking at some grass. It felt as if that comment hit me like thunder. Ya’ know… I try so damn hard to ignore him, but all the time I wish I could just bash his skull against a boulder and get it over with. Oh, I'm sorry that was violent thinking... Hm. I guess I do that a lot don't I? Don’t worry, I’ll never act upon that fantasy, I hope. “Hey, guys?” Sundae said turning to us. “I’m thinking we should check out the troll's territory,” Sundae said out of the blue. Ah, Sundae. He has the unique skill to sense hostility worldwide, since he’s the oldest and all. You have to have a lot of patience with that ability too, but my Sundae can handle it. I placed a fist on my hip and turned to him. “Alright, so where is it?” I asked feeling a little awkward since I should already know. “Aha. It’s that-a way!!” Mare said, pointing west at the white fluffy clouds. The thing is… She has a really good natural sense of direction... I mean really good! She's our own Mare-sized compass, so it’s really great to have her around when we have no idea where we're going. And it's a lot easier to listen to her than a silly old map. Her brother actually has that same ability but to be honest he's better at it then Mare is but I can't ever find it in my heart to tell her that. Her brother's name is Mayer. He's 5 years older than Sundae. It's a shame that he can't come with us anymore because he wanted to live it up in college. They really do look like brother and sister if you ignore the fact that he's like ten years older. But overall same hair color, same skin tone but his eyes are closer to hazel than brown. He was like a brother to me too now that I think about it. He use to call me, “Rookie”, or his “Little Trooper”... I was actually really upset when he left for college. He was the person I'd go to for emotional stuff when I was too proud to admit I had them to anyone else. Sad flashback's over... Moving on. Kazuka, she’s not the chattiest girl in the world because she’s still not so use to our language that well, but she can make a cute giggle that’s pretty funny. Both Mare and Kazuka look up to me too. THAT’S RIGHT!! MVP, REPRESENTIN’ THE MYTHICAL WORLD!!! OH, YEAH!!! Ha-ha-ha. I'm feeling hyper... Oh, and we don’t exactly have a car or somethin’ here, so we mostly walk from place to place which is a real bother but not so much because during the walks we're exposed to the gorgeous sights and mythological creatures that reside in the areas. We started walking towards the direction that Mare pointed to. It led to another trench. Sundae suddenly stopped walking as if struck with another hostile occurrence feeling. We turned to him. “Guys?” he said. “What’s the matter, Sundae?” I asked noticing his expression. “W-we should check out the dragon's domain as well…” he said, the empty way he does. Well we can't exactly go to the trolls and the dragons at once... I raised an eyebrow. “Sure, but what about the trolls?” I said looking into his eyes trying to see if I could somehow see what he was seeing. “Trolls or dragons? Where first?” Mare shuddered next to me. I could hardly tell when I looked over my elbow at her she was just a yellow and brown blur in the corner of my eye. “No, no, no, no dragons!” she said. “They’re really scary and really big,” she said, showing how big with her arms. We chuckled at her cuteness and fear. Renke patted her head ignoring the red barrettes in her blond pig-tails. “Don’t worry, Mare-
Mare; I’ll protect you from any big lizards who are that big,” he laughed. I smiled. He sort of looked like a father figure to Mare in a way. She may be 12, but she’s actually 7 in this world. Her parents were having troubles on which world they wanted to give birth to her. They chose the real world and 5 years later she was born again in the mythological world because of an incident were she'd disappear once she'd demen-leap. Turns out she wasn't born yet. It's kind of confusing the way I'm trying to explain it but if you could only imagine having to give birth to your child twice in two different worlds, I think you can understand, right? Oh, then forget it. I preceded ahead of them, “So, trolls it is—” “What!?” Shoka interrupted behind us. “No way! I want to see the dragons first! Trolls are such a pain!” he complained. I twitched a little. Yeah, you would know, you little— “Okay, whose got a coin?” I asked impatiently staring at them. Sundae pulled out a coin from his pocket, took my hand, and gave it to me. I do actually feel a little bad that the fate of these two different creatures will be decided on a mere coin toss. “Alright, here goes...” Heads, trolls. I tossed the coin in the air to create a dramatic effect instead of just doing it with my thumb. Out of nowhere the shark-cat-thing jumps from Mare's head and nabs it straight in the air. We all watched it play with the coin and identify it with its paws on the grass. “Heh-heh… Yeah, real cute…” I reached down to retrieve the coin from its paws and the little son of a fish bit me!! I was stunned because of how much those baby shark teeth of it hurt so much. Anger rushed inside me and randomly subsided. Little amounts of blood came lingering out of hand by the teeth marks. It was like part of my hand was in a blender set to “chop”. It made me remember the “shark” in shark-cat and that sharks had like millions of rows of teeth... I felt 6 little ones. Sundae removed a piece of thread from his clothes, knelt down, and waved it around the demon-spawns' eyes. The stupid thing looked hypnotized or something. His eyes followed it around as if it were a piece of licorice. “Next time you want a shark-cat to give up something, distract it with something else and you'll get your chance,” Sundae said. He smiled at me that warm cute smile of his and I smiled back. “Rika, try enduring a pain of a bite or something from it…don’t flinch, don’t show any sign of vulnerability, just take it, alright?” Sundae gave me the coin. That’s pretty good advice, but I’m not “emo” like him so… “Here, let me show you.” Sundae, reached down and we heard a loud chomp. Our eyes widened. He had placed his hand in front of the string and the shark-cat bit my dear Sundae's hand. I wanted to roll up my metaphorical sleeves and strangle that little thing! Sundae didn’t move. He didn’t flinch. He didn’t even blink…like it didn’t affect him at all. We all stared at him and the blood gushing out of his hand. The shark-cat stared up at him and bit him harder to see if he’d wince. Nothing...! HA-HA! My Sundae’s a rock! The shark-cat-thing stopped biting into his hand, meowed, and rested on his lap. Kind of cute. Mare was a little jealous her cat abandoned her. She crossed her arms over her chest and pouted. Kazuka rushed over to Sundae and wrapped bandages around each of his fingers and knuckles that got bitten then she went over to treat my hand.
Sundae turned to me as if he were to teach me an adventurer's lesson. “Pain's like a note from your body, Rika. If you just reject it by ignoring it, then there shouldn't be any pain.” Wow. Can he be any more amazing? I never really understood what the hell he meant—I just like hearing him talk. “Sweet…” I said. I turned to Renke, Shoka, Kazuka, and Mare and punched the air. “Dragons it is!” Mare groaned loudly while her shark-cat managed to climb all the way back on top of her head and kiss her forehead. “Whoo-hoo!!” beamed Shoka, jumping with joy. Sundae chuckled, Kazuka made a giggly noise, and Renke was ever so fidgety again grappling with the demon's control again, I guess.
Chapter* 3 STILL GOING… Ah, the dragons, the cool over-sized-muscular-scaly lizards. Ya know...I use to have a love of dragons when I was younger. I still do actually. They’re so cool, especially the ones that fly! Now the dragon's lair; I know where that is. “The dragons are that way!” I pointed south. I looked over my shoulder and everyone went north. I turned around and looked at them in “confuzzlment” because they were going in the wrong direction. I’m the leader here, so why weren’t they going my way?! Shoka turned around. “The dragon's lair is north... It’s always north, idiot.” They continued to walk north, leaving me frozen with slight embarrassment. “Humph, I knew that,” I crossed my arms over my chest. “I was just seeing if you guys were on your hands is all. Heh-heh-heh…” I said awkwardly and catching up to them. Shoka rolled his eyes, “No—moron. It’s ‘on your toes’,” he corrected. I messed up his already messy hair. “…shut up.” So were walking on a path that’s well over ten miles long—oh, screw it! I don't even know. I'm not a math-wiz but it feels like ten miles—at least! In my head, I’d wonder if getting a demon to ride on would be so hard but they are so damn stubborn when it comes to other creatures like us. Not to be stereotypical or nothin’ but all demons are stubborn and blood thirsty. Every stinking one of them... I’m not saying that dragons are like them but they're kind of seem similar but don't get them confused. Dragons are way cooler and more familiar in mythology. Okay, okay, not all demons are stubborn. I'd be ignorant if I meant that. I bet at least five of them aren’t—but they’re pretty well known for their doggedness. Example: the shark-cat-thing is pretty blood thirsty and stubborn. Now that’s a demon! Okay, now, I know that earlier I should have described my gang a bit more and I know that it’s been driving you crazy about what we look like so I’ll tell ya’ while I have the time! Starting with me okay? I’m 15 (told you that already, moving on now). I have kind of straight short-light brown hair. It's been like that as long as I could remember. My hair's naturally short because It's unable to grow longer because of all the stress I have to deal with. I have brownish-hazel-ish eyes. I’m a little on the tall side, and I hate to brag; but I can belch a pretty mean burp. Oh, and I am a girl, so don’t get confused when I don’t act all “lady like,” okay? Renke's got really dark-reddish-medium-lengthen straight hair. It's the most attractive thing about him—again, don’t tell him (which I know you won’t, right?), but I think his hair is “smexy” too. He has dark-brownish eyes but when that demon takes over his eyes are a dark reddish color. He’s on the tall side too. Taller than me! It pisses me off sometimes! But don’t ask me why—it just does... He has a huge scar on his right arm and chest from where the demon seared into his body. It was some kind of “spell caster fire” demon I think? And we're never suppose to call out or say the demon's name or it would get more power and have better control over Renke's body. Renke's good with swords—two of them just as well as Sundae and his single one. He's a lot better with them when his demon is in control though. It's scary—trust me, I've seen it... One sword is
for him and one is for the demon. Shoka, he’s got really bright yellow-blond hair. It sticks up like lightning too... No, actually it sticks up like a vegetable. If any: a beet. It totally seems unnatural but it is. His eyes are bright blue but when he uses his lighting it glows bright white. Shoka also has a lightning insignia on his left cheek when he comes here to show his position or prestige. It comes in handy when the Grim Reaper's around because it shows that he's a god and therefore cannot die. So it pisses her off when she stops by, he's all beaten up and seemingly dying, and heals up as if nothing had happened. In the mythical world he's also got slightly pointed ears and stud earrings on both. He’s also a little short for his age (ha-ha-ha) and he’s a lightning god much like his father. I love it when clothes and stray animals stick to him after he uses his electricity. Kazuka, she has like, very light-bluish-purplish, very curly, long mermaid hair, and poufy bangs on her forehead. The hair color is natural too... She's mostly pale at times—extremely pale. You can sometime see the veins in her face when she's in the water. It's actually normal and healthy for her and she makes it look beautiful. She’s a little on the short side as well because of her land legs. Her eyes change colors within different moods. Okay, now even I have to admit that's pretty cool. Her tail is a silvery-greenish color and her fins on her arms are light-grayish-greenish. Mare, she has very light-blond-somewhat-frizzy-short hair. Yes. That's natural too. I don't want to hear any racial comments about that just because she's dark-skinned. Her mother's blond, her father's blond, so is her brother, and her entire family. She’s very short—and I mean short! She’s so short she needs to jump to use a two-foot water fountain! I might have exaggerated that but it's pretty funny to think about. Mare's eyes are really big-bright-light-brown. She can be a little slow but she turns things her own way around so she can understand which does make her pretty smart. She also has the cutest lil’ cheeks!! Oh, gawd! I wanna pinch em’!!! Sundae is... Excuse me; is there another word for “perfect”? Flawless. That’s it. He’s flaw-fect. He has really dark-long hair in this world. It's mostly in a ponytail. Of course he could always cut it down short but his father said something about having it longer in this world is yatta-yatta-yatta. In the world that you and I know his hair is short and slightly lighter. His eyes are a dark blue, he’s the tallest one here, and he’s not too bad with a blade either. Renke’s my age, Shoka’s birthday is coming up so he's going to be 16 pretty soon, Kazuka’s 14, Mare’s 12 (7 in mythological world), and Sundae’s 16 ½. Yeah, I think I’ve got them covered. Any questions? Please, speak up...! Okay, then, moving on. Ugh! So we’re walking!! Yeah! ...I see a bush... and a rock!! Whoo! Sorry, it’s my first time narrating. I’ll try to be more descriptive and less bored. All right, so the pathway we took leads us straight into another trench. There are millions of trenches in this world by the way and hardly any roads to cross. Just dirt, rocks, dirt, twigs, dirt, soil, and dirt! This huge trench looks like it could take us forever so be prepared for a long and boring description! Ha-ha-ha. Just kidding. So as we're looking around the sights we see a bunch of elves with their cute pointy hats and long beards. There are millions of different species of elves in this world, not just the little ones you might have seen in Santa's workshop, or in a chocolate factory, or even those adorable Keebler elves. So don't be confused. Some of you might have been thinking of those dark or light elves. I'm talking about the ones by this huge bulky house-sized tree. You’d think they we’re going to a party or something.
These elves are the most uptight little guys in the world and trust me THEY DO NOT PARTY. Yeah, long story short: Shoka and I tried to get the “Head-elf” to dance like puppet one time... I couldn't resist but— *Shudder* I’m still having nightmares of little pointy people throwing stones at us. But life goes on. Not only do elves live around here but nymphs do too. This means there should be a pond or something around here someplace. Okay, I’d hate to have to give you another mythology lesson and god knows I’m not the best teacher but here I go. Nymphs are like water fairies, except they’re bigger and don’t regularly fly. They're beautiful water spirits and obviously they reside in water. Don't get them confused with mermaids though. Mermaids live in bigger bodies of water anyways. We ended up walking out of the trench and onto a narrow dusty pathway. Oof! My brain hurts… time to rest. I’ll let Renke narrate for a moment if that’s all right? Ha! Like you have the choice! Hey. So the guys and I are still traveling to the dragon's lair. Dragons are—yeah. Never mind. We should all know what a dragon is, right? Yeah. *Demonic voice* I can’t wait to slice through ones scaly flesh. Blood sweltering out, hearing its pain filled blood-curdling roars, watching its colossal body fall against the asphalt roads. Yes, yes!! I can’t— *Regular voice* Oh—oh, god!! I am so-so sorry about that. It wasn’t me—I swear! Well, by now, you should know that I have an accursed demon inside me ever since I was as old as I could spell demon. You wouldn’t believe how infuriating this thing is! *Sigh* But enough about my problems… okay, here's a few more: I can’t go out for sports, I can’t talk to cute girls without being watched over, and I can’t even go on a bus because it's too small and the demon gets “angsty”—a freaking bus! I miss all the cool field trips! Ugh!! Okay, I’m done for now. I guess I should tell you about your narrator, Rika. She’s so…well—she’s just one of the guys —and she loves hogging the narrator position I'll tell you that much. This is just a boyish thought running through my head so don't mind it but she'll never admit this to anyone but that she's secretly in love with me. Ha-ha. Maybe not. I think it’s cute how tomboyish she is but… don’t tell her I said that. Heh-heh. Ahem… um... Yeah. I’ll give you Shoka for now. I'm sorry. I'm not really in much of a “narrating mood” todays. I apologize if Shoka seems like a “pain in the rump” as Rika clearly stated so earlier. To be honest he's not even that bad. It's a mystery as far as I'm concerned on why he hates her so much. Here he is— What’s poppin’, book reader?! My name’s Shoka. I am so freaking bored right now! I swear to god, I am going to lose it. I came up with another tactic to piss off Rika. Yeah, I know, I’m not a nice guy. But come on, I gotta’ tell ya; it is so fun to piss her off and watch her face balloon up when she’s angry. It serves her right for hogging the narrations. Okay, here’s what I’m going to do: 1.) I’m gonna conjure up a rider-cloud and ride it like I always do. 2.) I’ll tell Mare to ride with me so that Rika’s not suspicious. 3.) I’ll tell Mare to drop an Easter egg behind Rika to distract her. 4.) Then, I’ll trip her up, shock her, (because she wouldn’t see it coming) or just drop a stink bomb in her pack. It's full proof! You choose. Heh-heh. All right! I know, “weak”, but it’ll do harm… I’ll let someone else narrate now. I can’t stand you. Kidding!
Hi-hi!! I’m Mare!! And I’m gonna see a big-scary dragon!! You'll protec' me, right? Well, will you at leas' come with us? Awesome!! *Hugs* I'm very happy that chu've decided to come with us on an adventure! Um... I'd give you Kazuka but she can’t speak well. She’s too nervous and shy but she says “hi”. Ooh. A rhyme! Ha-ha.