Taking Back

Inner Demons

There was nothing but black wherever he was. All he could see was smoke and nothingness, a loneliness that felt almost familiar. He called out, "Hello? Helloo? Anyone out there?" hoping to hear a response, but to no avail. "Wherever there, or here, is?" He muttered to himself, just walking around. Was he dead? No, that couldn't be. That would be too lucky for him, or at least that's what he thought. Then he heard the clanking of chains as the smoke got thicker. It almost felt real because he felt like he was choking on it. The clanking became louder, then came a low growling with it.

"Dare. You!" Eddie heard a voice.

His eyes widened with terror as he whispered to himself, "No. No, no, no, no, no. Not him." He shakingly turned around, and as he did. The smoke turned into a black fire. He met the gaze of it. The creature in chains, trapped with him!

"How! Dare! You!" It roared. He saw an enormous fox. It writhed in its chains, which covered its body like a swarm of snakes, yanking and pulling at the ground. The fox's three tails strained by the pull of the shackles as if they intended to rip them off its body. The fox glared at Eddie, baring its yellow fangs, trying to pry the chains from its jaw like an iron muzzle. "How dare you trap me!" It yelled in a rage. "I demand freedom. I demand freedom that you keep from me, human!"

"Y-you think I want you here," Eddie whimpered as he fell back at the mere presence of the fox."I-I never wanted this! I-I never asked for this! I'm just as trapped in this as you! You're the monster! Why won't you just leave me alone!?!"

As he cried, more chains and shackles sprouted from the black flames. However, they wrapped and yanked at him, not the fox. He could feel the chains latching to his throat as they pulled him backward, his legs cuffed together, his body covered layer after layer of metal.

"I never wanted this," he cried at the fox as tears fell, its gaze drilling through his soul. "If I had it my way, you wouldn't even be here! It's not my fault! It's not my fault I'm stuck with you!"

The fox attempted to lurch at him, but the chains pulled tighter. "If there is ANYONE to blame for my imprisonment, it will ALWAYS BE YOU, BOY! You and that wretched king!"

Suddenly, a scraping noise came from behind the fox, followed by footsteps. Then came a voice. "Oh, but of course," said a gruff voice. "Blame the only reasonable person with common sense. There cannot be victory without a sacrificial cost that is man," a figure walked by the fox and glared at him from the corner of his eye. "Or filthy beast. All are tools meant for the field of battle."

Eddie's eyes widened even more at the shock of who this was. "No," Eddie stammered, slowly trying to yank away from his chains as the figure got closer. He could see what was making the scraping noise: a wide-bladed sword covered in blood! "No, not you. Please no! Anyone but you, please no! Somebody help me! Shoutmon! Rilys! Mo-mommy! Momma! Help me, please!!"
The man swung the blade and landed in the bundle of chains, missing his head.

"Do not dare speak of her, you monster!" The figure said, coming out of the shadows to grab his sword: the figure was Rudrick Von Charlamange the Fourth, the former King of Chermono and Eddie's father. "You have no right to speak of her, you murderer! If you weren't my son, I'd kill you! Both of you, by now!" He looked at the fox with a threatening stare; all the fox could do was glare back with just as much ferocity.

Eddie couldn't help but keep crying, repeating the same thing over. "I did nothing wrong, I did nothing wrong, I did nothi–" but he was kicked in the face by the boot heel of his father, outraged in his eyes.

"You did EVERYTHING wrong, you freak!" The king yelled. "Your birth is what you did wrong! Your life is what went wrong! You killed my wife, you abomination from Hell!" He grabbed Eddie by the back of his head and forcefully yanked him to look in a direction where he saw a figure hiding in the shadows. He saw a womanly figure.

"M-m-momma?" Eddie whimpered. But the figure moved out of the shadows only to reveal a corpse covered in charred flesh and bone. It then lit ablaze, causing the fox to move back with its chains and poor Eddie to cry and scream. "NOOOO!" Eddie whined, the room filled with more fire, only redder and hotter now. "I'm sorry! It's all my fault! I'm sorry! It's all my fault! I deserve to die! It's all my fault!" As he cried and cried, the king lifted his blade, ready for execution.

"Yes. It is," sneered Eddie's father, with a smile on his face. "And now you'll die for it. Yah!"

He swung his sword down as Eddie looked up and cried in horror. He felt the impact, and then–