*real chapter cover coming soon*
"This desert seems like it goes on forever!" I whined.
"You're so annoying!" Soul and I trekked to the top of a sand dune. "Water!" Soul started running down the slope throwing his bag off, his shoes, shirt, and lastly his pants. He jumped into the air.
"No Soul!" I reached a hand out as if to grab him. "It's just a," I winced as the white-haired boy dove right into a pile of sand head first, "Mirage." I grabbed all of his things while making my way to him. He rolled over from his stomach to his back, arms behind his head.
"Put your clothes on before you get a sunburn." He groaned doing what he was told.
A couple more hours drug on, we finally came to the edge of the forest.
"We need to make camp here. If we go any deeper, it'll be dark before we know it and the creatures will attack without light."
"What kind of creatures?"
"There are a lot. I know of the gremlins and gnomes." A shiver went straight up my spine. "Gnomes are freakin creepy." I lit a fire in my oil lamp base placing it between us. "Foot tall little shits with pointy hats."
"Ooo, pointy hats." Soul did a finger wiggle in front of his face, jokingly trying to freak me out.
"Stop it Soul!" I threw a sandwich bag at him. "They have pointy teeth and can rip the flesh off of a bone in ten seconds. They're like piranhas with feet! Land piranhas." Soul laughed at my explanation. As he ate his sandwich I placed torches in the ground around or camp trying to keep a lit space big enough to keep us safe.
"So, Kyo, can you tell me how Temu became corrupted or would you rather not talk about it."
"It's fine. About a month ago Temu and I were collecting Demon souls."
"Why?"
"They might not have the potential to turn into kishin egg's but these demons were terrorizing innocent humans. Lord Death wanted us to figure out why, when they are normally peaceful demons."
"Oh, ok."
~~~
"Temu and Kyo are fetching souls! Fetching demon souls." Temu sang. I giggled at him as we walked down the street in a small village.
"Somebody stop it! It has my baby!" A woman came out of her house screaming after a small plump red demon.
"I'll stop him!" Temu ran after it. I followed close behind. I glanced back at the woman, she grinned changing into a red demon. Temu finally cornered the demon.
"Give me the baby and I won't hurt you, that bad," Temu smirked.
"Here catch," the demon threw the bundle at Temu. He shuffled around catching it.
"Are you okay little one?" Temu moved a blanket from the face. No baby was swaddled in his arms, but another demon.
"Ha! Got you!" the littlest one laughed. It tried to jump from my weapons hands, but Temu's hands changed slicing the demon in half. The soul was red with purple streaks.
"Tumu! Don't!" I called to him. He didn't hear me in time, he swallowed the tainted soul. In the distance, we heard a baby crying.
"Come on Kyoka! Over here!" he took off in the direction.
"N-No Temu! It's a trick!" I took off after Temu. I watched helplessly as he rounded a corner killing another demon eating its tainted soul. I followed him deep into the forest.
"Temu, as your meister, I demand you to stop this instant!" I screamed at him. He listened, turned around he looked at me.
"We have to save the baby!" He almost started crying.
"I know Temu, But that baby is a fake." I sighed.
"It may or may not be! What kind of person would you be if you just let them have a baby because you thought it was a demon?" I glanced at the ground.
"You're right Tem. Let's go" I held my hand out looking back up to him. He took it transforming into his weapon form, a double bladed staff. I held onto him as I took off after that pesky demon. We cornered it after a short time. The baby in its arms cried out.
"I'm trusting you!" Temu shouted as I swung at the demon. It jumped from side to side doing flips to void my not so forceful attacks.
"That's it. Temu get ready!" I raised the staff out to the side twirling it like a baton, sending waves of spiritual pressure on either side of the demon so he wouldn't escape. When the bigger blade came to the top of the spin, I swung Temu down slicing the demon in half at an angle not hurting the baby. Temu half changed back to grab the baby as the demon turned into a floating soul. I took the baby so Temu could change back to his human form. He ate the tainted soul.
"We should take this little guy back to his mama," Temu said taking the baby.
"Let's go." I smiled. We walked along a path for quite some time.
"Temu, where are you going? The village is back there." I whined at him as he missed the turn.
"I feel like I'm being pulled this way like something is calling me." He mumbled.
"What are you talking about?" I furrowed my brows at him. I just decided to follow. A couple of minutes passed and Temu stopped, I bumped into his back.
"Kyo, can you feel that?"
"Feel what? Temu what is wrong with you?" I asked him walking to his side to see his face. His eyes were no longer brown, they were purple. " Temu, what is wrong with you!"
"Kyoka, look, the Dark Ravine," Temu said still looking directly ahead. He took off at a sprint holding the baby close. I followed once again, coming to the edge of a small cliff with purple ooze coursing below. The baby started crying knocking Temu out of the trance he was caught in.
"Oh no, baby don't cry." He shushed the child rocking him back and forth. I sat down on a rock watching my partner change his entire attitude from one thing to another. I needed to get to the bottom of this. I ran back to the village, or where the village should have been. Nothing, you could see where the dirt was showing through the grass indicating something had been there. SHIT! It was a trap all along! I ran back to Temu as fast as I could. As the ravine came into view I saw Temu standing on the edge. Before I could reach him or even yell, the baby he had placed in a pile of leaves, changed from baby to a version of me. I stopped dead in my tracks. The other me looked back at me, eyes locking with mine. She gave me an evil smile. Vines wrapped themselves around my legs keeping me in place.
"Why don't you go for a swim!" It yelled kicking Temu in the back, sending him over the edge.
"No!" I bent down to my knees screaming letting my soul wavelength blast a radius around me. I ran at the demon of me. I placed my hand upon its heart.
"I will destroy you!" I blasted the body away leaving just its soul. This one was more tainted then the last. What was once an all red soul was now a dark purple one, with just spots of red here and there. I exercised the soul instead of keeping it.
~~
"My god. How did you get him out of the ooze?" Soul asked. I wiped away the tears that had been falling for some time.
"I found him on a rock sticking out of the goo. He was never the same. He began acting out, evil, Dark. The exact opposite of the Temu that I loved."
"I'm sorry Kyoka," Soul said trying to comfort me, the best he could.
"It's ok. Let's get some rest, tomorrow is when all of the fun things will happen." I laid my head on my bag closing my eyes.
