The Soul Sword

"The gates of Hell are open night and day; smooth the descent, and easy is the way: but, to return, and view the cheerful skies; in this, the task and mighty labor lies."

~Virgil
c. 70 - 19 BC, Roman Poet

"Hey! Miles! Get up! C'mon, wakey wakey!" As reality flooded Miles' senses a hand roughly slapped the side of his face. "Get up! Come on! We have to move! We can't stay here long! Wake up Miles!" The hand slapped him again.

"Okay, okay! I'm awake! Stop hitting me... seriously." Miles cracked open his eyes, temporarily blinded by the bright sunlight from above. It was obviously no longer night and he wasn't in his house anymore. As Miles slowly sat up, he took in his surroundings; he was sitting in a forest, most likely the one on the outskirts of his town. He had no idea how he'd gotten here and the events of last night were still kind of fuzzy.

When he looked over to thank who he supposed was his savior, Miles was taken back. Standing next to him on the forest floor was a rabbit. Not a normal rabbit, though. He looked more like a mix between a human and a rabbit. The creature was about three feet tall and very fat. He stood like a human, but all of his features were that of a rabbit. Most of his body was concealed by a large, tattered, brown trench-coat, however. It was wrapped all the way around him and fell down so far, only the tip of his feet showed. There were different colorful patches sewn into it, most likely to cover up some of the many holes. On his head was a matching wizard's hat, that was so worn out, the point drooped all the down to the side. Two holes had been cut into the hat to allow the creatures ears to poke through. The small portion of the rabbit that wasn't concealed by tattered clothes was his face. He had bright white fur and blue eyes, with long white whiskers extending far past his face on either side.

"Um... I don't mean to be rude," Miles began, "But what are you?" Miles had heard that on the main land of Solum there were lots more strange creatures than could be found on the small island of Insula, but he'd still never heard of something like this.

The creature puffed out its chest and straightened its back, then said in a very official voice, "I'm the last of an ancient race of wizards known as the Lepus. My name is Albin Perry Veneficus. I'm here to help you." The creature explained. "I was the one that rescued you last night... I teleported us and the sword to safety."

Miles scratched his head. "You're what?"

Albin sighed. "Okay, I'll explain everything quickly because we don't have much time, so pay attention. Three nights ago there was a solar eclipse. Fifty demons from Hell used the power from the eclipse to create a rift between the Netherworld and Solum. They've now taken residence in your world and plan on being the rulers of it. The ruler of Hell, Diabolus, I believe he's known as Satan here, wasn't too happy about them escaping and two nights ago, gave you his sword in your dream. The only thing that can stop the demons is that sword. They haven't fully crossed into your world yet and only the demon's souls exist here, so no normal weapons can defeat them. On the next solar eclipse, one year from three days ago, they plan on opening the rift again, from this side and allowing their physical bodies to escape Hell, as well as all the other demons. Got it?"

"Um... so... There was a solar eclipse?" Miles asked.

Albin shook his head. "I'll explain it better later, right now we have to move. The demons can sense where the sword is and I'm sure they'll be here soon. All you have to know is that Animositas, your sword, is the only thing that can kill the demons. Guard it with your life. Now let's go!" The Lepus took off running through the woods, away from the town. Miles picked up the sword and chased after him.

For a short and fat rabbit, Albin moved much faster than Miles had expected and he almost had a hard time keeping up. "So the demons want this sword, because it's the only thing that can stop them from ruling our world?" Miles asked him, after about a minute of running.

"Correct." Albin told him.

"And the reason that this is the only thing that can stop them, is because only their souls exist in this world and normal weapons can't kill them?"

"More or less. Normal weapons can hold them back and suppress them for a while, but in the end, only that sword will stop them for good."

Miles was running out of breath. He wasn't used to running so much. His foot caught the edge of a root and he almost lost his balance, but managed to stay upright and keep running. "And... you said this sword belongs to... to Satan?"

"Diabolus is what we call him, but, yes."

"Why'd he give me the sword? Why didn't he come do it himself?"

"He can only cross during the solar eclipses, just like the demons. After he found out they escaped, he needed a way to stop them. I guess he decided that giving you the sword was the best way to do that."

"Why'd he choose me, though?"

"To tell the truth, I don't really know."

"How do you know all of this?" Miles asked. "And why are you here, helping me."

"My species are the ones who keep the demons in line. I guess you could call us "angels" but we're really not. I lived in Hell and studied the demons. When I found out they planned on escaping, I decided it was my duty to follow them through the rift and try to stop them." Albin stopped running at the edge of the tree-line. Beyond them was a large open field, probably about a couple hundred meters long. Beyond that, the forest started again.

Miles nearly collapsed against a tree, trying to catch his breath. "Why did only... fifty escape? That seems... like an odd... number. And why didn't... they want to stay... in Hell?" He panted.

"Diabolus is the tormentor of your world. He's always been there to plant evil thoughts in men. He is, more or less, the creator of what "evil" is. All he wants to see is suffering, but he doesn't want an end to goodness... because without good there can be no evil. That is why he's never been interested in ruling your world... he just likes to mix things up every now and then. One day, he decided to create his demons -- creatures like him -- who enjoyed to see suffering. Each of the fifty demons he created was responsible for a certain kind of evil. There was demon that gave people nightmares and a demon that created the darkness. Some of them burned people with fire and some gave humans weapons, so as to make killing easier.

"After his creations were finished, Diabolus relaxed and watched as they caused the torment and evil in the world. The strongest of these demons, however, wanted more. He controlled the most powerful evil... wrath. And he was never satisfied with just breeding anger in the hearts of humans... it wasn't enough for him. He wanted to rule this world. So he gathered the other forty-nine demons that Diabolus had created and tried to cross the rift three days ago into Solum. Unfortunately for them, I had come to stop them, like my species was created to do. I cast a spell to try to close the rift and it worked, but their souls still escaped into your world. Don't think you're safe, however, just because their physical bodies aren't here. You saw last night what their souls can do. These demons will seem very real to you."

Miles thought about what he saw last night; his fourteen year old sister, Myra, dead in a corner; his mom, nailed to a wall. He felt sick and could feel tears welling up in his eyes. He tried to change the images in his head to something else. "I think... I think I kind of understand what's happening." Miles told Albin. "It just... it just doesn't seem real to me... so much happened just in one day..."

"I know, I know. It'll start feeling real pretty soon, though." Albin told him.

"Why's that?" Miles asked.

"Because three demons are coming this way." Albin reached into one of his coat's pockets and fished around for something.

"How do you know that?" Miles asked, worry growing in his voice. "Do you have some kind of magic power that senses when they're near?"

"No." Albin told him, "I can see them." He pointed across the field to three demons that were quickly making their way towards Miles and Albin.

"I don't know what to do!" Admitted Miles. "That demon from last night took me out with one hit! I don't even know how to use a sword!" Albin finally found what he was looking for and pulled a very old and large book out of his small pocket. Stunned for a second, Miles asked, "How'd you fit that book in there?"

"I'll explain later." Albin told him. "And don't worry about the sword. I know you don't know how to use it, but it knows how to use you. Just let the weapon do the fighting." Albin started rapidly flipping through the pages of the book. The demons were getting very close.

"Let the weapon do the fighting?! I don't know what that means! Those demons are gonna kill me! Can't you cast some spell on them?"

"No, you need to learn to do this yourself. I may not always be there to help you... and don't worry so much, Miles! These ones are much weaker than the one you met last night." Albin consulted the book he was holding. "I believe these ones are Ensis, Securis and Cuspis. They're the demons that gave man the sword, axe and spear, respectively... now go get 'em!" Albin gave Miles an encouraging push into the open field. The three demons were now practically on him.

Miles raised the sword before him, awkwardly. These demons looked more like demons than the well dressed man from last night. They had black, rigid and rough skin, with red eyes and short horns on their head. Each wore dirty and ripped rags, that barely covered anything on there body and they seemed to be much more confident than Miles was. One held a sword, one an axe and one a spear, and other than the different weapons they held, each looked nearly identical to the other.

"Stay back!" Miles yelled. "I've got Amanosedis!"

"Animositas!" Albin reminded him. The demons made a laughing like sound, then without warning, attacked. The first one swung its axe straight down at Miles' head. Without even knowing that it happened, Miles swung the devil's sword straight up and blocked the demon's weapon. On the hilt of the sword, he could see that the blood-red eye had opened and was taking over the fight. The creature seemed as surprised as Miles did, when this happened, but the sword wasted no time and quickly knocked the demon's weapon to the side and swung one more time, decapitating the hellish beast.

Without giving him any time to recover, the demon with the sword took a shot at Miles, but Animositas parried and went to slice at the demon's stomach. The demon jumped back and dodged, however, allowing the one with a spear to jab at Miles' chest. This time it was Miles who took control and jumped to the side, missing the chance to be impaled by a fraction of the second. He then swung the sword back up, cutting the spear in half, before thrusting straight forward, into the demon.

As Miles pulled the blade from the second demon, the third one attacked again, this time cutting into the teenager's arm, as he raised the sword to block, too late. Miles stumbled backwards, but kept his balance, then immediately jumped forward, dealing a long string of attacks at the other swordsman, whom blocked each one effectively. Not use to fighting with such a heavy object for so long, Mile's felt his arms growing tired and weak. The demon took this opportunity to deal one powerful swing at Miles, who blocked it, but fell backwards, onto the grass. The creature raised its sword one more time, ready to finish him, when a blast of fire exploded into its side. The demon was thrown onto the ground, just as Miles was, with the smell of burning flesh, lingering in the air.

"Now, Miles! Finish him!" Albin shouted. Miles jumped back to his feet and stood over the smoldering demon for second, before Animositas drove itself deep into the demon's chest. When Miles pulled the sword back out, the battle was over. The young warrior doubled over, heaving from exhaustion. As he looked down at the three bodies on the ground, each one, in turn, exploded into a shower of black dust. The blood-red eye of Animositas glowed brightly, before the dust from each demon was pulled off the ground and sucked into the eye of the sword. When there was no trace left of the creatures, the eye closed, and three strange markings around the base of the sword, glowed a bright red color and burned themselves into the blade.

Miles looked at Albin as he approached the scene. "What just happened?" Asked Miles.

"I told you. The sword knows how to fight. It can almost take care of itself."

"I was talking more about the whole... exploding demon thing, actually." Miles explained.

"Well, like I told you... the demon's in your world are only imprints of the real things; only their soul is here. So when you defeat them, this imprint -- their soul -- is captured by the sword. When you've captured all of them, we can return the souls to Hell, where they belong."

"So this sword... it captures their souls?" Miles asked, examining the blade, which carried not a single drop of blood.

"That's what it does." Albin confirmed. "And because of what it does, some demons have given it the nickname, 'The Soul Sword'."

Miles held the devil's weapon up against the sky, letting the sun reflect off the black blade. "The Soul Sword." He breathed to himself.