When The Day Met The Night

“Jesse!” Hellboy said taking a step forward.

“You, Demon, born from the womb of shadow, sent here to destroy their world,” Nuada jerked me forward again, “and you still think you belong?”

“Let her go!” Red shouted.

“Nuada,” I said quietly, tears forming in my eyes, “you’re hurting me. Why are you doing this?”

He looked down at me, then pulled out a golden egg about the size of my hand.

“No, brother!” the blonde elf begged, gripping onto Abe’s arm.

Nuada ignored her and held the egg out. It began to open. Inside, was a glowing green bean-like object. He pulled the bean out and brought it to lips. “Kill him,” he murmured to it, then let it go.

What happened next was indescribable. The ground started shaking violently, causing me to stumble into Nuada. He finally let go of my arm and instead snaked his arms around my waist, steadying me.

“Klutz,” he murmured, pulling me up until the length of my body was pressed against his. I could feel my heart rate speed up and my face was turning red.

“Thanks,” I said breathlessly, staring into his eyes. I noticed that his golden irises were larger than a human’s.

Nuada looked like he was going to say something, but an explosion erupted, making both of us let go of one another and pay attention to what was going on.

Where there was once crowded streets and tall buildings, there was a giant plant-like creature, towering over the city.

“Holy crap…” I said, grabbing Nuada’s arm. “What is that?” I asked him.

“It’s the last of its kind,” he told me, “a Forest God. He is a life giver and a destroyer.”

“The last of his kind?” I asked as the creature took a swing at my friends.

“Yes,” he replied.

I watched as Hellboy ripped the door off a van and pulled out a baby. The creature kept attacking him. Eventually, Hellboy worked his way up on top of a hotel sign, the baby still in his hands.

“We need to get off the ground,” Nuada said as the creature fell back, nearly crushing a building in the act. He grabbed my hand, pulling me along behind him. We entered the hotel of the sign that Hellboy was using and made our way up the stairs.

“Stay here,” Nuada said when we reached the roof, “I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“But,” I protested, “my brother’s over there. I can’t just sit here and do nothing!”

“Trust me,” Nuada said, “stay here.” He leaned down and placed a kiss on my forehead, then turned abruptly and made his way over to the ledge by Hellboy. I blushed, bringing my hand up to touch the spot his lips had touched. I was completely out of it until a gunshot rang out and the piercing cry of the great Forest God permeated the air.

Nuada came back looking slightly disappointed. “You should get back to your friends,” he said, brushing past me.

“Nuada, wait!” I called out to him. “Why are you doing this? What do you stand to gain from all this bloodshed? How many more people, human or otherwise, need to die for this to be over?”

“I’m doing this for my people,” Nuada said, his back to me. “The humans will never stop. They will never be satisfied.”

I sighed and followed him back out onto the streets. “Goodbye,” I said, hugging Nuada quickly before running over to meet my brother.

It wasn’t that hard to find him. There was a large crowd surrounding my brother and his girlfriend Liz. I pushed past people, sometimes shoving them, just so I could reach Red.

“He was just trying to help!” Liz was shouting at the crowd. “That’s all we do!”

“Move away from him!” one of the police officers yelled at me, yanking me back by my arm.

“Ow!” I cried, “let go of me you monster!” I kicked out at the officer, jerking my arm out of his rough grip and ran to my brother.

“He just risked his life,” I screamed at the crowd. It got real quiet. “He just risked his life, just killed the last of the Forest Gods, for you! To save your pathetic, miserable, worthless lives!” By this time I was crying. “So if you want to point fingers and call people monsters, then point the fingers at yourselves. You people feed on other’s misery! Nuada was right! You will never be satisfied until you have devoured everything!”

“Jesse,” Hellboy said, putting his hand on my shoulder.

“I just want to go home,” I sobbed, turning and burrying my head in his massive chest, “please just take me home.”