Woman in Red Woman in Red

The walls were closing in around her. The realization that she and her family were royals, not warriors. Would they even believe me if I told them, Keliana said rubbing the back of her neck and her side temples. And Dante is Drako, wow.

Nanca and Keliana stood in the wasteland that was provided for Mondola. "This place is very eerie," Keliana said as the hair on her hands raised. She soon felt the familiar pulse on her right leg. "Demons are here. Be watchful," she warned.

"Yes, I can see them, Nanca replied as they walked further into Mondola's territory. The ground crunching beneath their feet. The deeper they walked into Mondola's territory, they saw houses of all sizes and shapes that expanded throughout the bleak, black land.

"Who could be living in those houses?" Keliana asked.

"Maybe they put his followers here to live too. Nanca replied.

"Look Nanca, is that a castle?"

They both looked at each other and ran towards the dark castle which had a winding road leading toward a high black gate.

"Why would Dante be here?" Keliana whispered.

The gate suddenly opened as an armoured vehicle drove in and stopped further north at some steps leading to giant doors.

As they got closer, they noticed a woman in red attire exit the vehicle along with two armed men. She made her way to the giant double doors with a man on each side. A very tall average built man greeted them with a slight bow. They soon entered and closed the door behind them.

"Who was that?" the child asked Nanca.

"She is Zamora, mistress and ruler of the Neither Dimension," the old woman replied.

"I wonder what is going on here? Maybe we should take a look and see what we can use to help win the war against the demons on Earth One." Keliana asked, looking hopeful into those eyes of her great relative.

Nanca looked to the top of the building and saw a black and gold flag with the symbol M with a pitchfork in a gold circle blowing in the hot wind. They stopped for a minute as demons started entering and exiting through the giant doors. Keliana held on to Nanca's hand as she said a spell before they entered through the doors. Black, gold marble tiles with specs of white or were they diamonds paved the way on the floor.

"Ahhh," screamed a female voice. It sounded close by.

They heard voices out on the balcony and decided to see who was there. As they approached, no one was on the balcony. Their brows furrowed as they listened for the scream again. No screaming this time just a low hum of voices. The voices sounded close. They walked near to the edge of the balcony wall, glanced over and saw a garden of broken statues and a dead beautiful tree, with many wide branches which had a giant birdcage latched on one of the branches with what looked like a human and a mirror inside it. A giant man in 20 feet stature, stood before the cage.

***

The ground shook and a voice bellowed from all around her. Holding onto the rails of her cage for balance, Joy gasped as she saw a giant appear.

"What is all this raucous about?", a deep dark voice asked. Joy tried to hide in the cage behind the watering container. "What's a birdcage doing out here?" he asked.

"We need to help her," whispered Keliana. She began to approach, Nanca grabbed her hand and pulled her back to her side.

"There is nothing you can do."

"But she is human?" Keliana whispered.

"Shh! Don't attract any unnecessary attention to us.

" But you said they can't see us," she pouted.

"I did, but you can never tell with the higher-ups. They may not see us, but they can sense us if we are not careful, " Nanca explained.

Both females watched as the giant tried to communicate with the person in the birdcage.

"Who brought me an empty cage?" the giant bellowed as he rattled the cage shaking it. Joy soon came into view.

"What is this? A human... soul? How did you get here? Answer me lost one." He asked, still shaking the cage.

"I-i-fff y-yourr u-u-ugglinesss would s-stop s-shaking m-my pr-prii-sson; I will answer your questions," Joy hissed.

"Trust me, child, this soul will soon be free," Nanca replied as she pats the back of Keliana's hand. "She has fire and great power deep within. She will soon realize this. Sometimes life throws us curve balls and we must learn from them. Some will overcome and some will fail. But I feel this one is a fighter. She will be free soon."

"Watch out!" Ariel said to Renwar, shielding a blow from the enemy. Joy glanced in the direction of the mirror and watched it disappear as Renwar and Ariel faced the dragon. She wondered what would happen next. However, Joy couldn't concentrate on that now. She faced a monster of her own.

The giant paused. A fresh cold air breezed by Joy's face. She felt a renewed strength pouring into her, giving her the courage to face the 20-foot, red-eye demon towering over her. He held the cage up to his mouth and breathed into it. His hot breath was aching to be cleaned with some minty mouthwash, she thought. His teeth were white and even. Strange for a giant to have no cavities. He finally stopped shaking the cage and held it up to his eye level to take a closer look at her.

"Speak!" the giant commanded.

"My name is Joy Wick. I was imprisoned here by Sáphire, a dark witch. Now, if you can release me, I will be on my way," she rattled off.

"Come, we need to find Dante, remember," Nanca said as she pulled Keliana from the balcony and continued to explore their surrounding.

They wondered where the woman in red went. Keliana nodded her head and made a mental note of the girl's name. I will check on her when I get back just to ensure she was okay, she thought.

The walls had beautiful family pictures dressed in white and gold. The woman in the painting was in another with a little boy. Could he have been the happy boy in the picture before Mondola became a monster, Keliana wondered. They found other pictures of Mondola and his mother along with his sister and their father.

"Do you think his father is still alive?" she asked her ancestor.

He may already be dead if he was human. If he was an immortal then he might still be alive.

"I wish we could go back in time to stop Mondola from becoming evil," Keliana whispered.

"That may not be possible at this time. When you change history, you create a new timeline and everything that you know could change. As bad as things are, it's best to keep things as they are now." Nanca replied.

They continued walking to the end of the hall and heard a loud crash coming from the left which had three doors along the walls of the passage.

Suddenly the door in the middle burst open with a demon body lying headless on the floor.

Keliana stifled a scream as the handprint on her leg started pulsating faster and turned blue.

"If you fail me again Dante, it will be your head rolling next time." Zamora sneered.

Dante smiled and nodded his head. He was a teenager without fear. He grew up trained by Mondola and Zamora along with the witch Hitchcock sisters and three other male children.

"I am sorry we did not catch Keliana before she disappeared. But I will not fail next time mistress even if I have to do it myself." Dante replied as he kicked the head of the demon to the far corner where his other minions were. They jumped out of the way as the head neared them.

"Great. I have my hands in various wars all over the galaxies. I need to concentrate my powers on Néarbi Valley town. The war is brewing nicely. Once we win the battle, Lucifer will be released and Mondola and all our legions will be free to rule the world. Humans will be our footstool and not us being at their beckon call." She walked before the demons, pausing midway, to make one final request before exiting the room.

"I want Keliana and her family destroyed. Use her brother to lure them out. I don't want to deal with trivial things when the hour is at hand. Turning to look at Dante who was leaning nonchalantly on a desk to the far side of the room.

"I don't expect you to fail. Use your gifts to your full advantage. Remember you are a prince to this world. Where I am the queen of the multiverse." She then walked out the door without seeing Nanca and Keliana hiding in the shadows.

A tall boy walked over to Dante and smiled with an evil gleam in his eyes. Keliana gasped. They look like twins. She turned to look at her great, grandmother.

"Is that Drako?" Keliana said as she stared at the boys who suddenly looked in their direction.

"Dante, it seems we have an audience. Shall we invite them in?" Drako smiled with an evil gleam in his eyes.

Dante stood and started to walk towards the sound the whisper came from.

"Nanca, they can hear us. quickly take me home." Keliana dreaded.

Dante continued walking, but in the blink of an eye, Drako stood before them with red eyes.

"Brother, there is no one here. Perhaps we were hearing something else." Drako said wiping his mouth.