The Demon king game

Gathered in a circle, Ageis and his friends pulled from a bundle of sticks in his hand.

"Yay! I'm a hero!" Megra exclaimed.

"Me too!" Nina happily shouted.

"I guess that means Ageis is the Demon king huh." Ludolf would chuckle, waving his stick to the group.

Disappointed Ageis kicked the ground. With a sigh he ran away from the trio as they began to count.

The game Ageis came up with was rather simple: one person within the group would be the Demon king while the rest were the heroes. In order to defeat the Demon king, all of the living heroes have to tag the Demon king, however if the Demon king tagged a single hero then that hero would be dead. The game continues until either the Demon king is tagged by all of the living heroes or the Demon king tags all of the heroes.

"Okay, Demon king! We'll start to count!" Megra spoke, stepping away with the rest of the group.

Ageis sighed, despite coming up with the idea, he didn't get to be a hero. Luckily for him, they weren't in the dense forest. Instead, they played in the Sting fruit orchard, the sole source of income for the village. This valued orchard was now the new playground for Ageis and his friends.

"7,8,9!" In unison, Ludolf, Megra and Nina all shouted.

The local farmers noticed a running Ageis, seeing how desperate he was to get away. Putting a smile on their faces, Ageis quickly ran staff in hand and made his way into the Sting Fruit trees.

Megra led the group, as Ludolf and Nina lagged behind her.

"We will stay in a group, that way we can catch him easily." Megra reasoned with a cheeky grin.

"If ya say so Meg." Ludolf put his hands behind his head.

"Okay! I can't wait to catch him hehehe!" Nina cheered, running ahead of the group.

"Oi, I said we have to stick together as a group ni ni!"

Megra and Ludolf chased after Nina, watching her come to a stop and pointing towards the Sting fruit trees.

"Found him!" Nina ran into the trees and without hesitation she left the group.

"Ni ni!" Megra was furious her plan was being ruined, so she followed her into the trees.

However, Ludolf came to a stop.

"Heh, so that's your plan Ageis!" Ludolf spun on his heels to face the approaching footsteps.

It was none other than, Ageis who ran at him at full speed and rose his hand to tag Ludolf.

"I got you Lu!" Ageis was proud, only to be surprised by the back step performed by Ludolf.

"What!" Ageis tumbled forward having missed his attempted tag.

However, Ageis was quick to spring back on his feet, looking over at Ludolf who picked up a stick wielding it like a sword.

"Didn't you bring that staff, because we would have to fight first?" Ludolf spoke smugly.

Without any words, Ageis drew his staff.

"You're smart to separate us like this, Agii, but I thought you would have gone after Nina first." Ludolf leapt towards Ageis striking down at his head.

Whack!

Ageis blocked, having been fresh with the blocking method his dad taught him. He knocked Ludolf's attack to the side and realized he needed to tag him quick, or else Megra and Nina would return. Determined, Ludolf swung the makeshift sword in an arch, making Ageis block once more and tossed the attack away. Ageis' father wasn't the only villager with a military background, Ludolf's grandfather was also a part of the Imperial army. He trained Ludolf longer than Ageis, so he was at a great disadvantage.

"I see you learned how to block this time Agii. Let's see how long you can keep up then!" Suddenly, the difficulty of fighting Ludolf skyrocketed.

It started with one strike, but soon after several would be unleashed. However, this level of speed and force was nothing compared to the rattling strikes of his father.

Clack! Clack! Clack!

The wooden sticks clashed with one another. In a somewhat rapid pace, they seemed to move towards the tricket of fruit trees.

Thump!

With his back against the tree, Ageis was cornered by Ludolf. Ageis knew he could never beat Ludolf in a fight, even if he tried, Ludolf was not just stringer than him, but he knew better about fights than him. Immediately, as another slash came crashing towards him, Ageis rolled off to the side. Moving forward in a thrusting motion, Ludolf considered him naive.

"Game over Agii!" Ludolf shouted, as he swung his stick downwards for a slash.

However to his surprise-

THUD!

Ageis took the hit right on his head and dropped his staff to grab Ludolf by his collar.

"I got you!" He managed to let out before falling to his knees, holding his head in pain.

Ludolf was stunned. Ageis was always clever, but he didn't think that Ageis would use such a reckless strategy. As Ageis squirmed in pain, Ludolf let out a wild laughter.

"Dahahaha! I guess this is your win then Ageis." Ludolf began to walk away from Ageis, leaving some words of advice. "Though, I don't think you have much time before Megra and Nina come back, you should run."

Ageis, who was tearing up from the pain, stood and immediately ran off into the trees.

Even though Ludolf admitted defeat, he was frustrated beyond belief. Angry, as soon as Ageis ran out of sight, he punched a Sting fruit tree causing it to rattle.

Nina looked around through the maze of trees. She could have sworn she saw him, she knew he had been right here yet he wasn't. Alone, she called out in desperation.

"Meg? Lu? Where are you two? I thought we were gonna stick together as a group!" Hooping for an answer.

There was no response.

"Are you guys trying to play a trick on me?" Nina pouted, still no response.

"Guys? Stop kidding around!" She shuddered, feeling smaller.

The empty silence was eery, causing her to panic and look around the area.

Snap!

"Agii? Is that you?" She turned to the sound, yet there was nothing there.

This caused Nina to easily fall prey to her fears, shaking and unsure of how far she ran into the orchids. Looking over her shoulders, the trees seemed to hauntingly loom over her like she was caged in. Tears began to well up in her eyes, until finally.

"Oi ni ni! I couldn't find him anywhere!" Megra ran up to the shaking Nina. "Hm? What's wrong?"

Nina immediately ran over to Megra, hugging her.

"Meg! Where were you?" Nina cried.

"I was trying to find you silly!"

"Huh? But where's Lu?" Nina looked around seeing no one else, but Megra.

"Hm? That's weird, he was right behind me." Megra tensed up.

Rustle.

The leaves in the trees began to shake with the wind, causing an unsettling atmosphere to fall onto the pair. Megra kept Nina close as they both went on alert.

That's when a single round shaped Sting fruit flung through the air. Immediately, causing Megra to narrowly dodge it, looking at where it came from.

"Over there Ni Ni!" Megra dashed towards the direction.

Without any hesitation, Nina followed her, trying to keep up. They looked between each row of trees, spotting someone running away.

"There he is!" Megra pursued the fleeing figure, leaving Nina behind as she chased.

"Hehe! We got em Ni ni!" Megra came to a stop, Ageis seemingly waited for her at the edge of the tree orchard.

"Nope, I got you!" Ageis skipped to the right, tossing more Sting fruit towards her.

Megra, with quick reflexes evaded each one. One after another, the round red balls of fruit flung through the air, Megra dodged and made her way towards Ageis. She had to catch him, before he caught her and that's when she finally made it to the tree he was hiding behind.

"I got you now Agii!" She reached for him, only to find- that he was not there?

Confused, Megra searched only to see Ageis place a hand on her head. Flashing his teeth before running. Stunned, she fell to her knees, she had lost so easily. Picking up one of the Sting fruits, she tossed it in anger.

"Dang it!"

Now, all that was left was Nina, Ageis was getting so close to winning. He just had to catch her and it was his win! Ageis' heart pounded, running past each tree. He had no idea where she could be, but he had to take a guess that she was possibly around the exit. Running at full speed he made it to the exit, however- no one, but Ludolf was there.

"Game over already?" Ludolf teased Ageis with a grin.

"Tch!" Ageis ran back in, he had to find her in order to end the game.

He tossed his gaze around, but found no one.

Ageis closed his eyes, listening to the rustling leaves in the wind. Suddenly, he could hear the sound of sobbing.

"She's...crying?" Ageis asked himself, immediately running to her aid.

It didn't take him long to find Nina, crouched up on the ground. Her tears fell to the ground, as she shuddered in complete fear.

"It's gonna eat me! It's trying to eat me!" Nina cried, hearing footsteps, she turned to see Ageis.

She ran to him with a face full of tears. He let her hug onto him, feeling her tight hug practically crush his ribs.

"Ni ni, what's wrong?" Ageis asked trying to comfort her.

"Th-the monster is gonna eat me! Mommy! Daddy!" Nina cried, making Ageis rub the back of her head.

"It's okay there's no monster here."

"There is one, I saw it! In that town!"

Ageis was shook.

"What do you mean Town? Ni ni what did the monster look like?"

"I-it was a big eye with all these nasty things coming from it!"

"The same..dream?" Ageis looked down at Nina in horror.

She had the same exact dream as he did, that was the same monster he-

"Guys! This is bad!" Megra and Ludolf ran towards the pair.

Seeing them hugged up, Ludolf stopped in his tracks. Megra of course, ran over to them.

"It's the village! There's a fire!"

"A fire? What do you mean?" Ageis said, looking over to her.

Nina lifted her face from the chest of Ageis, looking at the two. Megra spun on her heels, pointing back at the large black cloud that erupted from the distance. A hue of red that doomed from afar, and the distant cries that echoed. Something terrible had happened.

To be continued

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