Late Night Training

The sky was getting darker. The sun was setting; gradually falling into the horizon. Kelvin was currently going through an anxiety attack; an anxiety that was mixed with both distress and affright.

He stared at his bloody hands with wide eyes; eyes filled with both fear and confusion.

“D-did I do this?” Kelvin asked himself.

He turned and looked at the body of the woman.

“How did this happen?” He asked himself once more.

Hearing the voices of people nearby, Kelvin gained a little resolve.

“I have to get out of here.” He said, as he took to his heels.

Kelvin ran nonstop, until he found his way back to the academy. He continued until he reached the male dormitory. Rushing into his dorm room, Kelvin banged the door shut.

“What happened? How did I leave my dorm room?” Kelvin asked, panting heavily.

He leaned on the door to catch his breath.

“Why? What the hell is wrong with me! How did I get there? Was I sleepwalking? W-why did I kill that woman?”

Suddenly feeling weak on the knees, Kelvin crouched down, and looked at his hands. He stared at his hands for a moment before his eyes fell on the demon concealing bracelet. He noticed that the crack on the red ruby had increased slightly.

“No! This is bad. This is really bad. Why did the crack increase? This stupid demon!! I wasn’t sleepwalking. It’s this demon; it must have taken control while I was asleep. But that shouldn’t be possible. I’m wearing the bracelet, so that shouldn’t be possible at all. Why the bloody hell was I cursed with this cruel fate?!”

“I’m responsible for the death of yet another person.” Kelvin said, with a feeling of anguish and guilt.

After a moment of silence, Kelvin said:

“No! I didn’t kill that woman. It was this damn blood demon. It’s trying to break me; but I won’t allow it. I’m going to going to get rid of it one way or another.”

Kelvin stood to his feet and looked at the bracelet.

“I’m going to have to call George. I need a new bracelet. I can’t let this incident happen again. But in the mean time, I’ll have to find a solution to this problem. Even if it means that I don’t get to sleep.” Kelvin said.

Looking at his watch, he voiced out his thoughts:

“Luckily, it’s just a few minutes left before curfew time. I have to hurry.”

And with that, Kelvin dashed out of his dorm room, in search of a temporary solution, that would at least, get him through the night.

‘I can’t browse through the school library. It should be closed off for the day.’ Kelvin thought, as he left the academy grounds.

‘I’ll have to rely on small stores and shops. I’m sure one of them would have some kind of demon repellant.’

In order to make it back on time, Kelvin didn’t run to far from the academy. Most of the stores nearby were already closed up, leaving him with a few numbers of stores and shops.

Running up to a small grocery store owner, Kelvin asked:

“Please sir, do you have any demon repellant?”

The owner of the grocery store gave him a confused look.

“Sorry, I’m a demon hunter trainee from the academy. I’m just looking for any item that would help me fight against demons.” Kelvin explained.

“Oh, I’m sorry lad. I don’t have a demon repellant; but I do have a mosquito repellant if you want some.” The grocery store owner said.

“Thanks but I just want the demon repellant.” Kelvin said, as he ran off to check another store.

Kelvin repeated the same question to other store owners, and sadly none of them had what he wanted. He was about to ask the next store owner, when he heard the bell for curfew.

Feeling defeated after the fruitless search, Kelvin ran back to the academy.

“I guess I’ll have to stay up throughout the night.” Kelvin said, as he entered his dorm room.

‘Ugh, this is not going to be easy. I need to do some sort of activity to keep me awake.’ Kelvin thought.

He avoided the bed entirely and sat on the floor.

“Should I do some sword training? Or do I read some books? Wait… I don’t even have any books. Then I guess I’ll have to go with the sword training.”

Kelvin went over to his wardrobe, and brought down all his clothes and uniform that were hanging from the wooden hanging rod of the wardrobe. He placed all the clothes and uniforms on the bed, before proceeding to remove the hanging rod.

“This will do just fine for a training sword.” Kelvin said to himself.

He got into a battle stance, and began to slash vigorously around the room. Kelvin tried to recreate the steps and the sword style of his instructor. In his memory, Kelvin pictured every single move clearly; and any single move he got wrong, he would make an attempt to get it right.

Kelvin continued in his sword training almost 5 hours straight. And he would have continued if his arms weren’t in desperate need of rest.

‘Swinging this stick continuously is really killing my arms. I’ll take a 5 minutes timeout and then continue.” Kelvin thought to himself.

The heat of the room was starting to get to him. His entire cloth was practically drenched with his sweat. So, walking over to the window, Kelvin pulled it open. Almost immediately, the cool night breeze hit his face, giving him a nice, relaxing feeling.

Kelvin looked out into the night.

“I really wish I didn’t have this fate. Things would have been a whole lot different. Curse this vile demon; I’ll never let it take control. I’ll fight it off even if I have to. I’ll never become a mon-”

“Wait, what’s that?” Kelvin asked, as he looked out the window.

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AUTHOR’S NOTE: Hello guys, I just wanted to give a special shout out to Kepvin and Dayone_Williams. Thanks for the golden ticket guys. I really appreciate it. Also, I’m really sorry for the late uploads. I’ve been working on a new novel, and it’s quite challenging to write two novels at the same time. Anyway, thanks for reading; I’m really grateful.