Chapter 17: Dog of the Demons

Everything around me went into slow motion. My only vision was my friends' eyes screaming in terror, as they called my name. The trees surrounding them completely faded. I couldn't be able to process anything. All I know is that I felt a pain on my nape, a really intense pain.

But that didn't bother me, since I've been struggling with that problem ever since I used my magic. This was nothing compared to that, but somehow, it made my heart beat faster. Sweat dripping from my forehead and fear crawled all over my body. I finally realized what was happening.

Am I going to die?

I felt nothing around my body except the pain in my neck and the disappearance of my hair at the back. I saw a glimpse of my long hair still tied up, getting separated from my head. It was flowing away from my remaining hair into a clean cut and the other strands just flew with the wind.

"Meria!"

I heard them yell, clearer than before, which brought me back to reality.

I don't want to die. I'm too young to die. There are still things that I wanted to do with my life. So I can't die yet.

I started to make big steps and ran as fast as I can, away from the unknown monster. I didn't hesitate to jump to escape it until I was finally got caught by their arms.

"Meria, are you okay?" Dalary asked, a hint of worry was flashing in her face. She started to inspect my body, checking for injuries.

"I-I'm fine… I–"

As I was about to loosen up their concern about me, I felt a sudden pain coming from my neck, the same thing that happened to me earlier. I quickly reached for it. I removed my hand to check it, which is now bathing in blood. Because of this, Dalary walked towards my back, lifting my now short hair.

"Your neck is bleeding." She said.

I couldn't believe that it was an actual injury who gave me that pain. For now, I'm just glad that I survived that attack.

While my friend started to wrap a piece of cloth around my neck, we stared at the monster in front of us, which I didn't have time to look at earlier. As I turned my head around, terror immediately slithered on me.

It was a creature of black, filled with darker mists surrounding it. Its fur blended in with the darkness surrounding the woods, and the intense red eyes sent chills down to my spine.

Its claws were as long as its six long sharp teeth can be seen in its mouth, along with millions of teeth forming inside. Those teeth were divided into the three heads it had, roaring simultaneously.

I don't know if I'm just imagining, but those features were also one of my books. As I knew its identity after scanning all of my bits of memory, I finally knew what it was. But all I know is that they shouldn't be here. They shouldn't be here at all.

"Cerberus." I spoke its name, couldn't believe I did it swiftly. My friends turned around to see me with widened eyes.

Their kind of monsters was called Cerberus, the dogs of the Underworld. They were rumored to be the guardians of the daminons that were being locked up in the Devil's Hatch, which was a place of prison for those who are committing crimes in their lives. To everything, being thrown out to the depths of the hatch is more torturing than execution.

Daminons are any creatures who have fallen to the dark side. They lost their sanity, faith, and love for those around them. They only seek chaos and destruction to the whole world. Because of them, the Above made the Devil's Hatch keep the world in harmony.

But… everyone knows that the Cerberus should be staying inside the hatch, not coming out anymore, in fact, all of the daminons inside couldn't. Once you entered the hatch, there's no coming back to the overworld.

"C-Cerberus?" Dalary stuttered."I-I thought they should be in the Devil's Hatch by now."

I didn't reply to her, as I also didn't know. Everything that was happening right now doesn't make sense, especially the Cerberus.

The creature suddenly jumped to us, raising its paws in the air. I didn't have a choice but to close my eyes, feeling the fear all around me, but then, Cainne suddenly pushed us off of our position in order to dodge the attack.

We were thrown out further away from the monster, but it still knew where we at since its glowing eyes are still staring at us. I gulped as I made eye contact with it, which gave me the horror.

"Run!" Cainne yelled as he grasped for his sword, ready to take the giant monster. "I'll stop this!"

"Come on!" Dalary quickly grabbed my hand and pulled me further away from him and the monstrosity. I turned around to look, one last time, worried about what's gonna happen.

"Be careful!" I shouted.

With this, he released a short smile, then ran towards the deadly creature, preparing his sword to strike. My sight of them continued to fade, slowly covered by the tall trees.

Somehow, I couldn't help but be concern about his state. It was strange, as I also felt that before, even the time that we haven't met yet. I felt the urge to help him and keep him alive. It's like all of my very existence depended on him.

I stopped in my tracks, preventing Dalary from running as well. Out of curiosity, the scarnet man also took a peek in us. It was weird that I had this feeling, but if I can't do anything to save him, I will become hopeless. So I should help him.

I pushed her hands away from mine gently, then, turned around towards the direction of the monster, filled with determination to go, despite the danger surrounding that area. I should fear it, I should be scared. But when I think about Cainne being hurt, I don't know what to do.

"Meria?!" Dalary shouted at me, as I was walking. I didn't listen and just continued. "W-What are you doing?!"

"Meria!"

The second call made me stop, didn't want to leave her unheard. I turned back and faced her. I know she's worried, and I'm scared about my life too. But… I want to help Cainne.

"I'm going to help Cainne." I said.

Her eyes widened, didn't expect that could be coming from my mouth.

"You can't!" She yelled, now with a fierce look at me. I didn't react and just stayed tough, even though I don't want him to become like that. "You can't use magic! And besides, you're bleeding!"

When I heard what she said, I was brought in to complete realization. I didn't do anything but just to stand in front of her. She's right. I couldn't be able to use magic right now, and I'm still injured. If I won't be careful, it could be the end of my life.

If there's someone that can help me with this, it's him.

"Sir," I called and turned around to see the scarnet that had been watching us. "Can you tell me your name?"

"K-Kandani…"

"Kandani," I spoke his name for the first time in a while, but I didn't flinch. As far as I know, he's not very trustworthy of others, especially strangers. No one is trustworthy over strangers. But that's a big problem for us. He had an anti-magic ability, and we couldn't be able to use magic because of that. All I can do now was to convince him.

"Please, turn your anti-magic off. Or else the Cerberus will kill us all." I tried to explain the reasons, in which he flinched, but then, it immediately went back into dismay. He lowered his head, don't want to see me.

"He won't listen to you, Meria," Dalary said, still despising the poor scarnet because of the last incident. I couldn't help but agree with her. No matter what we do, he doesn't want to hear us out about our reasons. Something might have happened to him in the past… something that completely put him into this kind of thinking.

While losing hope to save everyone from the Cerberus, all of a sudden, a row of tall trees started to fall down into the ground. Then, followed by Cainne, whose body was being thrown away in a great distance and towards our direction, was slammed on the ground.

"Cainne!" I yelled as I ran towards him, trying to help him in sitting down. He groaned in pain. His wounds cut so deep, but he tried to endure the aching body. I teared up my apron to grab pieces of cloth, then wrapped it on any of his body parts. I couldn't believe that he was still alive.

"It's too strong." He said as he took short breathes because of the battle. "I-I can't beat it."

After he finished his statement, the Cerberus walked towards us in a careful and stealthy motion, keeping the ground to shake from its size.

"I have a plan," I uttered to them. Their eyes only focused on the creature in front, but their ears are listening to me. I've talked to them for so long, explaining what I had in mind, then approved it.

But still… if we couldn't be able to use magic to stop it from getting near to us, then the plan won't work. If only our companion would trust me in this situation, then we would be able to escape from it.

"Kandani," I called out, catching his attention. "I need your help. I want you to turn it off."

He just gave me a face of confusion, unsure if he wanted to listen or not. I know that she is scared right now. It's scary to trust other people, especially those who you just met. But sometimes you have to risk your doubts and listen to them. Listen that they can take care of you, even just for the meantime.

"Do you trust me?"