Chapter 14

"Y-you mean... like... kill somebody?" Nura asked hesitantly. Scaldris nodded.

"This job isn't a requirement so those of you who aren't interested can go fill out their jobs forms. The rest of you, stay while I explain." she ordered. Nura was the first to turn and walk away towards the registration building. Most of the others turned as well.

"Are you coming, Korrozak?" Nura asked, turning back for a second.

"I want to listen to this real quick." Nura nodded and followed the others that left the group. Korrozak turned back to Scaldris.

"Now that we've weeded out the spineless ones, let's talk training and missions. First topic, training. If you decide to try for the DAF, you will be given until the day of the test to prepare. The entrance test has three stages. Get over seventy percent success rate on at least two and you can pass. If you fail the test, you can try again next year. If you pass, you will get special training from an instructor that matches your fighting style. Once the instructor deems you are ready to join a squad, you will select the type of missions you want to do, then pick a squad that specializes in that type of mission. You will then meet with the squad leader and by that point it's all up to you. If you are accepted, you will be given a rank depending on your abilities and experience in whichever missions you specialize in, but it's possible to go down in rank for a wide variety of reasons so be careful." Scaldris explained. "Next topic is missions. Each mission is separated into three main categories; Scout, Recovery and Attack. Scout missions are separated into jail missions and base missions. In Jail Scout Missions, you will be tasked with looking into different prisons that hold various demons. In Base Scout Missions, you will look into different Demon Hunting Company, or DHC, bases. The Recovery missions are split into jail missions and weapon missions. Jail Recovery Missions require you to break into demon prisons to help inmates escape and lead them back here. Weapon Recovery Missions make you sneak into an enemy's weapon hold and steal weapons, weapon plans and other useful information. Lastly, Attack missions are split into protective missions, base missions and assassination missions. Protective Attack Missions have you guard another squad on their mission. Base Attack Missions have you attempt to either disrupt, capture or destroy whatever the enemy is doing. In Assassination Missions, you and at least two others are given a target to kill, who will almost always be someone of high authority to the enemy. Any questions?" Scaldris paused. Korrozak raised his hand.

"You called them Assassination Missions but not Assassiniation Attack Missions. Why?"

"The name's too long and you wouldn't understand if I just said the abbreviation. Each mission name is abbreviated to make it easier to communicate quicker. For example, Protective Attack Missions are called PA Missions for short and Assassination Missions are called AA Missions." she explained. Korrozak nodded. "If you have any more questions you can ask them to your personal instructors, assuming you pass the tests. Go sign up now. The test happens once a year at the top of the mountain. This year's test starts in two months. Be ready." Scaldris raised her wings and took off towards section one. The remaining group of demons just stood there. Korrozak then turned towards the registration building, and the others followed him through the doors. Nura's group was just about to leave when Korrozak's group entered.

"Korrozak, I'll wait by the fountain." Nura whispered as they passed each other.

"Ok." Korrozak looked around. The room was very wide and had a second floor. The first floor was filled with tables and chairs. On a desk next to the door was a stack of papers and a list of instructions. It read;

Welcome new citizens! You have two tasks you need to complete to be registered as a legal citizen of Demon City.

1st - take a registration sheet from the table and fill out the form, then proceed to the next floor

2nd - on the next floor, draw/list what you want the layout to look like/include, then staple the papers together and drop them in the box to the right of the door on your way out.

Once you finish filling out all the forms and drop them in the box, you can pick up a small envelope containing savings to last you until you get fully situated. All that's left is to read the rules and you can register as an official citizen of Demon City!

"Seems simple enough." Korrozak spoke to himself. He grabbed the top sheet of the stack of papers and sat down in the closest seat to him. The first line asked for his name. The second line asked if he wanted a code name and gave him 'yes' and 'no' check boxes and a line to write his code name. The third line asked if he was human or demon and gave him another two check boxes. The fourth line asked him for which section he wanted to live in. The fifth line asked for his potential job. The last one asked for his birthdate and gender. After he filled out the form, he stood up and walked upstairs to the next floor. This floor looked exactly the same as the floor below except every table had stacks of blank paper, a cup filled with unsharpened pencils, a pencil sharpener and a trash can for scrapped ideas and pencil shavings. There was at least one sharpened pencil somewhere on each table. Korrozak, again, sat in the nearest seat to him. He grabbed a sheet of paper and pencil and began to think of how he wanted his house to look. He started by listing the rooms he wanted in his house. Afterwards, he drew a sketch of how he wanted the rooms to be positioned and split them up into three floors. Lastly, he drew out how he wanted the floors to be positioned and what the outside would look like. After he finished, he walked back downstairs, stapled his papers together, dropped them off in the box near the door and left. After he left, he spotted Nura by the fountain and sat down next to him.

"I'm so excited for my house to be built!" Nura started. "Which code name did you pick? Or did you keep your old name?"

"I decided on the name Shadow. What do you think?" he answered.

"It's really long. It sounds cool though. I went with Jay." he exclaimed. "What job did you pick? I decided to be a florist from section four. Where are you going to build your house? Can I see it when it's finished?" Nura, now Jay, burst.

"Calm down! Calm down. I'm having my house built up there." Korrozak, now Shadow, pointed towards the top of the mountain. "You can see the construction workers heading there already."

"Are you guys talking about the construction worker's strange behavior? Do you guys know why they're all the way up there?" the boy from earlier walked over. He sat down next to Shadow and leaned back a little bit, relaxing. Shadow and Jay started chuckling. "Hey!" 

"I literally just told Jay the reason." Shadow laughed.

"Jay? You actually took such a stupid name?"

"It's a really good name!" Jay argued. "What name did you pick?"

"Me? Well I... I took Emperion." he admitted, blushing. "But I haven't heard your name yet, or why those guys are flying up so high." he exclaimed, pointing at Shadow, then at the construction workers.

"I'm code named Shadow. And as for why the construction workers are flying so high... I'm having my house built halfway up the mountain." he explained confidently. Emperion paused before he burst out laughing. "Hey!"

"Oh that's funny. Now, why are they really flying so high up?" Emperion asked again. Shadow glared at him and raised an eyebrow. "Wait, you were serious?"

"Yes, I was." Shadow sighed. "Too bad the name Emperion doesn't make you any smarter."

"Hey! I'm not stupid!"

"I never said you were. I just said you weren't any smarter than you were before!" Shadow argued.

"Why are you building your house halfway up the mountain?" Jay interrupted.

"The test for the DAF is up on the top of the mountain. It would be good to get used to extreme altitudes so I can prepare for whatever is waiting for me at the top. Also, when I'm practicing, my magical energy can get quite extreme so I don't want to be near anyone just in case my magical energy bothers them."

"Extreme magical energy? You? But you only have one wing! Stop trying to sound cool and overpowered." Emperion objected.

"Jay knows exactly what I mean. Stop by my house sometime once it's finished and I might feel you're trustworthy enough to show you my big secret." Shadow whispered, leaning towards Emperion with a creepy smile. His look brightened as he straightened up. 

"So what job did you pick, Emperion?"

"I picked the DAF as well." he smirked. "No one but me has the real guts to take on the job. You just try to act tough in front of your friend."

"He knows I can take care of myself in any situation." Shadow stated indifferently.

"You could still get hurt, though." Jay worried.

"You saw how bad I was when Vytal tortured me. If I can handle that, I can handle a few scratches."

"Still..."

"I might not even pass the entrance exam. And if I do, I still need to get recommended to a squad leader and accepted before I can go do anything in the DAF." Shadow explained.

"Really..?" Jay whispered. "Are you going to make the cut, Emperion? I know Shadow will be fine but I'm not sure about you."

"He's scrawnier than I am and you have more faith in him than you have in me?" Emperion roared.

"Ok, let's all calm down. Why don't we talk this over in the hot springs?" Shadow suggested. Emperion huffed and crossed his arms before standing up. Shadow hopped up next to him and was about to head to the hot springs when he noticed a strange aura to his right. A person in a white lab coat was watching them, ominously. He waved at them to come over to him and Shadow stiffened, his mind flashing back to his nightmare for a moment. The person had a familiar presence. Not like family familiar, but like old enemies familiar. He had this feeling of foreboding and put his wing away before the person in the lab coat approached.

"You are the person named Korrozak and Ozrak, right?" he asked with a friendly smile. "I would like to have a private word with you."

"My name is Shadow. If you're looking for a Korrozak, they aren't here." Shadow narrowed his eyes. "Now if you don't mind, we were just about to go to the hot springs."

"So you changed your name to Shadow? How fitting." the person wondered aloud. "Please come this way." The man turned and walked a few feet from Jay. Emperion started to follow but Shadow stayed with Jay.

"Mr. Korrozak, this matter includes you too." the man called.

"I told you, my name is Shadow." he protested.

"Shadow, Korrozak, whatever you call yourself. I need a person last named Zastarath. And I believe that person is you. Even if it's not, come over here." the man growled. Shadow flinched. He then slowly walked over to where the man was standing.

"Alright. What do you want with the Great Emperion and his subordinate?" Emperion demanded. Shadow facepalmed from embarrassment.

"I want to know if any of you have the DNA of one of the Five Great Demon families. I'm working on a project to rebuild the old demon society and I'm trying to find the Great family descendants." he asked.

"I have no clue what you're talking about." Emperion said with confidence, like he was proud of his lack of knowledge.

"I'm not a descendant of this 'Great family' you speak of." Shadow half-lied. He was actually unsure if he was a descendant of the Great families or not but he didn't trust the weird scientist guy enough to tell the full truth. Shadow and the man locked eyes for a moment before the man turned away.

"Please come talk to me when you decide to trust me with the truth." he said as he walked away. He paused for a second to look back at Shadow and smiled, a creepy, twisted smile. "I'm pretty sure we'd both find out something new about our ancestors. You'll know where to find me." Shadow held his right arm and squeezed it tightly. Once the man was out of sight and his strange aura vanished, Shadow let out a sigh.

"What was that man talking about? I wasn't lying. And what was with that tension between you two?" Emperion questioned.

"There's something suspicious about that guy. He knows who I am, who I really am." Shadow whispered. "There's something about him I don't like. It gives me the creeps. Let's just go." he turned away from the strange man and walked back to Jay. After they met up again, they ran into the first section and towards the nearest public hot spring.