Chapter 3 (part2)

"Where has the demon emerged?" Tinu asked as the the three of us all looked at Grim. 

"Patient Saint's school for girls in the U.K." Grim replied, he gave me a sympathetic look. "Delia's school when she was alive." 

I felt a knot tighten in my stomach, I think I know what he's going to say next. 

Grim continued to look at me so we were holding eye contact. "The three girls you accidentally erased from existence, they've come back, and they're hunting the students and teachers at your school."

I could feel a tear trickle down my left cheek, if I hadn't lost control of my magic and killed them by accident... this is all my fault. 

"How could they even come back?" Tinu asked as I looked to the ground to try and hide my shame. "It's got to be pretty hard to escape unexistance." 

"I don't know," Grim admitted. "Something powerful has brought them back and fused them together into a dangerous and powerful demon."

I was speechless. All I could bring myself to do was continue looking at the floor, I wiped my tears away only for them to be replaced by fresh ones. 

"Delia," Grim spoke softly, causing me to raise my head. "This is not your fault." 

"How can you say that?" I asked softly, almost inaudibly. "They became a demon because of my magic! If it wasn't for me..."

"You're right," Grim interrupted me, shocking me into silence. "This happened because of your magic," I was surprised he was agreeing with me, so much so that my tears stopped. "However," He continued. "This is not your fault, you were not in control of your power, blaming yourself for something out of your control is pointless." 

Again I was speechless. I just looked at him blankly. 

"And if you can't take it from him," Tinu said with a rather light tone to his voice. "Take it from the guy that killed himself, who actually can blame himself." 

His deliberate joke of his own death actually worked in making me smile a little bit. 

I nodded and added a slight chuckle to go with my smile. "Okay, I'm sorry." I don't know why I apologised, it just slipped out. 

"What class of demon are we dealing with?" Astrid asked bluntly, obviously wanting to get back to why Grim was originally here. 

"Hive class, already turned most of the school into zombies." 

Demons have classes? And zombies? Would it be okay to ask about this or was this the wrong time? 

"I've already taken the liberty of summoning the Crows with your cloaks." Grim continued, the Crow who was healing me finished and returned to its spot on the wall. "You'll be sent off as soon as your ready."

"You're not coming with us?" I asked as two more Crows walked into the training area. 

Grim shook his head. "You'll have Tinu and Astrid with you," He replied as one of the Crows handed me a cloak which was pitch black. "They're the two strongest members of the Legion, you'll be fine." He smiled. 

I nodded nervously, I had to go and fight my first demon, a powerful one at that, and Grim wasn't coming. As if this assignment wasn't terrifying enough. 

Tinu and Astrid put their cloaks on instantly, as they tied them up I noticed that they covered them completely, with the opening at the front allowing free movement which I would guess also applies to combat. 

I went to put my scythe down so I could put my cloak on but was stopped. 

"Straighten your arm out and hold your scythe vertically." Grim said to my confusion. 

I looked at his smiling face for a second before doing what he said. I straightened my arm in front of me, as soon as I did my pendent began glowing purple, the light engulfed my scythe and within seconds my scythe was gone. 

Grim chuckled at my surprise. "Think of it as an extra pocket just for your weapon," He explained. "When you need it again just straighten out your arm again, doesn't matter which angle you choose as long as your arm is completely straight." 

Again I tried it, my pendent didn't glow this time and my scythe instantly appeared in my hand. I smiled to myself as I straightened my arm and put it back into the pendent.

"The cloaks allow us to go to the living world," Tinu explained as I threw my cloak over the back of my shoulders. "Without them we wouldn't be able to do what we do." 

I tied the draw strings just under my neck and put my hood up, like Tinu and Astrid had done, and the moment I did, Grim smiled at us. 

We became shrouded in shadows until I could see nothing but pure darkness, I was surprised how calm I was. When the darkness faded we were standing outside the gates to my old school, and treated to a view of shambling, corpse like bodies roaming the courtyard entrance to the school.

The sight was horrifying, all of these girls walking around aimlessly, some of which had broken limbs, one even had no legs at all and was dragging herself along. I had to grip my mouth with both hands to stop myself from screaming, it was like something out of a horror movie. 

"What are those things?" I asked in a horrified whisper. 

"Zombies," Tinu replied, nothing but seriousness in his voice. "They're created by attempting to force souls to turn into demons while they still reside in their living bodies." 

I couldn't help but gasp in shock at this revelation. My mind went completely blank, I didn't even know what to think.

"The forced change causes the body to rot, that is where the demonic change is located so their souls still remain the same, and because they are caught between living and dead they can see us, even kill us if you give them the chance." 

"And, yes, they'll also devour souls and kill people to get them," Astrid added. "Though, because they still reside in a human body they don't benefit from the act like other demons, they're just driven by their demonic instincts."

I couldn't believe what I heard, what the girls of this school had become. I didn't know what to say or how to act, so I just watched the undead horde in stunned silence.

"We'll have to take out these zombies first," Astrid said in a low whisper. "If they get out of the school they'll kill everyone they see!" 

I turned to her, dislodging my hood slightly. "But they're souls are still inside them, aren't they?" I asked, hoping beyond hope. "Is there a way to save them?" I knew these faces, I may not have talked to them but if there was a way to save them I had to try. 

Astrid shook her head. "They're all dead," She replied bluntly, shattering my hopes. "The only way to help them is by destroying their bodies and freeing their souls so they can move on." 

"We'll also save any survivors by doing so, if there are any." Tinu added softly.

I turned back to the scene and watched the shambling forms of the zombified students. "What's the plan?" I asked, wiping away a silent tear. 

"First, we clear out this courtyard, then we hunt down the demon that caused it," Astrid said. "Doing so will mean no one else can be turned against their will." 

I nodded as I readied my arm to summon my scythe but Astrid stopped me. 

"Wait here with Tinu," She ordered, stepping forward and drawing her sword, while holding her shield out in front her. "I'll go in first, you two will come in and flank the sides of the horde." 

I nodded again and she rushed forward without another word. I completed my summoning and my scythe appeared in my right hand. 

"It's best not to think of them as the people you once knew," Tinu said as Astrid began drawing the horde's attention. "They'll try to kill you without a second thought, you have to do the same, if you can, take them out from behind, the less you see of their faces the easier it'll be."

I nodded and watched as the horde surrounded her. Nerves hit me like fist, my first time killing demons and I had to kill the zombified bodies of my former school, it made me feel angry and sick but at the same time I felt like it was my responsibility, over anyone else, to put a stop to this. It didn't take long for them to surround her completely and I lost sight of her. The zombies were swinging their arms at her sluggishly, even trying to bite her. 

"Delia, now!" Tinu shouted, and at his word, we charged.

I ran towards the left of the horde, gripping the shaft of my scythe with both hands, as soon I got close I lunged forward and swung the sickle down, taking out two zombies in one fell swoop, cutting them diagonally, their souls flew free from their bodies as two brilliant balls of light. Using that momentum I swung myself around and swiftly decapitated another zombie, though this began to draw their attention to me, four of them turned surprisingly fast and shambled towards me.

I froze on the spot. 

Their blank expressionless faces stared at me, their eyes were glazed white but, compared to others, and ignoring their glazed white eyes, they seemed very much alive with hardly any wounds or scars that I could see. They reached out for me and I backed away from them only to back into the reach of a zombie walking up behind me. She grabbed me by wrapping her arms around my front and pulling me back towards her, she then let out a deafening shriek, alerting more attention to me and sending chills racing through my spine.

What happened next seemed to go about in slow motion. 

More of the walking corpses seemed to surround me, swiping and snarling at me like hungry dogs, more zombies seemed to rush into the courtyard from a place I couldn't see, amongst these new zombies I saw a face that was more familiar than any of the others. 

The face belonged to a girl called Caitlin who was assigned to share my room, which was strange because she was year seven while I was in my second year of sixth form, but we did bond during our time together, as it turns out she was also an orphan so we both understood the loneliness that brought, she would be the only one I'd consider a friend, I'd even go as far to think of her as a little sister. But now she was dead. 

At that point I gave up, releasing my scythe from my grip. I saw her lifeless eyes look at me, making her way through the crowd to be the first to get to me, she waded through the horde until she reached me, as she grabbed my dangling arm I felt the zombie behind me reach down to bite my neck, so my hood must have fallen down at some point. I resigned myself to fate, closing my weeping eyes. But just as Caitlin and the zombie behind me were about to bite into my flesh, something stirred. I could feel the magic within me erupt, almost like it was trying to tell me not to give up, a shock wave came out of my body which pushed all of the zombies back, making the ones closest to me go flying. 

I preyed beyond hope that my magic wouldn't rage out of control again as memories flooded my mind of the day I died, but to my surprise, it stopped at the shock wave, like a dog waiting for its next command from its master, the surge of power was just giving me the strength to carry on, to fight back. I grinned as I felt the power flow through me and used it to raise myself off of the ground, I floated before them but I kept my eyes on only one of them, Caitlin. She was my friend, I needed to free her soul before anything else.

I swooped down and grabbed her, taking her up into the air, all the while she was struggling and trying to bite me. I instructed my magic to flow through my arms, it felt like a rush of pins and needles, it reached my hands and incinerated Caitlin's corpse within seconds, burning in a brilliant white light. The fire burned out and her ashes floated down to the ground, in front of me floated her soul, looking back at me with a smile, her long blonde hair dancing in the wind behind her. 

Ghostly tears trickled down her cheeks, I could also feel them fall down my own. 

"Please, forgive me." I pleaded softly as we shared eye contact, I could feel my throat swell as I spoke. 

She said nothing for a moment, she floated towards me and wrapped her arms around me, more tears flowed from my eyes as I added my arms to the hug. 

"There's nothing to forgive," Caitlin's voice whispered in my ear, it had been so long since I heard it last, sweet and beautiful, like I'd imagine an angels voice to sound like. "You saved my soul, Delia, you're my hero," We broke out of the hug, she continued to smile at me as she wiped my tears away. "Now you need to save everyone else." She added sweetly. 

I nodded as I watched her turn into a ball of light, like the dancing souls in Limbo's skies, and ascended towards a large murder of crows, along with other freed souls from below me, I continued to watch her until a crow broke away from the murder and flew beside her. 

I returned my attention back down to the horde, I could feel my body heat up as I flew back down. I reached out to my scythe, which flew into my hand, and bathed the curved blade in white hot fire. I landed in the centre of the horde and instantly began to cut down every zombie I could see, each time releasing the soul trapped inside which flew up towards the ever decreasing murder of crows. I moved with the grace of a dancer, spinning my scythe around my arms and shoulders, I dodged attacks using the momentum I had built up by swinging my body with the scythe. With my magic and I working as one I felt incredibly powerful, like a tornado, constantly spinning and taking out anything in my path. 

The only reason I stopped was because my scythe hit another blade. The sound of metal striking metal seemed to shock me out of the trance I had gotten myself into. I breathed heavily as I stared at Tinu and Astrid, their faces were calm but I could see hints of other emotions which I couldn't name. 

I looked at my scythe and saw Tinu's blade vertically blocking mine, he was even struggling to hold it against my magically infused strength. 

"Delia," I could hear just how much he was struggling through his voice. "You can stop now, the zombies are gone!" 

After hearing his words my magic quelled, returning to its prison that I had constructed for it, I began to feel weak and could feel my legs shaking, I felt like falling but I managed to keep myself standing by taking my scythe and using it to lean on. 

"That was crazy," Tinu said, breathing heavily like I was. "Your eyes were glowing white!" 

My eyes were glowing? Is that a good thing? It's the same thing that happened before at this school. However, it did feel good, unleashing all of that power and actually controlling it. 

"Were you using your magic?" Astrid asked, walking closer to me. 

I nodded and stood up straight. "I was surrounded, I thought I was about to die, I guess my instincts took over." 

"You mean, you controlled it?" Tinu asked, unable to hold back his surprise. 

Again I nodded. 

"That's incredible, you were like nothing I've ever seen!" He said excitedly. "Definitely took out more than Astrid and me!" 

I smiled weakly, I was almost a little embarrassed. 

"Can you still go on?" Astrid asked, showing a little concern through her voice. 

I nodded. "I can still fight!" 

"Good," Astrid walked ahead of us. "The main demon is still here somewhere!" 

What she said brought me back into reality... We needed to stop the Legion class demon before it created anymore chaos...