Chapter 7

Thudding and scrapping could be heard, as May's heart could be seen flying in the air if she got the chance to talk about this to anyone. Miles could be seen running backward, towards May to get them out of there, as they had sensed this was no human, the shrieking, the sound, the heartbeat, the sudden silence, had scared the birds away. They tried running but couldn't get far as the demon appeared and jumped straight at them, Miles and May's eyes widened as they looked back to see what had befallen them. The demon sniffed around as it took steps to reach for them. They decided to hold their breath and not let the tears fall from their eyes. The demon stood still, as they watched it.

As they both opened their eyes, they couldn't see the demon, but heard its breathing at their backs, they slowly turned the other way around to face its front without drawing its attention. As they had done that to stand up and make a run, maybe stepped on a thin stick as it cracked, they both looked at each other and then at the demon as it snapped its neck to where they stood. It suddenly jumped at them, and as soon as it did, Charles came from behind and stuck a sharp knife into its back, it growled and slashed Charles on his arm as he got off the demon's back. Charles fell flat to the ground as he grunted, holding up his wounded hand.

As if she would want anyone to get hurt because of her.

The demon was about to slash Charles, "Run!" May had shouted, as soon as Charles stood up to move the run, the demon held his leg up as he swung him throwing him towards Mile's, they both landed with a thud on each other. May had gotten the demon's attention as it faced her, she threw gas at its face, and the demon faced up as it hissed loudly.

Suddenly, it stood face to face with May, trying to get to her, Miles shouted "Stop" as it turned to face him, Miles ran across the field, and it followed him. It was so fast it had caught up with Miles as he tried taking him into the capture room of the school and set it a trap, it had held against Miles's right foot, and as it dragged him towards itself, Miles groaned in pain. May looked at the scene with a horrific expression as she sprinted towards them with a sword and pierced it right in its middle body parts. The sword came out of its body and struck a wall. It got stuck as it tried escaping, trying its best to free itself from the tree. May had gone to kneel before Miles as Charles gained consciousness and strode towards them. He held a rope that had been beside him and straight towards the demon, he climbed the tree as fast as he could, then hung the rope downwards and then over its neck. May looked up at him with wide eyes as Charles struggled to raise the demon all by himself.

Charles had jumped down from the tree, holding the other end of the rope, as the demon was lifted, it kept struggling for itself as Charles struggled, the rope was not long enough, Charles dangled from the tree unable to make his feet touch the ground, the demon was huge enough but still was a little bit high away from the ground as it struggled for air, its hands kept swinging at Charles's chest trying to get hold of him. May gasped, uncertain of what to do as Miles was bleeding. The branch on which the rope was hanging around broke and Charles had fallen hard on the ground, he shouted in pain, as the demon had fallen, gasping for air, hitting its chest, and coughing out profusely. It had suddenly regained itself as he hissed loudly like an angry beast, he took slow powerful steps that made Charles's heart beat so loud, the way he moved, each step it took meant death for Charles, as he crawled backward in fear. The oldest warrior in the academy had run forward and used his very sharp sword to cut the demon's head off its body.

Charles was relieved as he sat upright, panting so hard, May had gone straight to help him up. “Are you hurt?”she asked him but he said nothing as he stood up. She had felt disappointed as she looked to the Oldest Warrior, "Everyone inside, now!" He had commanded them all. As they got inside, the oldest warrior, Kane, had cut off the demon's head, as they would try to get its origin, they would find out its motive, where it had come from, and why.

Warrior Kane had assembled all special trainees in the training room and had even summoned the elders earlier.

Becca had allowed the Oldest healer to check the slashes on Charles and Miles, as it turned out May was injured. Warrior Kane had placed the head of the demon on the table as they all exclaimed.

“Listen up everyone,” Warrior Kane had announced, “We believe that demons were attracted to something here or someone here. As you all had known, demons were last seen thousands of years ago, those demons only wander about Mali. I know what you all are thinking, that Mali doesn't exist or had stopped existing, yes a long time ago the Mali of that time had burned alive, we were aware she bore no child, but we can see now, they were wrong. We believe we have a Mali amongst us, or it was attracted to something else, but they only go after a Mali so they can wander around the weakest and manifest their body so they can take control, and if they do that it is over, for us, for our minds if the most powerful priest can't get it out before the fifth might. We would search every part of the academy for anything we could use to trace what had happened. Now you all can go to the dorms back, inform everyone of any suspicious activity, and report here immediately,” Warrior Kane had commanded. Yes, Warrior, we all had said together.

Mays' eyes searched for Charles along with her brothers, they had wanted to tell him how grateful they were for his bravery, and kindness towards them. As soon as they had seen him, they saw Katie run towards him, and she hugged him, hugging her brother as tight as she could. She cried as she told him she was sorry she couldn't be there, the elders had instructed no one to move an inch or it will come for them all. She inspected the wounds and saw that it was well taken care of by the healer, she sighed as she was relieved. He didn't say a word as he hugged her back, caressing her hair with a soft smile on his lips. As soon as May and Miles strode towards them, he no longer had his smile, he was now the cold Charles everyone knows of.

“I had wanted to thank you for your bravery toward the attack on the demon”, Miles had said, “thank you for saving our life's in a way, I hope your wounds were treated properly,'' Miles continued as Charles nodded his head. I did what I had to, Charles had spoken up. As we then parted ways. Katie had wanted to say something but had closed her mouth and given me a soft smile, as she watched us leave. May and Miles had decided to talk as he escorted her to the female dorms.

“I am sorry I couldn't protect you the best I should have,” Miles, told May with a heartbroken voice. May felt for him as she had taken her brother's hand in hers, “you should not have to blame yourself, I came here for a reason and I couldn't do anything, I should have gone to learn piano and get married off just as Father had suggested, I am of no use, I have learned nothing, and if I can't show Father I had completed all training within two years, I would have to follow his orders,” May spoke with teary eyes. “May, don't think low of yourself, this is not you. Miles had told May, you knew what you wanted, that was why you made your decision, I, even Ellie would have never agreed to Father's decision,” Miles had assured May.

"I will come back soon, May, I won't let anyone know about us, I will not forsake you no matter what." He meant the words sincerely. As he left the female dorm, his mind raced with only one question: Could she be Mali?

May did not have many opportunities to spend much time not doing anything. There was always something that needed to be done within her she knew, she had to train hard and fast, which was a great pity to her Father, as he would expect her to give up. Being the daughter of a King, and a brave warrior, May was perhaps more sharp of mind than most young ladies of her age and situation. However, her native intelligence was counterbalanced by a great sense of humor, which meant that despite her quick mind, she was perhaps not entirely suited to the life that her Father had always envisaged for her –— the life of a King's wife, as her mother had been before her. She had no real memories of her mother, but her father's descriptions of her had featured the words 'suffering' and 'duty' very heavily. May did not think a great deal about what she did or whom she hoped to marry. Her preoccupation was the thought of becoming what she wanted, what had been shown to her, what her mother once whispered to her, she couldn't understand then, but she knew she had to get away from the castle, away from the demands of her father, away from the dreary and rigid expectations that were placed upon a King's wife especially one that is of no use, just for bed, one that was given away for protection.