Demon in the Snow, Heather Fledderus [rainbow fish read aloud .TXT] 📗

“You have to jump twenty feet or die in the infernos of Jasper.”

Nate grinned right back as a gust of wind cleared a straight path through the flames. A single flame caught his shirt, but the section froze and the flame was instantly snuffed out. He walked calmly through the tunnel of fire, the wind playing with his hair.

Once through, Nate glanced back and released the wind. Hannah landed beside him in a crouch, one hand out to steady herself as the other gripped the sheath of her sword against her back. Slowly, she straightened. “Show off,” she smirked, “Why don't you just extinguish the flames?”

“Could you point me in the direction of  a fire demon?” Nate shot back.

Sora landed beside them for a brief instant before launching himself back into the air, green energy pulsing on his feet. Hannah launched herself into the air after him. Nate rolled his eyes, “Now who's showing off?”

He used the wind again, pushing him along, but it was nowhere near as fast as the technique that Hannah and Sora had used. He landed beside them. All three had a hand in the middle of the circle. Hannah grabbed his arm and yanked him down into a kneeling position, dragging his one hand into the circle with theirs. “We'd rather not leave you behind,” she said by way of explanation.

Nate watched as green smoke began to curl from the soil, growing larger and covering more area as it rose higher. Soon their hands were lost from sight. And then Nate felt it. Something was tugging at his hand.

The smoke began to swirl, gaining even more volume as it spread to surround them. The center of the circle began to expand, and the smoke began twisting towards it like a giant whirlpool. Hannah's free hand gripped the top of his arm.

“Hold on,” she warned, “It get's bumpy.”

Even as she said it, the four of them were suddenly ripped downwards, sucked headfirst into the hole. Nate grabbed onto Hannah's arm, and they clung to each other as they tumbled down.

Even as the wind whistled through the air, Nate found it easy to look around him. There was nothing to see but dirt and more dirt, like the hole had been dug. But over time, other things began to show themselves. A teddy-bear was propped up on a ledge, an alarm clock was going off, it's ringing  echoing through the shaft. They fell past a smashed up blue tricycle that Nate recognized as his, along with the red second place ribbon he had won from his friend in an arm wrestling contest when they were five. The black rock he had found when his class had gone for a hike in the woods in the park floated in the air, as if suspended by a string, twisting idly.

And still they kept on falling, past more and more reminders of Nate's life. A jacket from freshman year on the senior soccer team, the twisted set of bashed-in keys his friends had given him as a prank for his birthday. Everything they passed had something to do with Nate, with his past.

Nate could see a light below them, a light that was swiftly growing brighter. They were getting close to the bottom. Fear began to twist his stomach into knots, how were they supposed to land?

There wasn't enough time to formulate any theories. In an instant, they were surrounded by the light, still falling, but their descent slowing down. Nate stared, stunned at the scene below him. A huge city was sprawled out as far as the eye could see. Small dots could be seen to scurry between the buildings, and he realized that they were rats.

They were coming in too fast,  he realized. Beside him, Hannah was laughing, unaware of their peril. “Woo!” she yelled., spreading her arms wide.

Something from behind snatched them up, dragging them back into the sky. Nate craned his neck to see that a hovercraft was flying above them, drawing them in. The hatch at the bottom slid open to let them in, snapping shut behind them. The field shut off, and the two of them tumbled a short distance to the ground.

Hannah sat up, laughing as she fixed her hair. Sora and Chad were laughing too, Nate realized. Hannah looked at him, her eyes sparkling, “Welcome to Ko-ha, home of the demon-slayers.”

13. Revelation

Nate glanced back over his shoulder for what must have been the hundredth time before entering the massive brick building. The lack of noise, not even so much as a lonely cricket chirp, was starting to get on his nerves. The entire day he hadn't seen a single animal. It was like there were no animals anywhere in Gossen, the town closest to the Academy dorms- where he was supposed to be tucked in right now.

The door creaked in protest as he pushed it open, probably unused since the installation of one of those stupid Pads right inside, to the left of the doors.

He strode purposefully through the passageways created by the towering bookcases. His eyes roved the shelves, taking in all the books stacked and packed into tight spaces. The further in he got, the thicker the layer of dust covering the books became. Hannah had warned hi that it wasn't uncommon for even seasoned 'Slayers to get lost in the massive rooms. He had thought she was kidding.

As he began to feel disoriented, Nate stopped and closed his eyes and focused instead on the overwhelming sense of purpose that drew him there. All day, he had been shuffled around to tour the area around the Academy, mainly avoiding any people they came across. Hannah had been terrified that something bad would happen if they ran into anyone. That hadn't stopped a certain group of assholes from trying to take it to him when he had finally managed to ditch his self-appointed tour-guide in an attempt to get to the library. Several broken noses and unconscious bodies later, he decided that it might be better if he just paid the books a visit in the middle of the night. Hence, his current predicament.

There was something he needed to know. He remembered that fragment of conversation from all those months ago, when the others had concluded that he was a demon hybrid after he saved their asses from that snow demon. They had talked about a scientist that have been arrested, tried, and found guilty of messing with demon DNA. He tried to remember what Chad had called it.

The Test-tube Demon trial.

On his mental picture of the library, a section glowed. Nate chose to walk without opening his eyes, letting that knowledge of where the book was guide him. He turned left even as he was sure that he was about to turn right. Every twist sent him deeper into the labyrinth and closer to the section. He stopped walking and his legs gave out beneath him, causing him to tumble to the ground. His hand reached of its own accord towards the shelves, guided by a sense of purpose.

Nate's eyes snapped open, his fingers inches away from a thick tome on the bottom shelf. Carefully, he pried the book out. Te layer of dust in this section was so thick that his fingers didn't even leave a smudge.

A blue orb placed on a pedestal close by was glowing palely, giving him sufficient light to see by. Nate carried the book to a nearby table- books stacked haphazardly on it. Carefully, he cleared a spot away, trying hard not to sneeze as more dust floated up into the air.

The text was ancient, like nothing he had ever seen. Nate could only hope that the textbooks in the Academy weren't in the same language even as his linguistics demon came into play. His healing would have to wait. This was more important than a few cracked ribs as some assholes tried to kill him.

He began to read as the ink ran on the page, reshaping into a language he could understand. The section he needed was what he saw first.

Date: The Seventh of the third month of Junsing, the year of the Shadow Wraith...

His eyes roved the page, finally finding what they sought.

...the criminal Salarius Bishop is hereby found guilty of tampering with souls, of a human-nature or otherwise, and is sentenced to death by Okina Tori. Bishop had been hiding in Misd, using the name Jonathan Hitagashi....

Nate re-read the words, stunned.

Dad. Dad was one of them. Dad was a demon-slayer.

There was a note added at the bottom, written in a different sort of ink, almost as if it had been added as an afterthought:

Sentence carried out fourteen (14) days later by Okina Tori. Body destroyed.

Nate stayed in the library all night, cheeks dry except for the stream of tears that slowly trickled down his dusty skin.

14. The Morning After

“So. You're the human.”

Nate looked up at the voice, his white hair falling into his eyes. It had grown suddenly when they had arrived here, and no matter how often he cut it, it was always this length when he woke up. “I must be,” he replied, looking the speaker over. Mostly, he saw the purple eyes. He searched for the name- Lionel. Lionel Himanachi.

“What's it feel like to be the only human in the class?” Lionel's purple eyes hardened as he spoke, but it took a lot more than that to intimidate Nate. Especially considering that Lionel's had been one of the butts that Nate had kicked yesterday.

“What's a Caster doing in a Summoner's class?”

“This isn't a specialized one, you moron. It's a general practical. Although why a loser like you is here at all is beyond me.”

“It's because Mr. Hitagashi's aptitude levels were off the charts,” the teacher said, walking in with  a stack of books. “He counters rather nicely for several of his peers, including your untalented Casting self, Lionel.” Snickers echoed throughout the classroom at this remark.

Lionel cast Nate one last scathing glare before rejoining his posse of Casters, most of whom were sporting bandages like a fashion statement. Hannah shot Nate an apologetic smile. He smirked in return.

“Alright. Welcome to Battle Tactics. We got a “transfer” student, as most of you have already noticed. As it's our first day of class, today's going to be  a tournament. First, each group will compete within themselves to form the ranking system. Then, according to your rank, you will be matched up with someone from another group, and that person will