Chapter 1

I was on my way back home when I heard what sounded like muffled crying from off in the forest next to the road I was walking down. I was all set to ignore it as my imagination when it sounded again. I was unable to make out what was being said but I could tell there was a lot of urgency behind it. I turned off the road to go investigate thinking someone may be injured or something. The full October moon was quite bright and I was easily able to pick my way through the stand of Ironwoods. The bed of needles on the ground and lack of undergrowth must have made me stealthier than I thought as the scene I soon came across continued as if I wasn’t there. I quickly pulled out my phone and dialed 911, stepping behind a tree to hide the light.

The call was quickly picked up and I tried to keep quiet enough to still remain unnoticed. “911, what’s your emergency?”

“My name is David Thompson, I’m about a mile north of Oak street and Highway 41 and maybe 30 or so yards into the forest on the left side heading out of town. There’s a man I don’t recognize waving a big ass knife around and what appears to be a girl bound to the ground somehow. She’s gagged, whimpering, and looks like she’s in trouble.” While I talked, I looked around for any nearby branches on the ground. I really didn’t want to get into a fight with someone holding a knife but if I had to, I wanted something more than my fists to fight with.

“Police are on their way. Is there anything else you can tell me about the two people you see? Do you recognize them?”

I managed to find a likely stick and refocused on the crazy guy in front of me. “I don’t know who the guy is, I can mostly see his back. He’s got that big knife I mentioned and looks to be wearing some kind of long coat or something. The girl looks about my age, err, I mean, 17 or 18 or so. She’s wearing the Highschool cheer uniform although I can’t tell who she is exactly.” I could vaguely make out that the man was chanting something as well as waving his knife as his voice quickly rose in volume. It seemed to me that he was reaching the climax of whatever dumbass thing he was doing out here. “It’s getting more tense out here and I’m worried he’s going to hurt the girl. I need to go and try and help her right now.”

“No, wait” said the 911 dispatcher but I ignored him and stuffed my phone back in my pocket. I grabbed ahold of my stick like it was a baseball bat and stalked forward. I really wondered sometimes about my life choices and this was no exception. I had never before been a fight of any kind and now I was about to tangle with someone who had a foot-long blade. A large part of me wanted to sneak up from behind and hit him on the head but what if this wasn’t what it looked like? Maybe they’re just really kinky and this is roleplay of some kind?

I made my decision and called out “hey, what are you up to?”

The man just about shouted a few more syllables before turning to face me. Now that I could see his face, I still didn’t know who he was. He had slicked back hair and some kind of beard-mustache thing that I couldn’t see that clearly in the moonlight. “Stupid boy” he said and transferred his knife to his left hand. He cupped his right hand and drew back like he was going to throw a baseball at me. I didn’t see anything in his hand but figured it was better to look stupid dodging nothing than get hit if he was holding something I couldn’t see.

When he whipped his hand towards me, I was immensely glad that I dodged. As his hand came forward it looked like it somehow filled with fire and what he threw at me was a softball sized ball of swirling orange flames. It was like an incredibly detailed special effect from a blockbuster movie except that I could feel the heat pouring off of it as it missed to my left. My adrenalin and fear levels were already high but now they were through the roof. I had to get closer to him and put him down somehow if he could throw fucking fire at me. I was about ten yards away and started running at him. I was almost there when a large concussion of hot air hit me in the back, staggering me. Thankfully it staggered the other guy too or I would have probably ended with a knife to the chest. I recovered first and brought my stick around with all my strength aimed at his left arm and torso.

I’m not sure if he thought I would try and hit his head but he moved to duck under my swing and instead of hitting the arm holding the knife my stick connected with the top of his head. The stick must have been down for a long time as it shattered on impact. Thankfully, it also dropped the man who was now immobile on the ground. His knife was easy to see and I quickly picked it up and moved towards the bound girl who I could now tell was Sara Parker. She was thrashing around a bit and her eyes were wide with fear. Her hands and feet were bound with zip-ties to stakes pounded into the forest floor. The knife I appropriated was sharp enough to easily cut through them and she was quickly free.

Once her hands were released, she pulled the gag out of her mouth and said “Holy shit am I happy to see you Dave. I thought I was going to die a virgin.” She must have been running on more adrenalin than I was as it took her a moment to realize what she just said before she started blushing bright enough to see in the dim moonlight.

I smiled at her, trying to keep my cool in front of one of the prettiest girls in school and replied “good to know.” She smiled back at me for a moment before her attention shifted behind me and the fear returned to her face. I swiftly spun around to see what she was looking at to find the guy I thought was knocked out lurching towards us. He had his right hand out and it was glowing a pale blue that I figured couldn’t bode well for me and Sara.

Just before he could reach us Sara rolled over and lashed out a kick at the guy’s ankles. She managed to connect and he lost his balance. He fell directly towards me and I tried to back out of the way but I was too slow. When he landed on me there was an incredible pain just below my chest and my diaphragm started spasming. I realized I had still been holding the knife between us and I wondered if I had just stabbed myself. The guy reached his hands for my throat and I figured that I had more important things to worry about at the moment.

He kept trying to choke me while I fended him off as best I could. I had a fleeting wish that I wrestled instead of played soccer as I felt totally incompetent. I could barely breathe and could feel a sticky wetness spreading across my torso. Part of me wondered what happened to the blue glow that had been on his hand and why he wasn’t doing whatever it was again but mostly I was too busy. Sara appeared above us and kicked at the guy again, this time in the head. His eyes kind of lost focus and his grip lost all strength so I was able to roll him off of me.

When I did, I realized that it wasn’t me that had been stabbed. The knife was buried in the other guy’s chest and as I watched, blood started bubbling out of his mouth. The pain I had felt must have been the hilt jabbing me in the diaphragm. It wasn’t long before he stilled completely and I assumed he was dead. Sara kind of collapsed next to me and looked as shocked as I felt. I pulled my phone back out of my pocket to talk to the operator to find that it had broken in the fight. The screen was shattered and dark and I didn’t get a response when I tried to talk into it. Before I could do or say anything else, we were joined by what I can only describe as a demon. It faded in from nothing and while I really wanted to run away, I was frozen in place.

He had red skin and satyr like legs. His forehead sported two short horns and his eyes glowed a pale yellow in the night. His voice reminded me of those stuck up British royalty you hear in the movies although he seemed to be talking to himself as he inspected me and Sara. “The summoning was done properly and there was an appropriate sacrifice although it’s not usual for the summoner to be the sacrifice. There’s also the fact that there are two of you and only one lifeforce to use. Hmm, I’m assuming they have no idea what’s going on so let’s give them the basic package, half each. That works, but what aspect I wonder?”

He stared intently at the two of us for a second before breaking into a huge grin. “Young ones, I know what to do. They always want the same thing.” He raised his hand and pointed at me and Sara. Before I could even think about dodging whatever it was, a forked bolt of red electricity shot from his hand to both my chest and Sara’s. Instead of the pain I was expecting I felt completely invigorated. The demon grinned once more and said “if I were you, I wouldn’t talk about the unusual happenings tonight. Reporting the, well, magical events will just get you looked at like you’re crazy.”

With that he faded away and was gone. I looked over at Sara who nodded at me. “I agree with whatever that was” she said. “No one would believe us anyway. I’m sure the police will be asking us questions. Let’s not lie to them, just omit the fire and stuff.”

I agreed with her wholeheartedly especially as I was still shocked at what had just happened. I still had trouble believing that some kind of wizard or mage or something threw a fireball at me. “Sounds good. Let’s head towards the road at least.” I stood up and offered Sara my hand. After helping her up we made our way back out of the forest. She had released my hand after we stood but was still right up next to me as we walked along. It wasn’t any closer than good friends would walk but we had never really been friends as we ran in different circles. I will admit that after what had just happened it was comforting to have her there.

When we broke out of the trees there were four patrol cars parked nearby. One of the officers immediately spotted us and gave a shout. He must have seen the blood on my shirt as he keyed his radio and called for an ambulance. He also pulled out his weapon and called out to Sara “miss, step over here please. Are you ok?”

I stayed put as Sara stepped towards the officer replying “he’s not the bad guy. Dave rescued me from the guy who’s still in the forest.” She pointed back the way we had come.