| |
The sky opened once again, over New York City. A swarm of demons appeared, blocking out the sun. They descended on the city below, trailing crimson mist. The leader of the demon swarm landed hard on a semi-truck. As the vehicle skidded to a halt, the demon punched his fist through the top of the semi. The demon ripped through the cab of the semi like it was tin of sardines. It took hold of the human driver. It pulled the man through the hole in the top of the semi and snarled in the driver’s face.
“Where is she?”
The demon shook the driver as he demanded an answer.
“Where is who?”
The driver stammered the response as he was being shaken.
As the demon held him, the man wet himself. The demon’s face twisted up as he smelled an odor from the human. It looked down and was revolted by what it saw.
“Are you leaking?”
The man was about to speak again when the demon threw him off the roof of the semi into oncoming traffic. The man’s head went through a car’s windshield. The driver screamed and jerked the wheel, which made the car spin into oncoming traffic. The demon watched all the chaos unfold.
“We must find the others,” he ordered to the swarm.
“Of course, Maxius,” the group replied in unison.
Maxius ordered them to divide into groups and start to scour the city for the Creator. He knew Jax and Skull had left to find her before he had. He wasn’t sure if they made it through the portal in one piece. Not that it mattered. What mattered was finding the Creator and making her fix their world. Maxius’ family had been slaughtered when the apocalypse had started. That’s what his people were calling it - the end of the world as they all knew it.
Their world started to crumble when they unearthed what they thought was a new power source. Little did they know, by removing the purple crystal gem stones from the large cavern, they’d release a plague into their world. Or at least, that is what it was being called. No one knew for sure what it was, or where it came from. The moment they pulled the last crystal from the cavern, the ground started to quake. As the demons started to panic, a plume of crimson vapor shot from the earth. As it filled the cavern, the demons ran for cover. Maxius and his men were the first affected by the vapor. It seemed to seep into every orifice they had, which made them choke and gag. Some of the demons died instantly, while others died slowly and painfully. Maxius made it to the surface with only a handful of his men left. He sealed the cavern closed, but it was too late. The vapor had escaped onto the surface.
Rall waited in his castle for an update on the unearthing. When Maxius returned with the news that what they had found killed most of the men off, Rall exploded with rage.
“Dead? What do you mean, dead?”
“I don’t know how else to put it, Master. They are dead. The crystals we uncovered are being taken to the plant to be sourced.”
Maxius hated bringing Rall bad news. It always ended in Maxius being punished, even if it wasn’t his fault. Rall’s face twisted into an angry scowl. Maxius knew that look on the demon’s face. He was about to get a beating. Rall stood a towering seven foot seven, and his body was covered in a mix of red and black dragon skin. His wings were jet black, and his hair blended in with his wings. His eyes were pools of a bright green, the color of pears. Maxius had never seen any other demon with those color eyes before. Maxius himself stood just at seven foot tall, with pocked burn scars encompassing his head. His eyes were chocolate brown and his wings were the color of asphalt. His skin was a mix of blue and green. Though it looked like dragon skin, it wasn’t. Maxius used his magic to cloak himself from others. He feared they’d think he was weak for being different.
“Does anyone else know about this?”
Rall pulled a clawed hand through his hair as he spoke. Maxius shook his head no.
“Just myself and what men are left. I sent them all to the pit to work on the new crystals, once they are sourced.”
“Good, but I am not happy about this, Maxius. What if Skull’s clan finds out? I am so close to taking over. I don’t need anything screwing up my plans.”
Maxius stood on top of the semi, lost in thought, as one of his men yelled at him.
“What?”
Maxius snapped the response out.
“Where are we going first?”
“To find a place to hide!”
Maxius and the demons that hovered around him took flight into the sky as the humans below were left to handle the chaos he had created with his appearance.