A loud bang shook him out of his sleep. He felt groggy, his feet made of lead, but dashed towards the living room all the same. He opened his door and was struck by a vile smell, the hallway littered with darkly cloaked bodies. Bodies were strewn apart, the trail of gore extending from the master bedroom towards the living room.
He had to push down his bile and rushed towards his parent's room. The door was smashed in, and they were nowhere to be seen. He trudged through the muck on the floor towards the shouting in the living room.
He first saw his father, or what's left of him. He was still on the sofa, but his throat was sliced open, and his expression was frozen in horror.
Before he could process the scene, his mother shouted from the now-ruined doorway. He was there in less than a second.
What he saw will forever be seared into his memory. His mother was the same woman who was sweetly humming a tune while fussing over her stew not even a day ago—the woman who was sweet, kind to a fault, and always cheerful. She was gone.
In her place stood a wrathful Valkyrie, covered head to toe in gold-embossed silver armour that seemed to glow under the moonlight. Her armour was dripping in blood, and it was evident that it was not hers. She held a long spear with a dead Devil at the tip. She threw the vermin off and turned towards him.
"STAY BACK CALLEN." Her scream was projected in his ear. Harsh and unyielding, it would not be out of place in a meeting of army generals.
He instinctively backed away. But suddenly, his mother flew across the field and crashed into their barn.
"This is kind of quaint, Ipos." A man casually stepped out of the darkness, his long, gleaming silver hair and immaculate robes standing out in the carnage. Piercing amethyst eyes looked onto the scene with seeming mirth.
His mother was in front of him before he could blink.
"Lucifer." His mother spat out venomously.
"Is that how you treat your old boss? My my, the youth are uppity these days." He lazily dolled out, almost sounding bored. "And is that your child? He looks just like his old man."
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"Stay the fuck away from him."
"You would keep my nephew away from me? It pains this old man's heart." His reply was dripping with mockery.
"Now, nobody needs to get hurt. Hand the boy over, and surrender and on my name as Rizevim Lucifer, you will leave this place in one piece."
"And become one of your dogs? NEVER!" He never believed someone could have spoken with such hate, least of all his mother.
"We know how this will end. We fight. Your boy dies, and you die. Or you put down your stick, and come along willingly."
A magic circle appears below our feet—a teleportation circle—before we can escape. He moved. The world shook. One moment, he was there, and in the next, a hand softly wiped away the tears I didn't realise I had. A massive presence descended on the area; the sky felt like it was falling. The sheer fathomless depth of his demonic power crushed the teleportation out of existence.
My body shakes violently. A primal instinct awakens, one that all Devils have. My mind is filled with the urge to submit, for a predator is here. I force my head to move and find warm hazel eyes looking at me with a mockery of affection. His other hand is extended to stop my mother's spear—with a single fingertip.
"Now, Now, who said you could leave? That is no way to treat a guest. How the Mighty house of Ipos has fallen." He looked my mother in the eyes. "You would not cease your foolishness?"
"You will take him over my dead body."
"As you wish." He was here. Then there. No sound is made in the movement. His hand speared through my mother's chest. It gingerly held her still-beating heart, and he crushed it.
"NO!" I run towards my mother as he throws her aside like a discarded piece of trash. Her armour and spear dematerialise, and she returns to her usual orange nightgown. Tattered and bloody.
I cradle her head in my arms. She is still somehow alive. "Promise me, Callen. "She manages to gurgle out words. "Promise me that you will grow strong. Find love, find happiness. And forgive your poor excuse of a mother." Her voice is hoarse. So many things go by in my mind—so many words, emotions, dreams, and hopes. Her tears run freely, and blood is everywhere, yet her smile prevails, somehow serene, almost resigned.
"NO MOM! I-
Her head pops like a balloon, showering me in brain matter, fluid and all manner of viscera. My eyes don't move from where they are, uncomprehending what happened.
"All this sweetness is going to give me diabetes, it's not good for an old man like me you see." The derisive voice brings me back to earth. Rizevim is there licking his bloody hands with an expression of utter ecstasy.
"Can you believe she was still alive? She was always one of the fiesty ones." That monster was still mocking me.
"YOU!"
I rush towards him, magic circles already forming.
"Hahahaha! Even the brat is fiesty." The voice comes from behind me.
He lifts me by the scruff of the neck like a misbehaving dog. My demonic power ceases to obey me.
"Frankle, or whatever your name is. Take the brat to the facility." I suddenly realised that there was another man next to us. I get thrown on the ground next to him.
"Yes, Your Majesty" The man gives a deep bow and picks me up from the ground.
"This is power, boy. Now make your mother proud." Those were the last words that I heard before losing consciousness.
I wake up with a gasp. My whole body was sore and sweaty. I wipe the tears from my dusty face and look around. I am still in the half-collapsed facility. He is not here. I quickly get up. There is still much to do.
