“E-excuse me? Chosen one?” Lainey asked, stepping back slightly.

Most likely, yes.” Vivian replied. A blonde boy with hope in his eyes, a girl with a heart of ice, a dark-haired boy, and a girl with an incredible backstory. It was foretold in times long past that four people matching these descriptions will come together when the world needs them most, and I feel that the demon invasions mark the time we need to bring the prophecy to fruition.”

“Well, I’m down. I gotta destroy the leader of the demons somehow, ya feel me?”

“The leader you say?” Vivian asked, her eyes widening slightly. “I wasn’t aware of this. Would you be able to provide a description?”

“Well, dude was huge. I’m talking at least seven feet tall mass of muscle. He threw a punch so quickly and so fast that if I wasn’t holding my guitar when it happened, I’d have a corpse with a hole in me somewhere in that dimension of his. Oh, also bald. Looked like a really crappy comic book villain, come to think of it.”

“I…see.” Vivian nodded. “Well, it makes sense. If we have God looking over us, it only makes sense for the demons to have somebody too, considering the gemstones.”

“Gemstones?” Ulrich asked.

“Well, our mission is to find four gemstones. Two represent God’s essence, and I suppose the other two represent the demon leader’s essence. We’ve traced one of them to Buckingham Palace. And we’ll be going there in the morning.”

“Hold on now.” Ulrich interrupted quickly. “So our first mission as a group is to go into a highly guarded palace and take a mystical gemstone, all because of some prophecy?”

“Yes.” Vivian replied bluntly.

“Okay, but what if the gem isn’t there. Then what?”

“It probably is.” Vivian replied calmly. “I feel the need to mention we’re only fighting as a last resort. There’s more than enough of a chance we could sneak in and take it.”

“Probably.” Ulrich said. “Look, I’m gonna need more evidence that the gem is actually there, okay?”

“Well, if you have doubts you are free to sit this out. Gene and I are perfectly capable of fighting this out ourselves, as we awoke to our powers. And if Lainey is to come, she’ll hopefully develop her own powers should a battle erupt.”

“Oh, I can fight.” Lainey replied coolly. “Watch this.”

She opened her guitar case, casually leaving a slice of pizza on her expensive looking guitar. After only a few seconds her personal demon lurched out of it, growing a hand to snatch up and eat the pizza. She turned around with a confident smirk towards Gene and Vivian. Gene responded with a shaky thumbs up…

…and Vivian slowly got out of her seat.

“Pray tell.” She started, her head shaking. Whatever emotions were building up inside her, she was doing her best to supress them. “Why would you bring something like that into this house?”

She stepped back, and Ulrich noticed the stripe on her gloves going from black to a deep blue. She fired a shot of ice directly towards the guitar, and Ulrich stretched a hand out to shield it, hoping to summon some fire to melt the ice.

Well, it didn’t happen. Instead, Ulrich got several shards of ice directly into his arm. Each of them felt like pieces of shattered glass piercing his skin. He felt like screaming out in pain, but looked towards Vivian, with Gene next to her.

“What the fuck is your deal?” Ulrich screamed. “First you leave me to die, then you try to kill Lainey’s only method of self-defence? What kind of scheme are you even running?”

“Are you defying God's orders?” Vivian yelled.

“I ain’t defying shit!” Ulrich yelled back. “I just want to know why you’re acting so strange, dammit!”

Vivian took the charge in her hands and fired it towards the ground, leaving a mound of crystalized ice on the floor. She silently walked towards Ulrich. Ulrich tried to charge up some semblance of fire but was unable to. Lainey also seemed paralyzed in fear.

“I’m letting you two go.” She said calmly as she approached Ulrich’s eye level. “It appears I misjudged his orders. But just be aware not to pursue us, because if I have to, I absolutely will kill you.”

When she finished her statement, she put a hand on Ulrich’s shoulder, whispering into her ear, in the exact cheery tone of voice as when she was first at his door back in Florida.

“Okay?”

Ulrich’s only response was a panicked gasp as he clung to the wall. The inside of his whole body felt cold, as if his lungs were about to collapse. He wasn’t sure if it was her powers or what, but he had to run. He ran out of the house at a speed faster then he ever felt himself run, with Lainey following him soon after.

They were quickly on the lawn that the small houses surrounded, under a bland grey sky. Ulrich was panting in a cold sweat, feeling like he was about to vomit. With Lainey breathing heavily next to him.

“So…what now?” Lainey asked.

“Good…question.” Ulrich replied in between heaves. His entire body felt on the verge on shutting down.

“Are you two okay?”

Lainey looked over, and a teenager was looking at her. Tall and lanky, towering over both of them. He looked around Ulrich’s age and had blonde spiky hair that had clearly gone several months without getting cut. His clothes were an average pair of worn-out jeans, alongside a neon blue Demon Ball X shirt.

“Was the noise next door you?” He repeated in his slightly gruff British accent.

“Uh, landlord kicked us out. We had weed on us, and he went apeshit.”

“Yeah, clearly.” The boy replied calmly. “Is that why he looks like that?”

“Yeah, it might have been spiked.” Lainey replied quickly. “We just moved in, don’t know the spots yet.”

“When did you two move in, exactly?” He asked, scratching his head.

“Oh, like two days ago.”

“Ah, okay. You guys have anywhere to stay, anyway?”

“Ah, we probably have money for a hotel.” Ulrich said, still fighting his urge to vomit all over the lawn. “Actually, you know any good ones near Buckingham Palace?”

The boy perked up for a second. “Yo, Buckingham? I’m planning on heading there tomorrow. If you wanna stay the night at my place and go there tomorrow, that’d be cool.”

Ulrich looked at Lainey, who shrugged.

“Your parents okay with that?” Lainey asked.

“They got work stuff, out of town for a few days.” The boy replied calmly. “They won’t even notice.”

“Eh, why not?” Lainey accepted.

“Sweet. I got Façade 4 today as well. I can order a pizza if you want it.”

“Sounds good, but you can hold the pizza.” Ulrich said with a dry heave.

“Uh, sure. Name’s Dominic, by the way.”

“Ulrich.”

“Lainey.”

Once they went into his house, the difference in atmosphere hit Ulrich like a truck. First thing that he and Lainey noticed was the purple walls. And while Vivian’s shelf had books, Dominic had anime figures. And lining the walls were framed anime posters. One of which was a Demon Ball X poster.

“Hey, nice Demon Ball poster.” Ulrich commented.

“Why, thank you!” Dominic yelled confidently. “A Japanese original from the first screening of Planet’s Mightiest from 1990. Got it after a three-day battle in an online auction. Really tough pull. Rare, too.”

“Uh, cool.” Ulrich replied. “Hey Lainey, any thoughts on this?”

“Yeah, I don’t watch Demon Ball.” She replied, looking at the line-up of figurines of busty anime chicks in miniskirts. “What kind of weirdo is into this crap?” She whispered to herself.

“Anyway, Façade 4?” Dominic asked.

Dominic booted up the game, a murder mystery about teenagers in Tokyo who could summon ghosts. Dominic looked absolutely engrossed in the game, while Ulrich lost track after missing a few of the many, many textboxes. Ulrich almost nodded off, when a knock at the door woke him up.

“Could you check who that is?” Dominic asked, not looking up from the game.

Lainey peered out the window, and Gene was standing there with something in his hand. No signs of Vivian.

“Hey, is Gene trustworthy?” She asked Ulrich.

“Not now, anyway.” Ulrich replied coldly.

“Okay, but he’s at the door. So if I opened it, would he try to kill me?”

“Probably not, he’s a total bitch.”

“Alright, I’m opening the door. But if I get stabbed it’s on you.”

She opened the door, and Gene was standing there, clearly nervous.

“Uh, hey.” He said sheepishly. “Nice place you got here. Is Ulrich here?”

“What do you want?” Ulrich asked, approaching Lainey from behind.

Gene threw the package into Ulrich’s hands.

“Here’s a hoodie for you!” He yelled quickly. “London’s way colder than Florida, so I figured you should keep warm, you know?”

“Right.” Ulrich replied blankly. “Thanks.”

“Look, Ulrich. I know you’re probably thinking of getting the gemstone, but please don’t. Vivian knows you’re here. And I’m trying to talk her out of it, but she means it when she says she won’t hesitate to kill you.”

“I’m going.” Ulrich replied calmly. “I don’t know what that girl is planning, but she is bad news, dude. And you have to ditch her.”

“But…I’m one of the only people who can stop the demons.”

“According to who, her?” Ulrich asked. “She could be bullshitting this entire prophecy thing for all we know, right?”

“But she pulled me out of town just before the attacks! She knows what she’s doing!”

“Fine. Stay with her and let whatever happens to you happen.”

“But…if things do go wrong, I can sort things out with you, right?”

Ulrich was just agitated with Gene’s arguments, but this just made him angrier.

“No. If you’re the real chosen hero, you’ll find somebody else.”

“But-“

“But nothing! I’m done being your fucking sidekick. You get the accomplishments, it’s you who gets all the girls, it’s you who gets to decide the fate of the entire world!”

“Getting all the…girls? Ulrich, you had Mina, right?”

“We weren’t dating, dipshit! Besides, Mina’s dead. You killed her.”

“What?” Gene took a step back. “How…how did I kill her?”

“You left everyone to die! You’re supposed to save the world, yet you and that psychotic bitch can’t wait to save one fucking town?! Get the fuck outta here with that bullshit!”

“Ulrich, I was injured. I would have died if I stayed there.”

“Stop making excuses!” Ulrich felt heat building up in his gloves, and he swiped downwards. Gene narrowly dodged the attack and Ulrich fell to the ground, with an explosion noise being heard when his right hand collided into the ground. When he lifted it, a black handprint was on Dominic’s driveway.

“I-I’ll go now.” Gene nodded to himself. “Good talk, Ulrich.”