Knock knock knock.

Nathan peered through the peephole of his front door, to see Jake, standing on the other side. He unlocked the door, waiting for Jake to tell him why he was there.

"Hey! What's up?" Nathan asked, slightly confused as to why Jake was outside his door so late.

"Can I come in?" Jake asked. 

"Yeah, 'course!" Nathan replied. He gestured at Jake to come in. The walls of the hallway were decorated with framed photos of a young Nathan, and someone who looked to be his father.

They went up to Nathan's room, being careful not to step on any of the creaky floorboards. The walls were plastered with posters of various lesser-known rock and pop bands.

A smallish drum kit sat in the corner of the room, with strange triangular logos on the drumheads and sticks.

"Huh." Jake said. "I didn't know you played the drums."

"I don't play that much anymore. But yeah, what was it you wanted to show me?" Nathan responded.

Jake reached in his bag and pulled the book out. He placed it down on Nathan's bed, not before wiping off any remaining dust.

There was silence for a few seconds, Nathan being the one to break it. 

"You wanted to show me….. a book?" Nathan wore a very confused look. "Is there something underneath the book? Or are you trying to get something else out of your bag? Or…."

"It's not just a book." Jake opened the book to the page on the Arrico family." He then flicked through multiple different pages.

"Here. These are all families with some kind of powers. I know it sounds stupid, but look at this." He flicked to the page on the Killian family. "It has your surname- well, half of it, as one of these families."

Silence yet again graced the room with its presence. Nathan was now even more confused. 

"Okay, I'm all for a good joke, but you definitely put way too much effort into this. How much free time do you have?" Nathan went from confused to slightly annoyed. 

"Dude, I'm serious! I even had a dream about this, and that was before I found this book." He turned to the page on Ragmar. "This thing was in my dream." 

Nathan stared intently at the page. "Listen, it's late, I'm tired, and I think you are too. Why don't you tell me more about this tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I- I should go." Jake grabbed the book as he left Nathan's room as he went to the front door. "See you later." Jake said, tiredly.

He left before Nathan had the chance to reply. As Jake strode down the sidewalk, he suddenly felt as if he was being watched. 

He turned around quickly, hoping to see who or what was behind him. But there was nothing. He continued down the pathway to his house, walking faster this time. 

As he kept walking, he heard fast footsteps behind him. This time he was sure he was being followed. He became less worried when he saw that the person behind him was Nathan. He was leaning on the wall next to him, out of breath.

"Nathan? What are you doing here?" Jake questioned. "You left this at my house, it must've fallen out of the book." Nathan replied.

Nathan handed him a piece of paper. "I didn't read it. In case it was something personal. But you should be more careful."

"I didn't.. I didn't put this in there." Jake was confused, he'd looked through almost all of the pages, and didn't find a note in any of them. Maybe it was his mother?

"You didn't? Then who did?" Nathan responded. "I don't know… but it looks like we're about to find out.

He opened up the note, and on it were two words, written in what seemed to be dark red ink.

Behind You.

These two words were enough to strike fear in their hearts. It felt as if gravity had shifted, with Ragmar as the centre.

The already dark sky became even darker, and space seemed to contort. Rocks started flying off of buildings, as the light of the moon became dimmer and dimmer, the only source of light being the creature's threatening eyes.

"It’s been a while, Arrico." The boys both had negative expressions on their faces. Nathan's was due to confusion, while Jake's was caused by pure fear.

The demon had a quieter voice in person. It was different from the voice of Ragmar in Jake's dream. 

“Arrico? Is he talking about you?” Nathan questioned. “It’s a long story. I-I guess.” Jake responded anxiously.

Nathan turned to Jake. "I wanna turn around, but I don't know if I should."

"Don't." Jake responded. "Definitely don't."

The scraping sound of Ragmar's blade against the floor only drew nearer, the boys’ hearts beating increasingly faster.

“Should we run? That was a dumb question, of course we should.” Nathan’s sounded breathless, despite having barely moved.”

“I’ll outpace you. Accept your fate. 

The darkness surrounding them grew even further, and hidden within it was a spectral figure, covered almost entirely by a black hood, the only uncovered parts being its pale, bony fingers, holding a silver scythe, with a gnarled wooden handle raised above its head. However, it was as if the figure was completely invisible, going unnoticed by both the boys and Ragmar. The figure moved forward, past Ragmar, slowly moving its scythe downwards, in between Jake and Nathan.

“Die.”

In the blink of an eye, he darted towards the two boys, like a predator, going for its prey. Their fight-or-flight instincts kicked in, and they started sprinting not shortly after. Ragmar was closing the distance quickly however, moving with the speed and ferocity of a tiger.

The streets were nearly empty, due to it being so dark out, which meant there would be nobody here able to help. The chase seemed like it would never end, taking them further and further away from their neighbourhood.

They ran uncoordinatedly past buildings, stumbling and tripping, their tiredness starting to override their drive to stay alive.

“I… I can't keep running, can’t you use your… magic powers to fight this guy?” Nathan asked, taking sharp breaths. “If I knew how to, I would! Sorry but we have to keep running, do you really want to-“ 

Jake’s sentence was cut off by the cold steely material of Ragmar’s blade, quite literally. Jake’s face had been sliced, leaving a jagged scar on his left cheek. A burning sensation shot through his face, then his whole body, and he and Nathan both gained a short burst of speed. Had he been struck again without realising somehow? No, this burning feeling wasn’t from an outside force, it was coming from within him. 

“Alright, I’m done playing around. Your life’s thread has come undone!” Ragmar charged once again, aiming directly for Jake’s head. Jake swung his arm back, expecting for his arm to be sliced in half. But instead…

Woosh

A plume of fire shot from the palm of Jake’s hand, and it then disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. The flames weren’t enough to do any significant damage to Ragmar, but they were enough to briefly catch his attention.

“He’s distracted, RUN!” Jake yelled at the top of his lungs. The two of them ran, and ran, and ran, even as their aching legs begged to stop. Ragmar’s eyes were wide in confusion, and his confusion then soon became anger. He gritted his teeth, stood still for a moment, then darted forward in an explosion of dark smoke.

“SO, YOU’VE GAINED CONTROL OF YOUR ELEMENT HUH?! WELL HERE’S SOME NEWS FOR YOU!” Ragmar raised his sword hastily, held it in the air for a few seconds, then swung downwards. Like a flash of lightning, a violet spark of energy shot from his blade with the force of a rocket. Jake and Nathan hid behind a nearby tree for cover, but it did little to dampen the effect. The tree was severed in two, while Jake and Nathan were both hit with the residual impact of the blast, and were sent flying. Jake struggled to raise his head from the ground, and once he did, he caught a glimpse of a large gorge a few metres past him.

Ragmar trudged over to the two boys, with a stoic expression on his face. He bent down towards Jake and stared menacingly into his eyes. “You’ll never be a warrior. You’re just a foolish child who’s lucky he isn't dead yet.” He grabbed him by the neck, raising him above his head “You. Are. Nothing.” He moved his arm backwards, then swung forward, throwing Jake into the deep abyss of the gorge.

Or so he thought.