The moon illuminated the hazy night sky of Aurora City and its windowed lights of tall buildings.

A cool, fall night. Silent and still, save for the hum of street lights and an occasional car. A breeze blew in the quiet, picking up some trash from an alleyway and blowing it into the damp street from a storm that had just passed.

The sprawling metropolis with its various shapes and sizes of towering buildings that cut into the sky was like a cry to the gods that human beings could indeed reach the stars.

One of the taller buildings had a figure atop it. A woman with short black hair cut in an asymmetrical bob style, little lines of blue here and there highlighting the black. She stepped to the edge, scanning the city streets below, her resolute royal blue eyes like little lamps in the night as they panned over the city. Watching, waiting, listening.

Demi gripped a spear in her hand, her toned arms flexing with the motion as she leaned over the ledge like a panther in the bush, waiting for unsuspecting prey to walk in its path.

A sound snapped her to attention, her eyes narrowing on the empty streets below as she heard the desperate cry whoosh in her direction, taking it into her body. She focused her eyes, settling on what appeared to be a man scrambling down the street below.

A small smirk crossed her tanned face, her grip tightening on her spear, and she stepped forward and off the roof, falling. The wind whisked by her, fluttering her flowing purple halter-top dress. Her large hoop earrings jingled, and her hair whipped about as she dropped, the city street rapidly meeting her form.

. . .

Jerry had no idea that this night may be one of his last.

His day had been rough, which wasn’t anything new. He had tried to figure out the best deals, selling stocks that were losing, buying up ones that were winning, getting all the gains while avoiding all the losses. It was very much soul-sucking. He wasn’t even paid that well as he was a middle man. Plus, there were plenty of up-and-coming newbies that were below him, hungry for his position. Little did they know that the stress wasn’t worth it. Being in the middle was its own plight. Unnoticed and underappreciated, but at least not on the verge of being fired like the low-ranking workers.

Still, he had done his best and drained every ounce he had. He had made enough gains to keep his position. But today he had bought some rough ones, taking some huge loses. Even if he had won some, he had lost big today, and it would show on his monthly metrics. He sighed as his gamble had not paid off. Curse that Kevin and his tips. He should have gone with his gut, not what Kevin, one of the top traders, had insisted he buy. Granted, many of his tips had paid off in the past, but this one, this one had done him in, and his boss, Ben, had let him have it. Told him if he got another loss from this day forward, he was done—fired.

So while he walked down the street after a late night of trying to crunch numbers and reading up on the opinions of expert traders, he had burnt the midnight oil, and his eyes, and body, felt heavy. While he had thought he had gotten through the worst, there was worse still to come.

He hoofed his way home, shivering slightly as he hugged his body, cursing that he hadn’t grabbed his jacket as he was too tired to have gone back up to get it. The day and night had been a blur and, he was terrified he was going to lose his job. And yet he had no idea he was about to lose his life.

The sound came quick and sudden, and the feeling of unease as something screeched above. He glanced up to see a large shadow swoop over that he thought was some sort of low hanging cloud—no, maybe it was something else… Like an animal, maybe a bat? But bats didn’t fly around Aurora City, did they? He must have been hallucinating, so he blinked and rubbed his eyes, and the shape was gone, yet the feeling of unease remained. While he shook that thought off, he felt as if he was being watched, followed.

When he scanned the sky and turned the other way, he saw it again—the swooping shadow. The massive thing came down on him, and he fell back just in time, his butt bouncing against the pavement in a hard thud, his suitcase tumbling between two cars as it slipped from his hands.

“Dammit!”

The large shape soared over him, a whoosh of wind blowing his hair about, and he just sat there, slacked-jawed, eyes wide.

“W-what the hell was that?”

He scrambled and reached for his suitcase, snatching it up and looking around, searching for the thing. His eyes stopped on something that had landed just outside some lamplight. A hard thump as it skidded across the ground, claw-like noises scrapping against asphalt. A low breathing and snarling as the looming shape lumbered forward into the light. Jerry’s eyes went wide at the sight of it, sweat forming on his forehead, his heart leaping into frightening action as he froze on the spot.

A massive bat-like creature loomed into the light, at least that is what it looked like. A gigantic bat straight out of a horror movie. He hated bats, and this thing was a monstrosity. It couldn’t be real. He had to be hallucinating because of lack of sleep.

The thing watched him with red, glowing eyes, saliva dripping from its snout, and then it screeched a horrible cry, revealing sharp fangs and large teeth, saliva spitting from its mouth.

While Jerry had been frozen in fear, that scream had spurred him into motion, and he dove out of instinct as it lunged at him, barely bypassing claws and fangs. Jerry scrambled up, leaving his suitcase behind, and pumped his legs with furious fright, his eyes wide with terror as he sprinted as hard and fast as his squat and round body could take him.

The bat monster corrected itself, its eyes squinting as it tilted its head, curious at the escaping prey. It let out another screech and kicked off the ground, beating its massive wings as it took flight with loud swooping motions. It slowly rose into the air, then dove toward Jerry with claws extended.

. . .

Demi landed with a reverberating thud, the impact whipping dust and debris around her as she kneeled with one palm pressed to the ground. Slowly pushing herself to her feet, she narrowed her gaze on the man in the distance as he sprinted in her direction, his eyes wide. Her sight continued past the man, to the shape that was swooping down on its victim in a rapid motion, one that was sure to meet its mark, decimating it into a pulpy, bloody mass to devour.

“Found you,” she said, her voice low and resonant.

Demi twirled her silver spear expertly in one hand, then brought it around and slammed the butt end against the ground with a heavy crack. A burst of red energy, only seen by her, spread in all directions like a giant, transparent box.

. . .

The man ran as hard as he could, having no clue where the creature was or that it was diving on him. He tripped, tumbling against the ground, the creature’s extended claws barely missing him, and it crashed in a heap of awkwardness.

Jerry rubbed his side where he had fallen, one eye closed as he corrected himself and shook off blurry vision. His eyes went wide as he saw the thing scramble up and kick off the ground, soaring into the air again, flapping its bat wings as it narrowed its eyes upon him.

“Shit!” He jumped to his feet and ran like hell, blinking sweat that stung his eyes from his exhausted effort.

He wasn’t thinking right, so maybe he could run into an alleyway, perhaps hide under a car, or maybe even make his way to one of the many residences, pounding on the door, screaming to be let in. But he didn’t. He just ran for his life. Prayed to God or whoever would listen to save him from this.

And as he glanced back at where the thing was, seeing its hungry eyes of red squint at him, he gasped and, curse it all, tripped again. This time he was done for, as he saw the thing’s claws come upon him, its hulking shape looming, and he raised his arms defensively, crying out like a little boy as he felt his bladder burst and he pissed himself, closing his eyes and tensing his body.

A gust of air blew over him and nothing happened, as if an apparition had been chasing him and just whisked by. No impact, no cutting and ripping, no death. He lowered his hands, blinked, then looked from left to right in frantic movements, his heart thudding rapidly, perspiration across his forehead. He gulped, his breaths shaky. Then after a few moments, he realized that… perhaps he really was hallucinating.

“Yeah,” he said, chuckling to himself, shaking it off, looking down at his wet pants where he had pissed himself. Cursing, he messed with his tie in an awkward movement as if it would help him cope with what had just happened. “You’re working yourself too hard, Jerry. Time to get home and take it easy.” Still, he didn’t waste a moment, and got to his feet and scurried his way home, hightailing it out of there.

. . .

Demi watched the red energy move over the man, making him disappear with no effect on the Corrupted as it swooped down on nothing, crashing and tearing into the ground where it thought the man had been. The red energy barrier had changed everything to a dark, decrepit, and derelict place. Broken structures, cracked streets and sidewalks, and abandoned buildings with smashed windows. Foliage and vines of all sorts flourishing up the walls of the buildings. Trees with long and twisty branches, some of them extending into the buildings, fallen leaves of all sort strew about, and uncut grass of different lengths and weeds and flowers all about.

Everything had changed, except for Demi and the Corrupted. It was like the whole area had shifted to another dimension, which it had. Demi was ready to fight the Corrupted, free from distraction of other human beings on the streets, knowing the man was safe, even if he had been traumatized. She’d have to deal with that after she finished this thing off, absorbing its energy into her Switch. It was just her and the Corrupted now, which was what she wanted.

The Corrupted shook itself free of the confusion, lifting its head to the noise of a loud whistle which wasn’t far from where it had impacted. It narrowed its demonic eyes on a form that stood before it.

“Hey, ugly,” she said, twirling her spear in one hand till she slapped it into her other hand with a tight grip. “You want something to devour?” Her blue-handled, silver-tipped spear Switch shifted to a red energy much like her Limit Barrier. It jumped in her hand, a crimson, pulsating spear of electricity that she held with relative ease as it reverberated like a bolt of red lightning in her palm. Her Switch had been activated. She leaned forward and smiled. “Then come and get it.”

She burst forward, meeting the thing and slashing her spear in an expert movement, cutting through the creature in a clean slice. The Corrupted bellowed in pain as the red spear of lightning and energy cut it in two, sizzling and burning as it did. The beast stood rigid for a moment, then slowly slid apart in two pieces, black blood spurting in spots between burnt flesh. The two chunks that were once the monster plopped to the ground in a husk of blood and guts and burned parts.

Demi slid to a stop, turning on her heal and bringing the spear around in a twirling motion, pointing pulsating spearhead at the thing as if it may come back for another round.

The Corrupted lay in a heap of bloody pieces, smoke rising from the burnt body that began to dissolve to a black energy. Demi stepped to the thing, holding the quivering spear of red forward, and the black energy was sucked into its tip like a vacuum. Once the energy was consumed, the body dissipated to nothingness, floating up in a dark mist. Her red spear jolted and jumped with quivering energy like the deep, resonating beat of her heart but louder and all around her.

Then it hit her—the memories of the Corrupted before it became what it was. Its life, its exploits, its turn to darkness, its corruption. All of it filling her, exposing her, taking her, hurting her, and then, as she clenched up and tensed her body through the pulsing pressure, it was over and had been absorbed into her.

She gripped the spear in hand as it turned back to its normal, silvery shape with its long, blue handle, the red box of energy she had unleashed before revealing itself and shattering like a huge, transparent box of glass. And then she was back to the damp street where the man had frantically run for his life from a creature he had no idea existed. The smell of rain coming off asphalt filled her nostrils.

She stood, straight and tall, letting out a little breath of exhaustion, then narrowed her eyes in the direction the man had run.

. . .