Jerry rushed down the street, his condo only a few blocks away. He was so close. He’d get inside, lock the door behind him, take a shower, and then wind down for bed. He’d forget what happened, chalk it up to his insanely long workdays. He’d keep his job, get his numbers up, and everything would be fine.

Right!? Right… “Right.”

He wiped the sweat from his brow as he hobbled his way back to his apartment, cursing that he had left his suitcase behind.

“Looking for this?” came a voice from the shadows, his suitcase sliding to his feet from the darkness. His jaw dropped and he fell back in a jerk. He looked around frantically, worried that something crazy was happening again, arms lifted as if they could defend him from that… that thing.

“Who’s there,” he said, scrambling to get his suitcase, hugging it as if it was some sort of protectant or shield, not caring that his suit was all dirty and damp at this point. “I’m warning you, I’ve got a gun in here, and…” He moved to unlock the suitcase, flicking through the numbers to find the right combination, his hands fumbling and slipping. “Cursed thing.”

“Oh, really?” came the voice of a woman, low and masculine but still with an air of femininity. She stepped into the light. Her short hair bobbed with her movements. Her arms were toned, and was that a smirk? Who was this woman? Why did she look as if she had a secret as dark as the shadows she had come from? Was she that creature’s master?

The suitcase unlocked, and he smirked himself, a little chuckle escaping his lips as he opened it and reached for something. “Yeah, I do, and now you’re done, lady.”

When he looked up, she was on him, spear swinging forward in a slashing movement, and he raised his hands defensively.

“Gah!” He fell back, screaming out as a blast of red blinded him with brightness, his suitcase flying in the air as he fell back.

Jerry blinked blurriness from his eyes. He was on the ground, staring up at the dark sky that revealed itself increasingly with each blink. He groaned, feeling as if he had just woken from a deep slumber.

What happened? And where was he? Had he blacked out from being drunk? He rubbed the side of his head as he sat up with a grunt. His suitcase lay next to him. He licked his lips and stared down at it for a long moment. How had he gotten here? He was at the office, struggling to do what he could to get his numbers up, staying there way past the end of his shift, pounding Red Bulls like they were going out of style, and… He remembered the foolish decision to add rum to a Red Bull… or two. He let out another groan, realizing how stupid that was. His breaths heavy, he realized he must have passed out while trying to stumble home. Yet, why in the middle of the street? He sighed. It didn’t matter. That’s what he got for drinking on the job. Stupid, very stupid. This was all caused from his poor attitude and lack of numbers at work. It’d all be fine. He’d fix it all.

He picked himself up and brushed himself off, wiping some drool from the side of his mouth as he leaned over to grab the suitcase, a little shiver moving through him as if he was supposed to remember something… something terrifying, but just chalked it up to the cool breeze because it had been storming not fifteen minutes earlier, right? How did he remember that?

He rubbed his head and chuckled. “Note to self, don’t drink at work anymore.” And then he sauntered his way home, chuckling and shaking his head at his idiocy.

Demi stood in the shadow of an alleyway, her luminescent eyes watching him leave. She glanced at her spear as it did something that was troubling. Something rare, something she knew of but had never experienced.

It pulsated with a resounding sound much like a heartbeat, thumping twice, and reverberating up and down her body. Her vision blurred, her body splitting into three. She stumbled and steadied herself against the wall. A final heartbeat hit her, like a warning bell from ancient villages, clanging a final gong of death. Her vision returned to normal, and she gulped, feeling as if she had just exerted her body through an extreme workout regimen. None of it was normal, but it was something that she knew of, was expecting yet wasn’t ready for.

Not yet, at least.

She flicked her wrist slightly, and the spear dissolved to red energy much like the translucent box she had formed earlier that was her Limit Barrier. The red energy particles floated and vanished to nothingness. She flexed her hand to a solid fist, then extended the fingers, letting out a long sigh and looking up at the large, illuminated moon.

“It’s time.”

. . .