Callum ran into Kavannah Park to escape the Demons. He hurried beyond the ornate wrought iron gates and passed through the spiralling chess columns, which showcased large statues of the six unique pieces.

His coattails billowed in the wind and his boots crunched on dry leaves as he sprinted along the labyrinthine path. He was careful to use the trees and shrubs as cover as he searched for an animal. Anything would do at this stage, even a squirrel, a fish, or a cat.

Kaprixi was evidently smiling radiantly upon him. He found a rotting pigeon corpse on the western bank of Kavannah Lake.

Dropping to his knees, Callum analysed this fine gift. It was dry and had decomposed so much that most of the bones were now visible.

Taking a deep breath to keep his stomach from heaving, he proceeded to pluck a feather from the pigeon. He popped it into his mouth, like a child trying to finish his broccoli so he could finally get to his cookie dough ice cream. His throat tightened as the dry, flaky texture broke apart, but he ignored the negative sensations and pressed the feather to the roof of his mouth with his tongue.

Instantly, he felt it.

There was a reserve of power he hadn't felt since the Demons had taken him prisoner. Gasping, he pressed on it. Within mere seconds his body shrank, his nose became a beak, and his skin sprouted feathers as he turned from a man, into a pigeon.

One of the cloaked Demons, too slow to realise this, was already in the process of tackling Callum as he flapped his wings and took to the sky. The poor sod grabbed at only fresh air before he tumbled from the bank into the cold lake.

"Hah," Callum said over the sound of his screams. "First time any of you have gotten a decent wash this century, I reckon."

As he flapped harder and harder, ascending toward the safety of the clouds, he watched the Demons cluster around the bank. There were five on the grass and one in the lake.

Six in total.

Where was-

Callum noticed the shape at his peripherals. When he spun his tiny bird neck to gaze directly at the tall sycamore which had towered Kavannah Lake for over a hundred years, he noticed a pair of shiny white eyes staring out from within.

Callum barely had time to squawk.

The Demon leapt out and zoomed at him as a blackened ephemeral shape and tackled him, dragging him back down to the ground.

As Callum struck the soft grass in the shadow of the sycamore, he was promptly encircled by the other six Demons. They pressed in too closely to allow his flight, so deciding he'd have better luck as a man, he changed his form back to human.

The Demon who stood directly over him, the one who'd leapt from the sycamore, lowered his hood. Jones had a slender face and gaunt, sharp features. He watched Callum with those Demonic eyes, which changed colour depending on his mood. Right now they were the red of blood, like those of his companions.

The six lackeys backed away as if Jones had conveyed to them a silent command, and for all Callum knew about Demon magic, he might have done just that.

Callum raised his fingerless-gloved hands and balled them into fists, expecting some sort of battle to the death.

But Jones had other ideas. The dark youth held up his hand and splayed his palm. In front of it appeared a ball of dark, swirling magic.

"What? Too afraid to fight me man to man?" Callum asked.

"We both already know how that would end," Jones said.

"How's that?"

"The same way it ended last time and the time before that. Why even waste any more energy on you?"

Callum backed up, trying to figure out a way to attack Jones' pride and goad him into a physical fight. Then he became aware of the light. It would seem for the second occasion tonight, Kaprixi smiled upon him.

Jones cast his eyes to the east. The sun rose over the peaks of the Marshy Mountains, outlining them in a glorious silver.

A wide grin spread over Callum's face. "Too late."

Jones lazily returned his attention to Callum. The ball of magic remained fixed to his palm.

That was when one of the other Demons broke ranks and approached Jones. Her eyes were yellow, portraying anxiety or fear. When she let down her hood, she revealed a head of long, luxurious red hair, framing a peach freckled face.

It was Regina.

"Brother, you can't," she said.

Jones didn't so much as glance her way. His attention remained fixed on Callum.

"You'll break the Truce," she said.

Jones appeared as if he wanted to defy the Truce, to be damned with this whole thing regardless of the consequences. The ball of magic even flickered, intensifying.

Callum remembered what his father, before his passing, had warned him of dark magic. A young Callum had asked his elder why he walked with such a severe limp, to which his father leaned in and informed him that no medicine or amount of time can cure or heal dark magic.

The worst thing is the pain, my lad. Somehow hotter than fire and colder than ice at the same time, but a hundred times deadlier than either. Luckily it only brushed me.

Callum braced himself for his end.

But the Demon leader finally came to his senses. The ball faded away and he lowered his arms to his sides.

Callum rose to his feet again and wiped down his overcoat. Autumn leaves clung to every inch of it. He glanced to each of the Demons. "Looks like Halloween is over, folks. Better slink back to your little cabin in the woods before the town wakes up. You all look ridiculous in those cloaks."

"Gutter dweller," spat the soaking wet Demon.

"Is that you, Emmett?" Callum said. "You look like a drowned cat."

"To Hell with you."

"Why? It's a compliment. I was just pointing out a stark improvement in your appearance."

"You laugh now, but we'll see what happens next year," Jones said.

Callum brushed his long hair out of his face. It was just one of many ways in which the pair were opposites. Jones sported a short, military-style buzz cut, while Callum preferred his loose and wild. "Yeah, reckon you've all being saying that for what..." He rolled up his coat sleeve and checked his imaginary watch. "Probably a few hundred years by now? You all need some better material."

Jones bared his teeth and raised an open palm.

But Regina quickly darted forward and caught hold of his arm. She met Callum's eyes with hers, which were now purple. Serene. "You speak from a point of ignorance, gutter dweller."

"Care to enlighten me, oh wise one?"

"Why should I? Your kind don't see the patterns of the futures like ours do."

"Let me guess, another prophecy?"

"Not exactly," Regina said.

"A secret weapon is coming to Willow Town," Jones said. "A lot is going to change."

Callum gazed between them with a bored expression, then checked his imaginary watch again. "Well, I've had a lot of fun, but it's getting late. We should do this again sometime. Say next year? I'll call you."

The Demon's eyes burned red.

Callum saluted them and without so much as a glance back, he left Kavannah Park.