-From Yamin’s perspective of the day-

  “I'll end this!”

  “I can't lose!”

  Both the girls down in the arena were giving it all they had, firing powerful beams of energy off that drew from countering sources. One of dark, and the other of light.

  My eyes were glued to their epic duel, awaiting who would come out on top and show which power truly deserved to stand above all else.

  Mysterious shadows reinforced Indena, acting as a threat to both of them. I feared for her life as she wielded such a dangerous thing, but she not only had a point to prove, but those shadows were altering her mind too. I knew it was wrong, and my words had been nothing but rebuke to her method, but deep in my heart I couldn't help but find some admiration for her willingness to dance with the dark.

  Yalda was the one who allied with the light, turning it into the demonic bane it was made to be. Without it, there was no chance Indena could be set free. I cheered for her because this battle was all about making her see that her enemies would only get stronger, and that strength was going to be put against humanity. A surprisingly poetic set up by Indena.

  At this point, they both were fairly evenly matched. Yalda had bridged the gap between them so quickly, but I suspected Indena had more she wasn't willing to show. Her years of experience over Yalda made that clear.

  Adalyn finally realized that they were going to blow each other up if the match wasn't called. She ordered Cynthia to intervene and end their power struggle.

  Cynthia raised her wand, twirling it around her body until a transformation took place. She brightened so vibrantly and took on a yellow magical girl outfit. I'd never seen her change like that, but it was every bit as elegant as I hoped.

  With ease, she was able to sap the two combatants' power and draw it away, hurtling it up toward the sky where it exploded like a magnificent firework. I was dazzled at how trivial she made that look. Clearly she was in an echelon all of her own, dwarfing the two who'd just pushed themselves to the limit.

  As they collapsed, Yalda first, then Indena, they were both taken into an infirmary where treatment awaited.

  “They’re going to be alright, yeah?” I asked the nurse taking care of them.

  “As far as I can tell, both are going to be fine,” the nurse replied. “The best treatment has been to give them both healing potions.”

  Those were rare and expensive, but money was no object to Adalyn.

  The nurse put my mind slightly at ease, but I turned to Cynthia for a bit more critical news of their recovery. She appeared to be more focused on Indena’s condition first.

  “Indena will need more effort to fully recover. She’s been corrupted by darkness. It seems though that her fight against Yalda's light powers greatly suppressed it, so it won't be hard to perform an exorcism.”

  “How do we do that?” Marek asked Cynthia.

  “Yamin could easily flood Indena’s body with light,” Cynthia claimed, prompting me to begin building stardust energy in my hands, “but I'd like this to be more training for Yalda.”

  The light shining in my palms faded, followed by a frown on my face.

  “Isn't it a bad idea to leave her corrupted for so long?” mom asked.

  “N-no…” Cynthia stuttered, which was uncharacteristic of her, as I've noticed. “You see, during the battle with Yalda, it seems that her light powers weakened the corruption in her. It's likely that she won't even notice the lingering effects until we point it out.”

  I noticed mom had a caring hand over Indena’s head. She wasn't ignoring Yalda's condition, but she seemed especially worried about her.

  “Is that really possible?” Marek asked. “To not notice darkness in her?”

  The answer to that was dipping into spiritual domains. And as the adopted daughter of a late priest, and a member of the church myself, I had the answer.

  “We all live with a bit of darkness in us. It's part of our origin. We were made by the devil, after all.”

  My words caused Marek to take a breath. He clenched his fist and held it at his side.

  “I don't want to believe that darkness is natural to us, Yamin. It's not comfortable to me, and I'm sure it won't be to Indena either,” Marek argued.

  He could try and deny scripture all he wanted, but the truth was the truth. Mankind was not made to be good. It was only after God intervened that we were given the choice of good or evil.

  “I'm not saying you'll turn evil, Marek. But recognizing our darkest parts is the first step to fixing them.” Escaping that darkness was the instruction of scripture.

  The less of us there was holding darkness in our hearts, the weaker the Devil would be when he returned. Those that denied that truth were just going to make him stronger by feeding him the evil their hearts refused to recognize.

  Cynthia put a hand on Marek’s arm, clearly showing a loving support for him. They both were obviously very close if her instinct was to comfort him in his distress.

  “I know what the scriptures warn,” Marek said, “and I know it's all so Yalda can defeat him one day… But whenever someone mentions how we are truly evil, I just don't want to believe it.”

  “There’s still good in everyone too,” I said. “We have the choice between good and evil. Even if our true nature is corrupted, we aren't slaves to darkness anymore.”

  Not yet, anyways. When the devil returns, those who failed to overcome his power will be his servants forever. But I didn’t feel like mentioning that part now, not while Marek was gun shy about the idea.

  So long as the girls were going to be okay, my social batteries had run dry. The events of the last few weeks were finally catching up with me and I needed some alone time.

  I met back up with Adalyn, who didn’t seem to pay much mind to my request before smothering me in her care.

  “I can't believe how wild that battle was! I'm glad you stayed away from it. Y'all could have gotten hurt!”

  “Yeah,” I nervously chuckled, wondering what she'd think about all the other times I was practically in a spiritual warzone. “Do you mind if I head up to the roof? The stars are supposed to be out tonight, and I'd like to watch them.”

  Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  Adalyn sat me down in the foyer, having one of the servants fetch us some tea.

  “Now, isn't that just a splendid idea?” she cutely clapped her hands. “Mind if I joined you up there? The lil stars are so lovely this time of year.”

  At first, I was all for her accompanying me. But my social exhaustion really put a damper on that desire for company.

  “I hope you don't mind, but I'd like to spend it alone.”

  “Tisk tisk…” she wiggled her finger, scoldingly. “How many times do I have to warn y'all about this hermit side? Y’all are never gettin’ a boyfriend like that!”

  She pulled on the wrong strings, but played a funny cord. One complaint I often had about my own life was the lack of romance in it, but I hardly ever made that common knowledge to anyone but her.

  “Adalyn…” I whined, hoping she wouldn’t go any deeper into her criticism. “I can't help being shy and all that.”

  “But shyness can be a weapon if you know how to use it. It's all about being mysterious.”

  Nobody had more boyfriends than Adalyn, so either her advice was really good and allowed her to catch plenty of men in her web… Or it was terrible because she couldn’t keep them around. Regardless, I didn’t have half the emotional strength she did for chasing a boy's tail. I was hoping they'd chase after me instead.

  “It’ll happen, lil’ Yamy,” she assured, sipping freshly made tea. “But in the meantime, stick around with me and you’ll be an expert on boys in no time.”

  “I…” I blushed, unable to look her in the eye. “Alright… But can I use the roof or not?”

  I had come here with the intention of getting her permission for that, and personally, talking about boys was only advancing my social strain to new levels.

  “Go right ahead. Do whatever you’d like here. This house is your home, forever and ever!” She put down her teacup and clapped her hands again with a cute smile. “As long as I’m living here, that is.”

  Her hospitality toward me was second to none. I could always count on her to be supportive, no matter what I wanted to do.

  “Thanks, Adalyn,” I smiled, taking a sip of my own tea. It was really sweet, but heck if I could name what it was.

  -☆☆☆-

  It was going to be the starry night I was hoping for. The weather man assured that the overcast that had been clouding most of the day would be gone before dusk. Adding to my unwinding, I was informed that Yalda and Indena woke up and were doing just fine. This was one of the first times in a while I felt like relaxation was actually possible.

  “Perfect.”

  The roof had lavishly been furnished with all kinds of seating and even a big pool, expressing more of the wealth Adalyn’s side of the family had amassed over the years. Not that I intended to take a swim on this autumn night, but the internal lighting it showcased was a nice blue that added to the atmosphere around me.

  I chose a long seat that reclined quite nicely, allowing me a good view of the universe without straining my neck. Just as I laid back, the clouds were parting, acting as curtains for the sunset.

  While awaiting the sun to make its final show of power over our face of the planet, I pulled out a book from my cute penguin backpack and started sketching to pass the time.

  “Shoot!”

  In all my infinite planning, I managed to forget my actual sketchbook in the room. So all my doodling had accidentally been inside of a particularly demonic grimoire.

  “Oh crud…” I uttered, examining the handsome guy I drew up in my ignorance… He looked a lot like my crush back home. A guy named Victor who worked at a cafe I frequented. The prices there were fairly high for a neet like me, but seeing him made it worthwhile.

  “It had to be a good picture too, didn’t it?”

  I wasn’t about to erase this. It wasn't even the first thing I'd drawn in this book. I made a bunch of little notes and doodles of demons I was reading about while studying. It felt all too natural to be drawing in here, so I didn’t think twice about any potential consequences, if there were any at all. The book certainly didn't react poorly, and it had a mind of its own.

  The wind began to pick up, surprising me as it got stronger by the second. The weather man hadn’t mentioned that sort of aggressive breeze, so I was terribly unprepared.

  Potted plants and other items not tied down were being pushed around, even the seat I was occupying couldn’t hold for very long before twirling around, scratching in place and making donut skid marks on the clean tiles.

  Before I knew it, the wind seemed to be converging on my position, as if angered with me for some reason.

  “What the heck is this!?” I called out, bracing myself by throwing a blanket over my body. “Help!”

  Nobody could hear my calls. This sudden tornado that localized on me was overpowering my voice.

  Things got dark, like the wind was gathering dust and pooling it around me. I was sure this was my end, as I felt my body being forced toward the edge of the building.

  A hand grabbed my hip before I was sent off the roof, then an arm wrapped around my stomach. I was forcefully tugged into the chest of someone in a…rather gothic looking suit.

  My hands gravitated up his chest, comfortably taking place on his shoulders. He was so muscular under this suit that I almost swooned. His face was just as wonderful as I hoped, but I was shocked to discover it was none other than my crush…

  “Victor!?” I breathed out in disbelief. “What the heck are you doing here?”

  “My lady, what a wonderful name you’ve gifted me… Victor… I love it…”

  His voice was so deep and seductive, baffling me completely with its charm. Red eyes gazed into my own cinnamon coloured pupils, further stunning me with his odd and surprising rescue.

  That odd colour made me curious to observe more of his features… Tiny little horns were peeking out from his medium length curly hair, and his skin was paler than I remembered, almost like he was light as a ghost. Strangest of all, his ears were pointed. He looked exactly like a demon.

  “You’re not Vic…” I tried to wiggle out of his grasp, but he had me good. “Who, or what, are you?”

  He had a mildly confused look on his face, but a smile broke that quickly. Slowly he inched his mouth close to my ear to whisper something…

  “I’m whatever you want me to be, my lady…”

  Torn between whether this was the creepiest moment of my life, or one of the greatest, I slapped him in the face and once more tried to escape his grasp. However this guy got here, and for whatever reason he rescued me from flying off the roof, something was very off.

  While struggling, I heard a faint voice approaching…

  “Kissy face!”

  I peeked to my side to see Yalda pointing at us, not even attempting to suppress her snickering or funny looks.

  From her perspective, it probably looked like we were trying to kiss. I mean, the guy did kinda' look like he was going in for a kiss, and I was pouting a bit while struggling, but that wasn’t what was going on at all!

  I shoved the man forward with all the strength my weak arms could muster, finally breaking his grasp. He dramatically tripped backwards, but quickly caught himself, commenting something irreverent that my mind rejected.

  “Sh-shut up!” I yelled at him. “You’ll give her the wrong idea!”

  “I like this feisty side of you! I’ll do whatever you say, my lady.”

  If it weren’t for that handsome face of his, I’d probably have smacked him with the grimoire… Speaking of which, the book was no longer in my hands. I patted myself down as if such a large text could have been hidden in my tight clothing.

  “Where’s the book?!” I announced.

  “The book?” the guy’s brow raised. “Oh, you mean the grimoire…” he presented himself in a confident showcase. “My lady, I thought you’d recognize me… Oh, wait… Suppression arts? Interesting… No wonder she couldn’t tell.”

  “Wait, this guy’s the book?” Yalda announced in shock. “I can’t even sense his energy…” she walked up closer to him. “And what did he just say about suppression arts? What is that?” She turned to me now. “Yamin, what’s going on here? Who is this?”

  She knew about as much as I did. For whatever reason, it seemed like the grimoire had apparently just taken on a new form. I had a feeling it was going to be a long night…

  -More art of Yalda from @CenturyRobot! Thank you so much!!! It's 2 of 3-

  Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed, please support me, Taylor The Writer, here on Royal Road! :)

  Here's a link to CenturyRobot's page BTW! Thank you again so much for the artwork!