Men in White

We were crying our hearts out when we saw the man in white coming out from the woods. At that moment, all of our worries seem to disappear and we thanked God for answering our prayers. The entire silent forest was filled with our tears of joy and relieved and we all went to hug the leg of this man who came out from the forest.

The man seemed puzzled by our reaction but he seemed to understand our situation.

"Hey, erm… I can see that the two of you are extremely distressed and I am glad I got to find the two of you here. However, do the two of you know the way to out from this forest because I got separated from my buddy and I am lost."

Our happiness started to turn into worry. This man has no idea where he is now. But by the look of it, he seemed to be a capable person.

He grabbed each of your hands and we were walking side by side. My sister on the left and I am on the right. I could feel his hands were coarse as if he has been washing dishes all throughout his life.

His outfit glowed in the dark and it felt like a beacon of hope in this darkness.

We wiped our tears as we followed him wandering around the forest.

And then, we saw another man in white walking out from the forest. Behind this man was a familiar face.

"Ms Brenda!" we both shouted her name as we saw her.

"Hmm, you two seem to know this lady," said the man who was standing in front of her.

"Yo, James! Where the hell were you!"

"Ah, sorry about that, Jolly. I got lost."

"How can you get lost when the only thing you are supposed to do is to just follow me," said the man with the name Jolly. Thanks to Jolly, we now know the man who was holding our hands warmly was called James.

James shrugged his shoulders.

"Oh, look at you two, poor dears," said Ms Brenda.

We were about to cry again because finally, we were out from this hell.

But then, a strong vibration was felt and James released our hands quickly and pushed us to the back. Jolly quickly stood in front of Ms Brenda and shoved her to the back. Jolly pulled up a long spear that was hanging behind his back. It was pure white and it shines in the dark.

James unsheathe a blade from his waist that was hidden underneath his robe.

The forest was shaking and birds were flying out from the trees as something was approaching us quickly.

I could smell a familiar scent. It was the beast who released us.

From the woods, the beast sprung out and pounce towards us with tremendous speed.

Jolly thrust his spear but missed as the beast was agile and it dodged it even though it was in mid-air.

The beast was aiming towards the two little girls. Its eyes were crimson red and were filled with animosity. It was snaring its teeth at the two of us.

We couldn't recognize it anymore as the beast who let us go. Now, it was so ferocious.

James blocked its path and stopped it from its track.

"Jolly, bring the old lady and the girls out from here!"

"Alright, I trust that you can handle it." Jolly quickly ran and grabbed the two girls to escape. Ms Brenda follows closely behind as she grabbed one of Jolly's hands. Jolly tried to run at a manageable pace so that Ms Brenda can catch up but so far Ms Brenda was quite athletic to match his pace.

"Hold on!" shouted Taylor.

"That beast saved us!" that what she was able to say before James went out of his sight and he clashed with the beast.

The beast upon seeing the girls disappearing into the woods went into a huge frenzy and started slashing the entire place with its long and curved claws.

James was able to hear the last words of the little girls called Taylor and inside his mind, he was questioning himself.

"This beast saved the girls. How is that possible."

The beast let out a long howled and started throwing consecutive attacks toward James without letting him catching a break.

James was able to keep up with its frightening speed thanks to the training he received from Master Elion.

"Alright, I have enough of this, time to end this!"

James unsheathed his second blade and swung it towards its head.

But the blade stopped and the beast disappeared. No, he didn't disappear. He teleported behind him and the beast quickly vanished into the forest.

"Oh no," said James but he was surprised as another being was in front of him, holding his second blade with his bare hand.

"Greetings, fellow Exorcists," said the man who was gripping the blade tightly so that James couldn't pull it out from his hand.

Calling him a man was really correct. To be more truthful, it was just a black shadow that looked like a man. James's medallion was vibrating but it started to calm down, which was strange. The medallion didn't react to the entity in front of it. In fact, it seems to be reacting to the beast who was chasing the girls.

"It seems that you are cutting down the wrong demon," said the shadow.

"What do you mean," James let go of the blade and took a few steps back.

"Here, I don't want your blade." The shadow threw back the blade back to James. James catches and he was more confused.

"You seem like a reasonable guy. I am glad that the Church send you instead. You see, I was the one who called for the Church to aid this situation."

"You?" said James.

"Yes, me."

"Aren't you a demon?"

"Well, technically I am but not really. Erm, it's a bit complicated but I don't seem to have enough time to explain it to you. So I am going to be straight forward with you. The real demon that I was hoping that you would slay is that old woman who your friend helped to escape just now. She is the beast's master. The beast let the girl escape so that its master couldn't get her hand on them. But it seems that now the two of them have just walked back into the belly of the beast. So, James, would you please make the wise decision and helped me slay the demon."

"Why should I trust you?" asked James.

The shadow scratched his head.

"To be honest, I don't really know how to convince you that I am telling the truth, but the beast is chasing after the girls. Whether you like it or not, the girls' lives are in jeopardy. So, see for yourself who is the real demon. I'm sure someone like you can do that. After all, you were the one who managed to kill the demon lord Bael."

"And, yea, I need to scram now before you start to kill me instead. But please go and see for yourself. So, bye, James and I hope this is the last time I would be meeting you because you are one scary-looking guy."

The shadow vanished and James couldn't sense any trace of it.

James arrived on the scene and saw the beast laying down on the ground, bleeding. It was severely weakened and dealing the final blow shouldn't be a problem. Jolly was defending the three of them. Ms Brenda had the two girls underneath her embrace.

James ran out from the forest and Jolly noticed him.

"Thank god James, you are safe. For a second I thought the beast have you eaten."

The medallion started to vibrate vigorously when he approached the beast.

"But there's no way that's possible. Look at how weak this beast is. There's no way it would defeat you."

Strange, James thought. The beast was so easily defeated.

The beast was on the ground struggling to push itself up but it looked too weak to do that.

James looked at the girls. They were crying. The words of the little girl Taylor said to him before they escaped into the forest came into his mind.

"This beast saved the girl? But why? Are you telling me that demons who have shed away their humanity started to show signs of humanity?"

"Jolly, let me deal the final blow to this beast. I have some unsettled scores with him. You look after the 3 of them just in case things go awry."

"Okay, whatever man."

James appeared in front of the beast and unsheathe his blade. Without striking him down, the beast looked like it will die by himself.

James lifted up his blade and was about to swing it down. The beast looked him into his eyes with no sign of resisting.

"Please…..save the girls. I beg you….," said a voice inside his mind. It was a human voice but James knew it came from the beast.

James paused.

"James? What's wrong?" asked Jolly and he was scared shitless when James threw his blade towards the old lady.

Jolly, instinctively blocked it.

"Hey, James!" Jolly shouted but James had already appeared behind him and pulled the girls away from the old lady.

The old lady stared into James' eye. She was overwhelmed with fear as James was about to swing his blade down at her neck but those eyes riddled with fear suddenly changed into demon-like eyes and her old wrinkle face cracked into a wide smile.

But before James could swing down his blade, at the last second, he was blocked by Jolly's spear.

"What's wrong with you James? Are you possessed?"

Jolly could feel from the pressure of James' blade that he was serious and Jolly was having a hard time holding back his blade.

"Why are you killing the old lady?"

"Oh my god, girls, please we have to leave now, the man is going insane," said Ms Brenda as she called out to the girls. James saw that Ms Brenda face has reverted to her original face.

There's no mistake now. James knew which is the real demon.

The girls didn't budge. For some reason, the girls didn't go over to Ms Brenda.

"What's wrong girls?"

Ashley took a step forward but she was held back by Taylor who refused to move. When Ashley turned back to ask what's wrong, Taylor kept on shaking her head. Ashley could feel Taylor's hand was shaking vigorously.

"The old lady is a demon," said James bluntly

"Say what now? Are you insane? The medallion is not reacting to the old lady. And I couldn't sense anything malicious from the old lady either."

Jolly was right. There's nothing malicious about the old lady if you just look at her now. But even when just now, James saw how her face twisted into a demonic form, he couldn't sense a malicious presence as well.

"That girl. She seems to be reacting awkwardly to the old lady's request," said James.

Jolly was speechless.

"Hmm…." Jolly was thinking.

"Come on girls, it's not safe here. We have to go now. Leave the fighting to the man over there."

The girls shook their heads.

"What's wrong?" asked the old lady again.

Behind her, the beast rose up and slashed her head away.

Ashley quickly covered Taylor's eyes.

Jolly's jaw dropped at the scene.

The old lady landed and a fountain of blood squirt out from her neck.

"Seriously...."

Jolly's eye widened.

The headless body walked toward the head and picked it up. The body put back the head in its position and gave the head a full turn to re-align it.

"This is getting a bit annoying…..," said the body.

"Now, girls. I would say for the last time. Come to me," demanded the old lady.

James released his blade from Jolly's spear.

"I can't believe it," said Jolly.

The girls were absolutely terrified.

The old lady sighed. But her eyes caught something fast approaching her and she quickly defended herself by summoning a wall.

James saw the wall erected in front of him but he was fast enough to change his course and attack her from another side.

"You are the one who slew Lord Bael," said the old lady while glaring at him. Her eyes were not pleasant at all.

The old lady dodged James' strike and punched James in the face. The force was not expected from an old lady. It felt like a truck had hit James' face.

"Lord Bael was careless. He didn't expect that you are that powerful. You got to kill him because of his carelessness. He underestimated you."

James rolled back several meters due to the force.

Jolly went in to support James by dueling with the old lady.

Jolly thrusted his spear but Ms Brenda once again dodged the spearhead and grabbed the pole. Jolly could see black nails were protruding from her hands.

"Better luck next time, young man. You know I was hoping that you would kill the beast after I have gone through the effort to weaken him. You disappointed me."

Jolly mustered up his strength and swing his spear which pushed Ms Brenda flying to the woods and slamming into a tree.

"Don't underestimate me, old hag."

The little girls went over to James.

"Are you okay, Mister James," said the girls.

"Ya, ya, I am fine." James stood up and wiped off the dust from his robe. His mind was riddled with confusion.

"You two, please be careful. You never know what tricks this witch can pull. But for the time being, just stay behind us," said James and the girls agreed.

The dust settled and Ms Brenda body was cracking.

"Jeez, that broke almost all of this body's bone."

Ms Brenda's body started to morph and as if she was forcing her body to change, a new young body with a youthful face appeared in front of James and Jolly.

"Ah, finally, I can get rid of that pathetic body."

Ms Brenda was now wearing a black robe and her skin was as pale as the moon.

She wasn't that old lady anymore. She was as young as ever and her lips were purplish. She almost looked like a doll with gothic make-up on.

"Now boys, shall we dance."

Her nails elongated and she swung her hand which sent up thousands of metal projectiles.

"Shit!," remarked Jolly as he stood in front of the girls and started spinning his spear as quickly as possible to shield the girls from the projectiles.

A few managed to land on Jolly and injured him.

"Oh, my," Ms Brenda was giggling. "What a capable man."

Jolly felt a stinging sensation all over his body.

"It was poisoned, shit," said Jolly.

Ms Brenda noticed that James was nowhere in sight and she soon figure out where he was as he appeared from her side and slammed her head down to the ground.

"Impossible!"

Ms Brenda looked up and saw James' body was riddled with her projectiles.

"How are you able to stand?"

James put a finger in front of his mouth.

"It's a secret and why should I tell you?"

To be honest, James has no idea why he was immune to the poison but he figured out that it would be better to act like he has an idea of what's happening.

James sunk his blade into her head, severing the head as her mouth and anything above it was split apart.

"To be on the safe side."

James swung another one of his blades onto the ground and the friction lighted up the entire blade on fire. He stabbed the blade into Ms Brenda body and the fire spread and covered her entire body.'

James stood aside and watched the body slowly burned into ashes.

When the body turned into ashes the flames disappeared.

The moment the flames disappeared a strong wind blow and the ashes swirl like a tornado.

The ashes started to assemble themselves alongside the other things that the wind brought along with them. Leaves, branches, sand, soil, etc.

A huge spider appeared in front of them.

"You insolent…"

Before the monster could finish its sentence, James swung his blade and the force of it canceled out the wind.

The monster stopped getting bigger and the body was only halves formed due to the disturbance.

The spider collapse due to the missing leg and the disproportionate body.

"You….."

The eye started to shake in fear.

James looked down at the eyes of the spider. He brandished his blade with one another and both of them bursted into flames.

He sunk both of the blades into the spider's body and the body was ignited into flames.

"Burn to nothingness, demon."

The spider disappeared and the demon was slain.

But there's no time to waste.

James quickly attended to Jolly's weakened state.

But Jolly was good again.

He has drunk a bottle of holy water that he has been stored up before coming to this trip. It was effective against poison caused by demons.

But his robe which was meant to defend from demon's attack has been torn. However, thanks to the strong robe, the wounds weren't too deep and not much blood was lost.

The girls were gathered around the dying beast which was slowly crumbling into ashes as soon as James had dealt a finishing blow to the spider.

"Thank you," said Ashley.

Taylor was patting the beast's head and its snout.

The beast was too weak to say anything and but the beast was calmed around the girls and James could felt that the beast felt at ease as it was slowly crumbling into ash.

They all watched until the beast was no more and all was left was just ashes.

Jolly slowly pushed himself up from his injuries with his spear as support

"Let's go, girls, it's time to go home."