Blood Moon: Awakening

Chapter One

The dust settled around Giza as the portal shrunk until it became no more than a dot. There were no living demons in sight. The soldiers set up their energy meters around to check for trace amounts of source energy while James sat atop a dead minotaur, panting. His black hair was soaked in sweat and his irises were constricted and had a red glow. He felt a tap on his shoulder. 

"You okay man?" 

James turned to see his closest friend, Abubakr. He had a concerned look in his eye. James raised his head as his irises returned to their normal grey color.

"I'll live," he groaned.

"It's that unstable huh?"

"Yup, I have to maintain a high level of focus to keep it under control. The core is very much alive at this point and it keeps on trying to take over."

"Amazing how you can say that without a care in the world."

"I don’t let it bother me. I'll just keep on fighting until I can overcome the hold it has on me."

As the two friends talk, the commander looks at James intently from afar. His second in command approached him with the complete report on casualties.

"Sir!"

"Report!"

"We lost two special unit soldiers, eighty injured out of which fifty-seven are in critical condition. Forty-two dead and eleven have gone insane. Four demon cores were recovered."

The commander clicked his tongue.

"Sir?"

“Indomitable power is what we need! I don't get why they keep transferring the strong special units to France.”

“The demons over there are said to be more ferocious.”

“And what of it? They leave us with weaker sources and trainees. Letting a lot of us normal soldiers die in vain." The commander clenched his fist so hard it began to bleed. After a brief moment he let his hand free and said,

"Just imagine having more like him."

"Who?"

"He couldn't even manifest the full armor nor is his core stable. Yet with the red source, he was able to change the tide of this battle and control such destructive power."

"Oh! James Lock of the special unit. He's quite formidable."

"Hmph... Gather the dead and let’s move back to base!" The commander ordered and everyone began to move slowly.

James and Abubakr were heading towards the other special unit soldiers when the energy readers spiked. There was a brief pause as every special unit soldier could feel the presence of a demon. Before they could react, a demon burst out from a pile of bodies. An energy blade extended from its upper wrist as it dashed quickly towards James. Abubakr pushed him out of the way but had his right hand (at elbow point) sliced off in the process. He screamed in pain as he rolled on the ground with blood gushing out uncontrollably. James eyes were filled with despair, frustration then anger as he gritted his teeth. The demon took a few steps backwards with its energy blade crossed in a guard stance as if waiting for its opponents’ next move. 

It was humanoid and dressed in tattered clothes with a ripped cape around its neck. Its green energy rose calmly till it formed an emerald chest plate.  The other two special units were still dumbfounded as what had happened didn’t fully process in their minds.

“Kamil... isn't that Captain Edward Von Schwarz?” one of them spoke as he held his chest in disbelief. The humanoid demon was panting as it bit its lips in disappointment.

James rushed at the demon with a strong right jab. His irises glowed bright red. He concentrated his energy on his fist and struck the demon. It blocked his fist, but the force caused its legs to drag backwards several meters. James tried to infuse more energy but suddenly fell to his knees as his head began to pound. His red energy started rising slowly but it was as though it was suffocating him. The demon smiled and slowly walked towards him.

"Attack!" The commander yelled.

The soldiers around immediately opened fire. The demon clasped its hands together and formed a rectangular energy shield to deflect the incoming gunfire.

"Canon fire!"  

Several tanks fired and huge shells slammed into the energy shield, smashing it, and sending the demon flying into a pile of bodies. The soldiers continued firing at its direction.

"Medic and containment unit! Move out!"

The containment units headed towards James. They injected him with a bluish serum. His energy diffused and he went unconscious. The medics headed to Abubakr and stopped the bleeding of his right hand. The two were carried out of the battlefield on stretchers.

“Tch! You two! Don’t just stand there! Attack!” The commander sneered at the other special units. 

“Robert... we have to go. That’s not our former captain. That’s just another demon. In respect to him. Let’s end it quickly!” Kamil reassured his colleague. The two infused their blue energy and out formed their full armor and swords.

The demon started throwing the bodies of its dead allies and soldiers alike while trying to escape the battlefield. The tanks fired again. Its eyes widened as it saw the incoming shells. The demon gathered energy to enhance its blade and sliced the shells in half. This was immediately followed by explosions hitting the bodies around it. Robert suddenly appeared by its side and attempted to strike. It gritted its teeth as it struck back and their blades clashed. There was a little struggle but in favour of Robert. Rage filled his face as he began to overpower the demon. 

The demon perked up as it sensed something coming from above. Kamil was in the air with his blade pointing downwards. He descended with incredible speed, but the demon was quick to react. It used its left hand to create an energy blast in Robert's direction, propelling itself away just before Kamil could strike it down. It crashed against a boulder, badly battered and desperate for air. The tanks readjusted their aim and fired. It barely moved before the shells blasted nearby. It was thrown several meters away by the force of the explosion. It landed on its back; it was bleeding from the back of its head with its vision blurry. It struggled to sit up when both Kamil and Robert dashed at it and at the same time, they struck. It released a second energy blade from its left wrist and blocked both their swords with its lower back on the floor. Its face filled with desperation as it struggled to push back against them. 

“The weapons are the same, its resourcefulness is also the same! what the hell is going on?” Robert thought to himself while gritting his teeth. 

“I watched you die!” Robert screamed. “The former captain of the legion squad! You damn demon! How dare you take his face!" His eyes filled with hate as he pushed against the demon who at this point was sweating heavily with a face revealing almost hopelessness.

"You humans get so emotional over little things. That’s why..." It mumbled as its hand shook and hair covered its eyes.

"Huh?"

"That’s why it's so fun to toy with you!" It exclaimed with a devious smile that filled its face. A green energy suddenly engulfed the area around them, and the ground exploded creating a large dust screen. 

The dust screen settled gradually as it revealed both soldiers’ unconscious without their armors, their clothes torn and feet burnt, laying on the ground with blood dripping from their heads. 

The commander was in shock at what was happening. He clenched his fist and yelled. "Find its location immediately." 

"Yes sir!"

"If the commander of the special units found out, she'd have my head. We can’t afford to let this demon escape." The commander thought to himself as he bit his finger, his eyes glaring as though he could rip apart everything within his sight. A soldier walked up behind him. 

"Sir! Satellites indicate that its moving underground, already 24km heading north west. Sir." 

"North west?  why would it? Holy shit!"

"Is there a problem sir?"

"You fool! It knows that a transport center is in that direction. It must still have some of its human memories. Only God knows where its headed to after reaching that center! Contact close by units to stop it from reaching the transport center but be discrete."

"Sir Yes Sir!" he saluted. The special unit soldiers were taken on stretchers to their vehicles as they drove to camp.

About two hours later, James woke up. He was a bit drowsy. He sat up on his bed and palmed his face while trying to recall what happened. As the memories flooded in, he began to sweat a little. He stood up and walked slowly down the hall in the main base. As he gradually regained his energy, he could hear someone being scolded in a separate room. Shortly after, the commander came out of the room. He looked as though his soul had been removed from his body. He turned to James and stared at him with hopelessness before walking away. A man with a slim stature dressed in a blue suit, blonde hair and a mustache walked out after and told James that he was next. James walked in and was seated in front of the man.

"How are you feeling now?" the man asked.

"I’m okay."

"No need to be tense, she doesn’t want to speak to you either." The man said as he picked up James’ file. 

James let out a sigh of relief.

"Don’t feel so relaxed. The core is eating you faster than we anticipated. At this rate, you'll end up like the former captain, Edward, only not K.I.A."

James clenched his fist as he looked downwards.

"I've set up arrangements for you to be De-extracted. It comes with severe side effects, but at least you'd still be alive"

"How's Abubakr and the others?" James asked.

"That’s rude. Don't change the subject."

James ignored him. "What about the demon?"

"Hey! I said don’t change the subject." The man was getting slightly irritated. 

"Was it taken down?"

There was a moment of silence. Then the man burst out a calming yet intimidating amount of white energy as he leaned closer to him. James could feel the pressure and as he lifted his head to look at the man, he became terrified.

"Change the subject again and I'll fucking kill you! Do you understand... boy?"

"Yes Sir!" He responded with a forced smile despite trembling.

There was a brief pause again and the man sighed.

"Fine... Your friends are okay, they’ll recover soon. Abubakr however, is being forced to retire to trainer. He lost his dominant arm and would really be a burden on the frontlines."

"But you can't just..."

"Well, I didn't. I don't have much jurisdiction here."

"Shit... Why are you even here?"

"I got bored in France and came all the way to see my student."

"That’s awfully nice of you Colonel Louis. Did you bring flowers along?"

Louis energy increased and the walls began to crack.

"It was a Joke!"

"As I was saying...Captain Edward reached the transport center and really did a number on it. His location was oddly specific. The New York facility which has been abandoned for a while."

James tried to talk but Louis cut him short.

"Word has been sent to America. They'll handle it from here."

"We can’t leave it to them. This is our base’s problem. Letting another base takeover would speak of incompetence on our part."

"Wasn't it incompetence that led to the escape of the former captain in the first place?" Louis smirked as he retorted sharply. James frowned at him.

"What?" and after a brief silence... "I am here to tell you first of your De-extraction process and to ready you for what’s to come. If by some chance I took a stroll to meet her, and a certain person leaves to fix his unit’s mistake... That will be an interesting turn of event."

James eyes lit up. Colonel Louis stood up and walked out of the room.

"Be careful. There are not many times a fish out of water makes it back to sea."

"Ah...ha..."

"Don’t mind me."

As the events in Egypt were occurring, in New York, a teacher, with bruises on his face was stripped to his undies and his limbs tied together with his tie.

"Please...Forgive me... I won't do such again."

"You started this... You should see it through till the end!" Kris, an average height American teenager with brown hair and blue eyes, lifts the teacher easily and throws him out the window a story up.

"Well people... That’s all for this class." Kris laughed as he dusts his palms with a smirk. Some people began to applaud him, and he acknowledged the praise.

"As brutal and as embarrassing as always." A boy murmured to another as he stood up to leave the class.

"You are relatively new... Once in Junior high, he went crazy and while trying to beat down a single teacher, he ended up taking down the schools entire staff unit including the police that were invited later."

"The fuck? Is he superhuman?"

"He's definitely not normal."

"Kris!" A voice bellowed from outside the class. An old Janitor walked in and smacked Kris on his head. After a little while, the old man groaned in pain as his back snapped and his hand began to ache. Kris looked round the classroom and everyone quickly rushed out. 

He turned to the old man and sighed, “Mr. Darwin. You know you are only going to keep hurting yourself.”

"Shut up...whose fault is that! You ungrateful brat. How dare you throw out your teacher!"

"Yeah yeah, let me have a look." He touched the man's back and was able to adjust the flow of his chi in order to relieve him of the back ache.

"Argh... Can't you be gentle?" the old man protested.

He gets a hold of the old man's hand and could feel the points at which the bones shifted. He positioned them sharply and Mr. Darwin screamed.

"Why don’t you learn how to treat the elderly properly." Mr. Darwin sobbed although his hand felt better shortly after. 

Kris rolled his eyes. "I'll help you up."

Mr. Darwin made Kris follow him down the hall as they headed outside the building. The old man sat Kris down outside on the staircase.

"Have you taken your medications today?" Kris asked 

"Hmph! Checking on me doesn't change what you have done."

“So that means... you haven't. Once you take them, I'll be willing to listen to you.”

“You brat...”

“Or would you prefer your blood pressure gets the better of you?"

"Tchh..."

Kris went in to get a bottle of water which he dragged from a student. Mr. Darwin used his drugs and they both sat in silence for a bit.

"If only you could open your mind to care for others just as you show concern for me." Mr. Darwin said softly as he looked at Kris.

"Not this again..."

"Just answer me."

"You didn't ask a question."

"Kris..."

"People aren't worth it, they'd rather leave a starving child to his death than offer him a piece of bread. They only hang around you when they think it's profitable to them. They can all go to hell..."

"But..." 

"But you are different... You saved me and took me as your own."

"I just needed someone to help with the dishes."

"Do you want me to punch your face in?"

"Hmph!... Like you would."

"Tch..."

Mr. Darwin sighed. "The principal isn’t going to be happy out this."

"Not like he can do anything about it. He's afraid that I'll send him to the hospital if he expelled me."

"But you would."

"Tempting idea..." Kris smiles sheepishly 

Mr. Darwin smacks his head but this time with his shoe. Kris looks at him then slowly placed his hand over his nose.

"That stinks just as much as your breath."

"No it doesn’t!"

"Pfft..."

"You runt!"

Kris rolls his eyes and the old man sighed.

"You have amazing gifts. So much strength and so quick learning. I can’t believe that most of what you know comes from the TV and books. Even the mysterious thing you just did now."

"Chi control? it’s not that mysterious..."

"Yeah whatever... You kids and your stuffs. The point is, you shouldn’t use them for selfish reasons. It doesn’t take much to do the right thing you know... The world is far more amazing than you could ever imagine. It may seem cruel from the little that surrounds you but it’s definitely worth protecting."

"This will make it exactly the three hundred and forty sixth time you’ve said those exact words. I ask again. Are you sure you haven’t gone senile?"

"You sure like making fun of me!"

"Hehehe..."

"Alright, you should head to class. Promise me you'll apologize to the teacher you threw out the window."

Kris sighs... "Alright then... if it means you'd stop bugging me about it."

"Thank you." The old man sighed as Kris left for class. After waiting a little while as the wind blew gently, he stood up and headed back to work.

At the American base in Washington, the satellite linked with energy trackers were searching and trying to trace the exact location of captain Edward. The results were being displayed on a large monitoring screen.

"Sir... his energy has been tracked to a general location."

"He is smart.” A one-handed Asian scientist said with a smile.

"We can't tell which one it is."

"He chose an area with a lot of population. In order to hide his presence, he distributed his energy to cover the area as such it would seem that everyone present there is him."

"This makes it difficult to apprehend him."

"He can’t fully recover while maintaining that amount of spread-out energy. Just keep track of everyone present with the flow of energy. When he can no longer maintain it, we’ll capture him. I want to know why he came here.”

"Yes sir!"

"Sir an unauthorized transport is about to appear in base."

"I already know who it is... Damn that Louis."

James came out of the transport center. He was stopped by two special unit soldiers in full green armor.

"I'd like to see Dr. Yu Lock. Head scientist in this base. Knowing him, he already knows why I am here."

"Woah... hold it there man... That's not how things work over here." One of the soldiers sneered at him.

"I don't have time to deal with you two... let me pass!"

"And what if we don't..."

"Well then..." James eyes glowed red. His energy began to rise gently.

"Now now, no need for us to be so feisty..." The Asian scientist, Dr. Yu Lock stepped in to break the conflict.

They let James pass as he walked towards the doctor.

“Have you located him?” James asked bluntly.

“Not even a greeting? or a hug? my God you are just as ill-mannered as your mother.”

"Why don't you tell her that yourself." 

The doctor felt a cold shiver down his spine as he stopped in his tracks.

“Well... even if we have, you won't be allowed to do as you please.”

“I am a red source. My powers would be more than sufficient to kill him.”

“Yes, and we also have blue sources which could also do it. As well as green sources that would be a match. Your power is great but then it’s not particularly necessary at this point... Plus weren't you there on the battlefield with him? How come we are cleaning after your own mess?”

“You know why!” James scoffed.

"Excuses... Plus you are going to be de-extracted soon, so that power won’t be yours for much longer.”

“And you say that without a care in the world?” James sneered 

“You are old enough to not need to be pampered in the face of the harsh truth.”

“Tch... What if you’re unable to contain it?” 

“That's why I haven't sent you back yet.” 

James paused as he stared at the doctor.

"We follow protocols here. But of course, I realize that the demon being in the body of Captain Edward and retaining all his memories would pose far more difficult than can be anticipated... You will just have to wait and see."

A soldier interrupted them. "Sir... we have a sudden spike in source energy on someone."

"Bingo. It can't keep the act for long. It would need to gather its strength. Keep track of its location.

"Sir! Orders have been sent from above. They are dispatching three green source and a blue source.”

“Tch... this isn’t the time to be stingy with our power!” Dr Yu scoffed as he slams his fist against the wall.

“We'll just have to wait and see.” he added as he walked towards a chair facing the big monitoring screen.

Night time arrived and Edward was tracked to a warehouse. The source soldiers entered the building and began to search for him. 

"He's close. Keep your eyes open!" Joseph, the team's leader ordered.

Everywhere was silent. The wind whooshed loudly.

David, a green source, looked at Joseph. “Something's not right.” He noted.

They heard a scream from one of the soldiers and the three ran towards the direction. 

They arrived at the source and found that Edward had stabbed the energy blade through the soldier's neck, his hand over the soldiers’ mouth as he smiled at the others. Blood gushed out as his body was convulsing pushing out even more. The soldier's hand was slowly rising in a faint cry for help. The others’ faces were filled with exasperation watching their comrade.

"You motherfucker!" Joseph yelled as he dived in to attack.