“Mrs. Lee, I’m home!” You called, closing the front door softly.

                Mrs. Lee rushed out of the kitchen over to you, smiling. “Ah, finally! You can just call me mom, though. I have taken care of you for practically your entire life. And how was my favorite daughter’s job interview?”

                You smiled sheepishly. “I’m your only daughter… And it didn’t go well. I don’t think I’ll be getting called back any time soon… I’m sorry.”

                She smiled sadly, wrapping you in a hug. “Oh baby, don’t worry, okay? You’re young. These people who don’t hire you, they’re missing out. You have nothing to worry about, though. We’ll keep you healthy here, okay?”

                You nodded, smiling and hugging Mrs. Lee back. “Thanks, Mrs. Lee.”

                She pulled away, looking at you with a beaming grin. “Come on, dinner’s just about ready. I made a special recipe of mine again today! Oh, and it’s still just mom. Drop the formalities, okay honey?”

                You grinned. Her recipes always tasted amazing, and you were excited to try this one. “I’ll just be a moment!”

                You rushed up to your room, drinking the last of your coffee right before you collapsed on your bed. “Ughhhh,” you groaned. You were exhausted, and no matter how good your mother’s cooking was, you just wanted to sleep.

                Luckily for you, the scents of Mrs. Lee’s cooking wafted into your room before you could doze off, immediately shocking you awake. It smelled amazing. Like steak, and… fire?

                You sat up straight, catching the scent again. This time, you were positive. That was smoke. And after that, a scream. You got up and dashed out of your room, the door slamming shut behind you. The narrow hallway leading into the kitchen was filling with the grey smoke, causing you to double over in a coughing fit.

                “Mrs. Lee!” You yelled, walking towards the kitchen. “M- Mom!”

                You looked into the kitchen, a scream of your own escaping your mouth.

                Mrs. Lee, the woman who had taken care of you for so many years, lay on the ground, an unseen wound making a scarlet flower bloom in the fabric of her shirt. You ran over to her, ignoring the smoke. “M- Mrs. Lee, wh- what happened?”

                “My daughter…” Coughing, and a faint smile. “I- It’s here… It finally found you…” More coughing.

                “Mom, that doesn’t make any sense!”

                “Watch out for the shadow creatures… Trust-” Coughing, the light in her eyes begins to fade. “Hoseok, he knows what to do…”

                “Please, explain what you mean! I- I don’t understand.” You took her frail, shaking hands in your own. “Please, d- don’t leave, please!”

                Another smile, and the forming of a word. Before she could speak, her peaceful expression turned into one of fear. “Interitus…” She whispered, right before an arrow pierced her side. Your mother let out a scream of pain, before falling still. Her hands, barely gripping on to life, slip out of your own as the light leaves her eyes.

                You watch in horror, then turn around to find what sort of monster released the killing blow.

                While before there had been nobody there, a figure appeared out of the smoke. You looked up to the stove; there was no sign of food cooking at all, there was no fire to create the smoke.

                A laugh erupted from the condensing form, taking on the shape of a man. Everything about him seemed to be grey; grey skin, grey clothes, grey bow. His eyes, however, were not. Instead of eyeballs, two balls of flame were in their place.

                He laughed again, then spoke with a raspy voice like that of crackling fire. “It was about time the little nuisance met her end. Always protecting you, making sure you were safe.”

                You looked up at him, shock and pain evident in your composure. Finally, with a cough, you said, “Wh- Who are you? Why would you do this? What do you want?!”

                He simply laughed again. “Well, what all of us want. To kill you, of course!”

                None of what the being was saying made any sense. It didn’t matter, all you could focus on now was trying to survive. You stood up shakily, grabbing Mrs. Lee’s favorite kitchen knife and holding it out in front of you shakily. “If you try to kill me, you won’t succeed! I- I won’t let you.”

                He laughed again. “And what makes you think you can protect yourself? Look how easily this woman died at my hands. What makes you any different?”
                You faltered. There was nothing that made you any different from Mrs. Lee. Except of course, that she was much kinder, stronger, and wiser than you were. Nonetheless, you held out the knife, tightening your grip. “I- I don’t know. But I know that I won’t let you win! You took my mom. I just have to distract you until Mr. Lee comes home. I- I-”

                The creature laughed again. “You don’t think I already took care of him? He was always the reject soldier. He can’t stand a chance against any one of my shadow brethren. I am Interitus, I was created to kill! It looks like you’ll never see the two people who cared about you again. You might as well just give up now.”

                Interitus laughed again, then held out his hand. A whirling ball of flame erupted in his palm, and he flung it towards you.

                Yelping, you jumped out of the way, watching in horror as it set the first real fire in the kitchen. Interitus laughs, seemingly amused by every small thing you do. “It’s been so long since I was allowed to go kill someone!” He grinned, revealing jagged black teeth, and prepared to launch another attack. You flinch, instinctively turning your back and preparing to die.

                Before he could strike, he yelped, causing the flame he had prepared to flicker out. You glance over to see Hoseok standing inside your house, the orange-haired man you had bumped into at the coffee shop next to him. Both had swords drawn, determined looks on their faces. You stared at them.

                “H- Hoseok? What’s going on? Who is that? And who is this?” You motioned towards the demonic being, eyes wide.

                Hoseok glanced at the orange-haired man and he nodded, walking over to you while sheathing his sword. “Come on, miss. You need to get to safety.”

                “B- But what about Hoseok? He can’t fight that thing!”

                The orange haired man looked over at Hoseok. “I told you, she wouldn’t agree.”

                “Jimin, just get her away from here, okay!” He yelled, deflecting a fireball on the flat of his sword.

                You looked over to Jimin pleadingly, determination burning in your eyes. “Please, I- I need to help him.”

                Jimin sighed, shaking his head. “I’m not taking you anywhere until you help, am I?”

                You shook your head, looking over at Interitus. “I’m going to fight with my friend.”

                Jimin looked over to Hoseok, then sighed again. “Fine. Go have your fun.” He drew his own sword again, advancing on the demon.

                Interitus laughed, looking at the three of them. “You really think you can best me? I come from the shadows, I am thousands of years old, you are simply a speck of sand in a desert to me!”

                Hoseok stepped forward boldly. “Then why don’t you just kill us?”

                The demon sneered. “She won’t let us unleash our full power yet, waiting for the final attack and such. Ah, whatever. Small matter. I don’t need to use all my strength to defeat you!”

                Jimin laughed. “Stop talking and fight, you bastard!”

                Interitus nodded solemnly. “As you wish, mortal.” He roared, turning and sending a wall of flame towards Jimin, who jumped out of the way. Interitus growled and held out his hand, but instead of another ball of flame appearing, smoke appeared and condensed into a blade.

                He swiped at Jimin, who parried with his own sword. Hoseok jumped in, attempting to jab at Interitus, and you used your small kitchen knife to attempt to help fight.

                You could see that Hoseok and Jimin were in a losing fight. Interitus continued to push them back with walls of flame, cornering them in the kitchen. You watched in fear as the demon focused on the two boys, a grin spreading across his smoky figure.

                “I’ve been waiting for an eternity to get to kill some of your kind again… It was only a matter of time before I got the chance. And once I kill you, the girl…” He turned towards you, laughing. “The girl will have nobody to protect her, and Her Highness will be very pleased to see her again…”

                Hoseok looked over to you, smiling slightly. “You have to run now, okay? Please?”

You shook your head, looking down at the knife in your hand. With a last war cry, you slashed at Interitus.

He only laughed. You looked up in shock, watching a humorous expression cross his face. “Your mortal weapons can’t hurt me. It’s intriguing to see you try, though. Now stand back! I want to enjoy killing these two Warriors. They’re beginning to get on my nerves.”

You screamed, watching as he put his blade up to Hoseok’s neck. It slowly dug into your friend’s flesh, even though he barely winced.

You continued to scream, watching as blood began to trickle down Hoseok’s neck. He looked over to you, smiling. “It’ll be fine,” he said quietly. “You need to run, please.”

Your vision began to black out, screams blending in with the silence that overtook your thoughts. The last thing you saw before you collapsed was the bright blue outline of a woman, running towards the demon and driving a dagger into his smoky body. He screamed, a sound worse than anything you had heard before, and disappeared.

Then, the darkness took over completely.

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AN: Hi there! This is going to be my first attempt at a longer story. I'm probably going to update less frequently, but when I do update I will try to make the chapters quite lengthy. Seeing as this is my first story like this, please tell me if there's anything I can improve on in the comments, any feedback is appreciated! Also, a huge thanks to my friend clovern for dealing with my insane rambling and helping me form a coherent storyline! Anyways, thank you so much for reading this; subscribing would be appreciated, and I'll do my best to keep this story going! Byee!