Rustle…rustle… I open my eyes. Huh? What time is it anyway? I stumble around until I find my alarm clock. 4:23 A.M.!

Rustle…rustle…confused, I sit up and look around. Eventually, my eyes land on Sacho, Still wearing her koala-themed pajamas and bunny slippers. She’s sitting on her knees, and staring out of my window, into the street below, just waking up from its slumber.

“Erm…What are you doing?” I ask, still sleepy.

“Don’t you remember?” Sacho softly exclaims. “I have to gather intel on humans. I’ve found that waking up early to study the streets a good strategy.”

I can tell that waking up early is not the only thing that’s on Sacho’s mind.

“You can tell me, I won’t judge.”

Sacho sighs, sad. It seems that she’s worried about something.

“Tomorrow, I have to go on a mission. I’m going to have to patrol an old park.”

“Patrol?”

“There’s been sightings of elite ranked devils in the park. Suspiciously, there’s been disappearances of children in the same area.”

Oh, so that’s what Sacho’s worried about. But that also makes me think of another question…

“What’s an elite ranked devil?”

Sacho pauses, and her face drops even more.

“It’s…It's…a type of devil that can use magic, just like wizards and witches. The chances of witches dying to them is very high. Many don’t come back.”

Oh, That’s really bad. How am I supposed to…wait, that gives me an idea…

“Ah. Well then, I think it would be wise if you could take me with you.”

Sacho tilts her head to one side, with a flustered, scared, and upset look on her face, all at once. “Wha—Wha—Why would you even…?”

“Trust me, Sacho. I always work something out. I always do.”

“But it’s reckless! If you were to be hurt I would never forgive myself…”

“You wouldn’t need to. If this devil is really as bad as you say it is, We’ll both die around the same time. And if you were to die then I wouldn’t know how to get over it myself…”

Now, Sacho’s near crying, and her eyes are turning red. But despite this, she still starts to smile.

“If you’re sure…but you’ll need some gear.”

3

“How is this gonna help me on the mission?” Sacho’s given me a hat with the word ‘Veneficus’ engraved in it. I’m also wearing a cloak and baggy coat.

Sacho explains that it’s a wizard’s uniform, and it’s coated in protective potions to fight off devils. She says that it’ll be helpful if we encounter any.

Sacho also gives me a wizard’s staff that’s infused with a few basic spells; I can use it like a sword because of the magic infused within I—“Wait, Sacho, what are you…”

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Suddenly, Sacho starts doing a maneuver with her arms, in which she moved her hands in circular motions.

A ring of fire surrounds her, an awesome scarlet, that rings right around her before completely consuming her. By the time the fire dies down, Instead of wearing her koala pyjamas, she’s wearing a baggy old witch’s hat, an obsidian-black cloak and uniform, and two grey sandals.

“Okay,” Sacho muses. “Now we’re ready.”

4

Doki park is an old, run down space that’s mainly used as a hangout for teenagers, and sometimes as a place for mothers to take their children, since it has the only public playground in the area. It’s also home to the Doki woods; just like Sacho said, there’re ‘missing child’ posters everywhere. It’s honestly kind of creepy.

“Here’s the area,” Sacho says. “Now all we have to do is perform this—”

Suddenly, the unmistakable sound of a scream fills the empty park. It’s a horrible, unforgettable sound.

Sacho and I glance at each other, the realisation flowing over us. And all we can do is start sprinting into the woods.

5

“The sound came from over here!” Sacho shouts. “If we can to this right, we might be able to save a child’s life!”

After a bit more blind running, we hear another round of screams.

“HELP! HELP! MOMMY! DADDY!”

Now, we’re really desperate to find the child.

“Maybe the kid’s being taken away by the devil! If that’s the case, we’ll just have to match its speed!” I whisper, panicking, “We can’t shout for the kid, since that would notify the devil we’re here, you hear me!…?”.

Then, we hear the screams again. Now, it’s coming from the trees.

“PLEASE, PLEASE!”

Then, we hear them to our right.

“I DON’T WANT TO DIE! PLEASE, I BEG YOU!”

Sacho freezes. Now, she’s not saying a word. She’s just…frozen.

Then, she snaps her head to the floor, with a shocked, scared, and flustered look on her face. All she does is murmur something in Latin.

Suddenly, the floor becomes ice; not two seconds after, the floor explodes underneath me.

“Damn you!” comes a disturbingly icy voice.

Startled, I whirl around to see if I can find where the voice is coming from, doing nothing but trusting my pure instinct. As it turns out, this is the best decision I can make.

Standing in front of me, in flesh and blood, comes a creature draped in two icy blue wings. I can even see the blood flowing through their transparent veins. Three bloodshot eyes stare back at me, all with a disgustingly angered look.

A blue body matches up with the features, complete with a head with a noticeably darker shade of blue.

“Just my luck that you noticed my spell,” the voice continues. “How did you see through so fast?”

Sacho stares at the devil back, a blank expression covers her face. When she speaks, her voice is soft. Dangerously soft.

“Even a devil couldn’t move that fast. Very smart. I see your’e mad that I realised it was an echolocation trick, infused with your supernatural tricks.”

“You’ve got spunk,” the devil answers. “But no one can outsmart Satan or his minions.”

With that, the devil pounces, not for Sacho, but for me.

But by some magic, the devil suddenly unsheathes his claws in s l o w m o t i o n.

Because of this, I can dodge the attack.

Woosh!

The devil lands straight in the ground, before jumping back, flustered.

“What the hell? There isn’t a chance you just dodged that attack, you ungrateful—”

Before the devil can finish its sentence, I throw myself towards it, unfazed. By the time the devil finishes its sentence, I’m behind him.

“Ever heard of ‘speaking too soon?’”

Before the devil can answer, its wing swiftly falls off, leaving it unhinged.

All the monster can do is smile.

“Oh, good shot. Let’s see you dodge this.”

All of a sudden, my legs freeze, and I can’t dodge the attack. Then, the devil starts walking towards me, unsheathing its claws. All I can do is watch.

Woosh.

All of a sudden, Sacho flies past me, a glint of determination in her eyes.

In the same second, my legs unfreeze, and blood spurts out of the devil’s chest. It falls to the ground, before gasping for its final breaths.

Without missing a beat, Sacho says that if the devil tells Sacho where he keeps the children, his death will be without pain.

“I…in…” The devil can hardly speak. All it does is point towards and old cave.

***

After we rescue all the children, I realise that they’re all alive, and none have been killed. I ask Sacho why.

Sacho explains that if the bodies decay naturally, the devil will find the meat more tasty, making it our only to save innocent lives. This was definitely a lot to take in, and I think Sacho could see that.

“Hey, Niko! Remember, we have another client today. And you only have a few hours to relax before we join the other maids. So cmon, let’s get some rest back at home.”

After sneaking back in, we flop in our beds, and take a nap.