I stare at her sometimes

I just can't help myself

She didn't see me, right?

She looks so beautiful

She looks so sweet

She didn't see me, right?

Does she ever look at me

See who I really am?

If she did she would love me

She'd see how much I care

How much I'd love her

But she didn't see me right

Klane stands at the head of the table with Parametris at his side. Az and Lilith are sitting next to each other hand in hand. The morning sun illuminating the dining room as the traffic from the city's morning commute provides a reassuring lull.

"From what I understand you encountered four different players last night. Two of them are unremarkable and were easily dispatched. An unnaturally large and seemingly powerful male, and most interesting a girl with a demon symbiote."

Lilith raises her hand "Actually, I killed her. The man took off with her body and I guess he got her shard too."

Klane rubs his chin "You stabbed her through the chest, correct? Even on day one I doubt that was a fatal blow. Symbiosis is a very powerful trait that only the demon can select. I highly doubt that demon understood the consequences." Klane starts to pace around the room.

"For one, if the host dies so does the demon. Secondly, the host will gradually take on more and more of the demon's natural power. Even an extremely low class demon is still exceptionally stronger and more durable than the average human. She is definitely our biggest threat right now."

Lilith's head drops into her hand "And we could have had an alliance with her if I didn't mess it up."

Parametris shakes her hands in front of her "No, you did what you thought was right. I didn't know that trait was so strong either! Don't beat yourself up over things that can't be changed! None of us are mad at you."

With a wide smile Lilith tilts her head "Thank you, Parametris"

Az raises his hand "My memory is a little fuzzy from last night, what happened to make you stop hating Parametris?"

Lilith laughs "I thought this morning would have jogged your memory Azzy" she winks at him before raising her head "Honestly, I don't know what was going through my head yesterday. I was feeling a lot of very strong emotions, they've mellowed out since then. I also realized that she's a genuinely nice person, I'm glad she's here."

Lighting up, Parametris excitedly interjects "I'm glad you're here too! I just wish it were under different-" she stops herself mid sentence "I just wish we weren't so stressed out from playing this game. So stressful!"

The room falls silent as a knock on the door echoes three times. The pounding ceases for a few moments as everyone in the room stands at attention. Resuming, Parametris walks towards the door. A familiar voice echoes from the other side.

"Az, you missed work yesterday. I can't reach Lilly or her boyfriend either. Is everything alright?"

Parametris looks through the peephole and nods before hiding behind the sofa. Az breathes a sigh of relief. Although, he remarks to himself that there's no guarantee that Ellie isn't a participant in the games. He decides that it's heavily unlikely, plus he doubts that she would have any way of knowing that he was also a participant. Klane signals to Lilith to hide with him in the next room. Heart racing, Az opens the door to his co-worker's concerned face.

"Az… You look like shit." Ellie frowns as her voice lacks any of her usual sarcasm or contempt "You heard Lilly and I talking a couple days ago didn't you?"

He lowers his head "Yeah, but that's not-"

"Look, Az." Ellie lets herself into the apartment and turns her back to her co-worker "You can't let this crush control your life. You're not a bad person. You deserve to find someone who's as excited about you as you are about them. She'll probably be as weird and as awkward as you" she laughs "but she'll make you forget all about Lilly."

Ellie sits down on the sofa, looking forlorn "You should join a club or something to meet new people. I could take you to a writing group I go to on Thursdays. I get the feeling you'd be the type to enjoy unleashing your darkest thoughts and feelings on paper."

Az laughs "Thank you for the offer, maybe another time Ellie. I'm actually pretty busy lately."

She tilts her head and gives a familiar smirk "Hey Az, is this the first time you've had a girl in your apartment?"

Almost instantaneously Az responds "No."

"Liar."

Ellie jumps up as she hears stifled laughter from behind the sofa. Darting to look behind, she finds Parametris covering her mouth with both of her hands still laughing. She stands up and starts to introduce herself before being interrupted by Ellie.

"I didn't realize I was interrupting something. Jesus Christ, Az - you moved on a lot faster than I thought you would." she nudges his arm with her shoulder.

Az emotionlessly stares at Ellie "It's not like that at all. She's just a friend."

Ellie snorts "Alright, whatever you say. I'll leave you and your cosplayer 'friend' alone." she starts to walk out of the door "Oh, and if you hear from Lilly please let me know. There's been a lot of missing people lately and I haven't been able to reach her. If she's not at work today I'm going to the police."

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

The three exchange farewells and Ellie leaves. Klane and Lilith emerge from the other room. Lilith's face is twisted and looks like she has been crying. Her arms are crossed almost hugging herself. Az approaches her and touches her shoulder.

"Hey, it's alright. She doesn't know what she's talking about obviously I only love you Lilith."

As Lilith starts to tremble she looks over to Klane "She didn't see me right?"

Klane places a hand on her shoulder "No, no she didn't."

Sighing, Lilith starts to relax her posture "I don't know how I would even begin to explain all of this."

Az looks over to Klane "We have a bigger problem. Her ex has only been reported as missing. Someone is covering it up."

——————————

Lilith bends over, hands pressed against the cement wall. She vomits for the fifth time today. Her stomach churning more and more with every passing moment. She attempts to cover her mouth with her hand but the blood soaking it makes her wretch even more.

"That makes eight today so far." Az wipes some sweat off of his forehead before placing a shard into his wrist "This last one must have gotten a kill, so it looks like this shard counted as two. So that makes ten traits for both Lilith and I. How's that measure up?"

"For day two? That's pretty low considering there's two of you." Klane folds his arms "Normally, splitting shards would be a significant disadvantage. However, if you specialize into working alongside one another can change that into a significant advantage instead. Historically, it's never been done because there can only be one winner at the end. But-" Klane glances over to Lilith who is still gagging "I don't think there will be an issue of loyalty."

Az walks over and pats Lilith on the back "Come on, what's wrong? You weren't like this yesterday.

Klane laughs "Her reaction to taking life is perfectly normal, almost all humans experience this for the first few times. It's your reaction that is abnormal."

Az stares back "What do you mean? We're in a game where we have to kill or be killed. Why would I be upset for doing what I have to do?"

With a smirk and a wave of his hand, Klane sighs "It's only noon. We should try and collect as many more shards as possible by the end of the day, it's only getting harder from here-on-out. Pretty soon people are going to realize that walking around in broad daylight with their demons gives them away, and others are going to stop falling for our-" he pauses while gesturing towards Parametris "Bait."

Az raises his eyebrows and approaches Parametris "I've been meaning to ask, why can people only see you sometimes? When I first went to talk with Lilith she couldn't see you but-"

Parametris jumps "Oh whoops! I forgot to tell you! Once the games started we all lost the ability to become invisible and intangible, that was only for the selection phase! The less photogenic of us are given more aesthetically pleasing forms to the eyes non-participants by the grace of the king, but that's it!"

Nodding before walking on ahead, Az motions for the rest of the group to follow "Let's see what we can do before sundown."

——————————

A girl jumps back and lands next to a wall of a dimly lit warehouse. Cobwebs and dust line the interior of the empty building. The girl reaches down to feel the left side of her abdomen only to find empty space and a warm embrace of blood. She caresses around the wound and feels the sensation of her skin and muscles stretching to fill it. The pain slowly starts to subside as the wound closes yet her body still feels ice cold.

The large imposing figure on the other side of the room smirks and gestures for the girl to approach. Pulling her knife out of her wrist, she charges the man. She manages to land a small cut on his arm before getting knocked back with a punch, leaving another hole in her torso.

The girl is sure of it "There's less blood this time" she remarks to herself. Beginning to relax her posture, she charges the man again before the wound has a chance to fully heal. The man hits her again, but she manages to hold her ground by holding on to his arm as it now exits the other side of her rib cage. With a smile she plunges her knife deep into the man's arm.

Emerging from the corner, a figure starts clapping. "You've improved a lot in a couple of hours, I'm impressed with you Nyx." He steps into the light to reveal a man with a slender frame with a few small burns accenting his otherwise fair skin, mostly black hair with a few lighter strands, and heterochromatic red and black eyes. The pair previously fighting disengage and stand at attention.

The demon approaches Nyx "Have you given any thought to my offer?"

She shrinks back "I don't understand it. You'll assist me after the game is over? That doesn't make any sense, I'll probably be dead by then."

Noticing a small light enveloping his demonic companion the other man turns to face Nyx. With a booming voice, the large man finally speaks "There's some things these creatures can't speak about, but silence is also an answer. Think about it," the man extends his hand out to his side "these games happen every few years according to Dmitri here, and other demons seem to corroborate this."

Stepping forward the man continues "So why have there been no rulers of the world? No new billionaires or even trillionaires making waves. This morning I took out an entire hospital building, there should have been countless reports of terrorist attacks like that happening every few years. But there's not."

The girl steps forward "So if all of this is true, then the most likely result is-" Nyx is cut off.

"For whatever reason, things are put back into place after the games end."

The demon smiles "I am bound by pact to not confirm or deny any of that information." with a tilt of his head he extends his hand "So, do we have a deal?"

Reaching her hand out, the girl answers "Yes, I hereby accept the-"

A familiar growth pops out of her shoulder "WAIT! Wait wait wait girl, don't make that pact. Now that I know my life is on the line you can be sure as shit I'm not gonna fuck with you" the blob jiggles and fidgets "Look you don't ever wanna make pacts with my kind. If they weren't mostly one sided none of us would ever make em!"

Glaring at the blob on her shoulder, the girl continues "I hereby accept the terms of your contract." Shaking Dmitri's hand, a bright light envelops the pair as the blob looks on in horror.

Dmitri turns to the large man at his side "This is the last time I'll ask-" the demon pauses and laughs "-but you're sure you saw her? One red eye and one blue eye?"

The man nods. The demon's smile contorts as his hands comb through his hair.

——————————

"My family," Parametris lowers her head "they're the reason I do anything, really. They got into trouble-" she starts to fidget with her hands "-and I don't even know what happened to them. I worry about them every day. They did so much for me! They tried to heal my eye and tried to help me be normal."

Parametris pauses and collects herself before a few tears leave her eyes "I know they're in trouble because of me. I'm a failure of a fallen angel, my one eye never darkened and I-" she stops herself as her face becomes more and more wet "I will win, and I'll repay them for everything they did for me."

Lilith places a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Parametris perks up and smiles "So-" clearing her throat "So what about you Klane? Why did you decide to participate?"

Sitting at the other end of the table Klane stretches his palm out "I have an obligation."

Pausing for a few seconds, Az laughs "Not gonna elaborate?"

Klane stands up and starts walking towards the living room. He snaps his fingers and the TV turns on. "Let's see what stage we're at" he sighs as the news segment starts.

"…scientists are blaming seismic activity for the collapse. The FBI has noted that while similar incidents have been happening all over the globe, there is no reason to suspect terrorism." the segment continues on to mundane news regarding local events and politics. A commercial soon starts playing.

A middle-aged priest smiles warmly at the camera. His short salt-and-pepper hair and bald face convey a sense of professionalism and maturity. Standing next to him are two younger priests. Behind him is the city skyline and the bright blue sky only slightly obscured by a glass window.

"Is this all becoming too much?" the priest asks, never losing his smile "Are you struggling with your vices? Are your relationships with your loved ones becoming strained? Do you feel like a pawn in someone else's sick game? For all of you struggling with your demons, the Church is here to help!"

The camera follows the aged priest as he walks across the room "For those of you who feel there is no way out - the Church has set up a facility at DuPont tower to help you get back on your feet. We can free you of those demons that control you, and-" the priest snaps his fingers "your safety will be guaranteed."