CHAPTER 2: THE SWORD IN THE WELL

Meixing's eyes flew open. She looked to the sky, the stars were twinkling and the night was distrubed the anguished cries of Chui Bao.

She remembered the last words she heard. Moaning and ignoring the pains wracking her body, she rolled to her front. Moving handfuls of dirt aside, she began digging into the earth in desperation while whispering the words to herself. "Dig the Earth. Free me and I shall give you great power."

She dug until her fingers bleed. Until she began losing hope. Until she stopped hearing Bao and instead, heard the demon’s maniacal laughter above her.

She finally revealed it when she moved the last piece of dirt. A sword handle was jutting from the ground. She grabbed it and heard the voice again.

"Yes... free me and I shall help you destroy all your enemies!"

She gritted her teeth and began to pull. When she failed to budge it, she added her other hand and grunted as she pulled with all her might. The sword relented and pulled free of the earth.

She frowned in disappointment when she looked at the sword. Its hilt was a simple one, wrapped in moulded rubber with a rusted D guard. Extending from the handle was a fully rusted blade with sections of it missing. Its point was bent to an angle, which she guessed was why it was hard to pull from the ground.

Another scream, this one more blood curdled rang from above her. She looked up at the starry sky with a fright. When she returned her gaze to the blade.

It had changed.

The sword now had a jewelled handle and a stylishly curving D guard which were both crimson red. The blade jutting out the handle was now a brilliant silver ending in a straight and sharp point.

Meixing could also feel herself changing as her brown dirty garb began losing its colour...

Bao stifled his scream by clenching his jaw. The demon had managed to break his leg. It advanced on him as he crawled away.

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"You believed you could kill me?" The demon laughed, still holding its injured side. "A chubby brat like you?"

"I'll kill you!" he shouted as he crawled back. “I’ll avenge my father!”

This made the demon burst in laughter. "How? When you can't even stand?"

Bao clenched his teeth. He slammed his hands into the ground and, using his good leg, launched himself at the demon with a snarl.

The demon knocked him out with one punch, causing him to collapse onto the ground.

"Stupid brat!" The demon spat at his unconscious body. "I'll enjoy eating you as much as I enjoyed killing your father!"

A shaft of light shot from the well and an eerie wind moaned all around. The demon turned to look at the well. His eyes widened as Meixing leapt from the well and landed on its lip. She wore clothes of pure white and her hair was in a neater bun hairstyle than before. Her eyes shone an eerily silver light.

The demon felt uncomfortable as he watched her. There was something wrong with this girl... something dangerous. He forced a smile. "You're still alive? Run away and I may not kill you, Girl."

Meixing did not answer. She leapt off the well and began calmly walking forward.

The demon opened its mouth and a tongue shot out at her. Meixing stopped the tongue by stabbing down at it and impaling it onto the ground. The demon screamed in pain while holding its tongue as if it was the most fragile thing in the world. He tried to withdraw it back into its mouth but Meixing was not letting up.

He leapt at Meixing, using the withdrawing power of his tongue to speed his flight through the air. Meixing pulled her silver bladed sword free from the ground, releasing the tongue. She then leapt over the demon, her foot nudging its back enough to change its trajectory.

The demon slammed face first into the well, breaking it apart with its face. Meixing landed gently, looking away from the demon that had just crashed behind her.

He got up and faced Meixing's back. His face was a mess of blood and exposed bone.

"I'll... I'll kill you!" He charged for her.

Meixing spun around, leading with her sword. The silver blade cut into the demon's chest and black blood exploded from it.

He grasped at the wound as his own black blood rained down on his face.

The glow from Meixing's eyes faded and her clothes and hair returned to normal. She looked at the sword and it had returned to the rusty look that she had found it in.

She looked at the demon as it laughed.

"You think you've won, human?" he said. "We're only the Scouting party. In 3 days, the Gecko demon army will come to this little town and turn it to dust!"

The town's protectors came rushing in armed with spears and swords. They looked at the bleeding demon, the unconscious boy and the girl standing before the dying demon with a sword in her hand.

The demon laughed as it fell back into the well, its laugh echoing and becoming louder before it ended when his body hit the bottom of the well with a thud.