Booming noises from outside caused Raiah to fall out of bed. Velle shot up as the house began to shake.

“What the hell is going on?” Dante calls out from the other room.

“No idea!” Raiah groans while lying on her neck.

Velle climbs out of bed in a hurry, and Raiah rolls off her neck. The windows were boarded up, making them unable to check, so they ran to the front door and took a peek through the door’s curtained window. A 10-foot-tall giant stepped through the streets, stepped on cars, and was violently searched around. Peering into windows, looking behind houses, and even lifting cars.

“What are they searching for?” Raiah whispers.

“No clue,” Velle answered.

“What the hell are we supposed to do about that?” Dante questions.

“Don’t ask me,” Raiah replies.

“As long as we lay low it should pass us by,” Velle says.

She peers out the window once more, and a giant iris is sitting directly before them. Velle silently shuts the small curtain and momentarily freezes in place. 

“Run!” She shouts.

The demon rises from the front of the house and launches its giant foot into the front door as the others run toward the back of the house. Wood and various other materials go flying as the house takes immense structural damage, as they leave out the backdoor, the demon smashes into the house with all its strength. Nail by nail, board by board, the house was quickly torn apart as the demon used all its strength to topple the house. The house tipped toward the backyard as it part of the roof collapsed on the group. Dust and dirt made a fine cloud as Velle managed to break free from the rubble. She started coughing and looked back to see Dante and Raiah, lying beneath the rubble. 

“Raiah! Dante! Are you guys alright!” She shouts.

Raiah with her shaky vision begins to see Velle after her voice pierces her ears. The damage she took from the debris, left her head spinning as she could only watch. 

Velle grits her teeth and kicks through the back fence, sending shards of wood flying past the yard, and grabs the nearby stop sign. She pulls on the sign, causing the concrete to crack, she rips the sign straight out of the ground and watches as the demon comes barreling through the house. Velle confronts it in the street behind the house, she looks up at the massive creature, holding a traffic light. Velle ran forward cracking the cement and slipping between the creature’s legs, She spun her body around as she came out from the other side of his body, and slammed the demon’s heel with a wicked blow. The stop sign slammed against the back of its leg and bounced off. Velle’s arms shook as her body was almost thrown back with the resulting force.

“What?!” She exclaimed. “How tough is its skin?!”

The demon swings its weapon toward her, Velle notices it at the last second and moves out of the way. She realized as it flew past her that it was using a fir tree as a weapon. She once again circles the creature, building speed. It lifts its huge foot and stomps down to disrupt her movement, but it’s too late. She jumps toward his foot again, this time adding spin to her strike with the power of momentum and gravity she hits with an angled strike at the back of the heel. Her efforts cause the stop sign to break through the skin, tearing straight through the its tendon. The demon roars and it drops to one knee. She rips the sign out of the heel and runs around to the front of it. She jumps into the air, lands on its knee, and jumps again to fly up to its face.

“I won’t let you get to them!” She shouts.

She swings down to hit it in the eye but is instead smacked with the tree and is sent flying back into the house.

“Ugh…” She groans. Her vision begins to cloud and flashes black and white. Her hearing begins to muffle as she steadily sways from side to side. “At a time like this…?!”

She gets up and goes stumbling out of the wreckage as the demon begins wildly flailing its arms to move along the ground, slamming through the wooden fence.

“Rai, I don’t know if you can hear me, but take care of Dante, alright?” She says while looking at the unconscious Dante in the rubble.

“Velle…” Raiah says weakly. “Wait….”

The creature dives with every ounce of its energy at her, and the two go through the building entirely once again. Through the gap in the rubble, Raiah sees Velle being raised from the rubble, and tears fill her eyes as she is unable to act. She watches as Velle is devoured whole by the demon.

“Velle…” Raiah passes out beneath the rubble, tears in her eyes. Unaware a piece of wood pierced through her abdomen. The demon unaware of their presence beneath the rubble continues dragging itself down the street, slamming into cars and buildings. Like a flicker, a person wearing a headband and black clothing appeared out of thin air. Using his hands he created a strange sign, that caused a bird to appear out of nowhere. 

“Tell the master it’s as we feared.” He speaks. The bird seemingly nods as if it understood and disappears. He kneels down in the rubble, lifting the pieces off of Raiah and Dante.

“Now, what do with these two?” He whispered.

Meanwhile, darkness erupted beneath Raiah, as she tried to follow after Velle. She kept sinking deeper and deeper, each step was heavy as if she was bound by quicksand.

“Vee! Wait! Please! I need you!” Raiah shouts.

“Take care,” Velle whispers.

“Noo! Vee!” Raiah shouts.

Her eyes shoot open as she’s greeted by an unfamiliar ceiling. The floors were tatami mats the walls were all wooden, with an open window that led to a courtyard. The doors were traditional sliding doors. The smell of lavender fills the room from the incense beside her. She tried to sit up but grimaced in pain that came from her abdomen. She lifted up her shirt to see the wound 

covered in gauze. 

This place seems a bit storied to be something I’d see in Old York…” She mumbles. 

While intrigued, her attention was elsewhere as she looked around the room. On the adjacent bed, Dante was still asleep. Vaguely recalling the words Velle said to her and the events that followed, her expression soured.

“Looks like you’re finally up. You were out for almost two hours.” A man with brown curly hair explained. “You can call me Maneki. It’s more like a code name or sorts. I serve as a doctor here.”

The name struck her as familiar but with her mind in disarray, she couldn’t recall.

“There wasn’t another girl where you found us, was there?” She asks.

The young man shakes his head.

“If you’re referring to the girl who fought the demon, then I’m sorry.” He apologizes. “But, not all hope is lost! Aside from some lost blood, and a concussion, you’ll be just fine.”

Raiah sighs.

“Where are we?” She asks.

“We’re at the Shiokaze HQ. Located where you would call… Reunion Center.” He says. “Not too far from where we found you.”

“Mhmm.” She mumbles, almost lost in thought.

“Ah, right! The chief wanted to see you. Walking may hurt a bit, but just bear with it for now.” He explains.

Raiah silently nods as she gets out of bed. She followed him through the doorway to the courtyard, where bamboo stalks grew and a koi pond was just within view, In the distance she could see other people training rhythmically, some had been tossing throwing weapons, and hitting targets a great distance away. After passing through the courtyard they came upon a long creaking hallway. The boards creaked for her with each step, but she could hear nothing as Maneki stepped. They finally stopped at a giant set of doors at the end of the hall.

“Velle…” She thought.

Maneki pushed them in without breaking a sweat, and they arrived at their destination. Maneki walked in and allowed Raiah to walk inside before shutting the doors back. A man in a dark blue kimono stood at the other end of the room. Without even turning around, he spoke in an authoritative tone.

“Welcome. My name is Koga and I am the chief.” He states.

“T-thank you for saving us. My name is Raiah Concaya.”  She introduces.

“Normally, we’d have let you die. But, you have the potential to be a fine shinobi. Your skills would be a good match for our clan’s training.” He explains.

“Is he talking about my invisibility?” Raiah questions.

“I-If I did your training would I be able to kill a demon?” Raiah asks, her eyes full of desperation.

“Those demons come and go like mist. At most, they stay for two days consuming as many as they can, and when the time is up, they spirit away anyone they’ve stored.” He explains.

“Stored? So they’re not dead?!” Raiah exclaims. “Please, train me so that I can save my friend!”

She drops down to her knees and even bows.

“She’s always been the one protecting me, for years. I can’t just sit here and let her die!” Raiah exclaims.

“Tell me Raiah, can you kill?” The chief whispers.

Her eyes widen as she looks up to the chief, his visage appears like a shadowy beast with a wide grin.