Chapter 9: Counteroffensive and Corrunderus

“I have to say, Dirk, that is quite an amazing suit of armor you’re wearing. You remind me of a dragoon from a Final Fantasy game, even,” Animus said to Dirk.

“So, this is what it feels like to fight as a spirit warrior in human form. I feel so amazing! I bet I could fly around the world and make it back here in less than an hour!” Dirk exclaimed, admiring his new form.

“I suggest you save your energy for the final battle, Dirk. We don’t know how powerful Corrunderus may be. He could be just as powerful as we are, if not more so. We need to be in top form,” Mentivis replied.

At that moment, Animus glanced at Melina for a split second and looked back in his original direction toward Mentivis. “How much time do you think we have? I still have things to do before we head out.”

“This will be a longshot, but I would say a week. We may have decimated his main army, but he may still have some demons in reserve. A week is not only just enough time for us to prepare; it is also enough time for Corrunderus to prepare. Let’s make the most of this short time while we have it, and…” Mentivis turned his attention to Dirk “…make sure we don’t overwork ourselves.”

“What? You think I’m gonna spend an entire week in the simulator?” Dirk asked.

“Well, considering that you probably got the biggest change of all of us, you were probably planning on going all-out with your new powers and exhausting yourself.”

“…Dang. You know me too well.”

The first day came, and the spirit warriors dedicated themselves to preparing for the final fight. Dirk and Mentivis were training together in the simulator, while Animus and Melina watched them on the monitor. The two warriors were battling waves after waves of demons in a ruined city.

“So, I lost count. What wave was this, again?” Dirk asked, while slicing through several demons with his claw staff.

“Uhh… eight, I think,” Mentivis answered as he fired large needles of ice at a bunch of demons.

“Just eight? I want to go at least twenty,” Dirk replied as he dispatched the remaining demons.

“What was I saying about conserving your energy, Dirk? We have no chance if we are too tired to fight.”

The ninth wave commenced, and more demons spawned around them. Dirk rushed toward a group of them at lightning speed. However, as soon as he was about to strike, a buzzer rang, and the demons disappeared, along with the entire battlefield. They now found themselves back at the base.

“Uhh… what just happened?” Dirk asked, baffled.

“I had the time limit set to an hour when you weren’t looking. You need to consider resting every so often.”

“Dang it! I can’t get away with anything anymore, can I?”

Animus and Melina stepped into the simulation chamber as Mentivis prepared the combat simulation. They found themselves in the same ruined city as the one from Dirk and Mentivis’s combat training. The two warriors progressed wave after wave until they came to Wave 6. As Animus kept slaying demons, his eyes turned toward Melina, who was also slaying demons, almost as many as he did, so far. However, he noticed a demon coming down from directly above Melina.

“Melina! Look out!” Animus yelled as he sprinted toward her as fast as he possibly could.

“What?” Melina stopped what she was doing to find Animus running toward her. All of a sudden, she saw the shadow of the demon and turned around. She was petrified with fear, seeing the demon about to strike her down. Animus jumped and slid on the ground and readied a Cluster Blast, firing it before the demon made it to her. However, Melina was too close to the blast and was launched several feet away, landing on her back. Animus felt the heat of his Cluster Blast and had it not been a simulation, would have been scorched.

“Animus!” Mentivis shouted into the microphone in the simulation chamber. “You can’t overexert yourself like that! You could’ve killed both yourself and Melina in the process!”

Because both warriors were down, the simulation ended early. Animus quickly got out of the device and proceeded toward his room, when Mentivis stopped him.

“Melina would’ve been all right. If you’d just left her alone, she…”

“I can’t! I just can’t!” Animus interrupted as he brushed Mentivis aside and moved on. Dirk and Melina came up to Mentivis shortly afterward.

“What’s gotten into him?” Dirk asked.

“Whatever it is, it just revealed itself. I’d best go talk to him. Melina, come with me. Whatever he doesn’t tell me, he’s sure to tell you.”

Melina, shaken up by the incident, nodded and proceeded to Animus’s quarters alongside Mentivis.

As the two approached Animus’s room, Melina whispered quietly to Mentivis.

“Let me talk to him.”

Mentivis nodded and stayed behind as Melina knocked on Animus’s door. There was no answer.

“Animus, may I come in?”

A muffled voice answered, “Sure.” Melina walked in to find Animus lying on his bed with his face to his pillow.

“Animus…”

“What?” Animus replied, still with his head to his pillow.

“…Thank you.”

Animus turned to look at Melina. He was sad, but his face shown a more disappointed look.

“For what? Killing you in the simulation?”

Melina calmly replied, “For trying to rescue me. I know you didn’t succeed, but you risked everything to save me. Don’t be ashamed of yourself.”

“I can’t help myself, Melina. I just can’t stop worrying about you. I don’t even know if I’m going to lose you again.”

“I can take care of myself, Animus. You don’t need to look after me. Promise me that you won’t worry about me anymore.”

Animus was silent for a moment, then said, “I promise.” Melina hugged Animus and left his room.

The second day arrived, and Animus spent much time thinking to himself in his room. He didn’t feel like simulation training, and yesterday’s mood was still with him.

“Animus…”

Animus broke from his thoughts to listen to the familiar voice. “I’m here.”

“You seem to show some doubt of your own skill as a warrior. Take your sword out of its sheath,” the voice said.

Animus took his sword from his sheath as the voice told him.

“Now, hold your sword out in front of you and look at the hilt. What is the shape of the hilt?”

Puzzled, Animus replied, “A ‘V’.”

“Now, what’s the first word to come to your mind that starts with the letter ‘V’?”

“Uhmm… Victory, I guess.”

The voice answered in a pleased tone, “Remember that you are not only wielding a sword. You are also wielding Victory, itself. You will do well.” At the moment, the voice was no longer heard.

“He’s right. I shouldn’t doubt my skill as a spirit warrior. Especially not when I’ve come this far. The upcoming battle has already been decided. Now all we have to do is play our roles and follow through to the battle’s decision.” Animus felt a new wave of confidence as he stepped out of his room to join the others in a game of Brawl.

The third day came quickly, and Animus began to worry about the constant running down of time.

“(There are five days left,)” Animus thought to himself. “(I need to get this out of the way before time is up.)”

Animus went to Melina, who was watching a show on TV. On the outside, it looked like she was entertained. However, she felt a similar anxiety of the diminishing time.

“Melina?”

Melina turned from the TV toward Animus. “Oh, hi Animus! You look better!” Melina said as she smiled.

“It’s a beautiful day out. Do you want to go to our favorite spot, today?”

Melina’s smile broadened as she heard this. “Oh, absolutely!”

On the cliff that held many of their memories, they looked toward the placid ocean reflecting the sun like a mirror.

“Melina, remember that day we met?”

“Oh, yes! I was a little nervous, at first. I mean, you just suddenly appeared. But you were so kind.”

“I thought it would be nice to reflect back at those memories. I want to remember how it felt like my heart wanted to burst out of my body to be with your heart. Heh. Now that I think about it, I couldn’t get you off my mind. I’ve lost sleep for several days in a row. I felt pain, because I had a very strong desire to be with you.”

“You’d be surprised at how I thought of you, at first. I thought you just wanted to be around me for my four arms,” Melina giggled.

Animus’s face turned a bit red for a moment, but it was more of a blush. “Well, I was worried that I was lusting after you after that first time. I mean, four arms. I’m curious at how you were able to use them all without getting all klutzy. It must be difficult to concentrate on what each arm is doing at the same time.”

Melina smiled as she responded, “Well, it was an interesting experience trying to use these arms, at first. Mentivis, well, he and I saw each other as spirit warriors that very first time. I mean, he was brave enough to come running to my room telling me about his powers, while I was struggling to get out of a knot I made with my arms. I had no idea which hand I was supposed to let go first.”

Melina paused for a moment to give both of them some time to laugh at that moment. “I was on the floor, face redder than a tomato, and he was standing there doing the biggest facepalm of the century!”

Melina paused again, for they could not control themselves in their laughter. After the laughter died down, Melina continued her story.

“So, yeah. After Mentivis was done with that, he helped me get my hands untied. I could’ve just gone as a normal human being with two arms between battles, but by the time Dirk built the base, I became so used to having this many arms that I decided to stay as a spirit warrior just to try my arms out around the base, doing household tasks much faster.”

Animus felt so relaxed, listening to Melina’s story, that he decided to ask a question about her spirit warrior form. “Melina, when I became a spirit warrior, I was a knight, because that is what I imagined myself to be. Were you the same way?”

“Actually, yes. I used to draw things all the time. A lot of them were of me as a powerful warrior with four arms. She did magic with two arms and held her weapons with the other two.”

Animus thought to himself, “(I could’ve sworn I’ve seen something like that on the web back in the day. I’m actually still kinda scared to admit it. I mean, I know she would hate to have her pictures lusted after… Man, that last thought just creeped me out. I don’t want to have anything to do with lust ever again, especially when I know she’s the one.)”

“Animus?” Melina spoke as she looked at him, who apparently was fixed like a statue. “Animus!” Melina snapped her fingers in front of him, breaking his thoughts in two.

“Whoah, what? I… Oh. Sorry, Melina. I just hit some not-so-pleasant memories that surfaced on me. They’re gone, now.”

“Thanks to me, I bet!” Melina smiled.

Animus smiled back. “Heh, yeah. Thanks.”

The fourth day arrived, and even Mentivis was feeling uneasy. He sat alone in the War Room, thinking about how to engage Corrunderus. Having spent about an hour already, he was ready to move on to something else. It was then that Dirk walked in.

“I thought I’d find you here, Mentivis. You’re the only one I know who would sit alone in a dark room while the rest of us enjoy the weather outside. Melina wanted me to come ask you if you’d like to join us for a picnic. She and Animus are already bringing the food and drinks.”

Mentivis looked up at Dirk, thought for a a second or two and smiled. “Yeah. I’ll be more than happy to come with you guys. (That would help me clear my head, though Melina would have a fit if she caught me thinking about work during a time of relaxing.)”

The four warriors arrived at a beach about 15 miles south of the base. They were all dressed in normal clothing, enjoying a nice lunch of sandwiches, pickles, and potato chips.

“I never realized there was a very nice beach here,” Mentivis said before biting into a turkey sandwich.

“Well, maybe you should come outside more,” Melina answered with a grin.

“Melina pointed it out to me when we were coming back from a trip,” Animus added.

Dirk wanted to join in, but he was too busy nomming on pickles from a very large jar. Animus was amazed as he watched Dirk down what looked to be his fourth pickle.

“Dang, man. Where’re you putting ‘em all?”

Dirk quickly swallowed to respond to Animus’s question. “I can’t help but enjoy pickles. I’m a sucker for anything that involves vinegar.”

After lunch, Animus decided to build a nice sandcastle on the beach. Dirk was sunbathing, and Mentivis was, as always, meditating on something. As Animus was getting towers built on his sandcastle, he noticed that Melina had gone up to him. She was wearing a bathing suit.

“Do you want to swim with me, Animus?”

Animus’s mind instantly went into a power struggle, seeing Melina in that bathing suit. He felt that it was all right to look upon her, while he felt the fear that grew within him during his many fights with lust, back in the day.

“Uhh.. s-sure. I’ll join you,” Animus answered, very nervous about this situation.

“Come on, I’ll hold your hand,” Melina said, noticing Animus’s nervousness.

At that, Animus just thought “to heck with it” and held her hand without hesitation.

“(Why do I need to be nervous about all this? She’s the one. I shouldn’t be nervous about seeing her like that. It feels funny doing this, but it’s better than cowering in fear of something completely pointless.)”

The two walked toward the water, hands held firmly to each other.

The appointed day of attack was getting closer, and the fifth day has risen. Animus and Melina were in the simulation chamber again, battling demons in waves.

“(I can’t get worried about her, this time. I must let things go. She’ll be all right if I don’t interfere.)” This thought echoed throughout Animus’s mind during his training. He turned around to find Melina fighting demons, as well. Suddenly, a demon came from above, much like last time. Animus quickly began to run, but stopped.

“(Come on, Animus. Self-control. You can’t interfere!)”

As he paused to watch the demon slowly descend upon Melina, he saw her look down, turn toward the demon, and blast it to pieces with energy beams.

“…Maybe I have been worrying way too much,” Animus said aloud.

Much of the remaining time of that day was spent on training, though the warriors went on periodic breaks for both them and the simulation machine to cool down.

The sixth day has come, and the warriors sat down in the living room area to talk.

“So, I forgot. Which day do we strike? Tomorrow, or the next day?” Dirk asked Mentivis.

“We should strike tomorrow. I don’t think we can afford any more time beyond that,” Mentivis answered.

“(Tomorrow! I need to get this plan done today!)” Animus thought to himself. “Mentivis, is it okay for me to take Melina out to dinner, just the two of us?”

“Sure, I have no problem in that,” Mentivis answered.

Melina couldn’t help but feel something was up in Animus’s mind.

Later that day, Animus spoke to Mentivis privately in his room.

“Uhmm, Mentivis. Since you’re the one who looks after Melina, I wanted to ask you this question,” Animus said, nervously.

Mentivis was puzzled as he answered, “Go ahead and ask.”

After a bit of a struggle with his tongue, Animus managed to say, “I would like to propose to Melina at dinner tonight.”

Hearing this blew Mentivis away. He was stunned at this question.

“I’m… uhhh… well… okay with that. I guess I’m so used to you and Melina being so close that I didn’t even think about what’ll happen next. I believe you’ll make a fine husband for Melina. You two share a very strong connection to each other, as well. Now that I feel more comfortable, yes. Go ahead and propose to her. I’m eager to see you two as a couple.”

Animus couldn’t contain his excitement. “Thank you, Mentivis! I promise I’ll be the best husband to her as I can possibly be!” On that note, Animus left Mentivis’s room to take Melina out to dinner.

After dinner, Animus and Melina agreed to return to the cliff one last time before the great battle.

“I wonder what will happen when this battle is over,” Animus thought aloud as he watched the setting sun.

“Maybe it’s ‘happily ever after’?” Melina suggested.

“Maybe. I’ve grown so fond of my abilities as a spirit warrior, it wouldn’t feel right to be normal again.”

“Maybe we’ll get to keep them.”

Animus turned toward Melina. “I love you, no matter what.”

Melina turned to look at Animus. “I love you, too.”

“Melina, have you thought about what you plan to do once this is all over?”

“Well, I kinda avoided thinking about it. I wasn’t nearly as happy back then. And then we met. I don’t want to return to my old life.”

“Then, I guess you wouldn’t mind me asking this question.” Animus knelt down on one knee to Melina and held out a small box. As he opened it, he spoke the words to Melina: “Will you marry me?”

Melina was breathless at the sight of this. To think they would be together forever was beyond her wildest dreams. She could be just as happy after the final battle, if not moreso. Finally, she made up her mind.

“Yes! I will!” At that moment, Animus and Melina kissed as the sun continued to set.

The day of the final battle arrived, and everyone gathered in the war room after brunch. The teleporter was in the room, ready to be activated at a moment’s notice. Dirk was tweaking the device to make sure it was communicating with the teleporter at Corrunderus’s lair.

“Dirk, are we ready?” Mentivis asked.

“Everything is all set. We should be able to return here via the teleporter at Corrunderus’s base.”

Mentivis turned toward Animus and Melina, who were holding hands. “Animus, Melina, are you both ready?”

“I say ‘Let’s do this!’” Animus proclaimed.

“I’m ready!” Melina chimed in.

“Then let’s go. It’s time to finish this war.”

All four warriors successfully teleported to Corrunderus’s lair. The place was dark and ruined, thanks to Animus’s previous trips. They entered the main hallway to find it deserted.

“Man, we really did wipe out the whole lot of ‘em,” Dirk said.

“Something’s not right, here. The space station is far too small to hold the many demons we fought. Where else were they coming from?” Mentivis spoke.

“I guess we’ll get the answer from Corrunderus, himself,” Animus answered.

The warriors quietly approached the door to the bridge of the space station without any attacks from demons.

“This was too easy. What is Corrunderus planning?” Mentivis whispered.

“I hope it’s his funeral, because we’re going to end him hard,” Dirk answered.

Then Animus came up with an idea. “Maybe it’s best that we split up. Dirk and I can take on Corrunderus, while you and Melina search for any traps.”

“No. We’re going in together. Any lack of manpower can be a fatal mistake,” Mentivis answered.

“And I’d like to know why you’re not inviting me along. Not only am I a healer, but I’m also going to be your wife!” Melina shouted at Animus.

Mentivis quickly covered Melina’s mouth after that statement. “Darnit, Melina. Corrunderus probably knows we’re here, now. Shush!”

Melina slapped Mentivis’s hand off her mouth and just glared.

“I guess it’s settled. We all go in,” Dirk said. “Any more hesitation will just get us shaken up.”

The four warriors entered the bridge, where Corrunderus was waiting for them.

“Even without that girl’s help, I knew you were waiting behind that door. Experience agonizing pain and fear!” Corrunderus raised his scythe and began to charge toward the warriors.

Dirk, always enjoying a challenge, went up first. He quickly split his staff in two and swung around one end over his head. As soon as Corrunderus got close, Dirk threw the end of the staff at his scythe, causing it to wrap around and latch on. The leader of the demons struggled to get his scythe free, while at the same time, Mentivis and Animus flanked him on both sides. Mentivis fired ice shots, while Animus fired energy shots. As Corrunderus suffered under the attacks of Mentivis and Animus, his horns began to light up. Melina quickly knew that something was up and immediately shielded all of them as Corrunderus released thunder bolts from all directions.

Corrunderus felt that it was futile to pull his sycthe out of the grip of Dirk’s staff, so he charged toward him, causing Animus and Mentivis to accidentally hit each other with their own shots. Dirk retaliated by dashing right past Corrunderus, moving too fast for a counterattack. However, upon doing so, his staff unlatched from the scythe.

“All right everyone, concentrate all your firepower on him!” Mentivis shouted.

Animus held his arms out, gathering energy in his palms. “YUUKI…KOUSEN!” He brought his palms together to make a more powerful energy beam than his enerugikousen.

Dirk held out his hands in front of him to where the claws from his gloves looked like the teeth of a dragon. “Feel the power of the dragon’s roar! DRACOKOUSEN!” Immediately from his hands fired a powerful beam.

Mentivis brought his hands together and focused hard until an energy ball was formed in them. “MENTIKOUSEN!” Mentivis fired his own beam of energy at the demon.

Melina focused all four hands in front of her chest. “This is the power that comes from the heart! IKIKOUSEN!” Immediately, an intense beam of energy fired from her into the enemy.

The combination of all of these beams left Corrunderus weakened. But, as soon as the beams subsided, he quickly fired blasts of dark energy in every direction, hitting every warrior on the battlefield. All of the warriors were flung into walls behind them.

“You gotta be kidding me! What kind of demon can survive that?!” Animus shouted in amazement.

“A DEAD one!” Dirk got up and charged at Corrunderus. Corrunderus quickly swung with his scythe, preparing to decapitate Dirk. However, on excellent timing, Dirk stopped the scythe with one end of his staff. But before he could attack with the other end, Corrunderus fired a dark beam of energy at point blank, knocking him into another wall.

As Dirk was charging the demon, Mentivis readied another attack. As soon as Dirk was thrown into the wayside, Mentivis launched a spinning ball of energy around Corunderus. However, it was quickly destroyed by a swing from Corrunderus’s staff.

But as Mentivis was distracting Corrunderus, Animus readied his own attack. “CLUSTER BLAST!” Animus launched a powerful ball of energy at Corrunderus. As it made contact with Corrunderus, it exploded, but Corrunderus appeared unscathed.

“To be fair, I couldn’t use a really powerful one in this sort of place,” Animus sighed.

“Any more plans, Mentivis?” Dirk called from the corner.

“One more plan!” Mentivis answered. “Weapons ready!” Mentivis used telekinesis on his staff and surrounded it with ice needles. Animus focused his power into his sword, causing it to glow. Dirk put his staff back together and prepared for another dash attack. Melina held her staff high above her.

A powerful beam was released from Melina’s staff and paralyzed Corrunderus, while Mentivis launched his staff in his direction. Animus followed up by releasing powerful energy waves from slashing with his sword. After the other three were done, Dirk charged at Corrunderus one last time, piercing his body armor with his staff.

“All right! Fatal blow!” Dirk cheered.

“Not yet, fool.” Corrunderus blasted Dirk away and removed the staff from his chest.

“How can you still be fighting?!” Animus shouted in amazement.

“I am not like those weaklings you defeated with little effort. I am a veteran of innumerable wars. If that is all the effort you can muster, then this battle has ended for you.”

“D…darn it!!!” Dirk shouted in pain as Melina hurried over to heal him.

Animus and Mentivis went in to strike Corrunderus with their weapons while evading the swings of his scythe. However, both were thrown toward Melina and Dirk.

“Enough toying around. I’ll destroy you, along with this space station!” Corrunderus held out his arms and began to glow in a dark aura.

“Animus, I have an idea, but it will require a split in manpower. Dirk and I are going to find the control room and activate the self-destruct mechanism on this thing,” Mentivis said.

“How do you know there’s a self-destruct mechanism?” Animus asked.

“This was a government project at one point. If it was in danger of falling into enemy hands, one man would stand by to activate it. However, this had been abandoned for supposedly unknown reasons.”

“How do we know if it will work?”

“That’s what I haven’t worked out yet. Presumably, even demons can’t survive the vacuum of space. That’s why the teleporter was required. I’m hoping it works on Corrunderus.”

“So then all Melina and I have to do is stall him.”

“Yes,” Mentivis answered. “Get ready! He’s just about done changing!”

Mentivis and Dirk left the bridge, while Animus and Melina stayed behind to engage the now much larger and scarier Corrunderus, who can now barely fit inside the bridge.

Animus turned toward Melina. “Melina, go with them! If I lose you, it won’t matter if I win!”

“Are you crazy?!” Melina shouted. “Don’t you think it would be the same thing for me?!”

“Just run! I’ll be fine!” Animus shouted harder.

“Y..you…” Tears streamed down Melina’s face. “Idiot! Fine! I’m leaving!” Melina ran out of the bridge still in tears.

“Aren’t you a sweetheart?” Corrunderus sneered. “I’ll take care of your friends later. Let’s see if you can survive the same vacuum of space you once dove to earth through.” Corrunderus stretched his arms and legs out and destroyed the bridge around him, causing the air to be sucked into the void of space. Animus found something to hold onto and held it as tight as he possibly can to avoid getting sucked away. However, he was losing air fast. All of a sudden, a celestial being appeared and shielded him with an oxygen bubble. Though, Animus still could not stand a chance against the more powerful Corrunderus.

“How can you possibly breathe?!” Animus called to Corrunderus. “There’s no way you can survive!”

“You humans always need an explanation for everything. You thought we could not survive in space. If we couldn’t, we would not have gotten here in the first place. The teleporter was merely used to make sure my henchmen attacked in the target area.”

Meanwhile, Melina was still running to find where Mentivis and Dirk had gone. Two celestial beings appeared before her.

“Return to Animus. He needs your help.”

“He doesn’t need me! He wants to do it by himself!” Melina answered in frustration. Another two celestial beings appeared before her.

“Corrunderus will win if you do not hurry. Mentivis’s plan will fail.”

“Huh?!” Melina reacted in surprise.

“Go. We will aid you.”

Melina ran back to the bridge to help Animus. Around that time, Dirk and Mentivis made it to the control room.

“Ok, Dirk, I assume you know what to do here.”

“Boy, do I!” Dirk exclaimed. “I can set this space station to make me a pizza if I wanted.”

“Just set it to self-destruct. I’ll use telepathy to let Animus know we’ve arrived.

Back on the bridge, Animus was struggling to keep his grip. Suddenly, Melina returned, and two celestial beings have grabbed on to her to keep her from getting sucked into space. They also created an oxygen barrier around her for protection. The remaining two celestial beings assisted the one helping Animus by holding his feet firmly on the ground.

“Melina,” one of the beings called. “Hold up your staff and lend all of your power to Animus. Once he has regained his strength, focus your energy to make a shield for him.”

Melina did as she was told and gave her power to Animus.

“Now, Animus. Prepare to be let go. Strengthen your sword with all your power.”

Animus put all his power into his sword. Once it hit its peak, Animus was launched toward Corrunderus, aided by the vacuum of space.

“No! Even if you destroy me, you cannot avoid your fates!” Corrunderus yelled as Animus got closer toward him.

“For everyone who suffered by your hand. For Melina. For my Lord! I will destroy you!” Animus yelled as he swung downward with his sword. As he swung his sword, a powerful beam three times the length of Corrunderus emanated from the sword’s tip. As the beam went downward, it cleaved Corrunderus in two, utterly destroying him and vanishing into a large puff of black and purple smoke. The two celestial beings who released him came to hold him again to bring him back to the space station.

After Animus and Melina left the bridge, the celestial beings departed by unknown means and were not seen again. An alarm suddenly went off throughout the station.

“SELF-DESTRUCT SEQUENCE ACTIVATED. T-MINUS 5 MINUTES”

“He’s done it. We must meet up with them!” Animus told Melina. However, it had not even been a minute before Dirk and Mentivis arrived to meet with them.

“Don’t think we didn’t get to see ol’ big an’ ugly while you were off fighting him! Nice work, Animus!” Dirk exclaimed joyfully.

“No time to celebrate, yet. Let’s get out of here!” Mentivis called to the other warriors. They immediately ran toward the teleporter and escaped.

The warriors finally found themselves back in the war room in their base. Animus and Melina were about ready to pass out from all the energy they used up.

“We did it. It’s finally over.” Mentivis said to himself.

“All right! Let’s break out the festivities and party all night long!” Dirk yelled out.

“Dirk, I think we ought to wait until those two lovebirds wake up, first.” Mentivis motioned Dirk to look down to find Animus and Melina sleeping on the ground in front of them.

A moment later, when Animus and Melina were awake again, they gathered together in the war room to celebrate their victory. Suddenly, a voice called out to each of them.

“Well done, brave warriors. You have crippled the enemy’s plans. They no longer have the numbers to cause devastation to our army in the final battle. Not only that, you have severely weakened their morale by winning even the most difficult battles with just the four of you.”

“The final battle? You mean there’s more?” Dirk asked.

“Armageddon. But that will not be for a while. You may keep your powers for your enjoyment, so long as you don’t misuse them.”

Shortly after, Animus and Melina finally got married. They moved out of the base to enjoy a home of their own. Dirk and Mentivis, now close friends, stayed in the base to keep it tidy. Occasionally, they would visit each other and catch up on things that had gone by since. Dirk and Mentivis had been looking for their own “special someones”, as well, and later, finally found them. Some time later, Mentivis moved out of the base and left it at the hands of Dirk and his new wife. Unknown to the Spirit Warriors, however, their actions and Corrunderus’s deception will, in a few years, cost them their lives to humans who have wrongly accused them of war crimes and possessing WMDs, which were never found. It was shortly after that the world began to move into a new age, led by the Devil, himself. However, as the spirit warriors all know, his war was already decided by their victory over Corrunderus.

Those who know the Gospel of Jesus may recall John 3:16 “For God so loved THE WORLD that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”

Anyone who spreads a message of hate and claim to follow the same God I serve are LIARS AND DECEIVERS.

My heart goes out to the victims of the Tuscon shooting and their families. They deserve much better than this.

Chapter 8: The Shining Knight Returns

“This is it, guys. Just one more, and we’ll be ready to take on Corrunderus,” Animus said with a smile on his face.

“It’s been a long journey, but it’s coming to an end. Our tasks as Spirit Warriors will be complete,” Mentivis added.

“But, what happens next? I don’t know if I could get used to being a normal guy again,” said Dirk.

“I do have some idea of what to do after all this is over. But it depends on how things roll,” Animus replied.

“Maybe it’s best to start planning before the time comes. If we wait, it will be a lot tougher to adjust to living normal lives again,” Mentivis proposed.

One week had passed since that day, and the warriors prepared for their futures. One day, Animus found Mentivis in his room. He had been searching online for careers that involved his strategic mind. However, he did not express interest in even one, so far.

“Mentivis, may I ask you something a little personal?”

“Uhh, sure. It’s fine by me,” Mentivis replied.

“I was wondering if you approve if I wanted to propose to Melina.”

Upon hearing this, a smile came across Mentivis’s face. “You know, I was wondering when you were going to mention it. I can’t imagine her being together with anyone else.”

“So you approve?” Animus added.

“Absolutely. I’m looking forward to watching how well you both do as a couple.”

A few days later, Animus and Melina returned to their favorite cliff.

“Lots of memories on this cliff, Melina.”

“But some weren’t so good,” Melina said, with a frown starting to show.

“What counts is that we were always with each other, and we overcame those trials together,” Animus responded, trying to cheer her up.

“Yes,” Melina began to smile again. “Our strong bond helped us overcome those trials.”

“Probably the biggest trial was the one where our love for each other broke the bindings of the demon of lust.” Animus and Melina began to recall together what had happened that day.

Animus was on the computer in his room watching video game playthroughs. All of a sudden, lustful thoughts came to his mind.

“(No! Not this time! I gotta get away from this!)” Animus quickly walked out of his room and left the base toward the cliff.

“That explains why I felt nauseous just before I found you there,” Melina said. “I went to look for you after coming home to find you weren’t there.”As soon as Animus arrived on the cliff, a demon materialized in front of him.

“Drown in your shame.” The demon suddenly fired a strange orange and yellow beam. However, Animus failed to dodge the attack and found himself surrounded by what looked like chains, with lustful imagaes relentlessly pouring into his head.

“I couldn’t even move. It was like my body betrayed me in favor of lust,” Animus said.“I remember seeing you bound up in those orange and yellow chains when I found you. I found out what you were dealing with when I touched the chains.”

Tears fell from Melina’s eyes as she saw him bound by those chains. Suddenly, she was also struck by an orange and yellow beam.

“Aah!” Melina found herself also bound by chains. However, she began to glow.

“I don’t remember much that happened when I was struck with the beam. I do remember somehow breaking free of those chains and lunging toward the demon with a bejewelled staff in my hand. I don’t know where it came from, though.”Melina emerged from the shattered chains clothed in a white dress with light armor around her torso and shoulders. She immediately lunged toward the demon and fired a beam of light from her staff, immediately vaporizing it. She turned toward Animus, still bound by chains, and raised her arms. Large beams of light emanated from her as the chains began to shatter.

“I remember opening my eyes and seeing you before me. I didn’t see a staff, though. All I could do was cry on your shoulder and apologize.”Melina looked over at Animus, who seemed to have a small tear in his eye. “But you’re thankful for being free from lust, right?”

Animus turned toward Melina, “More thankful each day than the day before.”

Back at the base, Dirk was in his training chamber finding an opponent to match his strength.

“Ok, let’s try this.” Dirk entered the gyroscope and booted up a powerful new opponent.

Mentivis returned to the base with a large bag of food. “Animus! Dirk! Melina! Special delivery!” However, the place was silent.

“(Animus and Melina must not be back yet. Doesn’t explain Dirk, though. He’s probably still working on the teleporter.)”

Mentivis headed downstairs to Dirk’s lab to find the teleporter still half-finished. There is a faint roar of an engine in the background. He stepped into the training room to find the simulation chamber being used. He walked into the control room to find no one there. However, on a nearby monitor was Dirk fighting… another Dirk?

“(Now this is interesting.I’d like to know how he did it.)” Mentivis put on a headset that was on the desk.

“Yo, Dirk!” One of the two Dirks stopped for a moment.

“Oh, hey, Mentivis! Can’t talk right now. This must be my toughest battle yet!”

“Lunch is getting cold,” Mentivis said calmly.

“Wait, what?! Lunch?! I’ll be right there!” Dirk immediately turned off the simulation and ran upstairs, leaving Mentivis behind.

“(Heh. It looks like eating is still his biggest passion,)” Mentivis chuckled to himself. He then decided to telepathically contact Animus.

“(Hey, Animus. How close are you to the base? I have lunch on the table.)”

“(We’re right outside. Just give us two seconds,)” Animus replied.

At the table, the warriors discussed matters concerning the final mission.

“So, I know we’re going to fight Corrunderus very soon, but what’s the best way to prepare for that moment?” Animus asked.

“Well, I just created a special machine that scans our brain patterns and our physical forms. I put it to a test run earlier today. I had a lot of trouble trying to beat my copied form,” Dirk responded.

“So, I’m guessing that by uploading a copy of us right now, we can use that copy to gauge our strength just before the final battle,” Animus said, trying to understand clearly what the new device can do.

“Exactly. We can improve much faster this way, and we can also challenge each other, even when one of us isn’t available.”

Mentivis spoke up, “That alone might not be enough. What if Corrunderus has more tricks up his sleeve?”

“I don’t think we’ll be able to find out exactly what he has planned until he shows us,” replied Animus, concerned.

“We wouldn’t have been given this task if we were going to fail it. Corrunderus doesn’t really know how powerful we really are when we work together,” Melina spoke up, which was a rare moment, as she often just listens.

“This isn’t a video game, Melina. If we don’t perform our jobs well, we may as well call defeat,” Mentivis spoke, voice raised a bit.

“I think Melina has a point. We can’t lose. We’re destined to win, and our status as spirit warriors is proof. Let’s not forget who gave us our powers in the first place,” Animus spoke up.

“Not you too, Animus. We can’t go in without a plan!” Mentivis began to shout.

“Ok, before we all go nuts, here. There’s no point in thinking this through, right now, because we only have so many cards in our hand. We play what we have, and I believe we have the winning hand,” Dirk spoke, in favor of not only Melina’s thoughts, but also because he didn’t want to see his friends quarrel.

“I guess you’re right, Dirk. I guess I’m just getting anxious. I’m sorry guys,” Mentivis apologized.

“It’s all good, Mentivis. It’s times like these that the best way to prepare is to simply pray about it. Swords, staffs, and knives we may have, but our best weapon is always prayer,” Animus responded.

“Yes. I have to admit, I nearly lost my focus. A short nap should take a load off things.” Mentivis left the table and went to his room.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to start a fight,” said Melina.

“You don’t need to apologize, Melina. We’re just in a tense moment,” said Animus.

“You’re telling me. I took a break because all that teleporter work was just getting on my nerves. At some point, it seemed like I wasn’t getting anything right on it,” Dirk responded.

“So, you take a break from building a device by building another. Now that’s funny,” Animus chuckled.

“Heh. Now that I think about it, that is a bit funny,” Dirk replied.

A month has passed, and the warriors trained hard for the next battle. The day finally came when they engaged the enemy in a big battle.

“Guys, it’s time! There’s a large army of demons heading to our base from the west. It’s the largest I’ve ever seen!” Mentivis called over the intercom. “Forget the war room! We engage the enemy immediately!”

All four warriors exited the base and looked westward. The demons were so many, they covered the setting sun and much of the sky.

“Oh God, that’s a lot,” Dirk said in shock and awe at the sight.

“Corrunderus is giving it everything he’s got to destroy us,” Mentivis replied.

“Then, there’s only one thing to do,” Animus responded. Then he stepped forward and unsheathed his sword. “Let’s do this!” Animus quickly flew toward the cloud of demons, followed by Dirk, and then Mentivis and Melina.

Mentivis engaged a group of demons, who seemed to number one hundred. Suddenly, as he prepared to attack, he suddenly felt pulled into an entirely different battle.

“You aren’t used to going in without an plan, are you?” Everything around Mentivis was black, but he was able to see clearly. A figure appeared in front of him, wielding a bo staff and wearing light armor with purple and gold cloths. “You didn’t see this coming either, did you?”

“That’s… impossible. You’re me,” Mentivis stood, surprised and scared.

“Yes, and I will make sure there’s nothing left of you.” The evil Mentivis fired several energy shots, all charged with fire, ice, or electricity. Mentivis quickly countered by spinning his bo staff, deflecting all the shots.

“Mentikousen!” Evil Mentivis fired a powerful energy beam towards his true counterpart. Mentivis attempted to dodge the beam but ended up being chased by it. No matter where he went, the beam followed.

“(I have an idea. How about he get a taste of his own weapon?)” Mentivis quickly moved behind his dark counterpart and attempted to hit him with his own beam. However, he quickly teleported out of harms way. The beam then formed into a giant energy ball. Evil Mentivis began to control the energy ball to attack Mentivis.

“(Ugh! I can’t seem to outsmart him!)” Mentivis continued to fly away from the chasing energy ball.

After about a minute, Mentivis began to get tired of fleeing from the giant energy ball.

“(Eventually, I’m gonna need to stop. I can’t keep up this running.)” Suddenly, something came to his mind.

“(Ya know, sometimes you just gotta do.)”

Mentivis turned around and held the lower part of his staff. He got into a batting stance as he faced the fast-approaching energy ball.

“Here goes nothing!” Mentivis yelled as he struck the energy ball hard with his staff. The resulting collision brought a violent shock to Mentivis’s arms. However, the energy ball hurled itself toward the fake Mentivis, who screamed as he was vaporized by the energy ball. After the energy ball disappeared, a shiny object floated where the fake Mentivis once stood. As it flew over to him, the seven Great Deed Medallions appeared to greet what he finally saw was the final Great Deed Medallion. They began to spin all around him, and as he began to glow, the medallions, one by one, started to disappear within him. When they all disappeared, Mentivis found himself wearing bright gold and silver cloths with shiny teal light armor and helmet. His bo staff was also different. What once was bright red was now gold with a crystal orb at the tip. Immediately, the darkness around him began to fade as the battlefield once again appeared around him, still populated with hundreds of demons.

Mentivis immediately harnessed a ball of energy and threw it toward the demons in front of him. He kept his hand out as the ball spun around in a tight circle, destroying many demons with its intense velocity. As he moved his hand around the battlefield, so did the spinning ball of energy, slaying nearly as many demons as there were in sight.

Meanwhile, Melina created a barrier around herself and started attacking demons with radiant beams of energy. However, she was quickly overwhelmed by an odd black mist. As the mist faded, she saw that she was no longer on the battlefield, but surrounded by black, though she can see her hands clearly. In front of her, a small cloud of black mist formed itself into a human shape. The mist then disappeared to reveal, to her surprise, another Melina! All Melina could do was gasp in shock as she saw her other self’s eyes open. At once, she began to speak.

“You’re always hiding behind something when you go to battle, do you?”

“You’re lying! I always help my friends in battle!” Melina shouted, offended by the fake Melina’s words.

“Really? Then show it by defeating me!” As Evil Melina began to attack, Melina put up her barrier. The false Melina fired radiant beams of light from her hands at Melina, shattering her shield.

“Aah!” Melina was knocked backwards by the resulting blast.

“Such cowardice! Show some backbone!” The fake Melina unsheathed her daggers and flew toward her. Melina attempted to fire radiant beams of energy at the fake Melina, but she dodged every one of them. In a short time, Evil Melina was right up to her, preparing to strike with her daggers. Melina unsheathed her own daggers and blocked those of her false self. Immediately, they began strike at each other with their daggers. Every attempt to strike the opponent met with the opponent’s dagger. After some time, though, the fake Melina struck so hard, that Melina’s daggers flew out of her hands.

“Are you so helpless that you think a knight in shining armor will come rescue you every time you’re in trouble?” Evil Melina spoke in a taunting manner.

Suddenly, Melina began to recall her moments with Animus and how she rescued him in his times of trouble. As she recalled more of these memories, she began to glow and her daggers quickly returned to her hands. Within seconds, within the shy girl awoke a mighty woman.

“The only coward is you, demon. You take the form of someone else and try to attack your opponent with your tongue before the actual fight,” Melina calmly and firmly spoke. The false Melina was taken aback by these statements and flinched. Immediately, Melina rushed toward the fake Melina with her daggers in her two upper hands and energy in her two lower hands.

“For Animus! No, for all my friends!” Melina blasted the evil Melina with both energy shots and pierced her heart with her daggers. At once, the fake Melina disappeared into black smoke, which dissipated to reveal an eighth Great Deed Medallion. Immediately, the medallion, along with the seven others that appeared, surrounded Melina and began to gather into her. As the medallions disappeared, she found herself in a white dress and light armor, and in her hands was not daggers but the staff she used to defeat the demon of lust. At once, the darkness around her scattered to reveal the familiar demon-filled battlefield. Melina held the staff with all her hands and rose it in the air, causing the staff to glow and disperse many balls of light, all targeting demons around her. Hundreds of demons were slain at once, and those who did not get struck by the light fled from her.

As Dirk fought demon after demon, he found himself suddenly surrounded in darkness, though he was able to see clearly a dark form that appeared before him. It was another Dirk, just as monstrous as he currently was. As the other Dirk’s eyes opened, he began to speak.

“Why do you hesitate? Go ahead and slay me with the hatred that helped you slay many opponents in the past. I’m only a heartless monster.”

Dirk, though he wanted to attack his false copy, suddenly felt unable. Instead, feelings of fear and shame came over him, and he feared to even make a move.

“I thought you were a spirit warrior. Why don’t you come slay me? Surely, you have no feelings toward your opponent.”

“Stop!” Dirk tried to shake off all these words. “I’m not a monster! I have feelings! I have a heart!”

“It’s only natural you try to lie to yourself to get yourself to fight. Or is that burden of bitterness and hatred weighing you down so much?”

Suddenly, one by one, people Dirk held a grudge with began to appear in his mind.

“(You remember these people, do you? You hate them. You know you want to kill them,)” his mind echoed at him.

“NO!” Dirk shouted with a roar. “They may have given me a hard time in the past, but the past is the past. It’s time to forgive and move on. There’s no need to be angry at them anymore.”

“Without that burning anger, what then drives you to fight?” asked the fake Dirk.

“There are people who are putting their faith in us, right now, and for them, no, even for those who DON’T put their faith in us, I WILL FIGHT!” Dirk lunged straight forward into Evil Dirk and impaled him with his claws. As soon as he had done so, the fake Dirk vanished, a Great Deed Medallion appearing in his place. The seven other Great Deed Medallions joined the eighth and surrounded Dirk. However, as Dirk glowed brightly, it seemed like he was splitting apart. Surrounded by glowing fragments of him stood the shape of a human. The pieces reattached themselves onto the human figure, and the glow began to disappear, revealing a human Spirit Warrior Dirk. What was the monster’s head was now his helmet. His scaly body became armor. His claws were now part of a new weapon, which looked like a staff. At both ends of that staff were the claws of his monster form. Immediately, the darkness around him shattered to reveal the battlefield, still full of demons. In the blink of an eye, Dirk dashed towards the army of demons and sliced through them. His speed was incredible, well beyond that of the other warriors. No one could track his speed, and hundreds of demons fell from his assault.

Animus went headlong into battle, striking down demons that got in his way. However, as soon as he got close to the main force of the demonic army, darkness surrounded him. The demons were no longer in sight. Neither were the other warriors. All he could see was a shadow that materialized into no one other than Animus, himself!

“What is the meaning of this?!” Animus stood, shocked to see himself.

“Do you remember the times when you used to call yourself a failure?” the figure spoke.

“Yes, but I’m not a failure. I am more than a conqueror. If the past year wasn’t proof enough, I have plenty more evidence that I’m no failure,” Animus boldly replied.

“Really? So that army of demons is no indication of failure, then?”

“Why do you try to convince me that I’m something I’m not, illusion? This battle will end in victory, I guarantee it.”

The fake Animus spoke more, “You’ve failed. You failed to protect your friends from the demon known as Atraledo. You failed to be a knight in shining armor. Lastly, you’ve failed to overcome your own lust, even for the sake of your woman.”

Animus lashed out in anger, “Silence, demon! I’ll run you through, because of your lies!” Animus dashed toward the fake Animus and attempted to strike him down with his sword. However, his sword was quickly blocked, and Animus was blown away by a powerful energy shot.

“Failure. And once I’ve given you a failure to end all failures, I’ll be taking your woman, and she won’t have to share your failure.”

Upon hearing this, Animus got up and roared in fierce anger. “You shameless lustful demon! I WILL DESTROY EVERY INCH OF YOU!” Animus sped toward his evil counterpart once again, striking with a much harder blow. So hard, in fact, that it snapped Evil Animus’s sword in two. Animus sheathed his sword and grabbed the fake warrior by the throat.

“This is for accusing me of being a failure!” Animus blasted him point-blank in the face. He threw him down and spoke again. “This is for Melina!” Animus put his fists together above his head and slammed them as hard as he could onto the false Animus’s head. At this point, his evil form had to struggle just to get up. “And this, this is for you! To wipe you out for good!” Animus put his hands into the air. “ENERUGIIIII…” All the demon could do is watch in fear as he saw Animus gather a large amount of energy. Then, Animus stepped back and moved his hands in front of him pointed at the demon. “KOUSEN!!!” The resulting energy beam utterly wiped the demon from existence, with a Great Deed Medallion appearing where he once stood.

The seven Great Deed Medallions of previous battles appeared, and, along with the eighth medallion, spun around Animus, causing them all to glow. The medallions disappeared into Animus’s glowing figure, and once the glow began to dim, Animus could see that he was wearing his shining armor, once again. His hair was now silvery white and flowed down to his shoulders. His cape was now bright yellow, and his sword glowed brightly. Within seconds, the blackness around him dissipated to once again reveal the battlefield. Animus held out his left arm and held it with his right. An enormous amount of energy gathered into his palm, as he slowly shouted “SUPER CLUSTER BLAST!” The ball of energy shot toward the demons, causing a chain reaction of massive explosions, destroying hundreds upon hundreds of demons.

As Animus looked around him, he saw that his friends, like himself, have also gained new powers. Only a couple hundred demons remained on the battlefield, led by four generals and a leader, who had authority over those generals. The generals split the demons into four battalions of fifty, one for each warrior. As the demons approached, Animus held his sword tightly and focused, causing it to glow. As soon as the demons got close enough, Animus mightily swung his sword, unleashing a giant energy blade that sliced nearly the entire battalion in two.

As the second battalion focused on Dirk, he held out his staff and pulled both sides apart, revealing a long chain. He lunged forward into battle, wielding the two halves as short swords, and struck down many demons with them, along with his incredible speed. The battalion, now reduced to less than ten, fled from Dirk and was subsequently destroyed by the leader.

As Mentivis looked upon the oncoming third battalion, he held out his staff in front of him and began controlling it with his mind. As he let the staff float in the air, it became encased with sharp icy spikes. Mentivis directed the staff to the oncoming battalion, and it spun directly towards it, impaling nearly all the demons in the process. The remaining demons were subsequently destroyed by the ice spikes that shot outward from the staff.

Melina saw the fourth battalion rapidly speeding toward her and held out her staff. As the staff glowed, numerous small energy beams shot forth from it, targetting every demon in front of her, destroying them until there were no more.

The four vastly powerful spirit warriors moved near the four leaders, now without battalions. All were slain from a couple swings from each warrior’s weapon. And now, only the leader remained.

“H-how?” The demon stuttered in fear. “No one can be that powerful! It’s just not possible!”

“Even though you have seen with your eyes the destruction of your entire army, you cannot comprehend the strength that flows through us,” Mentivis spoke.

“All you could see was your own might, which failed you in the end,” Dirk added.

“You’re just a monster whose only desire is to kill what you see,” Melina also spoke.

“And now, allow me to send a message to Corrunderus with your corpse as the delivery package!” Animus spoke as he and the other warriors struck him down all at once with their weapons. At that point, the demon disappeared into black smoke, and the area around them was finally cleared of demons.

“It’s finally time to bring the fight to Corrunderus. Dirk, is the teleporter ready?” Animus asked.

“Yes. We can fight Corrunderus at any time. All we need to do now is prepare.”

“Let’s rest up before we take him on. We’ll need to be prepared in every way before we go,” Mentivis spoke.

Chapter 7: Battles Begin with the Mind

Nearly a month had passed since the second escape. The warriors had gathered in the War Room to discuss the future of the base. However, Mentivis was absent from the meeting.

“Well, this is it. In a couple days, we’ll be left without a base,” Animus sighed.

“At least we’ll still be able to defend the people,” Melina replied.

“The same people who hate us? The same people who are going to destroy the base? The same people who want to kill us just as badly as the demons? I’m almost ready to throw in the towel, here. Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t,” Dirk angrily responded, losing his cool in the midst of all the problems.

“I’ll give you that reason, Dirk,” Mentivis answered as he walked into the War Room holding an envelope.

“Convince me.”

Mentivis walked to the table, slapped the envelope down, and slid it towards Dirk, who then opened it up and read it. However, as he read the letter, a couple tears were seen going down his face.

“I need to be excused.” Upon saying this, Dirk got up and quickly ran out of the room.

“What was that all about?” Melina asked.

“I never thought I’d see someone as proud as he cry like that,” Animus pointed out, feeling sympathetic for Dirk.

“The base is ours,” Mentivis began to explain. “Apparently, the destruction of the base was meant to be top secret, but someone leaked the information to people who cared about us. Many people around the world started protests and marches, and it was more than enough for the Alliance of Nations to repeal the previous letter. Some people within the AON were arrested for publicizing confidential documents. In short, we’re off the hook.”

“That’s incredible, Mentivis! Isn’t this awesome, Melina?!” Animus shouted. Without a word, Melina got up, ran towards Mentivis, and gave him a big hug.

“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!”

Mentivis was slightly puzzled. “I don’t have anything to do with this. I was only sending a message.”

“Yes!” Melina answered. “That’s why I’m thanking you!”

A short time later, Mentivis went to Dirk’s room to find him lying in bed with his face on the pillow.

“Dirk, uhmm… I’m sorry if I’ve done anything wrong.”

Dirk slowly picked his head up and turned towards Mentivis. It was easy to tell that Dirk had been crying a lot, because it looked like his face was wet all over. “You don’t need to apologize, Mentivis. I was foolish. I was thinking there was just no more good people in the world. When you showed me the letter, I realized how wrong I was, and for that, I am ashamed of myself for what I said.”

“It wasn’t much easier for us, either. When the side you’re defending and the side you’re fighting both hate you, it’s pretty much being caught between a rock and a hard place. Even though we’re warriors, we’re still just as human as we were before then. Strength does not keep us from falling. It helps us get back up when we do fall.” Realizing that Dirk was still quite broken from earlier, Mentivis decided to change the subject. “Hey, uhmm, how about we play some Halo? If you beat me, I’m buying tonight’s dinner, your choice.”

Dirk quickly got up. “Wait, what about Animus and Melina?”

“They’re going out to dinner, tonight. It’ll just be the two of us for a while.”

“Ok then, let’s go! I’m so going to dominate that match!” Dirk proudly replied as he and Mentivis went to the big room.

The following week, Dirk and Mentivis decided to build a teleporter that will bring them to Corrunderus.

“Dirk, do you still have the wave frequency from a month ago?” Mentivis asked.

“Yep. I had the data saved and everything. However, it’ll take a while for me to figure out exactly how to build one. I mean, I don’t know the first thing about making a teleporter.”

Mentivis sighed, but suddenly had an idea. “I say it’s time to make a few trips to the library.”

As they passed the big room on the way to the entrance, they met Animus and Melina, who were playing a video game together.

“Animus, Melina, we’re heading to the library to find some info on building teleporters,” Mentivis said.

Animus turned around a moment and asked, “Need me to help you with that?”

“No thanks. Dirk and I will handle things.”

“Well, good luck, then,” Melina said with a smile.

They travelled to the library, being careful not to be noticed by the people of the surrounding city. As they got to the library, Dirk noticed the vastness of the building.

“(Wow, this looks like it could be twice as big as the base or so,)” Dirk thought to himself.

They continued into the library and began to search for books that may help them build the teleporter. However, something else was on Dirk’s mind.

“Chad,” Dirk began to ask Mentivis. As the warriors lived in the base, Animus and Mentivis shared their real names to the others, so that when they went out in public, Dirk and Melina knew how to address them without arousing suspicion. “I’ve been thinking about Keith and Melina lately. You just never see them apart, anymore. You think they will eventually…”

“Marry?” Chad interrupted. “I can imagine they will. Their hearts are so connected to each other, if one of them gets hurt, both of them feel the pain.”

“I’ve never seen any other married couple be that close to each other. Could it be because they are… you know,” Dirk asked, trying to be careful of his words.

“No, it’s not because of that. Keith and Melina have gotten rid of their selfish desires in the past. They live solely for the Lord and for each other. They have created an environment within them where true love can blossom to its full potential. Such a bond is rare, nowadays.”

Dirk felt puzzled for a moment. “I kinda have trouble understanding all of this. Can you make it a bit simpler?”

“Well, in this world, there are two sides to every coin. Where one side is true, the other side is counterfeit. In this case, it’s love. So the counterfeit is what, Dirk?”

“Lust. But what does that have to do with anything?”

Chad continued. “The devil had placed counterfeits to nearly every truth that exists. Some people think they are falling in love, when it is really lust. The only way to discern the truth from the counterfeit is through the Spirit. I think we’ve spent too much time on the subject, though. We need to return to those books.”

Months have passed, and Dirk and Mentivis had begun work on the teleporter, having acquired enough knowledge.

“I have to hand it to you, Mentivis. This is just incredible. There would’ve been no way I could’ve done this without you.”

“Well, when two minds work together, amazing things can happen. Now that we have the blueprints done, what do we need to start building?”

Dirk looked through the blueprints to see if there was anything that needed to be retrieved. “Ah, here we go. We’ll need some onyx.”

“Onyx? Isn’t that meant for jewelry?”

“Yes, but I am looking for black onyx. I’ve been testing the wave frequency on various kinds of minerals, but it seemed to react to black onyx in a special way. The waves seemed to attach itself onto the black onyx and slide across it. I can make a funnel out of the black onyx to condense the waves together, making travel by particle-wave so much easier. You can find black onyx in the southern continent. However, Spirit Warriors are not allowed on that continent. I’m sure you’ll be able to retrieve the onyx with no problem, though.”

“Ok, I’ll go ahead and retrieve it. Oh, by the way, where are Animus and Melina?”

“They went to their special spot again. They won’t tell me where it is, though.”

During that day, Mentivis went undercover in the southern continent to retrieve the onyx. He wore his normal clothing as he got information and eventually obtained the onyx in one of the caves. As soon as he left the southern continent, he was walking through a forest and suddenly got knocked down from behind, causing the onyx to fly out of his hand and onto the ground, where a demon appeared to pick it up.

“You will not return with this onyx,” the demon said. Suddenly, four more demons appeared around Mentivis.

“You’re too late. I’ve already crossed the border. I can transform into a spirit warrior without fear of retaliation.” Mentivis raised his right hand up and was surrounded in a veil of light. The light gathered onto his hand to form into a bo staff. He emerged from the light in his mixture of light armor and tan and purple cloths. “I won’t be leaving without that onyx,” Mentivis calmly stated.

“Very well. Attack!” The demon with the onyx motioned the others to attack Mentivis. Mentivis propelled himself upward with his staff as the demons lunged toward him. As they followed him upward, he let loose a few energy shots. He then charged his staff with ice and threw it downward, making it spin horizontally with his mind. As the demons collided with the staff, they were hurled in different directions and fell to the ground, becoming dark clouds of smoke. The staff returned to Mentivis’s hand, and he descended to the ground, confronting the demon with the onyx.

“Return the onyx or face defeat.”

“I am always a step ahead of you.” The demon unsheathed his sword and pointed it at Mentivis.

“(The hilt is oddly-shaped. That would mean…)” Mentivis quickly jumped to the side, dodging a surprise attack from the sword, whose blade was attached to a long chain. The blade quickly recoiled back to its hilt. The demon fired his blade again, and Mentivis quickly dodged and knocked it down with his staff. However, the blade was now coiled around the staff, restricting it from retracting. As the demon attempted to pull Mentivis’s staff from him, Mentivis charged his staff with electricity, causing the blade to become electrified, along with the demon.

“Aaaargh!” The demon screamed as he vanished into a dark cloud of smoke, along with his weapon. Mentivis picked up the onyx and continued back to the base.

“So, you got this back from a demon?” Dirk asked as he examined the onyx. “This must be the right kind, then. Let’s go ahead and put it in the device.”

“Dinner!” Melina shouted from downstairs.

“We’ll just have to try it tomorrow, then,” Dirk said to Mentivis as they got ready for dinner.

Later that night, after the Spirit Warriors have turned in for the day, Mentivis began to dream of himself with his parents. They were hiking on a mountain trail to reach a waterfall on the other end.

“Ahh, this mountain air is refreshing. We need to do another vacation like this next summer,” said Mentivis’s dad.

“Maybe we should move a little closer to the mountains. This is a good way for you and Chad to have some father-son time,” replied Mentivis’s mom. Then she turned to Chad. “Besides, Chad, you need some outside time, anyway. It seems like all you ever do nowadays is stay in your room and read. Chad, are you paying attention?”

Mentivis suddenly broke from his daydreaming. “Uhh… Yeah. Outside. I like that. (Everything feels so real. I don’t understand.)” Mentivis heard some odd sounds coming from above him as he stood still, his parents slowly moving away from him, and he looked up. “(Boulders!) MOM! DAD! LOOK OUT!” But he was too late. In a split second, the boulders were about to crush his parents, and they would not have enough time to move aside. “NO!!” All of a sudden, the boulders stopped in mid-air, and Mentivis found himself wearing his Spirit Warrior attire. His hands were in front of him as he used his mind powers to move the boulders away from his parents. “Now I know what’s going on! I’m Mentivis, the Spirit Warrior of the mind. I can control my actions in my dreams!” Suddenly, a figure jumped from a mountain ledge onto the ground between him and his parents and revealed himself to be a demon.

“Curse you, meddling warrior! But your friends won’t be so fortunate!” Suddenly, everything faded away. His parents, the mountain, everything had disappeared, and all that’s left was a mix of red and black all around.

“My friends… What is going on?! Tell me!” Mentivis yelled at the demon in anger.

“I will never tell you! Now prepare to die!” The demon unsheathed his sword and flew towards Mentivis, who quickly jumped up fired several energy shots at his sword. The demon’s sword was knocked out of his hand after a few hits, and Mentivis moved in subdued the demon with his staff.

“Tell me what is happening with my friends!” Mentivis ordered.

“I… will never tell you!” the demon swore.

“There are other ways for me to find out.” Mentivis began to read the demon’s mind and found out that his friends are getting the same nightmares. “So, my friends are also having these nightmares, then. Thanks for the info, demon.”

“No! How could you?!” The demon couldn’t say any more when Mentivis impaled the demon with his bo staff. As soon as the demon was impaled, he disappeared into a black mist.

Mentivis suddenly found himself awake in his bed at the base. “I need to check the others!” He quickly ran to Melina’s bedroom, which was next door, and found her in her bed, sleeping. However, she was pale and sweating all over her face. “I’ll need to enter their minds and save them from whatever is going on. I hope they’re all right.” Mentivis closed his eyes and focused deeply, so that his consciousness could enter Melina’s mind.

Melina found herself in a mysterious, yet familiar, apartment. There was a shadowy young man with her, and he began to speak.

“Melina, you’re the most attractive woman I have ever known. Come, sleep with me.”

Upon hearing this, Melina’s heart began to race and began to stutter. “N… No… I shouldn’t…”

The shadowy young man quickly grabbed her by the wrists. “You WILL, and you will ENJOY every minute of it!”

“No! Get away!” Melina kicked the man in the chest, loosening his grip on her. She bolted for the door, but to her horror, it was locked.

“Oh no! Someone! Anyone! Help!”

“RRRAGHHHH!!!” Mentivis suddenly broke through the apartment window, glass flying everywhere. “GET YOUR HANDS OFF HER, DEMON!”

“What are you doing here?!” No sooner did the man shout than Mentivis leapt forward and slammed his bo staff down on him. As soon as he hit the ground, the man’s form turned into that of a demon, who only showed his true form seconds before he disappeared into black mist.

“Melina, wake up. You’re having a nightmare,” Mentivis told Melina in the dream. All of a sudden, both of them found themselves back at the base.

“Wha… Mentivis? What happened?” Melina asked, still drowsy from her sleep.

“I’ll tell you later. I need to go rescue the others.” Mentivis quickly ran out of her room and went to Dirk’s room, where he found him in the same condition as Melina. Mentivis closed his eyes and deeply concentrated on Dirk’s mind, as his consciousness began to enter the dream.

Dirk appeared in what looked like a fraternity club. His face was hot as he argued with someone, who appeared the be the leader of the group.

“Why did you sabotage my machine?! It could’ve revolutionized cyberspace travelling! It could’ve drawn many people to the club! What gives, man?!” Dirk yelled at the leader.

“I own this science club. No one outdoes me in this campus. You would’ve had all the money and left the rest of us with nothing,” he coldly replied.

“What?! You fool! Do you even realize what you’ve done?!” All of a sudden, Dirk felt a blow to the back of his head and fell to the floor.

“No one speaks to the leader of the science club like that!” another man shouted from behind. All of a sudden, Icegra shots appeared from out of nowhere and struck the people in the club.

“Money is the root of all evil, or was that your intention, demon?” Mentivis suddenly appeared before the leader.

“You don’t belong here!” The demon began to point to Mentivis. “Get him!” All of a sudden, the people of the club changed into demons, and they all launched at Mentivis. However, Mentivis countered by firing large volleys of Icegra shots, destroying all the demons that went to attack him.

“Your turn, next.” Mentivis charged his staff with ice power and impaled the leader of the demons, causing him to disappear into black mist. His attention then turned to Dirk, lying there on the ground.

“Dirk, wake up. This isn’t real. You’re having a nightmare,” he said as he knelt next to him. All of a sudden, he and Dirk found themselves back at the base.

“Ugh, what was that? And why do I have such a headache?” Dirk asked, drowsily.

“I’ll explain later. I need to rescue Animus.” Mentivis then left for Animus’s room, where he found him in the same condition.

“Hang on, I’m coming.” Mentivis focused deeply into Animus’s mind and carried his consciousness into his dream.

“Well, just one more class and I’ll be heading home for the day. As awesome as learning about supply and demand is, I’m looking forward to a well-deserved nap,” Animus thought to himself as he walked to the University Center for lunch. Animus bought his sandwich – a footlong italian meat sub with honey mustard – and sat down at the table he felt most comfortable sitting at. Suddenly, there was a loud bang coming from behind him, along with screams. No sooner did Animus attempt to look behind him when he was jerked up from his chair with his left arm held to his back and a gun to the side of his forehead.

“Don’t anybody move, unless you’re willing to lose a classmate!” yelled the gunman. Animus stood there, petrified, afraid to make a move in the face of death.

“(Where’s the police when you need them? In seconds, this guy will pull the trigger, and that’ll be the end for me,)” Animus silently panicked in his mind. All of a sudden, the gunman was struck in the back of the head by a bo staff and fell to the ground, losing his grip on Animus.

“You go so far as to touch one of my friends like that, demon, I’ll rip you apart!” Mentivis appeared from out of nowhere.

“You meddling warrior! I’ll finish you here and now!” the gunman said as he transformed into a demon as he slowly got up.

Mentivis lunged at the demon and froze him in a powerful Icegra blast. Immediately, he struck the frozen demon with his staff, shattering him to pieces. Animus was stunned by the entire situation, as Mentivis turned to him and spoke.

“Animus, wake up. This is only a dream, created by the demons.”

The two warriors found themselves back at the base.

“What just happened?” Animus asked. Dirk and Melina also came to his room, wondering what was going on. Mentivis began to explain to everyone.

“Somehow, demons entered our dreams and tried to destroy our subconscious. Fortunately, I had the ability to control the dreams and defeat the demons inside.”

“But where did they come from?” Dirk asked.

“Oh crud!” Mentivis facepalmed. “I was so focused on saving you guys, I forgot to see if the demons had any information on where they came from. I’m sorry, guys.”

“They came from the onyx,” Animus suddenly spoke. The other warriors turned to him in surprise.

“How would you know that?” Mentivis asked.

“I was told by the Spirit where we would find the source,” he replied.

“The gift of prophecy. I didn’t know you were able to prophesy, Animus,” Dirk said in response.

“Then let’s go! The sooner we check that onyx, the better!” Mentivis and the others ran into Dirk’s lab, where the onyx lay.

“Let’s all touch the onyx. I’ll pray.” Everyone touched the onyx and closed their eyes. “Lord, I thank you for being our provider and our strength when we are weak. I ask that this onyx be cleansed in your name, that it will no longer be a vessel for demonic forces.”

As they warriors opened their eyes, the onyx began to glow for a second.

“It’s done,” Animus said. When they removed their hands from the onyx, a Great Deed Medallion appeared in front of each warrior. As they grasped their seventh medallion, they knew that the time was near.

While I’m on the subject, I wish I had the talent to make these chapters as flash animations, but unfortunately, I do not.

Chapter 6: United, They Stand

“Ok, it’s time to finish this!” Animus shouted as he battled a strange foe in a familiar arena. He stood on one end of the battlefield and began to raise his hands in the air, gathering energy for the final blow.

“ENERUGIIIII…”

The monster facing him also began to draw energy, holding his hands to his waist, also drawing energy. “KA… ME… HA… ME…”

Animus then put his right leg back and lowered his hands, facing his glowing palms towards the demon. Suddenly, he made a shout that let off a huge burst of energy toward the foe. “KOUSEN!”

“HA!!!” The monster responded, firing energy toward Animus with his palms. The two energy beams collided with each other and struggled to overpower each other.

“(Ok, just hang in there, Animus. Eventually, he’ll wear out.)” Animus thought to himself as he continued releasing energy towards the monster. Eventually, Animus’s Enerugikousen began to overpower the monster’s Kamehameha Wave when suddenly, the monster disappeared, and the surroundings went black.

“I need everyone to meet in the War Room immediately,” the intercom went off.

Animus removed his visor, released himself from the gyroscopic chamber, and quickly ran to the War Room, where the other three warriors were waiting for him. As soon as Animus sat down in his chair, Mentivis began to speak.

“Now that we are all here, I want everyone to listen carefully to what I have to say. I have been keeping up with the news and looking over our income for the past three months. We are rapidly losing our income, as some nations have stopped funding us and some nations went so far as to make laws against us coming into their territory.”

“(‘This is only the beginning. Your efforts to defend this planet are futile. The very people you are trying to defend will hate you. The more they know about you, the more they will hate. Do you really wish to carry this burden?’)” Remembering this, Animus’s face grew pale.

“Animus, what’s wrong? Are you sick?” Mentivis asked, not used to seeing him in this shape.

“While I was captured, Corrunderus showed me a video of a politician speaking out against us. It looks like it’s finally happening. They’re starting to hate us.”

The attention on Animus was interrupted by Dirk’s fist slamming onto the table. “Where’s the logic in all this? Would they rather be tortured by demons than be saved?!”

“Calm it, Dirk,” Mentivis interrupted. “If we’re going to react to this turn of events, we need to keep our minds at ease so we can think things through. Lately, Corrunderus had been targeting only us and used unconventional tactics to fight us. Demons attacked Animus during his coma. We have fought a demon that we couldn’t physically touch. The fact that he’s not targeting other people anymore is making our battles look staged.”

“So, what can we do to keep ourselves from getting caught between a rock and a hard place?” Animus asked.

Mentivis made an answer that none of the Spirit Warriors, including himself, was prepared for. “We disband.”

“Disband? We’re breaking up? Why?” Melina asked Mentivis.

“Disband?! Do you mean we’re just going to give up?!” Dirk shouted.

“I can’t just leave the rest of the team. It would hurt me to make such a decision. We’ve been through too much, together!” Animus replied, as well.

“Everyone, COOL IT!” Mentivis shouted. At once, everyone stopped talking and made sure not to say anything until Mentivis finished speaking.

“Look, we have five Great Deed medallions, so far. The fighting won’t be over until we obtain the other three. It’s not like we won’t see each other anymore. We will still fight demons. We just have to take a couple steps back so we have something to return to in case we eventually lose the base. We’ll need to get back to the lives we used to have. After all, we need to progress as normal people, as well. We have college, careers, and families to look forward to. If we don’t establish this while we have the opportunity, we may not be able to resume our normal lives later on. Now, are we on the same page in all of this?”

“I have a favor to ask. Since I did make the plans for this base, and since I don’t have a home to return to, I was wondering if I can still make this place my home,” Dirk asked.

“As long as it doesn’t use up too much of the money we have left, then it’s fine,” Mentivis answered.

“I think we’re all clear on the matter. I’ll return to college and resume pursuing a career in teaching. But, it won’t feel the same, though, after all of this has happened,” Animus stated, though without the smile he usually has.

After the meeting was over, the warriors exchanged good-byes and left for their former homes. Mentivis and Melina returned to their home in Vorca City, while Animus rented a new apartment in Terto City.

As the days passed in his new apartment, Animus began to grow bored and restless. Being on his own again after such a long time did not feel the same to him after having many great experiences with his fellow warriors. One night, he just couldn’t take it anymore.

“Ugh. At this rate, I’ll end up having my days and nights mixed up. I need to go outside for some fresh air.”

As Animus walked toward the door to the balcony, a thought came to his mind.

“I want to go back to that cliff. It’s so quiet and peaceful over there, and maybe it’ll help me relax.”

Animus arrived at the cliff with a sleeping bag and a flashlight. Once he was done setting up his sleeping bag, he sat down on it and began to rest his mind. However, memories of Melina poured into his mind, keeping him from feeling the least bit drowsy.

“(I’ll visit her tomorrow, I promise,)” Animus thought as he tried to sleep under the stars. A few hours later, he awoke at the sound of footsteps in the grass. He grabbed his flashlight and pointed it at the direction of the sound to find Melina, standing in front of him.

“Melina, what are you doing out here? I thought you were with Mentivis.”

Melina replied, “I couldn’t stop thinking about you. I kept getting memories of us on this cliff, and I came here to try to relax.”

“Something tells me that this was not a coincidence,” said Animus, still a little surprised by Melina’s visit. “I was going to visit you tomorrow morning, but since you’re here, I guess we can spend some time watching the stars together if you like.”

“As long as I’m next to you, Animus. I missed you so much in the past few days.” The two began to watch the stars far above the cliff.

“Melina, I don’t think I’ve told you this before, but I’ve been thinking about you since long before we met.”

“But, how could you think of me if we never met?” Melina asked, puzzled.

“I’ve been praying to meet you for years. I’ve even typed on my computer the kind of girl I imagined you to be. I said to the Lord, ‘If there’s anything in this description that I really want to come true, it would be that your favorite color is orange.’ I just could not get over how much I wanted to see that come true.”

Melina was surprised to hear this. “Wow, you’re absolutely right. My favorite color IS orange!”

“Not only that,” Animus continued, “But I have seen other parts of the description come true, as well. You have beautiful straight brown hair that appears to shine orange in the sun. Your eyes are a beautiful brown, like mine. You are a bit shy, but your heart is very strong. And how much you love to serve the Lord just blows me away. It was as if He took my description and molded it into a dazzling young woman.”

Melina was so entranced by what Animus told her, she could only speak these four words: “I love you, Animus.”

“I love you too, Melina,” Animus replied.

The two continued to stare at the night sky until the sun slowly rose.

“Melina, is it ok if we meet here again tonight?”

Upon hearing this, Melina let out a big smile. “Yes, Animus. Absolutely!”

The next morning, Animus headed off to former base of the Spirit Warriors to pay Dirk a visit. When he arrived, he found the place to be strangely empty.

“(He’s probably working a bit more on the simulator,)” Animus thought. However, when he went to the simulator room, he did not find Dirk, but the power to the room was completely shut off. “(Man, I never thought I’d see the simulator room like this. I’d better check the War Room. It’s the only place left.)”

Animus proceeded to the basement, where he found Dirk sitting with his head tucked between his folded arms at the table. “Dirk, it’s me, Animus. Is everything ok?”

Dirk slowly raised his head and looked toward Animus. On the table was a letter. He placed his hand on the letter and slid it across the table toward Animus. “Take a look at this,” he said, with an obvious expression of discouragement from his face.

“What’s this?” Animus picked up the letter and read it.

By the order of the Alliance of Nations, this base has been deemed a threat to the security of the majority of the participating nations and is to be dismantled by its owners within one month. If this order is not complied, troops will be dispatched on site to destroy the base and eliminate its owners.

“How long ago was this mail sent?” Animus asked Dirk while trying to hold back his anger.

“Yesterday. It looks like we’ll be back to square one,” Dirk replied.

“I don’t know. Let me go deliver this to Mentivis. He might have an idea on how to rectify this situation.” Animus took the letter and flew from the base to the home of Mentivis and Melina in Vorca City. When he rang the doorbell, Mentivis answered the door.

“Animus, I’m so glad to see you. Melina just talks non-stop about you. So, what brings you here?”

Animus smiled to see Mentivis again, but his smile quickly disappeared when it came time for him to show the letter. “Dirk received this in the mail, yesterday. It looks like we have a real problem on our hands.”

As Mentivis silently read the letter, sweat poured down his face. Once he was through, he calmly handed the letter back to Animus. “The hole just keeps getting deeper, doesn’t it?”

“I was wondering if you may have an idea on how to fix this situation,” Animus said.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what to do at the moment. However, I’ll try to think of a solution. I’ll let you know as soon as I can think of one,” Mentivis replied.

Later that night, Animus returned to the same cliff from last night. Shortly after he arrived, he saw Melina flying towards him from his left.

“Animus!” Melina quickly flew into Animus’s arms, giving him a big hug.

“Melina, it’s so wonderful to see you again.”

“I was thinking of what you told me, last night, about before you met me. I have something I want to share, as well. Before we met, on some nights, I heard a voice, telling me to pray for my future husband. It sounded like he was in trouble, so every night, I prayed for him.”

Animus was amazed to hear this news. “Melina, I have something to say, as well. On some nights, when I was attacked by lust, I asked my Lord to send a messenger angel to my future wife to tell her to pray for me. It sounds like my messages came through.”

Upon hearing this, Melina was so awestruck by this message, all she could do was hug Animus even more tightly than ever. All of a sudden, many dark figures appeared from all around them.

“Lord Corrunderus requests an audience with the two of you. You will join him tonight,” spoke one of the demons. All of a sudden, several demons swarmed the two warriors and bound them in strong metal chains and were knocked out.

After being in the midst of darkness for what seemed to be forever, Animus heard a voice.

“Wake up. It is time to meet the Demon Lord.”

Animus opened his eyes to find himself bound to the same wall as before. In front of him were as many as six demons. To his left was Melina, so stricken with fear, it looked like she would pass out at any moment. The demons unbound the two warriors from the wall. However, the chains were not removed. The demons escorted Animus and Melina to the same large room from before. There, Corrunderus stood at the other end, waiting for them.

“Welcome again, foolish clown. And welcome, naive girl. I could’ve left your fate to your own kind, but I wanted to have the pleasure of disposing of the two greatest threats to our plans.”

Melina was too scared to speak, but Animus managed to talk to the demon. “What are you doing to the people on Earth? What kind of brainwashing have you done to make them think we’re their enemies?”

“Brainwashing? There has been no brainwashing. These humans draw their own conclusions. Of course, I had to help them along. But, actually, you fools contibuted a lot to their beliefs.”

Animus attempted to violently shake off his chains, but it was no use. All Animus could do is angrily stare at the demon who had them shackled.

“I suppose you want to be free from those chains, now. You’ll be free from those chains, and your bodies, shortly,” Corrunderus continued as he began to raise his scythe. “Better yet, I want to see how you would react to see your loved one die right before your very eyes.” Corrunderus moved his scythe toward Melina when suddenly, Animus began to glow.

“Ahh, this will be interesting. I’ll get to kill you in the same form that you were when you killed Atraledo. Wait… that’s not it. What’s going on?”

The same spirit that arose from Animus against the invincible demon appeared once again to fight Corrunderus. The spirit unsheathed his sword and began to strike powerful blows against Corrunderus, who, with every blow, was steadily moving backwards. As Corrunderus and the spirit fought, Melina began to glow, as well. Her spirit arose and removed the shackles from the two warriors with no problem. As soon as they were released, Animus and Melina fell to the floor. Melina’s spirit joined the battle with Animus’s spirit as they continued to war against the powerful Corrunderus. However, during the battle, the two spirits began to merge together. The spirit looked very much like Animus’s spirit, but the other spirit’s daggers appeared on the sword’s hilt. When the spirit pointed his sword at Corrunderus, three beams fired from the sword and two daggers and encased Corrunderus in an energy shield. The spirit split back into two and returned to Animus’s and Melina’s bodies. Immediately, they got up and saw Corrunderus, trapped behind a shield of energy.

“What happened?” Animus asked, unaware of the events that had taken place.

“(There’s no time. You and Melina need to get out of here before the shield wears off,)” a thought appeared in his head.

“Melina, we need to get out of here. I know a way out.” Animus quickly grabbed Melina by the hand, and they both ran towards Animus’s former exit. However, on their way down the hallway, many demons were coming from that direction.

“Animus, look!” Melina shouted.

“Crud! We need to find another way out of here!” Animus turned around and ran with all his might back down the hallway, still firmly holding Melina’s hand. Down the hallway, they approached the door that led to a mysterious machine.

“What on earth is this?!” Animus asked as he examined the machine. After a few seconds of peering into the machine, he noticed a map of Earth with a set of coordinates. Below the map was a red button.

“Darnit, that still doesn’t tell me what this thing does!” Animus shouted.

“What about this, Animus? ‘Teleportation Device’,” Melina read on a part of the machine.

“This is a WHAT?!” Animus could not believe what he had heard. Suddenly, he could hear the demons coming closer. Without thinking, he hit the red button and shoved Melina into the machine. After a light on the wall flashed red three times, the light below it flashed green, and Melina disappeared from inside the machine.

“I sure hope this machine did what I thought it was supposed to do. Otherwise, I’m a dead man, in more ways than one,” Animus said to himself, breathing heavily and sweating almost uncontrollably. When he tried to press the button again, a buzz filled the room.

“Oh, what now?!” Suddenly, his eyes turned to a thermometer. Its numbers were red, but they were rapidly decreasing.

“Oh, I sure hope the machine cools down fast enough.” All of a sudden, the demons began to enter the room, one by one.

“Crud!” Animus held out his left arm and held it with his right arm. “CLUSTER BLAST!” Animus fired a powerful energy blast into the demons, causing the door to cave in. When Animus turned around to glance at the thermometer, the numbers decreased more slowly, but they were now white. Animus pushed the red button again and quickly went into the machine. As soon as the demons removed the rubble and entered the room, he was no longer in sight.

Meanwhile, Mentivis had been meditating in a secret place in a forest to the south of Vorca City.

“(I need to know the solution to this problem. If we don’t save the base, it’ll be that much harder for us to fight the demons.)”

“Aah!” came a familiar shout.

No sooner did Mentivis open his eyes than he found himself tackled by Melina, who seemed to appear from out of nowhere.

“Oof! What the…” But Mentivis was cut off by another familiar voice.

“Whoa!” Animus also appeared from nowhere and landed on top of both Melina and Mentivis, still on the ground. As soon as all three warriors got back on their feet, they turned around to find a demon also appearing from out of nowhere.

“Here they come!” Animus lunged forward to intercept the demon.

“What’s going on, here?!” Mentivis asked Melina, very confused.

Melina attempted to explain, “Well, you see, Animus and I got captured by the demons, and we met Corrunderus.”

“What?!” Mentivis interrupted, “You met him?! What happened?!”

“He was about to kill us, and we passed out. When we came to, he was surrounded in a force field, and we were hightailing it out of there. That’s when Animus stumbled upon a teleporter, and…”

“A teleporter!” Mentivis interrupted again. “That’s how they’re getting here. Hang on a moment. I’ll have Dirk scan this area for anything unusual.” Mentivis then telepathically communicated with Dirk. “(Dirk, I need you to use the computer to scan the area where we are. Look for anything that may have to do with teleports.)”

“(You got it, Mentivis. I’m on it.)” Dirk telepathically replied.

All of a sudden, more demons started to appear, one every few minutes.

“Drat! Melina, put up a barrier for us,” Mentivis told Melina as he rushed to assist Animus. Within minutes, there were no fewer than five demons on the battlefield. Even though the warriors were surrounded by a barrier, Melina was getting tired, and she was about to lose the barriers.

“Hey, is it just me, or did the demons stop appearing?” Animus asked Mentivis while concentrating on the demon he was fighting.

“It looks that way. Hang on a moment.” Mentivis then telepathically communicated to Dirk, “(Dirk, did you figure out what was going on?)”

“(Mentivis, you won’t believe this. The demons travelled to your location via a special wave frequency. I used the base’s satellite to release waves at the same frequency toward your location. It seems that the waves collided and have deflected in opposite directions.)”

“(That’s awesome, Dirk, but where are the original waves now headed?)”

“(It looks like they’ve left the planet, and… I have no clue after that.)”

Mentivis chuckled when he heard the news. “(Lost in space. Brilliant work, Dirk.)”

A few minutes passed before the warriors defeated the remaining demons. When the warriors headed back to the base to explain the preceding events, the sixth Great Deed medallion appeared to each one.

Chapter 5: Spiritual Warfare

Animus was released from complete darkness to find himself in the midst of what used to be a big city, now in fiery ruins.
“What happened, here? Did this happen while I was captured? No, it can’t be. What about my friends?” Animus wandered around the mix of steel, broken glass, and towering flames until he saw a silhouette of a figure in the distance.
“Finally! I need to figure out what’s going on!” Animus quickly ran toward the figure to find out it was Dirk. Dirk turned toward Animus with a mean look on his face.
“Dirk! What’s going on here? Where is everyone? What happened?”
Dirk was silent for a moment, but then he spoke. “You abandoned us at the time we needed you the most, and you ask ‘What happened’? You’re no different from them… I thought I could trust you, but it was all a lie!”
Animus was shocked by these words and replied as fast as he could. “But Dirk! I was up in space! I couldn’t do a thing! But I’m here, now! We can fight the enemy together!”
Dirk only responded meaner and louder. “I… HATE YOU, ANIMUS! YOUR LIMBS WILL BE SCATTERED ACROSS THESE RUINS!”
Dirk rushed toward Animus at great speed, leaving Animus with little chance to fight back before he was knocked fifty feet by the force of Dirk’s attack.
“Dirk! Why are you… Ah!” Animus was interrupted by another dash, but quickly leaped upward, narrowly dodging the attack.
“I’m sorry, Dirk, but it looks like I have no choice.” Animus unsheathed his sword and prepared to face Dirk head-on. Dirk extended his claws and dashed again toward Animus, preparing for a quick swipe with his claws. However, he was interrupted by a volley of energy shots fired by Animus. He leapt into the air for a downward slash direct at Animus’s face. Animus attempted to use his sword to parry the claws, but he failed to strike them. He saw that his sword dug deep into Dirk’s heart, immediately ending his life.
Animus removed his sword from Dirk’s lifeless body and laid the corpse on the ground. As he stared at Dirk, his heart began to hurt a bit.
“What… what have I done? I didn’t mean to kill him! Why… why did this have to happen?!”
A voice came out from nowhere. “Animus, how could you stoop so low as to murder your fellow Spirit Warrior?”
Animus turned around to see Mentivis, giving off the same mean look as Dirk once gave.
“Tell me! What is going on here! I need to know!”
Mentivis answered, “What you need to know is that you are no longer part of us. You are our enemy, and as part of our duty, we will make sure you are put to death.”
Mentivis began to walk toward Animus, without making any sudden moves.
“Mentivis! You don’t need to do this! This can all be forgiv-unh!!” Animus’s mind was interrupted by a painful attack. Almost immediately after, several more mind pains began to attack him.
“Aack!! Stop!” Animus was on his knees, leaning onto his sword for support. Mentivis walked all the way to Animus and enchanted his staff with electricity.
“No! Stop!” Animus reached his hand out toward Mentivis. All of a sudden, a strong burst of energy came out from his hand and knocked Mentivis a great length into a tall shard of glass that was sticking out from a nearby building. Mentivis was pierced and immediately deceased.
“No! Not him, too!” Animus got up and ran toward Mentivis’s lifeless body. The pain in his heart hurt even more, almost torturing him with every breath.
“Ugh! It hurts.. it hurts so bad…” Animus, clutching his heart, could barely stand. Seconds later, he was covered by a shadow. He turned around to see Melina, standing behind him.
“He was all I had as a family, and you murdered him in cold blood.”
Animus, worn out from fighting and buffeted by the pain in his heart, was ready to collapse. “Do what you will. I’m not going to fight you. I’m almost dead, anyway. Just… finish me…”
“Animus! Please, don’t die!” A familar voice, accompanied by the sound of weeping, echoed throughout the ruins. Animus looked at Melina, but the voice was not coming from her. But, it was coming from her, because he could discern that it was clearly Melina’s voice.
“If the voice is Melina’s, who is standing before me?” Animus pondered as Melina looked around to find the source of the voice.
“Aghh! Stop it! I can’t hold it any longer!” Melina began to glow in several colors and slowly shifted her shape into a demon’s. At the sight of this, Animus’s heart healed completely, and he could finally stand up. As he looked around, the corpses of Dirk and Mentivis disappeared into the familiar demonic smoke.
“Alright, demon, I think it’s time for you to disappear, as well.” Animus quickly dashed forward and sliced right through the demon, while dashing by. He quickly stopped and dashed again towards the demon, slicing it once again. He stopped again, jumped back towards the demon and let out several slashes coming from all directions. He jumped back and fired a powerful energy blast, destroying the demon entirely. All of a sudden, everything went white.
Animus opened his eyes to find himself back in his room at the base. Dirk and Mentivis was standing by, while Melina was embracing him tightly.
“He’s awake!” Dirk shouted.
“Whatever you did, Melina, it saved his life,” Mentivis added.
“Animus!” Melina saw her awakened knight and started hugging him around his neck and kissing him many times on the cheek. All Animus could do was blush as Dirk and Mentivis stared at the two with smiles on their faces.
“Thank you again, Melina. I really thought I was going to die before I heard your voice. But, what happened while I was out?”
“Well, Mentivis had been looking for you for days. We all managed to save your life when you plunged toward Earth.” Melina then began to recall the events that followed the rescue.
“Quick, get Animus into bed. The sooner he recovers, the better,” Mentivis told Dirk and Melina as they carried the unconscious Spirit Warrior to his bed. Later, Mentivis began to examine him with his mind.
“He seems to be in a coma. I’ll continue to figure out what is going on with him. You two go ahead and get some rest, yourselves.” Dirk and Melina left for their rooms, as night had just fallen over the base.
“Ahh!!! My chest! It hurts!” Melina shrieked in the middle of the night. She held her hands on her chest, wincing in pain. Immediately, Dirk and Mentivis came rushing into the room.
“What’s wrong, Melina?!” Mentivis asked, full of worry.
“I… don’t know! It hurts! It won’t stop!” Melina continued to hold her chest as tears began to flow down her face.
“That’s really strange,” Mentivis pondered. “At the same time you shrieked, I felt Animus’s life signs drop. I couldn’t get through to his subconscience, but I can tell something is terribly wrong with him.”
“It might be easier if she were closer to Animus. It looks like we’ll need to watch them both,” Dirk suggested. Mentivis used his mind power to move Melina to Animus’s room, as she herself could not walk far, due to the pain. All of a sudden, she screamed in pain again.
“AHH!!! IT HURTS! IT REALLY HURTS!” By now, Melina is in terrible pain. The tears that ran down her face kept multiplying.
“So, that’s it. Whatever pain Animus’s heart is going through, she can feel it, as well, as if their hearts were intertwined. If Animus dies from this coma, Melina will die, as well.” As soon as Mentivis said this, Melina rushed toward Animus with all her might and embraced him, laying her head on Animus’s chest.
“Animus! Please, don’t die!” The tears became uncontrollable, now, as she wept for him. Gradually, the pain in her heart began to ease. Eventually, Melina, filled with fatigue, began to rest on top of Animus.
“Oh, man. I’m sorry to have put you through so much trouble, Melina,” replied Animus, feeling guilt from hearing what happened.
Melina softly responded, “It’s not your fault, Animus. You did what you could do, and we’re thankful you are alive and well, now.”
Animus turned his thoughts toward his earlier experience. “Anyway, guys, I met Corrunderus.”
“Corrunderus,… that was the name that came to my mind back at the old castle,” Mentivis pondered.
“He’s the guy who’s orchestrating the whole thing. I couldn’t fight him, though. There were too many demons about for me to confront him then.”
Mentivis nodded and responded, “As of right now, none of us know how to reach him. We’ll need to continue our goal of obtaining all eight Great Deed Medallions until we can find an opportunity to bring the fight to him.”
“Well, where are we going to get the rest of them? I want to clobber that guy, right now!” Dirk shouted in haste.
“It’s not ‘where’, Dirk. It’s ‘when’,” replied Mentivis. “There is nothing we can do to obtain these medallions more quickly. All we can do is wait for them to come to us as they have before. We each have four medallions in our possession. It shouldn’t be long before we obtain the remaining four.”
The following day, Animus decided to meet Dirk at the Training Chamber. “So, Dirk, you said there was something you wanted to show me?”
Dirk nodded. “Yes, as a matter of fact. Thanks to Mentivis, not only did we manage to kill a lot of bugs and glitches since the last go-around, but he also had the bright idea of adding a bit of adventure into the mix. Go ahead! Try Level 1! It’s awesome!”
“Well, since you put it that way, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to try. Anything I should be familiar with before I dive right in?” Animus asked.
“Well, you might end up using more than just your sword. Expect to get familiar with weapons other than your sword. Also, this is the first project that doesn’t involve demons. There will be a variety of enemies to fight. Lastly, the object isn’t to kill all of the enemies. You need to touch something that ends the simulation.”
“Alrighty, then. Let’s do this!” Animus shouted with a smile. He put on all of the equipment and strapped himself into the gyroscopic chamber. As soon as Dirk turned on the machine, a feeling of nostalgia encompassed him. He appeared in a bluish rectangular room filled with statues. On the left side of the room were fishlike statues. On the right side, dragon statues. There were four doors in the room, one on each side. The door up ahead was locked. The doors on the sides were open, and the door behind him was sealed tight, presumably the dungeon’s entrance. Animus walks through the door on the right to find himself in a room identically-shaped to the previous one, but with walking skeletons and two columns of blocks in the center of the room.
“Well, this is new. Let’s see if those walking piles of bones can stand a few sword swings.” Animus goes up to the first skeleton and gives him a few simple slashes. However, the skeleton fell after only a couple hits.
“Dirk’s only making this too easy. I’ll just clean this room up quickly.” Animus quickly dashed around the room, slashing the remaining skeletons as he flew by until they all crumbled. As soon as he stopped to look around, he noticed a faint glimmer amongst one of the corpses. He walked over to it to pick it up and found that it was a key.
“I think I know where this goes. I’ll head to that other open room to see what’s there.” Animus walked back to the previous room and went through the other open door to find himself in yet another identical room, only there was nothing in it, except bats.
“Bats… Ok, then. Time for target practice.” Animus fired energy shots at each bat until they were all vaporized. Suddenly, a small sound, like a piece of metal dropping, came from a corner of the room. He went to the source of the sound to find that it is another key. He picked it up and carried it with him as he returned to the previous room to unlock the door. As soon as he put the key in the hole, both the key and the door disappeared! He walked through the door to find a room with a single column of blocks in the center and a few more skeletons. He disposed of the skeletons as he did before and continued on to the door up ahead. The next room had four blocks near each corner and more skeletons.
“Yeah, I should’ve guessed. This place is littered with them,” Animus sighed. He fired energy shots at each one until they were all destroyed. A key appeared on the north end of the room, so he picked it up, leaving him with two keys: this one, and the one from the skeletons in an earlier room. There were two doors apart from the one he entered from: one on the west side and one from the east side. He decided to go through the east door to find himself in a dead-end room that was full of bats.
“I don’t think this area was meant for training. It’s too easy to move through this place. Oh well. Time to clean house.” Animus destroyed each bat with energy shots and discovered that a circular object was at the other end of the room.
“A compass, but the needle isn’t facing north. Maybe it leads to the end.” Animus backtracked to the previous room and walked through the west door to find more bats.
“Oh, come on, Dirk! Don’t you have anything here besides bats and skeletons?!” Animus shouted.
“Heh. Just you wait,” Dirk answered, though he was nowhere to be found. Animus destroyed the bats in similar fashion to the others, unlocked the door on the north side, and proceeded onward.”
“Uhm… yeah. Animated Jello. Good thing I don’t normally eat Jello. Otherwise, I probably would’ve lost my appetite.” Animus slew the gels that inhabited the room to find that the west door is shuttered.
“Now how to open this…” Animus tried firing blasts of energy, but nothing seemed to work.
“Try using your head, Animus. This is a dungeon, after all,” Dirk said, though still not around. Animus looked around to find a lone block in the center of the room.
“Well, can’t say I didn’t try.” Animus pushed the block to find that the shutters had opened. However, the block could no longer be pushed. He proceeded to the newly opened door to find a dark room with two flames. An old man appeared between the flames.
“Uhmm… do you need rescuing, sir?” Animus asked the man.
“Eastmost peninsula is the secret,” the old man replied.
“How ya doin’…,” Animus sighed to himself. He returned to the previous room to try the door on the east side. He went through to find more gels and a piece of paper at the far end of the room. He slew the gels and picked up the piece of paper to find that it was a map. Upon gazing at the map, he slapped his forehead.
“So that’s why this place felt so nostalgic. Dirk, your Level 1 is the Level 1 from the first Zelda game?!”
“Well, yeah. I needed some practice on making dungeons for the simulator, and I thought this was the perfect candidate.”
“You could’ve at least strengthened the enemies in here, you know,” Animus replied. He went through the north door to find a water-filled room with skeletons traversing the walkways. He slew each skeleton to find a key inside one of them and proceeded forward through the north door.
“Finally, something different!” Animus shouted. “Yikes!” Animus quickly ducked in time to dodge an oncoming boomerang.
“You like throwing things, huh? How about a game of catch?” Animus fired energy shots at the monsters, who appeared to be rats that could walk upright. After a few blasts of energy, the rats were defeated and a key appeared on the other side of the room. He used the key to unlock the west door and continued onward, only to find himself between two oncoming spike traps.
“OH SNAP!” Animus dashed quickly out of harms way to find a stairway that was surrounded by blocks.
“Heh. I could just jump this. Forget about pushing the right block!” Animus jumped over the blocks and went down the stairs to find a bow on the floor.
“Uhh… ok, I’ll take this, but only because I want to play with it later. Hmmm… I have an idea.” Animus grabbed the bow and raised it over his head with a smile.
“Ok… a nice little tune would’ve kept that moment from being embarrassing,” Animus said with a red face as he lowered the bow from atop his head. He backtracked to the room where he found the map and continued eastward, unlocking a locked door with the only key he had remaining. There, he found a few more boomerang-wielding rats that he managed to dispose of in a little time with his energy shots and picked up a boomerang that appeared on the floor.
“I never was good with these things. I want to see if it’ll come back without me making any effort of throwing it right.” Animus threw the boomerang to find that it managed to fly straight forward and back, despite how badly it was thrown. It returned to Animus’s hand without a single problem.
“Now this is pretty sweet! I can throw it and it comes right back, and I don’t have to worry about dropping it! Man, I’d like to have something like this back at home!” Animus grinned as he played with the boomerang a little while longer before continuing east,following the compass.
“Room with lots of blocks and a locked door up north. Maybe there’s a key nearby.” Animus looked around the room until he found a key next to a wall on the south end.
“Gotcha. Time to move on and…,” Animus cut himself off to find that he was staring at a massive hand right in front of him.
“Get away from me! I know what you guys do and I don’t want to be anywhere near you!” Animus ran from the hand and dodged another hand that appeared through a wall until he came to the locked door.
“Good thing these guys like hugging walls, so long as it isn’t me.” All of a sudden, a roar came from behind the door.
“Okay… I don’t like that sound. I liked it better when it didn’t even sound like a roar,” Animus shuddered as he unlocked the door. As he entered the room, he saw a large monster, half-dragon, half-unicorn, standing to the right of the room. No sooner did he see the boss than the boss begin to hurl balls of fire from his mouth. Animus quickly dodged the oncoming attack and distanced himself from the monster.
“No time to waste here. CLUSTER BLAST!” Animus fired a powerful ball of energy directly at the monster. The blast was so powerful, it obliterated the monster in one fell swoop.
“Good thing I knew that trick. Time to grab that glass heart over there, and…” As soon as he touched the heart, it disappeared.
“Well that was anticlimactic,” Animus sighed as he passed through the east door. There, he found a glowing triangle in the center of the room.
“Well, that was fun, but I think it’s time to leave.” Animus touched the glowing triangle, and he suddenly found himself back at the base.
“(Whew. That was pretty interesting. Oh snap… I forgot to play with the bow while I was there. Oh well. Maybe next time,)” Animus thought to himself.
“Not bad, huh? Though, I might fix that whole Aquamentus-bomb thing. That boss was supposed to give you a challenge,” said Dirk, a bit unimpressed by the boss battle.
“Just try to make something original, next time. Going through a dungeon I’ve played through probably millions of times kinda takes the fun out of exploring it in a simulator,” Animus replied.
A week had gone by since Animus’s awakening. The warriors have been busy training in the simulation chamber. However, today’s simulation was suddenly interrupted by an alarm.
“Darnit, Dirk! I was so close to beating you in that match,” said Animus, irritated.
“Saved by the uhm… alarm, huh? Let’s hurry to the War Room.”
Dirk and Animus raced to the basement to find Melina and Mentivis already sitting down in the War Room. As soon as they sat down, Mentivis began to speak.
“Okay, guys. There’s a demon attack in Terto City.”
“Again? Are they looking for something, there?” Animus interrupted.
“I doubt it, though I could look into it later,” Mentivis answered. “Anyway, I’m getting strange readings about this one. His skill level doesn’t seem to match ours, so a quick fight will be in order. Ready, team?”
“Ready!” the other three team members shouted.
The four warriors arrived at Terto City, where they found the demon standing there, waiting for them.
“You won’t lay a finger on me!” The demon shouted as he lunged towards the group. He went after Dirk, first, who already had his guard up. However, as soon as the demon struck with his sword, Dirk could not feel the impact, but he was still in pain.
“Argh! What was that?! It hurts, and I don’t even know where!” Dirk immediately descended to the ground, trying to recover from the pain. Melina descended, as well, to attempt to heal Dirk. Animus lunged at the demon and prepared to cross swords wth him. However, his blows went right through the other sword!
“A phantom sword? But how?” Animus fired a few energy shots at the demon, but they went straight through him and hit a building right behind him.
“Ohhhh…. snap. That’s not cool at all,” said Animus, worried more about the damage he made than from the fact that his attacks went through the demon.
“That’s impossible!” Mentivis shouted. “We can’t hit him, but he clearly injured Dirk! Crud… Animus, can you hold off the demon while I go back to base to scan this abomination?”
“Just be quick. I don’t know how long I’ll last against this kind of demon.” Animus evaded to avoid any direct hits, while Mentivis flew back to the base to find some answers. Meanwhile, Melina continued to try to heal Dirk.
“I don’t get it. No bruises or scratches. I just don’t know! Hang in there, Dirk. Just fight it off.”
“Easy for you to say,” answered Dirk, still in lots of pain. “There should be a convenience store around the corner. Go buy me a bottle of water. I’m hoping that will ease the pain.” Melina left Dirk to buy a bottle of water from the store.
Back at the base, Mentivis was desperately searching for answers.
“Come on, computer! Give me something I can work with!”
Animus continued to battle the demon. Well, at this point, he was trying to evade each attack until Mentivis came back. After narrowly dodging an attack, he took notice at Melina, who was coming back with some water. Seeing the water made his mouth feel dry.
“Man, I am so buying some Gatorade when this is over.” Suddenly, Animus felt a sharp pain. He was struck by the demon, who used the distraction as an opportunity to attack.
“Argh! It hurts all over!” Animus said in pain as he fell to the ground. At the same time, Melina also felt the pain and fell to the ground, as well, dropping the bottle of water.
“But… I don’t understand… I didn’t get hit… Wait. That’s it! He’s not physically attacking us! It’s… our spirits? I can feel it coming from there.” Melina quickly tried to contact Mentivis, who is still desperately searching for a solution.
“(Mentivis! Quickly, grab some music and get over here! Mentivis, can you hear me?)” Melina tried to contact Mentivis with her mind, but no answer came. “Animus, try contacting Mentivis. Tell him we need music!”
“Music? Well… okay.” Animus tried to reach him, as well. “(Mentivis, find some music and head back. Melina has an idea. Mentivis? Darnit, Mentivis, answer it!)”
“Fools. I could kill you all by now, but I want to make sure you all are here to see each other die,” said the demon, temporarily ceasing his attack.
“I’m back, guys! I have the music… Oh no…” Mentivis returned to the battlefield to find the others on the ground in pain.
“Which CD?” Melina shouted to Mentivis.
“Whatever was in the CD player,” Mentivis answered.
Melina sighed at the answer. “I think I know what was in there last. Play number 2!”
“Got it!” Mentivis turned on the CD player and started playing the second song.
“Everyone, get up! Close your eyes and raise your hands to the sky! Listen only to the song and relax,” Melina instructed the others.
Slowly, the wounded Spirit Warriors got up and began to follow Melina’s instructions.

…and all You ever do, is change the old for new…

The Spirit Warriors closed their eyes, raised their arms, and relaxed.

…God… is bigger than… the air I breathe…

The demon was paralyzed in fear. As he saw himself surrounded by the warriors, four ghostly figures rose from their bodies, using weapons that the Spirit Warriors brandished: Animus’s sword, Dirk’s claws, Mentivis’s staff, and Melina’s daggers.

…God… will save the day…

The four figures lunged at the demon and impaled him with all of their weapons, utterly destroying the demon and wiping him from existence.

…and all will say… “My Glorious”…

The four figures, with their weapons, returned to the warriors, and the warriors opened their eyes. In front of each warrior was a Great Deed Medallion.
“Wow, that was awesome… beyond awesome!” Animus exclaimed, no longer feeling pain but is, along with the other warriors, experiencing a huge surge of joy.
“That was incredible. I feel so much at peace. It’s as if nothing else in the world matters,” said Dirk as he opened his eyes.
“Mom and dad… it felt like they were right beside me,” said Mentivis.
“Thank You, Lord. It is only through You that we have the power to overcome these foes,” Melina said, with a big smile on her face.
The warriors left the battlefield with rejuvenated spirits and a stronger urge to continue along the path they have walked on for so long.

Chapter 4: Leap of Faith

“Ok, Dirk, let’s try that move we’ve been practicing.” Animus flew a couple feet next to Dirk and held his sword up in the air.

“You didn’t eat anything just before this, right? You know what happened,last time.” Dirk asked as a precautionary measure.

“Just do it, Dirk!”

Dirk grabbed Animus’s feet and, with his immense strength, swung Animus around in circles, slicing the surrounding demons in two. Just as all the demons were slain, the environment around them returned to the base’s training center.

“It’s a good thing I had my eyes closed, this time. My stomach still isn’t used to that move. Hey, Dirk, wanna invite the others to play Brawl?”

“Okay. One of us needs to end Mentivis’s win streak, sooner or later, anyway,” Dirk grinned.

“I’ll go ask Melina while you invite Mentivis,” Animus requested.

“Looking for every opportunity, eh, Animus?” Dirk’s grin became a little wider.

Animus’s face turned red. “Hey! I only thought it would take less time if we split up.”

Dirk’s grin changed to a smirk. “Ok, then. How about you go ask Mentivis, and I’ll go ask Melina.”

“No way! You’re the one who mentioned Mentivis. You go ask him.”

Dirk laughed. “Ok, then, lover-boy!”

Dirk proceeded to the basement, where they found Mentivis in the war room. There were piles of open books on the table, with maps and chess boards lying about. In the center of the table was a hologram of the forest south of Kariba City. Several small figures of the Spirit Warriors and the demons were moving around, battling each other within the hologram.

“Yo, Mentivis! Wanna Brawl with us?” Dirk shouted toward him.

“Darnit, Dirk! How many times must I tell you not to shout while I’m busy? It interrupts my train of thought!” Mentivis yelled back.

“Well how else am I supposed to get your attention? If I talked any lower, you wouldn’t respond.”

Mentivis’s aggravated tone disappeared as a smile began to show on his face. “Well, I guess I need a break, anyway.

Meanwhile, Animus met Melina in the kitchen. She was busy cleaning the dishes from the night before.

“Hey, Melina, Dirk and I were wondering if you’d like to play some Brawl with us.”

Melina turned to Animus and smiled. “Sure, after I finish washing these dishes.”

“Is there anything I can help you with, Melina?” Animus asked.

“Well, there aren’t many dishes left to clean. All that’s left is putting the clean dishes in the cabinets. Hey, you’re blushing!”

Animus’s face turned a bit redder. He rubbed his hand on the back of his head as he spoke. “Sorry. Dirk was just teasing me earlier when I suggested we split up so that I could invite you while he invites Mentivis.”

Melina giggled. “Well, let’s make sure not to keep those two waiting!”

About 15 minutes later, the four warriors got together in the big room, in front of the TV.

“No using Ike, Animus. He’s the cheapest character in the game,” Dirk said.

“Hey! I can’t help it if I like using Ike. He’s got that nice sword and a cape. Wait, what about you and Bowser? How many times have you Koopa Klaw’d me next to the edge?” Animus replied.

“Half those times, you had more lives than me,” Dirk said in response.

“Yeah. Then I don’t even have enough lives to deal with Mentivis’s Lucario.”

Mentivis joined in, “Just be thankful that this game doesn’t have Mewtwo. At least you guys would have a chance against me in this game.”

“Yeah. Partly due to the fact that you leave yourself wide open to Melina as she’s spamming Zelda’s Din’s Fire on you,” Animus grinned.

“I just want to fight you for once instead of Mentivis. It always ends up being me versus him,” Melina replied.

“Ok, 5-stock, Castle Siege?” Mentivis asked.

Later that night, after everyone is in bed, the shutter door near the stairs opened. Animus quietly made his way out of the building and flew northeast to a cliff west of Terto City. There, Animus stood at the edge of the cliff and thought to himself as he stared at the stars.

“(Man, it’s been six months since that day. Ever since we defeated that army of demons, the attacks that came afterward have been minor. Are we near the end of the battle, already? No. It can’t be. We still need to find the five remaining medallions. What should I be doing now?

Melina… I know she is the one my Lord chose for me. Now that we have a lot of free time, we can finally do more things together, like go to a movie, or something. My Lord, she’s so beautiful. I want to be her knight in shining armor. I want to always protect her. But, she seems to have protected me more than I have protected her. Even at that time when I tried to save her, I… I didn’t make it in time. Well, I did save her back at that old castle, but after that, she saved me when I was trapped by demons in a cave. And then, there was that one time, a few months ago, where I had to face my personal foe. If it weren’t for her, who knows what might have happened? The enemy had me feeling helpless, again. No, I shouldn’t think this way. If I couldn’t pull my own weight as a Spirit Warrior, I never would’ve become one.)”

“Animus…”

Animus broke from his thinking and turned around to find Melina standing in front of him.

“Melina!” Animus ran toward Melina and hugged her.

“Animus, I can feel your heart. Are you okay?” Melina asked, worried.

“I… I… was just looking at the stars,” Animus answered, hesitantly.

Melina saw through this, as she knew what was in Animus’s heart. “Animus, you will always be my knight in shining armor, no matter what happens. I love you.”

“Thank you, Melina.” Animus hugged Melina more tightly than before.

“It’s a beautiful sky, tonight. Do you want to stay here for a bit and watch the stars with me?”

Animus’s smile became bigger when he heard this. “Absolutely!”

A few minutes into watching the stars, Melina began to speak. “Ever since we first met, I felt as if my heart became attached to yours. I wasn’t sure what it was, at first, and I felt nervous. As we went through those battles, the tug on my heart felt even stronger. I can feel what you feel, and it feels strong.”

Animus replied, “I have felt the same over the months. I can’t stop thinking about you. I want to always be by your side. Melina, I have been praying for my Lord to bring you and me together before I even met you. Without you, I felt so incomplete. Even as I continued praying for us to be together, I had a long, hard struggle with lust. I hated lust. The moments where I fell into a lustful state, I just felt so unforgiving of myself. I knew it dishonored you, my Lord, and even me. Melina, if I ever return to a lustful state again, I want you to be by my side, so that I don’t fight alone, because I know that a stand a bigger chance of losing if I try to fight lust by myself.”

“To me, it feels like your heart is the one most broken after the battle. I promise to always be by your side. On the outside, your flesh slowly moves you into a state of lust. But your heart is what still keeps on resisting that lust. I can feel your heart struggle during those moments, and it is hurt during the battle. But, like a fortress that is damaged from a struggle with the enemy, it begins to heal itself and prepare for the next battle.”

Upon hearing this, a tear slowly crept down the left side of Animus’s face. He embraced her, with his head on her shoulder. “I love you, Melina.”

“I love you, too, Animus.”

A few months have passed, and Dirk and Animus have returned to college. Dirk majored in Engineering, while Animus continued to press on with the passion that he had before becoming a Spirit Warrior: teaching. Mentivis would assist Animus and Dirk by teleporting them to an empty classroom in the college, where they would not be noticed by the people around them. Once college is over for the day, Mentivis teleports them back to the base from a quiet alley near the college.

A full semester of college passed, and the Spirit Warriors began to enjoy the coming summer. One day, however, Mentivis began to notice some strange activity coming from a secluded area in the southern tip of the Eastern continent. Mentivis decided to call Animus to the war room to discuss the situation.

“Animus, I was wondering if you could do me a favor. Every time I scan this section of the southern continent, I have been picking up some unusual activity.” Mentivis pointed to the southern peninsula on the Eastern continent.

“Sure thing. What do you need me to do?” Animus replied, eager to work actively as a Spirit Warrior again after so long.

“I just need you to head over to this area and see if you can find out anything. Once you’re done, return to me and give me your report.”

Animus nodded and left the base to scout the requested territory. A while later, he arrived at the peninsula and began to investigate.

“Well drat. This is going to take me a while with all these trees everywhere. I’ll have to do this on foot.” Animus stepped into the forest and began to search for signs of suspicious activity. After a couple hours, he began to grow weary.

“Whew. I need a break. The forest seems practically endless. I’ll just rest here for a bit.” Once Animus began to lie down, many dark figures surrounded him. One of them began to shout, “Seize him! Take him to Lord Corrunderus. He wants to deal with the knight, personally.” Before Animus could yell, he was knocked cold by one of the demons.

“Ow… what a headache. Where am I?” Animus looked around to find his surroundings completely different from earlier. Instead of a green foresty landscape, he was inside some sort of building. But this was not an ordinary building. The room around him looked too… technological. The door ahead of him looked like it could slide open. The floor was covered in blue tile. Wires hung from the walls.

“What the…? My arms and legs are tied! I guess I’m stuck here until I can figure out where I am.”

A few minutes later, the door slid open, revealing two demons, much like the ones he slew in the past. “You’re finally awake. Lord Corrunderus has grown impatient. You will follow us to meet him. Do not attempt to resist. There is nowhere to run.”

Animus was loosed from his binding and was escorted by the two demons to a large room with a long window in the back, revealing stars. In the room swarmed hundreds of demons. At the far end of the room stood a tall demon wielding a scythe. The two demons brought Animus to the one who seemed to be the leader of the demons.

“State your name, Spirit Warrior,” the demon sternly requested.

“Ripping off my line isn’t cool. How about you tell me your name, first?” Animus coldly replied. All of a sudden, he felt a blow from behind that brought him to his knees.

“Stop. Do not kill him, right now. For now, he must remain alive,” the great demon told the two lesser demons behind him.

The demon continued, “I am Corrunderus. The god we serve rules over this planet, thanks to your kind. However, your God interfered 2,000 years ago, and freed the likes of you from this kingdom’s citizenship. Now, I wish to know your name.”

“I am Animus, Spirit Warrior. My task is to defend the people from evil beings like you.”

“Interesting,” Corrunderus replied. “You may return to your bindings. You will be called back in an hour.” Animus was escorted by the two demons out of the large room and returned to the place where he was tied. The demons left as soon as they were finished binding his arms and legs to the wall.

“Crud. This isn’t good. I don’t know where I am. I’m surrounded by demons. Even if I succeeded in an attempt to break out of here, I don’t even know where I am. Those stars I saw out the window earlier is making me think I’m up in space. Come to think of it, I might be. I’ll take another look when I return to Corrunderus.”

An hour later, Animus found himself in the large room, once again. This time, he and Corrunderus were alone.

“I know you are not a fool that you would fight without first assessing the battlefield, first. You don’t know my strength. And even if you could overpower me, you would never be able to escape. In case you are wondering, we are in space, high above the earth. This place is not ours. It was abandoned by the humans.”

Animus could not believe his ears. “Space?! How did I get here?!”

Corrunderus continued, “You got me curious when you said that you were protecting people. Have you even known what your own kind has tried to do to people like you? They ridiculed you, beat you, killed some of you, or worse. Most of all, they hate you.”

Animus replied, “Who influenced those people to hate us? I’d like to hear your answer.”

“Many of them feed their hatred off of each other. Some were a little more stubborn, only giving in by accepting bribes. Money, pleasure, power, knowledge. There are plenty of others, too.”

“We, the Spirit Warriors, saved many of their lives. Do you honestly think the same people will willingly stab us in the back?”

“I want you to watch this monitor over here. I want to show you some of the people you ‘saved’.”

Corrunderus turned on the monitor. The screen revealed a human with a high position making a speech.

“How long must we continue to give our money to a group of people who claim to be ‘superheroes’, when there wasn’t an attack for a long time? Do you want to know why there hasn’t been an attack? I’ll tell you why. It was staged by a group of hooligans who have scammed us into supplying them with massive amounts of money. We must break the financial hold that they have on us, so we will no longer support their lies.”

Corrunderus turned the monitor off. “This is only the beginning. Your efforts to defend this planet are futile. The very people you are trying to defend will hate you. The more they know about you, the more they will hate. Do you really wish to carry this burden?”

Animus gave his answer, “I made a promise to defend humanity from you. No matter what happens between me and them, I will continue to honor that promise.”

“Very well,” replied Corrunderus. “Your execution is tomorrow. However, I will release you if you decide to rid yourself of your status as Spirit Warrior for the rest of your life. Allow me to make a recommendation: give up. The burden is not worth carrying. Guards! Send this fool back to his prison.”

The two demons at the other end of the room came and escorted Animus back to his bindings.

“This guy can play mind games with me all he wants. It’s not going to happen. I don’t know how I’ll avoid execution, though. I guess I’ll just have to play this by ear.

One thing bothers me, though. That man in the video… What if Corrunderus is not lying? I kinda wish he’d give me the ‘You and I are the same’ speech. The speech is so cliché, I’d have an easier time trying to shrug it off. I guess things will just have to play out before I can figure out what to do next.” Animus’s eyes began to close as his mind was tired from all the pondering.

Animus awoke to a painful punch in the face. “Wake up. The time of your execution has arrived.” The demons grabbed Animus’s arms and escorted him back to the large room. He was brought to a large table at the other end of the room. As he was getting tied face-down onto the table by his arms and legs, he was getting laughed at and mocked by the demons who came to watch the execution. As soon as he was completely tied down, Corrunderus entered the room with a large scythe. After he walked to the other side of the room alongside Animus, he began to make his speech.

“Today is a great day for us. We are about to witness the execution of the Spirit Warrior who had slain one of our greatest fighters. He shall feel pain like he has never felt before, as I pierce through his armor from his backbone to his brain.”

Upon hearing this, Animus began to grow pale and sweat uncontrollably. “(Did he have to describe how he was going to kill me? Oh, Lord, please get me out of this. I know I’m very scared, right now, but I know that as long as my mission is not complete, you will not allow Death to claim my body.)”

Just before Corrunderus could bring his scythe down onto his back, several bright lights appeared and began to harass the army of demons. Two of those bright lights destroyed Animus’s bindings, while the remaining lights kept the demons distracted.

“(Quick, Animus! This way!)” Animus could hear the lights speak into his mind. No sooner did the light speak than Animus followed its instructions. They escaped the large room and went down a corridor until they hit a dead end.

“Where do I go from here?” Animus asked the lights.

“(Destroy the wall, and we will take things from here.)”

“Alright, then. CLUSTER BLAST!” Animus destroyed the entire wall, revealing Earth and the space outside.

“You can’t be serious! I gotta jump?!” Animus shouted in a frightened tone.

“(Yes. Do not worry, however. When you jump, close your eyes and cross your arms. Make yourself as stiff as a board. We will provide you with air to breathe, and we will shield you from anything that threatens your life.)”

Animus gulped upon hearing this. However, he summoned all of the courage that he had and prepared his jump. “Ok, one world’s biggest skydive, coming up. Let’s do this.” Animus ran and leaped into the void of space, protected by the lights that had guided him.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, the three Spirit Warriors had been frantically searching for Animus.

“DARNIT! This is all my fault. If I hadn’t sent Animus to go scouting, he would still be here.” Mentivis just could not take the pain of losing Animus anymore. He began to weep as he kept watching the radar for any trace of Animus’s energy signature.

“Mentivis, you need to lighten up. You did not see it coming. Right now, you look like a wreck. You haven’t eaten, and you’ve rarely slept, save for those times you napped while watching the computer. If you think you’ve had it tough, you haven’t even felt what Melina had been going through the last couple days. Every now and then she screams as if she is in pain. Right now, she is in bed sleeping, so she doesn’t end up getting a heart attack out of all this.” As Dirk continued to pull Mentivis back together, the monitor started to go crazy.

“Mentivis, check this out! There’s an object heading toward earth, and it has Animus’s energy signature!”

“WHAT?! Quick, get Melina up! We need to intercept that object before it hits the planet!”

The three Warriors dashed straight out of the base and flew toward the calculated landing site of the object.

“Dirk, I need you to prepare to stop the object with your strength. I will ascend high enough to where I can slow down the descent of the object.”

Mentivis flew straight up into the sky, until the air became so thin, that Mentivis had to descend a bit in order to keep himself from suffocating. He focused his mind onto the object and began to slow it down. As Mentivis continued to slow the object’s descent, he realized that it was not an object at all, but Animus, himself, wrapped in a glowing energy shield.

“(Oh my goodness, guys. It IS Animus. I don’t know why or how, but he fell from space with only that shield. I need you to be careful with him. He seems to be unconscious,)” Mentivis telepathically spoke to Dirk and Melina.

“Melina, you might need to give me a hand, here. Once Animus has slowed down enough, you grab his arms, and I’ll grab the legs.”

After about a minute or so, Animus finally slowed down enough so that Dirk and Melina could grab and carry him back to base. As soon as he slowed down enough, the shield protecting him disappeared, and two lights scattered from it. Once the team returned to base and laid Animus on his bed, four Great Deed Medallions appeared before them. As for Animus’s medallion, it laid itself to rest on the nightstand next to the bed.

First of all, let me just start with this. What can I say if I saw this as a non-Christian? Let me just add that we’re in the years where an extremist group is already at war with us (Al-Qaeda). If I was a non-Christian looking at that same news article, it probably would’ve been the last straw for me. I would’ve begun hating Christianity in particular, since this is not just an extremist action. It is outright HYPOCRISY. I hate using that word against other people, but seeing such a news article as a Christian, offended would be an understatement.

When Christ: the Way, the Truth, and the Life, came as a human being and walked among us, he did not murder a single person, not even the Roman authorities. So why would a group that claims to stand for Jesus form a militia and kill innocent police officers? I do not know why, but what I do know is that innocents have been murdered by people who use Jesus as an excuse for their actions.

What can I say to those who have been spiritually harmed by this attack, so that they will be healed by the love of Christ? I could think of ten thousand ways to tell people that what the militia did was foolish and, dare I say, hypocritical, and not one of those ways will turn (or return) their hearts to Jesus, the One who promised LIFE to the fullest.

Many people do not see the heavenly side of Christianity. They can only see the earthly side. I have said a few times recently that I want to lead by example, that those who see me might notice that there is more to me than just me, that there is someone heavenly (the Holy Spirit) working in me. To see someone murder a group of innocents and claiming to be working for Christ rubs me the wrong way.

So, if I had anything to say directly to Hutaree, it would probably be this: you might claim to be fighting the antichrist, but all you succeeded in was giving humanity another reason to hate us. You have left a bitter taste to many people. Instead of delivering a message of love and peace, you delivered a bullet to your fellow man. Where Christ came to give life to the fullest, you assisted the enemy in stealing, killing, and destroying. As one who always desires to have a closer personal relationship with my Lord, my Friend, I am very displeased with your actions.

Here’s how it went. I was assigned a field project where I was supposed to do a classroom observation at another school. The first school I went to gave me the cold shoulder, despite the fact that I was there once before. The second school, which was a charter school for the college I was going to (and one would expect a charter school to happily accept students from the college associated with it. Even the teacher said so.), gave me the cold shoulder, as well. The person at the office just hands me a card with the principal’s e-mail address. So, I go send the e-mail, making sure I showed that I was a student of the college, no reply since.

Another negative impact on me that involved cooperation was a group project for that same class. Over the weekend, I was the only one who contributed anything to the project. However, the other students in the group used that contribution to their advantage by rushing over to the computer lab to get copies of what I contributed, while I was unwisely thinking they would just hand a copy to me when they get back. When it came time for presentations, I was the only one without anything to talk about. I could’ve told the teacher afterward the truth behind the project, but I didn’t. The other students probably didn’t tell her the truth, either, enjoying their free points. Sorry. That moment left me a little bitter, not that I need the points anymore, anyway. I never could do well in a team. I always seem to do so much better going solo when cooperation isn’t necessary. Hopefully, someone will come around to change that mindset. I don’t like thinking that I’m much better off solo.

Seeing that I probably didn’t have a chance to redeem myself in teaching class (and the desire to continue in college plummeted to the point where I actualy got a desire to leave college), I dropped the class and tried to finish my other classes. Well, the buck didn’t stop there. I had a History midterm. I thought “Oh, I aced the quiz. The test shouldn’t be a problem,” and I did study for it. However, when the midterm came around, I was surprised at how much tougher the questions were. When the grades came back, I got a low C. Usually, I don’t run away from C’s, but seriously, that quiz gave me good expectations about the course only to be confronted with questions that can make me wonder if I even got the correct test. I just wanted to go home and try as hard as I can to forget about the whole thing.

That coming Monday, this week’s Monday, to be exact, was the killer. English midterm was today, and I’ve already lost my confidence in college. Usually, being confident with my answers in an English midterm meant a C or even a high D, but I knew I flunked it when I wasn’t even confident in my own answers. To make matters worse, I had to write my answers in pen, so I couldn’t erase what I started. My brain shut down, and I was unable to focus my thoughts the entire exam. I was on the verge of a mental breakdown, and I decided to drop out of college a second time. (I still think about that phrase “dropping out a second time”. Man, you leave college, come back, wanting to finish, and it’s like one semester, someone drives a wooden stake directly into the heart of your confidence.)

And, I must admit. I was angry. I was angry at myself, and I was angry at my Lord. I’ve been angry with him before, but I was starting to give reasons to be angry, even while remembering promises from the Bible. “I asked for help, Lord. Where was it? Life is not meant to be one huge guessing game. If I’m following Your Will, why aren’t You helping me? And if I wasn’t, why aren’t You telling me?”

During that time, though at first I was victorious the first couple battles, I kept losing them afterward, due to the damage my spirit was getting everywhere else. I remember reading in Hind’s Feet on High Places, where Much-Afraid had to go down into a valley of some sort right before getting to the High Places. I think I took a nosedive into that valley after trying so hard not to get in there in the first place.

I stopped smiling after that. How could I smile when my passion to teach was killed by college experience? I could go back to being a teacher-in-training, but without a passion, I’ve lost my confidence. And even if I still had a hint of that passion left, if it wasn’t my Lord’s Will to return there, I’ll only get in the way. Nights have been very troublesome for me. My chest aches every night, and I’ve been having consecutive bad nights for about a week, where I couldn’t sleep until four hours before the alarm.

If there is anything positive to say in this blog, I’m going to Bible College next semester. I’m going after the only passion I have left: learning about my Lord. I may be down, but I am not out. The promises have not yet been proven to be broken. Maybe that will be where I meet my future girlfriend. I’m certainly going to need someone to be with if I want to get myself back on my feet again. I’ve always told myself that if my life decides to derail, my Lord will most certainly put it back on track. It’s time to test that statement’s truth value, and I am confident that my Lord will put me back on track.

The world’s forces and hell’s forces may cooperate against me, but that won’t be enough to stop me from achieving victory.