Life at the Kingdom

A loud banging could be heard from the door as someone seemed to be knocking early in the morning.

“Kizou, wake up!” Ty could be heard yelling.

“Shut up,” Kizou grumbled as he threw the magic book at the door.

“If you don’t hurry up, Geet just might take Mya away from you,” Ty continued to yell.

Kizou got up instantly. He ran towards his closet and threw on whatever he found.  He put on a white shirt along with brown pants.  He grabbed his magic book from the floor and placed it under his bed to hide it. He knew that Geet wouldn’t be able to steal Mya away, but he still rushed as if there was a chance.

“Quiet down already, you’re so loud,” Kizou said as he scratched his head while opening the door.

He looked over at Ty who had his foot reattached from the medic within the Castle.

“You’re taking too long, so I just wanted you to hurry up,” Ty said with a laugh.

During days that Kizou wasn’t on a mission, he’d usually hang out with Ty and Geet. Kizou and Ty left the Castle and walked up to the main gate where Geet could be seen waiting. Geet could be seen chewing on some form of meat as he waved towards Kizou and Ty. He also had his arm reattached as well.

“Don’t you think it’s a bit too early to be eating meat?” Ty asked Geet.

“I’m still a growing demon,” Geet mumbled as he chewed on his food.  Kizou and Ty let out a laugh as they ventured out into the Demon Kingdom. 

As they continued walking, they passed by the Forbidden Territory again. The demons were always depressed and looked as if they’d fall at any second due to the lack of provisions they were getting. The tents looked even more beaten and tattered than when Kizou came back yesterday. Ty and Geet made it a habit to not even look at their direction while Kizou always stared. Kizou tightened his fist at the overwhelming prejudice that was put in front of his face. He looked away, and they kept on walking until they reached the main town within the kingdom.

The bustling town continued to be the exact opposite. While the vendors were the main attraction, there were also other spectacles that the town had to offer. There were training camps, restaurants, hostels, and even more that would keep the demon citizens entertained. Posters were hung up across town that showed off the Hell’s Group in their masks as well as the Generals of the Demon Kingdom. Surprisingly, there were four other pictures of individuals around Kizou’s age posted that got him annoyed. They were the most recent graduates and were said to be a promising class. The influence of the horn was truly a blessing that he didn’t have.

“Alright, what should we do, since we’re on break since our mission is completed?” asked Ty.

“Let’s have a race,” announced Geet.

Kizou and Ty instantly looked at Geet and then back at each other before laughing. Kizou and Ty were fairly skinnier than Geet, and it’s safe to say that they ate less than him as well. It was a surprise for Geet to announce that proposition.

“Did you eat a poisonous mushroom?” asked Kizou as he continued to laugh.

“So, you’re saying that you could beat me?” asked Geet with a serious face.

“I think Cryo could probably beat you,” answered Ty, which made Kizou laugh even harder.

“Well, let’s go then!” Geet yelled at both of them.

They stopped laughing and decided to listen to Geet’s request. They all walked to the nearest forest which wasn’t too far from the main town. They looked for an area that was barren to allow them to see each other at the starting line.

“So for this race, we’re going to have to reach the main town,” explained Kizou. “You can climb up trees, use branches, and take whatever you need, but you can’t harm the other participants in any way.”

Ty and Geet nodded as they continued to listen to the rules. They lined up next to each other and got into position to prepare to get first place in the race.

“Alright, I’ll be the one counting down. Any objections?” Ty asked. Everyone shook their heads.

“3.”

Kizou started adjusting his position to make sure that he could gather the most speed.

“2.”

Ty kept his eyes darted forward as he counted down. He didn’t want to lose focus at all.

“1.”

Geet seemed like he wasn’t used to a race as his position seemed to be off.

“Go!”

All three of them started sprinting as fast as they could through the forest. Kizou lunged up onto the trees and started jumping from branch to branch to avoid any obstacles that might be on the floor. Ty continued to sprint as fast as he could on the floor and dodged everything that came in his way. As they both continued to run, they could see themselves keeping up with one another. However, Geet wasn’t anywhere in sight.

“I told you that he’d probably be beat by Cryo,” Ty said as they kept on running.

“Well, I doubt you’d be able to beat me,” Kizou said towards Ty as their focus was on each other now.

“We’re going to reach town in around 20 seconds, I’ll be ahead of you by then!” yelled Ty as he was a few feet trailing behind Kizou.

As they continued to pick up the pace, Geet was in the back trying to catch up to them. He let out heavy breaths as it seemed that he was finally reaching his end point. He stopped running and took a breather to hopefully catch his breath. As he stopped, he smiled and pulled out something from his pocket.

“I’m almost there!” yelled Kizou as he started to see the town outside of the forest.

“No, you aren’t!” yelled Ty as he started rushing even faster.

Just then, a burst of wind blew by both of them. Leaves scattered all over the forest as both Kizou and Ty had to stop to wipe their eyes from all of the sand and dirt that blew into their faces. As Kizou opened his eyes, he could see a faint blue that encircled Geet before disappearing.

“Looks like I beat you there,” said Geet with a smug smile.

“No way!” yelled Ty in surprise towards Geet. “You’ve been hiding your inner speed, haven’t you?”

“Didn’t want to embarrass you all that much,” Geet said as he laughed.

“Hmmm,” Kizou said as he looked at Geet.

“What? You can’t accept a loss?” Geet said with a smile.

“You’re right, it’s my loss,” Kizou said as he put out his hand for a handshake.

“Maybe next time,” Geet said as he shook Kizou’s hand.

As Geet and Ty continued to talk with one another, Kizou looked at his hand and found remnants of the blue liquid. It looked exactly like what the human soldier drank during his fight with Kizou. He didn’t want to make too much of it, but he wanted to know how Geet might have gotten his hands on something like this. He caught up to Geet and Ty who seemed to be crowding around with others.

“Step right up, step right up,” an announcer could be heard yelling. “Step right up if you think you can beat Astro in an arm wrestling contest, and you can win 15 gold coins.”

Murmurs from the crowd could be heard as 15 gold coins was equivalent to staying at an inn and eating at a restaurant for a whole month. However, Kizou didn’t care, since the Royal Family could get anything they wanted.

A demon who was twice the size of Geet sat at one side of the table with his arm slung out. He was bald and had a piercing on his nose. He wore a shirt that was definitely too tight for him. He smiled cockily as he knew that no one would be capable of beating him in an arm wrestling contest.

“Look at the size of that dude,” Ty said with Kizou and Geet next to him. “You think you can take him, Kizou?”

“I’m a little too tired from all of our running, I’m gonna have to pass on this one,” Kizou said with a laugh.

“Come on! Who wouldn’t want to see a 5 year old beat someone almost triple his size?” Ty said with a laugh.

“Hmmm, maybe I should give it a shot,” Kizou laughed.

“Looks like we have a new challenger!” the announcer yelled. “Can you tell us your name?”

“Geet,” Geet said with a smile.

Ty and Kizou looked at each other before rushing in front of the crowd.

“What are you doing, Geet? You know you can’t beat him,” whispered Ty angrily.

“Trust me,” Geet said without even wavering from his smile.

Kizou looked closely at Geet again and realized that he could see a faint blue aura. Kizou knew he must’ve consumed the liquid once again.

“Don’t cry when you get beat,” Astro told Geet with a laugh. Geet returned his comment with a smile.

“Ready?” the announcer said as he put his hand on both of theirs. “Go!”

Both sides put all of their energy into their hands as they tried to push the opponent’s hand to the other side. It seemed to go on for a long time, but the tides could quickly be seen shifting. Astro’s strength started to waver as Geet put more pressure. Geet kept pushing until Astro’s hand finally hit the other side of the table.

“I don’t believe it, we have a winner!” the announcer yelled. Geet stood up right away and put his arms up in triumph. He grabbed the bag of 15 gold from the table.

“You did it, Geet!” Ty yelled with a surprise in his voice.

Kizou walked over and patted Geet on his back. He didn’t know whether he should confront Geet about it, but he continued to let Geet have the spotlight. Geet split up the 15 coins to 5 each for everyone. They walked back towards the Kingdom with a sense of accomplishment at what just happened. Astro and the announcer looked at each other before nodding.

“Did you guys see what I did there?” Geet said with a proud smile. “I went like pshhh and slammed his hand on the other side.”

“Didn’t know you had it in you, but I’m impressed,” Ty responded with an affirming nod.

As they continued to walk through the town, they reached the Forbidden Territory once again. They kept on walking to find a female demon on the floor who sounded like she was crying. She was dressed in clean clothes, so she definitely wasn’t part of the Forbidden Territory. As they approached closer, sobs could be heard getting louder.

“Hey, what’s wrong?!” Ty yelled as she crouched down next to her.

“One of those pieces of filth took my bag and threw me on the ground,” the woman could be heard saying as she cried.

“It’s always those dirty demons from the Forbidden Territory,” Geet said angrily.

Kizou kept quiet. The power of accusation due to not having strength was something that was common for him. The only demons Kizou badmouthed were the ones within the Castle walls. However, if there really was a robbery, he wouldn’t hesitate in capturing the culprit. He listened to what the woman continued to say.

“They ran to the back alley over there, please help me!” the woman cried desperately.

Kizou could feel a presence that seemed to be trailing them for a while.

“Don’t worry, we’ll get him back. I got this,” Geet said as he reassured the woman.

The woman got close to Geet and gave him a tight hug which made Geet start blushing red and scratching the back of his head.

“Umm yeah, come on, everyone!” Geet yelled as he was still flustered. Kizou and Ty couldn’t help but smile.

Kizou, Ty, and Geet ran towards the back alley that was still within the Forbidden Territory. The alley was spacious and seemed to be wide open but hidden in an area where no one would think of coming by. As they continued in, three demons stood in their way. They definitely weren’t any pushovers as each held a confident smile. The presence Kizou felt earlier walked up behind them.

“Look like you’re trapped,” a familiar voice could be heard saying. Kizou, Geet, and Ty turned around to find the announcer, Astro, and the woman standing there.

“Hey, I want my money,” the woman that was crying earlier demanded.

“Here you go,” the announcer said as he gave her one gold coin. “One gold coin for you.”

“And here’s a little something else that I got from hugging the big one,” the woman said as she put something in the hands of the announcer.

“Hmmm, interesting,” the announcer said with a sly smile. He gave it to Astro who put it in his pocket.

She smiled instantly and looked towards where Kizou, Geet, and Ty were. She blew them a kiss before running out to enjoy herself.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Ty said angrily.

“Don’t worry, we got this,” Geet announced to the group.

Kizou felt nervous as if there was something bad that was going to happen. He couldn’t figure out what it was.