The night was still young.
There was a small group gathered in an enclosed space.
Each present person wore a black cloak, their faces hooded with their heads lowered and their voices low, almost silent.
The area they found themselves in had a magic circle on the floor and one on the ceiling, blood dripping from a murder of crows that were nailed to it.
Both magic circles had a symbol of a spider and a web of additional patterns.
Oddly enough, the cultists had the same symbol embroidered on the back of their cloaks.
"Cleavus, we are ready..." one of the members announced as he bowed his head before the man whose cloak was white instead of black.
He nodded, his brows narrowing and hands untucked from his long sleeves.
Cleavus raised his hands, and the entire room paid him attention.
"We are gathered here today for Lord Saunders. The war slowly approaches, and all we have to show for it is our weak forces..." He began, his voice calm and measured.
"Not tonight... Tonight, we make our enemies aware of our presence! Tonight, we summon the demon of chaos, put him under our control and win the war against the Chartreuse Kingdom!"
The cloaked cultists raised their hands and hummed an ominous melody.
"And now... It is time. Bring out the vessel," Cleavus ordered.
A few of the cultists brought a naked young man chained to a pillar and set him in the middle of the magic circle, directly on top of the spider symbol.
Then, everyone took to their positions and awaited Cleavus' command. He nodded, and they began chanting.
"Fili Mephistophelis, Chaos ductor, te supplices supplices ad te veniamus, ab inferis emerge, et nostras exaudi preces! Surge, Mephistophelis! Surge!"
[Son of Mephistopheles, Bringer of Chaos, we come before you as your humble servants. Emerge from the depths of Hell and heed our requests! Rise, Mephistopheles! Rise!]
As they repeated the chant, the magic circles slowly began glowing, showing a bright red colour and hue that slowly gave the room more light.
The man tied to the pillar began squirming and wincing until he began screaming and opened his eyes.
His eye sockets were empty, and his blonde hair began falling off. As the light from the magic circles slowly grew brighter, the man's cries grew louder.
So loud that the ground began shaking at the pure vocals the man was forcing out of his chest.
Then, his skin began to crumble and fall, revealing his blood vessels and the meat beneath. Once that happened, the screaming ceased, and the ground stopped shaking.
Then, the light disappeared, and the ambience of the room went from 100 to 0.
The cultists stopped chanting and took a moment to look at their surroundings.
Nothing had changed apart from the vesselwhichho was now hairless, skinned and far from alive. They began murmuring amongst themselves as they looked at the poor soul.
"What happened?" one inquired.
"I don't know, it should've worked," the other replied.
The chatting didn't end until the man's body started moving again. This time, his head twitched and faced the ceiling.
Then, he opened his mouth widely and began vacuuming the crows on the ceiling straight into his mouth.
The crows flapped around as he consumed them until they reached his stomach. Once that was done, the vessel was surrounded by an eerie red and black aura.
The aura enveloped the entire room, causing the cultists to cough and gag at its toxicity. That's when it happened...
The vessel's body slowly began healing, his skin returning and coating his entire body in perfectly smooth peach essence.
His hair stemmed like flowers growing from humble seeds, turning black as they reached the back of his neck with double bangs.
The aura filled the whites in his eyes and slowly closed them before the iris could be formed.
That's when the light and aura dissipated before the cultists, who were in pure shock at what had just occurred before them.
Just when things seemed to quiet down, the pillar the vessel was chained to exploded, sending the pieces of wood flying in all directions, one even hitting a cultist in his face, causing him to fall over and bleed.
Their hands trembled as their voices questioned the moment.
The vessel slightly opened its mouth and breathed out, releasing extremely cold hair that the cultists could feel before it even reached them.
They backed away as the air quickly closed in. But the unlucky fellow who fell over was frozen in place.
The reaction of the cold air was so quick, the cultist had no time for a reaction.
Instead, he sat there, frozen for eternity.
The cold air not only froze the cultit, but blew out all the candles in the room, creating a dark winter in the middle of summer.
The cultists shifted their gaze from their frozen member to the vessel before them, throats dry and eyes watering.
Heartbeats drummed like music within the silence, alongside the occasional heavy breathing.
"... Cleavus!" one of the members whispered. "What in the name of Arthur is going on here?!"
"... He's on his way..." Cleavus replied. "The carriage from the underworld has taken off. In a matter of seconds... he'll be ours!"
The vessel's body stood still when suddenly, the walls began cracking. With each crack, the cultists glanced around.
As the cracks closed in on them, one of them began hyperventilating, perspiring profusely.
He sensed a menacing aura from the vessel and responded by running away, screaming.
However, before he reached the door, he felt his body tighten up and gasped for air.
Then, his back twisted and slowly, his entire body began churning, causing his insides to spill out and his blood to splash anyone close enough.
The other cultists watched in pure horror while others began vomiting.
Then, they faced the vessel once again and noticed that he hadn't moved a single inch from where he stood.
And that's when he decided to open his eyes.
Flashing everyone with his golden eyes, the vessel began looking around him without turning his head.
He blinked, which sent a gale towards the spectators, and he moved his arms.
He began stretching and cracking his head along with his knuckles. He then gazed at his body and sighed in disappointment.
"My real body is far taller than this..." he said. "No matter. I suppose I can make due with this one until I create a suitable vessel."
"Lord Akira..." Cleavus said as he approached the vessel slowly with a smile on his face.
"You are?" Akira inquired as he raised an eyebrow.
"I am—"
"Actually, scratch that. I don't care," he interrupted. "What I want to know is whether or not you fools summoned me. The *real* me."
"Of course, my lord," said Cleavus as he dropped to the floor and bowed. "My name is Cleavus Quinn, the lead organiser of this organisation..."
"Organisation?" Akira lifted an eyebrow. "I never knew I had my own cult. You humans are quite entertaining," he remarked as he smirked.
"Thank you very much..."
After seeing how tame the situation seemed to be, the other cultists bowed their heads before Aki, which seemed to please him as he smiled brightly.
"Now, the last thing I remember..." Akira said as he began pondering, hoping he would find something from his past.
[101 years ago...]
Akira slowly clapped his hands and wiped the blood off his lip. "Impressive! You've grown stronger since the last time we fought, Hero Gandalf..."
"Someone has to send you back to the depths of the underworld. The world has known enough pain," replied Gandalf, a handsome man with white hair and blue eyes.
One distinct feature about him is his dog ears. He was a beastly person.
"Is that so? Then, what do you plan on doing to stop me?" Akira inquired curiously as he wore a confident smile.
Gandalf smiled and snapped his fingers. Suddenly, a magic circle appeared above and below Akira.
Akira scoffed and tilted his head.
"A magic circle? You mortals really do know how to embarrass yourselves!" teased Akira as he attempted to belittle Gandalf's spell. "Please, hold your applause, for this dog with tricks seems to think he can defeat me!"
"I obviously can't defeat you on my own..." said Gandalf as he applied his mana into the circle.
Then, from the corner of his eye, 6 beings surrounded him and began applying their mana to the magic circle as well.
Akira's eyes widened as he witnessed the events unfold before him.
"Sorry, brother, but you're going away for a long time," one of the beings said. "You've had a good run, but now, we're expelling you to Hell. Your methods will be more than welcomed there."
"You insolent fool!" Akira chuckled. "I thought you were a demon!"
"I am, but I am not a villain," the being replied.
Akira released a dry chuckle. "Ah... I see... Very well. Do as you will. But when I return..." his smile completely faded. "I will kill every single one of you."
A bright light appeared and enveloped Akira, trapping him and blasting him into smithereens. What remained was a pile of ashes and a key.
[Present Day...]
"Ah, so that's what happened," said Akira as he recollected the memories of his sealing. "Human, how long has it been?"
"Approximately 101 years, my lord," replied Cleavus.
"So... today's the 14th of June..." Akira chuckled. "Alright, I know mortals aren't foolish enough to summon me just for the fun of it. What do you want?"
Cleavus gently raised his head and said, "Our country is going to war with the elf kingdom... We were hoping you'd use your power and win the war for us..."
"No."
Cleavus blinked. "Excuse me...?"
"I didn't come back to fight some dumb war for mortals. That's your business. I'm the demon of chaos, not Ares."
"You'll get to kill as many people as you wish, my lord! Please, strongly reconsider!"
"How about I reconsider killing you and your little tea party? Garbage human."
Cleavus gritted his teeth, searched his pockets and pulled out a rusty key.
That was the same key that appeared when Akira turned into ash.
Cleavus stood up and backed away, laughing hysterically before pointing the key at Akira.
"This key gives me the power to control you! You will follow my orders, Akira Mephistopheles!" he shouted.
Akira ceased smiling and slowly walked towards Cleavus. Then, he nonchalantly passed him.
Before Cleavus could turn, his body turned into a bunch of blocks and fell on the ground, spilling his blood everywhere.
"That key does nothing but free me. You're not the first person to attempt to control the storm called Akira," said Akira as he snapped his fingers, causing the entire building to be engulfed in his cold air.
Once everyone was frozen, Akira jumped towards the ceiling and blasted through it, causing the entire tower ceiling to fall and collapse.
He was in a castle, and this brought back nothing but happy memories.
"Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Let's play a little game, humans."