Light snow began to fall over the grimy corners of the city, but to me, it wasn't a beautiful sight. It was a death knell. Cold meant my mother's body in the psychiatric ward would shiver even more, and I didn't have enough money to buy an extra blanket, let alone pay for her mounting medical arrears.
"Charon, are you hungry?" I whispered.
The small black demon with the crown-like halo on its head only whimpered. Its stomach was sunken, just like mine. We had just finished scavenging a dumpster behind a high-end restaurant, only to be chased off by a chef who doused us in sewer water.
"Be patient... if the Boss has work for us today, we can eat bread. Just one loaf, we'll split it in two," I said, stroking its coarse head.
Suddenly, the old phone in my pocket vibrated. A short message from the man I hated most in the world. The Boss. A low-life Yakuza who considered me lower than dog filth.
"Central district warehouse, now. A demon appeared. If you're late, I'll send my boys to your mother's hospital. You know what they'll do to that crazy woman, don't you?"
My heart sank. I gripped the phone until my fingers turned white. He knew my weak point. He always used my mother to keep me chained beneath his feet.
"Come on, Charon. We have to run."
The central district was usually bustling, but today it looked like the apocalypse. Sirens wailed, and people ran with faces pale as ghosts. In the middle of the highway, a massive lump of flesh with hundreds of arms and eyes -a Centipede Demon- was tearing through buildings.
In the corner of a ruined shop, I saw him. The Boss was pinned under the wreckage of a sedan. His legs were crushed, and several of his men lay torn to pieces around him.
"A-Aqua! Over here, dammit!" he screamed hoarsely when he saw me approaching. "Move this iron and get me out of here!"
I froze. The demon was only fifty meters away, and every time it moved, the ground shook. "Boss... that's a high-level demon. I'm... I'm just a normal human. I only have this blunt axe."
"I DON'T CARE!" he roared, his eyes bulging crazily. "Think of your mother, Aqua! One word from me, and tonight your mother 'falls' from the fourth-floor window of that hospital! SAVE ME NOW!"
Breath seemed to catch in my throat. The image of my mother's faint, smiling face behind the hospital bars flashed in my mind. I had no choice. I never had a choice since the day I was born into this rotten world.
"Charon, stay behind me," I whispered, trembling.
I ran toward the wreckage. With muscles bulging and pain searing through my back, I tried to lift the scrap metal crushing the Boss's legs. Blood oozed from my fingers, sliced by sharp metal.
"Just a little more... just a little more!"
CRAAAASSSHHH!
The Centipede Demon's tail smashed into the building next to us. Debris rained down. I managed to pull the Boss out right before the spot was leveled. His two surviving henchmen immediately hoisted him away.
"Good dog," the Boss hissed without a shred of gratitude. "Now, hold that demon off so we can escape to the safe zone!"
"What?! Boss, I'll die!" I screamed.
"That's what you're for, isn't it? Dying in my place!" He laughed mockingly as he was pushed away by his men, leaving me alone in the billowing dust.
I stood paralyzed. I was alone.
Slowly, I turned around. The Centipede Demon stopped destroying the buildings. Hundreds of eyes across its body (large, small, red, yellow) all focused on me. One small human, trembling while holding a blunt wooden axe in the middle of a ruined highway.
The momentary silence was more terrifying than the previous explosions.
"Charon... run. Get out of here!" I shouted without looking back.
But Charon didn't run.
The little demon I considered family leaped forward. He dug his tiny claws into the cracked asphalt, his back arching, tail standing tall. He growled. Not a growl of fear, but a growl of defiant bravery against a monster a thousand times larger than himself.
"Grrr..."
It wasn't a fight. It was an agonizing slaughter.
I tried to swing my axe as the demon launched one of its giant hands at me. I didn't even get close. The wind from the blow alone sent my body flying through the air.
DUAAARRR!
My body smashed through the display window of an electronics store. The five-centimeter-thick glass shattered into a million shards. I tumbled onto a pile of old televisions. Excruciating pain exploded in my chest and back. I could feel my ribs snapping, piercing my lungs.
"Hah... hah..." I coughed, and a thick, warm red liquid sprayed from my mouth, staining the broken glass.
"Charon!" I hissed, trying to see where he was.
In the middle of the street, Charon was struggling. He leaped from one piece of debris to another, trying to evade the hundreds of demonic legs attempting to crush him. He bit into one of the demon's segments. But the demon's skin was too tough. A spray of blood followed, but Charon only managed to leave a scratch.
Another demonic leg struck Charon from the side. His small body was thrown, hitting a utility pole hard before falling onto the asphalt. He let out a heart-wrenching whimper. His small belly was severely wounded, leaking a strange purple fluid.
"NO! CHARON!" I tried to stand. My right leg felt paralyzed. I crawled, using my elbows, ignoring the glass shards digging into my skin. Every movement was torture. My blood left a trail over the ruins.
The Centipede Demon approached me. Its face—if it could be called that—was full of eyes blinking in turn, staring at me with pure hunger. One of its massive hands was ready to crush me.
I'm going to die. Mother... I'm sorry.
Suddenly, the whimpering stopped. Charon... with the last of his strength, crawled toward me. His body was covered in wounds, purple blood flowing freely. He looked at the Centipede Demon preparing to kill me.
With one final, weak push, Charon leaped. Not toward the demon, but toward me. He landed on my shattered chest. His rough tongue licked the blood from my face. His large eyes looked at me full of sadness, but also certainty.
"Aqua... don't die..."
I didn't hear a bark. I heard the voice inside my head.
The world around me began to fade into gray. A cold darkness started to creep in from my toes and fingertips. The demon was ready to strike us both.
"Charon... sorry..." I whispered, tears mixed with blood running down my cheeks.
"Aqua... thank you for saving me. This time, it's my turn to save you. I love the way you tell me about your dreams, Aqua... about the places you want to visit... the type of woman you like... and what you want to do in the future." Charon's voice in my head grew clearer, warmer amidst the coldness of death. "I want to see those dreams, one more time. With you."
"Don't... Charon... don't leave me..."
The world turned black. Within that darkness, I felt something hot crawling into my chest. Something spinning at high speed. Something thirsty for blood.