Dawn- An Age Of Darkness

Brenda Brown, the daughter of the village chief, was a naughty kid: she was nine and she knew how to scare people. She loved to play hide and seek. Whenever she saw new faces in her house she'd always end up playing hide and seek with everyone. It had more to do with not wanting to meet people than to actually playing the game. In short, she wasn't good with people; or rather she didn't like people. And what could be more fun than jumping in front of people you don't like and scaring them to death?

There were many reasons why she didn't like them. Perhaps people were evil, perhaps they made her suffer? No, it wasn't like that. In fact, everyone always treated her nicely, too nicely. And because of that, she was always teased by the other kids and that's why she hated people, namely, the villagers. Yes, she didn't have an actual reason and perhaps she was just being a brat, but she did love the villagers equally as well. She was hypocritical, too hypocritical.

But life wasn't so bad. She was teased but not bullied and she had plenty of friends. Besides, why would life be bad in this peaceful village anyway?

"I heard pirates have entered the west village."

"I heard those were a peaceful bunch, so don't worry."

"But they're pirates!"

Brenda didn't know what a pie-rat was but she didn't concern herself with the village gossips. Her birthday would come soon and so she was in a good mood. Besides, what could possibly happen to a peaceful village such as this?

Days went by and nothing really happened. Brenda wanted to escape her bonds, she wanted more. Everything was peaceful and Brenda believed nothing would change this peace. She believed this peace would last. That's why she wanted freedom.

As if to prove the peaceful hypothesis wrong, two days before Brenda's tenth birthday, a certain incident happened. Some people or rather some things that looked like people had come to the village demanding certain things. Of course, Brenda wasn't old enough to understand anything. But when for the first time her parents insisted that she hid herself as a means of playing the game, she understood: whatever it was, it was serious.

Brenda ran upstairs and hid herself in the attic. She heard muffles from downstairs so she used a small hole in the wood to pry into what was going on. But her heart wasn't prepared to witness what she witnessed in the next few seconds.

Scales, fangs, wings, and ugliness. There were demons in the house. Big scary demons. Brenda tried her best not to scream by covering her mouth.

But she kept on looking. She could barely hear them but she could still understand: she had to.

"I'll be blunt with you chief, you give me all your food and we'll leave the town. No one would be harmed." Its voice was coarse and didn't have any other emotion than hate and rage: Perhaps a hint of greed with it.

"That-that's not possible. We negotiated for half! Besides, it's already winter. If we gave everything to you, we'd starve to death!" Brenda's father couldn't hide his shivers or his uneasiness. He was a middle-aged man, forty- five or so. Her mother was younger- about thirty.

"You don't understand chief." The demon began as he grabbed Brenda's mother's head and lifted her up. "We want everything…" He chuckled in a not-so-friendly way.

There were three demons inside the house; all of them chuckled as they saw the fright of Brenda's parents.

"Evay!!" Brenda's father screamed but there wasn't anything he could do against the three demons that were in front of him. But that didn't stop him from unsheathing his sword. If he couldn't save his wife, then dying with her seemed more practical. He cursed himself for letting it be like this. Sorry Brenda, He thought to himself and gritted his teeth for a battle he could not afford to lose and a battle that he'd surely lose.

The demon sighed. "And I thought you were smarter than that." He took out his scimitar and used Brenda's mother as a shield, before finally impaling both of Brenda's parents in one fell swoop. It happened in a flash and Brenda's father couldn't dodge. Now both of them were clogged up together, coughing up blood as they gazed at the ceiling, smiling ever so faintly. Their last hope.

Forgive me…us… There last thoughts were unheard of.

Even with her face covered Brenda squeaked and fell on the floor. She was a kid but she knew reality. She knew death.

"Kill them all," the demon commanded. Then he looked up. "I'll take care of the rat."

The demon flew straight upstairs and into the attic, through the wood. Wood cracked and broke apart. Brenda's eyes leaked but she knew she had to face this foe, or her parent's deaths would go down in vain.

But she was a kid who knew death; she was a child who knew the world wasn't forgiving. She knew she was going to die here.

"Oh, they did have a pretty rat. Maybe I'll have some fun before ending you." The demon walked slowly and Brenda backstepped. She was about to be killed, and she knew it.

Mom….Dad… She cursed destiny in her mind but that didn't help.

The demon was close, very close. It held its arms high and close to Brenda's face almost touching it, and laughed sarcastically as it licked its lips. Brenda curled herself into a ball to protect herself.

"He he he." The demon laughed in a weird way. "That's not going to save you."

But before it could touch her, the ceiling broke down and one man walked proudly. "Well look what ye have here. Yar har har har!"

A man had made his entrance and with him came several others.

The demon growled but before he could make a move his head was sliced off by someone from behind. A man covered in fur and he also had the head of a fox: The tint of red in his eyes displayed his lust for blood or rather severed heads.

The demon splashed some blood and fell on the floor never to move again.

"My lil, shining moonflower, ye alright?" The first man walked up to Brenda and whispered.

"Moon? What is that?" Her voice shivered. She lost everything. But somehow still survived.

"Ye. In that moment, ye shined like the moon."

And that's how she met captain Dickens.. A pie-rat: A pie-rat she was glad to meet.