Ryder

   “What about weapons?” Ryder asked as he took of his hoodies, leaving the shirt on.

    “What about them?” Luci asked as he changed into a black muscle shirt with full sleeves. The shirt was tight showing his muscles through the shirt. He pulled on black cargo jeans as well.

    Ryder looked at him and said, “Well, don’t we need weapons to protect ourselves from the demons. You should have some since you have stayed here for so long. Surely you had to fight some demons along the way, right?”

    Luci turned to Ryder and said, “Why would I fight my- I mean, of course I fought m- the demons. Let me go get some weapons. Give me a minute.”

    Luci walked past Ryder and suddenly froze. Ryder turned to look at him and asked, “Hey, Luci. You alright?” Luci didn’t respond so he poked him. Luci still didn’t respond. “Hey Luc-”

    Ryder was interrupted when Luci spoke in a demonic voice. He said something in a foriegn language. It sounded like the same language that he heard in his dream.

    Since he could only see Luic’s back, he went to the front to see his face. Ryder gasped when he saw Luci’s eyes fully black. Luci paused then said something quickly. He looked angry.

    After a moment, Luci’s eyes went back to normal and he looked down at Ryder who was frozen in place.

    “W-what just h-happened?” Ryder asked.

    Luci said, “I, umm, blank out sometimes.”

    “You didn’t just blank out. T-that was something else.”

    “You are seeing things. You have not slept well in a while,” Luci said, patting his shoulder.

    Ryder said, “Yeah… Yeah, you’re probably right.” He looked around for some comfortable pants as Luci rushed out of the closet.

    Ryder sighed and limped over to tan sweatpants and put them on. He had already sweat through his other sweatpants and he needed a fresh one.

    Just as he pulled it on, Luci came in and said, “Here. These are some of my weapons that I have. Choose the ones you like. I have already choosen mine.” Luci smiled as he lifted a long sword unlike anyother Ryder had seen.

    The sword was long, thin, and sharp. The sword’s blade was black with red covering the edges as flames on the sharp end of the sword. The handle was grey with a skull carved into it on both sides.

    Ryder said, “That is one scary sword.”

    Luci chuckled and put it into a sword holder tied on his waist. Ryder looked at the weapons Luci had layed out on a table in front of him.

    There was another sword but it wasn’t as scary as Luci’s. It was like a plain samurai sword with a grey blade and black handle. Ryder didn’t choose those because he thought he might stab himself on accident.

    The next weapon was four sharp daggers with holds so you could hold two on your waist and two on your legs. They were small but looked very deadly.

    The rest of the weapons were like the first ones he saw. There were more swords and small daggers.

    Ryder looked up at Luci with confusion placed clearly on his face.

    Luci noticed the confused expression on Ryder and asked, “What is wrong?”

    “Nothing’s wrong. I was just surprised that you found all these weapons in the mansion. All I found were small knives,” Ryder replied.

    “Oh… I- Umm… I just found them somewhere,” Luci said, looking away from Ryder.

    “Look,” Ryder said. “I know you’re lying. I can tell. I don’t know why you’re lying but I don’t care right now. All I care about is finding Saanvi. Ok?”

    Luci looked startled and stuttered, “I-I was not lying. I-”

    “I don’t care!” Ryder yelled. “I don’t give a fuck if you lied! I just need to find her!”

    Luci nodded and said, “Ok. Then choose one of these weapons and I will help you find her.” Luci left the closet and waited for Ryder in the room.

    Ryder looked through the weapons again and choose the four daggers. He tied two daggers on his waist and tied the other two on his right and left legs so they were all easy to grab whenever he needed them.

    He limped out of the closet and over to Luci. He tripped but Luci caught him before he could fall face first onto the floor.

    “Thanks,” Ryder mumbled as he sat on the bed.

    “Are you ok?” Luci asked.

    “Yeah, I’m fine. Now let’s go and find Saanvi,” Ryder replied, getting up.

    Luci grabbed his arm and said, “Are you sure, Ryder? You are still limping and can barely walk.”

    Ryder tugged his arm out of Luci’s grip and said, “I’m fine.”

    “Are you sure? Because we can wait a few more days and-”

    “Stop! Just stop! I said I’m fine! So I’m fine! Stop worrying about me! All I want you to worry about is Saanvi… She could even be dead for all I know.” Water filled Ryder’s eyes and a tear fell. He quickly wiped it and looked down.

    Luci said, “She is not dead. I promise. She is ok.”

    “How would you know?” Ryder asked.

    Luci opened his mouth but shut it quickly. “I just have a feeling.”

    “Well, I’m not going to trust ‘a feeling’. Let’s go look for her now.” Ryder limped to the door and put his hand on the door knob.

    Another tear fell from his eye. Please be alright, Saanvi. Please.

    He quickly wiped his tear and stepped out into the hallway.

***********************************************************************************************************

    Ryder and Luci searched around the mansion, looking for Saanvi. They had been looking for her for a few hours.

    “S-stop,” Ryder breathed, clutching his stomach as he leaned against the wall. “I need a break.”

    Luci stopped and turned around to look at Ryder who was leaning against the wall. “You just took a break five minutes ago.”

    “I know. But my ribs are aching. I just need a break,” Ryder said, breathing heavily. He looked back the way they had came. “Are you sure we should’ve turned right and not left. I thought she would be downstairs. And the stairs were on our left.”

    “I am sure. She is upstairs; that way,” Luci said, pointing the way they were going.

    “I still don’t understand how you know,” Ryder said, calming his breathing.

    “I just have a feeling. And before you say that you are not going to trust ‘a feeling’, tell me, do you have a better idea to look for her?” Luci said.

    Ryder looked at the ground for a moment, “No I don’t have a better idea.”

    Luci nodded and said, “Let’s go.”

    Ryder shook his head. “No. I need a few more minutes. My ribs are killing me right now.”

    Luci sighed and looked around. He pointed to one of the doors not that far away. “We can rest in there.”

    “Ok,” Ryder said. “But why can’t we rest in one of the closer doors?” Ryder said, pointing to the doors closer to them.

    “Those are just bathrooms and closets. The other room is a better and more comfortable place to rest in,” Luci replied.

    “Oh ok. Wait. How do you know?” Ryder asked, stopping in his tracks.

    Luci said, “I have been in this house for two years. I have had enough time to explore this house.”

    Ryder nodded and followed Luci to the door. Luci opened the door and stepped to the side to let Ryder in first.

    He walked in and looked around the gigantic room. It was a circular room with bookshelves lining the walls all the way to the tall ceiling. There were circular stairs that led to the different levels of bookshelves. There was no open spaces in the shelves.

    On each level there was a ladder so you were able to reach the books on the higher shelves.

    In the middle of the large circular room, there were two black couches facing each other with a glass coffee table in the middle.

    “Go lay down on the couch,” Luci said.

    Ryder mumbled an ‘ok’ and sat down on the couch. He laid down on the couch using a white fluffy pillow for his head.

    He got comfortable and closed his eyes. “Wake me up soon so we can look for Saanvi,” Ryder said.

    He heard Luci hum a ‘yes’ and he fell into the peaceful darkness.