Jennifer Going on a Stroll

[storytellersilvic]

Jennifer was relaxing in her bedroom, looking outside the window, bored out of her mind. Homework was done, she knew she had to study but is choosing not to.

“Should I take a small trip to the underworld? Doesn’t seem like much would be going on.” - Jennifer said. 

Jennifer got up and closed her eyes. She put out both of her hands and slowly the room turned red.

“Open, gates of the underworld.” she said and then a dark red portal opened in front of her. She hopped right in and the portal closed immediately.

Jennifer looked around the desolate wasteland and felt like something seemed off.

“Odd. The energy seems more rampant today. I hope I don’t come across them. That’ll just ruin the fun.” - Jennifer said.

In the distance, Jennifer saw a small blue flame on the ground. She stopped and looked around for a moment.

‘Odd. Blue fire all the way out here?’ - Jennifer thought. 

She slowly walked up the weird fire, as she got closer she realized it may not be a fire. She started to hear whistling in the distance as she got closer. Finally, she reached the weird blue flame but it turned out to be a decapitated head whistling a tune. The thing stopped as if they noticed someone was there.

“I wonder how my body is doing, besides fighting those demons?” - the head said.

“The hell?” - Jennifer said.

“Oh is someone here? Well if you're going to be scared of a talking head again. Put my head down lightly please.” - The head asked. 

Jennifer picked up the head and inspected it. The blue flame was small but a bit fierce, their eyes being covered by bandages, and short smooth black hair.

“A talking head?”

“Hello. I can grant you three wishes if you want.” Jennifer went from interested to severely uninterested. “Okay, jokes aren’t your thing. Got it.”

“I have a few questions for you. If you don’t mind answering.” - Jennifer asked.

“Sure but could you at least get me to my body? Seems like it’s doing its own thing.”

‘They seem very oblivious to where they are, or do they know anything about the demons. Guessing by the weakened cores that is where the fighting ended.’ Jennifer put the head on one arm and walked to the location. “Do you mind me asking your name?”

“Verena. Dullahan Boxer.”

“Jenny. Step-Daughter of the Demon King.”

“Ah. Royalty.”

“Yeah if it was a bloodsport.” Jennifered said under her breath. “How did you even get here?”

“I don’t know. I was walking home after my shift and then suddenly my body got really tired. And I woke up with my head missing from my body.”

“Best guess is they probably thought you were dead. However, they didn’t recognize your core.”

“A core?”

“It’s their source of power that never drains out. Not only that, they can regenerate from their core too. Making them nearly immortal until you destroy the core.”

“Well I think you look nothing like the demons I saw.  You feel a bit more humanlike, minus the eyes and the horns.”

“It’s a bit complicated.”

As they slowly reach their destination Jennifer saw a couple of bodies on the floor. Some with holes in their chest or missing arms. It felt like a battle that ended minutes ago. As they continue, the piles of bodies continue to increase. Missing limbs, purple blood on the ground and barely breathing demons. Finally they found Verena’s body, sitting on one of the demon’s back, covered in blood.

“That is a lot of dead bodies.” - Verena said.

“They’re not dead, it takes a while for their body to regenerate.” Jennifer walked up to Verena’s body and gave back her head. The body reached for it and put it back to where it was. “Better?”

“A lot better! Although I’m going to have to change bandages when I go back.”

“Ehh. It’ll burn off.”

“It will what?”

“Moving on. We should probably be heading out fast. One of the elites might show up soon because of the negative energy.”

“More fighting? With the two of us, I’m sure we can take them on.”

Jennifer didn’t answer and has been focusing to see if anyone was coming their way. For now she felt nothing. Jennifer walked up to one of the bodies, plunged her arm deep into their chest and pulled out a dark red orb nearly as big as her head.

“Catch.” Jennifer said and tossed the orb to Verena. Verena catched it with both hands and is surprised at how light it is. “Keep it if you ever go back to your world. Might come in handy.”

“I wonder if Sgaph would like this?” Verena thought. “Where is this mighty threat you’re hyping up? Seems like none of them are showing up.”

“I’m trying to search for them but it’s kind of hard to sense that.”

“I’m sure the both of us can candle them. I beat these demons up like it was a light workout. What could be-” Verena stopped in her words as she felt something cold touch her shoulder. A man in a business attire appeared right behind her. The aura around him felt like a ferocious caged monster, waiting on its next prey.

“Thank you for playing with my daughter. But I believe it’s time for you to go.” - someone said.

Jennifer heard that familiar voice and turned around instantly. She saw her step-father right next to Verena. Verena was stiff, she had her sights on Jennifer the whole time. 

“Don’t do anything to her Don.” - Jennifer said.

“Why shouldn’t I? She has been causing trouble here and I am here to exterminate the problem.” - Don said.

“Maybe…we can talk this out?” - Verena asked.

Don looked at Jennifer then Verena. “No thank you.”

Verena was uncertain on what to do, she thought of every possible scenario but came up with nothing. So she chose to rely on her instinct instead. She turned and went for a swift but hard right hook to his face. It felt like time slowed down and every small moment counted. One of Don’s eyes turned black and shed a tear. Suddenly everything turned black. Verena woke up out of her bed, breathing and heavy and looking around her room.

“Was that a dream?” Verena asked herself and touched her head. “Ouch. My head hurts like hell. What time is it?” Verena took her phone out of the charger and checked the time. “Six in the morning. Wait. It’s May already? Time sure loves to go fast huh.”

Verena got out of bed and went to walk out of her room, suddenly she kicked a round orb. She clutched her foot immediately in pain and tried to soothe the pain.

“When did I have an orb in my-” she stopped herself to realize that it was the orb Jennifer gave her as a gift. “Jenny?”

Back in the underworld, Jennifer looked distraught as Verena disappeared from her eyes. The rage and anger was slowly swelling up in her body, looking at Don, ready to kill.

“If you’re wondering, I returned her to her world.” - Don said.

“Don’t you fucking lie to me.” - Jennifer said calmly.

“There are many things I can lie to you about. That was not one of them. How I pulled her soul is something I am trying to figure out.”

Jennifer calmed herself down a bit. “So she’s alright?”

“At the time, yes. If I am correct, about a month has passed in her world but we’ll never know. This place loves to influx when it comes to time.”