Prints_Birth of The Demon Read online

  “Then tell me!” Dominaze stood and shouted.

  The ground shook and a bolder next to her split down the center.

  “What am I? Why am I so feared? I’m not trying to hurt anyone. I’m not an evil Demon, I’m just me. All I wanted was to belong. You and Kyro promised me a life that sounded incredible and for reasons I don’t understand, I suddenly can’t have it.” A dark cloud formed in the sky as unwanted tears stung her eyes. “In less than twenty-four hours, I have been welcomed in and attacked and I can’t make sense of any of it. Suddenly I’m wanted dead and I haven’t even done anything.” Her voice cracked. “I don’t want to die…Hemrick, I don’t want to die. Please help me. ” Sinking to her knees, she shut the book and punched its cover. “What’s wrong with me? What happened to ‘every Print is important? Every Print has a purpose’? Why can’t I have that?”

  Rain fell from her cloud, soaking them both. Dominaze couldn’t tell if the puddle forming under her face was from tears or the rain. Wanted dead for being something she knew nothing about. She was scared. Feeling helpless and confused, she rested her head in her hands until her breathing calmed and the tears stopped flowing. It was quiet and she wasn’t sure if Hemrick had decided to leave her. Maybe she was better off alone, so he wouldn’t be in trouble because of her. A warm hand gently touched her back. Holding still, she waited. She didn’t want Hemrick to be afraid of her. He was all she had.

  “Dominaze, look at me.”

  Slowly turning her head, she looked up.

  “I don’t know how to help you and I don’t know if it’s even possible, but I do believe you don’t want to hurt anyone. I don’t know why you imprinted this way, and I hope nature doesn’t curse me for what I’m about to do.” He took a deep breath. “I’ll do whatever I can to help you.”

  “You will?” Dominaze sat up and tried to smile.

  “But you have to promise me something.” He put both hands on her shoulders. “You have to remember who you are right now and promise you will never change. That if you can, you will use your authority to do nothing but good and never use it to put fear into another Print.”

  “I promise,” she quickly nodded.

  The cloud above dissipated instantly.

  “Come. We need to keep moving. There’s a place not too far from here that you should see.”

  “What place?” She scrambled to her feet.

  “One that will mean more to you than any other Print.”

  “Because I’m a Demon Print?”

  “Precisely.” He picked up the book of 5,001 Prints and motioned for her to follow him.

  “We’re walking?” She looked back at the smoking wind vessel. “But I’m barefoot and in my pajamas.”

  “I honestly don’t know what to do about that, but if you want to stay here until someone comes to give us a ride…” He chuckled at the thought and she was glad to see a glimpse of his happy self. “Besides, the walk will give me time to tell you about Demon Prints. At least what I know about them.”

  “Okay. But we really need to figure out where to get me some clothes and shoes.” She jogged to catch up.

  “Ya, maybe Marinetta has some gladiator sandals we could steal.”

  “I’m seriou…”

  Dominaze tripped and fell flat on her face. Rolling over, she was terrified to find her legs entangled in vines. Hemrick hurried to her and was about to pull the vines from her, but paused.

  “What are you waiting for? Help.” She kicked at the vines.

  “Wait.” Hemrick held her legs still. “Look.”

  Dominaze held still and watched as the vines weaved in and out around her legs until they had formed into a sandal just like the ones Marinetta had chosen for her the day before.

  Hemrick scratched his head. “Well that’s…um…that’s practical…”

  Dominaze got to her feet and took a few steps. “That…was…awesome.” She grinned from ear to ear. “How did I do that? How does it work?”

  “One thing at a time.” Hemrick was serious again. “You need to know who you are.”

  “Okay, tell me everything.”

  He motioned for her to follow him. “It’s hard to know where to start, but if your page were still in this book it would probably say something along the lines of: ‘Demon Print: Extremely powerful. Holds authority over all of earth’s elements. A Demon Print has no limitations and can easily create, destroy, and manipulate anything in it’s path.’”

  Dominaze thought about that. She knew power could make a good man better and a bad man worse. “If Demon Prints are hated so much there must have been some before me. What happened to them?”

  “Demon Prints are few and far between. I’ve never heard of more than one living at a single time, but there was one who lived, who was so awful the Elders and the Elect created something to ensure another Demon Print never walked the earth again.”

  “What was it?”

  “Imprinting facilities. They were built for Taloms to go to for their Imprinting. The facility offered hazardous Prints and their families ease of mind, knowing that during an imprinting process, no harm would befall either of them.”

  “What kind of harm? I thought imprinting was safe.” She furrowed her brow.

  “It generally is…” Hemrick shrugged, “but occasionally a Talom imprinting with something like water can cause a flash flood and risk drowning their families in their beds. Or in Soomi’s case imprinting, when she imprinted, she uncontrollably pulled so much water from her surrounding environment that her mother and sisters died in their sleep from instant dehydration.

  “That’s awful.”

  “Yes, but more importantly the facilities monitor the outcome of each new Print. If anyone were to become a Demon Print they would be destroyed before ever opening their eyes. The facility is a Purging System. Because once a Demon Print is awake and aware of themselves, they’re nearly impossible to destroy.”

  “The Imprinting Facilities are Purging Systems? Why not just pull our strips? I’d be a harmless Manick. No threat to anyone.”

  “It wasn’t considered enough. A Print with the ability to exercise authority over everything is believed to be able to use any strip. It’s not enough to just remove your strip. It’s believed you could just steal another Print’s strip.”

  Dominaze thought about this. “Hemrick, before this morning, were you in favor of this System?”

  He didn’t answer right away.

  “You can tell me the truth,” she encouraged.

  “Before this morning, I believed the system was for our safety. That it was to prevent wars and death. It wasn’t until I saw you, innocent and oblivious, that I realized that even you weren’t an exception to it. The Elect Elders would have killed you before you had a chance to do something good. It wasn’t until this morning that I thought the system might not be fair to everyone.”

  “Hemrick,” Dominaze grabbed his arm to stop him. “I understand that what you did to save me was a huge sacrifice and that it has put you in a lot of danger. I’ll do whatever I can to make sure it doesn’t go to waste.”

  “Well, let’s just do what we can to stay alive for now. You need to start exercising caution. I can’t keep us hidden from the Elect if you keep creating random rainstorms or exploding into flames spontaneously. You need to figure out a control.”

  “How do I do that?” Dominaze was afraid to think of anything.

  “I can think about the wind without creating a current,” Hemrick pointed out. “Somehow you need to find a balance and distinguish between a mere thought and an intentional-action thought. Strong Prints have a harder time with this in the beginning. Your thoughts want to become actions immediately. I can only imagine what that means for you.”

  “I’m afraid to let myself think of anything for longer than a second.” She shook her head. “What if something awful happens?”

  “I’m not going to lie, something awful could happen. If Brike
were here, he could vouch for that.”

  “Yeah, I’ve heard Brike’s done some pretty awful things.”

  “Brike’s a good guy. He struggles to be understood.”

  “Are we going to talk about Brike’s relationship issues? Or are you going to help me control myself?”

  “Well, why don’t you try something on purpose?” Hemrick suggested. “You pushed the water back when we needed to get off the island, maybe more intentional thoughts can help.” He pointed to a small wild tree struggling to grow in the sandy ground. “See this desert tree? Concentrate on it and ignore everything else. Then picture it differently.”

  “Differently?” she asked, a little confused.

  Turning all her focus on the small tree, Dominaze thought of how fragile it was, how it could easily be cut down. It was beautiful but vulnerable. What if it could be more than just a tree?

  She had barely had the thought, when loud snapping and warping noises could be heard coming from the base of the trunk. Grey stone wrapped itself around its base and the tree shot higher and higher as it grew above Hemrick and Dominaze. At first, it looked like the tree would be suffocated in its rock cover, but as Dominaze looked closer she realized the growing tree wasn’t being engulfed, but transforming. The once-wooden bark was altering itself into its new stone make-up. Rough and grey, it continued to rise until the top was no longer visible; she could only hear the change taking place. As the stone reached the top, a few massive rock-solid leaves fell from their branches toward them. Hemrick pulled her back, trying to get out of the way of the falling stones.

  “Wow.” Dominaze stared at the strong, massive, stone tree.

  “What are they?” Hemrick asked.

  “They?”

  Looking around Dominaze realized she hadn’t alter just one tree, but three massive stone structures now stood towering over them. She was surprised to see Hemrick looking more worried than impressed with what she had done.

  “They’re stone. Now no one can cut these incredible trees down. Now they’re tall and strong forever.” She smiled at the trees.

  “Dominaze, they’re not trees anymore. By altering the element make up you changed it completely. They’re just gigantic sculptures of trees. They’re not alive like they once were; they’re stone.”

  “Hang on. Are you telling me I killed the tree I was trying to protect?” she asked.

  “Technically yes, but…”

  A roaring crackle above their heads interrupted his thought. Looking up, they could barely see the movement in the upper branches. Some of the towering branches had broken off and were falling into the lower ones, causing them to break off as well.

  “It can’t support itself. Run!” Hemrick warned.

  Grabbing Dominaze’s hand, he took off running away from the tree. He didn’t stop until he thought they were a safe distance from the falling stone branches. Turning, Dominaze watched—horrified—as the once-beautiful tree top crumbled onto itself.

  “No, this isn’t what I wanted!” she yelled.

  Just then another blow erupted, this time near its base. Separated from its root support, the solid tree shook. Frozen in place, she watched helplessly as it teetered unsteadily. Then, as if it knew who to blame for its destruction, it leaned in their direction. Falling faster and faster right on top of them, the tree statue threatened to smash them as it fell.

  “DOMINAZE, RUN!” Hemrick ran from the falling structure.

  Dominaze didn’t hesitate to follow him. Colliding with the other two statues, all three trees crashed down toward them. As rocks hit the ground they exploded, showering them with dust and pebbles. It was hard to see as they ran with their hands shielding their eyes. Surrounding desert trees were struck and exploding, filling the air with splintering wood darts.

  “HEMRICK, GO!” Dominaze screamed.

  She had to get him out of here uninjured. How could she live with herself knowing she killed or hurt someone the first time she exercised authority over anything intentionally?

  “GO, GO, GO!” she yelled.

  The stone trunks shook the earth as they slammed into the ground. Exploding rock filled the air with dust and dangerously large boulders. In front of her, Hemrick leaped over a pile of rocks and ducked into an open ridge in the ground. Dominaze leaped over the rocks following him. He grabbed hold of her and pulled her down. On the other side, they could hear the rupturing stones and trees as they landed. Hemrick placed his hand over Dominaze’s head, shielding them as best he could from the stone fragments flying in their direction.

  Then it was silent. Dominaze couldn’t breathe as her heart raced faster than it ever had before. She could feel Hemrick’s heart pounding into her back as he lay motionless, still holding her safely in his arms. She didn’t dare ask him if he was okay, for fear of what the answer would be. Waiting until her lungs remember how to properly inhale and exhale, she kept herself completely still.

  “You have a lot to learn, Dominaze.” Hemrick’s stern voice was shaky.

  They took their time getting to their feet. Trembling from what had happened, Dominaze steadied herself against a rock that had rolled too close for comfort. Just beyond the rock pile that had shielded them was a horrifying scene of shattered stone and destruction.

  “What have I done?” Her heart ached.

  “You need to think before you act.” Hemrick pointed to the mess in front of them. “You will learn what is safe and what is not. Turning a tree to stone not only destroys the tree, but the structure will not be able to hold itself up in that form.”

  “You told me to make it different. What did you think would happen?” Her voice was high with hysterics.

  “I thought you would turn it into another type of tree or blue flowery plant.”

  “Well, you need to be more specific then, because I just about killed us.” Bending down, she picked up a stone twig and threw it into the destruction.

  “Calm down. We need to get out of here.” He grabbed her hand and led her away. “I would be surprised if no one heard or felt that.”

  Looking back one more time, she couldn’t believe what she had done, what she was capable of. For the first time she realized why Prints feared the Demon Print, why she began to fear herself.

  Hemrick sent bursts of wind in all directs as they hurried away. Feeling each current travel along the ground, he could feel what lay ahead or behind them.

  They had walked several miles before Hemrick spoke again. Dominaze was afraid to say anything. She didn’t want to make things worse, so she struggled not to stay on any one thought for long. Every time she realized her thoughts were lingering, she forced them to change. This made her fidgety and she began to trip often as she refused to focus on even the ground as she walked.

  “It’s probably not good for you to keep things bottled up. What’s on your mind right now?” Hemrick looked back at her as he kept walking.

  “Nothing. I’m doing everything I can not to think of anything.”

  Hemrick laughed as she tripped and fell on her face.

  “It’s probably safe for you to watch the ground while you walk.” He helped her up. “Now, what is on your mind?”

  “Honestly?” She looked at Hemrick. “Demon Prints. I don’t know anything about them. What did they do that was so awful that everyone wants me dead without a second look?”

  “I’ll tell you, but keep walking. We’ve got to keep going.” He motioned her to walk ahead of him. “Our earliest records were lost or destroyed during Print raids, but we do have few records that track Print life as far back as 600 million years ago. However there is no mention of the first Demon Print found until 100 million years later. The Demon Prints came spontaneously. There is only ever one at a time. Sometimes they come days apart and other times, over 100 million years apart from each other. They live far longer than other Prints and they were once worshipped. Just over three thousand years ago, there was no peace anywhere. Prints were segr
egated and wars engulfed not only Domicile, but all the worlds. Humans and Manicks were hunted to near extinction and those that survived were enslaved. It was during this time that a Talom boy imprinted as the Demon Print. He delivered the Humans and Manicks from slavery and gave the Humans an entire world to call their own—The Keep. They were promised that the Prints would not interfere with their lives and the Manicks were given a choice, whether to remain in Domicile or live in The Keep. There are only a few Manick communities left in Domicile and the Humans have evolved and learned to live without authority.” Hemrick paused.

  “The Demon Prints don’t sound bad at all. What happened?”

  Hemrick stopped walking, “Rizor happened, the boy who became the Demon Print and saved the worlds. You have him to thank for the system that now threatens your life.”

  ~7~

  SCARRED

  Dominaze’s feet were killing her as they continued to walk. It was no longer hard to keep her mind blank. She couldn’t have focus on anything if she had wanted to. She was too exhausted.

  “Okay, stop here.” Hemrick sat on a rock.

  “Oh, thank you.” She collapsed next to him. “I can’t take another step and I’m starving,” she moaned.

  Hemrick let her catch her breath. He hung his head between his knees and looked lost in thought.

  Dominaze nudged him. “Are you worried?”

  “A bit.” He looked at her. “I’m worried about putting an idea in your head that will change who you are, but at the same time, I believe in learning from history’s mistakes. How can you learn if I don’t tell you what happened?” He dropped his head between his knees again.

  “You have to trust me Hemrick.”

  “I know.” He took a deep breath, “I already decided to tell you. Just know that if you go down the same path Rizor did, your fate will be the same—that much won’t change.”