Cursed Souls: Magic & Demons, #1

By K.A. Turnbull

Reincarnations. Curses. Magic. Demons. All things that live in legends and folklore, until now.

 

Meet Crystle Nuca and Jay Walden, average college students, until the legends became reality. Her, a reincarnated orphan, and him, a reincarnated Prince of Egypt, both touched by magic. Their souls tethered to the lost kingdom in Egypt, Laquar. Destined to relive their deaths.

 

They must travel across Egypt to a secret pyramid, with the help of a blue cat demon, Cucun, to bestow Jay with his powers, to break the curse placed upon them and Laquar. The only problem, demons are hunting them down and their only chance for survival is for Crystle to master her elemental and shape-shifting powers before disaster strikes!

 

Will this journey vanquish the curse, freeing all their souls, or will the cycle of destruction continue?

• Language: English
• Publisher: K.A. Turnbull
• Release date: Nov 30, 2021
• ISBN: 9781777913847

Book preview

Prologue

Two thousand years ago, back in a time when magic and demons were known far too well, war raged between the two, and there were those who didn’t have power who tried to control it. There weren’t too many people left who had magic, because they needed to have the birthmark of their temple. Only two remained, a man who was to be the prince of Egypt, and a woman who was charged with being his protector, until the prince could activate his powers within his temple. They also gained the help of a blue cat demon named Cucun along their journey to the temple.

When they arrived at the temple, hundreds of demons were awaiting their arrival, a large smoke horse, a fiery cobra, and hundreds of shadow snakes.

Cucun charged at the shadow snakes to make a path for the other two to get closer to the other demons. The woman took out her whips and propelled herself over the rest of the shadow snakes and up to the fire cobra.

As for the prince, he ran towards Cucun, with his staff drawn. When he got close enough, Cucun grabbed the end of his staff and threw him as hard as he could to get the prince high enough in the sky to reach the horse’s head.

Once Cucun released the prince’s staff, he grabbed his own weapon before all the shadow snakes began wrapping themselves around his body so he could barely move. Cucun tried beheading a few of the snakes to keep them from crushing him to death. There were so many it didn’t take long before the snakes restricted the rest of his movements. However, they never constricted him hard enough to kill him as though they wanted him to watch the demise of his friends.

As for the woman, she was using a long one-handed sword covered in ice, that was so cold you could see frost coming off of it. She had to make ice panels to stay high enough and move around fast enough to keep up with the cobra’s quick reflexes. She could only give it minor wounds, but with every cut she made it would only extinguish a small amount of the flames, which took a bit of time to reignite. With each strike, the snake would let out a loud hiss and move farther away from her, but never leaving the entrance to the temple unguarded.

Meanwhile, the prince stabbed the horse in the side of its neck with his staff. The horse shook his head violently, trying to make the prince fall off. The prince held onto his staff as tightly as he could while trying to lift himself up to the top of the beast’s neck. The horse reared up and made his flesh turn into smoke, dislodging the prince’s staff from his neck. There was nothing that the prince could grab that didn’t slip through his hands. The prince wasn’t able to do anything else but fall the long distance to the ground.

The woman saw the prince falling from the horse’s neck. There was nothing she could do but scream, "No!" The prince lay on the sand motionless, and the horse demon’s legs descended towards the prince’s body. The woman dropped her sword and knelt on the ice panel she created, and cast her arm in front of her towards the prince’s body, creating a dome of ice around him.

The horse’s hooves landed on the ice. It cracked. The horse demon reared once again to hit the ice harder to get to the prince.

The woman created more ice around the unconscious prince, all her energy focused on protecting him, not watching out for herself. The fire cobra rose behind her. It coiled around her body, tightening around her, cutting off her air supply until she could no longer stay conscious. As she lost consciousness, the ice she was creating became weaker and weaker. The horse demon hit the ice two more times. The first almost completely breaking it and with the second it broke the ice landing on the prince, crushing his chest.

The cobra let go of the woman and let her fall. As she was falling, just before she hit the ground, she awoke and turned her entire body into water. When she hit the sand, she sunk into it until there was nothing left of her. Both the horse and cobra demon went over to where Cucun was. As they moved away, the woman began shifting towards the prince’s body below the sand.

The shadow snakes forced Cucun to watch the entire thing, helpless to do anything about it. The shadow snakes that were not holding Cucun moved out of the way for the other demons to watch his pain. The cobra slithered around him so the flames enveloped him, with the only thing standing between him and the cobra’s body being the shadow snakes that were still holding him. The horse demon stood behind the cobra facing Cucun. All Cucun could see were the demons and the prince’s motionless body. He could finally see the woman ascend from beneath the sand, kneeling beside the prince’s body.

Thisss isss what you get for betraying your demon brethren. You sshhall sssuffer for your deccception, proclaimed the cobra, as he raised his head and opened his jaws, showing his fangs.

As he was about to strike Cucun, the woman drew her bow and arrow, the tip of it drenched with the prince’s blood. As she released the arrow she said, Barrar O Sana. The arrow hit the horse in its hind end, and spun the horse into smoke and blew away with the wind until none of its smoke could be seen.

The cobra turned its head away from Cucun and towards the woman. He moved towards her as she stood up. Her eyes ablaze and her hands covered in blood. She took a few steps towards the cobra, with her arms stretched out from her sides, hands clenched into fists, waiting for the cobra to come closer.

When the cobra was only a short distance away, she began running towards the demon and jumped as high as she could. When she was in the air, she turned her back to the snake, casting her arm out in front of her, pointing towards the ground. Lightning shot from her fingertips, hitting the sand, turning it into glass. The cobra contorted its body with its mouth open, raising its head up from under the woman about to grab her in its mouth.

The cobra bit around the woman’s waist, leaving the top half of her out of its mouth. The woman gave a bit of a wince. Be forever imprisoned for what you’ve done! she said. She placed her bloody hand on the snake’s nose and yelled, Ou Cenarreena. The glass that she made in the shape of a box rose from the sand, slowly dragging the snake into it.

The cobra let her go, leaving puncture wounds along her stomach and all the way around to her back, she fell to the ground lying on her stomach near the box. Once the snake was in the box, she placed her other bloody hand on top of it, sealing it closed. All the shadow snakes around Cucun disappeared, allowing him to walk over to the woman and help her to her feet and bring her to the prince’s body.

She knelt over his body, holding his hand, and crying. Each tear that fell from her eyes landed on his body, turning it to ice. I’m so sorry, my friend. I couldn’t keep you safe.

Chapter 1

image-placeholder

Present Time

It was a gorgeously serene April day, sun shining, birds singing. A woman pushed the glass double doors open to a large red bricked college building, that lead to a set of stairs with an opened spaced driveway. The woman’s name is, Crystle Nuca. She’s five foot two with dirty blond hair and blue eyes. While still holding the doors open, and as other students rushed out the other doors and down the stairs, she yelled, we’re finally done! and let out a sigh of relief. She let go of the doors and waved at a man leaning against a red Audi A5 convertible.

Crystle started running down the stairs and got about halfway when a man got to the school doors and leaned up against the side with his hands in his jean pockets, looking up into the sky just soaking in the sunlight. He’s five foot five, light brown hazel eyes, with a scruffy-looking beard, and shaven head. Crystle turned around looking at the man and ran back up the stairs, grabbing his hand out of his pocket, come on Jay, get a move on or we will leave you behind, Crystle said with a bit of a giggle, dragging him down the stairs towards the convertible.

Alright, alright I’m coming, replied Jay, as he tried to keep up with her. When they hit the last step, Crystle, let go of his hand and ran towards the man leaning on the convertible, wrapping herself around him, kissing him.

Jay slowed down when she let go, and he put his hands back in his pockets, giving the guy a nod. Hey Ron, how’s it going?

Ron lifted Crystle up and placed her in the front passenger seat of the car. Good, now get in the car so we can get a move on. I want to get out of here at a decent time, Ron replied, as he went around the car and got into the driver’s seat.

Jay shrugged his shoulders and jumped into the back seat of the car, along with all their things that they packed earlier. I could have stayed behind. Don’t need to be dragging you two love birds down.

That’s nonsense! I wouldn’t dream of leaving you behind, especially since we are all going to the same town, anyway. Besides, you could never drag us down, you’re part of the gang, Crystle replied, turning to look at Jay in the back seat. She turned back around and buckled up. No one’s forgotten anything, right? Everyone shook their heads. Aright let’s be off then.

Ron leaned over and gave her another kiss, winking at Jay. Jay rolled his eyes, buckling himself in, and leaned as far back into his seat as he could, crossing his arms while looking out the window. Ron started the car, and they drove away from the college to go back home for the summer.

They drove on a long highway that seemed to be deserted. There wasn’t another car for several miles along their drive. They didn’t mind, as it gave them a chance to talk and watch all the scenery go by on this gorgeous day.

Suddenly, it got dark quick.

Looks like we are going to get some rain, I guess, commented Ron as he pressed the button to bring up the roof for the car.

I don’t think that’s rain. It wouldn’t come in like that, not that quick, replied Jay. The clouds rolled closer towards them, getting darker and darker. When the clouds were almost above them, they descended towards the ground.

Holy crap! exclaimed Ron as he slammed on the brakes, his tires squealing and smoke billowing.

In front of them landed a giant smoke horse. The horse was the size of a house, its fur an ashy gray, rippling over its entire body, like rapid infested rivers. It looked at the car and gave out a heavy snort, smoke coming out of its nostrils.

Crystle grabbed the gear shift, shifting the car into reverse, go, go, go, go, she rapidly said, hitting the top of the gear shift.

Ron gunned the gas, and they were speeding away from the horse. It charged, then leaped into the air. When it landed, it put both hooves through the hood of the car, stopping it in an instant. The sheer force jolted everyone forward in the car. All of them hit their heads, disorienting them.

Jay shook his head, trying to get himself out of his haze. He looked forward, seeing that Crystle was moving slowly, trying to bring her hand up to her head. And just beyond her, he could see the horse’s legs still on the hood of the car, smoke streaming out from the engine. A sight he never imagined he would ever see. He shook Crystle’s shoulder, trying to get her to focus. Her eyes were glazed and her hands were shaking. Come on Crystle, we need to get out of here, Jay said, fiddling with both of their seatbelts.

One fell swoop of the horse’s nose against the soft cover of the convertible removed the entire roof, leaving them all exposed. Run. Now! exclaimed Jay.

Ron jumped out of the driver’s side and ran to the other side of the highway they were on. Jay and Crystle both jumped out on the passenger’s side, running into an open field. Crystle was still disoriented, so Jay wrapped one arm around her back and the other around her front, trying to keep her from falling to the ground.

There was nowhere to hide, but they all ran, anyway. The horse turned toward Jay and Crystle, as though Ron didn’t exist. Before they could get far from the car, the horse started pounding its front hooves against the ground, making everything shake. Some of the asphalt from the highway broke apart and scattering everywhere. A piece struck Jay

in the back of the head, knocking him unconscious. Both of them fell to the ground, and the last thing that Crystle saw before passing out from the car accident was the bright red eyes of the demon horse coming closer.

Chapter 2

image-placeholder

When Crystle came to, all she could feel was she was tied up in some type of hair, and the cold wind was blowing by. She could only move a little, however she couldn’t untangle her hands and legs. She looked over to her side and saw Jay tangled in the same hair, but still unconscious.

She moved over to him and tried shaking his shoulder. Jay, wake up. You have to wake up. But he wouldn’t open his eyes. She moved her hand in front of his nose and mouth, feeling his warm breath hitting the back of her hand. Thank God he’s still breathing, she thought.

Crystle moved as far forwards as the hair would let her, to figure out where they were and what was going on. When she looked over what she thought was a ledge, all she could see were the horse’s legs to her left, and the horse’s head to her right. There was no ground beneath the horse, and all she could see was blue for miles, with the smell of salt. Crystle realized they were trapped in the horse’s mane and it was taking them over the ocean to an unknown location. Panic set in. What does this thing want with us? Where is it taking us? We need to get out of this, but how? Crystle thought, breathing faster and shallower than normal.

While she was panicking, she was flooded by the feeling of calm and serenity. She felt she was going into some type of trance, as though everything disappeared from her mind except for a vision in the forefront of her mind. She saw someone who looked exactly like her, but wasn’t. The woman was dressed all in black leather, a skirt that went halfway down her thigh, knee-high boots with several straps, a tank top that V’ed down her stomach showing the skin on her sides, and a floor length jacket. The outfit was riddled with different weapons; whips, swords, knives, daggers, sais, and a bow and arrow.

Crystle shook her head, getting herself out of the trance, blinking rapidly. When she looked down at herself, she wasn’t wearing the same clothing she was only minutes ago. Instead, it was the same clothes as the lady in her vision. Okay, this is freaky, and yet somehow doesn’t surprise me anymore, she said under her breath. She moved her hand down along the inside of the jacket, grabbing a dagger. Crystle started cutting away the hair that was restricting her hands until all she had left to cut was around her ankles.

Crystle cut off the last strands of hair, but with how fast they were moving, the wind made her slide down the horse’s neck. She cast her dagger aside, trying to grab anything that would keep her from falling off the horse’s neck. She could grab a bit of the horse’s mane, which slowed her down, but couldn’t stop. As she was sliding down the side of the horse’s neck, she saw a hole the size of two fists. When she was close enough to the hole, she grabbed it. The demon horse letting out a wailing scream. It whipped its head around towards her, grabbing the end of her jacket in its mouth, ripping her off its neck.

Crystle dangled from the horse’s mouth, trying to keep her arms in the sleeves of her jacket, as it held the end in its powerful jaws. She saw they were approaching land in the distance. At least now if she tried to do anything, they wouldn’t be stranded in the middle of the ocean, however if she was going to do something, it would have to wait a bit longer, otherwise the drop could still kill them.

From time to time the horse would move its head closer to its chest, swinging Crystle as he did. Once she got to know his rhythm, she swung herself slightly to get her feet closer to the horse’s chest. When she had enough momentum, she pressed her feet as hard as she could against the beast’s chest, propelling herself hard enough that she became parallel with the horse’s nose. She raised her arms up, allowing the force of her movement to slip out of her jacket to complete the swing. She twisted her body, landing in a kneeling position, facing the bridge of the horse’s nose. Crystle drew her sword, and stood, taking a few steps forward to leap towards the top of the horse’s skull before the demon could shake its head.

As she landed between the demon’s ears, she thrust her sword into its head as far as she could. When she removed the sword from its skull, the demon disintegrated almost as quickly as when it appeared.

Nothing was keeping them in the air. Crystle sheathed her sword and took out one of her whips, using it to wrap around Jay to bring him closer, so they wouldn’t get separated when they hit the water. Jay was still unconscious. She wrapped her arms around him so his back was against her chest, so when they hit the water, she would take most of the force with her back.

When they hit the water, it made a temporary crater where they landed. The waves striking them, forcing them to separate. It didn’t take long until they both washed up on the shore. Crystle crawled further onto the shore gasping for air and spitting out any of the salt water she inhaled. She looked down the shore and saw Jay laying on his side coughing up water too. As Crystle was stumbling to get to his side, her jacket, that had been in the demon’s mouth, washed ashore. She grabbed it and put it on while going over to Jay. When she got to him, she knelt down beside him, placing her hand on his back. You alright? Crystle asked.

Jay looked over at Crystle, seeing her in the new outfit, raising his eyebrow, yeah I’m fine, by the way, nice outfit. Not sure when you had the time to go shopping or if it was the best thing to choose when going out for a little dip, he replied with a bit of a chuckle.

Oh yeah, you missed it. That thing that took us, back at the car, had a great shopping center on its back, figured I’d check it out. Besides, I thought men liked women in wet leather, she chuckled. Now, all joking aside, we have to get moving. We can’t stay in this sun, we have to find some sort of shelter. Crystle helped Jay to his feet, and they started stumbling away from the shore.

Minutes went by, feeling like hours in the sun, heat rising from the sand. Take off your jacket. We need to stop the sun from beating down on us like this. We won’t last much longer if we don’t, commented Jay. Crystle agreed and removed her jacket, placing it over both their heads.

They walked up a sand dune, and they found something that could be used as a shelter. It looked like a pyramid out in the middle of nowhere, nothing else to be seen for miles. They didn’t want to take a risk of running to the pyramid and overheating in the sun, in case it was all an illusion. Instead, they began walking faster until it was only a short distance away and seemed to be real.

They ran into the entrance of the pyramid, and could almost instantly feel the coolness hit their skin. They both leaned up against the walls, Crystle sliding down the wall until she was sitting on the sand, feeling the cold seeping off the stone and the sand, and into her bare skin. Crystle kept looking at the ground, do you think Ron is okay? I didn’t see him on the horse. Do you think he’s safe back home?

Not sure, but I’m sure he’s doing just fine. Besides egotistical assholes don’t get hurt too easily. Crystle shot a glare at Jay and grabbed a handful of sand and threw it at him.

What? You know I don’t like the guy. He flirts with everyone when you’re not around, thinking he’s God. There was an awkward silence between them.

Anyway, you know with everything that’s happened today, we should really look through this place before resting. Who knows what else could be waiting for something to come in here wanting refuge from the sun, mentioned Jay. Crystle nodded her head in agreement. Jay gave her a hand to help her get up, care to pass me a blade? You seem to have a few you could spare.

Crystle smirked, yeah sure, I think I could spare something for you. With a huge smile on her face, she removed a small dagger from the side of her boot and passed it to Jay.

Jay glared at Crystle. You’re joking, right? What do you think I could do with this? Pick something out of the creature’s teeth?

Okay, okay, sheesh was just trying to make a little light out of a crappy situation. Even though it’s all you deserve with that last comment. Crystle put her dagger back into her boot and grabbed at her one-handed sword. Here, this better?

Jay took the sword from her hand, holding it at his side.

Much better, he said with a smile.

They walked down the hall until they got to an opened area. There were three other halls that seemed to lead outside of the pyramid. The halls seemed to separate the pyramid into four sections, but leaving the center exposed. In the very center, a light shone through from the tip of the pyramid. However, there didn’t seem to be a hole in the roof so much as the light came from something else that was fixed to the roof. It lit up a six foot five statue that looked like a man with several cat like features, with its hand out, as though it was welcoming them into the light.

They both kept walking to the center of the room, still on high alert in case something might lurk in the shadows. When they got to the center of the room, they stared at the statue, admiring how much detail they put into it. Crystle went to touch the statue, you sure you want to do that? You don’t know what could happen, warned Jay.

I don’t know why, but I really feel compelled to get closer to it. Besides, what’s the worst that could happen that hasn’t already happened to us today? replied Crystle.

Crystle grabbed the stone hand of the creature and pulled herself towards it until she was completely in the light. The light got brighter, and as it did, she winced, feeling a rush of heat in the back of her left shoulder. Her shoulder kept getting hotter and hotter until she had to hold it to stop the pain.

What’s wrong? asked Jay.

I don’t know, my shoulder feels like it’s burning up, Crystle replied, having difficulty keeping herself from screaming in pain. Jay went over to her, putting his hands around her waist, lifting her away from the statue, and out from under the light. She fell to her knees, still holding her shoulder.

You have to let me look at it, Jay said as he moved her clothing away to expose her shoulder. There was a shape of a cougar on her shoulder blade that was glowing a bright yellow.

With Jay inspecting Crystle’s shoulder, and Crystle in so much pain, neither of them noticed that the statue’s tail had turned blue and twitched back and forth.

The brightness of it seems to be going down. How are you feeling?

The pain and burning feeling is going away. My birthmark has never done that before, replied Crystle. It was then that they heard what almost sounded like a purr. Crystle turned her head, looking at Jay, please tell me you heard that too?

Jay nodded his head as the sound continued. They both turned their heads towards the statue, eyes widening. The statue turned from a light brown stone color to blue and with fur. They both stood up, moving back a few steps in a panic; Jay with the sword raised, and Crystle withdrew her sais, keeping them at her sides.

The beast took a few steps forward, looking at them both with a smile on his face. You do not have to be afraid of me. I am a friend. My name is Cu-

Who said we were afraid? And how could a beast like you be a friend to us? Jay retorted.

Like I was trying to say, my name is Cucun. And it was her hands that gave away the fact that, well, at least she is afraid, said Cucun. Both Jay and Crystle looked down at her hands, never turning their heads away from the cat creature. Her hands almost glowed a white color from what looked like strands of electricity all the way down both of the sais that she was holding. Crystle dropped one to the ground and raised her hand closer up to her face. The sai that she had dropped no longer had electricity moving around it, however it remained on her hand.

What the hell is happening to me? Crystle panicked even more. She could feel it inching up her arm farther and farther, the more that she felt afraid. I can’t get it to stop. Just make it stop!

Jay dropped his sword, turning to Crystle. When he put his hand on her shoulder, all they could hear was a loud zap, and he quickly removed his hand.

Jay! She dropped to her knees, leaning forward on her hands, with her arms shaking, and unable to look up.

Cucun moved towards Crystle, and Jay picked up the sword and raised it to Cucun’s throat.

He smacked the sword to the side. I will not hurt her. She is just afraid and needs to calm down. I can help. She can not hurt me. She made sure of that a long time ago.

Cucun walked over to her, kneeling down in front of her, taking his hand and placing it under her chin, forcing her to look up into his eyes. They just looked into each other’s eyes, hardly blinking, for Cucun’s eyes almost seemed hypnotizing. Crystle’s shaking came to a halt, and her breathing normalized. The electricity that was running into her chest receded back down to her arms, all the way to her fingertips until there wasn’t anything left. Cucun removed his hand from her chin and stood back up and took a few steps back.

Jay went to Crystle’s side, being leery of touching her again. You okay?

Physically, I think so. Mentally, not so much. How can any of this be happening? And I don’t want to whine, but where the hell are we and when can we go home? I just want to go home and pretend that all of this is just a dream. That’s it, all of this is just a dream, Crystle said in disbelief. Jay wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into his chest.

Egypt, stated Cucun. Both of them looked up at him, Jay still not letting Crystle go.

What? Jay asked.

You asked where you were. You are in Egypt, and unfortunately this is not a dream, he replied. I can try to answer your questions if you are ready to listen to me.

Crystle nodded her head in agreement, whereas Jay kept glaring at him, like everything that was happening was all Cucun’s fault.

Alright, this all started a long time ag-

This isn’t story time! Just get to the point, Crystle wasn’t like this before we entered this place. Jay screamed, letting go of Crystle. He grabbed the sword and stood up, pointing it at Cucun.

Crystle grabbed his free arm, still kneeling on the ground. Jay, stop it! He might be the only one who has any answers for us. I know you’re worried about me, and trust me, I’m scared too. But just stop it, you... you’re not the one who just turned into a freak, Crystle said, tears building up in her eyes.

You are not a freak, you are marked. Both of you are. You with the mark of the cougar, and him the mark of the wolf, Cucun stated.

Before Cucun could say more, Jay interrupted him again. How do you know about my birthmark? No one knows about my birthmark. I always keep it hidden.

Why? asked Crystle

’Cause I find it embarrassing.

You’re covered in tattoos, and you shave your head to make a statement of your individuality. Yet you find a birthmark in the shape of a wolf embarrassing? Really?

Jay just shrugged, noticing Crystle made a good point.

You two finished yet? As I was trying to say, you are both marked. And with that mark, it gives you powers to do extraordinary things. Which is unlocked once you go into the light in the temple-

Wait, how come I have powers and he doesn’t? We were both in the light together. If we’re both marked, shouldn’t both of us have powers right now? questioned Crystle, getting up onto her feet, standing beside Jay.

Cucun dropped his head, getting frustrated with being interrupted. Different mark, different temple, different powers.

Oh okay, gotcha. Sorry, please continue. Crystle said apologetically.

Your emotions control your powers; fire is anger, ice is sadness, lightning is fear and water is serenity. Everything in balance with itself. Plus, you can turn into a cougar. Crystle smiled at the sound of that. "As for his powers, not much is known since he has never received them. However, the two of you are opposites, you balance each other.

Now for the more boring history lesson that you did not want to listen to. This is not the first time you have been here, but hopefully will be your last. You are both cursed to be reborn until you can finally finish your quest.

I know with everything we’ve seen today I should be able to believe all this, but come on, a curse? Even if curses exist, what would make us so important that anyone would want to curse us in the first place? asked Jay.

"You were to be a king, and it was your father who cursed the two of you. And with it, your kingdom until you could break the curse and become the rightful heir to the throne. I only know some details, since I have not been with you during each of your lifetimes. All I can tell you is you have been doing this for thousands of years. Fighting demons that get in your way.

The only way to break this curse is to get him into the other temple, so he can gain his powers and take his rightful place on the throne. However, there are many who want to keep you from achieving this goal, because if you do, you will have a great advantage. Demons and people who are marked have been fighting for centuries against each other. Demons wanting control, and those who are marked to keep the innocent safe, mostly.

But aren’t you a demon? Why are you helping us instead of trying to kill us? Especially now, I’m sure it would be easy enough with how vulnerable we are, stated Crystle.

Because when we first met, you saved my life, even when he did not want you to. He glanced at Jay. "Now, I am not sure about the two of you, however I’m sure you would prefer me not calling you, you anymore," Cucun said with a smile.

Crystle give out her hand, to Cucun my name is Crystle, and this is Jay.

Instead of taking her hand, he bowed his head, nice to meet you Crystle and Jay.

There are still a couple of things you haven’t explained to us yet. How did we get these marks? I mean, our parents didn’t have them, so why do we? Crystle asked.

Normally the mark is passed down from parent to child, but I think with your souls being cursed, that once you were reborn, the mark manifested itself. Like a conjuring from the curse, to ensure that it would mark you till the end of time, Cucun replied.

Well, that sounds painful, Jay said. So, what else is this place for? I doubt this place is this big just to give people like us magical powers. And you mentioned we are in Egypt, so how is it you can speak perfect English with us instead of some ancient Egyptian language? Jay stated, still holding his sword, more relaxed but still on alert and sounding skeptical of everything he had to say.

"Not sure how much history is still told, however cats are connected to the underworld. We know all languages, and when Crystle awakened me by touching my hand, I knew what language she spoke.

As for this pyramid, it originally was just for obtaining powers and how to control them. However, with each of Crystle’s lives, after losing you, she would bring something new to the temple. Hoping it would help her train with her powers and weapons better so she could keep you from dying again. I have seen it several times, and she became more devastated each time that it happened. But there is always new hope when the two of you return.

So what you’re saying is we may die and never be able to go home. Our families will never know what happened to us or where we are, and we won’t know how they’re taking our disappearance, Crystle said quietly.

Sadly, I do not know when or if you will ever go home. However, there is always a way to send and receive a message if you would like. Remember, I am still a demon, and there are others like me who wish we could all live in peace without having to fight anymore, stated Cucun.

Crystle looked up at him with a huge smile on her face. Really? How? When can we send one?

It depends on how many messages you wish to send out. It will take a bit of time to summon the Jackals. Then we would have to wait here until they come back, which could take several days. So, how many do we need?

Two! If that would be alright of course. One for my parents and one for Ron. I need to know if he’s okay. He was with us when that horse demon attacked us and brought us here. We were both unconscious so I’m not even sure if he’s still alive, and if he is, I’m sure he’s worried sick, Crystle said.

Alright, and how about yourself, Jay? How many would you like? asked Cucun.

I don’t need to send a message. Don’t think there will be anyone searching for me, anyway. Crystle looked at him, quirking her head to the