Juin looked at the card, and with trembling hand, he reached out and took it before putting it into his pocket.

“Meet us near the door during the free session later,” Patrick said as he placed a hand on Juin’s shoulder. He then smiled and waved at some of the students who were looking over at them. Before going to join them, he whispered, “If you don’t… I’m sure you know what would happen, right?”

His hand slowly traveled down to Juin’s arm, where he nearly dislocated the latter’s arm last week when Juin failed to give him the money he demanded.

Juin shivered and nodded slowly. As he watched Patrick and John walk back to join the rest of the class, he subconsciously clenched his fists from the frustration of being too weak to do anything. Without anyone knowing it, the weather outside just turned for the worse.

About an hour later, it was finally free session time, which meant that the students were free to roam about and learn the history of witchcraft. The museum they were in today was famous for its exhibition on everything related to witchcraft, from drawings to potions, from weapons used by witches to weapons used to kill witches. Everything…

Juin quickly snuck away and met with Patrick and John.

“Get ready…” Patrick said as him and John looked at the two armed guards at the door. “Whatever is inside must be extremely important…” he murmured.

“It’s fine. We are kids…” John smirked. He then glanced at Juin and murmured, “As long as this screw up doesn’t screw up.”

Patrick gave Juin a disdainful gaze before saying, “He’s the best we’ve got. He’s even smaller than most girls on our trip.”

John sighed. “Ok, we will move according to plan.”

John and Patrick walked toward the guards, and when they were nearby, they immediately shoved each other around as they yelled obscenity at each other.

“You f*cker! I met her first!” John yelled as he glared at Patrick.

“Well, I f*ck her first!”

Juin walked a short distance behind them while pretending that he was looking on his phone.

When John was right in front of a guard, Patrick shoved him hard until he landed on the guard, who quickly reached out to catch him.

“Hey!” the other guard snapped. “Get the hell out of here!”

“You b*stard!” John yelled the moment he stood upright, and he grabbed Patrick’s shirt and pushed him against the wall. “She’s my woman!”

The two guards immediately went over to stop them. While they were trying to break up the fight, Juin moved behind the guards, and because he was so small, the guards did not notice him.

With the card behind him, he quickly slotted it into the card slot.

“Come on! Fight me, you d*ck!” Patrick, who saw what was happening, immediately yelled at the exact moment the door lock made a “beep” sound.

The guards were too distracted to notice, and when they finally broke those two teenagers apart, Juin was already gone.

“Get the f*ck out of here or we will throw you out of here!” one of the guards warned as he pointed a finger toward a direction.

“Sorry…” Patrick mumbled before walking off with John, and they both exchanged glances before walking toward separate areas.

…

In the room, Juin saw a lot of interesting things that lay on display, minus the display boxes. They appeared to be ready for display. Juin took out the camera that the boys gave him and quickly took a few shots. When he was about to take a photo of a sword in the room, he thought he saw the sword tremble.

Juin took a step back, and he narrowed his eyes as he looked at the sword. The sword appeared to be a simple metal sword, with a black and red handle and some strands that seemed to be leftover from a tassel.

“It’s just my imagination, it’s just my imagination,” Juin convinced himself as he took a step forward. He then read the small plaque that was next to the sword.

[The Sword of the Daemon King. It was rumored that Kʼinich Janaab Pakal I, the then 12-year-old ruler of Palenque, found a wordless book that contained a spell that allowed him to summon a demon. It was believed that the young king wanted power, and thus, he used the spell. There was no proof that a demon existed, but it was said that the young ruler’s personality changed drastically in the next few years. This sword, along with the wordless book, was found in the young king’s grave.]

“A book?” Juin looked around, and when he saw an old, leather-bound book, he walked to it.

[The Book of the Daemon. A book with empty pages, but it was believed that K’inich Janaab Pakal I saw something in this book.]

Juin reached out and touched the cover of the book. Upon the first contact, he felt a strange feeling coursing through him.

“Fate… Fate… Fate…”

A voice seemed to sound out in his mind, and Juin turned the book. The page was empty, and he flipped a few more pages, but every page was empty.

“I wonder what the young king saw…” Juin thought to himself as he walked back to the sword. The old sword was gleaming under the light, and it looked so shiny that Juin could not help but reach out and caress it. He started from the hilt, and the moment he touched the hilt, he swore he heard a voice in his head saying, “Mine. Mine. Mine.”

Juin shook his head violently to get rid of the voice.

CLAAAPPP!!!

The loud thunder from outside startled him, and he moved his hand that was on the hilt.

“Ouch!”

By accident, he cut himself in the palm.

“Argh…” Juin cried out as he held his palm. Even though the wound was small, it felt as if it was a very deep cut. “Argh!” he yelled out when he felt an unbearable pain coursing through his body at an unimaginable rate.

He looked at his palm, which was completely covered by his blood.

“Mine. Mine. Mine.”

The voice in his head repeated over and over again.

“Shut up!” Juin yelled as he stumbled away from the sword, hoping that the voice would stop. He tripped over an exhibit and would have fallen to the ground if he did not brace himself by holding onto something.

When he looked at what he was touching, it was the book. Or rather, it was one of the empty pages, which was now stained with his blood.

Juin looked at the blood-stained page, and his eyes widened in shock. He thought he might be crazy, but… his blood that was on the page moved around until a symbol that was formed by his blood appeared on the book.

“Fate brought you to me…”

A voice appeared around Juin, and he looked around, terrified. And as he was doing so, he knocked over the book, causing it to fall to the ground, cover up.

Juin stared at the book while blood continued to drip out from his palm at an alarming rate. When he realized what was going on, he tried to stop the blood flow. It was then that he realized something was wrong. The blood that flowed out of him onto the ground had now formed a pattern with him in the middle.

He had seen this pattern before. He had just learnt about it earlier. This seemed like the symbol that was used to call for the devil… However, there was something different about it. Juin looked at the book on the ground, and he realized that the symbol he saw on the book had somehow mixed with the symbol that was supposedly used to call the devil, creating an intricate pattern that contained multiple… scribbles, and these scribbles seemed to be changing constantly while emitting a soft, red light.

And for some reason, Juin could understand the scribbles.

“When someone offers his innocence to the great demon lord, the demon lord would provide his strength in return. A pact, once made, will never be broken. Till death do them apart.”

Juin frowned.

The soft, red light suddenly turned into an ominous looking bright, red light… Blood-red light.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

The thunderstorm outside was getting worse, and what was weird was that the sounds seemed to appear right next to Juin’s ears.

Juin was so startled by it that he fell where he was standing.

“Ouch…”

When he looked up, there were all sorts of images… Images of him being bullied by people all his life. From being abandoned at the orphanage, to getting his a*s kicked by both girls and boys, from being insulted by those who should have helped him, to failing in everything he did…

Everything he was looking at made his blood boil in rage, and suddenly, he could hear a voice asking, “Do you seek for strength? Or do you want to live like now for the rest of your life?”