Normal was now a word for others to use. But those people don’t know the truth. The truth of what was really out there. Rubi knew that now. Normal was not something that happened to her family, they were eaten by monsters. But these monsters looked just like her family, Rubi watched as their skin changed into her family members, and then, as their jaws became unhinged, then they devoured her entire family. She was overcome with sadness, her family was dead. Although, she was lucky enough to have seen from outside and not be eaten herself. She ran, and that’s how now on the 20th of November, 2017, Rubi was now on the run from these horrific creatures. But she was also now homeless, with no food to calm her already grumbling stomach. There was no other option. She had to rummage through garbage at the local Burger King.

Rubi also knew since these monsters could be anyone, that she better stay away from all other humans. But how could this be possible? She thought while hiding in a wooded area she found after about five minutes of running. At that time contemplating her sanity didn’t seem like a bad thing. Rubi wondered what those things even were. But then she spotted a paper under blood covered leaves that changed everything. It gave her the answers she was looking for. It described shape shifting monsters just like she saw at her house up the hill on M66. Apparently they were called Leviathans. For a brief moment Rubi thought it reminded her of something off a TV show. As she read the paper she noticed it said they couldn’t be killed. Only if she got rid of the leader could she get rid of the rest. Unfortunately, it didn’t say how, because it looked like that part of the page was torn off. It was almost like a warning. But on a more interesting note for her, these creatures were also descendants of snakes. Obviously they were more than that.

Rubi was lucky she was wearing her overly large hoodie, because it masked her identity, and blended in well with the dark wood. She noticed what looked like a campsite, it was abandoned. But fit with sleeping bags and a plain white blanket on the ground, keeping the sleeping bags from getting too many bugs on them. Rubi decided it was a good idea to mark the edges of camp, and while doing so, she noticed more blood splatter near her new sleeping area. It stained the leaves like paint can stain a paper. Being cautious, Rubi took the blanket and one of the sleeping bags elsewhere. She took them farther back into the wooded area, but made sure she could find them by making a rock pile in the shape of a bow and arrow, pointing in the direction of her small camp. Rubi made sure there was an easy way to get to a food supply by being a walking distance away from Burger King, the only restaurant in town she knew, which was rather unfortunate. If only she knew a nearby food supply for homeless people. Once she had gotten her small camp fortified, Rubi decided it was time for a walk. While walking to a path, she stepped on something solid. She looked down, and under a bunch of leaves, she saw a handle. Rubi picked it up, and immediately she knew it would be useful. It was a rusty scythe, very rusty indeed. But it was still a scythe, and Rubi made a guess it was made out of cold iron, which was pure iron. Now all she needed was a bag to put it in. She liked storing things in backpacks at home, but now it seemed she’d never see her favorite belongings again.

It wasn’t like it really mattered, although Rubi did have a nice life with her family. But after of about 15 years of life, she had never been friends with anyone. No matter how many times she helped someone back at school, she always went unnoticed. Which was probably a good thing, since those creatures can be someone else, and have their thoughts and memories. Rubi did have her problems though, sometimes they hurt. But none of it matters now, she’s on the run from something no one ever thought possible. She couldn’t believe this all started when two police men came to the house when she was out back, looking for something she dropped. Rubi probably should have payed attention to the fact there where a bunch of peculiar people watching and smiling at the two police officers as they asked to come inside.

It was incredible how much luck Rubi had, not being noticed by those people as she had peered through a small hole in the fence. It was like something heavenly was protecting her this whole time. But the thirst and hunger was getting to her. Rubi had to eat something. Thankfully when she had reached Burger King, there was a bag of food, and it looked like only one burger was eaten. The one that was left was her favorite. The chicken sandwich. She snagged the sandwich, wrapping it back up, and put it in one of her inside pockets of her jacket. Rubi even took the overly salty fries, and put them in the other pocket. But she still had another problem to solve. A backpack of some sort to keep the scythe in. She also had to make sure she had easy access to it.

Looking around the corner of the building, Rubi spotted a familiar face across the street. It was her fake mother. Rubi quickly pulled her head back around before the creature could spot her. She had a straight shot into some trees to disappear, so she ran for it. It worked too, just as the Leviathan had gone into the building, Rubi was well on her way back to her makeshift campsite, and safety. But she decided to take a detour back to where the other sleeping bag was, just to see if there was something else she might need. Rubi even checked the sleeping bag itself, and to her amazement, it wasn’t a sleeping bag at all. The bag it was in labeled it as a sleeping bag, but it was a modified one, straps added to the child sized bag. It was what she was looking for this whole time, a backpack to put supplies in. Like her new scythe. The odd thing was the bag had stitchings in it. It was in the form of a star, with circles at each point. Rubi was getting ready to put her scythe in the bag when she heard the rustle of leaves, and the cracking of thin twigs behind her.
She turned around, and was now face to face with her little sister. Well, not the real one anyways. She closed her eyes and swung as hard as she could with her scythe. She heard a thud as she heard something hit the ground. She opened her eyes. Then the body fell too, but the thud of the body sounded like it hit a wood door. Turned out it did. It was a giant box, two to be exact, and next to them, a more solid iron door. Of which all of these were covered with leaves and sticks, making them impossible to find. So, Rubi put the head in one box, and the body in another. Just to make sure the two wouldn’t join back together.

She decided to open the iron door too. It wasn’t even rusted in the slightest. She opened the very squeaky door to find a dark staircase. She looked on the inside of the door. That odd star again. So, Rubi being even more curious, went down the staircase and found a switch. She flipped it, heard machines whirring to life, and lights clicking on. It was the most beautiful place she had ever seen. Sure, not used in what looked like ten years, but still very functional. Rubi was wondering if she had just found the Batcave. Well, it was her Batcave now. She noticed there were different rooms, bedrooms and such. But one huge problem. Still no food. That means she would have to go to the surface every single day for food. Which means those Leviathans still had a shot at killing her too, and no one ever knowing about the threat among them.

She now knew how much more important it was for her to survive. Walking around the main room, she stumbled across a key. Rubi went to check the door, the key worked. At least now she knew she was somewhat safe. She returned to the surface after eating her food. Scythe in hand now, she marked her new bunker with her odd, yet unique patterns of rocks. She even placed a stick in the ground. Then she went for a walk back to Burger King to find food scraps. Opening the dumpster, she was in luck yet again, for there was a half eaten whopper in a bag, along with another one. Oddly enough however, there was a note saying that the food sucked. Picky eaters was exactly what Rubi was thinking. She opened her bag, put the food in, and started looking some more. It was almost a shame for Rubi to see all the money people were throwing away. Metaphorically and literally. She found ten dollars in one bag, ones here and there, and most of all pennies.

It wasn’t long before Rubi had enough money to buy a small army of cheezeburgers. So she did, and left the complex with a full bag. But another problem remained, that she entirely forgot about, water. Rubi looked to her left, and there on the curb, an unopened water bottle. Now she was just a tiny bit scared. There was no way she could have this much luck without something bad happening. Surely it was a tempting trap? She kneeled down, and slowly picked up the water bottle. She turned around, surveying the area. She saw a man on the bridge, looking at her. His face emotionless, as far as she could tell anyway. He was wearing a grey collared shirt. Rubi looked away quickly, but couldn’t help but look back. But, it was as if he disappeared into thin air. She decided it was time to walk back. Another problem arose, she was being followed. Rubi could hear the footsteps coming nearer. She looked back just enough, so they wouldn’t notice her face, but saw theirs. It was her ‘mom’ again. Rubi picked up her pace and went into the wooded area, getting her scythe ready. She hid behind a tree, the footsteps getting closer. Rubi came out from behind the tree, making eye contact with the abomination. It pulled its head back, the jaw became unhinged just like a snake, knife sharp teeth, and even a snake like tongue became visible. Ok, so now she could tell how they were descendants  of snakes.

Again, she swung with all her might. She could feel her short hair flow in the wind while turning her head away. Nothing happened, no thud. She looked up and saw a cut on the neck of the creature. Then, with no warning, the head slowly slid off. But the body still stood. The arms quickly outstretched, and the body of the Leviathan ran forward. Rubi dove to the left, missing it by centimeters, and hitting the ground with a crack. She popped her wrist, luckily. But as for the body, it had fallen over, and remained stationary. The head twitched. Rubi shivered with terror as the head was more attracted to the body, tentacle like limbs coming out of the neck. It slowly crawled towards the body. Rubi swung down on the head, stabbing the scythe through the forehead. She threw the head as far away as she could, turned around, and ran. She quickly ran into the bunker, and locked the door. Shaking, she went down into the bathroom, and looked in the mirror.

Her face was so dirty, even her hair had dirt, and leaves in it. Rubi looked into the mirror, observing her silver eyes. She fell into deep thought. What had she become? She wondered, but knew she was a target, defending herself. But one creepy thing was true. Only one Leviathan was sent at a time, why not a whole group? If she was really was a threat, their leader should come after her. Rubi went back up, and sat next to the door. She heard the wood creak of a door, and something stepping out of the coffin like box on the surface. Great, now the Leviathan posing as her sister was back most likely.

“It’s true, the one you decapitated earlier is back,” Said a emotionless male voice. Rubi ran down the stairs into her new living room. It was the man from the bridge.

“Who are you?” Rubi asked, wanting answers. Better question, how’d he even get in here? Why is he here?

“My name is Cassiel, you may not believe this, but… I’m an Archangel. The Archangel of luck to be exact. I’ve been watching over you, for you have been chosen to be a savior of this world. We would have done all of this ourselves, but it’s not our place to do so.”

  Everything was now explained, the luck included. But how could he be an Archangel? He seemed nice, with his bright blue eyes. He may be emotionless, but still, he was giving off a sense of something pure.

“Prove you’re an Archangel, and maybe I’ll listen to you, instead of chopping off your head,” Rubi was becoming slightly impatient, and scared.

“Alright, if you insist. But I warn you, you may or may not go insane if you see the actual form of my wings,” Cassiel said in a cold voice. His eyes began glow. Two lights in the shape of wings appeared behind Cassiel. Everything then returned back to normal, “I’ll be in touch,” Cassiel said in a more confident voice. Then he just faded away, as if he were never there. Rubi felt a fury like no other. If he had been watching her, and those Leviathans, then why didn’t he save her family? This was the most stupid thing she had ever had happen. She decided to walk down the hallway behind the stairs and cool off.

Turned out, it was a better idea than she thought. She found an armory. But sadly the only good weapon in there was only another cold iron scythe, that was in better condition than the one she had right then. She traded out the old rust scythe for the newer one. The handle was good, the blade didn’t rattle when she shook it. Rubi looked closer at the wall it was just hanging on. There was a split down the middle. She looked left, and then right. There were hinges. Which meant secret door.

Rubi found a lever and pulled it. Two handles popped out of the doors. She opened them, inside, another room was there, but at the end there was something unusual. It was circular, consisting of eight panels, each with a single blue crystal. The machine was definitely attached to the wall, and partially into the ground, like someone was supposed to walk through. She looked around more. There were statues, like guardians to the odd machine, just about everywhere. But there was something odd, the more she looked around at them, the more it seemed they were starting to look at her.

She backed out slowly, noticing the statues were slowly coming to life. Her heart began to beat faster, and the statues started glowing with a black light. She could hear their stone bodies start to scrape, and crack, while walking towards her. They picked up speed, and Rubi broke into a sprint.

She slammed the hallway doors shut, but they just kicked through. She took the scythe and hit one of their now animated heads off. A blue stream of light came out of it, it had a disfigured person in it. The light went up and through the ceiling, making a splash as it did so. Ok, so ghosts were real too. What next,aliens dressed as fairies? Rubi hacked at the rest of them until she reached the final one. It had blue flames coming off of it. Rubi swung at it as hard as she possible could, destroying the no longer stone statue. But when this spirit was released, it went back to her new storage room. It was quite odd.

She decided to go back, and what she saw was beyond explanation. The spirit wasn’t what it was at all, it had brought the old machine back to life. A small ring of bright white light now connected all the crystals, and the whole thing was humming. Rubi got closer, and a vortex of light opened, more light pouring into it. Ok, maybe she should investigate this possibly another week, preferably not when immortal creatures were after her.

She went to the bunker door, thinking she might look for more unwanted intruders. When Rubi was finished closing the door, she felt a piercing pain of something cylindrical go through her, and heard the crack of it going through her. It was horrible, she could feel herself slipping as she looked down at a rod covered in blood. It was hers, the rod was still in. She painfully looked behind herself. Leviathans, with smug looks on their faces. The biggest one, who had taken the form of her dad, got itself ready to eat. Its huge mouth came down upon Rubi, and then there was nothing but darkness.

“Hello, Rubi,” an emotionless voice said. It was Cassiel again. Rubi looked down at her body, it was completely fine. Not even a hole in her shirt. But where was she? Rubi wanted answers as to what was going on.

“Cassiel, where am I? What happened to me? Wait, I was eaten by a Leviathan, I should be dead!” She was freaking out now, she was in a dark place, nothing around, literally.

“Well, you are. But not for long. Listen, I need you to use that rod on the Leviathan posed as your father. A weapon with the blood of the savior on it can get rid of the leader Leviathan, causing the rest to die.” Cassiel seemed like what he was saying made the difference between life and death. Well, it did for Rubi. “Rubi, you need to go now, this place, I don’t know how much longer it can keep us here. But just know, when you’re reborn, you will be fit for you to summon me, in case you need assistance.” With a snap of his fingers, Rubi woke up in her bed, which was in the bunker. The rod, covered with her blood lay next to her, and the alarm clock on the nightstand playing Back In Time. She checked the date, it was January 24th, 2018 somehow.

Rubi knew what she had to do, and it made her feel so full of energy, strong enough to do what needed to be done. Her stomach growled, and she noticed she needed food and water. She went to the bathroom. Does the water still work here? She thought. Rubi turned the faucet water on, nothing. She wasn’t impressed. But then it turned on. She took handfuls of water, drinking it like she hadn’t had water in weeks. Which actually turned out to be only day or two. She had a cheeseburger afterwards.

She put the rod in her bag, and picked up the scythe. This was it, the biggest monster smackdown of the century. She headed up the stairs, scared out of her wits, yet determined to end this. She pushed the door open as hard as she could, knocking out one of the Leviathans standing next to it. She brought the scythe down hard, the head fell right off, and she kicked it as hard as possible, sending it flying. It exploded on one of the trees, sending green goop everywhere. Other Leviathans showed up. That was disappointing, the only one that wasn’t a clean cut.

“Come get some.” Rubi smiled. Each one of the creatures slowly smiled too, and then attacked. Rubi elbowed one in the chin, sending it back just before she chopped the head off. She quickly threw the body at another Leviathan, who was her older sister, delaying that one. The Leviathan who was her younger sister lunged. Rubi quickly pulled the rod out, and swung it against its head, breaking the neck. She used the scythe on that one too, and threw the head away. Rubi then swung her body around with the scythe, taking care of the older sister Leviathan that just crept up behind her. “Piece of cake,” laughed Rubi. But she was cuffed from behind.

“Yeah, we’ll see how this goes for you,” the person from behind her said. She looked behind her. Great, it was one of the police officers from her house. The Leviathans put themselves back together, some came up and kicked her, and punched her in the stomach. She coughed up a little blood. The officer Leviathan spoke, “Time for you to meet the boss. He wants to have a showdown with you.”

Perfect, a chance to meet the one thing that could end this. But she didn’t stand a chance now, she thought she may as well give up. After all, it was give it her all, or die again. So she let herself be dragged off to wherever they were going. They were headed towards Burger King. She looked at the ground as they approached the door, the ground was stained with blood. Looking inside through the windows, there was large amounts of blood. The Leviathans shoved her through the doors and left, locking the doors behind them. She looked in the middle of the room, the Leviathan version of her father sitting at a table.

“Well, look who made it to the party. I made my brethren let you keep your things. For one last fight,” he said in her father’s usual british accent. He had a smug look on his face.

“I’m going to end you,” threatened Rubi.

“You really think so?” He laughed. He stood up, smiling. Putting his hands in his pockets, he continued, “You know how good your father was at throwing knives? Well, I do. Quite honestly, I think I’ll end you before you can lay a finger on me. I ate your father, Richard, myself, he was quite the smart one, loving as well. I think I’ll adopt his name. One last fun fact, you can’t win this one, because I always win.”

He took his right hand out of his pocket, throwing a knife. Rubi tilted her head just in time, it missed. Richard’s eyes got bigger, he was in shock of what just happened. Rubi picked up the rod stained with her blood, holding it like a baseball bat, ready to swing.

“Good show, I missed once, won’t happen again. Wait, what’s that thing you got?” He asked. He smelled the air and continued, “That’s your blood on it, how are you still alive? You’ve got to be kidding me! Oh. You’re her, the one those twisted angels call the savior. You know what? I’m just not going to play any more games with you. Now I’ll kill you. Goodbye.”

He picked up something from behind a seat, it was a sword. He swung it at her, but she leaped out of the way, hearing a ching as it hit a table top. She looked, it got stuck. Richard was frantically trying to get it out. Rubi swung at him, hitting his back hard. He cried out in pain and tore the sword out of the woodwork. He looked at her, his eyes now had tiny little red dots in his eyes, with nothing but blackness surrounding them. Smoke came off his back where she had struck, a slight sizzle could be heard. He charged at her, with an impossible speed, sword in hand. Rubi put the rod up to block the attack, he bounced right off, sword peeling from his hands.

She looked at the sword that had fallen beside her. It was her excalibur sword. All of the sudden her side hurt tremendously. A knife had entered her side, she looked at Richard, he was smiling. She fell to her knees, no longer able to stand. She took it out, crying out in pain. The knife had gone in deep. The Leviathan got up and walked over to her. He got ready to eat his prey, but choked, stopping instantly. His eyes returned to normal, thick green blood coming out of his mouth. He looked down, Rubi had shoved the rod right through his stomach. Richard fell over backwards, the monster starting to decay instantly. She looked outside, the same thing was happening to the other Leviathans. They all shriveled up like dead plants, turning to dust. All of them, except Richard.

“You thought it would be that easy, you only made me a mortal!” He screamed.

He lunged at the shocked Rubi, but she ducked, sending him through a window. The sound of glass shattering filled the air. The perimeter of the monsters now black eyes glowed with a purple light. He looked almost finished. But he got up and broke off a chunk of glass from the window. He threw it at her, it cut her arm. She fell the rest of the way to the floor, but she did so next to one of the knives. Richard went over to her, he snatched her up by the shirt. He smiled as if he had won, but it quickly faded away as he felt a puncture, and life fading from him. He looked down, Rubi had stabbed the knife right into his heart. The Leviathan fell to the floor, letting her go. He started breathing heavily. Finally, he exploded into millions of black dust particles.

It was finally over with, Rubi had a few injuries, but it was a small price to pay when she looked at the bigger picture. She just saved the world after all. She limped back to the bunker, knowing she still had one more task to complete. The one most curious thing she wondered about this whole time. She entered the armory room, and went back to the machine. It was operational, fully stable too it seemed. She walked through the light, on the other side was a street. Still in Ionia she could tell. But why here? She saw someone, looking right at her. He had dark hair, bright blue eyes. He was neatly dressed, and had a cup of coffee with him.

“Oh my word it’s you,” he said stunned, “I saw you at what was left of Burger King, I thought of helping you, I’m a… Umm, you don’t need to know yet. I’m Newt by the way. Oh my you’re hurt, here, let me fix that.”

“Okay, but how?” Rubi asked, curiously.

Newt smiled, he pulled out a sanded down stick and pressed it to her. It instantly healed her. Her new friend could come in very handy in the future. Maybe this was meant to happen somehow? The only thing she knew was that there were still many questions to be answered, and she couldn’t answer them alone. Not even with her level of intelligence. Not wanting to speak, she waved Newt over to the portal. He patted her on the back and the two jumped through, landing back in the bunker.

“I’m sorry, what’s your name?” Newt asked.

“Rubi,” she replied.

“Well, Rubi, this place needs some serious cleaning up if we’re going to be working together in the future. I mean, that is what you want, right?”

Suddenly, all the puzzle pieces she gathered fit together. There wasn’t supposed to be an end to her help, not now. It was clear to her that this was the beginning. The beginning of a brand new life, and a brand new adventure. There would be things she enjoyed, and things that would be difficult for her. Which meant there will be more than one threat in her lifetime. But with Newt, she was sure they would be there to stop the next disaster.