"Hey bookworm." Lucy looked up as Janet plopped some library books beside her and took a seat. "Watcha reading this time?" The two windians had headed to the library after band practice. Janet needed to get a hold of a few books for some of her classes, and Lucy apparently was interested in finding a book that she wanted to read. It hadn't been more then five minutes of the two arriving at the library that Lucy snatched up a book from the shelf, headed over to a table, and promptly immersed herself into the text. Forty minutes later, and she was still lost in the book as Janet stepped up to her, carrying her own load of study material. As the brown-haired windian took a seat next to her friend, she looked over at the book in Lucy's hands to peek at the title.

"Windian Mythology Dictionary? Why does that sound familiar..."

"Probably because I've read to you some of it before." Lucy flipped the page she had just finished and continued to read. Janet furrowed her brow for a moment and then let out a groan.

"Oh wait... isn't that the book with all of those demons in it?"

"The very same." Lucy continued to read as Janet's words filtered through her ears. Janet clicked her tongue and shook her head, leaning over to get a better look at the book.

"So why so interested in demons all of the sudden? They never were your hobby in the first place..."

"Well," Lucy continued to read down the page, her voice was slipping into its monotone state due to old habit, but neither she nor Janet seemed to notice. "I don't know, I guess after having some first hand experience with these things, I've become more interested in learning about them. I mean look, there's a whole book on the subject," Lucy thumbed through a couple of pages before flipping back over to the one she was currently reading. "These things used to be old stories and myths. It occurs to be that there may have never been actual demons like these until Ravyn created them. After all, half of the time myths are just that... stories created to try and explain something that no one can seem to understand. Very rarely is there ever much truth behind them."

"Well," Janet considered her friend for a moment, "isn't it kind of weird though, that the demons we ran across were almost identical to the ones mentioned in this book, but you say these were just myths and never real?"

"Well think about it." Lucy looked up from her reading and turned to Janet. Her face as well had taken on the expressionless look that it used to so often slip into. Neither of the windians noticed however, and continued to talk about the subject at hand. "What did that demon say her name was? Ravyn the Creator? She talked about the creatures we had gone up against like they were things she had made, so it only makes sense then that they would be exactly like these myths I'm reading about."

Janet gave Lucy a confused look. "I'm not following you..."

"Well look," Lucy motioned to the book again. "Ravyn created those demons we fought, right? Say she used these myths and things as her guidlines. I mean, there are some pretty creepy things in here, some pretty affective demons. The shadows that we fought, those are mentioned in here. The shens, the Red Bird, the Nightmare, all of it is mentioned somewhere in this book, and the demons that we fought off seemed to be almost identical to these myths. Ravyn probably used the myths as an outline for her own creations, so of course the demons that we fought were going to be identical to these myths that I'm reading about."

"Oh, I get it." Janet looked thoughtful for a moment. "These myths were created a long time ago, and passed down through the years, but it doesn't mean that they were baised off of actual demons. There may have never been a real shen demon, a real Nightmare, a real Red Bird, they were just stories that were thought up and told through the generations. Then Ravyn came along, and decided to make living versions of those stories."

"If you want to say that." Lucy chuckled lightly, the monotone and expressionless mask about her seemed to shatter and fade with the quiet sound of her laughter, and still neither of the girls noticed.

"So, found out anything interesting while you've been reading?" Janet went back to skimming over the book in honest curiousity. Lucy nodded.

"Actually, yes. One of the first things covered in this book happens to be the difference between demons and monsters." Lucy glanced over at her friend and giggled to herself as she noticed Janet's expression turn puzzled.

"There's a difference?"

"According to this there is." The windian dog-eared the page that she was currently reading and flipped towards the beginning of the book. "Look, it says here, 'There are many notable differences between monsters and demons that appear in different writings and in different stories passed down throughout the times. One of the most obvious differences between monsters and demons, is that monsters are real, while only a very small group of demons has ever been noted in all of the history of Torana.

"'Notable demons would be creatures like the demon Deathevn, or Barubary. Both are demons that appeared during the Second Destined Cycle. Their rise triggered the rising of a few other large demons, thinks like the Kuwadora, or the Necroman. These two demons, a long with a handful of others, were demons that grew inside their corrupted hosts during the time that Deathevn was rising to power. The Second Destined Cycle was the most notable time in history for the appearance of true demons. Since then, there have not been many true demon sightings in Torana.

"'Monsters are very often referred to as being types of demons, however they are hardly related. Monsters are very simply creatures that currently thrive in Torana. They are everywhere. They range in shapes and sizes, everything from the fish in the waters to the birds in the air to the creatures that walk the land. The only thing that makes a monster a monster, is when it has become corrupted by the force of a rising demon. Every creature, plant, and animal that exists in Torana has within itself a force that is closely in tune with the forces that run through Torana. When a powerful demon, like Deathevn arises, then the forces that run through the world of Torana are disrupted and shifted by the sudden demonic presence, and therefore creatures in the world of Torana may also be affected by the forces shifting within themselves. These shifts may cause an animal or a plant or even a person to begin to change slightly in appearance and in behavior, making them more aggressive, larger, and wilder. Monsters have always appeared during the different Destined Cycles, when the force that runs through Torana has been disturbed by either the rising of a large demon, or by the coming of a god or a goddess to the world. Just as well, monsters always subside when the demon or deity has left, and the force is allowed to return to its normal, unbothered state.'" Lucy looked over at Janet who was just staring at the book.

"Wow..." Janet shook her head. "That was a mouthfull." Lucy just chuckled.

"Did you understand any of it?"

Janet shook her head, causing the raven haired windian to laugh again. "Basically what it says is that monsters aren't really monsters, they're just creatures on Torana that are affected when demons appear."

"Well why can't it just say that?" Janet rolled her eyes. "What you said makes sense. What the book says just confuses me."

"It's a text book." Lucy giggled. "I think it's supposed to confuse people."

Janet just shook her head again. "Right, so what else does it say anyway? Monsters already live in Torana?"

"Yea." Lucy nodded. "Think about it. We've got creatures like the Biruburu, an almost completely tame wild boar-like animal. We raise them on farms, breed them for livestock, things like that. But, during the First and Second Destined Cycles, the biruburu were largely affected by the demons that appeared, so they were changed, turned into monsters. When the demons left, they went back to being normal."

"I guess so." Janet brushed a few strands of her brown hair behind an ear. "So keep going, what's it say about demons?"

"Demons...." Lucy leafed through a few pages in the book. "Heh... the books says right here, that 'demons simply do not exist in Torana.'" Lucy grinned and looked up at the confused expression that was suddenly on Janet's face.

"Wait..." Janet shook her head. "Wait a second, wasn't it just talking about demons rising, and now it says they don't exist?"

Lucy did her best to hold back another giggle. "I know, that caught me off guard too. But then it goes on to explain. 'Demons do not exist on Torana, nor do they ever really visit this world. The world of demons is actually a different plane of conciousness, much like people view Heaven and Hell. It is a plain that is seperate from the world of the living, and is refered to as the Other Side. Not much is really known about the Other Side since there is no physical way of studying it, but it is believed that it is the dimension where demons live.' That's all it really says about that. It says that sometimes things happen, things called rifts open up between the realm of demons and the realm of the living, and through these rifts, demons are able to appear in Torana and try to grow to power."

"So actually what that's saying is that demons come from a totally different realm?"

Lucy nodded. "Look... it's like this... we live on Torana. This is the realm of the living. Then there is heaven and hell, two other realms that are parallel to us, but exist on different plains of the conscious, so we can't exactly access them. Then there is the realm of the demons, the Other Side which also exists parallel to us, but is unaccessable. Together, these four different realms make up the reality that we live in."

"That is a weird thought." Janet blinked in wonder. "But, if the Other Side is supposed to be unaccessable, how come demons end up appearing here?"

Lucy sighed. "Apparently the realm of the demons and the realm of the living are very very close in the way that they parallel. It's like a weird balance... as long as everything is running fine and smooth in Torana, and everything is running fine and smooth in the Other Side, then nothing will happen. However, if something happens in Torana, say... if a deity rises up, like with the Destined Cycles, or something weird happens in the Other Side, then there's an unevenness in the balance, and the two realms, being as close as they are, begin to affect each other. They kind of mix together... which allows stronger demons to move from the realm of demons to the realm of living."

Janet clicked her tongue as she thought about that for a moment. "So, what would happen if say, something really big happened either here in Torana, or in the Other Side, and the two realms completely mixed together?"

"If the two realms completely mixed?" Lucy paused for a moment, a thoughtful expression crossing her face. "Well... then the realms would cancel each other out, and both of them would cease to exist. They'd become the Void, simply nothing at all."

"Weird." Janet shuddered. "What a creepy thought. Alright though, enough about all the weird dimension stuff, tell me about the demons." The brown-haired windian peeked down at the book once more. Lucy chuckled.

"Alright alright. First of all, there's two main classifications of demons. Mortal, and immortal. Immortal demons are demons like Deathevn, or Ravyn. They appear on Torana, and then when they are 'killed' they simply go back to the Other Side and exist there. They can't really be gotten rid of, they'll always exist, just in different realms at different times. Mortal demons aren't like that. In fact, mortal demons can't exist in the Other Side, they can only exist in Torana. A mortal demon is a demon that is created in Torana, and then when it is destroyed, it becomes Void. It does not have a soul or any life force that then goes on to exist in another realm like immortal demons or people do. It just stops existing."

"Uh... okay? I think I see." Janet tucked a few more strands of her hair behind an ear and continued to gaze at the book. "So, people have souls, and when they die they go to heaven or to hell. Immortal demons just return to the Other Side when they are too weak to live in the living realm anymore, but mortal demons don't have anything like that, so when you kill them, they're just dead? That's it?"

Lucy nodded. "That's it. Mortal demons are things like zombies, uh...." Lucy shook her head. "Gents, those shens that we fought, those were all mortal demons. We destroyed them, and that's it. They won't ever come back unless someone goes and makes them again."

"Huh..." Janet looked thoughtful for a moment. "Alright, so what else does it say about demons then?"

"Um.... it says here 'in order for a demon to keep its strength, it must keep itself sustained, much like animals need water and food to keep themselves alive. Mortal demons who are unable to keep themselves sustained eventually grow weakened and in a way starve to death, too weak to even keep existing, and they die. Immortal demons who are unable to sustain themselves simply continue to grow weaker. Demons fall into four main categories, classified by what they require to keep themselves powerful. These categories are fear, belief, blood, and life force.

"'Demons require some sort of power to sustain themselves and keep themselves strong. There are different ways that demons may obtain this power, one of the most direct ways is that a demon may take the life force of a creature directly from that creature and feed it into the demon. Demons that fall under this category often prey on the younger who are more full of life force. Many myths about these demons have therefore risen up around diseases and people believing that illnesses were the demons way of draining the life force out of a person in order to feed itself.'" Lucy paused and looked up from the book. "Sound familiar?"

"Yea." Janet nodded. "It's like those shens, right? And what they were doing to the kids..."

Lucy nodded and continued to read. "'The demons that require belief to exist are a more rare case of demons, but are also a more real case. Unlike the demons known for draining people of their life forces, who only really appear in myths and have never actually been noted to exist in Torana, demons that thrive on belief are the most common type of demon. Deathevn is an example of this demon. Deathevn disguised itself as the great St. Eva and used the beliefs of the people to grow stronger. The gods and goddesses of Torana also work much in this way, they require the beliefs and recognition of the people to seem more powerful. Another type of demon, one that also appears mostly in myth and has never been recorded as an actual demon, is the type of demon that lives off of fear. These are the demons of an overactive imagination, when you're walking in the woods at night and you feel afraid for yourself, and your mind thinks up monsters and creatures around you. Many myths revolve around fear demons that plague people in their sleep, or at night, and these are the most common demons of childrens nightmares and stories. Basically, the boggieman under the bed demons.'"

Janet couldn't help but giggle. "Landon, that's almost funny. Sorry about interrupting, keep going." Lucy chuckled lightly and rolled her eyes before she continued to read.

"'The last type of demon is the blood type. These demons thrive off of the blood of living creatures. They are one of the hardest types of demons to sustain due to the fact that their blood lusts only grow stronger over time, and therefore they are very few. Not many myths revolve around these types of demons, but one of the best known stories about a blood demon is the story of the Ivory Panther, a ghost story about a large white cat that attacked people and animals and drained them of every drop of blood in their body.'"

Janet made a face. "Not a pretty mental image, don't you think? Landon, you're right, some of this is pretty interesting! Now I'm curious though... the demons that we ran across, what types do you think they are?"

"Well..." Lucy drummed her fingers on the book thoughtfully for a moment. "The shens, those were definitly life force demons. I'm willing to bet the Nightmare was too, since both of those demons were like diseases which slowly killed creatures. The shadows..." Lucy shrugged. "I don't know? What do you think?"

"Well," Janet chewed her lower lip for a moment. "Alright, the panther is obviously a blood demon, the book just told us that. Those shadows though.. I dunno, fear demons? I mean that's what they did best right? Scare the living daylights out of us?"

Lucy let out an uneasy chuckled. "I guess so. Hey, I wonder what kind of demon the Red Bird is?" The two windians exchanged glances and shrugged.

"Anyway," Janet turned her attention back to the book, "what's next? This is really interesting..."

"You want to borrow it?" Lucy chuckled lightly as Janet shook her head.

"Why? We can both just sit here and read it together, right? This is actually pretty fun." Janet grinned over at her friend. "Just sitting here talking about this."

"Actually it kind of is." Lucy scanned over the page, looking for something else to read. "Here's something. Demons creating other demons... 'It is a very rare thing for a demon to be able to create another demon. There are a few immortal demons out there with the power to create mortal demons, and sometimes other immortal demons.'" Lucy paused and looked up. "Ravyn the Creator, right? She made all of those demons.. some of them were mortal, some are immortal..." The raven-haired windian shrugged and went back to reading. "'However, it is possible for blood type demons to create something known as a staple.

"'Blood type demons are one of the hardest demons to sustain, however, some stronger blood type demons may create staples in order to easily sustain themselves without having to constantly hunt out the blood of living creatures. A staple is a creature that literally becomes a slave to its blood demon master. Staples are not demons themselves, although they do become immortal, and like demons, they are unaffected by things like aging and diseases which affect normal creatures. Blood demons may create staples by draining a portion of their own blood into the body of the creature they wish to make a staple, thereby binding the creature to that demon. Once a being has become a staple, it is no longer considered a creature of the living realm, yet at the same time it is not considered to be a demon. Staples do not experience the same need for sustinance that demons experience, and therefore do not need to feed off of others in order to survive. However, staples also have no power like a demon does. They exist simply to help sustain the blood demon that owns them. Since a staple is immortal, the blood demon may drain it entirely, and given time the staple will manage to recover and be able to once again by used by its demon master.'"

"Ugh, kind of like a replenishable food source." Janet made a disguisted face. "Alright... all of this talk about blood is really grossing me out... and I've got an all you can eat dinner tonight at the Tiger's Catch."

Lucy gave her friend a curious look. "Excuse me?" Janet just chuckled lightly.

"Don't ask. It has to do with Brad and Nate, and me helping Frank earlier today. Anyway, as fascinating as this all is, I really don't want to think about demons draining people of blood over and over again and..." Janet let out a little shudder. "Ew... yea... anyway... I think I'm done hearing about that book for a while. Besides, I've got this stack here I need to study." Janet motioned to the text that she had gathered from around the library. "I'm going to start reading up on these, but tell me if you run across anything really interesting."

"Alright." Lucy let out a little chuckle and flipped back over to the page she had dog-eared. The two windians sat quietly together in the library reading their respective texts.

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