His breathing completely stopped. His head felt as if it would explode.

“What’s wrong Daniel?” his inquisitive friend Lily asked. The two of them had been walking on a beach, looking for the perfect place to picnic when this happened. They had been planning this picnic for weeks.

“So why was I summoned?” Lily asked, emphasizing the word ‘summoned’.

“I thought we could go on a picnic,” Daniel teasingly hissed, sticking his tongue out towards her. She giggled and punched him on the arm. “Ouch, it hurts so much. I’m going to die,” Daniel said, not even attempting to hide the sarcasm in his voice. Then Daniel continued, “Let’s stop with the violence and get back on track. I was thinking of a moonlit picnic on the beach, if that suits you,”

“Why not?” Lily replied in between giggles. His eyes sparkled as he looked at her.

Daniel had always loved Lily and he knew she felt the same about him, but there was a problem… Daniel had a dark secret. He would lose his sanity at the worst times possible and be possessed by a demonic entity. This demon had only one goal and that was to kill.

Daniel had hoped that he would remain sane until the picnic was over. But now he could feel the demon growing ever stronger, while he grew weaker each passing second. He dropped the picnic basket and the blanket, and then fell to his knees. Lily asked again, with growing concern “What’s wrong Daniel?” and he looked up at her, half-smiling as the iris of his left eye went from its usual grey-white colour to a blood red colour.

“I’m okay,” he whispered moments before his body started convulsing. As his body was convulsing, the iris of his right eye started showing flecks of red in between the grey.

“Please run Lily,” he sobbed.

She didn’t move away but instead ripped the thin picnic blanket into four strips of cloth and tied him up while he lay there, whimpering. Then Lily glanced back just in time to see the last of the grey in the iris of his right eye disappear, being replaced by a red that was so intense it sent shivers down her spine. The whimpering had now been replaced by a menacing laughter which then rose to a high pitched scream. Lily worried about what Daniel might have already done in this state.

“So you’re Lily…” the demon chuckled, as though the statement was a joke. “Now I know why Daniel tried to resist me the way he did,” the demon plainly stated. “When I get loose I’m going to smash your skull in,”

He stared at her with blank, emotionless eyes, clearly enjoying the fear emanating from Lily. Yet she stared into those eyes, devoid of emotion.
“Try it,” she replied.
 
She took Daniel’s face, cupped it in her hands and continued to stare into the void that was Daniel’s eyes until not so long ago.

“Lam Rah Som Ohm,” she started chanting.

After repeating this chant several times, Daniel, or rather the demon, started screaming again. Lily got a glazed look in her eyes and her hands started shaking violently, yet it remained under Daniel’s chin as if it were glued there. There was complete silence for a few moments, only being broken by the waves softly crashing against the shore, then Lily screamed: “Lam Rah Som Ohm Demonica!” and both of them collapsed to the ground as they lost consciousness.

When Daniel regained consciousness, Lily had propped herself up against a rock and the sky was now pink. He came to the conclusion that it was now dawn. He looked at Lily and could immediately see that she was extremely weak, as if the life was slowly being drained from her, but she managed to smile feebly as he crawled and slid his way over the rough beach sand to where she was sitting.

“What happened Lily?” he choked as the cold morning air filled his lungs.

“I have to… tell you something,” was her reply as she closed her eyes and shivered. He was concerned and asked, “What do you want to tell me?”

“I… got rid of… that demon inside of you,” she replied in between sharp gulps for air.

“But how?” Daniel asked, puzzled.

“I’m an angel… I’m well versed in the magical arts,” she answered as her pace of breathing started rising rapidly.

“What did you do?” he asked, and she opened her eyes to reveal her iris’ blackening at an alarming rate. She calmed herself down before she replied.

“I absorbed the demon inside of you,” she said, trying to act brave, but Daniel could see that she was scared.

“What’s wrong with your eyes?” he blurted out, his concern growing as her eyes darkened.

“I’m dying,” she stated pointedly.

“I won’t let this happen! You saved me, now cut me loose so that I can save you,” Daniel choked, as he fought back a flood of tears welling up inside of him.

“It’s too late,” she said as she undid the makeshift ropes binding him.

As Daniel stood up he rubbed his chafed wrists, then he grabbed her and held her against him for what seemed like an eternity. He stopped fighting back the tears and cried, and she cried with him.

“I’ve always loved you Daniel,” she whispered softly when she had calmed down enough.

“I…” Daniel started, but he was at a loss of words.

Lily let go of him and he took a few steps back. Her body was now turning into ash and being blown away by the wind. Daniel turned around and bit his lower lip, trying to fight back more tears. When he had calmed down enough, he turned around but there was nothing left except for a pair of disembodied lips.

“Goodbye Daniel,” was all that he heard as Lily’s lips turned to ash and was blown away by the wind.