The house was ransacked, but empty.  The only area that hadn't been
touched was the corner where the trap door that concealed her hiding area
was located.  The concealing spell had managed to hold against the assault
of the soul bees.  Being a young girl in one of the few human villages in
Makai meant that having a place to hide from the more unsavory elements of
the demon realm was a necessity, especially when the ruler of their land
was Demitri Maximoff.

Cassandra tried to call out for her parents but her voice stuck in her
throat.  Quietly edging towards a window, she looked out at the village.
Even with the light available from the nearly full moon it was difficult
to make out anything but the roughest outlines of the other houses.  She
knew she was going to have to go outside and see what had happened to the
rest of her village, even if she was afraid of what she might find.

After sneaking from shadow to shadow to inspect the nearest houses,
Cassandra realized that there was nothing organic left in the village.
Every scrap of food, every blade of grass, the crops in the fields and the
livestock had been carried off by the soul bees.  That also meant that
every person in the village, including her parents, had been swallowed up
by the swarm.  Hiding behind a rain barrel, Cassandra did her best to
stifle her crying as she began to realize how much she had lost.  Is this
what Jedah was bringing to the world?

Up until two weeks ago, Cassandra hadn't really believed in Jedah.  She
had heard stories about the Dark Savior her whole life, but they had
always been cloaked in superstition, which was saying a lot for a mythical
realm like Makai.  The stories of Jedah said that he was an immortal being
who was going to return to Makai at some point to reshape and save the
realm.  But it seemed that Jedah was more of a figure designed to frighten
children than an actual menace.  Cassandra had heard the line "do your
chores or Jedah will come for you" several times when she was younger.
There was even a nursery rhyme that featured Jedah's return to Makai:

                "Before Jedah comes back one day,
                 there will be three signs that show the way.
                 The first will come to the top
                 the second will sweep the land,
                 and the third will tell of the
                 wonders of his hand."

But whether they were used to keep the beat of a children's game, retold
around a campfire or performed by traveling entertainers, the stories of
Jedah were always told with a sense of dread.  Jedah wasn't going to just
bring salvation to Makai, he was going to pass judgment as well.  The
stories made it seem as if even the most fearsome demons in Makai were a
bit afraid of Jedah.  Having spent her whole life surrounded by the
wonders and horrors of Makai, how could Cassandra believe in someone that
scared monsters?

That changed when Lilith came to Makai.  The rumor that Morrigan Aensland,
the new and untested leader of the Aensland house, had been possessed by
Lilith spread across the realm like wildfire.  If the story had spread to
commoners so quickly, it could only mean that the Aensland house, the
ruling family in Makai, was in total chaos.  It was even rumored that
Lilith was actually Jedah's herald, the first sign that he was returning
to the realm.  While the commoners wondered what would happen to Makai now
that the one house that had kept the realm from breaking into constant
warfare had imploded, the soul bees came.

Small colonies of soul bees had existed on the outskirts of Makai for
ages, but now masses of them were swarming into the heart of the demon
realm.  While the villagers had been preparing to fight off the oncoming
swarm, the village oracle declared that the bees were the second sign of
the return of Jedah and that the entire realm would soon be destroyed.
Cassandra hadn't believed the oracle at the time.  Not only had she had
been wrong more often than not, the oracle's prediction was just too awful
to believe.  While Cassandra now understood why the stories about Jedah
had been so menacing, they still hadn't prepared her for the wasteland she
found herself in.

Cassandra sat behind the rain barrel and quietly cried as she thought about
how she would never see her parents or anyone else she knew again.  While
thinking about the people in the village, Cassandra suddenly wondered if
Suzanne, the only other thirteen year old girl in the village, had been
put into her hiding space by her father like she had been.  After quickly
wiping her tears away, Cassandra ignored her own safety and dashed down the
dirt street to Suzanne's house.

Picking her way across the debris strewn floor, Cassandra made her way
back to where Suzanne's hiding spot was located.  The trap door had been
ripped out the wall and the door frame was singed from the burst of flame
that came with the collapse of the concealment spell that had cloaked the
hidden room.  The inside of the room had been ransacked as well; all the
dried rations had been carried off along with Suzanne.  Cassandra was
starting to worry that she was the only person who had lived through the
soul bees' attack. How was she going to make it on her own?

"Ah, nice to see that one of my peasants survived," a voice boomed out
as Demitri Maximoff materialized behind her.

Seeing Demitri, Cassandra screamed in fear and ran for the useless
protection of Suzanne's empty hiding area.  Demitri casually grabbed her
by the arm and smirked as he watched her frantically try to squirm out of
his grasp.  After a few seconds Demitri yanked the young girl towards him
and said "If you stop struggling girl, you'll live a bit longer."
Realizing she didn't have much choice, Cassandra limply allowed herself to
be led off by Demitri.

The vampire dragged Cassandra out of the house and threw her onto the dirt
street.  "It seems you might be the only person in the village that those
dammed soul bees didn't consume.  They even almost managed to raise my
castle; and here I had thought my underlings were competent enough not to
let themselves get killed by a mindless swarm."  Demitri cooly looked at
the damage that had been wrought as if the staggering loss of life was
just a minor inconvenience for him.

"I never thought I'd actually miss having Berial Aensland around but at
least that old king was able to deal with Jedah when he first went insane.
Then again," Demitri mused, "it seems that Berial was premature in
declaring that Jedah had been killed."

Cassandra, too exhausted from being constantly terrified to try to run,
sat and listened to Demitri.  She suspected that Demitri was looking for
any sort of audience, even a village girl.  She was also certain that
listening to Demitri was preferable to some of the other things that could
happen to her.

"I had been preparing to depose Morrigan from the throne that she
inherited but Jedah already disposed of her.  That's fine, since Jedah is
actually a more worthy opponent for a being of my power than Berial's
daughter could ever possibly be.  But when is he going to show himself?"
Demitri mused.  "If I could just face him, then I would finally show
everyone who is actually going to shape the future of Makai."

Cassandra almost said something, but caught herself.  Demitri, however,
noticed the flicker of hesitation on her face and turned his attention
back to her.

"What were you going to say?" he demanded.

Knowing that she was probably in more danger now than during the attack of
the soul bees, Cassandra whispered, "Is he waiting for the third sign?"

"That superstitious tripe?" Demitri cackled.  "I'm still amazed at what
the commoners can be duped into believing.  Jedah, that self-proclaimed
'Dark Savior', is nothing more than a zealot who believes his own lies.
Did he think an attack by a pack of mindless insects was going to destroy
me and disrupt my lands?  When I realized the bees were only interested in
me, I left my castle and headed to this backwoods part of my domain in
order to fend them off without losing anything important."

Demitri sneered when he saw the look of shock on Cassandra's face.  "Did
you think that Jedah would bother with the destruction of low born rabble
like your village?  Jedah is only interested in making sure the strong
cannot oppose him.  If he is victorious, the weak will follow him as they
do any ruler.

"If Jedah thought he could weaken me with these attacks, he was mistaken,"
Demitri continued, sweeping his cape aside to prove that he was unharmed.
"All it's done is strengthen my resolve to prove that everything in Makai
should be under my control.  After I destroy Jedah, I will finally
solidify my control of Makai.  Then I will be the one who decides who
lives, who dies, and who is simply used," Demitri said as he grabbed
Cassandra by the neck and jerked her to her feet.

"I must admit that I'm a bit parched after fending off those bees,"
Demitri said, his face twisted into an evil grin, "but I don't think I'll
drain you until the very end, otherwise there would hardly be anything
left of you to enjoy."  Cassandra tried to scream, but it only came out as
a choked gurgle.

Cassandra closed her eyes and waited for the worst.  After several seconds
of silence, she cautiously opened one eye.  While Demitri was still
holding her at arm's length, his attention was focused on an unremarkable
spot in the middle of the road.  He let out a low, feral growl as he
continued to seemingly stare at nothing.  The first thing that Cassandra
noticed was a quiet, shrill sound in the air that slowly began to grow
louder.  Demitri's growl turned into a snarl of rage when, with a blast of
freezing cold air and a pinprick of light, something began to materialize.

Now oblivious of Cassandra, Demitri watched as a tall, thin figure began
to form in the vortex of cold air and light.  The sound in the air had
grown louder and deeper, until it was now a booming chorus singing in a
language that was old when Makai was young.  Expanding his steel wings,
the figure shattered the thin cocoon of ice that he was encased in
leaving the figure floating in the air, his feet not deigning to touch the
ground.  Light radiated out from behind the figure, cloaking the features
of the figure in shadows except for his eyes.  Eyes that brimmed with
intelligence and disgust.  Eyes that were fixed on Demitri.

"Jedah..." Demitri said, sounding as if he were choking on the name.
Nervous, uncontrolled bursts of energy coursed through the vampire as he
stared at his nemesis, causing his body to flicker and transform.  Demitri
unconsciously tightened his grip on Cassandra's neck as his hands briefly
turned into taloned claws, causing his razor sharp nails to slice into the
young girl's neck before he dropped her back onto the ground.

Cassandra grabbed her mangled neck as she gasped for breath. Blood sprayed
out from between her fingers while her body began to shake as she broke
out in a cold sweat.  As her eyes began to blur, she watched as Demitri
shrieked something at Jedah but was drowned out by the thundering chorus.
Eschewing any sort of rational attack, Demitri charged madly into the
glowing nimbus of light.

When he reached Jedah, Demitri bit into the Dark Savior's shoulder.
Purple blood gurgled from the wound as Demitri greedily drank.  Jedah,
seemingly unconcerned, slowly pulled up one long, thin hand and easily
brushed Demitri away.  After taking a few faltering steps, Demitri
Maximoff fell to the ground and writhed in pain as the pure, immortal
blood of Jedah burned it's way back out of his body.

With the thundering sound of the inhuman chorus ringing in her ears and
her eyes filled with the radiance coming from the Dark Savior, Cassandra
let out one final, gurgling breath and closed her eyes.
 

Cassandra could dimly hear a voice calling out, as if she were a lifetime
away.  In a rush of clarity, the voice became more distinct.  "Hey,
Hsien-Ko, get over here, she's coming around!"

Blinking, Cassandra eyes slowly re-focused until she saw that she was
resting in the passenger seat of a stripped down automobile.  A girl
dressed in yellow was hovering over her.

"Uhh..."

"Shh, easy, don't try to move," the girl advised.  "The concealment spell
that was being used on your hiding place backfired and put you into a
really odd sleep spell.  You've probably been in suspended animation since
the time the soul bees attacked your village.  The disruption in the spell
was the only thing that let us find you, otherwise you'd probably still be
in there.  Needless to say, you're going to be a bit groggy for awhile.
Oh, my name is Mei-Ling by the way,"  she said as she gave Cassandra a
reassuring smile.  "My sister and I were hired by the interem government
to help clean up any fallout from that mess that happened in Makai last
week."

As Cassandra tried to work up the strength to ask a question, she heard
someone approaching.  Turning her head, Cassandra saw a young kuang-shi
walking up to the car she was laying in.  Behind the kuang-shi was
Cassandra's village which, in what passed for daylight in Makai, almost
looked peaceful.

"I checked out the rest of the village sis," the kuang-shi said, "and it's
clean.  It looks like the soul bees ran off with everything and everyone
that wasn't nailed down."

"Hsien-Ko!" Mei-Ling hissed as she jerked her head slightly toward
Cassandra.

"Oops, sorry.  Er, maybe we should get moving," Hsien-Ko said.  "If we
want to get her to someplace safe before nightfall, we'd better start
now."  Looking at the barely conscious Cassandra, Hsien-Ko added, "So I
guess this means I'm riding in back, eh?"

As the twins busied themselves with packing Hsien-Ko into the coffin that
was being towed behind the car, Mei-Ling explained what had happened in
Makai.  "It seems it wasn't the return of Jedah at all, but overpopulation
that drove the soul bees out of their natural habitat.  Plus, that
succubus that attacked the Aensland queen was actually her extra power
that had been drained off centuries earlier and had finally broken free of
the spell that had been holding it.  I doubt Morrigan's father thought the
power would gain it's own personality and come after her; it seems that
the late Berial Aensland's legacy of making a mess of things still holds
true even after he's moved on.  I also doubt he expected his actions were
going to help move Rikuo onto the throne of Makai."

Jedah hadn't returned?  Cassandra tried to speak, but it only came out as
a slight groan.

"I agree, I was surprised at the choice of one of the mer-people as well,"
replied Mei-Ling, misunderstanding what Cassandra was trying to say, "but
he really seems to of taken to the job quite well, or at least better than
Morrigan ever did. He was smart enough to hire my sister and I to help
clean out any nasties that may of gotten loose because of the bees, so
that's one point for him already."

"Since that would-be king Demitri was probably going to try and challenge
the Aensland house again," Mei-Ling continued as she double checked the
straps that held the coffin in place, "all this trouble is almost a
blessing in disguise.  I'm not saying what happened to your village is
good," Mei-Ling quickly added, "but when Demitri challenged Berial a
century ago it was a total bloodbath.  The only thing that finally stopped
that war was Jedah's attack."

Mei-Ling gave a quick wave to her sister as the coffin lid sealed itself.
Heading back to the car, Mei-Ling said, "We're going to take you to the
nearest refugee center, okay?  They'll be able to help you a lot better
than my sister and I can.  You might even be able to find some of the
people from your village there."  Mei-Ling tried to give her another
reassuring smile.

As Mei-Ling drove down the deserted dirt road and away from the only home
Cassandra had known, the young girl thought about everything that had
happened.  Had she only dreamt that she had not only encountered Demitri
but the legendary Jedah as well?  Having been found in her hiding place as
well as finding her neck was still intact pointed to the idea that it may
of only been a dream.  But while the evidence pointed to it being just a
dream, what she had experienced felt too real for her to believe that.

Had Jedah saved her and put her back in her hiding place?  If so, why?
Was she the third sign in the prophecy?  An idea began to form in
Cassandra's head -or perhaps she began to realize something that the Dark
Savior wanted her to know.  Jedah had just destroyed the two houses that
were threatening to tear Makai apart with a civil war.  If Makai was ever
in such danger again, she knew Jedah would return to restore order.  Until
Jedah truly did return to save Makai, he would continue watch over the
demon realm as it's eternal guardian.

Just as Jedah had been chosen to be the savior of Makai, Cassandra
realized she had been chosen to be his missionary to spread the truth
about Jedah's desire to save Makai from itself.  As she rode to the
refugee camp, Jedah's newest and youngest apostle thought about how
different her life was going to be.