"Why do we have to go to this godforsaken village, it's not even on most maps." I hear my second in command say. He is competent, albeit a bit whiny at times.

"It's our role as knights of Azael to help and maintain order. They activated their distress artifact so it must be serious." I respond matter of factly. It's pretty rare for them to be used as they only have one charge and are expensive. It also helps that any false alert means they won’t get it recharged. I look behind me and see about thirty knights riding calmly. I don't know if anyone is worried about the same thing as I. No one is showing it at least.

If the insects have begun another invasion of Azael, as I fear might be the case, we would be in dire straits. Relations with the Brudian Empire are more tense than usual, and the elves have been sighted more recently. A most worrying development. I just hope that if we are up against Khalex forces, some of us will make it out to get the word out.

I see Eric and Anabelle riding back towards us.

"Sir, we have spotted the village, we should be there before dusk." I nod and order them to lead the way, the roads here are barely visible. I ride up to Eric.

"So, how does it look?" I ask, trying to keep a level and neutral tone.

"It looks very bad sir, most of the village is burned down, but I spotted some survivors starting to rebuild somewhat."

"Any idea what might have happened?" I ask, honestly happy that there even are survivors.

"No sir, at least it doesn't seem to be the insects, they don't use fire, ever." A breath I didn't know I was holding comes out as I sigh in relief. That's good. So probably monsters or bandits. That we can handle.

"What would you guess happened?" I ask.

"Hmmm, probably bandits. But if that's the case they had to be at least a band of about twenty or more I'd say. The village did seem to have a palisade. Most of it is down now but I could spot some of it still standing." He answers, clearly thinking about it.

"We will know more once we arrive then. Let us not jump to conclusions."

After an uneventful ride through mud and barely used roads, we finally arrive. What greets us is worse than I thought. In the distance the number of burned wood is staggering. I'm not sure any of the houses were spared.

"Spread out, secure the village." I say with a commanding voice. A unified response of 'Yes sir' is heard. Small groups of four ride out to surround the village and search for any remaining bandits or monsters that might be lurking. The remaining larger group follows me into the village.

The village seems almost empty, and the few we see quickly hide as we approach. After a short while, a woman comes out followed by a few villagers. I dismount my horse and signals for the others to follow suit.

"Hello, my name is Sir Laforet, commander of this unit of knights. We were sent here to investigate what happened and help you in your time of need. The distress signal was used." I say and pause. "And I can see why." I finish while looking around.

Bowing clumsily the woman starts to speak but too quietly for me to hear. The groups of knights sent around to check for monsters and whatnot return, and dismount behind me.

"Sir the village is clear. No bandits seem to be hiding nor monsters lurking." One of them reports.

"Good." I reply.

Walking up to the woman, I put my hand on her shoulder.

"Do not worry, the knights are here now and you are safe." I say with a steadfast and confident voice. I feel her tremble beneath my touch and withdraw my hand. I repeat myself louder for all the villagers to hear and see most of them fidgeting nervously. Some seem relieved though. It's a start at least.

"Do you have a house we could use to talk about the events that occurred here?" I ask gently and see her look up at me. She points to one of the few houses that weren't burned down.

"We can use that one." Her voice is coarse like she screamed too much for too long. I nod and gently direct her forward.

"Are you the village leader?" I ask as we make our way.

"Not really, the village leader died. I'm just trying to organize things now I guess." She says in a low voice. I can feel that she is shaken and do not press her more.

We enter the small house and I take a look around. There is a small room with a table and basic furniture in the center, and a small space to make food behind it. I see another room, the bedroom if I had to guess, to the side, and that seems to be the whole house. Taking a seat at the table, I invite her to sit down with me. I gesture for Anabelle to take notes for the report.

"So, what happened here exactly?" I ask, trying not to be intimidating.

"I-I'm not sure, sir." She says meekly. Not sure? How could she not?

"Were you not present when the events happened?"

"I was sir." She says. I wait in silence for her to continue or elaborate. She doesn't. Irritation peaks its ugly nose at me, but I quickly stop that line of thought. She has been through something traumatizing, obviously, and it's not her fault. A knight has to be patient, and I have to be an example for the rest of the unit.

"You are safe now madam, try to calm down and start from the beginning." I try to reassure her. She stammers a bit, struggling to get the words out, but as she continues, the words seem to be coming faster and faster. After having heard her version of the events, I order my knights to bring me other villagers to see what they have to say. Also because it's hard to believe her version of the events. A madman with red eyes wielding devastating magic and slaughtering everyone by himself? Seems like a stretch, especially if he also fights with swords, steel is supposed to make it harder to cast.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

After several more interviews with different villagers, all with more or less the same crazy story, I turn to Anabelle to review the facts. 218 dead, 56 survivors. All because of a single madman. The man in question seems to be the mercenary leader that went through this place several weeks ago; some of the villagers had recognized him but no one seems to remember what mercenary company it was. He had been escorting Kathar priests. Is the empire involved in this mess?

A weak knock on the door takes me back to the present. I gesture for Ulrian to open the door and a scrawny teenager looks in, waiting.

"Come in my boy, no need to be nervous." I tell him. Seeing that he is still nervous, I try to keep a gentle tone.

"What's your name?" I ask softly.

"Tommy, sir."

I gesture for him to take a seat while looking over the unfinished report I started to write. Not sure how to handle the boy, I set aside the papers and wait for him to speak. Only he doesn’t.

"Did you want to tell us something?" I finally ask.

"Sir, m-my friend. H-He followed after that monster. I saw everything." Perking up an eyebrow at that, I wait for him to continue. Has no one here ever seen a knight? All the villagers until now were very polite and careful around me. I'm not here to cause trouble but to help them. I keep my frustration in check and take a calming breath.

"Start from the beginning boy." I ask in a commanding yet gentle voice.

"Well, we w-were coming back to the village. We climbed a tree to get over the palisade. We saw what was happening, I froze." A single tear goes down his cheeks.

"Blaine and Carla both jumped down, b-but I couldn't move sir. I j-just stood there." He says as he breaks down and starts crying for real now. I keep a calm face while he wipes snot and tears off his face.

"That thing, that monster toyed with them, h-he killed everyone." Eyes unfocused, deep inside his memories now, he continues, voice trembling.

"The whole time, he smiled. And his eyes, red and full of hatred." The boy says in a low voice, almost a whisper.

"Boy, do you know why he stopped?" None of the others saw the end and why he just left, all hiding for their lives. If this boy saw everything it could really help them understand what really transpired here.

"He was going to kill Blaine, but he just stopped suddenly and started to scream. I've never heard that kind of scream before sir. Then when he got up, he just took a look around before he left." The boy finished his tale. I'm missing something here. This doesn't make sense. If he is a crazy murderer, why stop? Why leave, especially if there are several witnesses, and why spare the boy? I'll have one of the mages send word to the capital and get the word out as soon as we are done here.

"Did you see what direction he went?" I ask the boy.

"North, s-sir" he responds,still trembling slightly at the memory. He slowly starts to calm down now as his tale is said and done.

"One last thing Tommy, could you give me a description of your friend?" I ask, just in case. He describes his friend and leaves shortly after.

I wait until I hear his footsteps fade before I summon Eric. He knows a lot more about mercenaries than I do. He soon joins me in the house and after a long conversation, we narrow it down to three likely companies that fit the description. The blood shields, Black Raven and Trusted Steel. All three are lacking in mages and taking contracts for the Empire. With Azael’s informants, we should be able to get the name of the company that took the job.

Tired from the long journey here and all the talks, I call it a day. Maybe this will all make more sense with a good night’s sleep.

—

Deep within the Black Tower, I sit in my office. The Emperor sure knows how to put pressure on someone. In front of me, the head of my apprentice lay, blood still dripping. That arrogant little shit. I am Lucius, the master of the Black tower. How dare he threaten me. Still, I know there is not much I can do about it, yet. Such things take preparation and planning.

The expedition was a failure, Julian and all of his priests died, Kathar have mercy on their souls. I mumble the small prayer. Ral’Tir’s information was correct it seems. Still, this is bad news. The power of a contained demon is lost, for now at least. With it, I could have secured my position at the top of the tower, maybe of this Empire. I envision myself on the golden throne, looking down on all the insignificant idiots, fighting for the scraps of power I would let them have. Ahh, not yet I'm afraid.

Having recently ascended at the top of the tower, I know better than anyone I cannot trust the others here. There is only one belief we all share as disciples of Kathar, power makes right. Picking up a small orb on my desk, I channel some power through it, activating it. Suddenly my vision fills with images, not mine, the last moment of one of the disciples.

Clenching my fists in anger, I see it yet again, the moment when that despicable mercenary breaks the artifact and claims the power which is rightfully mine.

Calming down, I think about the situation I'm now in. I might yet salvage this situation. Yes. The emperor does not know that Reagan is the key. Taking a decision, I smash the orb containing the precious memories. Yes, he shall never know. I'll have to be very smart about it, but when I pull it off, it shall be glorious.

The large orb on my desk suddenly flares up, and a deep voice can be heard.

"Did you get my message?" The authoritarian voice asks.

"Yes, your majesty." I respond.

"I hope you have a plan to redeem yourself of this fiasco Lucius. You know I have very low tolerance for incompetence." He adds.

"Yes, your majesty. We do not know what happened yet but be assured that a demon soul cannot be destroyed that easily. We are setting up another team to investigate what happened, and we are also contacting our informants for any information about it." I say in fake deference.

"Good, I hope you won't disappoint me again, the tower is a treacherous place, as I'm sure you know." He says through the magical orb. Smug bastard. You may have helped me to kill the last head of the tower, but you don't own me for it. Refraining from letting anything show on my face I respond as neutrally as I can.

"It won't happen again, your majesty."

Without anything to let me know the conversation is over, he suddenly cuts the connection. Little shit. Just you wait.

Sipping some tea, I try to calm down and take a few deep breaths. It helps. Finally , somewhat calm, I walk out of my office and go up to the top of the tower. Beneath me, the Empire's capital is all around me. The palace stands out in the center with high walls around it. Several other walls encircle the capital, concentric circles of stone keeping the different classes separate. Outside of the last walls, slums stretching for a mile can be seen. The home of the Beastkin. Savages only useful as slaves. The tower is close to the palace, and I look straight at it, hate visible on my face.

Later, I came here for something else entirely. The wind is fierce up here but I'm used to it. I turn to the center of the tower, where a small statue can be seen. It is made out of obsidian and the dark surface doesn't reflect light.

I kneel down in front of it.

"Kathar, power incarnate, heed my call, help this lowly one attain his true potential, guide me, help me find Reagan Barlow." I plead.

A terrible headache descends upon me, forcing me to clutch at my head. The pain is strong, but I have done this before. Slowly my vision is replaced by another. I see a city, a big city, and dimly lit streets. Slowly zooming in, I see a man walk down a street, a cloak covering his features. So he rushed back to Alverton, Azael’s capital. Fool, the Brudian Empire has no boundaries. You are a fool for leaving the forest you were hiding in.

The pain slowly recedes as the vision fades. I walk back to my office to plan my next move. I take out a few orbs and activate them to send out messages to several people. You won't be able to hide for long now. Smiling, I think about the moment when I will have that power at my disposal, showing the world just how great I am.