Life From Death

The dream faded away, his conscious mind returning to him as light filled the little room. He must’ve slipped in the night, as he was now lying down on the floor, the rifle collapsed on top of him. Lilith was still sitting serenely in her formal pose with her eyes closed as she slept.

All around him the sounds of kids crying filled his ears, many called out for parents that were likely lying out in the in the cold streets. There were good chances that their loved ones were already dead.

Matt groaned, his body aching from both the exercise from the previous day, and the healing wounds that drained at his strength. His mind felt ready to melt within his skull, reaching up to his head, he found a trail of still moist blood flowing from his nose.

Most of the children around him were already awake, but they shuddered and clutched at each other too traumatised to face the real world. Their eyes closed shut so they could pretend that this was the dream. Out the corner of his eye he could make out a snoring Rloki, still hugging her pillow, moaning in her sleep.

While Matt picked up his rifle confirming that it was safe, Lilith was opening her eyes slowly to the world. First, she stretched her arms across her chest and over her back, face still showing signs of sleep controlling her mind.

She let out a sigh before standing to her feet, wobbling over towards where the water bucket was kept. Her metal boot landed on a child, who winced without crying out; from the look on the boy’s face his tears were dried up.

“Lilith.” Matt called out grabbing her shoulder.

As soon as his hand touched her skin, she drew her sword and swung around quickly, her sword stopping only as it touched his skin. Matt cringed, frozen in place so as to keep from slitting his own throat on her blade.

“Be careful.” Matt whispered, “That’s what I was going to say.”

Lilith stared into his eyes, it looked like there was someone else in those eyes for a heartbeat, until recognition finally ignited within her. She sheathed her sword looking around to the children who were too shocked from yesterday’s events to even notice what was going on. She walked a little more confidently over to the bucket weaving between the children lying on the ground.

She didn’t say a word as she splashed water on her face, all he could sense from her was a fog over her mind. Her concentration was elsewhere, distracted by something, though he couldn’t begin to guess what.

Matt gave her space, or what little there was in this room, walking over to the door and waiting by its side for her to finish. The children crying, Rloki snoring and the sound of Lilith washing her face off with fresh water, Matt felt both comforted and out of place here where emotions were high. Where life still lived.

His mind instinctively went to the dream from last night, the dream of a little girl named Theresa. He had felt the emotions that she had felt at the time, recognised the pain as his own, and felt the stress in his own heart for her powerlessness.

The way that young girl ‘criminal’ had died, the blood on her hands. He felt some sympathy for the girl named Theresa, he knew what it felt like to wear the blood of innocents through inaction. A guilt that cannot be escaped from, no matter how far or fast you run.

“Theresa.” He whispered the name, testing it on his tongue, “I wonder where you are now.” Though he had suspicions about who she might be, he kept the thought to himself. The room didn’t seem quite in the right mood for such a topic while children still mourned their families.

Lilith returned from the bucket, her eyes more aware then they had been only a few minutes ago. She walked around the bodies of children, avoiding looking at them directly as she made her way over to him, the sword on her hip swaying slightly as she moved.

For some reason, Matt thought that the dark shadows swirling in the metal of her armour and blade had darkened. Their movements more aggressive than they had been when he first saw them, yesterday he hadn’t had the opportunity to notice if they’d changed.

Matt carefully nudged a few children out of the way of the opening door, so that he could lead Lilith out of the packed room. The thin hallway was empty though showed signs of habitation over the long night, Matt turned to Lilith when the door closed behind him.

“Do you know a girl named Theresa?” He asked keeping his voice down, he noticed an immediate reaction from her as he let the name flow from his lips.

“Where did you hear that name? I would suggest you forget it, princess Theresa died years ago.” She pushed past him, heading for the stairs.

“She died and Lilith was born?” He asked following after her but she refused to reply stepping down the stairs two at a time.

If there was anyone in this world with whom he could share dreams, then it would have to be the one woman who’d stolen into his mind. That was his theory at least but she had yet to confirm that fact.

Chasing after the strange young woman Matt left his questions behind feeling too much anxiety flowing from the ocean that washed against his mind. She fled down the last steps of the stairs into a depressingly quiet room, most men were passed out or still drinking a thick brown liquid from tall mugs.

Lilith quickly left the room, walking through the opening where a door had stood the night before. Outside there was still a light drizzle of rain, enough to wet his clothes and make the chill in the air seem something dangerous.

“At least it doesn’t snow in this city.” Lilith whispered looking over the roads outside frosted over.

“Snow?” Matt asked unsure as to what the word meant.

“You’ll find out eventually if you stay long enough.” She replied, unwilling to converse with him.

The horizon was covered in broken homes and the dead bodies of those who’d died in the night. A few people still wandered the streets their faces pale, most shivered uncontrollably in the cold morning; clothes shining with frosted morning dew and drizzle.

“Why aren’t they working?” Matt asked looking over the people scattered through the streets to the bodies and rubble.

“Why aren’t you?” She replied stepping forwards, ignoring the body that they walked over to get this far.

“Because no one has told me what to do.” He replied, in his world there was always a command, always something which they had to dedicate their time to. As a soldier, every spare second had been spent training his body and mind to be more precise, more accurate, more capable of a killer.

It was alien to be in this world where despair had been allowed to step in and control everyone, where emotions dictated action. These people roaming the street seemed to lack any sort of leadership right now, wandering and dying without goal in mind or hope in their hearts.

Yesterday the elderly woman who donated the clothes he was now wearing had set up a collection centre for food and supplies, but it seemed there was no one giving that support and leadership to the rest of these people. Thinking back Matt wondered what had happened to that supply centre that they’d set up.

Lilith seemed to lack definite direction so he took the lead, walking down to where he’d dedicated half of yesterday. The path was covered in bodies and rubble, frosted mud crunched under his feet with each step before squelching as he lifted off again.

It seemed like none of the damage to the city had been cleaned or removed at all since yesterday. The same bodies littered the road, the same rubble was still scattered over the city, with the exception of those who huddled underneath the meagre pieces of shade, nothing had changed.

The people they passed were too dispirited to look him in the eyes, the few still walking stared at their mud coated feet as they trudged through the town. Their faces looked haunted, and even as they stared at corpses it didn’t change the look on their faces.

On the side of the road Matt could see a woman still rocking a swaddled cloth back and forth in her arms. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know what she had in that cloth by now, but it was soaked in blood and looked like it had nearly frozen overnight.

As their path continued down the road, Matt finally glanced at the place where the food and supplies had been gathered, only to find it empty save for a sign and hundreds of footprints.

“What’s written?” He asked walking over to the sign written with strange script. His mind was trying to unravel it but if he pushed any harder it would likely become a stress to both himself and Lilith.

“These resources have been confiscated for the royal stores.” She nodded to the subscript at the bottom of the sign. “Report to the castle for meals and clothes.”

“That seems more efficient, at least the food won’t go bad as quickly.” He muttered impressed with the quick action of the King.

“Efficient? Perhaps…” She said looking over the broken landscape still covered in the wreckage of yesterday.

A few stray people were still wondering down to the same sign as them. Most spat at the ground after reading it, grumbling in upset words.

After standing there for a brief time Lilith stalked away, her feet taking her back up to the path to where the doctors had been working the day before. For some reason the dull screams had faded away overnight, there was an eerie silence in its place.

The silence was far more frightening than the screams had ever been, the streets were filled with pale ghosts, likely families of the deceased. Finally, they passed the last buildings in the way, and could see the ground space covered with corpses.

The ground was absolutely covered in bodies, already insects seemed to be making nests in the bodies. One of the nearby corpses was bloated with large purple pustules glowing from the body, bloating it up to twice its size. Lilith looked at the body, her eyes filled with distain.

“What… what is that?” Matt watched as the pustules moved and shifted, they looked similar to the darkness in her blade and armour.

“That is… bad.” She replied her sword drawn as she eyed the bloated corpse. “This should have been dealt with much sooner than this. Am I seriously the only one in this city trying to save it?”

Matt watched as she walked closer to the body carefully, just as she approached with a final step the pustules burst, releasing a putrid smell and horrifying purple mist. He instinctively held his breathe as the mist spread out to him but even so he became enchanted by the creature that stepped out from the corpse.

Its skin was flowing with purple life, beautiful and haunting. Small horns peaked from the little skull of the creature, sharp teeth filling its gaping open mouth. The creature let out a weak little cry, sounding soft and gentle like that of a newborn child.

Its flesh was tainted in a light purple colour a few shades off from human, and its limbs were as thin as twigs ending in sharp clawed hands. There was no hair sprouting from its bald skull or anywhere in its body, and where it should have had some kind of genitals was completely bare.

Lilith paused, green light forming from the stama in her arms with a few reaching down her legs to the ground. Her sword released a black miasma against the mist that formed around the little creature.

The little creature’s eyes stared up into his own, the light red colour filling with power as it reached out to him. Pleading for him to save it, to protect it against this harsh world.

“Sa~ve Me~!” The voice disjointed and broken, inhuman.

Lilith looked like a monster in that moment framed in darkness, blade hovering above the neck of the innocent little creature just as it was born. He stepped forwards to intervene to stop the monster before it killed.

Before he could move the sword was swung splitting the skull in two. As the corpse fell and the mist dissipated, his mind felt of a splitting migraine. “AahhhAhh.” He let out a scream as he fell atop of a nearby body, blood flowing out of his nose.

Before he was even able to recover properly, his body was thrown backwards by a massive force. He felt a moment of flight before landing with a wet splash in mud, the air forced from his lips and the world twisted in his eyes.

Still recovering from being winded Matt could see someone’s face looking down at him. “Lilith?” he let out the name as he regained some voice.

“Who are you?” She demanded, her black sword pointed to his throat.

“I-” a cough forced its way through his mouth, “I’m Matt. What the hell was that?” When he thought back to the creature he grew confused. He’d thought that it was innocent and weak? With those sharp teeth? Those red eyes filled with malice.

She withdrew her sword still watching him carefully, “That was the embodiment of a demon, if you see that purple mist; kill it or run.” She looked over the field of corpses where other pustules were moving gently as if just about to burst.

“You’re lucky, most people would remain controlled by its influence for at least a few more minutes. Maybe you’re just too stupid to understand its thoughts.” Her eyes were carefully scanning the horizon, arms and legs still glowing with green force.

“I guess I’m getting used to this now, it’s not the first one to enter my head without being invited.” He pulled his rifle up to his shoulder. “So why are they here? Shouldn’t someone have killed them by now?”

He watched the horizon with her. It seemed that there were no longer any moans coming from the distance. The corpses were no longer seeded with the dying.

“Yes, but it seems as though the rituals have been left for too long. In this environment, they fester far more quickly than normal.” She drew her sword with one hand and removed his pistol with the other. “I will deal with the cacoons, protect yourself for now. If you die I’ll be given a strict lecture, so don’t die.”

In that moment, she leapt forwards quicker than his eye could trace, using all her accumulated speed to cut through a cocoon that had swelled to twice the corpses size. She moved across the field of bodies with bursts of speed cutting through the demons before they were birthed.

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Matt flipped the safety on his rifle and confirmed that there was a round chambered before watching over her from afar. He didn’t want to be caught by that purple miasma again, he backed away from the corpses towards a collapsed section of wall.

In the distance, a few of the demons birthed, Lilith quickly dealt with them but the sea of corpses was too expansive for her to cover alone. Matt kept close watch on a few that she was too distant from, that might burst at any moment.

He heard the shifting of debris behind him, and as he turned to face it, a purple mist flowed from the pile, warning him of the imminent danger. Even before he could see the creature, it’s fangs were dug deep into his mind.

”Ki~ll her.”

The words forced into his mind, into his language, as the mist overwhelmed him; consumed him. A little hand pushed through the rubble claws prying at the fallen walls.

“Kill he~r.”

This time he clearly heard the words spoken in an alien language with an alien tongue so in human that it sent shivers through his mind. His head felt as if it was splitting as he imposed his will on his body, fighting against the demon taking a grip on his soul.

His struggle continued, muscles twitching as the rifle lifted into place. It was shaking far too madly to actually hit anything, on the other end of the sights Lilith was carving up newborn lives while covered in their blood. Her blade letting out a dark sensation as she cut through more and more bodies.

Lilith, he thought, focusing on the person on the other end of the barrel. If she was able to hear his thoughts she was too distracted to make sense of them.

Matt pushed himself, fighting to regain control, his finger moved to the trigger but he found himself unable to fire.

“Save her”

The words spoken from somewhere close by, a familiar voice, a soft heart. A cold sensation washed through his mind, cleaning out the purple mist that had stained every part of him. He could see a gentle green light flowing from the gemstone he’d still had stored in his hair.

Matt lowered the rifle, turning to the demon at his feet.

Red eyes stared back up at him, filled with threats of violence, hatred, and all kinds of malice. The demon suddenly realizing that its target was no longer enslaved dove at him with a speed comparable to Lilith’s. Matt expecting this had pulled his knife, his arm moved at normal speed even as he pushed his booster into action.

The demon’s powerful legs, wrapped in green, launched it into the air between them. It’s movement incredibly slow over this small distance. Matt twisted his body as soon as the creature’s legs left the ground. He’d learnt in training that once a person leaves the ground it becomes very difficult and slow to manoeuvre. Hoping that principal stayed the same for this monstrosity, he countered it.

His body twisted around ever so slightly, the creature moved with too much pace for him to escape from it entirely but with his motion he pushed the blade around and into position. Though even still his speed was only fast enough for him to cut through the demon’s limb.

Without friction, the knife cut cleanly through the core of the creature’s arm. The demons other claw was already reaching for his face, it’s eyes filled with a savage bloodlust as it tried hard to destroy what stood against it.

A gunshot sounded in the distance and the creatures bottom half was blown clean off as its top half fell on top of him. Reacting in pain the creatures claws only grazed his cheek before clutching onto his shoulder.

Matt forced his muscles to move at their limit, stabbing his knife into the base of the demon’s skull, the blade protruding from between its eyes. Covered in blood and gore and still feeling the afterburn of his booster, Matt threw the rest of the corpse from on top of him and spun onto a firing position. In a kneeling position, he sighted the area with his rifle, making use of the remaining boost in his system.

Lilith still had the pistol aimed at him but he ignored the threat, aiming for the demon just clawing its way from a small corpse. He fired; the round struck the creature in through its centre of mass, splitting its body into chunks.

After observing his actions Lilith returned to her task, killing the creatures as they spawned. The numbers were dissipating as a black sword cut through them indiscriminately. Matt scouted the outskirts making sure that none of the creatures were able to sneak past the one woman killing machine working at the centre.

Around the outside, he noticed a few destroyed corpses but none seemed to be letting out the same purple glow that indicated the presence of a demonic cocoon. One creature ran for the outskirts but Lilith fired her pistol cutting it down without mercy.

As she killed the last of the remaining demons, a group of soldiers finally arrived. They appeared weary but shuddered at the sight of the demons falling to the earth, their eyes focusing on Lilith as if she were their guardian angel.

They wouldn’t have stood a chance against a single demon, let alone the many that had just been slaughtered. Following the guards was a horse cart carrying half a dozen large barrels, the horses going wild at the scene in front of them. Instinctively knowing that this was an evil place filled with death and demons.

Lilith swiped her blade through the air before sheathing it, she approached the soldiers but none of them stood up to talk to her. Matt couldn’t even tell if there was a leader amongst the group, they were so weakly arranged and so hesitant to approach Lilith.

Matt was too busy wiping off the filthy blood to pay her any mind, the purple blood seemed to be dissipating into the air. Matt patted at it but for some reason it was quickly fading out of his clothes as if it had never stained him to begin with.

He looked down to the corpse that was still on the ground, blood marks fading away the same as they had in his clothes. The body itself was about that of a small child, but twisted in every detail. The eyes small and red filled with malice, the skin coloured a light purple, glowing where blood flowed under the skin. Of course, the familiar horns on its head as well, shining brightly with a fading purple light.

The brittle skin faded away in the sunlight, which then proceeded in slowly burning away at the flesh underneath. “Their bodies fade away once the connection to the realm that forges them is cut.” Lilith was standing by his side looking down at the corpse.

“You did well.” She continued, “Do you have any more of the… arrows I guess?” She lifted the pistol and waved it around in front of him.

“Ah yeah, thanks.” He pulled out his spare magazines, it was becoming more and more obvious how much he needed to rely on this demonic woman in front of him. While handing over the spare magazines in their webbing he felt a moment of fear. What happens if she turns on him too, one day?

“Save them” The voice came again pushing him forwards. He’d learned something from his childhood. If you can’t do something alone, then find others, if you still can’t do it, then try harder until you die or win. It was something he’d forgotten a long time ago, something that had been taken from him.

Matt looked at the pistol in her hands for a few moments, noticing that it was beginning to take on the same colouration as her sword and armour. Still too weak to notice unless he looked closely enough, but obvious once he’d noticed it.

“I suppose with the colours you’ve painted it, I’m never getting that back. Then again that’s probably for the best, its saved my life more times in your hands than my own.” He was still a little uncertain about this but nevertheless he armed the woman with a weapon which increased her capabilities beyond reason. He sighed, if the Lieutenant ever found out he’d be discharged and likely disposed of.

“Okay I’m going to add you as a friendly on this thing so that that never nearly happens again.” He added slowly raising the rifle to her chest, his finger well clear of the trigger even though the safety was still on.

“You shoot and it’s your death.” She replied, unfazed by him.

The holographic scope was highlighting targets, while it was still clear around them, he hovered the sight over Lilith, setting the friend or foe target on her as priority protection. With her speed, she might just leap in front of a bullet as he fires, this way it would refuse to fire at her particular bio-signature. This way there was some measure of safety at least.

As he finished with the particulars of the rifle safety, he noticed a fire burning behind Lilith. The guards had apparently dragged wood and oil into the area and were now burning the corpses that were whole enough to be dragged into the large bonfire.

“What are they doing?” Matt asked, letting his rifle sit back into position hanging to his front while he observed the soldiers.

“Purifying the dead, not a very clean way to go about it but there isn’t much choice now that it’s already been left for too long.” She put the pistol away in her pack, and Matt realized that she still didn’t have a holster for the thing. He decided he’d work on that when he had a chance.

“So, they’re making it so they don’t turn into the little demon things?” He pointed to the fading corpse at their feet.

“In as little words, yes.” She walked off, not wanting to participate in this ritual, as filthy as it was. Matt followed her, keeping his eyes around the place afraid that more of them might be hiding in the shadows.

“You don’t need to hide under your blankets like a child, there shouldn’t be any more yet. They birth quicker in places drenched in death, that place back there was unique.” Matt relaxed a little at her words, “Except when they’re brought out from a corpse intentionally.” She whispered.

Down the street there were fewer people than before, a few were hiding in alleys or under rubble, white eyes peeking out. Apparently, someone had noticed the demons birthing and let the information spread.

Matt didn’t want to stay in this city right now, too many movements in dark alleys, too many corpses ripe for the demons to birth from. Fortunately, Lilith lead him out of the area, towards the gates of the city. They passed by more empty faces and destroyed homes.

Lilith moved with some increased pace, as he followed along behind. The stress was eating at her. Matt could understand that, having felt that same stress for a long while now.

Up ahead Matt could see a few Sasahara Knights, they were moving quickly but without invoking their stama. Matt was still figuring out what they were up to when Lilith called out to them.

“What’s going on? There were demons rising in the middle of town a moment ago, if I wasn’t there the other half of this town would be dead.” She walked up to them not caring to hide her displeasure at them.

They looked to her with some surprise in their eyes, it was obvious to Matt that they were trying to hide their exhaustion, both mental and physical.

“We were gathering scraps from these machines hoping to find something that might help stop them next time.” They showed their treasures quickly forgetting about the demons spawning in town as they pulled out fragments of the drones.

From what Matt could see, they were gathering together all of the scattered debris that they could find. Of course, there was little they could use it for, the drones utilised an automated self-destruct feature to avoid just that issue from arising.

“They’re not going to get much from that wreckage.” Matt chimed in to Lilith, speaking low so as not to gather too much attention from the others.

“What do you want me to do? Tell the useless idiots that they’re on a fool’s errand? I’d prefer to leave that for them to discover.” She spat watching the others work trying to seek out some of the smaller pieces of debris.

They watched Matt carefully out the corner of their eyes as if he might turn on them at any moment. “Do you think you should explain that I’m still on their side?”

“Let them find that out, besides its better having more eyes watching you isn’t it, Krilm?” She turned away from him leaving for the city gates where people were still gathering.

There were dozens of people leaving the city through those gates, whether it was because of the demons or some other aspect of the recent disasters he couldn’t be sure. Most simply seemed to be leaving behind the past that was buried in rubble.

At the massive gate, only two guards watched people coming and going, unlike previous times they didn’t pay too much attention to the people moving through the gates. There weren’t enough guards to do so if they wanted to.

Moving against the flow of people was several wagons filled with various supplies, animals, and plants. These travellers looked over the city with horror, their eyes seeing this disaster for the first time.

A couple of guards waved down the wagons while Matt and Lilith walked into earshot.

“Head up to the castle courtyard, the King will personally purchase any supplies that might be of use. You won’t find many people around here that are capable of buying any of your goods anyway.” The guard had a hollow look to his face, the pressure of the past days having been carried on his shoulders just like everyone else.

“What happened here?” The middle-aged traveller asked, looking back and forth along the town where entire neighbourhoods had collapsed. “Some of the Knights out there looked worn out!” he spoke the last words as if he were speaking of the impossible.

“An attack, the monsters hit us hard. If it weren’t for the Knights this city would be gone.” The guard was speaking in a low voice, facing his mortality.

“How soon will the king buy up? I don’t want to be here for the next wave.” The guard sighed, exhausted as the traveller interrogated him.

“Soon.” The guard waved the man on, talking to the next man who wielded questions his direction.

The traveller whipped his horses into action, quickly carving a way through the flow of people towards the castle. Even at threat of death he was determined to deliver his supplies, Matt felt some respect for that selflessness where most would turn and run.

“It’s good to see some people still working.” Matt said turning to Lilith, she looked over the groups of merchants.

“Not like they have much choice, abandon their cargo for any reason and they’ll starve. Not like you’d understand, Krilm.” She walked through the sea of people opening a path where she went.

The animals seemed eerily quiet as they were carted deeper into the city, the traveller carting the animals turned to Lilith, a look of concern on his face, “Is this city safe… or are they here?” He looked over his animals as he spoke.

“There might still be a few strays around, keep on your toes.” She advised without stopping for the man, who now wore a frightened look on his face as he adjusted the sword on his hip. Matt could hear the man swearing under his breath.

They finally made their way out the front of the gates to look over the horizon, which seemed almost completely unaffected by the war efforts of yesterday. People were roaming over the plain as if lost, some were lying on the ground staring into the sky as the grey clouds flew overhead letting out some small amount of rain.

Matt felt some discomfort seeing them like that.

“Do you think they’ll get better?” He asked of Lilith, staring out over the people.

“How would I know, but they’d better. I don’t need to be cleaning up more demons just because they can’t get on with their lives.” She pushed past trying not to look at them, whether or not she was aware of the fact her concern was carried through to him through their bond.

The camp where the Sasahara Knights were housed seemed untouched by the same destruction that toppled the wall it was set up next to. Though on closer inspection Matt noticed some burn marks on the ground and amidst the tents. The attack affected even them, but still the fact was they were far better off than Matt had expected.

“How did they do so well against the drones?” Matt whispered staring into the camp which should have been razed to the ground. Around the plains he could see some places where drones had burnt up on the ground. Matt could hardly imagine anything short of a gun taking them down.

“Don’t overestimate your own power. A few little machines couldn’t compare to us.” She spoke down to him but didn’t move her eyes from where the burns scattered the camp.

Matt, remembering the speed at which Lilith moved, he could hardly imagine how incredible this battle must have been. Up to one hundred of these Knights moving that quickly against a massive number of attack drones. The thought of it boggled his mind.

“I don’t think I want to piss them off” Matt whispered looking over the camp, the only place he’d seen today free of corpses.

“Do what I tell you and I’ll probably let you live.” She replied to him, sending a few shivers down his spine as he remembered her efficiency with his pistol. As frightened as he was, he couldn’t regret arming her. He owed his life to her.

As they walked closer to the camp, Matt could hear a few light moans and whispers emitted from a nearby tent. Alongside the sounds of suffering he could make out the sound of equipment being shifted around.

Lilith shifted aside the tents door, moving inside, Matt followed her, finally seeing clearly what had been hidden from sight. Knights were lying on beds lining the length of the long tent, groaning in their sleep. Over a dozen of them lay wounded in the beds, one healthy Knight watching over each of the wounded.

“What happened here?” Lilith asked looking over the wounded herself. Cassielled walked up to them as they entered the tent, Her eyes watching Matt carefully.

“How is he?” She asked her hand on her sword as she started to gather her stama.

“Fine, he was a helpful distraction against the machines and the demons that spawned in town.” The word demon brought most of the eyes of the women in the room as they looked stunned.

“We didn’t think that they’d birth so quickly. If you’re here I can suppose they’ve been dealt with.” She removed her hand from her sword, still careful of Matt.

“I’d thought that we’d taken the worst of the attack, unfortunately we didn’t have the numbers to spare in town.” She spoke with care, her voice uncertain. “These are the worst casualties we’ve taken in recorded history against anything other than demons.” She muttered under her breath.

“To make it worse we don’t even know what those things were!” She spoke with force in her voice.

To the side one of the wounded Knights was breathing roughly, her skin glowing brightly as she gripped at her sheets.

Cassielle sighed turning to the Lilith, “Give me a moment,” She walked up to the injured Knight.

“Can you keep fighting?” Cassielle asked, her voice low and gentle almost like his elders had been when he was a child.

“I… I can’t… I’m losing… control…” The wounded Knight let the words leak out of her lips as she breathed heavily, “Do it… I can’t hold on… I’m…” As the last words escaped her lips her body went numb, the stama on her limbs glowing brightly. Her eyes turning bright red in that instant.

Before she could even move a muscle her head fell loose, the Knight at her side holding a sword in the air. The loose head rolled along the ground, smiling madly as it mouths shaped words.

The hair still attached to her head, shifted colours, turning from silver to a light sheen of red, then purple. Still mouthing words as the Knight at her side impaled the head on her blade.

“What was that?!” Matt asked, the sight of it sending shocks down his spine, for not the first time today.

“You don’t recognise it? It’s not the first time you’ve seen one today. Though if you’d met her back there nothing would have saved you.” Lilith replied, seemingly unaffected by the death playing out before her eyes.

“Aren’t you sad or something?” Matt felt some distance between himself and her, as she stared at the body that was fading away like the demon back in the city.

“Why be sad, the dead have returned to death and a demon returned to the other realm. That is all.” She said turning away from Matt, “How did they die?” She asked.

Cassielle turned to her, holding out a dart that had been fired by the drones. “These things, they’re coated in a powerful toxin. Most people couldn’t survive them, for Knights like us it makes us more vulnerable to their influence.”

She waved to the corpse that was still dissipating into the air. She turned to Matt, “You know something more about this, don’t you?”