Brian ran as hard as he could back towards the castle, panting heavily as he forced one foot in front of the other. His stamina as a Mage wasn’t great, but thanks to the travelling enchantments on his boots and the ring that gave him more stamina, he was already almost halfway there. The only problem was the massive crowd of people now blocking his way.
“Dammit,” Brian cursed as he watched the residents of the city try to force their way through the gates of the inner wall, dozens getting crushed in the press as they did so.
For a moment he considered paralyzing enough people to clear a path for him, but he quickly realized that would probably just cause more panic. Shaking his head, he tried to wrack his brain for any sort of solution. What he needed right now was some sort of movement Ability, and he just didn’t have one!
“Wait,” he blinked, opening his Class Abilities Screen, and looking at the first of the three Abilities in the tree, “Dammit, I don’t have time to take a gamble right now, but what other option do I have?”
He bought the Ability, feeling the familiar slight tingle in the back of his head as he closed his eyes and focused on it, trying to figure out how it worked. He ignored the crowd around him as it grew bigger, and more violent, more and more people fleeing the encroaching hoards of Demons. Brian was already deep within his self, staring at the complex swirl of runes and symbols that made up the void around him.
“Come on!” he shouted, looking around frantically, “Where is it? I got a better understanding of my base Abilities when I read them before! So where is this one?”
He snarled as he tried to calm himself and let his gaze drift, but he just couldn’t. Too much was at stake at the moment, too many lives, too many people, himself included. He growled again as he tried to force himself to focus, staring into the infinite gloom that he knew wasn’t actually infinite, still seeing nothing. He was about to give up and just try to use the ability on his own when he felt something at his hip, a familiar weight pressing against him as he looked at his sword.
“What?” he muttered, somehow getting a feeling form the blade, “You want to help me?”
Without thinking, Brian drew the rapier, closing his eyes as he let it take control, turning him slightly before pulsing in his hand. Opening his eyes, Brian was sure he spotted something for the briefest of moments, immediately soaring towards it. He had been travelling for only a few seconds before the sword started to pull him off course, directing him more to the left than before, if this space even had a left to begin with.
“Is it moving?” Brian asked, forcing himself to take a calming breath as he felt the influence of the blade begin to fade, allowing to take full control, leading him in a weaving, swirling pattern through the void, “It is, isn’t it?”
And suddenly he was before a tiny mote of power, the script inside it almost impossibly small, yet he knew what it was. He stared at it even as his head brain began to split apart in his skull, or at least feel like it was, but he kept staring. The agony continued, just as it had when he’d tried to read his Ancient Knowledge Ability. Time stopped existing, it was only Brian, the pain, and the mote of power.
His eyes snapped open a moment later, barely a second having passed in real time, not that he noticed, before he began gathering the shadows around him. Several people screamed as they noticed the black robed figure being enveloped in shadows, a small circle opening up around him as the guards on top of the wall pointed and aimed their crossbows. Just as the order to fire was given, Brian vanished, blinking as he appeared on the other side of the wall, staggering back at the bolt embedded in his shoulder.
“Fuck,” he cursed under his breath, barely pausing to rip the object out with a hiss of pain, before focussing on using the Ability again, the shadows gathering even faster this time, “No time to waste drinking a potion. Have to get to her. Now!”
------
Dylan stared blank eyed at the woman as she walked past them all, settling into a garden seat just behind them.
“Which one of you is the so called “Legendary Hero” of the rumours?” she asked, the class turning as one to face her, “I assume the Paladin? How cute.”
“W…What do you want?” Dylan suddenly said, amazed that he’d even been able to find his voice in this situation.
“Simple, to rule this world,” the Demon Lord hummed, her voice sounding like a combination of honey and arsenic all at once, “And you are in my way.”
“It’s not our fault,” Dylan said softly, unsure of where the words were coming from, “We…we got brought here against our will. We’re just kids.”
“That you are,” the Demon Lord hummed, “Nothing more than weak children, sent to fight for a land you don’t even belong in. But I can fix that. I can send you home.”
“Y-you can?” Dylan gasped, feeling the tears drip down his cheeks as images of his mom and dad and sister flashed through his mind, even his sister’s annoying as hell cat seeming like a better option than trying to face this…thing, in front of him in battle.
“Of course I can,” the Demon Lord hummed again, the sound filled with the cries of death and soft as a mother’s touch, “All you need do is submit to me, and I shall send you all home.”
“I…I…” Dylan started to say, before a hand smacked against the back of his head, making him turn to look at Samantha in shock.
“What the hell are you doing, idiot?!” the girl shouted, “You can’t believe a word she says! She’s evil!”
“Oh? A pragmatic one?” the Demon Lord hummed, “Or perhaps it is because you do not wish to return to your world? Such a foul thing your own brother did to you.”
“Shut up!” Samantha suddenly screamed, her face going pale as she glared at the Demon Lord, “Get out of my head!”
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
“But you let me in,” the woman chuckled, shattering spines and tinkling chimes filling the air, “Of course I would take a look.”
“GET OUT!” The Martial Artist howled, leaping towards the woman, barely being able to be stopped as Dylan and Miles grabbed her, holding her back, “GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT!”
“Are there any others who wish to stay behind?” the Demon Lord asked, looking out over the crowd of terrified children, “Hmmm, yes. You, you, and you.”
She pointed to Richy, Amanda, and another girl, all of them starting as they stepped back in surprise.
“Come to my side, and you can live as royalty in this world,” she continued, “You will have power beyond the measly pittance the gods saw fit to give you and will never want for anything again. All you need do is submit to me.”
“I…I…” the three said in unison, their eyes going blank as tears rolled down their faces.
“Knock them out of it!” Dylan suddenly shouted, “She’s…she’s using some sort of mind control!”
The others immediately jumped onto the three that were about to speak, slapping, punching or just shaking them awake again. The three immediately gasped, Richy throwing up as he fell to the floor shivering uncontrollably.
“My, how rude,” the Demon Lord sighed, “I was just giving them what they wanted, nothing more. And yet you saw fit to ruin that for them, did you, little Paladin?”
“You’re nothing but a liar!” Dylan shouted back, the feeling from before rising in his chest again, “And I may not be strong enough to beat you here, but I swear, I will get stronger! I swear that I will defeat you! I swear it on my life! No, on my very soul!”
The feeling erupted inside him, rising up as he felt like the secrets of the universe had opened up to him. Somewhere, far into his Ability Tree, something new had appeared, and he knew that he needed it to stand a chance against the creature in front of him.
“Good, very good!” the Demon Lord laughed as she clapped her hands, “You have sworn your Oath, little Paladin. You are now a true member of your pathetic Class. Unfortunately, it is too little too late. Why? Because I’m going to kill you now.”
“CURSE BREAK!”
The shout startled all of them as the figure emerged from the shadows, clamping his hand around the Demon Lord’s neck. She let out a sudden scream, her body writhing as her dress seemed to melt into shadows, which in turn tried to lash at the man holding her in the air.
“CURSE BREAK!” He roared again, the tendrils of darkness looking like they were burning up as the figure in his grasp started to shrink, reverting from a full-grown woman to a young teen in mere moments, “CURSE BREAK!”
“YOU FOOL!” the shout almost ruptured their ears as the dark form rose from the girl’s body, “You think you have the power to destroy me? A creation of the Darkness? You are nothing but a worm! You think you have saved her, but you have doomed this child to a fate worse than death!”
“I said,” the man panted as he stared up into the milky white eyes of the living Curse above him, “CURSE BREAK!”
The form let out a final pitiful scream as it was fully separated from the girl, flying up into the darkness of the night, Brian collapsing to the ground as he panted heavily.
“What the hell was that?” Miles whispered as he looked at the older man, the young horned girl lying against him, her once fine clothes dirty and torn.
“Living Curse,” Brian muttered back, “Get us both…into a warded room…I’m just going to…take a quick nap.”
------
“She must be executed,” the king said as he looked down at the group of teens from his throne, “She is the Demon Lord.”
“You didn’t see what we did!” Dylan shouted back, “She was…possessed or something!”
“Brian said it was a Living Curse,” Miles added, “And to be honest, I kind of trust him more than I trust you right now.”
“The Dark Mage?” the king grunted, glaring at the teens, “He could very well be a spy for the Demons! Humans cannot be Dark Mages, only Demonkind can!”
“Yeah, well maybe he’s different,” Gregory spoke up, “I mean, we’re all way stronger than we should be at our levels, so why can’t he be a Dark Mage?”
“I have humoured you all long enough! It has been three days that we have kept that…thing in our midst, and I will have it here no longer!” the king roared, getting out of his throne, “The Demon Lord will be executed this evening! Along with her spy!”
“Spy?” the group blinked, realisation dawning on them a moment later.
“No!” Dylan roared, suddenly drawing his sword, the other all following suit as they pulled out their weapons, the guards around the room immediately moving towards them, “I won’t let you hurt innocent people anymore! I swore to kill the Demon Lord, and that girl is not the Demon Lord anymore!”
“Then you are a failed batch,” the king spat, the students all pausing as they looked at him in confusion, “A pity. Darrinwood thought you had potential, especially the Paladin. But it seems he was as wrong as he is now dead. Arrest them, the false Heroes shall be executed alongside the Demon Lord and the spy this evening!”
“And what are you going to do without us, huh?” Miles shouted, his eyes full of fear, “Don’t you need the Heroes to fight the Demon Lord’s army or some shit?”
“Then we shall simply summon more Heroes,” the king replied flatly, “It is no great cost. Only a few thousand lives.”
“What?” Dylan gasped, staring at the king in horror as the man walked away, the guards closing in around them as the students swallowed nervously.
“What do we do, man?” Miles whispered to Dylan, “We can’t take all these guys! They’re like level thirty or something! And I bet they’ve been training their whole lives!”
“We…we run,” Dylan muttered looking around for someone, “Lily, you’re a Wind Mage, right? Can you float us all down if we jump out that window?”
“Only for a few seconds,” the girl nodded.
“Then do it just before we hit the ground,” Dylan grunted as he stood to his full height, “Everyone! We are escaping! Follow me if you want to live!”
The entire group cheered as they followed after the charging Paladin, Dylan sweeping his sword across the chests of two guards, throwing them back in a spray of blood as he leapt out one of the floor-to-ceiling windows, shattered glass raining down around him as the others followed. They all screamed as they plummeted towards the ground outside, most closing their eyes as they drew near. Suddenly, they all stopped, the wind creating an air cushion under them before they fell the last few feet.
“F-Feather Fall,” Lily managed to sputter as the class quickly got to their feet, looking around to see if any guards had spotted them.
“What is going on here?” the familiar voice snarled, the class turning to look at the combat instructor as he walked towards them, his hand on his sword.
“Let us go,” Dylan said, “Please.”
“What?” the man blinked, looking up at the shattered window as guards shouted from the hole. He looked back down at the kids, saw the fear in their eyes, before he turned away, pausing for a moment, “Follow me.”
“What?” Dylan gasped as he watched the man walk off.
“I said follow me!” the man barked, “And quickly!”
------
Bright light filled his eyes as Brian woke up, staring at the perfectly smooth stone of the domed ceiling. A soft gasp made him sit up, turning to look at the young Mage sitting on a nearby stool.
“You’re awake!” he gasped.
“I am,” Brian nodded, swinging his legs off the small cot he’d been lying on, looking around the room, “Where’s the girl? The Demon girl, I mean?”
The boy pointed behind him, Brian looking over his shoulder in relief as he saw the child sleeping peacefully in a cot beside his. He rose slowly, stretching out his stiff limbs as he closed his eyes, delving into his Ability enhanced and provided knowledge, running half a dozen simulations through his mind at once. After a moment, he snapped his eyes open again, looking at the young Mage as he stared at Brian in a mixture of confusion and terror.
“Get the Principal of the Academy,” he said clearly, “I’m going to need a lot of materials for what comes next.”
“What comes next?” the boy asked slowly, “What do you mean?”
“I mean that if I do this right,” Brian grinned, “I think I can stop this whole Demon Lord fiasco for good.”