“Adri! Adri! Adriana!” The girl awoke to a familiar voice.
“You’re awake! I was so worried when you collapsed and didn’t wake up.” Eric hugged the girl, her mind only now catching up to what happened. She remembered standing triumphantly over her opponent’s body, then everything went black. Now everything was blistering white.
“Eric? Where am I?”
“In the hospital in Elvenbur. The doctor said you didn’t have anything major busted, you just needed to rest for a few days.”
“I’d love to rest for a couple years, but I don’t have that luxury.” The rogue wiggled on a bed attempting to move, only to receive intense shocks of pain that forced out a yelp. “Don’t think the queen will wanna hear about this.”
“Pssh, I don’t care what the queen wants or needs, you’re resting for at least a week. You’re lucky nothing is actually broken, just a couple sprains.”
“Really? Feels like I’m pretty broken.” Analyzing her body, she could see her legs were in order and she could even twists her body. Moving are arms wasn’t too bad, but anything below her waist was torture to budge.
“Brian and Sarah said you found that girl and you ran after her while they couldn’t move. By the time they could get to you, you were lying on the tree floor unconscious and she was dead. What the hell happened?”
“Honestly, you don’t want to know beyond I got her to trust me long enough to take her out.”
“How did you get her to trust you?”
“I told her we wouldn’t kill Lucy if we killed her.”
Eric froze, his expression growing grim, his eyes just staring her way while he failed to find his words. “Are you going to hold to that promise?”
“Eric, we’ve come too far to turn back now. I know it’s going to devastate Matt, I really do, but” she paused, turning her head away from her boyfriend while trying fight back tears, “we have to.”
“Adri, I trust you. Get some rest and tomorrow I’ll get the others in here and we’ll talk about what we need to do.”
“How’s she holding up?” Just as Eric exited the building, Jessica and Brian were already eager to assault him with questions.
“Not good. Physically she can’t move -just trying to do anything causes her pain- and emotionally she seems pretty broken up about what happened yesterday, or about what we’re going to do.”
“Are we seriously going to do this? Matt is going to kill us if he finds out, and he’s going to find out.” The dragoon was in total panic, but he knew what the others would say.
“I don’t think we have a choice. The queen came to us for this and she’s not taking no for an answer.”
“So what Eric? Maybe we should just leave the queen. I don’t know about you but being able to live anywhere is not worth all this killing. We really should just cut out losses.”
“Brian, it’s too late to feel remorseful. We’ve killed six people, six innocent kids. What would stopping now accomplish? We’ve already gone too far to turn back.”
Brian sighed, knowing there was no point arguing with the mage. “You’re right, but there’s one thing you guys might be forgetting. I’ll say what it is when we meet up with Adriana. In the meantime, I’ll be writing my apology letter to Matt. Cya…”
The dragoon walked off, slumping his shoulders and keeping his eyes to the ground. The mage looked at Eric to find some relief or reassurance, but he had none. “Eric, I just want you to know I stopped drinking. At this rate, I’m going to relapse soon.”
“Jess, this is no time to be funny.”
“I’m not being funny, I’m being sincere. I wish you guys would stop acting like I’m trying to dumb or non-serious all the time.”
“Jess, I wish this wasn’t the time to be serious.”
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“Where are you two heading off to?” An older blonde woman asked the knight and archer.
Matthew was relieved to spend a whole week with Sarah’s mother, a woman who seemed quite fond of him and made cookies with astonishing regularity, two things he could happily get used to. Unfortunately her father was spent months at a time commuting, he was also a good cook and a funny man, at least the knight thought.
“We’re making our way back to Lumina, we’ve got to tell the queen that our job is done. When we do that, we’ll come see you again before we move. Love you mom!” With one last embrace, Sarah and her mother departed, Matthew getting a hug too.
“Your mom is so nice.”
“She really mellowed out since I left with Vanessa. I guess she realized that dealing with my decisions is better than never seeing me again.”
The couple made their way to the hospital, meeting up with the other four.
“Hey Adriana!” Running up and grappling her, the archer had the poor rogue fearing she would break something else.
“Sarah, calm down girl. I just got out of the hospital, don’t put me back in!”
“Guess we’ll head to Branton now. We’ll spend the night in Cantabelle. Now that our mission is done, you guys take your time and enjoy yourselves. I genuinely can’t wait for Sarah to show me around.”
Matthew sounded different, almost rejuvenated. That pep in his voice had sent a jolt of energy to his entire team, all equally eager to get going. Once the group was on the wagon again, Eric leaned forward while having the horses trot as fast as possibly could while carrying the group’s weight.
On the way back to Cantabelle, no words were exchanged, everyone was too enthralled at having finished the mission. The sky was cloudy and the whirling wind was cool and rowdy, a strange combination of dark yet pleasant. Aside from the clopping of hooves, the ambience of swaying grass sang.
“Hello and welcome to,” the greeter of Cantabelle paused when he could make out the group arriving, “oh it’s you.” His cheerful demeanor ungracefully shifted to an irritable one.
Without hesitation, Matthew and Sarah parted from the group, leaving the four to plot amongst themselves.
“So what was that thing you said we’re not accounting for, Brian?” The cleric’s words were accusatory, but Brian remained unperturbed.
“You know Matt and Lucy have an aunt, right? And that’s she’s an adult warrior, right? And that if we try to hurt Lucy while she’s around, we’ll all die, right?!”
Stolen story; please report.
The three looked at him, then each other, realizing that the dragoon was right about them forgetting. To approach unprepared would be entering a beast’s den naked and staving.
“What the hell are we going to do then? Giving up isn’t an option.” The mage panicked, a contagious that spread to the others.
“Simple. We coax her out.” Those cold words turned the heads of the dragoon, cleric, and mage. “All we have to do is trick her into following us and kill her.”
“Okay, but with what Adri?”
“Simple, Brian: I’ll ask Matt. I won’t let him know what we’re going to do and when I figure a way to draw her out, we’ll discuss it in Branton.”
“We’ll need to fast, the plan will need to be simple, and it will need to work. If anything goes wrong, we’re dead.”
“Thank you honey, that’s very reassuring.”
“Sorry dear.” Eric cowered back at the venom in her voice before she scooped up in an embrace. “It’s okay. Just let me talk to Matthew and don’t worry about it until we get to Branton.”
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The rogue sat outside a small bakery, the intoxicating aroma of brown sugar tempting her to buy one of the delicious sweets. Adriana glared at the showcase of deserts like a starving animal looks at a free meal. She tapped her fingers forcibly on the wooden table to keep her mind clear, but she felt her stomach getting the best of her, until Matt finally showed up and sat next to her, his attention fixated on the warm sunset.
“Hey Matthew, I’ve been meaning to ask you something: you said you saw Lucy recently?”
“Yeah?” The knight didn’t even turn his head an inch.
“Does she have any friends?”
“Well, she didn’t want me to say this, but she has a crush on a devil girl.”
“Oh” the rogue was instantly grateful she wasn’t eating now, or she knew she’d have begun choking, “a devil girl?! Well that’s interesting. Do you know her name?”
“Angela. It sounds weird, but I wouldn’t blame her. I actually think those devil girls are pretty hot myself. Guess it runs in the family. That and being really tall.”
“How tall are we talking? 5 foot 5? 5 foot 8?”
“6 feet and 1 inch. She was eye-to-eye with me when I saw her the other day.”
“What did your aunt feed her?! A house?!” Adriana calmed down as best she could, but her mind was too focused on turning a twelve-year-old girl into an ogre. “Well, I’m just going to have me a dessert now. Anything you want?”
“Uh, no thanks. I’m actually still full and I think I better head back to Sarah now. She’s already getting home sick” the knight laughed nervously.
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The sun shone brightly over the town of Branton. On the edge of town, the dragoon, cleric, and mage met with the rogue, hoping she had a reasonable plan of action.
“What’s the plan?” Brian voice and body quivered.
“You’re not going to like this.”
“There’s not a single thing about this plan I like already Adri, nothing you can tell me could make it any worse.” The dragoon felt he would regret those words as he watched the rogue.
“I need you three to go to the devil village and kidnap one of the devil girls while I get Lucy to follow me into the woods.”
“I was wrong. What the hell Adri?!”
“Seriously, did that Alex girl break your brain?!” The mage was now just as angry as the dragoon.
“I’m sorry honey, I can’t even defend this.” The cleric could see his girlfriend sink back at his disapproval.
“I knew you wouldn’t like the plan, but it’s either this or risk getting chopped into pieces. Besides, the devils won’t do anything to you guys; their village is small and they know that attacking humans is a good way to start a war, and they would be crushed if they tried that. No one would come to their aid.”
“I suppose, but it still seems inhumane. I guess if we don’t hurt the devil girl, it won’t be that bad.” Eric’s opposition withered, Jessica agreeing with his sentiment.
“I still think this is a terrible idea that I want no part of.”
“Okay Brian,” the rogue walked up to him, “you can tell Matt how you did nothing while his sister died. Your decision.”
The dragoon backed up a few steps, his expression becoming distraught. “Fine! I’ll go.” In defeat, he joined the cleric and mage as they left for the devil village at the shore.
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As the sun began to set, the three arrived at the village of devils. Stone pillars signified the end of rough, rocky walls that stretched far south and east across the coasts before jutting eastwards. Walking into the village, the three took in the neighborhoods of hastily crafted wooden houses, all one-story and shabby looking. There were no lawns or gardens, all houses looked too small to have more than a single room or two, and there were no windows as far as the eye could see.
The residents had all eyed the humans, creating an equal sense of nervousness between the two groups. The devils were roughly the same, average build, sporting leathery wings, curvy horns, a tail with a spade shaped tip, and their clothes were tattered. Travelling past dozens of houses, the group was finally approached by a woman whose appearance was more kempt then the rest. Her clothes were like that of an official, her posture haughty, her expression that of impatience rather than fear.
“What are humans doing in our village?” The woman’s voice was regal and clear.
“We’ve come for one of your people, Angela.” The mage spoke out after the two men hesitated.
“If we give her to you, do you promise to do us no harm?”
“Yes, and we’ll return her unscathed as well.” This time Eric spoke, wanting to deescalate the situation as much as possible.
“Fine.” The woman signaled another official looking devil her way, the man appeared to be her assistant. “Fetch me Angela.” With her words, the man scurried, forcing the human’s attention back onto her. “Why are you doing this?”
“There’s a human we need to take care of.” Brian figured it was his turn, though he didn’t know what to add.
“I have a feeling I know what human you’re referring to.” The devil put her index finger to her temple, shut her eyes, and sighed. “I knew nothing good would come of that girl befriending a human.”
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The rogue began her journey towards the last sin, her mind drifting along the way.
‘Okay Adriana, keep calm, you have this. Forget about the fact that you were almost killed and focus on not dying now. Is this even a good idea? What if the others are right? This is terrible, this is inhumane, but we have to do it. Don’t we? Don’t we? Do we?! DO WE HAVE TO?!’
Adriana shook her head violently, letting her long raven hair fly around.
‘Just focus, just get this done. This is for our own good. Jessica, Brian, Eric, Sarah’ her thoughts paused, ‘oh goddess Sarah might get blamed for this. I don’t know how I forgot…no, we’ll make sure she doesn’t.’
Her chaotic thoughts continued to spin around frantically as she approached the small town, her anxiety blasting out her eardrums. To her surprise, Lucy was sitting outside her house, head in her lap.
“Lucy, I need to speak with you.” The rogue watched as the teen raised herself, hoping her aunt wasn’t around.
“You’re Adriana, right? Is it time?”
“Time?”
“You’ve come to kill me, right?”
“How did you-“
“Rumor spread around Umbro that a woman was killed in Elvenbur. Matthew visited recently to ask where my friends were. I just put two and two together.”
“Where’s your aunt?”
“Away.”
“Well, we have your devil friend, so if you want her to stay alive, you better come with me.”
“I knew you would go after her. I tried to tell her to run, but she wouldn’t.” Lucy stood up from her seat, head still facing the ground. “Lead the way.”
Adriana did as requested, leading the girl toward the woods. Every now and again, she would look at the teen, the girl who was four years younger yet towered over the rogue. No matter how many times she checked, anticipating her escort to make a break, she never did. Entering the woods, the two could here shouts and cries of someone struggling; upon reaching a clearing, the rogue could see the three accomplished their mission.
“Step into the clearing, we’ll let your friend go when you take her place.”
Lucy walked in front of the devil girl, now relinquished from the people holding her down. The two said their goodbyes, the devil flying off and leaving the teen to her execution.
“Lucy, do you have any last words?”
“Just get it over with.”
The rogue stood in silence, waiting for darkness to surround the teen and transform her into the last sin. She stood there and waited. Her gazed shifted to the others, none of them daring to move. To her left was the mage, right the cleric, and behind the girl was the dragoon. They all stared at her, anticipating the moment she would attack.
“Go ahead and transform. We won’t kill you without a fair fight.”
“Fine.” Summoning her spear, Lucy lazily lunged at the rogue, who dodged by merely walking backwards. She sliced at the cleric and mage who followed the rogue’s actions. Realizing they still weren’t attacking, she finally relented and transformed, her shape beginning to change.
But before her form could solidify, a spear impaled her, the girl reverting to her human form. Falling to her knees, the girl used her own spear to keep herself propped up. As her eyes met the rogue’s, her expression only said one thing: why?
As she fell to the ground, blood pouring from her mouth and wound, the dragoon pulled out his spear before breaking it in half and slamming the pieces on the ground. The other three watched as he stomped off, the mage and cleric following shortly after, the rogue saying her peace before catching up.
“LUCY!” A shrill scream echoed through the forest, a sign for the four to start running as fast as they could.
As the group arrived in Branton, the city peaceful under the gleaming stars, they all felt uneasy as they approached the inn. Walking inside, they could see an angry Matthew standing in wait.
“Where were you guys?”