7. Hell

Cahovia, the royal capital of the Cahov Demons was splendid if one only looked at the quarters for the wealthy, there were palaces and rich gardens for the various nobility, a Devil’s quarter, specifically for them; ornate, and tidy; all kinds of demonic plants, beautiful to demons perhaps, but to humans probably disturbing, cut into all sorts of shapes and sizes. Imps and soldiers on the other hand lived in barracks like conditions with little hope of social advancement. There were thousands of soldiers looking at the Human being dragged, his feet seared on the lava pools, he attempted to heal himself as the vast majority of his Zira was somehow sealed off. He felt more super constructs being connected to him somehow, the energy however faint eking out of him.

“Beat him, he needs to learn his place. His friends will soon be executed.”

“Executed? I guess he’s just a rag doll until then.”

Needless to say they hit him and singed him, pouring salt water over his wounds. Dark stone surrounded him, he was kept in a public square for prisoners, his feet placed on scalding stone, the walls flanked him, guards stationed on the walls, and on the paths leading to the square. The amount of light fluctuated, between harrowing darkness, and blinding flaming light. Large Demons guarded some intersections. Hunila meanwhile took the time to breathe in, rigging herself up to 20 super constructs.

“200 million…” some of her kinsmen said breathlessly.

“Stop this madness, you can’t be serious!” Korax said breathlessly.

“I can and will,” she uttered, “this is more than just a simple rescue. This is vengeance,” she seethed.

Hunila teleported into the Demonic realm of Cahov, she had been redirected to the southern realms. Why she was redirected she could not discern, but as she did so she was met by hell minions which she soon promptly dispatched. Towers sprouted in the landscape, and her own minions, soulless purple fire elementals soon scoured the countryside. Marching along what passed for country roads, dark cobblestone in the red background of an eerie looking hell. She teleported along in short bursts. Seeing a Demon fortress guarding a crossroads, she surrounded it with ten towers as they rained down purple flames, a white flag was raised and she appeared before the beleaguered garrison commander.

“So?” She asked, “where is this? Where would they keep prisoners?”

“Prisoners?” The moderately sized Demon repeated, “I have no idea, I just keep guard of this stretch of road.”

“Damn it, I followed those damn bastards through their portal, but it must have redirected me.”

“That’s right,” the Demon admitted, gulping audibly, “Cahov redirects people here if they come uninvited.”

A horde of Demons had noticed her, large and small they flocked to kill her, and she immediately directed her fire elementals, they were unconcerned with moving fire, thinking themselves invulnerable, but soon found themselves writhing and turning to ash, to much shock among them.

“How?” The Demons of the fortress whispered breathlessly.

Purple flames shot out of her hands and destroyed Demons instantly. She stood over the corpses of thousands of large Demons, towers sprouted and shot at thousands more. She rotated her head like a guardsman, and wondered where to wander, she shot a purple plume that destroyed so many Demons, that the Demons on the tower merely gawked at her mesmerised by her sheer power.

Damn it, where is he?

She saw a sign in Demon script, she had no idea what it said, until through mere gleaning and spending of Zira, she knew exactly what it said.

“Goblina, 500 leagues, Carson 60 Leagues, Cahovia 1000,” she growled. Which one is he at?

She teleported in front of Goblina, it seemed they couldn’t redirect her as long as she was already within the Demon realm. She put her towers in front of the city walls, blowing apart stretches of walls before quite quickly overwhelming the garrison. Demon armies followed her from all over the place intending to kill or capture her, they failed. Millions of Demons lived in Goblina, but what was quite striking was the sheer number of slaves inside the city. Everywhere. Chains around the necks of these green and orange looking Goblins. Thin emaciated, some bigger than others, some stronger than others, they ranged from 1.5 metres to a mere half a metre. The information overloaded into Hunila’s brain, she intended to look for Madakos, help find him in this mess, but instead she saw endless slave after slave, most living in abject squalor. They were controlled through slave collars that stopped them disobeying their masters, she broke them from afar, shattering them instantly; that already had the goblins attention, they looked at the figure who had done so, shocked and in awe. Hunila then prepared her speech voice, her lilac eyes glowed in a fury that could be seen from down below.

“I have come to find my man, kidnapped by these foul Demons. He is not here, whatever you are, whatever your story, you deserve better than this. So in light of our mutual enemies I give you this!”

When a Demon tried to snipe her with a crossbow, she in turn sniped the crossbowman, audibly shocking slave and Demon alike. Goblins picked up spears, and given the large casualties of the garrison already, Demon soldiers were easily overwhelmed and then gutted. Hunila precipitated a slave revolt like no other in Demon history; Goblins shrieked in appreciation, lifted arms into the air, absorbing the god like figure who had saved them. The annals of Goblin history, would have this moment immortalised forever.

Wait for me my dear. I hope I am not too late.

Madakos was being beaten with sticks and having the skin of his feet burned off for fun. Zira eked into him, and he tried his hardest to make it count. He memorised the faces of the Demons around him.

Will I torture you when I am free? Or will I kill you? So many questions. Let’s focus on staying alive.

“Sir! There’s been a rebellion in Goblina!” A soldier hurriedly reported.

“Rebellion?” The Demon turned confused.

A Devil appeared, leaving red flames and immediately stuck a red crystal into Madakos’s brain. It did not kill him.

“Change of plans, we will make him a Devil. His magic system will become a weapon for the Demons. For Cahov.”

Madakos lost all sense of reality. Collapsing onto the ground, as Demonic laughter rattled inside his head. He writhed on the floor, the beatings were impossible to feel, confused anxious mad laughter erupted from Madakos, as he was in his own world now; the faces mixed inside his head; it was unclear who the torturers were, what reality even was, madness ensued.

Hunila besieged the next city of Carson. She was brutal with the guards, piercing their guts, city walls a sea of purple flames, large Demons came out of sewers, an esteemed elite unit that was immediately torched, turned into dust. Hunila prowled the city’s streets, in reality looking for Madakos, all she found were vengeful Demons who she defeated. She put towers all over, but she could see no Human anywhere. The towers spared the innocents, but soldiers were fair game, torched, imps were also torched, their impish screams being banished into the ether. The city walls, a black brick that the Cahovians loved so much was aflame with purple. She teleported into the governor’s palace, a confused and scared governor, hid behind his leather office chair. Marble inside, a more pristine and polished look than anything she had seen before. An elite noble, he waited with a sceptre, an ornament of his power as a governor, he pointed at the threat and shouted:

“Die Elven wretch!”

Two magic wielding Demons charged attempting to end the threat, Hunila didn’t even turn her head piercing them with thick Zira shots, leaving two corpses.

“What do you want? Who are you?” The Governor said, “kill her!”

There was no one to carry out such an order, instead Hunila used her fire elementals to block off the corridors, her eyes glowed in pure fury, glaring at the governor. She clasped her fist making an audible cracking sound.

“Stand up! Where is he?” She demanded.

He did so, not understanding what was happening.

“Man? I don’t… prisoners would be kept at Cahovia, probably,” he said desperately trying to save his life.

She slammed the man into the wall.

“Fuck, what the?” Hell was that for. The Governor said and then thought breathlessly. Is that a Warlock?

“You see the others,” Hunila said, “I’m doing you a mercy stupid.”

She broke down the ornate door leading into his mansion for no particular reason, torched guards who attempted to attack her, and teleported in the general direction of Cahovia. The Demon Empire was vast, and there were signs to all kinds of places, she scanned the scenery, not caring for anything but vengeance and rescuing Madakos as quickly as possible; she tutted, and clasped her sweaty palms, she was beyond furious, every fortress was beamed with thick Zira magic, the soldiers often dropping out of the fortifications to take cover; she was not quite so merciful with soldiers in the field that were sent to stop her, not even cinders were left. She teleported and teleported, and scanned the magma fields and charred landscape, but eventually she found what she was looking for. There she stood before the walls of Cahovia, a mixture of excitement, extreme fear and rage at the Cahov Demons for putting her through this. Her Shadow Elven fists were clenched ready to absolutely annihilate anything that got in her way. Three large walls, the inner sanctum being 100 metres tall, the other two were 50 and 20 respectively. Breaching the first, then the second was risky, for she didn’t bother to subdue it, she reached the inner wall and shouted for Madakos. The man caught in a state of delirium having Demons and Devils inside his head; immediately broke all constraints within a mere instant, obliterating the Demon crystal inside of him, and torched the guards who had been torturing him. Zira flowed into him like a burst dam.

“Fuck…” he muttered, “these fucks have no manners.”

A Demon attempted to clobber him, but had its hands and legs sliced off in a mere instant, the wispy purple flame enveloping the corpse. The Demon writhed in front of him.

“Using me as bait. Damn you all!” He said, unwittingly killing two Devil’s next to him.

Madakos saw a figure, standing on the inner wall, visible from the square he was tortured on; eyes that softened with every look at him. Madakos teleported to her.

“You’re here?” He said, incredulous and happy, “tell me this isn’t a dream?”

He had tears in his eyes, and infinite gratitude. He was hugging her with full force.

“Of course not. You idiot! You moron! You had me so worrie-”

He kissed her and put her out of her mind, out of her shouting.

“Thank you,” he said, his head on her shoulder, “the fact you came for me, is something I will never ever forget,” Madakos whispered in sheer gratitude.

She shot two Demons behind him, and then erected towers out of spite.

“We should get out of here, we can certainly whittle them down, but there are many of them. Far too many,” Madakos said breathlessly.

“I assure you, I would and could annihilate every last one of them. They hurt you, I will never forgive them!”

“Thank you Hunila,” he whispered, holding her waist tight, “there are innocents among them, I forgive them.”

She looked down at his tattered self, evidence of scars from the Demon torture, grimacing at them, staring at them more intensely and then at his face.

“If that is your wish,” she said. I will never forgive them. But if you do. Then I will… sort of.

“Let’s get the fuck out of here,” Madakos whispered with a tired smile.

Both blipped back to their fort they had in the land of Bacteria. Madakos healed himself somewhat, but Hunila helped a lot. Although with near infinite Zira, there was still residual pain, shock and trauma from being tortured, and from having Demon crystals stuck in his brain.

“Refortify this place!” Madakos ordered, “there are far more Demons than I imagined.”

“Something tells me we’ll be alright,” Hunila mused.

Many powers on the continent feared what a warlock could do, but Cahov had discovered exactly exactly what they were so afraid of and why it was so foolish to antagonise one. Madakos’s fears of reprisals would never come, Hunila would become a folk story for aeons into the future, a story to scare Demon children if they misbehaved; what she did was so outlandish, it seemed unreal to many, but everyone who witnessed it and was lucky to survive said she was a force of nature. Some even recounted Hunila in troubadour tales, a she wolf; but Madakos was regretful, his she wolf had risked a lot to come rescue him.

“I’m sorry Hunila, had I not been so…”

“For what?” Hunila laughed, “you did nothing wrong, nothing at all.”

She soothed him, putting her hand on his front and back, but he had suffered psychologically, a nagging feeling that he had been too weak, Hunila disabused him from that notion. Placing her hand on his feet, on his chest, on his arms and legs. He decided to quickly heat up some soup. The rest of the village was informed of his rescue and were happy for it, most smiled knowingly. Hunila put healing salves on where his wounds were, even though they had healed already, having a calming effect if not a healing effect. Her eyes lit up, and he felt the hypnotic light, they were filled with lust, he brushed her face and kissed deeply. She kissed his chest multiple times; holding his dick in her hands,

“I can’t imagine what I’d do if they’d damaged this,” she purred.

He chuckled.

“Thankfully not,” he whispered, “they were too busy beating me everywhere else.”

“Good, I mean.”

He laughed again, kissed her forehead and she looked kindly at him. He clasped her butt with lust, but was overcome with relief in another sense.

“Thank you for coming for me,” he said, in a tight embrace.

“Your dick is poking at me,” she said interrupting, “but I would do it a thousand times. Save you I mean. But we can try that as well.”

“More than that surely? The saving I mean.”

They both laughed, interrupting their mirth with lust. She kissed him, and he kissed her.

“Stay still, I will help you.”

She removed his trousers before deciding to suck his lust out of him. She looked up at him, and he exhaled desperately, as she did not let him. She put her hands on his thighs, slobbering on him before he exploded inside her mouth. She swallowed his seed calmly before she tugged at him, and led them to the baths outside. The walls to protect from leering eyes were still there, although Hunila checked in an almost paranoid fashion to see if it was still there. She kissed him and she erupted into crying.

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“I was so scared,” she blubbered into his shoulder.

“It’s ok, truthfully I was too, I was so glad to see you,” he said pressing her tightly.

“We’re having a moment here,” she growled at his physical self rubbing on her, “but I’m just the same.”

She was soaked, her face dripping, and her pussy too.

“Sorry there’s too many differing emotions, but they all blend, I assure you,” he said nuzzling her breast.

“I know,” she said softly.

She clasped his head with a gentle feminine touch. The mixture of the pure with the illicit provided a dizzying mess, one he broke with.

“I love you,” he said.

“You know that means less when you say it now,” she said to him, half grinning.

“Maybe but it feels more,” he said huskily, caressing her.

Her muscular body was leaned up against his, her chest, her pussy, everything about her filled him with vigour and desire. He clasped her voluptuous body before they both comforted themselves for the evening.

While Madakos enjoyed his evening, the great Goblin insurrection continued in the Demon realm, Goblins had impaled Demons, and organised roaming bands to fight and clash with Demon regiments. They fought across Goblina and its environs; Demons and Devils came to restore order and they did in the city centre, but many Goblins had fled into the nearby hills and caverns, some retreating into the sewers, others dying like dogs on the street. Many more Goblins were being freed, hiding in the caves, some outright taking over villages, while others fought pitched battles and were promptly defeated, the survivors executed. Jubilation at gaining freedom, fear of losing it, the smell of blood everywhere. Despite Hunila’s ravaging of the fortresses and forts, there was little doubt that the Demons would restore order, even among the Goblins. Some threw away their arms, but others exhorted all to fight.

“We have been given this chance, and so we can either die in freedom or live as slaves forever! Choose!”

“I choose the third option!”

“What?” The Goblin rabble rouser asked.

“Kill them and live free!” The interjector Goblin screamed, to absolute jubilation.

The shrieks, the shouts, the collective eye wetting as thousands screamed. They scribbled messages, on walls, cliff sides and buildings; written with blades, blood or ink.

Izuk will live in our hearts.

You can only kill us.

These words be my testimonial, I chose freedom.

Many behaved like rabid dogs: one pack in particular managed to catch a Devil, the Devil was prowling, readying flame spells in his hands, before sharpened sticks struck through his hands, and then his legs. The ringing pain was less deafening than the sheer confusion at having been hit, pierced like a pig on a spit, and by what a Devil would consider a completely lesser being, for in their eyes, Demons were lesser beings, let alone Goblins.

“What?” The Devil uttered, baffled by its situation.

The Devil in question managed to burn one Goblin to a crisp, and crush another one’s head like a grape, but even then he bled out, even a Devil could be killed by a Goblin, and it soon slumped to the floor, lifeless.

“Those rascals! Kill them!”

Poison gas out of nowhere was used on the Demons, the Goblins immediately masked up. Coughing before slumping to the floor. This was the state of Goblina, sheer rebellion. Sweat on everyone’s faces, blood on everyone’s clothes, death on every street. The most unfortunate were perhaps the common Demons, even those who did not own slaves, who did not directly oppress the Goblins who would still be caught up in Goblin reprisals. They were not enlightened freedom fighters by any stretch of the imagination, but only a fool couldn’t understand them. Some left over fortresses had been taken by the Goblins, these ones were particularly foolish, for the forts were designed with teleportation in mind, Devils and large Demons could appear and easily overwhelm the garrison. This was how the Goblins lost their independence to begin with, again these Goblins did not have a full grasp of their own history, and most were illiterate with all the dangers that came with.

Admiral of the Fourth fleet Elana was a beautiful blonde and any other time she would have had men flocking to marry her, if they could deal with her; but at that particular moment, she was drenched in Demon blood alongside some of her own, she screamed her head off as she fought what seemed like endless hordes. Her own troops had a few scrapes, but most were simply awed by the bloody figure who fought the Demons, beautiful even in the ugliest situation, brave, daring, making the hearts of her soldiers beat harder, as their commander dived into danger.

“Casper! Get back here Casper! Amalric, come back and fight! Damn you all!” She shouted, gesticulating with every shout.

Her metal Golems, sliced necks, and in some cases outright saved her troops; bludgeoning Demons and catching fatal blows that were meant for flesh havers. The Golems an extension of her will, dense metallic beings that even if not as big as a Demon, could take any hit and continue the fight with intensity.

“Other summoners! Gather around the admiral!” One of her lieutenants shouted shrilly.

“I am going to break their siege! I am going to break their control of our country! Whose with me?” She screamed, to much enthusiasm.

Soaked in blood, others did indeed join her, two other summoners who had earth elementals bolstered her forces, immediately pushed the Demon forces back, large rock Golems wrestled and grappled Demon soldiers, stopping them from harming their summoners.

“Admiral, we are the last summoners connected to army command here! Allow us to join you.”

She nodded, her hair done in a ponytail, soaked like a quill in blood, her steel blade sheen with hot crimson too. Her two lieutenants were a water elemental user Jafar, her lead navigator, and an Ice mage Izotz, a silver haired gentleman, whose height of two metres was almost as impressive as his magic. Izotz summoned ice elementals, which were used like mobile artillery, shrill sounds of salvos left his summoned creatures which were followed by the sounds of Demons croaking in their blood as these projectiles hurtled, pierced and impaled. Izotz single handedly routed an entire section of Demon infantry, who were promptly slaughtered by their own side to enforce discipline however brutally; he had a devastating impact on the Demon’s morale, the Golems were already something, but ice falling in arcs toward the enemies, with never-ending vigour left the Demons totally bereft of initiative. Elana pressed on. She ran down some slopes and up others, her Golems and her allies’ Golems fanned out to catch and alert the summoners to any ambuscades. Cahov Demons had headed south to invade Urir and had formed a massive camp, in fact there were at least four; Izotz laid waste to one, the Golems concentrating on defending the summoners. The camp belonged to Grand General Costros, a Devil who promptly summoned reinforcements. Elana did not have many men with her, she had 10 crossbowmen, a few summoners, and all the summoned creatures; the rest were guarding Fortus and would tell her if the city was under attack, and if reinforcement was needed. Millions of Demons descended on their position, Izotz and Jafar produced a torrent of water and ice and blood. Lakes of blood. Demons slumped to their knees, impaled to trees, outright shot in the head. The metallic blood was everywhere, everything was red, blood trickling off of tree stumps, the metal Golems which were a mix of shiny and matt steel coloured, were now also covered in a red hue. The Ice and water diluted the blood somewhat, but made the ground boggy. Elana in the midst of the fighting managed to rescue 50 crossbowmen stuck in a tower, her steel Golems sliced Demons in half, but quite often were destroyed in the process. Large meteorites hit and killed 15 crossbowmen, but the rest managed to be rescued, scrambling, falling over, hitting rocks or scraping elbows and knees on sticks and dirt. The crossbowmen were weary, bloody, and running behind cover; Izotz provided thousands of icicles a second successfully covering their flanks, Demon soldiers were hit and the projectiles melted into puddles alongside the Demon blood. Half an hour and Elana had destroyed three of the four camps, and had unwittingly derailed the Cahov invasion of Urir, Earth Demons lizard riders could be seen riding through Cahov imps, then cheering their victory. The Urir army neatly on their side of their border, their orange uniforms likewise covered in red blood.

“Glory to Amalkur! Glory to Urir!” An Urir soldier screamed, getting a raucous response from his comrades.

“There are Sumar soldiers there, they must be responsible for this,” the lizard rider said, “thanks be to you!” He shouted.

Elana stared at them with a snarl, and spat on the ground. The Earth Demons were intimidated and awe struck by the woman. They all stared unblinking at this beast, scarier than any monster, their orange complexions covered in dread, covered in the blood of the dead, sweat crinkled their shirts, lamellar leather armour having dents and cuts; in truth they were exhausted. Tears in their eyes, and elation at having won.

We did it. They collectively thought.

The Uriri cheered, Elana scowled at them.

“No doubt they’d wage war on us if they weren’t invaded,” she muttered.

Is that a human? My god and a woman. And what a woman too.

A she-wolf by personality and achievement, her blue eyes sharp and vengeful. She advanced eastwards and took two smouldered fortifications, rescuing one beleaguered spearman who was promptly sent to Fortus to reinforce the defence.

“Thank you ma’am!”

She glared at the man she saved and continued her march eastwards, she took two more forts, but there were no men alive, only corpses. Men strewn on the battlements, the bricks broken, towers laid on the floor, smouldering smoke and recently killed.

“Those bastards…” Izotz muttered angrily, “we must kill more of them. I will kill more of them.’

Elana glanced at her loyal mobile artillery maker, giving a brief curt nod to indicate she agreed with him. She scanned the battlefield, a mess that she couldn’t help feel a little sad about.

“We will need to make camp eventually,” Elana said, “these pricks,” she muttered.

A Demon scratched her back, she tumbled it and sliced it in half, the sound of claws had been audible to all, the pain imagined by all. Elana turned her head to her comrades.

“Pour brine on me!” She demanded, “fuck…” she seethed.

A man stood with a staff, scraggly, thin but muscly, going for functional use.

“Death to Sumar!”

Golems tried to cut him down but the staff destroyed a Golem, when Demons appeared he destroyed them too.

“Demons, Sumar, they’re all the same,” he said, “all they want is our taxes, all they give is our lives.”

“I am liberating the Kingdom from the Demon invaders,” Elana said, “get the fuck out of the way!”

“Never!” The figure said, gesticulations even more aggressive.

Demons tried to attack the scraggly peasant, their heads lopped off. Straight blades on each end of his staff.

“Izotz!” Elana shouted.

The warrior peasant disappeared running into the countryside, icicles fell on the battlefield killing only Demons. Elana scowled, she unsheathed her sword and looked at the countryside, much of it burnt to ash, but there was fighting up ahead. It snowed ash in many places, the falling dry cinders producing gasps from awe struck soldiers.

“Are those Uriri?” Izotz asked.

“No they’re the same breed as that guy.”

“Are we even friends with Uriri?” Jafar asked.

“Are we even friends with the peasantry,” Izotz said half sarcastically.

Everyone turned to Jafar first, admonishing his stupid question, they looked at Izotz with doubt, for the loyalty to Sumar in the countryside seemed dubious.

“We are only temporarily at peace due to the advent of the Cahov invasion, everything is temporary,” Elana explained angrily.

“I see,” Jafar muttered, “such a shame.”

“No it isn’t.” Elana whispered breathlessly, “let’s take back our kingdom!” She shouted for all to hear.

Elana marched through the Demon corpses, but what she saw were countless destroyed villages, dry fields that didn’t seem to have much going on, tax collectors and Lord’s retinues slaughtered by Human hands not Demon.

“Now!” A voice was heard screaming.

Elana braced, the Golems fanned out to find the commotion, but it was followed by the groans of slaughtered Demons. Some impaled, some merely decapitated, others alive and fighting, but Elana killed those ones. Nonetheless the land was charred, scarred, and had few survivors. They marched along, and it seemed Cahov had encountered resistance, other camps were found absolutely trashed, their supplies taken, angry Human eyes looked at Elana, not a shred of thanks to give her.

“The army was defeated or ran away, the Lord was a coward. What are you doing here?” A peasant woman growled.

“I am admiral Elana of the fourth fleet, I have come to liberate the- kingdom…”

The peasants hissed at her, some even throwing things, and so she moved on. The devastation was palpable, but some peasants looked at her with just as much hostility as they would the Demons. Elana marched along, seeing few Cahov Demons, the next village had grilled a bunch of them on spits, eating the flesh. Elana’s retinue twitched in horror, some clasping each other’s shoulders, other’s merely looked away.

“They have nothing to eat Elana,” a crossbowman explained.

In that moment Demons poured out of portals, Elana’s metal Golems sliced them open, other’s came out, Izotz ice elementals gunned them down. The villager’s still seethed at the Sumar retinue, but were at least a little bit more forgiving.

“Take that field and leave us alone!”

A ‘field’ was being extremely generous; it was a scorched wasteland, ashen soil, small sprouts of grass here and there, and wooden stumps where trees once stood, some scorched corpses and some skeletons. Not even the carrion bird squawked for they feared what lurked down below, instead flying abroad to have their meals. Humans feasted on Demon flesh, looking with hostile eyes at the countrymen who came to ‘save’ them from the Cahov army. Elana elected to continue marching, going across the ravaged country.

“I am from the coast, but I didn’t realise so many rural people hated the Kingdom, and this much,” Elana said entirely to herself.

A loyalist appeared from nowhere, very happy to see Elana and her small retinue.

“Someone to save the kingdom. Finally! The King sent someone.”

“I’m not sent by the King,” Elana said, “I decided myself on this.”

The loyalist was enthralled, a chubby man whose clothes had smouldered with all the flames that had flown past him courtesy of the Demons.

“A true patriot!” The man said excitedly, “I wish you luck. My house was burnt down by the Demons. If I could merely accompany you.”

“Whatever you wish,” Jafar answered for his commander.

“As he said,” Elana said, “you will receive the same rations as everyone else.”

The chubby man’s enthusiasm was quite the thing, untouched by Elana’s biting comment, he pointed to a supply depot run by the Demons. Elana immediately pounced on the badly defended Demon supplies, metal and earth Golems slicing and crushing the Demons before they even had the opportunity to strike back.

“Jafar, Izotz, get ready, that seemed to be too easy.”

“Why couldn’t you use the summoned creatures to help us!” A villager said, “our farms could have used the help!”

“Yeah!”

The loyalist began berating the angry peasants. They were having none of it, shouting aspersions back at him, some even throwing rocks.

“Admiral Elana!” The loyalist said, “ow, ow, ow!”

Getting in the way of the rocks, he glared at the peasants.

“She could have sat in the harbour you know!” The loyalist hit true, his words reducing their hatred to mere glares.

Elana shared the bounty she had plundered with the local villagers, again there was only less hate, but they were at least willing to listen now. Thousands of Demon soldiers descended on their position trying to destroy them. Izotz slaughtered them, gunning them down, before an eery silence permeated the land. The hostile peasants looked at Izotz like a god, gaping despite the hostility.

“We should move,” Elana muttered, “let’s fortify a hill or something, and rest for the day.”

They found the right target, fortifying a hill before sleeping. Jafar helped wash Elana’s hair that was full of Demon blood.

“Well done for today.”

“You too ma’am,” Jafar said, “you fought like a wolverine. Even those villagers, their emotions were complicated, but deep down the fact an admiral decided to fight on land is already something.”

"Thank you Jafar,” she murmured, “it’s nice of you to say.”

All of them collapsed for the day. Izotz and Jafar were in state’s of semi consciousness, only controlling their summons in their dreams, while their bodies rested. They were not needed, the night was calm, too calm.

“They were right though,” Elana muttered, referring to the peasants earlier comments, “I am not a great person.”

The loyalist turned and looked introspectively, tutting. The loyalist began speaking:

“You are more than that,” he whispered, “I know the kingdom is not perfect, but when someone is trying to make it better…” he left his words unsaid, biting them down.

“Thank you,” she whispered softly, “thank you.”

Izotz laid back on a tree, his silver hair shining in the moonlight, smiling at the encouraging words.

Emotionally a wolf, the way she fights for kin and against enemies; and perhaps martially a wolverine in her shear ferocity. And I am perhaps far more than that.

The air smelt of pollen somehow, some trees not turned to cinder had bees buzzing in the night time, collecting the plant material to synthesise into honey. The smell was pleasant, a pleasant smell to forget the unpleasant ones. Pleasant thoughts to forget the unpleasant ones.

Admiral of the third fleet, Admiral Roderic had sailed his fleet away from Suno toward the military port of the Cahov Demons that was on the Continent of Sand. He sailed at tip top speeds, he found and sunk 300 ships with the mere power of water; water elementals punctured holes in hulls, the ships croaked into the sea, the crew scrambling overboard. The sailors mostly survived, putting themselves on drift wood, they had abysmal morale, and other ships merely surrendered, leaving Roderic confused. His fleet had raced into their harbour of the Cahov Demons, and he was going to sink the ships in the harbour, but they surrendered too.

“What’s going on?” Roderic asked bewildered, scanning for possible traps.

His lieutenants scoured the area, but the Demon surrender, seemed to be genuine; there was clear evidence of infighting, some Demons having stabbed others, Nina stared with bird eyed concentration, and could see evidence of Demon blades having stabbed Demon bodies, claw marks from Devils and larger Demons, she audibly gasped.

“Something very strange is going on…” she uttered with little confidence, not sure herself of what to think let alone say.

The Demon soldiers and sailors they encountered also surrendered, raising white flags. Large Scorpion-Men and ants descended on the makeshift city; the Cahov Demons managed to hold them at bay, but they were a beleaguered lot. Much of the harbour was in tatters already, even before Roderic came by, and the sailors and soldiers had low supplies.

“Please admiral, spare our ships, so we can fish for food!” One captain of a ship begged Roderic.

Talida’s air elementals scouted the area in case this was some sort of trick. There was not a single structure left standing, and many corpses littered the sand, turning the otherwise fine and orange sand rouge. The carrion bird had a feast, some of the bodies washed into the sea as the constant sound of the tides was heard over squawking birds.

“Nina? What have your gryphons spotted?” Roderic asked.

“Destruction.” Nina said solemnly, “a lot have fled.”

“Fled?” The admiral said, “why? How?”

“I think they can portal away. As for why, there are many reasons why a war could end.”

The boards of his ship creaked and Admiral Roderic turned his head, staring over the bay, in that moment a Demon appeared before him and bowed his head.

“On behalf of all Cahov forces in this world, we surrender and will withdraw from your lands. Our empire is in strife, we shall disband now.”

Lord Agelas a Devil had started a civil war, and as such many Cahov Demons stayed in the world they had attempted to conquer, these exiles formed a civilian port where the military port used to be, situated on the edge of the sand continent. Goblins, traitors and defeat had forced the Cahov Empire to flee the continent, the world, and had thus retreated back to their own realm: Cahovia. The omnipotent Cahovian armies were defeated, whether they could have won if they were united at home would be a question many would wrangle with for some time to come.