The heroes had been deployed to the domain where Elaseen village was. The town was destroyed, bodies were mutilated and put on display for all to see. Several soldiers were taking the bodies down to give them all a proper burial. It was obvious the soldiers were sickened and furious over what had happened. The town’s population consisted of a mix of humans and fae-folk. There was a large forest to the west that was home to an elven kingdom.
“This is… horrible.” Lindsey stated as Greggory tried to comfort her.
“We will get these Demon-Lord worshipping bastards.” Gabriel stated.
His behavior still put off the other heroes and they were suspicious of him still.
A soldier approached them. “Heroes! It is good to see you all. I was told to inform you as soon as you arrived that we were able to find news of a potential hideout of the cultists.” He stated while saluting.
“I see. Where?” Gabriel asked.
The soldier pulled out a map and pointed to a spot on the map. “Here, near the Howling Gorge. We believe that if you head to the gorge and follow it to the north-east, you will find one of their bases.”
“Shall we check it out?” Gabriel asked Hana.
“Has it been scouted already?” She asked the soldier.
“No ma’am. It could potentially be a trap, but are short on man-power here.” The soldier reported.
“Perhaps we should speak to the commander?” Greggory asked.
“If we waste too much time, would it not put more people in danger?” Gabriel asked.
“If there is potential of a trap, which is better? Us dead? Or exercising a bit of caution?” Hana retorted.
“Fair point.” Gabriel conceded.
His behavior still weirded her out.
They headed into the town to find the commander.
The burly man curtly welcomed them. “Welcome heroes. I hope you all will be of use.”
The heroes looked toward Gabriel, expecting him to blow up.
“We will do our best to bring an end to the atrocity.” Gabriel bowed his head.
The commander turned to the soldier. “Did you inform them?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I know it’s risky, but we have no choice. I will have to ask you all to check out the location immediately.” The commander said.
Hana felt hesitant but agreed to the order.
The commander provided an armored carriage for them to use, and they headed out of town to investigate the lead.
Hours later, they arrived at the Howling Gorge. It was deep, with none of them being able to see the bottom.
“We must be careful.” Hana ordered.
“Yes. Let’s keep a bit of a distance from the edge.” Lindsey commented.
Climbing back into the carriage they continued on their way. But the moment they tried to pull away from the gorge edge.
“GET OUT!” Haley shouted, kicking both Hana and Gabriel out of the carriage.
As they flew out, an explosion occurred at the bottom of the carriage, launching it into the gorge.
Greggory was able to grab Lindsey and jump from the carriage as they were in the front. He glided to the ground while carrying Lindsey.
“Damn, is everyone okay?” Greggory asked.
“HALEY!” Hana ran toward the edge of the gorge.
Hana held out her staff, trying to find Haley to cast a spell to help her, but the woman was nowhere to be seen.
“No…” Hana fell to her knees.
“No one could survive that…” Gabriel commented.
“YOU SHUT UP!” Hana stood and stared him down.
“She’s gone Ha-.”
She slapped him. “Don’t you dare say it. Out of all of us, her class gives her the highest chance of survival. There is no way she is dead.”
“I agree. Haley is a survivor. I will contact her people to have them search for her. They have that small skiff they could use to check below.” Greggory pulled out his Crys-Link.
Hana pulled out hers and began to call Haley. “Come on…”
No answer.
“We should be careful. It is obvious the cult setup this trap to keep people away from their base.” Gabriel had his sword and shield ready.
“We should continue.” Greggory placed a comforting hand on Hana’s shoulder. “Her people will find her.”
Hana took a deep breath, not wanting to leave her friend alone, but they had a job to do.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Haley was rocked about inside the carriage from the explosive spell went off. With the lack of gravity, she was sure the carriage careened into the gorge and she was falling fast. Struggling with the spinning vehicle, she managed to get to the open door and jump out.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Haley threw out her hands, sending her mana threads to latch onto anything they could.
Taking hold she swung toward the wall and slammed into it taking several injuries. She felt her threads come loose as the points they latched onto broke or came free.
She was falling again.
Below, Haley heard the carriage crash into the ground, she knew she didn’t have much more time.
Again, her mana threads lashed out and took hold, but again it was only brief. The stones of the walls were too brittle to handle her weight and speed together.
The opposite wall was too far for her to use, so she managed as best as she could.
Slamming again and again to the wall, her injuries increased, the pain was unbearable.
Before she lost consciousness, she saw the bottom of the gorge.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Caeldaemos lightly flew across the bottom of the gorge. He left Flower a few hours ago and arrived at the town. There he found a few hiding cultists who disguised themselves as soldiers. After interrogating them with an improved Dominate, he found out that the cultist’s hideout was at the bottom of the Howling Gorge.
“This place is sure creepy.” He commented.
The walls looked like they were covered in teeth. If someone were to fall against it, they would take a lot of damage.
Earlier, when he checked the southwest end of the gorge, he found nothing, so he was now heading to the northeast to find and crush the base.
“What the hell?” Caeldaemos found an armored carriage that was smashed into bits against the gorge floor. “Damn.”
He checked around the carriage and was happy to not find any bodies, that is, until he found one twenty feet away.
“Oh…” He said, looking down at the injured hero. “Shit…”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Haley groaned as she rolled onto her side. Her body didn’t hurt as much as she thought it was going to. She also felt… warm.
Her eyes opened to see a small fire nearby. Looking up, she could see that it was still day, so she could not have been out for long.
“You’re finally awake.” A powerful voice spoke, one she recognized.
Haley rolled away from it and reached for her weapons, only to find them missing.
“I hope you understand my caution after our last encounter.”
Before her on a large stone, sat the Demon-Lord himself, adding a few more sticks to the fire.
“How do you feel?” He asked.
“B-Better.” She was nervous. Even with all five of them together and they couldn’t do anything against him, what could she do.
“Good. I found you unconscious down here and healed your wounds. Care to tell me what happened?”
It was then that Hana’s words came to mind, the ones she told them from Io. “Are you… going to hurt me?” She cautiously asked.
“So long as you don’t try to harm me, I won’t.”
Haley stepped over and joined him by the fire, opposite of him.
“Why?” She asked, hinting at him healing her.
“Why not. I have no qualms with you.”
“Why are you different?”
“I just am, or perhaps to be clearer, I was a mistake. Someone who should not have become the Demon-Lord. They wanted a common foe to unify the world, but I chose not to be sacrificed.”
His words confused her. “What do you mean? Who is they?”
The Demon-Lord chuckled. “The gods.”
Haley sharply inhaled. “You’re lying! Why would the gods do such a thing!? Millions have died because of Demon-Lords!”
“You’re not wrong. But try to think of it as a bigger picture. Before you heroes and myself came into the world, the people of Owtrelus were on the verge of war.”
“What does that have to do with anything!?” She shouted, her voice echoing down the quiet gorge.
She could barely see the Demon-Lord’s eyes, and they were full of pity.
He sighed. “People are susceptible to the deadly sins. Wrath, Pride, Greed, Envy, Lust, Gluttony, and Sloth. Given enough time, it will always lead to death. The creation of the Demon-Lord is a method to ‘reset’ people’s hearts and minds. You know well the old hatred between humans and demons, yet they travel together with all of you peacefully, do they not?”
Haley froze at his words. She couldn’t refute them.
The Demon-Lord continued. “By sacrificing a few, they save the many. By sacrificing one cursed to be a Demon-Lord, they can bring long lasting peace to the world. I do not think the gods are incorrect in their actions. I just wish there was a better way.”
“A better way?” Haley asked.
“Yes. I want a more long-term solution. Bringing all the races together, intermixing them amongst themselves. All so that they can always see that they are not all that different. That they are all just wanting to live peaceful, happy lives.”
Haley had to admit, what the Demon-Lord was saying sounded great. “How do you want to get there?”
“I don’t know yet. A goal is easy to find, it is the path that can be treacherous.”
Haley silently agreed with the Demon-Lord. She looked up at him as he took a drink from a canteen. “Why are you here?”
The Demon-Lord stood from his rock. “I came here to crush the cultists. I will not standby and allow innocent people to suffer. I killed a few cultists back in the town who were posing as soldiers.”
“That must be how the explosion spell got on the carriage.” Haley concluded.
“Is that how you ended up down here?”
“Yes.”
“Well, I am sure your party will send help. Stay here. I am going to deal with the cultists.”
“Wait!” She grabbed his arm and immediately froze in regret.
“What is it? Ah, your weapons.” The Demon-Lord dropped her weapons on the ground nearby.
“No. Well, yes. But I want to help.” Haley stated.
The Demon-Lord eyed her. “Fine. You can help. But there is one thing I want you to do.”
“And that is?” Haley asked.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Caeldaemos rode his magic cycle up the gorge to the northeast. Sitting behind him was Haley the hero.
“I think it is up ahead. I am detecting something.” Haley stated.
“Roger.” Caeldaemos replied, stopping to put his cycle away.
Short bit later, they arrived at a large carved entrance.
“Intruders!” A guard cried.
“No! Wait! Its him!” The other guard shouted.
Haley kept behind Caeldaemos, keeping her hood and mask on to hide her face.
A short time later, a man in fine robes and a mask made from the flesh of the races came out.
“It’s him! He is the high priest!” Haley whispered to Caeldaemos.
“My lord! It is so good that you have come to see us! Shall we work together to bring a righteous end to the world?” The high priest extended his hand.
“Nope.”
“Pardon?”
“I said, nope.”
“But then, why are you here?” The high priest asked.
Haley stifled a laugh at Caeldaemos’ relaxed, short answer.
“I don’t much like innocent people getting hurt. Stop what you’re doing and accept your punishment by human laws.” Caeldaemos ordered.
“What?!” The high priest and his followers were shocked at the Demon-Lord’s words. “That is blasphemy! You are a fake! A pretender!”
“Nah. Definitely the Demon-Lord. I just don’t like what you are doing.”
“Kill them!” The high priest ordered.
Before any of them could move to the high priest’s orders, Caeldaemos appeared in front of the man and instantly crushed him with his jaeger mace.
The followers froze, shivering in fear of the Demon-Lord.
“Anyone else want to fight?” Caeldaemos asked, flexing his Lord of War ability to crush their wills to fight.
Even in their fear, they refused to give up their insane religion, attacking Caeldaemos.
“Well, I gave you all a choice.”
Parts of the gorge walls curved out and down, crushing the ones on either side of Caeldaemos, leaving only six survivors.
The walls returned back to their normal positions, revealing the splattered mess of crushed bodies and viscera.
“Make your choice. Last chance.” Caeldaemos ordered the remaining six.
Four decided to give up, the remaining two took their own lives, praising the Demon-Lord of Slaughter.
“Wow. I am glad that you are not evil.” Haley commented as Caeldaemos buried the remains.
Haley tied up the four cultists and Caeldaemos put them to sleep for good measure. The Demon-Lord and Hero turned to the large entrance.
“Shall we?” Haley asked.