The next morning, everyone prepared for battle - sharpened their weapons, donned their armour, and ate a hearty breakfast, prepared for them by Raye, which she had referred to as “true warriors’ fayre”.
Xellie sat on the grass in the warm morning sun of Luina Island, with a selection of daggers in front of her. She was going to use the sword gifted to her by Raye, within reason, but wanted to keep something on her person so that she didn’t use it too much. She settled on a long, thin stiletto blade, which she attached to her belt so grab it easily with her left hand.
“Ready to kill some mooks?” Niko asked, crouching down next to her. “Good choice, by the way.”
“I’m always ready,” Xellie replied, playing around with one dagger, balancing it by the tip of her finger. “I have a feeling we’ll be running into more than just mooks.”
“Most likely.” Niko narrowed his eyes in thought. “This is going to be very dangerous.”
“Worried you can’t handle it?” Xellie giggled at her own reply.
“You’re the one who is going to be with Tane and all his worthlessness... But seriously, be careful - you’re not invincible... yet.”
“Yeah yeah I know, I’m completely... Vincible?”
“Is that even a word?” Niko scratched his head as he pondered.
“.. it is.” Raye cut in as she approached the pair, dressed in her pearlescent white armour. “I will do my best to be vigilant, but your soul can still be stolen away by demons. Be careful.”
“Raye... I have a question.” Xellie said, staring down at the collection of daggers in front of her. “If the mooks are still here, does that mean the higher-powered goons Ashmeviti had are still here?”
“If you mean the doppelganger and the lancer demon then... yes, and it’s very likely they will be present in Alpinheim.” Raye knelt beside her children, speaking in a low, careful voice. “The white demon, he is one of the lords of death, a collector and enslaver of souls. Xellie... you must not fight with him. It’s too dangerous.”
“I’ll handle him,” Niko said, laying a hand on Xellie’s shoulder. “You can deal with the doppelganger, he’s more your kind of thing, anyway.”
“Like they’re going to give us the choice.” Xellie sighed. “Excuse me, I’m not going to fight you. Oh, okay.”
Niko chuckled at his sister’s response.
“We’ll work it out. Wanna have a quick sparring session to warm up?”
Xellie glanced sideways at Niko, eyeing him from top to bottom with a smirk on her face. He was a head and half taller than her, his muscular arms twice the size. She picked up a dagger and jabbed the tip into the form-fitting leather armour on his chest.
“No.”
“Scared?”
“It’s not fair,” she said with a shrug, tossing the dagger to the ground and hugging him. “You’re human.”
“I’m used to fighting non-humans, though!” Niko jokingly scoffed. “Don’t be this cocky out there.”
“You too.” She replied.
Raye watched the interaction silently, giving a satisfied nod at the behaviour of her children.
Once everyone was prepared to go, Raye urged everyone to stand together in a group, weapons drawn and ready for combat. She held her hands out, palms toward them. A golden glow enveloped the group, then there was a green flash of light and they found themselves no longer on Luina Island, but in a crumbling and dark city.
“Welcome to Alpinheim,” Raye said, grabbing her staff, which transformed into her golden spear.
“Seems quiet....” Mathos mused aloud, looking around at the dilapidated buildings. “I thought the place was infested.”
“It is,” Raye replied. “They will respond when we become a threat.”
“So what’s the plan?” Niko asked, shuffling slightly closer to Grau. “This place is creepy.”
“Niko and Grau, you will head into the centre of the city and close the portal at the shrine there. Xellie, Mattos, Tane and Ary will distract, and hopefully kill, the higher-level demons that will be attempting to guard the portal. I will purify the fodder demons and release the trapped souls of hybrids.” Raye commanded, disappearing in a flash of light.
“Which way is the shrine?” Niko asked, scratching his head. “Raye please.”
“It’s over there,” said Mattos, pointing at a tall spire a few hundred feet away.
“Okay, let’s do this!” Xellie drew her sword, twisted the hilt and wielded it before her as the light blade crackled into life. “Come on!” She yelled, sprinting ahead of everyone down the street, leaving the rest of the group to look at each other and shrug before following suit.
“Wait up!” Niko called, running after her.
Continuing to run, Xellie noticed a demon, humanoid, skeletal and cloaked, ahead and to her left. Taking a mental note of its location, she turned to face the group who tried to catch up with her, running backwards.
“Why wait?” She shouted to Niko, spinning to her left, taking out the demon she had spotted as it fell for the bait of thinking she wasn’t looking.
“Stop showing off!” Niko retorted, catching up to Xellie.
“Make me!” Xellie spotted another skeletal demon to the right and ran past her brother to leap into the air and land a blow on the demon. Her sword made light work of the enemy and simply sliced through it.
“Here they come...” Mattos pointed in front of the group, a black mist creeping along the ground ahead of a crowd of dark figures, some human, some less so, with dark skin, horns and skeletal features. “Mind the miasma!”
“Not much we can do about it...” Niko said, holding his blades, large, wide blades that had a push handle before him. Looking down at the miasma at his feet, Niko shrugged and charged into the group of demons, leaping into the air to bring his blades down on one of them.
Grau quickly followed behind, although keeping a respectable distance away, he raised his staff and pointed it toward Niko. A blue flame rose from the ground where Niko was standing and spiralled outwards around him, evaporating any demons it touched as the flames filled the area.
“Holy shit!” Mattos exclaimed.
“Yeah, they’re good,” Tane answered, throwing a fireball at a stray demon approaching the group.
“We’re going ahead!” Niko called back. “Good luck!”
“Got it!" Xellie shouted over to Niko, starting to feel a little nervous, which she attributed to the effects of the miasma. She began to mentally steel herself against it. “Don’t let the miasma win guys.” she reminded the group as Niko and Grau disappeared down the street toward the shrine.
The demon horde began to fill in the gap left by Grau’s exorcism spell and approached the group. Xellie pulled her scarf up to cover her nose and mouth as if it could offer her some protection against the miasma. She wasn’t sure how miasma worked, but breathing in less of it would surely help. Maybe.
“I’ll shield you!” Mattos called over to Xellie, unsheathing his silver blade and swiping down a demon that tried to jump him. “Ary, pull her out if she starts to get hurt,” he added.
Ary nodded enthusiastically.
“Go go go!” Tane yelled, throwing another fireball into the mob of demons. “I won’t hit you, promise!”
“You better not!” Xellie answered, jumping into the horde and swinging her sword’s light blade through the mob, causing them to squelch and slide to the ground. “I love this sword so much!” She squealed in delight as she spun on her foot and took out another group. Mattos’ shield magic covered her back. She didn’t need to worry about much of anything. Even though the miasma had been making her nervous, a feeling of euphoria overtook the nervousness as she slashed and smashed her way through the demon mob. If this was a taste of the power she was capable of, then she would gladly take it with no questions asked. Soon enough there was nothing left of the demon swarm.
“Having fun?” Tane asked as he walked up next to her.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“I could get used to this,” she replied with a grin hidden behind her scarf, holding her sword up and looking at it in admiration.
Her basking in self-glory was short-lived, as without so much as a warning, the zombie swordsman demon she had previously encountered in the mountains before meeting Mattos charged into her side and knocked her to the floor, plunging his sword into the cobbled stone of the street next to her.
“What the....” Xellie shook her head and leapt to her feet quickly, facing the zombie swordsman.
“That’s the doppelganger!” Tane cried, throwing this time a lightning bolt toward the demon, only for it to be shrugged off.
“This time...” The doppelganger rasped as his form melted and shifted into Xellie’s form, although with grey-toned skin and dead eyes. “We will fight on equal terms.”
“It won’t be equal.” Xellie snarked in response, holding her sword forward. “You can’t copy this.”
“I cannot?” Replied the doppelganger, holding one hand forward, manipulating the miasma to raise higher until it was about knee height. “I don’t need to.”
“Shit shit shit...” Tane was beginning to panic. “Finish him quickly, please.”
The miasma seemed to be taking hold of Tane, Xellie thought to herself. That wasn’t all the miasma was doing. Xellie’s light-sword crackled in an unsettled manner, then blinked out of existence, back into its original form; a short blue-tinted metal blade, giving off the occasional spark of energy.
“Oh no,” Xellie said in a deadpan tone, secretly feeling apprehensive. “You killed my sword.”
“And now I’ll kill you.” answered the doppelganger, charging toward Xellie slashing his sword from side to side frantically. Mattos concentrated all his willpower on his shield spell, although Xellie was able to nimbly dodge most of the doppelganger’s attacks, Mattos' shield was saving her fairly often too.
Realising she couldn’t keep dodging the doppelganger without tiring herself out, Xellie tried to form a plan of action inside her head, but no matter what she thought of, she felt that her attempts would be destined to fail. It’s just the miasma talking, she told herself repeatedly.
“Do something!” Tane cried, frustrated that his magic seemed to evaporate whenever it hit the doppelganger.
“I’m trying!” She yelled back irately, Mattos’ shield saving her from losing an arm as she turned to face Tane. “Do something yourself!”
“At least I’m trying!” Tane retorted, throwing a fireball and singeing Xellie’s hair with it.
“To hell with you Tane!” Xellie replied.
“MIASMA TALKING!” Mattos shouted at the pair. “Get it together!”
Mattos was right, the miasma was causing them to fight each other and not focus on the battle at hand. Unable to think of a plan of action, Xellie screamed and ran forward, running her sword through the doppelganger, who just pushed her off, tilting his head to one side as if he was pausing to consider whether being impaled had actually caused him any harm.
“Why won’t you just die?” Xellie exclaimed, stabbing her sword into the doppelganger's chest and slicing sideways to pull the sword free.
“You need to try harder.” The doppelganger replied in his gritty voice, returning the stabbing motion. Xellie was too close to dodge this and the sword pierced through her tunic and left a gash along her left side. She leapt backwards, holding her hand to her side to assess the damage. The wound was mostly superficial.
Xellie considered her options once more, this time focusing on her sword. At best, she could make it flare into life for a few seconds before it returned to the pitiful state of producing only a few sparks once more. An idea was beginning to form in her head, as she parried a blow from the doppelganger’s sword. He slashed at her, Xellie spun on her feet, letting the force of the doppelganger's frenzied slash bring him to be beside her. She then stabbed her sword into his back and focused as hard as she could. The sword, buried within the demon, sparked into life piercing all the way through the doppelganger. Xellie pulled it upwards, slicing through him with ease, then back down to cleave the demon in half. As she did so, he melted back into his original form before exploding in a goopy mess of black liquid.
The miasma began to fade, much to the relief of the group.
“Seems like miasma plays havoc with your powers.” Tane mused. “Anyway, I wonder how they’re doing with the portal.”
“Probably fine, this is Niko and Grau we’re talking about, they don’t need our help.” Xellie shrugged, pressing on the cut on her left side. “One goon down though, no sign of that supposed ‘lord of death’,” she added, using her fingers to make air quotes.
“Uhm, Xellie?” Mattos said, pointing out behind her. “I can see a problem.”
“No problem!” She replied cheerfully, brandishing her sword and turning to face the direction Mattos had pointed. “...oh.”
Deena stood before them, enveloped in a black smokey aura, her grey eyes staring through the group, beyond them.
“DEENA!” Tane yelled. “Deena, it’s me!”
“You... betrayed... me....” Deena’s voice was toneless and flat.
“No!” exclaimed Tane. “... no.”
Xellie looked between Tane and Deena during their exchange. It seemed that Deena was not going to be very forgiving, or understanding of Tane’s change of sides.
“Deena please, listen to me,” Tane pleaded. “All this fighting... it’s not necessary.”
“I will decide if it’s necessary or not.” Deena turned her attention to Xellie. “And you, murderer, should respect my right to retribution.”
“I fully respect it,” Xellie replied, holding her hand up peacefully. “I just think you misunderstood what happened.”
“You got me killed.” Deena’s voice remained flat. “Take responsibility.”
“I didn’t get you killed!” Xellie answered back in a high-pitched, exasperated tone. “Those demons, you know, the ones you’re working for? THEY did that!”
“What do we do?” Tane asked in a panic, grabbing hold of Xellie’s arm. “Surely we can’t just fight her and kill her.”
“I don’t know,” Xellie told Tane irately, keeping one eye on Deena as she pushed Tane off her, just in case she had to dodge incoming fire from Deena. “It may be the kindest thing if she’s too far gone.”
“Oh, no no.... you can’t be serious!” Tane ran in front of Xellie facing her. “There has to be something else!”
“Move Tane,” said Deena, in her flat, emotionless voice at the same time as Xellie, who had a more frustrated tone.
“I’d move if I were you, Tane.” Mattos pointed out. “It’s best not to get in the middle of a catfight.”
“Dammit, Tane!” Xellie pushed Tane aside as Deena launched a ball of electricity, which crashed into Xellie, sending her flying backwards to land on her bottom. A little dazed by the shock from the spell, Xellie shook her head and jumped to her feet. “Okay... you know I hate that.”
Deena cocked her head to one side, holding her hand out before her, summoning another ball of electricity.
“Yikes.” Xellie jumped aside from where she was standing, attempting to preempt Deena’s spell. The lightning ball hit the ground and spread out as it dissolved into nothing.
It took Deena a few seconds to recharge her spell between shots, Xellie noticed. Somewhat slower than she had been in the past as a human, when she had been a skilled magician. But what should Xellie do about it? Demonic power heavily influenced Deena and perhaps there was a way to free her from that, as opposed to how Raye had suggested that the only way forward would be to kill Deena. However, Deena wasn’t giving Xellie much time to consider her options. Another electrical blast smashed into Xellie’s sword as she instinctively tried to parry the magic away, pushing Xellie backwards until the spell fizzled out.
“Deena, come on, I don’t want to fight you.” Xellie pleaded, hoping that reason would pierce through the demonic control. “I don’t want to kill you for real.”
“Should we step in?” Mattos whispered to Tane and Ary.
“No... I don’t think so,” Tane replied quietly. “I just hope Xellie is careful with her.”
“Stop talking,” Deena commanded, throwing one more ball of lightning.
Xellie jumped aside. Dodging the spells wasn’t so hard, since Deena took so long to cast them. Slowly but surely between dodging blasts, Xellie was closing ground between the two of them, getting closer to Deena.
“Stop!” Xellie screamed, jumping onto Deena and pushing her over, pinning her to the floor. Deena struggled for a moment, then stopped still, glaring as their eyes met. Feeling Deena stop struggling against her grip, Xellie allowed herself a sigh of relief. Maybe this wasn’t going to be quite as hard as she envisaged.
“No!” Deena yelled, suddenly throwing Xellie off her onto the ground, reversing the position they had been in moments ago, using her knee and pushing it into Xellie’s chest to trap her on the cobbled street.
“Since when were you so strong?” Xellie gasped, attempting to stretch her hand out so she could grab her sword, which had landed just out of reach.
“You realise that’s stereotyping, right?” Tane shouted. “Not all magicians are physically weak.”
Ignoring Tane’s comment, Xellie tried to no avail to push Deena off her. It seemed that the demonic power Deena now harboured was giving her superhuman strength.
“What’s the matter?” Deena asked coldly.
“It doesn’t matter which of us dies...” Xellie said, staring into Deena’s steely grey eyes. “Tane will cry like the weak little man he is.”
”You what!?” Tane said indignantly. “Slap her Deena!”
Deena’s dead eyes glistened slightly.
Is she trying to cry? She must still be in there, somewhere...
“Then it is better if it’s you,” Deena said flatly, sparks starting to crackle around her and on the ground.
Xellie looked over at Tane, who looked apprehensive about what he should do.
“SAVE ME YOU IDIOT!” she yelled at Tane, squirming uncomfortably as the electrical sparks intensified.
“We have to do something!” Ary exclaimed, drawing her energy bow and aiming.
“Don’t!” Tane pushed Ary aside.
Xellie closed her eyes, repeating inside her head.
Tane, save me. Tane, save me. Tane, do something. Tane, save Deena. Tane get over here now!
Deena’s knee seemed to slip from her chest, and then the weight on her increased significantly, making it harder to breathe.
Xellie opened her eyes to see Deena being pinned down on top of her by Tane on top of Deena.
“Get.... off.” She gasped, sliding out from under the pile of arms and legs. “Why would you do that?”
“I don’t know,” Tane said irately, sitting up to hold Deena down. “It was your stupid summoning spell.”
“You THREW Tane at her,” Mattos said with a stifled laugh.
“Thanks, Tane,” she said, giving him a pat on the shoulder. Looking down at Deena, who seemed to be recomposing herself silently. “I don’t know what to do with her.”
“I have an idea.” Mattos reached for one of his small bottles of blessed water and threw it over Deena and Tane.
While Tane just scowled, Deena let out a blood-curdling scream and vanished.
“She’ll be fine,” Ary said. “Her spirit is undamaged.”