Even though death and loss was familiar and an everyday occurrence at home, Xellie knew she would never forget the cry of anguish that came from Shana when she discovered her son’s fate.
The townfolk wandered around aimlessly, not sure where to go or what to do in place of their destroyed houses. Some sat on the rubble, staring into space, others picked through the remains of their belongings. Occasionally, a cry signalling the discovery of a body would puncture the bewildered silence.
It was a small mercy that only a small part of Hiraeth had been destroyed. As the sun began to lower in the sky, people began offering their homes for their neighbours.
Xellie could see and feel the survivors pointing at her and speaking in hushed voices. The blame lay on her, attracting demons from the inner continent to this peaceful place. In her opinion, they had every right to blame her for not acting sooner before someone was hurt. She should not have wasted time running away to dunk the knife in the holy water. Yet, if she had not done that, then the demon could still be running amok.
She hadn’t seen Shana or Iyan since they carried Iyan to the hospital. Iyan’s condition meant that he may not survive the night. The thought of a parent having to make preparations to bury their child seemed unfathomably cruel. No matter how much she wanted to be there to watch over Iyan, Xellie couldn’t bring herself to see Shana’s face, knowing that the demon had destroyed the farmhouse because of her recklessness.
Instead of sleeping that night, Xellie sat outside on the low wall surrounding the ruined farm, staring upward as the sky lit up with ribbons of green and red light, fluttering as if they were caught in the breeze.
This always happened after a demon attack. Nobody was sure how or why, but the lights in the sky flickered as if the demons were waving a banner celebrating death on the ground below.
As the stars faded and night gave way to the dawn, she wandered up to the town square. A group of the residents had gathered together to debate what to do. Splashing water on her face, she tried to drown the sound of the conversation out, knowing that whatever they decided was going to be futile.
These people were sitting ducks in regards to demon attacks.
She could stay and protect them, but that would cause sustained and increased attacks - and she was only one person.
Where the north-western cities trained in various schools of combat and exchanged help during times of need, Hiraeth seemed too isolated and had nothing to offer back.
There were lots of conflicting opinions on what course of action should to take, such as sending a group on a trek across the continent to seek help from the towns and cities known to deal with demonic invasions. Others favoured arming themselves, convinced they could fight off the demons.
Xellie sighed to herself, not paying too much attention. She had grown up in such a city and in her experience, neither leaving to seek help nor trying to combat powerful creatures without prior training was going to have a good outcome. The attacks would come rapidly, increasing in power, and there would be no time to find help. This town was helpless. Even an evacuation seemed like a terrible plan; it would leave the townsfolk open and exposed.
Some were in favour of doing nothing, hoping the incident had been a one-off.
“It’s never a one-off, ever,” Xellie told herself, standing up to leave. She couldn’t listen to this any longer, nor did she have the heart to share what she knew. After all, it wouldn’t change the outcome. She could fight, but that would end in angering the demons and ensure that they would execute the following attacks with even more ferocity.
Although the chapel was in ruins, there was a simple, rushed funeral service held for the deceased. She walked over to the edge of the chapel's grounds, standing by silently with her head bowed in respect, glancing over at the tired and drawn faces of the deceased man’s parents.
Superstition dictated the need to bury the dead on consecrated ground as soon as possible. No time to say goodbye. Demonic energy could take over the body if it had absorbed any.
Eventually, the congregation slowly moved inside the church.
Now certain that she was alone, Xellie knelt down, touched the small, unmarked stone and whispered.
“I’m sorry, please forgive me.”
She waited for a moment as if anticipating a reply, or some kind of reassurance that her apology had been accepted. There was no such thing. Not a soul seemed to notice that she had lingered behind. Her only reply was the sound of a pair of crows flitting around in the air around the church tower. They seemed unusually large - Ravens, perhaps? Xellie thought to herself while watching their aerial dance as she shielded her violet eyes from the sun. She vaguely recalled reading somewhere that those birds remained in their pairs for life. Were they affected by the terrible events of the previous day? Would they suffer the same emotional torment as the families of these people if they became separated?
Turning to leave the graveyard, Xellie came face to face with a tall woman whose long red hair glowed in the sunlight, who looked down at Xellie disdainfully and pushed her back into the graveyard as she walked past, her heeled boots echoing on the path as she walked into the chapel, to address the people inside.
Regarding the woman with suspicion and following her to the chapel door, Xellie noticed she was not from this region. Her skin was extraordinarily fair, compared to the olive tanned complexion of the locals, and her white dress, iridescent with blues and greens, seemed as if imbued with magic. She carried a wooden staff, topped with a gilded figure of a bird with outstretched wings.
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“I am Karyn Sunna, a high priestess of the holy order of Asvord and Jotera.” The woman had a confident, well-spoken voice. “We received information regarding a potential future demonic incursion in these territories. Would I be correct in assuming that such a thing has already transpired?”
Now, this was unusual. The holy orders rarely sent such high-ranking individuals to places of conflict. Normally they would send a small force of mages and priests to support the forces of the towns, not a walking dictionary.
“You need not worry.” The priestess said. “They have sent me to establish a barrier with the purpose of neutralising any demonic power that may cross the perimeter of your town. This is a more practical solution than extermination, as this location is far from any demonic portals, and a small enough area to cover with a single spell.”
Xellie felt sceptical of the priestess’ claim. She couldn’t recall ever meeting anyone who was capable of utilising strong enough magic, to create a barrier bigger than that of a moderately sized house.
Many members of the church weren’t opposed to signing contracts with demons to increase their own magical power. It seemed to be quite common - so this woman, with her unnaturally tall and fair appearance, claims to immense power and impeccable timing, was extremely suspicious.
“There are many things to be done.” The priestess announced, “Firstly, we must secure this area. And then it must be ensured that nobody is retaining any demonic curse within them. I shall start now.”
Feeling a tap on her shoulder, Xellie turned to see Shana standing next to her, taking a grip of her hand.
“I finally found you. Iyan is going to be fine.” Shana said. “You saved almost everyone in Hiraeth. Don’t mind what they say about you.”
“I could have done better,” Xellie replied, looking back at the priestess. “This priestess, I don’t trust her.”
The priestess walked out of the chapel, once again pushing Xellie aside as she did so, and headed down the street to the three-tiered fountain in the picnicking area.
“Let’s go watch,” Shana whispered, standing up to follow. “A priestess from the legendary Asvord! Who’d have thought!”
“Yeah...” Xellie mused as they followed the crowd tailing after the Priestess Karyn. “It’s a real place, but they are weird.”
The priestess held out her arm as she walked up to the fountain so that what was presumably one of the large ravens from earlier could land on her.
Xellie looked up into the sky and scanned around for the other raven, prompting Shana to ask her what she was looking for.
“There were two of those earlier,” Xellie told Shara quietly. “I was looking for the other one.” The priestess heard this and replied curtly, without looking back.
“The ‘other one is with her fledgling. No mother would leave her children alone during such times.”
A little taken aback by the priestess’ uncanny ability to hear, Xellie folded her arms and leaned against a fencepost to watch what would happen next, all the while noting escape routes should something bad happen.
The priestess chanted under her breath, her words completely undecipherable. Next, she reached out with one hand and gently tapped the surface of the water in the fountain.
A shimmering silver-blue pillar of light emerged from the middle of the fountain, reaching up into the sky, then cascading back downwards, covering the town, mirroring the shape of the water from which it had arisen.
Impressive. Xellie thought. This priestess seemed to be using a combination of elemental and holy magic, fusing her protection spell with the water from the fountain. Although Xellie wasn’t greatly studious of magic, she knew some basics.
Dark magic sourced from demonic energies, and holy magic, supposedly sourced from divine energy via one's own soul, were anathema to each other. The strongest magic casters would simply evaporate the others’. Then there was elemental magic, drawing on the forces of nature and physics, interacting differently with other elemental magic depending on the source.
Lastly, there were some lesser well-known offshoots, such as rumoured, yet frowned upon, spiritual magic, allowing people to communicate over long distances and talk to the dead.
Although there had been many in-depth studies on the interactions of different types of magic, combining them was mostly considered impossible.
From this, Xellie concluded two things: firstly, this priestess was definitely not a demon trying to play a trick, due to the use of holy magic and second, her claim of being from Asvord was probably true. Asvord was rumoured to be a hidden town inhabited by those with great holy magical prowess.
“You may drink this water.” The priestess addressed the crowd. “It may cure minor ailments if you do so. Do not damage the structure, or else the barrier will fall. The water should not dry up, but should it do so, then pray. I will undoubtedly receive a message to restore it if you do. I shall visit every household starting tomorrow to ensure there are no cursed people among you.”
It seemed as if the priestess was planning on staying in the town for a while. Xellie slipped off back to the farmhouse whilst the crowd mobbed the fountain to taste the water. Tomorrow, she planned to find this arrogant priestess and talk to her alone.
That evening, Xellie settled into the standing remains of a small shed in the backyard, which offered some shelter, unable to face watching Shana tending to Iyan. The mysterious green lights flickered in the sky as they had done the previous night, which was odd, considering there had been no demon attack today.