Chapter 8 – The fog of war is lifted

Freedom. Being imprisoned for a long time people usually react in two different ways when they leave their captivity. They either take a deep breath, realizing that they are finally free and fall into a state of joy or they don't react at all, suspicious that everything might simply be a dream, and won't dare to feel any hope.

I did not waste any time on either of these thoughts. There were others to free.

We watched the demons as they were releasing the other three in this area from their confinement and laid them down on the ground one after another.

Just when they were done with the second prisoner a young demon walked in on us. His face reflected his confusion upon seeing the scene in front of him and he needed a couple of moments to collect himself. When he finally realized what was going on he turned around and immediately ran away.

It was Crence who noticed him first.

“Don't let him get away!”

I shouted at the demons:

“Carry me and follow him!” They did as ordered and we went after him with me on their backs.

It was a wild goose-chase and he had a good head start of about 50 meters. We followed him through the dungeon along the chain and a lava-stream. [It is impossible to catch up to him with me weighing them down.]

I told the demon carrying my legs:

“You! Let go of my legs and run ahead.” Truly, I feared that the demon boy would take this chance to flee, too. However, I had to take that risk. I could just hope that the abnormality of the situation wouldn't allow him to think straight.

[He's still getting away. We are not fast enough. I can't let him escape and call the guards.]

My feet were already bloody from being dragged along the stony ground. [I need to move them!]

But they wouldn't move. My underdeveloped muscles were only able to produce pitiful movements and it had no use. I had to come up with something else.

“Where does this path lead to?” (Lucius)

“S-Soon there will come a bridge connecting this chamber with the main floor.” (little demon girl)

“If he passes that bridge I will erase you from existence.”

“Hyaaa!” This incentive seemed to have worked and both of them picked up a notch. We were getting closer to him but the boy I sent ahead had already collapsed from exhaustion and we left him lying. [I can't take care of him now.]

“Faster! You need to run faster.”

[It will all end if he manages to escape.]

Slowly, the three of us were able to get closer to him. I tried to use those flames again but they would only stretch ten meters at most. [He's still 15 meters or more ahead.]

“Just a little bit more!” [Faster!] I thought to myself.

Getting closer to him, he was only one step ahead of those purifying flames that would end everything. The bridge could already be seen, it wasn't far. [I don't want him to escape. You flames of mine, you are my will and my will is to not let him escape. I can't let Aoi go through this any longer.]

Finally, finally a single tongue of fire reached him. The sudden pain made him stagger and he touched the chain upon falling down, which inflicted even more damage to him. He wouldn't be able to get away anymore. More and more smoke started to raise from his body, his hair and clothes started to burn. He was finished. The bridge was just in front of him and with his last strength he tried to crawl towards it where his strength left him and he stopped moving.

My two bearers fell down on their knees and were heavily gasping for breath. I let them rest for a moment and then said:

“Take everything of value and then throw his body into the lava.” There wasn't much left that had survived the fire. Some food and a little bit of money was everything that could be of use.

[Food...we need to be careful and eat slowly to not throw it up again. I don't know how long we can survive without any nourishments. Judging from our state not too long.]

Then I faced the girl:

“You, on what kind of schedule are you operating? When are you supposed to be replaced?”

“I-It depends on how much you paid but usually no less than ten hours.” She said with a stuttering voice.

“When will you have to go?”

“S-Soon.” Her lie was obvious.

“I will ask again, and only once again. When will you have to go?”

“In half a day...Please, l-let me go. I won't tell anyone.” I didn't need to answer that. Instead I motioned them to go back again.

The other one said his departure was due in eight hours. We didn't had much time to waste.

“Bring me back to the others.”

On the way back we found the third demon, still lying at the same spot were we left him. At first he looked with a little bit of hope at the other demons but the look in their eyes told him that we were able to stop our target. [So he decided to neither flee nor help us. I need to watch out for him.]

The whole endeavor only lasted for about 20 minutes and we returned to the anxiously waiting Aoi and Crence. They had questioning looks on their faces. I could allay their fears.

"We managed to get to him before he could alarm anybody. Crence, from now on please be our lookout. You were the first to see that demon just now."

"That would be wise. Did you leave any signs of combat behind?" (Crence)

"We dropped the body into the lava." He just nodded at that and told one of the demons to carry him to a suitable place.

The two others were told to continue with freeing the last person.

Aoi noticed my bloody legs and said "We need to take care of them. "

"Oh, you are right. It seems like those wounds won't simply disappear like they always do."

"They will only disappear after reviving." The one who answered was one of the men we freed. He regained consciousness and tried to sit up but failed.

"What happened to my body?" He looked at us and said, "Do I look the same way you do?"

Aoi simply nodded to his question and asked him instead while bandaging my feet, "Who are you?"

"I'm Randalph Druent, and that would be my question. I know who they are." He pointed towards the two other men here. "But I don't recognize the three of you and I know everyone of the 1000 'Children of the Dawn'." He stopped here and went on with a more inquiring tone, "So who are you?"

"This is Aoi Wolfcleaver, that man over there is Crence, and I am Lucius Faber. What are the 'Children of the Dawn' and why would you think we belong to that group?”

“The 'Sanctuary-Aura' you both use to clad each other in tells me you belong to us.”

“'Sanctuary-Aura'?” asked Aoi.

“Don't tell me you don't see it? It's the aura the both of you are using to protect the other one from physical and mental harm.”

We both just showed a dumbfounded expression at that.

“So you did not know...you must've been doing it unconsciously then. That would also explain why the both of you have it active at the same time. You have to know that auras of the same type are not additive. “

“It's protecting us from harm? In which way?” (Aoi)

“It's functioning like a barrier akin to an armour. Seriously...you've been using one of the highest grade defensive-auras without knowing it? A normal 'Defiance-Aura' would simply  protect your body but a 'Sanctuary-Aura' also grants protection against curses. That must've been the reason why you both could withstand the curse trapping our minds. Are you family members or lovers?”

We both said at the same time without any hesitation.

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“”Lovers.””

“It's very rare for something like this to happen but that would really explain it. Were you both captured at the same time? Is this how you could withstand the curse? How long have you been here already?”

Aoi said to that.

“Lucius here freed my mind.”

And I added:

“We only met here. Crence had also the same idea that there seems to be some kind of mind magic involved but I don't know anything about a curse. I just forced my mind to take notice of my surroundings. It took me quite some time, though. So Crence was right? There was a curse involved?”

Now it was Randalph's turn to look perplexed.

“You...are you telling me you broke free from it by yourself?”

“Physical pain means nothing.” (Lucius)

“Are you belittling me? Of course I know that but that is no explanation to how you could simply break fr-”

Crence interrupted us.

“Someone's coming.”

Before I could do anything Randalph had already let the same kind of flames I used earlier ooze out of his body. His flames, however, reached far wider than mine. [Now that he said it...it does resemble somewhat of an aura...]

The moment the demon appeared behind a boulder she was already surrounded by Randalph's flames, although he did not directly attack her. She pulled out a scimitar and was in a combat stance but there was nowhere to run. Randalph successfully captured her and it was obvious that resistance was futile.

“Drop your weapon or die.” (Crence)

With her eyes she looked around and tried to assess the situation. Her gaze stopped at the blue little demon girl. Ignoring us she said to her instead. “I always knew you were useless, Areti, but I never thought that you were low enough to commit treason.”

The little demon girl was visibly shocked by that remark and her face showed a even greater devastation than before.

Randalph didn't discuss long and simply reacted by letting the fire close in on her even more and she finally dropped her weapon and put her hands in the air with a sour look on her face.

[He's reacting fast...]

However, when Crence got close (on his demon-ride) to search her, she pulled out a dagger in a swift motion and held it towards his throat.

“If you don't want him to die then-”

She wasn't able to finish the sentence because Randalph reacted again without any hesitation and engulfed her in flames, which only harmed her. Disbelief, pain and surprise could be heard in the scream she let out but she lived up to her promise and slit Crence's throat before falling down and wringing in pain.

“NO!” I crawled towards him. “No, Crence! Stay with us. You, demons! Do Something, do not let him die!” It was all futile. He died by bleeding out and I looked in anger at Randalph.

“Why did you do this?”

Randalph just looked at me in surprise at my outburst.

“Calm down. He's going to come back, soon enough.”

“What are you talking about?” I had thought the act of revival was only possible when the chain is touching you or something like this, hence my reaction.

“You don't know? We 'Children of the Dawn' have the power to revive upon death. Just like the sun is assured to come out at dawn, we will rise from the dead. Though, there is a price to pay for it. Just look. It's already happening.”

Crence's body did emit a silver-bluish light and disappeared right in front of us only to manifest itself again. He was captured by the chain again as if nothing happened.

[Just what is happening? The revival wasn't done by the demons?]

“Crence. Are you alright?”

“I'm chained again? Did this happen because I died?”

“Explain yourself, Randalph. I thought the chain didn't let us die. And you!”, I pointed towards the little demon girl. “Make her stop.” The new arrival had been screaming throughout the whole exchange, because of her burns. I didn't really care for her but she could be used as another mount, even with her injuries.

“Those demons...they have destroyed our blessed ground. It was such a beautiful grove and now it turned into this dungeon. We are bound to this land. Whenever we die we would revive here again. They have used our greatest strength against us. This vile chain must be a cursed object. There is no other explanation. Trapping our bodies and our minds at the same time...” (Randalph)

“So we can't die in the end? Is it that what you are saying?” (Lucius)

“Oh we can die...of old age or when there is no strength left in us, for every time we come back we need to pay with a little bit of our strength. I reckon we have been somehow kept just above the bare minimum of strength so we wouldn't completely die.”

[There's no advantage to that if the moment we die we are sent back to this place.] There was also something else that needed to be clarified.

“So why not kill us until we are no more?”

“That is a good question. The black demons probably want us to keep here. The peculiarity of the 'Children of the Dawn' lies in the fact that there are always 1000 of us. No more and no less. If one of us dies for good, another child bound to this land will be born. My best guess is that they want to control us all instead of letting us roam free.”

[Certainly, his explanations do make sense, but I can't just believe everything from one source.]

“Aoi, did you ever hear about such a power? Also, what do you know about auras?”

“I have never heard of bringing someone back to live before. It doesn't seem to be a form of necromancy. As for auras...I have heard there was such a thing, but never that they are this powerful. They are based on the wisdom of people and work by using up the ambient mana. However, it is said that the only ones using something like an aura are liches. Randalph-san, you are saying we do the same as undead sorcerers?”

“Our auras are innate abilities. Think about it for a moment. It was only natural for us to develop a skill that benefits from the wisdom of the mind and bypasses the mana-requirements usual spells have. This ability wouldn't degrade upon dying like everything else. That seems also to be the reason why our minds were kept occupied by a curse so as to seal our powers. Otherwise we would have already escaped a long time ago. I am grateful to you for releasing me but there is something I have to ask of you. Please rescue Godmother, our leader.”

“I know that we should free as many as possible but I can't give preferential treatment because of rank. We do what we can. Nothing less and nothing more.” (Lucius)

“You do not understand. She has a way out of here.” (Randalph)

End of Chapter 8

Afterwords:

Yes. It has been that kind of setting all along. Transported upon death into a game-like fantasy world...it's just that the endboss didn't want to wait for our MC to become lvl100 with OP legendary gear and sent out his minions to camp the spawnpoint to farm some XP. Vile creatures!

Please give me feedback on this chapter. I feel like it was more or less boring and only explanations have been done. That's why it took me so long to decide whether I should bring it out or not.

Auras are wisdom based. You don't lose any wisdom when you die, however, you lose strength, manapoints and so on. Only the 'Children of the Dawn' know this because they are the only ones who can experience multiple deaths.

I do not plan to integrate healthpoints. Your body stays more or less the same as long as there are no strenghtening techniques used.