Derzina awoke in a stiff bed with white linen sheets. Judging from the sunlight streaming in through the window, it was already afternoon. How long had she been asleep?
She was looking around the room when she noticed the bandages wrapped around her missing leg, and she bit back a scream. Forcing herself to stop and take a deep breath, she tried to stay calm. She was still alive, and despite the pain that came flooding back, she had to go on.
Even though she’d come out the encounter against the demon a cripple, she’d still been exceptionally fortunate. Many of those who’d gone with her had perished, and by all rights she should have been among them. Her survival was nothing short of a miracle. The same went for the goddess who dwelt within her.
She tried reaching out to Atasimon, but the goddess didn’t stir. Well, if the goddess couldn’t help her, she was just going to have to make her own way for now. “Hello?” Derzina called.
She heard footsteps and Speaker Orvist stepped into her room. Pulling up a chair, he sat down beside her bed. “May I ask whom I’m addressing?”
“It’s me, Derzina.”
“I see. May I speak with Lady Atasimon? We have urgent matters to discuss.”
Derzina bowed her head. “I’m sorry, but she said she needed to rest after she fought the Demon Lord who slew Ortesia.”
“Mm, yes, I heard about that. Tell me more about that, specifically how the goddess was defeated.”
“I struggled to follow their battle, but he possessed magic that was capable of nullifying the goddess’ power.”
Orvist stared at her, frowning as if trying to discern something about her. “Are you certain?”
“Absolutely, as was Lady Atasimon.”
“That is most concerning, though it explains how he was able to overcome both our Lady and Lady Atasimon.”
“But,” Derzina added, sensing his growing dismay, “Lady Atasimon said we still a chance of defeating him. All that’s required of us, is to hold out until she recovers.”
“I see. Unfortunately, that will prove rather difficult, as the demons have already breached the walls.”
Derzina sat bolt upright in her bed. “What? What of the Paladins?”
“They are fighting as best they can, though they’ve had no more success against the Demon Lord than Lady Atasimon did. Currently they still hold the temples, but it seems only a matter of time until they are forced to retreat here to the central temple.”
“Speaker, I mean no disrespect, but shouldn’t you be out there helping them?”
With a sigh, he slumped in his chair and seemed to deflate. “I spent all I that remained to me of the goddess’ power bringing Lady Atasimon into this world. Without it, I’m just an old man. If the enemy reach us here, I shall do my duty.” He chuckled bitterly. “Though I fear I will present little obstacle.”
“It will be okay,” Derzina said, “the goddess will return and turn back the demons.” She couldn’t allow herself to think otherwise.
“I hope for all our sakes that you are proven right. But until she returns, it seems all we can do is pray.”
Derzina wasn’t satisfied with that, she was already chafing at her inaction. There had to be something she could do. “Then I’m just supposed to lie here and wait?”
“What else do you suggest? Can you walk?”
Pushing herself out of bed, Derzina managed to propel herself in an awkward hop. “Barely.”
“Then I can’t imagine you’ll be much use, best that you wait here where it’s safe.”
“I understand that it’s impertinent of me to ask, but can I at least see what’s happening? I assume it’s safe enough for now.”
“Very well, it shouldn’t put the goddess’ vessel in any danger. But the moment a threat presents itself, we’re retreating to the inner sanctum, understood?”
“I understand, Speaker.”
She took a few hops toward the door, before Orvist offered her his arm. “Here, you’ll never get there at this rate.”
Swallowing, she took his arm and limped out of the room. A few sets of stairs later, they were beneath the glass dome atop the roof once more. After stopping to catch her breath, Derzina looked out across the city.
There were a number of fires, concentrated a large breach in the western wall, but they weren’t spreading. Derzina assumed the city’s predominately stone construction would keep it safe from any threat of a large-scale fire, and she wondered why the demons were bothering.
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Were they already so confident in their victory? It wasn’t unreasonable given their progress, but it only made Derzina hate them all the more. These vile creatures were befouling the only home she’d ever known. And for what? To settle an old grudge? She wished her ancestors and the gods had succeeded in wiping the demons out when they’d had the chance.
The thought that others were out there fighting for the very fate of their city while she stood her watching turned her stomach, but there was nothing to be done. She looked down at her missing limb, even if she still had it, there would have been little she could do to help. Despite the goddess dwelling within her, she was a Paladin in name only with no more power than any other citizen.
Looking down at her leg once more filled Derzina with dread, and she could feel the tears welling up in her eyes, but she forced herself to stare at it. She couldn’t let something like this beat her, not while her fellow Paladins were enduring far worse. And the more she stared at her bandaged leg, the stranger it became.
The bandages were pristine, without the slightest sign of blood and she felt no pain. It was impossible without magic and the Speaker, who was now without power, seemed to be the only one here. Which meant the goddess must have done something to ease Derzina’s suffering.
It wasn’t much in the grand scheme of things, but the fact that the goddess had thought of her in the midst of all that chaos made her smile. Silly as it was to care for something so trivial when they were in the midst of a disaster, she’d never felt more special.
“Are you satisfied, initiate?” Orvist asked, jolting Derzina from her reverie.
“Yes, Speaker,” she replied, before adding in a softer voice, “though I’m a Paladin now.”
“Right, of course. Forgive me, I meant no disrespect. Shall we head back inside then, Paladin?”
“I suppose we should.”
They were going down the stairs when Derzina heard a great cry spring up from a multitude of throats and rushed back to the roof. A dark wave of black and purple clad demons poured forth into the street, with only a thin line of Paladins supported by a few militiamen to hold them.
Derzina prayed for Atasimon’s return, pleading within herself to the goddess. But there was no reply, Lady Atasimon remained dormant.
“Derzina,” Orvist shouted, seizing her by the arm, “come with me this instant.”
Defying the speaker went against the habit of a lifetime, yet Derzina couldn't turn away from the people of her city being slaughtered. The thought of them dying out here, and dying they were before the demons’ superior numbers, while she cowered in safety was appalling.
Orvist pulled on her arm, hard. “Listen to me; whatever you see out there doesn’t matter, what’s important is that you do your duty. And your duty is to safeguard the goddess’ vessel. It is the only hope for our city.”
“I know, I know, but…” Derzina could think of nothing that would persuade Orvist, but still couldn’t let this happen. To do so would mean admitting she was completely helpless and she’d rather die than surrender to such an outrageous fate.
She felt the foreign essence of the goddess within her stir, yet she couldn’t sense Lady Atasimon’s presence. Instead, a portion of the divine entity flowed into the part that was Derzina and power surged through her.
Shadow sprouted from her stump, writhing and shifting until it formed a leg. She tried moving it, and it flexed just as if it were her real leg. It seemed that even while the goddess was asleep, she still wished to aid Derzina. Deciding that this must mean the goddess wanted her to fight, Derzina ran back down the stairs on her new leg to the nearest window.
Deaf to the speaker’s cries, she climbed out into open space, trusting that the goddess’ power would keep her safe. The shadows grew, enveloping her like a cloak. Her magical adornment clung to the wall and supported her as she descended the sheer surface.
The sounds of clashing steel and dying men grew louder as she reached the street, and Derzina paused to consider how to proceed. Even with divine assistance, she was unarmed and clad only in her ceremonial robe. Communing with the goddess, or rather the portion of the goddess’ power that had been lent to her, Derzina pleaded for a weapon.
In answer to her prayers, shadow swirled around her hand and coalesced into a sword of darkness. It was far from the shining blade she’d imagined herself wielding one day in Lady Ortesia’s service, but it would serve her purpose. Clutching her new weapon in hand, she rushed to meet the enemy
She called out to the faltering militiamen ahead, her voice loud and commanding. “Stand firm!”
The white-uniformed men and women tightened their ranks, jabbing at the demons with their long spears with renewed vigour. Yet they still continued to get the worst of it. No matter their courage, it seemed they were simply no match for the swarming demons.
Seizing a flag from its place beside the central temple, Derzina used the shadows to scale the wall once more and bypassed the formation of friendly troops. She held the flag high and plunged into massed demons, sword leading.
All her training up to this point had given her no small amount of skill with the sword, but skill alone availed her little against such numbers. She impaled the first demon who came at her, her shadowy weapon passing easily through a gap in his armour.
And she would have been slain in kind by the fallen demon’s fellow if not for the shadows enveloping her. They shot out like living things, snaring the oncoming blade just as they had against the Demon Lord. Only this time, there was no mysterious magic to stop them.
Supernaturally-sharp blade bared, Derzina cut through their ranks. Forgoing defence entirely, she focused only on slaughter while trusting in the goddess’ protection to keep her safe. Once close to a score had fallen to her blade, the demons broke and ran, and Derzina stood unharmed. It seemed she’d been wise to put her faith in Atasimon’s gift.
A ragged cheer sprung up among the humans who were still standing, while those nearest Derzina looked upon her with awe. Sensing that they were in need of direction, she planted her flag on the ground and said, “Follow me, we must defend the central temple.”
She walked off, followed at first by a slow trickle of people but eventually the entire crowd was swept up in her wake.
Knowing that they were willing to follow her was empowering, even more so than her victory over the demons had been. Not only were people attention to her, they were willing to put their trust in her. Uplifted, Derzina waited by the doors until everyone was inside before barring the entrance.
That they were falling back to their last line of defence so quickly did not speak well of their chances, but Derzina swore to herself that she would protect the central temple. It was the most defensible structure in the city, it would hold. It had to.