-- Alaster's perspective --

During the ceremony.

As Alena took the stage, I was excited. Feeling mana flow through you was a great feeling. I didn’t believe for a second she had a low affinity. Maybe she had none for light mana, but if I was as much of a prodigy as the order claimed I was, she could not be much different.

Then it came, a blast of heat. I was right. None of the others had this kind of fire affinity, it easily equaled mine. I smirked as I glanced over at Rose, she was shocked but I was sure she was as happy as I was about it.

But then the glow vanished, I looked back only to see it replaced by pitch-black smoke, orbiting around Alena. I froze. How was this possible? This amount of dark mana was abnormal, there was no way Alena was alright.

I fell to my knees as the miasma cleared. It seemed to be absorbed into the center, into Alena. This was possession, there was no doubt. I had heard stories of it, dark mana taking possession of someone’s body, making them into a demon. But how? Why?

The demon that took Alena’s form looked over at me. Blood coming down its face with fiery red eyes. Horns coming out of its forehead. What did I do to deserve this?

I heard father scream for Alena, but she was gone, all that was left was that thing taking her form. He knew that right? Then again I didn’t want to believe it either.

But could I put her to rest? I didn’t want that thing to wear her skin, she didn’t deserve that. But did I have the fortitude to do it? Was there some other way?

The demon took off, taking unnatural speed and leaping down the stage. Father was there, but I could not see beyond the tent where he was. The demon passed the tent and took off into the woods in the next second. Hardly a delay. I had to hope he was alright.

“Alaster!, get yourself together lad!” Kamil called out to me, breaking me out of my stupor. Right, we needed to give chase. I looked over at Rose, she seemed to have recovered but looked uneasy.

“Go with the rest of the squad, take it down. I will investigate here” He ordered. I nodded and took off toward the woods with the rest of the squad. It was fast, we needed to hurry if we wanted to catch it.

Entering the woods, I could not even see it anymore, it was way ahead of us. Would we be able to catch it before dark? I had to hope it would stop at some point.

The pond we went to as kids was in that direction, it was as good of a target as any, so I called out about the pond and took the lead. I knew this forest better than anyone here.

I could see some concern in Rose’s eyes but she did not object as I took the lead. Our gear was not well suited to rushing through the woods but we had to make due. If darkness fell we would have to give up the chase, and I didn’t want that demon to desecrate my sister any longer.

The trip was somber, but we had to make an engagement plan if we met it. Rose could fire arrows from a distance, to direct the demon where we could surround it. The area around the pond was ideal, but we could not assume it would be where we would meet.

Once someone was possessed, they were dead, there was no saving them. But I did have much higher than normal light magic, if I blasted it with everything I had, maybe I could purge it with light mana? Bring her back? I had to at least try.

The demon would not make it easy though, and my control left a lot to be desired. Still, I had to do this, all my training and not being able to save my sister was inexcusable.

As we approached the pond, I could hear what sounded like a boar squealing, it did not sound like it was having a good time. Very likely a battle. This suited us fine, if the demon was distracted or injured that would help us get the upper hand.

But the sounds ended much quicker than I expected. We still had some distance so we needed to hurry, the demon must have been fairly strong. I could not worry about that right now though.

Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw though. A giant demon wolf looking back at us, It was far beyond any other demon I had seen. Red and silver fur, and covered in old battle scars. Where was the other one though? The one that took Alena?

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Seeing us, the wolf demon decided to flee, it was not our target and we would likely not make it out without casualties, so that suited me fine. But as it ran it grabbed something and tossed it up into the air.

The form of my sister was thrown into the air and landed on its back. The wolf continued on and disappeared into the bush, taking the demon with it. There was no way we could catch it.

I fell to my knees. I had failed. My sister was gone. She was so happy wearing her new armor earlier, showing it off to us. This was supposed to be a special day.

Rose wrapped her arm around me. Giving me some comfort. I wanted to grieve but night was falling, we needed to get back to the village and report.

I stood up and led the way back toward the village. I had no words but Rose stayed by me, usually, she kept a modest distance but the closeness was nice.

As we approached the village, I felt uneasy. I wanted to make sure father and mother were OK. Father had been close to the demon, but he had light magic so some miasma shouldn’t cause him many issues. Still, I could not help but feel something was wrong in the village.

As we exited the forest in the square. Some officials were on the platform looking over the mana crystal. There was some miasma emanating from it. Was it somehow rigged?

I glanced over at the other paladins, and they seemed to understand my concern, heading over to detain the officials. We would need to question them. I was surprised Kamil had not already done so. He did say he was going to investigate.

I headed over to the church first to check on Father. Rose tagging along behind me. As we approached the uneasy feeling got worst.

Entering the church I called out to Father. But he was not the one who responded.

“Alaster, what of the demon?” I heard Kamil reply as he exited fathers office.

“Another demon helped it get away, where is Fath… er Oswald?” I asked.

Kamil didn’t reply, just opened his mouth and then closed it again. Was he lost for words? I felt some panic and rushed over. He stepped aside to let me into the office.

Sitting at the desk was Father, his head leaning back and eyes closed with a slight smile on his face. I smelled wine and it’s origin was easy to see, it was spilled on the floor around him.

“He took his own life it seems. I arrived too late to stop him.” Kamil said as I stared at the scene.

But why? Surely he didn’t need to do that right?

“I can only imagine he had secrets. With what happened we would have had to interrogate him, you know the spell. This would be the only way for him to hide what he knows”. Kamil explained. With a bit of anger in his voice.

It made sense. Father always was secretive, but what was so secret he would resort to this?

My mind was drawing blanks. I had no clue what to think, my entire world felt like it was upside down. First Alena, now Father?

“Mother!” I yelled, turning to head out to the bar. She was all I had left. She had to be alright.

Kamil followed me, as did Rose. I could hear Kamil trying to call me but I made no effort to stop.

I burst into the front of the bar, calling for Mother.

“She is gone Alaster” I heard Jack call out, sitting at the bar having a drink.

“What? Where?” I asked, trying to get some answers.

“Left Silvergrove earlier, heading south from what I heard”. Something was strange about the way he was talking.

“Why?” I asked, I had a feeling Kamil had already been here.

“Oswald told her if something happened tonight, to escape south”. There was no doubt, he was under the effect of interrogate. The spell paladins used to get the truth out of people.

I looked over at Kamil, looking for some answers.

“I came here first, he was the only one here. The mana crystal for the ward is missing too, I would guess it’s with her” He explained.

So the ward was down, and the backup was gone too. What is going on? At least mother seemed to be alive at least, but if she took the mana crystal that was high treason. There would be nothing I could do for her if she was caught.

I sat down, trying to collect my thoughts. My entire family was gone. I was alone. What did I do to deserve this? It all happened so fast.

“We will find her, I promise to at least keep the death penalty off her when we do” Kamil offered. I was always given special treatment, at least this way I could ask her why. But I had a feeling that despite Kamil’s confidence, they were not going to find her.

Rose sat by me, wrapping her arm around me. My head was in chaos.

Jack got up and poured me a drink. The order forbid drinks on duty, but I hardly cared and Kamil made no effort to reprimand me. It was hard and burned on the way down, but it helped calm my nerves somewhat.

I gave my report to Kamil and informed him about the officials that could be involved. They carried the mana crystal so they may be involved in some way. He didn’t seem convinced but left to go check on them. Leaving me with Jack and Rose.

After Kamil left Jack looked at me. “It will be alright lad, things may look bleak but life has a way of balancing itself,” He said. Jack was a good man, I was thankful he was not implicated in some way, and let himself be interrogated without a fuss. Though then again, he was a bit old and frail to need to be detained.

I wondered about the rest of the village. It felt like this was no longer home. There was no need to send letters or come back out here now.

In a single night, everything had changed.

Internally I swore to myself I would get that demon. I would find mother and get some answers. No matter how long it took.

For that I needed power, to never lose anything again. I would have to master my magic and prepare for the day when I met that demon. Even if it was in her form, I needed to not have any hesitation. Maybe she could be saved, but even if she couldn’t I had a duty as her brother to put her to rest. To not let her body be used by that thing.

I worked hard in my training, but I would have to work harder still. This world’s corruption needed to be burned away. I needed the power to make that happen.