Darker than dark, deeper than deep, a haze of despair and destruction that utterly rejects the lifeforce of living creatures. Such fog billows across the sky, blotting out the sun and keeping the peace of everlasting night.
In an area deep to the south, a hellish landscape paints the area as far as the eye can see. Miasma thick enough to instantly kill weak willed individuals is in constant motion, seeping it’s way across the ground, foregoing the privilege of life for any animals or humans.
Despite these horrendous conditions, the atmosphere itself is lively. A hustle of movement can be felt all around as thousands- no, tens of thousands of deeply colored abominations scurried about.
These creatures of evil, though mutated to horrible degrees of disfiguration; still moved with clear purpose, steadily marching north. Winged variants could be seen flying above, and elated smiles of expectation were plastered on their faces as these lesser demons dreamt of their destination.
There on a hill overlooking this march of horror, two individuals-clearly different then the mooks they oversaw-stood.
The first being, though similar in appearance to the marching demons below, was a distinctive individual due to the immense might he radiated. Though humanoid in shape, the demon stood over 9 feet tall. Obsidian black skin, flexible yet stronger than steel covered his entire body, and a forked tail even longer then himself flicked behind him. Thick muscles rippled across his enormous frame, and his face which lacked eyes or a nose, had a unnaturally long slit of a mouth running to the sides of his head. Dangerous indigo flames licked across his whole body, infusing dread upon all who gazed on it.
The second individual, stood starkly contrasted to his monstrous partner. Completely out of place amongst the thousands of demons, this being had the appearance of a young man. Long black hair was swept over his head, and the fair skin that covered his well structured face gave off the impression he had never walked outside before. He wore simply clothes, a white cotton shirt and brown trousers, along with a pair of leather boots. In fact, the only thing about him that could be said to appear inhuman would be his deep red eyes.
“Magnificent, isn’t it? It hasn’t been very long since my birth, but even I understand it’s quite rare for so many demons to be gathered in one area. I’m impressed, Agares” The casual tone in which the young man addressed the creature beside him, would make any listener doubt their ears.
Agares crossed his arms and snorted. “Ha, sometimes I forget your still a greenhorn, Hilfeim. I’ve been alive since the beginning of demonkind. The days when our lord ravaged these lands with a sea of never ending demons was quite the sight to behold.”
“Ah, I’m envious that you got to see that.” Hilfeim gave a composed smile as he gazed out upon the army in full march. Mad delight danced across his eyes as he pictured what the glory days of demonkind must have been like.
Agares turned his head around to look directly at Hilfeim- though how he could see with no eyes to speak of was still in question.
“Of course all this effort will be wasted if you don’t successfully accomplish your mission, Hilfeim. I’d hate to have brought my forces all this way for nothing…” Agares smiled threateningly, revealing multiple rows of small, sharp teeth.
Though Hilfeim appeared at ease standing next to this monstrous creature, even he could not stop the flow of cold sweat that ran down his back when threatened by such a powerful demon.
The archdemon, Agares ‘The Destroyer’. As one of the eight demon generals headed by the demon king, he was a monster among monsters. Tales of old spoke of how he easily ripped human lands apart with his bare hands, unmatched even by his peers in a test of raw strength.
“Naturally, I shall not waste the trust your grace has put in me. That said, this will all be for naught if after I bring down Raitzal’s barrier, there are no demons ready to commence the attack.” Pushing aside his own fear, Hilfeim still shot back at Agares with a challenging gaze.
“Hmph, cheeky brat. That has already been accounted for. Though the wall the humans keep at our borders is a bit troublesome, one of my peers has already agreed to help.” Agares stated with confidence.
“Though only a small portion of my forces can be teleported in at once, with me at the lead, Raitzal will fall easily.”
“Hmm that sounds quite promising. I look forward to seeing your accomplishments in battle, oh great destroyer.” Hilfeim gave an elegant bow. Such movements were fitting of his handsome appearance yet these ordinary actions seemed rather out of place amongst this particular company.
“I too, have been gifted strength by our God personally. Though I’m sure my abilities pale in comparison to someone as renowned as yourself, I will still of course fulfill the duty assigned to me.” Hilfeim grinned, eager to display the powers he had been recently granted.
Though Hilfeim could be considered weak compared to the monster next to him, that simply was because the target for comparison was far too strong. His own strength if measured on a scale would be quite considerable under the ordinary laws of common sense.
That said, ‘Strong by ordinary standards’ was not enough to play the role of assassinating the ‘Saint’ of Rozen. Hilfeim’s true abilities lay in his incredibly powerful array of illusionary magics. He could viciously tear apart his opponents along his blade and they would never even understand what had happened.
But of course, for a demon who specialized in absolute strength and destruction like Agares, such tricks would be pointless as it was unlikely Hilfeim could deal any sort of damage to the monster before him, before he, and everything in his immediate vicinity was obliterated.
Though the princess of Rozen was said to wield incredibly powers, she was still just a girl who had lived in the shelter of guards her entire life. Her defenses for assassins would be rather weak, and no matter how powerful a human was, a sword to the heart was incredibly lethal.
“Good. I expect great things from you. Do not disappoint me.” Agares rumbled, before turning back to his marching troops.
“FORWARD! TO THE DOWNFALL OF HUMANITY!” He roared. The air shook with his presence as his power burst forth, washing over his troops.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
The roars and screeches of abominable creatures echoed throughout the landscape. Embracing the carnage they were promised was to come.
*********************************
“Hmm…. No that’s not it… Not here either…” Muttered a red haired youth quietly to himself as his eyes scanned rows of thick text.
James Everand, hero, demon slayer, a man of many titles and one who could wield such incredible power that he could wipe out entire armies single handedly, was currently immersed in reading a book.
Rozen’s capital Raizal was a city famous for many things, and it’s main library was a great attraction for scholars all over the continent. Though James was not a scholar by any means, he was also not dumb. He knew of the value information had and was determined to do his research before he charged out to the front.
In the past- or future, the demon war began with the destruction of Raizal, but the demons had strategy in mind when choosing this city in particular. It also stood as the closest landmark to the great wall, which separated the demon lands from the rest of the continent.
If any sizable attack was launched at the wall from inside the demon lands, the best chance for reinforcements would come from Raitzal.
The demon plot was thus to destroy the wall’s most powerful source of reinforcements, then travel south and commence a pincer attack on the wall from both sides, inevitably leading to its destruction.
With the wall out of the way, there would be no official separation between the demon lands and the rest of the continent, and each country would be scrambling to defend itself whilst invasions destroyed the great kingdoms one by one.
As if I’d be foolish enough to let that happen. James smirked to himself.
When it happened before, the demons got progressively stronger as the war raged on. So did the humans, myself included. However since I traveled back in time, my abilities have stayed the same as they were then. Defeating a demon general by myself should be well within the range of my capabilities.
James continued searching through texts as he finally found an old tome that dated historic efforts to the walls upkeep throughout the ages. Excitedly, he flipped it open and began reading the texts within.
‘The Great Wall - Dated back to the year 1320, is a magical marvel that far outstripes modern day magics. Built with specially enchanted blocks of stone, the wall which stands over 100 meters high, and extends farther than the eye can see, retains defensive strength on par with Ironhide Dragonscales. Currently, its overseeing is the responsibility of one of the six great kingdoms, Rozen. Created with lost magical techniques, the wall has successfully repelled demonic invasions for the past 500 years. Common opinion amongst researchers claim that before the construction of the wall, demons were considered the most dominant creatures on the continent, (see “Demons of old by Eorlund Behmen.”).
Ignoring the texts related to demons, as James considered himself very proficient in facing them already, he moved his eyes down the page when a passage relating to the wall’s origin caught his eye.
‘Although no one knows who constructed the original wall, the most widely accepted theory today is the ‘origin’ tale presented by believers of the Two Gods.’
The Two Gods? Since when has religion been accepted as fact in a history book…
James was never a religious man, so he was a bit lacking when it came to matters concerning faith. That said, you would have to be living under a rock to not know the most basic beliefs about the most popular religion on the continent.
Standing up from his seat, he quickly strode past a few more bookshelves that labeled documentation on everything from magic beasts to scroll creation techniques, yet surprisingly could not find any information at all concerning the religion of the Two Gods.
Lucky for him, as he was turning around in confusion during his search, an old man dressed in the garbs typically given to the librarians assigned to different sections came over to him.
“Hello there, is there any way I can help you today?”The man gave off a kindly smile as he gestured to the bookshelves around him.
“Yes of course. Sorry, I’ve looked around, yet I just can’t seem to find any texts relating to the religion of the Two Gods around here…” Relieved, James quickly stated his needs to the librarian in hopes that he was just looking in the wrong area.
The man frowned “Oh, well I’m sorry then young man. If you’re looking for detailed religious texts, then this library isn’t correct place to be looking. I suggest you make your way main temple, it resides in the flower district near the city hall.”
James gave off an apologetic smile. “No need to apologize, I guess it was my fault for assuming that there would be a section devoted to religion inside a library devoted to scholars and historians. It makes sense that you guys wouldn’t want to mix facts with fiction.”
“Whilst that line of thinking would normally be correct… we did actually have a few books lying around here devoted to that cause. After all facts in religion cannot always be dismissed by scholars, and references to the Two Great Gods can be found in hundred year old literature anywhere.” The old man explained a little hesitatingly.
“Unfortunately, all of the books that we had in the library pertaining to the topic have now all been burned.”
James eyes widened as he looked at the old librarian with an aghast expression.
Realizing what kind of connotations that sentence could have, the old man wove his hands around in a -it’s not what you think- kind of fashion.
“Oh no, please don’t misunderstand. It was not the library’s decision to do this, but rather was a movement forced upon us by the crown.”
“What? The Two Gods religion has an enormous following. Why would the crown force such an unreasonable condition on the library when it could anger so many people?” James was honestly amazed. With the kind of backing that The religion of the Two Gods had in society, it was not hard to imagine riots would occur if people found out that the royalty themselves were forcing religious texts to be burned.
“Have you only just traveled here lad…? No, you must be here for the tournament. Half the people who come through here these days are.” The old man muttered to himself before lowering his voice to barely above a whisper.
“Be more careful for yourself when you start asking questions about those kind of things whilst inside the walls of Raitzal, lad. Recently a religious cult calling themselves the ‘True seers’ have risen up lately. They oppose the main following of the Two Gods religion, and are extremely radical in their efforts, so the crown has been forcefully making attempts to curb anything that might cause hostilities.”
A religious cult? One that even the crown would move to appease?
“In any case, if you want to know more about the religion of the Two Gods, try the temples. They’re the only place where it’s still practiced... somewhat safely.” The man gave him a meaningful look.
After thanking the man for his help, James made his way out of the library and considered what he should do next.
Given what was stated in the textbooks he looked through, he wanted to give a visit the temples to see if he could learn more about what the priests there had to say about the wall, but it was more curiosity then anything which drove that urge.
Just as he was considering his options-
“Excuse me!” a voice rang out.
Turning around, he saw a young boy still in his early teens running towards him.
“Sorry… You’re Mr. Everand correct? I’ve been sent from the arena. Could you please follow me? Your first match has been decided.”
James blinked in surprise. Considering he had only left the registration area a few hours ago, he figured it would at least take a day before any fights were held.
Oh well. Guess my next move is decided already.
“Alright, lead the way.” He grinned.