Gov’es
“Keep moving!” I shout from the back Fitfif. My mount carrying me forward at a relaxed pace as my forces charge through the burning woods around me, compelled forward by my many captains barking out orders and slapping those that are too slow.
Moving out from our captured territory under Father’s orders, I have taken my forces to scout out the southern area bordering our territory.
Extending my Aura around myself and Fitfif, melting the snow in our path as the rest are forced to have to walk on top of deep snow. Occasionally, one of the little ones might fall through the snow, swallowed up in the depths of white as the other walk on and over them. The weak will die, the strong are the ones who can push through and climb their way back out.
Thankfully, there are very few weak among my forces. My forces are often at the vanguard as we travel and fight, so the weak are regularly weeded out and the strong made stronger.
They wear the furs of beasts now and carry torches to keep warm, while those who were stupid and remained naked had died to the cold long ago. They wield weapons made of sharpened monster bone or anything else they can wield, because they learned that their little claws and teeth are not enough. They follow the footsteps of those in front, because they learn from those that fall.
My forces are strong because they have survived and learned. They have grown and they will one day become demons like my brothers and sisters. Like Father.
Noise comes from the front as my forces come upon monsters as we delve further away from our captured land. These lands have yet to burned and conquered, but they shall soon fall like the rest.
Aiming my staff forward, I launch a ball of fire at a rampaging beast, setting it ablaze as it runs and howls with many of the little ones clinging to its body. As it hits trees and tramples snow covered bushes, the flames spread hungrily to everything they can touch, entire sections of the green instantly set alight with hellish flames. With a push of my will from my Aura, I take command of the flames and push them forward, all the while keeping them from burning my own forces, the mark of my own blood that I placed upon them acting as a ward to keep them safe from my flames.
“Slay the beasts and feast on their flesh! Those who are strongest shall raise up to become something more! Prove to Father your worth!”
The little ones redouble their attack and throw themselves into the flames without fear as they latch onto the monsters and attack their burned bodies with their weapons, and bite at their wounds with their teeth.
Even as dozens of them get trampled and crushed by the rampaging beasts, more simply come to replace them until the things fall from their wounds and exhaustion, collapsing to the ground as the little ones start to eat them alive.
“Keep moving forward, there are still more beasts to hunt! Follow the flames!”
Pushing the flames to spread further, my forces charge forward and chase after everything that flees in the chaos of the burning green, their tracks in the snow becoming foot paths for the other little ones to follow as they sprint alongside the fire.
“Big brother, this is good. There is still plenty of food to be found here, hahaha!”
I turn to look as one of my captains rides towards me, her mount growling at Fitfif before quickly being put in its place with a quick a nip to the ear. She is Billybilly, which is a silly name, but among my captains, she is the strongest. Even if she does not have the gift for bending the elements, she is still a very capable fighter and is skilled at leading.
“Yes, little sister. Father will be glad to know that-“
My words are interrupted by sounds that I have never heard before cracking out from far ahead. It is almost like the sound of lightning ripping through the sky, or the tearing of a massive tree falling. It splits through everything and even cuts through the noises of roaring monsters and screaming little ones.
“What is that?”
“I do not know… Gather the other captains and move forward to investigate, I will pull my forces back together from the rear and then join you.”
“Yes, big brother.”
Kicking her mount forward, she rides off to go do as she was ordered. I can’t help but to watch as she leaves, a craving forming.
I think I will have her tonight when we return…
Ripping my eyes away from her departing figure, I turn to the scattered ones that are still busily feasting on downed prey, stuffing their faces with fistfuls of steaming hot bloody meat.
“Gather up and move! We have more to kill, head towards that noise! You little shit, I said to get up and move! Now!”
Those that are too slow to get moving or are still stubbornly stuffing their faces get a thwack from my staff. One particularly unlucky one, wasn’t able to get away fast enough and ended up getting chomped on by Fitfif, her large jaws easily snatching up the little one and chewing on it as it screams in her mouth. A crunch silences it before Fitfif starts to swallow her meal.
“Ahh, Fitfif! No eating the little ones! If they are to die, then it should be in combat, not as your food! Bad girl!”
Fitfif just whines sadly in response, looking back at me with pleading eyes.
“Ohhhhh… Don’t look at me like that… You know what you did was bad, don’t do it again, ok?” I ask her nicely as I reach down and pet her head, scratching her behind the ear.
She just gives me a big ‘Boof’ of a bark, as she wags her tail, bloody drool dripping out her mouth as she pants happily with her big tongue hanging out.
“Oh, you’re lucky that you’re cute… You big fur ball~”
‘Boof!’
“Alright! The rest of you, get moving before I feed you to Fitfif! Move!”
That really gets the rest of them running as they finally part from the monster corpses, their weapons and a last few handfuls of meat in hand as they go sprinting off to fight at the front.
Up that way, the noise is growing even more, and there are even now, the sounds of explosions ringing out.
“What in Father’s name is going on? Come on Fitfif, forward.”
‘Booof!’
…
I arrive at a scene of carnage.
It is unlike everything that we are used to. Yes, everything is burned, and ash falls from the burning trees, there are even the numerous corpses of many monsters and even our own, but it is different.
Everything is smashed and broken. Trees lay in splinters. The little ones are crushed and splattered as if they had been swept aside, their blood and bile painting everything around them. Even the corpse of a monster that lays in a clearing was not killed by burns and the wounds of many cuts, but instead lays broken and twisted, its head aimed at an impossible angle and gazing off into the distance. Another, off to the side has its head laying off to the side, as if it had been removed by a massive blade.
This carnage continues on for some distance as I ride Fitfif through the sight of a great and bloody battle.
Around me, the little ones continue to charge forwards, running straight for those loud noises that have still yet to stop and are only getting louder as we draw nearer.
Soon, an opening shows itself in the green and Fitfif carries me out into the open where I am greeted to a sight that is hard for me to comprehend.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
My forces are charging forward towards a distant, massive building that stands in the center of a stone field. But yet, no matter how many of them charge forth, they are simply torn apart and reduced to a spray of red mist before they can even cover half the distance towards the building.
From the building is where the crack of thundering noise comes from, lines of death that flash with greens and reds, reaching out and tearing apart everything they touches, sweeping across the field and simply erasing the little ones like they aren’t even there.
I go to call out the retreat, to call my forces back before they are all slaughtered without purpose, but then I turn and look to the side of the clearing.
Wading through the tides of little ones are four massive figures that stand on two legs and have arms like us. They don’t seem perturbed in the slightest by the little ones as they simply swing around their weapons and clear away swaths of them with a single arcing blow. But what truly catches my attention is some of the corpses that are surrounding these figures. They are the captains of my force, their bodies lying broken alongside that of their mounts. And in the hands of one of the massive figures is Billybilly.
She is fighting back desperately as she is held by the neck, her feet kicking in the air, one of them simply looking her over as she struggles and kicks at their chest.
“Billybilly!” I scream as I prod Fitfif to move forward and charge towards the figures.
As I get closer, it becomes all the more apparent the difference between us. They stand easily twice our height, somehow even taller than Father, and they are each dressed in muscle and armor, a pointed tail hanging from behind them, twisting horns adorning their heads and sticking out from their helmets.
“Billybilly, I am coming! Fitfif, kill!” I scream out as we draw closer.
‘Booooof!!!’
They turn my way and look as we charge towards them, a fire ball forming on my staff as I prepare to let it loose, my Aura pushing out all around me and promising a burning death to all who challenge me.
The one holding Billybilly, -Are these the humans that Father told us about? – Raises a hand to her shoulder and grasping something there for a moment before then pointing towards me.
Is she about to cast a spell? I don’t feel an Aura around her? It doesn’t matter! I will burn them all for standing in our way! They shall all burn, just like –
‘CRACK!!!’
The world suddenly goes sideways as Fitfif gets blown to the side and trips over her front limbs, falling shoulder first and hitting the ground hard. The fire gathered on my staff, blasting away a part of the field as I am thrown off from her back and sent tumbling to the hard floor.
Shaking my head to clear away the dizziness, I look back and find Fitfiff laying on the ground. Most of one shoulder is simply missing and she is motionless. Not breathing… She is dead… I try to look around and find what had hit her, what magic had done this, but I find nothing. The figure, the human, had simply pointed at her and she died…
The humans… Father’s enemies! My enemies!!!
Looking back towards them as I rip my eyes away from my beloved fallen mount, I watch as the dust settles from the explosion. The human in the middle is still holding Billybilly as she screams and fights with wild abandon. One of the others walks up to them and taps them on the shoulder, saying something to them before pointing back towards the building. They merely shrug before turning to go and run off towards the building, bringing a kicking and screaming Billybilly with them as they run away at ungodly speed.
The others continue to watch me warily as they kick aside any of the remaining little ones that attack them, their attention squarely focused my way as they stalk forward…
One suddenly moves. One moment they were standing there, and the next they are rocketing towards me, the hard ground behind them getting blasted into rubble as they take off.
I only have a moment to react, jumping to the side as I create an explosion at my feet, throwing myself back and away just as a fist buries itself into the ground where I used to stand.
Aiming my staff towards the human, I prepare a fire ball that could turn a tree to splinters and ash, but a second one moves and catches my attention, aiming some long rod towards me with it braced up against their shoulder. Danger signals go off in my head and I immediately abort the attack, instead fanning out the flames into a shield pointed towards them.
The rod lets out a loud crack, followed by a second, a third, and a fourth as they continue to pump the rod with their other arm. Masses of projectiles slam into my shield repeatedly, the little pieces of metal instantly melting and falling to the floor as molten droplets.
They stop firing as they move to feed little red tubes into the rod. I try to go on the offensive, but the first one is already coming for me again. I turn my head just in time to dodge his massive fist and aim my open palm directly into his chest. Letting loose a quickly made blast, the air claps as the both of us get blown away from each other, with him landing on his feet, uninjured, and me releasing another blast at my feet to send myself even further back, retreating towards the still burning green.
My Aura hungrily grabs at the raging flames as I pull them under my control, my Aura growing stronger as I enter my domain, my element filling the world around me.
The three humans pursue me in further as I flee, a new fire ball growing on my staff as I continue to try and increase the distance between us. The third human still has yet to show any signs of joining the fight, just watching as they follow from behind the other two.
As the humans pursue me, they simply smash through an obstacle that gets in their way, while I have to constantly dodge and weave around every tree as I continue to propel myself away from them with controlled explosions.
When I finally do stop running, now deep into the burning green, I point my staff towards them, a small glowing star adorning its tip. I have compressed as much fire as I can, and though it is nowhere near as much as Father can use, I know that this explosion will be devastating.
The humans move to jump out of the way, sensing danger, but I slam my Aura down on them in its entirety before they can move. Although they don’t collapse to their knees, they do stop moving for just a moment, stumbling as if they had just hit a wall. With my Aura pushing down on them, their clothes are even starting to catch fire beneath their armor, the heat around us getting increased to inhospitable levels. Though, strangely enough, their hair remains unburned…
Discarding this unimportant thought in the middle of a battle, I go to release my attack on them, to kill the humans that killed Fitfif and slaughtered my forces.
I’ll go save Billybilly once I am done with these three. If all of the humans are like this, then we are going to have a difficult fight…
…
Something suddenly grabs my hand and forces me to point my staff towards the sky, just as I am launching my fire ball, the attack blasting away from the tip of my staff and rocketing off into the sky. It takes but a second for the explosion to go off, and suddenly the sky is filled with fire, hot embers raining down on us as raging winds blow though the green and kick up ash.
Staring wide eyed up at the wasted explosion, I quickly look over to see what is grabbing my arm, my wrist held in a vise like grip.
My eyes somehow manage to widen further, my mouth dropping open as I see the figure standing beside me. She is about the same height as me, if a little taller, and her skin is grey. Black hair, black eyes with golden halos and slit like pupils, white horns that point upward in defiance of the heavens, and void like claws that adorn her fingers…
“The Grey Demon…”
What is she doing here!? Is this where she has been hiding? Is this Father’s hated enemy? The one that he has sworn his revenge against? How did she get beside me without me noticing? She looks so small and week, she is even smaller that the humans over there… I can take her! I will extract Father’s revenge in his place! I will make him proud!
Pulling on the flames around us, I slam my Aura down on her as I pull everything I can to my body, coating myself in flames like a layer of armor.
Her hand where she holds me starts to sizzle and smoke as her skin burns against my touch. She lets out a surprised yelp and what is probably a curse as she lets go of my arm and waves her burnt hand.
Getting down low, I move to tackle her to the ground, my arms spread wide to catch her in my flaming embrace, but surprisingly, she simply hops back and moves through the air like she weighs almost nothing; she doesn’t even make a sound as she alights to the ash covered ground some distance away.
Still, she just continues to stare at her hand in seemingly a state of amazement. Calling over to the others, she shows them her hand like it is something fascinating.
Wait… How is she still moving? All of my Aura is focused on her right now. She should be getting pushed down.
I try to figure out what is happening, how it is that she seems completely unfazed by all my power, how I don’t feel anything coming from her, because she doesn’t even have a-
The Grey Demon turns away from them and back towards me, a smile on her face as she looks at me like I am some fun new toy she just found. For a split second, I have the chance to really question my chances against her, to consider turning and running away. But I am not fast enough. She takes a step towards me, and suddenly the world changes. My own Aura gets slammed aside, blown away like a small flame burning in a storm, as her own suddenly overwhelms everything around her.
The flames coating my body dim down to a small ember, every flame around us getting snuffed instantly as the shadows grow unnaturally thick and long, bending at awkward angles as the shadow of every tree turn and point towards me. Like a thousand shadowed people pointing their finger towards me from a crowd.
I collapse to my hands and knees, my staff clattering to the ash coated floor as a presence, much like Father’s, slamming down on me. It is absolute authority. Absolute power. The very world is pushing down on my back under the full weight of her attention.
I try to pull on my power and draw it forward. To draw anything at all into an attack, but I only manage to pull out a few flames from the surround heat that remains in the coals of the quenched fires that used to blaze around us, my control over fire just barely squeezing through her Aura.
Releasing as much as I can, only a small ball of fire manages to get thrown towards her by my shaking arm. With a curious look on her face, she reaches up and catches the fire ball out the air, holding it in her bare hands and looking it over as the flames eats at her palm.
Letting it burn for a second, she crushes the fire and then waves away the smoke from her singed flesh.
Walking over to me, she says something to me in their language, but I can’t understand her. Looking up, the other humans are here now as well, surrounding me, talking to each other in what sounds like a casual tone. Before I know it, the shadows have spread over my body and bound me tight.
What is happening, why aren’t they killing me?
“No! Put me down you damn humans! Release me, Demon!”
They ignore my cries as one of giant humans picks me up and carries me off towards the building. The field on the way there is absolutely coated in the eviscerated remains of thousands of my forces. The Grey Demon simply looks up at me and smiles as she watches me, even as I curse her out and scream at her face. She just tilts her head and continues to watch me, her black and golden eyes studying me with a hint of curiosity.