The gentle heat soothed the aches in my body and acted like kindling for my innate talent as it flowed into me. Feeling the flames in my body grow stronger was like a shot of caffeine injected directly into my bloodstream. Just a few hours in this room was the same as spending more than a week training normally.
Unfortunately, a few hours a day was all my talent could handle. Just like training your muscles, pushing your talent beyond what it could handle would only cause problems rather than help you grow stronger. I was careful to only push myself right up to that limit without going any further. No matter how much I was worried about the Demons that had invaded this realm, I still had to practice in moderation. Soon enough, I would return to my full strength. Then, it would be the Demons’ turn to be worried.
I let out a sigh as I reached the limit of the energy I could absorb for the day. The light blue flame I had been making dance across my fingers gave one last flare of life before flickering away. Exiting the training room, I made my way back through the long tunnel and back to the main hall of Svend’s home.
There, I saw my mom, Svend, and Cyra, all looking at a map covered in small tokens. Even sitting down, Svend’s massive form dwarfed the two women.
“I have received multiple reports the past few days of Demonkin sightings,” Svend said as he pointed at the tokens on the maps, “They have not been attacking anyone, even easy, isolated targets. Instead, they all seem to be migrating in a single direction. It is a common sign that they are responding to a summons from a powerful Demon. I assigned a few men to follow them. Hopefully, they will lead us right to where the Demons have gathered. Until we know that, I have nowhere to lead my armies. I can’t just have them march in a random direction across the borders of other nations.”
My mom traced her finger across each token on the map and drew a line down. “Assuming the Demonkin do not deviate and continue walking straight south, they should be going somewhere on either the western edge of the Novus Kingdom or the east border of the Ciel Empire. That area has been ravaged by war for the past couple of decades and very few people still live there. It would be a good place to muster a force of Demonkin without drawing too much attention. However, it is also the area most protected by serious fortifications. Attacking either country from that no man’s land would be much more difficult.”
Svend shook his head. “We are talking about seven fully matured Demons, each with their own talents and domains. Forts and castles will crumble like sand in front of them. Only someone with a Domain of their own would have any hope of holding the Demons back.”
My mom frowned as she looked up at Svend then back down at the map. “In that case, the only question is, which country is the better target?”
“Ciel,” I said as I walked into the room, “The city of Ater-Albus is held by King Sebastion. The Demons will not risk a direct confrontation on my old stronghold without more preparation and a much larger army. It is not the sort of place that can fall easily.”
Svend stroked his bushy beard as he looked up at me. “Indeed, that man is a monster. King Sebastion, with the help of decent defences would be extrememly difficult to take down. I fought him once. He is probably even stronger than you were at your peak, but we cannot rule out the possibility of him getting baited out of the city. King Sebastion knows he is powerful and rarely takes any precautions. With one of our enemies being able to see the future, the man falling into some trap seems very likely.”
I wanted to argue that someone I taught would not be that easy to trick, but I knew it would not be earnest. Sebastion was a stubborn mule, perfect for a knight, not for a king facing such a threat.
Svend leaned back in his oversized chair as it creaked under his weight. “I will prepare for both possibilities. Hopefully, if they decide to go after Sebastion, he can kill a few of them off before he dies. Otherwise, this realm will lose one of its strongest blades for nothing.”
“Renald and I sent a message through General Arthur that the seven Demons have arrived, but whether or not the king will heed our warning, I do not know.” My mom said.
“Where is Dad, anyway,” I asked as I looked around, “normally, he would be the first one to jump at these kinds of conversations.”
My mom pursed her lips as she paused for a moment. “Your father is back on Dragon’s Nest right now. He needed a bit of time. We moved the island to be more accessible. You can get there from the second-floor balcony at the back of the building if you want to speak to him.”
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Noticing my mom’s conflicted gaze, I decided it was time I had a talk with my dad about whatever was troubling him. I excused myself from the strategy meeting and found my way to the balcony. Stepping onto the floating island, I started to look for my dad.
I found him in one of the training rooms I had not used much yet. The room was full of pillars made out of a substance that felt like clay and seemed to harden on impact. If you struck one of the pillars, it would light up. The harder you hit the pillar, the brighter the light.
When I found my dad, he had his sword drawn as he swung at one of the pillars over and over again. There was none of the normal finesse that my dad normally displayed. These strikes were nothing more than animalistic brute force.
The blade cut about an inch deep into the pillar with every swing, filling the room with pulses of blue light. After the blade was removed, the cut on the pillar vanished as the clay-like substance molded back into a flawlessly smooth surface.
My dad screamed as he swung one final time with all his might. The blade sunk into the clay and stayed there. My dad released the hilt and sunk down to the ground. He looked defeated as he stared at the pillar with an empty gaze.
I felt a heavy pain in my chest as I saw my dad in such a pitiful state. Not knowing what else to do, I walked up behind him and gave him a hug, and held onto him as tight as I could.
We sat in silence for nearly a minute before my dad finally let out a sigh. “Thank you, Wren. I am ok.”
“No, you are not,” I whispered back, “Do not try and lie. You are even worse at it than me.”
My dad chuckled. “I guess you get that from me.”
“Tell me, what is wrong? Maybe I can help.”
“There is nothing to help,” my dad said before falling silent for a short moment, “I just remembered some things I would rather forget.”
After a few seconds, he let out another sigh and moved to sit across from me. He looked me in the eye and I could feel the weight of his gaze on me. “Do you remember when I told you about my childhood, about how my family and I were exiled from the Ciel Empire?”
I nodded. “I remember. What does that have to do with this?”
“After we were exiled, the emperor… my uncle, hired a group of raiders to kill my family. I only survived because my mother hid me in a small cabinet. I watched as my mother, father, and older sister were all slaughtered without mercy. My parents were not fighters. They never stood a chance. Though, my sister did manage to gouge one’s eye out with a kitchen knife before she died. The entire time, I did nothing. I hid like a coward. I could not even give them a proper burial afterwards…”
I clenched my fist as I realized the implication of those last few words. “The raiders were from Kala.”
“Yes,” my dad replied with a voice barely above a whisper, “I later joined the Novus military in hopes of getting revenge for my family. My hatred faded with time. Your mother saved me from a life of self-loathing and bitterness, but when I saw the bodies down there, when I saw the… modifications and knowing that my family might be one of them… All that hatred came rushing back. I know that Svend was not directly responsible and I know that these people are our greatest allies in the war to come, but how can I fight alongside the people that murdered my family? The people that ruined my life…”
I looked down at the floor, unable to meet my dad’s gaze. “I will not ask that of you. If I had known, I would never have brought us here.”
“That is why I did not want to tell you,” my dad said as he gave me a small smile, “I have a new family to protect. That is more important than my hatred. I will never forget what happened that day, but I will never ask you to put everyone’s lives at risk just because of my hatred.”
“You are stronger than I am,” I whispered, “If it were me, I would not stop until each and every one of them had been hunted down.”
My dad sighed as he leaned back against the pillar. “I have thought about that too. When I was younger, I dreamed of it every night. Even now, I wish I could go out there and chase them down.”
“Why don’t you?”
My dad shook his head. “Because I am better than them. I am a knight. I may not be able to serve the Novus Kingdom anymore, but that will never change. Sellswords that only kill for money, an uncle that is scared of his own siblings and children and can never trust anyone again. I am better than that. I have to be.”
I fell silent as I looked at my dad. The defeated look was gone. His eyes now burned with determination. He smiled at me and reached over to tousle my hair affectionately.
“And you are even better than me. I see it every day. You may not have grown much taller in the past couple of years, but you have grown up. I am proud to see the young woman you are becoming.”
I instinctively pulled away from my dad in an attempt to save what little hair that remained unknotted and to hide my blush as my dad chuckled. After trying in vain for a few moments to straighten out some of the mess I eventually gave up and sighed.
“If you do not want revenge, what are you going to do then, Dad?”
“What else can I do?” my dad replied with an overly casual shrug, “We finally found the allies we were searching for. We cannot leave now and I will not abandon my family. I might sulk for a few days, but ultimately keeping you and everyone else safe if what is most important. The past is just a memory.”
“You know, I can ask Svend to search the catacombs for your family. The least we can do is give the burial that was denied for so long.”
“I would like that,” My dad said with a big smile.