-8-

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TAP. TAP. TAP.

A loud noise woke me up. My eyes were heavy with sleep and my head felt clouded. I pulled the sheets away from me and sat up in bed. Glancing over to my left, I found only empty space. Whipping my gaze to my right revealed another empty spot.

Hailey and Rias were missing.

It’s fine. Maybe they’re already up.

I took a deep breath and tried to calm down. My heart was racing. I rubbed the dryness away from my eyes. If everyone else was awake already then I’d need to hurry and get ready.

I swung my legs over and pushed myself out of bed. A creaking noise groaned from something wooden beneath my feet. Surprised at the sound I looked down to see what I had stepped on. Hardwood flooring covered the ground.

Wooden flooring where there should have been soft ground was only the start of discrepancies as I was wearing my leather boots, still scuffed and covered in blood from last night. My gaze followed up my legs, noting the torn leggings and torn over coat.

I clutched at my chest. My fingers traced down the deep grooves left behind from the snarling beasts teeth and claws.

The room I was in had a stark difference to the tent I had gone to sleep in. The walls were elegant with a regal flare, but they were showing age and wear as if this place had been abandoned long ago.

It was almost identical to one of the palace chambers in Axio.

Was I back in Axio?

No. That wasn’t possible. This must be another one of those psychometric episodes again. But—I hadn’t had any weird dreams after that first misplaced memory, so why now?

The sound that woke me up echoed through the chambers once more.

TAP. TAP. TAP.

Somebody was knocking on the door. I twisted around to find a massive metal door between two doric pillars, overgrown in vines. I crept slowly through the room towards the doorway.

With every step forward, it seemed to move further away...

Was my vision blurred?

No. It was the door that was blurring, a dark mist cascaded down around it. Everything else in the room was in focus. The walls of the room fell away from the darkened ceiling and more black mist fell from above. I raised my arms up to shield my eyes. The mist settled along the floor, blurring my surroundings. The hardwood flooring faded away leaving a cracked stone pathway leading to the large door.

The black mist swayed around threateningly, mocking me.

BANG. BANG. BANG.

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I pushed forward through the mist, magickal energy sparked off my skin as I moved. The mist thickened with each step, making it hard to breathe. I choked on it, and had to stop forcing my way. I narrowed my eyes to try to peer through it, though the doorway seemed to be just as far away as when I started. Further away even.

I tried to turn around, but some force pushed back hard against me, keeping me locked in place facing the receding door.

Dark-purple bolts of magick flared through the mist and struck the doorway. Runic sigils formed at the corners, lines formed linking them in an X. The runes pulsed quickly, flashing a rich and eerie violet.

The loud crack of thunder rang out. The pathway shook beneath me and started to collapse. Great chunks of rock split away and tumbled into the darkness. I tried to run away, but the same force pushed against me. I watched in horror as the empty void came ever closer.

The last stone I was standing on began to shake, my footing slipped and I fell to my knees. The stone began its own fall into the void, careening to the left. I grabbed at any break in the rock to keep myself from tumbling down into the dark—my fingers couldn’t find purchase, and I fell into the void… Screaming.

I stopped falling, slamming onto a hard floor.

“Oooahh…” I groaned in pain, as my body slumped.

I was in the center of the palace chamber room. Heavy rain pattered against a window and the flash of lightning filled the room.

For a brief moment I caught a demonic visage staring at me from the corner. I stumbled backwards and fell against the bed. In the commotion, the lurking monster stirred. It leaned forwards out of the dark corner, into the lowly lit room.

The demon’s head was a massive hammer-shaped wedge, ending in long, sharp pointed ears. Its eye flared with a rich purple glow that flickered like hungry flames.

A twisted sinister grin revealed jagged rows of dark fanged teeth. In its hunched stature, it was quite a few feet taller than an average human.

Then it stood.

Its legs bowed back, like some kind of enormous predatory bird. It came to stand at full height, towering over me at well over fifteen feet.

The looming figure pointed a clawed finger at me and traced out a series of runic-like symbols in the air.

Words hammered against my skull from a voice that seemed to come from inside my own head, “YOU WILL DIE.”

Each letter inflicted a searing pain as if they were etched into my mind. Afflicted with incredible shock, from pain or pure terror, I was frozen in place, unable to move a single muscle.

Was this a warning, or a threat?

The demon stared at me, but did not move. If this was a threat it was clear that it was not able to carry it out right now or I would likely be dead already. My gaze drifted down to its hand, still pointed directly at me.

Bony-white claws the size of daggers were protruding from a four-fingered hand. It had a human-like thumb that with the three others, extended out a considerable length. Each appendage with claw was the size of a farming scythe.

I shuddered at the thought of being eviscerated by the terrible beast. It must have sensed my unease, because it traced out another set of runes.

This time though, no words assaulted my brain. Instead the space around us began to fade into a misty shadow.

Even the demon itself faded into the shadows, leaving me left alone in the chamber room with the two runic sigils.

My mind and heart were racing in overdrive.

What in the Aether was that thing? Where am I? This isn’t just some nightmare or somebodies memory.

The sigils flickered and the shadows started to grow around me, engulfing all sources of light. At the rate they were spreading, the entire room would descend into darkness in seconds.

The sound of a clock echoed in my mind.

TICK. TOCK. TICK. TOCK.

TICK. TOCK. TICK. TOCK…

With each ‘tick’ the shadows danced faster until they engulfed everything. I was left floating in a black void, every direction I turned was the same empty nothingness.

A scraping noise stung my ears, and I saw a glow out of the corner of my eyes. I craned my neck to see more runic sigils coming to life.

“I WILL CONSUME YOU.”, the words burned, even stronger than before, as they appeared in my mind.

“Arghhh! Celestials above!”

The unbearable pain left me doubled over, senses barely functioning. I forced my eyes open just in time to see a gaping maw of demonic fangs envelope me from the void below.

I cried out in terror—though my voice made no sound as I was swallowed whole…

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"Aaaaaaaaaaaa—"

I shot upright, crying out in terror. The shirt I had went to bed in clung to my skin, it was drenched in sweat. My whole body trembled in fear. It took more than a moment to realize that Rias was clenched tightly around my right arm. Hailey looked up at me from the foot of the bed. Both of their faces were a mix of worry and panic.

Rias wrapped herself around me. I felt some of the panic reside and my nerves calmed. Now it was her body that was trembling.

"Y-you wouldn’t wake up…" She whispered in my ear. "We weren’t sure what to do."

Hailey pointed behind me, “I thought maybe he would know what to do.”

I twisted around to see the ‘him’ she was talking about, slumped over in a chair, snoring loudly.

Julius.

"We both tried everything we could think of to wake you up. But you just wouldn’t open your eyes. You kept calling out and your body kept shaking."

Rias squeezed harder for a moment and then relaxed her grip around me. Looking at her face was heartbreaking. Her bloodshot eyes swelled as tears fell down her face. I was able to rasp two words from my throat.

"I-I’m s-sorry…"

She took my face in her hands and leaned in close. Her forehead came to rest on mine.

Hailey crept up onto the bed laid down beside us, her head coming in to rest against Rias’ and mine.

"I’m going to keep you safe."

Her words were calming. The tension in my body released and my eyes stung as my own tears swelled. I leaned into her, burying my head into her lap.

My words scratched against my throat as I spoke, "It was a Terror Demon, I think. It attacked me—” I looked down at myself, notably unharmed, “Well, not physically, it's more like it attacked my own thoughts…"

I told Hailey and Rias every detail of my nightmare. Afterwards, Hailey placed her hands on my shoulders.

"I think… I think that we don’t tell anyone about this."

"I agree with Hailey."

Before I could respond, Hailey jumped off the bed and gave Julius’ chair a kick. He jolted awake, startled, he reached for a sword that wasn’t there. He looked from Hailey, to Rias, to me—and seeing I was awake, he relaxed.

"Finally up from your nap, your highness?" he snickered.

A nod is all I managed to give him as a response. From the battle and from sweating all night, I was dehydrated and weak.

Julius had already picked up on that, and handed me his water canteen. I started with a few small sips. The refreshing touch against my dry throat was more than my mind could handle, I threw moderation to the wind, and was gulping down the water in a moment.

“Here.”

Julius startled me, his arm was outstretched towards me holding something. With a death-glare I turned towards him, but my expression softened as I saw what he was trying to thrust at my face.

Upon a small plate sat a little muffin-cake topped with fresh berries and—was that cream!?

“Take it. Happy birthday, or whatever.”

I could read him like a book. Even though he wore a scowl on his face, I knew he was actually embarrassed about his awkward presentation of the cake.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Thanks, Julius. I really appreciate it.”

My lips were still dry, and the wide smile that took hold on my face was painful as the skin cracked.

I shared the cake with the three of them. The sweet cream and the sour berries gave the fluffy cake a bright taste that energized my mood.

Today was the twentieth of Capri’æni Ix. The month under the sign of Capricorn, ♑︎. It was my birth anniversary.

The only three people here who would know that were sitting next me—and after the short panic that we all experienced, birthday wishes were the furthest thing from our minds.

It was also the midpoint of the month. If you believed in the Celestial Faith, today would be the day where Capricorn’s power and influence over this world was at its greatest. Back in Axio, there would be a festival and a night of drinking and dancing—well, there would have been. Probably not anymore.

Hailey managed to find a new uniform for me to wear, replacing the torn mess I had stripped off last night.

Rias gave me a tight squeeze after I had fastened the last of my uniform’s straps. Her quiet voice lightened my mood a little, and I was ready for the day.

“Happy birthday big sister! Stay safe out there today, okay?”

Outside, the air was chilly and damp. Puddles of mud were the landscape of our campsite now. Ominous gray clouds threatened us overhead.

The mood was mixed. About half of the guardsmen were cheerful. They were recounting last night's battle, embellishing the number of enemies slain into the thousands. The other half looked like they were ready to break if someone looked at them wrong. Maybe the stress from battle was getting to them.

Or maybe it was something else... It's possible I wasn’t the only one to suffer a nightmare last night.

We ran into Luke and Hanna at the field kitchen, they were leaving and gave us a warning. The ration this morning was over-salted hardtack and questionable looking ‘meat’.

Leftover field marmot…

We found a table and I poked at my meal while absentmindedly surveying the room. The same mixed-emotions were obvious here as well. Some tables were full of laughter. Others looked like ours, with their occupants sitting silently and barely eating.

Hailey nudged me, bringing my attention back to our table.

“Let’s check in with Dori after this. Hopefully she was able to take a look at your shoulderplates.”

“Yeah, good idea.” I ran my hands over my shoulders. “Feels like I’m walking around with myself exposed without them.”

Julius choked on a bite of his biscuit.

Hailey goaded him, “Were you just imaging our Commander exposed, Julius?”

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“Ye’ really took ah’ beatin’ last night, didnae’ ya’?”

“You should see the other guy.”

Dori was tapping a ball-ended hammer against a piece of red painted metal. Laid out on the table nearby were other assorted pieces of my armor.

“Saw th’ massive club them Divisionals had hauled ‘ere last nigh’. Thought to meself, ‘Dinnae this look like an absolute shite-fest’.”

She handed me the plate she was hammering. It was one of my shoulderplates, rounded back into shape.

“Replaced th’ paddin’ on those too. Should feel like new on ‘yer shoulders.”

“Thank you, Dori. I really appreciate it.”

She grabbed a small crate from another table and placed it in front of me. Peeking inside, I could see parts of Julius’ armor.

I returned to the mess hall and dropped the crate down behind Julius. He whipped his head back, startled. Glancing up to me, down to the crate, to where I was sitting before, and then back to me.

Rias smiled back at us from my previous spot.

“By the Celestials I didn’t even know you left.” He looked back at Rias, “You look exactly like your sister. It’s uncanny.”

We headed to the command tent and ran into Soren and Alistaire. They were sitting on a makeshift bench, a long timber that had been sawed down to create a flat surface and sunken into the ground. Soren’s head bobbed down a few times, popping back up to catch himself from drifting back to sleep. Alistaire was leaning against him, eyes closed and a small sliver of drool was seeping down his chin.

Soren’s head popped up from a downward bob and his body twitched, nudging his sleeping companion awake.

Alistaire sat up and wiped his arm across his mouth. As he turned he caught sight of us approaching.

“Oh! Uhm, morning all.”

“Hey Alistaire. Hey Soren. You two been waiting long?”

“Not too long. We’ve been up for a while though. Hard to sleep when your whole body is sore.”

“I don’t think any of us got any rest either.” I pointed to Hailey, Julius, and myself. “Speaking of rest, have you seen the rest of the party? We ran into Luke and Hanna earlier, but I haven’t seen Mei all morning.”

They both shifted uneasily on the bench. Soren’s eyes darted away from my gaze.

“So I take that as a yes. What kind of trouble did she get herself into?”

Alistaire opened his mouth briefly, as if to speak, but shut it quickly and pursed his lips.

Narrowing my eyes, I leaned in close to them.

“Boys, tell me where she is.”

We found Mei in the midst of an argument at the armory. The Quartermaster was standing firm about the ‘absurd’ amount of arrows she was requesting.

Mei’s position was that it was not absurd, and that she had run out of arrows last night. Proof enough that the quantity she requested was reasonable.

I intervened when things seemed like they were about to turn into a shouting match. Confronting the two of them, I asked how many arrows we were talking about.

Mei replied quickly, ‘only’ four-hundred.

I wasn’t sure where she was going to pack away four-hundred arrows, but an annoyed ‘Just give her what she asked for’ from Julius and we were on our way to the stables.

Luke was already there bridling the horses.

Hanna briefed us that she had already dispatched eighteen other parties to Tolin in the early morning. These parties were organized into raiding teams of three, so each group would have about twenty people. They would be clearing and securing buildings one sector at a time.

Our party would be going in as a vanguard again, to clear a way through the garrison district.

A blood-soaked mess greeted us at the gates of Tolin. Large timbers with crude planks hammered into place had been laid into the mud to create a walkable pathway into the city. The demon corpses from last night had been removed. Great pyres had been erected in a newly dug pit some distance from the gatehouse. The smell of burning flesh stung my nose.

Entering the market square we were greeted by the commanding officer, a Knight-Lieutenant.

Their rundown was simple, the six raiding teams were deployed to the remaining three districts; Residential, Port, Garrison. There were two teams per district, and about forty members per team.

We were now supposed to link up with the Garrison team, who were assisting with clearing the riverside promenade of the residential district. Once together, we’d form up as a single raiding division.

A division at its smallest was a militarized group of two or more raid-sized parties led by an uppercore officer. At its largest, you had major divisions like Hailey’s.

Before the coup, the Third Division was around one-hundred and fifty officers, and over two-thousand five-hundred divisionals. That single division is too large to handle on its own, so it's broken down further into more manageable divisions, such as the raiding team we were about to form.

The Garrison Citadel loomed over the residential district. The red-stone contrasted sharply with the walls, almost isolating it from the rest of the city.

The street leading to the Citadel was a wide unbending paved through-way. Most of the buildings lining the street were single-family homes, capable of housing no more than five or six adults. Branching from the main street were many winding arterial roads. These led off to all sorts of varying neighborhoods, some of the same single-family homes, some larger homes, and even a few manors.

"Hail Commanders, and good morning," A steel-clad Paladin saluted our approach, "We’re clearing the last remaining block of residences. My teams should be back in about an hour."

Hailey had taken hold of my hand on our walk through the city and I fumbled momentarily trying to return the Paladin’s salute. Hailey snickered at my clumsiness.

"Good timing. Will you be ready to move forward when they return?"

The Paladin motioned over her wrist and a rune glowed brightly. A large party interface danced in the mists.

"We’ll be ready."

I waved over my own rune and brought up the party interface. I sent the Paladin a request to merge her party into ours. She accepted, and my view quickly grew to show an unmanageable amount of party members.

The two teams responsible for the residential district had joined under a single group with the two garrison teams. By accepting my merge request, I had added over one-hundred-sixty new members to my group.

I raised my eyebrow at the Paladin. She shrugged and gave me a look that said ‘I’m just doing my job here, lady’.

The awkward exchange had garnered the attention of my six party members—they looked at me expectantly.

"Good news, we’re the proud leaders of a small army." I joked, "It’s us, plus four whole raiding teams."

Luke and Hailey both stared, slack jawed. First at the Paladin, then at me. I stared blankly back at them.

"I knew nothing about this."

Julius broke the brief tension.

"Last night, I asked Hanna to relay orders to consolidate the raiding teams when they got close to the Citadel. After our encounter last night… I wanted to play things safe."

"We’ve never fielded a singular force this large before, Julius."

"Well you know what they say, never a time like the present."

"I don’t think that saying applies to commanding four raiding teams through a derelict castle."

"Difference of opinion I guess." He shrugged and flashed me a grin.

Bastard.

I spent the next hour reviewing my party configurations, trying to make mental notes to remember which members were defenders, casters, soldiers, or rangers.

Ultimately I resigned in defeat.

There were just way too many to make a meaningful effort. One-hundred-seventy-two members in total, including myself and my party. I counted twice to confirm the number.

There were twenty-three healer specialty casters between the four teams. Adding in Hailey, I wouldn’t need to focus on watching anyone's life bars. She would let me know if they needed help.

The raid team members joined us at the square that was just before the garrison district’s gatehouse.

The garrison gatehouse was noticeably different from any other in the city. Instead of the pinkish-white Vyae stone, it was constructed from rare, red granite. Practically all important structures from the old Vanixian Empire were built from this type of stone. It was incredibly tough from a hardness level, but it was near-impossible to penetrate with magick. The crystalline formation of the stone absorbed all types of magick and would become harder and more resilient the more spells that were cast upon them. Stonemason Guilds that built with this type of stone typically charged exorbitant rates that could empty the pockets of even the wealthiest nobles.

Also noticeable, was that the gate was suspiciously shut. All the other gates in the city had been locked in an open position, which was pretty standard for a city that was caught unaware during an attack. The fact that this gate was shut, implied it was closed some time after the city fell, or it was closed before or during the attack.

None of the scouting teams had breached the Citadel. We had no way of knowing if there were more hordes of demons nested here, or if it was abandoned.

That uncertainty obviously being the exact reason Julius arranged for four raiding teams to accompany us.

Luke and two other rogues made their way into the gatehouse to find the mechanism that would raise the inner gate. Their bodies shimmered and faded away in stealth.

Ten minutes passed and a loud ‘click’ was heard from above the gateways corridor. Another ‘click’ a minute after that, and the grinding and scraping of the gate raising gnawed at my ears.

Luke and his partners emerged from the gatehouse and waved us over.

"There are clear indications of recent movement in the halls leading up to gate controls."

"Great, squatters. Think they’ll just leave if we ask nicely?"

Soren sighed at Alistaire’s attempt at humor.

"Be ready for anything," I warned my party, "keep your guard up. Call out anything that seems out of place—"

A familiar scraping noise followed by dark runes appearing above the gate cut me off.

The flash of words etching in my mind stopped me in my tracks, “TURN BACK OR BE CONSUMED.”

The deep recessed voice, the same as from my demonic nightmare, emanated from my own mind and sent sharp jolts of pain through my head.

I looked to Hailey, but her expression said it all. She heard the voice as well.

Almost every member of the raid had the same pained look on their face. A look of shock and panic paired with a clenched jaw, fighting through the searing pain each word inflicted on them.

The only two people seemingly unaffected were Julius and Mei, though I’m sure he was just being stoic.

I would bet that he was screaming on the inside.

Mei’s eyes were trained on the darkness beyond the gatehouse.

"Commander."

"Y-yeah, Mei?" I grimaced through the residual pain.

"Terror Demon."

"Terror Demon or one of the Celestials themselves, it's in my castle."

Julius brought his shield off its mounting plate on his back and unsheathed his sword. Calmly he gave orders, "Mei, you’re on point with me. Airis, you stay two lengths behind me. Soren. Alistaire. Take up positions on Airis. Luke, stick to Hailey like glue. Don’t let anything get close to her."

Silver light glowed from Julius’ shield as he spoke an incantation, “Light, grant us Strength. For in Strength we find Power. In Power we create Unity. In Unity, we serve the righteous and bring forth justice to these tainted lands. Despair forces of darkness, Silver Bulwark!”

The raid was enveloped in its glow. The protective barrier would provide a great defense boost to everyone.

Channeling my own power, I began to cast my own aura.

“Source of light that dwells among the veiled. Journey with us as we make our way in the darkness. Come forth and guide our way, Radiance!”

The soft golden glow swept over the raid. I turned to face my small army, to offer them some sort of encouraging words...

I don’t know what to say at a moment like this…

In an effort to avoid embarrassing myself at this critical point, I drew my blade and raised it above my head. It sparked to life, the rush of crimson flame roared over me.

A war cry echoed through the stone gateway into the halls of the Citadel. Four words in defiance of the usurper hiding inside.

"For the Crimson Blade!"