Renata’s eyes opened slowly as the sharp light of day cut into them, she winced. When she attempted to move her arms, she noticed that not only was her whole-body aching and sore but her left arm was shackled to a heavy stone, she blinked as she gazed once more at her surroundings. She was in a stone cell, it was cold but light was entering through a grated window above her. Her clothes were torn and ripped revealing the black and white lines on her legs and arms that went between the gems imbedded into her body. As Renata was doing a full body inspection her heart sank, her tail, which was like a leathery robe that ended in an arrowhead was hanging outside of her clothes, it was in full sight.
Everything was starting to come together in her mind. Someone in the village must have seen her after she passed out and probably by chance they had spied some of Renata’s unique features and importantly they must have seen her tail, a clear indication that the person was a demon. Demons when found were heavily discriminated against, they are utter scum only useful as target practice or slaves in the eyes of most humans. If a random villager had found Renata and saw her true form it would be likely that they would have reported her to the guards who would have then most likely locked her up in a cell, this must have lead Renata to her current situation.
From the distance footsteps could be heard on the hard-cobbled stone floor, the noise caught Renata’s attention as she quickly assumed as best of a combat position as she could. Whether or not it was a good idea to fight whoever was coming was a subject that was currently being debated in her mind. If she used her magic and attacked right of the bat she would likely be able to escape but that did not seem like the best plan as she had no idea on the status of anything around. She did not know the fate of Joan, nor how or why Ferald had allowed her to be locked up. The only thing she did know was that they had thankfully left her with her storage ring, they must have simply assumed it was merely a small copper ring of little value because of its size.
The steps got closer as Renata readied herself for any possible combat, if the approaching figure had anything less than pleasant intentions, Renata would have no problem blowing his mortal coil to pieces. When he came into view Renata struggled to recognise his face but was left with no results, she had no idea who this tall tan skinned man was, apart from the fact he appeared to be a jailor of sorts, he carried a ring of keys and a dagger that was sheathed at his thigh. The man took stock of Renata for a moment, verifying she was awake and at least mostly aware of her situation.
“You’ll be staying here til’ the caravan from Barrok gets here next, demon.” He spat out as he looked down on her, his ugly nostrils flaring as he gave her a devilish grin, presenting his terribly black and rotten teeth. “Ferald will gut you when he hears of this, holding me here.” Renata viciously growled back at him. The man’s grin only grew wilder as he began to stifle his laughter, it took him a few seconds to regain the small semblance of composure he struggled to maintain on a regular basis. “Demon, you needn’t worry bout that old piece of crap he was strung up this mornin in the square, seems he was harbourin some demon, awful coincidence aint it. Alexander Fisk is the mayor now and he sure as hell aint lettin you go, in fact he seemed pretty damn pleased you turned out to be demon, he couldn't have hung that traitor faster, the mayor who kept a fuckin demon, piece of shit, he cried when he died.” He could barely hold back his laughter towards the end when he saw Renata’s blank face.
A force of rage was building from the Renata's gut, it was seeping into her heart and all her muscles, her eyes were digging into the man in front of her. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up and with no effort at all Renata shattered her bond with an immensely powerful *Compressed Wind Slash*. The slash was so powerful due to her insane intelligence level, it not only broke the iron bonds like paper but it cut through the stone floor and into the dirt below. The jailor stood back as he looked in total disbelief when Renata effortlessly send out two more *Compressed Wind Slash* attacks followed by a *Concussive Wave* that together destroyed her cell door bars and smashed the jailor against the wall behind him. Renata was exuding power as she tore the fabric of world energy around her to pieces with little care, her mind consumed by rage and two objectives, rescue her loved ones and destroy Alexander Fisk.
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Renata did not care that her clothes were torn, allowing everyone to see her demonic features, she did not care for modesty either, she only cared for revenge as she slowly walked across the village from the dungeon where she was kept. She was heading to the place she thought that was most likely for Fisk to be, the residence of the now previous mayor, his wife and Renata’s best friend, Joan. When the people of the village saw Renata, a lot of them looked shocked and they were not sure what they should do. A lot of them had heard word of Jeral and his daughter, and his tragic death at the hands of his demon daughter. They did not wish to meet the same fate, they hid well away from Renata.
As Renata approached the manor building she spied a group of guards angrily exchanging yells at each other. Renata recognised the guards of one side of the fight, they were Jeral’s friends who she had met from time to time, they were guards who often worked with him, their names were Yrel and Tal’Hid. Yrel spied Renata from the side of her vision, she quickly ran over and drew her sword in front of Renata, Tal’hid followed suit and together they made a line between Renata and the other three guards they had just been arguing with.
“You pieces of shit won’t touch her, she’s fucking Jeral’s daughter you spineless cowards. How could you do this to him, do you really think a small girl like her is capable of killing her own fucking father?!” Yrel was nearly frothing at the mouth with anger. “She’s a damn demon Yrel, come to your senses, you and me both know the law, we both know what demons are like Yrel. They are bloodthirsty killers. Hand her over so we can lock her up. We’re not safe with unholy scum like her walking around in daylight, she’s a damn monster who killed her own father.”
Yrel and Tal’hid were both aware of the law and they both knew that if they stood on the side of demon it would never end up well for them, demons were known as utterly bloodthirsty and despicable creatures that were either killed or captured on sight, they all knew this. In Yrel's and Tal’hid’s minds Renata was not a demon, she was Jeral’s cute, harmless, daughter. The stand still lasted for a quick eternity until Renata walked around Yrel and Tal’hid and faced the guards that stood between her and the home that likely contained her target. The guards were all slightly trembling, this situation was all kinds of messed up in their minds. Their eyes were caught when they saw Renata’s blank eyes tearing into them.
“Is Fisk here?” Renata broke the silence only to be answered by Tal’hid from behind her. Renata heard him spit before he answered, “he’s in there alright, the piece of shit didn’t have to think twice about the promotion.” Renata steeled herself, she would give the guards in front of her one chance, she was unsure if they deserved to die. “Yrel and Tal’hid are wrong, I am a monster, I am a demon. I did not kill my father though. But if you do not step aside and let me get to Fisk I will kill you. Move.” Renata’s voice was chilled and sent shivers down everyone’s spines, there was latent killing intent behind her words, it was itching to be unleashed. The guards at the door faltered for a moment before the unsheathed their swords and taking a fighting stance.
Without blinking Renata shot three simultaneous *Shrapnel Bolt* spells, one for each heart in front of her. The three of them stiffened for a second before the light left their eyes and then ungracefully collapsed to the floor. Renata walked past the three corpses as she blew the door down with a *Concussive Wave* and walked through. She activated *Eagle Eye* and scanned the home for people. Yrel and Tal’hid were shaking with fear as they watched the impossible display of magic and gore, even for them the sight was stomach turning, they were unsure what to do but they knew they did not want to stay where they were, they ran back to the guard house, they feared for their lives.
Not long after Renata entered she heard shouts, a man was shouting. He was coming towards Renata, undoubtedly attracted by her loud entrance. As he took a corner he spied Renata from the floor above her. He started fuming when he saw the splintered door behind her and he ran down the stairs, his eyes in a frenzy and his face red with anger. When Fisk was at eye level with Renata he saw how vacant her body looked, her white hair slightly blowing in the wind and the sun reflected on the remarkably beautiful twisting lines on her slender body. As he took a full picture of the situation he saw that behind her and the splintered door were three of his guards, dead and gored. It was then that he stuttered because he saw her eyes, blue as the oceans, they held a rage that could not truly be expressed by words, a passionate yet almost sad rage that threatened to consume all that even gazed into it.
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“Where are Anna and Joan?” Renata broke the eerie silence. Fisk was barely able to breath no less speak but the creature in front of him was going to eat him if he didn’t so by some miracle he managed to speak, his will to fight broken already. “Anna died with Ferald, the runt ran off before we could put her in a cel…” His mouth stopped as his body took an impact, he barely had a split second to look down at his chest, it was torn to shreds yet he felt no pain, he merely lost himself as he fell to the ground, dead. Renata had enough information from him and she would not allow him to consume any more air than was totally necessary, she couldn’t cope with being on the same plane of existence as him for even a second longer. He had caused the deaths of Anna and Ferald, he had driven Joan away, he did not deserve any mercy from Renata.
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After leaving the building Renata saw that the whole area had been vacated, there was not a living soul anywhere near and there were no clues as to Joan’s whereabouts. Her only hope was to turn on *Eagle Eye* and walk to places where her and Joan would often go, starting with the most likely, the bridge not far out of the village. Renata skirted the edges of the village rather than walk straight through it, she didn’t want to find any more trouble, there had already been too much fighting, too much killing for one day. The bridge only took ten minutes to walk to from where she was so in only a short period of time she was there and she spotted Joan sitting on top of the curved wall of the bridge.
The day was becoming darker as the evening sun was setting. Joan looked lost as she stared off into her own sun tinted reflection in the water. Renata’s heart had calmed down when she saw Joan, no longer was it fuelling her anger but rather it was relieved, she hadn’t lost everyone, not yet. Renata couldn’t smile, there was still too much pain, but at least she was given a brief reprieve from the totality of her melancholic mind. She could imagine that everything was fine when she saw Joan at their usual spot, she could feel like the whole world was fine, just for a moment. Renata walked over to Joan and sat down with her in her usual place beside her. She placed her hand over Joan’s, Joan's hand was cold.
Joan felt Renata’s presence as she intruded on her self-imposed isolation, the comfort she felt when they touched hands helped a little with the overwhelming sadness she was experiencing, the tears had only recently stopped but when Renata touched her the flood gates opened once more, there was no amount of willpower that could best the grief and sorrow she felt, the loss of both her mother and father in a tiny span of time was so bad she wasn’t able to think, no less talk. Her sadness was primal and her mourning was unfathomable.
Renata was hurting too, badly, but she had the advantage of hundreds of years of experience, so she could keep going but she understood that Joan was far too young to be able to cope with everything that happened and there was nothing Renata could say or do right now to help, besides be next to her to cry with her, to help carry the burden, that was the only thing she could do. So, the two sat sobbing next to eachother for a couple hours, arms wrapped on to eachother, neither would let go first.
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As the two calmed in each other’s embrace they were both startled by an ear shattering roar coming from the large forest near them. They had heard this roar a few times before, it was the distinct sound the elder griffon had made the last time a group of adventurers attempted to slay it. The creature was the bane of the small village and had caused many issues in the past, enough for it to merit a kill order in the adventurers guild at Barrok. The creature had slain several groups of experienced and well-equipped parties in the past and after every fight it had a habit of flying up into the sky and from time to time go on a rampage, destroying a small farm house or something it found. It had yet to do significant damage as it always went back to its home before that happened.
A few roars later and maybe five to ten minutes of what must have been a tough battle the beast flew out above the treeline, it was wounded and only had good function in one of its wings. Its flight was hap hazard to say the least, it only managed to barely fly outside of the forest before its wings gave in and the creature fell to the earth and skidded in the dirt close to where Renata and Joan were. The beast was terribly injured, it was bleeding and was missing a leg, a large portion of its wings was gone too. The claws and beak were broken and its feathers were dyed red with its blood. The creature could barely breath but it still managed to shakily stand after a few moments and through its one good eye it saw Renata and Joan.
Renata noting the danger quickly pushed Joan backwards telling her to hide behind the wall of the bridge as Renata activated her *Flight* spell in concert with using the *Eagle Eye* spell to spot the weakest points the griffon had that she could attack. There was no way she could leave a creature this strong alive near them. There was no telling what damage it could cause or how many people it could kill if she left it alive and ran. Even in its heavily wounded state it would still be utterly devastating to the local population and it didn’t seem like it would be flying home this time.
After seeing that the creature was protecting the side of its neck with what was left of it's wing Renata had found the mark she would focus on hitting. The griffon tried snapping at Renata as she flew around it fast, it was unable to reach her due to its injuries and thankfully so, this beast was so powerful that a full strength beat of its wings had a high chance of injuring Renata. The griffon even tried firing off magical wind blasts that surprised Renata at first but after getting a fell for it she could avoid them without much effort, her *Flight* spell was rather fast and it made her win almost every time against brute force enemies that relied on fighting on the ground. Because of the griffon's broken wings it was effectively a grounded threat and this made it easy pickings for Renata.
Renata fired off several *Concussive Wave* attacks at the creature to temporarily stun it so she could get a clean shot with her *Shrapnel Bolt*. The griffon's hide was too tough for Renata to penetrate at her current strength but thankfully she didn’t have to, she only had to hit the wounds that the creature already had, every time a *Shrapnel Bolt* hit its mark it would borrow under the wound and then explode causing huge amounts of damage, it wasn’t long until the creature felt it was losing and it chose to muster all of it's might into one final roar. The roar was so powerful that Renata was unable maintain her spells and her *Flight* spell failed. She plummeted to the ground and slammed into it, she was within striking distance of the griffon. Renata knew she was in extreme danger and her mind frantically thought about what she could do to save herself, in the next two seconds the griffon would be able to attack, it wasn’t enough time to cast another *Flight* and get to a safe distance, her only hope was to create distance between them both, quickly.
Renata winced as she knew her only hope would be to use a modified *Concussive Wave* to push them apart, or more accurately, push her away. The spell usually directed its force away from the caster but Renata would now effectively have to cast it on herself to save her own life. The blast didn’t affect the griffon much but it sent the small frame of Renata well outside of the range of the griffon. Renata felt a couple of her bones fracture and she could only assume that she had caused severe internal bleeding on herself. By sheer power of will Renata cast another *Flight* and lifted herself up into the air and fired off a final *Shrapnel Bolt* using *Eagle Eye* and by a miracle she got it to hit the griffons eye. The bolt went inside of the griffon’s head and exploded, turning its brain to mush, the creature was dead.
Renata slowly drifted down to the bank of the river, she retrieved a healing potion from her storage ring and drank it before she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. ‘Now is not the time to rest’ Renata thought to herself. The pain was bad but she was alive and the beast was dead, she was safe for next short while, but soon people would arrive, she had to leave now. She briefly looked at the corpse and thought of the core that must be within it, she knew that it would be worth a fortune, but she had no time. Renata replenished her mana using *Spell Tap* and flew over to Joan. After a few quick breaths a message appeared in front of Renata. It was to be expected for killing a creature as powerful as the griffon was.
Congratulations! You have levelled Air Mage...x5 You have recieved 25 freely distributable statistic points!
Renata was happy to see that her class had levelled up five times and after a quick check she confirmed that her total level had a gone up by five too, both now sat at level six. Without much time to spend playing around with status windows Renata modified her *Flight* spell slightly so she could carry both herself and Joan, the mana cost and speed of travel would go down and she would need more focus but it was possible and with the essentially infinite mana she had it wasn't too much of an issue. Renata also took out a fresh set of clothes from her storage ring and put them on, discarding the tattered things she was previously wearing. The night was approaching so Renata lifted both herself and Joan into the air and began flying, their first stop would be the city they had planned to go to not long ago, they were travelling to Barrok.