Devouring Darkness

by Bradley Counter

The sun blazed high overhead giving off dazzling, vibrant light, but only rolling plains of wild grass and empty fields could be seen in any direction. Temin glanced up at the sky and frowned. The sun had only just reached its crest in the sky and begun its daily descent down to the western horizon.

  “How much farther is it to Seteal, we’ve already been walking for days?”

  “Not quite, Temin, it’s only been about a day since the carriage was attacked. I thought you’d appreciate the chance to stretch your legs, now that we’re no longer stuck in that stuffy old thing.”

  “You don’t seem surprised that those demons attacked us, Master Rin.”

  “Well, to be honest it’s not that surprising. We’re out here at the edge of civilization because demons have been attacking people; I'm actually glad they attacked us and not some unsuspecting travelers. That being said the loss of the carriage has slowed us down considerably.”

  “It doesn't have to slow us down; can’t we just enhance our bodies and run there?”

  “We could, but we wouldn't be of use to anyone if we rushed to meet the enemy only to be exhausted and unable to fight them upon our arrival. No, we need to conserve as much of our strength as we can.”

  “Are you serious, Master Rin? I watched you fight those demons back there, and they didn’t stand a chance. Is the demon controlling those ones really so powerful?”

  “I'm not sure, Temin, and that’s the point. There is no reason to take unnecessary risks. You cannot drop your guard for an instant or the enemy will destroy you. Though I hate to admit it, some demons are more intelligent and cunning than us humans, so you must always be careful around them.”

  “Those demons didn’t seem all that smart to me, they seemed almost like animals.”

  “There are different castes of demons in The Nightlands. The demons that we defeated belong to the lowest caste. They are somewhat crude and stupid, but very numerous. There are perhaps as many of them in The Nightlands as there are humans in The World of Light.”

  “So what were you talking about when you said that they were so smart?”

  “The demons of the middle caste are monstrously huge and strong. They are about as intelligent as a man, but they rarely show it. By nature, they're far too temperamental and destructive. The real enemy isn’t one of these two castes of lesser demons; it will belong to the final caste. It’s that last caste of demon, the most powerful in The Nightlands, that we need fear the most Temin. Even the most powerful lightwielder will find their match among their ranks.”

  Temin was genuinely scared as Orlon Rin’s last sentence sunk in. He looked over at Orlon’s face, but as usual, his master’s face was impassive. There was no hint of fear or hesitation to be seen.

  Even the most powerful lightwielder will find their match among their ranks. We’re going to fight a demon as strong as Master Rin? What use will I be against something like that?

  “Temin I can tell that you’re worried, but try not to give in to that fear. I brought you along so that you can see what the life of a lightwielder is truly like. You have the skill and potential to be a great lightwielder one day, but it is not a game or some romanticized story. The truth of this life is harsh and thankless, but many lives will be spared by your efforts.”

  How does he always know what I’m thinking; man, that’s so creepy?

  “Master Rin... what use will I really be against a demon that powerful?”

  “I told you before we set out on this journey that you're not to fight, did I not? Temin, this will get dangerous, I know this and I hope you do as well, but you'll be safe so long as you stay back and leave the enemy to me.”

  I thought that I'd be of more help to Master Rin than this. I barely defeated a single demon and according to him, it was the weakest kind. I could be killed if I try to face anything stronger than that. Maybe I shouldn't have come.

  “Temin, stay alert; we're not alone.”

  Temin had started to sulk, but perked up immediately as he heard about there being someone else on the road. He enthusiastically looked all around them for signs of a traveler, but there was nothing to be found. His shoulders drooped again and he frowned even deeper than before.

  “You just made that up didn’t you? That’s not very funny-”

  Temin stopped talking when he noticed someone in the road as they crested the top of the hill that they’d been walking up. At first, only the top of the man’s head was visible, but as they continued up and over the hill the rest of the man’s body was revealed. He was only a few hundred feet ahead of them and appeared to be strolling along the road at a leisurely pace.

  “How’d you know someone was there?” Temin asked. “I couldn’t see him until just now?”

  When no answer came, he turned to look at Orlon Rin, and found the lightwielder staring straight ahead with a scowl on his face. Sweat beads had started to form on Orlon’s face and looking down Temin saw that his hands were balled up into fists. A feeling of uneasiness settled over him and he looked back to the man in the road ahead of them.

  It was impossible to tell how old the man was from behind, but he had a long braid of dark, brown hair falling down to the small of his back. He wore a white, silk tunic and matching pants that didn't have the slightest speck of dirt between them. Encircling the man’s waist was a wide, burgundy sash that was equally spotless.

  The man's feet were bare and impossibly clean. As he moved, they stirred neither dust nor dirt in the road. Temin strained to see him better and started walking faster to catch up to the man, but a hand clasped firmly onto his shoulder and held him back.

  “Don’t make any sudden moves, Temin.” Orlon told him in a calm voice. “Just keep walking calmly.”

  “What’s wrong, Master Rin? I just wanted to go say hello; he’s the first person that we’ve seen on the road since we left the temple.”

  “I’m not so sure that he is.”

  Temin looked up to see Orlon Rin’s frown deepen even farther. He quickly turned back and saw that the man had stopped walking. Orlon pulled Temin to a stop and they stood staring at the man’s back with only 20 feet between them.

  “Well, this is a pleasant surprise,” the man said in a cheerful voice, still facing away from them. “I’m glad to find other travelers are still walking this road. It’s been oddly quiet today.”

  “We’re on our way to Seteal,” Temin blurted out. “We’re going to stop the demons before they hurt anyone else.”

  “Oh, really,” the man said and slowly turned his head to face them. “Then that must mean that you’re lightwielders.”

  Temin felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up as he saw the man’s face. The man was young looking, appearing no older than 25 years. By most standards the man would have been considered quite handsome and he had an easy smile that would have seemed friendly on anyone else. On his face, however, the man's smile seemed false as if it were simply a mask of sorts that could be worn at a moment's notice to conceal his true nature.

  Looking at that smile gave Temin the same cold, faceless dread that he felt when waking from a nightmare that he couldn't remember. He was suddenly filled with a terror that he couldn’t explain, but the smiling man just kept right on smiling as if oblivious of his effect on them. He could feel Orlon trying to slowly pull him back behind him, but he couldn't move his body. His legs were frozen solid by a fear he’d never imagined possible.

  “Do try to be careful, won’t you?” the smiling man said cheerfully. “Demons can be quite powerful from what I hear. I envy the thought of such an exhilarating sport as hunting demons within their own world.”

  A flicker of interest flared in the man’s eyes for a moment at his own mention of demons, but then it was gone. As Temin stood paralyzed by fear, the man nodded to him casually and then vanished in the blink of an eye. Temin blinked and moved his eyes side to side searching for the man, but he was nowhere to be found. Not even a set of footprints in the dirt road remained where the man had been sta
nding; it was as if he'd never been there at all.

  That was the most scared I’ve ever been in my entire life and I don’t even know why. That guy didn’t really look scary, he looked more like a noble of some kind, but there was something definitely wrong with him. I wonder if Master Rin knows who that guy was.

  He turned to see that Orlon had been nearly as bothered by the smiling man as he was. With his jaw clenched tight and his scowl as deep as ever, Orlon looked as if he'd been expecting a fight, but as Temin watched his entire body slowly relaxed. His hands unrolled from fists and his face softened into his usual stoic expression.

  “Master Rin, who or what exactly was that just now? Was that a demon?”

  “No, that was power incarnate; the very personification of dark magic,” Orlon replied with something akin to malice in his voice. “I’ve heard stories of such a being for a few decades now, but I never imagined that they were true. Never have I encountered such power in my life, just being near him was frightening. The very air around him was so thick with barely restrained dark power that it was hard to breathe. Why the goddess would suffer such a being to walk the face of her world is beyond my understanding, but we cannot waste time chasing that creature; we need to get to Seteal.”

  "If it's that powerful, then why aren't we chasing after it? Something like that must be dangerous.”

  “Merely having great power is not a crime in the eyes of the goddess, but should he choose to abuse that power lightwielders will gather and hunt him down.”

  That thing wasn’t a demon; does that mean that it’s from our world?

  The next few hours were a vague blur of the dirt road and various fields passing by. Temin paid almost no attention to his surroundings as he followed Orlon Rin along the winding road. Shadows grew long as the sun continued its protracted descent, but Temin hardly noticed. His mind was filled with thoughts of the smiling man and the demons that they meant to slay.

  Why was that smiling man out here on the road? Does he have something to do with the demon raids or was he here for some other reason? Why is Master Rin just ignoring that thing; I mean it can’t really be safe to just let something like that wander around freely... can it?

  His gaze drifted to Orlon Rin. The feeling of sheer terror that he’d experienced was impossible to forget, but it didn’t seem to have bothered Orlon nearly as much. Temin remembered the way that Orlon Rin had calmed himself almost instantly after the smiling man had disappeared.

  How exactly did that thing disappear like that, anyway?

  Temin was still deep in thought when he suddenly noticed an odd silence in the air. It was accompanied by a powerful odor that forced him to crinkle up his nose in revulsion. His attention snapped into focus, and he quickly scanned the road for the source of the foul smell. In the distance, he could see a few buildings scattered among a small grove of trees.

  Is that Seteal? Why is it so quiet?

  “Master Rin, I can see buildings up ahead; do you think that it’s the village?”

  “It must be, there aren’t any other villages around here. This road only leads to one place.”

  “Then why is it so quiet? Where are all of the people and the animals? I don’t even hear birds.”

  “The demon raids would’ve started in Seteal. A group of demons as large as the one that attacked us yesterday roaming freely through the countryside could only mean that Seteal has fallen.”

  “How could you know that? The demons could’ve gone around the village couldn’t they?”

  “A single, lowly demon may have shirked away from attacking a village like Seteal, but the demons are attacking in raiding parties. They're trying to capture as many people as they can to drag them back to The Nightlands, so a village is too tempting of a target to pass by. No, Temin, Seteal is gone. It was likely the demons' first target.”

  Within minutes, they were at the gates of the village. The wall of timber that had surrounded the village on three sides had proven ineffective. The vertical logs that framed the wall were broken in several places. Splintered and useless, the gate had been shredded to pieces. Most of it lay scattered about on the ground in bits of wood and scraps of twisted iron. A section of it still hung uselessly from the hinge, but they stepped around it and entered the village proper.

  The village had been built against the cliff with two distinct sections of buildings. Just inside the gate a semi-circle of houses and shops surrounded the town-square in the middle of which was a large covered well. Past the houses, a series of fortifications had been built along the cliff’s edge to protect against demons coming up Fellwater Valley from The Nightlands.

  “This village seems really strange, why are there so few houses and so many of those odd buildings along the cliff?”

  “Seteal is, or rather was, a strange village as you said. The people that called this place home were an eclectic bunch: soldiers, hunters, farmers. Some of the villagers were simply poor and impoverished; they chose to live here because there is no tax for anyone living this close to Fellwater Valley. Others were here to hunt demons that crossed into our world as proof of their skills. Few of them ever succeeded as demons do not make easy prey. The rest of the villagers were here simply to serve as a shield to protect their fellow man against harm.”

  “How did they plan on protecting themselves; I mean why would they choose to live this close to the demons?”

  “I’m sure they all had their own reasons, but it no longer matters. There is no one left; even the children were not spared.”

  Temin slowly looked at the destruction around them. Torn scraps of clothing and other refuse littered the ground everywhere. Grisly, red stains dotted the ground in a few places and crimson spatter covered some of the splintered wood and discarded clothing. By an overturned cart of rotten cabbage, lay a straw doll that had probably belonged to a little girl younger than him.

  Temin pictured women and children screaming, completely helpless, as demons poured up over the edge of the cliff and attacked. A bitter sadness tugged at his heart and he clenched his hands into fists.

  “Where were the hunters and soldiers?” Temin asked with a growing anger. “How did they get defeated so easily? They should’ve fought harder, everyone was depending on them. Why did they let this happen?”

  “Temin, I’m sure they fought as hard as they could, but these were just ordinary people and tired old soldiers. This wasn’t a fortress, it was a village. These people were trying to protect everyone by watching the border between the worlds, but they were no match for such a large scale attack. It’s our job to see that this doesn’t happen to anyone else. We will find the source of these demon raids and we will slay those responsible for this.”

  Temin stood in silence staring at the little girl’s doll. He could feel tears beginning to form in his eyes, but he wiped them away. He turned away from the doll and looked up at Orlon Rin’s stoic face.

  “What are we waiting for?” he shouted blinking away the last of his tears. “Maybe these people are still alive. We need to hurry if we’re going to save them.”

  “We can’t give into despair, Temin, nor can we afford to act rashly. If three lightwielders have already failed, our enemy must be powerful indeed. We will rest here for the night and restock our provisions as best we can.”

  “But we-”

  “Enough, Temin,” Orlon said in a firm, definitive tone of voice. “It may sound heartless, but these people couldn’t have expected any different. They were fools to build a village near such an evil place no matter how noble their intentions were. Unless you wish to join them, you need to rest and regain your strength. We will leave at first light.”

  Temin was about to argue, but then he noticed the look on Orlon’s face. It was rare to see Orlon so serious, and Temin knew from experience that further words were useless.

  What did these people do to deserve this? All of them are gone, some might still be alive, but with all of this blood many must be dead already.

&n
bsp; He knew that Orlon Rin was right to insist that they wait. They needed to rest, but he couldn’t help but feel ashamed. Knowing that he'd be sleeping while somewhere in The Nightlands innocent people were being tortured and eaten was more than he could take. He turned and lashed out in rage, enhancing his entire arm mid-flight, and his fist tore through the thick, timber wall as if the barrier were only paper.

  Am I really supposed to just lie down and sleep while these people are out there scared and suffering?

  “Do you feel better now?” Orlon asked sternly, but then his voice softened. “Temin, I know what you’re feeling: the death of innocents is never easy to take, but you must understand that if we're going to help anyone, we need to recover our strength.”

  Temin breathed deeply and stared at the ragged hole in the wall he had struck. He thought of the ease with which the demons had probably overtaken the village and his anger turned back to sadness. He could feel tears forming again in his eyes, and unlike before, he didn’t try to stop them. For a few minutes, he cried in silence while Orlon Rin stood quietly behind him and waited.

  Everyone here, they’re all gone. They had no one to help them, no one to save them. I can’t let that happen to anyone else. I... I’ll find a way to protect everyone.

  “Temin, we need to search for provisions, but if you want you can wait here.”

  “No,” Temin replied softly, “I’m alright. I can help.”

  Orlon smiled and nodded slightly. Without another word, he headed toward the nearest house and Temin followed close behind. The smell of death and decay was faint, yet it still assaulted his nose.

  The first house they stopped at appeared to be in decent shape. The door, though spattered with blood, was still intact as were the walls of the squat, square home. As soon as Orlon opened the front door, however, a wave of rancid air rushed out to greet them. The smell alone caused Temin to start gagging, but then he caught a glance of what was inside and he became violently ill.

  “How awful,” Orlon Rin said and closed the door again. “Let’s try a different house.”

  They... they were all in pieces. What would do that to a person? Are demons truly that savage?

  After another house that was nearly as bad as the first, they decided to search the small inn in the ring of shops that surrounded the well in the village proper. There, they finally found the necessary supplies. The inn’s kitchen was still fully stocked with food. They quickly grabbed several strips of salted pork and one half of a small wheel of hard cheese. They then returned to the well to refill their water-skins.

  “Now that we’ve filled our packs we need to get some sleep,” Orlon explained as they slung their water-skins back across their shoulders. “We should return to the village gates, and sleep there. I’ve no wish to sleep in any of these houses.”

  Temin didn’t reply, he simply fell in behind Orlon and followed him across the village proper to the shattered gate. He didn’t think his stomach could handle any more carnage, but he knew that there would definitely be more to come.

  The sun was still sitting just above the western edge of Seteal as they settled down to camp for the night. Between a few of the various buildings, Temin could just barely make out the edge of the cliff that flanked one side of Fellwater Valley. The sun’s slow descent would eventually take it down, past the cliff’s edge, until it appeared to have fallen deep into the valley.

  Temin watched the sun for what seemed like hours. Beside him, he could hear Orlon Rin’s soft breathing as he slept, but Temin couldn’t quiet his mind. He tried not to think about the horrible things that he’d witnessed within the houses, so he distracted himself by simply watching the sunset.

  If the sun actually went down through Fellwater Valley and entered The Nightlands, I wonder what would happen. Would it illuminate that dark place and scatter the blood thirsty demons that hide there or would it disappear forever, swallowed by the darkness?