by D. S. Craig
A sense of dread filled Aurelia as she stared bewildered at the monster. She had been hunting since she was old enough to use a bow, and had fought to defend the forest from intruders for many years. Yet, in all that time, she had never come across a foe who didn’t die when you cut their chest open. In the back of her mind, she started to wonder if the creature was even mortal.
Worse, she was close to reaching her limit. Maintaining her connection with Fang was too taxing on her mind. Plus, the spell she was using to boost her strength was quickly depleting even his vast pool of magical energy. In desperation, she slammed her daggers into the demon over and over, cutting it in every way she could imagine as purple blood splattered across her dress. No matter what she did, the creature continued to struggle.
As her panic reached an all-time high, Aurelia threw her daggers aside and pressed her hands inside one of the demon’s many open wounds. A magic circle flashed in her mind as she shouted the activation keyword. “Lightning Claw!”
Aurelia’s hands became wreathed in lightning, sending violent electrical shocks through the demon’s body. It continued to kick and scream, refusing to die as she poured more and more of her magical energy into the spell. Fang’s wolf form wavered and disappeared as his magical energy ran out and the connection between the two was severed. Exhausted, he collapsed on the ground, unable to move a muscle.
Still, Aurelia dug deep, pouring more magical energy into the spell. Even as she did, the demon slowly lifted its head, glaring at her with its jet black eyes. Reaching up, it grabbed onto both of her arms, convulsing from the electricity flowing through its body. With no other cards to play, Aurelia squeezed her eyes shut and dumped the last of her magical energy into the spell.
A moment later, the last of her energy ran out, and the spell ended. The only sound in the garden was that of Aurelia’s heavy breathing. She could still feel the demon’s hands wrapped around her arms, but it made no moves to attack her. Slowly opening her eyes, she saw it staring at her, mouth agape and unmoving, eyes still wide. Then, its hands slid free from her arms and fell to the ground with a thud.
The fight was over. They had won.
Heaving her sluggish body off the demon’s corpse, Aurelia crawled over to Fang’s side to check on him. He was sprawled out on the ground, completely exhausted due to having most of his magical energy used. Checking him over, she could tell he didn’t have any severe injuries. Convinced that he was fine, she smiled gently at him and began to scratch behind his ears, pride filling her chest.
“That was great for your first hunt, Fang. Relax now. We’ll leave the rest to the others.”
Fang’s tail wagged softly as he drifted off to sleep. Meanwhile, Aurelia looked up at the starry night sky and took a deep breath, which caused her to wince. Surprised by the sudden sharp pain, she looked down to find bruises blossoming across her limbs. The effects of her rushed spell were catching up with her. While it had boosted her strength and speed drastically, it hadn’t correctly reinforced her body.
Lying back on the grass, barely able to move, she listened to the distant sounds of battle as her friends handled the remaining assassins. Though she knew they were strong, she couldn’t help worrying. They still didn’t know what Thel’al was after here, or where Baron Arvis was. If the remaining assassins transformed like the one she fought, then even Lesti and Astria would struggle.
But there was nothing she could do. So she laid there and prayed to the stars above for their victory as explosions echoed in the distance.
Battling Assassins
As we rushed into the party, we saw the assassins engaged in battle with Elliot’s older brother. The hall around them was torn to shreds as he used earth magic to send stone spears flying at his opponents. Unlike Elliot, Reeve seemed to focus his fighting style on ranged spells.
We rushed over with Elliot to try and give him a hand. He was holding up well enough, but he was being pressed rather hard. Before making it halfway across the hall, I felt a surge of magical energy as several other attendees finished casting their spells. Fire, stone, and various other projectiles were sent flying at the assassins, forcing them to give up their attack on Elliot’s brother and flee to the balcony on the far side.
Not wanting to give them a chance to escape, we rushed after, followed closely by Elliot. As we stepped onto the balcony, we were greeted with a strange sight. Not only were the assassins not fleeing, but they were chugging some unknown purple liquid from vials.
Immediately, I noticed something was wrong. Their magical energy, which was gold in most people, was a strange mixture of purple and gold, almost as if they were drawing power from two different sources. But as they drank more of the potion, the purple energy began to overwhelm the gold, surging forth at an alarming rate. Simultaneously, this new magical energy began to move with a purpose, shifting and changing their bodies from the inside.
“Lesti, take them out, quickly! Those potions are dangerous,” I shouted in warning at Lesti. Whatever those potions were doing, I didn’t want to find out.
“You got it! Compressed Fireball, repeat three!” At her shout, three massive fireballs sprung to life in the air before her, causing a sudden burst of heat so intense that it made both Elliot and me flinch. Compressing into dense balls of flame, they flew at their targets with incredible speed and exploded on impact, blasting the entire area to bits.
“That should take care of them.” Lesti grinned triumphantly as dust and debris filled the air.
Before I could yell at her for going overboard, I felt a familiar sense of nausea as foul magical energy filled the air. Two creatures I had never seen before burst through the smoke, jet black eyes filled with rage and hatred. They were on us in an instant, elongated arms swinging at Lesti and Elliot.
To my surprise, both managed to sidestep the blows, as if on instinct. Then, in the next moment, a handful of small stones harmlessly struck the demons. These weren’t ordinary stones, of course. They were the mini golems that Lesti and Rose had worked together to create.
Rose’s familiar voice echoed from behind us. “Awaken, Mini Golems!”
The little stones immediately sprang to life, unfurling into tiny stone golems that latched onto the creatures attacking us, kicking and punching. Rose’s surprise attack caught them off-guard and caused them to begin wildly swiping at golems. Not being ones to let a gap in their opponents’ defenses go, Lesti and Elliot both launched a counter-attack.
“Molten Spear!”
Lesti launched a spell she had been working on to practice compound spells. In an instant, magic flowed from her and began to heat the stone balcony behind the creature, turning into a pool of molten rock. It then took the form of a spear, stabbing the beast straight through the abdomen. The hot stone punched through it like there was nothing there before quickly hardening, leaving the creature impaled on a heated stone pillar.
Meanwhile, Elliot activated a powerful strength-boosting spell and slammed his fist into his opponent’s jaw, sending it flying into the air. He didn’t stop there. Quickly muttering a chant to himself, he created a spear made of stone and leapt on the creature, slamming the spear into its chest and pinning it to the floor. Giving it a firm twist for good measure, he stood and started to walk back over toward us.
However, I immediately noticed something wasn’t right. The golems were still attacking both creatures, though they should be dead. Transforming into my tiger form, I rushed past Elliot just as the monster he had impaled wrenched the spear free from its chest. Not wanting to give it a chance to recover, I activated Power Cat and bit down hard on its head, crushing it. The creature fell lifelessly to the ground, and the golems stopped attacking. I had killed it—for real this time.
Turning back to the last target, I found Lesti staring at it with disgust as the creature tried to pull itself free from the spear that had impaled it. “What is this thing, and more importantly, how is it still alive?”
“It’s definitely a demon of some s
ort.” Between the eyes and the magical energy, there was no mistaking this thing as a demon. But something seemed off about it. Most of the demons I had met until this point—while evil—were also masters of magic. These two hadn’t used magic once, despite absolutely overflowing with magical energy.
But we could worry about that later. For now, I pushed aside my doubts. “Crushing their heads seems to finish them off, though.”
Walking over, I closed my jaws around the creature’s head, ending its life in the same way I had the other. With both targets taken care of, the golems went dormant and rolled into their ball forms again. Rose came over to join us, accompanied by Elliot’s older brother.
“Demons?” Reeve looked at the two corpses in shock. “What are demons doing here?”
“That’s what I’d like to know.” Lesti pointed over at where the demons had come from. “One minute I’m blowing up a bunch of assassins, and the next minute demons are popping out of the smoke. That doesn’t make any sense.”
Glancing over at the balcony’s crumbling remains that she had blasted away, I noticed a third corpse on the ground. Something about it seemed odd. Moving closer, I came across a scene that sent a chill down my spine. The body was a mangled mess, but not because of Lesti’s attack. Rather, it was a strange combination of demon and human parts.
“The assassins turned into demons.” I found myself having to say the words out loud because they were so unbelievable.
“What are you talking about? That doesn’t make any sen—” Lesti started to argue with me but stopped short as she came close enough to see the third assassin’s corpse.
“Well, this is quite the problem.” Elliot joined us, looking down at the body with a worried expression. “Was it those potions that transformed them into demons?”
“Most likely. When I used my magic sense, I saw their magical energy starting to change. That’s why I told Lesti to take them out.”
“Elliot, you should go and report this to father. The council will need to know about this immediately.” Reeve glanced back at the party with a worried expression. “Still, what really concerns me is why no one has called the guards.”
“Isn’t that just because most of the people at the party are mages?” I looked back at the other attendees who were glancing out at us curiously but were being kept away by the various servants. “They probably felt like they could handle it themselves.”
“Even if that’s the case, one of the servants should have called the guard by now.” Reeve followed my gaze back toward the attendees with a troubled expression on his face. A moment later, a maid pushed through the crowd, hurriedly making her way over to us. Based on her appearance, I doubted she had good news.
“Master Reeve.” She curtsied rather sloppily, clearly rattled. “I just spoke with the head attendant. He says he sent a request for aid as soon as the first disturbance occurred on the balcony. However, no guards ever came, and the messenger hasn’t returned. He fears that there may still be other intruders in the manor.”
“I see. Thank you for your report. Take a minute to calm yourself, then return to the party. Make sure that our guests do not catch wind of this.”
“Y-yes, of course.” With another hasty curtsy, the maid walked back across the balcony.
“It seems things are worse than we thought.” Reeve turned back to us, gaze distant for a moment as if he were trying to decide on something. “Elliot, take your friends and go to father. I’m giving you permission to use the secret passageways.”
“What about you, brother?”
“I’ll be staying here. Someone has to keep our guests entertained to avoid a full-blown panic. It’s already going to be quite the pain getting everyone calmed down.”
“Very well, we’ll send word as soon as we can.” Elliot turned to us. “I’ll be counting on all of you. Let’s put all of that training to good use.”
Without waiting for a response, he turned on his heel and headed into the garden below. Rose, Lesti, and I followed quickly, trying our best not to lose sight of him in the maze of plants. It felt strange to wander through the garden, but I assumed it had to do with the secret passageways Reeve had mentioned. A moment later, I was proved right, as Elliot took a turn into a dead-end where the manor wall was flush against the garden.
Walking up to the wall, he placed his hand on it, and I felt a small amount of magical energy trickle out. A simple magic circle glowed orange, and a section of the wall slid into the ground. Inside was a tunnel filled with magic lights that popped on one by one as the magical energy Elliot provided gave them the fuel they needed to run. Turning back, he offered a quick warning before heading inside. “Stay close. These tunnels are designed to confuse pursuers.”
We quickly ducked inside after him, and the entrance closed behind us. As we followed Elliot through the tunnel, I could feel his magical energy slowly being sapped. Meanwhile, all around us, I could hear the subtle noises of the earth moving. It appeared that rather than the tunnels being designed to confuse pursuers, they instead used earth magic to change the paths as the caster passed through, making pursuit impossible.
It seemed odd that Elliot would try to keep this a secret with me around, but I didn’t have time to think about it. After a few minutes and several twists and turns, we found ourselves standing before another stone wall. Elliot once again raised his hand and started to put his magical energy into it. Another circle appeared, and the wall began to slide aside, surprisingly quietly. Before it could move more than a few inches, Elliot pulled his hand away, and the wall stopped.
“Wha—” Lesti started to complain, but he clasped his hand over her mouth and signaled for us to be quiet.
Stepping forward, I peeked through the crack that had opened in the wall and felt my breath come up short. Standing in the room beyond was Baron Arvis, along with several armed soldiers, swords coated in blood. Sitting behind a desk on the opposite side of the room was a man I presumed to be Elliot’s father, Lord Gambriel.
“Baron Arvis, what are you doing here?” Lord Gambriel casually interrogated the baron as if it was nothing more than a surprise visit. “I don’t believe you were on the guestlist for tonight’s festivities.”
“Well, originally, I had planned to come here to pretend to save your brats.” The baron sneered back at him. “The situation changed, though, once my spy informed me that you were here. I decided it would be faster to just kill you here and now. Then, I’ll be taking over as the new lord.”
“You think the council will allow that after you so blatantly waltzed in here with armed guards? You’re a bigger fool than I thought.”
“Yes, it really is a pain. If that familiar of mine wasn’t so useless, I could have just popped in here and killed you without anyone seeing me. Still, there’s nothing to worry about. It’s all been taken care of.”
Lord Gambriel’s expression grew dark as he stared the baron down. “What did you do, Arvis?”
“Nothing crazy, really. We just made sure not to leave any witnesses.” The baron stared back at him, smug as ever. “Oh, by the way, my friend here graciously agreed to provide us with all the cover we need.” The baron gestured to a man I had never seen before, covered in a dark cloak. “As far as the rest of the world is concerned, you and the rest of your family will have fallen victim to assassins from the demon worshipers that have been infesting the city as of late.”
For the first time since we had arrived, I saw a spark of emotion on Lord Gambriel’s face as he crinkled his nose in disgust. “I knew you were ambitious, Arvis, but to think you would stoop so low as to rely on the backing of a demon and his followers… it’s truly pathetic.”
“Call me what you want, it doesn’t matter. You’ll be dead soon enough.” With a flick of his head, Arvis gestured for the knights to descend on Lord Gambriel. Several rushed forward, blades raised high as they aimed to take his head. I started to move to help, but before I could, Elliot grabbed me by the scruff of my neck, holding me bac
k.
“Not yet,” he whispered, “we need to wait for the right moment.”
I started to argue, but before I could, I felt magical energy swell. Turning my gaze back to the room beyond, I was greeted with a brilliant flash of light as lightning hit the knights square in the chest. A second later, a massive boom echoed as the corpses of the knights that had rushed forward fell to the ground, charred and burned.
“Lightning magic?!” Beside me, Lesti stared in shock before turning to Elliot. “Your father can use lightning magic? Are we even needed here?”
“Well, that depends on if the baron has done his homework.” Elliot peered out from our hiding spot nervously. “Lightning magic takes a lot of magical energy to use. It’s not something you can just fire off over and over, and my father hasn’t totally mastered it, so it has a limited range. As long as the baron’s men don’t get closer, he won’t be able to hit them with it.”
“Why doesn’t he charge them, then?” Lesti asked.
Elliot grimaced, just as confused as her. However, I could see something they couldn’t. “He can’t. That man standing next to Arvis prepared a spell after the first barrage. It’s a powerful one too. If Lord Gambriel tries to rush in, he’ll get mowed down before he can do anything.”
“I see. Then, I guess we’re at a standstill then,” Elliot replied. However, the balance of power between the two sides was broken not a moment later.
“Lightning magic, huh?” Arvis remained calm as he took in the sight of his fallen knights. “That’s quite the powerful spell you have there. I guess it’s a good thing that I came prepared. Do it!”
Several knights pulled out vials of purple liquid at his command, preparing to drink them. I felt a sense of panic welling up in me. There were a good twenty knights still standing, and almost all were pulling out vials. If all transformed into demons, we’d be in serious trouble. It seemed Elliot had the same thought; Before I could say anything, he dropped me and began to dump magic into the circle on the wall once more, causing it to rocket open.
