Munich and the rest of the team were seated around a fire as they were only a few more hours away from Travers Village. She was busy leaning on a tree as she had a book open and was deep into another tale of knights and Dragons. She was surprised at how hard it was to actually defeat one and yet these stories seemed to make it seem to easily. It was obviously written by those mortals who had never taken the time to get out of their holes and see how truly fearsome dragons were, especially black dragons.
Miladew was seated between Sodo and was making another carving of them together. Munich still wondered where he had learned such skills. She wasn't close minded but even she knew how hard it was for a goblin to even get an education of finer arts in a world like this. She needed to get him, if he even did. Sodo was playing with his hands as he was making a number of shapes from ice magic placing them down on the ground as they would soon melt becoming nothing but water for the soil. Lemonol was in the distance with Alle training as their swish of their weapons in the night air was reaching her ears. Did they ever rest, she would think as she flipped to the next page.
The clashing of metal echoed ever so often as if the two were intent on killing each other. Why had she been forced into a team which seemed already oiled to perfection. Each attack they performed was calculated and seemed to take their allies and enemies into account on a moment's notice. She would have felt better as Leader if they could open up more to her but the one who really tried was Sodo and he was an open book. She sighed at it all. She returned to her book as the fire crackled. It would light her face exposing the scar on her cheek. Scars from a past she would rather forget. She instead let herself be absorbed into the reading she was doing with her mind forming the elegant dancing of royals on a summer night. The moon hangs as a light in the darkness.
A chance at a normal life, what she would give to have that but it seemed destiny wasn't going to give her that simple gift.
Far off, in the Capitol, Queen Angelica sat in her study with the crystal ball in her hands as it would cast a purple glow onto her features making her blond hair almost seem darker than it actually was. Her grey eyes were glaring at the ball as it was offering a view through the eyes of her servants. Her spell was one of mighty power akin to that of those who have reached godly status with their magical training.
One of her servants would enter as she cast a gaze to him and smiled.
"My Queen, The armies have been sent out and will likely reach Hollis by the end of a fortnight. Our scouts say there is only a single warrior who guards the valley. Should we plan for our hero to kill the threat?" he would ask waiting in a bow for her response.
"Do we know who this warrior is?" she asked as she would rub the sleep collecting in her eyes. To any who would see her they would think she hadn't slept in days as the heavy bags on her round face showed but heaps of makeup and magic were able to hide even the most obvious of things.
"Not yet."
"Hold off their arrival to the valley and send in all of our holy knights. If our Spies in Hollis are right, they will be weak to our divine magic." She would say before she began coughing violently. She would look even quite sickly as the servant would move to her side as he offered her his hand.
"No, I don't want to. Your soul is of a peasant." She would say as he simply sighed before grabbing hold of her hand and looking her in the eyes.
" You don't have to lie to me. It grows worse with each passing second. There is no reason for you to hold back if I am a peasant. Your life is worth more than mine. That is why you need to bring forth an heir into this world before your clock gives out." He said as she would look almost sorrowful as her hands glowed purple. He seemed disgruntled as he could feel the life-force drain from his body. Her body looked healthier than ever as he would fall to his knees. His body seemed to become emaciated with his clothes seeming to become quite loose and barely gripping onto what flesh was left on his bones. As she let go, he gasped in relief as he was on all fours. He felt as if he wanted to vomit but he would never forgive himself if he sullied her room. He fell to his feet as he would give her a weak smile.
"I feel better, you can go now." She would say as she watched him slowly move out of the room and begin his trek back to his quarters. She returned to the team of non-humans she had dispatched as she would be shaking in anticipation. They held the potential to do great things, all she needed to do was simply hit the right chords.
(-)
Back at the small camp, Lemonol has retired to his quarters leaving Alle to continue her training solo. Sodo fell asleep almost a few minutes after Lemonol came back with Miladew pulling a blanket over him before patting the demon and getting into his own sleeping bag. Munich was the only other person still awake as she was watching the embers do their last dance in the campfire before they were extinguished into the blackness of night.
"You seem weak of mind, what's wrong?" Alle would say scaring Munich to her feet as she turned to face the girl.
"Gods! Why did you scare me like that?!" Munich would say as Alle came out from the shadows having decided to put on her best poker face.
"I was testing your reaction speed. Had you been any slower any normal assassin could have slit your throat like a knife through pizza dough." She said as she would watch Munich simply frown at her as she got back into her sitting position.
"It's not like you anything else and that makes me highly suspicious. You seem to only care about working for the Queen but has that woman ever done that so great? From what I've seen, Bandits attacking passer-byes in such numbers shows that she isn't doing something right. But I guess I can give her the benefit of the doubt. Since you are so in love with your Queen, tell me. How is she is as a ruler?" Munich asked as Alle seemed to be trying to decide whether or not to let the Half-Orc be told of anything.
"If you must know, her strict regime has done wonders for the kingdom at large. With her rule, we no longer have any people going hungry. The streets are now clean as whistles and you could almost eat off of them. More people are finding work with the recent rise in demonic labour." Alle would say as Munich raised a brow.
"Demonic labour? Wasn't that banned and agreed upon to never be used due to how volatile it was? Do you know the massacre of the city of Abingdon? The streets were littered with corpses and questionable fluids. We don't need another demonic invasion in our hands." Munich said as Alle seemed to growl at that.
"You've been in a prison for most of the time that she has been ruling! You don't even understand what she has given us. All she has sacrificed for us, she is a better leader than you'll ever be." Alle would say she glared at her.
"Look, until I've seen such signs of improvement then I'll agree. But how much you want to bet that this all comes tumbling down sooner or later." Munich would say as she tapped her pouch.
"If I am right, You will swear to serve as a servant to Queen Angelica to pay for your hubris."
"And if I win, You will let me be your friend and won't resist every time I'm trying to bond with you." Munich said as she watched Alle chuckle at that. It sounded so primal that she almost visualized Alle's Father standing before her and it made her gulp. Even she knew the tales of The Great Grimsby. She had never seen him in real life because it's usually meant that you were about to be made into a corpse or you were some pompous royal who dared to try and look at his blood red eyes.
"Fine, you will surely lose this bet, Munich." Alle would say with full confidence in her victory. Munich simply sighed at the entire ordeal as she decided it was now time to go and get some sleep if she didn't want to wake up tired the next day.
"Anyway, good night, Alle." Munich said passing by her as she patted her on the back feeling her armour clink with the pat. She crawled into her sleeping bag as she began to fall to sleep letting the sounds of nature be her lullaby.
Alle climbed into one of the trees and decided to be watched for tonight. She hoped that the Queen was okay. Then her mind drifted to the hero that she had personally crowned as a knight of the Roma Kingdom. Her blood boiled knowing that the bastard had even gained the attention of the Queen. She had seen his lecherous and hungry eyes watching her Queen and wanted to gut him like a fish. She let out several calm breaths to lessen her rage letting all the negative energy flow out. She wanted to brutally sink every weapon she had so far into his body that he would be coughing up shards but such words were blasphemous to speak of as such. After all, he had saved them from The Shadow. The name made her quake as she wondered how that farm boy had even come close to defeating them. She put those thoughts out of her head as she could hear scuttling in the bushes close by. She narrowed her vision as she would launch herself down at the bush ready to kill whatever had found its way here.
(-)
The woman was running with everything in her being trying to escape the thundering monster behind her but she had been running for so long that her muscles ache so much and her body begged her to stop but her mind couldn't give two cares. As long as she would get away from the monster after her, she could rest. She could live! She could hear the croaking of frogs as she had reached the small lake. Her robes were dirty with blood and mud splashed across the front as she felt the chill of the cold night down to her very bones. She kept her running as the splosh of her footsteps on the muddy earth would echo over the sound of the frogs. She soon heard the frogs instantly quiet down. Even they knew that the monster after her neck was something to be feared. In her hands a single large time was so tightly gripped that one would believe it held the answers to the universes. In truth, it was the only thing that held knowledge of very important spells and the one chasing after her was tying up loose ends. She saw a campfire in the distance as several huntsmen conversed around a fire while cooking a rabbit. She channelled what little magic remained in her body as she bolted straight ahead feeling her feet pound against the ground as she rushed head on towards the men. She came to a stop and turned to face the emptiness behind her. She sighed in relief as she moved to greet the huntsman.
"Miss, are you okay? You look as scared as a deer in the streets." One of the huntsmen would ask as he moved to get closer to her while his two buddies sat giving her the side-eye and conversing between each other. The woman felt that chill come up her spine as she walked something rushed past her and collided head first into the man sending the two tumbling into the fire which grew tenfold engulfing them both.
The two remaining huntsmen grabbed their crossbows as they got away from the flames. She tried to shut out the screams of the man trapped in the flames but she couldn't bear to do it. She shrunk back in fear as a figure emerged from the flames. They were a heavy armour clad woman with inverted horns. The black metal glistened in the moonlight as her purple skin reflected her rank as demon well enough. She began to cry as she looked up. The two huntsmen rushed at her after firing a barrage of arrows at her as she would easily swat them away with rapid speed before dropping the burnt corpse of the man she had just killed.
The demon simply grabbed both of the huntsmen by the neck and smashed them into the ground snapping their necks on impact.
"I joined the Mage Consortium I-I thought you were a legend." She said gulping as she moved closer to her. The girl gulped as the demon was stepping closer and closer to her leaving scorch marks with every step. The mage girl quivered as the demon grabbed hold of her face cupping her cheeks in her rough palm. She gave her a smile.
"B-but you're the real deal. The demon that dares to challenge the Gods." She said as the demon girl would reach to grab hold of the tome. She couldn't even try to hold it back. The demon was a monster who was likely to bring down divine retribution on mortals. She watched as the demon girl pat her on the head before walking away in a flurry of flames. The mage girl was watching as the stench of burning flesh reached her nostrils as she could feel herself gagging on the smell. She could now breathe normally as that agent of death no longer stood before her. She began crying tears of joy. She didn't want to die. But she could feel her own great guilt at what she had done. Many would die. She would live, however long that was.