Looking towards the faded path ahead, the statue hoped that there would not be any trouble awaiting it on the path towards the capital of this falling kingdom. So, the statue decided to play it safe and walked into a forest again, but this time it knew where to go, as it had followed the outline of the road from within the forest.
The trip was as peaceful as it could be, for most of the way the forest never strayed too far from the cracked stone road. This held true until the forest receded farther and farther away from the path until it made way for an open plains area.
This was not an uninhabited open field either, there were demon horse men scouting for intruders like the statue, as well as protecting the bridge further down the path, and that bridge did not look easy to infiltrate either as it held siege weapons like catapults and defensive magic turrets to make sure no one can break in.
Seeing all these machines of war, and the fact they were so close to the capital meant there was soon going to be a battle beginning. This was bad as the statue wanted to ask the residents questions about the world and were to go next to seek answers about itself. In any other situation, the statue would try to find a way around the bridge but seeing the ravine under the bridge and how far it stretched, it may take days to find another passage and the statue didn't have days.
So, the statue had to get there now. Back peddling a few meters and getting in a runner's position, the statue darted forward faster than it should have, considering it was made of rock. Passing by the demon horse men, only a few reacted fast enough but even with their horses going full sprint they were slower than the statue, so they just blew their horns alerting the other soldiers that an enemy was approaching quickly.
The statue quickly made its way to the bridge, but the defenses were already activated. The magic turrets spewed forth dozens of magic homing arrows, and despite not hurting the statue, they held it in place, this left the statue wide open for a boulder flung by a catapult which just turned and adjusted it aim.
The boulder pushed the statue back an inch or two, but the statue grabbed ahold of the massive boulder and almost threw it at the magic turrets, but it noticed that the turrets were spread far apart from each other, meaning that it could only hit one the many turrets. So, the statue rolled the boulder forward, using it as cover to block most of the magic arrows, and when the statue got far enough it ran for the city again.
Only a few minutes go by until the statue reached the gate of the great city, but unlike what the statue imagined, the great sturdy walls were slowly falling, and large cracks started to appear along it. The gate meant to protect the city was dented by what seemed to be boulders from the catapults the statue had seen on the bridge, but why hadn't its walls been torn down yet, and the city destroyed?
The statue walked forward into the guard less front gates. Looking around the statue saw a few people, mostly children, of which all of them looked frightened by it, and the only one not scared was a young woman in white and golden armor, the helmet didn't cover her face only her eyes and it held small wings on its sides. Her chest piece was armored with several layers of metal, and had fabric flowing behind it, but not as a cape or mantle, it was two separated lines on either side of her back, and the ends of them bloomed out into a flower shape. Her gauntlets and leggings were both heavily armored, but not as much as her chest piece, other than that they were not special. The statue could also tell she had a long sword within its sheath but couldn't make out what it looked like.
The female knight analyzed the statue too, and after a while, she asked the statue," You don't look like a demon, what are you?"
The statue tried to respond, but it couldn't speak for some reason, so it just used it finger on the dirt to spell out, 'I am an observer, and by the look on your face, I can tell you don't know what that is, it's all in the name, we are meant to observe.'
The woman looked like she was in deep thought, she just stood there for a while with her hand on her chin before saying, "Ok then, come with me, I need to tell you something." Then she walked off, not waiting for the statue.
The statue followed behind wanting to ask more questions, but unable to as they were moving. The woman seemed to sense this, as she next answered most of the statue's questions in rapid fire, "I have no true name, as I have disgraced mine long ago, but you can call me Megan in the meantime. I used to be cleansing knight meant to fight of all evils who may hurt our people, but I failed. The reason the city has yet to fall is because the demons are trying to enrage us before we die, so we will become demons to."
Having finished, she stopped in place at the bottom of the hill waiting for the statue to respond. Having thought hard about it, the statue responded in the dirt once again, 'I also have no name, but you can call me Elden. And thanks, for telling me about what is happening, and trusting me enough to tell me that information about yourself.'
"You are right, I don't trust easily, but you have yet to lie to me, and I can feel large amounts of holy magic flowing from you." Megan's mouth started to curve upwards as she spoke, "Which means you're an enemy of the demons as well."
After they finished talking with each other, Megan lead Elden up the hill, and a top of the hill they watched the sun set, the light fading away into darkness, for some, this may seem to be just the end of day, but for Elden, this is the start of something amazing, a new light to fill the dark.