I walked the streets alone with a bag beneath my arm. As expected of the Capital they had a plethora of reagents that I had never used before. After talking with a fellow scaleskin apothecary and trading recipes I headed over to the market to buy some ingredients. It was evening now and the Capital was still lively. It showed no sign of dying down especially with their construction. In fact the workers energies seemed to have flared as large stones and other materials were being set up. The liveliness was different to Citlia but good in its own way.
"Hey are you finished?" Lara asked me suddenly popping around the corner.
"Sorry to make you wait," I replied and handed her a warm bag. "It's a sweet potato, or at least I think so. Tastes the same."
She accepted happily, "Thank you kindly." Her hands peeled back the paper eagerly and she chomped down unreservedly. Although she had been friendly when I first met her, right now she had completely lowered her guard and was being open with me. "It really is like a sweet potato. Where's yours?"
I handed her one of the grocery bags so I could eat my own. It was a nostalgic taste and texture. Together we started to walk back to our inn. It was a fair distance without a carriage as we were in the western district but neither of us minded.
Lara smiled, "It's been awhile since we've been shopping together."
"It's been longer for me," I replied.
"Oh right…," she looked downwards. "What was that like?"
"It was nice," I smiled, the memories of Axel clear in my mind. "It was hectic but I love the people of Axel like family. They'd really freak if they knew the truth about who I am."
She laughed, "Maybe when this is over I can meet them again."
"I'd like that." I looked around absentmindedly.
"What's up?" Lara asked.
"No it's just at this point Taylor usually appears near me. She has a knack for finding me."
"Oh she won't be coming out tonight," Lara said a little too naturally.
"What did you do?" I eyed her.
She turned her eyes away, "I just asked her to let me be alone with you for today. It's been awhile okay."
I sighed, "And when you asked her, I bet you told her. She can't refuse an order from you."
"I know," Lara cried guiltily. "But I really just wanted today. Shopping like we used to…. She can do what she's wants with you tomorrow." I was beginning to remember when it came down to it, although Lara was an exceptionally nice person, if she wanted something, she could be surprisingly adamant.
"Apologise when we get back," I patted her head. It was nice to go shopping again so I couldn't complain entirely.
We continued down the main street. The sight of demons was something we had become used to over the past few weeks, though I had already accepted it quite quickly. Still, when a women with the lower body of a snake passed by, we couldn't help but stop and stare. The sun set fully and the street began to light up from the crystals hung from the sides of the buildings around us. That's when I felt it, the shift in mana and the cold burn through my spine.
"Lara careful," I stopped and placed my hand in front of her protectively. My eyes darting around trying to reason out the sensation. The demons in the street around us however weren't catching on and were acting naturally.
"I should be protecting you," Lara pushed my hand away. "I'm more than capable now."
"Right… force of habit I guess," I edged behind her and waited.
The first one came surprising me. A shadowed body with bright yellow eyes that seemed to sway. It was bigger than the ones I was used to but I had no doubts what it was, a denizen of night. How? How on earth did it get inside here with so many people around? A few demons reacted but not in surprise, its presence was natural to them. Lara stepped forward, her hand on the hilt of her sword.
"Wait…," I held her back. The rattle of chains came next. As the denizen lumbered down the road chains dangled from a harness across its chest, and behind it, a cart filled high with stone blocks. I couldn't believe my eyes. Then the sight multiplied, denizens popped up all around us. Their sizes varied but one thing was the same, they were taking the demons' orders as if it was normal. The construction which should have slowed down at night instead sped up as the new, tireless and limitless workers began to takeover.
"First night here?" a tall demon asked smugly as he looked down. "I was the same when I first saw it."
"How?" I asked still unable to believe it.
"That would be because of our Lord. He's a master at magic. As long as we have him the humans stand no chance."
"That they don't…." I took Lara's hand. "Let's go back." This was bad. This was very bad.
*
As we barged into the inn Ronalt, Ardent and Taylor were already waiting for us at table. Taylor's slave collar was glowing red and she was glaring at Lara annoyed while tapping her folded arms.
"Sorry Taylor," Lara said as we entered. The collar stopped glowing.
She huffed in reply, "I'm not sure if I should be proud or not. You actually doing that, how unlike you."
"We can talk about that later." I waved to Ronalt and Ardent, "Did you see what was happening outside?"
They both nodded, Ronalt frowned, "I always had a bad feeling about the Demons but this is not what I had in mind. I thought it was strange, they didn't look like they were ready for war, their armies smaller than ours and their people carefree. But I see now, even if it's just at night, if they could launch an invasion with the strength of the denizens, even the Empire would not stand a chance."
"It's amazing for sure," Ardent began, "but the fact we have only seen it here means they aren't able to use it so easily."
"From what I heard it's the Demon Lord's magic," I said. "Which means he's still here at least. If he goes to the front lines however, the Kingdom's armies will be crushed." Even if they survived the night, a fresh army of demons would see them in the morning. There would be no rest. No wonder they were so confident to act aggressively to the Kingdom. Taking Greytree would have given them the perfect staging point to launch an invasion and although we prevented that, it was only a matter of time. We had all heard rumours of how powerful the Demon Lord was, how he could lift mountains and sway armies but we had all chalked it up with a grain of salt. After all, they were rumours and while some did mention the denizens of night… we never expected them to be this true. Thankfully however we still had a Hero, we had Lara and our eyes turned to her.
Ronalt leaned forward his hands clasped tightly in front of his head, "Now more than ever our mission is of great importance. Lara if we cannot dissuade the Demon Lord, you know what we must do."
She nodded slowly, "I've prepared myself."
"Good," he sighed. "I truly am sorry for bringing you to this world but without you we'd be plunged into a chaos of war and death."
Lara let out a confident smile, "That's why I'm here though, after all I'm the Hero."
"Yes you are," Ronalt straightened his back.
Earnest and Marley came not long after. We spent the rest of the day inside the inn as we formulated our plan. My job was as before to oversee the party and make sure everyone's wellbeing was kept. The others would spread across the different districts of the city and try gather what information they could. Our time limit was set to one week, at the end of which we'd head to the Demon Lord regardless. My body shivered knowing just what was to come.
As midnight came we each headed to our own rooms. Mine faced the street outside and even from my window I could see denizens prowl the paved stone carrying out the construction work that would have surely died down in a normal city. The strange thing was as much as it was foreign and sent a chill down my spine, the city itself, what it had accomplished and where it was heading, I admired it. From their history I knew that cities like Citlia were a rarity for demons, at most they had towns like Tona and most tribes were like Kerchest with majority being one race. This was the Demon Lord's doing and I could see why the people loved him and as we learnt in the Temple, some a little too much. Even from my walk earlier I had heard many demons spouting anti-human sentiments, though the same could be said when I was in the Kingdom's Capital against the demons. We really were the same.
A knock resounded on my door and I opened it.
Taylor stood behind it with a suggestive smile, "It's been a long day hasn't it, can I come in?"
I sighed, "I thought we were going to take this slowly?"
"Oh Rain, I simply wanted to come inside. Just what do you have in mind?" she faked shock teasingly.
My face reddened, "It's too bad for you that either way nothing was going to happen."
"You can be cute sometimes too you know," she winked at me. "Now can I come in or not? I promise I won't jump you."
Before I could answer Lara walked past, "Taylor you're forbidden from entering Rain's room."
"Wait what?" she turned to her as the slave collar on her neck glowed ominously. "Lara why?"
"Weren't you the one who said I could use you however I want?" Lara replied simply.
"You! Stop getting in my way," Taylor glared at her.
"I'm just making sure you two have a pure relationship," Lara smiled to us both.
I laughed as Taylor began to get worked up. It was rare for the teasing to go this way. I patted Taylor's head, "Sorry but Lara's right. We can talk later. How about this, tomorrow the two of us can go out for lunch alone."
"Really?" she turned back to me. "I'll look forward to it."
"Is that okay Lara?" I asked her.
"I guess that's fine," she huffed and walked away. I smiled wryly, she was acting like a child who had her favourite toy taken from her and was being forced to share.
"Now go to sleep," I let go of Taylor's head.
"I'll see you tomorrow," she smiled excitedly.
"Wait a second, you forgot something," I leaned forward and pecked her on the forehead with my lips. For a moment Taylor froze, a blush blooming on her cheeks. I began to close the door.
"Wait is that it?" she complained loudly. "At least do it on my lips!"
"Goodnight Taylor." As the door clicked to a close I released my pent up tension. My heart was hammering inside me. What was with me? Technically I was reaching my forties with how long I'd lived, yet I couldn't control my emotions. It might take a while for me to fall asleep.
*
I held the cup to my lips and drank the tea sparingly. The hot liquid filled my mouth with a fragrant taste and warmed my chest as it flowed. In front of me a finished off plate and even further a girl I would never have considered being in love. Her eyes met mine and seemed to shine.
"You okay there?" I asked naturally.
"I'm…," she giggled. "To be honest I'm a little in shock. This 'date' it's not something I've ever done before. I feel clean."
"Clean?"
"It's just… you know my past, what I've done," her eyes looked away disgraced. "I've had times like this before, but how do I say it, like Lara said last night, this really was pure."
I smiled, "I enjoyed myself too." We had spent most our time talking about the Capital and making light fun of a few things. Despite all the demons around us and where we were, for a moment I had almost forgotten it all.
"I hope we can do this again," Taylor took my hand on the table. Her skin was soft, the feel of it seemed to mould into my own.
"I'll make sure we can," I tightened the grip we had on each other. "Who knows if everything goes well we might be able to even come back here." I looked outside the window where the life of the city continued. What I saw however caused me to choke, "Geh."
Taylor looked up as well just as the face plastered itself against the window staring directly at us.
"Ahhhh!" Marley let out in a confusion of excitement and surprise. Her eyes turned away looking for the door inside.
"It's not like I was planning to keep this a secret but…," I sighed. This could be bothersome.
Marley burst into the café and skidded to a halt beside out table, "You two- hands- food!"
Taylor smirked, "We've done more than just hold hands."
I scowled at her, "Please don't make this worse."
Later Ronalt pulled me aside to tell me to take it easy….