Chapter 5 - Demons

I smell a delicious aroma. The more I smell it the more it makes my head ache. I must get up and investigate. I pry open my eyes to see the ceiling of Galadriel's house. I slowly get up and see that Rui is sitting on a chair crossing his arms without any glow in his eyes. Does that mean he is sleeping or am I dreaming again? Not that it matters I get up from the bed and start making my way to the smell.

As I enter the general area of the smell, I see Galadriel cooking us some food.

Yawn~~.

"Oh good morning sweetheart, I am making us breakfast! So make sure to wash your face to wipe the sleepiness away, alright sweet cheeks?" She proceeds to kiss my forehead. I wish my mother did that as well, but I can't remember her ever doing this.

I proceeded to do what auntie told me and washed myself and came back to see that she already setup the dinning table. The food looks amazing, I can't wait to dig in.

"Alright everyone breakfast is ready! Please sit down eat up and don't be shy we are all family here!" She says it with enthusiasm.

"Yay! I am very hungry, thank you auntie!" I jump in excitement and sit on the chair next to Rui. Rui's eyes suddenly light up and disappear again.

"Rui wake up please it is time to eat!" I gently push him and he doesn't answer.

"Auntie why is Rui not answering me?"

"Rui usually is asleep for a longer period depending on how much of his combat power was used. If he didn't use his sword yesterday, he would have been awake by now. So feel free to start eating." She stuffs bread in her mouth.

"If you say so." I pick up a piece of bread and chew it. I have never eaten this type of bread ever. It's so soft and fluffy, I used to eat very tough ones. It feels great trying new types of food every now and then.

"Auntie what are you to Rui?" I take a sip of cold water.

"He means a lot to me, so try to guess with your imagination hehe~." She chuckled a bit and this made me imagine a lot of imagery of those two. Siblings? Lovers? Married couple? I can't really decide so I'll just go with the an easy answer because I fall into this category as well.

"Are you friends with Rui auntie?" I pick a spoon and point it at her.

"Haha we used to be like that, but I like to imagine us being more than that huhehe~." So she does like Rui! I guess I should have went for that then. I'll go with another question then.

"Can I ask you another question auntie?"

"It's 'May I ask you a question' sweetie and you may call me Ines." I've heard Rui say that name.

"Well I got two questions now."

"Ask ahead fufu."

"What is your real name?"

"Oh what a question, my apologies for confusing you with our different names. So let me clear things up for you." She gulps down the water.

"Ah~ fufu. So let's start with me first. My name is Galadriel Axillia, I'm an elf just like you but more ancient. That is why I have a longer ear than yours. I also have another name, Ines the unholy warlock. That is my battle maiden name that I was awarded for serving an old army that is now gone."

Unholy? Warlock? What do those mean? Was she a bad person before?

"What does Unholy and warlock mean?"

"Oh nothing much really they are just titles. Warlock means like a mage that broke a certain rule. But that doesn't really matter." She is probably hiding something from me so I'm sure she won't answer any other questions about it.

"Why did you call Rui 'Leader' when you first two met."

"Oh fufu~, we used to be in a team of 4 and he was our captain that lead us and commanded us. I admired that about him because of his strategies. So I just started calling him leader, even though he doesn't like being called that fufu~." We both giggled for a moment.

"Now enough about me, what about you sweetheart? How old are you?" She puts both of her hands under chins and looks at me with a smile.

"I'm 9 years old." I stroked my hair while saying it, it embarrassed me.

"Oh my, my how young. You are very pretty and cute for your age. I'm sure you'll grow up beautiful and look like me."

"Heyyy-" I covered my face and was blushing.

"Haha, I'm sorry kiddo, that's how it is with me you have to accept compliments or you will be embarrassed by everything."

"I will try my best." I mutter it and add "I love your eye colors Ines, do elves get these colors or just because of your family?"

"Aw sweetie, I got those eyes with my magic and can change it at any time." She changes it to hazel green and changed back to crimson red.

"Wow Ines! I want to do that too! Please teach me!" I wiggle from excitement.

"You are still young and don't have any knowledge of magic manipulation, and that takes quite a lot of training and it's difficult to pull off. I have faith in you, just like goddess Rixxia." She makes it sound like I will never be able to do it.

"Please train me, you are the only one that can teach me magic!"

"Oh please, anyone can learn magic naturally, I'm sure you will notice the change in your body once you grow up later on. Also ask Rui, when he wakes up."

"Why should i-" I got interrupted by the sound of knocking from the door and they are banging it frantically.

"Lady Galadriel open the door, your presence was requested by the queen herself."

"Is something wrong auntie?" I grab her hands and show my anxiousness

"Don't worry sweetie, it's probably more documents I have to deal with, it shouldn't take long."

"Can I come with you please!!" I hop trying to convince her to take me with her.

"No sweetie, the adults have to take care of business so watch over Rui till he wakes up, understood?" She kisses my forehead and waves goodbye.

I knock on the door and state my name. "Holy knight Galadriel speaking, permission to enter."

"Permission granted, you may enter." I open the door and see other high ranking knights in the room. I feel tension in the room.

"Thank you for joining us Lady Galadriel, on todays meeting we will be discussing about the reports about the invasion attempt from the undead army that happened yesterday. I got mixed reports and I would like to confirm some with everyone here." She flipped through the pages of text and stopped at one page.

"So let's start with the beginning death toll. 134 humans and 230 elves died with 674 of them combined are injured. Death knight Thaemine just happened to be nearby and got rid of those pests. Any correction needed?"

Silence.

"Next up." She flips to the next page. "This concerns you Lady Galadriel." The whole room looked in my direction.

"There are several reports saying that the majority of the army was terrified at the sight of Thaemine, some even say that you weren't scared of him and went to hug him." She flips to next page.

"There are also reports of you calling him 'Leader' and obeyed his commands. Is that true Lady Galadriel?" oh shit, I think my cover is blown. What do I do? Do I massacre them? Run away?

"Yes your highness." I bow with shame.

"What foolishness made you switch sides?" Said duke Francis.

"Treason" said the elven warrior Artikus.

"I begin to suspect you are Ines the unholy warlock. Are my assumptions correct Ines?"

Shit I have to get out of here. I'll gather my mana right away.

"Yes."

"Shame." She stood up, placed her hands on her face and took a deep breath.

"This is an act of treason Lady Galadriel, what do you have to say to your self?"

"Nothing. It's a shame it had to end this way." I take a deep breath and keep my composure in check. "So what is going to happen to me?" I say it to prolong my certain death that is upon me.

"You have several options: Commit the act of self punishment by Killing yourself. Stab yourself to death till you pass away, or be publicly shamed and executed."

"Give me time to think."

A tiny bit more

"You have 5 seconds to act." "5." "4."

"3."

Come on come on come on come on, this fucking armor!

"2."

"1."

I instantly sensed an attack coming for my neck.

"TELEPORTOS" I shout it and teleport out of that room and appear outside my inn.

Oh man, oh man, oh man. I almost died, my mana survival instincts surged and overpowered the magical essence suppressor. The shadow that almost killed me is known as Irene the merciless, very high skilled assassin that was hired from the holy land of blades Aziena. I checked if my neck was cut or not out of shock.

I guess not.

I sprint to the blown out door and see piles of bodies on the ground. Rui is hunched over looking at Ari being knocked out.

"We have to get out of here leader."

"I know, teleport us out of here."

"No sweetie, the adults have to take care of business so watch over Rui till he wakes up understood?" She kisses my forehead and waves goodbye. She leaves and closes the door behind her. I hope nothing bad happens to her. I go back and sit down on the chair next to Rui. "Wake up Rui, I'm borreeed." Rui is still in sleep. I guess I could walk around the house and explore what she has.

I walk around and stumble upon books that are lying around her desk. I used to get books as gifts from my father and we read them together. I hope I can read it.

I pick a random book with an 'I' shape on its cover.

I flipped through the pages.

'In essence magic is just another source of your soul, you are born by the magic, honed by the magic and die by the magic. The more you use magic, the more mana gets imprinted in your soul.'

I skimmed through the pages and my eyes got caught by one sentence. 'Mana is life, mana is death. Overtiring your soul by constant magic spells would tear your soul apart. It's highly recommended to not learn magical honing without having someone to watch over your soul.' I shivered as I finished reading that. So that is why both of them didn't want me to learn magic right away. They cared about me.

Unlike my past.

I kept reading on and it started covering the basic spells. 'Every being should be born with magical essence, you will not feel any of it unless you chant a spell. The best starting spell would be to convert your magical essence into raw power.

Chant: Heed my words and obey me, for thee shall let my words fill the void of the wild, open your caressed heart and unleash the power that is sealed within me, Gateos.

This basic spell is the fundamental to either give yourself raw physical strength or empower your other spells. The more magical essence you fill in, the more strength will be put out.'

This seems easy to do, I should probably try it.

'Gateos, is the prefix of all spells that all beginners to even experts have to add to every spell. Gateos is basically a gate that is closes of the power of the magical essence to prevent true death. You have to will it to open and accept the risks that come with it. Accepting your fate will open the gate and you will feel your inner power surging throughout your body. After opening the gate you can start amplifying basic spells.

For example: Gateos: Pyros. Will unleash a powerful wave of fire through the concentrated area of mana. Meaning it could be through your hands or mouth. Keep in mind, that you have to know the incantation for the basic spells to fully cast the spell.

Doing it without it, would make you feel stupid and nothing will get shot. The mana that you put in for Gateos will be automatically fed to your physical strength, if you don't cast any other spells.' I flip back couple of pages till I find the correct incantation for Pyros.

Found it.

'From the depths of the underworld, your tears has been answered, unleash your hatred to this plagued world, Pyros.' I should memorize this, it could come in handy when I'm alone. I kept flipping through more pages, the more I flipped, the more I didn't understand the text that is written down. The text were in a different language with weird symbols, I couldn't understand it. I'll ask Rui when he wakes up. My head started to hurt and so I went to bed and try to take a nap. But I couldn't sleep.

"Rui wake up please.." I tap him and await his response, but I don't get any.

Suddenly the door gets bashed by someone and It isn't auntie Ines. It was a girl wearing the same armor as Ines and was looking at me furiously. She slowly walked up to me and says "Come here little rabbit~." I screamed and ran to auntie's room and pick up the book again and flip frantically to the spells I learned. "You can't hide from me~."

"Is this the death knight Thaemine? He is a small fry, he isn't even answering your screams little rabbit." She swung her sword at Rui but her attacks kept getting knocked back with the same force she attacks. It knocks her down in pain. "Fucking shit, dammit!"

I found it! "Heed my words and obey me, for thee shall let my words fill the void of the wild, open your caressed heart and unleash the power that is sealed within me, Gateos." I whisper the incantation.

Nothing happens. What's wrong? Did I not chant it correctly? I swear I did it correctly as the book said!

After a moment my chest began to glow and the pain started to surge through out my body. It felt like I was being stabbed, slashed, punched at the same time.

"GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHUGHHHHHHHH" I screamed from the top of my lungs, my screams echoed throughout the city. I was begging to breath, I was crying to breath. I couldn't. After what I thought like an hour passed the pain suddenly stopped. My body began to flow like water, it felt like I was alive and well again. My vision is better, the food smells better and I could hear the woman from the other side whimpering in pain. I regained my thoughts and picked the book back up again. And I went to the page where the incantation for the Pyros spell is written.

Found it. I get up and walk back to the living room and stop to look at the lady.

"You piece of shit, if it wasn't for this lump of armor I would've caught you by now. Come here." She slowly gets up and I chant the beginning of the spell.

"Heed my words and obey me for thee shall let my words fill the -" I felt a slash on my back and coughed up blood, I didn't stop and continued "open your caressed heart and unleash-" my heart start to beat faster and ached, I didn't stop "power that is sealed within me, Gateos." I felt the mana being concentrated in my hands and I recall that I quickly have to cast the next spell or I'm dead.

"From the depths of the underworld, your tears has been answered." My voice was echoed by demonic being and felt myself losing control "unleash your hatred to this plagued world" I couldn't feel my body anymore, my eyes got blurry, but I felt a smile in my face. "PYRA." I screamed this from the top of my lungs and a purple mass of fire was in front of my hands, it started melting everything. The demonic voice started speaking for me. "D I E" the fireball gets shot but unexpectedly, I saw someone sprint at me with a huge figure, I remember this feeling.

It was Rui. I faint in the process.

"PYRA." I haven't heard that word since in the ruling of the lich lord. This spell, the most powerful varient of the spell 'Pyros.' It is a forbidden spell that can explode a kingdom in one hit. I haven't faced someone using the 'A' variant of any spells since Ines. I must stop them. I am still not fully recovered from using half of my soul since killing the Kadan. That is why I took the time in resting in a safe area with Ines. But now is an exception, do or die.

For Ari.

I wake up and immediately call upon my claymore "Forsaken Fury: Hastia" The sword instantly appears behind me. "Forsaken Fury: Aegia." This is the strongest variant of any shield beside the holy variants.

My claymore turns into a blacked out shield with a crimson red crest in the middle. It is named "Forsaken Aegia: Protectia." The shield empowers itself again with a tighter steel and cast another protection spell "Forsaken Aegia: Assimilate."

The shield is perfectly ready to swallow the attack whole.

"D I E" shouts the demon and I run into the attack. The shield kept absorbing and absorbing and wouldn't stop, it cracked the shield.

Come on come on.

"Forsaken Aegia: Protectia." I made even more tighter with dragonide skin. As I got closer and closer to the attack I began seeing who the caster was. It was Ari, with a creepy smile and she had a gem in her forehead. Now I can't deflect the attack to Ari. I have to keep absorbing.

The shield was melting faster than ever and her attack almost ended. I'm sorry Ari. "Forsaken Aegia: Protectia, Forsaken Aegia: Stay." I made sure it the shield stood still and I jumped over the attack and tried to knock her out of the attack, but suddenly she dropped to the ground and faints. The fireball disappeared entirely.

I slowly move up to her and notice the bodies that are laying on the ground. A woman with 2 masked people. I take a knee down and pick Ari up. The gem on her forehead is gone. I heard movement coming up to the door, it was Ines. Ines sprinted and said "We have to get out of here leader."

"I know teleport us out of here."

She packs her stuff and notices the book laying next to Ari. "Did she read out a spell in this book?" she says it while packing food and other books. "That is my guess. We can discuss it when we are out of here quickly."

"Gateos: Teleportia" a gate opens for us and takes us to her hideout.