The Heroes are traveling through the forest, along with Kalika on Ragnar's back. They seemed to be making good progress through the forest. they all weren't as fast as Bjorn, but she can say for certain that any normal human wouldn't be able to reach their level of speed either.
Jarred suddenly stopped. He looks through the tree to see the time of day. It was still late into the night.
"Alright I think we should be far enough... Here let me check something." Jarred started to climb the tree like. After a few moment he jumped down. "There's a side of a cliff that way let's make camp there."
Jarred led the way this time simply hiking. Sylph finally set her hood down, revealing her short brown hair and hazel eyes. She started to gather little branches and sticks with some expertly controlled magic. It was mystifying watching Sylph use her magical abilities, it almost made Kalika envious.
"Do you need me to bring down a whisp tree too?" Ragnar asked Jarred.
"Yeah, once we've reached the spot I'll help you too.
After some time, they all finally made it to the area in question. They were starting to build a layout for a camp at the edge of a cavern entrance. Ragnar set Kalika down by a nearby wall wasting no time entering back into the forest. Jarred followed suit with an ax in hand.
"Sylph. Me and Ragnar will get that whisp wood. You can handle the rest, right?"
"Yup. I have it all under control." Sylph's eyes glowed purple. She stuck her hands into the air for it to be swallowed by nothing.
Kalika was shocked to see this. "W-what the-!"
"Relax. This is normal. As the Heroes of Prophecy, we're each given a series of skills. They say Heroes are supposed to have four but there's only three we each know of …" Sylph pulled out a large bag stuffed with items. "One of them, for me, is the storing of items. Unfortunately, it doesn't work for food. But it's still quite useful."
Kalika simply watches in amazement as Sylph continues to pull stuff out of nothing. She was even able to pull out a table! "We all have our own set of skills, each with their own little uses."
Sylph waved her fingers to the items she pulled out and as if ordered to them all unpacked themselves creating a cozy campsite in mere minutes.
"This is amazing! I never knew that magic could be used like this!" Kalika started to get up to look around. She wobbled a little but had a good grasp on her balance again.
"Like it? It's a combination of earth with some wind magic. It's hard to tell since the rocks are smaller than the size of grain. I can teach you if you'd like."
Kalika immediately became quiet after hearing Sylph's suggestion. "N-no thanks I'm fine." Kalika started to become a little more reserved, this left Sylph a little puzzled.
"Alright we're back!" Jarred said aloud.
Both Jarred and Ragnar were carrying a huge tree log. It looked very much impossible for two men to carry alone. It was like this group of Heroes were not short of surprises.
Ragnar settled the log down close to their campsite. "Alright I'll cut these up in the morning then we'll have some ingredients for more of those Vitality potions tomorrow."
"Vitality Potions?" Kalika wondered.
Kalika couldn't understand the use for a big tree. Despite her curiosity she opts to not ask about it.
Soon everyone started to settle down around the campfire that Sylph put together. Sylph then went on to produce three different Barriers that encompassed the entire campsite.
"Alright. Now we should be safe for the night." Sylph announced.
Jarred let out a big sigh of relief. Although he looked very disappointed as he started to talk. "And here I thought we'd be fighting the Demon King tonight. Still, at least we were able to save you." Jarred gave a glance at Kalika who was sitting close to him.
Kalika blushed, a little embarrassed. She glanced at Jarred then looked away just as quickly.
"Yup! And another day of living is another day to fight!" Ragnar seems to be very happy. "Hey, Jarred, mind passing some of that Jerky?"
"Sure thing Rag."
Jarred looked into his bag grabbing some jerky. He passed it along to everyone. "Do you want some too Kalika?" he asked Kalika.
She's never actually eaten anything like it. To her it looked like dried skin from a red demon. it looked a little disgusting, but she opted to try it anyway. To her surprise it was ok, a little salty but better than what she'd been given in the past.
There was a silence as everyone was simply eating.
Suddenly Kalika broke the Silence. "By the way… How do you know who I am?"
Jarred was nonchalant as he pointed to Ragnar. "The big guy there used to live in this country too. Until he moved up north." Jarred took a last bite from his Jerky. "Who knew about the country before the invasion."
Jarred then whispered loudly covering his mouth so only Kalika knew what he said. "He can get pretty sentimental at times."
"I heard that!" Ragnar interjected.
Both Sylph and Jarred Chuckle like it was an inside joke. couldn't help but smile at this event.
"Oh yeah!" Jarred came to a realization that they had forgotten something. "Sorry we still haven't introduced ourselves yet, have we? I'm Jarred."
"Sylph."
"And I'm Ragnar"
They went one by one introducing themselves.
"So, these are the Heroes of Prophecy…" Kalika started to become silent as she thought about her sister.
"It's… nice to meet you all…"
Kalika went back into silence, Jarred then broke it as he tried to talk to Kalika. "Umm... By the way… uh… Kalika… out of curiosity... What happened eighteen years ago?"
Kalika was confused for a moment.
"Y-you know, when the Demon invasion… first started."
Kalika was surprised by his straight forwardness.
"Oh…. That. I… It's complicated…"
"Well, what about your family? You had a dad and sister right."
"My… My father's dead."
"And your sister?"
Kalika looked down at the ground. "It's Complicated…"
Sylph immediately scolded Jarred seeing Kalika's distress. "Jeez Jarred. Can't you tell she doesn't want to talk about it!"
"O-oh. I'm sorry."
Kalika smiled bitterly before responding once more. "It's fine…"
"No, it's not. and I'm sure you've been through a lot." Sylph was obviously trying to comfort Kalika but it didn't much to improve Kalika's mood. Kalika simply remained silent.
Ragnar started to join in with his own questions. "By the way. how did you hold up being imprisoned all these years?"
"Ragnar!" Sylph scolded.
"Hey, I'm just a little curious myself." Ragnar raised his hands in defense. "Most people in her situation would've broken down, fall into despair. Especially if they were being tortured for so long. If she was of course."
"That's not the point! you two keep-"
"My hatred," Kalika Suddenly said.
Everyone paused for a moment.
"My hatred for those Demons. It's the only thing that I know that's keeping me going…" Kalika started clutching her hands as she refused to lift her head.
"If there's one thing I want to do, it's to kill as many of them as possible. Even so… Right now, I wouldn't be able to do it…"
"Why is that?" Sylph asked.
"I contracted a Blood blad- Erm… a Demon blade."
Everyone is surprised to hear this.
"I heard that your once it's been contracted, you won't be able to attack anything else unless you use it. I've heard all about it, but I don't think I seen someone trying to attack without one yet." Jarred was baffled, yet curious.
"Yes, I heard that some men were forced to be discharged Dishonorably from the army if they've ever taken up those arms forged by demon blood. It's truly a shame."
Jarred suddenly approached Kalika. He crouched in front of to her surprise. "Hey." Jarred spoke dreamily in Kalika's Eyes. Jarred was so close to her it was making her heartbeat faster.
Kalika's full attention was now on him. "Can you try punching me?"
"W-w-what??" Kalika was instantly brought out of her stupor.
Ragnar laughed hardily as Sylph could only pinched the bridge of her nose out of frustration from her companion's forwardness.
"What? I'm Curious."
"Haven't you heard the Curiosity killed the cat!?" Sylph retorted.
Kalika was confused at where the charming guy had gone. He felt more like a kid than man.
"Sorry about him, he's a bit of a weapon nut. He likes to study the swords and their effect since he comes from a line of Blacksmiths."
"R-really…" Kalika was surprised to hear this since he looks like someone you'd find in a noble household.
"He also comes from Gallock which is one of the wealthiest countries on his continent. Apparently even the poor have houses to sleep under." Sylph finished.
Kalika couldn't help but feel that what she said was an indirect blow to her countries pride. She then realized that she's not familiar with the country their talking about at all.
"Wait… Gallock. I never heard of that country before."
Ragnar threw a scroll from a backpack beside him. "Ow!" It hit the back of Jarred's head, who immediately recognized it.
Ragnar started to explain the Kalika. "Gallock is a country far west of our continent of Erphia. In fact, there's only one small bit of land that can be used to travel through to get to this continent. Otherwise, it'd be a damn long travel on the sea."
Jarred pointed to the part of the maps that Rangar was referring to.
"I had no Idea this world was so big…" Kalika was surprised as she looked at the map.
"Yeah. It took us a while to come together not to mention travel here too." Jarred started to put the map away.
Jarred then angled his face. "C'mon. C'mon." Jarred was pushing Kalika to attack him to show if the curse of the Blood blade was true.
"Really Jarred." Sylph sighed. "You might as well do it Kalika.
As weird as it was Kalika listened and tried punching Jarred in the face. Her fist stood still at the pose ready to strike and wouldn't move. Kalika tried to move arm to make a punching motion, but it wouldn't budge an inch.
"Are you gonna do it or what?" Jarred asked.
He glanced to see that she was struggling. It looked as though she was constipated. Kalika then tried punching the air with the same exact results to her shock.
"I guess you really can't attack." A glint then came to Jarred eyes. "Hmmm… I wonder what properties of Demon blood makes you unable to attack. Maybe it's an indirect curse. No. maybe it's making the weapon is sentient itself. No. no that's too weird." Jarred rambling continued on.
Kalika could only look at her hands in frustration. "I'm just useless."
"Don't say that! Even if you can't fight back, news of your survival will burn the fires of war back into your fellow man!" Ragnar was giving a wide grin.
"Yeah. That's what matters." Sylph added.
Jarred approached Kalika again, this time putting his hands on her shoulder. "Look just because you're not able to help fight back because of a curse doesn't make you useless. What matters is that you're safe now. Besides we'll be there to protect you together!"
Jarred looked very optimistic. Kalika but this only reminded her about her deceit.
"I should tell them. I'm not the Saintess… That's the only reason he's saying this..."
"H-hey. I have something important to tell you guys…" Kalika looked back up to find them all looking at her with such caring gazes. They were waiting intently to hear what she had to say. She froze unsure how to tell them.
"I… I can't tell them now. What if…"
Kalika looked back down shyly. "Never mind… I think I'll retire for the night…"
"I'm not like them. and I'm not like her..."
"O-oh. Okay." Jarred as where the others were a little disappointed.
"Here. You can sleep in my tent tonight." Sylph offered, leading the way.
"Thank you." Kalika followed sylph into the roomy tent.
Jarred gave a sigh watching them enter into the tent. "Do you think she'll be alright?" Jarred asked Ragnar.
"Only time will tell. After all, being a prisoner of war isn't always the most luxurious experience. So, I pray that God will help her through this troubling time…"
"Right…" Jarred said unsure. He then gave another sigh before him, and Ragnar smothered the campfire and enter their own tents for the night.
"Night."
"Yup."
Sylph and Kalika laid in their own individual sleeping bags. Trying to sleep now.
Kalika turned to her side, looking away from Sylph. She stayed silent but then got an inquiry from sylph.
"Hey. Kalika?"
"Yeah?"
"Have you ever talked with God?"
"Why do you want to know?"
"From some people I heard that only the Saintess could hear the voice of God. While other say that all the Heroes of Prophecy need to be together to hear his voice. I guess I just want to discern the truth…"
"If it makes you feel better. No. I haven't talked to him. But if I could… I'd have a lot of questions."
Sylph Chuckled a little. "So, I'm not the only one… Maybe tomorrow we'll finally be able to talk to him."
"I don't know. Anything could happen."
"That's true." Sylph sounded a little happy to Kalika's surprise. This left her very unsure as she looked on in the dark tent.
"Thank you, Kalika."
"Thank you? For what?" Kalika was now getting a little confused.
"It gives me hope that I can actually talk to God, to finally get answers that I need to know. S-sorry I'm rambling a little. Let's talk more in the morning. Good night, Kalika.
Kalika didn't respond. She went on to ponder. She just couldn't help but get a tense feeling. Like a knot in her stomach.
After a while she finally was able to slip back into slumber.
********
Unknown to Kalika There's a meeting in the throne room of the very Demon castle she was taken from. Among the demons attending is Lucius, Lillian, Rakon, Bjorn, Azar and Jala.
The three generals are bowing before their rulers. It's clear that Lillian is still quite angry with her blackened eyes as she stands before the three Generals.
"How is it that these intruders invaded this castle!?" Lillian Demanded.
There was silence inside the entire room. Nobody answered. All the faces of the generals showed no fear, the same could not be said about the guards behind them as they all trembled in fear.
"Answer me!!"
Lillian was reaching her peak until Lucius finally spoke himself.
"Lillian let it go. I understand your anger but if this keeps up you'll end up killing more of our valued generals like last time."
Lillian listened, backing away and making her way back to her own throne.
"What actions have been taken thus far?" she then asked.
Jala stood, keeping himself bowed to her.
"We already have men scouting forest to the south as well as checkpoints and lookouts. If there's anywhere they'll go, it's likely to be the territory being defended by the Confederation of Dahlia."
"How annoying," Lucius winced.
"Of course, I plan on scouting myself, being second best to Ek. Give me a day then I'll send you a signal that only I can send. Then we will punish these thieves who would dare steal your beloved toy." Jala's face was that of someone who would die for a cause.
Lillian, despite her still serious demeanor, was satisfied with this answer. "Alright. So be it. Go now and find her. But when you find these people, I want to personally kill them myself!!" Lillian's eyes glowed an even brighter red beneath her blacked rageful eyes.
Jala bowed once more, taking his leave. Rakon looked satisfied with the results of the meeting. They all watched as Jala left the throne room.
"Now then. Let's talk about improvements to our castle's security." Rakon smiled.