"The Warden, Huh." Tilus ate a spoonful of a stringed meat-like porridge.
"Yeah. That's what he said." Kalika played around with her food, spacing out the different ingredients visible to her as she consumed any semblance of meat from the bowl.
Both Kalika and Tilus ate their bowls of meat porridge in the prison mess hall on a wide wooden table along with some other prisoners. The focus of everyone in the room was to simply feast and gossip among other things.
Tilus crossed his arms. "Hmmm… This is a surprising turn of events. And If I'm not mistaken the warden's also a general for the demon army. Definitely no slouch either."
He glanced at Kalika, who still played with her food. He continued. "The warden around here has a reputation for being an iron wall. Nobody around here is able to lay a scratch on him, aside from you."
Kalika cringed at Tilus as he ate another spoonful of his meal. "I'm finding that very hard to believe. It's starting to feel like you're just trying to sing my praises or something."
Kaliak dunked her spoon into the bowl, attempting to fish out a much smaller piece of meat.
"You don't have to believe me if you don't want to," Tilus said. "I'm just telling you what I know. Look, from what I've heard and from what the guards have been saying, you apparently killed some of the guards that accompanied the warden, Not only that be you almost sliced half his face off after the last escape attempt you made. "
"Yeah, okay." Her voice was clearly filled with doubt. "I still don't buy this whole, me going on a rampage thing you keep spouting on about. I'm a woman. I can't do that. There's no way a person like me can ever go head on with demons!"
Frustrated, Kalika started to flick some of the non-meat ingredients from her bowl. "Would be a nice dream to have though. Going around. Killing every demon in sight." She smiled a little at the open thought.
"I don't know, maybe my best chance at winning would be a strength of will. See who can outlast the other. What do you think, Tilus?"
"You can't rely on your immortality alone. Even if you can't die, if you're unable to retaliate, you'll just find yourself as useful as the dirt we step on" Tilus pushed the remainder of his half-eaten meal away.
"Yeah, perhaps you're right…" Kalika took the last bite from her stringy meat. With no more meat in her bowl she turned her attention to Tilus's bowl of half-eaten meat porridge, seeing three to be pieces of meat still inside.
"Hey, you mind if I can have the rest of that?" She asked.
Tilus glanced back at Kalika bewildered by her question. He peeked at her bowl to find she ate around the vegetables, He promptly glared back at her.
"W-what?" Kalika defended.
She turned her gaze, a little embarrassed. "I'm still a little hungry…"
Tilus could only sigh from the response, before pushing his bowl to her. "Fine, but in exchange you have to give another ten laps today."
Kalika immediately tensed up from the request, reluctantly accepting it. She took a spoonful of the meat porridge, delighting the taste of its meat, whatever it was.
"How can this be so good!?"
"I still don't understand how you can still eat this stuff… and you're not even eating the vegetables in it." Tilus remarked.
"Vegetables? I don't know anything about those, but this stuff is much better than the bread and meat we would just get." Kalika moved in for another bite, expertly dodging the vegetables in the bowl.
After a moment she was finally done eating from Tilus's food. She wiped her lips with her arms. "Anyways do you know if the Warden has any weak points that I can work off of?"
"I wouldn't know a thing. I think, the past you would probably have a better Idea than me honestly speaking. The warden had to catch you so many times you two practically referred to each other by name."
"Is that really that uncommon?" she asked.
"Have you heard any of the guards here call me by my name once?"
Kalika ponders Tilus's question. "O-okay fine, I get the point. Still, I can't imagine ever being that close to him. I feel so annoyed when I'm around him. And aside from that, his brother seems to think I still want to escape."
Tilus looked at Kalika, surprised. "You finally gave up on escaping? That's surprising to hear."
"You too!?"She was taken aback by his statement.
"The last eight years all you did was scheme of ways to escape. A lot of them were very ambitious a that. If it wasn't you trying to escape during the night, it was you scheming and making connections with the other prisoners. Although all of them are dead now."
Kalika became silent upon hearing this. "I-is that so..."
"Y-yeah. I guess that sounds like something I'd do… wouldn't it..."
Kalika looked back at the bowls filled with broth covered vegetables. She spooned up a piece of chopped up onions and carrots. The thought of tasting them, but she quickly changed her mind. She dropped the spoon leaving the bowls behind.
"You're not going to finish?"
She stared at the bowls blankly. "It's too loud in here. Besides, I'm already finished with it so we should get back to training…" Kalika glances away, hiding her own bitterness. "If… You don't mind."
Understanding, Tilus agreed and followed right along Kalika back into the arena to resume her training session.
Kel watched closely from the corner of the dungeon hall as Kalika left with Tilus to the arena. Ek approaches Kel from his side, disappointed to see him spying.
"Still nothing?" Ek asked. "What a surprise," he said, sarcastically.
"You're too relaxed with her. Someone needs to keep an eye on her and you're obviously not doing it, Ek."
Ek grabbed Kel by his horns. "I'm not watching her because she's not planning anything! Dumbass!!"
The brother butted heads. "Who are you calling a dumbass? Scarface!"
"Oh, you wanna play this game again!" Ek yelled.
"AHEM!!"
Bjorn was right behind them, like before. "Rakon wants to talk to you Ek."
Ek became annoyed. "Seriously? What is it now?"
With a scoff Ek follows behind Bjorn but is suddenly called by Kel.
"Are you really not concerned about what the queen's toy will do?" Kel asked angrily.
"C'mon. The girls already lost hope of escaping. You really think she's gonna run away now, especially with all the traps we've installed. At this point she's already resigned to her fate."
Kel rolled his eyes at his brother's statement. "That's what you said last time! Tch! And what about you Bjorn, what do you think?"
Bjorn stopped and turned around. "About the girl? I think that she's starting to learn at the very least…" he turned back to walk away. "But only time will tell if she accepts her life as it is. Who knows? Anything could happen in the next five or so years…"
Kel watched on as Ek followed behind Bjorn to report to their acting king. "Sheesh. I guess I'm by myself on this, aren't I…"
Kel looked back down the hall where Kalika and Tilus were a moment ago. "Dumbasses. They're too laid back with this girl. I know she's human, but still…"
Kel leaned himself against the wall crossing his arms. "There's something strange going on… I just know it."
********
Back with Kalika and Tilus in the arena. Kalika begins the exercise she's dreaded most.
Push-ups.
Kalika gives her best fight with each following push-up she does. All the while, Tilus stood by, watching over her to ensure she'd followed through with the full exercise of fifty push-ups.
"Alright, and tomorrow we'll aim to do a hundred push-ups," Tilus said.
"Y-you're a monster!" Kalika complained, with tears now becoming evident.
"You're the one that insisted on going harder, so no complaining! And after this we'll do twenty-five laps around the arena."
"[I hope this war ends soon…]" Kel said to himself.
********
A battlefield with scorched earth is laced with the bodies of soldiers with many different torn off limbs and body parts scattered throughout. A blazing fire scorched and stretched out far beyond the once lush plains and beautiful villages that were once prosperous. And among the chaos the army of demons continued their march, leaving a path of destruction in its wake.
In the center of the battlefield laid a never-ending pile of corpses. At the very top, a demon woman watched as the human army fled. whilst in her hand a terrified soldier tried in vain to free himself from her grasp.
"N- Nooooooo-!!"
The ripping of flesh and bones are heard. Lillian looked at the now headless man's expression as she held his head with a single hand, pushing his body down with the other. Giving a sigh, she tossed the head behind her into the pile of bodies as she sat down.
"They must be getting desperate if now they're using villagers. My country sure has fallen far…" Lillian looked on, into the battlefield of their one-sided massacre.
"If they're desperate, that only means that the war is close to its end." Lillian turned, finding that Lucius was now behind her.
"Once we've conquered the last of this country's major cities, this war will finally be over and the country will be ours. Then it'll only be a matter of dealing with the small pockets of resistance, but that's to be expected."
"I see…" Lillian didn't find much interest in the last part of Lucius Statement. "Lucius, what do you plan on doing with the humans after this war finishes?"
Lucius came to Lillian's side, sitting himself right beside her. He scratched his chin pondering. "That's a very good question…"
Lucius looked beyond the battlefield. "I've had a few suggestions. Some say we should keep them as slaves while others think it's better to deport them out of the country..."
Lucius glanced at Lillian. "Me. The humans left can do what they want." Lucius gets up. "Just as long as they don't cause trouble."
"Quite the gracious king, aren't you." She joked.
"Gracious? No. Regardless. Whatever we do, I have my doubts that the other human countries will play along, but as long as my people can prosper unlike what we had in the Pit, I'll be satisfied."
Lillian's eyes softened a little. "Yeah… Down there was devoid of any hope. Honestly, it's a miracle that the demon race was able to survive in such a dark place…" with a much sadder expression looking back at her blue hands. "It makes me a little envious of my little sister… since I'm no longer human…"
"Life is such a weird thing isn't it." Lillian gave a bitter smile. She got up, watching the demon army continuing to march forth.
"Life is certainly a strange thing sometimes. I'm sure your sister would agree…," Lucius said.
"Yeah… I wonder how she's doing now… Hopefully she's not causing any trouble this time."
Lillian hopped down the large pile of corpses she was on, alongside Lucius. She then gave a big stretch. "Alright, so what do we do now Lucius?"
From their side, both general Azar and Jala approached them.
"Sorry to interrupt, but our scouts are reporting that the confederation's army is approaching from the southeast." Azar said.
Both Lillian and Lucius became alert upon hearing this.
Jala followed up. "There is also an interesting rumor going around with the soldiers we just captured."
"Rumors? Of what" Lucius became curious.
"There are some among them saying the Celestine empire is supposedly going to join in as reinforcements to the confederations. Also, by the look of things, they seem to be under the belief that we don't understand their language."
Azar held in a slight chuckle listening to Jala's last statement. "I never knew a human could be so cocky." Azar said, as she tried to hold back any semblance of laughter.
"He was a very cocky man until I spoke to him personally. Needless to say, he was no longer useful to us."
"Hmm… So, after all this time, they're finally making a move…" Lucius looks over the horizon in the direction of mountains. "I wonder what made them change their stance?"
"Do you really think the empire will send reinforcements?" Jala questioned.
"If news of the death of the heroes reached them, perhaps. It's likely they underestimated us, thinking the Heroes of Prophecy would solve their problem." Lucius then gave a smile. "Hmph."
"I can send out a few of our-" Azar was interrupted seeing Lucius hands being raised.
"No, need."
Lucius began to depart. "Azar you're with me. I'll be needing your earth magic. Lillian, Jala. We'll meet up later."
Both women were a little stunned to hear this. Azar shook herself quickly following Lucius from behind. "A-as you command," Azar said.
Lillian just watched on pouting, as she is left behind with Jala. "No fair. He just wants to hog all the fun." Lillian became disappointed, understanding that Lucius had already made up his mind
"Alright let's get going. We should probably get the troops ready to intercept that army in the south," Lillian said.
"Your Majesty."
Lillian stopped upon hearing Jala. She turned to look at Jala with curiosity immediately realizing that wanted to say something. Lillian glanced seeing Lucius and Azar already flying off in the distance.
"You may speak. What is it?"
"Back when you saved me from the Heroes of Prophecy. That woman that you'd torture frequently… you called her your sister…?"
Lillian became silent upon hearing Jala. The crackles of the flames in the burning battlefield gets louder with each passing second.
"I did say that. Didn't I?"
Lillian crossed her arms, glaring at her general. "You're not going to pester me too about her, are you?"
"No. I don't plan on it. I was curious about your relationship, and why you would say such a thing."
"If you're curious, I'm not the one to ask. But if you're concerned, rest assured that we are obviously far from being related in blood. Even if she can't die, she's still a human. Nothing more. Nothing less."
Lillian starts to take off as well. "If you don't have any more questions, then we should prepare our forces."
Jala could only watch on as Lillian takes off with her demonic wings. He gave a scrutinizing gaze as he stayed silent. "Was she really born in the pit too?" Jala became suspicious.
Memories of the time when the purging barrier appeared before him resurfaced. He was completely bewildered at the time but could clearly remember their conversation despite being far from them.
unexpectedly, the Demon King, Lucius, showed up behind him. Jala was forced to stay away from the barrier at that point, keeping him away until Lucius, himself, deemed it necessary to shatter the barrier with himself with his sheer strength alone.
"I wonder…" Jala pondered
Jala quickly put his thoughts aside. War was no place for trivial thoughts especially with another new battle over the horizon.
Jala narrowed his eyes, becoming much more serious. "I mustn't forget the mission," He quietly said to himself.