We continued our march through the forest in silence, as we were not fully acquainted.
I'm entertaining? That's really the only reason you decided to tag along?
As we drew closer and closer to the village the billows of smoke in the air became darker and thicker, clearly the fire was quite large.
"Hey Silvia, doesn't that seem like a little too much smoke? Something could be wrong."
"I noticed as well, we should pick up the pace, I do not wish to see this town in ruins. They were... kind... to me."
The sun had fully set, but it was still easy to see the smoke billowing in the moonlit sky as we ran through the forest. The clanging of metal and the smell of burning hair and flesh came from the area ahead of us, and the faint glow of flames illuminated our path forward. Eventually we reached the outskirts of Cina, and the sight was greusome. Bodies burned or slashed lay strewn all across the village, and the sounds of screaming were almost completely drowned out by the sound of clanging metal coming from up ahead. Some of the log cabins remained standing, unscathed by the flames while others were reduced to nothing but burning ash. I turned to Silvia to see a panicked and saddened look on her face, the village which had treated her kindly was completely in ruins.
"Silvia I can hear some survivors still, you should go help them. Since they were kind to you, this is your opportunity to repay that kindness. Save as many as you can, I'm going to join in the fight."
She acknowledged my words with a soft nod as she dashed forward looking for any survivors while I went the opposite direction, searching for the fight I could hear going on. I rounded corner after corner until I found it, a young man making a stand near a fountain in what used to be the town square. The young man appeared to be about twenty years old and he was using a glaive as his main weapon which he was quite adept with. despite this, he was on the back foot, struggling to hold off his attackers. It was an unfair fight, three bandits versus him, so I knew that I needed to assists. Yet before I could do so, he leapt back and shouted an incantation.
"Goddess of Frost, grant me your blessing to stride among the glaciers. FROST WALKER!"
The instant he finished his incantation the air became cold, and I could see my breath in front of my face. Ice began to form at his feet, spreading out around him in a circle. most of the bandits backed off before the ice could reach them, however one of them was not so lucky. The moment the ice reached his feet it crept up his legs, freezing him in place. While he was immobilized the young man jumped forward and planted his glaive in the bandit's chest, killing him instantly. He spun the glaive around behind him and blocked in incoming arrow from a bandit sitting on a roof not too far away.
That's my signal to get involved.
I drew my sword and enchanted it with flames, then leapt up to the roof behind the archer. He hadn't noticed me so I swiftly planted my blade in his back, pushing him off the roof as I pulled my blade back. The young man's eyes met mine, and a look of understanding was exchanged. He continued fighting as I dropped off the roof, sword still flaming. A rather large bandit approached me, hoping to intimidate me with his size. He wielded a large two-handed battle axe, and had a nasty scar down one side of his face.
"I assume you're the leader of this group of bandits right? Kill the leader and the rest will scatter."
"So you think you can kill me huh? We'll see about that."
As he readied his axe, he said something else.
"I'm not the leader, he's not even here. He's back at our base camp, not that you'll live long enough to meet him."
Meanwhile, on the other side of the village, Silvia was evacuating as many people as possible, leading them into the forest. Two more axe-wielding bandits approached her, ready to interrupt her rescue efforts.
"I don't have time to play with you two unfortunately, so your deaths will be swift."
"You're the one who's going to die here girly, but not before we have our way with you. Not very often do we find a girl as pretty as you, I'm going to enjoy this."
"A laughable notion." She said as she drew her dagger. "You two are severely outmatched here, however because of that insult to my honor I will make sure you die painfully and screaming."
The angered bandits swung at her simultaneously, their axes slamming down from above. She easily avoided the blows, sidestepping and stabbing one of them in the side. As he swung his arm at Silvia, she severed it in one swift stroke of her dagger. The pain brought the bandit to his knees, where she slit his throat and turned her attention to the second bandit, who was struggling to remove his axe from the ground.
"You were the one who said you would have your way with me, correct? How did that end up?"
"YOU BITCH! I'm going to kill you for what you did to my brother!"
He pulled his axe free from the ground and swung it at Silvia horizontally. She stopped it with her bare hand, catching it in her fingers. She tightened down with her fingers and shattered the axe head, and dashed in front of the bandit before he could react. She punched him in the gut, knocking the air out of him and bringing him to his knees. She then grabbed one of his arms and broke it, continuing to torture him until finally plunging her dagger into his heart.
I could hear the screams from the other side of the village, and knew that she was probably enjoying herself. The bandit brought his axe down at me, and I used Swift Step to reposition behind him and cut through him in a single strike. He fell to the ground in two seperate pieces, dead. I turned my attention back to the young man wielding the glaive as he disarmed the last bandit and beheaded him.
"Is that the last of them?" I asked.
"Yeah, I think so."
"Then lets go, my friend has probably evacuated all the survivors by now."
"Thank you stranger, I do not know how to repay you."
I extinguished the flames coating my blade and sheathed it. "There is no need to thank me, now lets go."
We ran across the village towards where I had heard the screams before, passing by the two dead bandits Silvia had killed.
Remind me not to get on her bad side, she's one scary woman.
Understood.
We reached where Silvia had taken the survivors, and I spotted her tending to a child's wounded arm.
"There all better, see!"
She stood up and turned to me, her face turning serious.
"These people won't survive another attack like this one, I assume you heard about the base of banditr positioned nearby right?" She said.
"Yeah but I couldn't get a location from the guy before I killed him, I assume you had better luck?"
"I did, they're holed up in a cave about twenty minutes south of the village. We should go after them in the morning, these people need medical attention."
"I think I know what cave they were talking about." A voice stated from behind me. I turned to see the young man who was confronting the bandits, and this was the first time I had gotten a chance to actually gauge anything about him other than his age. He was taller than me and had hair as blue as glaciers. He had a symbol resembling a snowflake on the back of his right hand, and it was just as blue as his hair.
"I appreciate the help back there, we all probably would've died without you two. So what, are you sisters or something? You look way too similar to not be."
Sisters? Does he think I'm a girl? REALLY? I know I look and sound like a girl with my new body, but I'm still a guy dammit!
"Sorry to burst your bubble but I'm actually a guy. And we aren't related, its just a coincidence."
"A... guy? Really?"
"What do you have a problem with that?!"
"No No, not at all. It's just a little hard to believe." He chuckled as he spoke.
"In all honesty, I thought you were a girl as well." Silvia spoke from behind me.
"AHHHH DAMMIT ALL!!!!"
The both started laughing as I stood there annoyed. Eventually they calmed down and stopped laughing, their fun with me was through.
"Thanks, I really needed a laugh after that. So many people... lost."
"Don't worry, we'll avenge them. Those bandits won't prey upon this town ever again, because we're going to go kill them all." I reassured him.
"Oh, I almost forgot, I'm Nix. Nix Skadi. And you are...?"
"My name is Dentes Lunam, and this is Silvia Bloodraven."
As I uttered her name, Nix kneeled and bowed his head.
"Lady Bloodraven, you've returned to us all these years later. The king had told us you had died, but we didn't believe it, and now you're back. Your protection of this town for over a hundred years kept bandits like this away and our village was peaceful. But ever since your disappearance fifty years ago, the conflicts have been getting worse and worse. This is the most losses we've taken up to this point, fifteen percent of the village died tonight."
It appears that Silvia has always cared for this village, when she was Overlord she protected them.
"Oh I did die, but I'm back now thanks to Dentes. I would probably still be recovering for another ten years if his excess mana hadn't stirred me from my slumber. My body and power might not be the same as during my prime, but its still me. Raise your head, the reason for these losses is because I was absent after all."
Nix stood up, slightly teary eyed. It's only natural, the village's protector had come back after all. A rainstorm came in and put out the fires, and we took shelter in the houses that were still standing. Only the center of the village had been set alight by the bandits, so most of the cabins were still intact. We rested and once morning came, we discussed the plan.
Silvia would stay and protect the villagers and tending to their wounds as she was the only one among the three of us that knew first aid. Nix and I would make our way to the bandit's camp and kill their leader and any of them that got in our way. If we didn't, they would just keep coming back over and over again.
I'll finally have a chance to test out this mask, it should let me sneak up and take out whatever number of bandits are guarding the entrance to the cave.
Nix and I set out at midday to ensure that we were both well rested and Silvia was able to take care of the remaining villagers.
However, elsewhere in the world conflict was stirring. The fight between the gods was about to spill over into the mortal realm, and none would be unaffected.